#i think. probably adam takes her side in the end and convinces nate. and they go on a big family vacation together.

[arlathen]

reading thru my old wips and finding the one where nate has to turn lucy and is like 100% sure it killed her and hes just sitting alone in their house w her corpse in the next room. like BROTHER....

[homeformyheart]

birthday drabbles - a du mortain (twc)

author’s note: a series of birthday drabbles for my favorite commanding agent. I am so so so soft for Adina and bff!A, so just forced myself to put my thoughts on paper. hope you all enjoy!

copyright: all characters, except the oc detective, are owned by mishka jenkins @seraphinitegames. series/pairing: the wayhaven chronicles – adam du mortain x f!detective (regina bishop) & bff!ava du mortain x nb!detective (harley bishop) rating/warnings: 13+; fluff, blood mention in 2nd drabble word count: ~1.1k total (~750 for adam x regina, ~300 for ava & harley) summary: a set of drabbles around the celebration of a du mortain’s birthday.

1. adam du mortain x regina bishop (~200 words) 2. adam du mortain x regina bishop (~550 words) 3. ava du mortain & harley bishop (~300 words)

1. adam du mortain x regina bishop (~200 words)

adam tucks the folder under his arm as the team makes their way out of the facility, where they just wrapped up a meeting with rebecca. he reaches into his pocket to find his sunglasses, the glow of the setting sun a bit too bright as he follows his team toward their SUV.

his fingers curl around thick cardstock and he pulls out the offending item from his pocket, brow furrowing in confusion. the frown on his face immediately disappears as he recognizes the colored drawing on the front – a faceless gray blob with yellow and peach-colored circles above it and black lines below it, holding the hands of two much smaller peach colored blobs.

unbeknownst to him, the dimples on his cheeks deepen as he opens the card and reads the scrawling handwriting of his children.

a mix of letters he can roughly tell is supposed to say “happy birthday, papa” and “we love you.”

he feels the corner of his eyes get misty when a comforting hand appears on his shoulder. he looks up at nate’s knowing smile.

“they were pretty upset that i went to work today,” adam murmurs sheepishly, tucking the card carefully into his folder.

nate smiles. “so go home to them now. we’ll see you tomorrow.”

adam looks up and realizes that morgan is sitting in the drivers’ seat of the SUV and gives his friend an appreciative nod before heading off in the opposite direction toward their family home.

***** 2. adam du mortain x regina bishop (~550 words); tw: blood mention

adam remains still, laying on his back in their empty bedroom and staring up at the ceiling. his hands are folded over his stomach, fingers intertwined, as he waits. he’s had almost a millennia to learn how to be patient, but he finds all that time means nothing when it comes to being with his family.

his wife. who also lovingly threatened requested that he pretend to be asleep and stay in the room until the children were ready with their surprise.

he can hear them all the way downstairs in the kitchen, squealing and yelling over each other, fighting over who gets to bring what up to him and he can’t help but smile at the image of a pregnant regina trying to wrangle their two very energetic children.

finally, he hears them make their way up the stairs, their two little ones scampering up ahead of regina’s slow, deliberate steps. his fingers twitch at the image of her carrying a tray of breakfast items (that he knows he will have to pretend to enjoy as they have not yet told their children that he does not need to eat real food) since he would prefer that she stay off her feet and let him help.

(but he knows by now – after two kids – that even suggesting that will earn him an earful about how she is not helpless just because she is pregnant).

he closes his eyes just as the door is nudged open and the hallway light spills into the room.

“surprise! happy birthday papa!” jacques and cecilia scream out as they clamber up onto the bed and jump up and down.

“thank you, my loves,” he murmurs, wrapping them both up in his arms and pulling them down to his side as he sits up against the headboard.

regina’s eyes sparkle as she approaches the bed with the tray, sitting carefully on the edge by his side. he grabs the tray from her and sets it down over his lap, before wrapping his arm around her waist. she reaches for the black tumbler and hands it to him before grabbing a mug of her own decaf coffee.

“your coffee that the kids helped make,” she says with a wink.

“did they now?” he chuckles, taking the tumbler from her and looking down at the single waffle on the tray that he knows she will eat after he “insists” that she needs it more than him.

it’s a routine that’s worked very well for them throughout her pregnancy and saves him from having to eat human food too often (even though they both know he would do anything to make his family happy).

“yeah, we helped!” jacques says proudly, his tongue peeking out from the gap in the top row of his teeth.

adam takes a careful sip, bracing himself for the awfully bitter, dirt-like flavor that his hypersenses reduces coffee to. his eyes open in pleasant surprise as the taste of slightly warm blood hits his tongue instead, the color hidden by the black color of the container.

“what do you think, papa?” cecilia asks eagerly, her sandy brown pigtails bouncing up and down.

“it’s the best breakfast i’ve ever had,” he says honestly as he wraps his other arm tightly around them both, smiling as they squeal and laugh.

***** 3. bff!ava du mortain & harley bishop (x felix hauville) (~300 words)

ava turns off the SUV’s engine and steps out, leaves crunching underfoot as she takes in her surroundings. she takes off her sunglasses and peers around the clearing before glancing at the note in her hand.

commanding agent du mortain –

we need you to pick up a package that will be left at the coordinates below. the rest of the team will stand by at the warehouse.

agent bishop’s signature at the bottom made it easy for her to move out without hesitation. she trusts rebecca and thus far has had no reason to question her orders.

but an uneasy feeling settles in her stomach and her brow furrows in thought.

if this assignment is so low-risk, why send her? it seems like something felix and the detective could handle easily, and they would more than jump at the chance to do something together.

she approaches the package, which is really a basket, laid out on top of a checkered blanket. she reaches for the note taped to the top of the basket, eyes softening at the message.

hey ava,

i know you would probably prefer to avoid whatever felix wanted to plan for your birthday and i managed to convince him to let me take over instead. we thought you might enjoy some time alone – we packed a book, some reports, a bottle of your favorite wine and your breakfast blood in the sippy cup (i’m really sorry, i had to give felix at least that).

happy birthday.

take your time, we’ll take care of anything that comes up on our end.

- harley

commanding agent du mortain is not soft by most definitions of the word, but she certainly feels touched. appreciated. loved.

and once more she has her family to thank for that. including the detective.

* * * * * permatag: @kelseaaa; @kat-tia801; @anotherbeingsworld; @crackerdumortain; @pearlsandsteel; @gloynporslen; @writer-ish; @sosolenoo; @alyssalauren; @fhauvilles; @wayhavenots; @gingerbreton; @takemyopenheart;

[jade-of-mourning]

theformat wrote, "im floating with the birds im talking to the weeds look what youve done to me"

in which i spontaneously take several hours to translate nate’s awfully punctuated commentary on dog problems into Comprehensive English Words. partially so i can write my stupid essay on it for fun. but yes here you go, 4.2k words from a 2006 livejournal archive that i managed to snatch out of two saves. here’s a link if you want to read it from the source, but i’ll have you know it’s a nightmare. early 2000′s nate ruess learn how to type properly challenge.

theformat wrote,

[@ 2006-5-18 18:44:00]

"im floating with the birds im talking to the weeds look what youve done to me"

Hi,

Sitting on my couch, watching ESPN. Damn, it’s good to be home. Things have been pretty crazy the last 6 months. As a lot of you know, we were dropped by our label — we went and recorded a new record, labels became interested, [and] we decided to release it ourselves. We went on tour, and now I’m [...] home for the next week: my first week off in six months. What do I do? 

Well, my roommate and I got memberships to the YMCA down the street from our house. It’s an amazing place. Downtown Phoenix is pretty much an amazing place. It’s not like the rest of the state — speaking of which, I’m declaring war on Scottsdale, it’s the opposite of Downtown Phoenix.

Anyways, so I wake up at 9am every morning. I don’t know what it is, really — I’ve been a "pro" musician for about 3 years now, [and] we are supposed to wake up at 11 or 12. I know some dudes that wake up at 1, but no; since I’ve been home the last few days, I’ve been going to bed at 1 and waking up at 9. My roommate has a job, [so] I think it has to do with that. 

See, there are 3 showers total in our house. I have the big bedroom, so I have the big shower, [and] since I’ve been off on tour and recording, he has gotten used to the nice shower in my room (Which is fine — anyone that’s gotten close to me knows I’m not too fond of showers, so it’s not like I use it that much). So every morning around 8:45, I wake up to my door opening and my roommate going through my room to use the shower. 

You know what it’s like when you’re half asleep but you want to act like you’re awake so as not to freak someone out with all the crazy babble, but you just end up saying all the same crazy babble? I do that every morning. I turn and look at him and try to act like I wasn’t just dreaming about tootsie rolls and parrots that shatter like glass. "Hey [Roommate's Name], that was some game last night" [is what usually] comes out of my mouth — something to that extent — and I think he feels sorry for me, but continues to walk right into my bathroom, and use the shower. 

At this point, I’m awake. I usually have to pee, and I have to then use his restroom. It’s a terrible swap, and it always ends with me wide awake on my front porch (har har) smoking a cigarette and wondering how the hell I’m gonna fall back asleep when the air conditioning is broken. Ah, what a wonderful life at home, [but] that’s the weird thing — I love it. Now we wake up and we go to the [YMCA]. We run, we play basketball, we jump in the pool, we play pool basketball, we get yelled at for dunking the ball. We don’t use soap before we go into the sauna, and the night usually ends with a poker tournament. This is the life I love to live when I’m away from the road. It too is the opposite of Scottsdale. It’s who I am, [and] it’s pretty much who I’ve become.

See, for the last 23 years, it’s been about the highs and the lows for me. I’ve got an addictive personality, [so] I stay away from a lot of things because of this; however, when I find things, I get generally excited. I go crazy. It’s all I think about and all I do for the next howeverlong. For the first 23 years, it was either talking non-stop or locking myself in my room. It’s either great or terrible; not good or bad. Dog Problems changed that.

Initially, Dog Problems was supposed to be that — the original concept of Dog Problems was to be 2 sides of music, the first half taking over where Interventions [+ Lullabies] had left off: "We'll be together in the morning…"

We weren’t, in fact. We were over before Interventions was even released. We were over two weeks after it was recorded, [and] I spent the next 2 years feeling terrible. We got back together… we broke up… we got dogs… we broke up… we got back together and got dogs…

I was still miserable, but I wanted Dog Problems to get me through everything. I wanted it to help me, not anyone else — just me. The first side was supposed to be me down in the dumps [and] everything that went down: how the two of us were dealing with it differently, [and] the second half was supposed to be a realization.

The first inkling of realization was a day [when] we were on tour. We were all laughing about something I’m sure Marko or Adam said. Here I was supposed to be depressed, but the fact that I can spend all of my days in different states with my best friends, all of us doing what we love — that was major! Then my mom called… I’ve got my parents! My friends! What else could I possibly need?

At that point, I felt as if a relationship in a Michael Bolton sort of way didn’t mean anything. It was the people you surrounded yourself with — those were the people that made the difference, and that was going to be side two. I was convinced that when I just closed my eyes and thought about the wonderful people around me, I was going to be great. Not good, [but] great.

I didn’t get that far, no. I got back into the relationship. 

I was sure it was going to work. At that point, life would be perfect, and we all want perfection right? [But] things went right back to far from perfect. Things went to terrible. I couldn’t stop feeling sorry for myself, but I had a concept. At that point, I figured that even by singing and recording these positive songs I was going to feel better, so Sam showed me what was then just a short acoustic guitar version of Snails.

This was it. This was my first chance to prove to myself that life can be beautiful. The thing is, I had never been more miserable. I remember writing the lyrics to Snails: my roommate was at work, I was on the bed, on my night stand was a giant bottle of booze, and somewhere off in California she wasn’t calling me back on a Friday night. So I went to work, listened [to it] over and over. I wanted to get it right; I wanted to be positive. I passed out, then I woke up the next morning [with a] big headache (P.S. drinking is not really that cool; it’s cool when you condemn it for the first 22 years of your life, then it becomes not cool, then it becomes ok when you moderate yourself) and I started writing everything positive I could think of. [...] Snails was, in Sam’s mind, supposed to be a 2 minute kid’s song, [but] I wrote so much that there was no going back. I thought that was it — Snails solved all of my problems.

It didn’t get that far either. Nothing could shake the depression, [and] I really started to worry about myself. Here I want to feel great, but I only feel terrible, [and] a few months later it got really really bad. I had to go to my parents house that night, I didn’t want to be at my house. I wanted to feel like a kid.

It’s funny how we always want to be adults when we're younger. We want to drive cars, we want to have girlfriends. I still didn’t consider myself an adult — all I wanted was to come home, be tucked in, know that everything was going to be alright. I woke up the next day [and found out] she met someone new. I’ve got to figure myself out…

In the meantime, we've got 4 songs we are recording over at our friend Aaron’s house (he is an amazing producer and [...] musician, and his house and his roommates have gotten me through a lot of tough times. They’re some of the only people I know who would rather spend their Saturdays getting dinner and watching a movie instead of going to a party. I like that). All of this turmoil in my relationship was going on at the time, and I was trying to write side two [but] I couldn’t. There was more fuel to side one. These songs have to be done, so I wrote about what I knew, and at that point I knew how to feel terrible.

So much for side two. Dog Problems is going to be one giant mess of depression and "look what you’ve done to me".

Atlantic got those four songs, as well as a few others. They were not psyched, to say the least, but some people at the label actually cared about it enough to say "go record". So we were able to pick our producer, we met with a few people, talked to a few more. Things were looking up. Dog Problems was going to happen. 

I remember meeting Steve McDonald at his house — Sam and I were excited to be [there] because we knew his wife Anna would probably be there. Anna was the lead singer/songwriter for a band we used to obsess about called "That Dog", her brother was one of the ten drummers in the world that I actually liked, so Steve couldn't be so bad. And he wanted to produce our record, so he had to be pretty cool! 

He was just that, and more. Sam and I were eating every word that came out of his mouth. He had stories; he was young, hip, energetic, and yet very all knowing. We saw someone that was going to let us do whatever we wanted to do, and in the meantime he was going to make us laugh and make sure we didn't lose our minds. From that point on, I knew there was someone I could always trust. I made a friend pretty quick.

Things were moving forward. Steve McDonald was to be the producer. I hated Los Angeles so there was no way in hell I was going to record there, [so] we decided Palm Springs would be perfect. Weird, but perfect. I had a phone conversation with Steve that night and we were finalizing everything. I was going to call Atlantic in the morning and let them know just how everything was going to work, [but] I didn't get that far.

I was sleeping in a blowup bed at the house when my phone rang. I didn’t wake up and answer like it was my roommate and he was coming into my room to use my shower, [because] this call felt different. Right away, I was awake.

It was our manager: "You’ve been dropped." 

When I heard that, the first thought going through my mind wasn’t "Oh man...how are we going to be famous now and make boat loads of money?" It was more like "fuck...but Dog Problems. We were supposed to go make Dog Problems."

The thing is, Atlantic wasn’t into Dog Problems. They were into whatever it was they thought we were. Never had The First Single made more sense — what was supposed to be a song about getting the band started and doing something with it had actually turned into a song about how stuck we were in the labels eyes because of the song. I was past that; we're proud of something we wrote when we were 19 and 20, but when I think of music, I think of progression. 

I think of all of the wonderful records I had been introduced to when I had nothing to do riding in a van. I think of all of the new influences, all the instruments, all of the "How did they do that?" And I think of how much it gets me through everything.

Music has been the consecutive[ly] great[est] thing in my life. It’s been that one thing, and with Dog Problems, it wasn’t about "I want everyone to sing along because I can write a catchy song." It was about feeling. It was paying tribute to all of the bands that we obsessively listened to. It was for Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks, it was for Jellyfish and XTC. It was our way of saying thanks for making our lives better, whether it be lyrically or musically. It was never about being something, being told something, and sticking to something. It was an adventure, for the artist and for the listener.

[And] they didn't get that. They wanted the old record, the old songs, just with different words and a few different chords here and there. They didn’t care about Snails or Dog problems [or] what it meant to write those songs. They knew it wasn't going to be huge; the guitars were not big enough (if big guitars are your thing that’s fine, it’s just not really our thing right now); it wasn’t going to be competitive, and so they dropped us. And rightfully so: we weren’t going to change, and obviously the major label business is never going to change, [so] now it comes down to who goes down first. And we weren’t ready to go down.

Sam and I had conversations about it, whether the business end of things have been fucking with us so much that we'll never be sane enough to just enjoy it. We thought about getting out — it wasn’t [be]cause we hated each other, or the songs; it was because we hated the business.

Steve called to let us know that he was still onboard, label or not, [and] we let him know we were still on board. We were going to make this record, [and] I was going to feel great! But the record was going to cost something. How could we afford it? 

We were lucky that we had a management company like Nettwerk. Not only are they the most forward-thinking music business people around, [but] they’re also (for the most part) Canadian. Oh, and they care a shit load about the music we make. They could have waited for the ship to sink, but they told us they would pay for the record if need be. Fortunately, we were able to get money for getting dropped — Atlantic actually paid us to leave, so we could afford the recording ourselves. The only stipulation was that it had to be done quicker, and when you want something quick, you have to go to the "right here, right now" capitol of the world: Los Angeles. I was a little irked at the thought at first, then Steve said it was his personal goal to make LA a wonderful city for me. Like I said, I would jump off a cliff if Steve said it was the best way to get coffee, but I wasn’t jumping off of cliffs. I was too excited to make Dog Problems, [so] LA it was.

Sam and I moved to the "Silver Palace" in Silverlake California in the middle of December. We found an amazing studio in Burbank, California and an amazing engineer in Ken Sluiter, and our goal was to just do everything free from a record label and someone constantly messing up the recording process by saying things like "that’s not high octave enough". The only pressure we had at all was from our manager saying "You have a tour you accepted in March, [so] get it done by then.” Other than that, it was me, Sam, Steve, and Ken working 13 hours a day for 6 days a week.

It became our lives we were putting so much of ourselves into. Everyone that worked and played on the record was the same way when they were there contributing. I would leave the studio at 2 in the morning and wake up at 10 to be at the studio by 11. There was no free time — the four of us were so invested in this. We all bought into the concept. 

In the meantime, things outside of the studio were getting interesting. We had a lot of labels calling and constantly asking about it. During one week of recording, I remember at least 3 different label people coming down to the studio. Our minds weren’t made up as to what we were doing with the record once it was recorded — all we wanted to do was finish it — but we kept our options open and let people sit in the big chair and listen to what we had been working on. The response was overwhelmingly positive, but we didn’t really think about it too much beyond the compliments we were receiving. Sam and I got used to LA — I was 10 minutes away from where I had been the previous summer when I was back "on" in my “on and off" relationship. I was ten minutes from her, she was calling every day, I was singing about it… but how was it not getting to me? Why did I not care?

My phone was off. I woke up in Silverlake one morning and started wondering why for the last month I had a smile on my face. Sure, I was down at times, but the thing that had been bringing me down for 3 years was now the last thing on my mind. Apparently, it had been that way for awhile. Something that took 3 years to get over… I was finally just okay with it. No big realization — just the fact that things happen. People make mistakes. And I came out of it alright. I was good; not great… I was good, and that felt good.

I wasn’t looking for great anymore. I was okay. The last song on Dog Problems is all about that. Here, this record was supposed to be the downs, and the ups, and it ended with the middle: the realization that I don’t need to be talking; I don’t need to be locked in my room — I need to enjoy what’s going on around me. And if things go wrong, they go wrong. There’s always tomorrow.

Dog Problems means so much to me in so many different ways. I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life. I cried so many times during the making of the record. All the money I had spent on therapy, and all I had to do was go make a record, realize that I’m alright, and realize that I made something that I’ll forever be proud of.

Shit… the record was supposed to be about how California can change you for the worse, [but] it played a huge part in doing the opposite!

So as we were putting the finishing touches on the record (all our friends came in and recorded! A ton of people we admired came and worked on the record! All of their responses were so positive that it's hard not to get an ego about it. These are the people I worship. They’re the ones I wanted to pay tribute to, and they think we've made something unique and special. It’s like Michael Jordan telling you that you have a nice jump shot (no more sports references… I swear I’m done)) and we started to think about what we were going to do with it. How we were going to release it. Labels were getting pretty into it, and we knew we would have to make a decision soon.

After much debate and discussion, we decided that the record was something we had made completely on our own, so why not release it completely on our own? Nettwerk was going to take care of the distribution so it would have a major label distro. It would be inside all of the Best Buys; what more did we want? We didn’t want a big fat check — we did that last time. It made us miserable, and nothing came out of it. Barely anyone at the labels helped us, we weren’t making music videos, our songs weren’t on the radio, so why would we take their criticism? After all, everything that we’ve done — any success we’ve had is from being real people who make music. From showing up to play, from 3 years on the road. 

On Interventions [+ Lullabies], there might have been an Elektra logo on the back of the record, but it ended right there. We were the ones SHOWING people who we were. I wouldn’t have it any other way — no one knows us better than ourselves, so why not release it ourselves? To me, it’s not only a testament to the hard work we put into the band (Mike, Don, Marko, Toco, everyone else involved in putting these songs to life — you guys are the best thing we have. It’s pretty special when your best friends are some of the most talented musicians), but I really feel like the people who come to our shows are such good people that they don’t give a fuck what label it’s on.

They are there because we are doing something positive, and because we care about them as much as they care about us. So for the time being we've said "fuck the middleman": we're the only people we can blame at this point. I’m so tired of even talking about major labels and the split and everything like this. The music is the only thing I care about. Dog Problems is the only thing I care about, so why let someone else ruin it?

The Vanity Label was born.

The record got finished. We had no time to rehearse, and we had to go right back out to tour. Our first show before the Motion City Soundtrack tour was in Nashville — I remember the last time we were in Nashville, there were about ten kids. Reuben’s accomplice kept asking them why they hate whales, so we figured why not go there and get some of the rust out of the way. After all, we haven't toured in a year so there should be like 3 kids there; we can mess up if need be.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to mess up. On a Sunday night in Nashville, with Ted Leo playing across the street (I <3 Ted), our first headlining show outside of Arizona in almost a year was over sold out. What the fuck happened? 

We thought we were going to have to play for another 3 years just to get back to where we were when we left, and yet it’s sold out on a Sunday night? It didn’t end there either — the whole tour went like that… night after night ("nite after nite?"). I couldn't believe it. As if having Dog Problems wasn’t enough, now we have people showing their support in the most positive way: coming to the shows, being there from the only thing they knew before. Those two months were such good months. It was the last thing I expected. Thanks so much to all the bands that played with us, and thanks so much for everyone that came to the shows and sang along. We'll be back in July.

In the meantime, things were going great on the Vanity Label front. Business actually felt natural. We are shooting a video with the directors we had always dreamed of doing a video with (it won’t be serious...no pouty face). There were magazines like AP and online magazines like AP taking notice, supporting the whole idea and concept. We actually took press photos. I’ve never been through any of this before, it’s exciting. I don’t think it’s going to change who we are, not one bit, but it’s still exciting to see people who can help out actually help out.

So where does that leave me now? Sitting on my bed. I’ve rambled for hours, the air still doesn't work, and I’ve been told that Dog Problems (something that isn't supposed to come out till July) has been leaked. Not the best news when you just got out of the pool, but it happens. I freaked out at first — I thought I was going to lock myself in my room. After all, this is something that we spent over two years making. It’s something that you have to take the time… listen to in headphones… play loud… listen to in order of the tracks… the artwork… Sam did the best artwork he has ever done. The packaging is something we paid extra for because Sam’s concept was so brilliant, and now… it’s leaked on the internet? I was locking my door, then our manager called.

"Hello?" 

"We're releasing it on the website today." 

"Wow."

So, here goes. You’ve read enough. I shouldn’t have to go on about it anymore, but I will say, if you wanna wait for the full hard copy release then do so. It’s July 11 — we are gonna be touring right after that — but if you want to get it now,.please do it by purchasing it right here. We released it, it’s our money, it’s our little baby — you should take the time to listen to it all the way through, free of distraction. You should turn the songs into your own. It’s an adventure, and it’s something that we put everything we have into; and if anyone deserves it first, it’s you guys who have been here with us all along.

Without further ado...

"Dog Problems"

- Nate

[wayhavven]

Love’s Philosophy

Gift fic for @mewsly as a part of @loveinwayhaven

Pairing: Adam Du Mortain x Detective Orianna Moreau

Rating: All

Word Count: 2712

Notes: Ah! I’m so nervous to post this! I really hope I did your detective justice, she seems amazing 🥺 I went for sort of mid-romance vibes... this is also the first time I’ve written Adam, or anything TWC actually, so I have been a little worried about how he comes across as well. I really hope you enjoy😅

Summary: Adam spends some time in the library.

Adam grunts as his large fingers slip over the leather bound books on the shelf. He’s tucked away right at the back of the library in the bunker, looking for absolutely nothing in particular. If each title that flicks in his peripheral is decidedly not something else, then, well, he wouldn’t notice. And he certainly doesn’t notice the mug ring on the coffee table at the end of the row. Still wet. He can say with ninety-nine point nine percent accuracy that this is a result of a sickeningly sweet, creamer-laced coffee, probably left half full and forgotten momentarily because it’s owner had been perusing the shelves for something else about the supernatural.

And then it catches him, an old—perhaps very early edition if he remembers right—edition of Pride and Prejudice. She doesn’t know it’s here, because he’s sure she would’ve said.

But when he reaches for it, his hand stops by itself. It drags across the direction toward the dark corners, moving at speed until—plod. Something leather-bound with a worn bookmark partway through. As he gently slides it out, Adam notes the gold type font on the front: a poetry anthology. Shelley, to be specific. He knows a lot of these by heart, three-hundred odd years of people raving about the rakes and romantics will do that to a guy. All the same, he’s sure to thumb carefully to the bookmarked part. The spine squeaks as it opens, a quiet yawn where Adam is waking it from a nap. A little dust flies up and is highlighted in the strips of dim lamplight from above. He looks up briefly, checking his surroundings. Not that the detective would be able to come anywhere near him without his pheromones going off. Even if he wasn’t a vampire, he’s sure he’d recognise the sound of her footfall underwater. Because he has to know to protect her properly, of course.

The page the book has squeaked open to has one poem on it: ‘Love’s Philosophy.’

Adam, not particularly taken with poetry for the most part, doesn’t know this one. Only the very famous ones when it comes to Percy Bysshe Shelley: ‘Ozymandias,’ ‘To a Skylark,’ ‘Stanzas Written in…’

Reading for enjoyment as a rule isn’t his thing. But the little he does recall never really lit anything in him. He has never felt how he was told poetry should be making him feel. Maybe he is too worn from years spent focusing on most things aside from feeling. Absentmindedly grazing his thumb over the page, feeling each grain of the pulp on his finger tips, Adam finds his eyes wandering back to the wet mug ring on the coffee table to his right. Drying now, the sheen dulling to match the light wood. It’s nice wood, light, fresh, slightly enthusiastically holding the weight of forgotten books. Adam’s a little lost in the colour. Because it echoes in his mind a similar colour that has been the focus of many an accidental daydream.

Suddenly, he’s seeing pretty light brown eyes; caramelly, iridescent when they’re in that one chair in the office where the sun has a chance to shine on them. Lighting up when she learns new things, particularly those of his world; the supernatural world. Creasing a little in the corners when she makes the odd sarcastic quip. Dilating every so often when he’s talking to her, for reasons he isn’t sure.

One of the books on the table is leather-bound in a deep red, and Adam finds himself imprinting the image of coils of long hair that exact shade into the space he stares at. Adam actively does not enjoy that his brain wanders like this. That it seems to veer off task for silly reasons.

He shakes his head. If only he had a use for sleep. He doesn’t often find himself wishing that, but these days… perhaps more often. Perhaps he wonders what he might dream of.

But he doesn’t want to lose the control of consciousness. It keeps him in check. It keeps him able to protect the detective.

And he doesn’t want to lose control full stop. Doesn’t let himself think too deeply about any of it for fears he may push himself past retrieval.

Adam finds, as he stands there almost frozen, that his mind wanders to a day not so dissimilar to this one. When he had been reading late, against his wishes, for some information Rebecca requested.

—-

With each line he reads, Adam can feel his biceps twitching to get some combat under his belt. This is more Nate’s expertise; he’d far rather be out trying to get one up on Morgan. But, alas, he has been given other responsibilities. And he always fulfills his responsibilities. He finds himself sighing each time he turns the page, increasingly frustrated that he actually seems to be learning less.

Like a saving grace, the library door creaks open and he looks up from where he stands by the window. One hand in his pocket, one under the old book. Detective Orianna Moreau enters, a candle highlighting the high points of her soft, deep brown skin, shining in the light-hued eyes which find him almost immediately. Her silhouette casts subtle grey shadows on the wall behind her as she nears him.

He’d known she was coming, of course. He always does. But it’s always a different thing actually seeing her. Like he’s never completely convinced she’s really there.

She smiles gently at him, nearing with the candle in her grip melting down itself, flickering.

“You’re up late,” she says, placing the candle down by him on a ledge. “I thought you might need a bit of light.”

Light. Like her. Her charming, friendly, easygoing nature always lights up the room. Adam reveres it sometimes. Sometimes he doesn’t.

It makes him a little nervous, actually. And he hates feeling nervous. Hates losing himself in the light when he has to focus on work and tasks.

“Thank you.”

He doesn’t say anything else, but is acutely aware as he remains standing in his spot, that the detective goes to sit on a nearby sofa. She’s supposed to be researching too, so it’s not too odd, but humans do have to sleep, after all.

“Should you not be asleep?” He turns just enough so that he can see her from the side of his face.

“I have to learn this, and want to. There are far worse ways to be spending an evening.” She smirks at him, suggestive and amused. “Come and sit with me.”

At first, Adam was going to outright point-blank say no. So he’s not completely sure why his legs carry him over to the sofa and lower him down beside her. But far enough away that there’s significant space between them. She laughs and rolls her eyes, scooting over next to him. The small amount of her body which presses up against him sends a shock of ice up his veins. She’s warm, so warm, that he feels like his ice is melting a little. It’s almost terrifying, but Adam doesn’t move. Doesn’t show outwardly how he’s feeling. Lets his thigh burn quietly as though he’s already extinguished the flames.

The book in his hand drops to his lap, his other hand twitching on his thigh. She gives him that smile again and his heart almost stops. Settling back into the cushions, Orianna picks up the book from his hands and starts to dig into it.

“I was reading that.”

“I know, but you weren’t enjoying it.”

That she seems to know this about him, though, isn’t lost on Adam. He believes himself to be stoic and mysterious perhaps, but maybe Orianna can see past that. Through it. The way Nate always does.

She holds the book in her left hand, her right sitting on her thigh somewhat restlessly. Just inches from his own. Ensuring that she’s pouring all of her attention into the book, which she seems to be, Adam drops his eyes subtly to her hand. Unsure why, but seemingly doing things of his own accord, Adam’s impulse is to make contact with her. His pinky falters, reaching out a little by itself, quivering in a way he isn’t used to. A way he isn’t sure he likes. Nonetheless, he uses its movement to bolster the moving of the rest of his hand. Slowly, millimetre by millimetre, Adam lets his hand move away from his body. Slip across to the detective’s. He places his down on top of hers gently, encompassing it, letting his fingers and thumb curl around its shape. He doesn’t dare look at her, but he can’t miss in his peripheral the smug beaming grin which takes over her expression.

They sit like that a long while, Adam still, holding her hand. He should be frustrated that he’s not getting anything productive done, but he can’t be. Something about her hand in his means he cannot be anything other than content and a touch conflicted. The detective’s expression never falters as she reads, doesn’t worry when she has a hard time turning the page with the use of only one hand. Seems quite amused by it, actually. Adam chuckles himself a little internally, unable to stop the smile which spreads over his face. With his free hand, he reaches over and turns the page for her.

“Thanks.”

“It is my pleasure.”

When the detective repositions their hands, winding hers around and up, so that their hands are completely joined, Adam can’t help but finally look at her fully. She squeezes his hand, and looks up at him too. Their eyes bore into each other, melting.

It had all been going so well until Farah bounded in like a puppy with a new toy. Quickly, rushedly, Adam pulls his hand from the detective’s.

—-

He thinks about that day a lot. Wishes he didn’t. Wishes he didn’t think about a lot of things pertaining to the detective.

As though on cue, the fine hairs on his arm stand to attention, and his ears zone in on the sound of smart shoes on the linoleum. She’s coming back.

Forcing his eyes back down to the page, Adam has completely forgotten what he had even been looking at. ‘Love’s Philosophy,’ that’s it. Shelley.

She’s entering, though, and he can’t focus himself enough on what he’s holding to seem entirely nonchalant. Doesn’t give himself enough time to consider that it probably isn’t in his best interests for Detective Moreau to see what he’s holding. She’s bold, flirty. She’d pick up on something and make a remark that would have his cheeks hot and his jaw tightening in a way he doesn’t want it to.

Through the gap in the shelf he can just about see a fitted pencil skirt, shirt tucked in, emerging into the library. She’s holding another book, something supernatural focused that smells a little of blood and Adam isn’t sure where exactly came from.

Next thing he knows, she’s rounded the corner.

“Oh.” He hears her from the side, always debating how the next words will come from his mouth. She just seems a little surprised he’s there, is all. “Hi.”

He can hear the smile in her voice, senses how she places her book down on the coffee table he’d been so fixated on before. The title looks to be written in Haitian Creole.

“Hello. You have been busy.” He nods to the table. She grins. There’s always a sparkle in her eyes when she’s learning new things; especially new things about the world which only opened up to her not so long ago.

“Always have to know more, you know me.”

He does. Knows her scent, the exact amount of time which passes between each step she takes, how she shines like the sun whenever something otherworldly occurs. Knows she would be interested to know about the early edition of Jane Austen he completely accidentally came across. Knows that a large part of him wishes he didn’t know these things.

“What are you reading?” she asks, the tone of her voice something Adam hadn’t even realised he’d been yearning to hear.

“I am not. I picked it up. I will be putting it back now,” he nods, hesitating at the sight of the page. His eyes drag over the words subconsciously: heaven, sweet emotion, sunlight, moonbeams, kiss.

Things which are meant to be pretty and emotive and only seem to be making him think of the one thing he doesn’t really want to think of.

How maybe he doesn’t believe in heaven, but that it might be something close to her eyes when she smiles. Or how sweet emotion is something that Adam doesn’t feel like he can achieve, but if he were to, maybe it would be because of her. The sunlight which shines on her in her office, which highlights her features and matches her personality. Moonbeams… electric, softly-glowing, other-wordly. Kiss… well, he tries not to focus on that one.

But he also thinks sometimes he thinks too much and of too absurd topics. That he shouldn’t allow himself to think these things. He has responsibilities. Duties.

He might have closed the book and placed it back when he hears her start to near, but he feels a little too frozen on the spot.

“Shelly,” she smiles again, pulling down on the corner of the book so that she can see the contents of the page. “A love poem! Romantic,” she teases, in the way that only Orianna knows how.

“I was just interested in the bookmark.”

“Oh, that might have been me, I like this one.”

He nods, moving to close it, but his hand is caught by Orianna instead. He stiffens, the brush from her climbing up the brim in his arm right the way to his heart. Reminding him of when he’d held her hand before.

“Let me read it again.” She smiles, letting her eyes drift back over the page. She’s stubborn, so there’s no point arguing. Not that he’d have much reason to, anyway. Adam finds his curious eyes slipping over the page, too, and he reads the words in front of him.

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of heaven mix for ever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle.

Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high heaven

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth

And the moonbeams kiss the sea:

What is all this sweet work worth

If thou kiss not me?

When he pulls his eyes from the page, he looks to the woman beside him. She’s mouthing the last line, subtle warmth on her face, and it’s impossible to not focus on the movements of her lips as she rolls through the vowels and consonants.

“Yes, it’s lovely. Just as I remember.”

“I suppose it is not awful.”

She lets out a little snort. “You hate reading for pleasure.”

The smile he returns is ever so miniscule. She’s absolutely right, but seeing her find joy in it makes it not so bad.

He’s drawn in by the pull of her eyes again, struggling to find the right words. Creasing his brow a little, he watches her edge a little closer. Finds himself willing down the impulse to hold her hand once more.

She smiles at him, in a way that tells him she knows the look on his face. It’s frozen, unsure, repressing. So she just leans in, and places a gentle, soft kiss just below his ear. Her lips on his skin sear simultaneously hot and cold, soft. She lingers a little, hand ghosting at his jaw. A little cold touch from the jewellery she wears.

That spot feels incredibly warm even as she moves away again. Even as she pulls the book from his hands, closes it, places it back on the shelf.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Adam.”

Adam starts, not even remembering what the date was. Perhaps he’d been a little too distracted.

“I—well, yes. Happy Valentine’s Day, I suppose.”

[babycracker]

morgan/m!oc (tanner drake) ~1.7k words mature (swearing, blood, minor violence)

suggested by and written for @kelseaaa, i hope you like it!! <3 it's only been like really roughly proofed so if you see some mistakes, no you don't lol

--

Tanner's felt this before; the whole world freezing around him like this. Everything fading away and going silent and slowing down until it's like the world has ended and he's the only person left.

The last time was when his world had ended, when he'd seen his sister on the ambulance stretcher, bloodied and torn up. Dead.

He wasn't sure he was capable of feeling enough for it to happen again, not until right now. He watches the Trapper pull the modified prod out of Morgan's side only to plunge it back into her shoulder as her knees buckle and she goes down.

The gas mask the Trapper's wearing suddenly makes sense when he hears glass smashing and a cloud of red mist filters through the air all around Morgan.

"No-" his voice catches in his throat, the word barely choking its way out of his mouth and he takes a step towards her as the Trapper pulls the prod out again.

She's fine. She's fine. Vampire healing and all, she's fine.

Only she's not fine, her hands landing heavily on the ground in front of her as she coughs and blood spills from her lips.

"No, no!" He finally gets his voice working, breaking into a run towards her but faltering when the Trapper spots him and bolts.

He hesitates, watching the man run off, his shoulders twitching subconsciously as the struggle to keep his wings hidden almost becomes too much.

He could catch him easily. Could catch him and do to him exactly what he's just done to Morgan. But slowly.

But she's hurt badly, he realises when he glances back over at her just as she falls to her side on the ground.

"Fuck," he mutters, casting one last fleeting glance towards the retreating form of the Trapper before shrugging his jacket off. "Fuck."

He balls the clothing up and holds it over his face as he advances through the red mist to get to Morgan, panic forcing him down onto his knees beside her when he sees her eyes closed and blood flowing freely from the wounds in her shoulder and side.

"Hey," he reaches out and shakes her, his voice muffled by his jacket. "Hey!" A little louder, he nudges her a little harder, but still no response.

He looks around, wincing against the red cloud beginning to sting his eyes and seeing the rest of Unit Bravo starting to get the upper hand against the Trappers.

He takes a deep breath and holds it, dropping his jacket and hoisting Morgan up in his arms. He's never wanted to hear her snap at him for coddling her as much as he does right now, but there's nothing. Her head lolls back against his arm, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth and running in a line down her cheek.

He exhales heavily once he's gotten them both out of the DMB cloud but doesn't stop for a breather, instead carrying her straight over to Lucas' beat up car and gently laying her in the back seat.

"Tanner!" He hears Farah yelling to him and spins around, but her eyes widen when she catches a glimpse of Morgan before he closes the door, and she gives him a slight nod before turning back towards the fight.

--

This hurts like a bitch.

It's all Morgan can think about when her eyes snap open before closing again just as quickly in response to the harsh lighting of what looks like a hospital room.

Her shoulder and ribs feel like they're on fire, her lungs feel full and heavy, her head is throbbing. What the hell had happened to her?

She groans, everything hurting that little bit more when everything starts to come back to her; the fight with the Trappers, the volt rod she received, the DMB.

She lifts a hand to her head, rubbing lightly at her temple when she hears movement beside her, and then Farah's voice, uncharacteristically quiet. "Just a sec, I'll get them to dull the lights."

"Okay, you should be good now," the familiar and comforting voice speaks again, and Morgan opens her eyes to see Farah perched on the end of her bed, the room now considerably darker.

"Too soon to talk about how shockingyou look?" Farah asks quietly, a small grin crossing her face when Morgan manages a slight smirk at her efforts.

"One might say you've probably been in a cloud of worry over my well-being."

Farah's eyes widen and she shakes her head. "Nah, this isn't right, that cloud did something to your brain, since when do you make puns?"

Morgan raises a middle finger at her before easing herself up into a sitting position and then leaning back against the headboard, her brow furrowing as she fights back a groan at the pain shooting through her from the movement.

Then, she sees something that she wouldn't have guessed she'd see if she were given unlimited tries.

Tanner. His tall frame sprawled uncomfortably on the armchair beside the bed. He's missing his jacket, his shirt is untucked and has patches of dried blood on it, his tie loosened and hanging crookedly around his neck. He's fast asleep, mouth hanging slightly open and snoring softly, the sound so familiar to Morgan that she hadn't even noticed it until now.

"What's he doing here?"

She doesn't miss the small smile that Farah doesn't even bother trying to hide as she replies. "He brought you here. Been telling anyone who tells him to leave to F off."

"How long have I been here?"

"Nearly two days, you were messed up pretty bad."

"He's been here the whole time?"

"The whole time."

She looks back over at Tanner with a frown and Farah pats her knee gently before getting to her feet. "I'll go let everyone know you're awake."

Morgan barely hears her go, the questions flooding her mind too loud for her to be able to focus on anything else. Why is he here? Why did he stay here? Why is he covered in blood? Why is he so pale and tired looking even while he's sleeping?

Why does she care?

He shifts a little in his sleep and she hears one of his joints crack loudly with the movement; apparently he's been asleep in that awkward position for a while. The sudden shock of pain wakes him up and he groans as he unfolds himself and gets to his feet, lifting his arms above him as he stretches out.

His eyes find hers as he drops his arms back down to his sides again and she can literally see his shoulders sag in relief as he mutters a barely audible "thank Christ."

"Welcome back, sunshine. Thought I'd lost you for a minute there." He grins, but his tone is more serious than the expression seems to be trying to convince her of.

He sits on the edge of her bed, reaching briefly for her hand before deciding against it and dropping his down onto the mattress beside it instead.

"You brought me here?"

"Yeah," he chuckles, "in Lucas' piece of shit car. Would've been quicker to fly you here and just stop for a breather every few minutes."

"Why'd you stay?"

He shrugs, studying her face carefully for a moment before answering quietly. "I had to make sure you were going to be okay."

They both fall silent for a long while until Tanner finally kicks his shoes off and nudges at her gently. "Move."

"Excuse me?"

"Move over."

"Why?" she asks uselessly, already slowly manoeuvring herself closer to the side of the bed.

"Because I haven't been able to get you in bed for days and this is my chance," he answers seriously, making her roll her eyes.

The familiar calm that she always feels with him washes over her the second he lays down beside her. He pushes her lightly to turn away from him, scooting closer and pressing himself up against her back, carefully sliding his arm around her above the wound left in her side by the volt and holding her firmly.

He kisses her shoulder lightly, just beside the wound in that before relaxing against her, his face nuzzling into the back of her neck with a soft sigh.

She really wants to complain. Who does he think he is, hovering around her for days as though she were some kind of invalid? Telling her to make room in her own hospital bed? Spooning her, for fuck’s sake.

But he makes the beeping of the hospital equipment in her room a little more bearable. Makes the scratchy sheets of the bed, the sterile hospital stench, even the pain of her slowly healing injuries, makes all of it easier to handle, and before she even realises how at ease he's put her, she's fallen back to sleep.

--

"Is Tanner still in there?" Adam asks Farah over his shoulder, and she nods.

“He was sleeping.”

“And you didn’t think to wake him?”

“You want him awake; you wake him up,” Farah replies with a small chuckle, the grin remaining on her face when Adam doesn’t reply.

She just about smacks into his back when he pushes the door to Morgan’s room open and stops in his tracks, staring into the room. She stands on her tiptoes to peer over his shoulder, letting out a tiny, excited squeak instead of the squeal she feels in her heart at what she sees.

Tanner and Morgan, spooning, asleep together in her bed. Adam lets out an almost disgusted sounding and impatient sigh before turning and brushing past Farah back out of the room.

“We will let her rest for now,” he mutters over his shoulder as he disappears down the hall.

Farah grins at Nate, grabbing his arm and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Look how cute they are!”

“He and I don’t get along,” Nate pauses, peeking into the room and letting his lips curve into a soft smile. “but even I have to admit, that is impressive.”

“And sweet!” Farah insists, drawing a chuckle from him before he gently pulls her out of the room and lets the door close quietly behind them.

“Yes. Very sweet.”

--

tags (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @admdmrtn @masonsfangs @homeformyheart @mmerengue @agentsunshine @bravomckenzie @freckles-spangledvampire @mistyeyedbi @kelseaaa @fhauvilles @amlovelies @forestcreatures @maraudern05 @kat-tia801 @alyssalauren @winterkeys @agentnolastname @utterlyinevitable @masonscig @graysinblack

[amlovelies]

Lies

pairing: Mason/f!oc (Serena Willis)

rating: M some light smut and cursing. also this is angsty 

words: 1.5k

This is part of “Just Another Liability” my Wayhaven AU. This scene would take place between Liability and Somewhere between hope and pride 

              I’m surprised when I wake up in Mason’s bed. I’ve drifted off there before, and he’s always woken me so I could stumble on unsteady legs back to my own bedroom. It was an unspoken thing. We didn’t spend the night together. It would be crossing a line.

               There was that morning when I caught him leaving at 7am, but part of me wonders if I just imagined the sound of my door closing. Imagined or maybe I only wished for it.

               A new routine had been established in the wake of the kidnapping. Under Adam’s orders I’m confined to the warehouse unless I can get someone to accompany me. I could usually depend on Farah, but with myself off the patrol rotation, and Nate spending most of his time with Dinah, she’s been too busy.

               I hadn’t seen much of Mason either, which I was grateful for. I’m not sure how to act around him anymore. I wish I had just sucked it up and stayed in my room that night. I can’t help but feel like something shifted between us then. That’s not entirely true, I know something changed. What terrifies me is if it was just for me.

               I hate this feeling, this weakness. I find myself gathering evidence. As if this was a case to solve: the mysterious disappear of all of Serena’s sense. Maybe if I wasn’t stuck in the Warehouse all day, I could distract myself. I try going to work with Dinah, but that provides little relief.

               She still feels guilty about what happened. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her that I don’t blame her, I can still see the weight of it on her. Sometimes bad things happen. It would just be great if she could stop looking at me like I’m some delicate broken thing. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I’ve always been fine before.

               I spend time in the training room. Punching things is nice. If I could have afforded a fancy gym back home maybe I wouldn’t have gotten so stressed working retail. Decembers would have been a lot more bearable.

               After weeks of long patrols and little down time, Adam had finally caved to Rebecca’s suggestion of having Unit Alpha pick up some of the slack. With his first evening free in weeks, it had taken Mason disgustingly little effort to get me into his bed.

               I can hear his quiet breathing next to me; he must have fallen asleep. If I let myself lie there for a few minutes just enjoying the warmth of a shared bed no one needs to know.

               As I start to slip out from under the covers, an arm snacks out and pulls me back against his chest. He doesn’t say anything, just pulling me flush against his warm body. He mumbles something under his breath which I don’t understand and presses a soft kiss to my shoulder. I figure he must want to go again. After all it has been a few weeks since we were last able to find time. I wait for his hands to begin to roam, for a hand to cup my breast, to caress over my waist, to delve between my legs, but it never happens. His arm stays wrapped around my waist holding me in place loosely.

               This is new and dangerous, but god it feels good to be held. I convince myself it’s just a dream, and I let myself fall back asleep.  

               The next morning, I’m woken up to a testing hesitant caress down my arm. My body moves almost on its own accord pushing back against Mason’s body. He chuckles as his caress as his caress gains more purpose and direction. A hand grips my chin and tilts my head back so his lips can find mine. I sigh into the kiss as it deepens and he rocks his body against mine. When the kiss breaks and I open my eyes, there’s something in his gaze that I can’t stand. I have to shut my eyes, but I can still feel it. His attention moves leaving hot wet kisses down the column of my neck and chuckling at the goosebumps that erupt in his wake.

               We take our time with each other, bodies still warm and languid with sleep. There’s no frantic pulse of lust pushing us forward, but rather a slow almost lazy exploration. Somehow his voice is even gruffer, but the way my name sounds on his lips might be my favorite sound.

               After, as we lay side by side in the afterglow, legs still tangled together his hands making small circles and patterns against my skin, I can’t take my eyes off him. He is so beautiful. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a man as captivating as Mason. I think I could spend the rest of my life studying his face. I’ve been denying it to myself, but in this moment, I know I can’t any longer.

               I want this. I want lazy mornings in each other’s arms. I want him more than I have ever wanted anyone before. Oh, I’ve thought myself in love before. I recognize this swelling in my chest. This feeling like your heart wants to escape, and I guess it does, because it doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to them. And could I have chosen someone worse?

               Mason’s lived for a hundred years and never wanted a relationship or anything serious in all that time. In a hundred years with hundreds of lovers, he has never felt more. Am I really so arrogant to believe that would change with me? I’m not. As much as I’ve tried to gather evidence to try and convince myself that maybe just maybe he feels more for me, deep down I know that I’m wrong. There’s nothing so special about me that would make him a different person.  

               “What’s wrong?” he asks as if sensing my changing in mood. He probably did, stupid vampire super senses.

               “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I say with a smile as I push myself up to a sitting position. I avoid looking at him.

               Maybe a dumber Serena would confess, open her dumb mouth and ask for more, for clarity. Maybe she would call him out on the lingering glances and the tender way he touches her. Maybe she could convince him with her evidence and her sincerity, but I’m not her.

               “I know you’re lying.”

               “I lie all the time that’s nothing new. Why do you care?” I ask, my tone defensive, as I slide out of the bed and grab my clothing off the floor.

               “I don’t.” He says with a scoff.  

               “I know.” I respond and I can’t keep the resignation out of my voice. I pull my clothing on quickly. He’s still in the bed, but I can feel his eyes on my back. I can’t bring myself to look at him.

               This isn’t going to end well for me. As much as I may try to just pretend nothing has changed, that I’ve wrestled my feelings under control that’s just another one of my lies. It hurts to hear him say he doesn’t care, to confirm it. I can’t think of any version of this where I won’t end up hurt, won’t end up looking foolish.

               Before I can stop myself, I say, “we can’t do this anymore.”

               “Do what?”

               “This. Whatever you want to call this. Hookup, fool around, fuck.” The last word seems to echo in the quiet dimness of his bedroom.

               I stare at the door waiting for his response. I want to take it back, to not lose at least this little piece I do have, but it’s too late for that.                

               “Fine by me, Sweetheart” he says with a growl.

               If some part of my mind hoped he might say that what’s between us is more than, that he doesn’t want this to end, that he wants to be with me, well, that would be really fucking dumb.  I’m not that stupid, this was always just going to be something physical for him.

                I nod swallowing down the bitter disappointment, “I’m glad we agree. I’ll see you around Mason.”  

               I don’t fall apart until I get back to my own room. The tears are hot and bitter as they fall down my face. I know that this pain is only a fraction of what it would have been if I’d let it continue. It’s better this way, to leave before he can get bored of me, before I lose even more of my heart to him. I tell myself this over and over again as if my words can drown out the hollow ache of my chest and the fear that there is nothing left to lose. I left it all with him.  

tagging: @lord-king-saint @tracing-freckled-constellations @lilyoffandoms, @agentnatesewell, and @mrs-raleighcarrera (if you’d liked to be tagged/not tagged for the AU stuff please let me know)

[raleighcarrera]

limits

the wayhaven chronicles | mason x mc (kira langford)

mason has a realization.

m tag list: @raleighcarrera @choicesarehard @tkyoon @zigtheeortega 💕

~5.6k words | M (18+)

the thing about fucking her is that one time is supposed to be enough.

it’s not like he’s got a rule or anything -- he doesn’t. sure, most of his flings are just that: one night stands he can fade away from gracefully, who understand what he’s about and take what they can get.

necessity or scarcity means that he’ll occasionally come back for seconds or thirds, and maybe he can convince himself that’s the case, here. wayhaven is a small town, with few prospects, and he spends so much time with kira anyway. maybe it’s just the reality of the situation -- the assignment -- that has him double-dipping.

it’s not, though.

it’s her. usually, even a spectacular fuck only lingers in his mind for so long. there’s no use dwelling when there’s always the next partner, a new chase or some other way to spend his time on the horizon.

but the detective stays in his memories after he sleeps with her. he finds himself thinking about it a lot more than he usually would, replaying the way she’d felt under his hands and the sounds she’d made in an almost absentminded way, so that he’s remembering it even when he’s not jerking off. even when he’s not trying to get back into her pants again. 

nothing much changes, after they start sleeping together. he continues to hit on her in an overt way and everyone around them starts to catch on to the fact that what’s between them is more than just words. 

kira lets him touch her in the woods, in her car, at the carnival, in her bedroom, at the warehouse. even in the common spaces. even in the kitchen.

surely if once wasn’t enough, then twelve times should be, right?

but it’s not. she remains a persistent distraction in meetings, on patrols and just about any time he’s supposed to be doing something other than fucking her speechless. which gets to be kind of annoying.

and he doesn’t pursue anyone else. but that’s not new, either.

so -- the warehouse feels a little different when he knows she’s on her way over. he can’t quite pinpoint exactly what it is, but there’s suddenly purpose in the day when kira’s coming by for a briefing or a meeting -- something he never felt on any of the other assignments he had.

“what’s got you so excited?” felix asks, looking pointedly at his tapping foot, a grin spreading across his face. 

mason stares blankly back at him. “i look excited to you?”

“well, you’re not scowling, which is about as close to happy as you get.”

his lip curls with a sneer, but felix just laughs at him. nate turns around, looking equally as amused. “do i need to separate you two?”

mason’s already diverted his attention to something else -- the sound of footsteps in the hallway, the familiar subtleties of kira’s heartbeat. as nonchalantly as he can manage, he slips from his seat on the couch to the arm of it, freeing up the space he’d been sitting in.

she smiles at all of them and the room feels a little brighter for it. felix waves her over from the other end of the couch, but when she sits down, it’s at mason’s end instead of toward the center. her shoulder bumps into his leg as she drops into the seat he’d been occupying just moments ago.

mason bumps her deliberately back. “watch it.”

the detective turns her smile on him. “hi,” she says, her proximity softening some of the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders.

everything that had felt so annoying before her arrival slowly starts to fade into nothing. not a minor annoyance -- nothing. his brow furrows with deep confusion; since when had she become so relaxing? “hey.”

agent langford clears her throat and starts passing out folders. mason startles, reaching for his more roughly than is strictly necessary. he hadn’t even realized she was there.

“here are the details on your new case. there’s been a series of kidnappings and robberies in town we want you to investigate. so far there’s no discernible pattern -- victims range in age from fourteen to eighty.”

kira hums, her eyes scanning the brief inside the folder. when she opens her mouth to speak he can tell she’s just had a coffee. “what makes you think our perp is supernatural?”

“all victims we were able to make contact with were injected with a very specific paralytic. our lab analyzed blood samples and discovered traces of fae venom in the toxins. those that were kidnapped turned up similar results at the crime scenes.”

kira grins. “like pixie dust?”

rebecca’s lips twitch with a barely suppressed smile. “something like that. i want you to split up and visit each of the crime scenes today. try to find something to link them together so we can predict the next target. let me know what you turn up.”

adam stands in front of them all as she departs, frowning down at the file in his hands. “i’ll take the office building. nate, you and felix visit the high school. mason, you and kira can take the church.”

felix laughs. “is mason even allowed inside a church?”

“come on,” nate grins, already heading for the door, “as much as i’d love to see him handle the high school...”

when he looks back at kira, her lips are pursed to stifle a smile. he sighs at her, shifting to stand. “don’t take their side.”

“hey, they have a point.” she squints into the sun as they step outside, then asks, “are you alright with walking? it’s not that far from here.”

“sure.” for once, it isn’t freezing in this useless town, and it might be nice to take their time. plus, “we won’t have to risk getting stuck somewhere in that trash heap you call a car.”

the detective laughs. “you wish we’d get stuck in my car together.”

“well, i can definitely think of one way to pass the time if we did,” he smirks, tapping his fingers on the sides of his jeans as they itch for a cigarette. she shakes her head at him.

his eyes drift down to her ass as she leads the way down the street. the jeans she’s wearing seem like an unfair tease, even though they’re more or less the same thing she wears every day. but they do make him suddenly aware of the fact that it’s been a couple days since they’ve had time to sneak off together.

mason clears his throat. “been awhile since you spent the night at the warehouse,” he says casually, “you could stay over tonight.”

the ghost of a smile appears on her face, the look in her eyes making it obvious she knows what he’s talking about, even though she plays dumb. “why? it’ll be early enough when we get done here.”

he licks his lips. “you know why.”

her footsteps slow to a stop, and he blinks as he realizes they’re already at the church. there’s crime scene tape in front of the steps, and kira reaches out to hold it up for him to duck under with an expectant nod. “come on.”

he waits for her to stand next to him before they walk inside, in tandem, closer together than they probably need to be. immediately, the smell of dust and incense permeate his senses and he wrinkles his nose, sighing as he starts to glance around for anything amiss. “remind me what we’re looking for, again?”

“clues,” kira says obnoxiously, grinning over her shoulder at him. she moves away to walk down the left aisle of pews and the annoying church smell worsens, giving him a headache. he changes course to follow her instead of walking down the right side on his own.

it looks like... a church. he’d had a hunch this visit was going to be a waste of time before they’d even left to come here, but now that he’s seen what they’re working with he’s pretty positive he’d been right. “there’s nothing here.”

“do you always have to be so negative?” she asks, her voice hushed. it’s then that he realizes he’s close enough to hear her perfectly, anyway, and backs off a little, maintaining a more respectful distance behind her. though he does find his eyes glued to her ass again.

“it’s part of my charm.” the little scoff she gives in return makes his lips twitch, and he leans back against the pew in the front row as she steps up to the alter, her eyes narrowed on the artifacts -- props? -- strewn across the table.

he’s content just to watch her work. kira’s methodical as she walks slowly across the church, her brow furrowed and her lips frowning. it only takes her a few minutes before she sighs and admits, “i don’t see anything.”

“i told you.” she crosses the room to be closer to him again, and he can feel his grin return once she’s within reaching distance. his fingers find the belt loops of her jeans and tug her hips forward. “doesn’t mean we have to let this empty room go to waste, though.”

her eyebrows arch. “this is a church.”

“so?” his gaze is heated as it slides down her body pointedly. he maneuvers her into the pew, then drops to his knees in front of her. “maybe i’m taking up praying.”

she laughs, but when he looks up at her she’s biting her bottom lip, and he can read desire in the way her pupils dilate -- in the way the lightest flush spreads out across her face.

“okay,” she grins, “go for it.”

he’s never been religious, but there’s something about the sounds she makes when he eats her out that make her seem like a goddess he’d have no trouble worshipping. she threads her fingers into his hair and pulls, and he isn’t satisfied until she’s had too much and starts pushing his face away with a whine.

the sun’s low in the sky when he stands, and though his dick is straining at the front of his jeans, begging for relief, he knows they’re expected back at the warehouse. they’ll be the last to arrive as it is.

he grabs kira’s hand when she reaches for his zipper and helps her up, too. “later,” he says, shaking his head. his free hand travels up to his mouth, swiping his thumb across his bottom lip and sucking it into his mouth to clean it off. the way she shivers makes his smirk widen dangerously. “stay over.”

“sure,” she agrees, reaching up to smooth down her hair. he knows she’s probably hoping to keep what happens between them private, but there’s no way the rest of the team won’t know exactly what they’d been caught up doing as soon as they get back to the warehouse, especially with that look on her face.

as expected, she shifts back and forth on her feet obviously when they convene in the meeting room and adam says, “so you searched the church... for three hours. and didn’t find anything?” his voice is slow, like he’s working up to an explosion.

mason shrugs. “yep.”

even nate is eyeing them with disapproval, but behind him, felix is grinning like a kid on christmas morning. mason glares at him.

the detective clears her throat. “did you guys find anything?”

adam’s jaw clenches before he responds. “no. the rest of the employees had already cleaned up the office building.”

nate pulls his pinched look of disappointment away and confirms, “the high school was empty as well.”

kira nods like everyone in the room isn’t staring at her. “tomorrow we should speak with some of the surviving victims. i’ll stay over tonight so we can be ready to go first thing in the morning.”

six eyes snap to mason to stare at him instead. “sounds good to me,” he answers, unfazed, “later.”

he turns and leaves without a backward glance, though he can hear felix teasing kira even when he rounds the corner and heads down the hallway to his room. the sound of her voice is unusually loud to him, until he shuts the door and makes a point of ignoring it. he’s sure he doesn’t want to hear whatever stupid shit they’re talking about anyway.

it’s over an hour before her familiar heartbeat tap dances back into his ears. he’s just starting to get annoyed, waiting for her, when she opens the door and slips inside without knocking, her steps purposefully light. she doesn’t want anyone else to know she’s here.

he lifts his head from the pillows where he’d been laying in bed and smirks at her. “you sure took your time.”

“i was talking to nate about the case,” she answers, taking a few measured strides closer. “why, did you miss me?”

“i miss being inside of you,” he says, standing so he can have the physical advantage over her, using the full breadth of his body to back her into the wall, “or did you forget you left me with blue balls back there?”

kira tilts her head back against the wall, smiling at him. “i don’t think you’d ever let me forget that.”

he’s already unbuttoning her jeans, eager to get to her bare skin. “you’re right about that one. but there’s a few other things i’d be happy to make you forget.”

they only get undressed halfway; she’s seemingly just as eager as he is to get to the good part, and even after they’re done and she’s shifting her clothes back into place, her moans still rattle around inside his ears, the sound of her voice when she’d said his name echoing through his head.

mason reaches up to swipe his hair out of his eyes, grinning at the way kira wobbles a little unsteadily on her feet when he steps away. “need me to carry you back to your room, sweetheart?”

she’d been eyeing his bed, but turns back to him, then. her mouth twists into a frown that’s all wrong on her face. “i think i can manage.”

she straightens up and moves toward the door. something seems to have shifted in the air between them, the mood from before suddenly gone in favor of something colder. his brow furrows at her back, and he opens his mouth to call out to her before thinking better of it, only letting his gaze linger on the line of her spine.

kira hesitates, but when he doesn’t speak up, she opens the door and leaves.

so much for the afterglow. an annoyance he can’t place fills him abruptly, made worse by the fact that her room isn’t far enough away for him to tune out the sound of her -- he’s hyperaware of her as she gets changed, paces around in her room, does something on her phone and then ultimately gets into bed.

a cigarette would dull his senses. she’s not here now to complain, so he could have one, but then he’d miss out on the sound of her breathing as it slowly evens out and she eventually falls asleep.

and he doesn’t want that.

mason loses track of time once there’s complete silence surrounding him. late at night, there’s hardly any activity in this part of the warehouse, and knowing that kira is around -- hearing her heartbeat whenever he wants -- is comforting in some weird, unidentifiable way, despite how fucking loud it seems. 

except that at some point her even breathing turns ragged, quickening like she’s panicked. he slowly sits up in bed as he hears her gasp, squinting into the darkness of his room suspiciously. she still sounds like she’s alone, but she’s undeniably afraid, tossing and turning and whimpering --

it all stops abruptly, and he realizes what it is when her door opens and then slams shut. he stands, walking to the door and listening silently. he can picture her out there as her back hits the door and slides down, a shaky exhale trailing off into deep breaths that are a little calmer, now. 

he should leave her alone.

except his fingers twist the door knob before he can stop them, and he steps out into the hallway to look at her. she’s exactly where he’d imagined her, slumped on the floor against the door of her bedroom with her head in her hands, her chest rising and falling rapidly with every breath.

“hey.” her head jerks up and she startles, like she’s surprised to see him there. that’s fair. he’s surprised, too. mason leans against the doorjamb, folding his arms across his bare chest. “another nightmare?”

she swallows, averting her eyes. he watches her push her fingers through her long, dark hair, and then she nods, staring off down the hallway. “yeah.”

nate or felix would know the right thing to say to her. he does not. “haven’t you gotten used to those by now?”

kira turns her cheek and her eyes find his in the dim light of the hallway. he can tell instantly that he’s said something stupid, and frowns at her when he notices just how tired she looks. she scrambles to her feet and snaps, “forget it.”

the detective storms off down the hallway and disappears out of sight before he can say another word. annoyance spikes once he’s alone in the hallway, and he sighs heavily when the door to one of the common areas opens and then slams shut.

something within him feels drawn to following her. there’s an instinct he doesn’t recognize telling him to go to the lounge and sit with her until she feels as calm as he does when she sits with him. 

his fists clench as the door to nate’s room opens and he pokes his head out into the hallway, too. nate stares at him, and then quietly asks, “are you alright?”

“why wouldn’t i be?” he growls, quickly ducking back into his own room and slamming his door closed, too. 

he stares at the ceiling for hours waiting for the sound of her footsteps to come back down the hallway again. at dawn, he finally hears the hinges of her door creak, and something tight in his chest loosens slowly, letting him relax.

kira still looks exhausted when they all reconvene an hour later. she and felix are together on the couch again, though he’s sitting closer to her this time, concern in his eyes as they talk quietly, their heads bowed together. 

he sits on the arm of the sofa and pretends not to notice the way they stop talking as soon as he does so. “morning,” felix smiles at him, though he barely nods back, staring at the way kira’s gone tense where she’s sitting. 

she only waits a minute before getting up, crossing the room to get herself a cup of coffee. she stands there stirring it for a long time before slowly sitting down in one of the empty armchairs next to nate. 

mason stares at her from across the room. there’s an empty chair on the other side of her, but it’s not like he can get up now, without a reason. annoyance fills him as he watches her pretend not to notice the way he’s staring at her; kira sips her coffee and chats with nate and looks at her fingernails and her shoes. she acts like he isn’t even there.

adam and agent langford walk in together, but he misses most of what they say, inexplicable displeasure settling inside him. he only snaps back to attention when he hears the detective say, “adam, you’re with me,” and watches, in surprise, as they leave the lounge together, something unpleasant twisting in his stomach.

there’s a long stretch of silence before agent langford says, “the three of you should go question some of the high schoolers. the rest of the debate team was around when sarah was kidnapped. maybe one of them saw something.”

working with nate and felix should be easy. it’s familiar enough to him. 

except that he’s spent most of the last few months alone with kira, and it’s odd to know that adam’s with her, now, working the angle he’d usually occupy.

“stop sulking,” felix directs, nudging him with his shoulder, “just because we’re not as pretty as kira --”

“i’m not sulking,” he bites back, “i don’t give a shit who she investigates with.”

“uh huh,” felix says, his disbelief obvious, “right.”

“i don’t,” he insists, “so shut up before i --”

“please,” nate sighs, “can we save it for later? it’s taxing enough talking to high schoolers as it is.”

he falls silent, glowering at nothing. everything is heightened in an unwelcome way and even his irritation feels dialed up to a new level. he pulls a cigarette out as soon as they stop on the sidewalk outside of the school, and pointedly turns his back on nate and felix when they head inside without him.

mason leans against a street sign and stares out at nothing, scuffing the toes of his boots against the curb. no one’s checking up on him like kira would be if she were here, and the silence is strange. time drags on at a glacial pace without her to check out or whistle at or snipe back and forth with. 

he isn’t exactly great at reading her, but he’s pretty sure she’s pissed off at him. that’s not new -- he’s annoyed her plenty since they first met, and probably said a lot worse than whatever had made her so upset this time -- but the way it unsettles him is. if he had to explain it, something just doesn’t feel... right. 

shaking the odd feeling out of his head, he smokes the rest of the cigarettes in his pocket waiting for nate and felix to return. they don’t look particularly happy when they do.

“find anything?” he asks, because he’s probably supposed to care about that.

“sarah’s teammates recall seeing a blue light when she was kidnapped,” nate answers, frowning. “but the way they described it...”

felix shrugs. “wouldn’t make sense for it to be fae. so either the lab got something wrong, or we have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

“great.” his thoughts drift to adam and kira without conscious effort. 

“hopefully kira had better luck,” nate sighs. “we’ll wait for them at the warehouse.”

except that it takes hours for them to return. the minutes continue to tick by agonizingly slowly, until he’s pacing in the lounge, fidgety and tense. 

“seriously?” felix asks as he lights up yet another cigarette, pulled from the emergency stash under his bed, “i’m sure they’re fine.”

“what?” his voice is a growl, his eyes set into a glare. he’s not worried about them. he’s annoyed they’re wasting so much of his time. the sooner they debrief on their progress for the day, the sooner he can get out of here.

“leave him alone,” nate directs to felix over his shoulder, “they had some kind of fight.”

“we didn’t have a fight,” he snarls, his annoyance building further, “and i don’t know what you’re talking about. i’m not doing anything.”

they exchange a glance right in front of him. fortunately, the sound of footsteps reaches his ears before he can argue with them further, though he’s forced to frown when her heartbeat follows the squeak of her shoes on the tile, a little faster than it should be. he puts out his cigarette and tosses it into the trash.

she looks normal enough when they enter the room. that it’s not immediately identifiable why her pulse is racing deepens his scowl. his gaze shifts to adam uneasily.

he seems to misread why mason’s looking at him. “we didn’t get much of a lead. our victim doesn’t remember anything that happened to him.”

kira sits down in one of the chairs across the room from him again and actually pays attention to whatever nate and felix are saying, doubtlessly filling her in on what they’d found out at the school. he skulks silently in the dark corner of the room, tuning them all out in favor of waiting for her heartbeat to return to normal.

it doesn’t, though, even when she stands to leave, grabbing her purse. he shifts to his feet in turn before he even realizes he’s doing it, and though kira looks surprised, she meets his eyes and asks, “walk me to my car?”

mason smirks at her, licking his lips. he nods, and doesn’t look at the rest of the team as they leave the warehouse, stepping outside. “it’s been a minute since we made use of that backseat,” he grins, the persistent, low-level hum of annoyance and unease he’d felt all day starting to fade away into nothing. 

he doesn’t even notice how quiet she’s being until they reach her car and she stops him when he moves to grab the door handle to the backseat, curling her fingers around his wrist. “actually --” he turns, and finds her staring out into the woods beyond his shoulder, looking at nothing. “about that.”

kira’s heartbeat is still too fast. her hand drops from his wrist and his falls back to his side, away from the car door. she finally turns and catches his eye. “when we started doing this you said it’d be fun for both of us. but it’s not fun for both of us anymore.”

mason stares at her in confusion as she rocks back on her heels, putting some space between them. “what?”

“i just --”

“it sure seemed like you were having fun yesterday.” what the fuck is she talking about?

“i was,” she agrees gently, “it’s not about that. of course i enjoy that. it’s everything else.”

“there isn’t anything else,” he bites out, voice filled with obvious frustration. 

“right. that’s what i’m saying.” she’s looking at him like he’s supposed to know what she’s talking about. he stares back at her in silence for a long time.

mason shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans, dragging his tongue along his teeth. he sure hadn’t expected this when he’d followed her out here. “well, when you change your mind you know where to find me, sweetheart.” 

he walks back inside without looking at her, trying to put a name to the strange feeling swelling inside him. if he’s ever felt it before, he can’t recall when or why, but that it might be something new seems even more unsettling.

the rest of the team is waiting for him in the lounge when he returns. “what?” he demands, glaring at each of them in turn. “why are you looking at me like that?”

“i told you i didn’t want to have to clean up your mess,” adam sighs, his face pinched. mason bristles.

“there’s no mess. it’s not a big deal.”

nate glances at adam and then looks over at him. “it’s just that kira seemed -- upset. adam said she wasn’t like herself today.”

“well, we’re officially not fucking anymore, so i guess you don’t have to worry about it,” he bites out, reaching for his cigarettes where he’d left them on the table. it’s not like anyone’s around to tell him no.

“woah,” felix says, frowning over at him, “what? are you okay?”

he snorts. “like i care.” smoke billows in front of his face, obscuring the rest of the team from his view. when it clears, he sees that they’re all staring at him again. “what?”

“you know you can talk to us if you want to, right?” nate’s eyes look concerned. “we’re here for you no matter what.”

mason glances off with a shrug. “i know. but there’s nothing to talk about.” he pauses, inhaling deeply. smoke fills his lungs slowly, and that irritatingly unwelcome feeling starts to dissipate. “come get me if there’s any updates with the case.”

he goes up to the roof because his room still kind of smells like her, if he concentrates, and he doesn’t want to be tempted into concentrating. 

alone, he finally lets himself consider something he’s been putting off thinking about. the complicated parts.

she’d wanted those. and he said no.

that strange feeling starts to twist his stomach again. as he stares off into the sky, unseeing, it eventually starts to take a recognizable shape.

those two months they’d spent setting up the warehouse, when he hadn’t seen her at all -- he’d felt like this then. he remembers it and its strange ache with stunning clarity. 

he misses her. that’s what it is. he fucking misses her.

that’s never happened before.

he blinks, stunned by the revelation. “huh.”

slowly, it all starts to make sense. the way he feels better when they’re near each other -- how he’s always looking for her in any room, whenever he can -- 

unbelievable. he likes her. 

numbly, he finishes his cigarette and ducks back inside. his feet carry him back to the lounge like he’s sleep walking.

“oh, good,” nate says when he sees him, sounding pleased. mason can feel the way the expression on his face is still puzzled, his brows drawn together in complete confusion. “you figured it out.”

his head snaps up. “what?”

“the detective,” nate prompts, looking at him expectantly. “right?”

mason pushes a hand through his hair. it’s difficult to place -- almost impossible. he’s a hundred years old and he’s never felt like this before. “maybe there’s something else,” he admits begrudgingly, the words stilted. “besides the obvious.”

felix is practically vibrating from his position on the couch. “okay, you need to go over there,” he exclaims, his eyes wide, his smile stretching his face. “and tell her right away! seriously.”

he cringes. “just show up at her apartment?”

“yes,” felix insists emphatically, “you have to tell her right now.”

ugh. but he’s already told everyone here -- isn’t that enough? he looks at nate.

“i think she’d like that,” he says, which is the opposite of what mason was hoping for. he sighs, running his fingers through his hair again.

“are you sure?” 

felix opens his mouth, but nate leans in first. “only if you want to.”

well. he does miss her. he knows that now. 

still, he hesitates. there’s silence in the room until felix makes a strangled sound of impatience, and they all turn to glare at him again. “stop it,” nate scolds, “be patient with him, he’s having a crisis.”

“okay -- i’m going,” he announces decisively. from the couch, felix crows with victory, clutching his chest when he falls back against the cushions.

“love,” he sighs dramatically, “it’s so beautiful.”

mason looks at nate. “make sure he’s not doing that when i get back.”

“no promises,” nate answers, and he can hear them bickering distantly as he heads for the door and then kira’s apartment, as quickly as he can -- before he has time to change his mind.

he feels strange again when he knocks on her door and waits for her to open up. almost like he’s injured, somehow, a little weak and confused. well -- he is knocking. that on its own is strange.

she’s already in her pajamas when she opens the door and frowns at him. “mason?” she steps aside to let him in, seemingly unaware of how frantic and panicked he is. mostly it seems like she, too, is confused by the knocking. “what’re you doing here? is everything alright?”

“uhhhhh.” great. he’s a moron. how is he supposed to start? “well -- i was thinking.”

“dangerous, for you,” she quips, doing something funny to his stomach again. oh, holy fucking christ. he knows what that is. that’s fondness. he’s fond of her.

he turns his head and holds her gaze steady, ignoring, for the first time ever, the heat that forms between them. that’s not what he’s after. “i was thinking about the complicated parts.”

kira doesn’t say a word, but his eyes zero in on the straight line of her teeth where they bite at her full bottom lip. her body language is otherwise frustratingly difficult to read.

“maybe i want them -- out there. with you.”

anyone else wouldn’t be able to hear the tiny hitch in her breath when she inhales, but he does.

“do you?” 

he nods. there’s silence again, but just for a moment -- he only has a split second to figure he’s just fucked up in a major way before her face transforms with a beautiful smile.

“i want that, too.” the softness he used to turn away from is back in her eyes, again, but this time, he holds her gaze. “i care about you. a lot.”

there’s something about hearing her confirm, out loud, what he’d already sort of known. a million little things click into place at once, unlocking something inside of him. it feels like he’s had dozens of puzzle pieces waiting around for this moment -- pieces he’s only now able to put together. “yeah. me, too. i just didn’t know what it was. but now i do.”

her smile turns a little more private, and it’s all the more beautiful for that. “just like that?”

he shrugs. “you leaving today flipped a switch. i hated it.”

worse than that -- felix and nate were right. she’s obviously unbelievably pleased to have him in her apartment, saying shit like that to her. her whole face is lit up with joy.

“you could’ve just talked to me about it.” he arches an eyebrow at her and is rewarded with her laughter. “yeah -- i heard it as i was saying it. okay, fair enough.”

“look.” further delight blooms across her expression as he steps closer, closing the distance between them. “you’re going to have to get used to all of this, okay?”

“oh, yeah?” 

he loves the way she has to tilt her head all the way back to look at him when he gets too close. 

how could he ever think that any amount of time spent together would ever be enough?

“yeah,” he confirms, leaning down to close the distance their height difference creates between them, “because now -- i’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

[ms-rampage]

Eden’s Gate: Aftermath Chapter 1 - After It All

Warnings: Light swearing, Paige has Dean Winchester energy in this one 

Word count: 1.9k

This is a short follow up series to Kidnapped leading up to the nuclear holcaust, and the beginning of New Dawn. 

Summary: After killing Jacob and John Seed, Paige and Kate Winchester still have Joseph left to get rid of, to save Hope County, and as well as Faith (Rachel) if she can keep her loyalty to the family, and not get on Paige’s bad side. Kate struggles to tell her family about her unsure pregnancy with John’s kid.

Guest OCs: Nate Massie (FC: Nick Jackson), Mark Massie (FC: Matt Jackson), Martin Quinn (FC: Marty Scurll), Cody Reynolds (FC: Cody Rhodes), Kenneth Smith (FC: Kenny Omega), Adrian Wray (FC: Hangman Adam Page)

Guest Characters: Mary May, Nick Rye, Pastor Jerome, Wheaty, Faith Seed, Joseph Seed (mentioned).

***********************************************

Paige, Kate, Mandy, their friends, and family are having some beers at the Spread Eagle bar celebrating the death of John Seed, and their freedom from his “marking”.

Pastor Jerome, Nick Rye, Grace Armstrong, Mary May and all of the residents in Holland Valley celebrating their freedom. 

The Whitetails were setting off fireworks as a sign of freedom from Jacob. 

“You did it!!” Mary May says to Paige.

Taking a sip from her beer, Paige shakes her head, “No. No that wasn’t me” she says.

“It was her” she says, padding Kate on the back.

Mary turns to Kate, “You killed John?”.

Kate nods her head “Yep, I had to, it was part of the job”, she chuckles.

“You Winchesters saved Holland Valley from John Seed, and his followers. We thank you for that” Pastor Jerome says to the family. Lifting his beer up as a cheer.

“So what are y’all gon’ do now?!” Nick Rye asks.

“Well first, I need to get my car fixed, blaming John for that, 2nd we’re gonna deal with Joseph. But until then we’re probably gonna take a breather before we wipe out the other 2 Seeds” Paige says.

“But Faith has a change of heart” Mandy says to Paige.

“Yeah, but I still don’t trust her” Paige says, taking another sip of her beer. 

“We’re gonna have to eventually” she says.

“Paige, we could really use her” Kate says, trying to convince her. 

She finishes off her beer, and asks for another. “Look, even if Rachel does have a change of heart, and has finally seen Joseph’s monstrous ways. Who says she isn’t lying. I mean this chick is a known liar and manipulator”.

Paige takes another sip of her beer.

“Aren’t you pregnant?!” Kate says watching her older sister's excessive drinking.

“I’m at the early stages. I’ll stop at 5 weeks” she says.

Kenny takes the bottle from her hand, and gives her water as a replacement.

“You need to slow down” he tells her, walking off with her beer. 

Rolling her eyes, “So anyway back to Rachel” she says, drinking her water. 

“She’s staying with us” Mandy says, drinking her beer.

“Well I have no say so in that” she says. 

“Paige. Faith can be helpful with us. If we ask her nicely” Kate says.

Paige intervenes “Okay. Her name is Rachel. She wasn’t the first “Faith” there were 3-4 of them before her”.

Kate rolls her eyes, "Fai-Rachel can be resourceful for us. She can help us track Joseph, and put an end to the Project”.

“Well, I'm gonna go check on my car” Paige says, getting up from her seat at the bar, “It’s at the auto shop next door, and I want to check on her. See how she’s doing”. 

She puts some money on the counter to pay for her drinks. 

“You coming?!” she asks, turning to Kate.

“Can’t. I have a date with Wheaty” she says.

“Alright. Don’t get pregnant” she jokes, then she leaves the bar to go next door to the auto shop. 

“Yeah, I’ll try not to” she says, softly.

No one, except her and Wheaty know of her pregnancy, and it’s John’s kid.

She doesn’t know how she’s gonna tell the others. How is Paige gonna take it when her little sister is carrying the spawn of John fucking Seed. 

Lost in her thoughts, Wheaty gently pats her shoulder. Her head shoots up instantly. 

“Hey, you ready?” he asks, a smile on his face.

“Yeah” she says “I’m ready”, getting up from her seat.

“I’ll be back later” she says to her mother. 

“Have fun. Don’t get pregnant” she jokes.

Kate stammers over her words “I wo- I won’t”. 

They walk towards Kate’s car. Paige sees them, and yells out as a joke. “Have fun you two!!!. Don’t get pregnant Kate!!” 

Kate looks back, and flips her sister the middle finger before getting into the car.

“So much longer is it gonna?” she asks the mechanic. 

“Most likely until tomorrow between 11am, and 3pm.” he tells her, "It's not too bad, for the nasty crush it was in".

“Alright that sounds good” she says. 

***************************************

Now at their date location, Kate and Wheaty are making out in a secluded part of the Whitetails not far from the Wolf Den. 

Her back against a tree, his hands on either side of her waist. Her arms around his neck.

He breaks the kiss, resting his head against hers, holding her close. 

“It’s so much more peaceful without Jacob” he says. 

She nods her head, “Yeah, it's so much more quieter without John” she says, looking off in the distance. 

He slowly moves his hands up, resting on the sides of her stomach. 

He looks down at her stomach, “When are you gonna tell the others?” he asks.

She looks down, and sighs, “I don’t know. I know they’re gonna find out eventually, when my stomach gets bigger. Abortion is out of the picture. Because I’m Catholic” she rolls her eyes.

He pulls her into an embrace, one hand on the back of her head, and the other on her waist. 

“I still need to take a test just to be sure” she says, her hands around him, resting her head on his shoulder. 

“If it comes back, and you’re pregnant. Just know that I wouldn’t mind being a stepdad” he says, stroking her hair. 

She pulls away and looks up at him. Her eyes widened, and in disbelief.

“Are you sure?!” she asks.

“I’m sure. I want to be there for the both of you” he says, with his hands on her stomach where the baby bump would be. 

She smiles at him then looks down at her stomach.

“I would like that” she says, and kisses him on the lips. 

Just thinking a day ago, her and John Seed had sex for the last time, and the fucker cummed inside her. Getting her pregnant, knocking her up, she might be carrying the Seed gene. The next generation of the Seed family. Abortion is on her mind, but she doesn’t want to kill the barely in development embryo. She wants to give it life, and maybe along the way, her and Wheaty can have kids of their own. 

After their date, she drops off Wheaty at the Wolf Den, and drives back to Holland Valley

********************************************************

Pulling into the driveway of the Winchester-Smith compound.

Kate gets out of her car, and goes inside greeted by the brothers Mark, and Nate.

“So how was your date?” Mark asks, having a big brother tone in his voice. 

“It went good. Thank you for asking” she says, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. 

“Where did you and Wheaty go?” Adrian asks, stepping out of the kitchen with a beer in hand.

“We just went to the Whitetails, and made out” she answers. 

“That’s it?!” Nate asks, “No sex?. No drinking?. No smoking? No other childish shenanigans?!”.

She rolls her eyes, walking past them into the living room, “No we didn’t do any of that” she says, dropping herself onto the couch, and turning on the tv. “Who else is here?!” she asks.

“Just us, Faith is in her room. Mandy gave her one when we came back here after we left St. Francis” Mark tells her.

“Has she been in there all night?!” she asks.

“Yeah just about” Adrian says, sitting down next to Kate. 

“Where’s Kenny, Paige and my mom?!” she asks.

“They went to raid John’s house” Martin says, stepping into the living room.

“For?” she questions. 

“To steal his clothes probably. I told them to steal some of his shoes, shirts and watches for me. We’re about the same size in clothes” Martin says. 

They laugh at Martin’s answer, “Of course you did” Nate says. 

“Cody went with them as well. I didn’t know him, and John knew each other” Adrian says.

Kate’s jaw drops, “I didn’t know that either!!”.

“Yeah apparently they went to school together, and then John was homeschooled, and they met again in Law school in Georgia” Nate says. 

Confused, “I thought Cody was a doctor?!?”.

“This was before he became a doctor. He wanted to be a lawyer but he changed his mind about his major”. Mark adds.

Kate raises her arms up, “Welp you learn something new everyday!!!!”.

She stands up, “I’m gonna go check on Faith” she says, and goes upstairs.

“3rd door to the left on the 3rd floor” Nate yells out.

She makes it to the 3rd floor, and goes to Faith’s room.

She knocks at the door, -knock knock knock-.

“Hey Faith?. It’s me Kate. How are you doing?”.

The door opens slowly, and Kate is greeted by the friendly face of Rachel Jessop. 

“I’m doing okay” she replies, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“That’s good, I just wanted to check on you. See how you’re doing” she says.

Faith nods, she gives her a soft smile.

“If you’re hungry I can make you something” she says.

She shakes her, “I’m fine”.

Kate nods, “Okay, well my room is on the 2nd floor, 2nd door on the left. If you need anything”.

She nods, and gives her a soft “Okay”, and closes the door.

Kate goes back downstairs to the living room where Kenny, Paige, Mandy and Cody had entered the house.

“Hey!” she says to them.

“How Faith?” Nate asks.

“She’s doing good. Probably a little shaken up, but I'm sure she’ll come around” she says.

“Has she eaten?” Mandy asks.

“I asked if she was hungry. She said she’s fine, I told if she needed anything that my room is on the 2nd floor” Kate adds. 

“You think she can be of some help with tracking Joseph?” Cody asks.

“I’m pretty sure. She spent half of her life living under his wing, I’m sure she’ll help out” she says.

“So how was your date with Wheaty?!” Paige asks, changing the subject.

Kate glares at her elder sister, and says “It went great thanks. Anyway back to Faith”

“Rachel!!” Paige interrupts. 

“Back to her. She is of some help. I know she can help us track Joseph, we just need to let her adjust first” Kate says.

“Well we can’t wait on her forever” Paige says.

“We have to Paige!!’ Kate argues.

“Why!?. Joseph is still out there, wandering about and we have no way of finding him. Rachel is our only way, and we can put an end to this whole ordeal!” 

Everyone exchanges looks, giving thought to the situation.

“We should let Rachel adjust first” Kenny says.

Paige gives him a look of disbelief, “Kenneth are fucking serious?!?”

“Yes, Paige I’m serious. We have to let her get used to her surroundings. All this is new to her” he adds.

“I agree we have to let her get used to this life” Mark says, Nate, Cody, Adrian and Martin agree with the decision.

“Whatever I’m gonna check on Cristina” Paige says, rolling her eyes and going upstairs to her room. 

The others say downstairs, and figure out ways to have Rachel open up to them. 

[rhetoricalrogue]

Untitled angst for your Thursday evening.  A slight re-writing of the post-Carnival Operation events, featuring Adam and my Detective Aubrey.

Aubrey’s key slid into the lock and she leaned against the doorframe, hand hovering over the doorknob.  There was something unsaid between her and Adam, and she chewed her lip while trying to figure out how to broach the subject.

“You’re tense,” he commented, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat.  “Is it about...your friend?”

She closed her eyes at the tone that he used.  Do you have feelings for her? “I don’t regret telling you all that Bobby and I have a past,” she started slowly, turning to face him and raising her chin high. No, I do not.  “But please don’t use that tone when speaking about him.”

She watched as his mouth curled downwards into a deep frown.  “Are you worried about him?”

“It would be heartless of me not to be worried.”  She took a deep breath.  “Do you have time to come inside?”

The frown never shifted from his face, but he nodded.  “It would be wise to check your apartment for dangers,” he agreed, following her in as she opened her door and dropped her keys into the little ceramic dish shaped like a fox that sat on her entryway table.  Her boots came off next, then her coat.  Walking around in her socks, she took stock of her living room - sofa moved over, the easy chair next to it overturned, her coffee table on its side and all the contents that had once sat upon it strewn out nearby - and made her way into her kitchen to fill up her electric kettle.  Aubrey grabbed her favorite mug and plopped two bags of peppermint tea inside it before adding a generous dollop of honey and several spoonfuls of sugar.

“I very nearly married Robert Marks,” she started, her normally quiet voice sounding loud in the silent apartment.  She watched as Adam paused in righting her furniture, his movements deliberate as he placed things back where they belonged from memory.  A small part of her had to wonder if his precise movements were to keep himself from breaking any more furniture, or if something of hers would join Nate’s end table before this conversation was over.  “We dated for almost ten years and lived together for eight of them.”

“Apparently that did not come to be.” 

She flipped off the kettle as it finished its heating cycle and added the water into her mug.  “No, it didn’t.”

“What happened?”

Aubrey made her way over to the sofa and curled one leg underneath her.  She flexed her left foot, the same foot Adam knew had been injured to the point of her retiring early from her career as a dancer.  “I met Bobby during an interview.  At the time, he was a reporter for a prestigious Arts and Entertainment magazine in the city and was doing an article on the rising stars of the dance world.  As one of those up and coming dancers, we sat down at a cafe for our interview.  That interview turned into an invitation for lunch, and then a dinner date the next week.”  She cupped her mug in her hands and held it to her chest, not so much to drink it, but more for the warmth it provided.  “I was new to the city, I didn’t know anyone beside the people I’d made friends with in my company, and here was this charming guy, paying attention to me and making me feel like the most important person in the world.  I was young and impressionable.”

Adam moved away from the furniture and strode towards the windows, his hands pushing aside the gauzy white curtains as he checked for damage to the glass.  “You loved him.”  It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, I did.  I loved him very much.”

“And yet you’re not with him.  Why?”

She frowned and set her mug down on the coffee table.  “Because he didn’t love me.”  She twisted her fingers in her lap.  “Don’t get me wrong, I think he liked me, and he never treated me poorly, but he didn’t love me the way that I loved him.  The way that I wanted someone to love me.”

She stared at the space between the sofa and the chairs, swallowing thickly as she remembered how Bobby had fallen, the blue and white swirls of whatever disease the intruders had infected him with spreading over his handsome features.  “He was going to propose to me.  I found the ring while I was packing up his stuff.”  She gave a bitter laugh.  “It was gaudy as hell, but oh, I would have worn it proudly.”

“Why did you leave him?”

“I didn’t.  He left me.”  She reached over and picked up the mug again, this time taking a sip.  “When I was the principal dancer, I opened so many doors that were otherwise closed to him.  Want an interview with a director? Aubrey can organize it.  Tickets to see an opera for free, with backstage access?  My reputation and connections could arrange it.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was using me to further his career.  And then when I got hurt…” Her breath hitched and she curled further into herself.

“He cut his losses.”

She nodded.  “Without his meal ticket opening doors for him, he needed to find someone else.  That someone else just so happened to be a stage actress too new to the scene to know he was already taken.  My friends tried to warn me, but I wasn’t worried.  I was convinced that she was another of his close friends.”  Tears prickled at her eyelids and she angrily scrubbed them away.  “I was so stupid.  At least he had the decency to stay with me while I recovered from surgery, even if that meant he was sleeping behind my back for the better part of a month before he finally went you were my well of info, but now that well’s run dry.  No hard feelings, Aubs.”

Adam clenched his hands into fists at his sides.  “He didn’t deserve you.”

“I know that now.  Didn’t make it hurt any less then.  I just lost the one thing I was most passionate about and then the man I was ready to spend the rest of my life with all in the span of a few weeks. I had to get out, so I packed my belongings and came home.  I wasn’t sleeping at night, so volunteering for the night clerk position at the station felt like I was at least doing something productive instead of wallowing in grief.  I liked it so much that I enrolled in police academy training, and the rest is history.”

He seemed to hesitate, but eventually sat down on the edge of the sofa next to her.  “I understand why you’re upset about him now,” he said.  “I apologize for making light of your worry.”

“Thank you, Adam.”  Aubrey took another deep breath before turning so she was facing him.  “You should know by now that I respect you.  And you should also know by now that I...have feelings for you.  Feelings that I haven’t allowed myself to feel for anyone in the past four years.  I want to be as open with you as I can, which is why I need to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

She twisted her fingers again and pressed her lips tightly together, almost as if she could keep the words she was about to say at bay.  “Before the attack, I kissed Bobby.  Had we not been interrupted, I probably would have slept with him if he had asked.”

Adam paused for the briefest of seconds as he let what she just said sink in before he shot up from the sofa.  “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know that if...when Bobby wakes up, it’s the first thing out of his mouth!  I wanted to tell you first so it wouldn’t come as a shock.”

“Why would it even shock me, Detective?”  His arms were crossed in front of him almost as a shield to deflect whatever she said next.

“Because of whatever,” she gestured towards him.  “This is between us!”

“There is -”

“No.” she stood up and faced him, her arms stiff at her sides.  “I heard you talk with Nate tonight.  He can tell, just as I can that you feel something for me.  The carnival?  That picture?  Adam, that was real.  You can’t stand here and tell me otherwise.”

He sneered.  “If it was so real, then why were you so willing to sleep with your ex-lover tonight?”

“Because I was upset!  Jesus, Adam, I just…” she ran her fingers through her short hair, pulling at the strands in frustration.  “To hear you say that you felt nothing for me hurt, then for Bobby to show up when I needed someone the most...Look, I know it was wrong and I know that I would have regretted it tomorrow, but I’m so fucking tired of having something I want dangled in front of me only to be pushed aside and I wanted someone to touch me, someone to want me, even for only a moment.”

She stared up at Adam through blurred vision, willing the tears welling in her eyes to stay where they were, even as her lip trembled with each breath.  Those green eyes of his were cold, like flecks of glass, and her heart broke at the fact that she had been the one to dash any hopes of maybe someday being with him.  “The apartment is secure,” she said hoarsely, breaking eye contact.  “I’ll be fine by myself.”

Adam gave a slow nod before taking a step away from her.  “Lock the door,” he said quietly.  “I don’t want...it would be inadvisable to leave it unsecured.”

She silently nodded, hands clutching at the sleeves of her sweater.  How was it that only a few hours ago, she’d been so happy?  Aubrey followed him to the door, turning the deadbolt and the lock below it before pressing her palms to the door and looking out the peephole.  Adam was standing in the middle of the hall, his face to the door.  She watched as he raised a hand as if to knock, but then paused, letting his hand fall back to his side before slowly turning away.

Something hot slid down her cheek and she pressed her forehead against the wood, finally letting herself cry.  She let out a shaky breath, swearing that it felt as if someone was on the other side of her door, palms pressed just inches away from hers.

She was too much of a coward to look to see if it was the case.  Instead, she turned away and crawled into bed still in her street clothes, the blankets wrapping around her as she curled into a ball and fell into a restless, yet blessedly dreamless, sleep.

[masonscig]

water

wayhaven summer fic #5

pairing | nate x ramona

word count | 2.1k

warnings | mention of sex, an innuendo

author’s note | i tried to figure out how to get around nate’s aversion to water, and i hit a wall so... i dug around it and decided to write an actor!au !!!! i’d seen a comic months and months ago by @/pvnkvampr and another one that i can’t seem to find again, but i wanted to take that and apply it to nate and ramona! nate’s the type to fall in love with his costar after years of working together and you can’t convince me otherwise. also, to clarify !!! the beginning of the fic is supposed to be like nate x ramona’s romance route so any of the exposition centered around their relationship being fleeting/him being deeply in love with her is nate the character rather than the actor! (you’ll see lmao i’m definitely overexplaining) this is a bit of a stretch bc they’re on the water... and ramona drinks water. but whatever it works !!!!!

•─────────────────•

She was standing on the edge, looking out at the glimmering water, the sun, high in the sky, skipping off of each wave like a smooth rock.

The wind whipped her hair, tossing her short curls until they were unruly, and she was smiling.

Her grin was wide, eyes closed, as she inhaled, drinking it all in – the sunshine fueled her.

Half of Unit Bravo were under the deck, quietly stewing in annoyance. They’d given up complaining to Ramona, though. Frankly, she didn’t care.

Farah was passed out on the floor underneath a sliver of shade at the top of the yacht, chest heaving as she slept soundly. Ramona had taught her how to swim earlier, and she’d used all of her energy flailing around determinedly in the relentless July rays.

Nate watched her as she held her arms out to her sides, fingers outstretched, chin tipped towards the sky.

She was unbridled joy held together by the strings of her bikini, and she radiated a warmth that could rival even the summer sun itself.

So unrestrained that changes didn’t phase her – most conflict rolled off her shoulders in a way that startled Nate, a being who’d existed for hundreds of years and had seen the best and the worst of it.

Nothing baffled him more than this part of his existence.

The way love fell into his lap and he didn’t have to try anymore. 

But despite it all, he’d deluded himself into thinking it was permanent – they were permanent. And they weren’t. And that was okay.

“Oh, you’re back!” She grinned, stretching her arm out until her fingertips grazed his bare arm, her palm warm against his skin. “I was wondering what you were up to.”

“I had to do a quick wellness check of our crew –”

“– Oh my god, are Adam and Morgan still seething down there?–” She asked, cutting him off with a laugh.

“– Very much so, I’m afraid,” he said, his mischievous smile betraying his tone.

“I thought a tiny little shindig would be better than a huge shebang, you know?” She turned in his grip, back against the railing, his arms curled around the bare skin of her waist.

“You’re still trying to stump me? Give it a rest, love,” Nate laughed into the thick mess of curls at the top of her head, pressing a kiss to her sun-warmed strands.

“I will say a phrase you don’t know and then you’ll owe me some juicy Agency secrets,” she giggled, snaking her arms around his neck.

“Like what?” He asked, lips straining at corners, his grin threatening to falter.

“Like how the hell does Morgan wear jeans and no underwear? That’s something I can’t for the life of me wrap my mind around,” she all but shuddered.

“That’s an answer you’ll have to coax out of her, unfortunately.” He said, a bit distracted.

“You know you can keep your Agency secrets, mister secret agent. I have no need for ‘em,” she stuck her tongue out, still stained bright red from the margarita she’d finished hours before.

He must’ve looked puzzled, because she continued, inching in closer until he could feel her everywhere and it wasn’t in the least bit appropriate.

“We both know you have even juicier secrets to spill,” she said, before leaning in to whisper the last bit, her fingers tangled through his hair.

“And I’ll lap up every last drop of ‘em,” she murmured, kissing his earlobe.

The pads of his fingers were sunken into the flesh of her hips, and he tried desperately to anchor himself to spare the others, but he couldn’t get a grip on anything but her warm, warm, sunkissed skin –

He blanked.

His thoughts were scrambled and he couldn’t form words. Couldn’t recall the words he needed to say. But he could see the paper so clearly –

“Line?” He mumbled, feeling her go limp with disappointment in his arms.

Farah groaned from across the deck.

“Cut!” The director yelled, and all but stormed over to him. “What happened out there? You were on a fuckin’ roll! The chemistry was insane. God, I wish you could’ve been watching –”

“Don’t make him feel like shit over it, Craig,” she gently warned, stepping forward just a bit until she’d angled her body between them. “I flubbed my lines all last week and he was so patient with me.”

Craig sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, the wrinkled skin between his brows crinkling even further. “Alright, alright, I get it. Not gonna hound you over one take, but I need you to get it in gear, man. We’ve only got a couple more hours of sunlight in this godforsaken shitheap, and we’ve gotta wrap this part up so we can film the sunset kiss –”

“I understand. I won’t mess it up this time,” Nate promised, glancing over to his co-star with an apologetic smile.

Ramona shrugged, waving his statement away. “It’s fine, seriously. I’m totally okay with running that again.” “Speak for yourself! I’m dying out here,” Farah called from across the deck before turning back to the hair and makeup people, pursing her lips for more lip balm and sunscreen. “Please get it right this time, Agent Sewell.”

“That’s just the name of my character –”

“I’m well aware of that,” she yelled, cutting him off. “Method acting. You get it.”

His co-star shook her head, patting him on the back. “Don’t mind Miss Hauville. She’s just upset she was dragged out here to lie down on a hot sundeck like a dead body for half of an episode.”

He laughed at that, relieved that his co-star was keeping things light.

Truth be told, he’d had a rough time getting his on-screen family to cooperate with him, much like the character Nate Sewell.

Adam’s actor was a notoriously nice guy, but he had a knack for intense method acting, so he’d been a stoic asshole for months – there was no getting through to that guy when he was in filming mode. Morgan’s actress was a bit of a wildcard. She was fucking the executive producer and everyone except Craig knew it.

Farah’s actress was arguably the biggest success of them all – she was constantly booked and busy and effortlessly making headlines. And it was becoming increasingly obvious that she was only there as a favor, not because she wanted to.

She was a film star who never touched TV, but hell, she was half the reason millions of people tuned into the pilot episode.

The Wayhaven Chronicles wouldn’t be the same without her, or Ramona’s actress, the fan favorite. Yeah, she was the protagonist, but the cast, crew, fans, and everyone alike loved her.

And he had a bit of a crush.

He was aware that on set romances usually fell apart before they could really begin, but he couldn’t help it.

Not only did he spend nearly all of his free time with her running lines and hanging out in her trailer, but to make matters worse his character was canonically falling for hers, and… he found himself enamored with her, too.

He’d never admitted it out loud, and probably never would, but it was getting harder and harder to push those feelings away when they had to share an on screen kiss.

Season one wasn’t too bad, considering they were just testing the waters to see who the fan favorite love interest was out of the four of them, but by the end of it, social media had all but rioted to lock in the “Natemona” romance plot.

And there they were, well into season two, a handful of kisses shared (a lot more than that considering the reshoots and the practicing) and a plot decided.

And he was into her – way more than he’d like to admit.

The rest of filming went pretty smoothly. He got over his nerves and kissed her like a champ, and they got patted on the back for their realistic chemistry by all the execs and producers on set.

When they finally broke for a quick food break, she followed him to his trailer.

“People are gonna eat this episode up, huh?” She asked, closing the door behind them and grabbing a water bottle from his fully stocked mini-fridge.

“Surely they will,” he agreed, stepping around her to grab his salad from the fridge. “If they were rallying for the relationship before, they’ll be vindicated this episode.”

She laughed into the rim of her bottle before chugging it. “So why were you frazzled today? Something at home?”

He eyed her, raising a brow.

She held her hands up in mock surrender, before plopping onto the couch across from him. “You don’t have to answer, dude, I’m just lending my ear.”

He chewed thoughtfully, trying to choose his words wisely. He swallowed, took another bite, chewed.

His mind was just as blank as the deck scene.

He shook his head before setting his food down. “I’m sorry I’ve been off today.”

“I don’t care if you’re not feeling like yourself. It’s normal to have an off day. I just wanna know if you’re okay,” she said with a tenderness that he’d never heard from a co-star before. 

“To be quite honest, you’ve been distracting me,” he admitted, timidly.

She pursed her lips. “What can I do to fix it?” 

He squirmed in his seat. God, this was a lot harder than he thought it’d be.

��It’s, uh, nothing you can really fix. It’s all me.”

“Well, what can I do to help?”

He shook his head again, glancing away from her.

“Look, I know Craig’s been rough on us this week, but don’t let it get to you. We can practice more –”

“It’s not that, I promise.”

She waited, sensing that he had more to say. He took a deep breath, then continued.

“It’s something I don’t want to admit to you. It’s embarrassing.”

“Honey, my last job involved waxing places that would make your grandmother gasp. I promise nothing phases me,” she joked, running a hand through her hair.

“There’s… quite a few lines Nate says this season that I’ve resonated with,” he started, trying to figure out what he was gonna pull out of his ass.

She sipped her drink, waiting.

“Things like… ‘I care for you, Ramona’ and, uh, ‘You’re important to me’,” he said, twisting the ends of his summery button up shirt between his fingers.

“Yeah, same here. We’ve become really close –”

She stopped abruptly the moment she noticed the look in his eye. And the subtext hit her like a truck.

“The things Nate feels for Ramona… I find myself feeling for you,” he admitted, hesitantly, looking anywhere but her face.

“If you don’t feel the same, that’s okay. I’ve just developed a bit of a workplace crush that I can’t quite shake, and that’s my fault –”

She stood from the couch, and he glanced up at her, finally, nervous to see how she’d taken it.

And before he could register what was happening, her lips were on his – a sweet tender kiss. 

One that, scarily enough, felt exactly like the last time they’d kissed. And the time before that. And the time before that. And the time before that. 

When she pulled away, she cupped his cheeks with the softest touch in the world, gazing down at him with an expression like she’d gotten the best news of her life.

“Those kisses weren’t just practice to me, either,” she whispered, stroking the pad of her thumb across his stubble. “I just wasn’t sure if you felt the same.”

He blanked. Again.

He couldn’t find any words, so he did what Nate would do. What he wished he’d had the courage to do for over a year.

Gently enclosing his arms around her waist, he tugged her down to the couch with him, planting kisses across her face, cheeks, nose, lips, over and over and over, revelling in the broken giggles that erupted from her.

Maybe allowing the essence of Nate Sewell and how he loved pervade his life over the past year and a half of filming was the right step. It’d gotten him the girl, after all.

[smalltowndetective]

38 Felix/Farah please

38-  You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?

I did this with my Detective Thea, I hope you enjoy it Anon! Hopefully it’s what you wanted!

Title: Skipping Stones

Ao3 Link

Pairing: Thea and Felix

Words: 2k

It took about two weeks after making it official for it to hit for Thea.

               With everything that was happening with the maa-alused and the trappers, she had not had much time to think about it, and it hit her like a tidal wave once it did.

               Felix is your boyfriend. Yours.

               She had not been dreaming, it had actually happened, and with that realization started the anxieties to flood in, and Thea wondered why it had taken her so long for her to feel this way, since it was not like either of them were keeping it a secret from the others.

               Her anxieties did not come from making if official, Thea had no fear of commitment, but more that she might lose possibly the best thing that had ever happened to her, something that she was becoming more and more sure of each passing day.

               What if I screw something up?

               Thea could not fathom how she ever got so lucky, but the feeling of elatedness was weighed down by the feeling that she would not be enough. She had never felt such a need to be someone to someone, and he had been so good to her, and she felt like she would never be able to match that.

               She knew that these feelings would have come eventually, but she really wished they could have at least waited until after she got back home.

               Tonight, was going to be their first official “date”, and Thea really did not want to drag it down by her doubts. She had been so excited a few hours ago, and she was frustrated with herself for such a switch, and in some weird round-a-bout way, she worried that her feelings now when ruin everything tonight.

               Even if I do end up screwing it up eventually, I just really want to enjoy tonight.

               She sighed, and she walked over to the mirror, looking over her knee-length navy dress with small white flowers adorned all over, two-inch silver heels on her feet, as a desperate bid to look even slightly taller, and even though Felix was not overly tall himself, he still seemed tall next to her.

               I’m not going to be the reason tonight is ruined.

               Trying for a small smile in the mirror, she ran her hair through her waist-length dark chocolate-brown hair, and even though the entire time she was trying to cheer herself for the whole time, the ring of the doorbell was enough to make her stomach tighten in a mix of nervousness and anticipation, and she walked to her front door, her steps quickening.

               “Good evening Thea”, Felix said with an almost sultry tone in his voice as she opened the door. He wasn’t dressed too differently then he normally was, with dark skinny jeans and black waistcoat, his hat fit snugly on his head. He was also holding a bouquet of flowers that looked like orange blossoms, with ivy threads mixed in-between, and a bright smile went over his face as he looked at her, “You look gorgeous”.

               She knew that her face was covered in a rosy blush, contrasting heavily against her fair skin, Felix never seemed to be unable to fluster her, and she managed to croak out a “Thank you”, and after a pause, Thea finally found some small amount of courage, “You look very handsome tonight”.

               He beamed at her with a smile that never failed to fill her stomach with butterflies, but as she stared into his amber eyes radiating so much warmth and comfort that she could have stood there for hours, but she could feel the doubt start creeping back into her mind, and Thea could feel herself frown.

               “Everything okay?”, he asked, breaking her thoughts, and when she looked back at him, his eyebrows were knit in worry, and it made her chest tighten. Felix was way more perceptive then he seemed, and she knew it was foolish to believe that he would not notice.

               “I’m fine”, she said a bit too quickly, and by the look on his face, Felix was not convinced, to which she added “I just want to enjoy tonight”, and Thea was not quite sure whether she was saying that for him or a mantra for herself.

               Felix gave her a small, almost worried smile, but he seemed like he was not going to force her to talk about, which she was grateful for, and he stepped closer to her, and gently cupped her check with his free hand, and she pressed her face into it, closing her eyes and letting herself enjoy the peace it provided.

               “The flowers are pretty”, she said, opening her eyes back up, and she looked down at the orange blossoms.

               “Yeah, Nate thought it was a good idea”, Felix said, reluctantly moving his hand away, and handing her the bouquet, “I hope you like them”.

               “I love them”, she whispered, and then looked back at Felix, trying to swallow any negative feelings that may lingered, “So, what are we doing tonight?”

               “You’ll see”, he said in response, giving her a wink, and Thea smiled in an effort to keep another blush from climbing her face, and said

               “You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?”, a grin coming across her face.

               “More than you could know”, Felix smirked, but the deeper meaning still shining through.

               She set the bouquet inside, and Felix offered her his arm, and she curled her own into his, and they walked out of her apartment building together, and even though Thea could feel her own heart racing, she could also feel Felix’s race against her skin as they stayed close to each other.

               On the whole car ride over, Thea had tried to get him to tell her where they were going, but Felix had stayed adamant on keeping it a secret, which surprised her, since she normally would have expected him to blurt it out from excitement, which just made even more full of anticipation.

               Felix pulled the Agency vehicle suddenly at the side of the road, and as Thea turned to him stunned, but as she looked out the window, recognition flooded her.

               “Hamlin Point?”, she asked turning to him. Thea had told him about the point on the drive to the carnival weeks ago, in her opinion on of the most beautiful places in all of Wayhaven. It was the spot that overlooked the bay, and where the absolute best sunsets could be seen. Back before she became a detective, she and Tina had sometimes driven up there at the end of their shift to watch it, and Tina used to talk about how romantic it would be to have a date up here, “You remembered!”

               “How could I not?”, Felix said, throwing her a joking grin, “To be honest, I was having trouble deciding what to do. I know you don’t drink, and I know you mentioned you would take me bowling at some point, but of course, there isn’t any here in Wayhaven, and the others weren’t so keen on us leaving the town”.

               “It’s perfect”, Thea beamed, turning to him, “Thanks Felix”.

               They got out of the car, Felix entwining his fingers in hers as they made their way to the only bench, and she looked over the bay as they sat together, their entwined hands on her knee. The point was not high, just about six feet off the ground, but it was clearest view of the milky blue waters of the bay, and the absence of trees had the best view of the setting sun, it already beginning to set with the slightest colors of yellow and pink.

               After a moment of gazing at each other, Thea broke the silence, “With your normal subversion to quietness, I’m still surprised that you would take me here”.

               “Don’t you know?”, he said with a light tone in his voice, “I like the moments I spend with you, no matter where they are”. His lips curved in a genuine smile, and the simple gesture was enough to send her into a flutter, but a single thought overwhelmed her.

               Don’t get used to this, you’re going to ruin it like you always do.

               Thea’s shoulders slumped at the thought, and took her hand out of Felix’s, and covered her face with her hands, and she tried to ignore the lump the throat as she heard his worried voice.

               “Thea, seriously, are you sure you’re alright?”, and even though she could not see him, she felt his hand gently rest on her shoulder, as if he was expecting her to move away.

               “I’m sorry”, she whispered, her voice shaking, holding her head up but averting her eyes from Felix’s gaze, “I’m ruining everything”, her voice catching at the end.

               “You’re not”, Felix said, a certain firmness to his voice she had not heard before, and he tightened his hand on her shoulder, “Talk to me Thea, please. Somethings obviously bothering you”. He then paused, and then added, “If you want to that is”.

               She finally got the nerve to meet his eyes, a sob almost erupting from her chest, “I just-really don’t want to mess this up”

               Thea could hear Felix’s breathe catch, and she tried to fight down her nerves as he brushed a lock of her long hair out of her face

               “I find it very hard to believe you’ll mess this up”, he said, his tone resolute, and then he gave her a grin, “Because you are probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met, and if you want, I’ll never leave your side”.

               All Thea could do to a statement like that was to just stare at him wide eyed, a blush climbing her cheeks and she stammered out, “Then I really hope you know I feel the same about you”.

               Felix blinked in surprise, and a soft smile spread over his features, “I’m- really happy to hear you say that”.

               “It’s the truth”, she said, a weight off her chest like she had never felt before, “Sorry I’ve been a downer tonight”.

               “What are you talking about?”, he asked, “Talking about how you feel doesn’t make you a downer”.

               She gave him a smile, and even though she knew the doubts had not disappeared completely, she tried her best to keep repeating his words in her mind to drown it all out.

               Felix moved closer to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought them closer together and if he could hear what she was thinking, she said, “I’m not going anywhere babe, I promise”.

               “Babe?”, Thea asked, having not heard him use it before.

               “Yeah”, he shrugged, “I don’t know, I just feels right to use it with you”.

               “I like it”, Thea said, her smile wider then had been all night.

               Felix turned to her, brining his hand to caress her check, and he gently kissed her.

               It was more of a whisper of a kiss, but Thea’s pulse would probably argue otherwise, and it was more than enough.

               He is more than enough.

               As they gently pulled apart, she looked over the bay, the sunset now it full swing, looking like the most beautiful picture of one, the colors brewing together in a symphony. Thea then looked to the ground, and saw a few pebbles on the ground, and it gave her an idea.

               “Have you ever skipped stones, Felix?”

               His amber eyes lit up in interest, “No, I haven’t. What do you do?”

               Thea got up from the bench, and picked up one of the pebbles, and threw it in the bay, watching it skip three times before sinking into the water.

               “Oh, let me try!”, Felix said excitedly, getting up and grabbing a pebble of his own and throwing it into the bay, but his sunk to the bottom immediately.

               “How did you that?”, he said in amazement, turning to her.

               Thea laughed, “It just takes some practice. Try it again.”

               They spent the rest of the waning light of the day skipping stones across the bay water, an infectious happiness in both of them.

(It became more bittersweet then I was expecting, but I hope you like it!)

[lucaniisdellamorte]

This isn’t completely solid yet but I wanted to write out how things go in the twins canon

So the twins were born and raised in Wayhaven, after their father died Rebecca more or less dropped them off with an uncaring uncle and very very rarely ever saw the twins growing up

We’re talking like.....she’d maybe visit for a weekend a month

Poloma dated Bobby in college and it was her first real love but after Bobby stole her work, lied to all their friends making it seem like she was trying to steal from him, and ruining her reputation, she decided she wasn’t going to going to make that mistake again

Pax was one of the people that Bobby couldn’t persuade and after everything he absolutely loathes him

Pax was the first one to be promoted to detective about a year or so before the old detective I don’t remember their name retired, more or less so they could coast through the last year of their career

Poloma was promoted simply because of that detective retiring

Okay so moving on to the events of Book One

Both twins are at the crime scene and both twins go to that abandoned warehouse, they take Poloma’s car since Pax only has his motorcycle and it’s still too cold to be riding that around

Pax pepper sprays Adam

At the Official Meeting, Pax is professional and welcoming, Poloma tries to be welcoming but gets a little snarky with Mason (Felix kisses Poloma’s hand and she likes him immediately)

Listening to the four talk, Poloma highly suspects that these are the same four people they ran into at the warehouse but after asking about it Pax is convinced that they aren’t

At Adam’s dismissal of them, Poloma goes with the “ah yes you obviously don’t need our help since you’ve already caught the guy orrrrr...wait...no you haven’t” which leaves Pax to to play peacekeeper alongside Nate

So since Nate is present in all three investigative routes, here is how I see that playing out, Nate and Pax go to talk to Verda while Poloma makes a call to Tina to get the details on their witness and get a cup of coffee since Pax fixed that earlier

Then when those two are done, Poloma, Nate, and Mason go to talk to Mrs Hudders

After ub leaves for the evening the twins sit down and chat, Poloma still thinks ub are the same guys as the night before and with how weird Nate and Mason were after talking to Mrs Hudders (and after Pax tells her about Nate’s reactions when they were talking to Verda) she’s convinced they’re hiding something and is frustrated that these guys that were sent to “help” them are probably doing nothing more than standing in their way

Pax doesn’t agree, well he agrees they’re probably lying about something but really believes that since ub is there to help that they’re really trying to solve the case while including the twins as much as they can. Since they’re shady Agency types there’s probably a lot of things that are Top Secret. Poloma isn’t convinced.

The next day Pax and Nate go to talk to Kate, Poloma goes back to the station

Both of the twins, Nate and Adam go to talk to Verda

They decide to split up a bit, Nate, Adam, and Pax looking into the weird blood while Felix, Mason, and Poloma focus on the connection between the victims (this is also where there starts to be hints that Felix and Poloma absolutely cannot work alone together because they’ll distract each other)

Poloma loses to Pax in rock, paper, scissors, and has to take the call from the mayor

Both twins get to have their moments with their lis on patrol

Then for the fight with Adam, Pax leaves to talk to Verda, Poloma talks to Kate and comes back before Pax which leaves her to fight with Adam and then she runs into her brother down in Verda’s office

They both decide to leave Adam to cool off and head to the hospital, Pax drives and Poloma calls Mason but after Poloma tells her brother that Nate hadn’t been in the office when she got back, Pax leaves him a voicemail too 

Poloma gets snarky with the receptionist at the hospital so Pax volunteers to go talk to Murphy while she hangs out in the hallway

When she hears the glass breaking, Poloma runs in and of course sees the broken beaker and Pax bleeding, Murphy does the whole take her hand, try to convince her to calm down and sit which doesn’t work so he now has confirmation that these are the people he’s looking for

Pax convinces Poloma that they need to stay at work that night even though Poloma would very very much like to go to the bar with Tina it’s been a week okay the girl just wants a bREAK They work in Pax’s office and when he goes to grab them both a snack and some coffee Bobby makes his appearance and ends up bugging Pax’s office

Somewhere in here Douglas had managed to sneak back into the station, possibly looking for a place to sober up a bit before heading home

Pax returns and immediately kicks Bobby the fuck out of the building

The fight goes down about the same with the added bonus of Pax saving Douglas and telling him to run, each of the twins gets to help out their li, Pax fights along side Felix and Poloma ends up pulling the fire alarm to end it

Only Pax ends up getting knocked out, Poloma manages to duck is this something she ends up teasing him about forever? The answer is a resounding Yes

Everyone heads to the facility, Poloma drives probably to transport her brother? With Nate and Adam at least probably? Either way no one says anything

The facility stuff plays out easily enough, Pax wakes up and is really only happy to see Poloma and Nate, Poloma makes a joke about how she’s fine because “apparently only one of us is smart enough to duck” Poloma takes the “actually them being vampires makes this whole thing make sense” and after a little convincing Pax takes the “...okay” option

The tour is...cold to say the least, Pax doesn’t hold back with the criticisms of Rebecca ,the secrets she’s kept from them, and how she’s made sure to put her work before her children, Poloma says nothing

The reveal about their blood is tense to say the least but they both agree to do the tests

Both of them stop outside of their lis doors though on different mornings

Once they’re back at work, the twins, Nate and Mason all head back to the hospital to scope out the lab

They rotate whose apartment they stay at which is fine with the twins since no matter where they stay at least they each get their own bedroom

Also somewhere in here Felix reveals that it was UB at the warehouse that night and a very vindicated Poloma gets $50 off of Pax and tells him “this is what happens when you doubt me”

Pax and Nate get to have breakfast together, Mason and Poloma get to check on the thralls

They’re at Poloma’s apartment when the attack happens, of course they have their little talk with Rebecca (still just as cold as their every other interaction mostly thanks to Pax) and they both still get moments with their lis since they get their own rooms, how the actual confrontation goes is a little hazy for me since I’m bad at planning big action sequences like that but uh...more thralls probably?

Anyway the twins end up caught

Before the transfusion Poloma just rips Murphy and his plan to shreds because this asshole went through the trouble of kidnapping them and isn’t even sure his plan will work and she’s not at all impressed

The transfusion is rougher on Pax and that leaves Poloma to get them both the fuck out of there (she manages to loosen the buckle with a pen) and more or less has to help heave her brother out into the room where UB finds them

Murphy bites Poloma on the neck

They still end up catching Murphy though by tripping him thanks to both of the twins and then they both pass out (Poloma from obvious blood loss and Pax from exhaustion)

The rest plays out like this, the twins are kept in the same room, Pax heals up faster since he didn’t have to deal with the extra burden of blood loss so they’re playing a card game on Poloma’s bed when Rebecca and UB come to visit, Pax ends up in the hallway talking to Nate while Poloma gets to talk to Mason

Now for Book Two!

Both of the twins have nightmares about what happened, Poloma’s revolve around the bite while Pax revolves around his inability to help his sister both during the fight and the transfusion

The twins talk to the Captain together, both of them reassuring him in their own way that they know they still work for him (Poloma picks the “surely more help is a good thing” while Pax is just like “yes sir”)

They drive separately to the warehouse since the weather is nice and Pax is just itching to drive his motorcycle

More coldness from Pax upon seeing Rebecca again (the fact that she hasn’t seen them at all in the last two months not helping the situation), while Poloma at least tries to be a little friendly by thanking her for giving Adam the dmb

Pax doesn’t approve but at least he keeps his mouth shut

Poloma ends up having to leave first since she gets a text from Verda about some test results pertaining to a case, Pax leaves some time later after getting a text from Tina about work as well

Pax doesn’t like that there’s a carnival in town without a license while Poloma is a little excited about it and the sense of normalcy it brings

Pax stays at the station with Verda while Poloma goes out with Tina to the bakery for a late breakfast

Both twins get to walk home with their lis, though its Pax and Nate that discover the sick supernatural

That means Pax also has to deal with Bobby

Meanwhile Poloma and Mason are interrupted by phone calls about what happened at the same time, Poloma asks “what are the odds that both of us getting called at the same time is a good thing”

Everyone gets updated at the facility, Poloma and Pax both expressing to Nate that while they want to protect everyone, Pax isn’t sure how to do that against a disease, while Poloma says that whatever this is she’s sure they can figure it out

Pax finds Ub outside of the station later and while he doesn’t shy away from talking to the Mayor he also doesn’t make any sort of greeting

Poloma is waiting inside the station for Pax (and her coffee) and bemoans the fact that ever since the attack, Douglas only seems to listen to Pax now

Poloma is the one drawn away by the phone call, while Pax leaves to grab some papers from her office while she’s doing that, when they both return she is the one to threaten Mason with a fire extinguisher when he goes to light his cigarette

Both of the twins are happy to see Verda’s family and when little Cara asks to sit on Nate’s shoulders, Poloma elbows Pax and just grins making him roll his eyes

But he absolutely thinks that’s adorable as fuck okay he just doesn’t need his sister’s teasing

While Pax is being all heart eyes, Poloma is the one that connects the carnival and the illness

Poloma finally gets in a witty remark with the whole “if you need a big car you’re just compensating” line

She and Mason along with Nate and Pax are all going to the carnival tonight though not at the same time, Nate and Pax leave first in an agency suv while Poloma and Mason leave about fifteen minutes later

Pax and Nate go for the carousel first and then head to the games (Pax gives the rabbit to Nate) while Poloma and Mason go the fortune teller and then the carousel, Adam tells Poloma and Mason that Pax and Nate are going for the house of  mirrors first so they need to pick one more attraction before heading there themselves so they go to the games as well

 Since their radios cut out when they go in, Pax and Nate have no way to warn Poloma and Mason about what happened to them before they go in themselves and subsequently cause their own radios to stop working

The twins head home together with Poloma driving after that whole post carnival talk, after she drops off Pax he runs into Douglas and when she gets home herself she runs into Bobby. Pax lets Douglas stay with him for a bit and he ends up seeing Falk and his friends first so he calls Nate first

Poloma’s call to Mason is followed only a few minutes later (which I’m sure went over real well with Adam)

So both Bobby and Douglas end up at the warehouse and while both of the twins are willing to talk about Douglas and why he’s dressed like Pax, both are very obviously more hesitant to talk about Bobby. Pax tries to give Poloma an out simply stating that Bobby is a real fucking annoying reporter but Poloma admits that he’s her ex, thinking that it’s best to get that awkwardness out of the way not that she divulges any more details than that

The twins compare notes about how the attacks happened before each is driven home by their respective li

Poloma and Mason bang

The twins decided to split the difference between fight training and research, Poloma gets research in the morning with Adam and Nate while at the same time Pax gets fight training with Mason and Felix, in the afternoon they switch so Pax gets his moment with Nate in the library while Poloma gets her moment with Mason in the training room

Pax goes to the lab to find Verda and sabotages his work while Poloma goes to find Tina in the backroom and encourages her to find the truth

When they find out about the maa-alused, Poloma suggests that she’s the best person to go speak with them with both Mason and Pax agreeing with her (Pax has a line here about how if his sister says she can do something, he trusts that she will period)

Pax stays at the warehouse with the other three ub members while Poloma and Mason go the carnival and both agree to stay the night afterward and have been given their own rooms

They both also get their moments with their lis in the night after having nightmares

Felix is sent to hang out with the twins but after seeing that Pax really does want to just do work, picks to hang out in Poloma’s office and they proceed to make paper airplanes for hours and the rule that they’re not allowed to work together alone is born

Since Poloma was sent to talk to Falk, he appears in her mirror

Everything at the facility goes down easily enough with both twins impressed by not only UB’s tiers but their own as well. Pax goes for the more aggressive route when they talk with Rebecca about Rook but Poloma cuts in to be more sympathetic when Rebecca tells them that she didn’t look into his death

Back at the warehouse, sitting around with UB just shooting the shit is the first time that the twins really feel like they’re apart of this little family

So of course the subject of Rebecca and their own family is brought up, Poloma fields these questions saying that she’s sure working together will only bring them closer together, Pax rolls his eyes so damn hard its a miracle they stay in his head but at least he knows when to keep his mouth shut (I swear one day they’ll tell UB about how Rebecca abandoned them as children but not today)

Poloma diffuses the situation when Falk and his friends burst into the warehouse, Pax was super ready to fight them

After they visit the burned down carnival, they both get to walk back to their vehicles Pax with Adam and Poloma with Felix

Pax isn’t impressed by Unit Alpha but Poloma loves them instantly

Pax gets the call from Verda and when he tells Pax that Tina has recently gotten into some interesting books, Pax knows that this was Poloma’s doing and oh man is she gonna get an earful later when they aren’t near the facility or anyone that works for the Agency

The twins, Nate, and Mason all go to the sewers, Poloma uses her deductive powers to find the tunnel that the trappers are down in time for Pax who uses a map he downloads to his phone to confirm she’s right (she bemoans the fact that she should have bet money on it, now she’s out like $50)

For the actual fight, Pax fights while Poloma out smarts the leader and the twins work together with Nate to successfully rescue Sanja, Mason ends up hurt

Pax is understandably uhm...tense when they bring up that the Trappers knew who he and Poloma were because of their blood test results (and really how the fuck did they get a hold of those Rebecca hmmmmm) and specifically says that they don’t need her help especially since they’re part of UB now. Poloma doesn’t say anything but at least gives her brother a halfhearted glare

Falk signs the treaty, Pax and Poloma are attacked by the trappers outside of the facility but they deduce and science their way out of that

They run into Tina and Verda’s family at the carnival and Pax is instantly suspicious of what Tina and Poloma are talking about when Tina pulls her away (because of everything he might have forgotten to chew his sister out for spilling the beans)

Pax runs into Douglas while Poloma runs into Bobby, both are equally disturbed for different reasons after their encounters

Both end the chapter getting their moment with their lis!

[timetravelingheart]

Consequences Chapter Six: A.M. Imagine

“Tessa, you need to go home.”

Tessa sighed loudly, running her fingers through her hair before finally pulling it up into a messy bun. She and her team had been at it all day. They were in the middle of designing and implementing Tessa’s first major program event as the Program Coordinator and while it allowed her to use and hone her skillset, it was a lot. She was stressed with a capital S. 

She looked at her director, Kate, and then at her watch and laughed out of sheer exhaustion. 

It was well passed her leaving time and she had already sent her team home hours ago. Kate had a conference call that evening and that was the only reason she was still at the office. But Kate knew Tessa well enough to know that when she was walking down the hall and saw a light on, there was only one possible reason for that: Tessa. 

Tessa was a hardworker and a compassionate but effective leader. Kate knew the instant she interviewed her that she was not only the perfect person for the job, but was also someone who would quickly become almost too qualified for the role. She picked things up quickly and was as innovative as they came, and Kate had no doubt that Tessa would use this role as a catapult to her next one. 

But Tessa was a perfectionist and didn’t always know the right moment to turn it in for herself. She could recognize it in her team, but allow herself that same freedom or leniency. Which is where Kate came in and could pull the Boss card. 

“I didn’t realize how late it was,” Tessa stretched her sore limbs and then plopped herself down in her desk chair. “I think we’re making good progress though.”

“You are, I can see it,” Kate agreed, leaning on the door frame to Tessa’s office entry. “Tessa, you did a great job with hiring your team and recruiting volunteers. They are a passionate group and they really respect your leadership style. And I am so proud of your tenacity. I think this event is going to be a huge success. But you need to remember that your health is always the priority. Staying here for another hour might feel like the right idea, but there’s nothing you can do today that you can’t do tomorrow. Go home. Drink some wine. Get some rest. And I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Tessa relented, knowing Kate was right. “Thanks Kate.”

“Any time. Have a good night,” Kate smiled at her before turning to leave Tessa alone in her office. 

Once the door was closed, Tessa reached into her desk and pulled out the phone that she had nearly forgotten about ages ago. She looked at the time and her notifications and immediately groaned. 

She had completely forgotten that she had plans with Auston that night. It was Tuesday: ice cream day. She only had a half hour to get home, get changed, and go. There was no way she would make it on time. 

She opened their message thread and clicked on his contact information. It rang four times before she heard his happy voice on the other end. 

“Hey, I was just getting ready to leave. Are you all set?”

“Uhm, well actually...”

“Nope. No way. Tessa Hart, you are not backing out on me,” he was adamant, but she could sense the playful tone was still there and felt a wave of relief wash over her. 

“No, I’m not, I promise,” she rushed out. “I was promised ice cream and I fully intend on holding you to that.”

“Good. So what’s the problem?”

“It’s just that I’m still at the office. I didn’t notice the time. There’s no way I’ll be home in time.”

“Oh, is that all?” Auston replied, relieved that she wasn’t cancelling and unbothered by the time change. “Why don’t I just pick you up from the office?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Tessa protested. 

“Well it makes more sense than you going all the way home just to head back out again. And at least this way when you finally do get home, you can just settle in for the night like you said you preferred.”

Tessa wanted to cry, likely out of exhaustion, but also, how was he so thoughtful? He remembered some random tidbit of information that she gave him on the phone a few weeks back about how when she’s had a long day, she liked to get home and just relax and shut out the world until the following day. He remembered.

“Tess? How’s that sound?”

“That sounds perfect.”

“Great. I’ll be there in 20. See you then.”

“See you then,” Tessa smiled into the phone before turning it off and resting her head on her desk contentedly.

___

Once he picked her up and they got their ice cream, they decided to go for a walk around the nearby neighbourhood. They had been engaging in light small talk since he got there, discussing what her project at work was, when the event would be and if he would be in town for it, his next game, etc. Nothing big, but it felt comfortable. It felt easy.

“So tell me about your family,” Auston turned to her, laughing at how happy she seemed to be with her cup of ice cream. 

So much for easy, Tessa thought. 

“It’s just me and my dad, actually, so there’s not a lot to tell,” Tessa shrugged. “What about you?”

Auston picked up on the quick redirection from her to him, but he didn’t want to push just yet. 

“There’s my mom and dad, and then I have an older sister and a younger sister. We’re all pretty close, so I love getting the chance to go home in the off season and just spend time with them.”

“Your parents stay here quite a bit though, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they like to go to as many games as they can and I love having them here too.”

“I always like seeing your parents and Mitch’s in the crowd. It’s just as much of a dream for your parents as it is for you guys, and they’ve probably worked so hard to make sure you had everything you could need to succeed.”

“So you do watch the games!”

“What?”

“You’ve seen my parents in the crowds. You watch the games.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“No, but you’ve also never really expressed an interest in the actual sport or the Leafs beyond Launchpad.”

“So then your mind will be blown to learn that my dad and I are actually huge Leafs fans then, eh?”

“You’re messing with me.”

“I assure you I’m not.”

Auston eyed her carefully to see if he could see any signs of playful deceit on her face. Nothing.

“Then why the hell have you not asked for tickets yet? I could get you and your dad great seats!”

“Because even though we’re friends, I’m not about to hit you up for connections. I also have connections, keep in mind.”

“Do you get free tickets through Launchpad?”

“Discounted ones, usually. Once in a while someone will ‘donate’ tickets to the office for the employees and volunteers specifically.”

“So you’ve seen me play in person?”

“A few times.”

“And what did you think?” he teased. 

“Eh, you were okay. I usually just watch for Mitch though,” Tessa winked, laughing at his offended face. 

“Wowww. I’ll remember that. What about your dad? Has he seen me play?”

“Not yet. He’s always working and I’m always trying to convince him to take some time off so I can take him, but it hasn’t happened since I’ve been with Launchpad. We went to a few games when I was a kid though and it was always one of our favourite past times. That and Blue Jays games. He’s a big baseball fan as well.”

“That’s awesome! When he can take some time off, let me know and I’ll get you both tickets.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to. Besides, I already owe Lydia a couple so I might as well add your dad to that list.”

“You know she was joking, right?”

“Was she though?” Auston tilted his head at her.

“Okay, maybe not. She was pretty proud of herself that day.”

“I have no problem showing my appreciation to her for getting you to come to that party, trust me. You said your dad was busy with work. What does he do?”

“He’s a sod farmer. We’re from a little town just outside of London, and the farm has been in our family for decades.”

“So who will it go to when he retires? Do you want to take it over?”

“I don’t. Farm life is hard. I loved it growing up, and being surrounded by animals, and it definitely does teach discipline, but it is so hard. It’s also not my dream. If no one else could take it over, I definitely would, because I would be heartbroken to see all of his family’s and his hard work go to someone else. But right now, it will likely go to one of my cousins. My dad runs the farm with his brother, my uncle, and my uncle has two boys and one girl, and Nate, my oldest cousin, loves the farm life. I think it will be in good hands with him.”

“Do you have a pretty small family then?”

“I do. It’s just my dad and his brother on their side. My mom had two sisters, and they each have two children, but they live out west, so I don’t see them often.”

“How long has it just been you and your dad?” Auston braced himself for her to tell him to mind his own business.

“Since I was 10. My mom and my little sister were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. They were just supposed to be out getting groceries for dinner while my dad and I worked on the farm, but they never came back.”

“Tess, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry sounds so cliche, but I am so sorry for your loss,” Auston stopped walking and turned towards her, reaching for her hand.

“Thank you. It’s been a long time without them, and you never really get over it, but it made my dad and I become even closer because it felt like we only had each other. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“I feel that way about my parents, too. Not to compare-”

“No, no. I get it, I do.”

“Okay. But yeah, I love my life but I hate how often it takes me away from my family. I was so happy when my mom moved to Switzerland with me and I’m so grateful that I now have the means to make their lives a little easier in terms of work and I can fly them out here all the time.”

Auston took the empty cup out of her hands and disposed them in the nearby recycling. When he turned back, he laced his fingers through hers once again, happy when she squeezed back. 

“Thanks for telling me about your mom and sister.”

“Thanks for making me feel safe enough to tell you.”

Auston squeezed her hand again before turning back to start walking again. They walked in comfortable silence for a bit before their conversation picked up again. It still felt easy, even after telling Auston the hardest story of her life. She was so grateful that he didn’t look at her with pity, just with a desire to understand and be there for her. He tried to relate as best he could, to keep the focus on what she had left with her dad, and she really appreciated it. Maybe one day she would tell him more about her mom and her brief memories of her, but for now, she was grateful that he just accepted what she felt like she could give. 

As the night wore on and got a little chillier, Auston walked them back to his parked car and drove her home. She had said that Lydia could drive her to the office in the morning, so she just left her car there. They hummed along with songs on the radio, happy to just be in each other’s presence. 

As they reached her apartment complex, Auston got out of the car to walk her to the front door, holding her hand along the way.

“Thank you for picking me up,” she turned to face him. 

“You’re welcome. Thanks for not standing me up,” Auston teased, tugging on her sleeve. 

“I wasn’t going to stand you up!” Tessa laughed, shocked at such an accusation.

“Mm, I wasn’t so confident,” Auston replied.

Auston looked down at their clasped hands and then back to her sweet face. He wanted so badly to kiss her, but wasn’t sure if it was too much too soon. 

“Are we still on for Friday?” she asked. 

“Absolutely.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“Auston?”

“Tess?”

“Are you thinking about kissing me right now?”

Auston let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as heat rose up his neck.

“What would you say if I was?”

Tessa inhaled deeply. 

“I would say that a gentleman would ask permission first.”

Auston’s eyes searched hers, seeing the playfulness that was there, but there was also something else. Something he felt deep into his bones. Desire.

“Can I kiss you, Tess?”

She let out a breath as she nodded.

“You have to say it, Tess.”

“Yes.”

As quickly as the word left her mouth, Auston moved to place his large hands on each side of her face and kiss her softly. When she pulled back and smiled at him, he took that as a good sign and leaned in to kiss her again deeper, pulling her body as tightly to his as possible. His body was on fire when she moaned lightly into his mouth and ran her fingers gently up and down his back.

Wow. 

[haledamage]

Rhicember 12/31

It’s the last night of the year, aren’t you going to kiss me? - Kira/Nate

“Kira.”

Kira brightened at the sound of her name as she was stepping out of the police station into the cold winter evening. She turned to see Nate leaning against the side of the building and holding two steaming to-go cups from Haley’s Bakery.

“Hey, you,” she said fondly, taking one of the cups when he offered it to her, then taking his now-empty hand in her own. She took a sip from the cup, smiling as the heat of the cinnamon tea chased away some of the chill. “What brings you to town this time of night?”

“I was waiting for you,” Nate said with a sweet smile. “I was hoping to invite you to join us at the Warehouse tonight to bring in the New Year.”

“I might can be persuaded,” she said playfully, like she hadn’t already planned to head there after work anyway. “I wouldn’t mind an excuse to avoid whatever party Tina tries to drag me to. And, y’know, the company’s not bad either.” She gave his hand a little squeeze. “Hoping for a kiss at midnight, Agent Sewell?”

“Perhaps, Detective Kingston.” He took a step closer, looming over her, and his warm smile melted into a smoldering smirk. “But why wait?”

He let go of her hand to instead reach up and touch her cheek. His fingers were cold, but they still left a trail of heat behind them as they brushed lightly over her cheekbone, pushing her hair out of her face. Kira was frozen, speechless and breathless with anticipation as he leaned closer.

“There you are!”

Nate was close enough that Kira could hear his small, disappointed sigh before he stepped back, smile in place like he wasn’t bothered by the interruption. She was less skilled at hiding her annoyance, however, and growled at Felix as he jogged up next to them.

He gave her an innocent smile. “Hello to you too.”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “How do you always do that? Every single fuc--” she stopped, cleared her throat, and continued with less swearing, for Nate’s sake, “Every single time?”

“Do what?”

Before she could say anything else, she felt Nate take her hand again, and deflated. “Nothing. Nevermind. I’ll have another chance later.”

Felix shrugged, though Kira was pretty sure he knew exactly what he’d interrupted. He didn’t miss a thing. He threw an arm around her shoulders, on the other side of her from Nate, and grabbed her tea from her hand.

“You aren’t going to like it,” she warned, but no use. He took a drink from it, then grimaced and handed it back. “I told you. I don’t know why you keep doing that to yourself. It’s the same thing I always drink.”

“Yeah, well, I thought maybe it would be different this time. So,” he said with an eager grin, changing the subject abruptly, “did Nate convince you to come to our New Years’ party?”

“I didn’t take much convincing. I was already planning to go to the Warehouse anyway.”

“Good! Then hurry up! Daylight’s wasting.” Felix dragged her, and subsequently Nate, in the vague direction of where her car was parked.

The “party” thankfully just included the residents of the Warehouse, which meant it was Kira, Unit Bravo, and Rebecca - who wasn’t there yet but promised to join them later. Felix still stuck a pair of paper glasses shaped like the number 2019 on Kira’s face as soon as they walked in the door, but except for that, it was just like any other night at the Warehouse. She went to her favorite spot on the sofa and found a book still waiting for her on the end table.

Nate joined her a few minutes later with two champagne flutes, holding one out to her. “It’s non-alcoholic,” he said before she could refuse. She took it with a grateful smile.

Her free hand found his again, lacing their fingers together as he settled on the couch next to her. “I wouldn’t have thought you lot would be much for celebrating the end of the year like this.”

“Adam and Mason aren’t. Mason doesn’t care, and Adam… well, I think he doesn’t pay much attention to the passage of time anymore.” He dropped his voice to a near-whisper. “They won’t say it, but they’re mostly just here for your sake.”

“And what about you?”

“I like to look back and contemplate what happened in the year before. Though I will admit, this year has many more things to think about than I’ve had in some time.” His eyes went distant in thought. Kira squeezed his hand to bring him back to the present, and he met her eyes again with a warm smile.

She looked over the room. It was quiet now, but Felix probably wouldn’t let it stay that way for long. Kira made a mental note to drag him along to Tina’s party next year; the two of them would be frightening if they combined forces, but it might be fun to see - at least, in small doses.

A sudden thought crossed her mind and she turned back to Nate, beckoning him closer like she had a secret to tell him. As soon as he leaned close enough, she closed the distance and pressed her lips to his. “In case I don’t get the chance at midnight,” she said by way of explanation, blushing bright red under his sudden intense scrutiny.

Nate didn’t say anything, just pulled Kira close and kissed her again.