#lucy-lane-deserves-better

[fluentmoviequoter]

Call a Truce

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!cop!reader

Summary: You and Tim have a rivalry that began when you were rookies. Years later, you continue competing in everything you do, even when you're helping Tim get out of a dangerous situation.

Warnings: Tim gets hurt (tased, cut, broken ribs, goes to the hospital), angst, mentions of robberies, fluff! pretty standard Rookie warnings I think

Word Count: 3.6k+ words

Picture from Pinterest

Masterlist | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“You’re going to pass your rookie exam,” your TO said on your second day of training. “But there’s one thing I need you to do. Score higher than Bradford.”

And, like that, a rivalry was born.

Years after you started competing against Tim Bradford to be the best rookie, your rivalry has only strengthened. Everyone in your station knows about your competitive natures, but to outsiders and visitors, it seems like you and Tim hate one another. There has never been any real animosity, only competition and everything that comes with it.

“We’re riding together today,” Tim says.

You turn quickly, surprised to see him standing beside you. “What?” you ask.

“I just talked to Grey. We’re riding together, but he wouldn’t tell me why. Something to do with the string of robberies, I presume.”

“And he thought you would need help from a competent cop,” you reply with a nod. “I guess I can make time for that.”

“If that’s what you need to hear to actually try for once. I could find the guy on my own faster than you can get out of the shop.”

“We’ll see about that,” you scoff.

“We certainly will. The first one to spot anything gets a point, making contact gets five, and the arresting officer gets fifty. Deal?”

You look at Tim’s hand and wrinkle your nose in faux disgust before you shake. “You’re going down, Bradford.”

“And you’ll break the fall, boot.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Bradford!” Grey yells. “Let’s go! Roll call doesn’t wait for you.”

You smirk as you step backward toward the door. “Such a bad cop, Bradford. Keep your social schedule on your own time.”

“You wish you were part of my social schedule,” he counters.

“At least you’d have one then. When I have fifty-six winning points, maybe I’ll invite you to the celebration.”

Tim rolls his eyes and follows you inside. He can’t remember the last time he did anything with you that wasn’t a competition. You’re both good cops, though, so as long as you get the job done, your work rivalry isn’t hurting anyone.

“What’s it like?” you ask from the passenger seat.

“What’s what like?” Tim replies.

“Being a control freak that still loses.”

“Cute,” Tim mumbles. “At least I didn’t have to wear long sleeves for an extra month like someone I know.”

“Yeah, Lucy didn’t deserve that,” you agree. “You’re just a terrible TO, so you knew she wasn’t ready.”

“Or maybe she picked the wrong cop to idolize,” Tim snaps.

“Tim? Did you just admit that Lucy thinks I’m a better cop than you?” you ask happily. “Because I knew she had good taste, but I wasn’t sure if you knew that.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be looking for a suspect instead of obsessing over how people see you?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be driving instead of getting angry because I’m right?”

Tim takes a deep breath and returns his attention to the road. You push his buttons, but he pushes you just as hard. Everything between you is competitive, there’s a deep-seated need to prove that you’re better because of how your TOs treated you in your boot days.

Your phone rings, and you wave Tim off before he can tell you not to answer it.

“Detective Lopez,” you greet, though you say it toward Tim. “How can I help you?”

“Can you come back to the station or are you too busy flirting- I mean competing with Tim?” she asks.

“I can come back. Tim?” you begin.

“Got it,” he interjects softly. He hits his blinker and enters a turn lane to take you back.

“I’ll be there in ten,” you tell Angela.

“Thank you. We got a lead on where the stolen goods may be stashed but we’re shorthanded.”

“No problem.”

Angela ends the call, and you look at the road as you think about the details of the case. Something isn’t adding up. They know plenty about the suspect, but not where he lives or where all of the stolen property ended up. The guy seems homeless.

“Guess she figured out that you’re not going to find anything out here that I can’t find alone,” Tim muses.

“Or she knows that I’ve got a better chance of blowing this case open if you’re not aimlessly dragging me around the city.”

“What’d she say?” Tim asks.

“They found a lead and don’t have enough people to trace it. You can ride alone, as far as they know, so I get to track down tips.”

“I’ll find our guy before you find anything helpful,” Tim declares.

“Yeah, right!” you argue, turning in your seat to face him. “First one to find something that the detectives deem useful wins.”

“Wins what?”

You purse your lips as you think. There are not many rewards left that you and Tim haven’t already competed for. Maybe it shouldn’t be a material item, you think.

“The loser admits, in roll call tomorrow, that the winner is a better cop,” you suggest.

“It would be fun to hear you say that,” Tim says quietly. “Deal.”

He extends his right hand over the console, and you shake it firmly before sitting back in your seat. When he arrives back at the station, you exit the shop and salute him sarcastically before you walk inside. You begin to worry very quickly that the lead Angela called you back for may not be anything. No matter what, you have to beat Tim because you can’t lose.

“Control, this is Bradford, can you get me information on who owns 1219 Larga Avenue?” Tim radios.

“1219 Larga Avenue is leased by Corporeal Corporations,” control answers.

“A shell corporation,” Tim says to himself.

He’s been following a vehicle matching one listed on the case report. It isn’t the suspect’s vehicle, but one of his acquaintances’. Tim parks down the street and watches the house from his side mirror for several minutes. Whoever was driving the car seems to be staying for a while.

“Control, this is Bradford. I’m approaching the house, code 6-Charles.”

“Assistance on standby.”

Tim opens his door and then hesitates. In his uniform, he has no chance of getting close to anyone in that house. He could approach the house next door to gather intel about how many people are inside, but that could spook them and get innocent people hurt. The third option, one he will never admit to learning from you, is to play the part of a stupid cop at the wrong house.

“Officer!” a woman yells across the street.

Tim gestures for her to quiet before he closes his door and walks across the street. “How can I help you, ma’am?” he asks.

“There was this car that kept driving up and down the road yesterday! It was a young boy and an older man, and they would just drive down, turn around, and come back. I live here, my children play here, and if this is going to become a cesspool of gang people, someone needs to do something!” she explains.

“Ma’am, it sounds to me like a man may have just been teaching his son how to drive on a residential street, which is neither illegal nor gang-related. If you see them again, call the non-emergency line and someone will come make sure everything is alright.”

Tim has dealt with his fair share of stupid complaints, but he can’t even be bothered by this one. Not when something malicious may be taking place four houses away. The woman huffs as she turns to go back to her home. Just as she turns off the sidewalk, someone shoots.

Tim dives behind a nearby car and braces himself against the back bumper. Based on the spray of bullets destroying the car, Tim guesses it’s numerous semi-automatic rifles that he’s up against.

“Dispatch, I need that backup! I’m taking heavy fire,” he radios.

A moment later, dispatch calls, “Code 99” with his location. Tim curses; he doesn’t need every cop in the county coming to his rescue, just one or two. The bullets slow, and Tim moves carefully to the edge of the vehicle. Three men stand in the yard, and he aims his gun at the one closest to him. While he’s replacing the magazine into the gun, Tim shoots his leg, and he falls to the ground. The others open fire again, and Tim spins to be out of sight again.

A heavy hand lands on Tim’s shoulder, and before he can react, a knife is pressed to his throat. Everything goes silent as he’s lifted to his feet and shoved toward the sidewalk. The men have taken their injured partner inside, and Tim knows that once he’s in that house, he is as good as dead.

“Look, man, I just came to answer another call. Let me go and nothing happens,” he tells the man pushing him.

“You already called for backup.”

“And they’ll go to the other house, see a shot-up car. The most you have to do is answer the door and say ‘No, officer, I didn’t see a thing.’”

“You won’t see a thing if you don’t shut up,” the man growls as they near the door.

Tim stands up straighter, and when the knife falls toward his chest rather than his neck, he kicks backward and into the man’s knee. The knife scrapes across Tim’s uniform, but he doesn’t feel it as he turns to face the door and grabs his gun. His hand reaches the holster, but it’s empty. Tim looks around and realizes that his gun must be behind the car. He retrieves the knife from the ground and prepares to run for the car, but two prongs from a taser enter his chest before he can, and he collapses beside his fourth assailant. Sirens echo in the distance as Tim fights to stay conscious. The man on the porch squeezes the trigger again, and Tim only feels the first twitch of his legs before everything stops.

“LAPD, open up!” you yell.

You are moments away from punching the door when it swings open. Immediately, you recognize the long-haired man as your robbery suspect. The chances of him being alone are slim, though, so you can’t think about Tim right now, only about getting this man in custody without getting hurt or killed.

“How can I help, officer?” he asks, leaning against the door to block your view inside.

“I just have a question about the car parked down the street,” you explain with a friendly smile.

“All of my cars are here in my driveway. Maybe ask someone else.”

“So, you don’t know who owns the grey sedan with all the bullet holes and a dead body in the back?” you ask, raising your brows.

“Dead body,” he repeats. He looks past you like he’s trying to figure out how that got there.

“The owner?” you press.

“Oh, sure, uh Miguel, I think is his name. Big guy down the street.”

“Thank you so much for your help. Could I just get your name for my report?” you ask.

“Cody Lambert,” he answers, still looking past you.

You’re surprised that he gives you his real name. Your lie about the body in his car jarred him more than you expected.

“And are you here alone today?” you ask.

“Yes, ma’am.”

He shifts slightly, and you can see an empty living room behind him. You have an opportunity, but if you take it and you’re wrong, you may be putting Tim’s life on the line.

“Could you point out which house Miguel lives in? I’m terrible with numbers and directions.” You laugh at yourself to sell your dumb act and pray that it works.

“Yeah,” he mumbles, stepping out onto the porch.

He closes the door behind him, and you waste no time pushing him down onto the ground. You keep his face turned toward the dirt so he can’t yell as you secure the handcuffs.

“You’re under arrest,” you say in his ear. “And if you yell when I pick you up, I can’t promise anything. If you stay quiet, though, I’ll get you the best pro bono attorney in the state. Understood?”

He doesn’t acknowledge your offer, so you drive your knee between his kidneys and repeat, “Understood?”

He groans against the ground before a muffled, “Yes,” reaches your ears. You pull him up and walk him to your shop where it’s parked in front of the next house. As you reach for the radio to alert dispatch, a gun is fired inside the house.

“Too late,” your suspect says as you turn to look.

You abandon the radio on the floorboard of the passenger seat and slam the door. As you return to the front door and kick it in, you keep your gun ready. There isn’t time to waste in a situation like this, and Tim is counting on you. If he’s still here and still alive, that is.

When you reach a closed door at the end of the hallway after clearing the other rooms, you raise your gun before you and kick the door open. It hits the wall with a thud as you step over the threshold. One of Cody’s known acquaintances blocks your path, with a puddle of blood beneath him. You look past him to clear the room, but see what you’re looking for before you finish.

“Tim,” you say when you see him stretched out on a broken twin-sized bed.

“Took you long enough,” he mumbles. “And I won.”

You lean over him as you holster your weapon. He is injured and needs assistance, but his radio is smashed and yours is in the shop.

“Are there more of them?” you ask.

“There’s four.”

Tim hasn’t opened his eyes yet, which concerns you. More concerning, however, is the knowledge that there are two more people around this house. You cleared it, but they could be waiting in the attic or just outside.

“I’ll go call for help,” you tell Tim. “Stay alert.”

As you turn, heavy footsteps rattle the walls of the hallway. You look back to Tim and know you can’t leave him here. Even if you do argue, compete, and tease each other, you’re both cops and you have to protect one another. Plus, you care about him, and it hurts you to see him like this. Carefully, you push the door closed and lock it. There’s nothing in the room to block it with… except for the suspect on the floor.

“Did you shoot him?” you whisper. “How?”

“His gun,” Tim mumbles.

You tilt your head quickly, surprised and impressed, though you know Tim has more training in this kind of thing than the average cop. The guy is heavy, literally dead weight, but you roll him against the door as an extra cover before you sidestep the blood puddle and return to Tim’s side.

“Where are you hurt?” you whisper as you kneel beside him.

Tim hums, and you know he’s fading fast. You murmur an apology before you begin unbuttoning his uniform. When you begin to pull it open, you notice two taser prongs buried in his pec muscles. You pull them out quickly and squeeze your eyes closed when Tim grunts.

With his shirt open, you can see a several bloody spots, a scrape against his chest, and swelling on his right side. Gently laying a hand over his t-shirt, you know that his ribs are broken.

“I need to look, Tim,” you say as you grab the bottom of his shirt. “I’m sorry.”

You pull his shirt up carefully and inhale sharply when you see the bruises littering his torso and chest. The swelling looks worse without fabric over it.

“Can you breathe well?” you ask.

Tim shakes his head, a small movement that you feel more than see. There’s a chance that his broken rib has punctured a lung, and he needs medical attention now.

“Thank you,” Tim says. His eyes are still closed, but you watch his face as he says it.

A few moments later, Tim moves his left hand to catch yours as you look at the scrape spanning his chest. He squeezes your wrist softly and your eyes raise to his.

Tim blinks his eyes open and waits until he finds your face to ask, “Why are you helping me?”

“Tim,” you begin. “Why wouldn’t I? You can’t tell me that you think I hate you because of our rivalry. That’s all it has ever been, competition.”

Tim nods as his eyes close again. “I thought you’d be a better cop than me,” he mumbles. “But I got a promotion first.”

You chuckle, trying to ignore the pressure behind your eyes as you watch him lose the battle to stay conscious. In this moment, you feel something that you’ve never experienced before. All the teasing, and the competition to stay close to Tim, were different than this. The care you show him now helps you to see him differently.

Similarly, though his thoughts are jumbled in a mix of pain and adrenaline, Tim sees you as he never has before. Your soft touches, apologies, and clear care and concern for him awaken something in him. Maybe it’s been sleeping or maybe it wasn’t there before today, but Tim likes having you close like this.

“Promise me something,” you whisper. “When we get out of this, we’ll know that we both won.”

Tim nods, and you carefully remove your hand from his. With your gun, plus the one Tim used to kill Cody’s goon, you climb out of the window to get Tim help and the first aid kit from your shop. He knows you’re a good cop, but without you by his side, he can’t take the pain and the worry together, and he finally succumbs to the darkness again.

“I feel fine!” Tim argues with the nurse. “I can go home. There’s no reason to keep me here.”

“The doctors want to observe you overnight to ensure there’s no long-term damage, Officer Bradford,” she replies. “If you stop complaining, it will go faster.”

You knock on the open door with a bag in your hand, and the nurse waves you inside before she leaves. Tim looks at you from his hospital bed, and you offer a small smile. In the minutes after you left Tim in the house, you called for backup, searched the house again, put another suspect in custody, and got into a one-on-one fight with the last one. Tim doesn’t know just how much you went through in those five minutes that you waited for more backup, and he doesn’t need to. All that matters is that he’s safe and is getting better.

“How are you?” you ask.

“Fine,” he answers, watching the bag in your hand.

“Yeah, it’s for you.”

You pass him the bag with his favorite food, a play-by-play of last night’s game, and a picture of Kojo from the dogsitter. As he looks through it, you decide to tell him what you stayed awake thinking about. You finished filing your report as the sun rose over LA, and then you spent the few hours before you could visit Tim thinking of only one thing.

“I think we should call a truce,” you suggest. “A lot has changed in the last twenty-four hours.”

“I don’t want a truce,” Tim answers quickly. “We push each other to be better. We need that.”

“Okay,” you say slowly. “Then what do we do? Because I can’t go back to just competing all the time, not after what happened.”

“What happened?”

“If you didn’t feel it, I can’t explain it to you, Tim,” you answer softly, wringing your fingers together.

“You want to be more than competitive friends?” Tim guesses.

You shrug, and he shakes his head.

“I won’t stop competing with you or-“

“Taking figurative shots at me?” you finish playfully. “Better than real shots. I’m fine with not changing that part of our relationship, Tim. Besides, you and I both know that our friends are nosy, and it would be awful if we just started being nice to each other.”

Tim nods, and after a moment, looks at you. He extends his hand toward you, and you happily take it.

“Would you like to go to dinner after I get out of here?” he asks.

“I’d love that. I’m also planning to pass you during the next promotion. Then you can call me Sergeant when you try to tell me you’re better than me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tim responds. “But I get to pick where we go since I did win the last competition.”

“I saved your life!”

“But I found our guy.”

“Maybe we both won,” you remind him.

A few weeks later, you kept your promise and now outrank Tim. Not for long, you assume, because he’s a great cop with a bright future, but for now it’s fun to remind him that you’re a Sergeant while he’s still an Officer. “Whoever makes the first arrest today gets to pick where we go on our date Saturday,” you say.

“Whatever you want, Sergeant,” Tim answers.

He tilts your chin gently before he kisses you. You sigh in contentment, happier than ever with Tim. When he releases you, you both climb out of his truck and walk toward the station.

“When I get a position on Metro, I get to say it first,” Tim says as he opens the door for you.

“That’s not fair!” you argue, blocking the doorway.

“If you’re scared that it’ll happen too soon, just say so,” Tim taunts.

“Fine,” you agree, offering your hand to shake.

He shakes your hand, then pulls you into a quick kiss.

“Have a nice day, Sergeant,” he calls as he walks away.

“You too, boot.”

[mrhowells]

a crappy attempt at articulating some thoughts I had about the episode "Lucy"

Both Lex and Lois are so (for the lack of a better word) fascinated with the Kents and how loving and supportive they are but what I find interesting is how that kind of manifests differently for Lois than it does for Lex.

Loving someone isn't just a passive emotion, something that happens to you, it's something you actively have to do. Since children obviously learn from the adults around them (in this case Lionel Luthor, the Kents & General Lane), the environment they grow up in heavily impacts how they view love as something to be given as well as received.

Lois loves her sister a lot but she doesn't always know the best way to express that love, and how would she know? Nobody ever taught her, though I feel like she's learning from Martha, Jonathan and even Clark as she lives with them.

Both Lois and Lex are desperate to receive the love they never got growing up but while Lois is happy and grateful for anything the Kents are willing to give her, even if she isn't sure she deserves it, I feel like Lex kind of developed an unhealthy fixation with them, especially Clark.

This is obviously just my interpretation but it seems like he's got this idea that if someone like Clark can love him, that means he's still worthy of love. If someone like Clark can see good in him, that means he can be a good person.' The problem is, if he makes the whole trajectory of his life dependent on how one person treats him or feels about him, Lex is not only putting an unfair burden on Clark but he's also setting himself up for hurt and disappointment.

I feel like I either just told everyone the sky is blue or I wrote the most incoherent bs but whatever, might as well put it out there

[liunaticfringe]

Lucy Freaking Liu!

The reviews are in for #AManinFull, and #LucyLiu is lauded, while the series isn't. The best, most hilarious from Kristen Baldwin at @entertainmentweekly: "It pains me to inform you that Diane Lane and Lucy Liu are also in A Man in Full — only because the series thoroughly, shamefully wastes them on underdeveloped characters. ... Liu is Martha’s friend Joyce Newman, the polished CEO of a successful beauty brand who gets dragged into Charlie’s dealings with Mayor Jordan. Still, she only has a handful of substantive scenes. Lucy freaking Liu! She deserves better. I understand Kelley didn’t set out to make A Man in Full and the Women Who Hate Him, but after spending six hours with Charlie Croker, I can say with certainty that he should have. Grade: D" She always deserves better!

[sbd-laytall]

Anyone else remember how great Kendall and Lucy were?

[cfnightwing]

@lcnisms !

Dick’s just about ready to head home and hang up his badge for the night when he heads into the precinct. He’s a couple of hours into overtime, which is no surprise considering the state of the city, but god knows he’s ready to go home - and probably put on his Nightwing suit and run a few hours of patrol before turning in for a couple of hours of sleep. He’s just about to make his way to his desk to file his reports when he notices Lucy sitting by, looking.. well, bored.

“Are you alright?” He asks with a kind smile as he steps over to her. He can only imagine she’s here for something, but that doesn’t change the fact that she looks like she’s about to fall asleep. A quick glance around gives him a little more information - her father seems to be talking with the commissioner so explains her extremely bored expression. “Ah. Has he forgotten you’re here again?”

[themotherlobehq]

Cassie and Archetypes

I wonder if Cassie stayed long enough at the Motherlobe to witness Ford’s, what is implied, continuous shattering into more and more shards? The confusion to see him working as a hairdresser and just on the other side of the Motherlobe, he was manning the booth for Astral Lanes.

She would be like, “Why is he using mental projections / Archetypes to do these jobs when he’s an agent?”

(Archetypes make the most sense to me how Ford could have several other projections of himself who acted independently from each other.)

Then it turned out that each different ‘job aspect’ had no knowledge of the others except for Agent Cruller. Who began losing his memories over time and would switch randomly between the shards when not around a very strong source of Psitanium. Just the knowledge that he not only forgot Lucy, Helmut, and everything in Grulovia, but also probably the entirety of the Psychic Seven.

It was probably like watching ghosts of Ford haunt the Motherlobe.

And Cassie, with what her Teacher Archetype says, likely knew early that Maligula is a facet of Lucrecia that went out of control (”the Shadow”) and became independent like an Archetype - without the nuance - and projected over Lucy’s body.

-

On a lighter note. I headcanon it was Cassie who developed the theory, when she was with the Psychhic Seven, that mental constructs based on other people are more than images taken like with a photograph or stand-ins for said people. The constructs might represent different aspects of the person whose mind they inhabit. She based her theory on her realization that had led her to create Archetypes - while how she feels and acts changes based on context and the people she’s with, she’s always Cassie.

So mental constructs seeming not to fit with the person whose mind they inhabit? It’s an aspect of their mind they don’t know yet / don’t show openly to the word / only show around specific people!

Why is this mental construct based on somebody acting so strangely? Because they’re not a mirror image. They’re a representation of how a person perceives that somebody else, as well as channeling feelings that relate to other topics.

Examples:

Feast of the Senses are representations of Helmut’s friends (sans Lucy for the time because of his trauma) as well as five of his senses. Vision Quest might stand in for Helmut’s unconscious desire to regain his senses / his body and his (desperate) wish that his friends went looking for him. Helmut’s feelings are channeled through Vision / Ford’s representation whom he remembered to care a great deal about the Psychic Seven and to be the most driven in his goals among their group. The Lucy representation is gone- Or more likely was twisted into the traumatic memory of Maligula, who he now associates with losing his body and his memories in that watery void.

Otto in Bob’s mind stands in for his self-loathing as well as the soured bond between them. His self-loathing has twisted the memory of Otto into someone who never cared about Bob and thought Helmut deserved better. It's likely a mechanism that he uses to justify his isolation.

Of course, Helmut and Bob might not want to share these things. They might be too painful for Cassie, too, because they hit too close to her own issues. To her twisted memories of her friends because of her grief. Other people, though. I bet she’d shine at understanding the complexities of a person’s mind and their different selfs.

I love it that Cassie is very aware that people are multi-faceted and that there’s no real ‘I’ / singular ego. So I think she would have a lot of thoughts  and knowledge about these things.

[pigeonp0st]

Hiii, I’m sorry I must be annoying you, but I just really enjoy your writing, so I was wondering if you could do Kara x reader, Kara gets jealous they get into a fight about it, but they make up, lots of fluff at the end?

Kara Danvers x Reader #3

Words: 1,363

Warnings: Angst, Jealousy

Notes:

First off, you aren’t annoying me at all, i’m thankful for the requests. Second off, I hope this lives up to what you wanted, I tried to make both of their sides understandable with Kara’s insecurities...and blah...hopefully neither seem to be too toxic. That’s always a fear of mine when I write jealousy. (Sorry for grammar mistakes.)

——

The fight shouldn’t have happened.

It shouldn’t have, you should have been more understanding when Kara brought the problem up, should have tried to understand why she was getting so worked up, you should have acknowledged Kara’s all consuming fear of losing the people she loves.

But you’ve been so tired lately, work has been kicking your ass, and Kara coming home passively angry all of the time hasn’t really been helping (neither has you ignoring her). Your anger at her has been building up with every bitter comment shot your way about Lucy, and hers each time you ignore and dismiss her, so really, you should have seen it coming.

“Lucy sent you flowers,” Kara mentions offhandedly while she cooks.

You keep your eyes trained on your computer, typing away.

“A note, too. All about how thankful she is to you.”

Your eyes snap up towards Kara, she’s already looking at you, waiting. “You read it?” You ask, trying to keep your voice controlled. Kara nods, tilting her head. “Kara,” you say patiently, “don’t read my stuff without my permission, okay? Don’t do that.”

Kara blinks at you, immediately going on the defensive. “Why? Why can’t I be concerned when some person you’ve been spending all of your time with starts sending you flowers. Someone you used to like no less.”

“Because,” you breathe, shutting yourself off, “because that person is the only thing keeping me from having a mental breakdown everyday.” Kara’s eyes shift, “you have done literally nothing to make things easier on me the past couple of days, and now you’re angry someone has. She’s been helping with work.”

You think you can see a flash of guilt in the murky blue of Kara’s eyes and it would have been enough to calm you down if Kara hadn’t said what she said next, “are you fucking her?”

The laugh that forces it’s way out of your throat is disbelieving and devoid of any humor. “Oh my god,” you smile in astonishment, “you’re not listening to me at all.”

“Just...please,” Kara sighs, eyebrows coming together, “answer the question and i’ll believe you.”

“Believe me?” You snort, “Kara you're pulling out accusations from your ass, you're completely disregarding what i’ve been going through without you lately, and you’ve been being passive aggressive towards me for days now, all because what? You’re insecure?”

It’s a low blow, you know, but you’re angry too. You wanted Kara there, and instead she was making your life more miserable.

“That isn’t fair, Y/N, you used to have something with her, why can’t you understand—”

“I understand perfectly,” you tell her, scowling now, “you’ve ‘had something’ with nearly all of your friends in the past, but the second I want to be friends with an engaged woman, that even you’ve had a crush on, it’s not allowed.”

The truth of your statement rings out, and Kara, much to your annoyment, remains silent.

If she’s going to be hung up on her jealousy for days, enough to brush off your frustration, then she should at least have a better argument.

You watch Kara for a long moment, while Kara glares daggers into the counter, it’s how you notice Kara’s hand bumping into the knife she used to prepare dinner and knocking it off the counter.

You forget, a lot of the time, that Kara is invulnerable, it’s still such a bizarre concept to you. The bullet proof skin. You forget that a regular knife stands no chance of cutting through her skin, it’s why, the moment you see where Kara’s knife is falling—towards her sock covered foot— you instinctively reach out to grab it, to protect her.

You think you deserve the pain that comes after when the knife digs into your skin and it ends up dropping anyways.

Kara stares at you with wide eyes, frozen from her shock while she watches you grab a kitchen cloth to put pressure on your wound.

She looks terrified, you notice, it’s why you tell her to leave, you don’t want to snap at her while she’s so vulnerable, but it probably doesn’t help as much as you think it will in the moment. “Get out, Kara. Get out,” you hiss, wincing against your pain.

“Y/N,” Kara whimpers, eyes swimming with emotion “i’m sorry I—” she’s reaching for your injury to try and help but you pull away, stumbling backwards.

“Get out. I’ll call Alex. I don’t want to hear apologies you don’t even want to give.” You tell her, already reaching for your phone.

It’s a surprise to you when Kara listens.

It’s what you asked, but as you stand alone in your kitchen with a bleeding hand, and the memory of Kara’s crestfallen face when she left— the tears fall quickly.

You don’t actually end up calling Alex. You’re sitting on the kitchen floor with your arms wrapped around yourself, sobbing, when she comes in not long after Kara left. You know Kara brought her here.

—

Kara comes home sooner than you expect. It’s only been a day since she left, and you're sitting on the couch when you hear the balcony sliding door open.

You always leave it unlocked. You’ve been double checking that it is the whole time Kara’s been gone.

Kara says nothing when she comes in, not at first, she just sits down on the floor in front of where you’re sitting on the couch, grabs your wrapped injured hand to hold against her chest, and kisses your wrist, where your pulse point is.

When you think about where you are it’s sometimes hard to believe. Supergirl, cape and all, kneeling in front of you with enough sadness to fill the room, it’s something you from five years ago wouldn’t have believed.

“I’m sorry,” Kara whispers against your wrist after nearly an hour.

“Why are you back so early?” You ask, ignoring her apology.

Kara looks down. “Because I love you,” she says, voice trembling with her fear of rejection.

“And you know I love you, Kara, that’s why i’d never cheat on you. Not even for Cat Grant, and definitely not for Lucy Lane.” You promise, your own guilt eating you up for dismissing Kara’s feelings. “Do you know why you’re sorry?”

“A lot of things,” Kara tells you, “but i’m mostly sorry for not realizing how much you’ve been struggling lately because I was too caught up on my jealousy. I promised to be there for you.”

You give Kara a hum in acknowledgment, then say, “i’m sorry, too. You were letting your frustrations cloud your judgment, but so was I. I should have been there for you too.”

“You really don’t like Lucy?” Kara asks after a pause where both of you soak up what’s been said. She grimances right after she asks.

“No, Kara, I don’t like Lucy...more than a friend, anyways.”

“She’s really smart,” Kara mumbles, “i’d understand if you did.”

You quirk an eyebrow at Kara, pulling her up onto the couch with you. “Should I be worried about you going after her?”

Kara rolls her eyes, as if even the idea is completely ludicrous. “I only want to be with you, for the rest of our lives.”

You suck in a breath, trying not to look as affected by that as you are. Kara. Forever. It’s all you feel you’ll ever really need. “My girlfriend’s talking about forever...can you believe that?” You tease.

Kara looks a strange mix of serious and timid when she asks, “do you want her for forever, also?”

You pretend to think about it for a moment, then release a sigh. “Forever will never seem long enough with her.”

“She’ll see what she can do,” Kara breathes out.

You’re not able to resist pulling her into a tight hug after that and hiding your fave in her neck. “I love you,” Kara whispers, “I trust you so much, even if I haven’t reflected that lately. My anger had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me, i’ve realized.”

“Stop apologizing, I believe in us to do better in the future. For now, let’s cuddle. I’ve missed you.”

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Well. The Christmas kiss was Kylie and Louis. The two proposals was a clever misdirect - Ange proposed to Josh, then Josh proposed to Ange. I’d be lying, dear audience, if I told you I was not a little bit disappointed. I think I convinced myself that the kiss was going to be Henrik and Russ. For a brief moment, when they were talking in the AAU staff room, I really thought it would be.

However! We still got some lovely Henruss content tonight. The way they were looking at each other was the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. And Russ’s “What took you so long?” was just... awww. So sweet.

And here’s the big news, folks. THERE IS A METRO ARTICLE CONFIRMING HENRIK’S FEELINGS FOR RUSS ARE DEFINITELY, 100%, ROMANTIC. It’s the “How will Holby City end after Christmas episode?” article, if any of you want to go have a look.

I mean, we all knew. But it’s nice to have undeniable, official confirmation that Henrik is bi and in love with Russ. There is nothing the bi Henrik deniers can say to this one. Nothing. (Additionally, the director of this episode liked a tweet I made where I said I was glad Holby are letting Henrik settle down and find love before the end, and the official Holby account liked another tweet where I called their interactions tonight “very sweet and very romantic”.)

So it’s happening, folks. Henrik is bi and he’s getting a boyfriend and there’s nothing homophobes can do about it.

I keep thinking about how Henrik smiled at Russ after that “what took you so long” line. The actual cutest thing ever. I am so glad Henrik’s found someone who makes him so happy. Someone he feels safe around and can be himself with. He deserves it.

Meanwhile, Ollie’s gone. I’m gonna miss him. I didn’t like a lot of the writing surrounding his return (the whole idea that he could totally be a surgeon again if he wanted to?? I would’ve much rather had him realising he can’t be a surgeon again and that’s fine, maybe he can go into some other medical job someday (I think he’d make a great GP, his diagnostic skills are excellent), but what he needs to focus on for now is being a good father), but he’s one of my favourite characters so it’s just been nice to see him back. And James Anderson has given some truly brilliant performances.

I predicted he’d video call Zosia, but I still thought it was incredibly sweet when he did. Gah. I’m just so happy Zollie are reuniting, I’ve shipped them for four years.

And as one character leaves, another one returns. Nicky, my beloved!! I have missed her so much, she was such a great character, and I’d accepted the thought that we’d never see her again after the cancellation but HERE SHE IS. Thank goodness for that. She’s definitely going to throw a spanner in the works with Louis and Kylie, though. Too bad the Holby writers probably haven’t heard of polyamory (I mean, they’ve only just realised bi people exist, ffs).

Although the way they talked about it in the spoilers really implied her return was gonna be post-credits. Dammit, now I look really silly for telling people to watch until then.

Eli and Amelia broke my heart tonight. They are a lovely couple and they deserve so much better than this.

Tonight really showed what an incredible character Eli is. One of the best autistic characters I’ve seen in ages. Davood Ghadami plays him BRILLIANTLY.

And Lucy Briggs-Owen is incredible as Amelia, too.

I can’t say much else about that storyline, or I’ll probably start crying.

Kylie gave off major Chantelle Lane vibes tonight, didn’t she? Like, she really reminded me of Chantelle in her first episode, but mostly I didn’t notice it too much after that until tonight.

Josh and Ange are an adorable couple and they deserve the world. Enough said.

And I am very worried about Jac now. Holby, please don’t hurt her. I’m glad you’re giving Henrik a happy ending and all, but please don’t forget that Jac deserves one too.

All in all, that was a pretty great episode, a satisfying final Holby Christmas (and even as someone who believes the show dug its own grave by putting out nonsense like the Cameron storyline, I’m still a little sad to think this is their final Christmas). I just can’t wait to see how things continue in January.

[kuekyuuq]

Praise and blind spots... (6x12)

I know, I wouldn't be able to do the topic justice, so I will refrain from going in too deep into 6x12′s plot. This is not my usual format and will focus more on the series as a whole, in light of this episode...

Azie Tesfai wrote a beautiful episode on a very important topic. And managed to tie it in to what Supergirl (the show) needed to be, among other things.

Yes, it's a superhero show. But that's the thing: While movies have the luxury to keep their focus on the big picture, series should also find the time to address the micro-cosmos, the consequences, the backlash, the whole canvas.

We watch shows these days, that are more and more departing from the olden format of episodic and towards the serialized - meaning, not only villain-arcs (vaguely) span over the whole of a season, but also the main characters' developments and evolution... and more importantly the stories and characters surrounding them. This should allow for interesting stories to be told in the background, without becoming background-noise. What saddens me, is that Supergirl only really started using this narration device in an effective way in its final season. With a very important topic, that while having been touched on before, deserved a good depiction, worthy of it's depth.

In this season we had two episodes before, that made me happy on that level - both also heavily featuring Azie's character, Kelly. The story about the young black man and his little brother was a heartfelt one, a relatable and thought-provoking story, given more depth by being picked up again. Being treated not as just another plot-device.

Oh, I wished we had a time-machine, cut out so many of the unnecessary and bland filler stories (that never really went anywhere) and got to dive in deeper into the many topics CWSG checked off it's PC list during its run and actually told something worth revisiting. Like this. Like what Azie did right here in 6x12.

Now, we’ve got this little gem. In the last season. Focusing on one of the secondary main-characters. The girlfriend of the sister of the titular hero... While the titular hero herself is and has been side-lined in the past 4 episodes. (If not longer... *sigh*)

I really liked this episode. I really love its format. And the topic is so very important. On all its depicted levels (and there were many).

...why did this have to happen only now?

On one hand, I feel, this is something the series can be remembered for. The last season's arc of Kelly and the story her character has to tell, the awareness this story brings forward. In a show, that should have so much impact.

On the other, I feel it's taking up room from our main character, when there should be time spend addressing Kara's traumas, her healing, her relationships.... her story. And in better hands, we possibly could have (had) both. But, alas, this is the CW.

We should have had this episode two seasons ago!

Now we have a new hero, build up before the series' finale, when we know the new Guardian will not get to shine or tell her stories (is there even talk about a spin-off for her?).

I hope, sincerely, that the last stretch of episodes will be able to balance its stories much better. That Kelly - now that her story and origin and drive has been told - will not sink back into the shadows, while we also get more Kara (and let’s not forget wrapping up the rest of the Superfriends’ arcs).

The show hardly felt like "Supergirl" in a while now. Kara is there, yes. And I get the behind-the-scenes reasons as of why they had to have her on her own separate adventure for the first 7 episodes. But... there are so many unresolved topics around Kara, herself. (IMO, the only character that continuously got this much attention is Lena Luthor, having almost more background-story, character build-up, -arc, emotional depth and consequences, personal and surrounding her, than Kara - including the horrible over-the-top mess that was season 5.)

Gosh, the show even made a point of having Kelly say, that it wasn't Kara's job to deal with these little things. Which is right and wrong at the same time. Supergirl is an over-powered superhero. Which brings conflict in its own right. Which - in a series - should leave room to explore her as a person and dealing with the chasm between her powers and her vulnerability, her character, her emotions, her traumas, her desires, hopes and dreams and wishes, her evolution and re-evaluations...

Kara Zor-El Danvers should be the - or at least a - focus in her (last!) season.

And on top of that, we should get to see what happens when the heroes dust off their hands and leave the scene after fighting the big bad.

Consequences. The show has been horrendously bad at addressing those before. The Children of Liberty arc tried to deal with that... but in a way that lead to extremists, and for the sake of a big bad - rather than in a relatable Everyman / Everwoman / Every..person(?) way.  This episode did that. The previous Kelly episodes did that. So very well...

...addressing the little people, the normal people, the minorities, the (unintentional) victims, the over-looked, the individual sufferings, the by-standers...

...but also unintentionally showcasing the shortcomings of the show in a very unflattering way. But I guess, for an episode titled “Blind Spots”, that attempts to cast light on things that have been ignored before, that’s rather fitting...

... I don't think, I can say much else without accidentally taking away from Azie’s master piece or her intent and thoughtful execution...

I did very much appreciate the "24h earlier" bit, showing Kelly's tale paralleling the 'grand adventures' of the Superfriends.

I did not think, Diggle needed to keep telling Kelly how proud her brother would be, as Kelly should not need her brother's thumbs-up or for the show to yet again inadvertently compare a female to their male 'counterpart'. Kelly's Guardian will (hopefully) not be like James'. Just like Supergirl is her own woman and comparing her to Superman is just inadequate.

...and I love how even the mail was quicker than the jet that brought Lena back to National City.

...

I love the show for its quirkiness. Not the unintentional one, but the funny and goofy bits. For Kara being walking (or flying) sunshine incarnated, but also relatable in her day-to-day struggles. For characters with so much promise that I got so much more invested in the show, than its average writing deserves. It is a series, that had so much potential. To tell big and small stories, important and impactful stories. Fun, sad, thought-provoking, entertaining, exciting, adventurous, soothing, real, fantastic... I never asked for the show to 'pick a lane' (I'd take Lucy...) because there has always been potential to meld so many themes and motives and ...moods together - that's what an ensemble cast is perfect for.

Thank you, Azie Tesfai, for a great episode!

Fingers crossed, the last stretch of the show will be able to keep up with a bar suddenly raised so very high.

[yesokayiknow]

Thank you for the idea of Lucy and Laurel being a crime fighting duo in Earth-38's Star City. It a) makes Laurel not dead and b) solves the mystery of where the hell Lucy Lane went. I'm accepting it as canon because it is such a good concept, and they would be one hell of a pair of crimefighters! :D

so laurel lance wakes up instarling city general hospital on a differentearth, which is weird, obviously, but no weirder than travelling to the headquarters of asecret assassin cult to dunk your dead sister’s body in a magical hot tub, soit’s all relative really.

meanwhile, lucy lane is in charge of the deo base out in thedesert because it’s not like she completely disappeared or something, thatwould be ridiculous.

laurel isn’t a metahuman or an implausibly intelligentsupergenius so she can’t exactly get back home, but she can hack into the police database from a hospital computer.luckily, there’s no laurel lance on this earth (there’s no sara lance either,which she is very pointedly not thinking about) so it’s pretty easy to makeherself an entry in the system. she doesn’t give herself a law degree though,because laurel is responsible anddecides to figure out the differences between this and her city’s legal systemsfirst (though bear in mind that she’s thinking all of this while making herselfa fake id on a hospital computer, so uh not that responsible).

so she gets herself an apartment and a job and now at thispoint she could do pretty much anything. there’s absolutely no need to dress upin leather and go around beating people up at night. no need at all.

laurel, later that night: oh no i seem to have found myselfstopping a mugging

laurel, the night after that: oh no it’s happened again

laurel, the night after that:well i mean clearly the universe is trying to tell me something

so laurel definitely took her canary cry apart a few timesto see how it works and it doesn’t take her too long to make a new one. gettinga baton isn’t hard either, since she was basically raised in the scpd station,and she still remembers the blind spots in the cctv system.

finding a leather supplier is harder, because i guess theleather suppliers on her old earth were just used to people regularly orderinglarge quantities of black leather from them??? but hey, she’s dinah laurel lance,she gets it done, and now she has a costume and weapons and crime levels aregoing down and the police are starting to trust her and she has a steady (iflow-level) job at a law firm and everything’s going great.

and then the feds roll into town.

one of the feds is lucy, who was sent by the deo to checkout this new vigilante, since they aren’t exactly common on this earth, and sincethe whole sonic scream thing is reminding them a lot of silver banshee and nobodywants to go through that again. replacing bulletproof glass isn’t exactly cheap.

lucy figures that a person who tries to carry out their ownform of justice probably has some background in law enforcement, so she checksthe police station, and then the fire station, and then finally the law firms, whichis where she runs into one dinah laurel lance.

she’s not exactly lucy’s type (though that’s mostly becauseher type is currently somewhere between james olsen and kara danvers, which is really helpful thanks), but still very pretty. she’s new in town, which isinteresting, and she’s got a few redflags on her id (but god, this is starling,who hasn’t?).

mostly though, she’s got that look.the same one that kara’s got (and the same one that james’ got right now,though lucy of course doesn’t know that, which is very fortunate for him). it’sthe look of a person who can’t help but try and correct injustice.

plus there’s blood on her collar and lucy can literally seeher arm muscles through her shirt, so.

lucy doesn’t follow her home, because that would be weirdand invasive. instead she slips a bug on the woman’s sleeve.

the bug gets mailed back to her hotel room the next morning,which, okay, is really cool, and alsocompletely proves that lance is the vigilante. this is the point where lucybrings her in.

however.

is lance really doing anything wrong (apart from assault andtrespassing and breaking and entering and evading arrest)? she’s helping people, and maybe before lucyfound out that kara was supergirl she would’ve turned lance in anyway, but shejust can’t. the only thing she can do, is to try and make sure thatlance goes about this the right way, and also doesn’t get herself like brutallymurdered or something.

laurel’s never actually been confronted by the authoritiesbefore, but she remembers the whole mess that oliver and roy went through, sowhen lucy comes back to the law firm the next day she’s expecting the thirddegree, but instead lucy’s like hey do youwant a partner and laurel’s like i’mnot telling you anything oh wait yes that would be cool.

so they end up working together, both in the field and at the law firm. (lucy never technicallyquits the deo she just sort of… stops turning up?)

lucy’s sort of like felicity (because she’s quickon the uptake and very sarcastic over the comms) and sort of like thea (because she has a wicked sense of humour and could also probably kick laurel’s ass) andsort of like digg (because she’s pretty sensible and tends to say things like you can’t do that it’s illegal and also you’lldie).

laurel isn’t like anyone lucy’s ever met, which she onlysays once, because laurel’s pretty unbearable once she hears that.

then the day comes that the black canary finally gets to work with supergirl.she’s everything that laurel’s heard about her and more, and they work reallywell together, and they save the day, and laurel’s about to rappel off (grappleoff???) into the night when supergirl’s like oh hey, are you a metahuman? and laurel maybe falls off the roofbecause the word metahuman shouldn’teven exist on this earth, what theactual hell???

so the whole story comes out and laurel’s like why didn’t you tell me you’ve met peoplefrom another earth??? and lucy’s like whydidn’t you tell me you were fromanother earth??? and kara’s like willthis take long i promised i’d be home in time for masterchef.

kara doesn’t actually have a way of contacting the otherearth, but she promises that she’ll keep an eye out for interdimensionalbreaches, and so, about a year later, when barry and cisco come to ask kara forhelp with the dominator invasion, kara’s like hey could you wait here a sec? and flies straight to starling andpicks laurel up. like literally physically picks her up, which isn’t funny lane shut up stop laughing. kara goes back andpicks up lucy as well, which is good because it gives laurel and barry andcisco time to like collapse on each other.

now all the heroes waiting in barry’s punching shed/airhangar don’t really know what to expect because they all just sort of rolltheir eyes every time barry starts talking about his alien superhero friend she has like fifty superpowers and you wouldn’tknow her she’s from a different earth but she’s totally real you guys i swear. sowhen the portal appears it’s like oh hey there’s barry and there’s cisco andthere’s a woman in a cape and brightly coloured super suit and there’s dinah laurel lance, back from the dead andthere’s a random woman none of them have met before.

so they all just stand there, gobsmacked, while laurelrealises that the faint ringing noise she’s been hearing since she woke up inthe other hospital was because of theother earth and not just like a year-long concussion or something, and then finally,into the silence, there’s a very loud oofas sara lance tacklehugs laurel to the ground.

[fromiftowhen]

The Rookie 3x04 Thoughts

So, obviously, again, my thoughts are mostly Tim and Lucy focused, so let’s get those out of the way first.

ALL OF THE CALLBACKS TO THEIR FIRST DAY TOGETHER. Their last three weeks together are just a walk down memory lane for them. “My first day as a rookie, I thought you were gonna be my Doug.” YES, GIRL. Continue to call him out. Clearly, he wasn’t, and you both already know it. But that was a needed conversation. 

LET ME YELL FOR A MOMENT THOUGH -- I did not watch with captions on at first, so I thought she actually said, “I thought you were gonna by my death” and when I say I almost passed out thinking about how he WASN’T, he was the opposite, he SAVED HER (she saved herself, we know where I stand on this, but... still.) Let’s just say, I was very sad when I went back to check the quote and turned on closed captions. A real missed opportunity, writers. 

"REALLY? BECAUSE YOU LOOK MAD. AT LEAST, MADDER THAN USUAL.”

“I’m not mad. I’m upset. At myself.” THIS MAN. When I tell you there is not a more complex male character on television right now, I mean it. He feels things and has the strongest moral compass and yes, he’s stubborn. Yes, he can be a dick. But he is a GOOD MAN and he is not only able, but willing, to examine his actions, past and current, and realize where he went wrong and work on ways to improve and avoid the same issues in the future. And not just in respects to this storyline - in so many others as well. With Mitch. With Isabel. With his relationships with Lucy and Jackson and Nolan. I could write a million words on how much I love the Tim Bradford character, but I think this episode actually did a really good job of showcasing a lot of them. 

‘THAT’S PROGRESS. I’M... PROUD OF YOU.” “I’M THRILLED.” “MHMM.”

Melissa O’Neil’s “Mhmm’s” are so well used. They’re flirty and cocky and somehow sweet, and a nonverbal noise shouldn’t be as impactful as she’s able to make it. 

(The dog being the porch pirate? The rocket ship guy? The cold open? Those are the little, funny, random things this show does so well that I feel like I’ve missed so far this season. Thanks, show.)

Again this week, I don’t feel like I have the right words to talk about the Jackson and Stanton storyline. I don’t think I could do it justice in the way it deserves. That being said, I do think the show is doing a good job, I’m OBSESSED with the Tim and Jackson interaction it’s giving us, I LOVE that Nolan has (so far) not been brought into this, and I’m really intrigued as to where they’ll take it next. I know we’re supposed to, but it’s been a long time since I hated a character as deeply, as immediately, as I hate Stanton. (This show does bad characters very well. Armstrong? Fun to watch. Rosalind? AMAZING, I shouldn’t love a serial killer character probably at all, and certainly not enough to want MORE episodes with her). Stanton? Horrible, hate him, painfully difficult to watch, which means they’re doing it right.)

Other Things I Loved This Week:

NYLA HARPER, YOU DESERVE THE WORLD. As soon as we saw that cutie in the background of her scene, I was like YEP, let’s go there. Her flirting! HER GIGGLE. She is amazing, I love her, I just want the best things for her. If he turns out to be a creep or not deserving of her, I hope she takes him down immediately and painfully. (Real talk, LOVE the chemistry between her and her ex Donovan, SO... but she deserves happiness, and if this is how the show is going to help her get there for now. I’m good.)

ANGELA AND WESLEY. They are just fire together on screen. Kudos to them. They’re hilarious and heartbreaking and lovely and when Angela Lopez tears up, I tear up. 

LUNA GREY. “That’s my girl.” OKAY. “Send an ambulance.” Gonna need more of her immediately. She’s badass. 

Overall, this week was much better paced than prior weeks, and didn’t feel quite as rushed. The scene at the end with Tim and Jackson was cut short a little abruptly, I thought, but overall I didn’t feel like they tried to cram in six plot lines where only three are doable. 

Again, I just don’t care about Nolan and his mom, I’m sorry. It feels like they’re trying to use this angle to make Nolan seem like a more complex, questionable character than he is, and... I don’t know, it’s well known he’s my least favorite on the show, but it’s not working (or necessary -- if you want him to be the boy scout, let him be the boy scout.) 

I’m sad there isn’t another episode until Valentine’s Day, but I’ll be ready to eat some chocolate and watch the Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen hour by then, for sure. 

[ins0mnia-an0nym0us-au]

me trying to describe why i’m upset supergirl is ending when i’ve been trashing it for so long, saying it should’ve been cancelled since s4, which honestly, it should have -

and it really does deserve to be cancelled. is beyond frustrating.

i think mostly, i’m frustrated at the writers. at how little they cared about the characters they were given or at least, that’s what they showed us. they were given complex characters that CBS worked hard on during season one, and in season two they did a decent job because (if you look at my writers chart that i will link) they kept half the writers from the first season but introduced a new team to take over. LINK

but even with half of the original writers, the (obvious) story they had originally planned was thrown out - james x kara, whatever was originally gonna be in the pod (i don’t think it was gonna be mon-el or if it was, it was going to be a very different version/relationship), cat grant, lucy lane, etc.

which moving locations meant making some sacrifices but the way they just split up james x kara? after spending the entire first season building that relationship? that was the first sign to me that it was going downhill. then the way they slowly made james so OOC + mon-el took more of the spotlight from kara.

i’m just so beyond FRUSTRATED at the writers for wasting this opportunity. for wasting this amazing foundation they were given. if anything this makes me want to download the scripts for S2-S5 + rewrite them just to show theCW how things could’ve been written BETTER + still use the same plot-devices. because even if they followed the same plot, it could have been written better. the lazy writing was just TERRIBLE.

idk guys. i’m just upset. i don’t want this cast to be split up even more. i miss Jeremy, Mehcad, Calista, Jenna...

but mostly i miss when the show had game nights that weren’t forced, sister nights where alex + kara talked about important things - like kara’s trauma or alex’s issues. i miss exploring kara’s actual trauma from being old enough to remember krypton, then dumped by her only living relative to a random earth family. i miss alex being a self-sacrificing idiot, who would legit cut off her own arm to save her sister or repress her own gayness because she had to focus on being the best sister - not on her own happiness. i miss there being an actually scary villain like reign who could fight kara without them having to weaken her first. i miss space dad having an interesting storyline...

i wish the writers had realized what they had when they had it.

[rudderless-in-an-ocean-of-stars]

holy trinity of dctv ladies who deserved better than the shitshow they got/are currently getting

- Lena Luthor

- Caitlin Snow

- Laurel Lance

and for those in the back, lemme say it again

LENA LUTHOR,

CAITLIN SNOW,

AND DINAH LAUREL GODDAMN LANCE,

DESERVED BETTER

AND YOU CAN FIGHT ME ON THAT

BONUS

and where the fuck is lucy lane????

[change-the-rules]

OKay but Lucy’s face every time Cat says that ‘she got the looks’ or ‘she’s the pretty one’ after finding out Lucy was Lois’ kid sister

Like on the one hand Lucy is very bi and on the other it’s just an avalanche of angst because when has anyone every said Lucy was better than Lois in any way and also it’s Cat Grant who’s rivalry with Lois is legendary so Lucy figures it’s not like it really means anything when she says it even if it is v nice to hear 

[svgurl410]

clois fic

Title: i’m broken and it’s beautiful (can someone just hold me, don’t fix me) Fandom: Smallville Pairing/Characters: Clark Kent/Lois Lane (mostly pre-relationship) Rating: G Word Count: 3063 Summary: A sad anniversary, a broken locket, and a talk that promises a brighter future.  A/N: for the poetry_fiction (DW) 2021 challenge; prompt: I'll be the things left behind for you, I'll be much kinder then. I'll kiss the drowning atmosphere all a summer's afternoon, and that's not all.

AO3 link 

The rooftop of the Talon was quiet and peaceful and yet the silence wasn’t at all comforting. It was still better than being alone inside her apartment, since Lois couldn’t bring herself to be around other people, which is why she had been actively avoiding her friends all day. Well, for the past two days really.

She didn’t actually like being alone, but she needed the space. The downside of making that decision was that she had to turn down dinner at the Kents, and as much as she regretted missing out on Mrs Kent’s cooking, she knew she wouldn’t be very good company.

Glancing down at her phone, she swallowed down the disappointment as she realized that the two people she hoped would call yet knew probably wouldn’t hadn’t. She shouldn’t be surprised; after all, it’s not like her dad or Lucy had acknowledged this day, but Lois’s stupid hopeful heart wouldn’t let her give up.

You’re a sad fool. Which wasn’t anything new and likely wouldn’t change. She finally pocketed her phone, accepting defeat, as her other hand fingered a broken locket, the metal chipped and the chain having snapped years ago. It had been her mother’s, and it was one of the few things she carried around wherever she went. While Lois didn’t have that many memories of her mom, she remembered her wearing the necklace all the time, pictures of her family kept inside, always close to her heart.

Lois herself had never worn it, but she also couldn’t let go either. Letting go was never her style. Then again, it felt like she was the one people let go of, as everyone else always left her behind, from her family to the men she dated. Staring out into the night sky, she wondered if she was just destined to be alone, her heart aching at the thought, feeling as cracked and chipped at the locket in her hands.

Yet, unlike the locket, she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to be fixed, just accepted for who she was, broken parts included, but at this point, that seemed like a pipe dream. As if anyone wants to sign up for that.

A sudden noise shook her out of the path she was on, and she spun around, ready to snap at whoever dared to interrupt her solitude. Much to her shock, it was none other than Clark who had entered through the door leading to the rooftop, carrying a white plastic bag in his hands.

“Smallville,” she said, surprised evident in her tone and expression. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged, making his way to her, and offered her the bag. “Mom felt bad that you missed dinner tonight and she sent me over here with some food.”

Feeling touched, Lois’s lips curved into a smile at the thought of Martha Kent’s generosity. The other woman had been nothing but kind to her, and more welcoming than she deserved. She and Jonathan both, and Lois felt an ache in her heart as she remembered him, still not completely over the pain of his sudden death.

Their fingers brushed as she accepted the bag, causing an unexpected spark ran through her spine, and she barely refrained from jerking her hand away at the feeling. Keeping her expression as neutral as she could manage, she moved her hand away, fingers clutching around the plastic straps.

“Thanks,” she said, hoping she didn’t reveal anything in her voice or facial expression. “Got stuck playing delivery boy then?”

“Something like that,” Clark replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “We haven’t seen you around in a few days so I figured I would drop by to see what’s up.”

“Aww, Smallville, I didn’t know you would miss me that much,” Lois teased.

“I never said I missed you,” he protested. “Just making sure you were still in one piece. I’ve seen the trouble you can get into on your own.”

“And you were worried about me,” she said triumphantly. “No need to hide it. I’m touched, truly.”

He rolled his eyes, and she smirked, already feeling better.

“More like the house was quiet, and the fridge was full for once,” Clark countered.

“With you around?” she retorted. “I doubt it.”

“And Shelby might have missed you,” Clark continued, as if he hadn’t heard her. “But he likes to chase his own tail, so there’s really no accounting for taste on his end.”

“Jealous your dog likes me better?” Lois asked. “Don’t worry, I’ll visit soon.”

“I’m sure he’ll be relieved,” Clark said, dryly, leaning against the railing.

“I know he’s not the only one,” she said, nudging him.

“Yes, I was terrified that you had found someone else to harass,” Clark remarked, glancing at her out of the side of his eye, his lips twitching into an easy grin, which she couldn’t help but return.

“Don’t worry, Smallville, I’ll never replace you,” she promised, realizing that she was only half joking. She couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore, and it was a pretty terrifying thought that she decided not to linger on.

“Well, now I can sleep at night,” he said, fortunately oblivious to her line of thinking.

“That’s what I’m here for,” she managed, as her fingers stroked the locket unconsciously.

Clark let out a chuckle, his eyes drawn to her hand, his gaze turning questioning.

“That’s nice,” he commented, gesturing to her locket.

She lifted it up and gave a half hearted smile. “Don’t lie, Smallville, I know it’s seen better days.”

He shrugged. “But clearly it means something, right? Which is more important than how it looks.”

Taken aback, she could only nod. Composing herself, she said, “Who knew you were so deep?”

“I have layers,” Clark replied easily. “Have to keep you on your toes after all.”

“Let’s not go too far,” she warned. “My toes are firmly planted on the ground.”

“Worth a shot,” he responded, with a cheeky smile. “So …” He gave her an expectant look, pointedly glancing at the necklace. “Is it a deep dark secret?”

She bit her lower lip. “Nothing that exciting. It was my mom’s.”

“Oh.” Clark’s expression immediately went sympathetic, almost apologetic. She could easily say she didn’t want to talk about it, and she had faith he would drop it, and they could immediately go back to making fun of each other, or he would even leave, but for some reason, she felt the need to share.

“She, um,” Lois looked down, “it’s actually the anniversary of her death today.”

Clark placed his hand on her arm, and Lois automatically leaned into it, comforted by the touch. “I’m sorry,” he told her.

She forced a smile. “It was a long time ago.”

“Pretty sure there isn’t an expiration date on grief,” Clark replied.

“Yeah,” she said, a touch of wistfulness in her tone. “Anyway, that’s why I missed dinner. I get kind of moody this time of year, and I didn’t want to bring you all down too. Just thought it’d be best to be alone.”

“I can leave if you want?” Clark offered.

She shook her head. “No, you can stay.”

He moved closer, dropping his hand, and Lois kind of hated herself for missing the touch almost immediately.

“Just because you think you should be alone doesn’t mean you have to be or even want to be, from what it sounds like,” Clark said. “You don’t have to protect us from you.” Offering a teasing smile, he added, “We can handle a little grumpy Lois. I have seen you in the morning before you’ve had your coffee after all.”

Suddenly feeling self conscious, she just shrugged. “I mean, it’s not been that long since …” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. “Well, the point is you are both going through your own stuff. Doesn’t seem fair to burden you with something that happened a long time ago. I’m not that selfish.”

Clark frowned. “Lois, I would call you a lot of things, but selfish isn’t one of them.” His face relaxed for a moment. “Well, when you’re not using up all the hot water anyway.”

She let out a small laugh, and watched as he grew serious once more.

“Look,” Clark said, taking a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. “I miss my dad. I’m always going to miss my dad, five months from now or even five years. I would hate it if I was told I can’t be sad about it, just because it’s not as recent as someone else’s loss. I’d never do that to you, and mom wouldn’t either.”

“He was a good man,” she said quietly.

“And I’m sure your mom was a good person too,” Clark replied sincerely.

Lois felt her throat tightened, grateful for Clark’s kindness, which she had witnessed first hand more times than she could count. He was a little weird sometimes, and could drive her crazy on any given day, but overall he was a good man too.

“She was,” she confirmed finally, unable to stop the tears from springing to her eyes. “I miss her.”

To her surprise, Clark didn’t say anything, just pulled her in his arms, and she felt herself sink into his embrace, the tears that she had been holding back falling down, finally letting her grief and disappointment go.

Clark didn’t judge her, just stroked her back, until she sniffed and slowly pulled away.

“Are you okay?” he wanted to know, and she nodded, wiping her eyes.

“Looks like you went from delivery boy to glorified tissue,” she said, gesturing to his shirt.

“Told you- I have layers,” he claimed, looking down at the wet spot. “And I have other shirts.”

“Yeah, do you buy those in bulk or something?” Lois asked, doing her best to pull herself together once more.

“No comment.” He raised an eyebrow. “There are a few flannel ones that have suspiciously gone missing though since you moved out. Know anything about that?”

“Nope,” she said, giving him her best innocent look, leaning over to lightly punch him in the arm. “Besides, finders keepers, losers weepers, Smallville.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Clark said, but he was smiling. “Did you want to stay out here?”

“Nah,” she decided. “I think I’m done now. I wouldn’t want you to get too cold.” She started heading toward the door, and Clark followed her.

“You’re all heart,” he remarked, as they headed inside, and back to her apartment. Once they were inside, she set the necklace down on a coffee table, and the food on top of the counter.

Turning back to Clark, she asked, “Do you have to head out?”

“If you want me to go, I can, but I can also stay,” Clark replied.

“I was just planning on watching a movie,” she said nonchalantly.

“Something with sharks or lots of blood and gore?” he questioned, amused.

“I’ll have you know I was watching Star Trek earlier,” she proclaimed, and then wrinkled her nose at the admission. He always got more information out of her than she was comfortable with.

“I wouldn’t have guessed you were a Trekkie,” Clark commented, raising an eyebrow.

“My mom was a fan” she admitted, taking a seat on the couch. “She liked the idea of there being life in outer space, and that there could be peace between humans and aliens.”

His expression turned unreadable, and she wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. “Oh yeah?” he said.

“Yeah, I never quite knew if she was serious or not,” Lois explained.

“What about the rest of your family?” Clark asked, taking a seat next to her.

“Who knows what Lucy thinks?” Lois sighed. “Don’t even ask the General about this stuff though. One mention of Area 51 or aliens and you can get that vein in his forehead to show up in five seconds flat.”

“What do you think?” Clark asked, and Lois wondered why he cared so much. His expression was serious, almost as if her answer meant something more, which was obviously ridiculous. He was probably just trying to distract her.

“Once upon a time, I would’ve said it’s nonsense,” Lois responded. “Now- who knows?” If he was going to be patient with her, she might’ve well give him a real answer instead of a sarcastic remark.

“Not afraid of being kidnapped in the middle of a corn field?” Clark joked. “Have your brain probed?”

“Nah,” Lois said dismissively. “Besides, humans can be pretty awful. Who says the aliens will be bad guys bent up on taking over Earth? Maybe they just might be looking for a home … somewhere to belong.”

Clark was silent long enough for Lois to look up, worry running through her veins, and his expression was filled with something, if she didn’t know better, was gratitude. It was a look she wouldn’t understand for years. As of right now, she dismissed the idea. After all, she hadn’t said anything for him to feel that way.

“Should I ask you if you’re okay?” Lois quizzed, and he seemed to find himself, and immediately shook his head, expression clearing.

“No, just thinking about how it turns out that I’m not the only one with layers,” Clark responded, with an easy smile.

“What can I say?” she offered. “I like to keep you guessing, Smallville.”

“I take it you haven’t shared those ideas with your dad,” Clark suggested.

Lois snorted. “Are you kidding me? I just mentioned the vein, didn’t it?”

“Have you heard from them-?” Clark trailed off when he saw the look on her face. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said. She picked up the necklace once more, keeping her eyes focused on it. “I never do. I am used to it. I’m better off alone anyway.”

Clark’s hand covered her’s. “You’re not alone.”

“So you keep reminding me,” Lois said. “I’m starting to wonder if I should take it as a threat.”

“Take it any way you want,” Clark responded. “Still won’t stop it from being true.”

“Guess I can deal with that,” she allowed. “So you can stick around then.”

“I’m honored,” Clark said dryly. He pointed at her necklace. “Have you ever worn that?”

“No,” she said. “As you can, it’s kind of broken.”

“Can easily be fixed,” Clark pointed out.

“I’m pretty broken too,” she murmured, without thinking. “Can I be fixed?”

“I don’t think you need to be,” came Clark’s response, and that was when, much to her horror, she realized she said that out loud.

“Oh, please, like you wouldn't make a few changes,” Lois said, as dismissive as she could, hoping she kept her feeling off her face for once.

“Nah, I think I like you as you are,” Clark insisted.

“Even when I bully you and steal your shirts?” she challenged.

“Yeah, even then,” he replied, eyes twinkling. “Besides, I’m flattered. Clearly I have better fashion sense than you will admit.”

“Whatever, they’re just comfortable,” Lois said, infusing some haughtiness in her tone. “Don’t get a big head over it.”

“No promises,” Clark retorted. Softening his voice, he added, “We’re all a little broken, Lois. Doesn’t mean we need to be fixed.”

She cleared her throat. “Whatever, Smallville.” Leaning over she punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t go getting all sappy on me.”

He let out a laugh. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Popping up from the sofa, she said, “Want to watch that movie now? I am suddenly in the mood to see something with lots of violence.”

He thankfully let her change the subject, even if the transition wasn’t her best work. “Sure.”

“I’ll get the popcorn!” she said, making her way to the kitchen, gathering some snacks and drinks for the two of them while the popcorn bag was in the microwave.

Plopping back down next to Clark, she grinned and he smiled back. He didn’t even complain when she popped in The Amityville Horror dvd that she had rented recently, the two of sitting in mostly a comfortable silence as the movie played.

At one point, she leaned close and told him softly, “Thanks, Clark.”

“Any time, Lois,” he replied kindly.

He stuck around for a second movie, but she fell asleep halfway through, only to wake up in the middle of the night to an empty apartment, a pillow under her head and covered by blanket. Clearly Clark had some of those caretaker instincts, and she really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

She fell asleep again, with a smile on her face, feeling better than she had in awhile.

And two days later, she would walk into her apartment to see her broken locket on the table, suddenly fixed, still with its original chain, just shinier and no longer with cracks. The fact Clark would go through those efforts for her left her more than a little overwhelmed.

How he got in and out of her apartment that easily, she didn’t want to know, but she was grateful and didn’t ask.

And she’d wear it to see the Kents the following day.

“That’s a nice necklace,” Martha commented, as she passed. Clark’s smile seemed to widen upon seeing her with it, and she returned the smile, keeping her gaze on him.

“Thank you.”

He seemed to get the message.

And Lois realized when he said he wasn’t going anywhere, he meant it.

Which he would continue to prove in the years to come, even when she realized he could no longer fit in the friendship box she had put him in. Falling in love and letting him in completely wasn’t easy, but she’d find it was more than worth it.

Clark was there for her for her good days, as well as the bad ones, never forgetting that anniversary, or really any other ones. And when she would wake up in the middle of the night, feeling off, she could just roll over and snuggle closer to Clark, who was always ready with open arms and a heart that she would eventually accept was her’s and only her’s.

Maybe she was broken, maybe they both were a little broken really, but their broken pieces seem to fit together, and he did accept her for everything she was and wasn’t.

And it turned out she wasn’t meant to be alone after all.

[bluebird722]

Happy Birthday, Lian!

Summary: Rewrite of the episode “Home Fires” (but without the “nuclear weapon” subplot). It’s Lian’s birthday and the first without her mother. Come stress with Will as he goes the extra mile to ensure that his daughter has the best birthday party ever!

Rating: K

Characters: Lian Harper, Will Harper, Roy Harper, Artemis Crock, Jim Harper, Raquel Ervin, Amistad Ervin, Donny Allen, Dawn Allen, Iris West-Allen, Traya Sutton, John Smith, Queen Mera, Artur, Lynn Stewart-Pierce, Jennifer Pierce, Anissa Pierce, Lois Lane, Jonathan Kent, Karen Beecher, and a bunch of OCs!

Author’s Note: Happy birthday, @youngjusticeslut! This is for you, based on this (which, I guess, is something I’m responsible for)! I just figured, why the hell not?

Will stared at the date on his calendar, with a giant red star on the particular date. He had been dreading this day for months, but it was finally coming closer: his daughter’s birthday–or, rather, Lian’s first birthday without her mother. 

He closed his eyes and shook his head. No words could describe how he was feeling. Grief? Anger? Worried? What would Lian say, when she realized that Mommy wasn’t coming to her birthday party? Would it be one of those things in the movies, and Jade would show up unexpectedly, like an army parent coming home as a Christmas gift for their children? It wouldn’t happen, and Will knew it, but it helped to imagine it. In the meantime, he had to plan her birthday party, and he wanted everything to go perfectly. This was his daughter, and she deserved to be happy. 

He had seven million things to do to prepare, he knew, and it was more than just finding the cake and buying decorations and planning games and activities; it involved working late every night for a month to be able to afford the type of party he wanted to give her. He knew so much about heroes because he had been exposed to them all of his existence, and he wanted to give her everything hero: Justice League, Marvel heroes, whatever. He didn’t care. He could probably find a sneaky way to get the whole League to attend her party, or he could dress up as a hero of her choice a la that episode of I Love Lucy. 

A small shuffle of footsteps interrupted Will’s train of thought, and he turned around to see his daughter in pink blanket pajamas. “Daddy…”

“Hey Lian.” He stood up and walked over to his daughter, rubbing her eyes and looking sleepy. “Are you all right?”

Lian patted her stomach. “Tummy ache,” she whispered. 

Will gently lifted her up into his arms and carried her to the kitchen for children’s Tylenol and a glass of water, which she finished. Then he carried her back upstairs and sat her onto her bed. “Why are you up so late, Daddy?”

Will stopped himself from lying that he was working on files and shrugged. “I was getting ideas for your birthday, Lian,” he said. “I know it’s your birthday, and you decide what you want, but I was looking up where to get the cake, the decorations…you know.” He ruffled her hair. “I know I’ve been working a lot, but I just want to be able to get you a fun party.” 

“Okay,” Lian nodded. She grabbed her feet and rolled on her back. “I want a Paw Patrol party.”

Paw Patrol. Will’s heart sank. He knew more about heroes than that TV show that he knew Lian enjoyed, but he never really watched it with her. Apparently, she watched it with her friends from daycare or when she was visiting other friends. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do to get a Paw Patrol birthday party for you–”

“Can we invite my friends?” she asked, tilting her head. “Donny, Dawn, Ani, Khary, Greg, Jenny, Artie–”

“Of course,” he said with a stroke of her hair. “But you better get some sleep now so Daddy can start planning.” 

Lian sank her head back into her pillow, her arms around her Wonder Woman plushy. Will stared at her for a long time before he closed the door behind him.

***

The week before, while Lian was at daycare, he and Artemis raided Party City and got all the decorations, cutlery–everything, all themed to Paw Patrol. They picked up “Pin the Helmet on the Dog”, a giant piñata, and a “Birthday Girl” sash that even if Lian didn’t want to wear, they could place it over her chair. 

He called the other parents in the private parent-child circle and told them the situation: Lian was inviting them to her birthday party, but she wanted to invite friends from daycare, and he couldn’t afford to throw two parties even if he wanted to. The daycare didn’t throw birthday parties anymore due to food allergies. Eventually, after a strenuous group text, everyone agreed that the birthday party would count as the playdate for the month, but those with superpowered children had to ensure that their children would be careful not to expose their abilities to daycare tykes.

Lian was aware, though still upset, that “Grandpa Ollie” and “Grandma Dinah” weren’t going to make it, since they had “an important business meeting”, as Ollie put it, but Will didn’t know if he could believe them; they did promise to have a big birthday dinner for her soon. Of course, Grandmommy Paula couldn’t come, but she promised to mail her present as long as Artemis would film Lian opening her gift. Violet, on the other hand, was going to be at a training session with Dick and the others, and she encouraged Artemis to attend the party; she knew that Artemis wanted to be there anyway, and they could train together later. 

***

Will opened the door, relieved that it was his genetic template, holding what had to be the giant cake in both hands. “Come on in, Roy.”

The human barely closed the door with his hip when a little voice came screaming towards him. “UNCLE ROY! ARE YOU COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY TOMORROW?!” 

Roy’s ears began to ring almost immediately, and Will loudly shushed his daughter from the kitchen. Still, Roy looked down at the almond eyes that stared into his with a begging look. “Of course I am, kiddo. I’m helping get everything ready.”

Lian giggled and climbed on Roy like a jungle gym. Will took the cake and carried it into the kitchen while Roy spun Lian in a front flip. “Are you ready for dinner soon, chickpea?” he asked. 

Lian nodded eagerly.

“Good,” said Roy, “because the adults and I are getting your party ready, so you will need to go upstairs soon so it will be a surprise tomorrow.”

“Now?” asked Lian. 

“Not right now,” Will said as he took her from Roy’s arms, “but soon.”

The doorbell rang again, and Will welcomed in his fellow clone, who barely had time to walk through the doorway when Lian threw herself at his leg and held tight as he walked in. Jim grinned, knelt down, and pulled her up for a kiss. 

“Isn’t someone’s birthday coming up?” he playfully asked. 

Lian laughed and kicked midair as he positioned her so he supported her up by her chest and stomach. “Oh, look, you’re Wonder Woman,” he said as he made her “fly” midair. “Wee…”

Lian giggled and waved her arms until he set her down and opened the bag dangling from the crease of his elbow. “What’s in the bag?” she asked. 

Jim accepted the mug of coffee Artemis handed to him and took his time emptying the bag. “Everything for a moon bounce for a special little girl.”

“A moon bounce?!” Lian squawked, her jaw dropping. “I gotta moon bounce?!”

Will’s stomach sank. How many kids were injured by moon bounce-related injuries per year? 

“Yes,” Jim said, “but we’re not going to set it up just yet.”

Lian and the adults gathered around for pizza, which Will had picked up earlier, while she made sure they watched Paw Patrol. Roy was on his phone most of the time, Artemis ate and scratched Brucely’s ears, and only Jim and Will paid attention to what was on TV; every time Jim babysat, he always got super into what TV shows Lian watched since it was perfect uncle-niece bonding, and Will wanted to make sure he understood the characters that his daughter clearly worshipped. 

Eventually, the child went to bed at eight on the dot; Auntie Mouse carried her upstairs and changed her into pajamas while the men went on to decorate. Once Artemis came back down, they blew the balloons, set up the kitchen table with extra folding chairs, and mixed together the punch. Jim went outside and used the light from his phone to read the directions on setting up the moon bounce and how to keep it afloat overnight. Afterwards, the adults were up until midnight making gift bags for the children and going over the schedule, from games to lunch to cake to presents and more games. Since some kids were, as Will assumed, “gender neutral” (Roy had to laugh, since that was so new to him), they had to make sure to mix up the colors so the girls wouldn’t just get pink and the boys blue; some kids got green, some got purple, some others. 

Finally, Roy set down the last bag he was working on and sighed. His back ached from hunching over work for little midgets, and even the fingers on his robotic arm hurt. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going back to the hotel,” he yawned. 

“Me too,” Jim agreed as he rubbed his face. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Will greeted them goodbye as they put on their jackets and contacted an Uber to pick them up. As soon as the car drove away, Will went back to the decorations and kept going, wanting to make sure everything was perfect. He knew how many kids were coming, he didn’t want to be short on a goody bag, he double checked that there was enough food for everyone and that nobody was allergic to anything, and there was enough punch to make more bowls in case they ran out or some kid crashed and made an accident. 

“Will,” Artemis hissed. “Come on, let’s go to sleep.”

“I can’t,” he whispered back. “I have to make sure everything is perfect!”

Artemis bit her lip but smiled anyway. It looked odd. “Will, everything is perfect, I swear–”

“Artemis,” Will interrupted. He stared at the extra gift bag he was making as an emergency. “I have to make sure everything is perfect. I don’t want anything bad to happen. I want it to be the best I can give my daughter…because her…” His voice trailed off. 

His sister-in-law also looked uncomfortable when she clearly thought about her sister, who was surely not going to see her own daughter. Would it make up to Lian, to have a perfect party that her mother would not attend? Would everything Paw Patrol distract her from the pain of an absent parent? What if Lian still declared the party ruined because Mommy did not show up? Artemis rubbed her face and thought bitterly of her birthdays growing up, how even her assassin mother made time to host a small party and invite all her school friends, but Dad did nothing when his wife was behind bars. Lian didn’t deserve to have anything less than that, and for a moment Artemis wanted to hate her sister for making no indication that she was going to celebrate her daughter’s life.

“Listen, Will,” she sighed as she put her hands on his arms. “Everything will be fine, I promise. If anything goes wrong, I’m still there. So will Roy and Jim. You are not alone. Will, look at me.”

Will closed his eyes but reluctantly obeyed. Artemis smiled weakly. “I know what bothers you, and I appreciate that you’re doing this to give Lian the best birthday you can, but if you keep doing this, you’ll agitate yourself more. You’ll end up ruining the party for her if you don’t get any sleep or you strive to make everything too perfect.”

Will took a deep breath but nodded. “Come on,” she encouraged him. “Let’s get ready for tomorrow.” 

Artemis led her brother-in-law upstairs, and he was quick to brush his teeth and change into sleepwear. Still, he wasted two hours on his phone looking up nothing of particular interest until he yawned and decided that it was time to go to bed. 

Will did not remember falling asleep; he woke up promptly at six on the dot as though someone poured cold water over his face. He yawned, stretched his arms, and hurried down the stairs into the kitchen to make his daughter the best birthday breakfast ever. 

Not cereal today, he thought as he checked the cabinets. I don’t want to take her out to eat… French Toast? Maybe pancakes. 

Will wasn’t a terrible cook, but he was never one to perfect making his own pasta sauce; the one time he tried, Jade could not stop making faces and licking her teeth because it clearly tasted bad. Sighing, he pulled out his phone and looked up recipes.

Artemis walked into the kitchen with the birthday girl in her arms and was surprised to see the kitchen as though she walked into the set of a cooking show. Will was chopping strawberries at the counter, with a bowl and whisk beside him. Something heated on the stove, and Artemis tried not to moan because of how good it smelled–like vanilla and cinnamon. 

“Morning, Daddy,” Lian chirped through a yawn. 

Will instantly dropped the knife and quickly smiled. “Happy birthday, Lian,” he said. “Hope you’re hungry.”

“What are you making?” asked his sister-in-law as she set Lian into her big-girl seat. 

Will quickly smoothed the creamy filling between the bread and added strawberries and syrup before he presented the plate to his daughter. “A French Toast sandwich, with strawberries, bananas, and syrup, and chocolate chips,” he said proudly. He watched as Lian’s eyes lit up when she saw her yummy-looking breakfast and he took a deep breath. He wanted her to have the best birthday breakfast he could offer. She grabbed a fork, and Artemis helped her cut her sandwich into small pieces. Will’s heart beat faster, and Lian’s eyes widen. 

“Yummy!” she squealed before she shoved another forkful into her mouth. 

Will laughed, and Artemis gently stopped her from shoving another forkful between her lips and reminded her to chew and swallow first. Relieved, Will poured coffee for himself and Artemis, and cooked another patch before the party would start.

***

Artemis was outside and setting up decorations and party bags when the doorbell first rang. Lian was watching TV with her father, but Will was quick to walk up to the front door. All of a sudden, his anxiety came back. What if everyone else who came hated the party? What if this was the only kid who came to the party? Swallowing, Will peered through the peephole but opened the door with a smile. 

“Hello, Will. Are we late?”

“Raquel! No. You and Amistad are the first to arrive!”

The young woman clutched her squirming son and grinned. Will smiled at the little boy, clearly looking for his friend. “Come on in. Artemis is out back, but Amistad here can–”

“Ami, Ami!” Lian was at her father’s side within a moment and jumping. Raquel set down her son, and the children embraced.

“Aw,” cooed Raquel. 

“Today is your birthday,” said Amistad as he pet Lian’s hair. 

“Auntie Mouse is outside, and we got a moon bouncy,” Lian squealed. She and Amistad grabbed hands and ran to the backdoor but could not reach the doorknob. Will shook his head and opened the door for them. 

***

Over the next hour, Will did his best to relax. The party was going off rather smoothly. Lian’s friends were there, both from daycare and the parents’ group. Donny and Dawn, who somehow knew not to run around, were laughing and rolling around the lawn with Zehra and Khary. Artur and Traya were having too much fun inside the moon bounce with Greg and Brandon. Many of the daycare moms were still starstruck to meet Iris—the GBS reporter! Lian’s daddy knew a news reporter from the second biggest national news station, after GMA!—and Artemis, who had dropped off Brucely at the Watchtower for the day, was happy to photograph as many things as possible.

“It’s hard getting my kids out of the house sometimes,” sighed Nicole as Lian tried doing a cartwheel while Dawn and Zehra cheered her on. “What’s your secret?”

Will swallowed, at loss for words. “Uh, well, when you’ve lived with a millionaire most of your life, you get to travel a lot, more or less like an army brat, and you make friends with whoever does business with your adoptive dad. So…” He felt so awkward and worried that she could sense it. “I guess it’s…doing something new every day.”

“Ani, Jenny!” Lian and Dawn screamed.

Anissa and Jennifer, each carrying a present, shoved them into Lynn’s arms and bolted for their friends. “Happy birthday, Li!” Jennifer giggled. 

“Lynn, so happy you could come,” Will said as he handed her a cup of punch and offered two more to her daughters. The girls wiped their mouths, thanked their host, and let Lian tug on their hands as she rushed to introduce them to her friends from daycare. 

Will introduced Lynn to all the daycare mothers, who were very nice and alternated between watching the children play and talking to each other. “Wow, your daughter is really a social butterfly,” Masasa commented. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s voted Homecoming Queen in the future!”

Will forced himself to chuckle. He couldn’t imagine Lian at age six just yet, so just the thought of her as a teenager felt weird.

“Everything okay?” Lynn asked in a voice low enough so the daycare moms didn’t hear. 

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I’m not used to playing host, and…I’m worried something might happen.”

Lynn cocked an eyebrow. “Say that again.”

Will gestured for her to follow him as he slowly walked from the daycare moms. At a considerable distance, he took a deep breath. “I get nervous around the women from daycare. It’s not easy being the only dad–well, only really involved dad. I mean, other dads will help with things, pick up their kids and all, but…” Then he swallowed and double checked that nobody was watching. “I’ve heard quite a few women notice that I’m the only one of Lian’s parents to do things, and they’ve said some rather mean things, like her mother is a bad parent for not being with the other moms or…picking up our daughter.”

Lynn’s face made him think that he told her that her brother had just died. “Are you serious?”

Will nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes I have Artemis pick Lian up, just because…it’s kind of hurtful.” When Lynn didn’t say anything, he continued. “That’s why I want this party to be perfect, so these mothers can let the others know that I am a good single father even if I don’t have my wife with me.”

Lynn glanced at the daycare mothers chatting animatedly with Iris, Mera, and Raquel. “Well, I think it’s enough that you have her aunt involved, but…at least you have us. We know you don’t project your daughter’s needs to her aunt. We got your back.”

Will felt completely grateful and nodded. 

***

The doorbell rang shortly after Brandon won Pin the Helmet on the Dog, but some of the kids alternated between running inside and some were already back outdoors. Artemis reassured Will that she would watch over the kids so he could answer the door. 

“Hello, brother.”

Will smiled at his fellow clone, who carried a present wrapped in appropriately themed wrapping paper, but his smile sank when he saw Roy hunched over his phone. “Someone’s not in a party mode?” he asked. 

Jim glanced at their genetic template. “I practically had to drag him from the hotel. I’m starting to think that he may have second thoughts about being caught in a kiddie party.”

“I’m not deaf, you know,” Roy groaned. Jim chuckled. 

“Lian, Uncle Jim and Uncle Roy are here!” Will called out. “Put that down, however you pronounce your name again!”

Jim laughed and elbowed Roy to follow him inside, where Lian ran to them both for hugs and then dashed through the backdoor. He grimaced as he tried to set down his gift somewhere on the mountain of presents without it falling over. Once he was satisfied, he followed Will into the backyard. Some of the mothers he recognized, and the others must have been daycare moms. The only other guy was definitely the human android that Red Tornado set up. Roy walked away, but Jim looked up and saw a very familiar face that he was happy to see. 

“Hey, Karen!”

The expectant woman grinned, and they hugged as tightly but loosely as they could given her condition. “Glad to see you!” He quickly peeked around. “Mal’s getting better, I hope?”

Karen nodded. “Yes, but he encouraged me to come anyway, and I’m going to film Lian opening our present for him. Plus…” She glanced around at the little ones laughing and having fun. “When you’re going to be a member of an exclusive club like this, you don’t turn down the invite for what you’re expecting.“ 

“Absolutely,” he agreed, thinking of his protégé and how excited he was for the couple.

“So, uh…how’s Karen?” she asked as she cradled her baby bump. 

Jim grinned. “Your, uh, closest ‘geranium’ is doing well, and she hopes you’ll come back and visit soon.” He liked to see how Karen’s eyes lit up. “They all miss you and can’t wait to hear about your dissertation. Definitely let me know if—”

What cut him off was a squeal of laughter, and Donny and Dawn jogged behind the other kids, waving their arms and making silly noises. Artemis secured a few pictures, but Will could not laugh. He watched his daughter and a friend from daycare attempt to hula hoop, but both failed miserably. Fortunately, Lian just laughed, and so did her friend. He noticed Roy succeed in opening a bottle of water with one hand and offer a kid a juice box.

Then Will looked over his daughter’s head and panicked when he saw Mera put her hand to her son’s forehead. The prince must have dehydrated himself in the moon bounce. Will grabbed a water bottle and hurried over. “Here,” he said. “He looks thirsty.”

“Thank you,” Mera said as she handed her son the bottle and encouraged him to drink. Will checked to make sure nobody was watching, but he was worried. He wanted his daughter’s birthday to be perfect, and that did not include a child passing out, especially an Atlantean. 

When Artur took deep breaths, Will fanned him as best as he could. “If you want, the bathtub is upstairs if he needs a good soak.”

“Thank you, Will,” Mera said, “but I think he’s good for now.”

“You sure?” Will asked the prince. Artur hesitated but nodded. Will sighed in relief and chuckled when he saw some of the day care moms—Denise and Nicole—standing close to Jim, who looked amused and uncomfortable. Nicole, with the black hair, nodded to what he was saying and brushed something off his shoulder. 

***

“Lois! I’m so glad you and Jonathan could make it!” the host greeted the last guest before he welcomed the two inside.

“Thank you for inviting us,” Lois said. “I mean, I know he’s a little young for birthday parties, but it means a lot that you welcome us here.”

“Of course.” Will led mother and child to the backyard and ruffled the baby’s hair. “My daughter enjoys playing with your son, and she wanted him to come.” Then he clapped his hands and put on his best host smile. “All right, everyone, who’s ready for the piñata?”

Even little Jonathan bounced in his mother’s arms as he watched the children line up. Artemis took a picture of her niece clutching the Sky piñata before Jim hung it over a tree branch and Roy tied a bandana over Lian’s eyes. He handed her a wooden baseball bat. 

“Hey, no fair!” Jennifer whined. She pointed to the older kids behind her. “They’re bigger than we are, they’ll hit it better!” Then came a little chorus of protests, and Will panicked. He tried to read his daughter’s face, but it was hard given the blindfold.

“Not quite, kiddo,” Jim said with a smile. “Who says that I can’t lift”—he tugged on the rope so the piñata went up a few inches higher—“for the taller ones?”

“Damn, he’s so hot,” Will heard Kath mutter to herself or the other mothers. He tried not to chuckle, even though he knew that if Jim found out, he would have turned red. 

It took about half an hour and tiny cheers of encouragement, but at last Sky broke apart when Amistad whacked the side, and a shower of candy poured onto the grass. Children rushed over and grabbed handfuls of Tootsie Rolls, sugar stix, Twix bars, Kit Kats, lollipops, and Twizzlers, which their parents said they would hold onto until after presents. 

“All right, everyone,” Will said after he checked the time, “who’s ready for birthday cake?”

Roy would never admit to anyone that a hoard of tiny legs and bodies nearly trampled him to the ground in a rush into the house, and he was sure that one kid kicked him in the gut, but nobody noticed because everyone in the kitchen impatiently watched as Will removed the cake from the refrigerator. 

Will set down the giant Paw Patrol cake in front of his daughter, with the 3 candle lit and dancing. It was 4:16—the exact same time that Lian was born, after her mother was in labor for sixteen hours. The birthday girl and her friends bounced in their seats as Will and Lian posed for her aunt. Then Will let her take a picture of all the guests before he said, “All right, everyone sing…”

“Happy birthday to you…”

Lian blew out the candle, and her friends, their mothers, her father, her aunt, and her uncles clapped and cheered. Then Will slowly cut the cake into equal wedges and set them on tiny Paw Patrol paper plates for the children. (He then worried that someone would notice that he gave Donny and Dawn slightly bigger slices and regretted not ordering a stack of cupcakes for everyone so the twins wouldn’t detect if they were eating something sugar-free).

Lian, for no reason, ended up shoving her slice of cake in Roy’s face. Her friends burst into laughter, while their mothers blushed. Jim chuckled, but then he felt a stranger caress his arm and then his back a little too much for his liking. Will, for once, stopped worrying and started laughing. His daughter was happy. She was making other children laugh. 

Roy, who thought that Lian had wanted to whisper something in his ear, stared as cake fell from his face and onto the table. Lian giggled and licked her fingers. He shrugged and ruffled her hair. Little goofball—he couldn’t get mad at her. Then he searched for a napkin, but his eyes instead hit Artemis holding a camera, pointing in his direction, clicking more than once. The humiliation came back in a fresh wave. He needed to break that camera apart and burn it. He could not let anyone else see evidence that a three-year-old “caked” him like a newly married couple to each other. 

“Jennifer, no!” Lynn warned as she grabbed her daughter’s wrist before she could shove her own slice into her sister’s face. Anissa either didn’t care or was laughing too hard to notice. Will grinned as everyone ate and Jonathan smashed his fist into his own slice, and then he, Artemis, and Jim carried the presents and set them on the table where the cake had been.

At Auntie Mouse’s request, Lian had to open Grandmommy Paula’s gift first, though everything was filmed anyway. Paula gave her granddaughter two dolls that she had since she was a girl, a black dress, and a storybook in Vietnamese. Although Lian was not learning to speak Vietnamese fluently, she was able to read and understand some vocabulary. Will helped his daughter read aloud the letter his mother-in-law wrote, Lian in love with her grandmother’s handwriting. Artemis couldn’t help but feel like crying because Paula said the best words to her little sunshine. 

Artur gave her a pink conch and told her to hold it to her ear so she could hear the ocean. Lian nearly squealed because it sounded so real, but not even the little prince could explain why it could do that. Jennifer gave her a Justice League coloring book that featured nearly every hero in its history (Lian knew better than to point out that she found her own daddy in the book) and a stack of crayons, Anissa bought with her own money Green Arrow and Black Canary plushies for Lian’s collection, while Amistad’s gift was a kiddie bow and arrow set with suction cups, and Traya’s a kid-friendly book on different religions. Jonathan’s parents gave her a Superman teddy from Build-a-Bear, Donny and Dawn a picture album of their adventures to the beach and the zoo, and Zehra two stuffed cats. Khary gave her a collection of Peppa Pig plushies, Greg a candy-making kit, and Brandon the same set of Paw Patrol rain boots that he had so they could be "twins” for the daycare’s upcoming trip to an apple orchard.

Roy gave her the Brave read-along book, Artemis a collection of clothes, and Jim a suitcase with wheels to carry books, clothes, and toys for when she came to visit him, her name embroidered in sapphire blue. All three of them also gave her cards declaring their absolute love for the niece they shared and how she lit up their lives.

After Lian opened a bumblebee pillow pet from Mal and Karen, Will handed her his present. She pulled apart the wrapping paper to the solar system set that she wanted for a long time and a framed poem of a father’s love and wishes for his daughter. Everyone, even Roy and Jim, started tearing up as Will coached his daughter into reading it out loud. He promised to hang it over her bed after the party. 

Afterwards, the party spent the afternoon in the living room. The TV played Paw Patrol, but the children alternated between watching and engaging in other activities. Lian and Jennifer made buzzing noises to Jonathan using the bumblebee pillow pet. Artur, Traya, Anissa, and Dawn gathered at the coffee table while Jim entertained them with card tricks, and Masasa gave him coffee and a wink. Roy feigned interest as Donny, Greg, and Zehra sang along to whatever was on TV again and bounced on his lap and the couch. Amistad, Brandon, and Khary played Justice League while Raquel, Mera, Iris, and Karen got to know Nicole, Kath, Denise, and Grey. Will talked mostly to John and watched as Artemis made sure to snap pictures of everything. 

Slowly, beginning at six, the guests began to leave. Jennifer and Donny whined and complained as their respective mothers escorted them out, but they were excited to go home and open their party bags. Although the parents helped Will clean up as much as they could, only John, Roy, Mera, and Jim stayed. By the time Mera and John left, with Traya and the prince behind them, Will thought he was going to cry in relief. It was hard playing host and keeping an eye out on little bodies. Roy ordered a pizza for the remaining four adults to share as they finished the ice cream, and Will began washing the dishes. 

“Did you have fun, baby girl?” Artemis called out. A yawn was her response. Artemis chuckled and walked into the living room to sit beside her exhausted niece, rubbing her eyes and struggling to hold up her head. “Ready for bed? You must be sleepy.”

“No,” she sighed. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” 

Lian nodded but yawned again. Artemis smiled and prepared to slide her hands under her niece’s body, but Lian made a noise of protest. “No, I want Daddy.”

“Is everything okay, Li?” Will asked as he stepped out of the kitchen.

Lian nodded and held out her arms. “Daddy put me to bed.” 

Will smiled and picked her up. Her head immediately landed on his shoulder. “Oh, my little girl’s exhausted,” he said. “Did you have fun today?”

Lian nodded as he carried her into the kitchen so Jim and Roy could hug her goodnight before she went to bed. “I did,” she whispered.

Will gave Lian a quick bath and had to keep his hand on her back to keep her from falling asleep in the tub, and brushed her teeth for her while she struggled to keep her mouth wide open. Lian sleepily wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his collarbone as he helped her into her pajamas. Will laid her onto the mattress, but before he pulled the covers to her chest, Lian threw her arms around him again. “Thank you, Daddy,” she yawned. “It was the best birthday ever.”