#With my own eyes. Which means I have to fly my ass to San diego v_v my BROKE ass

[2024skin]

me, logging onto the man hating website to hate on my man: girls you will never fucking BELIEVE what he just did

[labarboteuse]

Plus one part three

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x f!reader

Summary: It's time for them to shine and served the guests their best comedian skills. Part one. Part two. Part four

Warnings: Very long part, mention of sexual tension

Explanation**: Don't know if the ex​​pression would have the same meaning that in French. To get laid is the English for "S’envoyer en l’air." (literal translation “Send in the air”) which clearly has a sexual connotation but which Jake uses here in the literal sense of the word, that they really flew. It's a misinterpretation. I don’t really know if it’s make more sense with that explanation. Sorry if it's not the case but I was so proud of that moment 😭.

An elderly woman in her sixties approached them, waddling a big smile on her face and a glass of champagne in one hand.

"It's aunt Tilda. Noah’s aunt who saw us grow up together, she frequently babysat the two of us and over time became a bit like an aunt to me, the invasive exuberant kind." She slipped to Jake.

"Y/N! What a surprise to see you accompanied, we didn't expect it anymore!" She exclaimed in a shrill voice. And one, thought Y/N. “Won't you introduce me to your friend?” She shifted her gaze from the young woman to the blond, striking a pose worthy of a Botticelli contrapposto, holding out her hand for him to kiss it, which he did in confusion.

"This is Jake aunt Tilda. Jake is.. my boyfriend." She hoped the hesitation wasn't heard in her voice.

"Well delighted Jake." Her smile widened and slid her gaze over him from head to toe causing him to feel an immense embarrassment. “How did you meet?”

"A cooking class." "We're neighbors." They answered at the same time, a blank following, Y/N realizing their answers.

"At a cooking class, and that's where we realized we were neighbors." Continued Jake to save their asses and crossing his fingers that she would believe it.

"Oh that’s a funny way. What do you do for a living Jake?" She continued in a suave voice. Good God, if Jake couldn't catch his neighbor in his net, at least he would have a hit with her aunt.

"I'm a Navy fighter pilot, one of the best." He replied proudly.

"Oh pilot, that must be exciting!" Aunt Tilda marveled.

"Yes, we got laid** a few times." (explanation at the beginning) He said with a huge smile, provoking the surprise of his interlocutor who displayed a smug look, Jake having absolutely not understood the double meaning of what he had just said. Y/N lowered her head in exasperation and pinched her sinuses beginning to regret bringing him. Jake looked at her and was struck by the image he had just given to the old woman, he hastened to resume. "In the air. By plane, that's what I meant." His precision was not enough to remove the huge smile that adorned Tilda's lips. "Still interesting." She simpered, passing him not without putting her hand on his shoulder. Jake swallowed feeling uncomfortable once again and his eyes fell on Y/N next to him who had put her hand over her mouth, suppressing laughter.

"You are having an effect on the little grannies Seresin."

"Yeah, and by the way, I'm planning to go back with one of them tonight." He said in a seductive tone which made her laugh and he took her hand leading her to the dance floor.

"With what you put me through you owe me a dance Y/L/N" She followed him giggling and as he ran a hand down her lower back, keeping the other in his, continued: "By the way, let's talk about what you're going to owe me as a result of this."

"I thought one evening with me was more than enough for you?"

"That was before I realized even that wasn't enough. Plus, I'll have all the grannies of San Diego chasing me after that and that just for having please you." She sneered.

"Alright, what do you want?" He leaned over to her, whispering in her ear.

"Let's get laid." She nearly choked on her own saliva and he straightened a smirk on his lips at her puzzled look. "Flying up sweetheart."

"In a plane..? A plane that flies?" He started to laugh and his smile froze when he realized that she was scared.

"Are you scared?"

"What? Absolutely not."

 "You run after scum all day and you're afraid to fly?" His smile widened, without being mocking, but he found her reaction adorable, she was trying somehow to keep face while the mere thought of getting on a plane had turned her stomach.

"You know we're supposed to act like a couple?"

"We are dancing together, what more do you want us to do?" She frowned and shrugged, while Jake leaned into her ear with a slight smile on his face, and she flinched when she felt his breath on her neck. "I could kiss you?"

Mayday, mayday, she called her friend who was dancing at the other end of the floor with her eyes and who gave her a sign of the hand mimicking a hug to make fun of her. It was as if all strength had left her, she felt her arms and legs heavy, ready to faint. "Oh look, they're showing a photo album of the newlyweds." She hastened to say pushing him away gently to run away. Jake followed her with his gaze, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants, smiling he bit his lip lowering his head before following her. She was running away from him, and she was running away from him because he had an effect on her. And she had just unknowingly set up a game that Jake was very good at and where she would find herself trapped. When he reached her height, he slid his hand down her half-bared back and felt her twitch at his touch. The game had just started and he was going to enjoy it a lot.

His hand still on her back he moved right behind her to lean over her shoulder, his muscular chest leaning against her shoulder blade and he swore he saw her chest heave harder with a big inhale than she did. She had taken as if to try to keep her ideas clear.

Their sudden closeness didn’t escape aunt Tilda and grannie Martha, the former having hastened to share the information she had obtained a few minutes earlier, the two women gave him a little wave, delighted by what they were seeing. Jake wondered if to act like that they hadn't thought by dint of seeing her alone, that Y/N was a hopeless case and that she would end up alone.

Knowing that he was now being observed and because he was on a mission, by far the most pleasant he had ever had, he kissed his partner's shoulder, holding back a smile. Of these different women he didn't know which would be the first to faint, Y/N or the two women who, now that he thought about it, were concentrating more on him than on the couple he formed with Y/N.

"Jake what are you doing?" She finally whispered.

"I try to pass us off as a couple." He whispered in her ear and he heard a faint chuckle.

"Don’t overdo it.”

A voice sounded announcing the throwing of the bride's flower bouquet. Y/N didn't move a yotta, there was no way she was participating in this thing. Jake who had decided otherwise, said to himself that it could be funny to see. He slid his hands to her hips and pulled her forward with him under her protests.

"Jake no! This is totally ridiculous, I will not participate in this!"

He ignored her protests and left her among the group of young women to then go and stand a little further away in order to have an overview of the scene, his arms crossed on his chest smiling ecstatically. Y/N curses him by going to stand in the back of the group, in the background just to be sure not to be able to catch that damn bouquet. The bride turned her back on them counting to three and threw the bouquet, all tried to catch it when it passed over their heads, Y/N stepped back so as not to get caught in it, hands brought back to the chest and as if the universe thumbed its nose at her, the bouquet fell on her, threatening to hit her full in the face and by reflex, so as not to catch the projectile in her teeth, caught it. Surprised and confused she looked up to see behind the group of women, Noah and Erin newly his wife laughing at her, since she should have been the last person to find herself in this situation, and turned her head to Jake who was literally laughing his ass off.

She walked towards him and not even stopping passing by his side, slapped the bouquet of flowers on his chest.

"Admit that it's hilarious!" He turned on his heels to follow her and set the bouquet down on the table where they had been placed and where she was now sitting.

As she was about to answer she was cut off by Noah, the groom and his childhood friend who was heading towards them.

"Well today is a day to remember. It's a rare creature you bring to us today."

"Um um, and that's one to remember too that you finally let the noose go around your neck."

 "Oh things change, look at you, you might even be the next to put the noose around someone's neck." He gave her a wink before planting a kiss on her cheek and then straightening up, offering his hand to Jake for a handshake. He was smiling like a simpleton, and she was afraid he was taking his role a little too seriously.

 "Oh I would be far from complaining!" He said with a broad smile. "Jake."

"Noah." replied the groom. "Was it love at first sight or was she just keeping you out of sight?"

He joked but Jake didn't understand, he heard a throat clearing next to him and looked at his alleged girlfriend.

 "He says that because the last wedding that took place was last month and I was alone." She looked back at her friend. "It was still early, we didn't really know where it was going, so rather than bringing a stranger and introducing him to everyone without knowing if it was a serious minimum, I preferred to wait." Jake watched her sink deeper into their lie. He thought back to what she had said in the car, that other of her friends were getting married this year, had she already planned the moment when she was going to imaginarily dump him? Or had she considered his proposal of accompanying her to the next ones? With such an answer and if she wanted to be tranquil, she was going to have to take him to the next ones.

"Yes, in the meantime she has officially become my candy cane and we are now inseparable." He said with a smile a little too forced, a honeyed voice as he pulled her against him to kiss her on the temple, disconcerted by what he had just said, she displayed an almost bewildered look on her face. Which caused a chuckle from Noah who kissed his friend on the cheek.

"Enjoy, see you later, don't forget you owe me a dance Y/L/N" Noah said pointing his index finger at her while walking away. Once gone she broke away from Jake who looked at her amused by what had just happened.

 "What was that?"

"What? Don't you want to be my candy cane?" He smirked smugly.

"Don't ever call me like that again." She replied menacingly.

The evening was beginning to fall and a light breeze rose coming to crash on her shoulders and her naked back, shivering her. Which Jake noticed and he took off his jacket to put it on her shoulders. She gave him a small smile of thanks. As the night began to fall, the many garlands that illuminated the park made the place almost magical.

"It really is a very beautiful place." She said softly looking around the garden.

"Yes, I assume it will be available to hire for our wedding." He replied absently, but on purpose to annoy her, in reference to the bouquet she had picked up. The young woman suddenly turned her head towards him in bewilderment, which triggered a laugh. "Alright, alright, then come at least take a ride with me then."

He got up from his chair and held out his hand to her, which she took and got up in turn. The two headed for a small flowery path that circled the park. They walked in silence for a few minutes, he with his hands in his pockets, she on his jacket to hold it on her shoulders when she finally broke the silence.

"Thank you for coming with me Jake."

"The honour is mine. I must admit that I have a great evening." They exchanged a tender look and a smile. "And the best time by far was throwing the bouquet!" He joked to make fun of her and she looked offended, shoving him, to which he responded by shoving in turn, however, having much more strength than she had and not having controlled it, she lost her balance and he hurriedly grabbed her hand as she started laughing. He looked at her for a moment captivated by the joy she radiated which made her even more beautiful than usual. He kept her hand in his continuing to walk until she let go to approach a bush that had huge colorful flowers that caught her eye. He stopped a few meters behind her and watched her carefully. As she bent over one of the flowers to see if it had a particular smell, she felt hands land on her hips then slide down her belly, Jake hugged her close and she let him do, not having no desire to protest, she felt at ease there. One of his hands left her belly to come to rest on her arm along her body, slowly going up from her wrist to her shoulder. Pleasant shivers ran down her spine, which intensified when he placed several small lip kisses from one shoulder to the other, passing by the nape of her neck.

"Jake…" She barely said his name audibly that if he hadn't been so close to her he wouldn't have heard it. However, he didn't react and slipped his fingers under her chin to catch it between his thumb and index finger to slightly turn her face towards him. Their warm breaths brushing each their faces when their lips found themselves more than a very small space from each other. A wave of warmth rushed through her and her heart pounded harder, causing dull thumps to resound in her eardrums, her cheeks burst into flames and before he could obliterate the space there was between them, she slid aside and walked up the aisle to where the party was. On the way she was called by a voice she ignored. Okay they were teasing each other and an attraction had been felt between the two neighbors for a long time now, but there, they had definitely gone to several higher levels. She was grateful for the cool air that hit her cheeks and brought her back to Earth. To avoid losing her feet because of the sexual tension between them which had become unbearable, she rushed to the toilets, the only place where Jake couldn’t follow her.

[sisterspooky1013]

Only One Choice, Part 2, Chapter 21

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

“Hi,” she greets him as he walks in the door, “I have something for you.”

She’s perched in the armchair, a smile that’s coy and playful curling the corners of her mouth. He gives her a curious smirk as he slips off his shoes and overcoat.

“Okay, like a gift?” he asks, crossing the room to plant a kiss on her lips, stealing another to enjoy the warm feeling of her mouth against his, which is chilled from the wintery air outside.

She shakes her head as he goes into the bedroom, changing into sweats and a T-shirt.

“You’re going to have to find it,” she calls from the other room, and he smiles to himself.

This is his favorite version of her; playful and flirtatious, quick to smile and laugh. He loves all aspects of her personality, but the rarity of this one makes it feel special. She almost never acts this way in front of anyone else, even her family; it feels like it’s just for him. He moves to stand at the threshold of the living room, leaning against the wall.

“Are you going to give me a hint?” he asks, and she considers the question with a thinking man pose.

“Well, I will tell you that right now you are very, very, cold,” she finally says.

His eyebrows lift in understanding and he walks back into the bedroom.

“Colder!” she calls, and he moves to the kitchen.

“Still cold.”

He walks to her desk.

“Mmm, slightly warmer.”

Next he steps close to the fireplace.

“A little warmer.”

He turns to look at her and narrows his eyes. He takes a step towards her.

“Oh, warmer.”

He stands directly in front of her chair.

“Getting hot,” she says with a playful lilt to her voice.

He drops to his knees between her legs.

“Very, very hot.”

He slips his fingers into the waistband of her pants.

“On fire,” She says with a smile.

He moves to pull her pants down and the tips of his fingers meet with something foreign near the top of her thigh. He quirks his head quizzically, fitting his whole hand into her pant leg and pulling out two long strips of cardstock. Airline tickets.

“How do you feel about a California Christmas?” she asks hopefully, and he looks at the tickets to see that the destination is San Diego, December 22nd.

He knew that she and her mother had been talking about flying out to see Bill for the holiday, but he’d assumed that he’d be left at home.

“What about Priscilla?” he asks, both touched that she wants to include him in her family’s celebration and nervous about meeting her older brother, who he understands will hate him by default.

“We can ask the Gunmen to look after her,” she offers. “Unless you don’t want to come with me?”

He can tell by her tone that it’s not meant to be a way for him to opt out, but a test of his willingness to go. She clearly wants him to.

“Of course I want to go with you,” he replies, moving close and wrapping his arms around her waist. “I will admit to being a little worried about meeting your brother, and in his home, on his turf.”

She gives him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry too much about Bill. Missy and Charlie are going, and Mom of course, and they love you. I know Tara will too. So even if he does pull the big brother card and give you a hard time, we have strength in numbers.”

“Is Byers going?” he asks hopefully, and she shakes her head. “Missy only just barely told Mom about him. It’s too soon for them.”

“But not for us?” he asks with the smile he reserves for the times when she alludes to the seriousness of their commitment.

She shakes her head slowly. “Not for us,” she says.

———

“Oh my god, I’m going to lose my mind, Mulder.”

She’s pacing around the apartment, putting things into different piles and open suitcases, her level of stress palpable in the air.

“Honey, stop for a second,” he says, grabbing her by the shoulders and dipping his head to meet her eye. “Take a deep breath,” he instructs, waiting as she does so. “We don’t need to leave for the airport for another twelve hours,” he says, keeping his own tone calm and level to counter hers, “we have plenty of time to pack.”

“It’s not just the packing, Mulder, this entire week was a nightmare. Everything I was hoping to accomplish before this trip was waylaid in one way or another; I missed my doctor’s appointment because of an emergency autopsy and forgot to reschedule it before they closed on Friday, Trudy was out sick half the week so I had to absorb her workload, the dry cleaners lost the dress I was going to bring for Christmas Eve mass, Priscilla is out of food AND litter, and I can’t find my earplugs for the plane,” she rattles off.

He pulls her into a hug, feeling her relax a bit with the contact.

“I will go pick up cat food, litter and earplugs,” he says, pulling away to look at her again, “and I’ll remind you to call the doctor tomorrow and reschedule. Wear that blue dress with the little flowers on it to mass, it looks beautiful on you. And try to breathe,” he finishes, giving her a sympathetic smile.

She forces a small smile onto her mouth and takes another deep breath. “Thank you,” she says quietly.

He pours her a big glass of wine before bundling himself up against the cold and venturing out into the December night.

———

She glances at Mulder intermittently, watching for signs of overwhelm. She knows that coming from a small, dysfunctional family means that he’s not accustomed to the type of gathering they are currently entrenched in; the entire Scully clan plus Tara’s parents and brother, and several members of their church. He seems to be faring okay, sipping a beer while talking sports with Charlie and a few others.

As nervous as he’d been about meeting Bill, he was well prepared. Scully directed him to speak highly of the Chargers while eviscerating the Patriots, and to go easy on the PDA. While they aren’t exactly best friends, Bill doesn’t seem to actively dislike him, and they are calling that a win.

She’d fully expected them to be set up in separate rooms given Bill’s traditional family values, but the number of people who needed to be housed made that impractical. They ended up relegated to the guest room and a single twin bed, though the enormous stack of pillows and blankets arranged on it suggest that one of them is expected to make a bed on the floor. They don’t do that, of course, instead sleeping nested together like spoons, Mulder continuously making half-hearted attempts at getting frisky while she laughs and slaps his hand away.

They are dressed for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, Scully in her flowered blue dress and Mulder in one of his typical weekday suits. They sit in the pew between Mom and Charlie, hands clasped chastely on the bench between them, suppressing giggles as he leans over to warn her that he is at risk of bursting into flame. He traces patterns on her palm with his index finger and she realizes at some point that they are letters. She concentrates, trying to understand his message, expecting it to be ‘I love you’ or something similarly sweet. When she puts together that he is spelling out ‘sex tonight?’ she looks over at him with wide eyes and then purses her lips together tightly to keep from laughing, doing her best to glare at him.

They file sleepily through the door at nearly 2am, quietly going off into their respective bedrooms and pull-out couches, hoping to get some rest before Christmas festivities in the morning. Scully quickly brushes her teeth and washes her face before darting to the bedroom, wriggling under the covers and pressing her back against Mulder, her cold toes brushing against his shins.

“Hm, you’re cold,” he says softly, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

“Thanks for going to mass,” she whispers back, “it meant a lot to my mom to have all of us there.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” he answers, his breath hot on her neck, “it’s nice to feel like a part of a real family.”

She threads her fingers through his where they rest on her belly, squeezing his hand. She tries to go to sleep, but his chest rising and falling against her back and the heat of his groin tucked against her backside are distracting. She wiggles a little bit against him.

“Hmmm,” he responds, thrusting his hips against her gently.

She swore that she was not going to have sex at her brother’s house. She knows that they can go without for the week they are here. But as she feels him grow hard against her ass, the throbbing between her legs suggests otherwise. No doubt it’s exacerbated by the forbidden nature of the situation; the door doesn’t have a lock and the house is quiet and still, though packed with enough ears that the risk of being heard is high. When his lips press against the back of her neck, she knows she’s done for.

She reaches behind herself to slip her hand into his pajama pants, stroking him firmly as he breathes hard into her ear, suppressing the groan that she knows would normally result from her touch. He pushes his pants down to his knees with one hand, then hurriedly brings hers down as well. She emits a small gasp when he slips inside her, simultaneously pushing his hand under her pajama top to squeeze her breast.

“Jesus fuck, you’re wet,” he whispers harshly in her ear, and she wants to make a joke about not taking the lord’s name in vain on his birthday but when he starts pumping in and out deliciously slowly, the thought slips from her mind.

If he moves too quickly the bed squeaks, so he keeps a languid pace as he pinches her nipples and kisses her neck, then slides his hand down to play with her clit in the tight space between her legs, which are still pinned together by the pajama pants around her knees. It feels incredible, and yet the necessary slowness and need to stay quiet make her wonder if she will be able to come. As if intuiting this, Mulder withdraws momentarily, sitting up and freeing her top leg from her pants, then lies back down and hitches her ankle behind his knee; her favorite position. He pulls the blanket back over them for warmth and modesty, though if anyone were to walk in now they’d have no chance of plausible deniability. With more room to move, he resumes his slow strokes and pairs them with hard and fast circles around her clit, murmuring little affirmations into her ear so softly she can barely hear them, much less anyone else. The vibration of his voice, the slip of his cock, the rough brush of his fingers, all come together in crescendo as she stiffens in his arms, turning to muffle her cries against his mouth as she comes. Now able to focus on his own release, he continues to pump slowly, pressing his face into her neck and letting out a low growl as she feels him throbbing inside her.

He slips quietly out of the bed, retrieving one of his dirty T shirts and swiping it between her legs before he pulls her pajama pants back into place. They get comfortable again, the sexual tension that had prevented them from relaxing before now dissipated.

He kisses her cheek softly, murmuring “Merry Christmas, Scully,” into her ear just before she drifts off to sleep.

In the morning, they sit around the lit tree, drinking coffee and eating pastries as they shake off sleep.

“Is your house haunted, Bill?” Charlie asks, and Bill gives him a doubtful look. “I swear I heard some weird noises, like creaking and whispering, I felt like I was in a horror movie,” Charlie defends.

Scully hides her face behind her coffee cup, glancing over to see Missy giving her a pointed look.

“I’m sure it was just the Christmas spirit,” Maggie says jovially. “Who wants to open presents?!”

[multifandom-girlie]

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓

Imagine: “Could I request a Daniel Gillies smut like they are both at the comic con(they are both in the originals) and he is teasing her while he answers a question ? Or makes fun with Joseph and he says some dirty things.” Requested by @elijahspersonalwifeyyy .

Pairing: Daniel Gillies x Reader

Warnings: Smut

Words:

Edited: Yes

A/N: I apologise @elijahspersonalwifeyyy for the incredibly long wait. I’ve had this lined up to post but with coursework and writing so much at the same time, it’s made it difficult but I refuse to quit. I’m not a quitter. I’m also not a person to announce a hiatus. Either way, hope you enjoyed ! There is a lot to read I know but we needed a build up and this is one of my favourite comic cons ever, I wanted to do the before hand scenes either way so. Don’t forget to check out my new story “On The Way” !

All of us at the current moment in time were stood backstage waiting to be called on. I couldn't tell you how irritated I was when I went on after Joseph and then Daniel followed. They were both irritating enough to me together anyway but they were in a particularly annoying mood today and I was not prepared for it.

“The man who will break your heart and then rip it out and then probably eat it. Joseph Morgan.”

The whole audience cheered as he walked on and he waved quite casually as he did. 

“The women who brings all men to there knees but still can't find anything better to do than drink wine. Y/N Y/L/N”

I giggled as I walked out and I saw the audience screaming and Joseph giving me a mischievous look.

“The brother with a suit for every occasion. Daniel Gillies as Elijah.”

He walked out, threw me a quick smirk and blew a kiss to the audience as they screamed. He pulled his chair out and smiled at everyone.

“Nice jacket.”

“Yeah. Give it up for this jacket ! Huh ? Out of a suit and into a smoking hot jacket.”

“I know right, the one time he's not wearing a suit.”

“Thank you. It was actually a gift from Y/N.”

“Aw that’s super sweet Y/N.”

“Thank you. It was actually a gift for our anniversary.”

“Really ? How many years ?”

“Seven.”

“and very sweet.”

He called the rest of our costars out and we continued on with the panel.

After the host had started the panel with a question for Julie and Michael, it was now a group question for me, Joseph and Phoebe.

“Uh now going to the show, we've seen Klaus and Lily and Klaus and Hayley kind of trying the uh co-parenting thing and it did not really go so well as we all saw. How is Klaus going to be as a parent now that Hayley isn't around and Lily and Elijah have reconciled ?”

As soon as the question was asked, we all turned to Joseph.

“Uh you know, before he alienated his whole family by toasting Elijah's girlfriend, sleeping with his wife and and and cursing the women he thought he was in love with um Klaus survived under this sort of umbrella of Elijah's protection and forgiveness I suppose and so Elijah was always a voice of reason and Hayley was always there to battle it out with him. So, I would say badly. He's gonna do badly as a single parent you know and I think he knows he's kinda messing it up but he's trying. At least he's trying. You gotta give him that. Even if he's warping the minds of his two daughters, one before she's even uttered a syllable and the other before she get's old enough to realise that Klaus and Lily aren't actually together you know like she’s thought for years.”

“Geez. So uh how are are Lily, Elijah and Klaus going to tell her ? Who's going to be the one that does it or will they all do it together ?”

I decided to answer this questions, being more involved with the story line of my children.

“I think that Lily will have to be the one to tell her and whilst doing so will definitely have to be quite cautious when telling Sofia, you know not only because she's only 7 years old but also because she’s thought of Elijah as her Uncle her whole life- and although that hasn't changed it's still going to be difficult since this latest revelation is that, her Uncle Elijah that she adores oh so much is now also 'mommy's boyfriend' or in more formal terms her step-dad. So I think she's going to be confused and it might be quite difficult for her at first but I think she’s mature for her age and that she will understand quite quickly that, Mommy and Daddy aren't together and that despite realizing that her mom was married to her uncle I think she will quickly appreciate the fact we told her because of her understanding personality. “

Daniel quickly leaned forward and spoke before the host could ask another question.

“The moral of the story is, don't sleep with your husband's brother. Especially when not using protection and then deciding to get back together with your husband before trying to force him to sign the divorce papers.”

The whole room suddenly echoed with loud laughter and I couldn't stop giggling myself despite being offended for my character. I hit his arm playfully. He grinned at me and rested his hand on my leg as the room calmed down and he slouched back in his chair a little.

“Very true. So, I mean he can always just compel a few dozen nannies but he does have Elijah there to help him co-parent you know not just with Sofia but with Hope. I'm thinking like shared schedules, late night feedings...Whose doing what ?”

“It’s like we both wake up and the baby is crying and it's like, are you going to get her or am I ? Alright, I'll get her.”

“Yeah no it's gonna be me. I'm gonna do the graveyard shift, I know that all to well. But we gotta remember too, Lily and Freya are going to be doing a large share of the work.”

“Oh yeah, they can do it. There you go.”

I giggled and hit Joseph in the shoulder for the comment.

“Sexist.”

“No, come on. Lily's already been through this twice she knows’ what she's doing and Freya's Switzerland at this moment in time, I think for both of us to be in there...I’m gonna stop talking.”

We all chuckled at Daniel's comment.

                                               *

“Now we're going to go to audience questions in just a little bit but first I wanted to do something fun. I know it's not the holiday's and I know we don't have a big ass bonfire in front of us but I thought it would be quite fun if everybody kinda thinks about a wish for their character for the future, just throw it in the imaginary bonfire.”

“Well, I'm a human....so I just want to stay alive.”

“Good answer.”

“Oh I forgot you weren't a character.”

“I have wishes for everybody but I don't have a character.”

“I do wish for Julie that Supernatural Judge Judy becomes her next spin off and Exploding Ovaries is the title of Daniel Gillies' next memoir. 

“A wish for Hayley would be that Hope can live a normal, happy existence. I think would be what she would want the most.”

“That’s very sweet.”

“Thank you. That's it, I'm done.”

“Uh, I think for Elijah...I mean other than wishing that his girlfriend's wouldn't be incinerated or his wife doesn't sleep with his brother again...”

I giggled at Daniel's comment, despite his comment towards my character and spoke with Joseph, simultaneously. 

“Oh, come on.”

“I'm not letting that one go easily. So, uh...I would wish for him. Oh man. I wish for him, I’m actually wishing for something dark, like I sort of would wish for...a great division between the brothers before reconciliation.”

“So that's how it's going to be.”

“So, my wish for Lily is um...to finally find that bloody fertility spell that she's been looking for, for centuries. So that her and Elijah can have children of their own which they want more than anything and move somewhere outside of New Orleans in a nice family home, away from the drama.”

“That’s very sweet.”

“Uh, I wish everyone would just do what Klaus says because he's always right. He knows what he's doing. It's for the greater good. Come on. Get on board with his plans. Everything will be alright in the end. Not everyone will be alright in the end but everything will be alright in the end. Right ?”

“Um, I wish Marcel would cross over. No.”

“I wish for more of your cleavage.”

I couldn't help but laugh a little when he says comments like that. Even though it wasn't directed at me, I knew the double meaning behind it. Daniel has not taken his eyes away from my chest today. That's what breast feeding does to you, I suppose. When Daniel picked my outfit this morning, I was glad. I was going to wear some leather pants and a red blouse with some heels but he somehow convinced me to wear a dress. God was I glad, I actually listened to him. It was hot in San Diego summer heat and I underestimated a little when I decided on leather pants. 

“Yeah. We gonna get some dollar bills. Let's see some ones. Tryna make some money out here. Somebody, put on some Usher. Slow jam. Uh yeah...”

“I have a twenty. What can we get for a twenty ?”

“Break it up. Break it up.”

“Make it into ones and let's make it rain.”

“If I throw loose change at you, can I make it hail ?”

“Alright, moving on. Next subject.”

“Um, Davina is a witch and I think it would be really cool if she could fly. So, whether it's a broomstick or something else...I still think it would be really cool.”

“That’s a good one. Um, mines pretty selfish. I hate shaving, so I wish we could work something in so Vincent could have like a huge beard.”

“I changed my mind, I want superpowers as well. Three one foot long, retractable adamantine claws from each hand please.”

”Why is the camera on me ? I wanna fly. I wanna see these guys fly. I want them charging up walls and...we don’t have the budget for that. I wanna see more vampirey stuff. Why am I wishing again ? I exhausted my wish.”

“You guys can make as many wishes as you want. This is your made up tradition.”

“It’s raining wishes on you.”

“Raining for your wishes.”

“God this is embarrassing.”

“T it up.”

“T what up ?”

“What do your need for a rain of wishes ?”

“What happens when it rains ?”

“An umbrella.”

“What ?”

“An umbrella, sweetheart.”

He closed his eye in frustration and dropped his upper half into my lap, whilst we all laughed at his slow mind.

“Oh shit. Umbrella. So sorry, so sorry.”

“The rain, the umbrella...”

“Dropping hints. Awesome, alright well let’s turn it over to some audience questions.”

                                               *

“Hi, my name is Julia and first I'd like to say, I love you all. Especially Joseph Morgan and Danielle Campbell.”

“Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

“Don’t worry, I love you Daniel.”

He squeezes my thigh and leans in to kiss my head. Before deciding to move his arm around my shoulders and hugging me into his side. I rested my hand on his thigh as I hugged him back.

“I love you too, beautiful.”

I blushed and smiled, whilst the audience all awed. Which prompted the red in my cheeks to darken. I sat back up straight and he returned his hand back my thigh, yet this time a little higher up and whilst stroking the fabric of my dress up my thigh.

“My question is for the whole cast and it is, if you were able to play another role...who would you wanna play ?”

“On our show ? Or just in general ?”

“Yeah. On The Originals.”

“I..I think I would choose Hayley. The Hyrbid female. She's a pretty cool character. Your welcome.”

“Um, I would play...Klaus. Mind you probably better but...”

“I don't wanna play anybody else, I wanna play Elijah.”

“I would play, Elijah....purely because it would be an absolute blessing to wake up that hot everyday and he's a pretty awesome character.”

He smirked at me and moved his hand further up my leg, his fingers now resting at the hem of my white lace thong. I gulped a little but held my composure. It seemed hat every time I complimented him, he got further up my leg and closer to my core. Like a game...and I was more than happy to play.

“If...If I had to absolutely play someone else uh, I would play Oliver because I just think he needs to be brought back to the show...and uh #saveollie. Bring him back !”

“Uh, I would play Elijah because I think I look damn good in a suit.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Buttoned up to the naval.”

“There we go. I know it's distracting for you, my body.”

“I cannot concentrate. I refuse to continue.”

“Um, I would play Genevieve. I thought she was a really cool character. She was a lot of fun to work with.”

“I see some Genevieve fans in the house, awesome.”

“Um, yeah I think I might choose Elijah too. I think uh, it's a really cool character that Daniel has created.”

“They both quietly believe they can bring more to the role, is what they’re saying. Not quietly, they're saying it to an audience of like three thousand.”

“Only because of what you've done with it Daniel.”

                                            *

“Hi Guys, wow that's loud. I'm so sorry, my name's Marissa. First, I want to say Daniel I watched saving hope and your death killed me. I'm so sorry that you died.”

“Yeah, tell me about it ! I was gutted.”

He squeezed my thigh a little more and started making circles with his finger on the spot closed to my core.

“Oh my goodness.”

Yeah, oh my goodness indeed. He really knew how to make a woman feel good, without hardly doing anything...quite literally.

“Um, so my question is for Julie and Michael. Um, I was wondering...there’s so much violence on the show and so much adult stuff and I was wondering if the network or the studio has ever told you, 'No you can't do that’ ?”

We all started laughing in reply to the questions.

“Oh, we have a story about that don't we...Leah.”

“I don't wanna tell the story again.”

“There's things that we did that couldn't be shown.”

“So here's the thing about broadcast television is that, apparently you can decapitate someone, you can drive a knife into a vampires skull, you can rip out their heart, you can shove a pencil up their nose, you can stab them a million times with glass but when stimulating a sex scene...if there's any movement at all that one would define as thrusting...”

“No thrusting. Pull back on the thrusting.”

“A motion that originates from the hip.”

Charles decided to get up and share a demonstration of thrusting and everyone on stage started laughing and the audience started to scream. Daniel gripped my thigh a little harder, due to jealously. I didn't have to ask him what the reason was, I already knew. At the best of times, he was not a jealous person. He loves and trusts me and Charles a lot and he knows nothing would happen but when he's horny and in need of some attention...he does get jealous. Understandably so, I know because we both do. His pinky finger then started to stroke me, through the lace of my pants.   

“It’s difficult because I don't actually remember thrusting being in the script. That was something the actors chose.”

“It was a creative choice. I mean, look at Charles...you would do the same thing. Also, let's not forget the originators of this little problem.”

The audience stayed silent, indicating that they weren't sure how to react to her last sentence. I leaned into Daniel and rested my forehead against his bicep in retaliation to Leah's comment. I couldn't stop giggling, despite the finger rubbing against my wet thong and the blush rising on my cheeks. Daniel was using his other hand to pinch his forehead, whilst chuckling.

“Come on guys, explain it.”

“So, what happened was we were doing the flashback sex scene of Elijah and Lily's wedding night. Daniel got a bit too excited and started to thrust a little and I tried hiding it by opening my legs a bit more.As I did, my underwear snapped because it wasn't as flexible as I thought. So, I had to pay a fine for showing too much skin because the sheets had come off of me a little and we hadn't realised. Not that it was much it was just a little side boob, still.”

“So, it wasn't the thrusting ?”

“No, ironically it wasn't.”

“Let me tell you. There was some excellent, simulated thrusting in those scenes. That was cut, per broadcast standards. While, I think in the same episode seventeen people got brutally massacred. It is what it is.”

“Some of the best thrusting. I hope it makes the special features.”

“Charles called Leah, for some extra rehearsal before hand.”

                                           *

“Hi I'm uh Skylar. Um, I know that between you there has been a myriad of different supernatural creatures. Uh, Phoebe...I think you've been a werewolf, a witch and a mermaid. Uh, in really life...What would you wanna be ?”

“Well, I would say witches because witches don't have to turn on a full moon and they don't have to be like plagued by vampire...the demon’s of vampires. They can just have all the power and really cute outfits...and if I can look more like Danielle Campbell. I'll take it.”

“H20 rocks!”

“Thank you ! Well actually I-Im gonna say a mermaid then. Like, life is better under the sea and I think I would be a mermaid.”

“I don't know-"

“Merman ?”

“Merman. No, I...um. I'm pretty pervy...so I'd say like invisibility.”

“Um, so I'm not pervy at all unlike Daniel. I do think that Heretics are soooo cool though. Like, they can do magic and they are vampires but still have all those human capabilities...like procreation. So, yeah a heretic.”

His hand stopped stroking me through the lace of my panties suddenly and I instantaneously felt a cold gush of air race up my well-shaved legs and punching me in my core. I felt the frayed edges of my lace tickling my upper thigh, where they shouldn't be. Hinting that my favourite pair of thongs had been snapped. I turned to Daniel and narrowed my eyes at him whilst he just continued the panel, like nothing happened. His hand when back to it’s original position resting on my thigh, clearly in punishment for making a comment about his pervy answer. 

“Nah, I'm happy where I am. You know, Hyrbid. Definitely not, invisibility. When I joined the show, I thought I was only gonna be a vampire so I was thrilled when I was a werewolf-vampire. I'm sticking to my guns.”

“I like being the token human. I'm just gonna like stay there. Create more mermen.”

“Season three, season of the mermen.”

“The next spin-off.”

“That would be so cool, let me be a mermaid. I would kill it .”

Joseph put his arm on the back of my chair, looking at me after I made my wish known to be a mermaid.

“You better not cum in the water.”

The entirety of the room ruptured into fits of laughter. Even Daniel, who had now moved his hand closer to my core again. Letting his fingers stroke my entrance. Meanwhile, I continued laughing...ignoring the feeling of my husband’s gentle and sensual touch. 

“I’m blushing.”

                                            *

“Hi, I'm Katie. If you were to go to Comic Con, on the floor. Is there anyone you would dress up as ?”

The first thought that came to mind was pleasing Daniel. If I said him there was no doubt he'd give in. The problem was, was it a risk I was willing to take...at a comic Con in front of three thousand fans and some of my closest friends.

“Daniel Gillies.”

Every one repeated my answer and whilst doing so I was discovering that I was unequivocally correct with my thought process. Sure enough, Daniel plunged his fingers straight into my entrance leaving me to deal with the resounding squeal that ripped from my throat. Causing Daniel to laugh at me, influencing Joseph to join in.

                                            *

The final question had just been answered by Daniel and I was leaning my head into Daniel's shoulder to help with controlling the moans erupting inside me. The warmth in my stomach has just appeared as quickly as it vanished again, Daniel had stopped and chuckled at my irritated expression. Nevertheless, I got up and shoved my now broken thongs in Daniel's jacket pocket and waved at the fans with a bright smile on my face as we all walked off. We had just got out of the fan's eyesight when a hand delivered a hard slap to my barely covered assume cheek as this dress was so short. I span around and grabbed his wrist before dragging him further backstage, behind a screen next to the dressing rooms.

“What do you think your doing ? Playing around like that during a panel and then not even letting me finish ?!”

I didn't even let him reply as I dragged his face down towards mine and kissed him lustfully. His hands wandered down to my waist and clutched the already tight fabric tighter around me. The other unoccupied hand drove down to my ass and clutched it, allowing the skirt to rise up. Exposing the bare skin of my cheek. I used one of my hands to undo his zipper before pulling his dick out and stroking it. Clearly, he was eager because before I knew it. I was pressed up against the wall, sticking my tongue down his throat and moving myself up and down on his already hard cock. What we hadn't realised that the screen had moved, as Daniel had knocked it with his foot when walking to the wall. He pulled away and smirked at me.

“You told me we wouldn't have public sex after last time.”

“This is the last time Mr Gillies, I'm promising you.”

We smiled at eachother and kept going against the wall. His tip caused some tension when arriving to a depth he hadn’t before but it was a pleasurable one most definitely. The lips of my pussy enveloped his tip and he ran it through my drenched folds before deciding to plunge into me once again. I was about to scream and he knew I wasn’t good at being quiet when he fucks me so good. I clung onto him hoping it would relieve tha ache he’d created by filling me so good. He sat down on a chair that was sat in a chair of the little area backstage. Sitting down, allowed his thrusts to speed up rapidly and his face to rest in between my smooth and nearly covered beasts. He bit my hardened buds through my dress and caused a shive of please to shoot down to my core and promoting me to burst.

I then decided to let go and couldn’t help but let out a gratifying scream for him. I was coming down from my high and the screen pulled back. A man that looked about 40, eyed us disgusted and told us to move it.

“Well atleast I won the deal ?”

“Remember the deal we had ? If I was right about is having sex in public again no matter how much you denied that we wouldn’t. Your were very adamant.#

*

MASTERLIST

[marmolady]

Broken Chains: Epilogue

Book/Series: Endless Summer

Main Pairings: Estela x MC/Taylor (f),

Summary: Part 8: Post-ending (Endless ending). Epilogue... June 2023

Word Count: 2194

Previous chapter

It’s finally finished.

June 2023

 Taylor blinked awake, her face against Estela’s chest, which rose and fell to the sound of soft, contented snores. After all this time, she could not get over the utter blessing it was to be there with her. She ran her hand over her wife’s tight and rounded belly, feeling for movement within. A fluttering bump against her palm made her heart soar. This was it… paradise.

“Good morning, baby…” she whispered, then looked up as she felt Estela stirring. “And good morning, mama.”

Without opening her eyes, Estela leaned down and kissed the top of Taylor’s head. “Morning…”

It was six years to the day since they first set foot on La Huerta, and as per tradition, the anniversary marked the first day of the annual reunion. Everyone had remained close, even having finished college and gone in different directions, but the yearly gathering on the island was always a great event. It was the third such reunion, and even in that short time, much had changed. Grace and Aleister, now with their infant son Reginald in tow, had taken over responsibility for The Celestial, and had seen to it that the resort was taken down. In its place, an impressive Vaanti-built structure now stood-- after the still-standing Elysian, the largest building on the island. Affectionately known as ‘The New Celestial’, it housed private offices for both Aleister and Estela, an art studio for Grace, a sprawling laboratory, and cosy accommodations and facilities specifically for times like these when the Catalysts were in residence.  The contents of Rourke’s jaw-dropping library had been saved, along with countless items that had taken significance to many of those residing on La Huerta. Oftentimes, The New Celestial hosted Vaanti visitors from all corners of the island, but when the reunion came along, space was happily and respectfully given. With most of the gang flying in imminently, Aleister and Grace been busy with preparations, assisted by Taylor, Estela and Diego, who were semi-permanent La Huerta residents themselves.

In their triple-storey shack in the old Catalyst village, a little house that was now truly a home, with photographs of loved ones and treasured memories looking down from the walls, Taylor and Estela got ready side by side. Packing a bag for the reunion was par for the course, but this time there were a few extra items put away in anticipation of the birth that could happen at any time. They wouldn’t be going far but… just in case.

Briefly rummaging through a drawer, Estela pulled out an envelope. “Taylor… happy birthday, mi alma!”

Taylor laughed and took it from her. “Oh, you shouldn’t have! Especially because it’s not actually my birthday.” She opened the envelope and pulled out a colourful greeting card. “And I am not turning six.”

Giggling, Estela put her arms around her and kissed her temple. “Look, it’s even got a badge for you to wear.”

“I am six,” Taylor read. “Great. I wonder how many of these I’ll get this year.” She opened the card. “At least you didn’t write a message wildly inappropriate for the card’s clearly intended audience. Like last year.” With a snigger, she hugged Estela back. Those six years had been a ride, and she was eternally grateful for every one. Joking aside, it was always a special occasion to reflect; six years since she’d come to being, six years since she met the eleven most wonderful people she’d ever know. Six years since she first met the gaze of the woman who would forever own her heart. “I love you, Estela.”

“I love you too. Always, always.”

While Taylor rushed around, gathering all the home-grown fruits she’d promised to bring for Raj, Estela found herself left behind, slowed down by the extra weight and a painful back. She couldn’t wait to hold her baby… and neither could she wait to have her body back to normal.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” she asked, a little frustrated.

A little smile came to Taylor’s face as she took Estela’s hand and pulled her into her waiting arms. “Maybe, just one thing…” She wove a hand up to Estela’s chin and gently drew her in for a warm and tender kiss.

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for.”

 __________________________

The New Celestial’s pool seemed to shimmer in the midday sun, the cerulean waters disturbed by the frolics of friends reunited once more. A big lunch cook-up and a lazy afternoon was tradition by this point, and the air was already filled with the most delicious scents as Raj got down to business. Naturally, Quinn had brought along a great selection of cupcakes for dessert, and already three or four had been snaffled by those who simply couldn’t wait.

At the shallow end of the pool, Aleister sat with little Reggie on his knee, kicking his tiny legs merrily as he babbled to himself.

Pulling faces, Quinn reached over to tickle the baby’s tummy, and beamed as Reggie gave a delighted squeal. “Oh Al, he’s gotten so big! Haven’t you Mister Reginald?”

Pride was clear on the father’s face as he held out his boy to splash around on his belly. “He’s so like Grace; bright… inquisitive…”

“Food’s out, doodlebugs!” came a holler from the central table.

Grace crouched beside the pool and took Reggie in her arms. “Come on, little man; let’s get you dried up and ready for some yummy lunch!” She leant to give Aleister a kiss. “Isn’t he doing so well? I thought he’d be shy with so many people.”

“I don’t think he’s quite sure of Craig still, but to be quite frank, that troglodyte scares us all.”

“Oh, you! We’ll save you a seat.”

Amid the chattering and scraping of chairs, Sean rose to his feet to begin the celebration.

“Well,” he said, “we’re all here, despite the ongoing concerns for the competency of our beloved pilot.”

His feet up on the table, Jake just shrugged it off. “Laugh it up, assholes. Without me, you’ll be walkin’ home.”

“So,” Sean continued, “I think it’s time for the birthday girl’s traditional speech to get us started.”

A party hat lopsided on her head, Taylor gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “It’s not my birthday, peeps.”

“Didn’t stop ya from accepting that three-tier cake last year, Princess…”

“Speech! Speech!”

Resigned to her fate, Taylor stood up. “All right, here goes.”  For her show of resistance, she actually loved this… it was almost like old times, and she lived for it. “So, uh, this has been a big one. In so many, so many ways. You think that you survive the end of the world, everything after that’s gotta be a cakewalk. But life is hard. Some days you wake up, and it feels like everything you ever dreamed of will always be just out of reach.” Her voice trembled, but she recovered herself. “There’s not one of you who didn’t have to put up with a blubbering phone call from me this past year; you comforted us when we lost hope, and celebrated right along with us when hoping and trying finally paid off.” Automatically, she looked over to Estela who glanced up from stroking her bump to meet Taylor’s eyes with a gaze overflowing with affection. She had to take a moment before continuing, wiping her eyes. “Michelle… truly a queen. I honestly don’t know how you do it--“

“Coffee. So much coffee.”

“--but you managed to kick the third year of med school in its ass, all the while being willing to drop everything in a heartbeat if one of us needed to talk. And that you’re here to help us out with the baby… there’s just… there’s no words for what it means. I am so over the moon for you both about your engagement; you are two of the strongest, kindest souls I’ll ever know, and you truly deserve each other.”

“Quinn just wants an excuse to make a ridiculously extravagant cake.” Michelle gave her a wink.

“Hey!” Quinn laughed, wrinkling up her nose in feigned offense. “Well, between your last year of school, my first public speaking engagements, and a wedding to plan, I think we’ll have earned a good cake.” She leaned into her fiancée for a kiss, and there might as well have been no one alive but the two of them.

“One of the greatest blessings in my life has been to watch Grace and Aleister become the most amazing parents to their sweet little man, Reggie. Who, I might add, said his first word yesterday…”

Beaming, Grace tickled under her son’s chin. “What can you say, sweetie?” She wiggled a finger in Aleister’s direction. “Who’s that?”

“Dada!”

Another big cheer. The infant looked slightly perturbed by the outburst, and snuggled closer to his mother.

And so they reflected on another year; their trials, heartaches and triumphs. Quinn’s cupcake business had truly taken flight, and she’d begun her first forays into non-profit work. What Zahra did on her computer all day, no one was quite sure, and most were too afraid to ask, but she was happy, opening herself up to new avenues, and always heading up an unstoppable dynamic duo, supporting Craig as he found the confidence to make his way in the world and embrace his own successes. Sean was looking forward to his first season as a pro on the Condors, Raj’s runaway success with his cooking vlog had landed him talks about the television show of his dreams, and Taylor herself was taking a break from fulfilling youth work in San Trobida after having fast-tracked her degree and graduated after three years. Diego was contentedly living back in Elyys’tel, preparing to  knuckle down and make some progress on his book --as well as continue his role as the most sought-after story-teller on the island, and bond with the baby he’d helped bring into existence. Jake had returned home a free man several years prior, but now spent far more time piloting tourists around the Greater Antilles, with home bases on both La Huerta and San Trobida. Rourke International was now a distant memory, the company having been re-branded under Aleister’s direction as Catalyst International. It was only then, with Rourke’s influence scorched from everything he’d once touched, that Estela’s resistance to Aleister’s attempts to gift her a fair share of inheritance waned. Her objective was simple; to use the wealth she’d inherited to rebuild her war-ravaged home, and to offer its young people the opportunities her own mother had sacrificed herself to give Estela. With a family of Tio Nicolas in San Trobida; Grace, Aleister, Diego and Varyyn on La Huerta; and Taylor, right at her side wherever she might be, she was finally contented and at peace.

With tears in her eyes, Taylor wrapped up her ‘birthday’ speech, toasting to another year with a glass of fruit punch held high. Then, to do the rounds… picking up, as anticipated, a great stash of birthday cards, while cramming in as much catching-up as she could manage before the inevitable drunken shenanigans took over.

Taylor picked up a second glass with her refill and wandered back to the poolside hammock where Estela awaited her.

“You look comfy,” she said with a loving wink.

“Should hope so… I’m fairly sure I’m stuck here.”

Taylor giggled. “Thankfully, we’ve got a whole team of pregnant-lady-extractors on hand, so you can just take it easy.” Handing over the fruit drink, she rested on the edge of the hammock and kissed her wife’s forehead.

Closer now, Taylor sensed something… different… new. There was something in Estela’s expression, a look of holding onto a secret, some wonderful knowledge that was all hers. Her heart skipped a beat. Was she…?

An almost imperceptible nod confirmed her suspicions, and she had to hold back a gasp.

“So, uh… how long do you want to give it before I break up the party… and Raj’s heart?”

Estela leaned in close, sharing a clandestine smile and whispering so only Taylor could hear. “The contractions aren’t even a half hour apart yet; we’ve got time. Let poor Michelle relax for a little while longer.”

Gently wriggling up against her beloved, Taylor pressed a sweet kiss to her lips and cradled her rounded belly. As her heart pounded with elation, she looked over the gathering; her family. Raj and Jake were engaged in their annual drinks-mix-off. Jake, as always, was the obvious underdog, but keeping pace and already impressing the eager judges. Cocktail in each hand, Quinn reclined in a floating pool ring, taking her time in making her pick of the winner, while avoiding the wild splashing from the direction of Craig, Sean, Diego and Varyyn, who’d taken a break from drinks tasting for a two-on-two ball game.  Michelle and Grace were taking well-earned respite by the pool, watching the goings-on with their feet up in the most comfortable deck chairs. Clearly under the impression that no one bar the protective father was watching, Zahra was quietly singing for an entranced baby Reggie. Tucked up with the woman she loved and on the very brink of becoming a mother, Taylor smiled helplessly; completely, palpably content. So much had changed, and yet… so little had changed at all.

It was as though Taylor was looking at everything she could have wished for. They’d made it through… together, joined by bonds forged in fire and tempered in grief and hope. They’d survived, just as they’d survive the challenges along each of their paths, for the journey would never be walked alone.

We’re finally on our way…

[pingou7]

A car, two cops and a stardust — a RebelCaptain road trip fic

by @pingou7 pingou  for @thestarbirdfromtheashes Starbird

(aka the Road trip fic Diego Luna’s filmography made me write)

Read and enjoy, and please consider leaving me a few words.

Summary:

As the dusty roads criss under Kes Dameron’s old car, Cassian Andor lets the wind mess with his hair through the open window. Dust, sunshine, laughter, its easy to recapture the taste of days long gone.

(…)

At a gas station near Corpus Chirsti, when they climb back after taking a piss, both jump out of their skins as a random brunette, eyes thunderous, hisses dangerously from the backseat:

“Just pretend I’m not here.”

Update: Part 5 is (finally) up!

(I dedicate this one to @sleepykalena because she likes this fic so much it makes me happy. This update is for you especially Char, hope it delivers...)

Read more on AO3 (or under the cut)

Part 5 — From Tijuana to Caborca, Sonora, Mexico Day 3

There’s a sense of homecoming as Cassian stares out the window, dust flying around, rocky mountains... more colorful houses, more colorful life. But of course the quiet in the car was starting to creep Kes out and he switched on the radio. He too seems happy to drive back to mother land, as a man’s soulful voice carries out from the speakers.

Only on air it’s actually Propuesta Indecente — one of the Damerons favorite bachata songs — and soon Kes is wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at him. Andor struggles not to burst out of laughter and he hopes Jyn doesn’t have so much grip on Spanish as to translate what these lyrics mean:

¿Qué dirías si esta noche

Te seduzco en mi coche?

Que se empañen los vidrios

Y la regla es que goces

Well, to be honest, the idea of seducing Jyn in the car tonight until glasses get fogged wouldn’t be so far fetched — nor unwelcome — but Kes is here. So as evocative as the song might be, the sudden fantasy of a flushed Jyn lying on the hood of his brother’s old mustang is nothing but a pretty image.

He squirms in the seat, dry throated and changes the song. His brother sniggers, but as Quiero qué me quieras starts — again — he is lost in the song and forgets to tease him. Jyn is on the back seat, rummaging through the bag Gina lent her but at Kes’ demand, she reaches behind her, stretching, to retrieve his old white cowboy hat.

Cassian avoids to look at her to put the thing on top of the driver’s head, however, the sight is slightly ridiculous — he exchanged this for a baseball cap as a teen — and like the car, Dameron kept it out of sentimentality, despite having outgrown both.

He wants to broach the subject of Jyn, but he doesn’t know how. As usual, thanks to his sunny brother there’s a relative impression of carefreeness, but while she seems to be drinking the sights, the fugitive is far from sharing any kind goofing:

Her back is upright, her shoulders squared against her seat and she looks ready to bolt, more so than she did crossing the border. He realizes he didn’t hear the sound of her voice since then and it sits ill with him: the cop in Andor wants to interrogate her and the man just wants to reach out.

They stop in Tijuana to refuel and of course, Cassian insists on putting on his matching tourist cap. He’s not really Captain Andor here, just Cass — and if Kes-adillas gets to wear his old cowboy hat, then he doesn’t get to comment on it. Jyn rolls her eyes at their antics, but agrees to get a larger head cloth than the one she has. It covers her hair, twisting safely around her neck... it looks a bit exotic to be honest, oriental almost, but she puts it on with a long acquired ease that makes him wonder.

Everything she does and doesn’t say makes him wonder, and he doesn’t like it.

Eventually, as the urgency of their reaching San Diego no longer exists — God willing — Kes decides to stretch his legs, calling his wife for a bit. Neither Cassian nor Jyn leave the car though, as he ponders on the old fashioned map that marks their spots, like a way of the cross. After all, the original plan was their yearly pilgrimage to Bernal and the brunette behind him doesn’t alter that. In any way whatsoever. Of course not.

“So, Jyn, have you ever been to Mexico?”

“No, I’ve been to Columbia for a few months, but that’s all.”

“Vacation? Work? Schooling?”

“Nope, none of that, through it was really... formative.”

Her cryptic and elusive answers are driving him madder each time. If it wasn’t leisure nor work or school, what could have been her reason for going to South America? He senses she’s not lying, but as usual she’s the opposite of forthcoming. He thinks she’s voluntarily leaving clues for him, but these pieces only serve to confuse him more.

Kes slides in again, but he’s frowning, and the car is oddly silent. Cassian keeps his mouth shut, knowing he’d better wait for Kay’s information to provide a starting point on his probing. Meanwhile, his brother asks about their next stop — Caborca, in Sonora, still around six hours of driving — in a sullen voice that intrigues Jyn.

“I thought you wanted to ease up on the gas pedal?”

“I thought you were on the run,” Kes retorts moodily.

“Not at present,” she answers nonplussed,”which was the point. I mean, don’t speed up on my account.”

Kes sighs and slides out again, ignoring their surprise. Cassian goes after him, and they settle for a chat by the road. His brother is fishing for something in his pockets, if they were younger it might have been a pack and a lighter, but both had quit years before. Whatever it is, he can’t find it however, and lets out a curse.

“Care to tell me what’s wrong, cabrón?”

“Should I make a list? Gina, the wayward cat, the crappy car. My son misses me.”

“Hey, it was all the same an hour ago, only you were not an ass then.”

“We’re not all as good as you for compartmentalizing, Captain Andor. We should have flown there.”

“To Bernal?”

“Yep. Time’s short, life’s short. The sooner we are in Bernal, the sooner we can go back to our lives. I didn’t want to leave Tia.”  

Okay, so this is Kes freaking out, that Cassian can deal with. He won’t tease him or offer him platitudes, but he’d thought a phone call to Shara would have served as damage control. Clearly he’d underestimated Kes’ helplessness. He pats his shoulder, as he states:

“We knew she wasn’t great, cursí. Gina’s old.”

“Shut up rudo, old or not, it’s not okay. We’re talking about family here. Rules don’t apply.”

It’s Cassian’s turn to sigh this time, noting his brother’s petulant tone is exactly the same as little Poe’s. For all his nephew took after Shara, whining seems to be a Dameron trait.

“They do, even, perhaps especially when we don’t wish them to. She was happy to see us though, it counts for something right? And, you know, we’re gonna see her in a few days.”

“Remind me why we thought this long ass road trip was a good idea?”

“No money to spare on plane tickets.”

“Come on, this trip isn’t cheap.”

“But we wouldn’t have Jyn with us.”

“You’re clingy for a guy that picked a stray three days ago. What makes you think she won’t ditch us, now that she’d crossed the border? She may have left the car already for all we know, or better, stole it altogether.”

“Don’t be a dick. Let’s go back now, if you’re so worried she’s gonna disappear.”

“I’m not a worrier, you are.”

“Then start acting like it!”

When they get back to the car, Jyn isn’t in the back seat and for a heartbeat or two, both cops are stunned, speechless. Cassian feels his blood rushing out of his cheeks for the first time in more than a decade — he is usually level headed, a good element — and it takes the horn honking to snap him out of it.

Jyn, mysterious runaway that she is, has passed behind the wheel. He sees it, yet his brain takes a whole second to process the information. Kes opens the door on the driver’ side, puzzlement written all over his face.

“What are you doing?”

“I thought you were tired of the rotation by now, so... I looked at the map. I can do my share, if that’s okay.”

She’s impassive, but her voice hints at a slight uncertainty and she avoids their eyes, fixing the road in front of her like she could start the car by sheer force of will. Cassian exhales loudly — out of relief or resignation, perhaps — and chooses to regain his place next to her, strapping himself in. Once he’s done, he gestures to Dameron to get in the car too, which he does after some stalling, and says to Jyn:

“I’m surprised by the fact that you waited for us. You could have fled.”

“With this piece of junk? Not likely. Plus, ditching cops with their own car wouldn’t help my case.”

“It sure wouldn’t,” Cassian agrees while he watches her starting the car and resuming their travel.

“You’re doing okay with this side of the road?”

“What, why,” she asks dubiously, eyes narrowing.

“You’re Brit, right? Didn’t you drive the other way around?”

“Relax, officer Kes-adillas, I’ll do fine, besides, when I first started to drive, there wasn’t any road to begin with.“

“No exactly reassuring,” he mumbles, but since he doesn’t ask for the keys, Jyn smiles.

“You’ll have your baby back as soon as we reach the next city, if you want.”

But they let her drive for three hours before they stop for the night. She looks heartened by their compliance, expecting the cops to reclaim the wheel anytime, yet Kes concentrates on chilling out and Cassian prefers to focus on his emails — okay, he might steal a glance at her profile from time to time, so what if he does? He’s just checking she’s not getting tired or stressed by the road, and she does cut a fine figure in the bright tones left by dusk.

The hotel staff they’re staying at were able to point the trio a serviceable phone, so Jyn made her mandatory call to wherever her brother lives in the States. Cassian has more luck though, and thanks to her passport, Kay managed to send him intel right on his phone, that he reads up greedily, with Kes frowning at his shoulder.

When she gets back with a taco, she picks up instantly the rise of tension in the room. For a whole minute nobody talks and Jyn finishes her food with both men staring at her.

“So, guys, what’s the plan tomorrow? I’d thought you’d have lots to chat about, why the long faces?”

“Anything we have to say, you don’t want to hear.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You tell us, Jyn, or is it Liana? You sure spent a few months in jail under that name, so do you prefer we use Kestrel?”

“Wait, how do you... you snooped around my stuff,” she asks furiously, pointing a accusative finger at Cassian.

She looks comically affronted for a common thief, but now isn’t the time to point it out, though the corner of Kes' lips is lifting.

“I did, and if you think it was wrong of me, then you should have been more open, so I didn’t have to.”

“Sorry I’m not the kind of girl who unloads a lifetime of anecdotes on car rides. Chirrut told me I could trust you on the phone, so I did, but it’s just… I wasn’t sure I could trust you and you already proved us wrong.”

The name doesn’t ring a bell at all, and the cops frown in sync, crossing their arms — it’s their classic bad cops pose, Shara usually mocks — but nobody here feels like joking. Yet another thing Jyn hides from them.

“Does he know us, then, this Chirrut?” Kes asks.

“No, I don’t think so, but he doesn’t need to, okay? I can’t explain it but he knows stuff. If he says you’re trustworthy then you are.”

“You’re nuts, and even so, if you or whoever else think we’re trustworthy, then why won’t you bloody tell us what’s going on with you?!”

“I don’t have to tell you shit!”

“God woman, we’re trying to help you!”

“I don’t ask for help, I’m managing on my own!”

“Scuse me,” Kes interrupts in a milder tone despite his own frustration, “but you did hide in my car, and against all odds, we’re still dragging you with us, so...”

“Right, sorry I crashed at your Charolastras party, but for the record you insisted! Anyway I’ll be gone tomorrow.”

“We’ll see about that!” Kes retorts hotly, whereas Cassian’s ire runs so cold he’d fear frostbite.

His furor is leaving him thankfully tongue-tied, but he’s as furious as his brother. He’s just used to repress his angry bursts. She is too, but when nobody speaks or move for a few heavy seconds she storms out of the room and Cassian is so frustrated at her cowardice he can’t see straight, gripping the counter with sweaty hands.

Kes swears heartily, pours himself a drink. Cassian drinks too, four long gulps to settle his nerves. It does little. When they eventually decide to get to bed — the do need to resume the trip in a few hours — Kes pushes him towards the room next to  the one we reserved for him. When Cassian asks what the hell he’s thinking, his traitor of a brother replies:

“Our bromance means I have to interfere, so try to be persuasive with her. And man up, cause I’m planning to have phone sex or something.”

“TMI.”

“Don’t complain, if you play your cards correctly you might get hot, angry sex while I have to make do.”

“You left your wife only three days ago. She really has you by the balls.”

“Yep, I’m not ashamed of that, and I think it’s a feeling you’ll soon be familiar with Cass. Let’s just see how you’ll handle that then, at least my wife’s home, waiting meekly for me.”

“Fuck you Dameron.”

“You wish cabrón, but I’ll leave that to Erso, now shoo,” he exclaims in a cooing way, tapping on his own thighs for good measure.

“I’m not your puppy Kes,” Cassian grumbles a bit petulantly before the door closes behind him and he’s left to knock on Jyn’s room.

No answer, but she didn’t lock it, so he enters. If she doesn’t like that, she can suck it. She is already under the covers, doesn’t move an inch. She’s too still to be asleep — surely too riled up, if she’s anything like him — so he just foregoes all pretense and strands quickly across the room.

“Scoot over,” he says, taking off his shoes.

She turns her head sharply at the sound of his voice, but glares and remains motionless in the middle of the bed. Her facial expression clearly conveys her furious disbelief — no doubt she is a second away from telling him to get lost, at the very least, but Cassian doesn’t give her the time:

“Scoot over Jyn,” he repeats a little sterner, paying no heed of her murderous green eyes to lift up the blanket.

“Leave me alone! I don’t see why I got all the way here, honestly. You’re more ruthless than a hound...”

“I’ve been told that before, but you expect me to let you keep your secrets the entire time that you're with us?"

“I don’t have to answer you, you’re a cop, so I reckon you’re familiar with the right to silence.”

“You’re not under arrest, so it doesn’t qualify.”

“From the way you’re behaving, I wasn’t sure. I’m just going to leave and be done with it.”

Aggravated as she may be, he is as well. She won’t have him being guilty for invading her privacy. So far he’d been nothing but awfully patient with her, and respectful of the boundaries she set. Really Cassian? Kay’s dry voice interjects unexpectedly in his stormy thoughts, which makes him scowl harder.

She still has the gal to huff at him, mumbling invectives under her breath in a language he doesn’t know of, but her body language and tone make it clear that whatever she’s saying, it’s not flattering. He wants to shake some sense into her, or kiss her mouth shut. That would be more enjoyable, at least.

Yet when he’d thought about it — and in the past seventy two hours, the fleeting image came at least twice — he didn’t picture making his move in some grubby hotel room. She’s pissed, he’s frustrated in more ways than one and despite his earlier encouragement, Kes too is probably a tad wallowing. Perhaps the stuffy Poe gave him is coming handy, he thinks dryly. If she kicks him out, then at least he would have a chance to find out.

“Look Jyn, would you stay with us if I asked?”

“Why would you?”

“I don’t know, but I want to.”

I want you, he wants to stay instead. It’s not logical but it’s true nonetheless, he doesn’t want her to vanish just yet.

“I’m not used to people sticking around when things get bad,” she retorts, reluctantly.

“Let me prove you wrong, then.”

“I’m not worth the effort Cassian, really. I should have disappeared in San Diego like I planned to.”

“Let us be the judges of that, okay? I thought we were… something of friends, by now, you and me. And Kes too.”

“Friends don’t harass each other.”

“Friends trust each other, that includes confiding in each other when they need to.”

“Maybe for you, friends give me my space.”

“You’ll have all the space you want once what’s after you clears up.”

“You really have a bad case of hero complex.”

“Maybe, but I’d be easier to placate if you let us help.”

“I’m not gonna leave tomorrow,” she answers after a short silence, dropping the matter. “I wouldn’t even know where to start, and I promised Baze I’d wait until the coast is clear. So... if you want... I’ll tell you what’s necessary come morning, with Kes.”

“Splendid, we can fill the blanks from there, I’m looking forward to it. But for now let’s get to sleep.”

He expects her to send him back to Kes, maybe bidding him good night since she has cooled down, but she simply nods and turns the light off. He does not move an inch and she doesn’t breath a word. He stares blankly at the dark ceiling and he counts his blessings when she rolls to her side, her body turned towards the door.

He has a thought for who he just left in San Diego, and what awaits him in Bernal. Like he did the night before, he crosses himself, though he doesn’t feel the need to pray. He would have to count on his own merits to pull it through tomorrow.

[vrenaewrites]

CRAVE by Tracy Wolff thoughts: Ch 49 - end

Full video here.

Ch 49: eventually the world breaks everyone

Oranges and deep water again.

She says he can tell her anything “my words aren’t sexy or slick but they are sincere” and I said “aw” out loud

Jaxon killed Hudson!

She says she didn’t believe he meant to and he’s like intentions don’t matter when you can do this and then starts destroying the room

Jaxon is now the soon to be vampire king after killing Hudson

“No one is as powerful as me”

Hudson wanted to get mo money mo power

He literally paraphrases Jurassic park here: he got so wrapped up in the could that he didn’t think about if hen should

Hudson wanted to put the shifters in their place - and then anyone who wasn’t a born vampire - and jaxon considered that genocide

Hudson’s power was mind control

His pain makes her ache more than she even ached for her dead parents who just died last month wtf?!

So people wanna hurt grace because “you’re mine” as jaxon puts it

“We’re balancing on a razor thin tightrope, and every minute is a balancing act.” READ IT OUT LOUD GODDAMN IT

“You wear indifference like a mask, you wield coldness like a weapon.” No one in the history of the world talks like this, especially not someone who was just saying “af and fml” 10 chapters ago 

Ch 50: people who live in stone towers should never throw dragons

They have a real sexy kiss

Jaxon believes flint is trying to kill her!!!! Which yeah now knowing that jaxon killed flints brother or was the reason he died rather, makes sense! Except flint seems to like her too??

Jaxon pushed flint out of the tree under grace

Then they kissing AGAIN SHE IN HIS LAP!!!!!

Her uncle shows up and she tried to fix herself in the mirror but there isn’t one lol

She asks how he can see himself and he says “selfie anyone?” And I throw up

She just referenced baby yoda. G2g

“Thanks for rushing to let me in” “grace had to get her clothes back on” asshole but also lmao

Ch 51: trial by dragon fire

We’re reading hamlet again…

She confronts flint and flint calls jaxon a tick lmaooooo

“Aren’t you the one who’s been trying to kill me?” “It’s not for the reasons you think, if you would just trust me” - SIR THAT IS NOT A VALID ARGUMENT

We love Mickey so much

Flint doesn’t wanna talk to grace in front of a vampire

Ch 52: if you can’t live without me, why aren’t you dead yet?

She’s in the tunnel with Mickey and she realizes how much safer she feels with him than flint

She’s realized that her intuition is heightened here you mean that thing you were ignoring this entire book??

Mickey reiterates that Grace is a target because Jaxon cares about her which makes what he was saying about a target on her back make a lot more sense

Mickey pretty much confirms what Jackson said about Hudson so we get to hear it all over again

Leah shows up and her and Mickey don’t like each other

Leah says I’d say bite me but I don’t know where you’ve been and Mickey replies I would catch rabies if I bit you LOL

She hugs Mickey and Mickey pats her head like a dog lmaooooooo

Leah says making plans is not Jackson’s modus operandi instead of just saying his MO like a normal person

She texts him “I like it when you bite” and he replies “good because I like the way you taste” and I threw up in my mouth

Not to mention the fact that she immediately texted Jackson that she would go to his room tonight when she seconds before that agreed to hang out with Leah who is clearly grieving and needs a friend...which is not grace

Ch 53: if this kiss is gonna start a war it may as well be worth it

Grace is getting ready to go to Jackson’s room for their date and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the extremely lax rules regarding girls and boys and every other gender being allowed in each others room it doesn’t make sense why is everyone not pregnant

She puts on one of Macy’s dresses and Macy tugs it down to get it over her “ridiculous curves“ She described her own curves as ridiculous and I am all for being body positive but saying you have a banging ass is a little much

Macy says that grace “lusts after Jackson’s sexy sexy body”

I will say that I am 100% here for the sex positivity rather than the tortured virgin shit we dealt with for all of the twilight series

Ch 54: what could possibly be more interesting than kissing me?

It’s the northern lights!!!!!!

“Wrapping his arms around me so that I am snuggled up in the blanket and his arms“ once again for the love of God read it out loud and realize that using the same word that close in one sentence is clunky and distracting please

She says they kiss “until the colors behind my eyes are brighter than the aurora borealis, until it feels like I’m flying“

He takes her like 100 feet above the castle so that they feel like they’re within the northern lights

And they stay up there for a long time and again I just want to know why he wasn’t just a witch I don’t understand

She says Jackson drops kisses on her eyes that’s not how that works

He gives her a necklace with an Aurora borealis stone how cute!

She says “it’s beautiful” and he says “then you’re well matched” which is so cute and then she says “oh my god you’re sappy” and he says “well you’re ridiculously beautiful”

and again we were so close and then we tripped at the finish line

He makes her tea to warm her up (Leah’s tea aw they’re making amends)

He sex bites her again, she begs for it

And then loses his shit?!?

Ch 55: no use crying over spilled tea

So he bit her and drank a lot of her blood because she’s super woozy and she’s like I got to get out of here not so I can live but because if he kills me he will feel really bad about it self-preservation has left the chat

She runs into Leah and Leah smacks the shit out of her and then tells her to sit down...what?!

I thought Leah poisoned the tea earlier in the book I am calling it now that she put something in the tea to make Jackson lose his shit

Leah pulls out a gun and shoots Jackson…

Ch 56: vampire girl gone wild

Leah shoots her with the gun

Ch 57: double double toil and a whole lotta trouble

I’m just gonna say that the moment Leah mentioned that she and Jackson were supposed to carry on an ancient vampire alliance by being together that Grace should have known not to fuck with Leah on any level

Grace wakes up tied to some kind of slab

“For the first time I understand why an animal caught in a trap would be willing to chew its own foot off” but then she continues it with more long winded explanation of what that means when that would’ve been a very powerful line to just leave on its own conveying her desperation

She gets a hand free, then the other, the one ankle, then she hears Leah scream

She’s super woozy and trying to escape but she hears Leah screaming and fighting with someone and she decides to go see if it’s Jackson if he needs her help... how in the fuck are you going to help anybody, Grace

The candles all light at once

Ch 58: never do a trust fall with someone who can fly

There’s a dragon after her!

So for some reason the author decided to take any sort of tension/ horror/ fear out of this section and just ramble on and on about “I’m really tired of getting dragged around by supernatural creatures and San Diego never seemed so far away” just focus on the terror this could be really really scary being flown around in a dragons talons while a vampire chases after you

They fall and she hurts her shoulder

“And here I thought Alaska would be boring” you know what is boring? this entire chapter because instead of letting me the reader sit in the terror and tension of a dragon vampire battle you keep making fucking little quips and remarks like...she’s a human being she should be afraid not like irritated by the situation

Leah punches a hole through flints wing ouch

“The tunnel that will take me back to the school’s main building, the tunnel that will take me back to Katmere“ that’s the same sentence twice John Mulaney voice

Flint stops her from leaving: Leah killed her parents to get her here, for some kind of end the world ritual, that jaxon is involved

Flint starts choking her “you have to die before she can finish this”

Ch 59: carpe killem

No!

Jaxon gets flint off grace via tk

“He just stares down a freaking dragon like it’s a gecko”

Leah catches up with her

Ch 60: some call it paranoia but I call it an evil bitch trying to use you as a sacrifice

….that’s a paragraph

“Which dazes my already not functioning so great brain” i’m not gonna say it again read your writing out loud

Leah is dragging her by her hair and she’s like if I survive this I hope I’m not bald afterward...that’s what you’re worried about??

As she’s being walked down this Secret hallway by Leah she’s getting more and more mad thinking about how Leah killed her parents and is playing God with her life now and I’m just wondering why does she just believe Flint out of nowhere?

She says FML and Leah’s too

She smashes Leah’s head on the altar and goes for the book on the altar, and burns the spell

Ch 61: sticks and stones may break your bones, but vampires will kill you

Leah wants to bring Hudson back by killing grace, who she says is not human

Jaxon gets in

We use the word sickening 4 times during one fight scene, casual

Ch 62: where there’s smoke, there’s a dead vampire

She breathes in the black Hudson smoke but jaxon stops her

Jaxon creates like a vortex to absorb it instead

He throws it at Leah and she turns to dust?!

She gives him her blood because he’s practically dead

Ch 63: a bite to remember

Gooooo fuck yaself

She’s been asleep in the infirmary for 2 days

He’s feeling all angsty about drinking so much of her blood

His mom left the scar on his face not Hudson

They say they love each other but he says he doesn’t think this can work because there’s still gonna be people who want to hurt her because of him

But she’s able to kind of convince him to let himself be loved

Ch 64: all’s well that ends with marshmallows

Civil twilight AGAIN

they go into the forest and drink hot cocoa

So the school only serves animal blood, which allows the vampires to go out during the day, but if they drink human blood, they can only come out at night

And he explains it like an insulin spike, except a spike in a hormone that makes it impossible for him to be in the sun

They’re out there to build a snowman

“Openly checking out his very fine ass” EW jimmy fallon voice

Ch 65: why can’t a girl just have an ordinary HEA these days?

“Hey you didn’t tell me the punchline of the pirate joke”

Suddenly Hudson is there with a sword, and she turns jaxon so she’s between him and the sword and this happens in like 3 sentences

Ch 66: zero - she persisted - Jaxon

Grace has turned into…?

A gargoyle!?!?!?!?

Because she’s trying to trap Hudson or keep him at bay?

And jaxon vows to save her

We used all of the fucks allowed in this one chapter, for sure

What the fuuuuuuuck

[aloneinxthenight]

M*A*S*H starters

memes from the 4077th

ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL: Here we have a compendium of sentences from a show that is known as one of the best television shows of all time. This was not a request, I do not do requests for starter lists. I was legitimately just watching M*A*S*H and thought the world would be much better with another starter list from it. Feel free to add names and change pronouns as needed, if you wanna add any zingers from the show yourself, don't hesitate! Since M*A*S*H is a military type show, I tried to get as many sentences that could apply to everyone as possible. There's some angst, a whole lot of humor and a few one-liners in here which took hours of watching (such hard work) to compile so enjoy! And if you're sending any one of these tongue-tingling phrases to a multi-muse blog, please specify the muse!

I had a hamster back home who used to get the same look in his eyes when he wasn't feeling good.

Except for your face, your mind and your body, you're a complete dud.

Should we ask some people in or should we just be boring on our own?

Oh, I never do. If I keep washin' them they stay clean forever.

She was in here before, with me, alone.

Maybe it was her perfume... Maybe it was mine.

Do me a favor _______, if you find out I've died, just leave me lying there in the crabgrass.

At least my mouth is still working.

Oh hey, I was there. The army was cleaning out Lincoln's nose.

What do you miss the most about back home?

Well we couldn't finish it anyway, _______ confiscated the best parts.

Almost lifelike.

You wish each of us a prostitute?

He could sell brass knuckles to Gandhi.

How could he be alive like that one second then dead the next?

I could give you a lot of medical reasons but... understanding doesn't make it less painful.

We got to be friends in just a few hours!

Friends don't need any more.

Gee, I hope I don't cry...

When was the last time you felt like crying?

_______ is an expert on fits.

Do I hear ten? Sold to the grim reaper in the third row.

You bought the garbage?

Well, you said get a hobby!

I thought we'd give _______ an appropriate aloha.

Beautiful! Beautiful! A Tintoretto in barf!

I had dreams like this all through puberty...

I didn't see any of it, but I loved it.

That's my garbage!

No, no, that's my garbage, _______, I have a receipt!

I don't kiss and tell... it was terrific.

Ali "Babble" to the end, aren't ya?

How'd you like a grenade in your truss?

Besides my life, _______ wants my virginity.

We all do.

If only I'd known!

He wrote in big letters, "Know your Enema."

Your fly is open.

Don't leave your unopen mail around.

I know you're not giggling because you're wearing feathered underwear, you just can't wait to park your can behind this desk.

Have a good time and, uh, don't do anything I wouldn't do.

I don't know that I'd want to do anything you would do.

Of course, God wasn't surrounded by a bunch of flakes.

I object to the word weird!

You see, I told you it was a war! But no, you keep saying we're both dreaming!

What do you think you're doing wearing civilian underpants?!

Is nothing sacred? These happen to be my mothers!

I'm here to discuss something besides underwear.

My mother always said two things: Never argue with crazy people and always wear clean underwear.

_______, your sanity's sprung a leak.

I think it's going very well, don't you?

It'll never happen... Probably.

Oh, I just figured if a priest could be tempted, that's the type of stuff he'd steal.

What are you looking for, _______?

His marbles.

Are you with him, or are you independently crazy?

The eyes always give the guilty away. The windows to the soul.

Don't tell me he sleeps with you.

I'm hoping to do better.

I knew I should have ripped the stuffin's out of the little bugger when I had the opportunity...

It was one of those days that more than most, reminds us all that war, however much we may enjoy it, is no strawberry festival.

Saving lives is my business, mister.

Was that a bomb?

Uh, no, _______ Someone's playing the WWII album!

You can either help the wounded or become one.

You beat the rap, Babyface!

Lovely place, Bellevue.

"Hold your potatoes..."

I'll probably develop an urge to walk on the water.

Isn't that where the Austrailian nurse scratched you?

Only because I wanted to go home in her pouch.

I patched that months ago.

It's talent, pure talent.

Mmm, sounds serious. You may be coming down with mental health.

It's not a death wish, is it?

You're not the self-destructive type.

You suppose any of us will speak English again?

Perhaps his arms will get tired.

I never sleep in the hospital.

Now they're sending me back.

I think I need less luck back here.

Gee, you're a nice guy.

I used to get hit if I wasn't.

Should I be hearing Arthur Godfrey?

I know you're working but I just wanted to say thanks.

I hope I never see you again, ya know?

I came, I saw, I bored.

Completely forgettable looks that stay with you forever.

Sounds like we're getting into flashback country.

________'s too sharp for that, he always leaves a trail of breadcrumbs.

If I didn't see her every hour, I got the bends.

I know you were young but you must have had names.

Look at that. Talent. I'm not just a pretty face.

You're weird.

Give the little lady a cigar.

Dinner here is around 7. Nausea's around 8.

You have your choice: Gin or gin?

It's pure poison.

We think so.

How do I look?

A little thinner, a little paler. A few gray hairs.

These aren't mine, I'm breaking in a friend's senility.

How do you stand on the subject of sitting?

Children? No, I'm still my only child.

You're trying too hard. Are you uncomfortable?

There's been no one since you.

I had to survive.

Right. Here's to survival.

I'm just afraid of your voice giving me frostbite.

Hurt? You broke my legs. It really tore me apart when you left me.

I got over the hate but I never got over the love.

Oh! Master complicator.

God forbid anything should ever be easy.

"Be myself", You said! Well, myself happens to love you.

Oh, now I understand. Since we're in love there's no possible reason for us to be together!

You've just proposed yourself into a corner!

I just don't want to take a backseat again. I like it up front.

If anybody asks, I turned you down. Yeah?

If it's a police action, why didn't they send cops?

I'm not over here because I'm such a fan of diarrhea!

Can the balloon juice, _______!

How do you keep all that stuff in your head?

Man, seein' the way you guys work makes me proud every time I throw up.

One more word and I'll button your lip to your fly.

Amazing what can get stuck in the human body.

I just know how hard it is to operate and be secretary of state at the same time.

Everybody's got a buddy in there.

Look we'll keep you posted, let you know if it's a boy or a girl.

Hey, would you like some Jeep butter?

I've just heard something very disturbing and if it's true then I'm afraid I'll have to fight you.

When I was five, I had a crying fit because they wouldn't let me have a crew cut.

Uglier than rats mating in my duffel bag?

I worked my way through divinity school as a "B" girl in San Diego.

I smell something burning.

The laundry's on fire.

_______ I don't know how to tell you this, but I've had a better offer.

Take me with you.

Just wanted to thank you for staying.

Some of their saltier comments had been deleted.

The dictionary. I figure it's got all the other books in it.

The only thing that's not green is the blood.

I suppose they do and that gets to be a pain in the ass too.

I'd like it to happen to me to break up the boredom.

That's on the Hungarian side of town.

Well, do you see anything good coming out of this?

There's always terror to fall back on.

Oh, so that's what it's like to have a bomb explode a few feet away from me.

I stopped having morale about six months ago.

You know, I used to love reading Hemingway because he wrote so well.

I guess I got a little drunk.

Uh "a lot" is a relative term.

If I knew all the answers, I'd run for God.

Pistachio ice cream... And bananas.

She squeezes your nose.

Some people heard the screaming and said, "That sounds just like Eleanor Roosevelt!"

I'd like to take six to seven months and become unconscious.

And then I'd like to go to Europe and sleep there for a year.

I had to come over here to be a star!

The nearest one is over in Grange Hall in uh, Mooseville. About 50 miles away.

Oh, I don't have to say hello, I know how everybody feels about me.

No, I think she doesn't like me. I mean that's the only conclusion I can draw.

He could have at least called me a son of a bitch. He's done it for others.

Heads up!

No talking in rank!

He's a magician with latrines and cesspools.

Don't tell me not to say anything.

He's brighter than I thought.

Garbage head.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

♫ I love to go swimmin' with bow-legged women and swim between their legs. ♫

Wounded come before personal chafing.

Oh give him a break, Alice, you're the first woman he's seen in months.

You always give me the cuties.

He owes me, I sent him a case of Preparation H.

Just don't sit on anything cold.

Okay guys, time to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud.

He'll punch my arm.

Wear your heavy sweater.

My God, now I'm talking like you.

That watch you sold me runs backward!

I can't stand that pimply voice.

That is Grade A 100% bull cookies!

Never doubt your X-ray or your hairdresser.

Too bad this kid didn't come with a zipper.

Why didn't I shoot my foot and stay in Honolulu?

Don't get upset, just eat your carrot slowly.

Your nostrils are flaring.

My nostrils have a right to flare, I'm in charge.

You tell him if he takes this chair, my tuchus will attack him barehanded.

The permanent verticle smile. Famed in song and story?

I'm starvin'. I'd even settle for one of _______'s armpit sandwiches.

Oh, you finally realized I have a beautiful body.

I've never seen your body!

If you need me, I'll be packing up my troubles in my old kit bag.

No, but I was always prepared.

_______ when all this is over, I'm gonna adopt you.

Come on, Pokey!

There are sequins all over the ground!

Me, scared? This whole body is one white knuckle.

I'll have the shoelaces, house dressing. And have the chef remove the laces.

There's a lady on my foot.

Oh, miss, this probably isn't your table but could you scratch the back of my knee?

Would I deny you a belch?

Oh to be in England now that war is here.

Due To circumstances beyond our control, lunch will be served today.

Please excuse these two, they're themselves today.

The men hate me, don't they?

_______, you are a gentleman and a lady.

Whoa, did you know it's yesterday there?

Standby for the blessing.

Standby for the blessing!

STANDBY FOR THE BLESSING!

Nothing comes after Amen.

Looks like an abandoned schoolhouse.

Look in the boxes marked kitchen utensils.

Concubines? In a schoolhouse?

Oh no, I love that after church on toast.

That's not your dress! I'll kill ya!

But my blue chiffon is from Murdoch's in Toledo!

_______, that's the finest act of bravery I've ever witnessed.

I don't sleep well on a soft wall.

The weather's clear. I can see the stars.

Oh, thank you comrade, and get me some borscht. Easy on the sour cream.

_______ stop that!

Give him a smooth ride.

I'm gonna be ravaged, I know it!

Tell 'em you're with me.

I was overrun by a batch of bimbos!

It tickled but I kinda liked it.

And midnight has been canceled.

You think you're real smart. But you're not smart; you're dumb. Very dumb. But you've met your match in me.

Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of happy hour.

50 more pounds, and I'm homeward-bound!

I call it "Suicide by Salami"!

You're always wrong, _______. That's what's so right about you.

Live! That's an order!

I'm so cold I think my pilot's gone out.

How much of this can a man take? We must have seen this picture twelve times in the last month. It's a recurring nightmare with popcorn.

Act like a man, you sniveling twerp!

I was born with someone waiting to see me.

Why don't you guys like me?

Because you're a lousy _______ and a rotten person.

Well, there's your pimples.

My pores won't close!

I've been up and down on a merry-go-round since I got here!

I've barely slept a wink!

It's not just big, it's great big with whipped cream!

You shouldn't mention _______'s chest when it's not here to stand up for itself.

Thank you, Daddy Warbucks.

Well, for your information, I've never had any complaints.

Dead men tell no tales.

I know the diamond's not so big, it's a family heirloom.

Must be a small family.

I keep pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming.

I'm engaged to be married!

He sleeps on a bare piece of plywood.

I couldn't love anyone who didn't outrank me.

Are you sure you're not rushing into this in the heat of... Whatever heat you might be in?

This ole cowboy ain't gonna be lonesome tonight.

He's busy tuning his face.

My student council could have used someone like her.

I thought this was going to be a fun meeting.

Get ready to duck, he's liable to explode.

Did anyone ever tell you, you have the voice of a songbird slowly drowning in tar?

If you act drunk long enough, you get a REAL hangover.

Unhand me you varlet, you know not who you touch.

You'd be surprised what a priest can get away with.

Hear ye, Hear ye, it's 0700 and all is hell.

Remove your hand or I'll zap you with my knee.

He touched me.

What a physique! Shoulders like this! Dancers legs and cute little behind!

_______ there'll be no more chinny chin chin. Or any other part of me.

Uh oh, he took his gun and his toothbrush.

Shooting his mouth off again?

Son, heroics just get people killed. They don't impress anybody.

Well, you see I had this friend... And this friend just pretended to like me. You know, the way Dad used to?

They're not pagans, _______. Everyone's going to be wearing clothes.

Oh my God! They've shot him!

Did _______ steal that jeep?

I didn't even know you were gone. I thought you were in the bathroom.

Maybe some people like having other people run their lives, but some people don't.

Oh, stop dreaming a go back to sleep!

I don't remember leaving a wake-up scream.

_______ do me a favor will ya? Visit me a couple hundred times will ya?

Can't you see I can't see?

I wore this with just you in mind.

I heard the hair on your legs rustling.

[hoodie-at-the-bar]

farting gene (a.k.a christmas gene)

Remember Christmas Gene? I wrote about him last holiday - one of those chat but never met up. He was from San Diego and was very direct asking me to his sister’s Christmas party and sending me photos of his sweater.

He was very cute, very attractive - and he definitely knew it.

We kept in light touch –he messaged me in October, asking me if I was still single. I responded with “Do you still not live in Seattle?”

He texted me on the Friday after Thanksgiving, then he Face-Timed me. He was one of those attractive guys who exuberated confidence. He was in the car with his best friend. Leon, who just moved to Seattle. When he panned the the camera to his friend, the friend said, “Who are you?”

I replied “Some girl Gene has never met.” They laughed and the three of us had pretty good banter. Gene and Leon were on their way to Barnacle, a cocktail spot in Ballard and asked me to join. I said I had plans- I was waiting to hear confirmation from Andrew about our movie date. Gene said, “So listen, last time you said you didn’t want to go out with me because I don’t live in Seattle. Well I come here often, and I’m willing to make it work. Because I too am looking for a serious relationship.” His confidence, normally unattractive to me, for some reason I was into. I said I needed to wait and see about my other plans. Gene said, “Give this guy another 15 minutes then come join us.” Confidence called me out it was a guy.

So then I called my sister and my friend to get advice. I called my friend and told her about Andrew, a nice guy I went out with once that who I would be watching a movie at my house with, or Gene who I had a good feeling about from our video chat. She said I should go with Gene because she could tell I was more excited about him. My sister said Andrew is the Peeta and Gene was the Gale – it was our Hunger Games reference for the hot guy and the good guy. I told her what my friend said, and that at least with Gene I could escape, but Andrew lives far away and would probably expect to stay over. My sister agreed we don’t even know if Andrew ‘Is’ the good guy. So I cancelled with Andrew (the potentially one night stand anyhow) and got a Lyft to see Christmas Gene of 2016.

I got to Barnacle and a short Spanish guy called out to me, “Gene is in the bathroom.” I sat down and put on my game face to impress the friend. He was awesome – I really liked Leon (platonically). Then a tall man comes to my side and gives me a very good hug – full body and embraced arms. Gene was tall, good hair and a light beard. He looked like DeLuca from Grey’s Anatomy and I was immediately enamored.

He stared into my eyes with a slight smile, saying it’s been too long and we finally met, rubbing my back so casually as if we’ve been dating for years. He was half Puerto Rican as well, and was shocked and happy to find I was.  The guys had put their name down to go to Walrus and Carpenter – a hip place in Ballard known for their Oysters and 3 hour wait time. Also, very pricey.

I learned a lot about Gene: He had slept with over 100 women, was surprised he only got chlamydia (his words not mine), just bought a house – seems he was showcasing his own pony. He said his mother would love me, and asked Leon to confirm. He talked a lot to Leon about me, in front of my face, but not always acknowledging me – that power play. Saying things like “I should have known she was Puerto Rican [turns to me] I was checking out your ass” and later saying “you have nice breasts – you can’t tell but I can when I’m looking down your shirt.”

That’s cool.

I realized, Gene didn’t try to ‘woo’ me, or court me, because his confidence gave him the immunity to say whatever he pleased. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. I was running my diagnostics and It was still loading. The server came and Gene turned to him and said, “Give us your 12 best oysters and your most expensive Mescal.” Okay – it’s going to be one of THOSE nights. Gene and Leon started talking about Gene’s house in San Diego and Leon’s expensive $10,000 watch. Leon didn’t seem to be instigating this conversation but Gene was, doing the macho thing where he calls his buddy an “asshole” for getting a nice watch when his watch only cost $3,000. When the oysters came Gene went straight for them, and Leon had to say, “Hey man, give one to...”

Gen paused, grabbed one, and handed it to me staring longingly into my eyes, continuing to kiss me on the cheek throughout the night. I purposely gave him my cheek as I knew he’d go for the lips.

Gene would either give me so much attention, or ignore me completely as he talked with Leon.  It was all part of that hot confident guy game, and he knew he can get a girl in bed so didn’t even had to try. Unfortunately for him, I don’t think this would fly with me. However, I’ve got a blog to write, so let’s see what happens next.

The check came and Gene said he’d pay for me because I was his guest, so Leon only paid a third. Earlier at Barnacle both guys said my money was no good there when I tried to pay for my drink. So we started walking up the street to another bar. At one point, Gene stepped aside and said he needed to fart – and he did, loudly. He then walked up to me and held my hand. Seriously.

He would either walk ahead of me and Leon on his own, or stay next to me holding my hand or put his arm around me. He also was one of those guys who got off on talking to strangers, as if I were a college kid thinking, “wow what a crazy fun guy not having a care in the world!” But I’m 34, it came off as immature and obnoxious. He stopped a guy in the middle of the sidewalk just to say, “hi, how’s it going” – and not just a question, but actually made the guy stop in his tracks.

He then butted in on three young girls passing a joint, and started flirting with them, and asked to smoke and passed the joint around. The girls were eating it up. Later he stopped by a homeless man and just chatted it up, with a bewildered look of “wow what a cool story that bum had.”

We went into Percy’s and I got us a round of drinks. That’s when Gene stopped me and said, “Can I have a kiss?” and kissed me on the lips. What’s happening? He also shared a story about how he dated a girl and then they broke up and she got cancer, and he never visited her. Leon did, but he never did. She passed away and he regrets never seeing her. That’s a deep conversation to have on a first three-way date about a mistake you made.

We then started walking to another bar and this time Gene was on the give me attention kick. He stopped in front of the Sunset Tavern and looked in. “What do you think is going on there? There’s an attractive girl and an unattractive guy that looks like a date but – oh wait, she just gave him a high-five, what do you think that means?” I said I didn’t know, maybe he said a funny joke or they were on the same page. He said he thinks the guy was friend zoned – then he turned and stopped a woman who was walking. She kept walking, ignoring him, until he said “Excuse me I have a question – “ and kept talking. He asked this stranger on the street what she would make of this high-five and the woman concurred she thought the guy was friend zoned. That’s when Gene said, “I’m going to find out” and walks in the bar. Leon and I walked slowly behind, then turned and sat at a booth far away – I was embarked. Who is this ass-clown think he is? Seriously? That pompous to think you’ve got the right to interrupt the date and be rude? But of course not – he’s a charming mother trucker who can get away with anything.

Throughout the night, Gene asked me to spend the night with him. He was staying with his friend Leon, and I said I wasn’t going to third wheel Leon at his house. I offered him to stay at my place, but we wouldn’t have sex. He asked why? I said I rather not sleep with a guy on a first date. He then told me about several relationships he’s had with women who he slept with on a first date. I then said okay, what if I said we can sleep together, but then that’s it – no more dates. He said it wasn’t fair. I never made that ultimatum to a guy before, but as I said it I kind of liked it… I mean, if you’re really interested in dating me, would you give it up for a quick lay?

Anyway, we had this conversation twice throughout the night, about sleeping arrangements. Finally, Leon drove to my house and Gene says, “oh wow, let’s check out your house!” and Leon says, “No dude, let her sleep – she’s tired”. I said it was fine and invited them both in. Gene starts playing my piano – not well, but not horribly, but a drunken gibberish of keys. This probably went on for about 15 minutes, and I turned to Leon, “How long should I let this go for?”  A random drunk guy playing my piano… gets old. Finally, Gene gets up and says, “Wow, I’ve never played the piano before!” and then tells Leon he was staying with me because Leon snores. Why do guys need to come up with a phony reason?

Later he asked to smoke pot. I gave him some weed, and he proceeded to talk about how it’s the worst weed he’s ever seen: dry, and just terrible. But his tone was as if he was being sincere and just shocked. “Like seriously, I’ve never seen weed this bad I just… I can’t smoke this.” Oh yeah, though he’s a flashy medical salesman, he also grows his own cannibals in California – which he told those three girls, and said they should connect on Facebook to do business together.

So we go upstairs and Gene tells me he has to poop. I told him to use the downstairs bathroom. This is all real life by the way. I texted him “is everything ok down there?” because he was taking a while. He comes to my room and gets down to his boxer briefs. Yep, Gene had a nice body, and needed to look the way he did to get away with half of what … who he is.

“What are these pills for?” he asks as he picks up my birth control pills from the dresser. Anyone over the age of 12 knows what those look like – but he asked to sound stupid, so I can say I’m on the pill? I found myself growing more and more unattached to this guy. I hadn’t fully made a decision what would happen in the bedroom, but as the night progressed it became grossly clear the answer was: nothing. Nothing would happen. He was definitely trying – and I said no, several times. He kept asking, “Why? Why won’t you have sex with me?” I said because I didn’t want to. He said, “But there has to be a reason why?” I said nope. “Is it because you really like me?” I borderline laughed out loud, but instead just said “no…..”

“Don’t you love me?” I gave him the same answer: no

He began to pout. We ended up going to bed. In the middle of the night there was shuffling and somehow we were awake at the same time. Without getting too detailed or graphic, we’ve all been in the situation where we are in bed with someone, and whether you like the guy or not there will be some making out. Nothing will progress of course, but with Gene, it was a constant battle of explanation.

Disclaimer: this story may not sit well with some women. A guy pressuring a woman for sex, not taking ‘no’ for an answer, and coming on very strong. For womankind, I should have thrown his ass out of my house, right?

Why didn’t I? Honestly, I didn’t feel threatened and it seemed like more trouble to kick him out. At most I’d send him to the couch, but I was always able to get him pouting again and to bed.

The best part was, he spoons me and lets out an enormous fart. Yes, a fart ss loud I felt the vibrations. This wasn’t the first or second time I’ve heard him fart – on our first date. “Oh that was a gooood one” he says.

“That is so not attractive you know,” I responded.

“But it was a good one?” he said in a pouty voice.

At this point, he could be Brad Pitt and I wouldn’t touch his penis.

After that, I went to bed. In the morning, I got dressed to get ready for the day and he said he needed another hour of sleep, asking if I did too – a passive aggressive invite to come back to bed to him. Yes, I want to crawl back into bed with you. No, no I do not. I said I’m good and went downstairs. He probably slept in my bed for a good solid hour before coming down. He said he was going to call a Lyft, not Uber. That made me realize he knew where I worked, but never asked me a single question the night before – anything, about me.

He was complaining about the app - why it looked like his driver wasn’t moving. He suddenly shot up and said “My Lyft’s here” ran out the door and shouted “bye!’ without even as much as turning back – no hug, not kiss goodnight. It was almost socially awkward and strange how he darted out. Later that day he responded to my text the night before: 

We hadn’t texted after, until some time in January where he said he was in town and wanted to see me again. A week after he sent me a Snap of him drinking whiskey. I wonder how long this will go for? No, I can’t even ghost Farting Gene - I’ll let him know... eventually.

-November 25, 2017

Date #1 with BMBL Gene Suitors in 2017 YTD: 36 Dates in 2017 YTD: 44

[allyinthekeyofx]

Genesis - 15 & 16

Previous Chapters

1 & 2  //  3 & 4  //  5 & 6  //  7 & 8  //  9 & 10  //  11 & 12  //  13 & 14  

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Mulder was first aware that his throat hurt; a gritty discomfort that no amount of swallowing would ease. It almost felt like his throat was scratched or bruised in some way but he could think of no reason why this should be so.

He could hear sounds around him, an incessant bleeping which cut through his escalating headache like a scythe. He fought against the need to sink back down in to the sweet oblivion of sleep in order to block it out, answering instead to the small voice inside of him that demanded he wake up fully. He had been mindful of the voice for a considerable length of time, and he had struggled to obey its commands, willing his eyes to open and throw off the bounds that held them closed. Something inside of him told him over and over that he was needed - that to sink back in to the abyss would be somehow disastrous and it was this pressing thought that forced him finally to come back in to a state of full awareness.

Slowly, painfully, Fox Mulder opened his eyes.

He was more than a little surprised to find himself focusing on the stark brightness of a fluorescent light and for a few seconds he had absolutely no idea where he was.

As his mind cleared, however, he was able to identify the slightly antiseptic scents that had become all too familiar over the years.

He was in a hospital.

The how and why would follow shortly, and for the present time they didn't really concern him. Instead he focused on the light above him, willing and able to wait until he felt more together before asking himself questions he couldn't answer.

The sound of a door being opened somewhere to the left of him prompted him to attempt to lift up his head, but the slight movement caused a wave of dizziness to wash over him as his equilibrium struggled to cope with the sudden rush of blood. A hand on his chest ceased his efforts, and somewhere beyond the roaring sound that filled his head, a familiar voice reached him.

"Take it easy, Mulder."

The damage though had already been done, and Mulders last waking thought before lapsing back in to brief unconsciousness was surprisingly lucid. -- Why was Skinner in San Diego? -- and the answer came right alongside it, that whatever the reason was it was bad . . . very bad.

XXXX

"So how are you feeling now?"

The man had earlier identified himself as being called O'Brien, and from what Mulder could gather, he had been overseeing all of his treatments over the past twenty four hours, and was now continuing along that same vein.

Mulders earlier lapse in to unconsciousness had been brief and he had awakened once again to find Skinner gone and this man in his place.

He had allowed himself to be thoroughly checked over, and had attempted to furnish the doctor with some kind of explanation for his recent illness. He also knew by the man's guarded expression that he was still at a complete loss as to how to give any kind of definitive reason for Mulders previous condition.

Mulder too was unable to piece together anything that could be of much use. He remembered hazy details of his being in San Diego and the reasons for it, but beyond the vaguest of recollections, his mind was a complete blank. The headache was still there, pounding away in his skull and, despite the pain relief the medical staff had administered, it was not abating at all.

Mulder forced himself to rise above the pain in order to arrange his thoughts in to some kind of distinct pattern that would enable him to make sense of why exactly he was here, and more importantly why Skinner had chosen to fly half way across the country to be here too. His instincts told him it wasn't simply out of concern for his health.

He eyed O'Brien as the doctor jotted some more notes on to the chart that hung at the bottom of the bed and voiced the question which had been buzzing uncomfortably around his head since his awakening.

"Is my partner here?"

His tone was casual, but the words hung in the air as O'Brien busied himself with his writings. The seconds ticked by as Mulder waited patiently for a response, and when it became obvious that he was not going to answered he tried again.

"Agent Dana Scully. Is she here?"

O'Brien raised his head, and although he attempt to remain carefully neutral, something about the way he shifted his eyes away caused momentary panic to surge through Mulder.

"Dr. O'Brien?"

"Um . . . no. She's not here."

He replaced the chart in to its slot at the end of Mulders bed and turned away, abruptly ending a conversation he did not feel equipped to handle.

Mulders unease edged up another notch.

"I think Agent Mulder that you should talk to Mr. Skinner.

Mulder nodded numbly, not trusting himself to speak as the doctor raised his eyebrows in an unspoken query, wondering just exactly he was about to hear from his superior, but knowing that whatever it was it was unlikely to be good news.

O'Brien pivoted quickly and Mulder, from his prone position on the bed, heard rather than saw his exit from the room, just as he was aware of Skinner's sudden presence before he actually saw him appear above him, the concern on his face was unmistakable.

"How are you feeling, Agent Mulder?"

"Where's Scully? Why isn't she here?"

Skinner closed his eyes briefly, knowing that he could not escape answering, but at the same time knowing that Mulder was in no shape to confront the realities of his partner's situation until he was stronger. He briefly considered lying, but dismissed it when he realised that weakened or not, Mulder would no doubt see right through him. He finally decided that optimistic honesty would be his best course of action for the time being.

"Agent Scully is missing.....but we have every available resource....."

"What?"

Skinner winced as Mulder struggled to sit up.

“What do you mean she’s missing?”

“Mulder...take it easy...”

He placed a hand on Mulders shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Mulder though, shrugged him off easily.

“Skinner?”

Skinner shook his head, the movement almost imperceptible.

"Agent Scully hasn't been seen or heard of since late last night. There was an incident at the motel you were staying at. A man was fatally wounded."

Mulder narrowed his eyes.

"And?" he prompted.

Skinner sighed as he realised that honest optimism had flown out the window. Only the truth remained, as elusive as ever.

"A witness has identified Scully as firing the shot, that it was an unprovoked attack. She hasn't been seen since driving from the motel."

"That’s impossible"

Mulders voice was heavy with cynicism, and Skinner eyed him levelly.

"I don’t think anything is impossible with the two of you Agent Mulder"

“What? You’re kidding me right? This is Scully we’re talking about.”

The barely suppressed fury on Mulders face made Skinner instantly wish the choice of words back in to his mouth, especially in light of his own deep misgivings regarding the case. But the words had been said. He couldn't take them back.

Skinner opened his mouth to speak, but Mulder threw him a look that was dripping with disgust.

“Save it. Sir”

Slowly and with obvious effort, Mulder pushed back the covers and manoeuvred himself in to a sitting position, bare legs dangling now over the edge of the bed.

"What the hell are you doing, Mulder?"

He watched as the younger agent struggled to his feet, only moving when it was obvious that Mulder was in no state to be standing up. He grabbed his arm and applied just enough pressure to let Mulder know that he wasn't kidding, and Mulder in turn allowed himself to be pushed back in to a seated position.

"I'm checking out. I need to find her."

Skinner laughed, the sound hollow and totally without mirth.

"And how exactly do you propose to do that? E.S.P? Don't be ridiculous."

He allowed his voice to soften slightly as he regarded the expression on the younger man's face, a face that appeared two shades greyer than it had five minutes ago.

"Take a look at yourself, Mulder. How long do you think you'd last before you wound up right back in here? You're in no shape to be going anywhere. You are sick. And running half-assed out of here isn’t going to help Agent Scully...”

He flinched slightly at Mulders next words.

“How are you helping her? You shouldn't be here, you should be out there finding her."

Mulder attempted again to get to his feet. Again Skinner pushed him back.

"Mulder, I have half the San Diego Bureau trying to find her and the other half figuring out ways to help find her. Believe me, I've got it covered, and what I don't need is another of my Agents going missing, especially one who has no business walking around. It won't help you, it won't help me and it won't help Scully."

He waited a few seconds for his words to register, and it was with a certain amount of relief that he watched Mulder relax slightly, knowing that for the time being at least he was having at least a measure of success.

“Well I need to do something. I can’t just sit here....”

Skinner swallowed.

"What I need from you, Agent Mulder, is a narrative. Everything and anything you can remember that might help. I don't care how trivial it might seem."

To his intense relief, Mulder nodded slightly.

"You're right. I'm sorry, I just . . . I don't know what to think any more. . ."

"It's Okay."

Mulder closed his eyes, the weariness showing all too clearly in his face.

"I’m so tired. But I need to know that she’s alright"

Skinner observed the unhealthy pallor of his Agent, and was reminded sharply of how ill Mulder had been. The last thing he needed right now was to be pushed too hard, especially in light of everything that had happened, and Skinner was smart enough to realise that a couple more hours would hardly make any difference either way. He made the decision to leave quickly.

"Get some rest. I'll come back later."

He waited a few minutes until Mulder was sleeping, and then quietly left the room, taking the opportunity to grab some much needed food and a change of clothes.

He returned to the hospital ninety minutes later and headed straight up to Mulders room. He was less than pleased, although not particularly surprised, to be confronted with the sight of the recently removed canular laying on the bed. The drops of Mulders blood a sharp contrast against the pristine white cotton. The window was still open, a breeze stirring the humid air within the room, rendering the air conditioning ineffective.

Open just enough that he could make his escape.

To find his partner.

Before it was too late.

XXXXXXX

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

In her dream state, Scully was running. From whom or what she wasn't yet certain, but a strange sense of urgency forced her to carry on even as her throat began to burn from the effort of her exertion. She could hear the heavy tread of footsteps behind her but didn't dare turn around for fear of losing her balance and falling, knowing that to do so would surely mean the end for her.

In the distance she could hear a child crying, a pitiful keening sound that awakened a part of her that had only existed for such a short time, and she focused on the sound, allowing it to guide her during her headlong flight.

The crying grew in volume as she continued to run, and within a few seconds she had rounded a corner to find herself face to face with a small child. A blonde haired little girl with blue eyes – a tiny version of herself.

Emily stood, arms outstretched, the tears falling freely to leave streaks on her pretty face.

Mommyyyyyyyy please make it stop.....

Without hesitation, Scully scooped the child up in her arms and held her close, breathing in the scent of her child, rewarded as she felt Emily's grip tightening around her. The sweetness of the moment was short-lived though as she felt the child become rigid in her arms, eyes widening in terror.

No Mommy..........

The footsteps behind her had ceased.

He was here.

She spun around to confront him, still holding Emily tightly to her. And for a second she relaxed, a moment of absolute relief.

Mulder. Thank God.

Until she saw the gun his gun - pointing straight at her, at Emily.

"Give her to me Scully"

His voice was hard, uncompromising but Scully simply clutched Emily closer to her and took a stumbling step backwards even as Mulder advanced. Her eyes darted wildly around, seeking an escape route but finding none. Her only hope was to get past him, but he seemed to sense her strategy and easily out manoeuvred her, grasping her arm so tightly that she cried out.

"Mulder, what are you doing? Please. . ."

"I said give her to me, Scully. Or I will take her from you."

She struggled to make sense of his words, eyes widening as she realised he meant to kill her, regardless of whether she surrendered Emily to him or not.

But this was Mulder.

This was Mulder for God's sake.

This is not happening.

She gasped as the barrel of the gun dug in to the soft flesh beneath her ribs. The whispered words from a man she had trusted with her life. A man for whom she had willingly risked her own life to protect.

“Give her to me Scully. Or I will kill you both.”

Scully’s throat constricted painfully and she suddenly couldn’t seem to breathe. Her voice, when she finally managed to speak, sounded far away.

"Mulder please don’t do this. Why are you doing this........? "

She recoiled slightly as he brought his free hand up to lightly touch her face, brushing a strand of hair away from her cheek and tucking it behind her ear. And then he leaned in closer.

“Because it’s what you want Scully. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

She shook her head, quite unable to prevent the tears escaping and sliding down her face, unable to comprehend the enormity of the betrayal.

No. This isn’t real. Not Mulder. It’s just a dream. A nightmare.

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to awaken until suddenly the world exploded in a barrage of sound and light. And along with it a terrible realisation. A realisation that nothing would ever be the same.

Oh God the pain....the terrible pain....

She felt her hold on Emily weaken, feeling the child slipping out of her arms.

Noooooo you bastard. Give her back to me.......

The word fading in to the distance as he stole her daughter away from her.

XXXX

Scully's eyes snapped open abruptly, and for a few seconds relief washed over her as she realised that it had been no more than a simple nightmare, no doubt brought on by the rigours of the case.

And then a question, chasing away the horror of the dream.

Where am I?

Something was very wrong. For one thing, the room she found herself in was way too bright, the bed beneath her hard and unyielding. And the pain.....

Why am I hurting?

The awful stabbing sensation in her left side that seemed to synchronise perfectly with every beat of her heart. She attempted to sit up and the stabbing became a chain saw cutting her in half. She was barely conscious that the high pitched yelp she heard had come from herself.

Until she felt a hand drop on her arm, stroking softly as the voice reassured her.

Mulder?

"Sshhhh. It's OK, Dana. You're safe here. Don't try to move...."

Not Mulders that voice.

Her vision was slightly blurred and she blinked a couple of times in an effort to clear it, focusing finally on the face that hovered above her, identifying it immediately as belonging to John Wickham.

The senior agents brow was creased with concern, and from the growth of stubble that adorned his cheeks, it was patently obvious that he had been there for some considerable length of time.

Scully ran her tongue over lips that felt dry as sandpaper, and then attempted to speak.

"Where am I?"

Her voice was little more than a strangled whisper, but Wickham could hear the raw fear behind her words. The fact that she was frightened was good. It would make his task all the easier.

"You're in the hospital, Dana."

He answered softly, aware that she would expect more than that, but the key to winning the game was to wait for her to ask rather than simply supplying the information to her unprompted.

"For what?"

Again the question was voiced in little more than a whisper, and for the merest instant Wickham had the crazy urge to pick her up from the bed and take her as far away as he could from the men who had put her here.

Instead he slammed the door on the thought and gently smoothed the hair back away from her brow.

"Don't you remember?" he asked softly

He watched as she frowned up at him, the confusion all too evident in her eyes, struggling to make sense of her circumstance.

"I . . . no, I don't remember . . ."

Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"You were shot. The bullet perforated your left kidney – you started to bleed out and for a while it was touch and go. You've been unconscious for over a week. If we hadn’t found you when we did.......” 

He trailed off.

“We didn't think you were going to make it."

And then he smiled

"I guess you're a lot tougher than you look."

Scully shook her head from side to side, trying to deny his words even as she began to remember.

"It's OK, Dana. Take it easy."

Scully struggled to sit up as Wickham watched the blood literally drain from her face. From the forced memory or from the pain, he couldn’t be sure.

"Who shot me, John?" she whispered hoarsely, knowing that her time for denial was coming to an end.

Oh God Please no. Please don’t say it. Please?

But already a chill was working its way up her body. A hideous truth that was already buzzing around her confused mind. Refusing to be quietened.

"Oh, Jesus. You really don't remember, do you?"

She heard the strain in his voice as he prepared to be the one who would shatter her. And suddenly she wanted to pull the words back in. To sink back in to oblivion. To wake up in a world she could make sense of. Because none of this made any sense. She closed her eyes tightly. Reverting back to a childhood trick of counting to keep the bogeyman at bay.

One

"Dana?”

Two

“Oh God I'm so sorry.....”

Three. Stop now, please just stop.

“.....so sorry to be the one to tell you....I know what he means to you..”

Four....

“We have witnesses that put Agent Mulder at the scene.....”

Scully pressed her hands over her face. One hand atop the other.

Five. I got to five, you bastard........

Wickham delivered the kill shot.

“We aren’t seeking anyone else in connection with the shooting...”

He’s lying. He’s lying. He’s lying.....Oh God why is he saying this?

“WHERE’S MULDER?!”

Wickham recoiled at the level and ferocity of her words. He hadn’t expected this.

“WHERE IS HE YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH.....WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?”

Wickham backed away from her. He had expected tears from her. He had expected confusion. Anger even.

But this level of denial wasn’t in the game plan. And suddenly he was struck with a realisation that they had grossly underestimated the allegiance Fox Mulder had garnered from this woman. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

Fuck.

He directed his stare squarely at the small mirror that hung on the opposite wall,

“Hey, I need some help in here...”

And then things happened quickly. The room suddenly became way too crowded as they began to work on Scully. Swiftly restraining her as they plunged the needle deep in to her upper arm while she writhed and twisted on the bed beneath them, fighting them with a ferocity that belied her current weakened condition.

Wickham turned away from the desperate scene before him. Shame washing over him as her screams reverberated around the tiny room. 

Calling for Mulder. 

Over and over she called for him.

Until finally, her screams became less. The sedatives working their insidious magic on her and rendering her incapable of emitting more than a series of hitching sobs.

The first segment of the plan had been executed, albeit not quite as smoothly as they expected. But he had done his job. He had not wavered. They would be pleased with him. He should have been happy – elated even – that he had played his part so well.

But as he stared down at the now sleeping form of Dana Scully he just felt numb.

Continued chapter seventeen

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Escape - Wave Pt. 4

*Peter Parker x Reader

*Summary: Sam and Reader devise an escape plan, but only one of them will be able to leave.

*Warnings: Swearing

*A/N: Writer’s block sucks ass Written by Admin R

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine

You and Sam were essentially locked in the house, shock bracelets keeping you from leaving. Your two captors, who you had learned were major dicks, went to extreme measures to keep you and Sam from escaping, making sure that neither of you could really use your powers. They were heavy handed with the spray, which you now noticed left a black, tar-like substance on your hands, and were often trying to get you sick so you wouldn’t be able to use your supersonic cry. Admittedly, you would rather just have the muzzle, especially since Sam had figured out how to take it off of you the first time they had muzzled you. Sam wasn’t as much of a threat as you were, seeing as his powers all came from his helmet, but the two of your were always scheming, trying to come up with ways to escape.

The house they had you in was a two-story in a nice neighborhood, a stretch of desert behind you, leading to what looked like a freeway. You and Sam still hadn’t managed to find out just where you were, seeing as your wardens were touchy about that information. It wasn’t until they slipped up that you got some piece of information. There was a landline in the house, which you expected was for briefings and such, but it was never left where you and Sam would be able to get ahold of it. One day, the two wardens had gone to do something and left you to your own devices. Sam found the phone from where it was hidden in the warden’s quarters. “Hey, (y/n), look at what I found,” he said, emerging with the phone in his hand, waving it victoriously.

“No way,” you breathed, trying not to show your excitement too much. “If we find out the area code for this thing, then maybe I can figure out where we are.”

“Alright, I’m on it,” Sam said, pressing buttons on the phone. “Got it, it’s a 760 number, that ring any bells?”

“Okay, so that’s either San Diego or San Bernardino county, and since it’s dry as hell out there, I’m betting we’re in the desert,” you replied. “I can make a rough escape plan, but we’d still need to figure out which direction to go from here. If we go south, we’d make it to Mexico.”

“And what would we do from there? Come back and get shot down at the border?” Sam asked. He raised a good point.

“I have no idea, maybe I can get high enough in the air to not really be seen by the naked eye?” you suggested, just throwing ideas at this point.

“That’ll work for you, but I’d slow you down. We need to get you out of here, you can come back for me later,” Sam told you with finality.

And so it went. You and Sam devised a plan for you to escape, leaving him behind despite all your arguments. It was a simple one, running and then trying to fly high enough that you wouldn’t get shot down. You knew that you needed to find a way to stop the spray that was keeping you from using your powers, and it wasn’t until a few months later that the plan finally saw fruition. Your wardens had become lazy, in a way, figuring that you wouldn’t attempt to escape, especially since you and Sam had almost completely stopped your escape attempts over the past few weeks.

“(Y/n), go get the pliers from the garage,” the guy warden said as he attempted to fix something in the kitchen. A quick look to Sam told you all that you needed to know: it was time.

“Sure thing, can Sam come with?” you asked, knowing that you’d need his help to get the spray off. Your wardens still had you in bright jumpsuits, but you’d be able to ditch that as soon as you got the spray off.

“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled. Sam followed you out into the garage, immediately searching for something to remove the spray.

“Maybe pliers? Scissors? Would these wire clippers help?” Sam asked as he rummaged through the toolbox.

“Pliers and wire clippers, pull it off a bit with the plier and then cut through it with the wire clippers. Seriously pray that this works,” you said. Sam nodded, already working on removing the goop. There was the stinging sensation as the film got ripped from your skin, tears prickling the corners of your eyes. A few minutes later, Sam had managed to get both of your hands free. By the time he was done, your hands were completely raw, a bright red. “It must’ve torn off like two or three layers of my skin, dude,” you muttered, rubbing your hands on your jumpsuit, wincing as the scratchy fabric didn’t help at all.

“Get that off, then you can run. We have maybe five more minutes before the dingus comes to check on us,” Sam informed you before turning around so you could peel off the jumpsuit. You were left in a black tank top and running shorts, giving you at least some ability to blend in with civilians. You quickly went to work, melting off the shock bracelet so you’d be able to actually leave.

“You can turn now,” you told him, looking around for some shoes. You knew you’d have to ditch them the second you needed to use your flames from your feet, but you’d be more suspicious running without them. Sam seemed to know what you were thinking, tossing you a pair from the workbench beside him. “Thanks, Sam. Really, thank you.”

“Don’t get sappy on me,” Sam teased, going to hug you. “The second I open that garage door, you need to run. I’ll try to hold back dingbat, but I don’t know if the lady will get back before you get all that far.”

“Right, I got it,” you said, releasing him from the hug.

“Just don’t forget about me, yeah? I still need to raise hell about this whole thing out there,” Sam told you, that mischievous glint from before back in his eyes.

“I’d never dream of it,” you replied. You went over to the garage door, already ready to take off, as Sam went to the button. He held up three fingers, reminding you of a cameraman, but instead of being three seconds away from filming, you were three seconds away from freedom. Hopefully. Two fingers, his hand hovering over the button. You crouched into a runner’s position like you were taught in Freshman P.E. One finger. Your heart was racing. None, Sam’s hand slamming on the button. There was a shout from him. Run, just run. You took off the second the garage was high enough.

Your feet pounded against the sidewalk, taking off down the street. You could hear Sam and the man yelling, even as you got further away. You could feel your lungs burning as you ran one, two, three blocks, not knowing where you were going. You had been running for twenty minutes before you reached the edge of the neighborhood, happening across a park. You tried to calm yourself down, but you knew that you needed to get further. You jogged, going into another neighborhood as you tried to orient yourself. You were free. You didn’t know for how long, but you were free. You needed to leave. You needed to find someone that would help you. You heard yelling. Yelling?

You looked over to the source of the sound, seeing a small family not too far ahead of you. You saw the parents arguing as their daughter held her hands over her ears, still walking with them. You were torn, you knew that you needed to keep running, but you wanted to help. The daughter fell behind a bit, sitting down as her parents kept arguing. That made up your mind as you walked up to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” you asked in a soft voice, one you often used with your little cousins, as you crouched to her eye level. You noticed her Captain America shirt and smiled. “I like your shirt, I know him.”

“You do?” she asked, eyes lighting up. You nodded, smiling. “He’s my favorite.”

“That’s great! Let’s get you to your parents, okay?” you said, reaching for her hand. She gave it to you, letting you lead her to her parents.

“Daddy doesn’t like that I like Captain America, he says that it’s boy stuff and I shouldn’t be liking it,” she told you as you walked. “Mommy says I can like whatever I like.”

“Well, between you and me, anyone can like heroes. They protect everyone, not just boys or girls, so they’re for everyone,” you replied as you reached her parents. “Excuse me? Your daughter was sitting back there and I just wanted to bring her back.”

“Oh, God, Gabby, what did I tell you about doing that? Thank you so much,” the mom said, taking Gabby’s hand from yours. You would leave it at that, but you could tell she was still fuming.

“I know it’s none of my business, but do you mind if we talk a bit? Gabby told me what was going on,” you said, lowering your voice a bit. The mom nodded, letting Gabby go off with her father. “You know, if it’s worth anything, you’re doing the right thing. My parents let me like whatever I liked, and it’s gotten me a pretty long way.”

“Really? How’s that?” she asked, looking at you unbelievably.

“I mean, I’m kinda next in line to become a Captain America. Well, after Falcon and Bucky,” you told her. “I don’t want to do this, but I need help. I’m Wave. You seem like you try to do the right thing, so please do it here. I need a place to hide out just so I can find out how far from the border we are.”

“I’ll need to talk to my husband about it, but I want to help you. I saw what you used to do in L.A.. I’m only worried about how much danger my daughter would be in if you do,” she said, a steely look in her eyes. It was one of fierce determination, not unlike what you saw in yourself. You nodded, knowing you had made the right choice. She went up to her husband, speaking in fierce whispers with rapid hand movements. Gabby watched, turning to you briefly and smiling. The mom came back after a couple minutes. “We don’t live too far from here, we’ll give you some food and things so you can go wherever you need to.”

“Thank you so much,” you breathed in relief. She didn’t say anything, just looked around and motioned for you to follow them. The walk was maybe another block or so, Gabby chattering excitedly beside you, asking all sorts of questions about Steve. You heard a helicopter overhead, but it sounded too far away to be looking for you, so you figured it was just another CHP copter.

When you approached the house, you saw the dad tense slightly, looking overhead. “I think we’ve got trouble,” he muttered, just loud enough for you to hear. You looked up as well, seeing the helicopter from before coming by again much closer, close enough that you could clearly see the absence of any CHP logos.

“I am so sorry, get in the house and I’ll deal with this,” you told them as you heard cars approaching as well. You knew the sound, familiar from the night you got arrested. The dad nodded, picking Gabby up and ushering both her and her mom into the house. Even though he was a dick about Gabby liking heroes, you could tell he cared for his family. You knew you needed to protect them, or at the very least get the attention away from them, and kicked off your shoes, knowing they’d be goners anyways. As the black SUVs pulled up, you stood your ground, not going down without a fight. They all rolled to a stop, one of them releasing a man you recognized. He pointed a gun at you without hesitation. “(Y/n) (L/n), come with us now or we will use force.” That was all you needed.

Tag List: @potterjamesharry

[aaronbleyaert]

I think maybe I need a recent awful/awkward/assy story about how you're so bad with women. I'm starting to think it's just a ruse. I think you're actually a casanova.

That’s me! Mr. Casanova. Here is, no joke, my most recent date I’ve been on. It’s long, but you asked. Ready? 

So.

There’s this girl whom I’ve known for a few years through mutual friends. We’ve never hung out and I haven’t spoken to her in a good three years (and the last time we “spoke” was over Facebook Messenger).

A few months ago, she messages me out of the blue, saying she just saw my short film and liked it. We go back and forth, and since all of Facebook is ruined for me because I get so many messages on there every day, I eventually just give her my email address. 

We email back and forth for a while, and I’m like, “Look, this is dumb, but if you’re ever in LA, text me and we can grab coffee”. It’s what we call in the business “a sad and pathetic attempt at sort of asking a girl out”. Unbelievably (and I read the text three or four times in a row because I literally cannot believe it) she texts me the next day and says she’s coming to LA the following Tuesday and that I should have dinner with her. 

I break out in a preemptive nervous sweat.

Now, first off, this girl is way out of my league. I mean, WAY out of my league - she’s funny, smart, super weird, and gorgeous. It’s ridiculous. Also, I mention I own a Brontosaurus egg (aka “Sexual Kryptonite”) and she actually gasps and says that she wants to see it. Is this my perfect woman?

Also, no one ever comes after me or makes a move on me or hits on me, ever, so I’m a bit taken aback (and if I’m being honest might have had a fleeting thought or two that maybe this was some sort of trap and she was going to murder me) but I’m weird and paranoid not stupid so I say yes to dinner.

The day she’s supposed to come to LA for dinner rolls around, and I end up having to do a last minute shoot at work so I have to cancel the morning of. It’s shitty and I know it. She’s bummed, but she’s like “why don’t you just meet me after your shoot and we can still have drinks” but I don’t know how late it’s going to go and she’s way out of my league anyway and probably doesn’t actually want to have drinks or see the Brontosaurus egg but is just being nice because she’s a good person on top of everything else so I apologize profusely and decline. She’s cool about it. Too cool. SHE’S TOO COOL. Anyway, she makes me promise that I’ll come down to San Diego to see her. Laughing, 100% not believing that she’s serious and still wants to see me, I say “Sure. Sounds good”.

But she was serious. She wants me to come down and see her. 

So we pick a day that works. It’s a Saturday. I’m pretty nervous because this woman is literally out of my dreams but goddamn it man we have to at least TRY to not die alone right so I buy a ticket. 

The night before I’m supposed to go, my friend Sona has a holiday party at her apartment. It’s really fun, but I have a very early train to take the next morning to go and visit my probable soulmate so I’m keeping the drinking light. But then two very bad things happen:

1.) Sona makes her infamous Death Punch.

2.) My ex-girlfriend shows up to the party.

It’s a small party. My ex is The Worst. I start drinking heavily. 

My ex and I start talking. More death punch. I am really, really, REALLY trying to not be an asshole, but fuck man, I’m only human and I end up saying a lot of bad shit to her face. I drink even more death punch, get in a parting shot at my ex (I’m pretty sure it was something about her looking like Tom Petty) and Uber home.

I wake up the next morning to my cellphone ringing. It’s my soulmate.

“Hey! What time is your train getting in?”

I look around at my bedroom. All the lights are on. I’m fully clothed. My shoes are on. 

Shit.

I tell her that I got too drunk the night before, and that I’m not coming. She’s like “are you serious?” And I try to make a joke but internally I am screaming at myself WHY. AM. I. SUCH. A. FUCK. UP.

Feeling worse than I possibly have ever felt IN MY LIFE, I promise this girl that I will come down and see her soon. Then I text my ex and apologize for the things I said. To her credit, she’s gracious about it. I want to light myself on fire.

A week passes, and my soulmate and I text back and forth. She’s still talking to me for some reason and we figure out another time for me to come down to San Diego to see her. We pick a Saturday. I buy my ticket. This time, to make sure I don’t miss my train, instead of going out I stay home and spend the night imagining my ex doing bong hits onstage while singing “Free Falling”. It only sort of cheers me up.

The next day, I finally get my dumb ass on the train.

If you’ve never taken the train from Los Angeles to San Diego, I cannot recommend it enough. It’s called the Pacific Surfliner and for two and a half hours, it runs right along the most gorgeous coastline and bluest goddamn ocean you’ll ever lay your eyes on. I’ve only got about a half hour left when the thought hits me: “Wait, what the fuck am I doing?”

I barely know this girl. She’s way out of my league. I’m a sad old man with a sack of old jokes and two sleeves full of rubbery muscles. How could this girl possibly want to talk to me? What if she really was just being nice? Maybe I’ve read this all wrong and she just wants work advice. Yeah. That’s probably it. I mean, what else would we even talk about? What are we going to DO?! Shit! I haven’t planned a fucking thing! Should I make a dinner reservation?! Fuck! Should I have spent these last two hours researching cool shops and museums?! What if I miss my train back?! What then?! WHY DIDN’T WE PLAN AHEAD!? GODDAMN IT, BLEYAERT! and on and on and on ad nauseum.

I get so nervous that I eat all four protein bars that I brought in case of an emergency which I guess works out because this is absolutely an emergency but then my breath smells like a protein bar trash fire so I put like nine pieces of gum in my mouth and start chewing furiously. 

Then, of course, I’m there.

I get off the train, and immediately it’s hot. I peel off my sweaty jacket, and text her. She picks me up in her nice car. It’s an Audi. I drive a dusty Jeep Wrangler. Fuck.

I get in, and she smiles. “Hey! I’m so glad you made it! Welcome to San Diego!!” She goes in for a hug, and I kind of go to hug her back but I’ve already put on my seatbelt because you know like safety first and so I kind of motion to hug her but I don’t quite get there and it’s awkward. We start driving and she puts down the windows and her hair in the breeze looks like a shampoo commercial and she’s laughing and I’m laughing and we’re both laughing and I look outside at the passing trees and wonder to myself how fast we need to get up to before I can be certain that throwing myself out of the car would mean instant death.

She asks me some questions, but I’ve got all this fucking gum in my mouth and there’s like, SO MUCH saliva going on, so I take it out of my mouth and go to quickly throw it out the window before she can see but I can’t find the window thing and she looks over and goes “whoops! I’ve got it” and then I throw it out the window praying it doesn’t fly into the backseat and I gulp down all the saliva and it’s quiet in the car for a few seconds and then she’s like “wow that was a lot of gum” and I mumble something about all the protein bars I ate and reach for the radio.

She takes me to her favorite taco place, and I get some real food in me and I manage to start acting like a human being. She’s great. I mean, really really great. It’s like the whole non-hug lots of gum/saliva thing never even happened. She’s super ambitious, just like me, so the convo is effortless. We finish up, and before I can even confess that I have nothing planned, she offers up a bunch of things to do! I choose a winery, because I’ve never been. She smiles. “Ooooh. I’m going to get you soooo drunk.” I smile back. “Challenge accepted.”

The next 5 hours are amazing. We’re drinking and talking and laughing and sitting outside looking out over these incredible rolling hills as the sun sets. We talk about everything - even getting into some dark emotional shit. I am completely enthralled. I haven’t felt this way in a long long time. It’s incredible. Suddenly, her face turns serious. She looks at me in the fading light, her soft eyes studying mine. “Can I show you something?”

We drive for a little bit. I ask her what kind of music she wants to hear, and she plays me her favorite new song. It’s some bad ass trap music. Could this girl be any cooler? We turn up this winding road that ends at a small park at the top of this mountain with a big white cross on it. It’s fully dark now, and all of San Diego is lit up before us, stretching out down below as far as the eye can see. It’s beautiful.

It’s windy and a little cold, so she takes my arm and  pulls me close, nestling her head in the hollow between my neck and shoulder. Her hair smells amazing. She points out all the landmarks among the lights down below. 

“There’s the ocean. Annnd there’s where I live. And those lights way over there are Mexico.”

It feels like we’re in a movie. We’re quiet, just enjoying the moment. My heart is beating a thousand times a minute. It’s time to make a move.

“So… Is this like, the ‘lover’s lane’ of San Diego?” I ask.

“Yes.” She says.

“This is where you bring guys to make out?” I ask, smiling.

“Yes.” She looks up at me, smiling. The lights of San Diego twinkle in her eyes.

“We’re lucky it’s dark, then. Darkness favors my looks.” She laughs. 

We stare out at the twinkling lights below. 

I do nothing.

After a few minutes, I say “Man, it’s kind of cold up here. Are you cold?” She shakes her head no. The wind whips around us, delighted at my cowardice. She puts her head back on my shoulder and holds me tighter.

We go back to the car anyway.

Later, driving back down the hill, I ask her what kind of music she wants to hear. She says to put on whatever I want. 

I make my train with plenty of time to spare.

[zombiegirl3878-blog]

Welcome To The Family

CHAPTER 2.

“This is not getting anywhere so I am just going to leave.” Dominic said, finishing up his drink and getting up, “you seriously need to work on your attitude.” Sara just sat there with her leg crossed over the other, giving him a smirk, “bye big boy.” Dominic looked at her, kept his stare on for seconds before shaking his head and leaving their area.

In his car, he started it up and flipped on the lights. Getting out of the parking lot, he was on the main road and was now taking the route to get over to Angelica’s house so they can talk. Right now his temper is really up there and he was wondering if it’s a good idea to see another woman that will push his buttons. At the same time though, he kind of liked Sara pushing his buttons. “Fuck, what is wrong with me?” Dominic spoke, not believing himself. He’s taken. He’s in love…..well he thinks he is in love. No other woman should cross his mind but his girl.

Arriving at Angelica’s house, Dominic killed the engine and lights. He sat there, looking to the front door, elbow up by the window and his finger close to his mouth so he can bite what nail he has left. Does he want to do this tonight? Go in there and hear Angelica’s insecure ass. It felt like he was sitting there for an hour but it was only a minute. Finally he got out of the car, shutting the door and locking his baby up. His boots were dragging on the concrete walk up to the front door. There, he knocked on the door and turned around, giving a look of his surroundings. The door opened and when Dominic turned around, he saw Angelica’s expression. She looked pissed.  Angelica didn’t say anything. She turned around and walked into her living room. Sighing out loudly, Dominic stepped in and closed the door behind him. Walking slowly into the living room, there was Angelica, arms crossed, foot tapping so he leaned against the wall, waiting to hear her bullshit.

“Where were you?” Angelica asked. “I had other business to take care of.”

“Mhm.” Angelica removed her phone and walked up to him, playing the video of him and Sara in the club talking, well at first talking then the argument started. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He snatched the phone away from her, finishing up the video, “you have someone following me now?”

“No, my friend was at the same club and noticed you. Proving that you’re seeing someone else behind my back with this video. You know, a good friend looking out for me.” She explained but it didn’t matter, Dominic was beyond pissed that he gave her the phone and moved away from the wall. “So who is she?” Angelica asked, following him. Dominic couldn’t tell her. She was the enemy. He was there for business. Talking about clients and shit so he remained quiet. “You’re such a fucking dick. I hate you.” Angelica began to cry. She got in front of him and gave him a hard slap across the right cheek. Dominic took it, but it just made him more pissed and he saw himself hitting her back but in reality, he resisted. Still not saying anything just made Angelica more mad when she felt that it was the truth and started hitting him on the chest, crying her eyes out, “I fucking hate you Dominic.” She kept repeating, hitting him and smacking him on the face till the man gave up and grabbed her arms and threw her down on the couch.

“You want to fucking know who she is? HUH?” His voice was loud, “she’s the daughter of a man that is enemies with my family. I was there talking about business…..about fucking clients. Which means, my family is a fucking mafia family and so is hers. We fucking deal drugs, we do trades, guns, drugs, and other fucking shit.” Dominic continued to speak in his angry voice. “My family kills people…...I have killed people. We’re fucking bad people Angelica…..I was born into this shit and that woman in that video, it’s the same fucking thing with her. The Vegas own half of LA as the Costellos owns the rest.” After he was done, he went and kicked the table in front of the couch  that went flying to the wall, breaking. Angelica was no longer angry or hurt…..she was scared shitless. “I didn’t want you to know what I’m really all about. My tattoo shop, down below…..I have fucking ladies working, counting money and weighing the drugs, packing them up so my men can go out and sell. Not just to junkies on the streets, to fucking high class people. Rich mother fuckers that enjoys some good shit.” Staring ahead, Angelica said nothing.“Oh, fucking great…..now you’re not running your mouth. I’m fucking out of here.” Dominic said and he just left, not giving a shit how he left her there. He just got in his car and peeled out of there fast, driving on over to his house.

Two weeks had passed with Dominic and Angelica not speaking to each other. He hasn’t called her, she hasn’t called him. Which was cool because he needed some space from that lunatic. Plus, he was pretty busy. Working at the shop, meeting up with important clients for everything this family does for them, or what they do for his family. Dominic and his cousin Zack had to leave to San Diego to collect some guns that you can’t buy on the streets or at a gun shop. This was military shit. What his family and the friends that work for them needed to knock out some skinheads or some of Sebastian's man for crossing their path.  It seem now like there was going to be a war between the families now. Sara’s dad was being careless and selfish.

After business was taken care of, Dominic finally got a break and attended to Brian’s party he throws every now and then with his wife Samantha. Brian had the biggest crush on Samantha since freshman of High School. The guys kept pushing him to ask her out but Brian was just a shy mother fucker. Hard to believe to the ones that know him. It pained him though when Samantha was dating a jock in their sophomore year but that didn’t last because this jock of an ass wanted Samantha to give up her cherry to him and she refused. They were at a party at Jimmy’s pad and they were upstairs, in a room just to make out but the boy wanted more and as she kept saying no, he kept forcing himself on her, ripping up her shirt. Samantha started to scream that caught Brian’s attention as he was using the bathroom upstairs. Her boyfriend covered her mouth and started to attack on her breasts, biting them hard. Brian quickly finished up and left the bathroom, checking every room to where this scream came from. Finally he hits Jimmy’s room and saw what was happening. At first he thought he just walked into them about to get it on but seeing the tears coming from Samantha’s eyes and her boyfriends hand over her mouth, he knew this jock was trying to rape her so Brian didn’t think twice in pulling this guy off of her and throwing him across the room. Poor jock was only able to get two hits to Brian’s face before he was down on the floor, meeting Brian’s fist to the face. Samantha had to scream at Brian to stop otherwise he would've killed her boyfriend. Brian did stop and looked over to her, seeing her covering her chest. “Shit Samantha….” He removed his hoodie and put it on her. She thanked him by hugging him and crying into his chest.

A month after that tragic night, Brian and Samantha had been hanging out a lot and finally, he asked her to be his girl. After High School, the two got married. Brian didn’t want to waste his time on wanting other girls, he was truly in love with Samantha and he respected her. It was hard for at first to make out with him but he didn’t push her. Their honeymoon however, Brian made it very special for Samantha’s first time. He did nothing but be gentle with her. Some love story right? Girls envied Samantha to find a good man like Brian. Men those days only cared about getting in between the girls legs, not commit because they were still young.

So arriving at this party, Dominic entered the house, seeing it was full as usual so he had to walk through the crowd and into the kitchen where all the booze was and where he knew he would find his friends. Johnny, Jim, Zack and Brian was all there, not wanting to leave the area because they needed to get lot’s refills. Smacking hands with his buddies, Dominic got him some Jack and Bud. The only ones that knew of Dominic’s and Angelica’s relationship was them four. The guys partners didn’t even know Dominic was taken because he wasn’t ready to let them know about her. She’s just a regular girl and he knew she wouldn’t fit in at this place. It wasn’t her type of party she likes. She’s more of a wine and relax kind of person. “So I heard you broke up with Angelica.” Brian spoke up.

“Wow, thanks a lot Zack.” Dominic glared at his cousin since he talked to him about Angelica and what Dominic had told her. Shaking his head, Dominic looked down at his cup, “I’m not sure if we’re broken up. We haven’t spoke in two weeks.”

“She’ll come around. I mean if she really does love you, this lifestyle shouldn’t bother her.” Johnny told him.

“Yeah….I suppose, look I don’t want to talk about Angelica.” Dominic said. “Okay, let’s talk about Sara.” Jim said with his brows wiggling up and down, “you’re meeting with her a lot bro, what’s up with that?”

Dominic started to laugh now, looking to the side, “business man, that’s all it is. I have to meet with her a lot because her father is being a selfish bastard. Now we just may have to go to war with that family.”

“Does that mean you won’t have a problem killing his daughter?” Zack asked.

Now let’s talk about Zack. Zack was Dominic’s favorite cousin. Shit, they were like brothers. Zack started off just like Dominic being a soldier. Doing little work and the dirtiest jobs but as soon as Dominic ranked up, he was there with his cousin. Dominic wanted him to be there up with him so now Zack was in charge of his own men. That’s when he began to be cocky as fuck. His girlfriend of one year, Kori had seen the good part of him, thus the reason of getting together but now with this new cockiness, his attitude was changing. Like he was the shit and now he was being mean to Kori. Putting her down, even hitting her but the guys don’t know about that. Kori doesn’t show herself when she has bruises on her face. The only one that knows is her best friend Pete. Secretly the best friends has been seeing each other whenever she needed comfort. Zack made her stop seeing her male friends because he was that possessive. The poor girl loved him a lot, hoping he would change cause sometimes he would apologize and promised he’ll never beat her, but he breaks them promises. Kori was at the party too, but she had to be where he can see her. Luckily, Felicia, Samantha and Christina was there to keep her company. Kori lied and said it’s more quiet in that area.

“No Zack, I won’t have a problem killing her. I don’t have a problem killing anyone.” Dominic straight out told him. “What about Angelica?” Zack kept on, “now that she knows what you do, she can be a snitch. You know you have to kill her if she does.”

Dominic rolled his eyes and finished up his jack and served him another cup, “it’s the only way if she goes that route.” He was cold when he has to be. Shuts off his humanity like a vampire and does what he needs to do.

“We’ll see.” Zack huffed, then looking to Kori. Kori looked at him and gave him half of a smile. The guys looked over at her too, brows being risen to the half smile and the nervous look. They said nothing though but continued on with conversation. Talking about football games and how much money they were putting on their team. That’s when they became loud because they would tear their friends teams down. Poor Johnny, as short as he is, he has to jump up when they get into a circle so he can yell out his shit to them. Things were going well and Dominic was enjoying himself for once and he was catching a buzz. Out of nowhere, he comes Johnny’s ex girlfriend Jenny, stumbling around to get to the liquor. She was stinking drunk as she moved the guys out of the way so she can pour her some Jack and Coke. Johnny shook his head because she’s been trying to get back with him. They broke up because she cheated on him with his brother. Why the fuck would he get back with her?

“Hi John.” She said with a smile. “Hey.” Johnny replied. The guys became silent, laughing to themselves because this girl always makes a fool of herself, plus Felicia doesn’t like her around her man but her attention was on her friends there. “You know John…..I still have that dick picture you sent me and I put it on and masturbate to it.” She took a drink and had to lean against the counter so she won’t fall. The guys couldn’t help but busted out in laughter, Jim falling on the floor cause he couldn’t stop laughing so hard. That’s when the girls attention went over to them and when Felicia saw Jenny there, she saw red, “this bitch at it again?”

“What you need to do is kick her ass. If you don’t do that, she’ll think she can do whatever she wants with your man.” Christina said, drinking the rest of her mixed drink.

“You’re right. Hold my glass.” Felicia gave it to her and walked their way. When the guys saw that, they moved away quickly. Jim got off the floor but was still laughing. Felicia stepped up to the girl, grabbed her drink and threw it in her face before grabbing a lock of her hair and ramming her face into the counter. “OH SHIT!” The guys said in unison. Jenny busted her nose and blood was gushing out. She fell to the floor with Felicia down there with her,  giving her blows to the face and not them sissy girly blows. We’re talking about damage the face blows. The girls were cheering her on, all but Kori. Who knows what will happen if she does? “Oh fuck, she’s not going to stop.” Christina said, now handing the glass to Samantha as she rushed to get her friend off of Jenny, “Don’t let me catch you around my man again you fucking cunt. I will fucking kill you.” Christina was pulling her back but Felicia was pretty strong. She was able to get a boot in Jenny’s face before she was dragged out of there.

“Damn.” Dominic looked down to the girl who was clearly knocked the fuck out. “Clean up on aisle four!” Brian yelled out, everyone that saw that started to laugh. Jim had to go check on Jenny, making sure she wasn’t dead. She had a pulse so she was good. They just left her there as they went to collect their partners and head out into the back to chill. They grabbed some bottles and went to the fire pit, kicking everyone out of there because that was their thing since Jr. High. Chilling around fire pit and sometimes singing the songs they wrote with Brian and Zack doing acoustic. It sucked for Christina and Dominic because they had no one so they just sat together, while the girlfriends and wife, laid on their man. That’s when Johnny and Felicia gave out some good news. “We’re engaged.” Johnny said.

“For real?” Brian asked and the two nodded their heads. “Congratulations.” Everyone said and that was their subject now. The wedding and who is all going to be in it and what type of wedding they are going to have. Dominic was feeling good, especially when they broke out with the joint, passing it around. That’s the only drugs they do. Pot.

Needing to use the restroom, Dominic excused himself and went back into the house. The bottom bathroom had a line so Dominic went upstairs to use the restroom up there. A woman saw him going up there. Seeing Dominic for the first time had her attention on him because he was good looking and built. Excusing herself from her friends, she went upstairs too, looking back to make sure no one was seeing her. In the bathroom, Dominic took a long ass leak. Shaking it off, he flushed the toilet and went to wash his hands. Drying them afterwards, he went to the door, unlocked it and opened it to see the woman there. Very attractive indeed. 

“Hey.”

She didn’t say anything. She just smirked and stepped up to him, grabbing his crotch thru his jeans and steps up on her tip-toes to whisper into his ear, “fuck me please.” Whoa, this has never happen to Dominic and with the grip she had on him, well fuck….what can he do. Dominic went for it, he grabbed her hair and got their lips together, letting them hard lingering kisses go first before mouths opens and tongues began to play. He moved her away from the bathroom, turned her and slammed her up against the wall. Dominic hiked up her skirt and ripped her panties off. The stranger undid his belt, button and zipper and pulled his pants down past his ass and grabbed his cock, stroking it to life. Angelica wasn’t on his mind at all. It was like he was single again. Girls always comes up to him, flirt and shit but this….this was adventurous. Dominic always wanted to be in control and he couldn’t get that with Angelica. It would start that way but she would ruin it by wanting it easy. Here, Dominic released a lot of tension into this woman.

A quick fuck that lasted about three minutes. She got off, he got off and that was the end of that. She kissed him and tuck her torn panties into the back of his pocket, “thanks for the fuck big boy…..you surely know what you’re doing….hopefully I’ll see you again and we can do it again.”

“Sounds good to me.” Dominic said as he tucked his happy camper into his boxers and began to zip up and look halfway decent. “Damn….I fucking needed that.” Dominic said as he buckled his belt coming downstairs. He went through the crowd and headed back to his friends but when he got there, Angelica was there. How the fuck does she know where Brian lived and about the party.

“Um…..can we talk please.” She asked softly.

OH FUCK!

[touristguidebuzz]

Spirit Airlines Wants to Win Back Customers by Being Nicer

Spirit Airlines has long advertised cheap prices with its "bare fare" campaign. But it is changing its messaging to embrace value, and trying to give passengers a better experience. Spirit Airlines

Skift Take: Spirit Airlines spent years angering customers with shoddy customer service. Now it wants those travelers to return, promising they'll find a kinder, gentler airline with an increased emphasis on on-time arrivals. But will they come back, or will they opt for deeply discounted fares from full-service airlines?

— Brian Sumers

When Vietnam War veteran Jerry Meekins learned five years ago he was dying and should not travel, he contacted Spirit Airlines and asked for a refund for an upcoming flight. That’s against the rules — how many passengers don’t know what “non-refundable” means? — but brands often make exceptions to save themselves from public embarrassment.

Not Spirit. Its former CEO, Ben Baldanza, blamed Meekins, who would die four months later, for not buying travel insurance. “This is a country and society where we kind of play by the rules,” Baldanza said in one television interview.

Eventually, Baldanza apologized. But in the decade he led Spirit, until January 2016, Baldanza repeatedly criticized passengers who complained about poor service, late flights, and lost bags. Once, he accidentally replied to a customer’s email by writing, “Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”

Baldanza had a point. Until 2015, Spirit was in a class of its own. No other airline in the United States could — or would — sell one-way fares for $30 or $40 between major cities. Yes, Spirit charged for carry-on bags, drinks (even water), and advance seat assignments, but people who never thought they could afford airfare had an option, so long as they didn’t mind cramped seats that did not recline. In a cheeky web spot, Spirit advertised itself as a “cheap seat for a cheap ass.”

Passengers tolerated it, and Wall Street loved it. The airline’s stock price increased from about $12 per share on July 1, 2011 to almost $83 on Dec. 1, 2014.

The good times could only last so long. Spirit still makes money, but it’s under pressure from Southwest, American, United, and Delta. Now, in many cases, the Big Four sell discounted seats to match Spirit, meaning “cheap asses” have other options. Plus, Spirit has a new direct competitor: Frontier Airlines, which adopted Spirit’s ultra-low-cost model a couple of years ago, with the tagline “Low Fares Done Right.” Its CEO used to run Spirit’s marketing.

To win (or win back) customers, Spirit’s current CEO, Bob Fornaro, wants to create a kinder airline. It remains obsessively cost-focused, offers little legroom, and still charges for everything — because if it didn’t, it would probably go bust. Passengers paid about $53 in fees for each Spirit segment in the second quarter, only about $7 less than they paid for fares.

But Fornaro, who led AirTran Airways until it merged with Southwest in 2011, wants Spirit to stop angering customers. And when it does make them mad, he’ll apologize.

“We ran a very successful financial business, but we ran a very poor consumer business,” Fornaro said in an interview last week in Las Vegas, where he was speaking at the Boyd Group’s International Aviation Forecast Summit. “For the most part, you can only do that for a short period of time. We almost went out of our way to poke the customer in the eye. And once a business gets more competitive, you can’t do that anymore.”

Some wonder if it’s too late. Perhaps the Big Four finally have an advantage — something legacy European airlines never achieved against upstarts like Ryanair and EasyJet. Others suspect Spirit will be fine, but argue it should merge with Frontier, giving it better scale. Spirit has about 100 airplanes, more than 800 fewer than American, not counting American Eagle.

Spirit is not the only discounter emphasizing service — Frontier and Allegiant Air are also trying to improve — but Spirit may have more work to do than the others.

“The difference was, we didn’t treat customers well,” Lukas Johnson, senior vice president for commericial at Allegiant Air, told Skift. “But Ben was unapologetic about spitting in their face. And you can’t do that.”

Baldanza, who teaches at George Mason University and serves on the board of Wow Air, a Icelandic airline with a similar model, told Skift he does not regret Spirit’s service record. He noted customers agree to terms and conditions before buying tickets.

“When I was the CEO, we held firm to these rules in order to keep fares as low as possible for all,” Baldanza said in an email. “Waiving rules means that those who follow the rules pay for those who don’t. If asking people to follow rules they agreed to before buying is considered ‘spitting in their face,’ that seems completely wrong to me. If you are pulled over for running a red light, are the police ‘spitting in your face’ if you are asking to be let off even though you knew you broke the rules?”

Changing Market Dynamics

Spirit and Baldanza could get away with a lot because the airline had little competition.

For most of Spirit’s surge, American, United, and Delta were all in bankruptcy, emerging from it, or merging with another airline. Because big legacy airlines had high costs and other priorities, they rarely discounted as much as Spirit. And low-cost airlines, including Alaska Airlines and Southwest, had relatively little overlap with Spirit, so they let it grow.

Spirit’s strategy worked. Spirit entered American’s Dallas/Fort Worth hub in 2011, adding flights to many of American’s larger markets, including San Diego, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, New York LaGuardia, and Orlando.

For about four years, American chose to let its frugal passengers fly Spirit. American might charge a couple of hundred dollars for a one-way fare, while Spirit would want $40. But American, led by its then-new president, Scott Kirby, decided in 2015 to fight for everyone.

American’s strategy diluted its revenue, but the airline succeeded. Spirit remains in Dallas, but it’s no longer growing, with new management preferring cities like New Orleans that lack a dominant airline. Now, Kirby has moved to United, where he’s acting similarly. In July, on Spirit’s second-quarter earnings call, Spirit executives said they saw the most discounting in three United hubs — Newark, Chicago, and Houston.

United even has a new product to sell to price-conscious customers. This year, it followed American and Delta to introduce Basic Economy — a product that roughly mimics Spirit’s unbundled fares.

On all three major airlines, Basic Economy customers cannot choose seats in advance, nor can they change their tickets. They board last, and, if they’re frequent flyers, they’re not eligible for first class upgrades. On American and United, most customers may not bring large carry-on bags. (Southwest also often matches Spirit but gives passengers all the goodies — including two checked bags — for free.)

Even in their worst seats, the Big Four offer about two more inches of legroom, with seats that recline. They also give passengers free drinks and light snacks, and unlike Spirit, often have in-flight entertainment. There’s Wi-Fi too, though passengers pay for it.

“The problem is, customers do not want to fly [an ultra-low-cost carrier] if they can get the same price on a different carrier,” Kirby said at the Las Vegas conference. “As United or anyone else starts to get more price competitive, the business just doesn’t work in my opinion. It’s not because of United or what anyone else is doing to them. It’s because they have created a product that people don’t want to buy.”

A gentler Spirit

Perhaps Basic Economy isn’t beloved by customers either, but it makes United, American, and Delta better competitors, so Spirit is focused on improving its product and softening its image.

Spirit no longer charges military members for bags. And passengers who forget to pay for a carry-on in advance are no longer hit with a punitive $100 fee at the gate. It’s now a more manageable $65 — enough to persuade passengers to pre-pay at a cost of roughly $35 but not so much as to be ridiculous. And when passengers tell Spirit they need to postpone a trip for a medical emergency, the airline works with them.

The old hard-ass routine is over. “That was just part of the way the company wanted to portray itself,” Fornaro said. “It wasn’t necessarily good business. There wasn’t a whole lot of money in it. We just got rid of those things.”

Meanwhile, the airline is emphasizing personal touches. Flight attendants attend service training — something that never happened before. And Spirit recently turned over its Twitter feed to humans. It had been run by an irreverent robot, who shared witty responses but couldn’t help irate customers.

Advertisements evolved, too. Before, Spirit often ran tawdry ones, like one coinciding with delivery of the airline’s 69th plane. “It’s our favorite number – ever since we were 12 and found that magazine under our brother’s bed (the one with the fantastic articles),” the copy read.

Now, when adds a new plane, Spirit is more likely to use it as an opportunity to tell customers it has one of the world’s youngest fleet, a positive message the company rarely communicated before. “It was almost as if they were almost ashamed of saying something nice,” Fornaro said.

On-time performance had also lagged. Spirit is now in the middle of the pack for timely arrivals, after regularly finishing last or near the bottom a few years ago. A few years ago, frugal passengers might have tolerated tardiness for huge savings, but not anymore.

“The company got away with it very nicely, but the world doesn’t stay the same,” Fornaro said. (In his email to Skift, Baldanza said: “I applaud Bob Fornaro for improving Spirit’s operational performance.”)

More changes will come. Wi-Fi, which Spirit hadn’t installed because of its cost, is on its way, since many frugal millennial customers the airline wants to attract demand it. It’ll support video streaming.

Next, the airline will improve its website — Fornaro called navigating it “painful” — and its mobile app. As for why the airline didn’t invest in digital tools sooner, he said, “We were satisfied. Maybe we thought were were living in a world that wouldn’t change that much.”

The emphasis on improvement, Fornaro said, has improved employee morale, which may spur better service. “No one like to be last in every service category,” he said.

One outlier is Spirit’s pilots, who seek a new contract and a major raise. In April, pilots staged an informal work slow down, forcing Spirit to cancel about 850 flights. Spirit obtained a court order requiring pilots to work normally. Things have improved, but the issue still looms. Fornaro said he is hopeful a deal can be reached soon.

Investor Concern

Spirit’s stock is now about $34 per share, less than half its price in December 2014. Analysts generally like the company, but not as much as a couple of years ago.

After Spirit’s second quarter earnings call in July, when executives said other carriers were undercutting them on price, Hunter Keay, an analyst with Wolfe Research, wrote: “In that regard, things may only get worse for [Spirit] unless [it] finds new places to grow.” Keay has said he favors a Frontier merger.

Jamie Baker, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, said in a recent report that Spirit probably must “strike a balance” between competing in big cities and adding flights elsewhere. Baker has also recommended Spirit raise fares, arguing it probably wouldn’t lose customers, since other airlines would increase prices, too.

There’s some question about where Spirit should fly next. Under Baldanza, Spirit was obsessed with adding routes in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas/Fort Worth. But it’s now expanding in markets like New Orleans, Hartford, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.

Lukas Johnson, of Allegiant, said he suspects Baldanza would still favor big cities — if only to prove a point. He said he wonders if big airlines will be more aggressive since Spirit has shown weakness.

“They drew down Dallas last year with the pressure from American,” Johnson said. “Guess what? Once you pull down when somebody pressures you, it’s going to happen again and again and again and again. To me, that’s different. Ben wouldn’t back down. Right or wrong, he just wouldn’t.”

Spirit has one major advantage: Its costs are considerably lower than the competition. Not including fuel, it costs Spirit about 5.83 cents to carry one passenger one mile, about five cents less than American. That means Spirit can make money more easily at lower fares than other airlines.

In his note, Baker said Spirit’s model is viable.

“We believe the U.S. airline industry will continue to take steps to ensure profitability and continued balance sheet repair,” he said. “We believe that this environment is generally more favorable to the large legacy carriers, but Spirit’s ultra-low-cost business model is compelling in its own right.”

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Spirit Airlines Wants to Win Back Customers by Being Nicer

Spirit Airlines has long advertised cheap prices with its "bare fare" campaign. But it is changing its messaging to embrace value, and trying to give passengers a better experience. Spirit Airlines

Skift Take: Spirit Airlines spent years angering customers with shoddy customer service. Now it wants those travelers to return, promising they'll find a kinder, gentler airline with an increased emphasis on on-time arrivals. But will they come back, or will they opt for deeply discounted fares from full-service airlines?

— Brian Sumers

When Vietnam War veteran Jerry Meekins learned five years ago he was dying and should not travel, he contacted Spirit Airlines and asked for a refund for an upcoming flight. That’s against the rules — how many passengers don’t know what “non-refundable” means? — but brands often make exceptions to save themselves from public embarrassment.

Not Spirit. Its former CEO, Ben Baldanza, blamed Meekins, who would die four months later, for not buying travel insurance. “This is a country and society where we kind of play by the rules,” Baldanza said in one television interview.

Eventually, Baldanza apologized. But in the decade he led Spirit, until January 2016, Baldanza repeatedly criticized passengers who complained about poor service, late flights, and lost bags. Once, he accidentally replied to a customer’s email by writing, “Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”

Baldanza had a point. Until 2015, Spirit was in a class of its own. No other airline in the United States could — or would — sell one-way fares for $30 or $40 between major cities. Yes, Spirit charged for carry-on bags, drinks (even water), and advance seat assignments, but people who never thought they could afford airfare had an option, so long as they didn’t mind cramped seats that did not recline. In a cheeky web spot, Spirit advertised itself as a “cheap seat for a cheap ass.”

Passengers tolerated it, and Wall Street loved it. The airline’s stock price increased from about $12 per share on July 1, 2011 to almost $83 on Dec. 1, 2014.

The good times could only last so long. Spirit still makes money, but it’s under pressure from Southwest, American, United, and Delta. Now, in many cases, the Big Four sell discounted seats to match Spirit, meaning “cheap asses” have other options. Plus, Spirit has a new direct competitor: Frontier Airlines, which adopted Spirit’s ultra-low-cost model a couple of years ago, with the tagline “Low Fares Done Right.” Its CEO used to run Spirit’s marketing.

To win (or win back) customers, Spirit’s current CEO, Bob Fornaro, wants to create a kinder airline. It remains obsessively cost-focused, offers little legroom, and still charges for everything — because if it didn’t, it would probably go bust. Passengers paid about $53 in fees for each Spirit segment in the second quarter, only about $7 less than they paid for fares.

But Fornaro, who led AirTran Airways until it merged with Southwest in 2011, wants Spirit to stop angering customers. And when it does make them mad, he’ll apologize.

“We ran a very successful financial business, but we ran a very poor consumer business,” Fornaro said in an interview last week in Las Vegas, where he was speaking at the Boyd Group’s International Aviation Forecast Summit. “For the most part, you can only do that for a short period of time. We almost went out of our way to poke the customer in the eye. And once a business gets more competitive, you can’t do that anymore.”

Some wonder if it’s too late. Perhaps the Big Four finally have an advantage — something legacy European airlines never achieved against upstarts like Ryanair and EasyJet. Others suspect Spirit will be fine, but argue it should merge with Frontier, giving it better scale. Spirit has about 100 airplanes, more than 800 fewer than American, not counting American Eagle.

Spirit is not the only discounter emphasizing service — Frontier and Allegiant Air are also trying to improve — but Spirit may have more work to do than the others.

“The difference was, we didn’t treat customers well,” Lukas Johnson, senior vice president for commericial at Allegiant Air, told Skift. “But Ben was unapologetic about spitting in their face. And you can’t do that.”

Baldanza, who teaches at George Mason University and serves on the board of Wow Air, a Icelandic airline with a similar model, told Skift he does not regret Spirit’s service record. He noted customers agree to terms and conditions before buying tickets.

“When I was the CEO, we held firm to these rules in order to keep fares as low as possible for all,” Baldanza said in an email. “Waiving rules means that those who follow the rules pay for those who don’t. If asking people to follow rules they agreed to before buying is considered ‘spitting in their face,’ that seems completely wrong to me. If you are pulled over for running a red light, are the police ‘spitting in your face’ if you are asking to be let off even though you knew you broke the rules?”

Changing Market Dynamics

Spirit and Baldanza could get away with a lot because the airline had little competition.

For most of Spirit’s surge, American, United, and Delta were all in bankruptcy, emerging from it, or merging with another airline. Because big legacy airlines had high costs and other priorities, they rarely discounted as much as Spirit. And low-cost airlines, including Alaska Airlines and Southwest, had relatively little overlap with Spirit, so they let it grow.

Spirit’s strategy worked. Spirit entered American’s Dallas/Fort Worth hub in 2011, adding flights to many of American’s larger markets, including San Diego, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, New York LaGuardia, and Orlando.

For about four years, American chose to let its frugal passengers fly Spirit. American might charge a couple of hundred dollars for a one-way fare, while Spirit would want $40. But American, led by its then-new president, Scott Kirby, decided in 2015 to fight for everyone.

American’s strategy diluted its revenue, but the airline succeeded. Spirit remains in Dallas, but it’s no longer growing, with new management preferring cities like New Orleans that lack a dominant airline. Now, Kirby has moved to United, where he’s acting similarly. In July, on Spirit’s second-quarter earnings call, Spirit executives said they saw the most discounting in three United hubs — Newark, Chicago, and Houston.

United even has a new product to sell to price-conscious customers. This year, it followed American and Delta to introduce Basic Economy — a product that roughly mimics Spirit’s unbundled fares.

On all three major airlines, Basic Economy customers cannot choose seats in advance, nor can they change their tickets. They board last, and, if they’re frequent flyers, they’re not eligible for first class upgrades. On American and United, most customers may not bring large carry-on bags. (Southwest also often matches Spirit but gives passengers all the goodies — including two checked bags — for free.)

Even in their worst seats, the Big Four offer about two more inches of legroom, with seats that recline. They also give passengers free drinks and light snacks, and unlike Spirit, often have in-flight entertainment. There’s Wi-Fi too, though passengers pay for it.

“The problem is, customers do not want to fly [an ultra-low-cost carrier] if they can get the same price on a different carrier,” Kirby said at the Las Vegas conference. “As United or anyone else starts to get more price competitive, the business just doesn’t work in my opinion. It’s not because of United or what anyone else is doing to them. It’s because they have created a product that people don’t want to buy.”

A gentler Spirit

Perhaps Basic Economy isn’t beloved by customers either, but it makes United, American, and Delta better competitors, so Spirit is focused on improving its product and softening its image.

Spirit no longer charges military members for bags. And passengers who forget to pay for a carry-on in advance are no longer hit with a punitive $100 fee at the gate. It’s now a more manageable $65 — enough to persuade passengers to pre-pay at a cost of roughly $35 but not so much as to be ridiculous. And when passengers tell Spirit they need to postpone a trip for a medical emergency, the airline works with them.

The old hard-ass routine is over. “That was just part of the way the company wanted to portray itself,” Fornaro said. “It wasn’t necessarily good business. There wasn’t a whole lot of money in it. We just got rid of those things.”

Meanwhile, the airline is emphasizing personal touches. Flight attendants attend service training — something that never happened before. And Spirit recently turned over its Twitter feed to humans. It had been run by an irreverent robot, who shared witty responses but couldn’t help irate customers.

Advertisements evolved, too. Before, Spirit often ran tawdry ones, like one coinciding with delivery of the airline’s 69th plane. “It’s our favorite number – ever since we were 12 and found that magazine under our brother’s bed (the one with the fantastic articles),” the copy read.

Now, when adds a new plane, Spirit is more likely to use it as an opportunity to tell customers it has one of the world’s youngest fleet, a positive message the company rarely communicated before. “It was almost as if they were almost ashamed of saying something nice,” Fornaro said.

On-time performance had also lagged. Spirit is now in the middle of the pack for timely arrivals, after regularly finishing last or near the bottom a few years ago. A few years ago, frugal passengers might have tolerated tardiness for huge savings, but not anymore.

“The company got away with it very nicely, but the world doesn’t stay the same,” Fornaro said. (In his email to Skift, Baldanza said: “I applaud Bob Fornaro for improving Spirit’s operational performance.”)

More changes will come. Wi-Fi, which Spirit hadn’t installed because of its cost, is on its way, since many frugal millennial customers the airline wants to attract demand it. It’ll support video streaming.

Next, the airline will improve its website — Fornaro called navigating it “painful” — and its mobile app. As for why the airline didn’t invest in digital tools sooner, he said, “We were satisfied. Maybe we thought were were living in a world that wouldn’t change that much.”

The emphasis on improvement, Fornaro said, has improved employee morale, which may spur better service. “No one like to be last in every service category,” he said.

One outlier is Spirit’s pilots, who seek a new contract and a major raise. In April, pilots staged an informal work slow down, forcing Spirit to cancel about 850 flights. Spirit obtained a court order requiring pilots to work normally. Things have improved, but the issue still looms. Fornaro said he is hopeful a deal can be reached soon.

Investor Concern

Spirit’s stock is now about $34 per share, less than half its price in December 2014. Analysts generally like the company, but not as much as a couple of years ago.

After Spirit’s second quarter earnings call in July, when executives said other carriers were undercutting them on price, Hunter Keay, an analyst with Wolfe Research, wrote: “In that regard, things may only get worse for [Spirit] unless [it] finds new places to grow.” Keay has said he favors a Frontier merger.

Jamie Baker, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, said in a recent report that Spirit probably must “strike a balance” between competing in big cities and adding flights elsewhere. Baker has also recommended Spirit raise fares, arguing it probably wouldn’t lose customers, since other airlines would increase prices, too.

There’s some question about where Spirit should fly next. Under Baldanza, Spirit was obsessed with adding routes in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas/Fort Worth. But it’s now expanding in markets like New Orleans, Hartford, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.

Lukas Johnson, of Allegiant, said he suspects Baldanza would still favor big cities — if only to prove a point. He said he wonders if big airlines will be more aggressive since Spirit has shown weakness.

“They drew down Dallas last year with the pressure from American,” Johnson said. “Guess what? Once you pull down when somebody pressures you, it’s going to happen again and again and again and again. To me, that’s different. Ben wouldn’t back down. Right or wrong, he just wouldn’t.”

Spirit has one major advantage: Its costs are considerably lower than the competition. Not including fuel, it costs Spirit about 5.83 cents to carry one passenger one mile, about five cents less than American. That means Spirit can make money more easily at lower fares than other airlines.

In his note, Baker said Spirit’s model is viable.

“We believe the U.S. airline industry will continue to take steps to ensure profitability and continued balance sheet repair,” he said. “We believe that this environment is generally more favorable to the large legacy carriers, but Spirit’s ultra-low-cost business model is compelling in its own right.”