#Rebecca darling darlin’

[indianfartysummers]

I would not even be surprised if I went that route to be honest with you

But if I went that route, that’s not Kristina is a route

Honey, that’s not your route

Awe

She’s jealous is she jealous of New Zealand South Africa, England, where Ireland?

Russia

Kristina Mcguinis how retarded are you a hooker?

Are you a hooker honey?

Because I promise you, you don’t ever want to ask a woman of my station that question

Well, you are certainly not in English teacher, that is true

An

And you are a very plain and Prudential child provincial

I know that’s hard for you to pronounce sugar pumpkin

Oh, Kristina Mcguinis, Darren Hayes is going to put you through such hell

You are going to thank him

And then you are going to hide under a rock for the rest of your life darlin’.

You guys are going to cut out your jealousy honey

That’s my darlin

Oh my darling, oh my darling oh, my darling, Clementine

Didn’t you read that?

‘

Kristina Mcguinis never lived in Tennessee

So she’s got a lot of jealousy of the South

[cranberry-writes]

How Ted Lasso Characters would react to PDA!

Characters; Ted, Rebecca, Keeley, and Roy

Warnings; None, but i don’t know how british people act or talk so this may be a bit OOC

Ted Lasso:

-This man is the definition of a gentleman

-He probably won’t do much PDA next to handholding or cheek kissing unless you make the first move

-He’s all about making sure you feel comfortable

-You don’t feel like hugging right now? That’s okay! Do you want some tea? Coffee?

-I’d imagine he’d left something at home and you’d stop by the club to drop it off, he’d kiss you on the cheek and thank you for being so kind

-Definitely uses a pet name like “Sugar” or “Darlin”

-You kiss him on the lips and wish him a good day before leaving

-He’ll have the stupidest smile on his face for the rest of the day, if anyone asks why he’ll say something like “I’m the luckiest man alive, that’s all.”

Rebecca Welton

-She would be TERRIFIED about bringing you into the media’s attention

-She knows what it’s like to be picked apart and belittled by the media for no reason other than who she was dating and would do anything to make sure it didn’t happen to you

-Might hold your hand, probably won’t to much more than that in public.

-(In private she loves to hug, kiss, cuddle, everything)

-One day she leaves the house to go do something and you pull her in and kiss her goodbye, but before she leaves you tell her that you’d love to go public about your relationship

-She’s nervous, she tells you how draining it can be

-You don’t care, you want to be able to kiss your lovely girlfriend after a game or hug her at work

-She’s still minimal for PDA compared to others but she still hugs and kisses you on the cheek when ever she can <3

-Extra; Calls you “Darling” or “My love”, and if english isn’t your first language you bet she’ll call you a pet name in your mother tongue.

Keeley Jones;

-She LOVES PDA, she’ll almost always be holding your hand, hugging you, something

-Still super respectful if you aren’t super big on PDA

-If you also love PDA then expect her to never leave your side

-She won’t get risky or anything like that, but she just loves to show off how much y’all love each other

-Sometimes wears your clothes out in public

-Calls you “Babe” or “hot-stuff”

-At her office and you want to surprise her, when you see her she has her back facing you.

-You slowly walk up behind her before hugging her and kissing her on the cheek, she makes a noise then quickly starts laughing when she realizes it’s you

-“Babes! I love you but some warning would be nice.”

-Overall she’s just super nice n sweet :)

Roy Kent

- Not to big on PDA, while he will rest his hand on your waist (or vise versa) or hold your hand, he dosnt do much out side of that

- with one exception

-this man is jealous, and gets jealous fairly easily.

- some random person starts flirting with you? Roy will be all over you for the rest of the night

- Roy may seem kinda cold but he does love to show you affection, ask him to give you a massage or cuddle and he’ll do it in a heartbeat.

- Just like Ted he’s all about making sure you feel comfortable, literally anything you need, he’ll do it.

- If you initiate PDA he might be caught off guard, but he’ll recover fast

- You’re at the pub one night, celebrating a win with the team and the rest of the club. Right as Roy gets up to grab another round of drinks you pull him down and give him a heavy kiss

- when you pull back he looks shocked for maybe a second, he’ll quickly get a smile on his face and say something british smart-assish like “You cheeky fucker.”

- He’s a sweet ass that’s a bit protective

[thisismysecondrodeo]

sitting on Ted’s lap in public (maybe at a party) and moving around to tease him 😈

AN: fun fun fun, we love some light teasing (also sorry I’ve been MIA! Life! Good things!)

Rating: Mature

Tags: lap sitting, private relationship, teasing, prelude to sex, light dom energy

Part 2 | Fic Masterlist

-

The Richmond bus was rocking and rolling with the enthusiasm of the boys celebrating their win. You brought up the tail end, snapping pictures for the team socials: Higgins and Will high-fiving, Keeley’s small frame slung around Rebecca’s waist, a clap on the back from Roy to Jaime as they chanted their way up the bus steps. Enough pictures taken, you started making your way towards the back of the bus, Ted catching your eye with a wink, his hand brushing yours as you passed by. 

It wasn’t a secret that you and Ted were an item but the two of you were adamant about mostly being about business during business hours. But as you passed you realized with the addition of Keeley and Rebecca every seat was taken. You turned around to see if you could find a ride with some of the support staff when the bus started rolling and you tumbled into Ted’s lap. 

“Well hello there darling,” Ted crooned playfully in your ear. 

You laughed, “Howdy there coach. Great job today.” Beard was sitting next to the two of you, a book already opened in front of him and paying the two of you no mind. “I guess I should tell the driver—” 

But before you could ask the driver to stop as soon as he’d started, the Richmond boys started singing Sweet Caroline and there was no way the driver would hear you. 

“Darlin’ I think you’re staying put,” Ted laughed as you craned your neck to try to catch the eye of the driver, the motion giving Ted a view straight down your shirt. Richard was the one who caught him staring and gave him an approving nod that made his cheeks blush crimson. You turned to look at Ted and caught his eyes quickly darting up from your chest to your face and you smirked. 

“Don’t be silly Ted it's an hour’s ride! I’m sure Rebecca and Keeley can squeeze—” You started to stand but Ted quickly wrapped an arm around your waist. 

“Please, stay put,” Ted begged, the tone sending a shiver down your spine, “or this might get mighty embarrassin’ for me.” It took you a second to connect the dots, but you shifted your hips and felt the embarrassment in question, Ted’s erection making itself known against your backside. 

Before you could think of all the ways you could drive Ted crazy for the next hour, Sam turned around from the row above to pull Ted into an argument and you giggled to yourself at how admirably he held it together as he laughed and nodded along. You crossed one leg over the other which only pressed you further against him and you heard him stutter at the same time you felt his cock twitch. 

The conversation ended and Ted dropped his forehead against your shoulder, releasing a heavy sigh. You peeked over at Beard to find that his book had migrated from his lap to his face and he was lightly snoring. You adjusted and wrapped your arm around Ted’s shoulder, pressing a surreptitious kiss to the spot behind his ear and he shuddered and groaned. Ted tightened his grip on you, his fingertips pressing into your waist before sliding down your leg and squeezing just above your knee. 

“You just refuse to act right, don’t you darlin’,” Ted’s voice was light but it brought up every memory of Ted and you in the bedroom, his southern drawl encouraging you to be a good girl for him and now it was your turn to bite your lip and squeeze your thighs together. “When we get home you’ll have to find out what happens when you don’t act right, won’t you?” Your eyes shut as you tried to hold yourself together, but Ted only squeezed his hand again, which you knew meant he wanted an answer. But you weren’t done teasing. Your arm was still wrapped around his shoulders so you ran your hands sweetly through his hair, before tightening your grip as well, feeling Ted’s sharp intake of breath as his chin tilted back, his face even closer to yours. “Yes sir,” you leaned in and whispered in his ear.

It was going to be a long ride home. 

Part 2 ->

[mexicangela]

i'll follow you everywhere while you work the room

summary: there's a gala and rebecca's been stressed about it. ted's been a doll, as per usual. pairing: ted lasso/rebecca welton word count: 1907 a/n: quick (unedited) tedbecca established relationship fluff i was inspired to write based off some lines of "once upon a poolside" by the national

i don’t know how you do it / tangerine perfume

Rebecca was exhausted. She’d spent the past month meticulously planning the annual charity gala. It was the club’s 130th anniversary. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t as big of a deal as, say, the 100th or 150th year since its establishment, but she wasn’t sure where she’d be in 20 years. She quite liked the idea of retiring and traveling with her darling love, who had been a great support to her throughout the entire stressful process. 

“Yes, honey, that color palette looks perfect,” he’d told her, merely reaffirming her choices but it still made her feel better. He’d been full of things like, “Yes, baby girl, that sounds like a great food selection” and “I think a dessert bar is a wonderful idea, darlin’. People love a good buffet.”

Now she was moving around the venue, chit-chatting with various donors and fans, making herself extremely lovable even if she felt like ripping her hair out every time some rich old white man smiled at her in a way that made her feel slimy. But she smiled politely back at them, laughed at their jokes, took their “accidental” brushes of the arm in stride.

And then his fingers would ghost over the small of her back and she would feel relief flood her very veins. She never realized how tense she was until she became fully aware of his presence just off to her side. Sometimes he would stay so close to her that she warmed at the heat of him and other times he would leave her with those light touches before he went to go mingle somewhere nearby. He was never far from her. 

He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was never not within his eyesight. He’d been keeping tabs on her the whole night, making sure to stay close by. She looked stunning in the black sequined dress she’d decided to wear that night so it was difficult to tear his gaze from her anyway. But he knew she’d been stressed about the gala and he wanted her to know that he was there with her, that she could lean on him if she needed to. 

So, he’d dedicated his night to following her around as she charmed her guests. She was an expert, truly, at masking her disdain for these sorts of events. She’d told him she always felt like such a schmooze when she had to walk around smiling and laughing at jokes that weren’t funny to haggle money out of rich people. He’d told her it was for a good cause and that she was a very sexy schmooze before he’d kissed her thoroughly in an attempt to pull her thoughts away from the gala. 

That trick only worked until they woke up in the morning and she’d be filled with dread once more at the day of worrying ahead. Although there hadn’t been a particularly hurtful tabloid article about her in a long time, she still got anxious about the press where big events were involved. They could be ruthless, he knew, and she did want to impress although she didn’t admit it to him. She told him she wanted everything to be perfect for the club, for their boys, even for him. But he was well aware that a major part of her anxiety revolved around the tabloids. One nasty and ill-informed headline could make or break a person, unfortunately.

He was there at every turn, keeping a watchful eye on the way her shoulders and back tensed depending on who she was talking to, taking note of every forced smile, every fake laugh. He would brush his fingers against the small of her back, down her arm, over her shoulders. And the most remarkable thing would happen right before his eyes– he would see her visibly relax. He’d, of course, heard that turn of phrase, or read it more like, but he couldn’t recall ever having seen it happen. Her shoulders would fall and the muscles of her back would seemingly unravel from the tight knots that had surely been torturing her. Her smile would morph into something more natural, more serene and the look in her eyes would turn peaceful. All because of his touch.

How was such a thing possible? He couldn’t fathom it. Never before had he garnered that kind of response from anyone based purely on touch alone. It was as if he had some sort of magic in his fingertips and it made him feel a bit lightheaded. Did she really love him that much?

He was her peace. The whole night she’d been running around trying to make everyone happy and making sure it all went according to plan, from the auction to the musical performance to the food to the mass exodus once the whole fucking thing was over. She’d noticed what he was doing about halfway through the night, conveniently popping up beside her wherever she went. It very nearly brought tears to her eyes to know that he was so utterly invested in her wellbeing. She’d heard whispers at some point, people saying that her besotted gaffer was trailing her like a lost puppy and that had made her quietly angry because of course he wasn’t. But then she’d begun to notice that he was somewhere near her during every conversation she was having, whether he showed up behind her or he was off to the side having his own conversation with someone else. She would look just slightly to the side and see him standing there in his suit, holding a flute of champagne and making someone laugh or giggle. He was nothing if not charming.

At the end of the night, after everyone else had gone except for the hired staff, she found him helping them clean up, his suit jacket gone, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his tie loose around his neck. He looked up at her from collecting trash off a table and smiled, a tendril of his hair falling down into his face, making him look ever more handsome. She melted for him over the smallest things, it seemed. She thought that after a few years of being together, she’d have gotten used to his smiles and his hair and his gorgeous eyes. But there she was, still entirely smitten with every little thing about him.

“Hey, you,” he said, tossing the garbage into a bag and leaving it to go to her.

“Hi,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck as he wound his around her middle, pulling her close to him. He breathed her in, the smell of her perfume a little citrusy with a hint of something floral.

“You okay?” he asked her, his tone lending tender concern.

She nodded and smiled warmly at him. There was never a moment in which he didn’t make her feel cared for. She was incredibly in love with him.

“Better now it’s over,” she told him.

“I bet,” he said, his voice almost a whisper as he gazed into her eyes. He always got lost there. Those eyes of hers were like the sea– captivating and deeper than anyone knew, easy to drift into if he wasn’t careful. He guessed he’d made a habit of being reckless, in that case. “Think you could spare some energy for a dance, darlin’?”

He’d hoped to pull her for a dance earlier in the night so that they could’ve made people bear witness to how disgustingly in love they were, but she’d been rather preoccupied through the whole event. He looked at her with a subtle type of hope in his eyes and she could see the sparkle in them. She hadn’t understood what people meant when they said things like that– the sparkle in someone’s eye or a longing gaze– but now she did. He gazed at her with such longing it stole the air from her lungs, leaving her with the phantom of a breath on her lips every time she caught him looking at her that way.

“Even if I didn’t, I’d still dance with you, my love.” It was true. Even if she didn’t have a single drop of energy left within her tired bones, she still would have waltzed around the room with him as if it were the last thing she’d ever get to do.

He smiled at her and then looked in the direction of the DJ booth, giving a slight nod. Suddenly, the lights went dim and the music came in over the sound system.

She looked at him, her head tilted to the side, her eyebrows raised, a fond smile on her face.

“And if I had said no?” she teased.

“Well, I guess I was bankin’ on a yes,” he said before he leaned into her to press a sweet kiss to her lips. He started swaying them to the gentle rhythm of Elton John’s “Your Song.” She slipped off her heels and sighed in relief, leaning her head on his shoulder now that he was a bit taller than her. “I don’t know how you do it, Rebecca,” he muttered, turning his head so he could drop a kiss to the side of her head.

“I’ll be honest with you, darling, I don’t know how I do it either,” she said, her breath tickling his neck. “I think maybe I black out and suddenly become possessed by some ancient aristocratic spirit.”

“That’d be kinda neat,” he mused. “I mean, as long as I always get my babydoll back, that is.”

She laughed quietly and stood up straight, looking him in the eyes.

“Spirit-possessed or not, I’ll always come back to you, Ted.”

“And I’ll always be here waitin’ for you to come home. Spirit-possessed or not,” he said with a subtle smile.

She smiled back at him and pulled him into her for a slow, tender kiss, her fingers toying with the hair at the back of his head. He pressed her further into him, wanting to be unsure at what point they were two different bodies, two different souls. But their souls had melded into one, as far as he was concerned, the moment they both knew they loved each other. All at once, they had become two hearts in one. Never before had he experienced such a thing– to be so sure that someone had been made for him, for him to have been made for someone, and to have finally found her. He’d been beside himself with emotion in that moment, and she had kept his head above water. She was always there when he felt he was beginning to drown. He would spend the rest of his life expressing his gratitude through his love for her.

That night, in their bed, he held her as close as he possibly could with one arm wrapped around her waist while his free hand roamed the vast expanse of her softness. She was all curves and supple flesh and honeyed warmth. He rubbed soothing circles into the muscles he knew were tense earlier that evening and reveled in the sounds of her quiet sighs and lip-bitten moans as he worked the knots out of her. They fell asleep, limbs entangled and hearts beating in sync, knowing for certain that there was no universe in which they would ever want to be without each other.

[daydreamgoddess14]

Serenade

MASTERLIST

For the Tedbecca Prompt Party, based on prompt No.27 - A team karaoke night that changes everything.

Ted Lasso / Rebecca Welton- fluffy fluffy.

Rebecca sighed into just one more kiss, relaxing her body against his and letting him hold her up.

“I gotta get downstairs, sweetheart,” he mumbled from behind her ear, making her shiver.

“I know, I know.”

“Don’t want anyone sneakin’ up here to get me and findin’ out what we’re up to.”

“No, not just yet. I want to keep you for myself for a little longer.” He pulled away and looked her in the eye,

“I am yours. Nothin’ and no one gonna take that away, I promise. Gotta go, love you darlin’.” 

“Love you.” She whispered, watching him close the door carefully behind him. Not ten minutes later, she heard him out on the training pitch. She’d just touched up her lipstick when Keeley barrelled in. 

“Baaaabe! Karaoke on Saturday? Whole team’s in! There’s a new place where we can hire a private room just for us. Ted’s in - he’s gonna tell the lads after training. We haven’t done karaoke since Liverpool - it’s gonna be amazing!” She laughed as Keeley recounted the songs she thought every player should sing. “...Barbie Girl for Jamie, of course! Do you think I could get Beard to do a Meat Loaf/Bonnie Tyler duet with me? That would be so much fun. What about you? I can’t wait to hear you sing again! Oh my god, what do you think Ted would sing? Probably some country song, maybe like-”

“Kenny Rogers.” Rebecca interrupted. She cleared her throat, “I mean, I think he likes Kenny Rogers.”

“Wicked, yess - the Gambler! Right, I’ve gotta shoot. I’m taking Babs for lunch. Sorry you can’t join us.”

“Maybe next time. See you Saturday, darling.” Keeley blew kisses and hustled for the door, finally leaving Rebecca alone. 

~~~~~~

The new season was about to start, it felt like a million years since Ted had returned to Richmond after a lonely and destructive month in Kansas. He’d left her sobbing and heartbroken at the airport, watched as his best friend refused to join him, and still gone back. The feeling of instant regret as he walked into Michelle’s house still made him feel nauseous even now. It took an awful lot of prodding from Henry to get to the bottom of why he’d returned. His boy had talked and talked his ear off for weeks, trying to convince him it could just be a holiday and of course he could go back and all he had to do was say sorry and ask very nicely (and use his very best manners) to get his job back from Rebecca. To say she was surprised when he had knocked on her door - the rest of the building miraculously semi deserted due to the summer break - was an understatement. The other coaches had been in, peering around the doorway as they watched him through the corridor and up the stairs. He hadn’t said a word to them, just given them a little nod. 

“Hey boss,” he said with a little knock on the door. She’d been sitting in ‘his’ chair at her desk, looking over paperwork. Though she stood quickly, her knees buckled. He rushed to catch her, the words tumbling from his mouth. “I’m sorry, boss, I’m so sorry.” They’d both sunk to the floor in tears. After 20 minutes, the other coaches couldn’t wait any longer and stormed up the stairs en masse where they found Ted and Rebecca both still crying, both apologising. Roy held out a hand and pulled Rebecca to her feet, offering her a tissue from the box on her desk.

“So you think you can fucking waltz back in here and just get your job back?” Roy asked, looking at Ted but taking a step closer to Rebecca.

“Only if that’s what you all want. I’m under strict instructions to use my best manners and ask very nicely, but if you guys don’t think it’s a good idea then I understand.” They looked around at each other almost as if they’d expected this very situation to occur and had a plan for handling it. Rebecca took the lead and motioned to Nate.

“Can you step outside for a moment please, Ted.” He asked politely. Ted nodded and left the four alone. They spoke in hushed tones, in case he could hear them,

“What do you think?” Rebecca looked around the huddle. With Leslie on holiday, the three gentlemen around her had become her musketeers in recent weeks. Leslie had chuckled on the phone about being their d'Artagnan when he returned.

“I knew this would fucking happen,” Roy grumbled.

“We all did,” Beard agreed.

“Good job we kept this,” Nate held up a folder. He opened it up and pulled out a contract with Ted’s name printed on the top of the page.

“I nearly shredded it last week.” Rebecca admitted.

“So did I,” a chorus from the other three followed.

“So it’s a yes then?” Rebecca asked. Three nods of accord. “Ok, Nate, call him back in, please?” When Ted went back into the room a second time, he was greeted by a line up of Rebecca, with Roy and Beard either side of her looking like a protection detail, and Nate on the end. All arms crossed, all looking stern. “So what is it you’d like to say exactly?” She spoke firmly. Ted cleared his throat.

“Well, uhh… Turns out I made a mistake. You were right, boss. This is my home. I’m sorry to all of you that I made you feel like this wasn’t enough for me. I was worried that it wasn’t enough for Henry but I needn’t have, he loves this place just as much as I do. I’ll get on my knees if it helps, but I want you to know that I apologise and if you’d have me, I’d love my job back.”

“On your knees.” Roy growled. Ted moved to kneel but Rebecca punched Roy on the arm.

“Don’t be a dickhead. Get up, Ted. I can’t promise immediate forgiveness, but we’re all willing to have you back.”

“I can offer some tips on grovelling, if you like.” Nate added. Ted smiled,

“I appreciate you, Nate the Great. Coach?” He turned to Beard at last,

“Missed you buddy.” Beard sniffed, breaking the line to hug Ted. Nate joined them, followed by Rebecca who then pulled Roy in. “We got you something.” Beard said from the epicenter of the hug. Nate’s hand appeared in the air waving the contract. They broke apart and Roy grabbed a pen from the desk.

“Now fucking sign it.” Rebecca took the pen off him,

“Don’t be daft, Roy. At least give him a chance to get settled and sleep and make sure that this is what he wants. Because I tell you now,” she turned to Ted, “I’m not letting you fucking leave again once you’ve signed this. You have to be sure, Ted.” He nodded firmly,

“Yes ma’am.”

“Right, where are you staying?” His eyes swivelled to Beard,

“No room at the inn, pal.”

“With me then.” Rebecca concluded. “And tomorrow we’ll get the flat sorted. I’ll call my housekeeper and ask her to go there first in the morning, by the time you’ve slept off some jetlag she’ll have it all straightened out and ready.”

“We should celebrate,” Nate said, “I’ll call Jade and we can go to Taste of Athens tonight?”

“Good idea, I could murder a gyros.” Roy agreed.

“Excellent. I suggest you go with these lot and find out what you’ve missed out on for the rest of the afternoon? My driver will be here at 3pm.” Considering himself dismissed, Ted joined the others downstairs where he got brought up to speed on pre season plans. The team had started to come in three or four sessions a week to start ramping up their training. Next week would be their first full time week back. In their shared office, Ted realised that Roy hadn’t taken his desk.

“Been waiting til the start of the season.”

“You knew I’d be back,” he concluded.

“We hoped so. Didn’t want to announce a new coach, move onto your desk-”

“Rip up the contract.” Nate added.

“Right, none of that, until we were certain.” Beard explained. 

~~~~~

At 3pm, he heard the click of Rebecca’s heels in the corridor.

“That’s tools down.” Beard announced. He took Ted's case and put it into the boot of Rebecca’s car, tapping the roof of the car and giving them a wave, "see you at 7pm." He called. She unlocked the house and he diligently followed her, leaving his case in the hallway. 

"You'll have to excuse me, Ted, I'm not usually much of a day drinker but this is not a usual day." She poured a large glass of wine from the fridge. "Want one?" He handed her a second glass. 

"Are you OK?" He asked. She slid the glass over to him. 

"I'm fine, Ted. You probably know we've all sort of been expecting this. Or hoping for it at least."

"Yeah but… I didn’t leave the others crying in the airport." She brushed off his comment. 

"I was overwhelmed, that's all, I hate goodbyes."

"I'd Oklahoma you, but that feels a little cruel."

"Why, Ted? What do you think it would reveal?" He didn’t reply. He took his glass and walked around the kitchen slowly, taking in the miniscule details of her life. The little heart-shaped dish with a couple of pairs of earrings and a button sitting inside. The book open on the sideboard - spine cracked and pages down. A framed photograph taken at Ola’s, the team hardly able to all fit into frame, sitting on each other and squeezing in close - Rebecca and Ted in the centre. 

“Y’know, it wasn’t actually a realisation that this place was my home? It is, or at least, it’s part of it. It was actually something else that came to me. The reason I came back.” He looked at her fridge door, more photographs held down with magnets, a slip for an opticians appointment. “It’s you, Becca.” She didn’t turn to look at him, she kept her gaze down on the stem of her glass as she twirled it in her fingers. “Say something? Please?” He pleaded, coming round the island to face her. She shook her head,

“I don’t know, Ted. I don’t think I can put my heart out there again.” She looked sadly at his case down the hall and shook her head again. “No. No, I’m not really ready to talk about this. I’m happy to see you back here, but I hope you’re not back because you think I’m just going to open my arms to you. I have a headache, I’m going to lie down before dinner.” She took her glass and left him in her kitchen, dumbfounded.

Dinner was a happier affair. Ted watched with a smile as Rebecca talked animatedly with the Coaches, it was evident that they’d all become closer over the last month and that they’d been a big support to Rebecca when she’d needed it. They were clearly very protective of her, Nate and Roy sat either side of her and Beard directly across, giving her easy ways to avoid Ted if she’d wanted them. He resolved to give her the space and time she needed. He jumped right back into their original routine. The morning after his return, she woke to the smell of biscuits wafting up the stairs. Each day he went to great lengths to show his commitment to Richmond, and to her. He spent time wooing the team again, and separately, wooing Rebecca. With flowers delivered at home, meals, books he thought she’d like. Nothing overt and nothing at work, but he left her in no doubt over how much he really loved her. One night, he’d knocked on her door and sat with her while she watched Bridgerton, another night they’d looked through the final proofs of the photographs of the players which would be used across the season in their programs and literature. Each time, he left her at the door with a smile and a wave. He’d been the one completely unprepared when she’d kissed him. He’d spent the last couple of weeks trying so hard to win back her affection that he missed it when he’d actually been successful. They’d cleaned up after dinner and he’d boxed up the leftovers, “Here you got Wednesday and Thursday. Think I’ll do a stir fry for dinner on Thursday so that’ll give you lunch for Friday too.” She’d been standing directly behind him when he’d turned back from the fridge, and she’d kissed him so fiercely he’d backed up into the fridge.

He’d spent every night since with her. He’d maintained the flat, and no one at all knew of their relationship.

~~~~~~

The team were in exceptionally high spirits, ready for one big night out before they knuckled down to work and attacked for the Premier League trophy and the Champions League title. Rebecca chatted happily with Keeley and Jamie, Beard and Roy were passionately not-arguing over drinks at the bar, and the team milled around sharing laughs and stories of their summer breaks. Jamie, as Keeley had predicted, gave a roaring rendition of Barbie Girl which had everyone dancing and laughing hysterically, Beard and Keeley killed Holding Out for a Hero in the very best way and Rebecca had been encouraged to get up and sing Rolling in the Deep. The evening was drawing to a natural, happy end when Ted ushered the whole team onto the stage. Keeley and Rebecca stopped talking to look up at the little stage where the players had gathered,

“The fuck is this?” Roy asked.

“Fuck if I know.” Beard added.

“Uhh, the fellas and I put this together earlier today.” Ted confirmed with a nod. Keeley, sensing something incredible was about to happen, picked up her phone to record them. 

“I'm running out of ways to make you see

I want you to stay here beside me

I won't be ok and I won't pretend I am

So just tell me today and take my hand

Please take my hand” 

Rebecca could see Richard and Jamie shrugging at each other, none the wiser, Jan and Moe looked equally confused as the team all joined Ted in unison.

“Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back

It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind

Only love”

Ted continued, while again, Thierry and Isaac looked utterly baffled,

“It's so simple and you know it is

You know it is

We can't be to and fro like this

All our lives

You're the only way to me

The path is clear

What do I have to say to you

For Gods sake, dear”

The team again picked up on the chorus. All at once, the penny seemed to drop, beginning with Sam.

“Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back

It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind

Only love

Just say yes, 'cause I'm aching and I know you are too

For the touch of your warm skin

As I breathe you in”

He looked across excitedly at Ted, over to Rebecca and back again, and then began nudging the other players. He looked directly at Rebecca, and Jamie audibly gasped into the microphone. 

“I can feel your heart beat through my shirt

This was all I wanted, all I want

It's all I want”

The whole team were rapturous in the final chorus, they’d been participants in a declaration of love that none of them had seen coming, 

“Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back

It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind

Only love

Just say yes, 'cause I'm aching and I know you are too

For the touch of your warm skin

As I breathe you in”

Ted let them finish the song alone as he surprised them all even further by stepping down from the stage and getting to one knee in front of Rebecca. 

“Whaddya say, boss?”

FIN

[rhettabbotts]

You've been ACING these prompts lately, so how about "shut up and kiss me already" + Rhett (because, yes, while I haven't watched the show yet I have a feeling this might convince me!)?

Hope you're having a good day! 🥰

rebecca my darling ilysm 🥹 (i hope you’re having a good day too my love🫶🏼)

nsfw | 18+ only

“shut up and kiss me already,” you said standing with your arms crossed over your chest. rhett had been going on and on about the guy who had flirted with you at the bar. he was pacing the kitchen floor when you said it, stopping right where he was and turning towards you.

he crossed the floor in record time, grabbing your face with both hands and smashing his lips against yours. he tasted like whiskey and mint gum and it made your head spin. your fingers weaved their way into his hair and tugged, causing rhett to moan against your mouth. his hands traveled down your body, finding purchase on your hips, and lifted you on top of the counter.

his mouth moved down to press kisses against your throat, sucking and biting along the way. he kneeled down in front of you and pulled you to the edge of the counter, pressing his face into your stomach. his hands ran up and down your thighs, pushing your dress up to expose your lacy underwear.

he pressed barely there kisses against the inside of your thighs, nibbling on the sensitive skin there. he looked up at you with his blue eyes, nearly black with lust, and dragged his tongue along your folds through the the scrap of clothing.

you whimpered and your hands found their way into his hair again, pulling on the long strands.

“rhett, please,” you whined, bucking your hips towards him, more so his mouth.

“you’re mine, darlin’.” he said before moving your panties to the side and mouthing at your clit.

send me a prompt!

[sonyapaxtonapologist]

the scene where ted and rebecca debate the pronunciation of the word “plan,” but it’s darlin’ vs. darling and they just end up calling each other that

[klovenhooves]

It’s pretty clear that Rupert’s pet name for Rebecca was ‘darling’ but do you think she had any for him/do they differ from the ones she has for Ted?

I'm not sure if she would've had one for him, since most of their interactions are very formal on her end, with a determined distance. I'm sure darling went both ways.

I've had Ted call her any number of names, but I do think his version of darling, with his accent, is a completely different word to her. Darlin', sweetheart, Becca, etc etc. As for what Rebecca calls Ted, I love Teddy, and sweetheart.

[vanchlo]

The Firsts / #7 “The First Gingerbread House”

---> NEXT BLURB: The last blurb of The Firsts is most likely coming tomorrow, 12-16! 

READ THE ASSISTANT, AKA WHAT CAME FIRST

SERIES MASTERLIST   

READ ON WATTPAD

LEGEND:

+ : a break in the story; a time jump.

and i’m too lazy for italics bc tumblr ignores formatting that i do in Docs so sorry i give up 

WARNINGS: None

WORD COUNT: 2.9k words - a fun extra blurb c: 

SONG: Thank God It’s Christmas by Queen (click to listen) 

* 

“The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.” 

- Wilma Mankiller 

*

The smell wafting under the door was the first thing I registered when I woke up the next morning. Christmas music and its splendid sounds were what followed, until my sadness ran away with that moment of respite. 

He was gone. He’d left me. Harry had abandoned me. 

Those thoughts filled the sleepy holes in my head once again. Well, until I felt a movement in the bed behind me, and my eyes shot open. The room was devoid of any light, my Christmas tree long ago thrown in my closet after I read that note. It’s all but forgotten when I turn around and I remember. The snoring man under my covers whose feet rest against mine makes it all come back to me, tear by tear. Am I dreaming still? Not unless that pretend world of mine remembers the scar above his eye, the one right under the curve of his chin, or the way his eyelids flutter while he’s dreaming. Already hiccuping, I close the distance between us and throw my arms around him. 

“Mmmm,” he groans, slowly reciprocating the action like muscle memory. The crook of his neck is warmer than usual from sleep, and somehow, it smells even better than before. His woodsy vanilla scent remains as I paint his neck with my tears. “Becks . . What’s tha matter, baby?” Harry’s rasped words coast over my head. The ‘baby’ gets me right away, and the sob only deepens at how that’s his immediate response. 

“It wasn’t a dream,” I weep into his t-shirt, clinging onto him and never wanting to let him go. 

“No, ‘m here, Becks, ‘m here. ‘m not goin’ anywhere, not ever again, I promise you that. Now, go back t’ sleep, bug, ‘s only seven . .  We don’t hafta be t’ me mum’s ‘til three, and me sleep ‘s all messed up.” 

My head nods along with his words as his arms tighten around me, and my tears ebb. Sniffling, I feel them stubbornly stay and crash onto his skin with each shake of my chest. 

“You promise?” the words are choked and fear sits in them. 

“I promise, Rebecca Ann, and ‘ll never ever break this one t’ you, I mean it.” 

“I’m gonna hold you to that, Styles,” it’s a half assed attempt at a laugh with my words, but it’s better than nothing. 

“Breathe, baby, and try t’ sleep. I know you didn’t get much tha last couple o’ days.” 

My head moves around until it finds that special spot, and in the midst of it, I think of the other night when I couldn’t sleep. He was all I could think about, per usual, and Skye’s yelling didn’t help. I couldn’t tell who she was talking to, and I just assumed that her and her boyfriend were having a row on the phone. Now that I think of it, I came home from work almost every night to her on the phone, and she would angrily hang up. She was there for me, but she was secretive too, and I couldn’t understand why. Until now. 

“Skye told you?” 

“Ya,” his answer is just as quiet and slow as mine. I want to be angry and upset at the both of them, but I had spent so much of my life the last few years being mad at him that I couldn’t fathom another unnecessary second of it. “I left t’ spare you tha hurt, but there wasn’t a moment that I stopped thinkin’ and worryin’ ‘bout you, bug. She was pissed at me, so much so I wasn’t sure if she’d let me in last night when I came . . but she did. She said you would’ve killed her if she hadn’t, which I believe . . I had t’ check on you and make sure you were okay, and she was tha one closest t’ you, even if she spent each phone call cursin’ at me.” 

“But I wasn’t, how could I be after that, Harry? You disappeared on me and fell off the face of the earth. I’d never been so scared, not knowing if you were okay, or if I’d ever see you again. Y-You can’t do that again to me, we’re a team, you’ve said it yourself. We’ve talked about getting married one day, you’re my best friend a-and-,” he cuts me off before the tears do, threatening to push me over the edge that I don’t know if I can bring myself back from. 

“I know, sweetheart, I know, and ‘m so sorry. ‘ll never stop apologizin’, Becks, never. I realized too late what I did was so foolish and how terribly I hurt you. I thought I was savin’ you from mo’ pain when really I was jus’ givin’ you mo’,” he sighs, and the misery in his words almost makes me want to stop him from going on. Although it had only been a few days, it felt longer with our recent breakup, like it was all a ball of pain rolled into one. Months of just wanting him to be happy again, more so now after I thought things were okay again, and then he left. “Trust me, ‘m not gonna fook things up again. ‘m rather sure n’body would lemme anyways, not My’ or Skye or me mum. They’re all jus’ as pissed at me fer what I did, and I won’t ever do it again. I love you so much, Rebecca Ann, and I won’t ever f’get that. When things get tough, I know that’s what I need t’ rememba - that and how much you always love me.” 

“I tried to stop loving you, but I couldn’t . . I can’t.” 

“And neither could I, love, ‘d never want t’,” he murmurs. He begins to hum our song and then it spills from his lips. At last, I find the sound of his heartbeat, and my breathing begins to slow. Once he’s a few lines in and his hands are carding through my hair, I give in to the sleep, knowing that he’ll be there when I wake up. 

“Our first Christmas t’getha,” Harry rasps later on as I rub at my eyes. I make the mistake of opening them and am blinded by the light that pours in from my poorly drawn shades. His giggle tickles at my ears when I nuzzle my head back into his chest. 

“First of many,” I mumble in between the folds of his t-shirt, finally feeling around and noticing the absence of his flannel. “Where did your flannel go last night?”

“Where d’ya think it went, Ms. Heater? Bloody hell, ‘s stiflin’ in yer bedroom, y’know that? ‘Least put onna fan or sumthin’, I fookin’ overheated last night. At least at mine, I know t’ turn tha heat down at night ‘cos you do it all fer me,” Harry nearly scoffs, but the humor in his voice is contagious. 

“Is that what happened with your pants too?”

“Ya, and skinny jeans aren’t comfy t’ sleep in,” he remarks. I feel his body move as my hand goes under his shirt, feeling his toned stomach. Without knowing it, it wanders down and to the front of his underwear. “Hey, mind that hand o’ yers, woman.” 

“You know I just like to feel it sometimes,” is all I say as I palm at his crotch, hearing his groan. 

“Ya, well now yer gonna make me hard, and ‘d rather not be when ‘m textin’ me sista. God, ‘s she mad at me.” 

I don’t mean to giggle, but I find it difficult to resist, and even more so when Harry is groaning at me. 

“‘s a good thing yer cute, and so are yer li’l snorts,” he says, shaking his head at me when I at last rest my chin on his chest to look up at him. 

“Aren’t you a little old to be wearing skinny jeans? You’re almost thirty-one, Harry.” 

“Hush,” he tuts, slipping his tongue out to swipe over his lips. His lips remain parted before he bites at his bottom one when his thumbs flit across the screen of his phone. “Stop bein’ mean t’ me, ‘m tired.” 

Another laugh slips out and his head is shaking furiously as I feel his dick harden underneath my hand. 

“Rebecca Ann, get yer hand away from me dick, or else.” 

“Or what?” I say, fully aware of what I’m doing to him, and so is he. 

“Woman,” it comes out as a perturbed sigh from him, but it’s all but ignored as I get on all fours. He doesn’t acknowledge the way that I climb up his body with kisses pressed up his scratchy neck. “What d’ya think yer doin’?”

“What, can’t I kiss my boyfriend?” I tease, threading my way through his arms. His neck smells amazing when I lay down on top of him, wheezing at the ‘ooof’ he makes. 

He hums an approval while his phone makes small noises every time he types a letter. A smile warms my face as I cozy my face into his neck, needing to make up for lost time as I think of how he didn’t even react or protest when I plopped down on him. He wrapped his arms around me and hooked his chin over my shoulder and carried on, as if normal. 

“Hey, look who’s callin’ me,” Harry notes, his voice still crackly from sleep. “Hullo? Hi, Harper, how’re you, darlin’?” in seconds, his voice drips of honey for his other favorite girl in the world, filling my heart. “Ya wanna talk t’ Anty Becky? ‘Kay, ‘ll put you on speaker so you can talk t’ us both.” 

“Best get ready, somebody may have missed you mo’ than me,” he grins at me as we stop in front of a door decorated with a festive wreath. “Didn’t know that was possible.” 

The door opens within moments, and a small girl with honey colored hair stands in front of us. 

“Anty Becky! Unky Harry!” she exclaims, her adorable pin striped apron billowing around her when she runs forward to wrap her arms around our legs. 

“Hiya, sweets. How’re you?” Harry coos, bending down to scoop her into his arms. If I wasn’t melting already, I sure am now. “Happy Christmas.” 

“Happy Christmas! I missed you!” she whines, resting her head on Harry’s chest as he hugs her back. Goddammit, my ovaries better calm the fuck down. “And I missed you, Anty Becky!” Harper squeals when she lets up and reaches her arms out for me. I take the little girl in my arms and Harry ushers us into the house and out of the cold. 

“How are you, love?” I ask her, combing her hair out of her darling brown eyes. 

“Good. You’re both early, yay!” she announces, pulling on my hand and Harry’s when I let her down. We share hello’s with Gemma, her husband, and the walking and talking Ollie. 

“Mum not here yet?” I hear Harry ask his sister who replies with a curt ‘no.’ “Seems ‘m still in tha doghouse with her.” 

“What’s a doghouse?” Harper asks when she stops, seeing as how we’ve reached our destination. The kitchen table prepared with our supplies awaits us, and I get the message when I see the look Gemma gives Harry. 

“Don’t worry, love. So, I hear we’re makin’ gingerbread houses t’day?”

“Yep! Mummy said you’re really good at making them,” Harry’s young niece says. His eyes nearly roll into the back of his head when I meet them, but he still cracks a laugh. 

“I s’pose I am, or accordin’ t’ yer mummy, I am.” 

“Yay, I’ve wanted to make one for so long, and mummy said we could today since Christmas dinner isn’t for a few hours,” she answers, and it only continues to surprise me how much she’s grown since I first met her. 

“How’s school going, Harp?” my question finds a place in between her meticulous watching of Harry taking out the gingerbread pieces from the zipped baggy. 

“Good, I know all of my ABC’s now, Anty Becky,” she answers, but her attention couldn’t be further from me. 

Her eyes widen when her uncle takes off the lids to the frosting her and Gemma had prepared. My hand goes to my mouth when she tells Harry to be careful with the sprinkles container he opens. The organ that thumps away in my chest metaphorically swells at the sound of how she says his name. Hair-wee. It only drives my ovaries a bit more nuts at the sound, and I mistakenly think about our kids calling him that, and the beloved Daddy, of course. 

“‘Kay, here’s tha pieces t’ yer house, Harpy. Now, we can’t eat all o’ tha frostin’,” Harry tells her as he presses a kiss to the top of her head. Swoon. 

“Do you want some, Unky Hair-wee?” she offers, sticking her finger into the pink frosting and holding it out to him. He shakes his head at her offer, but when she isn’t looking, he swipes some for eating. “Hey, you said we can’t eat it all!” 

“I didn’t, I only had a touch, love.” 

“No lying, Unky Hair-wee!” she says with a wag of her finger at him, and soon, we’re all laughing but her. “Becky, Hair-wee is being naughty.” “Oh no. What should we do about it, love?” I find it harder to pose my question in a serious tone than I thought it would be. She hums a sound like she’s thinking, and I giggle under my breath when Harry picks her hand out of the bowl of gum drops. 

“He gets coal for Christmas,” she mutters, her small face squished with upset as Harry assembles the first two walls of her house. 

“‘m not gonna help you with yer house if yer not gonna be nice, Harp, but we won’t have anythin’ t’ decorate our house with if we eat all o’ our sweets,” he tells her gingerly, giving me an alarmed look when I find his eyes. Shaking his head, he picks up the piping bag and continues to put the walls together. 

Huffing, she pulls her hand back from the small plate of chocolate chips, placing them in her lap. Pulling my eyes away from my half assembled house, I watch her observe Harry and his craftsmanship. I don’t have to look very hard to see the similarities between the two. First off, oh my god with the stubbornness. Then, there’s the love of sweets and chocolate, to no surprise. Her hair curls at the ends beautifully, and deep dimples sit in her cheeks when they move. Although she’s a spitting image of her mother, when I see young pictures of Harry, I see Harper in them too. 

Resting my chin on my hand, I lose myself in watching him with her, knowing he’d be just as sweet, if not more, with his own babies. God, I need to get a grip. 

“Why’s it not working?” Harper whines ten minutes later when one of the walls of her gingerbread house falls down. 

“It jus’ needs mo’ frostin’, sweets. I didn’t do a very good job with that one, ‘m afraid. Here, why don’t you keep decoratin’ tha other sides while I fix it, ya?”

“Mmmmkay,” she sighs, picking up a small red cinnamon flavored candy to continue framing the door. Her pudgy, little fingers are careful and slow, and it makes me smile. “Yours looks cute, Anty Becky,” she comments and when I look over at her, she’s giving Harry a dirty look. He lifts his eyes with his face torn between being upset and trying not to laugh, asking me with his eyes, ‘did you see that?’ 

“Thanks, Harp, and so does yours. You and Harry are doing a good job.” 

“Not good enough,” it’s a mutter under her breath, but I hear it. I clear my throat as I continue to press peppermint twist candies onto a wall of my gingerbread house. 

“Hey, li’l miss, watch tha li’l attitude,” Harry warns with a raise of his eyebrows. He drops the piping bag after the house is all reassembled and dances his fingers across her ribs until she’s squealing from laughter. “Huh, what was that? Did I jus’ hear you say, ‘’m sorry, Unky Hair-wee, I love our gingerbread house so much! Yer tha best unky in da world, I love you so much!’” 

“No,” she giggles, and by now, my gingerbread house is forgotten as I watch the two with their dimples adorning their laughs. “I didn’t say that! I don’t love you, you’re all stinky and mean!” 

“Am not!” Harry scoffs, picking her up from her chair and holding her upside down. Her laughs continue loudly as he tickles under her arms and in the crook of her neck, tossing her onto the sofa in the nearby living room. 

“Are too!” she fights back, kicking at him as he towers over her, sending chuckles from her lips. “I like Anty Becky better!” 

Harry gasps at her proclamation and now, I’m laughing along with her. He looks over to me and I don’t think he could be smiling bigger. “Ya like this?” 

“Mmmhmm, you’re so cute together. You’re gonna make such a good daddy one day,” I muse aloud, surprising myself with the confession. It only makes his dimples bigger in his cheeks, and I can’t tell if they’re reddening from the tickling or from my words. 

God, I couldn’t have picked a better man to be a daddy to my babies one day. 

[boldly-fxcking-go-bitches]

Solo Para | Bones & Carol | My Front Porch Looking In

Word Count: 3,556 Trigger warnings for: Kidnapping, disappearance/loss of a child, hearing loss

“Hannah,” Carol said, as she looks at their baby girl wrapped in a blanket, in her arms, and looking back up at her husband. “What do you think?”

Leonard smiles softly, leaning over her to get a better look at their daughter, nodding with a smile at Carol, kissing her head. “I think it’s perfect. What do you think, Hannah?”

As if to settle the matter, the baby girl chooses that moment to wiggle a bit in her mother’s arms and get closer. Now as a doctor, he knows that it’s not something she’s consciously doing but dammit, it’s so cute he’s deciding to ignore that, smiling softly at both of his girls, his family.

And the first year is hard, especially given his work and home balance has never been fair, and he has to be out in San Francisco more often than he’d like (and that’s with them limiting his duties so he could stay in Georgia, it’s a damned nightmare how often they decided they still needed him in person), but it gets to be a bit worse when Carol announces she’s pregnant again.

While they’re in the hospital, he gets communications from Starfleet that they’re appointing a new fleet admiral. This time, though, Leonard completely ignores the message, electing to stay at Carol’s side through the birth of their son. It’s as he’s offering, “Frey,” he receives the notice that effective immediately he is to dedicate time to his family and his family alone, by orders of the new Fleet Admiral. And he’ll be damned if it’s not Jim’s name staring up at him on the signature of those orders.

Of course. But he’ll give his old friend credit, at least he’s not an idiot.

He hates how many of Hannah’s firsts he’d missed, but he’s at Carol’s side for all of Frey’s.

He goes back to work sometime after the birth of their third daughter. Madeline is almost like the best of both of them, he thinks, and he loves her with all his heart, but he needed to get back into things lest he risk issues about abandoning his position. Carol understood, but he still hated leaving her with three young children.

But nothing beat the times he got to go home. He’d walk up on the porch, and look in the window and see Carol playing with Frey and Hannah in the living room waiting for him.

Frey would usually be chewing on his sippy cup instead of drinking from it, and Hannah would parade in and out in various outfits she’d put on herself... always with her shoes on the wrong feet. She always makes it some kind of fashion show, but she’s always the first one to see him in the window, and go tearing over to see him before running to the door as he walked over to it, throwing herself at him as he’d open it, screaming an endless stream of, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”

But one day, he walks up on the steps, and sees Hannah isn’t playing as hard with Carol. Carol looks up and sees him in the window and smiles, nudging Hannah a bit and pointing to him.

Seeing the little girl’s dark eyes light up, he smiles and opens the door, but this time when Hannah runs over, she pulls on his hand. “Daddy sit! Daddy sit!”

So he sits on the couch next to Carol, noticing Frey curled up asleep in his armchair, and raising an eyebrow at Carol... who only smiles. “Darling... I’m pregnant.”

He’s floored, but he lights up, kissing Carol and scooping up Hannah, who points to Carol’s stomach and babbles, “Baby there!”

Well, she’s right and she’s wrong. Their final pregnancy, Carol and Leonard welcome twins.

Unfortunately, something’s not right with their little girl, and he wants to go with the doctors to try and help but a nurse stops him and he, somewhat defeated but understanding, goes back to Carol and the little girl’s twin brother, trying to soothe his wife as she cries shakily. He doesn’t think that the little girl isn’t going to make it, but...

Well, he doesn’t have to worry about it, when a nurse motions for him to step out. When he does, she sighs. “Admiral, your daughter is alive and with one exception, perfectly healthy.”

A weight lifts off his chest. Except... “What’s the exception?”

“We’re running some tests now to determine the cause, but she had a growth on her vocal chords. You gave permission at the start, as you have with all the previous births, that we do whatever is necessary to save the baby’s life. We... had to remove her vocal chords. Your daughter will never speak.”

His heart sinks, but he focuses on the positive. She’s alive, and she’s healthy. “Can I see her? Before I go back and tell Carol?”

“Of course,” she answers, leading him back to meet his third daughter.

Older than her twin by three minutes, and he sees her actively moving and squirming, mouth open and face squished up... and no sound comes out, but a monitor alerts a nurse to check on her right away.

They’d picked out names in advance this time. Hannah had helped them by casting her vote on an array of options. So he stares in, at all the small children in there, at the little girl with a unique monitor to alert if she’s trying to get attention, and presses his hand against the glass. “Be strong, Angie.”

This time, it takes two years before he goes back to work. And even when he does, Jim is concerned. “Bones, are you sure you’re ready to do this? You can take more time, you have five children, and the twins are only two. Not to mention Angie--”

“Jim, I love my family more than anything, and I’d give anything to be there with them, but there’s nothing more I can do for any of them. Carol’s been telling me I need to get out from under her feet and come back, and when your own wife who carried and bore all five of those kids is telling you to go back to work, it’s a sign you need to get your ass back to work.”

Jim chuckles and sighs, shaking his head. “I don’t know how you do it, Bones.”

“I’ve gotta, Jim. Those kids are the greatest gifts I’ve ever had. But I want them to come up the way I did, and they love it there. My job is here. Their home is in Georgia. We make it work.”

He takes sign language courses in San Francisco, during the stretches where he has to stay in the city. He comes home and sees Carol and Angie practicing sign language (while simultaneously working on speaking with Jared) on the floor of the living room, while Madeline plays with Carol’s hair and Hannah chases Frey around the house... but always comes to a stop at the window when she sees him, eyes light up bright and waving at him before going to meet him at the door, to fling herself at his legs and scream the same, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” when he opens it.

His gorgeous wife, his five wonderful children, are everything he could ever ask for.

On his birthday a couple years later, he’s forced to work from San Francisco and he hates it, he misses being home, misses Georgia but...

He’s surprised at his apartment when he opens the door to be met by a blonde 7 year old, still flinging herself at him and yelling out, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” when he opens the door.

“Oof! Hannah? Darlin’, what are you--”

But before he can finish the thought, more voices chorus a cheerful, “Surprise!” and he looks up to see Carol and the rest of the kids, as well as a number of old friends, with a birthday cake on his counter, and he just tears up a bit, scooping up his oldest daughter and making his way in properly. “What on earth is all this?”

“It’s your birthday, daddy,” is the solid answer from the five year old who has clearly put herself in charge of the party.

He chuckles a bit at that. “Is that so, Madeline? Well, what’re you doing here? Last time I checked in, you were still in Georgia, young lady.”

“Well, we’re not anymore,” she replies matter-of-factly, a response that earns a bit of laughter around the room.

Carol gets up and walks over to join him, kissing his cheek. “We left about five minutes after you hung up on us this morning so we’d have time to get here and get everything ready. Happy birthday.”

Smiling, he kisses her, and Hannah wrinkles her nose and swats at them both. “Ewww!”

He laughs a bit at that. “Oh, is that so? Is that so?” And as he starts repeating that, he wrinkles his nose back at her and presses his head against hers, rubbing their noses and smothering her with kisses until she’s squealing and laughing and pushing at him, whereupon he finally pulls back and smiles at her. “I missed you guys.”

Hannah giggles. “We miss you, too,” and just as abruptly as she’d answered him with that soft Georgian accent, she looks at Carol and asks in the chipper British accent, “Mummy, can we tell him now?”

“Tell me what?” He asks, and Hannah looks a bit guilty.

Madeline crosses her arms and pouts. “That was s’posed to be a surprise!”

“Well, cat’s pretty much out of the bag,” Rebecca remarks from where she’s sitting at the counter.

“Darling, we’ll be staying a few days. It was the kids’ idea for your birthday gift, from us to you,” Carol says, and he pauses as her words set in and smiles, pulling her in close and hugging her, before squishing Hannah in between them and motioning for the other four to come join them.

The last day is when it all comes crashing down.

He has one quick thing to do at the office, today was his deadline and he needed to finish the paperwork. Just a few signatures.

In the meantime, Carol took the kids to a park out by Starfleet HQ. It was a hot day, and the three elder kids were behaving so well but the twins... the twins were fussy, Jared wanted to sit with Carol at the bench under the tree because he was too hot, but Angie wanted ice cream and in the time it took to try and settle them, in the minutes she’d looked away...

Madeline was still on the swings.

Frey was still on the monkey bars.

But there was no call from a small blonde with brown eyes for Carol to “Watch me!” as she went down the slide.

Carol shoots up from her seat, eyes darting around the playground.

Just Madeline on the swings.

Frey and a couple other boys his age on the monkey bars.

But no footsteps running around the play structure. No blonde running over to her to talk about being hot or tired. “Hannah?”

No response. “HANNAH?”

But there’s nothing, no little girl yelling back, as Carol grabs the twins hands and rushes to Frey. “Frey, have you seen Hannah, where did your sister go?”

Frey looks over in confusion and looks back at the slide where Carol had seen her last, too. “I don’t know,” he answers, and that sends her heart beating faster, her blood roaring in her ears--

“HANNAH! THIS ISN’T FUNNY, DARLING! HANNAH!”

Madeline climbs off the swings and runs over, as Carol turns in circles, looking around, searching, pleading-- “HANNAH OLIVIA MCCOY!”

He’s signing the last page when his wife calls for him. “I’m just about to leave, I’ll see you--”

But she’s sobbing, hysterical on the other line and he sits up in shock. “Carol, what is it, what happened?”

His heart drops to his stomach as she chokes out the screams. “It’s Hannah-- Hannah’s gone missing from the park, I can’t find her anywhere--”

He stands up sharply and startles his assistant who’d just opened the door. “Where are you? I’m on my way. Call the police.”

That night, he doesn’t come home till 1am, and there’s still no sign of her. Carol is determined, and gets them a proper place in the city-- his little apartment was nice for visiting, but it was really meant as just a place where he could crash when he had to stay in the city for work. The farm in Georgia was their home. But Carol gets them a bigger place in the city, refusing to leave it until they have closure on Hannah’s disappearance.

Three years pass without anything, but neither of them give up hope... even as life hits them hard again, when a regular checkup determines Jared is losing his hearing.

His twin sister holds him and teaches him better sign but it’s not enough, he’s scared and he just wants Carol and Leonard to hold him all the time. He wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and usually Carol is with him in seconds... because Leonard is out, again, as he always is, looking for Hannah. Even if there’s no hope, he has to believe she’s there. Jared cries into his mother’s arms as slowly but surely his hearing is fading, but he refuses anything to aid him even with how scared he is, and Carol can’t make sense of it.

One day when he’s at home, Carol asks him to talk to Jared about it. So he goes to his youngest son, sitting in the window of their living space, looking out over the city below, and sits with him. “Hey, Jared.”

Jared jumps and turns to him, and Leonard winces at how far gone his hearing is, but Jared just smiles, trying his best to bare it. “Hi, daddy.”

“How are you today?”

His son thinks about it. “I’m okay. Is this about the hearing aids?”

Leonard pauses and nods. “It is. Your mom’s been trying to figure out why you don’t want them. She’s worried about you.”

“I don’t want them. If they can’t make something to help Angie, I don’t want to have something that can help me. It’s not fair.”

“I know, bud, I just--”

Jared sniffles. “None of this is fair. I barely remember our old house anymore, or Hannah. You always talk about how good medicine is now but nothing can make Angie better. And you’re always gone looking for Hannah and mommy’s trying so hard and none of this is fair. It’s not fair. I just want everything to go back to how it was before. I want Hannah back, and I wanna go back home, daddy.”

And it’s like a dam breaks in him, as Leonard pulls his youngest son in tightly and hugs him, crying as silently as he can, feeling Jared hug him back and cry against him. “It’s not. You’re right, it’s not. None of this is fair. I wish things could go back to the way they were before, too, buddy, I wish we could go back and keep your sister safe and that we were all back in Georgia together. I wish you and Angie could have the aid you both need, I wish neither of you even needed medical aid. I wish I could just wave my hand and fix everything, buddy.”

But he can’t, and they both know it, so they just hold onto each other and cry for a while before Jim calls him to say they’re going on another search party, even Spock with all his damned logic is ignoring the odds after all these years to help him find his little girl and sometimes the man might drive him up a wall but he’ll give him one thing, that he’s been amazing help during these past few years.

And he continues to be even as the odds get slimmer and even Carol is losing hope. Nine years since their eldest (biological, anyways) vanished and not a trace of her, they have no idea what to do anymore, everything says they need to just give up by now...

But that all changes the night Madeline wakes them up with her screaming. Angie’s missing, her screech says, propelling them both into action. He’s already in contact with Jim and the rest of the Enterprise crew in San Francisco, organizing an immediate search party as they spread out looking for the thirteen year old, and this can’t be happening again, he can’t go through this again--

So he’s relieved enough when the mute thirteen year old flags him down from the sidewalk as he zips through the city streets, rushing over to her as he’s calling Jim to call things off because he found her, calling his wife and...

“Carol, I found... her, hang on she’s with someone else,” he finishes the cross as Angie half carries a blonde teenager into the light and he freezes. Surely--

But the teenager looks at him, with hollow brown eyes and unwashed, messy blonde hair, eyes red and puffy with tears stains cutting through dirt on her cheeks, and she sees him in the light and slowly, slowly, a word creeps out of her mouth. “Daddy?”

He hears Carol gasp but his world narrows out, focused on one thing. The tiny teenager in front of him, with blonde hair and dark brown eyes, a light Georgian twang in her voice when she calls him “daddy”, and it’s her. “Hannah?”

And Hannah smiles very slightly, very shakily, and she pulls away from Angie, stumbling forward a couple steps into his arms, holding onto him and trembling. Leonard looks at Angie, who smiles somewhat and, with the light of the streetlight on her, signs to him how she’d thought she’d heard something on her walk home, and her gut said it had to be Hannah, even after all these years, and he pulls her in close and hugs them both, sobbing weakly as he holds onto them.

He doesn’t even know when Hannah got ahold of his communicator but he hears Carol trying to talk to him and then her small voice answering some questions, and before he knows it Carol and their other three kids are barreling towards them and Carol pulls both of the girls in tightly, peppering Hannah with kisses and crying, and they’re okay and together again and--

The remainder of their search party arrives with the police about ten minutes later, and are shell shocked by what they find. Spock is the first one to ask. “Is that--”

“Yes,” he says, and it’s like a burden lifts from his shoulders, after nine long, impossible years. “Yes, you idiot, it’s Hannah.”

And Jim lights up with joy, and that’s when he sees how much of a burden this had been on his old friends for the past nine years, something he’d managed to be completely blind to.

It’s not easy. Hannah struggles to readjust to so many things-- ordinary light (they assume she was kept in darkness by the way she handles most lights), human interaction, the questioning she has to deal with to try and find the man who took her was torture for her, even sitting curled up in his lap she cries, and that doesn’t start on the recovery that she’ll have to take from the trauma she’s experienced.

But Hannah is home.

The twins are healthy and adjusted and extremely happy. Their kids are happy. Especially when the day comes that the sixteen year old sits down at the table for breakfast and asks, “Can we go home? Back to Georgia, I mean?”

And Bones looks up from his PADD where he’s reading the news, and smiles softly and with a chuckle answers, “Just say when.”

It’s good to come back. Sure, there’s a lot of work to do on the place, after nine years, but that’s the best part in his opinion, the hard, hands-on work of fixing up and cleaning up their home. The kids flourish here.

And, days after a meeting regarding the Orions, nothing beats walking up the porch and looking in at the six beautiful people inside.

There’s a fourteen-year-old girl baking what smells like a peach pie and laughing as a pair of twins race by chasing after a dog that appears to have someone’s hairbrush in its mouth. There’s a boy with dark curly hair playing a video game of some kind but turns it off and heads out the back door to take care of his chores at a reminder from his mother as she passes him by.

And standing on the couch, tracing the lines of what’s going to be a beautiful mural of the family on the wall, is a 4′11″ goth teenager, with purple hair that she’s been coloring to cope, but stops sketching when she hears a tap at the window, turning around and seeing him, smiling brightly and rushing to meet him at the door.

He opens it to hear the familiar sound of that teenager screaming out a series of “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” with joy before hugging him tightly, and he hugs her back knowing somehow, all is well again.

[hexalt]

oh my god i think i like you

- you're pretty & smart & ignoring me so obviously you're my type. - i won't forget, i won't regret this beautiful, heart stopping, breathtaking, life-changing... - hey. you're the love of my life. you know that, right?

a rebecca bunch x greg serrano mega mix from season 1 to season 4, so there's A LOT OF MOODS. prepare to laugh, cry, and dance. cover completely inspired by cordeliafoxxy's mix fanmix challenge - ix. fictional relationships (groups, family, friendship, otp, etc.)

[ spotify | 8tracks (incomplete) ]

falling for the first time - barenaked ladies I'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser / I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out / I'm so sane, it's drivin' me crazy / It's so strange, I can't believe it feels just like I'm falling for the first time

i’m not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance - black kids I'm not gonna teach him how to dance / The second I do, I know we're gonna be through / I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you / He don't suspect a thing / I wish he'd get a clue / I'm not gonna teach him how to dance to with you

bartender - regina spektor Come on, bartender / You have got to kick me back out / Into the cold and nasty weather / And maybe if I sober up / I will stop / Pretending that love is forever / Come on, bartender / Love will be the death of me / Love is so fickle / It starts with a flood and it ends with a trickle

closing time - semisonic Closing time / One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer / Closing time / You don't have to go home but you can't stay here / I know who I want to take me home

settle for me - santino fontana Yes, Josh is a dream, but I’m right here / In flesh and blood and self-hate / Settle for me / In a sad way, darling, it’s fate

settle for me (reprise) - rachel bloom Why not just settle for him? / He's a nice, smart guy / And he and I / Do get along... / Well, kind of.

i really want you to hate me - meg myers I really want you to hate me / I really want you to find / That I am bitter and angry / That I'm the ugliest girl / And I will never be a bride / There's no love for the wicked / There's no love and / I wanna die

self esteem - the offspring I wrote her off for the tenth time today / And practiced all the things I would say / But she came over / I lost my nerve / I took her back and made her dessert / Now I know I'm being used / That's okay because I like the abuse / I know she's playing with me / That's okay 'cause I've got no self-esteem

feels like we only go backwards - tame impala I've got my hopes up again, oh no, not again / It feels like we only go backwards, darlin' / The seed of all this indecision isn't me / 'Cause I decided long ago / But that's the way it seems to go / When trying so hard to get to something real

shadowboxer - fiona apple I was on to every play / I just wanted you / But oh, it's so evil, my love, the way you've no / Reverence to my concern / So I'll be sure to stay wary of you, love / To save the pain of once my flame and twice my burn

happier - a fine frenzy Quick kid quick, so harsh and cynical / It's not the words that make it final / You've said such things before to rival them / But it's how you say 'em now that's changed / Cold but sympathetic all the same / Lie to convince me that I'll be better off / Oh, you go on and I'll be happier

tired - adele I'm tired of trying / Your teasing ain't enough / Fed up of biding your time / When I don't get nothing back / I get closer, you obviously prefer him

it’s you - zayn She got / Her own reasons / For talking to me / And she don't, she don't, she don't / Give a fuck about what I need / And I can't tell you why / Because my brain can't equate it / Tell me your lies / Because I just can't face it

the writing’s on the wall - ok go It seems like forever / Since we had a good day / The writing's on the wall / But I just want to get you high tonight / I just want to see some pleasure in your eyes / And I go too high, and you go too cold then we both fall apart / Then you bring your mind, to rest against mine / But the mind has no say on affairs of the heart

tear you apart - she wants revenge Either way he wanted her and this was bad / He wanted to do things to her it was making him crazy / Now a little crush turned into a like / And now he wants to grab her by the hair and tell her, / "I want to hold you close / Soft breasts, beating heart / As I whisper in your ear / I want to fucking tear you apart"

i gave you a uti - santino fontana One night with me is pure ecstasy / 'Cause I know just what you like / But you should know for a week or so / You won't be able to ride a bike / I gave you a UTI

oh my god i think i like you - rachel bloom I say, "No no no! This is just about sex!" / And "No no no! Don't be such a girl, Becks!" / But then I feel the oxytocin creeping back to my brain / And all I can do is sing it again / Oh my god, I think I like you

everything is embarrassing - sky ferreira Maybe if you let me be your lover / Maybe if you tried, then I would not bother / I've been hating everything, everything that could have been / Could have been my anything, now everything's embarrassing

like a friend - pulp I had one, two, three / Four shots of happiness, I look like a big man / But I've only got a little soul / I wish I could be an example / Wish I could say I stood up for you / And fought for what was right / But I never did / I did what was wrong though I knew what was right / I've got no wisdom that I want to pass on

slow disco - st. vincent There's blood in my ears / And a fool in the mirror / And the pain of mistakes couldn't get any clearer / Am I thinking what everybody's thinkin'? / I'm so glad I came, but I can't wait to leave / Slip my hand from your hand / Leave you dancin' with a ghost

about a girl - the academy is... Last night I knew what to say / But you weren't there to hear it / These lines so well rehearsed / Tongue-tied and overloaded / You never noticed / I'm not in love / This is not my heart / I'm not gonna waste these words / About a girl

twice - little dragon Twice I turn my back on you / I fell flat on my face but didn't lose / Tell me what led you on, I'd love to know / Was it both men / Thought I had an answer once / But your random ways swept me along

knife - grizzly bear I want you to know / When I look in your eyes / With every blow / Comes another lie / You think it's alright / Can't you feel the knife?

still - foo fighters Bring some change up to the bridge / Bring some alcohol / There we'll make a final wish / Just before the fall / Promise I will be forever yours / Promise not to say another word

false alarm - the head and the heart Visions of you dance through my head / Dark heroine of the books I have read / Pages torn out, I made up my own world / Deep in the dream, it's all built to last / You'll pull the plug, drain me down fast / So many stones, stuck in my shoes / And I know if there's enough / It could make up a road / That could lead me far from this town

georgia - vance joy She is something to behold / Elegant and bold / She is electricity / Running to my soul / And I could easily lose my mind / The way you kiss me will work each time / Calling me to come back to bed / Singing Georgia on my mind

anyone who knows what love is (will understand) - irma thomas You can blame me / Try to shame me / And still I'll care for you / You can run around / Even put me down / Still I'll be there for you / The world / May think I'm foolish / They can't see you / Like I can / Oh but anyone / Who knows what love is / Will understand

i wanna get better - bleachers I didn’t know I was lonely 'til I saw your face / I wanna get better / I didn't know I was broken 'til i wanted to change / I wanna get better

it was a shit show - santino fontana We can't undo, can't make amends / Dysfunction is our lingua franca / When you say that I should stay / That's exactly when I should split / Though I won't forget, I won't regret / This beautiful, heart stopping / Breathtaking, life-changing...!

vertigo - anya marina The song you sing is sentimental / The song you sing is making me well / I like it, like it, outta control / The song you sing gives me vertigo / I was singing to myself / Pretending you were there

santa monica dream - angus & julia stone I'm singing songs about the future / Wondering where you are / I could call you on the telephone / But do I really want to know? / You're making love now to the lady down the road / No I don't, I don't want to know / I'm somewhere, you're somewhere / I'm nowhere, you're nowhere / You're somewhere, you're somewhere / I could go there but I don't

weary blues - madeleine peyroux Lord knows it died the day you left / My dream world fell apart / Weary blues from waitin' / Lord, I've been waitin' so long / These blues have got me cryin' / Oh, sweet daddy please come home

love is a losing game - amy winehouse Love is losing game / One I wished, I never played / Oh, what a mess we made / And now the final frame

hello, nice to meet you - rachel bloom & skyler astin Pleased to make your acquaintance, stranger / I've spent many years processing my anger / Wouldn't know what to say to the person I knew / But it's nice to meet you

enchanted - taylor swift All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you / This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go / I’m wonderstruck, blushing all the way home

505 - arctic monkeys I'm going back to 505 / If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive / In my imagination you're waiting, lying on your side / With your hands between your thighs / But I crumble completely when you cry / It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye

forget forgive - someone Bad thoughts pushing at the neck / Puts pressure on the chest / Calm sorrow / Forget / Forgive

warning sign - coldplay I’ve gotta tell you what a state I’m in / I’ve gotta tell you in my loudest tones / That I started looking for a warning sign / When the truth is, I miss you

fine with me - rizzle kicks Spit out the bitter when life isn't sweet, yeah / That's fine with me, fine with me / Just for today, if nothing goes my way, well / That's fine with me, fine with me / 'Cause I'm in the place / Where nothing could happen / To the smile on my face

warm body - cafune Give me all your heartaches and I'll push them down the drain / There's no need for voices that aren't singing this refrain / Say all you want, just stay / You just need a warm body / I'll be your install, I just need your warm body / Everybody knows, they just need to talk about it / Stay this way, hit replay

stop desire - tegan and sara I can't deny I'm begging for attention / Dropping hints, hoping for some tension / Getting tired of making all this racket / Waiting on you to get your ass in gear / I didn't wanna be so invested / I played it cool and then I overdressed it / Get me, feel me, want me / Like me, love me, need me

she’s so high - tal bachman First class and fancy-free, she's high society / She's got the best of everything / What could a guy like me ever really offer? / She's perfect as she can be, why should I even bother? / 'Cause, she's so high, high above me / She's so lovely

i really like you - carly rae jepsen I need to tell you something / I really, really, really, really, really, really like you / And I want you, do you want me, do you want me too?

sweet - little dragon Sweet, that feeling when you know you're hooked and you can't get enough / Sweet, that feeling when you're skating down the avenue of love / Sweet, I was checking on your phone because this sweetness is drugs / Sweet, can't get enough, not giving up

i hate everything but you - skyler astin I hate the phrase "Love conquers all," and I hate that it's true / 'Cause I want to not hate things when I'm with you / You love so many things and you have so much fun / It makes me wish my hating days were done

love natural - crystal fighters It's almost midnight, the time is coming up / The time is getting closer, the time is almost here / Life is upon us and the time for love is here and now / When I look at you, oh I feel my heart / Oh, I feel your love deep inside

do it again - santino fontana My lips just ache to have you take the kiss that's waiting for you / You know if you do, you won't regret it, come and get it / Do it again, please do it again

the sword & the pen - regina spektor Don't let me out of this kiss / Don't let me say what I say / The things that scare us today / What if they happen someday / Don't let me out of your arms / For now / I don't want to live without you

sea of love - cat power Do you remember / When we met / That's the day / I knew you were my pet / I wanna tell you / How much / I love you

[a-splash-of-stucky]

Let’s Have Another

Pairings: Bucky x Reader || Steve x Natasha

Summary: Bucky gets broody.

Warnings: Fluff. Implied/referenced smut. Possibly mild language.

Notes: For @bucky-plums-barnes‘ writing challenge. Congrats on 8k, my darling Gen! My prompt was #28: “Can we have another baby.” This is in bold somewhere in the fic.

My Masterlist

——————————

“Sarah—honey, no! Don’t eat that!” Steve cries, leaping up from the picnic blanket and rushing over to the kids. He scoops his one-year-old daughter into his arms and shoves a finger into her mouth, trying to dig out the…whatever it is she ate. Natasha watches on, an amused smile on her face.

“Honestly Barnes, your daughter is a bad influence on my child,” she sighs, twisting her head to fake-glare at you and Bucky.

“Becca?”, Bucky gasps, feigning surprise, “Our daughter is an angel, Tasha, she would never do something like that,”.

“Uh…yes she would,” you say, casting a knowing smirk in Natasha’s direction.

“Babe!” Bucky groans vexedly, “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I am simply, on the side of truth,” you say solemnly, plucking a chocolate chip cookie from off his plate. Bucky shakes his head and mutters something about goddamn traitorous wives under his breath.

It’s the first official day of summer, which means that the four of you (and the little kiddos) have come out to the park for a relaxing picnic and some fun in the sun. Your two-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is up to her usual mischief, chasing after pigeons, trying to teach Sarah how to do tumble-turns and generally being her boisterous, fun-loving self. Now that the foreign-substance-in-mouth crisis has been contained, she and Sarah are begging Steve for piggy-back rides.

Steve doesn’t need much convincing. He’s a softie at heart.

Bucky’s watching the girls play together with a distant look in his eyes, a gentle curl to the corner of his lips. He’s deep in thought, and you have a feeling you know what’s on his mind. Deciding to leave him to his own devices, you turn your attention to Natasha, who has balanced a bowl of fruit salad on top of her bump and is currently chowing down on a piece of pineapple.

“So how’re you feeling?” you ask, leaning over to steal a slice of watermelon.

“Fat,” Natasha replies, sighing heavily. “I swear I didn’t get this big this fast with Sarah,”.

“Excited to have two under two?” you tease, poking her ribs gently.

Natasha groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please don’t remind me. I’m preparing myself to live a life without sleep,”.

You chuckle, shifting yourself so that you can rest your head on her shoulder. “Yeah, well, good luck with that,”, you say, “And tell me how it goes. I think my husband over there’s gonna want to try for a second one soon,”.

“Goddamn super-soldiers,” Nat grumbles.

——————————

The evening routine comes and goes with little incident. Once dinner is over, you busy yourself with the dishes whilst Bucky whisks Becca away for her bath. Through the baby monitor, you can hear him reading to her to sleep, his voice soft and gentle in a way that makes your heart twist with pride and adoration.

When he’s put Becca down, Bucky comes into the living room and flops down on the couch, legs sprawled wide, creating the perfect space for you to lie in. You collapse on top of him with a muted oomph, resting your chin on his chest and burying your nose in the soft fabric of his hoodie.

“Hey there,” Bucky murmurs, metal arm encircling your shoulders, the flesh one disappearing beneath the hem of your shirt so that his hand rests against your skin.

“You’ve been quiet today,” you tell him, “Thinkin’ ‘bout something?”.

Bucky makes a noncommittal humming noise, but doesn’t reply immediately, just continues to draw random patterns at the small of your back. You close your eyes, allowing yourself to relax into the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

“Can we have another baby?” Bucky asks hesitantly.

You crack one eye open to find him looking at you with a bright, hopeful gleam in his pupils. “Bucky,” you sigh quietly, “We’ve talked about this, remember? Only when she’s two,”.

“But Becca’s almost two,” he whines.

You snort. “If by almost, you mean in four months, then yeah. Almost,”.

“Oh, but babe!” Bucky begs, “Didn’t you see her with Sarah today? She’d be such a good big sister—,”

“—regardless of what age she becomes a big sister,”, you interrupt. “I ain’t budging on the two-year thing, Barnes,”.

“Four months doesn’t make that big of a difference—,”.

“Bucky, it’s not just about the time!” you cry exasperatedly, pushing yourself up into a sitting position and crossing your arms over your chest. “Becca is my little baby. I want to give her my full attention. I want to watch her grow up. If I get pregnant now…I’m not going to be able to fully enjoy my little baby. She’s gonna be three before I know it. You know how fast the time has gone,”.

Bucky sighs, taking your hand and interlacing your fingers together, using that to pull you back against his chest. “Okay, sweetheart,” he says, stroking your hair. “We’ll wait,”.

“And it’s not just that,” you continue, motoring on as if he hadn’t spoken, “I—my body needs time to recover. They recommend two years at least between kids, y’know? I mean, if you’re gonna come clean and tell me that you got the goods to carry a baby, we can start right now, but—,”.

He chuckles heartily, “Okay, okay, point taken. Your body, you get the final call, I ain’t gonna push you,”. A brief pause, then, “But we can have another baby, right?”

Your groan, lifting your head from its resting place over his heart so that you can look at him properly. “You do realise how much work two kids are, right? Why don’t we let Nat and Steve go through it first?”

“They’ll suffer for our benefit,” Bucky hums, seeming to agree with your suggestion. “But, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll stay home more. I wanna spend more time with my best girls, anyway,”, he adds, planting a soft kiss on your forehead.

“Mmm…we’ll see about that,” you mumble, knowing full well that Bucky will probably be itching for a mission after only a month. His cabin fever gets pretty bad.

“So we can have another—,”

“Oh for god’s sake, Barnes,” you growl, smacking him on the shoulder, “Yes, we can have another baby, but we start trying in four months. Think you can keep it in your pants that long?”

“Nope,” Bucky replies immediately. “Not when I got a hot wife like you, sweetheart,” he teases.

“Oh my—oh!” you yelp, when, without warning, Bucky sits up, loops his arms around you and gathers you into his lap.

“Can we at least practice now?” he asks, ghosting his lips down the column of your neck, forcing you to take a shuddery inhale.

“You’re insufferable,” you mutter, even as you tilt your head to the side to give him better access.

“I know,” Bucky quips, nipping your skin impishly. “It’s why you love me,”, he adds, giving your rump an affectionate pat.

“Yeah?” you breathe, raking your fingers through his shaggy hair. At his jerky nod, you lean in closer, letting your lips brush the shell of his ear and your warm breath to fan over his cheek. “Wanna remind me why else I love you?” you ask huskily, subtly grinding into his lap to reinforce your message.

“Darlin’,” Bucky drawls, slipping his hands under your skirt and drawing them up the sides of your thighs, “I thought you’d never ask,”.

—————————— Permanent tags: @feelmyroarrrr @rda1989 @bidianaprinxe @lumelgy @hollycornish @youtubehelpsmesurvive @knock-around-meg-blog @amour-quinn @onceuponahiddleston @aquabrie

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[embracetheapocalypsewithme]

Embracing the Apocalypse, Part 8: Poor Life Choices

Happy Wednesday...Surprise! A chapter!

Summary: Rebecca finally lets Negan know that she wants to spend time with him. But is she making a terrible choice? Is he really who he seems to be?

Word count: 2,343

Warnings: Smut, Negan, Negan being Negan, Comic Negan being Comic Negan, light angst, feelings, and bribery.

Part 1: The Tale of Thelma Facefuck

Part 2: What’s Up, Doc?

Part 3: A Successful Job Interview Begins with a Firm Handshake and Ends with a Salty Surprise

Part 4: A Crack in Everything

Part 5: Sorting Duty Sucks

Part 6: A Faint Whiff of Bullshit in the Air

Part 7: Turn and Face the Strange

Part 8: Poor Life Choices

Part 9: 8.5 out of 10

Part 10: No Plan

Part 11: Negan Settles Rebecca’s Hash

Part 12: I know Where That Hand Has Been, Negan

Part 13: Gimme Danger

Part 14: The Loneliest Hours of the Morning

Part 15: Well, Fuck You Too, Kitty!

Part 16: That Escalated Quickly

Part 17: Well Fuck Me Gently with a Chainsaw

Part 18: Shards of Glass

Part 19: Donkey Heaven

Part 20: Morphine Dream

Part 21: Promises to Keep

Part 22: Are You a Killer?

Part 23: That the Hill You Want to Die On?

Part 24: Keeping Up Appearances

Part 25: Bird on a Wire

You can also read my work on Archive of Our Own: http://archiveofourown.org/works/8807527/chapters/21048044

Part 8: Poor Life Choices

People were just starting to file into the cafeteria as Rebecca approached the counter to collect her breakfast. Today’s delicacies were baked beans from a can, two slices of toast, and three pieces of jerky. The toast was the best part of the meal; it was homemade by one of the few kitchen staff who had any culinary talent. The whole area smelled of freshly baked bread, and it made Rebecca feel a pang of nostalgia for a former life in which she would visit artisan bakeries on the weekends to buy herself confections and fancy lattes.

(how did i manage to survive so long in a world as brutal as this? i was such a little cinnamon bun!)

Shuffling to a nearby table that held a large pot of hot water, Styrofoam cups, instant coffee, and powdered milk, she began to prepare a cup of coffee. This was a long way from her skinny double latte with a shot of sugar-free caramel, but it had enough caffeine in it to keep her going through the morning.

Once the coffee was made, Rebecca sat down by herself in the room’s furthest corner and began to eat. Eating alone never bothered her; she needed to get coffee and food into her belly before she could be social anyway. 

By the time she had finished her meal, the room was buzzing with the sounds of conversation. Smiling serenely, she let the din of voices swirl over her like a warm wave. That sound meant security. 

There was safety in numbers. She had to remember this fact when she got annoyed with people. Life here was just easier than life outside, even if you had to tolerate the occasional asshole.

She stood up and started to clear her dishes from the table to make room for some of the latecomers who needed a place. An older woman hovered nearby, glancing at her seat.

“It’s free, if you need a spot to sit,” Rebecca offered.

The woman nodded at her and moved toward the spot, “Thank you, darlin’.”

“Have a good morning!” Rebecca replied cheerfully.

On her way out of the cafeteria, she decided to grab a second cup of coffee. She took her place in line behind two women who appeared to be in their early to mid-twenties. They were dressed in dirt-stained jeans, t-shirts, and long-sleeved men’s flannel shirts. Their hair was tied back from their faces and they each had a pair of gardening gloves tucked into their back pockets.

Rebecca smiled and tried to catch one of their eyes to introduce herself. Perhaps she could weasel her way out of the sorting rooms and into the garden crew if she could ingratiate herself with some of them. Maybe they would put in a good word for her. Before she could attempt some post-apocalyptic networking, a huge hand fell onto Rebecca’s shoulder.

“Hey, Fuckface!” the booming voice came from behind her. It was way too loud and right in her ear. Rebecca jumped while the girls in front of her jerked their heads around to see who had made the noise. Their eyes widened, and they hastily made their drinks before leaving the room, throwing one more nervous glance over their shoulders as they did. 

Rebecca whirled around angrily to glare at the person who had scared off her opportunity, already knowing exactly who she would find. Of course it was him again. It always seemed to be him.

Negan towered over her with a broad smile on his face, evidently impressed at his ability to startle half-awake people early in the morning. He seemed as though he had been awake for hours with his hair slicked back in its characteristic style and his face freshly shaved. He smelled of cedar and spices. God, he was beautiful to look at! For a moment, Rebecca forgot to be annoyed with him, but that didn’t last long.

“You jerk!” she swatted at his arm playfully, “I was gonna suck up to those girls. Get myself out of sorting duty! You scared them off.”

“I didn’t scare anyone away! They were just so turned on that they couldn’t stand to be in my presence for much longer. On account of the spontaneous fucking orgasms I gave them. From my sexiness.”

She was just about to come up with what was sure to be a savage retort when a man further back in the line yelled, “What the fuck is the hold up! Move the fucking line please!”

“Sorry!” she yelled over her shoulder before quickly making her second cup of the morning. As she walked toward the exit she motioned for Negan to join her in the hallway with a tilt of her head, and he followed.

“So, about last night,” she began, taking a sip of her coffee and grimacing at the bitter, yet sour flavour. These were most definitely not gourmet beans.

 “Yeah, I’m a pretty fucking great guy, aren’t I? You’re welcome.”

“Yeah, it was alright, I suppose…”

“Alright? You fucking serious right now?”

“No, I’m almost never serious,” she said with a cheeky smirk, “It was actually really fucking nice and…I kind of want to do it again.”

Rebecca was surprised at her own forwardness. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or maybe it was her inability to give a fuck about the small things anymore. Fear of rejection seemed so silly in the face of life’s much bigger tragedies. Who really cared if he rejected her? She had nothing left to lose.

“Is that fucking so?” he asked, his eyes narrowing at her.

“It is. Maybe when I’m less exhausted. You know, just to talk or something. It gets kind of boring at night sometimes.”

“I see. Netflix and chill, as the kids used to say?” he asked, leaning in closer. His leather jacket creaked softly as his weight shifted forward. Rebecca felt her pulse quicken as the scent invaded her nose. “I think I can arrange something tonight, if you’re so inclined.”

“Ok! I was thinking maybe after dinner. You could give me a tour around the place. I still haven’t seen the whole building. Maybe you could find some fun spots I haven’t seen yet.”

“Hot damn, let’s do it!” he said exuberantly. She couldn’t help but grin at his seemingly boundless enthusiasm. It was goddam contagious.

“Deal! I should get to work now though. Got another thrilling day of putting piles of things into smaller piles of things.”

“Gosh, that does sound fucking fun as shit! Meet me here after dinner? Let’s say 7?

 “Works for me –“

“Rebecca!” the voice that came from a few feet away belonged to her Sorting Duty Accomplice, Ryan. It was friendly, but with a tense undertone to it that confused her, “What the hell are you doing blabbing in the hall. We have to get our asses to work!”

“Be right there!” she yelled, then turning to Negan, “See you later!”

Rebecca made her way over to where Ryan stood waiting for her. As she approached him, she noticed that the expression on his face had changed from cheerful to stony and tense. He sighed before softly saying, “We need to talk, darling...”

*****

The grin dropped from Negan’s face as he watched Rebecca all but skip over to a young man with wavy brown hair. He was everything that Negan wasn’t: young and clean-cut with a gentleness to him. Venom rose in his throat as he watched the young man put an arm around Rebecca’s shoulders and lead her away. As they walked, he overheard snippets of the conversation:

“We need to talk, darling...” said the young man.

“Sure! About what?” replied Rebecca.

“About poor life choices and how you can avoid making any more of them.”

(fuck!)

“Uhhh…ok…” she began, but by then they had moved far enough away that the rest of their conversation was muffled. He didn’t need to hear it; he knew what they were talking about.

Of course, Rebecca was being warned about him. He knew it would happen eventually. The young man confirmed this as he threw a quick glance over his shoulder at Negan and then quickly flipped him off using the hand that had been resting on Rebecca’s right shoulder. She glanced around, sensing the movement, but was too slow to catch his gesture.

(well, so much for that)

He should have known better than to think that he could trick someone like her into believing that he was a good guy. Of course he wasn’t. He was the kind of guy who bashed in skulls and leeched off of others. He was scum, no matter how good his intensions might have been.

(who fucking cares? she’s just another bitch. there are lots of women here, so just move on. find someone else to stick your dick in)

But he knew that wasn’t exactly the truth. Yes, there were other women here, but practically all of them were terrified of him or hated his guts. The only ones who didn’t fall into one of those two categories were his few remaining ex-wives, and they mostly saw him as a joke.

Since he had been put back into power, Rebecca had been the first person who hadn’t looked at him like he was a rabid dog or a punchline. She treated him like an equal; nothing more and nothing less. Plus, she actually laughed at his stupid jokes and trucker mouth. He didn’t think anyone had sincerely laughed with him since before the world had gone to shit.

(too late now…she’s gone too..)

Negan turned abruptly, his hands balled into fists, fingernails digging into his palms and his jaw clenched. He strode back toward his room quickly. In the “good old days” he would have ironed the smug expression right out of the younger man’s face, but those days were over. Yes, he was the leader, but the dynamic in this place had changed. People were afraid, but not in the way that had previously kept them in line. They were on edge now, looking for any reason to find fault with Negan and potentially knock him out of his role as leader.

Bile rose in his throat. He was enraged at the situation, and at his inability to inflict revenge. Plus, who did he really have to blame but himself anyway? He was living in the culture of fear that he had created. He had been wrong about leading with fear, so why shouldn’t he suffer for it now?

His eyes fell on a woman walking in the distance with natural red hair that fell just below her shoulders. Her frame was tall and lean, and although her back was to him, he recognized the woman almost immediately.

“Julie! Hey baby, what’s fucking shaking?” he yelled.

The woman’s head whipped around at the sound of his voice, “Oh. Negan. Hi,” her eyes looked nearly glazed over with disinterest, “Nothing much. Just heading off to another thrilling day of commissary work.”

Julie had been one of his wives during his first stint as leader, and for good reason: she was absolutely stunning. She was the kind of woman he never would have had a chance with if he hadn’t tilted the odds in his favour by offering her a life of leisure and relative luxury.

For all that she was beautiful, Julie was lazy as shit and hated to get her hands dirty. She had nearly jumped at the offer to be his wife and never work again. It seemed, though, that in his absence she was back to pulling her own weight. She did not appear to be the least bit enthused with this situation.

An idea sprang into Negan’s head as he recalled his time with Julie. He couldn’t make her his wife again, but maybe he still had just enough power to get into her pants. He wasn’t an evil man, but he could be a manipulative asshole when he was angry. And today, he was fucking pissed.

“Well, what if I told you that you could have the whole fucking day off?” he asked, a dark expression passing through his eyes like a solar eclipse as he stepped closer to the woman.

“Go on…” her eyes lit up at the idea.

“I was just thinking that, if you wanted to get together tonight for a bit of…reminiscing about the good old days with me, maybe I could switch your shift with someone and you could go back to bed for a while. I remember how much you love sleeping in.” 

The woman considered the proposition for a very brief moment, and then promptly threw her arms around his shoulders, placing a kiss on his cheek, “Oh thank you, Negan! I missed you so much! It’s so good to see you again. I can’t wait to catch up with you.”

“Great,” he said, “My room after dinner. Don’t be late now.”

“I won’t!” she called over her shoulder, already walking briskly back to her bedroom, “I’ll even wear that little dress you like. I still have it!”

Congratulating himself on a well-executed plan, Negan walked the remaining few steps to the commissary and stuck his head around the door, looking for the supervisor. His eyes locked with an older woman who was taking stock of the items available that day.

“Julie won’t be in today,” he said with a cold, no-nonsense expression on his face, “She’s sick. Get someone in to cover for her.”

“There is no one else to cover for her!” the woman practically snarled at him.

“Well, then manage with the staff you have.”

“Prick,” the woman muttered under her breath.

Negan ignored the taunt and strode back to his bedroom alone, thinking about what the evening had in store for him. If he couldn’t trick Rebecca into wanting to spend time with him, he could at least bribe Julie into his bed. Maybe that was all he deserved anyway.

[mexicangela]

a very serious question

just a sweet little tedbecca drabble because i have been writing so much angst for them lately and i needed to maybe calm down a little bit lol

“Baby, would you still love me if I was a worm?” he asked, head in her lap, his big brown eyes gazing up at her. She furrowed her brow and glanced down at him. “What? Ted, what kind of ridiculous question is that?” He sat up so that he could look at her properly. “It- well, it ain’t a ridiculous question, first of all. It’s a very serious question, actually. Would you still love me if I was a worm?” Rebecca sighed, but was quiet other than that as she thought about it, indulging him in his little game. She would have indulged him in anything, probably. He need only ask. “Did I fall in love with the worm? Or is this something that’s happened after the fact, like, after I’ve already fallen in love with you, the human Ted?” He mulled it over and she thought he had the cutest little thinking face. “Yeah, like, one day we wake up and suddenly I’m a worm. Do you still love me?” “And the worm- I mean, it would be you, just a worm? Can you still speak and you have a personality and all that?” “Well, yeah. Likely. Hope so, anyway,” he said. “Y’know, these are a lotta qualifyin’ questions for a simple yes or no scenario, honey.” He bit back a grin at the way she rolled her eyes, all affection and no bark. “I wouldn’t have sex with a worm, darling.” He raised his eyebrows, tilted his head slightly, and nodded. “Okay. Fair enough. But that don’t answer the question.” “Yes, I’d still love you if you were a worm,” she said, absolutely exasperated. He smiled, wide and bright. “See, that wasn’t so hard to say now was it?” She shook her head, laughing softly in that way that sent a flutter through his chest. “You incorrigible man.” He gently grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger, making her look at him. “I’d still love you if you were a worm too, darlin’,” he said before leaning in to press a sweet kiss to her lips.

[mexicangela]

hi hello i’ve decided i’m evil and i’m going to post a snippet of a future chapter i’m working on for my ongoing post-canon fic which you can find here:

it’s a lot of angst right now, but i get the impression that people like to suffer (i know i do). this little excerpt is also angst. read if you like! 🥰

might do more of this kind of thing to assuage my need to post tedbecca content since i don’t get to go on post-episode rants now.

It was around eight in the evening when Ted’s phone rang.

“Hey, honey. Was startin’ to worry you’d stood me up,” he said, smiling. Not that they planned their phone calls, but lately they’d been talking on certain days while he ate dinner and it was about two hours past dinner time for him now.

“Are we calling these dates now, Ted?” she asked, a little giggly.

He furrowed his brow, but her laughter made him grin. “Only if you want ‘em to be, darlin’.”

“Hmmm, I dunno, love. Could get a bit tricksy for us.”

“You been drinking, Rebecca?”

“Nooo. Don’t call me Rebecca. Sounds so formal now. Call me ‘honey’ or ‘darling’. But not the way Rupert does it. That…twat-like way,” she mumbled. “I like the way you say it.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, just a bit. “What, um. What’s goin’ on, honey?” His concern was beginning to overshadow the warmth he felt in his belly for her. “It’s late for you. Everything okay?”

She was quiet. He waited patiently for her to say something. When she did, the emotion of it made his stomach churn.

“I can’t have children, Ted. I’ll never be a mother,” she said, taking another sip of wine. “I’ll never hold my own child in my arms.”

Ted was at a loss. How was he to comfort her about this issue when he was neither a woman nor was he childless? He knew the joy of holding your child in your arms for the first time. He ached for her. He hadn’t prayed in a long time– not since after his dad died– but he was tempted to tell her he’d pray for her. He wanted to say he would ask God for a miracle, to grant her this wish, to fulfill her desire for motherhood. But it would sound hollow, he knew. He wasn’t even sure he believed in God anymore, but times like these made him wish he had a higher power to believe in, unwaveringly. He wished there was something out there that could heal the pain in her heart.

“I wish I could take that hurt from you,” he said softly.

“No one can, Ted. I’ll live with this hurt forever.”

He closed his eyes, willing the tears away. All he had to offer her were words. But he had an idea.