#alex buddy there's a lot to unpack here

[purposefully-lost]

Alex watched him as he spoke, his face turning a deep red. There was more than one moment where his lips parted, an argument on the tip of his tongue, but Andy just kept forging ahead. About how his boyfriends apparently left because of him, about that stupid argument with stupid Liam, about-- calling his name? He was starting to burn up and if Rabbit couldn't hear the rapid beat of his heart, it'd be a shock. Alex's eyes were glued to Andy, even as Rabbit sat up and hollered. His expression hovered on the edge of being shocked, like he couldn't quite process what was being said to him. He knew what he'd confessed to Rabbit earlier and what he'd planned to confess to Andy soon enough, but this..

Propping himself up on a elbow, his expression turned dark, his brows furrowing as he studied Andy's face. "You.. asshole," he started, locking onto his gaze. "You dick! Why didn't you just tell me to fuck off?" He asked. There was blood rushing in his ears. "You could've just- I- I dunno-"

He'd never wanted to fuck up Andy's chances at a good relationship. Well, not really. It was just that even if some of the guys Andy had been with hadn't seemed like assholes at first, they still weren't good enough. Not for him. Andy deserved a hell of a lot better than anything they;d ever offered him. He deserved someone who'd love him and love him deeply. Who'd love him no matter what, even if he stopped working out or gained weight or lost any of his social standing or tried to kill himself. He deserved better. That was why Rabbit, even with all his baggage, was good enough- Rabbit loved and did so with everything in his chest. And he loved them both, so there was no losing his friend to someone who'd steal all his time. People looked at Andy like he was the world, and he was, but that wasn't the response Alex got when he walked in a room. When they were together, Alex knew he was just getting pulled along for the ride, that he was secondary- he knew they'd take Andy and happily leave him behind, the best friend that'd only come about because circumstance had pushed them together. He only minded insofar as he wanted to be Andy's best friend for the rest of his life.

"You're a dick," he repeated, his voice hard. And then he was reaching out to tug him close, finally returning that kiss from earlier in the night. He was still pouting when he broke it to look over his face. "Liam was still a piece of shit, though. If your parents tolerated a guy, there was something wrong with him."

"Campbell!"

Andy peeked up from his food, beer, and paperwork with a wrinkle between his brows. His tired blue eyes met a pair of irritated browns, and immediately, he let them roll. Not Alan. Not now. The man was a pain in his ass and so were his kids. He'd gotten his girlfriend knocked up right out of graduation, and now his twins were on the baseball team. Good riddance; those two little chuckleheads were as bad as their father. Andy, unlike coach Wilson, didn't put up with it, and it made practice and games a yelling match between him and their piece of shit father.

"What's up, Alan?" He asked, pasting a polite smile on his cheeks as the man in question approached him. He was looking rough, like he'd thrown back a few too many drinks and was itching for a fight. Andy sighed. He didn't want to deal with that today, not after the bullshit with his mother he had to go through earlier.

"You quit? You quit on my kids?" Alan slurred, pointing a finger at him. "You're a bastard."

Glancing at the clock above the bar, Andy cocked a brow and frowned. "It's only three and you're fucking wasted, man. Why don't you go home?"

"Don't dodge! You fucking quit!" Alan shoved at his shoulder. "How the fuck are my kids supposed to compete? Get scholarships? We're counting on you!"

Andy furrowed his brow and shook his head. "They'll find another coach. I've got shit to take care of, and I'm not going to stick around just to babysit your snot-nosed brats." He said, his eyes starting to shine. "They're not my problem anymore, and frankly? Neither are you. Why don't you fuck off, Alan?"

Alan blinked before turning a very angry shade of red. Squeezing his fists at his sides, he only hesitated a second before grabbing Andy by the back of his jacket and throwing him on the floor of the bar. He dove down to throttle the man. He threw a punch and then another, the third being blocked by Andy's forearms. "You're a piece of shit, Campbell! You know what you mean to us!" He barked, shoving his hands away and swinging again. "You can't just quit!"

Andy rolled and threw one of his own. "It's my life!" He hissed, "I'm not being pushed around by you people anymore! Fuck you and your shitty kids!" Spitting the blood in his mouth at the man, he tried to scramble away only to get yanked back by the belt. Alan reached for the bar and grabbed the beer bottle Andy had been nursing. He smashed it against the floor and knocked him down again, just barely managed to slash him from his lip and up his cheek before he was being pulled off by the bar tender.

"Nowak! I told you last time if you started anything else, you're banned! Get out of here before I call the damn cops!" He hissed and shoved him towards the door. Watching him stumble out, he glanced down at Andy and helped get him up to his feet. "Fuck, he got you good. Want me to call the squad?"

Andy stumbled and touched his cheek only to hiss. His skin felt sticky with blood, and his fingers were warm and red when he pulled them away. Shaking his head, he let out a slow breath. "No. I'll be fine. Uh-... Sorry." He said softly. Pulling a few bills from his pocket, he handed them over before grabbing his things and slipping out, too.

By the time he got back to the apartment, his jacket was stained around the collar with blood. The side of his face and neck were sticky and red, and his body had taken on a slight tremble. He should've stopped at the ER, but he'd had enough of the public for today. He was sure he had some super glue to fix his face.

Rabbit peeked up from his spot on the couch next to Alex when he heard the door unlock and open. The smile that had pulled across his face immediately fell at the sight of Andy, his breath hitching in his chest. Setting the book in his lap aside, his eyes tracked him as he moved into the kitchen and started to dig around in the drawers. "...What happened to you?"

"Bar fight." Andy cursed and shoved the drawer closed. Moving to the next one, he shuffled around through the contents. After a second, he buckled and nearly sunk to the ground, just barely keeping himself up by holding onto the counter. "Come look for the superglue. I gotta.. I gotta sit down."

@purposefully-lost

[genericpuff]

Apollo, buddy, that was not very supportive, caring boyfriend of you.

It wasn't, but in his defense, he is "trying", it's just that he and Kore don't really exist in the same worlds and their perspectives aren't manifesting in the exact same way.

Apollo is someone who's basically a celebrity, he's lived in Olympus virtually his entire life and in that time he's gone through more of his fair share of "social media drama" where he's now, by and large, desensitized to it. His response to Kore's concerns do come across as very flippant, because to him, the drama is inevitable and fleeting. He's blocked many people and BEEN blocked, so now whenever stuff like that happens to him, it rolls right off him - or at the very least, he recovers pretty quickly - because, well, it's definitely not the first time, and it won't be the last, so why worry? Why not just roll with it and maybe share in a laugh over some petty online drama?

By and large, his practical advice underneath all the teasing and laughter isn't actually incorrect - under normal circumstances (as those are the circumstances Kore and Apollo are both applying due to not being aware of other factors at play such as the eye-pulling) Apollo is technically right that if Alex - and subsequently, Hades - suddenly ghosted Kore out of the blue without explanation, then clearly it was a one-sided relationship and Kore shouldn't waste her tears over someone who could dump her so easily. Though he's coming across as very inconsiderate towards Kore's feelings, his heart is in the right place. Even when he asks "wait you're actually upset??" it's not him being deluded to Kore's feelings - it's him realizing that what happened is actually deeply affecting her, she's not talking about what happened to talk shit or "spill the tea", she's talking about it because she's looking for comfort and validation, something Apollo typically isn't looking for whenever he's going through fallouts in his relationships.

Through his eyes, someone blocking him randomly out of the blue simply communicates, "That person clearly isn't on my level, so I guess it's better for them to haul themselves out of my life willingly before I throw them out forcefully." But through Kore's eyes, she's seeing herself as the reason for her own abandonment. She's not accustomed to the superficial norms of social media (or the vanity of the Olympians) and how they differ from how people typically behave in the Mortal Realm. She's never really experienced someone just disappearing from her life, at least not in this way. She can't just say "bye Felicia" as confidently and arrogantly as Apollo can. Though it's a dick move for Apollo to immediately jump to joking around / laughing in her face over the matter, that's just the coping mechanism he's accustomed to and he wrongly assumed that it would translate to Kore's situation as well.

That said, that's also under normal circumstances. There are obviously more complicated factors at play here (none more so than the eye-pulling torture) that explain both Alex's and Hades' perspectives as to why they're distancing themselves from Kore without notice. From Kore's perspective though - and by extension, Apollo's perspective, framed by Kore - she's being cut out of people's lives for reasons she doesn't know, and it's drudging up a lot of anxiety and imposter syndrome and making her feel like it's all her fault.

And there's nothing worse than feeling like you're suffering consequences for things you aren't even entirely sure you did (or didn't do) in the first place.

Long tangent aside - Apollo is being supportive in the only way he knows how, and Kore is reacting in the only way she's ever known. Both Kore and Apollo have their own issues that they haven't healed from, issues that we'll be unpacking more as the series goes on. Though they both have similar trauma in regards to their past relationships and how they were raised, it's manifested in different ways - Kore is indecisive and terrified of committing to relationships out of fear of ruining them, while Apollo has built a shield of arrogant grandiose around him to prevent him from ever getting hurt again, even if it means looking/acting like an asshole.

This is also, by and large, why I don't make it a matter of "picking sides" when discussing Kore and Apollo. They both have reasons and explanations as to why they are the way that they are. They just aren't capable yet of bridging that gap and meeting in the middle - so it's currently creating a tense, unrecognized standoff between fight and flight.

[cardboardclownery]

CRASHES THROUGH A BRICK WALL

HI HI IM ALIVE!!!! sorry for the relative radio silence on here ;v;

on the topic of that actually!!!! finally have a proper folie a deux au update for you!! though its slightly different than expected?

me and professional buddy and fellow au creator @cookiecaker decided to share a summary of the story we're making for the au beforehand since we'll be taking a whileeee to finish it,,, got a lot of life to live and horrors to create "-v-

after this though you mayyyy or may notttt see some out of order chapter drafts posted for the story as well,,, or atleast one? eh youll see ;Pc

ANYWAYS!!!! this is gonna take a while so lets get on with...

THE FOLIE À DEUX DOAI AU

a summary!!

or story pitch? idk-

(cookie please lemme know if i miss or improperly describe anything here feel free to correct me-)

PART 1

the first three chapters follow alex just after the end of volume 1 as theyre abducted by lankmann and confined to his asylum as a "patient." eventually they get sent to winfrey as food, but winfrey refuses to eat them. theyre left to die in room 66 by lankmann for a Long While, until eventually he gives up and just puts alex back in their room

while alone in confinement, alex starts noticing strange things happening... dark patches start appearing on their skin, they get random pains as if someone were kicking them, and they hear a voice... a much clearer voice than the ones they used to hear while working in the asylum, and it seemed to be able to read their thoughts. though they originally just assumed it was due to being part of their thoughts as well, they find that they start knowing things they had no way of knowing and never learned prior to being confined. when lankmann typically entered room 66, how long hes inside, certain areas of the asylum patients found that theyd never heard of before...

this "voice" managed to help alex find a way to escape, leading to them running away and moving to another, smaller town in eastridge than the one they originally lived in to avoid lankmann's pursuit

PART 2

[ ! tw for cannibalism. yes you heard me- ! ]

so after getting far away from the asylum, alex assumes that their hallucinations and weird symptoms of... Something would wear off, since subject 02 was no where near close enough to affect them

well uh. nope! theyre still there!!

so eventually alex figures out "oh shit that thing is in my head somehow" and is obviously quite concerned!!! to say the least!!!! but theyre also oddly comforted by the idea of having The Voice in their head, since now theyre not entirely alone while on the run and i mean it helped them escape so it cant be that bad?? either way theyre not exactly excited about the whole ordeal and theyre starting to look different and theyre really hungry all the time and its not fun

so! at some point (with winfreys suggestion) alex decides to run off to another town a bit farther away just to be safe. but Uh Oh theyre all out of food!! so theyre extremely hungry, forcing themself through it so they can get food when they arrive but. they see someone in the woods while walking

and for some reason that makes them even hungrier

they try to ignore it and keep walking but they cant

and the next thing they know

theyre looking down at a person

chewing off the flesh on their leg

covered in blood

even after regaining their senses they cant stop themself from eating. it tasted... so good... they were so hungry... they felt awful but it really did taste so s o g o o d .

in a haze, they discard the body, clean themself off and reach the next town. just after unpacking in an apartment, they collapse, flooded with the emotions they fought off on the way there

the next day, alex finally confronts winfrey (or winfreys voice rather-) about all their grievances and they eventually reach an understanding, as winfrey opens up about fearing the outside of the asylum despite longing to escape through alex, so they eventually agree to let winfrey pilot their body for a few days to get a feel for how the world has changed since the time winfrey had been free

in doing so, winfrey realizes how small and helpless humans are in comparison to them and how terrified the patients they devoured mustve been. this allows them to appreciate human life (specifically alex's) much more and want to escaped in their own body to join alex outside and introduce clyde to what they learned after finding it again

while piloting alexs body, winfrey is suddenly forced back into their own after lankmann inflicts enough pain to wake them from the dissociative state that piloting alex left them in. soon after this, winfrey overcomes the fear that was originally keeping them from escaping the facility and breaks out

PART 3

this section is a lot less figured out than the rest so uhh bear with me please ;v;

essentially this couple of chapters just follows alex and winfrey as they get used to life on the run, figuring out where to go from there and how they could potentially find clyde, along with just talking face to face and getting used to that. its a weird feeling talking to someone that you share thoughts with yknow? like talking to yourself but its... not... yourself...

around the start of this section winfrey also expresses that they feel drawn to feminity as a human concept, thus being referred to with they/she from this point on in the story!! transfem winfrey yippee!!! it just makes sense in our head idk-

PART 4

alex and winfrey start noticing news broadcasts and posters asking around for a "dark figure" lurking around, as well as warnings about alex being missing from lankmanns asylum. this fuels alex's paranoia, leading them to seeing lankmanns caretakers everywhere, feeling as if theyre being watched wherever they go... until eventually their home is ambushed and theyre taken back into lankmanns custody

alex is essentially used as bait to get winfrey to come save them from the asylum, since lankmann couldnt find a solid lead on where winfrey could be. alex tries to convince her not to fall for it, since they can both tell this is what lankmanns trying to do, but winfrey eventually caves and breaks back in to help alex, getting trapped inside once again

PART 5

depsite the circumstances, winfrey and alex do their best to stay determined and keep looking for a way out, but they dont make much progress. to make matters worse, lankmann tries "live feeding" patients to alex in the same way he did with winfrey due to realizing that alex has veldigun traits and assuming that theyd have the same appetite as her. this isnt the case, and eventually lankmann switches to dead patients as food for alex, which theyre forced to accept due to lacking any other options

both winfrey and alex are miserable in the situation, the helplessness sinking in fairly quickly as alexs body begins rejecting the growing veldigun portions of itself, decaying under the immense stress

during their final moments, winfrey pilots alexs body to allow an atleast somewhat peaceful death as their consciousness fades away, leaving winfrey alone to reflect on all that had happened...

...and thats the official end of the story!! i had like,, a hypothetical epilogue/alternate ending where lankmann forces a Mind Merge with winfrey somehow and then gets killed and she breaks out again but like. idk the logistics of that are iffy and i kinda prefer the more melancholy end for something like this ":]c

ANYHOW!!!! hope that was!!! something!!!! please feel free to ask questions or provide feedback or anything else im always happy to engage with my fellow freaks (affectionate) :]

ALSO IF YOU MAKE CONTENT BASED ON THIS AU LET ME KNOW I WILL DIE FOREVER alright thats it for real this time- stay safe broskissss BP

[greensparty]

Movie Reviews: The YouTube Effect / Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy / Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

This week I got to review a wide spectrum of cinema:

The YouTube Effect

Let’s talk about what an impressive director Alex Winter has become! Yes, the actor known for The Lost Boys and the Bill & Ted movies, has made a lot of noteworthy work. As far back as the late 80s he directed some music videos for artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube and Extreme. I really enjoyed his 1991 sketch comedy show The Idiot Box when it was on MTV. His 2012 documentary on Napster Downloaded was a deep dive into the file sharing site’s brief but historic run. His 2020 doc Showbiz Kids looked at the ups and downs for various former child actors (read my soundtrack review here). But it was his Frank Zappa doc Zappa, with access to Zappa’s archives, that truly got the attention or critics and Zappa fans (read my review here). Now he has turned his attention to possibly the biggest website on the planet with The YouTube Effect.

movie poster

Prior to 2005 there had been some websites for sharing videos to stream, but the technology wasn’t quite there yet, it was usually buffering and stopping/starting. So three employees of PayPal founded YouTube in 2005. The doc tracks the site’s rise and it looks at various issues that have happened as a direct result of the site, notably the spread of misinformation and how crimes are being live-streamed by criminals. Like everyone, I use YouTube to watch videos and search for things I’m looking for, but the tool can be used for bad in the wrong hands. Unlike Downloaded, Winter didn’t have the advantage of hindsight to look at Napster and say this is what it lead to and influenced. Here he is presenting a ton of problems, but we’re still in the thick of it and we don’t have hindsight just yet. I think maybe some sort of resolve would’ve been more satisfying for the viewer. Having said that, he looked at the platform from a lot of different angles and used a great deal of subjects for insight. I think it’d be cool to watch this one on YouTube just to send a message!

For info on The YouTube Effect: https://www.yteffect.com/

3 out of 5 stars

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

It is impossible to overstate how revolutionary the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy was. The 1960s were one of the most transitional decades ever and to end the decade with an X-rated movie about the friendship between a male prostitute (Jon Voight) and a con man (Dustin Hoffman) and it actually won the Academy Award for Best Picture (the only X-rated film to ever do so) was like the counterculture took over the mainstream for one brief shining moment. The film was a buddy movie about these two unlikely characters who form a bond in the gritty streets of NYC and it was held together by Harry Nilsson’s freewheelin’ country-folk soundtrack. There is so much to unpack within the film itself and sadly screenwriter Waldo Salt died in 1987 and director John Schlesinger died in 2003. But in the new documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, there’s loads of cast members, experts and relatives of the creators to contextualize.

movie poster

Director Nancy Buirski did the great doc By Sidney Lumet about the late great director Sidney Lumet. Here she dives deep and even deeper into the legend of Midnight Cowboy. The doc is not so much about the making-of (although there are some anecdotes) as it is analysis of the film and how it changed the culture. The movie Midnight Cowboy addressed males in addition to females hiring a male prostitute, which was something that was rarely addressed in mainstream cinema at that time. It opened doors for LGBTQ characters and storylines in film thereafter. The doc also gets into how it was rated X at the time of its release and how it would be different today. The MPAA ratings were only formed a year earlier and the homosexual subject matter garnered the X rating. It later got an R rating for it’s 1971 reissue. Today this would not be an X and, in fact, an edited version of it was later broadcast on television. There are also various other anecdotes about Salt and Schlesinger. The doc is analytic and at times almost academic, but the real thing this doc did for me was making me want to go back and re-watch Midnight Cowboy and marvel at it’s powerhouse performances!

For info on DSDCATLOMC: https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/desperate-souls-dark-city-and-the-legend-of-midnight-cowboy

3.5 out of 5 stars

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Based on the 1966-1973 spy TV series, the Mission: Impossible movies have actually gotten better. It’s rare that a series gets better after that many films. The first film kicked off in 1996 with Brian De Palma directing. The plot was a little hard to follow but it had some epic action sequences. As the lead spy Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise has always been trying to one up the last film. 2 was directed by my boy John Woo and had some killer action, but like a lot of these movies the director stays in their lane as they fit into a series. III from JJ Abrams had a tremendous villain with Philip Seymour Hoffman (even cooler that two of the stars of Magnolia were driving the film). Then in the next few films it actually got better and better. Christopher McQuarrie, a gifted writer turned director, brought his story skills to the series. 2018’s Fallout was the best one until now. Who can forget that final action scene of Ethan defusing the bomb? Now McQuarrie is back to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One, which opens this week. I’m going to try my best to describe this movie without spoilers. Ethan has to retrieve the other half of a secret key. There is also a mysterious AI web known as The Entity. Ethan has a new frenemy in Grace, a professional thief. That’s about all I can say without giving more away.

movie poster

Last year’s Tom Cruise vehicle Top Gun: Maverick was co-written by McQuarrie and it was that very rare sequel that exceeded the original. It was a loving tribute to the original but the action and story was even better than the original. This new MI movie is the best one yet. I recommend seeing this in the best projection and sound system possible. Instead of most MI movies where there’s 2 or 3 action set pieces you remember there were countless ones here and it’s just one after another. Again I can’t say much more without spoilers but it’s worth seeing. There’s a Part One in the title so you know the story is going to continue with Part Two due in 2024. Tough act to follow.

For info on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One: https://www.missionimpossible.com/ 

4 out of 5 stars

[buckysmischief]

running in the dark - 2

Bucky Barnes x reader

Alex Summers x reader

Word Count: 2,224

Warning(s): language, drinking & smoking

Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Playlist

“Good morning, gorgeous.” The smell of pancakes and syrup filled your senses, pulling you out of a deep sleep.

Without opening your eyes you eventually spoke up, “Pancakes and pet names won’t fix anything, Alex. How’d you get in anyway?”

“Wanda slammed the door in my face-”

“-as she should.”

“-so I climbed in through the window.” He confessed.”And I’m not sure there is a way to make up for my actions last night, but I overreacted and I’m sorry. There’s no excuse, I’m just a dumbass.”

In all the time you’ve known Alex, he’s hardly apologized, but in no way did that mean he was sincere. “Look you can say whatever you want but actions mean more to me. Be the boyfriend I deserve or just leave. I’m too tired to keep fighting for something you don’t seem to take seriously at all.”

He’s never been the best boyfriend, but he definitely wasn’t the worst - not that that’s saying much. If he wasn’t willing to put in the work, though, then you could live without him.

“I’ll be better, for us. I promise.” You could tell by the look on his face he meant it, or at least wanted to, even his tone was different than the other times.

“Okay, but you really gotta show me this time, and give me those pancakes before I accidentally push you off the bed.”

After you stuffed your face, you let him cuddle with you. It could have been your full stomach, or being wrapped up in your boyfriend, but eventually you fell back asleep.

This was the side of Alex that you wish everyone else could see, the side where he was soft, gentle, and caring. Of course you didn’t want everyone knowing first hand just how comfortable his embrace felt, that was just for you.

You had known him since high school but were never in the same circles, your paths never even crossed unless you were in detention at the same time. God forbid anyone tried to talk in there though, the teacher was a bitch and would add days just because she could. It wasn’t until a few years ago that you met him and started dating.

Well, you ran into each other at a club, talked for a few hours, and ended up half naked in his bed the next morning. Things were very casual in the beginning, well as casual as exclusive fuck buddies could be. About a year and a half ago you both decided to make things official. That’s when things started getting rocky.

He became more jealous, a lot worse than he was the night before, that was something he needed to work on again. A part of you really wanted this to work out, you’d definitely needed to convince your friends to give him another chance but that was for another day.

Much sooner than you would have liked, Alex was pulling you out of your sleep, “Hey princess, you gotta get up. Wanda’s been blowing up your phone.”

“Ugh, I must be late.” you groaned and rolled out of bed, throwing on a pair of leggings and an on band tee.

“For what? I thought you were off today?”

“You remember Leslie, Pietro’s girlfriend? She’s moving in today, and so is Bucky I guess. I told them I’d help unpack and stuff.” You were lowkey expecting him to freak out, but he looked absolutely calm.

“I know I’m probably not welcome, but I can help if y’all need it.” He knew if he was ever going to make it work with you, he needed to have a better relationship with your friends. He’s trying.

“As much as I’d love that,” you say, giving him a kiss, “I think it would be better to plan something ahead of time.”

“We can go to Topgolf, maybe a cookout on the beach?” A part of you was almost suspicious at how different he was acting, you made a mental note to talk to him about it later.

“A cookout would probably be best,” another ding came from your phone, Wanda was outside waiting. “Come on, you can come back over later if you want.”

He stopped you before reaching the front door, pulling you into a kiss with enough passion to leave you breathless and weak in the knees. “Text me when you get home, I love you.”

“I love you too, have a good day babe.”

You could feel Wanda’s eyes on you from the car, silently judging you. “I’m not going to tell you what I’m thinking.” She said, pulling out the driveway.

“Small blessings.” You laughed.

“BUT, that’s because I’ve said it 100 times and I don’t feel like wasting my breath anymore.” She was thinking you were an idiot who deserves better and blah blah blah, and she’s right, but you learned a long time ago that if you couldn’t get over this crush for Bucky then you’d spend the rest of your life settling for anyone who wasn’t him.

That didn’t mean your feelings for Alex were fake or anything - they’re real - they just didn’t compare to how Bucky had made you feel almost your whole life. It didn’t help that all of those feelings came back the second you saw him standing in your living room.

“So how long is Bucky staying with P?”

“Until he finds a place nearby,” she replied, not mentioning the subject change, “he didn’t really have much though so we're really just helping Leslie.”

“So what you’re saying is the boys are going to do all the heavy lifting while the three of us just organize it all?”

“Exactly.”

As Wanda parked next to the curb you could see the boys unloading the U-Haul while Leslie directed them safely in the house.

Her and Pietro have been together for awhile now, no one knows how long exactly because they’re assholes and won’t tell. They said they’ll reveal it on their wedding day, but everyone knows neither of them are the marrying type. You know what kind of people treat their friends and family that way? People that belong together apparently.

“Thank God you’re finally here!” Leslie shouted as she ran from the front patio to hug them both. “What held you up?”

“Someone had an early moring visitor.” Wanda’s voice didn’t show a hint of irritation, but her mean sideeye did.

“Someone’s just mad no one climbed through their window and brought them breakfast.” Truth be told, that comment was kind of mean. Sam, Wanda’s boyfriend, was currently stationed on the other side of the country and she didn’t get to see him a lot. And yes, if he was here she probably would have gotten an entire breakfast platter made for her. But just because you understand her dislike of Alex doesn’t that mean she has to remind you in subtle ways whenever she feels like it.

“Speaking of food,” Pietro interrupts, “is it almost lunchtime? I’m starving.”

“Who are you, Scooby-Doo? You just ate 30 minutes ago.” Leslie laughs.

“I’ll pickup some wings and pizza,” you offer, walking inside the house, “Where’s Bucky? He’s coming with me.”

“Is he?”

“He owes me eight years, he doesn’t have a choice.”

You eventually found him in the back yard, sitting in the sand. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Never,” he smiled, “you can sit next to me you know. I don’t bite.”

“Eight year old me would beg to differ, but I’m good. About to pick up some food, wanna come with?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Nope, come on.”

Wanda called in the order to the pizza place near the boardwalk, so by the time Bucky pulled up there shouldn’t be a long wait. You decided to walk to the ABC store across the street and grab a few bottles of rum and vodka. If they thought there wasn’t going to be some kind of special housewarming party, they were wrong.

Once you got back to the car, Bucky was walking out with three boxes of pizza and three boxes of wings, “I would have asked you if you needed help but I wanted to see if those muscles were just for show.”

“You got the essentials so I’ll let it pass.” He wouldn’t have made you carry anything anyways, not because he was that nice, he just knew you’d drop at least two boxes.

“Oh, the essentials? Those are getting dropped off later.”

“You’re a mess.” He knew exactly what you were referring to and left it alone at that.

When you both got back to Pietro’s, more of Leslie’s things were inside and ready to be put away, but that could wait until after lunch… and maybe a few drinks.

As the day went on, the five of you successfully got everything organized and as a reward to yourselves, you were going to have a bonfire on the beach. A part of you wanted to invite Alex, but you’d see him later. Right now was about hanging out with your friends - and catching up with Bucky.

Pietro brought out two sheets to sit on while Bucky got the fire started, Wanda and Leslie got the drinks and you grabbed some snacks.

And the weed.

“I bought enough to share!” You shook the jar, letting everyone know if they wanted it then they could take it.

Wanda laughed out, “You know Pietro will.”

“That’s because he’s the only one with good taste.” You winked to Leslie.

It immediately - and rightfully - went to her head, “Isn’t that the truth.”

When the sheets were laid out, Wanda, Leslie and Pietro sat on the bigger one with you and Bucky on the slightly smaller one.

At one point in the evening, you tuned the others out and gave your full attention to Bucky. He was filling you in on all the things he didn’t know you already knew thanks to Pietro not knowing how to keep his mouth shut. The only thing you didn’t know was why exactly he pushed you away, just that it had something to do with his ex. Why not find out now?

“So, why didn’t Natasha like me?” It was better to just come right out and ask, no point in holding back now.

Bucky knew he couldn’t tell you the whole truth, but he wasn’t going to lie either. “Nat was - is, definitely still is crazy. I think it was your third break up with Beck, you called in the middle of the night crying and she freaked out after. Said you were “disrespecting” her and a bunch of other ridiculous things.”

“If you knew they were ridiculous then why did it work?” You asked softly, not wanting the others to overhear.

He wanted to tell you that it worked because it seemed like his only escape from you, that maybe a clean break from you was what he needed to really get over you for good. But here he was, all these years later and still hopelessly in love with you.

Again, he chose to tell you half of the truth. “She told me she was pregnant, but I found out she was lying four months later. First thing I wanted to do was call you and apologize, maybe cry a bit, but I was too embarrassed that I did what I did to you..”

“Buck..”

“No, please don’t. I shouldn’t have just cut you out, you didn’t deserve that.”

There wasn’t really anything to say to that, there wasn’t anything you wanted to say to that. Knowing didn’t make you feel better like you thought it would, truth be told it made you feel worse for reasons you couldn’t even admit to yourself. Instead you hit the blunt and silently offered it to him, slightly shocked when he took it.

On the other side of the fire, the twins were wrapped up in their own conversation while Leslie was silently watching you and Bucky through the flames.

“Hey guys,” she whispered to the twins, “did Yn and Bucky ever date?”

“Ew, gross.”

“No, why?”

If a stranger were to walk past and see the way you two were looking at each other, they would probably think you are dating. “Are you both blind? Actually, that’s offensive to the  blind, even they would know what I’m talking about.”

Pietro looked over to see you both laughing and other than you sitting a little close to Bucky, he didn’t see what his girlfriend was talking about, but Wanda did.

Around nine you texted Alex for a ride since everyone was too drunk to drive, Wanda chose to just sleep on her brother's couch instead. Once you were in his car he put your seatbelt on for you, “Someone’s in a good mood.”

“I just missed you.”

“Can I spend the night? I missed you too.” You said, trying to get as close to him as you could.

“Anything you want baby.” He was keeping his eyes on the road, but you didn’t miss the smile on his face.

“Then can we go to Cookout? I’d kill for a milkshake.”

“Already headed in that direction.” It wasn’t a guarantee he was going to change in the long run, but right now he was putting in effort and that’s all that mattered.

perm tags (46/50): @stuckonjbbarnes​ @valkyriesryde​ @hopesbarnes​ @superavengerpotterstar​ @estillion14​ @sleepingspacedragon​ @geeksareunique​ @imsoft-barnes​ @murdermornings​ @distractedgemini​ @screaming-fridge​ @readeity​ @whatinthyworld​ @my-drowning-in-time​ @buggy-blogs​ @hey-its-grey​ @pinknerdpanda​ @brokenthelovely​ @theannoyingnightmarecollector​ @death-unbecomes-you​ @rhymesmenagerie​ @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog​ @https-bucky​ @also-fangirlinsweden​ @goalexis123​ @missmeganrachel​ @sunflowersandcherry​ @miraclesoflove​ @matsumama​ @reann-loves-sebstan​ @thinkoutsidethebex​ @thefridgeismybestie​ @niall2017​ @maddope​ @imagine-all-the-imagines​ @thummbelina​ @m3ga1nsp1r3d​ @romaniansweetheart​ @thebadassbitchqueen​ @king-sebb​ @nerdy-bookworm-1998​ @bonkyboinkybucky​ @slaytherinthoughts​ @kingkassam​ @anti-the-glitch-bitch​ @poppunkdork​

series tags (2/25): @rebekahdawkins​ @writerwrites​

[spencers-dria]

Do You Trust Me?

Someone To Stay Ch. 6

Spencer x fem reader

Y/N POV:

*whack*

You smack your alarm as it goes off for the third time this morning. You look at the clock: 7:15AM. Was it later than you get to sleep in for work? Sure. Did you want to get up this early on your day off? Nope. Between JJ being the planner and Penelope's excitement for the weekend, they had convinced the the group that it would be best to get an early start. It was a several hour drive the to the lake, and they wanted to make the most of our time there.

You roll out of bed and look in the mirror. Sweats and a spaghetti strap tank...this will have to do. You leave your hair in the messy bun that you slept in. Half asleep, you fumble around for some socks and slip on some sandals. A horrific choice you know, but we're going for comfort here, not fashion. It'll be fine. You're not trying to impress anyone, and you'll fix yourself up once you get to the lake. You fully intend to nap part of the way there. You don't even bother to grab breakfast. Instead, you grab your bags you packed the night before and head downstairs. Spencer is probably waiting on you already.

You see him pulling the car up, right on time, as you make your way down the stairs. You slide into the passenger side, setting your bag down in the back seat. Reaching into a road trip bag in your lap, you pull out a blanket and pillow and curl up in your seat.

"Good morning sleepyhead" he chuckles. "Not a morning person, huh?"

You grin. "What gave it away?"

He hands you a paper bag and a coffee cup.

"Don't worry, it's green tea and honey" he reassures you, sensing your hesitation.

"I also got you a bagel."

"I don't know who's been giving you trade secrets but food is really the number one way to win me over." You glance over to see a slight smirk on his face. "How are you so awake? You had time to get ready, grab food, drive to my apartment, and you still seem more awake than I do."

"I'm kind of used to not getting much sleep." He shrugs this off as if it's nothing. You sense he doesn't intend on explaining any further, so you decide not to push him.

"I brought some snacks too. You're welcome to anything you'd like." You pull out a some goldfish, fruit gummies, and Capri suns.

He responds with a laugh.

"Ok you have the appetite of a ten year old."

You feel embarrassed for a moment until you see the smile he's giving you.

"It's cute though."

You find yourself blushing, not used to compliments. "Yeah I guess sometimes I just like to let loose, let my inner child out. Not everything has to be so serious all the time, ya know? What we do, both of us...it's stressful stuff. Sometimes eating whatever the heck I feel like helps with that. If that means chocolate milk and cocoa crispies cereal for dinner then so be it!"

Spencer gives you another smile before holding his hand out. "Alright, you won me over. I'll take a Capri sun."

You can't help but laugh as you watch him try to insert the straw with one hand and drive with the other. After awhile you decide to help him out.

"Here, let me see that." You fix the straw and hand him back the drink. "Goober" you laugh as you rolls your eyes at him.

"So what all are you planning on doing at the lake this weekend?" He asks.

"The question is...what am I NOT going to do?"

"Ugh." He rolls his eyes and laughs. "No fair. You're athletic, coordinated. You can actually do all the fun stuff."

You turn to face him with an incredulous look on your face, jaw dropped. "You're kidding me right? Me? Athletic? That's funny!" You laugh shaking your head. "Nahh I'd say we're on a level playing field. I'm not coordinated at all! I just like go have fun, try adventurous things. Like kayaking, I'm just mediocre but I still love doing it. The only sport I ever did was swimming."

"Ha! You were a swimmer, we're going to a lake, and you think we're on a level playing field?"

"Ok fair enough" you concede. "Will you at least try something new this weekend? Please?" You bat your big brown eyes at him, a technique that rarely failed you.

He feigns a look of annoyance, before a smile finally starts teasing at the corner of his lips. "Alright, alright." He throws his hands up in surrender. "But only if you help me with whatever it is we do. A swimmer and a nurse, you're practically our lifeguard for the weekend. Don't let me drown, ok?" He teases.

"Well since you asked so nicely." You give him a playful punch in the arm as you both laugh.

After a brief moment of silence you hear Spencer speak up. "Did you know that Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, winning 28 medals in total, 23 of those being gold medals? He swam in his first Olympic Games at only 15 years old, and won his first gold medal at 19. And you...already knew this didn't you?" He stops when he sees your eyebrows raised, giving him a slight smirk.

"Yeah Spencer" you smile, shaking your head at him. "I don't mind though. I like hearing all the cool stuff you know."

You spend awhile listening to Spencer talk about everything from Olympic swimming facts to CPR statistics and the origin of the different swimming strokes. A lot of it you don't know already, and you enjoy learning all of this stuff from him. After awhile, you unintentionally drift off to sleep.

He looks over and smiles, he doesn't mind. This happens to him quite often, and the fact that you encouraged him to share his knowledge gives him comfort. He reaches over and pulls the blanket over your shoulders. Hoping to drown out the sound of the highway, he puts on some classical music at a low volume.

You wake up a couple hours later as you hear the loud sound of gravel under the tires.

"Morning sunshine" he grins at you.

"Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't going to make you drive the whole way."

"It's ok, you got your rest. Better you be rested up and have fun today than stay awake just to drive."

"Thanks Spencer." You smile to yourself. He really was very sweet. Good friends are hard to come by, especially ones you can trust that will stick around. You secretly hope that Spencer doesn't plan on dropping you as a friend anytime soon.

You climb out of the car and take a look around. You've arrived at a modest log cabin, sitting right on the edge of the lake. It's surrounded by y'all trees, so thick that you can't see any buildings anywhere else, if there are any. You stand there for a moment taking it all. You lean your head back and close your eyes, enjoying the sounds and smells of nature. It felt like home. You grab your bag out of the backseat and make your way along a dirt path toward the cabin. You stick yourself hand out by your side, brushing the leaves on the trees as you walk by.

"You really are in your element here, huh?" you hear Spencer call out from behind you.

"Oh you have no idea. Just wait till I get in the water" you shout back over your shoulder.

The two of you make your way into what appears to be the common living room. The cabin appears to be completely wooden everywhere, floors, ceilings, walls, beams. There's rustic decor and lots of plaid, but it's done tastefully. It feels so cozy, and you love it.

"Y/N! You made it! We're in here!" You see Penelope's head pop out of a doorway. You enter a room to find two sets of bunk beds. Penelope and Alex have taken bottom bunks. JJ has her stuff placed on the top bunk above Alex. You set your suitcase in an empty corner and throw your pillow on the bed above Penelope. You feel her sneak up and pull you into a tight hug. "Hey bunk buddy! This weekend is going to be so fun!"

"I'm surprised Penny, the outdoors don't seem like your type of weekend."

"Oh don't worry honey! I brought a float with coasters and a tray for the lake! I'll be sipping on wine and tanning all weekend."

"Just make sure to wear sunscreen okay." You give her a nudge and a smile.

"Okay Nurse Y/L/N." She rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Don't worry! I brought enough sunscreen for everyone."

"Haha, of course you did Aunt JJ."

You look over to see her unpacking her suitcase and organizing her things in the drawers and closets. You decide to do the same, that way it will be easier to find all your things later. After you've all finished unpacking, Alex says she's going to take a quick nap. After getting ready in your swim wear and coverups, you, Penelope, and JJ wander over to the guys room to see what they're up to.

You peek in to see Spencer reading on the bunk above Hotch, who appears to be on a FaceTime call with his son, Jack. Rossi isn't in the room. He's probably already started organizing things in the kitchen. Derek looks like he's ready for the lake, already in swim trunks and rubbing on sun tan lotion.

"You need any help with that, hot rod?" Penelope jests.

"You know it mama."

At this response, Penelope runs quickly across to room and helps Derek to finish rubbing in the suntan lotion on his back. She looks to be enjoying it a little too much.

You and JJ stay leaning in the doorway, laughing.

You finally speak up. "I don't know about y'all, but I've been stuck in a car all day! So if you need me, I'll be out at the lake!"

"I'm right behind, ya." JJ turns to follow you.

At this, Spencer finally pops up from behind his book. "Oh umm, we're going outside now? What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet Spencer, come with us and we'll figure it out."

You wait on him while he changes into some swim trunks and a t shirt. He stands in the doorway a bit awkwardly, hesitant to leave the cabin.

"Come on!" You grab his hand pulling him out onto the porch and down toward the lake, following behind JJ, Penelope, and Derek.

When you get to the waters edge, you see the group has already spotted a rope swing. Derek appears to be climbing into a position to jump from. JJ stops him, to test the integrity of the rope first.

Penelope watches as Derek effortlessly climbs up the rocks. "My monkey man" she smirks.

Once JJ seems satisfied that the rope won't break, Derek swings out over the water, doing a back flip before making a splash in the water that sprays everyone watching from the shore. A chorus of groans rings out, half from annoyance at the show off, half from not wanting to get splashed.

You remove your shoes and your coverup as you prepare to get in the water. You can tell Spencer is making a conscious effort to avert his gaze. You blush, suddenly remembering the girls' previous comments about how good you looked in the slick back two piece.

You quickly make your way up the rocks and grab onto the rope as it swings back towards you. Spencer gives you a concerned look.

"Are you sure you want to do that? You could get hurt!" He shouts up at you.

Instead of answering you give him a quick smirk. You back up and get a running start for momentum, holding onto the rope as you swing out over the water. You let the momentum push you out as far as it will take you, as you angle your arms and body to dive deep into the water, just like you used to off the starting block in swimming. As you feel your body dive down into the water, you angle back up and do a quick, few dolphin kicks, propelling yourself much further from the shore. When you finally surface, you're about 20 or so meters from the shore. You see the group staring at where you dove into the water, confused and concerned.

"Over here guys!" You shout at the group to get their attention. They look up to see you much further away than they expected.

"Hey, you weren't kidding!" Spencer laughed.

"We might have to have ourselves a little competition little miss mermaid!" You laugh at Derek's new nickname for you.

You do a few strokes to bring you back to shore as you climb out of the water. You slick your hair back out of your eyes as you wring your hair out.

"Alright Spencer! Your turn!"

You giggle as you grab his hand and drag him towards the rocks.

"Umm yeah this is definitely not a good idea. You clearly know what you're doing, but I will definitely hurt myself. Did you know that drownings are the third leading cause of unintentional deaths?"

"Stop being such a party pooper! Loosen up a bit. Now climb." You cross your arms giving him a look that lets him know you mean business.

"If you fall, your knight in shining armor, Y/N will catch you!" Derek shouts from his spot where he's swimming in the lake. JJ and Penelope are watching from a float shaped like a giant unicorn. Typical Penny.

"Shut up, Derek!" Spencer shouts back at him.

You can tell that he's actually nervous, and not just unwilling to participate, so you decide to climb up after him.

"How about we go together?" You smile at him.

"Can we do that?" He asks, clearly not believing you.

"Yeah! See how there's a plank of wood on the bottom here? There's room for both of us to stand. And then we just hold onto the rope. We'll back up to get some momentum, then right when we get to the edge, we'll hop on the rope ok. But make sure to let go before it swings back towards the rocks."

The look he's giving you says he still doesn't think this will work.

You take his hand in yours, giving it a quick squeeze. "Do you trust me?"

You see the anxiety wash away as he's overcome by comfort. "Yeah, I do actually" he smiles, squeezing your hand back.

"On three okay? One...two...three!"

Before you know it, the two of you are landing in the water. You both come up for air as he starts a splash fight with you. You're both giggling and splashing like little kids, but having the time of your life. You feel water peg you in the back of the head. You turn around to see Hotch and Rossi armed with oversized water guns, peeking out from behind the trees on the shore.

"Hey that's not fair! We're unarmed!" You shout at the two men.

"Come join our team!" Rossi yells back. You and Spencer look at each other confused. You look up to see Alex carrying four water guns out to the water toward Derek, JJ, and Penny.

You and Spencer turn to each other, each with a huge grin. "Oh it's on!" You say.

"It's so on!" he replies before you both make your way onto shore as quickly as possible. Hotch and Rossi hand you each a weapon and the war commences.

After a long fight, the team in the lake finally surrenders. Your team is the clear winner.

"Winner's get dinner first!" Rossi shouts before the four of you make a mad dash for the cabin. You grab your towel, guessing that Alex had laid it out for you, as you see the other ladies' towels laid out as well well. Rossi had the dinner on warmers, so it's all ready for you. As the four of you take your plates full of food to the dining table outside, you pass your opponents. A series of snickers and goofy faces ensues as your team teases them endlessly.

You felt so comfortable around all of them. For people with such serious jobs, they sure do know how to let loose and have fun.

A/N:

I hope everyone is still enjoying it! I know it's a slow burn but it's so cute right 🥰I plan on picking up right where we left off! Please reblog or comment if you liked this chapter! I love hearing feedback!

[hms-chill]

hi!! I’m absolutely obsessed with you Alex and henry fics, you write them so beautifully!! I was wondering... do you have any interest in writing them as parents or becoming parents?? I can totally see them doing it but I would love to see a fic where that’s represented and you seem like the best person to bring it to life!! it’s totally okay if you’re not up to it though, just thought I would ask!!

Thank you so much for this; it activated my intrinsic gay urge to write found families and then consumed me. So, I present:

Found

Quick trigger warning for referenced child abuse linked to homophobia as well as some internalized ableism. Stay safe y'all.

Also, this is set in the future, because these boys need some time to settle before they bring a child into their family.

-

Alex and Henry are just starting dessert, a cake Henry saw on Bake Off and just had to try, when Henry takes a deep breath, sets down his fork, and says, "Alex? Would... I have a rather large favor to ask. It's okay if you say no, in fact, I... I don't even know if it's a totally good idea; I haven't really thought it through, but we..." He sighs, staring at his plate and trying to find the words. Alex frowns slightly, reaching over to take his hand. He rubs his thumb along the back of it, fiddling a bit with Henry's wedding ring, which makes them both smile.

After a moment, Henry takes a deep breath and says, "I was at the shelter today, and this boy came in. He was... he was jumpy, but a lot of them are at first. But he was just scared, and he wouldn't interact with any of the other kids or the staff or anything. I think he said he was eleven; his name's Tano. I... I just wondered if maybe we could host him for a few days? The final draft of my anthology's due next week, so I was planning on being home to work on it anyway, and I was... I just thought maybe some time in a more one-on-one environment would help him relax a bit. You don't have to say 'yes' if you don't think it's a good idea or if you don't want to."

"Yeah, well, I want to say yes," Alex says, and Henry smiles. "He sounds great; I'll go make sure the guest room is ready if you want to do the dishes? Then we can pick him up tonight."

"How did I get so lucky as to have a husband like you?"

"You were a dick to me when we were teenagers and I became instantly obsessed with you. Then you started baking incredible cakes to keep me here."

Henry rolls his eyes, bending down for a kiss as he grabs Alex's dishes and takes them to the sink. Alex comes to kiss his neck from behind, then starts upstairs.

"I'm going to call the shelter to let them know what we're thinking," Henry tells his back, and Alex shoots him a thumbs up. Henry dries his hands off and calls the shelter, letting them know that they should give Tano as much time as he needs to decide and call back when he's ready.

He decides he does want to come stay, so after the dishes are washed and the guest bedroom is ready, Alex and Henry drive to the shelter. Alex keeps drumming his fingers on the steering wheel until eventually, Henry reaches over to lace their fingers together, pressing a kiss to the back of Alex's hand.

"It's going to be fine; you don't have to be nervous."

"I know. I just hope we can help him." Henry nods, smiling slightly. Alex just wants to do the most good they possibly can.

"If it doesn't work out, he'll still know that there are people willing to try for him, though. So either way, this... this could be good, right?"

Alex nods, giving Henry's hand a squeeze. They're at the shelter before too long, parking and walking in. They're greeted immediately, not as a prince and a politician, but as Alex and Henry (or, perhaps more accurately, Henry and Henry's husband. Not that Alex minds one bit). The kids are all happy to see them, and Alex catches a few beaming at their clasped hands. He just smiles to himself, remembering how it felt to see Rafael Luna and his boyfriend together in public for the first time. He presses a kiss to Henry's cheek, just to show the kids they can, and he watches a few more smiles break out as kids realize that this is something that's okay; it's something they can have someday.

When they get to the main office, Henry goes to sign some papers while Alex goes to talk to Tano. He's sitting in a chair with a battered Power Rangers backpack beside him, legs swinging. He looks up when Alex comes over, then down again almost immediately.

"Tano? Hi, I'm Alex. Henry and I are really looking forward to having you stay with us for a bit."

"Thank you. You don't have to."

"I know. We want to." He holds out a hand, either to shake or to help Tano off the chair, but Tano flinches back. Alex swears, then slaps his hand over his own mouth. "Tano, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry; I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm so sorry. I'll be more thoughtful next time. I... if you still want to come with us, I swear I'll do better."

"I... I do. It's okay. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry."

"I got paperwork signed," Henry says, coming over to join them. "It's good to see you again, Tano. I think we're all set to go." Tano stands, grabbing his bag.

"I like your backpack," Alex says, trying again.

"Thanks." Tano looks like he might be considering saying something more, but they're out of the office now, and he instead resorts to trying to keep tabs on everything happening around them, wide eyes flitting around the room and from person to person. Alex decides not to push it, and they're quiet until they get to the car. Henry makes sure Tano's seatbelt is buckled, then asks if he wants to tell them anything about himself or where he's from.

"Puerto Rico, until I was five. Then Manhattan. My... my dad moved us after my mom died because his family is from Wisconsin."

Henry only gets a shrug when he asks if Tano likes Manhattan, so he switches topics, asking instead what Tano likes to do. He shrugs again. "I like to read, I guess. My dad said I had to so I'd be smart and do well in school and get a good job. He says it's harder for people like us to get jobs here."

Alex and Henry exchange a look. When Henry asks what kinds of books Tano likes, he doesn't get much of a response, so he lets it drop and they pull up to the house in silence.

"Tano, I don't know if they told you, but we have a dog named David. He's... he's kind of old now, and he's not a big dog, so he shouldn't run or jump on you or anything like that. But we can still put him in our room if that would make you more comfortable," Alex offers, but Tano shakes his head.

"It's okay." Tano climbs out and follows Henry inside, Alex bringing up the rear. David comes to greet them, and Henry bends to rub his ears and distract him for a minute while Alex offers to show Tano to his room. Tano looks a bit surprised, but he follows Alex up to the guest bedroom.

"I'm sorry it's not super personal; it... it's a guest room, but we can make it better for you soon, okay?"

"Thank you. You don't have to."

"It's no problem, and if... if you want to personalize it a bit, Henry or I would both be really happy to help. We'd both do we can to make you more comfortable," Alex says, showing Tano the bathroom. Tano just nods, and Alex leaves him to get unpacked with an invitation to join him and Henry in the living room if he wants to later. He doesn't come down, but when Henry checks on him before they go to bed, he's asleep.

The next morning, Alex leaves for work before Tano gets up. Henry brings his laptop to the kitchen to work, so he's there when Tano comes down, and they get to eat breakfast together. Part way through scrambled eggs, Tano asks, "Could you... sorry, could you move your hand?"

"I'm afraid you'll see me chew."

"That's okay. I just... I need to read your lips."

"You need to... Tano, are you deaf?"

"No! No, I'm... I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. I can hear people talking to me, I just... I can't always make out the words, if it's loud especially, and they're doing work outside and that makes it harder. Lip reading makes things easier sometimes, but I... I'm normal, I swear."

"Okay. If... if you want to get your ears checked, we can, but you don't have to."

"But I'm... I'm normal. There's nothing wrong with me."

"I know; there's nothing wrong. But maybe a doctor could make things a bit easier for you.”

“I’m okay. I’m not... not sick or... I don’t need a doctor.”

“Alright. I was saying, maybe we could take David for a W-A-L-K later if you’d like.”

"I'd like that. He's a good dog."

“He is a good dog. He’s getting up there a bit in years though; we were thinking of looking into adopting a younger one soon. Alex wants us to get a lab or a golden retriever, but I’d lean a bit more toward another smaller dog. We travel a lot, since our families don't live in the city, and I can't imagine bringing a golden on a plane or train somewhere.”

"Are... are planes fun? I've never flown. Except when I was five, I guess, but I don't remember much except the peanuts."

They talk about flying, and Henry makes sure to keep his mouth visible. On their walk, he turns toward Tano whenever he has something to say, just in case Tano needs to read his lips. He notices him peeking sometimes, but he doesn't comment.

It's Tuesday, which means it's Bake Off night, which typically means Alex and Henry are cuddled up in front of the TV with hot drinks and a bowl of popcorn. This week, Tano joins them, and Henry casually makes sure they have subtitles available. Tano says he likes the show, though he slips off to bed after it's over, leaving Henry and Alex downstairs together. Henry explains what he's learned about Tano's hearing, and Alex nods, already starting to think of ways they can help.

When they check on Tano before bed this time, he's awake, and he flinches back when they open the door to peek in.

"I'm okay. Don't... don't come in." He sounds like he's been crying.

"Tano? Is everything okay, buddy?" Alex asks.

"I'm fine. I... I don't need anything. I'm fine. Don't... don't come in. I don't need you."

"Okay, well, we... we're just down the hall if you do. We want to help if we can. Goodnight," Henry says, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder and pulling the door closed. Alex looks ready to go into the room anyway to try to rescue Tano from whatever's upset him, but that will only make things worse.

"Hen, I... he needs us," Alex protests softly, but Henry shakes his head.

"He said he doesn't; we have to trust him if we want him to trust us."

Alex sighs, clearly wanting to go help but letting Henry's warning sink in.

"I... I guess. I just want to make things better for him."

"I know. And I love you for it."

They go to bed, and the week goes on. Sometimes Tano has nightmares, sometimes he's asleep when they check on him. Slowly, they start to see the eleven year old boy emerge from behind the layers of fear. When they get in the car about a week after he's come to stay with them, Henry hands him the Spotify app and he finds an album for them to listen to that's not in Henry's saved music. That's reason enough for Henry and Alex to have an excited conversation that night. They go to the library, and when Henry suggests they read a book together, Tano picks one out. Not long after, he's making comments on Bake Off contestants, mentioning which bakes look good. When he agrees that trying to make shortbread together would be fun, Alex feels his heart leap.

Things change a bit when Henry's publisher calls him back to England for a press tour. They'd known this was coming, but somehow, Alex had thought that maybe Tano would be gone by now. Maybe things wouldn't have worked out, or he'd have wanted to go back to the shelter to be with kids his own age. Instead, he's just getting used to the routine, and now it's changing. Alex takes time to work from home, but things still feel off until the night after Henry leaves.

Alex isn't sure what time it is when he hears the office door open, but he knows it’s late. He turns to see Tano in the doorway, shrinking back almost immediately.

“Tano? It’s okay; what’s up, bud?”

“I’m fine. I’m... I... the light was on, so I thought maybe... I... I had a dream you were gone. Both of you. I just... just wanted to make sure. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Nothing to be sorry for. I used to just stand in my dad’s kitchen and eat ice cream in my boxers when I couldn’t sleep, so this... I’d much rather this than that.” Alex chuckles a bit, and Tano smiles, glancing up at him for a moment. He still looks a bit scared, so Alex asks, “Want to hang out for a bit? We don’t have to, but we could read or watch something until you’re tired again.”

It takes a minute, but Tano nods. “I... can you... is it okay if we read without Henry?”

“I’m sure he won’t mind. He did this to himself, getting a British publisher. Come on, let’s get you back to bed and I’ll start the next chapter.” Tano smiles again, just a bit, as Alex gets up and comes over. He offers his hand, and Tano takes it slowly, though he holds on tight. He always seems so much older than he is, but as David joins them on their way to his room, Alex realizes all over how young eleven really is.

“You... if you don’t want to read, you don’t have to,” Tano says as they reach his room. Alex shrugs.

“I’d like to, if you want company for a bit. I... honestly, it’ll probably help me sleep, too. I don’t usually... I don’t sleep as well when Henry’s gone.” It feels embarrassing to admit it, but Tano has to hide a smile that spreads automatically across his face.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t mean... just, you really love him, don’t you?”

“I love him so much. More than... more than I ever thought I could. And I’m so proud of him, too... he’s the most incredible person I know, he really is.” Tano’s smile has grown a bit, and he doesn’t look as worried anymore. Alex smiles, making sure he’s all tucked in. He reaches for their book, but Tano stops him.

“If... if you want, if you’d rather, we... we could save it, and you could tell me some more about Henry. If you want. I... I've never heard about a couple like you before.”

“Alright,” Alex says, smiling. “I always like talking about Henry. Did you know we only got together because of his brother’s wedding?”

Tano shakes his head, so Alex starts on the story of how he and Henry got together. The cake, the turkeys, all of it. Tano falls asleep just before he gets to their first kiss, and Alex takes a moment to just look at him, this tiny boy who’s been through so much and is still here, who’s just starting to get better. It’s five AM in London, so he opts to text on the off chance Henry is sleeping in: “Tano had a nightmare, but he came to find me!!!” “Get him settled again. We (all three of us) miss you.” “I miss you the most. Love you.”

His phone is ringing as soon as he sends the last text, and he grins. Henry.

"Hi."

"Alex, hi. You said Tano had a nightmare? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He... he dreamed we were gone, but then he came to find me. He didn’t just hide; he came and told me and then we calmed down together. He asked if we could read, but I ended up telling him about how we got together instead. He asked for that; I told him I don’t sleep as well when you’re gone and he asked. I’m just... I’m so proud of him. for asking for help and telling me what was wrong and everything.”

"I'm proud, too. He's come so far. I'm so sorry I missed it; I wish I could be there."

"How's London?"

"It's... you know. Bea's been wonderful; got to get dinner with her and her boyfriend last night. She and mum both say they miss you."

"I miss them, too. And you. You more than them, if I'm honest."

"I miss you, too. You should get some rest; it's late there. I love you. Tell Tano I love him, too, will you?"

"Of course. Love you."

Alex hangs up and gets ready for bed, and even as he misses Henry, he knows he'll be home soon.

-

They meet Henry at the airport when he comes home, and Alex wraps him in a massive hug the second he's off the plane. Henry hugs him back, laughing as he plants a kiss on Alex's forehead, then turns to Tano and says, "I've got a hug for you if you want it, and I've talked to the pilot. He's agreed to take the three of us up for a quick flight around the city if you want. We don't have to, but you said you don't remember flying, so I thought you might want to give it a shot."

Tano nods, his eyes wide, so they pile into the plane. Tano gets buckled into a window seat, and he spends the whole time with his eyes glued to the window. The pilot invites them up to the cockpit, and Tano gapes at all the buttons and switches, then out at the panoramic view of New York City spreading out below them.

"It's... it's so pretty. And there's so much of it, but it all looks so small."

Alex feels an arm around his shoulders, and he leans against Henry, smiling as they watch Tano talk to the pilot. He's happy, and their little family is together, and right then, Alex makes a decision.

That night, he rolls over in bed to ask, "Hen? I know we said Tano was only going to be here for a bit, but I... I love having him here. I really, really love it. Like... more than anything we've ever done. Do you think he could stay? I don't want the other kids to feel like we're picking favorites or anything, but he... I don't think he'd like it there. He's just started coming out of his shell here; I don't want him to go back and be scared. Plus, he can't hear as well when there's background noise, and that's just a noisier place because there are so many people. And a lot of the kids there are older than he is; he'd be there for a long time and that can't be good. I've got an outline of a powerpoint for reasons he should stay that would put my mom's work to shame, but really, I just... I love him so much. And it feels right to have him here. It feels right to have him as part of our family. I... I want so badly to have him move in with us for real.”

“I want that, too. I know we haven’t really talked about kids, but I...”

“We’re talking about them now, and the answer is yes. Absolutely, we want at least one kid, and his name is Tano.”

Henry laughs at that, burying his face in Alex’s chest for a moment. He can hear Alex’s heart speed up just a bit; Alex loves it when he does this. Henry’s personal theory is that it makes Alex feel tall, but he wouldn’t necessarily say that out loud. Out loud, he says, “What if... I don’t want to spring this on him. Do you think we write a letter? Tell him we’ve loved having him here and ask if he wants to stay?”

"I think that's a great idea."

The next morning, Tano finds a letter outside his room.

“Dear Tano,First off, we love you. We’ve both loved having you stay with us, and we are so, so proud of you. You’re an amazing kid, and it has been a joy to get to know you over these past few weeks.

We’re writing this as a letter to give you time and space to think about it, but we were talking last night, and if you’re willing, we’d like to move toward adopting you officially. We love you so much, and we want you to be part of our family. It’s alright if this isn’t something you want, but we would be honored to adopt you if you’ll let us.

Again, we both completely understand if you’d rather we not move forward with things. We’re honored to have been a part of your life no matter what, and we’re happy if things stay the same or if you’d like to go back to the shelter. Your happiness is what matters the most to us.

We’ll give you time to think this morning, but we’re in the office if you’d like to talk. We love you,Alex & Henry”

He finds them in the office, each with a mug in hand. Alex has his feet draped across Henry's lap, and they're talking easily. It feels strange to knock, but Tano does, and they both turn to him with smiles.

“Hey, Tano. How’d you sleep?” Alex asks.

“Good. I... I got your letter. And... yes. If you’re sure, I... I want to... to do it. Please.”

Alex beams, swinging his legs off Henry’s lap and setting his coffee aside. “Tano, can I... is it okay if we hug you?”

Tano nods, and a second later, Henry’s scooping him into a big hug. Alex joins in after a bit, and someone’s crying. Alex definitely is, but Tano’s surprised to find tears in his eyes, and he looks to see Henry crying, too.

“I’m so proud of you, and I love you so much,” Henry tells him. “I’m so glad we get to bring you into are family.”

“You... you really want to adopt me? You want me?”

“Absolutely. We love you a ton, Tano. I mean, not to expose him, but Alex has your picture as his home screen and carries it in his wallet. He has since that first night we watched Bake Off together."

“We love you so much,” Alex says. “I’m... Henry’s sister said when he was in London, you were all he could talk about. We’re so proud of you, and so happy to know you and be part of your life. Of course we want you to come stay with us and be part of our family.”

Tano smiles up at them. They go down for breakfast, and part way through, Tano says, “I... I think maybe, if it’s okay, I’d like to... to see a doctor about my ear? I... only if it’s not annoying you. But my dad hit me a while ago, and it... my hearing changed. I can still hear; I’m not... not broken or anything, but it’s different, and I just... before you adopt me, maybe we should see what’s wrong with me. Just in case.”

“We... we’d actually talked about that a bit, and we thought it might be easier to get you on our insurance than it would be to get you registered for Medicaid, especially if we're just going to switch you over to ours soon anyway,” Alex says, glancing between Henry and Tano. “It... if you’re sure about adoption, it would mean waiting for that paperwork to go through and everything, but it... ours might be a bit faster and have higher premiums and things.”

“But what... what if they find out I’m broken? Don’t you want to know that before?”

“It won’t change who you are. You’ll still be you, just maybe with a hearing aid or something,” Alex says, shrugging. “We love you for you, not because we think you’re some perfect kid or anything.“

Tano feels tears prickle in the back of his eyes and looks down. He’s hoping Alex won’t notice, but of course he does. “Oh no; did I... it’s okay. I’m... if you don’t want to move so fast that’s okay. We can do it before.”

“No, it’s not... I thought... you still want me if I’m broken?”

“Oh, Tano, of course we do,” Henry says, gently pulling him in for a hug. “Partial deafness doesn’t mean you’re broken, but we love you and want you no matter what.”

“We love you for you, buddy. No matter what,” Alex says, coming to hug him from the other side.

Tano sniffles a bit, then says, “It... it might take me a little while to believe you.”

“Mate, it took Alex like five bloody years to realize I loved him. I can wait,” Henry says, and Tano laughs.

By the next day, they’re sitting down with one of Alex’s lawyer friends to draw up adoption papers. The shelter had reached out to Tano’s dad, and he’d told them he didn’t have a son anymore. Tano doesn’t need to know that. All he needs to know is that he now has two dads who adore him and are already working to get him fully brought into their family.

They both get paternity leave from work to help Tano get settled, so a week later, they’re at the audiologist. Tano gets called into a listening booth, and Alex can barely sit still.

“He’s going to be fine,” Henry says, his hand moving to Alex’s bouncing knee. Alex sighs.

“But what if he’s not? What if he’s scared? Or... or what if they do something mean to him? What if they hurt him?”

“Alex. It’s an audiologist’s hearing test. There’s nothing to hurt him.”

“But what if he’s scared?”

“He’s been through much harder things than this.”

“Yeah, but that was before we could protect him. Now he’s ours; what if something— he’s coming. Oh no, Hen, he’s upset.” Alex holds out his arms, and Tano shuffles into them, but he doesn’t move to hug back. After a second, Alex pulls away to ask, “Tano? What’s wrong, bud?”

“They... I didn’t do well. They didn’t say anything, but they were disappointed. I could tell. I’m sorry. I... I wanted to be normal and whole for you, but I... I’m not.”

“Tano, bud, look at me, please? You are absolutely perfect for us just the way you are.”

“We love you for you,” Henry adds, and a tiny smile appears on Tano’s face as he looks between them.

“Thank you. I... I’m glad I get to be with you.”

This time, when Alex hugs him, Tano hugs back. Tano gets a hearing aid a week later, and the first place he wears it is to the animal shelter, where they’re going to pick a puppy. Alex and Henry have been thinking about it for a while, and it feels right to let Tano pick one out as a reward for his bravery at the audiologist.

They walk into the dog room, and Tano almost immediately makes his way toward a cage. The dog inside, a little jack russel, is sitting still, wagging its tale with a big smile. Tano sticks a hand in carefully, and it licks him, but it doesn’t jump or bark.

“What’s their name?” Tano asks the volunteer, and she smiles.

“That’s Freddie. He was rescued from a bad owner about a month ago; we’re looking for a quieter home for him.”

“Can I play with him?”

“Of course.”

She slips into the kennel to put a leash on Freddie, and then comes out to hand it to Tano. He takes it, then sits on the floor as Freddie comes out of his cage and straight to Tano’s lap. He climbs in, reaching up to lick Tano’s face, and Tano beams. Alex snaps a picture.

A few hours, a few signed forms, and Tano’s approval later, that picture is up on Alex’s Instagram:

“When I said marriage papers were the most important thing I’d ever sign, I didn’t know I’d be lucky enough to get to sign adoption papers. Henry and I are overjoyed to welcome these two into our family.”

That night, part way through the final of Bake Off, he looks over to the end of the couch to see Tano and Freddie curled up together. Henry is leaning against him, David's head in his lap. Alex lets out a quiet, contented sigh, then says, "I love y'all. I'm glad we found each other."

Tano smiles at him from across the couch, and Henry leans up to kiss his cheek, and Alex's heart is so full he thinks it might burst. He knows it'll still be hard; there will be nightmares and insecurities and all sorts of things to sort through. But there will also be new friendships and exciting road trips and quiet nights on the couch, and they can make it through anything as long as they have moments like this to come home to.

On AO3

Notes:

Sorry to have disappeared for a bit; I had a bunch of research to do for Real Life Things. But! In that research, I found a Puerto Rican boy named Tano who lived on the streets of New York's Greenwich Village in the 1960s. We know infuriatingly little about him, but one of the things we know is that he met a bad end with the mafia, so I wanted to sort of... honor him I guess? I don't know; he deserved so much more than he got and I had this prompt sitting in my inbox, and I started thinking about what could have happened to Tano if he was born fifty years later in the good timeline. Also, there's no evidence that the real Tano was deaf/Deaf, but I can't resist the opportunity to add disabled representation to things.-On a more positive note, this fic sparked a whole lot of ideas about what an obnoxious, aggressively loving dad Alex would be. He'd be at every poetry reading/band concert/track meet/soccer game/whatever, cheering the loudest, maybe with a sign. It would be awful but Tano would secretly love it. Also, I like to think they'd learn sign language/get involved in Deaf culture, and Alex would be obnoxiously supportive of that.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Alright 5x19 let’s DO THIS.

(Warning: This will probably be long.)

WE BEGIN...by visiting Leviathan’s underground speakeasy.

The shot of Lex in the glow of the Kryptonite is great, 15/10 iconic Kryptonian Killer.

But SPEAKING of things that are green and bad...Gemma’s outfit is stage magician meets Mera from Aquaman and WAIT, WAIT, I’m just now remembering that the character in the comics was linked to Atlantis. Is that why they’ve gone with a green motif for her all season?

Probably not. Either way, still gives me knockoff Mera vibes. (*whispers quietly* I don’t like Mera’s outfit either.)

(I’m reading the Wikipedia entry for Gamemnae and did you know: she was exiled from Atlantis for being blonde?)

Anyways!

That’s just a very long-winded way of saying that the costume is kind of a weird choice.

Then we’re back in Kara’s loft and finally, FINALLY...someone tells Lena that there are BIGGER FISH, STOP REMINISCING.

And then the Superfriends arrive on the scene and they are ready to throw down.

Honestly same bro, same.

Also M’GANN IS ON THE TEAM I love it please, SG, please, hire Sharon Leal full-time. 

What is the current door-kicking tally--how many front entrances have the Danvers girls destroyed?

“Well the joke’s on Rama Khan and his big dumb gladiator outfit because I already defeated him once.” THIS. IS. WHAT. I. HAVE. BEEN. SAYING.

THE COSTUME IS SILLY AND NOT IN A FUN WAY.

Leviathan just has terrible fashion sense, is basically the theme of this season.

Oh my gosh M’gann being the one to suggest the multiple Karas and the WINK I love her, I love her so much.

PLEASE NOTE: That J’onn was like ‘the skirt is surprisingly comfortable’ but his response to the pants is, ‘they’re gonna chafe.’ 

J’onn J’onzz, Skirt Supporter. 

Then the Alex suit reveal and ooof, ooooof, probably the wonkiest of the scenes, unfortunately. (Can’t decide if I appreciate the effort of the CGI Alex or if it’s simply too uncanny valley.)

Also, put a pin in the Alex suit reveal. We’ll circle back to it.

(Oh wait and also: Kara’s scream and J’onn’s reaction all A+.)

Breaking chronological order here to just touch on the highlights and maybe discuss particular chunks in detail SO...let’s get right toooooooo....

Rooftop scene with Alex and M’Gann! Nice! But also I was like, ‘Alex just...has a bazooka? ...Yeah that tracks.’ And then I remembered that she has the martian weapon...honestly kinda prefer my accidental headcanon that she just owns one. 

Then back to Lena and Kara and we’ve come full circle because folks...they figuratively flew to Luthor-Corp...on a bus.

Oh if only that was the actual goal of this entire plot. I would applaud it.

SG writers, always: REAL threats come in groups of THREE.

I actually don’t mind it. They aren’t given a big introduction and amount of screen time, so it’s pretty unobtrusive. 

Then we get a Luthor-Corp lab scene AND a good look at Alex’s suit so LET’S CHAT.

Okay first and foremost: not opposed to vigilante Alex! Especially if it means she can work with Kara a bit more directly.

Love the color scheme! Love the hood! Love that the boots are no longer the stealth wedge heel but are just...heels. Good, yes, good! Also love that you can see it’s basically built on top of her DEO suit which totally makes sense, as...I guess Alex is building the suit mentally, not physically, technically, but she’d still be using stuff she’s familiar with to put it together in...her...mind?

I also think the top portion sits better than the DEO suit, which had that awkward...square-ish portion that covered the front of the torso.

But hmmmmmm the eye makeup is...a statement. 

Confused as to why they didn’t go with a domino mask...maybe it was an actor comfort thing but HMMMMM not my personal favorite, admittedly. (Also don’t love the lace up look on the front portion but that’s because it’s reminding me of some of the terrible costumes from Arrow.)

And then the hair clip, which. Okay. As someone who has been struggling to find a way to pull back short hair during this time of no haircuts...can’t be mad about it.

In fact, catch me over here, taking notes.

Alright, costume rambling OVER sorry for the tangent but, you know. New super suit, it’s always exciting. 

I like that Kara had to deal with not being able to be out fighting the threat! That’s a good bit of character stuff there.

“William went after Eve ALONE?!?!?” “No super hearing!” 

“Please, be careful.” “You know me.” “Yeah, exactly, that’s what I’m worried about.” And then a HUG and they’re just the best.

 Dunno if I’ve mentioned it yet but I love the effects they use for Gemma’s ‘true form.’ Very cool and creepy.

Does Andrea just...not question Gemma’s evil villain outfit...or...?

Much like Alex’s super suit we’re puttin’ a PIN in the Brainy plot we’ll get there but FIRST...

THE KARA AND LENA CONVERSATION.

Do I think it should’ve come earlier in the season? Yes! Do I care at this point? ...Okay, still yes! But that’s another pinned point I’ll get back to, right now let us just bask in the beauty that is specifically, verbally laying out all the CRAP Lena put Kara through, and Kara making sure Lena understands THAT is what hurt her, not ‘working with Lex.’

“You never understood.” BINGO. “I know I hurt you by waiting so long to tell you my truth but what about all the ways you hurt me?” EXACTLY. 

“I made one mistake, one mistake that was only ever meant to protect you and in return, all you did was hurt me in every way imaginable.”

Then Lena finally apologizes. For, you know, the stuff that was actually upsetting Kara. So. We got there. ...Eventually.

Then it’s off to save William and he’s talking down Eve! We love a noble journalist.

Kara cauterizing the bullet wound and William being like ‘DO IT no wait DON’T DO IT’ and Kara’s just like, ‘TOO LATE, IT’S DONE.’

RETURN OF THE POWER RANGERS SUIT NICE.

And theeeeen a lot of scenes that are fine but it’s mostly just legwork to get us to the bigger parts of the episode sooooo we’re jumping to...

Andrea! Pleasantly surprised with her part in the action of this episode. Had that nice moral conflict we saw in the front half of the season. It’s a little crammed in here, at the last minute, but. Still enjoyed seeing it.

A personal quibble on the visuals: I prefer the simple elegance of the season one hope speech, (Just a lone camera, in a rundown radio station XD) but I understand they had to convey ‘scale.’ Still think it’s a little much.

Oh man, totally forgot to mention, loved Nicole’s line read for, “Maybe you should’ve been meaner.” It was GREAT.

So there’s the fight against Rama Khan and his buddies, and Kara’s trying to talk people out of a MMORPG, AND Andrea shows up ready to kill somebody. 

The drama! The suspense!

THE SCORE.

I have another quibble with the cutting back and forth on the hope speech and it’s largely to do with perhaps inadvertent implications regarding who has to grow from pain and what pain in particular, but that might just be a ‘me’ thing, reading the scene a particular way, so I’m just gonna move on and say LOVE TO SEE A HOPE SPEECH.

Also:

Supergirl: “I believe in you.”

The VR peeps and us, the audience:

Alright time to talk about BRAINY.

Admittedly haven’t loved double agent Brainy, which felt more like a, ‘let’s add some drama’ move than anything else.

I do still stand by my assessment that Brainy being a few steps behind Lex made sense given his distress re: Nia and the Superfriends.

But also...was a little wild, IMO, that he didn’t have...some way to at least circumnavigate the radiation shield? Or at the very least limit it.

But again. DRAMA.

All that said...wow. Loved the two Brainys at the end, there. Genuinely touching.

“Will you stay with me?” “Till the very end.” 

BRAAAAAAAIIIINNNNNNNNY.

How do you make another Luthor reveal work when you ALREADY pulled the, ‘It was Lex all along!’ like, twice before?

You MAKE IT LILLIAN.

Like, dang it, I enjoyed it. How dare you, SG.

But THAT’S IT. NO MORE SECRET LUTHOR REVEALS. 

The terminator look and death shriek for Gemma was fittingly creepy very nice.

But also WOW, she never interacted with Kara. I am DISAPPOINTED. 

So anyways, that second Lena and Kara conversation! 

It was fine. It’s fine. This is fine. It’s...it’s fine.

(Except that it highlights a problem with the way this whole thing was set up and it’s not something unique to SG! It’s a problem I’ve noticed with a lot of redemption arcs--which seem to be all the rage, as of late--and that is a disproportionate amount of bad things done by the one character, and putting off the turn until like, the last possible minute to increase the drama factor and thaaaaat...is not a super satisfying conclusion because it’s a HUGE amount of build up for a relatively small pay off. Like, as Kara is listing the stuff that Lena’s done, it’s kind of a stark reminder that Lena physically and emotionally hurt Kara on purpose which. Is a glaring red flag. That’s the kind of thing that needs to be unpacked, maybe! Given some space!

Which isn’t to say that characters should never be forgiven, or that they need to be excessively punished. It just needs time. So saving the ‘redemption’ part for the very end where the characters NEED TO BE HEROES RIGHT NOW IN ORDER TO HELP OUT it’s...hmmmmmm. Too rushed.)

AND SO, SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS, THE SEASON FINALE, AND THE SEASON AS A WHOLE:

Wow but I did not like the focus on Lena. Not fun. No thanks.

Which is only made worse by the trashfire that is the SG fandom. 

Loved the moments of growth and agency for Kara, though. 

Loved the big crossover! It kinda made for a wonky set up of Earth-38 plot vs. Earth Prime plot but honestly anything the writers set up in the front portion of the season was going to be at the very least interrupted, if not completely derailed simply given the nature of what they intended to do with the merging of the earths.

Like give me SG’s approach to handling the front half of the season over Flash’s any day. 

Still too many characters! Still too much plot! Still weird pacing issues! XD

Forget it, Jake, it’s Supergirl.

Oh, honorable mention: The handling of Kelly! She was integrated so well into a nice intersection of plot points and characters that when she’s there to hack into the Obsidian stuff in the finale it’s like, ‘well naturally she’d be here.’ EXCELLENT WORK. 

William and Andrea win ‘most improved over their intensely unlikable introductions.’

To be clear: I liked this season finale! And the fact that it all came together as well as it did is a testament to the skill of all the folks involved, considering the awful extenuating circumstances.

Though, upon further introspection, I think I really do dislike the CGI Alex. Too far into the uncanny valley, sorry. 

IN CONCLUSION: Very, very sad that it’s gonna be a whole year, or possibly longer, before we get new SG content but, glad that the actors will have a little more time off than they usually might, and I’m all for holding off the production as long as possible, in order to keep folks safe.

WHAT are Lex and Lillian up to, like, specifically, and WHAT is Alex’s superhero name??? WILL the folks in charge of the new Superman show remember that it’s a Supergirl spinoff?!??! Find out NEXT YEAR only on SUPERGIRL! (And Superman & Lois!)

EDIT: I used the word ‘quibble’ twice which feels like one time too many, but also it IS a fun word to say. ‘Quibble.’ Ha. XD

[team-science-mega-nerds]

Fictober Prompt: “You keep me warm”

Fandom: Supergirl

Pairing: Alex x Sam

This isn’t her first choice. In fact, this isn’t even her last choice. Sam hadn’t really considered the idea at all until she’d heard that the vet’s office was all filled up on slots for the weekend and Sam would have to pay $75 more a night, just to board her pup at someplace fancier. It’s not that she doesn’t love her little guy more than anything in the world, but she barely had enough money to get home and go to her aunt’s funeral, she certainly couldn’t afford this. 

And then it hits her. Literally, as it turns out.

Her neighbor is heading toward the apartment right across the hall from Sam’s and bumps right into Sam’s side with a homf. “Ohmygod!” Sam’s eyes widen when she sees that her neighbor, Alex, is carrying a large 3D printer. “Sorry,” Alex mumbles as she struggles to open her door while also balancing the printer. 

“Oh. Hi. Do you need…?” Sam reaches for Alex’s keychain and sees that there are about fifty keys on the ring. “Jesus.”

“Yeah, I work in a lab. Lots of hush-hush stuff. It’s the small gold one,” Alex points out. Sam finds the key and opens the door for Alex. While Alex waddles her way into her apartment - which is a surprising mix of eclectic trinkets, bold colors, and three different coffee makers - Sam gets an idea. 

“Hey, are you busy today slash tomorrow?” Alex puts the printer in the corner of the room and turns toward Sam with something that resembles suspicion in her eyes. “I...so my aunt’s dead.”

“Oh god.”

“Her funeral is tomorrow and I need to...but then there’s my dog and I kinda need someone to…” Sam runs her fingers through her hair. “Do you mind watching him for two days? I’ll pay you and he’s really good. Like really good. But needy. Like mother like doggo,” Sam pauses for a laugh, Alex continues to look slightly confused. “I can pack up everything and write what he needs, it’s just-.”

“Say no more. I love dogs.” Sam doesn’t exactly know that she can trust Alex but she knows that Alex organizes game nights at the apartment complex. And that she seems to have a stable - probably very weird too - job. But Sam doesn’t have much of a choice. Alex is so eager and happy when Sam brings her dog over that she thinks it just might work. 

“Um, I should give you my number. Just in case. I mean...nothing will go wrong, obviously, but...just in case.” They exchange numbers while Sam’s dog walks around Alex’s apartment smelling everything. Sam gives Alex a warm smile, kisses her pup on the head, and gathers her things to go to the airport. 

Which leaves Alex, now, in a bind. Alex does the only thing she can think to do which is turn on her phone, hit her speed dial, and wait. Elated brown eyes stare at her, so Alex seeks out treats to toss his way. “Good boy, who’s a good boy.” Alex knows that this is how it’s done because she’s gone to a dog park with Kara. Gentle head rubs, a little scratch of the ears, and dogs are all yours. “You are so cute, aren’t you, Chewy?” The tail-wagging seems like a good sign so Alex keeps scratching and feeding the dog treats until she hears a loud knock at her door. “It’s open, come in!” 

“Are you on crack?” This is a totally normal thing for Lucy to say but the way her eyes are popping out of their sockets like she’s some kind of creepy rag doll unnerves Alex a little bit. “You got a dog?” Lucy flings her bag on Alex’s couch and walks over to survey the situation. “You’re allergic to dogs, you absolute moron.” 

“I know that!” Alex continues petting Chewy. “Ignore her, she’s rude,” She tells him. 

Lucy dramatically sniffs the air. “What is it that I smell? Is it the dog or…” Lucy gets really close to Alex and gives her a big whiff. “Is that the stench of you going out of your way for a hot girl?”

“I’m not going out of my way. I’m being friendly. Neighborly.” 

“Okay, Mr. Rogers.” 

“I called you because I need to go to CVS and get some allergy meds. Can you stay here for me?”

“Sure,” Lucy says, already laying on the floor and playing with Chewy. “What’s this big guy’s name?” 

“Chewy,” Alex tells her. Then she remembers, “It’s short for Chewbarka.” Alex can still hear Lucy laughing even as she’s outside of her apartment and walking down the street toward the pharmacy. Okay, Alex will admit it, she thinks Sam is hot. In fact, Alex had mentioned it to Kara as soon as Sam moved across the hall. They occasionally interacted but never to the extent of anything substantial. Until today. She supposes that’s why she jumped at the chance. She didn’t have anything to do this weekend except play with her new 3D printer and she really did like dogs, even if they made her sneeze and itch like crazy. 

Alex’s heart warms at the sight of Chewy getting his belly rubbed when she return. Just as Alex joins in on the action, “I’d stay but I have to get to work.” 

“All good. I’ll be fine here.” 

“Sureee…” Lucy grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder. “Exactly how hot is this woman?” Alex pulls up Sam’s Instagram and shows it to Lucy. “...don’t fuck it up with the dog and you might actually have a chance, Danvers.” 

Alex prepares herself for the worst. She sets up Chewy’s bed, makes sure she gets the exact measurements of food correct, gives him filtered water, and takes him on a long walk. Alex wonders if this is what it’s like to be a parent. Constantly thinking about someone other than yourself and being too stressed to function. Alex is shocked that all Chewy seems to want to do is cuddle up next to her and watch Netflix.

At one point, Chewy is sprawled out on top of Alex, leaving her hardly any room to breathe, but it’s so damn cute that Alex has to take a selfie. And then...she sends it to Sam. “Why did I do that?” She mumbles to herself, waking up Chewy just enough that he gives her a big lick on her cheek. “What do you wanna watch? Maybe we can find a dog movie?” Alex scrolls around her Netflix. “Dogs always die in movies though…” Alex’s eyes find her printer and she smiles. “I can make you a bunch of dog accessories?” Alex suggests and Chewy gives her another kiss. 

That’ll have to do. 

The thing that Alex realized a very young age was that once she starts a task, she tends to go overboard. Her intention was making a little dog tag for Chewy but what she ends up making is a dog tag, armor so he can be a knight for Halloween, bunny ears in case he wants a second costume, a food dispenser, and sixteen different toys he could play with. “Oh shit, that’s...a lot.” Alex’s phone buzzes and she sees that it’s a text from Sam. 

[SAM]: this is maybe the best picture I’ve ever received, you two look so cute!

Alex doesn’t dwell on the fact that Sam called her cute. There’s a dog involved, anyone is cute with a dog. “Chewy, what do I say?” Chewy doesn’t offer up anything but a nuzzle, so Alex simply likes the message and tries to move on with her life. Which is going really well until her heat cuts off at 11 PM. 

Normally, she’d survive it. It’s California and Alex has blankets, but tonight she’s actually shivering and thinks she might have to go over to Kara’s until Chewy climbs onto her bed and cuddles up next to her. “Thanks, buddy. You keep me warm and I’ll keep you warm.” Alex gets a cozy night's sleep for the first time in five years and wakes to the sound of her phone ringing. She answers without even looking to see who it is. “Hello?” Groggy mumbling would probably best describe Alex’s voice right now. The fact that she’d, apparently, slept until 3 PM makes her feel embarrassed and confused. 

“Wow, you sound adorable.” It’s Sam. Alex sits up and Chewy raises his head to see what’s going on. “I’m outside your door.” Alex climbs to her feet, sprints across her apartment, and flings the door open. “Wow, you’re…” Sam looks at Alex’s attire: sweatpants, fuzzy socks, a hoodie, and a wool hat. “Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah, but...heat went out last night.” Chewy’s entire body wags as he rushes at Sam. “This guy was a really good heater.” 

“God, Alex, thank you so…” Sam takes in the sight of all the new dog toys and costumes. “...much.” 

“I might’ve gotten a little carried away.” Alex gathers the toys into a giant paper bag and holds them out toward Sam. “Also I love Chewbarka but my allergy meds are wearing off, so I should probably sneeze for a few hours.” Sam takes the bag with an awkward smile and then cocks her head to the side. 

“Wait...you’re allergic to dogs?”

“Um...yes?”

“Well, why did you take him? I wouldn’t have asked if I knew he was going to kill you.” 

“He didn’t kill me! The cold weather would’ve killed me. Chewy and I got along just fine, he’s a great Netflix buddy.” Alex scratches his head. 

“If you say so.” Sam smiles a little brighter now. “Maybe once I unpack and you take some allergy medication, I could come over and we could watch Netflix and...chill?” Sam says the word chill with a wink before taking Chewy and all his new toys back to his apartment. 

Alex closes her door and sneezes so hard that she nearly tumbles to the ground.

[carina-go-lightlee]

                                       Let’s Unpack This Convo

                                         Spoilers below for, like, everything

So here our MC talks to three NPCs who we maybe didn’t expect to attend Elizabeth’s memorial: 

-Captain Brus??? Though he’s helped us foil a number of Dark Core plots, he hasn’t mentioned his close involvement with the Druids until now

-Nic Stoneground (boyf needs a glo-up): We learned in the Save Anne questline that he’s much closer to the Druids, Evergray in particular, than previously expected. I love that that’s continued here.

- Mrs. Holdsworth: Has always hinted at having witchy abilities, but seeing her included in the Druid inner circle is a new one.

From them we learn a lot not only about Elizabeth, but also about how people become Druids. 

                                              Druid Birthrights!

From Nic (bae) we learn that the Stonegrounds (meaning Mica too, one might think) have a familial connection to the Druids/Keepers. This makes sense given our lore so far: Justin, the son of a Soul Rider (Catherine), has prodigious Wild Whispering abilities, and we can imagine he’ll be recruited by the Keepers later in the questline. 

We also learn that you can deny destiny when it comes to being a Druid. Nic was meant to be a Druid, but chose a different path. Might Justin oneday do the same? What of Everygray? He managed to wander and explore while being a Druid, but clearly became a bit of a persona non grata with the Keepers because of it.

Speaking of, Avalon and Evergray must come from another family with a bloodline connected to the Keepers. Could any other NPCs be part of this family?

Farah also mentions that her family has always been Druid craftspeople. Yet another Druid birthright!

Also, Elizabeth used Dino Valley as an escape from her stresses as a Druid, and was at least buddies, if not best buddies, with Ni. Did they know each other before? Was he involved with the Elizabeth/Catherine incarnation of the Soul Riders?

                                               Druid Destinies!

Captain Brus tells of the story of how Elizabeth came from somewhere else (WHERE?) as a stowaway on his ship, drawn by dreams and visions to join the Keepers in Jorvik. 

This seems to be much more in line with our current group of Soul Riders’ experiences: Anne, Alex, and Linda were already on Jorvik to answer the call, and Lisa/her father were seemingly brought by destiny to Jorvik. Our MC could be either, depending on the story you’ve concocted for them, but the text at the beginning of the game suggests that they, too, come from far away.

None of the current Soul Riders- barring your own HCs- have Druid blood. I love that; despite the number of Druid families we’ve been introduced to, all of the current SRs have been chosen by some Aideenist destiny to save the world. 

It’s kind of like how Soul Steeds can be incarnated as any gender: a soul isn’t defined by its genetics or birth. Anyone can be a Soul Rider, Soul Steeds aren’t locked into one sex throughout time, and any horse can be a Starbreed.

                                              Druids vs. Witches!

Aaaand Mrs. Holdsworth (whose text I failed to capture).

Mrs. Holdsworth is clear that Druids and the witches of Jorvik, even good witches, have been at odds in the past. In fact, her being a witch is the reason that Mrs. Holdsworth never got to know Elizabeth better: it seems that this is a long-running feud.

She also alludes to witches having a hand in the dissolution/death??? of the last Sisterhood, the one including Elizabeth and Catherine. Could the Scarecrow Hill/Pi/Golden Apple plot have to do with that previous battle? Is that why Katja chose to challenge us to a nightmare race in that area when we were searching for Anne and Concorde? To trigger past traumas in our Souls/Steeds?

Feel Free to add to this discourse!!! I’m sure that you caught things that slipped past me as I zipped through dialogue. 

                                          Carina and All of This!

This NPC conversation has lots of implications for Carina:

1. Her mans is deeply involved with the Druids; I crave the full lore surrounding that fact. This bodes well for him getting a f*cking redesign, but also promises more Nic Stoneground questlines for MEEEEE! Huzzah! This fall, when we get the Kallters back, I hope to learn more. For now I’m just smug that Nic Stoneground Thirst still seems to be a club of one, and my years of shipping my MC with him have been rewarded by his relevance to the story.

2. Carina ALSO got called to Jorvik by dreams/premonitions, by boat. I wrote that plot long before these quests! What a crazy random happenstance! She has this in common with Elizabeth, and there WILL be a fic exploring it further

3. Carina being distantly descended from WWAU Carina (and not Nic; WWAU Nic dies, but that’s a story for another day) lends credence to both the birthright AND destiny possibilities. 

[mccrayowens96-blog]

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3200 words of fluff and smut.  I ain’t even sorry.  

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Adam watched as Ingrid unpacked her pajamas from her suitcase as he held his phone to his ear, waiting for Nick to pick up.  From the corner of the room, her iPhone was playing ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles – ironic considering the weather outside.  It was Ingrid’s way of summoning the sun to melt all the snow…at least that’s what she said.  When he called it voodoo, she did nothing but giggle.  Adam couldn’t take his eyes off of her lately – not that he could most days either – even while she was doing the most normal tasks.  

“Hello?” Nick finally picked up.

“Hey Nick, what’s up?”

“Waiting for you guys,” Nick chuckled.  “Have you guys boarded yet?”

“Listen man, we’re stuck in Connecticut.”

“What?  Why?  Have they stopped air-travel because of the blizzard?” Nick asked.

“Yup,” Adam said.  “Everything’s been stopped.  No planes, they even shut down highway access so people can’t drive.  It’s that bad.  They’re taking every precaution to keep people from traveling.”

“That sucks, man,” Nick groaned.  “Well are you in a safe place, at least?”

“Yeah, Ingrid and I managed to find rooms at a Hampton Court.  We’re just going to wait it out, see what happens tomorrow morning.  The airline promised to call us if there are any new developments,” Adam explained.

“I guess that’s the best you can do if you’re stuck there,” Nick mused.  “Well, stay safe.  I’d offer you my private jet if I had one.”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh.  “Thanks buddy.  One day.  Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Adam hung up, he noticed Ingrid turned towards him, smiling.  “You’re a liar, Mr. Adam Cole.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Telling Nick rooms.  That we got our own rooms.”

Adam smiled.  “We’d never hear the end of it if he knew we were sharing a room,” Adam said.

“Why not?”

Because he knows how I feel about you.  Because he knows how many times I’ve wished for something like this to happen.  “You know how he is,” he settled on saying.

Ingrid smiled but he knew it was forced.  She looked almost disappointed, like she was expecting him to say something else.  Choosing not to say anything more on the subject, she grabbed her pajamas and her skincare bag.  “Do you mind if I use the washroom to change?”

“Go ahead,” Adam said, sitting on his bed as Ingrid walked to the washroom, locking the door behind her.  Like any typical man, he didn’t have the night regimen like Ingrid, who applied five different products to her face and brushed her teeth.  He usually settled on giving his hair a quick brush after taking it was out of his ponytail, and that was about it.  Sometimes he’d brush his teeth.   Out of respect for Ingrid he put on a pair of long flannel pajama pants and an old wife-beater.  Usually he just slept in his boxers, but he wasn’t going to do that with her around.  Especially when things were so…unclear.  

When Ingrid emerged from the washroom, Adam looked at her from his position in his bed – sitting up, back against the headboard – and couldn’t help but smile.  Despite having a magazine open in his hands, he watched as she packed her old clothes back into her suitcase.  He noticed that ‘Here Comes the Sun’ had been playing on repeat.  “Your song isn’t exactly bringing any good omens,” he teased her.

“Maybe Paul McCartney’s sleeping,” she said, not looking at him.  “Even gods sometimes have to sleep.”

Adam snorted.  Her obsession with them was insane.  He liked their music, but she was on another level.  “Why do you like this song so much anyway?”

Ingrid shrugged her shoulders.  She still wasn’t looking at him.  “I don’t know.  Every significant moment of my life is associated with this song.  Like...when I graduated high school it played at my family party.  When I was stressed during university graduation because I thought my hairstylist wouldn’t be done on time, it played on the radio and just immediately calmed me down,” she explained.  “It’s...it’s just one of those songs, you know?  It’s always there.  And it’ll always be there.”

He continued to stare at her, not bothering to say anything else.  He was enjoying the music now that he knew why it was so significant to her, but she shut it off once she was finished with her suitcase.  When she finally caught him staring, she practically did a double take.  “What?”

“Nothing,” Adam smiled.  “You just look…cute.”

Ingrid scrunched up her face.  “I have no makeup on and my hair has taken on a life of it’s own.  Not to mention I’m in my pajamas.”

Adam shrugged.  “Doesn’t matter.  I still think you look cute,” he confessed.

Ingrid pursed her lips together, closing her suitcase and moving it from on top of her bed to the floor.  She walked in the space between their two beds.  He had been watching her the entire time; she was fully aware of this.  “Adam…” she said softly, picking at her nail for a brief second.  “I need you to stop calling me cute.”

“Why?”

“Because unless you plan on actually doing something about it, it’s just going to drive me crazy.”

Adam was taken aback by what she said.  He didn’t know what to think.  Did she want him to do something?  “Ingrid…I --”

“When I got my concussion,” she interrupted him, taking the liberty of sitting on the side of the bed, “and you read to me…there…we had a moment, right?  Stuff had been building for weeks.  And then you read to me and we fell asleep together in bed and I woke up in you arms!  I woke up and you were looking down at me and did nothing!  I mean there was a moment.”

“Of course,” Adam said, leaning forward.  

“But why didn’t you do anything?  God, Adam, I was waiting so long and --”

She didn’t have to wait any longer.  Before she could even finish her sentence, Adam crashed his lips against hers, placing his hand on her neck and pulling her towards him softly.  The kiss was eager but chaste – Adam knew he would need to move slowly.  They had been through a lot, and their friendship, relationship, whatever, didn’t need to get more complicated than it already was.  

When he pulled away, he still held her close.  Ingrid brought her hand up and placed it on Adam’s hand, still around her neck.  “I don’t want to admit how long I’ve wanted you to do that,” she said softly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“God, yes.  It’s been driving me crazy.”

Ingrid bit her lip, wondering if she should ask what she wanted to ask.  “Do the Bucks know?”

“Yeah, the Bucks know.”

“What about Kenny?”

“Kenny knows.  They all know.  Every single wrestler we’ve ever worked or trained with knows.”

Ingrid’s eyes widened.  “Since when?”

“Do you want me to be honest with you?”

“Obviously!”

“Since your third week of training.”

Ingrid felt nauseous.  “It’s been that long?”  Adam nodded his head.  “That’s why Alex and Marty…” she said softly, trailing off, the gears in her mind shifting; everything beginning to fall into place.  Why Alex Shelley never pursued anything.  Why Marty Scurll didn’t pursue anything but instead had that awkward ‘talk’ about Adam.  Alison saying Adam liked her more than Ingrid thought.  The Bucks’ comments.  It all made sense now. 

“I told you,” Adam smiled nervously.  “I’m crazy about you, and I’ve been crazy about you since practically the moment we met.  You think you’re a mess?  I’m a fucking mess.”

“You’re a mess that I fell for, though,” Ingrid squeezed his hand.  

That was all Adam needed to hear.  “Can I kiss you again?”

“Please,” she practically begged, and Adam didn’t need to be told twice.  He kissed her, pulling her body towards his.  Her kisses were eager, as if she had been waiting a lifetime.  God knows he had.  He wrapped his arm around her body and Ingrid climbed into his lap, straddling him.

When his tongue entered her mouth things seemed to go into overdrive.  There were hands, her hands, pulling at the hem of his wife-beater before she lifted it off his body.  His naked torso was nothing new, but in such a more intimate position now, she could help but marvel slightly, her fingertips tracing the outline of his abs.  

When his hands went underneath her old t-shirt, she was much more nervous.  Adam didn’t seem to notice, however, pushing the fabric higher and higher until he pulled it completely off, throwing it across the room.  In the moment, he stopped, looking at her and her exposed breasts with a fire in his eyes.  Self-conscious, Ingrid began to cover herself with her arms, but Adam grabbed her wrists, making her unable to do so.  “No no no,” Adam breathed out, holding her arms firmly at her sides.  “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she smiled slightly.

“Shit,” Adam huffed, kissing her again.  “I can’t believe” kiss “I waited” kiss “this long.”

“You and me both,” Ingrid admitted, her hands at the waistband of his flannel pants.  She looked down between their bodies and saw the bump concealing his growing erection.  She gulped.  He probably wasn’t even fully erect and she was already concerned about his size.  From the way things were going, she knew it would eventually lead to sex.  There was too much pent up emotion for it not to escalate into sex.

Adam began kissing a trail down her neck, past her collarbone, finally settling on her breast, sucking and biting at her nipple.  Ingrid threw her head back in pleasure, moaning as Adam continued his work.  His hands moved from her hips and cupped her ass forcefully.

Ingrid didn’t think herself to be the seductive type, but Adam was making her feel so good, and moans and noises and sounds were coming out of her and she had no idea where they were coming from within her.  She even surprised herself when she whispered seductively in Adam’s ear, “Make love to me, Adam.”

“Fuck,” Adam growled, tightening his grip around Ingrid’s body and flipping her over, pinning her under him.  Ingrid’s busy hands worked on ridding Adam of his pajama pants.  He shimmied out of them easily before continuing to pay attention to her breasts.

“Adam…” Ingrid said nervously as he kissed a trail, down the valley of her breasts, down her stomach.  “Adam…uh…can you go slow please.”

“Slow?” he mumbled, his tongue gliding along her skin, getting dangerously close to her panty line.  She knew what he wanted to do, and she was anxious – beyond anxious.  

When his fingers played with the hem of her pajama bottoms, she gulped.  “I haven’t done this before,” she blurted out.

And there it was.  She regretted it the second she said it.  Adam stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at her.  “You’re a virgin?”

Ingrid could only nod her head.  “There wasn’t exactly a demand for chubby wrestling nerds with gay best friends,” she said, covering her eyes with her hand briefly so she wouldn’t have to look at him.  God this was so embarrassing.  “Do you want to stop?  I understand if you want to stop.”

Instead of stopping, Adam came back up and kissed her passionately.  “No.  Fucking.  Way,” he whispered.  “This just makes this all the more sweeter.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.  Now I can show you how you should have been treated all those years,” he mumbled as he kissed her neck.

“Adam.”

“You should have been worshipped.  Like I’m going to worship you right now.”

“Adam,” she moaned as she felt him nipping at her ear.

“Can I taste you?” he asked.  When Ingrid didn’t answer immediately, he continued.  “If you’re nervous, it’s okay.  I want to make you feel good, though.  I promise I’ll go slow, and I’ll stop the second you tell me to.”

Ingrid was at a loss for words.  She could only nod her head.  Adam gave her a quick peck on the lips.  “It’ll make you feel great, I promise,” he whispered huskily.  “Just tell me to stop if you want me to stop.”

“Okay,” Ingrid nodded as Adam slowly, painstakingly, kissed his way down her body.  He slid off her pajama bottoms and panties all in one go, then spread her legs apart with his hands.

Ingrid had never felt as nervous or as sexy as she did right now.  When Adam’s finger felt her, gently, she flinched.  She was already so sensitive.  Adam smiled.  “You’re so wet already,” he breathed out.  “Give me your hands.”

Ingrid obliged, and he intertwined his fingers with hers tenderly before he began to taste her.  With the first flick of his tongue, Ingrid flinched again, squeezing his hands as he kept at it, regardless of how much she gyrated in pleasure.  

“Oh, fuck,” Ingrid sighed as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.  

“Do you want me to stop?” Adam mumbled as he pulled away for a moment.  

“No,” Ingrid said firmly, as if it was the most ludicrous idea in the entire world.  “I don’t want you to stop.”

Adam chuckled and continued, the vibration from his laughter making the experience even more pleasurable as he lapped at her.  She let go of his hands, bunching the bed sheets into fists as his hand gripped her hips.  In no time at all she could feel her orgasm building – she knew she wouldn’t be able to last long.  Not under these conditions.  

As her orgasm overcame her, her body writhed at the feeling.  She tried to stop her legs from clamping together and squeezing Adam’s head in between her thighs, but the attempt was futile.  Adam – God bless him – moved in tune with each squirm, never taking his mouth off her, even for a second.  It was a fucking miracle.  If it wasn’t for the sudden dry feeling in her throat, Ingrid wouldn’t have even known she was moaning or had screamed out during her orgasm; she was that caught up in the pleasure of it all, the image of Adam in between her thighs something that she would never forget.

When Ingrid regained basic consciousness, she could see Adam smirking.  Clearly he was proud of himself.  “You taste so sweet,” he licked his lips.  

“You’re going to turn me into a nymphomaniac,” she blurted out without thinking.  “Especially if it’s gonna be like that.”

“I don’t see the issue with that,” Adam grinned like the Cheshire cat, his body over hers as he gave her a wet, sloppy kiss.  Ingrid could taste herself on his lips.    

“I want you inside me,” Ingrid whispered as she pulled away slightly.  “God, I can’t take it anymore.  I need to feel you inside of me.”

Reluctantly, Adam pulled away to fish for his pants, where his wallet was, to get out a condom.  Ingrid watched as he slid it on, making sure everything was good to go, before re-joining her on the bed.  

He peppered her face with light, airy kisses as he settled in between her legs, which had spread so easily for him.  “Are you nervous?” he asked her.

“A little,” Ingrid nodded her head.  

“Tell me why.”

Ingrid gulped.  Did she tell him what was really on her mind?  This was no place for lying, after all.  “You’re big,” she said simply.  

Adam grinned.  “You really know how to make a guy feel good, don’t you?” he bit his lip.  He gave her a light kiss on the nose.  “It’s going to hurt at first, but I’ll go as slow as you want me to,” Adam began to explain.  “If you want me to stop, tell me and I’ll stop.  You’re in total control here, okay?” he assured her.

Ingrid nodded her head.  She was still nervous, but felt considerably calmer than she did before.  There was still a lot going through her mind.  How would it feel for him?  Would it feel as good for him as it would for her?  She considered that the best part in all this was that she trusted him one hundred percent – she knew that if she told him to stop, he’d stop.  She didn’t plan on it, but it was reassuring to know.  

As he entered her, Ingrid felt a twinge of pain.  She dug her nails into his shoulder blades as he pushed further and further into her.  She winced, a stray tear falling from the corner of her eye; it barely had time to roll away before Adam wiped it away with his thumb.  “Are you okay?” he asked.

Ingrid nodded her head.  He pushed further, until he was fully in her.  He took a few moments to allow them to get used to the feeling.  “God, you’re so tight,” he muttered as he kissed her, biting down on her bottom lip.  She felt like perfection.  Everything in this moment felt like perfection.  He pulled out and pushed back in a few more times before a small smile started to appear on Ingrid’s face.  He took this as a good sign.  “Feels good?”

“Feels really good,” she whispered.

He worked up to a steady pace.  She began to moan in pleasure underneath him and that only worked him up even more.  She scratched her nails down his back and he relished in the feeling.  “Harder,” she mewled beneath him, her body now moving in tune with his.  “Harder, Adam.  Harder.”

He practically growled as he obeyed her command.  The sounds of their moans filled the hotel room as he went harder, faster.  He would never be able to get enough of her.  Soon, Adam could feel her walls tightening around him; it took every ounce of self-restraint he had not to start pounding into her so hard the bed would rock against the wall.  “Are you close, baby?”

Ingrid could only nod her head.  

“Come for me baby.  Come for me.”

At his words, Ingrid became undone, moaning expletives and his name over and over again.  With only a few more thrusts, he too became undone, lowering himself and burying his face in her neck.  Ingrid continued to quiver beneath him, her whole body in a state of euphoria.  

He eventually collapsed on to her, both of them breathing heavily, trying to regain their composure.  Adam began to kiss and suck on her neck almost lazily – although he was definitely leaving marks – as if he was finding an excuse to keep touching her, feeling her, tasting her.  

“So this is what I’ve been missing?” she asked in between breaths, knowing Adam would get a rise out of it.  

He chuckled as he stopped kissing her neck to kiss her lips.  “You betcha.  How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but amazing,” Ingrid admitted.  

“Give me a second, I’ll be right back,” Adam said, pecking at her lips quickly before he rolled out of bed.  She watched as he took care of his condom before climbing back into bed with her.  He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her flush against his body.  With his hands on her bare skin again, the ache between her legs didn’t start to feel so bad.  “Go to sleep beautiful,” he whispered in her ear, kissing her shoulder tenderly.

The next morning, Ingrid had woken up still curled next to Adam.  Neither had woken up at any point in the night, so they were both still naked, their body heat radiating off each other.  Feeling a bit cramped, the ache between her legs almost gone, she tried to stretch as inconspicuously as possible.  The attempt was futile however, as at the slightest movement of her body, Adam moved too.  

“G’morning, beautiful,” he mumbled into her ear.

She could definitely get used to him calling her beautiful.  “G’morning.”

“Sleep well?”

“Of course.”

“Are you still sore?” he asked, his hand wandering down her body.  

“A little bit,” she admitted.

“You know what the cure for that is, don’t you?” he asked playfully, a grin appearing on his face.

Ingrid couldn’t help but giggle.  “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re trying to get in my pants again, Mr. Cole.”

“Too bad you don’t have any pants on,” he said, his hand cupping her mound.   Ingrid smiled and bit her lip, instinctively hooking her leg over Adam’s, allowing his hand greater access.  He began to kiss her, morning breath be damned.  

“Adam?” Ingrid whispered in between kisses.

“Hm?”

“Are we going to talk about this?” she asked quickly.  

Adam stopped kissing her.  “Did…Did I not make it clear last night?” he asked.

“Are we going to be exclusive?” Ingrid asked.

“Of course.”

“And there’s no-one else?”

“How can I even look at another girl with you around,” he kissed her quickly.  “I’m yours, Ingrid.  I’ve been yours since I walked into that boardroom with that stuffy producer and met you and Gavin.  I only want to be able to call you mine.”

Ingrid couldn’t help but smile.  “I’m yours,” she kissed him.  “Only yours.”

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Before the World Stops Turning: Pt. 10

Hello my lovelies! Alas, after about 2 long months, this story has finally reached its conclusion. I’m beyond excited for you all to see how the events of this chapter unfold, so without further ado…

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (Keep an eye out for my final additional notes/random commentary about this chapter and the story overall at the end beneath the tags!)

***

Finn sat with his back against the wall of the venue distractedly watching the stage crew and members of the different bands performing tonight as they unpacked equipment and instruments from the back of one of the white vans in the parking lot in front of him.

Despite Finn’s apparent confidence when it came to actually performing on stage in front of large crowds of people, the hours leading up to each show left Finn a nervous wreck and when it got bad enough, he had a tendency to chain-smoke to help calm some of his pre-show jitters.

Finn lit up his fourth consecutive cigarette since he managed to break away from the rest of the band after they arrived at the venue in Danny’s van and pulled the small, leather-bound notebook from the pocket of his jacket that was draped over one of his legs.

When Finn was inspired, he always found that song lyrics and writing music came naturally to him; however, this summer he has been suffering from the worst case of writer's block he had ever experienced. As he read over the most recent lyric idea he had come up with after more difficulty that he would care to admit, Finn tried to draw inspiration for a new song or find a way to make that line fit with one of the various other songs he started but would likely never be able to finish.

We may be young and making dumb mistakes,

But we’re still learning the reasons why.

Just living life before the worlds stops turning…

Finn snapped his head upright and looked up from his notebook when he heard the rear door to the venue swing open and he saw Archie and Chop exit and walk along the wall of the building before sinking down to the sidewalk on either side of where Finn was sitting.

“Where are Alex and Danny?” Finn asked as he closed the leather notebook and returned it to the pocket of his leather jacket before flicking his cigarette butt into the small pile forming on the ground in front of him.

“Sound checking the instruments to make sure everything is sounding good. They sent us out to check on you because they said that you’ve been in a mood all day”

“I’m fine, Arch. Just amazed that the whole summer is basically over...it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.”

“You did write and record a lot of music though! That’s really good, mate!” Chop said with a wide smile and reassuring nod.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Finn trailed off as he began examining his fingernails closely to give him something else to focus on.

Chop leaned over and pat Finn on the back as a comforting gesture before standing up from his seated position and walking back into the venue through the door beside them.

“Have you heard from Rae at all this summer?” Archie asked quietly to help fill the silence that was hanging in the air between him and Finn.

“No...ever since I lost my phone and had to get a new one with a new number, I didn’t have my contacts saved or anything so she didn’t have my new number and I didn’t know her number to reach out to her instead…”

“What about on social media? Did she try to reach out to you at all on there?”

“She might’ve, but it’s not like I would have even been able to see any messages she sent. After I lost my phone, my social media account got locked and I’ve been emailing support back and forth for the last month trying to get access of my account again, but nothing they’ve recommended has worked so far,” Finn explained with a mildly annoyed huff.

“Wow...that’s awful. I’m sorry, Finn.”

“S’alright,” Finn replied with a shrug and a sad smile.

“She might show up tonight, ya know? Both her and her mate seemed to be fans of our music...and from what I’ve seen and heard, Rae certainly seems to be quite the fan of you too”

“Hah! That’s unlikely...even if she did like me before this summer, she probably thinks I’ve been ignoring her texts and messages for the last month, which does not bode well for me at all if I’m trying to get her to like me back”

“You never know…” Archie added with a smirk which caused Finn to roll his eyes and chuckle lightly in response.

Finn looked up when he heard the distinct sounds of Chop’s laughter as he walked back out of the venue followed by Danny and Alex.

“Oi, are you two going to just sit around and chat all day or can you get off your arses and actually help the rest of us get set up for the show tonight?” Alex joked as the three of them walked past Finn and Archie towards where their band van was parked.

Archie quickly stood up and extended a hand to help Finn stand as well and the pair hurried towards the band’s van to help the others carry boxes of CDs and merchandise they were going to be selling at their merch table after the show. Even after unpacking and organizing the contents of their boxes on the table that they would be selling their items at after their performance, the combined effort of all five of them was more than enough to help them finish what they needed to do prior to the show in record time.

Since they had a significant amount of time to waste prior to when the doors for the show opened and they had to get ready to go on stage, the entire band decided to walk to a small shop down the road from the venue they were performing at to buy some drinks and snacks.

As they made their way back to the venue with their chosen sodas, bottles of water, and bags of crisps or candies Finn noticed that in that short time a significant amount of people had gathered in a line that wrapped around the venue leading to the entrance. Alex began walking ahead of the others and sprinted over to someone that was standing towards the middle of the line of concert goers waiting for the doors of the venue to be opened.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite physical therapy student! How is the ankle doing, Izzie?”

Finn overheard what Alex said as he walked nearer and looked over at them just in time to lock eyes with Rae, who looked just as surprised to see Finn as he was to see her. Finn did not break eye contact with Rae for a few long moments until Archie nudged his side with his elbow and Finn broke his stare to lift a hand and wave at Rae tentatively.

Rae returned the wave and gave Finn a quick smile before turning away from him to resume the conversation she had been having with her mate before Alex had interrupted.

Finn remained quiet as he kept walking and he soon noticed that Alex had caught back up with them as they entered the venue through the back entrance.

“Uhm, hey…” Finn began hesitantly as he tried to think of the best way to initiate this conversation, “so what was all that about and how do you know Rae’s mate, Izzie, so well?”

“She’s my first physical therapy student that I’ve had since I took the job full-time this summer!” Alex replied with a scoff as if to imply that the answer should have been obvious.

“Really? Why is she in physical therapy?” Archie asked before Finn had the chance to ask the same question.

“She got pretty badly injured during a dance performance at the end of the semester. It was actually the reason why she and Rae weren’t at our last show!”

“Our show back in May? What do you mean?” Finn asked with a look of confusion obvious on his face.

“Yeah! Izzie told me that Rae refused to leave her alone and she sat by her side in the hospital for hours while they examined her injury. She got injured the same day as our show, so the two of them had to miss it.”

“And you know all of this because..?” Archie asked as he rejoined their conversation.

“Izzie and I talk a lot about during our sessions,” Alex shrugged in reply.

Finn’s initial confusion had passed and as Alex’s words started to sink in, a sudden realization caused a wave of annoyance to wash over Finn.

“Hmmm, I see...And not once in the last two months have you thought to tell me that you have a decently close friendship with the best mate of the girl that I’ve been losing my mind over for the entire summer...Am I understanding this whole situation correctly, Alex?”

“I dunno, mate...I didn’t think about it, I guess.”

Finn nodded silently and walked away to join Chop and Danny where they were currently sitting beside the stage and watching the concert goers shuffle into the venue and fill the crowd in front of the stage.

“Look, Finn...it wasn’t like I didn’t try to figure out what happened. I know that Rae is special to you mate, but Izzie and I both thought it would be best for you two to work it out yourselves. I really am sorry that I didn’t tell you about all this sooner. Are we alright, buddy?”

The joking tone that was almost always present in Alex’s voice was absent for the first time that Finn could recall and as he looked up at his band mate, it was not hard to see the sincerity of his apology.

“Yeah, mate, we’re alright,” Finn reached up and clapped Alex on the shoulder before continuing with a small chuckle, “but you’re paying for the first round of drinks after the show tonight!”

Alex chuckled and groaned jokingly as the rest of the lads cheered in celebration.

“So Finnley...are my eyes deceiving me or is that your girl, Rae, standing in the crowd right now?” Chop asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Er, no...that’s her. I just—well, I just don’t know how to make things right with her or if she even tried to reach me at all in the last two months...I don’t see why she would’ve…”

“Rae texted and messaged you a lot in the beginning of summer, or so Izzie told me. I don’t think she knows that you lost your phone, so I can only imagine what this all seemed like for her...” Alex replied.

“Fuck,” Finn muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I fucked up.”

“Well...sure things didn’t go as planned, but it wasn’t exactly your fault, Finn,” Archie replied in an effort to stop his mate from blaming himself too much.

“I really need to unfuck things up between Rae and me, huh?” Finn asked and he received a chorus of mumbles agreeing with him and nods from his band mates.

Finn stood up abruptly from the equipment case he had been sitting on, knowing that he needed to talk to Rae but with no real plan of how he should go about doing that, but he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

“Actually, as much as you would like to fix things with Rae right now, we first need to get warmed up. We do have a show to play, after all, and we go on stage in 15 minutes…” Danny said as he glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

Finn’s face fell slightly and he took a step back to lean against the equipment case he had been sitting on.

“Alright, don’t looks so sad Finney boy...This is fine! First we play the most kickass show of the summer, and then you can unfuck everything up and get your girl” Chop replied triumphantly, earning a small smile and a nod from Finn.

***

The music playing through the speakers of the venue between band sets came to a stop and the stage lighting shifted to signify that the next band that was scheduled to play was supposed to take the stage.

Finn trailed behind Danny alongside Alex and Archie as they walked on stage and found their respective positions on the stage. Finn scanned the crowd casually as he pulled the strap of his guitar over his head and adjusted it to sit comfortably on his shoulder.

Oh shit! There she is…

Finn could clearly see Rae and Izzie standing a short distance away from the stage on the side of the crowd closest to where Archie stood. When Chop finally walked on stage, the crowd went crazy and they immediately launched into performing one of their older songs that was always a crowd favorite.

“How’s it going ladies and gentlemen?” Chop called loudly into the microphone after their first song ended, “I see a few familiar faces in the crowd out there, but in case ya don’t know who we are, we’re a band that goes by the name ‘Kings and Queens’ and we’re here to blow your minds with some fucking amazing tunes! How does that sound to you all?”

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and they transitioned right into the next song in their set. Despite Finn’s mind being focused on their performance enough to not make obvious mistakes, no matter how hard he tried to focus on what he was doing, his attempts were in vain and he found himself unable to stop looking at where he knew Rae was standing in the crowd.

After a few songs, Chop began talking to the audience when Finn grabbed the water bottle that was on the side of the stage beside the speaker closest to where Finn was standing. When Finn opened the water bottle and took a long drink from it, he saw Izzie lean over to Rae and whisper something in her ear out of his peripheral vision. At nearly the same time, Rae and Finn looked over at each other and Rae gave him a tight-lipped smile before turning around and navigating her way out of the crowd with Izzie trailing closely behind.

Fuck! They’re about to leave and I didn’t even get my chance to talk to Rae!

“Okay our next song is actually a song that our handsome guitarist here, Finn, wrote after he met a very special girl that came into his life unexpectedly and from the first time he saw her she rocked his world and turned his whole life upside down…”

Chop gestured to Finn—who had been watching Rae and Izzie leave the crowd until he heard his mate mention his name—which made him smile sheepishly and run a hand through the back of his hair in embarrassment, thus earning loud cheers from nearly every person in the audience.

“She really does make Finn do and say some pretty stupid shit, but what can I say? You’re intoxicating, babe!”

The crowd was still cheering loudly, but when Finn looked out into the crowd to find Rae, there was no indication that she was anywhere in sight.

“I know you’re out there in the crowd somewhere right now, baby girl, so hopefully you’re listening and you can see and hear how much of an effect you’ve had on our Finney boy here...this is our new song called ‘Alcohol or Love’...”

EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD STARTS TO BLUR,

NO ONE LEFT IN THE ROOM NOW BUT HER

JUST TAKE MY HAND BABE, JUST TAKE MY HAND

After playing their final few songs of their set, Finn and the rest of the band began to leave the stage after closing their set much in the same way that they close every show they play.

“I need to find Rae,” Finn said to no one in particular as soon as he was off stage and already putting his guitar away in its case as the others took their time leaving the stage.

Finn walked in the direction that he last saw Rae and Izzie walking away in during their set, but after looking for them for long enough that the next band had already taken the stage and was well into their set, Finn knew that there was no use in keeping up the search.

Well, I guess I missed my chance...if Rae really left, she definitely long gone by now…

Finn walked over to the merch table where Danny and Alex were currently selling CDs to a group of teenage girls that immediately asked for a picture and an autograph as soon as they saw him approaching.

When the small group of fans left and the other two at the table resumed their previous conversation, Finn looked around the venue and saw Chop and Archie near the stage on the opposite side of the venue. Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he saw the pair stop briefly and walk towards an area beside the stage that was out of Finn’s line of sight, but before long he saw Archie walking in the direction of the table where Finn was still sitting.

“Have you had the chance to talk to Rae yet?” Archie asked as he took a seat on the large equipment box behind their merch table where Finn was seated as well.

“No...I saw her walk away during our set and I tried to find her afterward but I think she might have left the show early…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…”

“What do ya mean, Arch?”

“Oh, nothing...”

Finn looked over at Archie skeptically, but when he knew that Archie was not going to elaborate any further on the subject at this time, he simply shrugged and returned to selling CDs and chatting with the occasional fan of their band that stopped by their table to meet them.

When the show finally ended and the fans in the crowd began to disperse to buy merchandise and talk to the band members that were willing to meet fans, Archie stood from the equipment case and stretched before turning to face the others.

“Hey Alex, Danny...do you think you two can hold down the fort here at the merch table for a little while? Finn and I are needed elsewhere right now. I’ll be back in a little while and I’ll bring Chop with me too…”

“Yeah, of course!”

“We’ll be fine...go do what you gotta do…”

Danny and Alex replied before Alex leaned over and shoved Finn’s shoulder to coax him into standing up. Finn was still confused about what was going on, but he decided to follow where Archie was leading him nonetheless.

“Where are you taking me, Arch?”

“You’ll see…”

“Archie…”

“It’s fine, Finn...don’t worry about it!”

“Archibald!”

“Oh just shut up and follow me! I know you’ll be thanking me for this later…”

Finn begrudgingly followed Archie to the same area beside the stage where he had seen Archie and Chop stop a bit over an hour prior to this. Finn looked around this area off to one side of the concert venue where the stage lights were still shining and there were crews unplugging all the equipment on the stage and looked at Archie expectantly as he waited for Archie to explain why he brought him here.

“Okay, so Finn...now don’t get mad, but we knew that you wanted to make things right with Rae. But we also know how terrible with words you can be, and being in her presence certainly does not do you any favors.”

“What did you do, Arch?”

“Well, Chop and I crossed paths with Rae and her mate after our set and we decided that it was our responsibility as your best mates to help you unfuck up this whole situation...so Chop is over there explaining to Rae that you lost your phone and have been basically dead to the world in terms of you online presence due to a simple drunk night with the lads gone wrong...we couldn’t stand to think that she thought you were ignoring her, so we set the record straight and Chop has probably been talking her ear off for the last hour, so as long as you’re ready now, I think now is your chance to go talk to Rae!”

Archie grabbed Finn by the shoulders and spun him around to so he could see Izzie, Chop, and Rae a short distance away talking and laughing.

Rae looked up and locked eyes with Finn across the short distance separating them for a moment before giving him a wide grin and playfully rolling her eyes in response to something Chop must have said.

Before Finn could even fully register that he was moving on his own volition, he had closed the space between him and the others and he stood mere steps away from Rae, Izzie, and Chop.

“Hey, uhm...how’s it going, Rae?” Finn said hesitantly when he noticed a break in their previous conversation.

“Pretty good! And yourself, Finn?” She replied with a bright smile.

“Good too, I suppose…”

“Well Izzie, as riveting as this conversation is, I think it would be best if we left these two love birds alone, yeah?” Chop joked before gesturing for Izzie to follow him toward where Archie was still standing nearby.

“You got this mate…” Chop muttered as he clapped Finn on the shoulder with one hand before turning towards Rae and leaning in close to speak to her quietly, “Be gentle with my Finney boy, alright love?”

Chop pulled away and give the pair a smirk before walking away to join Izzie and Archie as they walked out of Finn’s line of sight to a different area of the venue.

“So…” Finn began hesitantly as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“So...you really lost your phone?” Rae asked with her eyebrow quirked.

“Yup”

“...in the middle of a bar fight?” Finn tried to gauge Rae’s tone when she asked this question, but he was unable to decide if she seemed impressed or disbelieving.

“Uh, yeah...sort of…” Finn mumbled before breaking eye contact with Rae to stare at the floor sheepishly.

“But Chop tells me that you were just standing up to some twats that harassed Archie?”

“Yeah, that part’s true too…”

“Huh…” Rae paused briefly and Finn looked up at Rae through his fringe to see her facial expressions when he saw a smile spread across her face, “That was really sweet of you.”

Finn returned the smile and a comfortable silence settled between them as a few moments passed before Finn gathered his thoughts enough to decide what he wanted to say.

“Rae, I—I swear that I really did want to talk to you and keep in touch this summer, but with losing my phone I basically got cut off from all forms of communication. And I only just found out that Alex has been seeing Izzie regularly for physical therapy sessions. If I had known sooner, I would have…”

“Don’t worry about it, Finn. I’ve know that he was her physical therapist for a couple of weeks now, but I figured if you wanted to talk to me, you would’ve found a way, so I didn’t try to use him as a middleman or anything.”

“Well still, I’m really glad to see that you made it out to the show tonight,”

“I’m glad Izzie and I decided to come out tonight too...I’m also glad that I was here to see you perform the new song you apparently wrote this summer that Chop was talking so much about.” Rae added with a smirk.

“Oh, yeah...that...he was exaggerating a bit, I assure you, but uh...I sort of thought you had left during our set because I saw you and Izzie walking out of the crowd and I was almost afraid that I had missed my only chance to make things right with you”

“Oh! Yeah, we were too close to the stage and it was really crowded and Izzie didn’t want to get stepped on by someone since her foot isn’t completely healed yet, so we found a little area next to the wall to stand by and still watch the performances.”

“That makes sense, I suppose,”

“Yup!” Rae popped the “p” at the end of the word as she reached forward to grab the black permanent marker that was sticking out of Finn’s shirt pocket, which caused Finn to cock his head to the side in confusion.

Rae grabbed Finn’s hand and brought it closer to her before turning his palm to face her as she used the marker to scrawl something across his hand.

“My phone number...I’m writing it on your hand so you can put it into your new phone. That way you won’t be able to use that as an excuse not the text me,” Rae said in response to the quirked eyebrow and look of confusion Finn was giving her.

“I’m putting your number in my phone right now!” Finn said as he hurriedly pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and entered her phone number in as a new contact.

“So…” Finn said again when there is a break in the conversation.

“So...I have a bit of a request, if it’s not too much trouble…”

“What can I do for you, girl?”

“Well at the first concert I saw you perform at I got a picture with everyone except for you...and I wanted to see if I could get a picture with just you this time to make up for it, you know?”

“But of course, m’dear!” Finn replied with a grin before pulling his phone back out of his pocket, “Hey, mate! Can you please take a quick photo for us?”

The stage crew member that was currently packing up all of the equipment and wires that were still in a mess on the stage looked up when he realized that Finn was talking to him and he happily agreed and grabbed the cell phone from Finn while Finn and Rae prepared to take the picture.

“Alright...on the count of three say ‘cheese’!” the crew member said once he had brought up the camera on Finn’s cell phone.

Finn wrapped an arm around Rae and draped that hand gently over her shoulder, intentionally putting as little space between them as he possibly could while still respecting her personal space.

“Three”

Rae moved slightly closer to Finn until there was very little space between them as they waited for the photo to be taken.

“Two”

Finn looked over at Rae out of the corner of his eyes and he could clearly see the genuine smile lighting up her face and he knew that her smile went much deeper than just for the purposes of the picture.

“One”

A sudden burst of confidence came over Finn and as soon as the stage crew member taking the photo said “cheese” aloud to signal that he was taking the picture, Finn leaned over to gently press his lips to Rae’s cheek.

Rae pulled back after the photo was taken to stare at Finn, her jaw dropped in surprise, as a warm pink blush began spreading over her cheeks.

“What the fresh hell was that, Finn?”

“I dunno...you had to wait four months to get a proper photo with me, so I figured I might as well make it worth your while…”

“You cheeky bastard!” Rae added with a chuckle as she shook her head side to side in disbelief.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that without asking you first. I didn’t mean to—”

Before Finn could finish his statement, Rae closed the distance between her and Finn again and crashed her lips against his, effectively shutting him up and ending his rambling.

Though the kiss came as a surprise to him, as soon as Finn registered what was happening, he started to return the tender kiss, but he soon felt Rae smile against his lips as she pulled away and ended the kiss almost as suddenly as she started it.

“I, uh...that was...I mean...wow! Er, do you want to maybe go and get a drink with me right now?” Finn finally managed to stutter out as he continued to struggle to regain his train of thought after the unexpected kiss with Rae.

“I’d like that”

Rae reached for Finn’s hand and interlocked their fingers together before she turned to face him, “Lead the way, Finn!”

Finn and Rae walk hand-in-hand towards the exit of the concert venue—attempting to ignore the cheers and wolf whistles from the other members of Kings and Queens and Izzie who was sitting with them behind the band’s merch table—and Finn could not wipe the blissed out grin off his face even if he tried to.

THE END :)

@arathewallflower @eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @mallyallyandra @kneekeyta @tothetardissterek

A/N: Yay! We finally made it to the end of this story. I don't really have too much to say in terms of author's notes for this chapter, but what's one of my posts without a bit of rambling and nonsense at the end, you know? Hahaha I just wanted to start by thanking all of you for reading this story, first and foremost, but also for letting me know what you all think of the story as it progressed and just in general for being so supportive and amazingly sweet whenever I post a new chapter. As 2017 draws to a close, I've started looking back on my year and realizing how much my life has changed over the last year, mostly for the worse. One good thing that did happen was that I rediscovered my love of writing and it's been a great outlet for me when things have been especially tough, so I have each and every one of you guys that follow me and read my writing to thank for that. ^_^ I know I promised 3 new chapters/fics this week, but I've been really busy with all that's going on in my life and the holidays, BUT as of right now I'm thinking all 3 things I wanted to post should be up on or before Christmas...idk, we'll see... Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends! :D

[bluefirewrites]

“Willie,” Alex groans, getting dragged into a cafe way past operating hours, “What are we doing here?”  His boyfriend turns around, an assuring smile splayed out on his lips.  “Okay, so I know that you’re still unpacking the whole ‘being dead’ thing and it took a while for me too, to you know, accept it. So...”  Willie pushes open the doors and Alex is met with the sight of a circle of chairs, with ghosts occupying all but two. Then the blonde takes stock of the entire room and he notices the banner and gawks.  “A support group?” he asks, incredulously.  “Oh, hey Alex!” Reggie’s voice pipes up from one of the chairs. He and Luke are waving at him, beckoning him to join in, only further adding to his confusion.  Another figure emerges from his right, “Ah, Alexander glad of you to join us!”  “Mozart?” Alex recognizes the ghost as the one Willie had introduced to him just last week, “You’re here too?”  “Why of course. I facilitate!”  While the composer greets the rest of the group, Alex pulls Willie aside.  “What is going on here, Willie?”  The skater laughs nervously and dives in, “Well, I just thought it would be a great opportunity for you to talk and share your feelings with other people who’ve been through the same thing.”  “Wait a minute,” Alex takes stock of the room, “Are you telling me this is a support group for people who have been killed by hot dogs?” 

“...yeah?”  “Willie!”  Okay first off, this is just plain weird, Alex thinks. Like for there to be enough ghosts killed in the same unusual way to even make up this meeting boggles his mind. But then again, there are probably enough ghosts out there in L.A and beyond who have bit the dust via hot dog.  “Look. My fellow Roadkill Buddies-”  “Still not a fan calling yourself ‘roadkill’“  “-we meet once a while. They’re cool people and helped me through a lot. And I figured, it’d be nice to get some new perspective on the situation. That’s not just Luke and Reggie,”  Alex looks back at the circle, seeming to be waiting on him, and he gets nervous. He’s never been one to share his feelings with a group of strangers, so he’s not sure if this is a good idea.  But Willie thinks it could help him. Hell, the skater introducing him to Mozart had been fun- the two of them talking about music and whatnot. He must have spent some time and energy inviting all these people and putting all of this together... “Okay,” he relents, to which Willie lets out a cheerful ‘yes’ and claps him on the back encouragingly.  “These guys are great. It’ll be good, I promise,” “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll do it,” he leans in, “For you.”  Grinning, the two share a kiss.  “Yo, any day now lovebirds,”  Alex grimaces upon pulling away and he glares at Luke. Willie laughs, tugging on the lapels of his jacket, “I’ll be around. I’ll meet you afterwards, okay?” And with that his boyfriend exits the cafe, leaving Alex to head over and take up the empty seat.  “Alexander,” Mozart calls upon him first, “Would you like to start?”  The blonde sighs.  ‘Man, I’m really doing this, am I?’ “Hi,” he greets the circle, “I’m Alex. And I died by eating a hot dog...” “Hi Alex,” the answer back in unison.  “It happened 25 years ago, me and my friends were about to play a show at the Orpheum. But then everything went downhill from there...” 

we have reached a point of lack of new content where i would not be surprised if someone wrote a pre-jatp fanfic of how mozart died eating a hot dog

and then fast forward to a scene where mozart’s ghost meets willie and tells him about how he died eating a hot dog

[thurisazsalail]

General Squeak was NOT happy with being trapped in the kennel for the move. 😾 We had to bring her in on Thursday night after moving out stuff all day on Thursday, whatever we could fit in the car over and over... and then on Friday, the movers came for the furniture. Some of it didn't make it, being very old and honestly made of particle board. So right now, we're down by a few storage pieces. 🐈 The cats got moved in. Alex the Very Good adjusted right away. After several moves (and several humans; he's been given away a LOT) I think he's just happy we kept him. Eris was scared, and so is Seraph. They hate each other, but they're closet buddies. Squeaks wants to be OUT. But she's an indoor kitty now! No yard here! 😿 No internet yet! It was supposed to be done on Thursday, BUT... now they're saying Monday... uh, I have a business to run??? I work from home??? So does my husband? It's a Little Important. Like, A Lot. 😡 But I'm trying to be patient... I need to unpack my inventory anyways. I just Hurt Everywhere. The fibro + Ehlers-Danlos combo is kicking my ass. Last packed orders were sent out Thursday. 💜 I'll have everyone out soon! 🎁 PerthroSupplies.etsy.com 😸 #paganshop #pagansupplies #altarspace #witch #witchcraft #incense #candles #herbs #shoplocal #shopsmall #tampabay #tampa #handmadejewelry #handmade #saltscrub #handmadebracelet #handmadeearrings #earrings #glass #crystals #crystaladdict #healingcrystals #rosequartz #copperjewelry #aphrodite #moving #newapartment #fibromyalgia #ehlersdanlos #cats https://www.instagram.com/p/B_abtkxJLu-/?igshid=esqvh8ymmxn8

[davidcarner]

Chuck vs the Nanny, Ch 5 Rocky Road Ice Cream and Dill Pickle Spears

A/N You ever have everything planned out in your head for a chapter and a stray thought comes in and you can’t let it go?  That’s what happened here.  This was supposed to be the big con/mission, and then….well, you’ll see.  (Warning, if you write and think about your stories in the shower, and a what if? comes to mind, you could find yourself in the same situation.)  What I give to you is insane, a little out there, not probable, but possible, but it is the most Chuck and Sarah thing.  I hope you enjoy this chapter, Rocky Road Ice Cream and Dill Pickle Spears….

  “Okay team, where are we?” Chuck asked the group gathered in his kitchen.  Tomorrow night was the big night, the night Karen Fox and her state of the art security system was supposed to go down, and Chuck wanted there to be as few surprises as possible…mainly because Sarah hated surprises.

“Verbanski and I are on the staff.” Casey began.  “Between the two of us we were able to clone the majority of the apps our boss has on her phone.”

“A cursory glance at her phone will pass muster, but if she starts trying to do very much, it will fall apart quickly,” Gertrude warned.  Chuck turned to Morgan, who threw up his hands.

“Don’t look at me, I did the most I could with the info I had.”

“No one’s blaming you, Buddy.  Where are we on the finger-prints?”

“Casey got us everything we needed,” Morgan said with a nod toward his father-in-law.  That brought out a grunt.

“Awww, grunt 33, you’re welcome….Dad.”  Casey scowled and Morgan looked as though he might flee, when Alex grabbed his arm and shot her father a look.  He relented but grunted.  

“Don’t know that one,” Chuck admitted.

“It’s number 3,” Alex replied.  “The, I will kill you if you ever imply I’m related to you again.  It has only been used a few times.  Well, until he met Morgan that is,” she said smiling at her dad, letting him know Morgan could use it anytime he wanted.  Casey looked sick.

“What about Jason, Zondra?” Chuck asked.  

“Why don’t you ask me?” Carina wanted to know.  Everyone looked at Carina.  “What?”

“We all know you keep telling them you can feel the pick attempt because you want to rub up against Jason,” Zondra replied.  “Sarah can pick your pocket any day of the week, and we all know you’d never know.” Carina shrugged, not one bit ashamed.

“I don’t know what it is about him.”  Chuck looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smile.  She swatted at him.  “No, Chuckles, I mean he’s fine, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something familiar about him,” she said, dreamily.  

“I’ve never heard you talk about a man like that before,” Zondra said, with an amused smile on her face. “Don’t tell me…” Carina cut her off before she could go any further.

“I’m not falling for him.” Chuck just grinned.  “Don’t worry Chuckles, when you finally come to your senses I’ll still be here for you.”  Chuck’s grin grew.  “Oh, no, it’s not like that!” she insisted.

“Not like what?” Stephen asked. “Are you gonna marry, Jason?”

“Why would you ask that?” Chuck asked, his face nearly splitting with a grin.  Carina was sputtering.

“He thinks they belong together,” Ellie said, walking in with Samantha.  “Apparently the Jason and Carina have been spending a lot of time together ‘watching the kids’.” She said with finger quotes.

“They say they need to watch us together, but all they do is watch each other,” Stephen said.  Carina looked away, a little embarrassed to be called out by a six year old.  Chuck looked bothered.

“I’m sorry, Chuck,” Carina said.  “You know the kids mean everything to me, and if something was going on, I would put them first.”  Chuck grinned at her.  He had actually been thinking about Jason’s comments about how he wouldn’t do anything with Sarah if she were the last woman on Earth.  That just stuck in his craw for some reason.  He knew he should be happy that his wife wasn’t going to have to worry about the nanny hitting on her, but at the same time….He shook his head. This was ridiculous.  It wasn’t bothering him, it was nagging at him, like it should mean something, like it should mean something obvious that he was missing.  

“Carina…just don’t let Sarah know,” he replied.

“Let Sarah know what?” his wife’s voice came from the stairs.  Chuck turned around to answer but the words caught in his throat. Sarah was there, in a sleeveless Versace dress.  Chuck thought it was one from years ago, but Sarah said she didn’t remember wearing it then, and Chuck was fine with that…he had been dealing with her not unpacking her suitcase and had nearly ruined their night.  Her hair wasn’t as long as it was then, it was only shoulder length now, but the results were the same if not more stunning.  Chuck had known Sarah for over 12 years, and she still managed to take his breath away each time he saw her, but this…this was something more. He wondered how he managed to keep his cool in Milan back then.  Sarah had a smile on her face, that Chuck called his smile.  That was the smile she reserved for him.  Her eyes pierced into his soul when she smiled at him like that, and he didn’t care if anyone else was in the room or not, because when she smiled at him like that no one else was around, or mattered.  “Chuck?” she said grinning, knowing what she was doing to him, and loving it.

“How do you get more beautiful?” he asked.  Carina stuck a finger in her mouth, mocking gagging.

“I always wanted a younger sibling,” Samantha said, causing Chuck to raise his eyebrows and turn toward her.  In fact, everyone turned toward her.

“Uh, where did that come from?” Chuck asked.  

“I know about babies,” Samantha said.  Chuck looked at Carina.

“Hey, this one’s not on me!”

“Uncle Devon showed me after I read one of his medical books,” Samantha said.  Ellie shut her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Chuck,” Ellie said.

“I’m sure it’s not his fault,” Sarah said, looking at her daughter, who returned her own look. Chuck looked away, trying not to grin. Sarah’s face twitched, and she gave Chuck a level look.  She turned back to her daughter.  “Did you ask Uncle Devon to see the book you looked at?”  Samantha shook her head no.  “Did you ask questions about what you read?”

“Yes, and I told Uncle Devon to show me more complete pictures.”  Chuck winced.  Sarah nodded, for her to go on.

“What did you learn?” Sarah asked.  Samantha looked over at her brother and thought carefully about her brother.  He seemed not to care about anything going on around him.

“I know anatomy and how babies are made, and I know there are pictures of you and Dad in that dress and him in a suit or tuxedo 9 months before the day Stephen and I were born.” Chuck opened his mouth twice to say something but didn’t.  Sarah turned toward him, a grin covering her face.

“Anything to add to that?” She asked.  Chuck shrugged.

“Nope, seems like if we have any questions we should go to her,” he replied, and with that, all the adults exploded into laughter.  

“You’re all boring,” Stephen said, heading out to the yard.  Chuck looked outside, where Jason was on the phone with someone, his back turned toward the house.  

“I’m a little upset that you’re checking him out and not me, Mr. Bartowski,” Sarah whispered into his ear. Everyone was milling about talking after Samantha’s little speech and Sarah had slipped up behind her husband without him knowing.  Jason hung up the phone as Stephen approached him, and Chuck kept his thoughts to himself. Instead he smiled, thinking about his wife and the dress she was wearing.

“You never answered my question earlier, how do you keep getting more beautiful?” he asked, grinning. Sarah swatted him gently on the arm.

“Maybe you’re getting a little older and need better glasses.”  Chuck turned toward her, disbelief on his face.

“That’s a little insulting,” he said, not really trying to look hurt.  Sarah grinned, knowing what he was up to.  “I mean you look good and all, but you got work harder than that for all of this, Baby,” he said, running his hands palms up, down his body.  Sarah laughed.

“I’d like a little sister,” Samantha said, killing any mood the two had created.

“Uh, Honey, I don’t think we’re going to have any more kids,” Sarah said turning toward her daughter.

“Won’t stop you two from practicing,” Carina muttered under her breath.  Sarah turned toward her, trying to give her a dirty look, but failed, give the insanity of the situation.  “What?  She obviously knows more practical things about sex and childbirth than I do, it’s not like I’m telling her something she doesn’t know.”

“She definitely has more practical knowledge on childbirth than these two had with Stephen,” Ellie said, her eyes dancing looking at Chuck and Sarah.  Chuck tried to look embarrassed but just kept grinning. Carina looked suspicious.

“Just how bad did it go?” Carina asked.  Ellie put down her coffee cup, in surprise.

“You mean, you’ve never told them?” Ellie asked.  Sarah, grinning, shook her head no.  “Sarah, really?” Sarah started laughing, and Chuck joined her.

“What happened?” Zondra demanded.  Ellie looked at the couple, who both just shrugged.  

“Well,” she began but paused.  “It was very Chuck and Sarah.”

}o{

5 years ago

Chuck walked into the house, whistling.  He had finished all the work that needed to be done for Carmichael Industries, and for now, that part of his life was on hold until after their baby was born. Chuck smiled at the thought; he was going to be a dad.  Sarah wasn’t due for 2 more weeks, but he wasn’t going to chance things.  He considered going on a baby-moon, but with Ellie having come in to stay with them until the baby came along, he didn’t figure that was fair.  He walked into the kitchen to see the scariest thing he had ever seen in his life. There was Sarah, as beautiful as ever, but very obviously pregnant, dipping dill pickle spears into Rocky Road Ice Cream.  He watched her for a bit.  She was oblivious, and with each bite, she looked like it was the most divine thing she had ever eaten.  She opened her eyes after a bite, saw him, and never blinking her gaze, double (or was it by now triple?) dipped her pickle.

“I am never eating from that carton of Rocky Road again,” Chuck muttered, smiling while he put his briefcase on the counter.

“The way I’m feeling that ain’t the only thing your nevering again,” Sarah replied, scooping again, this time she just got some ice cream in her hand since there wasn’t much left of the pickle.  She didn’t look a bit concerned either, if anything, the look was a challenge.

“Uh, excuse me, you were the one in the rush to do the baby thing,” Chuck replied, not really believing her comment…but still a little worried.

“You didn’t do a thing to stop me,” she retorted back.  Chuck couldn’t help himself and started chuckling.  

“Nope.”  Sarah laughed, and put her non-dipping hand on her belly to support herself.  She looked really uncomfortable.

“As much as that hurt, thanks,” she said.  “It’s been a rough hour or so.”  Chuck tilted his head, confused.

“I’m having Braxton-Hicks contractions, I think,” Sarah said.  “They’re aren’t very comfortable.”

“Uh, how far apart are they?” Chuck asked.  Sarah shrugged.

“Five minutes,” she replied off handed.  Chuck’s eyes bugged out.  “Calm down,” she said rolling her eyes.  “I’m two weeks…” and she stopped mid-sentence.  Her eyes getting wide and then looking down to the floor.  “Uh..”

“ELLIE!!!!”  Chuck screamed, turning pale.  Ellie rushed into the kitchen, took one look behind the counter and the mess on the floor, and muttered something under her breath.

“Calm down!” Sarah yelled. Chuck looked at her.  She seemed somewhat calm.  “I’m the one having the kid, not you, remember?”

“Ellie!  She’s doing the thingy!” Chuck said pointing at Sarah. Both women rolled their eyes.  

“Chuck, you clean up this mess,” Ellie said.  Chuck brightened.

“I can clean!”  And off he went to get supplies, leaving the two women alone.

“Are you having contractions?” Ellie asked.  Sarah nodded and held up a finger, for her to give her a moment.  Sarah winced a little.  Ellie’s eyes grew.  “How long?”

“For about an hour, they’re five minutes apart or so, except now it’s more like 3…or 2.”  

“Uh-oh,” Ellie muttered and Sarah raised her eyebrow.  “Uh, how trained were you to withstand pain in the CIA?”  Sarah’s eyes got wide when she realized what the question meant.

“Am I having the baby now?” Sarah asked.  Ellie nodded.

“I think, right now. It’s called precipitous labor, and it goes fast.  I never thought about you and your pain tolerance with your CIA training.”  Sarah nodded.

“We have a problem,” Sarah said.

“Chuck,” both women said at the same time.  Chuck came bounding into the room with a mop, bucket, cleaner, and a smile on his face. He had lost it.  His mind had snapped at what had happened.  Sarah started to bury her head in her hand when it hit.

“Uhhh,” she said. Chuck turned, worried.

“Uhhh?  You never uhhh?  I mean, oh…oh God…your having it right now aren’t you?” Chuck’s voice raised octaves as he said it.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said, and slapped him.  Chuck was shocked.  She pointed at his face.  “I need you. Right now.  Snap out of this!”

“Are you remembering?” Sarah wanted to scream.  “Wait, that look, it’s like something from us during the missions when I’d do something stupid about us.”  Sarah smiled, and then winced one eye closed as a contraction hit.  She made the sign for him to hurry it along.  “You’re acting like the you of old, not that you weren’t before but.” Sarah took three fingers and her thumb and pinched his lips closed.

“You’re spiraling.  I always remember you, you goof.  In here,” she said pointing to her heart with her other hand.  “I may have forgot the memories, but my heart never forgot you.”  Chuck nodded.  He closed his eyes for a second and Sarah removed her fingers from his face.  He opened them and Sarah saw he was okay.

“Right,” he began, and Sarah buckled a bit and one eye went a little buggy.  Chuck reached down, scooped her up and began to carry her to the couch.  “We’re gonna have to burn this couch later.

“There was a chance he was conceived here, might as well have him here,” Sarah muttered.

“Sarah!” Ellie shouted, not wanting to hear that.  

“I used to have to shower, in the shower you and Devon did your thang in, so all’s fair,” Chuck replied. Sarah started to speak, but she made some groan, that Chuck had never heard.  “Sorry dear,” he said and in one motion deposited her on the couch as he pulled her pants down, as she lifted her hips to help him.  Ellie put her hand on his arm.

“I got this end from here. You work on that end, and I have everything down here,” Ellie said.  Chuck started to nod, but Ellie gripped his arm.  “Chuck, you look down here, you’ll pass out.”

“Right,” he said, turning toward his wife.  “Don’t pass out.”  Sarah nodded breathing.  “Where are we?”

“About a 7,” she said. He turned his head to the side to say, “really?”  “Let me hold your hand,” she said, reaching out.  Chuck was a little hesitant.

“Dear, you’re really strong, and I don’t want you to break…”

“CHUCK! HAND!” she screamed during a contraction.  He gave her his hand and she squeezed.  Chuck dropped to a knee and wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

“Don’t…snap….all the bones!” he got out, red-faced and trying to breathe.

“Sorry!” she yelled. “Ellie?”

“You’re crowning, I’ve heard of this but never saw it,” she said, shaking her head.  “Push!”  Sarah pushed, and Chuck fell from the knee to the ground, but he never let go of Sarah’s hand.

“Aargh!” she yelled. “It’s an 8 now!”

“I’m at an 80!” Chuck yelled.

“You are such a nerd!” she screamed.

“I KNOW!” Chuck yelled wondering if any bones wouldn’t be broke in his hand.

“One more push and I think…” Ellie trailed off, and Sarah collapsed on the couch.  Chuck hit the ground and laid there, he nearly passed out, until he heard the crying.  He raised up, and Sarah caught his eye. They both had the same smile that plastered their faces.  “I think someone wants to meet you two,” Ellie said, tears in her eyes, cooing at the baby.  

“Hey buddy,” Chuck said, as Ellie started to give him the baby.  “Nope,” Chuck said.  “Kick-ass spy-ninja over her just popped this guy out in less than two minutes, I’m not getting between her and her cub.” Ellie smile, suspecting he was right. Sarah looked a little worried when she was handed her son, but the baby cooed in her arms and the look on Sarah’s face made Chuck smile the biggest smile he ever knew.  He reached down and traced his finger over his son’s hand. Stephen opened his hand and clutched Chuck’s finger.  Sarah gasped.

“We did this,” she whispered.  Chuck nodded and she looked up at him, with tears in her eyes.  

“Why are you crying, it’s my hand that smashed?” he asked, a grin covering his face.  She shook her head.

“I’m sorry about that,” she answered.  Chuck shrugged.  “We did this, and it’s amazing, but you are not touching me….ever!”  Chuck did his eyebrow dance.  “Give me a few days you nut.”

“Give her four to six weeks!” Ellie yelled.  Chuck looked at her, shocked.

“I….wasn’t…oh, screw it,” he said, giving up.  Both women laughed at him, as Ellie pulled out her phone to call the hospital.

}o{

“You replaced the couch, right?” Casey asked.  Gertrude slapped his shoulder.  “What?” he asked.  Chuck looked at him, nodding quickly and insistently.

“An 8 huh?” Carina asked. Sarah shrugged, bouncing a shoulder.

“Probably an 11 for you,” she said, winking at Chuck.  Chuck smiled. Carina shook her head.

“Now that we’ve wandered down memory lane, are we ready for tomorrow night?” Chuck asked.  Everyone nodded.  Carina and Zondra took Samantha outside, the Grimes left as did Casey and Gertrude, even Ellie said she needed to get to her new place and unpack. “Need any help?” Chuck asked. Ellie shook her head.

“Devon and I want to do this,” she said, grinning.  “Tomorrow, we begin to fix things, Chuck.”  Chuck put his arm around Sarah and the two looked at each other.

“There’s nothing to fix,” Chuck said. Sarah shrugged.

“I know he loves me and I love him, the rest…it would be nice, but I’ve got my family.”  Ellie smiled and went out the door.  Chuck and Sarah walked over to the window to watch the five outside.  Carina turned, saw them, and gave a head nod toward the stairs.

“Is she implying,” Chuck began, trying to sound outraged.

“I swear that’s all that on her mind,” Sarah said, agreeing.  She paused for a second and the two shared a look.  “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to keep in practice in case we decide to have a third,” she said with a grin on her face.  Chuck’s grin grew.

“It never hurts to practice,” Chuck said agreeing.  The two walked toward the stairs.

“You think Morgan figured out that’s the couch he took from here yet?” Sarah asked.  Chuck just burst into laughter.  

“I wonder if Casey realized it was the couch he slept on when he stayed at their place?”  Chuck and Sarah headed upstairs, not realizing that after tonight, things would never be the same.

 Oh….oh my….that sounds….ominous…guess I better hurry up and write the next one.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Reviews are always appreciated.  BTW, precipitous labor is a real thing, and it once the idea popped into my head I just couldn’t get it out.