#maybe its the time that i can chat with my sister who is *already* awake while im *still* awake

[vonkje]

really thought it was gonna be mad easy to get home/ in bed (way) earlier then last year. that was a lie, naturally/obviously

[thebigoblin]

Sterek Fic Recs Part 3

[You can find the first two lists here: Fluffy Sterek Recs & Sterek Fic Recs. Also here's a special fic, check it out]

First off, thank you all for a 100 followers!! As of September 7, 2021 you've made me feel really, really good about my obsession with two oblivious idiots (with sprinkles of the hale pack and other fandoms), and this is my way of thanking you ♥️

If you're on PC, you can see that there is a page dedicated solely to fic recs, which caters to other ships & fandoms too. So don't feel left out if you're looking for something other than Sterek!

Without further ado, let's get to it then!

an awful curse

Isaac is asleep in a chair. The angle of his neck makes Derek wince in sympathy.

"Isaac," Derek says.

Isaac snaps awake immediately.

"You're-"

"Where's Stiles?"

"Stiles?" Isaac asks.

Jesus. It's not like they know more than one.

AU - Canon Divergence | 6.3k | By blinkiesays

Throw Away The Key

Stiles knew it was stupid to go to the hunters’ headquarters all by himself, so when he finds himself caught, he can really only blame himself.

It shouldn't surprise Stiles when the situation quickly goes from bad to worse as the hunters throw him to a feral werewolf waiting to tear him apart.

Sucks that it's Derek, though.

AU - Canon Divergence | 5.9k | By mommymuffin

Whatever Happened Last Night, Why Did Glitter Have to Be Involved?

Derek rolled out of bed in search of his phone - quickly finding it in the pair of jeans that had evidently been tossed aside haphazardly on the way to the bed. Seeing the pants sparked flashes of memories - wolfsbane-laced alcohol, loud music, multicolored lights.

Peter’s new supernatural-friendly club - the pack had gone to the opening night party.

He unlocked his phone and opened the pack group chat, which Erica had affectionately named ‘Moon Sluts’.

>>Derek: What the fuck happened last night

[or: Derek wakes up with three things on his mind: he feels like he was punched by a troll, his mate is missing, and there's glitter covering his bed. Oh, and the pack group chat is mildly helpful]

**

Prompt #159 - “Also, my bed has glitter in it for reasons I do not recall.”

Crack Vibes | 1.2k | By ash_mcj

Good to Eat

So if Stiles married Derek Hale, he could become Jewish too? Perfect. It was settled. Stiles gleefully shoveled a forkful of cheesy shells into his mouth.

"Uh oh. I know that look.” Claudia shook her head.

"Don’t worry, Mom, ” Stiles said, reaching for his plastic Batman cup.

"I’ve got a plan.”

"Good luck, Derek Hale,” his mother muttered.

Rude.

AU - Childhood Friends | 1.7k | By Jmeelee

Murder Brows and Avoidance Tactics

Derek gets the wrong end of the stick.

Written for prompt: "You're jealous, aren't you?"

AU - Everybody Lives | 2k | By Dragonink13

Double Vision (only registered users can read this one)

"So what caused my hearing and sense of smell to dull?"

Deaton's brow furrowed, all amusement vanishing from his face. "What do you mean?"

Derek snapped, letting loose all of his anger and fear at the man before him. "I mean I can't hear your heartbeat or the cars down below or the birds in the attic! I can't smell the flowers in Mrs. Everett's apartment, I can't smell the rotting burger in the fridge that Isaac left in there a month ago, I can't smell or hear anything like I normally can!" Deaton mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Can you explain that?!"

 Tumblr Prompt: Derek jealous of himself.

AU - Everyone Lives | 6.1k | By Novkat21

Kiss?

Derek likes kissing Stiles, honestly he does. Until he doesn't.

Fluff | 3.6k | By clotpolesonly

Oblivious Misadventures, and Other Such Tales

Going to college was exciting and new, a chance for new friends and a fresh start, and the best part was, there was a supernatural fraternity on campus, meaning Scott finally had the freedom to be himself.

Then he met the resident human who came with a stalker alpha. What was the point of a supernatural fraternity if he still had to pretend to be human. And seriously, did Stiles ever fall asleep somewhere normal?

--

(aka - Five TImes Scott Found Derek and Stiles Sleeping, and the One Time He Didn't)

AU, Supernatural is real but not known by everyone, Alive Hale Family | 11.2k | By Little Spoon

Call Me (Cliché)

When the sheriff's sister ends up in a wheelchair for the duration of summer, Stiles' dreams of three months full of pack bonding, late-night video games and bro-time with Scott come crashing down. He's temporarily relocated to Redford, a three hour drive away, and he can already tell he won't be getting many visitors.

Sure the pack will forget about him while he's gone, Stiles is determined to make the most of his summer of isolation, training his body and mind - and his magic - so he can come back with a bang, and maybe catch a certain Sourwolf's eye.

Then Derek shows up at his window one night with a flimsy excuse about needing research done. Suddenly, his summer away is looking a whole lot more interesting.

AU - Canon Divergence | 84.6k | By Orphan_Account aka the author has dissociated themselves from the fic

Shiver

Stiles has really, really cold hands. Luckily, Derek knows just what to do about that.

Established Relationship | 1.7k | By canistakahari

Derek Hale's Possible Heart

An anon sent me a sterek prompt for Laura teasing Derek and Stiles joining in, then somehow sharing their feelings for each other in the mess of things.

AU - Canon Divergence | 4.3k | By loserchildhotpants

What's a Secret Identity?

Stiles sipped at a mug of coffee, absently watching the news play in the break room. Because of course a news station couldn't play anything other than its own content, even in the one part of the office that was supposed to be a safe space from work. His interview with Superman was making a rerun and Stiles glanced at Derek before commenting absently, “I’d totally let Superman fuck me.”

Derek, who had been in the middle of a swig of coffee, choked violently, “That’s not something I needed to know at nine in the morning, Stiles.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “What time would you prefer I tell you about all of the things I would let Superman do to my body?”

AU, Derek is Superman | 7k | By Chrystie, imabignerd and kate882

i see that you've come so far [just like them old stars]

But her big brother’s unwillingness to touch anyone, like he thinks he doesn’t deserve it isn’t the only thing she notices. She also notices how Stiles doesn’t touch him.

Everyone reaches for Derek in some form or another, but Stiles- Stiles is something different altogether because he reaches for Derek but he never makes contact.

He’ll be trying to shimmy past Derek and instead of putting a hand on his arm like most of them do, he’ll reach out with a hand and stop it scant centimeters away from Derek’s skin.

Or they’ll be walking alongside each other and Stiles will hover a hand on Derek’s lower back.

It’s both fascinating and tragic to watch, like NASA lost control of one of their robots and instead of it landing on the moon it’s fated to gravitate around it.

AU - Canon Divergence | 2.3k | By crossroadswrite

Déjà Vu

There’s a shop in Beacon Hills that no one knows anything about except that the mysterious proprietor, a witch in whispered circles, knows what you need before you do and that the things given are always just what you need.

Derek, lost after a breakup, heads into the shop to see if he can find something to help him forget his ex. The witch gives him a potion to drink, and when Derek wakes up, he finds he’s sixteen again and there’s a new student at his school, Stiles Stilinski.

Everything is familiar and yet not, and Derek finds he’s strangely drawn to Stiles in a way that is entirely supernatural.

AU, Supernatural is Real | 8.8k | By gremlins-came-and-got-me and StaciNadia

Start Small, Like Oak Trees

The months following Allison's death have passed Stiles by in a haze of monotony. He sleepwalks through days that seem to lose their color, an unwilling passenger in a body he no longer trusts. Eventually, he thinks, he'll just fade away. He isn't sure anyone would notice. Then, during a spur of the moment grocery run, he stumbles upon Derek Hale attempting to console a lost child, and for the first time in recent memory the world doesn't seem so awful.

He's not sure what he'd been expecting when he eventually convinces Derek to move into the Stilinski's spare bedroom, but a newfound passion for weeding and topsoil certainly isn't it.

AU - Canon Divergence | 24.2k | By SmallBirds

Undercover K9

As it usually goes, Derek acts before he thinks. This time he has a good reason, though-it's all Stiles' fault. Mostly.

Or, that time when Derek volunteered to spend all his spare time as a wolf with the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Office K9 Unit, just to protect Stiles' dumb ass.

Future Fic | 17.9k | By Cobrilee

Rose Colored Glasses

“Obviou—um, what? Derek?” Stiles managed. “What? You’re not colorblind. You’re colorblind?”

“Yes.” Derek said gruffly. “And?”

“And? What do you mean and? You can’t see colors?” Stiles demanded, thrown. “Does it—what kind is it? Red-green? Blue-yellow? Why doesn’t—oh my god, is this why your entire freaking wardrobe was completely black until like two years ago? Oh my god!”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite color, Stiles.”

Established Relationship | 2.2k | By SassyStarboard

1,460 Days (gotta clean my slate)

Two years after Scott becomes Alpha and Derek gives it up for Cora, Stiles gets hurt during a fight and ends up in a coma for two weeks. According to the nurse, a guy has been visiting him every day and, as much as he wishes it were Derek, it sounds a lot like Scott. Except he and Scott aren't even friends anymore.

AU - Canon Divergence | 10k | By army_of_angels

This is it for now. Happy reading y'all! ♥️

[astralpenguin]

@transnaturalweek day 2: coming out

1.4k, ao3 link

Kaia knew about Claire, but Claire had never needed to tell her.

Kaia had been there with them while they figured it out. Kaia had listened while they tried putting into words what they’d been feeling for a long time. Kaia had encouraged them to research these feelings, and had been there when they’d found out that there were a lot of people out there who felt exactly the same way. Telling Kaia that, hey, it turned out they’re not a girl after all, was easy, because Kaia had been sitting right next to them when they realised and accepted this about themself in the first place.

But if they wanted the other people in their life to ever stop calling them she, then they had to tell people about it.

Claire wasn’t interested in changing up how they looked. They liked having their hair long, and they liked the tinted lip balms they wore every day, and they didn’t want to bind. But they knew what this meant. They knew what people would assume when they saw them. Frustrating as it was, most people weren’t psychic, and they weren’t going to know that Claire wasn’t a girl unless they told them. Claire would be free to get as angry as they liked at anybody who continued to call them the wrong thing after they’d been told about it, and that anger would be fully deserved, but getting angry at people for using the wrong words to describe them when they literally didn’t know any better wouldn’t help anyone or solve anything. The world sucked, and the assumptions that people would make sucked, but it wasn’t any individual person’s fault.

They knew that if they’d figured this whole gender thing out while Kaia had been gone then they absolutely would’ve followed it up by getting angry at everybody they’d ever interacted with for not knowing. Kaia’s presence in their life calmed them, made them feel more able to face the world and all of its unfairness. They were okay so long as Kaia was in their corner.

And Kaia was in their corner about this. But Kaia couldn’t tell people for them. Claire didn’t want Kaia to tell people for them. This was something that Claire had to do themself.

They already knew how the conversations would go. Castiel and Sam would be supportive for sure. They’d probably be painfully earnest about it. Dean wouldn’t lay it on as thick as the other two, but he’d be supportive as well. Donna would grin like she always does and give them a hug. Jody would thank them for telling her and tell them that she was proud of them. Alex and Patience would actually know how to be chill, and Jack would definitely get excited and be overenthusiastic and very unchill. Claire knew that nobody that they wanted to know would react badly, and they knew that none of the people that loved them would love them any less once they knew.

It was still daunting.

Claire watched the coffee machine do its thing and considered the pros and cons of putting everyone in a group chat, making the announcement, and immediately leaving the chat. It was sounding more and more appealing every second.

“Oh, hey.”

Claire turned towards the kitchen doorway, and the source of the voice.

“I didn’t realise anyone would be in here,” said Patience.

Claire glanced towards the clock. “It’s three in the morning,” they said. “What are you doing up?”

Patience stepped into the room. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Claire flashed a grin. “I haven’t gone to bed yet. You’re the one with a normal sleep schedule.”

Patience eyed the coffee machine. “Are you planning on sleeping?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re making coffee?”

Claire shrugged. “Want some?”

Patience nodded. “Please.”

The coffee machine beeped and Claire poured out two mugs. They stirred in milk and sugar, and handed one of the mugs to Patience.

Most people weren’t psychic, and wouldn’t know Claire’s pronouns if they didn’t tell them. But Patience was actually psychic. Her specific brand of psychic ability allowed her to see into the future, not read minds, so Patience likely still didn’t know. There was a possibility that she’d already had a vision of Claire telling people, but there was a bigger possibility that she hadn’t had a vision about that, especially since Claire hadn’t made a concrete decision yet about when and how they’d be telling people.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” said Claire, leaning back against the counter and cradling their mug. “Why are you awake right now?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Patience turned towards the window and looked out into the night. “It happens sometimes. Usually nobody else is around.”

“Sorry to disturb your insomnia routine.”

Patience caught Claire’s eye through their reflections in the mirror and smiled gently. “It’s okay. You’re not disturbing me. The company is nice.”

“Does Jody know? Or-”

Patience shook her head. “I don’t want to worry her.”

Claire sipped their coffee. “I get that,” they said. “But if it gets any worse then you should tell her. She might seem overprotective but she’s only like that because she cares.”

Patience raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and you take it so well when Jody’s overprotective with you. Are you really trying to play the wise older sister thing with me right now?”

Claire stifled a laugh, aware that other people in the house were trying to sleep. “That depends,” they said. “Is it working?”

“Nope. You’re too much of a hypocrite.”

“Damn.”

Patience laughed softly and sipped her coffee.

And she didn’t know, she didn’t, so Claire couldn’t be upset with her when what exactly she’d said sunk in a little deeper. Claire wasn’t anyone’s sister, but Patience didn’t know not to call them that. She hadn’t done anything wrong. The only person that Claire could get upset with over this situation was themself, but they weren’t about to do that.

But there was a way to make sure that it didn’t happen again.

For all that it had seemed daunting earlier, in this moment it was easy.

“Speaking of things that Jody doesn’t know about, I’m not a girl.”

The smile on Patience’s face dimmed. She turned to face Claire properly. “You’re not?”

Claire shook their head. “I’m gonna tell everyone soon, but. Yeah. I’m not.”

“So you’re a guy?”

“No,” said Claire. “Well, it’s complicated. I’m kinda somewhere in between.”

Patience nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Should I use they and them when talking about you, then?”

Relief flooded Claire that Patience already knew about this stuff, and that they weren’t about to have to give a big explanation about things that they didn’t even understand themself until a few weeks ago. “Yes, that’s exactly what you should use.”

“Got it,” said Patience. “Do you want me to hold off on using those pronouns in front of people who you haven’t told yet? People might not notice either way, but I wouldn’t want to out you.”

“Uh...” Claire drank more of their coffee as they considered this. “I guess you can judge it for yourself? I’m hoping to tell people soon anyway, so I don’t know if that’ll be an issue. Kaia already knows.”

Patience placed her mug on the counter. “I figured you’d have told Kaia already if you’re telling me.”

“Kaia helped me figure it out.” Claire traced their finger over the rim of their mug. “You’re the first person I’ve told.”

“Oh.” She looked touched. “Thank you.”

Claire pushed themself off the counter and put their empty mug in the sink. “Yeah, well. I mostly just wanted to correct you that I’m your wise older sibling, not sister.”

Patience laughed softly. “Older sibling? Yes. Wise? I’m not convinced.”

“Hey, screw you,” said Claire, a bubble of laughter escaping as they spoke. “I’m wise!”

“Didn’t you nearly get yourself killed last month because you tried fighting a pack of Rawheads by yourself?”

“I successfully fought a pack of Rawheads by myself, and obviously I was fine.”

“Jody was so angry when you told her about it.”

Claire grinned. “She was.”

Patience picked her mug up and placed it in the sink. “I’m gonna head back to my room,” she said.

“Gonna try and sleep?”

She shook her head. “Not much point. I’ll spend a few hours reading and go to bed early tomorrow to make up for it.”

Claire nodded. “Enjoy.”

Patience smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “I will.”

She left the kitchen, leaving Claire alone.

Okay.

So that went well.

They took a deep breath.

Maybe tomorrow they could tell Alex. After that, they weren’t so sure. The group chat announcement was still looking like a good idea.

They didn’t need to worry about it now.

They hit the kitchen light and made their way up to their and Kaia’s room.

It was time for them to sleep.

[wienerbarnes]

Witch Bitch

Pairing: Bucky x Witch!Reader

Word Count: 3,943

Warnings: witch stuff, burning at the stake 😳

A/N: this is heavily inspired by american horror story: coven bc i recently watched and ive been binging all of it lately but its not necessary to know anything about ahs lol i kinda just used their fancy magical terminology and concepts bc they were cool🤪 

MAIN MASTERLIST

The best time of the day was breakfast. It was the time when Bucky, Sam, and Sharon were most often together. Sometimes training overlapped and they missed lunch. Sometimes missions ran long or friends were in town and they missed dinner. But the morning? They were all early birds, all awake by seven. They took that shared characteristic and shared breakfast together whenever they could. Bucky usually took care of the coffee, Sam usually took care of the eggs and bacon, and Sharon usually took care of the bagels, toasting them to perfection before slathering on a layer of cream cheese.

It was a moment of peace in their day. Quiet before the noise of the gym or the conference room or the jets or the private trainings or the interviews with prospective agents or anything else they do on a daily basis. It was a time for three friends to just sit and eat and enjoy each other's company as though they are just that: three friends. Not super soldiers or captains or special agents. Just people being normal. Normal doesn’t last long, though. It never does for them.

Bucky’s on dish washing duty this morning while Sam and Sharon chat idly behind him, waiting for him to finish so they can all leave together. A soft voice interrupts them, though, making the three of them stop what they’re doing because no one has access to this floor except for the people that live here - meaning them three.

“Who’s in charge here?” You ask.

“Who the hell are you?! How did you get up here?!” Sharon asks, ignoring your question.

You were in a long, flowy black skirt, slit cut in the left side exposing your leg, and a long-sleeve black shirt, tucked beneath the waistband. Think black boots cover your feet and a black hat sits on your head to complete your look. Bucky almost doesn’t notice the folded black umbrella underneath your arm as his eyes trail down the multiple chains and necklaces around your neck, falling between your breasts.

“I’ve been trying to find someone to help me but the people in this building are not very helpful. I figured I’d find who’s in charge myself, something that you all don’t seem to want to help me with, either.” You explain.

“The only way to even enter this building is through strict appointment and background checks, and no one’s even allowed past the nineteenth floor.” Sam explains.

“Why are you entertaining this? I’m getting her out of here.” Sharon says, moving to walk towards you to take you out of the building herself.

As she nears closer and closer, you wave your hand lazily, without taking your eyes off Bucky, the only one who hasn’t said anything this whole time, and Sharon collapses on the floor soundlessly.

“Jesus!”

“What did you do!”

Both Bucky and Sam panic as they rush to Sharon’s body on the floor. They frantically run their hands over her body, looking for the point of injury that made her collapse the way she did, but they find nothing. No holes, no blood; she didn’t even make a sound.

“She’s not breathing and she doesn’t have a pulse, what the fuck did you do to her?!” Sam yells at you.

You roll your eyes, “Okay, you got me. I don’t need help finding who’s in charge, I already know it’s you. I still do need your help, though.”

You’re ignored as the two men hover over their friend, unsure of what to do or what even happened to her.

“Oh, alright, move.” You order them, stepping over Sharon’s body.

You stand before her, lifting your hands to hover over her body before closing your eyes and letting out a deep and long exhale. Bucky and Sam watch as it takes only about seven seconds for their friend to suddenly gasp for air, jumping back to life. The boys crowd her once more, checking her eyes, her pulse, everything to convince themselves that she’s actually alive like that, and if she was even dead in the first place.

Sam finally looks back up at you from the ground, as though he just remembered that you’re there, “What are you?”

You smirk in response, ready to finally get what you came here for.

…

“So, you’re a witch?” Sam asks, the four of them now occupying a private conference room for some privacy.

“A witch who killed me.” Sharon adds.

“And a witch that brought you right back.” You reply, leaning back on your chair, leg crossed over your knee, slit exposing your thigh. Bucky’s eye twitch to look at your bare skin for a second before returning to meet your eyes.

“So… what do you do?” Bucky asks.

You smile at his innocent curiosity, “All witches don’t have one universal power. Some are clairvoyant, some do voodoo, some dabble in pyrokinesis, divination, transmutation, descendum,” You glance over to Sharon, who’s still pouting at you, “Resurrection.”

“And can you do all of those?” Bucky asks.

“Almost all of them, but I’m not here to talk about me.”

“Why are you here?” Sharon asks.

“You guys hunt the Nazi’s, right?” You ask, aiming your question towards Sam, knowing he’s the Captain in charge.

“Hydra, yes.” He confirms.

“Well, your Nazi’s somehow got a hold of my magic. And they are playing with very dangerous fire,” You begin.

Bucky interrupts, “We’re all for taking down Hydra, but, don’t you think you’re a little more… powerful than us?” He asks.

“Bucky!” Sharon slaps his arm, as though she’s shocked that he would ever admit such a thing.

“I am. But I’m not that powerful, either. Not anymore, at least. A group of those Hydra invaded the coven my sisters and I were at. I was the only one that escaped.” You tell them.

“Did Hydra take them?” Sam asks.

“No, they killed them.” You respond, growing irritated as the subject grows touchier and touchier.

“Can’t you just bring them back like you did me?” Sharon inquires.

“No! I can’t. Like I said, I’m not that powerful anymore. Maybe I’d be able to bring back a house full of dead girls when it was me and twelve others but it’s just me now. I wouldn’t come all the way over here if I had other options.”

Silence grows over the group as they process what you’ve gone through. Surviving through the massacre of your fellow witches and not being powerful enough to find the people that did it on your own. You’re vulnerable.

“So what can we do?” Sam asks, ready to join forces with you.

“Help me locate the men who did this so I can handle the magic part.” You tell him.

“What magic do they have?”

“Although witches control most of the magic, sometimes it can be taken on in… physical forms. Specifically blood. The blood they retrieved was from a witch that was skilled in Vitali Vitalis.”

“The alive within the living.” Bucky translates.

“There are two worlds: the living and the dead,” You begin to explain, “Vitali Vitalis keeps the balance between these two things and it’s one of the most difficult powers for a witch to master. Oftentimes it’s used to give parts of your own life, health, and energy to someone who needs it. But it can also allow you to take life from someone and give it to yourself.”

“Like immortality?” Sam questions.

“Not quite. Any witch can be killed with a knife or bullet. This kind of magic keeps you from dying of age. I’ve only ever known one witch who mastered it.”

“What happened to her?”

“She used it for evil, like this. Took the souls of hundreds in order to allow herself to live for almost three centuries. Until she was killed, of course.” You finish, a small smile on your lips knowing that she got what she deserved.

“What, you burn her at the stake?” Sharon jokes.

“Yes, actually. We did.” You tell her matter-of-factly, becoming more and more irritated at the fact that she doesn’t seem to take this is as seriously as you are.

Bucky interrupts, sensing the rising tension between the two girls, “So when we find these guys, you’re going to burn them at the stake, too?” He asks.

“Yes,” You say, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “The consequence of using magic like this for evil is death by fire. I hope you all don’t think the rules will change on account of these men being Nazi’s?”

“Well, we just have a different way of doing things -” Sam begin to defend

“Yes, I’m aware. The countless destruction caused by you and other militaries, the millions of innocent lives lost yearly, not only in the constant war and irresponsible handling of your nuclear and alien weaponry, but by incorrect prosecution. Not to mention the billions of dollars spent on your ridiculous prison systems that don’t work when actual bad people escape and the death penalty practices in certain states. I just figured my way was easier. And cheaper.” You reply.

Silence crowds over the four of them once more as they think over all their options.

“I’m in.” Bucky speaks first.

“Me, too. Even if I don’t like you.” Sharon follows.

“Feeling’s mutual, dear.” You smile at her.

The three of them look to Sam, waiting for his commitment as well.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Plans were made, theories of location were thought of, and plans to execute the mission were put into place, all of which included you. A temporary room was given to you when the information of your lack of a place to stay was brought to light. Only for the duration of this mission, is what Sam told you, but you can spot the amount of love and light in his heart from miles away.

It was later that night, and you’ve since cleansed the room, going as far as to place a protective spell on the entire floor. You’ve lost too much already, and you’re not about to risk anything.

A knock at the door sounds and the visitor you’d been expecting has finally arrived. You walk towards the door, still in your clothes from earlier but now you’ve removed your shoes, and open the door to reveal Bucky.

“I was waiting for you.” You tell him.

“How’d you know I’d come?” He asks, stepping through the door when you step aside, silently gesturing to him to enter.

“I can hear your thoughts. You've been debating whether or not to come see me for the past thirty minutes. Your mind is very loud.”

“Tell me about it.” He mumbles to himself, thinking about the countless nightmares, voices, and all the other reminders of just how loud his mind was.

“You can ask all your questions, you know. I won’t take any offence. You’re just curious.” You tell him, settling on your bed, hoping he’ll join you and stop hovering near the door.

Luckily he takes the hint and takes a seat across from you.

“I’ve never met a witch before. A real one, I mean. Like, someone born a witch. Like Salem witches -”

“I understand.” You chuckle lightly.

“You don’t seem… afraid of me. Or, hesitant, rather.” You tell him, thinking about how he’s received your presence here compared to his colleagues.

“I was wary when you killed my friend, but… you just need some help, is all. I’m sorry, by the way, I’m not sure if I said it before, but, I’m sorry for what happened to your friends.” He tells you.

He’s very polite. But you supposed that’s not abnormal considering he got his manners from the 1920’s. You like it, though. You give him an appreciative smile before giving him the okay to ask you whatever he wanted.

“So you said that witches can master multiple powers but have one specialty; is yours resurrection?”

“Yes; it was the first power I ever exhibited when I was a teenager. I was about fourteen or fifteen. My next mastered skill is descendum and then clairvoyance, where I was in my twenties, or so.” You tell him as he looks at you with pure fascination in his eyes.

“What is - what is descendum?”

You pause, “The power to descend your soul down into the afterlife - to hell. And return alive.”

His eyes widened, not even knowing that was something someone can do; not even knowing that hell existed in the first place, “So, you’ve been to hell?”

“Yes. I’ve also been able to retrieve people from hell, their soul. A variation of my power of resurrection, I suppose.” You explain, not being too fond of that power; descending to hell.

Bucky sits in silence for a few minutes, and you let him. You can hear the question lingering around in his head; what he’s thinking. But you let him build up his own courage to ask it. You know he’s only scared of the answer; the answer you know he’s not going to like.

“What is hell like?” He whispers.

“It doesn’t matter what my hell is like. Everyone has their own personal hell they experience when they die.” You tell him.

Confusion clouds his features as he registers your answer.

“Is there… Is there no heaven?”

You smirk, “It’s nice that you’ve remained religious after all this time.”

“Yes, there's heaven. But only for the purest and most innocent of souls. And rarely do people escape life without sin. Everyone has evil in them.” You tell him, knowing it’s a harsh truth that no one wants to hear.

The people Bucky’s killed, the crime he’s committed, the families he’s hurt; it all passes through his mind. Everyone has evil in them.

“What was your hell like?”

“I’m not telling you that.” You tell him quickly.

Bucky ponders what his own hell will be like, after seeing the way you’re clearly shaken up about your own. The fall from the train. The man in a lab coat sawing off the rest of his arm. The needles poking through his skin in the middle of some facility. The chair.

He doesn’t realize that he’s looked away from you until he snaps his thoughts back to the present and sees he’s looking down into his lap. He glances up to see your face, your soft features and kind eyes staring at him. He glances from your eyes to your lips and back up again before clearing his throat, not realizing how close he got to you during his time here sitting on your bed.

“You know, I, uh, I should go. Thank you for, uh, answering my questions, but we head out pretty - pretty early tomorrow, so,” He trails off, standing and patting down his shirt to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles in a nervous habit.

He makes his way towards the door and his hand touches the knob when he hears your voice, “Hey, Bucky?” He turns slightly to face you again, a hum to indicate for you to continue.

“Thank you for coming to see me. And thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me. You’re a very good person.” You tell him sincerely.

He gives you a nod of you’re welcome before exiting.

He’s not sure if you told him that because you truly mean it, or if it’s because of the state of anxiety and existential crises you’ve put him in now that he’s going to be thinking about his personal hell, but he appreciates it, nonetheless.

He thinks you’re a pretty good person, yourself.

…

The mission goes off without a hitch. The combined skill of the Avengers’ stealth, spyware, and experience along with your magic and witchery makes for an easy capture of the men who killed your witch sisters and stole your magic.

It’s not long before the facility they were at was shut down and cleared out, arresting any officers and rescuing any prisoners or hostages, and the five men specifically responsible for the destruction of your coven are in separate custody. What’s left of the blood is returned to you, as well.

That’s where the group of you stand now, a decision to be made about the criminals you’ve captured. To be put in the maximum security prison floating in the ocean, or to be put to death by fire.

“I don’t believe in being the executioner of people.” Sam tries to convince.

You can’t help but let a laugh escape you, “Do you know who you work for?! Do you know who you are?!” You remind him.

“Those guys can’t escape the Raft.” He tries, referring to prison in the middle of the ocean you’ve heard about.

“You did.” You respond, knowing about when Steve Rogers took him out of that prison, along with other superheros.

You see Bucky and Sharon look between the two of you, torn between how these Hydra criminals should receive their fate. Staring into the hot depths of flames or rotting alone in a cell? Both seem to be too merciful, in Bucky’s opinion.

“This isn’t just running the facility or experiments, Sam. This is different. They were using dark magic to commit crimes. Maybe they should face the consequences of a dark-magic-punishment.” Sharon offers.

You don’t have time to be shocked at Sharon agreeing with you and picking your side before Bucky agrees and Sam is outnumbered. He stares at you and gives a single nod, allowing you to do this your way.

You smile, a silent thank you for giving you the closure and opportunity to serve justice to those who did you harm. “Off to Massachusetts, then.” You tell them, and Sam takes his seat in the pilot's chair, Bucky accompanying him in the front of the jet.

You take a seat, making yourself comfortable for the flight to Salem and you feel a body take the seat next to you. You glance up to see Sharon looking at you, but you notice she has something in her hand, offering it to you.

You look down to see a small plastic bag of fruit gummies. But not just any fruit gummies, you realize. Halloween themed fruit gummies. The pictures on the outside show the various options inside: witch’s hat, a broom stick, a melting pot, a vial, and a magic wand. Hilarious.

You take the gummies, though, accepting her attempt at a truce.

It’s not long before you and your temporary teammates find themselves standing before a large, empty field, multiple wooden stakes standing about fifteen feet tall scattered about with plenty of space in between.

You lead the walk to a group of them standing tall in line, so the men can be burned at the same time, as opposed to one by one. A group of large, burly agents lug the Hydra operatives along, behind you and the rest of the team.

Bucky hangs around your left, as to not be in the way of the black umbrella held in your right hand, and Sam and Sharon trail behind you. You can sense their uneasiness and tune out their worried thoughts. Everyone’s first burning is always an experience; they’ll get over it.

Bucky doesn’t seem worried, though. In fact, you can’t hear his thoughts this time around. But he still stands tall and straight, walking with confidence, so you make a safe assumption that he’s okay.

None of the men’s cuffs or shackles are removed, but thick rope is tied on top of it, around the wrist and looped around the waist, tying them to the stake. The cuffs are special grade - high tech Avengers vibranium - and they can be retrieved later once the fire burns out.

“Any last words?” You ask, more for tradition than whether or not you actually care.

They look scared, obviously not expecting their fate to look anything like this. You remember seeing Bucky tackle one of them in the facility, prying his mouth open to rip out a tooth, or what looked like a tooth, like a dog caught eating something it wasn’t supposed to. A cyanide pill.

Silence comes from them, except for one of them, “Hail Hydra!” He yells, as if that cowardly and pathetic phrase would change anything.

With a raise of your hand, seemingly with no effort, you wave it and the stakes all begin to rise up in flames. There’s nothing to spark, no twigs, no gasoline, nothing, and Bucky watches as the flames rise, growing stronger as they engulf the five men. They begin to scream, and Bucky looks over at you, as if to confirm you didn’t bring gasoline or something with you, and he sees a smile slowly grow on your lips.

They haven’t stopped screaming; they’re still alive when you turn and begin to walk back the way everyone came. Bucky follows, and eventually Sam and Sharon do, too, the other agents staying behind until the end to retrieve the cuffs and shackles that will survive the fire.

“So, now what?” Sharon asks, the air quieter as the screams have slowly stopped in the distance.

I can’t imagine what kind of paperwork follows this, “Back to the tower.” Sam responds.

“The coven’s only a short walk from here.” You say, not needing to elaborate much more. The men have been caught and brought to justice, but you still have a broken, battered, and beaten down coven to fix.

A friend of yours was meant to go by and retrieve the… bodies. Which you’re grateful for. But magic won’t help you fix the walls, the floors, mop the blood, or find other witches in need of an escape and a place to improve and master their powers. You have a lot of work to do.

As the view of the jet gets closer, you prepare to bid your goodbyes to the Avengers, your thank you’s as well. Regardless of your attitude towards them before, you couldn’t have done this without them.

A metal hand engulfs yours, pulling you back a bit as Sam and Sharon continue on.

“Do you need any help?” Bucky’s warm and gentle voice floods your ears, hand still in yours.

“You guys have been more than enough help, now, really.” You try to tell him, but he has none of it.

“You may be tough, but you can’t fix up that house by yourself,” He tells you, “I can be pretty handy, fixed up a few things back in my day.” A soft smile grows on his face.

You glance over his shoulder as Sam and Sharon wait by the entrance of the jet, “Don’t you have to go back?”

“They won’t miss me.” He tells you, not even looking back to confirm with his teammates, hand dropping to run it through his hair.

You giggle at him, before giving him a shy nod in answer to his offer to help you fix up your big house.

“I’m going to hang out here for a few days.” He yells over his shoulder.

“We figured.” Sam calls out, and Sharon throws you a wave as they board the jet, the opening close after them.

“Lead the way?” Bucky offers you, taking your hand once more, interlocking the fingers this time.

And so the two of you are off, one of your hands still clutching the umbrella, holding it above your head, and the other hand interlaced with the one of a handsome and kind super soldier. This wasn’t the way Bucky expected the last two days to transpire, but he’s glad they led to holding the hand of a very pretty witch.

[rein4r1]

Portrait

Wc: 1.9k

Warning/s: Homophobia, Signs of Mental Illness, Mentions of Mental and Physical Abuse, Mentions of sexual activity, Dark Content

Pairing: [Modern AU] Mikasa x F!Reader (They/Them)

Genre: Fluff if you squint, Angst

Synopsis: On which Mikasa offers them a solution to their problems

or

They couldn't help but create a different reality

MINORS READ WITH DISCRETION

“So tell us Y/n L/n”

“Tell you what? I have nothing to tell you!”

“Tell us why you killed your parents.”

They pulled her knees to their chests, tightening their hold. The air from the AC doing nothing but worsen the already dreadful atmosphere. With shaking hands, they touched the side of their face, feeling the sting from where their father slapped them from hours ago. It wasn’t his aggressiveness that hurt them nor was it the shattered frame of a portrait that stood proudly on top of the island table, but it was their mother’s words; “I can’t believe we have a homosexual under our roof!”

Their parents were always conservative, believing that people who like the same sex are nothing but sinful. In all honesty, they believed every word they fed growing up. At least until they met her. Maybe deep down, they were already different from what their parents fear, just hiding in the closet. The first time they saw her was in the middle of the hallway, junior year in high school. To be honest, they didn’t have friends, them having friends is far-fetched anyway.

Not only did they hate their situation at home, but they also hate their situation at school. It’s not like they’re physically troubled by other kids, but they can always hear their murmurings, clearly them being the subject of their gossip.

“For someone with a pretty appearance, they sure are crazy.”

“Shut up! They might hear.”

School was already hell for them; just in the middle of the hallway stood a girl with short black hair, there she stood in the sea of despondence. They always had a downcast look, when was the last time they stared at anything but their feet. They can’t help but be drawn to her dark orbs, something about her enigmatic look draws them to her. The felt their body move automatically towards her, but in the heap of the crowd, she was gone. Their eyes searched any nook and cranny for her, hoping that there’s something she left by. And they felt it, the erratic beating of their hearts, as if nothing will help to calm it.

The next time they saw her was at the school’s courtyard, sitting at one of the benches looking like she’s lost in her own thoughts. They slowly approached her, sitting just at the other end of the bench. As if sensing their presence, her head turns towards them. Her face shows aloofness, but their eyes bore in theirs with curiosity. She turned her head back to the horizon, clearly not minding their presence.

“You look sad.” ‘What?’

“You look like… you’ve been failed by the people around you…” she continues as they look at her with sadness in their eyes.

“Wha- What are you talking about?...” And out of the blue, she pulled them towards her, letting their head rest on her shoulder. She brought her hand to caress their hair, and all they could do is cry. It’s been so long since they became vulnerable, looking no different than a walking corpse. “Don’t worry Y/n, I’m here now.” ‘Huh but how does she know my name?’

“Wait how did you-“

“I’ve always been watching you Y/n, I’m sorry it took me a long time.” They look at her face and saw genuine repentance. “But I haven’t- I don’t know who you are.” As if sensing their growing confusion, she smiled; “Mikasa, my name’s Mikasa.”

Mikasa is their first friend and the first person they talked outside of their family. They didn’t feel alone anymore with the girl beside them. The once suffocating halls didn’t feel smothering anymore. Their eyes didn’t look downcast, it slowly began to look less dull and look more with vigor. But that didn’t do anything to lessen the outlandish look their schoolmates gave them, their mumblings only continue to worsen. It didn’t matter anymore, since Mikasa is by their side, and she didn’t feel alone anymore.

Mikasa slept over at their house, this was something they’ve been looking forward the whole weekends. Lying together in their bed as they faced each other, Mikasa brought her nimble finger to draw in their features as she reached stay strand of their hair and placed it behind their eye. As if there was an unknown force that compels them to each other, they felt her lips brush against theirs in a gently manner. Feeling the way their lips moved in sync with each other, Mikasa’s kisses were steady, gentle, and slow

She looks at them as if she revers them with her whole entirety. They felt her hands drag across their skin like an adagio. Mikasa looked at their eyes for any signs of discomfort, but they only brought themselves closer as an answer. And that night, they made love under the light emanating from the moon.

A few days later, Y/n sat at the dining area with their parents for dinner. Their mother was babbling about how charming their neighbor’s son is. It fell into deaf ears of course, only having Mikasa in their thoughts.

“Y/n you should meet Mr. Grice’s son, I heard he’s about your age.” They snapped their head towards their father, they could not believe the words that came out of his mouth. Never in her life did he appreciate them having any malefriends. “You ought to have friends at your age, create a network with people.”

“I already have a friend ‘pa” he could only dismiss their reply. Their mother clearly being insistent on bringing the Grice boy and them together. “I know both of you are taking your exams for university, it doesn’t hurt having room for more people in your life.”

“I thought you never wanted me to have any guy friends.”

“But it’s the Grices we’re talking about.” They came to understand their mother’s intentions. The Grice family were considered wealthy and influential, who doesn’t want to marry into a rich family anyway? Obviously, Y/n L/n who only has Mikasa in their heart. Plus, the Grice boy already had an army of girls (and boys) willing to be his significant other. It was supposed to be a normal dinner, with them minding their business, leaving their parents to whatever chit chat they’re engrossed in. That is until, their father said something that triggered more on her already displeased mood.

“God, those sinners, parading around for some rights when they clearly don’t deserve any.” Her father muttered in disgust. The television was on, displaying news about a protest done by the LGBTQ+ community in accordance with the rights of their transgender brothers and sisters, considering that there is a rise of crimes towards the group. “If only they weren’t that then people wouldn’t-“

“I’m gay.” Their parents snapped their heads towards her, their expressions full of vexation.

“Y/n come again? What did you-“

“I’m fucking gay ‘ma, and I appreciate that the both of you stop asking those people for liability for something they clearly didn’t do, especially that they- we, are discriminated by people like –“ SLAP

They looked at their horrific faces, hand on their cheek. They expected this, they knew they were like this, but they couldn’t stand them any longer. They couldn’t help but think of Mikasa, the fact that they have this kind of mindset already means that after learning Mikasa’s existence, they’ll get in between them.

“I can’t believe we have a homosexual under our roof!” Their mother cried and their father’s face full of furry. “Go inside your room! We’ll deal with you later. FuckI can’t look at you right now without having the urge to murder you! And I don’t want to commit a sin like you!” Their father’s voice echoes around the room, as they quickly left her unfinished dinner, seeking solace inside their room. Sitting at the innermost corner of their bed, they leaned against the wall and brought their knees towards their chest. They expected them to be like this, but deep down they were hoping that they’d understand, that they’d accept them for who they are.

They felt their phone ring as they moved towards the bedside table and saw a text from Mikasa.

They immediately dashed towards their mini balcony, and there she is, Mikasa in all her glory. Seeing her made them break down, they found solace with this woman. To them, Mikasa is their sanctuary. Mikasa held them tight under the dark sky and the cold wind of the early hours of morning. She listened to them as they bawl their eyes out, pressing kisses on their face in hopes that this will make them feel better.

“I have something for you.” Mikasa reached something in her pocket to reveal a necklace with a vial as its pendant. They looked at the necklace with an astonished look, Mikasa then proceeds to wear the necklace on their neck. “You know you can do this Y/n” Mikasa smiled at them as she pressed another kiss on her shoulder, wrapping her arms around them. “I know you can”

Their parents woke up at the delightful smell of breakfast. They were bemused at the food that is already prepared on the table.

“Oh, both of you are awake, I prepared breakfast.” Their father looked at them suspiciously, but she only smiled cheerfully.

“What is this? Didn’t we tell you to-“

“I would like to apologize for yesterday, I was clearly stressed because of my exams. I was probably just confused… Yeah just stressed” they chuckled, they felt a bit unsure of their words, but they only brushed it off, content that their child finally came into their senses. They took a sip of their tea, as they began to converse with their parents. “You know about Grice, maybe I’ll approach him later at school.”

“Really? That’s great Y/n!” Her mother chimes.

“Yes ‘ma” They continue to look at their parents. Minutes pass as something went eerie that they could not explain. ‘Something’s weird’ their father glanced at their grinning face. They suddenly lack the ability to speak. As they slowly grow limp from their chairs. They could only stare at their child’s retreating form as the light in their gets swallowed by darkness.

“Tell us why you killed your parents.” Are they out of their mind? Kill? Why would Y/n kill their parents? They may have hurt them too many times, but they could never hurt their parents.

“Kill? I did not kill them!”

“The autopsy showed signs of poisoning, and the investigating team found its connection with the tea they drank. In addition, you were the last person they were last seen with.” They were confused, the tea?... The tea!

“It wasn’t me… It was… It was Mikasa!” Their eyes widen in confusion. “She gave me a vial. It was her!” They wrote their claim down on a piece of paper.

“Mikasa?... I need her last name.” He probes. ‘Wait, she never did give me her last name.’ The officer slid a small envelope. The opened it to reveal a portrait that looks oh so familiar. It’s one of the portraits her father flounced in the heat of anger. A portrait of a young woman with a baby in her hands. ‘No this can’t be… this is just a coincidence. This woman-‘

“-is Mikasa Ackerman, the one who gave birth to your mother.”

That night, they never received a text from her. It was only their alarm setting off.

An: I feel like this is badly written so bsoibhaoibh

I apologize for any grammatical errors and improper use of punctuation marks.

[lala-ladybug]

Healing Hands: Chapter 3

Happy finals week, ugh. As always, reblogs are appreciated!!

Jasonette Sword Art Online AU

Read here on AO3

Tag list: @iloontjeboontje

First | Previous | Next

Chapter 3: Well shit Babs, maybe I like ponies

Marinette sat on a rock and paddled her bare feet in the water. It was a beautiful day, the sun was warming the top of her loose, dark hair and the ocean in front of her stretched for miles and miles.

A noise disturbed her peaceful moment. A distant cry, probably a seagull.

She sighed and leaned back on her hands to breathe in the smell of--

Marinette choked. Why was there smoke in the air?

The cries grew louder as she looked back at the water before her. She started when she saw that they came from her friends, who were in the now-tumultuous water, trying to keep themselves afloat. They were only a few yards away, she could make it if she just--

A force around her waist tugged her hard as she leapt to her feet. Her face collided with the concrete beneath her-- the top of a building, she realized. If the water level was up this high, then....

From where she lay, she could see directly down into the water. It was no longer clear, but a deep crimson. There were dozens of figures scattered about, some still struggling and some motionless. She scrambled to get up as her eyes snapped to Alya’s hand disappearing below the waves.

That damn force jerked her to the other side of the building, farther from her friends.

“No!” Marinette cried out desperately. The force released her and she whirled to find her attacker.

A flash of red caught her eye, and--

Oh.

It was Ladybug.

Marinette shook her head, not understanding. If that was Ladybug, then.... No, it couldn’t be Ladybug, because she was Ladybug. She fumbled for her earrings, but felt nothing.

Ladybug stalked deliberately up to Marinette and pushed her to the ground. Marinette landed on her hands and knees, both of which were now shaking.

“Look at them,” it was her own voice that spat so harshly from Ladybug’s lips. “Look at them.” She grabbed Marinette’s hair from behind and forced her head up.

Marinette could now see Adrien, Kagami, Luka, and Chloe in the ocean in front of her. Their lifeless faces floated just below the surface, the bloodied water doing nothing to conceal their frozen expressions of terror.

Marinette sobbed and closed her eyes. Ladybug pulled sharply on her hair again, and looked into Marinette’s eyes.

“Look at them. Don’t you dare take your eyes off the mess you’ve made. You will never be able to save them all,” Ladybug’s eyes, her eyes, blazed with the vehemence of her words. She opened her mouth to speak again, but a loud beeping sound was all that came out.

Marinette gasped and sat up in her bed, the alarm sending her heartbeat into a frenzy. Tikki flew up next to her as she slumped over with a hand over her eyes.

It was just a dream.

Another Kwami must have turned off her alarm because the beeping had stopped, but Marinette could still hear the echoes of her friends’ dying breaths ringing in her ears.

“Marinette... are you okay?” Tikki placed a delicate paw on her chosen’s arm. “We heard you cry out while you were sleeping.”

The girl lifted her head and gave the little god a shaky smile. “It was just a dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tikki floated back down to where the other Kwami were piled on the side of the bed with similarly worried expressions on their faces.

Marinette exhaled a bracing sigh. “Okay.... It was Syren. Or-or Chat Blanc, I’m not really sure.” The Kwami exchanged a look at that. This was not the first time she’d had a nightmare about water. “But Ladybug was there, and she was attacking me.”

Tikki looked especially concerned about that new piece of information. She opened her mouth to say something when Marinette’s phone lit up with a call. The ringtone was Alya’s.

Marinette picked up, trying to control the shaking of her hands. “H-hey girl, what’s up?” Her tone was deceptively cheerful.

“Hey Mari! Just checking to see if you’re awake. Nino and I are ready, he even put on the goggles already!” Marinette instantly relaxed as she heard Alya’s excited voice bubbling out.

“Yeah dudette, they feel really weird. But comfy!” Nino must have leaned over to pitch in.

Marinette shook off the last vestiges of the nightmare with a giggle. “Yeah, it’s kind of tricky to get the headset to fit over your glasses, but you’ll get used to it!”

“Well if you’re not ready yet then you’d better hurry up, girl! The game launches in five minutes.”

Marinette scrambled to check the time. “Oh crap! I gotta go, see you guys soon!” She hung up and rushed to untangle herself from her blankets.

“Good thing you set three alarms, huh?” Tikki followed her down from the loft and watched her brush out her hair.

Marinette stuck her tongue out at the god of creation.

* * *

Red Hood stalked into the Batcave, nearly running Oracle over as she wheeled herself up to her station at the Batcomputer.

“Woah Jaybird, don’t let me get in your way there,” Babs glared at his retreating back. “Asshole,” she muttered to herself.

Jason hurled his helmet onto the floor of the bathroom and began shucking off his suit with far more force than necessary. He started a shower and looked over his new wounds in the mirror. He’d been stupid, so damn stupid, on patrol.

“Red Hood, report in,” Batman’s gravelly voice cut through on his comms. “Hood, you are not to engage alone. What is your location?”

But Jason couldn’t hear him. The only thing he could hear was blood rushing in his ears, but it wasn’t his blood. No, it was the blood of every monstrous, corrupt asshole in this city. And he wanted it to run on the streets.

The Joker had sent thugs out to a meet-up. Well, Red Hood could send them back in a casket. He crouched beside a gargoyle and watched for the arrival of the van he’d tailed. There were only two men. They left the vehicle and waited outside, lighting cigarettes. Too easy.

Red Hood swept down the building, guns never leaving their holsters. He wanted this to hurt. Them or him, he wasn’t sure. But he got his wish as he beat the two men to a pulp. He wasn’t sure how far he’d have gone if not for the arrival of the gang the Joker’s men were supposed to meet with.

They slashed his back with knives. Shallow wounds, easy to manage. By the time Red Hood turned to face them, the others had arrived-- Batman, Nightwing, Robin. And boy were they pissed.

Jason winced as the hot water hit the cuts on his back. He rolled his shoulders and just let the steam ground him. He didn’t kill again, even if every time that green-haired bastard got involved, he went off the rails.

He would get to choose his own path, not the one Bruce wanted for him, but damn well not the one Thalia wanted for him either. This story was his, he reminded himself while gingerly toweling off. Even if he couldn’t look his own reflection in the eye.

He gripped the countertop, staring down as he let his hair drip into the sink. No, he wasn’t feeling desperate enough to see if his eyes were green again.

Damnit, he had to apologize to Babs. He felt calmer now, but he’d been a real dick when he came in. Jason dressed quickly in sweatpants and an old shirt, then padded quietly back to where he knew his sister would be at the computers.

“Hey,” he said, knocking softly when he entered to announce his presence. Barbara didn’t respond for a moment. She was leaning forward in her chair, typing something into one monitor while listening to police chatter, then nodded to herself and sat back.

“Hey.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Robin told me what happened on patrol.”

Jason scowled. “That little tattletale.”

Barbara offered him a reassuring smile. “That little tattletale is the only reason I didn’t hack into your bank account and order a damn pony.”

“Well shit Babs, maybe I like ponies,” Jason snarked back, but his heart wasn’t into it. “Listen... I’m sorry about earlier. If replacement talked to you already, you know what kind of mood I was in, but that’s no excuse.”

Babs turned her chair to face him and held out her hand. He stepped forward and took it, and she said, “We know you’re trying, Jay. Stuff like this? This is who you are. A year ago, you wouldn’t have been caught dead apologizing to me!” She cringed. “Ah, no offense.”

He chuckled. “None taken, it’s about time you started getting in on the undead jokes.” He patted her hand before walking away back to the main space of the cave. “But thank you, it means a lot.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth!” She raised her voice and turned back to face the computer.

Dick and Tim were already waiting in the cave. Tim was fiddling with some beds and what looked like opaque ski goggles. He always fidgeted when he was nervous.

“Hey replacement,” Jason shouted across the room. He noticed Dick bristle, but cut him off before he could get the patented older brother speech. “How much time ‘til the launch?”

Tim’s eyes lit up, and damn him for caring, but Jason just didn’t want them to be afraid of him.

* * *

Connor and Zatanna were washing dishes in the Cave’s kitchen after dinner. Connor heard the distant sound of someone arriving via zeta tube. He let Zatanna know as they finished drying their plates, then followed her to go greet their visitors.

Wally and Artemis staggered into the room, both weighed down by overflowing boxes of equipment.

“Oh thank god, please help me!” Artemis said, spotting Connor. He obliged and easily took the heavy box from her. She rubbed her arms and smiled gratefully as he held it aloft in one hand.

“It must be so handy having him around,” she sighed to Zatanna.

The magician giggled. “It certainly has its perks, but....” She lifted her hands and said clearly, “Flesruoy egnarra.” The contents of the boxes, some assorted cots, VR headsets, and computers, floated up and placed themselves into a neat formation. “A girl can get by by herself.” She gave Artemis a fistbump.

The zeta tube activated and they all looked up to watch it. The AI announced Wondergirl, and Cassie Sandsmark walked out. She looked up from her phone and waved. “Oh hey guys, whatcha doing?”

Wally zoomed around the set-up Zatanna had created. “We’re just setting up to play this new virtual reality game that’s coming out at midnight! What about you?”

“Oh, what a coincidence, I was just--”

Cassie was cut off by the zeta tube activating again. This time it was Bart, carrying Jaime bridal style, and running at full speed. He skidded to a halt, put a very ill-looking Jaime down, and ran a hand through his windswept hair.

“So totally crash! What’s poppin’?” He made finger guns at Connor, Zatanna, and Artemis.

Zatanna started explaining, “Well, like were just telling Cassie, there’s this new video game coming out at midnight and we--”

She was interrupted by the screech of a green pterodactyl swooping in from the zeta tube. It circled once around the high ceilings of the hollowed-out mountain, then landed and shrank into Beast Boy.

“Just a heads up, Arsenal’s right behind me and he’s a little angry-- oh what are you guys doing?”

Connor was getting frustrated now. “We’re trying to get set up for this new video game that’s launching in five minutes, so if you guys wouldn’t mind--”

A small explosion sounded from the door to the exterior of the island. Roy burst in amidst a cloud of dust.

“Hope I’m not late, I lost my phone.” He sounded like he was in a bad mood.

Bart whispered to Connor, “He means he destroyed his phone.”

Roy dusted off his pants, then looked to Wally and Artemis and asked, “The hell are you doing here?”

“AUGH,” Artemis had had enough. “We’re here to play the video game coming out at midnight! If you want to join us, fine, but if you don’t then get out.” She pointed to the zeta tubes.

Garfield tried to placate her. “Sheesh, it’s just a game! No need to get so worked up.”

Jaime gave him an incredulous look. “Weren’t you just throwing a tantrum yesterday about Bart kicking your ass halfway to Bialya in Smash?”

“...Noted.” Garfield answered.

“Well, looks like we’ve got plenty of hands to help get everyone set up. Let’s get to it!” Cassie expertly maneuvered the two teams away from setting off their more explosive members. They distributed headsets and assigned reclining positions without further delay.

* * *

Marinette put the headset on and laid down on her bed.

“Ready to go back?” Tikki asked her.

She gave the little god a grin. “Definitely.”

In the distance, the bells in Notre Dame chimed six times, but Marinette couldn’t hear them. Her mind had gone somewhere far, far away. Somewhere new.

[missscarletta7]

The Broken Crown- Chapter 1

Hello! So this is my first Peaky Blinders Fanfiction.  I own nothing, except for the few OCs I created. 

This story is also on Wattpad and FF.net under the same title if you want to read it there as well--- however be warned it is not as edited as this post and I changed the name of one of the characters because I thought it was a better fit... lol!

Summary: All Margaret Shelby ever wanted, was the opportunity to write her own story. Only now is she beginning to realize that her brother may have already written it for her...

  Enjoy!

OoOoOo

"He's a ghost, he's a god, He's a man, He's a guru,

You're one microscopic cog, In his catastrophic plan

Designed and directed by his red right hand"

~Red Right Hand~

1919

She had that dream again, the one where she had to decide which door she would open. Both doors were identical in every way. Yet, she just stands in the empty room lit as if by candles; frozen in place; The weight of the decision ultimately waking her out of-

No, that wouldn't do, a dark-haired girl thought as she scratched out the words she had just written down. In a small bedroom on the second floor of number Seventeen Watery Lane, sixteen-year-old Margaret Shelby sat on her bed, or rather the bed she shared with her older sister. Dressed in the long white nightgown that had once belonged to her mother and with a pen in hand, she scribbled down more words in her brown leather-bound journal resting on her lap. The journal was gifted to her by her Aunt Polly on her most previous birthday. Upon receiving it she couldn't wait to fill its pages. She liked writing, ever since she learned how to form her words into a cohesive sentence on paper. It had been an outlet, a distraction from the "shit-hole" that was Small Heath, Birmingham.

As a child, she had the fondest memories of taking the drawings her eldest brother Arthur would sketch and would accompany his rendering with an original story. She took pride in how much he would always be so impressed and relished when he called her “his little genius". As the years passed, she believed if she could write and publish a story that was good enough, then maybe one day she could provide for her family. Give them a way out of their current situation. Not that she knew much of how dire their situation really was. To their credit, her family tried their best to shield her, as well as her youngest brother Finn, from feeling the effects of living a life in the slums. She was lucky in that way, most of the girls her age had dropped out of school and had a child of their own already.

Her thoughts of prose were soon interrupted by familiar sounds causing the pit of her stomach to sink. Even after three months of him being back, she doubted she would ever get used to it. Opposite from her bed, through the thin wall with floral green wallpaper which had been peeling off for years, muffled cries could be heard. Maggie knew exactly who it was, her brother, Tommy.

She placed her journal onto the thin cotton sheets and traveled into the hallway. Before she knew it, she was standing outside the door of her older sibling. Taking a deep breath, she decided against knocking and slowly opened the door.

"Tommy?" she whispered into his candlelit room. She could see he was awake. Lying flat on his back in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Go back to bed, Mags," the second oldest Shelby ordered, but the girl hesitated.

"I thought I heard yelling," she sounded apologetic, before taking a whiff of the air. "Do you smell that?"

"I said back to your bloody bed," his harsh tone surprised her.

This time she did listen, gently she closed her brother's door and made her way back to the empty bedroom she once was in.

OoOoOo

The next day, Margaret exited the small school she attended that was located right on the edge of Small Heath with her best friend Cara Ryan by her side. The girls had played together for as long as their memories had served them. Cara was a stylish and talkative girl who stood at a height of five feet and six inches. Dazzling green eyes sparkled and her straight honey blonde hair fell upon her shoulders. Her family did better than most, the Ryan's own a dress shop that is very popular amongst the younger women, Ada, in fact, is a frequent customer of the establishment. Though the word 'customer' was a loose term, the Ryan's like most shop owners in the area were obliged to give anyone with relations to the Peaky Blinders whatever they wanted. Mrs. Ryan's and the two oldest sisters operated it, and in her spare time, Cara could often be found working in the backroom, sewing buttons and beads to fabrics. The family had a deal, in a year's time Cara would come to work for the shop full time, but until then Cara could continue her education.

"Can't believe Henrietta's having a baby," Maggie said aloud, as shorter and younger students ran past them excitedly.

"I can," Cara replied smugly. "That girl would open her legs up for any sod that gave her a second glance."

"I feel bad for her." She admitted thinking of the fifteen-year-old whose life was now forever changed.

Cara shook her head, "Don't it's her own bloody fault."

After rounding the corner, they both saw Ross Murray. A thin nineteen-year-old with dark hair standing at five feet and eleven inches, resting his back against the dull red brick wall, smoking a cigarette. Cara stopped them in their tracks and waved at the young man. "All right, Ross?!"

Maggie smiled at her friend, she liked Ross, he'd always looked out for her and Cara like they were his own sisters. They had all been in school together up until the moment Ross was kicked out for beating up another boy named Jonah Smith. In all likelihood Jonah may have had it coming. He never had the ability to let go. For example, just last year Maggie would have to constantly have to turn down his advances for over a month. Due to the reputation of her family, attention from boys was a rare occurrence. Which she didn't mind, she never really felt romantic feelings for anyone. However, Jonah took advantage of her brothers absence. One day he even cornered her when she went back to the classroom to grab the jumper she left behind. Thankfully Jonah eventually stopped, and never bothered her again.

Getting kicked out of school didn't seem to bother Ross though. Once he turned eighteen, he enlisted to help with the war effort. He completed basic training within the required three months, and according to the letters he would send her and Cara, he was held in high esteem with all of his commanding officers. Just as he was about to be shipped to France, an armistice was declared. He'd managed to find a job working at the BSA factory rather quickly, but when he came back into town Maggie could tell he had changed. He now had this mentality that made him seem as though he was ready for a battle, yet had no one to fight.

"Cara, Margaret," he acknowledged, stubbing out his cigarette on the bricks he had rested his back upon "Where are you two heading, aye?"

"Just going home," Maggie told him, readjusting the bag on her shoulder.

He came closer to them, "I'll walk with you. Birmingham hasn't been the safest place now that all these blokes with fucked up brains are back."

"Look at that Mags," Cara said happily, and he allowed her to take his arm. "The only gentleman in Small Heath"

Maggie smiled knowingly at the sight. Since Cara was ten years old, she had been smitten with the dark-haired boy. Cara would frequently turn down other offers in hopes that Ross would one day ask her to be his girl. They both hoped that it would happen soon, because in Cara's words "She wasn't getting any younger".

"Don't know what you two keep going to school for," He expressed to them, as they began to walk in the direction the girls needed to travel. "What more is there to learn?"

His comment made Maggie shrug, "It's something to do."

"Yeah, most girls our age who aren't in school are either whores or mothers." She agreed.  "Or both."

They continued chatting about their school day as they walked closer into town. The canal that ran nearby as well as the different establishments were coming into view. "Mags, is that your brother?" Ross asked, pointing to a couple of boys.

Maggie turned her head to where her friend was pointing. He was right, her younger brother Finn, was running around in front of the pharmacy with Isaiah Jesus. He must have skipped school again. "Oi!" Maggie called out angrily, and Finn froze in place "What have you been up to all day, hm?"

"Please don't tell Tommy," the ten-year-old begged.

Maggie was about to tell him off, but she was caught off guard by the arrival of a person exiting Compton's, "Ada?"

"Oh, hello." The dark-haired beauty clutched the paper parcel tighter in her hands, clearly caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her younger siblings. "Heading home then?"

Maggie nodded and Ada continued, "I'll join you." The older sister then turned to her brother "Right Finn?" The boy scowled, but nodded all the same.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Maggie told her friends, still trying to process what her sister was up to.

Cara didn't seem to mind her best friends' announcement to depart. Turning to the hazel-eyed boy she asked, "Fancy accompanying me to the confectionery?"

He looked over to the Shelby family first, "Will you three be alright by yourself?"

Ada looked amused at his worry, "We'll be fine. I doubt anyone would mess with us." He accepted her answer with a nod and led Cara to the candy shop.

As the water rushed in the cut, Ada and Maggie walked down the sidewalk arm in arm. Finn wasn't too far in front of them. He was running and jumping around like a madman. That boy always had so much energy, Maggie found herself thinking. No wonder he skipped school, the poor thing probably could not sit still.

"That Murray boy has aged well hasn't he," Ada commented, finally breaking the silence, "Have you two?"

"Ada!" The younger sister cried out in surprise.

"Just asking." She shrugged, "Jesus you're a prude"

"Everyone's a prude compared to you" she retorted, "What were you doing at the pharmacy?"

Ada didn't reply though, instead opting to purse her lips. They were almost home now; Maggie could even see Pol heading to the house, traveling towards them. She was about to wave at her aunt until she was distracted by Finn, who ran around in front of his sisters. Her heart clenched when she noticed a black metal object in his hand.

"Finn, where did you get that gun?" she questioned, yet the youngest Shelby only giggled in response. 

"Oi! Quit messing around," Ada scolded, moving forward in an attempt to take the weapon away. "You shouldn't b-"

BANG! The sisters screamed and Aunt Polly, who had witnessed the whole event transpire, rushed over from down the street. Both the girls tried to catch their breath and a shocked Finn looked like he was trying to mentally process what had just happened. 

"The hell were you thinking?!" Polly scolded, snatching the gun from his hand. "Where did you get this?!

"He nearly fucking killed me!" Ada screeched pointing to her brother.

"I-I found it on the sideboard of the shop." Finn spit out as they watched his face concave and he soon began weeping in fear. "I-I thought it was empty. I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

His tears pulled on Maggie's heartstrings, but Polly wasn't having it. She pushed the sobbing boy towards Maggie ordering, "Take him home, and no more playing with guns. Next time you leave them be." 

The young boy nodded and allowed his sister to lead him back home."I didn't know Mags, I swear" he cried out again.

"I know you. You can apologize to Ada once she's feeling more forgiving" she expressed, her arms wrapped around his small shoulders.

OoOoOo

Childhood had molded her into the person she had become. Now she understood that...

Maggie internally groaned and scratched out what she had just written. No, that was definitely not good enough. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a chuckle. Her eyes were taken off the page by Ada, who was getting ready for her date with some mystery man.

"What's so funny?" the younger sister grumbled.

"You," Ada smiled as she brushed her hair in front of the small vanity mirror, "And how seriously you take yourself."

Quickly she closed her journal, wanting to change the subject "So, what was the family meeting about?" Maggie asked, not genuinely curious.

"New copper’s coming to town," Ada replied unbothered, more interested in fastening her shoe buckle.

"When I went downstairs, I caught Finn trying to listen through the door. Told him off for eavesdropping," the younger sister snickered .

"Can you believe that little tosser?" Ada said, putting on her paste earring. "I don't know what's gotten into him lately. He could have killed me today!"

"It was an accident, Ada." She reasoned, opening her journal once more, "Pol already told him and John off, what more can you do?"

"I can still bitch," the older sister huffed, before looking at the book in her sisters' hands. "Are you ever gonna tell me what you're writing about?" Ada asked pointedly, now completely dressed in a white fur coat that rested over her dress.

"Are you ever gonna tell me who you've been going out to see the last few months?" Maggie shot back jokingly. 

Ada responded by pantomiming the locking of her lips, which only made the younger sister smile. "Cover for me?"

"As always," The girl assured Ada before she quietly opened and closed the bedroom door.

It was about an hour later when Maggie began to hear the familiar muffled cries. Feeling hopeless as she stared at the green papered wall.

OoOoOo

The following day was mostly uneventful for Margaret. She'd gone to school and heard all about Cara's "date" with Ross. According to Cara, he was a complete "gentleman", much to the blonde's disappointment, though she still clung onto hope. 

Now she stood in the kitchen with her Aunt and sister making dinner, continuously kneading some dough until her skinny arms began to burn. Hopefully, this batch of bread would last long enough for her to enjoy. Last time she made bread her siblings had eaten it all, not saving any for her. Upon hearing the door slam, she and her aunt stopped to glance over to the door.

"Holy Shit!" The girl exclaimed, witnessing her eldest brother who was bloody and beaten, being assisted by John into a wooden chair.

"Finn, go find Tommy and tell him what happened," Polly commanded. Like a shot, Finn was running out of the room, but not before Pol hurriedly added, "And tell him we need a shit ton of more alcohol!"

Polly then immediately began to gather gauze and rods of wood to make a splint, "Margaret, start heating up water, then cut this cloth up in stripes." Nodding at the directive, the girl began to do just that.

"The fuck happened?" Ada interrogated, arms crossing in front of her chest.

"Was told some of the men found him like this outside the cinema," John explained.

"Do you know who?" Maggie heard her sister continue as she put the kettle over the flame, but Arthur remained silent.

"I'd like to know as well," An aggravated Polly chimed in.

This time Arthur did speak. “That Belfast copper,” the mustached man spit out, "I'll discuss it more once Tom gets here."

They all fell into silence, the only noise coming from Maggie who pulled out a chair to sit next to her brother, and quietly began cutting the cloth Polly left for her on the table. "Do you think this is enough?" Maggie asked her aunt after she finished.

"Should be plenty, love," Pol told her, taking one of the strips to start mending his hand.

"John, wipe the blood out of his eye," Ada told the third eldest sibling who was just watching the ladies scrabble around as they tended to Arthur.

"Since when did you give orders?" John asked incredulously.

"I'm a trained nurse." The sister stated.

Though seeing as John wasn't budging Maggie rose from her seat and began to wipe the blood herself.

"Don't make me laugh. It hurts my face," Arthur joked as Polly bandaged him up. "You're a nurse like Mags here is a writer."

His comment caused more annoyance than Maggie cared to admit. With her index finger, she pressed onto a forming bruise on his cheek with great pressure, instigating a string of curses to come out of the eldest man's mouth.

"Oops," Maggie said insincerely. This caused Arthur to look to his aunt, wondering if any reprimanding would be given to the girl, but Polly just gave her brother a 'like you weren't asking for it' look.

 "I bloody am!" The older Shelby girl whined to John.

"You went to one first aid class in the church hall and got thrown out for giggling," John corrected her.

"Not before I learnt how to stop somebody from choking," she shot back.

"I'm not bloody choking, am I?" Arthur spoke gruffly.

"You will be when I wrap this cloth around your neck." She told him as she poured hot water from the kettle into the bowl.

"Let me see him." Tommy's voice was heard as he entered the kitchen. "Well, have this" Tommy passed the bottle of rum and Arthur took a swig. Grabbing a rag, he immediately got to work tending to his brother's face.

"He said Mr. Churchill sent him to Birmingham. 'National interest', he said. Something about a robbery." Arthur explained. "He said he wants us to help him"

"We don't help coppers," John said immediately, disgusted at the thought.

"He knew all about our war records. He said we're patriots like him. He wants us to be his eyes and ears. I said -" He paused a moment before continuing, "I said we'd have a family meeting and take a vote".

Everyone remained silent, and frankly, that was enough of an answer to the eldest. "Why not? We have no truck with Fenians or communist," Arthur said exasperated, before heatedly asking Tommy. "What's wrong with you?"

Tommy continued to stare back at him, before asking his aunt, "What the fuck is wrong with him lately?"

"If I knew I'd buy the cure from Compton's Chemist," Polly answered, staring at Tom who stared right back.

OoOoOo

Being alone at night was something Maggie had gotten used to now. The cries next door, however, that was something entirely different. Sighing to herself, she decided to give it another go. Once again, she rose from her bed, and ventured into the hallway. This time though she brought her journal with her. Not long she stood in front of her brother's door, allowing herself to open it. 

Again, in the candlelit room, she saw him lying in his bed staring at the ceiling, though she couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not. "Still awake?" she asked.

"Can't seem to fall asleep," Tommy mumbled calmly. She took his stillness as permission to enter.

"Do you remember when I was a little girl and you used to read me books to make me fall asleep?" she asked, moving closer to the bed, "I used to love those voices you'd do for all the different characters from the picture books."

He nodded and he couldn't help the ghost of a smile while thinking of the memory. Unlike his other siblings, Maggie was the only one who would beg him to read to her. It was something they bonded over.

"If you want," she continued, motioning her hand to hold the journal up. "I can read you my story." Tommy was silent as he looked at the journal for a moment, before Maggie added, "I just thought maybe I could try to help you sleep like you did for me."

"Only if you do voices" he stressed jokingly, then shifted his body to make room for her on the small mattress.

"Remember," she squished next to him leaning her back against his bed frame. "This is a work in progress."

"I won't judge you too harshly" he replied, watching her open the journal that lay on her lap.

"Long ago when she was young, she believed that what she saw in her dreams could be a vision of what was to come. It was only now she understood that it was just an amalgamation of-"

"A what?" He interrupted.

"An amalgamation" she repeated. "Do you not know what an amalgamation means?"

"No, I do. Didn't think you did."

"Shut up. You're supposed to allow my words to lull you to sleep."

"Sorry, please continue"

"It was only now she understood that it was just an amalgamation of all her childhood aspirations, fears, and perhaps a little  too much whiskey. With this knowledge she found herself yearning for-"

By this point, Tommy had closed his eyes and was half-listening to the words his sister read from her journal. It wasn't half bad what she wrote. He reckoned by the time she was his age she'd actually make something of herself all with those stories in her head. Perhaps make a career out of it, possibly even get out of Small Heath. It was to be the start of a new decade, a new time, who knows what would happen? When he finally made it back from France, her face was the first face that caught his attention on the station platform. It shocked him. No more was the little girl he would read stories to, but in her place stood a smiling young woman. She had changed so much during the time he was gone.

Come to think of it, they'd all changed. Arthur was head of the family, in charge of the business, and had done a decent job of it. But that was before France, he was different now. He quickly noticed the change in his brother and how he couldn't think straight anymore. Arthur's personality became more explosive, as well as violent. John, well he had become more reckless, especially after a few drinks got into him, and since Martha's passing the drinking had only increased. 

As for him, well he was the one who had changed the most. He used to be carefree, joke and laugh, but now he was more solemn and even more protective of his family. Constantly worrying about how Arthur couldn't handle the business anymore, how John couldn't be alone anymore, and him? Well, he couldn't stand to see his family scrape and scrounge in the slums of Small Heath in order to survive any longer. No, not anymore. New copper sniffing about or not. No matter what Polly said, Tommy saw an opportunity with these guns. He wasn't about to turn it down. He just had to play it smart. As Maggie continued her reading, Tommy could feel himself slowly begin to drift out of consciousness and into a dreamless sleep.

[bechloeislegit]

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl - Chapter 3

Chloe was surprised when Stacie opened the door to Beca's cabin. She stepped inside after Stacie waved her in. Beca was on the phone, pacing back and forth as she spoke quietly.

"Is everything okay?" Chloe asked Stacie.

"CR's wife had her baby," Stacie replied. "It's a boy!"

"That's wonderful," Chloe said, smiling as she waved at Beca. "Maybe I should go. Would you tell Beca we can talk more tomorrow?"

"Stay," Stacie said. "Give her another minute. She should be about done."

"Okay, I'll wait," Chloe said. "Would you like a brownie?"

"No, thanks," Stacie said.

"Give Denise our best," Beca said. "And make sure you send a photo of your little guy."

Stacie took the phone from Beca and told CR, "Ditto to what Beca said. I want to see a pic, too."

"How's everything going with Beca?" CR asked. "Is she behaving herself?"

Stacie looked over at Beca, who was pulling a brownie out of the plastic baggie Chloe held in front of her. Stacie waited until Beca started chatting quietly with Chloe to respond to CR.

Stacie nodded her head, even though CR couldn't see her. "Yes," she said, keeping her voice low. "We've only been here for one day and she's already acting more like her old self. I think part of it is because she met a childhood friend and they're reconnecting. So, unless you provide information to say otherwise, we'll be staying for the entire three weeks. And, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Beca comes back with a girlfriend."

"Seriously?" CR said, chuckling. "I hope it works out for her. Having someone to focus her attention on, would do her good."

"Sorry about all this," Beca told Chloe. "Thanks for the brownie."

"You're welcome," Chloe said. "Do you want me to go? We can talk more tomorrow."

"You don't have to," Beca said. "I'm enjoying talking with you."

"I've been enjoying talking to you, too."

"I agree," Stacie said, turning to look at Beca. "Talk to you soon. Goodnight, CR."

Stacie ended the call and put her phone in her pocket.

"So," Stacie said, looking at Chloe and Beca. "What are you two up to?"

"We were just going to talk some more," Beca said.

"Well, I'm tired," Stacie said. "So, I'll leave you to it. Oh, before I forget, Becs, I placed a request for an eight a.m. wake-up call for the both of us so we have time for breakfast before your riding lesson."

"Okay," Beca said. "Thanks, Stacie. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Chloe," Stacie said as she made her way to the door.

"Goodnight, Stacie," Chloe said.

Stacie stopped and looked at Beca.

"Don't stay up too late," Stacie said.

"Don't worry, mom," Beca said, laughing. "We won't."

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

At some point later that evening, Beca and Chloe had laid on the bed, facing each other as they continued to talk. Chloe had fallen asleep and Beca got up to retrieve the blanket at the foot of the bed. She covered Chloe with the blanket and then laid down as she had been before. She fell asleep while watching Chloe sleep.

The next morning, Beca and Chloe both jerked awake at the sound of the phone ringing. Beca sat up and reached to answer the phone.

"Hello," Beca rasped out, before clearing her throat.

"Good morning, Miss Mitchell," a voice said through the phone. "This is your eight a.m. wake-up call."

"Thank you," Beca said and hung up the phone.

"Good morning," Chloe said as she stretched and sat up in bed.

"Good morning," Beca responded.

"Sorry, I fell asleep," Chloe said, smiling at Beca.

"That's okay," Beca said. "I wasn't too far behind you. So, um, would you like to have breakfast with me and Stacie?"

"I'd love to," Chloe said. "I'll go back to my room and meet you guys in the dining hall in an hour. Does that give you enough time to get ready?"

"That's plenty of time," Beca said, getting off the bed as Chloe did the same.

"Okay, then," Chloe said, making her way to the door. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Beca walked over to Chloe and opened the door for her. Chloe leaned in and kissed Beca's cheek.

"Thank you," Chloe said, stepping just outside the door. "I had a wonderful night."

"What's this?" Stacie's voice called out when she saw Chloe standing outside Beca's door. "Chloe, are you doing the walk of shame?"

Hearing Stacie, Beca stepped out and stood next to Chloe as Stacie reached them.

"We weren't. . . we didn't. . .um," Beca stammered. She looked at Chloe. "A little help here, Chloe."

Stacie stopped and looked first at Beca and then at Chloe.

"There is no shame in my game," Chloe said and laughed. "But, alas, all we did was talk and fall asleep."

"So, what I'm hearing is that you two slept together," Stacie said, grinning at Beca.

"What?" Beca screeched, her cheeks red. "No. I mean, yes, we slept together but we didn't sleep together. Um, I mean, we were laying in the bed together, and we were actually sleeping. Together. But not like sleeping together in a sexual way."

Chloe and Stacie were both smiling as they looked at how flustered Beca had become.

"You're so adorable," Chloe said, causing Beca's face to become even redder.

"Not adorable," Beca mumbled.

"Most definitely adorable," Chloe said, kissing Beca's cheek. "I have to go get showered and changed. I'll see you both at breakfast."

With that, Chloe walked off toward her cabin, leaving Beca and Stacie alone.

Stacie turned toward Beca, her mouth opening as if to say something.

"Don't start," Beca said, holding up a hand toward Stacie.

"I wasn't going to start anything," Stacie said innocently. "I was just going to suggest that we should get ready for the day."

Beca scoffed, causing Stacie to laugh. "I'll see you in a little bit, Beca."

Stacie was still laughing as she turned and walked back toward her cabin. Beca shook her head and went back into her room.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

After breakfast, and Stacie's relentless teasing of Beca, Chloe took the girls to the stables for Beca's riding lesson. There were two teenage boys waiting by the stable's entrance when they arrived.

"Did you boys sign up for the riding lesson?" Chloe stopped and asked them.

"Yep," one of the boys responded, while the other just nodded his head.

"I'm Chloe, and I'll be leading this lesson."

"I'm Brad," the boy who nodded said. "And this is my brother Chad."

"I'm Stacie and this is Beca," Stacie told the two boys.

Chad leered at both women; Brad smacked him on the arm and whispered, "Be cool."

"We know who you are," Brad said, looking at Beca. "Our older sister loves your music. Could we get an autograph for her?"

"Sure," Beca said. "I'd be happy to sign something after we're done here."

"If you four would follow me, I'll get everyone set up with a horse," Chloe said, walking into the barn. She looked at the two boys. "Have either of you ridden before?"

"I have," Chad said. "This will be my brother's first time."

"Hey, Red," Fat Amy called out when she saw Chloe.

"Hey, Amy," Chloe said. "Are the horses ready?"

"Yep," Fat Amy said. "All saddled and ready to go."

"Thanks, Amy," Chloe said. She turned to the four riders. "I'm going to go over a few basic safety issues before we actually get on the horses. Okay?"

All four nodded in agreement.

Chloe went through a few things as Beca smiled and stared at her. Stacie bumped Beca's shoulder and smirked when Beca turned to look at her.

"What?" Beca whispered.

"You have a boner for your riding instructor," Stacie whispered, chuckling when Beca's face turned red.

"So?" Beca responded, turning to watch and listen to Chloe.

"Any questions?" Chloe concluded.

"I have one," Chad said. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Beca snapped around and glared at him. "That has nothing to do with riding lessons or anything Chloe just said."

"I'm just curious," Chad said. "Because I'd like to ride her instead of one of these things."

"Shut up, Chad!" Brad said.

"Yeah, Chad," Beca sneered. "Shut up!"

"It's okay, Beca," Chloe said. "I've got this. Jesse!?"

"Yeah, Chloe?" Jesse said, suddenly appearing at her side.

"Would you mind escorting this young man away from the stable?" Chloe asked, waving her arm toward Chad. "He won't be riding with us today."

"No problem," Jesse said, walking over to Chad and taking his arm. "Let's go!"

"You can't do this!" Chad yelled as Jesse dragged him away. "Brad! Help me!"

"Nope!" Brad yelled, shaking his head. "He's always got to be a dick about everything."

Once Chad and Jesse were out of sight, Chloe turned to the group.

"Now that's taken care of," Chloe said, getting everyone's attention back on her. "Let's get our horses."

Beca, Stacie, and Brad followed as Chloe made her way to where Amy and Bumper were holding the reins of four horses.

"Tom took Chestnut back to his stall since you are down one rider," Bumper told Chloe.

"Thanks, Bumper," Chloe said as she stopped in front of one of the horses. She took the reins as she ran a hand down its forehead.

"This is Cinnamon," Chloe said. "She's mine."

Chloe looked over at the group. "Beca, since you're a beginner, you get Rosemary; I promise she's very gentle. Brad, since you're also a beginner, you take Sage, and Stacie, you get. . ."

"Let me guess," Stacie interrupted. "My horse's name is Thyme or some other herb?"

"Actually, it's Pepper," Chloe said, chuckling. "He's a bit feistier. Think you can handle him?"

"I'm sure I can handle him," Stacie said, winking at Chloe.

"Show off," Beca muttered.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Stacie had no trouble getting on her horse. Bumper had to help Brad, and after a bit of a struggle, finally managed to get him seated.

Chloe walked over to Beca and led her to a stump in the yard.

"Use this stump to get on Rosemary," Chloe told Beca. "It will be easier."

"Thanks," Beca said, stepping up onto the stump.

Amy brought Rosemary over and held the reins to keep Rosemary steady. Beca put both hands on the pommel and placed her left foot in the stirrup. She bounced once or twice before throwing her right leg over the back of the horse, sitting firmly in the saddle.

"Great job, Becs," Chloe said, patting Beca's leg. She turned and walked over to Cinnamon.

Suddenly, a pop-pop-pop sounded. Stacie's horse bucked but she held on and got him under control. Brad wasn't so lucky; Sage bucked and Brad fell off, landing on his back.

"Ahhhh," Beca yelled as her horse also tried to buck her off.

Beca somehow managed to stay hold on as Chloe rushed to try and grab onto Rosemary's reins. Chloe failed at grabbing the reins and Rosemary took off like a bat out of Hell, with Beca holding onto the pommel for dear life.

"Beca!" Choe yelled.

Chloe ran and jumped onto Cinnamon, immediately spurring the horse to chase after Beca and Rosemary.

"Oh, my God!" Stacie cried out, sliding off Pepper and rushing over to Brad who was lying still on the ground where he fell.

Jesse and Bumper came running from inside the stable and looked around to see what had happened.

"It was that kid that Jesse threw out of here," Fat Amy said. "I saw him toss some firecrackers behind Sage."

"We need an ambulance," Stacie yelled from where she was kneeling next to Brad.

Jesse saw Chad peeking around the corner of the stable.

"There he is!" Jesse yelled, running toward Chad.

Chad saw Jesse coming after him and ran off.

"Amy, go help Stacie with the kid," Bumper said. "I'm going to tell Chicago and Jessica what happened and call for an ambulance."

Amy nodded her head and Bumper ran off. Amy hurried over to Stacie and looked down at Brad. Brad was moaning and tried to sit up. Stacie put a hand on his chest.

"Stay down," Stacie told him, pushing him back down gently.

"Bumper went to call an ambulance," Amy told Stacie.

Just then Jesse came back with a struggling Chad.

"Stop it!" Jesse yelled at Chad. "Or I swear to God, I will knock you out."

Chad ceased struggling and looked at Brad.

"Is he going to be okay?"

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Chloe pushed Cinnamon as hard as she could; she was gaining ground and was within a few feet of Beca and Rosemary.

"Beca!" Chloe yelled, causing Beca to look over her shoulder at Chloe. "Gently pull back on the reins. That will slow her down."

"I can't!" Beca yelled back. "Oh, my God! I'm gonna die!"

"No, you're not," Chloe yelled. "Just gently pull back on the reins."

"I really can't," Beca said, holding onto the pommel of the saddle. "I dropped them when she. . .Ahhhh. . . when she started to run."

This spurred Chloe to push Cinnamon a bit more until Cinnamon was running side-by-side with Rosemary.

Chloe reached toward Beca with her left arm; she leaned over slightly and yelled, "Lean toward me."

"What are you doing?" Beca screamed. "You're going to kill us both!"

"Trust me," Chloe shouted.

Beca looked into Chloe's eyes and it calmed her; she knew she could trust Chloe. Beca leaned slightly and Chloe caught her around the waist, pulling her off of Rosemary. Beca screamed and grabbed onto Chloe's arm; Chloe used her free hand to slow down and stop Cinnamon. Once they stopped, she gently lowered Beca to the ground. Beca stumbled back slightly but stayed on her feet.

Chloe jumped off Cinnamon and rushed over to Beca, pulling her into a hug. Beca hugged Chloe back, pulling her tighter to her.

"I thought I was going to die," Beca mumbled into Chloe's shoulder.

"I was never going to let that happen," Chloe whispered into Beca's ear.

Beca pulled back from the hug and stared into Chloe's eyes. Chloe stared back and the next thing they knew, their lips were smashed together.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Rosemary had stopped a few feet away as soon as Beca was no longer on her back. Chloe grabbed Rosemary's reins and then Cinnamon's; she slowly walked both horses over to where Beca stood.

"I'm not getting back on that thing," Beca said.

"You don't have to," Chloe said. "You can sit behind me on Cinnamon to get you back to the stable."

It took a bit of cajoling and another kiss, as well as the thought of walking all the way back to the stable before Beca agreed to ride behind Chloe on Cinnamon.

The two were now on their way back to the stable. Beca was sitting behind Chloe with her arms around Chloe's waist, and her hands clutching Chloe's shirt.

"I can't believe you got me back on one of these things," Beca said, leaning her chin on Chloe's shoulder.

Chloe chuckled. "My kisses have a way of getting people to do things they wouldn't normally do."

"Huh," Beca said, grinning into Chloe's shoulder. "Good to know."

It only took Chloe about fifteen minutes to make it back to the stables.

"There's Chloe!" Stacie yelled, seeing the redhead leading one horse while riding the other. "I don't see Beca."

"She's sitting behind Chloe," Jesse said.

Just then Beca poked her head over Chloe's shoulder. She saw an ambulance and a police car; a few feet away, she saw Chicago and Jessica speaking to someone she assumed was an EMT. To her left, she noticed Stacie standing next to Jesse, each had one hand shielding their eyes as they watched Chloe lead Cinnamon into the paddock. There were other people around that Beca recognized as some of the Ranch guests.

"Why is there an ambulance here?" Beca asked.

"That kid, Brad, was thrown off his horse," Chloe said. "He landed on his back. I guess it's for him."

"Oh," Beca said. "I hope he's okay."

Chloe was leading Cinnamon over to the stump Beca used to help get onto Rosemary. Stacie came rushing over and grabbed Beca's arm.

"Beca!" Stacie squealed, pulling Beca from the horse.

"Ahhh," Beca screamed as she tumbled onto Stacie, knocking her on her back.

Chloe dismounted safely as Beca attempted to get to her feet, but Stacie held onto her, squeezing her tight.

"Geez, Stace, are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm sorry," Stacie said. "I'm just glad to see you're alive."

Stacie let Beca go and Chloe helped them both to their feet. Chicago and Jessica ran over to them; Chicago pulled Chloe into a hug.

"Are you two alright?" Chicago asked, looking from Chloe to Beca.

"We're fine," Chloe said, returning the hug.

"Is the kid okay?" Beca asked.

"Mr. Walp?" One of the police officers called out to Chicago.

"Excuse me," Chicago said and walked away without answering.

"They think he just had the wind knocked out of him," Jessica said. "They're taking him to the hospital to get checked out."

"That's good to hear," Beca said.

"Chloe!" Aubrey yelled as she ran to her best friend.

Aubrey grabbed Chloe in a hug and squeezed her tight. "I was so worried."

"I'm fine, Brey," Chloe said, pulling away from Aubrey.

The air around them was suddenly filled with expletives being shouted. Everyone looked to see Chad in handcuffs, being dragged to a police car; it appeared his parents were arguing with the officer.

"Amy saw him throw firecrackers behind Sage, which caused the horses to spook," Jessica told Chloe. "They're arresting him for reckless endangerment. He could have killed any one of you and he's not even the least bit sorry about it."

Beca squinted and watched as the officer was finally able to wrestle Chad into the back of the police car.

"Shouldn't the parents be with their other kid?" Beca asked. "You know, the one who's actually hurt."

"You would think," Stacie said.

"Can I go to my room?" Beca asked. "I'd like a shower and change into some clean clothes. I smell like a horse."

"I could use a shower myself," Chloe said.

"I think the cops want to talk to you two," Jessica said. "They've talked to everyone else who was here when it happened."

"Oh, okay," Beca said.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Beca's body was aching all over from the bouncing and jarring it received as Rosemary galloped at full speed away from danger. Beca couldn't really blame the horse. She felt a kinship to it and understood the fear that would cause the horse to run as it did; she had done the same herself on several occasions when something frightened her.

"I hope Chloe's okay," Beca mumbled as she stood in the shower with her hands on the wall in front of her as the hot water flowed down over her back and shoulders.

Beca had noticed Chloe wincing when Jessica hugged her. Beca figured that if she was hurting from all that happened, then Chloe's adrenaline rush must have worn off as well.

The next thought Beca had was of the kiss or kisses she shared with Chloe. They were both so relieved that she was safe after Chloe scooped her off the horse, their emotions took over and they kissed. Beca put her fingers to her lips; they were still tingling from kissing Chloe. She couldn't stop the smile that came to her lips. She also couldn't help wanting to kiss Chloe again.

"Are you sure you're okay, Chloe?" Aubrey asked as Chloe gathered a change of clothes after her shower. "You're moving a little slow."

"Just a bit sore," Chloe said. "I'll be out in a minute and then we can get lunch."

"Take your time," Aubrey said. "I have Ashley handling lunch today."

"Wow," Chloe said, stopping to look at Aubrey. "You must really be worried about me if you're letting Ashley take over your kitchen."

"You know I let Ashley handle lunch on her own quite often," Aubrey said. She looked at Chloe standing in the middle of the room. "Aren't you supposed to be getting dressed?"

Chloe laughed and went into the bathroom to change. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

"I can't believe Beca and I kissed," she thought as she dropped her towel. Her brows furrowed and a frown replaced the smile. "I hope she doesn't regret it happening."

Chloe was dressed and walked out of the bathroom. Aubrey saw the pensive look on her face.

"Is something wrong?"

"Beca and I kissed," Chloe blurted out.

Aubrey's eyes widened as she digested this new piece of information. She smiled and asked, "You kissed?"

"We did," Chloe said.

"So, did she kiss you? Or did you kiss her?"

"I think it was a mutual thing," Chloe said, sitting on the bed and starting to put on her socks. "I mean, I hugged her once she was back on solid ground and when I pulled back, we were suddenly kissing. I think we both just leaned in and it happened."

"Okay," Aubrey said. "So, how was it?"

"It was amazing," Chloe said. "You know I already had a crush on her. Now, I think I might actually be falling in love with her."

Aubrey didn't say anything and Chloe finished putting on her shoes and socks.

"Wow!" Aubrey finally said. "I was not expecting that. Are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know," Chloe said. "I want to, but I'm afraid of how she'll react. She hasn't had a real relationship to speak of since she became famous. At least, none that I've read about; she usually has flings and one-night stands. I don't want to be another notch on her bedpost."

Aubrey sat on the bed next to Chloe. "I don't think that will be the case. In the short time that she's been here, I've seen how she looks at you. And, I think she has feelings for you, too."

Chloe was saved from responding by a knock on her door. She got up and was surprised to find Beca standing outside.

"Hey," Beca said.

"Hey," Chloe said.

"Um, can we talk?"

"I should get back to the kitchen," Aubrey said.

"Sorry, Aubrey, I didn't see you there," Beca said. "You don't have to go. I can talk to Chloe later."

"You're here now," Aubrey said. "You two should talk."

"Oh. Okay. You're right," Beca said. "Thanks."

"Don't be late for lunch," Aubrey called over her shoulder to Chloe as she brushed past Beca.

"Um, you want to come in?" Chloe asked, stepping aside for Beca to enter.

"Yeah, thanks," Beca said and entered Chloe's room.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

"Hey, Aubrey," Stacie said, seeing the woman as soon as she walked into the dining room. "Have you seen Beca?"

"I left her with Chloe about ten minutes ago," Aubrey said. "She came by Chloe's room to talk. I'm guessing they'll be here for lunch shortly."

"Thanks, I'll just wait for her here," Stacie said, taking a seat at a table. "I just want to make sure Beca is okay. If she's able to go talk to Chloe, I guess she's fine."

"She looked okay when I left them," Aubrey said. "Would you mind if I join you?"

"Please do," Stacie said, motioning to the chair across from her. "Who's making lunch if you're out here with me?"

"Ashley," Aubrey said. "We all wear many hats around here and she helps me with all the meals. I usually let her take care of lunch alone if I'm needed elsewhere. Chloe is my best friend, so when I heard about what happened, I left Ashley in charge and ran right over there."

"It was quite scary," Stacie said. "Especially when Beca's horse took off. I think my heart actually skipped a few beats when I saw her bouncing around on that horse, holding on for dear life."

"I'm glad everyone is okay," Aubrey said. "It could have been so much worse. Although, I think it worked out well for Chloe and Beca."

"How so?" Stacie asked.

"Well, I'm sure Beca will tell you this herself," Aubrey said, leaning across the table as if she was going to share a secret. "They kissed."

"No," Stacie said. "If something like that happens, Beca usually comes looking for me to tell me about it."

Stacie looked up when she heard the door to the outside open. Beca and Chloe walked in together.

"So, you're driving to LA once you leave here?" Beca asked Chloe.

"I'm sorry, Beca," Chloe said. "I know I said I'd fly to LA with you and Stacie, but I totally forgot about my car because we don't use them here on the ranch. I'll need my car in LA and driving it there seems like the cheapest way to do it."

"That's over a thousand miles and something like sixteen hours of driving," Beca said. "I can pay someone to get your car to LA for you so you can fly to LA with me and Stacie. You can spend a few more days here and still be in LA in time to start your new job."

"I can't ask you to do that, Beca," Chloe said.

"You're not asking," Beca said. "I'm offering. I don't want to have to worry about you breaking down somewhere or something happening to you."

"Awww, you do care about me," Chloe said, kissing Beca.

Beca chuckled as she pulled back from the kiss.

"Um, Chloe," Beca whispered. "I thought we were going to keep this a secret until we were ready to go to LA?"

"I'm sorry," Chloe said, not looking sorry at all. "I couldn't help myself. I just really wanted to kiss you again."

"Beca, is there something you want to tell me?" Stacie asked, smirking.

"What are you talking about?" Beca asked, stepping away from Chloe. "Tell you what?"

"Let's start with that kiss," Stacie said. "And, then we can talk about the other kisses you and Chloe shared this morning."

Beca looked at Chloe who shrugged and smiled at Beca.

"Fine," Beca said, smiling at Chloe. "Chloe and I are going to start dating. We wanted to keep it quiet to see how things would go before we told anyone."

"How's that working out for you?" Aubrey asked, laughing at Beca.

"Not too well," Beca said, laughing as well. "My new girlfriend can't keep her lips off me, so I guess we can tell everyone now."

"Did you hear that, Brey?" Chloe said, pulling Beca to her with a big smile on her face. "I'm Beca Mitchell's girlfriend."

"I can't wait to tell CR about this," Stacie said. "I know she'll be as happy to hear this as I am."

"So, you're okay with how fast this happened?" Beca asked.

"I am," Stacie said. "I think the media will have a field day with it though. But don't worry, CR and I will get ahead of it so we should be able to quash any negative news that may come your way."

"Good," Beca said, sounding relieved. "I don't want anything to scare Chloe away. I plan on her being a part of my life for a very, very long time."

"I am unsurprisingly okay with that," Chloe said with a beaming smile.

_______________________________________________________

A/N: BeChloe is together and that's it for this part of the story. The final chapter will be an epilogue picking things up one year later.

[lifeofroos]

Masterlist of retellings/fanworks:

This list is seperated by category, with a short summary of each story beneath the title. The older the story, the higher it is listed in the category. So for the newest, probably best stories, look at the very end! 

Greek Mythology:

Much too lovely a night for commitment: 

Apollo got himself drunk (Or, as he calls it, ‘a little tipsy’). Dionysus decides its time for him to take a break and they end up talking.  

I am not necesserialy asking for your blessing (But I'd love to get it):

Artemis' afternoon rest is disrupted by Ariadne, who has something to say. Artemis doesn't necessarily disagree, but...

The Night:

Ariadne wandered far into the forest at night. It makes Dionysus nervous, but she can't help but feel calm and in love.

Vultures:

Vultures, Athena called them. Enyo and Ares take a break from battle in the encampment. They have to kindly disagree with their sister.

Ghost Story:

Ariadne is awoken one night by a ghost girl named Cora. They keep meeting again and again, through different stages in their lives.

The girl who likes dogs: 

Hades needs someone to walk his dog a few days per week. He asks Persephone to do it, as she walks more people's dogs. Yet, that might not be the only reason he asked her...

Back: 

Dionysus thought it would be impossible to get his beloved Ariadne back. When she is there again, in front of him, he thinks it can't be real. There is no way he can just hold her now, and love her again...

The Queenly Ghost:

Ariadne raises the spirit of Pasiphae, her mother. Although she isn't sure exactly what to say, she knows she has to say something.

I Hope For The Future:

Hades comes to the surface for a moment to have a chat with Demeter. They are still new to their domains and it is unsure who their allies will be. They hope it'll be each other.

The Story Of Tonight:

They should have held back Artemis, Apollo and Hermes before they climbed onto the buffet table. Now that they are already drunkenly singing, it is a little too late, don't you think?

I’ve Got A Proposal:

Usually, Dionysus tends to be quite smooth. Not when asking the woman he finds the best if she wants to marry him, though.

Test Of Courage: 

Dionysus and Hephaestus are nearing Olympus, meaning the end of their quest is in sight. Hephaestus wonders whether he'll dare to complete the mission when the time is there. Dionysus tries to show him he probably will.

I Told Him To Try A Little Harder:

Zeus wants Hera as his queen. Hera wants Zeus to prove he really thinks she is worth his efforts, with something big. Something unexpected.

Hide (Just a little longer):

Hera will be the queen of the universe, with her husband Zeus as the king. There is no denying it. Yet, she would like to keep it under the covers for a little longer - until she knows she finds the courage to tell her mother.

Give Me Anything But The Giraffes:

During his meanderings, Dionysus came to Africa, too. Without his army, he trecks further south into the country. A guide helps him over the savanah, where they meet some creatures Dionysus hopes he'll never encounter again.

The Walk: 

Aglaia loves Hephaestus and the other way around. Yet, so shortly after Aphrodite left, they don't know what to do about it. Maybe it's better that way. It means they can slowly discover their love instead of crashing into it.

Right Hand Men:

In order to create a destructive power the world has never seen before, Ares and Enyo decide to get married. Right now, at this very moment.

Kiss Me Not (Yet):

Ariadne wants to kiss Dionysus, she really does. Yet when she tries, all she can do is recoil. All Dionysus wants is for her to feel comfortable.

Mind and Matter:

Hephaestus never expected Athena to show up to his forge ever again. When she is there anyway, it takes little for the tears to come out.

For I Am Not A Weapon To Be Wielded:

Phaedra can hardly accept the feelings she got for Hippolytus. She starts to wonder why she has them and soon enough, she decides she doesn't want to be a weapon of the gods anymore. A retelling of Phaedra's story. Because I stuck to the source material, I can only advise viewer discression. Contains themes of suicide.

Mom Isn’t That Angry:

After Dionysus hasn't been seen on Olympus for a long time, Athena is send out to find him. She does, in a sleeping bag somewhere in the middle of nowhere, healing from injury. She decides to sit by and hold his hand until he feels better. Sometimes, it's the wisest thing a person can do.

I wish I could keep him:

Due to the danger on Olympus, Zeus gives Dionysus to Persephone, so she can raise him in secret for some time. When spring comes, he needs to come with her. She can't help but hope that she can keep him, just slightly longer, even though she knows the danger makes her hope idle.

Egyptian Mythology:

Two-faced:

Set killed Osiris. When Isis left to search for him, she left her son Horus drifting down the Nile. How big is the chance that Sets' wife Nephthys finds him? She takes him in, but whenever Sets' with her, she can't tell: Does he know, or not? And what does this mean for the baby, or more importantly, for them?

Riordanverse:

Hotel Walhalla’s weird activities to the death:

We all know of sword-fighting, spear-throwing, and yoga to the death. Yet, what other weird, totally peaceful activities have they managed to make dangerous in hotel Valhalla?

Percy Jackson one-shots: 

In this book, I write Percy Jackson one-shots. Most of them were previously uploaded on my FanFiction and Wattpad account, but I decided to transfer them here as well! ! I write romance, random headcannons and ideas, cute stuff and funny ideas (No angst, very bloody stuff or anything like that). The One-shots get better in quality further in the book. The first ones are not amazing, but I added them to be complete. Update: I have decided to stop writig one-shots, but all of these stay right where they are!

At Least He Got The Minotaur:

Percy has just arrived in camp. A camper runs to Chiron and Dionysus to tell them. The camp directors are more than a little surprised at the news that a new, young camper could defeat a minotaur. It couldn't be the prophecy, could it?

There are always reasons: 

Percy is in camp to meet with some friends. He seizes a chance to ask Dionysus about why the god released him from the Chrysler building, all those years ago. He gets a more profound answer than expected.

This Might Be Crazy:

Nico has some issues and needs help - even he agrees. He is just not really sure if Dionysus of all people will be able to help him. Or: A fic in which Nico gets therapy from Dionysus, learns to live again and regains control of his life, inspired by what was said in Tower of Nero. Updates every three days! This fic was nominated for the Solangelo awards 2021.

Elevators and Boys keep me awake:

Nico is going through a tough time. Luckily, he has his upstairs neighbour Dionysus to help him. Or: A Nico-gets-therapy-from-Dionysus-story, but in a mortal AU.

The Biters:

Short stories about Clarisse, told via those around her, ranging from when she was a little girl to getting claimed to getting a boyfriend and becoming a hero.

A Question:

Nico figures out Will went to Dionysus a couple of times, with questions about how to make his boyfriend feel more comfortable. Nico finds it adorable, really.

 Loki (2021):

Maltesers: 

Loki notices Mobius carrying a bag with a sweet scent coming off of it. Perhaps he would like to try some of that, too.

See You later, Alligator: 

Loki is bored on Asgard. On a wim, he decided to transform a few things in his room into animals. After all, what can come from that except for some harmless fun?

Bohemian Rhapsody, or: Misschief on ice

Finding out that Loki can figure skate is one. Finding out that he has qualified himself for a world championship is in a whole other ballpark. Still, Mobius and Sylvie support him to the best of their abilities. Even when Loki decides to skate by his own rules.

Whoever you are:

Loki is gender fluid. Before they knew Mobius, they casually slipped in and out of different looks, whatever felt right at the moment. When they began dating, it suddenly felt so weird. Mobius tells them he'll love them, no matter who they are.

Rangers’ Apprentice:

High school could go many ways:  

 For a group of five orphans, the time for high school has come. Will is determined to get onto a sports team. Yet, is that truly what he wants, or has he been putting up an act for himself?

During all of this I have one question: 

Crowley has an idea and plays a prank on Gilan and Halt. They handle the situation quite well, I would say.

KoFi - AO3 

[the-fiction-witch]

The Other Harmon P1 - P5

TV SHOW : THE QUEENS GAMBIT COUPLE: BENNY WATTS X READER RATING: Flirty Af

Part 1: Happiness 

I laid looking at the ceiling, pondering, thinking, My brain never turned off. It never had as long as I remember, my life had been a strange one and yet I had found my own happiness, I just have hope my sister will find it likewise just I imagine not the way I did, as we had always been two rather different Harmon's.

"Uummmm..." I heard beside me looking to the other half of my bed as he turned over his mop of messy long hair matted and out of place more so than usual, his face a picture of peace and relaxation his facial hair sat as perfect as usual, his strong skinny upper body out from our covers a little the rest of him wrapped up warmly his face stiffened and he grimaced "y/n? What are you doing still awake?" He asks with a yawn

"Nothing Benny, I couldn't sleep"

"Alright, come on, come here honeydew... Let's get some rest, got a plane to catch in the morning" he yawns pulling me to his chest like I was his teddy bear. Not that I minded at all. I kissed his bare skin and nuzzled closer to him trying to lose myself in a dream.

Part 2: Promise Me!

"Girls-"

"Mother? What's going on?" My sister spoke

"Girls we just uhh were just going on an uhh a little trip out for ice cream," my mother said in a hurried tone as she drove "okay baby just close your eyes, close your eyes and you promise me you'll look after your sister"

"Mother-"

"Promise me!"

"I promise"

I remember little else of what happened. I just remember my sister holding my hand as they took us somewhere, I didn't understand where They took me away from my sister for reasons I didn't know.

"Elizabeth Harmon, and Y/n Harmon. Eight and four" a man said as he made notes taking me somewhere else.

I would see my sister often but she never seemed happy all she ever wanted to do was play chess and I didn't understand it. I liked to watch but I couldn't play honestly. I didn't really want to but I knew the more my sister grew to know that board the less she would grow Into my sister. One day people came and we were told to wash up and dress nicely. I showered, brushed my teeth and put on my prettiest dress doing my hair Into braids with small blue ribbons even shinned my little shoes. And I went and waited for what felt like forever until Beth arrived

"Where have you been?" I asked

"Sleeping"

"But this is important"

"It's just another couple who will look at us see us as a package and not bother" she explained "they always want you... they never want me"

"Well... maybe if you tried"

"You think I don't?"

"I'm sure you do beth," I nodded as the door opened and we were ushered inside and there sat a rather nice looking couple. Things were said and disgusted but I barely spoke a word until they left and we were told to pack.

Part 3 : Different

I forced so much of that time away from me watching only as she got better she drifted away from me, I remember wondering around this hotel as Beth chatted with her friends. I saw someone sitting discussing chess to some other men. Something about him seemed so... different.

All these boys were stuck up little nerds in suits with pocket protectors for their pens, hair gelled back and glasses perched but...

He was different. His jeans tight to his body leaving little to imagination a tight belt around his waist a black shirt under a green shirt unbuttoned slightly but all hidden by this long leather coat, his slender pale neck intrigued me his face youthful and yet aged a speckling of facial hair giving him a look of someone more mature his brown eyes seemed to hesitate on the crowd he spoke to his hair pulled back by his hat but it was obvious it was long and unruly. Someone came over and the crowd quickly left him alone. He stopped of course and turned to scan the room until he saw me. His eyes flicked up and down before he seemed confused. I went over out of curiosity sitting on the chair across the table from him

"Hello" I smiled

"Hi, how old are you little girl?" He asks

"Old enough to know better" I smiled making him chuckle a little too "are you playing today?"

"No, I just come to... see old friends and check what's going on" he explained, "do you play?"

"Not really, watched a lot," I said

"Here, I'll give you a game," he says laying out a thick wooden board and laying out all the pieces all the years of watching beth and I knew so little "don't worry, I'll go easy on you" he winked moving a piece I had no plan or much skill of moves or starters or anything like that I just plaid and not five minutes later "Hu... you uhhh your good"

"Thank you" I smiled

"I think I know who you are, '' he smirked "your Beth Harmon? Aren't you? That kid that knocked Harry off his perch in Kentucky?"

"Ohh no" I laughed

"No? Who are you then?"

"Y/n, Beth's my sister" I answered

"Is she now, well it was very nice to play you y/n"

"It was nice to play with you too" I smiled "ooh sorry I uh-"

"Benny, Benny watts" he smiled offering his hand I happily took it and he gave my hand a little kiss before getting up with his stuff to go elsewhere

"Who was that?" Beth asked behind me

"Who?" I asked

"Who was that you were just talking to?" She asked

"Ooh... just a boy" I smiled

"A boy? What were you doing?" She asks sitting with me

"We played a game is all"

"I thought you hated chess?"

"I don't hate it, I don't love it, it's a nice game," I said

"Who was he y/n?"

"He said his name was Benny"

"Benny? Benny watts?" She asked and I nodded "you- you just played a game against Benny watts?"

"Yes, he seemed lovely, A very fine gentlemen" I smiled

"Y/n, you know who that was right?"

"No..."

"He's US champion"

"Ooh, well I beat him, though he was going easy on me" I explain

"This is why I don't take you places" she sighed going off elsewhere.

Part 4 Our Little Secret 

Beth barely let me on trips after that she didn't seem to like me around when she was doing chess for whatever reason but I went with her and our new mother to las Vegas I stood around this strange place seeing so many names and so many tables I simply wondered thought in my dress trying not to draw attention to myself, I spotted on a board of people the name of my sister. I also saw not far away on the list a name I remembered from what feels like so long ago Benny watts I remember that name it's funny but since that day I had I suppose you could call me a groupie if chess has groupies, fan I suppose.

I kept an eye on him, magazine articles of him, pictures of little things mostly even if I hid them under my bed not wanting Beth to know, I thought something pleasant about him and the fact I had beaten him so long ago even if no one knew that but him and I. It was like a secret we shared.

And just at that moment, a familiar voice spoke up

"Well, well, little y/n Harmon. What are you doing here?' I heard I turned and saw Benny much as I Last did in fact almost exactly like a picture I clipped from chess review not two weeks ago

"Benny watts" I smiled so excited to see him "ohh well just here for beth and all"

"Of course yeah, hopefully, I should at least get to play your legendary sister" he laughs "you know one of these days you should enter"

"Me? No, no chess is Beth's thing I wouldn't want to impose"

"Y/n if beth can wipe the floor with these boys you can do it with your eyes closed," he says

"Chess isn't my thing, never has been"

"You beat me"

"I haven't forgotten that Mr Watts" I blushed

"Aren't we growing up to be a proper lady?" He laughs "growing up a lot back home? Aren't you?" He asked as I caught his eyes lingering in me I blushed hard seeing such a thing

"Yes, I am"

"I can tell," he says "how about a game?"

"It's alright, you don't want to do too many today"

"Come on, just for fun," he says

"No thank you, how was Austin?"

"Sorry?"

"You were in Austin recently, how was it?"

"How do you know?"

"I keep up with chess review, well once beth is done with it" I smiled

"Do you? Are you keeping an eye on me?"

"I like keeping an eye on you" I smiled "so how was it?"

"It was Lovely"

"I always wanted to go..."

"I'll have to take you with me, next time" he smiled "just answer me something... honestly, I'm sure when Beth has things written about her in all these chess magazines she cuts them out and then lets you have them?"

"Yes" I nodded

"And then if it happened in those said chess magazines happen to have anything about... me in them, do you have a read?"

"Of course I do like I said I keep an eye" I smiled

"And would all those little clippings about me be in a secret box under your bed so beth doesn't find out what you've been doing?" He asked and I froze up completely "I take that as a yes, don't worry our little secret" he winked "I'm sure I'll see you later y/n" he smiled giving my hand a little kiss and he went off somewhere I assume for a game but as I watched him walk away I felt something strange. A horrible pain in my stomach...

Part 5: A Woman 

I ran as fast as my feet would carry me up to the room, my mother and beth both gone already I ran to the bathroom pulling up my dress and my many petticoats seeing the trail of thick red blood that had begun to form as my stomach cracked with the horrific pain as badly as it had earlier. I pushed my dress off me and almost saw the blood coming out of me as I cried out in pain, I grabbed as much toiler paper as I could rolling it up and cleaning myself up and going back to watch beth.

"You alright darling?" Our adoptive mother asks

"Uhh yeah" I nodded

"what's wrong?" she asked pulling me to the side a little

"I uh I started"

"Ohh, first time?" she asks and I nodded a little scared almost in tears she handed me something from her handbag and a couple of pills "Go on it'll help," she says

"It hurts"

"they'll help with the pain"

"why does it have to hurt?"

"who knows" she sighed "But you're a woman now" she smiled

"Can... things cause it?"

"Like what darling?"

"Like... sinful things, or people?" I asked

"no of course not darling its a natural part of being a woman" she explained "All though... being excited doesn't help" she winked "why do you ask?"

"No reason" I smiled as I glanced across the hall to a table with benny playing against his opponent.

[soniaxdixon]

The New World; Series, Pt 3

okay, two parts in one day but I really just felt like writing. enjoy this part!! 

Okay so this is my first time writing a fic and obviously will be my first series but I’ve just rewatched TWD for like the 17th time and my obsession with Daryl has reached new levels. I hope that it isn’t too shit and that you guys actually read/like it. Thank you in advance for baring with my average writing but I mean, how else will I learn? Anyway, enjoy!

Sonia x

Season 1

Part 3 of ??

Summary: Y/N Grimes is Rick’s younger hot headed sister. When Rick gets shot and falls into a coma, Y/N’s world ends. Y/N Finds herself at a quarry near Atlanta with her nephew carl, sister in law Lori and her best friend Glenn where she meets her new family including the equally hot headed redneck Daryl Dixon. Over time Y/N and Daryl begin to form a friendship, finally allowing one another to open up to someone and maybe finding someone they can actually love.

Words: 1790

Okay, I couldn’t hold out much longer with the whole slow burn thing, something happens in this fic...

Warnings: swearing, a little angst, slight mention of gore.

With your brother, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dogg gone you found yourself struggling to think about anything else other then something happening to them. What if they got surrounded by walkers, what if merle flips and does something to them. Constant ‘what if’ questions rolled through your head as you paced in your tent.

“Y/N!” You heard dale holler

“Hey Dale, what’s up?”

“You’ve been in your tent since they left, wanted to get you out here with the rest of the group, make sure you’re okay.” He said with sincerity.

“Thanks, Dale, I’m all good, don’t you worry. Got any jobs for me to do? I’d like to keep my mind busy.”

“Not really any jobs to do but you’re more than welcome to relax in the RV, I’ve got a couple of old books in there, maybe that’ll put your mind at ease.”

You nodded gratefully and made your way inside the RV, shuffling through Dale’s book collection until you settled on one, reading in the bed until the words began to sling together and you fell into a deep sleep.

You were woken up a while later by Carl gently shaking you. You jolted awake and grabbed your knife when you realised you had fallen asleep for god knows how long.

“Woah! I’m just here to let you know dinners ready.”

You scooted off the bed, stepped out of the RV and walked over to the group sitting around a fire, fresh grilled fish already on a plate for you. You sat next to Lori and nudged her. “I missed dinner prep? How long was I asleep, I should have helped.”

“You must have needed the rest, it was best to let you sleep.”

You nodded as you shoved a giant fork full of fish into your mouth while your stomach growled.

This night was like any other, sitting around with your family, chatting like nothing was wrong in the world, though you found yourself subconsciously searching for the archer who would usually sit across from you, constantly sneaking glances at each other. Your heart rate sped up at the thought of him and then the reality that he wasn’t there set in again, as did the worry. You were pulled from your thoughts by Andrea’s voice.

“Where are you going?”

“I gotta pee, geez, try to be discrete around here” Amy responded earning a laugh from the group.

You went to take another bite of your fish when Amy’s scream filled the air. You threw the plate and reached for your gun as you watched Amy being ripped into, Andrea already running towards her with Jim. Walkers started hastily shuffling out of the trees towards your family as you and the others sprung into action.

“Lori, Carl, you get behind me now!” You yelled over the gunfire shoving your nephew out of dangers way and putting yourself in the middle of it. You aimed at the nearest walker and BANG, it fell, a bullet between its eyes.

You noticed another hobbling towards carol, BANG, another down.

You continued to pace backwards until it was safe to send Lori and Carl into the RV. A walker lunged at you, BANG, now it was at your feet. You turned for a second when you heard Lori scream as Shane shot a biter that was close to her.

As you turned around another one lunged at you as you brought your gun up,

Click.

Your stomach knotted at the sound, you were out of bullets. You pushed against the walker with all your force as its teeth gnashed at your face. You could feel your arms weakening as its teeth got closer to your face, your feet began sliding in the dirt. You couldn’t bring yourself to pull one hand away to get your knife, this one was too big, the slightest move now and you would be gone.

BANG

The walker collapsed on top of you, knocking the air out of you as you went down. Suddenly the body was tossed away and a hand was outstretched. You realised who it was, grabbed his hand and he hoisted you up off the ground.

“Thanks, Daryl.”

He nodded and then proceeded to take out the walkers that just kept coming. You noticed how he shielded your body with his own as the dead got closer until finally, there were none left.

When everything was clear, he stormed off towards his tent without saying a word to you.

You found rick and threw your arms around him

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He mumbled into your hair

“For what?”

“For protecting Carl and Lori.”

“It’s what I do.” You chuckled slightly as you let go of him, your eyes flicking over to Daryl’s tent.

You built up some courage and started trekking towards his tent, stopping suddenly at the entrance and struggling to think of what to say. Before you had the chance to say anything he broke the silence.“Leave me alone.”

You stood there for a second before you shook your head and began unzipping the door to the tent and stepping inside. He stood up from his bed and loomed over you.  “Stupid girl, didn’t you hear what I said? Leave me the fuck alone!”

At this point he was yelling in your face but you stood your ground, getting angrier until you looked up into his eyes, you could see how red they were, he’d been crying, your anger slowly faded.  “I don’t need your fucking pity, get lost.”

He turned, expecting you to leave but instead, without even thinking, you wrapped your arms around his middle and he stiffened at the sudden contact, staring at his bed in front of him, then looking down at your arms that linked around his waist, holding him tight, grounding him. You felt his breath become shaky as he let himself cry which only made you hold him tighter.

When his breathing began to slow, you gently unlinked your arms and he turned to face you, tears staining his cheeks.

“I’m not here to offer you pity, I came to say thank you for saving me. I came to see if you were okay.”

He just stared at you for a second before you carefully reached up and wiped a single tear that was rolling down his cheek, then slowly, you snaked your hands around his neck and brought him into another hug. This time he didn’t flinch, he melted into you, placing his head in the crook of your neck while he let himself calm down.

“M’ sorry I snapped.” He whispered into your neck.

You pulled back and looked into his eyes, the blue being highlighted by his unshed tears.

“You don’t have to apologise, I get it.”

He nodded as his hands found your waist and he pulled you into another hug. This man had never been shown proper affection, he had never shown it to anyone but he so desperately craved it and you understood that, you finally gave him the affection he needed, that he deserved. You stayed like that for a minute before you pulled away, grabbing his hand and leading him over to his makeshift bed, a cot in the corner of his tent with his sleeping bag on top. You sat with him on the end of the bed and finally built up the bravery to ask.

“Daryl, what happened out there?”

He looked at you and struggled to form the words, tears threatened to fall from his eyes again until you reached for his hand and took it in yours.

“He wasn’t there, he ain’t dead but he was gone. Cut off his own damn hand, cauterised it. Tough son of a bitch. We went to look for ‘im but then this kid showed up and started yellin’, some guys took Glenn and we got into this whole thing, thought they might’ve had Merle too y’know. They didn’t. By the time we sorted everything out our damn truck was missin’ so we had to walk back. Thats when we heard the gun shots. Y/N I ran, I ran so fast and ya wanna know why? Because I thought I was gonna lose ya. I couldn’t lose ya too. I don’t know what it is but something inside me goes crazy whenever you’re around. I ain’t good at this type a thing, I don’t know how to explain it but it’s like I need to protect ya and I don’t know why. We’ve hardly talked but when we do it’s like my chest is on fire.

You couldn’t take your eyes off him, you hung onto every word for dear life, like he was reading your mind, like he was reading your emotions. Before you knew it you were pulling his face towards yours, pressing your lips against his, fitting together like a puzzle, like he was the one piece you have been missing your whole life. You slowly pulled away and looked at him, his eyes still closed from the kiss, a small smile gracing his lips, causing you to break out in a smile too.

“Daryl.” His name had never sounded so sweet, he opened his eyes looking deeply into yours as his cheeks flushed red. “That’s exactly how I feel.”

You spoke for a while, exchanging stories of the past. For a man who was so reserved, he seemed to open up to you like you were the only one who held the key to his stories. He told you about Merle, about his mother. He told you about his father, the things he used to do to merle, to him. You didn’t push him, you didn’t ask to see the scars, you simply listened and that was all he needed. The noise of everyone outside had finally quietened and that was your cue that it was time to retreat back to your tent.

“I’m gonna head back to my tent, I’ll see you in the morning.”

He wanted to ask you to stay, he needed you to stay. He felt like that was the only way he could sleep but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

You wanted to stay, fall asleep on his chest like the many nights you had dreamt of, but you didn’t want to push what had happened. You slipped out of his tent, zipping it closed and walking over to your own. You couldn’t help fight the smile that crept on your face.

Neither you nor Daryl got much sleep that night, replaying the moments that happened, longing for each other in a way like never before.

[jewish-space-laser]

Miles & Black Coffee - Part Two

“If you’re thinking about taking the high road,

I can tell you that you’re doing it wrong,

There’s a better of way of letting it all go,

‘Cause you’ve been running from the feeling too long….”

-Highroad by Sir Woman

Hiya everyone! Sorry this is up a bit late, inspiration really just runs on its own clock. I’ll keep this short- giant thank you to @oh-honey-styles​ @andwhenshesays​ @for-fucks-sake-h​ for beta-ing and being so so SO supportive. If you haven’t read their fics yet, go check them out! As always, I adore feedback! (4.1k words)

xoxoxoxoxoXO Tile 

You and Harry would never be friends. You were up and down, night and day, oil and water. You just didn’t mesh. He was your roommate’s insufferable older brother, and that is all he would ever be. Well, at least that’s what you thought before….

or

the one with campfire conversations, cabin getaways, and enemies that were never really enemies after all.

Read Part One here!

TUESDAY

Charlie was still sleeping soundly on her side of the bed when your alarm went off, so you tried your hardest to sneak out of the room without making a sound. Spending all day in the sun yesterday had been amazing; your heart felt full, your muscles were relaxed, and you were ready to do it all over again. 

Unfortunately, you also felt a bit gross. Between the warm weather, lakewater, and sunscreen, your skin was feeling like it needed it a good rinse. The thought of showering in the showerhouse wasn’t exactly thrilling, but it was that or the garden hose, so you gathered up your shower caddy and a change of clothes before making your way out of the main cabin. 

It was a beautiful morning, the perfect setup for another day of summer. Dewy blades of grass tickled your ankles as you cut across the lawn, a pleasant chill running through you at the contact. You’d tried to wake up early enough to have the shower house to yourself, not wanting to have an awkward run-in with anyone before you’d had a chance to fully wake up. 

From the look of it, you’d succeeded. You listened for signs that anyone else was out and about, but all you could hear were the sounds of birds chirping and bugs buzzing, the nature around you having yet to be disturbed by rowdy college students. 

Smoking on the boat the night before had turned out to be a great idea. The group had stayed out till the moon was the only light in the sky, only turning in when none of you could stop yawning. You hadn’t slept that deeply in a long time; it felt amazing to be so rested after a full school year of late nights and early mornings. 

When you finally reached the shower house, you moved to pull the door open to have it swing forward and smack into you. You stumbled backwards, balancing yourself against the wall as you stared wide eyed at the person who’d nearly knocked you over. 

“Whoa, sorry,” Ryan rushed apologetically, “I didn’t think anyone else would be up this early.”

“That’s okay,” you gulped, “I didn’t think anyone else was awake, either. I wanted the showers to myself.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” he chuckled, running a hand through his wet hair, “I’m all finished though, so it’s all yours.”

“Thanks,” you giggled, “how was the water pressure?”

“Honestly?” He shrugged. “Better than I expected, but not great.”

“Lovely,” you sighed, slinging your towel over your shoulder. Ryan dragged his eyes down your frame quickly, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. You blushed as you realized that you were still in your pajamas. At least they were somewhat cute, little blue shorts with rubber duckies printed all over them and a plain white tank top. 

The two of you were quiet for a moment, switching places so you were standing in the threshold of the shower house. He was too cute, sleepy eyes squinting in the sun as it grew brighter out.

“So, um, I was thinking of checking out this hiking trail today,” he blurted, cheeks tinted red, “Archie was going to come with me, but he drank his weight in white claw last night, so I’m thinking he might be too hungover to stomach it.”

“Where’s the trail?” You questioned. 

“It’s on the other side of the lake, about two miles north. We were just gonna borrow a couple bikes from the shed,” he explained, playing with his hair some more, “but anyway, I was like, well, I was wondering if maybe you would wanna join me. I’d hate to go alone.”

“I’d love to!” You said eagerly. When he smirked at your excitement, you tried to play it cool. “I mean, uh, yeah. That sounds like it could be fun.”

“Great,” he chuckled, “I was thinking of leaving around eleven, gives us time to relax and have some breakfast. The trail itself should only take a couple hours, but there are a few detours I wanted to see. Is that cool with you?”

“Sounds awesome,” you nodded. 

“Fantastic. I’ll find you in a bit?”

You nodded, bidding him farewell as he made his way back to the guest cabin. The moment the door shut behind you, you let out a quiet squeal. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, and already you had a date with a cute boy. Plus, you were genuinely interested in the hiking trail; if it was anything like the forest around the cabin, it was sure to be gorgeous. 

Ryan was right about the shower pressure. It was enough to make you feel clean and refreshed, but certainly left much to be desired. At least there was hot water. 

By the time you made it back to your room, Charlie was up and about, playing upbeat music on her phone speaker and digging her toothbrush out of her bag. 

“I can’t believe I forgot to brush my teeth last night,” she pretended to gag, “I literally passed out so hard. Didn’t even hear you get up this morning.”

“It was a long night,” you laughed, feeling amused as you watched her flit around the room to get ready for the day.

“And it’s gonna be another long day,” she sighed, “long, but fun. Olivia and I were gonna tan on the docks for a bit, if you wanna join?”

“Actually,” you tried to act nonchalant, “Ryan and I are going on a hike.”

You sat on the corner of the bed, sucking your lips into your mouth to keep your giddy smile at bay. You were really excited though, and Charlie seemed like just the right person to gush to.

“Ryan, huh?” She said, face scrunching up in confusion. “I would’ve thought you’d want to spend as much time with Harry as possible.”

You widened your eyes, letting out a loud burst of laughter that had you wheezing. “Harry? No way!”

“You and him aren’t a thing, then?” She asked, zipping her suitcase shut. “He was asking after you at the bonfire yesterday, and then insisted that he should check on you when you didn’t come down.”

A frown formed on your face. You specifically remember him saying that he’d just been using the restroom. Why would he want to check up on you, anyway? Surely he was just using it as an excuse to bother you. It was his favorite activity, after all. 

“Well, no, we’re not a thing,” you said firmly.

“Ryan’s cute, too,” Charlie shrugged, “James and I had a moment yesterday, too, so hopefully we both get our cute summer romance this week.”

“Ooooh, James?” You waggled your eyebrows, happy to change the subject. Charlie flushed, biting down on her lip.

The two of you gossipped for a while longer, with Charlie organizing all of her belongings while you lounged on the bed. It was nice chatting with her; you weren’t the closest, but you’d always gotten along really well. 

New romance, new friends, sunshine and nature. You could already tell that this was going to be a week to remember.

~~~

By the time you made your way into the kitchen, almost everyone had already had breakfast. Dishes were piled high in the small sink, streaks of what looked like pancake batter smeared across the countertop. You hated when people didn’t clean up after themselves, but you chose to ignore it for now. 

What you couldn’t ignore, however, was Harry, who was sitting by himself at the table. He was also pouring a bowl of cereal, which wouldn’t have been a problem if your name wasn’t written across the box in black sharpie. 

“Is that your cereal, Harry?” 

You had a hand planted on your hip, eyebrows raised expectantly as you awaited his answer. He lazily glanced up from his phone, looking you over from head to toe before shrugging. 

“Dunno, found it in the cupboard,” he muttered, jamming a spoonful into his mouth.

“Interesting, interesting,” you droned, biting the inside of your cheek, “did you stop for a moment to think that it might belong to somebody else?”

He shrugged again, not bothering to look away from his phone this time as he chewed slowly. You could tell he was holding back a smirk from the way his dimple indented into his cheek. He knew what he was doing, he always did.

With a huff, you walked over to him and snatched the box off of the table, turning it around and pointing at your name in bold letters. 

“I wish you’d asked,” you snapped, opening the cabinet with more force than necessary to grab a bowl. 

“Just figured we were all sharing food,” you heard him say. 

You wanted to rip his breakfast out from under him, anything to get a reaction, but you just took a deep breath insead. Getting you worked up is exactly what he wanted, and you’d never give him the satisfaction

“If you’d read your sister’s e-mail, you’d know that any food that isn’t labelled is up for grabs. That cereal has my name on it.”

“Sorry,” he shrugged again, “I don’t really look at my e-mail.”

“Clearly,” you rolled your eyes.

He didn’t respond, and even though your skin was crawling with irritation, you figured it was best if you stopped talking. Even though he was being a pest, this behavior was relatively tame for him, and it would be a shame to ruin a perfectly good morning with a fight.

Well, that’s what you told yourself before you opened the fridge. 

“Harry,” you warned through gritted teeth, “did you finish off the milk… and then put the empty carton back?”

“No,” he locked his phone, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning, “there are a few drops left in there.”

That was it. The absolute last straw. 

“You are literally the most inconsiderate person I’ve ever met,” you seethed, shaking the empty carton in his direction before throwing it into the recycling bin. It didn’t seem to phase him.

“I think-”

“I don’t really care what you think,” you interrupted. 

“-that you’re being dramatic.”

You were scowling so hard that your cheeks were beginning to hurt, but you couldn’t help it. Not when he was pushing your buttons in all the wrong ways. You dumped your bowl of dry cereal back into the box.

“I’m not being dramatic,” you hissed, “you’re just being a dick, but what else is new.”

“You really need to calm down,” he snorted, “a bunch of us were going to break out the kayak and race across the lake, do you wanna join?”

You weren’t sure where he’d gotten the idea that you’d want to spend more time with him, so you just shot him a dirty look, deciding to just skip breakfast. Sure, you were starving, but anything was better than spending one more second in Harry’s presence. 

“I have other plans,” you snarled, turning your back to him and leaving the room. 

“Really?” He asked, following you down the hallway. “Do they involve… I dunno, pulling the giant stick out of your ass?”

You practically growled, stopping so suddenly that Harry nearly ran into you.

“No,” your voice was strained, “Ryan asked me to go hiking with him, if you must know.”

For the first time all morning, the unbearable smirk on his face dropped into a frown. 

“Just the two of you?” He prodded. 

You narrowed your eyes at him. Why was he suddenly so interested? 

“Yes, just the two of us,” you sighed, turning to walk away again, “now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to be as far away from you as possible.”

He didn’t follow you this time, but you could feel him watching you go up the stairs. It bothered you to no end that he could get you so riled up. Next time, you would walk away at the first sign of trouble, because he truly wasn’t worth your energy. 

Once you finished packing up a drawstring backpack with the hiking essentials, it was just about to time to meet Ryan, so you made your way over to the guest cabin. On the way there, you saw Harry pulling a kayak off of a metal rack, passing it to James like it weighed nothing. He looked a bit ridiculous, with his tie-dye shirt and a bandana in his hair.

“Hey,” you jumped at Ryan’s voice, “you ready to head out?”

You didn’t spare Harry a second glance when Ryan started raving about this amazing waterfall that he wanted to see. The day could only go up from here.

~~~

The rain had come out of nowhere. 

It had been blue sky for miles for the entire hike, but the second you got back to the bikes at the trailhead, dark stormclouds had already started sprinkling. It had quickly turned into a downpour, soaking through your thin t-shirt in record time. Ryan wasn’t much better off as he pulled his helmet off, hair matted down on the top of his head. 

Not to mention, it had been extremely buggy. Even with bug spray, they had been relentless. You were sure you had at least twenty bug bites all down your arms and legs. 

Despite everything, you’d enjoyed yourself. You’d stayed out even longer than you planned, sitting by the waterfall and chatting. As soon as Ryan found out that you skipped breakfast, he’d given you half of his sandwich. He’d been a complete gentleman, taking your hand frequently to help you over a rough part of the trail, and even though neither of you specified, it felt like a date. 

Conversation with him was easy, which was a major improvement from your awful morning. In fact, you barely even thought about Harry all afternoon, so distracted by Ryan and his nature commentary. The only time he’d come up was when you stopped for lunch.

“So what’s the deal with you and Harry?” Ryan had asked.

“Ugh,” you’d snarled, taking a pull from your water bottle “can we talk about literally anything else?”

“Oh,” Ryan had raised his eyebrows, “so, you’re not together?”

Immediately, you had choked on your sip of water, slapping your chest until you stopped coughing. 

“Together?” You guffawed. “What on earth gave you that idea?”

He had blushed crimson, playing with the hair on the back of his head. “He talks about you a lot… and sometimes I notice you watching him.”

His comment had confused you, but you’d shrugged it off, assuring him that you and Harry weren’t, and never would be, together. 

Now, the two of you were ditching your bikes in front of the cabin and sprinting towards the door to escape the awful weather. You found yourself giggling as you stumbled into the kitchen, wet, muddy footprints trailing behind you as you dropped your pack to the ground. It landed with a loud squelch, which only made you laugh harder. 

“I had a lot of fun today,” you said, “I’m really glad you invited me.”

“Really?” He chuckled, catching his breath. “I thought it was a bit of a disaster, between the mosquitos, the rain… the mud….”

You both laughed, shaking your heads at your bad fortune. You were being truthful about having fun, though. Even though the day hadn’t gone according to plan, it was exactly the kind of adventure you’d wanted.

“Whatever,” you shrugged coyly, “I had good company.”

Ryan’s cheeks flushed crimson, and a sweet smile crept up his face. Even with mud caked across his neck, pine needles in his hair, and angry pink bug bites down his arms and legs, he still managed to look adorable. When his eyes darted down to your lips, you stepped forward.

“I’m really glad we’re both on this trip,” he said softly, placing a hand on your waist.

“Me too,” you whispered, leaning in closer. 

Just as your lips were a hair away from brushing together, a crash from behind you had you jumping apart in alarm. You yelped loudly, your heart stopping for a beat before you spun around to face the culprit. 

Of course it was Harry. 

The first thing you noticed was his sunburn; all he was wearing was a pair of light gray sweatpants, so you could see how pink his chest had gotten. He resembled a deer in headlights as he stared at the floor below him, which was currently covered in the broken remnants of a shattered plate.

“Sorry,” he slurred, tip-toeing out from where the ceramic shards had scattered. Once he was clear, he stumbled over to the broom closet, swinging it open harshly as you and Ryan watched on awkwardly. After digging for a few seconds, he emerged with a broom and dustpan that looked like they were older than you.

“You scared us,” you bit out, heart finally slowing down to a normal rate. 

“Oops,” his shoulders lifted in a shrug, He turned to start sweeping, but quickly did a double take. “What hap-… you guys look horrible. Why are you covered in mud?”

Irritation took over you as you watched him gape drunkenly at where you and Ryan were standing. Not only had he interrupted what was sure to be an epic kiss with Ryan, but then he’d nearly given you a heart attack by sneaking in and dropping the plate. Sure, it was an accident, but that didn’t make you feel any less angry. And now here he was, telling you that you looked horrible.Your foot started tapping against the floor rapidly on its own accord. 

Just as you were about to chew him out for being a complete thorn in your side, he stumbled forward and hissed, lifting his bare foot into the air. 

“Harry, you’re stepping on glass,” Ryan warned, rushing forward with a worried expression over his face, “and you’re barefoot. Why don’t you start getting ready for bed… I’ll clean this up, okay?”

He took the broom from Harry, shooing him away from the mess. You knew it was the responsible thing to do, but part of you was still disappointed that your moment with Ryan had been ruined.

“Will you help me up the stairs?” Harry asked you sheepishly, half-limping over to you, “can’t get the glass out of my foot….”

“Well, don’t try to take it out here,” you sighed with an eye roll, “let’s go up. We’ll have to clean it, too.”

“Aww, y’gonna take care of me?” He smirked.

“Don’t push your luck,” you snapped. He held his hands up in surrender, but you still wanted to slap the smug look off of his face. You turned to Ryan, who was still sweeping the plate shards into a pile, and shook your head apologetically. “See you tomorrow?”

He nodded, a sad little smile on his face. You made yourself a promise that you’d kiss him next time you were alone. It was only the second day, after all; you were positive that you’d find another moment. For now, though, you had to deal with a certain drunken fool, who was currently limping down the hall, tripping every other step as he tried to grip the wall for support. 

“Hold on, you dimwit,” you sighed, rushing forward and slipping a hand around his waist. 

“Ooh, we’re getting cosy,” he hummed. You weren’t going to dignify him with a response.

Harry’s skin was warm to the touch, a bit sticky with sunscreen but still smooth. You tried to ignore the shock that ran through you when you felt his back muscles shift… you knew he was in good shape, but you hadn’t expected him to be so… firm. Your mouth went dry.

He leaned practically his entire weight on you, nearly forcing your knees to buckle. Fortunately, you were able to find your balance and walk with him, taking one stair at a time.

“Now who’s being dramatic,” you muttered.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Harry slurred, frowning in your direction. He had one arm slung over your shoulder, and the other hand gripping the railing as he hopped on one foot.

“You called me dramatic this morning,” you reminded him, “and now here you are, needing help up the stairs because of a teeny piece of glass….”

“Heeeey,” he protested, stopping in his tracks to look down at you properly. 

A scoff escaped you as you rolled your eyes, gesturing for him to continue hopping. You were nearly at the top now.

“Is there a first aid kit somewhere?” You asked, relieved when he removed his arm.

“Yeah,” he scratched at his head, “I packed one, but it’s still in my room.”

Honestly, you were a bit surprised that Harry packed a first aid kit. You’d never stricken him as the responsible type; Callie had always seemed more put together despite being younger. 

You followed his hobbling figure into his room, which was much cleaner than you expected. He clearly hadn’t changed it much since he was young, evidenced by the lego figurines lined up on his shelves. There was also a cute framed photo of him and Callie at her high school graduation, which was admittedly adorable. 

Getting the splinter out of Harry’s foot hadn’t been a problem, but cleaning it was another story. First, he insisted that he could do it himself, but then he accidentally got neosporin all over his bedsheets. Then, he wouldn’t stop flinching away from you when you tried to stick on the bandage, claiming that he was ticklish. 

“Can you please just cooperate,” you sighed. 

“Can’t help that it tickles,” he giggled, twitching away from your hand again, “your hands are too soft.”

If he pulled away from you one more time, you’d rip your hair out. This was not how you foresaw ending your night.

Eventually, finally, he stayed still long enough for you to finish. You glared at him as you gathered up the bandage wrapper and used alcohol wipe. He was gazing at you with wide eyes, bandana slightly crooked on top of his head.

“Did I interrupt something downstairs?” He asked all of a sudden, sheepishly looking out the window.

“Yeah,” you exhaled, shaking your head in frustration. “You know, Harry? I don’t understand what I did for you to hate me so much.”

He squinted his eyes in confusion, as if he had no idea what you were talking about. As if he hadn’t spent countless hours intentionally getting on your nerves. 

“What’re you talking about?”

“Please,” you laughed sarcastically, “It hasn’t even been two full days here, and you’ve already called me a wet blanket, eaten my food, and ruined the end of my date. You do nothing but antagonize me… why?”

He opened and closed his mouth several times, and it was then that you remembered how truly drunk he was. He probably wouldn’t even remember this in the morning. You don’t know why you’d asked him about it in the first place.

“I mean, I…” He stuttered, apparently unable to articulate his thoughts. 

Truthfully, you didn’t even want to know.

“Maybe we should just stay away from each other,” you told him, “I’m not a huge fan of you, and you clearly have a problem with me….”

He looked completely taken aback.

“Just… go to sleep, okay?” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “I left the painkillers out, so… take those in the morning if you want.”

You were waiting for him to say something, but he just sat there, silently gaping at you with cloudy eyes, so that’s how you left him. He was still staring at you when you fleetingly made eye contact on your way out the door, but didn’t say a single word.

From what you knew about him, that was out of character. He always had something to say, another jab, another comeback, absolutely never letting you have the last word. And his eyes… the way he’d been staring at you, like he was offended and guilty and confused. You’d never seen him look like that before. 

As you got ready for bed, you tried to shake the entire interaction off. He was drunk, he probably had no idea what you were saying. The entire conversation wouldn’t even matter in the morning. 

Yet, for some reason, the image of his wide eyes and crooked bandana were all you thought about until you drifted off to sleep.

~~~

If you made it this far, thank you! What do we think? Any thoughts, theories, questions, comments? Let me know! Until next time, xoxoxoxoxox Tile

[olivia200312]

Sexy Car Wash~ Bay! Optimus x Human! Reader (Lemon)

Plot: Y/N decided to give Optimus a car was and dressed in her bikini. The Prime couldn't control himself but mate with her inside his truck.~ ;)

Ok, I did read about Bumblebee's car wash with the reader, but never about other bots. So I decided to give Optimus a chance. I know that Optimus is a truck and not a car, but I decided to call it a car wash. This one shot is a lemon!

This takes place in TF4 inside Cade's barn!

Head area:

Brain: Processor / Brain Module

Head: Helm

Face: Face plate

Ears: Audio receptors / Receptor Orifice / Audials

Nose: Enstril / Olfactory Sensor

Eye brow: Optical Ridge

Eyes: Optics

Mouth: Intake

Lips: Dermas

Teeth: Denta/Dentas

Tongue: Glossa

Chest area:

Chest: Chassis / Thoraxal Cavity

Back: Hexa-Lateral Scapula

Spine: Bipedalism cord / Back Strut

Chest and back armour:

Chest plate

Back plate

Mid-section plating

Neck guard

Side plating

Arm area:

Arms: Arms / Restarlueus

Forearms: Bitarlueus

Hands: Servos

Fingers: Digits

Arm armour:

Gantlets

Shoulder pads

Arm guard

Lower area:

Pelvis: Pelvis

Butt: Aft / Skid-Plate

Thighs: Tibulen

Calves: Cadulen

Feet: Pedes - the high heel bits are called Struts or Heel Struts.

Lower armour:

Skirt plates

Aft plate / Skid plate

Thigh guard

Ankle guard

General/Internal components:

Muscles: Cables / Pistons - It depends on the area in question.

Veins: Fual lines

Stomach: Tanks

Lungs: Vents - used to stop the con/bot from over heating.

Heart: Spark

Tattoos: D-con/A-bot Insignias and the lark

T-Cog: The thing that allows all Cybertronians to transform, be that their arms or their whole body.

Bonus:

Penis: Spike

Vagina: Valve

Body: Frame

Note: the art goes to the owner!

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

Y/N was Cade's eldest daughter. She was 18. Yes, it meant that Tessa was younger than her. Only a year younger. Y/N simply followed college online. She had a lot of problems in high school. When Cade found out, he was so mad at the school and principal that he homeschooled Y/N. Tessa was lucky that she didn't have problems. Y/N decided to follow college online and finish her studies that way. She was more glad and happy in fact.

When Y/N was young, she watched how her dad fixed things. Sometimes even build things. She found it interesting and asked her dad if he could teach her. He gladly agreed. Y/N found it hard, but she was learning and she was getting better and better that at one point, she could do it herself!

Tessa was different. She didn't have interest in how her dad and her 1 year older sister were fixing and building things. Tessa was beautiful if you see her. You know, blond hair and blue (?) eyes. She focused more on fashion but that doesn't mean that she was a brat. She was in fact kind and helpful. She had a secret. She had a 20-year-old boyfriend named Shane. Tessa knew that if she introduced Shane to Cade, then oh boy. Troubles will come. But she did tell Y/N her secret and her, being a good sister she was, kept Tessa's secret.

Now, you both noticed that their mother was never mentioned here. Well, to tell you the sad truth, their mother wasn't alive. She died when Y/N and Tessa were very young. It was sad that some kids didn't know who their dead relatives were. But Cade was a good dad and told his daughters everything about their mother. He even showed photos.

Years later, when the girls were adults (well, not Tessa since she's 17), something unexpected happened that only will happen probably in the far future (or it were only fantasies). Cade brought one day an old truck home with Y/N. Now, Cade, Tessa, and Y/N had problems with money during that time. Tessa wanted Cade to sell the truck, but he simply said no. Y/N agreed with her dad. She had a feeling that it wasn't just a truck...

When Cade and Y/N were busy at the barn, they found that it wasn't a truck, but an actual Transformer! It was the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime himself. Everyone was shocked. Lucas was there too. Even Tessa. When Optimus transformed, he was mad. He threatened the humans to stay away or else he'll kill them. Y/N wasn't blaming the Prime for it, but at KSI. They decided to team up with Lockdown and hunt the Autobots down... The sadly manages to kill Ratchet.

Once Optimus was calm thanks to Cade and Y/N, they all introduced themselves. The leader was thankful to Y/N and Cade. He also started to lay his optics on Cade's eldest daughter. He couldn't help but admire her beauty and personality. Even though when he was freaking tall, he actually can transform small. It's called a bipedal form. He didn't told and show it yet to others, but he did have a plan to show it very soon.

Y/N became very close to the leader of the Autobots. She fell in love with him. He was just so brave, smart, and strong. They got to know each other and chatted for hours.

Now~

Y/N just entered the barn. Her hair was in a ponytail and wore a loose F/C tanktop and shorts. She noticed how Optimus wasn't clean that she decided to give him a car wash. Well, maybe a truck wash since he was a truck and not a car. Still, car wash suited more perfectly.

"Hello, Optimus."

Optimus was in his Cybertronian form and was sitting on the ground. He looked down at Y/N and couldn't help but blush. She was wearing a bit of revealing clothes. "Hello, Y/N. Is there something you need?"

Y/N smiled. "I came here to give you a car wash since you're dirty. Do you mind if you're in your alt form?"

"Not at all, Y/N." He then transformed into his truck form and stood still. However, he can still speak.

"Are you ready, Optimus?"

"Yes, I am. Take your time much as you need."

Y/N smiled and got the water hose ready. She then turned the water on and started to spray Optimus. The water was a bit cold that the Prime wiggled a bit in surprise. Y/N giggled by his actions.

Once the Prime was wet enough, Y/N turned the water off and... took her tank top off and shorts, revealing her in a bikini. It was dark blue with red a bit mixed up. Just like Optimus' colors. Optimus blushed bright blue now while in his alt form. He started to think... dirty things about her. He was getting horny and turned on.

Y/N then grabbed a sponge and started to wash him. Optimus was watching her washing him. The soap on him was only used on vehicles and since Optimus was a truck, Y/N used it. The dirt was coming off very well. Y/N then put the soap in the bucket and grabbed the water hose. She turned it on and splashed the Prime. Once the soap was off, she turned the water hose off.

"Alright, now I need to wash your hood so I'm gonna climb on a ladder, ok?" Y/N said.

Optimus hummed. "Understood."

Y/N walked off to get the ladder, her hips moving. She felt Optimus watching her, but what she didn't know was that Prime was getting horny. He never thought that femme humans like Y/N could be sexy.

Y/N came back with the ladder and pressed it gently against Optimus' side and climbed. Once she was on the top, she made the hood wet with the water hose, and then she grabbed the sponge and washed. She heard Optimus purr and heck, even moan softly! Prime was feeling pleasure!

Y/N smirked and continued to tease him. "Enjoying it, Prime?"

Optimus was speechless. He was enjoying it but didn't expect that Y/N would tease him with her voice. Oh, she's going to get it...

Once Y/N was done washing, she sprayed to get the soap off. She then turned the water hose off and climbed down. "There you go, Prime. All clean."

"Thank you, Y/N. It was enjoyable."

Y/N smirked. "You definitely did, Prime. I heard you purr and even moan.~"

Y/N then walked off to put the stuff away. Optimus was blushing mad now. He was sure now going to teach her a lesson.

Y/N was about to put the water hose back to its place when suddenly she felt servos on her hips. Y/N yelped as she got turned around and dropped the water hose. She couldn't believe what she saw. It was Optimus! Only... smaller.

"H-How?"

Optimus chuckled. "When we were on Earth, Lennox made us these forms."

Y/N blushed. He was so sexy up close! She couldn't believe that Prime and others had these forms! And the Optimus' optics... they're so beautiful up close.

Suddenly Optimus smirked and backed Y/N into a wall. "You teased me, you know that?"

Y/N's face got redder. She didn't expect him to show this side of his. Usually, he's a calm, respectful, strong, brave, stern (etc) leader. But this side? Oh boy, this was new.

Y/N didn't respond. She was just lost.

Optimus chuckled deeply and leaned down towards her ear. "You need to be punished, my dear."

Y/N snapped awake and tried to escape, but Optimus quickly picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Y/N squealed and yelped. She started to hit his hexa-lateral scapula. "Prime!"

Optimus chuckled and opened his truck and laid Y/N down on the backseat of the truck. He then got in too, closed the door, locked in and climbed on top of her, both of his servos besides Y/N's head.

"Are you ready to be punished, sweetspark?" His voice was deep and seductive that it cause Y/N to shiver.

Y/N's eyes filled up with lust. "Hell yes."

Optimus then smashed his dermas against her soft lips, kissing her roughly. Y/N kissed him back with force and Optimus' glossa was already in Y/N's mouth, marking her territory as his. They both were just lost in pure pleasure that they're going fast. Let's just say that Y/N was already in lacy bra and panties. They were dark blue with a bit red like Optimus' colors. She was in love with the leader ever since she met him.

Optimus was roughly sucking and kissing her neck. "Look at you, laying underneath me, wearing my colors. You're so beautiful..."

Y/N's arms were rubbing her hands over his entire hexa-lateral scapula. She was basically exploring and even scratching his paint in pleasure. Once Optimus was done, he leaned down and literally ripped her bra off.

"H-Hey!"

Optimus didn't say anything and just kisses her chest everywhere, especially her boobs. He read on the world wide web about humans so that he can learn more. He accidentally stumbled about bodies and read everything about it. He was surprised about some facts of male and female bodies.

Optimus buried his helm between her boobs and licks everywhere. They were just so soft and warm that he couldn't keep it. He also read that when female humans gave birth to babies, then they can feed them with milk through breasts. Optimus then took a nipple and started to suck. Y/N moaned while stroking his helm. Optimus then switched and gave other nipple attention. He even bit them softly! When he bit, then Y/N flinched. Her nipples were hard.

Once Optimus was done, he moved his helm lower until he reached Y/N's panties. He actually also used his own denta to pull it down. Y/N blushed but giggled. She even lifted her ass a bit up so that Optimus could pull her panties off with his denta. Once her panties were on the floor, Optimus spread Y/N's legs open and started to eat her out. Y/N moaned loud. She felt his glossa touching sensitive spots. "P-Prime!"

Optimus hummed while his glossa went deeper. He was enjoying the taste and he loved hearing Y/N's moans, squeals, and screams of pleasure. It was like music to his audio receptors. He continued to eat her out while Y/N was moaning and panting.

"I-I'm cumming!" Y/N said while panting.

"Cum for me," Optimus said in a deep voice.

Y/N shivered and moaned loud. She then came and Optimus licked her juices up. Y/N panted while she laid her head on the seat. Who knew that all of this pleasure could make you tired. But Optimus wasn't done yet. He wanted to claim the human girl as his. Only his. He towered above Y/N and looked deep into her eyes. Her cheeks were puffing pink. "You taste delicious, my dear. But are you ready to be claimed by me?" He purred.

Y/N blushed. She wasn't gonna lie. She was slightly nervous, but she wanted to be claimed by the mighty strong Prime. "Claim me, Prime. I want you so bad. Fuck me so hard till I can't walk."

Optimus growled. He was so ready to frag her so hard till she can't walk the next day. He began to push spike, who was free, into Y/N's wet human valve. Y/N felt tears building from the pain. The Prime was just so huge that he was stretching her walls. When Optimus was full, he gave Y/N to adjust. He whispered sweet things into her ear to distract her from the pain.

When Y/N felt that the pain was gone, she wrapped her legs around his and wrapped her arms around his neck. "M-Move."

Optimus then started in and out, causing Y/N to moan. The Prime grunted a bit of pleasure. He could feel that Y/N's walls started to tighten in pleasure.

"F-Faster! H-Harder!" Y/N begged.

Optimus gladly granted her wishes and went faster and harder. He growled in pleasure and hid his faceplate in the crook of her warm neck. Y/N started to moan loud and when Optimus hit her G-spot, she screamed. "R-Right there!"

Optimus then began to slam her G-spot many times that Y/N will for sure not walk the next day. He started to bite Y/N's neck to leave more hickeys. He purred while enjoying hearing Y/N's screams and moans in pleasure. Y/N felt a knot in her stomach. She was coming close. She then screamed Optimus' name in pleasure.

"O-Optimus! I-I'm cumming!"

"Cum for me," Optimus growled while continue to slam into her.

The truck was also moving a bit. You know... when people were having sex inside an alt. And look at that, Optimus and Y/N were having sex inside Optimus' truck. Good that others weren't in the barn or else they'll ve been suspicious and shocked. Y/N was also scratching Optimus' paint since the pleasure was unbelievable.

Y/N screamed and finally came. Her juices were over Optimus' spike and he growled lowly and came to a lot. Y/N's gasped a bit when she felt his warm seed deep inside of her. Even to her womb. Some cum even dripped down. Optimus stayed inside of Y/N for a few minutes before he pulled out. He then laid beside Y/N and pulled her in his arms. The human girl snuggled and fell asleep. Optimus fell into recharge as well.

Finally done. I'm busy with other stories. I'm trying to update more on my one shots books. I'm also surprisingly thinking to make a one shot book of Bowser. King of the Koopas and a dad as well from Mario. He isn't getting attention a lot. Not all villains are that bad then you think.

[cg29]

Because of link issues with this site I’ve decided to paste my WIPS onto here as well as AO3 & FFNet. Starting with the 1st 3 chapters of the fic I’m currently working on, and have also most recently updated.

Reflections

Set after Virgil's crash during the original series episode of 'Terror in New York City.' (Season 1 episode 4) Short reflections from each of the family on nearly losing a brother and son.

Thank you to @janetm74 for the Beta on C3.

Chapter 1: Scott.

Italic/Bold speech is not mine and comes from the original episode.

“The wheels have gone; I can’t hold her… I’m… I’m going to crash!”

Scott’s heart lurched at the pure panic emanating from Virgil’s voice, but there was nothing he could do as he watched Thunderbird Two squeal across the runway with dark heavy flames springing forth. Finally, and thankfully she came to a stop and the pure white foam rained down on her distinguishing the blaze… But his little Brother was still inside… “What’s going on,” he yelled over his communicator, “why is no one getting him out?”

‘T…They’re on their way Scott,’ Brains replied, ‘I’m h…here to a…assist you with l…landing.’

‘I don’t need any damn assistance, get the med bay prepped for my brother!’

‘FAB!’

Okay, a bit harsh maybe, but Virg was in there… He’d attended too many fire related incidents, he knew the consequences if someone wasn’t rescued quickly… God damn it, they had to get him out… Finally, bringing Thunderbird One into the hangar, Scott unbuckled and shot out of his chair. The further procedures he was required to run through could wait… Virgil needed him more.

…

“How is he?” He puffed out, racing over to his father just as his two brothers were bringing Virgil out of his singed bird.

“Unresponsive… Head injury, smoke inhalation, possible broken ribs,” Gordon reeled off.

“Let’s get him to the infirmary,” Jeff said, allowing his two youngest to go ahead with Virgil before looking back to Scott, “are you coming?”

Scott heaved out a breath and nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming!”

…

A few days later…

He stared down at his sleeping brother, it could have been so much worse, and the words from that moment still danced in his mind…

“Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One, come in Virgil... Virgil are you okay? Virgil, pull her up… Can you hear me? Come in Thunderbird Two... Virgil, you’re crashing… Pull her up… Virgil, get a grip on yourself, you’ve got to pull out of that dive!”

If his brother hadn’t dragged himself out of that dive at the last second, he wouldn’t be here… And to be honest, he didn’t know if he would be either. He would have dived Thunderbird One in after her sister ship, and tried everything within his power to pull Virgil out, but it wouldn’t have worked, and both of them would have gone down…

“You did good son.”

“Ha?” Scott mumbled, looking to his father who was standing beside him.

“You did a good job. You talked your brother through a very severe situation, and you got him home. You saved his life Scott, and because of that he will be back to himself before we know it. Now, stop thinking about the alternatives.”

“How did you know?”

“I know you,” Jeff nodded towards Virgil who was shifting in his bed, “looks like he’s waking.”

Virgil groggily forced his eyes open.

“How, are you Virgil?” Jeff questioned.

“Welcome back to the land of the living!” Scott added.

Virgil sat himself up. “What happened to Thunderbird Two?”

‘TYPICAL!’ Scott inwardly chuckled while his father went on to answer. If his brother was already worrying about his bird, then his dad was definitely right… Virgil would get better, and soon they would both be out there together again.

Chapters 2 & 3 featuring John & Gordon below the cut.

Chapter 2: John

“Thunderbird 5. My home away from home. I love being here, the solitude suits me and because of that I’m the one who is up here the most. Don’t get me wrong I adore my family and I enjoy spending time with each of them when I’m on leave but being here amongst the stars that I’ve gazed up at in wonder since I was a small boy makes me feel so peaceful. Four days ago, that tranquillity was shattered, and for the first time ever I am finding myself wishing that someone could replace me, someone could come here and take me home.

You see my first younger brother, the one who holds us altogether with his natural calming and added creative abilities was nearly killed while I was sleeping. I know, I know, me sleeping didn’t cause his crash, but if I had been awake then maybe I could have done something to help him, like hacking the Sentinel and stopping them from firing on his bird. Instead, I was on ordered downtime after two back-to-back missions which had kept me awake for over forty-eight hours. The first required Thunderbird fours assistance, the second was in space with Alan. After I called in the third requiring just Scott and Virgil my dad, believing it was a rescue that wouldn’t require my expertise, ordered me to communicate any vital information I had to my brothers, then relay Thunderbird Five’s communications to Tracy Island so I could spend the next ten to twelve hours asleep. I managed the full twelve and after a shower and food I was ready to return to work. Except, the reply I received when contacting base wasn’t the one that I was expecting.

Ten minutes it took for me to make contact, I can’t begin to explain the thoughts that had rampaged through my mind when no one was responding, Alan finally answered looking slightly pale and very tired. Immediately I demanded to know what was going on, the answer drained me completely. The Sentinel had fired missiles at Virgil, thankfully dad had been able to reach Washington and stop the meaningless attack, but the damage that had already been received was great and my little brother was extremely lucky to make it back to the island. Well, I say lucky… Head injury, smoke inhalation, broken ribs, several cuts, and bruises. Yet, it wasn’t until the following day that he regained consciousness… But he was still alive, and that’s what mattered.

After a long chat with the youngest to make sure he was coping I signed off and instantly logged into our islands security feeds so I could see the crash. Yes, I know it sounds a little morbid, but the reality was probably not as dramatic as what was playing through my mind. Thankfully, although extreme, it wasn’t. However, what seeing that crash didn’t do was alleviate the need that I still have now to see and talk to Virgil.  What it did do was produce another need, one that I could do something about, and that was to make sure that the man who recklessly fired at the kindest person you could ever wish to meet receives some sort of justice. Nothing too malicious of course, we are in the business of saving lives and not taking them, but maybe I’ll put my hacking prowess to use and make sure he gets discharged from his position. Whatever I choose though won’t be pretty but will be fully deserved…

…Oh, one moment, I seem to have a call coming through from home - - - - It’s Virgil… Sorry, but I have to go, he still looks really groggy and probably won’t be able to talk for too long, but I’ve desperately been needing this chat… Catch you guys later, Thunderbird Five out.”

Chapter 3: Gordon.

The ocean before him was calm, the turbulent thoughts raging inside his heart were not. All caused by his current location. The Sentinel… Gordon had arrived two hours before and introductions had immediately been made between himself, the crew, and the Captain. The same Captain who had given the damn order to shoot Thunderbird Two down. Yes, they had presumed that an attack was possibly imminent. Nonetheless, they should have done a comprehensive check before going all gung-ho. Then they would have realised that it wasn’t a strike vessel, it was an International Rescue aircraft, and a person was on board. A person who was loved. Loved by a family who had already been torn apart by the loss of a mother and wife. A family that didn’t deserve to lose anyone else.

They had been reckless, and even though most on board had asked after the wellbeing of his teammate, the Captain, the idiot who had ordered them to fire had not made any queries. He had approached him, introduced himself, and then begun immediately filling him in on their trajectory and any further details he might need. After he had contacted Scott, the Captain had ordered one of his officers to assist, then sheepishly made his excuses and left, guilt plastered all over his face. Five minutes later Gordon was being shown to the sleeping quarters where he could get some shut eye in between any updates he needed to make.

He would probably take some downtime soon. For now, he just wanted to gaze at the ocean. The sea made everything better. Here he could switch his attention from the surface to air missile launchers that had taunted him with their sickening capabilities upon arrival, and instead concentrate on his mission. A mission that would normally be routine. Instead, two men who were trapped and injured had to wait just over twenty-four hours. Two lives might be lost because they shot his big brother down. Gordon gripped the rail and slowly breathed out while focussing on the rhythmic pulse from the ocean waves, and the fact that Virgil, although severely injured and definitely needing some time to recuperate, had survived the atrocious crash.

However, it had come so close to being a different outcome and the gut-wrenching, mind-swirling sickness at the thought of ‘what could have been’ had buried itself deeper and deeper into his heart and refused to release its grasp. Needing to go inside to retrieve Virgil had made those feelings more horrific. Sure, he had saved countless lives from fires, but to have to rescue a brother, a member of his own family, ‘that’ he wasn’t used to. His brother had been crumpled over, a deep cut on his head was bleeding, and his eyes were tightly closed. For a horrible moment, both himself and Alan had stood there before moving forwards. He thought he had lost Virgil, that his big brother was already dead. Thankfully, upon reaching him a pulse was discovered. Virgil was alive. Professionalism immediately kicked in, and he and Alan worked together to get him on a stretcher and out of there as quickly as possible.

Since then, Alan had avoided Virgil. Obviously, the kid was still in shock and processing what had happened. Hopefully, by the time he returned his little brother would have gone to see Virgil, otherwise he would need to drag him in there. Of course, he had done the complete opposite and had not wanted to leave his brother’s side. He needed to ease up though. Virgil knew what his game was and had tried to reassure him several times that he wasn’t going to disappear on him. Yes, he would need to step back a little when he returned, after he had once again checked that his kind-hearted, generous brother was still alive and well.

His ever-forgiving brother, who never held a grudge, had even suggested that they use the Sentinel to save lives. Okay, that made sense, the two men were trapped; their lives were what mattered, not how he felt about the Sentinel. Unfortunately, Gordon wasn’t that big of a person, and boy was he stewing over his feelings right now. A yawn emitted from him, and he looked at his watch. There was still just over two hours to go before he needed to check-in with Scott. Plenty of time for a power nap in the quarters. He certainly needed one. During the past week he’d either been helping out with two, doing his usual maintenance checks or sitting by his brothers’ side and he hadn’t managed a lot of downtime.

Tomorrow would bring a tough rescue and he needed his full alertness to save the two men, especially with the lack of time they would have left. There was also Virgil’s ‘big brother’ voice inside his head yelling at him to get some down time. He breathed in the fresh air, allowing the knowledge that he would continue hearing his brother’s nagging to engulf him. A smile formed. That’s what mattered, not his infuriation towards the Captain, or his current location. Virgil was alive. Thunderbird Two would be restored to her former glory. His eyes switched from the azure sea to the vastness overhead. Then, one day soon she would be soaring with her pilot, his best big brother, through those illustrious oceanic blue skies.

chapter 4 Here...

[wiypt-writes]

Riding On

Ch 14- Compromise

Summary: Frank is besides himself due to their argument, and Fliss isn’t faring much better…

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s…)

Pairing: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 13

Me and you, what's going on? All we seem to know is how to show the feelings that are wrong. So don't go away, say what you say, but say that you'll stay, forever and a day in the time of my life 'Cause I need more time, yes, I need more time, just to make things right.

As soon as he had left the room, Frank was overcome with guilt at what he had said. He had never spoken to Fliss like that before but his temper had just snapped. He hesitated at the first step of the staircase, debating going back to apologise but as he did so he heard Alex's cries die down to a sniffle so he left well alone. She'd calmed him and the last thing he wanted to do was go back in there and upset everyone again.

Instead, he made his way upstairs and climbed back into bed, waiting for her to come back up, only she never did. He lay awake for another hour or so before his eyes could no longer stay open, but a mere 2 hours after finally succumbing to sleep, Frank was woken by his alarm and Fliss’ side of the bed was still empty.

He found her stretched out on the sofa, the throw blanket pulled over her body. Another pang of guilt washed over him as he walked over, brushing the hair off her face to see her eyes rimmed with red. Shaking his head at himself he swallowed and dropped a kiss to her forehead before he checked on Alex who was fast asleep in his pack and play. Then, as quietly as he could, he put on a pot of coffee and went to wake Mary for school, that horrible sick, anxious feeling gnawing at his insides.

By the time they both made their way back downstairs, dressed and ready for the day, Fliss had woken and was feeding Alex. She looked up and her eyes locked onto Frank's before she turned to Mary and gave a tired smile, wishing her good morning.

"Liss, do you want any breakfast?" Frank knew his first words to her since the argument should have been an apology but with Mary in the room he was trying to keep everything calm.

“No thanks." She replied, perfectly politely "I'll get something later. Once he's fed I'm going to go upstairs and try and get some sleep."

"Okay." He nodded, turning to Mary. “What about you short stack? Cereal, toast..."

"Do we have any waffles?"

"Errrr..." Frank turned to the cupboard, not sure whether they did or not but then Fliss spoke.

"Yeah they're in the bread tin." She informed "I got you some more the other day."

"You're the best Lissy." Mary grinned, settling on the chair round the breakfast bar.

Fliss gave a soft chuckle and looked down at Alex who seemed to have stopped feeding. Frank watched as she rearranged her sleep top to wind him her eyes still not meeting his.

"Can Rosie come stay this Saturday?" Mary asked and Frank's eyes turned to her.

"As in sleep over?"

Mary nodded. Frank turned to Fliss who looked at him and shrugged.

"It's fine by me." She said.

Mary grinned and then she paused. “Oh, we said we would check Monty this morning to make sure he wasn't stiff after yesterday."

"Already done." Fliss assured her. "Jo fed this morning and sent me a message. She turned him out to pasture for the day and his legs are fine. I suggest you let him have today and tomorrow off so he can rest then maybe me and you can take him and Heidi down to the trail ride on Wednesday after school."

Mary beamed. “That sounds great."

They finished breakfast. It remained quiet between Frank and Fliss but civil. However, when he left for work be bent down as normal to peck her goodbye and she turned her head so he caught her cheek. All things considered he couldn't blame her, so he didn't make a fuss about it. Instead he picked up his keys, walked Mary down to the bus for school and then headed to work.

**** Fliss didn't go back to bed. She couldn't. Instead she dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, and went over to the yard for an hour or so to chat to Joanne and look at the lessons scheduled for that week.

"Has the Friday afternoon class been cancelled?" Fliss frowned.

"Just for this week." Jo, who was enjoying cuddles with Alex, looked at her nodding. "I’m off this weekend for my sister's wedding and Olivia can't cover the teaching. The Yard is covered though, we got the yard hands and..."

"Hey, Jo, it’s okay. I trust you." Fliss smiled. "And I'd completely forgotten about the wedding. Are you excited?"

Joanne smiled. "Yeah. It’s going to be awesome. She has a fantastic live band playing and it’s been months since I went back to Atlanta."

Fliss smiled "Why don't you take a few more days? You deserve it. You've worked so hard the last 6 months and you should take the time to spend with your family."

"Oh no, I can't..."

"Yes you can." Fliss cut off her protests and looked at her "Between me, Olivia and the stable hands we can cope. You're already off until Wednesday. Just take a week."

"That...that would be amazing." Jo smiled "thank you so much."

Fliss shrugged, "its fine..."

At that Alex gave a little murmur which Fliss knew all too well was a threat he was going to cry so she gestured for Joanne to hand him back. He pressed his face into her neck, his tiny nose brushing against her skin and she gave a soft smile, kissing his head.

"He's adorable." Joanne smiled and Fliss beamed at her.

"Yeah..." she tipped her head to look at him. “Yeah he is."

She studied her baby’s profile for a moment, noticing not for the first time,  just how like his father he was, before she shook herself back to the here and now. "I'll take Friday's afternoon lessons. Call everyone who was booked on and offer them back a place."

"Are you sure?' Joanne frowned "I mean..."

"It’s an hour." Fliss shrugged. “My mum will watch him or he can nap in the office. It’s cool enough with the AC unit on, and the baby monitor is wired to my phone.”

"Ok, you're the boss" Joanne nodded.

"At least you recognise that." Fliss mumbled.

"Huh?" Joanne frowned and Fliss shook her head

"Nothing, ignore me." She sighed "Okay, I'm gonna take Thor for a quick walk down the pasture path and head home. I'll be over later to ride Cap. I'll feed so you can take an early finish"

Jo smiled "That would be great, I'll make sure it’s all ready."

Fliss smiled before she placed Alex in the stroller and she pushed him over the yard towards the path that led down to the various fields the horses were in. She walked, Thor running ahead slightly, sniffing at any interesting smells he found, the wheels of the stroller gently bounced on the bumpy dirt track. Fliss smiled as her old faithful mare gave a loud whinny and came trotting to her field gate to say hello.

"Hey Hides." Fliss reached out to stroke her nose "How you doing?"

She watched as Heidi bent her neck to take a look at the tiny person in the stroller before Alex gave a wiggle and the horse jumped back slightly, giving a snort. Fliss chuckled. “You daft sod." She reached out and gave her neck a scratch before the sound of her phone ringing made her reach for it. "Hi Bonnie."

"Oh my God Fliss, I nearly called you last night but it was late when we got back and..." her best friend instantly rambled on and Fliss grinned as she had a feeling she knew what she was going to say "...but Simon asked me to marry him this weekend and I said yes!"

"Bonnie that’s amazing!" Fliss beamed as she held the phone to her ear "I’m so happy for you and I need all the details!"

"It’s such a long story but we went for a meal in this gorgeous restaurant on Times Square and afterwards as we were walking back through central park he got down on one knee and…” Bonnie gave a sigh “He made me cry.” Fliss gave a little chuckle “Oh babes, that’s fantastic!”

“We’ve not told the rest of the gang yet, Simon thought we could all go out on Friday and do it properly if you’re up for it?”

Fliss hesitated. She had been about to accept, but with the way things were between her and Frank, she wasn’t sure what was going to be happening that evening, let alone the weekend.

"Fliss?" Bonnie's voice hit her ear "you still there?"

"Yeah sorry...was just...it doesn't matter. Friday sounds great."

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked.

"Nothing to worry about. Just had an argument with Frank but we'll sort it out, we always do."

"What about?"

"Me going back to work." Fliss shook her head. “But honestly, don't worry. I certainly don't wanna drag your good mood down or eat up your break."

“You're not." Bonnie assured her "I got 10 minutes. Lord knows you put up with my complaints often enough."

Fliss took a deep breath and explained to Bonnie inlarge handfuls so as not to swamp her with details and when she reached the bit about Frank calling her a bitch Bonnie took a sharp inhale of breath.

"Oh Fliss..." she sighed "Sounds like you both said a few things you didn't mean."

"I know." Fliss said quietly, feeling the tears sting her eyes "I just don't see why he can't see it from my point of view."

"Can you see it from his?" Bonnie challenged.

“You mean understand why he wants me to be a stay at home mom?"

"That's not what I got from that." Bonnie placated her softly "Not at all. He just wants you to take some time. Having a baby is a huge thing, Liss. It takes time to adjust. I think Frank is worried if you rush you'll burn out."

Fliss stayed silent, Bonnie's words slowly sinking in.

"I get your point of view, you want to get back to normal but...well, I kinda see his too." Bonnie said gently, and then a bell sounded on the other end of the phone. "I gotta go Fliss but...just talk to him, and listen. I mean really listen. If you need me later give me a call."

“Thanks Bon...oh and congratulations again. I'm so happy for you." Fliss changed to subject, focusing on the reason her best friend had called in the first place. “Oh, and send me a photo of your diamond! I wanna see it!"

***** Frank tapped at the keyboard, scanning the list of jobs, his mind whirring. He needed something physical to do today, to keep his mind off thinking about what an asshole he’d been last night and early this morning. As he realised all the repair jobs had been allocated, he gave a low growl of frustration.

“You alright, Frank?”

His head jerked up from the screen and he looked at Alan who was leaning on the door frame.

“Yeah, I just fancied doing a repair or something today but they’re all booked out.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You bored of management already?” Alan teased and Frank gave a shake of his head.

“No, just…well to be honest I could do with the distraction.” He said, dragging his hand over his face.

“From the look of you, you could do with a good sleep too.” Alan mused, stepping into the office.

“You’re not wrong.” Frank mumbled. “That little pup of yours keeping you awake?”

“Something like that.” Frank looked at the screen before he looked up at Alan “What are you doing here anyway? Thought you and the Mrs were off to Toronto?”

“We fly tomorrow.” Alan looked at Frank, cocking his head to one side. “Frank, are you sure you’re okay buddy?”

Frank leaned back in his chair letting out a heavy breath. “Had an argument with Fliss last night, I didn’t sleep well. Breakfast this morning wasn’t particularly friendly.”

“Ah.” Alan said, closing the door behind him as he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of Frank’s desk. “A bad argument or…”

“Bad enough for me to end up calling her a bitch.” Frank shook his head, looking down at the desk. “Which I’m not proud of, believe me.”

“We all say shit we don’t mean in the heat of the moment.” Alan said wisely “Christ, if I had a dollar for every time me and Annette had hurled abuse at one another, well I’d have six of these damned shops instead of just one.”

Frank gave a small smile, before his face slipped again and he glanced at his boss. “Her ex used to call her names like that, and…”

“Hey, woah.” Alan looked at him, cutting him off. “I’ve heard all about that shit bag from Bill and I can tell you right now Frank, you are not that guy.”

Frank took a deep breath, licking his lips.

“It’s really bothering you isn’t it?” Alan cocked his head to one side and Frank raised his eyebrows.

“It’s not like we’ve argued before, I mean hell, we’ve had some pretty big disagreements in the past, but…” He let out a deep breath. “This just, I dunno. It’s the first time she ever frustrated me enough to make me say such a shitty thing.”

“Well, ” Alan leaned back, “that’s what being in love does to you pal. We lash out at the people we care about most, because they frustrate the fuck out of us and we don’t know how else to deal with it.”

Frank pondered his words for a moment. He loved Fliss beyond what he felt anyone could comprehend and sometimes, like yesterday, when they argued it became a frustration because he didn’t want to argue with her. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that everything would always be hearts and roses, but at the same time he was sappy enough to want it to be. And when it wasn’t, it bugged the fuck out of him because he was so consumed by this utter love for the woman he wanted to share the rest of his life with, he sometimes didn’t know how to react when they fought. He appeased her most of the time, because it was easier, but damned it last night she spiked something inside him with her inability to listen to the point he was trying to make.

Fuck, he had to make this right. He couldn’t spend the rest of the day in some kind of stupid, angry limbo. He looked at Alan and took a deep breath.

“Any chance I can have the afternoon off?” He hopefully asked. “See if I can go and sort this mess out.”

Alan smiled “Hey, you’re the boss now. Do what you want. Book it as leave or make the hours up, whatever.”

“Thanks.” Frank smiled at him. “I appreciate it.”

Alan nodded and stood up. “Oh, before I go, the reason I actually came to see you was that we had an enquiry the other day about a sale. From someone you might know.”

“Oh?” Frank asked, looking at Alan. “Who was it?”

“Jon Gruden.” Alan smiled and Frank felt his mouth drop open.

“No shit!” He grinned before he paused “What the fuck does he want with a boat? I thought he lived in Nevada.”

“Well, apparently when he isn’t coaching the Raiders he’s residing in his second home in Tampa.” Alan shrugged “And he wants a boat. I figured given your love for football you might fancy handling that one yourself.”

“Absolutely.” Frank grinned “Thanks Alan.”

“No problems, he’s gonna call to arrange an appointment. Now get yourself off and sort things with your Mrs.”

Frank nodded “I’ll do my best.”

Alan gave him another smile and left the office, leaving the door open. Frank leaned back once more, before he reached for his phone which was laying on the desk, smiling at the photo he had taken just yesterday afternoon at Mary’s show. Mary was grinning ear to ear as she sat atop of Monty, Fliss stood by her side, Alex in her arms arranged so he too was facing the camera. He’d changed the screensaver over immediately after taking it, he’d loved the damned shot that much.

He scrolled through to his key contacts and flicked the green call button by the side of Fliss’ name. The phone rang out a few times, and for a horrible moment he thought she was going to ignore him, but then the dial tone stopped.

"Hi." Her tone was flat.

"Hey, where are you?" He paused and grimaced. Fuck, it sounded like he was checking up on her and he hastily started to try to explain. "Not that it matters, I was asking because-.." 

"I’m just out walking with Thor and Alex down the fields." She cut him off, her tone maintaining neutral. He supposed he should be thankful she wasn’t ranting at him. 

"Okay. Well I'm coming home." He informed her.

"Why?" her voice was puzzled. 

"Because I can't concentrate, Lissy" He sighed. "I hate being at odds with you. I just... " He swallowed thickly and rubbed his eye, tiredly. "I wanna make it right so, I'm taking the afternoon off and I'm hoping we can talk?"

There was silence on the other end, other than a bark from Thor and then he heard her sniffle a little, her reply quiet. "Yeah. Okay."

"Oh, honey. Don't cry." Frank sighed softly, the lump in his throat growing bigger. “Please, this whole thing is a huge shit misunderstanding.”

"I know, I just..." She took a deep breath. "I'll see you in half an hour or so" And with that she hung up.

Frank tossed the phone back onto his desk, tapping his fingers against the arm of his chair before he stood up, turned off his laptop and retrieved the keys to his truck from the drawer of his desk. He strode out into the shop floor, instructed his Team Leader to call him if there was an emergency, otherwise he was unavailable for the rest of the afternoon. **** Fliss stood looking at the screen on her phone, the photo of Frank, Mary and Alex looking back up at her. She swallowed a little, but before she could think about what Frank had said any more a WhatsApp message came through from Bonnie. It was a picture of her ring. It was a fairly large, brilliant cut diamond solitaire, set into an elaborately twisted white gold band. It was stunning, and exactly Bonnie’s style.

She tapped a message out telling Bonnie it was gorgeous before she shoved the phone in the back pocket of her cut- off jeans and then glanced at her own engagement ring on her left hand, watching as it caught the sunlight, looking even more shiny and sparkly than usual. She adored the design of it. It was delicate, nothing like the hideously large one John had given her. Frank had put a lot of thought into the type of thing she would like, as opposed to simply picking something to show off how much he could afford. It was all about her. As Alex made a small noise from the pram she instinctively reached down with her right hand to softly rub at his chest, an action the baby found soothing. As she did, her new ring, her 'Push Present' as Bonnie and Roberta called it caught her eye. It was an emerald cut sapphire, very similar in size and shape to the stone in her engagement ring, and it was set into a simple plain white gold band. Frank had given it to her at the hospital just before they brought Alex home. "Blue for a boy.” He'd smiled as she'd beamed up at him before kissing him softly and thanking him for being such a thoughtful, soft sap.

But that was her sailor all over. A thoughtful, soft sap that was so distraught at having called her a bitch he was taking the afternoon off work because he couldn't concentrate until he'd made things right.

Fuck, Bonnie was right. She'd gotten Frank's intentions here all wrong. So very wrong.

Yes, he had shocked her. To be honest, she wasn’t sure Frank even had it in him to call her a name like he did, but now she realised that she hadn't made things easy for him. She'd never, ever dared answer John back the way she did Frank as it would result in her getting a beating, and as such, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she struggled with the whole debating side of things. When challenged and unable to articulate her answer in the way she wanted she reverted to silence, in a lot of ways it felt easier and safer. And when pushed she lashed out simply for the reason that sometimes she didn't know what else to do. But the stupid thing was, the fact she felt able to go on the defensive showed just how safe she was with Frank.

Because the worst thing he had ever done, and would ever do was call her a name out of pure frustration.

He shouldn't have called her what he did. That was a given, but in the grand scheme of things, as she knew only too well, there were far worse things he could do. But he never would. Because he loved her and he wasn't that type of man. He'd die before he hurt a single hair on her head, on any of their heads for that matter.

She glanced at Alex, where he lay, his bright blue eyes looking up at her and she wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Shall we head back and make your daddy some lunch, baby boy?"

She gave a sharp whistle and Thor bounded back to her and the three of them made their way home. Alex was fast asleep when they got back, so Fliss kicked off her sneakers at the door and parked the stroller in the cool of the family room, heading towards the kitchen area. She set about making a quick penne arabiata and a salad and had just finished setting two places at the breakfast bar when Frank walked in the door. Immediately his eyes flicked her hers and she gave him a small smile.

“Hi.” He greeted her, softly, before his attention turned to his sleeping son. He gently brushed a finger down his cheek before he looked back at Fliss. There was a moment where the two of them simply stared at each other, before Fliss was the first one to move, walking out of the kitchen area. He met her half way, wrapping his arms around her as she pressed her face into his black polo-collared T-shirt.

“I’m sorry.” Frank stuttered, screwing his face up as he lay his cheek on her hair, breathing in her shampoo “Baby, I’m so fuckin’ sorry;”

“Me too.” She sniffed. “I hate it when we fight Frankie.”

“I know, I don’t like it either.” He pulled back a little to cup her face, wiping her tears with his thumbs. “I was out of order calling you what I did. I’m so disgusted in myself honey, I can’t…”

“Hey.” She reached up to touch his face, her fingers brushing his stubble “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” Frank swallowed thickly “I just…” he trailed off as he shook his head and she smiled up at him.

“Frank, we both said shit we didn’t mean.” She sighed “I called you an asshole, you know, it’s not okay for me to say those things either.”

“I know, but…”

“No buts.” She insisted, standing on her toes to lightly brush her lips against his. “Come on, I made lunch.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” He said softly as she laced her fingers with his and led him to the place at the bar.

“I wanted to.” She shrugged “Call it a peace offering. That and I was fucking starving.”

Frank snorted “Should have known there was an ulterior motive.”

“You wanna eat your food or wear it?” Fliss asked, shooting him a look as he settled down on the stool. Frank chuckled and watched her as she placed the salad dish down on the side before resting the pasta dish on the heat mat that was on the counter. She turned back to the fridge, Frank simply drinking her in as she bent over slightly, the pure domesticity of the scene washing over him as she padded bare foot back towards him, two beers in her hands.

She placed one down and sat next to him, Frank dishing out their food and they silently tucked in, but the silence was a comfortable one in contrast to the dinner they’d shared the night before, and the tense breakfast that morning. Franks left hand gently gave her right knee a soft squeeze and she smiled at him, before she reached for her drink and took a large pull.

“So, we gonna talk about stuff?” She asked, taking the final bite of her lunch before she placed her cutlery down on her empty plate. “I promise I won’t fly off the handle this time.”

Frank took a deep breath and swallowed his last mouthful of food before he licked his lips “Okay.” He nodded. “Lissy, I never said I didn’t want you to work. Yeah, maybe there was a small part of me that loves this.” He said, waving his hand between them. “The idea of just coming home and you being here but I know that’s not what you want, and I’d never, ever dream of making you give up everything you’ve worked for just because of some weird domestic fantasy I have, which for the record, really freaks me the fuck out.”

“What do you mean?” Fliss asked.

“I never in a million years ever dreamed I’d have something like this, someone like you.” He looked at her. “You saw past that utter fuck up I was back then and took me for who I was, Mary too…we made a life together, you gave me the most beautiful gift anyone ever could that’s currently snoring over there in his stroller.”

Fliss looked at him, the tears filling her eyes as he continued.

“I never thought I’d ever get here. A family, a home, and a job that means I can provide for you all.” he swallowed a little, as he shook his head “I’m not explaining this very well.”

“I get it.”  Fliss looked at him, “I do Frank, because I never thought I’d ever have this either.” She reached out and took his hand which was resting on the counter top, squeezing his fingers in hers “It’s so mundane, its normal and it’s such a stupid thing to be grateful for, but every time that door goes and you come home, I feel happiness instead of fear about what mood you’re going to be in and whether or not it means I’m gonna get a kicking.”

Frank bowed his head, shaking it softly as his hand tightened around hers. “Lissy, don’t…”

“It’s true.” She said gently “And last night, earlier this morning when you accused me of likening you to John, I want you to know there’s not a single time, ever, that I’ve done that. Because you’re nothing like him. And me accusing you of trying to control me was a low blow. I know that’s not what you were doing.”

“I just want you to take time, not to rush things.” Frank looked at her. “But if going back to work and expanding is what you really wanna do then…” “No, it’s not.” She shook her head “Well, it is but you’re right. I was over there before with Joanne looking at the diary and it would be too much. I don’t want to miss out on Alex growing up. I mean, God, every morning I wake up and I swear he’s changed in the hours we’ve been asleep.”

Frank chuckled “I know. Before we know it he’ll be walking, talking and answering us back…”

“Don’t.” Fliss groaned as she shook her head smiling “But you were right, so many women would kill to be in my position. So, I thought maybe I could go back first of all, just do maybe one day a week teaching and a couple of evenings where I finish off for Joanne. I can do the rest of the stuff like the publicity and organising, emails that type of stuff from home. And, when he’s a little older then I can work my way back up to more.”

“A compromise.” Frank smiled and Fliss shrugged.

“Yeah, I can be reasonable at times.”

“Sounds good to me.” Frank nodded

“Good, because I’m covering a lesson on Friday.” She smirked and Frank gave a snort, shaking his head. “Just one, for an hour or so. Joanne’s away this week and I don’t want to let the clients down.”

“You don’t need to explain.” Frank shook his head.

“And I want to buy the land.” Fliss finished, looking at him. “Just so it belongs to Sandybrook. We can use it for grazing, maybe even a grass jumping paddock, just until we’re ready to start thinking about expanding.”

“Okay.” Frank nodded “Make the call, put an offer in.”

She leaned over and gave him a quick peck. “Thank you.” She whispered against his mouth before she stood up to clear the breakfast bar down.

“I’ll do that.” He stood up, “You cooked so…”

“It won’t take me long” she shrugged “Honestly I don’t mind.” “Are we gonna have an argument now about who does the dishes?” He teased and she let out a soft laugh.

“No, because they’re going in Dusty.”

“You know, I never met anyone who named a dishwasher before.” Frank shook his head as he moved to grab a tupperware container to place the left over pasta in.

“Well he’s an important part of our life.” Fliss said seriously “I couldn’t cope without him.” 

Frank chuckled as he ladled the pasta into the container, snapping the lid shut before he haphazardly slung it in the fridge. He moved behind Fliss, his arms circling her waist as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Why don’t we go out Friday night? Mary’s going to Roberta’s, I’m sure your mom and dad would watch Alex for us.”

“We can’t…” Fliss said suddenly and Frank gave a groan.

“Why not? Come on we haven’t been out together since before he was born. We can grab dinner, a few drinks. It’ll be fun.”

“There might be something planned.” Fliss tossed the cloth she’d been wiping the place they’d just eaten down with into the sink.

“Oh?” he frowned, and she turned in his arms, looking up at him.

“I got a call from Bonnie before, Simon finally got down on one knee.” “Huh, no kidding!” Frank grinned, before he pouted slightly “The little shit never told me.”

“Yeah well, she said that they were thinking of going out on Friday, all of us and telling everyone then so…”

Frank pondered for a moment before he suddenly had an idea “So, how about we grab an earlier dinner and meet them after.” He reasoned before he raised his eyebrows. “There’s another compromise.”

Fliss chuckled, her hands sliding up his chest, fingers lacing together behind his neck “Yeah, we’re getting kinda good at this.”

“I know something else we’re kinda good at too.” He gave her a cheeky wink and she scoffed, arching an eyebrow.

“You’re a dirt bag.” She mumbled as his head dropped towards hers.

“Oh Dahlin, you love it.” He muttered, his lips pressing to hers. As the kiss deepened, Frank’s hands moved gently round to her back, one splaying at the base of her spine, the other sliding in her hair as their tongues tangled in the familiar yet oh so damned good dance. With a grin he reached down, hooked his hands under her thighs and lifted her easily, setting her on the counter in front of him. She smirked a little against his lips and Frank gave a chuckle, the kiss resuming, her legs hooking round his waist and she pulled him closer, causing him to grunt a little.

“You want something, pretty girl?” He teased, pulling back a little.

Fliss bit her lip, her hands sliding up his arms. “Yeah, can you go to the garage and maybe smear a bit of oil or motor grease onto your arms. Maybe a bit on your cheek?”

“You have an unhealthy obsession with dirt, you know that?” He looked at her and she shook her head.

“No, I have an unhealthy obsession with dirt on you.” She corrected, her arms once more round his neck. “I totally loathe Alex’s nappy changes, for the record.”

Frank snorted “Yeah, they’re not great. Just wait till he starts solids.”

“Yeah, okay stop talking shit Frank and fuck me.”

“Talking shit.” He mused, completely ignoring her request despite the fucking hotwire it had sent to his already half erect cock “I see what you did there.” “Whatever, get on with the other part.”

“Which was?” he teased.

She looked at him, realising instantly he was playing around so she smirked a little and leaned forward, her lips brushing his ear. “Fuck me, Adler.”

“But I’m not covered in dirt.” He titled his head, his lips ghosting hers.

Fliss paused, her eyes flicking around before she grinned a she spotted the dirty pasta dish to the side of her. In flash she wiped her finger round the edge of the dish and smeared the tomato sauce straight across his cheek and down his beard.

“Now you are.” She looked at him, as he stared at her in shock, open mouthed before he gave a scoff.

“You want me to fuck you Cowgirl, you’re gonna have to lick that off my face.”

Her eyes locked onto his, she stuck her finger in her mouth sucking it clean and his eyes darkened a little as she released it with a loud pop and gave a shrug. Her hand tangled in his hair as she pulled his head towards her and gently placed her mouth against his face, sucking and licking at the offending food, making her way down his cheek to his jaw line, where she continued her affections. Frank gave a sigh, tipping his head slightly to give her more access as she skated across his short whiskers to the other side, her kisses trailing back upwards before her mouth caught his again.

“God I fahking love you.” He mumbled, his arms pulling her closer.

“Yeah?” She asked as his hands gripped at her hips.

“Yeah.” He nodded standing in between her legs, his mouth dropping to her neck. She rolled her head back, as he nipped at her pulse-point, before his lips moved to that hollow at the bottom of her throat, his beard scratching her skin as mouth traced a path up her neck, back up to hers and he kissed her hard. His hands moved to pop the button on her jeans before he gently grasped at the waistband and she shifted to allow him to pull them down over her legs, tossing them to one side. His hands slipped up underneath the blue top she was wearing, pulling down the cups of her bra, thumbs gently teased at her nipples, all the time listening to the soft noises and groans she was making as he continued, his nose brushing against hers, smiling softly.

“You like that?” He whispered, knowing full well that she did, but he knew she also liked his soft dirty talk and she gave a sigh and a nod, followed by a little squeak as he shifted her underwear to one side and pushed two fingers insider her.

Her head fell forward onto his shoulder as her hands grasped at his back through his T-shirt, and as he continued to stroke and coax her she bit down on his neck causing him to hiss slightly at the bite of pain.

“Need you.” She purred into his ear. “Please.”

And when she asked like that, he was always powerless to refuse. This woman was his absolute weakness.

He moved his head to kiss her again, and removing his hand from her panties he reached up and pulled them down before he stood up, and she reached for the button and zip on his jeans. Once she’d gotten them open, she pushed them down, over his slim hips as Frank’s hands moved to her back and he gently pulled her forwards, sliding her towards him, letting her feel how ready he was. She reached down and gently gave his hard cock a pump up and down and he let out a groan as he pulled her off the counter slightly, her legs wrapping around his waist, arms round his neck, her lower back resting against the side of the worktop both of them letting out a load moan of satisfaction as he pushed forward, all the way home.

Frank’s head dropped to Fliss’ shoulder, his mouth once more on the pulse point in her neck as he thrust into her, again and again, his hands on her back, keeping her supported slightly

“God you feel so good.” He mumbled, his lips moving back to hers as he set a pace that was torturously slow, and deep, and loving. Thrust after thrust he kept his lips either on hers or centimetres away, watching her intently as her pupils blew as he worked her up, driving into her, as deep as he could go, one hand resting at the back of her spine to keep her back from slamming into the harsh edge of the counter, the other guiding her head so he could kiss her, hard.

Her hands moved, the nails scraping lightly at the nape of his neck, and Frank felt himself falter for a split second at her touch.  

“Fuck, Baby.” He groaned into her mouth as she grinned cheekily, her hands sliding down to his bare ass.

“Harder.” She urged him on, her voice sultry, desperate for him to pick up the pace. So he obliged, giving her what she wanted.

Because he always did.

Fliss held on to his ass for dear life, moaning with her body arching in his hands, his hips hitting hers hard with every thrust and before long she let out a loud groan, her hands tightening on his skin as she cried out as he quickened his pace even more, causing her to gasp his name, a broken mumble of the word before she let out a breathless gasp, her voice catching in her throat as the world began to tip on its axis.

“Come on, come for me Lissy…” He whispered, his breath hot on her ear. And that was it, she dropped over the edge, her head falling back as her hands slid up and grasped tightly on the hem of his shirt as she clenched around him, again and again, groaning and trembling, powerless to stop her body’s reactions. It took him another couple of thrusts before he gave a soft “oh” of pleasure, her name tumbled from his mouth before he bit down on her shoulder softly, reacting his own end. He gave a few erratic thrusts, pumping with short, deep strokes which sent her over another peak, but this was feeble as she collapsed forward, her head laying on his shoulder, utterly spent. They stayed still for a moment, chests heaving as Frank holding Fliss close to him, as they both evened out from their high.

“Love you.” She whispered softly, kissing the tip of his nose causing him to smile, that cheeky smile he saved just for her before his lips met hers again “Good, because I love you too sweetheart, more than you could ever know.”

*****

Once they had tidied themselves up and finished sorting the kitchen out, Alex decided it was time for a feed. They settled on the couch, Fliss nursing their son, Frank's arm round her shoulder, fingers tracing shapes on the top of her arm simply watching Alex feed. When he was done, Frank took him, having missed his morning cuddles with his boy and the three of them sat on the couch, Frank resting his feet on the coffee table, knees pointing to the ceiling so Alex could lay flat against his thighs looking up at his parents. His tiny hands fisted around Frank’s index fingers and he flashed his momma and daddy several huge baby smiles as they talked to him, Fliss capturing the moments on her phone. It wasn't long before his eyes grew heavy and Fliss felt hers doing the same so they set their son down to nap before settling down for one themselves. Fliss shifted so her head was lay in Frank's lap, his hand gently carding through her hair as they both succumbed to the fact neither had slept much the night before. The two of them woke with a jolt an hour and a half later when Mary walked in the door. In the afternoons she was allowed to walk from the school bus stop on the main road because three other kids came the same way and she could peel off from them up the long drive. She looked at the pair of them as they blinked themselves out of sleep and shook her head, telling them both that only old people and babies napped during the day and she wasn’t sure which category they fell into.

Once she had fully come round, Fliss changed into her riding gear ready to head back to the yard and gave a small yell of victory when she managed to fasten the button on her breeches. She walked into the family room and grinned at Frank, pointing out the fact she was back into her pants, even if they were elasticated slightly, and he smirked, giving her ass a stinging slap.

"I prefer you out of them." He quipped, his hands locking at the base of her spine.

Fliss chuckled, her hands curling round his biceps. "And I prefer you dirty but we can’t always have what we want, Sailor."

Frank wrinkled his nose "I already have what I want, Cowgirl" Fliss let out a groan and shook her head as Frank laughed. "I was being serious."

"Course you were, smooth bastard." Fliss rolled her eyes as he shrugged, leaning down to give her a soft kiss.

"You two are gross." Mary mumbled as she walked past them on her way to the fridge to grab a juice box.

“Feel free to leave.” Frank shot at her, “I have the number of a good Children’s Home.”

“Whatever.” She said, her voice airy as she skipped over to the large window seat, hopping up and opening her laptop. 

By the end of the evening Fliss, however, had to concede Mary had a point. Frank had been particularly handsy all night, kissing her or touching her wherever he could. He was affectionate with her anyway, but he seemed to have stepped it up a notch for some reason. 

"What's gotten into you?" Fliss asked him gently when they were getting ready for bed. Frank had just gotten out of the shower and the first thing he'd done upon walking back into their bedroom was pull her in for a searing kiss.

"I just...” He et out a soft sigh, and looked at her a little sheepishly. "If I’m honest, I’m a little concerned you let me off far too easily before so I'm, I dunno, a little thankful I guess."

Fliss cocked her head to one side, her hands sliding up his arms and coming to rest on his shoulders which were speckled with drops of water. "Sailor, it wasn't a case of letting you off easily. I just get that I was wrong too. I was more hurt with what you called me because I know you and I know you meant well so for you to snap like that, I must have pushed you…”

Frank dropped his head giving a heavy sigh. "Sweetheart, that’s not an excuse…”

"Shh." She abruptly cut him off with a finger over his lips. "It’s done, you called me a bitch, I called you an asshole. No one died, no one got struck down by lightning. We move on, okay?"

Frank looked at her, a soft smile on his face. "I love you so faking much" "Well now I know that's true since you gone all Boston on me again." She grinned as his arms circled round her back, pulling her close. His nose gently brushed hers before their lips locked together and with a smirk, Fliss reached down between them and untucked the edge of the towel which was wrapped around his hips, causing it to fall to the floor.

"Whoops." She grinned into the kiss as she gently pivoted shoving Frank gently on the chest. The movement was enough that, coupled with the backs of his knees hitting the bed he fell backwards and sat down as Fliss scrambled over to straddle him.

"Yeah, see, there's only one problem with this scenario." Frank grinned, his hands grasping at the hem of her top as his mouth nipped at her jaw. "You're wearing too many clothes."

"Why don’t you do something about it?" She challenged, her voice a breathy whisper. So he did.

**** Chapter 15

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding On Ch 14: Compromise

Summary: Frank is besides himself due to their argument, and Fliss isn’t faring much better…

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s…)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N:  Yeah, yeah, ok some of you were pretty mad at me at the end of the last chapter so I hope this makes up for it…

Chapter Song: Don’t Go Away by Oasis 

Series Masterlist //  WIYPT Masterlist

Me and you, what's going on? All we seem to know is how to show the feelings that are wrong.

So don't go away, say what you say, but say that you'll stay, forever and a day in the time of my life 'Cause I need more time, yes, I need more time, just to make things right

As soon as he had left the room, Frank was overcome with guilt at what he had said. He had never spoken to her like that before but his temper had just snapped. He hesitated at the first step of the staircase, debating going back to apologise but as he did so he heard Alex's cries die down to a sniffle so he left well alone. She'd calmed him and the last thing he wanted to do was go back in there and upset everyone again.

Instead he decided to head upstairs and wait for her to come back up, only she never did. He lay awake for another hour or so before his eyes could no longer stay open. But a mere 2 hours after finally succumbing to sleep he was woken by his alarm to find Fliss' side of the bed still empty.

He found her stretched out on the sofa, the throw blanket pulled over her body. Another pang of guilt washed over him as he walked over, brushing the hair off her face to see her eyes rimmed with red. Shaking his head at himself he swallowed and dropped a kiss to her forehead before he checked on Alex who was fast asleep. Then, as quietly as he could be put on a pot of coffee and went to wake Mary for school, that horrible sick, anxious feeling gnawing at his insides.

By the time they both made their way back down, dressed and ready for the day, Fliss had woken and was feeding Alex. She looked up and her eyes locked onto Frank's before she turned them to Mary and gave a tired smile, wishing her good morning.

"Liss, do you want any breakfast?" Frank knew his first words to her since the argument should have been an applogy but with Mary in the room he was trying to keep everything calm

“No thanks." She replied, perfectly politely "I'll get something later. Once he's fed I'm going to go upstairs and try and get some sleep."

"Ok." He nodded, turning to Mary "what about you short stack? Cereal, toast..."

"Do we have any waffles?"

"Errrr..." Frank turned to the cupboard, not sure whether they did or not but then Fliss spoke.

"Yeah they're in the bread tin." She informed "I got you some more the other day."

"You're the best Lissy." Mary grinned, settling on the chair round the breakfast bar.

Fliss gave a soft chuckle and looked down at Alex who seemed to have stopped feeding. Frank watched as she rearranged to wind him her eyes still not meeting his.

"Can Rosie come stay this Saturday?" Mary asked and Frank's eyes turned to her.

"As in sleep over?"

Mary nodded. Frank turned to Fliss who looked at him and shrugged. "It's fine by me." She said.

Mary grinned and then she paused "Oh, we said we would check Monty this morning to make sure he wasn't stiff after yesterday."

"Already done." Fliss appeased "Jo fed this morning and sent me a message. She turned him out to pasture for the day and his legs are fine. I suggest you let him have today and tomorrow off so he can rest then maybe me and you can take him and Heidi down to the trail ride on Wednesday after school."

Mary beamed "that sounds great."

They finished breakfast. If was quiet between Frank and Fliss but civil. However, when he left for work be bent down as normal to peck her goodbye and she turned her head so he caught her cheek. All things considered he couldn't blame her so he didn't make a fuss about it. Instead he picked up his keys, walked Mary down to the bus for school and then headed to work.

**** Fliss didn't go back to bed. She couldn't. Instead she dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, and went over to the yard for an hour or so to chat to Joanne and look at the lessons scheduled for that week.

"Has the Friday afternoon class been cancelled?" Fliss frowned.

"Just for this week." Jo, who was enjoying cuddles with Alex, looked at her nodding. "I’m off this weekend for my sister's wedding and Olivia can't cover the teaching. The Yard is covered though, we got the yard hands and..."

"Hey, Jo...it’s OK I trust you." Fliss smiled. "And I'd completely forgotten about the wedding. Are you excited?"

Joanne smiled "Yeah. It’s going to be awesome. She has a fantastic live band playing and it’s been months since I went back to Atlanta."

Fliss smiled "look, why don't you take a few more days. You deserve it. You've worked so hard the last 6 months or so and you should take the time to spend with your family."

"Oh no, I can't..."

"Yes you can." Fliss cut off her protests and looked at her "Between me, Olivia and the stable hands we can cope. You're already off until Wednesday. Just take a week."

"That...that would be amazing." Jo smiled "thank you so much."

Fliss shrugged, "its fine..."

At that Alex gave a little murmur which Fliss knew all too well was a threat he was going to cry so she gestured for Joanne to hand him back. He pressed his face into her neck, his tiny nose brushing against her skin and she gave a soft smile, kissing his head.

"He's adorable." Joanne smiled and Fliss beamed at her.

"Yeah..." she tipped her head to look at him."Yeah he is." She studied her baby’s profile for a moment, noticing just how alike his nose and eye shape was to Frank’s, before she shook herself back to the here and now. "I'll take Friday's afternoon lessons. Call everyone who was booked on and offer them back a place."

"Are you sure?' Joanne frowned "I mean..."

"It’s an hour." Fliss said, shrugging "my mom will watch him or he can nap in the office. It’s cool enough and the baby monitor is wired to my phone..."

"Ok, you're the boss" Joanne nodded.

"At least you recognise that." Fliss mumbled.

"Huh?" Joanne frowned and Fliss shook her head

"Nothing, ignore me." She sighed "ok, I'm gonna take Thor for a quick walk down the pasture path and head home. I'll be over later to ride Cap. I'll feed so you can take an early finish"

Jo smiled "That would be great, I'll make sure it’s all ready."

Fliss smiled before she placed Alex in the stroller and she pushed him over the yard towards the path that led down to the various fields the horses were in. She walked, Thor running ahead slightly, sniffing at any interesting smells he found, and Fliss smiled as her old faithful mare gave a loud whinny and came trotting to her field gate. "Hey Hides." She reached out to stroke her nose "how you doing?"

She watched as Heidi bent her neck to take a look at the curious little item in the stroller before Alex gave a wiggle and the horse jumped back slightly, giving a snort. Fliss chuckled "you daft sod." She reached out and gave her neck a scratch before the sound of her phone ringing made her reach for it.

"Hi Bonnie."

"Oh my God Fliss, I nearly called you last night but it was late when we got back and..." her best friend instantly rambled on and Fliss grinned as she had a feeling she knew what she was going to say "...but Simon asked me to marry him this weekend and I said yes!"

"Bonnie that’s amazing!" Fliss beamed as she held the phone to her ear "I’m so happy for you and I need all the details!"

"It’s such a long story but we went for a meal in this gorgeous restaurant on Times Square and afterwards as we were walking back through central park he got down on one knee and…” Bonnie gave a sigh “He made me cry.”

Fliss gave a little chuckle “Oh babes, that’s fantastic!”

“We’ve not told the rest of the gang yet, Simon thought we could all go out on Friday and do it properly if you’re up for it?”

Fliss hesitated. She had been about to accept, but with the way things were between her and Frank, she wasn’t sure what was going to be happening that evening, let along the weekend.

"Fliss?" Bonnie's voice hit her ear "you still there?" "Yeah sorry...was just...it doesn't matter. Friday sounds great."

"Are you OK?" Bonnie asked.

"Nothing to worry about. Just had an argument with Frank but we'll sort it out, we always do."

"What about?"

"Me going back to work" Fliss shook her head "but honestly, don't worry. I certainly don't wanna drag your good mood down or eat up your break."

“You're not." Bonnie assured her "I got 10 minutes. Lord knows you put up with my complaints often enough."

Fliss took a deep breath and explained to Bonnie inlarge handfuls so as not to swamp her with details and when she reached the bit about Frank calling her a bitch Bonnie took a sharp inhale of breath.

"Oh Fliss..." she sighed "Sounds like you both said a few things you didn't mean."

"I know." Fliss said quietly, feeling the tears sting her eyes "I just don't see why he can't see it from my point of view."

"Can you see it from his?" Bonnie challenged.

"What him wanting me to be a stay at home mom?"

"That's not what I got from that." Bonnie placated her softly "Not at all. He just wants you to take some time. Having a baby is a huge thing, Liss. It takes time to adjust. I think Frank is worried if you rush you'll burn out."

Fliss stayed silent, Bonnie's words slowly sinking in.

"I get your point of view, you want to get back to normal but...well, I kinda see his too." Bonnie said gently, and then a bell sounded on the other end of the phone. "I gotta go Fliss but...just talk to him, and listen. I mean really listen. If you need me later give me a call."

“Thanks Bon...oh and congratulations again. I'm so happy for you." Fliss changed to subject, focusing on the reason her best friend had called in the first place. “Oh, and send me a photo if your diamond! I wanna see it!" ***** Frank tapped at the keyboard, scanning the list of jobs, his mind whirring. He needed something physical to do today, to keep him focussed and his mind off thinking about what an asshole he’d been last night and early this morning. As he realised all the repair jobs had been allocated, he gave a low growl of frustration.

“You alright Frank?”

His head jerked up from the screen and he looked at Alan who was leaning on the door frame.

“Yeah, I just fancied doing a repair or something today but they’re all booked out.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You bored of management already?” Alan teased and Frank gave a shake of his head.

“No, just…well to be honest I could do with the distraction.” He said, dragging his hand over his face.

“From the look of you, you could do with a good sleep too.” Alan mused, stepping into the office.

“You’re not wrong.” Frank mumbled. “That little pup of yours keeping you awake?”

“Something like that.” Frank looked at the screen before he looked up at Alan “What are you doing here anyway? Thought you and the Mrs were off to Toronto?”

“We fly tomorrow.” Alan looked at Frank, cocking his head to one side. “Frank, are you sure you’re ok buddy?”

Frank leaned back in his chair letting out a heavy breath “Had an argument with Fliss last night, I didn’t sleep well. Breakfast this morning wasn’t particularly friendly.”

“Ah.” Alan said, closing the door behind him as he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of Frank’s desk. “A bad argument or…”

“Bad enough for me to end up calling her a bitch.” Frank shook his head, looking down at the desk. “Which I’m not proud of, believe me.”

“We all say shit we don’t mean in the heat of the moment.” Alan said wisely “Christ, if I had a dollar for every time me and Annette had hurled abuse at one another, well I’d have 6 of these damned shops instead of just 1.”

Frank gave a small smile, before his face slipped again and he glanced at his boss. “Her ex used to call her names like that, and…”

“Hey, woah.” Alan looked at him, cutting him off “I’ve heard all about that shit bag from Bill and I can tell you right now Frank, you are not that guy.”

Frank took a deep breath, licking his lips.

“It’s really bothering you isn’t it?” Alan said gently and Frank raised his eyebrows.

“We’ve argued before…” he said, “This just…I dunno. It’s the first time she ever frustrated me enough to make me say such a shitty thing.”

“Well…” Alan leaned back. “That’s what being in love does to you pal. We lash out at the people we care about most, because they frustrate the fuck out of us and we don’t know how else to deal with it.”

Frank pondered his words for a moment. He loved Fliss beyond what he felt anyone could comprehend and sometimes, like yesterday, when they argued it became a frustration because he didn’t want to argue with her. He wasn’t naïve enough to thing that everything would always be hearts and roses, but at the same time he was sappy enough to want it to be. And when it wasn’t, it bugged the fuck out of him because he was so consumed by this utter love for the woman he wanted to share the rest of his life with, he sometimes didn’t know how to react when they fought. He appeased her most of the time, because it was easier, but damned it last night she spiked something inside him with her inability to listen to the point he was trying to make.

Fuck, he had to make this right. He couldn’t spend the rest of the day in some kind of stupid, angry limbo. He looked at Alan and took a deep breath.

“Any chance I can have the afternoon off?” he hopefully asked “See if I can go and sort this mess out.”

Alan smiled “Hey, you’re the boss now. Do what you want. Book it as leave or make the hours up, whatever.”

“Thanks.” Frank smiled at him. “I appreciate it.”

Alan nodded and stood up. “Oh, before I go, the reason I actually came to see you was that we had an enquiry the other day about a sale. From someone you might know.”

“Oh?” Frank asked, looking at Alan. “Who was it?”

“Jon Gruden.” Alan smiled and Frank felt his mouth drop open.

“No shit!” he grinned before he paused “What the fuck does he want with a boat? I thought he lived in Nevada.”

“Well, apparently when he isn’t coaching the Raiders he’s residing in his second home in Tampa.” Alan shrugged “And he wants a boat. I figured given your love for football you might fancy handling that one yourself.”

“Absolutely.” Frank grinned “Thanks Alan.”

“No problems, he’s gonna call to arrange an appointment. Now get yourself off and sort things with your Mrs.”

Frank nodded “I’ll do my best.”

Alan gave him another smile and left the office, leaving the door open. Frank leaned back once more, before he reached for his phone which was laying on the desk, smiling at the photo he had taken just yesterday afternoon at Mary’s show. Mary was grinning ear to ear as she sat atop of Monty, Fliss stood by her side, Alex in her arms arranged so he too was facing the camera. He’d changed the screensaver over immediately after taking it, he’d loved the damned shot that much.

He scrolled through to his key contacts and flicked the green call button by the side of Fliss’ name. The phone rang out a few times, and for a horrible moment he thought she was going to ignore him, but then the dial tone stopped.

"Hi." Her tone was flat.

"Hey... erm, are you home?" He paused and grimaced. Fuck, it sounded like he was checking up on her and he hastily started to try to explain. "Not that it matters, I just..."

"No, I mean yeah...sorta...was just out walking with Thor and Alex down the fields." She cut him off, her tone maintaining neutral. He supposed he should be thankful she wasn’t ranting at him. 

"Ok. Well I'm coming home." he informed her

"Why?" her voice was puzzled. 

"Because I can't concentrate Lissy" He sighed. "I hate being at odds with you. I just... " he swallowed thickly and rubbed his eye, tiredly "I wanna make it right so, I'm taking the afternoon off and I'm hoping we can talk?"

There was silence on the other end, other than a bark from Thor and then he heard her sniffle a little, her reply quiet. "Yeah. OK"

"Baby don't cry." He said softly, the lump in his throat growing bigger. “Please…”

"Sorry I just..." she took a deep breath "I'll see you in half an hour or so"

And with that she hung up.

Frank tossed the phone back onto his desk, tapping his fingers against the arm of his chair before he stood up, turned off his laptop and retrieved the keys to his truck from the drawer of his desk. He strode out into the shop floor, instructed his Team Leader to call him if there was an emergency, otherwise he was unavailable for the rest of the afternoon. **** Fliss stood looking at the screen on her phone, the photo of Frank, Mary and Alex looking back up at her. She swallowed a little, but before she could think about what Frank had said any more a WhatsApp message came through from Bonnie. It was a picture of her ring. It was a fairly large, brilliant cut diamond solitaire, set into an elaborately twisted white gold band. It was stunning, and exactly Bonnie’s style.

She tapped a message out telling Bonnie it was gorgeous before she shoved the phone in the back pocket of her cut- off jeans and then glanced at her own engagement ring on her left hand, watching as it caught the sunlight, looking even more shiny and sparkly than usual. She adored the design of it. It was delicate, nothing like the hideously large one John had given her. Frank had put a lot of thought into the type of thing she would like, as opposed to simply picking something to show off how much he could afford. It was all about her. As Alex made a small noise from the pram she instinctively reached down with her right hand to softly rub at his chest, an action the baby found soothing. As she did, her new ring, her 'Push Present' as Bonnie and Roberta called it caught her eye. It was an emerald cut sapphire, very similar in size and shape to the stone in her engagement ring, and it was set into a simple plain white gold band. Frank had given it to her at the hospital just before they brought Alex home. "Blue for a boy" he'd smiled as she'd beamed up at him before kissing him softly and thanking him for being such a thoughtful, soft sap.

And that was her sailor all over. A thoughtful, soft sap that was so distraught at having called her a bitch he was taking the afternoon off work because he couldn't concentrate until he'd made things right.

Fuck, Bonnie was right. She'd gotten Frank's intentions here all wrong. So very wrong.

Yes, he had shocked her. Fliss has never thought Frank had it in him to be so downright vile enough to call her a name like he did, but now she realised that she hadn't made things easy for him. She'd never, ever dared answer John back the way she did Frank as it would result in her getting a beating, and as such, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she struggled with the whole debating side of things. When challenged and unable to articulate her answer in the way she wanted she reverted to silence, in a lot of ways it felt easier. And when pushed she lashed out simply for the reason that sometimes she didn't know what else to do. But the stupid thing was, the fact she felt able to go on the defensive showed just how safe she was with Frank.

Because the worst thing he had ever done, and would ever do was call her a name out of pure frustration.

He shouldn't have done it. That was a given but in the grand scheme of things, as she knew only too well, there were far worse things he could do. But he never would. Because he loved her and he wasn't that type of man. He'd die before he hurt a single hair on her head, on any of their heads for that matter. She glanced at Alex, where he lay, his bright blue eyes looking up at her and she wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Shall we head back and make your daddy some lunch baby boy?"

She gave a sharp whistle and Thor bounded back to her and the three of them made their way home. Alex was fast asleep when they got home, so Fliss kicked off her sneakers at the door and parked the stroller in the cool of the family room, heading towards the kitchen area. She set about making a quick penne arabiata and a salad. She’d just finished setting two places at the breakfast bar when Frank walked in the door. Immediately his eyes flicked her hers and she gave him a small smile.

“Hi.” He said softly, before his attention turned to his sleeping son. He gently brushed a finger down his cheek before he looked back at Fliss. There was a moment where the two of them simply stared at each other, before Fliss was the first one to move, walking out of the kitchen area. He met her half way, wrapping his arms around her as she pressed her face into his black polo-collared T-shirt.

“I’m sorry.” Frank stuttered, screwing his face up as he lay his cheek on her hair, breathing in her shampoo “Baby, I’m so fuckin’ sorry…”

“Me too.” She sniffed “I hate it when we fight Frankie.”

“I know, I do too.” He said, pulling back a little to cup her face. He wiped her tears with his thumbs, blinking back his own. “I was out of order calling you what I did. I’m so disgusted in myself honey, I can’t…”

“Hey…” She reached up to touch his face, her fingers brushing his stubble “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” He said, swallowing thickly “I just…” he trailed off as he shook his head and she smiled up at him.

“Frank, we both said shit we didn’t mean.” She sighed “I called you an asshole, you know, it’s not ok for me to say those things either.”

“I know, but…”

“No buts, ok?” she said, standing on her toes to lightly brush her lips against his. “Come on, I made lunch.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” He said softly as she laced her fingers with his and led him to the place at the bar.

“I wanted to.” She shrugged “Call it a peace offering…that and I was fucking starving so.”

Frank snorted “Should have known there was an ulterior motive.”

“You wanna eat your food or wear it?” Fliss asked, shooting him a look as he settled down on the stool. Frank chuckled and watched her as she placed the salad dish down on the side before resting the pasta dish on the heat mat that was on the counter. She turned back to the fridge, Frank simply drinking her in as she bent over slightly, the pure domesticity of the scene washing over him as she padded bare foot back towards him, two beers in her hands.

She placed one down and sat next to him, Frank dishing out their food and they silently tucked in, but the silence was a comfortable one in contrast to the dinner they’d shared the night before, and the tense breakfast that morning. Franks left hand gently gave her right knee a soft squeeze and she smiled at him, before she reached for her drink and took a large pull.

“So, we gonna talk about stuff?” she asked, taking the final bite of her lunch before she placed her cutlery down on her empty plate. “I promise I won’t fly off the handle this time.”

Frank took a deep breath and swallowed his last mouthful of food before he licked his lips “OK.” He nodded. “Baby, I never said I didn’t want you to work. Yeah, maybe there was a small part of me that loves this.” He said, waving his hand between them “The idea of just coming home and you being here but I know that’s not what you want, and I’d never, ever dream of making you give up everything you’ve worked for just because of some…weird domestic fantasy I have, which for the record, really freaks me the fuck out.” “What do you mean?” Fliss asked.

“I never in a million years ever dreamed I’d have something like this, someone like you.” He looked at her. “You saw past that utter fuck up I was back then and took me for who I was, Mary too…we made a life together, you gave me the most beautiful gift anyone ever could that’s currently snoring over there in his stroller.”

Fliss looked at him, the tears filling her eyes as he continued.

“I never thought I’d ever get here. A family, a home, and a job that means I can provide for you all.” he swallowed a little, as he shook his head “…I’m not explaining this very well.”

“I get it.”  Fliss looked at him, “I do Frank, because I never thought I’d ever have this either.” She reached out and took his hand which was resting on the counter top, squeezing his fingers in hers “It’s so mundane, its normal and it’s such a stupid thing to be grateful for, but every time that door goes and you come home, I feel happiness instead of fear about what mood you’re going to be in and whether or not it means I’m gonna get a kicking.”

Frank bowed his head, shaking it softly as his hand tightened around hers. “Lissy, don’t…”

“It’s true.” She said gently “And last night, earlier this morning when you accused me of likening you to John…there’s not a single time, ever, that I’ve done that. Because you’re nothing like him. And me accusing you of trying to control me was a low blow. I know that’s not what you were doing.”

“I just want you to take time, not to rush things.” He said gently. “But if going back to work and expanding is what you really wanna do then…”

“No, it’s not.” She shook her head “Well, it is but you’re right. I was over there before with Joanne looking at the diary and it would be too much. I don’t want to miss out on him growing up. I mean, God, I go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning and I swear he’s changed in the hours we’ve been asleep.”

Frank chuckled “I know. Before we know it he’ll be walking, talking and answering me back…”

“Don’t.” Fliss groaned as she shook her head smiling “But you were right, so many women would kill to be in my position. So, I thought maybe I could go back first of all, just do maybe one day a week teaching and a couple of evenings where I finish off for Joanne. I can do the rest of the stuff like the publicity and organising, emails that type of stuff from home. And, when he’s a little older then I can work my way back up to more.”

“A compromise.” Frank smiled and Fliss shrugged.

“Yeah, I can be reasonable at times.”

“Sounds good to me.” Frank nodded

“Good, because I’m covering a lesson on Friday.” She smirked and Frank gave a snort, shaking his head. “Just one, for an hour or so. Joanne’s away this week and I don’t want to let the clients down.”

“You don’t need to explain…”

“And I want to buy the land.” She said, looking at him. “Just so it belongs to Sandybrook. We can use it for grazing, maybe even a grass jumping paddock, just until we’re ready to start thinking about expanding.”

“Ok.” Frank nodded “Make the call, put an offer in.”

She leaned over and gave him a quick peck. “Thank you.” she whispered against his mouth before she stood up to clear the breakfast bar down.

“I’ll do that.” He stood up, “You cooked so…”

“It won’t take me long” she shrugged “Honestly I don’t mind.”

“Are we gonna have an argument now about who does the dishes?” he teased and she let out a soft laugh.

“No, because they’re going in Dusty.” “You know, I never met anyone who named a dishwasher before.” Frank teased as he moved to grab a tupperware container to place the left over pasta in.

“Well he’s an important part of our life.” Fliss said seriously “I couldn’t cope without him.” 

Frank chuckled as he ladled the pasta into the container, snapping the lid shut before he haphazardly slung it in the fridge. He moved behind Fliss, his arms circling her waist as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Why don’t we go out Friday night? Mary’s going to Roberta’s, I’m sure your mom and dad would watch Alex for us.”

“We can’t…” Fliss said suddenly and Frank gave a groan.

“Why not? Come one we haven’t been out together since before he was born. We can grab dinner, a few drinks…”

“No, I mean….there might be something planned.” Fliss said, tossing the cloth she’d been wiping the place they’d just eaten down with into the sink.

“Oh?” he asked, and she turned in his arms, looking up at him.

“I got a call from Bonnie before, Simon finally got down on one knee.” “Huh, no kidding!” Frank grinned, before he pouted slightly “The little shit never told me.”

“Yeah well, she said that they were thinking of going out on Friday, all of us and telling everyone then so…”

“OK, well, we can grab an earlier dinner and meet them after.” He reasoned “Hey, there’s another compromise.”

Fliss chuckled, her hands sliding up his chest, fingers lacing together behind his neck “Yeah, we’re getting kinda good at this.”

“I know something else we’re kinda good at too…” he grinned and she scoffed, arching an eyebrow.

“You’re a dirt bag.” She mumbled as his head dropped towards hers.

“You love it.” He muttered, his lips pressing to hers. As the kiss deepened, Frank’s hands moved gently round to her back, one splaying at the base of her spine, the other sliding in her hair as their tongues tangled in the familiar yet oh so damned good dance. With a grin he reached down, hooked his hands under her thighs and lifted her easily, setting her on the counter in front of him. She smirked a little against his lips and he gave a chuckle, the kiss resuming, her legs hooking round his waist and she pulled him closer, causing him to grunt a little.

“You want something pretty girl?” he teased, pulling back a little.

Fliss bit her lip, her hands sliding up his arms. “Yeah, can you go to the garage and maybe smear a bit of oil or motor grease onto your arms…maybe a bit on your cheek?”

“You have an unhealthy obsession with dirt, you know that?” he looked at her and she shook her head.

“No, I have an unhealthy obsession with dirt on you…” she corrected, her arms once more round his neck. “I totally loathe Alex’s nappy changes, for the record.”

Frank snorted “Yeah, they’re not great. Just wait till he starts solids.”

“Yeah, ok, stop talking shit Frank and fuck me.”

“Talking shit…” he said, completely ignoring her request despite the fucking hotwire it had sent to his already half erect cock “I see what you did there.”

“Whatever, get on with the other part.”

“Which was?” he teased.

She looked at him, realising instantly he was playing around so she smirked a little and leaned forward, her lips brushing his ear. “Fuck me, Adler.”

“But I’m not covered in dirt…” he said, turning his head to look at her, his lips ghosting hers.

Fliss paused, her eyes flicking around before she grinned a she spotted the dirty pasta dish to the side of her. In flash she wiped her finger round the edge of the dish and smeared the tomato sauce straight across his cheek and down his beard.

“Now you are.” She looked at him, as he stared at her in shock, open mouthed before he gave a scoff.

“You want me to fuck you Cowgirl, you’re gonna have to lick that off my face.”

Her eyes locked onto his, she stuck her finger in her mouth sucking it clean and his eyes darkened a little as she released it with a loud pop and gave a shrug.

“Ok.” She smirked, her hand tangling in his hair as she pulled his head towards her. She gently placed her mouth against his face, sucking and licking at the offending food, making her way down his cheek to his jaw line, where she continued her affections. Frank gave a sigh, tipping his head slightly to give her more access as she skated across his short whiskers to the other side, her kisses trailing back upwards before her mouth caught his again.

“God I fucking love you…” he mumbled, his arms pulling her closer.

“Yeah?” she asked as his hands gripped at her hips.

“Yeah…” he said, standing in between her legs, his mouth dropping to her neck. She rolled her head back, as he nipped at her pulse-point, before his lips moved to that hollow at the bottom of her throat, his beard scratching her skin as his lips slid back up to hers and he kissed her hard. His hands moved to pop the button on her jeans before he gently grasped at the waistband and she shifted to allow him to pull them down over her legs, tossing them to one side. His hands slipped up underneath the blue top she was wearing, pulling down the cups of her bra. His hands gently teased at her nipples, all the time listening to the soft noises and groans she was making as he continued, his nose brushing against hers, smiling softly.

“You like that?” he whispered, knowing full well that she did, but he knew she liked his soft dirty talk and she gave a sigh and a nod, followed by a little squeak as he shifted her underwear to one side and pushed two fingers insider her.

Her head fell forward onto his shoulder as her hands grasped at his back through his T-shirt, and as he continued to stroke and coax her she bit down on his neck causing him to hiss slightly at the bite of pain.

“Need you…” she purred into his ear “Please.”

And when she asked like that, he was always powerless to refuse. This woman was his absolute weakness.

He moved his head to kiss her again, and removing his hand from her panties he reached up and pulled them down before he stood up, and she reached for the button and zip on his jeans. Once she’d gotten them open, she pushed them down, over his slim hips as Frank’s hands moved to her back and he gently pulled her forwards, sliding her towards him, letting her feel how ready he was. She reached down and gently gave his hard cock a pump up and down and he let out a groan as he pulled her off the counter slightly, her legs wrapping around his waist, arms round his neck, her lower back resting against the side of the worktop both of them letting out a load moan of satisfaction as he pushed forward, all the way home.

Frank’s head dropped to Fliss’ shoulder, his mouth once more on the pulse point in her neck as he thrust again, his hands on her back, keeping her supported slightly

“God you feel so good…” he said, his lips moving back to hers as he set a pace that was torturously slow, and deep, and loving. Thrust after thrust he kept his lips either on hers or centimetres away, watching her intently as her pupils blew as he worked her up, driving into her, as deep as he could go, one hand resting at the back of her spine to keep her back from slamming into the harsh marble edge of the counter, the other guiding her head so he could kiss her, hard.

Her hands moved, the nails scraping lightly at the nape of his neck, and Frank felt himself falter for a split second at her touch.  

“Fuck baby…” he groaned into her mouth as she grinned cheekily, her hands sliding down to his bare ass.

“Harder, please Frankie…” she urged him on, her voice sultry, desperate for him to pick up the pace. So be obliged, giving her what she wanted.

Because he always did.

She held on to his ass for dear life, moaning with her body arching in his hands, the fabric of his jeans chafed delectably against her thighs, his hips hitting hers hard with every thrust and before long she let out a loud groan, her hands tightening on his skin as she cried out as he quickened his pace even more, causing her to gasp his name, a broken mumble of the word “Frankie…” before she let out a breathless gasp, her voice catching in her throat as the world began to tip on its axis.

“Come on, come for me Lissy…” he whispered, his breath hot on her ear. And that was it, she dropped over the edge, her head falling back as her hands slid up and grasped tightly on the hem of his shirt as she clenched around him, again and again, groaning and trembling, powerless to stop her body’s reactions. It took him another couple of thrusts before he gave a soft “oh” of pleasure, her name tumbled from his mouth before he bit down on her shoulder softly, reacting his own end. He gave a few erratic thrusts, pumping with short, deep strokes which sent her over another peak, but this was feeble as she collapsed forward, her head laying on his shoulder, utterly spent. They stayed still for a moment, the only sound in the room was their deep breathing, Frank holding her close to him, as they both evened out from their high.

“Love you…” she said softly, kissing the tip of his nose causing him to smile, that cheeky smile he saved just for her before his lips met hers again

“Good, because I love you too sweetheart, more than you could ever know.”

*****

Once they had tidied themselves up and  finished sorting the kitchen out, Alex decided it was time for a feed. They settled on the couch, Fliss nursing their son, Frank's arm round her shoulder, fingers tracing shapes on the top of her arm. When Alex was done, Frank took him, having missed his morning cuddles with his boy and the three of them sat on the couch, Frank resting his feet on the coffee table, knees pointing to the ceiling so Alex could lay flat against his thighs looking up at his parents. His tiny hands fisted around Frank’s index fingers and he flashed his momma and daddy several huge baby smiles as they talked to him, Fliss capturing the moments on her phone. It wasn't long before his eyes grew heavy and Fliss felt hers doing the same so they set their son down to nap before settling down for the afternoon. Fliss shifted so her head was lay in Frank's lap, his hand gently carding through her hair s they both succumbed to the fact neither had slept much the night before.

The two of them woke with a jolt an hour and a half later when Mary walked in the door. In the afternoons she was allowed to walk from the school bus stop on the main road because 3 other kids came the same way and she could peel off from them up the long drive. She looked at the pair of them as they blinked themselves out of sleep and shook her head, telling them both that only old people and babies napped during the day.

Once she had fully come round, Fliss changed into her riding gear ready to head back to the yard and gave a small yell of victory when she managed to fasten the button on her breeches. She walked into the family room and grinned at Frank, pointing out the fact she was back into her pants, even if they were elasticated slightly, and he smirked, giving her ass a stinging slap.

"I prefer you out of them." He quipped, his hands locking at the base of her spine

Fliss chuckled, her hands curling round his biceps. "And I prefer you dirty but we can’t always have what we want, Sailor."

Frank wrinkled his nose "I already have what I want Cowgirl"

Fliss let out a groan and shook her head as Frank laughed. "I was being serious."

"Course you were, smooth bastard." Fliss rolled her eyes as he shrugged, leaning down to give her a soft kiss.

"You two are gross..." Mary mumbled as she walked past to the fridge to grab a juice box.

“Feel free to leave.” Frank shot at her, “I have the number of a good Children’s Home…”

“Whatever…” she said, her voice airy as she skipped over to the large window seat, hopping up and opening her laptop. 

By the end of the evening Fliss, however, had to concede Mary had a point. Frank had been particularly handsy all night, kissing her or touching her wherever he could.

"What's gotten into you?" She asked him gently when they were getting ready for bed. Frank had just gotten out of the shower and the first thing he'd done upon walking back into their bedroom was pull her in for a searing kiss.

"I just..." he let out a soft sigh, and looked at her a little sheepishly "I’m a little concerned you let me off far too easily before so I'm, I dunno, a little thankful I guess.”

Fliss cocked her head to one side, her hands sliding up his arms and coming to rest on his shoulders which were speckled with drops of water. "Sailor, it wasn't a case of letting you off easily.

I just get that I was wrong too. If I'm honest I was more hurt with what you called me because I know you and I know you meant well so for you to snap like that, I must have pushed you…”

Frank dropped his head giving a heavy sigh. "Sweetheart, that’s not an excuse…” "Shh." She abruptly cut him off with a finger over his lips. "Stop apologising. It’s done, you called me a bitch, I called you an asshole. No one died, no one got struck down by lightning...we move on. Ok?"

Frank looked at her, a soft smile on his face. "I love you so faking much"

"Well now I know that's true since you gone all Boston on me..." she grinned as his arms circled round her back, pulling her close. His nose gently brushed hers before their lips locked together and with a smirk, Fliss reached down between them and untucked the edge of the towel which was wrapped around his hips, causing it to fall to the floor.

"Whoops." She grinned into the kiss as she gently pivoted shoving Frank gently on the chest. The movement was enough that, coupled with the backs of his knees hitting the bed he fell backwards and sat down as Fliss scrambled over to straddle him.

"Yeah, see, there's only one problem with this scenario..." Frank said, his hands grasping at the hem of her top as his mouth nipped at her jaw. "You're wearing too many clothes."

"Why don’t you do something about it?" She said, her voice a breathy whisper. So he did.