#'hey greg wanna get turn into a woman and get high with me?'

[lordsooga]

Started this one a while ago and finally finished it.

When your husband/wife teaches you how your disguise technique works but only for the purpose of hanging out as girls and braiding each other's hair

[dumdumsun]

The Loveliest Lies of All

A/N: Accidentally made this the longest chapter in the entire story. Oops ❤️

Warnings: slight violence

Word Count: 5282

—————————————

Chapter Three: Schooltown Follies

“I don’t know who she is or how she is, or when or why she is

But as for where she is, she is where we will go

To Adelaide, to Adelaide

Come on and join the Adelaide Parade-”

“No-”

“Adelaide, to Adelaide

Let’s go to Adelaide’s house…”

Greg’s joyful marching melted into a simple walk at the flat ending of his song, glancing up at Scout with raised brows. “I need to fix that last part, but that’s the idea.”

“Yeah, of course.” Scout chuckled.

“So,” He pointed to each person as he addressed them. “Beatrice, you sing the high part. Wirt, you sing the really high part.”

Wirt raised a brow. “What?”

“And Scout will direct us.”

Scout hummed with squinted eyes. “Conduct.”

“Scout will conduct us. And-”

Beatrice sighed irritably, causing Scout to frown in confusion. “No one is singing anything anymore. And Wirt, keep moving.”

The group turned to said teen, who had stopped a few paces away to kneel down, tying the laces of his mismatched shoes. “But I-I have to- ugh. Alright…” He stood to his feet defeatedly and joined them again.

“But we have to do something fun.” Greg insisted.

“You know, we really don’t,” Beatrice shrugged. “We can just keep walking silently, you know? And- ugh. Wirt, let’s go! Come on!”

Wirt stood to his feet again. “Sorry, sorry!”

Scout’s irritation towards their winged companion only seemed to grow the more she watched Beatrice push her friends around. Personally, she was not a fan of Debby Downers, and Beatrice happened to be the downest Debby she’d ever met in a short amount of time. Greg tried to insist on the group having fun on their journey yet again, but the bird cut him off. “Greg, don’t you wanna be more like your brother? Just always doing what you’re told-”

“Huh-”

“Just a pathetic pushover who relies on others to make all his decisions?”

“Hey! What?! I’m not a pushover.”

“Hold on, Wirt. Let me get to my point.”

Wirt scoffed, unsuspecting. “Fine.”

“See, Greg? No willpower whatsoever.”

Embarrassed to have been so gullible, Wirt turned forward with a huff. Scout sighed and moved closer to the boy’s side. “Greg, don’t listen to her. I think it’s important you have fun on this journey,” Her eyes then snapped up to Beatrice. “And you shouldn’t discourage a child like that.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “He needs to learn from a young age that he can’t be like… this forever.”

“Like what? Like a normal, sweet, loving kid? A-And what do you even know about kids, huh?”

“What do you know about kids?”

“I know enough.” Scout crossed her arms and turned her head forward.

Sighing, Beatrice flew to the boy’s other side. “The world is a miserable place, Greg. I know it doesn’t sound fun, but life isn’t fun.”

Exhaling deeply, Greg frowned sadly. “Then I’ll do what I need to do, I guess…”

As Beatrice continued on whatever negativities she had focused so intently on, Scout felt a tug at her jacket. Glancing down, she saw Greg standing still, holding the tea kettle on his head, his frog lounging on top. Slowing her pace to a stop, she quietly joined him. “Greg? What’s wrong, bud?”

He grinned and took one hand off his “hat”, slipping his fingers between hers and leading them through an opening within the woods. “We need to do our part to make the world a better place!”

“We couldn’t have at least told Wirt? He’ll be worried about you.” She glanced over her shoulder, Wirt’s figure growing smaller the farther they ran. Greg hummed before shrugging.

“Wirt trusts you, right? He knows we’re in the best hands in the whole world.”

“Oh? You mean these hands?!” Scout mischievously grinned and scooped him into her arms, huffing as she struggled to keep the giggling boy up. Perhaps she had underestimated his weight. It had been awhile since she’d carried him.

Greg cackled, holding his frog close to his chest before his eyes caught something in the distance. “Whoa! What’s that?” He pointed forward. Scout’s laughter quieted as they reached a clearing. Stepping out of the shadowed wood, she moved closer to the small red house, a giant bell hanging above it to alert those around of the time.

“Ah, this, Greg, is a schoolhouse. The oldest of these date back to-”

“School?!” He scoffed. “Not today!”

Scout chuckled and set him down on his feet. “Well, I think we should check it out. If you hate school that much, go find a log to sit on and wait for me.”

“Yes, sir!”

He saluted before scampering off. She watched him for just a second to make sure he hadn’t tripped and fallen before turning back to the schoolhouse. From where they had just come from, she could hear Wirt’s calls. “Greg! Scout! Greg?!”

“Over here!” She called back, smiling softly as he and Beatrice emerged from the darkness. She pointed off to the side as they approached her. “Hey, so Greg went that way to find a place to wait. He’ll be fine. But I do wanna check out this place. You know, maybe find someone else to help us sooner than some rando lady with supposed powers?”

Scout ignored the glare Beatrice sent her way. Wirt only blinked at her, so she continued. “Anyway, we only need one person to go in. Which one of us should go inside and who should stay with Greg?”

Yet again, she received no response, just a blank stare from her friend. Glancing between him and the bird, the latter only shrugging, Scout rapidly blinked. “What is this? Why are you staring at me like that? Is this a game?”

…..

“Okay, Greg will be fine. Let’s both go.” She threw her hands up in the air before spinning on her heel and leading them up to the schoolhouse. “But you’re gonna need to talk soon.”

As if that had flipped a switch, Wirt nodded and strode to her side. “Right. Okay.”

Scout widened her eyes at him as they stood in the opened doorway of the house. Tearing her gaze from him, she settled it on the room inside. Standing in front of a blackboard decorated with delicate and cursive calligraphy was presumably the teacher, her cheeks red and rosy and the nest of chocolate brown hair was put into a bun at the top of her head. She looked something straight out of a children’s book. Before her was the… class.

They were animals. Literal animals in school clothes. Cats, bunnies, pigs, dogs, the likes, all dressed as 1800’s school students. In fact, Scout observed, every stop they made felt as if they had travelled two hundred years back. The attire, the lack of technology, the use of language. It was all a dead giveaway.

“Excuse me?” The teacher softly called. “Please, take your seat, children. You’re late. You know the rules, ‘Once the bell has rung, class has begun’.” She gestured to the saying on the board.

Beatrice snickered. “Oh, sorry, everybody. Sorry. No, this boy doesn’t have a brain. He can’t learn anything. Let’s go, Wirt. Come on! Here, boy!” She called and whistled to Wirt as if he were a dog. Scout fumed at the nerve of this bird, opening her mouth to tell her off before Wirt spoke up for himself.

“What? Did you say something? I can’t hear you because I’m too busy doing what I’m told.” He shrugged before walking into the room, taking a seat at one of the desks.

“Atta boy, Wirt.” Scout chuckled and took the seat beside him.

Beatrice hurriedly flew over to him. “What? What are you- No, no. Let’s go.”

“Oh, no. See, I’m a pushover, remember? I have to do what she tells me to do.” He shrugged. Beatrice widened her eyes and turned to Scout.

“Hello?! Knock some sense into his conehead!”

Scout quietly shushed her, her amused smile directed forward at the blackboard. “I’m trying to focus on class.”

“Wirt, your brother could be… in trouble somewhere!”

Tapping on the window just beside Wirt gained the trio’s attention. Greg stood outside, as happy as can be, waving at them with a smile. Then, in a mocking manner, he pointed to each “student” in the room before giving a thumbs-down. Scout lovingly shook her head as he giddily ran after his croaking frog, cheering and whooping as he went. Beatrice let out a deep and long sigh. “Bluebirds have a short lifespan. You three are literally killing me every moment I’m forced to spend with you.”

Scout quietly laughed when Wirt simply let out an “oh”.

“Young man,” The teacher sternly started. “I will not stand for such nonsense in my class room,” A shadow casted over her face as her expression turned gloomy. “I got enough nonsense from that no good, two-timing, low-down handsome man of mine! Oh, Jimmy Brown, why did you have to leave me so-”

Wirt and Scout glanced at each other as if to ask if this were actually happening.

“-And now with my father threatening to close the school and that wild gorilla on the loose, why, Jimmy, I just have one thing to say…”

What they hadn’t expected was for her to turn around with a bright smile and begin singing,

“‘A’ is for the apple that he gave to me, but I found a worm inside.”

Beatrice didn’t bother lowering her voice, “Ouf, that lady’s got some baggage.”

“What’s that?” The woman abruptly stopped her singing and pointed to a slim and tall box with one small opening in the corner of the room. “Young man, go to the dunce box!”

“Oh,” Wirt glanced down before standing to his feet. “Sure, okay! Sure!”

Scout watched her friend hum to himself as he situated himself into the box, closing the door to seal himself in. She furrowed her brows as Beatrice facepalmed. “And you’re not gonna stop him?!”

“No, he can do what he wants,” Scout shrugged. “This lady’s no help, anyway, so I’ll wait until he’s done here.”

“Now, where were we? Oh, yes- ‘G’ is for the gentleman I thought he was, when he first said ‘hi’-”

The young girl stood from the desk. “I’ll just wait outside. Tell me when the dunce is released or whatever.”

“Wait!” The bluebird called out. “Don’t leave me here with him!”

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

Greg and his frog found themselves amongst a racoon, a possum and a deer, all dressed in tattered clothing. Some of them were missing buttons, they had badly stitched patches, and their clothing was either baggy or too tight on them. They looked the part of unschooled street rats -- street… animals, and Greg had befriended them almost immediately. Currently, they were all sitting on a log, just as Scout had asked of him, as the boy rambled on and on to the verbally unresponsive animals. “So, my theory is hot dogs are not actually dogs, regardless of what they teach you in school. But you guys don’t go to school, huh? I’m gonna stick with you guys.” He whispered, laughing when his racoon friend picked up a black turtle and chucked it into the nearby pond.

“Hey, you found a log!” The voice of Scout caused Greg to perk up and crane his neck. The two shared a grin as she joined the group on the log, hesitating slightly upon noticing the company. “Who… are these guys?”

“Scout! These are my new friends!” The boy turned to the animals and gestured to her. “Gentlemen, this is Scout. She’s probably the smartest person in the world. Who needs school when you have Scout, huh?”

She snorted and set a hand atop his hat. “What is this, the Anti-School Club?”

“Huh… Yeah! That’s a great club name! Good job, Scout! And as founder of the ASC, I elect you president.”

“What an honor.”

“So, Ms President, what is your first order of business?”

Scout hummed in thought as she kicked her feet back and forth, tilting her head up to the bright blue sky. “Well, Ms Langtree is still singing her sorrows away, and Wirt is still being a dunce… So, I guess we just kill some time until he’s done.”

Greg nodded in satisfaction and snapped his fingers. “Perfect. And I know just the way to spend our killing time,” He hopped off of the log with a smile. “We play ‘Two Old Cat’! Me and Scout came up with it last year. It’s the best game ever created! Do you guys know how to play ‘Two Old Cat’?”

When the raccoon only blinked in response, Greg pulled Scout with him to a bush. “It’s fun. We’ll show you.”

“Be careful.” She warned and crouched down to help him carefully pull out a scraggly brown cat, surely blind in one eye. It meowed as the boy gently petted its dirty fur. Standing straight, she walked over to a tree and leaned against it to rest her throbbing leg.

A weak meow had her turning her head in the direction of the deer that had just picked up another cat. This one wore reading glasses and clutched a small walking cane in one of its paws. Greg frowned at this. “Wait. No. I think that cat is too old. What do you think, Scout?”

“Hm… Yeah, he’s too old. But we should at least feed the poor thing-”

“Hey! I think there’s one behind you!”

Scout twisted her body to peer into a bush behind her. She spotted a heap of dark black fur that rose and fell with raspy breathing. A pit formed in her stomach as she cautiously reached her hand into the bush. Just as her fingertips brushed the fur, the figure shot up to reveal itself as a gorilla. A pathetic roar sounded past its sharp teeth, yellow eyes staring into hers. Scout frightfully screamed and scrambled to her feet.

“Gorilla!” Greg waved his arms before he was being pushed forward by his friend.

“Go! Run!” She ordered, quickly leading Greg and the animals away from the gorilla that now began to chase them. “Keep going this way! I’ll distract it!”

Greg gasped. “Scout, no-”

“Just go! Go!”

The small group ran towards the schoolhouse, Scout huffing out a breath before turning back to the incoming gorilla. “Hey, ya big dummy! Come and get me!” She waved her arms wildly, darting off in the opposite direction of the schoolhouse. The gorilla growled quizzically before rushing after her. Despite the hot pain in her thigh, spreading past her knee, Scout managed to reach a tree, wrapping her arms and legs around it. She used her feet to hoist herself up, grabbing onto branches to pull her body farther up the tree. She cried out in shock when she felt a tug at her shoe.

Whipping her head around, she saw the gorilla trying to pull her off. Using her free leg, the injured one, she brought her knee close and then kicked her foot out, slamming it into the gorilla’s head and causing him to stumble back.

The tolling of a bell rang from above. Scout sat upon one of the branches and tilted her chin up to see Greg and the animals in the bell tower, swaying back and forth on the bell they desperately clung to. Her heart dropped at the sight. “What the- Greg! Get down from there now! S-Safely! Get down safely right now!”

Noticing the bell tower gang, the gorilla roared again and charged its way in their direction.

“No!” Scout wailed, quietly cursing to herself as she attempted to climb down the tree. Her uninjured leg slipped off the branch, eliciting a yelp from her as she clung to the wood, since her life quite possibly depended on it. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”

“Scout!” She heard Greg call. Tilting her head back, her upside-down vision saw the gorilla chasing them towards the tree she dangled from. “We’re here! We’re here!”

“What the heck is even going on?!” She shouted as the gorilla rounded the tree over and over in the chase. Scout closed her eyes and inwardly wondered for a second if she were living in a cartoon at this point. Her body instinctively flinched when she felt scratching at her shin. It was the possum, holding a large, thick stick in his tiny hands. “Uh- hey. C-Can you help me?”

He blinked and stood on his hind legs, demonstrating a few swings with the stick before pointing down to the gorilla below them. Her eyes widened in realization. “O-Oh, you want me to knock him out?”

He nodded.

“Okay.” She let him slip the stick into one of her hands. Very quietly muttering to herself, she allowed her arm to leave the branch and dangle just above the gorilla’s head. Each time it ran near her, she would take a swing, but miserably miss just by an inch. Swing after swing, she let out little grunts and curses when she missed.

Sighing irritably, she moved her eyes up to the possum, who stared at her in exasperation. As if the solution were obvious, it used both its hands to demonstrate a very harsh swing, stumbling around to mock the gorilla. Inhaling deeply, she reared her arm towards her chest before bringing down the branch and connecting it with the gorilla’s head.

“Aah!” He groaned before falling to the ground, unmoving. Greg peeked from behind the tree and grinned up at her.

“Scout! You did it!”

She blinked. “I did… Hey! I did it! I did it- Aah!” She cried out when the branch broke from the tree, Scout letting go out of shock and barreling to the ground. When she landed on her back, the air was knocked out of her, forcing a choked gasp from her chest. She groaned in pain and rolled onto her side, her entire body pulsing in pain. She could hardly hear the hurried footsteps over the ringing in her head.

“Are you okay?! Scout?! Did you knock out all your memories and give yourself amnesia?!”

“Ugh… W-What…?” She rasped and let Greg help her stand. He watched carefully as she stumbled forward, holding onto the tree for support.

“Come on,” He put a hand on her back and handed the top hat to her. “We gotta go.”

After leading the group into the school and past Ms Langtree to the dining area, Greg slowly sat Scout at the picnic table beside Wirt. The teen frowned worriedly at his friend as she groaned. “Greg? What happened to Scout?”

The boy peered up at his brother. “She fell out of a tree after knocking out the gorilla.”

“She what?!”

“Are you okay?!” Beatrice widened her eyes.

“She’s like a superhero. But now she needs rest. I think she might have gotten amnesia. Oh! That means we need to remind her of all our good times, Wirt! Good times!”

Wirt gingerly touched the back of her head, flinching when she hissed in pain. “I-I-I-I’m sorry. D-Does it hurt? I mean- I mean… uh-”

“I’m okay,” She whispered, placing her top hat on her head. “I think I just need to rest…”

“Yeah! Get your energy! You’re gonna need a lot of it for the trip down memory lane!” Greg scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes and shoveled it into her mouth. Scout cringed at the bland tastelessness of it and took a sip of water. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s very bland. No taste.”

Greg hummed and assessed the room around him, watching the dismal and cheerless expressions of the animal students as they brooded over their plates of potatoes. He gasped when his eyes caught an object on the piano Ms Langtree currently played a melancholy tune on, no doubt feeding into the somber mood.

Wirt hardly noticed his brother shuffle away from the table as he picked up his spoon. “It can’t be that bland, can it?”

“Hey, nobody ordered you to eat yet.” Beatrice cut in.

“Yeah, but… Hm.”

Scout raised a brow at the pair. “Wirt, eat your bland potatoes.”

He sent a grateful smile her way. “Sure.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun…” She mumbled, scrunching up her beak at the forced smile Scout gave her. The trio jumped at the sound of wild, clashing, tuneless notes on the piano coming from Greg. Ms Langtree softly smiled and took over, playing a much more pleasant swing song. Greg’s face dropped his smile for a beat before giving a thumbs-up and climbing on a chair to grab the container of molasses. Bouncing to the beat of the song, he began to sing.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

If you want some, oh just ask us

They’re warm and soft like puppies and socks

Filled with cream and candy rocks!”

As he sang, he pranced around the room, adding just a bit of molasses to each plate to add a bit more cheer to everyone’s hearts.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

They’re so much sweeter than algebra class

If your stomach is grumblin’ and your mouth starts mumblin’

There’s only one thing to keep your brain from crumblin’!

Oh, potatoes and molasses

If you can’t see ‘em, put on your glasses

They’re shiny and large like a fisherman’s barge

You know you eat enough when you start seein’ stars!”

Absentmindedly, Scout tapped her spoon against her glass to the beat of the song. A wide smile spread across her face when she noticed Wirt doing the same. And as if on cue, the animals all joined in the song with their instruments. The sight and sound of this made Scout feel at home. Music was her life and band was a great part of it.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

It’s the only thing left on your task list

They’re short and stout to make everyone shout

For potatoes and molasses!

For potatoes and-”

“That’s enough!”

The door to the dining area burst open along with the booming voice. In the doorway was a tall figure, decked out in a large black trench coat and top hat, much shinier than Scout’s. His pale skin complexion stood out against his all-black attire. His greying hair peeked from under his hat, his dark eyes were hidden behind his circular prescription glasses, and his thick lips were curled into an upset frown. “Is this what I’ve been paying for?!”

“Hey!” Greg defended from where he stood on the table. “We just wanted to have a little fun.”

“I didn’t invest in this school to have fun,” He then marched over to Ms Langtree, who cowered under his scorn. “I thought we were trying to do important work here, teaching animals to count and spell.”

“We are!” Ms Langtree whined. “Oh, please, Father, don’t close the school! It won’t happen again!”

But he only walked past her. “I should say it won’t,” As he passed the animals, he snatched their instruments from them, definitely not forgetting to send a glare towards the three human children. “This… this… and this are all coming with me. Now send them to bed!”

“You heard father,” Ms Langtree sadly motioned to another room. “Off to bed with you.”

In a single-file line, the children, human and animal, trudged into the room filled with well-made beds, one for three students maximum. On the way, they were each given a nightgown, Scout choosing to just throw hers on over her clothes along with her friends. “Wirt,” She whispered. “Are we seriously doing this?”

“Whatever you want, Scout. D-Don’t you need rest anyway? You look like you hit your head pretty hard.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” She climbed into bed with Greg, his frog nestling under the blanket between them. Scout took their hats off and set them off to the side, frowning at the boy’s pout. “What’s on your mind, Gregory?”

Said boy tore his eyes away from the saddened animal folk. “I just wanted to have fun, change the world, and make it a better place.”

“Who says you didn’t?” She hummed and began tucking him in.

“You probably forgot because of your amnesia. I just made everything worse, Scout. Look at them…”

Scout glanced over her shoulder at the animals who were now sniffling and sighing to themselves. Exhaling through her nose, she turned back to the boy. “You know, changing the world isn’t easy, Greg. And you won’t get it right the first time. But you know what?” She gently pressed her lips to his forehead. “You change my world for the better everyday.”

“Really?”

“Really, really.”

“So, you remembered our good times! You’re cured!”

From between them, the frog croaked, causing the two to giggle. From the bed beside them, Wirt softly smiled at the interaction, his heart warming as well as his cheeks. Beatrice watched him with narrowed eyes. “Okay, Wirt, I’ll admit it. You seem like a pushover, but you’re not.”

“Oh?” He shifted his gaze to her.

“Deep down in your heart… you’re a stubborn jerk! When are you gonna give this up?!”

Wirt stared forward with a determined look. “Maybe never. Maybe I’ll never give this up.”

Greg hummed before pushing the blanket off of he and Scout, the girl quietly groaning to herself. “Yeah! Wirt’s right! Never give up!” He cheered before grabbing his sheets and tying the ends together, throwing them out the window. “C’mon! Let’s go save the day!”

“Okay, if you say so,” Wirt left his bed, halting at his friend, who painfully sat up and turned to assist Greg. “W-Wait, w-what about Scout?”

Her head slowly turned to him. “What about me?”

“You’re hurt.”

“You know what? I order you to stop being such a Worry Wirt.” She playfully rolled her eyes. He sputtered for a second before giving in and following her out of the window.

After discarding their nightgowns, the gang wandered the blackened wood, the hooting of an owl being their only source of sound beside the three sets of feet shifting through the grass. Scout wrapped her arms around her sore body for warmth. From beside her, she felt Wirt fix her hat that had been leaning atop her head. She glanced at him with a thankful smile, sending heat to his cheeks and then to hers in turn. Clearing his throat, Wirt looked to his brother. “So, what’s the plan, Greg?”

“Plan?”

Scout tilted her head. “Yeah. You need to plan to change the world, bud.”

“Oh. I don’t know.” He shrugged.

Just then, a pitiful moan sounded from behind a bush. “Oh, who would’ve thought making a primer school for animals was a bad idea?”

Upon parting the bush, the three quietly gasped at the sight of Mr Langtree crouching on the ground, surrounded by the instruments he had confiscated, talking to himself. “My life savings, my home, everything I had went into that dear, dear school. And now I’m forced to sell these instruments just to keep it open,” As he continued, he removed his trench coat to reveal a quite scrawny man underneath the threatening facade, using his coat and a trumpet to act as a sorry tent. “All the while, that loathsome Jimmy Brown is off galavanting who knows where! Not to mention that wild gorilla on the loose. If only something would go right for a change…” He defeatedly sighed as he laid on the ground.

Soon, the sound of his snores filled the area. Scout hummed and shook her head. “Poor guy…”

“Yeah,” Greg nodded. “Okay, I think he’s asleep. Let’s go steal his stuff.”

Wirt, Scout and Beatrice widened their eyes. “What?”

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

As the sun emerged and the mildew leaked from the trees, Scout checked every last detail of the area before nodding to herself. Throughout the night, Greg, Wirt and Beatrice helped build a stage and notified anyone around of their benefit concert as Scout gathered the animal students to quickly learn a single song on their instruments. The work was tiring, but nothing she wasn’t used to. Rounding the front of the stage, she found Greg waiting for her, holding a baton for her. “There you are! It’s time to do what you were born to do! Do it for the world, Scout!”

“Alright, alright.” She chuckled and took the baton into her hand. Facing the band, she raised her arms in front of her, commencing the song. Her heart swelled with pride as the students played along perfectly. A joyful laugh bubbled in her throat as her arms waved and glided through the air to cue entrances and cut-offs. From the corner of her eye, she spotted people, apparently wealthy by their fine clothes and generous donations, trickling in from wherever they came from and dumping their purses and pockets clean into buckets provided. Her grin widened as they stopped beside the stage to stand and enjoy the beautiful music.

Her smile dropped when the students slowly halted their playing. “Guys, why’d you stop?” She raised her brows. Greg jumped onto the stage and pointed past her.

“Gorilla!”

That same pathetic roar from the previous day triggered the screaming of the audience. Scout spun around to find the gorilla she had knocked out was back and charging towards poor Ms Langtree. “Young man, do something!” Mr Langtree shouted at Wirt. The teen looked around uselessly before blindly running forward to do… something.

Before he could stop or hesitate, he tripped on his still untied laces and collided with the gorilla, sending them both to the ground. When they hit the ground, the head of the gorilla popped off and rolled to the side. Everyone gasped as Wirt scrambled to his feet. The headless gorilla sat up to reveal himself as a young man with silky, blonde hair and a handlebar mustache. “Finally.” His southern accent sighed out.

“Jimmy?” Ms Langtree gaped.

“That’s right, darlin’. I was the gorilla.”

“But… why did you do it…?”

“Got a job in the circus so’s I could finally buy ya that weddin’ ring,” He struggled to stand as Ms Langtree joined his side. “But when I got stuck in the dang suit, everybody was too doggone scared to help me out.”

Scout wringed her hands together in embarrassment. Ms Langtree cupped her cheeks in her hands as she swooned.

“Oh, Jimmy…”

“Darlin’...”

The two lovingly embraced, Greg shaking Scout as everyone cheered for them. Mr Langtree sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. “I guess the world really is as sweet as potatoes and molasses…”

As if on cue, Greg plucked the baton from Scout’s grasp and turned to the band, starting his own song once again,

“Oh, potatoes and molasses.

If you want some, oh, just ask us!”

Sensing her work was done, Scout hopped off the stage and searched for her friend. He was leaning against a tree nearby with Beatrice perched on a branch above him. Giddily smiling, she shimmied her way over to them with a skip in her step. Wirt quietly chuckled as he watched her, raising a brow when she finally reached him.

“I did pretty good, huh?”

“You did great, Scout.”

She happily sighed and leaned beside him, their shoulders brushing at their closeness. Beatrice smirked at this. “Hey, Wirt.” She softly called.

“Yeah?” He glanced up at the branch.

“Tie your shoe.”

“Hm? Oh. Mm… okay.” He hummed and bent down to do as he was told.

Peeking over his cone hat, Scout spotted Beatrice glancing from Wirt, then to her, sending a wink her way. Scout widened her eyes and blushed furiously.

—————————————

Taglist: @kirishimas-manly-eyeliner

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch11: I’m Thankful for Chicken Nuggets

Chapter Summary: It’s Thanksgiving and Mary’s eating chicken nuggets.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s thanks!)

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Yeah yeah I know it’s the wrong time of year but hell, we’re all on lock down so the days and months don’t actually exist anyway at the moment… The Boat Company used here IS an actual company in South Pas, but I got no idea who runs it so this is completely made up- roll with me here.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 10

 “Good morning, Handsom.” Fliss smiled as she held her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she continued to fork up the bedding in the stable.

“Morning sweetheart.” His soft voice hit her ear.

“Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Back at ya.” He chuckled softly “You at the yard?” “Yeah, been here a few hours now.”

“Do you need a hand with anything or…” “That’s really sweet but there’s not much left to do.” she replied, honestly “They’re all out for the day and are staying there until tomorrow morning so I’ve just a couple of stables and then some paper work to sort out before I pop back this evening to do a check.” “Ok so, once you’re done for the morning you’re free for a while?” “Yeah, why?”

“Mary had an idea.” “I did not!” Fliss heard the seven year old scoff  “It was your…” “Ok, WE had an idea,” Frank conceded and there was some scuffling and Fliss could imagine he was holding Mary at arm’s length as she made a grab for the phone, “that maybe you might wanna come join us for dinner if you have time.”

“You mean your Thanksgiving dinner of chicken nuggets?” Fliss grinned “How could I turn that down?”

“Cool, just head over when you’re done.” “I might need to head home and shower.” She looked down at herself. “I’m filthy and probably don’t smell great either to be honest.” “You can change here if you want.”

Fliss paused, she had a spare change of clothes in her car. Well, a pair of sweats and a different polo shirt. She normally kept them there just in case of a downpour.

“Erm, sure, if you don’t mind…” “No of course not.”

“Alright, then, I’ll see you in about two hours or so?” Fliss smiled.

“Great.” Frank replied “See you soon.” ******

Fliss didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door to the apartment and was immediately barrelled into by a flurry of blonde hair.

“Hey!” she chuckled, dropping her bag. “Wanna let me get inside first Stack?”

Mary stepped back and Fliss straightened up and smiled as Frank walked into the kitchen.

“Hey, Beautiful.” he smiled, dropping a kiss to her lips. Mary sidled off into the main room, a smirk on her face.

“I stink.” Fliss warned “I mucked out twelve stables today.”

“Yeah, you’ve smelt better!” Frank laughed as she snorted. “You know where the bathroom is. Fresh towels in there. You need anything out of this or…” He gestured to her bag, as he went to pick it up.

“It’s just my clothes so…”

“I’ll put it in my room.” He smiled, giving her another kiss. “I would offer to come scrub your back but…” he inclined his head to the main room and Fliss gave a snort.

“Calm down, Sailor” she teased “Plenty of time for that later.”

“Promises, promises.” He grinned, picking her bag up and heading through to his room. He dropped her bag onto his bed, glancing round. He’d attempted to tidy a little bit after the realisation she’d actually never been in his room before. After their night together the previous week they hadn’t managed another night alone, Fliss being a little ‘uncomfortable’ at being together like that when Mary was literally outside the door and to be honest, it wasn’t something Frank was particularly happy about either. It had never bothered him before, because Mary was never there when he brought a girl home but this was different. That said, he knew he was going to have to find somewhere bigger soon, Greg had warned him it would likely be a condition of him being awarded Guardianship. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t concerning him a bit, living pay-check to pay-check didn’t leave him a huge housing budge but he’d work something out, he always did.

Pushing the worry from his mind, he closed the bedroom door and headed back into the room. Mary was sat on the rug looking at the instructions to the new lego kit he had bought her for Thanksgiving.

“Sussed it out yet Stack?” He asked and she gave him a withering look. He bit back the laugh that was bubbling in his throat and sat next to her, taking from her, trying to figure the instructions out to make the Storm Trooper helmet, Star Wars being her latest obsession.

“That’s upside down…” She rolled her eyes, taking it from him to turn it the right way up.

“My bad.” He shrugged, looking at it again. “Ok, so…this piece…and we need one of these…” Together they began to pull together the elements they needed for the first section and the next time Frank looked up was when Fliss walked into the living area, a little shyly, wrapped in a towel. Her long, auburn hair was piled up on top of her head and her shoulders were speckled with water. She smiled as she padded past to his bedroom, Mary not even looking up as Frank watched her with his eyes as she closed the door behind her, giving him another smile. There was something so simple, so domestic about the situation, Frank couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his chest.

Roberta was right, he definitely had it bad.

“When we gonna give Fliss her present?” Mary asked, looking up at Frank.

“After dinner.” He said “Which reminds me, best turn the oven on.”

“Would be a start.” Mary agreed.

Frank rolled his eyes and stood up, heading into the kitchen. Shoving the stuff in the oven, he returned and found Fliss was now sat with Mary who was showing her the instructions.

“I LOVE Star Wars.” Fliss grinned, “So does my Dad. He has a Cinema Room in the house upstairs and a poster from every single Star Wars film on the wall. I’ll show you later tonight.” “A Cinema Room?” Mary asked. “Like, with a huge screen?” “Yeah. It’s pretty cool. When I finally get round to buying a house I’m gonna build one too.” “Do you think I could watch something in there tonight?”

“Mary,” Frank started to warn her but Fliss smiled.

“Frank it’s okay.” she said. “And yeah, course you can. If you have a favourite DVD we can take that or you can pick. We have loads on the hard-drive and Sky.”

It wasn’t long before they were sat round the small kitchen table which had been pulled into the living room to allow them more room. Frank and Mary both showed Fliss their favourite thing to eat in the world- Chicken Nugget Sandwiches. After a sceptical look, Fliss leaned over to take a bite of Frank’s as he offered it and gave a small laugh announcing that it was actually pretty good. After a large slice of Chocolate cake each that had been made for them by Roberta, they collapsed onto the sofa, Mary once more on the rug, Fliss groaning about the “food baby” she was growing, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Hey Frank?” Mary looked at him. “Is it time now?”

It took Frank a moment and then he realised what Mary was talking about. “Oh, yeah, hang on…”

He hopped off the sofa and headed into his bedroom, pulling the small gift bag from his dresser. He walked back into the living room and sat back down, shyly handing it to her.

“You got me a gift?” Fliss’ eyes went wide.

“Yeah.” Frank shrugged.

“You really shouldn’t have…” Fliss looked at him. “I didn’t get you two anything…” “That’s not the point of giving a gift.”  Mary looked at her sternly. “You don’t give to receive, right Frank?”

“Right.” Frank nodded, leaning back on the sofa, looking at Fliss “And I wanted to…” he gestured between him and Mary where she was sat, Fred crawling into her lap, “…we wanted to, say thank you for everything over the last few months.” Fliss smiled at him and then Frank saw a childish excitement cross her face “Can I open it now?” He nodded, glad she was going to as he wanted to see her face when she did.

With delicate fingers she gently undid the ribbon that the woman at the store had wrapped it with and her mouth dropped open when she saw the white box which was emblazoned with the Pandora name and logo

“Frank,” she looked at him, before she opened the box and stared at the contents. She blinked before her hand gently covered her mouth as she saw the silver charm bracelet that was inside.

“I thought it was time you started a new one, for new memories.” He said gently as she reached into the box and took out the bracelet which held a single charm in the shape of a boat.

Fliss swallowed, and her eyes filled with tears. “I…” She took a deep breath and Frank frowned as he saw her struggling for composure.

“Hey,” he said, turning sideways on the sofa. His hand gently rubbed up her arm and she fell into him, pressing her face to his chest as he wrapped his arms round her.

“You made Fliss cry. On Thanksgiving.” Mary deadpanned, throwing a ping pong ball for Fred.

“Why don’t you go do that outside?” Frank asked. “Stay on the step.” Mary shrugged and stood up, doing as she was told.

“You ok?” He asked Fliss softly as his hands rubbed at her back. He placed a kiss to the top of her head and she nodded taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, that was…” she sat back, wiping her eyes. “Absolutely fucking ridiculous…”

“You do like it right?” he asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous.

“Baby, I love it.” She smiled at him, and he felt his chest swell not only at the fact she liked the gift, but that was the first time she’d used that particular pet name, and he kinda liked it. “I just, well, I can’t believe you remembered about my bracelets.”

He shrugged as she reached out to gently cup his cheek.

“Thank you.” she smiled softly, leaning over to kiss him. He happily leaned into the kiss, his tongue snaking into her mouth, sliding against hers as she met him movement for movement before there was a light cough and Frank groaned, resting his forehead against Fliss’ as he turned to look at Mary.

“What?”

“Need another ping pong ball. The last one flew under Roberta’s BBQ and I aint going under there…spiders and stuff.” She headed to the box at the back of the room, dug in and retrieved a net of ping pong balls, digging one out.

“Wanna go outside?” Frank asked and Fliss nodded. He stood up and held out his hand, pulling her up with him and they headed out after Mary.

A little while later, after a game of tag on the lawn which resulted in both the girls tackling Frank to the floor in a huge tickle fight, Fliss noting that he was ridiculously ticklish and filing it for future reference, they headed back inside, grabbed their things and after an almost tantrum from Mary who wanted to bring Fred and Frank refusing, they headed off in Fliss’ jeep for the yard to do the final checks for the evening. They were just about to head up to the field to make sure all the horses were settled and the waters were topped up when Bill walked onto the yard.

“Shouldn’t you be with mum getting stuff ready for the party?” Fliss frowned at her Dad, surprised to see him.

“Are you joking!” Bill scoffed “You know what she’s like.” He coughed and then put on a light, airey voice “Bill, those champagne flutes are grouped in threes, not fours. No, those plates don’t go there, they go there. What are you doing with that cheeseboard, the grapes go in the middle…”

Frank felt his eyebrow raise slightly as Fliss laughed. Champagne, cheeseboards? This was not the type of party he was used to, at all.

“Oh don’t worry.” Fliss clocked his face. “It descends into debauchery and chaos after about an hour, mum just likes to play the part of hostess with the mostess…”

“I like cheese.” Mary piped up.

“Good, we got plenty of it.” Bill said. “But, anyway, I dropped by for a reason. I picked something up earlier this afternoon that I think you might like.”

“Me?” Fliss frowned, but before she could say anything else Frank’s attention was taken by a man who was walking down the side of the barn. He slightly taller than Frank, quite stocky and had a shock of dark brown hair and looked ridiculously like Bill. Fliss gave a little shriek and ran towards the man, throwing herself into his arms as he laughed, twirling her round slightly before he dropped her to the floor.

“That’s her brother.” Mary supplied and Frank gave her a look.

“Yeah I kinda figured that.” He rolled his eyes. “How do you know anyway?”

“Saw a photo of him.” Mary shrugged.

Frank turned his attention back to the two siblings and Fliss was now looking between her father and her brother, confusion on her face. “What, I mean, how, why are you here?”

“In New York for a stag do on Saturday.” Steve replied “Thought I’d take the chance and pop down here for a day or so.”

“Does Mum know you’re here?” she asked.

“Yeah, she does now.” he laughed “There were a few tears when I rocked up.” “Frank made Fliss cry before.” Mary said, and all attention turned to Frank who hung his head and let out an audible groan.

“Seriously?” He looked at her as Fliss burst out laughing.

“Because I was happy.” She said, shaking her head “He bought me a new Pandora.” Frank didn’t miss the exchange of looks between father and son, both wearing identical expressions of surprise which morphed into soft smiles as Fliss moved and slid under Frank’s arm.

“Frankie, this is my brother Steve.” she smiled, as Steve stepped forward, holding his hand out. “Or Steeb, Steeby…whatever you want to call him.” “Nice to meet you.” Frank smiled as Steve shook his hand, his grip firm.

“Likewise.” Steve smiled “Heard a lot about you.” He then turned to his left and looked down “And you must be Mary.” “Yup,” She smiled, looking at him “Did you bring your kids?”

“Mary.” Frank warned gently as he looked at her, shaking his head.

“What?” She asked, “I was just asking a question. I wanted to meet them.” “No, not this time.” Steve smiled “Just a flying visit. But they’re coming over for Christmas so I’ve no doubt you’ll get to see them then.” He straightened up and smiled at Fliss. “Where’s that grumpy ginger Nag?” Fliss narrowed her eyes “Don’t you talk about Heidi like that. She’s in the top field.”

“I thought he was talking about V.”  Bill mumbled to Frank who gave a snort, and then looked at the man, the pair of them bursting into laughter. By the time they had composed themselves, Steve and Fliss were stood, watching the pair of them, hands on their hips in almost identical poses.

“They do this all the time.” Fliss shook her head. “Come on, I’ll take you to see H. I was on my way up to check them all anyway. You coming Stack?” she looked at Mary. Mary grinned and ran forward, linking her hand into Fliss’.

Frank miss the eyebrow raised on Steve’s face, before the man smiled softly, dropping an arm round Fliss’ shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

*****

Fliss changed quickly when they were home into a pair of jeans, a strappy top and a pair of sandals before the three of them walked over to the house after another near argument about getting Mary to leave the bucket of lego she had brought with her in the annex, which Fliss cleverly managed to avoid with the mention of the Cinema Room.

The house was busy, not packed but busy, and there was no way Frank was going to remember everyone’s names. But he smiled and shook hands as Bill introduced him to people, and he was surprised to find he felt at ease. Most of the people were older than him and Fliss, bar her brother of course, and it was a different circle and class of people he would normally mix with but he certainly didn’t feel like any of them were looking down at him, a stark contrast to how he used to feel at his Mother’s parties.

Well, they weren’t really parties, more like a gathering which rich snobs used to brag to other rich snobs about how much money they had.

“And this is Mike, Martin and Keith.” Bill said, nodding to the final three men, one of whom was giving Fliss a hug.

“You look great!” She beamed at him “How much weight have you lost now?” “40lb.” the man called Keith nodded and Fliss grinned.

“That’s awesome.”

“All down to the golf.” He smiled, gesturing to Mike, Martin and Bill “These guys drag me up there regularly enough.” “Frank hates golf.” Mary said. “Says it ruins a good walk.”

There was a pause as Frank groaned, wanting the ground to open and swallow him. He glared at Mary who looked at him, frowning.

“What?” She asked as Bill suddenly began to roar with laughter, the other men joining in.

Frank shook his head and looked round. “It’s just not my thing…”he said, by means of an explanation. “I prefer playing basket ball or baseball.”

“Each to their own.” The man called Martin beamed. “To be honest when I was your age I hated it too. Was far more into drinking and women.” “Frank likes that too.” Mary said, and Frank then really did give her a look.

“Shut up.” He said, but of course she didn’t as the men continued to laugh.

“Although I’m glad he finally got together with Fliss, because she’s my favourite. Miss Stevenson would not have been a good choice.” Frank groaned again and he felt Fliss beginning to chuckle besides him.

“Miss Stevenson?” Bill asked.

“We don’t need to hear about that…” Frank said, his neck growing hot.

“She’s my teacher.” Mary nodded “She stayed at our house one night. I wasn’t supposed to be there but I saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing Frank’s sheets and…” “Ok, Mary, why don’t we go and see the Cinema Room.” Fliss hastily cut her off as the three men were now all howling with laughter.

“Oh, okay.” she shrugged, before she pondered something “Why was she in your sheets Frank, and not in a towel like Lissy was before?”

At that Bill arched an eyebrow and Fliss felt her cheeks grow warm “I had a shower, I’d mucked twelve stabled out.” There was a pause before she recovered and steered Mary out of the room.

Frank grimaced and looked back round as Bill patted him on the shoulder, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes. “I bloody love that kid.”

“She’s yours if you want her.” Frank said. “I could gift-wrap her for you. Just say goodbye to your private life being private.”

Thankfully the Cinema Room kept Mary out of the way, especially when she had a stash of popcorn, sweets and soda to keep her occupied. For the next few hours Frank stuck mostly by Fliss’ side, talking to people, chatting to her brother a bit about his job and the business he had taken over from Bill, his kids, but Frank got the impression the man was being a little guarded with him. He was polite enough, and wasn’t being rude but he wasn’t overly warm either. But he supposed that was understandable. She was Fliss’ big brother after all.

Mary came down a few hours later and tugged on Fliss’ hand. Fliss went with her and Frank headed into the kitchen to grab himself another beer after being told by Verity to “stop asking and just go get”. He turned round, flipping the lid off, almost bumping into Bill.

“Sorry.” He apologised to the man who smiled at him as he held the fridge door open.

“There’s someone who just arrived that I want you to meet.” Bill said, gesturing for Frank to follow him. With a slight puzzled frown, he did as he was told and wandered through to the large lounge where a number of people were congregated. 

“Frank, this is Alan Maxwell.” Bill introduced a short, stocky white haired man who was wearing a pair of modern thin-rimmed glasses and a cream blazer over a dark polo necked shirt and dark jeans. Frank took him in, noting his outfit probably cost more than Frank’s entire wardrobe.

“Hi.” Frank smiled, shaking his hand “Frank Adler”

“The boat mechanic?” Alan asked.

“Yeah.” Frank looked at him then to Bill, frowning a little.

“Alan’s in the Repair and Retail business.” Bill offered and Frank gave a nod of understanding.

“I own MarineMax in St Pete’s” Alan smiled.

“Oh on Gulfport?” Frank looked at him and Alan nodded.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Frank scratch at the back of his neck “I errr, I applied for a job once but I didn’t have the relevant experience so…” Alan looked at Frank for a moment, “How long you been a mechanic now?”

“Over six and a half years.”

“And you’re freelancing?” Frank nodded.

“Good success rate?”

“Over ninety-eight percent.” Frank said. “I mean, I only do one boat at a time because I’ve been juggling my hours around Mary for the last 7 years but…” he shrugged “I have regulars who come back so I must be doing something right.” “Could you get references?”

“Yeah.” Frank nodded “Pretty sure I could.”

“Hmmmm.” Alan looked at Bill who inclined his head towards Frank with a smile.

“I told you, I’ll vouch for him.” he shrugged “He’s sleeping with my daughter after all.”

“Jesus Bill.” Frank groaned as the two men laughed.

“It’s a compliment” Bill smiled “If I didn’t trust you I wouldn’t let you within three foot of her”

“Thanks, I think.” Frank looked at him taking a drink of his beer.

“Come see me next week.” Alan looked at Frank, pulling a card from his wallet and handing it over “I may have a position you’d be interested in.”

“I errr…” Frank was temporarily sideswiped by the suggestion “I…that would be…”

“I know it will be different to freelance but it’s a full time job, full package of benefits and a negotiable wage plus bonus scheme.” Alan said, “I’m not a huge outfit, but I pay my guys well.” Frank nodded, placing the card in his pocket “I’ll stop by.” “Just give me a call the day before and I’ll make sure I’m around.”

“I will.” Frank nodded. “Thank you.”

Frank made his excuses, realising he hadn’t seen Fliss for a while and headed off looking for her. He moved from room to room, realising there was no sign of her or Mary. He headed into the kitchen and then poked his head out of the large bi-folding doors which led onto the large raised decking area which spanned the length of the house.

“Hey.” Frank spotted Fliss’ brother leaning on the railing, lit cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. “You seen Lissy?”

“She was in the living room last time I saw her.” Steve said chuckling slightly, shaking his head.

Frank frowned at the man’s demeanour and Steve noticed, and smiled. “Sorry, just seems strange. Hearing someone else call her Liss or Lissy other than the family.”

“Yeah, well, I kinda picked it up from Bill and it stuck.” Frank smiled.

“Yeah she doesn’t suit Felicity.” Steve shook his head “Although that’s all he ever fucking called her. Apparently nicknames were deemed too common.” “Yeah well, he’s a dick.” Frank shrugged

“No arguments here.” Steve looked at Frank. Frank watched as the man studied him for a second, clearly thinking about something before he returned to leaning on the rail of the decking, looking down over the huge garden area as he took a final drag from the cigarette, before stubbing it out in the fire bucket to his right.

“Okay,” Frank stepped outside, “let’s have it.” “Have what?” Steve asked, looking at him.

“The big brother lecture. The one where you threaten to rip my head off if I hurt your sister.” Frank said as Steve gave a huff of a laugh.

“Well, rest assured I will.” Steve looked at Frank as he too leaned on the railings. “But Dad says you’re a good bloke so, that’ll do for me.” Frank nodded and took a pull of his beer. “I have no intention of hurting her, in anyway.” he said, his voice loaded with meaning and Steve sighed.

“I know.” he said gently “I just, well, I worry.” “Understandable.” Frank nodded, and it was. He got it, he really did.

“I hated that fucker.” Steve shook his head, “right from the start. Smarmy assed, stuck up Yank. Sorry, no offence.” Frank laughed “Non-taken.” he waved Steve’s apology away.

“I know she’s only actually my step-sister but well she was only two when I met her and…”

“Blood doesn’t make you family.” Frank nodded. “If you ever meet my mother you’ll realise that.” “Yeah, Fliss wasn’t very complementary of her.” Steve snorted.

“She called her a cold hearted bitch to her face.” Frank raised an eyebrow as Steve laughed.

“I shouldn’t be pleased at that.” Steve smiled. “But not long ago she wouldn’t have been brave enough to be that outgoing.” “Oh she certainly isn’t backwards in coming forwards.” Frank shook his head

“Something he managed to suck out of her.” Steve sighed.

“You know, I’d love to get that fucker alone in a room” Frank glowered. “Five minutes, that’s all I’d need.” “Get in line.” Steve shrugged, “Behind me and dad.” “Yeah, Fliss said something about there being a queue.”

“The day she said she was moving to Boston to be with him full time, it was the worst day of my life. And Mum and Dad’s” Steve took another drink. “But we knew if we tried to stop her it would give him the perfect excuse to turn her against us. So what could we do but support it?” He hung his head slightly and Frank’s brow furrowed at the man’s open display of vulnerability

“I wish we’d done more, you know, anything, but we didn’t know how bad things had got. Not that he was hurting her, not like that.” “None of it was your fault.” Frank looked at him. “Or your parent’s. Or Fliss’”

“No, I know that but it doesn’t stop any of us feeling guilty.” Steve sighed. “But, anyway, it’s in the past now. That is until he goes for parole, which he will.” Frank shrugged “We’ll greet that when it happens.”

“Yeah?” Steve looked at him. “You ready for all that? Because I guarantee what she’s told you, well it won’t even scratch the surface, Frank.”

“Are you asking me if I’m gonna bail when the going gets tough?”

“Suppose I am, yeah.” Steve looked at him.

Frank took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, quelling the frustration that was brewing at the man’s questioning, reminding himself that he had a right to worry, a right to be concerned. He’d feel the same if it was Diane in this position.

“Look, Steve, I know she hasn’t told me everything. And I’m not gonna push her to either. It isn’t important to me to know every sordid little detail of what that cunt did to her. What is important is that she’s happy with me, and that she feels safe and knows that I’d never hurt her like that and I sure as hell won’t abandon her when the road gets a little bumpy. She was there for me through a very bad time recently and, well…” Frank shrugged, “even if we decide that what we have isn’t working I’d still be by her side.”

Steve’s face remained passive for a second before it split into a grin “I don’t think there’s any worry about that, Frank. From what I’ve seen this afternoon and this evening, Lissy’s besotted. In fact, I’ve never seen her like this before.” Frank felt his cheeks flush a little and he looked down “Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something else but they were interrupted.

“My ears burning?” Fliss asked, eyeing the two men up.

“I was just making sure his intentions are honourable.” Fliss rolled her eyes with a snort “his intentions are honourable? What are you, like ninety?”

Steve shrugged “No, but I’m three years older than you and still your big brother Titch.” “Whatever, Steeby.” She moved over to where Frank was stood and slid under his arm. “Quit with the 3rd degree or I’ll tell Mum you’ve been smoking.”

“You wouldn’t!” he said in mock horror as she raised an eyebrow. Steve turned to Frank and raised his eyebrow, jerking his head towards his sister “Sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?”

Frank laughed “her bark is worse than her bite…owww!” he said, as she nipped his arm.

“Sure it is.” Steve winked as h pushed himself off the railing and headed inside.

“Was he being an ass hole?” Fliss watched him go before she turned to Frank and he chuckled, pulling her closer.

“No,not at all.” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips “Where’s Mary?”

“With Dad in the living room with the guys from the golf club.” she said, shrugging.

“No doubt revealing more of my dark secrets.” Frank groaned.

Fliss laughed “Nah, she’s got her lego. Bill and her will have some kind of building contest going on no doubt.”

“I told her to leave those in the annex.” Frank shook his head. “She did. I took her to get them.” Fliss shrugged

“Seriously?” Frank looked at her, rolling his eyes.

“What? She was bored and wanted something to do.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” he said, his arms circling her and she grinned as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“Hush, Sailor, you love it.” she smirked against his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” he muttered, pulling her closer for a deeper kiss.

******

It was about midnight when the party started filtering out. Mary was crashed out on one of the sofas so Frank suggested they call it a night and Fliss, feeling the effects of a fair amount of alcohol, agreed. They made their goodbyes and Frank easily scooped Mary up and the three of them made their way, a little slower than usual, to the annex.

Once they’d roused Mary and she’d changed for bed Frank tucked her in, in the bed in the spare room and she was flat out before he even closed the door. He headed into Fliss’ room and laughed as she was led on the bed with her legs over the edge, feet flat on the floor. She was wearing just her bra and jeans, and her arm was bent over her eyes.

“My jeans are too tight.” she said.

“What?” Frank laughed.

“I can’t be bothered to take them off.” She leant up on her elbows and ginned at him “Wanna help me out Sailor?”

“Happily.” he grinned, and moved towards her but she stopped him.

“Ah ah.” she pointed to his polo-shirt. “Off.” With an arch of his eyebrow he reached back and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling it over his head. “Better?”

“Yup.” she nodded as he moved towards her, gently dropping down and undoing her jeans. With a tug he pulled them down over her thighs, his hands softly tracing up her skin as she sighed, before his lips met hers.

“You were a hit in there.” she smiled gently, her fingers tracing the muscles on his arms as he propped himself up over her.

“Yeah?” he asked, gently shifting so that she moved with him, laying further up the bed.

She nodded. “Charmed the pants off all the posh bastards you did, Adler.” “There’s only one person I’m interested in charming the pants off.” He quipped and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Smooth.” “Is it working?”

She glanced down. “Nope, they’re still on.”

“Guess I’ll have to use my hands then.” He said, and with a quick move down he slid them over her ankles and gently pressed his lips to her knee, trailing soft kisses up the inside of her leg, nipping at the inside of her thigh. Fliss gave a soft sigh as he moved, his short beard scratching at her skin as he moved, her hands fisting in the sheets. When he reached his target he gently placed a long lick up her entrance. Instinctively, one of her hands fisted in his hair before she hastily moved it and Frank paused, reaching up, and placing it back where it had been.

“I like it.” He peeked up at her, a cheeky look on his face before he dropped his head back down and Fliss’s head fell back against her pillow as she gave a shaky moan.

She couldn’t remember the last time a man had gone down on her. John had certainly never done it, making it clear from the start he found it disgusting, but still happy to shove his dick in her mouth when he wanted a blow. But Frank ate her out like a man starved, moving his mouth as he paid attention to how her body reacted and when he found her spot, she gave a cry, her back arching off the bed, and she felt him double his efforts, his lips and tongue teasing her, in a delectable way. Pleasure lanced through her entire body, the heat rising from her very toes and as she felt her orgasm rising her fingers tightened on his hair and he gave a low moan at her touch, which vibrated through his mouth right against her clit and that was it. Her hips bucked upwards as she came, hard, her knees tightened slightly around his head, her arm flying to her mouth to stifle her loud moan.

Working her through her release, Frank moved back, stripping off the remainder of his clothes before he crawled up her body again, kissing his way up from her naval to her chest. She arched her back and he reached around to unhook her bra before he set his attention to her breasts. Fuck, he could listen to the noises and whimpers she was making all day but after a week he was aching for her.

“You got any…” he started to ask softly and she nodded, her hand gesturing to her bedside table. He paused and pulled open the drawer, and had to smirk as he saw the new, full packet of condoms in there. Pulling one out he opened it, whilst Fliss gently gave his dick a stroke causing him to hiss slightly, his fingers fumbling on the foil and she grinned.

“Something distracting you, Sailor?” “You know damned well what’s distracting me.” His voice was almost a growl as her hand moved over his whilst he rolled the latex down.

Her giggle turned to a moan as he buried himself inside her, his entire body feeling coiled like a spring, and his thrusts began slow, and deep before soon she was begging for more and he picked up the pace, each movement rolling against her spot, causing her to breathlessly whisper his name as he buried his face into her neck, nipping and biting at that spot that drove her wild. At some point she moved, gently pushing on his shoulders, and he understood, rolling onto his back. She straddled him, pulling her long hair over one shoulder as she leaned down to draw him into a deep, sultry kiss before she sank down onto him, taking him in.

“Fuck, Lissy,” he said, his hands gently gripping her hips as she began to move, rolling her pelvis, “God you feel so good.” She preened at his praise, yup, she definitely had a praise kink, and her pace quickened as she leaned forward again to kiss him, a moan falling from her mouth as he raised his hips to meet hers, his fingers tightening on her hips. Frank looked up at her, her mouth slack, lips plump, freckles still visible in the soft light from the outside lights, breasts bouncing softly as she moved.

“So beautiful.” He whispered, sitting up and she cried out at the change of depth as he pulled her close, thrusting up into her.

“Frankie, I’m…” and with a low whine her head tipped back as her release washed over her for the second time that night, a slow, deep burn which left her slack in his arms, as she collapsed forward. After a few more desperate thrusts he was right behind her, clinging to her, his face buried into her shoulder, his own groans stifled in her skin.

They stayed like that for a little while, both recovering, hands softly dancing over skin before he leaned up to give her a soft kiss.

“Thank you.” She whispered and he pulled back, frowning a little.

“What for?”

“For making me feel good. For making me feel wanted.” She swallowed, tears filling her eyes and Frank let out a sigh, his arms curling round her, pulling her close, his own chest tightening at her words as he understood instantly that it was clearly something she wasn’t used to.

“You deserve it.” He spoke softly, , “Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

She moved back, her hands cupping his cheeks as she gave him another deep kiss, her lips curling into a smile and Frank smiled back, before he kissed her again.  

***** Frank woke the next morning and, as he blinked, he realised he was alone. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, and could hear soft voices from elsewhere in the annex. Grabbing his phone he looked down and with a start realised it was past ten.  Running a hand over his face, he climbed out of bed, grabbed his bag and retrieved a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt before retrieving his jeans which were now folded and placed over the back of the chair by Fliss’ vanity unit. After sorting himself in the bathroom he made his way downstairs and found Fliss and Mary sat outside in the small yard, an array of breakfast items on the table. Fliss long hair was pulled into a messy pony tail and she was wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of denim jeans. Even like that she looked effortlessly gorgeous.

“Morning.” He greeted, stepping out onto the decking and Fliss smiled at him.

“Hey.” She smiled, accepting the kiss he dropped onto her cheek before he sat down next to her. “Sleep well.”

“Hmmm I was tired for some reason.” He quipped, causing her to grin.

“Fliss says I can go ride Monty today.” Mary looked at Frank. “Is that ok?”

“It’s not your week for a lesson.” Frank spoke.“And it’s Friday.”

“It’s ok.” Fliss smiled. “The riding school is shut. Joanne’s done the morning shift so we can just go up this afternoon. I need to work Cap and Bronson but she can ride if she wants.” “Please.” Mary looked at Frank who sighed.

“I’ve gotta nip to the boat yard.” he looked at her. “Got some guy who needs a motor looking at and I said I’d meet him today.” “I don’t wanna go to the boat yard.”  Mary pouted.

“It’s okay, she can come with me.” Fliss offered “I don’t mind, honestly.”

Frank hesitated, he didn’t want Fliss to think she was obliged to take Mary. He knew that the pair of them came as a package but still.

“You sure?” Frank asked. “Roberta would normally take her but she’s not back until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, its fine.” Fliss nodded “She can help me and Joanne.”

“Okay then, yeah, you can go.”

Mary grinned and turned her attention back to her book.

“You want breakfast?” Fliss asked, moving to stand.

“I’ll get it. You stay there.” Frank offered, but Mary suddenly jumped up.

“No it’s okay, we made you something special…” With that she shot into the kitchen.

“Special?” Frank looked at Fliss, and she grinned as his lips met hers.

“Yeah.” she nodded to Mary who emerged from the kitchen, giggling. Frank gave a snort of a laugh and shook his head as she thrust the box of Special K into his hands.

“Thanks…” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

**** Chapter 12

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 62 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: The assistant gossip network continued to do its thing, while Courtney lived her best life, Sutan offered Violet some wardrobe assistance, and Bianca planned a coming out.

This Chapter: The Galactica Holiday Party has arrived, and not everyone is prepared...

***

“Remember to find your light!”

Gigi turned her head, trying as hard as she could not to squeeze her eyes shut, the studio lights blinding.

“I said find it, not stare into the sun!”

Gigi blushed and moved her head again, doing her best to try and follow the instructions Sutan kept giving her.

They were in a photo studio in the Bronx, Gigi to get her first pictures for her portfolio taken, while Symone had practiced how to shoot in swimwear, her friend now waiting with her phone for Gigi to finish up.

Gigi had watched Symone move around, completely enthralled by how elegant the other model already was, Sutan barely correcting her.

“Straighten your back!” Gigi did as she was told, a pair of black jeans hugging her body, the long sleeved black shirt she was wearing clinging to her arms.

“Excuse me...” The photographer, who had introduced herself as Widow, looked out from behind her camera, “can I do my job in peace?” Widow smiled even though her tone was clearly sassy, her teeth blindingly white, her black box braids collected in a high bun. She was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans, big red earrings hanging from her ears.

“You know what I hired you for,” Sutan smiled back, and Widow rolled her eyes, making Gigi giggle.

“Yes sir, right away sir,” Widow teased.

“Don’t give the models any ideas with your attitude.” Sutan grinned, his sleeves rolled up around his elbows, refocusing on Gigi who had tried to hold the position he had asked for.

“No, not like, you have to be more.” Sutan moved his shoulders, and Gigi tried to copy it. She knew they were doing this shoot so she could get an idea of what she looked like, so she could train what Sutan called her inner photographer, but it was really difficult.

“No, still not right.” Sutan stepped on the set, getting next to Gigi, the scent of his cologne instantly catching her nose. “Your strength is in your lines Gigi, so you have to stand tall. Use those legs of yours,” He smiled, tapping his own left leg and moving it forward, mirroring what Gigi hoped she was doing. “Try this.”

Gigi moved her leg to copy Sutan, her entire center of balance shifting.

“There we go!” Sutan grinned. “Good job. Now hold it, and find your light.”

***

Violet tried to turn to the side, watching her profile in the big mirror on the back wall of the dressing room.

Her and Sutan had each been swept up by a personal shopper the moment they stepped inside Barney’s, Violet whisked away to the woman's clothes department where everything was outrageously expensive and completely new.

Violet was wearing a beautiful red dress, the hemline just off the floor, her cast barely visible if she stood completely still, which suited her perfectly well.

Violet had every plan to get to the Christmas party, sit down, and then hopefully not move again for the rest of the night, Jovan’s offer of bedazzling her crutches still making her shiver.

“So, what do we think?” Violet’s shopper smiled, the woman standing behind her, her pile of rejected dresses four times the size of the approved ones for the upcoming events, but she couldn’t help being extremely critical, not when everything was so stupidly expensive.

“Well…” Violet looked in the mirror. The dress suited her, even though it didn’t sit snugly at her waist, but that wasn’t something a loose loop stitch couldn’t fix so she could undo it again later and hopefully keep the dress longer. It hadn’t been Violet’s intention to lose weight, and if she was being honest, she had actually expected to gain with a broken foot, but it seemed like that hadn’t been the case, her appetite even worse than usual, her pain killers often making it feel like she had knives stabbing her stomach.

“I’ll take it.”

Violet knew that the dress would be approved by Fame, and loved by Sutan, the low neckline and the opportunity for matching underwear always a treat.

***

“Kat? Are you gonna be okay?” Trixie asked, voice soft.

They were sitting in a little cafe across from her doctor’s office. They’d just gotten the official news - she was pregnant, no doubt about it. She’d put on a transparently false, cheerful face while they were there but barely said two words since they’d left, a croissant and mango smoothie sitting in front of her, untouched.

According to the doctor’s best estimate, she was 14 weeks along, which already limited their options, a fairly invasive procedure now the only way to go if they didn’t want the baby.

She looked at him, blue eyes clear, and said, “I don’t know.”

Trixie nodded, taking her hand in his and holding it lightly. He didn’t want to push her too much, could tell that she was in a fragile state of mind.

“Well...I’m here if there’s anything…Anything I can do.”

“Got a flask on you?” she asked drily, then closed her eyes, immediately chagrined. “I’m sorry, that’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny, babe.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, the two of them sitting side by side, their fingers intertwined.

***

Roxy looked up as Courtney rounded the corner from Miss Fame’s office, flashing her a bright smile. She had just gotten yet another delivery--Roxy was fast becoming BFFs with Greg, the Marie Claire office runner.

“Hey Rox! Whatcha got for me?”

“Hi, Court,” Roxy said, eyeing her suspiciously before handing over the bag, wondering why she was so perky today.

Courtney looked inside the bag and saw what Roxy had already - a large black velvet jewelry box.

“Open it,” Roxy said, and Courtney pulled it out, peeking inside before snapping it closed again. “Come on, you’re not gonna show me?”

A smile pulled at Courtney’s lips, and she leaned forward onto the reception desk, voice low, saying, “You wanna know something?”

“Yes, of course!” Roxy perked up. Was Courtney finally about to admit to her affair with Bianca Del Rio? It was gonna be a hell of a lot easier once she didn’t have to pretend to be in the dark anymore.

“You know how I said that I’ve been...uh...seeing someone who works at Marie Claire?”

“Yeah…you gonna tell me who?”

“Well, no,” she said, and off Roxy’s annoyed scoff, added, “But...we’re coming to the party tonight...together.”

“Oh really?” Roxy’s eyebrows shot up. This actually was pretty decent information, given the potential shit storm it could cause. The drama of Miss Fame’s assistant dating one of her best friends, and them showing up together to a company event? Absolutely delicious.

“Yeah, so...I guess you’ll find out soon enough,” Courtney said, eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I guess I will,” Roxy agreed, smiling placidly, already typing out a DM to Bob.

***

Fame breathed a sigh of relief as the car pulled up to the hotel she had chosen for the Galactica Christmas Party. The facade was decorated with dripping ice crystals, lights and fake snow making it the winter wonderland she had envisioned. The red carpet had been rolled out, guests already posing for photos and talking to reporters about their clothes, Fame recognizing the signature cameras from E! Network and one of Vogue’s journalists.

She had gotten the confirmation from Shangela that the string quartet had shown up, the musicians hired for the lounge area while the caterers had set up shop in the enchanted forest filled with actual pine trees, the bar carrying a line of gins specifically brewed for the event.

“So,” Patrick lifted an eyebrow, a curious expression on his face. The majority of Fame’s skirt was in her husband's lap since she refused to let the silk anywhere near the bottom of the car. “how are we feeling?”

“Me?” Fame smiled, leaning over to press a kiss against his cheek “Quite content.”

***

“Are you sure I can’t talk you into walking the carpet?”

Sutan looked over at Violet, the two of them on the bottom of the steps leading up to the hotel, Raja and Raven already halfway inside. Raja was in a tight-fitting emerald green suit with a deep cleavage, her hair twisted into a gorgeous updo, while Raven was dressed in a floor length gown in matching green, the two of them looking absolutely stunning together.

“Yes.” The message was clear, and Sutan could feel the tiniest curl of irritation in his stomach. Violet was beyond beautiful, her usually pink nails carefully painted the same red shade as her dress, a tiny purse slung over her shoulders, her black hair curled and spilling over her shoulders and back, her posture perfect even though she was leaning on her crutch, only one of them allowed to come along.

He wanted those pictures of them together, even if it was selfish.

“Lovely eyes-”

“I said no.” Violet’s tone left no room for argument, and Sutan pressed his lips together, taking a deep breath through his nose not to let his irritation win out.

“Sutan,” Violet reached out, gently touching his arm. “This isn’t a you issue, it’s a me issue. I’d love to go up there and be on your arm like a dainty little princess or trophy-”

“What?” Sutan raised an eyebrow. He had never thought of Violet as a princess, or even dainty, the muscles he knew she had and the iron will he had seen her possess over and over again so much more attractive than any trophy girlfriend could be. “That’s not what-”

“I know,” Violet squeezed, underlining her words, “But I’d honestly rather jump into traffic than talk to a single one of those reporters, and risk showing up in any of their publications.”

Sutan snorted, Violet’s dark sense of humor as always getting to him. He knew it also had to do with her relationship to her family, Violet’s choked hospital confession still rumbling around in his head, what little he had managed to piece together telling its clear story of a gossip magazine-obsessed mother, his girlfriend posing for his own mothers old canon camera at Thanksgiving without any issues.

“Okay, but promise me,” Sutan took a step, bringing them closer, his hand finding it’s now familiar place on Violet’s waist, “that I can get one soon.”

“A photo?” Violet raised an eyebrow, their hips almost touching, her free hand on his chest.

“Mmh, just for the two of us.”

“I’ll consider it,” Violet smiled, her fingers gently rearranging his tie, making sure it was sitting completely straight. “If you promise me that we can get a cab home.”

“A cab?” They had arrived with Raja and Raven, a driver coming back to pick all four of them up at the end of the night, “Why?”

“Because you, Mr. Amrull, look fucking fantastic tonight,” Violet looked up at him, a smirk on her lips, “and I wanna make out in the backseat.”

*

“You ready?” Bianca asked, looking over at Courtney as their car pulled up to the curb.

Courtney glanced outside, where a crowd of photographers and reporters were gathered, stomach seizing with the reality of what she was about to do, wondering if it was a mistake. Even walking the carpet with Bianca instead of taking the normal entrance with the rest of the support staff suddenly seemed audacious.

“No,” she admitted, looking back at Bianca apologetically. “I’m sorry, I-”

“Would it help if I told you how absolutely gorgeous you look?” Bianca asked, reaching out to take her hand.

Her outfit for the night was probably the most conservative of all the dresses Dan had pulled for her - a black dress--low cut, but not in a slutty way with a little bow at the front and full circle skirt, paired with a pair of Bianca’s beautiful multicolored Louboutins and simple, classy jewelry--including a glamorous strand of pink pearls that Bianca had sent over earlier in the day.

In spite of her nerves, Courtney couldn’t help but smile a little at the compliment, proud of the care she’d taken with her hair and makeup, hoping to make Bianca proud. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and responded with a cheeky, “Look who’s talking…”

Bianca grinned, and Courtney was once again struck by how fantastic she looked, in a red silk organza cocktail dress, the floaty feminine fabric accentuating her curves perfectly, a deep v-neck giving the perfect peek at her cleavage.

“What if we just stayed in the car for awhile?” Courtney suggested, fluttering her lashes.

“I promise to make it worth your while later, angel.” Bianca squeezed her hand, pulling her in close. “But right now, I’m pretty excited to show you off. So whaddaya say?”

Courtney took a deep breath, the churning in her stomach now a combination of nerves and excitement.

“Okay.”

Bianca signalled to the driver, who quickly got out and walked around to open their door.

“Here we go…” Bianca gave her hand one final squeeze and got out, giving the flashing cameras a polite wave before reaching back in to help her out.

Courtney’s mind was a mess. She suddenly had so many concurrent anxieties, like tripping on the carpet, or being dragged to filth by come gossip rag, or, given how lightheaded she now felt, fainting, here in front of all these people. She tried to steady herself, and Bianca’s arm slid securely around her waist.

“I’ve got you, don’t worry. You look amazing,” Bianca murmured in her ear.

Bianca led her down the carpet--a true professional, posing and smiling, calmly directing Courtney so that she knew where to stand and where to look, chatting jovially with reporters.

“Who’s your date, Bianca?” one of them asked boldly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Bianca joked back. They’d discussed this ahead of time - better to keep Courtney’s name out of things for the moment, given her job title. Courtney understood, and agreed, and was even a bit relieved. For now, on gossip sites and fashion blogs, she’d just be ‘BDR’s latest blonde,’ and she was very much okay with that. After all, the people that mattered to both of them would know, and that’s what she cared about.

“Well, is it serious?” another piped up.

“You tell me,” Bianca said, and then Courtney really thought she might faint, Bianca pressing a sweet kiss to her cheek as about a billion flashbulbs went off in their faces, murmuring, “You’re doing perfectly, angel.”

She turned to Bianca, gazing at her with breathless admiration, feeling like the luckiest girl in the entire world. And then she took Bianca’s face in her hands and impulsively kissed her, right on the mouth, soft but sure. So what if it was only a fling? Courtney didn’t care anymore--she would remember this high for the rest of her life.

Bianca smiled against her mouth and whispered, “Well, that’ll make headlines...”

“Oops,” Courtney whispered back, both of them giggling.

They broke apart, matching grins on their faces as they looked into each other’s eyes, until Bianca turned back to the sea of paparazzi, now in a frenzy, shouting out questions too fast for Courtney to even process the words.

“That’s enough for you demons!” Bianca called, gently pulling Courtney up the steps, giving one last smiling wave at the top, Courtney’s hand still clasped in hers.

*

“Are you done?”

“Nope!”

Raja hid her grin, her shoulder touching Raven’s as they posed for the camera, her fiancée radiating excitement as she chatted and flirted with the photographers.

Raven had always adored the camera, and if there was a journalist behind it, she was practically in love, getting caught by the paparazzi a treat for her each and every time it happened.

Raja didn’t feel the same thrill, didn’t care as much about showing up in gossip magazines and websites since she had gotten more than enough of that in her youth, but she couldn’t be truly upset when it generated so many great pictures, Raven often looking sexy as sin when she got caught leaving the gym.

“Raja! Over here!”

Raja turned her head, the photographer catching her attention, and that was when she saw them, Bianca coming up a little ways behind her.

Seeing Bianca on a red carpet wasn’t strange, but what was frankly bizarre was the familiar blonde at her side.

Raja had expected Fame’s assistant to be somewhere in the crowd, since it was a company party and a big treat for the staff, but what the fuck was she doing on the red carpet? The support staff was supposed to enter the party through the normal pedestrian entrance.

And then, Bianca put her arm around Courtney’s waist, kissing her cheek as she giggled girlishly.

Oh, fuck.

This was not good. Frankly, Raja wasn’t shocked that Bianca had been messing with Courtney, her behavior at the meeting last week making it painfully obvious that she liked her. But this, this was next level.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, Raja witnessed something that made her blood run cold. Courtney grasped Bianca’s face in her hands and kissed her on the lips, causing absolute chaos from the group of paparazzi around them.

“Holy shit.”

“What?” Raven looked up at her, a concerned and confused expression on her beautiful face.

“Wait here.” Raja released Raven, leaving her behind on the carpet, prepared to ambush Bianca the second she got to the doors.

Bianca had done a lot of stupid shit over the years - they all had - and dating bimbos wasn’t a new thing for her, but making out with Fame’s assistant in front of the paparazzi?

That was a new level of braindead, even for her, and Raja had to stop it right now.

*

The moment Bianca stepped off the carpet, she felt someone grab her arm and roughly yank her into the lobby.

“Bianca!” Raja hissed, pulling at her arm. “Come here!”

“Ow!” Bianca laughed at Raja. “Let go of me, you fucking mountain gorilla!”

Just because the woman towered over her was no reason to be intimidated, and it was gonna take a hell of a lot more to bring her down at the moment than Raja looking at her like she was insane.

Beside her, Courtney let out a small gasp, and Raja tried to recover, putting an arm around Bianca’s shoulder and giving Courtney the most sugary-sweet, fakest voice she could manage to say, “Hey there Court, can you give us a minute? I have to chat with Bianca about something important. Great shoes, by the way.”

“Oh...yeah, alright. Um…” Courtney backed away, trying to give them some space. “I’ll just wait over here, then-”

“Perfect!” Raja dragged Bianca to the other end of the lobby, away from any reporters.

“This oughta be good,” Bianca grumbled, though she was still too hyped from the carpet to manage to be truly annoyed.

“What,” Raja pushed Bianca into a corner, inches from her face, her voice filled with venom though her eyes betrayed her geniune concern, “the actual fuck do you think you’re doing, Bianca?!”

“Wanna be more specific?” Bianca asked, tilting her head, an impish smile on her face.

"It's bad enough that you're fucking Fame's assistant, but to parade her around on the red carpet? Without even bothering to give us a heads-up? Are you insane?" Raja’s teeth were clenched, clearly trying to keep her voice down.

"Please. Our relationship has nothing to do with-"

"Relationship? Are you actually calling this a relationship?"

"Yes!" Now, Bianca was starting to get annoyed. Who the fuck did Raja think she was talking to?

"Oy, this is so much worse than I thought,” Raja groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please don't tell me this is why you bailed on the tasting menu."

"So what if I did?"

"Oh god."

"Fuck you!"

"And what did you expect to happen, Bianca? What's your great master plan with this childish stunt?"

“Well...to be honest, I didn’t know she was gonna kiss me on the carpet,” Bianca admitted, a giggle slipping from her lips. “It was kinda cute, did you see?”

“I...am going to slap you.”

“Come on, Raj. I did give this whole thing a little thought.”

“Really? It doesn’t fucking seem like it!”

“Well, I have. Look, I know she’s gonna be pissed, but I also know she’s not gonna cause a scene in the middle of the party. And then after tonight, she’s got almost a full week to cool off before she has to see me again,” Bianca said, punctuating her statement with a charming smile. Bianca was no idiot. Of course she knew that Fame would be irritated, maybe even angry, but she figured that this was a situation where it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. And besides, if she had to endure her friend’s wrath for awhile in exchange for being free to put her relationship with Courtney out into the open, then so be it.

“That’s what you think will happen?” Raja huffed. “Bianca, please, Fame hasn’t seen you guys yet. If we get Courtney out the back door, we can make an alliance with Patrick to get Fame drunk and unplug the wifi tomorrow so she doesn’t go online. It’ll be like it never happened, and we'll never speak of it again.”

“Raj, listen. I know this might be a real clusterfuck, but I’m willing to accept the consequences.”

“Oh jesus help me.” Raja groaned. “I hope she’s worth it, Bianca.” She pulled away, shaking her head. “I really hope she’s worth it.”

As she walked away, Bianca took a deep breath, looking back across the lobby at Courtney, who was doing a terrible job of trying to look casual, the anxiety on her face clear as day. Bianca sent her a big smile, reaching out a hand, and Courtney rushed toward her.

“Was she mad?” she asked, brows creased with worry.

Bianca cupped her face lightly, stroking her cheek, and promised, “Not at you.”

“Okay.” Courtney bit her lip, and Bianca leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“Shall we?” she asked, gesturing to the ballroom.

“Yeah...in a minute…” Courtney said, immediately adding, “I’m sorry.”

“Take your time, angel. There’s no rush,” Bianca promised. “In fact, if you’d rather get out of here and go somewhere else-”

“No, no, no…” Courtney laughed, taking her hand. “I’m fine. Let’s go in.”

[starkergames]

Title: New Years Artists: @lilsoshie (Sketch), @iammagicfishhook (Lineart), @marveling-marvelous (Color) Writer: @darker-soft-starker The years will change and people will change as much as they stay the same. Some changes though, Tony finds, he really doesn’t mind.

Fic below the cut

Some things never change.

Like, being riddled with nerves whilst attending big events. 

Or, the little ticks he’s adopted to mitigate the uneasiness, like bouncing his leg up and down, firing off questions to anyone in earshot like, do you think they’ll have sushi at this thing, I have a craving. 

Or Pepper singing along to whatever is playing on the car ride over, and Morgan answering his inane questions with things like, ew, sushi.

Some things do change, though.

Like, coming back to life after five years of being dead. 

Or being delegated to the backseat next to his daughter, despite the honourable resurrection. Or having his wife remarry in the years following his death. 

You know, typical resurrection things, like realizing that the entire world and everyone you knew has changed. 

Tony’s got a thing about control. Always has. He likes to know, has to know, all of the variables. He thought he knew all of them before he snapped his fingers and prayed to the stones in his gauntlet.

Here’s the thing about infinity stones: they’re sentient. They like balance.

They’re also assholes with a perverted sense of symmetry.

Somehow, perfect balance and perfect symmetry translated into bringing Tony back to life after five years. Or, being suspended in the ether that was neither life, nor death, the holding cell between worlds. 

That was the airy-fairy, hand-wavey way that Strange explained to him. Sparkles and mystery. But Tony doesn’t remember any of it. The not being alive. One moment his heart was giving out, the next he was clawing himself out of the earth. 

That was pleasant.

Emerging dirty and naked to find he’d missed five years of his life was also a barrel of laughs. Missing five years of his daughters growth, finding out his wife had moved on? Hilarious. Best cosmic joke to have happened to him yet.

Though, Tony supposes this is how the recovered Snap victims felt, after. Chasing and chasing the years that were missed, feeling as if they will never be completely caught up.

But that was months ago, his resurrection. Reawakening. Whatever. Seven months and three and a half weeks, if he’s counting. He’d say he isn’t, but he definitely is. 

He’d used the time mostly caught up on the life of his friends and family, shed his tears. He’s lamented Steve, grieved over Natasha all over again. Wondered why the divine equilibrium didn’t include her sacrifice. 

But he’s learned to be okay. He’s living back at the re-built compound with Clint and Wanda and the old-new crowd of super-people that populate the place he used to call home. 

He doesn’t don the suit, hasn’t since he came back, worried that the moment he activates the housing unit that it will all be over, and Morgan will lose her father for the second time. 

He’s a consultant, now, for the new team. Financier. Benefactor. It’s very boring.

“You sure you want to go to this thing,” Tony says again, stretching his legs so his knees hit the driver's seat in front of him, where Peppers’ new husband sits. “You don’t want a quiet one at home? Ring in New Years with the llamas?”

“Morgan wants to go,” Pepper repeats, peering back to smile at her daughter. “Right, sweetpea?”

Beside Tony, Morgan looks up from her hand-held video game and nods vehemently, smiling brightly. Tony feels betrayed by her enthusiasm.

“Are they paying you to say that?” he leans in, whispering close to her ear. “You can tell me Morgasboard, name your price. I’ll beat it.”

His daughter flicks her gaze between her mother and Tony. She leans into her father and whispers loud enough for the entire car to hear, “Uncle Peter is going to be there. I haven’t seen him in forever.”

Tony sighs exaggeratedly, nodding along, even though he knows she saw him two weeks ago. 

“Forever is a long time,” he agrees. 

That was another change that Tony feels weird and wonderful about. 

Somehow, in the time that he was six-feet-under, his former protege had become something akin to family to his daughter. Which, if he’s honest, in the years after the Snap, was the goal, the dream as he skipped through time with the Avengers, the proverbial what if that drove him to say yes that one, final time. 

Happy families, he’d thought. What else could two wayward orphans hope for?

Tony’s at least glad that Peter got that part of the deal. That Morgan got Peter. 

Even if Tony didn’t really have either, after.

“Uncle Peter could go back to the compound or the penthouse with us,” Tony offers, nudging his daughter. “You could ask DUM-E to be your new years kiss.”

“You have a speech scheduled, right, babe?” Peppers husband, Greg, cuts in. He was hired as CFO of SI three years ago and it was heart eyes at first sight, Tony is told. He watches as Greg frees one of his grubby hands from the steering wheel to reach across the console and squeeze her knee.

“Sure do,” Pepper smiles, snaking her hand down to clutch his, squeezing their fingers together. 

Tony’s not jealous. No, really. He’s adjusted, he’s over it. 

But he’s still Tony Stark, so he’s unapologetically petulant. And it’s Pepper, what kind of ex would he be if he didn’t properly field the prospects of the one woman he truly loved?

Feigning a stretch, he kicks his feet out again and jolts the driver's seat, delight welling up when Greg huffs irritatedly. Morgan giggles as if it’s some kind of game, and all the adults pretend that it is to please her. 

The unimpressed stare from his ex-wife caught through the rear-view mirror does little to dampen his satisfaction.

It’s the little wins, Tony thinks, as they pull up to the building, paparazzi huddling around the rope barriers that flank the red carpet, flashes firing through the tinted windows as they come to a stop.

Just because some things change, doesn’t mean he has to.

It’s that mentality that gets him through the dreaded, interminable walk from the car to the ballroom entrance. This is old hat, he tells himself as he waves to the crowd. You could do this with your eyes closed. God, he used to be so good at pretending to care about this kind of crap.

Reporters brandish their network-issued microphones at him, at his family. Fans shoulder against security, all of them yelling out in a cacophony of noise he might call white were it not the sound of his own name, in all of its iterations. 

Although he’d rather make a beeline straight to the ballroom he stops and greets a few fans, shakes a few hands, high-fives a few kids. After a slew of signings and selfies the comparatively calm interior of the ballroom is blissfully welcomed. The quartet supplying tunes in the far corner is a reprieve. 

So is the way that Pepper clutches Greg’s hand and leads him away at the same time Morgan clutches Tony’s. She looks back and says, be good. Tony doesn’t know if she’s directing it to him or their daughter.

Socialites swan around them, but Tony just looks down at his daughter and smiles. He squeezes her tiny fingers.

“You wanna dance, Morgarita?”

Her serious expression turns gleeful as she drags him to the centre of the room to dance without a shred of shyness. 

She’s a lot like she was before he died. Smart and mischievous, cute as a button. But she’s markedly different, caught in that pre-teen phase where she’s gaining modicums of independence. Tony’s getting used to not needing to make all her meals or do her hair for her. He kinda misses it.

Little things. It’s always the little things.

She’s taller now, too. That was a change, to have his daughters head rest against his chest when she hugs him. She’s too tall to be picked up, too proud when Tony offers. So she wraps her arms around his midsection and they sway together on the dancefloor. 

Only a few couples are dancing. The night is still young. But, like anything in high society, it’s all smoke and mirrors. 

Which means most guests are mingling, telling each other how beautiful and fabulous they are, filling the room with so much re-circulated pomp and hot air the room is practically a hotbox.

Of course it’s a business event as much as it is a philanthropic one, so not even Tony can avoid the inevitable schmoozing that comes along with it. When Morgans tired feet demand a break they seek out seats and snacks - and they too, are sought out.

To his ire, associates come and go like a conveyor belt to shake his hand, politicians and socialites thank him for reversing the Snap, the Blip, the Click, the Dusting, all of the stupid names and his daughter is sitting right there, growing more and more morose at each mention of the worst thing that ever happened to her.

So Tony looks down at his daughter, mid conversation with a senator and says, “Hey, sweet child of mine, wanna go to the dessert table?”

She perks up at that and is off like a rocket to the other side of the room where swathes of mouth-watering sweets are spread over an eighteen foot table. 

Tony follows her beeline without saying goodbye to the senator, mentally rubbing his hands together at the grub. He’s sure he will pay for directing his daughter to a trove of sugar and hyperactivity. But desperate times. 

Who is he kidding. He’s going to need all the sweet stimulation he can possibly consume to get through this shit-show himself. 

When he catches up Morgan already has chocolate smeared on her lips. Fancy desserts perch daintily upon gold lined plates, on tiered stands. Thin streams of velvety, liquid chocolate trickle out of apex fountains, flakes of edible gold cover the setting.

She points excitedly with messy fingers to the ones she wants Tony to try. He should resist, right? He’s really isn’t supposed to eat dairy. That, along with his faulty levels of serotonin, was something the all powerful stones failed to fix. Which was really just plain lazy, if you ask him. 

But he spies a flamboyant looking fruit-pastry and thinks, fuck it.

Then he sees a yellow-treat that makes his mouth water and thinks, I can work it off tomorrow.

He reaches over and crams an entire portugese egg tart in his mouth, cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. Morgan laughs, tipping her neck back in unbridled delight.

“Do it again!” she says, bouncing on her feet.

He does. And then again, and again.

Which is how Peter Parker finds him no more than ten minutes later.

“Mr. Stark!”

Tony nearly chokes in his haste to chew and swallow the pastry when Peter swans into view, dressed to the nines and grinning a mile wide. He hears Morgan gasp delightedly beside him, running off to catch up with the younger man while Tony tries not to quietly asphyxiate.

Swallowing roughly, Tony gives him a thumbs up.

Several feet away, Morgan throws her gangly arms around Peter. She buries her head into his chest, just like she does with Tony, brown hair cascading over her shoulders as she embraces him tightly. Peter settles his arms around her neck and leans down to kiss the crown of her head, whispering something to hear that Tony can’t hear.

There’s a weird pang somewhere behind his ribs at the sight. 

He swipes his half-empty flute of champagne and downs the remainder in one gulp to cover it. 

“Mr. Parker,” Tony greets, rocking on his feet when his daughter and former protege walk back to him hand-in-hand. “Didn’t know you owned a suit in your size.”

The younger man holds his free arm out, twisting it to test the fit. It’s a grey suit with a maroon dress-shirt, tailored to perfection. It looks new.

Peter smiles. The action has creases forming at the corners of his eyes; a small, subtle nod to the years Tony missed. Gone is all of his baby fat, his face angular and defined. He holds himself with more self-assuredness, even now. 

He wouldn’t say it aloud, but Peter grew up handsome. 

Worse, he grew up to be Tony’s type.

“Oh, this? I didn’t pick it - but it’s nice, right?”

“Yeah. You, uh,” Tony swallows roughly, eyeing the man from head to toe. “You look good. You clean up well, kid.”

Peter rubs the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly at the compliment. 

“Thanks, Mr. Stark. You - you too. You look... good. Really good.”

Peter meets his gaze, his cheeks a furious shade of pink. 

The motion of the room slows as he watches the sparkle reach Peter’s eyes. Everything in his peripherals becomes dull, unfocused. His own heartbeat jackrabbits against his chest and his sure his face is doing something without his permission. 

Tony’s throat clicks when he swallows. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Peter nods, stepping closer. 

Now, Tony thinks, staring at Peter’s face, the earnest smile still tugging at his lips. Now is the time he would say something to curdle the mood. 

Peter being a full-fledged, rent-paying adult adult is new. Being on an even footing with Tony as a person and a professional is new. There’s so much new about him that Tony still has to learn.

There’s plenty that has stayed the same. His soft-spoken, courteous nature, his ethics.

But Tony can read the unfamiliar in Peter’s posture as much as he does the carefully curated vocabulary, how he stops himself from stammering into subjects he might have stepped into, before. The barely-there lines of age around his eyes, the confident squaring of his shoulders. 

And how Tony finds that his imperfect teeth compliment the ever-wayward hairs of his eyebrows - and how all of it, all of Peter, is now somehow charming, rather than awkward.

“How have you been, Mr. Stark?” Peter asks, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shuffling forward

“Good,” Tony says, lips stretching onto the first genuine smile of the night. He’d try to tug those corners down, were it not for the infectious way Peter’s mouth does the same. “You?”

“Good, yeah. Super busy.”

“That’s good. Good to keep busy, as they say.”

“Yeah,” Peter nods. “It is good. Keeping busy. And how are you? -- Wait, shit, sorry, I already asked that.”

“This one keeps me going,” Tony tugs on a lock of Morgan's hair, taking mercy on him. “You been too busy to see the news about Spider-Man? I know you’re a fan.” 

Peter steps closer again, clasping his hands behind his back, smiling coyly as those around them perk up in interest.

“Which news?”

“Taking down Kingpins empire. Fisk behind bars.” 

“Oh, I think I heard something about that.”

Tony nods.

“What a guy. New York’s never looked cleaner. Although, take that from a guy who hasn’t seen the city for five years.”

“That’s some high praise,” Peter says, wringing his hands together as he nears. 

“He’s a hero,” Tony looks to his daughter. With an affirmative nod of dark hair she concurs.

“I think he’s just a regular guy,” Peter huffs, snorting when Morgan giggles knowingly.

Before Tony can inch closer, maybe to do something impulsive like what his hands have been itching to do and grip the lapels of Peter’s suit jacket, the moment is broken by a nearby cry.

“Peter! There you are!”

Sweat beading along his receding hairline, a heavy arm slung over Peter’s shoulders, Otto Octavius swims into view, nodding politely at Tony and Morgan.

“You’re a slippery one, Parker,” he says, shaking Peter’s shoulders. “Been looking for you.”

“Otto, this is --”

“ -- Got some guys that want to meet you,” Octavius interrupts, thick fingers squeezing Peters bicep. He leans in and and whispers in a way Tony is sure is meant to be discreet, “They’re keen to meet the brains behind the project; come say hi.”

Another change Tony never counted on was the trajectory Peter’s life took after his passing. 

Peter never went to MIT like Tony had dreamed for him. He went to Empire State University.

Pepper informed Tony that she in fact had reached out prior to his graduation and offered him a position. But Peter had declined. He hadn’t said why, but he’d chosen to work under Otto Octavius at Octavius Industries instead. 

One thing that Tony learned in his short time back in the land of the living was that Otto was infamously proud of his new employee and favoured immensely. 

It’s what Tony would have wanted for Peter, really. Doing what he loves, being given the respect his intellect and kind heart deserves. He seems to be happy and all grown up. As if Tony needs the reminder.

It’s just that Otto was always an insufferable do-gooder. Save the trees, save the bees. ALl noble notions that Tony agrees with - but Otto is like the human personification of a PETA ad. He’d never been a fan of Tony’s, even after he reformed, literally. 

Still, do-gooder or not. There’s something about him. Something that Tony doesn’t like. Just a vibe he has. He’s got good instincts after all of these years and he knows he’s got a solid hunch. There’s something about that man, he knows it.

It’s got nothing to do with the proprietary hand Otto has on Peters shoulder, like the younger man is just a thing to show off. Or how Tony wanted to be the one doing that.

It’s got nothing to do with the way Peter’s suit perfectly fits his frame, or how the maroon and grey compliments his clear, milky skin.

It’s definitely not related to the way Tony’s heart beats just a little bit faster when Peter is in the room.

Yeah.

“Um, I’ll just be a minute,” Peter smiles apologetically at the Starks, eyes softening at Morgans pout. “I won’t be long, you owe me a dance little miss, remember?”

Tony waves dismissively at him, reaching for another flute of champagne from a passing waiters tray. He swallows another generous mouthful, bubbles burning on their way down. 

With Morgan munching on a gold flaked cheesecake at his side, Tony watches as the young hero is led away. Otto’s hand on his back, guiding him to make nice with some university hacks. Five years ago Peter would have fumbled through these introductions. He would have gone bright red and blurted some weird factoid to make conversation. 

But he’s polished now, Tony watches. Not perfect, but his posture says confident adult, not awkward teenager, like the last time he wore a suit around Tony. This suit really does fit him like a glove. His handshake looks strong, too. Firm.

Were Peter’s hands always that big? 

Tony sips his champagne, observing the girth of his former mentee’s fingers. It’s not until he feels the burn of Morgans stare on the side of his face that he breaks his gaze.

“What,” he says.

She points a chocolate covered finger at his face. 

“You know how I feel about people holding up one finger at me. If you’re gonna do it, it should be the middle one.”

“You like him.”

Tony huffs, rolling his eyes. “Of course I like him. He’s your Uncle Pete.”

“No, dad, you like like him. You want to be his boyfriend.”

“What -- I do not,” Tony says, casting her an incredulous stare.

“You do. You want to marry him,” she says, scrunching up her face and making kissy noises. 

“Do not.” 

“Do too.”

“I --” he huffs, gesturing to the room at large as his words run away from him. “Do not. I’m the adult. You’re the child. I’m right, you’re wrong. Case closed.”

“Dad.”

“Fine, here,” he fishes out his wallet from his back pocket and slips a crumpled fifty out. He waves it in her face. “Take this and never speak about it again.”

“Can I speak about it to mom?”

He slips out another fifty and hands it to her.

“No.”

She smiles, neatly folding the notes and tucking it into her little bag. Tony stuffs another tart down his throat, knowing he’s been played.

She really is his kid.

----

It’s not that Tony doesn’t know.

He knows.

It’s familiar after decades of experience. That weird feeling he gets. The fluttering of his heart, the topsy-turvy motion in his stomach, were he any younger he might call them butterflies.

He just doesn’t get it.

There’s a lot of things that were jarring when he awoke, soil under his fingernails as he tore through the earth in the desperate search for oxygen. He remembers waking up, confused and naked, body restored to the moment before he snapped his fingers. He remembers stumbling onto a rebuilt compound, unable to speak, learning that the entire world had moved on and changed without him.

With FRIDAY as his guide Tony had seen all of the monuments and the altars in his name, fresh bouquets propped against them, even years after his death. The adoration and the glorification immortalised in murals and statues, in grants in his name, in tell-all books. 

They’d even made a shitty movie about his life. 

The actor who played him was too short and the woman who played Pepper wore a wig. It was funny. Not like, funny haha, but funny in that uncanny, meta photo-within-a-photo kind of way.   

But when Peter had come to the compound that first time and they talked after they both finished crying -- it was different. And every time after, it was different. 

It was… awkward. At first, they didn’t know how to be around each other, automatically falling into old molds of mentor and protege. It was almost immediately clear that their old roles weren’t going to work -- too much between them had altered to fit back into the old model. 

They needed to recalibrate, and quickly.

Their dynamic did change. If Tony thought about it long enough, innocently enough, he might dare to call it a friendship.

He would, but there was that feeling in his chest. Beat, beat, bang.

It was a work in progress, to reconcile the flutter in his stomach with the Peter now, with the Peter that was, before. A man who had lost all his baby fat, who was old enough to have colourful stories and a wealth of life experience, who had remarkably broad shoulders looked damn good holding a wrench.

It was the hands. 

They looked very dexterous. Capable.

But that didn’t stop him from spiraling into deep, existential pockets of despair as he wondered if the stones really thought it was best to revive him so he could actively thirst over someone he used to be responsible for. 

Peter is barely fifteen years older than his daughter. He’s lost count how many real and missing years are between them now between death and the Snap. Five a piece.

He can’t tell his road-runner heart if that’s better or worse, though. 

But, too high on the adrenaline of seeing Peter, he forgets to tell his body to stop, to remind his stupid heart that this one is not available. 

----

Sometime after eleven the gala is in full swing. The mood perks right up in anticipation of the New Year.  

Most of the remaining guests are pleasantly tipsy by this point, if not outright drunk. All of the stirring speeches have been made, Peppers included. 

Tony tried to listen, however got distracted by - well, anything. But the effort was there. Something about giving and starting the year fresh, clean slates. 

The relaxed atmosphere has more couples dancing on the floor. The Mayor and his wife stumble over each other, moguls and A-Listers mingle and take selfies against attractive backdrops. 

Even Morgan grew tired of Tony’s ornery approach to the evening, departing with a kiss to his cheek to dance with her mother.

Tony forgets, sometimes. That people expect something of him, something more. Like his resurrection was divine intervention, and if the universe intended him to be here, surely it was for a purpose higher than acting like a morose old man, hiding in the corners of ballrooms.

It’s just. He doesn’t know where his place is anymore.

Norman Osborne stops by to crow about his latest achievements, his contract with the NYPD to provide surveillance towers all over the city. Tony’s seen them. They’re hard to miss.

“Design’s a little archaic, don’t you think? Not very discreet. A pettier man would say you were overcompensating for something.”

He’s not really paying attention as he’s speaking, too distracted by the debacle before him. 

Harry Osborn and Peter dance together in the centre of the room, leaned in close to one another and snickering at what the other has said. 

They look loose and comfortable around one another, as if they were old friends. Or something else.

Peter leans in close to Harry’s ear to whisper something, the flush on his face creeping down his neck. In one swift movement Tony throws back the rest of his champagne, wishing the liquid would drown him, stomach turning to cement.

Whatever Norman says in response goes unheard. 

With the crowd dispersed, Peter catches Tony’s eye and waves exuberantly, nearly hitting Harry in the face.

Tony raises his glass, wincing. 

At least some things stay the same.

“They roomed together at ESU,” Norman breaks Tony out of his musings.

Clearing his throat, Tony tries his best to appear indifferent. Why should he care? That’s right, he doesn’t. Not even remotely.

“I see.” Play it cool, he thinks. “They look close, are they —?”

Nailed it.

“No. They tried, but it didn’t work out. Harry’s engaged now.”

“Huh.”

“But Peter is always welcome in our home,” Norman drawls. “He’s like a second son, really. Wasn’t he your protege once?”

Osborn is so smarmy. All at once Tony remembers why he hates this man and his dumb, weathered face. His covetous tone makes Tony want to hurl, or send a suit to the nearest Oscorp building and play rain of fire.

“Good god, imagine if he was your son,” Tony says blithely. “As if you need another one of those to mess up.”

Norman huffs.

“You’re hardly the authority on raising well adjusted children, Stark.”

Ire spears up hot to his throat, but before Tony can deliver a withering reply, he’s interrupted by the arrival of Pepper and Greg. 

Morgan trails behind, dragging a laughing Peter with her by hand. She weaves her thin body through the crowd, having pulled the man away from his dance wearing identical grins.

He watches his daughter cut through swathes of the elite in a trail of chiffon, delight clear in the laughter that follows her. Tiny heels clack against the polished ballroom floor, and Peter indulges her mischief, catching Tony’s eye and winking as they near him.

It’s the first time he’s seen his whole family look truly carefree since he came back. 

And Tony is where he should be. An inscrutable mass against the beige, peeling wallpaper. 

The look of distaste on Normans face as he walks away is enough to dampen some of his churlishness as his family form before him. Pepper makes small talk with Peter and Greg smiles awkwardly at a passing senator. Morgan dives for a profiterole before anyone can stop her. 

For a moment Tony feels like he’s in a McDonalds playground instead of an upper-class charity event.

Pepper must have had a hand in choosing Morgans dress, Tony thinks, because it has pockets. And, watching her as the adults talk, she sneaks handfuls of tarts and truffles into the grooves of her dress. Tony wants to laugh, to wink at her conspiratorially at the same time he wants to tuck her into bed, new years or not. 

Morgan beckons Peter closer to the sweets table. The younger of the two piling her favourite sampled sweets onto a napkin and thrusts them towards Peter, fervently requesting that he try them, they’re so good, Uncle Peter. 

“Not everyone wants dessert for dinner, little miss,” Tony reminds her, swiping a napkin off the table and wiping the melted chocolate off the corner of her mouth.

“I’m not a baby, dad,” she complains, taking the napkin from him.

He forgets that too, sometimes.

Peter smiles between them, delicately plucking a single strawberry off one of the offered miniature flans and popping it into his mouth. 

Lust spears through him so suddenly Tony sways on his feet. Fuck. 

His daughter and ex-wife are right there. 

“Mr. Stark. Would you - uh,” Peter breaks off to swallow audibly. “Would you like to dance?”

Otto is by the bar. Harry, by the French Ambassador. Tony is in his self-made corner of the room, nibbling on vol-au-vents and sashimi to pass the time. 

He can smell Peter’s cologne and his sweat when he steps closer and sheepishly offers his hand and Tony’s entire damn body wants to just reach out and interlock their fingers, to pull Peter close and breathe him in. Never has Tony wanted to bury himself in another body before and not come back out, not like this.

Tony would consume all of what Peter had to give, if Peter let him. The offering look in Peter’s eyes say that he would let him.

“I… uh,” Tony begins, searching for a quip to cover his falter. Smiling at his companions, Tony smooths his hand down his tie, pretending the curious looks of concern are just the alcohol. “I need fresh air.”

“Tony --”

“Mr. Stark --”

He waves them off and smiles apologetically at Peter.

“-- I’ll just be a sec. Is it hot in here? Is anyone else hot? I’m like, sweating here, wow. It’s just pooling under the armpits. I’ll just be a minute, excuse me --”

The crowd parts for him like the red sea as he marches through it in search of the nearest door. But he’s never felt less powerful in his entire life.

Or lives, as it were.

----

Outside, the air is blissfully fresh and cold. The rooftop is far less crowded than indoors, only a few patrons lean against the railing, cigarette smoke curling up from their fingers, some in quiet conversation with another.

There’s a carefully constructed pyramid of wide, vintage wine glasses brimming with champagne. He’s careful not to topple the entire thing over when he goes to reach for one. Overheated, even as the winter wind nips at him, he takes his drink and finds a quiet corner to sulk in.

Perching upon a stone bench away far away from the others, Tony tips his head up at the starless sky and huffs. 

What the hell does he think he’s doing?

The New York City skyline is alight before him in all its glory, but the memory of how Peter’s face dropped flashes across Tony’s mind on a loop. He looked taken aback. Hurt even. 

Shame wells up low in Tony’s stomach and doggedly stays there. 

It’s for the best. Right? It has to be for the best. Peter deserves the best and Tony is not that.

It’s not right for him to want to fit himself into Peter’s life when he seems to be happy and successful without Tony - there’s one thing he knows unequivocally about himself is that he would ruin that. Ruin Peter, one of the few good things he has left.

His heart doesn’t get the memo. 

Because when he closes his eyes, all he imagines is the way Peter’s firm body would feel against his. What it would feel like to curl together on the sofa, in bed, under the sheets. How his curls would tickle the underside of Tony’s chin, and what it would be like to trace the lines that branch from his eyes when he smiles, or to stroke the narrow slope of his nose as he sleeps. 

It’s wrong.

It’s wrong because Tony doesn’t fit there. Not there, nor in all of the places he used to. He’s not Iron Man or a businessman. He’s not a husband or a full-time father. He’s not even Peter Parker's mentor. 

What he is, for all of his resurrected glory, is an afterthought. A spectre, hovering in the fringes of all of the places he used to be the centre of.

He smiles, raising his glass to the smoking couple as they nod politely at him.

It’s fine. He’s happy that everyone is happy.

But it’s been months. He ain't Jesus, but surely by now he’d find some sense of purpose.

“Mr. Stark?”

When Tony opens his eyes Peter stands before him, clutching a perspiring glass of wine.

Tony doesn’t want to notice, but he does anyway. The look of concern written on his face is unmistakable, even in the dim lighting of the rooftop, the nearby flamelight serves to deepen the frown lines on his young face.

“Are you alright, Mr. Stark? Sorry to follow you out here, you just seem kind of...”

“Surly?” Tony guess. “I’m fine, kid. Just had a few too many. Didn’t want to hurl all over the drapes. No need to worry.”

“I was gonna say overwhelmed, but yeah,” Peter says, shifting closer until Tony’s bent knees hit the top of Peter’s thighs - his stomach swoops, again. “I’m gonna worry anyway.”

“Yeah, well, happy New Year,” Tony says dryly, knocking their glasses together. 

Peter taps his smart-watch with a finger. 

“Still got five minutes before that. Can’t break into Auld Lang Syne yet, Mr. Stark.”

“We could if we were in Halifax,” Tony counters. The younger man tilts his head agreeably and Tony calls the easing of tension from Peter’s shoulders a win.

“Let’s stick to New York.”

“Sure,” he agrees. “You don’t have somewhere you’d rather be? You got four-something minutes.”

“Right here, actually, if that’s okay with you.”

Tony doesn’t know if that’s frankness or fiction, but he smiles all the same, patting the slab of stone he’s sat upon invitingly. 

“Well, come aboard, Mr. Parker.”

Without pause, Peter hoists himself on the bench with a single hand, delicately balancing the glass of champagne with the other. He shuffles to get comfortable, swinging his legs as he settles.

The firelight catches onto the curve of Peter’s curls, slicked down into wilted tendrils from the sweat dotting his hairline. 

His heart is positively thunderous in his chest. He raises his hand to soothe it and at once, sickeningly, painfully misses the comforting heat of the arc reactor.

“You wanna talk about it?” Peter asks, after a moment.

Tony smiles wryly, mostly to himself. Of course, there’s nothing that escapes Peters notice.

“Trust me, kid. There’s not much to say.”

“I somehow doubt that,” Peter says, fishing something out of his pocket and handing it to Tony “I, uh, thought you liked those. I took the last one.”

It’s a portugese egg tart, Tony notes, warmed slightly from Peter’s body heat. Fuck. He does like them. They’re his favourite. 

Tony pretends like his heart isn’t swelling to the point where it feels it's going to burst and breaks the tart in two, passing over the other half to Peter. 

“Thanks, kid. Try some.”

They eat their halves in relative silence, save for the sound of chewing and Peter’s shoes hitting the stone as he swings his legs. But the mood grows quieter, noticeably pensive after they finish eating. It makes Tony’s skin crawl.

“You know,” Peter says softly, as if raising his voice would shatter the moment, “you’re not the only one to come back to find years lost. To find the world different. I know it’s not easy. Especially on nights like this.”

Tony swallows roughly, chasing it with a mouthful of champagne. 

“You seem to have managed well.”

Peter huffs. “Oh yeah, real well. God, you don’t even know how --” his voice breaks off, voice wet with emotion. He looks away, throat bobbing as he gathers himself. “You just -- you don’t know.”

The moment feels fraught with enough gravity that it would bring the moon down between them.

“Hey,” Tony chides, trying to diffuse the heavy emotion with what levity he could utter. “Come on now, it’s supposed to be me out here maudlin. Don’t steal my thunder, Charlotte's Web.”

“Sorry,” Peter says, cracking a smile. “I’ll try to pencil in sad hours for later.”

“Appreciated.”

A comfortable silence settles between them. A woman, visibly drunk, passes them and raises her glass to Tony, the liquid sloshing out from the glass and down her arm. She doesn’t seem to notice, smiling and stumbling away.

That would have been Tony ten years ago (in his lived years). On the weekends without Morgan, sometimes it still is.

“Got any resolutions, Mr. Stark?”

Tony snorts. “Shit, kid, I don’t know. Take Morgan to Saturn. Run for president, get back on the Cosmo’s Bachelor of the Year.” 

“Most people just join a gym.”

“I didn’t come back to life to break my hip on a treadmill,” Tony says, offended. “What about you, Peter Rabbit?”

Peter takes a sip of his drink as he visibly deliberates. Wayward drops of champagne gather at the corner of his mouth before he scoops them with his tongue, eyes drifting to the glittering skyline.

“Yeah. I’m trying to get this guy that I’m into to take me seriously.”

Tony hums, stomach dropping.

“Some guy, huh?”

“Yeah. I’ve known him since I was fifteen and I’m like, super into him, but he still sees me as a child.”

His stomach swoops back up.  

“Well,” Tony clears his throat, daring to hope, “this guy’s an idiot if he can’t see you for the man you are. You’re a catch.”

Peter shrugs, inching closer as he adjusts his balance. Their hands are nearly touching and Tony can feel the heat radiating from the man's body and he hates himself for it, just a little bit, he’s too old to feel like a kid with a crush again. 

“He’s not an idiot. Well, he is, sometimes. Not all the time.”

“You sure this guy is good enough for you?”

“Yeah,” Peter nods, looking out at the skyline again. “He’s just lost. I can wait.”

“What if he’s not right for you?” Tony says, throat closing unexpectedly. “What if he’s not worth the wait?”

Peter shuffles closer. 

“He has been so far,” he says, bravely extending his pinkie so it curls atop Tony’s. In the cool night air the touch of skin against skin is scorching. “Worst case scenario has already happened. I’ve already lost him in the worst possible way. I could do without him calling me kid all the time though.”

“He makes no promises on that.”

“I thought as much.”

“You deserve better than lost, Pete,” Tony says around the lump in his throat. For a moment he can’t speak, the memories of electricity ripping through his body in a moment of love much like the feeling he has now. “You deserve the best.”

But Peter doesn’t say anything. He tugs on their linked pinkies to intertwine their fingers, resting them in the interstice of their pressed thighs. Tony doesn’t miss how Peter’s palms are damp against his, how they tremble ever so slightly. It’s grounding, to know Peter is as nervous as he is.

When he gets brave enough to stroke the back of Peters hand with his thumb some of the mired shame melts away.

“Deserve is subjective,” Peter says, squeezing Tony’s fingers. “And I decide he is the best.”

“What if he wants you back,” Tony whispers, shifting closer on the stone until their sides are entirely flush together. “But he has nothing to offer you. Doesn’t fit in with your life.”

“What about what I can offer him?” Peter clutches his hand tighter, raising it to his lips and pressing a soft kiss on the back of Tony’s hand. “What if I'm there while he finds his way?”

“Pete.”

“You have time, Mr. Stark. You can figure the rest out as it comes to you.”

“And until then?”

“You go with the flow.”

“How?”

“Like this,” Peter whispers, pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss. 

Closing his eyes, Tony leans into it and lets himself fall. Peters lips feel soft, pillowy, the kiss chaste and unassuming. When Peter pulls back he looks dazed, which is silly, because that was a tease for Tony. 

Eyes on the glistening bow of Peter’s lips, he wants to dive in and tug it between his teeth. So he does.

“That’s -- yeah,” Tony says, sliding their noses together, “Were you -- were you always this confident?”  

“I’m not confident,” Peter replies, kissing him again, pulling back to exhale shakily against Tony’s lips. “Holy cow. That was, like, a super big risk for me. Wow. Did I fool you? Are you fooled?”

“Bamboozled,” Tony says, staring at Peter’s lips again. “Just to confirm, I’m the guy, right? Resolution guy?”

“Y-yeah. Yes.”

 “Good,” Tony says, cupping his cheeks and kissing him again.

Fireworks bathe the couple in an electric array of neons, and crowds can be heard cheering from all around them. Tony pulls away to see Peter illuminated in brilliant colour, lips wet and swollen.

“Is this okay?” Peter reaches his free hand up to cup Tony’s cheek. “Is it weird? It’s a bit weird. Right?”

“It’s weird. But weird-different,” Tony amends. “Good different, right?”

“Right.”

“I should, maybe, keep kissing you to be sure.”

Peter’s answering grin against his lips vivifies the lights exploding around them.

To the soundtrack of waning fireworks, Tony gets lost in learning how Peter kisses, the shape of his lips, how the heat of his tongue feels against his own. 

Struck suddenly by a memory Tony pulls away from Peter to groan.

“What?” Peter queries, flushed and panting. “What’s wrong?” 

“I literally paid Morgan a hundred bucks to not tell you I was hot for you.”

Peter balks, staring at Tony as if he were stupid.

“Um, I have enhanced hearing, remember? And she told me, like, two months ago.”

Tony squints. 

“That little brat.”

——

The knowing smiles when they walk back into the ballroom from their family is a little uncalled for. Morgan is asleep in Peppers lap so she isn’t even awake to crow about her victory.

But the way Otto splutters as his eyes dart between the bruise on Tony’s neck and their joined hands is deeply worth it.

“Happy New Year, Mr. Octavius!” Peter beams, swinging their hands together. 

“And - and you. Mr. Parker.”

“Sorry to drop this on you last minute, would you mind if I get another ride home?”

“Well, I --”

“Let me compensate you for the cab,” Tony offers, dropping Peter’s hand to wind his arm around the younger man's waist, pulling their sides flush together. “It’s the least I can do. Don’t worry, Peter’s ride will be very enjoyable.”

“I take it you’re not coming back to the penthouse,” Pepper cuts in, sharing a look with Greg.

“Yeah,” Tony nods, already pulling Peter away. “When Morguna wakes up from her beauty sleep tell her she owes me a cut of the winnings, okay? Good. Happy New whatever.”

They stop by the dessert spread on their way out.

-----

Their taxi driver sends them scalding stares from the front seat.

It’s fine, Tony will compensate him generously in tips. Though, if he were the driver, he’d probably be pissed too. 

For all of his stealthyness as Spider-Man, Peter is not quiet right now. He bucks into Tony’s touch, rubbing his crotch against Tony’s hand. He breaks their kiss to moans lewdly into Tony’s mouth, breath hot against his face.

“Oh god,” he exhales shakily, tugging on Tony’s tie to bring their lips together in a filthy kiss.  

“Good?” Tony mumbles against his lips, grinding his palm down harder. Peter nods, tilting his head back to groan as Tony’s mouth latches onto his neck. The creamy skin is mottled with teeth marks and barely blooming hickies. 

Tony sucks and and laves his tongue over the heated skin to hear how his breath hitches, those high ahh-ahh’s that fall breathlessly out of his mouth, to hear him moan --

“M-Mr. Stark!”

Tony winces, pulling back.

He sighs. “Kid, if we’re doing this, you really gotta call me Tony.”

In an instant Peter’s face turns stony, somehow looking stern despite his swollen lips and wrinkled shirt. He looks like a petulant pitbull.

“If we’re doing this you really gotta stop calling me ‘kid’, Tony.”

Tony undoes the first button of Peter’s dress shirt, then the second, parting the folds of fabric to get a view of his collarbones.

“I suppose I would be amenable to such amendments, Peter,” he nods, “on the condition that you let me take you on a date.”

As Tony snakes a hand over the curves of his clavicle, Peter’s deft fingers undo the knot of Tony’s tie until it lies loose from his neck.

“I would be amenable to that. Conditions accepted.”

“Fantastic.”

“Yeah. I’m going to kiss you again now.”

“Okay. Yeah. Good.”

-----

With a heavy arm slung around his midsection, Tony finds out what Peter’s body feels like curled around his body when he wakes up the next morning.

There are a lot of little discoveries on New Years Day.

Like the feeling of Peter’s morning wood pressed pleasantly against his ass. Or how Peter squints adorably as he wakes up, as if he were confused by his own consciousness, his bedhead a mad nest of curls. Or how much Tony doesn’t mind the humid exchange of morning breath. 

“Do you always take your first dates to bed?” Peter queries over breakfast, the ghost of a teasing smile on his face.

“That was not a date,” Tony points his fork at him. Scrambled egg falls from the utensil onto the table. “And we didn’t even have sex. That’s misleading, mister.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Tony sniffs.

“You’ll find out when we have our first date, won’t you? Friday at seven. Yes or yes?”

Peter sips his coffee to hide his smile, but Tony still sees it.

“Yes.”

-----

They got their date. 

Six months after the New Years festivities comes Morgans eleventh birthday. 

Tony’s had a lot of dates with a lot of people, including Peter, but nothing quite trumps this. 

It’s a double date. With his ex-wife and her new husband. Plus twelve other kids and their parents at a McDonalds. 

All four are seated at a table, Peter to his side, squirming on the terrible, hard chairs while Pepper and Greg sit opposite. Several servings of burgers and fries lay cold between them. Mostly melted McFlurries ooze off the provided plastic spoon when disinterestedly stirred.

It’s terribly romantic.

Morgan wanted McDonalds with her friends for her birthday, and before the big move to middle school. It fell on date night. 

The garishly decorated diner is alive with the sounds of yelling and laughing, kids and their siblings running after one another, pushing each other down slides and following each other through narrow, plastic tunnels.

Tony’s never really been a double date kinda guy, particularly when it involves the mother of his child and his new, twenty-something lover. It was stilted in the beginning, made more awkward by Tony’s foursome jokes, but Peter keeps the conversation afloat, dipping the congealed fries into Tony’s melted ice cream. 

He rubs Tony’s lower back as he speaks. Soothing, grounding circles that inadvertently keep Tony in the present.

Peter likes being in constant contact, Tony found. Now that he has the permission. Whether its holding hands, a casual grip on Tonys knee, his thigh, his back. 

It’s… actually nice. Maybe because he does it too.

It’s not always about comfort though, Tony concedes, as Peter’s hand dips a little lower, brushing over the swell of his ass.

They share a knowing look. 

Tony knows now, what that odd twinkle in Peter’s eyes mean. That little pervert. He knows it in the way Peter bites his bottom lip, as if canary feathers are about to flutter out of his guilty mouth. He wants to lean over and kiss the look right off them.

Greg keeps a close eye on the playground, loafers tapping anxiously on the tiles when a kid pulls a daring move and nearly misses their landing. 

He’s not the worst, Tony concedes, wearily assessing the other man. He cares for Morgan which is a plus. But he’s greying gracefully and is genuinely so nice and humble that Tony can’t help but test him every now and then. How earnest can he truly be with Tony stealing a fry here and there and knocking his knees ‘accidentally’. 

The conversation turns to Morgans transition to middle school. Pepper thinks she’ll outgrow her peers in months and will pursue a more scientific-focused academic curriculum. 

It’s one of those rare, transient moments of life that Tony’s here to witness. He’s getting used to feeling like everything is going to be okay, like maybe he wasn’t brought back just to be a part of another fight. But there’s a lingering anxiety, he just doesn’t know how to deal with without a solder or a suit to tinker on.

He’s working on it though.

“Should we manhandle her highness back in for the cake?” Tony asks, hand snaking down to squeeze Peter’s firm thigh.

Peter, not missing a beat, sends him a smirk that says I’ll manhandle you. 

It’s only right that Tony tightens his grip on Peter’s thigh, smiling proudly to himself when Peters breath hitches.

A kid knocks into the back of Tony’s chair, screaming as they run towards the playground. Tony winces, the moment broken.

“Need I remind you two that we’re in a family establishment,” Pepper stresses.

“Yes,” Tony rolls his eyes, gesturing to the playground of rambunctious, screaming children. “How could I forget.”

“Tony.”

“You heard her, Pete, keep it safe for work. You’re making people uncomfortable,” Tony says, clamping down tighter on Peter's leg. Speaking to the couple, he gestures to Peter with his thumb. “Real horndog this one. Insatiable.”

“Me?” Peter says accusingly, jaw dropping.

Pepper raises an eyebrow cooly. “Please, Tony. Don’t think Morgan hasn’t told me about the time she walked in on you two. One time you told her you were checking each Peters temperature. With your long thermometer -- honestly, Tony. Try not to traumatise our child.”

Peter visibly colours at the mention.

“Wait,” Tony says. “That little -- I paid her twenty bucks not to tell you that.”

“So did I,” Peter frowns. “And I gave her the rest of my Reeses to seal the deal. Ah, crap.”

“You got played,” Greg snickers. Tony hates him again.

He nods at Pepper. 

“She gets that from you.”

Pepper smiles, unbothered, looking every ounce the image of class as she raises her plastic cup of milkshake to them.

Tony sighs, not even mad.

Some things never change.

-- Thank you to our wonderful artists and writer who participated in the first Starker Games! <3 <3 <3 this is fabulous and we hope you enjoyed yourselves!

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch 9: I Must Be Doing Something Right

Chapter Summary: Frank surrenders Mary to Foster care, but soon realises he’s made a big mistake. Can Fliss help him set it right?

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. A very rude and offensive game of Cards Against Humanity...so...be warned.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. This is a REALLY long update so apologies, but I couldn’t see a way to cut it without losing the key narrative.

As always I’m a ho for a REBLOG and COMMENT! 

Series Masterlist  Main Masterlist

Chapter Song: Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis

'Cause all of the stars, are fading away, just try not to worry, you'll see them some day. Take what you need,and be on your way, and stop crying your heart out

7 days. 7 days is all it had taken.

He’d met the Foster Family on Sunday after Cullen had tabled the suggestion and agreed to the proposal that evening, ignoring Fliss and Roberta’s pleas to think about it for a few days at least. He didn’t want time to think, he was NOT going to surrender Mary to Evelyn, and if that meant she had to live with this nice family, in a posh house in Tampa, with a pool and a piano, then so be it.

The details were thrashed out between all attorneys and the state departments on the Monday and Tuesday, being finalised on the Thursday. Both he and his mother were given weekly visiting rights and once a month Mary was to come stay with him for a weekend, with longer visits during the holidays. Frank was offered his choice of date to surrender Mary into care. He chose the following Monday. When Greg asked him if he wanted more time, convinced he could get Frank at least a fortnight, he shook his head. The longer this dragged out the worst it was gonna be…like pulling of a band aid. Better to rip it fast and suffer a short, period of pain than drag it out.

His mother had been unable to resist one last shot as she left him on the steps of the court yard and her words were rattling around in his head as he stood watching Mary with Fliss as she hugged the woman tightly.

“I've been thinking a lot about the word called ‘compromise’. On one hand, good challenging school…on the other foster people. They can watch sitcoms with her. Take her to Olive Garden. Teach her to say ‘irregardless’ The only saving grace is, I suppose, is that she is better off than she was. Goodbye, Frank.”

He was clinging onto that. That she WAS better off with a family than his mother. And probably him if he was honest. Mary would understand that soon. He hoped. At the moment she was still in denial, insisting that Frank was going to change his mind. He had explained to her time and time again this was a court decision, not his. Greg had explained it to her, the foster parents had explained it to when she had met them during the week, hell Fliss had even explained it to her but nope, she wasn’t having it. Even before when he told her to go and say ‘see you later’ to Roberta, not goodbye- because it wasn’t goodbye- Mary had laughed and told the woman this entire thing was stupid and that she would be back with Frank later that evening.

And she was doing the same to Fliss now.

“You’ll be back for a visit before you know it…” Fliss said, brushing Mary’s hair off her face, blinking back her tears as she knelt in front of the girl “And Monty will be waiting for you.” Mary shook her head “Look, we all know this is ridiculous, Frank isn’t gonna leave me there. He promised I wasn’t going anywhere and he’s never broken a promise to me yet.” “And he still hasn’t.” Fliss said “This is a court order, not Frank’s. Now you promise me that when you get there you show all these new people you’re gonna meet what a wonderfully funny, smart and incredible person you are. And then, when you come back I want you to tell me all about it.”

Mary shrugged “I’ll see you at the weekend I expect.”

She moved back and looked at Frank like he was an utter idiot before she headed for the car. Fliss stood up and wiped her eyes, looking at Frank. “You gonna be ok?” she asked him.

“No.” he said honesty “Nothing about this is ok. At all. When she finally realises this isn’t some huge big joke or that I’m not gonna change my mind, she’s gonna flip.”

She stepped forwards to give him a hug, but he kept it brief, knowing that if he stayed he’d break. And he couldn’t. Not yet.

Fliss watched them drive away, before she turned back to her office, shut the door and curled up on the chair, arms hugging her knees as the tears coursed down her face.

***** “Hey… come on.” Frank said, kneeling in from of Mary, his large hands gently on her waist “I'm only 25 minutes away.”

He watched as the tears filled her eyes, the realisation that this was happening had sunk in finally, and he watched her heart break as she stood there, begging him.

“Please don't leave me here. Please.”

“No.” Frank sighed, bowing his head. “You're going to a brand new school. A better school.”

“I don't want to. I want my crummy school.” she sobbed.

“And you got Fred…” Frank carried on, fighting back his own tears.

“Please.”

“And once a month you can come back and stay with me and Fliss and Roberta…”

“I want you and Fliss and Roberta now!” she said loudly.

“And in a few years, if you want...you can come back. You can live with me.” he looked at her, smiling encouragingly.

“I wanna stay with you. Frank, you promised me.” Mary stomped her foot, angry tears pouring down her face.

“Come on. Don't do this.” Frank said softly, rubbing the tops of her arms and shoulders.

“You promised me.”

“I know.” he said, bowing his head blinking back tears. He had, and he’d broken that promise. And he felt like shit. “I know.” he repeated lamely, his left hand gently resting on the side of her face, brushing away her tears.

“Please, Frank. Why are you leaving me?” she sobbed as he took her face in both his hands and looked at her.

“Because the court said I have to. You know this. We've discussed this ad naus...” he stopped himself and looked down, swallowing thickly. “We've discussed this.” he looked at her, taking a deep breath.

“Come on. Come on. Please.” he said, gently moving to sweep her into a hug but she shoved him hard.

“No!”

Frank could do nothing but kneel there as she hit him again in his chest, then once on the side of his face, screaming at him. At that point her foster mother, Emma, stepped forward and Mary continued to lash out, screaming at Frank.

“Sweetheart, you know what?” she continued to talk to Mary as her foster Father, Kevin, looked down at Frank sympathetically.

“There's no easy way to do this.” he said. At that Frank jumped up and walked to the door.

“Not gonna be as long as you think, honey.” Emma was soothing her, but Mary was having none of it.

“Frank….”

“You're gonna see.”

“Frank!” Frank opened the door and paused, looking back as Mary was fighting against her foster mother who was gently holding her arms, screaming at him “Don't leave me!”

And that was the moment his heart broke into a million pieces. He had to go. Had to get out of there. He quickly stepped through the door and pulled it closed behind him, heading quickly for his truck, trying to block her screams and yells out as they still hit his ear from inside the house.

“Don't go! I need you! Fred needs you! You promised me!”

Sniffing back his tears he climbed into the truck, started it up, and then sat, both hands on the steering wheel, head bowed for a moment whilst he composed himself, before he put the truck in gear and drove off, leaving Mary behind.

**** Fliss had half expected Frank to show up at the yard again later that day, but he didn’t. Instead he messaged her telling her he needed some head space so was heading down to the Marina to do some work. Which was where she found him later that evening, working on the same boat he had been on all week.

“Hey, down there.” she said gently as she climbed the ladders up the side of the boat “The Serenity” Frank looked up at her, gave her a faint smile, before he turned back to what he was doing as Fliss stepped onto the deck of the boat, watching him carefully.

“I don't know which mistake is worst. Designing a water pump that leaks or putting it somewhere no human being can reach” he ranted as he leaned further into the uncovered pump. As Fliss took a seat on one of the raised benches at the back of the boat he stood up, part in his hand and sighed “How you design something you know is gonna fail? Gotta be devious or clueless, right?”

He dropped what he had been reaching for onto the table in front of him and glanced at Fiss who was sat watching him, her hands pressed between the knees of her denim-short clad legs as she shot him another small smile. He picked up an small wrench and returned to his previous position, crouching over the machinery of the boat.

“After the first few weeks, I knew I had to find a real family for her. I was in way over my head.” he reached for a bolt that was in the box he had resting on the side and continued his work “And every day I'd say today's the day I'm taking her to child services and every day she'd do something just…” he paused, his hands still working as a soft, yet heartbreakingly sad smile flickered across his face. “…so unbelievably cool.” he swallowed, still not looking at Fliss “Her little personality was exploding. She was funny and she was angry, and she was happy, and she was sad and was cute.” he reached for something else, his voice groaning slightly with the strain of stretching “Just so damn entertaining. And so I kept her.” his voice started to rise in tone, revealing the anger he felt at himself “Not that that's in her best interest. Not that I'm capable of raising a child.”

“Frank that’s not true…”  Fliss spoke softly, butting in but he continued his rant.

“A child that might still have a mother if I'd taken the time to notice she needed me.”

“Ok, now stop it…” Fliss’ voice was a little sterner now “Frank, we’ve been through this…”

“And now…” he stood up, reaching for a towel to wipe the oil off his hands “six and a half years later I finally got her to a foster family and you know what? It was great.” he said sarcastically “She loved it.” he tossed the towel onto the side. “I thought it would be a nightmare of abandonment and betrayal.” he hopped up onto the level of the boat Fliss was sat on and threw his hands out to the side “And it turns out it was a huge success….” he bent back down to pick up the broken part he had retrieved from the pump “I'm a fuckin’ hero.” on that he angrily launched the part out of the side of the boat where it hit something with a crash.

“Hey…” Fliss stood up and moved to gently run her hand down his arm. He was dirty, sweaty, covered in grease and he was conscious of this so went to pull away but she stopped him, her grip firm before she moved her hands to his face, her palms gently pressing against the scratch of his beard, sweat beading on his brow as he looked at her.

“Listen to me.” Fliss said, her eyes locking onto his “Mary will be ok. It’s gonna take time but…”

“You didn’t see her..” he said, stepping back out of her touch, his hand flying to his hair “She fucking hates me. She was screaming and…I just left her.” he finished, somewhat lamely “After I promised her…I promised her she could stay with me.”

With that he went to the stairs at the side of the boat, climbing them and heading down the ladder at the side.

“Frank...” Fliss moved to the side of the boat to try and talk to him again but he shook his head.

“No, Lissy…” he trailed off, holding his hand up. He sighed and took a deep breath “I appreciate everything you've done. Just...” he shook his head again and continued own the steps.

Fliss watched him go where he headed back into the little garage area, swallowing slightly. She looked up at the starry sky and took a deep breath, blinking back her tears. She knew she shouldn’t take it personally. He was hurting. He needed time. She licked her lips before she climbed off the boat and turned in the opposite direction he’d gone, deciding to take the long route around to her car so as not to pass the garage.

Frank walked into his workshop area and launched an angry kick at a box of engine propellers scattering it all over the floor. He stood up, both hands on his hips as he took a deep breath and turned half expecting Fliss to be behind him. But she wasn’t. With a sigh he made to go back outside and apologise but when he looked up she wasn’t on the boat anymore.

“Fuck…” he cursed, turning to look to his right where he saw her walking a hundred yards or so away down the side of the marina.

“Liss!” he called, and she stopped, turning towards him as he set off towards her in a jog. “Lissy, I’m sorry.” he sighed as he stopped in front of her.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” she replied “I understand.”

“No there is. You came her to check on me and…” he took a deep breathe “Believe me, if there’s one person in all of this that I have no right to be mad around it’s you. I didn’t mean to snap. I just…well, I guess I need some space.”

“I get it, honestly I do.” she said gently, stepping towards him and rubbing his arm “Today must have been so hard, I can’t imagine how you felt.” He fell silent. “But I meant what I said Frank, none of this is your fault.”

“I should never have let her go to that school…” his azure blue eyes misted over again, and he looked down at his feet, shaking his head. “Shoulda, woulda coulda…” Fliss said gently as he pulled his head back up to look at her “You can’t keep beating yourself up about things you can’t change, trust me, I know.”

Frank sniffed slightly before she sighed and carried on

“It’s done, Mary is with a good family, she’s going to get a good education and, yeah, it might take a while but she’ll come round and soon realise that you did what you did, not because you didn’t want her, but because you wanted what was best for her.” “I hope you’re right.” he said, his voice cracking as she stepped forward and pulled him back into her arms “Because I don’t know what I’m gonna do if she won’t forgive me…”

*****

Fliss was worried Frank was going to go off the rails, but he didn’t. He simply threw himself into his work. Night and day he was at the boat yard. They talked daily and she invited him to dinner on the Friday, in an attempt to keep him away from Ferg’s for fear of him getting himself absolutely trashed and doing something stupid like picking a fight. She hadn’t expected him to accept, however, so was pleasantly surprised when he took her up on her offer.

He was a little more subdued than normal, but they talked over the Bolognese she had made and then, Bill had popped his head in and invited them through to the house for a few drinks and a game of Cards Against Humanity

Frank’s face twisted into a grin. “You know I’ve never played it?”

“You’re kidding?” Bill looked at him. Frank shook his head.

“Oh Frankie, it’s great fun.” Fliss grinned “You get to learn a lot about people, and how twisted and sick their minds actually are.”

“Verity is the worst.” Bill said, seriously “I been with her now for almost 31 years, married to her for…” “28.” Fliss supplied.

“28…and I had no idea how warped she was until we played this a few years ago.”

Frank chuckled and Fliss looked at him and he shrugged, “ok I’m in.”

Fliss nodded and together they made their way out of the annex and over to the main house. Frank had been in it once before, and despite the fact that it was ridiculous large and fancy, he felt at home. Verity greeted her with the usual warmth, wrapping him up in a motherly hug as she looked at him and scalded him for losing weight. He sighed, he knew he hadn’t been eating properly but he didn’t look that different.

“Leave the lad alone.” Bill looked at his wife, thrusting a chilled San Miguel into Frank’s hand “He’s come here to relax not have you nagging on at him.”

Verity rolled her eyes and began to quibble with her husband whilst Fliss shook her head, grinning at Frank before she led him through to the dining room where the cards were placed in the middle of the table.

It didn’t take long for Frank to get the hang of the game, and it also didn’t take him long to realise Bill was right. Verity had an extremely warped sense of humour, that said, so did Fliss, and the more alcohol she consumed, the worse it got. He declined another beer from Bill, stating that he had to head home, but Fliss frowned at him.

“Take the spare room.” she shrugged but he shook his head.

“I’m working tomorrow, got a few things to finish so…”

She didn’t push it, and that was another thing Frank loved about her. The fact that she would take no for an answer without questioning him.

“Ok…so…” Frank leaned over, taking the cards that were face down, shuffling them so he didn’t know whose were whose “Do not fuck with me I am literally blank right now…” he turned the top card over and gave a snort “Seeing things from Hitler’s perspective…” then he turned the next card and arched an eyebrow “dying…oh god that’s bad…” and the final one “pretending to care…it’s gotta be the Hitler one!”

“Yess…” Fliss said, grinning as she took the card from him “Catching you up mum.” After a few more rounds which contained winning combinations such as “This is your Captain speaking. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for September 11th, 2001 “ and “In the beginning there was the mixing of the races and then the Lord said 'Let there be Nazis’” the cards were finished and they all counted. Bill was bottom, Fliss and Frank had tied, and Verity was the runaway winner. After a little more chat they called it a night and Frank walked back to the annex and his truck with Fliss.

“Thank you.” he said, looking at her “Not just for tonight, which was real fun but…”

Fliss smiled and gave him a hug “Any time.”

He dropped a kiss to her cheek “Ya know, I’ll hold you to that.”

He gave her a cheeky grin as he got in his truck and Fliss watched him go, pleased to see that for the first time since Mary had left on the Monday, he seemed to be getting some of that Frank spark back.

*****

Frank parked the truck and grabbed the wrapped box of lego, the ping pong balls for Fred and the next Harry Potter book in the series (the third one) from Fliss off the passenger seat and headed up the steps. He knocked politely on the door and smiled as Kevin looked through the glass window to the left

“Hey” he smiled as Kevin opened the door

“Hi, Frank. We're errr…” Kevin stepped outside and closed the door “… having a little bit of a problem in there.”

“What?”

“Mary's fine but she's having a little bit of a meltdown.”

“Right.” Frank sighed, nodding “Let me talk to her” he made to enter the house but Kevin stopped him

“No, hang on. That's not a good idea.” he said gently as Frank looked at him, a slight frown on his face “Your visit here is the reason for the meltdown.”

“What?” Frank’s brows furrowed together

“She don't wanna see you.” Kevin said, apologetically.

Frank felt like his chest was being crushed. He took a deep breath and visibly slumped. Kevin continued sympathetically. “I'm sorry, man. This is predictable. You know, she needs time.”

Frank fought to keep himself composed. This was his first visit, it had been agreed that the first one would be the Monday, a week after she had left, then moving to Saturday afternoons, and they’d done that for a reason, to give her a full week to settle in. He hadn’t expected it to be plain sailing but he had been hoping she would calm down. He needed to see her, whenever they argued, they always talked, always sorted things out. And this wasn’t any different.

“Just give me 5 minutes with her.” he said, looking at Kevin

“I let you inside and then we're gonna betray her trust and have even bigger problem.” the man shook his head.

Frank got that, he did, but it didn’t make it any easier. He nodded, still keeping himself composed, before wordlessly he thrust the items he was holding into Kevin’s hand and turned and headed back to his truck. He got drunk that night. And as he lay on the sofa, with his tumbler of cheap scotch, he realised that the ache he was feeling was the same ache as when he lost Diane. He was grieving. Grieving for the loss of his wonderful, beautiful, annoying, smart-ass niece. Only she wasn’t dead, just gone. Gone from her home. Gone from him.

This mood continued through the week. On Tuesday morning he woke on the sofa, still clothed, with a mouth like sand paper and a banging headache. After a shower and litre of orange juice he went down to get his mail and found himself sitting on the bench near the mail boxes, simply staring into space. He was vaguely aware of someone sitting next to him, and when Roberta reached out and worked his right hand free from where it was joined tightly with his left, he let out a sigh as she simply squeezed his fingers.

Wednesday morning, after Fliss had stopped by with breakfast from the bakery not far down the road, he was sweeping up the kitchen, which didn’t seem to be half as messy anymore now there were no cat biscuits lying around after Fred wasn’t there to deposit the ones he didn’t want under the table. He opened the broom closet and his eyes fell onto the basket full of shells that Mary had collected over the last god knows how long. He stared at it for a moment before he threw the broom in the closet, slammed the door and went to get changed into his work clothes.

Thursday morning he woke to a message from Fliss asking if he fancied meeting her for lunch. He accepted her invite and headed down to the Marina. He’d there for a few hours, putting the water pump that he’d finally managed to strip out of that damned boat back together when his phone rang. He glanced at the number, it was Bonnie. Sighing he dropped it back to the desk next to him. She’d called a few times since Mary had left, Fliss had reasoned with him that he should answer as she probably just wanted to know how she was. But seeing as he didn’t actually fucking know, what on Earth was he going to tell her? He let it ring out as usual and then a little while later it beeped, signalling he had a message. He ignored that too, he’d deal with it later.

But Bonnie wasn’t giving up that easily.

*****

“Fliss?” Joanne called “There’s a call for you."

“Ok, hang on…” Fliss put down the bridle she had been piecing together in the tack room and headed through, taking the phone off Joanne “Fliss Gallagher…” “Hi Flss, it’s Bonnie, Bonnie Stevenson.” “Hi.” she said, surprised to hear the woman on the other end of the phone.

“I’m sorry to call you it’s just Frank is ignoring my calls and my messages and I was kind of worried about him…” “Oh…” Fliss took a deep breath, scratching at her head.  “He’s been a bit up and down so…don’t take it personally.”

“Look, don’t want to step on your toes because I know you two are kinda, well, anyway, I was just in the library at school today and well I saw a photo of Fred on the adoption board for the Pinellas County Animal Shelter and was a little-.”

“Hang on…” Fliss said, cutting her off, not quite believing what she was hearing  “Fred is in the Animal Shelter?” “Yeah…” Bonnie sighed “I know Mary loved that cat and I’m concerned Frank is making a mistake giving him away, Mary would-”

“Bonnie, the cat went with Mary…” Fliss said, her mind whirring

“What?” Bonnie whispered

“She took the cat with her to the foster home. Frank hasn’t turned him in, he’ll be devastated when he finds out.” she sighed, “Leave it with me…I’ll call him.” “Ok, erm…good luck.” Bonnie offered. “Thanks. And thank you for calling and telling us…I mean me…him…whatever” Bonnie gave a chuckle “I hope you get there in time…”

“In time?” Fliss frowned.

“Yeah, Fliss, it’s a kill shelter. They only keep the animals between 5 and 7 days depending on their hopes and chances of being adopted…”

Fliss felt her heart sink. Suddenly her thoughts went back to Frank and how he had told her Mary refused to see him on Monday as she was having a meltdown about him going…what if the melt down had been about Frank being taken away from her.

“Fuck…” she mumbled, “Bonnie, I’m sorry I gotta…” And at that she put the phone down. She grabbed her keys, purse and mobile and sprinted for her jeep, yelling to Joanne that she had an emergency. She dived in her car, sped off down the drive and called Frank as she went.

“Hey…” he said

“Oh you’ll answer to me, ass hat” She said, turning left onto the freeway, keying in the location on her GPS.

“Of course…” he said, his tone a little puzzled “What’s…”

“Bonnies’ been trying to call you…”

“I know, I just…” “Shut up a minute.” Fliss cut him off “She was calling because she saw a poster, an adoption photo for the Pinellas County Animal Shelter. It was Fred.”

There was a pause before Frank breathed out “What?”

“They gave her cat away Frank…”

There was a loud clatter at the other end and then she could tell Frank was running from the sounds and the way his voice sounded.

“I can’t…oh god Fliss, Mary’s gonna be devastated.” “I know, just…look I’m on my way now. I’ll meet you there…”

“Ok…” he said, and with that he hung up. *******

Frank didn’t think he’d ever driven that fast before in his life. He literally dumped the truck on the car park, haphazardly parked in a disabled bay, and ran into the shelter, straight to the reception desk.

“Hi!” he said, resting his hands on the desk.

“Hi! Can I help you?”

“Yeah. Do you have a one-eyed orange cat named Fred?”

At that he heard someone else crashing through the door and a second later there was a gentle touch his arm and he turned to see Fliss, dressed in her riding gear besides him, having taken slightly longer to get there due to being a few miles further away.

“We have a one-eyed cat.” the receptionist said after a pause “But I don't know what his name is.”

“Where?” Fliss demanded impatiently.

The receptionist turned to the woman behind her who was digging in the drawers. She turned and pulled a sympathetic face “I don't know. Today was his last day.”

Fliss groaned as Frank hung his head. Then, as a dog gave a loud bark from somewhere in the rear of the shelter, there was a violent tug on his hand and he was being dragged down the side of the desk, the receptionist shouting objections as Fliss pulled him through the door at the end. They past the rows of dogs in kennels and then Frank spotted another door to their right.

“This way…” he said, this time he was pulling her along as they headed into the cattery, but there was no sign of Fred. They continued through, and then headed into the veterinary area, trying each door one by one and the final one they entered was occupied.

“What are you doing back here?” the vet looked at him as Frank saw 3 needles on the table and let out a soft groan.

“I told him he couldn't.” he heard the receptionist say but his attention was taken by Fliss

“Thank God…” she breathed out, moving to her left and Frank heard a familiar meow. He turned to see Fred in a cat cage on the side.

The relief that flooded his system was insurmountable. He joined Fliss who was now stroking Fred through the bars as the cat tilted his head and looked up at Frank.

“Hey Fred…” he sighed, his hands falling to the top of the cage as he kissed Fliss’s head in relief and thanks…and then the anger came back.

“Who brought this cat?” he turned round to look at the helpers who were stood in the room.

“Some guy.” the one from the reception shrugged. “He said it was an allergy issue.”

He let out an angry snort and looked at Fliss “Evelyn. She’s allergic to cats.”

Fliss face slid into an expression of understanding as she turned to look at him. “Seems like Mr Perfect Foster Father fed you a load of bullshit on Monday, Frank.”

It took them half an hour to iron out the paper work which allowed Frank to bring Fred home…and because the two other cats in there, Chili and Toby, were on death row they came too, well, with Fliss that is back to the stables.

They carried the cats out between them and Frank turned to Fliss as he passed her the cage containing the black and white one, Chili.

“I’m going to get Mary back…this…this is wrong. She needs to be with me. I mean, she’s a good kid, right?”

"Of course Frank, I’ve told you before, she’s an amazing little girl.” Fliss looked at him as she shut the rear door to the car.

“Well then, I can’t be that bad a substitute parent can I?” he urged.

Fliss beamed at him before she asked “So how we gonna play it?”

He noted her use of the word we, and smiled “I’m gonna give my mother exactly what she wants”

Huh?” Fliss frowned “I’m not…”

“I’m going to give her another way to achieve her dream without using Mary…” he said, biting his lip as he turned to face her “Once you’ve dropped those two off meet me at mine as fast as you can. I need to pick up some stuff…and Roberta.”

*****

Frank jumped out of Fliss’ jeep before it had even stopped, running up the steps to the large house. He pounded his fist on the doorway and it swung open.

“Frank?” Kevin greeted him

“Where's Evelyn?” Frank demanded.

“Evelyn? You mean your mother?”

“Yes.”

“Kevin…” they were joined by Emma who grabbed his arm. ”Evelyn is in the guest house.”

Frank turned and headed back down the steps, jumping the last 3.

“Yeah, listen. I'm sorry, man.” Kevin followed “Frank, let me tell you. She was so helpful with the tutors. Mary was so distant and she-“

“Hey!” Fliss stepped out to block Kevin’s way “Look, we know what you’re up against."

She looked at Kevin who sighed, nodding “She’s tenacious…”

“Do you want your life back? “ Roberta looked at him, her gaze steady as Kevin watched Frank heading up the steps to the guest house “Go back inside.”

Frank reached the top of the stairs and wrenched open the door to see his mother sat at a desk with Mary, whilst another man was stood pointing at a book, another sat in the corner on a computer. All 4 looked up and Frank took a deep breath, shaking his head at his mother.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Frank ignored her as Fliss and Roberta stepped into the room, Roberta carrying the box he had brought with him.

“Come on, Mary. We're going home.” he said as Roberta placed the box on the desk and folded her arms.

“No.” Mary said gently, shaking her head, eyes locked on Frank.

“You're trespassing!” Evelyn started but Frank ignored her, flipping the lid off the box, pulling out a ring bound file “You need to look at this.” he tossed it on the desk and walked towards Mary. “Let's go, Mary. Let's move. Come on.” he beckoned with his hand.

“No!” she said, sliding off her chair. She pushed the man next to her out of the way and dodged round the desk. There was a cacophony of people moving and shouting her name but Frank gently stopped Fliss as she stepped towards her.

“It's okay. I got her.”  he said, flying after Mary.

Evelyn made to follow but Fliss stepped right in her path, blocking the way, her nose inches from Evelyn’s as she stared the woman down.

“Think again, lady…”  Roberta said from behind her, her hand laying on Fliss’ shoulder, giving a squeeze of support.

Evelyn looked at the two of them for a second before she jerked her head to flick the piece of hair that had fallen forwards into her eyes before she tuned and picked up her phone. She looked at Fliss again, who arched an eyebrow, and then turned back to her phone before she stopped dead and her eyes fell on the ring bound file Frank had thrown onto the desk.

Fliss exchanged a look with Roberta, neither of them understanding what was in the file, but clearly Evelyn did. Fliss had a feeling it was something to do with the Navier-Stokes equation Frank had told her that Diane had been working on, maybe some research. Evelyn glanced over Fliss’ shoulder to the door, her breathing deep as she looked back to the file.

“This…” she said, looking at it “It can’t…”

Then she snapped out of whatever moment she has been in, going for the door but Fliss once more stepped into her path.

“You’re not going out there, not until Frank has a chance to speak to Mary…”

“You have no right…”

“And neither do you.” Fliss said loudly

“I have visitation rights…I’m her grandmother!” “Oh please!” Fliss snorted “Up until a few months ago you had never seen her. And what kind of grandmother rips a little girl away from the person who has shown her nothing but love all her life, and cared for and provided for her for over 6 and a half years? Huh?”

Evelyn raised her chin defiantly.

“And all for what? Some fucking dream about a stupid maths problem that no one bar a gang of stuck up Oxbridge middle aged tossers gives a shit about!" "How dare you?" Evelyn glared at Fliss "I'm not having some jumped up, dressage riding tart speak to me like this! I did this for Mary... to give her the life she deserves… " "No you did this for yourself." Fliss shot back. "And you know what? Maybe Frank doesn’t have poshest house, or the most prestigious career in the world but kids don't need money, or laptops or huge fucking homes with a pool and a summer house! They need love and care, to know they're safe and wanted...and she gets all of that with Frank, with us..." She gestured to Roberta as she continued. "And if you stopped to listen and look at her as a person and not your ticket to fame for just one second you'd see what an amazing, wonderful little girl she is and that's down to your son." Fliss took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes as Evelyn looked away from her to Roberta almost as if she was expecting a verbal tirade from her too. Roberta simply shrugged "I got notin' to add...she said it all for me" "Frank is one of the kindest, most gentle men I know." Fliss said, her voice softer. "He has a heart of gold and everything he does is for that little girl. Maybe he doesn't always get it right but who does? He tries his best, and I'd love to congratulate you on bringing up such an amazing person but I literally have no idea how he turned out the way he did with a cold hearted bitch like you as a mother."

****

“Mary!” Frank called, sprinting after her as she ran down the drive “Mary!”

He gently grabbed her arm and dropped to the floor as she spun round “No, let me go!” she yelled at him, lashing out again with her arms the same way she had done when he had left her. Frank turned his head holding his hands up to deflect the blows.

“Stop, Mary.” he said gently as she continued “Stop, stop!”

“No!”

“Come here.” he said, his voice still soft as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him as he stood up, holding her tight.

“You lied to me.” she said accusingly

“I know.” he scrunched his eyes up, ducking his head as she continued to rain blows on him.

“No, no!”

“Stop, stop, stop!” he said softly as her blows grew weaker until she collapsed against him, crying, her head buried into his shoulder. He closed his eyes and pressed his face against her cheek. “ I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I'm so sorry.”

“You promised me.”

“I know.” he agreed, taking a deep breath, looking upwards.

“You promised.” Mary’s voice was quiet as her small arms moved around his shoulders.

“I know. I'm sorry. I’m so sorry…” his voice cracked as he gently walked them towards the house a little.

“You said you wouldn't leave me.” she cried, as his hand moved up to hold between her shoulder blades and he pressed his cheek to the side of her head.

“I made a mistake. I'm sorry.”  he stressed, rubbing her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly and he closed his eyes, swaying her softly on the spot.

“I was so sad!” she sobbed as Frank simply stood, breathing heavily, eyes still closed as he desperately fought for composure “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”  he whispered into her hair as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, blinking back the tears that were filling his eyes. God he should never have agreed to this, ever.

“They took Fred.” Mary wailed.

“No. It's okay.” Frank sniffed, bending down to place her on the floor so she could look at him “We got him. He's home.”

“What? “she asked softly, her cries stopping as she looked at him, her eyes so like her mother’s bored into his.

“He's at the apartment right now. Me and Fliss went and we got him”

“For real?”

“Yeah” Frank assured her, his right hand reaching up to wipe away her tears as he cupped her cheek softly  “he's home kicking around his ping pong ball.”

“Why did you leave me there?” she said, her sobs starting again. And that was the moment he broke. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and he too began to cry.

“Because I thought I was bad for you.” his voice was croaky as he struggled to speak as a tear fell down his cheek  “And then it dawned on me. If Mary is this amazing... smart, sweet human being... then I must be doing something right.”

She looked at him, her face contorting as her cries grew shallower and she reached out with her small hands rubbing at his beard before her thumbs crept into the side of his mouth, and she curled his lips upwards and he swallowed again, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

Her hands fell to his shoulders and she looked at him “You're smiling”

He nodded and bowed his heads, his chest heaving with unshed sobs before Mary wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He closed his eyes again, holding her close, his hand rubbing her back.

“I’m never gonna let anyone take you away from me again Short Stack.” he said, as she pulled back, her hands fiddling with the collar of his grey T-shirt.

She paused for a moment before she looked at him. “Can we go home now?”

“You’re damned right.” he nodded, as he stood, picking her up in his arms. “They made their way back up the steps pausing slightly to look at one another as Fliss’ angry yells hit their ears.

“Fliss is mad” Mary’s eyes grew wide and she looked at Frank.

“Yeah well she’s missed you too, so has Roberta.” Frank smiled as they carried on up the steps. They reached the door just in time to catch Fliss basically calling Evelyn a “cold hearted bitch” and as Frank opened the door,  Roberta and Fliss turned to face them and beamed as Mary yelled their names

“Roberta! Lissy!”

“Hey baby!” Roberta said, as she hugged the girl tightly before Mary released her and threw herself at Fliss.

“Oh kiddo…” Fliss sighed, dropping a kiss to her head. She looked up at Frank and he gave her a wink, before nodding gently to the door.

“Of all the stunts you could pull” Evelyn looked at him and he glared straight back as besides him he heard Fliss say something to Mary as her and Roberta ushered her out of the door.

“Where are they going?” Evelyn demanded

“Nowhere. Not yet.” Frank said, looking at her before he turned his attention to the two tutors in the room “You two, out!”

Once they left, Frank and his mother began to argue about the file he had given her, Evelyn refusing to believe it was real, that Diane had solved the Millennium Problem. Eventually, Frank had enough and shook his head.

“Evelyn, stop!” he said firmly. “I'm taking Mary and I'm raising her how I believe Diane would have wanted”

“We'll see about this…”

“I realize she's not normal.” he continued, his voice steady and definitive “but if Einstein can ride a bike so can she.”

“Let’s just say Diane didn't tell me, which is nonsense. It's a Millennium Problem!” his mother blazed “She would have shared it with the world. That's where your charade falls apart.”

Frank sighed and looked down, one hand resting on the surface of the table between him and his mother, the other shoved into his pocket.

“If she had completed the proof, she would have published it!” Evelyn finished.

With a deep breath he looked back up at his mother before he looked down at the file and spoke a little softer this time “Diane instructed me very clearly….” he swallowed and looked down at his left hand, his fingers tapping lightly on the table “…that I was only to publish it post mortem.”

“She died six years ago.” Evelyn demanded and he looked back at her.

“It wasn't her death she was talking about.”

He watched as his mother’s mouth fell open slightly in understanding and shock before she looked down, swallowing. Despite everything, Frank felt a pang of sympathy for her, he was taking no pleasure in any of this. His mother sank into a chair, her eyes closing as her head bowed slightly

“I tried to talk her out of it.” Frank said gently “But you know how Diane could be when she made her mind up about something.”

Evelyn didn’t say a word, she simply stared at a spot on the desk, her eyes darting from side to side and Frank could see she was suddenly coming to terms with the fact that, really, she hadn’t known his sister at all

“I called MIT.” he continued “Shankland's out of his mind about the possibility of publishing it with you.” At that Evelyn glanced up at him “He's waiting for your call. Frank nodded “You're gonna spend the next few years of your life defending it. You won't have time for her.”

Evelyn swallowed again, before she floundered to speak, struggling slightly to form the first word. “What If I say no?”  she said, taking a breath and looking back up at Frank.

He looked to the side slightly “well..” his eyes flicked back to hers, the nerve in his jaw twitching slightly “Back to Plan A”

“Wait for me to die?” Evelyn said, her voice almost amused as she fixed Frank with a look.

“I know Diane was hard.” he said after a moment’s pause, his voice remaining calm. “I know she was angry. But something really good came out of this, Evelyn. She needs you now. You're the best woman for the job. Take it”

Evelyn looked down at the file again, her brows raising slightly “It doesn't seem like Diane wanted me to have it.”

“Well, Diane didn't always think things through.” He smiled softly as Evelyn looked up at him, the fact she had spoken those exact words to Frank weeks before had clearly not passed her by. “I'll be outside. Let me know what you wanna do.”

With that he left the room but seconds later Evelyn shot out after him. He turned from his vantage point of the stairs and glanced back up at her, questioningly

“I’m not going to fight you, not anymore. Diane... she deserves for her work to be published.”

He nodded and turned to go again but she stopped him a second time.

“Frank, will you let me give you one piece of advice before you go?” 

He looked at her expectantly.

“Fliss…” “What about her?” Frank asked.

“The way she was fighting your corner before, the things she was saying, well, it almost made me proud to be your mother.” Evelyn said with a soft smile “Don’t let that girl go.”

“I don’t intend to.” Frank shook his head, one corner of his mouth twitching upwards slightly “Goodbye Evelyn.”

***** Cullen wasn’t overly impressed with Frank’s display of recklessness, calling him a “dumbass” loud enough for Fliss, Mary and Roberta to hear. Frank headed out of the house and explained what had happened and he listened, before promising set the ball rolling right away. Two hours later he called back having spoken the woman from the Welfare Department who had been managing the fostering arrangements.

“The Welfare Department are happy, given Evelyn’s lack of contention, for Mary to stay in your care and not be dragged back.”

“So…” Frank held his breath, not daring to believe what his friend was saying “She’s gonna be able to stay?”

“We’ll need to go back to court to obtain formal Guardian status so the process isn’t over just yet but with Evelyn’s seeming U-Turn, and the Foster Parents being surprisingly supportive of you, there’s no way this is going anywhere but in your favour.” Cullen’s voice was full of warmth “I’ll organise the paper work and we’ll file for a hearing as soon as possible but it could be after thanksgiving. I got another big custody case going on now so…” “But there’s no way she’s gonna be taken?” Frank pressed.

“I’d bet my house on it.” Cullen said, making Frank smile “The only potential bump in the road here now is if your mother requests formal access or visitation rights.” “Well if she does…I’m not opposed to her having a relationship with Mary, but it’s done on Mary’s terms, not hers.” Frank said softly. “And being reasonable like that will go even more in your favour.” Cullen chuckled “I’ll get the paper work sorted on Monday. So in the mean-time enjoy your weekend and take Fliss on a date will ya?”

With a laugh and assurances that he was going to try at least, he headed back inside to be hit with a barrage of noise as the 3 women were dancing in the living room to Journey “Don’t Stop Believing”. which was blaring out of the stereo. Mary was on the sofa, bouncing up and down as she sang whilst Fliss had hold of her hands, moving them back and forth as they danced. Frank leaned against the doorframe and simply watched them until Roberta moved over and dragged him into the middle of their group. Mary threw herself at him and he caught her with a loud huff which was followed by a laugh as she reached up and ruffled his hair.

A few hours and Chinese takeout later, Mary was fast asleep and both Fliss and Roberta decided it was time to go. Gently lifting Mary from where she was led with her head in Fliss’ lap, Frank tucked her in bed fully clothed (like it mattered for one night) and then headed outside. He said goodnight to Roberta, the woman hugging the pair of them before he walked Fliss back down to the jeep.

“Thank you for today” he said “I never knew you had such a fierce side…”

“Well, I spent so long being trampled and stepped on…sometimes I like it when my inner lioness makes an appearance.” she smirked at him.

“You certainly made an impression on my Mother.”

“Oh, yeah…” Fliss winced “I kinda..well not kinda, I…err…I shouted at her. Called her a cold hearted bitch…” “Yeah I heard that bit” Frank raised an eyebrow and Fliss snorted.

“In my defence, she started it, she called me a jumped up dressage tart, I mean…” “Well that’s just fuckin' rude.” Frank agreed “You show-jump.” Fliss looked at him before she burst out laughing and Frank grinned. There was a pause before Frank looked down at the floor and then back at Fliss “You know, she give me one final piece of advice as I left…” “Oh yeah? What was that? Buy a mosquito net? A Bug zapper? No, wait, she told you to get a string vest and a banjo didn’t she?”

Frank shook his head laughing before he looked at Fliss. “She told me not to let you go.” he said, holding Fliss gaze before she looked down, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Although the banjo does sound fun.” “Piss off.” she said gently with a grin, shoving him in his chest. He caught her wrist softly and then moved his hand to tangle their fingers together, looking down at her small palm against his before he looked back at her.

“You know, if this was a movie I’d use some really shit cliché here like oh, you came into my world and turned my life inside out…” he shrugged, “ but my life was already upside down and inside out, and you…” he let out a breath “you just help put it back to where it should be. You make everything better Lissy and these last few months without you in my corner..." he trailed off as her brown eyes locked onto his, shining in the dim light, his thumb gently skating the back of her hand. "Look, I know you said I wasn’t in a position to know what I want but..." He trailed off as he spotted the twinkle in her eye as she smiled at him, her hand squeezing his.

“I think it's about time you took me sailing don’t you?" she grinned.

He gave smile and nodded “Yeah, yeah I do. Does tomorrow work?”

“Works just fine sailor.” she said, standing on her toes. She placed a soft kiss to the side of his mouth and it took every inch of self-control Frank had not to grab her and kiss the life out of her but he knew now wasn’t the moment. Instead he smiled as she stepped back, and headed towards her car.

TAGS: @the-omni-princess  @momobaby227 @geekofmanythings16 @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld  @cobalt-gear  @asgardlover75 @jennmurawski13  @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie  @navispalace @patzammit  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog  @icanfeelastormbrewing @djeniiscorner  @ayamenimthiriel  @coldmuffinbanditshoe  @disneylovingal @madzmilllz  @sgtjaamesbaarnes @sweater-daddiesdumbdork @southerngracela  @goldenfightergir @kellymat @official-and-unstable-satan @pagesoflauren 

[seelaa26]

2. If I Killed Someone For You

“¿Would you love me more if I killed someone for you? ¿Would you hold my hands? They’re the same ones that I used when I killed someone for you”

It had been a few days since I started working and since my first case. It had been a very quiet week. Week I took the opportunity to meet the rest of the team, because we don’t work independently; Captain Jim Brass, homicide detective and the person we turn to when we need anything legally. Our key lab tech Greg Sanders is first-rate, he’s always smiling and making jokes. Doctor Al Robbins, Chief Coroner, is our secret weapon, not only he is sharp he’s also not disturbed by the actions and habits of humanity.

According to statistics, Tuesday and Wednesday are the days of least criminal activity, so that would explain why half the team had the night off. Since that night only Grissom and I would be there, he promised me that he would introduce me more to his specialty, forensic entomology. I left my bag in my locker when I received a message from Grissom saying he was waiting for me outside, we had a 420. I started studying the codes used by CSIs and police officers and I knew what a 420 was; homicide. Grissom drove in silence until we reached the crime scene. Police had already cordoned off the area, but there were a lot of people around, including journalists. Sergeant Ray O’Riley was waiting for us, he was the one who called Grissom.

-Press is going to be all over this one –he warned us- Four dead; mother, father and two teenage boys. Sisters were luckier. Teen girl heard a noise and hid in the closet. Alerted the neighbors. The younger sister, Brenda, is over there.

-¿What’s the matter with your guys? –Grissom asked him when he saw a couple of officers leaving the house to vomit.

-They’ve been inside.

-I want the paramedics that ran this house back here immediately and call dispatch, you tell all my entire graveyard shift that I want them here ASAP; all of them, no exceptions –Grissom ordered the Sergeant- I’m going to do a preliminary walkthrough and you are going to take my notes, Laura.

We put on gloves and entered the house. The lights were off so we were going with the flashlight and being careful where we stepped. Just entering the house, something started to move in my stomach. I had the feeling that the murders had been brutal.

-The air smells like copper; lots of blood. Breathe through your mouth –Grissom indicated as we climbed the stairs and then we found the first body- Male Caucasian, approximately 40 years old, lying in a pool of blood. No drag marks and body does not appear to have been moved. Multiple stab wounds to the back and neck.. looks like a single edge blade. Head faces west, the feet pointing east.

-Grissom, ¿can you take your own notes? –I asked as I was dizzy and retching- I need a minute.

-I got it –Sara appeared from nowhere and took the notebook I was writing on- Go get some fresh air.

I left the house without touching anything focused on not throwing out until getting a barf bag. Luckily, when I breathed fresh air and leaned on the SUV to have a fixed place, I was starting to feel better again. After a few minutes, the other team members began to arrive but Nick was the first to do it. He parked right next to me and when he got out of the car, he saw me.

-Hey, ¿what are you doing out here? –I looked at him and then he knew- ¡Oh! ¿That bad, huh?

-I thought it would never happen to me.. react like this.

-We all think it won’t happen to us and then it does, so don’t give it too much credit and wait to see a decomposing corpse.

-¡Wow! ¿Aren’t you the life of the party? –I said ironically and we both smiled.

Once the whole team was together, Grissom told us how we were going to work and what each one was going to do.

-First rule for the crime scene; do not do any interviews. Second rule; don’t talk to the sheriff either. Killer was here not two hours ago, he left part of himself behind.

-Edmond Locard’s exchange principle –I muttered, according to what Grissom said. In forensic science, Locard’s principle holds that the perpetrator of a crime will leave something behind and take something with them.  

-Exactly –Grissom nodded- Catherine, Sara, I need you inside, mapping and blood samples. Nick, Warrick, the perimeter. I wanna know how he got here, how he got in, how he got out and how he left.

-I’ll take the back, ¿Warrick you got the front? –Nick asked.

-You got it.

-Laura, I need you to transport the little girl to Sunrise Hospital for a psych evaluation. Once you’ve done it, come back here.

I nodded and headed to the police car where the little girl was sitting bundled up in a police jacket. She showed no emotion, instead she kept staring at the house. I bent down in front of her and looked at her with a slight smile.

-¡Hi! My name is Laura, ¿is your name Brenda? –suddenly, she looked at me but she didn’t say anything- ¿Do you want to go for a ride with me?

***

After taking Brenda to the hospital and leaving her with the woman from Family Services and the Doctor, I went back to the crime scene, just like Grissom told me. When I arrived, I found him trying to escape the press.

-Grissom, I’m back –I approached him- The doctor will page me when he’s done with the evaluation. ¿Where do you want me meanwhile?

-¿Do you think you can take the interior of the house? –he asked due to my reaction before.

-Yes, I do.

-Grissom –a man in a suit approached us, and then he saw me- ¿Who’s this?

-This is Laura –he kindly stated- She’s the new CSI.

-¿Do you think it’s okay to put a rookie on a high-profile case?

-I know what I’m doing, Sheriff.

-Mayor just called.. ¿so what do you’ve got? –Grissom denied with his head- Just give me something I can run with, I have to talk to the press.

-As soon as I have something, you’ll have something.

In the most elegant way, Grissom excused us and we entered the house again. For a couple of hours, I helped Catherine and Sara collect blood samples from every blood splatter and record each one on the crime scene map. The map was going to help us clarify the situation of how the crime was committed.

-¿What’s your take? –I asked them.

-Whoever did it, killed the mother first, in her sleep quick–Sara began to explain.

-Explains why the blood is confined in the bed and the floor under it.

-Husband woke up, ran to protect his kids –Sara continued- The killer stabbed him and then finished him off down the hall.

-Gave his life for the little girl –I concluded, since he died near Brenda’s door.

My phone rang indicating that I had received a message from the hospital. They had finished the psychological evaluation, so I had to go. I said goodbye to the girls and I went down the stairs. David, the forensic assistant, was walking out the door carrying the body of a family member. Before exiting the house, Nick lifted the sheet that covered the body and covered it again pissed off.

-This kid should be out playing football –he exhaled and then hit the door.  

-This is getting under your skin, huh –he just looked at me with a frown so I decided to try to make him laugh to calm him- Don’t give it too much credit and wait to see how it swells.

-¿That’s what I get for helping you before? –he smiled at me knowing that I returned his joke.

-Put some ice on it before the swelling starts –I answered with a smile.

***

Connie, the Family Services person assigned to the case, and I were waiting when the doctor left the office and came to see us with Brenda. We both got up as soon as we saw them arrive.

-Brenda’s fine but I’d like her to have a consult –he looked at his wrist watch- I’ve paged the psychiatric resident, he should be here within the hour.

-Thanks –Connie said placing her hand on Brenda’s back- I’ll take it from here.

-¿What’s the head exam for? –I asked.

-I said we’ll take it from here –she insisted- It’s already going to be tense.

-Look, if there’s any forensic evidence found during this exam, I need to be there –suddenly, Brenda pulled away from Connie and hugged me around the waist- It’s okay Brenda, I’m not leaving you.

***

After a couple of hours in the hospital with Brenda, I got a message from Warrick saying that we were all going to meet in the break room to review the case. When I arrived at the Crime Lab everyone was muttering about a suspect.

-Hey, I heard you have a suspect –I entered the room and went straight to the fridge to get my sandwich, then I sat down.

-We have about four and with the tire prints alone –Warrick answered.

-Let’s talk about what else we have –Grissom put on his glasses- Tina Collins’ pajama top from the murder scene without a drop of blood on it.

-¿How do you explain that? –I asked- If my whole family was murdered, I’d run to them to check to see if they are still alive.

-We are about to go ask her –Catherine answered- Nick, ¿what did you find out about the stuff that you collected at the back of the house?

-¿The bidi? –he bit his sandwich and continued explaining- DNA still processing but Tina said nobody in the family smoked.

-So a non-family member was out there –Sara summarized.

-¿Bidi? ¿Bidi? –Grissom repeated- I thought you found a cigarette and a match behind the house.

-It’s just like a cigarette –he answered trying not to laugh- Kids smoke them they think there’s less carbon monoxide.

-¿What did you find out about the psychic exam on the little girl? –Catherine asked me.

-The shrink says the kid is in a catatonic state from the trauma. I could’ve told you that, but she did respond at the name “Buffalo”. She freaked out.

-¿Where is she? –Grissom asked.

-I left her in the car, the windows are cracked –I answered with a straight face and everyone looked at me with their mouths open- Give me a little credit, she’s at the hospital.

When they realized I was teasing them, they breathed a sigh of relief and then laughed about it. Warrick, Nick and Sara went to question the other three suspects, who shared the scooter, the getaway vehicle. Catherine, Grissom and I went to talk with the teenage daughter, Tina.

-I don’t know why I didn’t get blood on my pajamas, I just didn’t.

-But your statement says that you bent down and hugged your mother, who was bleeding profusely –Catherine stated- Then you ran out, tripping over your father’s body in the upstairs hallway.

-But there was no blood on you –Grissom looked at her.

-I saw my family dead, I was scared.. I ran to the neighbors. That is the truth.

-The evidence is telling us a different story.

-Guys, Nick matched the matches found in the back of the house with the matches from a suspect –Jim Brass entered the room- Kid’s name is Jesse Overton, he time shares the scooter, he admits to having sex with your girl and he’s asking for a lawyer. I want to get a warrant and search his house.

-I want to see my sister –Tina said nervously- You don’t understand, I need to speak with her.

-She won’t speak, the doctor says it’s from trauma. –I said, unable to contain myself anymore- ¿What happened, Tina? ¿Did she catch your boyfriend killing your family?

***

Apparently, Brass found the getaway vehicle dismantled by pieces tossed in the trash at the main suspect’s house, and that wasn’t the only thing, he also found bloodstained jeans. Genius criminal. We got to do a polygraph test even though we already knew it was him, but we wanted to know the truth. This time, the whole team was behind the observation glass and a professional asked the questions, but we wrote them down.

-¿Did Tina Collins approached you at school and asked you to kill her family?

-Yes.

-¿Did you kill her family?

-Yes.

-¿Did Tina let you in the front door the night of the killings?

-Yes.

-¿Did she already have a knife for you?

-No, she let me choose.

-¿Did you use that knife to kill Barbara Collins, Mr. Collins and both sons?

-Yes.

-¿Did Tina Collins tell you she wanted them dead so you could see each other?

-Yes.

After the last question, we all left the room and sat on the benches outside. Brass was in charge of talking to the professional about the test. It didn’t take long for him to come out with the result sheet.

-Well, the sick bastard was on the open up except your last question –he explained- Operator says his respiratory reactions were inconsistent. He’s lying.

-We got them both –Nick said- I don’t much care why they did it.

-I’m with you there –Warrick agreed.

-I care –Grissom mumbled- I don’t like holes. ¿What are they hiding?

***

After Grissom reviewed all the evidence again, he found something that was the reason for me to return to the hospital. He found a silver necklace with an engraved buffalo on it. I followed my boss’s orders, so I took the ultraviolet camera and went to Brenda Collins’ room.

-This is a very special camera because it can see deep into your skin, can see things nobody can see –I explained to her- ¿How about if I take a picture of me first, okay?

I raised my arm and photographed it for her to see that it didn’t hurt. She nodded and smiled slightly, so with her permission, I untied the knot of the medical gown she was wearing and lowered to her shoulders.

-¿Are you ready?

She nodded again with a paralyzing look, and then I took the picture. The most important thing was to reveal the photograph and discover if our theory was correct and if it was, it was a tragedy. Sadly, the photo reveal confirmed it.

***

Despite having both of them, we had to talk to the teenage sister, Tina Collins, one last time to tell her that we knew what happened and why they did it. Grissom and Brass entered the interrogation room and showed Tina her sister’s picture. She put her hand on her mouth and closed her eyes.

-We have forensic evidence that your father sexually abused your sister –Grissom said- We also know that he was in her room the night of the murders.  

-¿How can you tell?

-Blood drops –he answered- They fall a certain way depending on the motion of the victim. Something horrible happened in that house, ¿didn’t it Tina?.. Long before the night of the murders.

-That was the last night he was gonna touch her –she said in an angry tone.

-¿But why your mother and why your brothers?

-Because they should have protected me –she changed her tone from anger to sadness- My father.. I was young, I learned to deal but when he went for my daughter..

Dead silence. Desolation and pain filled our silence as we exchanged looks.

-¿Brenda is..? –Grissom couldn’t finish his question- ¿And who is..?

-¿The father? –she finished for him- I was 13 and nobody noticed that my clothes were getting bigger. ¿Nice, huh? Brenda may hate me for what I did but I protected her.

***

After Tina went back to jail and Brenda was taken to Family Services, it was when I allowed myself to collect my things and finish the day. When I got to the locker room, I saw Grissom gathering his things and Nick sitting on the bench with an ice pack on his hand.

-It will be back in normal in 24 hours –Grissom said to him.

-Normal would be nice.

-¿What is normal? –I tossed without thinking, but that question made Grissom stop- Normality is a question of our point of view, our interpretation of reality and it’s also a way to ignore our problems. For that girl, normality was being abused. For me, it became normal to see my uncle drink half a bottle of whisky each day, but in reality, he was becoming an alcoholic.

-You are right–Grissom nodded- Normal is an illusion; what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.

[crookedmoonlight123]

The Rain Woman - Chapter 14 - Melted Ice Makes Water

Yay! The next chapter is up! Please read it below, then follow the link to read and review!

The Rain Woman- Chapter 14 – Melted Ice Makes Water

 A/N: So sorry that I haven’t updated this in such a long, long time. I was going through a really bad time! Please enjoy nonetheless.

 Juvia awoke with a start; someone was having an argument in the corridor. Bleary eyed, Juvia glanced at the clock on the nightstand, it read 3:30pm.  She hadn’t really fallen asleep until near 5am tossing and turning about what Mitch had said to her, what did her father have planned exactly?  Juvia felt a tingle in her veins as her magic burned at her fingertips, the shouting grew louder annoying the watermage. Puffing her cheeks and throwing the duvet off furiously, Juvia made way to the little wooden door, grabbing the knob and twisting it violently, before storming into the corridor to see a man and a woman staring offensively at each other but they were facing Juvia who had come storming loudly from her room.

 “You alright lady?”  The brown-haired man asked aggressively, Juvia glared at him.  “You might wanna try putting some clothes on.”  He spat the words his fists still raised.

 “Oh, as if you don’t look at women all the time Hugh!”  The blonde girl spoke now spitting her words at Hugh.

 “Juvia wouldn’t need to get dressed if your shouting hadn’t woken her up.”  The watermage spoke with a bitterness that rivalled a lemon.  

 “It’s 3:30pm, what are you, a lady of the night.”  Hugh scoffed fuelling Juvias fury, her navy-blue orbs narrowing, her mouth turning into a thin line.

 “Water lo-“The watermage was cut off as someone shoved her into the wall.  It was Mitch, his forearm pushing her back against it, his body turned to Hugh and who appeared to be his girlfriend.

 “What’s all the commotion about?”  Another broader figure appeared from behind Hugh, it was Juvias father, he strolled casually into the scene.

 “Well I was having a conversation with my girl and that crazy woman came storming out her room accusing us of waking her up, it’s 3:30 in the afternoon it’s no crime.” Hugh looked Jimquin in the eyes.

 Jimquin spoke with such mad calmness.  “Well that would be my daughter, if you would excuse her behaviour, we got in late last night from our travels.”

 Juvia pushed Mitch away still glaring at Hugh.  “Juvia is going to get dressed.”  The watermage stalked back into her room making sure to slam the door shut.

  About half an hour later Juvia heard a light rapping on her door, pulling her thigh high boots on she walked over, opening the door more calmly than she had earlier.

 “Hey, Jimquin wants us to meet down the lobby now.”  The familiar green haired wizard gave Juvia a weak smile as she closed the door behind them to make their way down to the reception area.  “I uh, wanted to apologise for how cold I was to you last night, I was just tired.” Mitch chuckled but it sounded strained.

 “Juvia doesn’t need an apology, it’s fine.”  The watermage kept her gaze ahead as her father came into view.

 “Ah, perfect timing.  We need to get going.” Jimquin rubbed his hands together as the two wizards descended the last few steps and followed silently out the inn.

 “Where are we going?”  Juvia asked walking side by side with her father, giving him a sidelong glance.

 “I have some information on a man who I need to pay a visit to, he is a slippery guy he keeps getting away everytime I get some information on him.”  Juvia nodded as they strode fiercely through the village like a storm.

 “We think someone is tipping the guy off when they see us coming, or overhear our guy telling Jimquin.” Mitch filled in some details.

 Juvia nodded slightly, as they proceeded forwards through the town, the uneven cobbles making it slightly trickier than normal to walk in high heeled boots.  All the houses had a similar likeness to the inn, being white washed stone, the newer ones made of yellow bricks, they had almost the same size gardens to Rhodonia, the noticeable difference was in the grass; in Rhodonia is was soft, lush, springy grass, here it was darker, spiky, dry grass, it appeared like it needed the rain she had brought with her.

 The man her father had a quandary with, was allegedly in a small bar in town, as they neared the wooden run-down bar, the smell of cigars and alcohol filled the watermages nostrils, making them burn in protest.  Jimquin led the way in, the door creaking as it opened into a dark hazy room, full of raucous voices.  Male testosterone filled the air here, most of the faces weather beaten, unfriendly, with cruel, twisted smiles, beers in one hand and a thick cigar in the other.

 Scrunching her nose up, Juvia walked inside, Mitch walking closely behind her, their footsteps on the dusty wooden floorboards now echoed loudly in their ears as silence fell over the bar, each and every one of those alcohol dazed faces staring as they went by.

 Upon reaching the bar Jimquin immediately had the barmans attention, the whole room had his attention.  Juvia and Mitch flanked either side of him like bodyguards as the elder water wizard proceeded to ask the whereabouts of a name Juvia didn’t quite hear.

 “What do you mean he is not here?!” Jimquins voice enraged his tone a low growl.

 The barman responded, quivering “H-he left just minutes ago.”  The blonde-haired male put the glass down he was drying, clearing his throat as if to settle his nerves.

 Jimquin straightened up a bit, tugging the edges of his suit-which seemed very out of place in this sort of bar.  “Did he say where he was going?”  Jimquins strained to maintain his temper as the barman shook his head.  This guy must have really annoyed father, Juvia thought blinking her navy-blue eyes, fingers interlaced in front of her. Jimquin turned to face the harrowed onlookers, some fidgeted uncomfortably in their seats as they met his all powerful gaze.  Arms held out high to the side of him he spoke to the crowd.  “Does any know where that bloody bastard Greg Greendale has gone?” Jimquin roared, “I know he is a regular here, so do not lie to me.”  His gaze would have been terrifying if Juvia could feel terror.

 No one spoke, either through fear or loyalty.  “Mitch.” Jimquin nodded at the green haired wizard on his right.

 Mitch merely shut his eyes, but a heavy weight could be felt all around the building. “If you don’t cooperate then I really will give you something to be scared of.”  Some people started running for the door only to be met with an invisible barrier.  “You have 30 seconds to give me an answer.” Jimquin almost spat as he eyed each and every human being in the room.  Juvia glanced at Mitch, his brows were furrowed, his eyes still tightly closed. “Fine then.”  Jimquin paused, now smirking.  “Let’s have some fun.”  His eyes shot to Juvias.  “Juvia. Would you please suffocate….” He paused again his eyes scanning the room for a victim.  “That one.”  It was a scrawny old man, who seemed like a farmer, a poor farmer who had only come in for a quiet drink, he was the only man who didn’t look greedy or cruel.  His old grey eyes were kind, his heart honest.

 Juvia looked to her father questioningly.  “Go ahead Juvia.”  The watermage looked back at the old man something irking in her brain.

“NOW JUVIA!”  Jimquin shouted that little inkling out of her brain as the magic surged through her veins, taking over her thoughts, her feelings, she had to release the pent-up power.

 Juvia twisted her hand as if she were opening a door, “water lock.”  The words calm and collected, a trait she got from either Jose or her father.  Wind billowed her navy-blue hair around her, wind she had created herself from the release of her power, her victim ensnared in a suffocating sphere of water, hovering off the floor for everyone to see, a spectacle.  

 The man tried desperately not to drown, but in doing that he would only suffocate, a voice spoke up.  “OK enough!” A horrified male voice rang out, many others had their hands over their mouths in shock.  “Michael goes to another bar up town after this one.”  He pleaded with Jimquin, his hair also blue.  “It’s the only other one in the town, he had friends there.”  The water wizard still stared at him, as the man in the water lock was fighting his last moments, Juvia still held on mercilessly. “Ok, it’s out of here, turn right, walk past 6 streets on your right, it’s the 7th one down half way down that road. Dear god just let that poor man go!”  He shouted for mercy on his knees.

 Jimquin nodded, “Thankyou for your cooperation.  Mitch drop your shield.  Juvia release him.” Jimquin looked to Juvia, her eyes, they were fixated on the fly caught in her web, the power didn’t want to let go, it wanted more, more and more, she was more than he could have asked for.  “Juvia you have to let him go.” Jimquin spoke more assertively but the watermage didn’t seem to hear him.

 “Juvia!” Mitch grabbed her shoulders, shaking her violently, breaking her power-hungry daze.  The watermage snapped to attention, releasing the water locks hold on the man as he fell, limply to the floor in a wet heap.  “You almost killed him.  That wasn’t the point.”  Mitch stared down into those empty navy pits knowing that his words still meant nothing. Jimquin had created a monster.  No one moved or dared speak as the three mages walked out the bar to their next destination, leaving a bar of dread and misery behind them.

 Gray had been up early the following morning, he had rested that extra day as promised to Mary.  The icemages tote bag was now full of food and potions, courtesy of his host, as he walked the familiar forest path back from the mansion in the afternoon sun, the wet mud still squelching with every step.  Juvia wasn’t at the mansion anymore, that was made clear by the wizards who were still recovering from their fight with him, Sparky hadn’t recovered. Gray had overheard that they had moved on to Allium town to settle some sort of business on their way to Midi, the smallest part of Fiore.

 Gray sighed as his coal eyes glanced up at the iron sky.  Just a month ago Juvia had been a bubbly, smiley friendly face around the guild, always trying to get him to go out alone with her.  Some of the times Gray had accepted, he couldn’t always say yes, he didn’t know exactly how he felt about the watermage and decided it was in her best interest if he rejected the offer a few times.  The outings they did have consisted of them going on evening walks around Magnolia or sat in a Café talking. One particular occasion, the most recent, the pair had gone on a walk one sunny afternoon, the sun beating down on the hot stone streets on Magnolia, Juvia had worn a light pink summer dress with red roses patterns, coupled with a straw hat which she had fiddled with when she had become nervous at times.  Somehow, they had found them right on the outskirts of town, stood on a bridge looking down at the little stream that wound its way over the rock’s underneath, the water so clear and cool despite the blistering heat.  They had chattered idly about missions on the request board and Gray could feel Juvia pining to ask him on one of them as she fiddled with the hem of her dress, her long lashes dipped, he hadn’t noticed how close their faces were to each-other as the cool air became thicker, his fingers lightly brushed against hers, a blush framed her cheeks the same colour as the roses, Gray had felt his heart beat so fast he was sure that it was going to fly off with him, just as he leaned in Juvia had stuck her finger against his lips and had said;

 “Gray-sama!” She had giggled closing her navy-blue eyes, “Not until Juvia has her answer.” She scolded him playfully, he knew very well which answer she wanted. She wanted to know how he truly felt about her, he could’ve given it to her right then, but his throat had closed up, partly from the rejection and partly because his head was swimming with the answer he knew he now held.

 But now Juvia was a completely different person, and it hurt to see her that way knowing that he might have been able to save her from herself and whoever was pulling her strings.

   The bar was the completely opposite of the wooden shack the three wizards had not long been to, some wrong directions later they have found this place, a suave upmarket building, instead of wooden walls there were big glass windows making the place seems bright, airy and spacious, blue lights shone down from the ceilings around the bar which was paired with tall red bar stalls, screaming elegance and class.  Cosy dark wooden tables hugged the outskirts of the room with two small armchairs per table.

 The watermage glanced up at Jimquin whose face was beet red, fists shaking at his sides. The place was deserted.  Except from the bar staff, a large round man with hair a similar shade to Mitchs’, he was drying a martini glass looking at the trio uninterested.

 Mitch walked forwards first as he seemed to sense his boss’ ever-growing temper.  He glanced sidelong at Juvia as he passed, partly for her sake.  She had lost control back there and he worried if she used her powers so soon after would anyone be able to stop her?  “Excuse me.” Mitch cleared his throat as the man looked up at him crinkling his podgy nose.  “We’re looking for Greg Greendale, our acquaintance said he would be here at this time, you see, we’re old friends of his.”  Mitch spoke smoothly trying to sound friendly even as Jimquin steamed behind him.

 “Yeah you not long missed Ol’ Greg.”  The barman slurred, he obviously didn’t find any of the wizards imposing.  Jimquin ground his teeth.  “He has gone out of town, but he’ll be back by tomorrow assured.” Juvias father remained silent as Juvia just observed the scene, a random image of her mother popped into her head, her navy-blue eyes full of happiness smiling.

 “Thankyou sir.” Mitch finished as he turned back to the two water users.  Juvia was for some reason smiling, a genuine smile. His eyes travelled to Jimquin who was already turning to leave, he and Juvia followed suit as they walked in completely silence although the air was thick with tension.  “So, what now boss?  It’s around 6/6:30pm.”  Mitch broke the silence.

 “We find out where he lives.  We wait for him to come back.  That barman said by tomorrow, so he could be back tonight.”  Jimquin looked at his two pawns his brown eyes hard, their faces almost expressionless.  “Although an early dinner might be in order.  You will need your energy after all.”

 After heading back to the inn to ask the timid receptionist the best place to eat and if she knew of Greg Greendale which she had replied that she was new and had no idea who he was, the wizards had found the restaurant, the speciality was seafood caught from the ocean fresh every day.  Jimquin ordered a huge seafood platter with bowls of vegetables to for the three of them consisting of; mussles in a white wine sauce, chilli, tomato or garlic butter, king prawns, sea bass, swordfish, fried squid, chargrilled octopus and some creatures that Juvia didn’t recognise. The two males dug right into the food, the watermage just sat staring at the platter trying to figure out why she wasn’t joining in, she knew she liked seafood, but it was something about being here in this restaurant, she felt edgy, like a big pressure building up inside her.

 “Juvia are you not eating?”  Jimquin studied her, noticing the trance like state she adopted.  Juvia looked up as a cracking sounded making them all jump. Juvia unfurled her hands to find a chunk of the table in it, dropping it on the floor Juvia met her fathers judging eyes.

 “Yes, Juvia is eating.”  The blunette put some squid, swordfish and octopus on her plate, overfilling a plate was seen as bad manners, so she was accustomed to eating a small plate full at a time.  The food was exquisite, definitely fresh.

 “Ahh yes Greg is back later this evening.”  As if their ears were tuned into hearing the word ‘Greg’ Mitch turned around to the people sat behind them.

 “Excuse me. Are you talking about Greg Greendale?” Mitch flew the blonde a swooning smile, well as swooning as Mitch could make it with his scarred cheek and missing tooth.

 She replied, “Yes we are.”  Batting her eyelids, she had fallen for his ‘charm’.

 “May I ask where he lives?  His Granddaughter is here as a surprise.  She hasn’t been here for years so she can’t remember where he lives you see.”  Juvia nearly choked on a piece of octopus at the word ‘granddaughter’, she looked over at her father who winked at her. Juvia sighed in relief, it was a ruse.

 “Next street over house number five.”  Her red fingernails gripped the back of the chair as she leaned closer to Mitch enticingly as her female friend watched from the other end of their table.

 “Thankyou so much, please do enjoy your meal.”  Mitch smiled at her again as he turned back to his own meal, Jimquin smiled at him approvingly.

 As the meal came to an end Jimquin paid the bill before prompting them to leave the dining area.  As they exited the building the cool air hit the watermage as an image of a bridge on a hot summers day floated into her mind making her stop as she walked, her heart fluttering, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time.  Almost as quickly as it had happened it had gone and Juvia found herself catching up with her father.

 “So, the house should be down here, number five.”  They stopped at a small narrow house, no fence surrounded the small lawn and a straggly leafless tree jutted up into the sky.  As they neared the house Juvia noticed that the house lacked serious care, the white net curtains appeared yellowing in the light from the room behind them, the paint on the wooden front door was all chipped and eroded away – probably partly from the salty sea air.  “He must be home; the light is on.”  Jimquin sounded almost excited as he stepped up onto the cramped porch which had empty plant pots on it.  The water wizard knocked three times on the door.  What felt like forever later, the door opened wide to reveal a short middle-aged man holding a walking stick, whose brown hair was streaked with grey, his face weathered, upon seeing Jimquin his grey eyes went wide, his body rigid in recognition.

 “J-J-Jimquin…”  He sounded breathless and almost seemed to age before Juvias eyes. Suddenly, Jimquin had staggered backwards falling back off the porch onto his arse with a thump, the little man running.  He had slammed his walking stick into her father stomach before dropping it and sprinting off.

 “GO AFTER HIM NOW!”  Jimquin roared, spurring them on in the direction of Greg.  Juvia was faster than Mitch and managed to make out his figure darting left into a wide open green.

 Juvia fingers tingled, the pressure building back up inside of her.  “Water whip!”  Her arm turned into a flexible stream of water which grabbed at Gregs leg sending him face first into the ground, he turned to face Juvia angrily, his face contorted into fury and pain as red blood poured out of his now broken nose.

 “You bitch!”  He snarled at her.

 “Water lock.” Juvia twisted her hand as an orb of dark water magic enveloped the old man just as Jimquin and Mitch rounded the corner behind her.

 “Good job Juvia!”  Jimquin praised,  “Release your water lock but keep him bound so he cant run.”  He joined his hands behind his back.

 “As you wish father.  Water rope.” The water lock disappeared soaking the grass as rope bound Gregs legs and hands, he was trapped like a mouse.

 “Now Greg, who have you spouted your crap to!”  Jimquin roared at his old collegue.

 “No-one! I swear!”  Greg was trembling.

 “My informants tell me otherwise.  You are lieing, and you know how I feel about liars.  Juvia tighten those ropes.” Greg cried out at the ropes of water bit into his skin like water slicers.

 “I haven’t told anyone I swear.” Greg stuck to his guns, Juvia didn’t believe him, her father wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble for someone who hadn’t done anything.

 “Stop lying.”  It was Juvia who spoke as she used a water whip to knock him awkwardly to the ground with a sickening crunch as he landed on his elbow at an odd angle breaking his arm.

 “Add a noose to the accessories Juvia dear.”  A noose of water appeared around Gregs throat as Juvia lifted him up by it, so his feet just touched the ground, he spluttered and gagged as it squeezed his oesophagus.

 “Okay!” Greg squeaked as his face started to turn a dark red.  “I told a few of the wizards in Pregrande, Ministrel and Stella, but they didn’t believe me, told me your research your ideas were all impossible feats.”

 “Hm.” Jimquin seemed to ponder as Greg hung struggling for breath in his noose. “Kill him.”

 Juvia tensed at the instruction as her magic raged inside her, she had never killed anyone.

 “DO IT JUVIA!” Jimquin screamed at her impatiently.  “NOW!!”

 Juvia felt overwhelmed as her magic burned through her as the noose tightened around Gregs neck drawing blood.

 “NO!” A voice roared from the side, “JUVIA!!”  Juvia recognised the voice, so did her heart.  “STOP, JUVIA!”  Gray appeared, running at Juvia, ice magic forming in his hands, his devil slayer mark emerging on his skin, eyes cold and hard.  There was only one way to stop her.  “Ice make arrows!”  Gray fired arrows of ice at the watermage who seemed startled by his sudden entrance.

 Juvia made no move to stop or resist the attack as she kept a hold of Greg in the noose, the arrows piercing her skin and tearing at her clothes.  She winced but still did not let go of her magic hold.

 “You can’t do this Juvia!”  Gray tried to plead.  “You’ll never forgive yourself!”

 Juvia twisted internally at the emotion in his voice, the way his head hung low as the rain began to pour, something gnawed away at her.

 “Would you just kill him already!”  Her father roared, “you know the magic wants you to!”  His eyes were fearful, why does this stupid Fairy Tail mage keep showing up!  He is going to ruin everything.  

 Juvia gritted her teeth as the magic surged through her blood, almost taking complete hold, “Water slicer!” Juvia shouted as the slicers caught the edges of Grays arms, waist and leg as he tried to dodge it quickly.  Without having enough time to recover Juvia was already on her next attack, “water cane!”  She whipped his legs from under him before hitting him skywards, sending him up into the sky before she struck him down again.  Gray let out a cry of pain as he felt some ribs pop and his chin graze. “Water noose!”  Juvia encircled Grays neck with a noose lifting him off the floor like Greg, he hung limply in front of her, her smile venomous.

 “I… wont… be… finished off… that easily.”  He choked weakly, “ice make lance!”  Gray shot lancers flying towards Juvia now as he moved in closer behind them using them as a shield, “ice make knuckles!”  Juvia was now hurtled up into the air, being struckles by both knuckles and lancers, forced to release the noose on Greg, she grimaced as she hit the wet grass feeling blood beginning to run from where the lancers and arrows had struck her, her head dizzy.  

 “Water cyclone!”  She retaliated as purple water magic gushed towards Gray in the form of a powerful cyclone, purple water magic just isn’t right.

 “Freeze!” Gray shouted freezing the cyclone in its tracks, luckily, she hadn’t made it boiling.

 “I won’t make that mistake again.”  Juvia spoke coldly now standing upright although shaking from her injuries.  “Hot water –“

 “Ice-make Gungir!”  A huge chunk of ice rose up encasing Juvia, freezing her solid in the ice.

 “Should we cut in?”  Mitch asked Jimquin, looking worried.

 “No, this is Juvias fight.  Once she dispatches him, she will be mine.”

 “But Sir, she is frozen solid.”  He ran a hand through his wet green hair, Had he missed something?

 “Just watch.”  Jimquin smirked as the ice began to melt.

 “Impossible.”  Gray stared wide eyed as his Gungir attack melted infront of him.

 “No way.” Mitch exclaimed.

 “She has raised the temperature of her waterbody, the molecules, thus allowing her to be immune to his ice attacks.”  Jimquin let out a villainous laugh.  “There is nothing you can do to stop or save her Gray! Mwahahahahaha”  

 Juvia fell from the melted ice landing on her feet in a crouched position. “Gray…..sama?”  Her eyes became wide and soft, the ice freezing her had also froze the dark water magic momentarily allowing her to think clearer.

 “Juvia?!” Grays heart clenched and unclenched as he began to run towards her, his feet squelching in the mud.

 “Wait!” She shouted, now sounding half torn. “Don’t come any closer to Juvia.” She held her head in her hands, fighting herself.  Gray ignored her warning and kept running, if he could just reach her in time. “Boiling water nebula!”  Juvia shouted, Gray had no time to react, he felt the searing burning pain before he felt the attack hit, sending him flying back across the park, his skin searing hot as the devil slayer mark disappeared off his skin, his face and body sunk into the sodden mud, the only saving grace being Juvias cold rain on his burning hot back.

 Gray glanced to left to see most of his bag had been destroyed, the plushie thankfully unharmed, the blue hair visible against the dark evening light.

 “Well done Juvia.”  Jimquins greedy voice rang out clear and proud, although it could have been better, you beat him in the end, again. Let’s hope he stays gone this time.

 Jimquin walked away as Juvia stared at the crumpled, steaming mess on the floor which was Gray, his skin was badly burned, blood running out of cuts all over, his face turned to face left, his eyes lifeless yet fixated on something.  Juvia followed his gaze to a tote bag which had been scalded by her water nebula, something blue caught her eye and she decided to walk over to it.

 Without thinking Juvia picked up the soft object, her eyes widening, it was her, a happy her, she had knitted this for him, he had brought it with him.  A spark grew in her heart, joy, a spark of joy, she held the plushie close to her chest.

 “Come on Juvia!”  Jimquin shouted angrily.

 Juvia placed the plushie down, it would only be destroyed with her.  But little did she know those few moments with that plushie, the feelings she felt from the memory and the fact Gray-sama had brought it with him, had released a part of her from the dark magics hold.

 A/N: Only 3 more chapters to go! Please review, it really keeps us going!

R & R ---> https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=12261807&chapter=14/

 CrookedMoonlight

[bethhxrmon]

All I Ask of You Pt. 31

“There’s only us, there’s only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss” - “Another Day” from Rent

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: Some solutions are finally popping up

Warnings: I can’t think of any??? 

A/N: So! This month is gonna be a trip and a half, so updates may be spotty because of my real life is getting busy. But I will do my best to keep up with everything. As always, the masterlist is in my bio!

It was easier said than done to come up with the proper web formula for Peter. Even with one of the biggest tech geniuses in the world, they were getting nowhere. Not that it surprised Annie, she had never been a genius when it came to science. Naturally, getting anything that would be somewhat helpful was nearly impossible.

Nearly.

“Come on, there has to be something that if she tried to push it apart, it would either not budge or would make things worse,” Tony said, starting to pace around the room.

Peter nodded, “Yeah, I know. It has to be something super weird and high tech though.”

“Why? I mean, can’t it be something so stupidly simple that you guys are overlooking it?” Annie asked, looking between the both of them before spinning around in an office chair for the umpteenth time that day.

Tony rolled his eyes, “You really think that I haven’t already thought of some pretty basic stuff? I’m an expert on this, and we have multiple people thinking about this.”

“Yeah, but even with two people who know a lot, we have nothing,” she pointed out.

Peter sighed, “Then do you have any ideas? They’re your powers, you should know what you’re limited to.”

“I know that if I shock an electrical socket that it causes a fire… you guys have to realize I’m not that smart when it comes to this stuff. I just run around and blast stuff all day. If you could drain all the energy out of the universe, then maybe that would do it,” she said, running a hand through her hair.

Peter paused, “What if the webbing just absorbed energy? No one would get hurt, but the energy would just keep being absorbed and it would be a trap.”

“But that sounds way too complicated. Do you have a formula for something like that?” Annie questioned.

Tony stopped walking, “We would figure it out. We might be on borrowed time, but we can sort this sort of thing out.”

“I don’t know… that seems too difficult. Like, I feel like it needs to be something that would do more than trap and that it could have a simpler concept than an ever-absorbing web fluid,” she replied, crossing her arms.

“Well then what do you think? You haven’t offered a single suggestion this whole time,” Tony said.

Annie huffed, “That’s what I’ve been thinking about. I mean, it’s kinda on the tip of my tongue… like, what if it’s something like… oh I got it!”

“What is it?” asked Peter.

Annie stood up and looked at them, “Okay, so, Peter, you remember environmental science when we were going through that one unit with the minerals in the ground and attraction and all that stuff, right?”

“Um… yeah, the geology one?”

“Yeah, that’s the word! Okay, and I’m gonna focus on that attraction thing for a hot minute. So you have magnets and they basically stay together because they’re attracted to each other, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Exactly, so when people started making bombs and Mr. Jackson got off track that one time and he told us that it wasn’t splitting things apart that caused the explosion, but it was the particles coming back together that did it.”

Tony nodded slowly, “Where were you going with this?”

“That’s what I’m getting to! If we make a magnetic web fluid and I tried to blast it, it would split apart only to come back together harder and then backfire, right?”

Peter’s eyes widened before rushing to Annie and picking her up, “Ann, that’s brilliant! This is… this is a great idea! We just gotta make it small and it’ll work great, right Mr. Stark?”

“It’s the only real idea we have, so it’s worth a try. I think it’ll work, though. That’s actually a good idea,” Tony agreed.

Peter kissed her on the forehead, “It’s a great idea, actually. He’s just a little surprised that you said something.”

“Hey, I can say some smart stuff every once in a while, give me a little credit,” Annie smirked.

Tony chuckled, “Just watch the PDA you two. Still don’t want any weird mutant babies running around when we get back to New York.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s totally possible,” Peter responded, rolling his eyes before setting Annie back down on the chair.

Aside from spending time with Peter and Tony while trying to work out what to do about Carnival, she had also been trying to figure out how she felt about having to see someone. It was something that she knew was supposed to be good. Obviously, she didn’t like having breakdowns or not being able to sleep, but she also didn’t like bringing it up too often.

She would end up talking about things that had already happened. Things that she felt like she should have been over by then. It was obvious that the world hadn’t ended. People weren’t out for her head and no one said anything about her superhero alter-ego being the cause of destruction or murder any longer.

It was something that shouldn’t have been bothering her. At the same time, what if getting help made her forget about all the things that happened? Annie couldn’t afford to forget about people like Greg or Tina. She wanted to move on, but some of the things that happened were things she needed to remember so she wouldn’t make the same mistakes. If she was going to do anything idiotic or impulsive, it needed to be in a new way. That way, she was at least showing that she was trying to improve herself. Though, it still felt like that was easier said than done.

Then there was the nagging feeling that the therapist lady was just going to tell someone exactly who she was. That she was going to get turned into the authorities and then she would be inevitably screwed over and then ruined. All because she couldn’t control her emotions for a few weeks.

Needless to say, Annie was starting to wish that she hadn’t said anything in the first place and that she could just go on with her day. Maybe she could just say that she wasn’t feeling too great and that she would just reschedule the appointment. That was still an option, wasn’t it?

However, it was starting to become clear during lunch that there was no way she would be able to get out of it. Which, Annie knew was a good thing, but she couldn’t help her hesitation. There were so many risks that she wasn’t so sure about taking. At the same time, no one there would make her do something if it was going to be too risky.

“Hey, Annie, you ready for your appointment?” Pepper asked once everyone was nearly done eating.

Annie shrugged, “I mean, I guess, I don’t really know.”

“It’s almost like you need a therapist because of your therapist already,” Harper noted, “But you need that.”

“I know, but… I just don’t talk to many people about this sort of thing. Thinking about it feels weird,” she explained.

Harper shrugged, “Yeah, well, it’ll feel less weird if you just go ahead and do it, you know?”

“They’re probably right,” Peter added, “You need this sort of thing, and I mean, you won’t really know about how this is gonna be until you try it.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it less… I don’t know, weird, I guess? I don’t even know this lady, and I know that’s supposed to make things less biased or whatever, but it still feels weird? But we’ll see,” Annie said, sighing.

Still, despite her worries, she was right in front of a computer about to have a skype appointment. Maybe that was what really made things feel weird. When she thought about therapy, she always thought of a couch that she could lay down across and blabber about all her problems for an hour or so.

Instead, she sat at the dining room table in her cabin, knowing that she was not going to have the stereotypical therapy experience. Then again, what had she expected in the first place?

Just as her thoughts were starting to wander, she saw another face at the screen, “Hello, are you Annika Hardwick?”

“Um yeah, just call me Annie… and you’re um… sorry, it kinda slipped my mind.”

“Doctor Stevenson, but you can call me Hannah,” the woman replied.

Hannah looked like she was middle aged and good-natured. At least, she looked like she was a mom to a couple of kids or something of that nature. And Annie could already tell that she was reading into this just a little bit too much. Hopefully that wouldn’t mean that she was starting things off awkwardly.

Annie took a deep breath, “So um… I’ve never done anything like this before, I mean, I guess that’s kinda obvious, but… yeah, what do I talk about?”

“Well, I don’t want to make you talk about anything you’re uncomfortable with just yet. So, just tell me about yourself. Your basic life, no need to get into anything too gritty unless you want to,” she explained.

Annie nodded slowly, “Okay, well, I’m mainly a theater geek. Like, I love musicals and stuff a lot, and I’d say I’m pretty good at acting or whatever. I mean, I’m not going to Broadway right after high school, but I don’t suck either… you know?”

“It sounds like you’re really passionate about it. What else is there?”

“Well, let’s see… I have powers, I’m not totally sure where they came from, but I was a test tube baby so that’s probably part of it. I mean, I don’t know if you already knew about that or not, but I’m actually a superhero. Which, I mean, that’s normally pretty cool. Saving people’s good for the dopamine and whatnot, right?”

Dr. Stevenson nodded, “That would be correct, what do your relationships look like?”

“Oh, I have my best friend, Harper. They’re really cool and they make clothes for fun and wanna be a fashion designer later on. And then there’s my boyfriend, Peter. At least, I’m almost positive we’re official? Either way, he’s really sweet and helpful. You know, one of those people you just can’t help liking. And then there’s Ned, and he’s really awesome. Super geeky, but also really funny. We’re pretty close too. Actually, they’ve all been helpful with all the stuff that’s been going down.”

“So those are the people you’re not related to, what does your relationship with your parents look like?”

Annie pursed her lips, “Can I be super blunt about them?”

“Of course, they’re not here and I want to understand you so we can work together.”

“Okay, well then, for starters, my dad can choke. He’s an asshole, excuse my language, but it’s true. All he’s done is lie to me to justify his hypocritical behavior. So, we’re not on great terms at the moment, and I don’t care to fix it at the moment, honestly. And then there’s my mom, she’s a weird case. On one hand, she’s not the best by any means, but she’s better than my dad. So I mean, if they split up, which I’d bet money that they’re gonna do that before I graduate, I’d rather move in with my mom. Plus, she makes more money anyways,” Annie replied, running a hand through her hair.

Dr. Stevenson nodded slowly, “It sounds like things are tense at home, do they know you’re a superhero?”

“Oh, no! If that happened, I would be so screwed. Because then they’d end up finding out I committed arson twice, killed a dude, and was possibly in some weird way responsible for my ex’s death? But that’s a story for another session,” she said with a weak laugh.

It continued like that for some time. Annie would explain a chunk of her life while Dr. Stevenson appeared to understand and then would ask another question about the basics of her life. Sometimes it got a little bit off-track, but that didn’t truly matter. At least, it didn’t matter to Annie. There was plenty of time to get better.

“So, our session is nearly over, but I think that I have an idea for how to proceed with treatment,” Dr. Stevenson told her.

Annie blinked, “Um… alrighty, what is it? You’re not gonna make me take a bunch of pills or something, are you?”

“No, not at all. Actually, I want to try a different form of therapy. Have you ever heard of drama therapy?”

She shook her head, “Nope, but it sounds kinda self-explanatory. I just act my way through my problems, right?”

“Yes and no. It would end up looking more like roleplaying to help you think through coping mechanisms as well as solutions to your problems. And I’ve never tried this before, but I feel like this would be the most interactive plan that you would enjoy.”

Annie thought for a moment, “You know what? I think you’re right.”

Maybe therapy wasn’t going to be as painful as she thought it was going to be.

Taglist (ask if you want to be added!): @flushings-here / @parkerpuffwrites / @gaypanda / @twilightparker / @ganseysblues / @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy / @ijustdontknowsometimes / @moonstruckholland / @dolphinsarecuteandstuff / @lcy-thot

[deans-baby-momma]

Rescue Me-Part 5

My alarm wakes me up on Monday and I begrudgingly reach over, hitting the off button without even opening my eyes. This weekend had been busy, the ‘Clash of the Century’ a boxing match between the current champion and his contender whom I didn’t know the names of, had taken place on Saturday night and of course, being a sports bar the Bunker had been deemed the place to be to watch the highly advertised event. The Bunker had four flat screen, high definition television monitors secured throughout the main layout and one above the bar so it was convenient for the patrons to enjoy the show.

I groan as I roll out of bed. The Bunker had been so full and lively that both Dean and I, along with Sam, had pitched in and helped the employees on shift. Dean, being a recovering alcoholic, had been practically banned from working behind the bar so he mostly just socialized with the customers and alerted the waitresses when someone needed something. Sam was behind the bar, helping Evan and Jimmy serve while I was in the kitchen with Greg and Shawn preparing orders as they came in. Between the heat from the grill and the probably over capacity crowd, working the kitchen had been a sweltering affair, pun intended.

Walking into the bathroom I turn the faucet on in the shower and undress while it heats up. The scalding temperature of the water feels heavenly on my sore muscles. I stand and revel in the cascade of ache relieving beads of bliss. When my body begins to acclimate to the incalescence, I grab the shampoo and wash my hair then scrub myself with the coconut body wash.

In the kitchen, I scoop the coffee into the carafe and turn it on. While it is brewing, I slide a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster. As I am waiting for the toast to brown and the coffee to percolate I suddenly hear a drip drip drip sound. I search around until I figure out the noise is coming from underneath the sink. I open the cabinet and the water line is dripping, great!

I pull a bucket from the pantry and sit it up to catch the leak. My usual breakfast of buttered toast and coffee is ready within ten minutes and then I’m out the door; time to pick Dean up and deliver him to the meal center for his community service duties. The water leak under my sink forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as the door opens, I know something is wrong. I can’t explain it, everything looks normal but my conscious is telling me something is off. I sit my purse and keys on the table by the door and walk down the hall toward the kitchen. As soon as I flip the switch I see it. The kitchen floor is covered with water.

At least two inches of water just streaming across the room. At first, I don’t understand where it all is coming from; did I leave the faucet on this morning? Was I still half-asleep this morning that I walked out the door with the tap running? But no, I look at the sink and it’s off. Then I remember the drip. I wade through to the basin and open the door. The bucket I had placed there is overflowing and the small drip is now a busted water pipe. Water is spewing, soaking the inside of the cabinet and everything inside.

I carefully rush back to the front of the house and grab my cell out of my purse. I pull up Dean’s information and hit the green phone icon.  

“Go for Dean.”

“Hey, uh it’s me,” I chuckle. Of course he knows it’s me. “Could you come over. I seem to have a little problem.”

“Sure sweetheart. Be there in 5.”

“Thanks Dean! See ya.”

Dean walks in and yells for me. I yell back, telling him I’m in the kitchen. As soon as he makes the threshold, he stops and starts laughing. I’m on my knees, trying to figure out how to turn the water off and now I am drenched.

“What’s going on?” he asks once he controls his laughter.

“Oh I decided to bake a cake. Wanna help?” I sass his dumb question. “I’m looking for a cut off valve or something.”

Dean trudges through the flood and squats beside me. “What you’re looking for isn’t in there. This is a old house, they didn’t think practicality when it was built.”

“What am I going to do?” I ask, exasperated and irritated.

“We’ll gonna have to turn the water off at the meter. Means no water in the house at all.”

“Great! No shower, can’t brush my teeth. Oh god, no coffee in the morning.” I say as I realize just how dire the situation is. “Can I call off work tomorrow?” I ask, trying to imitate the signature Sam Winchester puppy eyes.

Dean laughs as he stands. “What you’re going to do while I go outside and turn your water off is go pack a bag. You can stay with me and then tomorrow we’ll get someone over here to fix this AND put a cutoff valve under here for you.”

“Thanks Dean!” I jump up and hug him, soaking his clothes.

“Woman, look what you did. Now I’m all wet,” he yelps, pushing me away jokingly.

I come back from the bedroom with my packed bag of clothes and other necessities to grunts and groans coming from the kitchen. When I walk into the room, Dean has a mop and the previously overflowing bucket and is trying to mop up some of the water. I rush back upstairs to the bathroom and grab all the towels I own and go back, laying them down to help soak up the moisture.

An hour and four full buckets later, I close and lock up my door and follow Dean down the street to his apartment. I had been there quite a few times before, we are best friends after all so I knew it was just a one bedroom, one bathroom bonafide bachelor pad. The flat also offers a small kitchenette and a living room. Dean has this huge flat screen television mounted on the wall across from the seating area, where I have occasionally joined the Winchester brothers for movie nights.  Dean also has a massive stereo system. hooked up that I know has been the bane of many of his neighbors’ existence.

“You can have my bed if you want,” Dean offers.

“No. I can’t do that. I won’t do that. I’m smaller. I can fit better on the sofa than you,” I explain. “You’re a giant!”

Dean chuckles and bends down, pulling the cushion off. Tugging on a hidden handle, the frame of the couch comes up and folds out into a bed. “I could make do.”

“No, I still won’t take your bed away from you.”

“Okay suit yourself,” he says, walking toward his room.

“Goodnight sweetheart.”

“Goodnight Dean.”

Staring up at the ceiling, I realize I’m not all that tired. I wonder if Dean is still awake. Sitting up I can see the light under his door. Rolling out of the sofabed, I quietly stroll to his door and knock on it.

“Come in.”

I open the door and Dean is lounging on his bed, a book in his lap and papers strewn about.

“What’s up?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

“Not sleepy,” I answer, shrugging my shoulders.

“Yea, me neither. Was actually looking at the financials of the Bunker. But it’s boring,” he tells me, picking up the scattered paperwork. He sits the pile on his nightstand and pats the bed beside him. “Wanna talk for a while?”

I nod and walk to the bed, settling in beside him, our backs leaned against the headboard.

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@larajadeschmidt13  @xxdragonagequeenxx @mahalaraewolfe @multifandombackpack

[killian-whump]

OUAT 2x14: Rewatch Blog

Hey everybody! Here I am, once again, with a liveblog post for a Once Upon a Time episode! This one’s called “Manhattan” - which strangely enough, I had to look up to make sure of, because I could’ve sworn that 2x15 was the one called “Manhattan”, but when pressed to remember what 2x14′s name was... I could only come up “Also Manhattan...?” which seemed wrong.

Anyway! Let’s settle in and watch Manhattan Part 1...

Hmmm.  Okay, so Rumple’s all “I wanna fight!” and Milah’s like “Oh, no, the war” and this just seems weird to me, all of it. I’m making that Fry face at my screen right now. Not sure if full of shit or full of shit...

Emma asking, “Is this the right place?” AND HE SAID YES. Like, how does he know?! That globe was a hell of a lot more useful here than it was in Neverland. Or did they just toss the globe overboard when they went through the portal? “Welp, we don’t need this plot device anymore.”

Hahaha, Emma. “Well, who doesn’t love a surprise?” Should I start the list, or is someone else gonna do it? Rumple’s face is hilarious. He looks like he’s thinking, “Me, actually. I don’t like a surprise...”

That’s a really boring title card, Once. Really boring.

“Back? From where?” OH MY BABY. Incidentally, I forget he’s in this scene every single time I see this scene, and then I hear his voice and I’m like “OH, MY BABY” like, you know, what literally just happened 2 sentences ago.

Aww... You vengeance-hopped-up bondage bunny, listen to your Dommes and be a good boy <3

CHASE SCENE, IT’S A CHASE SCENE

RUN, EMMA, RUN

CRASH!!!!!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH PLOT TWIST

I always did like that plot twist. One of the better ones, I thought.

“I am the only one allowed to be angry here!” Yeah, you tell him, Emma.

This face is great:

Kinda sums up the entire scene, doesn’t it?

I love the subtle AND COMPLETELY OBVIOUS change in Gold and Henry’s interactions now that the audience is thinking, “Oh, wait... If his dad is... and his son is... OH MY GOD.” A gentle approach as always, show.

WHY WOULD HE NEED AN ENTIRE TYPEWRITER IN A FANCY WOODEN BOX WITH A SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER THAT SAYS “I KNOW YOU’RE BAELFIRE” ON IT? HOW FUCKING EXTRA CAN YOU BE?!

Pictured Above: THE LITERAL HEIGHT OF FUCKING EXTRANESS

“...because Pinocchio told you to?!?!” One of the best lines ever XD

Oh, come on, Neal. Man up for once and just talk to your father. Geez.

Like, I know he’s pissed that his dad didn’t follow him into the portal, but all of this hiding and nonsense? Acting like he’s terrified of the man? Like, did I miss the part where Rumple EVER presented an actual threat to Baelfire? Because I don’t remember that. Honestly, if I’m forgetting something from S1 where Rumple threatened or harmed his son, someone please remind me. Shitty dad? Sure. Dropped the ball? Definitely. Worth running and hiding from for fucking centuries? You’re a goddamn pansy, Neal.

“Rumplestiltskin...” Oh, that’s not a creepy voice at all.

Oh, that’s not a creepy girl at all.

Oh, that wasn’t a creepy scene at all.

Can I go home now?

“The truth about your parents - Emma, you of all people should know how important that is.” Umm... yeah. That’s a really good point.

“Are you sure this is about protecting Henry... and not yourself?” Aw, Snow... Such good advice in this phone call. Also, nice sweater. Very soft.

Ahhh... And good acting by Jen in here, too.

AW, GEEZ, EMMA, SNOW JUST GAVE YOU SOME GREAT ADVICE AND NOW YOU’RE JUST GONNA IGNORE IT ALL. GOSH DARN IT.

Oh, look. It’s the mild-mannered mayor here to visit the amnesia-stricken woman in the hospital. There’s no way this could go badly!

Umm... Regina, I love you and I love your magical ways, but you could’ve just, like, rifled through her purse. “Magic always comes with a price” but apparently not if you just want to wave some objects through the air instead of, like, reaching in and moving shit around like a normal person. That shit’s free.

Like, there is just no reason for this. It’s pointless. It’s weird.

Library scene. One of my favorites :D Well, not this one. The next one.

Hahaha, this “touching” mother daughter moment is so weird and dysfunctional and borderline creepy. I love it.

Seriously, Hook, you’re so fucking impatient. Just cool your heels, bro.

Hey, Gold, here’s an idea. Maybe when you’re hiding your dagger somewhere, and your arch nemesis is a pirate, maybe don’t leave a pirate map to where it’s hidden for that pirate to find and follow. I mean, you might as well have left it in a toolbox in the garden she- Nevermind. Let’s not talk about this.

Emma: Don’t do this. There are things called laws. Henry: I’ll be lookout. :D

“I don’t think he’s listening.” Henry is brilliant in this episode.

YEAH, THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT, NEAL. You finally manned up. Must've found some balls in the alley and tried ‘em on for size.

Aw, geez. I’m just... Wow. I really shouldn’t say anything about this whole scene, but... Yeah. Wow. I honestly can’t like Milah after some of the stuff she says in this scene. Sorry, guys. Like, she is literally telling her husband and the father of her child that the kid would’ve been better off if he was dead - and not just once, but, like... It’s like she’s engaging in a single-person competition to see who can find as many different ways as possible to say the same terrible thing over and over again, and it somehow manages to sound worse every time.

AHHHHH HIGH DRAMA!!!

I really do like everything about this scene with Emma and Neal and Gold and Henry and everyone trying to figure things out and/or hide things and/or... Oops, now it’s all out in the open and we’re all a big happy family fucked.

Ugh. Now it’s Greg. I really, really don’t care about Greg. At all.

Regina, goddammit, I told you to just rifle through that purse like a normal person. SEE what happens when you don’t listen to me?!

Actually, I totally forgot about this moment entirely, and now I’m laughing... Leave it to the show to put a “Why the fuck would you do this in this way?” moment into the show... that turns into a convoluted plot twist.

Son, I am disappoint totally not surprised, actually.

That map really DOES look like a child’s scribbles, though.

HOOK, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO DO WITH THAT... keyring? scissors? dohickey? I don’t know. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, it’s time for one of my favorite things ever!!!!

SUPER CASUAL VIOLENCE!!!

They’re both just so... so casual... and so flippant... and so... oh gosh, hahaha. He’s all upset and angry and foaming at the mouth, and Cora’s just like ~fling~! and LOOK AT THAT FUCKER FLY The violence is so ultra super casual and amazing, hahaha. And then they just walk off like Mean Girls: Storybrooke Edition and I fucking love them and I’d better rewind and watch it again. Hold on a second, guys.

ARE THOSE FUCKING TONGS, THOUGH?! why?

The books falling over like dominoes, haha, they always make me laugh. Better rewind again. I love this shit so much.

Old-fashioned compass, I guess? Some kind of... dohickey? I’m gonna go with dohickey, guys. I mean, it looks like a dohickey to me. Still, like, dafuq you think you’re going to do with that dohickey against two ladies with magic, boo? You adorable fucking idiot. IT DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A SHARP EDGE.

WHOOP, THERE HE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES

See, there. Bae had no fucking reason to be running and hiding from Rumple for fucking centuries. He just handled him just fine right there. 

“Or what you did to me.” Valid point, Emma. Well made and- ARE YOU FUCKING LAUGHING, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!? Where’d that fucking dohickey go?! YOU ARE SO GETTING RUBBED, YOUNG MAN.

Well, what do you know? The seer who said the future was hard to discern clearly has now given you her powers... AND YOU’VE LEARNED THAT THE FUTURE IS HARD TO DISCERN CLEARLY. Shocked. I am shocked.

PLOT TWIST. The boy will be his undoing!!! Except... umm... I mean... he kinda never was, though? So, I mean, I don’t... uh...

Aw, fuck it. Let’s rewind and watch the super casual violence again.

WHEEEEEEEEE LOOKIT HIM FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[spectraspecs-writes]

@troodon17​ here’s that story bit, under the cut

btw anyone else reading, please let me know of any other trigger warnings I should add, I added all the ones I could think of

I copied this from my notes, so obviously it still has notes to myself. In my document they’re colored blue, but I’m on the desktop so i can’t do that here without a lot of effort, so I just put the strikethrough through it, they are also in brackets. (In case I missed any.)

Note, David’s got a lot of internalized homophobia and it really affects his self esteem, so hence the repeated “queer!” because he gets very upset at himself for thinking gay thoughts. So he’s trying very hard to stay in the closet because he’s convinced people will hate him, and... gah, i love this so much. 

Now, as for the name. They weren’t Blair Wizards at first, but they did like the name Blair and David was the lead guy, so they kept tossing around all these variations with Blair. They’re at a bar - this is great. David is trying to work out “how to be straight”, because besides having absolutely no idea how to imply sex around women, he’s just a polite guy who doesn’t know how to flirt at all.

David started over at the bar, watching a man (who looked a little cute, maybe QUEER okay, maybe not) talking to a woman. He was leaning up against the bar, facing her, and she was sitting sort of daintily on the stool, seemingly listening intently. David could sort of hear him - “Let me buy you a drink.” He couldn’t tell what she said, but the man sat down next to her, with this charming smile and this sort of… was it sexy? look in his eyes. Not sexy like… ooh yeah sexy face I should be in movies, but more like “yes, sex me, lady.” (Yes, David, that was so smooth, exactly what he was trying to say.) [Bruh, you are so sassy even to yourself. I don’t know if I can take this, man. David, your descriptions.] Then it seemed like he was talking about himself for a little while, and then David saw the woman uncross her legs and cross them the other way. She leaned on the bar on her arm. Then the man said, “Hey, you wanna get out of here?” And they both stood up and left. The woman had a sort of sway in her walk. Were they… yeah, probably, you awkward duck. Great, that phrase of your sister’s is now firmly in your vernacular. Wonderful.

“Dave!” Kit clapped her hands in his ear and he turned to look at her. “Are you even here right now?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” David said hastily, “I was…” He made a motion with his hand like his brain had left his head. “Sorry, I just… zoned out.”

Greg chuckled. “Yeah, you were looking at a girl, right?” he said rhetorically.

“Greg, I was…” David started to deny it. But wait! You have to look straight, otherwise they won’t like you anymore, you fucking queer. He smiled a little. “Yeah, you got me.” he said. Then he added awkwardly, “Spying me some ass.” You awkward duck. [Jesus, David, you are an awkward duck. I was shaking my head at that phrase before but there is no better way to describe you. Perfect. Flawless.]

“Yeah, I knew it, you dog!” Greg exclaimed. He wrapped his arm around David’s shoulder and they both looked towards the bar. “Which one was it, the blonde or the red head?”

Fuck I wasn’t actually looking at one. What the shit do I do? Which one would be sexier to a straight guy? Shit, the blonde actually looks like my sister, if I say that is it weird?  Just answer, you fuck, before he gets suspicious. “The red head,” David answered finally. Yeah, and that weird looking mole on her back. Why the hell did she wear a dress without a back? [David, I can’t handle this. This is getting to be too much. You are just… This is all coming from the guy who later uses words like “fabulous” with the accompanying hand gestures and is determined to please Mallory and Aaron, and yet this is all still perfectly in character. You are just so goddamn sassy.]

“Ooh,” Greg said, and he had a pale imitation of the other man’s sexy face on his own. “Go talk to her, man, I think you’ve got a chance!”

“No, Greg, no,” David said, shaking his head and smiling, “No, we’re working here, we’re doing band stuff.”

“Yes, and you were so involved in that a minute ago,” Kit said sarcastically.

“Yeah, man, go talk to her,” Montrell chimed in supportively.

“Go!” Greg said.

So, slightly nervously, David stood up and went over to the bar. Great, they can’t hear me here. Maybe I can just act like I’m talking to her and then later go tell them she turned me down. Yeah, great idea. He went up to the bar and ordered another of his drink. Then he thought, Wait a minute. Are you ever going to have this sort of opportunity again to practice being straight? Maybe she does turn you down - fine, you don’t want to fuck her anyway. What are you going to do, though, if she wants to “get out of here”? Like the guy earlier. Well, what’s the chance of that? I mean, she probably says no anyway, right? “And another one for her,” he said confidently, “On me.”

The red head looked him over with a small smile. Not a polite one like he usually got, but more… interested? “Thanks,” she said. Her voice was sort of deep. Still feminine, but not squeaky or really high up like any of the girls he’d heard before, or even like Kit’s. Just kind of low. (Mr. Rhodes had called that an alto, hadn’t he? Jesus, David, you awkward duck, why the hell are you thinking about vocal ranges right now? Who’s even to say she sings any?) “Aren’t you gonna sit down?” she asked.

Fuck fuck play it off play it cool. “Just waiting to be invited,” David said smoothly, and he sat on the stool.

“Oh, a gentleman,” she said, sort of raising her eyebrow a little, “Haven’t met one of them in a while. Quite a rare breed.”

Do I even say anything to that? [My lack of experience is such an ally here. I honestly don’t know how David gets this off the ground. Talk about a wizard.] “Hi,” he said as the bartender set his drink down, “I’m David. David Blair.” He put out his hand for her to shake.

“Cassandra.” She shook it. “Ooh, that’s quite a lot of callouses there,” she commented, “What do you do with these hands?”

“I play guitar. That’s what I do, I’m a guitar player.”

“Oh, a musician,” she said, with a hint more intrigue sneaking its it way into her string-like voice, “How fast can you go?”

How fast can I go? That’s a weird question - what is she even looking for from me? But shit, don’t act confused. He raised his eyebrow sort of flexing it. “Pretty fast. Bit like van Halen.” There aren’t even that many callouses on my right hand - is she looking at my left, because that’s weird. Maybe from all that time I spent finger picking, I guess. Damn, this is weird.

“Mm,” she hummed softly, “I’d love to see what you could do for a woman.”

Shit, is she about to ask me if I want to get out of here? Shit fuck shit shit what the fuck do I do? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kit leave. Greg, get up and follow her, just go. You too, Montrell, just get the fuck out of here because I am not going to fuck this girl. I can’t get it up for a girl QUEER! Shit, how long have I been quiet? And fuck, what do I say? “Yeah?” he said smoothly, not reflecting one ounce of the panic within, “What do you need to have done?”

She put her hand on his leg and leaned in sort of close. “Me…” she whispered. Fuck are they supposed to be this horny? Is this how it is for straight people? Is that why there are so many of them - girls are just so… eager? [yeah, this is a kind of easy transition and that’s why I’m going with it, but head cannon time, maybe she’s a lesbian trying to play straight, like David is but backwards. So she doesn’t know how this is supposed to go, either. But what about a less pleasant head cannon? She is a serial killer who kills men at climax. David’s gayness may have saved his life. What the shit, Brain? What is wrong with you? She dyes her hair red with the blood of her victims. No, God, shut up. That is just insane. yes, yes very insane. Go away…]

Okay, now, what do I do? Is this the right moment to…? “So,” he started, trying to mimic the other man’s sexy face, “you wanna get out of here?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” she said in a sort of sultry? voice, “Walk me home?”

“Glad to,” he said. Okay, maybe this is just going sort of gentlemanly what the fuck are you thinking you awkward fucking duck she’s going to want to sex you! Yes, David, that is the term for it. She got up from the stool and David followed her. He saw Greg make several weird… victory gestures, sort of. Yeah, okay, dude, just be careful I don’t steal all your weed or fuck with your guitar. I will get you back for this you fuck. She led David to her apartment, which wasn’t all that far, maybe a couple buildings down. “Well, she said, “this is me.” David sort of smiled and hoped to God this was the end of this. “You wanna come up?” she said. Fuck fuck you have to say yes.

“Sure,” he said, trying to keep up his straight facade. He walked up the steps and joined her. Her apartment was on the second floor. She unlocked the door and went in, then David went it.

She slammed the door closed behind him and pounded him against it, kissing him. Fuck how do they do it in the movies? What the fuck I don’t want to fuck her what the fuck do I do? He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her back, because what the fuck else am I supposed to do? He sort of massaged her head a little. Then she stopped for a brief moment, breathing heavily. “You got protection?” she asked.

“No…” Fuck what the fuck fuck fuck…

“Oh, fuck it, I’ve got some…” she said, and she resumed kissing him, “… in the bedroom.” Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck and am I supposed to be breathing like that too? Well, I’m already panicking, so that’s just a different kind of adrenaline. Fuck fuck fuck…

She sort of pulled him further in and pulled his shirt off over his head. She turned him around and shoved him and suddenly he was on her bed. Fuck this is going to be just like that girl Dad told me to fuck isn’t it I’m going to be throwing up all night. Greg I’m going to fucking kill you! David felt sort of paralyzed, watching her as she wriggled out of her dress. It fell around her legs - fuck why is this woman not wearing a bra did she leave expecting this fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck… She climbed on top of David and unbuttoned his pants, kissing him. David could feel her breasts on his chest fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. “Come on, you sexy fuck, show me what those fingers can do!” she exclaimed. Woman you are NOT a guitar! She sort of took his hands and placed them on her hips. Oh fuck she wants me to undress her oh fuck fuck fuck. David wasn’t even sure how - he was trying to detach himself and not pay attention - but he ended up above her and her underwear was off. Maybe I can just try to appreciate her as a really well built guitar even though I don’t want to fuck a guitar that would actually hurt I mean, where would I put it? Between the strings? That’s… ouch. So he ran his hands up and down her curves yes, there’s the cutaway so I can play up on the 20th fret oh wait that’s not a fret fuck fuck that’s gross how is any man straight because this is just so fucking disgusting oh and fuck it’s wet is it supposed to do that fuck that’s gross! But she seemed to like it. “Oh, baby, yes, that’s magic!” she exclaimed loudly. [I’m imagining the neighbors - “Oh, look, Harold, Cassandra’s having sex again.” “The shameless hussy.” And then back to the evening news. And now I’m laughing even more.] [Furthermore, I want her to specifically say the word “wizard” but I think this is the only way I can do this.]

David stopped. Like he was frozen. He looked up at nothing. “Magic…” he said, like it were the most brilliant thing he’d ever heard. “That’s it. Magic.” Hastily he stood up and zipped his pants. “Thank you,” he said to her, “You’ve been a big help. This was great.”

“But…” she said, confused.

“Thank you so much.” With his clean hand, he grabbed his shirt from the floor, pulled it on over his head, and left her apartment.

No wait, fuck was there a bathroom on the first floor because I am not going anywhere near my car with this… gross liquid… on my fingers, and I think I’m feeling nauseous so… There was! There was a bathroom on the first floor. Wash my hands, cough up this filth, and get on with my life. But then it was quick back down the street to his car. Good, Greg and Montrell are gone, good they won’t see me fuck I am not doing this again. Tell them you prefer to fly solo, peer pressure, you can’t flirt when they’re around, whatever shit they believe. He had to go talk to Kit. He had to tell her he finally had a name. Blair Witch! No, wait that was that weird horror movie in the 90s, wasn’t it? God, that movie was awful. Okay, what about Blair Wizard! But it’s not just me though, it’s more than one, what about Blair Wizards, with an “s”! Ha, the perfect name!

He dashed up the stairs to Kit’s apartment and hastily knocked on the door. “Kit?” he said loudly, “Kit?”

Kit opened the door and looked at David with tired eyes, her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. “I finally figured out the perfect name for the band. It’s perfect. I can’t believe we didn’t think of it right away.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, and it was sort of muffled because the toothbrush was still in her mouth.

“it’s the best name ever. What do you think of ‘Blair Wizards’?” he said, breathing heavily from running up the stairs.

“You walked out on sex just to tell me this?” she asked in disbelief.

David breathed in, thinking for a moment. Fuck does she think I’m gay now? Fuck. “Yes,” he said. “Can I come in? I think I need some water.”

“What?” she said, “Yeah, yeah, come on.” She went back into her bathroom and spat out her toothpaste. “How’d you come up with that name?”

Do I tell her do I not tell her that feels out of weird, either way. “Just… came to me,” David said with a shrug as he got himself a glass of water from her sink.

“‘Cause if you got it from anyone we might have some copyright issues or something like that. Russ will be all over that.”

Well, she won’t be anything to worry about. She has no idea about this or how I’m using it. And she didn’t mean to give me the idea, so… “Nothing to worry about.”

“Well, it’s a good name. I like it,” she said, “So we’re all wizards. Neat. But since you’re the lead guy, I think you’ve got to really run with it.”

“Come on, Kit, Brendon Urie doesn’t make panicking or discos his bit. MCR doesn’t bring hazardous chemicals or lab coats on stage.

“You’re not Brendon Urie or MCR.” Kit came out into the main room and sat criss-cross on her couch. “Hate to break it to ya, Dave, but…”

David chuckled a little. He leaned on the wall and looked at her. “What are you thinking, though? I come out on stage looking like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice?”

“Not so much,” she yawned, “But maybe like a stage character or something. You know, like… oh, what was that band that killed Santa in concert?”

“No, yeah, I know what you mean,” David said, “So you’re thinking like a spectacle, make it a real show.” He bit his lip and looked down at his shoes, thinking. “I guess I could learn some quick magic tricks or something. Or maybe… What if I have a sort of costume on stage, and my guitar sort of mimics that? I could call myself the Wizard, have a bunch of magic references in the set and any songs I write.”

“Dave, that’s up to you. I on the other hand would like to go to sleep, please.” Kit said, “And you need to head out before Greg sees you here.”

“Right, yeah. See you tomorrow.” David started to leave, then he turned back. “Hang on, how did you know about Greg?”

“I’m smarter than you guys think.” She shook her head. “Good night.” She ushered him out the door and locked her door behind him. David went to the stairs and left.

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch9: I Must Be Doing Something Right

Chapter Summary: When you try to do the best thing, it never works out the way you plan does it?

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words, and a game of Cards Against Humanity, which is really fucking offensive so if you are easily offended, suggest you steer clear!

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. This is a REALLY long chapter but there was SO much to cram in!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 8

Seven days was all it took.

Frank met the Foster Family on Sunday after Cullen had tabled the suggestion and agreed to the proposal that evening, ignoring Fliss and Roberta’s pleas to think about it for a few days at least. He didn’t want time to think, he was NOT going to surrender Mary to Evelyn, and if that meant she had to live with this nice family, in a posh house in Tampa, with a pool and a piano, then so be it.

The details were thrashed out between all attorneys and the state departments on the Monday and Tuesday, being finalised on the Thursday. Both Frank and his mother were given weekly visiting rights and once a month Mary was to come stay with him for a weekend, with longer visits to be agreed and settled with her foster parents as convenient during the holidays. When Frank was offered his choice of date to surrender Mary into care he chose the following Monday. Greg gave a little start and asked him if he wanted more time, convinced he could get Frank at least a fortnight, but he refused. The longer this dragged out the worst it was gonna be, just like pulling of a band aid.

Better to rip it fast and suffer a short, period of pain.

His mother had been unable to resist one last shot as she left him on the steps of the court building and her words were rattling around in his head as he stood watching Mary with Fliss as she hugged the woman tightly.

“I've been thinking a lot about the word called ‘compromise’. On one hand, good challenging school…on the other foster people. They can watch sitcoms with her. Take her to Olive Garden. Teach her to say ‘irregardless’ The only saving grace is, I suppose, is that she is better off than she was.”

He was clinging onto that thought. That Mary would be better off with this family than with his mother. And probably him if he was honest and he hoped Mary would in time, understand that too. At the moment she was still in denial, insisting that Frank was going to change his mind. He had told her time and time again this was a court decision, not his. Greg had explained it to her, the foster parents had explained it to when she had met them during the week, hell, Fliss had even explained it to her but nope, she wasn’t having it. Even before when he told her to go and say ‘see you later’ to Roberta, not goodbye- because it wasn’t goodbye- Mary had laughed and told the woman this entire thing was stupid and that she would be back with Frank later that evening.

And she was doing the same to Fliss now.

“You’ll be back for a visit before you know it.” Fliss brushed Mary’s hair off her face, blinking back her tears as she knelt in front of the girl. “And Monty will be waiting for you.” Mary shook her head “Look, we all know this is ridiculous, Frank isn’t gonna leave me there. He promised I wasn’t going anywhere and he’s never broken a promise to me yet.” “And he still hasn’t.” Fliss shook her head. “This is a court order, not Frank’s. Now you promise me that when you get there you show all these new people you’re gonna meet what a wonderfully funny, smart and incredible person you are. And then, when you come back I want you to tell me all about it.”

Mary shrugged “I’ll see you at the weekend I expect.” With that she moved back and looked at Frank like he was an utter idiot before she headed for the car.

Fliss stood up and wiped her eyes.“You gonna be okay?”

“No.” he shook his head. “Nothing about this is okay. At all. When she finally realises this isn’t some huge big joke or that I’m not gonna change my mind, she’s gonna flip.”

She stepped forwards to give him a hug, but he kept it brief, knowing that if he stayed he’d break. And he couldn’t. Not yet.

Fliss watched them drive away, before she turned back to her office, shut the door and curled up on the chair, arms hugging her knees as the tears coursed down her face.

***** Frank could see the moment that it finally began to sink in with Mary that this was all, very real. And he watched her heart break as she stood there, in the hall of her new foster home, begging him not to leave her.

Frank sighed, bowing his head. “You're going to a brand new school. A better school.”

“I don't want to. I want my crummy school.” Mary sobbed.

“And you got Fred…” Frank carried on, fighting back his own tears.

“Please.”

“And once a month you can come back and stay with me and Fliss and Roberta…”

“I want you and Fliss and Roberta now!”

“And in a few years, if you want, you can come back. You can live with me.” he looked at her, smiling encouragingly.

“I wanna stay with you. Frank, you promised me.” Mary stomped her foot, angry tears pouring down her face.

“Come on. Don't do this.” Frank sighed softly, rubbing the tops of her arms and shoulders.

“You promised me.”

“I know.” he bowed his head blinking back tears. He had, and he’d broken that promise. And he felt like shit. “I know.” he repeated lamely, his left hand gently resting on the side of her face, brushing away her tears.

“Please, Frank. Why are you leaving me?” she sobbed as he took her face in both his hands and looked at her.

“Because the court said I have to. You know this. We've discussed this ad naus...” he stopped himself and looked down, swallowing thickly. “We've discussed this.” he looked at her, taking a deep breath.“Come on. Come on. Please.” he said, gently moving to sweep her into a hug but she shoved him hard.

“No!”

Frank could do nothing but kneel there as she hit him again in his chest, then once on the side of his face, screaming at him. At that point her foster mother stepped forward and Mary continued to lash out, screaming at Frank.

“Sweetheart, you know what?” The woman began to talk to Mary as her foster Father looked down at Frank sympathetically.

“There's no easy way to do this.” he said. At that Frank jumped up and walked to the door.

“It’s not gonna be as long as you think, honey.” her foster mother was soothing her, but Mary was having none of it.

“Frank!”

“You're gonna see.”

“Frank!” Frank opened the door and paused, looking back as Mary was fighting against her foster mother who was gently holding her arms, screaming at him “Don't leave me!”

And that was the moment his heart broke into a million pieces. He had to go, he had to get out of there. He quickly stepped through the door and pulled it closed behind him, heading quickly for his truck, trying to block her screams and yells out as they still hit his ear from inside the house.

“Don't go! I need you! Fred needs you! You promised me!”

Sniffing back his tears he climbed into the truck, started it up, and then sat, both hands on the steering wheel, head bowed for a moment whilst he composed himself, before he put the truck in gear and drove off, leaving Mary behind.

**** Fliss had half expected Frank to show up at the yard again later that day, but he didn’t. Instead he messaged her telling her he needed some head space so was heading down to the Marina to do some work. Which was where she found him later that evening, working on the same boat he had been on all week.

“Hey, down there.” she said gently as she climbed the ladders up the side of the boat “The Serenity” Frank looked up at her, gave her a faint smile, before he turned back to what he was doing as Fliss stepped onto the deck of the boat, watching him carefully.

“I don't know which mistake is worst. Designing a water pump that leaks or putting it somewhere no human being can reach” he ranted as he leaned further into the uncovered pump. As Fliss took a seat on one of the raised benches at the back of the boat he stood up, the offending part in his hand and sighed “How you design something you know is gonna fail? Gotta be devious or clueless, right?”

He dropped what he had been reaching for onto the table in front of him and glanced at Fliss who was sat watching him, her hands pressed between the knees of her denim-short clad legs as she shot him another small smile. He picked up a small wrench and returned to his previous position, crouching over the machinery of the boat.

“After the first few weeks, I knew I had to find a real family for her. I was in way over my head.” he reached for a bolt that was in the box he had resting on the side and continued his work. “And every day I'd say today's the day I'm taking her to child services and every day she'd do something just…” he paused, his hands still working as a soft, yet heartbreakingly sad smile flickered across his face. “…so unbelievably cool.” He swallowed, still not looking at Fliss. “Her little personality was exploding. She was funny and she was angry, and she was happy, and she was sad and was cute.” He reached for something else, his voice groaning slightly with the strain of stretching. “Just so damn entertaining. And so I kept her.” His voice started to rise in tone, revealing the anger he felt at himself. “Not that that's in her best interest. Not that I'm capable of raising a child.”

“Frank that’s not true.”  Fliss spoke softly, butting in but he continued his rant.

“A child that might still have a mother if I'd taken the time to notice she needed me.”

“Ok, now stop it.” Fliss’ voice was a little sterner now “Frank, we’ve been through this.”

“And now,” he stood up, reaching for a towel to wipe the oil off his hands, “six and a half years later I finally got her to a foster family and you know what? It was great.” He said sarcastically. “She loved it.” He tossed the towel onto the side. “I thought it would be a nightmare of abandonment and betrayal.” He hopped up onto the level of the boat Fliss was sat on and threw his hands out to the side “And it turns out it was a huge success.” With that he bent back down to pick up the broken part he had retrieved from the pump, tossing it slightly in his hand. “I'm a fuckin’ hero.” He angrily launched the part out of the side of the boat where it hit something with a crash.

“Hey.” Fliss stood up and moved to gently run her hand down his arm. He was dirty, sweaty, covered in grease and he was conscious of this so went to pull away but she stopped him, her grip firm before she moved her hands to his face, her palms gently pressing against the scratch of his beard, sweat beading on his brow as he looked at her.  “Listen to me.” Her eyes locked onto his “Mary will be ok. It’s gonna take time but-”

“You didn’t see her.”  He said, stepping back out of her touch, his hand flying to his hair “She fucking hates me. She was screaming and I just left her.” He finished, somewhat lamely. “After I promised her, I promised her she could stay with me.”

With that he went the side of the boat, and hopped onto the ladder at the side.

“Frank.” Fliss moved to follow but he shook his head.

“No, Lissy,” he trailed off, holding his hand up. He sighed and took a deep breath. “I appreciate everything you've done. Just...” he shook his head again and continued own the steps.

Fliss watched him go where he headed back into the little workshop area, swallowing slightly. She looked up at the starry sky and took a deep breath, blinking back her tears. She knew she shouldn’t take it personally. He was hurting and needed time. She licked her lips before she climbed off the boat and turned in the opposite direction he’d gone, deciding to take the long route around to her car so as not to pass him again.

Frank walked into his workshop area and launched an angry kick at a box of engine propellers scattering them all over the floor. He stood up, both hands on his hips as he took a deep breath and turned half expecting Fliss to be behind him. But she wasn’t. With a sigh he made to go back outside and apologise but when he looked up she wasn’t on the boat anymore.

“Fuck.” He cursed, turning to look to his right where he saw her walking a hundred yards or so away down the side of the marina.

“Liss!” He called, and she stopped, turning towards him as he set off towards her in a jog. “Lissy, I’m sorry.” He stopped in front of her, shaking his head.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” she replied “I understand.”

“No there is. You came her to check on me and,” he took a deep breath, “believe me, if there’s one person in all of this that I have no right to be mad around it’s you. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“I get it, honestly I do.” she smiled gently, stepping towards him and rubbing his arm. “Today must have been so hard, I can’t imagine how you felt.” He fell silent. “But I meant what I said Frank, none of this is your fault.”

“I should never have let her go to that school.” His azure blue eyes misted over again, and he looked down at his feet, shaking his head. “Shoulda, woulda coulda.” Fliss shrugged as he pulled his head back up to look at her. “You can’t keep beating yourself up about things you can’t change, trust me, I know.”

Frank sniffed slightly before she sighed and carried on

“It’s done, Mary is with a good family, she’s going to get a good education and, yeah, it might take a while but she’ll come round and soon realise that you did what you did, not because you didn’t want her, but because you wanted what was best for her.” “I hope you’re right.” His voice cracked as Fliss stepped forward and pulled him back into her arms “I love her Fliss, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do if she won’t forgive me.”

*****

Fliss was worried Frank was going to go off the rails, but he didn’t. He simply threw himself into his work, ever night and day he was at the boat yard. They talked daily and she invited him to dinner on Friday, in an attempt to keep him away from Ferg’s for fear of him getting himself absolutely trashed and doing something stupid like picking a fight. She hadn’t expected him to accept, however, so was pleasantly surprised when he took her up on her offer.

He was a little more subdued than normal, but they talked over the bolognese she had made and then Bill had popped his head in and invited them through to the house for a few drinks and a game of Cards Against Humanity.

Frank’s face twisted into a grin. “You know I’ve never played it before.”

“You’re kidding?” Bill looked at him.

“Oh Frankie, it’s great fun.” Fliss grinned. “You get to learn a lot about people, and how twisted and sick their minds actually are.”

“Verity is the worst.” Bill said, seriously “I been with her now for almost thirty-one years, married to her for…” “Twenty-Eight.” Fliss supplied.

“Twenty-Eight, thanks Titch, and I had no idea how warped she was until we played this a few years ago.”

Frank chuckled and Fliss looked at him and he shrugged, “Not like I got anything else to do so, sure, I’m in.”

Fliss nodded and together they made their way out of the annex and over to the main house. Frank had been in here once before and, despite the fact that it was ridiculous large and fancy, he felt at home. Verity greeted her with the usual warmth, wrapping him up in a motherly hug as she looked at him and scalded him for losing weight. He sighed, he knew he hadn’t been eating properly but he didn’t look that different.

“Leave the lad alone.” Bill looked at his wife, thrusting a chilled San Miguel into Frank’s hand. “He’s come here to relax not have you nagging on at him.”

Verity rolled her eyes and began to quibble with her husband whilst Fliss shook her head, grinning at Frank before she led him through to the dining room where the cards were placed in the middle of the table.

It didn’t take long for Frank to get the hang of the game, and it also didn’t take him long to realise Bill was right. Verity had an extremely warped sense of humour, that said, so did Fliss, and the more alcohol she consumed, the worse it got. He declined another beer from Bill, stating that he had to head home, but Fliss frowned at him.

“Take the spare room.” she offered, but he shook his head.

“I’m working tomorrow, got a few things to finish so…”

She didn’t push it, and that was another thing Frank loved about her. The fact that she would take no for an answer without questioning him.

“Ok…so…” Frank leaned over, taking the cards that were face down, shuffling them so he didn’t know whose were whose “Do not fuck with me I am literally what right now.” He turned the top card over and gave a snort. “Seeing things from Hitler’s perspective,” then he turned the next card and arched an eyebrow, “dying…oh god that’s bad…” and the final one, “pretending to care…it’s gotta be the Hitler one!”

“Yes!” Fliss grinned as she took the card from him. “Catching you up mum.” After a few more rounds which contained winning combinations such as “This is your Captain speaking. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for- September 11th, 2001, “ and “”In the beginning there was- the mixing of the races- and then the Lord said ‘Let there be- Nazis,’” the cards were finished and they all counted. Bill was bottom, Fliss and Frank had tied, and Verity was the runaway winner. After a little more chat they called it a night and Frank walked back to the annex and his truck with Fliss.

“Thank you.” He turned to her “Not just for tonight, which was real fun but…”

Fliss smiled and gave him a hug. “Any time, Sailor.”

He dropped a kiss to her cheek. “Ya know, I’ll hold you to that.”

He gave her a cheeky grin as he got in his truck and Fliss watched him go, pleased to see that for the first time since Mary had left that Monday, he seemed to be getting some of that Frank spark back.

*****

Frank parked the truck and grabbed the wrapped box of lego, the ping pong balls for Fred and the next Harry Potter book in the series (the third one) from Fliss off the passenger seat and headed up the steps. He knocked politely on the door and smiled as Kevin looked through the glass window to the left

“Hey.” He smiled as Kevin opened the door

“Hi, Frank. We're errr…” Kevin stepped outside and closed the door “… having a little bit of a problem in there.”

“What?”

“Mary's fine but she's having a little bit of a meltdown.”

“Right.” Frank sighed, nodding “Let me talk to her.” He made to enter the house but Kevin stopped him

“No, hang on. That's not a good idea.” He said gently as Frank looked at him, a slight frown on his face “Your visit here is the reason for the meltdown.”

“What?” Frank’s brows furrowed together

“She don't wanna see you.” Kevin said, apologetically.

Frank felt like his chest was being crushed. He took a deep breath and visibly slumped. Kevin continued sympathetically. “I'm sorry, man. This is predictable. You know, she needs time.”

Frank fought to keep himself composed. This was his first visit, it had been agreed that the first one would be the Monday, a week after she had left, then moving to Saturday afternoons, and they’d done that for a reason, to give her a full week to settle in. He hadn’t expected it to be plain sailing but he had been hoping she would calm down. He needed to see her, whenever they argued, they always talked, always sorted things out. And this wasn’t any different.

“Just give me five minutes with her.” he looked at Kevin

“I let you inside and then we're gonna betray her trust and have an even bigger problem.” the man shook his head.

Frank got that, he did, but it didn’t make it any easier. He nodded, still keeping himself composed, before wordlessly he thrust the items he was holding into Kevin’s hand and turned and headed back to his truck.

He got drunk that night. And, as he lay on the sofa, with his tumbler of cheap scotch, he realised that the ache he was feeling was the same ache as when he lost Diane. He was grieving. Grieving for the loss of his wonderful, beautiful, annoying, smart-ass niece. Only she wasn’t dead, just gone. Gone from her home and gone from him.

The next morning he woke on the sofa, still clothed, with a mouth like sand paper and a banging headache. After a shower and litre of orange juice he went down to get his mail and found himself sitting on the bench near the mail boxes, simply staring into space. He was vaguely aware of someone sitting next to him, and when Roberta reached out and worked his right hand free from where it was joined tightly with his left, he let out a sigh as she simply squeezed his fingers.

Wednesday morning, after Fliss had stopped by with breakfast from the bakery not far down the road, he was sweeping up the kitchen, which didn’t seem to be half as messy anymore now there were no cat biscuits lying around seeing as Fred wasn’t there to deposit the ones he didn’t want under the table. He opened the broom closet and his eyes fell onto the basket full of shells that Mary had collected over the last god knows how long. He stared at it for a moment before he threw the broom in the closet, slamming the door.

Thursday morning he woke to a message from Fliss asking if he fancied meeting her for lunch. He accepted her invite and headed down to the Marina, his spirits lifted a little at the fact he’d get to see someone he actually cared about soon. He’d been there for a few hours, putting the water pump that he’d finally managed to strip out of that damned boat back together when his phone rang. He glanced at the number and frowned when he saw it was Bonnie. Sighing, he dropped it back to the desk next to him. She’d called a few times since Mary had left, Fliss had reasoned with him that he should answer as she probably just wanted to know how he was. But, seeing as he didn’t actually fucking know how to explain how he was, what on Earth was he going to tell her?

Instead, he let it ring out as usual and then a little while later it beeped, signalling he had a message. He ignored that too, he’d deal with it later.

*****

“Fliss?” Joanne called “There’s a call for you in the office.”

“Ok, hang on.” Fliss put down the bridle she had been piecing together in the tack room and headed through, taking the phone off Joanne. “Fliss Gallagher…” “Hi Fliss, it’s Bonnie, Bonnie Stevenson.” “Oh, er,,,hi…” She said, surprised to hear the woman on the other end of the phone.

“I’m sorry to call you it’s just, well Frank is ignoring my calls and my messages and I was just kind of worried about him.” “Oh…” Fliss took a deep breath, scratching at her head. “He’s been a bit up and down so don’t take it personally.”

“Look, don’t want to step on your toes because I know you two are kinda, well, anyway, I was just in the library at school today and well I saw a photo of Fred on the adoption board for the Pinellas County Animal Shelter and was a little-.”

“Hang on.” Fliss cut her off, not quite believing what she was hearing. “Fred is in the Animal Shelter?” “Yeah.” Bonnie sighed. “I just, well I know Mary loved that cat and I’m concerned Frank is making a mistake giving it away, Mary would-”

“Bonnie the cat went with her.” Fliss took a deep breath, her mind whirring

“What?” Bonnie whispered

“Mary took the cat with her to the foster home. Frank hasn’t turned him in. Fuck, he’ll be devastated when he finds out.” she bit her lip. “Leave it with me, I’ll call him.” “Ok, well, good luck.” Bonnie offered. “Thanks. And thank you for calling and telling us, I mean me, him…whatever” Bonnie gave a chuckle “I hope you get there in time.”

“In time?” Fliss frowned.

“Yeah, Fliss it’s a kill shelter. They only keep the animals for a week or so, depending on their hopes and chances of being adopted.”

Fliss felt her heart sink. Suddenly her thoughts went back to Frank and how he had told her Mary refused to see him on Monday as she was having a meltdown about him going. What if the melt down had been about Fred?

“Fuck.” she mumbled, “Bonnie, I’m sorry I gotta…” And at that she put the phone down. She grabbed her keys, purse and mobile and sprinted for her jeep, yelling to Joanne that she had an emergency. She dived in her car, sped off down the drive and called Frank as she went.

“Hey,” he picked up after two rings.

“Oh you’ll answer to me!” She said, turning left onto the freeway, keying in the location on her GPS.

“Of course.” he said, his tone a little puzzled “What’s…”

“Bonnies’ been trying to call you.”

“I know, I just…” “Shut up a minute.” Fliss cut him off “She was calling because she saw a poster, an adoption photo for the Pinellas County Animal Shelter. It was Fred.”

There was a pause before Frank breathed out “What?”

“They gave her cat away, Frank.”

There was a loud clatter at the other end and then she could tell Frank was running from the sounds and the way his voice wobbled with his momentum.

“I can’t, oh god Fliss, Mary’s gonna be devastated.” “I know. I’m on my way now. I’ll meet you there.”

“Ok.” he said, and with that he hung up. *******

Frank didn’t think he’d ever driven that fast before in his life. He literally dumped the truck on the car park, haphazardly parked in a disabled bay, and ran into the shelter, straight to the reception desk.

“Hi!” he said, resting his hands on the desk.

“Hi! Can I help you?”

“Yeah. Do you have a one-eyed orange cat named Fred?”

At that he heard someone else crashing through the door and a second later there was a gentle touch his arm and he turned to see Fliss, dressed in her riding gear besides him.

“We have a one-eyed cat.” the receptionist nodded after a pause “But I don't know what his name is.”

“Where?” Fliss demanded impatiently.

The receptionist turned to the woman behind her who was digging in the drawers. She turned and pulled a sympathetic face “I don't know. Today was his last day.”

Fliss sighed and Frank hung his head, as a dog gave a loud bark from somewhere in the rear of the shelter. Suddenly there was a violent tug on his hand and he was being dragged down the side of the desk, the receptionist shouting objections as Fliss pulled him through the door at the end. They past the rows of dogs in kennels and then Frank spotted another room to their right.

“This way.” He said and this time he was pulling her along as they headed into the cattery area, but there was no sign of Fred. They continued through, and then headed into the veterinary area, trying each door one by one and the final one they entered was occupied.

“What are you doing back here?” The vet looked at him as Frank saw three needles on the table and let out a soft groan.

“I told him he couldn't.” He heard the receptionist trail off, as his attention was taken by Fliss

“Thank God!” She breathed out, moving to her left. Frank heard a familiar meow and he turned to see Fred in a cat cage on the side.

The relief that flooded his system was insurmountable. He joined Fliss who was now stroking Fred through the bars as the cat tilted his head and looked up at Frank, letting out a meow.

“Hey Fred.” Frank sighed, his hands falling to the top of the cage as he kissed Fliss’s temple in relief and thanks, and then the anger came back.

“Who brought this cat?” He turned round to look at the helpers who were stood in the room.

“Some guy.” The one from the reception shrugged. “He said it was an allergy issue.”

He let out an angry snort and looked at Fliss “Evelyn. She’s allergic to cats.”

Fliss face slid into an expression of understanding as she turned to look at him. “Seems like Mr Perfect Foster Father fed you a load of bullshit on Monday, Frank.”

It took them half an hour to iron out the paper work which allowed Frank to bring Fred home, and because the two other cats in there, Chili and Toby, were on death row they came too, well, with Fliss that is back to the stables.

They carried the cats out between them and Frank turned to Fliss as he passed her the cage containing the black and white one.

“I’m going to get Mary back. This is wrong, it’s fucking wrong. She needs to be with me. I mean, she’s a good kid, right?”

“I’ve told you before, she’s an amazing little girl.” Fliss looked at him as she shut the rear door to the car.

“Well then, I can’t be that bad a substitute parent can I?”

Fliss beamed at him before she asked. “So how we gonna play it?”

He noted her use of the word we, and smiled. “I’m gonna give my mother exactly what she wants”

Huh?” Fliss frowned “I’m not…”

“I’m going to give her another way to achieve her dream without using Mary.” He said, biting his lip as he turned to face her. “Once you’ve dropped those two off meet me at mine as fast as you can. I need to pick up some stuff, and Roberta.”

*****

Fliss did as she was told and less than twenty minutes later they were speeding along the freeway to Tampa, Fliss driving at a steady ten clicks over the limit. It felt like the journey took forever, but it wasn’t much over twenty minutes, and Frank jumped out of Fliss’ jeep before it had even stopped, running up the steps to the large house.

He pounded his fist on the doorway and it swung open.

“Frank?” Kevin greeted him

“Where's Evelyn?” He demanded.

“Evelyn? You mean your mother?”

“Yes.”

“Kevin,” they were joined by his wife, Emma who grabbed his arm as Kevin had opened his mouth to speak. ”Evelyn is in the guest house.”

Frank turned and headed back down the steps, jumping the last three.

“Yeah, listen. I'm sorry, man.” Kevin followed. “Frank, let me tell you. She was so helpful with the tutors. Mary was so distant and she-“

“Hey!” Roberta stepped out to block Kevin’s way. “Look, we know what you’re up against.”

Kevin sighed, nodding “She’s tenacious…”

“Do you want your life back? “ Fliss looked at him, her glare steady as Kevin watched Frank heading up the steps to the guest house “Go back inside.”

Frank reached the top of the stairs and wrenched open the door to see his mother sat at a desk with Mary, whilst there was a man stood pointing at a book, another sat in the corner on a computer. All four of them looked up and Frank took a deep breath, shaking his head at his mother.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, surprise evident on her face.

Frank ignored her as Fliss and Roberta stepped into the room, Fliss carrying the box he had brought with him.

“Come on, Mary. We're going home.” Frank heled his hand out as Fliss placed the box on the desk and folded her arms.

“No.” Mary replied gently, shaking her head, eyes locked on Frank.

“You're trespassing!” Evelyn started but Frank ignored her, flipping the lid off the box, pulling out a ring bound file “You need to look at this.” He tossed it on the desk and walked towards Mary. “Let's go, Mary. Let's move. Come on.” He beckoned with his hand.

“No!” she repeated, sliding off her chair. She pushed the man next to her out of the way and dodged round the desk. There was a cacophony of people moving and shouting her name but Frank gently stopped Fliss as she made to grab her.

“It's okay. I got her.”  He said, flying out of the door after her.

Evelyn made to follow but Fliss stepped right in her path, blocking the way, her nose inches from Evelyn’s as she stared the woman down.

“Think again, lady.”  Roberta spoke from behind her, her hand laying on Fliss’ shoulder, giving a squeeze of support.

Evelyn looked at the two of them for a second before she jerked her head to flick the piece of hair that had fallen forwards into her eyes before she tuned and picked up her phone. She looked at Fliss again, who arched an eyebrow, and then turned back to her phone before she stopped dead and her eyes fell on the ring bound file Frank had thrown onto the desk.

Fliss exchanged a look with Roberta, neither of them understanding what was in the file, but clearly Evelyn did. Fliss had a feeling it was something to do with the equation Frank had told her that Diane had been working on, maybe some research. Evelyn glanced over Fliss’ shoulder to the door, her breathing deep as she looked back to the file.

“This,” she said, looking at it,“it can’t…”

Then she snapped out of it, going for the door but Fliss once more stepped into her path.

“You’re not going out there, not until Frank has a chance to speak to Mary.”

“You have no right.”

“And neither do you.” Fliss said loudly

“I have visitation rights. I’m her grandmother!” “Oh please!” Fliss snorted “Up until a few months ago you had never seen her. And what kind of grandmother rips a little girl away from the person who has shown her nothing but love all her life, and cared for and provided for her for over six years?”

Evelyn raised her chin defiantly.

“And all for what? Some fucking dream about a stupid maths problem that no one bar a gang of stuck up Oxbridge middle aged tossers give a shit about!" "How dare you?" Evelyn glared at Fliss. "I'm not having some jumped up, dressage riding tart speak to me like this! I did this for Mary. To give her the life she deserves… " "No you did this for yourself." Fliss shot back. "And you know what? Maybe Frank doesn’t have the poshest house, or the most prestigious career in the world, but kids don't need money, or laptops or huge fucking homes with a pool and a summer house! They need love and care, to know they're safe and wanted, and she gets all of that with Frank, with us." She gestured to Roberta as she continued. "And if you stopped to listen and look at her as a person and not your ticket to fame for just one second you'd see what an amazing, wonderful little girl she is and that's down to your son." Fliss took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes as Evelyn looked away from her to Roberta almost as if she was expecting a verbal tirade from her too. Roberta simply shrugged "I got notin' to add, she said it all for me" "Frank is one of the kindest, most loving and gentle men I know." Fliss swallowed, her voice softer. "He has a heart of gold and everything he does is for that little girl. Maybe he doesn't always get it right but who does? He tries his best, and I'd love to congratulate you on bringing up such and amazing man, but I literally have no idea how he turned out the way he did with a cold hearted bitch like you as a mother."

****

“Mary!” Frank called, sprinting after her as she ran down the drive “Mary!”

He gently grabbed her arm and dropped to the floor as she spun round “No, let me go!” she yelled at him, lashing out again with her arms the same way she had done when he had left her. Frank turned his head holding his hands up to deflect the blows.

“Stop, Mary.Stop, stop!”

“No!”

“Come here.” he urged, his voice soft as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him as he stood up, holding her tight.

“You lied to me.” she shot at him accusingly

“I know.” He scrunched his eyes up, ducking his head as she continued to rain blows on him.

“No, no!”

“Stop, stop, stop!” he pleaded as her blows grew weaker until she collapsed against him, crying, her head buried into his shoulder. He closed his eyes and pressed his face against her cheek. “I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I'm so sorry.”

“You promised me.”

“I know.” he agreed, taking a deep breath, looking upwards.

“You promised.” Mary’s voice was quiet as her small arms moved around his shoulders.

“I know. I'm sorry. I’m so sorry.” his voice cracked as he gently walked them towards the house a little.

“You said you wouldn't leave me!” she broke her heart once more as his hand moved up to hold between her shoulder blades and he pressed his cheek to the side of her head.

“I made a mistake. I'm sorry.”  He stressed, rubbing her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly and he closed his eyes, swaying her softly on the spot.

“I was so sad!” She sobbed as Frank simply stood, breathing heavily, eyes still closed as he desperately fought for composure. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”  He whispered into her hair as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, blinking back the tears that were filling his eyes. God he should never have agreed to this, ever.

“They took Fred.” Mary cried and Frank shook his head.

“No. It's okay.” He sniffed, bending down to place her on the floor so she could look at him. “We got him. He's home.”

“What?” She asked softly, her cries stopping as she looked at him, her eyes so like her mother’s bored into his.

“He's at the apartment right now. Me and Fliss went and we got him.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.” Frank assured her, his right hand reaching up to wipe away her tears as he cupped her cheek softly. “He's home kicking around his ping pong ball.”

“Why did you leave me here?” she asked, her sobs starting again. And that was the moment he broke. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and he too began to cry.

“Because I thought I was bad for you.” his voice cracked as he struggled to speak, a tear falling down his cheek. “And then it dawned on me. If Mary is this amazing, smart, sweet human being, then I must be doing something right.”

She looked at him, her face contorting as her cries grew shallower and she reached out with her small hands rubbing at his beard before her thumbs crept into the side of his mouth, and she curled his lips upwards and he swallowed again, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

Her hands fell to his shoulders and she looked at him. “You're smiling”

He nodded and bowed his head, his chest heaving with unshed sobs before Mary wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He closed his eyes again, holding her close, his hand rubbing her back.

“I’m never gonna let anyone take you away from me again, Short Stack.” He promised as she pulled back, her hands fiddling with the collar of his grey T-shirt.

She paused for a moment before she looked at him. “Can we go home now?”

“You’re damned right.” He nodded, as he stood, picking her up in his arms. They made their way back up the steps to the guest house, pausing slightly to look at one another as Fliss’ angry yells hit their ears.

“Fliss is mad.” Mary’s eyes grew wide and she looked at Frank.

“Yeah, well she’s missed you too. So has Roberta.” Frank smiled as they carried on up the steps. They reached the door just in time to catch Fliss calling Evelyn a “cold hearted bitch” and as Frank opened the door, Roberta and Fliss turned to face them both.

“Roberta! Lissy!” Mary yelled as Frank set her down on the floor.

“Hey baby!” Roberta smiled, as she hugged the girl tightly before Mary released her and threw herself at Fliss.

“Oh kiddo.” Fliss sighed, dropping a kiss to Mary’s head. She looked up at Frank and he gave her a wink, before nodding gently to the door.

“Of all the stunts you could pull.” Evelyn looked at him and he glared straight back as besides him, he heard Fliss say something to Mary as her and Roberta ushered her out of the door.

“Where are they going?” Evelyn demanded

“Nowhere. Not yet.” Frank looked at her before he turned his attention to the two tutors in the room “You two, out!”

Once they left, Frank and his mother began to argue about the file he had given her, Evelyn refusing to believe it was real, that Diane had solved the Millennium Problem. Eventually, Frank had enough and shook his head.

“Evelyn, stop!” he said firmly. “I'm taking Mary and I'm raising her how I believe Diane would have wanted”

“We'll see about this.”

“I realize she's not normal.” He continued, his voice steady and definitive. “But if Einstein can ride a bike so can she.”

“Let’s just say Diane didn't tell me, which is nonsense. It's a Millennium Problem!” His mother blazed “She would have shared it with the world. That's where your charade falls apart.”

Frank sighed and looked down, one hand resting on the surface of the table between him and his mother, the other shoved into his pocket.

“If she had completed the proof, she would have published it!” Evelyn finished.

With a deep breath he looked back up at his mother before he looked down at the file and spoke a little softer this time “Diane instructed me very clearly,” he swallowed and looked down at his left hand, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, “that I was only to publish it post mortem.”

“She died six years ago.” Evelyn demanded and he looked back at her.

“It wasn't her death she was talking about.”

He watched as his mother’s mouth fell open slightly in understanding and shock before she looked down, swallowing. Despite everything, Frank felt a pang of sympathy for her, he was taking no pleasure in any of this. His mother sank into a chair, her eyes closing as her head bowed slightly

“I tried to talk her out of it.” Frank explained gently. “But you know how Diane could be when she made her mind up about something.”

Evelyn didn’t say a word, she simply stared at a spot on the desk, her eyes darting from side to side and Frank could see she was suddenly coming to terms with the fact that, really, she hadn’t known his sister at all

“I called MIT.” He continued “Shankland's out of his mind about the possibility of publishing it with you.” At that Evelyn glanced up at him. “He's waiting for your call.” Frank nodded. “You're gonna spend the next few years of your life defending it. You won't have time for her.”

Evelyn swallowed again, before she floundered to speak, struggling slightly to form the first word. “What If I say no?” She eventually said, taking a breath and looking back up at Frank.

He looked to the side slightly. “Well,” his eyes flicked back to hers, the nerve in his jaw twitching slightly, “back to Plan A”

“Wait for me to die?” Evelyn’s voice took on an almost amused tone as she fixed Frank with a look.

“I know Diane was hard.” He said after a moment’s pause, his voice remaining calm. “I know she was angry. But something really good came out of this, Evelyn. She needs you now. You're the best woman for the job. Take it”

Evelyn looked down at the file again, her brows raising slightly. “It doesn't seem like Diane wanted me to have it.”

“Well, Diane didn't always think things through.” He smiled softly as Evelyn looked up at him, the fact she had spoken those exact words to Frank weeks before had clearly not passed her by. “I'll be outside. Let me know what you wanna do.”

With that he left the room but he hadn’t even gotten halfway down the stairs before Evelyn shot out after him. He turned and glanced back up at her, questioningly

“I’m not going to fight you anymore, Frank. I’ll take your offer. Diane deserves for her work to be published.”

He nodded and turned to go again but she stopped him a second time.

“Will you let me give you one piece of advice before you go?”  

He looked at her expectantly.

“Fliss,” “What about her?”

“The way she was fighting your corner before, the things she was saying, well, it almost made me proud to be your mother.” Evelyn gave him a smile. “Don’t let that girl go.”

“I don’t intend to.” Frank shook his head, one corner of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. “Goodbye Evelyn.”

***** Greg wasn’t overly impressed with Frank’s display of recklessness, his yell down the phone of “you dumb-ass mother fucker,” was loud enough for Fliss, Mary and Roberta to hear. With a grimace, Frank headed out of the apartment and explained what had happened and Greg listened, before promising to set the ball rolling right away. Two hours later he called back having spoken the woman from the Welfare Department who had been managing the fostering arrangements.

“She’s happy, given Evelyn’s seeming lack of contention, for Mary to stay in your care for the immediate future.”

“Immediate future?” Frank held his breath. “What does that mean?”

“It means that we’ll need to go back to court to obtain formal Guardian status. But, given your Mother’s U-Turn, and the Foster Parents being surprisingly supportive of you, there’s no way this is going anywhere but in your favour.” Greg’s voice was full of warmth and Frank let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll organise the paper work and we’ll file for a hearing as soon as possible but it could be after thanksgiving. I got another big custody case going on now so…” “So there’s no way she’s gonna be taken?” Frank pressed.

“I’d bet my house on it.” Greg informed, making Frank smile “The only potential bump in the road here now is if your mother requests formal access or visitation rights.” “Well if she does, I’m not opposed to her having a relationship with Mary, but it’s done on Mary’s terms, not hers.” Frank replied. “And being reasonable like that will go even more in your favour.” Greg chuckled “I’ll get the paper work sorted on Monday. So in the mean-time enjoy your weekend and do me a favour and take Fliss on a date will ya?”

With a laugh and assurances that he was going to try at least, Frank headed back inside to be hit with a barrage of noise as Journey “Don’t Stop Believing” was blaring out of the stereo. Mary was on the sofa, bouncing up and down as she sang whilst Fliss had hold of her hands, moving them back and forth as they danced. Frank leaned against the doorframe and simply watched them until Roberta moved over and dragged him into the middle of their group. Mary threw herself at him and he caught her with a loud huff which was followed by a laugh as she reached up and ruffled his hair.

A few hours and a Chinese takeout later, Mary was fast asleep and both Fliss and Roberta decided it was time to go. Gently lifting Mary from where she was led with her head in Fliss’ lap, Frank tucked her in bed fully clothed (like it mattered) and then headed outside. He said goodnight to Roberta, the woman hugging him and Fliss before he walked Fliss back down to the jeep.

“Thank you for today.” He looked at her as they walked. “I never knew you had such a fierce side.”

“Well, I spent so long being trampled and stepped on, sometimes I like it when my inner lioness makes an appearance.” she smirked at him.

“You certainly made an impression on my Mother.”

“Oh, yeah.” Fliss winced “I kinda..well not kinda, I…err…I shouted at her. Called her a cold hearted bitch.” “Yeah I heard that bit” Frank snorted and Fliss scoffed.

“In my defence, she started it, she called me a jumped up dressage tart.”

“Well that’s just rude.” Frank agreed “You show-jump.” Fliss stopped by her jeep and looked at him before she burst out laughing and Frank grinned. There was a pause before Frank looked down at the floor and then back at Fliss “You know, she gave me one final piece of advice as I left.” “Oh yeah? What was that? Buy a mosquito net? A Bug zapper? No, wait, she told you to get a string vest and a banjo didn’t she?”

Frank shook his head grinning. “She told me not to let you go.” He said, holding Fliss’ gaze before she looked down, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Although the banjo does sound fun.” “Piss off.” She said gently with a grin, shoving him in his chest. He caught her wrist softly and then moved his hand to tangle their fingers together, looking down at her small palm against his before he looked back at her.

“You know, if this was a movie I’d use some really shit cliché here like oh, you came into my world and turned my life inside upside down.” he shrugged, “but my life was already upside down and inside out, and you,” he let out a breath, “you just help put it back to where it should be. You make everything better Lissy and these last few months without you in my corner..." he trailed off as her eyes locked onto his, shining in the dim light, his thumb gently skating the back of her hand. "Look, I know you said I wasn’t in a position to know what I want but I do. I really do. And it’s for you to be part of this, albeit, royally fucked up life I have." As he looked at her he spotted the twinkle in her eye as she smiled at him, her hand squeezing his.

“I think it's about time you took me sailing don’t you?"

He gave a laugh and nodded “Yeah, yeah I do. Does tomorrow work?”

“Works just fine, Sailor.” she grinned, standing on her toes. She placed a soft kiss to the side of his mouth and it took every inch of self-control Frank had not to grab her and kiss the life out of her, but he knew now wasn’t the moment.

Instead he smiled as she stepped back, and climbed into her car. He shut the door for her as she wound he window down, starting up the engine.

“My last lesson is at three so I can be ready for any time after five.” She smiled up at him as he leaned on the roof her her car with his hand.

“Okay, I’ll text you.”

“Looking forward to it.” She beamed, and with a final smile and a tap on the roof of her car he stepped back and watched her drive off up the road.

**** Chapter 10

[legendofzeldaalinktothepast]

Pathetic, Clinging Poetry - Chapter 21 (of 25)

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter 

A few weeks ago, I etched a message on my last sticky note And shoved it into an empty glass bottle, And I tossed it into the ocean, Letting it sail off to wherever fate willed it.

I'm not home, but it's alright. The ocean no longer frightens me; Now, the waves sing me a lullaby As they grasp for moonlight. The sand is like a silken blanket Beneath my weary frame. And while I'm not meant to live In isolation, in wilderness, surrounded by the pacific; My heart is steady, my thoughts are still. 

* 

As he sat on the living room carpet with a pile of drawings on his lap, Steven watched the hands on the clock with stars in his eyes. 'It's almost seven... Ugh, it's sooo close!' He kicked his little feet, the pent up energy building up inside of him and boiling over.

"Watching the clock isn't gonna make them get here any faster, buddy." Greg said as he walked past, ruffling Steven's curly hair. "Why don't you help us get ready for tonight? I'm sure that's a better way to pass the time."

"But I want to show everyone my pictures..." Steven pouted. Then, an imaginary lightbulb appeared over his head. "Oh! Daddy! I just got the bestest idea! I drew a picture for you and Mommy and Lion, but I don't have to wait for you guys to get here, because you're already here! Can I show you them, pretty please?"

"Of course! Hand 'em over." Greg said with a grin, and Steven handed one of the drawings over to him.

"Whoa! That's amazing!" Greg beamed with pride as he admired his son's artwork. "Looks kinda like me... and I'm in space! Am I an astronaut?"

"You're the space man!" Steven exclaimed. "I drew all of us as super heroes! And your superpower is space! You can control the moon, and the stars, and the sun, and the clouds, and Jupiter, and uh... All the other planets too!" He filed through the stack of papers, pulling out another one. "And this one's for you, Lion!" he continued as the massive cat wandered past the living room. "You're a were-lion! On nights where the moon is a circle, you turn into a -- hey, I'm talking to you!" he called as Lion continued to walk towards the kitchen, not paying any mind to Steven's artwork.

Greg chuckled. "Looks like he's got other things on his mind." he said, watching as Lion crouched down in front of his food bowl. "I'm sure he still likes your drawing, kiddo. He just doesn't know how to show it. Cats are different from people." Greg reassured.

"I guess..." Steven said. "Oh! I know how to make him appreciate it!" He skipped over to the kitchen and hung the drawing up on the fridge with a magnet, placing it directly above Lion's food dish. "There we go! Now he has to look at it! He'll starve if he doesn't!"

Greg burst into laughter. "Well, that's one way to get his attention." he said. He then gave Steven a little nudge back towards the living room. "Now, go show your mom what you drew for her. And once you've done that, help her pick out a board game! She's bad at making decisions."

"Okie dokie!" Steven said, skipping back into the living room. "Mommy! Mommy mommy!"

"Mhm?" Rose responded, lifting an armful of board games from the shelf in the closet.

"Look! It's you!" Steven said, holding the drawing up to Rose. "I made you a super hero! You're flower woman! You have the power to control plants! But not just flowers, either; you can do big scary plants with teeth and thorns, too! And your hair is made of flower leafs!"

"Oh my, how creative!" Rose said, sitting down on the floor so that she was at Steven's eye level. "Your art has really improved. Look, you even drew my hands!"

"Yeah! And I colored your nails pink, too." Steven said. "Oh, and Daddy wanted me to help you pick out a game. Can we playyy..." Steven tapped his chin and hummed loudly in thought. "Jenga! Can we play Jenga, Mommy?"

"Jenga it is." Rose said, pulling out the box of wooden blocks. "Would you mind clearing off the coffee table, dear?"

"Yep!" Steven said. Just as he began to crawl over to the table, however, he heard a knock at the door. "They're here!" he exclaimed. He nearly jumped to his feet to rush to the entry room -- but then remembered he still had a task to fulfill. So he hurriedly removed the books and magazines and coasters from the table as Rose went to answer the door, placing them neatly beneath the couch.

"Hello, girls!" Rose greeted. As he lifted the heavy box of Jenga pieces onto the table, Steven tried to peer into the entry room, but couldn't quite make out who was at the door. "Girls" could honestly refer to any of the guests they were expecting; now that he thought about it, he really had a lot of women in his family. Once the table was set, he grabbed the whole stack of drawings and made his way towards the front door.

"Peeaaarl!" Steven squealed, immediately running over and hugging her leg. He was excited to see Amethyst and Jasper, too, but Pearl was the first one he saw and the one he'd known the longest, so she was the first to receive his attention.

Pearl smiled awkwardly at the sudden display of affection. "Good evening, Steven." she greeted, patting him on the head.

"He's been eager to see you guys all day. He even drew pictures for you." Rose said with a smile. "Would you like to share your artwork, honey?"

"You're an artist, too, huh?" Amethyst said.

"Yes! I love coloring pictures!" Steven exclaimed. "Lookie here! I drew you all as super heroes!" Steven handed the first drawing to Pearl. "Your super power is dancing! You're like a magical ballerina whose kicks can knock down buildings!"

"How... interesting!" Pearl said, squinting at the drawing and turning it around in her hands so she could make sense of it. Despite her confusion, though, her smile didn't fade. "Thank you very much, Steven!"

"And Amethyst! You're a shap... shapeshif... You turn into animals!" Steven continued, handing Amethyst her drawing.

"Oh hell yeah, that looks sick!" Amethyst grinned. "Can I get a commission?"

"I don't know what that is, but sure!" Steven said. "And Jasper..." He approached Jasper a bit more shyly, handing her the picture he'd drawn for her. She had a tendency to stand off to the side and keep to herself, which always confused him; he'd never expected a girl so big and strong to be so shy. "You're ninja girl! You can turn invisible, and can jump really high, and break wood with karate chops!"

"Ooh, uh, thanks!" Jasper said, taking the drawing and looking it over. She looked a bit uncertain of how to react -- she was never the best when it came to kids -- so she simply gave Steven a little smile. "Nice job. I'll put it on my desk at work."

“Yay! I bet everyone at the office will be jealous.” Steven said.

"Alright, let's all start heading to the living room." Rose announced, but it was mostly directed at Steven. "Your grandmas will be here any minute, and we don't want to be crowding the doorway!"

"Aww, okay." Steven said, making his way over to the couch and climbing up onto the soft cushions. He eagerly kicked his legs and stared out the window. 'I hope they get here soon...' he thought with a sigh.

Amethyst seated herself beside him, peering at the stack of papers in his arms. "What else ya got there, buddy?"

Steven blushed. "Oh! Um um, just some more pictures. I drew something for everyone! Here, you wanna look?"

"You bet your as- uh, butt I do." Amethyst said as she reached for them. Steven couldn't help but giggle. "You almost said the A word!" he teased.

"Yeah, but I caught myself. Don't be like me." she said.

"Aww, but I wanna be like you! You make really good pictures, you know. You drawed a really good coloring page for storytime. " Steven said.

"Thanks, kiddo. You can be like me art-wise, but don't pick up on my dirty mouth." Amethyst snorted. She filed through the drawings, nodding in approval at each of them. "Good stuff, good stuff. So where'd ya learn to draw? Do you have art class at school?"

"I don't go to school yet! I start kindergarten in..." He counted on his fingers. "September! But mommy told me that I'd have art class there. I'll get to use finger paint, and play-doh, and big markers that smell like popsicles!"

"Hah, those were the days." Amethyst said, scooting over as Jasper joined them on the couch. Steven kicked his feet in excitement and glanced at the clock again; the big hand was pointing at the two, now... Grandma Yas and Bella were late! 'Maybe they got stuck behind a choochoo train... Or they had to stop to save a baby squirrel!' Steven thought. The latter seemed more exciting, so he decided to assume that was the case.

"So," Rose began, making her way over to the loveseat and sitting down beside Pearl. "Do you happen to remember Spinel?"

"Spinel?" Pearl paused a moment to think. "She's your little cousin, if I remember correctly. Isn't she the one that would always beg us to play house with her?”

"Yeah, she was clingy, that's for sure." Rose giggled. “I haven't talked to her in a few years... When she moved away, we weren't on quite the best terms... But she's coming to the game night tonight, along with her girlfriend. Apparently she's living with my parents, now. So it'll be interesting to see her again."

"Oh, how exciting!" Pearl clasped her hands together. In all honesty, she was already feeling pretty shy about meeting Yasmine and Bella again; and with Spinel coming along -- as well as her girlfriend, whose name was a mystery -- it was going to be quite a crowd. As she looked around the living room, she couldn't help but wonder if there'd even be enough room for everyone to sit.

"Yeah. I just hope she's not holding a grudge..." Rose nervously rubbed the back of her neck. Before she could elaborate, there was another knock at the door.

Steven immediately jumped to his feet. "Grandmas are here!! Let's go, Mommy!" he called, and Rose lifted Steven into her arms as she went to answer the door, knowing he wanted to be the first one to see them.

Greg peered into the living room. "Hey, girls." he greeted, waving a hand as he headed over to the couch.

"Hey." Amethyst said, and Jasper awkwardly waved a hand in response. Pearl scooted over so Greg could sit beside her.

"So... Jenga tonight, huh?" Amethyst said, noticing the wooden blocks sitting on the table. "That's kinda like Operation, but with blocks, isn't it? So Jasper's probably gonna beat us again."

"What are you talking about? It's nothing like Operation." Jasper said.

"I mean, it kinda is! Like, you gotta have a steady hand and all that." Amethyst shrugged. "In all honesty, I just wanted to brag a little. Wanted everyone to know that my sis is a cool surgeon and all."

"I think Greg already knew about that." Jasper rolled her eyes, and Pearl couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, Jasper's not the only one with steady hands around here!" Greg cracked his knuckles. "I was the master of Jenga back when I was a boy!"

"Man, I got shaky hands. I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler if I was held at gunpoint." Amethyst snorted.

"Pearl?" Rose peered into the entry room with a huge smile on her face. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but would you like to meet Spinel's girlfriend?"

The way she spoke sounded like it was the most fascinating thing in the world; and sure, she was curious about Spinel's mysterious new girlfriend, but... Pearl wasn't quite sure why Rose was asking her specifically. "Uh... sure!" she finally responded.

And out of the entry room stepped Peony. Her hair was trimmed down to chin-length, a bit choppy on the bottom and no longer in her usual space buns, but other than that, she looked identical to how she did when Pearl had last seen her. Pearl cupped a hand over her mouth, slowly rising from the couch. "...Peony?"

"Hey! I didn't expect to see you h-" Peony began, but was cut off as Pearl rushed up to her and pulled her into a hug that nearly knocked her off of her feet.

"Holy shit..." Amethyst remarked just under her breath. While she didn't say anything, Jasper's eyes lit up and a slight smile spread across her face.

"Peony!!" Pearl squealed, lifting her up and spinning her around in her arms. "Oh my goodness, what are you doing here? What have you been doing all this time?!"

"I should be asking you the same thing!" Peony giggled, returning Pearl's tight embrace. "I knew you were living somewhere in Beach City, but I never expected I'd find you this quickly!"

Pearl finally pulled away from the hug, wiping a tear away from her face. "I can’t believe you're alright! All this time I was worried that something had happened to you!"

"And I was worried about you!" Peony said.

"Why were you worried about me? Never mind that, just -- gosh, I'm just -- I'm so happy to see you!" Pearl squealed, hugging her once again.

As the two stood together in their comforting embrace, Yasmine, Bella, and Spinel made their way into the living room.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise!" Bella said, clasping her hands together. As Spinel walked past, she gave Peony a gentle pat on the back and smiled lovingly.

"Whoa! Pearl, your sister looks just like you! How'd you do that?" Steven exclaimed.

"That's because they're twins, buddy." Greg said.

"That's soo cool! Can I have a twin, Mommy?" Steven begged.

"I think it's a little late for that." Rose chuckled.

"We'll be right back." Pearl announced, and before anyone (including Peony) could say anything else, she grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Okay. So." Pearl took a deep breath once they were alone, gripping Peony by the shoulders. "I have a million questions."

"I have a million and one." Peony said.

"Well, I'm going first!" Pearl giggled. "First of all, what did you do with your hair?"

"That's... a complicated story." Peony twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "And again, I've been wanting to ask you the same question. Not to mention your outfit..." she remarked, casting her gaze downward.

For a moment, Pearl was confused; but then she remembered that the last time she'd seen Peony, her hair was much longer and she'd still been wearing nothing but skirts and dresses. Ever since her birthday a few weeks ago, however, she’d begun feeling less and less comfortable with presenting in such a feminine manner, and had just about phased her skirts out of her wardrobe entirely. "Ah. I guess you could say that's a complicated story as well..."

"It seems like we have a lot of catching up to do." Peony sighed happily. "But I don’t care too much about that; right now, I’m just relieved to see you again.”

Pearl hugged Peony for what was probably the tenth time that night. "Me too... God, I really thought something bad had happened to you. Mom managed to track down Jasper's phone number -- Jasper's my friend who I'm living with, by the way -- and called me on our birthday, telling me that you'd run away... But she was acting like I knew where you were. Which scared me, because obviously I didn't, so..." Pearl shook her head as she began to tear up. Now wasn't the time for that, she reminded herself.

Peony reached for Pearl's hands as they pulled away from the hug, giving them a little squeeze. "It's alright. I understand. I really wish I could have told you what was going on, but... I didn't know how to contact you. You left your phone behind, and I couldn't find you on Facebook or anything, so..."

Pearl blushed. "Ah... Yeah, I ended up making a new account, going by a completely different made-up name so nobody could find me. Ever hear of Earl Diamond?"

Peony burst into laughter. "Really? You couldn't think of anything more creative than dropping the P from your name?"

"In my defense, Amethyst -- who's my girlfriend now, by the way -- suggested it as a joke, but I went with it because I couldn't think of anything else." Pearl chuckled.

"That sounds about right.” Peony rolled her eyes. “But, um... Perhaps we should put the… elephant in the room aside for now. Right now, I think we should just let ourselves have some fun. Save the catching up for a more private time, perhaps...." she said, smiling warmly.

"Good idea." Pearl said. "Um... H-how about tomorrow? I don't have anything going on, really... Perhaps we could meet at the Big Donut. I could give you Jasper's phone number, if you'd like a way to contact me after tonight... Or you could add 'Earl Diamond' on Facebook."

"Sounds like a plan." Peony smiled. She grabbed a pen from the calendar hanging nearby, and Pearl wrote Jasper's phone number down on her palm.

"Alright. Ready to go back out there?" she said.

Pearl braced herself. "Yeah. I'm certainly not eager to face such a big crowd, though..."

"I know, right?" Peony smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of her neck. "Rose really invited everyone and their dog tonight. But I think we'll manage -- we've survived plenty of family reunions before.”

"Tell me about it." Pearl chuckled.

And with that, the two of them made their way back to the crowded living room.

* 

As she got ready for bed that night, Pearl couldn't help humming to herself -- a sign that, for the time being, her mind was at peace. As she brushed her hair in front of the body length mirror, Amethyst approached her and hugged her from behind. "My little Pierogi's in a good mood, isn't she?"

Pearl giggled. "I guess you could say that..." she said, setting the hair brush aside and turning around to face Amethyst. "I really feel like a weight has been lifted from my chest. Perhaps that might seem a little strange, but… I was very close with Peony before I left my old home, you know?"

"That’s not weird at all, babe." Amethyst said, standing up on her tippy toes so she could kiss Pearl on the cheek. "Like... ya know, me and Jasper have never been the closest, but... We've always..." She paused a moment to fake a shudder. "Cared about each other. And if I had any reason to think anything happened to her, I'd have probably acted the same way you did when you didn’t know if Peony was okay… So I can kinda guess how you’re feeling, and I couldn’t be happier for you.”

"Aw, honey..." A smile spread across Pearl's face. "I've always known it was the case, but it's still so sweet to hear that you care about Jasper."

"Ew, I knew you'd focus on that." Amethyst rolled her eyes. "It's your fault. You've turned me into a big ol' sap."

"You're my little sapling." Pearl purred, resting her chin on top of Amethyst's head.

"You're so corny, ugh." Amethyst snorted. "'Sapling' makes me sound like a baby tree or some shit."

"Are trees not beautiful?" Pearl cooed. "You're like a lilac tree... Small and stout, and your hair is just like those fragrant, purple blossoms."

"That is so cheesy... But also kinda cute, so I'll allow it." Amethyst winked, flopping down onto the bed. "Anyway, come here, girlie." she gestured with her finger for Pearl to come closer, and the latter sat down on the edge of the mattress. She reached for Amethyst's hands and gave them a little squeeze; her short, stubby fingers felt so small in her long, lanky hands. For a moment it almost made her feel a little self conscious -- at times, she wished she wasn't so bony and frail -- until Amethyst lifted her knuckles to her lips and kissed them, her dark eyes falling shut. After a gesture like that, Pearl truly felt like the most beautiful woman in the world...

"Today was so wonderful… I’m so glad everything went the way it did. My story being a success with the kids, meeting my sister again, getting to meet Rose’s moms and Spinel again, playing Jenga together…” Pearl whispered, pressing her forehead to Amethyst's. "And to top it all off, I'm falling more and more in love with you each day..."

"Babe..." Amethyst bit back a smile, turning her gaze up towards Pearl. "I'm in love with you too."

As Pearl stared into those warm brown eyes, she noticed they were a tad watery... Part of her wanted to comment on it, but perhaps it'd only embarrass Amethyst... So she held her tongue, allowing herself to enjoy Amethyst's rare sentimental side in silence, and Pearl brought their lips together in another kiss.

[rkira]

Song a day for 2016

Cool Guys don't look at explosions. Lonely island

Armageddon-Vox

High In Church-Trevor Moore.

Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

Zelda with Lyrics-  Brental Floss

You're not the boss of me now-They might be Giants

Boys and Girls LMC

Superman vs Goku ERB

Starlight Starshine Steam powered Giraffe

Craig Stephen Lynch

Clint Eastwood Gorillaz

Gimme Chocolate Baby Metal

Roundtable Rival Lindsey Stirling

Time Warp Rocky Horror Picture Show

I'm not okay (I promise) My Chemical Romance.

Angry white boy polka Weird Al

Almost Human Voltaire.

Martin Luther King vs Ghandi ERB

Batman/Xmen animated openings

Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World IZ

Carry on my wayward son-kansas

Grey And Blue-Brave and bold

Share the one world- One Piece

God Thinks-Voltaire

This is war- 30 seconds to mars

March of the Inmates- Psychonauts

I wupped batman's ass

Legal Assassin-Repo the genetic opera.

D-City Rock PSG

Ready Steady Go Larc en Ciel

Devil went down to Georgia- CDB

I wanna rock- Twisted Sister

Polkamon- Weird Al

I can't stop Laughing- Joker

Teen Titans, Japanese version, english translation- Beast Boy

Shoot All Your Problems Away-Tomska

Steven Universe full theme-Steven and the crystal gems

Oh No you didn't

I don't love you-MCR

Heartbeat-2pm

Killed by Love-Alice Cooper

How can I not love you

Nothing-The Script

Classic Rock tune- Stephen Lynch

Breakeven- The Script

Musical Suicide- Tomska

Hallelujah- Rufus Wainwright

Only my heart talking-Alice cooper

Knights in white satin

Only you-Joker

Can't smile without you- Barry manilow +Pokemon themes

Turn Back the clock- Steam powered giraffe.

My Immortal -Evanescense

I need some sleep- Eels

On my own- Les Miserables

Feathery Wings- Voltaire

Ghost of you- My Chemical romance

Hell is living without you-alice cooper

If you ever come back- the script

love stinks- adam sandler

Youth-Daughter

Talk you down- The script

Somebody Kill me please- Adam Sandler

Owee- Voltaire

Six degrees of separation- the script

Give my love to rose- johnny cash

how- daughter

Skinny genes- Jenny bee cover

I miss the misery- ten second songs

Come on Eileen- Dexy midnight runners

Overkill- colin hay

rant song- scrubs

Ashita kuru hi Kobato

Bink's sake, rumbar pirates

Stronger than you- Garnet-steven

Burning Love- Elivis

So strong my face is

Murmaider

Owls- Weebls

Riding a black Unicorn- Voltaire

Put a banana in your ear

Soul- Ox

Amazing horse- Mr.Weebl

Elector Gypsy- Savlonic

The Driver- Salvonic

Tiny Japanese Girl- Salvonic

YOLO- Lonely Island

4 Chords- Axis of Awesome.

Rage of thrones- Axis of awesome

Renegade- Styx

He Lives in you(Reprise)-Lion King

Mirror B Theme

Dr. Mario- Brental Floss

All Champion Themes

Mercenary

Smash Bros

You Don't Know Me- Bandy Leggz

Ashley- Wario

Look who's laughing now

The stars-steam powered giraffe

deviljho

tetris with lyrics. Brental floss

When you walk away- kingdom hearts

every pokemon intro

Bishock song- Brental Floss

Bioshock infinite song- Brental Floss

Chop Chop Master onion rap- parappa the rapper

Undertale-Undertale

Squid Sisters

All rival theme

Dearly Beloved yoko shimomura

Video game medley-lindsey sterling

crash bandicoot 1 theme

mario bros theme

green hill sonic theme

pacman theme-smash

no more hereoes, its kill or be killed

I am all of me.

elite four battle themes

all lab themes

 all team bosses

J.R.R tolkien vsx George R. R. Martin ERB

x gon give it to ya

Giant Woman Steven Universe

yoda weird al

Darth Vader vs Hitler 1 2 3

founding fathers trevor moore

Drive me bats: BTBTB

mother lover lonely island

Make  man out of you TFS

El Barquito Voltaire

saga of jesse Jane Alice cooper

Danger zone Kenny

Be Prepared scar

Everybody wants to be a cat

Yes no

You're a fucking nerd Ok Go

On a boat one piece

boner song wkuk

anybody there? script

Crabs weebl

ultrasound: johnny massacre

I dreamed a dream anne hathaway

D&D stephen lynch

if we were gay ninja sex party

If you could see me now. script

Mine turtle tomska

I like trains tomska

monster masune

I dont want that for you steven universe

If I were gay stephen lynch

friends theme.

I love rock and rool, joan jett

hot patootie bless my soul rocky horror meatloaf

Ebola la la.

Wrecking ball beef seeds cover

65 rock songs, ten second songs

Ijime, Dame, Zettai

A boy named Sue. Johnny cash

Bad blood ten second songs

Roxanne-police

it's the little things alice cooper

Night surgeon- Repo! The genetic opera

Under Pressure-Queen.

Yakko's nations of the world

wakko's 50 capitols.

Feel good ten second songs

totally gay for america wkuk

Brooklyn Rage- Joey Wheeler

Come sail away Yugioh

I'm on a blimp kaiba

Pharaoh's throne yami

Hold me- steam powered giraffe

Soliton- Steam powered giraffe

Honeybee- Steam powered giraffe

Diamonds steam powered giraffe cover

I love it steam powered giraffe cover

Captain Albert Alexander Steam Powered Giraffe

I've got a theory buffy

what you feel buffy

wish I could stay  Buffy

Moses supposes his toeses are roses singing in the rain

JJBA medly+ alt jojos

Old folks home WKUK

Hitler rap WKUK

getting high with dinosaurs wkuk

get a new daddy WKUK

The Never song WKUK

Aren't you lucky WKUK

God Says WKUK

God wants you to wear a hat WKUK.

Carl Poppa

Obsidiots

La Bibbida bibba dum

Fire fire Steam powered Giraffe

teen titans

teen titans jap

ghost napa

Black sheep scott pilgrim

Undertale the musical, papyrus, brental floss

Kirby with lyrics Brental Floss

Baby Mario and Papa Yoshi. Brental Floss

Automatonic Electronic steam powered giraffe

Mecto Amore steam powered giraffe

A way into your heart steam powered giraffe

I'll rust with you steam powered giraffe

I go looney, mark hamill, the joker

Heavens Not enough

Stray Steve Conte

jiyuu e no shoutai L'arc en ciel

hall of fame the script

Better off with her-Amethyst-Steven

Haven't you noticed-Sadie-Steven

Like a comment greg-steven

What can I do for you Rose & Greg- steven

Do it for her-Pearl & Connie – steven

Peace and love peridot and steven

Answer ruby/sapphire -steven

It's over, isn't it? Pearl- steven

Digmon eng/jap openings

You're my zing. Adam sandler

Hold the door Hodor

Stacy's Mom-Fountains of Wayne

1985 Bowling for soup.

High School Never ends Bowling for Soup

Into the Ocean- Blue October

Ok Go

Schniztlebank

Disenchanted MCR

amish paradise

foil

eat it

Gump

Ode to a superhero

Jurassic Park

Another tattoo

Fat

the saga begins

complicated

sports song

bedrock anthem

dare to be stupid.

Genius in france

ricky

happy birthday

polka face

first world problems

word crimes

preform this way

Drive thru

Party in the CIA

Couch Potato

weasel stomping day

white and nerdy

close but no cigar

CNR

Hardware Store

bob

virus alert.

Don't download this song. Weird al

Tacky weird al

all I want- kodaline

shooting star bad company

just what I needed

jacks lamnent

chi chi wo moge

Careless whisper

neon, salvonic

boombox lonely island

jack sparrow lonely island

GG the giraffe

die for you, alice cooper

It's me, Alice cooper.

Reign on me

halloween stephen lynch

can't sleep, clowns will eat me.

oogie Boogie

spooky scary skeleton

brains

epiphany

scooby doo openings

land of the dead

monster mash

repoman

death death

disco bloodbath boogie fever

don't fear the reaper

zombie prostitute

keeper of the reaper

kidnap the sandy claws.

Adams family/munsters/goosebumps

vampire club

feed my frankenstein

ghost busters

skeletons in my closet

courage the cowardly dog.

wrapped in silk

the one that got away

I know where you live

wake the dead

He's back, the man behind the mask

when you're evil

cannibal buffet

keepin halloween alive

This is halloween

I love you egg

Happy Birthday Voltaire

Tomorrow comes today

clint eastwoood

19-2000

rock the house

rock it

dirty harry

feel good

el manana

stylo

superfast jellyfish

on melancholy hill

rhinestone eyes

do ya thing

You're Welcome Moana

Shiney Moana

We know the way Moana

Kyle's Mom

Beard no Beard

Mysterious Ticking Noise

Oh no you didn't

candy mountain

I am a millipede

It's friday

Hound dog

Can't help falling in love

Here comes a thought- Steven

Love Like You Steven

Hey Oh RHCP/ Monsters Matchbook Romance

Christmas Time In Hell South Park

Christmas at ground zero

the night santa went crazy

You're a mean one Mr Grinch

Merry F ing Christmas

I fucking love christmas

Blue Christmas

xmas time might might bosstones

Christmas shoes

Davey's song

Barney stinsons christmas songs

Home alone the song

All I want for christmas is you tens econd songs

popo the genie

12 days of christmas tfs

12 days of christmas overwatch

marshmallow world spg

christmas slippers tiny dick

12 days of christmas canadian

chanukah song 1-4

Christmas song adam sandler

santa claws, alice cooper

town meeting

Making christmas

scrooge muppet christmas carol

I don't have a name for it spg

Cellophane Steam Powered Giraffe

over drive steam powered giraffe

malfunction

guy love scrubs

scrubs theme,

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch 11: Thankful for Chicken Nuggets

Chapter Summary: It’s Thanksgiving and Mary’s eating chicken nuggets.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s thanks!)

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Yeah yeah I know it’s the wrong time of year but hell, we’re all on lock down so the days and months don’t actually exist anyway at the moment…

The Boat Company used here IS an actual company in South Pas, but I got no idea who runs it so this is completely made up- roll with me here.

As always I’m a ho for a REBLOG and COMMENT! 

Series Masterlist  Main Masterlist 

“Good morning hot shot!” Fliss smiled as she held her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she continued to fork up the bedding in the stable.

“Morning sweetheart.” he said softly

“Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Back at ya.” he chuckled softly “You at the yard?” “Yeah, been here a few hours now.” she said.

“Do you need a hand with anything or…” “That’s really sweet but there’s not much left to do.” she said, honestly “They’re all out for the day and are staying there until tomorrow morning so I’ve just a couple of stables and then some paper work to sort out before I pop back this evening to do a check…” “Ok so…” he said, “Once you’re done for the morning you’re free for a while?” “Yeah, why?”

“Mary had an idea…” “I did not!” Fliss heard the 7 year old scoff  “It was your…” “Ok, WE had an idea…” Frank said, and there was some scuffling and Fliss could imagine he was holding Mary at arm’s length as she made a grab for the phone “That maybe you might wanna come join us for dinner if you have time.”

“You mean your Thanksgiving dinner of chicken nuggets?” Fliss grinned “How could I turn that down?”

“Ok, well, just head over when you’re done…” “I might need to head home and shower.” she said, looking down “I’m filthy and probably don’t smell great either to be honest.” “You can change here, I mean...”

Fliss paused, she had a spare change of clothes in her car. Well, a pair of sweats and a different polo shirt. She normally kept them there just in case of a downpour.

“Erm, ok, if you don’t mind…” “No of course not.”

“Alright, then, I’ll see you in about 2 hours or so?” Fliss smiled.

“Great.” Frank replied “See you soon.” ******

Fliss didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door and was immediately barrelled into by a flurry of blonde hair.

“Hey!” she chuckled, dropping her bag “Wanna let me get inside first Stack?”

Mary stepped back and Fliss straightened up and smiled as Frank walked into the kitchen.

He beautiful.” he smiled, dropping a kiss to her lips. Mary sidled off into the main room, a smirk on her face.

“I stink.” Fliss warned “I mucked out 12 stables today…”

“Yeah, you’ve smelt better!” Frank laughed as she snorted. “You know where the bathroom is. Fresh towels in there. You need anything out of this or…” he gestured to her bag, as he went to pick it up.

“It’s just my clothes so…”

“I’ll put it in my room.” he smiled, giving her another kiss. “I would offer to come scrub your back but…” he inclined his head to the main room and Fliss gave a snort.

“Calm down Sailor” she teased “Plenty of time for that later.”

“Promises, promises.” he grinned, picking her bag up and heading through to his room. He dropped her bag onto his bed, glancing round. He’d attempted to tidy a little bit after the realisation she’d actually never been in his room before. After their night together the previous week they hadn’t managed another night alone, Fliss being a little ‘uncomfortable’ at being together like that when Mary was literally outside the door and to be honest, it wasn’t something Frank was particularly happy about either. It had never bothered him before, because Mary was never there when he brought a girl home but this was different. That said, he knew he was going to have to find somewhere bigger soon, Greg had warned him it would likely be a condition of him being awarded Guardianship. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t concerning him a bit, living pay-check to pay-check didn’t leave him a huge housing budge but he’d work something out, he always did..

Pushing the worry from his mind, he closed the bedroom door and headed back into the room. Mary was sat on the rug looking at the instructions to the new lego kit he had bought her for Thanksgiving.

“Sussed it out yet Stack?” he asked and she gave him a withering look. He bit back the laugh that was bubbling in his throat and sat next to her, taking from her, trying to figure the instructions out to make the Storm Trooper helmet, Star Wars being her latest obsession.

“That’s upside down…” she rolled her eyes, taking it from him to turn it the right way up.

“My bad.” he shrugged, looking at it again. “Ok, so…this piece…and we need one of these…” Together they began to pull together the elements they needed for the first section and the next time Frank looked up was when Fliss walked into the living area, a little shyly, wrapped in a towel. Her long, auburn hair was piled up on top of her head and her shoulders were speckled with water. She smiled as she padded past to his bedroom, Mary not even looking up as Frank watched her with his eyes as she closed the door behind her, giving him another smile. There was something so simple, so domestic about the situation, Frank couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his chest.

Roberta was right, he definitely had it bad.

“When we gonna give Fliss her present?” Mary asked, looking up at Frank.

“After dinner.” he said “Which reminds me, best turn the oven on.”

“Would be a start.” Mary agreed.

Frank rolled his eyes and stood up, heading into the kitchen. Shoving the stuff in the oven, he returned and found Fliss was now sat with Mary who was showing her the instructions.

“I LOVE Star Wars.” Fliss grinned, “So does Bill…he has Cinema Room in the house upstairs and poster from every single Star Wars film on the wall. I’ll show you later tonight.” “A Cinema Room?” Mary asked “Like, with a huge screen?” “Yeah. It’s pretty cool. When I finally get round to buying a house I’m gonna build one too.” “Do you think I could watch something in there tonight?”

“Mary…” Frank started to warn her but Fliss smiled.

“Frank it’s ok.” she said “And yeah, course you can. If you have a favourite DVD we can take that or you can pick. We have loads on the hard-drive and Sky...”

It wasn’t long before they were sat round the small kitchen table which had been pulled into the living room to allow them more room. Frank and Mary both showed Fliss their favourite thing to eat in the world- Chicken Nugget Sandwiches. After a sceptical look, Fliss leaned over to take a bit of Frank’s as he offered it and gave a small laugh announcing that it was actually pretty good. After a large slice of Chocolate cake each that had been made for them by Roberta they collapse onto the sofa, Mary once more on the rug, Fliss groaning about the “food baby” she was growing, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Hey Frank…” Mary looked at him. “Is it time now?”

It took Frank a moment and then he realised what Mary was talking about “Oh, yeah, hang on…”

He hopped off the sofa and headed into his bedroom, pulling the small gift bag from his dresser. He walked back into the living room and sat back down, shyly handing it to her.

“This…you got me a gift?” Fliss’ eyes went wide.

“Yeah.” Frank shrugged.

“You really shouldn’t have…” Fliss looked at him “I didn’t get you two anything…” “That’s not the point of giving a gift.”  Mary looked at her sternly. “You don’t give to receive, right Frank?”

“Right.” Frank nodded, leaning back on the sofa, looking at Fliss “And I wanted to…” he gestured between him and Mary where she was sat, Fred crawling into her lap, “…we wanted to, say thank you for everything over the last few months.” Fliss smiled at him and then Frank saw a childish excitement cross her face “Can I open it now?” He nodded, glad she was going to as he wanted to see her face when she did.

With delicate fingers she gently undid the ribbon that the woman at the store had wrapped it with and her mouth dropped open when she saw the white box which was emblazoned with the Pandora name and logo

“Frank…” she looked at him, before she opened the box and looked at the contents. She blinked before her hand gently covered her mouth as she looked down at the silver charm bracelet that was inside.

“I thought it was time you started a new one, for new memories.” he said gently as she reached into the box and gently took out the bracelet which held a single charm in the shape of a boat.

Fliss swallowed, and her eyes filled with tears. “I…” she took a deep breath and Frank frowned as he saw her struggling for composure.

“Hey…” he said, turning sideways on the sofa. His hand gently rubbed up her arm and she fell into him, pressing her face to his chest as he wrapped his arms round her.

“You made Fliss cry…on Thanksgiving.” Mary deadpanned, throwing a ping pong ball for Fred.

“Why don’t you go do that outside?” Frank asked. “Stay on the step.” Mary shrugged and stood up, doing as she was told.

“You ok?” he asked Fliss softly as his hands rubbed at her back. He placed a kiss to the top of her head and she nodded taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, that was…” she sat back, wiping her eyes “Absolutely fucking ridiculous…”

“You do like it right?” he asked, feeling a little nervous.

“Baby, I love it.” she smiled at him, and he felt his chest swell not only at the fact she liked the gift, but that was the first time she’d used that particular pet name…and he kinda liked it. “I just…well, I can’t believe you remembered about my bracelets.”

He shrugged as she reached out to gently cup his cheek.

“Thank you.” she said softly, leaning over to kiss him. He happily leaned into the kiss, his tongue snaking into her mouth, sliding against hers as she met him movement for movement before there was a light cough and Frank groaned, resting his forehead against Fliss’ as he turned to look at Mary.

“What?”

“Need another ping pong ball. The last one flew under Roberta’s BBQ and I aint going under there…spiders and stuff.” She headed to the box at the back of the room, dug in and retrieved a net of ping pong balls, digging one out.

“Wanna go outside?” Frank asked and Fliss nodded. He stood up and held out his hand, pulling her up with him and they headed out after Mary.

A little while later, after a game of tag on the lawn which resulted in both the girls tackling Frank to the floor in a huge tickle fight, Fliss noting that he was ridiculously ticklish and filing it for future reference,  they headed back inside, grabbed their things and after an almost tantrum from Mary who wanted to bring Fred and Frank refusing, they headed off in Fliss’ jeep for the yard to do the final checks for the evening. They were just about to head up to the field to make sure all the horses were settled and the waters were topped up when Bill walked onto the yard.

“Shouldn’t you be with mum getting stuff ready for the party?” Fliss frowned at her dad, surprised to see him.

“Are you joking!” Bill scoffed “You know what she’s like…” he coughed and then put on a light, airey voice “Bill, those champagne flutes are grouped in 3s,not 4s…no, those plates don’t go there, they go there…what are you doing with that cheeseboard, the grapes go in the middle…”

Frank felt his eyebrow raise slightly as Fliss laughed. Champagne, cheeseboards? This was not the type of party he was used to, at all.

“Oh don’t worry…” Fliss said, clocking his face “It descends into debauchery and chaos after about an hour…mum just likes to play the part of hostess with the mostess…”

“I like cheese.” Mary piped up.

“Good, we got plenty of it.” Bill said. “But, anyway, I dropped by for a reason. I picked something up earlier this afternoon that I think you might like.”

“Me?” Fliss frowned, but before she could say anything else Frank’s attention was taken by a man who was walking down the side of the barn. He was tall, slightly taller than Frank, quite stocky and had a shock of dark brown hair and looked ridiculously like Bill. Fliss gave a little shriek and ran towards the man, throwing herself into his arms as he laughed, twirling her round slightly before he dropped her to the floor.

“That’s her brother.” Mary supplied and Frank gave her a look.

“Yeah I kinda figured that.” he rolled his eyes. “How do you know anyway?”

“Saw a photo of him.” Mary shrugged.

Frank turned his attention back to the two siblings and Fliss was now looking better her father and her brother, confusion on her face. “What…I mean, how…”

“In New York for a stag do on Saturday.” he replied “Thought I’d take the chance and pop down here for a day or so…”

“Does Mum know you’re here?” she asked.

“Yeah, she does now.” he laughed “There were a few tears this morning.” “Frank made Fliss cry before.” Mary said, and all attention turned to Frank who hung his head and let out an audibly groan.

“Seriously?” he looked at her as Fliss burst out laughing.

“Because I was happy.” She said, shaking her head “He bought me a new Pandora.” Frank didn’t miss the exchange of looks between father and son, both wearing identical expressions of surprise which morphed into soft smiles as Fliss moved and slid under Frank’s arm.

“Frankie, this is my brother Steve…” she smiled, as Steve stepped forward, holding his hand out. “Or Steeb, Steeby…whatever you want to call him.” “Nice to meet you.” Frank smiled as Steve shook his hand, his grip firm.

“Likewise.” Steve smiled “Heard a lot about you.” he then turned to his left and looked down “And you must be Mary.” “Yup,” she smiled, looking at him “Did you bring your kids?”

“Mary…” Frank said, looking at her and shaking his head.

“What?” She asked, “I was just asking a question…I wanted to meet them.” “No, not this time.” Steve smiled “Just a flying visit. But they’re coming over for Christmas so I’ve no doubt you’ll get to see them then.” he straightened up and smiled at Fliss “Where’s that grumpy ginger Nag?” Fliss narrowed her eyes “Don’t you talk about Heidi like that. She’s in the top field.”

“I thought he was talking about V…” Bill mumbled to Frank who gave a snort, and then looked at the man, the pair of them bursting into laughter. By the time they had composed themselves Steve and Fliss were stood, watching the pair of them, hands on their hips in almost identical poses.

“They do this all the time.” Fliss said, shaking her head “Come on, I’ll take you to see H. I was on my way up to check them all anyway. You coming Stack?” she looked at Mary. Mary grinned and ran forward, linking her hand into Fliss’. Frank didn’t see the eyebrow raised on Steve’s face, before the man smiled softly, dropping an arm round Fliss’ shoulder and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

*****

Fliss changed quickly when they were home into a pair of jeans, a strappy top and a pair of sandals before the three of them walked over to the house after another near argument about getting Mary to leave the bucket of lego she had brought with her in the annex which Fliss managed to avoid with the mention of the Cinema Room.

The house was busy, not packed but busy, and there was no way Frank was going to remember everyone’s names. But he smiled and shook hands as Bill introduced him to people, and he was surprised to find he felt at ease. Most of the people were older than him and Fliss, bar her brother of course, and it was a different circle and class of people he would normally mix with but he certainly didn’t feel like any of them were looking down at him, a stark contrast to how he used to feel at his Mother’s parties.

Well, they weren’t really parties, more like a gathering which rich snobs used to brag to other rich snobs about how much money they had.

“And this is Mike, Martin and Keith.” Bill said, nodding to the final three men, one of whom was giving Fliss a hug.

“You look great!” she beamed at him “How much weight have you lost now?” “40lb…” the man called Keith nodded and Fliss grinned.

“That’s awesome.”

“All down to the golf.” he smiled, gesturing to Mike, Martin and Bill “These guys drag me up there regularly enough.” “Frank hates golf.” Mary said “Says it ruins a good walk.”

There was a pause as Frank groaned, wanting the ground to open and swallow him. He glared at Mary who looked at him, frowning.

“What?” she asked as Bill suddenly began to roar with laughter, the other men joining in.

Frank shook his head and looked round “It’s just not my thing…”he said, by means of an explanation “I prefer playing basket ball or baseball…”

“Each to their own.” the man called Martin beamed. “To be honest when I was your age I hated it too. Was far more into drinking and women.” “Frank likes that too.” Mary said, and Frank then really did give her a look.

“Shut up.” he said, but of course she didn’t as the men continued to laugh.

“Although I’m glad he finally got together with Fliss, because she’s my favourite. Miss Stevenson would not have been a good choice.” Frank groaned again and he felt Fliss beginning to chuckle besides him.

“Miss Stevenson?” Bill asked.

“We don’t need to hear about that…” Frank said, his neck growing hot.

“She’s my teacher.” Mary nodded “She stayed at our house one night. I wasn’t supposed to be there but I saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing Frank’s sheets and…” “Ok, Mary..why don’t we go and see the Cinema Room…” Fliss hastily cut her off as the 3 men were now all howling with laughter.

“Oh, okay.” she shrugged, before she pondered something “Why was she in your sheets Frank, and not in a towel like Lissy was before?”

At that Bill arched an eyebrow and Fliss felt her cheeks grow warm “I had a shower, I’d mucked 12 stabled out.”

There was a pause before she recovered and steered Mary out of the room.

Frank grimaced and looked back round as Bill patted him on the shoulder, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes. “I bloody love that kid.”

“She’s yours if you want her.” Frank said “I could gift-wrap her for you. Just say goodbye to your private life being private.”

Thankfully the Cinema Room kept Mary out of the way, especially when she had a stash of popcorn, sweets and soda to keep her occupied. For the next few hours Frank stuck mostly by Fliss’ side, talking to people, chatting to her brother a bit about his job and the business he had taken over from Bill, his kids…but Frank got the impression the man was being a little guarded with him. He was polite enough, and wasn’t being rude but he wasn’t overly warm either. But he supposed that was understandable. She was Fliss’ big brother after all.

Mary came down a few hours later and tugged on Fliss’ hand. Fliss went with her and Frank headed into the kitchen to grab himself another beer after being told by Verity to “stop asking and just go get”. He turned round, flipping the lid off, almost bumping into Bill.

“Sorry.” he apologised to the man who smiled at him as he held the fridge door open.

“There’s someone who just arrived that I want you to meet.” Bill said, gesturing for Frank to follow him. With a slight puzzled frown, did as he was told and wandered through to the large lounge where a number of people were congregated.  

“Frank, this is Alan Maxwell.” he introduced a short, stocky white haired man who was wearing a pair of modern thin-rimmed glasses and a cream blazer over a dark polo necked shirt and dark jeans. Frank took him in, noting his outfit probably cost more than Frank’s entire wardrobe.

“Hi.” Frank said, shaking his hand “Frank Adler”

“The boat mechanic?” Alan asked.

“Yeah…” Frank looked at him then to Bill.

“Alan’s in the Repair and Retail business.” Bill offered.

“I own MarineMax in St Pete’s” Alan smiled.

“Oh on Gulfport?” Frank looked at him and Paul nodded.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Frank scratch at the back of his neck “I errr, I applied for a job there about 6 years back. But I didn’t have the relevant experience so…” Alan looked at Frank for a moment, “How long you been a mechanic now?”

“Over 6 and a half years.” Frank said.

“And you’re freelancing?” Frank nodded.

“Good success rate?”

“Over 98%.” Frank said “I mean, I only do one boat at a time because I’ve been juggling my hours around Mary for the last 7 years but…” he shrugged “I have regulars who come back so I must be doing something right.” “Could you get references?”

“Yeah.” Frank nodded “Pretty sure I could.”

“Hmmmm.” Alan nodded, looking at Bill who inclined his head towards Frank with a smile.

“I told you, I’ll vouch for him.” he shrugged “He’s sleeping with my daughter after all.”

“Jesus Bill…” Frank groaned as the two men laughed.

“It’s a compliment” Bill smiled “If I didn’t trust you I wouldn’t let you within 3 foot of her”

“Thanks…I think.” Frank looked at him taking a drink of his beer.

“Come see me next week” Alan looked at Frank, pulling a card from his wallet and handing it over “I may have a position you’d be interested in.”

“I errr…” Frank was temporarily sideswiped by the suggestion “I…that would be…”

“I know it will be different to freelance but it’s a full time job, full package of benefits and a negotiable wage plus bonus scheme.” Alan said, “I’m not a huge outfit, but I pay my guys well.” Frank nodded, placing the card in his pocket “I’ll stop by.” “Just give me a call the day before and I’ll make sure I’m around.”

“I will.” Frank nodded. “Thank you.”

Frank made his excuses, realising he hadn’t seen Fliss for a while and headed off looking for her. He moved from room to room, realising there was no sign of her or Mary. He headed into the kitchen and then poked his head out of the large bi-folding doors which led onto the large raised decking area which spanned the length of the house.

“Hey…” Frank spotted Fliss’ brother leaning on the railing, lit cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. “You seen Lissy?”

“She was in the living room last time I saw her.” Steve said chuckling slightly, shaking his head.

Frank frowned at the man’s demeanour and Steve noticed, and smiled. “Sorry, just seems strange. Hearing someone else call her Liss or Lissy other than the family.”

“Yeah, well, I kinda picked it up from Bill and it stuck.” Frank smiled.

“Yeah she doesn’t suit Felicity.” Steve shook his head “Although that’s all he ever fucking called her. Apparently her nicknames were too common.” “Yeah well, he’s a dick.” Frank shrugged

“No arguments here.” Steve said, looking at Frank. Frank watched as the man studied him for a second, clearly thinking about something before he returned to leaning on the rail of the decking, looking down over the huge garden area as he took a final drag from the cigarette, before stubbing it out in the fire bucket to his right.

“Ok…” Frank stepped outside. “Let’s have it.” “Have what?” Steve asked, looking at him.

“The big brother lecture. The one where you threaten to rip my head off if I hurt your sister.” Frank said as Steve gave a huff of a laugh.

“Well, rest assured I will.” Steve looked at Frank as he too leaned on the railings. “But Dad says you’re a good bloke so…that’ll do for me.” Frank nodded and took a pull of his beer “I have no intention of hurting her, in anyway.” he said, his voice loaded with meaning and Steve sighed.

“I know.” he said gently “I just…well, I worry.” “Understandable.” Frank nodded, and it was. He got it, he really did.

“I hated that fucker.” Steve said, shaking his head “right from the start. Smarmy assed, stuck up Yank…oh, sorry, no offence.” Frank laughed “Non-taken.” he waved Steve’s apology away.

“I know she’s only actually my step-sister but well she was only 2 when I met her and…”

“Blood doesn’t make you family.” Frank nodded “If you ever meet my mother you’ll realise that.” “Yeah, Fliss wasn’t very complementary of her.” Steve snorted.

“She called her a cold hearted bitch to her face.” Frank raised an eyebrow as Steve laughed.

“I shouldn’t be pleased at that…” Steve said, smiling “But not long ago she wouldn’t have been brave enough to be that outgoing…” “Oh she certainly isn’t backwards in coming forwards…” Frank shook his head

“Something he managed to suck out of her.” Steve sighed.

“You know, I’d love to get that fucker alone in a room” Frank glowered. “5 minutes, that’s all I’d need.” “Get in line.” Steve said, “Behind me and dad.” “Yeah, Fliss said something about there being a queue.”

“The day she said she was moving to Boston to be with him full time, it was the worst day of my life. And Mum and Dad’s” Steve said, taking another drink. “But we knew if we tried to stop her it would give him the perfect excuse to turn her against us. So what could we do but support it.” He hung his head slightly and Frank’s brow furrowed at the man’s open display of vulnerability

“I wish we’d done more, you know, anything…but we didn’t know how bad things had got. Not that he was hurting her, not like that.” “None of it was your fault.” Frank looked at him. “Or your parent’s. Or Fliss’”

“No, I know that but it doesn’t stop any of us feeling guilty.” Steve sighed. “But, anyway, it’s in the past now. That is until he goes for parole, which he will.” Frank shrugged “We’ll greet that when it happens.”

“Yeah?” Steve looked at him. “You ready for all that? Because I guarantee what she’s told you, well it won’t even scratch the surface Frank.”

“Are you asking me if I’m gonna bail when the going gets tough?”

“Suppose I am, yeah.” Steve looked at him.

Frank took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, quelling the frustration that was brewing at the man’s questioning, reminding himself that he had a right to worry, a right to be concerned. He’d feel the same if it was Diane in this position.

“Look, Steve, I know she hasn’t told me everything. And I’m not gonna push her to either. It isn’t important to me to know every sordid little detail of what that cunt did to her. What is important is that she’s happy with me, and that she feels safe and knows that I’d never hurt her like that and I sure as hell won’t abandon her when the road gets a little bumpy. She was there for me through a very bad time recently and, well…” Frank shrugged “Even if we decide that what we have isn’t working I’d still be by her side.”

Steve’s face remained passive for a second before it split into a grin “I don’t think there’s any worry about that, Frank. From what I’ve seen this afternoon and this evening, Lissy’s besotted. In fact, I’ve never seen her like this before.” Frank felt his cheeks flush a little and he looked down “Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something else but they were interrupted.

“My ears burning?” Fliss asked, eyeing the two men up.

“I was just…making sure his intentions are honourable.” Fliss rolled her eyes with a snort “his intentions are honourable? What are you, like 90?”

Steve shrugged “No, but I’m 3 years older than you and still your big brother Titch…” “Whatever, Steeby.” she moved over to where Frank was stood and slid under his arm “Quit with the 3rd degree or I’ll tell Mum you’ve been smoking.”

“You wouldn’t!” he said in mock horror as she raised an eyebrow. Steve turned to Frank and raised his eyebrow, jerking his head towards his sister “Sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?”

Frank laughed “her bark is worse than her bite…owww!” he said, as she nipped his arm.

“Sure it is.” Steve winked as h pushed himself off the railing and headed inside.

“Was he being an ass hole?” Fliss watched him go before she turned to Frank and he chuckled, pulling her closer.

“No,not at all.” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips “Where’s Mary?”

“With Dad in the living room with the guys from the golf club.” she said, shrugging.

“No doubt revealing more of my dark secrets.” Frank groaned.

Fliss laughed “Nah, she’s got her lego. Bill and her will have some kind of building contest going on no doubt.”

“I told her to leave those in the annex.” “She did. I took her to get them.” Fliss shrugged

“Seriously?” Frank looked at her, rolling his eyes.

“What?” Fliss looked at him “She was bored and wanted something to do.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” he said, his arms circling her and she grinned as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“Hush, Sailor, you love it.” she smirked against his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” he muttered, pulling her closer for a deeper kiss.

******

It was about midnight when the party started filtering out. Mary was crashed out on one of the sofas so Frank suggested they call it a night and Fliss, feeling the effects of a fair amount of alcohol, agreed. They made their goodbyes and Frank easily scooped Mary up and the three of them made their way, a little slower than usual, to the annex.

Once they’d roused Mary and she’d changed for bed Frank tucked her in, in the bed in the spare room and she was flat out before he even closed the door. He headed into Fliss’ room and laughed as she was led on the bed with her legs over the edge, feet flat on the floor. She was wearing just her bra and jeans, and her arm was bent over her eyes.

“My jeans are too tight.” she said.

“What?” Frank laughed.

“I can’t be bothered to take them off.” she leant up on her elbows and ginned at him “Wanna help me out Sailor?”

“Happily…” he grinned, and moved towards her but she stopped him.

“Ah ah…” she said, pointing to his polo-shirt. “Off.” With an arch of his eyebrow he reached back and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling it over his head. “Better?”

“Yup.” she nodded as he moved towards her, gently dropping down and undoing her jeans. With a tug he pulled them down over her thighs, his hands softly tracing up her skin as she sighed, before his lips met hers.

“You were a hit in there…” she said gently, her fingers tracing the muscles on his arms as he propped himself up over her.

“Yeah?” he asked, gently shifting so that she moved with him, laying further up the bed.

She nodded “Charmed the pants off all the posh bastards you did, Adler.” “There’s only one person I’m interested in charming the pants off.” he quipped and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Smooth.” “Is it working?”

She glanced down. “Nope, they’re still on.”

“Guess I’ll have to use my hands then…” he said, and with a quick move down he slid them over her ankles and gently pressed his lips to her skin, trailing soft kisses up the inside of her leg, nipping at the inside of her thigh. Fliss gave a soft sigh as he moved, his short beard scratching at her skin as he moved, her hands fisting in the sheets. When he reached his target he gently placed a long lick up her entrance, causing her hands to tighten on the soft covers besides her, before one gently fisted in his hair. His lips and tongue gently teased her, all the time Frank relishing the fact that her breathing was quickening as she neared her release, her body writhing in pleasure. It wasn’t long before her hand tightened on his hair and he gave a low moan at her touch, which vibrated through he body, and her hips bucked upwards. Placing a strong arm over her waist he held her down as her knees tightened slightly around his head and she let out a gasp, her arm flying to her mouth to stifle her loud moan as she came hard. Working her through it he then moved back, stripping off the remainder of his clothes before he crawled up her body again, kissing his way up from her naval to her chest. She arched her back and he reached around to unhook her bra before he set his attention to her breasts.

He could listen to the noises and whimpers she was making all day but after a week he was aching for her.

“Need you…” he said softly into her ear and she nodded, her hand gesturing to her bedside table. He paused and pulled open the drawer, and had to smirk as he saw the packet of condoms in there. Pulling one out he opened it, whilst Fliss gently gave him a stroke causing him to hiss slightly, his fingers fumbling on the foil and she grinned.

“Something distracting you Sailor?” “You know damned well what’s distracting me…” he said, his voice almost a growl as her hand moved over his whilst he rolled the latex down.

Her giggle turned to a moan as he buried himself inside her, his entire body feeling coiled like a spring, and his thrusts began as slow, and deep before soon she was begging for more and he picked up the pace, each movement rolling against her spot, causing her to breathlessly whisper his name as he buried his face into her neck, nipping and biting at that spot that drove her wild. At some point she moved, gently pushing on his shoulders, and he understood, rolling onto his back. She moved to straddle him, pulling her long hair over one shoulder as she leaned down to draw him into a deep, sultry kiss before she sank down onto him, taking him in.

“Fuck, Lissy…” he said, his hands gently gripping her hips as she began to move, rolling her pelvis, “God you feel so good…” She preened at his praise, her pace quickening as she leaned forward again to kiss him, a moan falling from her mouth as he raised his hips to meet hers, his fingers tightening on her hips. Frank looked up at her, her mouth slack, lips plump, freckles still visible in the soft light from the outside lights, breasts bouncing softly as she moved.

“So beautiful…” he said, sitting up and she cried out at the change of depth as he pulled her close, thrusting up into her.

“Frankie, I’m…” and with a low whine her head tipped back as her release washed over her, a slow, deep burn which left her slack in his arms, as she collapsed forward. After a few more desperate thrusts he was right behind her, clinging to her, his face buried into her shoulder, his own groans stifled in her skin.

They stayed like that for a little while, both recovering, hands softly dancing over skin before he leaned up to give her a soft kiss.

“You ok?” he asked, and she glanced down at him, her hands cupping his face as her lips ghosted over his.

“Never better.” she whispered to him, kissing him again.

***** Frank woke the next morning and as he blinked, he realised he was alone. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, before he could hear soft voices from elsewhere in the annex. Grabbing his phone he looked down and with a start realised it was past 10.  Running a hand over his face he climbed out of bed, grabbed his bag and retrieved a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt before he grabbed his jeans which were now folded and placed over the back of the chair by Fliss’ vanity unit. After sorting himself in the bathroom he made his way downstairs and found Fliss and Mary sat outside in the small yard, an array of breakfast items on the table. Fliss long hair was pulled into a messy pony tail and she was wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of denim jeans. Even like that she looked effortlessly gorgeous.

“Morning.” he greeted, stepping out onto the decking and Fliss smiled at him.

“Hey.” she said, accepting the kiss he dropped onto her cheek before he sat down next to her. “Sleep well.”

“Hmmm I was tired for some reason.” he quipped, causing her to grin.

“Fliss says I can go ride Monty today.” Mary looked at Frank. “Is that ok?”

“It’s not your week for a lesson.” Frank said, “And it’s Friday.”

“It’s ok.” Fliss said “The riding school is shut. Joanne’s done the morning shift so we can just go up this afternoon. I need to work Cap and Bronson but she can ride if she wants.” “Please….” Mary looked at Frank who sighed.

“I’ve gotta nip to the boat yard.” he said, “Got some guy who needs a motor looking at and I said I’d meet him today…” “I don’t wanna go to the boat yard.”  Mary pouted.

“It’s ok, she can come with me.” Fliss offered “I don’t mind, honestly.”

Frank hesitated, he didn’t want Fliss to think she was obliged to take Mary. He knew that the pair of them came as a package but still.

“You sure?” Frank asked “Roberta would normally take her but she’s not back until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, its fine.” Fliss nodded “She can help me and Joanne.”

“Ok, then, yeah, you can go.”

Mary grinned and turned her attention back to her book.

“You want breakfast?” Fliss asked, moving to stand.

“I’ll get it…you stay there.” Frank said, but Mary suddenly jumped up.

“No it’s ok, we made you something special…” With that she shot into the kitchen.

“Special?” Frank looked at Fliss, and she grinned as his lips met hers.

“Yeah…” she nodded to Mary who emerged from the kitchen, giggling. Frank gave a snort of a laugh and shook his head as she thrust the box of Special K into his hands.

“Thanks…” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

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