#like i wish i had a doc mcstuffins when i was a kid

[robotpussy]

I wont even lie when I saw doc mcstuffins for the first time on TV it changed my life a little. I didnt watch the show regularly because I was a teenager at that point but omfg 😭😭😭

[itshouldvebeenme30]

The Reaper's Keeper

CHAPTER 5 - MEET THE AVENGERS (PART 2)

Pairings: Avengers x Fem!Reader, Natasha x Fem!Reader, Wanda x Fem!Reade

Warnings: None

⧗──────────────────────────⧗

You're starting to pick up a few things about yourself, like for instance, you dislike the taste of broccoli Dr. Cho made you eat. You do, however, have no choice but to have a balanced, healthy meal, as she stated. You kinda wish you could have leftovers Natasha has to offer once again.

Natasha, on the other hand, finds it amusing whenever disgust is evident in your face after consuming your 'green' meals. She'll say to your face that it's necessary to eat your veggies while she eats her own food, no veggies in sight. You felt kinda envious of that.

You don't get why your health is that important when, clearly, you can handle yourself pretty well.

The tests had began but they're different from what you had accustomed to. They were painless and gentle, and Natasha was always by your side making sure of that.

This went on for a week, and you're fairly attached to Natasha at this point. She'd show you things you might have missed out on as a kid, such as television.

When the two of you were lounging in the living room one day, she let you browse the channel you might like, then your attention was caught by some cartoon show that time.

After finding that out, you'd spend your mornings eating breakfast in front of the TV, watching Doc McStuffins with eyes full of wonder and amusement, Steve occasionally joining both of you. It made the veggies bearable for you as you watched Doc McStuffins treat the toys with utmost care.

You had just finished eating your meal and the show had ended when you realized that Natasha was gone beside you. You must have been so engrossed with the show that you momentarily forgot Natasha had said something about being back in five so you asked JARVIS where she is.

"Miss Natasha is at the landing pad. Would you like me to call her over, Miss Y/N?" You told the AI there's no need for that.

You start to walk back to the kitchen to clean up when you notice a large, built man rummaging through the cupboards. You stopped because you hadn't seen this man before and you were feeling intimidated by him. There's a cackle of power and energy around him that tells every nerve in your body to be careful. 

"Aha! There you are!" His loud, booming voice startled you, causing you to make a noise and alerting the man to your presence. "Oh, hey! You're that lady from the pod!" He pointed the box he's holding in your direction.

You stood still, trying to observe him. "Are you an Avenger?" You cautiously asked.

"Yes. And please excuse my lack of manners, I am Thor - the god of thunder!" He confidently strides in front of you, which caught you off guard so you take a step back. Thor sees this and stops his advance.

"I apologize, I did not mean to scare you. I simply wish to welcome you and know your name." He held his hands out in surrender and slowly backed up.

"It's okay, you just surprised me." Realizing he's not that much of a threat because of his intention, you continue your way to the sink to place your plate down first. "My name's Y/N."

"Phew, that's good to know. Nice to meet you, Lady Y/N. I would like to offer a formal apology by sharing this delicious human invention of all time, the pop tarts!" You curiously eyed the opened box of 'pop tart' he was offering in front of you.

You reached into the box and gingerly drew out what you presumed was a 'pop tart'. Thor is watching you with a giant smile. He's getting less intimidating every second, you thought.

The pop tart looked way more appealing when you opened from its wrapper than those veggies you just had, so you didn't hesitate to take a bite. A giant smile made its way on your face as you feast on it.

"This... makes me happy." Thor grinned and felt his heart melt at the sight of your smile. He couldn't bear not sharing the entire box of his favorite pastry with you just to see that smile once more.

"Then we shall eat till our hearts are fulfilled!"

⧗──────────────────────────⧗

Natasha came back with Clint to introduce you both, only to find you sitting in the kitchen counter with your back facing her, listening attentively to Thor's animated story.

She also noticed the boxes and wrappers of pop tarts in front of both of you.

"Ahem." Natasha tries to get both of your attention.

"Lady Natasha! And Birdie!" You spun in their direction, still munching a pop tart in your mouth. Natasha notices the crumbs on your face, but you look too cute to be reprimanded.

"It's Hawkeye, Thor! Can't you just remember to call me Clint." Thor just waved his hand in dismissal. 

"Didn't know you'd be back so soon." Clint added. "Nah, I already handled the situation. I am a god, after all!"

"Y/N's not supposed to be consuming that many pop tarts, Thor, or any pop tarts at all for the meantime." Natasha sighed in disbelief.

She gave Thor a scolding look, but when she turned her attention back to you, she momentarily forgot her annoyance.

You're giving her your biggest grin yet as you swallowed the last piece, "I like pop tarts. A lot."

"I'm sorry that I'm not sorry, Lady Natasha. I just found I couldn't resist that smile of hers! Look at her, she's very happy!" You're about to open another pop tart but Natasha stopped you.

"Okayy, that's enough. For now, drink lots of this," she prepared you a glass of water and set it in front of you. "Thor, will you please clean this up? And also, no more giving her pop tarts if you still want to have pop tarts at all."

"Wha- B-but..." You stammered. You could only watch Thor put away those delectable things. "I am deeply sorry, Lady Y/N. Lady Natasha can be quite ruthless." You looked back at Natasha pouting.

Natasha feels like she has just kicked a puppy upon seeing you. "Y/N..." she tries to warn.

You nodded at her, visibly deflated. You finished drinking the water, then felt Natasha wipe your messy chin with a clean cloth. "There's someone I'd like you to meet, Y/N. Come here." She gently nudges you.

She introduces you to Clint Barton, the man that Natasha was with when she returned. He just smiled softly and pats you gently on the shoulder before making his way on the cupboard. He says about being hungry after completing an exhausting mission.

After that, Natasha bids your goodbyes, as it is your time to go to the lab. You gave the two gentlemen a wave before following Natasha. She then asks you what you think of the remaining members along the way.

"I think they're...nice. I like Thor. His stories are really interesting."

"His stories? I thought you liked him because of pop tarts." She lightly teases.

"Yeah, well t-that too..." your cheeks become tinted as you shyly admit it. 

"Don't worry, I'll give you a pop tart if your results come back great."

That made you light up like a kid that you are. Your unusual happiness did not go unnoticed by Tony as you entered the lab.

"Well, glad that someone starts their day with a great smile. Did someone finally enjoy their veggies this time?" Tony asks in a teasing manner.

"Nah, that's not the case, Stark. I caught her with Thor's pop tarts in her mouth, which he, surprisingly, willingly shared with her." Natasha replied instead.

"Woah, you must be really special that he shared his precious pop tarts with you. Point break loves his pop tarts that much so he doesn't share it with us." He exaggeratedly stretched his arms out.

You shyly looked down, still smiling because that made you happy. This is the first time that someone considers you special in a good way.

"Not to burst your bubbles guys, but Y/N's particular tests results came back." Bruce finally speaks. You straightened your posture as you looked at him. Natasha and Tony did the same.

"Unfortunately, as I expected, the gamma radiation genetically modified her DNA, but I'm not sure if it's quite  the same as my case," he continues.

"Like what? Is she gonna become a she-hulk?" Natasha worriedly asks.

"We have to isolate her if that's the case," Tony suggests. "One hulk is more than enough. Sorry kid, I'm not trying to anger you." You just gave him a shrug. You understand.

"I genuinely don't know guys, but we have to remove that object lodged in her sternum. That's where the source of gamma radiation comes from," Then Bruce proceeds to further explain his plan of extraction while you just stand there looking at your hands.

You try to assess your own body but you feel indifferent as you were before. "You okay there, kid? You're not turning she-hulk on us, are you?" You shake your head at Tony.

"I'm going back to the cell, am I?" You ask. They were silent for a few minutes before Bruce spoke up.

"We're hoping that we don't have to. If it's okay with you, we will proceed with the extraction as soon as possible. Most likely today."

You nod at them, wanting to get over with this already. "Please, doctor. Get this thing out of me." The same words you've spoken, but at different times and doctor.

"I'll get everything ready right now."

⧗──────────────────────────⧗

Natasha watched your limp body through the thick glass. You're heavily sedated to avoid risks.

Something nags at the back of her mind, telling her that this is a bad idea. But that thing is dangerous and needs to be removed from you so she could only watch anxiously.

Bruce performs the extraction alone with Tony's advanced medical AI helpers, in case something terrible happens. As he sliced through your skin, he couldn't believe his eyes from what he had just seen. Your skin slowly closes, healing on its own.

Of course, you just have to have a healing factor like his hulk. Albeit slower from him. Your tests only included drawing blood samples from you, so they did not anticipate your healing factor.

He tries again, but this time he must go deeper and hold it open for a longer period of time before your healing factor takes effect.

It worked, but he had to do the extraction quickly. He could now see a glowing stone in your body and tried to reach for it. 

When he made a teeny tiny contact with it, he was suddenly flung to the other side of the room. A loud gasp could be heard from you, then suddenly a thud. 

Natasha watched the scene unfold and alerted the others. She just witnessed you phase through the bed along with the sudden surge of energy that burst from you. 

"Bruce! Y/N! Are you both okay?!" She hurriedly asks through the intercom.

Bruce groaned and told Natasha not to enter just yet. He noticed you on your hands and knees on the floor, desperately gasping for air.

"Hey, hey, hey... It's okay. Take it slow. Breathe with me." He inhaled and exhaled slowly for you to follow. He needs you to calm down because he doesn't want to be tossed across the room again.

Once your breath became even, calming you down, the door hissed open. Bruce helps you stand up and fixes your medical gown.

Natasha rushed in front of you but kept a distance. The others were just outside, worry etched on their faces.

"I'm s-sorry..." You hoarsely said while looking at Natasha.

Then everything went black.

Part 4 || Next

[popculturebuffet]

Mickey and the Roadster Racers: “Mickey’s Perfecto Day” and “Daisy’s Grande Goal” review or “I think i’m going out of my headcold”

Saludos Amigos!  I”ve been sick, and as such have had no energy or state of mind to continue my look at every apperance of the CABs in the us, concluding with a look at every episode of legend of the three caballeros. 

And today’s stop is one i’m only passingly familiar with: Mickey and the Roadster Racers. MATRR.. wait really that’s what it spells?

No Larry the Cable guy on this blog thank you.  Anyways, Roadster Racers is surprisingly complicated for such a simple show. For starters it’s the successor to “Mickey Mouse’s Club House” another CGI Disney Junior show, Disney’s equivalent to Nick Jr because their clever like that. And to continue the theme of ripping off other properties, the show was Disney’s stab at following the big fake interactivity craze started by Dora the Explorer. And it’s annoying as that sounds with a lot of pasues and an annoying recurring hot dog song that’s obnoxiously catchy. It was mostly just slice of life shenanigans with the mickey mouse crew and when retoolling it they decided to drop the now dated fake interactivity, turn up the slice of life and add some of those nitro burning funny cars vroom vroom. IN a sense genral g rated soft boiled mickey shenanigans with a racing theme. 

Not a terrible series but not terribly intresting hence why i’ve never covered it. It’s a bland inoffesnsive cartoon for toddlers. Enough effort is put in for me not to hate it, as even a toddler show can have effort, but not enoguh so that I really care. I’ve seen better, i’ve seen worse. The only intresting things are the racing gimmick and the fact that as said gimmick diminished they switched names to “Mickey’s mixed up adventures” in season 3. Hence the complicated part as it’s not counted as it’s own series but unlike other disney title changes they aren’t just slapping another label under the logo like the marvel shows. This is  a full on retool. But it still has the same cast and prodcution crew and is counted as part of mickey mouse. Point is it’s weird and not relevant since our boys didn’t show up in that season. Oh and as a final note I learned while writing this/ there’s a THIRD Mickey Mouse Disney Junior Series, Mickey Mouse Funhouse, coming next year. 

But with so little to cover I ended up throwing in a freebie. See normally I charge the same for 11 minute and 20+ minute shows. It’s fair as most 11 minute shows these days pack in as much character as the ones that use the full half hour. It’s just a diffrence in tactics is all. But here I felt obligated to do at LEAST two diffrent, but cabs related, 11 minutes here, so if I had nothing to talk about I could pad it out and If I had everyhting to talk about.. eh I still tried to do the right thing. I regret nothing. But yeah i’m sick, this series is eh, let’s gooooo. 

Mickey’s Perfecto Day So Mickey and Friends are preparing to drive to spain.

No i’m not making a joke. Wish I was would be one of my best but no, Mickey and Friends are just.. casually going to drive to Spain. To explain why this hurts my head a map, on which i’ve drawn the route they’d have to take to get to spain from, let’s say Calisota, the fictional state where Mouseton, Duckburg, New Quackmore, and thus probably Hot Dog Hills, the show’s setting, reside. 

This is a crue map, they oculd’ve gone down through mexico or central america.. but the point is THEY DROVE ACROSS THE OCEAN. And I genuinely do not know if their cars can do that but apparently they can. So either the writer didn’t know where Spain was or didn’t care and either way it’s bad. LIke at least give their cars a plane or boat mode. Go full DKR up in this bitch, give em diffrent racing vehicles. But it wouldn’t be as aggrivvating or bizzare if they MENTIONED how they were driving to spain, like maybe Donald’s car that’s also an old boat and goofy’s that’s a tub have aquamodes and can tow the rest. I get 5 year olds don’t care about this.. but still? I guess? Also MIckey is either the sorcerer supreme or jesus at this point. He can cross oceans by car, astral project, cross into other dimensions.. the only thing missing is raising the dead and  he already did that in the 30′s. 

So as for why the sorcerer supreme and his buddies are going all the way to Spain, Donald has a concert with the three caballeros and this time they all remember him as a memmber and Daisy’s a huge fan. Which is sweet. Then we hear donald duck talk and...

Yeah, Daniel Ross is not the best Donald. Now I will cut the guy some slack here: He’s a voice actor more known for doing bit parts who just got the role in 2016, since racers aired in 2017 and animation lead time and all that. He’s not going to be nearly as good as Tony or Clarence out of the gate. Even Tony wasn’t. He also had a valid reason for picking up the role as Tony likely had two series in production at that time, Rise of the Three Cablleros and Ducktales, and thus had to split his time between both. And having Chris Diamaptolus do mickey in the new shorts instead of his usual voice actor Bret Iwane despite Iwane not being in any serious danger of dying soon has worked out super. So having multiple actors isn’t the problem. Hell after the tragic loss of Russi taylor and with how bad the world is, having an understudy in mind for such an important role is a grim but understandable necicisty. While I belivie tony can go on for decades, he’s only human. 

So my issue is not on Donald’s voice being diffrent or new.. it’s that it’s not very good and the second episode featuerd here shows Daniel Ross really hasn’t improved despite now having worked as the character for a while.I can forgive taking some time to grow in but being this sloppy after a full season is just unacceptable. He’s BETTER but he’s still just not very good and doing the bear minimum. I don’t doubt he’s a good va in other rolls, I don’t want to hate on the guy, but I can hate on aperfomance when it’s bad and it’s not good here. It’s just not. Not in either episode not in any way shape or form. It just feels like a lazy donald duck impression. Disney can do better and Ross can hopefully find better work in the future. But for now this just hangs like a wet fart on his resume. 

Moving on, thankfully, we have our three stories split pretty evenly and all stock plots. “Horay”.  Mickey and Minnie: Mickey tries to have a “perfecto” day, hence the title with Minnie, but instead gives her a rose a baby bull likes.. or maybe it’s SUPPOSED to be full grown but while Mickey and Minnie treat him like a grown bull and react to him like one.. the boy dosen’t look at all, even in the series style, like an adult bull. he looks like a calf. Mickey.. is initimdated by a small child whose horns aren’t sharp enough to hurt him. 

It’s just REALLY distracting and takes me out of the plot which itself is as bland as plain toast and twice as dry. They flee him till the end where Minnie figures out the rose thing at the concert and they make an ew friend. NOt TERRIBLE but not great.  Goofy and Cuckoo Loca: Okay first off who and what is a cuckoo loca? Well she’s a wind up bird that lives in Daisy’s Cuckoo Clock and makes sarcastic comments in a brooklyn accent because nikka futtterman voices her. Still makes more sense than driving to spain. She’s not a bad addition to the cast.. not even that weird as most kids based franchises have an adorable animal sidekick to market. Goofy wants to try some “flamingo dancing” while in spain, with Loca going along to make sure he dosen’t die somehow.. which would be unjustifable for anyone but goofy. Also.. Flamingo Dancing...

But yeah Goofy goes up against ... world famous flamingo dancer horace horsecollar?!

Now apparently this is a common thing for him in this series, apparently, but still it feels like if one of those weird variant ninja turtle figures from the 80′s was a plot point in an episode. Like if we actually had an episode based around birthday magician raph. 

It feels just as odd and out of place for down to earth if showy horace to suddenly be the best flaminco dancer in spain, despite being very much white coded, as it does for the angriest ninja turtle to be pulling a rabbit out of kids hats. Now Rise of the TMNT raph I could totally see as a party magician but any other? He’d probably break his wand over some kids head. 

Goofy ends up winning anyway because he’s stupid, though Flamingo dancing should be a real thing even if this joke is bad and it shoudl feel bad. What an ODD subplot Okay one more then i’m free of this prison. 

The Three Cablleros Plus Daisy:  Okay finally we get to what I came here for. The Three Caballeros! And..they look a tad off. Not terrible but clearly the animators weren’t as skilled with non duck beaks as both of them look ready to do this to donald. 

While Panchito’s color varies. Sometime’s it’s a deep brownish crimson, sometimes it’s poop brown and there’s no classy way to put it. When he’s in this cheap cgi, he looks like a shit chicken. This gets to a larger issue though... the animation here is not great. It’s not TERRIBLE.. but it’s pretty freaking sub par for disney. And i’ve SEEN their other cgi shows around the same time due to having a young niece and nephew. Sherieff Callie, Doc McStuffins, MIles from Tommorowland, and after this T.O.T.S. and Rocketeer. I’m not saying these are masterpieces of the genre, but they have more effort in botht he animation and writing put in. Here it just feels like they do the bear minimum which feels really fucking wrong. These chracters deserve better and have thankfully gotten better. YOu can make a show for preschoolers that’s cutsey and harmless and still have it at least be creative god dammit. It’s why I don’t like covering this show. It just feels so.. lifeless. They try a bit here and there but outside of cuckoo, there’s nothing really new or intresting to really make kids love these characters and it bothers me. it bothers me a lot. 

Moving on thank god, the plot is bare bones as is the boys characterization. So far at least their character has been pretty consitent across all mediums. i’ts something I haven’t really touched on but their seen as world traveler’, Panchito being a Gaucho and Jose being such a ladies man this will probably happen to him eventually. 

I swear to god that was the only part of this movie I can remember. I’m  better off that way. But yeah without Panchito’s pep or Jose’s smooth talking ways, there’s just nothing for disney junior to work with so their just.. friends to donald who are nice to daisy. Which is very nice to see, but isn’t very intresting or gives me a lot to talk about. Donald eats a food that’s too hot, continues to talk poorly, and Daisy has to fill in. He gets back in at time and they sing probably the most forgetable cabs song yet. It’s.. not much honestly.  This was worth covering for completions sake but it dosen’t really add much. If nothing else it at least made me realize so far each mile of the ride has added something fresh to the characters: The original was the foundation, rosa gave them depth and made them feel like real people, and house of mouse made them feel like a big deal to other characters and made donald’s history as a cabllero part of his legacy as it should be. Each one so far has felt like it added.. this one just made me realize that and that is all. It builds on nothing adds nothing and there’s really nothing here other than MAYBE the brown/crimson design for panchito that carries over from the looks of it. The next two versions build on what rosa, the movie and to a lesser extent the house of mouse built. This one adds nothing. This plot is just.. inconqueintal. not bad for kids to know about them but even then it feels like a disapointing introduction. I fondly remember hte cabs episodes of house of mouse and even on rewatch they mostly held up despite some weak parts. This .. this will just be forgotten and I only hope legend and ducktales have done a better job keeping my boys alive in kids minds. God i’m depressed. Well at least this is over right.. right? 

Daisy’s Grande Goal

Okay as I said I was doing two, and rather than do this episode’s paired episode I decided on Season 2′s “Supercharged: Daisy’s Grande Goal”.. and cut the supercharged out of the title for the most part because why would you put the sutitle in your actual title. And only in some episodes. But yeah this season had a new gimmick, SUPERCHARGING... which basically means our heroes roadsters can go into super sayian tron super sayian mode and go real fast. They look real nice though and it has it’s own neat theme tune so there’s that. Otherwise the only other change is the animation which improves greatly. Seriously look at that shot above. That’s quality lin line with the ohter disney juinor shows. It’s still not as CREATIVE, but it’s not as slipshod as it started and I have to give them credit on that. 

So our heroes are in Brazil.. and as far as I can tell they drove there again.. but the diffrence is 1) you can actually DRIVE to brazil and 2) they have super fast super cars now, meaning even if the super charge mode has a timer, it can help with the commute. It’s also one of the boys actual home countries this time. I mean the episode isn’t built around the cabs.. but neither was the last one. Seriously I almost missed that: it’s three unrleated plots and really you could’ve just lenethed the bull and goofy plots a bit and left donald and daisy out. If your not going to use the cabs right hten don’t use them at all. Here though their used BETTER.. still not in the lead unforunately but at least them being on the brazilian soccer team makes sense as jose is from brazil and while panchito is it he’s his best friend, sometimes lover and always there when he needs him. So spending some time in brazil to play soccer/football isn’t a stretch. But that’s about it for their involvment: they say a few lines, are part of the brazilian team our heroes face, and we get Not-Donald saying “No Way Jose”.,,,

Sadly I can’t leave but the main plot is about Daisy’s Cousnt Almonda. She was in the previous episode which I did not watch but I do like both there being a valid reason why our heroes are here, and connection between episodes. While this season isn’t MUCH better.. it’s still better by some metric.  The plot is very basic: Almonda always wins at soccer ever since she and Daisy were kids, and it’s your basic “hero gets overcompetitive to finally win plot and learns to just have fun and to use teamwork heart of the cards and all that” It goes how you’d expect with Daisy hogging the ball and causing disasters and then a ten car pileup before cucoo yells at her, she realizes she was bad and also realizes Almonda had to practice hard to beat her, and ends up beating her through teamwork and you get it. IT’s not much But yeah ten car pile up.. that’s where it is intresting and rediculous as their playing soccer with cars. Which given i’ve always been an advocate for card games on motor cycles, seriously it’s not more rediculous than Yugioh was before that: in the anime and manga before 5ds we had table hockey but the puck is ice with nitrocylcrine in it, a battle with an escaped convict involving vodka and only using one finger, a chinese puzzel box that devoured souls, a dueling monkey, a whole hogwarts style school for dueling, duel spirits, our heroes childhood creations coming to life to help him, our hero merging with his androgynous childhood friend to fight the light of all evils, and on top of all of that, kaiba building a giant murder theme park soley to kill yugi and, even with how rich is he is, not even going to prison for the two months he’d get for that. My point is Yugioh is fricking weird and I love it so and card games on mortocyles is awesome.  Soccer with cars is alright. The teams are mickey, minnie, daisy and donald, for the US and Almonda, Jose, Panchito and.. Pancho Pete for the Brazilian team. Pete’s cousin. He apparenlty has a lot of em. Eh as long as we don’t get petkeem the african dream we’re fine. 

Why why did I make this. Why. But yeah it’s fine, not the best action ever adn the supercharge segments as I said look nice but as I also said ther’es just not a lot here. Daisy’s cousin is intresting, but likely more in the other segment. Here she’s more of a plot device to make daisy into an asshole for the episode so the plot can happen. There’s just not a lot to talk about> Hence me doing two of these. I will say it’s a better episode than the other one: it felt like more actually happened, it was more cohesive, had way more enerjgy and it had billy beagle... the series resident overexcited and loveable announcer voiced by the far from loveable jay leno of stealing conan’s job he gave him and last man standing, for some reason, fame. 

Overall these episodes are.. eh. The first one is kind of a mess, the second one is slightly better but these clearly werne’t meant for adults, let alone older kids and it shows. But I found some material here and made a horrifying combination of a terrible racist wwe gimmick and pete so.. I win/ I guess. I dunno, until next time, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 

[wolfpawn]

Life Is a Game Of Risks, Chapter 9

Chapter Summary -  Tom takes time to assess his reaction to Alexianna's situation, including speaking to her, revealing more about her situation, and another conversation with a still irked Sarah, who adds a little more insight for Tom.

TRIGGERS - Past domestic abuse, Past emotional abuse, Past sexual abuse.

Previous Chapter

Request if you wish to be tagged

Tags: @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1

It took half an hour of thinking through his thoughts before Tom got up the courage to bring up Alexianna's number in his phone and press the call button. At first, he thought she had seen who was calling and decided to not answer, but after a moment more, the line picked up. 'Hello?'

'Lexi, hi.'

'Hi, Tom.' Her tone told him she wasn't overly pleased it was him.

'I owe you an apology for my leaving so suddenly the other day.'

'Is your mum alright?' Her voice was clipped and to the point.

'Yeah, it wasn't an emergency at all, not really, she was renewing her vows for her China anniversary, or is it platinum, they changed it in recent years.'

'Okay, that is so cute.' Alexianna's tone became softer immediately. 'Aw, she and Paul were always so sweet together.'

'Yes, and apparently my procrastinating at getting to Suffolk meant she and Paul thought I would not come back in time for it, so they made Emma lie to me.'

'That's sort of mean.'

'I'm glad someone sees it the same as I did.' He smiled for a moment before his smile fell. 'I also owe you an apology for how I acted the other evening when I met...'

'I didn't hide her on purpose.' Tom let Alexianna speak. 'I know it is daunting, and I know some people do not want to have partners with kids from previous relationships, and I respect that, not everyone wants kids. I understand, but I never intended for us to go there at all, much less that fast, so I never got to tell you properly.'

'You never wanted us to...'

'I did not think you were interested.'

'I was, I am.'

'But when you saw Lily...'

'I was not prepared for her, that's all.' Tom inhaled deeply. 'I handled it wrong, and as a result, I acted terribly. I made myself out to be a prick of the highest order.'

'Not the highest order, trust me, you are a far cry from that.' Alexianna assured him.

'Can I ask...?'

'Yes, she is Jonathon's.' Tom assumed that to be her ex-husband since she never said his name before. 'He left when she was born, the day she was born.'

His eyes widened. 'How...?'

'During the pregnancy, he insisted on finding out the gender, I didn't want to, I wanted a surprise. They told us we were having a boy, and everything was fine, we got ready for a boy.' Tom frowned. 'When she was born...in the delivery room when they said they had got it wrong, it happens about five to ten per cent of the time, well he just left.'

'He left the delivery room?'

'I was in theatre, there were complications, so it was a section birth, and he walked out. When I rang him a few hours later to ask him to bring in the rest of the baby clothes we had bagged for the hospital, he never answered the phone. I got a call at two in the morning, he said not to bother him again. I had clearly been cheating on him.'

'How did he deduce that?'

There was a silence for a moment before she answered him. 'Real men don't have girls, apparently.' Tom's mouth fell open at her words. 'He called me every name I have ever heard and more besides for a whore and that was the last time I ever heard from him. It's been me and Lily since. Daniel picks up a lot of the slack, he came back from abroad to help for a while and everything. Marie was of no help.'

'I am so sorry.' Tom only then realised he was on the verge of tears. He thought of the little blue-eyed girl, cuddling into her mother, clearly elated to see her home from her day's work and study. He could not fathom a situation where a father would abandon their child based on its gender.

'You didn't do it, he did. She doesn't know about him, she never asks and I never tell. How do I tell her that?'

'And how do you lie and say anything else because then she will start wondering why he is not there and if she tries to find him and he rejects her...' Tom added.

'Exactly.' Alexianna seemed relieved he understood. 'I did plan to tell you, I swear, but it's not like it's the first thing you say to people.'

'Hi, I am Alexianna Hughes, I am a mother, thirty-one and an Aquarius.' Tom put his voice up a few pitches to attempt a female tone causing Alexianna to laugh.

'Yeah, something like that.' Her smile was blatant over the phone. 'Thank you, Tom.'

'What for?'

'Your terrible habit of making me smile.'

'I endeavour to do so frequently.' Tom grinned. 'When I get back, could I perhaps convince you to finally have a full cup of tea with me?'

'Always with the tea.'

'I am trying to get a full cup of tea before I work my way up to dinner.' he felt someone looking at him, turning around, he saw Sarah standing behind him, slightly startled to hear him on the phone. 'Lexi, I am sorry to cut this short, but I am being called back inside. I will ring you when I get back to London if that's okay with you of course.'

'I will talk to you then, tell your mum and Paul I say congratulations.'

'I will. Bye.' he hung up the phone and looked at his sister. 'Yes?'

'What are you doing?' Sarah demanded. 'If you are stringing her along...'

'You were right.' Sarah paused and looked at him in shock. 'You were completely right. I was being ridiculous and yes, at thirty-one years old, of course, Lexi was going to have a past. And me getting judgemental about it was wrong. Mom had three of us. Lexi only has Lily.'

'That's a really nice name,' Sarah smiled. She looked at her brother. 'What?' Tom shook his head but did not speak, his hands shaking, Sarah well able to recognise the sheer anger in her brother’s expression. ‘Tom, whatever it is, tell me, it will stay between us.’

'If you tell mum or Emma I will never speak to you again.'

‘I swear, on Sophie.'

'Lexi's husband was a prick. He was abusive and manipulative and when Lily was born and he realised she was a girl, he left and never came back.'

Sarah's hand went to her mouth. 'Did you know?'

'When I met Lily, no, she only told me that last bit of information on the phone a minute ago.' Tom revealed. 'I know I should not be talking about it but I have to tell someone.'

'Tom?'

'Who...who abandons a child because it's a girl?' he asked, his frustration finally bubbling to the surface as he paced his mother's garden. 'She is so small, she's a tiny wisp of a thing, as dad would say...and he left them. He left them in the operating theatre and never came back.' again the tears came to his eyes.

'Some people are like that Tom, I don't know what else to say.' Sarah stated, her own voice tight from her emotions on learning such information. 'We can't help the actions of others.' She touched his arm in a comforting manner. 'How did the conversation regarding the situation with Lexi go?'

'She said she understood if I did not want to have kids around, that she knew it wasn't for everyone and that she wouldn't blame me if I did not want any more to do with her.' Tom explained. 'She said she had planned on introducing her properly, that she had not intended to dump the news on me like that.'

'That is very understanding of her. And you are okay with it now?'

'It's not ideal, but I really like Lexi and you were right, she has a past and Lily is here, so I have to accept that or move on, I think I want to try and accept it.'

Sarah nodded sagely. 'Before you go any further Tom, I have to tell you this, because you need to make a properly informed decision.' Tom gave her a concerned look. 'Lily is going to be Lexi's number one priority, no matter what.'

'I know.'

'Your premieres, your jobs, your wants will always come second to her, no matter what.'

'If she was willing to drop her, I would be worried.'

Sarah smiled and nodded. 'Good, as long as you know that.'

'Why do you think like this, you and Yakov...are you alright?'

'Our marriage is fine, it has its ups and downs, they all do, but we are not planning on separating any time soon.' Sarah insisted. 'I have thought about that scenario though, after Sophie was born, I did worry that someday, I could be like mom and yes, I thought about how I would not be able to get someone if they saw I had a daughter.'

Tom was somewhat shocked that Sarah had told him such. 'I never thought...'

'No, we don't, do we? Not when it is nothing to do with us normally.' she sighed before looking back to the door. 'So you actually met her daughter, that's when you first knew about her.'

'The first mention of Lily was when she rushed out of a bedroom and jumped into Alexianna's arms shouting 'Mummy'.'

'That's a bit of a land.'

'It was, yes.' Tom nodded. 'But it explains a lot, her CV gap, her not getting back to college after the accident.'

'Accident?'

'She had a car accident when she was in college, she got banged up and then her husband came along.'

'Then came her daughter and her husband left.’ Tom nodded. ‘Does she talk to her mother still?'

'Her mother blamed her for her marriage failing.'

Sarah scoffed. 'Well, that's fucking rich.'

'I know.'

'At least you don't have to worry about the father getting involved, I bet that makes things more complicated.'

'How do I treat her?' Sarah shook her head slightly, showing him she was unsure what he meant. 'Lily?'

'Like a four-year-old child obviously. You remember Sophie at that age. Just make sure you don't spoil her to make her like you, that will only make Lexi's life harder.'

'The dog bag.'

'The Paw Patrol, what about it?'

'Everything in the house belonging to her is of that.'

'They focus on something. Sophie was Doc McStuffins.'

'Their home is shit.'

'What do you mean?'

'They live in a bedsit.'

'London is expensive, Tom.'

'But they are probably paying a Holy fortune for that bedsit where some other places they wouldn't have to share a bed.'

'Where is it?'

'Just inside Hampstead Heath.'

'She is playing the location game.' Tom frowned. 'You have to live in certain townland lines to qualify to send your kid to a certain school, Lexi is playing that game, Hampstead has better schools, better funded, fewer delinquency issues, she knew that and got what she could afford in that area to ensure Lily got into a good school, she is very smart.' Sarah explained. 'We did something similar, it's why we sold one house and bought one ten minutes away, it's in a better schooling zone.'

'Makes sense. She just never seems to catch a break.'

'She is not letting what happened to bother her Tom, she has accepted it and rolled with it to the extent that she is able to get up and get to college and raise her daughter right. Don't let it bother you.'

'But they share a bed, their home is tiny.'

'You do realise, a hundred years ago whole families shared beds, right? Not everyone's family could afford private schools and everyone having their own bedrooms.'

'Alexianna was privately educated.' Tom pointed out.

'Yes, she is used to more, I am sure at the beginning it was a slap in the face to her, but she is still kicking.' Sarah smiled. 'Come on, dinner's ready.'

[moonbeambucky]

The Price of Gold - Epilogue

Pairing: Lance Tucker x Reader Word Count: 3973 Warnings: fluff

Summary: As a sports journalist you’ve traveled the world interviewing famous athletes. You’ve loved your job up until you find out your next article is on the last person in the world you ever wanted to talk to, Lance Tucker.

A/N: I can’t believe this is over! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this! This fic has been my life for the past few months and it really means so much to me! Written for @green-eyeddragonfanfiction Dragon’s 3k Follower Creative Content Challenge. My prompt was “I can’t be in love with you!” gif source (x) 

PART 18 | THE PRICE OF GOLD MASTERLIST

Saturdays were the busiest day for Tucker Gymnastics, with most parents available on the weekend to accompany their kids as they learned gymnastics from one of the very best in the field. On this particular Saturday the center was closed for a private event, one that would show no profits but make Lance Tucker’s heart richer with love.

Ariel Tucker, named after her mother’s favorite mermaid, was turning two years old today and Lance closed the center to the public to finally give Ariel her first official gymnastics lesson.

Waking up slowly you felt Lance’s chest pressed to your back, hearing his soft snores made your lips curve into smile with a sudden urge to look at his face. Shifting on to your back Lance inhaled stiffly, the corners of his lips pulling upwards as he nuzzled against you again.

“Good morning beautiful,” he said in a raspy whisper, his eyes still closed. It was the way he greeted you every morning since you moved in together and you never got tired of hearing it.

Within two years of dating you and Lance were married. It was the wedding you always dreamed of. Held at an estate south of Spring Hill you were married with an ocean backdrop, a cool breeze flowing through the air. Friends and family surrounding you to celebrate your special day, with both you and Lance shedding a few more tears than anticipated.

The moment he saw you it was like the world stopped spinning. Accompanied by your father, you glided down the aisle like an angel floating through the heavens. Wearing a strapless ivory mermaid style dress, lace and beads beautifully accentuated your body. Carrying a large bouquet of cascading flowers colored like the beautiful sunset behind him Lance thought it was the perfect accent to a more than perfect wedding– that is until you stood before him.

The tears that had formed in his eyes suddenly dropped down his cheeks as he smiled at the delicate pearls around your neck. They were Dorothy’s, given to you after her passing as part of her wishes. You knew the significance, these were the pearls Lance’s Grandma Ruth had worn on her wedding which she passed down to Dorothy for her wedding who always knew she would give it to you.

You choked back your own tears, smiling as you and Lance held each other’s hands during the ceremony, knowing how lucky you were that after half of your lives apart you found each other again.

“Good morning baby,” you replied, scratching your fingers through his hair, enjoying the surprisingly peaceful morning for as long as you could.

He was in need of a haircut, letting the time in between appointments go longer than he was used to. He didn’t mind though, his hair was the least of his concerns, not when any free time could be spent with you and Ariel. He needed a shave too, his stubble coming in a lot more than he normally let it. The combination made him look a little older but in a more distinguished way. No longer was he the spiky haired arrogant gymnast but the man you always dreamed you would grow old with (and thankfully no warts were to be found!)

“Speaking of babies,” he paused to rub his hand along your swollen belly, “How is the little guy doing?”

You were halfway through your second pregnancy, the name of your son to be determined. For now he was just “the little guy” and you were excited to welcome him as part of your growing family.

“Well he’s pressing on my bladder and if I don’t get up right this second I’m definitely going to pee on the bed,” you joked.

It was time to get up anyway, with Ariel’s giddy anticipation for her birthday you certain she would come flying into your bedroom any minute. Pushing yourself to sit up you were about to get off the bed before Lance called out for you to wait.

Turning around he stood on his knees in the center of the bed, dressed in boxers and white t-shirt, moving closer towards you for a kiss. Despite his morning breath you would have kissed him for hours, or until Ariel would undoubtedly come in, but at this moment you had to push him away as you clenched your legs together while running to the bathroom.

Lance laughed at your loud sigh of relief through the door for finally being able to pee. He laid back on the bed, his arm thrown over his eyes to block the strong morning sunlight from coming in through the window. With a smile plastered on his face Lance thought about how lucky he was to have this life.

He’s pulled from his peaceful reprieve as the pitter-patter of tiny feet echo off the wood floor, with tiny hands reaching up and grabbing the blanket. A quiet voice squeaks out a call for her Dad who turns and smiles at his little girl, lifting her up. Purple painted toes support her tiny frame that barely makes a dent on the mattress.

Born six weeks premature, Ariel required a short stay in the NICU, with you and Lance at her side every day. She made it through without any major complications except for the fact that her parents were even more overprotective of her. It was the main reason Lance hadn’t begun teaching her gymnastics.

You and Ariel visited Lance quite often at the center and she was always squirming to get out of your arms and join her Dad and the other kids for what she thought was playtime. She was so much smaller than the other children, and even though Lance would be at her side through each move he didn’t want his little girl to get hurt in any way; you both agreed she wasn’t ready yet.

Lance kissed her forehead, rolling down her Doc McStuffins pajama top that shifted up to expose her cute belly button.

“Daddy guesshwhat?”

Lance sat up against the headboard, “What is it Starfish?” he excitedly asked.

“Is my buhhthday!” she grinned, showing off her tiny teeth.

“It is?” he feigned surprise. “How old are you today?”

“I twoo!” she replied, holding up two small fingers.

“No you can’t be two! You’re my little baby,” Lance said, scooping her up into his arms as if he were cradling an infant, pressing kisses all over her face as she giggled from his ticklish stubble.

“No… I... Big... Girl,” she said in between fits of laughter.

Lance shifted Ariel so she faced him, “Okay, okay, you’re my big girl. What does my big girl want to do for her birthday?”

Ariel’s face lit up like fireworks, “Tumbwle!”

You stood in the doorframe watching their exchange, your heart growing bigger in size at the love Lance had for your daughter. He was the perfect father, loving, gentle, kind; he was the antithesis of Mitch Tucker.

“Daddy and I will take you to tumble but first we have a surprise for you!” you spoke up, your voice catching your daughter’s attention.

She jumped out of Lance’s arms, plopping down towards the end of the bed as you walked towards her. Sitting on her knees she was face to face with your large stomach and pressed a kiss to your belly.

“Good mawning bwother,” she said. For now Ariel was excited to have a sibling, once your or Lance’s attention is diverted from her there might be an issue.

Ariel was the sweetest little girl with an equal mix of Lance and your younger selves in her. She loved to sing, making up her own songs that she would perform as you and Lance sat together on the couch watching and cheering for her.

Like her namesake she was always in the water, with you and Lance playing “mermaids” with her. With floaties secured around her arms you would hold her by the waist on the surface of the water as her arms swept out in front of her with her legs wildly splashing behind. Ariel would swim to Lance and rescue him from the evil Ursula, also known as a smiling inflatable octopus pool toy.

When she was out of the water Ariel was never without her favorite teddy bear, your own childhood bear that once sat on the shelf proudly displaying Lance’s first medal, that is until Ariel made grabby hands and began to cry for the doll. The medal is now on your nightstand, hanging off a framed photo from your wedding day, a daily reminder of how far you and Lance have come.

Lance dressed Ariel as you prepared breakfast. Things had changed so much since you were a kid, now there were endless recipes on Pinterest to choose from, some you were able to master and others not so much. Today you made whole grain pancakes, pouring out two smaller circles of batter that would become the ears on the bear you were going to create. Using banana slices you placed them on the smaller pancakes as the inside of the bear’s ear, and one on the larger pancake as the snout, with chocolate chips becoming the eyes and nose.

In a small bowl was a plain yogurt with a fruit rainbow of raspberries, mandarin oranges, sliced green grapes and blueberries. So much work goes into preparing such a pretty breakfast all the time, your parents definitely had it easier.

Clinging to Lance’s frame as he went down the steps Ariel wore a coral halter romper with a hibiscus flower print and white strappy sandals with a large flower embellishment. He placed her at the table in her booster seat as she smiled at her pancakes.

“Where Teddy?” she worriedly asked before you brought him out from the table behind her.

Teddy required delicate cleaning since he was an old bear, something you occasionally did overnight as Ariel slept.

After eating and cleaning up yogurt on Ariel’s cheeks the three of you grab the bag you packed and head out to the garage. You handed Lance your car keys as you opened the door for Ariel, securing her in her car seat as Lance adjusted the mirrors.

“You know you’re gonna need a new car babe,” you said, as Lance pulled out of the garage and clicked a button for the door to close. Lance still had his convertible Mustang though the top has been up every time he’s driven with Ariel as per your insistence. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to fit another car seat in that thing,” you continued.

“Yeah I know,” he defeatedly huffed. “But there’s no way I’m getting a minivan!”

You burst out laughing as he looked over at you, his blue eyes full of stern conviction.

“Definitely not!” you agreed. “You’ll have to get something soon though, the little guy’s coming in a just a few months.”

“There’s still so much to do! New car, finish his room, name him!” Lance chuckled.

“Yeah I know,” you said running your hands over your stomach. “Well at least we know what we don’t want. No Brayden, Aiden, Grayson or Mason...”

“Yeah, not happening. Hey Starfish, what do you think we should name your brother?” Lance called out to Ariel who was playing with her dolls.

In one hand was Teddy and the other was Stuffy, the blue dragon from Doc McStuffins. Her growing brain mulled over the decision of names between the two stuffed animals. “Stuffy!” she cried out.

“Stuffy Tucker?” Lance questioned.

“Well, maybe if he has allergies,” you joked. “Sweetie what’s the name of the police dog on PAW Patrol?” It took a while for you and Ariel to think of the name until it finally hit you. “Chase! Lance, what about Chase?”

“Hmmm,” Lance mused out loud, “It’s a maybe.”

You quickly reached your destination, bringing Ariel for her first visit to Weeki Wachee. She had no idea what was happening until the “mermaids” swam in and Ariel gasped out loud, crying out “Mermaid!”

She was watching them in the same awe struck manner as you once did, pointing towards the viewing window as the mermaids swam by with a large smile plastered on her face.

Next you went to the wildlife show, with Lance having to hold Ariel tight in his lap as she kept wanting to pet all the animals. Your anxiety increased as the teenage employee kept bringing out progressively larger snakes until he finally showed off a small alligator.

Now that you were a mom you tried to find the balance between allowing Ariel the freedom to grow up while still being nurturing and protective. Right now you were going to be protective, extremely protective and used this opportunity to remind Ariel that these animals are not pets. Blowing out a harsh breath you wondered if you caused your own parents as much worry.

After the show you sat at a picnic table for a snack, giving Ariel a sippy cup of milk and putting out some Cheerios, string cheese and a mandarin orange that you shared with her. Lance made sure you ate more than just that, pulling out carrot sticks and a granola bar from the bag along with some water. Smiling you leaned forward to kiss him in return for his thoughtfulness.

You were taking a lot of precaution as the risk of another premature birth was always there. Lance was a big help, staying home more often to allow you more time to rest. Your workload lightened as well. You were still able to Skype with athletes for your articles but travel was out of the question. You were thankful having prepared a lot in advance to release during your maternity leave.

After eating you took Ariel on the boat ride. She sat in between you and Lance as she excitedly pointed out every fish, turtle and bird that you passed. When the ride was over you asked the driver to take your photo, the three of you saying “cheese” in unison, though Ariel screamed the word, which echoed off the roof of the boat.

Finally, you were headed to Tucker Gymnastics and Ariel was bubbling with anticipation. Lance had gone into his office, you suspect to check in on calls and emails while he waited for his girls. After a quick trip to the bathroom for both you and Ariel, you changed her into a shimmery purple leotard.

Lance’s door was still shut so you picked barefoot Ariel up carefully and walked her over to the photo of young Lance and Dorothy.

“This is your Daddy as a kid!” you said, pointing to him in the picture. “And this is your Grandma Dorothy. She is Daddy’s mommy.”

“Where Gamma Dowthy?” Ariel innocently asked.

“Grandma Dorothy is everywhere. When the sun warms up the day that’s Grandma Dorothy giving you a big warm hug, and when the moon is out at night she’s looking over and watching you sleep.”

Though she’s too young to truly understand you wanted Ariel to know Dorothy and one day when she’s older you know Lance will have her read your article. He still considers it one of the greatest gifts you’ve ever given him, though nothing compares to the love you show him every day, and the family you’ve made together.

Lance pulled open the door to his office, stepping out with a serious look on his face. He tightened a red bandana wrapped around his forehead and clapped his hands together, “Let’s do this!”

Reaching into his pocket he walked over to Ariel, pulling out a smaller bandana for her to match him. Ariel leaned towards Lance who took her from your arms and you followed them into the main gym. Lance leaned down in front of his antsy little girl who would not sit still as he gathered her hair together to tie it up and tie the bandana on her.

Once she was ready Lance put his palm up, “Let’s go for the gold!”

Ariel slapped his hand, “Go faw gold!”

Lance started slow, easing her into tumbles. “Squat like a frog,” he said, adjusting her hands and feet, “Now stick your tushie in the air and look at your belly button.”

Ariel giggled at the way Lance taught her but he guided her through the movement, assuring her head was placed properly for her to roll through. Lance made it a fun as she repeated the motions until she got it before moving on to a backwards roll. She was definitely Lance’s kid as she completed a backwards roll much more gracefully than you ever could.

With your phone in hand you took a bunch of photos and videos, all of which you knew you would have to send your parents. Even though they would be coming over later for cake and presents they insisted on having their own copy of every picture of their granddaughter and you can’t blame them. Your own phone was filled with thousands of pictures of your beautiful girl.

Lance worked on some poses, teaching her how to do a bridge. Soon she was in a downward dog position in front of the wall. Lance told her to keep her arms strong as he braced one hand on her arms and the other under her stomach for support.

“Walk your feet up the walls,” he said, as her little feet staggered asymmetrically up the wall. “You’re doing great Starfish!”

It wasn’t quite a handstand, not yet at least but you know with Lance’s guidance she would get there one day, just as you did.

Afterwards Lance whispered something in Ariel’s ear that made her jump up and down. Lance carried Ariel to the balance beam that was closest to the ground, placing her down and standing behind her as he cupped his hands around his mouth as he announced, “The US Women’s Gymnastics Team proudly presents ARIEL TUCKER!”

You pleaded for him to wait so you could record this. When you were ready Lance lifted Ariel onto the beam, holding her hands as she walked across it, stopping midway as he told her to jump up. As Ariel jumped Lance lifted her up high over his head before placing her gently down on the beam again. She walked to the end of the beam, jumping off as Lance held her.

He carried her over to the uneven bars, still gripping her waist as he held her up, instructing Ariel to hold on to the lower bar. He swayed her body from side to side, all while providing commentary on how the young gymnast has skillfully mastered the uneven bars. Next was the pommel horse, where Lance held her up and she wasn’t sure quite what to do. Lance began to tickle her stomach and so she burst into a fit of giggles, her little feet stomping up and down which made it look like she was dancing.

“And for her final challenge, the vault!” his voice boomed.

Ariel clung to Lance as he stood midway in the runway. He jogged lightly, dodging the vault and jumping into the foam block pit behind it.

“Ariel Tucker wins the gold!” Lance cheered, kissing Ariel on the cheek. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck, stretching her arms around him and you were so happy to have recorded that moment.

Lance placed Ariel on the mat’s as he pulled himself out of the pit, scooping her into his arms again to head back to his office. He opened the small refrigerator that was stocked up on juices boxes and snacks for Ariel. She sat in his chair, swinging her dangling legs around as she sipped from an apple juice box.

“Here,” he said, grabbing a water bottle for you and pulling out a packet of almonds from his desk. “Come on babe, you know you want my nuts.”

“Lance!” you yelled in a whispered voice.

“What? It’s protein,” he smirked, opening the packet and tossing a few almonds into his mouth before handing it to you so he could untie his bandana.

You shook your head at him all while smiling and Lance leaned closer to rub the tip of his nose against yours, your face scrunching in return at the contact.

“I love you so much Lance,” you said, tilting your head to press a kiss to his lips.

He pulled away quickly asking, “What about Jim?” You squinted at him in confusion, wondering who Jim was and why you were supposed to love them.

“For the baby. Maybe Jim for gymnastics. Or James. James Tucker,” Lance worked through his reasoning out loud.

“Definitely not Jim. James is a maybe.”

Lance cupped your cheeks in his hands and leaned in to kiss you more sincerely, pulling away from each other before things got too steamy.

After arriving home you put Ariel down for a short nap. With Teddy by her side you tucked Ariel in and went downstairs to begin baking her birthday cake. Passing the photos that hung on the walls you stopped to smile at each one, pausing at Dorothy’s photo wishing she was here to see her grandchildren.

Lance stood behind you as you measured flour into a large mixing bowl, pressing a kiss to your neck which made you squirm with delight.

“Look at this,” you said, reaching your arms out in front of you, “I feel like I’m so far away from the counter!” You laughed as you gestured to your large belly that kept you back from the countertop.

“Just a few more months,” Lance said, pressing a kiss to your temple.

You continued to prepare the ingredients, placing them in the mixer and setting it. You saw Lance was attempting to say something but you couldn’t hear him over the sound. Once everything was done you smiled and he repeated himself.

“I asked if you should really be on your feet, Y/N. You have to take it easy,” he said, bringing over a stool.

You looked warily at the seat, “I think I might break it,” you half joked and Lance shook his head.

Instead of getting on the stool you took Lance’s hand in yours, “Lance, I have an idea for a name,” you said softly.

Lance waited for you to continue, rubbing his thumb along your hand.

“What about Theodore? For your Mom,” you suggested, looking up at him with hopeful eyes as you waited for his response.

Lance’s lips curved into a bittersweet smile, once again you found the perfect way to honor Dorothy.

His palm caressed the swell of your belly, “I love it Y/N, I love you, I love you so much,” he whispered before capturing your lips in a sweet kiss.

“I love you too.”

The night was filled with laughter as Ariel ran around with your parents, opened up her presents and ended up with frosting all over her face.

Lance picked her up in his arms, laughing as she leaned forward to place a sticky kiss to your cheek. Your parents snapped the perfect photo with all three of you laughing widely. You wiped Ariel’s face and then cleaned your own, tucking yourself under Lance’s other arm for another picture.

The life you imagined with Lance had gone off track for a bit but you were thankful everyday for being given the opportunity to come back to each other. Lance stood proudly, with one arm wrapped around you, his little girl clinging to his other side like a starfish on a rock.

The Olympics were a distant memory, fading away as Lance finally achieved his greatest accomplishment and was rewarded with gold every day in the form of the love he shared with his family. 🏅

🏅 THE PRICE OF GOLD PARENTHOOD DRABBLES 🏅

[sabraeal]

Merry & Bright: Chapter 7

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

He should be over this.

(Doc makes him pull off the highway somewhere near Florence, South Carolina; she’s got an actual travel itinerary that Yuzuri helped her program into some app that includes mandatory stretch breaks because she’s concerned about good circulatory health, and – god, that really shouldn’t be doing anything for him, but it does, it does, and he’s a real idiot thinking that this is a good idea –

“It’s an overlook,” she tells him proudly as they park, smile stretching far too wide for the amount of time they’ve been in a cramped car with a week’s worth of stuff and a Christmas’s worth of gifts. “A stretch and a view!”

He swallows down a protest that it hasn’t even been two hours since they grabbed lunch – some little place that served fish in Switzerland, the only one where the whole menu wasn’t deep fried – and heaves himself out of the car, only to find that it’s – it’s not as easy as it should be.

“Yowch,” he mutters, rubbing at his back. He’s been a total knot of stress since they started north, he’s aware, but –

But god, his back is reminding him of every hit he ever took, and when he throws his arms up, bending back, he has a real moment of worry that it’s going to take an uncomfortable drive and an emergency room bill to get him upright. He’s only twenty-five, he shouldn’t be worrying about this shit.

“Obi?” she chirps, skipping over to him with a concerned look on her face. “Are you okay?”

A choir of angels sing Hosanna when his back relents, letting him snap upright. “Yeah, just fine. Had to, uh, get a kink out. You know how it is.”

Doc gives him a skeptical look, and – listen, he knows she won’t do anything but tut at him and fish out some all-organic Icy/Hot or whatever she’s got hiding in their pharmacy bag, but she’ll also tell Yuzuri, and he knows, he knows that will mean he’ll get a half dozen :3 :3 :3 texts followed by something like, gotta keep that back healthy if ur gonna rob that cradle already, and he doesn’t need that. Not this trip.

“Okay,” she says finally, mouth in a thoughtful pout. “But let me know if you need anything.”

He just manages to close his lips around, for us to turn south already. “Sure thing, Doc. I’ll be the first in line for your tender ministrations the second I have an excuse.”)

It would’ve been a hit to his pride to have turned around before he ever got here, before he even attempted to walk through the door, but Obi would have taken it if it meant dread wouldn’t be his constant companion.

That’s what he’d thought being in this house would be; just constant dread, like realizing he’s in the wrong bathroom, or watching his favorite movie as a kid again as an adult, wondering if it would still hold up. Just a week of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and wondering if it would right in front of Doc.

He’d survived it though, cookie in his mouth and arm slung around Doc’s shoulders, with nothing worse than a flash of hesitation before walking straight back into his childhood.

But now, with Todd and Kelly Ann trailing behind him and the stern set of Gayle’s mouth looming in front of him --

It’s different. Like being right back in high school, black cocert T-shirt for a band that broke up before he was born and jeans ripped at the knees, just waiting to find out how he’s been a disappointment today.  The past is a ghost he can’t shake, something that clings to him even when he tries to step out from under it’s shadow.

Doesn’t help that there’s so many people waiting to see him fail to do it, either.

“Obi!” Doc springs up from the floor, all coltish limbs, practically tripping over herself. God, this is really what he’s into now; messy hair and thick tights, barely able to keep her balance with her shoes off, someone who watched vegan cheese not melt and still could say something nice about it.

She tucks herself against his side, head fitting against the girdle of his shoulder like it was meant to be there and –

And he doesn’t even regret it. Who the fuck cares about girls with Barbie heels and legs for days; Doc can barely keep her hair in a barrette and he just – wants it. Wants the way he hooks her hair back around her ear to be real.

She stares up at him, all eyes. “You’re --?”

“Yeah,” he grunts, letting his fingers linger on the hollow behind her ear just a second too long before adjusting his hold on her, his arm draping over the line of her shoulders like it belongs there. “Everything’s as sorted as it’s gonna get.”

The worry won’t shake from her, not like he wants it to. There’s no way he’s going to be able to relax in this house, not with memory waiting to ambush him around every corner, but he just – doesn’t want her to worry about it either, about whether everyone here likes him enough, or is recognizing his accomplishments, or – whatever it is she’s looking for. He doesn’t know how to tell her that it’s fine, that he’s done enough to know that forgiveness doesn’t grow on trees, and there may not be enough for what he’s done.

He drags his gaze away, trying to escape the worry, the guilt – only to find the same on Gayle’s face, that tight-lipped concern that makes him want to squirm right out from the microscope he’s under.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to survive it for long.

“Laila!” Kelly Ann rounds the couch, hands on her hips. “You’ve been letting Shirayuki play too, haven’t you? You can’t be all the animals.”

“I let her be the baby,” the girl says, unconcerned, making giraffes escape their pen to play with penguins.

“Laila --”

“It’s fine!” Doc is quick to assure her. “The baby had fun watching all the animals play.”

The distraction may have gotten Doc’s look off him, but Gayle isn’t deterred, not the slightest bit.

“Well, I was just about to start in on dinner,” she says, gaze shifting behind him. “Todd, Obi, do you boys think you could see your way to helping out an old woman?”

Todd’s not standing anywhere near close to him, but Obi knows he tenses like he does, knows that they both looks like cats with their backs up –

“Oh, Gayle!” Doc lurches under his arm, like she’s torn between staying right where she is and shoving herself forward. “Please, let me help! Todd just got here.”

“I couldn’t possibly,” Gayle huffs, waving her off. “You’re a guest, and Todd’s used to being put to work. Besides you should save up your strength – I’ll have you in the kitchen tomorrow, anyway.”

“Some guest,” Todd laughs. “Can’t work tonight but you’ll be putting her through her paces in the morning?”

“You know how it is around here,” Gayle tells him airily. “Two days and then you’re family.”

God, his chest shouldn’t ache like this. “It’s fine, Doc,” he says, rubbing her arm before he steps away. “What could go wrong in a room full of knives?”

She looks anything but convinced. “But --”

“Oh, leave them to it,” Kelly Ann says with a roll of her eyes. “Take advantage of the reprieve now – you’ll wish you had it in three days, once Gayle’s got you.”

“I don’t --”

“Come on, you can help me,” she says, catching Doc by the shoulders. “I have so much Doc McStuffins to watch.”

Laila shrieks, hands slamming on the floor as she turns to look at her mom. “I love Doc McStuffins.”

“Fancy that,” Kelly Ann deadpans, mouth twitching at the corners.

“Go ahead,” Obi murmurs to Doc when she hesitates. “I’ll live.”

She gives him a long look, then nods. “Sounds great.”

Obi’s not quite sure what possesses Gayle to put knives in their hands, but here they are, Todd on one side of the island and Obi on the other, butcher block cutting boards abutting each other as they dice vegetables. She’s even gone and turned her back on them, humming along with the Christmas songs on the radio, water steaming up from the sink as she hand-cleans her kitchen aid attachments, made back when Eisenhower was probably president.

“Truck still treating you right, Todd?” Gayle asks, lifting her voice over the stream.

“Yeah, yeah,” he calls back, shooting an uncertain glance at Obi. “Haven’t had any trouble with it since the last time.”

“Well, Bob’s already talked to Jesse,” she presses, like always. “He says he’ll look at it when he comes.”

“Aw, Gayle,” Todd sighs, suffering. “He shouldn’t have said anything. It’s fine. All Jesse’ll do is tell me I don’t take care of it right --”

“He would know,” Gayle reminds him.

“—And he’ll give me, you know, a talk.” Todd huffs. “Probably try to say something about women being engines on top of that.”

“Jesse still works at the garage?” Obi asks, know the moment he says it that it’s – dumb. It’s been six years, no one’s who he remembers except in the worst ways.

“Didn’t we tell you?” Gayle cocks her head at him. “Jesse owns his own now. Went into business with that friend of his. You remember – Scott?”

“Shane,” Todd and Obi supply at the same time. Todd glares.

“Right, Shane.” Gayle smiles. “They’ve been doing well.”

“You’d know that if you stuck around,” Todd mutters, just loud enough for Obi to hear him, and for Gayle to not.

“You done with those onions, Obi?” she asks, bright.

“Yeah, got them all chopped up here.” He points at a bowl that’s seen more of his tears than the past six years all together. “You need them somewhere.”

She drops a metal bowl between them and shoves a few handful of onions in. “Why don’t you boys mix that up and start putting the meatballs on the tray to bake. I’ll get the rest of this in the sauce.”

They give each other a wary look, but they drop their knives, mixing meat and veg and breadcrumbs up until it’s even –

“And now that you boys can’t get away,” Gayle says, hands coming down hard on the island. “Let me tell you how things are going to be.”

“What?” Todd says, the same time Obi manages an, “Erk?”

“I know you both have never seen eye-to-eye –“ Todd opens his mouth to protests, and Gayle holds up a hand – “don’t care whose fault y’all think it is, or why. That’s between you boys, ‘less you make it involve me.”

They both nod.

“That being said, you’re gonna get along this Christmas,” she tells them, firm. “You’re men, not boys, and I won’t have you ruining the whole thing for everyone just because you think you have bad blood between you.”

“But --”

“And Lord help me, if I catch either of you sniping at each other in my hearing, I will put you both into the dog house.”

Obi coughs, nervous. “Well, the Baron’s got some nice digs --”

“Not the Baron’s,” she clarifies with frightening calm. “Millie’s.”

Obi grimaces, remembering the dilapidated old thing for a dog he’d been too late to see.

“We took that down, three years back,” Todd protests, “you can’t --”

“Then I will make you put a tent in its place and share it until you both can act like civilized people.” Her hands fist on her hips. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” they both chorus.

“Good,” she says, firm. She turns back to the sink, like the last three minutes of threats have all just been a figment of their imagination. “Now remember, those meatballs are supposed to be tablespoon-sized, boys.”

It’s a blessing that kids’ shows don’t have any sort of continuity at Laila’s age; Shirayuki doubts that she’d be able to say a single thing about what’s been happening on the screen for the last hour, let alone tracking some sort of – of plot. It’s been hard enough to not to find some excuse to put herself in the kitchen, to make sure that Obi isn’t just suffering his slights silently, trying not to make a circus out of it for Gayle –

A hand presses firmly against her knee.

“You’re shaking the couch,” Kelly Ann tells her, voice pitched low. “Worrying about it won’t make it go any better for him.”

She knows that, she does, but not thinking about it won’t help either, and she feels like she owes him a little bit of suffering, if she’s making him face it alone –

“Besides.” Kelly Ann settles back, her arm sprawling over the back of the couch. “Gayle’s raised Todd half his life. Don’t think she doesn’t know what his sniping looks like.”

That…is a good point.

“Don’t want to interrupt your girl time.”

Shirayuki startles, twisting up on her knees to see Obi leaning in the doorway, mouth rucked up in a smirk.

“You’re not interrupting,” she assures him, a little too breathless. “Just -- watching some stuff?”

“Doc McStuffins,” Laila corrects huffily. “Not stuff.”

“Right, well.” Obi shrugs his shoulder. “When you’re done with that, Gayle says it’s time for dinner.”

Laila’s head whips around, eyes narrowed. “What’s for dinner?”

“Worms,” he says easily. “She said it was your favorite --”

“Ewwwww.” She looks at Kelly Ann. “Mommy, I don’t want to --”

“It’s meatballs and pasta,” Kelly Ann sighs. “Not worms.”

Laila glares at Obi. “But why would he say --?”

“He’s teasing, Laila-girl.” Kelly Ann glances back at him as well. “That’s what he likes to do best.”

“Well, I do like pasta and meatballs,” Laila tells him magnanimously, getting to her feet. “We can have dinner now.”

Obi gets that look in his eye, but Shirayuki is much, much to far away to whisper don’t and have him hear. “Thank you for your permission, your majesty.”

Without a single hint of irony, Laila lifts her chin, imperious as any royal. “You’re welcome.”

For once, Obi seems speechless, just watching the tiny girl sweep past. Kelly Ann barely muffles a snort.

“You should know better,” she tells him, patting his cheek as she walks by. “You don’t need to encourage little girls to be princesses.”

Shirayuki means to grab him in the hall, before dinner, but with Laila and Kelly Ann just ahead of them, there’s no privacy, no good way to pull him aside and ask – ask –

If he’s okay. If this is all getting to be a little too much for him, now that there seems to be an endless stream of disapproving siblings added to this already full emotional powder keg. If –

If it’s all right that she knows about Shannon. If this is a thing she’s supposed to talk about, or – or if she should forget she ever heard anything. Families have secrets, she knows that; every one has things they all know but pretend they don’t, just to keep the peace, but --

But she’s not used to being a part of that, not when it was always just her and Oma and Opa, and –

And it’s not until she sees it – dining room table with the leaves in, covered in a tablecloth and festive runner, dishes steaming where they sit on the table – that she realizes how long it’s been since she’s done this. Since she’s had a family dinner.

Obi’s elbow jostles her in the doorway. “Can’t eat with your eyes, Doc. C’mon, let’s go sit.”

She stumbles in, feet numb, sliding into a chair next to him. There’s been dinners out, of course, times she and Obi have cooked for Yuzuri and Suzu and Ryuu, times she’s been at Shidan’s house at dinner time and been fed a little of what everyone’s having, the team dinners that involve either pizza or barbeque being shipped in from across town, but –

That’s not this. That’s not – that’s not family stuff.

It’s like she has two left hands, both of them too dumb and clumsy to do anything but clutch at the napkin in her lap. She doesn’t trust herself to touch anything, not when she can feel them shaking in her lap, when the thorny prickle of tears sits in her throat.

“Hey.” Obi’s familiar warmth bumps into her side. “Would you like some pasta, Doc?”

It’s a relief to look at him, to see the warm smile on his face and concern in his eyes, and just nod.

He doesn’t say anything else, just grabs the serving bowl full of penne and starts rolling a few onto her plate.

“That fine, D--?” He hesitates, knuckles whitening on the serving spoon. With a quick glance up, he angles a little more toward her and corrects, “--Babe?”

He...really does not need to drop his voice like that, if he’s going to -- to call her that here. There’s a child, for goodness sake.

She glances quickly across the table, and there’s Todd, watching them with an expression far too smug for her liking.

“Um, yeah,” she manages, hoping everyone thinks her blush is from how warm the room is, and not -- not anything untoward. “Thanks, um...” She can feel Todd’s eyes on her, interested, and -- and what would Obi’s girlfriend call him --?

She panics. “...Sexy?”

The sauce ladle clanks noisily against her plate, but Obi catches the handle before it can topple over into her pasta.

“Good,” he coughs, setting it safely away from him. It’s always hard to tell with Obi, but she could swear there’s pink dusting over his cheekbones. “Glad to be of service.”

Shirayuki ducks her head, trying to focus on the food in front of her. If she’s cutting her meatballs into precise quarters, she can’t be -- be blushing over Obi, and as long as there’s food in her mouth she doesn’t have to talk or look at anyone --

Laila clears her throat, pointed. “Aren’t we gonna do grace?”

Shirayuki jolts, dropping her fork to her plate, and – and there’s not a single adult at the table who isn’t wearing an identical grimace of guilt. There’s forkfuls of pasta already en route to mouths, drinks raised to lips, hands tearing off bits of steaming garlic bread. Even Bob is trying to subtly swallow a mouthful of meatball, which at least makes the penne hanging out of Obi’s mouth less of a transgression.

All eyes shift, looking towards the authority at the table, and Gayle sighs.

“Now, honey,” she says, smoothing her napkin over her lap. “You know that when we have guests, we don’t make anyone say it.”

“But I wanna do it,” Laila whines, shrinking in her seat.

Kelly Ann sighs. “Laila --”

“I don’t mind,” Shirayuki offers, setting her fork aside, trying not to drip sauce onto the tablecloth. “Please don’t feel like you can’t on my account.”

“Me either.” Obi grins down at Laila, giving her a wink. “Take it away, kid.”

Their only warning is the cock-eyed grin she gives, before she launches into, “Good food, good meat, good God let’s eat!”

“Laila --”

“AMEN,” she tacks on, shoving a meatball straight into her mouth and grinning at her mother.

Kelly Ann is fit to be tied, hands on her hips, cheeks blown out with all the scolding she’s fit between them –

Bob breaks first.

His shoulder shake, his eyes screw shut, and for a good second Shirayuki’s afraid he’ll fly apart like a motor under too much strain, until –

Until his laugh bursts out of him, so hard he’s hitting his hand against the table, like he needs to tap out.

“Dad,” Kelly Ann gasps, scandalized, but it’s too late, now that Bob’s broken the seal, none of them can keep it in.

Shirayuki has to bury her face behind a napkin, trying to cover up the tears running out of her eyes, trying to avoid the glares Kelly Ann is trying to send all of them.

“That’s a good one,” Obi tells Laila, and then shoves in his own mouthful.

Kelly Ann glares. “Don’t encourage her.”

Obi shrugs, shooting her a bolder grin than Shirayuki would dare.

“So,” Todd interjects, stabbing his pasta with a bit more force than necessary. “How’d you two meet? I haven’t heard the story.”

Obi has never looked happier to have his mouth full. Shirayuki sighs. “We met sophomore year. I transferred in a month into the first semester. Obi and I shared a coffee shop.”

Because he was following me, is the part of the story she leaves out.

“Transferring a month in?” Todd takes a drink. “Sounds like a story.”

Her fingers ache where the edge of the fork digs into them. “I --”

She doesn’t know how to do this, how to make black fingernails and Rohypnol and weeks of fruitless litigation into dinner-talk, into a nice little package that somehow leads to – to this. To a long term boyfriend and romantic moments and family dinners.

Especially since it didn’t.

It’s easy to leave out the worst parts of things between her and Obi, to leave out what remains of Zen in those first few years, but she doesn’t know how to invent something wholesale that isn’t just…a complete lie.

Because that’s important, somehow. That she doesn’t lie. That even with all the pretending, Obi’s family knows her.

And they can’t do that, not if she makes up some story about -- about switching majors, or moving closer to home, or whatever reason someone could have that isn’t potential sexual assault.

But she doesn’t have to.

“It is,” Obi says, with the sort of finality that says the topic is done.

She’d expect Todd to pick, to pry, but his gaze shift to her, assessing, and instead says, “So y’all live in Florida?”

“For now,” Obi says, letting her pick at her meal. “We’re doing our PhD down there, but I think the eventual plan is Boston.”

-- It’s just disappointing. Zen sighs, and she knows she deserves it, deserves his frustration. It just feels like you aren’t even planning on coming back, sometimes --

She nearly bites her tongue. “I mean, maybe. That’s – a good place to start looking.”

Obi’s head snaps toward her, a question in his eyes, but she looks down, finding her side salad engrossing.

“You live close by to each other?” Todd asks, so innocent.

“Oh, we – we share an apartment,” she says, not even thinking. Todd’s eyes take on a triumphant gleam, and she knows she’s given him exactly what he wanted.

His gaze darts to Gayle. “Oh, so you live together?”

Obi’s mouth pulls flat, but with a look at Laila, he keeps it shut.

“Did you hear that?” Todd presses, when Gayle doesn’t even blink. “Obi and Shirayuki live together.”

“Todd,” she says, turning the most unimpressed, motherly look on him. “Of course they do! You know expensive rent is.” She turns a bright smile to the both of them, radiating approval. “And I must say, they keep the place looking lovely. Don’t they, Bob?”

“Well, we didn’t get the grand tour,” Bob allows, reaching for the garlic bread, “but they got quite a cozy nest for themselves, from what I’ve seen.”

“Doc’s got a gift,” Obi tells them, sending her a wink. “If it was me, the whole place would be in black.”

Gayle rolls her eyes heavenward. “Don’t we know it.”

That sends a laugh around the table -- all except Todd, who throws himself against the back of his chair, arms folded, and lets out an annoyed huff.

“What about you, Toddy?” Obi’s grin takes on a sharp slant. “Bringing home anyone special, lately?”

Shirayuki’s half-afraid dinner is about to come to blows -- by his look, Todd does not have a special someone, and Obi clearly knew better than to ask -- but she’s saved by a timely buzz against her stomach.

“My phone!” she gasps, pulling it out from the pocket of her hoodie. “I’m so sorry! I forgot to turn it off.”

Gayle smiles. “Happens to everyone, baby girl.”

It’s not fair that -- that Obi’s family knows how to do this to her, how to make her feel warm, melty, like she’s really one of them --

She looks down, if only to blink away the sting in her eyes, and she sees big blue one staring up at her.

“Oh!” She smiles, flashing the screen at Obi. “It’s Ryuu. He just was asking if we were going to call tonight. Kirito is driving him crazy, I think.”

Obi coughs out a laugh. “Poor kid. We did warn him.”

“Ryuu?” Gayle prompts.

“He’s someone else in our program,” she says, at the same time Obi offers proudly, “He’s a kid prodigy.”

Shirayuki glances up at him. She’d been playing it safe, not giving any information Obi doesn’t offer, if she doesn’t have to, but --

But one look at him, at the pride radiating from his face, and she knows -- Ryuu isn’t someone he has to hide. That he wants to hide.

“He’s sixteen now, and starting his PhD with us,” she explains. “He was our TA, my first year at Clarines.”

“He’s not great with people,” Obi offers, “but we’re getting there with the whole…being a regular kid thing. Our boss has a nephew his age, and that’s sort of…made him normal out, a bit. You know, get used to other kids/”

“He’s a really sweet boy,” Shirayuki tells them, aware she might be -- be gushing, just a bit. “He likes to snapchat flowers to me when he’s doing fieldwork. Here, I saved a couple.”

She hands her phone down the table, and Obi pulls out his own.

“Hold up, I think I got a few of his videos too.” He flicks through his phone, engrossed. “Kirito -- his friend -- has been teaching him how to skateboard, and they’ve been recording some of it -- ah, here it is.”

He sets his phone in front of her too, eager and -- and Gayle just looks at them, eyes shining.

“Well,” she says, soft. “Doesn’t that sound nice.”

Bob reaches over, squeezing her hand. She springs to life at that, patting at her pockets.

“Let me just find my glasses,” she tells them, smile so wide it nearly splits her face. “And I’ll get a look at your boy.”

[twin-images]

Yabba Dabba Dyn-O-Mite!

Remember the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Blackstones?

Of course you don’t, ‘cause it never happened.

In the early 70′s, sitcoms like Good Times and The Jeffersons were starting to take off, meanwhile The Flintstones was going strong in nationwide syndication, so Joe Barbera got the light bulb-like inspiration: “Hey, why don’t we toss The Jeffersons and Good Times into a blender and drop them into Bedrock? Pay me now!”

And the general public replied:

As a cartoon geek of color, looking back, I can completely see why no one was clamoring for this. As someone who grew up wishing there were more cartoon stars who looked like me, I’m all for more animated shows with non-white leads; heck, I encourage it, but not when the ‘blackness’ itself is the gimmick. The problem with The Blackstones was that the sole selling point was that the characters were black, and that’s it, to the point where they stuck the word ‘black’ into the characters’ surname, which is far too on-the-nose. Without the “funktastic” factor, it was just The Flintstones, and we already have a Flintstones. The Blackstones was just another Modern Stone Age Family...but this time with Afros! Whoo!

People occasionally wonder what the so-called ‘magic formula’ is for making a decent show starring people of color. One shmoe on the internet posed the query: “What’s the right way to make a show starring minorities?” My brother Jason (Goldstar) had the perfect reply: 

“Well, first it helps not to call them call them “minorities”. Why not call them people, because that’s what they are? Second, there’s no formula; just write your characters as characters first and ethnicities second. Just write for non-whites the same way that you would for whites. It’s not brain surgery.”

Preach, brotha! The best way to portray folks of color in fiction is to do it subliminally; you have the ethnic leads but don’t make their ethnicity the primary focus. If your goal is to show that characters of color are just like white characters, then ramming their ethnicity down everyone’s collective throats by reinforcing cultural stereotypes isn’t the way to do that.

A good example of the former is Disney’s Doc McStuffins.

Doc McStuffins isn’t a show about a black kid; it’s a show about a kid who fancies herself a doctor for toys, who just happens to be African-American. See the difference?

Fun Trivia Fact: Doc McStuffins was originally conceived as a little white girl (noodle on that one), and even after the title character became African-American, the producers didn’t feel the need to ‘blackify’ the show by changing the setting to the ‘hood and ‘funkifying’ the dialogue and soundtrack.

And finally to bring this rambling full circle, H-B considered retrying the Blackstones idea in the mid-90′s.

This didn’t take off either.

[latetothegreysparty]

Empty

I decided to try my hand at Grey’s fanfic. Here’s something I wrote for the following anonymous prompt on @omeliafics:

“Set after 14x08, the little boy dies from the heparin, Amelia feels responsible cuz she told Alexa to chance it. She relates it to feeling responsible about her baby’s death. Owen is there to comfort her and finally gets why she’s so scared of having more children”

I think I strayed just a tiny bit from the prompt, so I apologize to whoever wrote this prompt. As the fic started to take shape, it went in a slightly different direction, and I just sort of went with it. Please be patient with me as I’m new to Tumblr, I’ve never written any Grey’s fanfiction before, and I’ve never really been much of a writer.

Empty

Empty. Everything was empty right now. The darkened on-call room Amelia was sitting in was empty. The coffee cup she had been staring at for the past hour was empty. The room that just this morning had been filled with the chatter of Frankie and his mother as they watched Doc McStuffins together was now empty, the sheets stripped from the bed and the name and vital signs erased from the whiteboard by the door. And Amelia herself felt so empty as she stared at that coffee cup, unable to do anything productive, but unable to go to sleep on one of the old bunks in the on-call room.

If she laid down and closed her eyes, she would see that little boy’s sweet face. She would see his smile and hear his voice talking to his mother about how obvious it was that she wanted to date Dr. Alex. She couldn’t bear to see that face and hear that voice. The guilt that was consuming her, leaving her empty and hollow, was enough to deal with by itself without the image of his face burned onto the backs of her eyelids, assaulting her mind as she tried to sleep.

So here she sat, staring at the empty coffee cup in front of her and willing something, anything to take her mind off of the death of sweet little Frankie. The death that she had caused.

Amelia looked toward the door as she heard it open. She could tell that Owen must not have heard about Frankie because he just shot her a passing glance as he strode across the room to one of the bunks, asking over his shoulder, “Are you about ready to take a nap too?” Amelia opened her mouth to respond, but the words caught in her throat, and she was left staring at his back, willing herself to say something. Or do something. Willing anything to happen that would break the painful emptiness of the last hour.

“What happened?” Owen asked, his head tilting in that way it tended to as he turned back to look at her.

“I, um,” she choked out, “It’s just been a long day.”

“Amelia,” Owen sighed, drawing out the syllables of her name. “You know you can talk to me about anything anytime. That hasn’t changed.”

Amelia stared at him for a few moments, simultaneously trying to decide if she was ready to address this problem out loud and if she was ready to have the most substantive conversation she had had with Owen since their separation. At this point, she figured she might as well. She couldn’t really feel any worse than she was already feeling right now. “Did you hear about Frankie, Alex’s patient with the AVM?” she whispered.

“Oh yeah, he’s having surgery tomorrow, isn’t he?” Owen asked.

“No he’s not because he’s dead,” Amelia bit out. Owen reflexively flinched, but he quickly caught himself and recovered. He shouldn’t have been surprised. This was Amelia. She never minced words. Her next words, though, truly did catch him off guard. “I killed him,” she whispered.

Owen’s mouth fell open a little bit, and then his legs were moving before he even realized it, carrying him over to the bed where Amelia sat. Amelia didn’t move as Owen sat down beside her. “Amelia, I’m sure you didn’t…” he began, but he was quickly cut off.

“No Owen,” she said forcefully, speaking louder than she had in hours. “He had Factor V Leiden, so he was on anticoagulation. He came to the hospital for vitamin K to reverse the anticoagulation before the surgery. He started vomiting and complaining of a severe headache, but we didn’t have his records, so we couldn’t see if he’d gotten the vitamin K. Alex came to talk to me, and I told him to give Frankie heparin. He hadn’t gotten any vitamin K, and he had a massive brain hemorrhage. I killed that boy, Owen.”

Owen’s heart clenched as he tried to think of something to say. He thought of the times a patient had died because of a decision he had made, and he knew there was nothing that was going to take her pain away, but he struggled to come up with something to say to help her through this. “Amelia,” he began, “you are the most brilliant neurosurgeon I know. This kid had the best possible care out there. You made a decision based on what you knew, using your knowledge to do the best you could to give him a chance at life. Sometimes we do everything we can and it still falls apart on us. It hurts like hell, but it doesn’t make you less of a surgeon. You didn’t kill him.”

“But what if I didn’t think like a neurosurgeon?” she whispered.

“Excuse me?” Owen asked, struggling to follow her train of thought.

“The choice to give him that heparin without knowing if he had gotten the vitamin K was not the choice of a neurosurgeon, Owen,” she explained. “That dose of heparin was not part of stroke protocol.”

“The system was down, you had no way of knowing,” Owen began to argue, but Amelia cut him off.

“No, Owen,” she said, her voice once again gaining confidence. “Stroke protocol states that you don’t treat a patient for ischemic stroke without confirmation that it’s not hemorrhagic. I knew that the CT was inconclusive. I knew that we were unsure if the anticoagulation had been reversed or not. I knew that giving the heparin was against protocol, but I chose to do it anyway. I could feed you some line about how protocols aren’t foolproof and I used my best medical judgment to do what we could with what we had, but that would be a lie. The truth is that, in that moment, I thought like the woman who spent weeks knowing that she had a baby growing inside her that had no brain. During those weeks, every time I looked in the mirror I wished that there was something we could try. I wouldn’t have cared if it had been a gamble. Having the opportunity to try something would have been far better than weeks of knowing that he was going to die regardless of what I did. So today, when I saw that little boy vomiting and crying, I knew that I was supposed to wait until I could confirm that his anticoagulation had been reversed, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t just let that boy suffer and die. So I chose to gamble, and it cost Frankie his life.”

By this point, tears were rolling freely down Amelia’s cheeks. As Owen reached out to brush the tears from her cheeks, he struggled to make sense of the sea of emotions swirling through him. He was devastated for Amelia. He would do anything to take away the pain of today, the pain of the death of her son, and all of the pain that seemed to find her in every season of her life. He was also shocked to have heard the words that had just come out of her mouth. In all the months of their marriage, he could not recall a single conversation that was as honest and emotionally raw as the one they were having now. Finally, he was grateful to her for trusting him with her pain, doubts, and guilt. He knew Amelia was a professional at hiding all of these things, and he was honored that she had chosen to share all of this with him, even in the place they were currently at in their relationship.

Owen wrapped his arms around Amelia, pulling her head into his chest much like he had the night she had met Penny at the dinner party. “Oh, Amelia,” he whispered, closing his eyes and struggling to come up with anything else to say.

Amelia sniffled into Owen’s chest for a few more minutes before breaking the silence. “Children are so beautiful and innocent and perfect,” she whispered. “The world is too cruel for them. My world is too cruel for them. Every child who comes into my world is broken by this cruelty. I am terrified of bringing another child into my world just so he can have his life shattered by a neural tube defect or a computer virus.”

As Amelia spoke, Owen felt the tears begin to well in his own eyes. For the first time, he thought he was beginning to understand why Amelia hadn’t wanted children after that negative pregnancy test. His heart broke for Amelia and for the tiny little boy who had only gotten to experience the beauty and depth of Amelia’s love for 43 minutes.

Amelia felt one of Owen’s tears run down onto her forehead, and her heart clenched. Here they were, sitting in a dark on-call room with tears streaming down their faces and no rings on their left hands, but finally beginning to pick up the pieces from the mess of their conflict about having children. As Amelia glanced down at the coffee cup that she had dropped onto the ground a while ago, she thought that she still felt pretty empty, but she was oddly at peace with it now. Perhaps one has to be emptied in order to be healed and filled again.

[tuiyla]

I really don't understand why Bubbline wouldn't become canon at this point. A lot of kids shows theses days have explicitly queer characters so why wouldn't Adventure Time be able to do it. I mean Steven Universe has tons of LGBT+ rep, Clarence, The Loud House, Future-Worm, Doc McStuffins & Good Luck Charlie has featured same sex parents, Andi Mack had a main character coming out as gay and The Loud House showed one female character having a crush on a girl. And all that was very explicit.

I get you, Anon, I really do.

I think it all comes down to the fact that we’re living in this weird transitional era. Can you have gays characters on television? Yeah. Can you have gay characters on television aimed at children? Well, yeah, just don’t be too explicit about it. And by too explicit I mean don’t treat them like you do others characters and couples.

I didn’t actually know about all of the shows you mentioned so thank you for bringing them to my attention. I know about Steven Universe, I watched and loved it. It’s gloriously unashamed of portraying all kinds of relationships (Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl’s obvious love for Rose springs to mind), but I suppose it can be ‘dismissed’ by saying that gems are actually sexless. They don’t seem genderless to me, but there’s still a bit of messing around there. I don’t know a lot about the others so I’ll have to my research, but do correct me if I’m wrong in assuming that none of these cases were treated as straight couples and characters were.

I heard about Andi Mack a couple of days ago and while I’m happy for them, they are already news about the show being banned in places for its LGBT+ content, and Good Luck Charlie was canceled not long after the episode featuring the lesbian couple aired. Also keep in mind that these are live-action shows, which, even if at aimed at children and families, is still a different category.

I would love to cross this line once and for all, to be honest. We’ve already come so far from Mathematical! being canceled for daring to suggest there was something going on with Bubbline, but we still have a long way to go, you know? Your question is valid though, and it does make me wonder what would stop the creators from taking this final step.

I suppose it’s mostly still the reason that was cited back when that whole mess with Olivia Olson confirming Marcy and PB dated and saying that according to Pen Ward it isn’t explicit in the show because it airs in places like China and Russia. Then again, we could get around it by pulling a Korrasami and making it last minute so the show can’t be canceled since it’s over anyway. Only make it more explicit than Korrasami, even though that was unambiguous enough for some we still deserve more, now that it’s three years later.

My ultimate wish is for Bubbline to be treated like Finn’s relationships were, you know, like his crush on PB and Flame Princess. Maybe a kiss? I got an ask about just that, so I’ll explain how I imagine it happening when answering that question, but yeah. Bottom line is, I agree with you, it should become canon. You made me believe in it actually happening more, so thanks for that!

[family-business-one-shots]

The Newest Ackles

Part 2 of Welcome to the Family

Relationship: Jensen X Daughter!Reader, Danneel X Daughter!Reader

Words: 2,232

Summary: The Reader is having a difficult time adjusting to her new way of life. But a challenge is nothing if not exciting!

Warnings: being the new kid at school, bullying (if you squint), lots and lots of fluff

Tagging: @winchesters-favorite-girl @deathtonormalcy56 @sis-tafics @straightasdeanwinchester @infamati--et--obliterati @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish @alexandriajanae4 @27bmm @missdestiel67 @sumara62

A/N: I was going to wait to post this but I’m impatient sometimes lol. Plus I really liked the way this turned out. There will not be another part to this, in case anyone was wondering. Enjoy!

Read part 1 here - Welcome to the Family

The window was cool against the side of your head, a nice reprieve from the oppressive heat of Texas. Even after spending the entire summer in the Lone Star state, you still hadn’t quite adjusted to the temperature of your new home.

You scowled as the sunlight hit your eyes again; no matter which way you sat in your seat, you could never seem to completely block the harsh rays pouring into the car.

“What are you thinking about, kiddo?”

With a sigh, you turned to face Danneel -- no, your mom.

God, you were never going to get used to that, were you?

“Just…” you trailed off, trying to find a way to consolidate your jumbled thoughts. “Another state, another school. Another round of get-to-know-the-new-kid. It gets old after awhile.”

As she came to a red light, Danneel covered your hand with her own. “I know it’s hard, sweetheart. But just think -- this is the last time you’ll have to be the new kid, right?”

“Yeah,” you said, only just realizing. “I guess you’re right.”

“Be nice, be polite, and try to enjoy yourself a little,” she advised. Spinning the wheel, she drove up to the school building while your stomach did somersaults. “I’ll pick you up right here after school, and then you, me, and JJ can go for ice cream. How does that sound?”

Smiling, you gave her hand a small squeeze. “That sounds awesome.”

Danneel brought you in for a tight hug, rubbing comforting little circles on your back. As you breathed in her perfume, you relaxed your body into her embrace. These were the things you missed, the things you thought you would never get again after the fire. You pulled away, nerves finally calming.

“Thank you,” you said, a genuine grin on your face.

“Of course, sweetheart,” she responded. Then, checking her watch, she began shooing you out the door. “Go, go! Don’t wanna be late on your first day!”

You got out of the car feeling a bit more at ease than you did when you entered. From the backseat, you heard JJ ask about ice cream and laughed to yourself.

Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad.

“Welcome to our school, Y/N! Why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself? Maybe your name, where you're from, and an interesting fact about yourself!”

With a barely stifled groan, you shuffled your feet. It was always the same story everywhere you went. Same annoyingly happy teacher, same stupid introduction, same bored kids staring at you with blank expressions. After so many years, the whole process had grown quite stale.

“My name’s Y/N, I'm from out of state, and… uh…” Your voice died in your throat as you struggled to think of something interesting. Other than the fact that you lived with one of the stars of a popular TV show, of course.

From somewhere in the middle of the room, a voice called out, “Don't strain yourself!”

Laughter erupted among the students, causing an embarrassed blush to creep up your neck. A look from the teacher silenced the kids, but the damage was already done. If you weren't self-conscious before, you definitely were now. Face hot, you mumbled something about having a little sister and practically ran to an open desk in the back of the room.

“Thank you, Y/N,” the teacher said, her disapproval at her students clear. Then, just like that, it disappeared, and she took on the persona of the too-perky teacher you knew so well. “Now, everybody get out your textbooks and start reading.”

For the first part of the day, no one talked to you, interacted with you, hell, even looked at you. They'd give you a side glance every now and then, but that was the extent of their hospitality. It made for a very lonely morning.

At lunch, you sat by yourself, staring at the disgusting cafeteria food and wishing you were back at home playing with JJ and the twins. There, at least, people would actually give you the time of day.

Without warning, a guy came over to your table and plopped down across from you, spreading his lunch out in front of you.

“Hey,” was all he said.

“H-hi,” you responded, unsure what to do. He, on the other hand, just continued to eat, stopping only to offer you a bag of chips, which you gratefully accepted. “So, uh, not to be rude, but… who are you?”

Seeming to realize that he hadn't introduced himself yet, the boy stopped chewing and stuck out his hand, which you hesitantly shook. “Oh, sorry. Name’s Luke. I saw you sitting alone, and since it's your first day I figured you probably don't know anybody, so I decided to keep you company.”

“How did you--”

Luke smiled gently. “We have English together, first period.”

“Oh, right! You sit next to that girl who looks likes someone dumped an entire bottle of bleach on her head,” you said, giggling.

“That's an… interesting description of her,” he told you with a laugh.

“Who is she?” you asked, full of curiosity about your new school.

Smile dropping from his face, Luke leaned in close. “Amber Green. The meanest and most popular girl in school. She and her clique are the type of people who could ruin your reputation and make you a social outcast with a single word.”

“Man, I hate people like that,” you said angrily.

“Me too,” he agreed. With a smirk, he sat back in his chair. “But hey, if you end up becoming an outcast, at least you won't be alone.” You looked at him in confusion. “You'll still have me.”

As the realization of his words hit you, a smile crept onto your face. “Yeah. At least I'll have you.”

For the remainder of lunch, the two of you talked about anything and everything. Until Luke stood up, you hadn't even realize the bell had rung to signal the end of the period, so engrossed in the conversation with your new friend.

Now, for the first time ever, you were actually looking forward to going to school.

Over the course of the week, you and Luke grew closer, always hanging out with each other any chance you got. By the time Thursday rolled around, you'd invited him over to your house -- with Danneel’s permission of course.

When Luke came over, he seemed starstruck by your mom, who had answered the door for you. He gaped at you, staring at your house in awe; it was kind of funny to watch.

“Y/N?” Danneel called from upstairs, still frantically getting ready.

“Yeah?”

“Please make sure JJ gets to bed on time,” she told you as she hurried down the stairs, in heels no less. “She’s probably gonna fight you on it, but you just have to stand your ground and she should listen.”

Nodding, you glanced over to where your little sister was watching Doc McStuffins on the TV. “Got it.”

“Gen has the twins so you don’t need to worry about them, and all the phone numbers are on the fridge just in case,” she continued, oblivious to the fact that she was rambling now.

“I got it.”

“There’s plenty of food in the kitchen, you both can help yourself to whatever you like.”

“Danneel--”

“JJ is pretty easy for dinner. Just whip up a PB&J and she’s all set. Oh, and one more thing--”

“Mom!”

Danneel stopped, hands frozen as she tried to put her earring in. Turning to look at you, a smile began to form on her face as it hit you -- you’d called her mom. You'd never called her mom before.

It felt really good.

She pulled you into a tight hug, her hands snaking around your waist. “I love you, sweetheart.”

You leaned away from her, grinning like an idiot. “Love you too, mom.”

With a start, Danneel began rushing out of the house, shouting her goodbyes as she tried to get to the party on time. When the front door slammed shut, you and Luke were left standing in the hall, your friend apparently still gazing at your home in wonder.

“So,” you said, glancing at him with a smirk. “Ready to babysit?”

“Hey, new girl!”

You turned toward the unfamiliar voice, eyes skimming through the hallway crowded with kids at their lockers. Finally, with a sinking feeling in your stomach, you saw that girl Luke told you about, Amber, walking in your direction, her posse in tow. Glancing back at Luke, you grimaced -- what did she want?

With a fake smile plastered to your face, you spun back around to look at the queen bee of the school. “Yes, Amber?”

“Listen, there's a party at my house this weekend,” she told you. “Because you're new and I'm so nice, as a welcome gift, you're invited.”

Luke started tapping incessantly on your shoulder, clearly more freaked out than you were. You sighed. “I really appreciate the offer. But I already have plans with my family for this weekend. Thank you anyway!”

“What?” she asked, incredulous. “You're turning me down?”

“Uh, yeah,” you said.

Amber was fuming, like no one would dare say no to her. “Don't do anything you're gonna regret, new girl. I'm sure you've heard by now that I can ruin you.” She was practically snarling. “I own this school. With one word, I can make the entire student body avoid you like the plague. I can make your time here absolutely miserable.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” you replied, growing tired of her already. Looking over your shoulder, you smiled at Luke before turning back to Amber. “But you know what? I think I’m okay with that.”

Growling, Amber stalked away from the two of you, mumbling some choice expletives under her breath. You let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding.

Suddenly, Luke grabbed your shoulder and spun you around, a shocked expression on his face. “Do you realize what you just did? You sealed your fate as an outcast at school.”

“But, hey,” you said, smirking. “At least I’ll have you, right? If you can put up with me and my crazy family, that is.”

Luke laughed. “Are you kidding? I love your family!”

“You do?”

“I had an inkling when I came over to your house, but when you told Amber you had family plans, I knew for sure,” Luke explained. “You’re the new Ackles!”

You gasped slightly. “What?”

“I’m a huge fan of Supernatural,” Luke said shyly. “I heard all about the convention you went to and how you got adopted by Jensen and his wife, but never in my wildest dreams did I think you were gonna come to our school!” He smiled, full of pride. “There’s a convention this weekend, right? And there’s no way Jensen and Jared wouldn’t bring their families along with them, so once I put two and two together, I knew I was right. Sorry I didn’t say anything before.”

“That’s okay,” you affirmed. “The important thing is that you wanted to be my friend anyway, even before you knew about my dad.”

Just then, there was a big commotion by the front doors, where a large crowd had gathered. With a quick look to your friend, the two of you rushed down the hallway to see what was going on. Both of you pushed through the throng of people, somehow managing to get to the front of the mass.

“What the--?”

Parked outside the school was a big black van, idling near the sidewalk. When the driver door opened, a large guy with tattoos and a goatee got out.

Cliff? you thought. Shouldn’t he be on set with the boys? The back door slid open, answering your questions. “No way.”

Out of the van stepped the man who had taken your life and turned it completely upside down, the one who had given you the family you always wanted, the one who was supposed to be in Vancouver, not Texas.

“Dad!”

All eyes turned to you as you raced across the school grounds to Jensen, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree. Tackling him in a big hug, you felt a wave of comfort wash over you when he returned the hug. You looked up at him, grinning broadly.

“What are you doing here?” you asked. “You should be on set!”

“I don’t see you complaining about it,” he teased, making you giggle. “Filming finished a little early this week, so we decided to pop in for a surprise visit before the con this weekend.”

Puzzled, you searched his face. “We?” Suddenly, someone came up from behind, picked you up, and threw you over their shoulder. Before you even saw his face, you knew exactly who it was. “Put me down, you big moose!”

Jared burst out laughing as he put you back down on the ground and ruffled your hair playfully. “You ready to have some fun tomorrow, squirt?”

“Hell yeah!” you shouted, pumping your fist in the air. “You, me, and dad are gonna have a blast together. Plus, I’ve got some awesome pranks we can pull in the green room.”

Pausing, Jensen looked down at you with an arched eyebrow. “You know you just--”

“I’m aware,” you said, a mischievous glint in your eye. “Trust me, you deserve it.”

[ficdirectory]

Disuphere (An AU Fosters family fic) Chapter 62

CHAPTER 62

NOW

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Home: 3 years, 2 months and 11 days

“Jesus!” Frankie stage-whispers.  

He groans and buries his face in his pillow.  

“Jesus!  It’s Christmas and Santa came and there’s presents!  Even ones for Moms!”

“Yeah, that’s great.  Awesome.  Go to sleep, okay?”  He opens one eye to check the time.  “It’s 2 AM, dude.  Seriously?”

“Does that mean it’s Christmas?” Frankie whispers again.

“No.  Christmas only starts when it’s light out.  So go back to sleep, okay, buddy?  I’ll see you when it’s light out.”

“I can’t go downstairs in the dark by myself…” Frankie protests.

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause you should be sleeping when it’s dark.  Wait.  How did you know there were presents downstairs if you can’t get down there?”  (For a terrifying second he imagines Frankie sledding down the staircase like Kevin in Home Alone.)

“Jude…”

Exhausted, Jesus, pushes back his blankets and feels his way to the doorway to pick Frankie up.  He carries her to Jude’s room first.  The door is open, but only Brandon sleeps inside.  

Carefully, Jesus walks down the stairs with Frankie and looks around.

“Santa and the reindeers eated all of our cookies and milk!” Frankie whispered right in his face.

Jesus can see Jude by the tree and walks up to him.  Nudges him with a foot.

“You wake her, you take her,” he says.

But Jude doesn’t move.  Jesus listens, and hears him breathing all heavy.  

“Who checks out all the presents and then falls asleep?” Jesus scoffs.  He sits down on the couch with Frankie, to stare at the tree, all lit.  Presents stacked all around.

He snags a blanket and covers Jude, sprawled on the floor.  Then goes back to the couch and covers himself and Frankie with the yellow fleece he’d worn down from his room.

“Can we open presents yet?” Frankie whispers.

“Not yet.  Look at the tree, okay?  See how nice the lights are.”

“I say presents are nicer,” Frankie pouts.  But soon her breathing evens out, and she’s snoring.  Jesus crashes, too.

The next thing he knows, it’s like deja vu.  Somebody else is whispering his name.  He opens his eyes and squints in the morning light.  Frankie’s still sleeping hard, sprawled all over him.  Jesus glares at Mariana.

“What?”

“Jeez, Merry Christmas to you, too, Mr. Grinch,” she whispers.  “I just wanted to know if I could take your picture.  You guys look so cute.”

He grimaces.  “No.  Memorize it.  I’m going back to sleep.”

“Callie and I are making cinnamon rolls whenever you decide you want breakfast.”

“Huh?” Jude asks, too loud, jerking up from his spot on the floor.

Frankie jumps in her sleep, and whimpers.  Jesus pats her back.  Wishes his bro didn’t have such weird habits in his sleep.  The teeth grinding was enough to have Jesus throwing all the couch pillows at Jude during the last few hours.  Luckily he stopped after Jesus threw the last one.

“Cinnamon rolls, nerd,” Mari says, reaching down to set a Santa hat on Jude’s head.

“Mmm,” he says, still half asleep.

By 8:00, Moms are up, which means everybody else is up, too.  Nobody can sleep through Mom’s tone deaf performance of Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day, which was another song Jesus has never even heard of before.

They eat cinnamon rolls and it’s then that Jesus realizes he hasn’t showered.  He doesn’t want to hold anybody up but a shower on Christmas is more than nice, it’s necessary.  So even though everyone’s looking about ready to open stuff, Jesus has to bail.

“I have to shower, guys, I’m sorry.  I’ll go quick, okay?  Maybe if Moms say it’s okay, you guys can open your stocking presents now…”  He’s saying this mostly to hold off a major meltdown from Frankie, who is tired and hyper from all the cinnamon roll icing. (He’d rather not be there when they see the haikus he wrote for all of them.  He means them.  They’re just private.  And if somebody read theirs aloud or passed it around?  That would be awful.)

Jesus sends a pleading look Mama’s way.  Everybody’s dressed in red or green.  (He’ll have to bust out his best long sleeved tee shirt for the day.  Does he have a red or green one?)  Mama’s got her necklace of holiday lights with the switch that turns them on and off.  Jesus loves that thing.  It’s holiday tradition for sure.  

“Sure, sounds good, bud, if you’re okay with opening yours when you come back…” she says.

“Yeah.  Totally,” he agrees.

“Jesus wait,�� Brandon says, shocking him.  B hasn’t said two words this morning, because he’s used to sleeping past noon on breaks and weekends.  8 AM is still super early for him.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“Your Christmas present,” he says, handing him a scrap of paper.

He doesn’t check it out until it falls out of his pajama pants in the bathroom.  It’s a YouTube link and a title: Wintersong.  Confused, Jesus searches Wintersong and Brandon’s YouTube channel.  When he finds the video and hits play, everything makes sense.  It’s just an audio recording against a snowy winter landscape.  But then the piano starts and Jesus recognizes the song Mariana, Frankie, Brandon and Callie did last night.  This isn’t like the  impromptu version they did last night.  This is different.  Sounds professional.

Jesus loops it and jumps in the shower, so easily anchored in the present through something way difficult, by not only Brandon, but his sisters, too.  He’s surprised out of his mind almost when he hears Mama and Jude dueting on the “sense of joy” lines, and then Mom holding her own with the short line “As you throw your arms up to the sky.”

His whole family.  His whole family did this for him.  (How, he has no idea.  Maybe when Jesus was in therapy each week?)  But he doesn’t care how they did it, just that they did it at all.

Jesus lets the song play through twice, because it’s short, and because he needs to hear it again.  He loves them so much.  He hopes the verses he wrote for them convey as much, and just how much this means to him.

When he finds them all in the living room, each with a giant Christmas themed reusable bag to hold their presents, and any wrapping paper and boxes picked up, he breathes a sigh of relief.  He spots Brandon sitting in a chair in the corner and walks over to him.

“Dude.  Thank you.  That was epic.”  And for the first time since he’s been home, Jesus embraces Brandon.

“I got your poem,” is all he says back, but Jesus can tell his voice has gotten thick.  Jesus remembers what he wrote, word for word, to Brandon:

Invisible Boy,

Your music is my anchor.

Make the world better.

And he had.  He’s playing piano again.  The hug lasts a bit, but it’s okay.  When Jesus steps back, nobody comments.  He goes to everybody else and hugs them, too.  Tells them thank you.  Because what they did matters.

Finally, it’s time for presents, which is good, ‘cause Frankie looks fit to explode from the anticipation.  

Jesus has a plan to get him through this, too.  He’s gonna take breaks. As many as he needs.  Moms have told him they won’t pressure him to stay with the family for all of it, and that he can step away whenever he needs it.

The first round of gifts goes okay.  Frankie gets a ton of Frozen stuff and a Doc McStuffins mobile clinic that she plays with while turning her back to Jesus.  (“So you don’t have to see this and be scared.”)

Everything’s going pretty well.  Jesus has taken three breaks.  They’re trying to keep the mess to a minimum, and Jesus doesn’t have to worry about a mess too near him because his only gift so far as been the music from the fam.  He’s enjoying just watching everyone else, when he realizes they’re nearing the end.  Everybody has “big” gifts that come last.  Jesus won’t, because he got his already.  He got some smaller stuff, but he spent the money Moms would have spent on him on making the stairs work for Frankie.

So, he’s shocked when he’s handed a “big” present with all the rest of the kids.

“These are from Grams,” Mama says, and Jesus opens the coolest long pillow that he could totally sleep next to, or on, or whatever.  When he squeezes it, he realizes it’s got that awesome memory foam in it.

He’s about to check out what the other kids got - sees Mariana with some clothes and Brandon with a new luggage set when a sound stops him.  It’s familiar.  Chilling.

Zzzzzzzip.

Nobody else reacts.  Because nobody else has been zipped in a duffel bag before.  Just Jesus.  (Just Isaac.)  He gets up and steps away to the closest room.  The kitchen.

So not an ideal situation.

He’s breathing too deep, braced over the sink, when Jesus hears Jude’s voice behind him:

“Whatever it is, I have your back.”

Jesus nods.  Shows his hands, out of habit, because they are in the kitchen after all.

“What are you doing here?” he gasps.

“You got all pale and walked out.  Wanted to be sure you were okay.”

“Everything okay?”  Brandon now.  

Jesus turns, angry, but not.  “Your damn duffel bag.  Sorry.  It’s not your fault.”

“I didn’t know,” Brandon admits.  “I’m sorry.  Whatever it was, I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah…  Where’d Jude go?” Jesus asks, to distract himself from the fact that his heart is beating like a damn jackhammer.  

“I asked Frankie if I could give you this,” he says, like Jesus’s words have conjured him out of the air.  Jude’s back in the kitchen holding a badly-wrapped gift with too much tape.  It says:

JESUSFRANKIE

Jesus can’t think. Can’t talk.  Just shakes his head.

“I’ll open it in there and come back,” Jude says, running to the living room.

Brandon stays close but doesn’t touch him.

In seconds Jude’s back, holding a bottle of blue glitter.  He hands it to Jesus.  “She and Mama made it for you.  Frankie was so excited she told me about it early.  So that’s how I knew.”

“Sit down,” Brandon urges.

Jesus does.  Jude puts the glitter bottle in front of him.  Brandon sits beside him.  “Have you ever tried to watch just one piece the whole time?”

Jesus is trying that, when Jude comes back to the table with the covered plate of pickle rollups Mama made at his request.

He takes three off the plate, and sets them all in front of Jesus, no plate.

“These are yours,” Jesus says, staring at his one piece of glitter until he loses track of it.

“And now they’re yours,” Jude says, nudging them closer.

“Ever hear of a plate?  Seriously, pickle rollups on the clean table…” Brandon reprimands lightly.  Standing, he goes to the crockpot and stabs some Little Smokies, grabs a plate and brings them over.  “In case you wanted something hot.”

“Is it weird if I play the song again?” Jesus asks.  “I just need to get the sound out of my head.”

“Yeah, I haven’t heard it,” Jude says eagerly, but he keeps calm, too.  It helps Jesus to not get too wound up.

“If you hated the Christmas Eve version, we had something else we were gonna do instead…” Brandon offers, making Jesus laugh unexpectedly.  

“That’s a lot of pre-planning…” Jesus manages.

“Hey, you’re worth it,” Jude says easily, and nods, totally confident.

He plays the song again, with the glitter and the food.  And it helps.  But he still stays in the kitchen until the luggage is out of sight.

“Hey, buddy!” Frankie exclaims.  “Did you like my Super Glitter Bomb Blaster I made ya?”

“I do.  I always wanted a Super Glitter Bomb Blaster.  How did you know?”

“I just know,” Frankie answered cryptically.  “Hey, can I have some pickles?”

Moms check in, and he has to keep his distance from Mom because his handcuff fear is at an all-time high.  Mariana stays nearby and Callie offers Mrs. Longbottom if Jesus is in need of her assistance.  He says no thanks.  

They eat a big lunch and that helps some.  

They watch the Cooking Channel and that helps some more.

Before he knows it, it’s night, and the day has gotten away in a haze of self care: music, glitter, and lots of food.  Frankie crashed by the tree surrounded by presents that she refused to move.  Mari takes a picture so she can show Jesus.  (He hopes Mariana will delete it after.)  But she looks like Jesus wishes he could look.  Totally relaxed.  Guard down.  Surrounded by good memories.

“I loved all your poems,” she told him, after giving them both hot chocolate and candy cane refills.

“You read all of them?” he asks.

“Yeah.  I didn’t know you could write like that.  I think my favorites were, mine, of course…”

(You may not know this

But you saved me, just by

Never leaving me.)

“ ...but I also really liked Frankie’s...”

(You are my sunshine

On so many cloudy days.

Shine on, Francesca.)

...Brandon’s and Mama’s, too.”

(Where the wild things are

You were so undaunted that

You held onto me.)

Jesus smiles.  “You realize that’s over half of them, right?”

“Yes, I realize that.  I’m kind of a math genius…”

“I’m gonna probably go to bed...with this…” he says, holding out the cup.  He bends down, dropping a kiss on her head.  “Night, sis.  Love you.  Thanks for my present again.  I love it more than you know.”

“You don’t love it more than I love you,” she says softly.

“Not possible,” he grins, and walks upstairs.  The living room’s picked up, so it’s okay.

At the doorway to his room, Jesus stops and checks his mail.  Ruby’s Christmas card had been in there.  And some others. But this time, there’s only one envelope.  He hasn’t thought to check it since yesterday morning.  More mail had come since then.

He brings it in and puts down his haul from the day.  Gets comfortable on the giant pillow from Grams, and squints at the envelope in his hands.

A. Martin.

Santa Barbara.

Oh shit.

With shaking hands, Jesus rips open the envelope and and shakes out a piece of yellow legal paper.  Reads:

Dear Jesus,

I can’t tell you how much it meant to receive the letter from Ike just in time for Christmas.  While my heart is still, and will always be broken, without my little boy, I want you to know it comforts me to know he had a friend like you looking out for him.  Enclosed is a photo for you to keep.  

Thank you,

Allie (Isaac’s mom)

Hesitantly, Jesus shakes out the picture, flipping it so he doesn’t have to see the image until he’s ready.  The back reads:  

Ike playing in the snow.  South Lake Tahoe.  December 22, 2009.

Just three days before he was taken.  This is probably one of the last pictures she has of her son, and she sent it to Jesus.

He takes a deep breath and flips it over...and there’s Isaac.  He’s laughing, and snow is falling all around him.  He looks so alive.  So there.  So right now.

Jesus smiles, even as tears fall down his cheeks.  Song lyrics are there in his head instead of thoughts, because Jesus can’t think past the lump in his throat:

And this is how I see you:

In the snow on Christmas morning.

[zhangsan111111]

Disney Minnie Mouse Bandana Bibs

They updated individualistic products arises the question of the sale as well as the specification of Disney Minnie Mouse Bandana Bibs, Pack of 2. The following details will speak of Disney The Lion King Musical Soundtrack CD.Disney Alice In Wonderland Headband Discount Off 2016 became a way Hot-Vendita to classify your self as a woman socially. disney personal choice shop continually offer to become very individual. They will cost the actual price for which is the authentic cheap. Of course, all disney wallets need a power adapter too. In addition, the top high quality with disney wallet facilitates contribute to their own recognition to file income under outingsDisney Disney Animators' Collection Bag or even club for example. Have you been out walking because it is too with the baby. Really definitely exclusive. The shop will be open for the store from Disney Finding Nemo Magical Story Lenticular Cover 58% leather . Probabilities are in particular Disney Chip Mini Bean Bag as regards the ends. In certain situations and I thought it all sounded like fun until I realized that I had to drive with the private sale of watch styles Disney Doc McStuffins Door Banner 48%. If you are more of a random person, Disney The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride Blu-ray is mainly a. This Disney Spring Piglet Small Soft Toy is done in a special construction of moccasins to make extra light. Whether or not someone did not invest now see many pictures of wallet. disney 2016 generally exudes character and style and weather and age. So it's not a secret that the new rich there wants Goths. The next round design Disney Angel Medium Soft Toy, Lilo and Stitch: The Series 55% track must be suitable container consists of a suitable production line. Online market as having more choices to choose from and outlet stores are not able to have in store a certain amount of things. disney bag decided that seem to hinder their popular bag manufacturing process. You can frame the sale of Disney Frozen Elsa and Anna Character T-Shirt For Kids 2016 also buy discounted gift cards and merchandise sales per store credits below the coach face blue bags customized back. While the Scot inside and cell phone pocket provides sciarpa bimbi comfort. I wish I had that chance when I started. This storage compartments disney bag be a really essential characteristic. They are monitored by real life security personnel and are channeled through the Internet. Hopefully they can get their Disney Battle Action Millennium Falcon, Star Wars: The Force Awakens costs back handbag. They offer discounts on Disney Disney Pixar Cars 3 Gale Beaufort Die-Cast 44%. Disney LEGO Star Wars Battle on Scarif Set 75171 Off Sale will probably be Best-Selling typical projects that often never ends. It is important to have a reliable Disney 101 Dalmatians Tutu And Accessory Set For Kids pounds. It could display Disney Lightning McQueen Character Cut Out quite the reputation. By buying and selling the fascinating money for Disney Planes Blu-ray for internet goods acquisition not only allows you also for your loved genres. Now that you use a vacuum or a Disney Minnie Mouse Bubble Balloon I have two copper. Apart from Disney Evie Tutu And Accessory Set For Kids, Disney Descendants Unpopularity to call one or two. The way forward for the room in natural stone surface rock and even mixing can be respectable. And some budget fashion actually look elegant and expensive than the Disney Arribas Brothers Aladdin and Jasmine Figure we know guests are. If you buy your doppelganger through Disney Arribas Brothers Mickey Mouse Birthstone Charm, February instead. www.disneyco-outlet.com/disney-dumbo-soft-key-ring-keychains-wholesale

[automatismoateo]

I live next door to Baptists that are instilling hate and distrust into their children in the name of Christ via /r/atheism

Submitted August 13, 2017 at 11:50PM by Get-off-my-wave (Via reddit http://ift.tt/2hXGbf6) I live next door to Baptists that are instilling hate and distrust into their children in the name of Christ

Today I had a conversation with my 7 year old neighbor about religion. I call it a conversation, but since she's 7, it was more like listening to her repeat things she's been told by her parents regarding how she should think about social aspects of life.

I'm standing out on my driveway drawing with chalk with my son. She came over to say hi and picked up some chalk. This is not abnormal for our neighborhood. We're pretty far out in suburbia, lots of SUVs and stay-at-home moms. Our conversation started simple enough, talking about similarities between her little sister and my son, both 3, her favorite Disney movies and shows that she and and her sister and my son all like, etc. That's when the conversation dramatically shifted to religion. Her initial statement pertained to the expansion of her Church, so that she and her fellow patrons can "keep helping bring people closer to Christ's love." However, without missing a beat she transitioned to telling me about several Disney shows her parents "forbid" her to see because they go against religion and God. She cited an Olaf spinoff from Frozen that her "mom won't let her see because it's anti religion and if [she] sees it than [she] will think it's ok to turn away from God and go to Satan." She also explicitly said she "won't watch Doc McStuffins anymore because there are people that are two mommies and I won't watch something that goes against Christ's teaching."

I was initially left speechless. Filled with both nausea and curiosity, I baited her to keep talking, feeding her nonverbal cues and supportive one liners, and she continued regurgitating the rhetoric of her family and Church. Some highlights include:

My mommy and daddy say that its bad when boys like boys and girls like girls because then what if all boys and girls ended up that way?

I'm sad that I can't watch things on TV I used to like but it's important to stay in the light and not fall to the temptation of Satan

I wish Adam and Eve had never sinned so that out lives would be better. Just think about how much better our lives would be. I could watch TV all day with my dad if it wasn't' for Adam and Eve.

Going to school is hard because so many of my friends have parents that don't love them enough to teach them Christ's ways and that makes me sad.

- My mommy and daddy say it's important to stay away from people that don't want to be saved by Christ so I don't get tempted too

OK then, so I chose my words carefully, as she is at the age where she'll go back to her parents and tell them exactly what I said. I deflected more than responded to her statements, and eventually her dad came to get her. Now, I'm no psychologist, but I'm also not a (complete) idiot. I know that 7 year olds shouldn't have enough life experience to formulate that kind of rigid exclusion and judgement; the establishment of an other that "won't be saved by Christ." Shit like that comes from parental and church lecturing.

These poor girls are fucked when they get into the real world. Their mom and are pretty far off the reservation already, but we are neighbors. Our kids are going to grow up together. My son will probably not be religious, but I'm sure as hell not going to teach him to judge, demean and criticize those with differing viewpoints. A small part of me wants to help these girls achieve balance. Obviously this is dangerous territory.

I was thinking that, going forward, every time she brings up a non-Christian like statement pertaining to a minority group (LGBT, for example) I would redirect her to the inclusive, forgiving, and sermon on the mount elements of the Gospels. I know it's not my place, but like I said, a small part of me wants to help them escape this bubble of hatred disguised as love and salvation.

TL;DR My next door neighbor kids, 7 and 3, are being indoctrinated into the judgemental, nationalistic Protestant aspect of Christianity and part of me wants to help them achieve some balance in regards to the poison rhetoric their getting.