#Nora is so annoying she didn’t even have an actual med for him to be on. It’s just pills that do something

[puppybong]

why was unmedicated andrew hyped up so much & he ended up being like normal

[makahimetenshi]

Follow me inside the wastelands -  Chapter 29  -Arthur Maxson x Female Sole Survivor Fanfic

Now we are close to the end!

If you are very very very delighted with one fic and want a continuation I didn’t write or post you can donate me at least $5 bucks, most of this fics have next chapters I don’t finish because lack of motivation but hey a $5 is a $5, I see a few reviews and comments that fics that are abandoned months laters receive comments of wanting to know what happens next. Here it is, I finished my handling with you all, enjoy the fic

-What do you mean? –Arthur ask, what about Arya?

-The day I brought your daughter here…there was some things i…omit…I didn’t tell you the full version…-the elder sat, not actually picking any drink- Where’s Nora right now?

-On a mission for other elders from the brotherhood of steel

-She left more than year and half, is she dead?

-No, she is alive, just working on something else, she doesn’t contact the minutemen when she travels?

-No –the declaration surprise Arthur a lot, didn’t expect that from her- never does, just come back after a while, she could use the radio but prefers not do it

-I thought you were more close to each other

-She doesn’t have to know I was here , for all I know she is dead by now –he said actually annoyed-  it passed a lot of time without knowing anything even from her companions

-Do you want to follow the steps in her notebook? Still have it

-No –he clarify- this is about your child together

-Arya?

-Listen and pay attention please, I keep this secret but this is a weight too big to keep carrying it alone, I swear to her I would never say anything but you deserve to know the truth and he is…still there

-He? –there? In vault 111? Nate?

-Arya was the second born…she has a twin brother –Arthur froze in his chair, feeling his spine go cold immediately- I was with Nora the whole time and she gave birth first…another baby, a boy, a healthy, crying and alive boy

-Everybody will tell me she was big during her pregnancy…-something told him deep in his mind that the situation was weird, but he choose to ignore it,  think that was because she was special, a special health, special genes, special with no radiation.

-Me and Curie were with her, enclosed and taking care of Nora in vault 111 in case she enters in labor…give birth naturally, surprising, Curie give her an epidural with med-x to surpass the pain and get to the end, but in one hour of labor she gave birth first…Shaun –the name made Arthur shiver, often hear that name with a following description of how he was such a monster- me and the nurse robot Curie gave her the baby crying hell…and Nora look at him, for a while, almost ten minutes looking dead into the boy full in blood and fluids, we thought it was shock, trauma, tiredness…–Preston make a pause, looking at nothing in the wall- we saw that her belly was barely deinflated, she was still swollen, still big, round like hell, we expected the worse, she wasn’t moving, we saw her chest going up and down breathing so she was alive, her fingers hold the baby tightly, securing it by time but she wouldn’t talk, she wouldn’t do anything to calm him, she wouldn’t react….until half hour later she tried to stand her back in bed, still holding the baby and look into the ceiling, Curie and me were calling her name, trying to snap the hell out of her, asking for the baby…but she stood in the floor, and naturally fall with the baby on arms, her knees and hips weren’t ready to stand after so much effort –Arthur felt a hard shit in the middle of his ass, unable to move from the seat- when I tried to pick up Shaun…

-Help me to stand Preston! –she said screaming at me, naturally I gave her my arm and pick her by the waist up, in that moment a lot of water fall from her legs and we both get scared, Curie help us to get on, Shaun was still crying.

-Please general leave us the young child and….-said Curie, Nora look down at Shaun and inspected his face before swallowing hard and dry to say…

-Preston take me to the cryo chambers

-What?

-Hurry up! –what the hell? This wasn’t the moment!

-General you need assistance you may still be in labor…-said the robot

-Curie is right Nora this is not the time! –Shaun was crying like hell, confused, scared, enlighted in this world to be received in the middle of this chaos

-Take me there! –she screams again, holding Shaun bad hurting him, Nora panicked and try to stand better with her arms into Preston to not do bad moves.

-We have to look at you –said Curie, worrying about the water coming down her legs, making the floor were they were standing a mess.

-Preston! Take me there! Take me to Nate!

Oh.

-Fine! But hurry up! Lets go! –Preston tried to pick her better from the waist and arms, to hold her tighter so she wouldn’t fall again, her feet’s were sore and tired not exactly from having action but from all the effort and stress.

Nora cried and cried and cried just like the baby on her arms, he was crying like all newborns would do on a stressful and chaotic situation and she would cry of pain. Curie follow them closely behind until they were in front of the cryo chambers room, she stand behind, unsure, but Nora and Preston keep moving forward until…they were in front of Nate pod. Her old husband, the man she presented him once.

She sighted and take some air deep inside her lungs, now her knees failed, making her fall on the ground,  sniffing because it was cold.

-Please let us alone –Nora said, holding better the new Shaun, moving her arms trying to calm the child even a little, her ears were dying and it was making her heart ache to hear him suffer and cry

-What? –nonsense, this situation was stressful enough to be confused and not understand anything but she wasn’t making it any easy to understand.

-Leave –she repeated again, this time looking back at Preston.

-You are crazy im not leaving you alone –she looks so vulnerable in pain and messy. Nora wasn’t okay at all less with a crying newborn in hands

-Ill be fine, youll know if I need something –she assured, now annoyed, feeling multiple pains in her body to be discussing like this.

-Nora! –he screamed nervous, trying to make her enter in reason but…

-Go way! Ill call you! –Preston take some moment unsure, but he did and leave, hoping it wasn’t a mistake.

He looks back for a moment, there she was on the ground, talking to the pod again, baby on her arms still crying. There was a lot of noise in the cryo chambers room because of the freezers and engines, he hears crying, he could her her mumble but not exactly understand what she was saying. Preston give her a bit of privacy, a couple of minutes, until the crying wasn’t noticeable, hoping that the baby calm a bit.

After some minutes he heard her screams of pain start again, Preston run back to her just to find the woman alone in the floor screaming, arms pressed against her stomach, legs moving like crazy, a pool of foul smelling liquid lay below her.

-Nora!? –ask the man placing her arms under her back, but his eyes were looking for Shaun- wheres the baby!?

-Its coming! –Nora mumble crying of pain- the other one is coming! –right, of course, she had another one, think fast but…

-Where is he!? –Preston look desperate around trying to find the infant but just had her in her arms squeezing and moving like crazy, Nora will hold on his shoulder and scream out- Nora! -lift her back from the floor and carry her up, the little baby wasn’t crying neither to be noticeable…until he saw it…in front of him, inside the pod of a tall adult cyo pod…there it was the baby, entrapped with Nate, frozen like a cube, the minutemen look at the infant face caught in the cryo pod, in Nates arms, frozen for the rest of eternity like his fa...No…Nate wasn’t his father for her to do this. She doesn’t have the right to put this creature to sleep. This baby doesn’t deserve this, it was fucked up. He shouldn’t let her alone.

-His name is Shaun –say Nora between cries of pain- Look at him, how can he not!?

-This is wrong! –scream Preston but still carry and run as faster he could with the woman in arms again to the nursery before she starts giving birth on his arms- What did you do!? –his eyes move down and see Nora playing with her pipboy, well, not playing exactly, pressing buttons- What are you doing this is not the time! –despite all what they been through together this was too much. Nora use all her concentration to take out a holotape from the pipboy and try to pocket it in the mans jacket, but her hands failed and the holotape fall on the ground behind them. She breath out and didn’t breathe in again, time stopping as her head move back to see the holotape loose behind her…maybe…maybe it was for the best…that that record get lost.

This would be their secret, if this was her secret, Shaun and Nate can be together forever.

Preston run to the nursery where Curie was still waiting, the bed was ready and as soon the woman was placed on the matress she started to scream again, getting in labor.

And in another more hour Arya arrived.

-Nora…-he can’t still process the fact that one baby was missing frozen and now there was another one crying in her arms, that wouldn’t happen again, nononono he wouldn’t allow it.

-This one is for Arthur –the man look at Nora, who was half dead barely holding her still exhausted- Her name is Arya.

Ok this was the original plan, back again- so…it’s the girl bag…-now? He was going to separate them now? So soon?

-Everything is set, Curie will clean and dress her…-Nora tried to give the baby to him, but he wouldn’t open his arms, no, not so soon, he wasn’t ready.

-Are you sure? –he ask, feeling a stone stuck on his throat.

-Yeah…this was always the plan…I already have one –she says with a knot on her tongue, hands shaking with the crying baby moving.

-She is your daughter –the man insisted, feeling tears like the baby too

-Arthurs daughter –Preston exhaled some air and take courage to carry the little girl.

-You can still turn back on this

-No…I will always have Shaun –when she passed the baby to him her arms felt the weight off, empty, it wasn’t a nice feeling, it hurts.

-What are you doing now? –his arms and fingers accommodate to hold the baby better, jumping a bit to calm her

-Im going out the vault as soon Curie is done with me –the woman look dead in a point in the wall, moving in her pillow to be more comfortable

-Nora please , make up your mind, this is not necessary –none of this, he didn’t want to do this.

-Im not changing my decision –she said firmly, still not looking at him- I know what im doing

-This is horrible –he said with the baby in arms unsure of that to do so she would calm a bit.

-I know…

They stay for a while in silence, just them, because Arya will keep crying but...Curie came to pick up the baby, taking it out the room to clean and change her in the clothes they had prepared in the girls bag. Following the plan.

-To Arthur right?

-He doesn’t need to know about this –she says, sliding slowly on the pillow for her back to meet the mattress and rest a bit-none of this -Preston was surprised with the cold way she was managing this subject but it shouldn’t surprise him after all she was planning this moment for months…-just tell him that Arya was born and I send you to the airport with her immediately, no more to say

-I don’t want to do this –Nora could understand; he wasn’t a monster like her

-As the general of the minutemens I command you

-Im also a general –said Preston annoyed, clearly upset with her for saying that

-And she is the daughter of Elder Maxson no matter what I want to do with her –Nora practiced this, she thought in all the possible scenarios and could even sympathize on the mans feelings, despite the fact that she was the one giving up on her daughter- Go on, you wouldn’t want to make the elder wait right?

-Think over this a last time please –he ask from deep down his heart, hoping it would touch some fiver on her…they stood in silence…hearing the metallic sounds of Curies mechanical condition moving  and working in another room

And she answer- Im sorry –well, that’s it.

Preston leave the room and wait until Curie was ready, she even have the baby prepared and sleeping in the bag they prepared for the girl one. It has infant clothes that Arthur send and Nora scavage, cloth diapers supplied by the father, blankets and sheets and the baby was now changed inside, sleeping comfortable, wow the robot did a good job, impressive considering the lack of human touch and a warm pair of hands, very much. His fingers look up to caress the little girl cheek, didn’t have the chance to do it with the boy one because Nora was…faster than him…this go straight to the list of things he can never forgive her.

There he was, appreciating a thing that wasn’t even his more than her own mother, Nora sometimes was cruel.

-Curie –he call the robot- are you coming?

-Im staying here taking care of the general until she is better –said with her robotic voice- it should take a pair of days, with the information I was assigned pregnant woman usually stays a minimum of two days post partum in bed resting

-I read those texts too, that’s was if they had a C section –goddam there she was always trying to trick everybody, there was no one safe from her- she had a natural this time

-The general give birth naturally to twins with only med-x as a pain killer- well touche-  very little of time between both, the minimum I can recommend is 48hs

-I hope to find both of you here after that–he said packing the bag to the front of his chest, taking care of not moving much the sleeping lady

- I would not express an opinion on the rest time that a mother of two due to natural birth needs –was the last thing that he heard walking towards the exit, it was easy to go out the vault, anyone could go out the vault but not anyone could go inside back, everytime Preston wants to go inside he needs Noras help, luckily he didn’t have much business but if she wanted…she could trap herself forever downthere.

Arthur listen very carefully to each part of the story, taking note of every small detail, this was important, he didn’t interrupt, he just listen. He was shook.

-Did both came out two days later?

-I hadn’t see Nora for two more weeks after that, but I never see Curie again, I believe she is still in the vault…again…that was actually pretty shitty from her knowing Curies past…

There was so much shitty stuff Nora do.

-So…Shaun –damn that name  was hard to pronounce, he had so much history over that name- could still be in the vault?

-I believe so, Nora could stay with him and Nate…talking to the cryo pod alone that two weeks…she expends lot of time talking to that pods

-You are telling me all of this because…you want me…to rescue Shaun –said Arthur slowly, processing his words in the tip of his tongue, finding them heavy.

-You can do what you want, but without her around to carry this weight decision I couldn’t just do it anymore…its your son, not mine to decide what his fate is going to be.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, breathing in and out. It gaves Arthurs chills over all his body, a mix of exciment and fear. This came out just perfect, he was needing this despite dooming his child to his horrible destiny without knowing it.

-Why are you telling me all of this? –Preston didn’t understand

-I told you its just a weight in my conscious I cant forget in the last ye…

-No, there’s something you want that I can give you –the minutemen shake his head automatically, offended.

-I assure you not, it was something I needed out of my chest and you have the right…-Arthur interrupted him.

-There’s something you want that I need to give you –there was tears in Arthurs eyes, tears of gratitude- ill do anything to take out my son off that vault now that I know about his mere existence, I wont stop until having it in my arms, but I need to thank you for telling me all this

-I don’t want anything…

-I can give you a rank, a title, a place here in the Prydwen –even tho Preston already have all of that by having Nora at his side, but having her it was a privilege she allows having from time to time- I can make the brotherhood permanent ally’s of the minutemen no matter the place in the map –what can he offer to the man that actually gave him his second child? His actually firstborn.

The man shakes his head to the sides –if there’s anything we actually need is an efficient way to recycle water, between the sewage from the wells and the water we use to wash clothes and waste, we are depending too much on the river, water is not forever, water goes on shortage sometimes, we cannot dig wells every time we need, there is not always water available underground

-Consider it done –the elder say automatically- ill make my scribes find a way to storage waste water and recycle it for human consumption- It was an awesome idea, this was the humanitarian side of Preston he shares with Nora, she would also make this non selfish wishes whenever she has the  chance- Ill help you.

-There’s no obligation, I didn’t come here to sell you this secret.

-The elder Maxson firstborn son is worth millions, it doesn’t matter the cost –hearing that froze the minutemen spine, but he let that feeling pass away, it shouldn’t be nothing- there’s something else you need to tell me for today?

-Not that  I recall, it passed 7 years after all –it was true, he didn’t know much of neither of that children, Shaun was frozen in a vault he wasn’t able to enter ever again and Arya was delivered to the man hands as soon she was born practically, never gave it much thought in his head after it was done to not torture himself- hows Arya doing?

-Are you sure there isn’t anything more you want to tell me? –Arthur ask again, Preston took a moment to think closing his eyes and…

-You are gonna need a pipboy –well that was an interesting fact, several times Arthur thought in  having one like Nora but didn’t gave much importance- I don’t have access to vault 111, Nora was only the only one who can go in, but I know you need a pipboy to go inside with the commands console, that’s why the door to vault 88 is always open, theres no way to open it back without a pipboy and it would be unpractical…

-Good to know…-Arthur take note of that, biting his lip- Arya is doing beautifully, has more interest in books than leadership but she is still young, I have faith

-Might be a great scribe

-I don’t doubt it –Arthur close his eyes and stay a moment in silence, breathing in and out- thank you for passing by Preston, I need to think on some stuff for the rest of the day

-Sure –Preston get up from his chair, feeling his shoulders balance better now he didn’t have…this weight on- elder –he called, and Arthur hummed still with the eyes closed- His name is Shaun, I know they have very little from Nora, but let him have that name –even with all the terrible things Nora does, she still had the right to keep the names she choosed.

Silence.

-Alright, ask for the paladins out there to pick you in a ventibird back to wherever you wanna go, say that I ask for it.

-Good evening elder

-Thank you –said Arthur deeply now looking at him, feeling a pain on his chest- really, thank you

The minutemen disappeared trought the door and Arthur get up from the chair, suddenly needing to hold on a wall because he couldn’t keep balance, crashed against a wall using his hands to hold and not fall with all his weight against the floor.

Yesyeysyesyesyesyesyessssssssss.

He had a son, a son Nora gave him, a son from both, a brother to his daughter.

This was so perfect, other elders were insisting him lately with making an arrangement for him because he is  so young and having the need to have another child in case something happen to Arya. When someone slips and say that thing he gets so mad and annoyed, nothing is going to happen to his daughter ever. That and the fact that they want to make an alliance with his chapter of the brotherhood marrying him with some elder daughter. Bullshit, it wasn’t necessary, but this came just in time, if he says he had another child with the sentinel…well it could be weird considering she wasn’t in this side of the  map in year and half but still! It could work, they will leave him alone.

Arthur was 33 now, of course he was still in time to have more kids, he was young, very young and capable, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he married someone else but he didn’t want to, he wasn’t ready, the only woman in his life now was Arya and she wasn’t in her difficult years even…maybe later…truth is he fear being played again like last time terrifies him, prefers to avoid it. Even if he was now more…comfortable to the single father life it still presents many many challenges and he cant see himself having to slip his time between a spouse and his daughter with another woman. Another very important woman in the brotherhood circles. That will surely cause problems not only with his spouse but with the elders father of that spouse…

He was kinda doomed in the moment he found Nora reading comics that summer night, she was very important even back then. His reputation was kinda compromised for just going after her and he couldn’t see it because he pictured a future together forever.

But now the future he pictured together was with Shaun and Arya. When he shows the other elders that he has enough heritage and heirs…they will leave him alone, and don’t bother anymore with marriage propositions.

Speaking of which he never heard anything about other elders wanting to find a match…for Nora…she was a very good match, non radiated genes, a hero, perfect asset to pass from soldier to soldier, it was common that when elders exchange soldiers between chapters they ask about the futures if they want to bond them or make a bonding with a soldier in the other side chapter but…they didn’t, apparently it didn’t happen…yet…truth is she wasn’t much around either.

He wrote, wrote and wrote and wrote and take note of everything it was said today to reread it to use it on his advantage, from his mind to the paper the same exact conversation and tale, to have every detail transcripted, when things were about Nora…the devil was in the details.

So on this very same day he decided to…show up at vault 88 on his power armor and the  now five paladins as an escorts. He had an idea how to peacefully get a pipboy. Quickly, all of this has to be quick, his son had no time to loose.  When they hit the entrance of the vault cave all six together of course it cause some fuss in the place and a lot of minutemens came to point their guns at them, even tho they weren’t an actual menace for them more than a few scratches in their armors but still they will try to protect their settlement.

-We weren’t expecting brotherhood troops today –said the apparently leader of the patrol. Pathetic that less than 10 mens in armors were pointing at six of fully armored brotherhood soldiers. Still have the turrets in the walls tho.

-Indeed, but we are here with an offer to make –say one of the Paladins, as far it wasn’t necessary they will avoid Arthur to talk at all, they were following a plan and it wasn’t intelligent to reveal that the elder itself were amongst them.

Of course Arthur needed be necessary there, they could perform this mission easily but he insisted that this was his…mission to do…that this was his matter to resolve personally and who would say no to him?

-That type of subjects should be discussed with me –said a voice trough a speaker in the walls- with the security officer of the vault 88

-Clem right? –spoke Arthur out and loud, only once, since he didn’t tell that name to the paladins.

-The only one, I believe you talked to oversee Nora then

-Exactly –spoke one paladin.

-Wait a second on the entrance, im going up there.

So…there was security cameras or at least microphones in this walls, his mistake was always grant less to this people because they weren’t militarys, a mistake, he knew.

A man of brown hair and rought factions in his face appeared after some minutes wearing a vault suit with…a pipboy in hand. Arthur swallow and let the paladins do their part.

-Pleasure to meet you –said one of the paladins.

-Same thing, what are brotherhood troops doing down here in this side on the map? I always thought the zeppelin was a pretty comfortable place.

-It is in fact, but we are here to make an offer, we need a pipboy: 10000 caps in hand for a working one –wow the faces of everybody were a poem, surely that’s the biggest amount of caps they heard in their lifes

-Can be anyones? –ask one of the guards, seriously interested, even Clem looks interested, oh well there’s it goes his respect for the commoners, they sell their souls for some caps…it was a good amount tho, coming directly from Arthurs wealth since this was his family business

-Yeah, we need the machine, not interested in the information inside

-Make it 11000 caps and its yours –said the security officer Clem

Well that was fast and interesting, there were eleven of them right now, ten minutemens and Clem…fair, 1000 caps to each one and the subject dies here between them not making a fuss for anyone inside, so they can say they managed the guest like champs.

-Are you sure man? –ask one of them looking at the well apparently very unsecurity officer…

-Yeah, they were reserved for the officers and managers as Nora said, there was ten when Valery bring us here, I have one, we have 5 more managers, 4 are without an owner, its okay –Clem pointed at one of the paladins- if you want another one it’s the same amount of caps, no discounts

-Deal –said the paladin

Well that went pretty well, non violent, fast, more cheap than he expected since he hoped for some kind of negotiation from their side,  some auction but nono, fast, gave too much credit to some people without education, selling tools from their home for some caps but it was okay, it serves the purpose. And if Nora hear from it the better it will be for everybody.

He was coming soon for Shaun.

After some minutes Clem pass trough the door of the vault with the pipboy and gave it to the paladin, the man tested it: the buttons, the weels, the screen, lights, texts, ports, cables, lamps…seems it works just fine, he gave Clem the bag of caps and the man couldn’t believe how heavy it was, maybe it was the first time he had such a heavy bag of caps in his hand and it wouldn’t surprise Arthur at all if it was the case, it was even a big amount for him but if it was the price to get closer to his baby boy he will pay anything, it just worth it.

-We are fine –said Clem to the paladin who just nooded still using the pipboy, hands shaking –come on guys, lets go to some place more private to share this

When they all disappeared at the sight, the brotherhood squad walked the marble stairs up as the paladin gave the elder the pipboy.

Arthur swallowed and look down tightly gripping the wristband of the device, this was his way to be more close to Shaun. As soon they reach the Prydwen and prepare a squad of scribes…well hell be paying a more close visit to Preston in Sanctuary that he ever expected. He should write a note or send a message to people are prepared to…get used to their visits

This had to be fast, his son cannot wait any longer, he waited 7 years for all he knows. Frozen in time.

[i-did]

Do you know when the racism and ableism accusations against Nora started? Because back when I was active in 2016/2017 and don't think they were a thing, or were very low-key. Was it something she said or are people just basing it off the things she wrote in the books?

From what I remember, the first time I heard the blanket statement of “Nora is racist/fetishizes gay men” blanket statement was early fall 2019 (which is so ironic for the fandom to say on so many levels lmao). There wasn’t a catalyst or anything, just she went offline 2016 and no new content was coming out and the aftg fandom is such an echo chamber that… an accidental smear campaign happened.

 Before then, I would see occasional “Nora used ableist slur” which… is funny (not that ableism isn’t serious) to me people care more about that than Seth saying the f-slur. IMO this is because with Seth, it clearly shows the character thinking it and not the author who is writing about what will be an end game mlm relationship. 

But anyways! Long story short, it's the fact that she’s an ace/aro woman who wrote a mlm book, and based off of the events in canon. There is no “Nora called me/someone else a slur” it’s “Nora wrote a book where slur(s) are used” and “the Moriyama’s are Japanese.”

Below I put my own opinion on these claims and go into more detail:

CW for discussions of: racism, ableism, mlm fetishization

Fetishization: (and mentions of sexism at the end)

To one question in the EC about her inspo for aftg she jokingly responded how she wanted to write about gay athletes. On other parts of your blog you could see she was a hockey fan and an overall sports fan (anime or otherwise) but I've seen this statement taken out of context and framed as “she's one of those BOYXBOY” shippers. Considering how… well-developed both Andrew and Neil’s relationship is, and it takes them until like the 3rd book and there is a whole complex ass plot going on around, you can see how that's just. Not really true. And considering the fandom is like… 85% women (queer women but still women) and I've gotten into a discussion with someone who is a woman and called Nora a fetishizer and was ignoring my opinions as a mlm, and I really just wanted to say “well what does that make you?” it's a very ironic high horse. She didn’t write 3 all 3 books to put Neil in lingerie pwp or crop-top fem-fatal fashion show, fandom did. 

Also, I talked to an ace/aro friend about this, and she talked to me about how AFTG spoke to her very much so as an ace/aro story. Neil is demisexual, Nora didn’t know of the word at the time of reading it, but she did get an anon asking if Neil was demi after, and she said “had to look it up, and yep, but he doesn't really think about it” (paraphrased). Obviously it would have been cool if andreil were canonly written as wlw by Nora instead, (which would have increased the amount of wlw rep and demi rep) but tbh I don’t think tumblr would have cared about it nearly as much and everyone would just call Neil a cold bitch–like people do with Nora’s other published book with a main character who's a woman. Plus they're her OC’s, not mine. 

The fact is that 50% of all LGBT+ rep in literature is mlm, mostly white mlm, and not written by mlm. I’m not going to hold her to a higher standard than everyone else, she already broke a shit ton of barriers in topics she discusses that otherwise get ignored. I’m grateful to these books for existing even if it's a mlm story written by a woman. I still will prioritize reading mlm written by mlm–and vice versa with wlw– in the way I prioritize reading stories about POC written by POC. But credit where credit is due, this is a very good story, and a very good demi story. 

Ableism:

To me, AFTG is a story about ableism and how we perceive some trauma survivors more worthy than others. Neil and the foxes using ableist language shows how people actually talk. Neil thinks shitty things about Andrew, like the others do too, and thinks he's “psycho”. The story ultimately deconstructs this idea and these perceptions of people. Wymack, someone who says the r-slur (which is still not known by the general population as a slur even in 2021 much less the early 2000s when the book was beginning to be written and what the timeline is based off of) is a character who understands Andrew better than most of the others do, and gives him the most sympathy and understanding despite using words like the m-slur and r-slur. Using these words isn't good, but it is how people talk, and this character talks. Wymack is a playful “name caller” especially when he’s mad, the foxes think Andrew is “crazy” and incapable of humanity and love because of it. They call his meds “antipsychotics” as an assumption and insult in a derogatory way, when really antipsychotics are a very helpful drug for some people who need them. Even Neil thinks these things about Andrew until he learns to care about him. All the foxes are hypocritical to am extent, as people in real life tend to be. Nora herself doesn’t use these or tweet them or something, her characters do to show aspects of their personality and opinions and how they change over time.

Racism:

As for the racism, I've seen people talk about how racial minorities being antagonists is inherently bad, which I think lacks nuance but overall isn't a harmful statement or belief. However, Nora herself said she wrote in the yakuza instead of another gang or mob because she was inspired for AFTG by sports anime, (which often queer-bait for a variety of reasons). I haven’t seen a textual analysis acknowledging the racist undertones surrounding the Moriyama’s as the few characters of color who are also major antagonists, but instead just “Nora is racist”. Wymack having shitty flame tribal tattoo’s is just… a huge 90’s thing and a part of his character design. Her having a character with bad taste in tattoo trends doesn’t mean she's racist. There is the whole how Nicky is handled thing, but that's a whole thing on it’s own. The fandom… really will write Nicky being all “ai ai muy spicy, jaja imma hit on my white–not annoying like me–boyfriend in Spanish. With my booty hole out and open for him ofc.” and as a Mexican mlm I’m like … damn alright. 

I think there is merit to the fact that she writes white as the default* and unless otherwise stated a POC a character was written with the intent to be white is another valid criticism, as well as the fact that the cast is largely white, but everything Nora is accused of I've seen the fandom do worse. That goes to the debate of, is actively writing stereotypes for POC more harmful than no representation at all? And personally I prefer the lack of established race line that lets me ignore Nora’s canon intent of characters to be white and come up with my own HC’s over the fandoms depictions of “zen monk Renee with dark past” “black best friend Matt who got over drugs but is a puppy dog” “ex stripper black Dan who dates Matt” vague tokenism. I HC many of the upperclassmen as POC and do my best to actively give thought behind it and have their own arcs that also avoids the fandom colorism spectrum of “darkest characters we HC go to the back and fandom favorites are in the front and are the lightest.” 

*I however won't criticize her harsher or more than… everyone else who still largely does this in fanfiction regarding AFTG as well as literature in general. This isn't a Nora thing, it's a societal thing, and considering the books came out in like 2014 I'm not gonna hold her to a higher standard than the rest of the world. She's just someone who wrote her personal OC’s and self-published expecting no following. I don’t know her race and I’m not gonna hold her to a higher standard than everyone else just because. 

The criticisms I've seen have always been… ironic IMO, and clearly I have a lot of thoughts on it. I think most people say those things about Nora because they heard them, and it's the woke thing to say and do and don’t critically analyze their actions or anything, but just accept them. 

[iris-westallen1]

The Happiest Day Of Our Life

‘’Well today was the worst day ever’’ iris said as she dove right on the couch. Barry just sat there staring at his beautiful wife so mesmerized he didn’t even realize she was talking to him but he couldn’t help it he was married to the most gorgeous woman on the planet he still doesn’t know how he got this lucky to have her in his life… ‘’ BARRY!!’’ he was immediately withdrawn from his thought blushing and rubbing his neck a habit he had formed since he was little.    ‘’ are you even listening to me’’ iris said with a slightly annoyed face mixed with concern.

‘’ sorry honey but it’s your fault I wasn’t paying attention’’ Barry cheekily replied.

‘Look at him looking so smug with that cocky smile ugh I could just slap him and fuck him at the same time, gosh why is he so hot making my ovaries explode’’ iris thought to herself.

‘’ you know honey cocky is not a good look on you’’ said a smiling iris

‘’oh, you love it and me’’

‘’ well, I supposed that is true’’ iris slaps his knee as she get’s up from where she was laying on the couch to come snuggle into Barry’s side ‘’ hmmm I missed you today’’ iris said as she coos into Barry

‘’ babe I am sorry your day didn’t go as you wanted it to.’’ Barry strokes her arm and side ‘’ do you want to tell me what was going on’’

‘’ I know it might sound petty or whatever but its team citizen if I can even call it that Kamilla’s gone and Allegra she’s never there she’s always at star labs and I get that she ha powers and whatever but I would like her to take her job more seriously and not for her personal gain, I feel bad for what happened to her cousin I seriously geniounly do but the only time you hear her talk about the citizen is if she needs something from us and its making me seriously regret promoting her.’’ Iris took a deep breath she knows how this might sound and it might just be her hormones but she is seriously tired of Allegra’s behavior.

Barry saw how distressed his wife was about this so he decided not to say anything until she has gotten it all out her chest.

After taking a deep breath iris continued ‘’ so today I was in the office getting ready to go investigate karma, Kramer whatever the fuck her name is and I find myself missing and employee so I called her just to learn she is hanging around frost and Caitlin for what reason I do not know I’m her mentor not them I’m not paying her to hang out with them and I was just like you know what its fine so I just left her and went about my way to go investigate Kramer in doing that surprise surprise my dad is investigating her with Cecil when I was the one who brought this case to him and he brushed me off like it was nothing. And that’s another thing I am so fed up with my dad.’’ At this point iris is bawling her eyes and all Barry wants to do it take that pain away from her.

‘’ my dad hasn’t been acting like my dad for a while now and it took me getting stuck in a mirror to realize it. You know he never once asked me how I was doing when I came out of the mirror, he just brushed it aside like I wasn’t gone for 3 months he could at least show some emotions.’’ Her voice was cracking at this point ‘’ h- ho- how I- is it * sniff sniff* that his more of a father to you than he is to meeeeeeee’’ her chest and shoulder moving frantically.

Barry finally goes in soothing her ‘’ I am so so sorry you feel this way, how long have you been holding this in and I didn’t even notice, I am so sorry baby, just let it all out’’ Barry said as he rubs his hands in soothing circles on her back ‘’ just let it out I’m here’’

When she is calm enough she continues ‘’ I just feel so neglected as a daughter by him and Cecil Cecil doesn’t even try to bond with me, she’s been with my dad for so long and I don’t even know anything about her and when we do talk she always uses her powers to invade my privacy and when she does that she can’t even be subtle about it she always has to my extra and do to much’’ by this time iris is finished crying now what she feels is rage towards these people. ‘’ she is literally everywhere when there was still  a team citizen was still a thing she became our ‘lawyer’ and no one even asked her to no offence to her but she suck as a lawyer’’ Barry starts laughing and nodding his head because it the truth. ‘’ I’m serious hahaha but it’s funny though but seriously I don’t even know why we hired her as your lawyer for your trial she couldn’t even win it she had to use ralph pretend to be devoe for her to win and I thought she was the best Caitlin and frost are dumb to hire her as a lawyer she couldn’t even win their case and if she cant win any of our case what is her use at star labs her powers are useless there no offense she could be home with Jenna and speaking of Jenna it sucks that we never see her they never talk about her unless its to say they are talking to their babysitter so instead of her to go take care of her child she’d over here acting like a child and sticking her nose in everyone’s business. I am so sick of her.’’ Barry just sat there looking at iris and after hearing all she said he can’t help but see the truth in what she’s saying, how could he have been so blind to this. As he continues to rub her back iris gathers even more courage to finally let this all off her chest ‘’ after cisco left the one person at star labs besides you I could stand was gone he was my sunshine twin he would always try to cheer me up when we lost Nora and even when I lost you to the speed force he was always there for me and I miss him and I miss Kamilla because she understood me we where becoming close friends before we got stuck in the mirror together and now we have an unbreakable bond because of that experience and now she’s gone too not only did I lose my best worker but I lost my best friend too. All of a sudden Iris seemed to get angrier Barry didn’t know why but his about to.

‘’ Caitlin and frost’’ she said their names with as much annoyance as she could muster up ‘’ they are the biggest entitled people I have ever met before frost was a thing it was the way Caitlin always looked at me like I was beneath her or something like she couldn’t get rid of me fast enough then frost came and bitch tried to kill me because she wanted dick and some other issues I had never did anything to her never spoke to her but all of a sudden she wants to kill me why I have no idea and what pisses me of is the way we just forgive her just because she did the right thing in the end and blasted Savitar she came to h.r funeral and she left to go find herself or whatever you went into the speed force and she abandoned me, Wally, cisco, and dad to fend of the bad guys on our own. Then Caitlin came up in her in her high horse to bring you out of the speed force like she’s been here all along, then she lost frost with the whole devoe thing Caitlin literally put your life and gypsy’s life in danger all because she wanted frost back and despite my better judgment I went up to her during the baby shower we threw for Cecile to offer up my help to find the bitch frost for her and she was just snarky with me saying no she will find her I just gave up on that hoe what still confusing is how she can perform all this surgery’s she’s doing since she hasn’t done them since med school like isn’t she a bio scientist or whatever like how did she become team doctor she literally has no experience in that field all she does is just stitch you up with pretty much all of us can do now and she acts like she has the most important job there dragging Allegra and Cecile along with her.’’ Iris shakes her head ‘’ you know what’s do funny’’ iris asked Barry ‘’ what’’ Barry genuinely curious ‘’ that whole frost trial and how Caitlin was like we have to get her out she’s my sister, since when though, anyways they arrested frost for a crime that she actually committed its not like she didn’t commit them she literally tried to kill me and she wanted her to go Scot free when you went to prison for a crime you actually didn’t commit it just pissed me of and instead of dumb bitch to just take the cure she volunteered her self for life in prison thinking she was doing sum, I might not like Kramer but what she did to frost was not a bad thing she all she did was try to make frost take responsibility for her actions. But she never does like always she literally gets out of prison after like two days.’’

‘’ and another thing that pisses me off is the way they treat Chester that boy is so sweet and deserves to be treated with kindness so that why it irritates and makes me so angry to hear that Caitlin was yelling at him for getting hit even sue warned Allegra not to pursue after her cousin but she did anyways and brought her to star labs without our permission knowing she’s a dangerous criminal when her and Allegra get into it she blast Chester who was just there to bring them snacks and somehow Caitlin made it Chester’s fault? Like how does that even make sense. I am just sick and tired of all of this. I am supposed to be happy right now basking in love with my husband trying to conceive our daughter and we can’t even have the privacy of knowing if were pregnant or not because of Cecile invading your thoughts once again the negative result you got was meant to be shared with me not her and I know this is wrong but I am glad that the test came negative because it would be so unfair of her to know that I am pregnant before I know all because she’s nosy.’’ Iris finally finished her rant with a deep breath, she looks up at Barry and all she finds in his eyes are adoration, understanding, anger, disappointment, and love.

‘’what?’’ iris asked

‘’ you are the strongest person that I know’’ Barry whispers to her ‘’I don’t know how you let this in for this long because one thing I know for sure is that I certainly would have burst long ago.’’

‘’ I am so sorry that you’ve had to keep this all in for this long’’ Barry said caressing her cheeks ‘’ and I’m sorry If you felt like you couldn’t tell me, thank you for bringing it to my attention and after listening to you things need to change for one our personal life needs to stop being discussed at star labs where everyone can hear and the second is that Caitlin needs to not be our doctor and she is certainly not going to be delivering our baby and most importantly we need to set boundaries for Cecile’’

‘’ thank you, babe, for listening to me and letting me get this rant of my chest, I feel so much lighter.’’

‘’ its my job iris there is no need to thank me I will always be on your side ALWAYS.’’

[backtothestart02]

Hazy - 12/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Enjoy! 

Commissioned by Patricia H.

...

Chapter 12 -

Joe was awake, stable, and in his own room by the time Barry and Linda returned to the hospital. He also had a couple of police in his room interrogating him when they arrived as well. Barry hated it. No matter how many times the nurse at the station told him they were just taking his statement, he didn’t like it. Anything that looked like an interrogation was one in Barry’s eyes. Especially since Eddie was also a cop and could turn things in his favor if need be.

“Hey,” Linda said, standing beside him as they waited in the hall. “It’s gonna be okay.”

She ran her hand down his arm briefly, and he knew it was supposed to be comforting, but it just irritated him. He didn’t want any more explanations. He just wanted to see Joe, to see with his own eyes that he was okay, and to get some guidance on what they should do next. Whether he’d grown up in his house or not, they still clearly had a connection. Barry needed to use that to figure out just exactly what this timeline entailed, and how he could fix things, if he could fix them at all.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and Linda stopped touching him. He wished he could feel bad for pushing her away, but she had to understand. Right?

The two cops emerged from Joe’s room moments later, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“You can go in now, son,” one of the two officers said.

Barry let Linda be the one who smiled politely and said her thanks. He dashed in immediately and sped-walk over to Joe, hugging him gently.

“Oh, my God, I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Joe chuckled and patted Barry’s back lightly.

“Of course I am. I can’t be taken down that easily.”

Barry sighed, kneeling beside the bed.

“It should’ve been me.”

“Bear, no. I won’t hear you talking like that. You were already in the hospital due to Eddie beating the living daylights out of you. The last thing you needed was to get shot. None of us deserved any of this. Eddie is just…out of control. A jealous maniac. Not that it came out of thin air, of course. But he could’ve tempered his feelings in a way other than kidnapping and attempted murder.”

Barry swallowed.

“Have you heard anything?” he asked gently. “About Iris?”

He shook his head sadly.

“Nothing. I was somewhere else, trying to find another way to…fix all this.”

Joe’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Where were you at, son?”

Barry hesitated.

“STAR Labs,” he finally said.

“The museum?” Joe asked, thoroughly confused now. “Don’t they close kind of early today?”

Barry winced. “Yeah…”

“What are you not telling me?”

Barry sighed and sank back onto his haunches.

“I don’t…think you’d believe me even if I told you.”

Joe was about to pursue his questions further when he saw movement in the doorway.

“Linda? Honey, is that you?”

She popped in.

“Yeah, it’s me. I was just giving…giving you two some privacy. I know you don’t really know me. I’ve just…been here for Barry, in case he needs me. Which he often does, without realizing it.”

Joe managed to chuckle. Barry actually appeared annoyed.

“Well, I appreciate that you’ve been taken care of him, dear.”

“Of course.” She smiled, her hands folded together in front of her. “Can I…get you anything, Mr. West?”

“Joe, please. And um, a cup of water would be great. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

She turned and scurried out the door, likely headed for the nurse’s station down the hall.

Barry fixed Joe with a confused look.

“Why’d you do that?”

“I wanted to make sure we were alone for a few minutes.”

Barry tilted his head in curiosity.

“Does that girl like you?”

“What…do you mean? Like, as friends? Because we were barely acquaintances three days ago.”

“That’s…not what I meant.”

It took a few more seconds for Barry to connect the dots. When he did, his eyes bulged.

“Whoa. Like like, like…like-like as more than friends like?”

Joe waited.

Barry burst out laughing.

“No way! She likes Scott. She spent the entire gala drunk-flirting with him. She used me to try and get him jealous.”

“Maybe things have changed.”

“How?”

Barry was in disbelief. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this. Sure, Linda had been really clingy today, but she was just being a good friend. Right? That was it… Right?

“You don’t want me to…ask her, do you?”

Joe shook his head, smiling.

“Just be on the look-out for signs, son. Okay? And be careful how you respond to her, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea.”

Doubt still wrote itself straight across Barry’s forehead.

“Yeah, sure, okay.”

“Water is here!” Linda announced, coming through the doorway.

The two men looked and saw she’d brought a tray of 6 cups full of water. Barry blanched and met Joe’s amused gaze.

“Thank you, Linda,” Joe said as she set each cup on his mobile tray. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Should keep you hydrated for a while.” She fixed her gaze to Barry. “Don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah. Mhmm.”

He didn’t look at Joe, who he had a feeling was smiling smugly. Instead he got to his feet and crowded Linda off to the side.

“Linda, uh, do you think…you might want to go home? I mean, you really don’t have to stay here. I’m probably going to stay until he gets let out and then maybe go home with him.”

“Oh. Uh…but what about your pain meds? Are you feeling pain right now? Do you want to sit down?”

A smile tugged at Joe’s lips over on the bed. He couldn’t help but overhear.

“No, no, I’m good,” Barry assured her.

Linda’s shoulders slumped.

“I was kind of looking forward to taking care of you this week,” she admitted, and he swallowed.

“It could just be the adrenaline from running all over the place. You could drop off the meds at Joe’s house tomorrow. I could give you the address.”

“Oh. Right. That…that sounds good. Probably the uh…best course of action.”

Barry forced a smile.

“Great. Thanks. I appreciate everything you’ve done, Linda. And when this all blows over and Iris is back, if you need to make Scott jealous again…within reason, I’ll be right there for ya.”

“Right. Scott. I…kind of forgot about him with everything that’s been going on.”

Joe stifled a snort, but it came out as a couch, and Barry knew the man was laughing at him behind his stoic face.

“If you need anything, you’ll call me?” she asked hopefully.

His lips had thinned, but he nodded to assure her.

“I promise. Thank you. Again.”

She nodded and took a step back, looking over at Joe who seemed to have recovered from his coughing fit.

“I hope you get better soon…Joe.”

“Thank you, Linda,” Joe said. “We’ll keep you in touch about Iris…and Barry,” he added after a beat.

Barry shared a wide-eyed stare with Joe, but Linda was oblivious. She took a few steps back and then went out the doorway and out of the hospital, presumably to call a cab home.

“Well? Do you believe me now?” Joe asked.

Barry shook his head in awe.

“How did you know?”

“I’m a detective, Barry. How else do you think I picked up that you were in love with my daughter at such a young age?”

Barry wandered back over to his bedside and pulled a chair over to sit on.

“I can’t even imagine how tough it was to move in with us having that crush.”

And there it was. Barry tried not to look too relieved. At least that piece to the puzzle was the same. But what about his dad then? If he wasn’t the Flash… That meant no Zoom, and no Zoom meant he might still be alive. But no evil Wells making a confession, that might mean he was still in jail. It might also mean Joe still 100% believed he was guilty of Nora Allen’s death.

Barry licked his lips. His heart was pounding away at the thought of seeing his dad again. His real dad.

“Barry?”

He looked up into Joe’s searching eyes.

“Hmm?”

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “I’m just…thinking about Iris and this whole, messy situation.”

“Ah. Yeah, I don’t know how to save her, Bear. Especially when…when I’m like this.”

“You’ll be out by tomorrow,” Barry said. “I’m sure of it.”

“And then?” He looked up at him hopefully.

If he was the Flash, he would tell him everything would be all right. He would speed through the city until he found Iris and Eddie and put the latter in custody. Everything would be put right then. He could even go back in time to fix this whole mess and set things right.

As soon as he knew what had been changed to begin with.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Joe said, when he saw Barry frowning without an answer.

Barry met his eyes.

“Yeah. Me too.”

…

It was just after midnight when the call came. Joe was fast asleep in his hospital bad, but Barry, strung across three armless chairs in an attempt to get some shut-eye was more than half-awake when his phone started to buzz.

Still, he had to blink more than a few times to read the name correctly that was blaring across his screen.

“Iris?” he whispered into the void.

Falling off the chairs in the process of trying to sit up, he answered the call as quickly as he could.

“Iris? Is that you? Where are you? Are you okay? How are y-?”

“It’d be nice if it was that easy, wouldn’t it?” a snarling voice cut him off.

A chill ran down Barry’s spine.

“Eddie.” Anger flooded his body. “Where is she?”

“She’s safe,” he answered. “With me. At a hotel. We’ve decided to start fresh. Give this marriage another shot.”

Barry scoffed. “Somehow I find that hard to believe when you shot her dad.”

There was a pause.

“He shouldn’t have stepped in front of-”

“Iris?!” He was standing now. “The woman you’re now claiming wants to start fresh with you? I don’t buy it.”

Barry could practically hear Eddie grinding his teeth on the other end.

“It’s not your job to buy it,” he finally said. “It’s your job to not come looking.”

“Over my dead body.”

“I would’ve taken that,” Eddie spat back. “But you’re too damn resistant.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed.

“You want to know Iris is alright?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll send you a video of her an hour ago, but then I’m throwing out this phone, so don’t bother trying to track it. You’ll never find us. You’ll never have her. She’s mine.”

“E-”

Eddie cut the call before Barry could finish saying his name. Seconds later the video came through. Barry watched it immediately.

It showed Iris, looking a little worse for wear but she wasn’t bound or crying. When he squinted though, he could make out what looked to be duct tape marks across her face over her mouth. It had clearly been ripped off right before filming the video.

“Go,” Eddie said in the background of the video.

“Hi, Barry,” she said, managing the tiniest of hopeful smile. “Dad…I hope.” She sniffled.

“Don’t cry,” Eddie snarled.

She looked down to regain her image, then started up again.

“I hope both of you are fine. I want you to know I’m okay. I’m fine. And…”

“Say it,” Eddie muttered under his breath. “Say it,” he said again, louder when she didn’t say anything.

“I’m fine,” she said through a strangled breath. She swallowed hard. “Don’t come looking for me. I’m happy with Eddie. We’re going to start over somewhere else. I’m…happy.”

The video froze on her tear-streaked face.

End of video.

Barry scoffed as his hand clenched hard around the phone.

She was not happy.

She was terrified for her life.

And he had to act quickly before they left wherever they were at. Iris’ life depended on it.

[writebythenight]

The Silence

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Rose(OC) is assigned the job of talking to Negan in his Cell.

Chapter Four

"Well this feels like the worst hangover in the history of the world." Rose said groggily.

Tara just laughed from beside her. "Yeah they had to give you some pretty strong stuff."

"So I didn't eat anybody?" Even though Rose had seen the blood on the jaggered metal she was still terrified that the walker could have gotten to her too.

"Not today."

"Oh good." Rose lifted her shirt to see the wound covered.

"I heard you punched, Daryl."

"He deserved it. It was his fault I nearly died."

"What happened in there?" Her closest friend asked. If she was going to tell anybody it would be her, they had always just bounced off of each other both similar in the way they'd use sarcasm and humour to get through tough situations. Rose cleared her throat to begin but Tara sat up and grabbed a bottle of water before giving it to her.

"Thanks." She took small sips to wet her throat. "What do you know?"

"Daryl opened the door he was told not to, everybody got out in time but you got separated then Daryl remembered seeing a fire exit. They just had to hope you'd find it. He feels really bad about it you know."

"I know." She knew how sensitive Daryl could get about things but what had happened to her had been traumatic and it could have been avoided if he had just listened. "I thought a walker did this..." She gestured to her side. "I was sat there, with my gun trying to get the balls to shoot myself before the horde got in."

"Jesus." Tara shook her head.

"He was no help either." Rose huffed and looked up to her friend with a grin.

"Not funny. You could have died! What happened?"

"I realised it wasn't the Walker, some of the damn metal shelves were abit of a hazard."

"You're so fuckin' lucky."

"I know!" Rose gave a shaky laugh, thinking back to how she felt for that minute she began to shake.

"I'm glad you're okay." Tara stood up and shocked Rose by pulling her into a big hug, which was so very needed.

"Am I allowed to leave?"

"Yeah, I don't know if they have any pain meds though."

Rose shrugged. "I'm okay for now." And with that she got up off the bed and walked out with Tara hovering around her.

Several people acknowledged her, wishing her well and glad she was back on her feet.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Rose turned to see Nora stood nervously next to her.

"Thank you!" Rose smiled but she couldn't ignore how jittery the woman looked. "Are you okay?"

"Erm.. can I talk to you?"

"She needs to rest." Tara told her seriously, her face told Rose she knew something she didnt.

"What's going on?" She looked between the two but they both just continued to stare at each other, silently communicating. "Would one of you just tell me?!"

"It's Negan." Nora blurted out.

"What?" Rose' stomach dropped. As much as she wanted to ignore it she had actually been looking forward to going to talk to him again. She didn't want to question it, she couldn't question it, hoping that as long as she ignored then it wouldn't become an issue. She shouldn't enjoy his company. She just shouldn't, she was supposedly a good judge of character but she was constantly questioning whether this man was sucussfully manipulating her or had some good in him somewhere.

"He's refusing to eat. He keeps asking about you."

"Why?"

Nora shrugged. "He got wind of you being injured and it all kind of went downhill from there."

Could this all just a pre-meditated way to make her think he cared about anyone except himself and his baseball bat?

"I'll go talk to him." She told her. "See if I can get him to behave." She joked.

"You need to be resting!" Tara argues.

"I will. Straight after." Rose told her with a smile before walking off towards the cell.

As she hobbled into the room she spotted him straight away. He was sitting on a small wooden stool, his long legs stretched out in front of him but the second he saw who it was he stood and walked up to the bars.

"Darlin'... ain't you a sight for sore eyes." He looked her up and down. "You look like shit."

"Feel it." She collapsed into the chair and looked up at his face which was scrunched up in a way she didn't recognize.

"Why's no one helpin' you?"

"No one else can bare to be around your annoying ass." She barked a laugh.

"I have a damn fine ass and you know it."

"Oh yeah that outfit really shows off your ass." She scoffed eyeing his loosely fitted blue outfit that had been given to him.

"Ya been lookin'?" He smirked in the way that only he could, all cocky and arrogant but strangely charismatic.

Charismatic? She angrily pushed her thoughts out of his head. Again.

"So they told me you were refusing to eat."

"Just didn't want to."

"Why not?"

"Just didn't sweetheart."

"Why do you call me names like that?" She was trying to just throw questions at him in hope he'd let his guard down a little more. He was a very honest man but strategic in what he kept to himself.

"Habit I guess. A pretty girl like you."

"Why was you asking about me?"

"I knew it was dangerous."

"Again... why would you care what happened to me?"

He shrugged and she could tell he was carefully deciding how to reply. "You're the only person who gives me the time of day. Gets lonely down here... you're my rose in a fuck ton of thorns."

He was such a charmer but she wasn't about to fall for that. Even if it was the nicest thing any man had ever said to her. She didn't fail to realise how fucked up the situation was.

"Oh wow. I never took you to be the poetic type."

"I'd surprise you in a lot of ways." There was that smirk again as he slid his hands around the bars, his busted knuckles coming to her attention.

"What did you do?!" She gasped standing up a little too quick, bending slightly with a wince at the sharp pain in her side.

"Ahh, it's nothin'."

"This isn't nothing." She said looking him dead in the eyes. The professional in her was worried about the fact that he had done this, basically a form of self mutilation and a very dangerous path for him to go down. "Has anyone else seen this?"

"No." He said simply. "Ya wanna kiss it better for me?"

"Definitely fucking not." She snapped back annoyed at the constant flippancy he had for every situation.

"Oh baby I love it when you swear." She went with a different tactic of ignoring him. "This needs seeing to."

"It's fine." Negan said scratching his chin where she could see his facial hair getting longer.

"Are you okay?" He said out of nowhere coming forward to rest his face in between two bars reminding her of a kid.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not." Her heart squeezed at the way he kept eye contact while his voice sounded so sure. He knew. Somehow he knew she'd been through something bad.

"It was close for a second... I thought..." she began talking before she even really thought about it wanting to tell him what had happened. "I got hurt when a walker took me down, I thought it was the walker... I sat there..." she stared at her hands as if she could still see the gun she had been holding. "Thinking that was it. That I'd have to put myself down..." her voice shook so she cleared it and took a deep breath before looking up to his face which was just watching her.

"What went down?"

"Someone didn't believe you about the fourth floor."

"I bet I can fuckin' guess who." He rasped.

She didn't say anything not about to rat on her friend.

"You survived it."

"Through pure luck."

"Just luck couldn't have gotten you out of there."

"This is what I'm supposed to be doing for you." She laughed softly. "Talking to you about things, helping you."

"You do." He said genuinely. She took a step back, from the cell and the situation and tried to look at it from an outsiders point of view, something she had always been good at in her job. She had no doubt this was all for show, trying to get her on his side and that made her so angry but also sad at the thought that he really wouldn't ever change.

"I'm gonna go see someone about fixing that hand."

"Okay." He sat back down on the stool looking down at the floor. She always felt bad leaving him, just like she'd told him she was too nice and even after the horrific things this man had done she felt sorry for him. She was just going to have to accept that.

Rose went straight to where Rick, Michonne and Judith's House was being rebuilt thinking it'd be her best bet.

He answered the door with the little girl on his hip and a wide smile broke out across her face as she saw her. "Rosie!"

"Hey there little one." Rose stroked the top of her head.

"Ya wanna come in?" Rick asked her stepping aside.

"Oh, no... I needed to talk to you about Negan."

He nodded before walking out of her view and after hearing muffled voices he came back to her alone.

"Go ahead."

"He's hurt himself. He punched the wall, a few times from what I can see of his knuckles."

"Okay. Why?"

"Anger... frustration... Rick he's locked in there 24/7."

"That's kind of the idea yeah." Rick stood with his hands on his hips coming across disinterested.

"I'm just trying to keep the man as sane as possible, Rick so I'm telling you things that don't sit right with me."

"So what do ya want me to do? Walk him like a dog? Parade him around in front of everyone? The Savioirs would go crazy!"

"I know." Rose nodded. "I'm just saying if you keep a man like him behind bars for years you're gonna make it ten times worse."

"There's no way." He said his voice final.

"His hand?" I'll send someone. Rick sighed heavily.

"Meet me here at seven. We'll take him to get looked at."

"Okay." She just nodded not wanting to make him in an even worse mood.

"We're gonna use these." Rick told her that evening holding up some handcuffs. "Straight there, straight back."

"Let's do this." Rose told him walking beside him with butterflies in her stomach, for some reason the thought of seeing Negan with someone else in the room was making her unbelievably nervous.

Rick walked into the room first, the keys to the cell in his hand he walked straight over to the lock not even making eye contact with Negan who stood there staring at Rose.

"Hands out front." Rick told him.

"Yes, officer." Negan drawled.

The noise of the cuffs closing made Rose flinch but looking up to Negans face she saw it didn't bother him, or he didn't let it show.

Rick gestured for Negan to exit the cell first and as he did Rose was taken aback by his emposing stature, it wasn't necessarily his size even though he was tall but the way he held himself.

"Ya comin' sweetheart?"

Seeing him again without any bars between them, with him saying that to her had her hormones doing all kinds of things they shouldn't be.

"Move." Rick demanded. They walked out onto the street with Rose slightly ahead of Negan with Rick behind watching his every move.

"So what is this?" Negan asked her.

"Your hand." She told him without even looking at him.

"I told you it was fine."

"And I'd told you I'd get someone to look at it."

"Oh I love a woman who takes control."

"That's enough." Rick's voice barked from behind them both.

Surprisingly he stayed silent the whole way to the medical building, Rick entering before both to light the room.

"Who's doing it?" Rose asked seeing that nobody was there.

"I was told somebody would be here." Rick sighed.

"I see you got this place well organised." Negan sniggered.

"Be quiet." Rose told him this time.

"Let me see properly." Rose said standing in front of Negan. He smirked at her as he lifted his hands, the injured one slightly higher and holding her breath she took it in both her hands. "It doesn't look like anythings broken, probably could just get away with cleaning it for now. I can do that." Rose told them both. "Good job you've got a lousy punch."

"My masculinity is well and truly wounded, darlin.'"

"Poor baby." Rose replied sarcastically. "Sit down."

"Yes ma'am." Negan said as he walked over to an arm chair and sat down moaning. "Oh well fuck me sideways this feels like a god damn cloud."

Rose shook her head grinning and went over to get some things to clean and wrap his hand noticing Rick watching them both intently which made her slightly uncomfortable.

Pulling up a stool she poured bit of rubbing alcohol onto a cloth before gesturing for his hand which he gave her with no arguments, she set to work cleaning the wounds and dried blood while his gaze flickered from her face to his hand in hers. Neither noticing Rick's head turning on a slant as he studied them. He didn't know Negan well but seeing him happily sat watching this woman tend to his wounds set him on edge, he couldn't get his head around it. This monster looked almost... tamed.

His thought process was cut off by the crackling of his radio. "Rick come in."

"It's Rick."

"You need to get over here that same saviour's causing problems." Rose had heard about one particular saviour not settling into Rick's leadership as well as the others, the camps were still being set up but already were causing problems.

"Ya want me to have a word?" Negan asked smirking.

Rick decided on the same tactic Rose often ended up using and ignored him. "I'm busy. Can it wait ten minutes?"

"I wouldn't be asking if it could."

"Fine, I'll come now." He looked over to Rose. "Will you be okay?"

"She'll be fine with me, won't ya?" Negan was making it so hard for them to ignore him.

"Yeah of course, he's cuffed and I'm armed."

"I'll send someone else straight away. Don't try and move him without someone else."

"Well I feel dangerous."

"I'll wait."

Rick nodded as he gave her the keys then left the room. Rose felt the energy shift straight away so she quickly put the keys in her pocket and just carried on cleaning the last of his hand.

"Alone at last." He said quietly.

"Lucky me." She threw the cloth in the bin before picking up the bandage and beginning to unwrap it. "How are you feeling today?"

"Is this the shrink shit?" He said with a laugh.

"Humour me." She said not looking up at him, not wanting to look up at him without the safety of the bars.

"I feel better than I have in a long time being out of that cell."

She just nodded. "I'm working on trying to get them to let you out every now and again. You might deserve to rot down there but I've too many morals to let that happen." He leaned back at her words seeming to stiffen letting the silence drag on.

"You think I deserve to rot?"

"I..." She stumbled over her words as she looked at his face. He seemed so torn, he was a clever man and he knew that the things he had done had been way beyond despicable so he got it. He did but from her? It had been a slight shock.

"No I get it." He rasped. "What I don't get is why you still talk to me... why you still seem to... care?"

"I told you.. I'm just not the kind of person who can be okay with anybody being treated badly."

"Fuck." He scoffed. "How did that part of you survive?"

That was a very good question. She had seen her fair share of bad shit since this started, been beaten and almost abused but it hadn't taken that optimism for people away from her. Is that what had happened to him?

"Is that what happened to you?" She said out loud. "You just lost faith in people?"

"I don't think I ever had that." He said thoughtfully. "My world turned upside down before the dead started eating us, sweetheart."

"Why?"

His dark eyes took in her expression. How much she was dying to know all his secrets, all the gritty stuff that other people didn't want to hear confused him. How could she be so intrigued by the darkness of people and still so pure in how she saw everybody.

"I could get those keys off you in seconds." He said his deep voice almost hypnotic. "You know that right?"

She just blinked, even though he was cuffed and and she was armed she knew he was more than capable of over powering her. He didn't know if she was good at protecting herself or not and the odds still outweighed him greatly though and that's why she had thought he wouldn't try to get them.

"In fact there are multiple ways I could get those off of you. But I haven't."

"Let's say you could..." she began.

"I can." He interrupted.

"Why aren't you then?"

He moved close but she didn't back down even as his face was inches from hers.

"I don't know." He whispered and she didn't miss the way his eyes flicked to her mouth.

She raised her eyebrow having not expected that. He seemed to realise what he had done as his expression became hard again.

"I don't make a habit of beating up women." He said with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Right." She wanted to point out that he had let his men kill plenty. "You remember when you first met Rick? The line up?"

She half expected him to make some kind of cocky joke about that horrific time but he just nodded. "What if I had been in that line up? What if I'd been it?"

His eyebrows came together. "What are ya gettin at darlin?"

"You respect me in some weird way right? That's why you warned me about the warehouse."

"Yeah."

"Glenn was kinda like me. He saw the best in people, he'd do anything to help anyone out. The way you just kill whoever Lucille lands on no matter if they're a bad person or not... that's what makes you worse than the others."

"DO NOT...bring Lucille into this!" He shouted switching so suddenly to anger that this time she couldn't help but flinch. "I'm the villain yeah I get that! But everyone has a villain. Rick was mine or are you forgetting the part where a group of you snuck into my outpost and killed my men while they slept in they're beds!"

"I wasn't a part of that."

"Did you try to stop it?!" He roared standing up making the armchair scoot back, she shot up at the same time as him hand going to her gun. "Tell me some more about poor little Glenn! Go ahead... I'll tell you about Roy who's wife and little girl was waiting for him to come back. Or James who I sent out there cos he was useless! Lovely kid but thick as the hulks cock! You think he deserved to die?!"

"I get it..." she said in a calming voice. "I get it." And she did. Those four words had made it click in her mind.

Everybody had a villain.

Chapter Five

[slurrmp]

   a/n: just  a little bit of fluff & hurt/comfort for miles & ana.          based in 1x17 of revolution. dt. to @magical-musical-imagines          & @antcnystark bc you two deserve to read soft family bonding.

every limb in her body felt like they would break when ever she made a move. if it wasn’t one thing then it was ANOTHER as of recently and it made ana almost regret following charlie up the clock tower, however, her annoyance took precedence, over the regret, at the one who ordered the drone strike on their camp and the actual town, which allowed the other feeling to slowly seep out of her system. the young lieutenant knew that shit happened, but this - what happened was all bass’ fault and ana knew that she had the right to be more than annoyed. just because he had treated her ... right and with decency when she all but fell into his arms back at the power station, it still didn’t stop him from killing innocent people and her family.

also didn’t help that her broken arm and previous dislocated shoulder had put a dampener on her mood. she had been stuck under at least three different layers of ruble and wall and brick - ana knew that charlie had managed to get out from underneath it without so much as a scaring scratch or wound. the blonde had tried to climb her way over to her cousin but the wall was pressing down on the brunette harder and tighter with every step charlie took.

“ charlie leave me, go get dad ! ” the second youngest matheson was trying her best not to panic not something she needed to deal with at that moment. her arm hurt like a bitch and she knew that she would be crying if it wasn’t for the adrenaline flowing through her and helping to fight against the pain. tilting her head backwards, green eyes managed to catch blue, which had tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.

“ no ! i’m not going to leave you here, ana. ” charlie was whispering but was still loud to be heard, she was trying her hardest not to make too much noise, the three militia men had been close by. “ i’m gonna get you out of there. ” the blonde started to make her way OVER the wall - but it shifted and ana made a whining sound, which turned into a scream being forced down behind clenched teeth.

“ charlie stop ! ” ana called and the blonde did, before looking back at her. “ it’s - it’s going to crush my LUNGS if you climb on top. just - get yourself out of here and find dad and nora and everyone else. ” the two girls stared at each other for a long period of time and ana tried her hardest not to roll her eyes and yell at her cousin to hurry up and leave.

“ i’m coming back. ” charlie finally agreed, while ana sighed in relief. it wasn’t because charlie didn’t help or was a calming force but well miles was ... her father, one of two people who were able to bring her down from a panic attack. the second was ... unfortunately bass and well - it was still valid, which surprised ana.  it had taken them almost two hours to come back and rescue her - the blood that came from the cut on her forehead had dried up and stained the skin around her right eye. ana could almost certainly guess that the cut was going to scar. she almost BALLED her eyes out when the heavy brick was lifted off her chest and she was able to breath properly. almost hacking up a lung - the tears had come freely then when she was pulled into miles’ arms. after soaking miles’ coat, it was him and charlie that carried her all the way to the medical wing. they checked out her arm, which she learnt was broken in two places. it was a clean break, easier to set. her left arm was then wrapped in white fabric and she was told to rest.

and rest the brunette did. by the time she opened her eyes again - the room was almost pitch black, apart from the sparse amount of candles still lit around the room. ana had been a little surprised whne they had given her a private room, one with a door and a bathroom (even if it was obsolete) but ana guessed that being the general’s daughter had its perks. turning her head away from the window (where the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon), ana winced slightly at the stiffness in her neck and the dull throbbing soreness that was emanating from her arm. green eyes then caught the figure of her father, stretched out in a single chair asleep, with his head resting on the palm of his hand. she had hardly seen miles sleep and when he did, it was usually in a different room. ana tried to roll on her side then, to go back to sleep with the calming fact that miles had shown up after she fell asleep. it was comforting to know that he was still worried about her, she would have thought that he would still be stuck with the president and doing other general things.

however, turning on her side (to face miles) caused her to bump her arm and a small cry escaped her lips. squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth to keep quite, the brunette missed the way that miles jerked himself awake - sitting up in the chair, he ran a hand through his hair. it was a miracle that he had fallen asleep in the first place, the previous day must have really taken it out of him. he knew that he had to wait and see if nora turned up - he would have taken a small group out to look for her himself, if the president hadn’t told him that he should get some rest and be with his daughter. “ you okay? ” the question filled the silence and ana’s eyes snapped open.

the almost olive coloured green of her eyes would always remind miles of her mother and there would be this feeling of r e g r e t in his heart every time, but he hid it well from her. he watched as ana nodded her head but squeeze her eyes tighter, her good hand came around and want to grab hold of the broken appendage.

miles shot forward then, bringing the chair with him, as he leaned over the short space between the edge of the bed and her body - his right hand wrapped around ana’s wrist before he pulled it away from the broken one, cradling it against her hip. the warmth of his touch all but caused her to shiver with relief that HE was in fact there. if she touched or even poked at the a r m it would hurt a lot more. “ doc said you weren’t allowed to touch it. ” ana whined again, turning her head so that she pushed it back into the pillow some more. a soft smile crossed miles’ lips, before he frowned, he could do nothing but listen to her. it hurt him to see her in so much pain - the meds weren’t coming around for another hour or so, he had to do something to take her mind of the broken bone. brown eyes focused on the side of her face, and he watched as a few tears spilled from her closed eyes. “ bear ... ” the nickname was still endearing and ana would never get tired of hearing it. “ bear, look at me. ”

“ it hurts ... ” she whispered, green eyes finally opening, moving her head ana sniffed and blinked a couple of times to get the tears out of her eyes, which meant more of them falling on her cheek. “ it really hurts, dad. ” miles sighed and leaned forward again before he pressed a kiss against her temple and then one against her forehead.

“ i know it does, kid. i know. ” he sat back on his chair and the hand that had still been holding onto her wrist, came up and smooth down her brown hair. “ just try and go back to sleep. the doc should be around with more meds soon. ” his voice was soft and warm, sleep still evident in his own voice.

“ are you going to stay ? ” the question left her lips almost a solid five minutes after they both went silent. nothing but miles stroking ana’s hair and his breathing evening out before she would jerk herself awake again. from the raising sun over her body, miles guessed that it was just rounding on five am. the two of them had plenty of time to get another bout of sleep in before he had to get up. ana had her eyes closed once more and miles was busy watching her - eyes like a hawk, moving over her body to make sure that nothing else was w r o n g with her, his hand subconsciously continued to move back and forth through her hair - which caused another soft smile to spread across the young girls lips, definitely a change from the frown.

“ ‘course i’m gonna stay. ” green eyes opened again, this time only half lidded and miles frowned again. “ shh, close them, tanaka. ” her full name was never used unless she was in trouble or he wanted her to DO something. a soft giggle escaped her lips, before miles stood up from the chair - pulling his hands from her body. a whine escaped her lips, eyes snapped fully open again, they both knew that she was never this clingy, but considering the hell she had been through just the day before they both didn’t mind being so close to each other. “ you’re not making me sleep in the chair. ” he answered her whine. “ roll over. ”

ana scoffed. “ you’ll push me out of the bed. ” she snipped back at him and miles gave a very similar sounding scoff as he helped ana move to the position she was in when she woke up, so that her broken arm was now resting against her hip - a rather more comfortable position if you asked her. miles then laid down on the bed - boots and all, before he turned his body towards her back.

“ you kick in your sleep. ” miles retorted as one arm came to rest above her head and then other gently rested underneath the broken one, almost cradling it protectively. “ if anything, you’ll be pushing me out. ” ana went to turn her head around, but the hand that was resting above her head - came down and pushed her back towards the window. ana giggled again. “ good night, tanaka. ” miles let his eyes slide shut, glad that his back wasn’t facing the door this way.

“ good night, dad. ” ana gave a content sigh and allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep - with miles behind her .. she felt safe. at least for now anyway.

[vibefrost]

Killervibe Week - Day 3: Time Travel

So this is basically an AU of the last episode in season 4, where instead of Barry and Iris’s daughter coming back from the future, it’s Cisco and Caitlin’s daughter instead, which of course freaks everyone out (especially Caitlin and Cisco) :)

The girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere, yet it was as though she’d been there all along. Cisco tried to keep up with the conversation around him, listening as people pointed out where they’d seen this strange girl before, and speculating on who she really was. Yet Cisco found himself caught off guard by her appearance. She just looked so familiar, with her slender build, bronze skin and chocolate brown hair. Her eyes reminded him of the color of caramel, and the way she smiled, albeit nervously, struck him as oddly recognizable.

“Who are you?” someone, probably Barry, asked, and then the strange girl locked eyes with him.

Have I seen her in a vibe? Cisco asked himself, but this familiarity came from his gut, not his mind. She almost looks like she could be—

“My name is Angelina Ramon,” she announced, her voice steady despite her apprehensive expression. “I’m your guy’s daughter, from the future.”

Cisco realized she had shifted her gaze away from him and onto someone else, and the realization hit Cisco harder than Barry’s super-sonic speed punch.

The smile, the eyes, the behavior. That’s why it all seemed so familiar, because it reminded him of his best friend.

It reminded him of—

“Wait, me?” Caitlin gasped, the glass in her hand falling to the living room rug. “You’re my—our—” she gave Cisco a fleeting glance before turning back to the young woman, “daughter?”

Angelina Ramon nodded, twisting her fingers together nervously. “I came because…I’m in trouble, and I’m afraid I’ve made a really big mistake.”

                                                            **

It had been three days since Angelina Ramon showed up and completely turned Cisco’s world upside down. He had always wanted to have a family with kids, but he never even dreamed he’d be meeting them before they were even conceived.

Or that Caitlin would be the mother of his children.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing though, Cisco reminded himself as he watched Caitlin run a DNA test on Angelina, just to be sure. I mean, Caitlin is beautiful and smart, and a great person overall. She’s probably a terrific mother.

It was just the fact that he had never once found himself having romantic feelings towards Caitlin that made the whole situation seem so much more bizarre. Would there be a sudden change in their relationship coming up soon? Were they married in the future? Did they have other children too? Cisco wanted to know all the facts, but Angelina would hardly reveal anything about their personal lives, except that she was their child.

He watched as Caitlin walked over to him after the test had been conducted, and sat down by his desk, staring at the tablet screen in her hands.

“Well?” he asked. “What’s the consensus?” He already knew she was without a doubt their daughter, but wanted to hear Caitlin acknowledge it for herself.

“She is extremely healthy, has perfectly working organs and strong bones, plus…a perfect mix of both of our DNA.” Caitlin finally looked up at him, her expression unreadable.

“So…” Cisco started, watching as Angelina enthusiastically interacted with Barry and Iris. “We have a daughter.”

“I suppose we do,” Caitlin replied.

Their eyes met, and despite the strangeness of the situation, Cisco couldn’t help but smile.

                                                            **

It was soon discovered that some twenty odd years in the future, metas were being hunted. Angelina explained to them all that there was a man, simply called “The Hunter,” that had the ability to drain metas of their power, and that Team Flash was in a desperate need of help.

“The majority of our team had lost their powers, leaving only me and Nora,” Angelina told everyone, as they all gathered in Star Labs to hear her story.

“Wait, who’s Nora?” Barry immediately interrupted, his expression inquisitive.

“Oh, um, your daughter. She’s a speedster too,” Angelina revealed, and then quickly resumed her story. “Anyway, I was supposed to go back in time to get you, but I kept stalling because I was sure there was another way around the problem without messing up the timeline.” She grimaced before continuing. “But because I delayed so long, The Hunter found us and ended up breaking into our facility and took my powers right after I opened a time-breach, but Nora didn’t know he took my powers so she pushed me through, and now I’m stuck here with no way to get back and she has no idea.”

Everyone was silent as they took in what she said.

“So what are your powers again?” Caitlin eventually asked.

Angelina smiled at her and Cisco before responding. “I can vibe. And I also can freeze things. Back home I’m called Crystal Vibe.”

“You inherited both of their meta powers?” Iris asked incredulously. “I didn’t know that was even possible.”

“Wait, you said you opened a time-breach,” Cisco pointed out. “And…what is that?”

Angelina blinked in surprise, and then softy laughed. “Right, sorry, you haven’t invented them yet. It’s a breach that lets you travel through different timelines, including the one you’re in.”

Cisco held up his hands. “Hold up—I invent time travel?”

Angelina laughed again, a sound that Cisco was coming accustomed to. “Uncle Barry kinda did it first, but you invented a version of it.”

When everyone had finished their questioning, Angelina left to catch up on some sleep, and Cisco found himself drawn to wherever Caitlin was.

“She is pretty cool, you have to admit,” Cisco said as he watched Caitlin clean her instruments in the med lab.

“Of course she is—she has us as parents,” Caitlin replied with a smile.

Cisco found himself wanting to make her smile more and more. He never noticed how happy it made him until now.

“Y’know,” Caitlin continued as she rinsed off her scalpel. “I never mentioned it earlier, but out of everyone I could’ve had a daughter with, I’m…I’m glad it was you. I know I can trust you with anything.”

Cisco wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or if she was actually blushing, but his heart leapt at her words.

Maybe the notion of him and Caitlin eventually hooking up wasn’t so absurd after all.

                                                            **

The real trouble started when The Hunter found a way to come to present-time Central City.

It was a complete surprise to all of them, and unfortunately caught them off guard. The Hunter burst into Star Labs, ominously moving through the corridors as he sought out more meta power to consume. Immediately, Iris ordered Cisco, Ralph, and Barry to flee the premises.

“You’re our three metas with powers, and we’ve got to keep you safe,” she commanded, disregarding all of their protests. “At least just hide until the Hunter has left, and then we’ll come up with a plan.”

Cisco hated it, but knew she was right. He breached Barry and Ralph out of Star Labs to the other side of the city, where they brainstormed ways to defeat The Hunter while awaiting Iris’s “all-clear” signal. Yet when they got the message and returned to Star Labs, they were met with an unpleasant sight.

Almost half of Star Labs had been demolished, or at least severely damaged. Apparently when The Hunter realized there were no metas there, he went into a rage and started destroying everything in his wake.

Cisco was annoyed, of course, but then he felt his heart stop in fear when Iris told them Caitlin had been injured in the attack, and wasn’t waking up. He rushed as quickly as he could to the Med Lab (or what was left of it) and saw Caitlin lying eerily still on the white bed, her face scratched and bruised. For two whole days he stayed by her side, trying everything her could to help her heal faster and wake her up, but as the hours stretched on so did his anxious thoughts.

He had known Caitlin for so long, and for so long they had been best friends, always laughing with each other and spending time together, whether it be at work or at their apartments, watching cheesy Netflix shows and giving a running commentary while gorging themselves on snacks. He didn’t think he could picture his life without her. He didn’t want to picture his life without her. He wanted to always have her by his side, to see her smile at his jokes and help comfort him when times grew tough. He wanted to be there and support her through all of her troubles and be there to celebrate her triumphs. He just wanted to be around her, whether they were saving the city or just going to the grocery store, he just wanted her, and that was when he realized that maybe, just maybe, he was in love.

It took another few days before Caitlin awoke form her coma, and Cisco had never felt more relieved when she did. He hadn’t been able to function properly without knowing if she was going to be okay, and he shared his worries with her once she was fully awake and oriented.

“Don’t be silly,” Caitlin chided fondly. “I couldn’t die. We have to have our daughter first, remember?”

All Cisco could do in response was grip her hand tightly and try not to cry.

                                                            **

Throughout the next few weeks the Star Labs team worked nonstop, trying to come up with a solution. They knew that The Hunter was somehow harboring all of the meta powers he’d stolen inside him, so they couldn’t just kill him or else all the powers would be lost. They needed to find a way to siphon the powers away from him so they could return them to their respective owners in the future, plus also find a way to get to the future.

“The speed force only goes to the past, so Barry can’t do it,” Angelina told them. “It has to be you, dad.” She had looked at Cisco with so much confidence, as though she knew he could find a way to time-breach, but Cisco was completely clueless. He had listened to his daughter try and coach him through how to do it, but no matter how hard he tried his efforts were useless.

“It’s impossible,” he groaned to Caitlin after Angelina suggested they take a break. “A time-breach is beyond anything I’ve ever tried before. It’s literally vibing apart the time continuum and jumping into the future!”

“I’m sure it just takes time,” Caitlin reassured him, squeezing his hand comfortingly. “But if anyone can do it, I know you can.”

Caitlin’s encouragement meant more to him than she probably knew. The following days he trained harder than ever before, willing himself to go beyond his limits to try and save the future. And every day, after his long training sessions were finally over, Caitlin was always there to give his shoulder a comforting squeeze, hold his weary hands, or even gently kiss his throbbing forehead. Their physical contact was becoming more and more common now than ever before, yet neither of them really noticed. It just seemed so natural to the both of them, as though it was always meant to be this way.

Eventually all of Cisco’s hard work paid off, and he finally discovered how to open a time-breach. Everyone congratulated him and was encouraged by his positive success, but the proud smile Caitlin gave him and the way she gently kissed his cheek was all the reward Cisco needed.

                                                           **

They team now had a way to get to the future, and soon they discovered a way to reverse the powers of The Hunter and take the meta powers back. All they needed was to lure The Hunter into walking through a time-breach to take him back to the future.

Together they all devised a plan where Barry would lure The Hunter to Star Labs again, only this time Cisco would be ready with a time-breach that Iris, Caitlin, and Angelina would knock him through. Then Barry, Cisco, and Angelina would follow The Hunter through the portal and use their siphoning ray to take his powers, and then distribute them to all the powerless metas. Then The Hunter would be locked up in Iron Heights, and Barry and Cisco would go home.

The plan seemed fairly stable, but Cisco was slightly apprehensive about all the unknown variables they didn’t account for. What happened if The Hunter didn’t take Barry as bait? What if The Hunter somehow stole Cisco’s powers before he could open the breach? Questions raced through his head, but he shook them off for the time being, focusing on the plan and what they did know instead.

“I guess this means I have to say goodbye to Angelina,” Caitlin said to him softly, after Iris told everyone to get into their places.

Cisco squeezed her hand. “We’ll see her again someday.” Caitlin nodded at his words.

Both of them had completely accepted the fact that they were going to have a child at some point in the future by now, and Cisco found himself looking forward to the time when they would actually start a family.

“Just be careful, all right?” Caitlin told him, reaching up to tuck a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. “The future can be a scary place.” She smirked as he rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he promised, and then drew her into a hug. He was about to pull away when Caitlin caught him by the arm, her deep brown eyes boring into his. Then without any sort of warning or preamble, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his own.

It was a short and sweet kiss, but it left Cisco breathless all the same. When she drew back she gave him a shy smile. “For luck,” she clarified, and then turned to go and bid goodbye to their future daughter.

Barry walked over a few minutes later, checking to make sure he was ready when he frowned, giving Cisco a wary look. “You looked dazed. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m feeling great,” Cisco assured, thinking about how that kiss was just the beginning of several more to come.

                                                             **

The plan went off without a hitch. The Hunter took the bait as planned, and Cisco was successfully able to transport everyone to the future. There Angelina used the gun on The Hunter and released all the stolen meta power, which was quickly returned to their rightful owners, and everything had been restored.

“Thank you so much,” Angelina told Cisco once everything was over, giving Barry time to talk to his future daughter Nora for a bit. “We never could’ve done this without you.”

“No problem,” Cisco said, and then cleared his throat before continuing. “And, uh, thank you as well. If you hadn’t come, I don’t think you would’ve ever been born.”

To his surprise, she shook her head with a laugh. “I don’t think that’s completely true. You and mom have always shared a special connection, even before I showed up. You would’ve found your way to each other eventually.”

Her words initially shocked him, but after a moment he began to see how she could be right. “You really think so?”

Angelina nodded confidently. “You’ve always been in love with her, I just helped you come to the conclusion a little faster.” She glanced around behind her. “Speaking of parents, I should find them. Well, I mean my current-time parents.” She giggled as her eyes lit up, so similar to Caitlin’s when she got excited. “Your future self is gonna freak when I tell him I met you and mom.”

Cisco smiled. “Freak him out good for me.” He then gave her a quick hug, and she was gone.

Once Barry had finished talking to Nora, he came back to Cisco, smiling widely. “I can’t wait to meet her in our timeline,” he said excitedly, and then the two of them jumped through Cisco’s time-breach back into Star Labs.

“You made it!” Iris exclaimed, racing over to Barry and embracing him. Cisco hardly took notice of them though, for his eyes were focused on Caitlin, and how she gave him a warm smile before coming over to embrace him as well.

Later that night, with their hands intertwined, Cisco and Caitlin sat on the roof of Star Labs, watching as the sun set and painted the sky with pinks and yellows.

“So…” Caitlin began, shooting him a playful smirk.

“So,” Cisco parroted, turning his head to face her.

“You think we should skip all the dating and stuff and just get busy on creating Angelina Ramon?”

Cisco nearly choked on his own breath at her words, but then saw a large grin split her face as she began laughing hard, tears sparkling in her eyes.

“Your face, Cisco, was priceless,” she managed to say while still laughing.

Cisco couldn’t help but laugh along with her, and once they had eventually calmed down he turned to her, his demeanor more serious. “I do want to start a family with you,” he admitted, rubbing his thumb gently across her knuckles. “But I want to start out properly.” He glanced up at Caitlin, noting the affection in her eyes as she stared at him. “So, how does a date sound?”

“It sounds perfect,” Caitlin responded softly, almost glowing due to the sun shining on her hair.

This time Cisco leaned forward and captured her mouth with his own, and enjoyed the feeling of her soft lips and the sweet smell of her caramel hair. He soon became lost in the kiss, thinking of nothing but Caitlin and how he was the luckiest man in the multiverse.

The future looked bright for them, and for the moment, that was all he needed to know.

[awellboiledicicle]

I had a dream last night that I was in Fallout 4 via moving in with one of my mutuals who had inherited a fortune from an uncle that they didn’t really give a shit about, but they and their husband were friends with me via my blog? So they invited me to live in Boston with them because they had a new fancy house and my parents were More Shit Than Usual?

So i moved in and appearantly they also had a smol son named Shaun [yup] and I liked playing with him because i do like children, i just get tired easily? But Nate and Nora [this should have been more of a hint tbh] paid for my meds too so i had more energy and i helped care for Shaun and I got to meet their nanny? It was literally Codsworth, but he was this British guy that went to college with Nate? And he was Indian and had a fantastic mustache that i cannot find something even vaugly like online ok. Like this but with a very nicely cultivated facial hair that he would wiggle to make Shaun giggle.

Apparently Nate and Codsworth met in England because Nate was half English and had school together and Codsworth had gone on to be in the army, and fight in some of the resource wars. He ended up being honorably discharged due to an injury to one of his legs, and Nate came all the way to the UK to take him from the airport to his flat, and then offered Codsworth a spot in their apartment? Nora was going to be mad but really couldn’t be, because in Fallout once you’re discharged in the resource wars, not shit is coming your way. Then again the only reason they got enough rations to feed them all was because Nate was going through training for his entrance in the war with China or Mexico depending on which came first? And Canada was mid-uproar about troops going through their boarders, and the only people raising hell in the US was bloggers like me years later and people protesting on the ground.  That is of course, before the new plague.

So, there we all were in this new house, life having spiraled from Dumpster Fire to ‘The New Plague is loose, We are at active War, And Death Is Occurring’ and people were responding about as well as you would expect. Nora was suing the government for years, Nate had hardly been home since the government had started releasing Deathclaws into groups of protesters--- there was as much world wide outrage as there could be, but honestly it just lead to armed protest and more people dying or being too afraid to protest, or terrifying revelations about government experimentation after a server was hacked and leaked to the rogue social media accounts. I remember i was going to Temple in a synagogue that had reinforced the whole building with concrete and more or less made itself into a vault because we were all too terrified of people vandalizing and attacking people.  Codsworth refused to let me leave the house without something to defend myself, and he carried at least 4 different knives and one gun on his person at all times. He and Nora also took enough chems to not just stress themselves to death that i worried about their health. I didn’t take anything aside my meds because all the chems were New Things to me, 1, and 2 i had no idea what they’d do to me.

Nate came back from Alaska and told us he didn’t think things were going well, especially since he was sent home after refusing to follow some order or another-- he just got a haunted look and wouldn’t tell even Nora what the order was?  It was a couple days later when the VaultTec guy showed up, only it wasn’t “VaultTec” they called it “Shelter Solutions” and let me tell you even dream me only went with listening to this fidgetty white man in a suit in a time of panic because Nora let him into our home. She told me to go get Nate and he said for me to help Nora fill it out, and she said I was a sibling to them, so i could. She asked the Rep if we’d all fit in the vault and he said yes, just not the pets. I was so sad. But we got all the things filled out and in a bolt of inspiration I asked for directions to the Vault because yes, Sanctuary Hills, ye, but I know i am bad at directions and my sentimental Jewish ass will stop to help people and hardening my heart and thinking about directions would be the only way to survive. 

Because like fucking clockwork, Shaun started crying and Codsworth and Nate-- they’d been trying to play with him and hadn’t really succeeded. Nate had tried to use a little rubber bat and Shaun Did Not Approve. Codsworth’s mustache wiggle didn’t appease.  Nora got up and went to go calm down the kiddo. I was frozen on the couch, watching the news-- it was a habit, by then. It was in black and white, not because of technology, not because of culture, but because it was the Rebel News Source. Some really damn brave black people, probably Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans had started a roaming news station that jacked into the internet connections pretty much every american had: the phone line. Hook a line to your tv and your wall, you get the channel and your phone. Or, at least that was the logic. They’d talk about what was coming in regarding protests, what was actually happening out there, what the government was actually doing.  Park the van, broadcast the relevant info as you get it, run.  The guy sitting on camera right then was masked, not uncommon, and talking about how the larger black communities in New Orleans were being hit with another wave of the New Plague as well as something else getting in the water. He was scarred up and down his arms, not from fighting, though you could see some of those scars were defiantly from that. Nah, stimpaks and too many desperate stabs of Med-x and Rad-x. Radaway. You get protesters walking past those “new energy efficient” radiation powered cars-- i did like them for their lack of carbon foot print, but the price in a crash no-- and you give the soldiers coming for them a ready made bomb.  He was part way though talking about how to tell if a water source was tainted, and how to tell if someone is sick, when someone shoved some papers in his face. I was yelling before he reacted. I was grabbing things, my meds and the extras and all the chems i could as they all came in to the words over the tv. “What the-- Shit, fuck. They did it. They did it. They dropped the bombs, get to fucking cover, guys. Confimed flashes over New york and DC! Yo, Tyrone step o--” Static. Sirens and screaming.

“Run.”

So, they say when the first atom bomb was tested in the desert a blind woman several thousand miles away perceived the flash. Or at least, that’s a story that people who like the power of the bombs like to wave around with glee, instead of the fact that when they were first tested the scientists who fabricated them didn’t know if the whole of earth’s atmosphere would be destroyed.  This is something that was at the forefront of my mind about the time we were, as a family, running to the elevator down to the vault. I tripped on the ledge.  Codsworth paused to help me up, and i pushed him onto the platform as it started going down. The flash didn’t do anything for my vision about the time i threw myself into the chasm before the lid closed. I landed hard, but most it did was put out my back, because I have the annoying ability to handle long falls and sit there blinking while Codsworth drags me through the scanners.  I was ushered into another room than the three of them, and I worried. I knew how this went. I knew. I managed to make it past nuclear fire and i was going to die because of bad cryogenics. Then again, there were differences already, massive ones, perhaps it was enough, perhaps perhaps. They had me get dressed, and this lone scientist was eventually the only one with me. I was an extra. Everyone else supposed to be in this room hadn’t made it. I asked to wait to get inside until my eyes cleared a bit, and she allowed it. I asked how long the decontamination would take, watching from the side of my vision. She said, with some fidgeting, that it would take only a few moments. I asked, if that was the case, why was there a need for so many pods? Surely they could have saved money with two or so and had people stand back. She agreed but stated Shelter Solutions didn’t ask her.  I asked if there was a copy of the Torah in the Shelter, and she said she didn’t know. I asked why there needed to be insulation tubes to and from the decontamination pod if it was for that. She was silent. I said that I could see, by then, and that i knew we were not here to decontaminate. She asked what I wanted to do with that information. I said that I had studied biology and microbiology, and much of science, and as a scientist to another, i wanted to know if it would be possible to survive someone overriding the freeze and then refreezing everyone. She said yes, so long as the failsafe’s are in tact. I asked if there was a way they would not be. She said only if someone turned them off. I asked her, plainly, as a person of science to another, to please protect those failsafe’s. Because I would go into the pod, but my family is in the other room and i need them safe.  She agreed and shook my hand.  When the mutiny against the Overseer occurred, she hacked through his systems and protected the failsafe. Not only because I asked, but because she’d looked at the data they’d gotten from outside and didn’t want the people they had ‘saved’ to wake up and see it.

When Kellog came through, he could awaken people and keep them locked in, but not kill them that way. He didn’t really seem to care to. Nate had been holding Shaun, and he put up a fight Kellog didn’t see coming. He didn’t expect the protective curling and kicking, and lunging and biting his wrist and not letting go because he realized Kellog was after Shaun and harming him wasn’t an option. It was, but Nate wouldn’t accept that. He died regardless, but he tried. Nora cracked her window, and kept punching. She couldn’t refreeze, but she tried mightily to come for Kellog and he could respect that. If he didn’t need a back up. Codsworth knew better than to do anything than watch in horror. Or, specifically, he had no better way to react. He was refrozen angry and with tears on his face. I sat still and I waited to either die or awaken in time to find my friends angrily looking for their son.

What happened was i was awoken to Codsworth, face ice-burnt from his crying and wet from new mourning, and also incredibly angry ripping open my pod and shaking me to make sure i was alive.  “Mok, Mok-- Oh thank G-d you’re alive.” “Codsworth? Oh, oh g-d where are--” “Dead, they- someone killed Nate and Nora. They, they took Shaun and all the others are frozen! The bastards froze us!” “Wh- What? Both of them? They can’t both-” “Yes, and I’ve looked around, there’s skeletons, i think we and the stiffs are the only ones left. We must find Shaun, we must.” I just kinda stared at him for a second and nodded. 

We basically ended up wandering around being disabled angry “where is our communally raised child” seeking people and helping where we could and i kept adopting every child we saw and Codsworth kept telling me not to jump into the middle of Bullshit in spite or being the physical embodiment of Getting Into Bullshit. “Oh look Someone Having A Problem” “Mok, no” “I’m just saying” “Well OK”

He became general of the minutemen while I mostly planned settlements and made food. Because giant pots of soup are needed. Then he’d inevitably fuck off with a squad of people because someone made a passing comment about how a single raider looked at them sideways from a half mile away. And i’d be looking around with a scope like ‘where the fuck is he’. He also talked shit every chance he got about Mac because he and I would have shooting contests because look. I too am short, don’t walk too fast, and my teeth are fucked, but we both like money and can shoot good. I appreciate this. But when we’re doing this, occasionally Codsworth would feel left out and take a shot at what we were aiming at and just be a show off.

Hancock was very jealous of the mustache though. Said Codsworth was too dang classy for Goodneighbor. I ruined it by pointing out Codsworth used to do the squishy neck roll thing to make Shaun laugh and he never forgave me.

What i’m saying is please imagine me, as Me, and an Indian Codsworth, and a group of followers that kinda just roll with two disabled messes that are half informed about the world via 4th wall break, taking on the Institute.

Because we did.  I chewed Father out too btw. A whole 20 mins of “How dare you, young man, your parents would be ASHAMED, ASHAMED I TELL YOU.”