#if she decides against getting an abortion because he wants it.......

[lacroixwh0r3]

Blow My Load

DBF!Joel Miller x F!Reader

Summary: For the last two year, you and Joel have been secretly hooking up behind your fathers back. One night when your dad goes out on a date, you and Joel spend the night together and Joel gets carried away.

Warnings: SMUT!! DUB CON, petnames (pretty tame ones), doggystyle, oral sex (f recieving), PiV, creampie, crying, pregnancy mention, abortion mentioned at the end, overstimulation, Joel is a little bit of an asshole in this (I am so sorry), age gap (Joel is 40 and reader is around 25), (aged up) Sarah mentioned, no outbreak

Song inspo (Feel free to listen if you want): Blow my load by Tyler, The Creator

A/N: Enjoy! Please reblog, share, like, and comment if you want. <333

"Oh, baby," Joel moans as he breaks the kiss between you two. You look down at his lips, which are now bright red and slightly plumped. His tongue quickly licks off the mix of both of your spits from his bottom lip. His hands were still holding your head in place as he looked at you. "I wanna cum in that tight little pussy so bad, darlin."

Normally, the two of you would have to be quiet, but because your dad had decided last minute to go on a date, it was just you and Joel in the house. Or you might even go over to Joel's house, which was five minutes away, if Sarah wasn't home, but tonight the young girl was at the house with three of her friends having a sleepover doing, lord knows, what. Joel was adamant about staying over to watch the four girls, but you quickly reminded him that they're 18 years old and could easily take care of themselves. You were also going to be home alone, and you wanted him all to yourself.

As soon as your dad pulled out of the driveway, you and Joel ran to your bedroom and stripped out of your clothing.

You couldn't help but let out a whimper. "Joel, you know you can't do that." You tell him as you bring your hands up to grip his wrist. You weren't on birth control, and Joel wasn't a big fan of condoms. When the two of you did have sex together, Joel would usually pull out at the very last second, which would lead to you giving him a lecture as you both came down from the intense orgasm you both had.

Sure, it was hot when Joel did it, but you would rather not have to tell your dad that you were pregnant with his best friend's baby, and you didn't want Joel to tell Sarah that he had gotten the girl she looked up to the most pregnant.

"I know, darlin', I know, but imagine how fuckin' good it must feel." Joel whispered to you as he groans out. He brings his head close to yours again. You could feel his lips ghosting over yours.

"I'm fucking you until you can't think straight, begging me to dump my warm load deep into your pussy." Joel says before he sticks his tongue out again, only this time his tongue strokes against my top lip. You felt a strong pull in your stomach as your pussy clenched around nothing, causing you to push your hips into Joel's. "Maybe even put a baby in there." He says it lightly. It was almost as if he was saying it to himself, but somehow you still heard it but didn't comment on it.

You couldn't help but think about earlier, when Joel had lifted your dress up and ate you out on your family's couch in the living room while your dad ran to the store to restock on beer and some food for dinner. The way he sat down on the floor as he wrapped his large hands around your ankles to keep your legs from closing or falling off the couch Or the way he slurped, licked, and sucked on your clit to the point you almost wanted to scream at the top of your lungs.

You parted your lips to allow Joel's tongue to invade your mouth. Joel cocks his head to the side a bit and sucks on your tongue before letting it go and French kissing you. You can feel it as the drool slides down your chin, getting onto his beard. You feel Joel's hands release your face and move down your neck, stopping at your breast. He fondles them and thumbs your nipples. They were painfully hard now.

You wanted nothing more than for Joel to fuck you senselessly until you couldn't think of anything but him. Joel always turned you on when he talked to you like this, but you were ovulating right now, and his words weren't helping.

You pull away from the kiss. "Fuck me, Joel," You mutter against his lips. "I want you to fuck me hard, daddy."

"Yeah, you want me to fuck you nice and hard? Get on the bed so Daddy can fuck you," He says sternly. "I want you face down, ass up, darlin'." You immediately get to the edge of the bed, just as Joel told you to, with your feet hanging off.

You can feel Joel close behind you in between your legs as he reaches over your naked body and grabs the pillow near your head. "Get on your hands for me real quick," He tells you. Again, you do what he says, and he stuffs the pillow underneath your stomach. "Good girl, now lay back down on your chest." He tells you once more. You lay back down and realized that your hips were now elevated, allowing Joel to easily access your pussy.

"Oh, look at you, so fuckin' sexy with your ass in the air, just ready for me to fuck you," He teases you. "You want me to fuck that pretty pussy, doll?" Joel asked. You felt your pussy clenching around nothing. Begging for your hole to be fucked

"Mmmhm." You whimper at Joel as you nuzzle your face into the soft sheets beneath you. However, your response did not satisfy him because he spanked your ass with his large hand. Your head pops off the bed, causing you to look back at him over your shoulder.

"Say it." Joel demanded it from you. "Tell me how much you want me to fuck you."

"I've wanted you since you got here, baby. I've been so fucking wet for that big cock." You whimpered as you wiggled your ass in the air, causing him to strike your ass again.

"Oh, I know you want my cock, honey. You want me to fuck my cum into you? Hmm?" He spanked you multiple times. You let out soft whines as you shook my head.

"Hmm? What's that, baby? You want me to cum in you?" He not-so-jokingly asked:

"I mean it, Joel. You can't cum inside of me or I'm gonna kill you, old man." You give him a pointed look over your shoulder, causing him to raise his hand in defense with his eyebrows raised. You meant it jokingly, but also not jokingly.

"I promise I won't, baby." He tells you.

"Mmhm, now I want you to fuck me, Joel." You demand him. His left hand grips your waist as the other wraps around his cock as he strokes it, getting ready to slide it into you. You feel him rub his cock against your clit as he gathers the arousal that seeps out of your hole. You moan out his name as he hisses.

Joel then points the head of his cock at your pussy and slowly slides inside. Letting out a deep groan as he does so. "Oh f-fuck, baby," He shudders. Your toes had curled up in pleasure as you dropped your head onto the sheets. "Pussy so fucking tight and warm... I might just have to cum in this pussy and make you a momma, huh?" He questions you as he slowly begins to push in and out of you. Joel felt the flutter after he said that.

"Oh, you liked that, baby?" Joel teases you. His slow strokes began to form a hard, fast pounding. "Tell me."

"I am going to fu-Oh fuck me-I'm gonna fuckin' kill you, Joel!" You moan out to him as he continues his furious strokes. His balls slapped against your clit as he pushed your waist into the pillow beneath you. "Y-you have to fucking pull out," You plead with Joel. You knew that he wasn't listening as he continued to pound his cock in and out of you.

"You promised me!" You squeal out. Joel only grunted in reply and spanked your ass with full force as his left hand gripped your hips.

Somehow, Joel's thrust had only gotten faster. You could hear your headboard hitting against your wall and the sound of my ass slapping against Joel's hips. It was all too much. Your knees began to burn from the friction, your hips began to grow sore as he tightened his grip on them, and with each hit to your ass, there was a sharp sting that lingered. That's when you knew that both you and Joel were close to orgasming.

"Oh, J-Joel, baby, please!" Suddenly, it hit you. You were cumming so hard that you didn't know what to do with yourself. The combined feeling of Joel's heavy balls slapping against your clit and his cock rubbing the spot deep within you was overpowering, causing tears to form.

You grabbed the pillow that sat near your head and brought it close to your face. You bite down on the pillow as your eyes roll to the back of your head, letting out loud moans into it.

"Oh my fucking god, baby..." Joel strains out his sexy, deep voice. He spanks you again as you cum around his cock and rub your ass cheek to soothe the pain. "Come on, sweet girl, tell me who's making you feel good." His strokes had begun to slow down now.

You release the pillow from between your teeth. You were so far gone from your ongoing orgasm that you couldn't even form words. Goosebumps had formed around your whole body as you shaked and quivered.

You feel him bring his hand up and smack your ass hard again, causing your body to jerk in response. "Tell me, girl! Who's makin' you cum this hard?" Joel grits his teeth as he slowly thrusts into you.

"It's you, Daddy!" You moan out to him as you reach your arm around you to grab onto his fingers on your waist. Joel moans and slowly picks up the pace of his thrust. You could feel his balls tighten against your clit, letting you know that he was nearly cumming. You look over your shoulder at him.

"That's fuckin' right, daddy is fucking you." He fucks himself into you. "O-Oh fuck, I'm gonna fuckin' cum soon, my sweet girl." Joel continues to hold onto your hand while his other hand lazily spanks your ass some more. You watch as his head falls back and his eyes close. You feel yourself close to another orgasm as well, but you can't help but worry that Joel isn't going to pull out on time.

"J-Joel," You moan to him as you grip the sheets on the bed. "You have to pull out; I'm ovulating, and you're gonna get me pregnant if you don't." You tried to tell him so that he could pull out. However, this only seemed to turn him on more. His cock strained in you all while he continued to stroke against the spot inside of you. You released his hand, slipped it between the pillow, and onto your clit. You rubbed your clit fast as he fucked you.

Joel looked like he had been transported to heaven. He looked down at you with both hands on your hips, gripping them hard. It hurt, but you didn't care.

"Oh, baby, I love you so fuckin' much," he whimpered as he looked into your eyes. "I'm so sorry," He says, looking down at his cock going in and out of your pussy. The sight of your juices covering his cock made his body go stiff. That's when you knew he wasn't going to pull out.

"I can't stop; I need to fuckin' cum in this tight pussy right now."

"Joel! No, pull out now." You told him as you tried to move your body away from his, but his grip was too tight around you. "You promised me, Joel!" You moaned loudly.

You weren't sure how many times you had orgasmed today, but you knew that you were cumming again. Joel moans as he feels you tighten around him. His cock begins to spurt his warm cum into your womb. You were so overstimulated that your eyes leaked tears and your ears rang loudly as your cunt welcomed Joel's cum and fluttered around his cock. Over the ringing in your ears, you can hear Joel whimpering out soft appologies as he continued to cum.

With his cock still inside you as you leaked out cum from your pussy, he laid his warm body on top of your back. His chest was damp with sweat from pounding into you. You could feel his warm breath by your ear as he took a minute to gather himself together. He still felt your walls fluttering around him. "It's okay, babydoll. I got you," He whispered gently as he stroked your bare side. You couldn't speak or think; all you could do was shiver underneath his body, even though you were far from cold.

Moments later, Joel pushes up from the bed and slowly pulls his cock from you with a slight hiss and groan. Joel bends down to get a look at your cum-filled pussy with his hands resting on your ass. "Oh doll, look at that pretty pussy," He whispers as he strokes his thumb against your sore ass. "I'll be back, okay, baby?" You let out a soft hum, letting him know he heard you.

When he went to the bathroom to clean you off and get something to clean you off, he didn't hear you burst into tears. When he came back, you were now sitting in the middle of the bed, crying with your head in your hands.

He rushes into the room, places the water bottle and towel on the bed, and embraces you. You couldn't help but cry harder as you cried into his neck. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." He apologized as he kissed and rubbed your head. "I'm so fuckin' sorry, I don't even know what I was thinking."

You continued to cry for a few more moments before speaking up. "Joel, what if you did get me pregnant? What are we going to tell my dad and Sarah?" You look up at him with worry. He could tell you were stressed over this and couldn't help but feel his heart pull in his chest. Joel honestly didn't know what came over him during sex.

"Doll," He grabs your hand from your lap and gives it a quick kiss. "If you do get pregnant and you decide that you want to get rid of it, I will be there along the way, but if you want to keep it, then I will be sure to take care of you and the baby no matter what." Joel says it truthfully.

You stroked his hand with your thumb. "Joel, I'm not getting rid of it, but we're gonna be so fucked when my dad finds out his best friend of four years has been boning his daughter for the last two years and got her pregnant..." You say this to him as you look down at his hand in yours. "He'll fucking probably end up kicking me out and then kicking your ass."

"Don't you worry your pretty little head 'bout that darlin'; you're always welcomed at my house." With his other hand, he holds your head and kisses the crown of your head. "As for him kicking my ass, that ain't happening, sweetheart," He says sternly, as if he is sure. You let out a snort as you laughed.

"Oh really?" You back away from him to get a look at the cocky look on his face. He just looks down at your face with admiration.

"I'm certain, darlin'," He tells you, causing you to let out a loud giggle. That beautiful giggle overwhelmed Joel with love. He knew he loved you before, and he always made sure that you knew he loved you, but he knew right there that there would be another compared to you. You were it for him.

After your giggles had died down, you noticed that he was looking at you with a sparkling look in his eyes. "What?" You asked him softly as you played with his fingers.

"You know I love you, right?" He asked you. You felt yourself beginning to get shy. The both of you always told each other how much you loved each other, but something about this was different.

"Of course I know, Joel. Do you know I love you more, though?" You lean over and plant a soft kiss on his cheek. You then pull back to take a look at his face. The way his hard eyes softened when he looked at you made you weak in the knees. "So fuckin' handsome!" Joel's cheeks turned a soft pink color.

"And you're the most beautiful thing on earth," He whispers to you. "You're mine forever; don't ever forget it, darlin'." You wish this moment could last forever.

You released his hands from yours and brought them to your stomach. "I can't believe we might be having a baby, Joel," You whispered as you stroked your stomach. You could see you and Joel sharing a child together and even getting married whenever the time is right. He puts his hand over yours as well and rubs his thumb against your hand.

"You want me to cum in you again so we know we're successful, baby?" He suggested it with a smug tone. The soft look on your face immediately dropped and was replaced with a blank one instead.

"You're such a dirty old man," You tell him. "But yes, I do." You give him a quick peck on the lips before laying back down on the bed.

================================================

A/N: I kinda hate this, but its been on my mind and I wanted to write.

[arieslost]

hi love! hope you’re having a great day. could you write something where the reader is oscar sisters best friend? thanks for reading my message!

anon YES! i loved writing this.

© arieslost 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

best friend’s brother | op81

your best friend never told you that her older brother was off limits, but she never said he wasn’t, either.

that still didn’t stop you from catching feelings for him, and you’d rather die than go up to her and say, “hey, i’m in love with oscar, is it okay if we date?” mostly because now you know oscar wants you too, and to be honest, it’s kind of fun keeping it a secret.

you saw him about as much as his family did— most of the time he was away for work, but the next race was his home one, and he arrived a week early. you, of course, being his sister’s best friend, practically lived at the piastri house half the time, and ended up being there for his homecoming. the side hug he’d given you was expected, but the wink he sent your way when he started climbing the stairs to his room was not.

you replayed that moment over and over in your head for the rest of the day, until eventually you found yourself struggling to sleep and decided to go down to the kitchen for some water.

silently slipping out of the guest room, you were careful to tread lightly down the stairwell, avoiding all the creaky spots with practiced ease. you didn’t want to wake anyone up, most of all the object of all the thoughts that were keeping you awake.

though, all your effort was for naught when you saw that the overhead sink light was on in the kitchen, and none other than oscar himself was quietly getting ice out of the freezer. his hair looked unbelievably soft and slightly messy, like he was running his hands through it. he was wearing an older looking pair of gray joggers, and worst of all, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. you’ve seen him shirtless plenty of times, but one look was all it took to notice that he had most definitely filled out since you last saw him.

your mind was screaming at you to abort mission, abort mission, because you couldn’t be alone with him when he’s half naked like this, but when you shifted to make your retreat, you stepped on the wrong floorboard. it groaned obnoxiously loudly, and your eyes met oscar’s.

“can’t sleep?”

you shook your head. “uh-uh. figured i’d get a drink and see if that helps.”

“ah, we had the same idea then.” he smiled softly. “sit down, i’ll get it for you.”

“thanks, oz.” the childhood nickname slipped easily from your lips as you crossed the kitchen and lifted yourself up onto the counter nearest to him. “having a good season so far?”

“yeah, pretty good. good progression with the car, almost got a podium last race.”

“i know,” you said, looking down at your lap when he raised his eyebrows at you. “i watched.”

he hummed, handing you a glass and holding his own up. “cheers.”

you clinked your glass against his and took a sip before putting it to the side. “no teasing remarks?”

“nah, i think it’s cute.” he grinned, taking another drink and setting his own glass down. “my number one fangirl.”

“and there it is,” you rolled your eyes, though his quiet laughter was infectious and you couldn’t help joining in. “i’m your sister’s best friend, obviously i’m gonna watch.”

“and it has nothing to do with me?” he asked with a faux pout, flattening a palm right next to you on the counter so he could lean a bit closer.

“do you want it to?” you rested your hand inches away from his and closed the gap between the two of you a little.

“i think it already does.” his other hand slid between your thighs and forced them apart so he could move into the new space and effectively cage you to where you sat on the counter. “y’know, i almost kissed you in front of everyone earlier.”

“why didn’t you?” you whispered, eyes fluttering when his nose brushed yours.

“wanted it to happen when we were alone.” you could practically feel his lips against your own when he spoke, but you also really wanted him to make the first move.

running on the pure adrenaline stemming from your close proximity to the man you want more than anything in the world, you ran your palms over the back of his hands, up his forearms, past his biceps, and settled them on his bare shoulders. “oz…”

“yeah,” he replied, like he knew everything you were trying to say, before he finally closed the distance between you.

immediately, you knew you were addicted to kissing him. the way his mouth moved against yours, the way he wrapped your legs around his hips and held your knees to keep them there, the way he sighed when your fingers slid into his hair. you no longer wanted anything more than you wanted to keep kissing him even after all the breath left your lungs.

he took his time kissing you, keeping everything slow, soft, and gentle. there was no tongue, no teeth, no desperation. if either of you felt anything, it was relief.

finally.

it’s the first thing you said when you broke apart, causing him to smile before pulling you right back in. he kissed you again, and again, until your lips were swollen and you heard someone move around upstairs, breaking you out of your lovestruck trance.

“i’ll see you in the morning,” he whispered as you slid off the counter, reaching down and tangling your fingers with his and giving your hand a squeeze.

a squeeze that promises subtle glances across the table at breakfast, fleeting touches in the stairwell, and many more late night kisses.

word count: 957

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note: i got very creative with the title (not). i can’t believe i’ve never thought to write this before!!! omg this was so delicious.

my inbox is always open for comments, criticism, and conversation! feel free to pop in!

reblogs are greatly appreciated <33

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[planete777]

꒰ RED LINES .:. LN4 ꒱

( lando norris x fem!reader )

IN WHICH. y/n finds her fate hidden within two red lines, and fears the demise of her and lando's relationship. [based on this ask]

pt. 2 .:. 'red hearts'!

WARNINGS. pregnant!reader, both her and lando aren't ready so there are discussions about potential abortions, mental break downs (i.e panic attacks, crying, you know the drill), angst, mentions of throwing up (no one does it i promise), attachment issues (like me fr), a little bit of fluff (because im not that evil >:])

NOTE. first non-high!lando fic!! i've never written a pregnancy fic, so like, forgive me if it's bad haha 🥲 i put so much effort into my banner, like i'm so proud of it lmao. anyways, enjoy reading luvs 💗

SIDENOTE. my askbox is open! feel free to send in any high!lando thoughts, scenarios and requests, or any other trope too 🤍

edited to add tag in banner

y/n is almost blinded by it.

two bold, red lines.

she finds it completely comical how she didn't know it sooner, for the ink that runs down the result window is so palpable, it might as well have been written with a permanent marker.

the test taunts and mocks her as she stares at it in complete despair and confusion as she so sure that they had been careful. but now, she lets herself cry over spilt milk because having a baby, on top of mountainous piles of stress that came hand-in-hand with uni, was not a checkbox she would've liked to tick off amidst her status quo.

the bathroom pounds with an deafeningly eerie silence, as she stares, and stares, then blinks as tears flow, then stares again. her ears are swallowed by loud static and her vision fuzzes around the edges, making the test in her hand seem further away than it actually is, and she allows herself to completely fade out.

she feel utterly sick. like she wants to throw up, but the upcoming bile, instead, remains dislodged in her throat and presses immense weight into her chest. it shortens her breaths, she's hyperventilating as if she's been strangled, then panic completely overwhelms her. everything before her zooms in and out like a malfunctioning camera and the pregnancy test clatters to the ground as she digs the heels of her palms into her eyes.

she doesn't remember the last time she had a panic attack this severe, and neither does she know if she'll get over it solus. yearn for a presence beside her devours her brain and she wishes that lando–

lando.

the way her heart seems to squeeze in her chest is almost too animalistic to be normal, and it arrives at the thought of him being unacceptable of the baby. he's barely situated in one place, fuck, he basically travels for a living, and all her mind conjures is how he won't be there when she needs him most. she tries to wish it away, because just thinking about her makes her spiral even more and she knows she cannot survive with a child whose father decides to be absent.

codependency isn't great, that she's thoroughly aware of, but lando's presence brings a wave of comfort braided in the brightness of his smiles and the warmth of his embrace, and it has become her whole lifeline.

yet, the bathroom she's in feels too small and too cold to be anything other than unbearable, and her body feels to weak to remain upright, sliding down to the tiled floor. she sobbing and spluttering so much that lando can hear it from two rooms down, and he rushes into the en suite without a thought in mind.

he crouches down in front of her, hands flush against the skin of her cheeks. he's shaking, fucking terrified out of his wits, and his words are enunciated with a tremble.

"hey, hey, y/n breathe with me," he desperately takes her hands into his, and places it on his own chest, making exaggerated breaths as y/n's start to simmer. it feel like hours stretch by, the air surrounding feels tense with fear and devastation, and by the time she settles, y/n senses nothing but exhaustion.

"what's wrong, love? you're scaring me," lando gently asks, and she struggles to respond, mouth rid of any moisture as if it had been scraped dry. lando takes the initiative to look around in hopes that anything would give him a clue to his girlfriend's break down.

then he freezes.

the white stick lays there, gleaming and glowing like it's fucking sent from heaven, and he feels his heart plummet into the depths of his guts. he knows he can deny it all he wants, but it's undeniable, what he's seeing, yet prays like a grieving mother that what he thinks is not true as his quivering hands reaches for it.

two bold, red lines.

"oh fuck," it punches out of him, every inch of energy disperses like fleeing birds, "you're pregnant?"

it's so small, so timid that he almost doesn't see it, but she nods, and his arms fall like he's been shot and the test leaves his fingers. he swears he's drenched in ice cold water and he remains silent, bound by stunned numbness. his lack of response spurs y/n again, and she begins sobbing, pressing her face into her arms and wiping it furiously. all she thinks is that he doesn't want it, and out of sheer terror, she starts rambling utter shit.

"i can get rid of it, if you want, lando, just please i'm begging you, don't leave me."

he's crying himself now, doesn't know what to feel at the suggestion, but it makes him gag.

"get rid of it if i want to? fucking hell y/n, i'm not a prick like that," he fumbles out, words wet and hardly cohesive, "as long as you want to keep it, i want the baby too."

she looks up at him, eyes so full of hope that he immediately takes her into his arms.

"you sure, lando?" she's still hesitant, burying her head into his chest, and as further reassurance, he kisses her forehead, "as sure as i'll ever be."

[mossyivy]

Having a baby with Leon (Accidental Pregnancy)

Cw: Talks of sex but no actual sex, talks of abortion, and alcoholism

Vendetta Leon who meets you in a shitty bar one night. He brings you home on a whim to his pigsty of an apartment. Fully expecting you to go running immediately but you stay. Clearing a place off on the couch and talking over beers.

Vendetta Leon who's shocked when you ask for his number after waking up together. Curled up on the couch, cuddling someone for the first time in forever. Enjoying someone's company again instead of shutting people out.

Vendetta Leon that actually sees a friend in you. Knows you're good for him but feels like he doesn't deserve good with everything he's had to do to survive and protect people.

Vendetta Leon who tries keeping you at arms length. Labeling this as a friends with benefits situation. Nothing more. The first time you sleep together tends to replay in his mind a lot. Seeing how beautiful you were. How hungry you were for each other. How both of you seemed to aim to please. It was nothing short of perfection to him.

Vendetta Leon who gave you a key to his place without even thinking about it. It just be easier for the both of us. Or so he claims. Knowing he could easily just keep you away from his apartment, it's not like you didn't let him come over whenever he wanted. But no matter where you were home was with you. Even if he couldn't admit it.

Vendetta Leon who starts getting more and more stressed from work. Sees you almost every night and one thing always leads to another. Tipsy, buzzed or sober. It's been like this for months and he loves seeing you so frequently. But his brain keeps telling him he'll just mess it up if he tries moving past what you have right now.

Vendetta Leon who gets called away for work again. Needs to go off and save the world for the millionth time. Tells you he'll miss you while he's away. He didn't mean to, it just slipped out. But he doesn't take it back, he just waves it off. More concerned about how you said you weren't feeling well when he got to your place. Deciding to stay the night and just cuddle before he leaves in the morning.

Vendetta Leon who comes back from New York City. A bit paranoid because you haven't returned any of his texts or calls. Hoping something bad didn't happen while he was away. Walking into his apartment he drops his bag in shock...

Vendetta Leon who stares at a spotless apartment. Everything back in place where it should be. He finds a letter and your key on the coffee table. The letter saying how you can't deal with this anymore and you couldn't say goodbye without at least giving him a gift of a clean home and hopefully a clean conscience.

Vendetta Leon who gets upset, trying to call you repeatedly. This doesn't feel like you. Did you find someone? Did you not actually care about him the entire time?! You shared so much with each other, he trusted you enough to let you in.

Vendetta Leon who slams his phone into the couch as his calls go straight to voicemail. Something's wrong... He can tell. He knows you well enough that you wouldn't be ghosting him like this without a reason. So he decides, against his better judgement, to just go over to your apartment.

Vendetta Leon who decides to knock until you open the door, he's a stubborn man and wants answers. The door opens, an older man glaring at him.

"Yes?" He didn't expect you to have company over. Who the hell is this? Have you actually found someone in the span of a few days? Was he really that replaceable?? His attention snaps back, the older man staring him down. He stutters out your name before clearing his throat.

"Is she here?"

"My daughter's at the doctor's with her mother right now." Oh, this is your father. Thank God. "She should be back soon."

"Is everything okay?" The older man sighs, rubbing his eyes, he looks tired and agitated.

"It better be, she's carrying my grandchild."

Leon who feels his heart fall through his body. You're pregnant... And he's definitely the father. There's quite literally no way he isn't, you've been spending almost every waking minute together in the past 6 months unless you're the next virgin Mary.

Leon, the father of your child who listens your father ramble about some bum knocking up his precious babygirl... He bites his tongue, asking your father to PLEASE make sure you call him.

Leon who sits in his clean apartment with not so clean conscience. Feeling the dirtiest he's ever been before. How could he be so stupid and careless? The few times you didn't use protection he'd thought nothing would happen. He knows you take birth control. It's got a high success rate, he wouldn't have to worry. It's not like he didn't want kids, he even liked loved the woman who'd be blessing him with a child.

This could be his last chance of normalcy.

Leon who nearly throws himself towards his phone when it vibrates. A text from you. Announcing that you'll be coming over.

Leon who feels his bones vibrate seeing you for the first time in days, the glow on your skin more obvious that he knows you're carrying his child. You look beautiful, though you always look beautiful.

"Look..." You storm past him into his own apartment. He shuts the door behind you and follows you to the couch. "I knew you'd freak out if I told you... We're both kind of fucked up I didn't want-"

"Are you keeping the baby?" He's blunt and to the point when asking his questions. He always is.

"I don't know... The doctor said I'm probably only a month along." You look so unsure of yourself. "What... What do you think I should do?"

"Keep them." Your eyes go wide as he smiles softly.

"What?"

"Keep the baby... I want it. I want you. If you'll have me." You stare in shock, blinking as he steps forward and brings you into his chest. "Did you think I would freak out and bail?"

"Leon... We're both heavy drinkers and we've been dancing around each other since we met. I figured cutting you loose was the best option."

"Well, then we'll just have to clean up our acts together I guess... For ourselves and the baby."

Leon who reassures you you can both grow. Put in the effort of fixing yourselves. Together.

[markster666]

Alastor Reacting To Stereotypical Activist Gen Zer (No NSFW really ig)

Me and @rainyvandragon were discussing this last night and we thought it was the funniest thing ever, so I wanted to write a short fic for you guys. Enjoy.

This might be offensive to some audiences but I tried to portray a stereotypical feminist Gen Zer in the eyes of somebody closed minded (somebody like Alastor kinda) so LOL.

The new generation, Gen Z, (1997-2012), started making their appearances in Hell. Alastor, being a gentleman from the 1930s, wasn't used to being around the influx of activists, feminists, vegans, etc. It wasn't until one showed up at the hotel seeking redemption that he truly met his match.

"WHATS UP GIRLY POPS?!!" The Gen Zer kicked open the doors, strutting into the lobby. They turned to Charlie, "Omg, you look SO slay!!"

Alastor looked at them in disgust. What the fuck were they even saying?

The Gen Zer turned to Alastor and gasped in delight, "Omg! Look at youUU-UH."

They walked over to Alastor and sat on the chair next to him.

"What are your pronouns?"

Alastor looked dumbfounded. "My... My what?"

"Pronouns silly! Are you a girl, boy, trans, non-binary, gender-fluid-"

They went on for a couple minutes before Alastor interrupted.

"I'm a boy, my Dear."

"Are you a CIS male?"

Alastor literally was getting so fucking annoyed because he literally has no fucking idea what this mf was talking about.

"...Yes."

"Great! So He/Him. What's your sexuality?"

Alastor didn't know what the fuck that meant.

"...I don't like having sex."

"Omg so you're ASEXUAL? QUEEN!!! LOVE THAT FOR YEWWW-UH!!"

Alastor wanted to die (again).

The Gen Zer got back up and started talking to Charlie. Charlie also looked a little offput but she was a LOT more accepting.

"So... how did you die?"

"Oh, my, GAWD, I literally was at a protest and some stupid fucking cops decided to pump me full of lead! Whatever, at least I went down for fighting in what I believe in."

Angel Dust perked up, "And what do you believe in?"

"WOMENS RIGHTS AND UNRESTRICTED RIGHTS TO ABORTION-UH!"

Alastor was banging his head against the table in the lobby.

"Oh and I also got arrested a few times for vandalizing government property but hey! Worth it!"

Angel Dust was CRACKING up at Alastor's reaction and Charlie was trying to listen attentively.

"We definitely need to completely remove gender roles from our modern society. Oh, I also really miss my husband... I proposed to him recently and he's SUCH a good stay at home dad!"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"

Alastor yelled, his voiced filled with radio static.

Angel Dust was on the floor, hollering with laughter.

"Oh my gosh sorry, I should've asked for your beliefs before I started spouting off about them! You know...my mum was kind off...a total fuckin cunt, which is why I cut of all contact with her. She was a Republican, smh."

Alastor threw a table at them.

"OH MY GAWD STOP IT!!!!"

Im sorry guys I'm fucking laughing so hard this is the best head canon ever.

[thecousinsdangereux]

i just recently discovered your soulmate au and i loves it so much. so incredibly intriguing and well written and damn is it hot 🔥 thanks so much for sharing with us. in your mind, does it have a happy ending for them?

also wanted to ask if you'll be checking in to see the big warrior nun announcement coming tomorrow?

Ahhhh thank you! This ask is kind of tragic now given how everything with Warrior Nun ended up going, but I thought I'd use it as a way to share my ideas for the rest of a beggar in the morning, if anyone is interested in learning how it was going to go. Long story short, it was going to have a happy ending. :)

Here's a full outline for what I had in mind for the second half of the fic. Under the cut because it's very detailed in the parts that I'd started writing. Also in case anyone cares about spoilers? At the moment, I don't plan on finishing this fic, but I do plan on returning to writing in general, so guess there's a non-zero chance that I could come back to it. Stranger things have happened.

Beatrice keeps looking for the recipient of the Letter she's been trying to deliver and starts taking trips out into the countryside. She takes Ava's advice and takes to enjoying the journey - stopping into small cafes for lunch rather than eating in the car, taking the long way when it means she can enjoy a new view, etc.

During one of these side quests, she's told about a man who lives way off in the middle of nowhere who has the last name of Reis (the last name of the Letter recipient: Lara Reis), and she tracks him down. He had a sister who had a child with someone who was not her Match. I wanted to go more into what this looks like (and how the church is still anti-abortion in this world, because they think this could potentially ruin a future match, cue eye-roll) but in this case, the woman was basically run out of town. The man directs Beatrice to an orphanage where the child was raised.

This trail eventually goes cold because the orphanage has no records of the girl. They only know she left when she became of age.

The end of chapter six is basically Beatrice being frustrated and taking some 'advice' from Lilith to find someone to fuck hfkjshlk so she goes to the bar and ohhh nooo Ava is working that night, filling in for someone. Ava gets jealous, Bea does some shots, and it's basically a rehash of the lemon drop scene from the show, but hornier. Eventually, they make out, and decide to be friends with benefits.

Chapter 7 was honestly just going to be porn. lol. It's actually some of the first stuff I wrote for this fic - just a page of porn. Beggar came out of a Secret Santa fic exchange, and my friend Alex asked for lots of sex and a soulmate au. So... Chapter 7 was the payoff (part 2). Here's a few disjointed scenes, in case anyone is interested in reading some unedited very E-rated stuff.

A few months go by and all the nuns visit Beatrice for her bday and they're like huh so what's going on here and Beatrice has to pretend that it's not that serious with Ava (lol). I also wanted to do a conversation between Shannon and Beatrice where Shannon talks about the whole Mary thing and loving someone against the will of god (or at the very least, in the very gray areas).

The end of chapter seven is Ava finally talking about her past, which is that Ava doesn't remember hers. She woke up in a hospital without her memories and then spent the next decade traveling around trying to find something that felt like home.

In chapter 8, a lot of time passes, and the fucking continues. Beatrice is kind of losing it, poor girl.

I hadn't exactly decided what was going to happen next, but Ava was going to overstep in some way (or in some perceived way) and Beatrice was going to panic. Either Beatrice was going to have a brief thought about being in love, they were going to have reallyyyy soft sex, or something like that, but either way, Beatrice was going to have to admit she has deeper feelings for Ava than what's allowed allowed, so she goes back to Spain and ignores Ava's texts/calls/etc.

Eventually she realizes she owes Ava closure. She comes back and kind of explains why she's reacted the way she has. She gets more into why she joined the church and it's not for God or the Church itself, but because she does genuinely believe that love itself is holy. She admits she's falling in love with Ava, but she can't break her vows. She believes giving into her feelings would be putting herself above the whole history of love... the sanctity of the entire universe... and to be that selfish would be monstrous.

There's a callback to their early game of three questions, and how Ava still owes Beatrice one answer. Beatrice nearly asks if Ava loves her, but pulls back because she's scared of the answer. They basically break up, but Ava tells Bea to let her know when she's ready to ask her last question.

Beatrice takes it HARD. She buries herself in her work and starts visiting hospitals in various towns. She finds a Spanish doctor and he recognizes the number (or rather, the system behind the number) that is on Letter Beatrice is still trying to deliver. He tells Beatrice she's not looking for a hospital in Portugal, but rather in Spain - one in a small town in Andalusia. He mentions a patient who was in a coma, who woke up without her memories.

At this point, Beatrice obviously knows and she flies to Spain in daze. She visits the hospital, gives them the number, and asks for the name of the patient. When they'd brought the girl in, no one knew where she came from, she didn't have an ID, memories, etc. Nothing except for an old receipt from a restaurant in Portugal. ("Beatrice braces herself for what she already knows, but doesn't want to face.") The nurse at the hospital tells her they used a generic Portuguese name for the girl and it stuck: Ava Silva.

Beatrice visits Cat's Cradle because what else is she supposed to do? How is she supposed to deliver this Letter to Ava, who she's obviously in love with. She talks with Mary and we get the other side of the whole Mary/Shannon thing, and Mary is kind of like, okay, the Letters matter but they don't Matter. Beatrice asks Mary what she would do if she got a Letter (since Mary isn't a nun and could get one, but Shannon never could) and Mary basically says she would throw it away without opening it because she wouldn't want to give Shannon a reason to go self-sacrificial.

Of course, Beatrice doesn't really think this is her call to make. She's going to deliver Ava's Letter. There's this whole scene of her very dramatically and angstily getting ready for the delivery in the Official White Habit, then walking through the town she's come to associate so completely with Ava. And chapter 9 ends.

When Beatrice walks through the doors of the bar, Ava looks up, but doesn't seem surprised, even says 'oh, finally', which is pretty much the last thing that Beatrice expected, but then again, maybe it should have been the first, because Ava is always surprising her, and shouldn't she expect it by now? She asks Ava if she'd known that she was the person Beatrice had been trying to deliver to all along and Ava looks confused at this, like she hadn't considered that at all. "It's not that. I just knew my Letter would be coming because I'd already met you."

Beatrice is like, no no no. That's not how this works. It can't be me. I've been carrying this Letter with me this whole time - before I met you - and the Letters are only sent to a person when they've met their soulmate. And obviously, Beatrice is a nun and can't have a soulmate, etc. etc.

And then Ava says something like this: “Maybe every once in a while, God -- or the universe or whatever it is -- knows that it’ll be really hard to make two people meet organically, so it fudges the rules a little bit. Makes one girl a nun, makes another one hard to find, and sets up the dominos really early on."

And when Beatrice says she's being ridiculous/it's impossible, she says, "I know what’s in that letter. It’s you. I don’t need to open it to know it's you." and "Maybe it’s like some people say and god arranged it all. Fine. Then god chose me for you. Simple. He made me in this exact way, down to my hands and toes and whatever, so that I was perfect for his favorite creation in all of the universe. Because that has to be you."

And: "Or maybe it’s like what those other people say. You know - the past lives reincarnation stuff. Fine, then in our first lives we fell in love and then I found you in the second and third and the five hundredth. I found you and I picked you and I wanted you every time. Or okay, fine, maybe it’s what the the pseudo science people say. Even if those guys are right, I still know. It’s you because at the very start of the universe - at the very beginning of everything - we were the first two bits of something. The first two tiny little sparks. One of those was you and one of them was me. And even when we split off into a million trillion billion infinite pieces, the core of one was you. And the other one was me."

And: "In every religion or in any theory, the world exists so that I can find you again, and the world will do whatever it takes - bend the rules in whatever way - to make sure that at the exact right time, we would meet. And maybe it wasn’t perfect - maybe it was stupid hard for us to get to this point - maybe there was an easier way to make it happen - but I don’t care. Because it worked and I found you and I fell in love with you and I would do anything for that. So yeah. This Letter is telling me that I’m for you. That’s easy. It’s not faith. It’s just a fact.

And: "Besides, whatever’s on that paper? It’s going to be you. If it’s a picture of a butterfly, then it’s going to be you because of that time we went to the dam and one landed on your hand and you said “isn’t the world beautiful?” and that’s when I knew I loved you for the very first time. If it’s the notes to the first bar in At Last, then it’s you, because we used to play it all the time in the bar and I always thought it was fucking stupid to think you'd know like that right away, before everything, but it was the song that played in my head anyways when you walked in the bar that first night. There she is, I sort of thought, a dream that I can speak to."

"It could be any single word or phrase or letter and it would be you, because I love you and I love you so much I see you in every part of this entire world. I love you and I want to keep you with me always, and so you’re always there in my thoughts, slipping over and into everything else and I love it. It makes me love everything I see a little bit more, because it reminds me of you. It makes the world more beautiful."

"So, no offense, but I don't really give a fuck about the Letter. I already know it's going to be you. But I think you need to see it. So you know you’re not as selfish as you think you are."

And Beatrice admits that she wants to be with Ava anyways. Even if it makes her selfish. (Even if it makes her heretical.) Love is holy and what she feels for Ava is holy too, even if it's a sort of holy no one else will ever understand.

I went back and forth about whether they actually SHOULD open the Letter. lol. But I think I eventually settled on that they should, and that when Ava does open it, it's a blank page with like, 7 little dots and Beatrice is like??????????????? But Ava recognizes it instantly and it's the freckles on Beatrice's cheeks, the ones she's always tracing, and she does that again, following the ink on the paper.

Beatrice had been ready to give up her religion for Ava, so getting to keep it, maybe, suddenly is a LOT. She can't quite believe something divine would do something like this for her. But maybe she can believe that something divine would do something like this for Ava.

Later, I wanted Beatrice to have a conversation with Mother Superion. I thought it would be interesting to get into the philosophical bits of it. To debate if Ava could actually be right in her ideas about how this could be, and still fit into what they know about god/Letters/religion. I liked the idea of the conversation ending with neither of them really knowing, and Mother S being like, look girl, you'll never know for sure, but that sounds like faith to me. And Beatrice says no, no this is different, capital F Faith is for the divine. This is just trusting that Ava isn't lying about the freckles thing, or won't get tired of me, or won't find someone else. Etc etc etc. because it's panicking time for Beatrice, suddenly. And Mother Superion just raps her knuckles sort of in the most gentle way she can manage and says "That's love, Beatrice." in the way way someone might say "That's pussy, babe."

Beatrice does leave the church (though she eventually goes back to 'consulting' kind of like Mary). And when she does actually physically leave as well, Ava is waiting outside on a bench. Beatrice asks why she didn't just come inside, and she says something about being a little afraid of churches these days. She did steal god's favorite, after all.

And then they walk off into the sunset, with Beatrice being like wait a second, I thought you said this was all God's plan. And Ava shrugs and says that she would never willingly give Beatrice up, so god might come to her senses and change her mind.

I was going to end it there, but I did consider doing an epilogue as well. Early on in planning I had this idea where, years later, all the nuns regularly come over to the Silvas (because Ava does keep her 'second' name, though she does start to learn more about the Reis family, and meets her Uncle - the dude Beatrice learned about the orphanage from). And on one of these occasions, the nuns are all in white, and they're delivering Beatrice's Letter, which is addressed to Beatrice Silva. In the end, I decided against this, because I liked leaving it more open-ended, but nothing had been set in stone at this point, of course.

So yeah, that was going to be a beggar in the morning. lol. I plotted most of it out before I even started writing, because it wasn't the sort of story you could make up as you went and still tell it well. And I did want to tell the story well! There's a part of me that's sad that I wasn't able to, but I do think it was worth writing what I did. I really loved seeing people realize that Lara was Ava, even as early as chapter 5! And I also loved people coming up with theories about how Avatrice would be endgame. Some of them were honestly really good and maybe better than mine fhdskjhfd I had one person be like PLEASE let Ava's Letter be for someone else so they can metaphorically spit in god's face and honestly that was valid.

I don't know if anyone is going to bother to read this very, very long reply to an ask that doesn't actually ask for any of this, but it honestly just feels nice to put all these ideas together and 'complete' the story. Even if I've done it in the most half-assed way possible I am so sorry fhadskjlfhldsj

[roosterforme]

The Curveball Part 8 | Bob Floyd x OC

Summary: After weeks of asking Molly to confide in him, Bob does something impulsive. And when Molly finally opens up about what's on her mind, Bob doesn't respond exactly how she expected him to.

Warnings: Fluff, angst, swears, pregnancy, mention of abortion, 18+

Length: 5000 words

Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x Female OC (this story accompanies Batting Practice!)

Check my masterlist for more! The Curveball masterlist

Thank you to @mak-32 and @teacupsandtopgun for the beautiful banners!

Bob took a little detour on his way home from work on Monday. He was so in love with Molly, and she just didn't seem happy. She hadn't even texted him all day. He was afraid to initiate a message to her in case she was getting caught up on sleep, so she was either so exhausted that there was clearly a problem, or she was mad at him.

He wasn't happy that one of those things was probably true. But he stopped and picked up five dozen bouquets of gas station flowers and a bag of gummy bears. He watched her eat them on top of an ice cream sundae once, and it made him cringe. But he knew she'd like them.

When he finally got home, he paused just outside their front door. Bob knew she was home; he'd seen her car in the parking lot. He needed to calm himself down before he went inside, because at the moment, he felt ready to beg her not to leave him. And he couldn't do that yet.

As he unlocked the door and eased it open, he called out, "Mo?"

A few seconds later, her soft voice replied, "In the living room." He found her on the couch, all wrapped up in one of his oversized sweatshirts even though it was summertime. The sadness in her eyes momentarily faded away as she looked at all of the flowers in his hands. Molly's lips parted, and she gasped softly, making Bob's heart pound. 

"Hey, Honey," he whispered, and then she was swiping tears from her eyes as she stood and threw herself at him. The five bouquets and the gummy bears ended up on the floor at their feet, but it didn't matter. She was in his arms. She was kissing him. He was in love.

"Bobby," she whispered, swallowing hard as she cried in his arms.

"Tell me what's wrong, Mo," he pleaded. "Just tell me."

She took a shaky breath and said, "Nothing's wrong right now. I just need you to hold me."

"I'll hold you. I love you." He never fully released her from his arms as he peeled his uniform shirt off and let it fall next to the flowers. Then he kicked off his shoes and led her to the couch, grabbing the gummy bears on the way. As he stretched out and pulled her down gently on top of him, she let her cheek rest against his chest. It was very obvious she'd been crying, but instead of asking about that, he asked if she wanted to watch a murder documentary with him. 

"Yes, please," she whispered, and he pulled the blanket down over them as he turned the TV on. He fed her gummy bears one at a time and stroked the soft skin of her neck, his full attention on her instead of the show. Soon she was sound asleep, and Bob moved incrementally until he was able to stand with her in his arms, and he carried her to bed. 

A little while later, after he put all the flowers in water and got himself something to eat, he made his way to bed as well. When slid underneath the covers behind Molly, she turned to snuggle against him and whispered, "I love you."

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

Molly was surprised she'd been able to hold it together at home, but work was a different story. The antiseptic smells of the emergency room kept setting off her stomach, and she was running out of ideas for places to vomit discreetly. 

The one positive thing she had going for her was that the asshole doctor that she hated was being promoted. She would soon be seeing far less of him. But there was still the glaring fact that she was pregnant. And she couldn't decide what to do about it. 

She should have told Bob by now. She knew that. But she just couldn't bring herself to destroy her relationship with the most perfect man on the planet. He loved her. He loved everything about her. Including the fact that he thought she was on birth control that worked. She had in fact assured him that she was on birth control and that he had nothing to worry about. 

The mere idea of her as a mom was laughable. She'd seen her sister do it, and while Everett was the sweetest child in the universe, she knew she probably wasn't cut out for parenting. It looked way too hard. Especially for a single mom. She didn't know if she'd have any sort of maternal instinct. Watching Ev was different, because she wasn't really the one making decisions on his behalf. 

It was probably better just to go through with an abortion and never mention this to anyone. But every time she thought about it, the guilt crept in. Did Bob have the right to know? She couldn't decide. It was her body, not his. But what if he actually wanted to have a child with her? What if he would stay and help her? Actually want to be involved?

All she seemed to be able to do every night now was curl up on Bob's chest and try not to cry too much as she fell asleep. Last night they had sex, and she turned the lights off just because she just knew she was going to cry. But he'd been gentle with her, made love to her. As if he knew something was still wrong even though he couldn't figure out exactly what. 

Molly threw up in a plastic bag three times on her way home from work as she double checked her math. She had to be between six and seven weeks along. When she called her gynecologist, they gave her an appointment for two weeks from today. And she had stopped taking her birth control pills. But she was very tempted to just visit a clinic and call it a day. 

Tomorrow she was supposed to meet her sister to help her pick out a wedding dress. She could get through the weekend. She could go to the clinic on Monday. That would give her a few days to work up the nerve. 

When she walked inside, Bob was already home and wearing jeans and a nice shirt. Molly's eyes went wide as she looked at him, but he was already shaking his head. 

"We don't have to go to the Hard Deck, Honey. We can stay in."

"I forgot," she whispered. Truly, she'd been unable to think about anything except the fact that she was pregnant. She looked up at Bob as he approached her. She was pregnant with his child. Somehow this information washed through her as if for the first time. She and Bob did this together. "I'm really tired."

"Let's stay in then," he whispered, kissing her forehead as she melted against him. His big hands and his sweet voice were all over her as he pulled her toward the living room. "You want one of the murder shows? Or a shower? Or just bed?"

Molly knew he'd do whatever she wanted, and she nearly told him right then what exactly was wrong with her. But she just whispered, "Bed."

He took her by the hand, and she let him take care of everything.

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

Bob went out to breakfast with Bradley and Ev the next morning while Molly met her sister to look at wedding dresses. He was trying to stay in the moment, trying to enjoy spending time with them. He'd indulged in the idea that Everett might be his nephew someday. He'd let his mind wander to the very amusing idea that Bradley and he could be brothers-in-law. But at the moment, it hurt a bit to think about it. He told Bradley that Molly still seemed upset. 

"What makes you say that?" Bradley asked cautiously, glancing at Everett playing a game on his phone.

"She's been acting strange for the past few weeks. I can't get her to talk to me." Bob felt helpless as he said, "I just want to make her happy, but I don't think I actually know how. She's gotta be planning to move out."

Bradley shook his head. "No. It has to be something else? Work?"

Bob just shrugged. "I wish I knew." He reached for his wallet to pay, but Bradley beat him to it. 

"It's my turn," he insisted. "I think you should head home and talk to Molly now. I bet they're done shopping and getting margaritas or whatever they're doing."

"Mimosas," Bob whispered. "Molly likes mimosas."

"Right," Bradley agreed. "Let's just skip the batting cages, and you can get home and talk to her since I'm sure they must be done with mimosas."

Bob just nodded and barely managed to say goodbye as he walked back to his truck. He paused in front of a vintage clothing shop window, looking inside without really seeing anything at first. Then a jewelry case caught his eye, so he ducked inside. 

"What can I help you find?" asked the young woman who worked there. 

"That's pretty," he said as casually as he could, pointing out a gold ring with a cluster of diamonds arranged to look like a flower. It reminded him so much of Molly's tattoos that his heart ached for her. 

He thought about leaving and going home to wait for her, but then the woman asked, "Oh, that one's beautiful. Fifteen diamonds. It's been appraised. Do you want to know the price?"

But Bob shook his head and just said, "I'll take it."

He sat in his truck with the pretty ring in his palm, watching the sunlight catching on the diamonds. It was too perfect to leave it inside the shop when it looked like it had been made for Molly. But he couldn't give it to her now, not when she still seemed unhappy. 

He tucked it away in the glovebox for some point in the future. Because first, he needed to get her to talk to him. No matter what it took, he'd find a way to get her to open up. He'd find a way to make her happy again. Because now he knew that he could. 

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

Molly was so tired, she felt like she'd been hit by Bob's truck. Every time she tried to walk into the dress shop where she could see her sister looking at the ugliest dresses, she had to double back to her car to throw up again. She was almost twenty minutes late as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and walked inside. 

She knew she looked bad. The only thing she wanted to wear was one of Bob's extremely soft undershirts and some old yoga pants. But the response from her sister was even worse than she thought it would be. "There you are. "What's wrong? You look terrible."

"Nothing," she insisted. "Did you pick one out yet?" Her voice sounded lifeless to her own ears.

"No, I was waiting for you. I can't do this kind of thing without you."

Molly's heart ached a little more as she sighed. She walked around and snatched up the prettiest dresses that she could see her sister wearing when she married Bradley. "Try those on. I'll be in one of the chairs."

Molly watched her sister eye her suspiciously before turning toward the fitting rooms. She tried to be as encouraging as possible about the dresses, tried to say all the right things, but apparently she was transparent. 

"Molly, please. Talk to me," her sister begged, and then she was wiping a tear from Molly's cheek. She wasn't even aware she was crying again, but she jumped up out of the chair, and then the tears came faster. 

As Molly took off toward the back corner of the store, she started sobbing. When she couldn't go any further, she spun around. "I fucked up," she gasped. "I fucked up so bad."

"Molly," her sister gasped, reaching for her. Molly was in her arms immediately, trying not to cry on the wedding dress she was still wearing. "It's okay to talk to me about it."

But Molly was crying too hard to talk. Fat, hot tears rolled down her cheeks, and she started shaking. She could feel her sister rubbing soft, soothing circles against her back before she took Molly's face in her hands and waited. 

"I'm pregnant."

She gaped at Molly before asking, "What did Bob say when you told him? He's upset?" She looked so concerned and seemed unsure about what she should do to help Molly feel better.

"I haven't told him," Molly whispered as she was pulled into another hug.

"Molly. How long have you known?"

"About a week," she gasped, tucking her face against the softness of the only person who really cared about her since their parents died. The only person until she had Bob.  "I suspected it before that at least. I didn't think it was actually possible at first." She was hiccupping between words. "I just thought my cycle was off. But then I took a test the other day. And then I took a lot more tests."

"Molly, were you using birth control?"

"Of course!" she wailed. "I'm not stupid! I work in healthcare!"

"I know, I know," she soothed, rubbing Molly's back. "I was just checking."

"But I switched from one pill to a different one," Molly whispered. "I did everything I was supposed to fucking do! How could I have let this happen?"

"Shh," her sister whispered. She was sobbing again. "Does Bob not want to have kids with you?"

Molly pulled away from her and threw her hands up in the air. "How the hell am I supposed to even know that?!" she asked, loud and sarcastic. "I've only known him for like four and a half months! We have never, not even once, never talked about having kids together! I know he likes them. He loves Ev and Piper, but that's different."

"Molly, you have to tell him."

"No," she said vehemently. "No way. I'm so mad at myself. I don't want him to look at me differently now. I told him I was on birth control. I promised him there was nothing to worry about." Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I can't tell him. But he knows something's wrong. He thinks I'm going to leave him, and honestly, maybe I should."

"Don't say that," she whispered, scowling at Molly. "Don't say that about Bob."

"Exactly!" Molly raged, because now she was getting to the root of things. "That's exactly it! You don't even worry about me anymore, because I'm with Bob! I finally got my shit together. I'm finally dating a good guy. A stable one who actually loves me! He loves me! Or he did. I can't believe I fucked this up. It was perfect!"

She knew she shouldn't have said it, but it was too late. Instead of feeling like a real adult now, she felt like a child. Molly sank to the floor at her sister's feet and cried, burying her face in Bob's undershirt. And then a sales clerk came over just as her sister tried to sit down with her. 

"Excuse me, but you can't just crawl around the floor in one of our dresses. And you shouldn't be crying near them either."

Molly glared up at her, silently daring her to say one more sentence. "Fuck off, lady. Your goddamn dress will be just fine, okay?" 

The woman bustled away as Molly turned to her sister. Her voice was calmer as she said, "I'm not going to tell him. I'm going to pretend to go away for a couple days, get an abortion, and then never mention any of this again."

"Molly. You can't. That's not fair to Bob. You need to tell him about this." And now Molly was afraid she was about to make her sister cry as well, but she couldn't help it.

"So I can end up like you?" Molly asked, making her favorite person in the world freeze in place. "No, I know, and I'm sorry, but there's not always going to be a Bradley waiting at the end of the tunnel, okay? You got lucky. Everett is the perfect kid. And somehow you upgraded from Danny to something much better. But I'll never get this lucky again. I'll never, ever find something better than Bob. And I don't even know if I can be a mom. Because I've seen you do it, and it's actually fucking impossible, okay?" She was now crying and laying on the floor, inhaling the scent of Bob's undershirt. "It's either leave Bob or get an abortion and never tell him. And I know I can't bring myself to leave him."

Molly excused herself and got to her feet, swaying a bit as she headed for the exit. Once she was outside, she threw up on the sidewalk. 

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

Bob was waiting at home, sitting on the couch and looking at all the things Molly had added to his bookshelves since she moved in. There were so many photos of her with Everett, and a handful where her sister was in the photo, too. He reached over and grabbed one of Molly from seven years ago holding newborn Everett in the hospital. That was the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her face, and he was so happy someone had captured it. 

When the front door opened, Bob jumped to his feet. As happy as Molly looked in the photo he was holding, right now she looked downright miserable. He set the frame aside and went to her, knowing this conversation needed to happen. 

Bob gently wrapped his hands around her biceps and pulled her close. "Molly," he said as firmly as he could when she was looking up at him with watery eyes. "Something is wrong. You've been miserable for weeks, Honey. You need to talk to me. I need you to talk to me!"

She started shaking, and Bob's eyes went wide, an apology already forming on his lips. But then she whispered, "I don't want to tell you."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She let him take his time as he gathered his thoughts into the words that would hurt him the least to say out loud. His voice was a little ragged as he met her eyes and managed to say, "If you're unhappy here with me, I won't blame you for leaving. If there's someone else, just tell me. I'll never blame you, Molly." He nodded against the thick lump in his throat, his vision a little blurry now.

But she burst into loud sobs in front of him and shook her head as she cried. "That's not it, Bobby. That's not it at all."

He held his hands out helplessly at his sides, and she slipped her arms around his waist. When she buried her face against his chest, he let his hands come to rest on her back. On his undershirt that she was wearing. "Just tell me, Mo. I'm begging you to tell me."

"I love you," she said, looking up at him as tears trickled down her pretty cheeks. "I love you too much to tie you down. I swear, Bob...I didn't do it on purpose."

He was so confused, he felt like crying, too. "Molly," he whispered, taking her face gently in his hands and wiping at her tears. "I don't know what you're talking about. What didn't you do on purpose?"

She sucked in a sharp breath and said, "I'm pregnant."

"Oh." That tiny word escaped him before he could really sort it all out. Pregnant. She was pregnant. Surely she hadn't been beating herself up for weeks over this? She was pregnant. If Molly was pregnant, then that meant he was responsible for making it happen. He got Molly pregnant. His hands fell away from her face just as he realized he'd taken too long to respond. 

"I know I promised you I was on birth control," she said, taking short ragged breaths. "I switched pills, and...something happened. And maybe we should have used condoms for a few weeks, but this really shouldn't have happened! I'm so sorry!"

When she closed her eyes again, body wracking sobs took over, and she looked like she was going to pass out.

Bob wrapped his arms around her, and she tried to push him away, but he wouldn't let her. "Shh," he whispered next to her ear. "Molly, take deep breaths, okay? Deep, slow breaths, Honey."

As she started to get control of her breathing, Bob wondered how far along she was. Would she start showing soon? How was she going to be able to work in the emergency room with a pregnant belly? Would they let her take time off? Would he need to sell this condo and get them a bigger place? 

The ring. The pretty ring was in his truck. If Molly was pregnant, maybe Bob wasn't the reason she'd been so unhappy. Maybe she was just anxious about how he'd respond. He kissed the top of her head as she wiped her eyes on him, and he told her, "I love you, Molly." He'd give her the ring today, pull a full Bradshaw on the situation. 

She whispered, "I know we've only been together for a few months. If you can't trust me after this, I completely understand. And if you don't want me anymore... I guess I can understand that, too."

Now Bob felt like he might pass out. How could he not want her? Not want them? He was holding onto her, trying to speak. But once again he was taking too much time!

"Listen, if you don't want to be involved, that's fine," she whispered, not quite meeting his eyes now. "I'm... thinking about having an abortion on Monday. There's a walk-in clinic near work. And if you want me to leave...I can move out."

He needed to speak instead of thinking things through. "I want you," he swore. "I'm never not going to want you."

"Bob," she said, face crumbling again.

"Molly, please don't leave. Don't leave me." He could feel his heart breaking. She was talking about moving out. About having an abortion. "Please." The last thing he wanted was to live without her.

"You'll still want me? Even if I terminate the pregnancy?" she asked, laying it all out for him.

"Yes. But Molly...I would love to have a baby with you."

"Really?" she asked, seemingly surprised. "Because I don't know if I'm ready for that," she added so softly as more tears dripped down her cheeks.

He kissed the tracks of her tears and whispered that he loved her until she stopped crying. "I want you. And I want a baby," he told her, tipping her face up so she was looking him in the eye. "I would love that. But I don't need it. What I do need is for you to stay with me, Mo."

She searched his face, and Bob had never felt so vulnerable before. He'd never felt so much love before. Just as he went to gently rest his hands on Molly's belly, she shoved him violently away from her. 

"Fuck," she gasped, nearly tripping over he own feet as she tried to get away from him and run down the hallway. And then he heard her vomiting into the toilet.

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

Molly let her cheek rest against the cool tile of the bathroom floor. Her eyes were closed, but she knew Bob was there as well now. She wasn't exactly sure how she was still throwing up. She'd barely been eating. Even though she was starving, nothing would stay down. And she started to wonder why she hadn't gone to the clinic already. Why was she suffering through morning sickness if she was going to terminate the pregnancy?

When she rolled onto her stomach and tried to stand, Bob's strong hands were there, guiding her steadily upward. She felt pathetic as she looked up at him. He was perfect, and she was wrung out on the bathroom floor. He was everything, and she was just his careless girlfriend who couldn't do anything right. 

"Let's go get in bed," he whispered, and she nodded as he led her out of the bathroom. He looked so sad. She wanted to ask him why he was sad. She was the one who was sad. She was the one who had to make a decision and live with it. But right now, the only thing she could do was let Bob guide her into bed. 

"I'm so fucking tired," she said, letting her head come to rest on the pillow. "I feel awful all the time."

Bob reached out and ran his knuckles along her neck, making her eyes flutter closed. "Get some rest, Mo."

She cracked her eyes open and reached for him. "I want you to stay here," she whispered, and then he was in bed with her, and she was falling asleep on his shoulder. 

When Molly jolted awake, the room was getting dark. She was laying on Bob's chest, and he had one arm around her as he held his phone in the other. "Are you okay?" he asked, those greenish blue eyes focused right on her. When she nodded, he kissed her forehead. 

"How long did I sleep?"

"Four hours," he replied softly. 

"Four hours? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed sleep, Honey. You still need a good night of it, so I'm going to feed you and help you shower, and then I'll bring you right back here."

She swallowed back a sob, mouth dry and stomach growling. "I can't eat," she said with a little laugh. "I keep asking myself why I'm still suffering through all of this if I don't even want to be pregnant."

Bob was quiet for a beat. "Are you absolutely certain you don't want to.... keep it?"

As she studied his handsome features, she slowly shook her head. "The only thing I'm certain about is that I couldn't force myself to leave you."

He sighed and wrapped her up in a tight hug. "Stay. Stay forever. We can make it forever. You know that, right?"

Forever. What a concept. Impossible. But a lifetime? That was real. "Bob... how do I know you won't leave?" But as soon as she said the words, she realized how foolish she sounded, because she knew, she just knew he wouldn't. 

"Molly, I can't show you my heart. I can only describe it," he said softly as she buried her face against him. "I feel so much love for you. I've been running ragged in my mind, trying to figure out why you were so unhappy. I just want you to be happy. And it's from my heart that I can promise I'm not going anywhere. And it's from my heart that I am telling you that if you think you might want to keep our baby, then I am one hundred percent onboard. I'm ready. I don't need to think about it. I decided about thirty seconds after you said you were pregnant that I want to do everything with you, including raise a child. If you let me."

And now she was crying again. Because this was the reason she'd put off making a decision. She wanted so badly to hear him say these words. She thought she could do it if she didn't have to do it alone. She knew she wasn't as strong as her sister, but she also knew that Bob was her ideal. He was nothing like Danny. 

Molly eased herself up and guided one leg over Bob's waist. He was looking up at her with a soft, sincere gaze, but he looked so nervous, like he was waiting for her verdict. When his hands came to rest hesitantly on her thighs, she bit her lip to try to stop her tears. She was so tired of crying. All she wanted was for Bob to make her something to eat so she could go back to sleep. 

She smiled softly, because she knew what to say now. "Bob, I'm really fucking scared. But if you still want to be in a relationship with me...if you want to do this together...then I'll keep the baby."

To her surprise, Bob pulled his hands away from her thighs as he started crying. He pushed his glasses up to his forehead and pressed his fingertips to his eyes. "I just need a minute," he whispered, his voice unsteady. Molly watched him cry as he gently shook beneath her. But a moment later, he was sitting up and she was straddling his thighs as he pulled her close and kissed her. "I love you. I'm not going anywhere. We're having a baby."

She laughed as he kissed her lips softly. "I love you, too, Coach Cute Glasses." She giggled as she imagined a tiny, cute Baby who looked like Bob with a pair of wire frame glasses. And Bob was smiling now too as she said, "Just don't do anything rash like tell me we can get married, okay? I feel like that's something you'd say."

"Oh," he said softly, pulling her a little closer as his smile faded a bit. "Okay. I won't."

She kissed his neck and inhaled his scent. "If I ever decide I want to get married, I'll let you know," she told him as her stomach growled. 

"Let me feed you," he said, helping her out of bed. "Let me take care of everything right now."

Molly decided to let him.

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

Bobby about to get everything? Thanks to @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls and everyone who bugged me to make Molly and Bob a thing!

PART 9

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[ssailormoonn]

❛ The Balance ❜ ─ 05

Yandere!JugramHaschwalth X Fem!Quincy!Reader

WC; 3.3k+ | !MDNI! | TW/CW :: x fem reader, she/her pronouns, running away, kidnapping, marriage, no abortion, going through with the pregnancy

⋆·˚ ༘ * 𝒮𝒴𝒩𝒪𝒫𝒮𝐼𝒮 :: Yandere!Jugram kidnaps the reader with the help of the Bambies. {Y/n} becomes pregnant with his child but wants to abort due to the circumstances, trying to keep it a secret. Jugram finds out, becomes furious, insisting on a marriage (coerced). She escapes to the human world, but Jugram tracks her down, discovers her plan to abort the child, and forcibly takes her back.

part 4 | part 5 | m.list | bleach m.list | quincy m.list

Jugram had a tight hold of your arm, fingers nipping into your skin as he pulled your out of infirmary. The blood whooshed with each frantic pulse as your heart thumped ominously in your chest. With all your might, you pulled away. Jugram was immovable, and you were forced into an odd trot through resplendent halls.

"Please, Jugram—" you begged, your voice again trembling with a fault almost unseen in you. "I have to stay here. I just can't go back to that room. Not now."

His eyes were as cold as ice, as if he denied every word you were saying, yet his body language couldn't be more decided. Your pleas fell on deaf ears, his eye remaining focused ahead, lips out in firm line, and his strides ate up the distance toward the shared room. "You're mine. You need to know and understand that," was the last growl he concluded with.

You fought harder against his hold as your protests grew more frantic.

"No, stop! I don't want to go back there. Please, just listen to me!" you plead.

Suddenly, he stopped at the door to the room, wrenching to a halt just in front of it. There was a dark, threatened look to his eyes, and his eyes were hard and cold as he flung the door open.

He ordered, his voice leaving no room for argument.

You paused, turning back to me just then, a look of fear and rebelliousness in your eyes. "I'm not going in there," you said, with a tremulous but determined voice.

And then it happened: the complete snap from Jugram. His hand locked onto me like a vice before throwing me inside. I tripped, falling head first into the floor with a very solid thud. Before I could rise back up, Jugram was descending onto me, his eyes alight with the glare of an incredibly rabid, yandere madman.

"Do you think you can defy me?" It growled, his voice dark, his voice like some planet. "You think you stand a chance?"

You scrambled to your feet, backing away but Jugram, as feral as a cat, advanced after you. His calloused hand closed around your arm, tight, his fingers so tight they bruised as he drew you closer. "I won't tolerate disobedience," he said, the rage in his voice twisted, getting possessive. "You are mine, you will be with me, and you will accept what I've chosen for you."

Your pulse quickened feverishly under the heated gaze that Jugram gave you. But his eyes didn't soften one bit; his grip on you, so achingly tight, remained. "One learns to accept things," he said in a whisper that promised nothing good, "because you are going to be my wife and the mother of my child, and there is no escaping that."

That had tears streaming down your face, eyes trying to wrench free from his hold. "Please," was all you could shudder out. "I can't do this. I don't want to."

Jugram's eyes narrowed, expression cooling. "That is not for you to decide," he grumbled back. "I made the decision and you were to follow. There are no alternatives."

A final push—almost tender but hard—brought you further into the room. He never broke eye contact with you. "Stay where you are," he demanded, the tone of a man that doesn't expect his word to be questioned. "And remember—you're mine. You'll do as I order or face the consequences."

You sank to the floor, and as his long strides carried him out the door, your body started shaking with fear and anger. This was for real, and the thought of Jugram's possessive control really did take you to a whole new level of entrapment and helplessness.

You stumbled to the bed, your emotions getting the best of you, and crumbled down into the plush blankets. Jugram's possession and control felt too suffocating, and you broke the tears that you had been holding back. You buried your face in the underlayer of fabric and cried your heart out.

Hours seeped away, and you cried, cried until each tear washed away fears, frustrations, helplessness. The walls inside this room pressed closer around you, for you could not reconcile yourself and your existence with your circumstances, breathing in the sound of your sobs reverberated upon the ornate walls.

As if on cue, to the second that your tears mattered to be gone, the door opened creakily and Jugram entered the room. It was as though his very visage changed - his severity melted away to something just short of gentle, near tender. Jugram took measured careful steps as he came towards the bed and gazed at your tear-streaked face with what seemed concern in his eyes.

Wordlessly, he sat down beside you on the bed and first reached one arm around your back, pulling you into him, cradled against his chest. His touch was terribly gentle; his hand ran itself carefully over your hair in a calming, even rhythm.

Jugram mumbled across the top of your head, the baritone of his voice low and almost soothing in a manner that was pleasurable. "It's okay. I'm here now."

You could feel his warmth against you, but even though he held you with force, it strangely felt secure. Jugram's voice was soft, and he almost sounded tender as he continued to murmur softly against your ear, trying to hush your sobs. "I'm sorry for what I did," he said with an odd sincerity. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I did it because I love you."

He stopped, his fingers lightly tracing the bruises on your arm. "I've been rough; I know, baby, but then that's just because I do feel so deeply about you. Because I want nothing but the best for our future, because I want you to be mine and be with me, and I'm going to make it happen."

His words were soothingly unnerving, speaking to you of his control over you and his wretched sense of love; you could really feel the sincerity behind those words, but it came out with a sense of possessiveness that was hard to overlook.

Jugram pulled you closer, so close that he could wrap his arms protectively around you. "Please, don't cry," he whispered, arms holding you so tightly in your chest—the sound a warm breath in your ear. "We will cope with this together. You are safe with me. All you need to do is trust me."

Very, very gradually, as the heat of his body and his very substance filtered into your frazzled nerves, Jugram's tight hold on you began to relax. You had been utter worn-out from hours of crying, and the toll of those tears from earlier in the day had started to drop like a heavy weight atop your shoulder. Your sobs had dropped down to soft, ragged breaths as sleep began to tug you under.

Jugram felt the change in your mood and took the liberty to slightly cradle you closer, almost in an almost gentle, possessive manner. His digits skimmed through your hair, brushing down to your head, inching closer. His lips only touched your temple as he leaned down closer to talk to you.

"You are my everything," he whispered, singing in his tenor, making it hushed, almost hypnotic. "No one will ever have you. You are meant to be with me; you are meant to be mine. My good girl."

He put such a tender kiss on your forehead that his eyes were so dark with obsessive adoration. "I know now it hurts, but you'll see: whatever I am going to do, I'm going to do for us, for our future. I will save you, I will make you safe, and let nobody interfere with us."

He mumbled as you slipped off to sleep, his words a lulling assertion with the occasional obsessional oath. He spoke softly, his breath warm against your ear, "We'll be a family. Just you and me and our child. We'll make a perfect world, one where you can never leave me".

He tightened the hand holding her. As if he wanted to enforce this. "I will always be here," he swears with the fervor of a zealot, his voice transmuting into hoarse passion at the zenith. "You are mine, and nothing…" his breathless voice lowered tremulously, "will ever change that. If it's the last thing I do, I'll see to it you're happy, even though I have to chain you to me to do it, to keep you wrapped safe from the world."

Jugram's eyes lingered a mere moment on you with such a mix of tenderness and a more shadowy, possessive gleam that shone from the depths of his gaze. "My little one," he murmured, palming his hand tenderly against your back. "I may have only the smallest portion of strength left, but as long as you rest here between my arms, we will manage to move forward together."

You woke up the next morning to the gentle strokes of the early morning sun through thick draperies—soft as dawn itself, hardly able to remember the hulking, black, overwhelming hell you'd been living in. As you awoke, Jugram was not there next to you. And there he lay, an empty space, with a longing sweeping through you.

With the realization that this might just be your one time to get it right, you briskly pushed yourself off the bed. Gathering some courage, you moved stealthily through the room, making sure you didn't make any noise because of those creaking floorboards.

Each echo held even more magnitude after having been repeated at every turn, each extension of breath in the shallow gasps that had brought you in this hurry, your mind assailed by what needed to be done, to ensure that you were free. Grand halls that had once seemed imposing were now amazing with a labyrinth, the place in which one had to now navigate.

"What?" Bazz B almost ran into you as you turned the corner. The border crosser momentarily gave a look of alarm at your appearance before righting himself, before the end of his expression spun into cold, calculated calm.

"Hey," Bazz B replied. He was low in tone, holding steady. "What are you doing out here?"

You hesitated, your eyes flickering between him and the corridor that lay behind. "I… I need to get out," you said, trying to keep your voice steady despite the fear gripping you. "I need to leave this place."

Bazz B narrowed his eyes to slits but gave a nod of understanding. "I can help you," he said with an almost fallacious tone of reassurance. "But you need to come with me. I'll get you out of here, but you have to come with me now."

You peered over at him warily, with still doubt perhaps present in your mind. "Really? You really won't tell Jugram?"

Bazz B's smile was tight, yet he held confidence in his decision. "I ain't sayin' nothin'. You got my word on that."

You nodded, though it was begrudgingly, and you set off after him, down the palace corridors. Adrenaline pounded through your chest, throbbing excitement but fear, mostly fear of being caught. Bazz B led you through a network of hidden passages, around the main quarters of the palace.

Very soon, you found yourself in a secluded room, empty of the royal grandeur, except for the rest of the palace. Bazz B's face went deadly serious with his preparations for the next process in your escape. "That's about as close as I can get you," he said, the next time from his coat pocket. "I'll get you right to the human world; you'd best remember you owe me this one, girl.".

Bazz B gave a job activation to the device. The room shimmered and twisted as if filled with a strange kind of energy. Eyes clamped shut, breath held, the world seemed to blur and shift.

And then you open your eyes to be standing in a complete different place, altogether different world, altogether teeming with familiar sounds and sights of humanity. You breathe the refreshing air of the city, trying to bring a tangible sense of relief and a small measure of freedom.

The voice sounded so loud in your ears, it could take over even the dull resonances of Bazz B's scream. ** "You're on your own now. Good luck."

Long strides determinedly taking him back into the palace, Bazz B. swept fast, his mind keeping pace with what that meant. He seemed to storm through the grand halls with purpose on his way to where Jugram resided in the palace.

Standing at the doorway, he took a deep breath before he knocked sharply. Jugram had already been in foul humor from how the events of the evening had turned out and called out low and impatient.

Bazz B exploded in the room, his expression schooled carefully to one of neutrality. Jugram sat behind his immense desk, eyes sharp to focus upon his visitor. "What's the matter?" his clipped voice echoes, sharp with suspicion.

Bazz B tones it down, takes a step closer, and sets eyes that meet Jugram's into what is almost a smirk. "I have news. She's in the human world."

Jugram's eyes narrowed, the calm of his features wavering for a fraction of a second, and "What did you just say?" came the dangerously soft contrary to the storm that was visibly brewing behind those eyes.

"Just as I said," cut in Bazz B as smooth as could, speaking. "She's managed to escape to the human world."

Jugram's fists curled so tightly that his fingers turned rigid, the knuckles white, and "Why would you allow this? Explain yourself."

Bazz B didn't even flinch, except for a flicker of humor across his eyes. "That was just a game," he assured, with a boast of nonchalance. "I figured it might be fun to see how she'd react with my position, and you know as much as I do: she can't really get away from you."

Maybe he just donned a guise of calm over the raging fury within, but Jugram's eyes turned the colour of polished steel. "Are you suggesting that this was just a ruse?"

And Bazz B nodded his head, his gaze locking onto Jugram's. "Right. More than a farce. I was just trying shit with her. But now she's out there; best be finding her before she starts sniffing too deeply."

His anger smoldered, but he kept his voice mild. "Very well. I will attend to her personally."

He sprang to his feet, with bright danger dancing in his eyes, and voiced the challenge. "Have things prepared for my absence. I will manage my way to find her yet, and make her realize in no uncertain terms exactly where her place is."

Bazz-B simply tipped his head fractionally to one side, that grin growing infuriatingly smug when he caught the flicker it caused in Jugram's own eyes. Well, it was always going to be touch and go, this situation on the brink, given the very nature of Jugram's obsession.

That hold shifting as Jugram squirmed from it, Bazz B rose and expanded before returning to his usual stride from the room, now having nothing on his mind other than the game. Then he leaned back just a bit further, and the faintest most content smile played at his lips. He knew Jugram's pursuit would be fanatic but, far from a game over, the match was only getting started.

Sunlight in the human world; a relief from the gloom that choked the palace. You staggered through the busy streets, the noisy city life an odd reminder of the liberty that had just been dangled in your face. Your heart was still beating with the remnants of leftover adrenaline from your escape, but a sliver of hope began to pierce through the fear that had gripped you for so long.

Wandering through an unknown cityscape, towering buildings over your head, people running from left to right from everywhere, every step liberating and exhausting at the same time. However, you wanted to find some help for yourself, looking for a hospital to get some medical care for you. The fact of your pregnancy and the urgency of your situation kept you moving forward, though uncertainty surrounded you.

You finally noticed a small café tucked away at one corner of the street. There was something about the whole setup that invited you, and you rushed inside frantically, really in need of help. The warmth inside was really contrasting to the icy coldness of the world outside. You went up to the counter where a young woman with a friendly smile addressed you.

"I am sorry," you said, with a tremor in your voice, "I need help; I am looking for a hospital. Can you tell me where it is?"

The woman's eyes widened with concern as her gaze took in the expression of horror etched on your features. "I can call a cab for you; a hospital is a few blocks ahead from here."

The first syllable—so soon, before she got any farther—a cold presence entered the room, and she looked up to find Jugram in the doorway, his face furious.

The woman's voice faltered as she noticed Jugram. "Who—"

Before another word could be dragged from him, Jugram surged up to his feet, a movement that spelled death. The air crackled with his presence, sleek, dark arms unfolding from under his coat. He brought the woman brutally into line with one blow that lacked mercy and brought laughter to a sharp stop. The body crumpled at his feet, and a shocked silence descended.

You were rooted to the ground, horror taking you fully. Jugram's eyes held you with a fiery look that sent your heart slamming hard in your chest. You were so frightened about what he might do next.

"No!" you cried, voice breaking. "Please, don't!"

Came forward towards you like a hunter, Jugram. "Did you think to sneak off so easily?" he asked; his voice was low and threatening. "You were mine, and you have nowhere to run."

Desperation lent you both strength and speed to turn and run, but he was quicker; his long, easily devoured strides ate the distance between you with apparent ease. He caught your arm in an iron grip, jerking you back toward him so hard it nearly knocked you off your balance. Your futile struggles were nothing against his impossible strength.

"No, let me go!" You wailed, tears streaming down your face. "Please, I don't want this!"

His look was cold, pitiless. "You are coming with me," he almost bluntly said, thereby filling all room for either words or refusal to talk.

You had tried to struggle, of course, but Jugram didn't give an inch. Outside, he pushed you against the wall of the café, where the lifeless body of the woman was still lying on the floor. A grim reminder; a high price for standing in his way.

You are brought back into the palace, its awe now hauntingly familiar beyond the rise of fear. The very grandeur that had once overawed you now felt like a gilded cage, the sense of entrapment ever heightened with each passing day. It was a life that felt both suffocating and inescapable; Jugram's relentless pursuit of control had come to fruition.

The walls would laugh with echoes, of your child's sounds, small footsteps that would be running all over the marble floors. Those cold hallways were softened by your whirling dervish of a child—that spirited toddler with a mop of soft hair over questioning eyes.

Jugram had clung to that illusion of a perfect family, had kept you and your child close to him, irrefutable proof of his power and control. For him, you were the trophy wife—the reason he had to keep a leash on himself, no matter what it did to you.

The days turned into the perfect but monotonous routine that you tried to keep up with in the palace to take care of your son and husband. An escape of dull shades from the once beautiful dream, from realization you are now living with the growing weight of your expectant second pregnancy.

Every single glance and every single touch from Jugram acted to remind him of the wearisome obsession that plagued his life—it was so manifestly normal yet completely tensioned with manipulation. Jugram always felt like a shadow, his undercurrents having to keep his feet always in your presence, reminding yourself of the power he held to your life.

One evening you sat laying out the nursery; you would soon be having your second baby. Jugram walked into the room. His eyes roving with every single move you made, showing critical satisfaction and a tone of possessiveness. He eyed you with something like passion, and the force of his stare was enough to make shivers of unease creep under your skin. The juxtaposition of Jugram's coldness of demeanor and the cham accents with the pastel nursery made an already-tenuous situation feel even more so.

"How's my good wife doing then?" he asked; even his voice felt terribly wrong, with just a shade of warmth and a lot of very direct control. He approached you deeply, and you felt the large hand go down to the slightly round belly. "And how is our little one doing?"

With an effort you smiled, and hollow it definitely was. "We're both doing fine," you said, and your voice was steady despite the storm inside.

Jugram's eyes softened just a hair, but the rest of his gaze lost no potency as he continued to bore into you with the fierce intensity, "I demand only the greatest from you," he told you, his voice steady but chillingly calm. "The appearance of perfection in our family. You do recognize this, do you not?"

You only nodded in resignation; there was no way to run away from what Jugram thought of you or from the existing circumstances. The palace was your imprisonment, and you were tied down by its chains of obsession.

As you turned away from the crib, about to withdraw, Jugram reached out and gently cupped your face—his touch achingly soft. "Remember, whatever happens, you are mine," he told you, not looking away. "Our family, our future—it's all connected. You and our children are my greatest accomplishments."

Certainly, something about the words- both gentle and forceful-had escaped notice. Entombed, indeed, felt you, though then it was a fate you had learned to accept; if enforced, to a degree, at least Jugram's will was not something that could change on a whim. The palace was a gilded cage; and you inside it, bound, lived a life composed of opulence and constraint, forever under his watchful gaze.

This was a beautiful, dark palace—the symbol of Jugram's clutching control and your inescapable fate.

Do not copy, steal, modify, etc. Relogs and like are appreciated.

m.list | bleach m.list | quincy m.list

taglist :: @jugramswifeyyy

[7thedisasterdyke]

Kamala has already supported KOSA (Project 2025). She has told us she is going to continue to murder babies and families. She wants to turn Gaza into real estate for white supremacists. She invited right wing goons to speak at the DNC. The Biden admin just funded alt-right chuds in Venezuela to riot because Biden thinks the socialist cheated and thinks Venezuelan Trump won instead. As a queer, indigenous person, I know Kamala will be just as bad as Trump for my rights if not worse because she wants conservatives to vote for her. The Democratic party and AIPAC has ousted progressive dems in their primaries and replaced them with obedient right wing Dems. The Biden admin sends weapons to nazis in Ukraine who killed 14,000 Ukrainians who protested against the Right wing coup that Obama supported a decade ago. Obama is responsible for many innocent deaths (but y'all treat him like a celebrity saint). Obama and Hillary had Gaddafi killed. Libyan had it all. Obama ordered a drone strike on paramedics rescuing people from the wedding he just bombed (they call it the Obama two tap). Anyway, you can keep defending the Dems moving 3 clicks right because it's better than 10 clicks right with Republicans, and saying it's an evil system, but you're helping to enable it. If we get Trump, it's nobody's fault but the Dems. I actually thought Kamala would be better than Biden. I was wrong. I'm not gonna vote for anyone who is responsible for murdering children and selling the rights of marginalized people (including myself) to Republicans. You can say "Oh but she said 'trans rights'" all you want but this is my 4th election and Dems keep supporting transphobic dems and anti-abortion dems and they parade them around like the good guys. The marginalized people you claim to support are all screaming at you to not support these right wing Dems and join them on the left. You don't get to sell them out for your own comfort. Your rights aren't more important than mine and vice versa. We've been asking you to move left with us since at least Obama turned out to have lied about codifying Roe and decided bailing out his bank buddies was more important. But we're watching you move right. We will survive either way but the dems want you to use scare tactics because they want to be the ones at the wheel of the fascist machine. So if you don't like it then don't participate. Don't play their game. They both play for the same team. They want your consent for nuclear war against made up enemies. It's sick. Stop believing their lies and supporting them. Supporting Kamala is the same as supporting Trump. You're just voting for aesthetics. Lots of liberals have already lost their way anyway and say they'd rather be fascists than socialists. Human rights begin on the left and the dems have never been left of center. Ffs liberals pulled out of a pride fest because of Palestinian inclusion. Lots of them already are self admitted zionists. Do you want to belong to a political party that openly supports white Christian supremacy cosplaying as judaism to avoid criticism? The two party system is white supremacy and they are using a black woman to play identity politics with people who only see her as color and refuse to see that she's a tool to them. Anyway there's room at the leftist table. Or you can keep going to the right until you no longer remember what you stood for.

I'm not gonna lie, sending one big chunk of text with no space for me to breathe between paragraphs is tough for me to read, but I'm going to anyway, because I foresee I'm gonna get quite a few of these.

So I'm going to go through this one point at a time:

Support of KOSA: sadly true, but that's an easy thing to change minds on. Not like she's the only one in the senate who wants it passed on either side.

Continue to murder babies and families: I can't tell if you mean the border or Gaza, but in either case, Trump will do many times worse.

Gaza into WS real estate: no she doesn't. She's been more outspoken in favor of an end to the genocide than any other presidential candidate in modern history.

Invited right-wingers into the DNC: first, I don't think she personally invited them. Second, even if she did, she still needs to pull Trump supporters and marginally right-wing independents to vote for her. We want a better society for everyone, after all.

Venezuela: the "socialist" has a proven track record of human rights abuses, and other than that, I don't know enough about the country to speak further on the subject.

Just as bad for queer/indigenous as Trump because she wants the right to vote for her: seriously, this is just point 4 worded differently. The purpose of an election (in the US) is to make yourself palatable to as many people as possible so you can beat the massive core of voters each party has. Also, again, we're trying to make a better society for everyone, right?

Dems/AIPAC ousting progressives in primaries: sure, AIPAC has a large amount of money to outspend progressives, and even still, the only actual "ousting" I've heard of was Cory Bush.

Biden sending weapons to Nazis in Ukraine: ok look, I'm sick of leftists parroting Russian propaganda. The government of Russia is authoritarian and right-wing, Trump idolizes Putin, and Putin has allied himself with Kim Jong-Un, who Trump also loves. Also, a few far-right nationalist groups fighting to maintain their nation (alongside non-far-right troops) is to be expected. And respectfully, I don't care how Obama was involved, because that's irrelevant to Russia literally invading.

Obama having innocents killed: yeah, duh, he was a US president in the US Empire's Military Age. That doesn't mean anything, and Harris was never even part of his administration, so your point is just a complete non sequitur to begin with.

"Defending Dems moving 3 clicks right when it's better than 10 clicks with Repubs": would you rather have the 10 clicks? Like, actually. Democrats are already right-wing. Harris's policies would work to move the country left, actually.

"If we get Trump, it's nobody's fault but the dems": actually, no, it's the fault of people who try to persuade the minority of far-left democrats to not vote for the best possible option.

Dems keep supporting transphobic/anti-abortion dems: yeah, sure, I'll give you that one, because guess what? They're more easily convinced to vote in their trans constituents' best interests regardless. They're more likely to vote to maintain abortion rights because they're more likely to listen to those constituents.

Marginalized people screaming at me to join them on the left: I am on the left. Incredibly far left, in fact. I'm just not stupid enough to think that we have enough people to change things. Want me to vote third party? I think I'd rather go with the safer option for marginalized people and pick someone with any chance of beating Trump.

I'm a sellout: no, I'm really not. I just understand that the system is overwhelmingly rigged against the non-establishment picks.

Dems want to be at the wheel of the fascist machine: better the one who has a chance at turning it around than the one who'll turn up the throttle.

Don't like it, don't participate: this isn't like a boycott. If every left-winger decided not to participate, Trump would almost certainly win by default. We "play their game" because without the game's existence, Trump's devoted followers would have already had every minority expunged from the country.

They both play for the same team: they're not even playing the same game! Trump and his Republican lackeys want to eliminate the concept of voting entirely, wants to end freedoms for all minorities, and wants to establish theocracy. Democrats want to maintain the democratic system, establish more rights for minorities, and make life better for Americans. This is also my answer to "Supporting Kamala is the same as supporting Trump": it's just not true.

Lots of liberals are self-admitted Zionists: believing Jewish people have a right to the chunk of land the Jewish ethnoreligion originated from, in this world with borders, where they can be unequivocally safe from the historic oppression they have faced for the last several thousand years in... is a fairly common sentiment. That is Zionism. There is a difference between believing that, and believing that they should be the only ones living in that specific region that was inhabited when they got there, which is Kahanism. In order to figure out, in a way that makes as many people happy as possible with the outcome, what to do with Israel, we need someone at the helm of the US who is not Kahanist. Trump notably supports Kahanists. Harris, notably, does not. At least not publicly. Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret as a presidential nominee?

The two-party system is WS: YES! It is! But we're not going to beat it from the outside because, and this is important, they have the power to silence us if we get too loud, and they will absolutely use it. The US has the third largest military in the world by active personnel, at 1.3 million. Do you think we would be able to train enough people to beat that? Think we can afford enough fighter planes to defeat 4 of the top 5 air forces in the world? Until the answer to that is yes, I'm going to keep voting in US elections for the lesser of two evils, because I'd rather fight them, than the trigger-happier alternatives.

"You can keep going to the right until you no longer remember what you stood for": also known as "doing anything a different flavor of leftist doesn't like".

I'd like to end this with a series of open questions:

Did you know that, of the third-party candidates for president, only Jill Stein has any chance of winning enough states?

Did you know that she's only ever won Massachusetts?

Did you know that the Claudia de la Cruz can only win by write-in?

Did you know that Cornel West isn't even on enough ballots to win?

I've seen leftists calling for votes for all three.

Final question to everyone voting "third-party or not at all":

Which one of them will beat Harris in every state?

Have a good night, and stay whelmed.

[cursedcatvibes]

LOTUS FLOWER

re2r! single dad leon x neighbor reader

word count: 1.6k

summary: leon’s baby mama dips as soon as the baby is born, leaving leon the sole parent of their baby girl. little does he know, babies are very difficult and cry a lot his neighbor is curious as to why the baby is always crying

tags/warnings: sfw (for now), fluff, pining, neighbor being nosy. not proofread as always!

a/n: my brain is not functioning properly! i cannot spit out anything but fluff right now and building up to smut is so difficult! my brain honestly isn’t letting me write fluff either to be honest! it’s been a busy summer too :( i also started some of my other WIPS too, i’ve slowly been writing other fics too. i’m proud to announce this will have a part two as well. thanks to the anon that inspired me, love you babydoll!

songs? none this time! but i was inspired by lotus flower by radiohead!

happy reading my loves!

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Leon couldn’t remember the last time he ever got a proper nights rest. With a new baby attached to his hip with the mother nowhere to be found it was honestly a struggle for him.

He had no idea how to take care of a baby, he was an only child and didn’t have to learn how to do it at an early age like some people.

He would’ve been fine if he had help but the baby mama wasn’t in the picture anymore. It’s not like something traumatic happened and then she died. Nope.

Not at all unfortunately.

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Leon was overwhelmed with joy as he held his fiancée’s hand while she was giving birth to their daughter. Tears brimming the edge of his eyes as he watched their little bundle of joy let out loud cries.

He was trying not to ugly sob as he cut the umbilical cord, it was the best day of his life. He held his little girl so gently and looked at her like she owned the world.

Leon’s fiancée who was enjoying the sight of him holding their little girl but deep down she knew that she didn’t want a baby, she never wanted this life and she felt so guilty when she told him she was pregnant because she was going to follow it up with her wanting an abortion but the look on his face when she told him was enough for her to not say anything.

After a few days in the hospital recovering from giving birth, she waited until it was her release date from there to ask Leon if he could get her some food from the cafeteria before they left and he nodded, leaving her with the baby and going to fulfill the request.

He decided on some delicious sweet cake and something salty to help wash all the sweetness down. He was excited about this new baby, it would be a new journey in his life.

But upon his arrival back from the hospital he was disappointed to find that his fiancée was now gone?

He presumed maybe she went to the bathroom, walking further into the room to look around. But a quick glance around told Leon everything he needed to know. She was gone..

His heart sank when he came to this conclusion, they were going to build a family, start a life together! What about their baby girl?

Leon came back to his senses when he heard soft cooing come from the other side of the room, he gasped and set the food onto the hospital bed, coming over towards the baby inside the small little bed. He gently picked her up and gave her a sad smile.

“Daddy will take care of you.” He whispered softly, kissing the baby's forehead while cradling her against his chest. Vowing to never let anything happen to his baby girl.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

Leon wasn’t sure what he could do for his baby at this point, between trying to juggle work as an officer and being a new father he wasn’t sure he was doing good.

Sure he would drop his baby off at his mama’s house when he goes to work or his mom would come up to his apartment, but he would have to fend for himself once she left.

All the baby did was cry, he learned a little bit about babies but it wasn’t enough, how was he going to survive this part of fatherhood? He had bags beneath his eyes and he was sure he was sleep deprived as well.

Little did he know, he wasn’t the only one struggling with hearing the baby crying. He had the end apartment and only had to deal with the neighbor next to him, the walls were thin. A little too thin.

You felt like you were going crazy, all the crying and screaming from the baby was enough to set you off and almost bang on his door to ask him to be a better parent. Another part of you was concerned, should babies be crying that much for that long?

You didn’t think he was abusing the baby but with the way the baby cried bloody murder you were genuinely starting to think that. You should go check, definitely! As a concerned neighbor of course, definitely not because you’re nosy.

You tossed on a shirt over your sports bra, not getting super fancy because you were technically still in sleep attire and you were sure you would get your answer within a few seconds.

You strolled out your apartment door and made a beeline towards Leon’s, gently knocking on the door, hoping he would hear it above the crying of his baby.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

Leon grumbled in annoyance when he heard someone knocking on his door. He held his crying baby on his hip and ran his hand through his tangled hair, wincing softly as his finger got caught on a knot.

He made a mental note to brush his hair whenever he got the baby down for another short nap as he unlocked his door to open it. “I’m not interested in buying anything-“ Leon explained with a frustrated look on his face, pausing when he saw it was you.

“Uh?” You briefly laughed and shook your head. “I’m not selling anything.” You said while shifting your weight to your other foot. “You might’ve seen me around before, I’m your next door neighbor?”

Leon raised his eyebrow at you while you spoke before nodding, gently bouncing the wailing baby up and down. “Right..” He trailed off, wondering what this whole thing was about.

You cleared your throat and glanced at the baby, the baby didn’t seem to show any signs of abuse nor did Leon look like he was either. “I was just wondering if you maybe needed help with the baby? I used to take care of my siblings when I was younger.”

Leon was surprised at this. He thought you were going to scold him for his crying child but you actually offered to help. He blinked a few times before responding.

“Really? I would appreciate it.” He murmured softly, turning to the side so you could step inside his apartment, carefully closing the door behind you both.

You immediately notice how he has baby toys everywhere and it looks like a war zone. You studied the room for a brief moment before turning towards Leon. “What’s this little sweetheart's name?” You pointed at his daughter and he looked down at the kid.

She was still crying her lungs out and it made him feel sad and guilty he couldn’t even take care of his child. “Angelina.” He says, handing you his baby and you immediately grab her.

You gently grab the pacifier connected to her bib and put it in her mouth, carefully rocking her back and forth carefully. In an instant she stopped crying and curled into your chest.

Leon was stunned, were you a witch?

His jaw dropped and he immediately closed it, all he could feel was shame and embarrassment. Why couldn’t he do that? Why did he not have that same effect?

“Wow.. I never got her to stop crying that quick..” Leon murmured quietly, watching as you held the baby with a gentle but firm grip so she wouldn’t be able to wiggle away.

“Babies are super easy, it’s the toddler stage that’s rough.” You laughed quietly and glanced around Leon’s living room for what felt like the thousandth time. “When she goes to sleep, where do you put her?” You asked politely.

Leon felt his heart jump at the sight of you holding his little angel. Sure he had a pregnant girlfriend at the time but he noticed you around the apartment building. More often than not at times.

“U-Uhm.” He brought a closed fist up to his mouth and cleared his throat. “She’s got a nursery here.” He mumbled softly, leading the way towards the neutral colored room.

You followed behind him and nodded silently, the air growing quiet all around as Angelina slowly drifted off to sleep, softly cooing in her sleep. You smiled a bit and carefully set her down inside her crib.

To Leon’s surprise she didn’t stir, but rather she just laid there. “Are you a witch?” He asked quietly while the both of you tried leaving the room quickly and as quietly as possible to avoid waking the baby up.

You snorted and shook your head. “No, I just have experience.” You replied, shrugging a bit before flattening your clothes out. Leon looked at you strangely for a few seconds before smiling.

“Yeah. I can tell.” He glanced down at his feet awkwardly, while you glanced away awkwardly. “I guess I should get going now.” You exhaled sharply and went to turn around. Yet as you took a step forward Leon’s hand grasp your wrist with a gentle limp grip you could easily break out of if you really wanted too.

“Wait.” He paused and stared into your eyes deeply. “Can you.. help me with her more often? I’ll pay you.” He said desperately, begging you with his eyes. You gulped and nodded. “Y-Yeah. Of course, that’ll be alright.” You nodded with a small grin and he mimicked your same expression.

He escorted you to the door and you both exchanged goodbyes, you promised to help him and he promised to pay you.

As soon as the door shut he allowed himself to have a physical reaction. Gosh! Was he really thinking about his neighbor like that? But also was he moving too quickly? He still had a baby and a deadbeat mama.

He wandered inside his bathroom and looked at his appearance, almost dying on the spot with how terrible he looked. He would put in better effort to look good, not for you of course. Totally not because he wanted to impress you. He just figured it was more professional since he was technically hiring you for a service.

Definitely nothing more.

[helloilikepurple]

DC X DP - Danny Drake

Tim's parents didn't intend to have another child. One was plenty. And then an one drunken night resulted in Janet getting pregnant. It's a bit of a predicament, seeing as neither of them want another child (who will need to be fed and raised and stuff) but are also both generally against abortion. So, she rides out the pregnancy, limiting public appearances so it remains secret. She doesn't want to deal with the publicity her being pregnant would get her. It's too much drama. So she keeps it secret from everyone but her husband, and gives birth in a private hospital.

She refuses to sign the birth certificate. She doesn't want this baby tied to her. She doesn't even bother thinking of a name. She gives him away as soon as he's out. A yet-to-be-named newborn Danny is handed off to an orphanage as soon as he can be. The Drake parents go through medical procedures to ensure another pregnancy won't happen.

He stays there for a only a few weeks before an over-eager, excitable couple comes by with their young daughter, in search of a son to teach all their ghostly hunting ways to because for all Jazz, even so young, is smart, she has no interest in their research. Also, Maddie doesn't want to go through another pregnancy since her first one wasn't very enjoyable (she was in a lot of pain for most of those 9 months, basically unable to work on her research).

They see Danny and are quick to adopt him (well, as quick as you can be, but, with it being a Gotham orphanage, it's a lot quicker than it should be). Jack claims he can see the ghost hunter potential in him and Maddie thinks he's adorable. She's excited to have a little baby again to take care of and hold. She'd always wanted a big family, and while 2 children isn't really a lot, it's enough for someone as busy as her. Jazz is excited to have a little brother, and takes to reading books about babies and parenting to better take care of him. She loves holding him, and brags to all her friends about her baby brother, who's undeniably the cutest baby ever.

Danny grows up with the Fentons, not knowing he's adopted. Everything happens as it does in the show. And then, when Danny is 15, his parents take him to Gotham for a ghost hunter convention, Jazz busy with university hunting. Going to Gotham should've been a nice vacation for him. No ghost attacks for a good two weeks. Just Danny in Gotham - with free reign of the most crime ridden city in the world. Yeah this wasn't gonna' go well.

Gotham is dark. The air smells like sewage, death and bitter hope. The people feel like candles flickering in a storm, stubbornly refusing to go out. Danny decides he likes it. The hotel his parents choose is fancy (paid for by Vlad at the insistence that Maddie couldn't stay in some random, run down place after catching wind of their trip). Danny thought it suspicious but figured he'd deal with it when he needed to.

Anyway, Danny has his own room right across the hall from his parents. It's got a queen sized bed, full sized bathroom with a jacuzzi bathtub, a walk-in closet, a tv and a balcony. It's very nice. Danny sets his bags down and collapses onto his bed with a huff. He lays there for a minute, and then reaches for his phone to text Jazz, Sam and Tucker that he made it to the hotel safe (something they insisted on).

And then he stews.

Mum and Dad, for all their brilliance, can be forgetful when it comes to their children. Danny basically has free reign to do whatever for most of the 2 weeks they'll be in Gotham (which is his whole winter break and a little of the first week back).

Vlad's invited the Fentons to a few galas he's attending, insisting they'll be able to show off their inventions to a bunch of people. Danny knows its an excuse for Vlad to spend time with Maddie, make digs at Jack, and show him off as if he was his son. He's not looking forward to it, but the offer came with free, great hotel rooms so it could be worse.

(Plus, with Vlad paying he can spurge on room services and bleed him dry.)

Besides, Danny could do whatever he wanted the rest of the time. He could go to the planetarium and stuff. All he had to do was not out himself as a meta-adjacent person in a meta-hating city. Easy peasy.

All in all, what better time for all this to happen than on Christmas?

Honestly, even with the galas, the garish Christmas decorations all over the place, the music, and Vlad, this is seeming like a better Christmas than usual.

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day 17. Blood and Flesh.

CW: TW! Recurrent pregnancy loss. TW!Abortion. TW!Bleeding

Maddie: Jack, we need to talk. I know this is gonna sound crazy but I think Phantom, the ghost boy, is actually our son. And I’m sure Danny and Jazz know about it too.

What if we bring down on the Fentons the knowledge that they have ghost children without revealing Phantom’s identity?

Text+Chat+Memes=Prompt:

Of course Maddie wanted to have children. But…Not in college. She felt it was too soon. The lack of stable earnings and time were not conditions for growing a new person. She had nothing to give this potential child. Maddie did not hesitate long before deciding to have an abortion.

And for years, neither Jack nor Maddie have thought about this unplanned pregnancy.

Ectoplasm is toxic, obviously. But since ectology was only recently recognized by the scientific community, no one has ever fully analysed the effects of ectoplasm on the body.

When Maddie and Jack had the misfortune to become one of those couples experiencing recurrent pregnancy loss, they immediately suspected that the ectoplasm in their lab contributed to their reproductive difficulty. Put simply, death didn’t go with life.

They may not always have followed the lab’s safety rules perfectly, but is that why one of their first works will be exposing a teratogenic effect of ectoplasm? What if they’ve lost their only chance to be biological parents?

What a cruel price to pay for the work of life. Jack and Maddie so dreamed of their little happiness. Do they have to forget about it?

No, the Fentons don’t give up that easily!

They may have to spend a few years doing only theoretical work, but they’ll try again.

~~~~~

Ectoplasm is toxic. Tests, hopes…and a few miscarriages too.

Jazz was a miracle. Fenton family literally didn’t get out of hospitals to look after her health.

Danny was an even bigger miracle, because they didn’t have any hope of having a second child. Maddie and Jack didn’t even plan this pregnancy. Danny was born premature, with signs of hypoxia... but alive. His potential twin was not so lucky. Single intrauterine fetal death (sIUFD).

Right. Death still followed them. Of course, parents didn’t tell Jazz and Danny that they might have had another brother. It was their grief. Children had no reason to know about it.

~~~~~

"You filthy ghost!" Maddie stopped to rest after a chase for elder Phantom.

"Exhausted?" Dan was flying at a safe distance from her. "Maybe it’s time to retire, Maddie? A little exercise never stopped you before." The ghost was clearly making fun of her.

"Not going to happen, I’ll do it until I die if Amity Park need it. And my son will be here to stop you instead of me after me or Jack."

The smile on Ghost’s face faded immediately. "I hope he die first." The ghost whispered in a hoarse voice."It's best for everyone."

"What did you say?" Maddie rose up in anger, pointing her weapon at it.

"Has any thought crossed your mind about what happens to your children if anything happens to you? Go out every day and yell like idiots, attracting all the ghosts around." An ectoblast is blowing right up against her temple and crashing into the wall. The ghost frowned and turned away. "Did you ever think that Danny wouldn’t want to live without you? Did you think that he would be hurt if he had to lose you? No! Is it always about your stupid desires and ambitions, Mom."

For a moment Maddie thought he it was looking at her like it had seen a ghost, which was obviously just ridiculous. Maddie wanted to laugh about it, but somehow she couldn’t. Why would the ghost trying to fake human emotion care to hide the tears that gather in the corners of its eyes?

Maddie tried to get it out of her head. Anyway, it’s not that important. Phantoms have always been atypical. She’ll come home, take a warm shower, and tell Danny how much she loves him.

~~~~~

Maddie: My son is a strong boy and Dan: He’s weak! He’s a freak! He can’t handle it, Mom!

Maddie had long pondered this theory since the day Jack admitted that Phantom had misspoke during the fight and called him his father but she had never experienced it before. Or maybe she wasn’t paying attention.

Maddie: Hey, Phantom, just a question, how old are you? Dan: Why are you changing the subject? Twenty-four, twenty-five… Hell, I don’t remember. Stopped counting after 17, nobody cares anyway. And her first months dating Jack were 24 years ago. Right. The eyebrows, the shape of eyes and the height is all from Jack. The waist and the side eye from her. Theoretically. Still need more proof.

~~~~~~

Dan: Is this all your frail human form can do?

Maddie walked past the Casper High playground when she saw a ghost flying around. It was one of the new ones. The Phantom’s full-grown specimen. More dangerous. And totally unpredictable. Maddie squeezed the gun harder. Her theories are just theories and she can’t have such a dangerous spirit near the school, near her children.

Danny: Shut up and give me my bottle of water, asshole.

This voice. Maddie stopped in shock. What’s her boy doing so close to a ghost? He’s always so terrified of them.

Dan: No pull-ups, no water. You need muscles. Without them you’re gonna look like a worm if you’re gonna grow up to be taller than Jack as I am.

Danny: Just so you know, you’re a terrible big brother and I hate you.

Dan: Well, that just means I’m doing a good job.

Danny: When Mom asks who destroyed the furniture in Vlad’s house I’m pointing at you. A little run around town will be good for you. And as they say, Older siblings are like your parents' personal science fair. They're a bunch of experiments.

Dan: ...Just so you know, it sounded completely insane. Terrible. Good job, but don’t go near Dani with those jokes. Jazz will kill us both for setting a bad example. Danny: Bad example? Since when has a good sense of humor become a bad example? Dan: Shut up. Drink water and go to the shower. Jazz is gonna kick my ass if you die of overheating.

Danny: Huh, afraid of one know-it-all? When dad chased you with a bazooka, you didn’t seem scared.

Dan: Сome on, dad has a lot of strengths, yeah, but the ability to aim isn't one of them. And not

Dani: driving a car?

Danny: Right. Wait, how long have you been eavesdropping? Dani: Long enough to blackmail you both. Сomputer’s mine for the rest of the week. Dan and Danny: Shit.

~~~~~

The Invisobill. or Phantom. Ha. Danny Fenton…Danny Phantom. Weston boy said crazy things. Yeah. But what if he was only partially wrong? Everything except the color of its eyes and hair is so much like Danny's. If this were typical manipulation from a ghost hoping to shake the desire of ghost hunters to chase a creature similar to their child, he would have had to give it up months ago. But phantom did not change his disguise. This is his true form. What about ghost girl and older ghost? They are also so young.

Maddie could not sleep. In her head struggled scientist and woman weighed down by feelings of guilt and shame. She was tormented by philosophical problems and religious issues. No, Maddie, not even a neural tube is formed at that time. It was just a collection of cells. It’s not a person. It doesn’t feel pain. And ghosts do not too. Right? Is it even acceptable to compare such things? Is it possible that a ghost is not the remnant of negative human emotions and memories? What is responsible for its formation then? What is the purpose of such a ghost? And more importantly, how long have these ghosts been near and they did not notice? Has the portal become a source of energy necessary for their existence in the physical plane? Or is it only they who have not seen them?

So painful. It’s so unpleasant to think about what monsters they look like to their dear Danny and Jazz. Ghosts or not, she threatened creatures who might have been part of their family in front of her babies. God, naive teens must think that three Phantoms are their siblings or something. Of course! That explains the disappearance of fenton thermos and the way the Phantoms sneak into the portal and Danny’s always somewhere in trouble and…Oh my God, they could be in so much danger! How long has this been going on? No, the real question is..Hm, if this is going on for so long, why haven’t the ghosts done anything…evil? If their nature is in the destruction then why didn’t anything happen? Jack and she would never have missed something that would hurt their children.

~~~~~~

The fight between the Skulker and Invisobill was particularly fierce this time. Maddie was unlucky to be in one of the damaged buildings. But who is she if not a scientist? She will find a way to benefit in such a situation.

Unnecessary risk, completely unprofessional. But… The debris of the wall does not lie on her very tightly and the weapon still with Maddie. Yeah. She has to test her theory. She has to. She can get up and leave if she needs to. Right? A little dizziness never killed anyone. She just feels cold and sounds are strange. Maddie: Help. Help! Someone! M-Maddie? An insecure voice with an echo sounds. Yes, it's near. Maddie: Help! I can’t.. I can’t get up. T-Hard to breathe. Danny: Mum! Mama, hold on, I’m coming.

Phantom checks her pupillary reflex. Who taught him that? Jazz? The touch of his hand, so cold and shaky. Now Maddie really doesn't feel so good. It’s good that the ghost is her boy. She doesn’t have to worry about anything happening to people around. Neither he nor Danny know how to lie. She can breathe. Just cover her eyes for a moment and… Just a few seconds. Phantom:Jazz, Jazz! Call an ambulance. I don’t know what to do. I..I can’t just make mum intangible. What if she has a crush syndrome and I make it worse or… Her boy. Why is Danny so scared? Danny: Tucker, she is bleeding and she’s not responding to me and… Sshh, my little star, is all right. Mom just needs to lie down and rest a little.

~~~~~~

Maddie could not believe that she had actually passed out. But the time spent in the hospital gave her enough time to think about everything.

Maddie: Jack, we need to talk. I know this is gonna sound crazy but I think Phantom, the ghost boy, is actually our son. And I’m sure Danny and Jazz know about it too.

Jack: Honey, are you sure we don’t need to double-check if you have a concussion?

~~~~~~

Maddie and Jack decide to watch surveillance videos for the first time. After all, it concerns the safety of their children, they have the right to know what happens in the house in their absence. Especially when the ghosts are nearby. Children *live in their own sitcom*:

They have seen enough. Maddie decides to check chats on Jazz’s phone. It’s for their safety, only. She’s a good mother but what if the ghosts are up to something?

The chat was so..Teenage? And Chaotic. Normal? No, definitely not. How many times have they punished Danny unfairly? Did Jazz learn to lie and they didn’t even notice? And what the hell, why were they joking about dissection. It’s just awful. They need to talk immediately. No, it will look suspicious. They need to try to make contact with ghosts. And then they’ll all be grounded. All five.

Oh, and she thought two kids were a lot of work. How are they gonna handle three more with the bizarre biology ectology? Do they have hobbies, interests? They are definitely more complicated than theblob-ghosts. Was she wrong? Do they have emotions, a need for socialization? Can she trust her emotions in this matter?

~~~~Bonus~~~~

"What the hell happened to freak’s neck?!"

Danny: Um, excuse me, ma'am, he’s been doing Hatha yoga in India for years. Practice opens up amazing flexibility in the joints! Right, brother?

Dan: Fuck off.

Ma'am: Don’t take me for an idiot! What about his skin color then? Jack: You have something against my son’s tan? Dan: I told you going shopping with me was a bad idea. Dani: If you didn’t scare everyone around, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Dan:...I didn’t even try to do it this time. Why is she meddling?!

~~~Bonus~~~~

Dan: Why am I only third? Dani: Because I have successfully stabbed Danny in the back when he did not expect it. With you he is always waiting for a trick. This makes me much more successful than you :)

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 63)

Trigger Warning: Heavily Implied Abortion. IT'S NOT UZI, DON'T PANIC.

“N, I need ya for something.” Hal walked by N's desk, two more weeks had gone by without either him or Uzi telling a soul about her pregnancy, and it was beginning to get to him, he understood why they had to keep it to themselves… with what was happening to her being unique. But… he was still so excited.

“What's up?”

“Need you to help me perform a wellness check on a… Miss Walker. Her employer said he hadn't seen her for a couple days.” Hal tangled his fingers in his beard as he read through a file, before turning back to N.

“Sure, now?”

“Now.”

N stood up immediately, following in behind Hal as they left through the office door and made their way through the hallways, it was still early, so the halls weren't filled with people yet, only a few making their way to their early morning jobs.

“How's Uzi?” Hal asked, his tone friendly, though clearly only making small talk for the sake of it.

“She's fine, why wouldn't she be?” N replied a little too quickly. Talking about Uzi made him think about the baby which made him want to scream it to every person passing by. So he tried to avoid talking about her at all while at work… which was nearly impossible, because he was always talking about a show they watched together, or how Tera was doing, or… everything to do with his family, really.

“You've been really quiet about her lately… you're not having issues are you?” Hal was still slightly in front of him, so he couldn't see the man's face, but he got the impression that Hal was at least somewhat genuinely worried.

“No! Nothing like that. We're perfect, never been better, really.” N quickly assured, though he wasn't sure how convincing he sounded, though it was the truth. Every night they spent together, weather it be watching a movie, playing a game or just… talking, had been magical.

“I heard she went to a mothers group. That seems… unlike her.” Hal mentioned, making N's visor fill with sweat as he realized how obvious that was. He was right, Uzi wouldn't just suddenly decide to go to something as sappy and cliché as a mother's group for no reason.

“I convinced her to, Tera doesn't spend a lot of time around kids her age, and we thought it would be good to start socializing her.” The half-lie left his mouth almost instantly, his time with Uzi had definitely made him a more convincing liar, but even still it wasn't entirely untruthful, they had talked about socializing Tera. Though it was more about preparing her for a little sibling.

“Ah… so it was your idea. That does make more sense.”

“How'd you know about that anyway?” N asked, cocking his head as they both rounded a corner, Hal raised an eyebrow at him.

“My sister was there, came to me ecstatic about a new member. Figured out it was Uzi by her description.”

“Oh.” N blinked, well that was good information to have.

“We're here, I'll let ya do the honors this time.” Hal stepped back from the steel door as N stepped forward, nodding as he lifted his fist and knocked on the door heavily, the sound echoed around them for a few seconds.

There was no response.

So he tried again, announcing himself this time.

“This is Officer N and Officer Stone here on a wellness check, we're just here to see if you're okay.” He shouted firmly into the closed door as he knocked again, once again there was no answer.

“What now?” He asked Hal, who pondered the question for a moment.

“We don't have a warrant, we can't just barge in without probable cause.” He explained and N nodded, pressing the side of his face into the door to try and hear what was going on inside.

There was a light scraping noise coming from the other side, like something sharp against tile. It was muffled heavily by the door, but it was audible to his enhanced hearing.

“Well there's something behind this door, I hear scraping.”

“H-Help…” Came faintly from behind the door, and N lept back in surprise, looking at his superior with a dreadful look.

“Someone just called for help!”

Hal didn't seem to hear the cry for help, but he did seem to trust N, as he took a device from his pocket and held it over the access panel for the door, there was a pause, then the device beeped twice as the door swished open.

“Hello probable cause.”

“Miss Walker? Are you alright?” N Called out into the seemingly empty apartment, nothing was out of place, the kitchen was clean, the living room empty, but N could still pick up gentle scraping from… somewhere.

He moved through the Apartment, Hal in behind him as he followed his senses into the apartments bedroom, where he stood at the doorway in shock for a moment.

There was a young woman, only half dressed with her grey tank top shredded down to ribbons, one of her purple eyelights were closed in pain as the other looked at him with a mixture of fear and relief. She was leaning against the bed, sitting on the floor clutching her core, her breath coming out in distressed, shallow huffs.

“Miss, are you alright? What happened?” N immediately crouched down beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder as he looked around, there was a small trail of oil leading from the bathroom into the bedroom.

“I'll check it out, see if you can get anything out of her.” Hal said as he moved into the bathroom, N turned his attention back to the girl.

She was still in shock, her long brown hair tousled and unkempt, she was whimpering softly, looking between him and the hand on her core.

“Hey… I'm N. I'm a WDF member. What's your name?” He started softly, easing her in with something simple as she looked like she was in a panic.

“M-Mary.” She replied, her voice small and weak, muffled by static. N tilted his head slightly, he could smell oil, and she seemed to be in pain, but nothing was visually wrong with her.

“Okay Mary, what happened? Are you hurt?” She leaned into the bed further, every ambient light on her body flickered at once and she winced, clutching her core tighter.

“Where are you hurt?” He changed his question and she gave him an answer by looking down at her core, and everything clicked for him, his eyes turned soft.

“May I see?”

He reached forward and slowly touched her hand, giving her time to respond. She nodded warily before N pulled her hand away and gasped as the smell and sight hit him.

The glass covering over her core had been punctured, by what, he didn't know, but the drones full cylindrical core was now exposed to the open air, oil drooled out of the opening profusely, and was all over Mary's hand from where she'd held it. Strangly, her core was glowing a different color then the rest of her, blue, instead of purple.

It was strange… seeing a working core just… exposed like that. But with the way it was flickering, it wouldn't be working for much longer.

He placed her hand back over it and met her eyelights, they had tears in them, one of her hands was gripping his knee like he was a lifeline, he tried to ignore how much her eyelights reminded him of Uzi.

“What happened? Who did this to you?”

Hal came out of the bathroom a moment later, a screwdriver covered in oil in his hands.

“Found this, no sign of any struggle.”

“Mary?” N asked softly, and the young woman buried herself into his shoulder as she sobbed, he caught a few words that made his oil freeze in his tubing.

“I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I wasn't ready… I wasn't ready…” N blinked up at his boss, who looked like he'd just eaten a rock, N looked back down at her injury.

“You… did this to yourself?” The girl only sobbed harder as she nodded, and N felt himself gulp as, on autopilot, he scooped her up. Having no more questions.

‘Let's get you patched up okay? Can't have you going offline on us.”

The journey to the medical bay was both incredibly fast, and incredibly, torturously slow. Hal was right in front of him the whole time, sprinting as fast as he could go and N was the same, cradling the woman in his arms to protect her the best he could.

Why had she done this to herself? What wasn't she ready for?

The medical staff were waiting for them and whisked off the young woman in a gurney, leaving himself and Hal standing in the waiting room.

N was confused, but he also felt nauseous and the tips of his fingers felt like ice. Context was an informative bitch, even if he didn't have all the information, he could guess, but he didn't want to guess, he wanted to be wrong.

“Hal, why was her core a different color?” He asked, voice slightly shaky as he continued to stare foreward into the doors Mary had been taken through.

“Late Pregnancy.” Hal muttered simply, also staring at those cursed doors.

With that, N felt a dam snap and then crumble into a thousand tiny peices, tears sprung into his visor as the peices clicked into place. Oh God, oh robo-god.

“Woah, N are you-?”

N struggled to keep himself standing as he imagined those purple eyelights driving the screwdriver into her core, for the express purpose of… of killing.

“Uzi's pregnant.” Hal gasped out, holding onto N's shoulder as he tried to supress a complete meltdown. Hal pushed N into a waiting chair as N himself buried his head in his hands.

“Yeah… She is…” N croaked back, trying to expunge the horrible image of Uzi doing this to herself from his processors. Or of her going offline, killed by Doll, killed by… by carrying their baby and it having nowhere to go but through her.

“Does Khan know?”

“No. N-Nobody does.” He grunted, gripping his own hair as all the unpleasant emotions that had been building up and that he'd been repressing, for Uzi's sake and for Tera's sake, and for the sake that he just… didn't want to think about all the ways this could go wrong.

“No wonder you've been so quiet… that's been eating at ya for almost a month.” Hal tried to inject humor but N didn't even laugh, he just made a pathetic whine and looked at the ceiling.

Did Uzi feel this way too? Like she wasn't ready? Or was N unintentionally pressuring her into something that… she didn't want?

He didn't know.

[justabigassnerd]

Secret's Out

Pairing - Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x daughter!reader

Word count - 2,204

Warnings - a couple of swear words, brief mention of abortion

Summary - Dagger Squad (plus Mav) discover the secret that Bradley had been keeping from them

A/N - I'm back y'all!! Happy new year! This was a request sent in to me (along with a couple of others I will write in due time) and it had me fangirling bc I love the idea so much. I hope I did the anon's idea justice. As per y'all, please send in requests, feedback and enjoy!

Bradley Bradshaw drew a definitive line in the sand to separate his work life and his home life. He only told his teammates the most basic information and kept most of his life close to his chest, wanting to keep a sense of privacy. The biggest secret that he was keeping from his team was his four-year-old daughter.

Bradley had been a single parent all your life. Your mother was someone Rooster had had a drunken one-night stand with and when he discovered she was pregnant he was willing to do what he could to provide for her and the baby. Your mother hadn���t been someone who wanted kids but couldn’t find the heart to terminate the pregnancy when she had the chance so when you were born, she handed you to Bradley and never looked back. Leaving the two of you alone.

Rooster had put his whole heart and soul into raising you. Finding himself loving you more and more every day. It was you and him against the world. Rooster had been meaning to introduce you to his team, especially Maverick after the uranium mission but he knew you were pretty shy, and his team could be pretty overwhelming sometimes. He never brought the idea up to the Daggers because he wanted to make sure you were okay with it first. You were and always would be Rooster’s top priority. However, on a day it wasn’t expected. Dagger Squad met you for the first time.

The squad had decided to head to the beach one weekend. They’d planned this all together, even making sure Maverick came but they all accepted that Rooster wouldn’t be coming. He never came on any weekend trips with the team, and they’d all started betting on why he never came. Bob just assumed that Rooster wanted time away from the team because he knew they could be a lot. Whereas Hangman and Coyote betted that Rooster had a secret girlfriend he wasn’t telling anyone about.

When the team arrived at the beach, they started setting up their chairs and placing their coolers of food and drink down in the sand before Payback grabbed his football from his car and proposed a game of dogfight football. As they were sorting out teams and getting ready to play Coyote gathered everyone’s attention.

“Is that Rooster?” He asks, pointing out the familiar figure further down the beach. Everyone stood by Coyote, leaving Maverick stood behind them and followed his gaze to where Rooster was chasing a young girl, scooping her up in his arms and tickling her as she laughed.

“Bradshaw has a kid?” Hangman asked, eyebrow raised as he glances over at the rest of his team, hoping someone has an answer.

“He could be babysitting?” Payback said, glancing around to see if anyone else was with the two. The team then looked back at Maverick, staring at the pair with a stunned expression. Just as Phoenix was about to propose that the team leave the two of you be and just get on with playing dogfight football Fanboy chose to open his mouth and call out to Rooster.

“Hey, Rooster!” He yelled, waving over at his teammate as Rooster turned in the direction of the team, waving over at them quickly before turning his attention down to you and crouching down to be at your level. The team watched as Rooster spoke to you before straightening up, taking your small hand in his and leading you over to the team.

“Hey guys.” Rooster greets with a smile as you reach his teammates. It was obvious to everyone that Rooster hadn’t expected to see them at the beach, but he couldn’t be mad about it since it was just a coincidence. Every member of the team wasn’t looking at Rooster however, they all had their focus on you where you were hiding behind your dad’s legs, peeking out occasionally at all the adults in front of you.

“This is y/n. She’s, my daughter.” Rooster says, noticing everyone looking at you as he reached down to take your hand once more.

“You have a kid?” Payback asks with raised eyebrows, shock written all over his face as Rooster rolls his eyes and scoffs jokingly.

“Yes, Payback. I have a kid. y/n, sweetheart, do you want to say hi?” Rooster replies to Payback before turning his attention to you as you shake your head and hide further behind Rooster’s legs.

“Sorry, she’s quite shy.” Rooster apologises, looking over at his friends as they smile knowingly.

“It’s okay. Must be intimidating for her to see a large group of people, huh?” Phoenix says, sending you a soft smile when she catches you peeking out from behind Rooster’s legs. Before Rooster has the chance to reply, you hold your arms up, indicating that you want to be picked up and when he obliges, setting you on his hip you lean close to your father’s ear and whisper something that makes a large smile appear on his face.

“Can I tell Phoenix what you said?” Rooster asks, his smile widening when you nod before squirming to be put down again, this time standing alongside him rather than behind him.

“Phoenix, y/n just told me that she thinks you’re very pretty.” Rooster says with a grin as you cling onto his hand like your life depends on it. Phoenix felt her heart melt at his words and crouched down so she could be at your level.

“I think you’re very pretty too y/n.” Phoenix says, a smile on her face as you give her a shy smile of your own. While Phoenix makes conversation with you, the guys of Dagger Squad start talking to Rooster, wanting to know more about you and telling him that they want to be part of your life, proposing that they become the cool uncles.

“Look, I’d love for you guys to be a part of her life, but I need y/n to be okay with it too. She’ll warm up to you guys with time, but it’s always just been me and her since she was born so I need you guys to go at her pace.” Rooster says, glancing at his friends who nod seriously, understanding every word he’s saying.

“I got an idea. We’ll introduce ourselves, say hi and then we can leave you guys be. Let you explain that we work with you and that we’re friends and we could go from there?” Hangman suggests and every head turned to face him. No one had expected him to come up with such an idea, but everyone found his idea good and agreed.

“Okay, that’s a good start.” Rooster agrees and he turns to explain to you that his friends are going to say hi and to his joy, you smile and nod, seemingly more confident after talking to Phoenix. Each member of Dagger Squad takes it in turns introducing themselves to you, using their real name as opposed to their callsigns. You offer each of them a wave and a smile. After the last of them introduced themselves they bid you and Rooster goodbye and move to a different area of the beach, finally revealing Maverick who’d found himself unable to move once Rooster crossed to the team.

“Didn’t realise you were here, Mav.” Rooster attempts to joke before noticing the hurt in Maverick’s eyes. You were born while Rooster had cut Maverick out of his life, so he never told Maverick about your birth or even your existence. Rooster felt guilt beginning to gnaw at his stomach as he saw Maverick attempting to blink away his tears.

“Hey y/n/n. This is Maverick. He was grandpa’s best friend.” Rooster says, introducing you to Maverick. He knew the entirety of Dagger Squad had just introduced themselves to you using their real names instead of their callsigns but growing up he’d always known Maverick as Maverick and not Pete. No one called him Pete other than Penny.

“Grandpa Goose?” You ask innocently, looking up at your dad as he nods with a gentle smile.

“That’s right, sweetheart. He was grandpa Goose’s best friend.” Rooster confirms, looking back at Maverick who smiles lightly at the exchange. Rooster then offers to sit with Maverick on the beach wall and chat while you entertain yourself by making sandcastles.

“She’s adorable, Bradley.” Maverick says, watching as you start piling sand into your bucket with your spade.

“You’re not wrong there, Mav. She’s perfect.” Rooster says with a smile, glancing over at Maverick.

“You said it’s just been you and her since she was born. That must’ve been hard.” Maverick says quietly. He remembers when Goose and Carole first had Rooster and how they’d often have Maverick come around to help. He remembered when Penny’s husband left and how she was left to care for Amelia by herself and how he’d step in and help when he was in town.

“There have been moments where it’s been tough but the good outweighs the bad. The hardest part was when she was a newborn. I didn’t know what I was doing but I found a parent group and it helped a lot. Made some friends too who help look after y/n sometimes.” Rooster explains, glancing back over at Maverick who nods slowly, listening carefully.

“I’m glad it’s not been too hard on you and you’ve had support along the way. I’m just sorry I fucked everything up by pulling your papers.” Maverick apologises, head hanging in shame as he pictures what could’ve been if he hadn’t pulled Rooster’s papers. He would’ve helped bring you up, and helped to provide support to Rooster with the knowledge he picked up helping Goose and Carole when Rooster was born. He could’ve been the father Rooster lost all those years ago.

“Don’t be like that Mav. I was the dumbass who couldn’t understand why you did it and let my anger get the best of me. When I took y/n home for the first time I knew I couldn’t get my parent's help… so I almost called you.” Rooster admits, eyes shifting from Maverick to you, watching you add shells to your newly formed sandcastle.

“I’m just glad I’ve been able to put it behind me. y/n needs more people in her life. I’m doing what I can I just want her to have everything she deserves. I love her so much, Mav.” Rooster continues, smiling slightly when you find a small stick and plunge it into the top of your castle, acting as if it were a flagpole.

“I’m here now, kid. And so’s the rest of Dagger Squad. If anything she’s going to end up spoiled rotten.” Maverick says with a chuckle, wiping away his unfallen tears as Rooster laughs slightly.

“Not too spoiled, Mav. I need my kid to be raised right.” Rooster replies as you call over to him, showing him your completed sandcastle excitedly before running up to him demanding you be lifted so you could sit on his lap, curling into him instantly.

“Did you like my sandcastle, daddy?” You ask excitedly, your grin widening when he nods.

“It’s the best sandcastle I’ve seen in my entire life. I think Mav agrees too.” Rooster says, hugging you tight as you look over at Maverick with hopeful eyes.

“Your dad’s right y/n. It’s the best sandcastle ever.” He says, making your smile overtake your face before you cuddle into Rooster’s arms, content to sit there as the two men continue their conversation. The two converse a little longer, their conversation only stopping when Rooster hears the soft snores coming from where you had buried your face in his neck.

“I think it’s a certain someone’s naptime.” Rooster says with an amused tone to his voice as he carefully stands up, tightening his grip on you as you cuddle closer to him. Maverick follows Rooster to the Bronco, helping to open the door while Rooster carefully navigates putting you into your car seat, doing his best not to rouse you. Once you’re secured in your seat, Rooster turned to Maverick with a smile on his face.

“If you want to come over tomorrow, I’m sure y/n would love it. You definitely won her over by complimenting her sandcastle. I think she’d love to hear some stories about dad. There’s only so much I can tell her.” Rooster says, a pang of sadness hitting his chest at thought of his dad and how much he misses him and wishes he was around.

“I’ll come over tomorrow. You won’t be able to get rid of me now.” Maverick laughs as Rooster opens the front door of the Bronco.

“Bradley, before you go, I have to say. You’re doing great. She’s a good kid.” Maverick then says, stopping Rooster in his tracks as he turns to face his father figure, quickly moving to trap him in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Mav.” Rooster mumbles into Maverick’s shoulder before releasing him from the hug and getting into the car. He bids Maverick one last goodbye before driving away, leaving Maverick alone as he smiled to himself.

He was a goner for the youngest Bradshaw already.

[brooooswriting]

Could do a tara carpenter x fem reader

the core 4 finds a lost dog near Tara and Sam’s place

*Everyone but Mindy is against the idea keeping the dog because this dog is massive and it’s a mastiff breed*

They put found dogs flyers and post it on social media see if this dog belong to anyone and are just waiting to see if they the owner comes and are taking care of the dog

*Poor tara who drew the short straw and she has the task of walking the dog and got dragged all across the park*

Mindy who witness the whole thing recorded the whole thing

*you could hear her laughter in video and tara yelling “don’t just stand there🤬!!!! HELP-“ before falling into the lake*

Everyone was about to ask what happen seeing her completely drench and leaves in her hair but she like “😤😑 don’t ask” while Mindy was in the floor dying of laughter and show them the video

But for some reason this dog is strangely attach to Tara and choosing to stay by her side. In a cute moment imagine tara having a nightmare then the dog trying to show comfort to her. And she sleep hugging his head🥺. They all start warming up to the dog*

That until a girl appears with a flyer and is like “hi I believe you found my dog” and tara is flustered at seeing this girl

Fast forward when Ghostface show up ay tara and Sam apartment *it backfires because they werent expecting a dog nor r to be there. R just look at her dog “sic them boy” 👹😈

so in a way, everyone who isn’t ghostface survives. Anika deserve to live damn it!!!!Everyone looking at the dog and praising him because he’s a good boy 🐶

In my head I can imagine Quinn calling Ethan “😨😨😨abort mission!!!!! I repeat abort mission!!!!!!”

*Because their dad got badly mauled by the dog and they don’t want to risk getting caught without a plan but yk dogs are a great judge of character and can sense a bad person and he never like Ethan, Quinn or her dad, always snarling and nipping at them*

R would even question if Quinn was truly dead because her dog kept growling at her when they put her in a body bag. Like how the hell didn’t you notice ghostface in your room? She would trust her dogs more than people. They have a closer bond with r

In my mind I was thinking “it’s bad enough/embarrassing that ghostface getting beaten/outsmarted by the main protagonists, imagine them being defeated by a dog” and this was inspired by the Spider-Man miles morales game. In the game there a side quest and if you complete it you can fight crime with a cat as a sidekick and the bad guy getting his ass handle by Spider-Man then you see a cat come out of his backpack. Imagine that same guy in jail and everyone asking how you got beaten by Spider-Man and question you why you have claw marks on your face 👀👀

That’s my dog

Tara carpenter x reader

*disclaimer: changed storyline*

Word count: a lot

“Naww, look at him. He’s so cute” Mindy yelled as she saw a dog sitting in front of Sams and Tara’s apartment. The dogs ears perked as soon as he heard the voice talking to him, looking at the group of four.

“That dog is giant” Chad said taking a small step back causing Tara to laugh. Sam kept quiet for a moment while Mindy decided to walk up to the dog, much to the groups dismay. There were several calls for her to stop but she obviously didn’t.

“Look guys, he’s somebodies. He has a collar but the tag is broken. We should take him in” she said as she crouched down in front of the dog to be eye level with him.

“Mindy, no. Who knows what he’s capable of and if somebody owns him they can’t find him in our apartment” Sam argued while Tara made her way to look around the corner, trying to see if there was somebody looking for a dog. The moment Tara walked past the corner forward the corner tho dog stood up and followed her. A relieved sigh left Chad and Sam as they thought that he was going to leave. But instead, he stood behind Tara, scaring the poor girl when she turned around.

“Sam, there’s a storm tonight. We can’t leave him outside! Come on have a heart” Mindy argued as she watched the dog look up at Tara. There was a moment of silence before Sam nodded, a small one but a nod nonetheless. A squeal left Mindy as she clapped and called the dog over who happily strutted next to her, following her upstairs into the apartment. “Ok, maybe he’s a bit big for the apartment but you know” Mindy grinned sheepishly as the dog accidentally threw down some books.

“Mindy, Tara, you guys upload some pics online, on social media, maybe somebody recognizes him while Chad and I print out some flyers and hang them up around here. Make sure he doesn’t destroy anything” Sam ordered after taking some pictures of the dog, including his collar and the half of the tag that was still attached. Uploading pictures takes way less time then printing flyers and hanging them up, so Mindy and Tara were on dog duty. Which, to be honest, wasn’t as hard as they thought it’d be, the dog was well trained and nice.

Around evening he started to scratch on the front door, whining while doing so. After a bit of a discussion the group decided that the dog had to go outside and that whoever drew the shortest stick would have to take him.

“Come on guys, this is Ridiculous. Mindy wanted us to take him in, so she should have to go with him!” Tara complained after it turned out that she lost. The dog was massive and while he looked nice and seemed to be friendly she was sure that he wouldn’t even feel her holding the leash.

“You lost Tara, fair and square. But due to the fact that I’m the nicest person ever, I will come down with you” the brunette explained, a proud smile on her face as she opened the door for Tara. The first few minutes were fine, the dog immediately sniffed the side of the building to pee. “Let’s go to the park a bit” Mindy said and took off.

It took one second of Tara being distracted for the dog to see something an start running towards it growling. Even when Tara tried to pull him back with her whole body weight it was useless, he pulled her along. She was stumbling over her own legs, screaming at the dog and Mindy to do anything. But Mindy was only laughing and, unknown to Tara, filming the whole thing.

“HEY!HEY NOOO” the small brunette screamed when she saw a small pond in front of her, small enough for the dog to jump over it but for her? It took one last step for her to land face forward in the water, letting go of the belt they used as a leash when she touched the ground underneath the water. She could still hear Mindy wheezing and the dog barking as she stood up, water dripping from everywhere. The moment she stood the dog was back at her side nuzzling his head into her wet hand.

“You’re an idiot, we Are going back Home” she scolded the dog as she picked up the “leash” again pulling him past her friend, glaring at her. “And you, you’re the worst” she growled as she walked past her, hitting her shoulder and walking back to the apartment.

Even Sam and Chad couldn’t hide their laughter when they saw a completely dripping Tara walk into the room, unclipping the belt and walking towards her bathroom. Even without the leash the dog quickly followed Tara, never leaving her sight. Save to say that Tara wasn’t really in the mood to socialize anymore and it was rather late anyway, so she decided to settle on the bed with a book. She was silently enjoying her book when suddenly the other half of her bed dipped down, the dog climbing on top, taking up so much space that she nearly fell of the edge.

“Bro, I think you’ve got something twisted. Get off the bed” she scolded him lightly pointing at the ground. The dog just happily panted when she tried to push him off, barely scootching away. There was no point in trying to pick him up so she decided to settle on the small part of the bed that he hasn’t conquered yet, turning off the lights to sleep.

His panting annoyed her, he smelled like dog and he was constantly watching her which made it hard for her to fall asleep but at one point the tiredness of the day did get her and she fell asleep facing the dog.

The next day when she woke up the dog was in front of her, curled up leaning on her stomach. He was still sleeping until she moved to get out of bed, he was immediately following her. Everything was fine until Quinn came to close to Tara making him fletch his teeth and bark causing the redhead to jump away and Tara to pull him away.

There was a bit of silence but in the end everybody decided that it was probably just a coincidence and kept doing whatever they were doing. Anika had brought over some food, a leash and some toys as they didn’t know how long the dog would stay.

It was afternoon when everybody, except Quinn and Ethan had warmed up to the dog, they called him Freddy after Freddy Krueger, which was Mindys idea. The group was sitting on the couch watching TV, Freddy sat on Tara’s feet with his head on sams leg who scratched his head. It was nice, Sam and Tara walked the last round with him at night, he stopped pulling the leash and didn’t even move away from the two.

At night time he slept with Tara again but this time he decided to settle in front of the bed. The brunette fell asleep with one of her arms out of the bed to scratch the giant dog. Sometime during the night she started to turn and twist, a whimper leaving her mouth making Freddy wake up. He quickly climbed onto the bed with his first two feet and nudged her until she woke up. Tears were streaming down her face and her breathing was quick and shallow. While she tried to calm herself down Freddy laid his head onto her stomach, licking her hand closest to him, trying his best to comfort her. A small smile came onto her lips as she rolled onto her side and hugged his head, leaving a kiss on top as she fell back asleep.

The next morning she woke up to somebody hammering on her front door. “T, wake up. Somebody is coming for the dog” Sam called out, knocking one last time before she heard Tara grumble. The moment she stepped out of her room, finally dressed and ready for the day, there was a knock on the door. Freddy immediately ran to the door, his tail waggling from left to right as if he knew who was on the other side.

“Hi, I believe you found my dog” you said as soon as the door opened. The mastiff quickly running to you, nearly throwing you over when he body checked you, making you giggle. Tara just stared at you for a moment, her cheeks coated in a light blush before she looked down at her feet to hide it.

“uhm, yeah. We found him two days ago, he sat in front of our apartment and due to the storm we didn’t wanna leave him outside” she explained, smiling at the sight in front of her before taking a deep breath. “Do you wanna come inside for a bit?” She asked, already taking a step further away so you could see into the apartment.

You gave her a nod and made your way into the apartment. “Come on Dook” you called out to the dog who was still standing on the other side of the door. He quickly made his way towards you.

“Dook?” Tara asked as you settled down on the couch, the dog between you two. You chuckled lightly as you petted his head before turning to her.

“Well, yeah. The Babadook is my favorite horror film but I didn’t wanna call him Babadook, that would have freaked me out on the long run so I decided to call him Dook. It’s weird I know” you mumbled the last part as you uncomfortably scratched the back of your neck but the pretty girl next to you only chuckled before turning further to you.

“No, it’s actually pretty awesome. The Babadook is such a great movie and the name Dook is pretty cute actually” Tara said smiling at you.

“Yo, I’m Mindy and that’s my twin brother Chad” the brunette introduced, waving at you.

“Hey, I’m y/n and this is Dook but you’ve already met him huh” you grinned as you waved back.

“How did he get lost anyway?” Sam, who you’ve already met, asked as she sat on an armchair next to the couch.

“My stupid brother was supposed to look after him while I was out of state but he lost him 5 hours after I’ve been gone and didn’t tell me” you explained, an annoyed look on your face. They giggled at your eye roll before taking off.

After a small while you’ve decided to go too, much work to do just like emptying your suitcase from your trip. “It was really nice to meet you, you are a great person. And thanks again for looking after Dook” you bid as a goodbye, a smile grazing your features as you looked at Tara.

“Well, If you ever wanna come over and watch the Babadook together, I wouldn’t say no” she smiled at you and took your hand in hers, writing her number on your hand.

“Naww, Tara is in loooovvveeee” Mindy sang from the kitchen.

Ever since then you and Tara have been inseparable. Everywhere the core four was you were too, even at that frat party and the dinner later. Sam trusted you and Dook, Mindy and Chad thought you were pretty cool, Anika loved your style and taste, Ethan didn’t like you because he was scared of the dog and Quinn was constantly flirting with you.

“I knew you were sleeping with cute boy” Tara laughed out, leaning on your shoulder. A giggle leaving you too as you watched the group, Dook laying on your and Tara’s feet. Just as Sam was about to say something all your phones dinged, Dook suddenly jumping up.

“Shit” Sam cursed out, all of you jumping up. It wasn’t long ago that the siblings told you about what had happened to them in their hometown. Everybody, except Tara ran to get further away from the door, so you quickly grabbed her and pulled her to you. Dook standing in front of you barking and snarling at the door.

“Get out of here” you screamed at them, trying to push them away but before anyone could move the door opened and a dead Quinn fell on top of Anika throwing her to the ground. Dook, just as he was trained, stood beside you, barking at the intruder but not moving. You were frozen for a moment, overwhelmed with the situation until you heard Anika groan and Tara call your name. “Dook, sic them boy” you looked down at the dog who immediately took off attacking the costumed person who was currently trying to Stab Anika. The 32” tall dog jumped against him throwing him off of her, Sam immediately pulling her away and pushing her into Mindys arms.

By now Dook had pushed the intruder into the corner furthers away, Chad and Tara were gone while Sam and Mindy helped Anika into the bedroom, where Danny was waiting for them with a ladder. You knew that you had to fight him off until the police showed up because you wouldn’t take the ladder and leave dook behind.

You were slowly backing up into the bedroom, “Dook, attack”. The moment the words left your mouth he didn’t just bark anymore but was about to charge at him full speed, making the ghostface run outside forward the police sirens. So you called him back to you, deciding to not put him into further danger. You sat on the ground with him, petting his head and kissing the top of his head as you praised him, thankful that nothing had happened to him.

“Are you alright?” You quickly asked Tara when you came outside, the dog running to her and licking her hand.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m sorry I left you up there, I-I” she started to stutter, her eyes becoming glossy as she looked around. You decided to interrupt her.

“Hey, it’s alright. I told you to go, after all I had Dook. It’s okay, we’ll get thru this. We are here for you” you told her as you hugged her, her head resting on your chest, tears leaking through your shirt making your heart break. An elder man came into sight making Tara pull away and excuse herself, Dook snarling at him. “Dook, psst” you scolded and made him come along as you went to talk to Sam.

“Sam, can we talk for a second?” You asked, pulling her away from Danny. It’s not that you didn’t like him or didn’t trust him but you didn’t wanna Worry anybody if not necessary. “I think it has to be someone we know, someone I know too” Sam thought for a moment being totally quiet.

“What are you on about y/n?” She asked slightly annoyed and scared, making you sigh.

“Dook was quiet the whole time, if somebody came in or had already been inside he would have barked or something but he didn’t. Which means he knew whoever was inside“ the explanation made sense and it made sams stomach hurt too. She had prayed that this wasn’t going to happen again, that her sister could now lead a normal life.

“I hate the fact that what you just said made sense” she groaned, looking around to check her environment. You just gave her a tight lipped smile and a pat on the arm. It was hard to comfort Sam, at least as a human, because as soon as Dook stood in front of her nudging her hand she knelt down and patted him, thanking him for Saving them.

You left the mastiff with Sam as you made your way to Tara, Mindy, Anika and Chad. The boy stood infront of his sister, eyes sad as he watched her taped arm. The girls other arm was wrapped around her girlfriend who was also patched up, a lot more than Mindy. You wished you could go up to that like Tara, the weird tension between you two kills you and the fact that there seemed to be some kind of tension with Chad too made it even weirder. So instead of standing between them you settled down between Anika’s legs, she had become a great friend of yours, maybe even your best. You guys were extremely comfortable with each other and could tell the other everything, she knew of your feelings for Tara and you knew of her fear of abandonment. When you settled down, Anika rested her arms on top of your shoulders, keeping you close trying to give both of you some comfort.

Just as you settled down, Ethan came around the corner confused about what had happened. “You” Chad screamed taking by the collar and throwing him against another ambulance. “Where the fuck were you? You’re not with us and suddenly my sister almost dies” he screamed, lifting him away from the car just to push him against it again.

“Chad, I had Econ, you know that. You can ask all the other students” the boy pleaded, kinda stuttering. But he didn’t struggle against chads hold, not that it’d do anything anyway. You decided to step in, not because you were a hundred percent convinced that Ethan was innocent but because this wouldn’t lead to anything.

“Come on, let him go. Econ would be a stupid excuse to use, he wouldn’t be able to get everybody to lie for him so let him go Chad” you explained, laying a hand on his shoulder to kind of push him back a bit. He didn’t immediately let him go but when you squeezed his shoulder he folded and let the boy down, disappearing to his sister. The moment you stepped closer to the boy Dook was at your side, snarling at him almost making you chuckle at the way the boy backed up. “I hope you learned a lot at Econ”.

*later that night*

“How didn’t you even kill one fucking person?” Wayne screamed at his kids, the vein on his forehead popping out. He kept walking back and forth as he scolded them.

“How was I supposed to know that y/n and the dog would be there? That thing would have killed me if I would have stepped closer” Ethan whined, holding his arm where Dook had bitten him. He had always been afraid of that monster.

“Ethan is right dad, that dog is massive and dangerous” Quinn said trying to support her brother. Her hair wet from the shower to get rid of all the fake blood she was covered in.

“Well we need a new plan” he mumbled.

———————————————————————————

“Y/n, Anika, this is Gale and this is Kirby” Sam introduced you. Kirby was closest to you so you shook her hand first before going to Gale but stopping shortly before your hands touch.

“Uff, that’s one hell of a bruise, what did ya do?” You asked pointing to her left side under the eye. You couldn’t help but be suspicious of somebody you didn’t know. Especially with the way Dook stood in front of you instead of how he normally stood next to you.

She sighed and looked at Tara before speaking up. “Tara hit me because I did something I told them I wouldn’t do” she explained making your mouth open in shock. You turned to Tara with your mouth still open.

“You did that?” You asked her still shocked with your eyebrows raised. She timidly nodded at you making you grin and raise your hand for a high five before wrapping your arm around her shoulder and pulling her into you. “Damn girl, nicely done” you told her, clearly proud of the fact that she was protecting herself.

Seeing that made Sam smile too, her head slightly turned to the side as she watched you two. Her sister was happily giggling into your chest, her cheeks slightly red and her eyes lit up while you grinned down at her, your eyes were full with love and admiration. As a bigger sister, she was happy that you could protect her and loved the fact that she could protect herself.

When everybody started to follow Gale to whatever she wanted to show you, you fell behind due to the fact that Dook was still a dog, wanting to mark like every corner. As soon as Tara noticed she left Chad and fell behind too, walking with you in silence. Everybody was already going inside when you two rounded the corner. “You alright?” You asked her as she stood in front of the door, suddenly not moving anymore.

“Yeah, I’m just, I don’t know” she mumbled out looking at her feet as her hands messed with the fabric of her shirt. She looked even smaller than normal.

“It’s going to be okay, I’m here for you” you told her with a comforting smile before you gave her a nod as a start sign. Just as you were about to go inside a hand slid down your arm into the pocket of your trouser where it found yours making you tense for a second. You pulled both of your hands out of the pocket and intertwined them before carefully pulling her along. The place was full of old ghost face things, masks, robes, a TV and more. Tara suddenly stopped at one Vitrine, her mood dropping before her hand suddenly let go of yours.

“I-I need a second” she mumbled and walked off towards Sam. You heard them fight before Tara stormed off, alone. “Dookie, follow Tara. Go” you told the dog who ran off to follow her making you smile a bit. You felt more comfortable when somebody was there to protect her and when you saw a Kirby follow her too you decided to keep roaming the place, finding Mindy and Anika.

After some time and some explanation from Mindy, Kirby found you. “You should go to Tara” she told you with a tight lipped smile. You were about to go when she spoke up again, “very cute dog by the way” you grinned at her before walking off to find Tara.

The moment you turned the corner she was on you, her arms wrapped around your neck as she stood on her tippy toes and pressed her lips against yours. You needed a second and even though you wanted to kiss her back with every bit you carefully pushed her away. She immediately started to stutter when her lips detached from yours. “I’m sorry, it’s just- this is a hard time for you and I don’t want you to regret anything” you told her as your hands caressed her waist in a comforting manner.

She smiled at you, her hands playing with the baby hair at the back of your neck. “I won’t. Come on, I still gotta tell you something” her hand slipped in yours as she pulled you to sit down on a step and then she told you about Amber. About how they were always flirting and how there was this tension that was between you too, and how she then killed her friends and how she sometimes thinks that if she had made a move Amber maybe wouldn’t have went crazy and that she wouldn’t have lost her best friend. She didn’t wanna make the same mistake again and she didn’t wanna lose somebody because she was scared of living. “Kirby opened my eyes. Just because Amber was crazy doesn’t mean you are crazy too right? We can live a happy life together and love each other even though the thing with Amber fucked me up right?” Her eyes were teary which made your heart break.

“We will live the happiest lives ever, after we caught that motherfucker” you said making her giggle. You stood up and pulled her with you to go with the others but not before kissing her. Your heart exploding at the feeling of her lips on yours, only to be interrupted by Dook who seemed to be jealous as he went between you two. Both of you laughed before going back to the group, hand in hand with Dook in front of you. Sam looked at your hands before glaring at you, hiding her small smile.

“So what to we have on these people?” Kirby asked looking into the group, eyes fixated on Sam.

“Y/n had a point. Dook didn’t bark which means we knew whoever was inside” you gave everybody a tight lipped smile before deciding to add something.

“I have a really stupid thing, or maybe it isn’t stupid, I don’t know. But Dook constantly barked at the body bag which made me suspicious. He wouldn’t just bark at a dead person and I mean, there wasn’t even a scream, who doesn’t notice ghost face in your room?” You rambled on until Chad decided to interrupt you.

“So you guess what? That Quinn is still alive and a part of the whole thing?” He chuckled slightly clearly not believing you. You rolled your eyes looking at Tara for help.

“Well, I mean that does sound very unrealistic. I’m sorry but how would that even work?” She was apologetic about not being on your side, Ethan who you hadn’t noticed until now nodding along with what she said. You rolled your eyes again looking at Kirby who just shrugged.

“Whatever. Do we have any other thoughts, ideas?” You asked a tad annoyed, parting from Tara to follow Dook around.

“I think we should do the tracking the call thing” one of them suggested, a discussion immediately breaking loose. You just watched your dog sniff around, focusing on one of the masks that seemed to have fallen down hoping that he’d pick up on something.

The next time ghostface attacked was when they did the call thing but there was nothing you could do, he was too far gone. Gale barely surviving. It hurt Tara a lot, she was clinging to you like a koala, whispering how sorry she was that you were in this, that she’d never forgive herself if you got hurt. You just pressed her head into you in a comforting manner, rubbing her back and letting her cry.

You were also heavily against the idea of them playing bait but here you were in the weird ass old cinema kinda thing. “So y/n, I got a K9 kennel for Dook” Kirby told you which was a great thing even though it sounded weird. But you were scared that they’d do something to him and with a K9 kennel you could get him when you needed him but they wouldn’t get inside to hurt him in case they found him.

“Thank you so much, I’ll put him in and then come back” you told them petting your leg for him to follow, Tara quickly walking up next to you to follow you. You wrapped your arm around her shoulder as you walked to the hidden place.

“I feel sorry putting him in that thing, he’s always such a good boy” the smaller brunette mumbled as she crouched down to cuddle him, wrapping her arms around his head. Your heart was exploding from the cuteness of the scene no matter how shitty the actual situation was.

“I know me too. But at least we know that he’s gonna be safe isn’t that right love?” You said pointing at the kennel making him go inside and sit down. “Good boy, I love you and I’ll get you soon” you smiled at Tara before taking her hand and walking around the building.

“If something happens tonight, I want to thank you for finding dook and taking care of him and taking me in and showing me how it feels to really be with someone” you told her as you pulled her closer to kiss her.

Suddenly someone appeared behind her trying to stab her making you push her out of the way. You punched their face before grabbing her and running towards the main room, running past a stabbed Chad. “Shit Chad” Tara screamed and stopped running to bend down to him.

“T, we cant Save him if we die ourselves. Let’s go, we need to find Sam and figure out where Mindy is” the mentioning of Sam did it for her making her stand up and keep running for you. In this moment you were happy that Anika was too hurt to come along, one person less to be scared about. When you stopped in the main hall Sam stood there completely shocked and out of breath.

“Oh god, there you are I was looking for you. Wayne called me, he told me that Kirby went crazy and got fired. He believes that she’s ghostface” she explained ushering the two of you closer to her. “Mindy got stabbed on the way here, in the subway. I-I don’t know where Chad is” she added making Tara flinch at the mentioning of her friend.

“He got stabbed, we left him we couldn’t do anything. It’s better if they think he’s dead” you told her.

The next things were too quick for you to comprehend. Kirby appeared and was suddenly knocked out by someone in a ghost face costume, and then another one appearing. Turned out they were Wayne and Ethan, father and son. And then, a third one appeared. A scared ‘Mindy?’ Leaving Sams mouth, tears welling up in Tara’s and you were tensing. But then the mask was pulled of and revealed Quinn making you jump and fist bump the air.

“I fucking told you. I told you she wasn’t fucking dead motherfuker” you then quickly turned quiet again, realizing that this wasn’t the right moment. And then Wayne started talking about something with their past and weird ass stuff, you kinda zoned out trying to find a way out while protecting Tara. At least until you hear a certain name.

“And then there was Dook, he was rather easy to take care of after you put him in a kennel where he couldn’t do anything to us” Wayne said, Ethan and Quinn giggling making you even madder. They started to circle the three of you, Tara and Sam grabbing a stone. Sam quickly turned around signaling you to run and look for your dog once there was an opportunity and you did. They distracted them long enough for you to run off to where dook was hidden, constantly clicking the button that was supposed to release him but nothing. He was nowhere to be seen making you panic.

When you arrived at the kennel he was laying on his side, eyes closed and the kennel still closed. You pried the door open, once you got it open you crawled inside, tears already spreading in your eyes. “Dook?” You mumbled just for him to open his eyes and stand up, licking you across the face. “Not cool dude, i thought you were dead” and then your eyes fell to some kind of dog treat that you didn’t put there. Picking it up to smell it you quickly figured out that there was something wrong with it. “You’re such a smart boy” you cuddled him for a moment before remembering why you were even here.

When you came back to the siblings Sam was upstairs, holding Tara who was hanging over the upper part of the theater, Ethan under her fumbling around with a knife. “I’ve always wanted to stick something in you Tara” he said making you gag and more aggressive than you already were.

You saw Quinn and Wayne coming for Sam upstairs, “Dook, go protect Sam” you told the dog and got yourself ready to tackle Ethan just in case Tara needed the help.

“Sam, you have to let me go” Tara’s voice was desperate making Sam sigh and do let go of her, she fell and landed in his arms. She grinned as she stuck the knife into his throat pulling it down and god she looked good. She landed on her feet when he fell over and made her way towards your open arms.

Upstairs Sam shot Quinn in the head and then tried to shoot Wayne just for the gun to be empty. In that moment Dook jumped on his back knocking him to the ground, giving Sam the opportunity to kick him in the face and knocking him out. She came back down with the dog next to her. “I have a plan” she told you and quickly explained what you were supposed to do while scratching Dooks back, Tara scratching his head.

You were just a back up and a protection in sams plan, so you stood behind Tara with Dook, feeding him some treats. “What’s your favorite scary movie?” She said into the phone, holding the voice changer in front of it, a grin spreading across your face. She kept talking for a bit until you heard a scream through the phone which was when she hung up. “God, I just wanna go home” she mumbled as she leaned against you waiting for Sam to get you two.

Sam and Tara sat on the steps while you stood a bit further away to give them their privacy. They talked while you sat on the ground with Dook in your lap, zooming out until Sam called out for you. “If you hurt her I’ll hurt you. Even worse than I hurt Wayne” you gave her an upside down smile, and an awkward okay before Tara came running towards you making Dook and you jump up. She jumped into your arms and kissed you making you twirl her around.

That night you laid in Tara’s bed, cuddled up with Dook next to your legs. You wrapped your arm around her waist and pulled her even deeper into you. “Thank you for everything y/n, you’ve been here for us. You and Dook, you’ve been protecting us as if we are your family. I’ve always wanted somebody like you” she mumbled into your chest making you smile.

“Dook and I will never let anyone hurt you or your family. Tomorrow we will pick up Mindy and Anika and then we will visit Chad, Gale and Kirby. Now, stop talking so we can watch the movie” you grinned as you pressed play on the Babadook before pressing soft kisses on her lips.

It may have been to early to say I love you but god, you loved that woman more than anything. You loved her just as much as you loved Dook.

So this is like the longest thing I’ve ever written and I’m not sure I like it. But I took forever to write and I hope you guys enjoy it.

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 21: The Shadow of the Abattoir

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x OC

Summary: Lucy decides that she and Lizzie need to talk.

Word Count: 5,007

Notes: Warnings for depictions of violence, choking (not the fun kind), pregnancy, and references to abortion.

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Chapter 20: The Moment of Catastrophe

“I need to talk to Lizzie.” She was standing in front of Tommy’s desk, eyes downcast and fingers picking at one of the little wood carvings of a horse she’d made for him. Tommy’s eyes snapped up to hers from where they had been focused on the papers she’d just deposited in front of him, capping his pen and straightening up.

“You don’t have to–”

“I sort of do. If I’m going to remain involved in all of this.” Involved with you, she added silently. “And it’s killing me not knowing what her actual feelings or intentions regarding me are.”

Tommy frowned, eyes wary. Lucy was pretty sure that the main reason why he hadn’t encouraged a sit-down between the three of them already was because he was worried about what Lizzie might say to her. 

“I’ll go with you.”

But Lucy shook her head. “I think it would be better if she and I talked alone first, actually.”

His frown deepened. “If I’m there, I can act as a buffer if she starts getting unpleasant…”

“Exactly. I need to know how she really feels, Tommy.” Running a hand through her hair, she sighed, well aware that she might be willingly walking into a lion’s den with the full expectation of getting mauled. But she couldn’t keep living in this limbo of sitting around, wondering what Lizzie really thought of her. Of what her intentions were. Everything that her mind kept coming up was horrible. At least this way, she would know for sure and could adjust accordingly. “We’re both adults. We can sit down and have a mature conversation.”

“You might be able to,” Tommy muttered. Lucy gave him a look that was intended to be stern, but failed miserably at hiding the fond amusement underneath.

“Don’t be mean.”

Tommy sighed, thumbs twiddling together before he stood, stepping around the desk to get to her. His large hands smoothed up and down her arms reassuringly. 

“Don’t let her bully you. If she starts being nasty, just leave.”

Lucy nodded. “I’ll walk over to her house after running some errands. I’ll be back before lunch.”

He touched her face, thumb running across her cheek before kissing her, then pulling her into a hug. “I love you.”

Looping her arms around his middle, she squeezed him back, letting her head nestle against his chest. “I love you too. I’ll be back soon.”

He kissed her again before letting her go, hands stuffed into his pockets and watching her grab her coat and go to the door. She offered him what she hoped to be a reassuring smile before stepping out, pulling her cap onto her head. 

The errands she needed to run seemed to pass incredibly quickly, but the walk to Lizzie’s felt as though it took an eternity. It was in a neighborhood similar to where Polly lived, on the outskirts of the city. As she walked, she smoked cigarette after cigarette, anxiety settling like rocks in her stomach. 

She had not been wholly honest about her reasoning for coming to speak with Lizzie. Yes, she did need desperately to know where Lizzie stood on everything–where she stood on her–but that wasn’t all. She supposed that a part of her almost wanted Lizzie to yell at her. To throw things at her head. To tell her that she was a selfish monster for still clinging to Tommy when she knew that if she were gone he and Lizzie could have a chance to actually build something together with their baby. 

Her own mind had been relentlessly pummeling her with those thoughts since Tommy had told her the news; might as well let the person she was actually hurting have a chance to hurl them at her herself. 

Of course there was the other part of her that clung to a small sliver of hope that it wouldn’t be that bad. That Lizzie could actually make peace with their current arrangement. Maybe even be happy to have Lucy around. 

Wishful thinking, that was. Especially that last bit. 

When Lizzie’s house came into view, her hands started to tremble, and she immediately regretted not taking Tommy up on his offer to come with her. He was more or less the only reason she’d managed not to entirely fall apart, or pack up her things and disappear into the night without a word. Without his stabilizing presence beside her, she felt terrifyingly adrift and at the mercy of her own treacherous, tortuous mind.

Her boots clomped against the stone steps, shaking fingers drawing into a fist that she tapped against the wood in a few quick raps. Stuffing her hands into her pockets in an attempt to hide their trembling, she glanced around while she waited, eyes landing on the man kneeling next to a flower bed by the steps leading to the front door. A pair of dirt-lathered gardener’s gloves covered his hands, a spade, trowel, and weeder laid out next to him on the grass. He had a hat pulled over a shaved head. His face was weathered and wrinkled with age, but there was something familiar there that she could not quite place. For a second, their eyes met, and then his gaze immediately dropped back down to the dirt in front of him, working to dig a weed out of the flowerbed. Before Lucy could scrutinize him more, the door opened.   

“Lucy.” Never before had Lizzie’s height seemed so intimidating. Her eyes were cold, jaw set.  

“Hi.” Her smile came out as more of a grimace, fingers coming together unconsciously to play with her rings. Lizzie just stared at her, expression unmovable and chilly as a glacier, mouth pressed into a firm line. Lucy forced her hands to separate, though her fingers still twitched anxiously at her sides, eyes darting around the street. “Can we talk?” 

Lizzie looked as if she found the suggestion just about as desirable as drinking spoiled milk, but after a moment of consideration sighed, and pushed the door open the rest of the way so that Lucy could come inside. 

Lizzie had clearly been hard at work decorating and furnishing the house, rugs already lining the floors, the sitting room adorned with plush couches, chairs, and carved wooden tables. Picture frames were hung up on the walls, little bits and bobs purposefully positioned on the mantle above the fireplace. 

Lizzie shut the door behind her, shoes clicking against the floorboards as she strode past her and into the sitting room. 

“What do you want?”

Off to a great start, then, Lucy thought dejectedly. “I just…thought that we should talk about…things. Just you and me.”

“I’m not getting rid of the baby,” Lizzie said immediately, head tilted up stubbornly, defensiveness straining her voice. “So if that’s what you’ve come to discuss, you might as well leave–”

“That’s not why I’m here.” She tried hard to temper her hurt that Lizzie really thought she’d come all this way just to twist her arm into getting an abortion even if she didn’t want to.

Before either of them could say anymore, there was a knock at the door. 

“For Christ’s sake,” Lizzie growled, stomping past Lucy back to the door and wrenching it open. “What?”

“Begging your pardon, Miss. Stark, but could I use your phone for a moment?” the gardener was standing there, mopping at his brow and ringing his dirty gloves in his hands. “I’d like to ring my wife to let her know I may be a little late getting home this evening.”

“Yes, yes,” Lizzie stepped aside, pointing towards the entryway to the kitchen. “It’s in the back.”

Lucy waited until he had wandered into the other room and she could hear the distant, incomprehensible hum of his voice on the phone before speaking again. “The house looks nice.”

Lizzie smirked. “Tommy paid for it.”

“I know.”

Her smile dropped, and Lucy shifted from foot to foot, aware that she was doing little to help in the mending of things between them. “Can we sit?” she asked, nodding to the couch in the sitting room. Lizzie looked like she’d rather do just about anything else, standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, lips rubbing together. But finally she sighed, arms dropping to her sides. 

“Sure.”

She followed Lizzie’s lead over to the dark green sofa, sinking down into the cushions on the opposite side from her, ample space left between them. Lucy’s hands rang together, unable to stop her fingers from fumbling with her rings. Lizzie’s expectant expression only served to make her more nervous, bubbles of anxiety lodging into her throat and making it hard for her to recall the words she’d been practicing over and over in her head on the walk over there.  

“Right. Look, I just thought…given that we’re going to be…I mean, I just wanted to tell you that, um…now that you’re having Tommy’s baby…I–”

“For fuck’s sake, will you just spit it out?”

She flinched, feeling her shoulders draw in at the way Lizzie snapped at her. Being yelled at or spoken to harshly wasn’t exactly new to her, but there was something about the impatience in Lizzie’s tone that made her feel like a young child being scolded. As if she wasn’t already doing enough damage, here she was, coming into this poor woman’s home and annoying her with nonsensical ramblings. 

Before she could stutter some more and continue to make a complete fool of herself, there was the sound of footsteps approaching from the kitchen. The gardener appeared, pulling his cap on over his bald head, giving a respectful nod to Lizzie.

“Thank you for letting me use your phone, Miss. Stark. I’ll be heading back outside, now.”

“Of course. If you need any water or anything, help yourself,” she waved a hand towards the sink and pantry in the kitchen. The gardener nodded, his eyes tracking to Lucy before quickly looking away, shuffling towards the door. They both waited until it had swung closed behind him before saying anything. 

“Look,” Lucy took a deep breath, managing to pull herself somewhat together. “I just…wanted you to know that I don’t have any intentions of coming between Tommy and the baby. And I wanted to tell you that–only if you’re comfortable with it, of course–but I’m happy to help in any way that I can.” She forced herself to meet Lizzie’s eyes. Her face was still set in a harsh frown, but some of the coldness had seeped out of her eyes before she looked down at her hands, folded carefully in her lap. “I know how Tommy can be sometimes,” Lucy continued, still keeping her gaze on Lizzie despite the other woman still staring downwards. “So if you ever…if you and the baby aren’t getting what you need from him, you’re always welcome to come to me instead. Sometimes I can be a little more successful in convincing him of things.”

Lizzie’s gaze lifted to meet hers, any warmth that had started to seep into her eyes gone, leaving nothing but cold steel in its wake. 

“If you really wanted to help, you would leave Tommy and never come back.”

Lucy’s lips parted, shrinking in on herself subconsciously. The words were hurled at her like a rock, and ready as she thought that she was to hear them, they still pierced painfully in her chest. Now it was her turn to look down, staring at the plain golden rings that encircled her fingers. She made no attempt to defend herself. No effort to argue against Lizzie’s demand. This was why she was here, right? To let Lizzie punish her for the selfish choice to still stay with Tommy. To keep him from truly having a proper family with Lizzie.

And Lizzie was correct, of course. Leaving would be the right thing to do. The less selfish action. Hell, if she left right now, she could head over to the house, pack up her things, and be on a train out of the city before the sun had even set. Yes, Tommy may be sad, at least at first. But he would get over it. With Lizzie by his side, it wouldn’t be long before he would forget that Lucy had ever even existed in the first place. 

Lucy wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could somehow hug the horrid thoughts out of her. No, no. That wasn’t true; Tommy would be distraught if she left. He wouldn’t just get over it. He loved her. He didn't want to be with Lizzie. He said…

But that one cursed phase continued to spin in her head, repeating over and over again:

But maybe if I wasn’t here…

Beside her on the couch, Lizzie shuddered, turning away, knuckles pressed to her lips, twitching and fidgeting. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” She said finally, and before Lucy could respond, she launched up out of her seat, starting to pace across the room. “It's just so unfair. I’m having his baby, and he won’t even consider…” she trailed off, shooting Lucy an ashamed look. All the venom and iciness that had been in her eyes a moment ago was gone, and for a moment, Lucy felt as though she were staring into a mirror of her own guilt and pain. Lizzie wetted her lips, shoulders lowering. “When Polly told me I was pregnant, I started to hope,” she said, finally, as if trying to offer some sort of explanation. 

“Lizzie…” Lucy started sympathetically. Her hand rested on the cushion beside her in silent invitation, and after a moment of looking her up and down warily, Lizzie shuffled back over and plopped down beside her. “You can’t force someone to love you,” Lucy said after a long pause during which she internally debated whether or not to actually speak the words. But the venom of jealousy did not return to Lizzie's face. Instead she just merely looked to the floor, expression crestfallen in a way that made Lucy’s heart hurt. 

Guilt gnawed at her like a dog with a bone, chipping away at her bit by bit. The irrational part of her still blamed herself. Still battered her with endless internal torment. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to shove away the continued mantra of: But maybe if I wasn’t here…But maybe if I wasn’t here…But maybe if I wasn’t here…

“Even if I didn’t exist, or was wiped off the face of the earth at this very second, it still might not change the way that he feels. I’m not saying that to be cruel.” Reaching out, tentatively, like she would a skittish horse, she settled her hand on top of Lizzie’s where it rested on the firm green cushion between them. “I’m saying it because if you’re only having this baby as some…attempt to force Tommy to fall in love with you, you might not get what you want. And that wouldn’t be fair to the baby. Or you. Or Tommy. But, if you do genuinely want the baby…”

“I do,” Lizzie nodded vigorously, the hand not covered by Lucy’s going to press against her still flat stomach, and Lucy could see the genuine love that crossed her face. Lizzie had always liked children. She’d always been incredibly good with Charlie, and often at family gatherings she would take time to sit and play with John’s kids.

“Okay,” Lucy said. “Then we’ll figure out some way to make this all work. I know that Tommy is dedicated to supporting both of you, and will want to be involved in their life as much as he can. And I…” it felt impossibly selfish for her to ask what she was about to, but she forced herself to ask anyway. The worst that Lizzie could say was no, after all. “I’d like to be involved too, at least just a little. But I can understand if you don’t want that and I can keep my distance, if you’d rather. I don’t have any intentions of trying to…take away or usurp your position as the baby’s mother. I just want to help.”      

Lizzie’s head tilted slightly, considering with her eyes focused faraway on the opposite wall. “I suppose…I suppose that would be fine. Tommy will insist on you being around anyway.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to include me if you’d really rather not,” it would hurt. A lot. But she didn’t want to force Lizzie into anything, either. “It’s your choice who helps you to raise your baby.”

“Yes, but it’s his too, isn’t it? He’ll want you included,” she shrugged. “I suppose that I could use as much help as I can get.” She finally looked back at Lucy. “And you’ve always been so good with Charlie.”

It was Lucy’s turn to look away then, bashfully staring down at her shoes. Beside her, Lizzie shifted, and when she spoke again, some of the bitterness had returned to her voice. 

“He loves you so much.”

Lucy felt her brows pull together slightly, her guard, that she’d dropped as Lizzie’s iciness had thawed, cautiously starting to raise back up. When she lifted her head, Lizzie was looking away from her again. 

“I suggested that he split up with you, did you know that? When I told him about the baby. And he wouldn’t even consider it. Not even for a second.” Her gaze shifted back to Lucy. “It’s hard not to hate you for that.”

Lucy pulled her hands back, settling them in her lap so that she could unconsciously fiddle with her rings again. “I’m sorry–”   

“No; don’t apologize. It’s,” Lizzie squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s not your fault,” she opened them again. “It’s my problem. And I am trying not to hold it against you. I promise I am.” She gave her a small, humorless smile. “I was doing pretty well at it until that day by the canal.”

“It was so selfish of us to take you down there. I’m sorry. We weren’t thinking.”

“Neither was I.”

Lucy nodded, fingers flexing. “I mean it, you know. Tell me if there’s anything that you need from either of us, and I’ll do what I can,” her shoulders raised in a tiny shrug. “The three of us are in this together, now.”

“Thank you.” Lizzie murmured. “I appreciate that. Really. It’s just so,” she hesitated, searching for the word, and finally simply settled on, “hard.”

Lucy nodded. Outside, she could hear the sounds of cars. “It’s difficult for me too.”

Lizzie shot her a quizzical look, and Lucy squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. 

“I can’t have children,” she explained in a soft voice, hoping that would be enough clarification as to what she meant. Lizzie’s eyes widened. 

“Really?”

Lucy nodded. Lizzie’s brows pinched, pale hand reaching out to rest her long fingers on her knee. 

“I’m sorry.”

Lucy just shrugged. “I’ve mostly made peace with it, I think.”

“I always wondered why you and Tommy didn’t have any of your own.”

“Yeah, well, that’s why.” It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. She had made a half joke, many years ago, that if there was a way for her to get pregnant, Tommy surely would have figured it out by now.  

She looked back at Lizzie. I suppose we both have something that the other wants, then.

The clock on the wall chimed, and when she looked in its direction, it was to find that far more time had passed while talking to Lizzie than she’d thought. 

“I, um, I should get going. I promised Tommy I would be back at the office before lunch.”

“Right,” Lizzie withdrew her hand from her knee and sighed. “I don’t suppose you have any idea when this mess with the Italians will all be over, do you?”

“Soon, I think.” I hope, she corrected. 

“Have you beheaded any more Italians lately?”

Lucy felt a tiny smile prick at the edges of her lips. “Not yet.”

One side of Lizzie’s lips quirked upwards. “Personal feelings about you aside, I am glad that my baby will have you to be there for them.”

A rush of emotion washed over Lucy at that, looking away with a small smile as they both stood. Fumbling with her rings one last time before letting her hands drop to her sides, she raised her head to look up at Lizzie. “Thank you for letting me be involved. Really. It means a lot.” 

Lizzie nodded, and walked her to the door. 

“I’ll talk to you later?” Lucy asked, a teeny, tiny bead of hope, that maybe the friendship they’d been on their way to building before this whole mess had blown up in their faces could be salvaged, had begun to bloom despite her attempts to temper it. 

“Yeah,” Lizzie nodded. “Take care of yourself.”

“You too.” Pulling her cap out of her pocket, she reached for the door handle and twisted it open. 

She barely had time to process the towering, dark suit-clad figure standing on the other side of it, or the cocked hat on his head and the toothpick wedged between his teeth, before a hand, fingers adorned with rings, crashed in a vicious backhand across her face. The side of her head slammed hard into the doorframe, and she went sprawling to the ground, dazed, black spots appearing across her vision. Somewhere behind her, she heard Lizzie scream. 

She hardly was able to make out the figure of Luca Changretta, still looming over her in the doorway, before his booted foot swung into her face, and everything went dark. 

∗ ∗ ∗

Lizzie braced a hand on the wall of the narrow hallway leading from the front door into the sitting room, staring in open-mounted horror at where Lucy lay in a crumpled, unmoving heap in the entryway. Luca stared down at the little redhead for a moment, checking to make sure that she was truly unconscious, before he lifted his head, and met Lizzie’s eyes with a huge, face splitting grin. 

“Hello, Lizzie.” 

There were three men crowded in behind him, and behind his elbow, she spotted the face of her gardener peering in at her. 

The phone call. She only vaguely could recall him coming in, the hum of his voice from the kitchen while she was busy with Lucy in the sitting room. Oh, God… 

Staggering back a few steps, she turned to run towards the backdoor, but only got so far as the sitting room before skidding to a halt at the crunch of wood splintering as the door was kicked in, two Italians shouldering past the wrecked wood to block her way out. 

“Get that to the car,” Luca snapped his fingers, nodding at Lucy. “And don’t forget to bind her hands and feet. I want one of you watching her at all times in case she wakes up.” 

“No–” Lizzie took a step forward, as if there was anything she could possibly do to stop them. Luca’s gaze shot back up to her, and with another grin, he stepped over Lucy while the men behind him grabbed her by the shoulders and started to drag her away.

“How lucky for you that she was the one who opened the door,” he started conversationally. Lizzie’s hands were shaking, her knees unsteady. Luca took an advancing step closer, fully entering the sitting room, and Lizzie took another back in response, keeping ample space between. Luca seemed unbothered by the action. 

“It’s nice to finally make your acquaintance. My brother was so taken with you, he wrote about you often enough in his letters to me, I feel like I almost know you myself.” The sparkle of taunting glee was still in his eyes, but underneath, Lizzie saw fiery rage. “You do remember my little brother, don’t you, Lizzie?” 

The mention of Angel was enough to make her stomach turn with guilt. Poor, poor Angel. She’d been trying to get over Tommy, since at the time he’d been engaged to Grace and happy with his newborn boy. And Angel had been there, this sweet Italian boy who doted on her, and who she had genuinely thought that she’d started to love. 

But not enough. Not enough for her to quit her job with the Shelbys so that they could be together. Not enough to keep her from breaking up with him when tensions rose between the two families. Not enough for her to mourn all that long after John and Arthur slit his throat. Not enough for her to stop working for his killers. Not enough to say no when Tommy and Lucy had started coming to her again for sex. 

“Yes. Yes, of course I remember Angel. I’m so sorry about what happened–”

Luca continued to grin, but his eyes were deep dark pits of hate. “And yet, you’ve had no problem running around with the men who killed him.” He took another step closer. 

She was shaking like a leaf and didn’t know how to stop. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. “I’m sorry–” she tried again.

Like a jaguar, Luca suddenly lunged at her with inhuman speed. His hand latched onto her throat, her back slamming into the wall hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs, and immediate panic zigzagged through her. 

No, no, not my baby. Please don’t hurt my baby.

“I don’t want to hear your fucking apologies!” he roared in her face, hot breath fanning across her cheeks. “I want my fucking family back!”

“Please,” she managed to catch her breath enough to be able to speak, but his hand was tight enough around her throat that it made drawing in air difficult. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

“Mr. Changretta.” It was her gardener, hovering by the sofa, clutching his dirty gloves. Luca growled in annoyance, fingers flexing against Lizzie’s throat. 

“Matteo, get this man paid and out of here–”

“Mr. Changretta, she’s pregnant,” the gardener interpreted. “I heard Winters say something about it.”

Luca froze, his eyes shifting back to Lizzie, like a shark that had just caught the scent of blood in the water. His jaw twitched, teeth grinding together. She could see something click behind his eyes, and her terror tripled. 

“Whose?” he asked, grip tightening around her neck. If she made it out of this alive, she would for certain have bruises all up and down the column of her pale throat. 

“Please…” she sobbed. 

“Tommy Shelby bought you this fucking house…” Luca’s eyes swept across the sitting room. “Despite you recently leaving his employment.”

“I’m sorry–”

“Is it his!?”

He’s going to kill me, she thought, panic intensifying. “Yes,” she whispered, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

Luca laughed, and it was the worst sound Lizzie had ever heard. “Well, well. How nice that is for you. Congratulations,” his words dripped with sarcasm and venom. “Still a whore, I see. No matter what you prefer to fancy yourself as these days.” He looked over his shoulder, towards the front door where his men had taken Lucy out to where Lizzie had to presume the car was. His face swung back around to hers. “Does Winters know? Is that why she came here?”

Lizzie just whimpered, pressing her lips together. His fingers were digging so hard against her windpipe that she doubted she could have spoken if she’d wanted to. Luca’s face contracted, smile dropping way to a look of pure hatred, his hands squeezed hard enough to completely cut off any more oxygen, and Lizzie let out a soft choking sound. But a moment later, he let her go, and her head fell forward as she coughed and wheezed, lungs expanding as she hastily sucked in air. Luce seized her by the cheeks instead, tilting her head up until the back of her skull rested against the wall. 

“Hm…in light of this…new information, I’m going to change my plans for you. You see, I was planning to let my boys here,” he nodded to the men guarding the back exit, “smack you around a little. I would like to kill you for this. And maybe someday I will.” He leaned forward, until their noses were almost touching. “After Mr. Shelby is dead. Maybe I’ll kill you and your child. Maybe I’ll kill you and take the child into my family.” He shrugged. “I suppose that we’ll just have to wait and see.” 

Lizzie felt a burst of frantic protectiveness for the tiny life growing inside of her, manifesting itself in a ferocious glare that made Luca chuckle. 

“But not today. I made a deal, you see, with Mr. Shelby, not to harm any children. Vile as his spawn may be. Our people have traditions of honor. I’d hate for him to think that I’d gone back on my word.” His face retreated from hers, though his hand remained, squeezing crushingly at her cheeks, pushing her head painfully against the wall. “As for Miss. Winters, she’s coming with us. She and I have unfinished business. You can tell Tommy that we took her. Or not.”

Lizzie’s eyes widened at the suggestion; at the choice he was offering her. 

“The decision is yours. Either way,” Luca shrugged, “he won’t be able to find her until it’s too late.” He laughed. “Really, you should be thanking me. Seems like by getting rid of her, I may be solving a very irksome problem for you.”

When she said and did nothing, his smile fell, and he leaned in close again, speaking in a hoarse, hissing whisper.

“Remember, once all the Shelbys are gone, I’ll be coming for you.” His hand dropped suddenly away, her head falling forward and away from the wall in surprise at no longer having his palm holding her in place. 

“Please, don’t–” she started to beg. But Luca’s hand snapped forward, smashing the back of her head brutally against the wall, and the world fell away to blackness. 

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