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serpentinesarang · 4 years

Text

falling for you

pairing: baekhyun (byun baekhyun) x fem reader | part 2

genre: non-idol!au, angel!baekhyun, fluff, slow burn, split-perspective, first- and second-person writing styles, LOTS of plot buildup and dialogue, mild smut mixed in, part of a series

word count: 3831

content warnings: alcohol, swearing, theme of angels, virgin reader, strong theme of voyeurism, reader has gender-neutral best friend, vibrator masturbation

summary: baekhyun, your guardian angel watching over since the day you were conceived, has fallen in love with you and can’t bear to just watch you anymore. he needs so much more.

a/n: partly inspired by the teen romance-fantasy series hush, hush by becca fitzpatrick. #17 on my prompt list ♡

korean key:

⦿ none this time

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

You

It’s your 21st birthday, and a beautiful, late-spring day awaits you. You turn off your alarm, roll out of bed, and drag yourself to the bathroom for a much-needed shower.

Once you flick on the vanity lights above the sink, you stop in your tracks. You know what... today’s my big day. I’m gonna do shit MY way today, you think while eyeing yourself in the mirror.

You exit the bathroom for a moment and retrieve the unopened bottle of Fireball [American cinnamon whiskey] atop your dresser. Your dad had sent you the bottle along with your favorite brand of chocolate and a sweet card, and you’d accidentally received the package one day early (oh well!). Unscrewing the cap, you take a hearty gulp and wince at the delicious burning sensation in your chest.

“Fuck yeah,” you grumble aloud as you replace the bottle and amble back to the bathroom.

You turn the knobs of your glass-encased shower and strip off your pajamas while the water heats up.

Baekhyun

Good gracious. I will never tire of her waking up and taking morning showers. She looks the most ethereal after she sleeps and the most serene with water cascading down every bit of her curvaceous body. The way her nipples grow erect from the pressure of the water and the occasional chills when she reaches out to change the background music playing... her hair slicked back, drawing all my attention to her stunning face...

My darling human has at last become what they call an adult. She is now able to legally enjoy spirits and be merry with friends.

I remember the moment she was conceived and I was assigned as her guardian. I made sure her mother was never in harm’s way during her pregnancy with my darling, and ever since then, she has been my reason for existence. No other human soul before her had ever latched itself so deeply into my being, and I can’t stand the distance anymore.

I sit on her long bathroom counter with my wings comforting my back against the wall and my legs hitched upward, just watching her wake up to another day. The glass walls of the shower have fogged up, but I can easily discern her silhouette swaying side-to-side with the music. She seems to be in an unusually happy mood today, and I plan to make her even happier tonight.

You

You step out and dry yourself off, twisting your hair into a towel turban. You tiptoe in front of the mirror and wipe off the condensation with your forearm. Just then, your cell phone on the counter launches into a FaceTime call, the screen showing your best friend’s name.

Accepting the call audio-only, you greet them cheerily, “Good morning, sexy bitch!”

They chuckle. “Show me your face, coward! I wanna see what my 21-year-old best friend looks like on her birthday!”

You dramatically sigh and oblige your friend, keeping your phone facing the ceiling as you tap your camera on. You tower over the screen at a comical angle that only shows your towel-wrapped head and exposed neck. “Here she is!”

“A knockout as always. I hope you know that,” they reply.

Smiling, you ask, “What’s up?”

“We still good to go out to Fire & Ice tonight? I’m not gonna let you leave until you’re so sloshed that I have to carry you out!”

You laugh at your friend’s excitement. “Yes, I took the whole weekend off, so let the debauchery begin, my friend.”

You talk about your club plans a little more before your friend goes on a long diatribe about their evil stepmother—not really fresh territory at this point. So you carry your phone around while you dress in jeans and a college t-shirt, eventually returning to the bathroom for a quick round of makeup.

Your bestie is still regaling you with their convoluted family drama when you feel yourself zoning out into the mirror. It’s as if all other noises around you have slowly faded away, and the only thing you hear is a voice, seemingly right next to you, whispering with a velvety softness, “You’re beautiful as you are.”

Mesmerized by the voice, you unconsciously sigh out of deep contentedness, and your friend asks if you’re still keeping up. You assure them all is well, except for the fact that you’ve been hearing a comforting voice for the past three years now.

A voice you obey by only putting on mascara.

Baekhyun

I’ve been speaking to her since she turned 18. I always wanted her to know she’s never truly alone, but the problem with my method is that she never fully processes me. She’s always so captivated when I speak to her that it never occurs to her something extraordinary—someone extraordinary—is connecting with her, guiding her, encouraging her. And it doesn’t help that I can’t read her thoughts or impede her free will by planting thoughts. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the wide-looked look of bliss that overcomes her every time she hears me.

She goes about her morning as she usually does on the weekends: sitting on her balcony with a plate of toast, a cup of coffee, and whichever book she borrowed from the public library. This time, it’s Dante’s Divine Comedy.

I love the irony.

You

Two hours of reading pass before you grow restless and retreat back to your room. Flopping in bed, you let your mind wander. You’ve been single for as long as you can remember, and you’ve taken a liking to the clearly male voice you hear every once in a while. If you’re honest with yourself, you’re scared deep down of the reality of such a circumstance, but because the voice has always cared about you, what’s the harm in believing in it?

Remember, you tell yourself, it’s all about you today.

Without any more hesitation, you yank open the drawer of your nightstand and pull out a black wand vibrator. You may be a virgin, but you’re not an idiot who doesn’t know what pleasure is.

Wiggling out of your panties and jeans, you throw them to the floor and spread your legs across the mattress as comfortably as possible.

“Come back to me,” you whisper almost inaudibly.

Baekhyun

Absolutely nothing else on this planet makes me happier than watching my darling pleasure herself. She obtained that vibrating device last year as a gift from her friend, and ever since she discovered this realm of physical pleasure, I’ve fallen harder and faster for her. The salacious things I’ve watched her do to herself, the phenomenal sounds she emits, the positions she lazes into, the glistening of that little slice of heaven on her body... It drives me mad that I have no senses of smell, taste, and touch because I want to experience what she does. And with her.

Today is different. She’s never spoken aloud like that, and the yearning in her voice makes me believe it’s for me.

I rest on my stomach with my chin atop my hands, peering at the slit between her supple legs and how it’s slowly begun to flood as she drags the device up and down, stopping to rub slow circles at the very top. I don’t hear the thing humming, so she must be preparing herself.

She has one arm bent behind her head, her neck angled to watch herself move the device. Her mouth is ajar, and the rising of her chest fascinates me because it falls in tune with the device.

Then she pushes a button, and I hear it buzzing lowly. Not a millisecond later does her breath catch as her hips dig downward, and she closes her eyes. She holds the black thing at the top, over the little mountain of bulbous, pink flesh.

You

Whoever he is, you wish he’d speak to you now as you press the wand against your hardened clit. It’s only set to level one, but you feel your orgasm beginning to build up.

So beautiful like this, you imagine him saying. Keep going. I’m right here, and you’re driving me crazy...

You let out a breathy moan as you activate the wand’s level two vibration intensity, and your thighs shake uncontrollably at the heightened pleasure.

Shake for me, beautiful. Take me to your heaven, your imagination continues. It’s right then, though, that his voice sounds beside your ear for real in a soft tone: Yes, darling, you did it.

After hearing this voice long enough to be able to conjure it in your mind with any array of sinful words, today is the first time it brings you to a time-stopping orgasm.

Baekhyun

Out of nowhere, her hips fly off the bed and surge in random, up and down motions, and I watch the small opening of her slit pulsate in time with her hips as it erupts with a lovely, transluscent essence. I wish I could feel her arousal on my fingertips instead of just watching.

Her voice comes out in broken utterances and ragged moans: “UH-uh-huhhh-ugghhhh... ffffff-UH-uh-uuuck.”

The vibration ceases, and she tosses the device beside her with a heavy exhale, evidently spent. Her legs are still spread, and I can’t help but inch myself closer to observe the way her soaked flesh speaks to me in its language of spontaneous throbbing.

You

The rest of the day passes you by. After you came, you made lunch, went to the gym for a workout, went to the DMV to change your driver’s license, came home and read some more, answered a few work emails, perused social media, ate dinner, and even watched a movie. A typical Saturday for you, nothing particularly special by any means. The real fun would be at 9 PM when your bestie promised to pick you up.

...

You glance at the time on your phone: 8:56 PM. Perfect, a few more minutes to double-check everything.

Phone case on a crossbody chain with your new license and credit card stored inside? Check. House key attached to the chain on a carabiner clip? Check. Hair flat-ironed with minimal frizz and ultimate shine? Check. Makeup? Eh, all you did was pat on some cheekbone highlighter. Check. Outfit? Sleeveless, burgundy top with an open, laced up backside, faux leather miniskirt, and basic black Converse for comfort. Check.

You smile at yourself in the full-body mirror in your apartment’s foyer. “Effortless.”

Yes, the voice agrees.

...

It’s just after 9:15 when you arrive at the Fire & Ice club downtown. The bouncers stamp both of your left hands with purple stars for the bartenders to serve you the goods before you’re pushed along with the crowd further into the expansive club.

Lights of every color strobe all over with red-tinged string lights on the perimeter of the whole place, and a massive blue-tinged spotlight on the DJ and his setup. The dancefloor in the middle is decently crowded with people around your age, a few 40-something couples sticking out adorably.

“No chasers for you, missy,” your friend reminds you with glittering eyes and a loving squeeze on your upper arm.

You nod, feeling thrilled to be out on the town for once. You raise your index finger to the ceiling with a victory screech: “To the bar!”

Over an hour later, the overhead lights go out, the DJ’s spotlight turns red, and the entire bar gets lit up from the see-through floor with bright, pale-blue lights. Even though you’re definitely tipsy now, you finally notice the mirrored wall panels surrounding the club, and all the spotlights bouncing off of them combined with the bar’s own futuristic lighting makes you realize how truly fire and ice this place is.

Not surprisingly, your friend had slid into their drunk phase a little faster than you, and they’d disappared somewhere with a girl they’d met at the bar. They’d sent you a text 20 minutes ago reading, “Met a spicy lil thang at the bar. I’ll find u later! Keep ordering!!!”

Were you bothered? Nah, you really weren’t. This has happened a few times before elsewhere, and you were still intent on enjoying this day your way, even if that meant dancing like an idiot by yourself.

Were you wondering where the voice was? Yes. He hadn’t spoken to you since you got picked up.

Gulping down the rest of your Captain and Coke, you return the glass to the bar and catch somebody to order a Vegas Bomb shot. Feeling yourself finally dipping into your drunk mode, you down the shot with ease, not so much as wincing at the burn of the alcohol before heading straight back to the center of the dancefloor where a group of girls had left a pocket for you to slip in.

The DJ blends the ending of the current song with the beginning of a new one, “All That” by Emotional Oranges, and the vibes you get from this one are sensual. You’re in your own world of alcoholic delight, and you’re erotically body-rolling with yourself before you feel a pair of hands gently grasp your waist.

You feel the person press their chest against your shoulders, their breath icy cold beside your ear. “Effortless, my darling.”

Every fiber of your being comes to a screetching halt when you hear it.

It’s him.

You spin around—a little too quickly considering your current state—and brace your hands against his chest. He responds by wrapping his arms around your back.

Looking back at you with big, almost black-colored eyes is a man with platinum blonde hair and ridiculously full lips. He’s wearing a white button-up shirt tucked into black pants, a look more fitting for a business-casual luncheon or something.

But who cares about the clothes when he has a face like that? With the most flawlessly radiant, olive skin and hands so warm on your exposed back that he feels like a personal heater?

You could feel the surrounding people’s presence melting away the longer you gazed at him, the more it dawned on you with a certainty you didn’t dare doubt that this was truly the voice you’d been hearing.

You blurt the words without any more hesitation: “Say ‘beautiful.’”

Unphased, he fulfills your request with a melodic purposefulness in his voice, keeping his eyes trained on yours.

With relief washing over you, you drop your jaw in a loud exhale. “It’s you!” You bring your hands up to cup his cheeks, desperate to etch his breathtaking face onto your brain.

“It’s me,” he answers with a sheepish smile, hugging your body tighter against his. He feels as firm as Michelangelo’s David sculpture.

Then you faint in his arms.

Baekhyun

I can’t tell if she fainted from the shock of finally meeting me or from her obvious imbibement. I was actually able to smell it on her warm breath, and if I knew what literally anything on Earth smelled like, I’d be able to describe it.

I was more beside myself being able to finally touch her, though, to finally exist with her in the same dimension of reality. Her skin felt supremely smooth, and I could practically feel the love beaming from her face.

She knew it was me because she asked me to say beautiful, something I’d spoken to her earlier in the morning. She didn’t want to test me, but she also didn’t want to test her sanity or sobriety.

I carried her home, glancing down at her with a kind of all-encompassing happiness I’d never felt before as an angel.

You

At last, you rouse from your fainting spell, and the first thing you see is your apartment ceiling. A dull headache is knocking at the back of your head, and thankfully the only light source is the lamp on your nightstand.

You look to your side and are reminded of the night’s events.

“I’m sorryyy,” you murmur, frowning cutely at the platinum-haired man lying beside you with his head propped up in his hand. He moves his free hand from your hip to your jaw, tenderly grasping it and swiping his thumb side to side.

“Please don’t be,” he replies softly. “I’d do anything for you.”

You look at him for a moment, examining his features. “Do you know my name?”

He grins ear to ear, as if enjoying a private joke. “I think you know I do.”

Although you’d slept off the alcohol, you’re still a little lost. How do you explain meeting the man whose voice you’d heard in your head for three years?

You turn to face him, entwining your lower legs with his under the sheets. He seems almost caught off guard by the touch, but he quickly calms himself.

“I don’t know yours, though. Please help me,” you plead, and he picks up on your subtle allusion to the bigger picture, not just his name.

He sighs quietly, ceasing his thumb strokes and taking your hand in his. “I am—was the angel Baekhyun.” He pauses, gently squeezing your hand as he brings it to his white shirt. “I’ve watched over you for the past 21 years and nine months.”

He pauses again, letting this sit with you. You take a moment to process before speaking. “Why hadn’t I heard your voice earlier?”

He nods once, taking in a breath. “I didn’t want to scare you in your younger years, nor did I want others to think you’d developed an imaginary friend. And for obvious reasons, you couldn’t see me before I fell.”

Before I fell.

The words run you over like a semi-truck, and Baekhyun sees it on your face. “Yes, darling, I fell to Earth.”

You furrow your brow, caught between confusion and wanting to cry. “Why?” you whisper.

“I broke the law,” he says before kissing your knuckles. “I fell in love with a human.”

You can’t help but stare at him, speechless.

“And I want you to know that every time you ever heard my voice,” he continues, “I was speaking to you and only you when I felt you needed me. Most angels deliberately avoid speaking to their humans and instead conjure some sort of earthly sign for them to stumble across. But I couldn’t do that with you. I watched you become such an incredibly strong, self-sufficient woman that I worried you’d never get anything in return from anyone. I wanted you to know you have never been alone.”

Tears well in your eyes at Baekhyun’s sincerity, and you struggle to find any words to string together.

He kisses your hand again. “Before this, my only senses were hearing and seeing. I don’t think I can take my hands off you now.”

You burst into a toothy smile. “So that means you’ve watched me do literally everything...”

Baekhyun notices the streak of seduction coloring your eyes. Glancing toward your nightstand quickly, he says under his breath, “That thing drives you wild.”

You smirk, pulling your intertwined hands forward so you can kiss his knuckles this time. “Do you know how wild your voice has driven me? Still?”

“I kind of always suspected it,” he admits with a smirk. “Nevertheless, we are together, and I don’t know how to adequately express how deeply happy I am, much less how happy I want to make you.”

Moving your legs from his, you kick back the sheets. He’d left you both fully clothed, that gentleman.

“What time is it?” you say as you twist around to check your phone. Your home screen reads just past 3 AM, and there’s even a new text from your bestie: “Glad u found someone!! Text me tomorrow and happy bday again <3″

You turn back to Baekhyun, propping yourself up on your elbow like him. “You texted my friend?”

He nods earnestly. “I’ve seen you do that enough times to understand the courtesy of letting them know.”

You smile in response, deciding to push his shoulder until he’s lying on his back and you’re straddling him. He responds by placing his warm hands on your hips.

You throw your hair to one side before leaning over him with an outstretched arm. “Baekhyun,” you whisper.

“Yes, my darling?” he hums, his eyes eagerly drinking you in.

“I want you.”

His eyes widen enough for you to notice, and he unknowingly digs his fingers into your sides.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he says above a whisper.

You lean back and unzip your miniskirt, then you tug at your top’s ribboning to undo it enough for you to pull it off. You take in a deep breath as Baekhyun feverishly assesses you, and your nipples grow hard at his unfettered attention.

“Haven’t you seen this enough?” you ask him softly.

He shakes his head. “Never enough. And now I can feel you, smell you, and taste you.”

You carefully stand above him and brace a hand against the wall as you yank the skirt off, one of his hands tenderly holding your ankle. You straddle him again and sit a little bit lower so you can unbutton his shirt, open his pants and pull out the ends of his shirt.

Spreading the shirt fully open, his chiseled torso knocks the breath out of you. You bring your hands to his abs but hesitate for a second.

“Please keep going,” he begs quietly.

With his approval, you bring your hands down and gingerly run them over the indentations of his abs and the plains of his defined pecs. You trace your index finger from his chin over his Adam’s apple all the way down to his navel.

“Darling?”

“Yes, Baekhyun?”

“What am I feeling in my pelvis? Is something wrong with me?”

You look down and find his very human, very pink, very swollen erection poking out of his underwear. Taking his questions seriously, you answer him: “You have an erection, a boner. That means you’re turned on.”

“’Turned on?’”

“Aroused, excited, in the mood. This is how human men show it,” you reply, keeping your voice sincere. He deserves the truth as it is, not through jokes and teasing. “You’ll have to learn how to control it in public.”

He quickly infers your hidden meaning, nodding. “I trust you.”

Chuckling at his random admission, you say, “I trust you too. I’d like to help you with being a human as you have helped me.”

He beams at you. “I welcome your guidance wholeheartedly.”

You smile and spend the next minute removing your panties and the rest of his clothing.

Baekhyun, in your eyes, is literally the definition of perfection. Covered in bulging muscles and gleaming skin with an unusual heat that almost radiates off his body, you fell speechless again.

You’re on all fours above him now, hovering your face above his. “You make a fine human, Baekhyun.”

“Thank you,” he smiles, his hands back on your hips.

“Stop me whenever,” you say firmly. He nods softly, patiently waiting for your move.

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willow-salix · 4 years

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This little piece came about after a conversation with @myladykayo and a couple of post/prompts.. I'm only going to include one here until everyone has read it otherwise it'll ruin the whole thing.

This is what happens when my two want fluff and a little spicy time together... Let's heat up this Monday morning.

"Rotzlöffel!"

Selene paused, the wagging finger of doom pointing right at his chest. "What did you just call- don't yell at me in languages I don't understand!"

"Well don't be one then!"

"Don't be a what? What did you just call me?" her eyes narrowed dangerously.

He had two choices, stand his ground or retreat and try to make things better, but if there was one thing he'd learned from spending almost two years of his life with a mad witch, it was to never back down.

He squared his shoulders, looked her dead in the eye and answered her honestly. "A snot spoon."

She blinked. "A what now?"

"It's loosely translated…" he waved his hand vaguely.

"And it means?"

"A brat."

"You just called me a brat?"

"Yes."

"Well don't do that!"

"Don't act like one then!"

She bit her lip, trying very hard not to laugh. She failed.

"A snot spoon? Seriously? That's what you came up with?"

"Alan never knew what it meant either."

"You're an idiot."

"An idiot that you love," he shot back, an evil grin beginning to form.

"Urghhh," she stopped pacing and flopped backwards onto the bed. "When did we move from arguments that turn to kissing to arguments that turn into childish insults?"

"Around three table decorations and a cake ago."

She raised a hand. "I would like to put in a formal request to go back to the former, thank you."

John caught hold of her hand, lacing their fingers. "That could be arranged," he squeezed her fingers lightly. "But, you did just call me an idiot."

"My idiot," she tugged on his hand, pulling him down on top of her. "So, kisses?"

"Kisses are good."

They both moved closer, moving instinctively from much practice. Their lips met, softly at first, little warm up kisses that were sweet rather than sensual.

Her tongue dabbed softly at his lips, trying to tempt him to open and allow her to deepen their kiss.

She moaned happily, letting her hands get in on the action, one travelling the length of his spine, nails scraping lightly through the fabric of his shirt, the other journeying upwards to tangle in his hair.

Their kiss deepened, lazy kisses, taking their time, just enjoying a rare moment to be alone together. Selene could feel her heart speeding up and her breath becoming a little ragged as the fluttering butterflies of arousal began to multiply from their ever present "damn my guy's hot" to "gotta have him now."

"Does this mean I'm forgiven for shouting at you in German?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On how else you're going to use those hot language skills of yours." She kissed her way to his jaw.

"Does my lady have any requests?"

"Dealer's choice, I just like listening to you. Surprise me."

"Mm, I'm sure I can come up with something." He turned his head to capture her lips again.

Using her grip on his hair she broke their kiss, stopping to rub her nose against his.

"Talk to me," she pleaded in her most seductive voice and he was powerless to resist.

He broke away to kiss his way down her neck, nipping lightly here and there, nuzzling her soft skin. He worked his way up to her ear as one of her hands found its way under his shirt to stroke bare skin. Well, that wasn't helping, was it? How was he supposed to concentrate while she was doing that?

Her legs lifted, wrapping around his waist to pull him closer so she could feel his hard length through his jeans.

"Tell me what you want," she encouraged, her own lips attacking the side of his neck. That was not playing fair.

Thoroughly enjoying her current mood and in no way wanting to jeopardize that he said the first thing that came to mind although it was cheesy as hell.

"Est-ce que ton père a été un voleur? Parce qu’il a volé les étoiles du ciel pour les mettre dans tes yeux."

She purred a low moan in his ear and he filed that information away for later, how to stop an argument, grab her, kiss her, whisper in french, got it.

"Je te trouve belle."

Her fingers had got to work on the front of his shirt, unbuttoning it quickly, pushing the material off his shoulders.

Huh, they were now at the stripping part of the proceedings, he was down with that. Luckily for him she was wearing one of her black blouses today, this one decorated with a fine covering of silver spider web, not that he was paying much attention to the intricacies of the design right at that moment.

He popped open the first two buttons and lowered his head to kiss a path down her neck, pausing to suck lightly on her collarbone. Her shuddering moan was accompanied by a seductive hip roll that almost made his eyes cross. This wasn't good, she shouldn't have told him to say what he wanted. Quick, he instructed himself, think of something else!

"Mélanger les jaunes d’œufs avec la moutarde, le sel et le poivre dans un saladier."

Her back arched, thrusting her still caged breast closer.

"Ajouter tout doucement et peu à peu l’huile sur le mélange en battant au fouet."

Her fingers played with the shorter hairs on the back of his neck, nails scraping lightly at his skin.

Honestly, when she had started the day with a full list of shit she didn't care about but Grandma insisted was important, she had questioned the wiseness of dragging her Spaceman home. Especially when it had disintegrated into her tossing his carefully crafted list into the trash and refusing to make another decision again. But now that she'd seen how they could resolve an argument she might be tempted to start one daily.

One of the things she loved most about her man was how he could be so incredibly sexy without even knowing it, there was no big headedness from John that would make him insufferably smug like some men she knew.

She loved his voice, it was the first thing she had fallen for, wanting to be closer to him before she had even seen his face and she always found it incredibly hot when he would casually drop into another language like it required no more effort than blinking.

This was doing all kinds of good things to rev her engine and if he wasn't careful she'd be forced to roll him over and have her wicked way with him before he knew what was going on.

"Remplir les avocats avec des crevettes et les recouvrir de sauce cocktail."

She stiffened as the tip of his tongue traced the lacy edge of her bra but she was far too distracted to pay much attention. Had he…

"Dude, did you just say cocktail sauce?" She didn't know much French, in fact she was limited to a couple of cheeses, bread, chicken and French fries, she was very food based, but she had definitely heard that before.

He froze for a second then sighed, his head dropping to bury his face in her neck.

"Sorry."

She didn't know whether she should laugh or cry although as usual, laughing won.

She began to giggle, unable to hold it in.

He lifted his head to look at her, completely bemused.

"What the hell were you even saying?"

He shifted uncomfortably, both from the sudden shift in position as well as the metaphorical bucket of cold water that had been dumped on top of them.

"Well, at first I was complimenting your eyes, but then I had to think of something a little less exciting and I skipped breakfast -"

"And lunch knowing you."

"Maybe…"

"And so you were saying…"

"I may have been telling you how to make a shrimp and avocado salad."

To his intense relief her giggles turned into full laughter which he couldn't help but join in with.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight, struggling to breathe but not for the reasons they had first been planning.

"Gods, I love you," she gasped, trying to catch her breath and not crack up laughing again. She kissed his cheek and let go, pushing him gently to the side.

She sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes and buttoned her blouse back up.

"Sorry, that kinda killed the mood," he winced.

"Rubbish, if we can't laugh then there's no hope for us, it's laughter and love that keeps a couple strong and we've got that in abundance."

She held out her hand to him, dragging him to his feet.

"Back to the list?" he sighed.

"Hell no, we're going to the kitchen." She reached out to give his firm abs a loving pat. "I'm gonna fuel my sex machine and then take full advantage of you being home for the rest of the night."

"Sex Machine?" he arched a disbelieving eyebrow as he fastened his shirt.

She shrugged, unrepentant. "Meh, I thought it'd try it, it obviously didn't work." She sighed dramatically. "Most men would be grateful their girl thinks they are a stud."

"Good thing I'm not most men then, because that was a terrible line," he followed her to the door.

"This is coming from the guy that just told my boobs how to cut a cucumber."

#Oh my gods John #I can't even #john tracy #selene tempest #healthy relationships #in love #love #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirdsarego #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds 2015

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mcfanely · 4 years

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The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon

Burdened with the knowledge that a rescue was most likely not on its way, both Zane and Cole change tact. Moving from thinking their stay in the new realm would be temporary, to being fully aware that their stay could last a lot, lot longer.

Chapter 05 - Dear Diary, 2043 words

That realisation had struck hard. Very hard.

Cole hadn't realised how much he'd been relying on their friends coming to rescue them. How the thought of a portal opening up in the sky at any moment, the same one that had spat him and Zane out was actually pushing him on.

That their brothers would come through and they'd have a ticket home.

But they'd realised that wouldn't be happening, that no rescue party was going to be coming for them any time soon, since why would they think that they'd survived a direct hit from Aspheera's staff?

Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Nya, Pixal, Wu.

What reason would they have to think that he and Zane were alive?

Cole couldn't imagine what they were going through at that very moment. They'd won the battle, the war. They'd vanquished evil, but they'd be entirely sure that it was at the cost of two friends, two brothers. A chunk of their makeshift family gone in one fell swoop. Or maybe he could in a way, with losing Zane during the battle with the Overlord. But again, and two of them?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ponder on what they might or might not be going through.

Still, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Their circumstances had changed in an instant and they both knew it. They'd gone from the mindset of they had to wait, endure an unknown period of time between them arriving in the realm and them being saved by their brothers.

To being aware that they might not be coming at all. Endurance became surviving. It became the task of getting the mech working if only for the heat it could provide, the shelter or the aid it could give with going outside the cave and braving the elements. It became knowing that when exhaustion finally overtook them both at night, they'd wake up the next day, in the same cave, and repeat the process.

Routine maintained focus.

Routine was finding a source of food, or any food at all. It became firewood and a way to make a fire. They were ninja, they were trained survivalists. They had to be with the amount of times they'd been stranded. Yet, it didn't make the situation feel any less bleak.

They weren't giving up, though. Neither of them would curl up in a ball and let the world take them.

They had to believe that help would come. Be it their brothers, or from a different source.

Both Zane and Cole worked through impossible odds by keeping busy. Productive distractions, as Cole has once dubbed the process. Which was why, after what had felt like a few days, they had a good routine going.

They may have gone to sleep hungry and exhausted that first night, but by the end of the second day and after being blessed with a clear sky, Cole had found a partially frozen-over lake. Both fresh water, and food in the form of fish.

After the fourth day, they were rising with the sun in the morning, both Zane and Cole sparred together before either of them were really fully awake. They'd found wood for a fire, only it was too damp to work with and take a spark, not that they’d been able to suitably produce one.

The cave and it's shelter was probably the only reason Cole hadn't frozen to death, but they needed to amend the warmth problem quickly.

On the sixth day-- or the eighth-- Zane removed the screen from the control centre of the mech, and one of the many batteries the machine had in order to get at least something working.

He passed it down to a waiting Cole, who then situated it on the flattest surface they had in their shelter. A large and almost level rock they'd been using as a table. It was now home to an assortment of wires, jumper cables, and now a screen currently without power.

"You want to do what with this thing?" Cole questioned.

"Record a message." came the reply as Zane hopped down the mech, "I thought that we should document our findings, should anyone happen--"

"-- To come across this place and we're not here. That's smart." Cole smiled softly.

He'd been trying to keep himself upbeat over the past few days. One thing that helped was that Zane was in the same mindset. Power forwards, just keep on moving and doing and something good should come out of it.

Only, it felt like the good was still yet to come.

Or maybe the good was that Zane had stopped sparking since they'd spent a bit of time fixing his wiring. Cole wasn't the greatest with electronics, nothing compared to Nya, but he made do. Then the lump on his head had come and gone without much fanfare, so he hadn't been concussed.

They still both wore the stresses of the past couple weeks like a second skin. Their gis were ruined, oil stained and dirt tracked, ripped and frayed in parts. A part of Cole's trousers had electrical burns from stripped wiring, even. They were dishevelled, tired, but alive and keeping it that way.

And the discovery of the damaged processing unit in the mech had been a cause for celebration. They had something to look at, an actual possible reason behind the inhibited function and the fact that it just wasn't working no matter how much tinkering they both did.

It was what he and Zane were going to look at today.

That was the plan, but then they'd gotten sidetracked with removing the screen to document their progress.

Though Cole had to admit, it was a good idea.

He hooked the jumper cables up to the battery, then nearly jumped for joy when the screen flickered to life in front of them. Finally, something was going their way.

"Wow, didn't think I'd be missing technology already." Cole said, a slight smile on his face as he looked at the flickering screen. It was just a mirror image of himself, courtesy of the camera at the top of the console.

Then, Cole just stared. Stared into his own eyes on the screen. How tired he actually looked. The fact that he was in dire need of a shower that wasn't cold lake water, or new clothes that weren't representative of being pulled through a hedge backwards several hundred times over. He tugged lightly at the hem of his gi with a small frown, picking off a loose piece of dirt and flicking it away. As if that made all the difference.

"We both aren't exactly the most well kept individuals." Zane said at his left shoulder, which dragged Cole out of his stupor with a quiet chuckle.

"What gave that away? Was it the fact that I'm using my belt to keep my hair out of my face whilst I work, or the oil you didn't tell me was on my forehead?" He questioned.

"I was more focused on the twig you've had stuck in your hair since we were sparring this morning."

The noise Cole made at that reveal was a mix of an indignant huff and a sound of surprise, which really made for an unusual mix. Then he brought a hand back and started feeling through his hair. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, and the fact that Zane didn't change his expression during that time keyed Cole in on the situation.

"There's no stick, is there?" Cole raised both his eyebrows at his friend in question, and Zane's almost perfect facade broke into a smile. "You absolute-- wow, Zane, and I thought I trusted you." He laughed and lightly punched the nindroid in the shoulder, only to get the action returned to him when he turned his attention back to the screen.

Naturally, the only reaction was to grip his shoulder and give the most affronted ow he could muster.

Zane smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked at the screen too.

"I believe this would help keep up a routine." He said, shifting the subject so he wasn't risking Cole turning and returning the jovial punch a second time. Smart. "At the end of the day, we document what we did."

"Like a diary."

"Of sorts." Zane cleared his throat. "It also helps to keep track of the days here. Especially the ones where it feels like the sky does not open."

Cole just nodded slowly. The days that sometimes were hard to distinguish from the nights. When the snowstorms got so bad that they blocked out the sky, all light and severely inhibited vision. When it was hard to figure out if the day had begun, or if it was still the dead of twilight.

Keeping track of days helped to keep thoughts focused, heads on straight. There was nothing worse than losing track of time. Counting days, it was something to measure.

"I know we're both confused as to how long we've been here. And with my internal clock broken, I'm not able to keep track exactly."

Cole just shook his head and draped an arm over Zane's shoulders, giving him a sideways hug. "We can't do anything about it now. But we can document today, make our first message to an empty realm."

Zane sighed, and leant slightly into the hug, "The point of making a message is the knowledge that someone could see it."

They both looked at the screen.

It was unspoken, but if anyone actually ended up seeing these messages, they knew who they'd want it to be.

Cole blew out a heavy breath and tapped the button in the centre before Zane could tell him not to. The screen flickered once, before a small recording symbol appeared in the top left corner.

"Cole, we haven't even spoken about what we will say." Zane observed, and Cole just nodded.

Though he sort of knew, if he hadn't pressed the record button, they would have been dancing around the idea of recording a message for a while before either one of them plucked up the courage to actually go ahead and do it.

It made everything feel final, like they were accepting their situation for the long run.

Maybe that was what they needed to do?

"I know." He smiled, before turning to the screen and glancing into the camera.

"Hey," Cole said, then just closed his eyes for a moment at how stupid that had sounded.

He should have thought of what he was going to say.

"Uh-- we don't really know if there's anyone else out there. You know, anywhere. But this is a message to document the fact that we're here. Or at least, at the time of this recording, we're here." He paused, then reached over and tugged Zane fully into sight of the camera.

"My name is Cole, and this is Zane." Cole continued, then paused. It was hard to think of what should be said. What could he say? Anything that his mind was providing just felt too morbid, too much like giving up.

If you find this message, we're not here anymore.

We don't know if, by the time you're seeing this, this cave has been empty for a while.

We were counting on a rescue, but we figured out pretty early on that it might not be coming.

"We're strangers in this land." Zane took over when he noticed that Cole was floundering. "And we're trying to find our way home."

Cole just watched, still on the screen, as Zane managed to capture the situation in the best way possible. In the lightest way. Like his words were there to provide hope for whoever might end up viewing this recording, as if their personal efforts to get back home meant that in the future they could be successful.

Even when the odds were stacked against them.

"We've found it hard to keep track of days in this place, it feels like it's been a long time." They shared a glance for a second.

Cole, he was convinced they were on day eight. Zane, his guess was a little more, ten to fifteen days. It didn't narrow anything down.

"-- But we're not giving up hope."

From the beginning

Ch 04 > Ch 05 > Ch 06

AO3

#The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon AU #The Ice Emperor and The Earth Dragon #cole #zane #cole brookstone #zane julien #cole ninjago #zane ninjago #ninjago #lego ninjago #lego #The Ice Emperor #mcfanely writes #mcfanely aus #mcfanely

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mrssfl5509 · 4 years

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This is the story of one of the greatest trails in Chicago Illinois. Three young boys and an obsession with the “perfect crime”. I will be writing and interesting my thoughts and feelings about this story while researching and writing this story. This is not a story I wrote from imagination, this horrific tale is based on a true story beginning when….

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. was born, November 19 1909. He was the son of a wealthy Jewish German immigrant. During his earlier days, Leopold was bullied in school and had a very hard time making friends. However, Leopold had extreme intelligence and sped through school at an expeditious rate, (Yassss, you boys gooo!!!). Due to which gave him quite the ego. He became cocky and felt he could do whatever he pleased because he was smart and wealthy. (not what I meant Leopold).

Unfortunately, it isn’t said if he showed any aggression (I could almost find nothing about Leopold’s behavior as a child) until he was 12 when he was allegedly sexually abused by Governess, mathilda. (ew) Later his family moved to Kenwood, (a suburb in Chicago), where his educational development continued to increase rapidly. By the age of fifteen years old, Leopold was attending the University of Chicago. (Proud). In 1920 while attending college as a law prodigy, he met Richard Albert Loeb. Better known as “Dicky”.

At this point of the research I was stunned! I mean college at 15? That kid is crazy smart. I felt as if Leopold was the victim based on his childhood. I wondered what role Dickie would play.

Richard Albert “Dicky” Loeb was born, June 11 1905. He was the third of four sons of a wealthy Jewish lawyer. (so basically everyone in this story is hella rich.) Loeb was also filled to the brim with knowledge. He skipped several grades through school and began attending the University of Chicago at only 14 years old. (How? All i wanna know is how?) As a child Loeb was fascinated with crime and it is said he showed more sinister sides of himself. He would fantasize about committing crimes and even made a fantasy life as a criminal master. Loebs favorite fantasies consisted of arson and theft.

Okay, but how did no one see these red flags!? At 14!?

In 1921 he transferred to the University of Michigan. With a spotty education track and also suffering from an addiction to alcohol, Loeb became the youngest graduate in the history of the University of Michigan at the age of seventeen.

At this point reading and having to write that made me extremely sad. The boy was doing great and to hear about someone so young having to go through such a rough part of life, it made me feel disappointed and sad for Loeb.

After graduating from Michigan, Loeb returned to Chicago and renewed his friendship with leopold. Leopold and Loeb became even better friends but had a very rocky relationship. Loeppold was said to have contemplated killing loeb for a breach of confidentiality. (Leopold, what? At this point i felt as if leopold was the killer instead of the victim because who is so heartless to seriously think about doing that to someone?.) That was until Leopold became obsessed with Loeb and it was in no way a secret. ( by “obsessed” I mean REALLY OBSESSED). The two quickly became inseparable and had a sexual relationship. Leopold being obsessed with Loeb and Loeb being obsessed with crime it was only a matter of time before they crafted what Loeb yearned to be the “perfect crime”.

So obviously I was shocked because I thought Leopold was the victim. I never expected Loeb to feel the same about Leopold and I was definitely wondering who was the victim of these two truly evil young boys.

Leopold would commit petty crimes and thefts in exchange for sexual favors from Loeb. Together the two planned and put together their intentions. After months of planning, Leopold and Loeb decided they were to Kidnap the son of a wealthy family, hold him for ransom, and throw him off a moving train at a designated spot. (i thought it was a mess and they were still gonna kill the kid). Neither Loeb nor Loepold had wants to murder their victim (I figured Loeb being obsessed with crime would make him want to) but they wanted to minimalize the possibility of being identified. Ready to take action the two young boys sought out a victim. They settled on Bobby Franks. Who was 14, a Student at Harvard school for boys, and a son of a successful Chicago businessman. Not to mention Richard Loeb's neighbor AND distant cousin!

On May 21 1924 Leopold and Loeb began preparations, renting a Willys-Knight automobile and covering its plates. Closer to 5 o'Clock Bobby began walking home when Loeb lured Bobby into the car to talk about a new tennis racket. With Franks in the front passenger seat, ( I thought it was odd that Franks got into the front seat instead of sitting in the back with Loeb.) the car's tires squealed as they fled the area. Loeb quickly reached around the seat to muffle Franks’ mouth while hitting him repeatedly in the head with a chisel. Dragging Franks into the back seat, (stuffing a cloth in his mouth), and covering him with blankets Leopold suggests getting dinner. Unable to move, dying, or already dead, lay Bobby in the back seat of the rental car.

This part of the story makes me extremely sad, only 14 and your life taken by two other boys.

After eating and ensuring Bobby franks was dead Leopold and Loeb began stripping his clothes off and pouring hydrochloric acid on his body. (They said it was to make the body less identifiable. They did a horrible job.) Having trouble hiding the body leopold takes off his jacket to “maneuver” better. After hiding the body in a cement drainage culvert the two young boys fled back to leopold home where they called Bobby's parents demanding 10,000 dollars in ransom. Telling lies to the boy's parents about him being unharmed they sent ransom notes. The plan was to have Bobby’s father get into a taxi and go to a specific place to put the money. However, the boys were running a little late, when the ransom notes arrived with the taxi cab Bobby's father was finishing a call with the local police department. Bobby Franks’ body had been found.

So these two idiots left a foot hanging out of some shrubs they used to cover the entrance of the culvert.

Leopold and Loeb wanted money, but received only questions when police found a pair of Leopold’s sunglasses next to the body. They were traced back to Nathan Leopold and the boys were arrested may 31 1924 at the ages of 18 (Loeb) and 19 (leopold) years old.

Throwing their lives away at such a young age and how do you find it in your heart as a child to kill someone?

July 21 1924 the Leopold and Loeb trial began with Clarence Darrow as the boy's lawyer. ( yea yea the famous Clarence Darrow that's the one.). Darrow's goal? Save the boys from the death penalty. The boys were questioned on the stand, Loeb Confessing first followed by Leopold. Both stories matched up to the only one point in the case. Who killed Bobby Franks? reading and writing about this part confused me. Neither boy would confess, but if Loeb wanted to be known getting away with the “perfect crime” why wouldn't he confess and let everyone know?

With both boys blaming each other, Leopold begged Loeb to admit to killing Franks. Unfortunately for Leopold, Loeb responded with “mompsie feels less terrible than she might, thinking you did it and i'm not going to take that shred of comfort away from her”.(I thought this was so evil of Loeb to do to Leopold. It amused me.)

Clarence Darrow suggested a traditional insanity defense by Switching the boy's pleas from “not guilty” to “guilty”. (this way the jury couldnt try them on two separate charges for the death penalty. Their plan was if one didnt work try the other and get the death penalty). Darrow did indeed wave the death penalty for the boys. Ultimately the boys were sentenced, September 10 1924, life + ninety nine years imprisonment. Served in stateville penitentiary. Leopold was released on parole in 1958. He later died of a diabetes related heart attack at the age of 66. (This also amused me, why would they let this guy out?). Loeb served his whole life in prison, dying on January 28 1836 at age 30. Loebs death was ruled a homicide from 58 inflicted wounds from a razor attack by a cell mate. (The reasoning for the attack was never found as far as my source applied.)

The story of the death of Bobby franks and Leopold and Loebs murder was fallowed and read all across Chicago and stunned the entire city. This horrific tale almost ever got justice, however the universe avenged Franks and fortunately Leopold and Loeb were punished for their hideous actions.I hope u were interested and enjoyed reading todays IN MY WORDS!!! Thank you for reading!

- MrsSFL5509

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maiden-of-ice-and-fire · 4 years

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The One Story I have actually finished in my life.

Hi Everyone, I figured that I would post the one story that I’ve ever finished, and the only reason that I completed it is because I’m a competitive little gremlin. This story came about because one of my friends dared me to write a story that would embarrass him, and so I did. For anyone who knows me in real life, you guys should be able to pick out exactly who the characters are all based on. This was also written because when he said to write a story to embarrass him, he didn’t think that I would use his crush on my sister against him, Insert evil laughter. Admittedly, I wrote this story about 3 or more years ago, so my writing has gotten a bit better since then.

@inky-duchess Look, a complete story, and I am working on the tag game you tagged me in.

@enchantrash-files Here’s some more of my stuff for you.

P.s I’m Australian, so there are a lot more u’s on here, which my auto correct on here is trying to tell me off for.

Story in Progress

As soon as Evelyn heard the door shut, she sighed in relief. Finally I've got the place to myself. Evelyn thought happily. I should go for a shower now since Ash and Myles just left and Corlan shouldn't be home for another hour or so. Grabbing a change of clothes, Evelyn walked downstairs to the bathroom she shared with Corlan. She shut the door as she dumped her clothes and towel on the bench. Evelyn started to undress as she waited for the water to heat up to a reasonable temperature. Sometimes it took awhile before it started to behave itself. The water heater had been a bit dodgy of late, so having a shower while there was no one else home was a smart move.

Corlan walked through the front door, kicking his shoes off as he went. He listened for any sounds of life, but could hear none. Well I'm sweaty as hell, and I need a shower after that hell of a lesson. Corlan thought to himself. I'm so glad the coach let us out early, otherwise I wouldn't have survived the trip home.

Corlan dragged himself upstairs and dumped his bag on the floor of his room. He pulled out a cleanish T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of underwear. Walking out of his room, Corlan snatched his towel up off the desk chair. He wandered back downstairs towards the bathroom, not paying a great deal of attention to his surroundings. Corlan opened the door to the bathroom and froze in shock. There in front of him, was Evelyn, with streams of water cascading down her body, completely naked. Her hair dripped water onto the bath mat as it clung to her back. Droplets of water made her bare skin look as though it had little crystal sprinkled all over. Evelyn turned around and screamed in surprise at the sight of Corlan standing in the doorway.

“Corlan! Get out!” Evelyn yelled, trying to grab her towel to cover herself, while blushing a deep red.

“I..um thought there was no one home. I'll... uh just leave now.” Corlan stammered as he stumbled backward, hurriedly shutting the door behind him. He raced back upstairs, into his room, and shut the door.

Evelyn stared at the door for a moment, her cheeks a bright red, before she continued to dry off and dress. Oh god, that was embarrassing. Evelyn thought as she dried her hair, I won't be able to look at Corlan now without blushing. Damn, that was a horrible time to leave the door unlocked. How was I that stupid? I should've guessed someone would come home, cause this house is never empty.

Once she had dried and dressed, Evelyn walked slowly upstairs to Corlan's room. Evelyn knocked on the door. Corlan opened the door just enough to poke his head out.

“Hi Evelyn.” Corlan mumbled, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“The shower's free now, if you want.” Evelyn announced quickly, before she all but sprinted into her room.

Corlan stood there for a moment before muttering to himself. “Well done Corlan, you have thoroughly screwed up your friendship with her now. You complete and utter idiot.” He scooped up his clothes and towel and walked downstairs to the bathroom again.

Steam was still floating in the air, as Corlan entered the bathroom. He could smell Evelyn's Coconut Aloe Vera shampoo and conditioner. This made Corlan think of Evelyn again. Well done idiot, I doubt she'll talk to you for a week now. Think of how long it took her to be more open around you, now you've managed to undo all of that. Corlan thought to himself as he pulled his shirt over his head. Once he'd stripped off, Corlan turned the shower on and stepped in under the spray. The cold water spraying on his face helped to clear his head a bit. Corlan let out a groan of frustration, banging his head against the wall as he did. Pulling himself together a bit, Corlan reached for his flannel and body wash. Lathering up the flannel, he proceeded to clean himself of the sweat and grime from his fencing class.

Once he had rinsed off, Corlan stepped out of the shower and reached for his towel to dry himself. He scrubbed himself dry and chucked on his clean clothes. Corlan gathered the rest of his things up and walked back upstairs. After putting his things away, Corlan sat down on the floor with his back against the door. For awhile he sat there, trying to summon the courage to face Evelyn again. Finally, Corlan was ready to face Evelyn again, hopefully without embarrassing himself while he was there. Come on Corlan, you're going to have to talk to her sooner or later. You may as well try and fix things while everyone else is out. Getting up off the floor, Corlan opened his door and walked over to Evelyn's room. Just as he reached for the door knob, Corlan heard the front door swing open and Ash and Myles walk in.

As fast as possible, Corlan rushed to his room, shutting the door behind him. Corlan walked over to his bed and collapsed face first onto it. Tiredly, he rolled over, put his hands behind his head and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Corlan lay in thought for awhile. He must have lay there longer than he realised. It seemed as thought he had only just lay down,when Ash banged on his door to tell him tea was ready. Rolling off his bed, Corlan walked downstairs to try and face everyone.

Evelyn was already at the table when Corlan walked over and sat down. Trying not to look at Corlan, who was sitting across from her, Evelyn asked Ash and Myles how their class had been. Ash told her that they had enjoyed their class a lot today. She also exclaimed that she was glad today's warm-up had not been a kind of hell. Myles added that they had done take-downs and ground work, which was why Ash was in such a good mood. As the meal continued, a silence fell over the table. This was unusual considering Evelyn and Corlan were usually teasing each other during meals.

“Ok what's gotten into you two tonight? You're never this silent at tea, even if you've been at each others throats all day. You were both getting along great this morning, so why are you so quiet now.” Ash finally asked, confused at the pair's odd behaviour.

“Nothing's wrong.” answered Evelyn, as she took a quick glance up at Corlan, who was staring at his plate and playing with his food.

“Um I'm gonna head back up to my room, I'm not that hungry right now.” Corlan announced, pushing his chair back. He grabbed his plate, taking it over to the kitchen bench and putting it down before he headed back up to his room. Now Ash knew something was up. Usually after fencing, Corlan would go through two or three helpings of whatever was served. For him to only eat half of his food meant something was definitely wrong. Also Ash had noticed that Corlan had been sitting completely still. He wasn't even bouncing his leg, which he usually did non-stop. Ash watched Corlan trudge up the stairs to his room. Turning to Myles, Ash gave him a questioning look. Myles just shrugged his shoulders, he looked as confused as Ash.

Ten minutes later, everyone else had finished with their meals. Evelyn disappeared back upstairs while Ash and Myles stacked the rest of the dishes into the dishwasher and cleaned up the leftovers. Both Ash and Myles could hear Evelyn playing her music loudly, she usually did this if she was upset, angry, confused, or all of the above.

“I don't know what's gotten into those two. Everything was fine when Corlan left for fencing today and now they won't even look at each other. So I'd be guessing that something happened while we were out and Evelyn and Corlan had the house to themselves,” Ash stated, “What do you think Myles?”

“I reckon you're right. It makes sense too since they weren't like this earlier. We really need to work out what in the hell's going on here.” Myles replied.

“Agreed. How about once we finish up here, you go talk to Corlan and I'll see what I can get out of Evelyn.” Ash suggested, putting the leftovers in the fridge as she spoke.

“That sounds like a plan.” Myles answered, putting away the stack of plate he had in his hands. Ash gave Myles a kiss on the cheek and started towards the stairs, Myles finished putting away the last of the dishes and followed suit.

Myles walked up the stairs, towards Corlan's room, trying to decide how to get Corlan to tell him what was going on. Well I guess I'll see what's wrong and we'll take it from there. Myles thought. Once he reached the door, Myles knocked loudly. He heard a thump that sounded suspiciously like Corlan falling off his bed, the sound of footsteps and then the door opened wide. Corlan stood in the doorway, Myles could see him visibly relax when he realised who it was.

“Hey Corlan, you wanna talk about what's going on between you and Evelyn? You guys were acting pretty weird at dinner.” Myles asked, looking straight at Corlan. Corlan shifted around under Myles' gaze, looking a bit uncomfortable.

“Umm yeah, you wanna come in first?” Corlan replied, stepping aside to let Myles past. Myles walked in, grabbed Corlan's desk chair, dragged it closer to the bed, and sat down so that his arms rested on the back of the chair. Corlan shut the door and walked over to his bed, sitting down so that he was half facing Myles. Silently, Myles watched and waited for Corlan to speak. Corlan stared at the floor as he fidgeted in his seat. He let out a sigh running his fingers though his hair as he did so before flopping back on his bed with a groan.

“Are you gonna tell me what happened between you and Evelyn or am I going to sit here all night.” Myles asked, hoping Corlan would give him an answer.

“Myles, I've screwed up big time and I don't know what to do.” moaned Corlan, as he stared at the roof.

“Go on.” Myles encouraged, waiting for Corlan to continue.

“While you and Ash were at class, I managed to walk in on Evelyn when she had just gotten out of the shower and saw her completely naked.” Corlan admitted, covering his face with his hands to hide his embarrassment.

“Corlan how the hell did you manage that.” Myles asked, surprised at what the problem was but happy he had managed to get an answer out of Corlan.

“I don't know. When I got home from fencing, I was so tired that I wasn't really paying much attention to anything. I also really needed a shower too, so I grabbed my stuff and headed for the bathroom. Evelyn must have decided it was a good time to go for a shower and not had bothered to lock the door because there was no one else home. When I opened the door she was standing there completely naked and she yelled at me to get out while she tried to grab her towel. I backed up as fast as I could, shut the door and bolted upstairs to my room. It was really awkward when she came and told me the shower was free and I haven't been able to look her in the eyes since. Now I'm pretty sure I've managed to screw up our friendship and that Evelyn will never talk to me again.” Corlan revealed all in a big rush, trying to get it over with as fast as possible.

“Well I can't say I've been in that situation before. The first time I saw Ash naked in the shower she had invited me in, but I don't think you want to hear about that.” Myles joked, trying to get Corlan to smile a bit.

“Myles, how am I ever going to be able to talk to her again, this changed our friendship and I don't want it to.” Corlan exclaimed, looking quite sad.

“Change can be a good thing. This doesn't mean that the changes to your and Evelyn's friendship are going to be negative. Your friendship just may end up becoming something more instead.” Reassured Myles. Corlan was deep in thought for a few minutes before he decided on what to say next.

“Maybe you are right. Even though I have known Evelyn for this long, she can still be a mystery and I don't want to hurt her in the process. Change may be a good thing, but not if it costs me my friendship with her.” Corlan admitted, finally lifting his head to look at Myles.

Meanwhile Ash was not having as much success as Myles was. Ash stood in front of Evelyn's door, banging on it rather hard; trying to get Evelyn's attention over the incredibly loud volume of her music. Oh I wish she hadn't locked the door, it drives me mental when she does that because no one can get in there until she decides to open the door. The fact that she has her music up so loud doesn't help the matter either. Ash thought to herself, rather annoyed that she wasn't even able to open the door at this point.

Finally the volume of the music reduced to a more reasonable level, so Ash tried knocking on the door again, and called Evelyn's name as she did. Ash waited for a few seconds, then the door swung open.

“What do you want?” Evelyn asked, standing so that she was half behind the door.

“I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?” Ash replied, hoping that Evelyn would let her in, and not be too difficult.

“Fine, you can come in.” Evelyn sighed, stepping aside to let Ash in. Ash walked in and waited for Evelyn to close the door and sit back down on her bed, knowing it would only annoy Evelyn if Ash sat down on the bed before she did. Once Evelyn was sitting back on her bed, Ash sat down on the corner and looked at Evelyn.

“Nothing happened.” Evelyn replied defensively, looking at something she was doing on her laptop.

“Come on Evelyn, I know something happened. The way you were both acting at tea, and the fact that Corlan barely ate anything proves something happened.” Ash pointed out.

“Nothing happened, and even if something did, I wouldn't tell you.” Evelyn said defiantly. Ash sighed in annoyance, her sister had always been this way when it came to talking about personal stuff, and she probably always would be. What Ash needed was to find the right way to get it out of her.

“Okay fine, tell me what you did today while Myles and I were out?” Ash asked, hoping that this tactic may work.

“Nothing much, I went for a shower when you guys left, then I stayed in my room until you got home.” replied Evelyn, although Ash could tell that she wasn't quite telling the truth.

“What about Corlan? I know he was back early today.” Ash continued to ask, prodding Evelyn bit by bit.

“Don't know. I heard him get home while I was in the shower, then when I got out he was in his room. It did sound like he went for a shower after me though.” Evelyn responded, not meeting Ash's eyes as she did

“Did you see Corlan before tea, cause you can't have been avoiding him for nothing.” Ash asked, thinking that this may catch Evelyn out.

“I saw him after I got out of the shower.” Evelyn replied, now staring at the screen of her laptop, but looking as though she was trying to hide her face more than anything.

“Ok now I know you're lying. You said just before that when you got out of the shower Corlan was in his room. How could you have seen him if he was in his room and you had gone into yours before he came out to go for a shower.” Ash announced, finding the hole in her story, it was a bit hard to miss. Ok, now she has to tell me what's going on. Ash thought triumphantly.

“Ok the reason I haven't been able to talk to Corlan is that, Corlan accidentally walked in on me when I had just stepped out of the shower. Now I'm embarrassed and I don't know what to say to him.” Evelyn admitted, finally telling Ash the truth. Evelyn put her head in her hands to hide her embarrassment and blushing cheeks. Why can't everything just go back to the way it was. It was so much less awkward between Corlan and I then. Evelyn thought sadly to herself. Evelyn put her laptop off to the side and got up, she walked over to Ash and hugged her, burying her face into her sister's shoulder.

“Ash I don't want to lose my best friend over this.” Evelyn whispered, sounding as though she was about to cry. Ash hugged her sister tighter, trying to comfort her a little.

“Evelyn you won't lose him over this. All you need to do is talk to him, try and work out how to not be so awkward around each other again.” Ash soothed, pulling back to wipe away her sister's unshed tears.

“Look, I'm going to talk to Myles for a bit then I'll be back and we can talk a bit more, if you want.” Continued Ash, extracting herself from her sister's extremely tight grip. “Also, get into your pyjamas and I'll bring a bit of the chocolate stash with me, Ok.” Evelyn nodded as Ash walked to the door. As Ash shut the door, she could see Evelyn digging around for her pyjamas.

After giving Corlan a bit more advice, Myles walked back downstairs where he found Ash waiting for him on the lounge. Myles sat down next to Ash and pulled her to rest a bit more on him. They sat there for a little while and just enjoyed each others company. Reluctantly, Ash sat herself up and turned to face Myles.

“Did you find out what was wrong with Corlan?” Ash asked, wanting to hear the answer to what had happened with Corlan.

“Yeah I did. Turns out that when he got home early from fencing he decided to go for a shower, but Evelyn was inside and was completely naked. So now he is freaking out that he has utterly ruined his friendship with Evelyn, and that she will never speak to him again.”Myles explained.

“Oh those two are way to similar for their own good at times. So after I had managed to extract the reason from Evelyn, she started to freak out as well. Saying that she won't ever be able to talk to Corlan again without becoming embarrassed.” Ash replied, laughing a bit at how similar both Evelyn and Corlan were. “Also they do tend to blow things a bit out of proportion at times.”

“Yeah they do tend to do that. Although it's quite funny from our point of view, to them it's basically the end of the world. It doesn't help that this is something they don't know how to deal with and that they think the worst possible outcome will happen.” Myles explained, leaning back in his seat more as he pulled Ash to lay more comfortably on his chest.

“So what do we do? I'm pretty sure that they are both too embarrassed to talk to each other at the moment, but they really need to sort this out.” Ash asked, pulling Myles' arms more snugly around her waist.

“I don't know. I reckon that we leave them alone for a few days to see what happens.” Myles suggested, as he started to run his fingers up over Ash's waist and along her sides.

“Well if they don't sort it out in that time, I reckon we lock them in one of the rooms and don't let them out until they sort it out.” Ash exclaimed, a devious smile on her face that told Myles she was planning something and was enjoying it way too much.

“Well,” Ash said as she pulled away from Myles and dragged herself up, “I promised Evelyn I would bring back chocolate and that we could talk some more. So no I'm not staying for more snuggles like I know you want to; we can cuddle all you want later once I've talked to Evelyn a bit more.” Ash walked into the kitchen and started to dig through the cupboards for the stash of chocolate and marshmallows for a game of chubby bunny. Finally she found them at the back of one of the cupboards. Digging them out, Ash dumped the stuff on the bench to check that she had everything she needed. Once satisfied that everything was there, Ash made to gather the items back up when Myles grabbed her arms.

“Can I pwease have some chocolate.” Myles said in a little kid's voice, staring at Ash with big, pleading eyes. Ash sighed and shook her head with a smile. Myles did have quite a bit of a sweet tooth times, and when he used those big pleading eyes, she just couldn't resist.

“Fine, but you have to stand back and try to catch it in your mouth.” Myles gave a cheer and walked back a few metres. He opened his mouth wide as Ash pulled a lump of chocolate out of one of the bags. Aiming for his mouth, Ash through the chocolate at Myles. The chocolate flew through the air, Myles stretched out and caught it in his mouth, chewing on it happily, a huge grin on his face. Ash just smiled and shook her head. God he can be ridiculous at times, but this is part of the reason I love him so much. Ash thought. She gathered up her supplies and started towards Evelyn's room, giving Myles a kiss on the cheek as she passed him.

When Ash reached Evelyn's door, she tapped on it with her foot, being that her hands were full. Evelyn opened the door and moved out of the way so that Ash could walk through. Ash walked over to Evelyn's bed and dumped the chocolates and other things on her bed. Ash had even brought a bottle of milk and cups to go with the tub of drinking chocolate that was somewhere in the pile.

“So Evelyn, can you tell me why you think things with Corlan are going to change, apart from the fact that he walked into the bathroom while you were naked.” Ash coaxed, trying to find the tub of drinking chocolate as she did.

“I don't know. Of late he has been a bit more affectionate with me. Like he will hold my hand and pull me to lay on him while we watch movies, or he will wrap his arms around my waist and rest his head on top of mine at random times. Though it's not like he didn't do that before, but he has been doing it more often of late.” Evelyn confessed, looking slightly confused.

“Evelyn, do you think that has something to do with the fact that he may like you more than just a friend.” Ash continued, implying something more. She set out two cups and spooned Drinking Chocolate mix into them.

“Of course he likes me more than a friend; I'm his best friend.” Evelyn replied, trying to avoid this conversation, even though she knew it was inevitable. Oh now she's just being stubborn. Really she decides to use that, cause I know she knows what I'm talking about, but she's just trying to avoid it. Ash thought.

“Ok, now you're just being difficult. I'm trying to help you here Evelyn and you're just being stubborn,” Ash protested, getting slightly annoyed with her sister. Evelyn avoided looking at Ash as she climbed onto her bed. She sat down with her back against the headboard, knees pulled up and arms wrapped around her legs.

“Is it really that bad if he likes you more than a friend; or is it that you don't like him like that?” Ash continued, as she poured milk into the glasses and passed Evelyn her cup of chocolate milk, then Ash sat down on the corner of the bed, facing Evelyn.

“I just don't know. I'm not sure how I feel. I mean I like the fact that he's being more affectionate of late, but I don't want our friendship to change If we actually start going out.” Evelyn mumbled, her head resting between her knees.

“Evelyn, when Myles and I started dating, did you see any difference between the way we acted beforehand and after?” Ash questioned.

“No, but that's you and Myles, you've known each other for years.” Argued Evelyn, taking a small mouth full of her drink.

“And you and Corlan have known each other even longer. You know basically everything about each other, You two do almost everything together, and it is very rarely that you see one without the other.” Retorted Ash.

“I like the way things were before, I don't want things to change.” Evelyn exclaimed, pulling a piece of chocolate from the pile.

“And Mum and Dad said I was the one who couldn't stand change.” Ash muttered under her breath. “Evelyn, you should take a chance, things may turn out better than you expect.” Ash suggested. She grabbed a box of her favourite chocolates, a pack of Maltesers and her cup of drinking chocolate before she got up and left Evelyn alone to think.

Once Ash had left, Evelyn lay down on her bed with a groan, confused by the feelings that this incident had caused. Maybe I've liked him all along and I just haven't realised until now. Evelyn thought, as she lay on her bed trying to sort out the mess of her jumbled feelings.

Despite the fact that Myles and Ash had talked to Evelyn and Corlan, it was still extremely awkward between the pair over the next couple of days. At tea, both Evelyn and Corlan would sit there in awkward silence as Ash and Myles tried to encourage some sort of communication between them. During the day, the pair tried to avoid each other as much as possible. When they weren't out somewhere they would be in their rooms, or never in the same room as the other person. Ash was starting to get rather frustrated with them. They'd never avoided a problem between them for this long. Usually two days was the absolute maximum for their arguments, but then again this time was different from the others. Ash was becoming more tempted to lock them in the linen closet and not let them out until they had sorted things out.

Finally both Ash and Myles agreed that this situation had gone on long enough. Something needed to be done to get Evelyn and Corlan to talk to each other. Even though Myles thought it may not be the best plan, he agreed that locking them in the linen closet would at least force them to talk to each other. First of all they actually needed Evelyn and Corlan to be in the same room, so Ash decided a movie was in order. To try and push them along a bit, Ash and Myles lay out on the three seater lounge. This left only the one armchair, meaning that Evelyn and Corlan would have to share. Evelyn and Corlan both glared at Ash and Myles, clearly not happy with the seating arrangements.

“Umm, Evelyn how about I sit on the seat and you can sit on my lap?” Corlan asked awkwardly, not meeting her eyes.

“Yea, that sounds good, since Myles and Ash are taking up the whole lounge.” Evelyn agreed, although the last bit was said in rather an annoyed tone. Corlan seated himself comfortably in the chair, then Evelyn sat down on his lap, perched there with her hands on her lap. Corlan had to resist the urge to not put his arms around Evelyn's waist and get her to snuggle in close like they used to.

Once everyone was settled, Ash started the movie. Surprisingly, they had managed to agree on watching Avatar, although it was more Ash and Myles had decided and the other two had just agreed with them. About ten minutes into the movie, Evelyn started to shift around on Corlan's lap, trying to move into a more comfortable position. Corlan however was desperately hoping that Evelyn would stop soon and not notice the problem her wiggling had caused. For god sake I really hope she stops wiggling soon, or I'm going to have to get up and sort out my little problem. Corlan thought to himself, thankful that the lights were off so that no one could see his bright red cheeks. Finally Evelyn settled back in the seat, resting her back against Corlan's chest. Sitting in silence, everyone concentrated on the movie, although Ash was waiting for the right time to put her plan into action.

“Hey Evelyn, Corlan, would you to mind going and getting some blankets out of the linen closet please?” Ash asked, hoping they wouldn't be suspicious

“Why can't you get them yourselves?” Evelyn snapped. It didn't help that she was already annoyed with her sister about the seating.

“Because, I made the popcorn and got everything else ready.” Ash retorted.

“Fine.” Evelyn huffed as she got up, dragging Corlan with her. Ash and Myles waited until they had disappeared up the stairs before getting up quietly and following them upstairs. They crept as silently as possible up the stairs, keeping an ear out for the sound of Evelyn and Corlan coming back downstairs. Thankfully the door of the linen closet faced away for the stairs so Ash and Myles weren't seen.

Peering around the corner, Ash and Myles could tell that the two were far enough inside the linen closet that the door would shut. Quickly, Ash ducked around the corner and shut the door, sliding in the bolt before either Corlan or Evelyn could do anything. The house had come with bolts on the outside of some of the doors, which had never made much sense or been of any use until now. As soon as Evelyn and Corlan realised that they had been locked in, they started banging on the door and yelling at Ash and Myles to let them out.

“Sorry you two, but we're not letting you out until you sort out what's going on between you.” Ash called through the door, she could hear her sister cursing her quite loudly. Clearly she was not impressed with the fact that she was locked in there. Evelyn kicked the door in frustration, cursing her sister under her breath. Oh that manipulative little witch. She must have been planning this for awhile now. There's no way in hell Ash, or Myles for that matter, is going to let us out of here any time soon, she's too damn stubborn for that. So we won't be getting out of here until we've sorted things out. Evelyn thought angrily.

“We should get comfy 'cause we aren't getting out of here for awhile yet.” Evelyn advised, looking up at Corlan. Although it was dark in the closet, she could still see him nod in agreement.

“How about I turn on the light?” Corlan suggested, “Then at least we would be able to see.” Evelyn nodded, knowing that by now he would be able to see her well enough. Corlan felt his way over to the door and felt around the wall at the side of the door frame, trying to find the light switch. He found it and flicked the switch. The light flared to life, half blinding them both. Evelyn looked at what was in the shelves. To her surprise, two of the sleeping mats were up on a high shelf, fully inflated and ready to be used. That just served to fuel her annoyance towards her sister. Pulling the blankets off one of the lower shelves, Evelyn reached for a sleeping mat. Although Evelyn had forgotten the fact that she couldn't reach the top shelf. Before she could try and jump for it, Corlan walked up behind her and picked her up. This put Evelyn at the right height to reach the mats. Evelyn pulled both mattresses down as Corlan lowered her back to the ground. Carefully making sure nothing came crashing down on their heads. Thankfully, one air mattress fit perfectly on the available floor space.

“Thanks.” Evelyn murmured, not meeting Corlan's eyes.

“Don't worry about it, we both kinda need something to sleep on.” Corlan replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I'll sleep in one of the shelves, and you can sleep on the floor, considering you've grown quite a bit since the last time we did this.” Evelyn joked trying to ease a bit of the awkwardness between them.

“Yea I have a bit. Toss me some of those blankets though, otherwise I'll freeze tonight.” Corlan chuckled, glad that some of the tension had eased. Evelyn tossed some of the blankets onto the mattress on the floor. She slid her mattress into the cleared out shelf and put some warm blankets on top. Corlan dug around in the shelves and pulled out some old pillows that had been shoved in there. He tossed two onto his make-shift bed, then pulled out two more and placed them on Evelyn's bed.

“Well I'm getting in bed 'cause I'm stuffed.” Evelyn yawned, stretching up on her tip toes, before she hoisted herself up and onto her bed. Evelyn snuggled down in the blankets as Corlan turned the light off. He crawled into bed and pulled the blankets tight around his shoulders.

“Night, Corlan.” Evelyn called, half asleep already.

“Night Evie,” Corlan replied as he drifted off to sleep. Corlan calling her Evie made Evelyn extremely happy, he hadn't called her that since before this whole mess had started. Evelyn gave a happy sigh and snuggled further down into her bed, drifting off to sleep, happy and content.

As the hands of the clock reached midnight, Evelyn started to roll around rather violently in her sleep. She had always been one to end up on the opposite end of the bed to the one she started on. Suddenly, Evelyn rolled over in her sleep; she rolled so far in fact that she fell out of bed, and landed on top of a sleeping Corlan. Corlan awoke with a start, having felt something drop heavily on him in his sleep.

Slowly opening her eyes, Evelyn felt that she wasn't in bed any more, and that she was lying on something. Looking down, Corlan saw Evelyn lying on top of him so that her body was pressed against his and her head rested on his chest. Evelyn looked up at him as if to say, I should move but I'm not sure if I want to.

Evelyn was frozen; she knew that she should be moving and getting back into bed, but for once she wanted to just lay there. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness more, Evelyn could see Corlan staring at her. Although it made her feel a bit self conscious, Evelyn couldn't look away from Corlan's gaze. Evelyn also noticed, for the first time, that over the years, Corlan had become a lot more muscular and well built than he used to be. Evelyn shifted slightly so that she was level with Corlan. Maybe it was that they were lying so close together, or the fact that she had barely seen him over the past couple of day; but Evelyn couldn't help but notice how good his muscular shoulders looked in his loose sleep-shirt, or that in the limited amount of light his lips looked incredibly soft and inviting. Why, after the countless times they had been to the beach, and the numerous scorching days where all the boys would walk around without shirts on, was she noticing these things about him. But Corlan was her best friend, she shouldn't be enjoying the way he felt underneath her.

“Wow Corlan, when did you get these?” Evelyn asked teasingly, as she reached down to run her hand across his impressive six-pack. Before she could touch him, Corlan caught her hand, startling her. Corlan looked down at Evelyn with an intense look on his face. Evelyn thought for a moment that maybe he was angry at her for some reason, but before she could think about it any more. Corlan yanked her downwards and covered her mouth with his. His lips were warm, and softer than Evelyn could have imagined. Evelyn reached up and threaded her fingers through the soft hair at the back of Corlan's neck, kissing back with the same fever as was given.

Hesitantly, Corlan opened his mouth slightly and prodded gently at Evelyn's lips. With a soft hum, Evelyn opened her mouth just enough to let Corlan in. Evelyn tasted like chocolate and sweetness. Having one taste only left him wanting more, but unfortunately both he and Evelyn were running out of air. Reluctantly, Corlan pulled back to gaze up at Evelyn. She was such a beautiful sight with her long, blonde hair all messed up from sleeping and the cute little smile she now wore. Rolling off to the side, Evelyn lay down next to Corlan and snuggled in close. She sighed happily and buried her face into his shirt. Corlan lifted one hand and placed it underneath Evelyn's chin, tilting her head up so that she was looking at him. He took a deep breath, readying himself for the confession that was to come next.

“Evelyn I have loved you for years, first as a best friend, then as something more. Not to be cheesy, but I love everything about you. I love that you are adventurous, and can be brave when you need to be. I love that you are a bit weird and can be extremely sarcastic. I love that you are stubborn, even though there are times that it drives me up the wall. I love hearing you laugh and giggle when you find something funny. I want to be there to cheer you up when you're upset. I would put my life on the line for you and not think twice about it.” Corlan confessed, his eyes full of love and adoration. “So what I'm trying to say is, I love you so much and I want to be able to shower you with all the affection you deserve. Will you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?” He asked, feeling nervous.

Evelyn lay in stunned silence for a few seconds. She had come to realise that Corlan did have feelings for her, but she had never imagined that he felt so strongly about her. She may have only realised that she loved him a few days ago. She realised that those feeling had been there for a long time and that she hadn't noticed until now. Being with Corlan had always made her feel safe and more confident, and now was no different.

“Of course I will Corlan. I may have only just realised that I do love you but I see now that those feelings have been developing for a long time.” Evelyn answered with a smile. Corlan grinned, his happiness at that moment couldn't be explained by words. In his happiness, he rolled Evelyn onto her back, pressing kisses all over her face and neck. Finally he attached his lips to hers and kissed her deeply, trying to convey his joy and love for her. Evelyn pulled back and let out a yawn. Pulling Corlan to lay down beside her, Evelyn snuggled into him and sighed contentedly.

“Night Evie.” Corlan murmured, although Evelyn heard nothing as she was already fast asleep. Soon he too succumb to the pleasant darkness of sleep as well.

In the morning, when Ash and Myles went to let Evelyn and Corlan back out, they found the pair curled up together on an air mattress, fast asleep. It was obvious that they had made up and were peaceful at last. With a smile, Ash closed the door, heading back downstairs with Myles to start breakfast. which would be sure to rouse the two that were still sleeping. In the kitchen, Myles came up behind Ash, wrapping his arms around her waist as he whispered in her ear,

“Well done. I think you did rather well at playing cupid. Even though locking them in the linen closet may not have been wasn't the best solution.”

“Why thank you, I think I make a very good cupid too. I also think locking them in a enclosed space would have been the only way they would have talked to each other without us forcing conversation.” Ash responded, as she reached up to run her fingers though Myles' hair. Happy that everything was back to the way it should be. With a laugh, Ash pulled out of Myles' arms and began to cook breakfast. She needed to get a head start on the cooking before the hoards descended from upstairs. Eventually, Evelyn and Corlan did come downstairs and join Ash and Myles, the house filled with laughter and good-natured banter.

#Writing #Awkward babies #Good big sister #They will get there eventually #lots of love for everyone

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ettadunham · 5 years

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A Buffy rewatch 6x15 As You Were

aka don’t you want your trash?

Welcome to this dailyish (weekly? bi-weekly?) text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And in today’s episode Riley’s back, which is awkward, but not as awkward as his wife’s characterization.

For an episode that was written by one of the show’s main writers, As You Were is also just generally riddled by some awkward dialogue and story choices. Although there are just as many scenes and elements that I love for that matter.

The episode starts with painting a picture of Buffy’s messy adult life. It’s also just so mundane in its horribleness. For instance, when I came home from work today, I barely had the energy to put on today’s episode to watch. (Going out with friends? In this economy?) I also definitely have tried washing a shirt I like with my hands to wear the next day (and ruined it in the process). And I may or may not have run after a garbage car with my trash at some point in my life.

And while I don’t have a kid sister I’m supposed to provide healthy nutrition to… I have a cat? And most of the time, I’m only able to give her the garbage-type of cat food, cause that’s all that’s available in the nearest store to us. That’s almost the same.

Anyway, the point is that it’s all very relatable… All but the sleeping with a vampire part, but we all have our coping mechanisms. Mine is writing gibberish about Buffy the Vampire Slayer at 10 pm.

But then Riley shows up, and the episode takes a bit of a turn. I get that they were going for a theme juxtaposing Buffy’s mundane sucky life and this heightened James Bond action spy fantasy, but that doesn’t really work when you drop most of those former elements at that point. When Riley arrives, Buffy just leaves work. That’s that. She never returns, and we don’t address that she just left in the middle of her shift without telling anyone.

Which works in a heightened spy fantasy, but ignores the previous context we set up for the episode. That’s kind of what I mean when I say that this theme of contrast isn’t really executed well for me.

Still, if you get through that, there’s a lot to like. Even stuff like Riley being kind of the worst.

Which he is here. He drags Buffy out of work to help him hunting down a demon, even though he has plenty of resources. Including his wife, who he fails to mention while falling into a flirty banter with Buffy. He even screws up by not telling Buffy what their mission is and that they aren’t supposed to kill the demon somehow??

Riley… my dude… my comically tall dude with your new cool face scar… there is no part of this that you haven’t fucked up.

But then his wife shows up and calls him out on his bullshit, and that makes it a whole lot better.

Sam herself becomes kind of an issue for me though. She’s cool, she’s understanding, she says the right thing to all the Scoobies who all instantly bond with her. It somehow manages to turn into an unintentional red-herring, as you wonder if she’s manipulating everyone around her. Maybe she’s this “Doctor”, our mysterious Bond villain! At the very least, she’s definitely up to something!

And then the episode ends, and you realize that no. She really was just written that way. That’s her entire character.

I don’t want to shit on Sam too much though, because she’s obviously supposed to be a subversion of the whole rival jealous other woman trope. And I appreciate that. I appreciate that Buffy came to like her, that Willow’s whole deal of “let me hate that girl for you because friendship” was mostly dropped after a moment of genuine connection, that Xander was inspired by Sam and Riley’s marriage… These are good ideas. I just wish that there was more to Sam’s character than that.

Instead what we get is a lot of awkward dialogue quickly trying to establish those connections, and it doesn’t really work for me. Plus, in the awkward dialogue department we also get other gems like “I got addicted like addicts do”, in case you forgot that Willow has a drug addiction metaphor arc. It’s very important that you remember that, even though the metaphor itself is awkward and only semi applies to her situation.

On a positive note, I’m pretty sure that the sweater Willow is wearing will also be worn by Dawn in s7. Ah yes, the magical moment when you’re old enough to start sharing wardrobe with your cool (lesbian) aunt.

And then there’s the whole Buffy and Spike thing. Which, honestly? This might be my favorite episode of their storyline this season.

I’ve been admittedly avoiding talking about it in too much detail this season, and I’m not sure that I’ll have a longer rant about it at any point. It’s not a healthy relationship at this point for either party, but my focus is obviously on my girl, Buffy. It’s always Buffy.

Buffy’s been using Spike as an escape, and Spike’s been abusing that perceived power over her. Spike’s been Buffy’s punch bag, who in turn manipulated and isolated her even further from her friends and family.

I always felt like the best of their Buffy and Spike’s relationship in any season came from their most honest moments. And in many ways, I don’t feel like they’ve been fully honest with each other recently – mostly because they haven’t been fully honest with themselves.

Here and now however, Buffy’s finally been able to have the strength to face these truths. Not just about Spike and his weird evil ways, but about herself. She admits out loud to Riley that she’s sleeping with Spike, and sure, that happens after Riley has seen them together already, but telling people stuff is an important part of processing them. That’s why therapy is good for you.

This of course already started when Buffy told Tara, but that was a moment of catharsis. This is one of acceptance. She can finally take a step back, and instead of getting caught up in her depression pit, she can begin to process her emotions and understand them.

She’s breaking things off with Spike not just because she realizes that she’s been fueling her own self-hatred through that relationship though, but because she made a choice to change. This is her first act of self-care this season.

And she’s honest to Spike about it. There’s something gentle and incredibly vulnerable about Buffy admitting that this relationship was killing her. That using him only made her feel worse about herself. She even calls him William to convey that same tone, to strip away all these distractions they built up trying to maintain the illusion.

Keep up with that self-care, Buff!! You’ll need it.

Meanwhile Xander and Anya are planning their wedding from hell. Sometimes literally. For now though, they’ve managed to stay positive about the future of their relationship.

For now.

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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thoughtsoftheantagonist · 6 years

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A Song for You

AN: I am beyond sorry its been so long. The second the holidays started I was in a whirlwind but I'm back and ready to keep going. Here is the new Chapter hope you love it.

Chapter Eighteen

Joy POV

She hadn't seen her husband since they both got to work this morning, he was currently underneath a car while she was double checking some appointments for later today and filing that still hadn't been done by Gemma. It was a fucking wonder this place lasted with her behind the filing. She was putting some files up when the door to the office opened, without turning she speaks “Take a seat I'll be with you in a moment.” She drops the files on her hands when she hears a Scottish brogue reply “Take your time Lass.” she turns and sees Chibs grinning at her, practically leaping over the desk chair she hugs him tight. “Jesus fuck Chibs I was so scared!” the older man hugs her close kissing the side of her head in greeting as her husband rushes in at the sound of her shouting. “Babe you…..” she pulls herself from Chibs, seeing the wide grin on her husband face she gets out of the way just in time for him to hug Chibs himself “Jesus Chibs.” She rubs her husband's back, she knew Chibs meant a lot to Juan, she was glad he was back home. Once they released the man hug of the century she grabs Chibs face in her hands, looking him over “What happened.” the older man huff out a laugh, grabbing one of her hands he kisses the back of it before stepping out of her reach, nodding towards the clubhouse. “Want to wait until the others are here, put up the break sign or get one of the prospects in here.” she watches him go, she and her husband locking eyes. This wasn't good if the whole club needed to know. “Go clean up. I'll grab our lunches from the clubhouse.” Juan nods, pressing a kiss to her cheek he heads for the bathroom in the office to clean up.

It's not twenty minutes that she and Juan are having lunch at the picnic tables with Tig, Chibs, Bobby, Phil, and her father. She kept having to swat at her father and Tig as they stood bites of her chicken and rice, when her father steals another bite she hands her food to her husband for protection while she smacks at her father's arms as he hides his head from her blows. “It's your mom's recipe what do you expect little girl!!!” she glares at him as she grabs her food back from her husband. “ I expect you to ask you heathen. You too Tig don't think you're off the hook.” she feels a tap on her shoulder, seeing Chibs glancing between her and her food she arches a brow “May I have a try lass?” she sighs, hold out a spoonful for him she glares between her father and Tig “See. Asking helps.” She goes back to eating as Chibs nods. “Pretty good girlie. Make that for dinner one night and I'll swing by.” She takes her last bite and nods, hearing a bike pull up she sees Jax, she hears her father get up as his phone rings she moves over so he can head for the ring behind them to talk to whoever was calling. She grins as Jax pulls Chibs in for a hug “The prodigal Scot. Oh, man. Thank God you're alright, man. What happened?” she leans into her husband's side, resting her head on his shoulder as she listens to Chibs “Frankie, he dumped me out on the 99. I really thought he was gonna put a bullet in the back of my head. Some trucker found me. Check this out.” she watches him pull his paperboy hat from his head, hissing between her teeth when she sees the glimmer of two staples in the long scar on his head. Frankie was worm food. “Did you see anything Chibs? Anything we could use to find him?” turning to her he lights a cigarette, blowing the smoke upward he shakes his head in the negative “Too dark lass. But it looked like a White SUV. I couldn't see plates, faces. But it's obvious somebody's helping him.” She sighs, resting her elbows on the table she racks her brain, but with so little info that was given to her through the paperwork she was given by Frankie, it wouldn't be easy to sniff him out. She turns to Bobby, “Seems to be heading north, maybe breaking for Canada.” sounded plausible, she almost jumps out of her skin when her father plops down next to her, seeing his face and the evil grin on it she narrows her eyes “Try Tahoe. Just talked to Quinn. He found Frankie.” She smirks, leaning over she plans a kiss on her father's cheek, snickering when he tried to scrub her lip gloss from his cheek. Even Jax chuckled as he said “Well, let's go. Come on, let's move to church.”

Standing she follows behind the others, her husband's hand on her hips as he walks behind her. She and the others quickly grab their seats, seems she wasn't the only one itching to get her hands on Frankie. She gets comfortable between Phil and her husband, rubbing her hand up and down her husband's back as he leans his elbows on the table, his whole upper body almost hunched over the table. He was just as ready as she was to see Frankie bleed. Her eyes land on her father as he speaks first “Quinn says Frankie's in South Tahoe. Hooked up with Leo Pirelli's crew.” She scuffs, couldn't even hide on his own. Jax nods, a hand coming to scrub roughly at the side of his beard jaw “He's bought himself some mob protection.” all eyes move to the older man at the end of the table as he says “Is that solid intel? 'Cause I'm a little cautious when it comes to Nomad integrity.” she wanted to throw one of her knives into his eye socket, the Nomads were his errand boys and a good few of them knew it. Her father's eyes narrow at Clay “Quinn knows every pimp and hooker in a 300-mile radius. Frankie still likes them young and slanted.” She narrows her eyes at Tig and he snorts “Yeah, pussy tells all.” she kicks him under the table, a smirk of satisfaction on her face when he winches and reaches down for his shin. “Ok unloyal pussy tells all better?” she nods and turns her attention to Jax, who shakes his head at the both of them “All right, give him a call when we break. Tell him we're on our way. Make sure it's real.” she watches her father nod, he had his role to play. She glances past her husband's still hunched form to Bobby “Leo runs book and poker clubs. It's a quiet crew, man. Maybe Cacuzza could reach out, explain our situation. Do this the easy way.” She doesn't look at Clay as he replies “Yeah. I can call Jimmy.” Her husband sighs, leaning back in his seat he grabs her hand, his fingers playing for with the rings on her hand as he asks the question they all want to be answered. “ What happens when we find Frankie? Because frankly Jax I want his fucking head for what he tried to do to my wife.”

She lifts his hand, not caring if the guys see her kiss his knuckle. Juan wasn't the most blood thirty out of this group, but she knew he needed this. Chibs nods “I agree, we cut his head off.” Jax's leans forward on his elbows, his gaze bouncing between Juan and Chibs. “First we press him on the attacks, find out who's calling the shots.” She nods, lacing her fingers with Juan's “I agree, I want him to die buried to his neck in shit but I want the person holding his fucking leash.” Tiggy slaps his hand on the table “Then let's vote this shit.” She watches Jax as he looks at everyone at the table for a moment “Okay, we all know what Frankie did to compromise the club. Vote's got to be unanimous. All in favor of stripping his patch.” the sounds of agreement were deafening, not one person at this table would stand for that man having redwood on his cut for another day. Jax's face takes on a darker note as he locks eyes with her “As far as Mr. Mayhem goes, let's hear pros and cons.” Tig scuffs, drawings Jax's eyes from her to him “He tried to kill you. That would be a pro.” She will give Jax his dues, she knew he wanted the man dead but he was also being a president and level headed when he said. “We only got the word of a non-member.”

Clays voice down the table makes her tense, ever since Frankie had confirmed she had been right all she wanted was to crawl down the table and his throat out with her teeth. “ Gogo and Greg tried to kill Unser. Nomads were on a spree.” all eyes turn to Chibs “ Yeah, and he shot Lyla, tried to whack me, and admitted to being the one who shot Joy. Frankie's made his bed, Jackie.” she rubs her husband's forearm as he grips her hand, she knew Juan still hadn't gotten over that night, she knew it would take a while for him to forget that feeling of not know if she was alright. Jax's eyes lock with hers for a moment, sometimes she wondered why he gave Bobby the VP patch when it seemed he still looked to her for some things, she nods slightly, it needed to be done. “ Okay. All in favor of Frankie Diamonds meeting Mr. Mayhem.” everyone voted in favor, Frankie's lifespan just shrunk down to hours as Jax slams down the gavel with a resounding crack.

She lets her husband practically drag her from the room by her hand as they all head outside, her mind is so focused on Frankie and how this would end she doesn't hear Juan's voice until he waves a hand in front of her face. “Hey. Come back to me. You ok?” She leans into his hands as they cup her cheeks, she rests her hands on his sides as his eyes sweep over her face “I'm fine just over analyzing. I'm ready for him to be gone.” she can't help but smile up at her husband when he plans a kiss to her forehead. “I know. Now the real question is are you riding along with me or solo. You seemed ok this morning without your pain Meds but this is an hour or so out.” she takes a hand from his side and rubs over the slowly fading bruise under her black shirt. “I'm alright. Tender to pressure as always but as long as I'm not doing a workouts like you do I'm good.” she smirks up at him as he rolls his eyes, she gasps as he yanks her closer by the back of her neck, the kiss he gives her makes her toes curl in her shoes. As he pulls back her lips chase his, much to his amusement. “Crack jokes about my work out habits all you want baby girl but you like what it does.” She snickers and smacks his stomach, making him grunt, she pulls two hair ties from her wrists, holding them up to Juan she turns around and lets him start to tightly braid her hair back. She sees Tig watching them, an amused grin on his face, he opens his mouth to say something but he catches the glint of silver on her hand, realizing she was holding a throwing knife. She waits until he locks eyes with her to wink, yeah fucker try it. Fucking cut your tires, the blue-eyed man pouts at her before yelling. “Your no fun doll.” she snickers and shoves the knife back into her thigh holster. Once Juan is done with her hair she runs to the office to grab her emergency ride bag she keeps there. Seeing Gemma she lets her know what had already he handled today and runs out to the bikes. Phil and Rat would be trailing behind them in the van, with Clay riding as well she would be taking up the rear between her father and Husband. Getting her customary kiss from her husband they take off not long after.

It had been so fucking long since they had just ridden together. This was what she used to dream about when her father would tell her about the club, wide open road. The rumble of their engines like a storm it's halfway in that they stop for a leg stretch and bathroom breaks. She is inside grabbing some waters for the guys and a few lollipops for her sweet tooth while Juan tops off their tanks, she heads outside a grape lollipop already between her lips as she walks up to Chibs who was laid out on his bike, she lays a water on his stomach before taking two waters out off the bag for herself and Juan. Chibs peers up at her, chuckling she arches a brow. “What's got you giggling?” he smirks “With the Lolli stick hanging out of your mouth it looks like a toothpick. Ya look like you Da.” the guys circled around grin, she remembers something, looking around she catches sight of her dad, she whistles to catch his attention. Reaching into her back pocket she holds up a small pack of toothpicks she got inside for him, tossing them towards him she grins when he catches them with ease. Sending her a nod in thanks before turning back to his conversation with Rat in the van driver seat. She shrugs as the rest of the guys laugh “Dad is easy to shop for. Toothpicks, beer, and condoms.” She giggles as Juan's forehead rests on her shoulder, her hand patting the side of his tattooed scalp as he tries to get his wheezing laughter under control.

She sees Phil glance over her shoulder, turning her head she sees him watching Clay who had just come from the bathrooms. The what he was rubbing his hand let her know he was regretting his choice to leave his shot at home. Juan having composed himself rests his chin on her shoulder as Clay passes them “How they doing?” Clay shakes his head, moving to lean against his bike behind them “I should have brought the cortisone.” Yes, he fucking should have, she even packed her pills, even if she felt fine she might not later. Jax comes over, his eyes narrowed on Clay “You good?” she lets Juan moves her so they are facing Clay, her back against his chest. Resting her head back on his shoulder she twirls the Lolli in her mouth as Clay replies “Lungs holding up, it's my goddamn hands.” Jax glances between the van and Clay before replying “Hop in the van with Rat. Let Phil ride it out.” she knew it sucked to tap out. But Clay needed to be more realistic, bring your fucking meds if you needed them. Everyone started to get on their bikes, pulling the Lolli from her mouth she kisses Juan snickering when he grins “Mmmm grape.” She shakes her head and heads for her bike, turning to Tig when he swats at her leg. “Got any more?” she heaves a suffering sigh and holds out her treasure trove of lollipops. Letting him pick before she puts them away. These men would be the death of her, from a bullet wound or mental break she just didn't know which.

An hour or so later

Pulling up to the poker club she sees a very tall son waiting for them and for a second her mind flashes to Opie, she shakes it off walking up behind Jax as he greets the taller man “Quinn it's good to see you man.” she tilts her head back to look at him as he smiles down at her. Seems he was another gentle giant. “Well seems the rumors of the smallest son to wear a patch are true. I'm Quinn it's great to meet you Sonshine.” She grins, holding her hand out for him to shake, she finds herself a few feet of the ground in a tight hug before she can blink. “Careful hun. I'm not one hundred percent.” he drops her onto her feet. “Sorry. I'll remember next time.” she chuckles, letting her husband grab her hand, pulling her behind him and the rest as they head inside. Looking around she gets a feel of the place, very backwoods casino. She liked it, hanging onto Juan's arm she follows behind Jax, narrowing her eyes as a man steps up to their side “Hey, what do you guys need?” Jax pats the man on the shoulder “ We're just looking around, big fella.” Jax's swiftly moves past the man, who turns his attention to herself and the guys, his fingers pointing towards her cut.“Yeah, we're a quiet place. Gotta do it without the patches.”

She arches a brow, her arms crossed over her chest as she replies “Take it easy. We're just here to see Pirelli, okay?” the man steps closer into her space, she places a hand on her husband's chest, stopping him as he moves to step in front of her, she hated cheap forms of intimidation. Staring up at the bald man before her she curls her lip as he replies “Call his office and make an appointment Peaches.” She can't help but snort, fucking peaches? Wow how cute. She is about to rip his throat out with her teeth when Jax's voice bounces off the walls of the room, making them all turn to watch “Leo! You made a bad mistake helping Frankie Diamonds, man.”

She watches as Mr.Clean moves towards Jax, placing his hand on her president's chest. Shoving him back towards the guys “All right, out. Move!” she sidesteps Jax's backward falling body. Snatching up a bottle from the table she uses it to crack the extremely tall man upside the head, sending him crashing to the floor. All hell breaks loose as he gets back up Snatching her up by her cut he holds her again the wall “You crazy bitch!” she snarls and kicks him between his legs when he lets her drop she clasps her hands together making one large fist she swings at the side of his jaw. She doesn't stick around as he goes down, seeing Juan was ok she looks for her father, finding him and another man flying through the air and onto a table she winches as the table breaks. Running over she throws herself onto the man's back as he punches her father, wrapping her arms around his neck she leans back. Using all her body weight she starts to choke him out. The noise around her as come to a grinding halt but she refuses to release her hold on the guy who was now squirming in her arms for freedom. She only let's go when Jax snatches her up by the back of her cut “Enough Sonshine!” panting she leans into her husband and he moves to stand behind her, her father moving to her side as he glares at the man trying to catch his breath on the floor. A man stands before them, she guessed he was Leo. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? Somebody sneezes, your little cocker spaniel here throw a fist? How do you get any business done?” she smirks, her eyes on the man currently nursing a bloody nose “Mr.Clean next to you dropped his pants first.”

Her husband's chest rumbles as he chuckles, the bloody and bold man takes a threatening step towards her “Aw, screw this” She moves to meet him but her husband's hands on her arms and Leo's voice stop her “Hey, hey! Enough. Enough! Okay, so you got my attention.” Jax moves in front of her with sigh “Frankie Diamonds. Leo, we know you're helping him get out of the States.” she couldn't see past Jax large frame, but the condescending tone of Leo's voice made her roll her eyes “ You don't know shit.” Jax finally moves so she can lock eyes on Leo as Jax speaks lowly, but just loud enough for the few close enough to hear. “You know, Frankie Diamonds stole half a million dollars from me and my associates. He's using our cash to bankroll his exit. If you think we're noisy, wait till the cartel and the IRA come knocking.” she bites down on her lip as she tries not to laugh, that sneaky son of a bitch. She leans into her husband and she giggles out “Machetes, grenade launchers and AK’s oh my. And you think I'm a pain. They can spill a few stacks of chips.” She winks at Leo as her husband rests his forehead on her shoulder, she could feel his chest shaking as he tries to suppress his wheezing laughter. The larger man Quinn pats her on the shoulder as he passes by to speak to Leo “We just want Frankie.” Jax's chuckle makes her glance his way, the look on his face was a touch on the teasing side “You can even keep the cash.” She smirks as Leo finally grins, turning away he stops before turning back to Jax “Make a call. Follow us. But if you're telling me a story, kid, this ain't gonna be such a beautiful, sunshiny day here in the splendor of the lakes. You understand?” she can't help but reach over to swat at Jax's arm closest to her as he replies “Not exactly, but I think I get the point.”

She watches him go with a grin, smart ass. She and Juan let the others pass by, leaving them to follow in the back as he walks behind her, his hand coming around to rest his palm flat against her stomach and he whispers “You ok?” She turns her head, presses a kiss to his jaw “I'm fine Juan. Sore but nothing I'm not used to handling.” He narrows his eyes for a second but nods, kissing her temple as they get to their bikes. Following behind Leo and his guys as they pull out the drive isn't long it's just a lot of back roads, she almost swerves into another lane when the sound of a huge explosion booms through the mountains like thunder. She sees Jax's head pop up as he stands on his bike to look at something before he is peeling around the SUV and taking off at high speed, takes the rest of them half a second to do the same when they see the smoke from the mountain. She had broke formation and got closer to Jax, she would catch hell for it later but she wasn't gonna miss Frankie, fuck that for a joke. She pulls up next to Jax as they both catch sight of the van she quickly races past Jax for the door, yanking out her glocks she aims them at Clay who had a shotgun aimed at Frankie “Drop it Clay or I drop you!” Jax's rushes in behind her, gun aimed at Clay as well “Not yet Clay.” She side steps from the door, never taking her eyes off Clay, or her guns as the guys file in one by one. She can't help but smirk as Chibs lays his hands on her shoulders as he passes, talking to Frankie over her head “Frankie. Miss me?” she sees Leo and his boys file in from her peripheral as Jax's speaks to Clay “Lower the shotgun now.” for a second Clay looks like he might just say fuck it, she hoped he would but sadly he had some sense, lowering the shotgun he looks at Jax, the next few seconds are so fast she still can barely remember them. All she hears is Leo's low curse and the sound of gunshots, she watches Frankie drop as one hits him between the eyes, she turns to Leo as he stops, it takes her husband and her father to drag her out as she screeches, trying to bum rush the man. “You stupid son of a bitch!!! HE WASN'T YOUR KILL HE WAS MINE!”

She struggles as her father wraps his arms around her middles, pinning her swings arms to her side she yells as Juan grabs her face. “Joy enough! Look at me. Stop before to pass the fuck out BREATH!” She stares at him, her chest heaving as she feels tears of rage stream down her cheeks and over Juan's fingers. She feels her body shaking as she tries to calm her racing heart and mind. It's a good ten minutes before she can speak without yelling. “I'm good. Let me down dad.” her father kisses the back of her head before he drops her on her feet, moving past her he plants another kiss on the side of her head as he goes back to the cabin. Leaving her alone with her husband, looking up at him she swipes at her tear stained cheeks, looking up at him with a watery smile “I bet I look like shit.” Juan chuckles softly, his hands coming up your cup her face as his thumbed swipe under her eyes. Wiping away the Mascara that had smudged in her rage, she rests her hands on his sides as he presses a kiss to her forehead. “There. Just as beautiful as the day I married you.” she snorts, her hand rubbing up and down his sides “If your trying to sweet talk your way into my pants…..keep talking it might work.” he husband chuckles, his beefy arm wrapping around her shoulder as he drags her forward into his chest. The smell of weed smoke and body wash makes her tension melt away, she slides her hand around his back, her hand digging his back pocket as he tries to move away “The fuck you doing!?” she smiles into his chest as she finds what she was looking for, pulling back she holds up the case of prerolled blunts he always had and wiggles it “light up time?” He shakes his head but grabs it anyway, she goes back to her place against his chest, hugging him tightly as he lights up over her head. With her ear against his chest, she can hear when he takes his first hit, the blunt appearing in front of her face as he passes it to her. Finally pulling back from the warmth of his chest she sees the fuss heading their way, she inhales deeply as Jax gets to her, his hand on the back of her head as he locks eyes with her “You good sis?” she shrugs, a sad smile on her face as she blows her smoke off to the side. Handing the blunt to Juan, as Jax talks to Quinn behind her “do you have a truck or something we can borrow? To haul Frankie back?” she watches Clay standing off to the side with Rat, she takes the last of the blunt from her husband, inhaling all of it she holds it as Quinn replies “Yeah I got you.” she tosses the blunt to the dirt stomping it out she blows her smoke out as she speaks, the guys going quiet at the tone of her voice as she speaks to Clay directly. “Wanna share with the class how you got here before us?”

She doesn't flinch as Clay stares her down through his shades for a moment before replying “Cacuzza. He called me as you guys were pulling out. Me and Rat boy here wanted to check it out before we hit you up.” She doesn't take her eyes off Clay as Rat speaks “We wanted to make sure it was real.” she nods slowly, the feel of a hand on her shoulder makes her tense until she hears the voice attached “Well guess what. It was. Come on. Let's go home.” Her eyes following Clay as he turns to walk to the van, Jax's hand clenching her shoulder in silent support letting her know, I see him too. She reaches up and pats his hand as he moves away and towards the cabin to collect Frankie's corpse. Sliding her sunglasses on she moves away from the others, and away from the still smoking cabin she finds a nice rock formation near the lake and climbs on top of it. Curling her legs up to her chest she stares out onto the oddly still lake, as she stares she tries to figure out what is next. She had been so angry looking for proof of the Nomads and finding the shit stains who killed Opie that it was all she felt for a while, sure she had overcome her issues and fears regarding her and her families mortality. But she was slowly coming to the realization that she was always angry, or maybe the best way to describe it was her anger never died down it simmered under her skin and she was so tired of it. Now that Frankie was dead, that chapter closed. She wasn't sure where to focus that anger she held before and that worried her, the last thing she wanted was to lash out at the guys or worse, Juan or her dad. They still had Opie's killers to look for but she had long ago told herself that she couldn't hold anger for that even though it still hurt to know he was gone, all she could do was just serve justice for her still living boys. She jerks when she feels arms slide around her shoulders, but once she got sight of the reaper set against the deep sepia skin of the left forearm she knew it was her husband. Leaning back against him she closes her eyes as he presses slow, lazy kisses from her ear to the collar of her shirt. When she turns her head to returns the favor. “Want to tell me what has you sneaking off? Needed a minute?” she rests her forehead against his cheek, her nails dragging back and forth over the reaper on his arm as she tries to figure out how to say this right. “I was so ready for today. My anger was at the surface and I was ready to take that human skit mark back to Charming, grill him and dump him in a ditch after. But now I'm left feeling. I don't know if empty is the best word.” She struggles for a moment, her husband grabbing her hand rubbing his arm, pulling the hand to his mouth he kisses her fingers before speaking.

“I get it. You had so much anger. And have had it since Op died and then this added too it. Now when you thought you were doing to get an ending you wanted it was stolen from you and your anger is confused now. Frantic and searching for a place to put it all.” she nods, staying quiet as Juan continues. “But baby that's not healthy to stay that angry all the time. You have to take away the fact that it wasn't you who killed him and think on the main point, he is dead now. He can't hurt any one of us anymore. And Joy If you need to do something with it. The anger I mean. tell me. You and I can go in the backyard with Sonny and play it off or hey, come out on Saturday with me and your dad to work out, yoga is all well and good for you but this might help more.” she thinks for a second, he made a good point. Shifting she grins up at her husband “Look at you. My incredibly smart and thoughtful husband. I like that idea working out, and we can bring sonny with us, he loves the clubhouse.” She smirks, her hand snaking up his hard chest to the back of his neck. Yanking his head down she brushes her lips over his softly as she speaks, her eyes heavy-lidded from the weed and her voice taking on a smokey quality “And seeing you sweaty and shirtless is never something I will pass up seeing.” His grin is wicked as he leans down, closing that last centimeter between their lips to kiss her deeply. She would never get tired of his kiss, the brush of his warm tongue along her bottom lip as she lays back onto the hard stone below them, his body hovering over her as she grips the back of his neck with both hands. The sound of laughing doesn't hit her until she opens her eyes, she can hear the voices finally “I don't think Juicy boy stands a chance. She will detach her jaw swallow him whole, you watch.” She finally pulls away from her husband, tilting her head back she sees an upside-down Chibs and Tiggy grinning at them. “Do either of you old pervs have nothing better to do?” she pets her hand down the back of her husband head as he laughs into the side of her neck. Tiggy walks over to them, Chibs following behind, Chibs help Juan off of her and Tiggy helps her down from the tall formation. Grinning as he wraps an arm around her shoulder, leading her towards the bikes “You know I'm always down for a live show.” She shakes her head and sighs, only the men in her life. She would be grey by thirty-five.

A few hours later

Once they had gotten back to the house it had been peaceful, they had stripped down to their night clothes well before the sun was down but they had the rest of the day to do absolutely nothing. Then right before dark Juan decided to take Sonny on a run with him, something about needing time to think about what's up next. She didn't stress him, he would tell her his thoughts eventually when he finally caught up to them. That had been an hour ago, Juan had texted her saying he was on his way back so she was currently getting dinner ready when the doorbell rang. Grabbing her Glock from the kitchen island she slowly walks to the door, peeking out the hole her shoulder drop and she sighs at the sight of Roosevelt. Opening the door wide she grins. “What can I do for you?” he holds up a file. She waves him inside, locking the door behind her knowing Juan had his key to get in. She lets him follow her into the kitchen as she checks on the broccoli she is steaming as she talks over her shoulder to him. “Thanks for the file. But I doubt it will be necessary.” She knows he is staring holes into her back, once she is done tossing the spices into the chicken in the pan she has before she turns it down a little and turns to face him. “Got a call an hour ago. Frankie Diamonds was found in a ditch, multiple gunshot wounds to the face and torso. Something you want to tell me, Ortiz?” She can't help but smirk, always the cop. “First off, cut the cop act your sitting at my kitchen island and I'm in my pj’s it's not even remotely intimidating. And secondly no it wasn't us sadly.” She turns, grabbing the tongs on the counter she flips the chicken, giving it a dash of her pre-mixed seasoning before turning back to face Eli. “We were there though. And another person who isn't a son shot first I'm just as pissed as you are, trust me.” she crosses her arms over her chest as Eli rests his head on his folded arms on the counter, it's quiet for are moment, the sounds of the food cooking the only thing you could hear before she breaks the silence again.

“I wanted to pull the fucking trigger. So I get how you feel man I do, but Juan said something today that made me see reason. He is dead Eli. The man who tried to kill me and your wife and unborn child are dead. I know you as a cop want to see them rot in cells but for me…..this is enough. And both of us have people we love to watch out for, so we can't waste time dwelling on what could have happened.” she hears the front door lock tumble, turning her head she can't help but smile as her husband and dog rush in. Watching him kneel down before sonny, she can't help but sigh. Even after a year seeing him so happy and open makes her heart go soft, she hoped in years to come it wouldn't stop happening. Once Juan had finished taking the harness off sonny he made his way into the kitchen, panting he leans against the doorway as he eyes the man sitting at his counter. Opening the fridge she gets him a tall bottle of water and tosses it at him, smirking as she says “He isn't gonna explode if you stare at him hard enough Juan.” her husband narrows his eyes and walks over to her to kiss her cheek, she wrinkles her nose as his sweaty chest brushes her arm. “You stink. Go shower dinner is almost ready.” he chuckles, pressing another kiss on her cheek he nods to Eli on his way out. She grins as Eli shakes his head “I need to head home. Rita is probably worried.” she nods, walking over to cabinet she pulls out a container of cookies, handing them to Eli she smiles. “Rita seems to like these. My mom's recipe. Tell her hi for me.” Eli nods, heading for the door he stops and turns to her. “I need your statement still. write it up and drop it off, please. Maybe tomorrow?”

She nods and watches the man leave, feeling somewhat better about the day. Juan had been right, she and Eli both needed to let go of their anger in this. The deed was done and for now, both their small families were safe, heaving a tired sigh she turns back to dinner. Pulling the chicken out of the pan she sets it to the side, Juan would be out soon then they could finally eat.

Next Morning

She had risen early, normally Juan was the one to rise before her but she guessed everything from yesterday and his hour run after had wiped him out. She had quickly let Sonny out into the back yard before he could start making enough noise to wake Juan before she set about making a nice breakfast. But before she can start her phone starts ringing, seeing Jax's name on the screen she arches a brow, putting in on speaker she grabs the eggs and other stuff from the fridge. “What's up buttercup?” the man in questions tone made her know this wasn't just a social call. “A little much to talk about over the phone, you good to have visitors?” she silently curses and then sighs “Yeah. Who's coming so I know to make enough food for you strays I have apparently adopted.” that gets a chuckle from the man on the phone before he replies “Just me and Rat boy. And you and Juice.” She nods, sorry Juan duty calls you from slumber it seems. “I need to wake him so let me do that first and get some go go juice in my man.” they both say goodbye and hang up. Putting the foodstuff to the side she heads for the bedroom, leaning against the door she watches her sleeping husband for a moment. He looked so peaceful she honestly wanted to let him sleep but she had no choice.

Walking over she carefully slides in on her side of the bed, sitting against the headboard she combed her fingers over his Mohawk as she calls his name softly. “Juan, wake up baby.” She watches with a soft smile as he turns in his sleep, his arms reaching out for her. She lets him wraps his arms around her waist as his head comes to rest on her lower stomach. She gently traces his tribal tattoos as she speaks again. “I know you're tired handsome but Jax called. He and Rat are coming over to discuss something.” She giggles as he groans, his face turning to rub back and forth over her stomach as he shakes his head. His voice deep and underused as he speaks into her shirt. “Why are they coming here at ass o'clock in the morning anyway?” she snorts, sliding down in his arms so they are holding each other under the warm covers she kisses his stubble covered jaw “It's hardly that early Juan. It's eight in the morning.” he groans against, his face hiding in her neck, the scratch of his stubble making her laugh. “Exactly. Ass o'clock.” She swats his arm, trying to wiggle from his iron grasp, trying not to smile as she realizes she is stuck. “Juan Carlos get up. I need to make breakfast and let Sonny back in and you need to get dressed and have your wake up mix or your gonna be a boar when the guys get here.” she thinks he is asleep again until she hears him curse lowly before rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling, slowly Blinking sleep from his pretty brown eyes. She sits up in bed, looking down at him to make sure he is going to stay awake when he looks over at her and grinning she knows he is ok. Leaning over she presses a kiss to his nose before sliding out of bed she walks over to her side of the dresser, pulling on some old sweats she turns to leave, only to see her husband's smirking face watching her from the bed, she couldn't help but laugh “Your such an ass man.” she watches him stand, biting down on her lip as she catches sight of his toned body in nothing but black boxers. He walks over to her, kissing the top of her head he smirks “And your no better about me.” he swats her on the ass, making her yelp. Before she can retaliate he is out of arm's reach and closing the bathroom door “Coward!” his wheezing laugh is the only reply she gets before she heads back to the kitchen, a small grin on her face.

It's not twenty minutes later that the Jax and Rat stroll in, she rolls her eyes as they park it at the kitchen island, grinning boyishly at her as she pours both of them cups of coffee. “Only two men can grin at me like that and get away with it. One is in the living room the others is not here. So drop the shit and start talking.” She pulls the eggs and turkey bacon off the fire, setting three plates out she goes about making them as she raises her voice so Juan hears her over his movie. “Juan come on breakfast.” She hears him groan, narrowing her eyes at the backsplash in the kitchen she yells again. “Juan Carlos you have seen Spaceballs twenty fucking times in your young life. And you will see it twenty fucking more. it's not changing any time soon now get in here!” the men behind her snicker but when she turns with their plates in hand and a glare on her face they quite quickly. She only loses her glare when Juan comes into the kitchen, an easy grin on his face. Standing by her side he goes to make his plate seeing she already had that and his morning mix done he grabs her jaw. The turn her face he pecks her lips quickly before moving to sit next to the guys, she sips her cold brew slowly as she watches them. “Start talking guys. I didn't plan to get into work headspace this early so I'm a bit of a grouch.”

Jax and Rat share a look before Jax nods, swallowing his mouthful of food he speaks “Rat came to me this morning. Apparently, Rat-boy here got a few words from Frankie before he died.” She sets her cup down, picking up her bowl of sliced fruit she nods for him to continue. “Apparently Frankie told Rat that Clay was behind the Nomads attacks. And that Clay told them to steal the safe but here is the thing, Clay made them give him back all his legal papers.” She smirks around her mouthful, swallowing she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “If we find the papers it proves Clay knew or at least had some part in this shit. Because the police never found the safe or the papers so how would he have them otherwise. Which would also call into question his involvement in the attack on me and Rita, the home invasions, the dead nomads. Christ Jax, we got him.” Jax shakes his head, making her frown “Not yet. We need those papers. Rat said he would look, and I'll talk to Miles myself since him and Rat boy are Clays, main watchers. Once we have those papers though yes. We just might have Clay.” Once business was off the table breakfast went quickly, the guys leaving them to get dressed. She is pulling her jeans over her hips when her husband's arms slide around her bare stomach from behind, leaning her head back she smiles as he kisses her jaw. “Can I help you sir?” she can feel him smile against her shoulder, his arms holding her a little tighter. “Just wanted to hold my wife for a second.”

She feels her heart melt a little, turning in his arms she stares up at her husband, all hard lines and head tattoos. But his eyes are soft, she wraps her arms around his back, under his so he can wrap himself around her. Laying her cheek on his chest she lets him rock them for a moment, their life was so fast-paced and hectic that silent moments like this one were so precious to her. When he tries to move away she doesn't release her grip on him, looking up at him she pouts. “What no sugar from daddy?” the eye roll she gets makes her snicker, but his smile lets her know he finds her just a little funny as he pecks her lips. “I'll be ready in ten then we can ride out. Got some paperwork that needs doing at the shop and I have our lunches set aside for later.” he nods and heads into their closet. She sent up a silent prayer as she pulls on the rest of her clothes, let no son die today.

A few Hours later

She was watching her father and Juan talk across the room as she finished the last of her lunch. He had stayed in the office with her for an hour, talking to her about working out on Saturday when Juan had come to remind her it was lunch time, after that her boys had branched off to let her eat in peace. She is shaken from that peace as the last spoonful hits her lips, Tigs hands coming down gently on her shoulders, she tilts her head to look up at him. “Prospects called. They got Hightower.” She drops her spoon, one of Opie's killers. Getting to her feet she whistles to her father and Husband, both of them at her side in an instant when they see she is checking her backpack of goodies behind the bar. “What's has you checking your bag of tricks little girl.” she loads a clip onto her Glock, stashing a few others into her tiny backpack as she replies without glancing at each of them, still elbow deep in the duffle before her. “Prospects got one of the guys who killed Opie. I'm getting ready for just about anything.” her dad is gone before she finishes the sentence, probably heading up to the dorms to do the same. Juan stays by her side, his hand held out as she hands over a few of his own clips and guns he had stashed in her bag. “So much for a slow day huh.” Once she had the bag packed full she put her weapon duffle back in its place by the bar, turning to her husband she lets him see how shaken she is.

He doesn't hesitate to wrap her up in his arms, she leans heavy into his chest “It's ok baby. We will get them all for this. Opie's death won't go unpunished. And remember, even if you don't pull the trigger yourself. It's still enough.” she leans her head back, her husband's lips meet hers in a feather-light kiss. She soaks him in, his warmth, his scent, the taste of him on her tongue. She pulls back, giving him a sad smile “I love you Juan.” he nods, resting his forehead against her he closes his eyes “I love you too Joy.” they both head for the door as her father joins them not a minute later. Heading for the bikes she is slowly, brick by brick locking away her worry, her pain, the image of Opie as well goes behind that wall. She knew this would be a touchy one. She had to remain level headed because from the faraway look in half the guy's eyes she knew level heads would be hard to come by today.

Time Jump

As they pull up she feels an off sense of deja vu like she had been here before at some point, standing she makes sure her guns are strapped tight and her small bag on her back isn't flying off at some point. Walking over she catches the tail end of Jax's and the prospects conversation. “....there are bikes in the back. Tricked out shit.” She arches a brow, another biker gang. She starts heading towards the club, ignoring the rest of the club as they call for her in low whispers. Fuck this pussyfooting she wanted answers, making her way around the club she curses violently at the sight of the bikes before her, Jax and the others aren't too far behind when they catch sight of the bright orange bike, Grim Bastards. It would fucking have to be them wouldn't it, nothing could be fucking simple. She moves past the bikes and into the club, she is halfway to the bar when she is spotted by T.O. She quickly slaps a grin on her face as he and his men make their way towards her and the other son's. “Well if it isn't the Princess of Samcro. What brings you to our side of town?” she lets him pull her into a hug, letting him say hello to Jax and the others. Feeling Juan's arm slip under her cut she leans into his hand, trying to draw some sense of comfort as Jax's speaks to T.O. “I'm looking for someone. Guy called Randall Hightower.” T.O’s face goes from Civil to hard in seconds, she narrows her eyes as he replies flatly “Why you looking for him?” she moves to stand next to Jax, her arms crossed over her chest “He killed Opie when they were in County. I don't like the look on your face T. Spill.” the man before her starts to fidget, almost two years with Bikers you learn they don't like to see an angry woman or be the blockade in front of one “He hired us to protect him. I didn't know it was from you.” she smirks as Tig rests his arm on her shoulder he leans forward to speak “Well, we'll be buying out your contract as of now.” something else is up, she arches a brow as T refuses to meet her or Jax's eyes “ Ain't that simple. He's my cousin. We came up together.”

She is about to open her mouth to raise hell when it decides to break loss without her, she hears someone shout Randall and gunshots, she is yanked down to the ground by Tig, his body shielding hers as three shots rang out she shoots up, catching sight of the large man going out the side door. Cursing she shakes off Tig as he tries to grab her and she books it for the front door, Jax and Bobby not far behind. She is standing in the road when she hears the sound of tires, seeing a Blue SUV she starts shooting, Jax standing at her side as they rain gunfire. They are both yanked from the street by Chibs as Randell almost hits them, she tries to aim for his tires but she gets the back passage door as he knocks into one of the guy's bikes, causing them to domino into one another. She screams her rage to the sky as she stands at Jax side, she combs her hands through her hair as her Husband runs to her side. She waves him off, she needed a second, moves back a few steps, his eyes watching her closely as she pulls the now empty clips from her guns to replace them. She finally looks up at Juan, walking over she grabs his jaw, yanking him down she presses a hard kiss to his lips before quickly pulling away. “I need to keep this anger a little longer. I love you.” he nods, grabbing the wrist of the hand holding his face he yanks her hand off of his face to kiss the back of it before running off to check up with the others.

She is starting off in the distance as the sons and bastards crowd around each other she can hear the guilt in T’s voice. “we had no idea Randy was involved in Ope's death, man.” she grinds her teeth as Jax shouts, looking to her a child in every sense “Well, now you know! Where do we find him?” she watches T scrubs a hand over his mouth, a look of remote washes over his face like a flash before he locks it down. “He's blood, man. I can't just turn him over. There's gotta be something we can work out.” she finally has enough when Jax practically screeches, his arms flailing “ Like what, bro?! How are we gonna make this right?!” pushing off the wall she plants her hand on the center of the tall blonde man's chest, walking him back as she walks forward. “Give us a sec T.” She gets a few feet away and shoves harshly, Jax's glares down at her as Tig hisses through his teeth “Well, isn't this just a bunch of bullshit. Let's just find Fat Albert and cave his skull in.” She turns her glare to her father when he speaks his agreement “Second that.” both of her hands reach out to smack both men's heads with a satisfying thud. “Both of you chicken heads shut your holes. All your doing is feeding into the frenzy this albino gorilla in front of me is currently in.” turning her gaze back up to Jax “Don't act like your the only fucking person here to take a much-owed pound of flesh. The only difference between us at the current moment is I'm thinking through my anger and none of you assholes are. So please get on my fucking level or leave.” Bobby stands at her side, his hand on her arm as he talks “Kids right. For 20 years we have had relationships with these people. The Grim Bastards have always backed us, always. Maybe we need to look for a compromise.”

She curls her lip as Jax's shoulders by her, she had no issues calling anyone out on their bullshit, he should know that by now. Turning she stands towards the back with Juan and her father as they return to the Bastards “There was a couple of other guys with your cousin when they took out Opie. Why don't you let us talk to them? We'll get those names, throw him a beating, but we'll let him live.” T’s eyes move between her and Bobby, he knew at one point she had been VP, she knew what he was asking. Keep Jax honest. She nods and T locks eyes with Jax once more “All right. I'll track him down. I'll let you know.” she lets the tension drain from her shoulders, leaning back against the brick wall she slides down to sit, pulling out her pack of cigs she lights one, sliding her sunglasses on she watches Jax take off with a shake of her head. He saw Opie die, him, Chibs and Tiggy saw the whole damn thing so she could understand to a degree the rage. But Opie wouldn't want this club to go down in flames because of his death. She would keep her promise if it fucking killed her.

She doesn't look over as two bodies move to sit down on either side of her, she keeps her gaze straight even as Tigs head comes to rest on her shoulder, his curls brushing her cheek. “Going to Ignore us forever kid?” she leans her head on top of Tigs, a sad smile on her face as Chibs does the same to her other shoulder. “Not forever.” She hears Chibs light another Cig as she tosses the butt of hers into the street. “We understand where you're coming from lass. We know you made a promise to Op. But you need to understand where we are coming from.” She lifts her head, sliding her glasses a little down her nose she turns to look at Chibs as he gazes off to the side. She feels Tig grab her hand, playing with her rings and nails, her heart clinches as it reminds her of Able. “We saw that giant bastard open Opies skull with a lead pipe lass. While we banged on the glass until our knuckles went numb and bloody each one of us left a part of us in the dark, dank room with Op.” She swipes at her cheeks below her glasses, not looking away when he lowers his glasses to lock eyes with her. “Don't Judge us too harshly for what we do as the half men we currently are. We need you girl, more than you know to guide us.” she nods, licking her suddenly dry lips “Your my boys. I'll always guide you. But you make it so hard sometimes.” She closes her eyes when Chibs kisses the side of her head before he stands. Looking up at him she sees he is grinning down at her “We wouldn't be yours if it was meant to be easy.” watching Chibs walk off she raises her none captured hand to come through Tigs wild curls, her eyes finding her husband across the street. His eyes watching her from the shade, he tilts his head, she knew he was asking if she was ok, she nods, a small smile on her face. Now all they had to do was wait.

And the wait wasn't long, apparently, Jax had gone to meet with Pope about Charming Heights and got a nice tidbit of information out of the meeting as well. The boatyard, that's where Randell was hiding. Part of her was suspicious of how Pope knew that but she had come to realize this was Pope's town, they knew charming like the back of their hand, makes sense he would know his turf. Pulling up to the boatyard she sees the bastards bikes lined up near the car Randell almost ran her and Jax down with. Pulling her helmet off she sees T.O heading their way, a look of guilt and shock on his face. Standing next to Jax she arches a brow as T.O speaks “How did you know we were here?” she watches Jax as he replies “A friend. You remember what those are? Don't you?” oh please. Enough with the melodramatics, she sighs “Where is he T?” the man looks down at her, his shoulders slumped a bit “I'm trying Joy. I can't convince him that you won't kill him. I talked to him about Opie. The order was from Pope to take out the guys in county. The guards grabbed Randell for his size it was the guards who set up that kill. You know what it's like to be hired muscle joy.”

She did, you don't ask questions, do what needs to be done to survive. But she wasn't Prez or VP anymore, she had no say in what happened today. She feels a hand on her shoulder as Tig speaks over her head “so who were the other guys.” T doesn't look away from her as he replies, she knew he was trying to appeal to her better nature, but honestly, after her talk with Chibs and Tig, she didn't know how she felt. “He didn't even know them.” Jax, sensing her unease stand a little in front of her breaking T’s line of sight with her “Let us hear that from him.” T sighs, his chin meeting his chest as he scrubs a hand over his bald head in frustration. Looking back up at Jax he replies “I need your word.” She places her hand on Jax back, he back was like stone under her hand, hard and unmoved as he replies “Yeah. Sure.”

She follows behind Jax as T leads them down to the boats, a flash of red makes her look up. She curses a Randell makes a run for the building, she is shoving past the guys as T yells for his cousin to stop. She shoves the two Grim members who had been with Randell to the side as they try to slow her down. He wasn't getting away again if she could help it, she pulls out her Glock as they make it inside. Seeing Randall aiming at her and the guys she shouts “Put that shit down!”

The taller man yells back “Back off your trying to kill me!” she curls her lip as Jax moves to her side, his gun aimed “No man we just want to talk to you.” she nods, lowering her gun slightly she lets T pass her “They gave me their word Randell. They want info, not your life. Put the gun down man.” she watches him put the gun on the floor, keeping hers in her hand she walks over slowly, her eyes on his hands as he bends down to grab it from the floor. Handing it off to T. She watches Chibs and Jax as they stand next to the giant of a man. “Who else killed our friend?” she feels Tig move to her side, he needed to be closer to this. She got that, Randell sighs “One guy, his name was Aldo. Smith, I think. Other guys, I just knew their first name. Vox and Mace. That's all I know. I swear.” they had names, that was enough for her to do a search, she sees Chibs say something to Jax but she can't make out what. She feels Tigs hand on her arm as she watches Chibs move behind Randell his silences gun blowing out the back of Randells head. She can't process as guns are drawn, she aims both of hers at T, moving away from Tig she stands between T.O’s gun and Chibs and Jax, he wanted them dead he would have to mow her down first. “Jesus Christ! What is this shit? Jax, you gave me your word, man!” she can feel the heat coming off Jax in waves as he places his hand on her shoulder, moving around her to face T on his own “And so did you. You said you were gonna deliver him. You didn't.” everything is still for a moment, she can hear everyone breathing for a solid minute before T lowers his gun, she goes as well. She feels a flood of cold in the pit of her stomach as T speaks to Jax “Who the hell are you?”

She doesn't know how they got back to their bikes, she is digging around in her backpack once she finds what she needs she forces Chibs to sit on his bike so they are level with each other as she wipes the blood from his face with napkins she keeps for situations like this. She didn't know how she felt yet about what they had done, the bond that was now broken between the Grim Bastards and SamCro. But she knew, right now at this moment that she needed to make sure her family was ok. Once the blood was all gone she grabs a lighter and sets it on fire, no evidence. She doesn't say anything as they all get on their bikes, what can anyone say in a moment like this? The ride back was smooth and quick, her mind never stopped moving, even when they made it back. She feels Juan at her side as he wraps an arm around her, his lips kissing her temple as she watches Bobby chase down Jax “Jax. Jax wait!” she sees Jax turn to Bobby as the group catches up to them she hears what Bobby is saying “You just shit on two decades of brotherhood. What you did back there was wrong. And it hurts all of us.” Jax looks off in the distance for a moment, his eyes lost in something before he turns to Bobby with a new focus “You know, you might be right, but you didn't see the pleasure in that animal's face when he caved in Opie's skull! We did!” she gets between the two men, her hands on Jax's chest, making him look down at her and not focus on Bobby, she tilts her head towards the picnic table and Jax goes without a word. She feels Bobby move around her to head into the clubhouse.

Staying where she was, she breathes deeply to shake the Image Jax painted when he yelled. Her heart still broke for her living men, no one should see a friend die, let alone the way Opie went out. she sees a mass of black leather come into her eyesight, she glances up at Tig as he pats her shoulder before looking past her to Jax “I'll go talk to him.” everyone files inside, her husband and father included. She might not be VP anymore but she refused to leave Jax's side like this, he was still her brother. Turning she sees Chibs and Jax watching her, she slowly walks over to the little bit of space left on Chibs side and straddles the bench so she can see them both clearly. As Chibs pulls a pack of Ciggs from his pocket she holds out her lighter to him as he speaks “We did what we had to do, Jackie.” He turns to her as he hands her lighter back once he lights his cigg “I know your off balance lass but you know it had to be done.” she nods, she knew it did but the way it happened could have been better. Jax leans forward, he elbows coming to rest on his knees as he looks between the both of them “I know. Things are gonna get bloody, guys. I'm not sure if Bobby's gonna be able to roll with that. I need to know that I have you both in my corner. I need you both or I'll get lost.”

Her eyes well as she stares at her club brother, Chibs stands seeming to tumble through his own thoughts before tossing his half finish cigg way and turns back to Jax “I've always been there, and I always will. Come here.” she watches Chibs as he stares Jax in the face hard for a moment as he stands before the older man. “I love you, kid. Understand?” Jax nods as Chibs grabs his face, kissing his cheek and bumping his head against the younger man he turns to her, holding his hand out she grabs hold, letting him pull her to her feet she crashes into his side as he wraps an arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head. “I love you to girl. I'm gonna get cleaned up.” She pats his back and watches him head inside. Turning to Jax she sees him watching her, turning to face him she gives him a tired grin, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. Watching a very small smile appear to match hers she pats his cheek roughly. “I want to be angry but I can't because I have no idea what you all saw that day in county. It changed something in the three of you I might never understand. But I'm not going to duck and run. I love you all too fucking much to do that. You all will break my heart more times then I'm going to be able to count I get that now, but I will always be right here for you. To yell, to comfort and nurse you idiots. Don't doubt that brother.” he nods, yanking her forward by her cut he holds her tight for a moment, his cheek rested on the top of her head. They would make it through this shit she refused to let it happen any other way.

Later that night

After her talk with Jax, she had buckled down at the shop for a few hours to lighten the load for the next day. Gemma had been around more which helped tremendously, she hoped this was the first steps of Gemma getting her shit together. She had told Juan to head home when he was done and she would meet him there, she needed to drop of her statement to Roosevelt at the police station before heading home and honestly that had been just as draining as she had thought it was going to be. It had gone from running in to drop of her statement to sitting down and going through it and honestly she was tired of having to remember it and picking at it. She was ready to move on. Pulling up to the house she felt her body already losing some of the tension as she sees the porch light on and the living room light shining through the break in her dark curtains. Getting off her bike she makes her way to the door, opening it she expects to find her husband on the couch, asleep or playing one of his many games but when he isn't there she is surprised. She hears the sound of sunny claws on the wood floor, kneeling she wraps her arms around the excited pit with a grin. She scratches his head with both hands as she speaks softly to him. “Hey, my handsome boy. Sorry I haven't been hanging with you much. I'll bring you to work one day this week. Get you out and about. Deal?” she holds her open palm out to him, giggling when he hands her his paw, pressing a kiss to his head she narrows her eyes as she looks around. “Wanna help me find daddy? Sniff him out for me boy.”

She grins when the pup licks her cheek and takes off for the backdoor. Putting her stuff on the side table by the door and sliding off her boots she follows. Seeing the fairy lights on she pushes open the door, letting sunny charge into the yard to play for a minute, when she turns she sees her husband at the outside table, food covered and a smile on his face. She had to bite her lip to stop the wave of emotion as he stands, making his way over to her, she curls herself into his chest as he wraps his arms around her. She inhales deeply as the scent of his body wash swarms her, her hands move to grip his shirt on both sides. “I got your text about being held up with Eli. Thought I would go ahead to do the cooking and did the laundry for you.” she tilts her head back she smiles up at him. “I can tell I'm married because the words ‘I cooked and did laundry’ got me weak in the knees.” he chuckles and shakes his head, looking down he sees Sunny at their feet, letting her go he kneels down and pets over sunny’s head as the panting dog licks his cheek. “Dinner time pup.” he looks up at her as he continues “Food is still hot. Finished about ten minutes before you pulled up. So all we need is drinks, grab those while I feed him?” she grins, grabbing his face as he moves to stand she pulls him closer, pressing her lips against his she melts into him as he yanks her closer. Pulling back he grins, his brow kicked up “What was that for? Not that I'm complaining.” She smiles, her hands rubbing his shirt covered sides “For being up handsome. Just for being you.” His smile losses the teasing edge as he stares at her, leaning his head down he kisses her forehead before turning to go into the house. She saw the raw emotion before he did though, her husband still wasn't used to being praised, but until the day she died, she would get him used to it.

AN: Hope you liked it. Let me know your thoughts and I'll see you next time.

#A Song For You #juice ortiz x oc #juice ortiz #ofc #happy lowman #Jax Teller #Clay Morrow #tig trager #chibs telford #bobby munson #gemma teller

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snowbellewells · 6 years

Text

Run to Me (in the Dead of Night)

I’m sorry for the delay on this chapter; it simply wasn’t coming together as I wanted and it was a crazy week at work as well. Needless to say though, it’s here now, and rather than give you tons of excuses, I’ll just let you get into this next chapter. Enjoy! (And of course I’d love to hear what you think...)

by: @snowbellewells

chapter six ~ where paths diverge

It was a rare and foreign pleasure to idly hold hands with someone she felt a true affection for, and warmth flooded Emma from where their joined fingers swung between she and Killian, occasionally brushing against her hips or his, the lingering sparks shooting out to the rest of her body. The luxury of it wasn’t lost on her, nor did she want to let go, even as they stepped into the station – even as her cheeks flushed at the prospect of so openly showing their connection to her boss and anyone else who might be present within those walls.

As if sensing her reluctance to let go, but also her reserve, Killian gave her hand a gentle squeeze with his own before discreetly releasing her. Emma wasn’t certain just how he understood, how he could read her so remarkably well, but as he reached ahead to hold the door for her and then leaned in close to whisper in her ear, the heat of his breath tickled her chin in a way she couldn’t ignore, her heartbeat stuttered and caused her to trip clumsily over the strip of raised linoleum that stuck up unevenly in the entryway. “I’ll be right beside you,” he murmured lowly, and then stood straight again, though he remained near enough to her that she felt his body heat comfortingly at her side. The man must be psychic, or else his heightened animal senses allowed him to be in tune with the part of her that wanted to bask in the fiery attraction they’d just found, but also the part of her which instinctively pulled back, not wanting to dive too hastily, or trust too easily – not again. And perhaps most of all, the little girl within who had never had anything or anyone to hold close and call her own, who somehow wanted this good thing between them, just for a bit, to be theirs alone.

Turning her head just slightly to smile at him, Emma mouthed a silent “thank you”, both for the support, knowing just what she needed and giving it, and for easily understanding her, which was not an experience she had encountered often in her life to that point. As they entered the large, open main room of the station, they found Graham in the space alone, clearly having been pacing in either agitation or excess nervous energy, she wasn’t sure which. He had also been dragging his hands through his curly mop of light brown hair, as it was standing up in wild curls all over his head in the aftermath.

He whirled at the sound of their footsteps, not startled, but on guard, as if not sure who might be charging in, or perhaps even magically appearing. Kicking herself for her insensitivity, Emma’s eyes were quick to take in the slight tremor in Graham’s hands, even as he faced them head-on with a look of determination; he obviously meant to go down swinging at whomever might have arrived. He shoved both hands into his pockets almost immediately upon seeing them – making his friend and deputy ache for the fear and shame he was still carrying and for how desperate he was for those cracks in his strong, capable façade not to show. The sooner they located Regina and she paid for what she’d done, the better it would be – for more people than Emma could even count or would have initially realized.

“Just us,” she announced with a lopsided half-smile and a shrug of her shoulder, hoping to put him at ease even a bit. “Sorry for the delay, but thought I’d better take a minute and make sure there wasn’t some sort of showdown.”

When she nodded toward Killian, he ducked his head, abashed at the way he’d nearly charged the most powerful dark magic wielder any of them knew in vain, pointless rage, and Graham even cracked a small, hesitant smile. “Yes, well,” Killian mumbled, unconsciously scratching at his ear in embarrassment and even feeling a tinge of blush color his cheeks, “I’ll admit it wasn’t my finest hour.”

Graham shrugged, nodding in true understanding and beckoning them toward seats at the desk filling the wide space not taken by the two small cells. “Believe it or not,” the sheriff commiserated in a gruff, scratchy voice, “I’ve been there. Sometimes, even if you know you don’t stand a chance, you just have to strike out, have to try to stop the evil. Otherwise…” he paused, swallowing hard and dropping his gaze from either of theirs and instead turning to needlessly straighten the stacks of papers on his desk before he continued, “the hurt is just too much, the wrong is just too horrible to let stand. You lose your head a little.”

Killian nodded too, his voice equally rough and haunted as his tone caused the other man to look up with near relief shining in his eyes. “Aye, that’s it exactly. You feel you must land at least one blow for your cause or you’ll go mad.”

Graham shook his head ruefully as if struggling to believe he had found another who knew what he was going through instinctively and made the fight to balance beast and man, justice and vengeance, seem every bit the trial it was, but also still a fight worth undertaking, with some sense of hope for the outcome. And he wasn’t alone in his mission, not this time. In fact, he couldn’t remember when he had ever had such allies.

Emma stepped forward then, not wanting to interrupt he and Killian if the talk was doing them good, but also knowing Graham well enough, and being aware he was enough like her to offer him work to focus on, to steady himself with, bringing them back to their purpose. “So,” she questioned, with a studiously nonchalant air, “any ideas yet on just where our mayor turned evil magical ruler may be hiding out?”

Graham shook his head with a resigned sigh, indicating the mess of maps and town blueprints spread out before him on his desk. “Not with any certainty,” he admitted, not at all enjoying the knowledge that with every moment their former mayor was on the loose, she was holed up safely somewhere, plotting her next move – a strike back at them in retaliation no doubt, a shiver he couldn’t stop skittering unseen down his spine at what that could mean – and quite possibly with her sadistic mother to aid her in her nefarious plans.

He placed a work-calloused finger down on the diagram of the mayor’s office, tapping it in consideration as he continued. “I do have one working theory, but I can’t truly advise any of us check it out. If I’m right, they would almost certainly be walking right into a magical attack. However…” he drawled the word out, hesitating slightly, and Emma nearly wondered if her friend was holding back because he deemed both she and Jones hotheaded enough to go charging into battle the moment he revealed his hunch, and knowing the peril better than most, he didn’t want that responsibility on his hands.

She reached across the desk to clasp his forearm for just a moment, her grip firm, but also meant to be at least somewhat encouraging. “Go on, we’re good,” she urged intently, giving him a small, tight smile and bob of her head in what she could manage of assurance. “If you’re thinking she’s near the mayor’s office, we need to know. My parents talked about going over there at some point today, trying to see if they could straighten things up and install some sort of de facto leader until an election could be held, and set up a headquarters for those who are still trying to locate lost loved ones and re-acclimate since the curse’s breaking.”

“Your mother’s over there?” Graham blurted, wide-eyed in alarm, his indecision suddenly galvanized into action at the news. “We need to get over there right away. I can only think Regina still wants her blood most of all; her hatred of your mother, her burning desire to see Snow White pay for her supposed wrongs, is what landed all of us here…what set all her evil in motion to begin with.”

“Wait, hold on Mate,” Killian tried, attempting to be the voice of reason he had failed to serve as before. “You haven’t told us why there…”

Emma gave a quick shake of her head to Killian as he trailed off, seeing as clearly as she did that there was no stopping the man or slowing him down – not when he was in such a state of concern. True to her suspicions, Graham didn’t even pause to answer Killian’s question, already slinging his jacket from over the back of his chair and onto his rangy frame while starting toward the exit.

“We need to go!” he warned again, motioning impatiently for them to follow. “I’ll tell you the rest on the way.”

Without any further argument, Emma and Killian simply turned back the way they’d come in order to follow him. The more his agitation increased, it upped her concern for her newly found mother and father as well, to the point that Emma found her breath going thready as they hurried along the street outside.

By the time the three of them had reached town hall, out of breath from their brisk half-walk, half-jog and cheeks reddened from the chill air, Graham had explained in short snatches of speech his suspicions of a hidden door within Regina’s office and how, though he had never seen it used or been able to discover where it lead, he had always assumed it could lend her Majesty a quick getaway to some lair where she could watch and wait in secret. Not only that, but the even more troubling issue at the moment was that she could also use whatever hidden passage was concealed there to come back to the very center of town unseen and begin wreaking havoc before they were even aware of her presence.

As they clattered into the austere black-and-white decor of the office which Emma remembered shivering in the coldness of briefly when she had first arrived in town, her eyes flew in relief to her parents talking quietly, heads bent together and seemingly quite well. They in turned looked up quickly at the new arrivals, startled by their haste and worried expressions, but their aspects warming naturally when they saw Emma moving toward them in obvious relief.

“Emma, Sweetie, what is it?” Snow asked, her sweet voice dripping motherly concern in a way that soothed Emma’s spirit just then, more than she knew how to measure, if the truth be told. There had certainly been times since finally meeting her traditional fairy tale parents that she as an adult woman with the rough and tumble modern life she’d had to live had felt wrong footed or even hampered and smothered by them and what they might expect from her. Certainly it had been a difficult adjustment to find that the roommate and gal pal she’d drunk shots of McCutcheon’s and discussed affairs and one night stands with was the long lost mother she had never known - and proper royalty as well. Still, when the dark-headed woman turned to her just then with a doting smile and held her hand out to take Emma’s, the little girl within her 28-year-old self still melted a bit, smiling back tremulously and stepping forward to take the offered hand.

“I’m fine, Mary Margaret,” she assured, nearly having to blink back a rogue tear at her mother’s brilliant smile of acknowledgement and the way she lightly cradled Emma’s cheek in her cool, soft, maternal hand. “We all are,” she added in a quieter voice. “It was you two we were worried about. We realized Regina might have a secret passage in and out of here, and she could be lying in wait for you.”

Mary Margaret’s eyes clouded over, and her smile turned more than a bit sad at that. Her voice was wistful and resigned when she answered, “Perhaps it would be better if she found me unawares. All the pain and loss that has come, just from her wish to punish me. Maybe it would be better if I faced her once and for all.”

Emma’s breath caught around the lump in her throat too large for her to swallow, but it was Graham who spoke up then before she could regain her voice.

“Nay Princess Snow, do not even think it,” he cautioned seriously, stepping forward and sketching a reverent sort of half-bow from the waist, and even in his modern jeans and sheriff’s badge, he pulled it off with barely a trace of irony. His clear awe and devotion in manner toward her schoolteacher mother suddenly brought a vision of the Huntsman in the Enchanted Forest that he had been to Emma’s eyes in a way she had not pictured until that moment. “Please, your Highness, you must understand. There is no way to reason with her. She would seek your destruction no matter what you tried. However, you cannot give yourself over to her You are our kingdom’s hope, its destined ruler. As long as you live, there is yet faith that one day we will return, that all will be made right, and that what we have lost may yet be restored. Many have suffered to see you remain to fight her evil, but I know I echo their sentiments when I say that the sacrifice is worth it. You cannot take her deeds of cruelty upon your own conscience.”

Looking every bit the royalty she was, her mother’s benevolent beauty of face struck Emma as she knowingly and gratefully spoke to the man who had once, long ago, saved her life. Snow shook her head at Graham’s loyal words with yet another sigh. “If only I could believe that,” she murmured. “No one person, whoever they might be, could be worth so much pain and suffering. You yourself are one who has paid all too much, Huntsman,” she added, calling him by his former name and indicating that she knew the price which had been exacted upon him for his mercy. “I owe you such a debt that it can hardly be repaid.”

Graham shook his head, looking down at his feet almost bashfully. “Do not think on it, milady Snow,” he finally mumbled.

“Oh, but I must!” she pressed, stepping forward to clasp his hand with the one of hers not still holding Emma’s. “I can hardly undo what you have suffered, but I would at least see you properly thanked for your bravery and honor.”

They might have gone back and forth like that for some time, Emma reflected wryly, meeting Killian’s amused gaze under dark, raised brows that clearly indicated he was thinking much the same thoughts, even across the room, if they had not been interrupted by the sudden entrance of Belle, who came charging through the door and into the office where they were all gathered, wild-eyed and out of breath. She was also, however, certainly on a mission and determined, an urgent resolve in every line of her bearing that forced Emma to immediately take wary notice. Though the young woman before them had still been withdrawn and weakened from her ordeal when they had left her a short time ago, it had already been apparent that she had nerves of steel; she wouldn’t have survived what she had intact in any other way - and a core of strength beneath the deceptively delicate surface. If Emma had harbored any doubt of that though, it was laid to rest upon viewing her now. Belle’s eyes crackled as they sought out the face she had come for, zeroing in on Graham like a magnet and hurrying forward, both worry and anger vibrating from her almost palpably in her haste.

“Sheriff! Please, you need to hear this!” she exclaimed.

Graham was already moving to meet her in the middle of the room, alert and attuned to her distress, and took her trembling hands in his own larger ones. “It’s alright, Belle,” he assured, his thick, lilting brogue wrapping more noticeably around the words and the sound of her name in his attempt to soothe. “We’re all listening. What is it?”

Her story spilled out in a disillusioned torrent of words, no only admitting that the man she had hoped to be reunited with, the true heart she had always believed lay within the Dark One, had been a lie, but that none of them were truly safe - deals negated or no. Her loyalty to Gold had been repaid with treachery as she had witnessed him reteaming with the Queen of Hearts who double-crossed him long ago, and she knew they needed to be even more onguard; someone was being targeted as a useful victim to their murderous plans, and Emma and Hook at the very least would be made to seem incompetent; at worst, guilty for the crime.

As the details she had seen and heard poured out, Emma saw Killian’s good hand ball into a first, clenching so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and she noticed (not without a fair bit of heat rising up within her) the muscle working in his jaw. He shook his head in pent-up anger and frustratedly jerked his face away from her, avoiding her gaze when he saw Emma trying to catch his eye. She could read the emotions he was telegraphing to her as clearly as she had earlier sworn that he could read hers. He was cursing himself for a fool, hating the fact that he had given this Cora the means to reach their world, even knowing she was dangerous. So blinded by his desire to locate his Crocodile’s lair and skin his old nemesis at long last, he had not stopped to question what the sorceress with the magic to make it possible could seek there.

Emma wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that he hadn’t known this would be her plan, that he had parted ways with the woman upon their arrival, and that if he hadn’t benefited from her powers and offered his vessel for her ride, the witch would still have found another way. It wasn’t the time for confessions and comfort though, and she sensed her attempts would fall on deaf ears at present. Sighing instead, and biting back the assurance she ached to give, Emma merely watched the pain pass over his darkening brow, stunned at how even tormented he was so deeply beautiful it stole her breath.

Once Belle had finished speaking, Graham wasted no time jumping into action, and his words snapped Emma from contemplation of Killian back into focus on what they were going to do. He directed them firmly and decisively, his choices making smart, logical sense and reminding Emma that despite the stress he was under, despite the fact that this was much more danger than the little town he aimed to protect had ever seen, and regardless of the painful memories reasserting themselves in his mind, her friend was good at his job, and they were right to listen to him now. “Belle, you shouldn’t be seen with us too much…” Graham mused slowly, “...it might tip Gold off that we’ve been warned. Go with Snow to the B & B. She and Ruby will help you get settled in a room, and you can figure out what you want to do next.” He paused, looking at Belle a bit sheepishly, with a nod of his head as he deferred to her. “I’m sorry,” he added. “I guess I simply assumed you wouldn’t want to stay with him after all…”

Though there were pained, regretful tears in her eyes, Belle shook her head vehemently and gave him a brave smile. “You thought right,” she avowed staunchly.

Graham nodded once again and added, “I’ll join you there later, see how you’re getting on,” with a smile full of such affection Emma could see its gentling effect on Belle even from the outside looking in.

Mary Margaret and Belle left, and Graham watched them go with quiet, rapt attention until they had disappeared from sight, then turned to the rest of them. “It’s more important now than ever that we find the passage she might be using. As the Evil Queen, Regina may be unhinged, but she is calculating too. She’ll have a plan and a way to manage whatever she’s got in store.” He moved toward the large, imposing fireplace behind the mayor’s desk nearly taking up an entire side of the room, explaining even as he went, “I was just going to check…”

His voice trailed off as he ran questing fingers over the mantelpiece and down around the sides of the monstrosity, feeling almost on instinct until suddenly something popped free under his touch. The ancient stone, hidden behind black-and-white wallpaper groaned as it moved enough to reveal an uneven crack down the height of the fireplace - one which could open into a passage wide enough for a full-sized adult to pass through.

Graham looked back to the rest of them before pulling out a flashlight and moving to step forward. David and Emma were poised to follow when Killian interrupted. “You three go ahead. I have another idea that might be fruitful. Gold owns a cabin out in the woods all by itself, seemingly the perfect place for hiding out and secretive plotting. Not to mention that there is always the Mills family crypt in the cemetery, which we all know is quite probably where Regina holed up. Seeing as time is of the essence, why don’t I begin at one of those points, and we’ll cover more ground at once? We may very well meet each other in the middle of the passage anyway, you from her and me from the crypt. But if there’s a chance it isn’t the same, part of this is my fault, allowing that poisonous viper to get here and join her daughter’s cause. If I can help us get to her sooner, all the better.”

Seeming to take the fact that no one had argued with him for agreement, Killian gave a firm nod of his head and turned to leave. Yet worry gnawed at Emma’s stomach, and she couldn’t allow them to split up and leave it like that, not when Killian still appeared to be blaming himself. She couldn’t have him thinking she agreed. Quickly, she assured her father and her boss that she’d catch up with them in a minute, then ran after him. Catching Killian by grasping his hand just before he could slip out the door of the station, she asked, “Are you alright? ...Sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

“I will be once my err is corrected, and that witch is no longer on the loose,” he gave her a half-smile that just barely touched his eyes, an echo of the sparkle that usually lit their blue depths. However, he must have seen the worry in her gaze, or sensed it in her tense concentration as she continued to clutch his hand in hers. “Fear not, Swan,” he added lowly, almost right in her ear and causing a tingling sensation to run through her limbs despite her other concerns. “I’ll find you the moment I return.”

She wanted to laugh at how much his words reminded her of the promise her parents always made to find each other, and she had to choke back the almost pleading reply of “Always?” that flew unexpectedly to the tip of her tongue. Instead, she offered what she hoped was a heartening bit of sass and challenging smile. “I’ll hold you to that,” she vowed.

Emma did finally let go then, heading back into the station even as Killian turned toward the nearby tree line. She had slipped out of view, and he was too intent on the path before him to notice when a slight, suited figure with an ornate gold-topped cane entered the woods leading to the town cemetery at a safe distance behind him. The pursuer might have been cautious, but his was clearly tracking Killian all the same.

~~~~~***~~~~~***~~~~~

It wasn’t long after Killian entered the shadows of the trees overhead and the brush all around that he knew something was not right. His senses were impeccable beyond all mere human capabilities, and though the niggling sound was faint, he had no doubt he was being followed. Beyond his werewolf duality of nature, Killian wasn’t magic; yet, the awareness that boon or curse - whichever his shifting was - granted him the preternatural sight, hearing, and smell to be sure that more beings were in the forest than himself, the twittering birds, and the few occasional scurrying small creatures he could hear in the undergrowth.

For a moment, he considered taking his lupin form to cover distance faster and be most ready to fight if attacked, but not knowing who or what dogged his steps, Killian hesitated - unsure whether or not he should reveal his wolf. Instead, he crossed the small clearing he had reached, not far from where he had learned the small property which belonged to Gold was located, placing himself so nothing but trees were firmly at his back and he could clearly sight his pursuant the moment the stepped into view. If they hoped to surprise or attack him unaware, he would at least steal that pleasure from them.

His skin prickled with tension and nervous anticipation as he waited, listening as intently as possible for any hint that might give away what threat he was about to face. He had seen the Queen of Heart’s magic in action, had felt the cold grip of her anger when they first met, and had witnessed her ruthless destruction firsthand in the Enchanted Forest. If she were to emerge from the trees across the clearing, he knew that he stood little chance of defeating her powers, as a wolf or a man, but he wouldn’t go down without giving her a fight.

The longer he waited, straining to hear and see, Killian became convinced that it was not her, nor her daughter, who followed him. The sound of the steps were light, taken by a slightly built person, and one who was in no hurry, measured and calculatedly calm. There was also a slight unevenness to the pace - as of one who favored one side or walked with a limp. By the time the footsteps had grown quite near, just beyond the edges of cleared space he stood in, Killian had already deduced that it was Rumplestiltskin who haunted his steps.

When the paces halted, eerie silence falling all around, Killian steeled himself for the impact of whatever the Dark One might hurl his way unseen; determined to make his foe emerge and at least stand man-to-man before he employed whatever dark spell he might have at the ready. Squaring his shoulders, Jones called out in a harsh but steady voice, “Come on out and face me, Dark One. I know you’re there.”

Slowly, dramatically, the evil imp who had maimed his hand and murdered his first love emerged from the shadows and stepped into Killian’s view, looking as dangerous and unhinged as he had on that day so long ago; his visage just as monstrous and every bit as daunting. Killian didn’t know what he had hoped would be different when he faced this villain again, but he had chased this moment across realms and years, and he would not succumb without inflicting whatever damage he could. Emma flashed into his mind at that second - her golden hair, her bright eyes - and his resolve was strengthened. He wouldn’t see this fiend hurt or kill another person he loved (yes, loved, he knew it to be true even as his mind first thought it) even if he had to pay a fatal price to insure the fact.

His Crocodile’s gruesome grin of satisfaction stretched across his odious face, which slowly turned greenish and leathery before his eyes, giving Killian the long-remembered reptilian impression he had witnessed in the past. His words were a sinister hiss of warning that slithered in the werewolf’s gut as he taunted, “Here I am, Dearie. Do you really think you’re ready to face me?”

Killian gave a small nod, readying for battle, but barely had time to flinch in horrified recognition before catching the glint of silver in the Dark One’s hand as he raised it to strike.

Tagging: @cssns @kmomof4 @laschatzi @searchingwardrobes @spartanguard @therooksshiningknight @linda8084 @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @kday426 @allofdafandoms-blog @branlovesouat @hollyethecurious @jennjenn615 @resident-of-storybrooke @capswantrue @kiwistreetswan @quicksilvermad @aloha-4-ever

#cssns #cs au mc #cs werewolves au #run to me (in the dead of night)#chapter six

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onpurposebreezy · 6 years

Text

CHAPTER 25

LORI

I woke to the sun streaming through the curtains and into my eyes. After blinking a few times to get my bearings, I looked around. I was back in my own room. I glanced at the time while stumbling my way to the bathroom. Ugh, it was past noon, when and how did I get to my room? I did my thing and checked myself out in the mirror. Mmm no wonder I smelled Cody, I thought, I was still wearing his shirt. I smiled to myself thinking of the night before. I brushed my teeth and hair before returning to my room to change. I sniffed Cody's shirt one more time before shoving it to the bottom of my top drawer, so Kim couldn't find it.

I walked to the kitchen with hopes of finding food, but instead found Kim sitting at the counter with coffee. I poured myself a cup and made us toast, we needed food in our systems. We drank and ate in silence until Cody came whistling into the room. Kim glared at him as she held her head.

"Good afternoon, ladies!" Cody greeted sounding chipper. I gave a small smile as Kim groaned before taking another sip. When Cody started to make himself lunch and was banging all the cabinets and making as much racket as he could. I swear, he opened some cabinets for no other reason than to be able to close them again. Kim got up and poured another cup of coffee, she turned to go up to her room but punched Cody on the arm. I silently laughed and watched her leave the room.

"I was wondering how much noise I'd have to make before she left," Cody moved before me, leaning down for a long lingering kiss.

"You know, you could have simply told her to take a shower and she probably would have gone. She smells more than I did last night," I wrinkled my nose.

"Nah, there is no fun in that. I have to make her regret getting wasted. I'm the big brother, it's my job," he grinned before making a sandwich with the items he got out.

"Older Sibling are evil," I stated, finishing off my coffee and wondering what I should do today. I had homework to do but had no desire to do it. I wanted to try and get ahead of the work before I ended up behind it. I sighed mentally knowing I should go upstairs and get started.

Cody busied himself around the kitchen, cleaning and putting things away. I watched him as he bent over to put something in the cabinet. His butt looked so cute; I almost wanted to take a picture. I tapped my phone to turn on the screen but stopped myself. It was not a picture I wanted Kim to find if she were to sift through my photos for any reason. I turned it back off and simply enjoyed the view until he stood up. He turned to me and smiled.

"What are your plans today?" he questioned, leaning over the counter towards me.

"Homework, homework, and homework," I pouted. Seriously was there anything else to do today? Anything?

"I do not miss those days. Although I don't remember college being so bad," he tilted his head in thought.

"Well these days, it's a ton of reading followed by papers,"

"I remember parties,"

"Parties? I'm sorry, you look like a partier," I laughed and tried to imagine him younger and partying.

"I was young and had fun. You should too. Make sure you have fun. Your own fun, I mean, not Kim dragging you to frat parties all the time fun. Just try to fit me in between the homework and the fun," he joked.

"I won't have a problem fitting you anywhere," I said, thinking of the free time I have.

"Oh really?" Cody's smile turned wicked, taking my comment out of context.

"That's not what I meant!" I squealed and laughed along with Cody.

"I know, but it was funny. I have some work to get done. May I escort you to your room?" he came around the counter and offered his hand in a gentleman fashion.

"You may," I placed my hand in his. He helped me down from the stood and we walked hand in hand up the stairs. We stopped in front of my room, I was about to give him a kiss, but he held a finger to his lips. I looked at him confused. I heard Kim's snores reach the hallway. I held back giggles as he tugged me towards his room.

"I wanted a little private time with you. I wasn't sure if she was asleep while we were downstairs, but I can almost hear her, even from here," he pulled me into an embrace.

"A little private time?" I rested my chin on his chest, staring up at him.

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and seemed almost sad, "I wanted to spend some time with you. I must leave tomorrow morning for a business trip. I'll be gone for a little over a week, ten days to be specific."

"Oh," I frowned. Ten days felt like a lot. I knew it would fly by, but now it seemed like a lifetime away before we would see each other again. It was weird to feel this upset when we haven't been together long, but there was something about Cody...something that made me feel alone when he wasn't around.

"I know," he echoed my sentiments, "I'm sorry. This trip was planned before summer. I usually keep business in town during the summer season because of Kim. The rest of the year I go on many short and long trips."

"I know," I nodded, understanding, "I just wish you told me sooner."

"I would have had I remembered. My secretary called me this morning to remind me what time my flight was. I completely forgot about it. She takes care of all that. I just follow what she says," he chuckled.

I smiled, "Soooo what do you want to do now?"

"I was thinking, I could shower, we could have a late lunch and just be together," he checked to see if that sounded good.

"Didn't you just have a sandwich?"

"I could eat more,"

"What about Kim?"

"She is sleeping, we could just say you were hungry and I offered to take you out to eat. It's mostly the truth,"

"Okay,"

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I want this time with you too," I kissed his chest and pushed him towards the bathroom.

He started to go but turned around, "This won't put you behind in homework, will it?"

"No, there is nothing that can't wait a day," I confirmed. He nodded and went to shower.

CODY

I had to go back downstairs to get a towel and I went back upstairs to my room closing the door locking it I removed my shirt and pants and walked into the bathroom to see what Lori was doing.

"Hey, Cody!" She greets me.

I smile and shut the door.

"Are you going to come and join me?" She grins and I notice her staring down at my boxers.

"Absolutely." I strip them off and walk over to her.

I swing the shower door open and step inside letting the heat of the shower warm me up and the water drenching me down. I'm welcomed by Lori as she kisses me with her warm lips. They brush against each other and the response sends pleasant tingles down my spine accompanied by the sound of her wet mouth. Our lips slowly break apart as we hold close intimacy our bodies only inches from the other as I stare into brown eyes. She then turns around and hands me the bottle of body wash.

"Soap me down, will you?" She smiles.

I squirt some onto my hand and rub them together as it foams. Feeling my dick already hardening, I focus on the task of moping her down from her neck, over her shoulders, down her arms. I then move farther down over her breasts as they flop with my hands greasing all over them. I move down her stomach over her belly button and down over her groin. I tease her by slipping a finger inside her pussy. She giggles when I do. I move down and around her thighs and legs. With her all soaped up, she stands there being poured in the water as the water runs down leaving a sexy and clean body standing in front of me.

My heart begins to pound and I shiver. I can't resist her like this with her completely slippery from the water nude in front of me and very inviting. I take her chin and neck in my hands and begin to aggressively kiss her with my tongue swiveling in her mouth.

"Stop." She laughs. "Not yet."

She takes the soap and begins to rub me down with the soap lathering on my body. Her soft and warm hands feel like a blanket running over me as the soap coats me in a white and silvery layer. I then feel her hands move down over my groin. They wrap around my bulging dick. I stare down at her and she begins to stroke it with both of her hands gathering the soap on it.

I grin in anticipation as she does looking up at me.

She then moves down my legs and then comes up and smooches me.

I douce myself off letting the soap fall into the drain. I'm completely clean with my fine smelling body of crushed peppermint in my own nakedness. I then feel her wrap her arms around my chest hugging me behind my back with her head pressing up on my neck.

I cannot describe enough how much she means to me already. Her presence and her positively feminine charm makes me shiver every time I share a room with her. I can't get enough. It's like she was made for me like I was made for her.

Sex is only just a bonus. It's not just a time and a place to come together as one but it's also a bonding experience. To see her look at me as I give her pleasure with her eyes beckoning me for more. It's a look I can't get enough of. Her mouth open in that orgasm face gives me the glory she feels.

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thinksthatit-sbesttonotlookback · 6 years

Text

Stolen Treasures

“Target has perished. Virgo killed him with a fast-acting poisoned knife thrown to his knee caps.”

“Excellent work, all of you. You may now leave.” The girl standing in front of the shadows bowed before she turned and left with her comrades. The shadows twisted and turned, before they settled on being a human-like entity. The entity grinned before standing up and exiting the room. He laughed deeply at another victory against another target.

He soon entered his own personal quarters where he decided to rest. Earlier he had to drag the Geminis from each other, and Gemini #1’s kicks are not the same as being hit by feathers. The Entity took out some special supplies for his kind, since he was not of human race.

While fishing for the supplies, he noticed an old box. The entity grabbed the box and opened it, and what was inside made him grow a sinister smirk. For in the box, was all the stolen goods. Everything he stole from the Zodiacs and has held over their heads in order for them to work for him. When he had tricked them into signing their life lines to them, he had stolen something from each of them, so they had to work for him, or else. Everything he stole was something special to said person. He fished out the first item from the box.

Aries’s strength. The entity laughed lightly at what he was holding. It was a piece of Aries’s red belt, to symbolize his strength. The entity took it from Aries, making his strength go out of control. Aries became meaner because he soon developed an unhealthy view that everyone was now below him, which would have been better news for the entity, but Capricorn beat Aries, and the mean attitude has been seemingly lost.

The next one up was Taurus, and the item in the chest was a stress ball. The entity held it in an almost fond sort of way. The original Taurus was long gone, all of them dying...except for that one Ozzie person, he ran away successfully, he even managed to retrieve what was taken from him. But the stress ball was signifying the current Taurus, and how the entity has taken away the constants in life, making Taurus a nervous wreck. He is efficient, but always looks depressed, which brings unwanted attention.

Up next were two items, an academic award and a marathon medal. The Gemini twins. He remembered seeing the two girls and managing to convince them go inside his building and sign his contracts. He noticed that the older twin rushed through and signed everything, while the younger twin adjusted her glasses and carefully read the contract. I only managed to get her to sign it when I threatened to call it off if she didn’t hurry. She fell for it out of fear of losing her twin sister. For the sister that rushed, I took her higher thinking, and for the one that carefully read, I took her higher athletic ability. Gemini #1 brags about how she was better at assassinations now that she is free from having to think hard. Gemini #2 adjusts her glasses and bites her tongue, she knows that higher knowledge is better for planning better attacks, but wishes to not waste her knowledge on those who refuse to listen.

Up next was a right arm. This was Cancer’s then. She loved her right arm because it had tattoos of her girlfriend and anything else that was important to her. She took pride in that arm, and she was destroyed when she lost it. She took up the role of leader to try to help the others that would follow her. And for the most part, it worked.

Next up was a pie slice. The entity grinned for this was a gag representation of Leo’s loss. Leo was a rambunctious jokester, and it took a lot of persuasion for him to finally realize that part of his sanity was taken from him. He soon became slightly crazy, kept only in check by his fellow members.

Next was a pair of song sheets, which meant was next Virgo. Virgo was a sweet and quiet little girl. She had a melodic voice, though, and would be seen usually singing on the sidewalk. The entity reminisced at the memory of Virgo clutching her throat and crying when she realized that the entity took her voice away. This made her formidable in the public eye, but terrible at base. Thanks to Gemini #2 and Capricorn, she learned how to communicate with sign language.

Next up was a smiley-face sticker, which indicated Libra. She was almost always seen with a smile on her face, and she still smiles today, but reasons are different. She used to smile genuinely, now she smiles as a facade. She’s desperately trying to mask her newfound sadness with a smile, but she cracks every now and then. With her happiness stripped away by the entity, it’s hard to maintain a smile for long.

The entity grabbed a restroom sign and smirked. Scorpio was an interesting one, to be sure. They were once a young woman with a fierce attitude and a knowing smirk. She was confident with her body, and existed with others perfectly. She was disturbed when her gender as a whole was stripped from her. Her femininity was gone, and she now had to navigate the world now with (sometimes) ruder remarks about how she looked and acted. She was no longer secure with herself, and to make it worse, she couldn’t tell anyone. The entity made it so she was unable to correct anyone should they assume her gender. It was almost as if her vocal chords would fail anytime she said or alluded to anyhting relating to the female gender. She couldn’t even write it down. Scorpio became saddened when she found this out. From now on, she would never again be a “she”. “She” was now known as “they” and “them”, and that was something they had to now live with it. To some, they got off lucky.

Next was a bubble of light, for the young Sagittarius. Sagittarius was always a bright person, bringing light to any negativity that was around. The entity preyed on this, and took the bright and cheery from him. Sagittarius found only the negativity in life, almost as if there was a shard of evil in his eye and his heart had frozen over completely. He then became grouchy and mean towards everyone but the entity, out of fear that the entity would kill him.

A calendar soon came up next for the youngest of them all, Capricorn. Capricorn was a child full of hope. He was curious and wanted to do everything in the world. His future was bright, and it was now gone, whisked away by the entity, who now has it. Capricorn lost his aspirations, and now would only have to murder in order to please the entity. The entity cursed himself at the fact that he should’ve taken away the curiosity from Capricorn, as his curiosity had snagged him a partner. A strange shadow monster that was now bound to Capricorn physically, mentally, and emotionally. The monster would help with assassinations and comfort Capricorn when he was down. The monster and Capricorn became a dynamic duo, and together they were a weird ticking time bomb of emotions.

A snow globe was pulled out next for the dear Aquarius. The young boy was not from your average household. He came from a home under the water. Not quite a glorious Atlantis, but from a town akin to it. The boy was born with lungs and gills, and was great at switching terrains. He wanted to make his town proud, and the entity saw this and took it. Leaving Aquarius desperately trying to appease the entity, in hopes of making leniency, but so far, no dice, no dice at all.

And finally was a heart encased in a ribcage. This was for the final member of the Zodiacs: Pisces. Pisces was a young girl with kindness radiating from her. She had deep bonds with her family, and loved them all. The entity originally took Pisces’s twin, as they were close. But eventually the twin accidentally killed himself, which left nothing to dangle above Pisces’s head. So the entity did the practical thing: take something else instead. So the entity did, he took Pisces’s heart to make up for the twin. Pisces was now solely dependent on the entity to survive, since the entity made a mock heart for her in order for her to stay alive.

There was one last thing in the box, and it was a handmade drawing for the entity. It said “Mr. Master”, and it had a drawing of the entity with shadows all around it. The entity put all the items back, except for the drawing, which he set on his dresser. The drawing was from Capricorn, who instinctively looked up to the entity as a father. But he wasn’t their father, he was The Master of them, and they had to do his bidding, or else.

#Zodiac #Assassins #Zodiac Assassins #The Master #Aries #Gemini 1 #Gemini 2 #Taurus #Virgo #Capricorn #Pisces #Sagittarius #Aquarius #Scorpio #Cancer #Leo #Libra #Story #Backstory #Ozzie #Loss #MS

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momorabu · 6 years

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Viidog Code Event Story - ホーリーナリト . ギフト /Holy Night . Gift

Finally, yet another super overdue translation of Viidog Code~ This was supposed to be translated how many months ago? But somehow it got dragged until now to be completed ><” (I actually finished most of it last week but left just a tiny part to be done today ^^;) At this rate, I might as well finished it by Christmas but that’s another two months~

As always, the summary of the story can be found below. Translation may not be 100% accurate due to my poor Japanese skills~

Chapter 1: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

The story started with “me” and Kaname getting ready to go on a shopping trip together, to which Kaname commented that he was honoured to have the chance to head out with “me”. He assured “me” that if there are any suspicious people who had appeared before us, he would definitely protect “me” from them.

When we’re out on the shopping streets, Kaname noticed that “I” was surprised by the Christmas decorations on the streets and realised that this was “my” first time celebrating Christmas here in this city. He was curious to know whether “I” had believed in Santa Claus and mentioned that he had already known that it was his parents who had left Christmas presents by his bedside ever since he was young. He started talking about a special job - Santa Candidate, which even though Kaname doesn’t know much about it, he knew that in order to become a Santa Claus, one would need to take on tests and obtain a license just like how one becomes a detective. The tests were known to be very difficult, and even being selected to become a Santa Candidate was already very honorable for those applicants. Also, the tests would be held in this city and thus at this time of the year, there would be lots of Santa Claus on the streets.

Suddenly, a woman appeared before us, asking us where was the police station. Kaname answered the woman that the nearest police station was 10 minutes away from them and asked her whether she had encountered any trouble, since we’re detectives and could lend her a hand if there’s a dangerous situation.

The woman led us to the park, explaining that there’s a man nearby who seems to be scaring kids over there. The man indeed looked quite scary, which the woman described him to be like an “oni” (Japanese Demon). (It sounds kind of mean to describe someone’s face like that, I feel bad for the man already ><”)

Kaname decided to approach the man, which the man had noticed and thought Kaname was here to question him about his job. He was wearing a Santa Claus outfit and we get to know that his name was Sanda Kuro, a Santa Candidate as shown from the name card he had given to us. Sanda said that he was being taught to be bright and cheerful and to also dote on the kids as a Santa Candidate, but the kids had run away from him when he tried to talk to them and guessed that it’s because of his face that they’re scared of him. (That’s sad D:)

Kaname assured Sanda that he had knew that he meant no harm to others when he first met him, and encouraged him to be more confident in himself since he had managed to get through the trials so far to become a Santa Candidate. But, Sanda revealed that he had already failed the tests to become an actual Santa Claus for four years in a row, and if he failed again this year, he would be stripped of his right to take the tests from then on. Even though it was hard for Sanda, he didn’t want to give up, as much as he had no idea how he could pass these tests to become an actual Santa Claus.

Kaname introduced himself while handling over his name card, and informed Sanda that he would help him together with “me”, hoping Sanda would continue to work hard to achieve his dream. He invited Sanda to head back to the detective agency with us to talk more about the Santa Claus examinations, since we do not know much about how these would be carried out.

Chapter 2: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

We head back to the agency together and informed the rest of Class 3 about this situation. Rudo was alright with us taking on this request, and commented on the Santa Claus were actually part of the Charity group, where these Santa Claus with the official licenses were allowed to give out gifts to children during Christmas, especially those who were unable to celebrate Christmas with their family. These Santa Claus would be considered the “real” Santa Claus and thus lots of people had wanted to be one. Due to overwhelming applicants, the tests were very difficult so as to limit the number of people who had passed the tests every year. In order to be eligible for the tests in the first place, one would need to do lots of research and understand the entire layout of the city and its history. There would also be tests that test on one’s physical ability and strength.

With the paperwork completed and Kaname officially taking on this request, he assured Sando that we’ll be aiding him on his tests as backup and starting tomorrow, we’ll be helping Sando with his physical training as well as increasing his knowledge for the tests. Other than “me” who would be accompanying Kaname, he would also look for other members of the agency who could give us a hand in training.

Just then, Chiharu passed by, and upon hearing this interesting request, he decided to join in and give us a hand too. He didn’t seem to realise that Sando was wearing a Santa Claus outfit, and remarked that he looks like a red and white demon, and that made Kaname wondered perhaps Chiharu did not know about Santa Claus at all.

Izana and Ran soon joined and wanted to help us too, though Izana’s interest lies more in finding out why the charity group could afford to spend so much money in buying presents each year, aiming to know how did they accumulate so much money. That made Ran mad as he felt that Izana had made the charity group sounds like an evil corporation instead. However, he was also interested in this charity group, as it was very mysterious and one could not obtain information about it easily due to how secured they were in leaking any information about it.

Knowing that we planned to help Sanda with his physical training tomorrow, Ran suggested on getting Rudo to help since Rudo was the one who planned Class 3′s training menu and could create one suitable for Sanda. Kaname decided to approach Rudo about this matter and would contact the others again if he requires their help later on.

Chapter 3: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

When Kaname enquired Rudo about the training menu, he suggested that he could have Sando go a run in the park, and later on do some weight training by using the iron bars over there as well. "I” was supposed to help by enquiring the others to help plan the other curriculum for Sando, but “I” still came over to Kaname in the morning and greet him, and had also prepared bento, drinks and even a first-aid box for them to be used in the training later on.

Rudo and Kaname head to the park after that, and realised that Sando had already started on his training. They watched him jog around the park, and realised that he seems to be quite slow in jogging. Sando apologised when they commented on that, and revealed that it had been like this ever since from the past, that he soon ran out of energy when running. Since running speed was very important in the test, Kaname thought that it’s best they come up with a solution to improve Sando’s running speed.

Sando remembered that in his earlier tests a few years ago, he had to escape from a reindeer that had gone out of control within the limited time and to find a bomb that was hidden within the presents within the allocated time as well. There was also a quest that required him to find the highest building in the streets and to put a present at its roof.

Since there isn’t much days before the actual tests, Rudo felt that there would be a limit on how much Sando can improve on his physical training within these few days, so he decided to teach him some tips on how to improve his running speed. The tips worked well, as Sando’s running time had gradually improved over time, which made Kaname smiled as this meant that Sando’s success rate in passing the tests had increased. They decided to get Sando to different kind of training to build up the confidence in him, and even the bento “I” had prepared for Sando was also very nutritious and suitable him when he was training~ ^^

The next day, Sando visited Kaname at the detective agency, and informed him about the test’s information that had been revealed earlier on. Turned out that Sando would need to protect the presents from the bandits, which would be acted by the invigilators. Sando was worried since he’s not good at physical combat, and felt that he won’t be able to pass the test.

Thus, Kaname gotten Toki to assist them in physical combat training, where Toki would have to act as the bandit. He requested Toki to go easy on Sanda, as he doesn’t have any experience in fighting at all. Kaname advised Sanda to observe carefully at his opponent, and assured him that this won’t be something that’s too difficult. He continued on that Sando could attack the opponent’s weak point when the opponent rushed towards him, and then escape when the opponent was caught off guard. Sanda ended up with some injuries from this training, and thus Kaname requested “me” to help him with the first aid.

Chapter 4: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

After that, it was Izana’s turn to help Sanda with his training, as he was excited about it since it meant that he had gotten the chance to get to reveal the truth about the Santa Organisation (known as the charity group which organised the Santa Claus to give out presents every year). However, Hijiri had tagged along as well, bringing along information of the various popular spots of the city with him. Izana had felt that Hijiri was being a disturbance to him, and asked him to head back to take the afternoon nap which he had always enjoyed.

(”Going along with you, it would seems like we’re moving at a snail’s pace. Please don’t be a hindrance and pull me back”. - Izana really seems to dislike moving along with Hijiri =w=“)

Chihiro had tagged along as well, and upon seeing Izana’s and Hijiri’s interactions, he remarked that they were getting along well as childhood friends. (Really? o.O) Izana dissed Chihiro that he could not understand how he could see that they had a great relationship with each other from their conversation just now. Izana was also surprised that “I” was here to help out too, since “I” was considered the person who knew the city the least among everyone at the detective agency (I know TWT), and Chihiro helped “me” to explain that “I” was here to make sure things go smoothly along since it was the first time Sando was meeting the three of them.

When they finally met Sando at the hotel room where he was staying at, Hijiri noticed that he seems to have muscle aches all over him and wondered if he was alright. It seems like the physical training by Class 3 and the combat training by Toki had taken a toll on poor Sando. Chihiro offered to buy some phlox powder for him later on, as there was a store he had came across that sells medicine that’s really effective for Kenrouzoku.

Izana was determined to help Sando since if Sando wasn’t being selected for as a Santa Claus, Izana would lose the chance to grab more information about the Santa Claus Organization. Thus, this was the start of the lesson to learn about the various popular spots of this city. As they were teaching Sando, Hijiri remarked about a place that he usually went the “kids”, and Sando mistaken that he already has children when he’s still very young ^^;

Izana offered to teach Sando more information about the city, but knowing these information would land his life into danger, as Izana would require him to become a spy when he managed to become a Santa and able to get into the Santa Organization. (Welp... Please stop Izana from getting people to do dangerous things ><”)

Chapter 5: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

A few days later, Kaname was spotted waiting outside the detective agency, and he blushed when “I” caught him standing there, explaining that he was worried about Sanda, and was waiting for him to arrive with the news of his test results. “I” asked him whether he would like to enter the building and have some tea, but Kaname told “me” that just seeing “my” face was already the best medicine for him to get back in spirits.

Even though Kaname felt embarrassed that he was caught being worried, he revealed that he can’t helped but to get worried about Sando after knowing that there were Kenrouzuku who had participated in the tests too. He turned to “me” and asked “me” whether “I’ve” asked Sando before why he had wanted to become a Santa Claus, and revealed to “me” that actually, Sando had received presents from the Santa Organization when he was young, and he was surprised that the Santa had given him something that he had really want at that time when he had not talked about his wish to anyone else. However, he returned the gift to the Santa Claus, and wished to have his mother’s illness to be treated instead, and like a miracle, his mother actually recovered after that. It sounds magical, but Sando felt that perhaps it was just by coincidence at that time, and had laughed when talking about his past.

Kaname revealed that he had wanted to become a detective that could protect others. “I” asked him whether he had a Santa license, in which Kaname replied that it was difficult for him since one would need to reach a certain age in order to become a Santa Candidate (maybe towards middle-age?). Just then, Sando called Kaname but quickly hanged up later on. Kaname guessed that perhaps Sando was at the park, but from his voice, Sando sounds deflated...

We head towards the park to look for Sando. When we found him, he said in a sad tone that unfortunately, he was not selected. However, he suddenly got a phone call that informed him that he was being selected as one of the people being selected had dropped out due to injuries! (Congratulations~!)

Therefore, Sando could proceed to the next round of examinations, where he would need to research where the people on the list given to him were staying and to choose the presents suitable for them to give as a gift to them. The people who had received the presents were given marks based on how satisfied they were, and if Sando reached the passing marks, he would be able to obtain the license! Thus, other than looking for the residence of the people on the list, it was very important to find out what kind of gifts the people would like to receive. However, there were alot of people to be gifted and would be difficult to clear this round of examination.

Chapter 6: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

After a few days, Rudo, Toki, and Chihiro had gathered to decide on the route which Sando should follow when he gives out the gifts on his examination day. Rudo remarked that it was surprising to know that Toki had known the area of the shopping streets very well (even though it was no surprise that Chihiro was an expert ^^;). Toki explained that due to his brother being bad at directions, Toki had looked for him multiple times until he had known the area very well, as much as he hates to.

However, looking at the map of the residences of the people that Sando had to deliver the gifts to, Chihiro realised that they were all over the city. The number of people to be gifted was even up to a hundred, and thus if they could not plan a good route for Sando to follow, he would not be able to finish delivering all the gifts in time.

Toki thought that Sando should be familiarised with the streets by now since he had already failed the tests for four years in a row, but Rudo reminded him that this was still the fifth time Sando had come to this city, and there were alot of small streets and underground paths in this city which he might know about and thus the streets would be confusing for him to navigate. Also, there were many places in this city which isn’t safe, even though there isn’t much they could do about the safety in this city that much.

The group decided to mark out different paths that Sando could take in different colours so that he would know which he should follow during the exam.

When they entered the dark alley, Toki told them that there was a man following them just now, but had now left them for now. He guessed that perhaps the man was another detective being recruited by other Santa candidate. They went out to the main streets again, and Toki voiced out that he would introduce some underground paths that were easy to notice to Sando in case he got lost in the midst of delivery.

Just then, Chihiro noticed that there were some cute rabbit plushies at a toy shop and started playing with them. Rudo could only look on with envy as deep down in his heart, he actually wanted to touch them too. (Aww~ Rudo is cute this way~ >////<)

Chapter 7: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

Next up was Kaname and Izana to help Sando to research on what kind of gifts the people on his list would like to receive, and that is done by tailing after them =w=“ They were tailing a child and noticed that he/she had slowed down whenever they went past the toy shop. Izana called Ran (who was already in the shop I supposed?) and asked him which product in the toy shop was the child looking at. Ran replied that the child was looking at a vegetable ranger changing set and was also looking at the same item at another shop too earlier, which made him determined that this was probably the item that the child would really want to have.

As Ran stepped out of the store, he remarked that though initially he thought that it would be hard to research on such a huge list of people to find out what they like, since they’re mostly children, it was actually pretty easy to observe and notice what they like or want. He also added that it seems like they’re Santa’s elves, who aid Santa Claus to find out what little children want for their Christmas presents if they had behaved well that year. But Izana simply smirked and remarked that not all elves would always be on the side of Santa Claus’ all the time as there are elves who likes to prank on others, hinting that he may not be on Sando’s side to help him once he had gotten any clues on the Santa Claus organization. Even as much as Ran doesn’t agreed with Izana’s views, Izana knew that Ran won’t be able to stop him =w=“

Izana had heard that at times even adults receive presents from the Santa Claus Organization, and was determined to see this in front of his very own eyes. Since even adults were on the list of people to be gifted, Ran was surprised to know that maybe he would be gifted too. Izana teased him that he may not be on the list, to which Ran rebutted that his name may be on lists of other Santa Claus candidates or perhaps the actual Santa clauses with licenses would make an appearance with the presents on the actual day instead.

(Kaname and Ran were so sweet to tell “me” that a girl so cute and kind-hearted like “me” would definitely get visited by Santa Claus ^^)

Izana was still determined to see Santa Claus no matter what, which made Ran curious about what would he do when Santa Claus came to the detective agency. Izana replied that he would capture him of course, and tried all kind of means to get the insider information about the Santa Claus Organization, and he planned to sell that information away after this incident is over. Ran could only sigh and remarked that even though Izana was a novelist, he doesn’t have one sense of romanticism in him at all =w=“

Chapter 8: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

Later on, Hijiri showed up at the park and told “me” that he had prepared something for Sando to cheer him on. It was a banner which Hijiri said that he would put it up to welcome Sando when he’s reaching us. He thought that he should put the banner down before Sando arrived, but felt that it would be an obstruction to other passerbys in the park.

Chihiro turned up soon after, and they discussed about Sando was still in the midst of his paper test, but some people passed by us and talked about an alarming incident that had happened. It seems like someone had sent a threatening letter to the venue where Sando was having his test according to people at the Santa Claus Organization, since those people who had passed by us had red badges on that are representations of the organization. Some of the candidates might drop out of the examinations due to this, but this was the last year that Sando was eligible for the examinations, and thus he would continue. Chihiro could only wish that everything would go smoothly for his exams.

Suddenly, we received a phone call from Kaname. He informed us that the results for the paper tests were released, and Sando had not just passed the tests, he was even among those who had scored really well for it and thus were given the advantage to start with the delivery of the presents than the others! (Congratulations Sando~!) Kaname was at the examination venue and told us that he had not seen any suspicious people hanging around here, so it seems that nothing threatening had been happening to the candidates so far.

Now all we have to do was to wait for Sando when he was on his way to deliver the presents to cheer him on, but we get yet another phone call, this time with bad news instead. Rudo called and told us that Sando had disappeared on the way when he was delivering a present to one of the person on the list... Even though we were really worried, Hijiri smiled and assured us that it would be alright, and what we could do was to wait for him here which was the goal of his delivery test.

Chapter 9: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

“I” head towards the large Christmas tree at the train station soon after to look for Kaname. He informed “me” that unfortunately, Sando had yet to appear and it was worrying, since no matter which route Sando had chose to take when delivering his presents, he would pass through here once no matter what if his delivery was proceeding smoothly along. Rudo had already went on a search for Sando by going through the routes where Sando could have went to, but he called a little earlier on and informed Kaname that he had not found Sando yet.

As much as Kaname wished that it was just them who had lost sight of Sando and actually Sando was still delivering the presents smoothly, he had a feeling that Sando might be caught in some sort of trouble as it was too weird for him not to show up when he had already put in so much efforts in the examinations.

We got yet another phone call, this time from Izana instead, and he had a really useful lead for us! He told us that the reason why Sando had disappeared, and that was because he was chasing after a snatch thief that he had came across by chance on his way on delivering the presents. Since Sando had requested our help, Izana would lend him a hand as representation of the informant, to make sure Sando would pass the Santa Claus examination in the end. He decided to send where Sando was located now to Kaname, so that we can think of what we could do to help Sando, as too much time had passed that by the time Sando resumed to deliver the rest of the presents, he would go over the time limit as set by the examinations and failed.

Kaname looked at the location sent by Izana and realised that Sando had ran quite far away from what he had expected, remarking that no wonder Rudo could not find him when he had searched around the area. He asked “me” to take his hand and we ran towards the shopping streets together. In order to make full use of this lead, Kaname vowed to capture this snatch thief.

Chapter 10: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

Chirio and Hijiri had also head towards the shopping streets to help Sando out. Chihiro had not expected Sando would actually went to chase after a snatch thief in the midst of his important exams, which Hijiri added on that though Sando’s face may look abit scary, he was actually a very kind-hearted person. Chihiro dissed that if the Santa Claus examination had a “kind-hearted award”, Sando would be the one that’s should be awarded. (But too bad there’s no such award ^^;) Along the way however, Chihiro suddenly stopped and told Hijiri that he had something to attend to, and asked him to continue his way ahead instead...

In the meanwhile, Kaname and “I” had head towards the alley in the evening. He was glad about something that “I” had told him (which I don’t remember now since the game doesn’t actually show what the heroine said =w=“) even though he knew that this probably wasn’t the time to be happy about such matters. We had followed the information given by Izana and came to the area where Sando should be located, but it was weird since not even Sando was nowhere to be found, Kaname could hardly even smell his scent, wondering whether Sando had already went away from here and his scent might be carried away by the wind.

(Kaname was really sweet as he asked “me” whether “I’m” alright and cautioned “me” to be careful when “I” almost fell.)

Rudo met up with us and we decided to split ways to search for Sando, with Rudo taking the right route, and Kaname and “me” taking the left route instead. Along the way, we finally came across the snatch thief and Sando! The snatch thief yelled at Kaname to get out of the way, calling him a thin and fragile boy, which apparently pissed Kaname enough to give the snatch thief a judo throw. (Rudo highly praised him for it though XD) We decided to capture the snatch thief and tied him up his hands and legs to stop him from fighting against them.

Kaname was surprised that Sando had been fighting with the snatch thief for a long time till now, and Sando explained that he had seen the thief snatching a bag from a grandma, and the thief seems like he was the grandma’s grandson. Sando requested us to send the thief to the police and to return the bag, as he wanted to resume his delivery of the presents. Rudo told us that he would do these instead, urging Kaname and “me” to help Sando.

Hijiri called and informed us the top Santa candidate had already finished with his delivery of the presents and had reached the goal. Sando lost his confidence as he felt that he won’t be able to finish delivering the rest of the presents within the time limit, but Ran and Izana showed up and told him not to give up.

Chapter 11: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

e were surprised by the appearance of Izana and Ran, since Ran had said that he had other work to do on that day and he apologised for lying to us, saying that it was Izana who had told him to keep it a secret that he was here. Ran told Sando that Izana and him were looking for information about the Santa Claus recently, and get to know something alarming. There had been a rumour that it had already been decided who was to pass the examinations every year before the actual examinations, and feeling bothered about this rumour, Izana and Ran had went to contact other Santa Candidates and asked to look at their lists. It was then they realised that one of the candidates’ list had all the people that were related to the chairperson committee of the Santa Claus Organization. Therefore, they deduced someone among the organization had purposely prepared a list different from the other candidates, and let the candidate became the top and the first to reach the goal. The candidate which came out the top of the examinations seems to be the nephew of the people in the chairman committee. D: (So they’re just only letting those people related to them to be inside the organization? =w=“)

However, Sando replied that he would rather give up instead after knowing about this, since he had never expected that the organization that had given the license that he had always wanted to get was such a dishonest organization. Seeing that Sando was feeling deflated, Kaname encouraged him, asking him why had he wanted to be Santa Claus and had not given up after all this year. He knew that the hope to be a Santa Claus had yet to go out in Sando’s heart, and told him that a wonderful Santa Claus definitely exists in this world. That encouraged Sando once again as he aimed to deliver all the presents as his role of a Santa Candidate even if he went out of the time limit.

Suddenly, Toki appeared and told us that we don’t have the time to be chit-chatting as we‘re running out of time, passing over Sando’s sack. Ran thanked him and even wanted to treat him to a meal later on. (I kind of like Ran’s and Toki’s interaction after they’ve always been paired up together in the main story XD Ran even called Toki “Toki-chan”~)

However, when Sando peeked into the sack, there was no presents in the sack at all! He guessed that he might have dropped them when he was chasing after the snatch thief, and thus Kaname offered to help Sando find the missing presents together with Toki and Hijiri. Suddenly, Chihiro appeared, holding the missing presents~! He had noticed the presents being dropped by the roadside and had picked them up while chasing after us. Hijiri had also picked up some presents up around the area too after Chihiro had contacted him and told him about the presents who had fallen onto the roadside. (Yeah~ That’s lucky for them to have already picked up the presents ^^)

Chapter 12: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

After Sando's examinations, it was soon Christmas! Chihiro remarked that time sure flies fast and asked "me" whether "I" was meeting with Ryohei and the other to help preparing for the Christmas party. Commenting that "I'm" really hardworking, Chihiro revealed that he wanted to give "me" a pat on the head as a praise~ Just then, Kaname turned up and sort of interrupted the moment before Chihiro gave "me" a head pat. (Haha, will Kaname get jealous? XD) He left soon after and left Kaname and "me" to ourselves.

Kaname remarked that since they had gotten Chihiro and Hijiri to work together with them to help Sando this time, he felt that it was a different experience working with just Class 3. Also, he felt that he still had lots to learn after seeing how Rudo had attended to the various situations. Kaname had felt disappointed that Sando was unable to deliver all of the presents within the time limit thanks to the snatch thief incident, but Ran came to us and said that everything still turned out alright in the end, since Sando was unhurt and even managed to get a Santa license in the end. Kaname knew that Sando was able to get the Santa license because of Izana and Ran helping in the background, and this was considered a special case indeed for the Santa Claus Organization. Ran continued that even though Sando had went out of the time limit slightly for the delivery test, the children were really satisfied with their presents when compared to children who had received their presents from the other candidates. Even though Sando had his own wish, he worked really hard to help others who were troubled instead, and that made him seems just like a Santa Claus in Ran's eyes.

Izana joined us too and remarked about how disappointed he was to find out the remaining members of the Santa Claus Organization were people who really likes kids and good people, other than the one person who had fiddled with the list of people to be gifted so that his own nephew could come out as the top. He had expected that the organization was one who make themselves look like a charity group and cheated alot of money from the others, or they're an organization which is actually a large-scale criminal group instead, but unfortunately for Izana, the organization was not anything like what he had expected at all ^^; Ran had deduced that the threatening letter was written by Izana, to which Izana replied that he did so to make the examinations more exciting, but Ran lectured him that his letter had made everyone worried, even wondering whether there was going to be an arsonist showing up at the examination venue.

In the end, Sando had sent presents to us, though technically he could only start deliver presents from next year onwards. The present came with a little card, thanking us for helping him to pass his examinations and supporting him all this while. Ran was glad to receive another gift (since he probably had one from the delivery test I think?), and received something soft and fluffy which Rudo could only looked on with envy XD

(Kaname looks so cute when he blushed XD)

As everyone got engrossed in opening their presents, Chihiro suddenly remembered that there was "something" they had to do. Kaname opened up a box and gave it to "me", telling "me" that this was a badge that's a representation of the D.O.G detective agency and was a gift from all of them from the detective agency. He told "me" that "I" was now considered a very important member of the detective agency and thus they wished that "I" had the same badge as them as well.

Kaname complimented that "I" looks really good with the badge on "me" and said that he felt honoured that "I" had the same symbolism on "me" like him. He was glad to celebrate Christmas with "me", saying that this would definitely be a memory that he would not forget.

And that’s it for this story~! This was quite a cute little story, which main characters were none of our detective crew though ^^; I actually thought this Santa Ojisan was actually quite cool though we never get to know how he looks like XD In this story, we get quite a few chances to get along with Kaname, which I really enjoyed the interactions with him ^^

Next event story would be quite a serious and major one that tied in with the side stories~ I planned to translate side stories after that one before returning to resume with the rest of the event stories~ (But who knows when would I translate them ^^;)

#viidog code #event story #summary #translation #otome game #vd:event #vd:translation #class3 #class 4

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