#DEREK STEALING RICHARD’S JOB

[quinnfabraymybeloved]

season 6 of grey’s unlocks a beast in me.

[uspdude051]

Hi, can I request a Derek shepherd X male reader? I have an idea you can use, maybe Derek broke up with Meredith after being together for like two months, after one month he starts liking the reader (can the reader be the same level as him? Not an intern) and after one month of Derek trying he and the reader start dating and one day all the interns find them cuddling (can the reader be little spoon pls) and they are in shock and kinda confused

Im sorry if it's a bad idea, I just want a story with him

Sleep and Confusion

A/N: sooo. This person requested this over two years ago and I felt bad….this is once every blue moon lol

TW: Fluff and bad grammar :)

Set in Season 4 when Meredith and Derek Broke up

It has been a few months since I got the job as The New Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery. You had a job as a Mass Gen as a regular attending, but the Chief of Surgery, Richard Webber, offered you the job and you decided to take the job right away. You liked Seattle even though the constant rain annoyed the hell out of you. Over time you manage to make a few friends. It's mostly the heads of the surgical department and a few residents like Bailey and Callie.

You just finished your shift and decided to hang out at Joe’s, when you got there you sat down at the bar at the far end. When you ordered your usual drink you turned to the left and saw Derek Shepherd, the head of neurosurgery, was drinking alone. You decided to have some small talk since you didn't know him that well. You knew of him, like how his nickname is McDreamy and he had a previous relationship with one of the 1st years.

You went over to sit next to him and asked,” Hey, how are you doing?”

He turned to look at you and was surprised I was talking to him. He answered, “You're doing well, yourself.”

You nodded in response. Joe gave you your drink and the two of you started to have some small talk. It was mostly regarding other interests, what's your favorite sports team, where you go to college, all that stuff.

Then you decided to ask something that would be a little awkward to answer.

“So… what's the deal with you and that one resident?” you asked. You notice that he and Meredith steal glances every chance they get.

He looked at you debating whether or not to answer, “We had a relationship when she was in the 1st year” He paused “We tried to work it out but unfortunately, we couldn’t.”

“Sorry about that, it must have been hard,” you said with sincerity.

He looked down at his drink and replied, “Yeah…..yeah it was, but I'm starting to move on.”

A part of you was relieved that he was getting over the heartbreak that he is experiencing but another part of you made you feel bad for the dude and wondered what you do to help. 

Ever since that night at Joe’s, you and Derek’s friendship has grown even more. You guys talk whenever you have a break. It was a good friendship, a little brotherhood friendship. It was going great until your feelings towards Derek grew to the point where you started to grow romantic feelings. But you decided to act against it for two reasons. 1) you didn't know if he wasn't straight and 2) you were pretty sure he was still hung up with the 2-year resident. You decided to compress those feelings because you didn't want to mess up your newfound friendship with Derek. 

Then one day you and Derek were both alone changing in the attending room after a very long day of back-to-back surgeries. He was leaning against the locker right to yours while you were just finished changing into your regular clothing. You were gonna ask if you wanted to head to Joe's to watch the game. But Derek beat you to the question but the difference was that he asked you something that completely shocked you. 

“Go out with me tomorrow night,” Derek said so subtly.

You slammed the locker door hard and stared into his blue eyes. Your own eyes widened at the question. You normally don't judge a book by its cover, but you would have never thought he was into dudes

“ Are you playing a trick with me or is this some kind of joke?” you asked. You were very wary about the guys you dated because most of the guys you've dated were assholes or straight dudes trying to get a laugh at you.

Derek said quickly “I'm not!!!...it's just you for the past month you were by my side with a lot of you… and I really, REALLY, think we have a connection.” 

As he said that his words started to slow down and started to seem more sincere. You ask him whether or not he was straight. You assumed he was Bi or Pan at least considering he had an ex-wife and his last relationship was Meredith. He explained that he’s bisexual and that he had two boyfriends before he started dating Addison.

You were still hesitant because your last relationship ended with your boyfriend cheating on you with his co-worker. He could tell by your facial expressions that you were very hesitant. He took your hand looked into your eyes and said this

“I promise I'm not gonna be like the other guy, if you want to take things slow that's fine,  all that I'm asking for is one dinner, and that's it.”

You could tell that he was being genuine, again you were a little hesitant. But then again he wasn’t like the other dude. Derek is kind, smart, and charismatic, all of the great qualities in a man that you were into.

So you looked into his dreamy eyes and said, “Yes, I would love to.”

2 months later.

It was a long day In the OR and you wanted to lie down. You went to the call room to get some shut cause you didn't have the energy to drive. You took off your tennis shoes and laid down on the bottom bunk facing the wall. As you are about to shut your eyes you hear the door open and see a bright light illuminated on the wall.

You turned your back to whoever just opened the door and saw Derek who looked just as tired as you are. He shut the door behind him and walked over to you. He lay down next and put his arm around your body holding you in a firm grip never letting you go.

You murmured, “How was your craniotomy on that peds patient?” 

Derek also replied with a murmur” It went great, how did your heart transplant go?”

Seconds passed by without a response. Next thing you know, Derek heard the gentle sound of your snoring. Chuckling quietly to himself, he leaned in and placed a tender kiss on your forehead. Gradually, he too began to drift off to sleep.

THIRD PERSON POV

An hour passed, and the door opened revealing Alex who needed some shut-eye from a surgery he just assisted on. As he was about to select a bed, he paused, noticing Shepherd cuddling with the new cardio attending. His eyes widened in suspicion, suspecting a romantic relationship between the two. Soon after, Lexi and a few other interns entered, their attention immediately drawn to the scene before them. While some were taken aback, Lexi found the sight incredibly endearing.

[annimator]

YO WHAT

(DUDE THAT NEW EPISODE WAS CRAZY)

• Derek changed his mic pog

• “With an idol play, only Spencer’s vote mattered, sending home everyone’s favorite goth.” DON’T REMIND ME THAT TRISTAN’S GONE. THEIR EXIT INTERVIEW MADE THAT WORSE

• Damn, Jade’s cooking- YO WAIT WE GOT A ZAIVY MOMENT

• HE’S DUMPING HIS BACKSTORY ONTO HER. BRO I HOPE HE WINS

• “Hey, I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. It wasn’t at you. Not really. And for the record, the kiss was nice.” AWWWWWWWW

• THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS OH MY GOD

• “HEY! UNION JACKASS!” GET HIM HANNAH

• ALSO TO EVERYONE BITCHING ON TWITTER THAT “IT’S JUST A GAME” & THAT HANNAH GOING OFF AT SPENCER IS IN BAD TASTE. IMAGINE LOSING BOTH OF YOUR PARENTS AT A YOUNG AGE, YOU MEET A BUNCH OF FRIENDS, AND SOME BRITISH BITCH KEEPS VOTING THEM OFF

• Yeah that british bitch title’s going strong, damn lmao

• “I don’t know what Diego saw in you.” HOLY SHIT YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM GIRL

• NAW, SHE’S SAD- WAIT HOL UP SHE JUST SAID SHE ISNT GONNA GIVE UP ON THE GAME. FUCK YEAH HANNAH

• YOOOO HANJI INTERACTION

• “Don’t beat yourself up! I did too.” “Yeah, but… people expect that out of you.” “DAMN! CHILL, CHILL!” LMAOOOOO

• BENJI’S LOCKING IN. I REPEAT, BENJI’S LOCKING IN

• “Tristan’s blindside fucked me up. Yeah, I miss them, but it’s also reminded me this is still a game. I noticed Jade wasn’t shocked during the Tristan blindside. Something tells me she’s not as passive as people think.” FUCK YEAH BENJIIII

• OMG HE’S SEEING THROUGH JADE’S BULLSHIT

• “What happens if Zaid & Ivy get tighter?” damn, like they aren’t already tight af?

• “Goddammit, they’re a cute couple!” REALLL

• Ngl Jade playing both “sides” is pretty smart on her end imo

• Ah fuck, they’re gonna find out about Ana getting the advantage

• The fucking noises Logan makes in this episode almost got me laughing lmao

• “Well, I suppose the early beaver gets the tree.” SIR, YOU GOT THE FUCKING SAYING WRONG. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM-

• oh shit, he fucking swore :0

• THE SAPPHICS ARE FIGHTINGGGGG

• if I had a nickel for everytime there was a same-sex pink x green ship with tension in DC, i’d have 2 nickels

• anyways THEY’LL BE FINE IN THE ENDDDD

• “It was what?” “Gone! Finito! Hasta luego…” HC that Nat taught Logan some spanish :>

• “I’m a publicist not a forensic psychologist… Not that I wouldn’t kill that job!” yeah, she probably would

• Natalia endorses kleptocracy pog

• “I don’t know about this..” “Richard… it’s for a good cause.” “What good cause?” “Uh… helping the elderly?” LMAOOOOOO

• “I love napping! It’s like a little microdose of death as a treat.” THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE???

• “I’m reporting this to Trevor & Derek. A.S.A.P!” Respectfully, I don’t think those two’d probably care lmao

• ISABEL CLUTCH

• “Mom, if you’re watching, I promise I’ve NEVER sinned! E-Except for stealing that trading card when I was 10… but I apologized a million times!” I’M CRYING HE’S SUCH A WHOLESOME MOMMA’S BOY

• HELP, NAT’S FACE IN THIS SCENE

• Damn, Isa clocked her in the end

• YO WAIT SHE ALSO WANTS TO WORK WITH THE GUYS

• “Marissa’s leadership is questionable, Anastasia just supports anything she says.” They’re sapphics, Isabel

• SHE WAS GONNA SWEAR WHEN TALKING ABOUT LYNDA LMAOOOO

• NEW ALLIANCE DROPPED LEZGOO

• also why does Isabel kinda sound like Fiore in this episode. No offence, she’s one of my faves

• STOP RICHARD LOOKED DEVASTATED WHEN HE REALIZED THEY WERE GONE

• “Today’s challenge involves man’s greatest invention.. The engin—! No, no, wait, no… Fire!” Lmao I love how Silly Billy delivered that

• HELP, DEREK SLOWLY WALKED AWAY SEEING EMILY AGGRESSIVELY CONSTRUCT THE RAFT

• IVY SABATOGING THE CHALLENGE FOR RED TEAM, FOR THE SOLE HOPE OF VOTING OUT SPENCER IS LITERALLY A MOOD

• Girl was using an advanced technique called LYING- oh wait wrong term, ACTING

• SHE & ZAID DECIDED TO SABOTAGE THE CHALLENGE FOR RED TEAM FOR THE SOLE HOPE OF VOTING OUT SPENCER & AVENGING TRISTAN IS HONESTLY BASED

• Trevor & Derek were deadass trolling the contestants this episode with how much they announced teams managing to do certain things like making the rafts & lighting torches lmao

• AND AS ALWAYS, THEY’RE STARING AT EACH OTHER

• Bro I cannot get over how great all the swimsuits for this season look. Ivy’s is still my favorite

• Ana boutta crash out lmao

• Lynda, you’re doing great sweetie

• MORE SAPPHIC TENSION

• ngl that boat looks like shit, srry Lynda

• Damn, the animation looks great this episode! The animators were having so much fun this episode fr

• THESE DORKS ARE SPECTATING THE CHALLENGE THROUGH BINOCULARS LMAO

• LOOK AT DEREK CHUCKLING OVER THE BLUE TEAM’S FIRST RAFT BREAKING

• “Sorry, Lynda, but we’re tanking fast than Katy Perry’s relevancy!” THIS FUCKING QUOTE TOOK ME OUT DURING THE PREMIERE LMAO

• DON’T COME FOR MY CHILDHOOD LIKE THAT NAT, I LOVED HER WHEN I WAS YOUNG

• also fun fact, for the spanish dub for this scene, Natalia shit-talked Emilia Perez instead of Katy Perry lol

• “this game would be so much easier if I could run it like my book club. Listen, here, if I can get Kathy to shut it every week, Blue team shouldn’t be this difficult.” lot of funny lines from this episode :p

• THESE TWO ARE STILL SABOTAGING THE CHALLENGE

• ZAID LITERALLY HAS A ONE-SIDED RIVALRY WITH SPENCER OVER HIM VOTING OUT TRISTAN, AND CALLED HIM SOME FUCKASS BRITISH CUISINE INSULT. I LOVE HIM

• Damn, Spencer clutch

• Ivy cursing Spencer under her breath is a mood. She’s just like me fr whenever somebody pisses me off in public

• Damn that raft looks great Marissa

• IVY CRASHING THEIR RAFT INTO THE BLUE TEAM’S THAT WAS ACTUALLY A BIG BRAIN MOVE

• HELP, RED TEAM’S RAFT ENDED UP BREAKING & KEPT SPRAYING WATER ONTO BENJI’S FACE AS THEY WERE ROWING TO SHORE

• THE WAY DEREK SNATCHED THE MEGAPHONE FROM TREVOR, AND HE DIDN’T LOOK ANNOYED/ANGRY OVER IT. MY GOD, THESE FUCKERS ARE GAY… or uh, Bi, if… y’know :p

• ANDDDDDDD, IVY DID IT. SHE SABATOGED THE CHALLENGE

• GOOD FOR HER I BETTER NOT BE SEEING ANY IVY HATE

• HELP, IVY WAS THE ONLY ONE SMILING OVER LOSING

• “As for Red Team, I am so sorry to be seeing you guys lose… again?! Like four times in a row?! That must sting a lot!” I’M CRYING TREVOR DID NOT HAVE TO TAUNT THEM LIKE THIS

• DEREK WAS EVEN GIGGLING OVER HIM SAYING THAT LMAO

• Blue team’s vibing

• MORE LYNDA BACKSTORY

• “You always seem so… miserable no matter what happens.” Yeah, well, I got plenty of reasons.” oh???

• “I only came on this moronic show… so that I can say I’ve done something with my life besides looking after my boys for 18 years. Married at 19; never went to college. What do I have to show for it?” MY EMOTIONS

• BRUH WDYM SHE HEARD ONE OF HER SONS CALL HER A BITCH

• Silly Billy’s gonna have a field day with this scene. He did say in this DC4 ranking vid that Lynda was his favorite (also speaking off, mad respect to him for Ranking Benji in his top 4)

• JADE REVEALED SHE GOT THE IDOL HINT FROM THAT TRIP FROM EPISODE 1, AND THAT ISABEL HERSELF GOT AN IDOL TO SPENCER. OH FUCK

• ANOTHER ZAIVY MOMENT LEZGO

• THEY REALLY DID DO IT FOR TRISTAN

• WAIT OH MY GOD. SHE GAVE ZAID A KISS ON THE CHEEK

• “Everyone ready for elimination?” “Are you motherfucker?” DAMMNNNN BRO’S GOT STREET CRED

• I’M CRYING SPENCER SHIPS THEM

• “Look, I’ve watched way too many rom coms not to noticed Ivy & Zaid shacking up.” Real. Also Hannah’s a mood for questioning if she really wants to break them up for the sake of the game. i’d think that too

• Aw, they’re nodding before announcing tonight’s vote- WAIT HOLY SHIT

• WHOEVER’S GETTING VOTE OUT IS GONNA SWITCH TEAMS AND PICK OUT WHO FROM BLUE TEAM SWITCHES TO RED & RED TEAM’S GETTING A MAJOR DISADVANTAGE NEXT EPISODE

• THEY’RE STILL BOUTTA VOTE SPENCER LMAOOO

• THEY ALL HATE HIS BRITISH BITCHASS

• STOP HE WAS GONNA TEAR UP OVER JADE VOTING HIM. HE’S BESTIES WITH HER

• OH SHIT, BENJI’S STILL LOCKED IN. THAT’S MY FAVE

• WAIT IVY ALSO CLOCKED JADE.

• WHO’S SPENCER GONNA PICK?

• my fucking god- OF COURSE IT’S ANOTHER GODAMN CLIFFHANGER

• Peak episode as always!

[cleclercbaby]

Chasing Cars - Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc x Fem!FBI Agent!reader x Criminal Minds

Mentioned Cast: Criminal Minds Cast (Aaron Hotchner, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau/JJ, Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan)

Word Count: 2086

Warning: mention of guns, m*rder word, sh**ting, AND THIS IS MY FIRST TIME SO BEAR WITH ME🫶🏻

Location: Los Angeles (Made up location)

Summary: as a Supervisory Special Agent, your team have been assigned to a murder case which involved street robberies… but then Charles Leclerc comes into action. (Inspired by a CCTV footage of Charles chasing down his watch thieves.”

Abbreviation: UnSub (Unknows Subject- The criminals), B.A.U (Behavioral Analysis Unit)

----------

You put a black sunglasses as you get out of the airport. You and the rest of the Behavioral Analysis Unit Team split into two different SUVs as you, Reid, and Hotch go straight to the LAPD office while Derek, Emily, and JJ go to the crime scene. The case the B.A.U team is working on is about some murder that took place in Malibu with stealing expensive watches as the modus operandi. We believe that the UnSub is more than one person.

All the victims were found in the alleys and all of them have lost their expensive watches. The B.A.U team came to the conclusion that the victims had fought back the UnSub but instead got murdered in the middle of the fight.

Your team arrived at the LAPD office 5 minutes later. The LAPD has set up the office for your team. Hotch, Reid and you directly setting up the files and the map. Reid spent another minute doing the geographic profiling as you and Hotch talked to Sergeant Reyes about the evidence.

Hotch’s phone rings and it shows Garcia’s name on the screen. Penelope Garcia is our tech analysis. She’s doing her job back at our office in Quantico.

“Yes, Garcia. You’re on speaker.” Hotch says, his eyes still fixed on the victim’s pictures.

“I got the brand name of those expensive watches. Rolex and Richard Mille, they only stole these two brands.” She says as her typing sounds got faster. “The UnSub let go of 2 victims who wore another brand.”

“Do you have the name of those 2 victims?” You ask her.

“Of course, Honey. Their names are Jacob Rhodes and Lilian Harris. I’ve sent their addresses to your phone. Ciao!”

With that information, Hotch calls Derek to go to those addresses and talk to the victims.

—

“Fuck!” You mutter under your breath as you try to control the steering wheels. You end up in this situation because Hotch asked you and Emily to watch the UnSub when Garcia sent the address of their whereabouts to the team. Your team have two UnSubs who match the profile. Greg Finn and Tyler Brendan.

You and Emily wait for them silently and patiently inside the car, until a man gets out of his car in front of the UnSubs. The UnSubs seem to know the man because they ask for something. You frown, thinking about the worst thing about the man being their leader or something, but then they hold up their phone to take a selfie with the man. What? Is that man a celebrity?

You try to look closely, but you just can’t see the face clearly. You’re not that far from them but they’re facing the opposite direction which makes it harder to see the man’s face. They seem good for a while until everything turns into chaos when the thieves run to their car as the man shouts at them.

“Merde! My watch!” He shouts while he abruptly gets into his car, trying to get ahold of the thieves car.

You and Emily are trailing behind him and my god! He is fast. “Watch out!” Emily yells.

“Fuck!” You mutter under your breath as you try to control the steering wheels. “How is he driving so fast?”

“Girl, he’s driving a Ferrari. Of course he is fast.” Emily replies, as it is so obvious.

“Damn! We need to get one so we can be fast when catching the criminals.” You joke, trying to ease up the situation. Emily laughs, agreeing with you before she calls Derek to let him know where the UnSub is heading.

“I’m ready at the end of the road, bring them here Y/N.” Derek says through the speaker.

“Copy that.” You reply. “Their victim is chasing them too. It seems like they tried to ask for a selfie then stole the watch and ran afterwards.”

“There was no fight?” Now Hotch turns to ask through the speaker, “They just ran?”

“Yes, they just ran.” Emily answers him. “We’re close. Do you guys see them?”

“Alright. We’re gonna cut him from here.” Derek says then turn off the call.

“Wait the man’s car didn’t know Derek is gonna cut them off, he’s on high speed with a fucking Ferrari.” Realisation hits you as you think of the worst thing that will happen if he didn’t slow down.

“Damn it! You’re right.” Emily cursed, “I’m putting on the siren. Can you drive faster?”

“I’m trying. Might as well be an F1 driver after this case, though.” You groan, trying to drive faster so you can get to the man’s car. You’re not a big fan of driving this fast so you feel your hands are sweating. It makes you grip the steering wheels harder so you don’t slip.

Finally you’re trailing right behind the man. You try to overtake him but he’s driving like a freaking pro F1 driver. Fuck it! “Emily, turn off the siren and shout at him. I’ll try to get as close as possible. This man thinks he’s in F1 and doesn’t let me overtake.”

Emily does as you said. She turns off the siren then puts herself over the car window. “SIR. I’M SSA EMILY PRENTISS FROM FBI AND I ORDER YOU TO SLOW DOWN.” Emily shouts as loud as possible and you hope he hears him.

Thankfully, he heard her and slowed down his car so you finally can drive right beside him. You gesture your hand to ask him to roll down his window.

“Charles Leclerc?” You’re surprised and not surprised. Surprised because you never thought of seeing your favourite F1 driver here and not surprised because like you said, he’s driving like a pro F1 driver and my god, of course he drives a Ferrari.

You’ve always been a F1 fan but the job makes it hard to catch up with the races and the driver. Sure, he is your favourite but you don’t even know what type of Ferrari he drives daily. You rarely watch F1 races ever since you joined the B.A.U team 3 years ago. The day you get to watch it was on your phone while you were writing your report at the office.

“They stole my watch.” He says. My god his accent! You always love his accent.

“My team will cut him off. That’s why we ask you to slow down. Now I’m gonna go first and you need to trail behind me. Don’t overtake me because it would be dangerous as you’re their target.” You explain to him.

He nods, “Okay, Agent.”

“Y/N!! Is that Charles Leclerc? Your favourite F1 driver that you and Hotch talked about a lot?” Emily smiles, she can’t hide her excitement for you. She knows how much you idolised Charles.

“Yes. Oh my god, why should we meet in this situation? So chaotic.” You groan.

“Girl, are you kidding? This is the best situation. He might become your fan after this.” Emily says.

You roll your eyes, “Being my fan, my ass! I’m not that cool .”

“C’mon! You and I know that we’re really good at this job and we’re badass. How can he not become a fan after seeing you catching some criminals?”

You shrug, “I don’t wanna be delusional.”

As Emily would talk again, she got cut off by the scene in front of us.  There are Hotch and Derek pointing guns at the UnSubs while the UnSubs do the same. The LAPD officer also surrounded them with their guns pointing at them. They can’t go anywhere.

“Shit! They’re armed.” You cursed, then quickly parked the car. You and Emily get out of the car with your gun pointing at the UnSubs. One of them knows you’re there so now he’s pointing the gun at you and Emily. It’s Tyler.

“We both know this is useless. Lower your gun!” You demand, but they don't seem to be affected by you. “I said lower your gun!”

“Agent.” Charles calls you. Shit! You nearly forgot that he was there behind your car.

“Step back, Charles.” You say to him but your eyes don’t move from the UnSub. You can see Hotch look at Charles but quickly divert his attention back to the Unsub.

“We just need this watch.” Tyler says, “we don’t wanna cause any trouble.”

“You think we don’t know that you murdered those victims after you stole their watch?” Derek says to them.

Greg gulps. His face turns pale after hearing that information. Bold of them to assume that your team don’t know what they did.

“Just get down and we’ll talk more at the office.” Hotch says calmly, try to make the situation as safe as possible so nobody gets hurt and the UnSubs go to the custody alive. “We want to know more about you.”

Tyler seems to think about it. You knew from Garcia that Tyler is the submissive and Greg is the Dominant. So in this situation, Tyler is more likely to surrender. When Greg sees Tyler thinking about it, his instinct of flight or fight got the best of him as he knows they can’t flight, he points his gun to Charles, his finger is ready to fire the gun. But before he can do anything, you quickly shoot him right in the chest. Greg’s blood splatter to Tyler as he screams and puts down his gun.

Derek quickly gets Tyler and puts a handcuff on him while Hotch checks Greg’s heartbeat. He looks at me then shakes his head. It means Greg is dead.

You and Emily let out a sigh of relief. It was a clean shot and a clean take down even though one of the UnSub is dead. So you see it as a successful take down and glad it is over.

“I believe there’s someone who wants to talk to you.” Emily whispers to you.

You see Charles walking towards me with a smirk on his face. “I didn’t know an FBI agent could know my name.”

You chuckle, “My boss is a big fan of yours. Of course I know your name.”

“How about you?” Charles asks, furrowing his perfect brow.

“Me? How about me?” You ask him, confused about what he means.

“Are you a fan, too?” He asks me. His eyes fixed on yours.

“She’s a huge fan. A total tifosi but never had time to watch a full race because of the job.” Emily chimes. You guess she can’t take your bullshit anymore because she knows you probably say no.

Charles smiles. His dimples showing as he does it. Oh, how cute! “Glad to know a brave, badass FBI agent is a tifosi.”

“Not a big deal.” You mumble. “Alright, I’m a huge fan then what?”

“Then I would like to ask you to come to the paddock on Sunday. I have a race here.”

“Huh? Me? I—”

“She’ll come. I’ll make sure of it.” Emily says with a huge smile on her face. “She’s got VIP Access then?”

“Of course. I’ll arrange the VIP’s for the FBI Team. I’d be happy if you all want to come. This is the least I can do as a thank you for saving my life tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that. We’re just doing our job.” You stated, trying so hard not to scream yes when he said about the VIP thing.

Charles smirks and without saying anything to you, he walks to Hotch and Derek. He shakes their hands then talks to them a bit then looks at you with a big smile. 

“Your boss says yes.” He says when he is in front of you. “I’ll see you in the paddock.”

You smile, shaking your head. “Nice one, though”

He winks at you. HE FREAKING WINKS!! “I need your number for the VIP information.”

Trying so hard to control your scream, you give him your name card. He takes it with a smile then reads it. Oh stop smiling! Your heart can’t take his smile anymore. He’s too cute.

“Alright then, see you in the paddock Supervisory Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N”

--------

Whoa can't believe I made it here haha. please let me know what you think.

Ciao ciao.

All the love.

Edith

[jazy3]

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X13

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Oh my gosh! Wow! There’s so much to say about this episode. I'm so glad that Meredith woke up and appears to be on the mend. As much as I loved the beach, I am ready for Meredith to rejoin society and the land of the living and get back to doing what she does best! I'm glad that Meredith got closure and that we as fans got closure too not just with Derek but with George as well. The beach wedding scene was perfect and the dialogue throughout was great.

I laughed out loud multiple times and Meredith and Derek’s scenes were both funny and bittersweet. I particularly liked Meredith and Derek's lines about how Meredith hates weddings, but Ellis hates the Post It Note story and wishes they had a big wedding. That she would give her that big wedding if she could. I felt like she was also saying she would give Derek that big wedding if she could. I also loved their conversation about Amelia. Derek told her what she needed to hear. Sometimes losing someone close to you at a young age makes you stronger and sometimes it turns you into Amelia.

Amelia has grown so much, but she spent most of her life a mentally unstable drug and alcohol addicted mess spiralling out of control in large part because she witnessed the brutal murder of her father at the age of five. And that’s not to say that Derek wasn’t just as screwed up by what happened to their Dad. He like Amelia became a neurosurgeon always chasing the high. He stayed in a loveless marriage he hated and when Addison cheated on him with Mark he moved to Seattle where he pretended to be single and pursued a relationship with Meredith.

Even after he and Meredith got together, he lied and cheated and repeated that pattern over and over again. First with Nurse Rose and then with Renee his research fellow in D.C. Derek could be selfish, cruel, hypocritical, and jealous. While Amelia’s scars and trauma were more obvious and blatant Derek was just as affected as she was it just showed up differently. Derek makes it clear he does not want that for Zola, Bailey, and Ellis and after talking to him Meredith realizes that she doesn’t either.

I loved seeing Meredith talk about how well Amelia is doing and Derek saying, “I know!” From the moment Derek on the beach I had a feeling they were going to talk about Amelia and the kids and all of that and I’m glad they did. One of my favourite moments of the episode was when Meredith told Derek that Ellis hates the Post It Note story and wishes they had a big wedding and Derek said, "She gets that from my mother!" I loved that they showed Ellis’ drawing on the fridge when Maggie is talking to Winston on the phone.

I love that Meredith and Derek got their beach wedding like Derek talked about in Season 5 when he made Meredith a bed in front of the fireplace. She went from never wanting to get married to marrying Derek on a Post It Note, getting legally married at the court house so that they could adopt Zola, and then marrying him on the beach in her COVID dream and giving Derek and Ellis the big wedding he always wanted and the one Ellis dreams of. So beautiful. I’m glad that they got closure and that Meredith decided to go back and that she knows Derek will be waiting for her when she’s ready, when it’s her time. When she’s old and senile and smelly just like they promised.

But now is not that time. She has kids to raise. Patients to treat. Sisters, friends, and family that need her. And a certain Irish doctor who would very much like to take her for a drink once she’s feeling better. I loved that Meredith realized through talking to Derek that even though her body was tired her soul was still fighting and that she needed to go back to her life. I loved her scene with Zola when she woke up and said, "We love you so much," meaning both her and Derek. That Mommy and Daddy love her so much and that’s why Meredith came back. She gave up on an afterlife with Derek to be with her children, friends, and family in the real world. That was so beautiful.

I loved Maggie's talk with Zola. I love that she took what Catherine gave her about screaming out your feelings and used it to help Zola who has been through so much express her emotions in a healthy way. I really felt Zola's heartbreak and how much she missed her Mom and Dad. I'm glad that Maggie decided to take Zola to visit Meredith. It was risky, but it paid off. The set department did a great job with Zola’s room. When she’s sitting on her bed crying you can see the photo of Meredith and Derek holding her at her first birthday party. You can also see a sock monkey that she had at the dream house.

The slop of the roof indicates that her room is in the attic. At last we saw it Lexie was living in there and Mark was visiting her while they were sneaking around, and it was an unfinished space with wood panelling. It appears that since that time as her family expanded Meredith had the attic finished and turned into a proper bedroom for Zola. We don’t know how big the attic is so it’s possible that there are more rooms up there or that there are more rooms upstairs than what we’ve seen.

I'm glad that Derek was there for Meredith in her time of need and helped her find the will to fight even though she was exhausted. I'm interested to see what's next for Meredith. If we'll see her being discharged in the coming weeks or if they will do a time jump. Will we see her at home with the kids first or back at work? Will her and Hayes finally have that drink? If so, how soon? I want to know more! I’m excited to see Maggie tell her about her engagement to Winston and see her meet Winston properly and get to know him. I’m also excited for what I’m sure will be an emotional scene when she thanks Amelia and Link for taking care of her kids while she’s been sick.

I’m also expecting some very emotional scenes with Richard and Bailey. I’m interested to see how they will address DeLuca’s death. I’d also like to see Jackson’s reaction when he returns from his most recent quest and finds out that Meredith has woken up and is doing better. I’d also like to see someone notify Cristina, Alex, Arizona, Callie, and April that Meredith is doing better. I can’t wait to see Hayes’ reaction to finding out that Meredith is on the mend! My heart!

Now let us turn our attention to the other shenanigans that were going on at Grey Sloan Memorial this week while Meredith was busying getting closure with Derek and waking up. We saw Teddy back at work trying her best to move forward. I was glad to see that she found a therapist that works for her even though it has to be virtual due to the pandemic. I'm glad that Owen was there for her. She really needs a friend right now and as Owen said previously, he's well placed to be that person. I like that he backed her up, but also pointed out that she would be destroyed if something went wrong with Meredith. That lead to her paging Winston to scrub in with her which I think was the right call.  

I think Owen did the right thing by rejecting her kiss but choosing to stay with her and let her cry and breakdown. She needs the support right now and while I’m not usually an Owen fan I think he did a good job supporting her this episode. I also really felt for him when he lost a patient he thought they were going to be able to discharge and struggled to tell the family. As he says to Teddy, they did this all the time during the way, but this is different. They are losing patients on a level that they’ve never experienced before, and they can’t even take a moment to catch their breath because they have more patients to treat and pronounce.

My heart breaks for the real life doctors and nurses who are dealing with stuff on a daily basis. It’s so hard. On a lighter note, I really loved Amelia and Link's patient storyline this week. It was funny and interesting, and it was great to see Amelia back in the OR. While it was wrong of Amelia to steal Link’s patient and I think she did overstep I understand why she was so eager to get back into the OR and she was right about what was wrong with the guy.

I understood Link’s anger and frustration, but I also appreciated that he understood Amelia and was there to support her and build her up. I like that he brought in Tom and had him on standby, but also showed complete confidence in Amelia. His line about how Amelia always likes to raise the stakes was hilarious and accurate. Another scene I loved was when Amelia and Link were leaving the hospital and Link thought she was using sexual innuendo and then she clarified that she needed to get home because her boobs felt like they were going to burst, and she needed to either pump or breastfeed. That one cracked me up!

We also saw some amazing acting by Caterina Scorsone when upon arriving home and finding Link’s parents looking after Bailey and Ellis, they rushed to the hospital thinking something was wrong with Meredith. Amelia was riding high from the surgery that day and when she thought Meredith had gotten worse, she panicked only to realize that Meredith’s condition hadn’t changed. Her sobbing and desperation as she said over and over again that she really needed Meredith to live were gut wrenching. Caterina did an amazing job.

I also really liked Bailey and Levi’s patient storyline. The peanut butter brittle woman who took up roller skating was the best! She was funny and helped Bailey see that you need to rest and also follow your joy. The scenes where the woman gave Levi the brittle and then he was smelling it made me laugh! As a result of treating that patient Bailey decided to reverse her earlier decision and let Jo switch specialities. While I’m not on board with that storyline I'm glad that Bailey decided to support Jo in following her joy. Making someone stay in a role they don't like will only make them resent you and make everyone involved unhappy.

That being said, I hate this career switching storyline. It’s so dumb. I've realized with this episode that my opinion on this storyline isn't ever going to change. If they use it as a segue for Jo adopting Luna that could be interesting, but watching Jo leave general surgery behind and re-specialize in OBGYN so she can stand on the sidelines while all the other characters do ground breaking work and cool procedures just seems dumb to me. I am not invested in this storyline at all.

Levi and Jo have great comedic timing which was on full display in this episode. Jackson was MIA this episode because he went roaring off on another one of his quests leaving the person he’s dating in the lurch and telling them about it after the fact. He took a leave of absence from work and then left Maggie a voicemail back in Season 15 telling her he needed some time to think and then went camping in the woods to look at trees which lead to him talking to April and texting a woman he met on this trip behind Maggie’s back. He then left her in the fog on a dark road in an area with bears at the end of Season 15.

Now he’s left Jo to go on an unknown quest that’s 11 hours away. When did Jackson become the guy that just vanishes at random to go do whatever the heck he wants? I was surprised that Nico asked Levi to move in with him at the end of the episode. That was not at all the answer that Levi was expecting so I understand why he ran off and said he promised Jo he'd do a movie night with her. Levi wanted to move in with Nico last season and Nico didn't want that, but instead of just saying that outright he dodged the topic and was a real jerk about it. That resulted in them breaking up and Levi moving in with Jo.

They only got back together because of the pandemic and in the intervening time Levi has grown as a person and no longer wants that kind of a relationship with Nico. When he told him that him leaving his bathroom bag at his place didn't mean he was going to move in with him he was being sincere. He just didn't want to have to keep carting his toothbrush back and forth all the time. In response Nico realized he's always running away from what scares him and pushing people away when they get too close and he wants to fix that, so he asked Levi to move in with him.

Therein lies their problem. They're never on the same page. When Levi wanted to move forward and take that next step Nico didn't want to. Now that Nico wants to move forward and take the next step Levi is no longer interested. What a dilemma. I also noticed that Jo and Levi had very similar outfits at the beginning of this episode. You know you’re becoming good friends with someone when you start unconsciously matching outfits.

Onto the next episode’s promo! We see Jackson driving in the rain, showing up on someone’s doorstep talking to himself about how his appearance might seem impulsive, but he has thought it through. The door opens to reveal April who is holding Harriet in between clips of his and April’s relationship. I have a few theories about this. First off, I think they are faking us out. If there was trouble in paradise and things weren’t going well with April and Matthew, they wouldn’t have had Jackson make a comment in the first half of the season about how Matthew is spending more time with Harriet then he and April are because they are taking more COVID shifts.

April is a deeply religious Christian woman whose faith is really important to her. She was vehemently opposed to getting a divorce even though her relationship with Jackson was clearly over because of her faith. Marriage is not something she takes lightly so I have a hard time seeing her divorce Matthew out of the blue because Jackson shows back up and is in crisis when her and Matthew have been together for the past three seasons and have been married for two.

Also, they are raising two children together and co-parenting one of those kids with Jackson. A lot of court services were shut down in the first few months of the pandemic for safety reasons which made it difficult to get a divorce and this episode takes place in June of 2020. So even if April and Matthew split up they couldn’t legally get a divorce very easily at this time and if April and Jackson got back together they would still have to interact with Matthew on a regular basis because they are co-parenting kids together and there’s no way that April would walk away from Ruby.

The only way I could see April and Jackson getting back together is if Matthew has died or fallen ill somehow. Otherwise I just don’t see it. I think they’re faking us out. I think the clips in the promo are there to entice japril fans and play into that because logistically I don’t see how a storyline in which April and Matthew suddenly divorce and April and Jackson get back together in one episode is possible.

Until next time!

[greatearthquakestudent]

Everybody action is better than Nico?

Nico: Get angry, get emotional distance, taking job offering, having understandable family problem

vs 

Everyone else 

Derek: Fights Mark, threw Meredith ring away, be rude with to Richard, Making moving decision Meredith’s fault, terrible chief

Addison: Cheating on Derek with Mark

Mark: Affair with Addison, Putting his daughter over Lexie, sleeping with many employee, being rude

Callie: Being judgmental toward George and Meredith, Affair with Mark, attempted on Meredith, Cheating on Erica, Forcing her wants on Arizona, whining about Africa, forcing Arizona to get better, Acting like she was in the plane crash, involving everyone in her problem, not compromising with Arizona, playing dirty in the custody battle, get personal with certain situations 

Arizona: Being jealous of Alex, Leaving Callie for Africa, Getting Callie back, her reaction to Mark’s baby, treatment to Callie, Cheating on Callie (2x), pinning her cheat on her leg, starting the custody battle

Richard: The Affair, Letting the interns run wild, the merger, cover Meredith, allow Maggie to operate on her cousin

Lexie: Being too possessive of her love ones, being jealous of Mark’s daughter

George: The affair, his one stand night with Meredith

Izzie: Killing Denny, affair with George, attempted fight with Callie, sex with ghost Denny, Leaving Alex

Jo: Accusing Stephanie, Being jealous Meredith, assume Stephanie was lying, Being jealous Stephanie, whinnying about her past, getting Deluca beat up, having Deluca keep her secrets, stealing Levi’s patients(2x), Being rude to Levi

Amelia: Recklessness, Being rude to Meredith, Being rude to Penny, Breaking Link’s heart (2x), 

Teddy: Affairs(2x),Being jealous of Cristina, Being jealous of Amelia, not taking Owen’s gesture, Creating tension between Owen and Tom,  

Cristina: Being Rude to everyone, humiliating interns, recklessness, 

Owen: Forcing a kids on Cristina, Forcing kids Amelia, cheating on Cristina

Koracick: Rude to everyone, attempt with Amelia, attempt with Catherine, seduce Teddy, get restraining order on Owen, being a narcissist

Catherine: Buying the hospital

Jackson: Disrespecting April’s beliefs and needs, Breaking Matthew heart, Disrespecting Maggie,�� Disrespecting Vic, entering his own contest.

Alex: Bullying the other interns, sabotaging the others, rude to the other interns, Cheating on Izzie, Taking care of psycho Rebecca, Rejecting Izzie, Beating up Deluca, Leaving Jo, Mer, and Seattle

Meredith: Breaking protocols, Sabotaging the Alzheimer trial, kidnapping Zola, using the interns, Guilting Derek, Being rude to Amelia, Covering for Alex, Insurance Fraud, Not going trash duty, Using Deluca,

You guy, why blame for some problems when you other character do worst than him.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Accidents happen; Queen x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Hey all, okay so here I am with a new request. After people seeing my last Queen x teen reader ‘time for us to look after you’ this anon wanted another teen fic with Queen but with the reader being older. So in this fic imagine you are 18. Now to the anon in the light that as I was writing and trying to finish your fic during Deacy’s birthday I kinda leaned a more close bond with our beloved bass player so I hope that’s okay with you. Hope you all enjoy my lovely darlings :)

Warnings: parent death from drugs, head injuries, fluff, bit of angst. But MOSTLY FLUFF FROM OUR BELOVED 4 BOYS :)

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@plethora-of-things

@ixchel-9275

@waddles03

@platawnic

@geek-and-proud

@queendeakyy

@coolcxt

__________________________________________________________

I was up on stage rewiring some of the bar lights so that when my dad would go to do the light cues to light up the bottom of the stage, they would hit the boys exactly on cue.  Wearing special gloves to ensure that no fingerprints got on the covering or the actual bulb smudged with fingerprints dimming the lights when they go up on cue.

“(Y/n), oh (y/n) baby~” I perked up my head and turned around to see my favorite Queen member the one whom I’ve considered a big brother to me, John Richard Deacon.  Known to most as the bassist of Queen, the ‘quiet’ guy, but to me he’s the Disco king, father to three beautiful children, loving and dedicated husband to his lady Veronica and as stated before, my brother from another mother.

“Yes?” I asked wearily.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where my Fender bass is at, would you?” I stopped my work and stood up.

“How dare you would accuse me of stealing it Deacy, I’m hurt.”

“I didn’t say it was you, I just asked if you had seen it.” Oh bugger. “But since I know it was you, where is it?”

“I plead the 5th!”

“You’re in England love, it won’t work here.” I gulped and quickly raced off with Deacy chasing after me.  I hopped off the stage and ran through the rows of seats with Deacy right behind me.

I would jump over the seats just to get into the next row before Deacy could grab hold of me.  We’d just stare each other down as we’d fake each other out trying to either escape or go on the chase.  I then raced towards the end trying to jump back onto the stage.  

As I rolled across the stage and just before I could make another run for it, I felt Deacy’s arms wrap around me and pin me down to the ground.

“Gotcha! You gonna tell me where it’s at?” I shook my head and that’s when I felt him start to tickle me.

“Gahh Nohohohoh! Deheheheacy stohahahp!”

“Then fess up love, or I won’t.” he mocked. “I have no problem doing this all night love.”

“Okay! Okay uncle! I’ll tell you!” He ceased his attack then before I could speak I heard the voices of the rest of the band come up from backstage.

“Ahh I see you’ve caught your culprit Deacy darling.” Freddie said.

“And it would seem you got a confession out of her.” Stated Brian.

“And now here we have the evidence. It was in her dressing room up against a guitar platform.” Roger presented Deacy with his bass.  He stood up and took his instrument back and I said as I got up.

“Ya’ll are snitches. Good to know I’ll be able to trust you guys in prison.” I joked.

“(Y/n)!” we all turned around and there stood my dad, Queen’s stage designer and main light technician.  “You know better than to distract the boys from their rehearsal.”

“Sorry dad.” It was then Roger came up and said.

“Ahh no worries (f/n). She wasn’t distracting us. She never is.” Roger said as he gave me a playful noogie.

A little background information about me.  As you know my name is (y/n) (l/n), my mum died of a cocaine overdose back in America 2 years ago.  Wanting a new life for me, my dad moved us across the ocean here to London where he got a job working at the Odeon Hammersmith theater.  After Queen performed their famed Christmas Eve concert back in ’75, they hired my dad as their permanent stage designer and light director because they loved what he had done to make them look good.

And just to get me out in the work field during my holidays, I helped with lighting all thanks to my dad for teaching me the ropes.  That’s kinda what helped Deacy and I connect was our knowledge of electrical engineering, and why the two of us just clicked with each other even being 8 years younger than him.

And of course bonding with the rest of the guys wasn’t hard either.  Freddie was the first one to just instantly love me cause of my genius work with the lights, he was even impressed when just last year my dad had allowed me to run the lights all by myself.  Brian and I bonded with each other due to our love for animals and Roger and I—we already kinda had that teasing big brother-little sister dynamic.

I’d embarrass him whenever he’d tried to bring in one of his ‘flings’ and he’d be the overbearing big brother when my dad was too busy to pick me up from school and intimidate the boys at my high school.  You know that kinda of stuff, but he’s also always there for a comforting shoulder and a good bear hug.

“Alright. But you better get back to work missy. I’m gonna start the light checks in half an hour and if those stage lights aren’t done by then, we’re gonna have an issue here.”

“Don’t worry dad I’ll get it done.” He just grinned at me suspiciously before heading back up to the control panel in the very back of the arena.

“You work too hard darling, we can back you up if you need a break.”

“Thanks for the offer Fred but I’m good. I’m….still kinda grounded for going to that party you invited me too last week.”

“Still? That was over 3 weeks ago.”

“Yeah and punishment is hard labor. But at least it’s not staying in my room with cabin fever.”

“I suppose.”

“Go on, you guys get ready for soundchecks, I’ll be five minutes anyways.” I then went back to the edge of the stage and continued my work on the bar lights.

Afterwards I was up on a high elevation machine to screw in the lights that hung along a track up on the ceiling.  Once I got done tightening the last screw so that it wouldn’t fall almost 20ft and really kill one of the guys, I saw all four of them starting their soundchecks. Since I was closest to Brian I couldn’t help but say.

“Hey Bri, I can finally see the top of your head.” He looked up at me and I swore he was probably giving me a bitch face.

“Ha-ha very funny (n/n).” he said.

“Oi (y/n), what’s it look like from up there?” Roger cried out.

“No different, just looks like a waterfall of curls sprouting out of his head.” I told him.

“Alright enough of this, you all had your fun.”

“Aww Bri I’m kidding. You know I love you right?”

“Sure you do.” He sneered sarcastically.  I chuckled and pressed the down button on the machine.  As I was being lowered down, I radioed my dad.

“Everything’s all good here dad.”

‘Good job sweetie bell. Head backstage and help Robert and Sam with the backdrops.’

“You got it pops.” Once I was successfully down and out of the elevator crane, Derek and Jason wheeled it away and I went to find Bobby and Sam.

It was getting close to concert time and as I was walking along stage right when I saw Deacy in his normal side of stage right practicing his bass and just when he thought no one would be looking, he’d try and work in one of his little Disco moves.  Which is why I have given him the endearing nickname, Disco Deacy.

It was then I heard something from up above.  I took out my binoculars and noticed that something didn’t look right with the track railing, especially on the left side.  There was this creaking and groaning sound and that’s when I had to act fast.  Quick as I could I cried out to Deacy and shoved him aside when I felt something hit my head and the next thing I knew, my world went black.

*3rd Person POV*

When John overcame the suddenly shock of suddenly being shoved aside, he turned around and saw probably the most horrifying thing he would ever see in his entire life.  There lying underneath the track railing was (y/n).

She wasn’t moving and it didn’t look like she was breathing either.  Without a word he rushed over and tried to lift up the railing but it was just too damn heavy with all the extra lights screwed onto it.

“Deacy! Are you alright we just heard a—oh my god!” Freddie gasped in horror.

“Don’t stand there gawking like idiots help me!” Deacy snapped.  Soon all the band members, plus a couple of stage handlers all piled into helping Deacy raise the railings to get (y/n) free.

“What in the samhell is going—(Y/N)!!!” Her father soon came in on the scene after hearing the crash.  He raced up towards the stage and he ordered. “Okay everyone lift slowly on three; One, two, three!” Soon the seven men began to lift the track with all their might. “Slowly, slowly, okay I can pull her out, keep it off of her.”

He then pulled his daughter out from under the track, finally seeing a small pool of blood on the stage.

“Okay slowly lower it back down. One, two three! Easy! Slowly!” Once the track was on the ground, the four band members surrounded the father and daughter.

“(Y/n)? (N/n), can you hear us?” Roger spoke.

“Here press this to her head.” Brian said as he got his jacket off and handed it to her father.

“Medic!”

“Someone call 999!” Soon the stage medics came in and took (y/n) out of her father’s arms and began checking her over.

Outside the ambulance finally arrived and the medics were loading (y/n) up into the back of the truck.

“Go with her (f/n) darling.” Freddie said.  (F/n) turned to Freddie and said.

“But what about the show?”

“For once there won’t be a show. We’ll tell John to cancel the show and refund all the tickets. We won’t have enough time to fix the stage. Plus none of us will be focused after seeing that blood.” Explained Roger.

“Go be with your daughter, we’ll try to get there as fast as we can.” Brian assured him.  (F/n) nodded and thanked the four band members for their help, most bands would’ve just left it be and not have gotten involved as they did just now.  

He raced up and asked the medic to ride with her, the paramedics allowed him to ride with them and once he entered the back of the van, two medics closed the door and the male tapped the door and almost immediately, the van took off for the hospital.

It took some convincing but Reid managed to work out with the manager of the stadium and they made an announcement to the audience that an accident happened and the show had to be canceled.  

Freddie, Brian, Roger and Deacy managed to find (y/n)’s dad in the waiting room.  He told the band that she was in surgery right now and come out once they had news.  Hours passed and finally by 4am a doctor came by with a clipboard and said.

“(Y/n) (l/n)’s father.” It was then the four band members along with (y/n)’s father all stood up.  The doctor was confused until her father walked up to him and said.

“I’m (y/n)’s dad.”

“Your daughter sustained a massive head injury. We did all we could to help her but the best we could do for her now is have her be in an induced coma.”

“Does that mean she’s—” her dad feared to continued but the doctor assured him.

“It’s up to her. She’s stable and all vitals are normal. It’s…..just gonna be up to her whether she wakes up or not.” He sighed heavily but thanked the Doctor.

“Can we see her?” asked Freddie.

“Of course. She’s in room 302, you can visit her now.” They all nodded and headed towards the room.

When the five of them came to the door, they saw (y/n)’s head wrapped in bandages, IV’s in her arms and all these hooks and wires attached to her as the machine showed her blood pressure, brain activity and heartrate.

“(Y/n), (y/n) it’s me. I’m here sweetie bell.” Her dad choked out as he took his daughter’s hand in his. “I’m here baby girl, I’m right here. Oh please let me see those pretty (e/c) eyes of yours. Let me know you’re gonna be okay.” He sniffed and kissed his daughter’s hand.

Taking this harder than anyone else, Deacy stepped out trying to compose himself as he gripped his head in his hands and tried to keep his sobs in, but they kept coming out in chokes.

“Deacy darling?” Deacy sniffled and wiped away his tears but refused to speak to Freddie because he knew if he tried to speak, all that would come out would be sobs. “This was in no way your fault darling, you couldn’t have known the track would collapse.”

“But……but…..”

“No buts darling, you. Didn’t. Cause. The. Collapse.” Freddie emphasized.  Deacy sighed heavily and cleaned himself up and he choked out.

“If she doesn’t wake up……I’ll never forgive myself.”

“She will. Our little light goddess is a fighter. She’s like a wild mustang. Can try to break her, but she’ll always keep bucking and fighting.” Freddie brought Deacy into a comforting hug, patting his back and rubbing it comfortingly.

Over three weeks passed and still there wasn’t any changes of (y/n) waking up. Even with the News of the World tour, any chance the boys got when they would perform back in England or they managed to get a day off, they’d go see (y/n) and ask her father if she had shown signs of improvement.

Currently Deacy was in there alone with (y/n).  As he listened to the machines that were his sign of her still being ‘alive’.

“I—I uhh….I know I’m not much of a singer, so if—you can somehow hear this I don’t want any teasing. As you know I wrote this for Veronica, but ever since meeting you, some of the lyrics seem to resemble you. You’re….like the sister I’ve always wanted and—I hope this song helps you see it.”

He took out a keyboard piano and placed it in his lap and began playing “You’re my best friend” as well as singing the song to her, hoping that somehow this could help her wake up.

*My POV*

I woke up to hearing the sound of a piano playing and a voice singing.  It wasn’t as powerful as Freddie’s, nor as high and strong as Roger’s and Bri’s, so….no it couldn’t be, could it?

Slowly I tried opening my eyes but for some reason they were so heavy to open, it was like my eyelids were made of lead.  When I did manage to open them, all I saw was a bright light and white walls. I also saw what looked to be balloons in the room as well.  I turned to my right to see dozens upon dozens of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals all in a “GET WELL SOON” package, as written on most of the balloons.

I then turned to my left to see Deacy sitting there with a keyboard on his lap and I finally pieced together that the voice was coming from him.  He briefly stopped and looked like he was about to break down crying.

“Don’t stop now Deacy.” I croaked out.  Wow how long have I been asleep? His head shot up and the second he looked at me, he looked like he was about to explode with a million emotions.  He quickly set aside the keyboard and rolled the chair closer towards my face as he said.

“Hey, oh my god you’re—you’re okay.” I felt him stroke my cheek and he repeatedly yet lovingly kissed over my face repeating ‘you’re okay.’

“A little dizzy and exhausted but yeah I guess.”

“Dizzy? Your vision’s not blurry is it? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Deacy, relax. No my visions not blurry, and you’re holding up two FYI. What happened?”

“You—you don’t remember?” he asked me concerned.

“That’s a little hazy. I mean last thing I remember was running towards you and my vision went black after that.”

“(Y/n). The track beam that held the lights came down. You pushed me out of the way but got caught under the end of it. It took seven of us to get you out. God you….you were bleeding heavily from your head.”

“But—you guys still did the show last night, right? Did it still happen?”

“Uhh love. That happened over 3 weeks ago.” My eyes widened and that’s when I saw the three remaining members of Queen enter in with more gifts and when they saw me awake, they all proclaimed my name and raced over toward me talking all at once.  “Alright! Okay you guys step back, give her some air.” Deacy snapped.

“Oh love you still remember me don’t you?” Freddie begged.

“Of course I still remember you. How could I ever forget Freddie Mercury?” he sighed with relief and said.

“I was just worried that you had gotten memory loss from the bump on your precious noggin. Thank god you didn’t, and don’t you ever scare us like that again you cheeky darling.”

“In his own dramatic way, he’s glad you’re safe and awake (y/n).” Brian assured as he stroked my shoulder.

“Was I—really out for 3 weeks?”

“It felt like forever.” Roger stated solemnly.

“Where’s my dad? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Hardly left your side the poor man. Finally took Deacy being here to watch over you for him to finally head home and bathe.” Said Freddie.

“As well as get some rest. He looked like he was ready for an early grave.” Roger stated which earned him a back of the head slap from Deacy.

“It’s okay Deacy. It—couldn’t be hard for him. I mean first he lost my mom, and now the thought of losing me, it must’ve devastated him.”

“Well he won’t have to worry about that anymore. Because you’re back, and soon you’ll be on your feet in no time!” Freddie proclaimed.

“And he won’t be alone in taking care of you, because he’s got 4 willing volunteers to help nurse you until you’re back to normal.” Roger stated as he gently poked my nose as he emphasized the ‘you’.

“And just who would those four unfortunately souls be?” they all proclaimed at my negative answer but I couldn’t help but playfully stick my tongue at them.

And they did as promised.  But god never did I imagine what mother hens these guys were.  They always hovered over me any chance they got, never leaving my side, making sure I was given my medications, and if any signs of discomfort came they’d even have a fight about who got to be my ‘body pillow’.

Mostly Rog, Bri and Fred were the ones to duke it out, which only allowed Deacy to make his move.  So nine times out of ten he was my body pillow leaving the other three to wallow in self-pity of not being my body pillow/teddy bear.  As Deacy and I were alone, I told him.

“You know I don’t blame you right?” he sighed heavily.

“I know. But seeing you on the ground, blood pooling out from your head. I should’ve heard the thing snapping off. I’d give anything for it to have been me and not you.”

“But what if you had died? Where would that leave Veronica? Your boys, your baby girl, the band, me? Deacy you are valued and the most important person in so many people’s lives. I’d never forgive myself if it had been you in that bed when I knew I could’ve saved you.” He gently stroked the back of my head and kissed my forehead.

“Just promise me never do something that reckless again.”

“I’ll try, being a stagehand is dangerous business.”

“I’ll make you my assistant or fashion designer if it means you’ll be safe. And you know I can make that happen.”

“Yeah but it’d totally backfire cause for one I’ve got 10 left fingers when it comes to drawing, and I’d be the worst assistant ever.” He grinned and gently bopped my nose.

“I don’t think you would. Veronica loves you and she knows you’d give me every message she had regarding her or the kids.” I softly smiled and leaned against his chest listening to his heartbeat.

“Sing me a lullaby.”

“Love you know I can’t sing.”

“I know, but you sang to me at the hospital three days ago.”

“That was when I felt you wouldn’t be able to hear me.”

“C’mon pwease?” I begged with the puppy dog eyes. “Injured girl with a concussion demands her favorite Queen member sing to her.” He sighed but held me close rubbing my shoulder with his thumb and first hummed the opening notes to my favorite Beatles song “Here comes the sun”.

I soon heard him beginning to sing softly.  Now while he may not have a strong voice and sure it cracked at some parts, mainly when the range went a little higher, Deacy still had a descent voice. And when he would sing in a normal, low range tone to fit his range, it actually sounded good.  Soon enough his voice sent me off into dreamland.

“Goodnight poppet. Sleep well.” Was the last thing I heard before feeling a kiss right over the very spot where I had been hit.

[saveyourblood]

Stolen Dance | Ch. 5

Summary: “Maybe this was a pipe dream, a delusion you’d soon awake from or a phase you’d outgrow. You didn’t really care. For a brief moment in time, you were in love. That’s what you chose to care about. That what you made matter.”

The one where you’re a paramedic, he’s an FBI agent, and the time you spend together is borrowed.

(x)

Notes: Ya bitch is at it again. 

Word Count: 4.3k 

Song: Deep End - Birdy (slowed)

Warnings: graphic depiction of administering CPR, mentions of suffocation, flashbacks, symptoms of PTSD, implied torture, angst... regular CM warnings. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

_____________________

“I’m gonna ask you to close your eyes for a minute, all right?” 

The four of you stood in the arcade, Jeremy in front of his favorite machine. It was the one he was playing before Katie disappeared. 

Jeremy looked over to you. You smiled and nodded slightly. 

Jeremy closed his eyes and faced the game. 

“I want you to go back to when you first walked into the arcade earlier,” Derek asked. “In your mind, I want you to try to picture what it sounded like in here. Picture what it smelled like. Was it crowded?”

“It was loud,” Jeremy said. 

“Were the people loud, or were the sound effects loud?” Spencer asked.

“Both,” he replied. “Some kid was yelling at his game. When I started playing, Katie started crying, said she wanted to go find her mom.”

“Do you remember what she was crying about?” Spencer said.

Jeremy, eyes still closed, shook his head. “It was too loud.”

“Okay, Jeremy, go back to your game,” Derek instructed. 

A small smile appeared on the boy’s face. “I was winning.”

“How did that make you feel?”

“Awesome. Proud of myself. Kind of embarrassed,” Jeremy said. He began to bite at his cheek. 

“Why were you self-conscious? Who was watching you?” 

“I could smell her shampoo.”

The three of you shared a look. 

“Katie’s?” you asked softly.

He shook his head again. “I talked to her for one second… and then Katie was gone.”

“Did she say anything before she disappeared?” You asked. 

“She said she wanted ice cream.”

Jeremy bit the inside of his cheek again. You looked to Spencer.

“Anything else?” Spencer asked gently. 

“No,” Jeremy replied. 

“What do you think he’s not telling us?” You asked, taking a sip of coffee from your disposable cup. You stole some from the security office for you and Spencer.

“I don’t know,” Spencer admitted. “I think he’s protecting someone.”

The two of you sat at a small table in the mall’s breakroom. You returned Jeremy to his parents, and Derek was called away by Hotch. You weren’t supposed to leave the mall until Katie was found, being a paramedic and all. Spencer hadn’t been assigned anything else, so you and him spent your time occupying each other. 

“Probably,” you agreed, “but who?” 

Spencer shrugged.

Derek approached the two of you. 

“They found Katie’s necklace in a trash can,” Derek said as he entered the room.

You sat up; you didn’t realize your feet were in Spencer’s lap until that second. 

“Why throw away a girl’s necklace?” You asked.

“It wasn’t just thrown away — it was ripped off of her,” Derek replied. “Not to mention that it’s made of real gold.”

You raised your eyebrows in disbelief.

“Who gave it to her?” Spencer asked.

“Parents say she found it on a playground.”

“No way,” you shook your head. “Someone would know if they lost a necklace like that.” 

“Katie’s parents gave us permission to search the house,” Derek said, looking at Spencer.

Spencer turned to you.

You smiled encouragingly. “You should go, make sure Morgan doesn’t miss anything.” 

“Oh, new girl’s got sass,” Derek teased. “I’ll get you back for that one, Y/L/N.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” you said sweetly, raising your glass in his direction. 

The boys left, leaving you alone. You used the chair Spencer sat in as a footrest, leaning back. You hoped to clear your mind, but no matter what, your thoughts seemed to race. 

Why would the UnSub rip the necklace off of Katie? It’s an irrelevant detail to a stranger. Ripping off the necklace was personal. If it was personal, Katie knew the UnSub, but she either trusted them or was too afraid to say anything. 

You stood up, walking out of the breakroom. You found your way back to the security office. 

“Hey, Garcia?” you asked, sitting on the table beside her. 

“Yes, my love?” She asked, busy typing away on the computer. 

“Can you do me a favor?” 

“What’s going on?” Jeremy asked. “Why are we here?”

“I don’t know,” you said honestly.

Derek had called you a few minutes ago, telling you to swing by the food court and find a place for you and Jeremy to be alone. You had yet to figure out why.

You looked up to see Spencer standing outside of the room. 

“I’ll be right back, okay Jeremy?” you said, standing up. You patted his shoulder on your way out. 

“Derek thinks Katie is being molested,” Spencer said the moment you closed the door behind you. “She’s been wetting the bed, and her Barbie looks… disturbing.”

“In that case, the necklace makes sense,” you said. “It’s not uncommon for abusers to buy their victims gifts.”

“...Jeremy stole a pair of earrings 6 months ago.”

You frowned, then immediately shook your head. “It’s not him.”

“You don’t know that, Y/N,” Spencer said quietly.

“I do,” you insisted. “How can a 13-year-old boy know where to hide her? This mall is massive, but most of it has been searched. We would have found Katie by now if Jeremy was the one hiding her.” 

“We’re interviewing the father now,” Spencer continued, as if he heard nothing of what you just said. “Hotch asked me to speak with Jeremy.”

“Okay,” you said, laughing softly. “You can go in, Spencer. Go do your job.” 

He nodded, then stepped into the room. 

You could faintly hear what the two of them were talking about, but for the most part, you were swimming in your own thoughts. You bit at your nails occasionally, hoping and praying that Garcia would get back to you soon. You had a gut feeling, and your gut has never been wrong before. You refused to believe today was the exception.

Your phone rang. You picked it up before the first ring finished playing out. 

“You hit it right on the head, my dear — Susan Jacobs quit her job at the Potomac Mills Mall a little over two years ago. She worked at a local clothing boutique, then in a furniture store, then a jewelry shop before ultimately quitting.” 

“And all of those jobs were within the mall?” you asked. 

“Indeed it was,” Garcia confirmed. 

“That woman must know this place like the back of her hand,” you muttered. “Garcia, thank you,” you said, then hung up. You immediately called Emily.

“You need to talk to the aunt,” you said, neglecting to even greet her. “She worked three different jobs in this mall less than 3 years ago.” 

The line was silent for a second as she processed. “She’d have the layout of the building memorized at that point,” Emily said.

“Not to mention any reservations that have been done,” you agreed.

“Meet me in the food court,” she said before hanging up. 

“You and Richard have been separated for months,” Emily stated. “Why else didn’t you realize he hasn’t smoked in over a month? He has no use for a new lighter.” 

“We’ve been trying to work things out,” Susan said calmly, but already, her composure was breaking. 

“Did you really believe that getting rid of that little girl would take away his sickness?” Emily asked.

“You’re not making a bit of sense.”

“Did it occur to you last week after you heard a little girl was snatched from the local mall, and she was found dead three days later?”

Susan didn’t respond.

“Do you know what having an asthma attack feels like, Susan?” you asked.

She shook her head slowly. 

“It’s like…” you approached her, leaning forward, effectively invading her personal space. “It’s like someone has their hands around your throat,” you said, reaching your hands up. You obviously weren’t allowed to touch her, but you put your hands in a position that could effectively strangle someone. “It’s like someone is pushing on your throat,” you moved your hands closer, “harder, and harder, and harder. Your lungs feel like they’re on fire. Your throat burns with each breath. But no matter what, you can’t seem to get enough air in, and that’s when you breathe out of your mouth. Do you know what happens when you can’t, because it’s covered with duct tape? You can die.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen to my family,” she whispered. 

“What wasn’t?!” you shouted, standing up quickly. “You weren’t supposed to abduct your niece? Of course you weren’t! But that’s not it, is it? No, you weren’t supposed to marry a perv.”

“Stop,” Susan said, a few tears streaming down her face.

“Your husband isn’t supposed to prey on children that are vulnerable, scared, alone, confused. Your husband isn’t supposed to be an animal. But you know what, Susan? He is. And you’re protecting him. You’re protecting an animal rather than your own fucking family.”

“Please, don’t,” she begged.

“You seriously thought getting rid of Katie would fix him?” you pressed. “You thought killing an innocent girl would fix your broken marriage? Your husband is sick; Richard is a monster. And there’s nothing you can do to change that.” 

“No, no, no,” Susan muttered.

“You robbed Katie from her childhood!” you screamed. “Are you gonna steal the rest of her life too?!”

“Enough!” Susan sobbed.

You leaned in close, making it so she had no choice but to look at you. “Where. Is. She,” you said in a low, demanding tone.

Susan wiped a few tears away. She cleared her throat. She looked down.

“They renovated the basement before I left,” She said, so quietly you almost couldn’t hear. “She’s in a cupboard in the seasonal storage closet.”  

You bolted out of the room, grabbing your medi bag as you went. 

“Derek!? Hotch!?” you shouted as you ran down the steps. 

“In here!” Derek shouted. 

You followed the sound of his voice and ended up where Susan told you Katie was.

“She’s in one of these cupboards!” you called, rushing to the first cupboard you saw. You began slamming every door open.

In the very last one laid a little girl in pigtails, bound and gagged with duct tape over her mouth. 

“I got her! I found her!” you shouted as loudly as you could. 

You put one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. You laid her flat on the floor and removed the tape from her mouth. You dropped your medi bag to your side, unzipping the corner pocket and pulling out an exacto knife. You cut through the ropes around her hands and ankles. 

You put your first two fingers over her carotid. Nothing. You put the stethoscope around you neck in your ears and pressed the bell to her chest. You watched and listened for movement. Also nothing. 

You maneuvered yourself to be directly over Katie and began compressions. Countless officers were swarmed around you, and it took you a moment to realize Derek and Hotch were crouched beside you.

“Get out the AED — it’s in the big pocket,” you instructed, mentally counting compressions. “There’s a pediatric CPR mask and a pair of scissors in the front pocket.” 

Derek scrambled to get the supplies, setting up the defibrillator to the best of his knowledge. 

“I need the scissors,” you instructed reaching a hand out. 

Once they were handed to you, you quickly cut through Katie’s shirt to expose her chest. You grabbed the defib pads, sticking one underneath her right collarbone and the other at the bottom of her left rib cage. You pressed a few buttons on the AED, then raised your hands in the air.

“Clear!” you shouted, though you doubted anyone else was touching her. The AED administered a shock, but she was still flatlining. 

You began manual compressions again, stopping after 15 to administer two rescue breaths. The automatic voice on the AED warned everyone to clear, beeped a few times, then shocked Katie again. Still, nothing.

“Come on, sweetheart,” you mumbled, once again beginning compressions. “Come back.” 

By then, Katie’s parents were in the room, and her mother was wailing and begging. You could hardly hear her. You were running off of adrenaline and instinct only; the rest of the world didn’t matter. All that mattered was saving her. 

You administered a breath, then another. The AED warned for another shock. It shocked her.

The heart monitor began beeping. 

Katie took a deep breath and began coughing.

The whole room seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

You took the mask off her face, rolling her to her side and rubbing her back. “Welcome back, honey,” you cooed, a smile on your face. 

You reached into your medi bag, pulling out the small tank of oxygen. You rummaged around in the front pocket, coming up with a pediatric oxygen mask. You unwrapped it, straightened the tube, and connected the mask to the tank. Derek helped lift her head so you could slip it on. 

Katie was still coughing, but after a few fits, she began sucking in the air. You moved to the side, taking off your jacket and laying it over her to give her back some privacy.

Her parents rushed over, sobbing with relief. You stood up and stepped to the side so they could have a moment. 

You wiped some sweat off your forehead, taking a deep breath. You looked up to see Spencer standing in the doorway. He smiled.

You smiled back. 

“Thank you.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, but smiled. “For what?”

“For letting me,” Spencer said.

You untucked a corner of your bed, throwing back the sheets. You then turned around and began digging through your wardrobe.

“Letting you do what?”

Spencer took a seat on the other side of the bed. “For letting me talk to Jeremy. You trust your instincts more than anything, but today, you trusted me too. Thank you.” 

“Of course I trust you,” you said, almost shrugging it off. You laughed to yourself. “Spencer, I love you, but sometimes, you have no choice but to do the job. I get that. Believe me, I get that.” 

You quickly changed into your version of pajamas (which was a plain t-shirt and a pair of boyshorts) before crawling under the covers and joining Spencer. You turned off the light on your nightstand before curling up against him, your face tucked into his neck.

“Hey, Y/N?” Spencer asked, voice soft. You felt the words rumble through his chest, vibrate against your face. It made you smile.

“Yeah, Spence?” 

“I love you too.”

You froze for a moment, wondering why he said ‘too’ rather than a simple ‘I love you’. It took you a second to realize you had, in fact, said you loved him. You relaxed, though, when you realized it didn’t feel wrong.

In fact, in felt pretty damn right.

Dorado Falls. 

You never thought two words that were so irrelevant to you could affect you so greatly.

It was an interesting case — a former Navy SEAL was experiencing a psychotic break due to both his PTSD and a car crash he was in. The break caused something called Capgras Syndrome, or a mental disorder that makes someone think people in their lives were replaced by imposters. According to Spencer, Capgras Syndrome rarely made people homicidal; it was simply Luke Dolan’s past that made him able to kill without a second thought. In fact, he killed both his former team leader and parents because of the tricks his mind was playing on him. Had the BAU not intervened, he would have killed both his wife and daughter.

Of course, the BAU did intervene. Unfortunately, this lead Dolan to believe they had been kidnapped, so he ended up taking a hostage of his own in an attempt to exchange with the Bureau. Rossi talked to him over the phone, and Garcia managed to triangulate his call. The warehouse the call came from had the man he captured, but there was no sign of Dolan.

That is, until he pressed the barrel of his sub-machine gun to the back of your head. 

“I want my wife and my daughter,” he said calmly. “If I don’t see them in three minutes, the girl dies.” 

You took in a deep breath, closing your eyes. 

“No one is seeking revenge here,” Rossi said calmly. “You’ve created this conspiracy in your own mind.”

“You took my family,” Dolan argued. He pressed the barrel harder against your head.

“We took them to protect them from you,” Spencer said, swallowing nervously. “Let her go, and we can talk about it.”

Dolan didn’t budge.

“You want to know what’s going on?” Spencer asked, stepping forward. “You were in a car accident three nights ago, and you suffered a head trauma.”

“If I don’t see Jenna and Ally right now…” Dolan said, “...she dies.” 

Your mind shut down after that. You thought you heard someone over the intercom, but the only real thing you could hear was ringing. Loud, high-pitched ringing, like a bomb had gone off right next to your head. 

“You have one minute,” Dolan said, once again pressing the barrel to your head. 

It felt like it took hours for Dolan to finally set the gun down. Derek swooped into handcuff Dolan, gently nudging you forward. 

You couldn’t move.

You saw Spencer approach you, looking into your eyes and setting his hands on your arms. You could see his lips moving; he was asking you something, probably if you were okay. You couldn’t formulate a response. You felt a tear slip down your face, but it wasn’t the dam breaking. In fact, it was only the start of the storm. 

You crouched to the floor silently, clasping your hands over your ears as you brought your knees to your chest. You curled yourself into a tight ball, pulling at the hair above your ears.

“Please, let me help him,” you whispered, tears rolling down your face. “Just let me help him…”

“Let me help him!” you shouted, fighting the chains that bound your hands above your head. “Please, let me help him!” 

It was dark, and dirty, and it smelled like piss and shit. You weren’t supposed to be here. You were never supposed to end up here. Neither was he.

“Please, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know!” you begged, thrashing. “Let me down so I can help him! Please!” 

“Please!” you shouted, clothes drenched in sweat as you thrashed around. “Please, let me down! Let me help!”

“Y/N!” Spencer called for you, brushing back some of your hair.

You sat straight up, panting heavily. Your heart was racing, and your mind was foggy. It felt like you had just ran a marathon.

“It’s okay,” Spencer promised, setting a hand on your shoulder. “You’re safe. I promise.” 

You got out of bed, walking through your apartment until you reached the living room. You slid open the glass door and stepped onto the porch.

It had been getting colder for awhile now; most of the trees were bare, and by 10PM, it was getting close to freezing. You guessed it was somewhere around three in the morning when you went outside. You didn’t go back in until the Sun began to show.

The more nightmares you had, the less time you spent with Spencer.

It was a gradual practice; you stopped going over to his apartment unannounced. You stopped inviting him over after a case. You stopped making plans with him on your off-days. You spent more time working and studying then you did with him. It was concerningly easy to distract yourself, at least from Spencer Reid. 

You eventually stopped attending classes altogether. You lied to your professors, saying the BAU needed you more than you realized. They of course understood and accepted the news without further questioning. You used the newfound freetime to work as an on-call paramedic for local EMS. Between being on-call, schoolwork, and the BAU, you had no time for yourself, let alone someone else. 

That was exactly how you wanted it. 

A case popped up in Florida. It seemed pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of victimology: young, beautiful women. The only strange thing was the UnSub didn’t seem to have a racial preference.

The team put out a profile relatively quickly. They determined the UnSub would be middle-aged, successful, a family man and most likely known by the community. He was the kind of person you’d least expect. Of course, there was more than a handful of successful family men in Atlanta, but eventually, the team and local law enforcement were able to narrow it down. 

The lead detective on the case got restless and arrested a suspect prematurely. William Harris was in the eyes of the BAU, but no one made a move because there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him yet. Now, with Harris in custody and less than 12 hours until he walks free, the team was working to find the evidence needed to keep him in custody.

“Y/N,” Hotch said, drawing you out of your daydream and back into reality. “You’re pursuing a minor in English, correct?”

You nodded. 

“Garcia found something on Harris’s computer,” Hotch said. “Go find Reid, see if you can help him.”

You nodded again, this time, more stiffly. “Yes sir,” you said, before dismissing yourself.

You wondered if Spencer had anything to do with that. 

You eventually found Spencer working in a corner of the police station. He already had 3 different boards behind him, two of which were whiteboards, one of them a corkboard. His back was turned to you as he pinned pieces of paper to the corkboard.  

A part of you wanted to say that it would be much easier if he just got over his aversion to technology already. 

“Hotch told me to find you,” you said instead.

He glanced over his shoulder. “Hey,” he said. It seemed like he wanted to say something else.

“Do you need some help?” You asked, approaching the board.

“Uh, Garcia found an untraceable blog on Harris’s computer,” he explained. “I’m going over the entries.”

You looked over the papers he already had pinned. Frowning, you began to notice a few inconsistencies. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t authors generally stick to using either dashes or ellipses?” you asked. 

“That’s right,” he confirmed. “Why?” 

You picked up a marker and began to highlight a few things. “There’s an equal number of both,” you said, mostly to yourself. “And here — the guy who uses dashes? He calls soda ���pop’, but the other one calls it ‘soda’.”

“Dashes versus ellipses is almost entirely a style choice, but pop versus soda is regional,” Spencer agreed.

“‘Pop’ is a midwestern thing,” you said. “Isn’t Harris from Ohio?”

Spencer nodded in confirmation. “So the real question is… who’s the other writer?” 

You and Spencer worked on the blog posts, pointing out the inconsistencies and the different voices each author used. Of course, Spencer was a lot faster than you were — you suspected he slowed down, at least physically,  so you didn’t feel left behind. You appreciated the thought.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a while.

You felt your body stiffen. You cleared your throat in an attempt to recover. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve been acting weird the last few weeks. Is something going on?” 

You shook your head but refused to look at him. “Nothing’s going on.” 

“Okay,” he said. “It’s just weird for you to miss date night. I thought I’d ask.”

You set down your marker and grabbed Spencer’s arm. You pulled him across the bullpen, down a hallway, and into an empty room. 

“Don’t,” you said right after closing the door. “Don’t do this. Not here.”

“I just want to know if you’re okay,” he persisted. “After what happened with Dolan…”

“I said I’m fine,” you repeated. “Please, don’t mix… us with work.” 

“I’m not!” Spencer argued. “I’m checking in on a friend. I love you, Y/N, and it hurts me to know that you’re hurting.” 

“No you don’t,” you muttered.

“...What?”

“No you don’t,” you said louder, but your voice was fragile. “You don’t love me.” 

“What do you mean?” He said, taking a step forward. “Of course I do.”

“Spencer, you don’t know me,” you said, tears forming in your eyes. “We laugh, and we have fun, and we have a good time. But you don’t know anything about me, and honestly, I don’t know anything about you. All I am is a girl you met in Colorado and couldn’t seem to shake.” 

“Why are you doing this?” he asked. The tone of his voice was enough to make a few tears fall onto your cheeks.

“Doing what?” you whispered.

“Invalidating everything we’ve been through,” Spencer said. “Invalidating me… invalidating us, Y/N? I don’t understand.”

“We spent a week in Vegas and we tricked ourselves into thinking we’re soulmates,” you said, smiling sadly. “That’s on me. And I’m sorry. But we’re not in love.”

He stepped closer to you. “That week is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

It killed you, but you took a step back. “We’re strangers,” you whispered. “We don’t know each other's favorite color, what elementary schools we went to, why we felt a calling to our jobs… We don’t know anything, Spencer. At least, I don’t.”

“Whatever happened, we can figure it out,” Spencer said. “I can help you, Y/N! You just have to let me in.”

“No one can help me,” you said, sucking in a breath to avoid a sob. You closed your eyes and wiped your cheeks feverishly. “I’ll give you back your things when we’re back in Virginia.”

“Y/N…”

“I’m sorry, Spencer,” you said. “I just… can’t.” 

You walked out without taking a look back. 

[justanotherdumpingground]

Chapter Reviews: March 5-9, 2019 + Thoughts on Upcoming Books

High School Story: Class Act Chapter 4:

Okay, so the bake sale went mostly well, and it's fun to sway Michael to vote for the twin, even though he originally supported Morgan. There are better candidates to vote for, boy. Still miffed that there's no substance to Cliff and Graham's romance together besides cutesy side stuff.

From what I've seen with Ajay's parents arguing, I think there will be a subplot that shows how arguing couples damage their children. While I applaud Picelberry's attempt to tackle this issue, I'm worried that it will be mishandled. The child abuse subplot involving Skye still needs a satisfying conclusion because the progress I've seen so far is Skye having Brenda as a parental substitute. I need to delve more into her home life and see to it that her story gets a satisfying conclusion.

Disappointed but not surprised that I have to pay diamonds just to learn about Ajay's home life. Look, I get that he's polarizing, but that doesn't excuse vital elements of his character being paywalled. Honestly, it's extremely stupid to pay diamonds just to learn more about a character, especially a love interest. I get that Pixelberry's a company, but in a game titled Choices, all plot and character arcs are supposed to be free to view, with premium options hiding mature content and other trivial things. Not doing so reeks of dishonesty.

The Heist: Monaco Chapter 14:

Dang, this is it, huh? It's like time flies by despite the incredible journey. I'm stoked and anxious at the same time for the journey ahead, now that the crown jewels are in my possession. It's super satisfying to see my crew trusting me despite my lack of premium options for most of them. I love seeing them bond together and having one another's backs during the heist.

So glad I picked the premium options to free Whisper and steal Ulrich's tools. I knew they'll come in handy for Sybil as well as me. And it was a relief I checked the blueprints and found the RGB clue on what to do to entee the vault. It indicates the color of the text I have to pick, and I sometimes thought I picked the wrong option whenever Sybil looks agitated.

It's satisfying to see Ansel locked in the car with Fabien driving him away. Good riddance to that smug snake.

Handcuffed by Sonia? This is gonna be good, especially since I like her enough to consider her a main love interest for my MC. I just hope her trust in me is enough.

Desire & Decorum Chapter 11:

After seeing another part of Briar's indecisiveness over who she'll pursue, I just wish she would make up her mind, because the setting up a character with someone reeks of lack of free will on the side characters' part and a blatant cash grab.

It's great to see my friends following me to Bath and look out after me. I appreciate them jumping at the call, but I also want them to work with me on the investigation freely instead of paywalling them. Also miffed that there's not much political intrigue and no incorporation of industrialization.

Not a surprise Duke Richards and Gideon are plotting to overthrow the Prince Regent, but I don't want the showdown against them to be anticlimactic. After all, the clues I've gathered so far should've had an edge in piecing together his ultimate motives and even gain bonuses along the way.

America's Most Eligible Chapter 8:

I still don't trust Ivy and consider her as much of a snake as Vince and Slater. She and Slater may not be on the same team, but that doesn't mean I fully embrace her. I admit that her plan sounds like an opportunity to discredit Slater for cheating, allowing me to act devious.

Can I say that the athletic outfit suits my MC well? Because he's a flirt, he should have no problems wearing enticing clothing that turns people's heads towards him. I think it would suit him more if the outfit's more revealing.

It baffles me that I have to pay diamonds to set other couples up. I know this practice exists since Choices's founding, but it still reeks of characters having no free will. I like Eden and Kiana together, but paying diamonds to ensure that reeks of greed and lack of logic.

At first, I'm not sure whether to win or not, but I ended up losing just to see more of Ivy's plan. Apparently, the winner gets to go on a date together. That made me think my MC would seduce Slater a bit, only for me to watch on YouTube that they get discredited if they won, and Derek and Kiana won anyway. It seemed that I dodged a bullet by not getting involved with Slater.

Open Heart Chapter 4:

This is an emotional chapter, and I love it. I get to see Ethan putting his energy on his patients, whom he genuinely care for, and seeing him sad at Dolores's death was heartbreaking. Even more so when her baby's revealed to be named after him. Since Dolores has sisters, this means baby Ethan will be raised by his aunts. I get that there are players who want the baby raised by Ethan himself, but if there are other family members willing to raise the child, then I say let them. Nevertheless, I hope this means he'll be more like Professor Enrique Vasquez through the use of tough love and nothing like Nick Peralta, whom I despise for being an ungrateful, disrespectful guest as well as a horrible boss.

After seeing people wanting Rafael Aveiro to be a love interest along with Kyra Santana and Sienna Trinh, I'd say nah. I'm more interested to see how my MC grows as a doctor than lust over any other characters. I like those three, but I think Ethan, Bryce, and Jackie are enough for me. Regarding people wanting Sienna as love interest, what if her boyfriend is really one of the nicest characters in the story and eventually dies in the hospital regardless?

As for Aurora, man, I'm shocked and horrified at her dismissal of Dolores's condition as smoke inhalation just because she wants a more interesting patient. I get that she wants to prove her worth as a doctor in her own right, but because she's a doctor whose job is to ensure the wellbeing of all patients regardless of condition, she has no right to be picky at which patients to treat.

Moreover, I'm even more disappointed at the writers for writing this. They could've used this opportunity to explore her even more, especially since the first three chapters show her chafing at living under her aunt's shadow, caring for Annie, being unable to treat her because she was summoned to her aunt's office, and giving some diagnosis on a patient. Pixelberry should've picked up from this and build her as a character who yearns to prove her worth by doing her job properly, not make her into someone people might as well continue to hate like handing Dolores to MC for having an "uninteresting" condition. This reminds me of the situation with Xanthe, but with differences. Xanthe's a courtesan who fits best as a love to hate character like Madeleine from TRR, built as a conniving strategist who has her political agendas that go beyond being merely mean and catty. As for Aurora, her appearances at the first three chapters shows that she didn't do anything remotely wrong aside from being aloof. It was this chapter that shows a crack in Pixelberry, who assumes the audience must continue to hate her even though she started as a mere rival with complex motivations. If Pixelberry's intention to bring Aurora down is to merely cater to their target audience with no regard to the unfortunate implications they've created, then they've succeeded. Now they just have to face the consequences.

Ride or Die Chapter 8:

Well, that confrontation with the dad is as heated as I thought. I understand that he doesn't want her daughter hanging out with criminals, but I think he's too overprotective of her daughter, such as keeping her sheltered even though she's now eighteen. That doesn't mean she should hang out with the MPC, but she should be taught to act with discernment and wisdom. In fact, I hate that the narrative wants me

As for Jason, I told the dad that he recruited MC as an informant, so now they're at odds with each other. That complicates the case with the MPC and the Brotherhood. It could be possible Jason or one of the detectives (the one with Russell Thibbs's model, to be exact). I'm leaning towards the latter.

I swear, Teppei Kaneko is dumb. His last meeting with the Brotherhood ended with him getting injured, and now he's going back to confront them again. Bah. Anyway, I rejected a tattoo (my MC's most like going to wear that sweater for the rest of the story) and ended up staying put (I would've spent diamonds to go with Mona to learn about the Brotherhood if the story is remotely any good, which it isn't).

Across the Void's return:

While a part of me is glad this story will progress to the end, I'm not super excited. There's too much focus on Pax and Eos in the first 13 chapters despite how annoying they are and how little they contribute to the story. Doing so keeps the story from exploring the setting, the plot from capturing my interest, and other important characters from developing properly. So far, Kepler's the only character we get to know, and we get to explore part of the setting through her, but I still want more than that. Other characters have potential, namely Lyra (because she's Senator Tauri) and Sol (because of his vast knowledge of various cultures).

The Elememtalist's return:

I'm pumped for this, though I'm also concerned that the quality will be worse, since the time gap between the first and second book is relatively short. I love how badass Shreya looks (Conjuring fire with just one finger instead of two hands? Awesome!), and I wish this second book will shed more light on the characters, explore the dynamics between the different races, and make Discount Dorian Pavus an interesting villain. Raife Highmore's a forgettable villain. By the way, why does the cover depict Beckett as kinda ugly? Maybe because of how thick his eyebrows are and the way he frowns.

New books and gender options:

I'm surprised and glad Nightbound and Passport to Romance will have the option to pick the protagonist's gender. That sounds like a long time coming, especially for Nightbound, which is a spinoff of Bloodbound. I like Bloodbound in some ways, but I'll always be irked at the inability to pick the protagonist's gender and the flimsy reason behind it. I get that Pixelberry thinks it will be a failure because of how clichéd it looks, hence why there's no option, but they've also released light-hearted stories with gender options. The funny thing about Nightbound is that I thought we'll have a co-protagonists system like TC&TF and MW. The man and woman fighting side by side gave me that impression.

I'm not super excited for Passport to Romance, even though it involves traveling and I get to pick the protagonist's gender. It would've been better if it's mainly an adventure book with romance kept to the sidelines. That way, one love interest won't hog the spotlight while offering little to no substance along the way.

Wishful Thinking being genderlocked and a romcom sounds like a disappointment, especially since it reminds me too much of #LoveHacks, which I dislike. Maybe it will surprise me, though.

After seeing the Q&A on Choices's subreddit, I saw a mention of a dark take on fairy tales, which captures my interest because I'd take a dark, gritty, and thought-provoking story any day. I also love the idea of a book where I rise to the top as some sort of "mean girl" for the sake of playing a conniving character who manipulates her way to the top, but I also want the protagonist to be a 3-dimensional character in her own right, and it would be cool if a worse outside threat is used as an opportunity to gain good publicity. Please make them happen someday.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Alright, I’ve been trying to write down some preliminary thoughts but there’s a lot to unpack and it feels like my mind is shaped like a bottleneck XD

So, I’d say the episode is brutal and epic enough for a midseason finale, with that feel of a small, tight scale that Supernatural has chosen for its narrative - the story is moved by the characters’ fears and needs - the themes of fear and need masterfully continued by the narrative - in fact, I’d say that the fil rouge of the episode is a feel of urgency and desperation, and that’s probably what the Bad Place - its green filter purposely jarring - represents.

Every character is brilliant, their emotions feel real. To be honest, maybe it’s just me, but at times it feels like Jensen Ackles tends to steal the spotlight because he’s just so good at what he does and looks so good while doing it. Sure, that’s generally every episode, though. Maybe it just felt more intense than usual because Phil Sgriccia’s directing is often a love letter to the guy.

In fact, Phil Sgriccia’s directing gives me the same feel Richard Speight jr gave me in 13x07 - a focus on faces and hands, a sense of unsettlement when the shot widens. That’s exactly my cup of tea and I love it. It is interesting to juxtapose the two episodes, with their universe-wide shots and the dramatic dissonance between the cosmic and the intimate.

But I was saying, the characters. Who is in a bad place? Well, primarily, the angels. There is no grand angelic plan behind their actions, this is not about paradise or destiny or cosmic missions, it’s about their fear and desperation. Dean is hit by the realization that he’s lost time, and is overwhelmed by a newfound sense of urgency. But even when he reaches his ‘worst place’ when he snaps at Kaia, it’s clearly about urgency and not anger, as he then goes in protector mode and apologizes to her (don’t wanna delve in it in this post, but Dean is never about anger).

Kaia is amazing, both in her own character and what she represents, the kid who desperately self-medicates with something she hates to keep away from the monsters that haunt her. She wants to stay awake, and it’s interesting that just in the previous episode Dean revealed that he used to imbibe outrageous and unhealthy amounts of caffeine as a kid. If we needed more proof that this episode is addressing Dean’s coping mechanisms (and not necessarily limited to substances), there, there.

There’s something about Patience and Jody that makes me happy when I see them. I also want to see more of James, explore how his parallels with John diverge from John. If Kaia represents things about Dean, Patience represents... I’m sorry, you thought I was going to say things about Sam, did you? Ehe, of course she does, in a play of parallels and contrasts. But even more than Sam’s classic narrative about attempts at an academical apple pie life, Patience’s life with her father just make me think of What Is And What Should Never Be, and Dean’s decision to get out of the djinn dream at the end. Her visions keep her grounded in the reality and the apple pie life can’t exist for her, no matter how hard she tries, encouraged by her family, just like Dean got glimpses of the girl that was trapped by the djinn along with him. Reality is the theme of the Dabb era, and the djinn episode is just a goldmine for that, isn’t it?

Reality and truth are heavy in the episode, of course - there’s the assumption they make about Jack killing Derek (lol @ Dean immediately saying it was angels, and it was angels - just another tiny bit of Dean saying the right thing before others persuade him otherwise) versus how things really went; there’s Jack clearly and openly revealing that his family is the Winchesters and Castiel, while Lucifer means nothing to him. Family and home big key words too, just in case you needed some Jack-as-Cas-parallel to punch you in the face. In a good way.

Going back to the bad place. Dean goes there... in a surprisingly good place, in relation to his relationships with others. He’s apologized to Kaia, he’s told Jack what Jack so much wanted to hear, that he’d done a very good thing. As far as he knows, Cas is... well, doing the whole ‘lol bye' Cas thing, but is alive and safe. Mary is alive.

It’s going to be interesting to compare the situations Dean and Sam have found themselves in this and the previous midseason finale. Both times trapped somewhere, but this time it’s diametrically different from the very human prison they got jailed into last year (or the institution Jack breaks Kaia out of). And while they’re going to be rescued, it’ll be by human friends, not through a deal with a reaper like last year. Dean has already had a confrontation with Billie this season, and he’s learnt something. Watch out for contrasts - other than the obvious fact that the characters who were free last year, Mary and Cas, are actually imprisoned right now, and Dean and Sam are together and, well, free to roam in a very lush place.

A couple last notes before wrapping up this post: I found interesting that Kaia makes a dichotomy between “paradises” (what Derek saw in his dreamwalking) and the “bad place” she visited instead. I think it’s the first time we hear the word in its plural form, and I’m pretty sure it’s important. In Kaia’s meaning, it’s not an abstract concept - an ideal to reach through apocalypses or nephilim power or whatever -, but something concrete, that exists and is seen. Kinda like Michael called the world Lucifer is from a paradise, when we know it’s just the regular world.

I also found interesting that Derek called Jack ‘young’ and Kaia called him ‘new’. Makes me think of Asmodeus’ line in 13x02 “New to this world, yes, but he is full of timeless knowledge and unschooled power”, while Donatello called the feeling of Jack’s power “something new, something fresh”. There’s probably a pattern, and in fact there’s interesting things if you look at the word ‘new’ in this season. Asmodeus calling himself the new sheriff in town, Dean calling Jack Sam’s ‘new pal’, Billie with her new job and new gear, Dean referring to their new issues as a ‘whole new set of tiddlywinks’, Michael being repeatedly referred to as a new Michael or a new version of Michael, and of course the angels being worried about the fact that no one has ever made new angels since the original batch and want to make new ones. Plus Luther Shrike negotiating a new deal after getting dragged to hell, if we want to add that.

Okay, enough for now. There’s a lot of stuff to chew on :)

[myraelvira]

Bon Scott's Accidental Death

Bon Scott's Accidental Death

Ronald Belford Scott, also known as Bon Scott, was born on July 9th, 1946, in Forfar, Scotland. He was the second born child born to his parents Charles and Isabelle, their first born being a son named Sandy, that passed away shortly after birth. In 1949, Bon's younger brother Derek was born. In 1952, his family moved to Australia when he was six, first moving to Melbourne.In 1953, his youngest sibling Graeme was born. Ronald recieved his nickname 'Bon' after he started school, since there was already another Ronald in his class, and his classmates played on the words "Bonnie Scotland".

In 1956, the Scott family moved to Fremantle, and Bon joined the Fremantle Scots Pipe Band, learning the drums. He dropped out of school at the age of 15, and worked various jobs such as a farmhand, crayfisherman, and weighing-machine mechanic trainee. In 1963, he was sent to the Fremantle Prison's assessment centre where he spent a short time, and later spent nine months at the Riverbank Juvenile Institution, for giving a false name and address to the police, escaping legal custody, stealing 12 gallons of petrol, and having unlawful carnal knowledge. He later tried to join the Australian Army, but was rejected for being considered "socially maladjusted".

In 1964, at the age of 18, he started his first band called The Spektors, and doubled as drummer and vocalist. He was inspired by Little Richard, who is cited as having been his idol. He performed in other bands such as The Valentines and Fraternity Despite Fraternity recording two albums in the early 70's, the records were not formally released until decades later. On January 24th, 1972, Bon married Irene Thornton. After two years, the couple separated, then later divorced in 1977, but still remained friends up until his death. In 1974, Bon suffered a motorcycle injury that put him into a coma. After he was released, he became the chauffer for AC/DC. Later that same year, he would be promoted to lead singer.

In Michael Browning's book 'Dog Eat Dog' (Browning managed AC/DC in their early years), he states that he visited Bon Scott in the hospital in Melbourne in 1975 after Bon overdosed on drugs. Michael Browning stated in his book that, "Bon was bragging to me the last time he was in that hospital, he was visiting two separate girls, both unknown to each other, who were both giving birth to his kids at the same time. So there's at least two of Bon Scott's children out there, or at least two I can vouch for.".

In 1979, the band released 'Highway To Hell', which reached the top 20 in the US, their popularity was reaching a high status that ever before. In early 1980, Bon was in England, and had went with Mike Cocks to visit their friends from the band Trust in the Scorpio Sound Studio in London, where Trust recorded the album 'Repression'. Bon was working on texts for the English version of the album, and later the musicians did a jam together of the song 'Ride On', this would turn out to be his last recording.

Somewhere around late February 18th to the early morning of February 19th, 1980, Bon had just visited the London club called the Music Machine, and was left to sleep in a Renault 5 that was owned by his friend Alistair Kinnear. Allegedly, Alistair had driven the car home, where Bon had passed out before getting there. The location the two were at was 67 Overhill Road in East Dulwich. Later that day, Alistair found Bon lifeless, and alerted the authorities. Bon Scott was taken to King's College Hospital in Cemberwell, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Bon's body was embalmed, then later cremated. His ashes were interred by his family at Fremantle Cemetery, in Fremantle, Australia. He was 33.

[Confusion and Conspiracies]

There are multiple inconsistencies of Bon's death, such as misspellings of names from various parties. There has been the contention that Bon was killed by exhaust fumes that were redirected into the car, causing some sort of asthma attack. Anecdotally, I had heard that Bon passed away due to fumes in the car and it irritated his asthma.

The timeline of the events has been challenged, such as when Bon was exactly found dead, in the book 'Bon: The Last Highway', by Jesse Fink (2017). Apparently the book quotes Paul Chapman (guitarist from UFO), stating that he had been informed early that morning by Bon's friend Joe Fury that Scott was dead. Alistair Kinnear said that he found Bon in the evening. Paul Chapman states that Bon and Joe Fury were with him the previous night of February 18th, and Bon had left his apartment to buy heroin, never to return. Jesse Fink's book also reveals that Bon and Alistair were not alone that fated night, but there was indeed a third person there named Zena Kakoulli. Zena stayed over at Alistair's apartment while Bon was in the parked car outside. In a 2018 update of Fink's book, he stated that there was evidence that a fourth person was there, Zena Kakoulli's husband Peter Perrett, who was also a rock musician. Fink believes that pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Bon's death, from a suspected heroin overdose, though Bon's official cause of death is listed as 'acute alcohol poisoning', classified as 'death by misadventure'. In a book by Clinton Walker, 'Highway To Hell', Walker agrees with the coroner that Bon died of alcohol poisoning.

Another source states that when Bon passed out, Alistair called Silver Smith asking what to do, and she is the suggested leaving him in the car since it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to pass out after a night of heavy drinking. Alistair claimed that he "just could not move him", and covered Bon with a blanket, and left a note telling him how to get to the apartment in case he woke up. Alistair then put Bon on his back to be in a more comfortable position.

Allegedly, when Bon's body was found, it was not in the laid back position that Alistair had put it. Instead, Bon's body was "curled around the gearstick, his neck twisted, his dental plate dislodged. The bile rose up in his throat and blocked his asthmatic windpipe.". This is according to Clinton Walker's book, 'Highway to Hell'.

The same evening that the events transpired, the original drummer for AC/DC, Colin Burgness, was also at the same bar that Bon had been at. He stated that the remembered "us leaving and he alright-like he wasn't drunk at all. And we went home, and the next day he's dead! To me it's just a really, really, strange thing." Burgness also stated that, "I can definitely say, to this day, that when we left, he was definitely not drunk at all."

According to Alistair Kinnear though, Bon was already drunk when they met up at the bar. When they got to the club, Bon was "drinking four whiskies straight in a glass at a time". In Jesse Fink's book, Bon was remembered as a "prodigious drinker", where seven double whiskies putting him "in the ground seems a strange notion".

After Bon's death, Alistair disappeared, and there were doubts that he even existed. His apartment was ransacked, and he was never heard from again. Interestingly, there is the common contention that Bon may have also died because the temperatures where in freezing weather. But according to Fink's book, it has been proven that the temps were higher than normal, and above freezing.

[After]

After Bon's death, the remaining members of AC/DC considered quitting the band. In the end, they decided not to since they concluded that Bon would have wanted them to continue. With encouragement from Bon's family, they hired Brian Johnson as their new vocalist, and released 'Back in Black' five months later. The album was tributed to him, though there has been controversy whether some of the lyrics were originally Bon's, of which he was uncredited for. In Fink's book, Bon Scott's girlfriends Silver Smith and Holly X both stated that he wrote, "You Shook Me All Night Long".

Holly X is believed to have been the inspiration for the song. In 'You Shook Me', there is the lyric, "She had sightless eyes... working double time on the seduction line." But Holly X allegedly had a horse called Doubletime, she had also been told by Bon that she had 'Chartreuse eyes'. According to Holly X, the lyric stated 'chartreuse eyes' instead of sightless eyes'.

Silver Smith stated that she had seen the lines from the song in a letter from Bon in 1976. Allegedly, he had just finished writing the lyrics to the 'Back In Black' album, on the night of his death. The task was a call for celebration, which is hinted at being the reason why he went to the club that fateful night.

Silver Smith has since passed away.

[Memorial]

Bon's grave site has since become a cultural landmark, with it being declared important enough to be included on the list of classified heritage places. His grave is the most visited in all of Australia.

On Mary 6th, 2006, the town of Kirriemuir, Scotland held a service for him, and revealed a Caithness stone slab commemorating Bon. On April 30th, 2016, they erected a bronze statue of him.

On February 24th, 2008, a bronze statue of him was erected in Fremantle, Australia.

In 2014, Bon's ex wife Irene Thornton released the book 'My Bon Scott'.

Fraternity's album can be purchased at this link here: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/fraternity-seasons-of-change-the-complete-recordings-1970-1974-3cd/

[SOURCES]

wikipedia

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1229/bon-scott

https://loudwire.com/bon-scott-lost-songs-released/

https://www.cantonrep.com/entertainment/20171104/bon-scotts-overdose-fink-finds-new-evidence-on-acdcs-singers-death-involvement-with-back-in-black

https://gnrcentral.com/2020/11/12/ac-dc-the-mysterious-death-of-bon-scott/

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-scott-death/ https://www.heavymetal.com/news/this-is-what-bon-scott-looked-like-20-pictures/

[davewakeman]

Q&A with Me After INTIX

In NYC last week for INTIX, I got a bunch of questions and there were certainly themes. So I wanted to take a few moments to flesh these questions out because I might not have been able to give a complete answer last week or I didn’t give a great answer because it was very busy.

Here are a few of the questions I received and my answers:

What are you working on now and how do you get so much done?

This question was something I got a lot of in Australia as well.

To answer the first part, I’m working on helping more people create and capture new opportunities this year and I will be delivering new workshops, workbooks, webinars, talks, and content with the express focus on helping people create and capture more opportunities than ever before.

In the context of INTIX, the two big projects I’m focusing on are my new newsletter, ‘Talking Tickets‘ and the continued growth of ‘The Business of Fun’ podcast.

I’ll also be doing more workshops and sales training as well. I did a really great one at the end of the year and the work that I did with the sales team seemed to really strike a chord with both me and the team.

The second part, how do I get so much stuff done.

Two simple answers: one, I’m super aggressive with my schedule. Meaning I try to block out the time for everything that needs to get done.

Two, I’m a big fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done method and have every edition of the book and workbook at this point.

Keeping a schedule that is pretty tight and knowing where and when I am going to do things, along with processing things quickly is a key to my success.

What do I think is going to happen in tickets this year? Or, what trends are popping up?

I’ve been talking about the data points that a few people throughout the industry have shared with me about growing concern that as the year progresses, selling tickets will become more and more difficult for a number of reasons, but here are three:

An election year will steal attention and cause uncertainty.

Consumer spending is strained by the continued impact of lower consumer spending power in the United States.

Confusion, pricing, and other factors that impact ease of purchase, knowledge of events, and other factors in helping people make the decision to attend.

If you think about this in terms of trends, the trend of reduced purchasing power has been on display for more than a decade. So I’m not out on a limb here.

Other trends, consumers’ tastes for entertainment continue to change and the way that live entertainment is marketing their products and services isn’t keeping up.

How can venues, teams, and performers better serve their audience?

I think putting the customer at the center of your thinking has always been good business. I think with advances in social media and comfort with sharing your experiences, good and bad, online becoming the regular course of business, putting the customer at the center of your business is just a necessity.

That’s going to play out in a number of ways like pricing, marketing, the in-venue experience, follow up afterward, and more.

I don’t have a pat answer for this, but I can say that a good starting off point that I’ve used around the world now is to think through your experience and ask questions about things that are happening to your customer.

The best questions I’ve been using is to ask are:

“How would I feel if this happened to me?”

“How would I feel if this happened to my family?”

I think that thinking through your experience using this lens will change your views.

Are there any tools, technologies, or other ideas that you are excited about seeing in action this year? 

Last year I was on the technology committee at INTIX, so I got used to asking people this question and folks turned around and asked me the same thing.

I did a little bit on this in my INTIX review, but I’ll offer you up three suggestions with an explanation:

I’m excited to see how the continued ability for venues and ticketing companies to integrate partners into the buying journey will help ease the purchase for consumers. As a long-time partner of Booking Protect, I’ve been screaming about the need to offer your guests a more personalized buying journey for years and we are seeing that come to fruition. At INTIX, I had Frederic Auoad from Stay22 on a panel and their service is one I’m curious to see impact how venues offer accommodations. I’ll also be excited to see how add-ons like parking, merchandise, and F&B are used to customize the pre-purchase or pre-event experience.

One of the nice things about going to Australia last year was getting to spend 10 days with Einar from Activity Stream. All of this traveling led me to have an even better understanding of the power of data when used well to impact your entire marketing organization. Looking at tools like Activity Stream for AI, Vatic and Qcue for dynamic pricing, and Queue-it for the waiting room, I’m excited to see how the buying experience continues to evolve.

More secondary market players are going to continue to enter the market and established players are going to continue to evolve and find ways to add value. I met Jeff from Ticketsmarter and saw the Tickets4Less folks at INTIX in NYC, I’d really never met any of them before. On top of that, I saw my old friends from Prolific1, Broker Genius, and other places and that made me excited because I’m hopeful this competition will end up being a good thing for the industry because the secondary market has done a pretty good job of innovating on digital marketing, pricing technology, and the buyer’s journey.

“How was Australia?”

Australia was amazing and there were 5 Australians at INTIX. I met them all.

I think I got so jammed up with the holidays after I returned from Australia that I never had the opportunity to recap my trip properly.

So I will do a podcast with Angela Higgins in a few weeks and we will talk about the Ticketing Professionals Conference Australia’s path forward.

As for me, I thought Australia was magical. Everyone should have the chance to see Sydney once, at least.

On top of that, I had the chance to give a keynote address at the opening of Angela and Jo’s conference, to do a workshop in Melbourne, and to give a keynote at the Australian Football League’s league day.

Professionally, that was an amazing week or so.

I also came out of the trip with some new friends like Angela’s partner, Richard. Trishan, Tom, Oli, and, I think, the entire sales and marketing team of my new favorite Australian Rules Football Side, Melbourne FC. And, Ryan Wallman, one of the best marketing and advertising people in the world.

And, I can’t forget the time I got to hang out with old friends like Simon Mabb, Andrew Thomas, and Derek Palmer.

Plus, traveling with Einar was a real highlight.

What did I learn?

I’ll give you three things that seem important now:

Good people are good people. The people I met in Australia were world-class nice folks. I’d miss people and I apologize in advance but Sheila Moloney, Amy Maiden, and the folks from Today Tix helped me tremendously with the prep for my talks. Malcolm Auld helped me understand the marketing landscape. And, again, so many people were so generous with their time and attention.

The Australian sports business community is really progressive. I was really taken by the things I learned at the AFL’s Fan Day. The openness to learn and the honesty about what they were dealing with to grow the game was refreshing considering what passes for similar sometimes in the States.

Getting outside of your comfort zone is powerful. I was walking in downtown Sydney with Einar on the Saturday of our trip and I said to him, “This is amazing and the idea that everyone in the world doesn’t embrace travel when they have a chance is just really sad.”

I have so much to say about Australia and I can’t possibly do it justice.

And, since this is now getting long, I’ll leave this Q&A for now.

Any other questions or you like this format, send me an email to dave@davewakeman.com

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Q&A with Me After INTIX was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[biofunmy]

Netflix holiday films: How ‘Christmas Prince: Royal Baby’ ranks

CLOSE

Romany Malco plays a popular DJ in “Holiday Rush.” (Photo: Anna Kooris)

A DJ and a knight in shining armor have made Netflix’s slate of holiday romantic comedies something to fa-la-la-la fall in love with.

This week, the streaming service will release the final of its five new seasonal features, which kicked off with “Holiday in the Wild” on Nov. 1, followed by “Let It Snow” a week later. “Holiday Rush” (Nov. 28) and “The Knight Before Christmas” (Nov. 21) –  top our nice list. Compared to the others, these movies stand high on a glistening, snow-covered peak.

Where does the latest movie, “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby” (Dec. 5) fall on our list that we made and checked twice? Here’s how the jolly features rank. 

In Kacey Musgraves’ Christmas special, her grandma steals the show: ‘This is just Nana’s world’

5 holiday movies that are really kind of depressing (including ‘Last Christmas’)

1. “Holiday Rush”

“Rush” Williams (Romany Malco) is a successful DJ whose cushy life gets a record-scratch when his station is bought and he loses his job. His four children, who have grown accustomed to a certain way of living, have a hard time adjusting when they’re forced to downsize. Leaning on his producer Roxy Richardson (Sonequa Martin-Green, whose smile lights up the screen like a Christmas light display), they hatch a plan to get Rush back on top.

This movie provides the type of heartwarming tingle one might experience arriving at a beloved relative’s front door. It underlines the message of the season, that it’s loved ones who matter, not material things.

Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Whitehouse star in “The Knight Before Christmas.” (Photo: Brooke Palmer/Netflix)

2. “The Knight Before Christmas”

The fish-out-of-water tale, reminiscent of 2001’s “Kate & Leopold” starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, brings joy to the world. Vanessa Hudgens’ Brooke is an Ohio teacher who’s been schooled by her ex with a wandering eye to think true love is nothing but a fantasy. Through the sorcery of an old crone, Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) time-travels from England in 1334, where he must complete a quest so he can become a “true knight.” 

After crossing paths with Brooke, his old-world ways remind her that there are good men still out there. Brooke and Cole’s slow-blooming romance is an enjoyable, captivating simmer.  As an added bonus, “Entourage” alum Emmanuelle Chriqui, who plays Brooke’s sister Madison, brings a delightful warmth to the screen. Get ready to be called out by Netflix’s official Twitter account, because this movie is definitely worthy of repeated viewing.

Netflix in December 2019: Netflix in December 2019: ‘Marriage Story,’ Kevin Hart, ‘The Witcher’ and more ‘You’

Review: ‘The Crown’ Season 3 is missing a lot of the Queen

Queen Amber (Rose McIver) and King Richard (Ben Lamb) are welcoming a third royal to their family. (Photo: Cos Aelenei)

3. “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby” 

Aldovia’s royals Queen Amber (Rose McIver) and King Richard (Ben Lamb) are expecting a royal heir at the start of the third installment of the “Christmas Prince” films, but that isn’t the only “bump” the pair encounters. Before a ceremonious signing of a peace treaty with ally country Penglia, the document goes missing.

If the drama had been heightened, “Royal Baby” may have really ruled. Unfortunately, the flick is cheesier than a holiday cheese board and offers little in terms of actual excitement.  

TV premiere dates 2019-20: When your favorite show returns, and your next one starts

Kristin Davis’ “Holiday in the Wild” character meets Rob Lowe’s in Africa. (Photo: Ilze Kitshoff)

4. “Holiday in the Wild”

This film is worthy of a silver bell. Kristin Davis (“Sex and the City”) plays Kate, a non-practicing veterinarian who’s become a lady who lunches. When her husband walks out because he no longer loves her, Kate ventures solo to Africa, on a second honeymoon she’d planned, where she meets Derek (Rob Lowe).

Despite its title, the movie is pretty predictable. You don’t need “Long Island Medium” Theresa Caputo’s powers to see where a movie like this is going, and “Holiday in the Wild” leaves something to be desired. At times, the drama falls flatter than an African savanna. However, it is a fun wink that Kate’s son Luke is played by Lowe’s son, John Owen.

Disney+ to Apple TV+ to Netflix: All the major streaming services, ranked

Here’s a first look of Christian Serratos as Selena Quintanilla in the new Netflix series

“Let It Snow” centers on many teens characters, including those portrayed by Matthew Noszka, left, Kiernan Shipka and Mitchell Hope. (Photo: Steve Wilkie/Netflix)

5. “Let It Snow”

Compared to the other two flicks, this movie feels the most different from the typical Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas movies. Focused on high school students caught in a snow storm on Christmas Eve, its ensemble cast includes  Kiernan Shipka, Isabela Merced, Shameik Moore, Odeya Rush, Liv Hewson, Mitchell Hope, Matthew Noszka and Jacob Batalon. Joan Cusack plays a peculiar tinfoil-clad, smartphone-averse tow-truck driver, who we would’ve loved to learn more about. 

The teen characters are relatable enough, experiencing things young adults do: being in love with your best friend, coming into your sexuality, relationship issues. But “Let It Snow” is missing a certain X factor, which for the season we will dub Christmas magic, that could’ve had it pulling into first place via one-horse open sleigh.

New on Netflix for November 2019: ‘The King,’ ‘The Crown’ and ‘The Irishman’

Hallmark Christmas movies: Here’s how to watch all 40 new titles

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Power Rankings -- Who starred for each team in 2019

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Power Rankings -- Who starred for each team in 2019

Heading into the last week of the season, the division races are almost all won, leaving the wild-card races to provide a bit of drama. You’ll find some of that same balance between certainty and anticipation in this week’s rankings. The voters unanimously selected the newly crowned American League West champion Astros our unanimous No. 1 over the challenges from the Dodgers and Yankees. They also rewarded the teams doing the best job of securing their wild-card bids, with the A’s cracking the top five and the Brewers climbing up to No. 11.

For Week 25, our panel of voters was Bradford Doolittle, Christina Kahrl, Eric Karabell, Tim Kurkjian and David Schoenfield.

Houston Astros 2019 record: 102-54 Week 24 ranking: 1

While another World Series title would be nice, several awards should be coming Houston’s way this fall. Right-hander Justin Verlander figures to earn his second Cy Young Award (he won with Detroit in 2011), likely holding off teammate Gerrit Cole. Meanwhile, rookie outfielder Yordan Alvarez boasts an OPS better than 1.000 and could end up knocking in a run per game. Sure, Alvarez has played barely half a big league season, but the numbers are ridiculous. Carlos Correa won top AL rookie honors in 2015, but he did not have numbers like these. — Eric Karabell

ICYMI: A superteam showdown? A historic rematch? The World Series matchups we want to see

Los Angeles Dodgers 2019 record: 100-56 Week 24 ranking: 2

Cody Bellinger is not only the Dodgers’ MVP for 2019, but probably the favorite to win the National League MVP, as well. Clayton Kershaw won MVP honors in 2014, but the last Dodgers position player to win was Kirk Gibson in 1988. With 8.6 bWAR entering Sunday, Bellinger has recorded just the 11th 8-WAR season by a position player in Dodgers history and the highest since Adrian Beltre’s 9.6 in 2004. The others: Mike Piazza, Willie Davis, Duke Snider (three times), Jackie Robinson (three times) and Dan Brouthers. — David Schoenfield

ICYMI: How the Dodgers are better built for October than everyone else

New York Yankees 2019 record: 102-55 Week 24 ranking: 3

Yankees fans like to spin DJ LeMahieu as an overall AL MVP candidate. He has been an amazing story, but he isn’t on the level of Mike Trout or Alex Bregman. However, LeMahieu clearly is the team MVP with 6.0 WAR, plus some bonus points for his ability to play all over the field. LeMahieu leads the team in runs and RBIs and still has a shot at the AL batting crown. I guess he can hit outside of Coors Field.– Schoenfield

ICYMI: Severino’s sizzling return shakes up October picture

Atlanta Braves 2019 record: 96-61 Week 24 ranking: 4

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Freddie Freeman are potential top-five finishers in the NL MVP vote — but they only rank third and fifth on the team in bWAR: Josh Donaldson 5.9, Mike Soroka 5.6, Acuna 5.5, Ozzie Albies 4.8, Freeman 4.6. Who do you have? I give the slightest of nods to Acuna. That power/speed combo at the top of the lineup sets the tone, plus he has started in center, left and right, with very good defensive metrics. — Schoenfield

ICYMI:

Who was Braves’ best addition to earn NL East repeat?

Oakland Athletics 2019 record: 94-62 Week 24 ranking: 6

With 32 home runs and 120 runs scored, shortstop Marcus Semien clearly is having a season for the ages from the leadoff slot for the A’s. But his 7.9 WAR also ranks 19th among MLB shortstops since 1947, and just three shortstops have delivered that kind of season in the past 20 years — Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, Hall-worthy Alex Rodriguez and peer Francisco Lindor just last season. — Christina Kahrl

ICYMI: How the A’s rebuilt a winner without tanking

Minnesota Twins 2019 record: 96-60 Week 24 ranking: 5

Shortstop Jorge Polanco will not lead the Twins in home runs or RBIs, but he is the clear club leader in wins above replacement and makes the strongest case for Twins MVP. Yes, five Twins have surpassed 30 home runs, but Polanco is by far the leader in hits and total bases. A year ago, Polanco served an 80-game PED suspension, and while he hit in the second half, few viewed him as a potential star. Prospect Nick Gordon figured to displace Polanco at some point. Few are talking about that now. Good for Polanco, a rock for the likely AL Central champs in the No. 2 lineup spot and at shortstop. — Karabell

Tampa Bay Rays 2019 record: 92-64 Week 24 ranking: 7

The Rays might or might not reach the playoffs, but they’ve already topped 90 wins. They have one position player (Willy Adames) with a chance to play in 150 games and just one pitcher anywhere close to qualifying for the ERA title. That pitcher, Charlie Morton, has been the one Rays starter who has simply been there for the team all season. He is going to end up with 33 starts and over 190 innings, with a 143 ERA+. The Rays might have been able to piece together his innings total had Morton thrown, say, 100 IP. But thanks to him, they didn’t have to, and his performance would have been tough to replicate even with Tampa Bay’s hive approach to roster building. — Bradford Doolittle

ICYMI: What do the Rays have to do to make the playoffs?

St. Louis Cardinals 2019 record: 89-67 Week 24 ranking: 8

Four critical victories in Chicago during the weekend have the Cardinals on the verge of clinching the NL Central title, having already earned at least a wild-card spot. It has been a total team effort of late, with numerous Cardinals players standing out. But one in particular has been veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright: He has won four consecutive starts to begin September, with an 0.33 ERA in those games. — Tristan H. Cockcroft

ICYMI:

Cards close in on postseason return at Cubs’ expense

Cleveland Indians 2019 record: 92-64 Week 24 ranking: 10

Projection systems such as ZiPS of FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski picked Shane Bieber as a big breakout player in 2019. But seeing that on the page is one thing; watching it unfold over six months of baseball is another. Bieber has posted a league-best walk rate, he leads the majors in complete games and shutouts, his 10.9 K/9 rates in MLB’s top 10 — and we would not be talking about the Indians’ shot at winning an AL wild card if not for his stepping up during the same season that saw Cleveland lose former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to injury. — Kahrl

ICYMI: Inside the Indians’ season-long domination of the Tigers

Washington Nationals 2019 record: 85-69 Week 24 ranking: 9

Anthony Rendon has earned himself a massive payout this winter as a free agent with a season that could win him NL MVP honors. He finished fifth in 2014 and sixth in 2017, but he will go higher this year. He is right up there with Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich as the top three favorites. And with Yelich missing the final two-plus weeks and Bellinger fading a bit down the stretch, Rendon could steals honors after hitting .351 in the second half with 58 RBIs in 65 games. — Schoenfield

ICYMI: Scherzer no lock to start wild-card game for Nats

Milwaukee Brewers 2019 record: 86-70 Week 24 ranking: 13

The question isn’t whether Christian Yelich is the most valuable player in Milwaukee, it’s whether he is once again the NL MVP — and that question remains open. However, that Yelich is head and shoulders above his teammates only underscores how special it is that the Brewers have rolled on even after his season was ended by a broken kneecap. Milwaukee had won 10 of 12 since Yelich last played on Sept. 10, and his replacement, rookie Trent Grisham, has filled in effectively. — Doolittle

ICYMI: Yelich talks about his injury

Chicago Cubs 2019 record: 82-74 Week 24 ranking: 11

The MVP of the Cubs’ season is a little difficult to suss out. Kris Bryant is probably the best player. Javier Baez remains the most dynamic and has a huge impact defensively. But I’ll go with Anthony Rizzo as the best combination of all the above. On a team that has been less than the sum of its parts for two seasons in a row, Rizzo has flourished situationally, with a big edge on Bryant and, especially, Baez in win probably added. On the intangible front, his early return from a badly sprained ankle for this weekend’s huge series against St. Louis was Willis Reed stuff. Rizzo is the heart and soul of the Cubs. — Doolittle

ICYMI: Even Rizzo’s magic can’t save these Cubs

Boston Red Sox 2019 record: 81-74 Week 24 ranking: 12

For any grief outgoing Red Sox baseball ops honcho Dave Dombrowski has and will receive, he figures to be able to point to the six-year, $120 million extension he gave to Xander Bogaerts as a big positive. Boston’s World Series defense was a dud, but don’t blame Bogaerts. He delivered the goods after signing his big deal this past offseason, establishing career highs in virtually every offensive category, playing improved defense and looking like a foundation piece for a Red Sox team that potentially faces significant change in the near future. — Steve Richards

ICYMI:

Why nobody might want to be Boston’s GM

New York Mets 2019 record: 81-74 Week 24 ranking: 14

Rookie Pete Alonso and versatile stalwart Jeff McNeil have definitely been the most valuable Mets hitters this season, but give credit to outfielder Michael Conforto for reaching 30 home runs for the first time. Conforto might never graduate to top-10 status among major league outfielders, but there is a statistical baseline for reliable power, a strong walk rate and competent defense. And at 26 years old, he can still improve. Better results versus left-handed pitching would be nice, and he is not really a center fielder, but Conforto has become a reliable, if occasionally overlooked, performer. — Karabell

ICYMI:

Law on how McNeil surpassed preseason expectations

Arizona Diamondbacks 2019 record: 80-76 Week 24 ranking: 15

Ketel Marte won’t win the NL MVP, but he is just outside the inner circle of contenders in one of the most surprising breakout seasons of 2019. Heck, he even had an All-Star team named after him. Placing sixth in baseball in WAR among position players, as well as seventh in slugging and OPS, plus having the versatility to play center field, second base and even a little shortstop, will do that for you. — Richards

ICYMI: Back injury ends Marte’s season

Philadelphia Phillies 2019 record: 79-75 Week 24 ranking: 16

The Phillies will look to lock up catcher J.T. Realmuto to a long-term contract this offseason. Realmuto sailed past career bests in home runs and runs batted in, and his excellent work throwing out potential base stealers should result in his first Gold Glove recognition. Myriad Phillies are to blame for the disappointing season — from the rotation to the injured bullpen to the inconsistent offense — and, clearly, management gets no pass. But Realmuto, acquired from the Marlins in February, has been awesome. — Karabell

ICYMI: Are Phillies MLB’s biggest disappointment of 2019?

Cincinnati Reds 2019 record: 72-83 Week 24 ranking: 18

Eugenio Suarez continued to build on his historic season despite the Reds’ elimination last week. Suarez hit home run No. 48 on Wednesday, moving him within four of George Foster’s 42-year-old franchise record, and he now has batted .358/.442/.806 with nine homers in 19 games in September. He has been one of the team’s better stories in an otherwise forgettable year. — Cockcroft

ICYMI:

Castillo, Suarez rank among Law’s biggest surprises of 2019

Texas Rangers 2019 record: 75-81 Week 24 ranking: 17

As flawed as WAR might be in judging pitchers, if one of your guys leads baseball in that category for virtually the whole season, it’s hard to argue he isn’t your MVP. That applies to the Rangers’ Mike Minor, who just in the past week or so was passed by Justin Verlander but still ranks second among MLB pitchers with a 7.5 WAR. Of course, Minor’s teammate Lance Lynn is just behind Minor with 6.7 WAR, fourth in baseball, and also is fourth in FanGraphs WAR at 6.0, while Minor is 19th in fWAR (4.0). So take your pick. — Richards

San Francisco Giants 2019 record: 75-81 Week 24 ranking: 19

Let’s accentuate the positive here and celebrate Madison Bumgarner getting back over 30 starts and 200 innings pitched for the first time since 2016, following two fluke injury-shortened seasons. With MadBum heading toward free agency, it was a great bounce-back campaign from one of the defining stars of the decade. Of course, it also inspired the Giants to keep him at the trade deadline as they briefly flirted with contention, which didn’t turn out quite as well. — Kahrl

ICYMI: Mike Yaz — HR in Fenway ‘super special’

Los Angeles Angels 2019 record: 70-86 Week 24 ranking: 21

Infielder David Fletcher is likely to end up the second-most valuable Angels player by WAR, which is something few expected back in March. Fletcher, in his second big league season, has played more than 35 games at three different infield positions — and also has aided in the outfield — and he easily will lead the club in hits. No, Fletcher is not much of a power hitter, but contact options remain important to a lineup, especially when they can handle most every position. Who knows what happens in 2020 or whether Fletcher secures a starting role, but for 2019 give the 25-year-old much credit. — Karabell

San Diego Padres 2019 record: 70-86 Week 24 ranking: 20

The firing of manager Andy Green on Saturday creates an attractive opening for the team’s next prospective skipper, coming off a season in which rookies Chris Paddack and Fernando Tatis Jr. should pick up votes in the Rookie of the Year race and the team has had a strong core consisting of Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer and Kirby Yates. But the beneath-the-radar story of the Padres’ second half has been Dinelson Lamet, who has a 3.20 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 45 innings in eight starts since Aug. 1. — Cockcroft

ICYMI:

Why was Pads manager Andy Green fired?

Chicago White Sox 2019 record: 68-87 Week 24 ranking: 24

The ChiSox’s 2019 MVP, Lucas Giolito, may not have more to contribute this season now that he’s shelved for the remainder of the season, but his emergence as a top-tier starter is a cornerstone development for a team emerging from a rebuild. Giolito has improved in every facet. His strikeouts are up by more than five per nine innings. His walks per nine have dropped from 4.7 to 2.9. And when everyone is hitting home runs, Giolito has given up fewer long balls than a season ago. He has been consistent and durable, traits increasingly rare among starting pitchers. The White Sox hope that a year or two from now we’ll see Giolito as just one of their aces, but for the time being at least they have one. — Doolittle

ICYMI: Sox shut Giolito down with lat strain

Toronto Blue Jays 2019 record: 63-93 Week 24 ranking: 26

Yes, he leads the Blue Jays in batting average (.276) and OPS (.789), but he is just seventh on the team with 15 home runs and his WAR logs in at 0.0. Still, the numbers matter not — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the slam dunk MVP of the Jays for invigorating baseball in Toronto (and beyond) and providing great hope for years of excitement and electricity to come. — Richards

ICYMI: Biggios now second father-son duo to hit for cycles

Seattle Mariners 2019 record: 66-90 Week 24 ranking: 25

No team has ever employed more players in one season than the 67 that have shuffled through Seattle in 2019. What, you don’t remember Zac Rosscup, Parker Markel, David Freitas or Nick Rumbelow? Backup catcher Tom Murphy leads position players in WAR, which says everything you want to know about this team. But I’ll give team MVP honors to Marco Gonzales, who has won 16 games with a 4.09 ERA, even more impressive considering Seattle’s defense has been among the worst in the majors. — Schoenfield

Colorado Rockies 2019 record: 67-89 Week 24 ranking: 23

The Rockies continue to audition youngsters for potential 2020 roles this September, and one of their bright spots this month has been utility man Garrett Hampson. The 24-year-old rookie has made starts at second base, shortstop and center field; and he has batted .357/.410/.589 with three home runs and has seven stolen bases this month. — Cockcroft

Pittsburgh Pirates 2019 record: 65-91 Week 24 ranking: 22

With all due respect to Josh Bell, Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds, Starling Marte’s performance seems to drive the Pirates’ performance unlike any other player. He has been sidelined for the past 13 days with a wrist issue, during which time the Pirates are 2-9. In fact, accounting for any of Marte’s absences this season, the Pirates are just 4-20 when he has been unavailable to play. — Cockcroft

Kansas City Royals 2019 record: 57-100 Week 24 ranking: 27

You’d like to see a team MVP be a little more well-rounded than Jorge Soler, but in absence of an obvious pick, his record-setting home run spree is enough to get the nod. Soler already has obliterated Mike Moustakas’ single-season franchise mark for homers, and with Mike Trout out for the remainder of the season, Soler’s next dinger will make him the Royals’ first home run champion. He still defends like the designated hitter he ought to be, but Soler’s power display has given Royals fans something to follow during a rebuilding season. — Doolittle

Miami Marlins 2019 record: 54-101 Week 24 ranking: 28

A fractured finger ended his season a month ago, but it reflects just how shallow a talent pool the Fish swim in that Brian Anderson still is the easy choice for most valuable Marlin. A defensive asset at third base and out in right field, like most non-Marlins he also had a breakout season at the plate, setting career highs in extra-base hits despite playing in 30 fewer games than in 2018. — Kahrl

Baltimore Orioles 2019 record: 51-105 Week 24 ranking: 29

For a team on pace for just 53 wins, the Orioles have a few reasonable choices for an MVP. Trey Mancini has an .889 OPS, 36 doubles, 34 home runs, 101 runs and 93 RBIs. Jonathan Villar has 3.9 WAR and 38 stolen bases. And Hanser Alberto has 3.1 WAR and a .310 batting average. But our co-MVPs are Chris Davis and Henry Frasca. Huh? Davis, with a .176/.268/.315 slash line and just 11 home runs to offset 134 whiffs? And who is Henry Frasca? He is a 9-year-old fan from Massachusetts who wrote a letter of encouragement to Davis during his record 0-for-54 stretch in April. Davis was so moved, he kept the letter with him throughout the season and spent the afternoon with Henry on a return trip to Fenway Park in August. After watching this video, we suspect you’ll endorse our pick. — Richards

Detroit Tigers 2019 record: 46-109 Week 24 ranking: 30

A rough second half took a lot of the shine off Matthew Boyd’s big campaign, but his first-half 3.87 ERA turned heads and his full-season 11.6 K/9, good for sixth in the majors, should keep them turned. And sure, while pitcher wins don’t mean much, you try flirting with a .500 season (he is 9-11) while pitching for a team due to lose more than 110 games and featuring MLB’s worst offense. — Kahrl

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Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

***

I released the 11th annual Midseason Fantasy Guide on Friday. It has deeper, more-ready prospect info, plus KHL/Euro/NCAA free agents, trade block musings and of course second-half projections. It’s a great way to step back and take a look at your team, take a look at your league, and figure out a strategy for the second half. It also supports the site and damn if it isn’t a great read. It’s also my longest ever at 231 (!) pages. Pick it up here!

*

I’m getting a lot of questions on Twitter about goaltending. All season long, to be honest, but it’s really picked up again over the past week as the early-on struggling starters begin to take their jobs back from the red-hot backups. And some of these are just so tough to answer. Drop Casey DeSmith for MacKenzie Blackwood? A proven guy who is losing starts for an unproven guy who may get the starts but is on a weak team? Another tough one – drop Jaroslav Halak, who is losing his grip on starts as Tuukka Rask is on fire and will get most starts down the stretch…to pick up Alexandar Georgiev who is a backup and is terrible but he’s behind a starter who is even worse? Sure, you could take the guy who will get you 0.8 points over the next week instead of the guy who might get you 1.2 points. But maybe it could be vice-versa? Your guys who have really helped you in the first half are no longer helping you. Sorry, but there’s no solution, if he’s your second goalie you’ll just have to take the two starts every three weeks that you’ll be getting from now on. Adding Georgiev is not going to save you. If you’re in this position I am guessing you were lucky to grab Halak (or DeSmith, or Domingue, etc.) in the first place so the time to stabilize your goaltending for when this happens would have been a month ago. But instead, you bet against the contract and hung on.

Mikko Koskinen sits for three out of four games when he’s the superior goalie, what to do with that guy? Same thing as with Halak, except Cam Talbot isn’t exactly stealing his job back just yet – he’s just getting most of the starts again. David Rittich could be in the same boat soon, despite how awesome he’s been. Louis Domingue was helpful too, but his time is over. Ditto for Casey DeSmith – and those of you in keeper leagues hoping he would parlay this great season into a starting gig somewhere else, well, his new contract isn’t a starter’s contract. So he’s doomed to be a backup and that’s that.

Long story short, this is why I follow the contract. Because even though it can be painful owning some of these guys for 10, 20 or even 40 games, eventually they retain the starting gig and generally do okay with it. Chasing backups is something that I don’t do in keeper leagues unless I see a chance at his becoming a starter. I had mild interest in DeSmith, now that interest is gone. I have interest in Collin Delia, I have interest in Rittich, and I like Cal Petersen over Jack Campbell. That’s it.

*

Adin Hill coughed up seven goals on Sunday but it really wasn’t his fault, the Coyotes were horrible. But he is 3-5-0, 3.75 and 0.872 since December 6.

Darcy Kuemper has posted four solid games in a row and has six Quality Starts over his last eight.

Calvin Pickard was underwhelming in his AHL conditioning stint, allowing 11 goals on 99 shots for Tucson. Although he did go 3-0-0 so he stopped ‘enough’ pucks to get it done (he’s 4-2-2 in the NHL too, so maybe that’s just how he works?). Pickard was recalled from his stint Sunday, but he’s not looking like the answer for Arizona. But I don’t think they would mind his warming the bench while they give Hill some better starts down in Tucson. I suspect they’ll send Hill down soon.

*

Three more points for Mark Giordano and he was also a plus-5. He’s now a ridiculous plus-36 with 47 points in 45 games on the season.

*

Arizona line combinations with Jordan Weal in the lineup:

#1

28.6%

COUSINS,NICK – GALCHENYUK,ALEX – GARLAND,CONOR

#2

25.4%

ARCHIBALD,JOSH – CROUSE,LAWSON – KEMPE,MARIO

#3

22.2%

HINOSTROZA,VINNIE – PANIK,RICHARD – STEPAN,DEREK

#4

12.7%

FISCHER,CHRISTIAN – KELLER,CLAYTON – WEAL,JORDAN

Immediately tried out with the big guns. But he did cough up a tough one on the fourth Calgary goal so I’m not sure how long that will last.

*

I was worried about Sergei Bobrovsky after this weekend’s mysterious team suspension. And now I’m worried that his focus is blown. He got the win but gave up five goals on 27 shots. It really hasn’t been fun owning Bobrovsky this year.

With two assists Sunday, Ryan Murray is still humming along at a point every two games.

Kevin Stenlund played his first and second career NHL games Saturday and Sunday. He is a solid middle-six prospect who had a great training camp and as an AHL rookie so far appears to be a 20-goal scorer this year. He was plunked on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Anthony Duclair this weekend, but was held without a point. His DobberProspects profile is here.

*

Neal Pionk has one point in his last 10 games. Kevin Shattenkirk has four points in that span. The Rangers also gave up their five-forward top power-play-unit experiment and let Shatty back on it. A few games ago he was moved to the second PP while Coach Quinn went with five forwards on the top one. Shattenkirk has seen 10 minutes of PP time over the last three games so it appears things have returned to normal. Other than the ‘scoring points’ thing. Shattenkirk’s last PP point was on November 9. The one before that was October 16. The one before that was last season.

*

Loui Eriksson was on nobody’s active roster yesterday as he went out and had himself a three-point game. This after going eight games without a point. He was also plus-4. He was still on a depth line playing with checking-line players, he just happened to have a good game.

After a couple of rough games, Jacob Markstrom bounced back with a Quality Start. Since December 6 he is 10-3-1, 2.13 and 0.925%.

I don’t care how great Thatcher Demko is, I am the lone wolf of the DobberHockey writers – Demko isn’t going to usurp this. Markstrom is posting stellar numbers, he was a highly-touted prospect (more highly-touted than Demko is now, even), and yes he had some rough years and took six years longer to ‘make it’ than we wanted – but he’s getting it done and he’s making $4 million next year. So he’s getting all the starts he wants for the next year and a half. And you know what? If he keeps posting a 0.920 SV% as this team gets better, the best prospect in the world isn’t going to take it from him. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again (remember Jonathan Bernier was the next big thing, but couldn’t wrench the job away from a fella named Quick who got there a year earlier).

Sometimes, starting goaltending is about timing. Mid-level, lesser-touted goalie prospects can become great fantasy assets because they arrive in an organization at the perfect time (Corey Crawford, Jimmy Howard, Chris Osgood, and maybe soon Delia?). And sometimes amazing goalie prospects never get rolling because the timing just missed (Bernier a great example of this, Cory Schneider another one). I know the simple, reflexive answer is “well, trade one!” But it never seems to be that simple. Obvious trades never seem to get done in real life. If Markstrom continues to play above average and gets paid $4 million next year, what if they extend him in the summer? You know the Canucks will try to lock him in, so what if he gets extended for even higher salary for three or four more years? Then what happens to Demko then? I’ll tell you what happens – he gets the Schneider treatment. An extra couple of years too long in the AHL, plus far too long as a backup goalie.

So, here I am. The lone wolf. I think highly of Demko and his upside. I would trade him away in my keeper league because I want someone who will actually play a lot in the next couple of years.

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Victor Hedman left the game after taking a ref’s shoulder to the eye. Doesn’t sound like an injury that would cost him future games, but be wary of a possible concussion.

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Micheal Ferland is back on a line with the big guns Sebastian Aho/Teuvo Teravainen and he’s racking up the points again. Give him five in the last two games. He added seven PIM on Sunday. He’s back on the power play as well, both of Sunday’s points were with the man advantage.

And with four points on Sunday, Aho now has 22 points in his last 15 games, so playing on a line with him is like striking gold these days.

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Colton Sissons, who is filling in for Kyle Turris, seems to be doing better than Turris was on the Kevin Fiala line. Then again, Calle Jarnkrok was doing great there as well. In fact, it seems like if your name isn’t Turris, you’re going to do great with Fiala. Which begs the question – why does Turris get to play with Fiala? Sissons has a four-game points streak, which was preceded by four pointless games, which was preceded by another four-game points streak. In all, Sissons has 11 points in 12 games.

Pekka Rinne was pulled after giving up five goals on 20 shots. In his last 11 games, Rinne is 3-6-2, 3.18 and 0.896. Meanwhile, Juuse Saros has posted five consecutive Quality Starts.

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Anaheim has lost 11 games in a row. The GM announced that he was going to fire Randy Carlyle by saying “I am not considering a coaching change at this time” which, as we know, is the kiss of death.

The sign of desperation? Playing two of your six defensemen 8:30 or less. That leaves the other four defensemen killing themselves out there. Another sign? Jakob Silfverberg was up playing with Ryan Getzlaf and I almost never see that. It’s happened, I just rarely catch it. Another sign? Pontus Aberg is now getting scratched – three games in a row now. Carlyle is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this problem.

John Gibson is 0-5-4 with a 0.896 SV% during this stretch. He is the goalie I would say has the biggest fan club around these parts – I have probably received the most questions about my perceived low ranking of Gibson over the past several years than any other goaltender. Or maybe the Gibson owners are just more vocal. Anyway, I digress. I noted here a few weeks ago that if the Ducks made the playoffs then Gibson should get the Vezina and the Hart, because I felt that the team was terrible but the goalie was doing amazing. Now he’s not stealing games anymore and their crappiness is catching up with them.

One good thing for the Ducks – Daniel Sprong has five points in his last seven games and has wired 29 shots on goal over his last nine. He seems to settling into his new home okay now.

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When I was putting the Midseason Guide together I was surprised at the kind of season Brandon Tanev was having. And with an assist Sunday he has a five-game points streak going. He also added five SOG and six hits.  Since November 14 here is the line on Tanev:

29-9-5-14, plus-4, 13 PIM, 54 SOG, 100 Hits and 26 BLKs.

Just picked him up, myself.

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I just took a look at the hot/cold tool and there are seven players at the 15-game max window we look at that have 23 points or more. That is to say, seven players have at least 23 points in their last 15 games. How about that. Nikita Kucherov (32), Johnny Gaudreau (28 before Sunday night’s three points), Connor McDavid (26), Steven Stamkos (25), Patrick Kane (24), Sidney Crosby (23) and Brayden Point (23).

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{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">19 points in last 20 games for Erik K̶a̶r̶l̶- I mean Gustafsson</p>— Dobber (@DobberHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/DobberHockey/status/1084288158043385856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2019</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

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See you next Monday.

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-halak-markstrom-gibson-ferland-shattenkirk-and-even-more-goalie-talk-jan-14/

[buddyrabrahams]

15 key questions for NFL Week 13

The Dallas Cowboys got Week 13 started off with a big win over NFC East rival Washington. They broke out of their offensive slump and poured it on with 38 points against Washington to improve to 6-6 and get back in the playoff hunt. Many other teams are on the border looking to stay in the playoff hunt or cement their postseason chances. Can anyone else put together a turnaround in Week 13 the way the Cowboys did? We shall soon find out.

Here are 15 key questions for the NFL Week 13 games.

1. Is this the week the Case Keenum magic runs out?

Keenum was named the NFC Offensive player of the month for November, yet Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer continues to say he is taking his quarterback situation week-to-week. It’s almost as if everyone expects Keenum to fall off at some point — including his own team. This week, Minnesota has a tough road test against a Falcons team that has looked better by the week. Keenum was outstanding in a 30-23 win over the Lions on Thanksgiving, but playing consecutive road games is no easy task. Despite his rock-solid play during the Vikings’ seven-game win streak, it feels like we’re one bad Keenum outing away from seeing Teddy Bridgewater’s 2017 debut.

2. Can the Bengals fight their way into the playoffs?

The Bengals lost their first three games of the season, and it looked like this would finally be the year that Marvin Lewis would lose his job. Since then, the team has gone 5-3 and is somehow still in the hunt for the playoffs. A soft schedule has had a lot to do with that. But things won’t be easy for Cincinnati with a game against the Steelers on Monday, and games remaining against the Vikings, Lions and Ravens.

Still, Andy Dalton and the gang are only one game out of a wild card spot in the AFC. If they can somehow steal a win vs. Pittsburgh, anything can happen down the stretch.

3. Are the Giants really better off without Eli Manning?

Benching Manning likely is more about moving on from a 36-year-old quarterback than trying to see what Geno Smith is made of. Unless the Giants think third-round rookie Davis Webb can be a franchise quarterback, they are almost certainly setting themselves up to tank. With a 2-9 record, New York has as good a chance as anyone to be in position to draft either Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen next year, or whichever top quarterbacks come out.

Smith’s first task will be a tough one on the road against the Raiders. The truth of the matter is the Giants probably won’t be better with Smith under center, and they likely don’t want to be.

4. Do the Raiders have enough playmakers to save their season?

Amari Cooper missed practice on Thursday with a concussion and has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Giants. Michael Crabtree will also miss the game because he will be serving a one-game suspension. That leaves a Raiders offense that has been disappointing in 2017 facing a major challenge. Fortunately, Oakland is going up against Geno Smith. This is the perfect week to be missing key players, but the Raiders cannot afford to slip up if they want to remain in the playoff hunt. Derek Carr might have to get creative to put points on the board. Watch out for a big week from Seth Roberts.

5. Will Marcus Mariota’s mistakes doom the Titans?

Many expected Mariota to take a big leap forward in his third NFL season, but that has not happened. While injuries have played a role, Mariota has appeared in all but one game this season and has a passer rating of just 79.1. The Titans have managed to win three of their last four games despite Mariota throwing eight interceptions during that span. On the season, he has 12 interceptions against nine touchdown passes, with the picks being more than he had thrown in either of his first two seasons. The Texans aren’t expected to present a huge challenge at home, but they have an opportunistic defense. If Mariota continues to turn the ball over, bad things are going to happen in Tennessee.

6. Can Carson Wentz keep his hot streak going in Seattle?

Wentz has looked like a legitimate MVP candidate in his second NFL season, but he will face on of his toughest tests to date on Sunday night. While the Seahawks have been inconsistent and have a lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, there is no tougher place to play in the NFL than Seattle. Wentz hasn’t thrown an interception in Philly’s last three games, but it will be tough to keep that streak going even without Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor on the field. If the Eagles find a way to win their 10th straight game, there may be nothing that can stand in the way between them and an NFC championship.

7. Which team will seize control of the NFC South?

The Panthers and Saints are squaring off Sunday in a matchup that could very easily determine who wins the NFC South. Both teams are 8-3 and have put together great seasons, though it feels like New Orleans is the better team. Alvin Kamara has emerged as one of the most explosive playmakers in football and has given the Saints a two-headed monster in the backfield with Mark Ingram. Drew Brees is still making the throws he needs to make at age 38, and New Orleans has shown vast improvement on the defensive side of the ball.

While Cam Newton has the ability to take over any game, he may find it tough with tight end Greg Olsen banged up. Carolina is in a tough spot traveling to the Superdome.

8. Will the Seahawks establish themselves as a legitimate title contender?

Just as the Eagles have an opportunity to cement themselves as the best team in the NFC, the Seahawks will have a chance to prove they can still contend for a Super Bowl if they beat Philadelphia at home. Winning these types of games is going to be a major challenge for Seattle without Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor, and you have to wonder how far Russell Wilson can carry the team. No matter what the scenario, the Seahawks are always tough to beat at home. The problem for them could be that they’ll likely have to play on the road in the postseason.

9. What type of impact will Josh Gordon make?

Gordon is ready to make his season debut on Sunday against the Chargers. This will also be his first NFL game action since 2014, so no one really knows what to expect. Toss in the fact that Gordon will be catching passes from rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer, and you could really see the star receiver’s first game back going a number of different ways.

Whatever the case, Gordon’s return should give Browns fans something to be excited for. If he’s anywhere near the caliber of player he was three years ago, he should make life extremely difficult on defensive backs over the last five weeks of the season.

10. Can Matthew Stafford get the best of Baltimore’s elite defense?

The Ravens are 6-5 and in great shape to contend for a playoff spot down the stretch, and that mostly has to do with the level of play they have gotten from their defense. Baltimore ranks second in the NFL behind only the Jaguars with 189.9 passing yards allowed per game, so it goes without saying that Stafford and the Lions will be facing a huge challenge on Sunday. To make matters worse, Stafford suffered a sprained ankle in Detroit’s loss to the Vikings on Thanksgiving, so he may be playing at less than 100 percent.

The Lions, also 6-5, could really use a win if they want to keep pace in the NFC. With the Ravens’ defense consistently locking down opponents and allowing just 17 points per game, Stafford may have to lean heavily on his own defense to come away with a win in Baltimore.

11. How healthy is Jameis Winston?

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter announced Thursday that Winston will start in Green Bay this weekend. The quarterback injured his shoulder earlier in the season and aggravated it again on Nov. 5 against the Saints, and he has not played since. While Winston suffered no structural damage, he has been in a considerable amount of pain and reportedly underwent platelet-rich plasma therapy in an attempt to heal quicker.

The Bucs are 4-7 and have virtually no shot at making the playoffs, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to push Winston. He must be feeling at or close to 100 percent, but it will be interesting to see if he can make it through a full game without experiencing any discomfort.

12. Should Chiefs fans be hitting the panic button?

The Chiefs tried to get back on track with a home game against the Bills in Week 12, but their offensive struggles continued and they managed just 10 points in the game. After looking like an MVP candidate through the first eight weeks of the season, Alex Smith has been terrible over the past month and can’t seem to stop turning the ball over. If you want to know how frustrated the Chiefs are, look no further than the way Travis Kelce reacted when Smith threw a late-game interception last weekend.

Kansas City has been very fortunate that the AFC West has been so weak this year, but they are suddenly 6-5 after losing five of their last six games. Both the Raiders and Chargers are just a game behind them at 5-6. Los Angeles has looked great the last two weeks and gets a home date with the Browns on Sunday. If the Chiefs can’t take care of the Jets, it may be time to hit the panic button.

13. Does Tyrod Taylor give the Bills a chance against New England?

Despite Sean McDermott’s historically bad decision to start rookie Nathan Peterman two weeks ago, the Bills are 6-5 and very much in the postseason hunt after their impressive road win over the Chiefs in Week 13. They’ll have an even tougher test on Sunday when the Patriots come to town, but Taylor has the ability to create some problems for Bill Belichick’s defense.

While New England’s defense has been vastly improved improved since its laughably bad start, traveling to Buffalo is never easy. The Bills would have to overcome long odds to beat the Patriots, but doing so would practically clinch a playoff spot for them. Motivation won’t be an issue, especially for Taylor in the wake of his Week 11 benching.

14. Would John Elway fire Vance Joseph after one season?

The Broncos really have nothing to salvage for their 2017 season, especially with Paxton Lynch now injured and Trevor Siemian starting again. As such, the biggest storyline to follow in Denver down the stretch could be whether Vance Joseph is coaching for his job.

While it’s rare for an NFL coach to get the axe after just one season, Joseph’s first year in Denver has been a disaster. The Broncos have won just three games and have been horrendous on offense no matter who is under center. As if that weren’t discouraging enough, discipline has also been an issue. Aqib Talib will miss Sunday’s game while he serves a suspension for an ugly fight with Michael Crabtree last week. Poor results on the field are one thing, but Elway won’t hesitate to show Joseph the door if he feels like the coach is losing the locker room.

15. Is help on the way for the Packers?

Aaron Rodgers is less than two months removed from suffering a collarbone injury that reportedly required multiple screws and metal plates to repair, but he is already back to throwing passes. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky witnessed the former MVP throwing a ball 50 yards in the air before Green Bay’s game against the Steelers last week, so Rodgers has to be feeling pretty good.

The 5-6 Packers are two games behind in the NFC wild card race, so they probably need to beat both the Buccaneers at home this weekend and the Browns on the road next week in order to have a shot at making the playoffs. Even with Brett Hundley starting, that doesn’t sound like a very daunting task. Rodgers will be eligible to return from IR in Week 15. If Green Bay is 7-6 and doctors clear the former MVP, Packers fans may have a lot to be excited about.

from Larry Brown Sports http://ift.tt/2kfprBw