#FUCK YEAH SCRUB JAY ON THE DASH

[thebluestbluewords]

9 for the OTP questions? Choose any ship you’d like!

Thank you nonnie! Sorry for taking almost a week to get to this, hope you enjoy :)

Number 9-- Pirate AU: Who is the pirate? Who is the member of the royal family who did not sign up for this?

(There are two not-fics below-- rotten four as is my brand, and mal/audrey)

There’s two ways I could go with this:

either THIS is the Maldry rivals-to-friends-to-lovers fic, where Mal is a dashing pirate who is young and rebellious and was kicked off of her ship by her mother, who wants her to attend the young lady's academy on the mainland and educate herself in the ways of “proper” society so that they can infiltrate the rich ships better and get the reputation as the gentlewoman pirates that they deserve. Of course, in this fic Mal meets Audrey along the way, and hates her immediately. Seriously, this girl likes PINK and PRINCESSES but also NOT PRINCESSES because she is NOT INTO GIRLS and it’s INFURIATING.

“Mal,” says Evie, who is Mal’s best friend from the pirate ship who is actually delighted to be attending the princess academy and is learning new ways to hide knives in her fancy dresses every day “Babe.”

“Fuck off,” says Mal, who has known Evie since they were six and had a falling-out so dramatic that they sailed on separate ships next to each other for four years afterwards.

“You’re so gay for her.” says Evie, who is already hooking up with Mal in their free time because it’s easy and comfortable and they both enjoy it well enough. “I know that look, Mal Bertha.”

“There’s no look,” says Mal, sulking.

“Just ask her out with all of your dashing pirate charm.” Evie says. She has not stopped applying her lipgloss throughout this conversation, and it’s not as distracting as it should be for either girl.

So Mal goes out and picks up a new pair of boots with less bloodstains than her old ones, and rents a boat (renting is like stealing, except it’s only for a while. It’s practically borrowing, really, except for how Evie has drilling it into Mal’s mind after a few too many incidents with lost books that BORROWING happens when you’ve ASKED FIRST) and decides to turn on the full pirate charm

Audrey is not impressed, and does not break up with her boyfriend, Chad Charming, over this attempt at wooing. She is a princess, and in NO HECKING WAY did she sign up to be….harassed!! By a pirate no less!! Everyone knows who her mother really is, no matter if she’s here under an “education decree” from the “crown prince” for the “children” of the exiled *former* smuggler’s community by the coast.

….Mal steals a boat, and tries again. Only this time with kidnapping.

Audrey is impressed with the dedication, if nothing else. She may not like a pirate, but she can appreciate a girl who will dedicate at least six hours of her life to plotting and stealing a whole finishing vessel from the coast. And cook her a lobster dinner on it.

Mal is delighted by this turn of events. Evie is thrilled that she finally has time without her best friend where she can FINALLY decorate their room the way she wants. Audrey is reluctant at first, but eventually comes around to the idea of dating a bad girl.

….and also there’s a bit where Mal gets dumped in the water and Audrey, despite Not Signing Up For This Bull Crap, has to jump in and save her. From about two feet of water. Because Audrey was being a reasonable person and taking her shirt off so that she could get the full benefits of the sun. Make that vitamin D.

Mal is so gay that she walked off the side of the boat when it happened.

The OTHER answer is that it’s a rotten ot4 story, and Mal is an evil princess who gets sent away to live on a pirate ship for a year by her mother, who wants her to become more evil and also learn some leadership skills. The other three are the pirates who are supposed to teach her their wicked ways of stealing and drinking and cruelty.

Unfortunately for Maleficent’s plans, the shipping journey doesn’t go exactly according to plan.

Mal does not fall overboard this time, but what DOES happen is that the OTHER wicked princess on board the ship is too perfect for words, and when it’s revealed that actually, Evie is the famous pirate princesa espelho and NOT another wicked boarding school member, Mal has a full blown gay crisis.

“Well YEAH,” says Jay, who is also dating essentially pirate royalty. “She’s like, basically the coolest person you’ll ever meet, aside from me. What, did you think she was one of us regular wicked school brats?”

“I don’t know what I expected,” Mal tells her pillow, which she is burying her face in during said Gay Crisis. “She’s too good to be true.”

“Nah.” Jay says, mouth full of ye olde cheetos or something. “She’s pretty lame sometimes. You should ask her about what her room looked like when she first got her own ship. All dark and gloomy.”

“WHAT” shrieks Mal, who has been working on changing her bunk to the darkest, deepest corner since she first arrived. “She THREW OUT a room that was dark AND gloomy in favor of what?”

“Better lighting for her makeup tutorials, mostly.” Jay says, not paying attention anymore. “I think she might also have a full journalism setup there too. She won’t tell me anymore, not after what happened with the caustic tar.

Mal is horrifically curious about the caustic tar now. “What was it made from,do you know?” she asks, because she’s still working on how to cohabitate with other people peacefully despite growing up running around an evil academy since she was a child.

“Nothing important,” says Jay casually, throwing a ball at the ceiling.. “She had some boards replaced, scrubbed off all the skin on her palms fixing the parts of the door she didn’t want to replace, and then made a very cool liquid version of the tar for spraying on fabric to get natural wear and tear patterns on new garments.

“Sick.” Mal says, and before she can make any other comments:

“There was the matter of the handprints though,” Jay say, still extremely fake-casually. .”they were weird, you know, because Evie had them on her back for weeks, with the tar and all, and they were definitely dainty. Almost like some girl kissed her around the neck while there was still tar on her hands.”

Mal throws a shoe at him, knocking both the ball and the boy out of the way, and shoves past to find Evie.

Because the roles are already a mess for this (I am very small and very tired place just roll with it as I am not editing this before I post) Mal runs into exactly the pirate royalty she doesn’t want to see.

“What the fuck are you doing in my room?” asks Carlos, who is basically a tiny perfect decoy in this world. His mother had a monopoly on the exotics trade for a good few years when he was a child, and would tie him to the mast and make him cry for mercy as a way of luring other ships hoping to rescue a nobleman’s child closer. It worked disturbingly well, and now at sixteen, Carlos is both a pirate elite and terrified of falling into the water.

Mal pushes past, because she is as always a little bit of an asshole, and goes off to find her OWN pirate princess to date. She doesn’t need any stupid boys who just look at her like she’s dumb when she doesn’t know an anchor form a bowline. She doesn’t need to know. She’s going to be managing her own crew eventually, and they’ll do all of the heavy lifting aspects of it all. Mal is simply going to chill out and wait for the princess to come to her.

Of course, because this is a pirate story, this is when another ship sees the school experience boat, and decides that the best experience for the young baddies to have is explosions. Lots of them.

First hand, even.

The pirates (Evie and Jay and Carlos included) get to stations.

Mal, confused and distressed by this turn of events, is about halfway from transforming her whole shit and dealing with the dragon claw marks later, decides to wait in the hold. She is not getting paid for this experience, and it’s so beyond her ability to control what other ships do, mom.

Mal might have a few mommy issues in addition to the princess issues. A balance there.

“Fuck” Mal says, instead of dictating a letter to her mother like she should when entering a potentially life-threatening situation. “Now I’m never going to be able to talk to her.”

Mal does not die, Evie does not die, neither of them actually manage to steal anything in this story except for each other’s hearts, and then they talk at length about their feelings and how they should become a mean fighting team.

The next pirate raid (intentional), they’re ready. They’ve practiced all of their cool two-person moves together, and they’re ready for this.

Two minutes into the battle, Jay gets taken by the unwitting second team and disappears. Mal, predictably, flips her shit when this happens.

Aaaaand now it is late and I’ve written up enough of a piece of a fic I won’t write for this hour. Hope you enjoyed one or both of these ideas, nonny.

(the second one ends with Evie and Carlos dragging Mal along on an adventure to get Jay back, where Mal learns how not to be useless on a ship anymore and she and Evie bond as people and they keep Carlos and Mal in turns from having a nervous breakdown as they get their boyfriend/BFF back and then they all realize that ACTUALLY they work best as a foursome and do that)

[broadwaynoodle]

bitter sweet pt 1

Tittle: Bitter sweet pt. 1

Pairing: mob!Racetrack higgins X fem!Reader

Word count: 1273

Summary: If your brother gets in debt with New York’s greatest mobster, you become the victim.

Warning: swears, violence later on, maybe a little more spicy in later parts.

A/N: Hey babes! I’m back and idk if there’s even demand fort his kind of series but i felt like writing it so yeah, fuck this. Also this is kind of a mess right now because I always struggle setting up bigger stories (hence this being my first series.) but i promise it’ll get better. Love you all xx BroadwayNoodle (also anyone who knows how to make a master list please DM me to help me out xxx)

gif not mine

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Black, that’s all you could see right now, black, you were just walking around the streets, doing some shopping, when you felt a hand around your mouth, you got lifted up and pushed in the back of a car, left, right, right, another right, and left again, the car came to a stop, are you going to die? Are these people going to hurt you, a pushed and grabbed by a big hand dragging you behind them, you almost fell as fast as he was walking, you heard a door close, wood you are walking on wood. Another door closed, chair, you’re sitting, you got pushed in a chair, four hands held you down, another pair pulled off your blindfold. Your breath was heavy, what was going to happen to you now? Footstep, you heard footsteps, you looked over your shoulder, and then you saw him, fancy dress pants, a white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the top three buttons unbuttoned, baby blue eyes and messy ash blonde curls. You knew this man, Racetrack Higgins, the biggest mob boss of New York City.

Your brother inherited your family's mob, Race’s mob happened to be your brother’s rival. ‘Damn angel, you really are as gorgeous as they all said.’ Race said. ‘What do you want from me Higgins? I didn’t do anything to you, I’m not even part of the mob.’ His response was the most sinister chuckle you ever heard. ‘Owh angel please, your cute little brother thought it was a good idea to steal money from me, I could have put a bullet through his had, but that would be no fun now, would it?’ He said while he's slowly sitting down across from you, blowing all of his cigar smoke into your face. You cough. Not being able to handle the taste you were breating in from it. ‘So now what? I’m here, you think my brother is just gonna show up and give you your money back?’you scoffed at the man sitting across from you he’s delucinal.

‘It’s not that doll, let’s just say you are a little motivator for him, I mean, we can at least have him thinking his baby sister is in danger, doesn’t have to me true don’t you think?’ you rolled your eyes, Race gave a little wave to the two men holding you down, they walk towards the door of the office you’re in. ‘See doll, you’re not a prisoner, you’re as free as a bird, and I’ll spoil you doll, we just need Jay to pay up.’ You frowned. ‘And what if he doesn’t?’ for the first time in the entire conversation Race looked you in the eyes. ‘Well, then I’ve had my fun, and well, we’ll see what happens to you doll.’ You rolled your eyes. ‘don't call me doll, I’m not a toy.’ race chuckled, stood up, walked to the front of his desk, he crouched down in front of you, lifted your head so you’d look at him, and then he leaned in and whispered in your ear: ‘Everyone is a toy to me doll.’ He got up again to lean against his desk. ‘I expect you in the dinning hall around 7 doll, show up or you’ll have to have dinner with my men, they are not as nice to pretty girls as I am doll.’ You were speechless so you just nodded.

Race looked at the two men that were waiting by the door ‘Y/N, doll, these are Albert and Elmer, my two most loyal men, they’ll show you to your room, and to the dining hall at 7, if you need anything you can call for them, they’re responsible for you now ‘kay?’ The men nodded, you got up and hoped the men would hurry up. ‘owh and doll.’ Race called after you, you turned around to look at Race again, you had to admit he was dashing, even though he kidnapped you and now wants to keep you like a dog or something. ‘the library is on the thrid floot, and the pool and cinema are on the fifth, Albert will bring you some of mine stuff for today, we can look for some stuff for you tomorrow.’ He sent you off with that, you felt like shit, you knew Jay wasn’t gonna get the money, he wouldn’t even notice you were gone, when you were 15 you stopped talking to him in the hopes you could stay out of this whole mobster mess, and here you are, in some psycho’s house, lord knows for how long.

 ‘We’re here.’ The redhead walking you to your room said, the brunette walked off, lord knows when you would see him again. ‘I’ll be back within 10 minutes with some clothes okay?’ he tilted his head slightly, as if he was a puppy waiting for his owner to tell him he did a good job. ‘Yes thank you sir.’ You said opening the door to your new room. ‘Just Albert will be fine, no need for formalities.’ He smiled at you. ‘Okay well then thank you Albert.’ You smiled back and then he walked off, you walked into the room, and you had to admid it was even more impressive then your family home.

The room was clean and white, except fort he blush pink sheets on the bed, a little note lying on top of them.

‘I’m sorry it has tob e like this, heard blush was your favorite color.

 X Racetrack’

For some reason this made you smile it made you have peace, knowing he might have a little bit of feelings, then you heard a faint knock. ‘Yes?’ the redheaded boy walked in with a tshirt and a pair of sweatpants, he saw you looking at the note and walked up to you. ‘Can i sit?’ he asked, you nodded so he sat down next to you. ‘I tried to stop Race you know, but he’s just really hard headed.’ He began. ‘Please don’t start, he’s a psycho, i dont wanna talk about it. ‘I’m sorry, I’m just trying to help, he might look scary, be scary even, but he’s really not, you should give him a chance.’ You scoffed ‘A chance to do what? Kill me?’ you said as you got up. ‘I’m sorry, I’ll be back in two hours to you know, get you for dinner.’ You nodded, as soon as Albert closed the door you broke down in tears, your worst nightmare came true and you didn’t know what to do about it.

You decided to go tot he bathroom and take a shower, trying to wash the awful smell of Race’s cigar off of you, you started scrubbing lightly, but the scrubbing became harder and harder by the minute, you felt assaulted and gross, you could feel the hands of Race’s men on your body, Race’s lips on your ear and after an hour you gave up. You slipped into the clean clothes Albert had brought you and the decided to look through the cabinets in the bathroom, you found some make-up and decided to work wit hit, maybe if you tried hard enough, Race would be nice to you, maybe he wouldn’t kill you after he got bored of you, you gotta be an optimist to survive in prison after all. You looked at yourself, wet hair, some mascara, red lipstick, a nirvana shirt that was way too big on you, some gray sweatpants and fuzzy socks. The  you heard a knock on the door and Albert yell. ‘Princess it’s time for dinner!’

Well fuck, here goes nothing.

[mayonara]

Black Friday

The batboys participate in the all crazy tradition of Black Friday shopping. Why? Because Tim wanted to.

Jason didn't exactly appreciate it.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Also posted on AO3

"I don't get why we're here," Jason said and heaved a long breath, rolled his eyes over to stare at the teen beside him whose eyes were sparkling. "We have money and quite literally, probably have everything we need."

"Yes, true. But this is for the experience," Tim explained and Jason could see his hands were twitching, impatiently waiting to disappear and drown in the sea of crowds.

"I still don't get it."

"You don't need to. Just—enjoy," Tim said with a smile and then swiftly waved good-bye before he jumped into the crowd, letting himself be carried away and soon enough, Jason had lost him.

"Alright, what are you doing?" Jason asked and looked to his other side, found Damian gazing with disinterest. Well, as uninterested he was trying to make himself out to be because his eyes were glazed with wonder. "Yeah okay, guess you can go off on your own then."

"Tt. Not like I need your permission," Damian said and shrugged his shoulders before he too left Jason's side.

"Guess it's just you and me," Jason said and blew a raspberry against Dick's neck, getting a cute yelp out of him as he pushed at his face and told him to stop.

"Jay!" He whined and screwed his eyes shut, displeased with the raspberries.

"Yeah yeah, let's go look at stuff," Jason said and settled for pecking his cheek to lighten the mood.

Satisfied, Dick huffed a breath and started pointing everywhere. "Thewe!" He chirped and pointed at the TVs but Jason shook his head and told him to pick somewhere else. Dick thought about it for a brief moment and hummed to himself, roamed his eyes around the large electronics department store and finally found something of interest. "Games!" He yelled against Jason's ear since the place was quite loud as it was completely filled with people. Crazy ass shoppers trying to strike a good deal.

Jason still couldn't believe shoppers were this crazy, so crazy they even stood in line hours or days before the event itself. Seriously, what has this world come to?

Whatever. Jason shuffled Dick to his side and held him tight around his hip as he headed towards the video game section. As they finally were able to make it through one of the isles, Dick started being a menace and wiggled around in his arms.

"Ugh, Dick. Stop."

"Down!" He cried. "I want down!"

"No, I'm not setting you down."

And Dick started struggling even more, whining as he pushed and shoved against Jason, wanting to be put down. Jason relented and that just made Dick fight even more. God damn, he was being a major brat at the moment, always wanting to get his way. The boy was still struggling and then suddenly, his body went limp and almost caused Jason to lose his grip on him.

"What the hell Dick?"

"Down Jesson. Pwease. I wanna wawk!" Jason groaned loudly at Dick who was making it very difficult for him to hold and decided to set him down onto his feet.

"Okay fine. But behave okay?"

Dick nodded and Jason decided to bust out the child's leash he brought with him and hooked it onto the monkey backpack that was clipped around Dick's torso. "This way, you can't just run off." Jason said and made sure the clips were secured before he looped the leash around his wrist. "Okay, you can lead now," Jason said and Dick grinned with delight. The boy scurried off, legs unsteady as he walked in front of Jason, weaving around the people while Jason struggled to keep up.

As Jason continued to follow after him, he came to a sudden stop as his eyes were caught by something. It was a new video game he’d been wanting to play and there was a demo station that was screaming for Jason’s name. He called out to Dick who stopped and walked back over to his side. "Entertain yourself with this," Jason said and handed him his phone to play while he went ahead and started up the demo.

Jason was immersed in the video game world, button mashing his way through the intro so he could get the real core of the game. Turquoise eyes were glued to the scream, watching in awe as the game took him through the story. By the time he was finished, he was awed and fascinated by the pure gameplay and how it played smooth like butter so he decided he was going to purchase it and grabbed a copy for himself.

"Alright Dick, we can go—" As his eyes fell to his left, there was no one in sight.

The boy was gone. He was—gone. Poof, like he’d vanished in thin air. He was sure Dick was standing right beside him but that spot was empty. His cell phone was left behind, sitting on the ground and the monkey backpack he had around him also joined his phone. Someway or somehow, Dick managed to maneuver himself out of his leash and disappeared.

Okay, he needed to calm down. He just had to take a deep breath and—oh who the fuck was he kidding? He fucking lost Dick—lost him. And now he had to find him in this giant store. Fuck, he was in so much trouble if the others ever found out.

That is, if they did.

Jason swiftly got a move on his search and swiped up his cell phone to pocket back in his jacket. He snagged the monkey backpack and gripped it tight as he began sprinting up and down the isles in search of a little boy who was dressed in bright blues and greens. Even as a child, he loved wearing oddly bright colors.

Fuck, Jason had already searched through two sections of the store and Dick was nowhere to be seen. How far could the little booger go anyways? It's not as if he was playing his demo that long and besides his legs were short and his strides were small and on account of this place just being over packed, he couldn’t have gotten that far. Jason already had enough difficulty trying to get around the people, often times bumping into them or shouldering them aside.

He sighed heavily, could feel his heart pounding with worry for the boy. Afraid he might have gotten hurt or worse, kidnapped or something.

Jason was about to hit up the next section when he ran into Tim and Damian.

"Whoa!" Tim exclaimed as he almost ran right into him. "Oh—hey Jason," he said when he realized who it was.

"Oh. Yeah, hey guys," Jason greeted and scrubbed a hand through his sweat soaked hair. His attention fell upon the two and found that they had two baskets filled to the brim with items. Jason arched a brow at them in curiosity but Tim just shrugged his shoulders before asking about the one thing he hoped he wouldn't have noticed.

"Where's Dick?"

"Oh—yeah Dick? Well funny thing is—" Jason started nervously and Tim cut him off, realizing what was up.

"You lost him?"

"I didn't exactly lose him."

"So, he what then, disappeared?"

"Sort of."

Tim sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose before he shoved his basket into Damian's arms. "Go pay."

"Tt. Why do I have to pay for your things?"

"Just do it while Jason and I go find Dick," Tim instructed and Damian tossed him a nasty glare, but went with it anyways.

"You better find him unharmed or else, Todd," Damian scowled at the older man, but Jason paid him no mind as he was more focused on finding the brat.

"I can't believe you lost him," Tim said as he pulled Jason along, leading the way around the store.

"Hey! He just went off on his own!" Jason exclaimed, trying to defend himself even though he was definitely in the wrong.

"Yeah but you were supposed to watch him. God damn it Jason, you're the adult. Dick is like, a kid."

"A smart kid."

"Still a kid, so we need to find him quick before something bad could happen to him."

And okay, Tim was actually correct. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, it was really his fault for getting distracted and losing Dick. So they really needed to find him before he could hurt himself and preferably before Bruce finds out because Jason had an inkling that Damian might just tell on him.

They searched high and low, weaving through every isle in search of their eldest-now-youngest. They must have looked through the whole place and when they finally narrowed down which locations were left, they spotted him in the least place they actually expected to find him at which was the home theater room.

"Fuck," Jason breathed, eyes narrowing in on the familiar form.

"Thank god," Tim said and threw his hands up at the brat. "There he is."

"Yep," Jason sighed and could feel his heart calming, the tension leaving him as he finally relaxed. Fuck, he was breathless as he and Tim had been sprinting around the store. They both definitely worked up a sweat.

They walked into the dimly lit room, could see Dick sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, elbows propped on his thighs and eyes glued to the large TV screen. Their eyes followed his line of sight and found him watching a children's movie. His eyes were opened wide, mesmerized and completely focused on the tiny little fishes swimming in the sea.

"Dick?" Jason called and his ears perked up, jerked his head in the direction of where Jason and Tim were standing.

"Jason!" Dick exclaimed, clambered up to his feet and dashed towards the man. He lifted his arms for him to be lifted and Jason did just that. He coddled the boy in his arms, holding him tight.

"You scared me," Jason murmured and kissed his cheek. "Ugh, why did you do that?"

"Do wha?" Dick asked innocently, hadn't even realized how much trouble he was in.

"Disappear!"

"Oh," Dick blinked and still didn’t realize what he’d done. "Feet huwt and I was bowed."

Jason just stared at him in disbelief and he must have looked angry because Dick's lips were quivering and his eyes were filling with tears, glassing over. "I sowwy. Sowwy Jesson," he said and then threw a glance at Tim. "Sowwy Tim." He looked so forlorn, so remorseful even though he still didn’t know what it was that he was in trouble for. Jason sighed heavily because he couldn’t just stay mad at him.

"It's okay Dickie," Tim said and caressed his cheek as he wiped away the tears forming beneath his eyes. "Just don't do that again okay? You scared us."

Dick puffed up his cheeks. "I sowwy."

"As long as you know you're sorry then," Jason said and stroked his back gingerly to soothe away his sorrow, hoping to bring that smile back to his lips. "If you do that next time and disappear on us, I won't bring you to the store again."

Dick nodded his head. "Okay! I be good!" He said and held out his pinky for Jason to take. It was a thing the child him always did, wanting to swear on his promise.

Jason smiled softly and hooked his pinky around Dick's tiny ones. "Promise?"

"Pwomi," he murmured and shook before he rested his head against Jason's shoulder and made himself comfortable.

"Alright, well, I'm exhausted. Let's go home," Jason breathed out a long sigh and Tim just laughed.

"We got to check on Damian first."

"Oh shit. Right. He's probably mad."

"Livid I imagine. But it's fine. He got some nice things so he's probably happy," Tim said as the two headed towards the exit of the store.

"Like what?"

"Video games duh," Tim answered with a smirk and Jason should have expected that. At the mention of games, Dick's excitement filled him again and he lifted his head.  

"Games?!"

"Only if you behave," Jason said and narrowed his eyes at the boy with reprimand. Dick just giggled and nodded his head, promising that he would be good so he can play video games.

After this whole fiasco, Jason was never going to go shopping during the holidays again because holy shit, fuck it. It was too much effort and annoyance to deal with. It also didn’t help that he lost Dick as well and had to fight his way through the crowd.

Yeah, never again. He’ll settle for shopping online instead.

[blackrosesfanfic]

Chapter 134

Rollie

Trey walks out of the room. His assistant showed up to go over something. Feels like the wrong time to be talking business. But that leaves Cammie alone with the baby. I get scrubbed down by one of the nurses, I told her I couldn't do it, then I go into the room. Cammie looks back at me like she is caught. She turns back to what she's doing.

"What the hell you doing?"

"I just wanted to hold him." She says closing the box up.

I lean over him. "They got him in a box?"

"Yeah."

"Your hubby still what you expected?"

She looks at me with a really big smile on her face. "Him being in that room didn't make shit feel better about pushing that baby out. Rollie, I'm so fucking glad it's over. I felt worst because I just couldn't tell anybody about how bad I felt. I swear sometimes I wanted to leave everything and come back after the baby was born. But I needed the support at the same time. I don't know."

"So you felt no better about your husband being there?"

"No." She giggles. "Him being here now and being so excited about our baby makes me happy but I'm not happy."

I touch the baby's foot. "Why aren't you happy?"

"Trey's money won't make my baby go home any faster. Money can't fix this."

"You gonna ask him not to go on tour?"

She cuts her eyes at me. "You really think that I should do that? He makes thousands off of this tour. It's a great way to prom... I sound like a lunatic. I don't want him to be in this hospital stuck when he could have been out doing what needs to be done."

"But you need a husband."

"I got a husband." she says lying on the bed they setup. "Rollie, I'm really sleepy suddenly. I don't know. So many benefits come from this tour. I can't name too many benefits of sitting in this hospital. His bad nerves, my bad nerves. We would do more harm than good in this small room."

I lean over the small box. "What's his middle name?"

"I don't know."

"Caden means spirit of battle."

She lifts her head up. "That's scary perfect."

"Yeah. This man did an ass of shit for you."

"He tries really hard. He..." she stops due to the door opening.

"I hate having to scrub down like that. You have to do that every time you go to the bathroom?" Trey says entering the room.

Cammie yawns. "I will have to go in the nurses' station out to that bathroom. She said there's no need to scrub my skin off every time."

"It's better than those NICU rooms. I walked pass the NICU for the hell of it. To see if we overdoing it but those babies are really close together. Couldn't see more unless I was scrubbed in." After a moment of awkward silence, Trey keeps talking. "I'll be staying until Wednesday. The first show isn't until Thursday. They will do that city without me. It's a fucking Nikki Minaj tour not a Trey Songz tour."

"That won't hurt you?"

Trey turns to get the baby to react to his touch. "I don't care if it does."

"You would lose it all?" I ask.

"I would. I have done enough business to know how this all works. I can make money with just my songs alone. I just prefer to be the one performing them."

"You think he will go home this week?" Cammie asks no one in particular.

"No." I say.

Trey sits on the bed where Cammie is. "You know he may have to stay until his really due date. The doctor said that."

She sits up. "Until May?"

"I'm leaving." I say going to say goodbye to Cammie.

"Where are you going?"

"To tell Leah about the baby. You know Lane going to Europe works out good. Don't have to worry about the hassle to find someone he would stay with."

Cammie blows. "Bye."

I chuckle. "Oh shut up. Your husband right there."

"Oh, I thought you were gone. Say what?"

"Fake ass." I say walking out.

I glance back over my shoulder. She is looking in my direction with a big smile on her face. I smile back. Trey starts lying down on the small as hospital bed. I close the door.

"That little midget looks exactly like Lane doesn't he?" Buggiz says to me.

"Exactly like him. You ever gonna tell your boy that you been there a few days after his first son was born?"

Buggiz shakes his head. "Nope, because at the time I didn't know who baby that was."

"Fucking Cammie." I say walking away.

"You going to Europe?" He asks.

I pause. "Naw, I think I'm going to stop running from my crazy pregnant girlfriend who not really my girlfriend right now."

He laughs. "Say that again faster."

"You going to Europe?"

"I have to. My little midget client will be going."

"Where is Lane?"

"Home."

I nod my head. "Alright."

He doesn't say anything else. I leave the hospital in Trey's car that's sitting outside waiting on him. I hope he wasn't planning on going anywhere. The car might have been there for Buggiz to get Lane or someone stuck at the hospital now. Either way I'm already gone. I toss the driver a tip then walk to the house. It's quiet and everything is off. It takes Leah forever to get to the door.

"Can I help you?" A white man says.

"Oh." I say backing up. "Shit wrong house."

He nods. "Thought you were going to ask to borrow something."

I laugh. I often knock on this man's door instead of Leah's. Their houses are exactly the same and if you don't look for the cars, which are both parked inside the garage tonight, you would never know which house is which. Glad this white man is cool and didn't call the police. I knock on Leah's well lite less quiet house. The door swings open.

"Hey, Rollie!" Shay yells hugging me.

"I went to the wrong house again."

She looks at the door. "I didn't put enough stars in my window?"

I back up into the yard. "Your light is on."

"Who in my room?" she says dashing away.

"Leah." I yell through the house.

She comes out the back with a robe on and some green stuff all over her face. I shut the front door and lock it. I don't know if she had a smile on her face or what. I follow behind her. She had went into the bathroom.

"Cammie had her baby."

"What!" she comes out the bathroom with the stuff halfway on her face. "She lost the baby."

I sit on the bed. "She had it. A boy."

"Geesh." she says walking back in the bathroom then shutting the door.

I lay back and close my eyes.

  Cammie

"You and your brother still secretly talking shit about me?"

"You should know that."

He has his eyes closed mumbling to me. "You never said anything about me staying a few more days. You want me gone?"

"Yeah, so I can have this baby to myself. I picked him up."

"Jayla." Trey snaps opening his eyes. "The doctor said don't."

I suck my teeth. "You let the doctor tell you what to do with your child. My baby needs to feel his mother. I needed to feel him. I won't do it again."

"The doctor knows best."

"He doesn't. Dr. Pokewhatever doesn't know my body more than me."

Trey exhales. "You so damn stubborn."

I cross my arms. "Whatever."

"What if you held him wrong?"

"I been to a parenting class. I told you they thought he needed to be hospitalized. Lane. I took a class about all this stuff. The feeding tube."

Trey stretches really big then stand up. "Come show me or I'm telling the doctor."

I laugh as I stand up. "I don't care if you tell on me, Tremaine."

"Come on." he says walking to the baby.

"You have to be extra gentle and don't bring him to your body because your clothes carry stuff. Just hold him in your hands, okay."

Trey nods. I open the incubator box then pick him up slowly. Trey is eager to hold him. He doesn't wait to be told to put his hands on mine. I gently place him into Trey's hands. Trey's face instantly lights up. He stares at him with a smile all across his face. I smile then play with Caden's chin. He scrunches his face up but stays sleep.

"This is a blessing."

"Rollie says his name means spirit of battle."

Trey nods. "I didn't know I had more room in my heart for this."

I look around. "Trey you are going to get us caught. Put him down now."

"I can't. I don't want to but I also don't know how."

"Just do it slowly."

Trey lowers him down to the mattress then slides his hands from under him. "Damn, I love being a father. I love you."

"You talking to Caden or me?"

"You." he chuckles.

I pinch Caden's little leg gently. His eyes open when I touch him. He looks around with his eyes cracked open. I get close as I could so he could see my face. I will be glad when the doctor lets me hold my baby as much as I like.

"I'm so tired." Trey says grabbing my arm. He pulls me. "Come lay down."

"Why?" I say snatching my arm but not getting away.

Trey lets me go. "Come on."

"I'm tired of lying down."

"For once make this about me."

I look at him. He sounded so fucking sweet. I wrap my arms around his waist. Fine if I must lie down beside him. He hugs me back.

"Okay, Lane." Ma says letting go of his hand at the door.

"No, Nanma." Lane cries.

April walks into the room. "He looks so handsome lying there. Awh."

Lane cries softly until he gets to Trey. "Daddy, hey."

"Hey, Lane."

"He wouldn't stop crying at the house. I tried to give him a bath and put him to bed but he only wants Trey." April says walking back to the door. "I'll be back in the morning. I love y'all."

I blow her a kiss. "Love you."

"Oh." April says grabbing a bag from by the door. "Clean clothes for everyone and cupcakes."

"Cupcakes?" I say letting go of Trey.

"Cupcakes for Mommy." Lane says.

Trey lies down in the bed. "This is how we will live when we broke. A studio apartment."

"With other women waiting outside."

"I won't be so popular broke. Not in America."

"Oh so you do have them now."

He laughs sleepily. "No, Jay. You trying to make something up. Be quiet."

"Oh be quiet." Lane says sitting down in a chair that rocks. "Mommy."

"Yes, Lane."

His eyes dart towards the baby like he suddenly remembered he was in here. "Wh... That the Caden?"

"Yes."

"Caden stank."

I giggle. "He does not stank, Lane."

Lane rocks in the chair then slides out of it. "That the Caden? I see."

"Come on but don't touch anything."

"It sick?"

"It? Caden is sick. Yes. It's hard for him to breathe."

Lane stares at him. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Lane."

He yawns instead of saying anything. I kiss him on the head. Before I could move away he grabs my face and kisses me. I smile at him then we share more kisses. I need to figure out how to make Lane okay about having a baby around. He is turning 3 in 3 months. My baby doesn't understand why we got another baby. I give him a really long kiss on his cheek. He laughs about it, too much to kiss me back.

"You silly baby. I love you."

"Love you, Mommy." he stands up in the chair then looks at Caden. "That hurt?"

I look at Caden. "No it doesn't hurt."

"Caden sleep?"

"Yes, Caden, your brother."

Lane frowns. "I not want it."

I kiss him. "Caden loves you Lane. You don't love Caden?"

"No."

"What about when Caden can walk and he plays with cars with you? And he can ride with you in your big car. You will be his big brother."

Lane gets down off the chair. "I leaving."

I smile behind his back. "Okay, Lane.

"Okay, Mommy." he says glancing back at me.

"Where are you going?"

"Get cupcake." he says.

I go over to make sure he doesn't mess anything up.

[hale-of-stiles-heart]

Prompt: Sterek ;) Derek woos his mate the wolf way. :D

This is one of my favorite tropes! So glad I got to write it! Also on ao3!

Stiles wished he could say it was the first time he had found a dead animal on his doorstep. He really did. But it wasn’t.

For the past few days, five in a row to be exact, he had found all sorts of small, fluffy little woodland animals lying dead and bloody on his front porch. They ranged from squirrels, their furry tails soaked in blood, to birds, their feathers strewn around the doormat, to rabbits, who apparently were not fast enough to outrun whoever or whatever was leaving them on the front stoop.

Initially, he had thought it was one of their neighbor’s cats, the old woman a few houses down who owned a veritable army of feline companions having recently procured two more cat cadets. But on the fourth day, he had walked out of the house to check if they had gotten any mail only to find a large raccoon with its throat slashed open, blood seeping out onto the doormat that they had just replaced.

No matter how fierce those cats were, he doubted they could do such gruesome damage. And so, he had begun considering other culprits who may have been leaving the dead animals.

It had started with a dead bird, a blue jay lying on the top step of their front porch. Stiles had found it while leaving for school in the morning, taking a few minutes out of his morning rush to bury the poor thing in the front yard before heading off to school. He figured it had simply keeled over in exhaustion, no obvious injuries save for a few molted feathers, and moved on.

The next day he had found two dead squirrels, deep claw marks raked down their sides, on the front porch. He had wrinkled his nose at the grisly sight, running back inside to grab a plastic bag to shove them in before tossing them into another shallow grave by the blue jay. That was when he began having the sneaking suspicion that a cat was responsible for the morbid little deliveries.

The day after the squirrels, he found the rabbit. Its throat was open, a hole about the size of a cat’s mouth oozing bright scarlet blood onto the doormat, absolutely ruining it. Groaning, and internally cursing crazy cat people, Stiles held his nose and cleaned up the scene, again burying the poor victim and dumping the doormat into their trash can.

The raccoon was next, sullying the new welcome mat that Stiles had picked up after his last class the day before. Curiously inspecting the raccoon, finding wounds too large to have been inflicted by a cat, Stiles had reached another, new conclusion ― there was some new supernatural threat in Beacon Hills and it was killing poor, defenseless animals and dumping them on Stiles’ porch.

Why he didn’t know, but it was the only feasible thing he could think of. He had taken his theory to others, asking around to see if anyone else had noticed anything strange lately. No one else had.

He had gone to Deaton at the vet clinic to ask if he had any information about anything weird going on with any of the local animals. Deaton had denied that anything unusual was going on with any animals, neither domestic or otherwise, for once actually foregoing any cryptic responses. Though, he did mention that parvo was more common than usual that year.

After talking to Deaton, he went to Chris Argent, figuring the ex-hunter would have information on any supernatural goings-on that Deaton did not know about. Argent didn’t know anything either, indulging Stiles’ curious nature and patiently answering his strange inquisitions with as much patience as someone who had been woken up at four thirty a.m. could muster.

Afterward, he had dropped in to visit his dad at the station, hoping that it wasn’t just happening to them, even though it would be just his luck. The Sheriff let him rifle through recent reports of strange, out of the ordinary activities but all he found were reports filed about suspicious looking teenagers hanging around outside of local convenience stores. There had been no reports of rabies, either, dashing another one of Stiles’ theories.

And, of course, he had gone to the pack as soon as he began to suspect that the dead animals may have a more sinister origin than simply falling prey to some pet cat roaming the neighbor. No one in the pack had noticed anything amiss, no supernatural threats or random dead animals on any doorsteps.

Peter had made some snide little comment about Valentine’s Day coming up soon, pointing out that Stiles probably had a psychopathic secret admirer who thought that leaving dead animals on his porch was the epitome of romance. With Stiles’ luck, it was a disturbingly real possibility, one he wouldn’t discount.

The other betas had dissolved into a bout of raucous laughter, even Boyd chuckling under his breath at the comment, but Stiles hadn’t been very amused. Rolling his eyes at the remark, Stiles had noticed that the tips of Derek’s ears had been burning bright red, a sure sign that the alpha was blushing at something. Probably due to secondhand embarrassment, Stiles figured.

Now, there he was, standing on his front porch in his Spiderman pajamas, looking down at that day’s little ‘gift’ ― a twelve point buck, lying dead on the walkway in front of the porch, a large hole in its chest. Ripped out of the buck’s ripped, its bloody heart lay on the front porch just inches from his bare foot, a single red rose laid beside it.

He almost threw up.

Holding back gags, feeling the bile rise in his throat as his eyes watered, Stiles pulled his phone out of the pocket of his pajama pants and dialed Derek’s number, fumbling a few times while typing in the digits. He tapped his foot while waiting for Derek to pick up the phone, hoping the werewolf had his cell phone on him, aware of the fact that he sometimes left it at the loft when he went for his morning run through the preserve.

“Hello?” Derek answered a moment before the call would have gone to voicemail, voice rough and gravelly with sleep. Stiles sighed gratefully at the sound of Derek’s voice, relief washing over him.

“There’s another,” Stiles reported pitifully, a whine in his voice as he lamented his situation, hands clutching his phone tighter. With a disgusted glance at the deer’s carcass, he felt his stomach turn, desperately relaying, “Dude, it’s a deer this time. A fucking deer! I just― I think I’m gonna be sick… Can you come over and help take care of this? Please?”

“Sure,” Derek replied evenly, his tone calm and placating like he was trying to soothe a frantic animal. Given Stiles’ panicked state, the comparison wasn’t all that far off, in fact, it was actually rather fitting considering the situation. He was drawn out of his musings when Derek tacked on a weary, “Just give me a minute. I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you,” Stiles breathed in relief, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as he listened to Derek hang up. Shivering when he accidentally made eye contact with the dead buck, Stiles slipped back inside, infinitely glad that it was Saturday and he wouldn’t be missing any school because of his theoretical psycho secret admirer.

He waited patiently by the front window in the kitchen, sitting perched on the edge of the counter by the sink, swinging his legs over the side of the counter as he chewed his nails down to the quick while waiting for Derek to get there. He was so fixated on watching the street in front of the house for Derek’s Camaro, still frazzled from the ghastly sight on the porch, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his dad walk into the kitchen behind him and greet, “Morning, son.”

Flailing and tumbling off the edge of the counter, Stiles squawked in surprise and pure, visceral fear, for a split second terrified that whoever, or whatever, had been leaving the dead animals had somehow gotten into the house. He had been watching too many horror movies lately, it was making him paranoid. Well, more paranoid than usual.

���Jesus fucking Christ!” He gasped in shock, clutching a hand to his chest as his dad muffled his amused laughter behind the back of his hand, shoulders shaking as he watched his son straighten up to stand on shaky legs. Running a hand through his hair, Stiles whipped his head around to glare at his father who was still laughing, snapping at him, “A little warning next time!”

“Didn’t know I needed to warn you when I walk into the room,” his dad snarked, crossing the room to open one of the wood cabinets above the linoleum countertop, grabbing a mug for his morning coffee. He visibly stifled a yawn as he shuffled over to their old coffee maker, a steaming pot of strong roast ready courtesy of Stiles who could barely go two straight days without caffeine, pouring himself a cup. Taking a sip of his black coffee, he asked, “So, we get a new one today?”

Stiles just nodded, scrubbing a hand over his face, not wanting to go into particular detail about the utterly lovely scene on their front lawn. Just thinking about it was enough to make him feel a bit queasy. Sighing, he simply claimed, “Yeah. Derek’s coming over to help me deal with it.”

“That why he’s parked out front looking like he’s here to pick you up for the prom?”

“What?” Stiles mumbled, turning his back around to peer out the kitchen window, indeed seeing Derek’s unmistakable Camaro parked out front, sleek black paint job shining in the morning sun. Sitting in the driver’s seat, Derek was fiddling with the steering wheel, looking like he was psyching himself up to tackle some unconquerable task.

Stiles figured the werewolf had caught sight of the bloody body of the buck and was a little bit horrified by the needless bloodshed. Though, why seeing a dead deer would have a bigger effect on him than seeing the dead bodies of the various supernatural creatures they slayed, Stiles didn’t know.

Steeling himself for seeing said dead deer again, Stiles saluted his dad and made his way to the front door, slipping out into the porch to greet Derek. Adamantly avoiding looking at the dead ungulate, Stiles waved Derek over, sure he was even paler than usual if that was somehow possible.

Derek climbed out of the Camaro, rounding it to jog up the front walk until he reached the dead deer, accidentally stepping into a pool of coagulated blood. He looked down at the buck with an indecipherable expression, no emotion whatsoever on his face, even his eyes blank.

After a long moment of painfully awkward silence, both of them staring at the slain deer’s lifeless body, Derek raised his head to look at Stiles. Voice gruff, he demanded, “You don’t like it?”

Wait, what? Was Derek seriously asking him if he liked the dead deer some crazy wacko had left on his doorstep? Seriously? Stiles’ voice revealed his incredulity as he gaped, “Of course, I don’t like it! It’s a dead deer for god’s sake! Who in their right mind would like it?! I mean, the rose and the heart were a nice touch but― That’s not the point! The point is, no, I don’t like it! Are you crazy?!”

“You could’ve just said you didn’t like it,” Derek growled out, curling his hands into fists at his side as he glowered at Stiles, a scowl planted firmly on his lips. “You didn’t have to insult me.”

“What?!” Stiles screeched, eyes wide as he gawked at Derek, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried to decipher how exactly he had managed to offend Derek. Eyes darting between Derek and the dead deer, Stiles groaned, “Insult you?! How the fuck did I insult you?! I just don’t like waking up to dead animals on my front porch! How in the hell is that insulting to you―” he cut himself off, pausing as the realization dawned on him “―Oh my god. You. It’s you.”

Ducking his head, ears burning again, Derek nodded silently and scuffed the tip of his shoe against the dirt in the front lawn, nearly kicking the dead deer. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and continued sulking, a frown on his face as he glared down at the buck as though it had done something awful to him.

Stiles broke the awkward silence by softly asking, “But why…?”

“It was supposed to be romantic,” Derek grit out in a growl, every word sounding like it pained him more than the last, a deep crease between his brows as he refused to meet Stiles’ eyes for even a second. Running a rough hand through his hair, Derek squeezed his eyes shut and accused, “But you humans are weird! You do things―” he paused in frustration as though wrestling with his choice of words, eventually snarling, “―different!”

“Romantic? Different?” Stiles repeated to himself, frowning as he attempted to figure out just what the hell Derek meant. Jaw nearly dropping a moment later when another realization struck him, he squeaked, “Wait, have you been trying to woo me? With dead animals?!”

“Yes,” Derek spat, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Brows still drawn together, he elaborated, “It’s how werewolves court each other! It shows we can provide for each other. Can take of each other.”

“Oh my god, you’re such an idiot,” Stiles sighed fondly, rolling his eyes at Derek’s utter stupidity. Bracing himself with a deep breath before he could over-think his next move, he stepped over the deer, just barely avoiding stepping into a large puddle of blood, to wrap his arms around Derek’s neck and tug him into a kiss.

Derek was slow to respond, Stiles stuck kissing a pair of rigid, unmoving lips until he did. Stiles was about to pull away, worried he might have somehow misread things, despite the fact that Derek had very clearly confirmed he had been wooing him, when Derek finally kissed him back.

Unfolding his arms, he slipped them around Stiles’ waist to reel him in a little closer, molding their bodies together with a soft sound of satisfaction in the back of his throat. Stiles smiled into the kiss at Derek’s eagerness, relaxing into the werewolf’s strong arms, trusting Derek to hold him up.

Gently scraping his fingers over the back of Derek’s neck, Stiles deepened the kiss a bit, gingerly sweeping the tip of his tongue over Derek’s bottom lip, hoping he wasn’t moving too fast. Derek hummed, tightening his hold on Stiles’ waist while he opened his mouth to flick his tongue against Stiles’, nibbling his lower lip.

Before things could get too out of hand, Stiles itching to bury his fingers in Derek’s hair and really kiss him, he realized that they were standing in the middle of his front lawn at six a.m., kissing each other beside the lifeless body of a slaughtered deer. Pulling back a little bit, pressing his forehead against Derek’s to let him know that he wasn’t going anywhere, Stiles fondly sighed, murmuring, “Y’know, chocolates and flowers would’ve worked just fine.”

“Duly noted,” Derek smirked, moving in for another, deeper kiss. Stiles rolled his eyes but accepted the kiss anyway, eyes falling closed as he melted into Derek’s arms even more.

Hopefully, this would be the last time he found a dead animal on his doorstep. But with Derek, he wasn’t holding his breath.

💕VALENTINE’S DAY FIC GIVEAWAY💕

[principlesofdesign]

Title: us, alone, at the end of the world

Characters: Jay, Finn, brief appearance by Bowen

Premise: At the age of eighteen, young adults gain control of what they fear most. It all ends well, because while I like writing angst, I’m crappy at following through.

Word Count: 3000 

It’s a common misconception that Jay doesn’t know how people despise him, that he, in all his sunlit innocence, is somehow ignorant of the way people’s lips curl when he turns away, the way others hurry away from him now, keeping their hands to themselves. Everyone thinks he doesn’t notice, and if that makes it easier for them, he will let the farce continue.

Jay has always enjoyed games.

“Don’t you get lonely, sometimes?” Finn asks, pushing his muddy soccer ball around with the tip of his finger. Jay knows this because he can see the soccer ball moving, but only slightly, turning slowly in circles. Finn himself is more of a mystery-- Jay knows that, if Finn were visible, his bony knee would be digging into Jay’s thigh, his chin resting on his grubby hand.

With time, he’ll come back, Jay reasons. It usually works out that way.

“Can’t get lonely when there’s nothing to miss.” Jay says, plucking a blade of grass from the ground. It shrivels between his fingertips, the vibrant green fading to a dry, ashy brown. He tosses it over his shoulder. “I try not to think about how it was before.”

Finn chuckles, a sad, empty imitation of the howling laughter that served as the soundtrack to most of Jay’s memories.

“Yeah.” He says, kicking the ball away. It hits a patch of mud with a squelching noise, but Finn makes no move to retrieve it. The wind ruffles the grass around it as it stands still, a monument to decay. “Same here.”

Jay wonders often what touching the clouds would be like.

Would they melt into rain under his hands? Would they be sucked dry of their color, melting into transparency?

He leans his head against the cold glass of the bus window and watches the clouds float by lazily, safe above the busy movement of the world. They’re held apart from the rest, something pure and untouchable. Jay would like to be something like that, but he doubts Finn would enjoy the slow, quiet tranquility of it.

Finn needs the rush, needs change to sweep in and dash him into walls from time to time, and Jay will always choose staying with him over anything else.

They make a good pair, Jay thinks, looking down at Finn, his face smashed into his shoulder. 

Finn’s mouth hangs open, his bottom teeth standing tall and proud in an even, straight semicircle.  One of his hands, nails cut and clean for once, is curled around Jay’s bicep, fingers digging into his shirt. Jay tugs his sleeve down over his finger tips, careful to make sure no skin is left uncovered, and pats the side of Finn’s face. Even despite the precautions Jay had taken, Finn’s skin dries slightly under the touch of his hand. 

Jay pulls it away, heaving a deep sigh. He’ll tend to the plants, when he gets home. That should do it.

The bus rumbles to a stop, and Jay shoves Finn out into the aisle, where he wakes upon falling straight onto the floor.

“What the- The-- Jay?” He mumbles sleepily, and Jay herds him toward the exit, an arm around Finn’s narrow shoulders. Finn leans into him, just awake enough to move his feet, humming happily.

Jay feels warm.

“We were almost home.” He says curtly, once their feet hit the pavement, not ready for a conversation. Finn’s hand comes up to touch the side of his face, and he somehow, immediately, understands. “I had to wake you up.”

“Could’ve been nicer about it”, Finn says with a scowl, and they walk the rest of the way home in silence.

“Why couldn’t we have had normal fears?” Finn asks one day. “Like, fucking rattlesnakes or something?”

Jay shrugs. When young, he’d thought his power would be straightforward-- the smell of antiseptic always made him puke, no matter how long he’d been out of the hospital, so he’d assumed it would be something to do with medicine. Healing, he’d guessed, or maybe medical knowledge.

Instead, he’d started sucking life from everything he touched with his bare hands, which was a bit of a let down.

“I knew mine would be weird.” He replies, running his hand along the leaf of a small, flower shaped succulent Finn had brought home a few days ago. “I just didn’t guess how weird.” Finn had named it Gerald. Gerald’s leaf shrivels under Jay’s touch, the bluish green tones he’s taken on from growing in partial sunlight fading slightly.

Gerald’s a hardy thing, Jay thinks fondly. He’ll be just fine. The right fit for their house.

“And we should’ve seen mine coming.” Finn grimaces, then shovels cereal into his mouth to avoid finishing out his thought. Jay knows what would’ve come after-- Finn would’ve mentioned the disastrous talk with his parents that had ended in him being thrown out on the curb, the years he’d spent bouncing around families in town who hadn’t been warned about him yet, and stopped just short of the day Jay had turned up on his doorstep, asking if he needed a roommate.

“Yours was understandable.” Jay says eventually. He has run out of platitudes, has given every comforting word he can think of. Maybe words aren’t what Finn has needed, all along. “Given what happened.”

“Still could’ve gotten clowns or some shit.” Finn scrubs a hand through his blond hair. He glances at the calendar, then sets his Thomas the Tank Engine bowl, still a quarter full, in the sink. “I’m going back to bed.”

“You take care of yourself.” Jay says, and eats the rest of the cereal, because he’ll be damned if they waste food now, on top of everything else.

The bed frame breaks one day, and Jay spends the afternoon lying there despite it, the disconnected bits of cheap metal framing digging awkwardly into the bottom of the mattress.

He’s sweaty and tired, has had a raging stomachache since morning, can’t even summon up the energy to stumble to the bathroom, suck down a couple mouthfuls of water, and fall back into bed. He’d slept too late, had burned off energy he’s been too used to having, and Finn is gone, away actually doing something to support them both. Jay is scared, terrified, and he clutches at his neck, feeling like the world is closing inward on him. His skin is hot to the touch of his cold hands, and his brain faintly registers it as a fever.

He almost forgets how close he is to death, now that he’s got the luxury of sucking life into himself. Forgetting is a luxury, and he’s grown used to it. Jay closes his eyes and tries to calm himself enough to breathe deeply. It doesn’t work entirely, but he’s no longer in danger of hyperventilating, and that’s good enough. He purses his lips, a few errant tears squeezing their way out from underneath his eyelids and rushing down the curve of his cheeks toward his jaw.

Finn will be home some time, he reminds himself. He will help.

It is easy to forget how helpless you are when death itself bows to you.

“Christ, Jay.” Finn mumbles, clambering into bed beside him. He pulls Jay’s sweaty hands onto his shoulders, rolls Jay’s body toward him with practiced efficiency. Jay wonders if he can feel himself slowing down, if he can feel his constituent parts screaming for their lives, but Finn bears it as he’s born everything important in his life, quietly and without complaint. “How’d you work yourself up like this, huh?”

“Dunno.” Jay replies, licking his dried out lips. “Just felt like it, I guess.”

The joke falls flat, and one of Finn’s hands slips under his sweat soaked shirt to run up and down his side. Jay’s ribs stand out proudly under Finn’s fingers, copper colored skin stretched tightly over them. He’s someone’s half-finished sculpture, sheet metal trapping heat within him, and Finn is putting his pieces back together, slow and careful, knitting him together into something whole. Jay closes his eyes, leans into the touch, and Finn chuckles. Jay can hear the sound forming in Finn’s chest, can practically feel the joy contained within it rushing eagerly up through his throat and squeezing its way out through the gaps between his teeth.

“Just felt like it.” Finn repeats. His hand settles just above Jay’s hipbone, fingers curled around the curve of it. “Quite the excuse, mister.”

“I’ve got a couple more, if you’d hear ‘em.” Jay teases, and Finn lets out an exaggerated groan. The pain in Jay’s stomach is fading, along with the thrumming in his head that he’d barely even noticed. He feels more alive now, like he can think a thought without it being mangled beyond recognition. Jay thinks he shouldn’t feel indebted, but it’s hard to shake feelings of obligation.

“We’ve got some time until morning.” Finn replies easily. “Tell me a good one.”

In the morning, it’s as if nothing had happened, like time had suddenly reset.

Jay visits the Group A plants one by one-- Gerald, Lucy, Winifred, Wiffleball and Orange-- spreading the burden of maintaining his life out evenly between them. The more evenly he does it, the quicker they will recover. Once he feels sufficiently topped up, he tends to the Group B plants, who are on a two week off rotation. He checks the dryness of their soil, reminds himself again to water them on Saturday, and then prepares his breakfast.

Finn lumbers, heavy eyed and clumsy limbed, into the kitchen.

“Got the bed frame.” He says, shooting a cautious glance over at the Group A plants before clumsily swiping his lips across Jay’s jaw line. Jay grimaces and wipes his jaw off on the shoulder of his shirt to the sound of Finn’s laughter. “It’s all fixed.”

“If you’re feeling so handy…” Jay says, looking over at Finn with a mischievous grin on his face, “there’s a few things we need taken care of--”

Finn is out of the room like someone’s lit a fire under his feet, and Jay chuckles.

“Is it safe, Gerald?” Finn whispers loudly behind him. “Am I going to be destroyed if I risk a return?” He pauses for a second, as if waiting for a reply. “That’s absolutely right. I will take your suggestions into consideration. Thank you for your wise input.”

“What does Gerald say?” Jay calls over his shoulder.

“That you’re an asshole!” Finn yells back. “He likes me much better.”

“Does he?” Jay says, a smile on his lips. “Is it because I wouldn’t let him have ice cream for dinner? That’s a matter of health and safety.”

“Health and safety.” Finn laughs. “What a fucking joke. Who needs that?”

“I do. Or I die.” Jay says offhandedly, and immediately knows it’s a mistake. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” Finn says, a sharp edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before. “I know you’re sorry.”

They don’t speak for a while after that.

“I don’t like when you make jokes about you dying.” Finn reads off a notecard, while standing beside Jay’s side of the bed. He looks stiff and awkward, and Jay wants nothing more than to reach out and touch him, but it feels wrong while Finn is still angry. “It makes me uncomfortable and upset. I just don’t like it when you say things like that about yourself.”

“I get it.” Jay says, sitting up. “You know it’s hard for me not to-- not to say that. I’m just used to thinking…”

“Yeah.” Finn says, sounding exhausted. The tension in his body shatters, and his shoulders slump forward. The notecard slips out of his fingers and floats, abandoned, to the floor. “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“I don’t want you to have to.” Jay says, and shifts into Finn’s side of the bed so he can clamber into Jay’s, both of them scraping up tiny pieces of each other for their own. “That’s why I do it enough for both of us.”

Jay moves his hand to cup the side of Finn’s face, but pauses just short. He can feel energy thrumming in his veins, but is it safe? Will he hurt Finn?

“I wish you never had to.” Finn says, leaning toward Jay’s hand to plant kisses on his finger tips. Jay feels like he’s weightless. His hands have always brought death to others, and here Finn is, redeeming them. “I wish none of this ever happened.” Finn’s lips trace a path up Jay’s arm, past his bony shoulders and up his neck.

They are face to face and panting when Jay finally agrees, lips centimeters from each other.

“Yeah.” He says, pulling his deepest, darkest desire out from its hiding place behind his broken heart, and putting it on display. “I wish none of this ever happened either. But I’ve got you, so it can’t be all bad.”

“Nothing’s all bad.” Finn says, laughing. “Except spinach.”

‘Is he here?’ Bowen signs, and Jay shrugs emptily, casting a glance around the living room. No noise, so Finn must be gone or asleep. He never comes by when Finn’s awake. Jay wonders if they’ve signed some kind of contract, one that necessitates complaining about each other to him constantly while also avoiding contact like the plague. ‘I know he’s your friend. I don’t trust him.’

‘He’s doing his best.’ Jay signs back. ‘Finn tries hard.’

He uses Bowen’s sign for Finn, which is technically the sign for asshole, and looks to his left when he sees a quiet shuffle of feet in the doorway. Finn is looking over at him, tears welling up in his eyes, but smiles despite it. He’s fading, Jay can tell, and he reaches out for him as Finn becomes first translucent, then disappears entirely.

Jay feels like his throat is closing.

He can’t hear footsteps. Is Finn still there? He stumbles toward the doorway, hands suddenly clumsy as they swipe through the air, searching for an arm or a shoulder or a face. He can’t form words, can’t force them out of his mouth, so he settles for making his way through the apartment like his limbs are too heavy to navigate the space properly.

His tongue feels heavy in his mouth, his lips unwieldy, and his stomach is churning. He has an image in his head, heavy and bright, of the gods and demons churning the ocean of milk, pulling forth all sorts of treasures. He feels like the demons must have felt, with Vasuki’s face right before theirs, poison blowing into their faces.

“Finn?” He says, when he can finally form words again. He’s patting every surface in their bedroom, looking wildly around him. Finn can’t choose when he disappears, but he has always chosen when to come back. Before now. “Finn? Please.”

“Please what?” Finn says sharply. Jay swings his head around to find nothing. Where is Finn standing? “Please what? You obviously fucking hate me, just like he does, so just say it. Just fucking say it. Rip my damn heart out, Jay. Right now.” Finn’s worked himself into a rage now, fire coursing through his veins, consuming any shred of rationality that might have survived the initial explosion. “Where’s all the paying attention to my needs too shit? Or am I just here to do whatever you want? Am I just here to be thrown around for you?”

“N--no, Finn, no--”

“Oh yeah?” Finn fades back into view in fragments. First angry, clenched fists, then steely eyes, then red flushed cheeks. He comes back to Jay in messy splotches, like wet paint thrown at a canvas, and god, if that isn’t so uniquely Finn that it hurts. “Oh yeah? Then why am I always the one starting things? Why is it always me first? Why are you so willing to just throw your lot in with everyone else in this fucking world but me? I’m always here for you, but the second someone-- someone better shows up, I’m just-- I’m just irrelevant, all over again! Where the fuck do I stand, Jay? What the fuck am I? Because right now it feels like I’m the only one who gives a fuck.”

Jay crosses the room once Finn is fully in view, in quick, purposeful strides, and smashes his lips urgently against Finn’s. Finn is the air in his lungs, the blood pumping through his veins, and god, is this all he’d wanted? Jay would’ve given it long ago, given it freely. If Jay was waiting for a sign all this time, waiting for a confirmation, it had been blindingly bright before his eyes all along.

He draws back, leaving Finn stunned.

“You’re not.” Jay says, while Finn’s jaw works, lips moving but no sound coming out. Jay’s vision is blurry, tears swimming in his eyes, but he chokes out a laugh. Finn is still here. Finn loves him. This wasn’t all for nothing. Fuck. “You’ve never been.” He leans in again, a simple, clumsy swipe of his lips against Finn’s, but it feels right, feels natural, like this is where everything has been leading.

“Yeah.” Finn says, after a second. His face burns red again, but for a different reason. He plays with the hem of his shirt with one hand, the other running through his hair. “Yeah. I can see that.”

“Wake up, shitlord.” Finn says, from where he’s drooling all over Jay’s chest. Jay chuckles and ruffles Finn’s hair. He’s been awake for ten minutes, at the very least, and Finn’s the one that really needs the reminder.

“I’ll do it when you do.” Jay challenges, and Finn practically vaults out of bed, suddenly bright eyed.

“So?” Finn asks, and Jay laughs, slowly swinging his legs over onto the ground. He feels slow and heavy, like he always does in the mornings. He’ll have to visit the plants soon. “You ready, big man?”

“Always.” Jay grins, and races Finn to the bathroom.

[blackrosesfanfic]

Chapter 133

Cammie

I sit on the edge of the bed. I'm trying to be patient with these people but it's been 3 hours since I had my baby and I haven't even touched him. They got me on some fucking pain medication that I didn't ask for. I'm ready to fucking snap. The nurse walks in with a piece of paper.

"Great news." she says. "Dr. Polk has approved Dylan to go into the nursery. The nurses were working as fast as possible to sterilize everything and setup the washing station. Once we have you in there Mrs. Neverson everyone else can be scrubbed and enter. The doctor would like for it to only be 2 people in the room. He says not counting you Cammie as you probably won't be leaving out. And anyone under 12 needs to be approved before entering."

"You said the room is ready?" Trey says standing up.

She smiles. "Yes, no baby at the moment. It's ready."

He makes a face. "So you saying all this for what?"

"I..." the nurse looks at the paper. "I need Mrs. Neverson to come with me to the room so I can take her through the steps."

"Why the hell can't we both go?"

I stand up. "She just told you, Tremaine. You not going to be in there constantly."

"The hell if I'm not for 2 fucking days."

"Oh now your damn medicine wants to check out. Show your ass in this hospital."

Trey thinks about it then he gets a little sad. He needs to stop with that fucking shit. Pouting like he a little kid. I put my hands on my hip then look at the nurse. She is reading over her paper trying to avoid eye contact. He done made the nurse feel uncomfortable about her fucking job.

"How long will it take for you to explain this to me?"

"The doctor will go over some things with you. He will be there. He specifically said that he needs only you right now."

I walk over to Trey. "You don't take anymore of those pills or whatever the hell you were on earlier. Went from sugar to shit."

"I'm ready to see my son."

"I'm going to talk to the doctor not see him. We'll see him at the same time." I say kissing him. "Walk me down there?"

He starts walking forward not saying anything else. I know he feeling like I'm feeling. It's fucking annoying. Him acting shit making me act normal. I was ready to go off on this lady the second she came in here. We follow her to another floor. It had a stronger stench of clean. There were rooms with curtains drown back. Most of the rooms in this section were empty. We stop at a room that was shut off. She stands at a sink.

"It is good that you both are here." she says pointing to the sink. "You put your foot here to start the water. Pull up your sleeves or remove your jacket. Everything is single use. Soap towels all go in the trash. Mrs. Neverson you can be the example. Start with the foot pump."

"We have to do this each time we enter the room?"

"Yes." the nurse says.

I start washing my hands and arms. I've been through this before. Trey watches the timer as it ticks. I feel like I'm scrubbing my fucking skin off. The nurse talks about the process and how its important to keep infection down. After I finally rinse my hands I go into the nursery. How cute is this? It is very similar to the nursery that Trey designed at home. I touch the blanket then start crying. I want to see my baby.

"Mrs. Cammie." the doctor says. "I know. I'll be quick. Step with me through this door. That is the entrance for guest. This will be the nurse's entrance. You will still have a personal nurse monitoring the baby at all times or to assist you with anything. We ask that you don't allow anyone to pick the baby or do too much touching. It is still flu season. In a couple of days we will go over breastfeeding techniques if he is feeding well. Are you going to pump?"

"Yes."

He nods good. "Step this way. They are making an exception for this arrangement here. You said your toddler wanted to come in so I told the nurses 3 people. You being 1. I want to show you, with permission from this loving mother, some quick tips."

We walk into another room. Sitting in the room is a white woman and her baby. The baby had a lot of tubes and things running from its tiny body. It was really really tiny. I started to cry once again. The doctor touches my back then explains to me about the feeding tube and possibilities of extreme weight loss. It was hard to listen to him go on. I just want to see my baby. The lady hugs me telling me how she had been here for 2 weeks now and how i helped her be able to spend more time with her baby. The hospital didn't have this available until they made arrangements for me. That made me smile. Afterwards we walk back to the room. Trey is sitting down on the chair. He stands up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I met this other lady who we helped. She has a setup like this now. Thanks to your fucking demands."

He cracks a little smile. "You will sound better when you start to appreciate my demands."

I start crying. "I hope I don't have to stay long."

"Let's not focus on that. You will be together."

"Excuse me, doctor." A nurse says rushing in the room.

She starts moving things around then she disappears. A few seconds later she is back in the room carrying some stuff. She pauses then dashes out of the room. I look at Trey. She had seen him and paused. He is bothered by it. I gasp and spin around from Trey. I saw the bassinette out the corner of my eyes. They will it in covered with a thick blanket that matched the room. I step forward then Trey moves me back out of the way.

"He is so dark." Trey says when they remove the blanket.

"Tremaine, don't be stupid. He has a blue light on him."

Trey starts laughing. "I thought the pillow was just blue for boy."

"Please shut up." I say stepping closer.

"Give them a second, Jay."

The nurse pauses again. She steps back out the way watching us. There were two other nurses hooking stuff up. Another a few minutes they all step away from the baby. Dr. Polk, who real name is too hard to remember, gives up and looks over everything. He gestures to me to come over. At least that's what i got out of it.

"Give me a few hours before you hold him. Remember keep touching at a minimum. One additional visitor at a time. I know you understand. I won't hassle you any longer. I'll be hanging around until I get those results."

"Are you going to be on call? How does this work with you not working for this hospital?"

"I'll be around. Helping out. That was one of my patients I had transferred here. I have plenty to do. I'll be on call yes. Within minutes away."

I touch his foot through the box. He draws his foot up into his body. After a few seconds he let's out a high pitch angry cry then gets silent. The doctor comes back into the room. He stares in our direction.

"You are annoying him." Trey says touching his hand. "Hey, Caden."

"Oh shut up." I say touching his leg.

Once again he draws his leg up and makes the noise again. The doctor walks all the way over this time. He smiles from ear to ear as Caden slowly stretches his legs back out. He grabs Trey's finger then let's it go. How fucking cute is he? Once again I start crying. I can't believe this little man gave me all this trouble. His little fussy butt was worth it all. He opens his eyes just a peep then closes them again. When I touch him he opens his eyes again.

"I'm in love all over again." Trey says.

"Isn't he so perfect?"

Trey smiles hard. "He came just at the right time. Right on time."

"Too early."

"But right on time. I have 2 days to spend with him. I'm not in Europe. I didn't miss it. I was so worried about not being here. He is perfectly on time."

I kiss Trey. "Yeah, he is."

He kisses me back. "You perfect."

"Duh."

"Yeah." he chuckles.

  Trey

"Hello."

"Hey, Boo." Nicki sings.

I have a mind to tell her that I'm not coming to Europe. Instead I tell her Ill call here and hang up. Lane grabs my hand. Mama is standing outside of the room waiting. They are going to let Lane come in first since Ma already held the baby and they all can see the baby from outside of the room. Chris said he won't come in. I don't think Rollie or Forrest coming in either.

"Hey, Lane." Cammie says taking out her phone. "Come here."

"Mommy, I hungry for chips."

She kisses his head. "I don't have any chips. Let me show you something."

He gets excited. "Where?"

"Look there's nothing in my stomach." She says pushing her swollen stomach.

"Where?"

I lift him up in the air near the baby. "It's your baby brother Caden."

"No." Lane says then starts crying really hard.

"Lane, shhh." Cammie says.

He only screams louder. Caden jumps moving his hands to his chest and lets out a loud cry. Lane stops crying looking at him really hard. Cammie reaches into the bassinette touching Caden's cheek.

"Okay, we are all okay. Big brother Lane scared you."

"It not a brother." Lane tries to kick the bassinette.

"Enough of that disrespectful behavior." Cammie says calmly.

Lane starts pouting. His feelings are hurt. "No, Mommy."

"Fine, Lane. You being mean."

"No." he pouts. "No be mean. You being mean a me."

Cammie grabs his hand and snatch it towards the baby. Lane has no choice but to touch him. He touches Caden's stomach then pull his hand back. He hides his face in my shoulder and starts sobbing. Someone isn't ready for this change suddenly. I pat his back. He looks at Cammie to see if she is paying attention to him. Of course she isn't. I clear my throat. She looks up but Lane looks away from her. She looks away at the baby.

"Lane." she says a few minutes later.

"Hey, Mommy." he says really fast.

She giggles. "All you thinking about is your daddy. All week it's been daddy."

"Mommy, what that?" Lane points to Caden.

"A baby."

"Caden?"

Cammie smiles really hard. "Caden."

Lane leans forward. "I touch it."

"I feel like staying instead of going on tour."

"Tremaine, I would love you to be you made a commitment."

"I made a more permanent one to you."

She touches my hand then starts to say something. Lane suddenly moves towards the baby more. I snatch his body back as he reaches for the baby's face. Cammie watches us confused about what happened.

"That... On he face." Lane stumbles.

"This." Cammie points to his nose.

Lane looks the baby over confused. "It hurt he nose?"

"No it doesn't hurt his nose. Caden is sick Lane. He needs to have it so he can get better."

"It not hurt the baby?"

"No."

He stares at it more. "What that?"

"Lane, I already told you. It helps him get better. It's Caden, your brother."

"I said no. No thank you."

I chuckle. "Let's go get some chips from Grandma."

He is still staring at Caden. "I not get my nose."

"Oh gosh." Cammie says. "No, Lane. You not getting it put in your nose. You can breathe. You are not sick."

"I not?"

Cammie smiles. "No, big boy."

"I Mommy baby."

"Yes, you are my baby."

He is happy about that. He forgets about the thing being in Caden's nose. I take him to the door where Ma was sitting. Her, Buggiz, and Cammie's Mama. What's Cammie Mama name? Damn I hope I never have to call her by name. Lane runs to Ma.

"Where my chips, Ma?" he says touching her chest.

"Baby, I don't have chips." she smiles at him a little weary eyed. "Came up here looking like my baby just now. Let's go find some chips."

Lane tilts his head at her. "I you baby?"

She smiles. "Yes."

"Can I come in?" Cammie's Mom asks.

"Yeah. Come on in." I say.

She was already scrubbed down and dressed in hospital gear. I glance over at Lane leaving. This is unreal to me. My oldest. I have two babies. I wanted a girl but the excitement I have is so overwhelming that I feel like I got exactly what I wanted. It appears as though I wanted a boy. Two strong boys. I walk to Cammie. I talked to someone that wasn't my baby's doctor. She said that this is standard for a premature baby but my baby is strong unlike a lot of babies. Something my doctor wouldn't tell me and can't tell me. She says Cammie carried the baby well and there is nothing we could have done to make this play out different.

"I said girl. Now we have to try for another one." I whisper in Cammie's ear.

"Trema... Hey, Mother. What a surprise?" Cammie says. "His is fat for a preemie."

Cammie's mother smiles. "Oh but he is so adorable. Who cares how small he is. It makes him cuter."

Cammie touches his foot. "I want to hold him so bad."

"You better go ahead and find a class. Heck, you have money to bring a teacher to you. Your sister was 2 weeks early and extremely underweight. I always say 2 weeks. She was 36 weeks. She was so small."

"So you experienced this?"

She smiles really hard. "Cammie stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks without me. I had to get my sister in law to donate milk. I was so sick after having her."

"After?" I ask.

"Oh yes." she says touching Caden. "He is so cold. They need to turn this heater up. Trey would you mind telling them. His little hands are cold."

Cammie scrunches her face up. "He doesn't feel cold to me."

"Let me see your hand. You may feel just like him." She says taking Cammie's hand. "Just as I expected. Ask for some blankets. Why aren't you in bed?"

"I'm tired of being in bed."

Mama Cammie puts her hands on her hips. "You still need to act as though you are pregnant. Your bed doesn't just bounce back into place. I was out of work for 4 months threatened with a hysterectomy."

I look at Cammie. She cuts her eyes at me then sucks her teeth. Oh she know I'm about to pester her with doing right after hearing from her mother. I'm glad she found out about this. Whoever told her.

"How did you find out Cammie was in labor?"

"You are famous."

I walk to the nurse's station outside. "This... Can you turn up the baby's incubator? His hands are cold."

"You... Trey Songz." she looks around. "Oh. Sorry. Oh my gosh. Something told me to say yes to the department change. I have to get the doctor's permission. One moment."

"Is there a setting that can turn the room heat up?"

She enters the room. "Oh, gosh. Cammie."

I look at Cammie. "Yeah, it kinda works like that."

"They must have been too busy to turn the heat on." she does what we could have done. "It is a little cold in here. Anything else?"

"Blankets." Mama Cammie says.

The nurse nods her head really fast. "Yes, okay. I'll check on the incubator temperature. I'm Stacey, by the way. If you need anything else."

"See." Mama Cammie says. "That's how I knew. Someone at the church was talking about Chris Brown leaving a concert or something for an emergency. Mommi called someone to confirm."

"Well that's something."

Mama Cammie was all smiles. "I'm going to take a picture of his little head. That's all the church needs to see of him."

I chuckle. "You already know the famous life."

"I don't have time to explain my business to everyone." she says with an attitude towards the thought.

"Mh." Cammie chuckles. "A bed does sound good."

I look around. "Something in here is supposed to layout."

"Don't ask that nurse. She is an annoying one."

"Mama, I'm sure she can hear you." Cammie snaps.

"Mhmm." her mother says.

I smile. Cammie tries to separate herself from her mother but they do similar stuff. Cammie is annoyed very easily by her mother's presence.