#and lucy knowing this is all kate being kate and only being reassuring

[booasaur]

NCIS: Hawai’i - 2x02

[pippytmi]

kacy au + a prompt from this list: "this is the first time I’m living on my own and my parents decided to spontaneously drop by in a few hours to see how I’m doing pls let me borrow some cleaning supplies and food so that my parents will believe I’m a functioning, responsible adult who totally cleans and doesn’t just have condiments and eggs in my fridge AU”

////////

“Hey! Hi, you’re—you're 8C, right?”

Kate nearly drops her bag at the sudden voice and its proximity, entirely unused to any kind of attention whatsoever. Embarrassingly, her first response is to reach for a gun that isn’t there, succeeding only in pulling out her keys as a makeshift weapon.

“Whoa,” the stranger before Kate says, raising both hands up. She looks vaguely familiar, dark eyes and curly hair and a short enough stature that Kate presumes she won’t be a real threat. “Is that a…key? No offense, but I don't think that would stab very well.” She squints up at Kate suddenly, almost like she’s trying to figure her out. “Please don't test that theory.”

Kate can only hurriedly lower said keys, feels her cheeks burn under the scrutiny. “Sorry,” she says. “I guess I’m a little jumpy.”

“It’s all good, I totally get it,” the stranger says cheerfully. “There’s not really a welcoming committee around these parts.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Kate asks slowly, cautiously on guard once more. She had first moved into this apartment two months ago, so it’s a little late for a welcome-to-the-neighborhood kind of thing.

“It could be,” the woman says, and she holds out her hand. “I’m Lucy. You might know me better as 12B, I’m the one always throwing empty bottles at the landlord’s head.”

Kate just stares back, accepting the handshake a beat later than socially acceptable. “I…didn’t know anyone did that, actually.”

“Oh it’s fine,” Lucy’s quick to reassure her. “He hasn’t found out it’s me.”

“Okay.” Kate is still very, very confused as to what Lucy of 12B (who throws water bottles at people) could possibly want. Or why she has decided to introduce herself in such a strange manner.

“Sorry to bug you," Lucy says, “but you’re kind of my last hope. I’ve been trying to find one friendly neighbor in this shithole, and so far, everyone has been shutting their doors in my face. You’re kind of on another level since you tried to shank me, but I am completely willing to forget that if you can let me borrow some stuff.”

“I didn’t try to…” Kate trails off as Lucy gazes up at her with such a hopeful expression that her resolve immediately weakens. “What kind of stuff?”

“Nothing major,” Lucy says. “Long story short, my parents decided to drop in on me, and I basically have nothing in my place. Any chance you can lend me some cleaning supplies? And maybe some groceries? I will one hundred percent pay you back. I just need them to think I’m an actual functioning human being.”

“I guess I can see what I have,” Kate says reluctantly, gripping her groceries a little tighter to her chest. “Come in, I’ll get you everything you need.”

This is probably a bad idea. Scratch that—it is definitely a bad idea, and Curtis will actually kill her for this, but Kate invites this literal stranger into her (government-assigned) home and leaves Lucy alone in order to briefly dash into her room and lock up the gun kept in the bottom of her purse.

Lucy, at the very least, stays firmly in the living room where Kate left her, though her eyes obviously wander around the room. “I like the color,” she says, gesturing to Kate’s couch. “Funky.”

Kate grimaces. “It was the only one they had,” she says of that neon-green monstrosity.

“Well, I think it’s really cool,” Lucy says. With Kate back, she seems emboldened, takes a turn about the room with a curious half-smile. “Your place seems smaller than mine. How much are you paying? Because if it’s the same as mine, I can totally get the landlord with a bottle for you.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Kate says. “Um, I think I should have everything you need in the kitchen.” She ushers Lucy right over, gestures to the fridge and says, “You can pick whatever you want for food. I’ll get the cleaning supplies from under the sink.” Still on edge, she crouches down to retrieve everything while watching Lucy out of the corner of her eye.

If Lucy can feel Kate staring, she doesn’t show it; she happily accepts the invitation to rummage through the fridge, clanking of bottles and rustling of bags audible. Finally, Kate focuses on the task at hand, and packs the basics into a plastic bag: bleach, window cleaner, Lysol.

“Okay, this might be more unbelievable than having nothing in my house,” Lucy suddenly declares. “Do you have anything good to eat?”

Kate lifts her head. “What?”

“This is all health food and green juice, 8C,” Lucy says. Pauses. “Oh fuck. I never asked for your name.”

Honestly, Kate forgot she hadn’t, either. “It’s—”

“I really hope you’re not a serial killer,” Lucy continues, as if Kate isn’t even in the room and she is just musing aloud. “That probably should’ve been my first question. Can we start over? Here. 8C, are you a serial killer?”

Kate blinks. “No,” she says. “But I also don’t think serial killers would tell you if they were.”

“Fair enough,” Lucy says, and peculiarly enough, she doesn’t seem threatened at all by the possibility. Obviously she is not afraid to be in unfamiliar situations with unfamiliar people, and Kate wonders if she should rethink her assumption that Lucy is not a threat. “So what’s your name, then?”

“...Kate.”

“Kate,” Lucy repeats. “Hm. It’s not what I was expecting, but it fits.” With that information, she just turns around and…continues going through Kate’s fridge. “Are you single?”

Kate coughs. “W-what?”

“Single people always have those sad frozen meals, at least,” Lucy says. “I do too, normally, but I haven’t hit the grocery store in a while.” She opens the freezer and actually whoops at the sight of Marie Callender's finest. “Jackpot! I will take these off your hands.”

“And your parents will…be fine with that?” Kate decides that, overall, she is utterly confused by Lucy the neighbor from 12B. There's no other possible way to put it.

“Oh not at all, but it is what they expect,” Lucy says. “I’ll take some of your health foods too, I guess. Let them think I’m trying to stop bad habits.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear with a self-conscious laugh. “I mean, only if that’s fine with you.”

And something about that moment where Lucy becomes a little awkward—when she bashfully looks down at her feet, then looks back up at Kate from underneath her long eyelashes—it endears Kate completely. At the very least, it makes her relax, stomach twisting in itself in a tell-tale weakness for pretty girls in trouble. “Sure,” she says. “Do your parents like wine? You can take a bottle, I have a few.”

“I would never turn down wine,” Lucy says, brightening. “I don’t even care that I don’t have wine glasses. We can drink out of paper cups for all I care.”

Kate opens the liquor cabinet to make her selection: a nice red that had been a gift from her mother. (She’ll just have to email her later and say she loved it when her mother asks.) “I would offer to lend you some, but I also don’t have wine glasses,” she finds herself saying, then immediately regrets it, because Lucy obviously expects an explanation and all Kate seems to be able to do is make a fool out of herself today.

“Are you also a connoisseur of paper cups? Kate from 8C, I think we’re going to be friends,” Lucy says easily, and Kate’s lips twitch from the effort of biting back a smile.

“I actually like to drink wine out of mason jars,” Kate says. “I know it’s a little weird…”

Lucy has absolutely no qualms about smiling, and her smile lights up her whole face in a way Kate can’t look away from. “I think that’s cute,” she says, and Kate’s face burns so hot she knows that her status as this building’s number one gay disaster is 100% secured.

“Here,” Kate barely remembers to blurt out, handing off the wine bottle. “And let me get you a bag for the food too.”

After everything has been successfully squared away, Lucy is left with three large bags that will definitely require more than one trip. “Thank you,” she says. “Seriously. You’ve saved my life and I promise I will replace everything I’ve stolen today.”

“It’s no problem,” Kate says. “Do you need help taking it to your place?”

Lucy feigns a double-take, mouth falling open in an exaggerated gasp. “Already trying to invite yourself over? Wow, 8C. At least buy a girl dinner first.”

Kate’s mouth inevitably twists into that damned smile anyway. “Is that not what the frozen meals are? Technically, I did buy them.”

“Touché,” Lucy says, biting her lip. “You are…surprising.” She snags the smaller of the bags which contains the cleaning supplies, then swings it over her shoulder. “Alright, you can walk me home. But no funny business.”

“Okay,” Kate says with a laugh, taking the last two bags herself.

“But,” Lucy says as they walk outside, “you officially have a rain check.”

“For dinner?” Despite the circumstances of Kate’s arrival here—despite the looming undercover op that is about to consume her life—she feels light. Hopeful, even.

Lucy throws a wink over her shoulder. “For the funny business,” she says, all but skipping in the direction of her apartment.

Kate, meanwhile, freezes in place. Nevermind about Lucy being a threat to her life—she’s just going to be a threat to Kate's sanity.

(Which…may or may not be a bad thing. It’s to be determined, at any rate). 

[binary-not-found]

And the conversation with Jesse finally came.

The way she says "Whistler" without a second's hesitation, makes clear her intentions to go and her concerns about leaving.

And Jesse said what we all had thought, the problem of wanting to leave or not, the worries, were Lucy's, because Kate literally said nothing

I really wanted to gif every second of this scene but it was already too much, so I took the moments that I thought were the most remarkable and did what I could with them

I love the way Lucy leans into Kate the second she gets close, almost like that's all she needed, to have her there with her, the sigh she lets out when she puts her head on her shoulder and her little smile when Kate gives her the kiss on the forehead, her mind was spinning and Kate made her at ease by being there

And the way the first thing Kate asks is how she is feeling, she is taking care of her by giving her the chance to say whatever she wants, no need for it to be about the job

It's not forever

I don't know what else to say, I just love the way Kate reassures her that it's okay if she wants to go without saying the exact words, she knows that what Lucy needs is to feel safe so she can be at peace and Kate gives it to her.

-Kate jealous just because of how cute it was-

And this little moment because I feel like Kate could melt right there by the way she looks at Lucy, how she goes from seeing her lips to her eyes and the rest of her face, memorizing once again every millimeter of her 🥺😭❤

I'm not going anywhere

Lucy doesn't say it, not in the exact words at least, her fear wasn't leaving Kate, her fear was that Kate wouldn't want to wait for her -or at least I interpreted that- she was scared that having to be apart would be too much for her, that was her fear, and Kate understands this immediately and once again gives her the reassurance Lucy needs, to know that she can go and she'll be there

And I couldn't pass up the cutest expression in the whole universe 🥰

In the first gif the way Kate looks at Lucy after she says "so" it almost seems like she is telling her that she can say it, that she can say out loud that she will go, and her smile after Lucy says it just proves what I'm telling you.

Even when Lucy has already made her decision she again says that she will do it only if Kate is sure it's okay for her to do it, and I must say I love that little part of the conversation, because Kate has just told her that they are going to be fine and that it's okay if she decides to go, but Lucy wants to be completely sure so she knows that her decision isn't hurting Kate

And again Kate proving that Lucy was right in saying she's the best girlfriend ever, talks to her about three different things. First: conquering her fears, overcoming the fear of the water and the sea -and in general any fear- is not an easy thing to do and Lucy is deciding to do it on her own, that's to be admired, second: it's good for her career, if my blondie has shown us something is that she knows that Lucy's future as an agent is as important as their future together, that's why she is there to support her in everything, and third: they are strong enough, they can handle this as long as they do it together, they have found each other more than once after being apart for months, they always come back to each other and this time their love is stronger than anything and they are closer than ever, the distance will be only physical 😌

And by this point we were all crying 😪

I miss them already and it's only been four days, I don't know what I'm going to do without them together for the next few episodes, but we'll find out. In order not to run out of things to do I'm taking suggestions, should I make gifs and give my opinion about Kate with the team in the next episodes? should I learn to make shorter posts? you tell me

Honestly I have a lot more to say about this episode, but for now and for the analysis I feel this is enough, if you want to discuss more in depth my question box is always open and if you don't want everyone to see your opinion my chat is always available, my first language is spanish so feel free to reach out with a "weeeeey!"

that's all for today, thanks for reading me, toodles 😘

2/2 episode 7

[halforcdad]

Really loving how the show is exploring the beginning of Kate and Lucy's relationship and all the insecurities that still lurk in the shadows of honeymoon bliss. There's a lot to love in 2x02:

Kate blurting out, “I want to tell my boss we’re dating,” and Lucy being completely thrown off. It’s Kate’s version of “I want to be intimate,” and Lucy pointing at the coffee shop and going, “Here???”

Lucy being a supportive, stabilizing force for Kate only for us to find out she's equally as freaked out and worried later in her own time (says it to Jesse and then, as pointed out very nicely here, she punches her girlfriend's boss's arm then tries to recover by nervously complimenting his corny apron).

"No, no it's not fine, Lucy... You make it look so easy," is giving "You're always doing nice things for me... I just wanted to show my appreciation." (Both of them feeling like they're not doing enough/doing it as well as the other and trying to do something big to make sure they're reciprocating properly, resulting in them making "mistakes" they feel the need to apologize for.)

2x02 is likely an intentional callback/parallel to 1x07 to show how far they've come:

Kate hesitantly whispering in a dark corner about being compartmented  after Lucy invited her out in front of people vs. Kate, in public, outright saying she wants to introduce Lucy to her boss and coworkers and inviting her to the barbeque (and wanting Lucy's input)

Lucy being all hush-hush with Ernie in the empty hallway vs. Lucy rambling loudly to Jesse about her girlfriend possibly losing her position because of conflict of interest concerns while walking down that same hallway (and then the bullpen) now full of coworkers

Kate not wanting anyone at work, especially Lucy’s team, to find out about them (”Ernie’s not people”) vs. Kate jumping at the chance to ask Jesse for advice despite him giving her an out (in general, Jesse, who labelled Kate 'the Mean Girl™️' in the pilot, now watching her lament over her own incompetence because of a silly misunderstanding all while making silly faces and asking him how to not piss off his teammate/little sister/friend)

"You make it look so easy." "We don't have to do this today." "No, no, I want to, it's just—it's a lot for me,"

is a less combative version of,

"I'm trying to do this your way, you know, be all expressive and smiley, it's just—it's hard for me to be-" "Human?" "I'm trying here, Lucy."

They're both self-deprecating scenes for Kate. She admits she's embarrassed by herself in 1x07 and we see it in 2x02 after she confesses that this is the first time she's ever introduced a girlfriend to her coworkers. In 1x07, it's like Kate's begging Lucy to see her and understand her. In 2x02, it feels more like deep shame (especially when she looks down at "It's a lot for me") over disappointing and failing Lucy again after saying she’d do things differently this time. Lucy, who’s the most amazing woman she’s ever met, who’s crazy about her, who’s still trying to reassure her when Kate can’t even do something as simple as correct her boss when he assumes she’s dating a guy. 

A big difference is that in one, Kate knows she hurt Lucy and is delivering a necessary apology after a disagreement and in the other, Kate thinks she’s hurt Lucy, even though Lucy's tells her it's fine. Kate still insists that it's not, is quick to say “it’s my fault”, and is stressing out big time over a small mistake. It also feels like the difference between the two Kacy scenes is this feeling of Kate “has to” vs. Kate “wants to”. S1 Kate is sharing because she messed up and is trying to cling onto the potential this relationship has and S2 Kate already knows the pain of losing Lucy to her own bad choices and wants to be better (1x07 ends with Kate in that state because she was prompted, but in 2x02 she starts the episode already having decided on her own that she wants to involve Lucy).

In 1x07, Lucy’s hurt and upset, so even when Kate’s being vulnerable (after Lucy offered up some vulnerability first) and turning her assumptions on their head, she lashes out. Ernie’s advice earlier in the episode is light-hearted ribbing, but also coated in the fact that maybe Lucy was wrong to make assumptions from her own insecurities. She can’t be sympathetic towards Kate just yet. Eventually, she recognizes the effort Kate’s putting in and agrees to terms that’ll make her the most comfortable. Kate’s asking for a lot of things in this scene: forgiveness, understanding, another chance, time. 

In 2x02, Lucy can clearly see Kate's distress and realizes the big leap Kate's trying to make for her, for them. Sees the workplace stakes 1x07 Kate might have been worried about and spirals a little too before Jesse course-corrects her. When Kate admits how new this type of milestone is for her, despite it being something Lucy's wanted since s1, she prioritizes Kate's comfort and says they don't have to do this today. It's only when Kate makes it absolutely clear that this is something she wants to do, something they both want, that Lucy switches the type of support she offers.

Kate puts herself out there, lets herself be vulnerable, and Lucy meets her halfway: in 1x07 when she agrees to being a secret and in 2x02 when she's supporting Kate's decision to be transparent and open about them.

The first is a compromise in the dark, in the closed-door break room tucked in the corner of the office, after their coworkers have gone home. Lucy flirts and teases, but she walks away, leaving Kate to chase after her. It obviously means a lot to both of them, but they don't say that out loud, instead choosing to be all coy about it and deflecting. They probably spend the night together, Kate showing her appreciation in the comfort of her own home.

The second is a reminder and a promise that Kate isn't alone anymore because they're in a serious, committed relationship. Lucy reaches out, leaves no room for doubt as she links their hands together, and tells Kate earnestly that she's right there by her side, that she's here to stay no matter what. In the light of day, out in the open, on their way to meet Kate's coworkers. Then, she walks with her into the bbq, stands by her the whole time, and uses that Lucy Tara charm on everyone. And Kate repays all that by being brave, by being openly sweet, loving, and affectionate with Lucy in front of everyone.

[elisaphoenix13]

The Not So Secret Life Of Misfits

"Don't you guys have people to do this? Or at least have it delivered?"

Stephen sighs softly as America follows him down the bread aisle of the grocery store. She had mentioned that while he was not the same Stephen she had known, he was still who she was used to and was sticking to his side for the better part. It didn't bother him, especially since he was used to it with Valerie, and the little girl was more attached to him than America was being. America was still adjusting.

Suddenly having rich parents was definitely an adjustment. Stephen remembered how every single one of the boys had their own way of getting used to things. 

"We usually have it delivered, but sometimes I need to pick up a couple of things and it's nice to get away from the chaos." Stephen finally answers as he grabs a few loaves of bread.

"So…I'm still a little confused. How many kids do you have?" America asks while leaning against the cart. She quickly decides to take it for a joyride instead and rides it up and down the aisle as Stephen looks at the bagels.

"Depends on what you mean." Stephen says.

"Well, I heard Tony call Cassie your kid but she doesn't stay upstairs with us. And then that girl…Kate? She comes over this morning and calls you Mom." America looks at him sheepishly when she accidentally runs the cart into Stephen's hip but he just puts his things into it.

It hadn't been the first time he was hit by a shopping cart. Peter was the first and the rest followed. Every single one of them decided at one point to take the cart for a joy ride and ran into him, except William and Valerie of course. Lucy hadn't yet but it was only a matter of time.

"In that case I have…" Stephen stops to think about it, counting under his breath. "Thirteen? Including you?"

America gapes at him. "What, so you have more?"

"Yes. They're called the Avengers." Stephen snorts, leading the way to the next aisle and leaving America to follow with the cart.

"I thought Bucky was joking when he called you Mom."

"It started off that way, but it sort of stuck."

"Do you like it? Being Mom?" America asks softly and Stephen looks at her after grabbing some cereal.

The question threw Stephen for a loop. Nobody had asked him the question. At least not directly. The closest anyone ever got to it was Peter and that was just to ask him if it was really okay to call Stephen "mom" after his slip up all those years ago. Now that he stopped to think about it for a moment, he couldn't see his life any differently. He loved his kids, his husband, even the Avengers. It was a family he didn't dare think of giving up for anything. It made him sympathetic to America's situation. The poor girl had bounced around countless universes until she heard of this one. One where she thought she could have a chance to have a family again.

And when they welcomed her with open arms, it left her reeling. Hence the questions.

"I do actually." He answers. "Does it bother you?"

America shakes her head immediately with wide eyes. "No! It's just…an adjustment compared to the you I knew. I don't feel like a burden here. Am I?"

"No." Stephen says immediately. "You're not a burden. Don't ever think you are. It took a lot of reassuring for the boys to not feel that way anymore when we took them in."

For the next few minutes, America follows him in comfortable silence as they shop, until they get to the dairy section.

"I know you said you come to get away from the chaos, but how come you brought all of the kids?" Just as the last word leaves America's mouth, Diana runs over with a bag of goldfish crackers, putting them in the cart when Stephen nods.

"Where's your sister?" Stephen asks.

"Sissy is coming. She saw you walk down here and said to go ahead. She said she needs to grab some toothpaste for Uncle Scott and Uncle Quill." Diana answers.

Stephen hums in acknowledgement and turns his attention back to America. "Because my kids scatter and find a snack they want. They don't cause trouble…at least not anymore."

"Oh…makes sense I guess. But not Lucy?"

"Lucy is content to stay at home with Tony and get covered in grease," Stephen rolls his eyes. "It's probably for the best anyway. She's very…energetic."

"Mom's just afraid that Lucy will climb the shelves and then jump off with that happy screech she has." Cassie elaborates when she walks over and America laughs.

"Yeah I did see her climbing the bookshelves the other day."

"We have to keep her away from the personal gym too," Thomas adds when he seemingly appears out of nowhere with white cheddar cheez-its and mumbles, "There was an incident with the pool."

Cassie powers his voice to say, "Lucy jumped in without a care in the world like she usually does. No life vest or floaties so she sank to the bottom immediately. We've…never seen Mom so freaked out."

"He jumped in after her before any of us could even react and kept her at his side for the rest of the day." Thomas adds. "We heard him having a nightmare that same night."

"He had a nightmare?" Cassie whispers.

Stephen froze while reaching out for some butter. Despite Cassie and Thomas's attempt to tell the story quietly, the sorcerer still heard their words and had to take a moment to collect himself. The pool incident was still fairly recent so it was still fresh in his mind, and it made his chest tighten. He had gone in after Lucy without a second thought and she had been unperturbed by the situation, but to Stephen, it was almost like reliving a memory.

A memory that still haunted him after almost 20 years when a similar situation arose. It happened before with Peter at the lake house, and now with Lucy at the pool…

"He's right here and he can hear you." Stephen sighs, finally tossing the butter into the cart. "America, why don't you find a snack you like?"

Her eyes nearly pop out of her head. "Really? Any snack?"

"Yeah! I always get the white cheddar cheez-its. They're like crack to me." Thomas cackles. "Will and Val get strawberries and whipped cream. They do everything and share everything together if Val isn't attached to Mom."

"I noticed. You know, when I first got here, I thought she was actually William's," America says and Stephen covers his face with his hand. "I was like, wow, talk about a teen dad, but then I realized…siblings. Would have thought Cassie and Diana were mother and daughter if the age wouldn't have been so weird."

Cassie blushes. "Oh geez, no. I helped Tony…raise her…but you know. I helped however I could since…the snap."

America nods. "Yeah…I was told about that. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's okay. I think we've all healed and moved on from it now." Cassie smiles.

"Sissy and I will help you find a snack!" Diana finally says after listening to the older kids converse with each other.

"Sure. I gotta see the weird foods here anyway."

Cassie laughs. "No, you gotta save the weird foods for when I drag Papa shopping. He saw cotton candy flavored grapes and had an aneurysm."

"Please take me on your next shopping trip with him," America laughs as she walks away with the girls.

In the meantime, Stephen finishes in the dairy aisle and leaves Thomas to push the cart after him as he leads them to the drinks. The kids wanted a movie night and so they needed drinks and popcorn, one of the reasons Stephen brought them with him. Harley and Peter were charged with finding the popcorn, but after that? He just prayed to the Vishanti that they really had grown out of their public shenanigans.

"Do you think coffee would make me travel at light speed?" Thomas asks and Stephen snorts.

"I'm sure your body metabolizes it faster than it can set in, but I still wouldn't want to risk it."

"Pietro taught me how to run through walls. He says the laws of physics don't always apply to us when we run. Like running on water or running through thin walls." Thomas explains. "Brick walls are still too hard for me."

Stephen glances at his son and raises an eyebrow. "Remind me to ground him when we get home. You should ask before testing anything like–"

"I did! I asked Dad! He set up some things we can try." Thomas reassures quickly.

Not that Stephen wasn't sure it was something to be relieved about. Tony was a fantastic father, but sometimes even his genius brain took a break and didn't think things through. But since Thomas had yet to come to him with a concussion, he assumed Tony and Pietro were being somewhat responsible.

With Lucy though, Stephen was still convinced that Tony had blown out her eardrums while working in the lab with her. Whether from blasting music or from blowing things up. But Bruce had checked out her ears for her and said Lucy was fine. Maybe the little girl just had selective hearing when it came to Stephen. She listened when he was stern, but usually if he asked her nicely to please not wipe her boogers on Levi, it went in one ear and out the other.

There was also the time she tried to climb the railing of the stairs just so she could slide down. Fortunately Rhodey had been visiting and put a stop to that pretty quickly.

"Just…please be careful." Stephen finally says. "I'd rather not have to use a jackhammer to dig my child out of bricks."

Thomas grins. "You might not have to. Pretty sure Yelena could headbutt a brick wall and make it crumble like sand."

"Speaking of Yelena, remind me to talk to her and Kate about their not so private…trysts." Stephen motions to some drinks for Thomas to grab and put on the bottom of the cart. "Your brother did one of those panic flusters when he walked in on them. Closed the door while he was still in the room and then apparently turned so red that a sunburn would have been jealous and teleported away."

"Was that the day he called from Japan?" Thomas bursts into laughter then yelps when Stephen smacks the back of his head. "I love him but he's such a ditz sometimes."

"Yelena thought it was hilarious too," Stephen drawls. "Now go round up the brood. I'm finished."

Thomas salutes. "Yes, sir!"

"And never do that again."

"Peter and Harley are right. It's fun to see you make that face." Thomas dodges Stephen's next swipe and jogs off hollering for his siblings, which makes Stephen rub the bridge of his nose.

The twins had certainly come out of their shells. And unfortunately that meant that their older brothers were rubbing off on them. At least William still had some modicum of respect for Stephen and Tony. He had his moments of sass but it was still in the respectable range. Thomas, on the other hand, was teetering dangerously on Harley's end of the spectrum. Even going so far as to run literal circles around their resident god.

Sometimes even Sam after he heard the story about how he and Steve first met. Sam was less than pleased with the outcome and Steve always got a good laugh out of it.

Stephen was fairly certain that Thomas used his speed to his advantage when he wasn't in view anymore, because the sorcerer was surrounded by all of the kids before he was even halfway to the front of the store. They were all chattering about at least three different subjects and none of them needed his immediate attention so he tuned them out. He simply pushed the cart to an open register, let the kids unload it onto the belt, and waited for the cashier to ring him up so he could pay and go home. Tea and that piece of chocolate cake he had put into the cart were starting to sound heavenly.

"Dude...I just found Peeps flavored Pepsi," Harley announces and Cassie laughs, taking it from him and putting it on the belt.

"Just when Papa thinks the grocery store won't traumatize him anymore." Cassie grins.

"Babe, that's savage." Peter laughs.

"Busy day, Dr. Strange?" The cashier asks and Stephen snorts humorously.

"Believe it or not, this is a calm day."

[le-amewzing]

Don’t Flinch

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this smol cross-over idea for months, so I finally sat down and wrote it! :'D

Fic: "Don't Flinch" [FFN] [AO3]

Pairings/Characters: Lucy Tara (brief mentions of Lucy/Kate Whistler) & Meredith Brody, Jane Tennant, & a cameo from Dwayne Pride

Rating: K

Words: ~2,330

Additional info: gen fic, friendship, 3rd person POV

Summary: When Lucy's hesitancy to take the agent afloat position risks her dragging her feet and losing the opportunity, Tennant pulls some strings so Lucy can chat with someone who's been there before.

      "They're going to want a decision, Lucy. Soon."

      Lucy blinked and finally raised her eyes from the folder in Tennant's hands. Her mouth popped open, in a small "o," but no sound came out. That made sense; she'd already blurted to her boss exactly why she'd applied for this agent afloat position what felt like a lifetime ago.

      Tennant's expression softened. She gave Lucy a fleeting smile, and her shoulders sank a smidge as she set the assignment aside on her desk behind her. "There are a lot of things you'll have to do, before you go, if that's what you choose. I know you don't have a lot of time to decide."

      Lucy bit her bottom lip.

      "You do still want this, though, right?"

      "I…" Good grief, Jesse was always teasing her for being a chatterbox—but where had her words gone today? Lucy took a breath and squinted at the older woman. "I need time to think," she admitted in all honesty. "I mean, what would you do, in my shoes?"

      But Tennant shook her head, not falling for the bait. "You know I can't answer that. Around your age, I was CIA and married and a mother already. That's comparing apples to oranges and wouldn't help you at all."

      Lucy ran an anxious hand through her hair but nodded. "Yeah…"

      Yet, after an odd beat, Tennant had that creative twinkle in her eye, the one Lucy and the others usually saw either just before they closed a case or before they blew one right open. "Actually, you have a good point. You do need time to think, as well as some help with the pros and cons." But, at the same time, Tennant turned her junior field agent around and ushered her out of the SAC's office.

      "Wait, huh? I'm confused," Lucy said. She glanced up at Tennant when the other woman directed Lucy back to her chair behind her own desk out in the bullpen. "You agree with me?"

      Tennant grinned—though, coupled with that twinkle in her eye, it wasn't as reassuring as Tennant might've intended—and twirled Lucy's chair so Lucy faced her computer. "Look, just. Distract yourself with the case at hand. Or even some old paperwork. I've a call to make."

      "To wh—"

      But Tennant wasn't sticking around to answer. The second Lucy twisted around to ask, Tennant had disappeared already.

      Lucy frowned. At a time like this, she partly yearned to be out in the field, canvassing with Kai or with Jesse…then again, Whistler had come into her own a lot and was meshing with the team really well as their FBI liaison lately, and Lucy didn't want to interfere with her girlfriend's place on the team. It was better that Whistler, not Lucy, was out with the guys right now.

      At the thought of the blonde, Lucy's eyes flicked back to Tennant's office, through the glass walls and to the folder waiting on Tennant's desk. If only this position hadn't come up now… If only Lucy hadn't applied in a desperate attempt to get off the island months ago…

      She shook her head and got to sorting through information on their current case as Tennant suggested. Nope, there was no point in crying over spilt milk. Tennant was right: Lucy had a lot to sort out before she made her decision.

      …Lucy had a lot of people to tell, before she made her decision.

      Her list wasn't a long one, but Whistler's smile kept popping up in front of her other thoughts whenever Lucy attempted to focus on the current evidence list. Ugh, casework wasn't going to happen while she dreaded bringing up an agent afloat position to Whistler just when they were not only happy but actually getting started. Practical though the FBI probie might be, Whistler's smile easily faded in Lucy's mind's eye as she imagined telling her about the hypothetical time away from Hawaii.

      Lucy glanced at her watch. Tennant had been gone for barely twenty minutes. Maybe she'd be back soon with whatever miracle she'd implied?

      When another fifteen minutes passed of Lucy mindlessly sifting through files and rereading witness statements without absorbing words, she yawned and knew she needed a change of pace. The guys hadn't returned yet, and her text history with Whistler left off with this morning's hearts and funny faces (cute, nothing new, but it did hit Lucy with a fresh wave of guilt). "Time to see what snacks Ernie's packing today," Lucy mumbled to herself as she pushed up from her chair.

      "Lucy!" Tennant called from the stairs.

      The petite agent jolted and glanced to where Tennant waited for her. "Yeah, Boss?"

      Tennant merely beckoned with a nod and a curl of her fingers.

      Lucy glanced around her, but the other agents in the office paid her no mind, so she scurried across the way and up the stairs after their SAC. But, upstairs with the big screen, Tennant wasn't alone.

      "Happy to do a favor for our sister office on the other ocean," said a much older man onscreen. His hair was mostly silver and a bit blond and white in places, and he had large, dark, drooping eyebrows over dark, drooping eyes that, coupled with his smile, reminded Lucy of a friendly neighborhood dog. He tore his eyes from Tennant for a moment when Lucy entered the room, and he tipped his head to her. "Well, now, you must be Special Agent Tara. Dwayne Pride."

      "My counterpart out of New Orleans," Tennant supplied, "the Southeast SAC."

      At that, Pride shook his head, though his smile never dimmed. "I tried tellin' the director that we did this dance before and didn't like it, but…after everything…Director Vance is willin' to give this another shot. So long as I get to supervise from the field, that is."

      He smiled while Tennant smirked. "I prefer to call it a 'hands-on approach,'" she supplied.

      Lucy glanced between them both before finally sliding in her own greeting. "It's—It's very nice to meet you. And to hear a somewhat familiar accent," she tacked on, chuckling and letting a little of her Texan drawl leak in for his reference.

      "Much obliged. If you don't mind me not beatin' around the bush—Tennant tells me you've got a mighty fine opportunity in front of ya, but you've gotta make a decision by tomorra?"

      "I, uh, yeah." Lucy swallowed a lump that formed in her throat in spite of the pleasant atmosphere.

      Pride nodded. "Yep, not easy, makin' choices this big at the last minute. But I have an old associate on the line, waitin' to speak with ya. Thought she might—help clarify things." His smile lessened for a brief moment, his lips a tight line and his eyes narrow. Lucy would've asked if something were the matter if he hadn't nodded to Tennant instead.

      Tennant, in turn, touched Lucy's shoulder. "You can have the room, as long as you need."

      Lucy furrowed her brow and watched Tennant go. Still bewildered, she faced the screen in time for Pride's feed to cut over, and a new face replaced his.

      This time, a woman maybe Tennant's age or a little younger greeted Lucy. Whereas Pride's backdrop had been the New Orleans office—his backdrop reminded Lucy a little of the main office's MTAC in D.C.—it was hard to make out this woman's whereabouts, since everything behind her was too dark and not well defined, all gray and black. With her dark hair, too, she would've blended in to her surroundings, if not for the way her computer screen lit up her pale skin in that ethereal, electronic manner; she might even be paler than Whistler, Lucy guessed. But her eyes—her eyes were bright, sharp, and piercing when they landed on Lucy.

      Lucy licked her lips. "Special Agent Lucy Tara," she introduced herself.

      The woman onscreen smiled briefly, but it felt…less friendly, perhaps pitying? Lucy mused. "Meredith Brody," she said.

      Lucy's eyes widened. Brody… Brody. Brody. The name tickled the back of her brain, especially today of all todays, with this job offer a hot topic— "OH!" Lucy couldn't help but gape and gesture at Brody. "You—! You're Brody! That Brody! You were the youngest agent afloat assigned to duty!" She grinned and nearly laughed in amazement. "Holy crap. I just—I can't believe Tennant managed to set this up and." She paused for breath and stared. "Oh. Oh, God. I hope I'm not imposing? I know there's, like, five hours between here and New Orleans—"

      Brody actually chuckled, which brightened Lucy's impression of her, and the other woman held up a hand to calm the junior field agent down. "Tara, Tara, don't worry about it. I'm not in New Orleans, but the hour isn't a problem. Plus, Dwayne Pride did a lot for me, back in my NCIS days. It's the least I could do."

      That splashed cold water on her excitement, and Lucy's cheeks reddened. "Oh, you're—you're not NCIS anymore?"

      Brody shook her head. She hesitated before saying, "No, I… I needed a fresh setting, so I took a personal contact's offer to work for DARPA, helping to manage security and assess threats. I see fewer people than I did in my old job, but I still get to flex my investigative skills." She shrugged.

      Brody played it off as though it were nothing, but Lucy's eyebrows hovered high. Mentioning DARPA so smoothly? She had been impressed to meet the youngest agent afloat before; now Brody was somehow topping that.

      "So, you have a chance to be agent afloat yourself."

      "Yes, I do. I'd applied months ago, actually." Lucy dropped her eyes to her hands, which she kept clasped in front of her, to prevent her from twiddling her thumbs. "…to be quite honest, I applied when my head was in a different space and I thought I had a million-to-one chance of landing this, especially being a junior field agent."

      Brody nodded. "No, it's not something they usually give to probies."

      Lucy tensed.

      "But everyone has to earn their experience somehow, and someone saw something in you. That's a good thing."

      She tentatively raised her head, trying to muster a smile at the encouragement. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess."

      Brody had to be sitting at a desk or table on her end, because she leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand while she studied Lucy closer, as though leaning in to the camera would give her better access. Brody narrowed her eyes, somewhat squinting, while she smiled. "Might be the right job but not the right time?" she surmised.

      Lucy frowned.

      Brody nodded again, but it was a small notion, mostly for herself. "I get it, having your reasons. Probably ones you might share and others you might not, for not jumping on the offer."

      "Was it the same for you?" Lucy asked. "Did you ever feel butterflies or—or dread before accepting your agent afloat position?"

      Brody paused before answering. "Not at first. Although the usual warnings you get, about 'finding your sea legs,' don't do being on an actual ship justice, so I can vouch for investing in decent seasickness meds if you opt to go."

      Ah, right. There was being on the water twenty-four–seven that Lucy would also have to overcome… She twisted her lips around, waiting for Brody's next piece of advice.

      But the older woman's humor mellowed. Her posture on the other end of the video call went somehow both tense and slack—Lucy read her body language as…apprehensive, yes, that was it—and Brody's eyes lost their focus or turned to something in the distance before she continued. "It's one thing once you get the hang of being an entire NCIS investigative team on your own, aboard a ship…" She paused for so long that Lucy thought the feed had frozen, when Brody resumed, "It's another if you're ever faced with a situation you simply can't prepare for." There, even with her eyes not quite on Lucy, Brody's expression darkened.

      Lucy waited a beat before asking, "Then…we just prep as best we can, right?" She timidly smiled, too, craning her neck a bit in an effort to catch Brody's attention, half wondering if this call really had been a good idea if it'd sent Brody down some dark trip on Memory Lane.

      Brody attempted to return the polite smile, at least. But she didn't expound on her previous thought.

      "…hey. Brody, did—did that happen? To you?"

      She paused, waiting for Brody to respond, but the dark look on Brody's face was clue enough: Brody expected Lucy either would've read up on more than just Brody's history-making assignment or she would do so after they disconnected today. So Lucy switched tactics.

      "What I mean is: What's your advice, in the event that…I encounter something unexpected?"

      Those same bright, sharp, piercing eyes that had first landed on her minutes ago bored holes into her now. "It's simple: Don't flinch."

      That plain response, said so steadily and without blinking, chilled Lucy. But it also oddly settled her nerves. About telling Whistler, telling her friends, even imagining being aboard that ship—these things didn't seem so scary anymore. Not that Lucy wanted her own unexpected moment, but Brody was proof that you could go in, face anything, and still emerge on the other side.

      Lucy couldn't see why she wouldn't take this job now.

      This time, when her mouth popped open, she wasn't speechless. "Thank you," Lucy said, her voice steady for the first time in hours.

      The darkness mostly vanished from her expression, leaving a haunted impression of Brody to Lucy, but Brody nodded and tried to smile, tired though the gesture was. "I wish you luck, Agent Tara." A second later, the screen faded to black.

      The second after, Lucy turned heel, exiting the room and making for the stairs, calling out, "Hey, Boss…!"

Done for the 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 Fandoms Challenge as well as the If You Dare Challenge (for prompt #150: tick tock goes the clock) in the HPFC forum on FFN. As some of my pals know, I've actually had a smol 4-way xover planned for a while, but I need the time to sit down and write that (idc that the shows managed to do the 3-way xover…I miss NOLA…!), and then this idea cropped up, so this got written first. XD Funnily enough, Lucy and Brody aren't even my fav charries in their respective series (that'd be Kai & Pike, and LaSalle & Gregorio & Jimmy Boyd, respectively ;3), but when Lucy's temporary transfer cropped up during s2, I did get to thinking about both Brody's infamous time aboard the USS Moultrie and Tony's time as agent afloat when Vance briefly split up the MCRT. I went with some embellishes here for Brody, but it felt fitting that Lucy might focus on the positive instead of the negative… I also like the Pride cameo, as well as some hcs for where both he and Brody are at this point in the NCIS canon. :3c (I actually have sooo many NOLA ideas, which—yet again—some of my pals know, but I deeply crave the time to write them all. XD) This rly is just some Hawai'i and NOLA fluff, but I think it fits nicely with Lucy's predicament. And woohoo! My first Hawai'i fic! :D (And here's my plug for NOLA: If you still haven't watched it yet, I highly rec it! -w-)

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this!

~mew

[littlesolo]

I just sent a message about how well you’ve captured Garcia’s voice, but I want to gush about that story a bit more. I absolutely love how supportive the BAU team is of Kate. I love how it’s so clear that they not only respect her, but they genuinely like her as a person. Also, I love that it’s not just the women, but that she went to Rossi for advice and thenKate warns him! It’s just so good!

I have more crossovers with the CM team planned. I love the dynamic between them. I think they serve as sort of mentors? I figure Kate worked with them when she was with DIA. Emily and JJ are great at what they do, and so is Garcia, but it’s more than that.

(This became longer than intended)

Kate can see that it can be done. Garcia sees so much ugliness from behind her screens. She'd been recruited by the FBI as a hacker, but it's not really the kind of deal she could say no to. Her role became more than initially advertised, but she stays. She is instrumental to their work and the team has become family. She hasn't lost her light and is the source of it for the team.

JJ somehow makes everything work. She's a great Mom to her kids, but she still has a ton of experience under her belt. A communications liaison, FBI profiler, her stint at the State Department. She was the face families saw and the detectives went to for help. And she still knows the words to Henry's favorite bedtime story by heart.

Emily Prentiss is someone who has had a lot of expectations put on her all her life. Her mother, her bosses, people's assumptions once they hear that her mother was a diplomat. Emily lives her own life and does things her own way. Special Agent, Unit Chief, Section Chief, Chief of the London Interpol office, she has an impressive record. She knows how to navigate social graces and deal with politicians, but she also knows what it means working the streets and dealing with the cops and detectives of every city they go to.

Kate sees that the job and hardest parts of it can be done without losing herself. That a balance can be found. I think that's especially important now that she's back with Lucy. Kate wants to make a difference, we can see that from her past jobs, lawyer, intelligence officer, but now she knows that she doesn't have to sacrifice everything to do that. She's letting the team get to know her more and that's hard for her, but it'll also reassure her that these people are there for her and not just because she's Lucy's girlfriend. Kate's been alone for a long time, she's played a role in that, but I also don't see being an intelligence officer as very team oriented. She's learned that a team can become family, but is experiencing it herself now.

I like the idea of the BAU team being there for Kate. They could see she had potential and maybe tried to coax her into becoming FBI, but that wasn't the right time. It left that door open though, let her know that was an option.

I think I'll do a few more crossovers with the NCIS Hawaii team and the BAU, some serious some not, but I like how they play off each other.

One thing though. Kate hates Reid with a passion. She wants to know how to figure things out herself, so she can do it again in another case if she has to (our girl is practical and like the challenge). She learns nothing when Reid just says the answer and gives a hurried thirty second explanation. It's drives her up a wall. She wants to learn and be the best agent and help she can.

I'm so happy you enjoy it and hope I do all of them justice.

[100hearteyes]

I'm gonna talk about something that occurred to me just last night. It's about Lucy and physical contact, specifically how she rarely ever initiates it with Kate, except in very specific situations. Or rather, one specific situation.

We'll get there.

Lucy is a very physical and expansive person due to her kind and outgoing personality. She's an extrovert in a lot of situations (but introverted in difficult situations, as we've talked about already - yes, I said I'd make a post about it, but apparently, I lied 😂). She's always touching the people she cares about, be it a friendly pat on the back or a shoulder, or a chiding swat. It's one of the ways she expresses affection.

With Kate, though? That's a different story. From the moment Kate said their hook-ups could never happen again, all the way back in 1x02, the ball was firmly in her court. Lucy put it there herself, expressing interest but not pressuring her into anything.

The first time they touch, other than that first onscreen hook-up (and the ones before that), it's actually Lucy who initiates it as a gesture of comfort, to try and make Kate see herself as Lucy sees her. It's the face touch.

(excuse the crappy quality of the gifs)

However, it's Kate who first steps into the kiss, and although she's ready for it too Lucy also lets Kate be the one to actually initiate it.

I think she also lets Kate lean in first for round 2 but the difference, if there is one, is minimal and I don't wanna grasp at straws.

Holding hands in public places: it's Kate.

The balcony features the glorious Leg Touch™, but they hold hands first. And that's also Kate.

See here how it's Kate who moves for the kiss first (then leans down bc we love tol and smol)

So Lucy has always let things go at Kate's pace. Another example of that is how she accepted to keep "whatever" they had on the DL until Kate was comfortable being open about it. Lucy has always let Kate take the lead because she knows Kate needs to go at her own pace, lest she becomes overwhelmed and their on and off status turns off for good.

She loves cares about Kate so much she's willing to curb her own expansiveness to accommodate Kate's difficulty with relationships and love and feelings. She knows that's what Kate needs for now, and she knows if she does this now that Kate will meet her halfway sooner or later.

I think all that makes it even more significant that Lucy actively initiated the hug after Kate apologized. After Kate had broken her trust and rendered pm useless all the careful steps Lucy had taken before. Still, once again she breaks that tacit "let Kate come to you" rule, as she did in 1x06, to provide comfort. Reassurance.

Lucy only makes the first move when she means to comfort Kate. That was still her first instinct.

Naturally, things will have to change from now on. Their roles will reverse, I'm guessing, for it's Kate who needs to wait now and it is Lucy who needs to take the first step towards their new beginning.

[thekatebridgerton]

The one bed trope!! (1 being most nervous, 8 being totally chill)

lol also one of my favorite tropes. This post is a little long so you'll have to read it full under the cut. Because I covered all the 16 main

okay ladies first for this one

scenario being "we are in a situation where sharing the bed is really unavoidable"

1) Kate: would go into low key panic, she simply doesn't strike me as the type who shares things. Even her bed. She'd be the most nervous out of all here. I think she's only shared her bed with 1 person in her life and that's Edwina, during her childhood. Kate would not take well to having to share a bed, and depending on who her partner is, she'd go as far as sleeping on the floor to prove her point. if you want Kate Sharma to Share a bed with someone, that person would have to wait until she falls asleep in the couch/floor and carry her to the bed they're sharing together

2) Sophie: would protest a lot, she'd agree to share a bed against her better judgement AND STAY AWAKE ALL NIGHT because she's a cuddler and what if she rolls over when she sleeps and accidentally molests the person who is in the same bed as her. With Sophie, if there is only one bed, both people are getting cero sleep because she'd be too nervous to calm down and the other person would be too fidgety paying attention to her. So good luck with the sleep deprivation

3) Penelope: Acts like she knows a lot of what happens when people share a bed, but is in fact, super nervous, Penelope would blush a lot, offer to take the couch. But ultimately share the bed with her potential love interest. Only for them to find out that she talks in her sleep when she's had a night of stress. So, yeah Penelope gets some sleep, but her bed partner does not. (Hopefully the next time they share a bed, her partner makes sure Penelope relaxed and blissful). And yes, Penelope IS a cuddler when she's not under stress.

4) Daphne: Would be nervous, but not show it, she would put a barrier of pillows in between and go to sleep. only to find out she demolished them during the night and now is waking up with her head in her bed partner's chest.

5) Lucy: Same as Daphne but with the added self reassurance of 'I have a fiancé so I'm safe from you', poor Lucy has no idea her gay fiancé fools nobody. And that she could turn on literally anyone else by sharing a bed with them, because Lucy, is..um.. lets just say she looks like the type who wakes up in the middle of the night feeling too hot and ends up sleeping in the lightest, skimpiest pajamas she owns entirely by accident. and I HC this because she's the one who's had the most children in cannon.

6) Francesca: would blush, but she'd get over her nervousness pretty quick and pretend nothing is wrong when she's freaking out inside. You know, standard Frannie behavior. Although, she does wait until the other person is asleep to completely relax and let go.

7) Eloise: Look as long as she's wearing a decent pair of comfy pajamas she doesn't care who she shares her bed, she values her sleep and gives cero f about everything else, and if you don't get on with the program and agree to share the bed, then she will not respect for you. In the meantime, Eloise has already finished her nighttime routine, and is stealing all the pillows. whatever the other person does or feel about sharing the bed, its their business. But she's also a cuddler so, beware. Sleeping Eloise is part Koala.

8) Hyacinth: It's no secret I am scared of Hyacinth's crazy. If there was only one bed, this girl would not only be super chill about it, she would sleep in her underwear, hog all the covers and push the poor unfortunate person out of the bed somewhere in the middle of the night. Also, she’d have the best sleep of her life while all that is happening. 

If I had to pick, I'd share a bed with Eloise or Francesca. they value sleep.

now on for the men of Brigerton

1) Gregory: out of all the himbos in this list, Gregory is the one who gives more, scandalized virgin vibes. He’d be super nervous and it would show and his partner would spend half the night teasing him about it. So he’d do the gentleman thing and sleep on the floor and wake up with a backache. 

2) Phillip: Would try to be respectful and also do the gentleman thing and try to sleep on the floor, but is likely to wake up in the middle of the night, forget where he even is, and crawl into the only bed there is anyway. He is a cuddler. And is likely to apologize profusely in the morning with the deepest of embarrassments for accidentally taking liberties. pff we all know he’s lying. but he looks so apologetic. 

3) Simon: would be the one doing a bit of teasing about having to share a bed, he’d be full wiggling hips and mock seriousness. when in fact he’s very nervous, but isn’t about to give up a good night rest. Simon would probably sleep on top the covers and have a fitful rest that his bed partner would have to wake him from. leading to some meaningful heart to heart

4) Benedict: Shares the bed, warns his partner that he gets a little bit handsy when he’s sleeping. listens to the protests if there’s any and does his best to calm his partner down, then he just goes to sleep. Benedict is a chill guy

5) Colin: Listens to his partners concerns about sharing the bed, does not heed them, even more chill than Benedict, Colin wouldn’t even care about appropriate sleeping clothes. There’s only one bed, he’s tired, you’re tired, why are we still having this conversation, of course he’s not going to put clothes on, the night is hot.

6) Gareth: Just like Hyacinth, this guy gives cero f about his bed partner, he’s offered to share the bed, didn’t even wait for a response, too late, Gareth is already sleeping and not listening to nonsense. Hope that makes his bed partner feel comfortable enough to take the other side of the bed that he conveniently left open. Although, Gareth does share the covers and the pillows, so maybe he should be higher up in this list.

7) Anthony: Is the one calling the manager about why there is only one bed. He likes to sleep alone! who did this? why does he have to share, he’s fancy Viscount Bridgerton. Anthony takes one look at his bed partner, and while keeping eye contact, he tries to intimidate them by changing into his sleeping clothes and flopping down in the bed, in a star position. there’s an invitation to share the bed. If you dare. because he’s not moving from where he is. 

8) Michael: Is the most unaffected by having only one bed. He’s been to India, he’s had to share a bed with strangers before, he knows nothing will happen and is willing to convince his partner that nothing happens because it’s just a bed and they are just going to sleep, like normal people. (he is lying, things do happen, Michael is surprised by how much happens ok)

And that’s the tea

[acrazylesbianscientist]

Brain over Brawn

This is one of the Kacy fics I'm working on and thought I would share already the first chapter for this one. Please let me know what you think. All feedback is welcome. Still getting (back) into writing.

Kate is trying and reaching out. Lucy has fears but has to meet her halfway. It’s video games that get them moving forward.

Songs that go with this chapter (fit the mood/listened to while writing this chapter):

Make it right – The George Twins

Between Twilight – Lindsey Stirling

Shutting her laptop down Kate is glad this long week and even longer day is finally over. With the brief send to her bosses, she can finally enjoy her weekend, or how much there is still left of it as it’s already 4 PM. She knew she didn’t have to send the brief today, could have easily done it on Monday, but she didn’t have anything better to do anyway.

Normally she would spend her Saturdays with Lucy, but then they broke up, and her Saturdays were free again. So, naturally, she fell back into her old habit of working the day away instead of enjoying her weekend. Only, what was there to enjoy if your heart is broken. When you can’t spend time and relax with the one person that ever made you want to let work be. The only one that could break through your need to work and strive to perfection.

Warming up yesterday’s leftovers, Kate takes her dinner to her balcony. It’s her favorite part of her apartment. The view of the ocean, the ocean breeze she can feel if the wind is just right, and not least the amazing sunsets she gets to witness. Sunsets have always been calming to her, and often she finds herself enjoying the view after work with a glass of wine. Letting the stress of the day fall away with the sun as it goes under. When she started seeing Lucy, it became something they enjoyed together. A moment in time, where no words were spoken, just them and the fading sunlight.

Laughing to herself, she remembers the time Lucy came barging into her apartment with the food she had picked up. Tripping over her feet to get her shoes off, she actually landed sprawled out in her hallway like a starfish, in such a haste to get to the balcony. Afraid she was missing the sunset after not being able to enjoy it together for a week. She had laughed so hard she had bent over crying, before helping Lucy up and reassuring her it was still half an hour until sunset but that she loves the enthusiasm. Hopefully one day soon she can spend these moments of tranquility with Lucy again.

Her hope was for today to be that day. Things between her and Lucy have been getting better after she got a chance to explain the whole Cara incident. Yes, she technically didn’t break up with her, but they hadn’t even spoken in the three months before she left for Hawai’i. They had a big fight about how Kate was working too much and never had time for her or to hang out with her friends. And that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to continue their relationship. To which she had replied that it didn’t seem to be bothering her that much as she was making out with another girl just yesterday. After that, no more words were spoken. She had only left Cara a text saying she was moving to Hawai’i for work and to say goodbye, which didn’t even get a reply, and didn’t hear anything until that morning when she just showed up. Saying that she wanted to try again. After explaining, she had apologized to Lucy for hurting her feelings and not telling her about Cara. She also apologized for not seeing how much the secrecy was affecting her. Lucy had said she could understand that Kate thought it was over, but she was still hurt. She needs to know she can trust Kate again and doesn’t want to go back to being secretive.

Ever since that talk, Kate has been making an effort to show Lucy she can be trusted and she’s done hiding. It had started with actually looking at Lucy when she was liaising with the NCIS team and touching her elbow in comfort or goodbye when appropriate. Hoping that it would show to Lucy she is serious about winning her trust back and willing to be open about them. It slowly evolved in sharing little bits about herself when she went with the team for drinks. Nothing she shared was new for Lucy, but sharing it with the rest was a big step for her. Though it still makes her uncomfortable at times, it is worth it to show Lucy she’s trying to be more open. She had also tried to spend time with Lucy outside of work, but so far she got shot down every time. It worries her a little bit because she doesn’t know what more she can do if Lucy doesn’t want to spend time with her. However, she holds on to the fact that the efforts she has been making so far have resulted in Lucy going for lunch with her a few times now. Even it was always on base and the topics stayed mostly work-related. It’s progress and she vows to herself to keep trying.

When she asked Lucy yesterday to have dinner together today, she hoped that Lucy would finally say yes. Since this time, when Lucy was leaving to follow up on a lead after her debrief, she had squeezed her elbow in goodbye. So when she headed over later that day when the case was finished to pick up the necessary forms, she decided to give it another try. Her hope was quickly diminished, however, when Lucy resolutely said no. Her face must have fallen because Lucy was quick to explain she already had plans with Kai to grab a bite to eat before watching this new movie that was out. Even though she was appreciative of the explanation, It didn’t stop the hurt she felt at the rejection.

Finishing her dinner, Kate is suddenly hit by the thought of how proud Noah would be of her for making the effort. To get out of her so-called comfort zone. As soon as it hits her, the grief hits her as well and how much she misses him. By now she’s used to the strange way grief works. Things that she would expect to trigger her are at times no problem. While other completely irrelevant things have her at moments collapsing on the floor in tears. That she misses him so much right now is probably related to the stress of the week and the case she worked on with Tennant and the team about a missing brother.

Reliving some of her happy childhood moments with her brother, she’s unaware she has cleaned up and found her way to her bedroom. Hands reaching for the box with some of Noah’s belongings. A sudden urge to feel close to her brother takes hold of her. Pulling the box from the shelf her eyes land on her gaming console. Most people wouldn’t guess that Kate Whistler likes playing video games and would laugh at the very notion. But it is true. It was something her brother forced her to play with him as he was bored and ‘playing alone is only so much fun Kate, I need someone to beat’. When she realized she actually enjoyed it, she would start challenging her brother. In the end, it became a fixed Sunday afternoon ritual for them to play and compete to determine who the better player is. This often meant playing a plethora of different games multiple times as both would not accept defeat. Nowadays, she doesn’t play that often anymore. Only taking it out when she needs a break from work and reality or when frustration and stress get too much and running or swimming isn’t helping.

Opening the box, her hands caress the clothes Noah would wear while gaming. This is the only proper outfit to play video games in Kate. Everyone knows that. Get with the program. Taking the clothes out she knows exactly how she can feel close to her brother.

-----------

Across town Lucy is sitting in a bar with Kai, grabbing a bite to eat before the movie while talking about. Well, Lucy is not really sure what they are talking about. She’s not paying much attention. Her mind had drifted off to Kate when Kai had brought up the case they just finished. Wondering whether the case had maybe hit a bit too close to home for her. She had wanted to ask but didn’t know how to bring it up. From there, her thoughts had spiraled until she lost all focus.

“How are things with you and Whistler?”

That had her immediately snapping back to attention. Wondering how they came to this particular topic and if Kai was reading her mind. Although he probably just read her face. She has been told to be an open book and has to agree with that. She was never good at hiding what she feels and to her, that is a good thing. Emotions and feelings aren’t meant to be hidden. They are there to be felt and there is nothing wrong with showing how you feel.

“It’s okay. Why?” And that right there was her problem. It was okay, but she wanted more than okay. Wants more than this kind of friendship she has right now. It’s why she had lost all focus in the first place. When she realized she would much rather be with Kate right now. Not just to see if the case didn’t bring up any painful memories but to just be with her. As her girlfriend. And if she’s completely honest with herself she has wanted that for a while now. The bitter irony of it all is not lost on her as she is the one that is preventing things from moving forward.

“I know it isn’t my place, but you were kind of harsh yesterday declining her invitation Lucy. And now you seem distracted. You know she’s trying, right? Everyone can see it” Kai says tactful. Giving her a look that tells her she can talk about it if she wants but is also happy to drop the subject.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy grabs on to Kai’s willingness to listen. It might do her some good to talk about what she’s feeling

‘’I know she’s trying. And I don’t know why I reacted so harshly, to be honest. I’ve already forgiven her for what’s she’s done and I’m ready to try again. But part of me is scared and I guess that part reacted yesterday”

“Scared of what?”

“That things haven’t really changed, and it goes back to how it was. Or that it will be different now, but I can’t be open with her. The same thing I accused her of” There she said it. It felt good to finally let out what has been bothering her for a while now.

“I won’t pretend to know how things were before, but I’m pretty certain things won’t go back to that again. First of all, I know you. And you won’t allow it” Kai says pointedly while pointing a fry at her for extra measure.

Lucy nodded at that as Kai had a point there. She will never go back to keeping things secret and made that very clear to Kate. That if they will ever try again it had to be out in the open for everyone to see. Especially her team who is basically her family.

“And second, Whistler is different now. I don’t mean just that she’s trying now. It seems she also changed personally, but I’m not sure. She’s hard to read and I don’t know her that well or that long” Kai says with a shrug.

“No, you’re right” Lucy finds herself agreeing now that she thinks about it. Yes, Kate has been trying, but she has also seen the subtle shift in Kate. How she seems more relaxed and comfortable with herself. How she would reach over to touch her elbow or back in goodbye. Not caring that the rest of the team can see it. And also less worried about who could see them when having lunch together and if people passed by not acting like it is a professional meeting.

“As for you being scared” Kai continues but is cut off when his phone starts to ring.

“Hey dad”

“…”

“I’m actually going to see that movie in an hour with Lucy”

“…”

“You don’t even like those types of movies”

“He can have my ticket” Lucy blurts out before they can start arguing. Receiving a surprised look from Kai.

“Your dad. He can have my ticket” Lucy says again answering Kai’s unspoken question.

“Let me call you back dad” Kai says before hanging up the phone.

“That’s not necessary Lucy. I know you were excited to see this movie as well”

“I know I don’t. But your dad is making an effort here. To go watch a movie that you like. If you want things to change and get better between you two, you have to meet him halfway. Besides, I can go see the movie another time” It’s true. She did want to see this movie, badly. But this was more important. She has seen how much Kai has been struggling to improve his relationship with his dad. Even if he’s not very vocal about it, it was pretty clear to her as she’s been in this position as well. Trying to repair the relationship with her parents after she enrolled in FLETC to become a federal agent. Lucky for her, she had siblings helping her out. It still is not the best, but they can manage civil phone conversations every once in a while as long as they don’t take too long. But it’s slowly getting better. Kai doesn’t have any siblings, so she sees it as her duty to help him.

“Yeah, you’re right” Kai says with a sigh. And is that surprise she hears as well?

“I know I am” Lucy says with a smug grin. Because of course she is. She’s the best at giving this type of advice. He should know that by now and not be so surprised.

“But you should also take your own advice”

Lucy is sure she looked as confused as she felt at that statement since Kai is quick to explain.

“You have to meet Whistler halfway as well if you want to try again. If you keep holding back you might never get past your fears”

Mulling it over, she concludes that Kai, well she, is right. She needs to meet Kate in the middle. If they want to move forward it has to come from both of them and right now Kate is the only one trying. True, it was up to her to make the first steps. But by now Lucy should have made an effort as well. If only to let Kate now she has started to trust her again.

“Okay. Next time I will say yes when asks to have dinner together if you go and pick up your dad to watch this movie together. Deal?”

“Deal”

With that Lucy gives Kai her ticket and moves to pay the bill. Stopping any complaints by saying family pays for each other and he can always get the next one. After a quick hug, Kai goes to get his dad and Lucy goes home. Or at least that was her intention until she sat in her car and drove away. She replayed the conversation she had with Kai. Feeling grateful for his willingness to listen and his advice. It also brought back the feeling that she had which caused her to lose focus and start the whole conversation in the first place. She still wants to see Kate, to just be with her. Suddenly it seems too long to wait for the next time Kate has gathered the courage again to reach out to her. Maybe, in this case, meeting her halfway means that she does the reaching out the next time she sees her. Parking her car Lucy sees that she subconsciously has driven to Kate’s apartment. She debates for only a second before getting out.

And maybe meeting halfway is showing up even after saying no.

[hatchetation]

Omg angst incoming!! Love that! Ngl as much as I enjoy soft Kacy I also very much like some good angst and Kate ex is the perfect example of it! Lucy undercover and Kate’s ex!? I swear the writers are lurking on AO3 and FF.net bc this is straight up fanfic material.

Cannot wait to see how Lucy is gonna react when she meets her ex, also I bet she’s her exact opposite, similar to Kate, more uptight and all serious. Maybe we’ll see Lucy being insecure and nervous about it, and this time Kate will be the one reaching out and reassuring her (I’d love that), so far we’ve seen Lucy trying to accommodate and make sure she was comfortable, but as we know she likes Kate so much she tends to doubt herself and gets insecure (like when she thought Kate was embarrassed by her) so it would be refreshing seeing Kate being more confident and sure about where they stand and reassuring Lucy about it

Also I can’t believe and NCIS show is giving us all of this, it’s been only 10 episodes?!!and they’re so well written and healthy!?? Genuinely impressed

Soo thoughts on the synopsis and the new Kacy (possible) dynamics? Excited ?? :)

Hahaha you're so right, this premise is the stuff of fanfiction!! I love it and tbh I'm suuuper excited to see what the episode is like cuz so far the writers have pleasantly surprised me with their #kacy content. I am also genuinely impressed with how they're written. My bar is so low for wlw on tv (mostly I'm like, are they in the show? great! i will watch it), but the way they're written has surpassed that bar and then some. I like that they're both their own characters. Even when they're not in scenes together, I just enjoy seeing them in action. Knowing that they are not only so freaking cool and badass on their own but also are queer and in a relationship with each other is just the cherry on top for me!!

I love the idea of Kate reassuring Lucy and accommodating her since as you say we've seen so much of the opposite dynamic! Also I like the idea of Kate's ex being the opposite of Lucy but also am now imagining her ex being super similar to Lucy?? Like ahhh, you have a type. And maybe things didn't work out with the ex because she either wasn't willing to keep things on the dl for Kate or because Kate wasn't willing to be open about their relationship. But she /is/ willing to be open for Lucy 😭

[superfem-imagines]

Masterlist

The summaries are shit don’t come for me

Kara Danvers x Reader

Crowded Streets

Human Shield

    - You jump in front of Kara when a man shoots at her with a Kryptonite gun

Broken Confessions

    - After Kara breaks a cup during an argument you open up to her about your past

Just Peachy (or all the times reader was a little shit)

    - You have a thing for Kara’s backside, who can blame you

Revelations

    - A certain Kryptonian announces a new relationship before you get to tell her how you feel, how will she react when you start dating a girl too

Dual Sneezes

    - Sneezes are contagious, and scary sometimes ok

Silver Phantom

    - An accident that should have killed you gives you some new abilities, and it prompts Kara to confess something to you

Valentines Headcanons

Alex Danvers x Reader

Agent Softy

    - Alex has a reputation for being scary, until your around that is 

Valentines Headcanons

B!D Reader

Game Night Disaster

    - After a fight with Mon-El during gamenight, you have a conversation with Kara and come to an agreement

Lucky Catch

    - Non decides to use you to get back at a powerless Kara

Cosmetology Confusion

    - Alex and Kara find out you have a successful YouTube channel after helping Cat Grant with her gala makeup

Bluffing or Bullshit?

    - After being taken hostage, you’re left waiting for your sisters to come, with a couple stories and making fun of the guy who has you

          - Morphine and Memories (part two ^^)

    - To distract you from the coming stitches, you and your sisters look back on your childhood together 

Fearful Admissions

    - After admitting to your fear of losing Alex and Kara, they are left to reassure you

(B!D Car Crash)

    - After upsetting your sisters, you leave gamenight and get in an accident, how will Alex and Kara react

Roommate Shenanigans 

    - Living with Kara, your sister and best friend, means there’s never a dull moment

Sanvers x Reader

Caught in the Crossfire

     - After a mission gone wrong all you need is some cuddles from your girlfriends

Dating Sanvers Headcanon

The Best Friend 

    - When you meet Alex and Maggie at lunch and there’s a spark between you three, what will the couple do seeing as your Kara’s best friend

Baked Love (sanvers+lena+reader)

    - You love to spoil your girlfriends with baked goods

Lena Luthor x Reader

Serendipity (an unexpected meeting that changes your life)

    - Saving a woman’s life might just change yours for the better

Baked Love (sanvers+lena+reader)

     -  You love to spoil your girlfriends with baked goods

Others x Reader

Valentines Headcanons

Christmas Escape

     - Stealing Lena away from a gala to look at the christmas lights

Resurrected Salvation  (Astra x Reader)

    - After bringing Astra back from the dead, you guys go back to your apartment to cuddle and recover

Explosion  (Lucy Lane x Reader)

    - Lucy is forced to watch the building you’re in blow up

Vigilant Love  (Cat Grant x Reader)

    - You save your girlfriend Cat Grant, only problem is she doesn’t know about your side job and now you have to explain a bullet wound

Valentines Headcanons (Maggie x Reader)

Character Ships

Accidental Discoveries  (Kara Danvers x Kate Kane)

    - Alex and Maggie walk in on Kara’s date, except someone forgot to tell Alex about Kate

High School Run-Ins  (Kara Danvers x Lena Luthor)

    - High School Supercorp based off of Cherry Bomb by The Runins, featuring punk Lena

Delirium  (Kara Danvers x Cat Grant)

  - A tired Cat is adamant on not leaving the office

Gunpoint  (Kara Danvers x Lucy Lane)

  - A man comes into Catco and holds a gun to Lucy’s head, what is a powerless Kara supposed to do

Birthday Surprises  (Kara Danvers x Lena Luthor)

  - Kara finds out when Lena’s birthday is and is determined to make it special

Baby it’s cold outside  (Alex Danvers x Maggie Sawyer x Lena Luthor)

  - Sometimes you just have to get away with your girlfriends and stay in a cabin, featuring snow, hot cocoa and insufferable fluff

New Beginnings  (Kara Danvers x Alex Danvers x Lena Luthor)

  - After a lunch with Alex and Lena, Kara realizes somethings. A long talk with her moms hologram later and she was ready to make a decision.

Shaky Hands (Alex Danvers x Maggie Sawyer)

  - After stitching up Maggie, Alex is faced with the fact that she could have lost her

[binary-not-found]

Episode 4 season 2 🍒

Short analysis because the episode didn't give me much

okay, here's the thing, Kate could have put the boot in a bag, she could have sent Lucy a text saying she found it so she could go pick it up, she could have waited to see her again because obviously Lucy wasn't going to walk around without a shoe all day, but instead she decided to take a detour and walk with the boot in her hand to the NCIS office just to have an excuse to see Lucy, Girl! you don't need an excuse we all know they're a couple!

I don't judge Lucy for having one (1) single spare shoe, because if you think about it it actually makes a lot of sense (it doesn't make any sense) because one shoe is useless! I keep wondering if Kate misunderstood and Lucy decided to mess with her or if she really only has one single spare shoe, because nothing about this interaction makes any sense

Well that's just a silly question

No! No, Lucy! It's not a silly question! What if for some reason you ruined both shoes? What good would one shoe do you? And who goes through life leaving shoes behind in the first place? Why didn't you take two more minutes to look for it? What were you doing that the shoe ended up behind the couch?

Kate's facial expressions are GOLD! My poor blondie is lost and really doesn't understand, and Ernie interrupting gives her less time to understand 😂

There's nothing wrong with being a loner

Listen! ( more like read) Lucy's expression is just to comfort and confirm to Kate that what she said is correct We know that Kate is a loner and used to close herself off a lot more, Lucy knows this, so her reaction is just to reassure her girlfriend that she knows there is nothing wrong with being a loner and that there is nothing wrong with her 💖

This one just because I love making gifs of them working, but I wasn't going to gif the whole scene

The cutest dork in the world 🥺

✨ Women ✨

One thing I love about Katherine Marie Whistler more than her girlfriend is the way she could literally save the world with just a couple of phone calls, I need more of her all the time 😍

Again, sorry for such a short analysis, try to make it funny haha, the episode overall was really good but didn't give us too much Kacy, hope you guys liked it anyway and love Lucy and Kate as much as I do, bye 🤙🏻

[chuffyfan87]

Hiding. Part 59c

“Good girl. I will ring you back as soon as I’ve finished ringing an ambulance and Megan ok?” He smiled sadly.

"OK. I thought I should try and keep him warm coz his clothes got wet."

“How did his clothes get wet? Because he’d been swimming? I need to go.” Charlie sighed, “I’ll be five minutes. I promise.”

"Yeh, he ignored me. I told him it was stupid."

It was the hardest thing to put the phone down and call an ambulance, he directed the ambulance to their location and then rang Megan. He didn’t reveal everything but asked her if she could come and mind the children, along with Josh and Kate. He arranged for the kids to be looked after by all three adults and took himself to the hospital. He was at breaking point with everything but this had tipped him over the edge. He was struggling with the thoughts and urges again.

By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital Sarah was completely hysterical.

He tried to reassure her as much as he could but had no choice but to contact her parents.

"I'm sorry." She cried repeatedly.

“You have no reason to be sorry.” He reassured her. “You did nothing wrong. You saved his life.”

"Is he going to die?" She cried.

“I don’t know.” He whispered, even though the words broke his heart.

Sarah sat with Charlie as they waited for news on Peter and for her parents to arrive. "He talked a lot about his mum." She told him.

“What did he say?”

"How he wanted to be with her. That he was frightened of losing her."

He swallowed, “Duffy’s in a critical condition.”

"Because of having Oli? He said his mum would know to find him at the lake."

Charlie frowned, “Did he want to kill himself?”

"I don't know. He didn't make much sense. He just kept saying 'mum will know I'm here'."

Charlie sighed and rubbed his neck. “I think he needs to see a therapist.”

"Yeh. I told him that but..." She bit her lip. "He said he wasn't going to do anything you told him to do anymore."

“We had an argument last night. He told me I was a coward.” Charlie was about to say something else when the doctor emerged from the room and came over to them.

Charlie gave Sarah’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “How is he?” He asked the doctor.

"We pumped his stomach and cleared his lungs. We're waiting on blood results. Was it just alcohol he consumed?"

“I think so although I can’t be certain it wasn’t anything else.” He paused, “Sarah?”

"I didn't see him take anything but..."

“But?”

"He was acting strangely when he arrived at the house."

Charlie nodded. “It’s entirely possible he took something else on top of the alcohol.”

"He was slurring and his eyes looked weird. I thought he was just drunk."

“He could’ve been. I guess we won’t know until He wakes up.” Charlie smiled sadly, “Thank you Doctor. Can we see him?”

"Yes, he's sleeping now."

“Thank you.” Charlie got up with Sarah to go and see Peter when Sarah’s parents arrived and a massive argument started between Sarah’s parents and Charlie.

Matthew took hold of his daughter's arm and dragged her towards the door.

"I want to see Peter!" She screamed.

“Matthew, get off her!! You can’t keep them apart!” Charlie said as he tried to stop Matthew from hurting Sarah.

"Yes I can." Matthew turned to Sarah. "You are never seeing that boy again!"

“Please dad! Please! I love him! This isn’t fair!!”

"You're fifteen, you don't know what love is. You're just a silly little girl!"

“Stop saying that!” She began to cry. “Please let me see him!!”

Charlie’s head was pounding. He was also tired. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Look what your boy has caused!" Lucy shouted at Charlie.

“My boy has not caused anything!!!” He yelled.

"I don't feel well." Sarah cried.

“Have you taken something?” Charlie asked suddenly.

"No." She whimpered. "I feel sick."

“You should go home with your parents. I’ll let you know how Peter is, I promise.”

She started to cough before being violently sick on the floor.

"What the hell has he given her?" Matthew demanded.

“He hasn’t given her anything!” Charlie protested.

"Then why is she throwing up?"

“I have no idea. I wasn’t there.” Charlie replied.

After about ten minutes the doctor came back out of resus and over to the three of them.

“Is she ok?”

“How is she?”

"She's running a temperature and has vomited repeatedly in addition to having abdominal cramps. Looks like a gastro virus."

“This is your fault!” Lucy said to Charlie as her and Matthew went to visit Sarah. Leaving Charlie in the corridor.

Tess came around the corner. "Charlie? What are you doing here?"

“Peter...” He sighed.

"Peter?" She asked. "What happened?"

“He’s drank two bottles of vodka.”

Tess sighed as she squeezed Charlie's shoulder. "Teenagers, eh? Hopefully he won't do it again after they've finished pumping his stomach."

Charlie nodded but didn’t say anything else. He was distancing himself from everything and everyone.

"It took my Sam two trips to the ED before he learnt his lesson." She sighed.

He smiled sadly but again, didn’t verbally answer.

"Charlie, when did you last get a decent night's sleep?"

He shrugged, “A while ago. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

"No you're not."

“I have to be fine!”

"Everyone has their breaking point."

“I just need something to take the edge off. I’ll be fine then.”

"Is that what Peter was trying to do? Take the edge off?"

Charlie shrugged, “Maybe. I don’t know.”

"So long as you're not considering following his example."

“It’d stop the thoughts for a while.”

"I was there last time you tried to do that. I've never seen Duffy so terrified and upset."

“I was fine.”

"If you say so but I can promise you that she wasn't."

“I’ve always been a selfish bastard.” He muttered.

"Your wife seems to think you're worth bothering with and she strikes me as a solid judge of character."

He didn’t respond. He roughly scratched his arm instead.

"Feel free to tell me to butt out but in the short time I've known the pair of you it's very apparent that neither of you copes particularly well without the other."

“Tess, please.” He rubbed his arm again, “Don’t.”

"I speak as I find." She placed her hand on top of his. "Things will get better. I know it seems impossible but you just have to hang in there that tiny bit longer."

“And if I can’t? Then what?”

"That's when you have to lean on those around you to help you through."

“I—“ He almost considered saying it but couldn’t.

"What? What were you going to say?" She pressed gently.

He shook his head and forced a smile, “Nothing.”

"Charlie, I've been in this job many years so cut the crap, I know when I'm being lied to."

“Leave me alone!” He sighed and sat down in the chair, his head in his hands.

She sat down next to him. "I'm not moving til you get whatever it is that's eating you up off your chest."

“I can’t tell you! I’m sorry but I can’t.”

She made herself more comfortable in the chair. "I've got all the time in the world."

“Tess please.” He sighed, “I can’t—“

"Why not? Do you think I'm going to think less of you or something? Is that what's worrying you?"

“Just leave it.”

"No, I can't just leave it."

“Why? I’m asking you to.”

"Because you need to let it out."

“There’s nothing to let out!”

"I don't believe you."

“Then don’t.” He closed his eyes for a minute.

"I want to help. I can see you're struggling." She sighed.

He shrugged. “I think anyone would struggle under the circumstances.” He replied, “I’ll be fine.”

"I'm not sure you will be though. Let me help, please!"

“What do you want me to say?” He whispered.

"Whatever it is that you're afraid to say."

He sighed, “I lied to Duffy.”

"OK. People lie sometimes. What did you lie about?"

“It doesn’t matter.” He couldn’t tell her, no matter how much he wanted to tell someone.

"Yes it does. Its clearly upsetting you. What was the lie?"

“If I tell you, you’ll have to report it and I can’t let you do that.”

"I won't."

“You can’t say that when you don’t know what it is.” He pointed out. He took a few minutes to think about his answer before he blurted out. “I’ve been taking drugs. Well... wanting too.”

"What kind of drugs?"

“Naproxen, codeine, tramadol, Gabapentin.” He shrugged, “Wherever I can get my hands on.”

"Where have you been getting them from?"

“Online.”

"OK. For a worrying moment I feared you were going to say you'd been getting them from here."

“I’m not stupid enough to steal from work. It’s the only thing I’m relatively good at - my job.”

"That's not the only thing you're good at. Trust me."

“I’m not that great at looking after the chaos without Duffy.”

"That's hardly surprising. I'm sure she struggles with it when she's by herself too."

“She’s fantastic with them.” He sighed, “Me? Not so much.”

"She's probably just very good at giving the illusion that she is."

[jojoreadwhat]

T W E L V E • A Gwilym Lee Story | 1. the one where she becomes single.

Chapter inspired by

Sylvia •

"He what?!" I pulled the phone away from my ear. Squinting at the rise of Lucy’s tone over the landline.

Waking up almost a half hour ago, the tension of her voice had me alert before my coffee pot dinged ready. Then again, this was Lucy we were discussing. The life of any party, even if it was early in the morning. Specially in times like these, about bastard men.

I rested my back against the granite, putting the phone to my ear again. "Ben cheated on me." I repeated, knowing very well that it was clear the first time. I heard a huffing breath from her end. Never seeing any evidence, no signs of any infidelity. Expressing the angry emotions that I probably should've been. But I wasn't angry, nor surprised. I actually knew it was going on for a while after the first time he came home smelling like of Versace. I just didn't think he'd have the indecency to mess around in our bed.

The coffee pot had filled up to the brim, it's handle hot to touch as I poured it into my mug. Watching the steam rise, waiting for the silence on the phone to wither. I knew as much as she was angry about this, she still didn't know what to say. Let alone probably thought she should've known since she introduced me to Ben.

"This isn't your fault you know?" I broke, then. Letting go of the phone to rest between my shoulder and head, stirring in my vanilla creamer. Before taking a sip once it had turned light, "People change. I didn't know until a few weeks ago, and we slept together." I confessed shortly after. Shaking my head to myself that I allowed myself to be fooled for so long in the first place.

She sighed, "I know I know." Simply replying between. Still hearing her self doubt, through the phone. "Ugh! I just wish I could hug you love!" I smiled hearing her voice spring back to life. Almost feeling like she was doing so.

Lucy and I then moved on, only talking through texts before this. Having a lot to catch up on in the familiar comfortable balance of our voices. How hard it's been not hanging out as often with the two hour stretch between us. I retreated to my sofa, taking another sip of the bright taste that was shining for the missing sun in Philadelphia today.

I brought her up to speed of what's been going on back home. Despite my relationship crumbling to shambles, everyone in both our families were good. I talked about the little barbecue we had in suburbia at my cousin Julie's mansion with her wealthy man. Her announcing baby news.

How I was looking for a new job after I was cursed at about high toner prices that were not my doing. (I'm a representative, fun fun) How the city was threatening to raise taxes on cigarettes for schools (which I was not in the slightest happy about) or that the construction work was still going on even after two years. But I did get a nice discount on a Kate Spade bag at Nordstrom, which was pretty great.

Things were going good for Lucy in New York though. I missed Lucy and her perky outgoing self.

She got a job promotion, she would now commute out of the country. Lucky girl would be visiting Paris, as a professional buyer. Going on about all the clothes she was going to see before the seasons change. She reassured though that she wouldn't do anything cool without me. Since we dreamt of exploring Paris together. I chuckled at her softly, she was too precious for her own good.

Nonetheless I hummed an okay and she went on with the excitement in the big city. About a few flings she had, as well the new one she was excited about at the moment. Lucy has never been the strap in a relationship type, I've always admired that of her.

"So, he's all moved out right?!" She asked then. I knew she still had questions festering. I twirled a strand of my dark brown hair between my fingers. "Mhm" I sounded then. Looking at all the decor misplaced and missing from certain areas of my living room.

"My lease is up soon, so I'll be moving out too." I added. It was all honestly the truth, the date was creeping up and I had newspapers with highlighted circles. Scattered on my desk of cute little places, mostly one rooms.

As much as I was being very stern and up about this break up. A part of me still lingered on the two years we spent, the good things before he looked for more. I couldn't wait to see my things in boxes soon too. Maybe I could get the cat I always wanted? Ben always had bad allergies.

Breaking me from my thoughts, Lucy gasped "Vi! Why don't you come to New York?!" She insisted, then. "What for like a visit? Sure!" I replied nonchalantly.

"No Silly!" She began again, "To live here! With me in my flat!" Correcting. Slightly making me choke on my last gulp of coffee.

"Lucy." I began, "Have you lost it?!"

She chuckled again, her excitement just beaming through the line. She was completely serious. "No! My roommate Joe moved out a few weeks back, and I'm worried about my apartment being vacant while I'm away."

I stood up from the sofa now, pacing in front of my coffee table. "Oh my god, I don't know about this." I questioned.

I really didn't know.

"Come on! It would be so good for you!" She said, "New York has so much to offer! You can find a job so quick, get you back on the scene! Find a cute fling!" I rolled my eyes, already throwing me to the wolves. She knew it too, "Okay, scratch that last part. BUT STILL!"

I fumbled with pretty junk on the window sill looking out to the street. Trying to process what was just thrown at me. Was this a good idea? This was a big opportunity, and I already felt homesick.

"I don't kn–" Lucy cut me off then, "You still miss him, and that's the one reason why you need this Syl."

I loved Lucy. But I hated her too because I knew she was right. It was just hard to see myself not well... here. I sighed to myself, placing my hand to the back of my neck.

"Just let me think about it."

[historyrepeatsitself-phff]

Chapter Sixty-Three

A/N: Here we are, another chapter. It’s quite big, with quite a few different things happening. Very engagement-centred, but I hope you enjoy it. If any of you don’t know who Ant and Dec are when you reach that part, please do Google them. They are the funniest and nicest guys, literally the whole of the UK loves them.

That said, I hope you enjoy. Please do let me know what you think, your feedback means a lot more to me than you probably realise 😊💖

Emmy didn’t speak to Taylor or Chris for the next week. She didn’t hear from them at all, and their silence was getting her down. She didn’t mean to upset them, but the truth was that she didn’t know who to trust anymore. And so it was best not to provoke them, not to anger or offend them even further.

However she was worried, for she hadn’t heard from any of Harry’s friends either, and she prayed that Taylor hadn’t told them what she’d done. She had a feeling they would take it a lot worse than Taylor had. Although she suspected that Skippy already knew he’d been lied to, even though Emmy had specifically asked them all not to tell anyone the names until she’d told them herself. She didn’t realise Taylor and Skippy spoke so much.

A day in Newcastle was on the cards for Emmy, where the mental health charity Mind had worked with Heads Together to set up a day full of activities in the city centre to raise awareness for mental health. She was going with William and Kate, and she was dreading seeing them both. She didn’t know whether William knew about Taylor finding out, but she expected he did. With Edward and Harry in Brazil, Claire needed someone else to discuss everything with, and ever since she’d found out that William knew all about their plan she’d taken to talking to Miguel, William’s secretary. And, in turn, Miguel told William everything.

So she wasn’t surprised when, as soon as she met William and Kate outside Kensington Palace ready to leave for the day, William pulled her into a big hug.

“How you holding up?” he asked gently, and once he’d released her Kate gave her a cuddle too.

“Um, okay,” Emmy said. “I guess you heard about Taylor?”

“Yeah,” William said, smiling sadly. “But she’ll come round. Hopefully someone will leak something and then she’ll see why you had to lie to her.”

“Let’s hope,” she said, almost dryly. She thought it was awful that she was hoping someone would betray her trust, just so that it would make the whole thing worthwhile.

“Anyway,” Kate said, smiling her dazzling smile at the two of them. “Let’s put all these problems to the back of our mind and focus on today. Heads Together! Come on, it’ll be a good day.”

Emmy managed a smile, and William gave her a reassuring wink. He’d told Kate to do whatever it took to cheer Emmy up today, and he and his wife were determined to give her a fun day, even if it was an engagement.

William and Kate actually kept the conversation going for the entire journey up to Newcastle. They showed Emmy funny pictures of George and Charlotte, they asked her what she’d done so far to prepare for her little baby and they discussed everything that they did in preparation for their little own ones. Emmy had a smile on her face by the time they arrived at the Mental Health event in Newcastle, and her smile only widened as she emerged from the car to see hundreds of people gathered around the venue, just to see them. The entry was five pounds to the general public, but so many people had been invited there specifically for the event that the actual park where all the activities were taking place was heaving. Emmy straightened up from the car, her dress fluttering lightly in the breeze, and she smiled at them all. William and Kate walked ahead, greeting the head of Heads Together and the head of Mind, and Emmy followed them, more interested in what there was to do today than in meeting officials.

She was given her designated tour guide, a girl called Ashley, and Ashley showed Emmy to one of the nearest games. Emmy had to try and create a coherent poem using the words on the screen.

“Oh no,” Emmy said. “I never was very good at poetry at school.” She made a nervous face, looking around, trying to find someone else to focus on. She saw a teenage girl stood nearby, watching. “Hey, do you think you could help me?”

The girl’s face lit up in surprise and delight, and she hurried over. “I’m not very good at poetry either, though,” she said nervously.

“Oh don’t worry, we can muddle through together then,” Emmy laughed. “What’s your name?”

“Lucy.”

“Hi Lucy, I’m Emmy,” Emmy said. “Okay, now where do we start? Does it have to rhyme?”

The lady in charge of the activity shook her head. “No, it’s a poem, it can be whatever you want it to be. The idea is to just let your mind speak. Don’t overthink it.”

Emmy had fun making a poem with Lucy – Lucy was actually very good at it, and Emmy reminded her of that at the end, before Ashley led her on to another stall. William was already stood there, hands on hips, frowning.

“I’m not very good at this,” he said to Emmy, as she joined him. The photographers and press that had been allowed into the venue were frantically snapping pictures of the two of them, eager to see the brother and sister-in-law interact together.

“What do you have to do?”

“You have to draw the first thing that comes to mind when you hear a certain word,” he said. “I overthink it. And I can’t draw.”

Emmy laughed lightly. “I feel like I’m going to have the same problems here. Can I have a go?”

“Of course,” the man running the game, Charlie, said. He picked up a pile of cards, and handed Emmy a whiteboard and pen. “Okay, I’m going to say a word and you have to draw the first thing that comes to mind. The first. Don’t think about it, like William.” He threw William a grin, and William chuckled. “Okay, you ready?”

“I’m more nervous than I should be,” she said, making William laugh. “Yep.”

“Football.”

Emmy drew a football.

“Bumblebees.”

Emmy drew a picture of Winnie the Pooh, then grinned. “That might be a strenuous link,” she said. “But I thought of honey, and then Winnie the Pooh, and I didn’t know how to draw honey.”

“Strawberries.”

Emmy hesitated, and Charlie laughed. “You’re overthinking it,” he said.

“Actually, I’m thinking about how much I want some strawberries right now,” she said, giggling. William laughed with her. “I see what you mean though, it’s so easy to think about it too much.”

“It’s a good way to let people just let out what’s in their head,” Charlie said. “And it can be quite a fun game too.”

Emmy moved on, her and William parting, and eventually Emmy found herself at the same activity as Kate. It was a sports one, and the group was just throwing a ball to each other.

“I don’t think I should join in,” Emmy said. “I’m not at my fittest right now.” She gestured to her baby bump, and everyone laughed lightly. “You can just tell me what this is about.”

She watched Kate effortlessly catching and tossing the ball back and forth, as Ashley spoke to her about how this activity helps people work as a team, while the exercise, although little, releases endorphins which improve someone’s mood.

About an hour into the day, Emmy was led over to another stall where two very familiar faces were stood. The presenters Ant and Dec were stood there, and they broke into smiles at the sight of Emmy. She felt her face getting hot – she was a huge fan of them both, she found them hilarious, but she had never met them, despite them having interviewed so many of her royal in-laws.

“Your royal highness!” Ant said, hurrying forward and bowing slightly as he shook her hand. Dec bowed also.

“This is a nice surprise,” she said shyly, as she shook Dec’s hand. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Although, I suppose I should’ve known – Newcastle.”

They laughed. “Yep, we were invited to show our faces here today,” Dec said. “Raise awareness for it, that sort of thing. We’ve been looking around, it’s pretty good.”

“It is, I’ve been having a lot of fun,” Emmy said. “Although it’s such a shame I can’t take part in any of the sports.” Her voice got slightly dry as she patted her bump.

Dec chuckled. “Now why does it sound like you’re making excuses?”

The three of them laughed together. “I’m sorry to never have met you,” she said. “Harry’s mentioned you before, of course.”

“Yeah, we’ve interviewed him a few times,” Ant said. “We work mainly with his father, with the Prince’s Trust, you know.”

“I know, Charles loves you,” she said.

“Aw, I feel like you’re being paid to say that,” Dec teased.

“No, I think he was able to put up with us by the end of us making the documentary about the trust,” Ant said. “Although it did take a while.”

Emmy laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, that’s just Charles. It took him a while to put up with me, too.”

“Meant to say, congratulations on the pregnancy,” Ant said, smiling as Dec nodded. “To you and Harry. We were delighted when we heard the news. Harry’s made it no secret that he’s excited to have children.”

“No, he made it no secret to me either,” she said. “But thank you.”

“He’s still in Brazil, isn’t he?” Dec asked. “I think I saw on the news he’s trekking through the Amazon, or something?”

“Yes, that’s right. Yeah, he’s still there,” she said, then sighed. “It’s very difficult without him here.”

“I’m sure it is,” Ant said gently. “Well, if you’re ever bored and you want to have a laugh, please don’t hesitate in calling us up. We’d love to get to know you. I feel like you and Ka- The Duchess of Cambridge are the only royals that we don’t know yet.”

“We’d like to expand our CVs,” Dec joked.

Emmy giggled lightly. “Well, as long as you don’t make a documentary out of it, I’d love to meet up with you. Maybe we should make it for when Harry’s back, though. He might get jealous that I got to spend time with you and he didn’t.”

They all laughed again.

“Oh god, it’s you two,” said a voice, and Emmy turned to see William and Kate coming towards them. William shook their hands. “They’re not boring you, are they?” he said to Emmy.

“Oh, because they’re such boring people,” she replied sarcastically.

“Don’t make a documentary out of this,” William teased lightly. Ant held up his hands innocently.

“Hey, this isn’t an interview,” he replied. “Unless you want to make it one…?” He added playfully, raising an eyebrow, and they all laughed.

“Guys, this is my wife, Kate,” William said, gently urging Kate forward.

“We were just saying to Emmy that we’ve never really met you both,” Dec said.

“I think we should meet up some time,” Emmy said, looking at Kate.

Kate’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she smiled. “Yes,” she said. “Perhaps.”

Later that day, when the three of them were in the car on their way home, Emmy was babbling about how good a day she’d had.

“And you got to meet Ant and Dec,” William said, grinning. “They’re a right laugh, they are.”

“They’re so nice,” Emmy agreed.

“I can’t believe you said you’d meet up with them though,” Kate said. “You need to be careful, Emmy. They’re members of the press after all.”

“So? They’re nice?”

“You can’t be friends with people who will try and make money out of you,” Kate said.

“They’re TV presenters, not journalists,” Emmy argued.

“All the same,” Kate replied with a shrug.

Emmy opened her mouth to retort, but she bit back her reply. Why was Kate being like this? Maybe this was why the press didn’t like her and William much, because they just didn’t trust anyone. Emmy frowned, and turned her attention out the window.

William was silent through the exchange, but now he spoke. “Kate’s right, Emmy. You just need to be careful and make sure they want to be friends with you, in case they just want to interview you.”

Emmy huffed slightly, now glaring out the window. She was famous, who else was she meant to make friends with if it wasn’t other famous people? She didn’t speak much for the rest of the journey home.

Maybe that was why Emmy was in this situation, forced to marry a man and have his child just because the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were too self-involved to allow anyone else into their lives.

Nonetheless, Emmy smiled at them both once they arrived back at Kensington, before slowly making her way round to Nottingham Cottage, both hands placed lazily on her bump.

Harry laid back in the tent and sighed, puffing air up onto his face. He couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t feel sweaty, and he pulled his t-shirt off before looking over at Luke, whom he was sharing the tent with.

“You alright?”

“Just exhausted.”

“Only…what, another twelve days to go?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Harry said, then grinned. “No one said it would be this hard.”

Luke smirked. “I thought you were meant to be a soldier.”

“Piss off,” Harry chuckled. “Actually, I’m a veteran now.”

“Same. Not by choice.” Luke looked down at his left arm, at the stump that had replaced his wrist. “Anyway, just think about how happy everyone is going to be when we get back.”

“Everyone’s going to be so proud of you,” Harry said gently, then grinned. “Especially Julie.” Julie was Luke’s wife.

“Hell, maybe I’ll get lucky for once,” Luke said dryly, then laughed. “What about Emmy? She’ll be proud of you, surely.”

“Unless she’s too hormonal to care,” Harry said, closing his eyes. “Actually, she’s probably got her charity gala any day now, so she may already have replaced me with Tom Hiddleston.”

“Loki? Shit, how you going to compete?” Luke teased.

“By being the father of her child,” Harry replied, laughing.

“You excited?”

“So excited,” he answered, smiling. “I’ve wanted children for so long, I’m so excited.”

“You know what it’s going to be yet?”

“No,” Harry said, then hesitated and added, “Okay, we do, but you can’t tell anyone, alright?”

“Of course. Although I can’t promise not to bet on the sex when the time comes,” Luke said.

“It’s a little girl.”

“Oh, sweet. Congratulations, man.”

“Thanks, Luke,” Harry said. “My little princess. I was so happy, you know.”

“I bet.”

“Time to sleep, guys!” came from outside the tent. “Got a long day ahead tomorrow!”

Harry groaned, rolling onto his side and covering his eyes with his arm. “Hopefully we’ll be able to actually get some sleep tonight.”

“Yeah, if the rain lets up,” Luke said. “Alright, night.”

“Night,” Harry said, yawning.

There was silence for a little bit, then Luke added, “Don’t worry, H. Tom Hiddleston’s got nothing on you.”

Harry chuckled in response.

There was a knock on the door. Emmy looked round instinctively, causing Hannah – who was finishing pulling her hair into an intricate updo – to tut, irritated. Claire was frowning.

“Who the hell is that?” she asked, then looked at Emmy. “You expecting someone?”

“Nope,” Emmy said, looking towards the doorway in the mirror.

“I’ll go find out,” Claire said. “Hannah, you nearly done?”

“Yeah, then you just need to get into your dress,” she said to Emmy, smiling, as Claire left them.

Emmy sighed. “I’m going to look like a balloon.”

“Oh, don’t say that-”

“I will though, look at me.”

Hannah smiled. “You look glowing.”

“Everyone always says that about pregnant women, yet I have no idea what that means,” Emmy said, pushing herself to her feet as Hannah moved away. “I wonder who’s here.”

“Better get you dressed before they come up,” Hannah said.

Emmy was stood, glaring at her enormous reflection, when Claire returned to them. “It’s Skippy,” she said. “Okay, Hannah, time for you to straighten my hair, lovely.”

Emmy frowned. “Skippy?”

“Yep.”

Her stomach dropped. Shit. She hadn’t seen Skippy since she’d told him their chosen baby names, and she hadn’t heard from him at all after her argument with Taylor. She didn’t know how he or Harry’s other friends had taken being lied to, because it was obvious that the names were just that – lies. Ploys.

“Did he say what he wants?” Emmy asked nervously.

“Just to talk to you,” Claire said. “He’s waiting down in the lounge.”

Emmy’s heart was hammering as she carefully made her way downstairs, worried about tripping in her long dress or her high heels. The carpet muffled her footsteps as she entered the lounge. Skippy was on his phone.

She took a deep breath. “Hey.”

“Shit!” he said, startled, then laughed lightly. “You crept up on me, sorry.”

“Sorry,” she said too, perching on the arm of the armchair. “Everything…okay?”

“Yeah, I didn’t realise you were going out, I would’ve come over another time,” he said apologetically.

“It’s okay, what do you need?”

He sighed. “I know you lied about the names,” he said.

Emmy gulped.

“Don’t worry, I’m not angry. We all know. To be honest, we wondered why you’d decided on baby names so early anyway. Jake gave me a bollocking when I said I’d accidentally told Taylor that we’d been told different names. He said that he and Zoe suspected from the start that they were fake names to try and figure out who the rat is.” He rolled his eyes. “They’re so smart, eh?”

She managed a nervous laugh. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, you know,” he said. “For telling Taylor.”

“Well you said it was an accident-”

“It was,” he said immediately. “You know what I’m like, I say stuff without thinking, I’m really sorry!”

She smiled. “It’s okay. But you’re…you’re not mad? For being lied to?”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “Harry’s lied to me many times to make sure I’m trustworthy, I wasn’t really surprised that I needed a retest. Especially with the leak and all that.”

“I’m glad you’re not mad,” she said. “I felt really bad.”

“Nah, don’t worry yourself,” he said, grinning.

“Taylor’s mad though,” Emmy said, in a small voice, and she avoided his gaze.

Skippy sighed. “Yeah, I know. I heard.”

“Have you spoken to her?”

“Only once since your argument,” he said. “She’s really upset, but we’re going out to dinner tonight and I’m going to try and explain to her why you did it.”

“Thanks,” Emmy said, surprised that he was basically doing her job for her. “I appreciate it. I want to talk to her but…I just don’t know where to start.”

“I know, it’s okay,” he said, then grinned. “You missing Harry at all?”

“At all? Just, you know, every second of every day,” she said, laughing. “I can’t wait for him to come home.”

“Me neither. I need someone to come and watch football with me. Jake and Guy are too busy with all their children.”

“Children? Guy?” Emmy raised an eyebrow.

“They’re busy painting the nursery and going to those pre-baby classes and all that.” Skippy rolled his eyes. “Guess you’ll have to start that soon.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me, the thought of the birth stresses me out,” she said. “I just try not to think about it.”

He chuckled lightly. “Just wait for Harry to get home, I guess.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“I better be going,” he said, straightening up. “You probably need to leave soon.”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing and brushing her hair out of her eyes. “HeForShe gala.”

“Very nice,” he said. “And here I thought that dress was for spending the evening in.”

She rolled her eyes at him, getting to her feet as he did the same. “Thanks for coming to talk to me about this,” she said. “And thanks for talking to Taylor. I…really appreciate it.”

He threw her a smile. “I just don’t want you to worry about it all. Harry told me to take care of you, and I haven’t really been doing that this last week.”

“You don’t need to take care of me,” she said, laughing. “That’s just Harry being overprotective.”

“That’s also true,” Skippy agreed, as they both laughed. “I’ll let myself out. You have a good night tonight.”

“Thanks, you too,” she said, then added more loudly as he approached the front door, “Good luck with Taylor.”

“I’m gonna need it,” he called back, then she heard the door close and she sighed. So Taylor was still mad, but at least Harry’s friends weren’t. That was one less thing to worry about.

As soon as Emmy stepped from the car she was blinded by the flashes from the watching paparazzi and deafened by the shouting and cheering of the crowds who had gathered outside The Goring Hotel to see the arrival of all the celebrities attending. Of course, not everyone there was going to be famous. Emmy knew several people were going who run charities that do everything from supporting vulnerable women to campaigning for equal rights all over the world. HeForShe was an organization that promoted everything in-between, while focusing on convincing men that the word ‘feminist’ was not equal to man-hating.

Emmy smiled at the cameras and waved to the public, receiving some cries and whoops in return. Then she turned to Claire, who was attending with her, before spotting Margaret, the head of the UK branch of HeForShe. She was stood by the entrance, waiting, and she broke into a smile at the sight of Emmy.

“Your royal highness,” she said, dipping into a curtsey.

“Oh, Margaret, nice to see you again,” Emmy said, pulling the lady into a hug. “You must be very excited about tonight.”

“More stressed than excited right now,” Margaret admitted, and they shared a laugh.

“I know exactly how you feel,” Emmy said, cupping her baby bump. “You remember Claire, right?”

Claire and Margaret shook hands, and then Margaret said, “Shall we go inside?”

Emmy followed her into the beautiful hotel lobby, which was full of people mingling. “It’s so pretty here,” she breathed, looking around. “Kate was telling me about it the other day. She said it’s exquisite.”

“It truly is, we were very lucky that they wanted us to hold the gala here,” Margaret said. “Now, Emmy, there are photographers here tonight. I did ask Claire to tell you in case it was a problem-”

“Oh no, that’s fine,” Emmy said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ll just have to put up with them. Besides, there’s people here who are far more interesting than I am. I don’t think they’ll pay much attention to me.”

“Of course,” Margaret said, not agreeing with Emmy in the slightest. She was married to Prince Harry, her wedding had been watched by billions of people all over the globe. She was by far the most famous person there tonight.

“Emmy!” said a delighted voice, just as they entered the dining hall where the gala was taking place. Emmy turned to see her friend Emma Watson approaching. Emma made an awkward face. “Sorry, I mean, your royal highness,” she said, dipping into a curtsey.

“Oh don’t be silly,” Emmy said, pulling her into a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” Emma said. “I’ve actually just started filming Beauty and The Beast.”

“Oh my goodness, how is it?” Emmy asked excitedly. “Do you love it? Do you get to wear pretty princess dresses?”

She laughed. “I do, actually. It is so much fun. And I get to sing all the songs as well. Anyway, we’ll catch up later, I think Margaret wants to show you around.”

Margaret, who was stood to the side watching the two young women greet each other, stepped forward and smiled. “I just need to show you round the charities that are here tonight, so that you can meet them. Introduce you to a few people.”

“Of course,” Emmy said, smiling, as they started to make their way round the room. “I’m excited to meet them.”

“Well, they’re all very excited to meet you too,” Margaret said, laughing.

People were mingling throughout the room. Some had already taken their seats at their tables, while others were greeting old friends or getting to know some of the people there. Emmy spotted the actress Carey Mulligan, the TV presenters Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton and – her heart stopped excitedly – the actor Tom Hiddleston. But Emmy kept her cool, and she forced herself to focus on the people she was meeting as Margaret introduced her to the creator of a charity which encourages girls to go into science fields.

Sarah was the lady in charge of GirlGeeks, and Emmy spoke to her animatedly. She had never thought about the science and mathematics areas as places of inequality for women, and she was intrigued by everything that Sarah had to say.

“We work closely with Stemettes,” Sarah was saying. “They’re another organisation that promotes girls getting involved with STEM. They organise a lot of events for young girls, trying to encourage them. And for some of the bigger events we partner with them and try and get even more girls to attend.”

“Wow,” Emmy said. “I’d love to come to one of these events.”

Sarah’s face lit up. “Really?! Oh, we’d love for you to come, Ma’am.”

“I’m sure we can arrange something,” Emmy said, turning to Claire and smiling. Claire rolled her eyes as her mouth tugged up at the corners.

“Good job I brought my phone, huh?’ Claire teased lightly, getting up Emmy’s schedule, and Emmy giggled sheepishly. “Let me take your details, Sarah, and I’ll be in touch to arrange a date.”

By the end of the first half hour, Emmy had been introduced to six people who run six different charities, and Claire had had to take down six different people’s contact details with the promise of organising a royal visit. By the time Margaret led Emmy over to her seat beside her, Emmy was desperate for a drink after talking so much. She’d had some truly fascinating conversations, and they’d all succeeded in taking her mind off the rest of the evening – and her first speech.

“You okay?” Claire asked, as Emmy gulped down some water.

“Yeah,” Emmy said, smiling. “Just thirsty.”

There was a starter, and then some presentations by a few charities that Emmy had already met, and after the main course even more charities spoke about what they do. By dessert, however, Emmy had lost her appetite. Her speech was approaching, and the thought was starting to make her feel sick. Oh god, she fainted when she last tried to give a speech, she hoped she wouldn’t vomit while trying to give this one.

Eventually Margaret went up on the stage to give a speech about the evening, HeForShe and thanking the amazing charities for attending that night. Then she smiled down at Emmy, and Emmy felt her heart stop.

“And now, I would like to welcome to the stage, HeForShe’s first ever royal patron, The Duchess of Clarence.”

Applause echoed throughout the room, and Emmy took a deep breath before heading up onto the stage. She felt huge up there, with her bump pushing out the lace of her dress, and she stroked it nervously, before flattening out her speech on the podium in front of her and leaning towards the microphone.

“Thank you, Margaret,” she said nervously, as she threw her a smile. “Thank you for both that welcoming introduction and for inviting me to this event. This evening has been an eye opener in so many ways for me. To most people, gender equality was obtained when women were given the vote. To others, they think the problems with sexism can be solved by simply giving women equal pay. But there is truly so much more to feminism than that. Feminism is women being allowed to say what they want and do what they want the same way a man can. Feminism is women being able to be what they want to be, whether it be a doctor, or a teacher, or a model, or a politician, without anyone telling them they can’t. Feminism is not equivalent to saying that women are better than men, because that is just as sexist as everything that feminism campaigns against. Feminism is supporting women, encouraging women, loving women and caring for them, not because they are women but because they are people. And I am honoured to patron an organisation that does this selflessly every day.

“Now, as a mother-to-be, the word feminism has a whole new meaning to me. I want my son or daughter to grow up in a world where the word isn’t needed, where gender inequality is a thing of the past and where strong, powerful women are shown in the media every day, not because they are women but because they have achieved great things. I want my daughter to be able to become whatever she puts her mind to, I want my son to expect to see women in power, not to be surprised by it. As women it is our duty not to be suppressed by people who do not believe in gender equality, and as men it is your duty to fight against those who insist on living in the past. Over half of the people on this planet are women, we are your mothers, your sisters, your doctors, your teachers. We love you and raise you and care for you and protect you. So why should we be the inferior sex? Why should we be paid less, why should we receive raised eyebrows whenever we try to do something good, something unusual, something that is usually done by a man? We shouldn’t.”

Emmy stared out over the room for a moment, then smiled and blushed, shuffling her papers and stepping away from the podium. Applause rung through the room, and she felt her heart pounding somewhere behind her uvula. She swallowed, ducking her head as the clapping went on, and she could see camera flashes capturing this moment. It was her first full public speech, and she had done it. She had finally got the first one out of the way, and she was so relieved that she had delivered it well, without a hesitation or a stutter. She twiddled her engagement ring shyly as Margaret came back onto the stage to announce that the meal was over and it was time to go around and meet people once more.

“You were amazing,” Margaret said, beaming at her once they were off the stage. Emmy held her cold hands to her burning cheeks, her eyes wide and fixed on Margaret’s face.

“You think?”

“Oh, definitely!” she said. “You spoke so well, too. I can’t believe that was your first speech!”

“I’m just glad I finished it that time,” Emmy said lightly.

“Emmy!” someone called, and she turned to see Claire hurrying over. “I’m so proud of you, you did it!”

Emmy laughed with relief, letting herself be pulled into Claire’s open arms and hugging her tightly. “I got through it.”

“You did, and you got through it well!” Claire said, ecstatic. “Oh, you were so so so good!”

Emmy was so touched by Claire’s excitement, and she wanted to just go home now, to go home and celebrate that her first speech was over. But she had people to meet.

“Emmy,” Margaret said twenty minutes later, after they’d already greeted a few other charities. “This is Tom Hiddleston, he’s an avid supporter of HeForShe, especially in Hollywood.”

Emmy’s heart, which had only just recovered from the terrifying ordeal of giving a speech, sped up again. She felt star struck, as she looked up into the actor’s face that she knew so well.

“Your royal highness,” Tom said, bowing his head slightly as she shook his hand. “It’s an honour to meet you.”

“You too,” Emmy said breathlessly. “I’m a huge fan, do call me Emmy.”

“Emmy,” Tom said, grinning. “Your speech was amazing. And can I say, congratulations on the pregnancy. I know I’m a few months late.”

“It’s okay, I’m still pregnant,” she said, shrugging and they shared a laugh. “So, Tom, how do you find the gender inequality problem in America? Is it worse than here?”

“It certainly is,” Tom said. “Especially within the film industry. Whether it comes to the pay for actresses, or the amount of women who work in the crew of films, there is a huge difference in the numbers for males and females. Often I work with this charity…”

Eventually Emmy had to move on, and she bid goodbye to Tom, who was sure he would see her at another HeForShe event at some point in the future. By the end of the evening, Emmy found herself taking a break, sipping her glass of water at her table with Claire beside her. The guests were starting to leave, and Emmy wanted to rehydrate herself before copying.

“Emmy,” Emma said, coming over and taking the seat opposite her. “Your speech was so good!”

“Aw, thanks,” Emmy said, smiling gratefully. “By the way, I love your dress! Where did you get it?!”

“It’s by Stella McCartney,” Emma said, then made a face. “Imagine if you wore it somewhere! Imagine the comparisons, oh my goodness!”

They laughed together. “We really must meet up again,” Emmy said shyly. She loved spending time with Emma, but their busy schedules rarely permitted it.

“Definitely,” Emma said. “Even if it’s just for lunch, we must.”

“I need to see you again before I have this little one,” Emmy said, rubbing her bump affectionately.

“Of course, I need to try and convince you to name it Emma,” Emma said, winking.

Emmy barked a laugh. “Emmy and Emma? Somehow I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Give me a chance and I’ll convince you otherwise,” Emma said. “Anyway, I’m leaving now so I will see you soon.”

The girls hugged in farewell, and Claire smiled as her and Emmy watched her depart.

“It’s so good that you surround yourself with girls like her,” Claire said. “You’ve come a long way since I joined your office last year.”

Emmy smiled, tired now, and she leant her head on Claire’s shoulder. “Can we go now? I’m sleepy.”

Claire laughed lightly. “Let’s go, you just need to say goodbye to Margaret and the other HeForShe guys.”

Emmy groaned as she got to her feet. “This being a royal is really quite tedious,” she mumbled.

Claire chuckled. “Well you’re doing it very well.”