#anyways it’s canon argue with your mama

[scriptmyworld]

during that whole portion with marisha checking her notes laudna was walking with her nose buried in the notebook and ashton was directing her around hazards by the shoulders

[hana-no-seiiki]

ok Aeon of light Reader has piqued my interests, especially their relation with Nanook. Please make more about them please :D??? It's alright though if you don't want too

END OF A DREAM, BEGINNING OF AN ERA.

notes: OH GOD i forgot to edit the title of the second story. They’re supposed to be the Aeon of the Dream Path + Imaginary element. My bad! I also changed up the timeline there making reader way way more older since I found out Xianzhou residents live for long ass times.

Anyways, thank you! I honestly expected that fic to flop so I’m pleasantly surprised. I spent a long time researching gods to come up with a concept for reader’s path. Very long. Like long enough that I have this obscure fun fact about there being a god called Mama Killa. It partly was because the other Aeon’s concepts / powers are pretty vast (i.e. IX (Nihility) is the god of meaninglessness but can be considered the aeon of insanity and despair as well due to its powers)

[ here is the link to the fic we’re talking about / previous fic ]

YANDERE! NANOOK x READER (AEON OF DREAMS)

warnings: pseudo-incest/godcest, nanook is “born” from your inner hatred towards the universe before he ascended making them technically your child tho this fic can be interpreted as platonic, edgelord aeons, canon divergence. UNEDITED AND RUSHED AF.

I. Ad Somnum Pueri

Hatred always had and will have a root to its madness. Your endless entrapment since your conception ‘birthed’ Nanook. A loathing for existence. A passion for ending every one and every thing. In their path, their destiny, there will be no living beings, there will be no space or time. Only the void, you and the avatar of entropy.

But first they had to take down Yaoshi. After all, even Aeons had to face mortality and if that useless Lan wasn’t capable of keeping you safe in your cradle then it was clear Nanook had to put a hand down.

The Lord of Destruction prided themself for regarding everything — but you — as equal. Everything had to be erased, so there was no point to having favourites or a specific distaste towards another being.

However Yaoshi had broken the camel’s back at your kidnapping. Thus, Nanook decided against their ‘morals’ to give them a special opportunity.

To be the first Aeon whose reverent ichor is in their hands.

II. In Somno In Infinitum

Even after your ascended body was taken and locked away by Yaoshi. You could never argue with the fact that Nanook’s obsession with you remained the most powerful across the universe. You were an Aeon they worshipped vehemently as a young mortal up until now. It was as if they breathed only for you. It came to the point that they even owed their creation to you or not their biological parents.

You were incredibly flattered by such a fact in the beginning. Doting and showering them with blessings, assisting them in the goals in both the waking and slumbering world.

Sleepwalkers was what your scholars called the vessels you used to do your godly work. And Nanook was known throughout the realms to be your favorite.

But when they made a declaration to be a menace to the world, you withdrew all of your support and contact with Nanook. Utterly disappointed with what they have become.

That did not halt their fame and name as your chosen hero from spreading. Their sheer charisma overpowered your network.

Because if there was one thing that was stronger than dreams it was reality.

Indeed you pleaded with your followers never to follow the Lord of Entropy through their sleeping fantasies, but how could they deny Nanook’s efficiency? Their all-out, unbridled, unfettered adoration of you?

And thus, the Dreamcrawler Legion. Now also known by its other name, the Antimatter Legion, was established. With one goal and one goal alone.

Lay the world in a bed of flames and ruin. For when they everyone else goes to eternal sleep, you — their ever generous, loving Aeon — will be free.

III. Mundus Erit Terminus

You never visited Nanook after their ascension. You only ever loved their mortal self. Their path was something you could never hope or desire to follow. Sure, there was a phase of your life where you despised your eternal sleep. But what you learnt from living so long was that acceptance of your situation felt infinitely better than spending eternity filled with loathing.

But Nanook always visited you. While Yaoshi burdened themselves with the task of witnessing your body while asleep. Nanook enjoyed it much more when you talked, your words of guidance — though now reduced to silence — was what made them fall in love with the you who spoke, who moved, who looked at them with open eyes through dreams.

It didn’t matter if you moved your target of hatred to them. Nanook’s love was unconditional and blind as his desire to seek destruction.

“My lord.” Nanook forced you into an embrace. Within their dreams, even when it was your domain, you felt as powerless as you did with Yaoshi. Their golden ichor bled unto your clothes.

They could see you. Your face, your entrancing features, just as he always had, just as he always wanted to. But it lacked a certain glow, a loss they attributed to Yaoshi digressions. Because they knew for certain that your love for them never disappeared. You were too benevolent, too magnanimous. “[Y/N]. My promise is soon to be fulfilled.”

“Every cage you have been trapped in will be gone.” Every cage but his love. Every chain but his arms.

“And you can finally feel the beauty of reality once more.”

A reality that was completely reset and build back up by them.

Translations:

Ad Somnum Pueri - Go to Sleep Child

In Somno In Infinitum - In Endless Dreams / Sleep

Mundus Erit Terminus - The World (shall) End.

©️ hana.no.seiiki - yun | 2023

[restesdelune]

****Meet the Grimes****

A second chance & heartbreak

A new life on the road

A united front

A well deserved reunion

What a family ❤️‍🔥

The Last Grimes

Some context before a rant:

I can’t believe some people still exclude Michonne and RJ from the Grimes family. I saw an old post with Judith tagged as #TheLastGrimes, and a recent one claiming Michonne wasn’t Judy’s mother? I beg your pardon? (yes, it was on twitter).

Since the early days on the mothership, TWDU fandom has been so oblivious to racist bias and tropes, to the point of marginalizing Michonne fucking Grimes from her own family, the hero, supermom and wife, who *actually* raised "the last Grimes" mind you!

We really don’t respect Black women, their labour, their love and loyalty, neither irl nor in fiction.

This shows up everyday in very real ways in our lives. Whether for Black girls, gals, wives, girlfriends, single mothers, baby mamas, widows and their children. Whether they gave birth to their children or not, whether they’re mixed or not, Black motherhood is systematically denigrated. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone who doesn’t see how disastrous these optics are to engage with this.

The disrespect of Black women, the erasure of mixed children, claiming ownership of kids one didn’t raise, minimizing the bonds of a new family... See, I don’t fuck with that bs and it will be read as anti-Blackness and misogynoir on my part. People can argue with a wall.

The Grimes all chose each other, went to hell, and only some came back. A lot of us wanted nothing more than to see them reunited and finally at peace, and we did. Such canon is too much for some. Not for me. It was well-earned, by the characters as well as by the audience, and so refreshing in such cynical times. On one hand, I wish I could see more of them, on the other, I’d rather not have anyone mess it up (shout out to our TOWL S2 truthers out there though ^^).

I honestly pity those who’ve imprisoned themselves in blood lineages and narrow 'legitimate' families, unable to grasp the gifts of community and found family in a freaking post apo zombie show. That must honestly be depressing in deed...

Whether we are called dramatic or aggressive, Richonners will keep calling this out, especially Black women who don’t even need to do anything to deserve those exhausted epithets in everyday life. We see the double standards, we see the fans defending their buddies’ racist takes, we see the apparently infinite plausible deniability and benefit of the doubt afforded to some, never to others. It's not bright, it's not new, and we know the game.

No wonder this fandom can feel so segregated sometimes.

Anyway, if you’d like for me to expand on this lmk, I’ll always have more to share. Thanks for reading.

Happy Shipping

[espinfeather]

So I requested to one of my mutuals to make a little head-canon/one shot of Rayman/Ramon being a dad (please go check them out, they are really cool! @salty-croissants ) anyways I wanted to do a little one shot of Bullfrog being a dad! So yeah enjoy!

Little thieves 

“Chéri! Où est mon uniforme ?” Bullfrog called out to his partner, “i thought i told you it’s hanging by our door” “I checked but it wasn’t there” you sighed as you separated the whites from the blacks, you just want to get the Landry done for the week. “I can go check again Cher” he said as he walked towards your shared room, he didn’t know where it could be..it couldn’t grow legs and walked outside. Just as he walked past his daughters room, he heard giggling..”hehe look! I’m a assassin!” He heard his daughter saying, he slowly peaked his head in their room to see that one of his girls was wearing his uniform, despite being a little too big for her..it was pretty cute. “It’s my turn now” “Nuh Uh! I’m not done with it” the two started to bicker and argue, before it could go into chaos, bullfrog came in and cleared his throat to get the little ones attention. “Soin d'expliquer?” He raises a brow as his girls lowered their heads in shame “Sorry Papa..” Bullfrog looked at them and sighed “why did you take my Uniform? et ne me mentez pas tous les deux ” he warned, the girls looked at eachother and at him. “We wanted to be like you..” Bullfrogs eyes soften, he found it sweet on how his daughters wanted to be like him..even though his job was..different..from the others. “mes colombes, thats very sweet of you but you must understand my job is very dangerous..but I do it to protect you two and Mama okay?” “Yes Papa” he kissed his girls forehead, “now can I have my Uniform back?”

I hoped you enjoyed this little one shot!

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Do you have any favorite Descendants headcanons?

Yes! This is absolutely a permission to share an absurd amount of them, right? (Say yes, please-)

Anyway. Canon is a suggestion and so is Rise timeline.

Uma and Harry have been married pretty much since Ben's coronation. They... Kind of got drunk along with every other Isle kid and decided to get married, as you do. It's legal. They don't remember a thing.

Neither does Harriet. CJ however knows and is just waiting for the best opportunity to tell her brother. The Lost Revenge crew also knows, mostly, but just assume that the Captain and first mate also know. Which would make sense.

The mother of the Hook siblings was a siren (that bloodthirsty type that lures sailors to their deaths) and Captain Hook was completely in love with her. He was also completely blind to all of her murder attempts.

As a result, the Hook kids think that murder is a love language. Like, yeah. Mama tries to kill papa from time to time. That happens. It works for them.

They are having fun.

As is Ursula. She watches Hook family drama (tm) as a telenovela and used to take baby Uma with her. This might or might not be how Uma and Harry met.

None of the Isle kids knows how death works. This would be because Hades decided that Isle kids and their still-alive siblings are too much headache to deal with, especially while on vacation, when technically, the Underworld is a problem of his younger brothers.

CJ Hook treats the Underworld like a bus station. Hades has resigned about when she was ten and now lets her take the Cerberus for a walk from time to time.

The Isle kids regularly try to make s'mores over Hades' hair. The only one who ever got Hades to cooperate was Anthony Tremaine, while looking after his baby cousins, who really wanted the s'mores. That would be because he actually asked. (And Hades felt his suffering on a deep personal level. Younger siblings.)

The Tremaines have the only neutral territory on the Isle. You see, if you fight by the Tremaines, you'll get kicked out of the hair salon and you won't get your hair done. This threat works because the Isle kids are vain as fuck.

Anthony Tremaine/Harriet Hook/Ginny Gothel. Mutually destructive threesome.

Audrey Rose and Anthony Tremaine are vibing. They bonded over fashion, their horrible grandmothers, and Auradon's disaster finances.

Audrey is generally vibing with the pirates, as she deserves.

Aro ace Audrey Rose.

Freddie and Celia Facilier and Marya Rasputin are basically half-demons from a different end of the spectrum.

Freddie can walk absolutely quietly even with all the gold trinkets CJ gives her.

Uma and Freddie wore ninety percent of the Isle gold at some point or another. The last ten percent is still locked in EQ's vault and the Isle kids are very much trying to break in.

Uma just. Feeds people to the sharks. That's a thing that happens. She also doesn't necessarily bother to kill her hostages before that. (Harry very much supports this. He might drag some hostages to her, too. Murder is a love language and all that.)

Claudine Frollo was adopted by the Hook siblings and is a part of the Lost Revenge crew. She is a bitter bitch and I love her.

She is also wholeheartedly convinced that the Lost Revenge is a cult, and she is right.

The de Vil cousins couldn't give less of a fuck to the rivarly between Uma and Mal.

Evie has already mentally killed Cruella in about forty six different ways. She is counting.

De Vils, Hearts and Hooks argue over who wears red the best. They can and will kill over it, but that's fine. Death is a social construct.

Fairy Godmother sealed off Jane's magic.

On the Isle, Mal misses the concept of wings, freedom, something that she has never had.

Evie has social anxiety due to ten years spent alone with her mother.

Mal can be controlled by a laser pointer. As can CJ. And Harry. Yzla and Zevon. Marya Rasputin. Begrudging Uma and Harriet. Technically, Claudine Frollo, who will start praying and backing off and will never touch the surface with the laser dot again. De Vils and Faciliers know this and they are having a blast. (Carlos will just shine a laser pointer away from him when he wants to work on his trinkets and it works.)

Alice accidentally fell down the rabbit hole on the Isle and consequently kidnapped a kid. That kid happened to be a twin sister of CJ Hook. (Alice and Ally's ages don't match. This works ✨)

There is a reason why there are three schools on the Isle. The reason is: „You could never pay me enough to deal with more than one sibling at time, now fuck off.“

If I remember anything else, I'll add?

[gamerbearmira]

Mama Isa

I was rereading the first few chapters of Mama Isa on AO3, and it really made me think about the way both Isabella and Alma view themselves and their actions, they both do things "for their family" Isabella takes her kids and leaves so they wouldn't be mistreated, and Alma considers her actions of pressuring the family and serving the community as ensuring that the miracle that protects them stays strong, they are both doing extreme things in order to protect their loved ones, the big difference is Alma didn't realize she was going overboard and actually hurting her family, while Isabella is very much aware of how hard leaving the Encanto was on the others and knows her actions, even if they were necessary, were extreme. It's really interesting to compare the two in this AU, I'd love to see a confrontation between just the two of them, where these similar motivations but different ideas and actions really clash, I would imagine it would go similarly to the argument Abuela had with Agustin in canon, "you need to come home Isabella, think of the family!" "I am! That's exactly why I took them and left! I was thinking of them and their happiness!"

YOU REREAD…I’M SOBBING…THANK YOU???? 😭

Anyway yes. Both definitely are extreme. But like you said, Isabela is fully aware. That’s actually why she said that if they really wanted to, they could stay (of course, Isabela still would’ve taken up the raising them role). She knows how much it can and will affect them, and that’s why she tries to be the best moral support, even years after the fact.

Alma actually does find out where they went. She has gone to them on three separate occasions, and each time it basically turned into a screaming match, all of which Isabela won. Alma believes she knows better, and that what she’s doing is right. She first tries to convince Isabela (and probably herself, let’s be real) that if they come home, it will be way better than the life that Isabela (and Dolores) has worked so hard to build for them.

—————

“Alma, you need to go home,” Isabela said, a cactus popping up as she seethed at Alma. Why she had come back, again, was baffling.

“Isabela, you need to come home. Your family misses you, you can’t keep doing this!” Alma pleaded, though her patience was wearing then. Isabela whipped around, her eyes boring into Alma.

“Doing what? Keeping my family safe? My actual family? Because as far as I’m concerned, they,” Isabela gestured to Casita, where she knew the rest of the family had been called to by Dolores, and probably Mariano. “Are my only family. You are no family of mine. The only abuela I have is Abuela Guzmán.”

Alma clenched her jaw, her eyes widening. This wasn’t the first time Isabela had argued with her, had done this whole thing. And it wouldn’t be the last, not until she got the magic and her family back. “Isabela, this whole life you’ve made up? It isn’t real! None of this is good for you, you are poisoning them-“

“Poisoning them? Seriously? You are the one who poisoned our minds for years. Because of my decision to take my family and leave. And this “life” is not made up! It is fpvery real, and whether you accept it or not, I’m not leaving, you aren’t taking anyone from me!” Isabela yelled, stomping her foot. T more cacti sprouted and tangled vines appeared. Townspeople we’re gathering, looking upon Alma with distaste, whispering about her.

“You need to come home, Isabela, think of the family!” Alma yelled back. She had to make Isabela see. See that she needed to come home.

“I am! That’s exactly why I took them and left! I was think of them and their happiness!” Isabela said, getting in Alma’ face. “Unlike you, I put my family before a stupid candle!”

—————

Oop 🤕 the beef is REAL

Random art lol

[literaila]

Hello I have been following you for a while now but am not really an anime person and so haven't been reading your recent fics with the little dude (?)

It is extra extra funny to see your anons arguing when I cannot begin to tell who is actually right, who is wrong, and who is jokingly presenting themselves as being on the opposite side to prove a point.

I hope you are enjoying the experience as well :)

i feel you! i wish anime hadn’t taken me over

let me provide the chat with a little context because i’m right: kenny (kenjaku) is a brain thing that can be put into bodies to take them over, okay? (hes also evil but that’s not currently relevant) and in jjk current events he takes over the body of the main characters mother (mama itadori) and gives birth to him—thus making kenjaku the mc’s mother. i dunno if he was actually originally a man or not but

anyway all that matters is that whatever anon was saying is indeed not canon. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

this is giving my brain the same buzz as fighting with people on twitter back in 2019 did

[sserawrld]

æspa’s reaction if you just broke up with your s/o female 5th member of aespa!yn

pairings: there’s no pairings in this

before you read: this is my first head canon, sorry if it’s not really accurate or really bad lol

카리나 ★ jimin ;; you were crying in your room and since you share it with karina she heard it, even tho you were trying to be the most discreet possible she comes to your bed and ask you why are you crying and you tell her everything since she’s the leader and you can trust her. she listen to every word you say then, she goes out of the room to take ice cream and her mac book and you two watch a movie together. you fall asleep and she goes back to her bed. the next day you wake up and see that you’re alone in the room, you look in the dorm and nobody is here. you look at your phone and you see that karina send you a text this morning saying “we are out for work, i told manager-nim that you were sick!! take care today <3”. you smile at this message and go back to sleep.

에리 ★ giselle ;; you and aeri always gossip together in her room but this time you didn’t came, she was worried that you forgot y’all’s “gossip night” she knocked on the door and you didn’t respond, she entered the room ; “y/n! did you forget—” and then she saw you crying on the floor, she run at you and asked you whats happening. you told her what happened and she decided to take your phone to send messages to your ex, she knew your password, you gave it to her and she gave you her password. she send them messages and told them they were shit and they didn’t deserve you (she talked like it was you who was sending the messages) and you couldn’t help but laugh at her reactions to his responses. she saw you laughing and laughed with you, and she blocked him after winning the argument. “i didn’t forgot our gossip night, but this time we’re going to do it in your room, y/n” she said while going in her own room to take her ipad and phone. you two talked until late (winter ning and karina were out for practice) and she ended up sleeping in your room.

민정 ★ winter ;; you and minjeong were in the living room, you and your s/o were arguing on message (bc this bitch can even tell you that in front of you) and you looked so upset, minjeong noticed your upset face and laughed and joked to you “did you loose another project sekai song?” but you looked at her with the same upset expression, she understood that you were really upset and asked you what’s going on. you told her everything, and she was also upset because your s/o don’t have the balls to do that in front of you, she decided to stay calm but you knew she was really upset about it. she just say that you have to block them and that they were bullshit anyways. you were a little bit upset she didn’t react more but the thing is that she was preparing something. before going to sleep minjeong called the four girls to go to that person group’s dorm to break eggs on their door, yes that was childish but it was for you so they didn’t care about it. but that wasn’t all , she decided to create fake account to send them messages on his personal number and to scare him. you didn’t knew a thing since minjeong has make sure you couldn’t know about this night. you were surprised when you two groups were together in an even (ex: mama,mma or even just mubank) they apologized and looked like they were scared of minjeong.

*project sekai is a rhythm game

이즈호 ★ ningning ;; ningning was showing you selca to post on her instagram like always, but she saw you were kinda off. she asked you what’s going on and you just bursted out crying. she hugged you and asked you if she did anything wrong, you told her everything and she looked upset asf, “i knew they weren’t for you, you’re too perfect for them!” she was saying “oh, wait until i see them at inkigayo, i will have a little conversation with them..” she was so angry and them but also at you, for not trusting you and for crying for a person like s/o ! “you’re to naive!! i told you they weren’t right.” she told you. you were kind of upset too cause you wasted your time for a person like them. “let’s go eat dinner in a good restaurant, i will pay everything, not like that s/o..” you laugh at her words and she takes you out for dinner, you too go out for a walk, ning and you does some selca, you too goes to photo booth and other things, this was one of your best nights!

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

YOU HAVE SUMMONED ME honestly I was worried that this was super late but then I saw the time stamp on your post and I was like 😀 tis still shenanigan time!! HALEY!!! aka BITEWING!!!! sweet angel baby puppy love of my life. she’s adorable. she only has three legs! when dick rescued her from getting abused by some random jerks in the street she BIT HIM hard enough that he needed STITCHES. and he said “oh i’m gonna take her to the pound tomorrow” and babs and tim were like 👀 uh huh, sure you are dick… and next thing you know we see he’s got toys for her and a bed and a bowl with her name on it. her name was voted on by readers and is a nod to haly's circus! (which writers occasionally forget that dick owns now, but that’s a whole other tangent) she is a tiny menace and I love her! just in canon we’ve seen her try to play with/tear up important papers, she ate dick’s tv remote and tore up his couch, and she has daydreams about fighting crime as bitewing 🩵 she very much strikes me as an ankle biting menace while she’s still a puppy, and I feel like lucky would literally have to scruff her to pull her away from a fight… which honestly also feels right for kate and dick in some cases 😂

This is amazing I am sobbing I am weeping Kate and Dick with their disabled doggos

(Also Dick and Clint lowkey soulmate vibes???)

I was imagining Kate losing Lucky at a dog park (full disclosure I have no idea how dog parks work, maybe just a regular park?) and she's getting pizza to lure Lucky (and potentially also Jeff???) back to her, she's not super worried, she's chatting to Cute Tall Guy who is ALSO missing his dog. He's not getting pizza for doggo, just for him. Anyway SUDDENLY A RUCKUS and Kate and Tall Guy hear Barking! And individually they are thinking, well, my dog might have just started a gang war

again

This is fine

It turns out puppo Haley has found a stray cat mama with a new litter of kittens and has planted herself between the cat and some other dogs who are clearly VERY poorly behaved, but she is a hero and that's! what! heroes! do! However Haley is a pup and also missing a leg she could use some backup basically, and Lucky, who has never met a disaster he doesn't love, decides to ALSO plant himself between the mean dogs (who are lowkey trying to bully Haley) and Haley and the cats. Jeff might be there but mostly for the Drama bc he's a messy bench like that

Anyway Dick and Kate proceed to RIP INTO the other dog owners and then look at each other askance like wtf are we supposed to do with the cat?!?!?! Who has decided Haley is just a big dumb kitten she lost and has adopted her (very bruce-coded of the cat tbh). And kittens?!?! One of them is orange and has something going on with an eye and Kate is like oh NO this kitten is a cat Lucky I can't believe I have at least one cat now

(clint: you know you don't have t--

Kate: who am I to argue with the cat distribution system)

Dick is frantically calling up his favorite animal expert (it's Damian) about how to safely move mama and kittens? And where? Vet??!?!? Animal shelter?!?!?! Tim?!?!

To be fair Dick could have probably figured it out if he was alone but Kate is there and his brain makes dialup noises when he looks at her for too long yes he's WEAK leave him alone

At some point Kate winds up sitting on the ground and Haley flops into her lap and passes out because it's been a big day for a puppy and Lucky and Jeff give Kate the BIGGEST SADDEST BABY EYES because that's their spot?? Why is this interloper hogging the Pizza Girl? Lucky turns Sad Dog Eye on Dick like Dick is just going to remove his darling puppy from her nap spot? Sir. Please be serious.

Idk where i was going with this but also Lucky the hardened established dog hero and Haley his young impetuous sidekick dog, Jeff finding missions for them working out of Batcow's barn. BITEWING!!! I am dead. Pandemonium is their business.

lol for some reason Haley is giving me cat vibes a little. Lucky is like, this is Pizza Girl. Protecting Pizza Girl is my sworn duty. And Haley is like I am BITEWING. This is my human sidekick, Nightwing.

(Also for some reason I'm lowkey vibing Clint and Babs???? For this???? I think they are besties regardless but just seeing them watching their favo disaster birds getting parent trapped by their DOGS like "are you seeing this? I'm not the only one seeing this right????")

ANyway maybe Clint has custody of Lucky so Kate and Jeff are moping hanging out at a park (Jeff is an extrovert and he is LONELY he wants FRIENDS) and one of two things happens:

Haley bolts and Dick is chasing after her and hears someone go "Don't you BARK at him, he didn't do anything! He just wants to be friends!" which makes Dick have the simultaneous thoughts of "oh no what did my dog do" and "how DARE you yell at my dog!!"

he rounds the corner and sees Haley looking as chagrined as a chaos pup can look before scootching closer to the other dog and licking its...nose. Snout?

"That's a shark," Dick says. The shark in question is now dragging out what appears to be a rotisserie chicken and is sharing it with Haley.

"What?" Kate says. "No, he's just a rare breed of dog. The, uh. The Chilean Hairless....land...shark."

OR Haley is Not Afraid! She decided she and Dick were playing fetch with one of his escrima sticks and she took OFF so now Dick is yelling for her hoping she comes back with the same stick she left with.

So Dick is hollering for her and Kate answers back "Haley is over here! Uhh assuming Haley is a dog and not a child, or a bird, or a lizard of some kind?"

And that's when Dick sees his dog playing with his escrima stick with a shark??? who is leaving dents in his weapon????

Kate isn't even looking at Dick when she's like "hey, do you come here often? Jeff has been really lonely and she's the first dog we've met that isn't terrified of him, so that's pretty cool, anyway hi my name is Kate...." and THEN she looks up (and up, and up) at Dick and is like. oh my god. is this why Gwen said we should try this park today??? Because of beautiful dog dad man?

either way Jeff REFUSES to leave Haley which means Dick and Kate have to spend most of the day together. At some point MODOK tries to steal Jeff back and Haley plants herself in front of Jeff and growls at MODOK and she's actually pretty intimidating but it's still the cutest thing ever. Jeff and Haley are ride-or-dies, like Jeff will be mad at Dick when Haley has to go to the vet.

[drowningmaiden]

Hi! just want to ask how do u deal with the antis. You love SASUSAKU i want to know how u manage them. ive been avoiding twitter one cause I've been harassed for liking ss by those who likes Sasuke and naruto I mean ship them. n I don't want to argue people in the internet 🥺 sorry english is not my native one.

I'm telling you hun, go to your local witch, ask for guidance that those who shamefully harassed you just for liking a fictional character will have their karma served. And KARMA is a Queen. She's a bitch, I tell you. And they/he/she will get what they/he/she deserve/s.😉

And never apologize for not fluently speaking or writing English, it's just a language hun. Also, I feel your experience. Way back, I think that was 2019. Gosh I'm old, anyway, I commented that I love SS and this whatever its name, yes I am using its cause I still feel disgusted until now, it told me that I am a "homophobic slut" cause sasunaru is the real "canon". Can you feel my ewwww, like ewww. As if! Gosh, I need holy water from my gay babes, bless them, they know how to calm me.

Hugs you and ignore them darling. They're not worth it. After all, you and I are gorgeous. Mama Taylor would agree.🧘

[doctorstethoscope]

The Right Chapter 22 || Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

helloooooo besties and happy Saturday! 

Read previous chapters of this fic here! 

contains: canon-typical descriptions of violence and death

wordcount: 1.9k 

You're passing the diamond on your chain between your fingers anxiously a few days later as you and Spencer pour over a map on the jet. You’re headed to Colorado after a family annihilator had struck twice in the same small Denver suburb. The whole town was on alert, and you needed to solve this one fast before the whole state devolved into hysteria. Hotch decided on the jet to send you, Reid and JJ to the precinct-- you and Reid will keep working on the geographic profile, and JJ will coordinate local law enforcement. He, Morgan and Emily are headed to the neighborhood to see if any of the locals had noticed anything off. 

“There has to be a connection to this specific suburb. Why come ten miles outside of Denver when the city, or even a closer suburb, would be a more target-rich environment?” You floated an idea past Spencer, who nodded in agreement. 

“You think he sought out these families in particular?” He asked, turning his attention to the pictures on the whiteboard. 

“Not necessarily. Garcia’s still looking for a connection between the families, but so far she hasn’t found one. I think these two families were practice for something worse, or for a family that matters more to him.” You conclude, hoping more than ever that you had profiled wrong. 

“If that’s the case, our presence here might trigger the unsub to escalate,” he points out with a grimace. 

“Or, hopefully, it will send him into hiding.” 

“We’ll never find him if he does that.” 

“We’re gonna have to.” You sigh, pulling your attention back towards the map. You pour over it, certain that if you look just a little closer, the answer will jump out at you, but it doesn’t. 

Geographic profiles are always helpful, and you and Spencer were great at them, but they rarely solved cases on their own. The reality of the situation is that without any info on the unsub or the connection between the victims, you were essentially trying to create something out of nothing. You push your chair out from the table, deciding to give your mind and your eyes a break, when your phone starts to ring. It’s Garcia.

“Oh, you’re just my favorite person.” You said into the phone by way of greeting, hoping that she’s going to present you with the missing piece that will make all of these seemingly unrelated pieces of information make sense together.

“Careful, peach! There’s someone else on the line who might object to that,” Garcia warns you. 

“What do you have for us, Penelope?” Aaron asks.

“So, the Sutton and Mack families have more in common than we thought-- not so much socioeconomically, but their kids were both enrolled at the local high school, although different ages, and the moms were on the PTA together.” 

“Were they friends? The kids, or the moms for that matter?” You ask immediately. 

“It doesn’t really look like it, but I’m going to keep digging,” she tells you. 

“And no connection between the fathers?” Hotch asks.

“Nope, Mr. Sutton was an attorney and Mr. Mack was a cab driver. Doesn’t seem like they ever would have met.” She tells you both. 

“Garcia, do me a favor and make sure Mr. Sutton wasn’t in Mr. Mack’s cab within the last month or so. Let us know when you have more.”

“Oh, sir, before you both go, there’s one more thing.” She blurts out before Aaron can hang up the phone.  “It’s about Josh.” 

You take a sharp breath in, and Spencer’s in tune to you immediately, his head jerking up from the maps, looking you over to make sure you’re okay. 

“What is it?” Hotch asks, sounding every bit as tense as you feel. 

“Josh was arrested this morning. Busted for possession during a traffic stop,” She tells you and you let out a sigh of relief. 

“That’s… that’s great news.” You say.

“I thought you’d both like to know.” Garcia tells you.

“Anything else?” Hotch asks, and you're perplexed by his lack of response to such a good update. 

“No, that’s all for now. I’ll call you back as soon as I have more on the case.” She says, and the line clicks.

“What was that about?” Spencer asks, bringing you back to reality, and you share the info from Garcia about the victims. You can tell that he knows that there’s more, but he doesn’t press and you don’t offer. 

“If both the kids and the moms knew each other, we could be looking at a bullied kid or a woman scorned.” You theorize. 

“A woman wouldn’t kill the kids, at least not a mother. And if the woman wasn’t from the PTA, why target these moms in particular?” Spencer argues, and you agree. 

“Could be a man, too. Maybe he’s jealous that he doesn’t have the picture-perfect family he’s destroying.”

‘That’s more likely. Although with nothing connecting two husbands, we’ll have a hard time profiling a man if that’s the case.”

“Okay, so for now we focus on the kids until we find something that pulls us another way. You want to take the Macks and I’ll work on the Suttons?” 

“Will do.”    

You work in silence for a couple more hours until Hotch, Morgan and Emily return. 

“Anything helpful?” JJ asks, coming into the room behind them. 

“The moms were friendly, but not necessarily friends. The kids mostly hung out in separate social circles, it seems.” Morgan informs you all. 

“Any obvious power imbalances between the kids groups, or bullying?” You asked. 

“None that any of the kids we interviewed brought up.” Emily tells you. 

“None of the moms mentioned it either-- and they’d be more likely to bring it up than the kids would.” Aaron tells you. 

“So we’ve got a whole lot of nothing.” JJ concludes, and you sigh. 

You all continue to work for a few more hours-- putting together profiles of each of the members of the families that ultimately bring you no closer to finding the unsub. 

“We’ll be back here first thing tomorrow morning-- there’s nothing else we can do tonight.” Hotch concludes as he pins the last index card to the cork board. “Let’s head to the hotel and get some rest.” 

Despite the exhaustion that has soaked its way deep into your bones, you and the rest of the team pull yourselves out of your chairs and towards the SUVs. You nearly sink into the leather, and if he wasn’t such a stark professional, you might have asked him to carry you up to your hotel room.  He did, however, offer you a very gentlemanly hand to help you out of the car, and wrap his arm around your waist as the two of you trudged your way into the elevator and down the hall towards your room. You collapse onto the mattress as soon as you make it through the door, and Aaron chuckles at you, taking a moment to brush his teeth and change. When he settles on top of the covers next to you, you speak up, although hadn’t really intended to do so.

“Aaron, can I ask you something?” 

“You can ask me anything, my love,” Aaron mumbles like it’s the easiest thing in the world as he leans over to set the hotel alarm clock that sits on the bedside table. 

“When Garcia told us that Josh was arrested… you didn’t seem happy.” You said, decidedly not a question. He answers you anyway, shifting towards you to look you in the eye before he speaks up. 

“I’m sorry honey. I’m relieved, of course I am. I was just focused on the case this morning. Maybe I haven’t fully processed it yet,” he confesses. “But of course I’m happy for you. I would have been happier to arrest him myself, but this is just as well.” He tells you with a rueful smirk. 

He’s lying, and you can see it in his face. Maybe lying is a strong word, but there is definitely more to it than he’s telling you. “You’re sure? There’s nothing else that’s bothering you?” You pushed, but he shook his head, looking down at his lap.

“I’m sure, doll. I really am happy. We’ll take Jack out when we get home to celebrate.” He tells you, leaning over to kiss your temple. 

“Maybe a bike ride and some ice cream? I haven’t been out on the bike with him since he got his training wheels off.” You suggested. 

“Sounds perfect,” he tells you, reaching to kiss you again and moving to wrap his arms around you, which you dodged. 

“Get the bed nice and toasty for me while I change,” you smirked, rolling off the mattress and heading towards your suitcase for some pajamas.

You were back at the police station before the sun rose the next morning, pouring over the transcripts of what had come in from the tip line the night before in the hopes that you might find something useful. Your desk looked the same way it used to when you were studying for exams in the academy-- papers and highlighters scattered everywhere, color coordinated page flags littering all of your documents. 

“Cupcake, if I didn’t know any better, I might think you were the serial killer,” Morgan comments with a smirk, setting a hot cup of coffee in a relatively-unoccupied patch of desk. 

“Very funny, Derek.” you rolled your eyes. “I’m only letting you live because you brought me coffee. And because I’m too tired to kick you,” you told him.

“Do you want any help?” He offers, and you smile, but shake your head at him. 

“No, thanks. I’ve got a pretty strict organizational system going on over here, if you hadn’t noticed,” you chuckle. “But you can come to the medical examiner’s office with me in an hour or so?” 

“It’s a date, mama.” He confirms, rapping his knuckles against your desk before going back to his own workspace. You flip through a few more pages, leaving scribbled notes and wayward highlighter in the margins, before you notice something and call Garcia. 

“Good morning, peach! What can I do you for?” Garcia asks in her usual cheery tone, clearly far ahead of you in terms of cups of coffee consumed. 

“Morning,” you say to her. “Listen, something came in through the tip line last night, and it’s probably nothing, but I just have this feeling…” 

“Lay it on me,” she tells you encouragingly. 

“So, Mark Vexper is a long-term sub at the high school where all of the kids went. He didn’t go to work the day after both of the murders. He had a scheduled personal day the first day, and he called in sick the second. Like I said, probably just a coincidence--” 

“No stone left unturned, kitten! I’m on it. Buzz you when I have more.” She says, hanging up unceremoniously.

“Good catch,” Hotch says from behind you, and you startle. 

“It’s probably just a coincidence,” you brush the compliment off. 

“Maybe, but we won’t know until we look into it,” he tells you. “You feeling okay?” He asks. 

“I just really want to catch this guy and get home to our boy.” You tell him, and his heart warms. Looking around surreptitiously, he drops a quick kiss to the crown of your head. 

“Me, too, angel. We’ll get him.” He tells you. 

An unexplainable chill runs up your spine, and you have a strange feeling that Aaron’s not talking about this unsub.

tagging:  @romanogersendgame @wanniiieeee      @zheezs14      @greeneyedblondie44 @angelic-kisses13  @baumarvel @ssamorganhotchner  @ijustwannaread2k19    @rexit-mo @shmaptainhotchnersmain @qtip-blog @averyhotchner  @the-modernmary @itsmytimetoodream @choppa-style @hotforhotchner11 @infinite-tides @isthatme-thatsme @g-l-pierce @bakugouswh0r3 @ssahotchie @sleepyreaderreads

[boldlyvoid]

Hypothetically | Chapter 16-20

summary: Reader and Spencer were friends in kindergarten, she watched him grow up and explore the world while she was still trying to catch up to him. now that they work together, they fall in love incredibly fast.

friends to lovers, case of the week style story

A/N: Set between seasons 4 and 6, not following canon. all original crimes based on real-life stories.

Warnings 18+: Murderers, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Blood, Guns, mentions of autopsy, Fluff, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, bed-sharing, Riding, Unprotected Sex, Virgin Reader, Case of the Week, original crimes, Food mention, Smut, Oral Sex, Light BDSM, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Talk, obgyn appointments and info, Home Invasion, Past Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Emotional Manipulation, Grooming, Pedophilia mention, non-con oral (male receiving), Pregnant Sex, Daddy Kink, Breeding Kink, Homophobia, conversion therapy

Word Count: 10k

chapter 16

It was 7 am when they got the call. Y/N had barely gotten any sleep that night, Spencer was adamant that laying on the left side helps maximize blood flow. Meaning she faced the wall all night with him happily cuddled into her back. She hated it.

Between peeing 100 times a day and the constant heartburn, she couldn’t really pick the worst part about creating a human.

It fuckin’ sucked and no one thought to warn her.

She dragged herself out of bed, trying her best to do her morning routine with only one eye open. Spencer, on the other hand, seemed to bounce out of bed like he slept 12 hours. Dancing around the kitchen as he poured his coffee and took a smoothie out of the fridge for Y/N.

He fed the cat, changed the litter and even took out the garbage by the time she pulled herself from the bathroom and to her closet.

Her jeans didn’t fit, she let herself take a minute to cry out of frustration in the closet before she looked for anything presentable. The only pants she could get into were a pair of leggings, and at that point, she didn’t care anymore. She was probably going to stay back with Penelope anyway.

She threw on an FBI sweater to hide her bump from the rest of her co-workers, grabbed the rest of her shit and followed Spencer to the car. Getting in the passenger seat and immediately closing her eyes again.

“Wake me up when we’re at Quantico,” she told him. Leaning against the window, ignoring the world.

Maternity parking was the only bonus, she only had to walk 4 feet from her car to the elevator. She felt lazy, but she was allowed to.

“Hopefully,” Spencer finally spoke to her as they entered the elevator. “At the end of this week, your energy should return as your placenta is done developing. You’re the most tired right now because your organs are working 3 times harder than they’re used to.”

“I’m tired because I had nothing to cuddle with all night, but thanks for the insight,” she tried her best to be cheery.

The door dinged, opening to the rest of the team standing in the entryway. “What’s up?” Y/N asked them.

“Hotch got a call, we’ve got a weird one coming in, he’s in his office talking to someone right now,” Morgan said. He looked just as tired as Y/N.

“Are we going in?” She asked, walking past them and towards the bullpen.

She rushed through the room and waddled up the stairs, searching for a chair before she actually passed out. Everyone followed her soon after, patting her back as they walked around the table to their seats.

“Over the past few months 6 feet have washed up on different beaches along the coast of Maine,” Penelope started explaining the case while Hotch was still on the phone in his office.

“6 feet belonging to 6 different people, all incredibly hard to identify. Interpol, Europol, the RCMP and the FBI have all been in communication with each other as no one knows where the feet washed in from. International Water laws prohibit just one of us from taking jurisdiction until we identify the nationality of the victims.”

“How are we going to Identify the feet?” Prentiss asked.

“We’re currently running the DNA against missing persons along the east coast as well as anyone who recently travelled to North America by boat, so far we don’t have any matches. We do know all 6 feet are white so hopefully, hopefully,” Garcia repeated for extra magic help, “this isn’t a refugee transport gone wrong.”

“We’ve been seeing an increase of boating accidents from Syrian refugees recently,” Spencer added. “The wars in the middle east are continuing to push people from their homes in mass numbers, meaning a lot of the boats are overpacked and capsize mid extraction.”

“So we’re probably looking at someone from North America who is using their own boat to sail out and release victims,” Y/N added. “Do we have the ME reports on the 6 feet?”

“Oh, yeah,” Garcia said, flipping through papers and handing them to her.

She read it over carefully, trying to see through her new blurred vision. Another wonderful pregnancy symptom. “Normally when feet wash up on shore, they’re in shoes. If a body is lost in a boating accident or drowning, the rubber soles will always want to float to the surface. When a body is decaying in water long enough the bones will separate, and when the ankle bone goes, the feet float to the surface,” Y/N explained.

“How do you just know that?” Rossi asked.

“In Nevada, we had a lot of drownings in a man-made lake, people would get stuck at the bottom on tree roots. And every year a few feet would wash up,” she added. “I only explained that because it says in the ME report that the feet were cut with a sharp blade, all clean cuts with no shoes or socks. So someone is cutting these bodies up and bringing them out to sea, probably to use as bait for a big catch.”

“It’s weird to me that the feet are the only parts washing up?” JJ’s face was absolutely puzzled as she flipped through the files.

“Not really,” Y/N argued, “I’m more concerned with why he’d even cut the feet, to begin with. With most shark attacks they go for full limbs, if I was the unsub and I was cutting the body up for bait, I wouldn’t make the pieces so small. There isn’t enough blood or flesh on feet to entice a large fish or shark to take it.”

Rossi was tapping his fingers against the table, “Do you think he wants us to find the feet?”

“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t look good.”

Then, Hotch finally walked in. “Which 3 of you want to travel to Maine to take a look at all the findings?” Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi raised their hands, “alright, meet me on the runway in 20. The rest of you, find a way to identify the feet.”

—

She sat at her desk most of the morning, munching on a bag of animal crackers to keep her nausea at bay. JJ brought her a cold ginger ale around 11, rubbing her back for a bit while she flipped through files.

She had a doctor’s appointment during lunch that day, so she headed downtown to give blood in the hour she was permitted. Knowing that she could be late and no one would really care.

She waited in Dr. Korrapati’s room patiently, looking at her arm as she rested it on the table. Her veins were more prominent now than they had ever been in her life. JJ insured her that they would go back down but it did make her a little self-conscious.

“Hey mama,” Dr. Korrapati cheered as she walked into the room. “How are we feeling?”

“Good, tired but good.”

“Work kicking your butt?” She asked as she prepped her arm for the blood draw. “Or just the baby?”

“Having a hard time finding a comfortable sleeping position, I’m probably going to get one of those long pillow things to help,” she rambled to take her mind off what was going on with her arm.

For someone who looked at dead bodies as her job, seeing her own blood freaked her out. Dr. Korrapati noticed she was a little stressed, “how about when I’m done here we take a look at your little person?”

That piqued her interest, she sat completely still and looked away as the nicest doctor she could’ve asked for, got the test over and done with, in record-breaking time.

“Do you have any other symptoms that are bothering you?” She asked as she wrote the exact tests down in her paperwork.

“Yeah,” she struggled with the sleeve of her shirt as she tucked her arm back in. “The nausea is driving me nuts, I’m living on animal crackers and ginger ale.”

“If you eat small meals every few hours it should settle it out,” she explained. “But if it is really bothering you we can give you some anti-nausea medication.”

“I tried that, everyone keeps bringing me snacks and trying to take care of me but I don’t want anything because I’m so tired,” she ranted as she climbed onto the exam table.

“Have you tried sleeping on the other side of the bed?” She asked.

“no, why?”

Dr. Korrapati laughed, “you sleep on the left side of the bed right?”

“Yeah?” She questioned, wondering how an OB could profile so well.

“So I'm assuming your smart and overprotective boyfriend has advised you to lay on your left side like he told JJ?” She smiled. “And because you sleep on the left side of the bed already, that means you’re not cuddled into him. He’s the big spoon now and you hate it.”

It was like a lightbulb went off in her head, “oh my god?”

They laughed at the fact it was so obvious and she never clued in. “It happens all the time, you’re so in a routine that you don’t realize you can just switch sides and it’ll work.”

“You’re so smart!”

“Ready to hear and see this baby of yours?” She asked, waiting for Y/N to raise her shirt and lower her leggings to expose her lower stomach.

“Can we?”

“Yep,” she nodded, “you’re in week 9, so you’re exiting the embryo stage and moving towards the fetal stage. We’ll be able to see the fetus and hear the heartbeat.”

“Can I record it for Spencer?” She asked, not wanting him to miss it.

“I’ll do you one better and put it on a disk for you.”

Just like that, she was smothering her stomach in warm jelly. Spreading it around with the ultrasound wand before she began to search for them. Pressing in slightly on her right side, she heard her own heartbeat whooshing. The closer she got to the centre, the more they heard the second.

Her baby’s heartbeat was strong. She saw them on the monitor, they had changed from being a jellybean to actually looking like a person. 4 strong limbs were stretching and moving, growing faster than she thought possible.

“That’s insane?” She was in such awe of it, “when will I feel the kicking and stuff?”

“In a few more months, they’re only the size of a green olive. You’ll probably feel it around Christmas?” She guessed. “You’ll be 16 weeks around then.”

“Wow okay,” she was just astounded by the magic of growing a child, she felt like absolute shit but it all made sense at that moment. In just a week, muscles and limbs formed and her baby grew the ability to self-soothe in the womb. Growing 10 fingers and toes that they already knew how to put in their mouth.

She cleaned the gel off Y/N’s stomach and began exporting the files for her. “So, I will call you when the results are in, and I can just email you guys a copy and go over it with you on the phone when you’re free? I know your job is unpredictable?”

“That would be perfect, thank you. We’re working on an international case right now so for all I know I’ll be in Ireland next week,” She laughed.

“Of course, take care of yourself make sure you’re taking all the vitamins and having 8 cups of clear fluids a day, you have to stay hydrated.” Dr. Korrapati handed her the disk in a sleeve as well as her contact card.

“Yes ma’am, I can’t wait to hear from you,” she smiled before leaving the office.

—

Y/N walked back into the BAU around 1:15, wandering down the hall to Penelope’s office to get a rundown of what she missed.

Spencer and JJ had the same idea, all turning towards the door as Y/N walked in, “hey.”

“How was it?” Spencer asked softly, beckoning her to his lap.

She sat down on him softly, “I got a DVD copy of the ultrasound.” She waved the disk around. “But, we can’t watch it until I get a rundown on what we know so far.”

“I hate how professional you are sometimes,” Penelope huffed. “Luckily, it is very important.”

“We matched a tattoo on one of the feet to a missing person’s case in Nova Scotia. So we focused our efforts on missing person’s cases who fit the same features and backgrounds as her,” JJ explained.

“Okay cool, who was she?”

“Andrea Carlton, 18. She was hitchhiking, apparently wanting to run away to meet her boyfriend in Newfoundland. I traced her transactions before she disappeared and it looks like she bought a ferry ticket, however, there are no reports of her ever getting on it,” Penelope added. “So I’ve looked into other people from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, who went missing hitchhiking or after booking a ferry ticket.”

“Smart, how many matches did we get?”

“5,” She laughed.

“You’re kidding?”

They all shook their heads, “nope. And we were able to match all the feet to them.”

Y/N handed the ultrasound video over to Penelope. “Your reward.”

She snatched it from her hands so fast, taking it out of the packaging and shoving it in her CD port. Loading the file within seconds.

She watched Spencer’s face the whole time. Already having seen the footage herself, knowing the real show would be his reaction.

He was so mesmerized, his eyes blown up in awe as tears welled. His grip on her leg was more intense, he was squeezing along to the beat of the baby’s heart, absentmindedly. He shook his head in disbelief, that was his baby in there.

The phone rang before they could really talk about it, Hotch requesting the team hop on a plane and meet them in Nova Scotia. The RCMP and the FBI have taken sole jurisdiction over the case.

Y/N was able to convince him that it would be best if they get some sleep before they go. He agreed, telling them he expected to see them in Canada at 10 am sharp.

“Before we go home tonight can you cross-reference freelance charter boats or fishermen in the area the day each victim missed a ferry? Someone desperate to get a ride might be willing to hop in a boat with anyone going where they are,” Y/N suggested to Garcia.

“I’ll run it in the background, you two go home and get some rest so my god-baby can get big and strong!” She hugged her lightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Y/N and Spencer didn’t need to be told twice, practically running to their car. She let out the deepest sigh ever once she had her seatbelt on, so excited to go home.

Spencer drove them home, getting used to it as she got more pregnant. Soon she’d be too big to drive at all let alone stay awake the whole time.

“How are you feeling?” Spencer asked as they cleared the security check.

“Good, Dr. Korrapati is going to email us the results when they’re in and go over them with us on the phone. I told her we’d probably end up going out of the country soon,” Y/N recalled the day.

“The ultrasound was so cool,” he gushed.

“Yeah,” She smiled. Reaching to hold his hand on the centre console. “She also suggested we switch sides of the bed so that we can still cuddle while I’m on my left side.”

“She’s a genius.”

“that’s what I said!” She laughed, “literally how dumb are we?”

“187 till I become a dad and then I’m an idiot,” he smiled back at her quickly. “I’m glad you had a good day. Now we can go eat and get a full night’s rest.”

She let out another deep breath, “I can’t wait to cuddle.”

—

Garcia was waiting for them at the elevator the next morning. “Patrick Timmins.”

“Who?” Y/N asked, fully awake and ready to go, just confused by the ambush.

“I ran the perimeters that you asked for and I found a freelance fisherman slash charter service run by a guy named Patrick Timmins,” Garcia explained. “The townspeople call him Patty Tims, they think he’s fine and lovely according to his Yelp page but his criminal record tells a different story.”

“Really? I thought that was such a long shot!” Y/N was cheery from the extra sleep she got with Dr. Korrapati’s advice.

“The plane is ready when you guys are, I have all the updated info in this as well as some snacks for the plane,” she handed Spencer a cloth bag.

“What would I do without you? My pretty penny,” she kissed her friend on the cheek.

“If it means I get some sugar from you, I’ll do anything,” Garcia flirted with her in the absence of Morgan. “Go get on your plane, I will see you when you return my loves.”

They landed in Nova Scotia around 10 am like Hotch had requested. Bypassing customs and driving directly to the RCMP headquarters. They needed to come up with a plan, they had no idea how to find a man who travels by boat and lives at sea.

“We could always send undercover’s out in the areas he’s picked up before, have them dress as hitchhikers, miss the ferries and wait and see who tries to pick you up. Everyone will have a team watching and police boats on standby?” Morgan was theorizing as Spencer, Y/N and JJ walked in.

“We have report’s that he’s in the bay, if we’re going to do this we need to do it now,” An RCMP officer she hadn’t met yet announced to the room. “Who here is comfortable posing as a vic?”

JJ raised her hand, “get me some dirty clothes and I can be ready in 5.”

They raided the lost and found, they filled a backpack with random things and tried their best to dirty her fingernails and hair. She looked like she had been travelling without a proper place to stay for a while.

They managed to hide a wire on her, prepping what she was going to say if she was in danger and they needed to move in. Hiding a gun and a knife in her socks in case she needed them later.

They drove her down to the bay dropping her off 1 kilometre away, letting her walk into town while they parked closer to watch with binoculars. They planned it for her to arrive as the ferry pulled out of the bay.

She ran down the dock, trying to catch the ferry. Putting on the best performance of: “fuck, I missed the boat!” That they had ever seen.

“She’s going to win an Oscar,” Morgan whispered in the back of the surveillance van, trying to make Y/N laugh.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” They heard over the wire, trying to identify the source of the voice. The man was standing on his boat, hanging over the edge to get JJ’s attention.

“I missed the ferry, do you know when it’ll be back?” She played dumb. “I promised my mom I’d be back tonight and now I won’t be.”

“I can give you a ride, for a price,” the man suggested. “Names, Patty Tims.”

Hotch turned around from the front seat and motioned for Y/N and Morgan to head out quietly without making a scene. Listening in their headsets as JJ replied. “How much?”

They hid around the corner of the ticket booth, watching as the undercover officers walked around the civilians.

“Just a simple photo, I like to put a face to the stories I run across. Come on up,” he motioned for her to get on the boat.

She walked closer to him, “I don’t know sir, I should probably wait for the ferry.” She smiled.

“No,” he ground his teeth together and clenched his jaw, reaching for her.

She grabbed his arm and flipped him, getting into the boat and pushing him to the ground. She cuffed him by the time Morgan and Y/N could board. “What the fuck is this?” He struggled in her grasp.

“You’re under arrest for the murder of 6 people,” JJ replied, about to tell him his rights.

“Only 6?” He laughed.

JJ shoved him into the floor harder, reading him his rights before lifting him to his feet and shoving him off the boat and into RCMP custody.

Y/N lifted her hand up to high five JJ, pulling her into a half hug as they walked back to the surveillance van.

She never had a sister before, JJ was probably the only woman in her life that she felt this close to. It was mostly to do with the fact she’s always been so wonderful to Spencer. She helped him feel loved before Y/N, and that was important to her.

“Can we search the boat? Or are we still waiting on the warrant?” Y/N just wanted to check with Hotch before she barged onto the boat. Not wanting to jeopardize what they’re allowed to enter into evidence.

“We got it, you can start looking,” Hotch said, handing her a pair of gloves and a handful of evidence bags.

JJ went with her. They walked in together, noticing that he wasn’t lying about wanting a photo to go with the story. Below the deck, the entire wall was filled with Polaroids of terrified people moments before their deaths.

They bagged them all into evidence, dreading having to put them all into the system and match them to missing person’s reports. Delivering the news that someone’s loved one was gone for good was never fun.

Telling 58 families that their loved one was dead was a nightmare.

chapter 17

She’s a little confused when she wakes up to the sound of geese honking. Rolling away from Spencer’s embrace and immediately being blinded by the sunlight in the room. She sat up in a small panic.

She had forgotten that they stayed the night at the new house.

The large windows in the bedroom faced the water. She could see the sun’s reflection on the lake as it stretched over the house from the east. It was absolutely stunning. She could get used to waking up early with a screaming baby if this was the view.

Then she remembered it was the day they got their test results, she bounced a little as she reached for her phone to check her messages.

“Morning bunny,” Spencer’s groggy morning voice startled her a little.

“Bunny?” She questioned, never hearing him call her any form of nickname before.

He reached out of her, wrapping his arms around her growing belly, resting his head in her lap. “Have you ever noticed you hop a little bit when you get excited?”

“Yeah, it’s called Asperger’s,” she smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair. “It’s honestly better than bugs bunny though, just don’t throw carrots at me okay?” She laughed to herself as she recalled the childhood trauma.

It was a little funny, looking back now.

“Never, you’re my bunny. I love my bunny.”

He was so soft in the mornings. Snuggling in against her skin as he slowly woke up. He stretched and yawned a bit, making the cutest little sounds as he did so.

She kept her fingers in his hair, twirling the ends every once and a while. Mostly running her nails along his scalp, soothing that big beautiful brain of his that she loved so much.

“We find out what the sex is today,” she reminded him.

He lifted up her shirt to expose her belly. Kissing the skin as she laid back against the pillows.

“What’s going on in there today?” She asked softly.

“They’re the size of a prune,” he mused. “speaking of, as you enter the fetus stage this week you’re going to get constipated.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, “thanks that’s exactly what I wanted to know!”

“Right now the fetal development is focusing primarily on the bones, tummy and teeth,” he explained with the largest smile on his face.

“There we go.”

He hovered over her, brushing the hair from her face so he could look at her, “You look so beautiful right now.”

He said that as if he wasn’t blocking the sun from her view, perfectly casting a halo glow around him. She placed her hand on his cheek, “I love you.”

He leaned in and kissed her, pressing his body softly against her’s. “I love you,” he whispered between kisses. Covering her face and neck with small pecks, making her laugh as he covered her body in kisses.

The phone rang on Spencer’s night table causing him to press his forehead against her hip, letting out a deep sigh. Y/N reached over and picked it up. “Doctor Spencer Reid’s phone,” she answered. “He can't come to the phone right now, can I take a message?”

“Funny,” Penelope replied.

“We have a case,” Morgan added.

“What time do we need to be on the plane by?” She asked.

“Uh, it’s 7:46 now, so you’ve got an hour, tops?” Penelope guessed, “why?”

“I said he was busy. I’ll see you later.” She hung up.

“You did not just do that?” He looked absolutely horrified, his whole face turning pink.

“They could either think you got some, or you could actually get some?” She teased. “We have an hour.”

—

“All 3 Vic’s had been strangled and raped before they were wrapped in plastic and released into the river,” Garcia explained to the team over the laptop as they travelled through the sky. “Washing away all of the unsub’s DNA, however, they did find carpet fragments under the victim’s finger-“

“Like the ’84 Oklahoma Child Murders,” Y/N cut her off.

“What?” Garcia asked.

“Oklahoma 1981 to 1984. Local black children between the age of approximately 6 and 17 were being abducted, raped and murdered. Their bodies were mostly discovered in wooded areas and along the edges of the river, never submerged. The BAU worked the case, only ever being able to solve the last 2 murders before the Oklahoma governor, I think, kicked you off the case, right? They cared more about the money going towards the investigation than the black children going missing,” She explained.

“Gideon and I tried,” Rossi said. Still very bothered by the ending. “We wanted to catch the guy, the last 2 murders were so different from the others and yet the local cops considered it the same guy. Much like this new unsub, he raped young men before strangling them and dropping them in the river. All the way down to the carpet fibres.”

“It ended up being a local man named Oscar Pope, they caught him dumping an older male victim at a police checkpoint. They matched carpet fibres at his house to the 2 rivers Vic’s, but none of the children,” Prentiss cut in. “This has to be a copycat right?”

“We don’t know that,” Y/N added. “The BAU was working the angle that a local boy who knew the majority of the victims was in on it. Um, Daryl Livingston, he was in foster care at the time. He was the 7th boy to go missing and then every one of his friends was found dead after that. However, his body was never found. They suspected that he formed a bond with his captor and offered to bring him, other boys, if he let him live.”

“Any chance that this unsub could be the same kid, using Pope’s tactic to get our attention back on him?” Morgan asked.

“I was about to say that too,” JJ cut in. “they might’ve even been a team back then as well. That would explain why the murders stopped when Pope was caught but they still never found that boy.”

“That’s possible. They concluded that the last victim Pope dropped into the river was a long-time, secret boyfriend of his who found out what he was doing to the children. His MO changed when he didn’t want people to tie the murders together,” Spencer provided the extra information. “Only backfiring when local cops patrolling the river heard a splash.”

“Garcia, can you see if any of the Vic’s have any relation, contact or even geographical coincidences with the original murders?” Rossi asked. “If this is a victim continuing Pope’s work we need to find out who knew him.”

“Sir, Oscar Pope is still alive in a local correctional facility,” Garcia added. “I’m going to run background checks on all contact he’s had in his entirety at the prison, it might take a while but I’ll get it.”

“Garcia, I can go to the facility and just read everything they have there. It might not be all digital yet,” Reid offered.

“Good idea, take Y/N with you. You two bounce ideas off each other better than the rest of us,” Hotch agreed. “Morgan and Rossi join the search teams at the rivers. JJ and Prentiss, we’ll set up communication with the locals and go through old case files.”

“Reid’s good at bouncing somethin’ off her, alright,” Morgan teased him. “You were on speaker this morning.”

Spencer turned bright red once again, burying his face into the table as everyone laughed, reaching across the aisle to give Y/N high fives.

—

Being in a prison was always weird for her.

Having to hand in her gun just to read papers in a dusty office made her uncomfortable. She understood the protocol and she knew the guards would keep them safe, but knowing she was near men she helped put away, that scared her slightly.

“I’m not finding anything,” Spencer sighed. “There was a flood 2 years ago that destroyed most of the files near the ground. Including the Pope documents.”

“We can always just go ask him?” Y/N suggested, “he’s in D cell, he’s behind bars. We can just talk to him from the hallway unofficially. Pretend we’re here for someone else. I’ll say I never thought he really did those murders and gain his trust, see what happens.”

“I don’t like it but, I think we have to,” he agreed. Opening the office door for her to lead the way, “after you.”

Spencer felt very protective, she could tell. He was never pushy or controlling with her, but for some reason, he was now manhandling her. Making sure she walked on the inside of the hallways, closer to the brick walls so that no one could get her through the bars.

“So Doctor Reid,” she picked up the conversation as they hit the D block. “I was reading the book you lent me about engineering.”

“Oh,” he tried to play along. “How did you like it?”

“It was good,” she replied while trying to look at each inmate she passed. “I loved page 187— oh my gosh?” She stopped at Pope’s cell.

“You’re Oscar Pope?” She pointed at him.

“and you’re?” The old man questioned her. “A fed?”

“We’re here for something political, nothing to concern yourself with,” she lied, getting closer to the bars, whispering. “I just want you to know I never thought you did all 16 of the child murders back in the day.”

“Thank you,” he was suddenly enthusiastic. “Now why can’t all the fed’s be as smart as you?”

She laughed, tapping his arm through the bars. “How are you doing? Is there anything I can get you while I’m here?”

“Phone privileges!” He answered quickly, “the mail’s taking forever and I’ve got people to talk to before I croak in here.”

“I’m sure you do sir,” she smiled at him. “I’ll pull some strings, you have a good day!”

“You too, beautiful!”

Spencer placed his hand on her hip and led her away from the bars, she waved as they walked away.

“Agent Y/L/N,” a voice stopped her at the end of the hall.

She turned to see a man sitting cross-legged on the cell floor. His orange jumpsuit gathered around his waist as he sat in an undershirt. She glanced over his body, stopping at his face. She’d know those eyes anywhere.

“Didn’t I say only good boys get to talk to me, Bitch?” She snapped at him.

“Congratulations on the little one.” He replied. Laughing as Spencer placed his hand over her small stomach and led her out of the room, through the big metal doors.

“Keep walking with me,” Spencer insisted. “Or I will turn around and I will kill him.”

She huffed and continued down a narrow hallway with him. “We need to call Hotch.”

“Yeah,” he flipped his phone open and hit the speed dial.

“Reid?” She heard Hotch answer.

“We couldn’t get any of his information from forms, they all had water damage so Y/N and I walked past Pope’s cell and struck up a conversation,” He explained.

“And?”

“She got on his good side, pretending that she could get him a favour while she’s here for political reasons. He said he’s desperate to make a phone call today.”

“I’m on my way, get Garcia to prep paperwork to allow us a meeting with him now,” Hotch instructed, hanging up.

Y/N dialled Garcia on her phone. “How’s it going love birds?”

“Not good,” she replied. “We need you to get the paperwork going to allow us to sit down with Oscar Pope today. And we’re going to need to tear through his cell.”

“Oh, damn okay,” She replied. “Ask him about Cody Kollins.”

“Who?” Spencer asked as his phone rang again. He flipped it open, “we’ve got Garcia here too.” Putting it on speaker.

“Morgan and Rossi just intercepted a man dropping a body in the river,” Hotch confirmed. “I need you to rush that paperwork.”

“Sir, what was the man’s name?” Garcia asked.

“Cody Kollins.”

They sighed at each other, “let’s do this.”

—

Y/N watched him through the mirror. She could see him fidgeting. He was frustrated. He was exhibiting the exact same behaviour as he was when he was caught the first time.

“Every time we one-up him, he breaks down,” she whispered to Spencer. “Even in his interrogation tapes, he was like this. When they found the single patch of carpet left in his closet and were able to match the fibres, he lost it. He likes to play it cool and under control, he wrote the story and he wants us to stick to it.”

“How upset do you think he’d be if we went in there and told him we actually caught the original killer and he’s going to be released pending DNA testing?” Spencer suggested.

She tilted her head, biting her lip as she thought. “I think he’d be violent.”

“Sit here,” he said as he walked into the interview room.

She hated having to just watch. It helped that Pope was cuffed to the table, and the table was drilled into the concrete floor, Spencer wouldn’t get hurt. The guards are right behind the door. It’s fine.

“Sorry for the abrupt interrogation, I promise this isn’t what you think,” Spencer smiled softly. “We have reason to believe that the original killer has returned, the state is running the DNA now.”

Y/N watched as Pope’s right eye started to twitch, his finger on his leg was tapping at an odd rhythm as Spencer talked.

“The second we can prove you had no hand in any of the killing’s we’ll issue a pardon and your discharge papers will be filled out,” Spencer finished his sentence and moved to open the door once more.

“You’re a fuckin’ idiot,” he hissed. His voice was completely different than it was when they were speaking in D block.

“Why?” Spencer asked, easily playing the innocent and stupid role.

“You think some crazy-obsessed, fuck toy of mine whose doing half-assed attempts at my signature, is the real killer!!!” Pope spat his confession out. Literally covering the table in spit as he became more feral. Shaking violently.

Spencer walked right out of the room. Y/N watched as Pope smacked the table, tugging violently at the cuffs, scratching himself all up. The guards had to run in and hold him down, shooting a sedative into his neck.

“Jesus,” she whispered. Taking her phone out of her pocket to call Garcia, when she noticed the voicemail notification in the bottom corner. She ignored it, calling her friend instead.

“Hey,” Penelope answered quickly. “So turns out we were right, who would have thought, Cody Kollins is actually Daryl Livingston.”

“We just got a confession from Pope,” Y/N shared her news. “They had to sedate him so we’re going to come back to the station. Wait until tomorrow to interview him again.”

“Yeah, sounds good, Hotch and Morgan are in with Livingston right now,” she updated them. “Make sure to eat something when you get there.”

“Yes mom,” she teased, hanging up and smiling.

Spencer put his hand out in an invitation to hold it. She interlocked their fingers and followed him back to the filing room, gathering their things before exiting the prison.

She sat on the passenger side of the SUV, she and Spencer just sat there and took a few deep breaths. Processing everything the exact same way, quietly and on their own.

She cut the awkward silencer by taking out her phone and playing the voicemail. Putting it on speaker.

“Hi Y/N, this is Doctor Korrapati calling. I’ve emailed you your results. The gender is at the bottom, under the little read more button, in case you wanted it to be a surprise. Call the office and let us know when you’re free to go over the results and we’ll book you in, as far as I can tell everything looks good, so don’t feel the need to rush. Take care!”

Spencer looked over at her with a soft smile on his face, reaching out for her hand once more. Holding her hand with both of his now, “do you want to do this?”

“I’m ready if you are?”

He nodded, watching her contently as she opened her email up, finding the right one and scrolling to the bottom. Her heart fluttered a little as she looked at the read more option.

She took a deep breath and clicked on it.

Chromosomal sex: XY

“Well?” Spencer asked softly.

“I’d really love to tell you,” she bit her lip trying not to laugh, “but I don’t remember what this means?”

He laughed, shaking his head as he looked at the screen. He blinked with glossy eyes as he read it, a light chuckle escaping his lips as he cried softly.

It had to be a girl, she knew he wanted one. She convinced herself in that millisecond that it was a girl.

He reached over and placed his hand flat against her belly. “Hi Matthew,” he said softly.

“You’re kidding?” She couldn’t stop herself from crying.

Spencer wrapped her up in a hug, the two of them happily crying into each other. She wasn’t sure if she was giggling or sobbing, she just knew she was shaking in Spencer’s arms with happiness that this was her little family.

He kissed all over her one cheek as he held her close. “I love you so much,” he reminded her.

She pulled back, wiping her tears off on her shirt sleeve, laughing at the serendipity of it all. “I love you too, dad.”

“I have to drive, don’t make me cry again,” he laughed, wiping his own tears before tucking his ever-growing hair behind his ears.

“Let’s go.”

—

Y/N sat beside JJ in the break room of the police station, salad bowl in her lap, shovelling the dressing-covered leaves in her mouth.

They weren’t tasked with anything until Hotch and Morgan attempted to get some info out of the unsub. “Were you crying earlier?” She asked.

“A little,” Y/N smiled at her. “We’re having a boy,” she whispered.

“Oh my god!” JJ whispered back at her, reaching out for her arm and shaking her a little. “I have a feeling your little guy will be bigger than Henry was so he’ll fit into all Henry’s summer stuff when he’s born!”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah!” She confirmed. “By the time he grows out of everything I might have a second boy and we can rotate it around again,” she laughed. “This is going to be so fun.”

“Matthew and Henry are going to be best friends,” Y/N smiled.

“Matthew,” she repeated. “That’s a nice name, I like it.”

“My brother’s name is Levi, I thought it was a nice way to keep a family name in my baby’s life, and his middle name is going to be Gideon,” she spoiled it for Spencer.

JJ looked a little emotional, “sorry it’s just so surreal thinking about me and Spencer having kids who are friends.”

Y/N moved her dinner out of the way and hugged her then, holding her tightly. “You better not be pregnant too,” she whispered in her ear. Not wanting to give it away if she was.

JJ just laughed, rocking Y/N back and forth in her embrace, not answering. “Right?” Y/N asked again.

“We’re trying, so who knows,” JJ replied.

“Shut up?” Y/N pulled back and stared into her eyes to see if she was telling the truth or not. “Holy shit? Since when?”

“Honestly, I think the night we celebrated Canadian thanksgiving,” she laughed. “You and Spencer got us talking about babies, and you got Henry to sleep through the night, so this is technically your fault.”

“JJ,” Y/N started to cry, “I’m so happy for you.”

“They’ll only be a few months apart, so they’ll be best friends too,” JJ smiled. “This is going to be really fun.”

chapter 18

For Christmas this year, Y/N just wanted to be fully moved into their new home before they had to leave for Vegas. Spencer followed through with the present. Inviting the entire team over for drinks if they promised to stop by Y/N’s apartment and bring a few boxes to the new house. It was basically just free labour.

She spent the night nesting while her friends drank in her kitchen. They understood why she was nervous, she was going to tell her parents about the baby and the engagement, and the house, in 3 days.

It was all going to be a lot.

She was 16 weeks along as of Christmas Eve. Waking up the morning of their flight to a weird twitching sensation in her gut, like butterflies or a muscle twitch but right where the baby would be.

“Spence,” she shook him awake. “Spencer.”

“What’s wrong?” He sat right up, squinting at her as he tried to figure out what was going on.

“It’s like, I don’t know how to explain it?” She worried.

Spencer placed his hand on her belly feeling the slight flitter. “He’s kicking.”

Spencer’s early morning smile was the best, he tackled her back against the pillow and dug his face into the crook of her neck. “That’s my baby in there.”

“I wouldn’t have known,” she laughed, wrapping her arms and legs around him. “We have to go to the airport soon.”

“I know,” he mumbled into her neck.

“If you get up now, we can go get breakfast before we have to board?” She enticed him, “we can get sprinkle donuts for the flight.”

“Okay,” he said as she freed him from her grip. “Are you nervous?”

“I know they’ll be happy, just not ready for them to ask why I didn’t say anything sooner,” She explained. “I’ve been really distant since I got the job, I’m really excited to spend time with them this weekend.”

“Same,” Spencer smiled. “Come on you two.”

They took a 9 am flight one-way to Las Vegas. Y/N slept most of the ride, spending the last 45 minutes just snuggled into Spencer’s shoulder as he watched a documentary on some form of science or math. She couldn’t hear what it was about, all she saw was a man writing out numbers on a chalkboard.

She ran her hand over her belly lightly. There was no way she could walk into her mother’s house in a few minutes and just pretend it wasn’t there. It was there. So were the 5 pounds of baby weight on her hips and the swelling in her face and knuckles.

She was pretty quiet during landing and baggage claim. Thinking in her head what she was going to say to everyone, how she would explain it. She sat in a cab beside Spencer, absentmindedly following him through the airport they’ve both been through at least 20 times.

It was a short trip to her parent’s house. Spencer traced little shapes into her leg with his finger to distract her. A flower, a 4D cube, the words I love you. It was sweet, non verbal comfort was very important to her.

When they arrived, she stayed in the cab to pay while Spencer got their bags out. Taking as long as possible so she could avoid it a little longer.

Biting the bullet, she took a deep breath and walked out into her parent’s front yard. Taking the handle of her suitcase and dragging it up the walkway.

She walked right into her house, her parents and brothers all standing up from the living room and rushing into the entryway. She was wrapped up in 7 hugs within a matter of seconds.

“You look so different,” her mom said as she pulled back from her hug. Holding her arms as she examined her, “what did you do?”

“I got pregnant,” she replied, scrunching her face as she waited for their response.

She could’ve sworn she went deaf at that moment, reaching down to cover her bump as everyone cheered and jumped around her. She was pulled into a group hug before she could process anything. Laughing awkwardly at the whole experience.

“Be quiet, he can hear this week!” She laughed.

“He?” Her father inquired.

She looked back at Spencer, smiling at him. “It’s a boy,” Spencer confirmed.

“Holy shit!” Her brothers cheered, high-fiving each other. “When are you due?” Harrison asked.

“June,” she smiled. “3 days after mom’s birthday, see I do remember it.”

“Come sit,” her mom insisted, pushing everyone out of the way and dragging her to the couch. “Put your feet up, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Y/N insisted. “You’re almost worse than my co-workers.”

“Are they taking good care of you?” Her father asked.

She waited for Spencer to join her on the couch, they had all been so excited about her they forgot he was there. “Yeah. Um, we have a lot to tell you,” She explained, holding Spencer’s hand for comfort.

“I asked Y/N to marry me,” Spencer announced. “I am so in love with her, this baby is a dream come true and I’m very excited to become a part of your family.”

Her mom cried, tossing her hand over her eyes as she sobbed. “Mom,” she was so overwhelmed with everything she started to cry too.

“You’re a wonderful man Spencer,” her father interjected. “It’s an honour to have you.”

Spencer smiled and nodded towards him, silently thanking him for the approval.

“So, it’s kind of insane how it all happened. It wasn’t intended, but we love him so much already,” Y/N glowed as she spoke. “Are we going to tell people the name yet?”

Spencer nodded, “we can.” He smiled down at her with such wonderment, the moment she had been scared of for 16 weeks turning out to be the best time she’s had with her whole family in one room.

“His name is Matthew Gideon Reid,” Y/N smiled. “After my favourite brother, no offence Harry, and Spencer’s mentor.”

Levi was her more emotional brother. He was her best friend growing up. The 5 year age difference gave them the time to grow up separately but still find common interests to bring them together. They were the closest in the family before she moved to Virginia full time it became hard to keep up with him as much.

Now they were both parents, their kids only having a 3 year age difference. Meaning next year there would be 2 little ones at Christmas.

“That’s a lovely name,” Levi smiled. “Thank you.”

“It’s whatever, don’t expect our kids to have your name either,” Harrison replied as he held his wife close, pretending he was a little offended.

“We also got a house,” she added to change the topic, “Jason Gideon, he kinda gave us his place in Virginia.”

“You’re kidding me?” Debbie gasped. “For free?”

She laughed, “it’s complicated.”

“I grew up without a father, and Gideon neglected his son for his work at the BAU,” Spencer chimed in. “We bonded, and he wanted his house to be used for good. He specifically asked for us to fill it with love and laughter. We’ve just finished moving into it. You can visit any time!” He panicked and rambled by the end.

“I don’t know if you know this,” her mom tried to joke with them. “But there’s this thing called a phone, where you can call your mother and tell her these things.”

“I wanted to!” she hurried the words out. “But I’m still working in the field, I was weary with who really knew besides the team. It’s my only weakness on the job.”

“I get it,” Debbie smiled. “Honestly, I’m so happy for you both.”

“Thanks, mom,” Y/N choked back tears. “Sorry,” she laughed. “Pregnant things, y’know.”

—

Visiting hours at the nursing home changed during the holidays. Spencer and Y/N were permitted to enter anytime between 8 am and 10 pm, giving them lots of time to spend the afternoon with Y/N’s parents before visiting her.

They borrowed her dad’s truck, driving to the nursing home with a special gift for Diana. Spencer had spent the last 2 weeks making a scrapbook page about Matthew for her, he knew how much her book meant to her and he wanted to add to it.

Her mom’s co-workers all stared at them as they walked in hand in hand. Her bump on show under the T-Shirt she chose to wear.

Diana was in her room, then walked down the long hallway to her suite. Knocking lightly on the door, waiting for her to greet them.

The door swung open, “Spencer!” She cheered. Hugging him tight in her arms.

“Hi mom,” he held her just as tight. Knowing he was a mama’s boy always made Y/N’s heart flutter.

She pulled back and looked at Y/N, “you look so nice!”

“Thank you,” she smiled. Stepping in close to give her a hug as well.

Diana welcomed them into her room, closing the door behind them. Y/N took a seat on the couch while Spencer looked around at the new things she had on display.

“I made you something,” he said softly, taking off his bag and pulling the pressed cardboard out of the protective sleeve. “here.”

She held it in her hands, looking at the ultrasound photo they got a few weeks ago at the anatomy scan. “What is this Spencer?”

“You’re going to be a grandmother,” he explained. Watching her run her fingers over the words on the paper. She was in shock, she had nothing to say. She just looked at the photo.

She quietly walked over to Y/N and sat beside her, “may I?” She asked, holding her hand up.

Y/N leaned back a little, “absolutely.”

Diana placed her hand on the bump lightly. “I was so worried I wouldn’t get to really experience this one day,” she whispered. Trying her best not to cry. “Thank you.”

Y/N cried, not realizing how special this must be for them. She was so focused on her family that she forgot that this was going to change Diana’s whole world. She now had 2 boys to love unconditionally.

“His name is Matthew?” Diana asked, running her hand over the bump softly.

“Yeah,” Y/N smiled. “He’s due in June. If you can, you can fly out and stay with us for a little?”

“I’d love to,” Diana replied. “I have enough points for a trip, and I’ve been feeling really good on my medication.”

“If your doctors clear it all, Debbie and you can fly in together,” Spencer confirmed.

“Wow,” Diana smiled like Spencer. Wide thin lips, straight white teeth, big rosy cheeks and glistening eyes. She hoped Matthew inherited it too. “This is my best Christmas yet.”

—

Y/N woke up Christmas morning with Spencer cuddled into her side in her childhood bedroom. She slipped out of his grasp and sat in her windowsill instead.

She pulled her knees to her chest as best as she could now that she was pregnant, looking at the lone swing across the street that swayed in the December morning breeze.

It should be 8 am back at Quantico, her parents must have let them sleep in while they opened presents. She could see Chloe in the front yard trying out her new car. Levi smiled as he pushed her down the road, Lizzie filming the whole thing on her phone.

Her whole life was so different from the last time she really sat on the windowsill in her bedroom. Back then she was about to move to Virginia, graduating college in Nevada and getting into the training program at the academy. Harrison was already there at Fort Meade, she was about to move into his house with his wife for the first semester before settling into DC. Levi and Lizzie had just started dating, Chloe wasn’t even conceived yet. And she had no idea when she’d run into Spencer.

She rubbed her hand over her belly as a tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn’t wait for the day that she was pushing her own child on that swing across the street. The day she and Spencer tell him about the love story that bubbled between two kids with books who looked at each other for years before they fell in love.

“What are you doing?” Spencer asked, removing her from the moment she allowed herself to have.

She wiped the tear from her cheek, “they’re happy tears. Go back to sleep.”

“Come cuddle?” He pouted, his big puppy dog eyes drawing her back to the bed.

She snuggled into him, running her fingers against his bare chest as she watched him breathe. “Can I tell you something?”

“Always,” he kissed the top of her head.

“When I was 17, I had my appendix out.” She rolled over and laid back, showing him the 3-inch scar on the right side of her stomach. “It was pretty bad, they said I would have died if my mom waited 15 more minutes to get me to the hospital. They had to fix parts of my stomach and intestines that were eaten by the ruptured appendix bile.”

“I had no idea,” he whispered, running his finger along the scar. “I always thought that was just a scratch.”

She shook her head lightly. “It was December 5th, ’98. They uh,” she took a deep breath before resuming. “They put me on a drug called Dilaudid, they told my mom it was a non-addictive version of morphine and that I’d be fine but, I kinda got addicted to the pill version when they let me out,” she scrunched her face as she told him. Not wanting his opinion of her to change.

“You’re kidding?” He asked, a chuckle fell past his lips as he sat up. “In my second year at the BAU I was kidnapped by a man with dissociative identity disorder and he drugged me.”

“Dilaudid?” She asked, sitting up too and shaking her head in disbelief.

He laughed at how absurd it was, “yeah.”

“I moved to Benadryl for the sleepy and calm effect after I couldn’t get any more refills and didn’t want to admit I had a problem, and weed in college” she added. “but I haven’t even taken a Tylenol in the last 5 years now.”

“I had a small problem with it after everything, but I’m also clean now,” Spencer smiled at her. “Why did you want me to know?”

“Because I don’t want to take any drugs when I deliver the baby, even if I beg for them I don’t want them to give in. I talked to Dr. Korrapati about it but I wanted you to know too,” she explained. “Being in here all night got me thinking about a lot.”

He wrapped his arms around her and tackled her back against the pillows. “I love you,” was all he said.

“I love you too?”

“Seriously,” his voice was so soft and low. “I’ll never stop.”

chapter 19

She woke up to the feeling of hair tickling her face. She swatted at her face to try and get it to stop before opening her eyes. She blinked into the early morning sunlight, only to Spencer looking down at her, his hair long enough to tickle her skin.

“You were snoring,” he whispers down to her. “Also, Happy Birthday.”

She smiled, pulling him down and into a hug. “Thank you.”

Every morning with Spencer for the last 10 months had been special. Something about the warmth of his body against hers, and the sunlight bouncing around their new bedroom made this morning her favourite.

It was so calm on the water. She could see the snow settling on the ice as the sun made it glisten like diamonds. The birds had all but disappeared for the winter, the stillness in the world was lovely. It was like time stopped with Spencer laying in her arms.

“What do you think Penelope has planned at work today?” She asked him softly, playing with his incredibly long hair. It was almost longer than hers now.

“She told me to bring you in after 8.”

“So does that mean you have to distract me for a little while, Doctor Reid?” She teased him.

He pushed himself up, leaning on his arm as he hovered over her. “Any requests?”

She spread her arms and legs out like a starfish. “Have at ‘er,” she couldn’t stop herself from laughing as Spencer just shook his head.

He dipped down to her belly, blowing a raspberry onto her protruding bump. “Good morning to you too little dude,” he whispered against her skin. “Go back to sleep.”

She shoved him lightly, not able to stop herself from smiling, “he is asleep, leave him alone.”

It was the best morning ever.

Every time she thinks that she’s reached peak happiness she discovers another level. It felt like every time he touched her, she wanted to describe it as the best she’s ever felt.

When they finally got dressed and made their way downstairs for the morning, she found it incredibly odd that he wasn’t asking her what she wanted for breakfast, like he did every morning. Very concerned that she had all her meals and then some.

She fed the cat, picking him up and giving him a little snuggle after he finished his breakfast. “You are getting so big and chunky buddy, I might have to change your food timer.”

He meowed at her, sounding really pissed, making her laugh. “Fine but when you can't climb all the stairs in this house it’s your fault.” She placed him back on the ground and watched him wander into the sunlight. Plopping onto the hardwood and stretching out. Just living the life.

“Ready to go?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, are we stopping for breakfast?” She asked, the second trimester making her hungrier than ever before.

“Penelope has it covered,” He said, placing his hand on her back as he leads her to the foyer.

“Oh this’ll be good,” she smiled, putting her shoes on before arming the alarm and heading outside.

Spencer locked their beautiful green front door, it was colder out than they had expected. He held her hand as she shivered slightly, they walked down the 3 steps together, Spencer not wanting her to fall if it happened to be icy.

Seat heaters were a blessing from god. The car was freezing when they first got in, the heater barely kicked in by the time they reached Quantico. Living 10 minutes away now was really nice.

Up the elevator they went, she was basically bouncing with excitement. “See?” Spencer nudged her with his shoulder. “Bunny.”

“Shut up,” she smiled as the door dinged before opening.

They walked into the bullpen to find it empty. She took off her coat and placed her bag on her desk before slowly walking up the small set of stairs and heading towards the briefing room.

All her co-workers were sitting around the table waiting for her and the boy wonder to arrive. Strawberry cheesecake danishes sat on a tray on the table, a strawberry milkshake in front of Y/N‘s regular spot.

“Happy Birthday!” They cheered as she walked in.

“You guys!?” She was so flattered. Never in her life has she been thrown a party by someone who wasn’t her mother. “Thank you.”

“Sit, sit,” Penelope insisted. Placing a danish on a napkin and putting it on her spot on the table. “I know you can’t have ice coffee right now, I thought a milkshake was the next best thing.”

“I seriously love you, come here,” she pulled Penelope into a hug, kissing her right on the mouth as everyone cheered.

“See that?” Penelope blushed. “Kisses are how I should be thanked around here.”

“HR already hates us,” Hotch made everyone laugh, “don’t push it.”

They all ate breakfast together, sharing stories from their weekend. They decided to spend New Years’ apart, everyone taking time to themselves for the first time ever.

“Where did you go, Prentiss?” Morgan inquired.

“Sin to Win weekend in Atlantic City,” she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“Oh my god?” Y/N looked at her with absolute astonishment.

“What’s that?” Morgan and Spencer asked at the same time.

“Nothing.” Emily and Y/N replied in unison. Making a look at each other that screamed: ‘tell anyone and I’ll hurt you.’

Like a saviour, the fax machine in the briefing room turned on, spitting out 15 sheets of paper in a few minutes. Penelope cleaned off the table while Hotch ran everything over.

“Last night a family in Boston had their home burned down with them inside it,” Hotch explained.

“How is that something for us to look into?” Rossi asked.

“Because the unsub broke in and turned the water off and tampered with the gas system, causing CO2 to render them unconscious. He stabbed the father to death in the bed before laying gasoline all over the floors and lighting the house on fire.”

“Damn,” Y/N whispered under her breath. “That is personal.”

“I’d say,” Hotch agreed.

“Who was the family?” JJ asked.

Garcia looked through the sheets of paper spewed across the table. “Thomas Greenway, 61. His wife Alison 43. And 2 children aged 8 and 12.”

“We need to head to Boston,” Hotch announced. “I’ll call about prepping the plane. Y/N you can stay here with Garcia if you’d like, your insight will aid her search greatly.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind,” she smiled at Garcia. “Good luck out there.”

“Wheels up in 30.”

Everyone sighed before standing up. Spencer leaned in and kissed Y/N softly before standing up. “I’ll see you later.”

“Come home to me safely Doctor Reid.”

He smiled down at her, fixing his shirt before he left with Morgan.

“I hate to see him go, but I love watching him leave,” She said softly towards Penelope, making her laugh in the process.

“Come on mama, let’s go to my office,” Garcia said, putting her arm out for Y/N, the two of them skipping down the hallway with their arms linked as the team filled the elevator.

Y/N sat in Garcia’s office and immediately put her feet up, still drinking her milkshake as she flipped through the case files. “Can I suggest possibly the dumbest thing ever?”

She laughed, “shoot.”

“So, homeboy here breaks in and knocks out a family with co2 poisoning, just to stab the father to death and light the house on fire.” She ran it down once more, “What if we just search mothers stabbed before dying in a fire and just see if this is some traumatized kid, at this point that’s what they all end up being.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Garcia said, typing away as she added the parameters. “It’s like you can see the fucking future?”

Y/N threw her head back in a laugh, “did you get something? Seriously?”

“Adele Hollis was found dead in a burning apartment building in Boston in 1978. ME reports say she was already dead from co2 poisoning before she was stabbed 6 times in the chest. The whole apartment complex went up in flames after the unsub doused the bed in gasoline and lit her up.”

“Well fuck,” Y/N replied. “Does she have children?”

“Yes, her son Cameron was at school when it happened. He was 8, he moved in with his step-dad shortly after, they ruled him out and never found the guy,” Garcia added.

Y/N leaned across the desk and dialled Hotch, the plane hadn’t even left yet. “I think I found the unsub?”

“How?” Hotch asked.

“I jokingly asked Garcia to search and see if there are any men whose mothers died in a fire after being stabbed cause we deal with sooo many traumatized kids, and we found one,” she laughed at just how insane it sounded.

“Video in and give us a rundown.” Hotch hung up. Ever the conversationalist.

Garcia and Y/N squeezed into the same frame seeing everyone gathered in the little plane seats. She gave them the basic rundown of her findings, watching them all shake their heads at the fact she solved the case already.

“Have the local PD issue a warrant and bring him in. Can you check and see if he knows the victims?” Hotch asked.

“On it sir,” she smiled, clicking away.

“How did you do that so fast?” Morgan has to ask, “it’s not human.”

She laughed again, “If I’ve learned anything in the last 10 months it’s that traumatized little boys can fuck up a lot of people’s lives.”

“Preach,” Rossi added.

“Um, guys,” Garcia’s tone changed. “Cameron Hollis’s birth father is the father who was stabbed in this case.”

“You’re shitting me?” Y/N couldn’t believe it. “Do they have any kind of relationship?”

“His father is on the birth certificate but it looks like Adele left him when Cameron was 3, after some domestic disputes that had the cops at their door. She was remarried when he was 6, it doesn’t look like they ever really talked,” Garcia explained while continuing to dig.

Y/N watched through the monitor as the team gripped their seats, the plane was taking off now. They would be in Boston with this guy in just a few hours.

“Thanks, Lady Wonder,” Morgan winked at the camera for Y/N before leaning in and turning the monitor off.

She sat back and put her feet up once more. “Best birthday ever.”

—

They had Cameron Hollis in custody with a full confession before 5 pm that day. Everyone was beyond thankful that they would be back home with their families shortly.

Y/N had said goodbye to Penelope shortly after, driving home to have some alone time. Rossi would drive Spencer home, they lived close enough now that they could all carpool if they wanted.

She had never been in their new house all alone before. She took the time to just walk around and admire everything, being thankful that her life ended up like this. Not taking a second of it for granted.

She sat down on her bed finally, taking her phone out and calling JJ.

“Hello bestie,” she answered.

Y/N smiled, “Hey, do you think Will could find a babysitter tonight?”

“Probably, why?”

“Tell him to drop Henry off and head to my place. I’m going to have pizza delivered and you can come here with Spencer when you land,” Y/N offered. “Have a date night with us.”

“That would be amazing, I’ll call Will right now. See you later,” JJ sounded happy. It made her smile.

“See you.” She hung up, laying back against her bed softly.

She changed quickly before heading downstairs, wearing a pair of leggings and an academy t-shirt. She was getting too big for almost everything she owned now.

She placed an order for a few pizzas to arrive at 8:30. Next, making sure she had more beer in the fridge, for the nights when Will wandered over with JJ. They had visited almost every weekend since she and Spencer moved in.

That’s when she saw him.

chapter 20

Previously...

The dream was always the same:

A man would get into their home, he knew their schedule, he knew when she’d be alone.

He’d get in without any trouble and he never made a sound. She wouldn’t even know he was in the room until she felt the cold metal gun press against her face, as shaking hands instructed her to tie her own behind her back.

He’d always use her supplies. Duck tape, shoelaces, scarves. Anything at his disposal that he didn’t have to bring with him. Almost as if he didn’t fully choose her to be his victim until the very last minute.

He assaulted her all for what felt like hours, stopping occasionally to cry in the bathroom or eat a snack in their kitchen. And he always showered at the end. Sometimes, he’d wrap her up in a housecoat, put her sheets in the wash and sincerely advised her to invest in a better lock for the sliding door.

Then he was gone.

Slipping into the night, on his way to become someone else’s nightmare...

There was a man in her yard, he was dressed in all black, with a backpack wrapped around his shoulders and a ski mask on his face.

He couldn’t see her from where she was in the kitchen, but she could see him. She ducked to the floor and crawled towards the stairs, booking it up the steps and grabbing her gun. She made sure it was loaded, grabbing a second clip from her nightstand and tucking it into her pocket. Then she detonated the alarm system from the remote on Spencer’s bedside table.

She crawled into her closet, making herself look like a pile of clothes.

And she waited.

She felt a little insane, she tried to convince herself that it could be anyone from a neighbour to a lost person from the trail. For all she knew, it was someone from the academy lost in the woods.

She tried to calm her breathing, calling Will with her cell phone. “Hey, JJ just filled me in-“

“There is someone in my backyard in all black with a backpack, how fast can you get here?” She panicked in a whisper.

“Fuck, okay, I just dropped Henry off at the sitter. I’ll be right over, stay put and I will call you when I’m there,” his southern accent came out more when he was stressed.

“Okay, thank you,” she hung up and took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds in her house.

She remembered what the house sounded like that morning. The stillness, the quiet peacefulness of her and Spencer in the bed only 12 feet away from where she was now hiding.

She remembered the way the floors creaked as it popped and settled with the heat, how the tree outside would sometimes tap the window, the sound of snow tumbling off their roof. Passing cars on the main road kicking up gravel, the odd bird singing in the cold breeze, her own heartbeat in her ears.

Then she heard the alarm turn off with its overly happy welcome home chime. Only knowing one man would be able to disarm her alarm system without a code, and he was in the air right now.

“Open,” she heard the alarm’s voice as the door opened.

Footsteps travelled along the hardwood floor in wet shoes. She listened to the sound of the wet rubber on hardwood explore the first floor.

There were 2 people in her house, splitting up as one went to the kitchen and one went up the stairs.

She aimed her gun at the doorway, aiming to shoot anyone who walked through the door in the leg. Not wanting to kill anyone who she knew that might’ve gotten in for a different reason, unannounced.

In the rare happenstance that this wasn’t her worst nightmare coming true.

Her hands were shaking as she kept the gun pointed for what felt like hours, just waiting for him to find her. The door handle started to turn slowly, she heard the sound of the old metal grinding ever so slowly.

The first thing she saw were his eyes, yet again. The same eyes that haunted her dreams, the eyes every woman she spoke to for 2 years remembered from behind the ski mask.

Fuck Wichita, he was her own personal nightmare. He had been for a while. Those eyes, big and black all the way around, not a single glimpse of colour or life or hope. Every single dream came flooding back as she saw him in her doorway, the same aura of death, destruction, loneliness and despair from all those months ago was now filling the most special place in her home.

He still hadn’t seen her in the closet, looking around the room carefully as she watched him. Waiting for him to get closer, and closer to where she was. Finally peeling back the wooden closet door.

“Surprise, bitch,” She said before aiming higher and shooting him between the eyes, knocking him down.

She stood and stepped out of the closet, “Travis fucking Johnson,” she shook her head as she looked at the man bleeding on her bedroom floor. Taking his pulse to ensure that he was dead.

She couldn’t hear anything for a second, trying her best to zone in on the sound of someone tiptoeing in her kitchen, “WHO ELSE IS IN MY HOUSE?” She screamed.

Suddenly she could hear the sound of a car on the gravel and then a door slamming. She stepped into the hallway, gun pointed, looking over the railing towards the front door.

“Y/N?!” Will yelled. Gun pointed as he entered her house.

“I’ve got one down, I think there’s another in the kitchen,” she replied.

“On it.”

Y/N looked down the hall, none of the upstairs rooms were open, every door exactly how it looked when she ran up the stairs. She headed down the steps when 2 shots were fired.

She quickly ran to the kitchen to see another man on her floor behind the counter, his feet the only thing she could see as he laid there, dead. Will was standing over him, taking his pulse.

“He’s gone,” Will confirmed.

Y/N finally let herself panic, shaking as she tried to catch her breath, pulling out a chair from the counter and sitting down. Her adrenalin was running wild in her bloodstream, she didn’t even know how to speak let alone think about what had just happened.

“Y/N,” Will’s soft voice brought her back to reality. He was right beside her, wrapping his big strong arms around her to try and calm her down. “Shh, it’s okay.”

“Who was it?” Is all she asks him.

“I have no idea, who was upstairs?” Will asked.

“Travis Johnson, from my first case with the BAU,” she calmed down a bit, breaking away from the hug to get off the chair.

She walked around the counter island, looking down to find another man she knew, bleeding on her brand new hardwood floors. “Oh my god,” she felt sick at the sight.

He smelled the same, stale and rotten. The same look on his face even as he slipped into eternal damnation. Empty as when he was alive, pure evil down to his core. Dead to match how he felt inside as he did those awful things to undeserving mothers.

The second worst man she’s ever come in contact with.

The Winnemucca Womb Raider.

She backed up into Will, he held her close so she didn’t drop to the floor, helping her back into the chair. “Do you know him?”

“Yeah,” she felt herself starting to cry. “How? They were both in prison?”

“We need to call the police,” Will said softly before taking his phone out.

“911 what’s your emergency?” She could hear the muffled woman’s voice as he pressed his phone to his ear.

“This is Detective William LaMontagne Jr. Two men just broke into my friend’s home and tried to kill her,” he explained the situation, making her shutter.

She watched as he talked to the woman, suddenly not able to hear anything as her body slipped into shock. She was completely numb. In the last 10 months she hadn’t fired a single shot on the job, and yet on her birthday, the one time she's alone, she has to kill someone in her own home.

The place where she was supposed to feel safe and happy. Where her new life with Spencer and Matthew was supposed to start. They promised Gideon love and laughter, having that dream stripped from them when Pure Evil stepped over the threshold.

It was just like the dream, the last one she had before Spencer wrapped himself around her, calming her down.

This time he wasn’t here, he didn’t even know that this had happened, he wasn’t always going to be there to save her. She pulled herself back into the moment, calming herself like she had all those years before him.

She wasn’t a damsel in distress, he knew that.

A man walked into her home, the one time he knew she’d be alone and vulnerable.

That was the only part of the dream that matched.

Unlike her dream, she wasn’t a victim. Not in this house. Not in her space. Not ever.

The sound of the sirens echoed in her ears finally, she turned to the commotion of officers running into her new house. Will walked them through it all, telling them who Y/N was and that this was her home. How she saw a man in her yard and hid before killing him upstairs.

“Ma’am?” A stranger in a uniform tried to get her attention. “Ma’am, can you come with me?”

She nodded, standing up and finding support in the man’s arms. He wrapped her up in a silver blanket before he led her outside and into an ambulance. She had her vitals taken and an oxygen mask placed on her to help her calm down.

“Is the baby okay?” She asked the EMT, pulling the mask off her face so he’d hear her.

“Yes,” he smiled. “Strong heartbeat, no signs of distress but you need to relax so we can keep it that way.”

Will climbed into the ambulance then, taking her hand in his, “hey doll, are you okay?”

She nodded, “just a little shook up.”

“I called Spencer,” he said softly. “They’re 30 minutes from landing, then him and the team are on their way. No one told the team about the prison break in Oklahoma, they didn’t even think to connect them back to you.”

She sighed, “two cases in 2 different states, where the offenders ended up going to a 3rd state to meet and do time together and bond over the women who put them away. Makes sense.”

“You put them both away?” He asked.

She nodded again. “I basically made it my life goal to get Travis Johnson, he’s the reason I have this job, he’s the reason I’m pregnant right now,” her words trailed off into whispers. “I saw him in November, he congratulated me when he saw the bump.”

“Who was the other guy?”

“The Winnemucca womb raider, he would kill pregnant women by strangling them before removing their wombs,” she looked at him, horrified. “They wanted to kill us...”

She wrapped her arms around her own stomach, she had almost forgotten to worry about him. To even think that she was more than just one person at the moment.

They weren’t after her, they were after the most important thing to her. Her son, her baby boy. Like all the mothers before her, like their own. They wanted her to suffer, for her son to be spared a future worse than death in their opinion.

All the images from the cases came flying back as she blinked faster and faster. Strangled women, removed wombs, thanking God for a second that Spencer was the one to see the recovered organs in his trailer. A sick feeling bubbled in her body, a chill ran deep in her bones.

Then everything went black.

—

The first thing she remembers when she gained consciousness again was that Spencer was furious. She could see him and Hotch in a heated conversation from inside the ambulance, she tried her best to wake up and zone in on what was going on.

It was too dark for her to read their lips, but he was angry.

JJ was sitting beside her now, holding her hand. “Hey, bestie.”

“Did the cat get out?” She doesn’t know why that’s the first thing she asks, “the door was left open, did he get out?” Still in shock, still trying to understand everything.

JJ shushed her, petting her hair as she leaned in close, hugging her softly. “He was in the laundry room, Will said he made sure to find him when you were getting checked out.”

“Good,” she nodded along as she listened. “I’m so overwhelmed.”

JJ let out an awkward laugh, “I can imagine.”

“I’m also starting to fall in love with your husband,” she found her sense of humour then. “He has perfect timing.”

JJ laughed a little harder, causing Spencer’s focus to shift to the ambulance. Y/N watched him run towards it and jump in.

“Y/N, oh my god,” Spencer wrapped his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I’m safe, the baby’s healthy,” she assured him.

He kissed her all over her face, making her giggle when he wouldn’t stop, repeating kisses all over her face, her ears and her neck. She could hear JJ also laughing as she watched with Hotch just outside.

He finally stopped to catch his breath, hugging her again with his face in her neck. “I love you,” she reminded him.

“You love me?” He pulled back, “I love you so fucking much, I am never leaving you alone again.”

“Spencer,” she laughed, “I think I handled it pretty well.”

He huffed and shook his head, “you shouldn’t have had to handle this in the first fucking place! It’s not that fucking hard for someone to call the god damn FBI and say hey two psychopaths that your genius new girl put behind bars, fucking escaped!”

She finally knew what Hotch meant when he said Spencer’s anger scared him. She looked at him like he was a whole different person, “Spence, baby, I know. It’s okay, I’m fine see?”

She placed her hands on his cheeks as she looked into his beautiful hazel eyes, watching his pupils change size as he focused on her. Love and life behind them, true happiness clouded by horror at the thought of losing the love of his life.

He was what a true man was supposed to be, a real genuine person with love and kindness, and empathy. Her soulmate, her Spencer.

“We can’t control everything, that’s what you told me. We handle what’s in front of us, and we do it well,” she smiled as she reminded him.

Spencer started to cry, pulling her in close. “I can’t lose you.”

She cried at the sound of his voice, his heart shattering as he cried in her arms, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Terrified on a level she’s never seen in him before.

She rubbed his back as she held him, rocking him lightly as she shushed him absentmindedly. Soothing him as if her life depended on it, it broke her heart to see him this broken about the idea of losing her. She loved him so much it made her heart physically ache in her chest as she held him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised, whispering against his hair. “I’ll kill a million men if it means coming home to you.”

He laughed in the middle of his cries, she could feel him smile softly as he sniffled against her shirt. “Promise?” He asked as he pulled back to look at her.

She wiped the tears from his cheeks, his beautiful eyelashes clumped together in the wetness. He was so sweet, she couldn’t help kissing him quickly, “promise.”

—

Hotch insisted they head to the BAU with the rest of the team while he handled the crime scene and the forensic clean-up, knowing on a personal level what it was like to clean Evil’s blood out of your bedroom carpet.

Y/N was sitting in the car waiting to leave when she saw Will coming out of her house with 3 pizzas. “I forgot I ordered those,” she gasped at the sight.

“You should’ve seen the look on the delivery guy’s face,” JJ laughed.

It was really bizarre having a pizza party in Rossi’s office after shooting someone in her home. Everyone was trying to be as chipper as possible to try and take the tension off the situation, but Y/N was pretty quiet.

Morgan got everyone to settle down before closing the office door, sitting close to her and Spencer. “Everyone in this room has either been shot, in danger, held hostage or worse,” he offered her some support.

“If you want to share anything, express any feeling or just tell us to fuck off, you can,” his words were soft, she watched him with soft eyes as he spoke.

“The only thing I can think of is that fate is fucked up,” she replied, the honesty slipping off her tongue like it was made of butter.

“You have the floor,” he insisted that she continue.

“I moved into a tiny apartment, farther away from my job, because I needed somewhere to live, and I found Spencer in the hallway. Spencer led me to you, and you guys helped me find Travis Johnson, my personal nightmare case of 2 years,” she explained like they never knew that. “But it’s so much more than that now.”

“We ran into Travis at the prison in Oklahoma a few months ago,” Spencer added. “He noticed that she was pregnant and congratulated her.”

“But the thing that’s fucking me up the most is that, and sorry TMI,” she warned them before continuing. “but we conceived the baby in Kansas when we caught the VICAP counsellor, only a few towns over from where we arrested Travis. Then we ran into him on a different case in Oklahoma, and he happened to be in the same prison as a man from New Mexico I put away for killing pregnant women. Something about this all lines up so perfectly... I hate that I find it so interesting.”

“That is kind of insane,” Morgan agreed. “I think it just means you and Spencer are being pulled together by something with bigger plans than you realize. And you’re a good shot, so thankfully you have nothing to worry about now.”

“Thanks,” she smiled.

She held Spencer’s hand, looking down at the ring on her finger that meant she was his forever. As much as she hated the idea of a man owning a woman, she loved the idea that Spencer was her person forever.

They were tied together in a way no one would understand, she loved him deeper than she ever thought possible.

Everything happened for a reason. Her reason just so happened to be Fate wanting her to spend the rest of her life, Happily with Doctor Spencer Reid.

—

She woke up around noon the next day, Spencer was sitting up beside her reading a book when she finally clued into where she was. They had spent the night at Rossi’s house while the forensic cleanup team handled her kitchen and bedroom.

“Good morning,” she smiled up at him, stretching against the sheets as she fully woke up.

He put his book down and joined her, wrapping her up in his arms and kissing her neck softly.

“Good morning,” he replied finally. She loved his voice when he hadn’t spoken yet. His vocal cords yearning to be used.

She smiled against his skin, holding him against her chest as she breathed him in. Her safety, her cosmic soulmate.

Everything just felt better in the world when they were pressed this close to each other. This was how they were meant to be.

“How are you feeling?” He asked after a few minutes of silence.

She rolled him onto his back, snuggling into his chest and lifting a leg over him so the baby wasn’t squished. “Good, I’m excited to go back home later.”

“You’re not scared,” his fingers ran through her hair as she felt his breath on her face.

“No,” she shook her head against him. “Yesterday could’ve been a lot worse, but I’m trained to think on my feet and the danger is gone now. I’m never going to let myself be a victim in my own home.”

“I love you,” he reminded her. “And after yesterday-“

“I want to get married soon too,” she cut him off, getting up and sitting on his hips. She ran her hands over his chest as she looked down at his beautiful, still puffy, morning face.

He beamed up at her, “I feel it too, I want to make it official. I want to shout it from the rooftops that the love of my life chose me too.”

She nodded softly, “and we agreed that in April this year we’d go to Vegas, and we’d do it. I think we still should, I just want to plan it a little.”

“Of course,” he agreed, squeezing her thighs in his excitement. “Come here.”

She held his face in her hands as she leaned down, rubbing her thumb over his bottom lip as she looked at him ever so softly. “I love you,” she said before kissing him.

His hands wandered over her back, holding her into the kiss. Breathing in deep through his nose, kissing her as if they hadn’t seen each other in months.

Spencer was desperate to love her, and she was desperate to be loved by him.

She broke the kiss to just look at him, moving his hair back and pressing her forehead against his. “The park across the street from my parents house,” she whispered.

“Mhmm.”

“I want to get married there, I want to start the rest of my life in the spot where I first really fell in love with you,” she explained, her lips close enough to him that the words could have stuck to his skin.

“I think I can pull some strings and get us a permit by April,” He smiled against her lips, “what day are we thinking?”

“The 23rd, 1 year exactly,” she said before Spencer pulled her back into another kiss, this time it’s soft and delicate. “Until forever,” she whispered against his lips.

“You need to promise me one thing,” he added. Feeling her nod as she kissed down his neck. “I know you said you’re fine, but the second you’re not I need you to tell me.”

“Okay,” she agreed, sitting back up as she straddled his hips. “You have to do the same, I can’t handle you crying in my arms like that again, it really broke my heart.”

He held his pinky out to her, she smiled as she wrapped her own around his. Both leaning in to kiss the other's knuckle, a small tradition Y/N adored.

—

They were back at their house by 5 pm. Hotch had ensured that everything was completely cleaned and there was 0 evidence that a crime had even taken place on the property. Penelope on the other hand had taken it upon herself to break into their alarm system and reset it for them shortly after everyone left.

They changed the code, closed the door and sighed at the beautiful home that felt a little different now. “I think I want to paint,” she announced.

“Yeah?” Spencer laughed at the suddenness.

“It’s too blah, y’know? I see what they were doing with the whites and beige for all the light. But, I’m thinking green in here to flow with the cabinets in the kitchen,” she walked through the foyer as she imagined the colours that would look good. “Like an olive or forest, maybe even jade. It’ll look nice with the dark wood.”

“That would be nice,” Spencer agreed. “Make it feel more like the old apartment.”

“Exactly,” she smiled. “I miss the clutter and the intimacy of the last place, and I know you miss the look of books everywhere.”

“I’m still alphabetizing them in my office,” he added. “I’d like to paint in there as well, I’ve been looking at antique chairs and couches for my reading.”

“Hotch is going to make us take 2 weeks off again,” Y/N looked at him with excitement. “We can put all our energy into this place now.”

“Let’s make it ours,” He agreed.

“Wanna go to the hardware store and look at paint samples?” She hopped with excitement, grabbing his arm and tugging on him.

He laughed, pulling her into his chest. “Sure, bunny,” he pressed his cheek to the top of her head as he held her. “What about Matthew’s room?”

“Oh, me and Penelope have it all planned, all the stuff is being delivered next month. She kinda went a little nuts,” Y/N laughed.

“He’s going to be one loved little boy,” Spencer chuckled. “Come on, let’s go.”

[cienie-isengardu]

Not only do I not regret asking you to "RELEASE THE RAMBLES!", I'm sending you requests for more. Below is a list of questions that I asked @bihansthot , and enjoyed their answers, but because you are so thorough, and answer in such depth, I'm re-asking them to you.

Brace yourself, it's a list. I didnt have time to sort thru them, I just copied and pasted, so if any are questions you already answered before, please feel free to include the links.

"LET US BEGIN!"

---------------------------------------------

In the spirit of potential future writing,  I'm trying to find a building that  would make a good substitution for Lin Kuei temple.

I've tried looking up ancient Chinese military barracks/forts, and have found some stuff,  but is all exterior.  Anyone know of any locations (or several I can cobble together) that would make good inspiration fodder?

---------------------------------------------

So, uhm, religion? What's the Lin Kuei's take on that one? I know they are aware of Gods, they team up with/ encounter Raiden all the time,  and have literally worked for/against Shinook, so I know they recognize higher powers... but I  guess the question is,  do they care?

Do they have a religion,  or spiritual practice that resembles religion? Or do they have a more practical approach "gods exist,  but we just consider them very strong people"?

Which segues into... do they recognize and participate in holidays, or things like birthdays? Or are all their celebrations work related (I.E. successful missions or levels of combat mastery)?

---------------------------------------------

Food.  What foods do they normally eat? What foods do they like?  What foods don't they like? What foods do they absolutely love so much they'll stop what they're doing to get it?

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If you had to match the Lin Kuei with a dynasty,  what one would it be? (I know the 2021 movie has the opening in the Ming dynasty, so the Lin Kuei is at least that old,  but given that movie Bi Han hasn't aged in 400 years, and was taken is a child,  its probably much older) (and also know the game probably cherry picked random Chinese things it liked).

What do you think the Lin Kuei's view on artistic culture (probably not the right word) is? I know they are heavily militaristic,  but in the game,  Kuai Liang offers Hanzo tea and he properly prepares it the Japanese way, that says they have something of an education other than just related to fighting?

Lastly,  in the movie,  everything Bi Han does is "for the Lin Kuei", but the Lin Kuei is on Earth (assumedly),  and he is working for a guy who wants to enslave Earth, so what do you think the deal is?

---------------------------------------------

Question about the Cryomancers. I know the game lore says that they are supposed to be rare, but I also know that the Lin Kuei have had at least 5 (grandpa, papa, older, and younger Sub Zero,  and Frost). 4 of which are part of 3 generations that inherited it even with mixed blood (I'm assuming Mama Sub Zero wasn't Cryomancer since they left her alone).

That's a lot of generations in a row for a rare trait... So do you think the Cryomancers as a group have figured out they're being hunted and have chosen to live in hiding?

---------------------------------------------

Lin Kuei society question? I like writing so I also like world building and I think about these things.

Is Lin Kuei society ever covered? I know there is a Grandmaster, a handful master assassins (Sub Zero's, Sektor, Cyrax, etc) and the  movies always have a bunch canon fodder lesser assassins.

And they live in the very isolated Lin Kuei Palace/Temple in Arktika (or wherever it used to be)

But is Lin Kuei (we'll call it "village") ever covered?   Do they have willing servants, kidnapped slaves, or a mix of both? Are there women (non fighter women,  I know there's Frost) or do they employ strictly male help? If there are women, what's their role, and are there children born there? What about Elderly? What about resources,  is everything (from food, clothes, weapons, and the raw materials to create them) grown or manufactured on sight by skilled laborers or do they import/interact with the outside world? How vicious or civil is this society, could you be killed for looking at Sektor wrong or do they value your services to a degree? What's the degree? This is obviously a combat culture,  but is everyone expected to know martial arts of some variety, is it optional, or do they prohibit it among the servants/slaves? How strict are they on things like clothing, food, alcohol,  drugs, "luxuries", or pleasures? Money? If they interact with the world do they recognize and use $$ currency, commodity currency, or a mixture? Internally are the Lin Kuei payed or just provided for? What about illness or injury,  if you're not a master and it a serious injury/illness are you taken care of or do they just give you a quick death?

Etc. That's all the questions I can think of,  but please feel free to answer questions I didn't ask,  if you think of anything else.

Thank you for this wonderful list to talk about! I’m gonna split the answer into smaller parts, for better focusing on each aspect but also so I don’t feel bad for keeping you waiting for ages, lol. For now let’s focus on asks about the religion!

So good questions! I do think they have some spiritual practice(s) because in martial arts the state of a mind is as important as the physical body and religion is one of many ways to shape someone’s mindset from a young age. I do, however, think that Lin Kuei does not worship the gods. They are aware that the gods exist (with Raiden as the thorn in the side) and may even respect their supernatural powers and battle skills but it never has stopped Lin Kuei from desecrating holy places, murdering people and stealing stuff for the best price. So, it seems to me that whatever religion the members of the clan follow, by nature it is rooted in nontheism.

Of course, there is also a chance that Lin Kuei worships some forgotten deity or deities (as a remnant of their ancient connections with Outworld / realms conquered and destroyed by Shao Kahn?) or may even practice ancestor worship which seems like a good way to uphold a widely understood tradition that plays an important role in the discussed community.

The closest thing to religious practice was seen in Mortal Kombat X, when Sub-Zero and his warriors seemed to pray together before statue of god / deity / ancestor / legendary warrior / personalized thing they value the most (sadly, my knowledge about Asian religious practices or faiths is very limited so I don’t have idea if the statue is supposed to represent any real god/religious symbol).

At the same time, it could be just a bluff since Grandmaster was aware of Cage’s team infiltrating the Lin Kuei territory and used this moment to lure them into a trap. Additionally, Mortal Kombat X comics presented once Kuai Liang sitting before the same statue albeit in a completely different (devoid of reverence?) position.

Of course, if we take into account Mortal Kombat Armageddon, the game states that Lin Kuei Temple placed in Arctika was actually once the Temple of Delia (the great sorceress & wife of god Argus) that at some point get abandoned and re-used by Sub-Zero’s clan.

(In the background, we can see a statue of Delia that Lin Kuei does not worship but did not remove for whatever reason. Mixing both old and new games, we can only wonder if MKX!statue is also the remnant of someone else's faith/religion?)

Beside that, Kuai Liang was pretty vocal about Lin Kuei not worshipping the Elder Gods, what was seen in MK11’s intro dialogue with Cetrion

Sub-Zero: The Lin Kuei do not worship the Elder Gods.

Cetrion: We seek gratitude, not worship.

Sub-Zero: I see no distinction.

and personally did not have any reason to pray to the goddess:

Sub-Zero: Why should I pray to you?

Cetrion: Why does a bird flap its wings?

Sub-Zero: I asked a simple question.

In all fairness, in MK11 Kuai Liang seems the most passive-aggressive toward the Elder God while Frost is focused on her ambitions and Noob!Bi-Han just wants to be left alone when bothered by Cetrion. Similar thing happens toward Raiden. Despite gratitude for saving him, Kuai Liang does not spare the god criticism (can’t serve both Elder Gods and Earthrealm, isn’t fit for his role of protector) and in MKX outright says he does not fear divine beings:

Raiden: Sub-Zero...

Sub-Zero: I fear no gods, Raiden.

Raiden': That's why you shall lose.

Surprisingly, Kuai Liang’s interaction with MK11!Fujin sounds less accusing than with Raiden and Cetrion and it is connected closely to their ties with Bi-Han. And maybe Kuai Liang did seek in the past Fujin and other elements to make a peace with them, like he planned to do so in Mortal Kombat 4 Limited comics?

"I came here to make peace with the gods of the elements that you fought [...]"

Anyway, the accusingly behaviour toward Raiden and Cetrion could be just Kuai Liang’s personal dislike for gods and serious authority issues, which makes sense considering how much he suffered because of their meddling and conflicts.

But honestly?

The available examples of Lin Kuei attitude toward gods, demigods and supernatural beings suggest how little the warriors - especially cryomancers - care for them.

Like, we have Bi-Han in Mythologies, who asked Quan Chi about details of mission:

Sub-Zero: If it's so precious, why don't you get it yourself?

Quan Chi: I cannot enter the temple until the four elements within its walls have been defeated. And I am not on the best of terms with the gods of your realm... especially your god of thunder.

Sub-Zero: Tell me about these elements.

Quan Chi outright said he and earthrealm gods weren’t friends and Bi-Han, reading between the lines, could get the idea that he may end on bad terms with Thunder God. Yet he was interested only in elements (lesser gods than protector of realm?) guarding the temple.

Then Bi-Han beat down four demigods and met a displeased Raiden after Quan Chi got the Shinnok Amulet. His reaction? No fear, like meeting an angry god was a normal occurrence.

Rayden: Do you realize what you've done??

Sub-Zero: I was just earning my living.

Rayden: Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm. You must now set things straight.

Sub-Zero: Quan Chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer. I've never heard of an elder god named Shinnok or of a place called the Netherrealm.

Rayden: Well, you'd better start believing in both, because you're going to the Netherrealm and you're going to bring the amulet back. We must act quickly. I have no dominion in the Netherrealm... You are reality's only hope.

Sub-Zero: I'll do it, Thunder God... but only because I have no choice.

And once he came back from Netherrealm, where he was fixing what he messed up in the first place on Raiden’s order, his abrasive attitude did not change much:

Sub-Zero: Here... the amulet.

Rayden: Impressive, Sub-Zero. Perhaps you will reconcile your reckless past after all.

Sub-Zero: That's it? Not even a thank you?

Of course, to some degree Raiden’s words did have an impact on Bi-Han but even the god’s warning about his soul tainted with evil did not stop him from coming back to Lin Kuei. Bi-Han’s attitude and/or approach to gods seems to change somehow once he was reborn as Noob, but that is a different matter for different times.

Anyway, Mythologies!Bi-Han and MK11!Noob act less aggressive toward gods than Kuai Liang. But then we have Sub-Zero from from the MK novel by Jeff Rovin, who not only is not afraid of gods but outright insult them:

“Wait! Be warned, Shang Tsung. He is cursed!”

“Cursed? By whom?”

Ruthay wailed, “By the immortal Yu.”

Shang Tsung felt cold spiders crawl up his spine. “The demigod Yu?”

“Yes… he who is said to dwell in the underground caverns of Horse Ear Mountain… which is sacred to the goddess Kuan Lin. He who protects the canals… and the tunnels… and looks after all who use them, human and animal.”

“What did our brash friend do to Yu?”

“He… killed a man,” said Ruthay.

“What man?”

“A toll-taker… one who had given up a life of crime… one who had been a partner of the man… you… seek.”

“And how did that crime come to the attention of the spirit of Yu?” Shang Tsung asked.

“The man was killed… slowly disemboweled with a sword… while accomplices forced his wife and his son to look on! After his murder… the man’s remains… were dumped into a canal!”

Shang Tsung raised an eyebrow. “Is that all? I was expecting something truly terrible!”

“It was!” Ruthay shrieked. “When he disposed of the body… in that way … he profaned one of the sacred waterways… of Yu!”

Shang Tsung smiled now. “Then he is definitely the man I want,” he said. “Anyone who is impudent enough to insult a demigod won’t be afraid to attack a member of the White Lotus Society, or the gods who watch after them. I will send Hamachi, Ruthay. When he nears his goal, see through his eyes and guide him!”

Book!Sub-Zero was impudent enough to insult a demigod which is why he was one of Shang Tsung’s favorites. And to be clear - book!Sub-Zero did not regret insulting the demigod at all. Even more! He found humor in it!:

He dwelt in a cave two hundred feet up the face of a cliff by the sea. The mouth of his home was barely wide enough to accommodate a slender adult, and was accessible only by climbing the sheer wall of rock, a feat that was impossible for most adults and daunting even to the few arachnids and marsupials that tried it.

Maybe some of them were even sent by Yu, he thought with a smirk, little assassins who would chastise me for having spilled blood in his precious canal.

The less abrasive attitude toward gods was shown by Cyrax, who talked a bit with Raiden over Bi-Han’s remains. He wasn’t outright antagonistic but wasn’t overall respectful either. He talked with Thunder God like he would talk with any other human being that wasn’t actually Scorpion. Frankly, from the named Lin Kuei only MK9!Smoke actually addressed Raiden in respectful manner, with proper bow and the name of lord

albeit did he do so because he respects the divine beings or just out of gratitude for saving him, hard to tell for sure.

So yeah, it seems like no matter what kind of timeline or age or medium of the story, Lin Kuei does not fear gods nor pray to them. And the clan has a long history of dealing with Raiden, so the Lin Kuei had first-hand experiences with supernatural beings. Somehow, cryomancers are the most impudent warriors when it comes to dealing with or criticizing the gods.

Interestingly, as much as Lin Kuei warriors don’t care for gods, most of the known to us named characters believe to have - and to care - for their own souls. Sektor and MK11!Frost embraced the Cyber Lin Kuei idea but Kuai Liang, Cyrax and Smoke were opposed to C.I. project out for concern for their souls among other things. Even Bi-Han, to some degree became concerned about his soul after trip to Netherrealm.

Believing in souls is usually a sign of belief in the afterlife, albeit after all of them went through (the change into cyborgs, death and change into Revenants) this is less a matter of faith (religion) and more first-hand experiences. And let's not forget that regularly dealing over the centuries with Shang Tsung who steals people's souls on a daily basis makes it really hard to not believe spirits are real.

Also, an interesting matter of Lin Kuei practices that could have a religious/spiritual ground and/or be an example of ancestor worship is the clan’s funeral rites. I don’t think we actually saw any Lin Kuei to bury their own (especially after warrior’s failure?) and for sure MK9!Cyrax and Sektor did not bother to take care of Bi-Han’s remains. However the sources provide examples of Lin Kuei keeping corpses, most likely of their own leaders or warriors.

And so, we could see human remains:

put in two coffins on each side of statue

hidden / kept in a block of ice(?) in chamber of Fallen Lin Kuei in which Frost’s frozen body was also laid, but on the altar

Cyrax’s cyber body was kept and guarded by Sub-Zero (and this is like the only thing that Kuai Liang and Cyber Sektor so far agreed on)

and even Cyber Sektor’s remains, even if just for pragmatic reasons, are kept in what seems to be respectful manner:

It could be just Kuai Liang’s good nature to honor fallen of his clan (I’m still not sure if Lin Kuei Palace is the new place for Sub-Zero’s clan or the ancient hideout) but even in MK Conquest TV series, after Grandmaster was killed by then-currently-Sub-Zero, there was the farewell ceremony with clothes on display (cause there was not much left of body after freezing and shattering) while new leader gave the speech promising to punish the guilty.

Which makes me think that Lin Kuei did honor their fallen warriors (especially those exceptional, deserving). Such custom and apparently common belief in soul could also support the ancestor worship - both as some ancient, mythical ancestor(s) connecting warriors into one clan (family) and tradition to follow in the footsteps of forefathers (Bi-Han taking place of his father [old timeline] or grandfather [current timeline] or Kuai Liang taking Bi-Han’s place as Sub-Zero).

My general conclusion about Lin Kuei is that its members believe in souls, have respect and use of spiritual matters (meditation?) and maybe ancestor worship. Whatever the religious / spiritual practices they have over the centuries, it is not something they will share, as the Lin Kuei by nature are secretive people who keep personal things mostly for themselves. The people that joined the clan (Cyrax and Smoke) maybe kept their old, eventual religious beliefs but overall, Lin Kuei warriors did not fear, care for nor pray to gods. They may respect god (Raiden, Fujin) as a person but not because of their divine nature. And even that would not stop them from criticizing said god. Which is pretty much how Kuai Liang and Raiden’s relationship looks like. Grandmaster is grateful to Thunder God for saving him but he won’t blindly follow his authority.

(Kuai Liang has serious authority issues, hasn't he?)

As for holidays, I can’t really see Lin Kuei to follow any specific religious (theistic) special day cause they don’t care much for gods in the first place. Unless they worked undercover and needed to act as normal human beings, religious holidays would mean nothing to them. The warriors may however celebrate their mission success, combat mastery or promotion between themselves or in secret, I think. Like, Lin Kuei did forbid friendship because it was considered warrior’s flaw yet we know some members either were blood-related (Kuai Liang, Bi-Han, previous Sub-Zero - father or grandfather, depending on which timeline is correct) or considered each other a family (Kuai Liang and Tomas Vrbada) and most named characters worked in duos so they have both opportunity and knowledge about each other to celebrate important matters. If they managed to remember anything from previous life, that is. Because from ancient to at least Great Kung Lao’s times most(?) adepts were kidnapped from biological families at a really young age (something around 6 years old). And Mythologies: Sub-Zero takes that even further:

Its warriors are chosen at birth to be raised apart from the workings of day to day civilization and are stripped of their former lives. Only the clan knows their existence. Each of them posses certain skills and abilities that set them apart from normal men. These abilities are passed on from generation to generation and honed throughout the experiences of life.

So, celebrating birthdays doesn’t sound like happening much, unless those with family around could allow themselves such luxury. The clan may however celebrate the day of becoming a fully trained and sworn warrior? Or the fallen warriors? Who knows.

Also, something worth thinking about: in Mortal Kombat Conquest TV series, when the Grandmaster presented newly appointed Sub-Zero to the rest of the clan, he “celebrated” the cryomancer's first official performance as the execution of two men who failed their mission. So, yeah, celebration of something special in (old) Lin Kuei does not necessarily mean anything nice.

(The next part of answer most likely will be focused either on food or architecture / origin of Lin Kuei. Let's hope I will get it written sooner than later)

<><> EDIT <><>

RELIGION <> ORIGINS / ARCHITECTURE <> FOOD <> FOR THE LIN KUEI <> ART <> CRYOMANCERS <> LIN KUEI SOCIETY <> MONEY & MATERIAL GOODS

[sequinsmile-x]

If Tomorrow Starts Without Me - Chapter 8

Rating: Mature

Words: 7,271

Trigger warning: descriptions of canon typical violence 

Either read over on ao3, or below the cut!

Let me know what you think :) 

August 1998

“Fifth times the charm.” Emily mumbles under her breath as they are let into the house by the real estate agent. She smiles when she feels Aaron squeeze her hand tighter, a silent request that she behave herself.

“What was that Mrs Hotchner?” The overly cheery estate agent asks.

“Oh, it’s very charming.” Emily answers, completely straight faced. The other woman seems to accept her answer and walks further into the living room.

“Good save.” Aaron whispers into his wife's ear, and she shushes him, hitting him lightly in the chest.

“I’ll give you two a chance to have a wander round yourself. If you have any questions I’m here.”

The house is perfect, something neither of them had been expecting given the disasters the past few viewings had been. They walk around upstairs, the master bedroom stealing both of their hearts almost instantly, and the room just down the hall that screamed it would be a perfect nursery making both of them smile.

“How long did you say you two had been married again?”

The real estate agent makes them both jump, and they turn to look at her, her fond smile fixed on their joint hands.

“Two years.” Aaron answers, unable to stop the way he smiled as he looked at his wife. There were days when he still couldn’t figure out how he had gotten so lucky, or why Emily had picked him to spend her life with. Sometimes he asked her, when they were laid in bed together, twisted in their sheets. His curiosity getting the better of him as he took in the incredible woman he got to call his wife.

Emily never answered him, not with what he was looking for anyway. She never gave a reason solid enough for his liking. Just a roll of her eyes, occasionally joined by the pinching of whatever skin her fingers were closest to. Then she’d mutter that she was the lucky one.

“Well, this would make the perfect nursery.” The real estate agent says, a wry smile on her face. “Are you two planning on any additions to the family?”

Emily would usually put on her political smile at such a personal question, and provide some kind of half answer to the woman who was selling them a house. But she can’t, her happiness overwhelming any usual need to play her cards close to her chest.

She looks up at her husband and smiles at him. “Yes, we are.”

They sign the deeds the next day. _________________

April 2000

Aaron finds her sat in the middle of the room they had intended to be a nursery. She’s sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, an old shirt of his stretched over them as she wraps her arms around herself.

He silently sits next to her, the words from the doctor they had seen that day still reverberating around his head. The apology that told them everything they had needed to know. Everything that, on some level, they already knew.

It had taken him quite some time to get her home, her devastation in the parking lot outside the fertility clinic so raw he practically had to carry her back to their car. He had convinced her to shower when they got back, giving her the time alone he knew she craved.

Emily leans into him and presses her wet face into his shoulder. Aaron wraps her arms around her, pulling her into his arms.

“I knew something was wrong.” She murmurs into his shirt. “I knew it.” The tears start afresh, not that they had ever really stopped, and he rocks her gently.

Aaron shushes her, rubbing a hand up and down her back, pointless words of reassurance whispered into her hair. _________________

October 2002

“Ok, we’re here.” Aaron says as he pulls the car into their driveway, immediately turning around once it was parked, his seemingly ever-present smile widening at the sight of his wife and his newborn son in the backseat.

Emily smiles at Theo, gently touching his cheek. “Did you hear that, baby? We’re home.” She looks up at Aaron. “Would you mind getting him?”

“Of course not.” He gets out the car and gets to work on getting Theo’s carseat out of the back. By the time he is done Emily is still half sat in the car. “You ok, sweetheart? Do you need help?”

“No.” She grits out, wincing as she makes the final move to get out of the car. He’s by her side in an instant, one hand on her lower back and the other still holding the handle of the car seat. She rolls her eyes at him. “Aaron, my love, our very adorable son just took the best part of two days leaving my body very slowly. I’m going to be sore for a while.” She places a hand on his cheek and smiles at him. “Time is really going to drag if you react like that everytime I wince.”

Aaron opens his mouth to argue, but when she raises an eyebrow at him again he concedes, but keeps his hand on her lower back as he leads them into the house.

Emily makes a beeline for the couch, settling down into it’s cushions almost immediately. Her entire body hurt, and she didn’t think she had ever been this exhausted, but she was so happy she could burst.

She looks over to where her husband was standing, now holding Theo in his arms. “Aaron, bring me my baby.”

He walks over to her and sits next to her, gently handing their son over, before maneuvering her so their shoulders overlap, both of them looking down at Theo as he fights sleep.

“Is Jack staying at Jessica’s tonight?” She asks gently, eyes not moving from the baby.

“Yeah, she said she’ll bring him back tomorrow. Apparently he’s excited for more time with Theo.” Aaron answers, kissing her temple.

“That’s sweet.” She traces a finger over her son’s soft cheek, smiling as it twitches slightly in his sleep. Aaron shifts behind her, and it jolts her, making her wince as pain radiates through her body. She hears his sharp intake of breath, the way he opens his mouth to apologise. She removes the hand she’s had under Theo to cover her husband's mouth. “Don’t even think about it.” _________________

October 2003

Emily feels a tiny hand tugging at her shirt and readjusts Theo on her hip. She mindlessly presses a kiss to his head as she loads the washing machine. It never failed to amaze her how much laundry her one year old son could create.

Theo rests his head on her shoulder, the sleepiness he had been fighting in his refusal to go down for a nap finally winning out. “Mama.”

Her gaze snaps to him the second she hears his little voice, and he’s looking at her through tired eyes. “What did you just say?”

“Mama.” He repeats, as if he has said it a thousand times, as he buries his head further into her.

“Oh.” She abandons the laundry and wraps both arms around her son, pulling him tightly into her as she presses a kiss to his forehead. “You’ve never said that before.”

“Sweetheart, I just came to check you haven’t fallen in.” Aaron’s voice floats into the room, but his teasing tone fades when she turns and he sees the tears in her eyes. “Em, what’s wrong? What happened?”

She shakes her head, laughing at herself for the tears she cannot stop from coming. “Nothing’s wrong.” She clears her throat and bounces Theo on her hips slightly, getting his attention. “You going to show Daddy your new trick, huh?” Theo smiles up at her, his toothy grin as infectious as it was the first time he had done it. “Who’s this?” She points at herself and waits a beat, hoping he does it again.

“Mama.”

Aaron looks as delighted as she feels and pulls them both into a hug, kissing the top of Theo’s head before pressing a kiss to her lips.

When he pulls back she doesn’t miss the way his eyes are shining too. _________________

May 2004

He finds her standing watching the boys, hanging back from the entryway to the den so neither of them spot her. He walks up behind her, wraps his arm around her waist and she easily settles into him, resting her weight partially on him. He presses a kiss to her temple and looks over to where Jack and Theo are playing to see what she has been watching.

Jack was playing a video game, a racing one he was obsessed with. Theo was sitting next to him, the 18 month old holding a controller Aaron knew wasn’t plugged in, copying his brother intently like he had started doing lately, smashing buttons on a controller as if he knew what he was doing and was about to win the race.

The sight made him smile. The age difference between the two of them meant things were tricky sometimes, Theo was too young to really join in on anything that interested Jack, but they adored each other.

“He’s a good big brother.” Emily says, the sadness in her voice undeniable, and he knows she is thinking about the negative pregnancy tests in the trash in their ensuite bathroom. A failed round of IVF making the devastation on her face from years ago make it’s return, something he wishes he could fix for her but knows he never can.

“Come on, let's go sit.” He kisses her temple and slowly drags her out of the den, letting her give the boys one more fleeting look. He guides her to the living room, settles them both on the couch. “What are you thinking?”

She laughs, but it comes out more like a sob. “That I hate my stupid body.”

“Em.” He chastises, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. It was something she had said many times over the years. Throughout their attempts to have a baby, through the first failed attempt at IVF before Theo. Even in those last weeks of her pregnancy when Theo all but refused to be born. It always had the same result, him gently telling her off for speaking about herself that way. Reminding her she was more than her ability to have children. There were days when it didn’t help, and he knew this would be one of them.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Aaron.” She wipes a tear from her face only for it to be immediately replaced. “It’s too much. I can’t keep doing this.”

He pulls her into a hug and she gladly accepts it, grasping the back of his sweater tightly in her hands. He doesn’t know what to say, how to help her. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more.”

He pulls back from her, moves his hands so they are cupping her cheeks. “Emily, I need you to listen to me ok?” She nods in response, tears falling as she does. “You have given me everything and more. If we had spent our whole lives just the two of us in this house that would have been all I needed, because I would have had you.” He runs his thumbs over her cheeks. “We have two amazing kids down the hall, and you’re an amazing mother to them. Watching you with them is a privilege, sweetheart. I hope you know that.”

She nods again, although he can tell she doesn’t quite believe him. He draws her back into his embrace and rocks her slightly as she cries it out, mourns a future she can no longer see.

He closes his eyes as he rests his cheek against the top of her head, images of a little girl with her eyes and attitude haunting him in a way he hadn’t expected. _________________

Aaron calls Sam’s phone. If Foyet had taken Sam’s car, he would have grabbed his cell too. He’d want Aaron to contact him, to be a part of this.

The phone is answered within seconds.

“Agent Smith.” Foyet’s voice comes through the phone. It’s a sound that has haunted Aaron for months. Blurred the lines between consciousness and his nightmares. Ever present like a ghost he just can’t shift.

“Foyet. You don’t have to involve them. This is between us.”

“Terrible news about the Hotchners wasn’t it.” Foyet says, and Aaron can hear the mocking in his voice. “Their poor children. I have them with me now. The youngest is so small. She won’t remember either of them.”

Aaron closes his eyes as Foyet ignores him, and doesn't acknowledge what he is saying. He can hear they are in a car, but he’s not on speaker. Foyet was still living out his fantasy, not wanting Jack to understand the truth yet, wanting to draw this out for Aaron as long as possible. “If you lay a hand on any of them, if anything happens to my children, I will destroy you.”

“Yeah, we are just arriving now. Jack, do you still have the keys for the gate?” There is a pause, he can’t hear the conversation in the car until Foyet turns his attention back to him. “Got to go now. I’ll check in later.”

The line goes dead. Aaron hits the table in frustration, a growl leaving his throat that doesn’t sound human. He places his palms firmly on the table, trying to ground himself as he lowers his head, not looking at the team.

The conference room is silent for a moment, the conversation between Aaron and Foyet laying heavily in the air.

“Why would Jack have keys for wherever they are?” JJ asks finally, swallowing against the lump in her throat.

Aaron looks up at her, the question triggering something in his brain. “He’s taken them to the house.” _________________

He sighs as Penelope confirms that Emily is no longer on the line, and all Aaron can do is hope that his wife forgives him for this, for whatever comes next.

“Dad?” Jack’s desperate voice comes through the phone. “What should I do? How...how do I fix this?”

“Jack.” Aaron says firmly. “I will be there soon. Where is Amelia?”

Jack blows out a breath, his panic evident. “Upstairs, sleeping.”

He sighs in relief. He’s close to their house, only a couple of streets away and he just needs to distract Foyet long enough so he can get there. “Good. That’s good. Tell Theo to go upstairs.”

Aaron knows that if it was different, if it was Emily that Foyet had managed to lure to the house he’d kill her now. Not give him the chance to save her, make their last interaction after all their time together be over a phone as people listened in. With the children, Foyet would want to make him feel like he had a chance, like he could have saved them. His final torment.

He would want to kill them with Aaron in the house. _________________

He doesn’t remember turning the ignition off in the car. He jumps out with his gun in hand as quickly as he can manage, not even closing the car door behind him. The front door is slightly open and he bursts in, the first thing he sees was Jack sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead, eyes purposely not focused on Foyet.

Jack looks at Aaron, relief flooding his face at the sight of his father. “Dad.”

“Well, isn't this touching?” Foyet sneers, taking a step closer to Jack. Aaron turns his focus to Foyet, training his gun on the man.

“Jack.” Aaron doesn’t stop looking at Foyet, his eyes and his gun firmly directed at him. “Go upstairs.”

“Dad-”

“Jack. Upstairs now.”

He takes his eyes off Foyet for a second when he hears Jack reach the top of the stairs, and that's when he takes his chance. Aaron’s gun is knocked out of his hands before he knows what's happened, a punch to his face briefly stunning him.

Aaron sees Foyet bolt for the stairs, his speed surprising. Aaron catches him as he gets to the top, smashing the other man's head into a framed piece of art on the wall before he can make it into Jack’s room. They struggle, both falling down the stairs in a heap. Aaron feels his head collide with the bottom step, and his ribs aching with the force of the fall.

They separate, meeting in the entrance of the dining room, circling each other like predators. Aaron can feel the red mist descending. He’s known from the beginning, the moment he saw Foyet reflected in a picture of Emily’s smile, that this was only ever going to end one way. With one of them dead.

He hears a noise upstairs. A bang and then the scuttling of feet, too small to be Jack. Meaning Theo was running around up there.

“Maybe I’ll let your precious Emily live.” Foyet taunts him, pulling a knife out of his pocket and flicking out the blade. “I’ll let her come back here to find you and your sons dead. She can raise your daughter who will have no memory of you except for the fact you failed. And your wife would hate you for it, for not protecting the family she always wanted.”

Aaron snaps. Months of torment, of letting his life be dominated by this man all culminating into one moment. Foyet knows so much about them, all of their secrets laid bare to him, and Aaron knows it will never be over until one of them is dead.

He’s sure he growls and he lunges for Foyet, knocking the knife out of his hand. He gets him on the floor and punches him in the face. Hard. His knuckles almost immediately split with the force of it. Foyet laughs at first, and it makes him angrier. His fist came down with more force.

Aaron keeps hitting Foyet long after he surrenders. Long after the gurgling sound he made as he choked on his own blood stopped.Images of his children and his wife flash through his head, punctuated by the sound of the bones in Foyet’s face breaking, his teeth smashing against his fist. Aaron can feel his knuckles cracking, his skin breaking against the jagged edges of Foyet’s face but he can’t stop. The need to get this monster out of their lives for good was too great, overwhelming his usual unflappable control.

Derek eventually pulls him off of him, Dave running in not far behind. “Hotch, he’s dead. You’ve got to stop.”

Aaron heaves in a breath and looks over at the man who had torn his family apart, who had haunted his every thought and nightmare since he attacked him in this very house.

Foyet is unrecognisable, his face distorted by blood and bone.

Aaron doesn’t spare him another glance before he turns to Derek. “The kids are upstairs.” _________________

He finds Jack in his bedroom. As soon as Aaron opens the door the teenager jumps, clearly expecting Foyet to walk in.

“Dad.” The relief in Jack’s voice is palpable, and he closes the gap between them, hugging his father tightly. “You’re hurt. Where is he? What happened?”

Aaron pulls back and places his hands on his son’s shoulders to take a good look at him. He had gotten slightly taller. Another growth spurt that Emily had teased was coming clearly behind him. He squeezes Jack’s shoulders. “He’s not a concern anymore.”

Jack frowns. “You mean he’s dead?” He swallows and tilts his head at his father. “You killed him?”

“Jack. We can talk about it later, ok? Let’s get Theo and Amelia.”

His son hesitates, but nods. They leave the room together, and Aaron walks past Theo’s room. “I told him to go to his room.” Jack says, pointing to the closed door.

Aaron turns back for a moment. “He’ll have gone where he feels safest.” He turns back and opens the door to his own bedroom.

Amelia is standing in her crib, crying, and for a moment he is taken aback by how big his daughter looks, how beautiful she is. A mini Emily through and through. “Hi, honey.” He breathes, reaching to hold her for the first time since the morning he dropped the kids at Elizabeth’s house all those months ago.

The baby shies away from him, crying as if he was a stranger and it hurts more than any of Foyet’s blows had. He hears a whimper coming from under the bed.

“Jack, take your sister outside. JJ and the team are there.”

Jack picks up Amelia, and Aaron pretends that watching his little girl curl into her brother's arms so easily didn’t hurt him. He tries not to think about everything he missed. Those precious months of his daughter's life were stolen from him.

Jack turns to leave the room, shushing his sister to try and calm her down.

“Don’t go into the dining room.” Aaron says firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. Jack looks back and nods briefly before leaving.

Aaron kneels on the floor, ignoring the pain that seems to spark throughout his entire body as he does so, and leans down to look under Emily’s side of bed. Theo is there, curled up in a ball, shaking. He has a gash on his forehead, and as soon as he sees his father he starts to cry in earnest.

“Daddy?”

Aaron clears this throat, pushing down all the emotions that threaten to spill out of him so he can try and help his terrified son. “Hey buddy. How about you come from under there?”

Theo sniffs and shakes his head. “George said Mommy is dead.”

It feels like a punch in the gut, the devastation in his son’s voice makes his own tears flood his eyes. “He lied, Theo. She’s ok. She’ll be here soon.” Theo still looks unsure, wiping his face with the back of his hand, unmoving from his place under the bed. “Have I ever lied to you before?”

He seems to think about it for a second before shaking his head at his father and Theo slowly scoots out from under the bed, immediately throwing himself into Aaron’s arms and holds him as tightly as he can.

Aaron pulls back and runs his hand over his son’s head, finger tracing the edge of the cut on his forehead. “What happened, buddy?”

Theo sniffs, his fingers digging into his father’s bloodied shirt. “I heard loud noises and got scared. I fell over.” He tilts his head at Aaron, placing his hand on his cheek, over a cut that Aaron knew must be one of a dozen or so injuries. “What happened, Daddy?”

Aaron smiles at his son and somehow, despite his injuries, he manages to stand without letting go of him, placing him on his hip as he leaves the bedroom. “It doesn’t matter now. Let's get this cut on your head checked out.”

_________________

Theo is getting checked over by a paramedic when Aaron hears it. A car pulling up and a door slamming. An almost immediate argument afterwards as he hears his wife’s voice demanding to be let into the house.

“Jack, stay with your brother and sister.” Aaron says, already walking towards the front of the house away from the ambulance, ignoring the paramedics as they shout after him that he needs to be checked over.

He tries to shout for her, but she doesn’t seem to hear him or Derek as they both try and get her attention.

Aaron is only a few paces from Emily when he sees her knees give way, and he looks to the house, sees the body bag on the porch and in a second knows what she has assumed. He catches her, arms wrapping around her waist. She fights it, the sounds coming from her almost inhuman. She’s begging to be let go, devastation in every word. He turns her around, uses his strength against her to make her look at him.

Their eyes meet, for the first time in six months, and he sees the moment she realises who she is looking at.

“Aaron?”

It takes a second for her to move. She throws her arms around him, hitting him with a force that makes him grunt, the pain in his body from his showdown with Foyet increasing by the second. He holds her back just as tightly, squeezing her body into his as she cries against his neck.

“I thought…” Her voice fades off, torn open by sobs she has no control over. “Fuck, Aaron.”

“I know, sweetheart.” He presses a fierce kiss to the top of her head. He tries not to register that her hair smells different, that she’s thinner, weight she couldn’t afford to lose, gone with the stress of the last few months. He kisses the top of her head again, tries to give her all the love he had stored up in half a year. Eager to spill out onto her in a way he can feel she is desperately trying to return. “I love you.”

She cries harder, pulls away from him and kisses him roughly. She pulls away from him enough to speak. “I love you too.” She seems to take in his injuries for the first time, runs delicate fingers over the broken skin on his face. “Where are the kids?”

He leads her to them, never once letting her out of his grasp. As soon as Theo spots his mother he runs to her. Tears streaming down his face before he even reaches her. Emily bends down to his level, arms wrapping around him tightly.

“Oh my sweet boy.” She presses a kiss to the side of his head, not quite believing it had only been a handful of hours since she had last seen him. Emily frowns when her lips catch the edge of a bandage and she pulls back, frown deepening when she sees the stark white material on her son’s forehead. “What happened?”

“I hit my head.” He explains, like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

Emily stands, pulling Theo against her side and wrapping an arm around him before she looks up at her husband. “Is he ok?”

Aaron nods in response, a silent promise that he would tell her later on his face. Jack appears next to them, Ameilia on his hip, his patience with hanging back gone. He pulls Emily into a fierce hug which she gladly returns, Theo taking the opportunity to step into his father’s side.

Emily and Jack pull back from each other. “I’m so glad you’re ok.” Jack says, the relief clear on his face, shining in his eyes in the form of tears he hadn’t let fall.

“Right back at you, kid.” She replies, running a quick knuckle over his cheek when a tear does escape. Amelia choses that moment to cry out and reach for her mother. Emily gladly takes her into her arms, holding her daughter close. “Sweetheart, it's ok. We’re all ok.”

_________________

Aaron has to go to the hospital. He tries to argue against it, but the firm looks of the paramedic and Emily leave him with no choice. They manage to all pile into one Ambulance, refusing to be separated so soon after being reunited.

They sit waiting for a doctor to come see him, to assess the damage Foyet had caused this time around.

It's not lost on Emily that the last time she’d seen him was in this very hospital, him begging her to go and hide away for her safety and their childrens. He’d been on edge, the mix of pain and sedatives that failed to calm him down had made him less coherent than normal.

It had taken her weeks to fall asleep without the look of horror on his face haunting her, or the fear that Foyet had killed him after all. Her only reassurance that he was alive being the very fact she was apart from him, and not in their home.

He somehow looked worse now than he did when he had just been stabbed. He was thinner, paler than she’d remembered him to be. A sign that he hadn’t looked after himself like she had begged him too when she left.

His shirt was splattered with blood, a mixture of his own and of the man who had tried and failed to tear their family apart blending together.

“Agent Hotchner?”

They look up to see a nurse standing there, waiting to take him to the numerous scans they were told he would need to ensure he didn’t have any internal bleeding.

He nods at her as he stands up off of the gurney he was on, wincing as he does so. He kisses Emily’s forehead as he passes her, a promise that he will be back soon pressed into her skin.

Having him out of her sight immediately sets her nerves on edge. Her ribs feel tight, fear scratching up her spine that he would be snatched away from them again. Emily looks over to the other side of the cubicle and sees Jack with a sleeping Amelia on his lap, talking gently to Theo to keep him distracted.

“Jack, are you ok here with them for a moment?” She lifts her hand that is holding Aaron’s cell phone. “I’m going to make a call.”

“Of course.”

Emily doesn’t miss the nervous look on his face, the waver to his voice, and she wants to kill Foyet herself for doing this to them all. She walks past Jack on the way out, and passes a hand briefly through Amelia’s soft hair before squeezing Jack’s shoulder. “I won’t go far, I promise.”

She finds a relatively quiet hallway and blows out a breath as she pulls up the contact she was looking for, pressing the screen before she could change her mind. The call is answered almost immediately.

“Aaron, is everything ok?”

Emily feels more emotion hit her than she was expecting, and has to close her eyes to hold back the tears she can’t afford to shed yet. “Hi, Mother.”

“Emily?” _________________

Her mother promises to fly back to the US as soon as she can, insisting on seeing them all as soon as possible. It’s an odd conversation, but not the most awkward they’ve ever had. Emily isn’t sure how to explain anything, how to tell her parents that a man had been scraped off of their dining room floor only a few hours ago.

Elizabeth asks how she can help, and Emily off-handedly says at the end of the call, with the promise to call again tomorrow, that they needed somewhere to stay.

Elizabeth calls back less than 5 minutes later and tells Emily there is a hotel room booked for them as long as they need it. The owner was an old friend of her mothers who was more than happy to help once he knew all of the details.

Emily walks back to the cubicle they had been put in to find both Amelia and Theo asleep on the gurney under the watchful eye of their older brother.

“Hi.” She says gently so she doesn't startle him. Jack turns to look at her, a sad smile on his face.

“Hi, Emily.” He looks away from her again and back to his siblings.

She sits next to him, taking his hand as she does so. “You ok?”

“I’m so sorry, Emily.”

She frowns at that, the desolation in his voice, and she gives his hand a squeeze. “What for?”

“For believing him, for putting your kids in danger.”

Emily feels like she has had the breath knocked out of her.“Jack.” She breathes out. “You are my kid.” He looks at her then, eyes wide with tears pooling at his lashes. “I love you just the same as I love them, okay?”

He nods at that, the movement making tears falls down his face which he immediately wipes away. “Okay.”

She smiles at him, pulling him into the best hug she can considering they are sat in hard plastic chairs.

“I love you too, Emily.”

Emily presses a kiss to the side of his head. “I know you do, honey.” _________________

The hotel room is massive. It’s the penthouse suite, three bedrooms leading off of the main living area, a kitchen in the back corner, and a bathroom with a massive jacuzzi tub. As soon as she opens the door, a sleeping Amelia in her arms, Emily realises she should have expected it.

Her mother had never been one for being low key.

Emily sees a couple of bags on the couch, stuff she knows JJ had sent up for them. A couple of change of clothes for them all, some pyjamas and basic toiletries.

She puts Amelia down to sleep immediately, placing her in the crib that had been put in the master bedroom.

It doesn’t take long for the boys to go to bed. They chose to share a room despite there being enough for them to sleep separately for the first time in months, and something about it makes her smile. She tucks Theo in at his request, and sends Jack a grateful smile, knowing he is giving her and Aaron some time.

As Emily clicks the bedroom door behind her she sees her husband flex his fingers, the stiffness in the swollen joints obvious. “Come on.” She says gently, indicating he should sit on the couch. “We should ice your hand a little.”

He complies as she briefly leaves the room to grab a towel, before getting ice from the bucket and wrapping it up.

Aaron hisses as the cold hits his skin, and she gently apologises under her breath.

“Why did you do it?” Emily asks as she holds the ice over his torn up knuckles like the nurse had instructed. She thinks briefly about how gentle his hands had always been with her, with their children. It seemed incongruent to think that the same hands had just beaten a man to death in their dining room.

“Do what?”

She glares at him, pressing a little too harshly with the ice into his hand. “Serve yourself up to him like some kind of sacrificial lamb.”

“Better me than you or the kids.” He says gruffly, avoiding her unyielding gaze. “It’s me he wanted. If he had killed me…” His voice drifts off for a second at the sharp intake of breath she takes in at that. He looked up at her, but she wasn’t looking at him anymore. Her focus on the broken skin on his hands. “You and the kids would be ok eventually, you’ve been without me for a while anyway.”

Emily looks up at him sharply and abandons her task completely, putting the ice down on the nightstand. She cups his cheeks, thumb tracing over a cut high on his cheek bone. “We haven’t been ok, Aaron. At all. I got a taste of my life without you and I didn’t like it.” She clears her throat. “So, please don’t offer yourself up like bait to any more serial killers, ok?”

He doesn’t miss the crack to her voice or the way her fingers tremble on his face. He covers her hands with his and rests his forehead against hers. “Ok.” _________________

Aaron insists that she showers first. She tries to argue, says that he was the one who needed it more, but in the end she relents. She turns the water temperature up a little too high, lets it burn the day off of her skin.

Emily takes a deep breath and leans against the shower wall. The enormity of the day, and what she could have lost, hitting her all at one. She stands and sobs under the hot water beating down on her, different scenarios of how the day could have gone running through her mind in a way she knew would haunt her nightmares for weeks to come.

It didn’t feel real that they had all made it out, that she could start piecing her family back together.

She knew it wouldn’t be easy. The look on Aaron’s face when Amelia had cried when he tried to hold her upon their arrival at the hotel had fractured Emily’s heart. He had refused her offer of a joint shower, something he had never turned down before. Things felt fragile. Like the tiniest aftershock from the terror that had torn through their lives could tear them apart.

Once she has stopped crying, Emily showers quickly and wraps a bathrobe around herself as she leaves the bathroom. When she walks back into the bedroom she was sharing with Aaron he was nowhere to be found. She frowns and walks out into the main part of the suite only to find he’s not there either.

She begins to panic, wondering where he could possibly be, when the door the suite opens, her husband walking through with a CVS bag in his hand.

“Where the hell did you go?” She asks, voice harsher than she initially intended. She tightly wraps her arms around herself, trying desperately to hold the broken pieces of herself together. “You can’t just leave.”

“I thought I’d be back before you got out of the shower.” Aaron answers, shrugging his coat off at the door. He walks towards her and places a gentle hand on her arm. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Emily tries to smile at him, but it doesn’t quite work. The tension from the day was still bubbling under her skin in a way that made her worried she’d eventually take it out on him. “What was so important at the pharmacy? I thought they gave you everything you needed at the hospital.”

Aaron opens the plastic bag and pulls out a pack of three peanut butter cups and presses it into her hand. “They didn’t have any of the giant ones left, so this will have to do.”

She looks at the chocolate in her hand and then up at her husband, confusion leaking out of her every pore. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Peanut Butter Cups. They didn’t have any giant ones.”

Confusion quickly turns into concern as she worries he may have a concussion after all, the practicalities of getting him back to the hospital when all of their children were asleep running through her head. “Aaron, honey.” She places a hand on his cheek. “You’re not making any sense.”

Aaron leads her over to the couch and sits them both down. He silently pulls his cellphone out, presses the series of buttons he has used countless times since he had sent her away. He watches his wife’s face as her own voice comes out of his phone.

“Hi honey, I just left Theo’s school, and I need to pop home before I take Amelia to the daycare. I thought I’d let you know as my boss that I’ll be late for work, because my husband apparently forgot the conversation we had only last night, and I’ve ended up having to do the school run.”

Emily looks at him as they listen to the message together, but his eyes are fixed on his cell phone, his grip on it tight. This daily routine that had kept him going during the time they were apart being observed for the first time.

“Which, by the way, led to a lovely conversation with my mother. I know baby, Daddy is an idiot.”

They both smile sadly at Amelia’s baby noises in the background, the fact she had grown so much since then more evident than ever.

“Anyway, you owe me big time. I’m thinking at least two orgasms and one of those giant peanut butter cups. I’ll see you later. Lo-.”

The voicemail cuts out and they sit in silence for a few seconds, Aaron avoiding her gaze, before she speaks. “I don’t remember leaving that.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” He clears his throat, finally looking at her. “I didn’t find it until after I got home from the hospital and got my phone back.”

Emily places her hand over his wrist and strokes the skin there before laying her head on his shoulder. “How many times did you listen to that?”

“Daily. Sometimes more than once.”

She sighs and turns her head enough to press a kiss into the material of his shirt. She isn’t sure what to say, how to make any of it better. Ultimately she knows she can’t, at least not yet. They would both need to be on more even footing to feel reassured they had each other back.

“Thank you for my peanut butter cups.”

He laughs like she hoped he would, but he winces quickly, the pain in his ribs sharp like a blade. She lifts her head to look at him, concern laced through her expression. Aaron smiles at her and presses a whisper of a kiss to her lips.

“You’re welcome sweetheart, but I may have to take a rain check on those orgasms for now.”

Emily laughs this time, and it catches in her chest on a sob. She rests her forehead against his. “I’ll hold you to that, Hotchner.” _________________

Aaron sends Emily to bed, her exhaustion clear on her face. He showers quickly, wanting nothing more than to climb into bed with his wife and try to sleep.

When he walks into the bedroom she is already asleep. Curled close to the middle of the bed, her hand placed on the pillow intended for him. He pulls back the covers on his side and grabs her hand as she settles next to her, intertwining their fingers in a way that he had missed over the 6 months they were apart.

She had always been a light sleeper, which was only made worse when their children came along, so she wakes, but keeps her eyes closed. She squeezes his hand before untangling hers from his and placing it on his neck, thumb pressed to his pulse point.

“Is this real?” She moves so she’s sharing his pillow, forehead pressed against his, as if in that moment she doesn’t care if it is real, or some kind of cruel dream. That she just wants to be close to him, even if it means she’d open her eyes and find herself alone in the apartment she’d lived in with their children. “You’re here?”

He smiles at how she sounds when she’s half asleep, voice thick and words running into one. He pulls her closer into his arms and she gladly follows, wrapping themselves around each other tightly, as if George Foyet could rise from the dead and tear them apart again. They have so much to talk about, so many things that need fixing before they can go back to any version of the life they had before he came home to find Foyet waiting for him, but it could all wait until morning.

“I’m right here, sweetheart.” He presses a kiss to her nose. “I’m right here.”

They both sleep fitfully. Nightmares tearing at the edges of their consciousness until they wake, finding solace in each other's arms.

[tanyawritesstories]

Liquid Hearts | The Mandalorian x Reader pt. 7 finale

It's the end! This is the last chapter in this series, I hope y'all have enjoyed the entire thing thus far. I hope you think this end is satisfying, sorry if this chapter is so much shorter than the other ones. I hope you enjoy! 🥰

Series Masterlist

Word count: 2.6k

Warnings: fluff, so many feelings, arguing, canon divergence, more fluff, hints at past abuse, Din is adorable when nervous

•••

Din’s jaw dropped under his helmet. The Supreme Chancellor’s daughter. How was that even possible? This entire time he’d been traveling with an extremely powerful and important person and he hadn’t even known it. “That makes sense,” he heard Cara say from behind him. Din walked over to Y/N. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She sighed. “It wasn’t important and I was trying to stay away, to be invisible,” she answered. “I left the Rebellion just before the war ended. I was tired of it. Tired of being held hostage, tired of being protected and treated like an object of power.”

“My husband was an X-Wing pilot, I married him right after my mother said it was ok if we left the rebel cause. I never turned my back on them, never betrayed them. But I hated being in the spotlight, having to give orders, having to kill, having to tell families that their loved ones had died in combat,” tears accumulated in her eyes again. “I could only live that life for so long.”

Din wasn’t mad at her, how could he be? He realized now that the past she didn’t want to tell him about had been riddled with hurt and abuse. He understood now.

“Fett should be here soon and I’ll be gone,” Fennec said. She walked to Din and Y/N. “I hope everything works out,” she said to Din. “Thank you, Fennec,” Y/N said, “for helping rescue me and my daughter.” Fennec nodded to her and left the bridge. “What now?” Koska asked. “We wait, until the New Republic arrives and we sort everything out,” Bo-Katan answered her.

~~~~

It was a tense hour and a half until the New Republic X-Wing transports showed up. Luke hopped back in his X-Wing and helped escort the light cruiser to the nearest habitable planet with a suitable secluded spot where they could land. The X-Wings landed first, their pilots exited the craft and waited.

Y/N came out of the light cruiser with Din, Cara, Koska, and Bo-Katan all behind her. Din had offered to carry Mandi for her while she did official business. Y/N greeted Carson and Trapper beside their X-Wings. “So how have you boys been?” “Getting old,” Carson replied. Y/N laughed, “it’s good to see you both again.” Carson put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about your husband,” he said. Y/N smiled sadly and nodded. “The Chancellor is on her way here, she should arrive in a few minutes,” he said.

“She’s coming in person?” Y/N questioned. “Of course she is, she hasn’t seen her daughter in four years,” Trapper put in. Within a few minutes a large New Republic transport landed. Several armed guards and security exited the craft first and stood at attention. Then Mon Mothma herself came out of the craft. She looked at her daughter and saw the turmoil in her eyes, walking towards Y/N with her arms open. Y/N ran into her mother’s arms, hugging her tight.

“I missed you, my dear,” she said. “I missed you too, mama,” Y/N replied. They pulled away and Mon Mothma pushed Y/N’s hair out of her face. “I’m so sorry about Aogen, I heard what happened,” Mothma said. “Are you doing alright?” Y/N nodded and smiled sadly, “I’m getting there.” Mothma cupped her daughter’s cheek. “Last I heard, you were only weeks away from your due date. I haven’t seen my grandchild yet.”

Y/N smiled and turned around, motioning for Din to bring Mandi over. He hesitantly approached with Mandi in his arms and Grogu in the shoulder bag. Y/N took the baby from him and placed her in her grandmother’s arms. “This is your granddaughter, Mandi,” Y/N said. The older woman smiled and cooed over the baby. “How old is she now?” “A little under three weeks,” Y/N answered. “She seems like a healthy, happy young one,” Mothma stated. “We have this Mandalorian to thank for that,” Y/N said motioning to Din. “He delivered her, and has been helping me take care of her ever since.”

Din flushed under his helmet, not used to the attention and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. “You have my deepest thanks, for protecting both of them,” Mothma told Din. He wasn’t sure how to respond. “Um, it was my pleasure,” he managed to say. She handed Mandi back to Y/N. “I hate to have to talk business but you said you captured Moff Gideon,” she said. “Not me,” Y/N said. She turned around and faced the others that came with her. “They did, plus a couple others that couldn’t stay for the festivities.”

Mon Mothma addressed the three women and Din. “You all have my utmost thanks and the thanks of the New Republic,” she looked back at Y/N. “Where do you have him?” Y/N smiled and jerked her head towards Cara. “New Republic Marshal Dune will lead you to him.” Cara smirked as Mothma told a few guards to go with Cara to get Gideon. “I will address the situation of Mandalore with the other two later, they have been on the radar for sometime, I will work something out with them,” Mothma ensured.

Luke approached and the Chancellor greeted him. “What was your issue with Luke this time?” Mothma asked her daughter. Y/N got a determined expression on her face. “He wants to take this child away from his father,” Y/N answered. She pointed to Grogu, who looked up at the strangers with curious eyes. “He must be trained or he will continuously be at risk,” Luke said. “Fine, but can Mando at least be allowed to visit your school and see his son, you can’t take him away forever!” Y/N protested.

Luke thought for a moment. “I suppose that could be an option,” he said. “Anytime he wants, they’re extremely attached to each other, and the kid only listens to Mando anyway,” Y/N added. “I can agree with these terms,” Luke said with a nod. “Does that sound good to you, Mando?” Y/N asked Din. He looked between the three expectant faces all waiting for an answer from him. “I just want the kid to be safe,” he said. “Very well, perhaps you would like to visit when the school is finally finished,” Luke offered. “Then you could see your little one in action.”

Din nodded slowly. “I’d like that.” Luke nodded respectfully to Din. “We have one more thing to discuss,” Mothma said. “This Mandalorian hasn’t exactly had pleasant run-ins with the New Republic recently.” Din sighed, there had to be a catch. Y/N stood tall. “I will take on any lawful repercussions that he may have warranted,” Y/N announced. Din looked between Y/N and her mother. “No,” he said, putting his arm around Y/N’s back. “I can’t let you do that for me. You already let yourself get captured and tortured by the Imps.” “I know, and you saved me, so we’re even,” Y/N said. “Now I’m doing this for you, so-”

“No, I can take responsibility for my own choices,” Din said, taking her hand. “That won’t be necessary,” Mothma interrupted. She called to someone behind her who walked over. “See that this Mandalorian’s criminal record gets wiped clean.” Y/N and Din exchanged glances. “You have done a great service to the New Republic today, it’s the least we can do for you,” the Chancellor said. Y/N got excited and wrapped Din into a tight hug. He chuckled and hugged her back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some other Mandalorians to talk to.”

~~~~

It took a couple weeks to sort everything out. The New Republic had promised to help Bo-Katan any way they could although it looked bleak. Y/N hid the Darksaber on the ship they were taking back to Trask to pick up a couple other Mandalorians. Din was given plenty of time to say goodbye to Grogu and even flew him to Luke’s Jedi school on Ach-To to drop him off. Y/N had come with and Luke took them both on a tour. They decided to stay the night and Din found Y/N away from everyone else, sitting on a rock and watching the sunset.

“Can I join you?” Y/N smiled. “Of course.” Din took a seat next to her and stared out at the water. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was initially,” she said. “It’s ok, I understand why you did,” Din replied. “I’m still sorry, that I was such a burden, that I dragged you into the whole New Republic mess, I know I-” “Hey,” Din put his hand on her knee. “You weren’t a burden, not at all. In fact….I enjoyed our time...together.” She smiled at him again, “As did I.” Y/N took his hand off her knee and held it in her hands. “Mando, I...I meant what you saw me say when I was taken,” She stuttered. “I know you may not feel the same way, but I have to get this out. I love you.”

She looked out at the setting sun. “I thought it was wrong at first, my husband hasn’t been gone that long but it….I’ve never felt this way before, and…” she trailed off. Din shucked off his gloves and couldn’t resist reaching over to cup her cheek and turn her head to look at him. “Y/N I….I love you too.” He sighed shakily, might as well let it all out. “I’ve tried to deny it, tell myself it wasn’t real, but I’ve never felt anything like I do when I’m around you. You’re so good with both the kids and you’re such a strong person…”

Y/N smiled and leaned over to him, pressing a kiss to the cheek of his helmet. “I know that’s as close as I’ll ever get to you, but that’s ok. I love you regardless and I always will, you’ve done more for me in a matter of weeks than anyone has in my whole life. Thank you for that.” Din's heart rate sped up as he thought of an idea. “That’s not exactly true,” he said. “Family members can see my face, I..I let Grogu see me just before I let him go with Luke. And Mandi saw me without it by accident.”

Y/N laughed, a heavenly sound that Din thought could drive away any bad weather. “What do you mean on accident?” Din sighed. “The first night on that frozen planet, while you were sleeping she woke up so I took her up into the cockpit with me and got her back to sleep, I was eating and bumped my helmet and woke her up. I picked her up to calm her down and she opened her eyes,” he explained. Y/N giggled again. “No wonder she thought you were her father, you were the first male face she saw.”

Din chuckled and took a deep breath, standing up and pulling Y/N with him. “I...I want to show you…” She shook her head. “If you don’t feel comfortable then don’t, I’m not pushing you to-” “I want to,” Din said. He slowly placed both hands on his helmet and lifted it off his head. Awe was written all over her face as she looked at him. “Stars, you...you’re beautiful…” she breathed. Din blushed and looked at the ground. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and made him look at her. “Would you look at that, I’ve fallen in love with the most stunning being in the whole galaxy.”

“You, you’re stunning too,” he said, still blushing. “Yes, most beautiful..” It was Y/N’s turn to blush now. “You’re too sweet, Mando,” she said. “Din,” he corrected. “My name is Din.” She smiled. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any better,” she mused. “What happens now?” He sighed, setting his helmet on the ground and taking both her hands in his. “I know we haven’t known each other for long but I’ve been all over the galaxy, met all kinds of people and I’ve never known anyone who makes me feel the way you do. I don’t want to pass it up and never have the chance again..”

“Neither do I,” she agreed. “What do you say? Together from here on out?” He nodded. “Yes, I’m not losing you again.” Y/N smiled up at him as happy tears welled in her eyes. “Can I kiss you, Din?” A smile came to his face, “yes.” Y/N leaned up and her lips met with his in a passionate kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he pulled her closer by her waist. They stayed connected for as long as they could go without air before reluctantly breaking apart. Their foreheads rested against each other, basking in their newfound love. Din quietly asked her a question.

“Marry me?”

Four years later…

Mandi bounded off the Razor Crest, her bare feet touching down on Ach-To’s lush grasses. She ran up the hill and searched through the groups of children in Jedi training, looking for her older brother. She spotted him with a group of other children, practicing their levitation. “Grogu!” She called out. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her over to her brother, greeting him with a hug which he returned. “Mandi!” He gurgled happily. The little girl was now taller than Grogu despite the fact that he had been growing.

“Mandi!” She looked over her shoulder to see her father walking with her mother. “Don’t disturb them while they're training, you can wait,” he called. Luke came out of a nearby hut, smiling at his visitors. “It’s quite alright, Mandi. They can have a break,” Luke assured her. Mandi took Grogu’s hand and the children wandered off together. Luke strode over to Din and Y/N. “I see a lot has happened since I last saw you both,” he remarked. “Only ever good things,” Y/N said, rocking the newborn in her arms. He looked more like Din than Mandi did. Luke placed a gloved hand on the baby’s head.

“It’s been a bit of a wild ride,” Din said with a smile, “she went into labor early again.” Luke watched as their child slowly woke up and looked around. “What’s his name?” Din and Y/N exchanged glances. “Mar’eyce,” Din answered. “It’s Mando’a for discovery, and finding a state of heaven,” Y/N added. “He’s a result of the heaven we found with each other.” Luke smiled and looked back down at the little one. “A perfect name.” He let the baby clamp onto his finger and Luke’s brow furrowed for just a moment, something Din noticed. “What is it?”

Luke chuckled. “You two are going to have your hands full,” he said. “This little one is Force sensitive as well.” Y/N’s jaw dropped and she laughed. Din was shocked. “How do you know?” “I can feel it, most likely Mandi and Grogu can as well. Mar’eyce is strong with the Force,” Luke informed. “Stars, you’re potent,” Y/N joked, slapping Din’s chest plate. “Hey, hey,” he admonished lightly. “We’re in public.” Luke smiled at them. “I’d best find where Mandi and Grogu ran off too, he will be eager to help teach her how to levitate things.”

Luke left Din and Y/N and the woman laughed. “What’s so funny, my love?” Din asked. “We are outnumbered by Force sensitive children, this’ll be fun.” Din put his arm around her and held her close to him, smoothing his hand over his biological son’s little head.

“Yes, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[avengerscompound]

Running to a Standstill - 1

Running to a Standstill: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  2188

Rating:  E

Square filled: @star-spangled-bingo​ - Widow’s Bite

Warnings: none for this chapter, there will be smut and canon typical violence, etc for the series

Synopsis: While on the run from an unknown organization trying to take your son, you meet two super-soldiers.  While they try to help you get to the bottom of who is hunting you and your son, feelings come out and admissions are made that make your personal life even more tricky.

Chapter 1

Bucky sat cross-legged on the floor of Clint’s apartment fiddling with Natasha’s widow bites.  They'd malfunctioned while they were out chasing down some creeps trying to hold up a bank using stolen alien tech and now parts of them were spread out on the stained Ikea coffee table along with his machine gun, Clint’s bow, a handful of arrows, and some throwing knives.  Bucky had already been zapped three times, and at this point, he was determined to fix these things just to spite them.

“Fuck,” he cursed as he was zapped once again.  He shook his hand and sucked on his finger.

“Just leave them, James,” Natasha said, as she passed through the room on her way to the fridge. “Stark can fix them.”

“This is way below Stark’s pay grade.  I can do it,” Bucky argued, and like the miniature tasers were trying to spite him right back he got zapped again.  “Fuck!  You little…”

There was a rapping on Clint’s door followed by a snuffling sound and scratching.

“I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” Clint complained, tripping over Steve’s shield and then his own quiver as he made his way to the door.

He pulled the door open to reveal Clint’s one-eyed Labrador mix, a little boy who looked to be about three or four years old, and you.

“Hey, Clint,” you said, cheerily as the little boy chased the dog inside.  “Returning Lucky.  Thanks for letting me take him out.”

“You kidding?”  Clint replied as Steve quickly got to his feet and started picking up weapons and putting them up out of the reach of little hands.  “Did me a favor.  Thanks for taking him with you.”

“Of course, Geo loves him,” you replied.  “Geo, you say thank you to Mister Barton?”

“Dank,” the little boy who seemed to be named Geo said.  “Nad, Nad, Nad…”

Natasha smiled softly.  It was a rare thing to see and it made Bucky feel a little warm on the inside.  A feeling he was still getting used to experiencing.

“What is it, malysh?”  She asked.

Geo then babbled a series of words that seemed to include ‘balloon’, ‘doggy’, ‘fly’, and ‘cake’ but Bucky couldn’t quite follow what he was actually saying.

“Well that all sounds fantastic,” Natasha said, brushing the little boy's hair off his face.  “What a wonderful day you’ve had.”

He bounced on his toes and kissed her cheek before running off toward Bucky.

“Geo, honey,” you said in that patient voice that some parents couldn’t seem to be able to perfect.  “We need to go,” you said taking a step into the room.  “Sorry, Clint.”

“Mama, but dis,” Geo complained, coming over to Bucky and patting his arm.

“No, honey, they’re doing work,” you said, as Geo caressed the metal plates on Bucky’s prosthetic arm.

“Whad dis?”  Geo said, looking up at Bucky.

“Oh my god,” you said, sounding mortified as Clint stifled a laugh.  “I’m so sorry, Sergeant… Barnes?”  You said his name like a question, confirming his identity.

Bucky shook his head.  “It’s fine,” he said to you and turned his attention back to Geo.  “That’s my arm.”

“Is a robod arm?”  Geo asked.

“Yeah, it’s a robot arm,” Bucky answered.

Clint laughed and closed the door behind you.  “You might as well get comfortable.  This is gonna be a while.”

“You’re sure?”  You asked, “You look busy.”

“Nah, Bucky’s just trying to fix something he can’t fix,” Clint said.  “You want a drink?”

“A beer would be amazing,” you said and took a seat on the couch.

“You fix fing?”  Geo asked.

“Yeah, that’s right.  I’m fixing these?”  Bucky said, showing the little boy the Widow Bites.  Steve gave Bucky a look that was slightly disapproving but he didn’t actually say anything.  Bucky wasn’t sure he was good with kids.  He always felt a little awkward, like he was going to say or do the wrong thing.  He did like kids though.  They didn’t know what he was and they were true to their emotions.  If they didn’t like you, you knew right away.  Maybe showing the Widow Bites to a toddler was a terrible thing to do, but he seemed interested and you didn’t say anything, so Bucky figured he can’t have done anything too bad.

Clint handed you a beer and introduced you to everyone as Geo looked at all the pieces of the Widow Bites carefully like he really understood what was going on with them.  “They rent the place two floors below this one,” Clint explained.

“Geo loves Lucky, so Clint lets us take him to the park when we go and he doubles as my guard dog,” you added.

“So what is it you do?”  Steve asked.

“Oh, this and that,” you said, cryptically.  “I sometimes do shifts at a coffee place down the street.  I babysit.  I do some temp work here and there.”

“That must be difficult,” Steve said.

“I make do,” you said.  “Geo’s dad died and I do what I have to to get by.”

Steve frowned.  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

You shrugged.  “Thank you, I’m sure you understand loss.  Given… everything.”

“Dis go dare,” Geo said, pointing at one of the wires and moving his finger to a circuit board.

“Yeah?  I dunno, buddy,” Bucky said, not sure how to tell a toddler that he could just randomly solder pieces of a weapon together.

“Goes dare,” he insisted, climbing into Bucky’s lap.

“You might as well just do it,” Natasha teased as she lounged back on the recliner.  “It’s not like he’ll make it worse.”

“Alright,” Bucky said.  “You keep your hands back okay?”

“Otay,” Geo said, putting one hand on each of Bucky’s arms.  Bucky carefully soldered the wire into place and powered the tasers on.  They started up fine and when he gave the to Natasha and she tested them out they seemed to work fine.  Bucky looked from you to Geo and back at Natasha with the tasers.

“Did … did you just fix them, pal?”  He asked.

“Uhh… he… kinda has a knack for things like that,” you said, putting your drink down.  “Hey, Geo, maybe we should go.”

The way you reacted reminded Bucky of a prey animal who’d realized they’d just gotten themselves cornered. Your eyes flicked to the exits and back to your son.  “Hey,” Steve said, gently.  That commanding but soothing tone coming to him instinctively.  “You’re alright.  You’re safe here with us.”

“Yeah, hon,” Clint agreed.  “If you can’t trust Captain America, who can you trust?”

You seemed to relax back in the chair and Geo climbed off Bucky’s lap and toddled over to where Lucky was lying and lay down against him.  Steve looked at the little boy and then at you.  “If you need to talk to anyone… or you need any help.”

You shook your head.  “It’s… fine.  I’ve been dealing with it.”

“Dealing with what exactly?”  Steve asked.

“You ever read the book ‘Firestarter’?  Or see the movie?  The movie had Drew Barrymore in it?”  When Steve’s blank look never changed.  “No, of course not.  Why would you?  Anyway, it’s like that.  And … well, less attention the better.  So thank you, but I’m fine.”

Steve looked you over and gave a nod.  “If you ever change your mind…”

“I know where you are.  And I appreciate the offer,” you stood up and threw your beer bottle into Clint and Natasha’s recycling bin.  “I better take him back home.  He’s gonna pass out.”

Bucky looked back over at Geo who now had his eyes closed and was curled into Lucky’s side.  You picked up the little boy and he snuggled into your neck and opened and closed his hands on your back.  “Thanks again, Clint.”

“Yeah, no worries,” Clint said getting up and opening the door for you.  “He likes going out with you.”

“I’ll see you,” you said and hurried out of the room.

“Way to go,” Natasha teased.  “You scared away our only normal friend.”

“What did she mean by the Firestarter thing?”  Bucky asked.

“See, that’s new,” Clint said, flopping down on the couch. “I just knew she was a widow.  Firestarter is a story about this couple that goes through a bunch of medical testing at college and then they have a kid who can light fires with her mind.  And the people who did the testing on them start chasing them around the country to get the kid.”

Steve stiffened up and pulled out his phone. “You didn’t know she was on the run?”

Clint shook his head.  “Just a widow with a kid.  I have heaps of single mom tenants.”

“Clint likes to offer them cheap rent and then they’re so grateful they sleep with him,” Natasha explained.

“Hey now!”  Clint spluttered.  “Don’t make me sound like an asshole.  I offer them cheap rent ‘cause they are usually getting back on their feet.  Plus they’re often divorcees and they feel safer in the building two Avengers live in.  Can’t help it if some of them start hanging around and making me food and then one thing leads to another.”

“Maybe I should do some checking up on that,” Steve said.  “If she’s in trouble, we can’t just ignore it.”

“She obviously doesn’t want to be noticed, maybe you should just leave it alone,” Natasha said.

“We’re authority figures.  I can understand why she might not trust that we can help,” Steve said.  “But you and I both know we can.”

“Fine!” Natasha said, holding up her hands in defeat.  “Do what you like.”

“Did you really sleep with her?”  Bucky asked, getting up off the floor and moving to the recliner as Steve tapped around on his phone.

“Her?  No.  Just something that’s happened a few times with other tenants.  Nothing planned,” Clint explained.  “She’s cute though, right.”

Clint wasn’t wrong.  Bucky did think you were attractive.  You seemed nice too, the fact you trusted Geo with him meant a lot to him and the way you didn’t make a huge deal about Steve.  A lot of women always made a huge deal of Steve.  Not that Bucky could blame them for that too.  He’d been harboring a crush on Steve that stretched way back before most women even looked twice at Steve.

“You’re really okay with that, Tasha?”  Bucky asked.  Natasha and Clint didn’t exactly have a conventional relationship.  It wasn’t really one he was used to seeing but they seemed happy.  He kept expecting jealousy to rear up but they just spoke about how they each slept with other people like it was no big deal at all.

“Yeah, of course,” Natasha said.  “Gotta let go of the idea monogamy is the only possible happily ever after, James.  Some people find happiness alone and in themselves, some find it in the beds of strangers, some with one loving partner.  And some with multiple.”

“And some people like to shack up with their best friend and get up to all kinds of shenanigans,” Clint added, moving from the couch to the recliner with Natasha and curling up with her.

“Find what it is that makes you happy,” Natasha concluded.  “Besides sleeping with one person for the rest of my life-” She mimed yawning and Clint laughed and snuggled into her more.

“If only…” Bucky muttered as he looked at Steve.

Steve looked up from his phone puzzled and raised an eyebrow at him.  “What's that, Bucky?”

“Nothing, go back to being a snoop,” Bucky grumbled, once again ignoring the clear opportunity to come clean about his feelings.

“You want us to set you up with her, Buck?”  Clint asked.  “She's really fun. She and Geo come up a bunch.  We eat pizza and play videogames or take the dog out.  She's artistic too and snarky.  And Nat even likes her.”

“It's true, I do,” Natasha said.  “She brings us coffee and croissants from the place she works.”

“Then what would she want with me then?” Bucky asked, almost folding in on himself.  Clint gave him a look that both said he understood and that he pitied him and Natasha scowled at him.

“James,” she said.

Bucky knew he had to deflect quickly or he'd get a lecture about being worthy of love, and he was really not in the mood for that.  He quickly waved a hand in Steve’s direction.  “Set her up with Steve.  He's the one worried about her past and she treated him like a normal person.”

“Oh that's a good point,” Clint said, nudging Natasha.

Natasha picked up a cushion and threw it at Steve.  He caught it on reflex and looked up at him. “How about we organize dinner for you and her?” Natasha suggested.  “Then you can try and get her backstory in person in a less aggressive fashion.”

“That's a good idea,” Steve said, completely oblivious that he was being set up on a date.  “Set it up.”

Natasha smirked at Bucky and winked.  Bucky smiled back and hoped that it hid the little flare of jealousy he just felt raise it’s head.

// NEXT