#at that time he was already a wild and dangerous man omfg | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alirhi · 3 years

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jfc FINALLY

Ugh. I have been fighting with my muse to get this done for two months. And I was actually going to stretch it to line up more or less with the movie's timeline, but honestly... I'm just so burnt 😂 So this is what you get.

Title: Monday Chapter: Oneshot Fandom: Monday Rating: R/NC17 (I mean, have you seenthe movie?) Pairing: Mickey/OC Summary: What if, instead of Chloe, Mickey met a woman that night who was actually good for him and whom he was compatible with? WARNINGS: swearing, sex (not explicit; I rarely if ever write smut, but still) Notes: I hate Chloe. Omfg I hate her so much. So I fixed it XD Yes, I literally rewrote the entire movie with a different love interest. Well... most of it lol. I get bored, okay? Lol. Oh, and the girl is actually a character I yanked from one of my original stories lol. I didn't make her up on the spot for this (I'm too lazy for that XD). Tweaking her to fit the setting was kind of a bitch, as she's from a fantasy series, so if she seems kind of Mary Sue-ish...sorry.

“You have a nose for American cheese!”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Come on, that girl looks insane!”

“What?” Looking surprised, Argyris turned and looked where his friend was pointing, and then laughed. “Not her, you idiot! The ginger-snap over there!”

The girl in question, a lithe, pretty thing with a wild mass of red hair that she constantly shoved impatiently out of her face was dancing alone a few feet away from the angry-looking blonde Mickey had thought he'd been talking about. She was gorgeous, he had to admit.

“Go and talk to her, man!”

He pointed to the turntables in front of him, impatiently reminding Argyris, “No, I'm working!”

“Come on,” the other man taunted, “I know your playlist inside-out! It's the same R&B shit, and then a little bit of disco!”

“It's not R&B, and it's not disco!”

“This song is twenty fuckin' minutes long! Come on!”

“Hey!” Mickey grimaced, hastily yanking his headphones off and setting them down as he was dragged off toward the redhead. “Fuck!”

All puffed up with pride – and way too much to drink – Argyris pushed Mickey when they drew close to the girl, so that he slammed right into her. Laughing, he patted her shoulder, but his mirth was short-lived. She grabbed his hand and twisted his arm up behind his back.

“Put your hands on a girl you don't know again. I dare you.”

Mickey covered his mouth with one hand to hide his laughter as his friend writhed in the deceptively delicate-looking girl's grip.

“Alright, alright! I'm sorry!” Laughing as he was released, Argyris went to put a hand on each of their shoulders, took one look at the girl, and just hung off of Mickey's shoulder, instead. “You're an American... You're an American! You're a man, you're a woman! There you go!”

“Yeah, crazy kismet,” she snapped, rolling her eyes. “Two Americans out of their natural deep-fried, flag-waving habitat at the same time! Imagine!”

Undaunted, the drunk Greek simply shrugged and flounced off with a flippant, “Whatever. Have fun!”

“Sorry about him,” Mickey said immediately, smiling when she turned and smiled at him. At least she didn't seem to be judging him by the company he kept.

“Friend of yours?”

“Argyris? Yeah.” He grinned. “He's kind of an idiot, but he's a good guy.”

She laughed. “I'll take your word for it. Aren't you the DJ? Should you be over here?”

“No,” he admitted with a laugh, “but I'm fine for a few minutes. You wanna dance?”

“I'd love to.”

She was tall, he realized as he spun her around; in the little barely-there heels she was wearing, they stood eye to eye. Clearly drunk, though, she lost her balance every few seconds and crashed into him with a laugh, occasionally giving up on righting herself and just resting her head on his shoulder.

Mickey grimaced as he heard the song beginning to wind down, but the girl hanging off of him only smiled and patted his chest. “Go on! Get back to work. I'll be here when you're done.”

“Any chance I could convince you to come around the other side?” He gave her his most charming grin, and felt a little warm inside when she laughed.

“Why, so you can stare down my top the whole time?”

With a shrug, he admitted, “I've been doing that anyway, so why not?”

“Honesty!” She grinned and kissed his cheek. “I like it. Alright, you gorgeous lech! Get back up there. We'll see what I can do about your view.”

He only made it another hour or so, with the girl coming up to him every few minutes with another drink, and occasionally flashing him from the spot she'd found in front of him. Queuing up enough songs to play through the end of the party, he hopped down off the podium and ran over to her, tugging her close for the kiss he'd been dying for since Argyris had first pulled him over to her. “You wanna get out of here?”

“You sure? What about-”

Mickey shook his head, smiling. “It'll run til they all pass out. No one'll touch my stuff, not here. Come on!”

“Okay, yeah.” She shrugged and laughed, allowing him to pull her through the throng of dancing people and away from the party. “Fuck it. Let's go!”

The next morning, naked, hungover, and covered in sand, they were nudged awake by a police officer while an angry lady yelled about their indecency. The officer waited for them to scramble back into their clothes and then cuffed them both, ushering them into the back of a cruiser.

Despite the situation, Mickey couldn't keep the silly smile off of his face. At least the cops had been kind enough to cuff their hands in front of them, allowing him to hold his out to the girl beside him. “Hi. I'm Mickey.”

She laughed, the realization that they'd never introduced themselves clearly dawning in her bright green eyes. “Beck.”

“Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand, but couldn't hide his slight confusion. “That a first name or a last name?”

“It's short for my first name.” She was still smiling, but there was a dangerous glint in her eyes as she added, “Call me 'Becky' once and I'll be facing real prison time at the end of this ride, and you'll be missing body parts.”

With a slightly nervous laugh, he nodded. “Alright, noted. Beck it is!”

“And, nice to meet you, too.”

There was the briefest of conversations at the police station, the sandy couple signed themselves out, and then Mickey persuaded one of the officers to give them a lift back to the beach.

“You want a ride?”

Beck grinned, one ruddy eyebrow arching up. “I still need to clean up from the 'ride' last night.”

Laughing, Mickey shook his head. “I'll never say 'no' to more of that, but that's not what I meant.”

“I know.” She shrugged, snarky grin turning into an almost bashful smile. “And yeah, I'd love a ride. Thanks.”

He loaned her his helmet and, after getting directions from her, drove her to her hotel. It seemed like that would be the end of it... and he hated that thought. “So, what're you doing tonight?”

“Packing and sleeping,” she told him with a laugh, leaning against the building. “I gotta be on a plane Monday morning, and I hate leaving things to the last minute.”

“You're leaving?”

With a grin and a snarky air kiss, she teased, “Missing me already, lover boy?”

Mickey shrugged, grinning. “Maybe I am. I like you, is that so bad?” He beckoned, and was somewhat surprised when she walked right over to him. Still smiling like a fool, he grabbed her by the waistband of her shorts and pulled her close for a kiss. “Come with me tonight, for a proper sendoff.”

“Come with you where?”

“I'm DJing on an island.” Thumb sliding under her clothes to slide over her hip, he wheedled, “Come on. Come with me.”

“I need to shower. I'm all sandy and sticky from last night.” Beck gave him just long enough to deflate, and then she smirked and nipped his jaw. “Care to join me?”

“Fuck yes!” He was off his moped in a flash, following the laughing redhead as she took his hand and tugged him into the hotel. Giggling like hyenas, the pair made their way up to Beck's room, stopping every few steps for one to yank the other close for another kiss. Mickey was on cloud nine. This girl was fun, she was sassy and wild, and he couldn't get enough.

It seemed she couldn't get enough, either. They'd barely stepped into the shower before Beck was on her knees in front of him, her hand on his ass and his hand tangled in her hair as she sucked him off. He leaned back against the wall, tugging lightly on her hair and shuddering as he felt her moan around him.

“Fuck... oh, fuck, you're good at that! Holy shit... Stop. Stopstopstop!” With a little half-smile at her look of confusion, he tugged her back to her feet and kissed her. “You're fucking amazing. God damn, you are good with that mouth! But that's not what I want.”

Beck grinned, a playful glint in her bright green eyes that made him weak in the knees. “That's not a good idea.”

“Oh, no?” He backed her up against the wall, nuzzling her neck as his hand drifted down between her legs. “Funny... You don't seem to really believe that.”

“I definitely want you to fuck me til I can't move,” she assured him, shaking as she tried desperately not to laugh. “But it's not a good idea-” Her words turned into a startled whimper as Mickey hoisted her up by her thighs and slid into her to the hilt.

“I think it's a great idea,” he purred, biting her shoulder. Then he almost dropped her, and they both cracked up.

“The wall's slippery! This isn't smart.”

“No, it's definitely not smart,” he agreed, turning so that he was holding her up in mid-air instead of bracing her against the wall. “But that doesn't make it not a good idea.”

Beck laughed, clinging to him for dear life. “You're just gonna hold me up?”

“Yep.”

“The whole time?”

“You don't think I can do it?” Mickey grinned, bouncing her a few times just to prove her wrong. “You weight nothing, baby girl. I got this.” She was surprisingly light... but she was also a grown woman almost the same height as him. His pride would never let him admit it aloud, but there was no way he was going to be able to fuck her like this for long.

Just as he was wracking his somewhat foggy brain for a solution, he saw light dawning in Beck's eyes and waited. “Counter!” She nodded toward the sink, and only then did he realize they hadn't even closed the shower curtain, and the bathroom floor was getting soaked. “Put me on the counter.”

“I thought we were supposed to be getting cleaned up.” Even as he teased her, he was carefully stepping out of the tub, blessing her foresight when she grabbed a towel and threw it down just before he set his foot down, and carrying her across the bathroom.

Beck snickered and kissed him. “No point getting clean until we're done getting dirty. Shut up and fuck me.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

A little while later, they stumbled across another logistical issue Mickey hadn't considered.

“You are not putting dirty clothes on a clean body!” Beck insisted, prying his – pretty nasty at this point, he had to admit – clothes from his hands. “That's disgusting!”

“Well, what the fuck else am I supposed to wear? Clearly, I can't just run around naked. We got arrested for that this morning!”

“Pity,” she teased, eyeing him in a way that made him wonder if they were ever actually going to leave her hotel room. “You're the best view in Athens.”

“Maybe they arrested us out of jealousy, then.” Mickey shook his head, though he couldn't help chuckling a little, despite his frustration. “Either way, I'm kinda stuck. It's either be gross, or don't go anywhere.”

“As much as the thought of keeping you trapped here as my sex slave appeals to me...” With another mocking grin, Beck turned and started going through her dresser drawers. “I think I can help you out.”

“I'm not wearing your clothes.”

“They're less flamboyant than what you do wear.”

“They won't fit!”

She tossed him a tee shirt and a pair of cargo shorts that proved him very wrong. They were huge. At his questioning stare, she shrugged.

“I always pack a couple of cute outfits when I travel, and the rest is super baggy; at least three sizes too big. I like to be comfortable.”

“Convenient.” He stared at the shorts in his hands, and then at the belt she handed him a few seconds later. “Am I supposed to wear your underwear, too?”

Beck snorted and walked away, patting his shoulder as she passed him. “I don't wear underwear.”

“Then I guess I kind of am wearing yours.” Even as the joke was tumbling out of his mouth, he knew it was lame, but they still both laughed. Then he glanced at his watch and winced. “Shit, we gotta go.”

“What?”

He waited for the dress she was pulling on to settle into place and then wrapped his arms around her, tugging her back against his chest. “We gotta go. If we don't catch the next ferry, we're gonna be late.”

She flinched. “Okay, two seconds.” The girl moved like lightning. Mystified, Mickey watched as she yanked on a pair of canvas sneakers, grabbed her wallet and cell phone – which she then stuffed in the pockets of the shorts he was wearing – grabbed a hair tie, and ran for the door. In no time, she'd strangled her wild red curls into submission in a low ponytail. They hadn't even reached the elevator yet.

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

Handing her his helmet, Mickey shook his head. “I think you got dressed faster than I did! I thought girls always take forever to get ready.”

Laughing, Beck rolled her eyes. As she settled on the back of the moped and tucked her skirt around her legs for decency, she told him, “I spent two years in the jungle with nothing but what I could fit in a backpack. Low maintenance is kinda my thing. The fewer steps to getting ready, the less time it takes.”

“That explains so much.” He stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head and grumbled as he slid into place in front of her and started the moped, “And raises so many more questions!”

“Full disclosure: I will probably answer none of them, as I'm very likely never going to see you again after tonight.”

Well, that was a depressing dose of reality he wasn't ready for. Not one to dwell on things, though, Mickey simply decided to have as much fun as he could with this girl while she was around, and treasure the steamy memories.

They made it to the ferry just in time. Making sure there was no one else around, Mickey smirked and tugged Beck into his lap, one hand sliding up her thigh. He moved slowly, giving her plenty of time to push him away if she wanted; she simply arched an eyebrow at his questioning look and grabbed his wrist, tugging his hand closer.

“Why do you think I'm wearing a dress?”

Fuck, he loved this girl!

They were pretty much attached at the hip the whole day – literally, when they could steal a few minutes alone. While he was DJing, she was dancing like a lunatic, front and center. Those piercing green eyes never strayed from him; he knew, because he couldn't look away from her, either. Once he was free, they danced together for a little while, but it didn't take long for Beck to grow bored and yank him down the beach, away from the party. They found a dark, hidden nook to be alone, spent the night hopelessly wrapped up in each other, and then cuddled as they watched the sun come up.

“Gods, this place is so beautiful!”

Mickey chuckled at the plural, but didn't ask about it. He had a more important question for her: “You really gonna leave all this behind?”

“I have to.” She didn't sound any happier about leaving than he was about letting her leave. “I gotta get home.”

“Where's home?”

“Boston. You?”

He grinned and nudged her. “Athens, baby. Been here seven years!”

“Okay, but where before here?” she prodded with a laugh. “You're obviously not Greek; you don't even speak it!”

“Do you?”

Beck sat up a little straighter, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Nai.”

“Showoff.”

“One word is being a showoff?” Beck laughed, shaking her head. “You've been here seven years, and you don't know a single word of the language?”

Mickey scowled, feeling defensive. “Everybody speaks English!”

“Wow.” She wasn't smiling anymore. She actually looked and sounded pretty pissed off. “That is astoundingly arrogant. And completely American, so clearly your obnoxious friend with no boundaries was right; it's not just a funny accent, you actually are American.”

“You're an American, too!”

“By birth,” she snapped, “not by choice. And I fucking hope not by attitude. I don't go stomping around foreign countries with absolutely no respect for their language or customs, expecting everyone around me to cater to my laziness.”

He rolled his eyes, scooting away from her. “Give me a break! Learning another language is hard!”

“Impossible, if you don't even try.”

“Yeah? How many languages do you speak?”

“Fluently?” She held up her hands, ticking each one off on her fingers as she listed them. “English, obviously. Korean, Irish Gaelic, Italian, and German. Passably? Japanese – I can speak it fluently, but I have trouble reading it; the kanji is a nightmare – Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish. I can read Latin and Old Norse, and I'm learning Mandarin, but I admit I'm struggling with that one. Mostly for the same reason I can't read Japanese; the writing system.”

Gaping at her, Mickey couldn't formulate a response for a long moment. When his brain finally started working again, all he could think to say was, “Jesus, what the fuck are you, a robot?!”

“I'm an archaeologist,” she told him flatly, still looking irritated. “And I've been traveling since I was seventeen. Been studying at least one language other than English since I was ten. I definitely had an advantage, starting when I still had a little kid's spongy brain, but it's not impossible to learn at any age, if you actually care enough to try.”

“You sound like my ex.” Hoping to distract her from that comment he hadn't meant to make, he hastily asked, “If you love to travel so much, why're you in such a rush to get home?”

Beck sighed, turning to stare out over the water. “I promised my daughter I'd be home in time for her birthday.”

Huh. They had more in common that he'd thought. “You have a kid?”

She nodded. “Two. Two girls.”

“How old?”

“Alice is five,” she murmured, pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. Head pillowed on her arms, she added, “And Madeline's about to turn fourteen.”

“How the hell old are you?!” He hadn't meant to ask so bluntly, but he was so stunned by her daughters' ages that the question just kind of blurted itself out.

Mercifully, Beck laughed a little. “I'm thirty-three. I'll spare you some math – I was nineteen when I had Maddie.”

Mickey shook his head, not sure how to react. In all honesty, she didn't look much older than that now. There was a shadow behind her eyes that he was dying to ask about, but even as thoughtless as he could be, he knew when to just not go there. Instead, he told her softly, “My son is six.”

“What's his name?”

He smiled. As much as the situation with his ex sucked, he loved his son, and thinking about him always brought a little smile to Mickey's face. “Hector.”

The look on Beck's pretty face as she watched him like a hawk made him blush, though he wasn't sure why. There was just something about that direct green gaze that made him feel like she could read his mind. “He's the real reason you don't want to leave Greece, isn't he?” A spot-on guess like that certainly did nothing to dispel the notion.

He nodded. “Yeah. Yep. His mom hates my guts, but I don't care. There's nothing I wouldn't do to stay in his life. I actually, um... I have a room for him, at my place. If she'll ever let me take him, you know, just for a weekend or whatever... His room is ready and waiting for him.”

“All you can do is keep trying. Put in the work, be the best dad you can be, and hope for the best.”

Unsure what to say to that, Mickey changed the subject with an awkward smile. “So... Alice? She blonde, like Alice in Wonderland?”

Beck snorted, shaking her head. “No, she has black hair, like her dad.” She paused and then shook her head again with a bemused smirk on her face. “Actually, both of my girls look like their dads – dark hair, big blue eyes.” Smirk turning into a grin, she nudged him. “Guess I've got a type.”

“'Dads,' huh?” He grinned, too, and nudged her right back. “Plural?”

“You gonna get all judgy on me, now?” Her tone was light and teasing, but her eyes promised a whole lot of pain if he answered wrong.

Mickey just laughed. “Nope, no judgment. I think you've seen enough of what I'm like this weekend to know I wouldn't have the right.”

“Good answer.”

“I don't want you to leave.” He watched her go rigid and sighed, shaking his head. “I'm not gonna try to stop you. If you were leaving for literally any other reason, I might, but I'd never dream of trying to keep a mom away from her kid. I just... I really like you, and I wish you didn't have to go.”

She shrugged a little, staring out over the water again. “To be honest, I don't wanna go, either. I mean, I'm dying to see my girls again, being away from them is always painful, but... This place is so beautiful. I would love to stay a little longer.”

Not a single word about whether or not she liked him. That stung, but he did his best to ignore it. “Why don't you bring them with you when you travel?”

“I used to,” she admitted. “When it was just Maddie, I brought her everywhere with me and tutored her myself. I tried to keep it going after Alice was born, but it was rough. They got tired of always being on the road and not having kids their age to play with, so now I leave them with my sister when I'm away.”

“Wait, you taught her yourself?” He laughed, shaking his head in dismay. “Are you sure you're not a robot?”

Beck laughed, too, rolling her eyes. “I'm sure. There's more down time than you think in archaeology; plenty of time to keep an already smart girl from falling behind in her schooling.”

“They must take after their mom. I mean, you speak a zillion languages, so you gotta be pretty damn smart.” She was so reckless and carefree, it was hard to picture this woman digging in the dirt for broken clay pots, or wrangling two children to teach them math. From what he'd seen, it felt like Beck was describing a completely different person. He didn't want to offend her, so he refrained from pointing out that she came across less brilliant, multilingual career woman in her thirties and more Girls Gone Wild: Athens.

“Cheapann tú gur leathcheann mé.” He had no idea what the hell she'd just said, but he could tell from the look on her face that he hadn't been as good at keeping his thoughts to himself as he'd hoped. She looked both offended and darkly amused. “Pensi che una ragazza non possa essere intelligente e libera? Eísai vlákas, Mickey.”

He didn't bother asking for a translation; her tone told him he didn't want to know. “How many languages was that?”

Beck grinned. “Three. Gaelic, Italian, and Greek. I sometimes mix a few in the same sentence – I constantly mix Japanese and Korean at home; it makes my girls laugh – but I figured I'd be nice.”

Mickey opened his mouth to say he wouldn't have noticed the difference, and then stopped. He had noticed the difference; the lilt of her voice changed dramatically with each language. That was how he'd realized that she'd been speaking more than one in the first place. “I kinda wanna hear that mix, now. Are the languages that similar?”

“No.” She laughed. “Not at all. They share some slang thanks to pop culture, and both borrowed a lot from China, but they're structured differently, and the way they're spoken is different.”

“Then how do you mix them?”

“I speak them both,” she said with a shrug and another laugh. “If you speak more than one language well enough, they don't have to be similar to still flow. Like...” She smirked, leaning against him and batting her eyes. “Kimi wa baboya, demo... mada jowayo.”

“Showoff.”

“Yes.” Cracking up, she pulled him back to lie on the warm sand with her and cuddled close. “That time, absolutely.”

“Do you think you'll ever come back?” He'd been trying so hard to avoid the subject, but he just couldn't get his mind to budge from the fact that he didn't want her to leave.

With a fond smile, she kissed him before teasing lightly, “You gonna miss me, honey?”

Mickey grinned, hoping she couldn't see that he was feeling more melancholy than amused. “I think mostly I'll miss the sex. It's hard to find a woman who can keep up with me.”

“Oh, is that so?” She laughed and tickled him, making him squirm. Then she stopped, a warm, almost wistful smile on her face. “I'm gonna miss you, too, you know.”

Forced playful grin turning into a soft, genuine smile, he pulled her closer and kissed her. “I was beginning to worry you didn't like me.”

Beck grinned and nuzzled his neck. “The past twenty-four hours wouldn't have happened if I didn't like you.”

Feigning shock, Mickey gasped. “You mean you don't fuck strange men all over Greece indiscriminately?”

“No, that I do all the time,” she joked, hand sliding up one leg of his borrowed shorts. “But I only let the really special ones wear my clothes.”

He laughed, glancing down at himself; he'd forgotten for a second that they were hers. “Right. We should stop at my place so I can change and give these back before I take you back to your hotel.”

Beck sighed, snatching her hand back as if he'd burned her. “Right. Yeah, we should get going.”

Though he still hated that she had to leave, he kept his word and didn't try to stop her. Argyris tried to convince him to make some grand gesture at the airport, but Mickey shut him down with a grumpy, “It's her kid's birthday. I'm not that much of a selfish asshole.”

“I can't believe you're in love with this girl!” Hooting with laughter, Argyris slapped his back. “I'm a fuckin' matchmaker! Who knew?”

“Fuck off, Cupid!” Mickey grinned and shoved him away, hoping the other man couldn't see how shitty he really felt. He moped for a couple of days, barely paying attention to the world around him, just missing the crazy girl with the temper as fiery as her hair.

Then he answered an unexpected knock at his door and was baffled by the sight of a cute, petite brunette with huge blue eyes staring up at him. “Um... Can I help you?”

“Huh.” One dark eyebrow arching up, she called back over her shoulder, “You really do have a type.”

A familiar laugh made Mickey freeze in shock as Beck stepped into view behind the girl, another one in her arms. “I made the mistake of telling Maddie that I met this awesome DJ in Greece-”

“And since I have no friends anyway,” the girl, who he finally realized was Beck's older daughter, Madeline, cut in, “I figured there'd be no problem moving my 'party' somewhere more fun than my aunt's house. For the third year in a row.”

“Jesus, you might look like your dad, but you sound just like your mom!” The words slipped out before he could stop himself. While Madeline rolled her eyes, the little girl in her mother's arms – Alice, he figured – giggled.

“Yeah,” Beck agreed with a grin, moving closer and leaning past her daughters to kiss him. “She's got my snarky attitude. Gods help me. Thankfully, this one's still innocent.” She squeezed Alice tighter against her side, making her giggle again.

“Mommy! You're squishing me!”

“Her? Innocent? Did auntie tell you what she did to my stereo?!”

“It was an accident!”

“My butt it was!”

Wincing, Beck glanced at Mickey and mouthed, 'I'm sorry.' “Girls, enough. What have I told you about bickering in front of strangers?”

“I mean, you also tell us not to spread our legs for strangers, and yet...”

“Madeline Fiona O'Brien!”

“What?!” Eyes wide and looking frustrated, Madeline gestured to Mickey. “I'm kinda right!”

He couldn't hold it in anymore. Leaning on the door frame to stay upright, Mickey burst out laughing. God help this woman, he thought as he struggled to get his breath back. Her daughter's exactly like her!

Face even redder than her hair, Beck grumbled, “I did not tell her we slept together.”

“You couldn't shut up about him and your clothes smelled like dude. Doesn't take a genius.”

“Maddie, couldja stop? I kinda wanna see more of Greece than two buildings. If mom drags us home early cuz you're being a jerk, I will kick your seat the whole way back to Boston!”

“I'll let her.”

Mickey had just about gotten his laughter under control. Still chuckling, he yanked Beck into his arms and gave her a long, slow kiss. “You are dreaming if you think I'm letting you leave again.”

“That doesn't sound kidnappy at all!”

Laughing again, he released the blushing redhead only to trap Madeline in his arms and tickle her until she squeaked. “And you, little miss Queen of Sarcasm!” With a grin, he kissed the top of her head and released her, pleased to see that she was smiling. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

As he stepped aside to let them in, it finally dawned on him that he'd never actually worked a child's party before. He was used to crowds of rowdy drunk Greeks, not two innocent little girls. He didn't even know any kids, besides his own! He glanced helplessly at Beck, who snickered and kissed his jaw.

“Just do whatever; I can keep an eye on them. Maddie was more interested in the change of scenery than an actual party.”

“Does she really have no friends?”

She shrugged, turning to watch her daughters awkwardly settle on the couch and begin nudging and poking each other repeatedly. “She's never been the most social kid in the world. Around their own age groups, Liss is the bubbly extrovert and Maddie can't be bothered; she wanted to hang with kids her own age until she realized they annoy the hell out of her.”

“Argyris might know some people with kids...” He rolled his eyes. “He'll think I'm nuts, trying to hunt down teenagers, though.”

Beck laughed and shook her head. “No, really, don't worry about it. We don't even have to actually throw a party-”

Cutting her off with a kiss, Mickey insisted, “Oh, she's getting a party. When is her birthday, anyway?”

“Today, actually.”

He flinched, glancing at the clock, and then relaxed. It was still pretty early. “She's getting a party,” he repeated firmly. “She's fourteen! That... has no special significance in any culture I've heard of, but the kid still deserves some fun on her damn birthday. Especially if the last few have been disappointing.”

“The day after is pretty significant in our culture,” she murmured, so softly he almost didn't catch it.

“Is it?” Wasn't she American? He seemed to recall a whole conversation that almost turned into an argument about it. “Since when?”

Beck blushed again, looking uncomfortable. “Never mind.”

“...Girls, make yourselves at home. I need to talk to your mom for a minute.”

“You're talking now.”

He almost wrote that off as another snarky response, until he realized it had come from Alice. Looking innocently confused, she stared at him with almost comically large blue eyes, and he smiled. “In private,” he clarified as gently as he could as he grabbed Beck's wrist and tugged her down the hall toward his bedroom.

“Door open at all times!”

With a huff, Beck dug her heels in and spun around to glare at Madeline. “Who's the mom, here?”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“Madeline.” Wrenching free of Mickey's grasp, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared her defiant offspring down. “Who's the mom?”

Glowering right back, Madeline mirrored her pose and grudgingly admitted, “You are.”

“Good. Now that we've got that cleared up, how about you show our host a little respect?”

Madeline's face was red as a tomato, but she still looked more angry and resentful than contrite, until she took a deep breath and turned to Mickey. With a surprising note of sincerity, she grumbled, “Sorry, Mickey.”

“Jet lag gets the best of all of us. Maybe you two should take a nap while your mom and I talk.” He didn't know what the hell else to say. He couldn't say 'it's okay' and undermine her mother, and 'you're forgiven' sounded kind of dickish. With an awkward smile, he waved and resumed dragging Beck down the hall.

As soon as the bedroom door was closed behind them, Beck sighed and leaned against it, looking worn out. “I'm so sorry about her. She's been so bitchy lately; my sister said she was even copping an attitude with her, which she almost never does.”

“She's probably just tired and been missing her mom.” In truth, he thought Madeline's sass was funny as hell, but he wasn't about to step into the middle of a mother-daughter war. Instead, he focused on his own curiosity. “What 'culture' celebrates the day after a birthday?”

She winced. “It's nothing, Mickey. Forget it.”

Weird. “What's the big deal? I'm just curious.”

“Alright, fine.” Looking and sounding resigned, she muttered, “If you're gonna judge or laugh, might as well get it out of the way – I'm a witch.”

Mickey stared at her. Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, it wasn't that. “...A witch?”

“I don't ride a broomstick and I can't turn you into a toad.” Oof. Defensive. Judging by her tone, she'd had this conversation before, and it hadn't gone well. “My sister's a witch, too, and so are my girls. There's an old tradition in the craft; at thirteen we find our deity, if we're meant to serve one, and a year and a day later, we pledge to their service.”

Light dawned. “Oh, that's why you always say 'Gods' instead of 'God'! That makes sense.” Who was he to judge? He wasn't particularly religious, but was any one religion really any weirder than the next? Curiosity abated, he brushed it off and tugged her into his arms. “My very own Sabrina.”

Beck snorted and dropped her head onto his shoulder. “Sometimes I feel more like Sarah Sanderson.”

“You really want me to throw a rager for your fourteen-year-old?” He didn't know what to say about her Hocus Pocus reference – 'horny and ditzy? Sounds about right' was...probably not the right thing – so he decided to just jump back to the original topic.

She shrugged. “I honestly don't know what to do for her. Coming back here was her idea, but I kinda doubt it had much to do with her birthday. She wasn't kidding about wondering which one of us is the parent; that kid's been trying to take care of me since she was little.”

“Why?”

Sighing, she stepped back out of his arms. She looked so sad and broken suddenly that he wished he'd never asked. “I would love to say that it's just who she is – and it is, to a point. Some people are just natural caregivers, and Maddie's definitely one of them. But I was a mess before Liss was born. Maddie's had to deal with a lot of bullshit, and it made her grow up too fast.”

That settled it in Mickey's mind. As he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket with one hand and opened the bedroom door with the other, he told her again, “She's getting a fucking party.”

Three hours and a lot of yelling at Agryris to get him to stop laughing later, he was setting up speakers in front of his apartment building, surrounded by what looked like every kid in Athens between twelve and sixteen, along with their parents. It definitely wasn't his usual crowd, to say the least, but they were friendly enough. Most importantly, Madeline was already smiling and laughing.

Remembering the posters he'd seen around town, he pulled his phone out again and called a number he hadn't used in quite a while. “Well, well. So you're in Athens. What do you know? I have a favor to ask you...”

“OHMYGOD! BASTIAN!”

Mickey grinned. Clearly, he'd made the right call, and it was earning him hugs galore. For the first time all day, Madeline was acting like a teenage girl, bouncing up and down and screeching with joy as Bastian made her way through the party. With a bright smile, she hugged the birthday girl and smoothed her dark curls back off of her face before approaching Mickey and hugging him. The second she moved back, Madeline launched herself at him, squeezing so tightly he thought she might crack a few ribs. And then her laughing mother replaced her, and he'd never felt so popular.

“Hell of a dad move,” Beck teased, grinning at him as she stepped aside and Maddie barreled into him again.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”

Laughing, Mickey lifted her up and kissed the top of her head. “Happy birthday.” She was too light; idly, he made a mental note to ask what the hell Beck and her sister were feeding these kids, or failing to feed them. Then he realized he sort of was acting like Maddie's dad and he blushed, setting her down.

As she ran off to dance with her little sister, he pulled Bastian up onto the platform and picked up the mic. “First of all – let's hear it for the birthday girl!” He pointed, and grinned when the revelers around him cheered, making the brunette blush. “Maddie O'Brien! You said you have no friends back in the States-” Boos echoed around them, and her color deepened. “-So I thought, what could make a better birthday present than a couple hundred Greek friends?”

The crowd cheered again, and a few “YEAH, MADDIE” shouts made the girl in question laugh, covering her face with the hand not holding tight to Alice's little wrist. Mickey noticed that she did that a lot; whenever the younger girl wasn't in her mother's arms, she was in her sister's tight, protective grip.

“What do you guys think?” He shouted into the mic. “This girl's really cool, right? You wanna be Maddie's friends, and show her how much better everything is here in Greece?”

The cheers were deafening. Mickey was grinning like a fool, and was pleased to see that so was Madeline. Big blue eyes shining, she stared up at him like he was her hero, and for a minute, life was pretty damn good. He'd die before admitting it aloud, at least so soon, but he could easily see a bright, happy future where he was stepdad to these two beautiful little girls, and they doted over their step-brother Hector, the way Maddie doted over Alice. He glanced at their mother, and couldn't help getting just a little choked up when he saw an identical look of joy and appreciation on her beautiful face. Man, it was nice to be the hero.

Before he could get too emotional and ruin the party, he pointed to Bastian. “You guys know who this is, right?” Another enthusiastic roar; he was a little jealous this time, but shoved it down and smiled. “Well, she's gonna take over for a little while, so make sure you give her some love, alright?”

Yanking her into one more tight hug, he handed the reins over to Bastian and hopped down. Beck immediately threw her arms around him and kissed him. “You are amazing, you know that? I descend on you unannounced with a grouchy teenager in tow, and you give her the best fucking night of her life!”

“All in a day's work,” he joked, squeezing her. “She seems like a great kid; they both do. I couldn't just do nothing and let her be miserable.”

“Hector is lucky.” She was grinning so wide, her face hurt; Mickey only knew because he was doing the same. “He's got a really great dad. If you'd do something like this for a kid you've never even met before, I can only imagine the lengths you'd go to for your own.”

“Think you can pass that praise on to my ex? Maybe she'll actually let me see him.”

Smile fading, she gripped his head with both hands and pulled him down to press their foreheads together. “If you want me to, I'll help you fight for him. You deserve to see your son, and he deserves to know his dad.”

“How long are you staying this time?” He didn't want to talk about Hector suddenly; not at a party surrounded by strangers and their children.

Seeming to sense his mood, Beck smiled and glanced at her giggling daughters. They were hopping around like lunatics to the music, surrounded by kids Maddie's age. She looked like she was having the time of her life. “From the looks of things now? Forever.” Mickey thought she was joking, but the look on her face stopped him from laughing it off. “I've never seen her so happy. Athens might just become home.”

“I hope so.” He shrugged, forcing a chipper smile to hide the desperately hopeful one he couldn't quite keep in. “It did for me!”

“We'll see.”

Unlike most of the parties he'd worked, this one started winding down fairly early as kids hugged Maddie, wished her a happy birthday, and were ushered home by their tired parents. Alice was asleep in Mickey's arms, her tiny body limp as a rag doll and her silky black curls tickling his nose. As the last of her party guests wished her well and left, Madeline hurried over to him and cuddled up to the side not currently occupied by the dead weight of her sister.

“Thank you, Mickey.”

“Did you have fun?” She nodded, and he smiled softly, stroking her dark hair. “Good. Let's get inside and get the little one into bed, shall we?”

She glanced around, frowning a little. “Where's mom?”

“Already upstairs.” Grinning, he watched her for a reaction and added casually, “With Bastian.”

Bright blue eyes widening, she gaped at him. “She's staying?”

Mickey laughed. “For tonight, at least, yeah. Come on.”

As they trudged through the door of his apartment a few minutes later, Mickey found himself wishing he'd stayed outside.

“No way!” Beck whipped around to gape at him while Bastian laughed. “You didn't tell me you were in a band!”

“Oh lord,” Madeline grumbled under her breath. “Get something pierced and she'll propose to you by midnight, I swear.”

Choking on a startled laugh, he lowered Alice into her sister's waiting arms. “Put her in Hector's bed. You and your mom can take mine tonight.” As she obediently wandered down the hall to tuck the younger girl in, Mickey flopped down on the couch beside Beck and tugged her into his arms. “That was a long time ago. Then she got her big break and got all famous, and she didn't need losers like me anymore.”

“Oh, that is such bullshit!” Laughing, Bastian stretched out to kick him. “We got a break. We got a deal. You were every bit a part of all that!”

“Oh, please!” Mickey rolled his eyes. “You never needed me. It was the Bastian Show, and we were just-”

“No! No, what happened was...”

They bickered for a while, going back and forth over who was to blame for Saint Claude's ultimate demise. After a few minutes, Beck excused herself and left the room, leaving the two old friends to catch up. When the argument showed no signs of ending, Mickey huffed and stood up, muttering something about getting a drink as he walked away. He loved Bastian, but damn she could be stubborn!

“What the fuck are you doing?” A glass in each hand, he stared at her as she laid out lines of cocaine on her phone's screen.

“What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?”

“Oh, god.” He grimaced, glancing toward the bedrooms. All quiet, but he didn't know if Beck and Maddie were asleep, or just hiding from the debate. “Come on, let's go in the bathroom.”

“The Brat Pack's asleep. Don't worry about it!”

“You don't know that,” he hissed. “Come on.”

Bastian rolled her eyes, but she allowed him to usher her into the bathroom. “You're paranoid. You barely even know these people! What do you care what they think?”

“I care,” he snapped, though he didn't refuse when she offered him a line. He'd just finished, was still hunched over the phone, when the door opened and he was faced with, basically, his worst nightmare: Madeline was standing in the doorway, hand on the knob.

They both froze, staring at her like deer in headlights. Face completely expressionless, Maddie looked at each of them, then at the line of cocaine still on the phone, and then straight at Mickey. "I just wanted to thank you again for today." Without another word, she calmly turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Shit." Ignoring Bastian's drug-fueled giggle fit, Mickey was on his feet and chasing after the teen in a flash. "Maddie!"

Though her face was still a stony mask, there were tears in her eyes when she whirled around to face him. "I need to talk to you. Now."

"Okay." He gestured to the couch, but she shook her head.

"Outside. I don't wanna wake up mom or Alice."

Nodding, he followed her without another word. At first he'd thought she meant out in the hall, but she didn't stop until they were outside the building. "Maddie, listen-"

"Let her go." Mickey's heart broke when she turned to face him again. Tears running down her cheeks and lower lip trembling, she stared up at him with those huge blue eyes and he almost started crying with her. "You have to let her go. Mom's loyal even when she shouldn't be. She'll never break it off."

"Maddie, I don't want-"

"I only exist because my dad drugged and raped her!" Wiping furiously at her face while he shrank back in horror, she continued more calmly, "She doesn't know I know that, or that he tried to kidnap me a bunch of times when I was little. Auntie told me. She still stayed with him for almost a year. Will hit her, Owen was a toxic psycho, Alex was a racist jerk... Alice's dad was always really nice to us all when he came around, but he almost never did. And I don't know what he did, but he's in jail for life now." With a bitter grimace, she spat, "And you're a druggie."

Maddie's had to deal with a lot of bullshit, and it made her grow up too fast.

Beck's soft voice, so full of pain and regret, echoed in his head as Mickey sank down to sit on the steps and tugged Madeline into his arms. "I'm not a druggie," he assured her as she clung to him and broke down sobbing. "One time thing, kiddo, I promise."

"Like you'd say anything else!"

The little whimper that escaped her as she scooted up his leg to get closer and dropped her head onto his shoulder very nearly made him start crying with her. For all that she insisted he get the hell out of her life, he could tell that she was desperate for someone decent to stay. This poor kid was fourteen going on forty after watching her mom date a string of losers; no wonder she had no faith in men, or in her mother's ability to make sound decisions. He squeezed her a little tighter, not sure what to do or say.

"Mickey, I'm tired," she croaked, making his heart ache for her even more. He knew she didn't mean sleepy; she was tired of being the mature one, and he couldn't say he blamed her. "I'm so tired..."

"Shhh, it's okay, baby," he whispered, rubbing her back. "You can rest now. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. You're my little girl now, okay? And I won't let anything happen to you, or your sister, or your mom. You don't have to take care of her anymore, honey. I will. You just take a breath and be a kid while you can."

"How can I trust you?"

Well, that hurt, but he got where she was coming from. Pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, he murmured, "I gotta earn that." He pried her loose and pushed her back a little, just enough to be able to look her in the eye. "Do you think you can give me a chance to?"

After a pause that felt like an eternity, Maddie sniffled and nodded. "Okay. But if you hurt her, I'll kick your nuts back up inside."

Laughing, Mickey nodded and smoothed her hair back. "Noted.” A thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Why did you aunt tell you all that? Putting that weight on a kid... That's cruel.”

“I asked,” she admitted with a shrug. “I asked why mom was such a mess, and why I didn't have a dad. So she told me.”

I'd have made some shit up, damn. Even high, he was smart enough not to say that. He chose not to say anything at all, and just held her for a while as the cool night air soothed their frayed nerves and her breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Mickey?”

“Hm?”

Voice a small, timid whisper, she asked, “Do you really wanna be my dad?”

Smiling softly, he kissed her head again and hugged her just a bit tighter. “I am your dad.” When she tensed and let out a frustrated huff, he explained, “I'm in love with your mom, kiddo. And I already love you and your sister. We're family now, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise.”

“You're weird.” He could hear her teasing smile in her voice, and he smiled, too, relieved. “You don't even know us.”

“I know enough. Come on.” Though all he wanted was to sit there and cuddle with her all night, he gently pushed her off his lap and stood. “It's getting late. You should get to bed.”

Sending her off down the hall to his bedroom when they got back upstairs, he collapsed on the couch and sighed. He'd known when he met her that Beck would make his life more interesting... he just had no idea how interesting.

A laugh beside him reminded him of his other guest and he reluctantly opened his eyes. Judging from the way she was twitching and snickering, Bastian had finished the rest of the coke. “That was intense!”

Mickey closed his eyes again. “If it's not already gone, get that shit out of my house.”

“Oh, come on!” She shoved him, grinning impishly. “Don't try to act all virtuous now! You were right there with me, until that kid walked in.”

“'That kid'?” Annoyed now, he sat up and glared at her. “My kid.”

“Not really, though.” Confused, she twisted to glance down the hall, and then back to stare at him. “...Right? I mean, shit, she does kinda look like you...”

He shook his head. “No. Biologically, no, but I don't care. I'm not gonna add my name to the list of guys who've hurt her.”

Bastian snorted, rolling her eyes. “Mickey, you can't just decide to play daddy to this random kid on a whim just because your ex won't let you see your own. She's not yours, and changing your whole life and personality isn't going to change that.”

“I haven't touched that shit in years. I'm not changing on a whim; you just don't know me anymore.”

“Enough,” she challenged, settling back in her seat and staring down her nose at him. “I know you well enough to know this is never gonna work.”

“What isn't?”

“This!” Bastian gestured vaguely around them. “This whole self-domestication shit. You're not some house husband and stepdad – you're a musician. You belong on the road, Mickey! Not shut up in some old lady's apartment playing House with some crazy chick and her walking, talking reminders of past mistakes.”

“Beck,” he snapped, glaring at her. “'That chick's' name is Beck, and her gorgeous daughters are Maddie and Alice. They're not mistakes. Alice is adorable and so smart, and Maddie is fucking awesome and she's been through Hell. I haven't seen you in years and you think you're gonna sit here in my house and tell me who I am and what I want? I don't fucking think so, Bastian.”

“Alright, alright!” She held up her hands in surrender, eyes wide. “Chill. I just miss you, okay? I want you to come on tour with me, like the old days, not sit here and rot away in some mediocre domestic life. You could have so much more!”

Mickey sighed, staring off into space for a moment. Some part of him was drawn to her offer, but that wasn't him anymore. He didn't actually want to tour with her, he just hated feeling settled; at some point in his wild youth, stability had begun to feel like stagnation, and now he found himself often desperate to avoid it, even if it came with everything he truly wanted.

He thought about Beck, and her bright smile and her two beautiful, lonely daughters, and he thought about Hector. Beck had been spot-on; as much as he did love Greece, Mickey had really only stayed this long because of his son. He wanted to be in Hector's life. Now he wanted to be in Maddie and Alice's lives, too. He wanted a family.

And for the first time, he was willing to fight for that family.

“You're right,” he admitted slowly. “You're right, I've been hiding here, just floating around aimlessly.” Before she could get all triumphant, he stood and growled, “But that's not what I'm doing now. Now, I'm finally seeing a life that I want, and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone take it away from me.”

That said, he walked away without giving Bastian a chance to argue. He peeked into his son's room to check on Alice, smiled when he saw the way she was sprawled, half hanging off the bed, and he quietly closed the door and headed to his own room. Hopefully Maddie wouldn't mind; he'd originally intended to crash on the couch, but he couldn't stand to be in the same room as Bastian, and couldn't quite bring himself to kick her out, either. Moving slowly, so as to avoid waking either of the bed's other two occupants, he slid in next to Beck.

She immediately rolled over and cuddled close to him. At first he thought she was just fidgeting in her sleep, but then she whispered, “Don't let anyone change you or tell you who you are. Not even me.”

“I won't.” He tried to smile, couldn't quite manage it, and kissed her, instead. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

It wasn't quite a seamless transition. Mickey's place was too small for a family of four, and he didn't exactly love the idea of moving a bunch of heavy audio equipment down those winding stairs. Though he wanted to jump right into living together, he didn't put up much of a fight when Beck started looking for her own place.

It helped that she didn't spend a lot of time at home. Once the girls were enrolled in school, their mother started dropping them off and then going straight to Mickey's place. She helped Argyris translate for Mickey and his clients, which both men had thought was a terrible idea... until they saw her in action. The short fuse he'd become so familiar with in their first couple of days together was nowhere to be found. Around even his most difficult clients, Beck was the embodiment of charm and professional courtesy. Mickey quickly found that while Argyris was better for direct translation, he was no match for Beck when it came to diplomacy and deescalating a heated argument.

“You haven't seen 'difficult',” she teased, “until you've been a woman in a male-dominated field arguing for funding. This is nothing.”

Mickey laughed, yanking her into his arms. “Where have you been all my life?”

She flinched, closing her eyes and pressing her fingertips to her mouth for a second. It was the briefest of moments, and then she was smiling again and joking, “On my knees in the dirt, mostly,” but he refused to ignore it.

“You okay?”

With a little shrug and a nod, she admitted, “Been a little queasy and lightheaded lately, but I'm fine. It never lasts long.”

“You are so American.” She glared at him and he grinned, pleased that he knew how to get her attention. “You're not in Dystopia anymore – go to a doctor.”

“Did you not hear me? I'm fi-”

“I heard 'lately,'” he countered, poking her side and immediately regretting it when she cringed. Right; queasy. Maybe don't mess with her stomach, Mickey. “'Lately' means this is not normal. It means you're sick, so go to a doctor.”

She shook her head, winced, and dropped it onto his shoulder. “I don't need a doctor.”

“You can't even move without turning green.”

“I'm fine. I don't need a doctor.”

“Why are you being so stubborn? You're supposed to help me with stubborn people, not be the Queen of them!”

“Am I your girlfriend or your lawyer?”

“That's not what I meant and you know it. Don't change the subject.” Rubbing her back, he insisted as gently as he could, “Please just go get checked out.”

“I don't need to. I'm fine.”

“Look, even if it's minor, do you wanna suffer or find out what's wrong and get better?”

“I don't need a doctor to tell me what I already know!”

What she already knew? He frowned, more confused than ever. “Is it some kind of chronic-”

“Mickey, I'm not sick – I'm pregnant!”

He froze, gaping at her in shock. She started to pull away, but he tightened his grip on her waist before she could stand up. “You're what?”

Looking nervous and uncomfortable, she mumbled, “I was trying to find the right time to tell you; we've just been so busy with that 'make it more Greek' asshat...”

“You're really pregnant?” When she slowly and carefully nodded, Mickey grinned and hugged her as tight as he dared. “That's fantastic!” He finally let her up, only to stand with her and frame her face with both hands. Between frantic kisses all over her face, he gushed, “That's incredible! Have you told the girls yet? Oh, Alice is gonna be so excited to be a big sister! And Hector! I can't wait for Hector to meet his little brother or sister!”

“Mickey...”

He glanced around, smile dimming just a bit. “Damn, we gotta get a bigger place.”

“Mickey.”

“I wonder if Agryris' grandmother had-”

“Mickey!” Shoving his hands away, Beck got a tight grip on his hair and forced him to turn back to face her. “Do you really think we can do this?”

He blinked, taken aback by that. “Don't you?”

“Three kids, and fighting for joint custody of a fourth?” She shook her head, looking at him like he was an idiot. “The thought that we might be in over our heads crossed my mind, yeah. I was struggling with just two!”

“Well, now you have me.” His cheeky grin didn't seem to comfort her as much as he'd hoped it would. “You were struggling 'cause you were alone; now you're not.”

“A single mom with two kids really isn't all that different from two parents with four,” she pointed out, releasing his hair and crossing her arms over her chest. Seeing the hurt he tried to mask, she sighed. “Look, I'm glad you're excited, I am. And whether we're ready or not, the kid's on the way, I just... I just wish I shared your optimism. I'm not excited, Mickey; I'm scared to death.”

“Well, get excited,” he jokingly commanded, pulling her close for another hug. “We'll be fine. Besides, it's not like Aspa's ever gonna give me full custody, so it's not really two to four. Maddie's old enough that she doesn't need constant hyper-vigilance from us, so it's really just two to two-and-a-half.”

Finally, finally, Beck laughed. It was quiet and weak, but a laugh nonetheless. “Jesus, you're like sunshine in human form. Does anything ever get you down?”

He shrugged. “Sure, but I try not to let it for long. And I see a new baby as something to celebrate, not freak the hell out over.”

“See, you get to see it that way because you don't have to push it out,” she teased. “It's not so perfectly sunny from where I'm standing.”

“No one said life is perfect.” Still smiling like a fool, he kissed her. “Whatever you need, I'm here. You're not doing everything alone anymore. We got this.”

“I love you.”

It didn't seem possible, but somehow his smile got even wider. “I love you, too.”

“Speaking of Aspa, though...”

“Oh, god, what?”

With a laugh and an apologetic smile, Beck ventured, “I don't think you should come today.”

“What?”

Her smile immediately faded; apparently, he was really bad at hiding it when he was confused and offended. “Baby, you're chaos incarnate. It's one of the things I love about you, but it's not exactly conducive to a civilized conversation with a woman who probably kind of hates you.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“I just think I might have better luck getting through to her, single mom to single mom.” She looked like she was waiting for him to hit her, which only made him feel worse. “I know how hard it is, and how, whether we mean to or not, we tend to villainize our exes-”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, well, with the stellar guys you've dated, it makes sense. It's not really villainizing if he's already a villain.”

“Exactly how much did Madeline tell you?”

Uh-oh. She was mad. Knowing he was in trouble no matter what and refusing to drag his stepdaughter down with him, Mickey hastily changed the subject. “Do you really think I'll fuck things up that badly if I go?” Why was he even asking? Offended or not, he knew she was right; Aspa hated his guts.

Thankfully, Beck let the dig about her exes drop and her steely expression melted back into one of gentle sympathy. “I just want you to have the best chance possible of getting to be an active part of Hector's life. I want him to know you, to sleep in that bed you bought him before he outgrows it, to meet his new sisters. And I think your feelings towards Aspa, and hers toward you, are probably too raw and volatile right now for a face-to-face meeting to be a good idea.”

“Alright.” Forcing a faint smile, he nodded. “Alright, go. You've got a point.”

“I'll tell you all about it when I get back, okay?” She promised with an equally strained smile, kissing his cheek.

“Can't wait.”

When she came back a little while later, she was laughing. Mickey's hopes that it meant things had gone better than expected were dashed, though, when she managed to gasp out, “She really hates you!”

“Yeah, thanks.” He shook his head. “I knew that much.”

“I'm sorry.” Still giggling, Beck wound her arms around his waist. “She was just such a bitch. I kinda respect the hell out of her.”

“What did she say?”

“That you're a baby,” she dutifully recited, “and you're irresponsible, unreliable...”

“Why is this funny?!”

“Because, Mickey... Mickey, honey...” Framing his face like he had to her earlier, she told him, “It's nothing I didn't already know. You're flighty and you're a big kid; this isn't news. She was floored that I love you anyway, and my god, the look on her face when I went off about how that childishness is what makes you such a good dad, and you're great with the girls... I haven't been able to stop laughing since! Pretty sure she hates me now, too.”

“Great!” Failing to see the humor, Mickey jerked free of her light grasp and moved away, beginning to pace the room. “So instead of helping, you just alienated her from us both!”

“We're going to see him on Saturday.”

“What?” He spun to stare at her; she wasn't laughing anymore. “Are you serious?”

Looking rather proud of herself, she nodded. “Supervised by Aspa, of course, but yep. You get to spend time with your son, and I finally get to meet him. It doesn't matter what she thinks of either of us, as long as she can see that you give a shit; that we're safe to be around Hector, and can be trusted to think of him first. Show her how much you love him, that even childish and flaky you can be reliable, that you want to be reliable, and a supervised visit might turn into father-son weekends, without your ex underfoot.”

“I... wha... how...?”

She shrugged, smiling faintly. “Mother to mother. We came to an understanding.”

Overwhelmed by emotions he couldn't even identify, Mickey closed the distance between them and lifted her up. “I fucking love you, you know that?”

Beaming as he set her down, Beck leaned in for a kiss. “I love you, too, baby.”

“That's not cute anymore.” Despite his protests, he was grinning as he backed her toward the bedroom. “Now I just feel like you're calling me a baby. That sucks. Don't do that.”

“I'll call you what I want,” she teased, pulling him down for another kiss. “And you can't stop me!”

With a hand on her belly, he joked, “How about you call me 'daddy'?”

“No.” She laughed and shook her head. “I physically cannot do that. I'll puke.”

“Well, morning sickness is pretty common.”

“No, this is pure disgust.”

They were both laughing now as they reached the bed; he almost playfully shoved her back, but then remembered the baby and thought better of it. Instead, he flopped across it himself and beckoned for her to join him. “We're gonna be okay, you know.”

Beck winced as she settled gingerly on the edge of the bed. “It's just such bad timing. I don't...”

“Hey.” He tugged at her arm until she stretched out beside him, and wound his arms around her. “It's all gonna be okay. No matter what life throws at us, we'll deal with it together, okay? I want this baby. I know you want this baby. The rest is just details.”

“Pretty big fucking details. I was supposed to go to Mongolia next month.”

“Then go.” God, he didn't want her to, but he was determined to show her that they could be together, be a family, without completely derailing her life. When she looked at him like he'd lost it, he gave her a bland 'are you kidding' look right back. “You're not really gonna try to convince me that you weren't still going on digs when you were pregnant with Alice, are you?”

She blushed. “My team didn't know...”

“So don't tell them this time, either.”

“Mickey...” Pushing his arms away, she sat up. “You really have no idea how physically demanding my work is, do you? I almost lost Alice.”

For a second, he floundered, wondering what the hell to do or say. Then he brightened and sat up, as well. “You speak a million languages; just work as a translator until you're safe to go back out into the field.”

“...I do love it,” she conceded, making him perk up. “And maybe I can finally teach you some Greek so you can talk to your son more easily.”

Mickey chuckled. “I'm not getting out of that, am I?”

“Nope.” She grinned and settled back against his chest as he leaned against the headboard. “Not until we're both fluent.”

“Alright, I'm in.” He smiled, kissing her jaw and lacing their fingers together. “New home for us, new job for you, learning a new language...”

“New baby on the way.”

“New baby on the way,” he parroted, pressing their linked hands to her belly. “New chapter.”

“Here's to a new life.”

Mickey nodded and leaned down for a proper kiss, murmuring against her lips, “Together.”

#monday 2021 #monday movie #fanfiction #fix it fic #mickey henry #mickey/oc #i really really hate chloe #so much #omfg

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vonlipvig · 3 years

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Survivor Winners at War Ep 7 Recap

In this episode, Wendell attempts to kill my best friend and I will NOT stop until he’s gone /j

But before that, we go see the Edge Gang, and ngl I really laughed when Parv was like “Getting voted out before the merge, that’s so lame! I’ve never done that before!” like KDFHGDFKH we STAN.

And then Sandra arrives, and she tells everyone that she basically screwed herself by giving Denise her idol.

Rob was shaking his head and like, yeah, everyone watching it was feeling it as well, cause that was...such a bad move.

And then it just...gets really sad. I feel terrible for Sandra, but I think she herself accepted that she had made a bad move. She says she’s human and makes mistakes, and even though you WANT to play a completely strategic game it is true that at the end of the day you have emotions and feel for the other people, and her trying to help Denise might have ended with her being eliminated, but what can one do? It’s still...WILD, because I mean..giving someone your idol is batshit, but I feel for her.

And oh my god, and then she says she won’t stay on the Edge and here’s were my friend and I gasped out loud cause GOD THIS IS SO DEPRESSING. In a way...I understand. She’s the Sandra Bench woman, I think she knows she has a veeeery slim chance of getting back into the game, and of course the Edge is demanding, so yeah.

I mean, it kills me because I wanted everyone to be at Ponderosa, but I kinda agree with Peridiam from YT when he said that people that raise the flag on the Edge didn’t necessarily “quit”, as it’s built in the game itself.

Still, a very bittersweet ending to the Queen’s Survivor career. You’re still an icon, Sandra.

God, I haven’t recovered yet :(

Now it’s time to go back to Sele, and GOD I CAN’T STAND WENDELL ANYMORE I SWEAR I WANT HIM GONE. So Yul is very rightfully wary of him since he basically offered Parvati a deal during tribal, and then we get Michele and Wendel talking it out, and Michele trying to tell him that maybe it’s not cool to create that much chaos, cause it could backfire...

AND THEN WENDELL IS LIKE “Thank you for schooling me”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME, DUDE?

THIS IS NOW A MICHELE STAN ZONE, I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. She’s not acting superior or anything, she’s literally saying it in the nicest way possible, GOD!

And of course Yul, who was sitting nearby, was very much uncomfortable with that, which game me the hope that maybe a Wendell blindside was going to happen...Oh, cute, innocent, naive me.

Back on the Edge, we get a very heartfelt conversation between Ethan and Parvati, and god the pUNCHES JUST KEEP COMING. I can’t imagine how tough it must have been on Ethan, and to know he was constantly thinking about if this was good for him and if it would give the cancer opportunity to grow back and all and...oh my god, I just wanted to hug him.

Luckily Parv is super supportive and OH MY GOD I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH, she’s so nice and I bet that was such a great help for him.

We stan this beautiful, supporting friendship!

But ok, now it’s definitely tome for another scavenger hunt! There are four tokens scatter around the place, and all of a sudden it’s a mad dash and everyone is running around trying to find them. Tyson stumbles upon one, and the episode makes us think that ooh where are the others? Did they ever find them?

But alas! Rob was absolutely bluffing and he had already found the other THREE! Of course he’s keeping it hidden cause that’s gonna make him a bigger target for...whatever happens next, but hell yeah dude!

We cannot help but stan (OMFG Rob coming back to the game? That would be ICONIC).

Back in the game, we get some snippets of how the other tribes are doing: We get Dakal shenanigans with...Tony running a race by himself and Jeremy saying he runs like an old man, which is hilarious, but also Kim, Denise and Jeremy kind of cementing their bond, which definitely puts Tony in trouble.

Then in Yara we get WAIT IS BEN SINGING THE PEANUT BUTTER JELLY SONG!? Anyway, the boys get a bit paranoid about idols, especially Adam who’s like “I’m cONVINCED that between Ben and Sarah they have the idol” which...could not be more wrong, but aight dfkjdfhkj. Lots of searching, lots of spider senses tingling, and the most hilarious Sophie moments when Adam asks her if she has the idol.

I just could not play Survivor cause I would NOT be able to control my laughter as I say the most BOLD FACED LIE POSSIBLE.

(Also plEASE look at Sophie’s face when Adam’s going on about his spider senses telling him Sarah has the idol dsbjfdbfkjkdk).

She wants to break the fourth wall SO BAD sdfhsdkfj.

So then we go to the challenge, and it’s the one with the big ass dish of water they have to fill, then walk through an obstacle course to drop the water and lower some puzzle pieces. As Jeff nicely put it, the one where Nick absolutely fucking SUCKED (Poor guy, lmao).

So, what happens is...Yara wins pretty comfortably, good for them, love that. Then Dakal and Sele are super neck to neck, but Wendell somehow keeps BRAGGING? AND CALLING FOR JEFF? MF JUST FOCUS ON YOUR PUZZLE WTF!

(Also, there’s one part where he says “Jeff, watch this!” and then fucking SCREWS UP, and here we fucking started laughing and my best friend almost choked on the coke she was sipping, so WENDELL ALMOST KILLED MY BFF HE DESERVES TO GO /j)

But yeah, in the end Dakal gets it first, so Sele is going to tribal.

And here I’m so happy cause it seems like both Yul and Nick are kinda pissed with Wendell for talking trash during the challenge, and it seems that maybe a Wendell blindside is gonna happen...but NOTHING IS EASY, AIN’T IT!

Of course Michele and Wendel have a relationship (as badly as they ended, at least there’s some trust there that she doesn’t really have with Yul or Nick), so they do kinda wanna do something together.

BUT THEN YUL OPENED HIS MOUTH AND DUG HIS OWN GRAVE. He was talking about how they could vote to make it look like Michele didn’t vote for Wendell so that he’d maybe give his tokens to her, and I think that’s when Nick and Michele realized Yul was playing 4D chess which is...dangerous.

So in the end...yeah, they vote out Yul. For Michele I think that’s totally reasonable, I mean having a deeper relationship is definitely valuable, and for Nick...I wouldn’t know, Yul was definitely a strong ally, but so was Wendell, and I think he’s very friendly with Michele now, so yeah, it was good.

Also, Michele saying this to Wendell, we stan.

So no Wendell blindside (it’s ok, I gotta have someone to root against, lmao), and next ep is the Merge! And by the look of the preview...oh it’s gonna go DOWN!

#I kid when I say I don't like Wendell obviously I dont know him or anyone IRL #but I am annoyed with him in the game and I very much didn't like how he talked to Michele or how he acted in the challenge so yeah....#juli watches survivor #survivor winners at war lb

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authenticaussie · 5 years

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What do you think the difference would be in a TMNT/OP fic with different collections of turtles?

oooooooo okay so I should be getting ready for class tomorrow but you have 100% captured me I’m so invested in this

mainly I know 2003, 2012, and Rise - well, at least, they’re my favourites and have the most distinct characterisation tbh bc they’re long-running series - SO I’ll do those guys :DD

THIS GOT LONG (because of course it did, I’ve never made a short post in my LIFE) SO FIRST:

the main difference in fic would be tone!!!!!!!! The turtles are all really affected by the shows they come from so there’d be big differences in how they react to the new situation. Combining OP and 2018, they’re both such loud and bright shows that writing them sad would be kinda….disatisfactory to a reader. 2012 is the one where you could get kinda dark, and go down the genetic experiment and “oh wow these kids need a therapist” and Luffy being >:T wtf why are your lives so Fucked Up route, and 2003 would be hilariously awkward because they’re technically all in the same age range but they act so different wheezes

Second!!! Fun character analysis and Shenanigans under the readmore.

2003

Probably the most responsible on this list, they’re like??? tbh, barely teenagers?? Or at the very least, 18 or 19, and they can be air-heads but 2003 goes feet-first into the whole plot and character and Everything Happens. I mean, literally in season one there’s this whole subplot about how you define monsters and genetic testing and Wild shit like that so they feel Way more adult than the Strawhats get at times. Even though One Piece covers some dark topics it….the characters - the strawhats, in particular, is what I mean - don’t feel like adults the same way the 2003 turtles do. 2003 also doesn’t feel as dark as 2012 gets sometimes, but I feel 2012 is also because they seem really young, and in 2003 at least they get to process their trauma. 2012…..kinda beats them up a lot akhsdg pft.

Sticking them with the Strawhats would be !! Honestly really funny? I feel Mikey would get along with them really well - in every iteration he’s very good at going with the flow, and hey, pirates? and they’re nice? and cool powers? - he’d have the time of his life. Donnie would try and figure out What Was Going On (as the resident “please fix this in case it’s dangerous” guy, that’s probably what his role would Often be) but I can see him being easily distracted by Franky and the whole devil fruits thing. GOD him and Franky is a thought and a half omfg. The level of tech in One Piece is so different when compared to the modern world, and it operates on rules but like, rules that are just ever so slightly different.

Raph would be in debt Immediately. Mainly bc Nami’s manipulative like that but also because he’s just………..Like That. He’d be rude and insulting and if the strawhats were helping them out he’d be the team’s voice of reason. Or, distrust, I suppose. The one who hangs back, who’s prickly, who’s the last to offer his trust because his family needs him to be uncompromised, just in case. I think he and Zoro would clash for a bit, not like, in words but just in gestures, until the crew + turtles had been through their adventures, and gotten to the end of Whatever fic was being written, and then they’d be friends. Not best buds but like, healthy respect for each other.

Leo……….absolutely does Not understand why Luffy is leader. It’s like making Mikey the boss; it doesn’t make sense to him, because Luffy is too trusting and he’s strong but strength doesn’t make a good leader, and in 2003 Leo’s kind of a pushover so he’d stay on the sidelines and watch with Raph. But, as everyone knows, Luffy’s magnetism is Pretty Hard To Deny, and the crew’s respect for him does a lot to show to Leo that he may be missing something but that he doesn’t have to understand.

2012

I always……..feel so bad for TMNT2012 //weeps They’re just kids and they get put through so much like wow I’m only at season two but from spoilers there’s like?? their dad keeps DYING and being bought back to life???/ THAT’S GOTTA FUCK YOU UP!!! Plus all of them have all these different insecurities and they’re kinda mean to each other (Raph….has only given a proper apology for being a dick once so far, and I’m like. mid-way through season two. I’m sorry if this makes me mikey kin @@zali but pLEASE I cannot stand this LET THEM BE NICE TO EACH OTHER ;A; Like they’re still obviously a family but gosh they’re– so prickly)

Honestly depending on how the Strawhats meet them, like holy shit :o they might be Enemies. In 2003 I feel like they’ve been through enough to try and de-escalate a situation first, but 2012 are so Paranoid that unless they had April with them they’d be like WELP this is another mind-control alternate dimension thing, time to ninja vanish. And sure, after they ended up on whatever quest they needed to go on, Luffy would be fascinated by them (2012 definitely pushes the limits of what you can Actually do, in terms of hiding and shit, but I think that makes it fun !!) but I feel the turtles would be pretty paranoid at first. Mikey & Donnie would be the first two to be dragged out of their shells (snickers) because Donnie would be super curious (and also…probably kinda aggravated and confused) about how the one piece world rules work, and Mikey because…friends!! They already have a reindeer mutant on the crew, they’re obviously cool with mutants :D

akhsdg okay I mention that 2003 would hang back and assess Luffy’s leadership still but like 2012 would be such a dick. He never seems to learn the lesson that people have different strengths and different ways of doing things >:T and watching Luffy lead would drive him crazy. I bet he’d try and make plans and be all structured and in control and Luffy would wreck things and/or the strawhats would be like “lol no lmao, you’re not the captain”. Even if he did have a good plan, like….the Strawhats rarely follow plans if Luffy says they’re doing something different snickers. I feel a major part of this could just a nice subplot line of Leo learning to Chill and also like………give the 2012 a fun adventure I’m begging you sobs. Do a Long Long Island filler arc or smth, where it’s dumb and silly and barely dangerous because they’re all competent af.

Also: Mikey constantly trying to find a devil fruit because “dudes, it’s probably not gonna apply when we go back home and think about how SICK superpowers would be!!!!!!!!”

He does not get one, to his disappointment.

2018

These guys are IDIOTS and would fit in with Luffy’s brand of chaos p e r f e c t l y

Okay so yeeeeah I’m probably biased because I think Rise may be my favourite (the family dynamics!! the character designs!! the animation!!! the stupid jokes!!! the sudden flashes of deeper plot!!!!!!!!) BUT. No-one can argue with me that Rise turtles are chaotic as fuck and they’d have the time of their LIVES with Luffy’s crew. Raph would fall in love with Chopper (Chopper would be terrified of him, continuing the terribly sad trend of Raph being Bad With Animals), Donnie would go wild glitter-eyed over the devil fruits and technology and immediately try and do a million mad scientist experiments (and look. SMILES are fucked up. But this boii would totally try and make one/figure out how they worked). He’s….a mad genius and maybe a little bit evil.

Leo would either drive Sanji crazy or be INSTANTLY adopted and taught how to be “cool”, but I can also see Sanji and Zoro lowkey fighting over him SNICKERS. Because Leo has a sword so he’s obviously Zoro’s, but he’s suave and likes fashion so he MUST be Sanji’s, and it’s not an argument persay, until Leo says he thinks both of them are cool and then it’s a battle to the death.

(The end of leo’s sentence was “not as cool as me tho ;P” only they didn’t notice that bit.)

April would absolutely fall in love with Robin. And also Nami?? But I feel mainly Robin like Oh Man Robin is so cool and both of them are hypercompetent??? April’s like teach me how to be a badass assassin and Robin smiles and laughs and absolutely does.

Mikey’s so loud that he almost terrifies Usopp, and terrifying Usopp is kinda a no-no in Luffy’s book, but he likes these guys and Mikey’s just excited to have an artist friend and so both of them bounce around the ship like ping pong balls.

There is………yeah. A lot of paint covering the Sunny after they’re through. I can’t decide if Franky would cry or laugh but I know one (1) single drop of paint got on Nami’s tangerines and she Banished them. Rise turtles probably have a really good time and the crew figures out they’re basically children really quick and make sure nothing bad happens to them. Leo promises to try and get better at portal-making so they can come visit New York sometime, and everyone is like “what the fuck is new york??” at the same time as Donnie says HEY WAIT, I THINK WE’RE ON AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION and they get teleported home :DD

THANKS FOR LETTING ME SPILL ALL MY TURTLE FEELINGS EVERYWHERE

#tmnt #rottmnt #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2012 #one piece #missjenca #ask aussie #bip bop nari drops #wow I love combining my special interest s aljshdg //BLUSHES #so anyway HERE'S MULTIPLE PARAGRAPHS OF POTENTIAL FIC THEMES lajkhsdf sweats pft #I'm..........so weak pft

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writersblock2point0 · 5 years

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Sweet Serial Killer, Part 2

Oh wow guys! I actually did it! Omg. I’m so proud of myself.

Now, I really need ya’ll to read this next bit.

Warnings!

Blood, gore, like omfg so much gore. Skinning, flaying a man, death(don’t worry, no one important-duh) and Jerome being a fucking badass. This iss very VERY dark material, like sickening to most(or some of you, lets be honest, if you were wanting more after the first one ya’ll be a little fucked up).

Okay, so I hope ya’ll enjoy. This is more relationship building with the three main boys(A,M,C) omfg I'm totally calling them AMC from now on! So yeah, amc bond building with Jerome but also the others. Like, super cute but in a demented and concerning way? I was also inspired by GoT with this. (Go House Bolton*coughcough)

Also, the song mentioned in this is Teddy Bears Picnic, if you were curious. It’s a creepy, but favorite of mine.

The rain hits the world outside. Drops running down the large window as I sat at the small square table, a small cup of coffee in hand as I watched the drops compete with one another. When two would combine, I’d move to another, and then another.

I looked up when I heard the soft clicking of heels, turning to see Jane suddenly peering down at me. She was wearing this cute dress that was black and lace. It ended at her knees, and the sleeves puffed but ended at her elbows. It had a high collar, and held her Volturi crest as a brooch. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, elegantly braided and looked softer than silk. Her red eyes were accented by her bold makeup.

I smile up at her, “Janie! So lovely to see you here, what are the odds?”

She doesn’t reciprocate a smile. “The masters want you home. You’ve been gone for a while.”

I smirk, “What? Only them? You sure you didn’t miss me?” She doesn’t answer, and doesn’t look impressed as I sigh and tell her to sit. She does, sitting taller than ever and with an air of propriety. If I didn’t know any better, I’d take her as a trophy. I’d keep her hair, and eyes, and those lovely lips. I wonder if there’s a way to make a body last as long as I would like it to, other than the obvious.

Vampires. I hum to myself, sipping my coffee as I look out the window again. Aro, the head of this family, along with Marcus and Caius offered me a home and something I haven’t had in a long time. Love. Did they love me? No, perhaps they loved the things I do; my mind, my creations, my art. A trill of pleasure slithered down my spine at the thought. Yes, my art.

Still, vampires. Who would have ever guessed. I freeze as I see a child walking down the street, a yellow umbrella and a pair of bright red rain boots. From the white dress, I could see it was a girl, with long yellow hair and light skin. I held my breath as flashes flickered inside my head, images of what to do, how to do it. I watched her turn to look at a woman with a baby and a obviously round belly calling to her. I relaxed as I turned back to Jane. Giving her a smile, and finished my coffee.

The castle was quiet when we entered, other than the brunette receptionist greeting us. The one that was here when I first arrived didn’t make it long. It wasn’t because of me, but a guard lost control. Sad, I would have liked to hear her beg, her voice was always so lovely. What was her name again?

We walked in silence to the library, a place the masters often were. It was a large room, bigger than my childhood home, filled with old books, ones with pictures and ones without them, ones in different languages, and ones that were actually journals. They even had scrolls.

The doors opened, and I followed Jane in. The air was stiff, but it wasn’t like these vampires needed to breathe, or open a goddamn window. It smelled of paper and wood, and dust. I stand still as we come to the table they are seated at. Marcus is sitting, a comically large book in front of him, and his long boney hand smoothly flips a page, not making any sound as he does so.

Aro was standing with a book in hand, eyes flashing over the pages before he turns them.

Caius was sitting in a chair, but he wasn’t reading. He was staring me down. I’m wondering why he looks less pissed than he usually does. Perhaps there was a feeding today and I didn’t know about it. I do not attend those, for my own safety, as Aro puts it.

“So nice of you to join us, Jerome.” I turn to Aro, seeing his eyes on me. He shuts his book, and in a blink of an eye is standing before me, palms out and fingers wiggling in a ‘gimme gimme’ way. His face is frozen in a stoic grin as I let him see.

“Hm, still looking for inspiration?”

“Yeah, though I’m willing to wait. Are you?”

He lets my hand go, grinning at me in surprise, head tilted down as his eyes narrowed in amusement, as if I made an inappropriate joke, as if I was flirting. “Of course, you always make it worth the wait dear.”

I sniff, my lungs uncomfortable with the air. I nod, turning to the closest window and opening it. The rain smelled refreshing, and I let the breeze comb through my hair as I hear the book pages ruffle in the wind.

“Why must you always open that blasted window Jerome.” It was no question, but a bitten remark from Caius. I feel myself smirk, and I look at him from over my shoulder.

“Why must I breathe you ask?” His eyebrows raise, as if I offended him. “I’m hurt, Sir, I thought you wanted me alive and kicking. Without me, you don’t have your fun.”

He narrowed his gaze, “You call what you do fun?”

“For me it is, for you? Hm, no.” I smirk, glancing at him from the corner of my eye, “But you like to watch, don’t you.” He glowered even more at my remark. I hum, looking outside. I was still at a loss as to what to do next. I didn’t have a victim; usually I got one and then the inspiration would come to me. But not so much these days. It’s been four days, since I’ve started looking. I needed to scratch the itch, just reach over and sink my nails into my skin and dig. Dig until skin peeled off, until blood stained my fingers, and screams shredded my ears. Not my screams of course, no, that wouldn’t do. How could I enjoy it if I was screaming the whole time? No, the screaming was for the victims, my sweet little victims.

“You're spacing again, dear.” Aro’s voice is a far away echo that travels closer as my thoughts are waved away. I hum, turning to look at him. I know I look dazed, perhaps even a little high.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Aro grins, like a proud father looking at a monstrous child destroying a toy. So loving and oblivious to what their child will grow to be, but I suppose Aro is encouraging my future.

“Be patient child, you will find the one.” Marcus’s weazed advice is almost calming, but I still cannot help feel a twinge of annoyance. I am calm, and I am patient. Who said I wasn’t? Nevertheless, I send the three of them a charming smile, wild thoughts flowing through my brain like a river. Persistent and untamable.

“I hope so,” I reply, watching a bird land on a ledge of a window across the city. For your own sake.

I smiled as I dragged the body in by the ropes I tied around the man's ankles. I found the perfect one. Dark silky hair, long lashes that tears would just cling to, beautiful blue eyes. I pass by Demetri and Felix, both give me charming sinister smiles.

“Murder on the agenda today?”

I hum, “Not until next Tuesday,” I stop pulling, letting the rope fall off my shoulder as I turn to gaze down at my new plaything. He was a looker. He’d be a gorgeous vampire. I sigh, tilting my head, too bad he wouldn’t be pretty for too much longer. Perhaps I’ll keep his skin.

“Would you like some help?” Demetri offers, red eyes unblinking as he stares me down.

I nod, “Yes, please. I want him perfect.” I watch as Demetri holds the limb figure, wincing as his shoes drag. “Be gentle, if he bruises too much it won’t look right.”

“What do you have planned for us this time?”

“Something long, something I need to think carefully about. Too much at once and he will die, too little, it is boring.” I speak freely, knowing that usually I surprise them all. I like to be secretive. Very secretive.

My nerves fluttered inside of me. My stomach swelled with each step and I was so eager to get to my special boy. I hummed to myself, a jolly little tune, pushing the doors opened as I entered the room that the Master’s themselves set up perfectly for me. There were their chairs, not that they would have an issue standing forever, but they were royalty, so of course they needed designated seats. Each master was seated in his respected seat. A guard on each side of them. A few were by the doors, letting me pass as I pushed a small trolly in. It squeaked as I rounded the large wooden X. I could sense Caius’s agitation on my back. I would need to fix the wheel if I didn’t want to hear him complain for an hour.

I rub my fingers, so happy to have finally found one so special. My perfect boy. He would be the best yet.

“My sweet,” Aro smiles, eyes light with curiosity as he watched me. He waves me over, but I stand still. He wanted to see, but I shook my head.

“No.” Reaching up, I let my finger tips fall over the bare ribs of my boy, feeling him shutter as my fingers were probably cold. I hummed as I saw his nipples harden from the sensation, though I doubt it was because of arousal. “It’s a supposed to be a surprise.” I look to him, “You’ll ruin the fun.” Aro sat back, taking my small, useless warning to heart. I was human, I couldn’t hurt him, but perhaps I would be turned and I knew newborns were dangerous.

I slowly lift the sack I made sure Demetri placed over the boys head. He winced at the low light of the torchest, casting a yellow glow over the room as he took in everything around him.

“What-what is this?” He was english, coming from somewhere I wasn’t able to pinpoint but the accent was cute. I wondered if you could hear it in his screams.

“Shhh,” I place a finger to his lips, stepping closer to him. It wasn’t that warm in this room, and his body was already shivering. I frowned, turning to Aro. “Can we turn up the heat?”

“Is it necessary?” Caius replied, and I nodded. He snapped his fingers and two lower guards quickly left.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you warm soon enough. You’re gunna need it.” I grin, and he’s already got tears in his eyes. I love it. They pool under his eyes, reddening his cheeks as they stick to his lashes. Just like I had hoped. I spend a few moments admiring his face, he was so pretty.

“If you would, Jerome.” Caius complains, and I pause in tracing the boy’s cheek bones. “Start already!”

I clench my jaw, “It is not warm enough. I want him to sweat.”

“Why? So you can order for the room to be cooled?” He shot back, and I hissed.

“Be patient you old hag, I am trying to enjoy this!” His eyebrow shoots up, and I give him a charming smile, “It will be fun. Now, let me work.” He doesn't say anything, but his eyes have darkened in the low lighting.

“I’m sorry, he is such a rude man.” I whisper to him, going back to following his jaw. “He is very old you see,” I move to the side, taking the boys chin and turning him so he is looking at Caius, “He does not allow himself to enjoy the little things. Like how pretty you are. Isn’t he pretty Caius?” I use his first name, knowing how it irks him. I grin at how Caius’ hand twitches as he glares at the boy. “Hm?”

“Jerome.” I sighs, seeing a bead of sweat roll down the boy’s neck. He’s ready. I reach over to the trolly, taking the comically clean white sheet and lifting it, making sure my special boy can’t see what is on it. He wouldn’t like it too much. No, and I want him guessing.

I take a very thin blade, one I had picked out just a few days ago specifically for this.

“Tell me, what is your name?”

“Llion.” His voice was barely a whisper as he watched me, eyes such a beautiful crystal. It was like looking at a broken sky.

“Llion,” I parroted, bringing the blade out and he shifts in fear as he sees it. “Now, I need you to hold very, very, still for me.” I stand in front of him, “Can you do that?”

He’s looking around, probably for help or an escape, but when he finds none, he resolves so silently nodding. “Yes.”

“Good.” I boop him on the nose, “I knew you could be a good boy. Now, I have another question for you. Have you ever read a book, called a Song of Ice and Fire?”

He furrows his brow, shaking his head.

“Well, there is a quote, from there that I just love.” I smile, holding my hands behind my back, “It goes like this,

‘A naked man has few secrets; a flayed man has none’.”

His eyes widen, and I take it all in.

“No! No, please!”

I grab him by the face, holding him still as he cries. “Stop. I said, stay still.” I hold his arm, and begin. I watched a few videos on skinning animals, and so I have a vague idea of what I want to do. I hum the same song I sang before, content in my work as I ignore his jerking and screams. I smiled as I sliced a piece from the top of his wrists to elbow. The skin was thin and floppy as I dangled it in front of his face.

I didn’t even bother to look, just tossing the piece away from me and hearing it hit the stone floor with a nice wet splat. Poor Llion was sobbing, shuttering with pain as he kept his head down. I marveled at what it looked like underneath his skin, running a finger over it and shivering at the feel. It made him make a funny noise.

I worked quietly, pausing to admire his bare arm as I worked my way up to his shoulder. I just began to reach it when a large mass suddenly pushed me away, causing me to fly back and onto my ass. A guard was on Llion like a cat on a mouse, teeth sunken into his fleshless limb. Llion screamed as, what I assume is the venom, hit him, also the biting of course. I wrinkled my nose, shaking with anger as I stared the vampire down.

How dare he!

“Jane!” I bit out, and smiled as the vampire crumbled under her gaze, feeding stopped as he froze in agony. I reached into my pocket and flipped my lighter open, calmly lighting him on fire before watching him erupt into flames. He would not be able to run the flames out, while he was still frozen in such pain.

I registered Llion’s screams, the venom working it’s way into him.

I spot a large machete on the floor, next to the overturned cart, and I pick it up, and shrug with a look at Llion’s arm. I hold his shoulder before hacking away at his socket. The arm falls from him, dangling in the air as it was still held up by a shackle. I take it and pull it apart, the bones and muscle causing a little strain, but without the skin, it seems to pull apart fairly well. I look to the other guards, eyes black as the stair me down. They are across the way, the burning vampire between us. The lower guard is silently screaming as he begins to crumble into dust. The flames are fanning me, and I bask in the heat they give. I sneer, looking them over and then at the arm.

“If you were that hungry, you could have just asked.” I throw the arm towards them, letting it fly through the arm and land with a slap and a roll, stopping at their feet. They don’t move, “Go ahead,” I can feel the tension in the room, and I soak it all in, letting it feed my anger. “Eat it.”

A guard, with a dark complexion and strong jawline, picks it up and holds it out to the others.

I throw my arms out, “Enjoy!” I give a mock bow, before turning back to Llion. He is crying, but isn’t screeching anymore. I see how much his wound is bleeding, and I place my blade over the guard’s dying flames, getting it red hot. I roll my eyes and carderize the wound.

“We can’t have you dying on us, can we Llion?”

#Twilight #twilight imagine #volturi #volturi imagine #aro #marcus #caius #jane #alec #demetri #felix #vampires #murder #gore #fanfiction #imagines #fanfic #oc

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fortunaegloria · 1 month

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Harrison Ford in The FBI – "Caesar's Wife" (4x18) [1969]

Thanks again, @scarfcce ❤️

#harrison ford #harrisonfordedit #hfordedit #the fbi #mine #his lips are so delicious and kissable here #at that time he was already a wild and dangerous man omfg

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tallskinnyvanillalatte · 7 years

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Castle Episodes (Season 7)

Season 7 it is, I’m almost done. The previous posts can be found here.

7x01 Driven: Let’s be honest - the moment they arrive at the scene, seeing Castle’s car up in flames, could be way more intense. Beckett is freaking out, yes, but there could be more emotions as well. Also with Alexis and Martha. I mean, they think that their father/son is in that car, they should be freaking out more. I understand that they can only focus on so many people - but still, this didn’t even take a minute. Great, now Beckett’s pretty dress is ruined. .. just imagine if they had made the title card say “Beckett” instead of “Castle” omfg. The moment when Espo gives Beckett a cup of coffee and she thinks it’s Castle for a split second. “When Alexis was taken” like, we can mention that two years later but we can’t deal with it properly back then. Two months go by. And I wonder how Alexis and Martha dealt with that. If you just think about it.. they woke up every morning with Castle still not being home. Went on in their days. Went to bed not knowing if he was still alive or what was going on, hoping for news the next day. For TWO MONTHS. How did Castle react when he woke up? How did Alexis and Martha react? I have so many questions that aren’t answered and it’s frustrating. “To my amazing mother, my wonderful daughter, and the love of my life.” I’m frustrated by this storyline already because there’s so many unanswered questions and I know that this is stretched out over so long that it’s hard to keep up.

7x02 Montreal: I’d mention that Lanie and Esposito are back together but they’ve been on and off in the past that I wouldn’t bother to mention, so. Castle kissing Gates like that is not that cool - a kiss on the cheek would’ve been fine. “What just happened” yeah Gates, same. Martha mentions that she went to grief counseling while Castle was missing. Just let that sink in. “It’s Canada, how risky could it be” the way he says this and Alexis’ face is too priceless because it’s one Canadian saying this to another, both playing Americans on the show. While Castle was gone, he’d recorded videos for Alexis, Martha and Beckett saying goodbye, saying he loved them :( The scene with Castle and the guy, Hollander’s Woods, Castle in tears, oh boy.

7x03 Clear & Present Danger: Eight minutes in - the devil was the killer, case closed. “Clearly, our killer is the invisible man.” Martha walking into Castle’s .. trap was hilarious.

7x04 Child’s Play: Alexis’ behavior is weird but that is explained at the end of the episode. Twenty second graders? Only twenty children per class? Oh my God, that sounds like heaven. Castle at school is hilarious. “Mister Castle, we do not make faces in the classroom” “He started it!” :D Castle slurping out of the juice box and then coughing, hilarious. This little girl Emily is adorable, and Castle with her is so cute. And how perfect is that fairy tea party scene. At the end of the episode, Castle talks to Alexis about her weird behavior. She tells him that it’s because she thinks something terrible will happen again, that she’ll lose him again. And Castle tells her that he knows exactly how she feels, that he wouldn’t have let her out of his sight after Paris (why didn’t we see any of that though). <3

7x05 Meme is Murder: It’s funny how they pronounce ‘Fuchs’ (fyoux) because that name happens to be German for fox. “I’m German” ah, so the name isn’t random after all ;) Ryan has a blog called “The Ryan Report”. I wonder if someone made a tumblr with that name. Okay I just checked, yeah the blog exists but no one is using it. Someone just saved the url. The webcommercial at the end is gold. Hi, I’m Critchard Ratchel.

7x06 The Time of Our Lives: Matthias, a Swiss guy. Last episode Germany, this time Switzerland. It’s a “what if” episode. The intro has a different sound. Beckett is captain, Lanie is pregnant, Martha redecorated the loft, Alexis has black hair and lives in LA with her mother, Ryan isn’t with Jenny, Espo isn’t with Lanie. Martha’s huuuge self portrait in the office is hilarious. And the scene with Alexis and Castle with the hug is so adorable. The wedding is squeezed into the last 4.5 minutes. The wedding itself is beautiful. The vows are perfect, they dance to their song, Beckett looks gorgeous (and she’s wearing Martha’s ear rings), the venue is gorgeous (so cheesy but beautiful, with really crappy CGI). I just wish they had used a little more time for it. And I hate that Lanie, Ryan and Espo weren’t there.

7x07 Once Upon a Time in the West: Lanie, Ryan and Espo aren’t too amused about that, either. “You guys suck”. Five minutes later “You still suck”. The intro is super cool, Wild West style. Their outfits in style are hilarious.

7x08 Kill Switch: “You still remind me a little of Hooch” aww that sentence came up again <3 It’s the episode with Javi held hostage on a subway train. It’s funny how the “hidden message in the pizza carton” trick always works. Like, shouldn’t they be more careful now and check the box? That trick is so old. I don’t like how the drama is written. Like, it’s so anticlimactic. It’s about to get dramatic when Espo and the woman cop take down the guy but it happens so easily. Then “It’s not over, the guy was infected with a deadyl bacteria” - dramaaaaa. Until three minutes later, they’re all in the hospital, giving an antibiotic and they are safe. “Come on, let’s take the subway. .. too soon? [...] Am I on the wrong track here?” lol Castle

7x09 Last Action Hero: The sound of the intro is different again. I’m not too interested in the episode, I’m barely paying attention. The ear recognition thingy reminds me of that CSI New York episode where Aiden Burn was killed and left her earprint in the car for the others to find, so that they’d know it was her. Ah, I can’t wait to watch that show once I’m done with Castle. Awww how sweet of Beckett to carve my initials into her apartment <3 ;)

7x10 Bad Santa: Javi is about to meet Lanie’s parents who think that they are engaged. The title card in Christmas style is hilarious. Javi meets her parents and so do we, we haven’t seen them before. “When the time comes, I hope you call me”. We’ll see if Castle calls Dino. Is that... are Lanie and Espo breaking up with each other? “You are no longer permitted to work with the NYPD” Were these two scenes just a huge “fuck you” from the writers/producers to the fans? Like .. merry fucking christmas to you, too?

7x11 Castle P.I.: Castle is a private investigator now. “YOu can make this a lot easier for me, Perlmutter.” “Oh, because that’s what I live for.” Perlmutter is gold. Beckett and Castle trying to figure out what the other one knows is hilarious. “Oh, we’re definitely on top of [Castle]” omfg. Halfway through the season and I’m not too impressed, can you tell?

7x12 Private Eye Caramba: “So pleasant to see you. And not see Castle.” Bless Perlmutter.

7x13 I, Witness: Castle witnesses a murder but when they get into the house the wife was murdered in, there’s no blood. It reminds me of that episode in season 5 I think where they staged that murder for Castle’s birthday. They later find Eva’s body, but Castle is convinced it’s not her and that she just staged her death. Turns out it’s actually Eva.

7x14 Resurrection: “Where are you off to?” “Oh, I signed up for an escort service and have to meet a client.” “What, a what?” “I just wanted to see if you’re listening. I’m going to the library to study.” “not cool.” The look on his face was priceless. Plot twist, 3XK isn’t dead after all (who would’ve guessed). “Mister Castle works on this case only” oh please, Gates, are you even listening to yourself. The ending is really creepy with Beckett answering a call and the creepy “we will meet again, one day” music and then she’s abducted.

7x15 Reckoning: Uuuh, Castle surprising Tyson and closing the door to talk to him alone. Reminds me of that season from .. wow exactly two seasons ago where he talked to that guy who had driven the van Alexis was in. Oh, Castle. “I get to kill you over and over again” - he kills Beckett, then takes Martha, kills her, then Alexis, kills her, like Castle would be so dead. “Castle, he’s calling from your house”. The angst when he gets home and asks for Alexis. The relieve when both Martha and Alexis are okay. He sends them both to Europe, so that they are safe. Oh, I wish he’d abducted Alexis, too. Jeez that moment Castle thought Beckett had been shot right in front of his eyes. “I need a new face and I’ve chosen yours.” It’s so disturbing and wrong and ugh. So, is 3XK dead for real this time? Beckett deals with Nieman all on her own, with a scalpel. Aaaand Castle is back at the precinct, working with Beckett.

7x16 The Wrong Stuff: Aww it’s laser tag at the Castle residence again. Wait a minute... Alexis is playing with some dude instead of Castle. I’m offended. And then Martha walks down the stairs with some other dude wearing Castle’s pjs. Like, what the fuck is going on - “The Wrong Stuff”, yeah big time. omfg the Mars themed intro is hilarious. Are you my mummy? How cool would it have been if Castle had made that reference. Why did Alexis open the door when neither of her friends left? Like, what was the point? And her “get a room” comment wasn’t too great. Tom Richwood. Torchwood. Close enough.

7x17 Hong Kong Hustle: Ah that badass lady, taking out Ryan and Esposito single-handedly, disarming both of them. “It’s a girl’s night out, there won’t be competition” and then we see Zhang and Beckett in that shooting area thingy that I have no idea what the official word for is,

7x18 At Close Range: Um... Ryan???? “Uh, Ryan, is it One Direction? You’d tell me if they are in town.” “No, they are in Hong Kong.” “Right.” Ah, Castle and Espo are little fans of One Direction? We meet Ryan’s sister Gwen.

7x19 Habeas Corpse: Alexis’ outfit is so cute. And I love that she studied with Beckett. Ryan and Esposito practicing their performance in the interrogation room is hilarious. How did Alexis’ exam go? Can we get an update, please? I would’ve loved to see both performances, though (the Caskett one dressed though).

7x20 Sleeper: Castle’s been having nightmares about his disappearance. He’s seeing Beckett’s therapist. “So you were in jungle combat? With Chuck Norris?” this whole thing is so bizarre already, like... “I was in Thailand, getting shot at, with Chuck Norris?” I’m not buying it? This storyline is so.. off and bizarre already, I’m not that interested in it anymore.

7x21 In Plane Sight: Ah, I love this episode. “Are you okay?” “Alexis is on this flight.” <3 Alexis helping and examining the body, so badass. “Because my daughter is on this plane and I’m not gonna let anything happen to her.” <3 Alexis was so badass, disarming the woman <3 There are so many great Castle/Alexis scenes in this episode, I really miss this aspect of the show, we’ve been getting less and less of it.

7x22 Dead in New York: “I don’t know if we should be flattered or offended.” Well, I just think it’s plain stupid. Carly Rae Japson has an appearance in this episode. And she performs “I really like you”. The performance feels so staged. Like, it is staged, but it shouldn’t feel that way if it was done well, you know? It just feels out of place.

7x23 Hollander’s Woods: Castle with the head puns though. I don’t know which one I’d go for. The serious one looks better but it’s a bit too serious. The smiling one just looks creepy. Something in between should be right. Aww Ryan and Esposito are celebrating ten years of marrriage working together. We find out about Castle’s past, about what happed in Hollander’s Woods when he was eleven years old. He had watched a murder and the killer had worn a creepy mask and had threatened him to never tell anyone about this. He had later called the police but they never found the body which made him wonder if that had actually happened. In this episode, the body has the exact same marks as the body he had seen and a witness described a man with a mask - exactly the same mask he had seen. What happened to Castle happened 30 years ago which would mean that he’s 41 now. Which... seems a couple years too young. “You are going to be amazing. [..] Because you already are.” <3 Awww there’s Hodges from CSI. Turns out he’s the killer :( Ah, it’s so creepy, I love it. “Mother, you will always be a star in my eyes. And Alexis, you amaze me every day. You two are my redheaded pillars of unconditional love.” <3 The ending with Castle’s speech and everyone together at the round table was beautiful. It could have been the series finale. If I’m not mistaken, by the time they had filmed this episode, they didn’t know whether or not we’d get an eight season. So, they probably did this ending on purpose.

#personal #k watches castle #castle episodes #castle season 7

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travelling-accountant · 7 years

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New Post has been published on https://www.travellingaccountant.net/achievies/countries-visited/kenya/big-five-three-days/

The Big 5 in 3 Days

When going on a safari in Africa, everyone’s talking about the Big 5 – it’s a must to have seen them, but not all tourists are that lucky. As a recap – the Big 5 are: the elephant, the buffalo, the lion, the (black) rhino and the leopard. The first two should be the easiest ones to find, but I had less faith in spotting the last two. Unfortunately you hear about these beautiful animals getting extinct lots of times on the news. We tried to lower our expectations for our first safari vacation, just not to get disappointed. But we very soon realised we had nothing to worry about…

Lake Nakuru

N° 1 of the Big 5: The Buffalo

The first one crossing our path was the buffalo, which we encountered in Lake Nakuru National Park. It was our second day in Kenya, after arriving the day before and our first game drive in jeep with open roof. I remember how we were amazed by the size of these animals. There were a lot of ostriches near the buffalo’s, which made us realize they are pretty big as well. I have to be honest – of all Big 5, this is the one that is least impressive to me. I see it as a big cow with nice horns.

N° 2 of the Big 5: The Rhino

We have seen so many different species during this first safari, there are too many to mention. We were exited with every new one we saw and crossed them of our list. After lunch, when we returned for making our second game drive of that day. It didn’t take too long before we saw… the white rhino. And not one, but a few of them. Our guide was over the moon. They were pretty far away, but close enough to get some really good shots. Ok, I know – it’s not the black rhino, but c’mon – it’s pretty amazing to see the white one during your first day game drive already! We would see another one the next day at Masai Mara. And we actually did see the black one too, in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania – that was the closest one we’ve seen.

By the way, do you know the difference between the white and black rhino? The white one has a wider snout, because it eats grass from the ground. The black one has a pointed snout, for eating leafs from bush and branches. And the name “white” doesn’t refer to the colour, but is a bad translation from the Dutch word “wijd”, which means “wide”. Normally my husband acts like the know-it-all, but I couldn’t resist… and it’s fun to know, right?

N° 3 of the Big 5: The Leopard

So, excited with having seen the rhino and all the other marvellous creatures in the African savanna, we were about to calling it a day, when our guide Alex suddenly stopped the jeep, looked through his binoculars and pointed to something in the grass a few meters left ahead of us. Did I hear him say that correctly (I was sitting in the front seat this time, right next to him)? Did he actually say “leopard”? You’ve got to be kidding me! We were like children, you should have seen us. All nervously grabbing for our binoculars, camera’s and video cameras. And then staring at the grass, holding our breath… First we didn’t see much… then some movement… OMFG – yes, there it was. To me, the most beautiful cat in the world (and you have to know I’m crazy about cats)… It was walking slowly towards the road – towards us… Before we knew it, it was standing on the road, it’s eyes on us, then looking behind from where it was coming from. Alex’ eyes followed the path back and with some extra excitement in his voice, he said: “There’s a baby leopard as well, just next to the side of the road”… No way… But yes, there we saw it, very carefully and with some hesitation running behind it’s mother. The mother had already crossed the road and the little one was creeping behind it. In the meantime Alex was calling the other guides through the walkie talkie and taking pictures with his mobile. It was clear that this wasn’t something these guides come across very often. Alex explained that by keeping our distance in the beginning, the leopard felt enough at ease to make its way over – thank you, Alex!

And – lucky bastards as we are – this wouldn’t be the only time we saw a leopard. It was the most memorable one, that’s for sure – with the little guy and the crossing and everything, but we would see another one again, higher in a tree, 2 days later, on our second day in the Masai Mara.

Masai Mara

N° 4 of the Big 5: The Elephant

On our third day in Kenya, the infamous Masai Mara was our destination. Alex made us guess the first animal we would spot, after entering the gates. None of us got it right, but we were so happy when we saw our very first elephant. No, sorry, that’s inaccurate – not one elephant, but a whole family of elephants. And like with the leopard, it looked like they were waiting for our arrival to cross the road. Impressive animals, that’s the least I can say. With the elephants it’s a female that is leading the group. And indeed, the leader was waving fiercely with her head and trunk before stepping on the road to make sure we knew we had to keep our distance and let her and her family pass. And at the end of the line, a little one came running somewhat faster, to keep up with the others, his ears flapping in the wind. Adorable…

We would come across the elephants a few times during our vacation, but every time we enjoyed the encounter almost as much as the first time. You start to put the camera’s down, looking at the details of the animal, how they behave, how they move and how they interact. At the Serengeti in Tanzania, a few days later, we saw a bull getting very irritated when we tried to drive next to him. Again, our guide Maravit was very careful, backing up to give the animal some space, until it calmed down and we could continue our journey. Never boring, such a safari…

N° 5 of the Big 5: The Lion

Ah, another giant cat… And indeed, the resemblance is striking with our four-legged lazy friends at home. There it was – lying in the shadow, not moving a muscle when we approached him. The most we got was him raising his head a little, just enough to notice that we were there – not like he cared – and then he continued his beauty sleep. We would see him again, in action, the next morning. Then we saw that it was actually Scar – you know, the bad guy in The Lion King. He had a scar across his right eye, but was still looking he could take a stand. Actually, when he was walking down to the bush that morning, at the same time a hippo was getting out of the water, a few meters further. What a dilemma to choose who to watch… man, we were spoiled!

Lions in abundance in Kenya & Tanzania. We met a group with younger ones twice in the Serengeti and another pack in Ngorongoro Crater. The thing is to remember that – although these animals seem very at ease and used to humans entering their territory, they are still wild animals. We were shocked when during the safari in Ngorongoro Crater some tourists in a jeep in front of us were taking selfies with a lion, while hanging half of their body out of the jeep, just to get the pictures. Maravit was furious at their guide and explained that it’s the guides’ responsibility to make sure all tourists behave as they are supposed to and do not put themselves (and the others) in danger. Seems pretty obvious to keep your distance, but some people never learn…

Other Countries we visited

Have a look at the other countries we ‘achievied’ to visit, and other Achievies…

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