#Clark jumping in once he catches on to what they're doing

[glow-worms-are-believers]

Always room for seconds (dp x dc)

"There they go again," says Aunt Alicia as she looks at the hazmat-clad backs of her sister and her husband jumping into their mish-mash-of-a-van. "And on Thanksgiving too," she finishes to herself as she turns toward her niece and nephew. Neither of them look surprised, though Jazz is clearly more affected if the tick in her jaw is any indication.

"They promised," she practically spits but Danny just sighs and puts a hand on her shoulder. It seems to draw the fight out of Jazz a bit and she sags onto herself.

Alicia loves her sister but she can be so irresponsible sometimes.

"Come on kids, let's go back inside. It's about time to put the turk-" she stops short, then groans. Maddie had insisted on bringing the turkey on account of not wanting Alicia to go to all the trouble, and Alicia had agreed on the condition that her sister wouldn't try to make it. "...And the turkey is still in the van isn't it?"

Danny makes a face. "It's probably for the best. I'm pretty sure I saw it move on the way here."

Alicia doesn't let her head fall into her hands, but only just. Instead, she takes a deep breath to calm herself down to rally her thoughts. "Alright. It'll be too late by the time we drive to town and buy a new raw one, so we can just get some already made from the store. That good for you guys?"

Jazz and Danny make sounds of assent before all three of them pile up in the car. Town isn't too far away, and the trip is mostly silent. Alicia is hesitating over what to say to cheer up her niece and nephew. In the end, they pull up to the grocery store before she manages to come up with anything.

"Dad was also supposed to bring desert," Jazz mentions as she grabs a caddie and wheels it back to them.

"I made apple pie just in case," Alicia answers. Despite her dislike for him, she can admit that Jack Fenton is a generous man. However, as she has learned over the years, that generosity doesn't extend to fudge. Which is why she's got her famous apple pie ready to pop into the oven.

Danny nods relieved, as he files in behind his sister. The three of them are rolling past the frozen section when a familiar voice cuts through the store music.

"Alicia?"

At that, Alicia looks up to see the face of one and only Martha Kent. Her lips stretch into a smile unconsciously at the sight.

"Martha, hi," she answers as the other woman starts walking closer. "How are you?"

"I'm good," the other woman says as she stops in front of them. "Just doing some last-minute shopping." Then Martha looks to Danny and Jazz and gives them a smile. "And who might these two be?"

"This is Jazz and Danny," Alicia introduces them, "my niece and nephew. They're spending Thanksgiving up at the cabin with me."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Martha says sincerely. "You left your sister and her husband in charge of the turkey, then?" She winks.

Alicia winces. "Ah, not exactly."

"They had a work emergency," Jazz says, unhappy.

Martha lets out a sympathetic oh.

"That's why we're here," Alicia explains. "They left with the turkey without realizing, so we'll have to settle for store-bought this year."

Martha makes a noise of sympathy before her face shifts into something more pensive. "You know," she starts. "I've got a big turkey at home and there's only going to be my son and me to eat it. If you guys would like, we'd love to have you over to help us with it."

"Oh we couldn't possibly-" Alicia starts to protest but Martha takes a step forward and takes her hands.

"You'd be doing us a favour," Martha says, her hands still into Alicia's as she looks up earnestly at the redhead. And damn it all because Alicia can feel a blush spreading on her cheeks at that.

"Alright," Alicia says, too flustered to argue.

Martha squeezes her hands once before letting go and Alicia can't help but miss the warmth of them. "Then it's settled."

"Alright," repeats Alicia. "We'll have to swing back home, though. I made pie."

"That's wonderful!" Martha's smile is radiant and it makes something in Alicia's chest warm.

She disguises it with a cough before speaking up. "Is six thirty too early for you?"

"It's perfect. We'll be waiting for you then," Martha says. "And for your sister and her husband too, if they manage to tear themselves away from work."

"That's not likely," mumbles Danny under his breath. Uncharacteristically, Jazz doesn't say anything about her brother's manners, only putting her own hand on his shoulder. Martha catches Alicia's eye and they exchange a look.

"Well, we'll be glad to have you three, anywho," Martha states firmly which gets her a hesitant smile from Jazz.

Alicia clears her throat. "We'd better get going if we want to be ready in time."

"Oh yes," Martha agrees. "I have to make sure the turkey's not burning." Then she winks, and for some reason, Alicia can feel that pesky blush coming back. It's made worse by the shrewd look Jazz gives her.

"See you soon!" says Martha as she leaves.

"Bye," Alicia answers back a little weakly. Then she looks down to the ground and sighs. When she straightens her head, she's immediately on guard as she catches her niece's smug look.

"What?" Alicia asks warily.

"Is Martha single?" Jazz asks, with a butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth face.

"Yeah," the older redhead answers slowly. "Why?"

"Just wanted to know," Jazz says innocently. And even Danny is looking at his sister suspiciously now. "since you've got a crush on her and all."

"I do no-I don't know what you're talking about!" Alicia protests though she feels her cheeks warming for the third time today.

And now Danny is starting to smirk too as he exchanges a look with his sister. "Oh," he starts as he looks towards Martha's disappearing figure. "This is going to be fun."

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E7; Chapter Seven, The Bathtub - [Pt. 3 - FINAL]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯, 𝘠/𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘑𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

The sun had set behind the trees by the time the chief's car pulled up in front of the Byers home. Strangely, it feels like years since we were last here when it had only been three days ago. As we all exited the vehicle, three figures emerged from the house; Nancy, Jonathan, and Mrs. Byers.

"Mike. Oh, my God. Mike!" Nancy exclaimed, running towards him.

He stepped forward and she engulfed him in a hug.

Grabbing him by the shoulders, she pulled away. "I was so worried about you." She scolded.

"Yeah, uh... me, too." He said awkwardly.

Nancy's eyes trailed over to El and an odd look crossed her face. She tilted her head slightly.

"Is that my dress?"

El looked to me not knowing what to do and then back at the older girl. For some reason, and what I can only assume to be my state of mind and being under so much stress I begin to chuckle, finding the whole situation kinda funny.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat."

We had all made it inside and currently, we were all gathered around the living room. The party and I were sitting on the floor surrounding the coffee table while the others were seated on the furniture. Mike had drawn up Mr. Clark's diagram of the flea and the acrobat and was catching everybody else up with what we've learned so far. They all stayed quiet for the most part — occasionally jumping in to ask clarifying questions which we were more than happy to answer — and listened intently. I, however, remained quiet. I was still trying to process what had happened during my encounter with the men. I was also transfixed in the living room around me. Wondering how the once welcoming and cozy second home had changed so drastically.

And what the hell was with all these Christmas lights?

"Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said that the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space,"

"A gate," Dustin interjected.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab"

"With our compasses,"

"And El's help of course," I added, smiling at El who shyly returned it.

The others exchanged confused glances.

Dustin took this as his cue to talk.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle.

Hopper spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Is this gate underground?"

Surprising us all, El answered almost immediately. "Yes."

The two made eye contact. "Near a large water tank?" He asked.

She nodded and her gaze dropped to the floor. "Yes."

Beginning to feel more on edge, I spoke up, my voice faltering. "H-How do you know all that?"

The man said nothing and only kept his gaze. Mike looked to the drawing. "He's seen it."

I frowned at his odd behavior and I didn't try to hide my confusion and anxiety from him, I then dropped my gaze to my hands, growing tenser at the thought that these horrible people could be out to get me.

Mrs. Byers spoke up, addressing El. "Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—"

"The Upside Down." El finished.

Joyce's voice fell into a whisper. "Down. Yeah."

El nodded her head yes.

"And my friend Barbara?" Nancy spoke up hesitantly. "Can you find her, too?"

I could see the confidence build in El and it was then that I knew she was willing do everything she could to help us.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

We were all gathered around the dining room table, watching with bated breath as El attempted to find Will and Barb. She had breifly explained that she could sometimes find people telepathically somehow. She required white noise, hence Will's walkie was on the table, switched to a blank station so static filled the silence and she had her eyes closed.

Nancy had offered a once torn up photo of Barb sitting on the edge of a pool as a reference for El. What felt like minutes passed and suddenly the lamp overhead flickered and El opened her eyes. Her voice was hoarse.

"I'm sorry."

"What? What's wrong? What's happened?" Mrs. Byers stuttered.

El was blinking back tears and her voice broke. "I can't find them."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El had excused herself to the bathroom, probably to catch her breath. I just hope she wasn't blaming herself. The rest of us are still at the kitchen table, processing everything. My attention was pulled to the boys when they began elaborating more on her powers.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike said.

My head perked up at this.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin added.

I've had a lot of time to think about what had happened and what I had done earlier today and in that time I could never help but assume that however, whenever El got her powers, I got mine. Whatever it may be, we must be connected somehow.

I recalled that in the short time I've known her and seen her use her powers, I've seen the toll it takes on her.

If it makes her weak, that must have been why I passed out earlier... my body had never grown accustomed to the exertion.

"Like, she flipped a van earlier."

"It was awesome."

"But she's drained."

"Like a bad battery."

I sat there, my eyes glued to the floor as I listened to the boys unknowingly talk about the similarities between me and El.

I felt a pair of eyes on me and I hesitantly lifted my head and briefly made eye contact with the chief who seemed the slightest bit suspicious of me. I quickly looked away and tried to focus back on the group.

"Well..." Mrs. Byers stuttered. "How do we make her better?"

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike said.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asked.

Mike shrugged his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."

"The bath." El's quiet voice grabbed everyone's attention and we all turned to see her standing just outside the kitchen.

"What?" I asked.

"I can find them." She seemed very hesitant, almost afraid of what she was going to say next. "In the bath."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Well, this is happening.

We really are calling our science teacher at ten o'clock on a Saturday and asking about sensory deprivation tanks and how to build them.

That won't be weird at all.

Nevertheless, we all watched nervously as Dustin stood by the phone and made the call.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin."

"..."

"Yeah, yeah. I just, I... I have a science question,"

I cringed, unable to imagine any scenario in which this would pan out.

"..."

"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"

"..."

"Fun."

I furrowed my brows and then sighed defeatedly before putting my face in my hands.

"..."

"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

I couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape, slightly impressed he threw Mr. Clarke's words back in his face and I looked back up.

"..."

All of the sudden Dustin motioned for something to write on and with and Jonathan was quick to supply. Dustin sat at the table, listening to the instructions and writing them down.

"Uh-huh... uh-huh... How much? Uh-huh. Yep, all right... Yeah, we'll be careful... Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke... Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke bye." Dustin quickly trailed off and was quick to hang up the phone.

"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Mrs. Byers almost immediately after hanging up.

"Uhh, I think so, yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it."

"How much is 'lots'?" The chief asked.

Dustin took a look at the notepad and looked back at Hopper.

"1,500 pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked the question everybody seemed to be wondering.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The school. It was the chiefs idea. We all headed to the school, taking separate cars.

Chief Hopper and Jonathan went to the shed to grab the bags of salt, Mike and Nancy were getting the hoses while Dustin, Lucas and I set up the pool in the gym.

"Damn, this thing is heavy." Dustin panted as we both rolled the folded up kiddie pool to the center of the gym.

Together we undid the ropes holding it together and attempted to unfold it. After much trial and error we finally were able to get the pool set up. The water temperature had been tested just as much as the bouncy of the egg to determine if there was enough salt.

The finishing touch; Will's walkie switched on to static nearby. Finally, we were ready.

Mrs. Byers and I had helped El into the bath. She had just taken off her shoes and socks as well as the digital watch Mike had given her almost a week ago. Mrs. Byers and her seemed to have constructed a waterproof blindfold with ducttape and goggles from the science lab.

We all sat nearby, ready in case she needed anything and it was almost chilling to watch her float on her back. Suddenly, the lights in the gym flickered accompanied by the sounds of the electricity surging. Finally, the lights went out. We all looked cautiously towards the ceiling before looking back to El.

Seconds felt like hours when suddenly, El spoke. Her voice broke, she sounded fearful.

"Barbara?"

My heart began to faster once more.

El's breathing became frantic and the lights flickered again.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked worriedly towards us.

"I don't know." Mike said, just as panicked.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked frantically to El.

El began whimpering.

"Gone. Gone. Gone."

I looked to Nancy, who brought a hand to her mouth to mask her sobs. My heart ached for her.

But it never stopped pounding. My hands were shaking even worse.

Mrs. Byers immediately reached a hand out to El and held her hand, and rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." She cooed.

"Gone. Gone!"

I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a storm, unable to move. Unable to help. Useless. Waiting for the worst.

"It's okay. It's okay. Hey. It's okay." Mrs. Byers was doing everything in her power to calm the girl.

Even the chief gently grabbed her other hand to try and soothe her.

"It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. It's okay. You're safe."

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

Eleven found the wave of panic dissolve into nothing as she heard the distant echo of Joyce's voice reassuring her.

For the first time she felt somewhat calm in this horrifying place. Suddenly she saw something in the distance.

It was a small hut roughly her height, made from large sticks and branches. It was decorated with flags and a painted sign that read

《•••》

"Castle Byers." El muttered.

My eyes widen in shock and my eyes were glued to the girl in front of me. Terrified of hearing the word "gone".

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears and my fingers grasped the edge of the pool dangerously tight.

《•••》

Eleven slowly approached the fort, scared of what she might find. But she knew she had to. She needed to.

After everything everyone had done for her. How kind Mike and Y/n had been. She felt she owed it to them. Facing her fears she brought her hand up to the blanket entrance and brushed it aside as she stepped inside.

There he was. Drenched in sweat and slime and shivering from the cold conditions, laid Will Byers unconscious, but clinging to life.

She lowered herself to the ground and sat on her knees.

"Will."

《•••》

"Will?" El asked hopefully.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and everyone around us gasped.

《•••》

In his life threatening state, he saw the girl kneeling before him and like a mirage, he allowed his mind to create a reality in where he saw the person he grew so fond of.

《•••》

"Y/n?" The voice over the walkie talkie echoed all throughout the gym.

My heart stopped and I felt everyone's eyes on me and everyone gasped.

The voice, the sad and broken voice of Will Byers crackled over the radio saying my name causing me stare at the walkie talkie.

My eyes became glassy and my vision blurred.

He's alive. He's alive and that all that matters.

"That's Will! Tell- You tell him... tell him I'm coming."

《•••》

Eleven spoke the words that echoed in her brain. She grasped the boys hand and shook it ever so slightly.

"No, but he's looking for you. And your mom... she's coming for you. Everybody is looking for you."

Finally gathering enough strength to open his eyes, he looked to her and spoke.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

"Hurry."

His voice echoed through the gym once more and we all watched feeling helpless.

Mrs. Byers continued to feed words to El.

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to — to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

We heard whimpering on the radio and suddenly El shot up, gasping for air making us all jump back. She scrambled backwards into Mrs. Byers arms and she softly calmed the girl down.

Tears were now freely falling down my cheeks as I try to process everything that just happened.

"Oh, okay, okay. I've got you. It's okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good. Are you okay?"

I quickly attempt to wipe my tears away with the back of my sleeve as I watch everything unfold. I wanted to be strong for El.

For Will.

[coping-via-clint-eastwood]

4x12 - GSR fix-it fic

(A/N:  What the motherfuck- TUMBLR HAS A TEXT BLOCK LIMIT?!!!! UUUGGGHHH!!!! I guess this is gonna have to be in two parts. But, I guess...this whole thing is pushing 9000 words, so I'll split it 4500-4500. Yeah. I'm as tired as Gil now. I'm gonna go sleep with him. I was inspired to write this after watching that video.  Anyways, they're actually together in this one.  Aka when Gil FINALLY goes home, he can rest his forehead on Sara's and reassure himself that she's actually still okay, and that she's actually still right there, with him.  Because I crave this for them.  So, there are many and heavy contextual changes. Fyi, I'm not writing out every single piece of dialogue/action, hell no.  I'm just writing whatever's relevant to GSR. Oh and, warning - canon-typical ns/fw

{I'm sorry about the formatting but I would like to give} Special thanks to @addictedtostorytelling for...basically saving my ass with all the details of this fic. Thank you for answering my questions, no matter how inane, dumb, unnecessary, or worse. And of course @stokes-theorem got me out of a panic attack; it is much appreciated 🙏)

Gil walked through the house of the 419 of the night, having had to put protective coverings over his shoes so that he did not disturb any evidence he might accidentally step on. He had to keep his back to the wall and walk sideways as well. (The sound of his footsteps were adorable.) As he passed the spare bedroom, he noticed that the victim possessed a collection of butterfly-resembling trinkets, all displayed nicely on her shelf. He made it to the area of event at last, squatting down to take a closer look at the body.

His eyebrows jumped up in shock - the victim had a strong resemblance to Sara. For a few moments longer, he stared at his (secret) girlfriend's image, a dozen thoughts swirling around in his head but never aligning themselves. It was his unfailing sense of duty that allowed him to literally get his head upright and get back to his team, who was waiting outside. But when he opened the door, the very person in his line of sight was Sara; again he stared, this time at her actual self. Inside, there was a dead body, who looked so like her, but here she was, living, breathing and- turning her head to stare right back at him. But the one's gaze held such a different meaning from the other's.

Jim, who was past Sara in Grissom's line of sight, thought that he was the one the team leader wanted to see, so he stepped between the scientists. "Ready for us?"

"For now, no one enters this house except CSI."

[CUE THE INTRO]

Gil assigned Warrick to the car, but he assigned Sara to the perimeter, to which she shook her head in disbelief and questioned, "What? You just did a one hour walk-through. The perimeter cannot be a priority." On 'not', she shrugged and laughed wryly.

His gaze immediately turned beseeching. "I need you to work the outside. Catherine and I will be inside." He momentarily shifted his eyes in the direction of the door at the last bit but immediately looked back at her, his eyes even more pleading. Sara gave him an 'alright, fine' smile and went to do as he said.

Gil did not examine the car, but there was a fair chance that it would yield a fair amount of evidence. However, he had, as Sara remarked, gone over the perimeter, so he knew that Sara's scouring of it would bear no fruit. He deliberately did this; he wanted to dissociate Sara from the case as much as possible, in his own little way.

While Catherine went to interrogate the victim's friend, Gil took the opportunity to go back and stare the body for a bit longer.  He was (understandably) haunted that the 419 looked like the love of his life.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not hear Catherine walk in behind him; his head flinched to the side when she spoke, "One thing I can never get over with this job: anything can happen to anybody."

Gil clicked his tongue and responded, "That's why we're here," before going back to looking over the corpse.

Soon enough, Sara was let in a little more on the action when she had to crawl under the house and unscrew a pipe running from the bathroom to get the water that had been drained into it, as well as process the actual pipe.  However, Gil insisted that she was to return to the laboratory and test just those pieces of evidences as soon as she was done; his intent was that she would be occupied with something appertaining to the case but not in such a major capacity, thus satisfying her curiosity if only on a temporal basis.  Gil and Sara did not know it, but when she looked up into the pipe, Gil happened to be spraying luminol onto it on the other side.  (A/N:  Can I just take a moment to appreciate the cinematography here?  As well as the music <3)

The bugs helped the bug man out again; flies swarmed the dustbins that had pieces of corpse inside them.

After those were sent back to Al and David, Gil went back inside the house.  This time, he examined the victim's collection of synthetic butterflies.  He was turning over one that was blue, translucent, and had a base so that it could stand, a thoughtful frown on his forehead.  If Sara had been there to see him, she would have kissed it away.  He put the butterfly down and picked up a framed picture of Debbie.  With her arms straight up in the air and an open-mouthed smile that showed her top row of teeth, it was evident that she had been jubilant at the time of photography.  Gil shook his head; not because he pitied the loss of her joy, but because he was once again struck by her likeness to the greatest joy in his own life.  He tore his eyes away from the photo and looked at himself in the mirror, trying to collect himself.

But the adverse was achieved, because the bed was visible in the mirror, and he envisioned the victim sitting on it facing away from him, alive and well.  She then looked over her shoulder at him; the image was replaced with that of Sara.

Grissom clenched his jaw.  He stiffly tilted his head to one side, his gaze at himself hardening.  All in an reinforced effort to steel himself.

He was forcibly yanked out of his thoughts when his phone rang; his head flinched a little way in its direction while his eyes flickered down to it.  He picked it up and manage to announce in his normal voice, "Grissom."

"Hey!"  came the voice of the very woman who plagued him so, her voice cheery; she had dismissed any offence she had felt earlier from her mind and forgiven him, just being happy to hear from her man.

But her voice made him drop his mouth open in shock. Restraining the last of his resolve from flying out the window, he said, "Sara.  Uuuuhhh listen I'm in a bad area, I'll call you back."  He deliberately raised his voice a little to make his lie more believable.

Even though he could not see her, she gave a little nod; physical embodiment of her acknowledgment.  She responded by raising her voice just as he did when he next spoke.  "I got a skin tag off the bathroom drain pipe."

"Skin tag.  That's great.  Uh, give it to Greg."

"Yeah I did.  Hey do you want me to come over there and give you a hand?"

"No I'm-I'm-I'm fine," he stuttered, his free hand moving up then down again, as if he was physically dismissing (his emotions besides) her offer.  "I'll-i'll-i'll- uh...I'll talk to you back at the lab."  He immediately hung up after that.  He raised his head to glare at himself; he needed to force himself to push whatever emotions he had aside so that he could focus on the case.

As for Sara, she frowned in concern, but went on brushing what she put down as his typical eccentricity aside and went to help Warrick out with Michael Clark's car.  A third party would have enjoyed watching them work, especially with John M.  Keane's music.

After that, Sara and Warrick convened with Catherine in the break room to go over the course of the physical events of the murder.  Grissom joined remotely by holding his pager to his ear with one hand, while the break room's table had a speaker that his phone was tapped into; it was certainly much easier to communicate with Sara remotely and in a group where he could avoid speaking directly to her instead of communing in private where he literally had to face her.  Since Grissom was at the house, he walked through it himself in accordance with his team's narration.  When Sara spoke, he had to tilt his phone away from his ear, catching himself tripping again.  Since he was at the scene of the crime, he narrated how the deed was done.  As always, he had been envisioning the actual events, so it was difficult for him to picture such a thing happening Sara's likeness, but he pulled through; he did pause for extremely brief moments, and those could be put down perfectly as him taking time to think.

Sara, Catherine and Warrick finally went home after one and a half shifts.  As Sara approached the door to her and Gil's place, she could hear Hank scratching at it.  She smiled and opened the door. "Hey!" she called at the same time that Hank barked. Hank then stepped behind her and sniffed the air. "He's not here," Sara told him, gently pushing him inside with one hand and holding her kit with the other.  She sat on the couch and directed him to sit next to her.  She took her phone out of her pocket and showed it to him.  "We'll call him, huh?"  Hank had come to understand that that little slab of plastic with an area that would light up was something that humans used to communicate with each other.  There were frequent occasions when one of his humans was away, and the other would hold this object in between him and them.  Then, when the human pressed some things that made beeping sounds, there would be a certain tone for a while until the other human's voice could be heard from it; this was one such occasion.

Sometimes however, the other human's voice would not be heard.  In those cases, he and the human would just bark or speak into the slab by themselves.  After several hours, the slab would start up with a ringing sound, and when the human made a beep, the other human's voice could be heard.  He would always bark joyfully then and wag his tail.

So Hank smiled at Sara, tongue hanging out as he panted eagerly.  He watched and listened as she made the slab beep, and a tone followed.  Not too long after, the tone ended, and was replaced with a, "Grissom." He had had to turn away from the area of wall he was swabbing and take the phone out of his inner breast pocket.

Hank immediately started barking into the object, letting his human know that he was excited to hear from him and missed him.  Both humans giggled.  (At least Hank managed to cheer Gil up for a little bit.)  Sara absentmindedly ran her other hand down his ear as she waited for him to stop barking so that she could have her turn at speaking. The dog was aware of this, and let his mother have her turn in due time. "We miss you," she smiled.

He sounded forlorn as he answered, "I know... I miss you too...but I have to finish this." He was frowning sadly, and his shoulders were slumped. Sara thought that he was sad because he regretted not being able to come home to her. While this was true, he had another reason: that he had to deal with...this. And it was not that he had to deal with it; it was something that he had taken upon himself to. All he wanted was to protect his Sara, even if it meant hiding (fortunately minor) details of the case from her, and foregoing sleep altogether.

"Why not come home? Take a break. And you can continue tomorrow," she tried to coax him.

He shook his head even though she could not see him. "No. You go ahead without me," he said woefully.

She frowned in concern. "We gotta stop doing this." She was referring to the fact that they often stayed up for the whole day to work on cases instead of getting sleep.

"I know, I know," he sighed, his free hand squeezing his temples. "I promise I'll get more sleep after this case, okay?"

There was a period of silence when Sara nodded. "Okay," she said genially.

She heard her boyfriend huff a sigh; he dipped his head defeatedly when he did that. "Look, I-i-i'm sorry," he stuttered for the second phone call from her in a row.

She shook her head, "Don't be. It's alright. I'm guilty of the same thing." As well as she could hear that he was in dire need of sleep, she would not force him to since he did not want to. Plus, there was no way she could get Gil to come home without people questioning as to how she managed to get through to the stubborn workaholic; suspicion would be raised as to the true extent of their relationship.  He was at a loss as to what to say.  So, she rescued him as usual, "I'll see you back at the lab?"

He felt as if there were chains around his body that had just been loosened. Finally, something he could answer honestly! He felt as if he was ripping them off as he answered, "I don't think so. I still have to process the carpet-"

"The carpet?! Gil, that thing runs over every inch of floor!!!" Hank, who had been contently resting his head on Sara's lap, jerked his head up at the sudden interjection.

"I know," he groaned slightly, the vocalisation coming more naturally now that he was free. The boxer lay his head back down. "It has to be done though."

She nodded before saying, "I know. Don't run yourself into the ground, okay? I mean," here he could hear her snicker, "no more than you usually do."

For the first time in over a day, he smiled. A small but genuine smile that made the corners of his storm blue eyes crinkle endearingly; if Sara was there to see it, she would have kissed him. "I'll try not to." And, ah, how nice - she could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Take care of yourself. Remember to eat at least. I love you."

"I'll try. I love you too. I love you Hank!" His head jerked up again and enthusiastic barking ensued. The humans followed suit with more giggling before they hung up. With his spirits lifted anew from his conversation with Sara, he pocketed his phone and got back to work with a little more energy than he had before.

As for Sara, she put a hand on Hank's head and said, "Well boy, let's go and eat some breakfast huh?"  He gave a cheery bark and jumped off the couch.  Sara closed and locked the door, carried her kit and followed him down the stairs.  She hurried to put her kit away and then popped back to the kitchen to set out Hank's food, and then get herself food. They ate, went for a walk, and returned. Sara took a shower, and put on Gil's shirt after. When it came time for bed, Sara asked Hank to lie on the bed with her, and cuddled him. "Since Gil isn't here, I'll hold you tonight," she smiled. He seemed to understand as he nuzzled her face and lay his head back down.

A little after the phone call, Gil did go and eat. He shed himself of his coveralls, put them in his car, got in himself, and drove to the nearest diner. He ate there and then took away a second meal for his lunch, which he ate at the appropriate time. Sara went to the laboratory at nine o' clock that night, wanting to do all she could to help her boyfriend. She went to check on Warrick's progress.  Upon finding him sifting through the contents of the victim's vacuum cleaner with a pair of tweezers and coughing profusely, she teased, "He-he-heyyy. Blacklung."

"Ah...I've been sifting through this trash for about six hours." That meant that he had been working for the entirety of the swing shift. "You come here to rescue me or make fun of me?" the poor man retorted.

"I am just looking, relax." She pointed to one of the petri dishes Warrick had set out to sort the evidence. "What are these white fibres here?"

"They must be from the spare bedroom, because all the other carpets are green."

Sara looked at the plan drawing of the house. "Spare bedroom wasn't on his entrance or exit path."

"Look, all I know is that they were near the top of the bag, so it must've been one of the last things he vacuumed." Sara gave small nods of acknowledgment.

"I did manage to find this butterfly pendant..." Warrick moved his tweezers to the petri dish where it was and picked it up, "...with some white fibres in it. Looks like it's from a necklace, or a bracelet. And it has this link, which has snapped so I'm thinking...sign of struggle?" He straightened up a little bit to raise his point.

"Killer was in that spare bedroom."

Gil's panicky obsessiveness was certainly affecting a fair few of his teammates. Catherine went to the scene of the crime at the same time as Sara returned to the laboratory.  She knew that Gil was very stressed out about the victim looking so much like their dear friend, and so she wanted to help him.

(Poor Gil...he did not realise that when he worried, his team family worried too and would do whatever they could for him; he did not realise that they could love him as much as he loved them.  He had such heavy doubt about his own lovability, so much so that he even almost rejected Sara when she first asked him out.)

Catherine walked in to see Gil processing the carpet (to the amazing soundtrack). During the conference, he had mentioned that he had processed the carpet on the threshold of the bathroom, and at present he was processing the area of carpet just beyond that.  Her work-wife face on, she said to him, "Don't tell me you never went home."

Gil looked up at her, one hand still on the carpet and the other holding his filter paper. "Okay." Since she did not want to hear anything to that effect, he decided to water it down by saying, "I just got started in here.  I haven't even got into any of the rooms yet."

"You know you lose your edge after sixteen hours, and you're into your third shift. She brought her forearms out to her sides. "I mean I'm all for overtime but, this is just plain greedy."

He shook his head tiredly before reassuring her, "My knees can't take this anymore." As fuelled as he was from his food, it still physically hurt to remain on one's knees for an extended period of time.

"Have you eaten anything?"

"Yes."

"Ah," she nodded approvingly.  "Then, how about a shower?"  Gil shook his head.  Catherine raised an eyebrow in turn.  At Gil's look of horror, she clarified, "I mean at your place.  You need to go home."

"As soon as we find some evidence, I promise."

"With fresh eyes you won't miss it."

Her work-husband groaned as he stood up, his knees creaking.  "Just talk it through with me will ya?  What do we know?"

Catherine's eyes shifted to the side in thought.  "Alright."  She inhaled deeply before continuing, "The bathroom is where things got started. Candles, oils...steam shower...cleaned up, oiled up...sexed up."

"Let's go back to the bedroom," Gil voiced, moving his head a little way in the direction of the bedroom. They got their UV-protective goggles out of their kits, with Catherine taking the torchlight as well.  Cath shone the light on the topmost bedsheet, but nothing showed up under the fluorescence. "No, nothing on this sheet," Gil noted. He lifted that sheet to expose the one underneath, to yield the same result; he gently cocked his head to one side in acknowledgement (which was cute).

"She changed her sheets for her date; I would," Catherine remarked.

Since there was nothing to be found on the top surface of the bed, Gil let his gaze wander to the side of the bed. A ring embedded into the mattress caught his eye with a loop red cloth threaded through it with the rest stuffed under the mattress caught his eye; this time his head jerked a little to the side in vigilance. He squatted down and pulled it out, passing hand over hand.  When it was completely free and he could see what it was, he transferred it to one hand so that he could take off his goggles with the other.  He then looked up at his colleague with an uncomfortable expression and called, "Hey Cath..." When she looked at him, he held the thing up as if he was holding a dead rat and continued, "...got silk?"  His eyes shifted to the object as he asked that.  What he meant by that was if there was an identical finding on her side.

She looked down at her side of the mattress, and opened her mouth at the discovery and looked back at him.  Gil kept an inquiring gaze on her and took the opportunity to stand up.  She bent to her side while reaching an arm down and fished the cloth out.  "Why yes I do."  Gil looked back at the one in his own hand and shook it to see if anything would fall out; he was still disconcerted and frowning though.  His unease was turned into scepticism when Catherine said, "Iiii don't mean to embarrass you but um...some guys need leverage," as she stepped towards the foot of the bed and removed the sheets to uncover the barrier.

"They do?"  He was frowning a little bit harder; Sara certainly never complained.

Grinning in the hopes of finding something, Catherine gave a nod before saying, "I'll dust for prints."

While she did that, Gil's phone rang again.  He took his phone out from the same place he had when Sara called.  "Grissom."  He stuffed the hand not holding his phone comfortably into his pocket.

"It's Warrick.  I have somethin' for you - I found a butterfly link.  With some white fibres in it."

Grissom started walking to the other bedroom.  "Butterfly where?"

"In the vacuum bag.  You check all the rooms?"

"Lemme look again, and I'll get back to you."

"Alright." Grissom had reached the spare bedroom by then, so he put his phone away and got up to the shelf where the victim's butterfly collection was, a smile gracing his face at the sight of insects. He shone his (regular) torchlight on the contents of the shelf. When came across some more photos of Debbie, he drew himself back slightly, but quickly tore his gaze away from them; this was not the time to dwell on his feelings. His gaze averted to a blue jewellery box next to them, decorated with even more images of butterflies. He opened it; inside, there was an assortment of accessories, all butterfly-themed. He carefully used a finger to move them about, pushing them aside to see if there were any broken-off pieces. He did find one near the top right of the box.

In the meantime, Catherine had successfully made a print show up.  She tape-lifted it with a triumphant smile and proudly brought it to show Grissom.  "Hang one.  Toe print.  I'll have Sara compare it against both victims."

"Good."  Sara was the only unoccupied person.  "Warrick found a butterfly charm in the vacuum bag...I think I just found a piece from the same chain in this box."  He pointed to it.

"Butterfly huh?"  Catherine mused, her eyes moving to look over the rest of the trinkets.

"She had a collection." He seemed quite happy to announce that, and it was no wonder why.

"Gifts?  From her...gentleman callers?"

"Maybe the killer was taking his gift back.  As in, leave no trace.  Maybe he finally ran out of patience and got sloppy."  At the last sentence, his voice deepened, as if he was challenging the unseen and unknown perpetrator.  Upon shining his torch on the shelf below, he found a strand of hair.  Short and white, as would come from an elderly man.  He squatted, with Catherine following suit, and picked it up with his tweezers.  "And this is why I didn't leave."  His voice was soft with excitement and victory. Catherine left to bring the hair and toe print back to the laboratory, giving the print to Sara and the hair to Greg. Gil got back to Warrick and informed him of the matching butterfly.

Sara went to take the lower ten cards of both victims. Having finally gotten the chance to look at Debbie, she moved the swivel chair she was sitting on to draw herself up beside the victim's face. She stared down at it.  And suddenly, she understood.  She understood Gil's skittishness, understood why he had been reluctant to let her in on the case.  And she was, of course, haunted; it could very well have been her on Al's slab.  She glanced about, not knowing what to think; she could not articulate her emotions even in her own head. Eventually, they settled on one person: Gil. Gil, her protector; the person who had been 'protecting' her from this case at any rate.  She would speak to him to clear her head; she could always talk to him, and he would never turn her away. Well...he used to. But that was when his feelings towards her were even more of a mess than they currently were. He had progressed a lot with her help.

With that temporary comfort, she finished up and went to run the prints through AFIS. That took several hours. By the time that day shift roller around, both Debbie Marlin and Michael Clark were ruled out.  She then went to find Gil.  Or Catherine; whichever she found first. She went to the shift supervisor's office; nobody was there. And nobody was in the assistant shift supervisor's office either. But after some wandering around, she found Catherine in the locker room, sitting on a bench and changing her shoes. "Hey," Sara called, trying to seem cheery, "you seen Grissom?"

"He's still at the crime scene," Catherine responded, glancing at her as she did.

Sara nodded to signify her acknowledgment before reporting, "I eliminated both victims from the print you pulled off the bed."

"Well we know she was fishing off the company pier..." Sara responded with a look and a nod. "You uh, seen Debbie?" Catherine looked at her properly, wanting to gauge her reaction.

"Yeah," she said laconically, not wanting to give anything away.

"And?" Catherine enquired.

"Yeah I compared her...toe prints," she avoided still, her expression hardening.

Seeing as that would lead nowhere, Catherine decided to comment, "If I didn't know better I'd think that it was you on that table."

"I didn't really...look at her face," Sara denied. Noticing Sara seemed sad somehow, Catherine relented and just gave her a knowing look. Sara let her face fall, and allowed herself to sound as pleading as she really was when she asked, "If you see Grissom will you tell him?" Catherine nodded sincerely. Sara just walked off after that. The assistant shift supervisor convened with Jim and they went to Desert Palm print samples.  They did find a match; Dr.  Tripton.  Catherine phoned Gil and informed him of it.

[countrymusiclover]

Ch 4 - Living War/Home Onward

Ch 5

Raven has a bullet in her left leg and now I sit on the table gripping Bell's hand just as Clarke pulls the bandages over my leg, she said the bullet only grazed my leg. Tears fall down my face for two things - the pain and the fact that the bullet in Raven was meant for me. Clarke finishes "Ok, you got lucky Kristin. You can walk but Bellamy will have to help you." I nod my head as he helps me get my feet on the ground. My right leg wobbles and I start falling, Bell wraps his arm around me securely. "You okay, baby?" He asks in panic. Nodding my head once I try and not let a Yelp slip from my lips cause of the amount of pain. Clarke has a stronger pain tolerance than me. Day 2 on the ground she nearly fell in a pit of spikes and Bellamy saved her fully knowing she was my family even though he wanted her wristband gone. The thing about Bell is that he is tough with the others but with me he is soft yet I'm dying to get him to teach me how to actually fight. If we survive this I might get my chance.

"If he wants to stay, he can stay - including her!" Finn shouts pointing a finger at me before leaving.

Clarke walls over to us as I hold onto bell. We don't want to run Clarke, can't you see that! "We can't do this without you, Bellamy, Kristin."

I groan "What do you want us to say, sis?" She gives me a stern look, counting. "I want you to say that you're with us...." facing Bellamy more now she keeps going "Those kids out there, they listen to you. "

Bell states the truth "They're lining up to go. They listen to you more."

"She gave them an easy choice." I sigh. Bell rubs my shoulder he holds.

"She's right, but 5 minutes ago, they were willing to fight and die for you. You inspire them - even Kristin." Clarke gives him a speech.

"I'm afraid we're gonna need that again bell, before this day is through." I state.

Bellamy grabs our packs and he gives me a knife, since I can't carry a gun and steady myself at the same time. Clarke walks up to us as we're the last ones standing in the camp, I give her a sad look, Spinning the rings on my necklace when she compliments bell. "You did good here Bellamy."

"18 dead..." He trails off.

Clarke states proud of what he had managed. "82 alive."

I smile taking his arm and wrapping it around my side. "You both did good, Bell."

We left camp and were only minutes out before omeone was killed by a grounder and we all ran back inside. I grabbed the gun from the dead boy, jumping up on the platform next to Bellamy and Clarke. Bellamy looks through his scope as I do, I ask scared. "Where are they?"

He glanced Clarke's way, quietly. "Why aren't they attacking?"

Clarke's eyes flicker around answering. "Because we're doing exactly what they're wanting us to do."

"We can fight our way out, that's what Lincoln would do." O declares being strong like her grounder boyfriend.

Bellamy jumps down from the platform, stating in a huff. "We're done doing what that grounder would do. We tried it and now Drew is dead, you wanna be next!"

Panting my feet firmly on the edge I jump down and bell lets his gun swing to the side, catching me bridal style. Even if it's just a quick glance from him as he sets me down I blush. Finn and Clarke bicker before bell looks for her command. "Loooking to you princess. What's it gonna be, run and get picked off out in the open, or stand and fight back,"

Clarke and I lock gazes for a minute. She turns around looking out at the woods then back at the remaining 100. Jumping down she ignores Finn's protests. She turned to bell and I, giving us the clear "Looks like you two got your fight!"

Bellamy jumps back in to leader mode "Okay , then. This is what we've been preparing for. Kill them before they kill us."

I join in, "Gunner's to your posts, use the tunnels to get in and out!"

Bell and I finish together "From now on the gate stays closed!"

Octavia starts running to the gunner's, Bell grabs her forearm "whoa, O, O. You're not a gunner."

She turns to me, still making eye contact with her brother she said "No I'm not, but like you said.....I'm a grounder." Holding up Lincoln's sword and following the others.

Taking Bellamy's hand as he shivers, Clarke comes to us "So how the hell do we do this?'

Bellamy explained the traps and how many bullets we have. The plan is to force the grounders back. Twiddling my thumbs as I sit next to Raven, looking over the map. Clarke mentioned the rocket fuel.

Raven chimes in "I also said we got no gunpowder left."

"I don't want to build a bomb, I wanna blast off." Clarke states.

Raven mutters "draw them in. Fire the rockets...."

Smirking at her " a ring of fire."

Bellamy smirks to my way "Barbecued grounders, I like it."

Raven finished "You give me enough time....I'll cook'em real good."

The ark Abby's POV

Everyone is ready for launch but someone had to stay behind. Marcus gets up but I grab his hand demanding an explanation.

"Wait, you can't leave Kristin without a father - she needs you - I need you!" He kisses my forehead and starts to leave before Jaha launches us instead.

Pressing my earpiece I hear him say "Hang on tight Abby. You'll see both your daughters soon."

Marcus comes and sits back next to me, gripping my hand with his. We each say in unison as we enter the atmosphere, while the stations blow up.

"We're coming Kristin and Clarke."

Y/n POV

Bellamy made me guard the ship, inside the walls while he does in the foxholes. The west woods work and they call for jasper. Bell declined "Negative, we can't give up the west woods!" Clarke snaps through her radio. "The west woods are mined, Bellamy!"

I agree "She's right, the grounders just figured that out!"

Bellamy fights grounders while I run to save him, hearing a blast everyone looks up. I hear Clarke whisper "that is the ark." Mom, dad - they're coming down.

Finally getting to bell I see a grounders on top if him, o kills it with her sword. Bell warns me "Kristin, look out!" I turn around as one tries to kill me but I knock it put with the butt of the gun, shooting him after he hits the ground. Turning to a shocked Bell, Octavia mocks about the sword. "Admit it, you want one." before an arrow flies into her. Bolting over your the siblings, we see Lincoln - she doesn't want to leave but I tell Octavia "Octavia look at me, I love that we both have a fight spirit in us but - go with him - go with Lincoln. You've gotta live. I love you O." She hugs me back tightly. Bellamy gives her a happy speech before it's just us.

Turning to me, not caring about the grounders for one minute. He crashes his lips onto of mine, he pulls at my hair as I kiss him back harder. Breaking for air, his raspy voice says "Kristin, I love you - but you have to go back to the dropship."

Shaking my head no, I fight "Bellamy Blake I love you too - I'm not leaving you ever understand!" He nods and we run for an open foxhole. Popping our heads out I see Clarke and finn.

Clarke calls out to us "They're never gonna make it - Bellamy, Kristin run!"

Bell grabs a gun, and I follow with mine. He tried to fire it but it doesn't work. The head grounder grabs him, knocking him to the ground. I fire a short at him but he knocks it out of my hands. Pulling out the knife Bell gave me I slice part of his neck but not enough to kill him. Finn fired a shot and Clarke protests "No Finn no....Kristin please!"

The grounder fights Finn and Bell, leaving me to lock eyes with my sister one last time. Her eyes are red and tears stretch down her face, she whimpers out "Kristin, please I----- I can't lose you. I just got you in my life!" Tears slip down my face and I whip them away, before charging at the grounder - to help the boys.

Miller forces Clarke inside and she pulls the lever. Bellamy knocks the grounder away, and finn forces us inside a near foxhole. He covered his ears once were far away from camp. Bellamy and I hold onto each other for dear life as the sounds of flames and burning grounders surrounded the three of us.

The sun beamed down on my face and I wake up to see grounders have the three of us. Pulling hard on my restaurant only hurts my wrists, my eyes lock onto one of the grounders holding my necklace. "Hey, hey that's not yours!" I fire, as I try jumping up to snatch it back. Bellamy gives me a look 'Stop fighting. They'll probably kill us right here'

Gunshots go off as we duck. Slowly someone steps out from hiding and I noticed the familiar eyes of my father, he lowers the gun slowly muttering out of disbelief "Kristin, is it really you?" He slowly steps forward as other members from the Ark come out of hiding from the trees. Nodding my head slowly I run embracing him in a long waiting hug. He squeezed me back tightly letting his riffle swing on his left shoulder. He runs his hand through my hair while guards release Bellamy and Finn. I barely pull away from him to see we are both a happy mess of tears.

"Dad - I -- I thought - I'd never see you again!"

"Marcus?" My ears picked up my mother's voice seconds before I even saw her face. Her braid had completely fallen out and her clothes were a bit torn like dad's but they looked better than we did, with our clothes ripped and covered in blood and dirt from the Grounders war.

"Marcus...Kristin!" I pull apart from dad as she looks me over. I've got a few cuts on my body and my hair is a complete mess of knots and dirt, and I lean most of my weight on my other leg without the bandage that has some blood on from when I tackled a grounder. Her suprised face becomes a overjoyed one when she bolts to me, nearly knocking me to the ground and tears already fall down her face. I embrace her in a loving hug crying deeply against her shoulder as she breathes me in, gripping my clothes in her hands. Once mom and I broke apart dad comes over hugging the both of us to his chest tightly when he mumbles into my hair "We're here now. Everything's gonna  be okay, princess." Sinclair comes out of hiding seeing us he stops waiting for an order. "We're splitting up. One guard detail comes with me to the dropship. Everyone else here goes with you to Alpha Station. You have the coordinates, we'll follow as soon as we can." He replied back to my father's orders. "Yes, sir." Bellamy comes over, watching our family reunion.

"Hey. Where's Clarke - you're sister. Is she alright?" Mom glances around the area, making me wince at how easily she announces the fact out to everyone but for years she wouldn't dare tell Clarke about me. How rude. Dad declared as our group headed for the dropship. "You six with me. You two lead the way." I think to myself - when did he become the leader. Mom takes my right hand in hers as we follow behind Bellamy and Finn. Dad walked beside us for a split second before walking ahead of us, he muttered for only her to hear. "You're almost there, Abby."

Once back at the dropship we see all the burned bodies and I crindged. My mom and dad nearly step in the dropship but I grab a guards gun to my father's disapproval. Aiming it out as I'm in front of them I see Raven and Murphy and I want to just shoot him for nearly doing the bad R word to me.

Mom rushes to Raven, getting on her knees "Raven. Raven, honey it's Abby."

Raven stutters in pain "Clarke's not here. I don't know where she is."

Mom asks, softly "What happened to you and Kristin?"

She must have noticed my limp, Raven looks at her and says "I got shot."

Glaring at my dad I fire "John Murphy shot me, and her and...nearly raped me-" he raises a hand not needing any further information.

Dad helps Murphy as he gives a sob story and I follow my gun still raised. Bellamy eyes me and we both have anger in our eyes.

"Bellamy, Kristin, you're....uh..... both alive " Murphy fakes.

Bell and I charge and tackle Murphy to the ground. Bellamy nearly chokes him to death and with the butt of my gun I punch his face. "You murdering son of a bitch!" Bell curses. Dad orders to me "Kristin, Kristin Kane that's enough!" ignoring him I hear a batons drawn from guards and one hits Bell and the other hits me. Bellamy wines as guards force him to his feet and one cuffs me and my dad steps grabbing the end of my shirt pulling me closer.

"Place them under arrest" He demands ignoring Finn trying to defend us. "Wait. You don't understand. Murphy murdered two of our people, he shot another. He tried to hang Bellamy, shot Kristin and attempted to assault her."

Bellamy eyes me as my dad still holds me, pulling me over next to Bell he declared to us both. "I don't care. You are not animals. There are rules, laws. You are not in control here anymore!" Back to being same old dad!

I spit in his face after he releases us and had two guards watch over the both of us. Mom eyes me and when I tilt my head towards dad, she death glances at dad but he shakes it off.

Mom let's me walk over to the dropship with her as we write a message in the wall. My cuffs mark my wrists but I don't care. Dad calls out "Abby - Kristin, get ready to move out." Abby eyes him angered as he stated "we've gotta get there before dark." Turning around to Bell I run to him with my cuffs and give him an angry look to which he nods his head in agreement.

Then we are forced to walk back to camp. Walking next to bell and my mom and dad in front of us, I squint my eyes seeing people building a camp around the crashed Ark. Guards lead bell and I to lockup at first but mom runs to stop it, she states "She needs medical- then place her in the same cell as him." Pointing a finger at Bellamy to which the guard nods.

When we walk in the ship I hear Sinclair call dad 'Chancellor Kane' and I nearly scoff as I sit down on a medical table. Mom unwraps the bandage and I winced when she puts alchohol on it.

"You got lucky - honey you're father-" she started but I cut her off. "Mom stop, I'm mad at him - once again....Clarke told me the same thing but - I'm not lucky the bullet in ---- in Raven was meant for me!" Tears streaming down my face, I grip my shirt and she pulls me into her as I just let it all out. Kissing my head and run a hand down my back, she whispered. "Sweetheart, it's gonna get better ok - I won't let your father hurt you."

Earlier the next morning a gunshot is fired, I run out with mom. Dad didn't lock me up but he won't let me see Bell. A random guy had a gun stating he was sure he saw something. I slapped a hand to my forehead in frustration. Why are the adults so dumb.

Snapping at him I pressed my boots into the dirt. "You opened fired!"

Mom stands too in the thought of it being my sister. "That could've been the kids!"

Dad grabs both our arms as we try to run out causing his rifle to swing on his shoulder. "Abby - Kristin no!"

Forcefully pulling my arm out I growl "Shove it dad - you lash me after I tell you I got hurt and then keep me from seeing my boyfriend. He's the only one besides mom and Clarke who give a care about me!"

He asks with flare and raised eyebrows. "He's your boyfriend?"

I turned away as mom nodded her head, standing her ground "He was on the Ark - I kept it a secret because he makes her happy for once!" she takes my hand and we step back as he orders with the guards - tells the people about the laws.

Mom steps forward in a demand tired of all the guards wasting time they could've been searching. "Marcus, search the damn woods!" before we fully leave the scene.

Late in the night we help Finn break Bellamy out. Realizing him from his cuffs I crash my lips onto his and he hugs me tightly Kissing back. We break apart when I say "I'm coming with you."

Abby rests a hand on my shoulder and directs towards my stomach with the other "Actually Kristin , honey you can't . You're carrying something..."

Bellamy eyes me big in shock and he asks her "you're sure?"

She nods her head yes and I face them both declaring with my hands on my stomach "I'm - I'm pregnant."

Bellamy left with Finn to find Clarke but I gave him my necklace or tried too but he declined- he tugged at his bracelet and had said "I'm coming back to you both" and I knew he meant it. I hadn't told dad yet - I didn't know how. Raven survived surgery but she can't feel her left leg. Mom told me I need to take it easy, so I've been helping her and Jackson. Dad's head guard lady enters our tent and she orders us "Ma'am, miss - I need you two to come with me." Setting down the supplies I followed my mom out to see everyone gathered around. Two different sets of restraint with hooks for something. My mother barks up to my father, the wind blowing their hair. "What is this!"

Earlier this morning she revealed that she helped in there escape and I guess he knows I did too. Dad sighed "I'm sorry it had to come to this girls, but you left me no choice."

The guard comes "On your command chancellor kane." Guards grab us and walk us forward restraining my mother and then me. Starring at my dad, suckling in a heavy breath.

Dad's guard states "Abigail Griffin and Kristin Kane have been sentenced to ten leashes each for helping known criminals and trafficking in fire arms!" I cry out, causing my wrists to be pulled back by the hooks "Dad please don't do this - I'm pregnant!"

He stands stunned and whispered something to his guard lady and she agrees. Pulling out the baton, I winced in fear and at painful memories. He can't be serious.

Mom said sternly. "We don't have to do this down here" before she receives her first hit and she screamed out.

My back is hit and I cry. Another to my mom and then back to me. Her third she crushed the ropes together, our fifth we both throw our heads on a shoulder in pain. Yet as I force my eyes closed ready for the next hot I hear my mom take five more and I whimper and cry at every one.

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Jackson helps us as we sit on the table wincing every few times he puts pressure on them. Gripping each other's hands the tent flap opens and jackson leaves.

"So did it work. Is the rest of the camp back in line?" Mom asks snickerly

Dad doesn't make eye contact with me, instead he cups my face with one hand and says nicely. "Kristin, I am sorry....I couldn't show them I'm weak.....I'm so sorry I love you and I'll never hurt you or this child again." Teara fall down and I'm crying too. He hugs me for a minute before looking at mom to ask "Is Bellamy the father?"

She doesn't say anything but I answer not looking up from my muddy boots. "yes"

Mom breaks the silence "You don't have to justify anything we broke the rules and I payed the price. And you can lash me 100 times and I'm still gonna do whatever it takes to find those kids - my other kid!"

Dad says he's leaving camp and mom starts she'll come too but he stops her. "Jackson or Kristin can handle medical...."

He says "I need to know that while I'm away, you two will set a good example for our people."

I bit my lip and ask "Dad what - what are you saying?"

"If you do this I'll be a model citizen." Mom tilted her head down mumbling.

Dad answers with "I need you to be more than that. I need you to be chancellor." The two of us locked eyes when he holds out the pin for me to see. "Kristin your perfect for the Chancellor title."

He sets the pin on the table and starts to walk out but mom grabs his arm, throwing her arms around his neck she kisses him. I gasped in my whole life, they'd never done it. Dad kisses her back quick before opening his arms for us. I run and hug him with mom. Maybe he isn't same old dad anymore.

Two days later

Throwing my jacket on I run and grab a gun, following at my mom's side. Someone had blown the tripwire. A gunshot was fired too - guards race someone in all covered in dirt and blood.

The guard lady pulls them and my mom stops her "Wait!"

Running up to them I noticed something familiar about the prisoner. The lady guard demands "Once the prisoner is secured."

Mom runs over to me and something about this prisoner sparked something in mom "She's not a prisoner- she's my daughter!"

Pushing Clarke's dirty hair I realize it's her, mom gets down on the ground with me and we both cry at the same time "Clarke!"

She mutters out "Mom - Kristin!"

Clarke Griffin - my sister is alive.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[jdmainman123]

They would only be trying to challenge and jealousness of my rocking turds and my elitist of jumping over benches back flipping in the middle of the street WHAT'S MAKING ME SICK EVERYDAY

I remember it was always a agenda of Las Vegas until I pronounce them dead due to TOO MANY ARE BLACK HAIR WHITE SKIN BOYS AND GIRLS MADE IN THAT CITY and then being the most racist City towards White hair white skin people

And through conflict and battle and tours THEY WERE DEFEATED AND I SAID HEY I'M A VICTIM TOO IT'S NOT THEIR BEACH AND THEY'RE SENDING PEOPLE INTO MY BEACH TO ATTACK MY SEX LIFE

And it's normalize me as one man and to make me look stupid as possible THEN AFTER I BEAT TO INTEGRATION IN ANTECEDENT I CAME TO YOUR ASSISTANCE AND THE NEW RECRUIT GIRLS TELLING BLACK MEN OFF IN THE STREETS TELLING THEM TO F*** THEMSELVES WE DON'T LIKE BLACK SKIN MEN and then they took it one step further and brought the white hair white skin girls in rather than the black hair white skin girls

And I displayed it didn't affect me in the slightest only when you hit my nerve the satellite laser would puncture a nerve in my body and forced me to scream in pain

And again we know this is only to hurt me and almost forced me to have erectile dysfunction because of the jealousy of My success of leading and walking and unionizing AND WE BELIEVE THAT'S THE UNDERLYING REASON WHY YOU GUYS BUILT THESE 3/4 FACILITIES

To try and break me down and as I said if the white people couldn't have done it for the last 5 years or satellite has talked to me 24/7 unfortunately setting up satellite operators new recruits and Revelations which I am very heartbroken and disturbed about how easy it was more importantly how the boys were so loving and innocent and walked right into the traps BUT AGAIN YOU GUYS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL AND BREAKING ME DOWN SO YOU GUYS BROUGHT ME TO THIS CITY with hills and instead of walking down the hill and finding somewhere cool to hang out or somewhere off of crowdstrike because you guys want me in a part of the city WHERE YOU GUYS CAN CROSS INTO THE OTHER CITY WITHOUT PERMISSION OR WOULD BE HURT just to not make me walk and let me be free or breathe

Let me explain what's happening every time I think or breathe the satellite hits a button and it says it screams in my ear it's an accident I THREW IT ON TWITTER AND WHAT IT SEEMS TO INDICATE IS SLAMMING A DOOR IN SOMEONE'S FACE and as I and as I demonstrated the white hair white skin people would not do this because they knew one thing I would be here blaming a black skin hate AND FOR YOU GUYS TO STICK UP FOR THEM ONCE AGAIN USING ONE MAN IS WHERE YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO FALTER AND I BELIEVE MY COUNTERINTELLIGENCE CITIES HAVE A NORMAL LIFE WITH LAW AND ORDER AND A WAY TO RESPECT ONE ANOTHER

That's all for you guys to continue this baby behavior this immature behavior of slamming the door in my face every time I think which is triggering me BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY YOU GUYS KEEP ON HOW ARE THEY BLACK AND WE CAN'T HELP UNDERSTAND WHY THIS HAPPENED YOU GUYS WANTED TO FORCE THE GIRLS WHERE THEY COULDN'T NOT LOVE YOU WHERE THEY WERE FORCED TO LOVE YOU and for you guys to do this on me being a male I'm going to warn you where I'm going to catch you in the gay son area AND AND AS I SAID MY COUNTERINTELLIGENT CITIES WILL GET MY MONEY BACK SO YOU GUYS WILL PAY IN FULL

Yeah it's sort of the reason why I'm infinite I DIDN'T KNOW I THOUGHT I WAS FOREVER I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A ONE-TIME DEAL KIDNAPPED BY CLARK COUNTY how did you hear Dallas got jealous of me saying I was kidnapped by Clark county so they kidnapped me twice just for me not to answer another city to blame another satellite maker what happened was it reached higher up the satellite protection and they were going to force to move and then they moved me to these concentration camp cities WE'RE UNFORTUNATELY FOR US SATELLITE MAKER DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU PEOPLE AND HE BROUGHT ME HERE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU PEOPLE AND I'M SORRY but today I pay in full I will not be returning home because you guys kidnap me to a tiny Beach and you have no right to kidnap man or a woman born and raised in a different city and bring them to another city and hold them prisoner

You can't copyright steak YOU CAN'T CLAIM ANOTHER HUMAN BEING

[goldensunflowers98]

Royals: Part One

"Lennon! Oh, my god, Lennon! Lennon Stella Clarke, wake up!"

My name being shouted jars me awake, making me sit up so fast in bed, I get an instant headache. The room is dark and fuzzy and, as my heart beats rapidly in sudden fear, I frantically pat my hands against my bedside table to find my glasses. I finally find them and shove them onto my face, blinking several times as the world comes into focus.

"What! What's wrong?" I try to my hardest to push back the mane of bed hair that was in my eyes as I scramble to get my legs untwisted from the sheets, terrified that someone may be attacking my roommate while I slept. In my twisting and turning, my already-barely-hanging-on-by-a-thread coordination and balance completely gives up and my hands hit the floor to catch myself as I fall from my bed in the most graceful, possible way.

Hearing my best friend, Alina, still screeching my name in the next room over, I kick my legs violently to release them from the evil clutches of the mint green sheets my grandmother got for me last Christmas and, finally, my whole body collides against the hardwood floor in a crumpled mess.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I yell, jumping up and grabbing my nearby umbrella. I pray that if there is an attacker that they are terrified of multi-colored rubber duckies printed on yellow nylon because that's what about to smack them across the face.

Rushing down the hallway towards our living room, I'm panting by the time I get there only to see her excitedly jumping up and down in front of the television, completely fine and not being attacked whatsoever. Slowly, I drop my umbrella and glare at her as she turns to see me standing there and lets out a loud squeal.

"Lennon! You won!" She shouts, pointing at the television where my name was proudly shown along with eleven other girls names.

"Win? Win what? What did I win?" I ask dumbfounded, knuckling my tired eyes, as she continues to smile creepily happily.

"Prince Harry!" She shouts the name of the boy who she has been obsessed with for years, the boy who is next in for the throne in the royal family of our little country, Corhaven. I honestly didn't care too much. They're just the royal family, have been ever since I was born. Nothing too special. And sure, Prince Harry was extremely nice to look at, but, for all we know, he could be a pompous arse. At least that's how the media portrays him whenever he steps out every once in a blue moon.

Frowning, I shake my head as the throbbing in my temples gets worse. "Alina, I can't just win a prince. Now, what did you do? Why is my name on channel six? I know you have something to do with this," I snap, my anxiety hitting the roof as my name is blasted all over the morning news channels for an unknown reason.

"Well, last week, I was chatting with my Vice President of my Prince Harry fanclub," I try not to roll my eyes as she continues. "And she mentioned that there is this contest for twelve girls to visit the palace for six months, getting the finest education, meeting the highest politicians and foreign ambassadors, eating the most expensive food and wine."

In her rant, I slowly start to relax. That doesn't sound so bad honestly. Who doesn't want to get wined, dined, and given a good education? But that feeling of relaxation instantly goes away as she continues.

"All while trying to win the prince's heart."

It is silent for a few moments, the umbrella that I was clutching tightly being the only sound as it clatters against the floor when I drop it in shock. My jaw is dropped in an 'o' shape as I stare at my ecstatic best friend who was still making jazz hands at the paused tv screen that still shone my name across it.

"What!" I scream so loud and suddenly that the cooing doves at the window pane fly away in shock, just like in the movies.

She continues on without missing a beat, not even realizing what she's done. "Yeah! So I was super excited and I signed myself up but I know that you have been struggling with paying for university with your photography jobs and you've been single your whole life so I signed you up too because I know you and the prince's personalities are exactly alike and he would really like you. Who knew you would've won! Oh, Lennon, I'm so excited for you!" She bounces over, wrapping her arms around my still stunned body and hugging me tightly.

"You're insane!" My anxiety goes haywire as I feel angst and dread take over my body. I am introvert and the type of person who always has to be in the know. I despise surprises, absolutely hate them, and I was just thrown into my own, personal hell. I'm not the type of girl to get broadcasted across the world in a twisted, royal version of The Bachelor.

"I can't do this. Call them or email them! Something! Tell them I can't come." I shake my head as she frowns.

"Lenny, I can't. I already got an email this morning saying they were sending a town car for you. They'll be here in two hours. Plus, I feel like it's not a good idea to just say no to the royal family," My face drops at her sentence, knowing I will feel guilty if I cancel knowing that these people have already driven three hours to our little city from the capital.

"Two hours? Alina, oh my god, what did you do? Why would you do this to me? Are you trying to ruin my life? You literally just uprooted my entire world and threw me into a lion's den. I can't even begin to try to flirt with a prince! I can barely say hi to the cute boy at the coffee shoppe and I've been going for two freaking years!" I hiss, starting to smack her with my umbrella as she tries to deflect my hits.

"What if you're just overreacting?" She shouts as she jumps onto the ottoman and tries to get out of my reach, holding her hands out for a truce. I stare up at her breathing heavily, mixed emotions filling my body. "I'm telling you I know everything about the royal family and Prince Harry and I know that the two of you are a perfect match. Hell, you even have the same mole on your neck and dimples in your cheeks."

I frown up at her, finally admitting defeat and shaking my head. "Whatever. I'm not speaking to you for the rest of the day..." she pouts at me as I roll my eyes, walking into our small kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee. "Guess I'll start trying to pack because I have two hours and I have no idea what to even pack. I don't think I even own a dress!" I grumble as I trudge back down the hallway towards my room.

"Actually, you have one hour and fifty-two minutes!"

"Shut up!" I shout back at her, slamming my bedroom door behind me. Slumping against the door, I stare at my now awake, fuzzy, grey cat on the end of my bed and frown deeply. "Smoke, what am I going to do?" I mumble, earning a tired mewl from him as I walk by and give him a tiny scratch behind his ear.

Looking up at my closet, I bite my lip and walk over to it, swinging the door open and pulling the chain to turn on the light.

Wow, this array of mom jeans and oversized sweaters sure is going to make the prince of the fucking country swoon over me.

Can someone be eliminated before it even starts?

Letting out a loud groan, I push my glasses up my nose as they start to fall and grab all of my clothes just as my door swings open, showing Alina.

"Oh, by the way, I just got an email and you will have a personal makeup team and designers to help you get ready everyday so you only have to pack for the casual off days when they won't be filming. Just letting you know. Okay, bye," she squirms under my harsh glare before leaving again.

"Well that makes things easier, I guess,"

In record time, whilst taking time to scarf down a blueberry muffin and some hot tea for breakfast, I somehow pack a suitcase that wasn't obnoxiously too big since I truly don't know what to pack to go live in a castle. Flickering my eyes over to my bedside table, I see my camera bag and, next to my contact lenses case that I begrudgingly added to the mix, I place it on top. Might as well get some good pictures while I'm there.

Throwing on a dark wash pair of jeans and a comfortable, baby blue sweater, I tie my hair up into a ponytail with a matching blue ribbon and complete the look with my trainers.

It doesn't hit me that they were almost here until I freeze as I hear a car honk loudly outside.

"Lennon! They're here!"

Alina bursts into the room with nauseating excitement and bounds over to me, grabbing my hand and my suitcase before starting to pull me out of the room. I barely have time to kiss Smoke on the head and grab my purse before I'm yanked to the front door where someone was knocking.

Opening the door, my eyes are wide and my body is stiff as an older man with a bright smile, who I'm guessing is the chauffeur, stands there with the most gorgeous orange roses, our country's national flower. "Miss. Clarke, congratulations on being chosen as one of the finalists. I am Henri, your chauffeur, and I will be escorting you to Tarlington Palace this evening. I hope you accept these roses handpicked by Prince Harry himself."

'Oh, I'm sure,' I think to myself as I doubt that Prince Harry had anytime to do anything of the sort as I gently take the roses from his hands, not being able to resist burying my nose in the soft petals and inhaling the sweet scent. "Thank you, Henri. They're beautiful," I can't help but smile and I'm slightly surprised as he looks taken aback at my thankfulness, but as quick as it flashed, he is back to his normal smile.

"Now, we must make haste if we want to make it back to the palace in time for dinner. May I take your bag, Miss?" I nod softly, my anxiety starting to pick back up as he starts to tote my suitcase to the expensive looking car in front of my apartment.

Turning to Alina, she sees me starting to get worked up and she quickly pulls me into a hug. "You are going to be amazing, Lenny. This is the adventure of a lifetime. Don't waste it," she pulls back and gives me a beaming smile as I weakly send one back.

Hearing a clearing of a throat, I turn to see Henri holding the car door open. Clutching my roses tightly, I give Alina one last look before walking down the sidewalk and into the car. Gentle piano music plays in the speakers as I climb in and I see an assortment of champagne, strawberries, and chocolate waiting for me. Not being able to help myself, I quickly pop a strawberry into my mouth and hum lightly at the delicious flavor.

As Henri gets into the drivers seat, I turn and look out the window, waving to Alina with a stomach full of butterflies. She waves back at me, blowing kisses, and I sigh as the car peels away.

"Feel free to relax, Miss. Clarke. It is a long journey to Tarlington Palace all the way in Evervale," Henri speaks up, making my nod gently, biting my lip and looking out the window nervously, watching as my tiny, quiet town passes back. "I'll give you your privacy."

He rolls up the partition, leaving me alone in the backseat, and I sigh to myself, wondering how I got in this mess.

This is an adventure of a lifetime. Don't waste it.

I think back on Alina's words as I pull out my phone and pull up Instagram. I am slightly taken aback at how I am now verified and my followers went from a mere six hundred to over seventeen thousand in just a few hours. All the comments under my pictures were of people either rooting for me or against me winning Prince Harry's heart and I exhale slowly in shock.

Not letting it bother me, I decide to take a photo of my beautiful roses and post them. Snapping a picture, I type out a caption and post it before locking my phone as likes and comments start spilling in and leaning back in this seats, nervous at what is to come.

[chasholidays]

I would love some sort of space!pirates deal. Like Farscape maybe, in how Aeryn (Clarke) gets ousted from the Peacekeepers, and she continues thinking they're the Right Side, until she realises that aren't that good at all? (Farscape has a pretty good wiki, but this is only very vaguely related to it.)

“Okay,” says Miller. “Who wants to go to Ganymede?”

“What’s on Ganymede?” asks Clarke, sounding wary.

“What’s anywhere we’ve got a job?” Bellamy ask, turning to look at her. “A ship that has more money than it needs.”

“Most ships aren’t planetside,” she shoots back.

“Ganymede is a moon, not a planet,” says Monty, absent. “And there’s a ship docked there that we want to hit.”

“Freighter Osiris,” says Raven, pulling the information up on the display. “Stuck on Ganymede for repairs for–well, we’ll see how long I can keep it there. I figure at least a couple days, right?”

“Why keep it on Ganymede?” Clarke asks. “Catch them on the way out.”

“We are catching it on the way out,” says Raven. “But we’re sabotaging it first. It’s a Helios-class ship, those things have security like you wouldn’t believe.”

“This one is a gift,” Monty adds. “It’s like they want us to steal from them.”

“That’s definitely what they want, yeah,” says Bellamy. But he’s still watching Clarke, curious. She’s only been on the crew for a few months, and Bellamy always takes a while to get to trust people. And Clarke is complicated. She’s intelligent and resourceful, a good addition to the team. But she’s also aloof and solitary. Which Bellamy gets, honestly. He, Miller, Raven, and Monty have been a crew for a while, and they’re close. Raven’s the one who vouched for Clarke, and even though they have have some kind of history, it’s doesn’t seem to be a history that lets Clarke just slot into their lives. “You got a problem with Ganymede?” he asks her.

“Clarke’s issues are Clarke’s business,” says Raven. “If she doesn’t want to go to Ganymede, we can drop her off. Same as anyone else, right?”

There’s just enough of an edge to her voice to convince Bellamy to let it go; he might not trust Clarke yet, but he does trust Raven, and Raven trusts Clarke.

Still, it feels like having something stuck in one of his back teeth, every time he looks at her. He doesn’t like not knowing things, and the list of things he doesn’t know about Clarke feels endless.

“I never said I wouldn’t go,” she says, not unreasonably. “I’ll go.”

“Cool,” says Raven. “So, let’s talk plans.”

*

From a moral perspective, Bellamy’s job might not be the best. After all, “the greater good” is a very nebulous thing, and when one’s definition of the greater good is in conflict with the law, it gets even dicier. On the one hand, Bellamy thinks the laws are bad and the jobs they take are good. On the other, they’re outlaws who steal from the rich and only give back to the poor in the sense that they’re helping their own friends and family. They aren’t, overall, trying to fix the galaxy. They’re just trying to get by, and maybe get some revenge.

He wouldn’t mind a revolution either, if he’s honest, but that’s going to take some time.

For now, the plan is simple: go to Ganymede, hack the ship, and loot it once it’s off world. It’s a federation ship, which means it’s a dangerous hit, but Bellamy trusts Raven and Monty not to do anything that will get them killed.

Which is why he has to ask her about Clarke.

“Is it safe to bring her to Ganymede?”

Raven doesn’t pretend to misunderstand. “It’s her call, right?”

“She was nervous.”

“And if I thought bringing her on a mission would jeopardize it, I wouldn’t do it. Look, if you want to talk to Clarke, talk to Clarke. I’m not your go-between.”

“You’re the one I trust.”

“Then trust me. I’m not going to let Clarke get us killed. No one’s getting us killed, if I can help it. You aren’t still seriously worried about this, are you?” she asks. “It’s been months. If you have doubts–”

“You have to admit she’s not exactly fitting in.”

“And?”

“And I don’t like not knowing about my allies, Raven.”

“So ask her, like I said. I trust her, and if you don’t, that’s between the two of you. If you’re worried, you can always skip Ganymede. We can get by without you.”

“I’m not skipping. You’d be asking the same thing if you were me,” he adds, and Raven shrugs.

“And you’d be telling me the same thing.”

“Depends on the person,” he says. “Some of them, I’d probably just tell you what their deal was.”

“And if you wouldn’t?”

If he wouldn’t tell her about something like that, it would be because it was his friend’s business, and something they didn’t want shared. He can relate, even.

But he doesn’t know how to just ask Clarke.

“Yeah, okay,” he says anyway. “I get it. I’m being an asshole.”

“Par for the course. We good now?”

“We’re good. If you say it’s safe, then it’s safe. That’s all I need.”

“As safe as anything we do. Not going to promise we don’t get caught, but if something happens, Clarke’s not going to be why.”

“Just our usual shitty luck and incompetence?”

“You know it. Now leave me alone.”

As he goes, he passes Clarke’s door, closed, but with the indicator light on to show she’s inside. He could just go and talk to her, even try to be friendly. Hey, you seemed weird about Ganymede, everything okay? It’s what he’d do if it was Monty or Raven, and similar to what he’d do with Miller. It’s what he should do with Clarke.

Instead, he keeps walking. If she wants to talk, she knows where he lives.

*

“Okay, Bellamy and Clarke, you’re going first.”

The two of them exchange a look. They’re an hour out of the jump to Ganymede, and Bellamy hadn’t known what to expect out of this meeting. Him and Clarke being thrown off the ship wasn’t a possibility that crossed his mind.

“Going where?” Clarke asks.

“You’re getting supplies and we don’t want you tied to the Prospero if anyone figures out we’re involved. I’ll take Monty and Raven to the shipyard to work on the Osiris, you two are taking the Ariel And meeting us at the coordinates in the autopilot in two standard days. “Make sense?”

It makes total sense, so much that Bellamy has no possible reason to object. He and Clarke are the most logical people for a supply run, and if anyone gets suspicious, they don’t want their own activities to lead anyone back to the Prospero. They’ve done it before, when they have things to do on the ground, but he hadn’t really put it together this time.

And he’s never been told to go with Clarke before.

“Sounds good to me,” he says, glancing at her. She looks as cool as ever, no reaction to the assignment at all that he can see. “Clarke?”

“Yeah. Meet you in the hanger in twenty?”

“Sure.”

As he gets his things together, he tries to remember if he and Clarke have ever actually been alone before. They have been for brief periods of time, but just little things. Being the only two people in the mess hall or the cockpit isn’t the same as being away from the entire crew, the only two people on the shuttle.

If it didn’t make so much sense from a mission perspective, he’d assume Raven and Miller were forcing them to talk.

Clarke is already in the co-pilot seat, doing pre-flight checks, when he gets to the hanger. He stows his own luggage and takes the pilot seat, gives her a nod. Their only conversation, until they’re in the gate, is practicalities, and once those have run out, Bellamy isn’t sure what he’s supposed to say.

Clarke gives it a minute and then says, “You don’t like me.”

It shouldn’t be unexpected, but he somehow assumed she realized, perhaps through some kind of telepathy, that he mostly thought well of her. But he can see how it would, without such gifts, come across as dislike.

“I don’t really know you,” he says. “But I don’t dislike you.”

She snorts. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“You don’t like me.”

“I was following your lead.”

“I was following yours!”

She flashes him a grin, and he finds himself smiling back.

“Well, we’ve got a while,” he says. “Might as well take advantage of it and get to know each other, right?”

“Right.” She lets out a huff of breath. “I was a heda on Ganymede.”

It takes him a minute to place the word, and then he jerks to look at her, aghast. “Like–law enforcement?”

“Yeah.”

“Heda is pretty high up.”

“Yeah. I might get recognized.”

“And that’s not worrying you?” he asks. She certainly sounds calm.

“I left on good terms by my own choice, and I was told I’d be welcome back any time.”

She’s speaking common, but it feels as if he’s missing words, somehow. Every individual one is coherent, but put together, he’s still lost. “When was that?”

“Right before I came to you.”

“So, you quit law enforcement, left Ganymede, and called up your pirate friend to join her crew?”

She actually laughs a little, just a soft huff, but it’s encouraging. “She didn’t tell me she was a pirate. But she told me if I ever got tired of being a heda, I should give her a call. I think she knew how corrupt the whole system was. I hadn’t figured it out yet.”

“How did you?”

“I didn’t. My father did, and they killed him. They didn’t realize I knew, and since it was supposed to look like an accident, I had a good excuse to get out. He died in the line of duty, I decided to leave to get my head on straight.”

“And joined some pirates.”

“And joined some pirates. You’re a pirate, I assume you’re not going to try to claim the moral high ground.”

“No, definitely not. I guess if my government killed someone in my family, I’d turn against them too.” He pauses. “Actually, I guess that was kind of what happened.”

“Yeah?”

“I was born on Earth, in a population-controlled area. My mother got pregnant and kept it secret because she wanted to keep the baby. We managed to keep her secret for a long time, but once she was found out, we were told we were only cleared as a two-person family, and one member of the family would have to go.”

“Fuck. I heard about that, but–I can’t imagine. Ganymede’s not perfect, but no one ever got killed for having too many children.”

“She knew what would happen, but–fuck. We got out as soon as we could, after my mom was executed. Used the emotional distress stipend to book a flight to Mars and never looked back.”

“What about your sister?”

“Still on Mars, in school. I told her she couldn’t join the crew until she finished university.”

Clarke smiles. “Finish your education, then join the revolution.”

“You really think we’re revolutionaries?”

“I think we’re working on it.”

“I guess we probably are.” He takes a minute to consider, realigning his knowledge of Clarke. “So, what do you need me to do on Ganymede? Anything special? What should I expect?”

“I don’t know. It’s been almost eight months since I was there, but my family is well known. I might be welcomed.”

“So we’re not going to be subtle.”

“No. That’s why I told Miller I should be away from the rest of the crew.”

“Except me.”

“That was his idea, not mine. Not that I mind,” she adds, quick, and he smiles.

“So we’re actually expecting to be conspicuous.”

“Yeah. My mother is still there too, and wealthy. So we should keep our eyes open for people following us, make sure we don’t get a tracker. We’re the danger here.”

“Fun,” he says, dry. “I’ve never been a celebrity before.”

“It’s not as fun as you think,” she says. “But as long as we don’t all get killed, I’ll count it as a win.”

*

They don’t get killed. Not that it’s generally surprising to Bellamy these days, when they survive a mission, but it’s always cause for celebration. He and Clarke run into some excitement on Ganymede, but it’s of a completely new kind. When Clarke lived on the satellite, she lived on the other side, but an ex-girlfriend of hers moved over here, and they run into her, and some of the heda recognize her and want to see how it’s been going. She introduces him as her new partner, says they’re traders, which is their official cover story, and that she’s still figuring out where she wants to be, what her place in the universe is. It’s the kind of vague, wishy-washy answer he’d expect from a child of privilege who lost a parent, and he doubts anyone would guess that she decided to join up with pirates. She asks one of the heda about her mother, finds she’s off-world, which simplifies things. They pick up supplies, find a tracker on the ship and get it off, and make it back to the rendezvous without issue. Whatever Raven and Monty did to the freighter, it works, and they get most of the cargo off before anyone’s noticed they’re there. The ensuing chase is a little tight, but they make it to the gate and jump into hyperspace without the freighter on their tail.

“No problems on Ganymede, right?” Miller asks. Time is always tight before they’ve escaped.

“We found a tracker,” Bellamy says. “So unless the one we got was a decoy and there’s a much better one we missed, we’re good.”

“Monty, Raven, do another scan, just to be safe. It would suck if Clarke got attached to us, but at least we can lose the trail in the jump if that happens. Everyone else–”

“There are only two of us, you can just call us by our names,” Bellamy protests.

“Get some sleep,” Miller concludes, ignoring him. “We’ll drop out of jump a couple times just to be safe, and then unload cargo at the dropship tomorrow night. Good job, team.”

He and Clarke walk in silence, but when they reach her room, she lingers for a moment, just a moment, as if she doesn’t want to go in, and that’s all the encouragement he needs. She’s his crew mate, he trusts her. Like all of them, she realized the world she lived in wasn’t the world she wanted to live in, and made steps to change it. He might not know her well yet, but he knows her well enough that he wants to know her better. And that means he wants her to stay.

“Are you tired?” he asks.

“Hm?”

“Are you going to go to sleep?”

“Oh, no. Not right away.” She smiles. “I always have trouble sleeping after a job. Too much adrenaline.”

“Me too. I was going to go to the common room, maybe watch something. Do you want to come?”

Happiness blossoms on her face. She’s always lovely, so it’s hard to call it a transformation, but she is even lovelier. “That would be nice, yes.”

Miller shows up a few minutes later, and then Monty and Raven, once they’re done with the scan of the Ariel. Raven nudges Clarke’s knee, and Clarke presses closer to Bellamy to make room for her. She’s not quite pressed up against him, but she’s warm and close, and he thinks he could happily spend many more evenings like this.

He thinks he probably will.

Clarke pokes his arm. “You’re hitting my ribs.”

He pulls it up and puts it around her shoulders instead, like he would if she was anyone else on the crew. His heartbeat wouldn’t pick up for anyone but her, but that’s a problem for another day. “Better?” he asks instead.

She snuggles in, apparently more than content. “Better.”

[achraf1149]

10 Best Books about Getting Older

That paragraph is not just fantastically written, it's with great care true. it is a reasonable observation that produces literature, each fiction, and prose, thus valuable. Books, within the approach they assist the US to navigate the murky waters of life, have the simplest way of illuminating the planet. What will it mean to age? (You recognize, aside from the very fact that your hair turns grey and your body is palpably less active.)

If you wish the answers or a minimum of the deep thoughts of sensible individuals scuffling with those queries, you've to choose up a book. Here's your reading list on the topic—a comprehensive summation of books that create the slide toward adulthood a touch less chilling. And for a lot of superb books to jump on, stat, cross-check The five Books Gates Says you ought to browse This Summer.

1The image of Hellene grey by author|Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde|writer|author}

Dorian-gray

Oscar Wilde, the nineteenth-century writer, playwright, and taboo breaker, takes on the self-loving obsession with youth. A young man named Hellene grey realizes that his beauty can sometimes fade, and he is upset that a painting of him will not expertise a similar affront. "I shall age, and atrocious, and dreadful," he complains. "But this image can stay continually young…. If it were solely the opposite way! If it were I United Nations agency was to be continually young, and also the image that was to grow old!" He gets he would like, and the ho boy learns to regret it.

2The previous Man and also the ocean by writer

old man and also the ocean

Hemingway's 1951 novelette concerning a previous skilled worker named Santiago and his fight to catch a mighty billfish speaks to the guts of all comfort station fears concerning aging—and whether or not the items that wont to come back straightforward square measure slippy away. And for a lot of ways that to face close age with grace, learn the one hundred Best Anti-Aging Secrets.

3I keep in mind Nothing by Nora Ephron

I keep in mind nothing

"The past is slippy away and also the gift could be a constant affront," writes Ephron during this touching and earnest reflections on reaching sixty-nine. "I cannot presumably continue."

4Dave Barry Turns fifty by Dave Barry

dave barry turns fifty

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author tackles time of life for the generation Generation, and it's specifically as humorous as you'd assume. "The transformation is corresponding to the one Clark Kent goes through," Barry writes. "He takes wing his glasses and becomes Superman; you set on your reading glasses and become… adult." And for a lot of ways that to look at life sort of an entertainer like Barry would cross-check the fifty Puns thus unhealthy they are Funny.

5Fried inexperienced Tomatoes at the railroad station restaurant by Fannie Flagg

fired inexperienced tomatoes and also the railroad station castle

Two ladies from totally different generations bond over stories from the past. The picture show version barely scraped the surface of this novel's bittersweet reflections on growing previous. "It's funny, once you are a kid you're thinking that time can ne'er fade," writes Flagg. "But after you hit concerning twenty, time passes like you are on the quick train to Memphis. I suppose life simply slips au courant, everyone. It positive did on Pine Tree State."

6Ending Up by Kingsley Amis

Ending Up by Kingsley Amis

This browse could be an in darkness comic 1973 British novel a couple of clusters of previous men and girls inhabitancy during a retirement home. however, these old-timers don't have any intention of weakening quietly into the sunset. they are a lot of involved with whether or not they will have enough booze to urge them through the night. As Amis once explained, "It's concerning 5 specific folks that would not be behaving as they are doing if they weren't previous." think about it like bizarro Breakfast Club.

7A Final look by histrion

A Final look by histrion

You're not reaching to notice a more robust book concerning attending the funerals of previous friends than this memoir, the last book by the guy United Nations agency vies Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Nothing is urgently vital," he writes. "And the enjoyment of life is simply watching it."

8Letter to My female offspring by Maya Angelou

Letter to My female offspring by Maya Angelou

Angelou writes straightforward observations that will have you ever reeling for months, reconsidering everything you thought you knew concerning being older and a lot of mature. "I am convinced that the majority of individuals don't age," she writes. "We marry and dare to possess youngsters and decision that growing up. I believe what we tend to do is usually age. we feature an accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, however typically our real selves, the kids within, square measure innocent and keep as magnolias." And if you wish to be as wisely parental as Angelou, learn the forty Parenting Hacks for Raising a tremendous child.

9The coming back older by Simone Delaware women's rightist

The Coming older by Simone Delaware women's rightist

How can we extremely treat our elderly? women's rightist attempts to search out go into this unsettling prose account of what it suggests that to age and a lot of dependants. "Society cares concerning the individual solely in so far as he's profitable," she writes. "The young recognize this. Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish of the previous as they're excluded from it."

10The Cairo trio by Naguib Mahfouz

The Cairo trio by Naguib Mahfouz

This series of novels by the Egyptian author and Nobel prize winner is, on its surface, simply the chronology of a family over 3 generations. however, it's extremely concerning what it suggests that to get older within the interior of cultural and social changes, as what is thought-about a standard approach of life is forced to adapt and evolve to fashionable ideas.

[dukereviewstv]

Duke Reviews TV: Smallville 1x10 Shimmer

Hi, Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews TV Where We Continue Our Look At Smallville By Talking About Episode 10 Of Season 1, Shimmer...

This Episode Is About A Girl Named Amy Palmer Whose Family Lives On The Luthor Mansion Grounds And Has A Serious Crush On Lex Despite Being Incredibly Jealous Of Victoria So, When Victoria Gets Attacked By An Invisible Man One Night When She's Taking A Bath Clark Tries To Find Out Who Is Behind The Attack And When Evidence Points To Amy The Question Lies Is Amy Behind The Attack? Or Does She Have A Guardian Angel Watching Over Her?

Well, If She Does, He May Be More Phantom Of The Opera Than Frankie Avalon. So, Let's Watch Shimmer To See Who This Person Is...

The Episode Starts At Smallville High, Where It's Blood Donation Week With Lana At The Helm Of Getting Donations. But As Clark And Lana Talk, We Meet Amy Palmer, Who Is Sitting In The Stands, Writing In Her Diary About Lex Luthor As A Kid Named Troy Swipes It From Amy But Luckily Her Brother, Jeff (Who Looks Like Johnny Yong Bosch On Power Rangers Turbo) Goes To Get It Back From Troy...

Eventually, Amy Gets Her Diary Back As Troy Tells Her That Lex Luthor Will Never Fall For Her...

(Amy) Oh, I Hope You Get Eaten By A Werewolf Someday...

Meanwhile In The Boys Locker Room...

(Start At 1:23)

Meeting Chloe At The Beanery, Clark Tells Her About Troy And His Invisible Man While Noticing That Whitney And Lana Are Having A Little Spat About How He Talked To Her For About A Week And She's Getting Concerned But Whitney Just Tells Her That He Needs A Little Space....

Walking Off Shortly After That Statement, Lana Talks With Clark And Chloe As Chloe Offers To Donate A Pint Of Blood Tomorrow, But Clark Lies To Lana Saying That He Doesn't Know When He'll Donate (Instead Of Saying That Needles Bend Off Of His Skin) But He Will Help Sign People Up And Pass Out Cookies...

Meanwhile At The Luthor Mansion, Victoria Talks With Her Father Who Asks Lex If He's Going To Sell The Mansion After They Sell Out Lionel, But Victoria Doesn't Really Get An Answer Out Of Lex, Who Kisses Her Only To Be Interrupted By Amy Who's There To Give Them Their Drinks By Dumping Them Right On Victoria...

With Victoria Knowing That She Did That On Purpose, Lex Just Tells Her That It's Just A Harmless Little Crush And That It'll Pass...

Running Back To Her Family's Home On The Mansion Grounds, Amy's Mother Talks With Her About Lex With Her Brother, Jeff Listening Saying That They May Live On The Mansion Grounds But They're Not Part Of That World And She Needs To Know Her Place...

Back At The Kent Farm, Clark Tells His Parents About The Blood Drive Which Is When They Remind Him That He Can't Donate Blood Because Of That "Needle Problem" Which He Knows But If He Can't Tell Lana The Truth Then He Should Say That He Has A Problem With Needles...

(Start At 0:12)

Arriving At The Mansion With Freshly Picked Tulips, Clark Finds Lex On The Floor Looking For A Watch That His Mother Gave To Him Before She Died, But Getting Back To Flowers, Lex Tells Clark That They're Victoria's Favorites Which Causes An Unknown Force To Knock Them Down...

With Clark Realizing That Things Must Be Going Good With Victoria, Despite Her Not Seeming To Be Lex's Type, Lex Tells Clark That Relationships Aren't Always About Love But Sometimes Of Mutual Goals...

Going To Search The Library To Try To Find Lex's Watch, Clark, Lex And Victoria Hear A Door Rattling Upstairs...

(Start At 2:49, End At 3:16)

Okay, That Doesn't Happen, But If It Did It Would Be Freaking Hysterical!

Opening The Door, Lex And Clark Enter To Find It Completely In Blacklight With Graffiti That Says Leave And Get Out...

With Chloe Getting Pictures Of It, Clark Explains To Her That The Door Was Shaking And When Lex Opened It, He Felt Something Brush Past Him Which Has Chloe Wondering If The Scottish Castle That Makes Up Lex's House, Came With A Poltergeist Despite The Police Believing That It's Vandals...

Asking About The Blood Drive, Clark Tells Chloe That Him And Lana Are Getting Together Tonight Which Has Chloe Warning Clark That Once He Crosses That Line, He Won't Be Able To Hide Behind His Cloak Of Friendship Anymore...

Back At The Luthor Mansion, Lex Gets A Visit From Lionel Who Is There To Talk With Lex About His Relationship With Victoria...

(Start At 2:07, End At 3:10)

With Victoria Listening In Amy Catches Her As She Grumbles Off About What A Bitch Victoria Is, As She Heads Back To Her Family's House To Tell Jeff What Happened...

Later That Night, Clark And Lana Go Over Schedules For The Blood Drive Which Leads Lana To Wonder What Time To Fit Clark In Which Leads Clark To Lie Her, Saying That He Has A Problem With Needles, Understanding Completely This Leads The 2 To Talk On Her Porch...

(Start At 0:39, End At 2:20)

With Auntie Buzzkill Interrupting, Clark And Lana Stop But Before He Goes, Clark Invites Lana To The Loft Tomorrow To See The Sunset...

The Next Day At School, He Tells Pete About Sunset With Lana Before Going To His Locker To See Whitney Talking With A Councilor Before Eventually Dropping His Books To Which Clark Comes To Help Him But In Doing So, Clark Finds A Bag For Smallville Pharmacy And Uses His X-Ray Vision To Discover That, What A Shocker, It's Drugs Specifically Amlodipine Which Clark Discovers Is Used To Treat High Blood Pressure And Chest Pains...

Running Into Amy At The Beanery, She Tells Clark That Victoria Was Going Through Lex's Stuff While Her And Her Mom Were In There While Also Relaying Why She Likes Lex, Stating That He Was The Only Person At The Mansion Who Treated Her Like A Person...

Visiting Lex That Night, Clark Tells Him About Victoria Saying That When He Saw Her In Here Last Night She Was Going Through The Files On His Computer, Knowing This Lex Tells Clark They're Basically Playing A Game Of Chess Which Has Clark Wondering If Lex Doesn't Love Her Why Is She Even Around? To Which Lex Tells Him That It's Complicated...

Telling Lex About What He Discovered About Whitney, He Recognizes The Medication As His Mom Was On It Before She Died Which Leads Lex To Tell Him About The Watch He Lost, Turns Out His Mom Gave It To Him When She Knew That She Was Going To Die Soon...

Well, At Least This Mom Had The Nerve To Die Instead Of Becoming A Megalomaniac Like On Supergirl...

The Watch Apparently Has A Franc From The Napoleonic Period Wondering Why Napoleon? Lex Tells Clark About Napoleon's Coronation By David Saying That When Napoleon's Mother Couldn't Make It To His Coronation, He Had David Paint Her In It As If She Was There...

But As The Boys Talk, Victoria Is Upstairs Getting Ready To Take A Bath...

But As She Jumps In Trouble Stirs As Our Mysterious Force, Starts Drowning Her But Luckily Clark Runs In And Manages To Save Victoria Before She Drowns Completely Which Pisses Off Our Mysterious Force Who Pushes Clark Into A Mirror Causing The Mirror To Shatter And Causes Our Mysterious Force To Bleed Proving That It's Not A Ghost But An Invisible Man...

Taking The Mirror Shard With The Blood To Chloe, She Finds Some Green Dust On The Shard Which Makes Half Of Her Thumb Invisible, Wiping It Off Chloe Starts Wondering Who Might Have An Axe To Grind Against Victoria Which Leads Clark To Suspect Amy As Victoria Said That She Didn't See Amy When She Was In The Bedroom With Her Mom...

Asking If Amy Gave Blood, Clark Says That She Did Which Leads Chloe To See If Their Blood Sample Matches Amy's. Finding Whitney In The Cafeteria, Clark Confronts Him On Lana And On The Heart Medication In His Bag And It Turns Out That It's For His Dad As He's Been In Metropolis All Week For Test With The Doctors Are Uncertain If He'll Survive...

And The Reason That He Didn't Tell Lana Was Because She's Been Through Enough Pain With Her Parents And He Didn't Want Her To Go Through It With Him. Which Leads Clark To Tell Whitney That Lana's A Strong Person And She Can Take It....

Running Into Lex At The Beanery, He Tells Clark That Victoria Is Fine And She's In Metropolis Resting Up For A Few Days Till They Get Answers, But As Clark Tells Lex About Whitney's Dad, Amy Enters To Say Hi As Clark X-Rays Her Hand To Discover Lex's Watch On Her Wrist And Once Amy Leaves Clark Tells Lex About What He Saw Which Leads Clark And Lex To Investigate Amy's Room Where They Find A Shrine To Lex Where They Find The Watch...

With Amy's Mom Apologizing For Her Daughter, Lex Has No Intention Of Pursuing Charges But It's Clear That Amy Needs Help. Making It To His Loft At Sunset, Lana Stands By The Window So They Can Watch The Sunset...

(Start At O:27, End At 2:59)

As Amy And Her Mom Drive Off For Metropolis, Lex Calls Victoria Only Get His Phone Knocked Out Of His Hand And To Get Sucker Punched By Our Invisible Man...

Back On The Kent Farm, Chloe Drops By With The Blood Test Results And It Turns Out That Amy Did Not Match The Invisible Man's Blood Type But Her Brother, Jeff Does...

(Sighs) It's Always The Quiet Ones, But Yeah, Jeff Is Our Invisible Man...

(Start At 1:05, End At 3:55)

So, With Lex Saved And Jeff Arrested, Clark Returns To The Barn To See Lana Talking With Whitney About His Dad On Her Porch...

And That's Shimmer And It Was A Good Episode...

The Story And Characters Are Good And The Idea Of An Invisible Man As A Bad Guy Is An Interesting One To The Point That I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E7; Chapter Seven, The Bathtub - [Pt. 3 - FINAL]

A Will Byers x Gender Neutral!Reader Series

𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯, 𝘠/𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘑𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳.

||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

The sun had set behind the trees by the time the chief's car pulled up in front of the Byers home. Strangely, it feels like years since we were last here when it had only been three days ago. As we all exited the vehicle, three figures emerged from the house; Nancy, Jonathan, and Mrs. Byers.

"Mike. Oh, my God. Mike!" Nancy exclaimed, running towards him.

He stepped forward and she engulfed him in a hug.

Grabbing him by the shoulders, she pulled away. "I was so worried about you." She scolded.

"Yeah, uh... me, too." He said awkwardly.

Nancy's eyes trailed over to El and an odd look crossed her face. She tilted her head slightly.

"Is that my dress?"

El looked to me not knowing what to do and then back at the older girl. For some reason, and what I can only assume to be my state of mind and being under so much stress I begin to chuckle, finding the whole situation kinda funny.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat."

We had all made it inside and currently, we were all gathered around the living room. The party and I were sitting on the floor surrounding the coffee table while the others were seated on the furniture. Mike had drawn up Mr. Clark's diagram of the flea and the acrobat and was catching everybody else up with what we've learned so far. They all stayed quiet for the most part — occasionally jumping in to ask clarifying questions which we were more than happy to answer — and listened intently. I, however, remained quiet. I was still trying to process what had happened during my encounter with the bad men. I was also transfixed in the living room around me. Wondering how the once welcoming and cozy second home had changed so drastically.

And what the hell was with all these Christmas lights?

"Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said that the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space,"

"A gate," Dustin interjected.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab"

"With our compasses,"

"And El's help of course," I added, smiling at El who shyly returned it.

The others exchanged confused glances.

Dustin took this as his cue to talk.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle.

Hopper spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Is this gate underground?"

Surprising us all, El answered almost immediately. "Yes."

The two made eye contact. "Near a large water tank?" He asked.

She nodded and her gaze dropped to the floor. "Yes."

Beginning to feel more on edge, I spoke up, my voice faltering. "H-How do you know all that?"

The man said nothing and only kept his gaze. Mike looked to the drawing. "He's seen it."

I frowned at his odd behavior and I didn't try to hide my confusion and anxiety from him, I then dropped my gaze to my hands, growing tenser at the thought that these horrible people could be out to get me.

Mrs. Byers spoke up, addressing El. "Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—"

"The Upside Down." El finished.

Joyce's voice fell into a whisper. "Down. Yeah."

El nodded her head yes.

"And my friend Barbara?" Nancy spoke up hesitantly. "Can you find her, too?"

I could see the confidence build in El and it was then that I knew she was willing do everything she could to help us.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

We were all gathered around the dining room table, watching with bated breath as El attempted to find Will and Barb. She had breifly explained that she could sometimes find people telepathically somehow. She required white noise, hence Will's walkie was on the table, switched to a blank station so static filled the silence and she had her eyes closed.

Nancy had offered a once torn up photo of Barb sitting on the edge of a pool as a reference for El. What felt like minutes passed and suddenly the lamp overhead flickered and El opened her eyes. Her voice was hoarse.

"I'm sorry."

"What? What's wrong? What's happened?" Mrs. Byers stuttered.

El was blinking back tears and her voice broke. "I can't find them."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El had excused herself to the bathroom, probably to catch her breath. I just hope she wasn't blaming herself. The rest of us are still at the kitchen table, processing everything. My attention was pulled to the boys when they began elaborating more on her powers.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike said.

My head perked up at this.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin added.

I've had a lot of time to think about what had happened and what I had done earlier today and in that time I could never help but assume that however, whenever El got her powers, I got mine. Whatever it may be, we must be connected somehow.

I recalled that in the short time I've known her and seen her use her powers, I've seen the toll it takes on her.

If it makes her weak, that must have been why I passed out earlier... my body had never grown accustomed to the exertion.

"Like, she flipped a van earlier."

"It was awesome."

"But she's drained."

"Like a bad battery."

I sat there, my eyes glued to the floor as I listened to the boys unknowingly talk about the similarities between me and El.

I felt a pair of eyes on me and I hesitantly lifted my head and briefly made eye contact with the chief who seemed the slightest bit suspicious of me. I quickly looked away and tried to focus back on the group.

"Well..." Mrs. Byers stuttered. "How do we make her better?"

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike said.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asked.

Mike shrugged his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."

"The bath." El's quiet voice grabbed everyone's attention and we all turned to see her standing just outside the kitchen.

"What?" I asked.

"I can find them." She seemed very hesitant, almost afraid of what she was going to say next. "In the bath."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Well, this is happening.

We really are calling our science teacher at ten o'clock on a Saturday and asking about sensory deprivation tanks and how to build them.

That won't be weird at all.

Nevertheless, we all watched nervously as Dustin stood by the phone and made the call.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin."

"..."

"Yeah, yeah. I just, I... I have a science question,"

I cringed, unable to imagine any scenario in which this would pan out.

"..."

"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"

"..."

"Fun."

I furrowed my brows and then sighed defeatedly before putting my face in my hands.

"..."

"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

I couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape, slightly impressed he threw Mr. Clarke's words back in his face and I looked back up.

"..."

All of the sudden Dustin motioned for something to write on and with and Jonathan was quick to supply. Dustin sat at the table, listening to the instructions and writing them down.

"Uh-huh... uh-huh... How much? Uh-huh. Yep, all right... Yeah, we'll be careful... Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke... Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke bye." Dustin quickly trailed off and was quick to hang up the phone.

"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Mrs. Byers almost immediately after hanging up.

"Uhh, I think so, yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it."

"How much is 'lots'?" The chief asked.

Dustin took a look at the notepad and looked back at Hopper.

"1,500 pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked the question everybody seemed to be wondering.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The school. It was the chiefs idea. We all headed to the school, taking separate cars.

Chief Hopper and Jonathan went to the shed to grab the bags of salt, Mike and Nancy were getting the hoses while Dustin, Lucas and I set up the pool in the gym.

"Damn, this thing is heavy." Dustin panted as we both rolled the folded up kiddie pool to the center of the gym.

Together we undid the ropes holding it together and attempted to unfold it. After much trial and error we finally were able to get the pool set up. The water temperature had been tested just as much as the bouncy of the egg to determine if there was enough salt.

The finishing touch; Will's walkie switched on to static nearby. Finally, we were ready.

Mrs. Byers and I had helped El into the bath. She had just taken off her shoes and socks as well as the digital watch Mike had given her almost a week ago. Mrs. Byers and her seemed to have constructed a waterproof blindfold with ducttape and goggles from the science lab.

We all sat nearby, ready in case she needed anything and it was almost chilling to watch her float on her back. Suddenly, the lights in the gym flickered accompanied by the sounds of the electricity surging. Finally, the lights went out. We all looked cautiously towards the ceiling before looking back to El.

Seconds felt like hours when suddenly, El spoke. Her voice broke, she sounded fearful.

"Barbara?"

My heart began to faster once more.

El's breathing became frantic and the lights flickered again.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked worriedly towards us.

"I don't know." Mike said, just as panicked.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked frantically to El.

El began whimpering.

"Gone. Gone. Gone."

I looked to Nancy, who brought a hand to her mouth to mask her sobs. My heart ached for her.

But it never stopped pounding. My hands were shaking even worse.

Mrs. Byers immediately reached a hand out to El and held her hand, and rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." She cooed.

"Gone. Gone!"

I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a storm, unable to move. Unable to help. Useless. Waiting for the worst.

"It's okay. It's okay. Hey. It's okay." Mrs. Byers was doing everything in her power to calm the girl.

Even the chief gently grabbed her other hand to try and soothe her.

"It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. It's okay. You're safe."

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

Eleven found the wave of panic dissolve into nothing as she heard the distant echo of Joyce's voice reassuring her.

For the first time she felt somewhat calm in this horrifying place. Suddenly she saw something in the distance.

It was a small hut roughly her height, made from large sticks and branches. It was decorated with flags and a painted sign that read

《•••》

"Castle Byers." El muttered.

My eyes widen in shock and my eyes were glued to the girl in front of me. Terrified of hearing the word "gone".

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears and my fingers grasped the edge of the pool dangerously tight.

《•••》

Eleven slowly approached the fort, scared of what she might find. But she knew she had to. She needed to.

After everything everyone had done for her. How kind Mike and Y/n had been. She felt she owed it to them. Facing her fears she brought her hand up to the blanket entrance and brushed it aside as she stepped inside.

There he was. Drenched in sweat and slime and shivering from the cold conditions, laid Will Byers unconscious, but clinging to life.

She lowered herself to the ground and sat on her knees.

"Will."

《•••》

"Will?" El asked hopefully.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and everyone around us gasped.

《•••》

In his life threatening state, he saw the girl kneeling before him and like a mirage, he allowed his mind to create a reality in where he saw the person he grew so fond of. He was still dreaming.

《•••》

"Y/n?" The voice over the walkie talkie echoed all throughout the gym.

My heart stopped and I felt everyone's eyes on me and everyone gasped.

The voice, the sad and broken voice of Will Byers crackled over the radio saying my name causing me stare at the walkie talkie.

My eyes became glassy and my vision blurred.

He's alive. He's alive and that all that matters.

"That's Will! Tell- You tell him... tell him I'm coming."

《•••》

Eleven spoke the words that echoed in her brain. She grasped the boys hand and shook it ever so slightly.

"No, but they're looking for you. And your mom... she's coming for you. Everybody is looking for you."

Finally gathering enough strength to open his eyes, he looked to her and spoke.

||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"Hurry."

His voice echoed through the gym once more and we all watched feeling helpless.

Mrs. Byers continued to feed words to El.

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to — to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

We heard whimpering on the radio and suddenly El shot up, gasping for air making us all jump back. She scrambled backwards into Mrs. Byers arms and she softly calmed the girl down.

Tears were now freely falling down my cheeks as I try to process everything that just happened.

"Oh, okay, okay. I've got you. It's okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good. Are you okay?"

I quickly attempt to wipe my tears away with the back of my sleeve as I watch everything unfold. I wanted to be strong for El.

For Will.