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i-know-you-can · 4 years ago

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The Story of Us - It takes a village

Time flies and it’s been a little while since I added anything new to my collection of short one shots/drabbles but a few days ago a wonderful idea by @tikigoddess caught my attention and wouldn’t let me go. You can find the original post here or if you don’t want to be spoiled

Read below or on Ao3

“Are you sure you guys are gonna be fine on your own? I can just tell Veronica to reschedule. Or maybe we can stay in. I’m sure she could bring the whole spa over here if she wanted.”

“Betts,” Jughead says, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her nervous rambling, the other hand cradling their baby daughter against his chest. “We’ll be just fine. Mia will probably sleep most of the time you’re away anyway while I’ll try to get some writing done. No need to worry about us.”

It’s been only six weeks since Mia Isabella Jones has entered their lives, causing everything they do to stop and focus on her. And while Jughead is more than willing to do that, assuming the role of a full time dad with pride, he’s also still a husband, one of his duties being that he needs to force his wife to take time for herself and relax.

“But what if...” Betty tries to protest but Jughead stops her.

“No what ifs. You’re only going to Greendale. If something were to happen, which it won’t, Veronica’s driver will have you back in no time.”

With a resigned sigh Betty nods and Jughead knows just how she feels. Every moment spent away from their daughter feels like forever. And for someone as young as her, it probably is. Even though she spends most of her day sleeping, completely unaware of her parents’ presence.

“I’ll miss this sweet face,” Betty says, her lips down-turned as she strokes Mia’s cheek, the little girl rewarding her with a toothless smile.

“I’ll miss yours too.” Jughead grins, making her chuckle. “But it’s only a few hours and you deserve time for yourself.”

Just then a car honks outside of their house, signaling Veronica’s arrival.

With dozen kisses to Mia’s face and a few spare for him, Betty is out of the door, finally leaving the father-daughter duo alone.

“It’s just you and me kiddo,” Jughead whispers and for a moment he worries Mia will feel the lack of her mother’s presence and break into tears. He sure would in her place. But instead she just lets out a quiet gurgle and snuggles into his chest.

“I know, I’ll miss mommy too,” he says, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Not sure if more for her comfort or his. “But I promise we’ll have fun.”

Jughead may have exaggerated the term fun when twenty minutes later Mia is sleeping soundly in her crib while he stares at the blank screen of his computer, willing the words to come to him. It’s difficult to get into the zone though, as a thought in the back of his mind keeps nagging him, telling him he’s forgetting something important. He’s ran through the mental checklist of baby care twice already, making sure his daughter was safe and satisfied but the feeling doesn’t go away.

It’s only when his phone rings and a frustrated “Jones, where are you? We’ve been waiting for twenty minutes.” comes from the other end that he realizes what he’s been forgetting this whole time. The monthly Serpents’ meeting.

While the previous month, due to Mia being barely two weeks old, Toni, as his second in command, lead the meeting, this month Jughead promised to check back in himself. A thought that quickly slipped his mind in the hustle and bustle of his everyday life.

What was once a five minute bike drive now turned into half an hour as Jughead triple checked the contents of the diaper bag before loading Mia into the car seat and setting off towards the White Wyrm. By the time he arrives, the Serpents are already waiting, faces predictably twisted with annoyance that quickly dissipates and turns into smiles once they notice the sleeping baby strapped to his chest. His daughter does tend to have that sort of effect on people.

“Sorry for the delay, guys,” Jughead says as they all settle into their chairs, “but as you can see, I have a very cute excuse.”

It’s barely ten minutes later when he’s running his hand through his hair in frustration. He’s forgotten how these meetings can sometimes go, especially with new members of the gang and without Betty by his side to shut them up with a single look before they have a chance to say something stupid.

“It’s just weed. What’s the big deal?” the newest member of the gang, a self-nicknamed guy called Sniper, asks, crossing his arms. He looks like a toddler about to throw a tantrum and Jughead hoped he was at least two years away from having to deal with that.

“The Serpents don’t deal drugs. It’s one of the main rules and you know that,” Jughead says, trying to keep his tone firm and serious. He knows that the adorable baby strapped to his chest may be making it a bit more difficult to take him seriously but he tries anyway.

Sniper rolls his eyes with an exaggerated huff, muttering something about the gang being boring. Then he pulls out a pack of cigarettes but Toni slaps the lighter out of his hand before he can light one.

“Are you crazy? There is a baby here,” she says, her eyes flaming with anger.

“Yeah, and Fangs has asthma. The Wyrm is a strict no smoking zone,” Sweet Pea growls, standing up to tower over the new guy for emphasis.

Sniper takes a quick look around him, as if wondering whether anyone will back him up, but the other Serpents just shake their heads and send him disapproving looks. “What kind of stupid gang is this?” he grumbles, kicking a chair angrily.

The sudden noise startles Mia from her slumber, a loud wail piercing through the air in an instant.

“See? Now you made the baby cry. Get out of here!” Sweet Pea snarls, pushing him towards the exit.

Jughead’s hand immediately comes up to Mia’s back, trying to soothe her with gentle strokes. “It’s okay, sweetie,” he talks to her in the softest voice possible, “sorry that poopy head woke you up.” He hears a couple of people snicker at his choice of words but ignores them, bouncing lightly on his feet, hoping to quickly put her back to sleep. The first three weeks of her life, bouncing on a fitness ball was the only sure-fire way to get her to sleep but Betty and Jughead have since moved on from bringing the ball with them everywhere so this is the most he can do now.

The little girl isn’t having it though, her tiny face scrunching up and her cries growing louder. Some of the Serpents, mostly the ones who don’t have kids on their own, start looking uncomfortable, clearly not sure how to deal with the situation. A crying baby is not a common problem during gang meetings.

“Let me hold her. Maybe she’s just sick of all the testosterone in the air,” Toni says and after a moment of hesitation Jughead carefully extracts Mia from the baby carrier.

“Be careful,” he tells her and she shoots him a look that says: “ I know what I’m doing better than you do.” . He supposes she’s right. After all, she has her own tiny person at home and therefore a lot more experience than he does. Still, it doesn’t stop him from worrying whenever he hands his daughter to someone else.

Toni’s presence doesn’t seem to help though, as Mia continues to prove to everyone how strong her lungs are.

“Let me try,” an older Serpent comes up to Toni, reaching his hands out for the baby. “My girls always liked to be rocked in a specific way.”

Jughead runs his hand through his hair, wondering how the direction of the meeting changed so quickly. Ah, right, Sniper was being an idiot.

Betty often teases him about how the Serpents have hardly resembled a gang in the past half a decade. He usually tries to oppose her, saying that a gang isn’t defined by doing criminal activities or riding motorcycles (many of the Serpents have exchanged theirs for family cars). But looking at them now, all he sees is a group of dorks in leather jackets, passing along a crying baby in a poor attempt to get her to stop crying.

“Your ugly face is only making her cry more.” He hears Sweet Pea say to a Serpent called Hisser who is trying to pull funny faces at Mia, before taking the baby from him. “Babies like being sung to,” he says, taking a deep breath before a slightly husky rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star reverberates through the bar.

“You’re singing it wrong,” Fangs interrupts him, starting the song again and several other Serpents start humming alongside him.

To everyone’s surprise, by the time they finish the song for the second time, the crying stops, Mia’s bright green eyes half closed and heavy with sleep.

“We did it, boss!” Fangs whisper yells in excitement as Sweet Pea continues to rock the baby in his arms until her eyes close completely.

As Jughead watches them, he realizes he could hardly ask for a better family for his daughter. Raising a child really takes a village. And sometimes that village is a group of gang member singing lullabies in a bar.

_______________

“Oh my god!” Betty exclaims with a giggle as a video of the Serpents singing to her daughter plays on her phone. Underneath a message from Toni says: "The Serpent Princess already has them wrapped around her tiny finger.”

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #betty x jughead #bughead fic #betty cooper #jughead jones #riverdale #my fanfiction

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thehammondlegacy · 4 years ago

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Our Willow Creek Royals’ One Year Anniversary!!! - A Big Rewind

We have done it!! Today is my blog’s one year anniversary and I cannot believe we have reached this moment! We all know this has been a tragic year with the Co-vid19 hitting the world, the cruel murder of George Floyd, the fires in Australia, Brazil and Argentina, and so many more tragic situations. However, I always try to look on the bright side and I have to say that writting this blog for you is the brightest things I had this year. So thank you so much for sticking with me for a whole year! I hope you are all doing well at home ♥

So because my blog is now one year old, I wanted to go back to the most important moments of the Hammond Family with a little insight to the planning and writting. There are A LOT, so I may divide this rewind into four posts, so you don’t get too overwhelmed. At the end of the rewind, I’ll be sharing with you a gift for this holidays and to celebrate the anniversary :) The first three pictures you can see above are my first three portraits, back when Emilia was the Queen and Margaret was a cute toddler. I’m going to share some of the first moments here today for your to review. I hope you like it!!

1) Andrew being introduced to the realm: So you all may already noticed but Andrew is probably my favourite character from his generation. Of course, everyone doesn’t agree with me because of his past with the ladies, but Andrew is a good man, and I was very happy when he came to this world :P

2) Henry’s coronation: Ok, THIS EVENT! My god, it was a real challenge back then! I had no idea of how to make a coronation, and I didn’t even know if any other royal simblrs (at the time we were 7 I think!) to send their sims, so I was so nerveous and stressed!! Here is were I have to thank four people that really inspired me and helped through this first year, and those simblrs are: @thesimmonarchy, @royaltysimblr, @thesimpireblr and @batsfromwesteros I mean, I only had 60 followers back then (which was unbelievable to me!) and, to be honest, I didn’t think they will agree on working with me, but they did!! This was my first royal event ever and I’m so grateful to all the four of you for sending your sims ♥

3) Isabella’s first portrait with the family: And then there were three!! Believe it or not, after Andrew was born, I didn’t plan this particular pregnancy! As you may have noticed at my throwback series with Henry and Sofia, there is post where Henry is talking to Sofia’s belly (to Margaret) and he mentions that they will only have two kids. HA! Well, that was my plan! But these two did what they pleased! Something that I really like is to let te game decide some parts of the story cause, otherwise, it stops being fun to me. So we could say Isabella was a beautiful accident, lol.

4) Margaret becomes the Crown Princess / First Royal Portrait: Ahhh my Crown Princess! For a moment, my story was all about Margaret, wasn’t it? Well, I have to say that I really enjoyed playing with teen Margaret, and now I get to play with her once more with the new throwback series :)

5) Emilia’s passing: No body probably cares about this after I’ve shown you how cruel this sim was to our good old Henry, but this death OMG!! I was so depressed! Emilia was the first sim that I saw being born in the story, and her death was so sad to me! (I know she looks different from the throwback series, but I was using anothe skin overlay back then, and I changed it for the series.)

6) Margaret’s first visit to Oasis Springs: Oh, the moment! So, this is the moment I’m currently showing you with the new throwback series. Margaret visited Oasis Springs with her great aunt Amelia, and she met Cristobal then. They actually met when they were kids, but it was a formal situation, so it doesn’t count. I was so scared when I introduced Cristobal to all of you because of what was going to happen later on, but you were all very happy with him.

7) Margaret and Cristobal dating: And of course, they dated for like 3 sim years? Timing is not really my thing :P So, this was the time when things started to go wrong, actually. We all know the story, BUT what I had in mind was totally different back then. I was actually going to kill Cristobal in order to ruin Margaret’s life. Yeah, I was so mean! But then I changed my mind and decided to do something... less painful? I recently used this with Isabella’s boyfriend Logan.

8) Henry and Sofia welcome the twins: Again, another pregnancy! So, as you know, I play with several households cause there’s no way all my characters can live in the same house, so when I’m done playing with one I move to the other. I was playing with George’s household, and then I came back to Henry’s and - shocking!- Sofia was pregnant again! I don’t know if this happens to every other creator, but that’s what usually happens to me. I leave to play with another household, and when I come back, someone is pregnant! Anyway, the twins were born and that was another big surprise.

8) Andrew becoming a teen: This was the moment when people started to notice Andrew, lol. So, you probably don’t remember, but one mystery follower had a crush on Andrew, this person would usually send anons asking about him or throwing shade at his girlfriends.

9) The twins’ first portrait with the family: I love this portrait, even though the lighting is terrible! I remember thinking “This is it! This is the complete royal family!” But I didn’t know of Henry and Sofia’s plans!!

10) Cristobal’s engagement to Alice: And I guess the 10th moment goes to Cristobal and his engagement to poor Alice Stone (she wasn’t poor, she had a horrible marriage.) How could we forget about the time when Prince Cristobal announced his engagement to Alice on the same day Margaret turned 21?! This was something I hated doing, but that really boosted the interaction with you guys! After this, a lot of people started sending asks and throwing hate at Cristobal and his family. Well, you may do that again since we are going to see this from the inside on the new throwback series!

To be continued.

#WillowCreek #WillowCreekRewind #RoyalFamilyOfWillowCreek #WillowCreekRoyals

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mirkwoodshewolf · 4 years ago

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A longtime affair revealed ; Brian May x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well be prepared to do some binge reading because for my Rock Angel series I’ve got 3 chapters ready for ya’ll. Now for this one, I just wanna let you all know THIS IS PURELY FANFICTION!!! In this chapter we’re gonna get into how the Rock Angel soon found out about Brian and Anita. Now like I told my Wattpad followers and readers, if this causes any wars, harrassment or bullying in ANY SHAPE OR FORM. THIS. CHAPTER. WILL. BE. DELETED!!!

I’m writing through how the Rock Angel would react plus a bit of combination on facts that I have gotten from seeing/reading interviews from Brian about this topic.

Warnings: Angst, cheating, affairs, swearing, more angst, maybe fluff (if you squint).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@simonedk

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@platawnic

@queensdivas

@kairosfreddie

@queendeakyy

@geek-and-proud

@onebigfangirlworld

@naturalswifty89

@starswin

@dj-lowkey

@isabella-bby

@labessieisallama

@5sos-wdw

@bohemiansweede

____________________________________________________________

*April 14th, 1988. LA home*

Now don’t get me wrong, I love having the guys over and my door is always open to them but—this is just weird. To brush you all up, around late February just a couple weeks after my birthday, Brian shows up out of nowhere on our doorstep in our home in LA wanting to stay with us for a while.

He didn’t give us any rhyme or reason just that he needed to be out of the country for a bit. So Jack and I welcomed him in and he’s been a great help around the house. Helping with the laundry, cleaning the place, taking care of Kelly, and he’s also been helping me produce my music.

Since Queen hasn’t decided to do another tour in the past 2 years, Rog and Bri took this time to do some solo works. Freddie also did a couple of solo stuff and Deacy’s worked with a different band playing the bass for them but his days are just spending it with Ronnie and the little Deaklings.

But back to Brian. He’s been so secretive lately, late night phone calls (and I’m talking about phone calls at like 3am our time), wanting to keep certain letters or mail to himself, and anytime I mentioned Chrissie at all, he’d get all tense and try to leave the room by making up some excuse regarding Kelly or working on his next solo project.

One night at almost 4o’clock in the morning, I woke up cause I was thirsty. So quietly I went downstairs to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of milk. But just as I poured myself a cup and was about to drink it, I could hear the soft murmuring voice of Brian out on the back deck.

“I know, I know. I just needed to get away for a bit, besides, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the Kline family and they are important to me.” I silently stalked towards the back door to see Brian standing with the cordless phone up to his ear. “I’ll be back by the end of the week. I love you too, bye.” He spoke with such love as he made his declaration of love.

Okay maybe I’m being paranoid but he couldn’t be—no not Brian Harold May. There’s no way he could be cheating. Could he? No, no, no, no, no snap out of it! Just because it happened to you (and Dominique, god I wish I could just slug Roger sometimes) but there’s no way that Brian could do something like this.

I heard him sigh as he now sat on one of the lawn chairs we had along the back deck while I silently snuck back to the kitchen and quietly rinsed off my cup after I downed the milk. After putting it in the dishwasher I snuck back upstairs and fell right back asleep.

The next morning I had made a full buffet for breakfast for my two hungry boys, myself, and my baby girl.

“Okay here we go breakfast. The most important meal of the day. Eggs Sunnyside up, bacon on a side of toast. A stack of humungous chocolate chip pancakes which do smell incredible, if I do say so myself. And for my favorite guitarist Jelly filled muffins, and wholesome banana bread with tofu dogs and a tall glass of OJ.”

“Alright mama lioness, thank you.” Jack praised as he cut his Sunnyside egg and ate the piece of it.

“Ba bou mama.” Kelly thanked me in her baby tongue.

“You are most welcome my loves.”

“It really does look delicious (Y/n).” Brian told me. While the three of us began eating our meal, Brian just sat there with his hands in his lap staring at his food.

“You’re not hungry again?” Jack questioned as he paused from eating his bacon. I set my knife and fork down and said as I walked up to him.

“Okay what’s going on?” Brian looked at me humming in confusion. “Last night for dinner you hardly touched my veggie lasagna, which you say is my best dish ever, and now you don’t want breakfast. Bri are you sure you’re not sick?” I cupped his face in my hands trying to feel for a fever.

“I’m fine darling, really I am.” He took my hands off his face and kissed the back on my right one.

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m fine just—a little tired is all. Hadn’t really been sleeping well these past few days.” I raised my brow at him skeptically. I hummed suspiciously as I went back to my seat and finished up my breakfast.

After breakfast, Jack went to work selling cars (ever since we officially decided to stay in LA around last year, Jack got a job at a local car dealership. It pays well whenever I wasn’t working and it’s nice to see two breadwinners instead of it just being me).

While I was cleaning up the dishes and Brian was cleaning up Kelly of the chocolate from the chocolate chip pancakes she wanted to devour I said to him.

“Hey Brian.”

“Yeah poppet?”

“You know there are additional ways to try and go to sleep that don’t involve raising my phone bill.”

“Wait you knew?”

“Bri, I have a toddler that still wakes me up every now and again. I’m sorta trained to wake up at odd hours in the morning, even when she doesn’t need me. So who is it that you keep calling at odd hours of the night and risking a higher raise on my bill? Cause I sure as hell know it’s not Miami or the guys.”

“It’s uhh—it’s uhh well it’s…..Chrissie!”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, yeah. She-she’s just been wanting to check up on me. In fact she’s in New York for a conference.”

“Ahh I see. So you wanted to call Chrissie at a time that was convenient for her because of the time difference.”

“Yes! Exactly because of the time difference!” Brian cheered. I turned off the tap and dried my hands off agreeing with Brian. I then took my baby girl out of her high chair as I told him point blank,

“So you waited until it was 1am her time. That makes perfect sense.” His face dropped but he suddenly blurted out.

“Actually!” my brow raised at him challengingly. He better come up with the best lie right now. Hell he calls me a bad liar, well he’s even worse, especially once he’s put under the radar. “It was 7pm her time. See while she was in New York for business, she’s now been transferred to—Paris.” What?

But doing that cute little nod of his and smiling confidently, he thought he could make it believable. I would’ve continued on but I was gonna be late if I kept at it.

“Nice save.” I took Kelly into the living room and set her down in her play pin where she grabbed her stuff lion that Roger gave her for her birthday. “Alright look Bon Jovi, I know you’re producing my new album but I need you to stay here and look after Kelly since Jack is working late today and we can’t find a sitter for her. Besides Elton’s coming over for our duet song today so we can handle that.”

“Okay sure. I can keep little Kelly company. Maybe we can go for an outing in the park today.”

“No outings! Remember what that bastard reporter did last month when all of us were out?” long story short, a vulgar male photographer from an LA tabloid stalked me, Brian, Jack and Kelly while we were out for a spring picnic. He even went as far as to shove his camera in my baby’s face.

Had it not been for Brian and Jack holding me back, I would’ve knocked that camera right into his eye. And he’d have a camera lens for an eye for the next 20 years cause technology of today wouldn’t be able to get it out of him less he dies.

Needless to say, my name went on the tabloids the next day as Rock Angel throws Raging Rampage! Of course I did my explanation to a radio station in England and now it’s divided fans on whether I was in the wrong or right to do that.

“Oh yeah. Okay fine, we can find some stuff to do here, can’t we Kelly?” she babbled as she continued to play with her stuffed lion. “See?”

“Okay. But—promise you’ll call if anything comes up.”

“No worries mama, I can handle things from here. We’ll see you both tonight. This time I’ll cook dinner.” He said as he came up to me, cupped my face and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. Looking down at me with those soft blue eyes finally made me submit to his will.

“Okay, love you both.” I kissed Brian’s cheek before going over to my baby girl and gave her many kisses all over her cheek and finally heading out the door to work with Elton on our duet song.

Later that night both Jack and I returned home exhausted and tired from a long day. As we met up in the driveway of our home, we met each other and kissed each other.

“How was your day love? Sell any good cars?”

“Yep. Managed to sell off this old ’79 corolla that’s been in the shop since they came out. And for a good price too.”

“Excellent.”

“And how was working with Elton John? You know my mom would die if she found out. She’s a huge Elton John fan, ever since she was a teenager.”

“I know. She showed me her collection of Elton vinyl’s she’s collected in the past. But working with Elton is—certainly a challenge. I mean David was tough enough but Elton—yeesh. But they both are my idols and dearest friends. They have their own way of doing things, and you have to find a compromise.”

“I’ll bet.” Just before we went back inside the house, we saw walking right up the sidewalk a women around her 30’s possibly even 40 years old. She had curly red hair, and she had that vibrant glow about her.

“Ohh sorry, I figured you both would still be out. But I guess it had to come out eventually.” I turned to Jack and he said alarmed.

“I swear baby I have no idea who this woman is.” I turned back towards the woman and said.

“Can we help you Miss?”

“Oh right, sorry. I’m just here to return Brian’s jumper that he left at my place.” His jumper? At her place?

“Okay well I can just give it to him, and—how exactly do you know Brian? And no offense ma’am but how did you get my address?” she softly laughed. Laughed? What the—why the hell was she laughing?! Is this chic on something?

“No worries darling I’m not some deranged fangirl or anything. Freddie told me where Brian was staying at. I’m Anita Dobson.”

Wait, wait I know that name. Yeah I know exactly who she is. She’s an actress from the soap opera EastEnders. She’s also a singer and rumors have been speculating about her and Brian—oh god no! Oh HELL NO!!

At that point my fist clenched up and my breathing grew sharp and heavy. I turned back towards the house and stormed towards it.

The door slammed open and I cried out.

“BRIAN HAROLD MAY!! GET YOUR FUCKING ARSE DOWN HERE NOW!!” I heard a thunderous and rapid pacing of footsteps coming down the stairs as Brian with a horrified look on his face.

“What the hell (Y/n) you’re gonna wake up your own daughter.”

“Oh no you don’t get to talk back to me after what you’ve done!”

“What did I do? I-I-I-I hadn’t done anything.”

“You call this not doing anything!?” at that moment Jack came inside the house with Anita. Nervous she waved at Brian and greeted him.

“Hello Brian.”

“Anita? Wha—what are you doing here? I told you I would be back by the end of the week.”

“I know, I know but—you know that jumper you left over at my place at New Years, I found it.” She then took out Brian’s jumper that I had given him as a Christmas present the first time I spent my first Christmas with them.

I crossed my arms over my chest as Brian awkwardly came down the rest of the stairs and took his jumper back.

“Thanks love.”

“Someone better start talking or I swear heads will roll.” I threatened. Both Brian and Anita shifted on their feet as Brian said.

“(Y/n), Jack. Anita and I—well……we’ve been…..we’ve been seeing each other.”

“As in—”

“Yes Jack. Anita and I have been very secretly involved with each other.” At that point everyone went silent. At this point I was beyond pissed off. This was just like seven years ago when I caught Adam with that blonde bitch Becky in our bed shagging each other. Now here was Brian.

Brian May! One of the four men who helped comfort me the day after I found out I had been cheated on. And now here he was doing, what my dick of a boyfriend did, to Chrissie!

I just……I couldn’t even look at him.

“Look. I—I didn’t mean to impose, especially to you (Y/n), maybe I shouldn’t have come.” You think?! “Maybe I should go?”

“No, no Anita I can’t have you walking out this late all alone.” Brian said as he took hold of her hand.

“Well where am I gonna sleep, here?”

“Whoa-ho!” I warned them. They looked at each other and Brian said.

“We’ll go to a hotel. I think uhh—after tonight I—might not be welcomed back here.” Anita looked at Brian and said.

“If you insist.” They walked towards the door. I beat them to the front door and locked it saying in a low, threatening tone.

“No you’re not.”

“No we’re not.” Anita enforced as she and Brian walked away from the front door. “If you both go to a hotel you’re gonna be—” I tried to ease out my breathing trying to get them mental picture out of my brain. “Doing things. I want you both where I can see you!”

“Wait you’re gonna keep an eye on us?” Brian asked in a ‘are you serious’ manner.

“That’s right Brian Harold May and I don’t care how old you are. As long as you live under my roof, you’ll obey by my rules! And that means no sleeping with your girlfriend.”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding, she can be a fierce lioness.” I heard Anita whisper to Brian and he nodded.

“Now Anita, there’s a guest room down here you can rest in. Brian, you’ll stay in your room. Jack take Anita to her room.” He nodded and guided Anita just down the hall.

Once they were gone, Brian turned to me and tried to explain everything.

“Now (Y/n) this isn’t what it—”

“Oh so you didn’t invite your hussy to my house so that you could finally bring into light that you’re cheating on Chrissie with an actress? The typical Rock Star affairs! I expected this from Roger but never from you Brian! Do you realize how sick this makes me feel?”

“I just—”

“I don’t wanna hear about it anymore! Now go to your room!” I yelled as I pointed up the stairs. He sighed heavily and walked up the stairs, shoulders slumped and his spirit broken.

As Jack and I now prepared for bed, I didn’t speak a word to my husband as I angrily got into bed. After a long bit of awkward silence Jack said.

“You know I hadn’t seen you this angry since Prenter went on that interview and spilled out all of Freddie’s secrets.”

“If this is your way to try and cheer me up, I’m gonna boot you to the couch for the next month.” I turned away from him, “I don’t wanna discuss this anymore till morning, good night Jack.”

“Night (n/n). Love you.” I didn’t respond back. All I kept thinking was the rage I was feeling towards Brian about this whole thing.

The next morning, Anita showered up, got dressed and Brian helped pay for her cab fair to the airport. Once she was out of the house, Jack went to take Kelly out for a walk leaving Brian and I alone in the house.

I was currently getting lunch started cutting up some cucumbers, peppers and onions for a sauce while Brian stood on the other side of the island I was cutting on.

“So……how long have you and……” I couldn’t even finish my sentence so I just went back to rapid cutting the veggies.

“Anita and I met 2 years ago, in Beverly Hills for a premiere. I even invited her to our show at Wembley stadium when we did our last tour. She said you were phenomenal on stage.” I ceased my cutting and looked up at him.

“Flatter will get you nowhere hound dog.”

“(Y/n) seriously you’re not playing fair.”

“And you’re one to talk about fair. Does Chrissie know about her?!” Brian didn’t say a word. “See? Brian you—you know what I went through when I got cheated on. Hell you comforted me! But yet here you are doing what that dick Adam did to me! Tell me something, does Anita provide you the same sexual pleasures that you used to have with Chrissie?”

“Oh my god (y/n) how do you…..”

“When you’re friends with one Freddie Mercury and one Roger Taylor. You hear a lot more than you should.”

“It has nothing to do with sex, lust or anything like that. I—I love her. I fell in love with Anita.”

“But what about Chrissie? Your kids? Would you really leave them for that actress?”

“The kids never. But—” Oh my god. He would willingly leave Chrissie. Oh my god that poor, poor woman. “Listen (Y/n), I didn’t want to tell you this but—my marriage has been falling apart for years. I just—I didn’t know what else to do, but when I met Anita, she was like—a light force had come into my life.” I remained silent as I stuck the knife into the cutting board.

“I can’t do this anymore. I—I want you out of this house within the hour.” His eyes widened and he softly said my name.

“(Y/n). I—”

“GET OUT OF HERE!!!” I shouted as I turned my back on him. Silence once again surrounded us and it was then I heard him gently tread up the stairs to pack his stuff. Next thing I heard was the front door opening and then closing.

A few weeks later; I was cleaning up the house while Jack and Kelly were out having their monthly Father-daughter bonding time.

As I turned the vacuum off, there was a loud, thunderous knock at the door. I at first jumped, startled by the knocking, but I went to answer the door. And I was surprised to see just who it was.

“Chrissie?” for the first time in 2 years since I’ve seen her she suddenly appears on my doorstep in LA with a bag full of groceries. “What are you doing here?”

“I first came to give you this,” she handed me the bag. “And this!” that’s when I got slapped hard in the back of my head.

“Owie! Why though?” she stormed into my house as she said.

“Why did you have to fill Brian’s head about trying to make things right!?” She sat down on my couch. “Honestly (Y/n), now there’s some ice cream in there, put it in the freezer before it melts.” I quickly did as she said and I turned towards her and asked her in complete shock.

“Wait so—you knew?!”

“Of course I knew!”

“Why didn’t you say anything? To Brian or even reach out to me?” I said as I sat beside her. She took a deep breath before saying.

“Sweetie I hate to tell you this but—our marriage has been failing for years.” I looked at her in shock.

“What? How long?”

“It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten now. But it’s really been hard since 2 maybe 3 years now.” What? But—they always seemed happy together whenever I saw them.

“Chrissie I—why didn’t you talk to anyone about it?”

“Brian and I tried to work in marriage counseling but with the final Queen tour it got too much, and once the tour was over it—felt like we were both wasting our time. So we just—agreed to not talk or be near each other for a bit till we both came to an agreement on what to do. Plus we didn’t want to upset the kids. Do you know how hard it is for a child so see their parents screaming at each other constantly?” From what I remember my parents rarely got mad at each other, they always had the perfect marriage.

Now I’m not naïve I know that some marriages never work out. Some of my friends I once had in secondary school had to go through their parents getting divorce and it really affected them. Hell I can even give my aunt and uncle, they hated each other and yet they continued to stay married to each other (to my knowledge I don’t think I ever heard them say I love you to each other).

“Plus all this fighting and the arguments it hasn’t been helping Brian mentally.” My brows furrowed in confusion. “There’s—also been some stuff going on beyond just us. His father got diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and he’s getting sicker and sicker by the day. That, plus our marriage crumbling to bits, Brian he—he’s said if it weren’t for the kids, as well as you and Kelly…….he would’ve contemplated suicide.”

What? He—he never mentioned that to me. Oh god and now I’ve……shit.

“Chrissie if this is a way to try and guilt me, it’s working.”

“Oh sweetie I don’t mean to guilt you. I’m just telling you all on what’s been going on.”

“I knew Brian had his dark moments but—lately, especially since Kelly was born, he’s always put on a happy face around us. I just—I can’t believe I never saw it.”

“Even the brightest people can have their darkest moments.” No shit. I mean I should know cause I’ve had those days myself. God I feel like such a hypocrite now.

“I will say this though; ever since he did meet that—actress. He’s been more involved with the kids, he’s been more attentive to them, more loving, and involved in their lives. In fact I’ve never seen him happier than he is right now.” God now I really feel like shit. But what about Chrissie herself?

“But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. I think—I think Brian and I have come to an understanding in the last few months that…..it’s best for us and for the kids that we get a divorce. Because at this point it’ll get too crazy. Now you little miss. You gotta make things right with him.”

“I don’t think he’ll listen to me. Chrissie I—I unleashed every ounce of anger I had. It felt like I got cheated all over again. I thought back to when—and then I thought of you and…….” She wrapped an arm around me and she said.

“Oh angel, I know you were thinking your heart was in the right place. Especially since I’m the mother of his kids and we’ve been married for over 10 years. And Brian told me what had happened to you when that bastard of an ex-boyfriend cheated on you. Being cheated on its—it sucks.”

“I agree it totally sucks.” I groaned out as we both softly laughed.

“Go get the ice cream, we can drown our sorrows in that instead of wine.” I went to the freezer and got the ice cream out as well as two spoons and we both shared the ice cream together.

After finishing the tube of ice cream, I was lying on the floor while Chrissie was sprawled out on my bed.

“Can I be honest with you Chrissie?” she hummed. “Since—you and Brian are gonna be….you know divorced, does—does that mean we won’t see each other again?” she slid down the couch to come close to me and she said.

“That’s up to you honey. I’ll tell you what; if you ever need a neutral ground to stand on, and rant about how crazy your child and future children make you, I’ll be there for you.”

“Thanks Chrissie. And I’m really sorry I screwed this up.”

“You should be. But—I forgive you.” she said as she hugged me. As we both swayed from side to side she then asked me, “So—have you met her?” I knew that she was referring to Anita.

“Yes. You’re ten times prettier than she is.”

“That’s sweet. Could I take her?”

“With this right hook, no contest Lady Ali.” She chuckled and embraced me tighter.

After that, she left my house and she stayed at a hotel nearby before she would fly back to LA. It was then I decided to call Brian to talk this out. He agreed and so I was going to fly out to London to see him so that he and I could talk about this like reasonable adults.

So that night I booked a flight for tomorrow morning and told Jack what all was going to happen. I would stay with Roger for a few days while Brian and I tried to talk things out.

When I got to London, I was sitting in Hyde Park with my shades (well an old pair of Roger’s shades he had back in the 70’s that I ‘borrowed’) on protecting my eyes from the bright sun.

“(Y/n).” I looked up and there wearing his own pair of shades was the curly haired guitarist himself.

“Bri.”

“Shall we walk?” I nodded and soon the two of us walked side by side. There was a bit of awkward silence between us at first till I finally spoke up.

“Chrissie came to the house and told me everything that’s been going on.”

“Of course she did.” He muttered.

“You should be grateful though. Bri—I really wanted to try and forget you after hearing about what you did. But hearing about everything that’s been going on in that head of yours—I can’t believe you’d think about killing yourself.”

“It’s—I’ve got no excuse. I’ve been feeling like an utter failure these past couple of years outside of Queen. Chrissie and I just….we were constantly fighting all the time. But when I met Anita—it was like finally coming out from the water I had been drowning in.”

“I don’t condone the cheating cause—you know how I went through it. After getting both sides of the story I—I know I can’t be involved in this situation cause it’s none of my business. This is between you, Chrissie and—Anita. But…..just promise me this. Tell me again this has nothing to do with anything sexual.”

“It had nothing to do with the fact that Anita was prettier than Chrissie. Nothing about appearances, not about urges. Nothing of that sort.” I nodded.

“It’s gonna take some time. I mean hell I don’t even know if I can accept her but—I’ll try my best to not be a total bitch around your new lady friend.”

“That’s all I ask for (Y/n). I won’t force you to be friends with Anita. I just…..want you to understand where I stand on this matter.” I nodded. “Are there any other questions you have for me?”

The rest of the day was just Brian and I talking about his relationship with Anita. How it began, when they first started falling for each other, things like that.

By the first week of May, Chrissie and Brian finalized their divorce papers. Brian May was now officially separated from his wife and he was now freely able to stay with Anita over at her place. I’ll be grateful that they didn’t go off and get hitched as soon as it happened.

In fact Brian invited Jack and myself to have dinner to officially get to know Anita better. It was a calm, quiet meal with small talk of just getting to know one another on a more stable level.

I apologized to Anita on my behavior when we first met and she immediately forgave me (Brian had told her that I had been cheated on and that’s why I had flipped my shit on the both of them).

Now I won’t get into too much after this but I will say this, it took me a year and a half to finally come around to Anita and accept her into the ‘Queen/Angel’ circle. Cause like Brian said, she is charming, witty, sweet, loving, a bit cheeky, but she is passionate about what she does and—she is definitely a force not to be reckoned with.

Chrissie and I still kept in contact but eventually when my schedule soon started back up with recording and doing my tours again, we lost contact with each other. And I hate to admit it but eventually all contact suddenly just ceased from her end.

Yeah I was heartbroken at first, but I had a feeling deep down that Chrissie might have wanted to just cut ties with everyone. I’m even told by Veronica and Dominque that they hadn’t heard a word from her either.

In the end, not all relationships can be successful and eventually old ties must be severed if we are to continue on in life. But in my mind I’ll still remember the support and love Chrissie gave me.

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onceabluemoonwrites · 7 years ago

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In the Name of Love

Fandom: Yuri on Ice

Summary: There is a child in Mila’s court, and it is definitely not an elf. It’s got black hair, chubby cheeks, curious brown eyes and a habit of trying to hide behind Mila even when she’s five centimetres tall. …It squeals when it sees Phichit, and keeps touching his horns.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuri on Ice

FF.net | AO3 | Tumblr (my other entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

You can find my writing progress here. If you can’t keep straight who’s what kind of creature anymore, here’s a list, plus some extra background information for those who’d like to read it!

My fic master list here.

This was written for the Yuri on Ice Fantasy week ( @yoifantasyweek for those interested in checking out the other authors) 11/17/17- Day Five: Pink/Silver. I used the prompts from both colours, ‘’Love,’’ from pink and ‘’Moon,’’ from Silver.

This is part of the Land of Gods and Monsters ‘verse. It’s not strictly necessary, but probably handy if you read Fathoms Deep (My Heart Resides) before this story. But if you’re here for the cute only, by all means, proceed. You can find a note on the chronology of this ‘verse here.

Phichit is a Phaya Naga, a dragon-like deity.

Sound in the world above is strange. Phichit could throw a rock into the valley right now, and the sound would echo against the mountains endlessly- contained to this valley only. Who knows how far down it would go?

…Not farther than the ground. The world above is strange like that. It has a bottom.

Does the sea have a bottom? Logically, Phichit knows it has, but he has never liked logic much, and he’d rather not think about it.

There are so many wonderful things to see here! The sun is so bright, one moves so fast! And air! Not even Phichit’s wildest dreams had prepared him for breathing air!

It doesn’t matter that sound is strange above, because Phichit is itching to find someone to talk to, and the world is a beautiful place!

There are, to Phichit’s surprise, bodies of waters which do not belong to Seung-gil. They lie in the cradle of the earth as if embraced by Hiroko herself. Humanity- the short-lived, funny creatures they are- live along its shores. But even they have smothered their fires by now, and the only light left is the moon. Humanity, all of it, sleeps.

The night is the colour of ink, the trees dipped in silver, and it swallows all sound.

It is silent.

It wrenches at him. Even here, staring at the reflection of a round orb in space, he is reminded of Seung-gil. Was the moon painted with the Lightgiver’s melancholy? Because it’s all Phichit can feel as he stares at it.

It looks like Seung-gil, pale as it is. A face, staring back at him, not speaking a word. Never changing.

The water ripples and the image distorts.

Perhaps it was Phichit who gazed up at the surface for such a long time that he never saw the depths.

Water is ever-changing.

…He should not dwell on it too long- there is too much he wants to see. Tomorrow will be another bright day, and even Gods need their rest.

Once, when Phichit was sunning, he saw Love standing upon the mountain above him. His name was Jean-Jacques, and he was cradled in a nest of thorns. High, he stood, so incredibly high, his companions a black swan and a drove of sparrows, circling him and crying out as if declaring his glory unto the world.

His visage was beautiful, but then again, there was not a single thing Phichit had ever loved that had not become beautiful in his eyes.

At night, the swan swooped down from the mountain. ‘’Please, talk to my lord,’’ she says, orange beak moving along black feathers, ‘’He must speak to you.’’

And Phichit… Phichit almost did. But what does one say to the God who gave you the greatest gift and the most terrible curse simultaneously? What did you say to a man who’s lips invented speech, who’s very being sings of communication- so loudly it is hard to think, let alone speak?

What can one do, except feel, when faced with love?

Love invented communication, but it renders even the most well-spoken people speechless. Jean-Jacques is beautiful, but Phichit has left the one he loves behind. He is not sure he can handle the heartbreak that is the God of Love blinking- for with every minute closing of his lively eyes, another heart is broken.

He leaves a letter with Isabella, the swan, and that’s that. (Did it burn, in the name of love?)

That Jean-Jacques is more than just love for people does not occur to him until later. It is far too late by then.

Phichit always is.

His love for the world had its price. He’s run back to the sea by now, and he could turn every grain of sand and still not recognize the place where he left his lover. He left his heart on the shore- that must be it. God, how he is lonely.

…He’ll talk to Boy Love the next time, he swears.

(He never does- the world is too shiny, and Jean-Jacques is too high above him. How does one speak to the one who inspired worship?)

The world is silent, and Phichit left his ever-silent lover for it.

He is… Lacklustre for a while. Dead inside is a strong word, and Phichit is nothing if not lively. And the world is too. Lively, mind you, not lacklustre.

It’s beginning to change, to grow. Not the land mass- that stays the same. But the people. The group of barely twenty-four humans has grown to a hundred. There are spirits in the trees, winged creatures born from the world-song, and more and more gods awaken to the dawn of time.

From the grass emerges a child- an elf, she calls herself- no larger than Phichit’s thumb. She walks a thousand miles on her tiny legs, just to witness the world.

‘’Won’t you let me carry you?’’ he asks.

She shakes her head, short red hair swinging from side to side. ‘’I need to do this. This is my journey.’’

‘’…Where are you going?’’

She laughs. ‘’To my future! Is that not where all roads lead?’’

Tiny feet blistered, height, weather, time nor pain stopping her, Mila walks. She dances in the sun, using flowers as springboards and winds herself around his horns to sleep when she’s tired. Not because she needs to, but because she can. A dewdrop is a flood to her, but the idea of floods stopping her is laughable.

She meets Hiroko, her eyes widening at seeing the earth she has walked on all her life. It takes time, but her eyes soften, the sky caught in an earthen creature. It takes time, but Mila bows to Hiroko, her forehead, forehead and knees touching the ground. Red hair mingling with green grass, and it is nothing but regal in its total devotion. It takes time, but it also takes heart, and Mila’s bond with Hiroko is so strong she sprouts the wings.

Hiroko crowns her with flowers, and Mila wears it with pride, and it takes little time for Phichit to start calling her a Queen.

The world follows.

More fairies gather around Hiroko, but no one ever as powerful as the first.

Her love is the strongest, Phichit can feel it in his bones, even though love should not be measured. Is that what Boy Love thinks about, up his mountain, when he looks down at them in sorrow?

Mila takes to the sky, loving the earth more than anything, and it reduces Phichit to tears of joy. The world is beautiful. The world is beautiful, and so is love.

There is a child in Mila’s court, and it is definitely not an elf. It’s got black hair, chubby cheeks, curious brown eyes and a habit of trying to hide behind Mila even when she’s tiny.

…It squeals when it sees Phichit, and keeps touching his horns.

‘’He,’’ Mila says, taking advantage of his larger form by sunning on his nose. ‘’Hiroko’s son.’’

‘’I thought she had a daughter.’’

Mila laughs. ‘’She does! She’s true big folk now, though! Twenty-three meters, last I saw her! The trees will flourish under her rule!’’

‘’Rooted in the earth. The poor thing. She’ll never get to explore.’’

Mila flops to her stomach. ‘’Not everyone wants to travel.’’

Phichit shrugs. ‘’Can’t imagine. There are too many sights still to see!’’

How can one not love traveling? Then again, how can one’s heart break? How does one love? The world is a confusing place.

‘’If everyone loved the same things, the world would be fine, wouldn’t it?’’

Yuuri looks up from Phichit’s tail, his nose scrunching up, cherry juice smeared around his mouth. ‘’But I don’t like green peppers.’’

‘’And?’’

‘’Mama makes me eat them. She likes ‘em good.’’

…Phichit is not going to correct that- the last time he did, Yuuri shut up for a week and only came out after Phichit lured him with food. You go a long way with food when it comes to toddlers.

‘’You don’t hafta play with the same toys to be friends,’’ Yuuri says, patting Phichit on the nose with sticky hands. ‘’Mari doesn’t want to go on ‘ventures, but she showed me the leaf dance cos she likes it and now I liked it too. I thinked it would be scary, but it wasn’t!’’

‘’I can hardly disagree with that!’’

Yuuri squints at him.

Oh, by the sea, the boy is precious! Golden, he shines, when he loses all his shyness for a single moment and is. Like a treasure.

Like a Treasure!

And with that, Phichit bursts out in laughter. He can’t help the past, but the present is here, and leaving Treasures behind is a mistake Phichit won’t make again. Yuuri is precious, and by all the Gods and Fathoms below, Phichit shall protect him.

The little Spring God has nothing to fear.

(Nothing, his mind whispers, but love.)

The next morning, he trades glass made from lightning for crystal balls. He has still not talked to the man high up the mountain, unreachable to all in his nest of thorns, but has seen so many things done out of love that he cannot help but worship him.

Everyone might not like the same thing, but Yuuri gives excellent advice. If Phichit catches each and every sunset he ever sees, every sight he devours and hopes he’ll never ever forget, then perhaps, Seung-gil would come to like it too.

And Phichit has to live now. No more letting the world pass by. The future rests in the present, and only then, one can live. And someday, Phichit will show the entire world to Seung-gil, caught in a crystal ball just for him.

And all of that, in the name of love.

Author’s Note

@adelmortescryche is an enabler. Just so you guys know. Love her!

Writing this piece was interesting, especially towards Phichit’s struggles, Mila’s past, and JJ. The JJ part is currently probably only interesting to me, because you guys don’t know what the last day is about yet and I can’t WAIT for you to read it *grins*.

I listened to a LOT of song covers by Emma Heesters while writing this one-shot. Most notably, her cover of In The Name of Love, which is absolutely gorgeous!

Yuuri disliking green peppers was inspired by the Disney movie Inside Out- the scene in which the main character is still small and refuses to eat her broccoli was changed for Japan! They replaced the broccoli with green peppers because they were ‘’more universally hated by Japanese children.’’ (source)

Have I told you guys before I am the Queen of Useless facts? Because I read that AGES ago and had to find the article again to link to it just for this note *laughs*

#yoifantasyweek #phichit chulanont #mila babicheva #yuuri katsuki #fic #seung chuchu #onceabluemoonwrites fic #hiroko katsuki #jj leroy #isabella yang #fanfiction #fanfic #my posts #the land of gods and monsters 'verse

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sinsiriuslyemo · 8 years ago

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Here it is guys!! Now, just a quick announcement. We have some special features that we really wanna get out for you guys, so we’re bringing back the two week hiatus before we start posting season 9. Don’t hate us lol We love you and we have tons of really fun stuff coming up!

There’ll be a week where nothing Cuba v DR is posted, and then week 2 of the hiatus is when we’ll start posting the special features.For now though, here is the season 8 finale!! Thank you all so much for all the amazing feedback! It gives us life!

SEASON FINALE

Amber came and picked you and Lily up early in the morning, driving the three of you to the Fashion District downtown. Normally, you would have never bought Lily an expensive dress with how fast she was growing out of her clothes, but this was different. You wanted her to feel like just as much of a princess as you did that day.

“Barbie, she’s going to fit in the dress for like a month, and then you’ll have to hope you have another girl or the dress will never be worn again,” Amber mused, smiling softly over at you as you browsed the toddler section of Saks.

“But I’ll save it in her baby box,” you grin excitedly. “I’ll buy it a little big and then we can just take it in if we have to. Isn’t that right my love?”

“Mama Lily wear pink?” Lily asked eagerly as she held your and Amber’s hand while you walked through the aisles.

“Sure baby, if you want pink,” you smiled, your wedding theme was blue like the ocean, but you’d let Lily wear your wedding dress if she asked you. There was no way you could say no to that face.

“Yeah, you can be like the coral in the ocean,” Amber mused. “Oh my Gosh, Barbie…” She picked up a frilly dress that almost looked like a tutu with how thick it was. “How cute is this?”

You smiled, “Lily what do you think?”

“It pink!” She squealed in delight, holding her chubby fingers out for the dress. You smile, sitting right down in the middle of the store and trying it on your toddler, ignoring the looks. If you tried to wrangle her into a dressing room, it would not end well. You were better off just trying it on her out here.

“It’s so cute,” you grinned at Amber and watched Lily bounce up and down in her little dress. “Mija, you look so gorgeous, like una princesa!”

Lily ran around, screaming in delight at her frilly new dress. You picked her up, smiling and laughing as you walked right over to the checkout counter. “You are gonna have to scan my toddler,” you say seriously. “If I try to take this dress off her, you will all go deaf.”

Lily smiled at the bored looking cashier. “Lily got pink dress!”

Amber smiled, “Yeah, come on, Stella,” she read the annoyed girl’s name tag and smiled. “Scan the toddler, this can’t be the first time you’ve had to do this.”

“It’s definitely the first,” Stella said with a tight-lipped smile. “Most mothers would take the dress off their child first.”

“Well La-Di-Fuckin’-Dah,” Amber rolled her eyes and moved behind the counter, scanning Lily’s butt over the machine and making her giggle.

“Ma’am you can’t be back here,” Stella said in disbelief.

“Well Stella, if you’d been doing your job, I wouldn’t have to be,” Amber pointed out, setting Lily in one of their big bags and making Lily laugh in delight. “Alright Barbie, the register says…$382, damn, Stella is this dress made of gold?”

“Please stop using my first name, we do not know each other, and get out from behind the counter.” She said curtly.

You hand her four hundred in cash and smile, “Keep the change,” you pick up your baby in the bag and listen to her giggle for a moment.

“You’re welcome, bitch,” Amber said to the cashier as she followed you and Lily out of the store.

Rafael smiled softly over at Izzy as they stood in line to board the plane. Nudging her with his elbow, he waited until she met his gaze.

“You nervous about flying?” he asked. He’d felt a little better after a night of sleep, the excitement of showing Izzy more of the world taking over his thoughts.

“Not really. I like the idea that statistically were not that likely to die, even though we're hurling through the air in a metal tube.” The kid behind them started crying.

Rafael looked back apologetically at the parents, who were glaring at Izzy, namely the mother.

“Sorry,” he said softly to them, turning back to his sister. “You probably could’ve assessed your surroundings before saying something like that,” he mumbled to her.

She knelt down to the little boy and smiled, “Don't cry, you are way more likely to die in your car. Or if you mom just snaps and kills you or something. Planes are super safe.” She assured.

“Izzy!” Rafael exclaimed, thankful for the line beginning to move. They went to their seats, and settled in before he smiled at her. “So have you had anymore thoughts about school?” he asked casually, taking one of the magazines from the back of the seat in front of him.

“Not even a little,” she said honestly. “But I have a few schools that I got accepted into and they want me to go so now I just pick which one,” she shrugged and smiled at him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Do you wanna go to some kind of brothel?” She offered. “That might cheer you up.”

“Izzy! No! Why would I want to go to a brothel? Ever. Nevermind that I’m traveling with my 17 year old sister.”

“Well why not?” She looked at him softly. “You get lonely right? That's what they're for.”

“No, Izzy, that’s…” He shook his head. “It’s inappropriate, first of all. Secondly, it goes against everything I stand for, regardless of whether or not it’s legal there doesn’t make it right, and as lonely as I may be, I’m not going to...pay a woman to have sex with me. Besides sex is probably the last thing I need right now. It’s a temporary fix,” he answered.

Izzy shrugged, “Whatever you say Rafi,” she smiled. She turned her attention to some of her sketches. She'd started drawing some of the strippers from Nevada’s club, naked. She loved drawing Diamond specifically, such a bubbly personality.

“We really should talk about your attitude towards sex sometime, because I’m...a little concerned,” he replied softly.

“What are you talking about?” She asked softly, smiling up at her brother. “Just because I'm not a prude like you,” she teased. “Doesn't mean anything.”

“I am not a prude, and Izzy, it’s not about being a prude or not, it’s about having a healthy attitude towards sex. Having sex isn’t like baking a cake, it’s something sacred and intimate between two people.” He looked over at her and rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe that sounds like something a prude would say, but I am not a prude.”

She just grinned, “I bet you've slept with maybe...five women in your life, yeah?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve actually slept with six women in my life,” he replied. “Why does that matter?”

“Rafi, my number is fifteen. You are a prude.”

“Fifteen?! You told me eight yesterday!” he exclaimed, giving an apologetic glance to the people around him who’d looked over. “You’re seventeen, Izzy. That’s a ridiculously high number for someone your age...it’s a ridiculously high number for any age. Just because I haven’t slept with a lot of women, does not mean I’m a prude, and you know what? You always talk about not wanting to be judged, and here you are judging me just because I haven’t had sex with a ton of people.”

“Oh Rafi...I didn't mean it in a bad way,” she said softly, kissing his cheek. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. And fifteen isn't that many, it's roughly two a year.”

“You’ve been having sex since you were ten?” he asked sarcastically.

She seemed to be doing the math in her head a minute before nodding, “Yup. Actually eleven but...”

His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth a few times, shaking his head.

“And you don’t see anything wrong with that at all? Did your mother know?”

“Um...I think so? I'm not sure.” She shrugged, still sketching while she talked.

“You don’t think there’s anything wrong with an eleven year old having sex?” he asked again. “How old was this other person? I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Everyone has a different age of developing,” she said seriously. She didn't bother answering the other question.

“Izzy…” She didn’t look up at him. “Isabella Barba, look at me,” he said in a slightly deeper voice. “How. Old. Was. The other. Person?” he asked again.

“Rafael it's not a big deal,” she rolled her eyes and looked at him. “I didn't ask the age, but old enough to bet at the horse races. He was my dad’s friend,” she shrugged. “I liked him, that was back when I thought maybe I liked boys, he offered to help,” she shrugged again going back to drawing. It wasn't a big deal, why was he making it a big deal?

“You were raped,” he replied softly, frowning and softening his gaze. “Izzy, that...man,” He growled the word man as though he wanted nothing more than to find the guy right now and lock him up. “Had no right to touch you. What he did was wrong.”

“Oh my god, they aren't kidding about SVU, everyone's a victim with you guys. No Rafi, I didn't let anyone rape me. Jesus,” she rolled her eyes, “I said it was fine, and look who's being judgemental now? I don't want to talk about this anymore,” she crossed her arms, staring out the window. “If you're gonna keep trying to turn me into a victim, stop it.”

“Excuse me. I am not trying to turn you into a victim. You were eleven years old, if he was old enough to bet at horse races, that means he was at least 21. There’s a name for that, it’s called, statutory rape, and guess what, it is against the law. I’m not judging you at all, but this is something you should really deal with at some point.”

Izzy just shook her head going back to her sketching in silence. Rafael didn't understand.

“Now you’re not going to talk to me? Six and a half hours of complete silence?” he asked. “Great. Thank you. That’s just great,” he said sarcastically.

He went back to reading the magazine still in his hands. Or tried to. He couldn’t get the thought of some man out there, possibly continuing to sexually assault other little girls.

“You know what? You may not care about what happened to you, but I do. And I’m willing to bet that he’s done this to other girls, what about them?” he asked quietly. He was angry, but he wasn’t about to embarrass her in front of a plane full of people.

“He's gone, Rafael. He was my only friend growing up and he left the country. So if you're done insulting anyone who has ever meant a goddamn thing to me, I have work to do.”

“He wasn’t your friend,” he muttered under his breath. “And watch your mouth, there’s kids on this flight.”

“I just wanna have a good trip, please Rafi,” she whispered, taking his hand. “I just wanna do this with you.”

“You make it very difficult when every time I try to voice my thoughts, you just get defensive or give me some back-handed, sarcastic quip and shut me out,” he replied, looking back at her.

“You keep insulting the people who kept me alive,” she said softly. “That hurts me, they meant the world to me and you say bad things about them, I don't like that.”

“I’ve never said a bad thing about your mother. Your mother was the one who kept you alive, everyone else, from the sounds of it took advantage of you. The fact that these people meant the world to you just makes me realize that you don’t see the damage that they did,” he replied.

She looked at him sadly, “What do you want me to say Rafael? What happened, happened… And I don't want to think about it anymore.”

He shrugged, shaking his head and sighing.

“I want you to try to work through some of this stuff...maybe talk to someone. I really am worried about you,” he replied softly.

She pressed her face against his neck and nodded, “if it'll make you happy.” She didn't need it, she was fine, but she would do anything for Rafael.

Normally he would have told her that she didn’t have to do something just to make him happy, but not this time. This time, she needed to do what he asked.

“I’ll make an appointment for you when we get back,” he replied.

“Oye, looking good, mijo,” Nevada said as Eddie came out in his matching leather tux. “You bringing Melanie to the wedding?” he asked as the tailor finished taking in his inseam.

“Huh? No way, Melanie and I broke up. She started reading my text messages, she was nuts,” she looked at himself in the tux and grinned, “I look fucking hot.”

“Coño, what is it with the Ramirez men and attracting todas las locas?” Nevada asked under his breath. “Bueno, maybe it was for the better. You can focus on school now,” he added a little louder, turning towards his nephew to show him his own leather tux. “Que tu crees?” he asked, holding his arms out.

“You look like a douche,” Eddie grinned playfully and smiled. “Tia is gonna love it.”

“Como que ‘look like a douche?’ You’re wearing the same suit, pendejo,” Nevada replied, ruffling his nephew’s hair.

Eddie laughed, “Tia is gonna go nuts for how good this suit looks. Oh, and she'll like how you look too, I guess.” Eddie grinned and turned to look at himself again, smoothing his hair back and winking at himself in the mirror.

“Now who looks like a douche,” Nevada teased. “Bueno, let’s get changed and get out of here.” He looked at the tailor. “Los dos, para dos semanas desde hoy,” he said, earning a nod from the older man.

They both changed back into their own clothes and Nevada paid for both suits, making arrangements for them to pick the garments up the day before the wedding.

“You hungry?” Nevada asked as he and Eddie walked out of the tailor’s.

Eddie nodded grinning, “Totally, oh and can I watch Lily this weekend for some extra cash? I wanna pay for my ticket to the senior prom.” He asked hopefully.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Nevada answered, swallowing a bit as they walked down the sidewalk. “Oye, I wanna ask you something really important,” he said as they made their way down the few blocks to the sandwich shop.

“Sure,” Eddie nodded, smiling as he walked beside Nevada. Eddie was almost as tall as Nevada already, the kid had sprung up overnight.

“You and me, we’ve been through alot together,” Nevada said, putting a hand on the juncture of Eddie’s shoulder and neck, pulling him slightly closer. “Your tia and I love you like you were our own. I watched you grow up from a little wrinkled potato. I know I haven’t always done right by you pero...I was hoping you’d be my best man.”

Eddie’s eyes lit up at the question, “Really tio?” He whispered softly, smiling when Nevada nodded. “Yeah, yeah I'd love that! Thank you!” He threw his arms around his uncle and smiled, holding him tight. “I love you so much tio,” he said softly.

“Si, okay, payaso. Oye, we’re in public bro,” Nevada teased, patting his nephew on the back.

“So?” Eddie rolled his eyes. “You gotta be more comfortable with your sexuality tio, chicks love that shit.”

“Oh I’m plenty comfortable with my sexuality, mijo. Pero you know que a mi no gusta that lovey dovey shit...your tia’s different. Ella es mi esposa, I’m supposed to do that shit with her,” Nevada replied.

Eddie rolled his eyes, “I love Tia, but before her you were ALWAYS seen around town with different women. My friends would tell me all the time, you gave up all that action for one person? Not that tia isn't special, I just mean...she must be really special.”

“She is...she’s rare talent, mijo-”

“Ew! Tio too much info!!”

“Como que too much info? Mira chico...you’re gonna meet a lot of talent in your life. Mira, ay una alla,” he said, pointing to a woman walking across the street. “Pero one day, you’re gonna find a woman that is rare talent. Beautiful, smart, funny, and willing to put up with your Ramirez bullshit. When you find her, you hold on to her, me entiendes?” Nevada said as they sat waiting for a server for entirely too long now.

Eddie rolled his eyes, “I've met a lot of talent and I don't wanna think of tia like that! Tia's old and a mom! Gross! She's pretty like...mom pretty. But she's not hot and that's super gross. No more talk about tia.”

“Oye, mi esposa is hot, carajo.” Nevada looked around at the half empty sandwich shop, almost irritated as he caught the eyes of the teenage girl behind the counter. “Oye, mija, who do we gotta fuck around here to get un singao sandwich and a soda? Hm?” he called out in a playful tone.

“Tio!” He turned to the girl, “I am so sorry for my uncle, he has Tourette's. He can't control what he says.”

The girl smiled at Eddie, looking him over. “So does that make you George?” Nevada made a face, arching a brow at the girl.

“Yes, and don't worry I won't let him pet any rabbits,” Eddie winked making the girl blush, it was clear she hadn't expected him to get the Of Mice and Men reference.

Nevada arched a brow at his nephew, snorting softly as he watched the kid flirt with the girl on the other side of the counter.

“Bueno, George, why don’t you ask her to get us a couple of sandwiches. Yo quiero jamar,” Nevada mused. “Y oye, it was a fucking puppy that Lenny killed, not a rabbit and he didn’t tourettes. Ustedes dos son un par de idiotas,” he said in a much softer voice.

“Dude,” Eddie whispered seriously, “Do not cockblock me or I swear to god for the next month I will tell Tia I'm scared and insist on sleeping in your room.”

“Como que ‘cockblock’? And your tia’s not gonna fall for that shit, mijo,” Nevada answered. “Pero, bueno dale. Do your thing, chicken wing.”

Eddie rolled his eyes going back to talking to the girl and ordering. This was his third blonde in a row, Eddie definitely had a type since Reina. He smiled when he got her number, coming back to Nevada with the sandwiches and drinks.

“Well done, young gun,” Nevada mused with a chuckle, taking his sandwich and diving into it. “Oye...you wouldn’t really cockblock me with your tia, would you?” he asked around a mouthful of food.

“I wouldn't, but I'd tell Lily a monster’s under her bed and you two wouldn't get alone time for months.” Eddie said as he ate.

“You evil genius,” Nevada mumbled softly.

Amber watched you take Lily into daycare and smiled softly. She would have to tell you sooner rather than later that she’d been called in early to head to Baghdad, but she had no idea how she was supposed to do that. When you got back into the car, she looked at you with a frown.

“I’m leaving in an hour,” she blurted out.

Your eyes go wide, “What? What the fuck do you mean an hour! You had one more day!” You frowned and shook your head. “No, no thank you, I already don't like that you're going overseas, you don't need to go even earlier!”

“They do need me earlier, but it’s only a couple of weeks, and it’s a really great opportunity,” she replied.

“You have great opportunities here! You can stay with Omar! Start a family! Get married! Have a couple of little ones! You have a life here, you don't need to leave again! Amber! There's so much more to life than a stupid job…”

“It’s not just a stupid job,” Amber snapped back, furrowing her brows. “You know, I thought you, of all people, would understand. I mean, when we were in college, we always said we would never get married or tie ourselves down with kids. You may not think that way anymore, and that’s fine. I’m happy for you, really I am, but that doesn't mean that I have to sacrifice something that’s really important to me.”

She sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

“I love Omar, and we’re happy, and he was the first person to tell me that he supported my decision to take this job,” she added.

“It's a best friend's job to give it to you straight Amber, you could die. You aren't eighteen, you've already been blown up once why would you want to go back?” You look at her softly. “The reason I shut you out wasn't because you left Rafael, you left me. You didn't say a word and for a full year I thought you were dead somewhere! So when you came back the first time, I didn't want to see you.

“You didn't think for a second about how I might feel losing my best friend. Now you're going back again...I want you to be here when I have another baby, when I get married… When you get married or even if you don't. I don't want to lose you. You aren't going to a New York Times building, you're in the middle of a warzone. I'm allowed not to want my sister to die,” you say softly.

“I’m not going to die,” she replied, shaking her head. Lately, she’d been trying to take Omar’s advice and believe she was coming back instead of worry that she might not this time. “And I’m sorry...I was young, and had just been offered my dream job. I jumped. I didn’t think about anyone but myself, and I’m sorry,” she added.

You nodded and sighed when you pulled back up outside Omar's apartment, “Come back home soon, we need you here,” you whispered softly and hugged her tight, not wanting to let her go. When you finally do let go, you watch her go inside and sniffle, wiping your eyes as you drove towards the restaurant to meet up with Nevada. You called him on your phone in a sniffly mess.

“Amber left early,” you whimpered in a choked sob.

“Aye, mami, I’m sorry,” he replied, frowning a little and playfully shoving Eddie when the teenager starting to mimic him. “She’ll be back, don’t worry.”

“I just want to see you now, drive faster,” you whimpered softly, being on the phone with him helped a lot though.

“I’ll be right there, I’m just dropping off the oldest rugrat at school,” he replied.

“I know great monster stories,” Eddie reminded him.

“Oye, fuck that. Dale, pendejin, get off the bike,” Nevada replied in a chuckle. “Don’t forget you gotta be at the center after school. Don’t be late again, me entiendes or I’ll go back to the sandwich shop with that picture of you playing in the bathtub when you were little. Así, con la lengua afuera.” Nevada stuck his tongue out dramatically and screwed his eyes shut as he tilted his head back.

“You're such a dick,” Eddie laughed.

“Language!” You scolded over the phone. “Oye, vamos papi, hurry up.”

“Oye, ya, okay. I’m on my way,” he groaned with a smirk, hanging up and waving at Eddie before he tore off down the street.

“I think I’m going to be celibate for a while,” Rafael mused softly, staring straight ahead.

“Yeah? Why? You should check out some of the girls instead, do some real slutting around.”

“I think I’ve done enough ‘slutting around’ the last few weeks, thank you,” he mumbled. “I just need to stay away from women, find some...clarity,” he mused.

She shrugged, “if you say so,” she giggled and nodded to the flight attendant walking down the aisle with bright blonde hair. “If you don't want her, can I have her?” She teased and watched the flight attendant bend over to buckle in a toddler. “Fuck, if I were single...” Izzy mumbled, watching the girl bend over.

“Hey, don’t do that. Come on.” He glanced over at the flight attendant. “Be respectful,” he whispered to her.

“Seriously?”

“Yes,” he replied with a pointed stare. “Seriously.” Izzy rolled her eyes and smiled as the flight attendant came over.

“Is everything okay over here?” she asked with a soft southern accent. Her eyes roamed over Rafael and she blushed. “If there's anything I can do, y'all can just gimme a call, alright?”

He smiled up at her and nodded his head.

“Thank you,” he answered softly, swallowing a little. The flight attendant smiled and sauntered off.

“She was hot and she was flirting,” Izzy said with a grin. “She is c-u-t-e.”

“She was not flirting, she was just being nice. It’s her job,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Rafael, she was flirting hard, trust me, I know women,” she said with a smile, she went back to sketching and chuckled. “She wanted you bad.”

“Izzy, trust me. Let me explain something to you, we are on a plane, and on these planes there are people who are paid to be nice to you so that’ll you’ll want to come back and spend more money. They’re supposed to be nice to you,” he replied.

“Dude…” The young college guy across the aisle from him, looked over and offered his two cents. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I gotta say something. I understand that on the spectrum of ‘I wanna have sex with you’ to ‘I wanna kill you’, hospitality and flirting are somewhere in that gray area in between...”

“I appreciate your input, but she was just doing her job,” Rafael replied, looking over the kid.

“No way, man, there’s hospitality, and then there’s hospitality plus, and she wants you to put it in her davenport. All I know is, that girl’s into you.”

“Oh thank fuck, a kindred spirit,” Izzy grinned and fist bumped the college dude. “She wants you to stick it in her loading dock Rafi, I now have someone else who agrees,” she gestured to the college guy. “I'm Izzy, in a few minutes I'm definitely gonna draw you,” she flashed her cutest smile.

“Cool,” the guy replied.

“Jesus Christ,” Rafael sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to the bathroom,” he groaned, getting up and moving towards the back of the plane to the restroom. The occupied sign made him sigh again, and he slid his hands into his front pockets as he waited for whoever was inside to finish up.

“Hi again,” the flight attendant noticed him with a warm smile. “I don't think I ever told you my name, in case you needed something…” She bit her bottom lip for a second, “I'm Anna Grace, nice to meet you.”

“Rafael Barba,” he replied, giving her a gentle smile. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be in your way, I’m just waiting for the restroom,” he added, looking her over for a moment.

“You are most definitely not in my way, Mr. Barba,” she smiled and went back to preparing snacks at the station directly across from the bathroom.

He cleared his throat softly, finding himself looking back to glance at her again as she bent over. Turning back towards the bathroom, he sighed softly as he heard the toilet flush and smiled politely at the man who came out. Moving inside, he closed the door, locking it and started to relieve himself.

She hummed softly while she stacked the snacks. When he opened the door, she stepped into the bathroom, gently pushing him back inside with her.

“I hope you don't mind, Mr. Barba, but you are incredibly handsome, I would love to have a moment of your...time.”

He laughed nervously, the small confines of the bathroom effectively pressing their bodies extremely close together. He licked his lips, looking down at her.

“Um, won’t we get in trouble for this?” he asked softly.

“Providing...quality customer service is my job, Mr. Barba,” she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly, her lips tasted like cotton candy lipgloss and just the softest hint of peppermint.

He groaned a little, trying to gently push her back, and smiling at her.

“I’m sorry, I-- you’re beautiful, but I’m trying to...stay celibate for a little while. I’m still getting over a breakup, as well as a second breakup of sorts, strangely enough,” he rambled.

“Sounds like you've had a rough go,” she said softly, kissing down his neck and sucking on his pulse point, “Why don't you let me help you out, no sex, alright? That way you can stay celibate,” she kissed his jaw and lightly nipped at it.

His body began to stir to life the more she kissed along his neck, and he found his hands go to her hips.

“Oh no, that’s okay, you don’t have to do--”

“No one's forcing me darlin’” she purred and kissed him again, taking his trousers and unbuttoning them, sliding a hand into his pants and slowly starting to rub him through his boxer briefs. He moaned against her mouth as his organ began to fill with blood. He almost asked her to stop, but he found his body arched against her touch as her hand continued to stimulate him.

His own hands slowly roamed her figure, moving over her backside and pulling her against him. He’d be lying if he’d said he wasn’t enjoying the way she was touching him. Once he was fully hard, she took his cock out, licking her palm and wrapping it around his cock as she started to slowly jerk him while they kissed.

“Oh God,” he moaned with a shudder. Kissing her again, he sighed against her mouth. “Are you sure we...won’t get in trouble?” he whispered.

“Legally there's no rules or laws against it, it's frowned upon, but no laws.” She smirked as she kept jerking him, kissing him hard as they let their tongues mingle together.

Actually, he could name about four laws they were breaking in this moment, but his brain couldn't seem to function enough for him to voice them. Whimpering softly against her mouth, he let his head lean back against the wall behind him, moaning as she added a twist with every downstroke.

“Would you like me to…” He moved one hand towards the waistband of her skirt, silently asking if she wanted him to use his hand on her, too.

She blushed, nodding as she stroked him faster, kissing down his neck and licking his skin. He moaned, carefully unzipping her skirt and reaching to slide his hand down the front and stroke her over her panties. He sighed when he felt her arousal through the thin material and moved the lace to the side to let a single digit slide easily between her labia.

Finding her clit, he used some of her fluids to make smooth circles over the bundle of nerves as his nose nuzzled against her ear. He made slow, teasing circles until he could hear her panting in time with the movement of their hands before he let his finger trail to her opening.

“Is this okay?” he asked, pressing the digit against the entrance of her heat.

She nodded, moaning as she stroked him faster, letting her thumb gently run over the head of his cock.

“Oh God,” he moaned, finger sliding inside her tight warmth. “Oh fuck,” he growled beginning to move his hand against her, thrusting his digit in and out of her.

He gave her a few slow, thrusts before he gently added a second finger, allowing her a moment to adjust. From this angle, she was much tighter than she would’ve been had they been lying down, and he waited until she rocked her hips to begin moving again. Flattening his hand, he allowed his palm to rub against her clit as he thrust his fingers.

She gasped, moaning and kissing him hard stroking him harder until she was coming hard against his hand, moaning into his mouth and nipping his bottom lip. He groaned against her mouth, hips rocking into her hand as he continued to stimulate her until she began to come down.

“Oh God...oh God, I’m gonna come,” he warned, trying to hold himself back until she told him what he should do.

She just nodded at him, taking a slight step to the side as she continued to stroke him until he was coming over her hand. He tried to keep his moans as low as he could as he felt stream after stream dribble from the tip of his organ, emptying himself and shuddering as she stroked him through his orgasm.

She leaned in, kissing him once more before wiping her hand and the floor clean. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Barba,” she gave him one more kiss before she exited the bathroom.

He stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend what exactly had just happened. Licking his dry lips, he turned and quickly washed his hands, tucking himself back into his pants. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face as he made his way quickly back to his seat.

Silently sitting down, he promptly opened another magazine and searched for a long article to read, trying not to let his blush get too obvious.

“You dirty whore,” Izzy grinned at him.

“I don’t--” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I did was go to the restroom,” he replied.

“Bullshit,” the college kid said from across the way.

Izzy just laughed.

You wrapped your arms around Nevada the second he pulled up, kissing him deeply. He kissed you back, hugging you against him.

“Don’t worry, mami. She’ll be fine,” he said softly, pulling away to cradle your face. “Oye, she’ll be fine. She can handle herself,” he said again. “Come on, let’s talk to Gladys about our cake. I’m thinking un tiburon asi de tamaño,” he said, holding his arms out with a smirk.

You smiled, “I was also thinking a shark,” you smirked back and cuddled him close as the two of you walked in.

“De verdad?” he asked.

“Hola Gladys, Oscar,” you smiled and give them both a kiss on the cheek. Oscar patted your shoulder before moving back towards the office.

“Hola Y/N,” Gladys said before he cradled Nevada’s face and kissed his cheek, pinching the other.

“Mami, por favor,” he groaned softly.

“Ay, mijo, ya. Oye, I’m not going to be around forever,” Gladys replied, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Bueno, let’s sit down.” She sat down in one of the chairs at the table and smiled at you. “Okay, Y/N, dime lo que quieres for your cake,” she said, suddenly looking over at Nevada. “Y tu, ni pienses en los tiburones, me entiendes?” she said, pointing a finger at him before she looked back at you and smiled warmly.

You smiled back but shrugged, “I don't mind, I never dreamed of a white wedding so if he wants a shark cake,” you shrug again.

“Como que ‘shark cake?!’ Mija, this is your day,” Gladys replied. “Que dice tu mama?” she asked.

“Mami want doves,” you roll your eyes. “If he wants a shark cake, he can have his shark cake,” you shrug, “all I want is a baby, and a wedding dress, and I'm satisfied,” you pulled up a chair and grinned nodding to Nevada. “Anything you want for your special day, mi Rei,” you teased.

“Oye, what the hell, Dama?” he asked, furrowing his brows at you. “I was fuckin--”

“Oye, y esa boca?” Gladys scolded. “No te crees que es muy viejo para un pow pow,” she added, arching a brow.

“Lo siento, mami,” he mumbled.

“Okay, entonce what about a four tier cake con pescados, y starfish, y tiburones para mi niño, tan cabezón--”

“I was kidding,” he said again, a little more firmly.

“I actually like that,” you smiled and looked on your phone. “Can I show you a picture of what I was thinking?”

“Si! Of course!”

You show her a white cake with blue decor to look like waves surrounding the cake, around the cake are seahorses and jellyfish. “This, pero...with sharks, yeah?”

“Aye, que lindo! Okay, and Nevada said the wedding is in two and half weeks, right?” she asked, taking out a planner.

You smiled at her and watched her softly as she started planning things out.

Omar and Amber pulled up to the airport, and he parked the car, getting out and taking her bags out of the trunk. He put his arm over her shoulders and walked slowly with her into the building. He waited for her to check in her bags and held her hand as they walked towards her terminal. She still had a thirty minute wait before her plane would start boarding, and he sat beside her.

“You’re gonna be fine,” he said softly, looking over at her and smiling softly.

“Yeah,” she whispered in agreement, pressing her lips to his and looking around and the other soldiers in uniform. She was catching a flight out with them.

“I'm gonna miss you, every moment,” she whispered against his lips.

“I’m gonna miss you, too,” he answered, letting his forehead rest against hers. “So hurry back,” he added with a smirk.

She nodded and took a few deep breaths, “You told me that we should wait to marry, because we didn't know each other yet. But I know you Omar, and I love you, every part of you and there are some pretty shitty parts,” she whispered teasingly. “So give me something to come back to,” she said softly. “Say you'll marry me…”

“I would think you already have something to come back to,” he replied. “Stop acting like you’re not coming back,” he added, cradling her face and looking right at her.

“I know,” she took a deep breath and sighed, dropping the question and just savoring the moments together.

“Hey...” He brought her face up to his. “I love you...and I’ll be here waiting for you to get back,” he said softly.

She nodded as the boarding sign lit up.

“Okay, time to go,” she whispered and kissed his cheek before grabbing her bags and standing up. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said kissing her one more time and hugging her tightly. “Come back, me entiendes?”

She nodded before turning and heading towards the plane, she knew if she looked back, she'd cry, so she didn't.

“Oye, vamos mi amor. We gotta go pick up la princesa from day care. It’s their half day today,” Nevada said after you’d said your goodbyes to Gladys.

You smile and follow him, nodding to the car. “Papi, leave the bike and drive with me, play with Lily and I.”

You hop into the car humming softly as you smile at him. He groaned playfully, rolling his eyes and getting into the SUV. You drove the two of you to Lily’s daycare, and Nevada got off, moving inside.

“Oh hey, Mr. Ramirez!” Hailey, one of the teachers said cheerfully.

“Hola Hailey, where’s my princesa? Bathroom? She finally going by herself?” he asked with a proud grin.

Hailey looked back at him with furrowed brows, shaking her head softly.

“Your wife picked her up about an hour ago,” she replied.

“What? My wife’s out in the car,” he replied.

“What? The brunette? Wavy, long brown hair? Brown eyes?”

“My wife cut her hair a few weeks ago,” he replied. “She’s been picking up Lily every day, you didn’t--”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Ramirez, I...I just got back from my vacation yesterday, I haven’t been here--”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” he growled. “Tell me that works,” he said, pointing up to the camera on the ceiling.

Hailey frowned.

“It doesn’t record…”

“Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck kind of half-assed operation are you little fuckers running here?!” he exclaimed.

“Papi? What's taking so long?” You said, walking into the daycare. “Where's tu princesa?” You look around with a frown. “Lily? Mijita? Mi amor?” You frown at the woman, “Where is my daughter?”

“Look the woman who took her clearly knew Lily, she looked exactly like you! Who comes in and pretends to be someone's mom?” The girl said in a panic.

“Someone took my baby?” You glare, face going hard. “You better start talking puta because if anything happens to mi princesa? You're gonna wish you were just dealing with him.” You point to Nevada and watch the girl look at you in a panic. “Where the fuck is my kid?” You shouted in the girl’s face.

“I don’t know!!” Hailey shouted back through a stream of tears that spilled over her cheeks.

“Oye, mira, you said a woman came to get her right? Long brown hair?” Nevada asked, stepping between you and Hailey.

“Yes, she said she was your wife. She was wearing the exact same ring you have. I remember because I told you how much I loved it the first time you dropped Lily off and I notice it every time you come in,” Hailey replied. “She had big sunglasses on, I couldn’t see most of her face.”

“Okay, so it wasn’t Amber, she’s blonde. It wasn’t your mom, her hair is short…” Nevada offered, trying to narrow down who could possibly have Lily.

“She was wearing my ring.” you mumble softly to yourself, piecing things together, “I know who has her,” you turn hurrying out to the car without another word.

“Chocolate?” Lily asked nicely, pointing to the flavor she wanted, the smiling, waiting for confirmation. “Lily eat?” She asked softly.

“Yeah, sweety! You can have as much ice cream as you want! And then, we’re gonna go to the zoo!” Melody replied, smiling broadly. “Have you ever been to the zoo, princess?” she asked, handing Lily her cup of ice cream.

Lily's eyes lit up excitedly, “zoo!”

“We’re gonna have so much fun!”

#nevada ramirez #rafael barba #cuba v dr #season 8 #trouble in the heights #law and order svu

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