#I have disembarkment syndrome let me be | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dopescotlandwarrior · 4 years

Text

Unforgettable-Final Chapter

Also on AO3 A very special thanks to @statell for all your help

Chapter Nine

A young man knocks hard on a wood pole of a tukul, a round shelter made of grasses, mud, and wood poles, very common in South Sudan and the only type of structure on this UN base. It is officially known as the United Nations Protection of Civilians Site Bentiu. It was constructed outside the scorched city of Bentiu in the poorest nation of central Africa. The civil war had been raging for three years and when a peace treaty was signed in 2015 it failed to stop the fighting, so the war raged on.

The young man knocked harder on the tukul making the structure wobble in its feebleness. “Claire! Wake up! Treatment three and hurry! The door opened in a rush and Claire stood on the other side pushing her t-shirt into her pants.

“Jesus, I hate waking up to a flood of adrenalin! Nabbi when the tukul shakes like that the creatures in the grass roof fall to the ground, or on me.”

Nabbi smiled mischievously at his favorite nurse, “and now you are up and need very high, doctor says run!”

Claire felt her thighs burning as she sprinted to the treatment ward. Rounding the corner she saw both doctors bent over bodies that were unrecognizable. Casualties of government soldiers shooting, raping, and burning a village in the night.

Sterile gloves slapped back on her hands that were held aloft. There were no sterile gowns and no clean water on most days.

“I’m ready!

A long stream of Gaelic profanity was growled as Jamie threw his instruments on the wooden tray. He hung his head wondering what the intensive nine-month training he endured was for as he lost more than he saved. The patient was removed by workers and another mangled mess was placed on his table. Claire held his gloves open and his huge hands jammed into them.

“Pea! On the double, bring a clamp pack, this boy is bleeding out!

Claire felt like she never stopped running when the wounded arrived from a village raid.

“Clamp the arteries as fast as you can. I have the chest, you take the abdomen. We can save this one if we hurry.”

Claire’s steady hand held the row of clamps as she jammed the forceps into one and pinched a bleeder off by squeezing it around the vessel. She worked fast from three months of practice at this level of trauma. Her eyes flicked at Jamie every few minutes because she was worried about him. He was losing weight and had dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw him smile.

“Eyes on the bleeders sweet pea, your betrothed is fine, just frustrated.”

“I’m worried, Cutter, he doesn’t look well, as a matter of fact, either do you. Thank Christ we’re getting out of here in four days.”

(NSFW under the cut.)

Hours later they each had a bucket of semi-clean water to pour over their heads. One bucket per day. Claire spent many hours daydreaming about long showers with her favorite scented body wash and it was finally just four days away. She took a seat next to Jamie at the grub table and ran her hand down his leg. Looking up at his tired face made her long to lay in his arms and kiss him to sleep. She missed him. Nine months of working his practice while completing his field training had kept him away from her and then they were off to South Sudan to do their part with Doctors Without Borders. He had done that for her and now she just wanted to get him home.

She thought about the visiting doctor they met the week before. He, Jamie, and Cutter had much to talk about allowing Claire to watch his face, the slump of his shoulders, and his haunted eyes. He headed a research team of five other doctors that were sent to Africa to treat the outbreak of Ebola. Once their treatment protocol was established, he flew back to the states to compile the mountain of data that would be coming. All five of those doctors, his colleagues, and friends, died a horrifying death and their corpses were left rotting in the jungle until procedures were developed to bring them safely home.

Claire recognized the symptoms of survivor's syndrome, his guilt that he survived when his team did not was taking a toll on his promising life. Snuffing out the flame that once burned bright. Their contribution to the treatment of Ebola would save thousands of lives, possibly millions in the future. Once the paper was published the doctor resigned his position at Harvard Medical, locked his lab, and left civilization. Now he headed a program for monitoring the doctors on the front lines of emerging pathogens. He had come to examine the medical staff and clear them to return to America.

Cutter left to write a letter to his wife and Claire asked Jamie to take a walk with her. The compound walls stretched for a mile in each direction and U.N. peacekeepers manned the turrets along the wall with machine guns. It was crowded with people seeking refuge from the war making a relaxing walk impossible. Claire’s mantra played over and over in her head, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home.

New doctors arrived two days later and spent twelve hours with Jamie and Cutter, learning the base, the wards, and the one-hundred seventy patients being treated. They walked through the rape ward where the girls and women were kept away from the other patients. Little was said about the brutality of the attacks. They would find out soon enough.

The pediatric ward was last. It was Jamie’s poison to watch the babies, sick with Cholera, malaria, or malnutrition succumb to their illness, week after week. Cutter had taken over the tour and Jamie sought out the quiet of their tukul. When Claire found him later, he was respondent.

“I’m sorry we came here Jamie, I’m sorry you are suffering because of me. Please talk to me before I die from sadness. I am left to guess what has struck you down, pulled you away from me. When it didn’t happen after three months, I thought I wasn’t cursed anymore. Wh…when you didn’t turn against me I mean, I thought we were safe. It just took a little longer this time, right Jamie? Now you hate everything I do and every breath I take.”

She put her arms around him and cried the words out until he turned to her and held her closely, shushing her and saying no.

“My sweet Sassenach, stop, ye dinna speak my truth lass, I’ve never loved ye more. Ye break my heart when ye cry like that.”

“Then tell me what it is and if we’re over Jamie.”

“We are powerless to save these people that have come here to die. We have no supplies, no sterile theater, and no freshwater. We are but undertakers for the almost dead. The babies, so innocent, so sick, have no chance. Born to a short life of misery. Where is God Sassenach? I can kill a man, face to face because I battle the devil. I would feel better to be let out of here where I can do some good.”

Jamie stood up abruptly and started walking to the door like he would walk out of the base and join the war.

“No!” Claire jumped on him crying no. Begging him to stop, not to leave her, not to die. “Tomorrow Jamie, we leave this dreadful place tomorrow. Please, don’t break my heart today!” She jumped off of him and ran to the door to stand in front of it.

“Let me out, Claire”

“You will have to hurt me for that to happen because I’m not moving! I understand how you feel now, and I agree, this was a terrible choice of location. In sixteen hours we board a plane to get out of this hell, why can’t you hold on until then?”

Jamie knew he wasn’t making sense and he knew this was the last night here. He took a deep breath and held his arms out to Claire.

“Please, Sassenach. Let’s go to bed, and I promise to just hold ye all night. Please, Claire, stop cryin, we will get out tomorrow and go back to our life. Come here.”

Claire flew into his arms and he carried her to bed, to hold her, until morning when this nightmare was over. She couldn’t relax until she pulled a piece of twine from her belongings and tied it around Jamie’s wrist. With much effort and Jamie’s help, the other end was tied around her wrist. She found a comfortable spot but woke up through the night to make sure he was still there.

Before they left, Claire found Cutter coming out of the surgical ward covered in blood.

“Shirt off Cutter.”

He smiled wickedly and pulled his shirt over his head. Claire held him around his middle and cried. She would miss him until they met again next year to find a new location for the summer. Jamie came up behind them and told Cutter to get his disgusting hands off his future wife. The two men shook hands and hugged, both feeling the relief this trip was over.

“Until next time friend,” Jamie said through a smile.

Claire stowed their bags and busied herself with grabbing a blanket for Jamie. She was able to get stiff drinks for both of them when they were finally in the air. She passed a mixed drink and a shot of whisky to Jamie, looking back a minute later to see two empty glasses. She got on her knees and released Jamie’s seat kissing him sweetly. That and the alcohol sent him into the quiet of his dreams for the next five hours. Claire felt relief this exhausted man could sleep, and she guarded him from the steward and other passengers that might wake him. They were accustomed to the brutal heat of South Sudan and she noticed Jamie shaking in his sleep. She turned the airflow away from him and then covered him with the blanket.

When they were notified of landing for their connection, she stroked his arm to avoid jolting him awake. Jamie pulled the armrest up and pulled her to him, covering both of them with the blanket.

Claire leaned into his neck and felt powerful arms around her. She had not felt this close to him in a very long time and wished they could cuddle for another hour. There was another huge feeling in her stomach at the same time. Her phone! She could make calls while they waited for their connection and she was bursting with excitement. She was digging in her purse while they disembarked the plane making Jamie laugh.

“Who will be first Sassenach?”

“Jenny of course,” said as she punched her speed dial.

Jamie looked down at her marveling at her ability to accept changes in her life and then put the effort into creating the life she wanted. He remembered his sister’s stone face when they met for lunch so long ago. Jenny was convinced he had become a total tool and womanizer and nothing he said would change her mind. He was so disappointed she was making him choose between her and Claire. When Claire asked him to invite Jenny and Ian for dinner one weekend, he decided it was time for Claire to know the family dynamic at play. Claire sat across from him at the kitchen table and listened to the timeline he shared with Geneva and how she poisoned Jenny’s mind against her. She felt sad for Jamie because there was now an ultimatum standing between him and Lallybroch. I can fix this, she thought, just need a little luck.

Over the next week, she checked in with Geillis and Laoghaire to get caught up on the details of Geneva’s life. She broached the subject at the club when her friends were three sheets to the wind.

“So I understand Jamie dated this girl Geneva while I was gone. I totally understand because I told him I was not coming back to Scotland, ever. Now she has lied to his sister about their relationship, so I need all her details girls.”

“Her family is rich and she flaunts that over everyone since she was in elementary.” Laoghaire was clearly harboring a dislike for the lady and Claire seized the opportunity.

“I heard she was really nice,” Claire lied.

“She is not nice! She’s a cold, calculating bitch actually. She was all sweet to me until Jamie dumped her and now she doesn’t seem to recognize me. That’s okay, she is gettin what’s due her now.”

“Do tell sweetheart,” Claire inched her chair closer to her friend.

Geillis started to laugh wickedly, “the lass got herself knocked up by some hotshot, handsome, rich, and new to the area. He’s developing the new mall and already well known around town. They were datin for a month and she told him at her birthday party she was pregnant. He instantly left the party and she cried for the rest of the night. We were there and saw the whole thing.”

Claire’s mind was churning the facts and she smiled broadly at her two best friends. ”Is that a fact?”

It took two days for Jamie to fall asleep before she did and she took his phone outside and sent a text message to Geneva to meet him at the house tomorrow, twelve noon. Then she deleted the message and blocked text messages from her.

When she answered the door the next day, she leaned against the door jam and stuck out her hand with a smile. Geneva was not happy about the intrusion of this girl and demanded to see Jamie.

“Of course, come in, let’s get acquainted. I’m Claire by the way, Jamie’s girlfriend.”

It took some persuading to get Geneva to the kitchen table where she could deliver the coup de grace.

“I am so happy to spend time with you before Jamie gets here. You see, his sister Jenny has a misconception of your relationship, and it's causing a rift in the family. I want you to fix that, today.”

Geneva snorted a weak laugh and looked at Claire with utter disdain. “Not likely, I told her the truth. I feel sorry for you because you were duped by Jamie. He was with me, actively with me, until a week before he broke it off. We talked about getting married and then suddenly he was done with me. Poor baby, you’re next.”

“I know the truth of it Geneva and you will come clean to Jenny, today. If you don’t, it’s high time your father knows about your pregnancy to a guy that has run from any association with you. An abortion, trapping him with a paternity test or just hoping he comes back will do nothing but tarnish your family’s good name. You’re a social parasite Geneva and I can see your father cut off your support and throw you to the streets to cohabitate with others as misguided as you. You must be working on solutions to your situation so tell Jenny the truth and I leave you alone. Otherwise, everyone in town will know, including your parents.”

Claire smiled sweetly at Geneva and waited until she bolted out of the house cursing under her breath. She could only hope she was right about the family dynamic and how this news would poison Geneva’s position in it.

Jamie came home the next night with company. His contrite sister was there to apologize to Claire and ask to start over with her. Claire was over the moon and made plans with Jenny for a night out on the town the following weekend so the four of them could have some fun. It was like magic to a grateful Jamie. The four of them got on so well and Claire and Jenny started a friendship that would bond them to each other like sisters.

Jamie grabbed the phone from Claire and asked Jenny to hold on a minute. He pulled Claire to his lips and kissed her deeply sparking a look in her eyes that made him weak. He handed the phone back and dropped his head to the back of his chair, asleep in minutes.

The wait for their connection was long enough for Claire to check in with Laoghaire and Geillis also. She drifted to the gift shop and purchased a beautiful bracelet made in Africa. She felt done with the excursions into remote parts of the world to render aid to the less fortunate. She just felt empty inside for such an effort again. Deep inside she knew the reason. She had her suspicions for a month but couldn’t confirm it. She felt lonely suddenly and walked quickly back to Jamie who was awake.

“Hey, sunshine, how do you feel?”

“Sleepy Sassenach. I want ye to keep me awake so tell me a story, aye?.”

Claire held her breath, wanting so badly to tell him her truth.

“Jamie, I think I’m pregnant.”

He stared at her for a good minute, expressionless, “stay here Sassenach, I’ll be right back.”

Jamie ran to the boarding counter and asked where he could find a drugstore in the airport. He sprinted away while Claire watched in total confusion. He must absolutely hate the idea, she thought as she slipped into depression.

Ten minutes later Jamie ran back with a small bag and lifted Claire to her feet guiding her to the ladies' room.

He put the bag in her hand and pushed her into the room, looking wide-eyed, almost wild.

Claire took the pregnancy test out of the bag and read the instructions. She still could not read Jamie’s emotions and felt her folly at surprising him with something life-changing and yet unverified. Holding the stick in the air to dry it she looked at the results window and felt her world tilt. It took so long to get to the sink when she looked at herself in the mirror Jamie was standing behind her.

“May I see it, Sassenach,” he whispered, looking at Claire’s pale face.

When she lifted the stick for him, he grabbed her and spun her around until she was dizzy. She smiled weakly at him trying to take in his reaction. He was absolutely beaming and kissed her face a dozen times telling her this was the best news. He gushed over her ability to make him deliriously happy, neither of them noticing a toilet flushing and a woman join them at the sink. She smiled knowingly at the two young people in love.

Spoken with a Swedish accent she told them, “now you must get off the street and get a job for your baby. You will be very happy.” She walked out of the restroom leaving Jamie and Claire clearly shocked at what she said.

Claire bent over laughing at the comment. “No shower for three months makes us look like bums on the street!”

Jamie looked like he had seen an angel and wrapped her up in his powerful arms.

“Sassenach, when we land in Scotland, I will have an agenda that will keep my mind occupied for at least two days. I willna have the brain space to utter a single sentence I’m afraid. Come, lass, let’s talk about this miracle and makin an honest woman of ye while I can.”

Jamie pulled her back to their seats and looked at a confused Claire.

“I don’t understand Jamie, what is so important for you when we get home?”

Jamie held her cheek and sighed, letting her see his need for her, making her squirm in her seat. “Oh, I see, well that trumps everything, doesn’t it? I love you Jamie and as long as you still look at me that way, I fear nothing.”

The second leg of their trip home, Claire curled up against Jamie and dove into the calming sea of her dreams. Jamie pulled her head to his lap and made sure nothing and no one disturbed her. It was a magic seven hours for him as he contemplated the family of his future with the fierce loving, free spirit who slept in his lap.

When the front door opened, two battle-weary lovers dropped their duffle bags and struggled to the shower. Jamie covered Claire with her favorite body wash followed by scented shampoo that made her moan with pleasure. He pulled the shower curtain aside and wrapped her in luxurious towels before heading back for his own time with the soap. When he emerged, the beard and mustache were quickly eliminated, and he felt like a new man anxious to devour his love in the slowest, most thorough way possible. He walked into the bedroom with his curls dripping water onto his shoulders and found Claire sitting on the side of the bed, head jerking up from falling asleep. His heart nearly melted in his chest as he pulled her to him and held her down until sleep came and took her away.

Claire woke up feeling groggy from her deep sleep. She knew they had two days to re-acclimate before work pulled them apart. Jamie looked like an angel to her as he slept. She could take a bit of time to recreate the body she preferred. She snuck quietly to the second bathroom and filled the bath with hot water and scented bubble bath. She placed two new razors on the tub and scraped off the unwanted hair that invaded her most intimate body parts over the last three months. It was liberating and unleashed her arousal, dormant for so long. By the time she was done, it was a struggle not to jump on Jamie and win her release that was throbbing between her legs.

Standing at the foot of the bed, she watched him sleep, noticing the room had become grey with the coming sunrise. She knelt to kiss his feet, followed by his calves, licking the back of his knees and causing him to gasp. She ran her tongue slowly up the back of his legs and buried her face under his buttocks to lick his balls until he flipped over and looked at her.

Jamie struggled to contain his need to pound her and his mind was full of this wonderful woman. I must slow my heart, he thought. She is kneeling over me naked and I canna get enough of her, clean shaved, smelling like sex. Her hair is falling around her face as she runs her eyes up and down my body. Jesus, she is beautiful and has no idea how I want to take her. Brutally, lovingly, dominating her body and mind until she gives in to me. I must fight the urge to consume her. She is the mother of my child and I will use all my strength not to overpower her. God, when she pulls my nipple into her mouth it strips my resolve. I want to take her, my way, without consent, without mercy, until she’s mine.

“Sassenach, my love, come here.”

She is resistant. Careful lass, dinna tempt me, I’m no that strong. What is this? No, not a good idea, keep yer beautiful mouth away from me. It’s not fair but oh…my…God it feels so good. Jesus lass, stop or I’ll come down yer throat before I can worship yer body. Come here, love.

Claire felt Jamie pull her to his lips and crush her. He flipped her over and pulled her legs apart feasting his eyes on her gorgeous pussy. She dropped her fingers to her fold and held it apart for him to gorge himself on her throbbing core. She arched her back into her first orgasm and tried to pull him to her. He entered her softly and slowly making her pant for more. She grabbed his face to her and looked him in the eye.

“I don’t want Sunday school. If I say, uncle, I do the wash for both of us. Show me how much you love me Jamie, right now, and don’t hold back or I’ll go back to sleep, I swear I will.”

For the next thirty minutes, Claire felt the power of Jamie and it thrilled her as he pulled her into the most intimate and edgy positions that most women would push away from. She opened her body to him, and he feasted, growling into his orgasm that stung his balls as he ejaculated. Claire was vaguely aware of the quilt pulling up to cover them and Jamie’s soft kisses on her face. They were clinging to each other as they fell into another five hours of sleep only to repeat the intensity once again.

Many hours later, Claire heard the quiet ringtone alerting her to a call coming in. She patted the bed until she found the offending phone and opened her eyes just before clicking the dismiss button. She answered hoping she could stay awake long enough to let him talk.

“Joe, why are you calling in the middle of the night?”

“It is one in the afternoon gorgeous and it’s time to get up.”

“No, it’s time to sleep some more dear one. What do you want?”

“I want to say welcome back to civilization, hear about your tour in Sudan, and one more thing Claire.”

She looked at the phone and shook her head, trying to wake up. “What other thing Joe?”

“I found Luna.”

“What?!”

“She’s in an orphanage Claire, has been since the raid on the hospital. The rebels leveled the settlements nearby and Luna’s family was wiped out. Thank God those monsters have respect for the innocent. I thought you would want to know.”

Claire was on her feet and pounding Joe with questions as she paced the bedroom. Running for her laptop she brought up the URL Joe dictated and raced through the pictures of babies and children that were up for adoption. Her fingers abruptly stopped when she found the face of her angel and she gasped at the sight of her.

“Jesus Christ Joe, she’s been in that place for over a year! How can I get her out?”

“It’s not easy Claire, but someone has to help her.”

Joe gave Claire the number to call the adoption agency in Honduras and what little he had discovered about Luna. He warned her the adoption protocols were temporarily closed for unknown reasons and forwarded the email listing the steps to adopt a child from a country outside of Honduras. It included two stays in-country to live among the culture of the child as the agency went over her dossier.

Claire was crying with the love and fear she felt for Luna and promised Joe she would keep him posted. When she felt Jamie’s hand on her bare shoulder she looked up into compassionate eyes and she felt him say, I’m here to help you, trust me with your truth, I will help you bring her home.

Claire clicked off from Joe and dissolved into her tears and fears while Jamie held her with his strength.

Jamie looked at the pictures of Luna on the website and felt his heart open up and pull her in. Her face was the picture of innocence, her huge eyes revealed her loveless life and fear. He waited for Claire to be distracted and returned to her picture again and again. Claire loves this beautiful little girl like she was her own. Something had to be done.

Luna became their project during their off-hours. Returning to work was hard enough, but Luna was a constant presence in both their minds. The requirement for being considered as an adoption family were rigid including two prolonged stays in-country. When Jamie brought that up Claire would start shaking and he could see the war going on in her head.

“Stay in Honduras for two weeks? I could see Luna during that time, but we must be invited and they have had our dossier for three weeks, Jamie. When are we going to hear from them?”

Claire was clearly scared shitless about entering that country again, even when Jamie assured her the city was safe. He talked it over with John during an afternoon hike when Claire was working. When John bid him farewell he followed up with, “I’m going with her Jamie because you can’t. Tell her to schedule the visit right away before I’m assigned to a case.”

When Jamie told Claire John would go with her to Honduras she cried and hung on his neck. Within a week, Claire was invited by the agency to come and see Luna. Jamie had mixed feelings letting go of her at the airport.

“Sassenach, I’m so sorry I canna go with ye. Are ye alright with John lass?”

She looked into his eyes feeling such gratitude he would let her go without him. She smiled and kissed him before breaking out of his embrace to jog to her boarding gate. John settled into the seat next to her and complained that her pregnancy put a stop to partying enroute to Honduras.

“You’re a very selfish person, curbing my happiness on this trip. I just wanted you to know that Claire.”

She smiled at him and got comfortable for the long plane ride to a country she hated.

They strolled through the nursery the next day, a requirement of the agency to look at all the children up for adoption. Claire could hardly breathe waiting to see Luna. She heard a familiar cry and looked through a window at numerous cribs with children inside. The minute her eyes saw Luna she struggled to stay on her feet. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she smiled at the infant who was having a tantrum, shaking a stuffed toy in Claire’s direction. They were forced to view the rest of the infants before returning to the nursery where Luna was.

Claire walked directly to Luna and smiled at her obvious recollection. She held her arms out for her and Luna moved into them gripping Claire’s hair with both fists and burying her face in Claire’s neck. They both clung to each other with tears that flowed freely. Even John was choked up and turned around to cough harshly. The rest of the afternoon, Claire held Luna in a huge rocking chair and seemed far away in a world she shared with Luna alone. John paced the hallway watching with growing concern.

“Jamie, I’m worried. These two are obviously bonded and Luna remembers her. Claire is in another world and just wants to hold her. I’m not sure this will end well for Claire. What should I do?”

“Protect her John. Dinna let anyone close to Claire. Other than that, let it play out. Ye willna be able to drag Claire away until they tell her to go, aye?” Claire cried so hard on her last day with Luna. She heard the baby wailing for her until they were out the door of the orphanage. John held a weeping Claire all the way back to Scotland and was anxious to hand her to Jamie to console. He really didn’t get the emotional part of this mission.

Claire returned to work and pushed Luna out of her mind so she could function. The next in-country requirement was a four-week stay in Honduras and Claire made contact with the agency every week asking for an invitation to come. She was being stone-walled without any explanation and it was taking its toll on her.

Jamie watched her brave attempts to act normal but as her pregnancy progressed her expanding waistline reminded him constantly of her delicate condition. He was prepared to accompany her to Honduras as soon as they were allowed. The weeks turned into months and Claire could not take it anymore. Jamie held her close and promised to find an answer to why they had not been processed already. He looked into her eyes and asked her with a sincere and loving heart to marry him, right now.

The following weekend, they were married at the Justice of the Peace with Jenny and Ian standing as witnesses. Claire was six months pregnant and Jamie knew the window of opportunity to travel to Honduras was closing.

Cutter answered Jamie’s call with a heartfelt hello to his friend. Jamie asked about other means to push the adoption through since the agency had closed the proceedings at the order of the government. It was a match to kindling as Cutter felt Claire’s despair to save Luna. He remembered her asleep on the Lazy Boy with a hand in the incubator, waking every hour to feed this doomed child. He was mobilized to cut through this ridiculous bureaucracy and get some answers from the agency.

On a whim, Cutter wrote a letter to the president of the United States, detailing the surgical procedure that saved Luna and how one nurse fought for her against all odds. He told of her bravery when the hospital was raided, how she was shot and barely escaped her own death. These terrible events befell her because she pledged two years of her life to help the Hondurans. He included her husband’s bravery when he got all of them out of the country, risking his own life. He completed the letter with his wish to reunite this forgotten child with the only mother she ever knew. “Go with God.” The envelope was sealed and sent.

A month later, Cutter received a letter from the White House. A duplicate letter was received by Jamie and Claire. Both letters were signed by the President with the amazing news that Luna was coming to America the following weekend and they were invited to the Dallas airport to greet her.

Claire sat down hard in the rocking chair and stared at the floor as Jamie read the letter. She looked up expecting the next shoe to fall and watched Jamie typing into his phone. Claire was frozen watching Jamie pace as he arranged a flight for the following weekend. She felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she waited to hear bad news or wake up from a dream.

Jamie knelt on the floor to look into her eyes. “She is coming home Sassenach, in four days! The president arranged this for you, and for Luna. Be happy Sassenach, it is happening and we will have her home with us by next week!”

Jamie pulled Claire into bed and held her close telling her it was going to be perfect and to have faith. Claire gripped his sides and shook, feeling so small in this miraculous undertaking.

Claire gripped Jamie’s hand at the Dallas airport and heard her mantra repeated over and over again, please let her be on that plane, please let her be on that plane. She looked up at an entourage coming out of the plane. They were obviously secret service and surrounded a woman in the middle of all those bodies. Claire and Jamie stood waiting, barely breathing.

A petite, young, blonde woman with striking features was revealed and she held Luna in her arms looking around for a familiar face. When her eyes found Jamie she smiled and walked to him, seeing Claire’s face she knew who she was. Luna was handed to Claire as she dissolved in grateful tears and sat down to avoid falling over as Luna’s face pressed to hers.

Jamie looked down at the office manager and his eyes were shouting his thanks to her. “Mission accomplished soldier, I would salute ye if I could. I am so grateful.”

She looked at him with compassion, her face showing her delight in helping this mission come to pass. She placed her hand on Jamie’s arm.

“The U.S. President salutes you, Jamie, from behind the scenes as you and I have come to know it. It was a three-country effort to arrange the adoption, the U.S., Scotland, and Honduras. How the U.S. President got involved I’ll never know but it was his clout that got the attention needed. Luna belongs to the two of you now. I pulled strings to get assigned to this mission so I could carry her to you. It’s my going away present and no one is more deserving than you.”

Jamie was reeling from the disclosure. He looked up and saw Dougal hanging back looking like he was a stranger, waiting to board his flight. He turned slightly and locked eyes with Jamie and the two men nodded slightly to each other. Jamie looked at Claire and Luna feeling like his heart would burst in his chest. There was much to do to ready the house for this precious child and another soon to be born. He took a deep breath and looked for the office manager but she was gone, as was Dougal. They melted into the airport population on their way back to Scotland.

Jamie felt the tears on his cheeks and sat down next to Claire and Luna, holding them close and thanking God for this miracle. His head was bowed as he prayed his thanks until a tiny hand reached out for him and pushed her body toward him. He pulled Luna to him and locked eyes with his new daughter.

“I’m Da, Luna.”

She touched his face and then his tears with her finger, looking at him like he was the most important person she had ever met.

“No more fear lassie, ye’ll have a life of love, I promise.”

Jamie struggled to push the tears back. Not for his pride or appearing weak. He wanted his eyes clear so he could see his two lassies and Claire’s round abdomen that held his next son or daughter, closely protected and fiercely loved.

The End.

The spirit in me bows to the spirit in you...Namaste and thank you.

89 notes · View notes

deans-baby-momma · 6 years

Text

The Padackles Link-Chapter 35

A/N: If I didn’t know any better, I would believe that the universe is against me putting out this chapter. LOL But without further ado, here is the answer to all your questions. Well, at least the question of what happened to Drea and are the babies alright? PLEASE give me some feedback. I’m going to put the link to my ask box at the end of the story so maybe it’ll be easier to get to instead of having to scroll all the way back to here. :)

Jensen’s P.O.V.

Jared and I were standing around, goofing off with one another and Kim Rhodes, the actress who plays Sheriff Jody Mills on the show. Kim had already been in a couple of previous episodes and had immediately made herself at home on set and in our little family.

The set crew was bustling around, trying to get the next scene of the episode we were working on in place, while we stood around and watched. I felt my personal phone vibrate in my pocket and took it out, knowing I had a few minutes before being called in front of the camera. I looked at the screen and seen a name I wasn’t used to seeing.

“Dude, your wife is calling me. Guess she decided she needed a real man,” I chuckle.

“Then why is she calling you?” Kim asks, laughing and high-fiving Briana, another actress on the show, portraying Sheriff Donna Hanscum, a character we had met last season. .

“Oh, ha ha.”

I hit the answer icon and put the device up to my ear but before I can even say hello, Gen’s timid voice sends a chill through my body. “Jay, you need to come home.”

“What? Why?” I ask, confused and worried. My tone of voice must have alerted those around me to the seriousness of the call because it was suddenly silent. “What’s wrong? Is it JJ?” I knew Gen still talked to Dani and if it involved our daughter, Dani might be too distraught to call.

“It’s Drea, Jay. She’s in the hospital.”

“What happened? Is she okay? Are the boys okay?” I ask, walking away from the others to get a modicum of privacy.

“Jay, it’s bad. You need to get here as soon as possible.”

“I’m on the first flight out,” I tell her and hang up. I turn to look at my cast mates and they all have a look of concern etched in their features. I look to Jared and he walks over. “Drea’s in the hospital,” I whisper to my on-screen brother. “I have to get back to Texas.”

He lays a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You call the airline. I’ll get Clif and let Tim and Phil know what’s going on. We can do some scenes that don’t feature you.”

“Thanks man!” I tell him before rushing off set and heading toward my trailer.

I get a seat on the first flight out of Vancouver International with an hour layover in Seattle. After almost 10 years of flying to and from Vancouver I know there will be a layover but it still sickens me that I am going to be at a standstill awaiting my flight while Drea is alone, going through some type of medical emergency. Well, she isn’t completely alone; Gen is with her but dammit I want to be with her and help her through whatever crisis this is.

Clif picks me up and we make it to YVR in no time. Thankfully since I had ordered my ticket online I don’t have to go through the hassle of waiting in line to pick it up at the counter. I can just head through to customs and wait to board. I sit in the uncomfortable plastic chair listening for the announcement that the plane is loading. Clif sits beside me, watching to make sure no one tries to bother me. I’m not in the mood to talk to fans or pose for pictures or sign anything. Thankfully the airport is busy and no one seems to notice the television star and his bodyguard sitting there.

I text Gen as soon as I get in my seat on the plane and tell her I am on my way before I turn the phone off. I hate that while we are in the air no electronic devices can be activated because I really need to keep in contact and know what is going on. The flight is going to take an hour before we land in Seattle and I know a lot could happen in that time.

I disembark the plane as fumble to turn my phone back on. Thankfully I have no new message or voicemails but that still doesn’t ease the knots in my stomach. Something is going on with Drea and our sons and I am still hours away. It is killing me to know that when she needed me the most I am so far away. For a split second I thank the heavens that Dani’s pregnancy with JJ had been an easy one.

I find a coffee shop inside the Seattle airport and sit at one of the tables to once again wait for the announcement that I will be on the final leg of my journey. The hour-long layover seems to drag though. Every time I look at my watch only a few minutes has passed even though it has seemed like hours.

Once again I hear the intercom voice tell me my flight is being boarded and I make my way to the gate the voice directs me to. I check my phone one last time before turning it off and pray that nothing happens while I am unreachable. I go through security and they wave the wand down my front and up my back. “Do you have any luggage, Sir?”

“Nope, just me and my cell phone.”

“Ok. You’re good to go. Remember to turn your phone off before the plane takes off,” the officer reminds me.

“Yes, sir.” I say as I pick my phone up out of the container and slip in into my pocket.

The flight from Seattle to Austin takes 4 hours and by the time we reach the terminal I am nothing but a ball of nerves. Thankfully, once again the airport lobby is so busy that no one seems to notice me as I walk through to get outside and hail a cab. I call Gen and she informs me that Drea is sleeping comfortably in a room at Seton Medical. I tell the driver my destination and sit back hoping against all that is holy that Drea and the boys are all okay.

I arrive at the hospital and pay the driver his fees and get out, practically running through the automatic doors to find the elevators to take me to Drea’s room. The elevators, of course, take their usual slow time making it to the first floor and opening up to let me in. I punch the number of the floor they’re on and ride the incredibly slow ascent of the metal box. I glance at myself in the steel door of the lift and chuckle. In my haste to make it back home, I had not even thought of changing clothes. I am still dressed as Dean Winchester with his multiple layers of flannel and military jacket.I’m sure to get some odd looks being dressed like this in the sweltering Texas heat. I slip the jacket off and toss it over my arm.

As soon as the metal doors open I exit and look for the direction to the room Drea is in. I find it easily and before opening the door, I stop and take a breath. I don’t know what I am walking in to and I need to be calm and collected in case Drea isn’t. We both don’t need to be upset and on edge.

Drea is still sleeping in the hospital bed when I creep through the door. She looks so pale and I can tell even with her eyes closed that she’s been crying. Her eyes are puffy and red and I can distinctly see the streaks on her cheeks where the tears ran. If she has been crying that much and that hard, I know I’m not going to be met with good news, as I was hoping. It feels as if my heart has dropped to my feet.

Gen sees me and gets up out of her seat in the corner and approaches me. I take her into my arms and hug her tight. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure Jay,” she whispers. “Her friend Naomi called me from her phone and told me that Drea had got sick at work and almost collapsed. Said if it weren’t for a couple of regulars that were dining there and who happened to be paramedics she probably would have. She said Drea asked her to call me and see if I could come be with her. Of course I dropped everything and rushed over here. She’s been sleeping for a couple of hours. She woke earlier and I told her you were on your way and she started crying again and cried herself to sleep.”

“Do you know anything? A diagnosis? Have they done any testing? How are the twins?”

“Jay, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not good, but Drea also asked me to let her tell you. And as her friend, I am going to honor that request,” Gen tells me as she takes me by the arm and leads me to the chair sitting close to Drea’s bed. “Sit here and wait for her to wake up. I have to go now and get the boys. Let me know if you need anything though, ok?” “Yea,” I say nonchalantly, not taking my eyes off Drea’s sleeping form. “Thanks Gen.”

“”You’re welcome. I’ll call Jared and let him know you made it. We love you big guy!”

I smile as she retreats and I move the chair closer to the bed. Drea looks so peaceful while she sleeps but I know it’s anything but because something has made her sick and have to be hospitalized and whatever it is has made her cry herself to sleep. I reach up and push her hair off her forehead and just stare at her. “I’m here now baby,” I whisper. “Whatever it is, we will get through this, together.”

“Vanishing Twin Syndrome. It sometimes happens in a pregnancy with multiples,” the doctor explains to us, her voice tinged with compassion. “Even in this day and age we aren’t really certain what causes it, just one of the fetuses disappear. Most like getting absorbed by the twin or even sometimes the mother’s body will absorb the remaining tissue.”

I squeeze Drea’s hand as I listen to the doctor continue explaining what happened. One of the boys didn’t make it. That is all I understood Drea try to tell me when she woke up an hour ago. As soon as her eyes opened and she saw me, she had busted out in tears. Apologizing and telling me she understood if this was too much. I sat there in shock listening to her tell me that she wouldn’t hold it against me if I left her, that she couldn’t even protect our son and he had died. Of course I told her she had nothing to worry about, I wasn’t going anywhere and had hit the call button to get a nurse so I could ask to speak to the doctor in charge of Drea’s case.

" I'm sorry for what you're going through. It's not your fault," the doctor clarifies as she looks at Drea and myself. "As far as medicine has come in the last 50 years or so, we still don't know much about VTS or of a way to prevent this from happening. In most cases, the cause is unknown. Your unborn son could have had abnormalities that your regular doctor hadn’t caught just yet. Developmental abnormalities or an improper cord implantation seem to be the two major possible causes, though. Analysis of the placenta and tissue sometimes find that those abnormalities were chromosomal.”

“What about the other one?” I ask as Drea silently sobs. “Is he going to make it?”

“Your surviving son seems to be healthy on the sonogram. As in most cases, one twin arrives perfectly healthy with no developmental abnormalities whatsoever. But as a precaution since Ms. Murphy is in her second trimester, I am going to request that she take it easy and be on a minimal workload.”

“So, I’m going to be on bedrest for the last of my pregnancy?”

“Basically yes,” the doctor answers her. “Not all the time but take it easy and don’t get over exhausted. Just as a precaution. Is there someone who can stay with you and make sure you don’t overdo anything?”

“Yes,” I answer before Drea has a chance to. If I have to I’ll call my mom and explain the situation to her and, knowing Donna Ackles, she’ll be in the car and headed our way before the call ends.

“In the morning we will do some testing and see how we proceed from there,” the doctor tells us. “There are a couple of possibilities that we can take to ensure that the surviving twin remains unaffected.” She looks at the chart in her hands. “It says here you are just into your second trimester. That mean it might be possible that no further procedures need to be done. You just rest tonight and we will see what the ultrasound shows us tomorrow.”

The doctor looks at us in sorrow; we’re holding hands, teary-eyed and heartbroken as he explains the prognosis.. “I am sorry for your loss. If I can answer any more questions you might have, just ask a nurse to page me. I’ll be here all day.”

“Thank you,” I say and shake her hand with my free one. “If we think of anything else, we’ll call for you.”

The doctor leaves and I look up at Drea. She look so broken and dismal, her face is pale making her red-rimmed eyes even more prominent. I place a kiss on the hand I’m holding and reach up, brushing my knuckles down her cheek. “Baby, it’ll be okay. I promise.”

“Jay, how can you say that. One of our babies died!” she says. “I couldn’t keep him safe and he lost his life.”

“Drea, it wasn’t your fault. You heard what the doctor said. There aren’t really any reasons why this happens. It just…..happens. There is nothing you could’ve done to prevent it.”

Drea closes her eyes and I watch as tears sneak out from under eyelids and run a trail down her face to land on the pillow. Trying to hold myself together and be strong for Drea, I wipe my tears away and sniffle. I have to be the strong one right now. I could break down later, when Drea finally calms down. And somewhere no one could see. Not that I minded if anyone saw me grieving for my son but I want privacy to do so. Being famous meant never having a moment to yourself unless you hid away because if anyone is around, more than likely there is a camera and before you know it, your breakdown is featured all over social media and on the covers of some magazines. All just because someone wanted to make an extra buck.

Drea fitfully sleeps the rest of the day. I sit at her bedside and watch her, wishing there was something I could do to take away her pain and suffering. Around dinnertime, an orderly brings in two trays of food and I try to get her to eat, reminding her that she needs it to keep up her strength.

I wash as she just pushes the food around on the plate and sigh. How can I get through to her that I need her to take care of herself and the baby. I can’t go back to Vancouver to be on set trying to recite lines and act out sequences while worried that she is here putting not only herself but our son in danger by not keeping herself healthy and providing enough for him.

Man, that sounds odd. I had finally come to terms that there was going to be two and now, only one. As Drea pushes her tray away and sits back on the bed, I wonder if we should memorialize our lost son in some way. I push that idea out of my head. We have time for those thoughts later. RIght now, I need to focus on Drea and getting her through this and back home.

Drea starts crying again and I jump out of my seat, almost knocking the empty tray off the table to get to her. I wrap my arms around her and she buries her face in my neck, sobbing. I hold her and whisper how much I love her and how we will get through everything together. I can no longer repress my tears so I hold her tight against me and we cry together, grieving the death of our son.

That night, I hold Drea to my side as she sleeps with her head on my chest. She finally is sleeping peacefully and I have no desire or need to move from this spot.I doze off listening to her soft snores.

LEAVE ME FEEDBACK HERE PLEASE!!!! Reviews feed my muse.

Chapter 36

@xxdragonagequeenxx @carryonmywaywardcaptain @sunskittlex @darlingpeanut @wayward-gypsy @sis-tafics @sea040561 @pretty-fortune

#the padackles link #jensen ackles #danneel ackles #jared padalecki #genevieve padalecki #jensen x drea #jensen x ofc #drea murphy #romance #fluff #smut #angst #cheating #pregnancy #medical situation #hospital #kim rhodes #briana buckmaster

54 notes · View notes

alinaartorius · 6 years

Text

Off Hiatus

I'm back safely from vacation! I'd have posted yesterday but exhaustion and a bad case of disembarkment syndrome kept me from thinking right

Hopefully you'll see more of me around soon and some art once work lets go of me again! I had a wonderful time with my gf, can't wait to see her again hopefully soon :3c

#robin twitters

19 notes · View notes

tyranttortoise · 7 years

Text

Fell Underwater

Soooo, for Day 9, I wrote something that I’ve wanted to write for a while! It’s a small one-shot drabble of me doing some world-building on an AU I’ve had on the backburner for a while. It’s pretty much Oceanfell, I suppose, but mine doesn’t really follow any of my standard Oceantale headcanons, so maybe Fell Underwater? Or Ty’s Oceanfell?

-shrug-

Either way, it’s got pirate skeletons.

I did quite a bit of world-building before I got to the smut, so I’m going to post all the SFW bits here, with a link to continue reading on Ao3 at the bottom. Hope you guys enjoy! It’s the first thing I’ve written with a legitimate AU and AU Sans that’s mine.

You’d always had terrible luck.

If something could go wrong, it couldn’t just go wrong for you; no, it’d be a disaster.

That’s why you saw it coming. The Raffle occurred every seven years, after all. When you came of age to be put into it, you tried to run – to move away from the coastal city you despised – but they dragged you back, kicking and screaming. Your name had been entered thrice as punishment, but somehow, you miraculously didn’t get pulled.

You knew your luck wouldn’t last, however. You knew it, and yet, you weren’t able to leave the city, your infraction pushing back your request until after the next Raffle. And when they called your name that time, along with six others, you weren’t surprised in the slightest. When they forced you to stand along the coastline, dressed in your best attire, you didn’t wail or whine like the others. No, you impassively stood there, glaring at the crashing waves and cursing the fact that you’d been born beneath a terrible omen.

When the pirate ship rose from the depths of the murky water, sporting a Jolly Roger sail and a skull with flashing red eyes affixed to the bow like a demon rising from hell, you sucked in a breath and put on a brave face. When literal skeleton pirates disembarked from their vessel and began examining the sacrifices, trying to pick out which one had the strongest SOUL to power their barrier, you concentrated on keeping your breathing even. One by one, they Confronted the others, calling forth their SOULs despite their frightened cries. You kept staring straight ahead, though you saw flickers of greens and purples and light blues from your peripherals.

And then the shorter of the two skeletons stopped directly in front of you. You defiantly stared at a point just past his shoulder, and you could see his smirk widen, the sharp golden tooth glinting. Skeletal phalanges gripped your chin and tilted it back, forcing you to look up and meet his single crimson eyelight. The opposite socket was concealed beneath an eyepatch, a jagged crack vertically running through his orbit and disappearing beneath his feathered hat. Despite the grandeur of his attire, his appearance was slovenly, the dark jacket too big for his frame, a rusted shackle clasped around his neck, and his ivory, button-up shirt mostly undone and halfway untucked.

“well, well…” the monster drawled, tilting his head as he regarded you with amusement. “ye look like a lass that gives no quarter. i wonder if that’s the tale yer soul’ll be singin’.”

A shiver ran up your spine; you could smell smoke and must on his breath from his close proximity, and you had to avert your eyes. He chuckled, and the tips of his fingers dug into your chin. In the next moment, you felt something grip within your chest, squeezing the very breath from your lungs. The feeling forcibly ripped something from within you, and you gasped, the world suddenly draining of color.

All except for the bright orange glow of the little heart floating before you.

Your SOUL.

The stout monster’s bone brow raised, and the light seemed to draw the attention of the taller one. You barely registered the other’s lankier, more jagged appearance; everything seemed muffled, like their voices were coming from underwater.

When they both smirked at you, you finally allowed yourself to feel fear.

A month has passed since that day, and yet… you’re still alive.

Your SOUL hasn’t been harvested for the barrier, and the skeleton brothers (you discovered they were brothers the second day, when you realized just how comical their nagging, back-and-forth banter could be–under other circumstances) have kept you fed and well. Their boat descended beneath the water, to some part of the ocean that felt much colder than you expected, but… you were actually able to breathe and see just fine underwater. They amused themselves in watching you struggle that first day, desperately holding your breath and clawing at the porthole of your cabin.

“FOR SUCH A COURAGEOUS LASS, SHE’S RATHER DAFT,” the taller one (Papyrus, you later discovered his name was) rasped as he passively observed your struggles.

“breathe, bucko,” his brother (Sans, the one with the golden tooth and promiscuous winks) instructed, chortling over your display. When you actually gave in and were forced to take a breath, you were surprised when water didn’t fill your lungs. You turned your wide-eyed stare to your captors, and they both started laughing all over again.

“did'ja really think we’re such monsters that we’d drown ya first thing? underwater’s full o’ magic, lassie. an’ magic can do all sorts o’ things.”

You’d hated them at first. Their mocking smirks, their probing questions… you avoided talking to them, but also flailed your arms out whenever they got too close. If you were going to die by two monsters much stronger than you, then fine. The world was cruel, but you accepted the impossibility of your situation. But that didn’t mean you were going to just roll over and let it happen. No, you were going to fight for your life until the bitter end.

As time stretched, however… you began to wonder what was taking so long.

You had full run of the lower decks of the ship, though most of the wood was rotted and riddled with holes that you could easily slip through if you wanted. The first time you attempted that, however, a monster with jagged teeth and fins almost immediately devoured you. Sans had been there to save you; he’d apparently been lazily tailing you the entire time. He didn’t force you back to the ship, but he warned you of the dangers lurking beneath the ocean. It confirmed every horrifying myth you’d ever heard growing up.

You tried to swim to the surface, but your arms and legs got so tired that you actually passed out. When you woke up, you were back in your cabin, with monster food left on the nightstand. Sometimes, it was disgusting… sometimes, it was actually delicious. It depended on which brother brought you the food.

One night, when Sans was in your room, kicked back in a chair with his feet propped up (one of his legs was a peg leg, you’d discovered) and his hat tilted over his face, you finally spoke.

“W…why?”

Your voice was hoarse, and cracked with disuse, but the sound was enough to rouse Sans immediately. When he tipped his hat back, surprise was clear on his face, though he quickly amended it with his usual smirk. “ahhh, so she finally speaks! i was beginnin’ to wonder if ye were mute, lassie.”

You ignored the comment and pressed on, “Why am I here?”

He shrugged with nonchalance, crossing his boot over his peg leg. “ye got a fool’s luck an’ one o’ the strongest souls i’ve ever laid eyesocket upon.”

“But if you were going to use my SOUL for the barrier… why haven’t you done it yet?”

He’s silent. After a few moments, he starts to snore.

UGH, did he seriously fall asleep in the middle of an important conversation?

More time passes, and you’re still alive.

You begin speaking to Sans whenever he comes by to loiter in your cabin, and you also begin eating meals at the table with both brothers at night. They’re growing on you, despite your best efforts.

There’s even a moment where Sans falls asleep on the couch in your cabin, and you end up moving to lie down on the cushions beside him. You don’t know if it’s Stockholm Syndrome, or the fact that these brothers have been much nicer to you than any human has on the Surface, but… you just wanted to be close to him.

He slings his arm around you, and you fall asleep with your cheek pressed into the ribs exposed from his sloppily-buttoned shirt.

When you awaken, you’re back in your bed and wondering if it was all just a dream.

Whenever you ask Sans why you’re still alive, he either hedges the query or Papyrus decides to choose that very moment to interrupt.

“SANS! YOU BILGE RAT, I SWEAR YOU’RE ALWAYS SLACKING OFF! IF YOU DON’T COME HERE AND FINISH YOUR WORK INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY GALLAVANTING WITH YOUR WENCH, I SWEAR YOU’RE IN FOR SOME KEELHAULING!”

Sans rolls his eyelight. “aye, cap'n!” he calls, dead-pan and irritated. Then he gets up and moves to leave. “we’ll continue the conversation later, lassie.”

Yet he continues to avoid it until weeks later.

You’ve both had too much grog–which you’ve discovered is apparently a more tolerable version of rum.

Sans has had a rough day, evident by his drinking. You’ve come to be able to pick up on his moods, but he always plays it off when you attempt to pry. Your inhibitions are down enough that innocent joking and flirtatious smiles turn into touches–teasing and light at first, but then bolder, more exploratory.

“careful, lass…” he warns, his voice a low growl. His forehead is against yours, his usual hat now tipped back on your head. You’ve managed to completely unbutton his shirt, and your fingers are gingerly moving along his ribs, feeling over the grooves and ossifications from countless partially-healed fractures.

“What? Am I going to ‘awaken the kraken’?” you tease with a smirk, and you catch him off-guard enough that he makes a strangled choking sound before he starts chuckling.

“ok, that was a good one. yer jus’ full o’ surprises, ain'tcha?” His eyelight is much brighter than usual, his socket half-lidded as he hums when you hook your fingers around his sternum and start rubbing along the underside. “ye'know, ye got too many buttons still in-place. let ol’ sans take care o’ that.”

“What a gentleman,” you continue to tease as he reaches out with both hands and abruptly tugs your shirt apart. The buttons pop off, jettisoning through the water. It’s his shirt you’re wearing (his slacks, too), so you don’t mind the fact that he just ruined it. If anything, you find it to be a turn-on.

“aye, but i prefer the term ‘swashbuckler.’ in this case, i’m ‘bout to swash yer buckle aside.”

*continue reading on Ao3

#oceanfell #fell underwater #of!sans #i don't have a good nickname for him yet #but dammit #i like that he uses lass and lassie instead of sweetheart #probably lad for the gents #and bucko for neutral?#or matey #i kinda love writing his speech #i don't even have a thing for pirates really #but shit i have a thing for pirate red #instead of calling edge boss he calls him cap'n

119 notes · View notes

thefudge · 7 years

Text

lima syndrome || a klonnie fic

klonnie week: day ii. | TROPES

lima syndrome - def. the phenomenon in which abductors develop sympathy for their captives, named after the abduction of the Japanese Ambassador's Residence in Lima, Peru in 1996 by members of a terrorist group

(you can also read it on ffnet)

“my grandmother is going to kill you.”

this is what she tells him as he fastens the polyethylene rope around her ankles.

his fingers linger on her calves, pulling the leg to see if she can get out of the trap. he notes in passing that the flesh is firm and the muscles are strong, stronger than one would expect of a pampered witch princess.

“let’s not get ahead of ourselves, love.”

bonnie looks down at him. he might’ve been handsome if his jaw didn’t stick out so much. it’s as if he has a grudge on the world.

“i don’t know what you think you’re accomplishing, but this valerian root won’t hold long. i’ll get my powers back...”

“and i’ll keep injecting you,” he supplies with a crooked grin. “pity it doesn’t shut you up as well.”

she struggles a little in his grasp, trying to kick him in vain. “you won’t get away with this.”

“that’s what they all say,” he remarks moodily.

she’s surprised to see that he’s taken her to what looks like an airbase.

“you can’t possibly hope to get me on a plane as your captive.”

klaus - she’s heard his henchmen call him that and she found it oddly upper-crust for a kidnapper - tilts her head up with a brush of his fingers. “only private jets for her highness.”

and indeed, the landing strip is bare except for a gleaming silver beast, the kind high-stakes ambassadors usually fly in. whoever has ordered her capture has ample means.

“i hope they’re paying you well,” she mutters as he guides her towards the tarpaulin.

he must admit that she’s acting very level-headed for one so young. she is calm and thoughtful, her panic having receded to a private place in her mind. from time to time she will clench her fingers, as if calling out to her fettered magic, but she’s doing her best not to make a scene. she’s realized there’s no audience except him and his men. and his men are worse than him.

“you’re a werewolf,” she says, as they fly over the panama channel.

she’s half-asleep (it’s been two very long days) and her eyes have turned a darker shade of green, like deep pools at the bottom of the ocean.

“i can sense it, even with my magic low,” she mumbles, cradling her chin in her hand.

he leans back in his chair and smiles in a way that doesn’t reach his eyes. “and what do you sense exactly, witch? my impure blood?”

“yes...” she mutters, eyelids closing against her will. “it smells like oranges...in the sun.”

he’s a little shaken despite his better judgement. he turns towards the window and avoids looking at her again. all these witches are the same - mystical fools with no damn sense in their heads.

an hour later he puts a small pillow under her head. he doesn’t want her breaking her neck, does he?

they land at 3 am in no man’s land and she’s not entirely awake for the business of disembarking and walking over the pebbly ground to the nearby shack where a few men are waiting for them.

so, he has to carry her in his arms. he feels rather foolish at first. he hoists her up firmly over his shoulder, the smell of freesias and sweat invading his senses. but she keeps sliding off his body like a woodland nymph, so he hooks his hand around her shoulders and another under her legs, and carries her like a bride. she doesn’t nestle into his chest. her head falls away from him. he stares at the length of her neck and listens to the throb of her pulse.

they spend half a day at the dilapidated motel outside the village. to anyone else’s eyes, the building is abandoned. but inside, a small army of men are preparing for a ritual.

bonnie gradually understands the purpose of her abduction. she can feel the nervous energy in the air pouring down from the amazonian rainforest. they’re only miles away from one of the temples.

she starts to cry laconically, tears running down her cheeks while her face remains a funeral mask.

the werewolf crouches down at her level. “you needn’t cry. it will all be over soon.”

“what do you care?” she snaps, and it’s the first time she sounds bitter.

“i don’t. but tears irk me.”

she spits on his shoes. “you irk me.”

she’s not likening him to oranges in the sun anymore, that’s for sure. he smiles coolly. “it would be rather strange if i didn’t.”

bonnie looks away, disheartened. “you don’t have to do this.”

“ah, another thing they always say.”

it’s hot and sticky in the truck as they drive through the half-submerged jungle. there used to be a city here, many hundreds of years ago. now it’s just vines and sticky leaves and bugs the size of your head. there’s probably bones too, buried under the foliage.

he hates the jungle. he hates the humidity, the smell, the pressure of it all. his head feels about to explode.

his men sit on the dumpster bed behind, holding machine guns over their shoulder. it’s mostly for show, in case any unlucky humans crop up in a ten-mile radius. they don’t really need them. their claws would sink into your heart before you had time to blink.

bonnie sits by his side, forehead leaning against the grimy window.

klaus hates the stifling silence so he turns on the radio, but the signal is warped in these parts of the forest and all he gets is truncated fragments of a popular ballad.

bonnie heaves a weary sigh. “it’s my birthday today.”

his hands stiffen on the wheel. “i know.”

she laughs bitterly. “right, it’s gotta be my birthday for the ritual.”

“well. happy birthday anyway.”

he doesn’t know why he says it. it’s very daft, given the circumstances. he rubs the back of his neck. he can’t stand the silence, so he presses on. “i don’t know my actual birth day. no one can tell me, as no one can recall with certainty.”

the witch raises her legs to her chest. she’s not tied up anymore seeing as there’s nowhere to run. she scratches the red welt on her arm where he injected her with the next to last dose of valerian. he’s saving the biggest shot for the ritual.

“your parents probably wanted to forget the day you were born,” she tells him callously.

“...i suppose i deserve that one.”

she nods wearily. “you do. you’re a disgrace.”

“a disgrace?” he echoes, trying to keep his eyes on the road. “that’s a bit much.”

“we’re both servants of the moon and instead of helping me, you’re sending me to my death.”

he scoffs. “both servants of the moon? no, little witch. you don’t have to chain yourself when the moon calls for you.”

bonnie shrugs. “maybe i do.”

they don’t speak again for the duration of the ride.

they spend a rainy night in a moldy tent on the side of a precipice where the ground is still relatively warm and dry.

she protests weakly at first that she should be given her own tent, that she’s not about to make her escape and die in the jungle, but he won’t hear it. he knows her kind is “crafty”.

“crafty?” she explodes with a laugh. “if i was such a wily creature, i’d have found a way to kill you by now.”

klaus lets her words wash over him like the rain beating down on their tent.

there is hardly room for two people inside; her proximity is inevitable, but it’s comforting too. he doesn’t know if she feels the same, but it drives away the demons of the jungle.

he rolls down two sleeping bags.

bonnie watches him with a guarded look. “are you going to sleep too?”

he laughs. “of course not. i’d give you a prime opportunity to kill me, like you said.”

“i doubt i could,” she complains, looking around despondently. “i don’t have my magic. i don’t see any sharp objects around. and i don’t think i’m strong enough to strangle you.”

“oh, don’t give up hope yet,” he teases amiably, which makes her shiver uncomfortably. he removes his jacket. his t-shirt is stuck to his skin, exposing every line of his body. bonnie wonders if he can see her body through her thin dress and even thinner shawl. she folds her arms over her chest.

“you should rest for tomorrow,” he tells her gently, but it’s rather cruel.

“yeah, i should get my beauty sleep. i don’t want to look bad on the pyre,” she retorts, holding back a fresh wave of tears. he looks disturbed by her comment but can’t bring himself to offer her any comfort.

they lie down, side by side, on the sleeping bags. bonnie stares up at the dirty canvas.

“i was going to...open a school for witches,” she says softly, staring at the shadow of an insect on the side of the tent.

klaus turns slightly towards her. his bare arm accidentally brushes against hers.

“you wanted to teach?”

she nods, wiping her wet eyes quickly. “i wanted to help young girls like myself find their footing.”

his thumb traces a few freckles on her elbow. she means to move away from his touch. she means to scold him. but she doesn’t, because this is her last night alive and she won’t deny herself this small human gesture.

“you’d be good at it.”

bonnie scoffs. “you don’t know me. you have no idea what i’d be good at.”

“maybe. but i’m a wolf. i can sense these things.”

“that’s superstition.”

“really. a witch telling me about superstition.” there’s humor in his voice. she hates that she will probably think of that when the flames engulf her.

“well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?” she bites back, wishing she could hold something to her chest and squeeze it tight.

and somehow, he reads her mind because he pulls her towards him. it’s strange and unexpected - even to him - the way his fingers clench around her waist.

“what are you doing?” she asks quietly as her hands touch his chest tentatively.

he doesn’t answer at first. he stares into her heart-shaped face, almost as if he’s trying to memorize her features. his hand runs up and down her spine, leaving pleasant tremors in its wake. his eyes, she notes, have globs of amber in them. the sun made liquid.

“i want you to know, no one’s paying me,” he says at length.

“what?”

“it’s my mother. she is the one who wants you dead. she wants to absorb your power.”

bonnie’s eyes widen. she clenches her fingers around his t-shirt. “your mother is esther? you’re esther’s son?”

he nods gruffly, as if ashamed of the legacy.

bonnie is speechless for a moment. “but she - how -?”

“even the original witch makes mistakes,” he replies bitterly. “my biological father is one.”

she’s overwhelmed by his confession. she doesn’t know how to respond.

they stare at each other for several long minutes, pondering on each other’s strange fate.

“what do you get out of this, then?” she asks quietly.

“she’s my mother, bonnie.”

her name on his tongue has a strange effect on both of them. he closes the gap between them and kisses her on the lips, without permission or apology. he cradles her cheek and kisses her like she was always his for the kissing. but it doesn’t feel proprietary. it feels like he’s been waiting to do it for a long time. it’s funny to think a few days ago she didn’t know his name.

she sighs into his mouth as he removes the shawl from her shoulders.

they kiss for a small eternity, glued to each other by sweat and exhaustion. he doesn’t disrobe her any further, he only touches her body furtively, skimming small islands of bare skin before coming back to her face. he loves touching her face. if you follow her features closely, they’re rudely asymmetrical, but still beautiful, all the same. he’d like to draw them.

she strokes the back of his neck as he bends down to kiss her lips again and again.

his fingers brush against her knees, parting them slowly. his knuckles caress the inside of her thigh making her heart jump in her throat. but she whispers into his neck. “no. not like this.”

and he understands. he removes himself from her.

they fall back, side by side, staring at the canvas, their shoulders touching.

“i’d like to...” she says nervously. “someday. after you’ve taken me away from this place and bought me dinner. maybe.”

klaus laughs and it sounds innocent and boyish for once. “you’re wasting your breath, witch. i’m not taking you away. i can’t.”

“i know,” she mumbles, closing her eyes. “but a girl can dream.”

a girl dreams. and in this dreams she burns like a bundle of hay, like a handful of branches. the werewolf kneels by her pyre and weeps. everything tastes like ashes.

but bad dreams eventually melt with the coming of the sun.

he injects his mother with an almost lethal dose of valerian as she comes towards him to embrace him. her smile is greedy. her eyes glint with a murderous need. he doesn’t feel too bad about sticking the needle in her. he knows she won’t outright die. her powers will be weakened beyond conscious state and she’ll fall into a deep coma. she’ll wake up in the middle of the jungle. and maybe she’ll survive.

his men listen to him as he’s their alpha. some of them defect because they don’t like the sudden change of plan. they’re old creatures, wary of novelty and all things young. klaus lets them go without killing them. all he wants right now is to get out of the jungle.

bonnie drives the truck haphazardly across the wet trails, glancing from time to time at the werewolf. he doesn’t seem capable to do much else anymore. but that’s fine. he did his part. now, she’s the one taking them away.

sheila bennett doesn’t understand why her granddaughter smells like oranges every night she comes home.

#klonnie #klonnie week #klonnie appreciation week #bonnie bennett #klaus mikaelson #lima syndrome #my fanfic #i KNOW i should be doing more productive things but here have a small tropey fic

101 notes · View notes

delilahmidnight · 7 years

Text

@youngbloodbuzz congrats ur Sara bareilles post inspired this:

Kara’s first loss is–hard. She was -just- a second too late. She missed the signs, misread a moment, got sidetracked by some other emergency, and the girl was just–gone. She didn’t make it in time to stop the hail of bullets, and humans are -so fragile-, but she sees only courage in the eyes of the teenager she holds in her arms, knowing, without even using her x-ray vision, that there is nothing she can do, nothing that will save her.

The blood is so much. Redder than the sun she was born under, redder than the cape she wears that protects her and reminds her of home. It coats her hands, slick and warm, as she presses them against the girl’s stomach and chest, her voice shaking as she whispers words of comfort she knows the girl won’t understand, the Kryptonese bubbling from her lips without her giving it much thought. The girl puts her hand on Kara’s, her breathing labored, waits until Kara meets her eyes, and smiles with difficulty. “Its….okay,” she manages between breaths. “Thank (gasp) you….for trying.” Kara's eyes fill with desperate, angry tears and she shakes her head, determined to try harder–but the girl lets out one last raspy breath, her eyes glaze over…and she’s gone.

“Kara!” she pleads thru the door, knocking for something like the nineteenth time. “Please open up, just tell me what happened!” Silence, deafening and complete. Alex sighs and leans her forehead against the door, defeated. She closed her eyes and thinks, pressing her fingers to her eyebrows in frustration. “Kara, I…I’m going home, okay?” she calls finally. “But I’ll leave my balcony door unlocked. Please….just come talk to me. I’m…really worried. About you.” She waits another moment, fingers flexing anxiously, just in case Kara decides to finally answer, but the door remains firmly, impenetrably shut, and no sound can be heard from inside the apartment. With another quiet sigh Alex heads down the hall, mind still racing with worry.

Six hours later, Alex is reading the same sentence about Protein AH-14c Deficiency Syndrome in Gerdian Trilosects over and over without understanding a word of it. Kara's frantic, tearful voice on her voicemail keeps running thru her brain, blocking out all other thought and causing Alex to imagine the absolute worst. The message had been mostly in Kryptonese, and altho Alex’s Kryptonese was mediocre at best, she had made out “girl”, “no time” (or possibly “little time”?), “blood”, “I cannot” (or “I could not”–Kryptonese verb tenses all sounded the same to her) and “die”/“death”. Altogether, not a very reassuring message. Coupled with the news reports she’d been unable to escape all evening describing a “disastrous” attempt by Supergirl to save a local teenager from an armed robber at her father’s corner shop, and Alex knew Kara was most likely trapped in her “Atlas” headspace–where all she could think about was how it was her duty to save the world and every lost life was a personal crime she had to atone for.

She growls in frustration and slaps the medical journal down onto the tabletop, shoves her chair away from the table roughly, and heads to her bedroom, pulling from the bottom of her closet the old gibson she had bought in her rebellious punk rock phase and never had the heart to give away, even tho she rarely played it anymore.

The evening is warm, her balcony softly lit by the streetlights below. She tunes her guitar as a light breeze carries by the dusty smell of the desert, a few hundred miles away. She speaks quietly, both because it’s two in the morning and because she knows Kara will be listening instinctively for her voice no matter where she is. “Kara, I’m…still not sure what happened today–you know my Kryptonese is not the best. But I know it was bad. I know a girl got shot, and I know you were there when it happened. If I know you at all, you’re probably blaming yourself for what happened.” She stops talking to strum a chord experimentally, then quiets the strings again with her palm.

“I want you to know it wasn’t your fault, Kara. Bad things happen. Sometimes there isn’t a reason for it. I know you know that more than anyone.” She turns her face up to the sky, thinking how in a million years, one star in the sky will actually be a planet, exploding billions of light years away, while the girl who escaped it all will look and look and gaze and gaze, and never have her fill, will reach out to catch millennia-old stardust and remember a home and a life that were never meant to be hers but that she will never be able to forget, no matter how far away she gets.

Alex speaks to the brightest star she can see. “Kara, you aren’t failing your people, your parents, because of what happened today. No one can save everyone. I know you think you have to save the world, again and again, because of krypton, or Clark, or me or Mom or Dad–but you don’t, Kara. You–what you do, is enough. Its always good enough. You have to believe that.”

She waits for a response. A car passes underneath her building, and a cricket chirps somewhere on the balcony below, but otherwise there’s silence.

Alex settles her guitar in her lap and begins strumming a slow tune, tapping her foot to keep time.

Kara is floating on her back, somewhere over the Outback, when she hears Alex singing.

If she doesn’t turn over to see the empty desert below her, the scarlet sunset combined with the redness of the land could almost pass for Krypton’s ruddy glow. She could be almost happy to lose herself in the fantasy, but the cavernous ache in her chest refuses to be ignored. The smell of smoke and eucalyptus oil, drifting up from the bush fire she'd extinguished a few hours ago, smarts in her nose and draws her back to memories of Krypton and its destruction. Despite her best efforts to clear her mind, images float to the surface of her thoughts: her father, offering his hand as she disembarks on a foreign planet, his eyes smiling. Her mother, teasing her twin sister as she burns yet another meal in their kitchen. Astra’s white streak of hair, sliding thru her fingers like silk. Kal-el, screaming in temper as his mother patiently cleans jerlon juice from his face. Her best friend, blowing hilkesh flower seeds into the wind, laughing as they stick to her dark brown skin instead. The girl who died today (-the girl I killed-, she thinks, -the girl I didn’t save-) and the gentle smile she had given her as she held Kara’s hand and died.

She closes her eyes as more tears slide backwards into her hair, and that’s when Alex’s voice comes echoing over thousands of miles, quiet and just a bit raspy on the Pacific breeze. Kara tries to block it out, but when she hears the guitar start up, she can’t help it. She could never resist Alex’s singing. She levitates upright and turns her face away from the setting sun, towards the oncoming night.

“This one’s for the lonely child,” sings Alex, thinking of Kara as she’d first seen her, a tiny thing clutching tightly to Superman’s hand. “Broken hearted, running wild,” and Alex remembers Kara, chasing seagulls on a deserted beach, running, tripping, levitating, falling back to earth, stumbling, laughing and running on, “This was written for the one to blame,” and Alex turns her face up again to the stars, “For the one who believes they are the cause of chaos in everything.”

The night wind sings to her in Alex’s gentle voice: “You may find yourself in the dead of night, Lost somewhere out there in the great big beautiful sky…” The words hit her like a kryptonite fist to the chest. Kara bites her lip and looks upwards, trying at once to stop the sudden, fresh tears from falling, and to understand how Alex knows her so perfectly well. Her vision blurs and her throat burns, but the stars and the wind are her only witnesses, so she lets the tears fall.

“This is so you know the sound Of someone who loves you from the ground Tonight you’re not alone at all This is me sending out my satellite call.” Alex lets the last chord fade before she looks skyward, willing Kara to hear her and understand, hoping against hope that her stubborn, brokenhearted sister will heed her call to come home, to share her burden with Alex…

-Please Kara-, Alex thinks silently, watching the stars and waiting for one to materialize into a caped blonde figure. -Please come home.-

The cricket chirps a few more times and then falls silent. A few moments later, the suddenly chilly wind whistles thru her guitar strings, and Alex’s gaze drops to her fingers, restless in her lap. Her mouth pulls to the side as she tries to suppress her hurt and disappointment. She get up and carefully carries the guitar back inside, her bare feet cold on the balcony tiles.

She’s just leaning the guitar carefully against the bookshelf when there’s a familiar sound and feel of rushing air behind her, and before she can turn around or even say anything, two unmistakably strong arms are holding her just slightly too tightly from behind. Kara is cold and her hair is damp and she smells like eucalyptus and ozone and ocean, but Alex tightly grips whatever part of her arms she can reach as Kara buries her face in Alex’s hair, trembling and silent. Alex moved her thumbs back and forth along Kara’s sleeves, unable to do much else from her position.

After a moment, when Kara stops trembling and instead is leaning her forehead on Alex’s shoulder, Alex says quietly, “I was really worried about you Kara. Please don’t ever fly off like that again.”

There’s a pause, and Kara whispers “I’m sorry, Alex,” into her sister’s shoulder.

Alex responds by tilting her head so that it rests against Kara’s and asks, “Do you want to sleep here tonight?”

Another pause, and Kara nods. Alex taps her fingers on Kara’s arm and Kara lets go; ten seconds later, Alex has turned down the covers and Kara has changed and brushed her teeth. They crawl into bed and Alex turns off the light as Kara curls into her side.

Kara’s head is heavy on her shoulder, and Alex kisses her forehead, whispering, “Stop thinking so much, your head weighs a ton.” Kara’s response is to reach for Alex’s free hand and tangle their fingers together on top of Alex's stomach. Alex can feel Kara’s heart slow the longer they lay together, and she feels her own eyelids grow heavy in turn. She’s almost asleep when Kara murmurs, “Alex? Thank you.”

Alex’s hand squeezes Kara’s and her lips move against her sister’s forehead: “You’re not alone, Kara. I will -always- be here. To catch you, or call you home. Whatever you need from me. I promise.”

#supergirl #alex danvers #kara danvers #kara zor-el #danvers sisters #danvers squared #kalex #my fic #fanfic #mmk but can u pls imagine chyler leigh singing that song in her slightly raspy voice i am d y i n #i love sarah b but oh my god #alex singing to her little space sister #lost up there in her own world thinking shes alone #alex is the best sister ok dont fight me on this

79 notes · View notes

marlaluster · 5 years

Text

Emptying the cliptray on the new phone. ....

1. Slowtravel experience Mobilnavigation DEEN Freighter Travel „All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." (Martin Buber) How do I find the right Freighter Travel for me? On our Website we have an extensive selection of Freighter Travel routes around the world. Tell us, which route are you looking for: A Section or whole Round Trip? What is your preferred port of departure? / Where would you like to disembark? / Are you able to embark or disembark in one of the ports near by? / Are you interested in the opposite direction alternatively? When: What is your earliest and latest date of departure? / Do you have a date until when you wish to arrive? Do you travel alone or with someone else? Freighter Travel - plan and explore your Cruise around the world Careful planning is half of the booking Cargo Ship Cruises are the most likely way to get from point A to point B on a low carbon dioxide level - for experiencing a freighter cruise around the world for instance. Some planning are necessary. Take your time and flexibility into your suitcase, accompanied by the required documents. Freighter Travels do not start daily, but every few weeks or months. Popular routes such as those heading to South America or Australia should be booked as early as possible. Freighter Travel for everybody Travelling by freighter offers a good opportunity for people with fear of flying. They give an additional spirit to your sabbatical year or help people in special situations, such as after a burnout-syndrome to get the required break. Or for everyone who is aiming a more eco-friendly way of travelling. Also for travellers who are emigrating to another country or coming back home. Freighter Travel is a fabulous and almost jet lag free way to reach your destination, finding your centre before reaching the other shore. Exploring the slow side of life with Freighter Travels Freighter Travel are much more than getting from one point to another. They are offering us one of our most precious values: time. Time – to rest. Time – to escape the stimulus satiation of our everyday life. Time – to work for instance on a thesis, a book or a project, which is important for you. And Time – to let go and let be. What is the attraction of the horizontal wideness of freighter travel? What is the allured depth of the seemingly monotonous landscape of the sea on a Cargo Ship Cruise? The answer is as simple as deep: it is the switch from our fast moving daily routine to the unknown. Far away from mobiles and internet, away from time pressure and private commitments you will find a new way of calmness. It may sounds emotional, but this stopping process of calming down is one of the first steps of finding your inner peace. Spending days of watching the diversity of the horizon and oceanic landscapes creates on hand an intoxicating, meditative feeling of freedom. On the other hand standing on deck it helps you to let the wind blow all your worries of your daily routine away. While the rest of the world takes part on the daily game of efficiency, speed and peak performances, freighter travel will give you an authentic feeling of the widenes of the planet. Slowly destinations will come up and pass by. Travelling like this becomes a journey to the inner self. In the far distance we can get close to ourselves. Creativity will be set free and improve our well-being. Everyday life on board Your well-being will be provided on board. There is no need to feel a lack of comfort since most vessels have their own swimming pool and sauna. The comfortable furnished cabins are most of the time bigger than those at on a cruise ship. Who is in need of another way of spending your time and looking for sociability, you will find it. For example you can spend hours on the bridge and ask one of the friendly officers to explain you some of the technical equipment, or asking for advises considering your next excursion going ashore. You may join one of the sociable barbecue parties on the cargo ship with the whole crew, which take place once in a while. Or you may spend your time reading or watching movies, sunbathing on deck, meeting for a coffee with another passenger or if you want go to the sauna, to the gym or the swimming pool. Stopover and Shore Leaves Going ashore is usually and a wonderful change during your freighter travel. In most cases the shore leaves will take about 8-12 hours. But in some cases up to 2-3 days. The flexible way of Travel Being flexible is always required when you are planning to travel by freighter. When booking a freighter travel you will realise that already if you look at the arrival and departure dates. They are always estimated, which depend on the actual freight loaded in the ports and sometimes on the weather conditions as well. In a world where everything is planned and available, this flexibility, this little unpredictable piece might be as well one of the reasons why travelling on a cargo ship is that delightful. Europe - Australia Freighter Travel to Australia from Europe via the Suez Canal Shipping route Belgium - France - Italy - Suez - La Réunion - Mauritius - Australia - Singapore - Sri Lanka - Saudi Arabia - England learn more Europe - Asia Freighter Travel to Shanghai, Salalah or Pusan Shipping routes Europe, Oman, Singapur, Malaysia, Hongkong, China, Taiwan, south Korea, Japan learn more Europe - South America Your Cargo Ship Travel to Buenos Aires, Cartagena or Lima Shipping routes Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile learn more Europe - Africa A freighter cruise for passenger from Hamburg to Cape Town Shipping route Germany - Belgium - Namibia - South Africa - Netherlands - Germany - learn more Aranui 5 * Travel with a mail ship through the south seas Shipping routes French Polynesia learn more Europe * Freighter Travel to Dublin, Istanbul or St. Petersburg Shipping routes Baltic States, Scandinavia, Ireland, Portugal, Spain & Canaries - learn more Europe - North & Central America Freighter Travel to New York, Vancouver or Veracruz Shipping routes Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama - learn more Asia - Australia / NZ Freighter Travel to Brisbane or Hong Kong Shipping routes Asutralia, China, Hongkong, Japan, Malaysia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan learn more Asia- Africa Cargo Ship Travel to Cape Town, Point Noire oder Port Louis Shipping routes China, Namibia, Malaysia, Singapur, South Africa - learn more Asia - South America Freighter Travel to Pusan, Santos or Shanghai Shipping routes Brasil, China, Malaysia, Singapur, South Africa, South Korea - learn more Asia - North & Central America Freighter Travel round trip to Balboa, Cartagena, Seattle, Vancouver Shipping routes China, Dom. Rep, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, USA, Venezuela learn more Asia * Freighter Travel to Port Kelang, Singapur or Taipei Shipping routes China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapur, South Korea, Taiwan learn more Australia / NZ- North America Travel with the Cargo ship to Auckland, Los Angeles, Sydney Shipping routes Australia, Colombia, New Zealand, Panama, USA - learn more South America- North America Freighter Travel to Montevideo, New York, Rio Grande Shipping routes Argentina, Bahamas, Brasil, Dom. Rep, El Salvador, Uruguay, USA - learn more South America * Cargo Ship round trip within South America Shipping routes Brasil, Colombia, Panama, Jamaica, Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina, Brasil learn more Central America - Caribbean Travel with a Cargo ship to Caucedo, Puerto Rico, Puerto Limon Shipping routes Costa Rica, Dom. Rep, Panama - learn more Travel Offer. SLOWTRAVEL. Facebook. Guestbook. Slowtravel Coaching Fon +49 30 530 526 27 Product- & Booking Enquiry Title: Name:* Given Name:* E-Mail:* Phone: Number of Travellers: Prefered Departure Date: Destination: Type of Travel: Message: - place of departure & arrival - date of departure - number of travelers - animals are not allowed on board - working is not allowed on board I have read and understood the data protection provision and consent to the processing and saving of my personal data and information. My personal data will not be disclosed to any third party and will only be used by Slowtravel to get into contact in respect your enquire. In case of any questions regarding your data, you may contact us at any time at mail[at]slowtravel-experience.com. Don't fill this field! © 2010 - 2018 by Slowtravel.Booking Information. Data Protection Policy. Contact/Imprint. Service. Sitemap Slowtravel 2. Where to and from: Mexico to Australia east coast - I am in Mexico City and can go to Manzanillo, Colima to try to board a ship there. I wish to avoid flying. I saw a ship goes to Sydney Australia. I could go there or another point on the east coast further north or possibly other points. Departure dates: I wish to leave soon. I am in Mexico City now. It is November 7, 2018 today. I prefer less than a month trip but i can possibly think about that. Number of passengers: It is just me. One person. Other info.: I much prefer to go by ship if I am able. I do not wish to fly. 3. Where to and from: Mexico to Australia east coast - I am in Mexico City and can go to Manzanillo, Colima to try to board a ship there. I wish to avoid flying. I saw a ship goes to Sydney Australia like from Philadelphia, PA. I could go there or another point on the east coast further north or possibly other points. Departure dates: I wish to leave soon. I am in Mexico City now. It is November 7, 2018 today. I prefer less than a month trip but i can possibly think about that. Number of passengers: It is just me. One person. Other info.: I much prefer to go by ship if I am able. I do not wish to fly. 4. Where to and from: Mexico to Australia east coast - I am in Mexico City and can go to Manzanillo, Colima to try to board a ship there. I wish to avoid flying. I saw a ship goes to Sydney Australia like from Philadelphia, PA. I could go to Sydney or to another point on the east coast further north or possibly other points. Departure dates: I wish to leave soon. I am in Mexico City now. It is November 7, 2018 today. I prefer less than a month trip but i can possibly think about that. Number of passengers: It is just me. One person. Other info.: I much prefer to go by ship if I am able. I do not wish to fly. 5. Mobilnavigation 6. Where to and from: Mexico to Australia east coast - I am in Mexico City and can go to Manzanillo, Colima to try to board a ship there. I wish to avoid flying. I saw a ship goes to Sydney Australia like from Philadelphia, PA. I could go to Sydney or to another point on the east coast further north or possibly other points. Departure dates: I wish to leave soon. I am in Mexico City now. It is November 7, 2018 today. I prefer less than a month trip but i can possibly think about that. Number of passengers: It is just me. One person. Other info.: I much prefer to go by ship if I am able. I do not wish to fly. I have not ever been on a ship. I have been on a small boat before but not much at all. I think i was on a ferry before, its a very vague memory. 7. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3xlDWHSR0/?hl=en 8. 1,146,862 likes chrishemsworthWeek one down here in India. By far some of the most intense action sequences I’ve been apart of and the heat certainly adds an edge to it but damn we’re getting good stuff!! gonna be unreal. The first shot is of our director, the insanely talented @thesamhargrave 👍👍🤙🤙@zocobodypro @bobbydazzler84 @rudhrakshjaiswal1 @bengrayson @thematicentertainment @agbofilms #netflix dawne73@megbaril4 Haha!! I should have known 😂😉 aminkamaei_🥇⭐🥇 ms_barron_s🔥🔥🔥 ms_barron_sYou so hot even with those bruise 🤤🤤 danavanhoutenI need him. @piazzahut @chelsea.stevens luisi2706😍que hermoso ejemplar Diooosss reeyan_laskar@vancityreynolds pool vai u have millions of fans in here too...just hop in and take back as much love and good memories as u want.....in fact every marvel superhero has millions of million fans here.... eeshani.379HES IN INDIA💖💘💖💞💖💞💘 @themeganp andrew_jones07What did u loved the most in India till now?? macgruber7@chrishemsworth @samhargravemusic Studs! 🔱🐸 biiancuhhhWhat ya’ll filming? [email protected] kkkkkk gabrielstorres_@andressasj HAHAHAHAHAHAHA obrigado. As gravações tão dando trabalho mas vai ficar top tahabahrami99killed it islamalden94Nice work team wut_the_bek@presley_grace_ 😛😛😛😛😛😛😛😛 dandelion_takatoruAwesome blue eyes 💖💖💕🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️ pamscott99362320👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😁🙏🏽 lucindaingham@mcvitts @alexd4426 This is pushing me over the edge big time majulianajimenez@m3lissaperez muy duro esto así luzv8537lectoraWOW!!!! Good job Beautiful Chris !!!! 🔝🔝🔝👌 🙌 🎬 😎👍 kristhel.ann@callen406 no hes looking for loki rebeccabaltazarsolisSimplemente te amo mi héroe salboothx@aleisha88 look out you may see him on your adventures!!! 14 HOURS AGO 9. The devil keeps making the internet not work. Its not working now n the devil was just was attacking as i was writing here pressing a image in my mind of a boogie it made be stuck to the sink. Then it was pressing more stuff regarding the boogie n took memory i had of what it was pressing from my mind. But it was supposed to be pressing something i was supposed to not be able to tell about. The devil keeps pressing an unpleasant sense n bad sense about the boogie n apparently about the hotel room like cleanliness. The internet looking more to be working now as im writing here n i look at the symbols but ill still copy this post to the clipboard. But the devil has been going crazy w the internet today. 10. https://youtu.be/PHrQoX5KKKE 11. C Mr. Norman Chan Wed 11/7/2018 11:44 AM Junk Email Hello, I want to make a Donation, reply to this email for Details. Norman Chan 12. Your enquire at Slowtravel S Slowtravel Wed 11/7/2018 3:14 PM Inbox To: Marla Luster ([email protected]); Thank you for your Message! We have received your request and will get back to you shortly. Name: Marla Luster E-mail: [email protected] Travel Desires: Where to and from: Mexico to Australia east coast - I am in Mexico City and can go to Manzanillo, Colima to try to board a ship there. I wish to avoid flying. I saw a ship goes to Sydney Australia like from Philadelphia, PA. I could go to Sydney or to another point on the east coast further north or possibly other points. Departure dates: I wish to leave soon. I am in Mexico City now. It is November 7, 2018 today. I prefer less than a month trip but i can possibly think about that. Number of passengers: It is just me. One person. Other info.: I much prefer to go by ship if I am able. I do not wish to fly. I have not ever been on a ship. I have been on a small boat before but not much at all. I think i was on a ferry before, its a very vague memory. Data protection provision I have read and understood the data protection provision and consent to the processing and saving of my personal data and information. My personal data will not be disclosed to any third party and will only be used by Slowtravel to get into contact in respect your enquire. In case of any questions regarding your data, you may contact us at any time at [email protected]. Booking Enquiry from Page: Freighter Travel North America Panama Australia New Zealand - 13. https://www.google.com.mx/search?client=ms-android-mpcs-us-revc&ei=1A_kW5GoLayVjwS9j7voAg&ins=false&q=melbourne+australia+from+mexico+city+mexico&oq=melbourne+australia+from+mexico+city+mexico&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3...20711.27421..27951...0.0..0.324.4080.1j18j4j1......0....1.........0j0i71j0i67j0i20i263j0i22i30j33i22i29i30j33i160j33i21.uf82ISrv6KY#flt=MEX./m/0chgzm.2018-11-23.MEXSCL0LA621~SCLMEL1LA805*/m/0chgzm.MEX.2018-12-07;c:MXN;e:1;sd:1;t:f;sp:0.MXN.26745 14. DEPARTING FLIGHTNOV 23 6:55 PM Mexico City International Airport MEX 8h 20m flight Overnight flight 6:15 AM+1 Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport SCL LATAM LA 621 Economy Boeing 787 Above average legroom (81 cm) In-seat power & USB outlets On-demand video 6h 30m layover Santiago SCL 12:45 PM+1 Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport SCL 14h 45m flight Overnight flight 5:30 PM+2 Melbourne Airport MEL LATAM LA 805 Economy Boeing 787 Above average legroom (81 cm) In-seat power & USB outlets On-demand video 15. But my last words cut off w the devil cutting the video short but i was saying that this present order of the world needs there to be some losers to make it all work out here. They do get plenty of births into their order n they are taking dibs on the people n their lives. Plans for the people w their order thats supposed to be the truth eternal. But the devil cut the video short w a message saying there was not enough space. It's attacking extremely bad right now. It keeps pressing a sense im supposed to be having of who i am as to be associated w a look of my face thats in the video that looks bad. Its a granny look. 16. We're sorry. Service is temporarily unavailable. Our engineers are working quickly to resolve the issue. Find out why you may have encountered this error. 17. https://www.checkmybus.com/guadalajara-jc/mexico-city-df 18. Bus Guadalajara to Mexico City and return Cheap bus and train tickets for trips from Mexico City to Guadalajara and return Guadalajara swap Mexico City 11/11/2018 November2018 Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TodayClear Return Trip November2018 Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TodayClear 1 The Guadalajara - Mexico City and Mexico City - Guadalajara route is served by 5 carriers. ACN Autobuses has the cheapest tickets and offers routes for as low as $21.96! The fastest bus will take you almost anywhere in the country in only 6h 30m. Just click the "Find Now" button and enjoy your trip. Guadalajara to Mexico City Bus Information Cheapest Bus $21.96 Fastest Bus 4h 30m Distance 287.1 miles Bus Companies ACN Autobuses, Autobuses TAP, Elite, Omnibus de México, Primera Plus Guadalajara - Mexico City Mexico City - Guadalajara Bus Guadalajara - Mexico City 287 mi Ø Bus connections12 x 19. This site can’t be reached The webpage at https://www.tumblr.com/new/video might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address. ERR_CONNECTION_ABORTED 20. The devil just made the internet not be working for to upload a video i was trying to upload to Tumblr. The caption -- the devil is attacking very bad as im writing this n pressing im ugly n its not really anything happening to me. It keeps attacking extremely bad n like implying a start of asking me not to post the video. It's extremely disturbing, its extremely bad. It keeps pressing im ugly n that its supposed to be the truth. It's extremely bad attacking, it's very excruciating. "I have to do something else. I have to do something where im not going on. Oh god," the devil said. It keeps pressing im ugly n it keeps pressing images in my mind of whats supposed to be my face looking bad. It keeps pressing irritation!!!!!!!!!! IT'S GOING TOTALLY INSANE!!!!!!! It keepsbringing up the bathroom n that i just used the bathroom. It made pebble poop again n made water from the toilet splash onto my butt. IT'S GOING CRAZY PRESSING IRRITATION, ITS GOING TOTALLY INSANE!!!!!!!!

0 notes

mastcomm · 4 years

Text

They Escaped an Infected Ship, but the Flight Home Was No Haven

TOKYO — The ground rules were clear. A day before 328 Americans were to be whisked away from a contaminated cruise ship in Japan, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo told passengers that no one infected with the coronavirus would be allowed to board charter flights to the United States.

But as the evacuees began filing onto reconfigured cargo planes early Monday for departures to military bases in California or Texas, some noticed a tented area in one of them that was separate from the rest of the cabin.

Then reality hit: After 12 days stuck on the cruise ship as more and more people tested positive for the virus, they would now be sharing a plane with those carrying the same pathogen they were desperate to escape.

“I didn’t know until we were in the air,” said Carol Montgomery, 67, a retired administrative assistant from San Clemente, Calif. “I saw an area of plastic sheeting and tape.”

While the planes were aloft, the State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said in a joint statement that the results for 14 passengers who had been tested two or three days earlier came back positive just as they were boarding buses to the airport. After consultations with health experts, the U.S. government decided to let the infected evacuees, who were not yet exhibiting symptoms, board the flights.

The reversal was the latest chaotic turn in a two-week quarantine of the ship that has become an epidemiological nightmare.

Even as the Americans were flying home and countries like Australia, Canada and South Korea were preparing to evacuate their own citizens, the Japanese Health Ministry announced on Monday that 99 more cases had been confirmed on the cruise ship, bringing the total to 454.

Among them was the third Japanese public health official to contract the virus while tending to passengers and crew members aboard the ship, the Diamond Princess.

The unstinting rise in infections raised questions about how the Japanese authorities would handle the offloading of passengers in two days when the quarantine period is supposed to end. Health officials have already raised the possibility that the quarantine could be extended for some passengers.

“The quarantine on the ship ended up being an unprecedented failure,” said Eiji Kusumi, a doctor specializing in infectious diseases at Navitas Clinic in Tokyo. “We should learn from this lesson that a quarantine on a ship is impossible, and we should not repeat this in the future.”

Updated Feb. 10, 2020

What is a Coronavirus? It is a novel virus named for the crown-like spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people, and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to more dangerous conditions like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.

How contagious is the virus? According to preliminary research, it seems moderately infectious, similar to SARS, and is possibly transmitted through the air. Scientists have estimated that each infected person could spread it to somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 people without effective containment measures.

How worried should I be? While the virus is a serious public health concern, the risk to most people outside China remains very low, and seasonal flu is a more immediate threat.

Who is working to contain the virus? World Health Organization officials have praised China’s aggressive response to the virus by closing transportation, schools and markets. This week, a team of experts from the W.H.O. arrived in Beijing to offer assistance.

What if I’m traveling? The United States and Australia are temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who recently traveled to China and several airlines have canceled flights.

How do I keep myself and others safe? Washing your hands frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick.

The U.S. authorities had strongly encouraged American passengers to accept the offer of a flight out. Getting them off the ship took several hours as they were screened, their passports were checked and they were loaded onto buses that took them from the port of Yokohama to Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

The State Department said the infected passengers “were moved in the most expeditious and safe manner to a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them in accordance with standard protocols.”

The American passengers were taken to either Travis Air Force Base in California or Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, and they will remain under quarantine for an additional 14 days.

When one of the planes landed in California, a line of officials from the military, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Homeland Security welcomed the passengers with banners that read “Welcome home.”

After being ushered through an isolation tent, they were assigned to apartments on the base. “They have flown in specialists from across the country,” said Sarah Arana, 52, a medical social worker from Paso Robles, Calif. “It’s a phenomenal amount of resources. I’m kind of blown away.”

Epidemiologists said U.S. officials had made a difficult decision to allow infected passengers onboard the charter flights.

“The degree of difficulty in getting someone sick home is much greater than repatriating people who are otherwise well and possibly incubating,” said Dr. Allen Cheng, an infectious disease specialist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Cheng added, “You don’t want to expose anyone on the plane who hadn’t otherwise been exposed before on the boat.”

Australia is planning to take approximately 200 passengers off the Diamond Princess on Wednesday. Dr. Cheng said that Australia had decided that “anyone who is sick or becomes sick in the next 48 hours will stay in Japan and stay in the hospital.”

With Australia and other countries preparing to help transport their citizens off the boat, the captain told the more than 2,000 people still on board that the Japanese health authorities could swab everyone for the coronavirus by the end of Monday and begin letting guests leave the ship on Wednesday.

“This disembarkation will be an ongoing process” until Feb. 22, the captain said in an onboard announcement.

The captain said the cruise line was “coordinating closely with your embassies to understand the arrangements for you once you are cleared from the quarantine on the Diamond Princess and how we can best support you.”

In a briefing on Monday, Shigeru Omi, president of the Japan Community Healthcare Organization, said that Japan had made the right decision to put the ship in quarantine based on the information available when the ship arrived in Yokohama on Feb. 3. “At that time, the international community was trying to contain the virus,” Mr. Omi said.

According to the Japanese Health Ministry, at least 55 Americans on the ship were infected with the coronavirus. Many of them remain in hospitals around Japan.

John Haering, 63, a retired operations manager for Union Pacific Railroad who lives in Tooele, Utah, was taken to a hospital in Chiba Prefecture last week with a fever and tested positive for the virus. He said he felt stranded as he lay in an isolation room.

His wife, Melanie, left on one of the charter flights. “I’m happy for her that she got out of here and that she’s going to get some attention in the U.S.,” said Mr. Haering, who retired in November and was about a third of the way through a six-month trip around the world. “But at the same time I’m sad. You feel that loss of somebody leaving.”

Mr. Haering, who said that he no longer had any symptoms or a fever but that a CT scan showed signs of pneumonia, said he was not sure how much longer he would have to stay.

“They did swab me today again, and I’ll get my test back tomorrow,” he said. “I asked the doctor if the swab shows that I’m negative, and he just shook his head and said, ‘I don’t know.’ There’s a lot of stuff that they don’t know.”

Mr. Haering said he had not heard from anyone at Princess Cruises, the company that operates the Diamond Princess, since he arrived at the hospital. Until Sunday, he had not heard from anyone at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, either.

He received a call and a follow-up email urging him to get in touch with the cruise ship company for further information about how he will get home.

“It’s very scary,” he said. “It feels like a little bit of abandonment.”

The spread of the virus on the ship was illustrated by one extended family.

Tung Pi Lee, 79, a retired physician, was left in a Tokyo hospital with a coronavirus infection while his wife, Angela, flew to California on one of the charter flights. Several of her siblings and their spouses were among the 14 infected passengers who flew home. Two were taken to Nebraska, and another was in California for treatment.

“I am glad for my aunts and uncles to be in the U.S. and to be receiving treatment here,” said JoAnn LaRoche Lee, one of Mr. Lee’s daughters. “Had they been left in Japan, I wonder what would have happened to them.”

Trying to coordinate her father’s care in Tokyo with her siblings in the United States, she said, “feels like a never-ending nightmare.”

Hisako Ueno, Eimi Yamamitsu and Makiko Inoue contributed reporting.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/event/they-escaped-an-infected-ship-but-the-flight-home-was-no-haven/

#Event

0 notes