#oc daniela reyes

[drabbles-mc]

The Worst Of It

Coco Cruz x OC Daniela Reyes

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & OC Daniela Reyes

For Day 28 of @whumpril's 2023 Challenge: bed ridden / semiconscious

Warnings: 18+, angst, mentions of drugs/detox, language

Word Count: 4.8k

A/N: I've been dyinggggg to write more for the whole Daniela/Coco universe. This is a nice little angsty fic, technically a flashback compared to all fo the other stuff that I've written for them. I just love all of the tension between her and Coco, all of the hurt there. I love all the complications it causes with EZ and Angel. Idk. I just. I have so many feelings about all of them.

If you want to read more Dani Reyes fics, check these out: X X X X

General Mayans Taglist: @buckybarneshairpullingkink @thesandbeneathmytoes @paintballkid711 @queenbeered @kelpies-shed @gemini0410 @mijagif @amorestevens @garbinge @justreblogginfics @rosieposie0624 @choochoo284 @littlekittymeow @artemiseamoon @nessamc @withmyteeth @crowfootwrites @beardburnsupersoldiers @winchestershiresauce @frattsparty @fanfic-n-tabulous @justazzi @proceduralpassion @narcolini @darqchilddaydreamz (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Daniela was just putting the dishes left over from lunch in the sink when she heard the tell-tale rumble of a motorcycle getting louder as it approached her house. The list of people who it might be was getting shorter and shorter by the day, and at this point she would’ve been shocked if someone besides Angel or EZ showed up on her doorstep. Taking a deep breath, she shut off the faucet, knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to get any cleaning done until whoever it was had come and gone, said whatever it was they had to say to her.

She could tell when they’d rolled into her driveway. She held her breath for a moment, praying that the noise wouldn’t wake up her daughter that she’d finally just gotten down for a nap. Ana was no stranger to the sounds of motorcycles, even though she was hardly a toddler. But that didn’t mean that she was always able to sleep through it. When the engine died and it wasn’t followed by the sound of cries coming down the hall or through the baby monitor, Daniela let out a sigh of relief and finally started making her way towards the front door.

Just as she was about to reach for the doorknob, someone knocked on the other side of it. She didn’t hesitate as she undid the locks and pulled the door open. She also didn’t make any effort to hide the exhaustion and annoyance on her face, because no matter who it was, they were just going to have to deal.

Angel’s eyes widened in surprise, not thinking that she was going to materialize so quickly. “Shit, hey, Dani.”

She took a deep breath, leaning against the doorframe, blocking him from entering in the process. “Hey, Angel.” She paused, and when he didn’t have an immediate response, she shrugged and said, “What’s up?”

He cleared his throat, nerves crossing over his features for a moment as he asked, “You got a minute?”

“Depends.”

He sighed, wanting to be annoyed with how short she was being with him, but he knew that if anyone had the right to be carrying that sort of frustration around, it was her. He didn’t want to admit that, wouldn’t out loud, but underneath it all he knew it was the truth.

“Please.”

Sighing, she shook her head but stepped out of the doorway to let him in. “Fine. But I just put Ana down for a nap, so don’t wake her up.”

“Good. That mean you can’t yell at me?”

She shot him a brief glare. “Why would I be yelling at you, Angel?”

He followed her into the kitchen, spotting the baby monitor that was resting on the table, the high chair that still had a few stray pieces of rice on the tray of it. He already regretted showing up, knowing what he was going to ask of her, but there was no going back now. “Gotta ask a favor.”

She couldn’t hide the look on her face—disappointed but not surprised. “You serious, Angel?” She shook her head. “What kind of favor?” She looked at him expectantly, his silence not providing her with any comfort. Her brows knit together, knot forming in her stomach that was battling it out with the burning anger that was building. “What kind of favor, Angel?”

Scratching at the back of his neck, he couldn’t look her in the eyes as he said, “Coco.”

The laugh she barked out was a cruel one, one that made Angel wish that he hadn’t decided to show up. “Are you kidding me right now? You,” she shook her head, raking her hands back through her hair as she leaned back against the counter, “you can’t be serious.”

“I know, I know, but—”

“No,” she cut him off, using all the self-restraint she had to not raise her voice, “you clearly don’t know if you came here to ask me to do anything for him right now.”

“You think I’d be here if I had another choice?”

She scoffed. “Honestly? Yea, I do.”

He should’ve seen that coming. He deserved that one. Taking a deep breath, he tried to figure out the best way to ask her for what he needed, what Coco needed, in a way that would actually get her to say yes. He didn’t know if there really was any way to do that.

“He’s detoxing,” Angel finally spit out.

Daniela stopped, freezing for a moment. It wasn’t what she had been expecting him to say. It was good news, in a way, but she still wasn’t in a place where she was going to be outwardly excited about it. “Good.”

“Yea, but,” he shook his head, “he’s in rough fuckin’ shape, Dani.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure he fucking is. Coming down off all the shit he’s been doing isn’t going to be pretty.”

“He needs help.”

“He needs help?!” she snapped, just barely managing to rein her tone back in. “I’ve been raising my daughter, his daughter, completely by myself. I haven’t gotten a damn thing from him, haven’t gotten a thing from his fucking club, either,” she spat.

Angel flinched at that. It wasn’t really the club she was mad at, but it was easier to just blame all of them in one fell swoop. “Dani—”

“If you can’t be here for me, the least you could do is go and be there for him. There’s only,” tears stung at her eyes, the sadness underneath all of her anger, “there’s only so much I can fucking do.”

Angel frowned, knowing that he should let it lie, take his loss on the chin and move along. He couldn’t, though. Like a dog with a bone he just couldn’t manage to let it go.

“C'mon, Dani—he needs you.”

“What about all the times I needed him? When Ana needed him? What about that?” she shot back, voice growing heavier with each word.

“He’s not ever gonna be able to be there for you or her if he doesn’t fucking make it through this.”

“Don’t fucking put that on me, Angel.” Her voice was low, harsh. “You have no right. You don’t get to make it seem like I’m just a bitch who doesn’t want to help him through this. I did that. I tried, for months, and I got met with resistance at every turn. While all you motherfuckers were running around ignoring it, he was coming home to me and his kid and I was trying to clean up the mess. I,” she shook her head, “I did my time with that. He had his chance to get his help from me and he didn’t take it. And someone’s gotta worry about our daughter, put her first, and it’s clearly not gonna be him.”

“Daniela—”

“And,” she cut him off, “all that aside, there’s nothing that I bring to the table that you guys can’t do yourselves.”

“You’re a nurse.”

“It’s not gonna take a fucking medical professional to keep him alive, Angel. It’s just gonna take someone who can focus and stay awake—I know that’s a lot to ask of most of you.”

Neither of them said anything after that. Neither of them moved, either. Angel was half-expecting Daniela to kick him out of her house, and he honestly wouldn’t have been able to blame her for it. He was waiting for another scathing monolog from her, all the words that she had been keeping to herself and stuffing down deeper and deeper in her chest because she knew if she allowed herself the time to dwell on them, there wouldn’t be time for anything else.

She shook her head. “This isn’t fair. You know that, right? Coming here and putting this on me? That’s fucked up. You, you know I left because I needed to take care of my fucking kid. How can you ask me for this?”

“’Cause you’re family, and so is he.”

She sniffled, letting her chin drop towards her chest as she looked down at the floor. “When does that stop being enough?”

He gnawed at the inside of his lip as he tried to come up with something new to say. But there was nothing that he could tell her that she wouldn’t have an argument for. He was behind the eight ball before he’d even crossed the threshold into her house.

“He needs someone who can take care of him. Just, just till this shit stops looking like it’s gonna kill him.”

She sniffled, trying to blink back her tears as she lifted her head, gaze finding Angel’s eyes all over again. “And in this scenario you have in your head where I go over there and magically nurse him back to health, fix all the broken shit in him, and between us, who is taking care of my daughter? Because there’s no fucking way I’m bringing Ana around that.”

“I’ll watch her,” Angel answered immediately, feeling like even Daniela talking about it hypothetically was a win.

She scoffed, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “You? Really?”

“Don’t fuckin’ say it like that.”

“How should I say it then, hm? You, you haven’t watched Ana by yourself since…pretty much ever.”

He sucked his teeth. “You never let anyone besides Pops ever—”

“EZ’s watched her a bunch of times when I’ve gotten called into work,” she cut him off, knowing exactly what his argument was going to be. “All the shit you guys say about the club being a family, and the only one who’s showed up for me is your goddamn prospect.”

“This shit isn’t on the club,” Angel said with a shake of his head, knowing it was only partially true. Daniela and Ana may not have been the club’s responsibility, but Coco definitely was.

“No, but it is on you. Besides, do you, do you realize that it’s not like this is just going to be a twenty-four-hour thing? Detox, real detox takes days, weeks. You want me to just pack up my life and move into his spot for this?”

“No, no.” Truthfully, he hadn’t thought about the fact that it was probably going to take so long. “I’m not asking you to stay there forever. Just, just a day or two until he gets through the worst of it.”

“It’s all the worst of it, Angel!” she snapped, tears welling back in her eyes.

Angel shrunk back at that. She didn’t have to explain what she meant by that—he already knew. His shoulders sagged, accepting the defeat that had seemed inevitable going into this entire conversation. “Look, I’m just gonna—”

“Two days.”

“What?”

“I’ll give him two days. I’ll keep him alive and get him through this shit because he’s still,” she dragged her hands down her face, “he’s still Ana’s dad. And I don’t want it on my conscience if he—”

“Thank you,” he cut her off, crossing the expanse of her kitchen in two long strides as he pulled her into a hug.

“Don’t thank me yet.”

The next day, Daniela found herself sitting in her car in Coco’s driveway, not feeling at all ready to get out and go inside. It’d been so long since the last time she saw him—she couldn’t even try to fathom how he was going to react to her being there. It crossed her mind in that moment that she had no idea if Angel even told him that she was showing up. The entire situation was a fucking mess. She knew it had to be bad when Angel showed up to her house walking on eggshells just before she left. The man didn’t have a cautious bone in his body, but he managed it with this, as he should’ve.

She looked down at the screen of her phone, looking at the picture of Ana that she had set as her background. She tried to take a deep breath, tried even harder to ignore how shaky it was. The number of times that she’d told Angel to call or text or videochat her if anything happened or if he had any questions was too high to count. Under any other circumstances, he would’ve given her shit for it, but he had no right to now. Underneath it all, there was a part of Daniela that knew Angel would be fine. Ana was still so small, so young. And Angel was better with kids than she was inclined to give him credit for. The entire situation made it tough for her to allow him any kind of praise, though.

After another minute ticked by, she knew that she couldn’t keep putting it off. Cutting the ignition on her car, she grabbed her medical bag, and her bag of clothes, and started to make her way up towards the door.

She let herself in using the key that Angel had given her. She wanted to announce herself on entry, but she couldn’t force the words out. It was the first time she’d been to Coco’s new place, and it was exactly what she had been expecting given how dire the situation apparently was.

She slowly made her way through, trying to get a decent lay of the land. She was just walking through the living room when she heard a shuffling noise coming from another room, followed by Coco’s voice. “Angel, I swear to god,” he sounded like he’d been to hell and back—Daniela knew that he was probably still there, hadn’t made it to the back part yet, “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you if—”

“It’s not Angel,” Daniela managed to force out as she walked towards the sound of his voice, exhausted as it was. She gave the door a light knock before walking in. “But it seems like we both feel the same about him right now.”

Coco’s eyes went wide as she stepped into the room. He coughed, trying to prop himself upright at least a little. “D-Dani?”

She couldn’t even try to force a smile, so she just nodded as she set her medical bag down. “Angel said things were pretty rough.”

Coco shook his head, trying to deny it even though everything about his appearance said otherwise. He looked like he’d been knocking on death’s door for the last few days, eyes bloodshot, a sheen of sweat over his skin and in his hair. His hands were trembling even as he tried to hide them beneath the blanket that he had wrapped around him.

“You don’t gotta stay.”

Daniela laughed but there was no humor in it. “Yea, I do.” Leaning down, she gently pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, lips dipping into a frown as she did. “When was the last time you ate something? Drank some water?”

There was an emotional lilt to his voice as he said, “Dani—”

“Coco,” she cut him off, her voice firm but not quite angry, “Angel said he wanted me here because you needed a nurse or someone with more brainpower than the rest of your club. So that’s what I’m doing—I’m keeping you alive through the next few days of horrendous shit you’re going to be going through. That’s all this is. I’m not,” she shook her head, “I’m not here to talk about us, or Ana, or any of that. It’s not the fucking time, okay?”

“But—”

“Okay?”

He was too exhausted to fight her on it, so he gave a small nod before letting his head rest back against the pillow again. “Alright.”

She nodded. “Good.” Dropping the bag that had her clothes and other items, she made her way back towards the bedroom door. “I’ll get you some water, and try to pull something together for you to eat.”

“I’m sorry,” he said when her hand was on the door, “’bout everything.”

She tilted her head back, looking up at the ceiling as she tried to keep her composure. “I know.”

By the time that she came back, Coco was asleep again.  Daniela took a deep breath as she walked in, setting his water bottle and the soup she’d made off to the side on the nightstand beside his bed. She sat down on the edge of the mattress, careful not to disturb him. She watched him for a couple moments, unable to ignore the tightening sensation in her chest, the sting of her eyes as they filled with tears all over again.

There were too many things to think about when she looked at him. As difficult as his complete absence had been for her, it at least spared her having to look at him and think about every single thing that had ever gone wrong, everything that had ever gone right, and all the things in between. But now here they were, and she was trying her best not to drown underneath it all. It was so much easier when she was staying away from him and staying angry.

Reaching out, she rested her hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. As much as she wanted to let him sleep, she also knew that there was no way that he had been drinking enough water. Catching up on sleep would be easy enough to do over the next couple of days—he wasn’t going to have the energy or the ability to do much else. But there was only so long that he was going to be able to go without drinking water before it made everything worse. Coco, Angel, none of the men in the MC ever took good care of themselves even with things were going right, let alone in situations like this.

“Hey,” she said, her voice having lost the edge it had earlier, “c’mon, Coco. You gotta at least drink some water, okay?”

He grumbled something under his breath as he tried to turn and roll away from her. It would’ve been amusing under any other circumstances.

“Drink this,” she took his hand and put the water bottle in it, “and then you can go back to sleep.”

That’s how it went for the next few hours. Coco faded in and out of sleep, and in his brief moments of lucidity Daniela did her best to feed him and keep him hydrated. She kept wiping the sweat off of his forehead and neck. If he’d had more energy, he would’ve fought her on it, but he just didn’t have it in him. It worked both ways, too—if Daniela hadn’t been so drained by all of it, she would’ve been acting different too.

She’d dragged the chair from the living room into his bedroom, wanting something more comfortable than the flimsy chairs in his kitchen. Plus, all things considered, she didn’t think that he was going to have much of a problem with her moving furniture around for a little bit. Even if he did, Daniela was pretty sure that she’d win almost any fight against him at this point.

She was curled up in the chair, trying to distract herself with the book she’d brought with her, anything to keep her from overthinking her situation with Coco, anything to keep her from compulsively texting Angel to make sure that things were going okay with Ana. It felt like there was so much she was supposed to be doing and yet she couldn’t do any of it. There were only so many times that she could check her phone to see if Angel was going to call before she drove herself insane.

There were so many layers to how out of place she felt. Every time she looked at Coco, watched him as he shuffled back and forth from the bathroom, no energy to make any detours, she felt like she just wanted to melt into the floor beneath her. Everything that they’d been through, and they had somehow managed to end up here. They were finally back in the same room and they couldn’t have felt farther apart.

She listened intently, trying to make out what he was grumbling as he ebbed and flowed from consciousness. Shaking her head, she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands. “What am I gonna do with you, Johnny?”

It was getting later into the evening, and Daniela was fairly certain that Coco was going to be out for most of the night going forward. Grabbing her bag of clothes off the floor, she walked out of Coco’s bedroom to go to the bathroom to change. She was halfway there when she heard the sound of a motorcycle getting closer. There was no way that that was a coincidence.

She checked her phone again, already prepared to curse Angel out for not even being able to last the first twenty-four hours unsupervised with his niece. She was already picturing Angel having dropped Ana off at their father’s house before making his way over to the house. She was on the brink of grinding her teeth in frustration as she walked over to the door. The sadness and exhaustion that had been settled so deeply into her bones just a few minutes before seemed to lessen almost instantly as she geared up for whatever altercation she was about to get into with her brother.

Yanking the door open, bag of clothes still slung over her shoulder, Daniela had already taken a deep breath in, ready to start her tirade aimed at Angel. She nearly stumbled back a step when she found herself face-to-face with EZ instead. It took her a few seconds to get herself right, pick her jaw up off the floor. Once the shock wore off, she felt her nerves start to set in.

“What’s up?”

EZ shrugged, hands gripping the edges of his kutte. “Nothin’.”

“If you need Coco for something,” she said, trying to get a read on her brother’s face and failing, “he’s not gonna be useful for anything for…a while.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“He’s knocked right now but,” she opened the door a little wider, allowing space for him to walk inside, “if you need to talk to him you can wait until he wakes up again.”

EZ stepped inside, watching as Daniela shut and locked the door behind him. He looked around the house, noticing that it was a little more straightened-up than the last time he’d been there. He had no doubt that it was Daniela’s doing.

“I got nothing to say to him,” EZ finally said as he looked back at his sister.

Her brows knit together as she tried to figure out what exactly it was he needed. “Okay? So, what, then?”

He shook his head just enough to be noticeable. “What the fuck are you doing here, Dani?” he asked, an edge to his voice that she could hear him trying to get under control.

She gestured to the bedroom door. “Making sure your friend in there doesn’t aspirate.”

“Yea but why are you the one—”

“Ask your fucking brother,” she snapped.

“I did. That’s the only reason I knew you were here.” He paused, and when he saw the confusion on her face he continued, “I stopped by to check on you and Ana. Hadn’t heard from you in a couple days. When I got there I just saw Angel’s bike outside and knew that that couldn’t mean anything good.”

Daniela let out a sad laugh. “Sad state of things, huh?”

EZ offered a brief, half-hearted smile that went away too quickly. “He ask you to do all this shit?”

She sighed, not wanting to respond but finally giving in with a nod. “Yea.” She heard the deep breath that EZ took, and for as much as she didn’t want to be coming to Angel’s or Coco’s defense at the moment, she couldn’t stop herself as she said, “Angel just didn’t know what to do.”

“He never fucking does,” EZ said, exhaustion heavy in his voice and it wasn’t from a lack of sleep.

“Ezekiel…”

“No, Daniela. He shouldn’t be fuckin’ doing that to you. This shit,” he pointed to Coco’s room, “is not your fucking problem anymore.”

“He’s still my kid’s dad.”

“Yea, but you’re the only one who’s been acting like a parent.”

She sighed. “I know. But once Angel asked me I couldn’t just…leave him…”

“I know.” He tried to tone down his annoyance, his anger, not wanting to take it out on the wrong person. He’d already given Angel enough of an earful. “But go home. I’ll stay here.”

“I can’t ask—”

“You’re not asking. Coco is the club’s problem, not yours. Go home, tell Ana she’s only got one cool tío.”

Daniela managed a weak laugh despite the tears in her eyes. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Positive.” He pulled her into a gentle hug. “I was pre-med, remember? I got this.”

She leaned into him for a moment, thankful that it felt like there was still at least one person in her corner. “Thank you, EZ.” She sniffled, wiping the tears off her cheeks as quickly as she could. “I’m gonna get a fucking earful from Angel when I get home, aren’t I?”

He chuckled, shrugging. “Probably. Tell him to call me about it.”

Her laugh was a tiny bit more genuine. “I’m sure that’ll go over so fucking well.”

EZ nudged her towards the door. “Get outta here, Dani.”

“You’re sure?”

“Stop asking,” he said, flashing her a quick smile for reassurance, “and go home.”

Taking a deep breath, she finally nodded. “Alright. I’ll leave my med bag for you, just in case. Hopefully you won’t need it. And, um,” she pulled the key to Coco’s house out of her pocket and handed it over to him, “house key. I don’t…I don’t want this. Give it to Angel next time you see him.”

EZ nodded as he slipped it into the pocket of his kutte. “Will do.”

She stepped in and hugged him again, tighter this time. “Thank you. And, you know, call me if shit goes down, okay? I’ll come and—”

“I’m not calling you for anything having to do with this,” he cut her off, gently as he could. He kissed the side of her head. “Love you.”

She nodded as she pulled away from him and went towards the door. “Love you too.”

EZ lingered by the door until he heard the sound of her car driving away. Once it was silent again, he made his way towards Coco’s bedroom. He pushed the door open and let himself in, instantly seeing the way that Daniela had gotten herself as comfortable as she really could have in the given scenario.

When he looked over at the bed, EZ saw that Coco was awake, sitting half-upright and staring at him. Even through his exhaustion and sickness, and the myriad of other things he was feeling, it was impossible to miss the fear that was written across Coco’s face. EZ could tell by the look in the man’s eyes that he’d heard the conversation between EZ and Daniela. EZ wasn’t going to be the one to bring that up, though.

Coco tried to clear his throat, only landing himself in a small coughing fit before saying, “What’s up, Boy Scout?”

EZ shrugged, feigning nonchalance over the resentment that was bubbling inside of him. “Stopped by to send Daniela home.”

Coco nodded once. “She good?”

“Yea. She’s got a kid to take care of.”

He flinched at the reply, but he knew better then to dig himself deeper than he already had. “Right.” If he had the energy, he would’ve been much more tense than he was. “Thanks, EZ.”

He shook his head. “Don’t thank me.”

“Nah, I mean—”

“Don’t thank me,” EZ reiterated, “because I’m not doing this for you.” He saw the way Coco shrunk back as he continued, “None of this should’ve been put on her. That’s the only reason I’m here. If it weren’t for her, I’d let you dry out on your own, ship you off to Gracie’s, whatever means you aren’t Daniela’s fucking problem anymore.”

Coco was silent for the longest few seconds of his life before he finally said, “Sorry.”

EZ shook his head as he sat down where Daniela had been only a few minutes before. “I’m not the one who needs an apology.”

There had been a time when EZ would’ve been more positive about all of it. He would’ve given pep talks, done whatever it was that he thought would be the best thing for Coco. He was past all of that now, though. EZ had watched his little sister get put through too much pain to have any sympathy left for the man lying in the bed in front of him. He’d do enough to keep Coco in one piece, help Daniela not lose her entire mind, but that was where it started and ended for him. Whatever friendship, whatever bonds that he and Coco had had before were damaged beyond all recognition now.

Settling back into the chair a little more, EZ said, “Get some rest, man.”

“Yea,” Coco gave a small nod as he laid flat against the mattress again, “right.”

[ravennaortiz]

Came from this request.

Tag list: @hatersaremymotivators

Summary: Coco x OC Daniela( Dani) Reyes. 18+

Both Coco and Dani have been unlucky in life can they find healing and their second chances in each other? Or will outside forces tear them apart?

Word Count: 2.4+K

It was late as Daniela made her way home from the bar a couple blocks away. Her phone had died over an hour ago and she hadn't told anyone she would be going out. This was the shit her brothers were always on her case about and she always brushed them off. Now that she was positive she was being followed she wished she had listened more. Granted it was just her most recent ex and she doubted he would do anything but tendrils of fear still seeped into her movements.

As she turned the corner into an alley she glanced back only to come to a complete stop as she ran into something. More like someone as she felt arms steady her. "You okay?" inquired a tall, good looking, dark haired guy. "Umm, I'm sorry" she managed to get out as she laughed nervously. "Good thing you weren't driving a car or you would have flattened me" joked the man as he watched her glance back the way she came and nervously shift her weight.

Moving to look back to the street he saw a man waiting a few feet away. "That guy bothering you?" he inquired as he turned back to the girl. Daniela simply bit her lower lip wondering if she was trading one problem for another. This guy seemed nice enough but that was how she had always felt until they turned into monsters that her brothers had to handle. Daniela shut her eyes as she felt tears start to form as she simply nodded. "I'll take care of him. Stay here" stated the stranger as he stepped out of the alley.

"Do you have much farther to go?" inquired the stranger a few minutes later when he stepped back into the alley. "No, I live fairly close" Daniela replied. "I can walk with you the rest of the way if you want?" inquired the stranger as he shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets. "I don't want to interrupt your evening" murmured Daniela as she shook her head making the stranger laugh as he looked around at the dark, smelly alleyway they were standing in.

"Nah your good. I shouldn't even be here and I'm taking this as a sign to get going" replied the stranger as he looked her over. She was pretty and seemed sweet but her eyes had an edge to them that called to him. She nodded as she spoke. "Thanks. I know about listening to signs myself" she replied as she moved out of the alley with him alongside her. Not that she usually listened well to them she thought to herself as memories threatened to spill from behind the wall she had built.

"No problem" replied the stranger as they moved down the quite streets. "I'm Johnny by the way. Most people call me Coco though" offered the stranger as they walked. "Daniela but I prefer Dani" offered Dani with a soft smile as she glanced over at him. He was tall and dark haired with eyes that felt like they could see her soul.

The two walked in a comfortable silence until they got to her house. Coco hung back by her gate wanting to make sure she made it inside before he made his way off. As Dani opened the door she turned back to Coco. "Do you want to come in?".

Coco looked at her in shock at the question. "Umm....."running his hand through his hair not sure what to say.

***

3 months later

"Your looking healthy man" stated Gilly as he sat at his kitchen table across from Coco. "Work in progress. I'm doing this not just for me but for Letty and my girl. I need them and this is the only way." Coco replied as he smiled down as he thought of his daughter and Dani. The two of them were the bright spots in his dark life. "Going to meet her family tonight" added Coco with a nervous chuckle.

"That's good. I'm sure her family will love you" nodded Gilly as he grinned. "When do I get to meet this special lady? Would love to put a face to the woman who has my best friend strung out on love instead of drugs" laughed Gilly as Coco grinned. "Hell. I don't even know her name and I'm starting to thinks she's not real" continued Gilly as Coco flipped him off and rolled his eyes.

"She's real. I just don't wanna jinx it" muttered Coco as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through his photos. "Here" he replied sliding his phone across. Gilly took the phone laughing but froze the moment he saw the photo. "She's very pretty" he offered as he looked at the photo of the little sister of two of his brothers in the MC. "What's her name?" he inquired as he pushed the phone back. "Daniela but she goes by Dani" replied Coco oblivious o the war raging in Gillys head.

"I haven't exactly talked to her about the club yet, like she knows about them but I haven't gotten into that mess. Need to talk to Bishop first and even see if I can come back before i get to explaining all that" continued Coco as he looked up at his friend. "All you can do is ask man. I doubt he would decline but you gotta keep working hard" replied Gilly as he shrugged his shoulders.

Coco nodded as he finished his drink. "I think I'm going to head over that way. Wish me luck for tonight" he stated as he stood up and pulled on his jacket. Gilly stood and hugged him tightly. "Good luck. Can't wait to hear how it goes" Gilly replied making Coco laugh. "What are we teenage girls that gossip after a date?" joked Coco with a shake of his head.

***

Dani was nervous as they finally parked in front of her fathers house. The last time she had been here had led to a blow up between her and her oldest brother. While she knew his intentions had been good, his words had still stung like a slap to the face. A sensation she had gotten used to thanks to the guys of her past. Her other brother had tried to referee the situation but it was to little to late. So for the last year she had kept her distance.

"I feel like I've been here before" murmured Coco as he took in Dani's fathers house as the two of them walked up the wooden steps. "Really?" Dani replied turning the knob to the door as she glanced back at Coco whose eyes were wide as he caught sight of her brothers motorcycles. "You okay Johnny?" Dani questioned as she let go of the knob and placed her palm on his cheek bringing his gaze back to her. "Umm yeah. I just... I just didn't know your pops was into motorcycles" Coco stammered slightly. He could feel a cold sweat starting to trickle down his back.

"Oh. Those are my brothers." Dani replied as she bit her lip. "Their good guys..... just protective" she added as she watched him look back at the motorcycles studying them. "Nice, we will have something in common" replied Coco turning to Dani with a smile. Gonna have a lot in common he thought to himself as Dani nodded before opening the door and pulling him in.

"Hi Papi" started Dani as the three men in the living room turned to the door before Angel cut her off. "The fuck are you doing here?" demanded Angel as he lunged out of his chair. "Pops asked" started Dani taken aback by his anger. "I'm not talking to you Daniela" Angel replied cutting her off again as EZ grabbed ahold of him.

"Chill" mumbled EZ as he held Angel in place as he observed their little sister who was near tears and Coco who looked like he wished the earth would open beneath his feet. "Angel and EZ Reyes are your brothers" chuckled Coco nervously as he ran his hands over his face. Fuck me he thought to himself. "Really wish you had mentioned that or told me they were in the Mayans MC too. So I could have saved us both a lot of trouble" he continued as he felt his heart crumble.

"Johnny" started Dani as she went to grab his hand as he turned to the door. "Its okay. You have dinner with your family" he murmured before walking out and closing the door quietly. Before Dani could react Angel breezed by her following after Coco as EZ sighed.

***

"So your just going to run away? Fuck with my baby sister and leave her like trash?" yelled Angel as he caught up to Coco and shoved him. "I didn't know man." replied Coco as he put his hands up in defense not wanting to fight his friend. "Now you do. So stay the hell away from her or else" threatened Angel before turning back to the house.

"You really know how to pick them" stated Angel once he was inside the house. Rolling his eyes as EZ consoled their sister who was sobbing. "Wasting tears on a loser" he added as he grabbed his beer from the table and drank it. Ignoring the look EZ shot him.

"Johnny isn't a loser" snapped Dani as she turned her eyes on Angel. "Trust me on this. He was just using you to keep his bed war--" started Angel before his head snapped to the side. "Dani" scolded EZ as he grabbed her arm and positioned himself back between his siblings. "That's what I should have done the last time too" spat Dani as she shook EZ's hand off her as Angel rubbed his stinging cheek.

"You two, kitchen now" stated their father as he stood up from his chair pointing at Angel and EZ.

"Pops" started Angel once the men were in the kitchen. "Be quiet" snapped pops angrily. "I will not lose my daughter. Is that understood? I do not care what issues you have with that young man but for the last few months he is all she has gone on about. She is the happiest she has been since your mother passed." he ranted as he looked from Angel to EZ. "Fix it" he stated slamming his hands on the table making both men flinch.

***

"So you think he loves her?" questioned Angel as he sipped on his beer watching Coco from across the clubhouse a few days later. "Yeah, you have no idea how caught up in her he is man. She's all he talked about. " nodded Gilly as he frowned looking at his friend with his face down on the table. Ez sighed as he joined Angel and Gilly. "Well Dani finally answered only to tell me to go fuck myself and she hopes you choke on a dick. Angel rubbed his face as he considered his next move.

Angel slammed his chair back and stalked over to where Coco was sitting with EZ hot on his heels unsure what his brother planned to do.

Coco didn't acknowledge either of them as he continued to scroll through his phone looking at photos of him and Dani. The ache he felt without her was worse than any day of withdrawal he had went through.

"Listen man. I'm sorry for being such an ass the other night. I was....a bit surprised" offered Angel as he took a seat across from Coco. Angel frowned when Coco didn't respond after a couple of minutes.

"Dani hasn't always made the best choices with guys and she's gotten seriously hurt in the past. We worry about her and with your...past its" started EZ trying to help Angel out.

"Don't talk to me like I don't know shit about her Boy Scout" snarled Coco as he sat up his eyes dark with anger. "She told me about all of that when I was telling her not to waste her time on a outlaw addict like me months ago. Neither of you would know that though because no one wants to give me a damn chance." he yelled drawing attention before slamming his chair back and storming out of the clubhouse.

***

Dani was stepping out of the shower when her phone dinged.

My Love: Can I swing by? Need to tell you something important.

Dani thought for a moment before replying and making her way to her living room to wait.

Coco took a moment to try and calm his nerves before he opened the door with the key Dani had given him. He was so thankful for her and he only hoped she would forgive him for the other night at her fathers house.

Dani stood up when she heard the key in the lock. She toyed with the string on her silk robe nervously as the door swung open and she watched Coco close and lock it behind him. "Dani, I just want to say I love you and...." Coco stopped speaking as his brain registered what he was seeing. Even though they had been dating for awhile they had yet to have sex and seeing Dani in just her robe had him swallowing hard as he struggled to concentrate.

Dani smiled at him before replying. "I love you too. I want to be with you. I want you always".

Coco nodded as he kept his eyes glued to hers as she spoke. He caught the twinkle of mischief in them right before she undid her robe and let it fall open. Coco couldn't help but let his eyes drift over every perfect inch of her bare flesh. Licking his lips at the thought of running his tongue and hands across it.

"Like what you see?" questioned Dani as she moved closer letting the robe slip off and puddle at her feet. Coco simply nodded before cupping her face and pulling her in for a kiss. His hands roamed down her sides and onto her ass. "I'm so lucky your mine" he whispered into her ear.

***

Coco's phone going off the next morning woke both of them. "Sorry" he murmured into Danis back as he kissed her skin before reaching to grab it.

"Hello?" he grumbled as rubbed his face

"First congrats on you and Dani. Second your tires are flat per EZ. Third you have an appointment this afternoon with Angels fist" laughed Gilly into the phone as Angel and EZ grumbled in the background.

Coco laughed as Dani rolled over having heard the conversation. Gently she straddled him as she grabbed the phone.

"Hey Gilly. Tell my brothers to fix his bike and he's going to be busy for the next day or two" she stated firmly before ending the call and tossing the phone off the bed.

Want more Coco? Click here

[scarletcoven]

Muses

Here is a complete list of all my current muses. OC bios linked.

Canon - OC (italicized)

Doctor Who

River Song

Peggy Song (OC)

Aria Pond (OC)

Annalise Sangster (OC)

Elsie Oswald (OC)

Thera Honotia (OC)

Ellia/Eowyn Wraith (OC)

Queen Odessa  (OC)

Rose Tyler variant

OUAT

Regina Mills

Emma Swan

Lily Page

Ivy/Drizella

Lydia Mills  (OC)

Star Wars

Padmé Amidala

Rey

Female Kylo Ren

Iden Versio (By request only)

Iristri Azumlae (OC)

Zara Pham

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Minerva Granger (OC) (Bio to come soon)

She-Ra

Adora

The 100

Clarke Griffin (fc is changed)

Lexa kom Trikru (exclusive.)

Raven Reyes

Abby Griffin

Anya kom Trikru

Echo kom Azgeda

Octavia Blake

Siren kom Delfikru (OC)

Cordelia kom Trikru (OC)

Temperance Nox (OC)

Natshana kom Azgeda (OC) (Bio to come)

Supernatural

Rowan Groves (OC)

TVD

Gwendolyn Potter (OC)

iZombie

Olivia Moore

Peyton Charles

Criminal Minds

Emily Prentiss

Ismay Blackwood (OC) (bio to come)

Pirates of the Caribbean

Elizabeth Swann

Marvel

Margot Rogers

Wren Craine

Wanda Maximoff

Carol Danvers

Sylvie

Yelena Belova

Peggy Carter

Kate Bishop

Melina Vostokoff

Natasha Romanoff

Ryna Maximoff (OC) (bio coming soon)

Lena Rebecca Banner (OC) (bio coming soon)

DC

Luna Byrd  (OC)

Resident Evil

Lady Dimitrescu

Bela Dimitrescu

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Daniela Dimitrescu

Donna Beneviento

Mia Winters

Mother Miranda

Jill Valentine

Claire Redfield

Horizon Zero Dawn

Aloy (Indie)

Monsterverse

Mason Weaver

Elle Brody 

You

Guinevere Beck (By request only)

Fandomless

Eden Talbot (OC)

Primrose Ash (OC)

Lia Norwood (OC)

[flawedheroines]

Muses

Here is a complete list of all my current muses. OC bios linked.

Canon - OC (italicized)

Doctor Who

River Song

Peggy Song (OC)

Aria Pond (OC)

Annalise Sangster (OC)

Elsie Oswald (OC)

Thera Honotia (OC)

Ellia/Eowyn Wraith (OC)

Queen Odessa  (OC)

Rose Tyler variant

OUAT

Regina Mills 

Emma Swan 

Lily Page 

Ivy/Drizella 

Lydia Mills  (OC)

Star Wars

Padmé Amidala

Rey

Female Kylo Ren

Iden Versio (By request only)

Iristri Azumlae (OC)

Zara Pham

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Minerva Granger (OC) (Bio to come soon)

She-Ra

Adora

The 100

Clarke Griffin (fc is changed) 

Lexa kom Trikru (exclusive.)

Raven Reyes 

Abby Griffin

Anya kom Trikru

Echo kom Azgeda

Octavia Blake

Siren kom Delfikru (OC)

Cordelia kom Trikru (OC)

Temperance Nox (OC)

Natshana kom Azgeda (OC) (Bio to come)

Supernatural

Rowan Groves (OC)

TVD

Gwendolyn Potter (OC)

iZombie

Olivia Moore

Peyton Charles

Criminal Minds

Emily Prentiss

Ismay Blackwood (OC) (bio to come)

Pirates of the Caribbean

Elizabeth Swann

Marvel

Margot Rogers

Wren Craine

Sylvie

Yelena Belova

Melina Vostokoff

Natasha Romanoff

Ryna Maximoff (OC) (bio coming soon)

Lena Rebecca Banner (OC) (bio coming soon)

DC

Luna Byrd  (OC)

Resident Evil

Lady Dimitrescu

Bela Dimitrescu

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Daniela Dimitrescu

Donna Beneviento

Mia Winters

Mother Miranda

Horizon Zero Dawn

Aloy (Indie)

Monsterverse

Mason Weaver

Elle Brody (romance exclusive to @moreprofoundbonds )

You

Guinevere Beck (By request only)

Fandomless

Eden Talbot (OC)

Parker Bennett (OC)

Scarlett Stone (OC)

Primrose Ash (OC)

Lia Norwood (OC)

Celeste Quinn (OC)

Eris Goddess of Discord

[modamexblog]

MEXICANAS EN VOGUE.

Doce son las ediciones que las revistas imprimen año tras año a novel global; pero las revistas de gran renombre son las que más importan para la carrera de una modelo, una de esas revistas es Vogue. Sin duda alguna, uno de los temas que sobresalen entre los amantes de la moda, es que las actrices y celebridades han remplazado a las modelos en portada, y la respuesta del mundo editorial es simple: las ventas aumentan cuando en portada está la ‘it girl’ o celebridad del momento. Por lo cual, las modelos han quedado en un segundo término, con la excepción de que se trate de una ‘instamodel’ o ‘nepomodel’ denominadas a aquellas modelos que consiguen su trabajo por ser hijas de alguna personalidad o tener conexiones influyentes en la industria de la moda.

Este mes de septiembre (el mes de mayor relevancia en el mundo editorial) Vogue México ha apostado por tener en portada a cuatro mexicanas: Issa Lish, Cristina Piccone, Mariana Zaragoza y Sara Esparza, bajo el emblema “Esta es la moda de nuestra generación”.

Vogue México, Septiembre 2019.

A principio del 2019, Vogue México fue noticia mundial, por un nombre: Yalitza Aparicio, quien fue la portada de Enero de ese año. La edición fue bien recibida e incluso se colocó como el ejemplar más vendido. Sin embargo, en la última década, han sido pocos números en los que hemos podido apreciar en portada al talento mexicano: Yalitza Aparicio (2019), Salma Hayek (2003, 2005, 2018), Eiza González (2019) y Sofía Reyes (2019), hablando únicamente de celebridades.

Celebridades mexicanas en portada de Vogue México.

Respecto a las modelos, la situación no es diferente, porque tan solo en los últimos 25 años, las únicas modelos nacionales en portada, han sido: Elsa Benítez (1994, 2003), Liliana Domínguez (2005, 2006), Issa Lish (2014) y Mariana Zaragoza (2017). Nótese la diferencia entre la última portada de la Top Liliana Domínguez en 2006 y de la Top de nuestra generación Issa Lish del 2014, son ocho años sin que Vogue México tuviera como imagen principal a una mexicana.

Modelos mexicanas en portada de Vogue México.

En los años 80′s, Vogue México lanza su primer número, y a través de la década, modelos como Janice y Debbie Dickinson, Paula Ciccone y Kathryn Redding, fueron la imagen principal; posteriormente la modelo mexicana del momento, Antonia, sería portada en el año de 1986 y durante principios de los años 90′s, Vogue México, bajo el estilismo de Patricia Vargas, brindaría la oportunidad a algunas modelos mexicanas, entre esas modelos figuran los nombres de: Fabiola Quiroz (1991), Cristina Teutli (1993), Celina del Villar (1990, 1993), Luisa Sáenz (1996), y Elsa Benítez (1994), quien un año después se convirtió en supermodelo. Y ciertamente, llegaría la era de las supermodelos, en la que Evangelista, Bündchen, Schiffer, y los ángeles de Victoria’s Secret acapararían todas las portadas.

 Modelos mexicanas en portada de Vogue México durante los años 90′s.

No obstante que la portada es lo que todo modelo anhela conseguir, el tener una editorial en una revista de renombre también es algo importante, pero para los mexicanos, la oportunidad de estar en Vogue partir de los 00′s, no fue sencillo y solo pocos nombres han aparecido: Elsa Benítez (cover story), Liliana Domínguez (cover story), Issa Lish (cover story), Mariana Zaragoza (cover story), Cristina Piccone, Luz Pavon, Alejandra Infante, Sara Esparza, Lorena Okhuysen, Annie Van Rickley, Livia Rangel, Sofía Torres, Ana Pau Valle, Sofía Mónaco, Alfredo Gutiérrez, Christian García y Raúl Zamora.

Modelos mexicanas en editoriales impresas de Vogue México.

Empero, retomando el ejemplar de Septiembre del 2019, no puedo parar de preguntarme ¿acaso ésta es la moda de nuestra generación? y la respuesta es... no. La moda de nuestra generación es mucho más allá y aunque fue una grata noticia el ver a cuatro modelos mexicanas en portada, y resaltó el hecho de ver a Cristina Piccone, quien sin duda, merecía estar en esa portada desde tiempo atrás, considero que existen más modelos mexicanas que merecían aparecer, modelos de la talla de Daniela de Jesús, Livia Rangel, Zaira González y Karime Bribiesca, que trabajan internacionalmente y nos representan en cada semana de la moda, quienes aparecen en campañas globales y que en México no se les ha dado el reconocimiento. 

Modelos mexicanas del momento: Daniela de Jesús, Livia Rangel, Zaira González y Karime Bribiesca.

Por lo que, sería algo importante, que sin son doce ediciones, al menos en dos al año, tuviéramos a una modelo mexicana en portada y se apoyara en que en México también se le reconozca su talento, por qué, si no lo hacemos los mexicanos, entonces, ¿quién?

[drabbles-mc]

Again and Again (Part 3)

Mayans!Juice AU

Day 15 of @whumpril's 2023 Challenge: isolation / flinching / "Do you trust me?"

Part 1 / Part 2

Warnings: 18+, angst

Word Count: 3k

A/N: I started this series back during Whumptober, so it felt fitting to post another installment of it for Whumpril! Hope you enjoy!

SOA Taglist: @espieviolet99 @littlekittymeow @chibsytelford @juicyortiz @i-just-read-stuff @justreblogginfics @buckybarneshairpullingkink @paintballkid711 @jitterbugs927 @fanfic-n-tabulous @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers @choochoo284 @artemiseamoon @nessamc @garbinge @narcolini @cositapreciosa @darqchilddaydreamz @withmyteeth @camelia35 @passionatewrites (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Despite the days that had gone by, and the fact that the worst of the physical pain was over, Juice had barely set foot outside his house. The few times he had, it was to go and get things that he needed—groceries, alcohol, cigarettes, weed. He had yet to set foot back at the clubhouse again. The mere thought of it made him shake, so he couldn’t imagine what his brain and body would put him through if he actually went and showed up.

He was lying on his back on his couch in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. His mind was wandering and taking him nowhere good as it went. The lights were off, but there was enough sunlight coming through the windows to keep the room from being too dark. This was where he had spent most of the last couple of weeks. Even when it was time for him to try and sleep, he hardly ever went and laid in his bed. That was one thing he wouldn’t have been able to explain even if he tried.

The sound of someone knocking at his front door caused him to snap his head immediately in that direction. His heart began thudding quickly in his chest as he stared at the door, with all of its locks firmly secure because he’d checked them each three times. He laid still, partially waiting but also partially unable to try and make himself move. Logically he knew it was most likely someone from the club, or maybe even the nurse that they’d sent over to check on him.

After the first couple of days, when they were all reassured enough that he wasn’t going to eat his gun, they didn’t have club members camped out at his place around the clock anymore. Someone always checked in once a day, usually Marcus, either with a phone call or an in-person visit. Juice still hadn’t figured out if the club had been asking Daniela to keep coming and checking on his injuries and his overall state, or if she was just the type of person who cared that much. She had brothers in the club, after all, so maybe it was just a sense of duty.

He must’ve been replaying the days in his head for longer than he thought, because there was another set of knocks. Juice was trying to will his body to move, but it was slow-going. His feet had hardly hit the floor when he heard Marcus’s voice from the other side of the door.

“It’s me.”

Juice forced himself to pry the words from the back of his throat, a herculean effort when it shouldn’t have been one. “Coming.”

One slow step in front of the other, he made his way over to the door. Even though he knew it was Marcus, and even though he knew that if something was wrong Marcus would’ve warned him somehow, Juice still had his gun clutched tightly in one hand as he reached to start undoing the locks with the other.

When he finally pulled the door open, Marcus was standing patiently on the other side, his facial expression not giving away any particular emotion. That was something Juice had noticed he was good at—keeping things close to the vest. Marcus, to the extent of Juice’s knowledge at least, had never lied to him. He was always honest. But when it came to what he was feeling about something at any given moment, it was rare that Marcus wore his opinion on his face. Juice was trying to figure out if he found that to be a comforting thing or not.

Stepping to the side so that Marcus could walk through, Juice nervously drummed his fingers on his side of the door. Pushing it shut, he immediately set about redoing all of his locks. He tried to make his voice sound as normal as possible as he spoke to Marcus, even though the frantic movements of his fingers instantly negated his efforts. “All good?”

Marcus watched him, his expression still not giving anything away. He waited for Juice to turn and look at him before he finally nodded. “All good.”

“What’s, uh,” he tucked his gun into the back of his waistband, like that would somehow make it seem more casual, “what’s going on?”

“Just came to update you.”

Juice’s eyes widened. “Update me? About…about what?”

Marcus could hear the panic edging its way into Juice’s voice, and he kept his as steady and as neutral as possible. “Templo tomorrow.” He paused, seeing how Juice’s expression didn’t relax any. “We need you there.”

That wasn’t the answer Juice had been expecting. He’d spent day after day pacing around his house waiting for the worst. Truth be told, he was half expecting one of the guys, or Marcus, to stop by and ask for his kutte. It felt like all the trouble Juice had been drowning in when he was in Charming, just took on a new form and followed him right to Santo Padre. He was wondering when the Mayans would get sick of the constant clean-up like the Sons did.

“Why,” he sniffled and shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest, “why do you need me there?”

Marcus’s brows came together for a brief moment before he recovered and answered, “Because you’re part of the fuckin’ club.”

From almost anyone else, that response would’ve sounded annoyed, or even angry. But not from Marcus. The way he said it was so matter-of-fact. A large part of that was because he wasn’t annoyed or angry with Juice. He wondered when that fact was finally going to sink in with the young man that was standing in front of him.

It wasn’t that Juice didn’t want to be at Templo, or that he didn’t want to be part of the club. He did. He wanted all of that more than almost anything. But after all that had happened, the thought of just going about his life like it was business as usual was impossible to wrap his head around. For years he had just gone from one mishap to the next, and they seemed to keep getting worse as the years went along. He’d always been able to rally, though, always been able to move onto the next thing.

Now, standing in front of Marcus with trembling hands and flashbacks that made beads of sweat gather along the edge of his forehead, it was all finally starting to catch up to him at once.

Taking a breath, Marcus asked, “What is it?”

Juice’s eyes that had previously been glued to the floor snapped up so that he was looking at Marcus. “What is what?”

“What’s keeping you in here?” He made a small gesture to the house.

Juice shook his head, eyes dropping back to the floorboards beneath his feet as he tried to string together an answer. He didn’t even know where to begin. It felt so obvious and yet so complicated all at once. Because, yes, danger was a part of what they did. There was no way to be an outlaw and do it safely. However, it wasn’t just the feeling of danger. It was something deeper than that, something internal and far less tangible than the threats lurking outside his door.

He still didn’t look up as he started to speak. “Everywhere I go…bad things happen. To, to me. To the people around me. No matter what. Queens…Charming…” he hesitated like he didn’t want to spit the words out, “Santo Padre. Bad shit. Every, every fucking time.”

“And it was all on you, huh? Every time?”

Juice knew what Marcus was doing. It wasn’t the first time that he’d had a conversation like this. And he knew that in a way, Marcus was right. It wasn’t very often that the man was wrong about much anyway. This, however, this Juice knew that if one of them was approaching the situation rationally, it was Marcus. All of that and he still found it so hard to believe him.

“I know,” Juice finally said. “I know there’s more to it but I just,” he ran his hands back over his head, hating that he could feel tears stinging at the edges of his eyes, “I can’t shake the feeling. Bad luck has followed me across the country and down the border. How long was I here before…?” his voice trailed off.

“I told you,” Marcus said firmly, “what they did was about the club—it wasn’t about you.”

“But it happened to me!” Juice finally broke, emotion cracking his voice. He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes for a moment as he tried to get the shake in his voice under control and failed. “Because it always happens to me.”

Marcus didn’t say anything for a moment. Side-stepping Juice, he made his way deeper into the living room and took a seat on the couch that Juice had been all but glued to for the last few weeks. Leaning forward, Marcus braced his forearms against the tops of his thighs. He finally looked over at Juice and waited for him to come and sit.

It took a few moments, but Juice finally picked up on the cue. Walking over, he put his gun back on the table before sitting down next to Marcus. He could feel Marcus staring at him but he didn’t look over at him. He knew that wherever this conversation was going, he wasn’t going to be able to hide from it. He’d hidden from a lot, locked up in his house the way he had been, but now Marcus was here and it didn’t seem like he was going to leave until he got whatever answers he was looking for.

Juice gnawed at the inside of his bottom lip before saying, “I don’t know if I’m worth the trouble that follows me.”

Marcus nodded, not in agreement, but in thought. He looked down at his interlocked hands for a moment, at the Mayan ring that rested on his finger. He felt the weight of the kutte that hung on his shoulders.

“Are you going to turn in your kutte, then?” Marcus finally asked after a bout of silence.

The knot in Juice’s stomach tightened, his eyes widening as he looked over at Marcus. The lack of emotion on the man’s face left Juice wondering if it was a question or a request. “N—I…I don’t…do you…do you want me to?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yea, but—”

“If I didn’t want you in my club, you wouldn’t be.” He paused, twisting the ring on his finger. “This isn’t about that. This is about whether or not you still want this. If you can still do this.”

It had been a long time since decisions with this much gravity really felt like they were Juice’s to make. He’s been a “Yes Man” for a long time, and he was pretty good at that. For years he’d listened to the decisions being made and contented himself just following the directions that he’d been given. But now he was the one who had to make the choice, and it was one that was going to decide whether taking off to Santo Padre was worth any of the stress it had caused.

Juice knew that he still wanted this. For all of the pain and the mess that it had caused, he still wanted it. For years now it had been all he ever wanted. Belonging somewhere had been the only thing he wanted for as long as he could remember. For the first time in a long time it felt like an attainable goal—he just had to get out of his own fucking way.

“I, uh,” he sniffled, trying to force his bubbling emotions down, “I don’t know if I can, Marcus.” The pause that ensued felt a few seconds too long. “I want to, but I don’t know…”

“If you want to do this, you gotta show up.” His tone wasn’t harsh, but it didn’t leave much room for argument either. It was the plain reality of it all.

And Juice knew that he was right. Marcus was understanding, he was fair in a way the men he’d worked with in the past never had the capacity to be. But he still had a club to run. He still had messes to clean up. The question now was whether or not Juice was going to be one of those.

Juice shook his head slightly, fear once again rearing its ugly head as he thought about all of the worst-case scenarios. “Why…why do you even care so much? Why are you doing all of this? It’s not,” he shook his head, “it’s not like you owe me anything. All I’ve fucking done is—”

He was cut off by the feeling of Marcus’s hand landing on his shoulder. Juice flinched at the contact, instinctively going to pull away before he realized what was happening, that he was safe, that the gesture was one of comfort and not aggression.

Juice got his tone back under control taking a staggered breath as he repeated his question, “Why are you doing this?” The familiar sting of tears in his eyes came back as he asked, “Do you even trust me? Can…can you even trust me?”

There was a pause, but it wasn’t hesitation. There was no trace of guesswork on Marcus’s face as he sat there looking at Juice. The silence was more to make Juice sit with his own line of questioning than anything else.

Marcus took a deep breath. “Trust is all we’ve got.”

The statement hung alone in the air. After a few seconds, Marcus removed his hand from Juice’s shoulder.  Juice thought that his body would relax at that, but none of the tension dissolved out of him. His leg began to bounce as the two of them sat there. He knew that it was his turn to say something, that Marcus would be more than content to sit there and wait until Juice finally forced himself to give some kind of answer to the original question that spurred this conversation in the first place.

Even though Juice cleared his throat, his voice still came out as a whisper, like he was on the brink of losing his voice. “I’ll be there.”

Marcus’s expression didn’t shift at all as he nodded. “Good.” He paused, giving Juice the opportunity to say anything else that he needed to get off his chest. When silence ensued, he asked, “Nothing else?”

Juice gave a small shake of his head, still not looking directly at Marcus. “No.”

Standing up, Marcus brushed his hands on his jeans before starting to head back towards the door again. “Tomorrow, then.”

Juice nodded, forcing himself up off the couch so that he could follow Marcus and lock the door behind him once he’d left. “Tomorrow.”

When Marcus pulled the front door open, he immediately came face-to-face with Daniela, who was still in her scrubs from work. She took a small step back, a surprised laugh slipping out of her as she looked back and forth between Marcus and Juice.

“Hi, sorry.” She adjusted the small medical bag that was slung over her shoulder. “I was just, you know, um,” she patted her bag, “checking in.”

Marcus nodded in approval. “Thank you.”

She gave a warm smile. “It’s not a problem,” her eyes drifted over to Juice, her expression softening a little, “really.”

Marcus gently rested his hand on the outside of her arm as she slipped past him, allowing them to swap places so she was inside the house and he was out on the front step. He and Juice exchanged one more brief look, each trying to figure each other out just a little bit more, before saying one more quick goodbye.

Daniela waited and watched as Juice shut the door behind Marcus and did all the locks. Her sympathetic smile lost a little bit of its curve as she watched him go back and check the locks, and recheck them again.

“If it’s not a good time,” she offered, “I can always come back later.”

Turning around and facing her, Juice shook his head. He was trying to look less rattled than he really was, which was difficult with everything that had happened within the span of the last half hour. Still, she already showed up, so he wasn’t going to turn her away.

“It’s fine,” he forced out.

She didn’t want to turn it into a debate, so she just nodded. “Okay.” She gestured to the couch, and as they both stepped towards it, she asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

He shook his head as he sat down. “I’m good.”

She nodded again. Some days he talked a little bit, other days the two of them sat there in near-silence as she checked him over. It looked like it was going to be the latter. “Okay.”

Juice watched her as she pulled her medical bag onto her lap and opened it to look inside. He wished he had better things to say to her, anything, really, but he was coming up empty. She never seemed fazed by it.

“Thanks,” he said softly as she pulled her stethoscope out.

She gave him a tiny smile. “Of course.”

That was all that was said between him as she got wrapped up in making sure that he was at least physically alright if nothing else. Meanwhile, Juice’s mind was miles away trying to wrap his head around how he was going to pull himself together enough to do what needed to be done. This was just one day, one meeting, and it was taking this much out of him. As he flinched slightly from the cold metal of the stethoscope, he briefly wondered how he was supposed to handle all the days afterward, too.

[drabbles-mc]

One Day

EZ Reyes & Angel Reyes & Sister!OFC (Daniela Reyes) ft. Coco Cruz

Inspired by Day 15 of the August Prompts: bubbles

Warnings: language, family angst, alcohol

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: I’ve had Daniela’s and Coco’s backstory planned out in my head for a while now and when I sat down to write this it made me realize that I’ve never actually had the two of them interacting in a story before. There will probably be more of that to come. Both Reyes brothers are in this but it definitely focuses more on Daniela’s relationship with EZ. I just. I love them. Enjoy the Reyes family drama!

EZ Reyes Taglist: @ly--canthrope @noz4a2 @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @thesandbeneathmytoes @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @doritosandjellybeans @broiderie @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @buckybarneshairpullingkink @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @encounterthepast @bport76 @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @blessedboo @holl2712 @bruxasolta @i-love-scott-mccall @withmyteeth @shadow-of-wonder​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @punkgoddess-98​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​ @beardsanddetectives​ @littlekittymeow​ @amorestevens​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @cherieann-2001​ @passionatewrites​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Daniela had texted her brothers the second she went on break at the hospital. They were no strangers to baby-sitting their niece, and nothing had ever gone wrong while they were watching her. Still, Daniela couldn’t stop herself from texting to check in and make sure that everything was going alright.

She no sooner set her phone down on the table and picked up her water bottle when her phone started to vibrate in the tabletop. Flipping it over, she couldn’t help but to be a little nervous when she saw Angel's name flashing across the screen, his contact photo that was a picture of him and niece staring Daniela in the face as she hit the accept button.

“Hey, all good?” she asked immediately.

“Yea,” he chuckled, “Why you always gotta assume something’s wrong?”

She sighed, “Self-preservation. Also, in my defense, I just texted to check in and you immediately called me. Sorry if that made me a little nervous.”

“Alright, alright,” she could picture the way Angel was probably rolling his eyes at her, “I wanted to ask you somethin’, but I didn’t wanna call you while you’re working.”

“What’s up?”

He hesitated, like he already knew that the question already wasn’t going to go over well, “I was just wondering if EZ and I could bring Ana to the clubhouse today.”

Daniela let out a long, exasperated sigh, “Angel…”

“C'mon, Dani. The guys miss her. Plus Creep's kids are gonna be there for a little while so she’ll have kids to play with. It’ll get her out of the house.”

“You reading all these reasons off a list in front of you?” she joked.

He laughed, “Nah, but I’ve been brainstorming all morning.”

She took a moment to really think about her answer to the question, “Is Coco gonna be there?”

“Dani—”

“Answer the fucking question, Angel,” she wasn’t yelling, just tired of the stress of the situation.

“Yea,” he said after a beat, “he's gonna be there,” he heard her taking a deep breath, most likely gearing up to argue, so he started up again before she could, “But EZ and I are gonna be there. And the rest of the guys, like I said. C'mon, ‘mana, just for a couple hours.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Daniela mulled it over. She knew that realistically there was only so long she could go handling things the way that she had been. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, even if she didn’t want to admit that to herself.

“Fine,” she huffed, “But I’m picking her up from the clubhouse. And if I hear any sort of sideways shit—”

Angel didn’t let her finish the sentence, “You got it. Thank you, Dani. Seriously,” it was the most earnest he’d sounded with her in a long time.

“Love you,” she meant it, despite the exhaustion in her voice.

“Love you too.”

When she hung up the phone with Angel, she immediately sent another text, this one just to EZ outside of their sibling group chat, “keep a close eye on Ana at the clubhouse today please. I don’t wanna regret saying yes to this.”

She knew that she could trust EZ with the situation in a way that she couldn’t quite trust Angel. Angel loved her, and Ana, and he would take a thousand bullets for either of them. Daniela didn’t doubt any of that. But she also knew how torn Angel had been as the entire situation between his sister and his MC brother crumbled in the worst of ways. He wasn’t going to turn his back on family, but he also couldn’t pretend that he didn’t still have his love for Coco. That was his best friend, he couldn’t just bail on him either. He never blamed Daniela for how she was handling the situation, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that he struggled with it a lot, being put between the two of them.

EZ didn’t share that same sense of inner turmoil. His lines in the sand were firm and impossible to miss. He didn’t have many positive feelings left for Coco, not after what the man had put his sister and his niece through. They still shared the club, and EZ was thankful that he was so good at compartmentalizing, otherwise the tension would’ve caused it all to start unraveling. Outside of Templo, or other explicit club business, the two of them didn’t talk. Coco used to try and mend that bridge, but he quickly realized how futile it was. EZ would come around when EZ was ready to, if he was ever ready to.

Daniela knew all of that. Which was why she knew that if anything happened that was even borderline not okay, EZ would step in to stop it, or at the very least tell her about it when she came to pick Ana up.

“I got you. Love you"

She sighed in relief at his text, sending back a quick, “love you too" before finally allowing herself to take a bite of her lunch.

When her shift was over, the drive from the hospital to the clubhouse felt like it took way longer than it used to. Maybe this time it was because deep down she was dreading it. The only times she’d set foot on club turf over the last year or so was when someone needed to get patched up, and even then she was in and out as quickly as possible. It wasn’t a social place for her anymore.

She rolled into the lot and parked her car, taking a deep breath as she fought the urge to rest her head against the steering wheel. It couldn’t be that bad, she reassured herself, there was no way it was going to be as bad as some of the scenarios that her brain was conjuring up. She took a moment to redo her ponytail, and it hit her that maybe she should’ve changed out of her scrubs before driving over, but it was too late now. Grabbing her phone and taking her keys out of the ignition, she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

Small puffs of dust kicked up around her sneakers when they hit the ground. She wondered how many deep breaths it would take to get herself to actually calm down. Looking around, she noticed how quiet the yard seemed, which wasn’t at all what she remembered it being like. She wondered if some of the guys were out of town.

When she got a little closer to the clubhouse, that’s when she started to hear the laughter and the conversations. She could pick Ana’s laugh out of a crowd with no effort at all, and the sound brought her a small sense of peace. If nothing else, her little girl was at least having a good time. She glanced up at the deck, trying to get a good look at everyone who was there. She spotted Ana immediately as she ran up and down the length of the deck, along with Angel and EZ. Bishop was there too, and Gilly. Her steps faltered slightly when her eyes landed on Coco, who hadn’t seen her yet. The few seconds between her noticing him and him noticing her were going to be some of the longest seconds of her life.

Ana skidded to a stop when she saw Daniela walking over, her already bright smile growing even brighter, “Mommy!” she took off down the steps and ran to her mother.

Daniela laughed, feeling a little more at-ease as she crouched down to catch the running hug her daughter was bringing her way, scooping her up and swinging her around before settling the little girl on her hip. Daniela kissed the side of her head, “Hey, chiquita!” she kissed her again, “You have a good day with your tíos?”

“Yea!” she squirmed in her mother’s arms for a moment before hopping back down to the ground, doing her best to take Daniela’s hand in her won and pulling her back towards the step, “Tío EZ got a bubble gun!”

Daniela laughed as the two of them walked up the steps together, “Oh, did he?” she looked over at her brother, “Something tells me he might’ve already had that on-hand.”

EZ chuckled, smiling as he shook his head, “Nah, but I wasn’t going to say no to a reason to go and grab one,” he stepped in to hug her, “Hey, Dani.”

She hugged him tightly with the arm that her daughter wasn’t pulling on, “Thank you, Ezekiel,” her voice was soft enough that no one else could hear it.

She greeted Angel too, or she tried to as best she could between Ana’s excited rambles about everything that they had been up to that day. She talked about the kids who had been there earlier, how much fun they’d had running around playing tag and catch. She talked about how Chucky had made cookies to share with everyone, that she even got to have one before lunch. She casually peppered in, “Daddy let me sit on his motorcycle!” before diverting right off to the next point, already shifting her excitement to the aforementioned bubble gun that EZ had gotten.

She fought to tune into the rest of the things that Ana was saying as her own thoughts began to spin out. Turning, she looked back over her shoulder to see Coco standing there watching the two of them talk and interact. She could see all of the different emotions that were swirling around in his mind. The two of them hadn’t said a single word to each other but Daniela still felt herself getting choked up.

EZ clocked the entire thing. And, as much as he didn’t really want to leave his sister and Coco by themselves, he knew that their first real conversation in well over a year probably shouldn’t take place within earshot of their daughter. So, in an attempt to distract Ana, he crouched down, loudly whispering to her that the two of them should try to run down Angel and get him with the bubble gun. It was an idea that she little girl was all too excited to take EZ up on. She managed to get out an, “I’ll be right back,” between giggles as she let go of Daniela’s hand and ran with EZ after her other uncle. Daniela watched them for a moment, a soft smile on her face before she returned her attention to the other matters at hand.

Taking in a deep breath to try and give herself an extra boost of confidence, she crossed the deck so that she was standing in front of Coco. He could see the conflicting emotions on her face and it broke his heart. It’d been so long and yet here they still were, still struggling to figure it all out. Daniela wanted to be the first one to say something, but she couldn’t force the words out.

“Thanks,” Coco nervously fussed with the pack of cigarettes in his hand, “’Preciate you lettin’ Angel bring her over.”

She nodded, “Yea. N-no problem.”

He wanted to make a joke about how he knew it was probably a little bit of a problem, but he knew it wouldn’t land. They weren’t there yet—they probably wouldn’t be there for a really long time. So, instead, he kept his mouth shut.

Daniela had to admit that he looked like a completely different man from the last time that she’d seen him. It had been a long time, and despite her anger and her hurt she did truly always hope that Coco was getting his act together. She just couldn’t afford to keep herself and her daughter around him while he did. But he looked good. Nervous, because of the specific circumstances of the day, but he looked healthy. It brought her some relief, even if it didn’t wipe away the years of damage done.

“She looks like you,” Coco commented as he nodded towards Ana, “Thankfully,” he added with a laugh.

It got Daniela to chuckle a little bit too. She shrugged, “Yea. Sometimes she makes faces that are very much you, though,” she raked her fingers along her scalp, “I know I’m gonna be in for it when she’s older.”

Coco watched her watch their daughter, and he wished that he knew what to say to her. He wished he knew how the conversations were supposed to go now. He knew that they couldn’t just start over, but he didn’t want to dig into everything else on the front steps of the fucking clubhouse, either.

“You look good, Dani,” he said.

She looked back over at him, a weak smile on her face, “Thank you, Coco. You too,” she motioned towards his hair, “The braids look good,” she sucked in a breath before leaning back against the railing, crossing her arms over her chest as she continued to look at him, “Today was okay?”

There was only one right answer to the question. But Coco knew that he wasn’t the only person that she was going to be asking about it. And he couldn’t blame her at all, even if he wanted to. He nodded, finally stuffing his cigarettes back into the pocket of his kutte, “It was good. She’s,” his lips twitched into a smile, “she’s a funny fuckin’ kid, you know?”

She had a soft smile on her face, “I do.”

Even though the two of them were running around with Ana to keep her busy any away from the conversation unfolding between her parents, both Angel and EZ were trying their best to sneak looks over at them to get a feel for how the conversation was going. There were none of the usual tell-tale signs of Daniela’s anger. There was no yelling from either of them, no angry gesturing. Angel hoped that that was a good sign.

He saw EZ watching the same way he was. He shrugged, “Looks alright.”

EZ didn’t look quite as convinced, “We’ll see,” he looked back at Angel and saw the way he wanted to argue, “Quiet doesn’t always mean good.”

Angel sucked his teeth, “C’mon, why you always gotta,” he gestured vaguely at nothing, “What if it’s a good thing?”

EZ rolled his eyes before blasting a slew of bubbles at his brother, causing Ana to break out into laughter, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Coco caught the fact that both of Daniela’s brothers were watching them intently. He also knew that they were watching for very different reasons, “I gotta,” he nodded towards the area where the bikes were parked, “I gotta run. But thank you. Seriously. I know it’s not…you know.”

Daniela nodded, knowing all too well, “You’re welcome. Stay well, Coco, okay?”

He was surprised at how genuine she sounded. He had been ready for more anger, more venom, which again he wouldn’t have blamed her for, “Okay.”

He walked away, leaving her leaning against the railing as he made his way towards the stairs. She turned so that her arms were folded and braced on the top of the rail, watching as Coco went over to Ana to hug and kiss her goodbye. It looked so natural, Daniela though, even in spite of everything. But one afternoon going well didn’t mean that everything was alright. Still, there was an ache in her chest at the sight of her daughter excitedly waving to her father as he strode over towards his bike.

Once he was gone, the two girls didn’t linger too much longer. Daniela gathered up her daughter’s things and brought them to the car while she finished playing with her tíos. The sounds of the three of them laughing eased the knot that was in her gut after seeing Coco for the first time in so long.

EZ was buckling Ana into the car as Angel walked over to say goodbye to his sister. He pulled her into a hug, “You good?”

She sighed, not wanting to lie but not wanting to get into it all with him when she was so close to finally being able to go home, “I’ll be fine, Angel.”

He stepped back, “It meant a lot to him, you know.”

A sarcastic comment was on the tip of her tongue but she managed to stop it just in time. Instead, she side-stepped his comment completely, “Get home safe, alright? Love you.”

He couldn’t stop the frown on his face, but he still returned the sentiment, “Love you too.”

Angel said goodbye to his niece and made his way back towards the clubhouse while Daniela waited for EZ to finish saying goodbye to her. She smiled at the sight of the two of them interacting, always laughing together.

He kissed Ana on the forehead, “Be good, alright?” he ruffled her hair, “Love you.”

She giggled, “Love you!”

EZ carefully shut the car door before heading over to his sister. He could see the exhaustion on her face, and he knew that it wasn’t just from a long day at work. He knew better than to ask, because it wasn’t like she was going to get into any of it with him in that moment.

“I love you,” he ran his hand up and down her back.

She gave him a squeeze before pulling away, “I love you too.”

It was fairly late when Daniela heard the knock at her door. She put Ana to bed a few hours before, the little girl falling asleep almost instantly when her head hit the pillow. It’d been a long, exciting day for her. Daniela was happy for her, but she was also exhausted by everything it had dredged up.

She was expecting the worst when she walked over to see who was standing outside her front door. She was relieved to see that it was EZ, though. Unlocking and pulling the door open, she did her best to give a smile, “Hey, you good?”

He nodded, his smile coming to him a little more easily, “Yea. Just,” he held up the bubble gun, “Ana forgot her weapon of mass destruction at the clubhouse.”

Daniela chuckled softly, shaking her head as she pulled the door open a little more and motioned for her brother to come inside, “Figured you kept it on purpose.”

He laughed, setting it down on the table as they walked into the kitchen, “I can’t be trusted with that kind of firepower.”

“Hm,” Daniela hummed in amusement as she grabbed them both beers from the fridge, “That’s true,” she sat down at the table, motioning for EZ to do the same once she handed him his beer, “What’s on your mind, Ezekiel?”

He shook his head before lifting the bottle to his lips, “Just wanted to check in on you. Today wasn’t exactly what you had planned.”

Her laugh was hollow, “No,” she took a long drink out of the beer bottle, “it wasn’t. He was…he was okay, though? With her?”

He nodded, not hesitating because there was nothing to hesitate about, “He was good, yea. He missed her.” EZ saw that Daniela was biting back a comment, “What?”

Glancing over at him, she remembered who it was that she was talking to. She didn’t have to pretend, “He fucking should.”

“I know,” EZ nodded.

“I’m not,” she took an unsteady breath as she toyed with the bottle in her hands, “I’m not ready for that to become a regular thing, EZ. I saw him for about five fucking minutes and I’m so tired.”

His expression hardened, “What’d he say?”

She shook her head, “Nothing, that’s just it. He was perfectly,” she took another swig of her beer, “perfectly fucking cordial. And I don’t, I don’t mean to sound like a horrible person. I’m glad he’s doing better. I am, really. But all of the, all of the damage? It’s hard to look at him and not see that.”

“I get it.”

She looked down at the bottle, “Ana loves him.”

“She does.”

Tears started welling up in Daniela’s eyes after an entire afternoon and evening of trying to keep her emotions pushed down. She leaned back in her chair, letting her head drop back for a moment as the tears spilled over onto her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away before looking back at her brother.

“I don’t want her to go her whole life without him. I don’t. But just, fuck, how am I supposed to know when he’s ready? How do I know he’s not going to do the same thing he did last time? I can’t go through that again. I sure as hell can’t put her through that now that she’s old enough to really see what’s going on. How do I…” her voice trailed off.

“You’ll feel it,” EZ nodded, “You knew when it was time to go. You’ll know when it’s time to let him come back.”

She let out a dry chuckle, “I waited too long to leave.”

“But you did. You’ll know when it’s right,” he brought the bottle to his lips.

“But Coco—”

“Fuck ‘em,” EZ’s voice was quiet, but firm. He saw the look on his sister’s face, “I’m serious, Dani. This is about Ana. If you don’t think he’s ready to show up for her, then fuck ‘em. He cost himself this.”

It was more nuanced than that, but also, it really wasn’t. She knew that EZ was right, that at the end of the day it was about what was best for Ana. Everything would’ve been different if Daniela only had to think about herself. She could put up with a lot, put a lot of work and struggle into something, but she couldn’t ask the same of her daughter.

“Thank you, EZ,” she said with a nod.

“You need anything?”

She chuckled, “You got a time machine?”

“I’m working on it,” he joked before finishing off his beer and standing up out of his seat, “I just wanted to stop and check in on you. Go get some sleep—you look like shit,” he chuckled.

Daniela laughed as she stood up, walking over and hugging him, “You’re lucky that gun isn’t loaded,” she leaned against him for a moment, “Drive safe.”

“Always,” he started making his way back towards the door, “Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do,” she sighed, running her fingers through her hair, “Lock the door behind you, yea?”

“Got it.”

She lingered in the kitchen, listening for the sound of EZ’s pickup truck starting and driving away. Once it was silent again, she tossed their beer bottles into the recycling bin. Grabbing the plastic toy off the table, she quietly made her way upstairs towards Ana’s room. She quietly walked inside, placing the toy on top of her daughter’s dresser.

On her way back out, she lingered in the doorway for a moment, taking in the peaceful look on Ana’s face as she slept. One arm was hanging over the edge of the bed, her fingertips nearly brushing along the floor. Daniela smiled despite the weight in her chest, taking a breath before stepping out completely and pulling the door shut.

[drabbles-mc]

Blackout

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & Sister!OFC (Daniela Reyes)

Request by @cherieann-2001​: Power outage idea- The blanket Fort with EZ Angel and Anita she becomes scared and they do this to calm her down. (They are watching her because mama got called into work) (Prompt is from This List)

Warnings: 18+, language, all manners of fluff to get buried in

Word Count: 3k

A/N: In light of recent events, I have been thinking a lot about Daniela lately. And even though she’s not a main part of this one-shot in particular, I am hoping to get back and work on the plot I have for her a bit more. Either way, enjoy some tío content!

Angel/EZ Taglist: @buckybarneshairpullingkink @helli4nthus @starrynite7114 @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @beautifullboo @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @beardburnsupersoldiers @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @withmyteeth @encounterthepast @lilacyennefer @bport76 @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @luckyharley1903 @masterlistforimagines @lilah1903 @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @black-repunzel99​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @punkgoddess-98​ @lexondeck​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​ @amorestevens​ @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @bruxasolta​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @flacalatke​ @passionatewrites​ @ly--canthrope​ @noz4a2​ @doritosandjellybeans​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, let me know!)

Daniela knocked on the front door of their house as she pushed it open, Ana barreling past her and right into the house. The little girl immediately dropped her bag and called out for her uncles as she ran through the house. Daniela couldn’t help but to laugh as she lingered by the doorway, watching her daughter run down the hallway. In a matter of seconds, Angel popped out of the living room and easily scooped Ana up off the flood, slinging her over his shoulder as she squealed with laughter.

“I heard that a little monster was getting dropped off for a sleepover,” Angel laughed as he walked back down the hallway towards his sister, Ana still slung over his shoulder.

Daniela laughed, shaking her head as he set her back down on the floor, “I think the monsters are the boys who already live here,” she stepped in and hugged Angel, “Thank you for this. Sorry it’s so last-minute.”

Angel shrugged, “You know it’s fine,” he playfully tugged at the sleeve of her scrubs, “Lookin’ like you actually know what you’re doing or something.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t pin back her smile, “Yea, or something,” she diverted her attention back to her daughter as she crouched down to her level, “I’ll be here to pick you up in the morning after breakfast, okay?”

Ana was happily leaning against Angel’s side as she nodded, “Okay!”

Daniela leaned in, kissing her on the tip of her nose and then her forehead, “Your tíos are in charge,” she leaned in, whispering extra loud so Angel would definitely hear, “Mostly Tío EZ, though.”

Her comment was rewarded with a giggle from Ana and Angel scooping the little girl off the ground and propping her on his hip, “Alright, alright. Looks like it’s time for Mom to go.”

Daniela stood up, hands resting on her hips, “Don’t worry, I’m going,” she paused, looking around what she could see of the house, “Where is EZ, anyway?”

Angel nodded towards the door, “Ran to the store to pick up some food and shi—” he stopped himself when he saw Daniela’s face harden into a glare, “and stuff for the little monster here.”

“Gotcha. Alright, I gotta run. Thank you again,” she stepped in and hugged Angel before giving Ana another kiss, “I’ll see you tomorrow, chiquita. I love you.”

Her smile was blinding as she waved to her mother, “I love you too!”

Daniela slipped out the door and quickly made her way to her car, digging her keys out of her purse as she did. Not that she minded her brothers watching Ana, but the last-minute calls from the hospital had been more and more frequent lately, and she hated feeling like she was constantly leaving Ana with Angel and EZ, or Felipe. None of the three men ever complained, but that wasn’t the point. She huffed out a sigh as she unlocked her car. Just as she was pulling the door open, EZ whipped into the driveway next to her, a smile on his face as he threw the car in park.

“Taking off already?” he joked as he stepped down out of the truck, grabbing the couple bags of groceries he’d gotten.

She laughed, running her fingers back through her hair, “Wish I could stay longer, believe me.”

He shook his head, seeing the conflict in her eyes, “Don’t sweat it. If you want us to call you with a fake emergency to get you out of work, just say the word,” he smiled at the sound of her laughing, “Angel’s pretty good at coming up with shit on the fly.”

“You both are way too good at it,” she hugged him, “Thank you. Seriously.”

“Don’t make it weird,” he laughed as he hugged her back.

“You’re so annoying,” she chuckled, rolling her eyes as she pulled away from him.

“Get to work. I gotta get inside before the ice cream melts.”

“Damn,” she shook her head, smiling, “Maybe I should just skip work and stay with you guys.”

“No way,” he nudged her towards her car, “Tíos-Only Zone here right now. Beat it,” the smug grin on his face was enough to get anyone to laugh as Daniela plopped down in the driver’s seat, “Love you!”

She gave him the finger as she turned the key in the ignition, “Love you too.”

EZ made his way up the steps and into the house, shutting the door behind him just as Daniela’s car pulled out of the driveway. Even though he couldn’t see them, he could hear Ana’s laughter coming from the living room. He smiled and shook his head as he made his way into the kitchen to start putting the groceries away.

EZ had gone undetected by both of them in the living room until Ana heard the sound of the freezer sliding shut. It was a matter of seconds before EZ heard her heavy little footsteps as she booked it towards the kitchen. He was ready, hands free as he turned around to catch her as she ran right into him.

“Hey, pipsqueak,” he kissed the side of her head before setting her back down on the ground, “You keeping Angel outta trouble?”

“I’m trying,” she let out a dramatic sigh.

EZ laughed, unable to hide the surprise that was intertwined with his amusement. Looking over her head at his brother he shook his head, “Sounds just like someone else we know.”

“Bro, I know,” Angel laughed, shaking his head as he walked into the kitchen as well.

Ana took advantage of the two of them talking to start snooping through the rest of the groceries that EZ had brought home. She was digging through one of the bags as she asked, “What’s for dinner?”

“Get outta there,” EZ joked as he lifted her up and set her on the counter. He playfully tapped the tip of her nose, “I got it under control. I’ll cook if you keep an eye on that guy over there,” he nodded towards Angel, “He’s been up to no good all week.”

Ana swung her legs as she sat on the counter, “That’s what Mommy said.”

Angel scoffed as he opened the fridge and grabbed a can of soda for himself, “Oh yea? Mommy also say what happens to snitches?”

EZ shot him an exasperated look, “Dude, come on.”

“My bad,” Angel held his hands up in surrender.

The three of them were all camped out in the living room after dinner. EZ and Angel were sitting on opposite ends of the couch with Ana sprawled out between them. For such a small girl she certainly knew how to take up most of the couch. Her head was resting on Angel’s leg as the three of them got through another episode of Spongebob. Which, they had to admit, out of all the kid’s shows that she could be into, it was one of the best ones.

EZ was just about to mention dessert when all of the lights in the house shut off. The television cut out and the three of them were thrown into complete darkness. Angel and EZ’s eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly—they were used to it. But Ana wasn’t. She immediately scrambled onto Angel’s lap, and he could feel the way that she was trembling.

“Hey, hey,” he kissed the side of her head, “we’re all good. Here,” he pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and turned the flashlight on, setting it on the coffee table in front of them to cast some light into the room. It wasn’t much, but it was something, “See? Lights just went out. We’re gonna be fine.”

EZ turned on his phone’s flashlight as well as he stood up from the couch, “I’ll go grab the big flashlights and the candles.”

“Lucky for you,” he spoke to Ana as he shifted to get a little more comfortable, “I might not have EZ’s memory, but I know almost every episode of Spongebob. So here’s what happens next…”

Meanwhile, EZ was rummaging through the spare room, which had turned into a bit of a glorified storage closet, looking for flashlights and candles. He was just about to pull open the closet door when his phone started going off. Before he even looked at it, he had a pretty good idea of who it was going to be. Looking down at the screen, he gave a knowing smile and shook his head as he accepted the call.

“Hey, Dani.”

“You guys alright?” she didn’t sound too freaked out, but he could still hear the worry in her voice.

“We’re all good. Hospital lose power too?”

“For a minute, but we’ve got generators. I know you guys definitely don’t.”

He chuckled, “It’s on the very long to-do list.”

“How’s Ana? She hates the dark.”

“Angel’s got her right now,” EZ pinned the phone between his ear and his shoulder so he could keep scouring the room, even though that sent it into darkness by blocking the flashlight, “I’m getting flashlights and candles.”

Daniela laughed, “You guys have candles?”

“The ones you gave us,” he chuckled.

“When you guys moved in years ago?” she laughed in disbelief.

“How often do you see us lighting candles here?”

“Fair,” she sighed, “Alright, I just wanted to check in and make sure that you guys were alright. Give me a call if you need anything, or if you need me to come by and pick her up.”

“We got it under control. Go save lives and whatever else you do.”

He could hear the smile in her voice, “Love you, EZ.”

“Love you too,” he hung up the phone and gathered up everything that he’d found.

Waking back into the living room, the first thing he heard was Angel doing his best imitation of Patrick Star. Angel was trying not to laugh as he said, “Who you callin’ Pinhead?”

Ana immediately broke into a fit of giggles, and both brothers couldn’t hide their relief at the sound. As long as they could keep her amused and keep her mind off the lack of electricity, they should be alright.

“I got flashlights,” EZ said as he tossed one to Angel, “and candles,” he set them down on the coffee table and pulled a lighter out of the drawer to light them, “so I think we just might be alright for the night.”

“You know what I was thinkin’?” Angel asked as he scooped his niece into his lap, tickling her and making her laugh and squirm.

“You were thinking?” EZ shot back with a smirk as he lit the candles.

Angel sucked his teeth, “Funny. Anyway, I was thinking that Ana here should help us make a fort.”

“A fort?” she repeated as she took the flashlight from Angel, turning it on and shining it around the room.

“Yea. Was thinking we could grab some extra blankets and pillows and make a fort out here.”

“Yea!” the excitement was palpable in her voice.

“Cool,” Angel nodded as he watched her waving the flashlight around, getting more entertainment than he should’ve each time she accidentally shined it in EZ’s eyes.

A minute passed and neither brother moved from where they were sitting. EZ was camped by the coffee table and Angel on the couch, both of them waiting for the other to go and grab the pillows and blankets for their construction project. Clearly Ana wasn’t going to be the one who was going to go deeper into the house in the pitch black.

“I got the candles,” EZ finally said, “Your turn.”

Angel rolled his eyes but he didn’t argue about it. He gently picked Ana up and passed her off to EZ, tossing her just slightly to get a laugh out of her before EZ caught her. EZ kept her busy with picking out places to put the candles while Angel went and got everything that they needed for their fort.

Just like with groceries, Angel was determined to get everything done in one trip. Going into his own room, since he most likely wouldn’t be sleeping there for the night anyway, he grabbed the comforter and top sheet off his bed, along with the pillows by the headboard. Draping the blanket and sheet around his shoulders, he tucked the pillows under one arm before heading to the dining room to grab a couple chairs to bring with him. He looked like a character out of one of Ana’s shows as he carefully waddled back into the living room, trying not to drop anything or bump into anything.

EZ laughed, shaking his head at the sight of his brother, “The chairs really necessary?”

“Want the fort to be tall enough to not give you back problems?” he paused and when EZ didn’t have an immediate response, he nodded, “That’s what I thought,” he turned his attention to Ana, who was curled up in EZ lap with a flashlight, “Alright, Anita, I know your mom tells me all the time you’re a doctor. You’re a contractor tonight, girl,” he tossed a pillow to her with a laugh, “Get up and help me with this.”

It was a wholesome scene, truly. The three of them working together to put the fort together. Angel and EZ were constantly throwing pillows at each other, getting a good amount of laughter out of their niece in the process. Despite the fact that they were working in the dim glow of candlelight and a few scattered flashlights, they managed to get it done. Fort construction felt much more difficult for the Reyes brothers now than it had when they were kids, but they finally got back into the groove of it. Soon enough, the three of them were sprawled out underneath the roof of a blanket and sheet, surrounded by pillows and another blanket that EZ had gone and gotten.

Ana was half laying down, blanket draped over her legs as she leaned against EZ’s side. Both the Reyes brothers were sitting cross-legged underneath the cover of the blanket roof, Angel with a pillow in his lap that he promptly tossed back on the floor before tipping over and letting his head rest on it.

“Nap time now, right?” he said with a smile.

Ana giggled, pushing against his chest with her blanket-covered feet, “No way!”

“You know what I was thinking?” EZ said, toying with Ana’s ponytail. He waited until both of them were looking at him before he continued, “Since the power is out, I was thinking that maybe we should dig into the ice cream I bought before it melts,” he gave her ponytail a playful tug, “Can’t let it go to waste.”

Ana’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, “Yes!”

EZ chuckled, “Alright. You stay here and guard the fort,” he handed her the flashlight that was on the other side of him, “As always, keep an eye on Angel. I’ll be right back.”

Karma for laughing at EZ when he was getting the light shined in his eyes was coming back for Angel quickly when Ana started doing the same exact thing to him. Angel would never be able to tell for sure if EZ did it on purpose, but he had his suspicions. Luckily it didn’t last long, because soon enough EZ reappeared with three large bowls of ice cream, carefully handing them off as he crawled back into the fort.

Ana might’ve been the youngest, but EZ and Angel were the ones who looked the most like children as they tucked into their dessert in their blanket fort. The whole idea may have been to help keep Ana busy and distracted so she wouldn’t get freaked out from the power outage, but somewhere along the way the two of them definitely forgot that that was the original mission.

Surprisingly enough, Ana didn’t get hit with any kind of insane sugar high after her dessert. It didn’t take long after setting her bowl aside for her to pass out between her uncles, blanket up over her chin and face nearly hidden in the puffy pillow she’d chosen. Once he was sure that she was out, EZ carefully left the fort to blow out the candles that were scattered around the living room before coming back to his rightful place inside their in-home castle. Both Angel and EZ were starting to get hit with a bit of exhaustion too as they managed to squeeze themselves into laying positions around their niece.

“This wasn’t the type of blackout I was planning on a Friday night,” Angel said, trying to keep his laughter quiet so as not to wake up his niece.

EZ chuckled, shaking his head as he stared up at the blanket above them, “You’ll still be just as tired tomorrow. Don’t worry.”

Angel was about to say something in response, but just as he opened his mouth, Ana twitched in her sleep and accidentally kicked him in the stomach. He winced, shaking his head as he tried to keep his voice at a harsh whisper, “Motherfucker.”

EZ laughed quietly, “I don’t think you’re supposed to be calling your niece a motherfucker.”

“I am if she’s bein’ one,” he shot back, carefully maneuvering her legs to try and keep that from happening again.

“Dani used to do the same shit,” he smiled at the memory.

“Oh, god,” Angel laughed, running his hands down his face, “I fuckin’ know. My legs used to get all bruised up from her.”

“Yea,” EZ lifted his head to get a better look at his brother, “Now she just bruises up your face.”

“If there wasn’t a kid between us, I’d bruise up your face right now.”

“No chance,” EZ let his head drop back on the pillow with a laugh.

“Motherfucker,” Angel mumbled, shaking his head.

“What was that?”

“I called you a motherfucker,” Angel laughed, “and I ain’t sorry about it.”

EZ chuckled, “Go to sleep. You get grumpy like Ana when you’re tired.”

Angel rolled his eyes even though EZ couldn’t see him, “Shut up,” he shook his head, but he still rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon before all the lights came back on and woke them all up.

[ravennaortiz]

Ravennas OC: Daniela "Dani" Reyes

Background: Dani is the younger sister of Angel and EZ. She has been unlucky with love until her path crosses with Coco.

Catch her in Second Chances- WIP- Click here for a snippet

Second Chances- Completed Story

[drabbles-mc]

WIP Game

Rules: reveal the titles of the documents in your WIP folder and tag as many people as there are documents. Let others ask questions about the ones that interest them and post snippets or explain the contents as you see fit! (i never have enough people to tag to tackle my insane list of wips lmfao)

I got tagged by @bullet-prooflove! 💞 The way these games always drag me clean through the fuckin' mud because I'm always adding to my wips with no end in sight 😂 To keep this manageable, I'm just going to post the WIPs that I haven't uploaded anything of yet lmao

No Vacancy - Bucky Barnes x F!Reader, Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Brassknuckle - Edward Horniman x F!Reader

Hands All Over - Rick Flag x F!Reader

The Real Deal - Sydney Adamu & Mikey Berzatto & Richie Jerimovich

Back the Same - Elias Ryker x Kristin Ortega

Against All Odds - Juice Ortiz x OC Chris Teller

Your Mess - Nacho Varga x F!Reader

There and Back - Nestor Oceteva x Erin Thomas

Untitled - Marcus Brooks x OC

Bad Ideas - Canche x OC Lia Reyes

Honest with Me - Juice x OC

Beautiful Stranger - Bucky Barnes x Natasha Romanoff

Already Met - Javier Peña x F!Reader

Off-Limits - Gilly Lopez x OC Tasha Losa-Harris

They Were Roommates - Angel Reyes x OC Luciana Rodriguez, Nestor Oceteva x OC Jazmin Werner

Rookie Mistakes - Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Getting Off Easy - EZ Reyes x Nestor Oceteva

Untitled - Bloodline & Outer Banks Crossover

For Everything - Happy Lowman x OC Natalie Rose Teller

Brick by Brick - Opie Winston x OC Audra Martin

Five Year Plan - Horacio Carrillo x F!Reader

Coming to Terms - Rafe Cameron x OC

Off the Ropes - Mayans Boxing AU

Pieces Into Place - EZ Reyes x OC Tala Clemente

Something New - Happy Lowman & OC Breanna Wilson

From the Start - Opie Winston x OC Chris Teller

Better Than That - Angel Reyes x F!Reader, Coco Cruz x F!Reader

Chaos at the Lakehouse - SOA & OCs

How We Got Here - Coco Cruz x OC Daniela Reyes

5 Times - Jax Teller & OC Diedra Lowman

the way i love all of these stories and desperately want them all to see the light of day eventually lmao. but feel free to fire away! i'm more than happy to talk about any and all of them 🥰

Tagging (no pressure as always): @darqchilddaydreamz @spaghettificationandpretzels @garbinge @ashlingiswriting @ravennaortiz @late-to-the-party-81 @proceduralpassion @artemiseamoon and anyone else who wants to join! 🥰

[drabbles-mc]

Whumpril Masterlist

Putting all of my Whumpril fics (and their respective pairings) under the cut! I will work on adding all of them to my main masterlist (which you can find Here), but I figured it would be cool to just have one dedicated to Whumpril!

Day 1: Idle Hands (Pope Heyward x Cleo)

Day 2: Get Some Rest (Marcus Alvarez x F!Reader)

Day 3: Tailed (Happy Lowman x F!Reader)

Day 4: The Same Mistakes (Isabella Bautista)

Day 5: Should've Seen It Coming (Nacho Varga x F!Reader)

Day 6: Doctor Recommended (Nestor Oceteva & Erin Thomas)

Day 7: It's Gonna Hurt (Steve Murphy x Connie Murphy)

Day 8: Whatever You Can (Opie Winston & OC Veronica Winston)

Day 9: Who Did This? (Jax Teller & OC Diedra Lowman)

Day 10: On My Own (Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers)

Day 11: What Did You Do? (Richie Jerimovich & Mikey Berzatto)

Day 12: Grave Mistakes (Horacio Carrillo & OC Diego Ramírez)

Day 13: Last Resort (John Wick & GN!Reader)

Day 14: I Said I'm Fine (JJ Maybank x F!Reader)

Day 15: Again and Again Part 3 (Juice Ortiz & Marcus Alvarez)

Day 16: Collateral Damage (Angel Reyes x GN!Reader)

Day 17: I Can't Do This (John B Routledge x F!Reader)

Day 18: All For Nothing (Angel Reyes & F!Reader)

Day 19: Flashbacks (EZ Reyes x F!Reader)

Day 20: Do I Know You? (Harry Hart x Merlin)

Day 21: Left Behind (Nestor Oceteva x Erin Thomas)

Day 22: Nothing New Part 2 (EZ Reyes x OC Lola Ortega)

Day 23: Nothing To Tell (Tig Trager & OC Claire Morrow)

Day 24: What Have You Done? (Horacio Carrillo & GN!Reader)

Day 25: More To Say (Javier Peña & GN!Reader)

Day 26: Won't Leave You Behind (Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers)

Day 27: Good For Something (Horacio Carrillo x GN!Reader)

Day 28: The Worst Of It (Coco Cruz x OC Daniela Reyes)

Day 29: Out Of Time (Amado Carrillo Fuentes x F!Reader)

Day 30: Far From Over (Gilly Lopez x OC Josephine Costa)

[drabbles-mc]

Again and Again (Part 2)

Mayans!Juice AU

Whumptober 2022: No.26 No One Left Behind- “Why did you save me?”

Part 1 can be found Here

Warnings: 18+, angst, mentions of blood/injuries, meds, talks of mental health

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: The way that this was just supposed to be a simple little follow-up fic to the first part and then I decided to bring in one of my OCs (Daniela, my beloved 😌) and just started building this out into its own thing. We have Reyes Brothers in this now along with Marcus. God. I have no self control. Anyway! Enjoy. 😂

SOA Taglist: @garbinge​ @espieviolet99​ @mijop​ @chibsytelford​ @thanossexual​ @anditsmywholeheart​ @i-just-read-stuff​ @bport76​ @withmyteeth​ @unicornucopia-fuckers​ @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @punkgoddess-98​ @paintballkid711​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​​ @jitterbugs927​​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​​ @mijagif​​ @frattsparty​​ @winchestershiresauce​​ @bellisperennis0​​ @crowfootwrites​​ @redpoodlern​​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​​ @mveggieburger​​ @choochoo284​​ @littlekittymeow​​ @beardsanddetectives​​ @juicyortiz​​ @i-love-scott-mccall​​ @narcolini​​ @passionatewrites​​ @darqchilddaydreamz​​ @thatboyaintrightortiz (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Juice had barely been conscious in the back seat of the van. Caught between the exhaustion of the day, the relief of being found, and the strain of knowing that he had been ready to go and then he didn’t get to, he didn’t have anything left in him. He was barely keeping his eyes open, the door and the window of the van doing more to keep him upright in the seat than his muscles were.

He wasn’t paying attention to where they were going. He was assuming that they were going to take him to the clubhouse, or to a hospital. The clubhouse seemed more likely given the circumstances—hospitals would have too many questions about how he ended up the way that he did. His head was resting against the cool glass of the window, the pangs of pain that went through his skull each time the car hit a bump in the road barely even registered with him. It was probably better that way.

Marcus was shotgun, Angel sitting behind the wheel. When Angel went to turn off the main road to start heading towards the clubhouse, Marcus waved him off. Angel was confused, but he kept going, keeping them on the path towards town.

“Where, uh, where we going?” he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel.

Marcus put his head back against the headrest. He jutted his chin out to gesture for Angel to keep going the way he was. “Not the clubhouse.”

“The guys are gonna wanna know—”

“You can tell ‘em when you go to the clubhouse.” He paused, wishing he could ignore the look of confusion that was so evident on Angel’s face. “Juice has a place on the other end of town. Bring us there.”

Angel nodded, his gaze flicking up to the rearview mirror for a moment to look at Juice, half passed out in the back seat. “Yea, alright.” He looked over at Marcus for a moment. “You know how to get there?”

Marcus nodded. “Yea.”

Angel felt like he had a handful of questions to ask about all of that, but now wasn’t the time. Instead, he just fixed his eyes on the road, stuffing down his nosey feelings until there was a more appropriate time. “Alright.”

No one made any casual conversation for the rest of the ride. It was just the three of them, and truthfully it was the quietest that Marcus could remember either Angel or Juice being. The only breaks in the silence were when Marcus was giving Angel directions, telling him when and where to turn.

Soon enough, they were pulling into the driveway of Juice’s house. Angel threw the van in park but didn’t cut the ignition. He looked over at Marcus, waiting for a cue of some kind. Marcus waited a few seconds, the look on his face clearly showing that he was weighing out his options.

He cleared his throat, “Juice?”

He hadn’t been expecting Juice to hear it, but he did. He slowly peeled himself off of the window, not really giving much of a response besides a grunt.

Marcus frowned in thought. “You’re home.”

Juice cleared his throat, giving a slow nod. “Right.”

Even though Marcus wasn’t looking back over his shoulder at Juice, he could still hear the slowness in his movements, the way it was still taking much more work that it should’ve. Marcus already hadn’t planned on leaving Juice to his own devices in light of everything, but this was all the confirmation that he needed.

He looked over at Angel and nodded towards the house. “Come on.”

Angel’s eyes widened but he didn’t protest, taking the keys out of the ignition and hopping out of the car. He lingered by the front of the van as he watched Marcus get out of the car, and then Juice. Juice didn’t need Marcus to support him like he had when they found him. But he was still wobbly on his feet, moving slowly.

Both Marcus and Angel allowed Juice to walk in front of them, Angel bringing up the back of the pack. Juice reached into his kutte and pulled out his keys. He singled out the one he needed, slipping it into the lock. As he pushed the front door open, he looked back at Marcus and Angel. He didn’t invite them in, but he also didn’t turn them away. He knew that they were going to do whatever they were going to do and he didn’t have the energy to fight them on it. He pulled the key from the door but left it open behind him as he walked in.

Marcus followed with no hesitation, but Angel paused before crossing the threshold of the doorway. Juice didn’t even make it to his room, instead dropping himself onto the couch in his living room. Marcus made his way over to the kitchen, digging around for whatever he was looking for. Angel suddenly felt like he was the one who was out of place despite the fact that he wasn’t the new guy.

He saw the way that Juice sank into the couch cushions as he sat there, not even bothering to go and change out of his clothes even though he desperately needed to. In that moment Angel started to wonder why Marcus has asked him to tag along—he felt like he would be more useful at the clubhouse.

Angel had never tried to walk so quietly as he went to meet Marcus in the kitchen. He was distracted for a moment by how everything seemed to perfectly organized and in place. That was something he hadn’t seen coming. It reminded him of EZ’s trailer but way more intense. It was another question for another time.

“Hey, Padrino,” Angel kept his voice hushed, “What…what exactly am I doing here?”

Marcus pulled a coffee mug out of the cabinet as he spoke. “Need you to do me a favor.”

Angel nodded, glad for some direction. “Anything. What’s up?”

Marcus turned the coffee maker on before turning so he was facing Angel head-on. “Call your sister for me.”

Angel’s face contorted in confusion. “My sis—Dani?”

“Got another sister?”

He shook his head, “No, no. I just, what do you need Dani for?”

Marcus nodded towards the living room where Juice was sprawled out, “Kid’s gotta get checked out. Can’t bring him to a hospital.”

Angel sighed, feeling like he was in no place to be calling favors in from his sister. But maybe if he framed it as a favor for Marcus, a favor for the new kid, she might just go for it. Besides, he didn’t really want to tell Marcus no.

“Alright. Yea. I’ll, I’ll give her a call.” He paused, “You, uh, need me to stay?”

Marcus frowned slightly. “She need a babysitter to do her job?”

“No.” Angel toyed with the van keys in his hands. “Alright. I’ll…I’ll head back and let the guys know what’s up. I’ll call Dani, have one of the guys bring her over or somethin’.”

He nodded. “Good.” He waited a beat. “Go, then.”

“Shit, yea.” He nodded, quickly walking back towards the door.

He turned and looked over his shoulder as he reached for the doorknob. Juice’s eyes were closed, head rested against the back of the sofa. His arms hung limply at his sides. Angel wasn’t really one to dole out pity to anyone, and he had his own reservations about the entire situation surrounding Juice. He was also able to acknowledge, though, that this was going to change things. He stared at Juice for another second, trying to figure out if anything he could think to say would be useful at all, and then decided against it. He slipped out the door shutting it quietly behind him as he headed off on the mission Marcus had given him.

Marcus walked over, setting one mug on the coffee table, keeping one held tight in his grasp as he sat on the recliner kitty-corner to Juice’s couch. The mug in his hands had coffee, something to help keep him alert when the exhaustion of the day started to set in with him too. Juice’s had tea, something to hopefully help take the edge off along with whatever painkillers Angel’s sister was going to come over with.

Juice had no idea how long the two of them had been sitting there silently before he tried to clear his throat. The action just ended up making himself cough more. Defeat flooded his expression again, like he didn’t even know why he bothered to try and talk. He dropped his face into his hands, his shoulders trembling as he tried not to cry. He didn’t even notice the tackiness of the blood from the cut on his head against his hand. Marcus didn’t say anything, patiently, silently waiting for Juice to be able to say what he had to say.

“What’s gonna,” Juice coughed again, wincing from the pain it sent throughout his chest, throughout the rest of his body, “happen now?”

“We’re gonna get you checked out.”

“No.” He shook his head slightly. Another cough. Another wince. “With the cartel.”

Marcus took a sip of his coffee before answering. “We’ll handle it.

There was so much that Juice wanted to say, wanted to argue. But it felt like it might actually kill him to try and say it. His lungs weren’t thrilled about being used for much of anything right now. Depending on how long it would take for him to recover, Juice almost wished that they hadn’t gotten there in time. He shook his head at himself at the thought, like Marcus would be able to hear how ungrateful he was. What he didn’t realize that even though Marcus couldn’t read his mind, he could read Juice’s facial expressions just fine. He wasn’t going to broach the topic just yet, but there would be a time when the two of them would have to sit down and talk about it.

“The blowback…” Juice’s voice trailed off, hardly a whisper to start with.

“Blowback was gonna happen no matter how today played out.” Marcus spoke in such absolutes. It was hard not to feel reassured in his presence.

Juice let out another small cough, trying to keep them as under control as possible. He reached for the mug full of tea. He didn’t drink it, just held it to feel the warmth against his hands. He tried not to look too long at the cuts and bruises on his wrists.

“What happened,” Marcus spoke up, his voice quiet but certain, “wasn’t your fault, huh? If it wasn’t you—”

“It was.”

He frowned. “It was.”

“What if,” he coughed, careful not to spill the tea in his hands, “the universe is just trying to—”

“Don’t,” Marcus cut him off with a shake of his head. “If the universe worked like that, all of us would be gone already. Wouldn’t have made it this far.”

Tears stung at Juice’s eyes and he didn’t have the strength or the energy to try and fight them. “You should’ve just let them have me.”

“What good would that have done?”

Juice didn’t answer the question, not able to really articulate what he wanted to say in response to it. His thoughts were still so foggy, his brain as tired as his body. All he could think of was that Marcus seemed to be throwing him an endless supply of lifelines and he couldn’t fucking wrap his head around why. All the people to put his time into, to vouch for, and yet somehow he settled on Juice. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“Why did you save me?” Juice asked, unable to look Marcus in the eyes as he said it.

“I told you—we take care of our own.”

There were a few beats of silence before Juice said, “I know I should be happy, but…”

Marcus listened as Juice coughed. “Let’s get you patched up first, alright? Then worry about the rest of it.”

“What about before?” Juice kept his voice soft enough, taking shallow enough breaths to not aggravate his cough again.

“Before?”

“Bringing me here. To Santo Padre.”

Marcus’s lips turned into a pensive frown, realizing that Juice’s mind was still mulling over his original quesiton. “Same reason.”

Juice didn’t say anything else after that. He had a feeling it was all going to keep circling back to that. If the universe decided to be kind to him one day down the road, Marcus would say those words to him again and he’d actually believe them, and believe that he deserved to hear them. That seemed like a pipe-dream for the moment.

Marcus didn’t really have to stay. No one had to stay with Juice, but especially not Marcus. But he did. Juice knew why without asking. He wished that he could say it was overkill, but it really wasn’t. It wasn’t as though Marcus needed to be there to make sure that Juice got checked out and patched up alright. He was staying to make sure that Juice didn’t do anything to himself, didn’t cause irreparable damage or do something that he wouldn’t ever be able to take back. Juice felt like a child being babysat, but he didn’t have the fight left in him to have a real problem with it.

The house was silent until EZ showed up with his sister. Judging by the soft, sympathetic look on Daniela’s face, someone had told her what she was about to be walking into. Juice hadn’t ever been good at handling people’s pity. Still, she didn’t seem too fazed as she walked over and sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. On a different day, Juice would’ve had more to say, maybe even been nervous to talk to her, to meet her. But at this point he was surprised that his eyes were still open.

“I’m Daniela,” she introduced herself, resting her hands in her lap, “EZ’s sister.” She paused, watching as Juice looked at her, giving her a small nod. “Juice, right?” He nodded again, still silent. “Mind if I patch you up a little bit, Juice?”

She spoke to him like a dog she was rescuing from the shelter, like a kicked puppy that you couldn’t move too quickly around. Juice hated that it felt comforting. He gave another nod, forcing out a verbal response, “Okay.”

She nodded once. “Okay.”

Opening up her medical kit, she started pulling out all of the things that she thought she would need. Marcus stayed parked in the recliner, watching the scene unfold. EZ stood on the opposite side of the coffee table from his sister, hands gripping the edges of his kutte the way that they always were. Daniela seemed to be ignoring everyone present as she pulled on her gloves and got her supplies situated.

She grabbed her stethoscope, holding it up to Juice. “Can I slide this underneath your shirt? So I can hear you breathe?”

Juice nodded, sliding to the edge of the couch so she could reach him more easily. When she reached for the hem of his shirt, she felt how it was still damp. Her heart sank into her chest.

“Take this off for me?” she asked. Juice hesitated, but did as she asked. She looked between Marcus and her brother. “A dry set for when we’re done here would be good.”

Marcus wasn’t going to send EZ any deeper into Juice’s house than he already was. He looked at Juice, who gave the smallest nod and the simple direction of, “Dresser,” before settling back for Daniela to keep working on him. She warned him that it was going to feel a little cold, but he still flinched slightly at the contact. She apologized as she slid the metal into the correct position.

“I know it hurts, but I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay?”

Juice nodded, starting to take a slow, deep breath as instructed. It took no time at all for him to fall into a coughing fit. Daniela frowned, feeling bad for putting him through it, but she needed to know how bad it was. Angel hadn’t been very specific about what had happened, and EZ hadn’t been there so he couldn’t really offer up anything that Angel hadn’t already told him.

Setting the stethoscope off to the side, she said, “It’ll be a little bit before your breathing gets completely back to normal. So, you know,” she looked back and forth between Juice and Marcus who had reappeared with what looked to be a t-shirt and sweatpants, “take it easy. Light duty or whatever, okay?” She gestured towards his head. “Can I see?”

EZ watched as Daniela so gingerly handled Juice. It couldn’t be more different than how she was when she was taking care of him or Angel, or most of the other guys for that matter. She could feel that the circumstances were different, that Juice was different. She wasn’t snarky or brash with him the way that she tended to get with most of the guys in the club.

“On the bright side,” she said as she started to stitch the cut after cleaning the blood away, “it missed the tattoo.”

Juice hummed in acknowledgment, not able to nod while she threaded his cut back together. Despite the gloves on her hands, her touch still somehow felt soft and warm. It was enough to not make him try and pull away.

She was gentle, methodical with the way that she tended to the rest of his wounds. The cuts and bruises littered across his face, neck, and knuckles were easy enough to take care of. His wrists and ankles were in worse shape, and she took her time on those. Juice watched her as she worked, and it seemed like she pretty much tuned out everything else that was going on around them.

When she was done, she tossed her gloves into the garbage can, along with the dirty, bloody cotton balls and medical wipes she’d used on him. She started packing up the rest of her kit as she spoke.

“I’ll leave you my number. Call me if anything gets worse or if things start to feel different but not better. Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff is just going to take time. I’ll leave you some meds for the pain, but more than anything you need rest.” She scribbled her name and number down on a piece of junk mail sitting on his table. She wanted to say, “And what you really need to do is talk to someone about whatever the fuck happened to you.” But she didn’t know him like that.

“Thank you,” Juice forced out.

“Of course.” She nodded. “I can take your stitches out when it’s time, too, so just let me know when and where. I’ll make sure to bring my stuff.” She looked back and forth between her brother and Marcus. “I’d really like if someone could stay with him for the next twelve hours or so. Can’t be too careful with lung stuff.”

Marcus nodded. “I’m staying.”

Relief flooded over Daniela’s features. “Good.” She paused. “Actually, Marcus, I gotta talk to you about something.” She lifted her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Walk me out?” Marcus nodded and set his coffee mug down. Daniela gave one last look over at Juice, giving him a small smile. “Make sure you put dry clothes on, okay?”

Juice and EZ exchanged head-nods for a goodbye. It was more than they had given each other in greeting—pleasantries weren’t really at the top of anyone’s priority list. EZ trailed a few steps behind his sister and Marcus. When all three of them were out the door, EZ headed right for Daniela’s car to give the two of them a minute of semi-privacy.

Daniela watched, waiting for her brother to sit down in the passenger seat of her car before turning to look back at Marcus. She saw him on the brink of saying something and held her hand up to stop him. “I’m not going to ask. It’s not…not really my business. But, Marcus, he needs more than just some stitches and bedrest.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Concern was embedded in her blood—she couldn’t try to hide it.

“I do. That’s why I’m staying.”

“It’s going to be a long road coming back from…all of that.”

“We got him, Dani,” Marcus reassured her with a nod. He pulled her into a half-hug, kissing the side of her head. “Thank you.”

She leaned into the hug. “I’ll always help when I can.”

There was nothing more for them to say, so she headed back towards the car. Marcus waited until they were out of the driveway before heading back into the house, locking the door behind him.

When he turned around, he saw that Juice had changed into the dry set of clothes, the damp ones now in a heap on the floor next to the couch. Marcus slowly walked over, looking at how Juice was stretched out across the cushions now as he laid. The lid was off the bottle of painkillers, but it looked like he’d actually only taken the amount that Daniela had prescribed him. It was a small win.

Marcus picked up the mug that had been full of tea, pleased to find it empty. He brought it over, setting it in the sink before going back to the living room. He grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa and carefully draped it over Juice’s sleeping form. He ran his hands over his face, taking a deep breath as he tried to figure out what it was all going to be like going forward. He meant it when they said that they take care of their own. He just didn’t know what that meant now.

[ravennaortiz]

Ravennas OC's- Click on each lovely ladies name to find a moodboard for her, learn a bit about her and see which stories you will find her in!

Chloe Morrow

Kara Kozik-TBA

Piper Kay Winston

Raven Trager

Rockette Teller

Scarlett Teller

Stormie Rayne Epps

Widow Maker

Cori Lowman

Guadalupe Mendoza

Daniela "Dani" Reyes

[drabbles-mc]

WIP Game

The loml @acrossthesestars tagged me to post all the WIPs I’ve currently got in rotation. Every time I do one of these games the number of WIPs only gets higher instead of lower and I’m just accepting that. 😂 To try and keep the post a manageable length, I’m only gonna post the WIPs that I haven’t already started posting on here.

For the game, send the fic title and I’ll post a snippet or answer whatever question you wanna ask about it! As always, feel free to send me messages/asks about any of these or even the WIPs that I’ve already started posting on here. It gets my brain going with ideas 👀

Bad Ideas (Canche x Reyes!OFC)

Tragic (Angel x OFC)

Boxing AU (Mayans x OFC)

Untitled Prospect Nestor Fic (Nestor x F!Reyes!Reader)

Against All Odds (Juice Ortiz x Chris Teller)

Clueless (Javier Peña x F!Reader)

They Were Roommates (Nestor x OFC)

Make It Up (Revised) (Mayans x F!Reader)

Brick by Brick (Opie x OFC)

Beautician AU (Leticia Cruz & OCs)

Figuring It Out (Happy Lowman & OFC)

From the Start (Opie x Chris Teller)

Better Than That (Angel Reyes x F!Reader / Coco Cruz x F!Reader)

For Everything (Happy Lowman x Natalie Rose Teller)

Diego Scenes (OC Diego Ramirez x F!Reader)

Chaos at the Lakehouse (SOA x OCs)

Still Alive (Angel x F!Reader)

On Your Mind (Carrillo x OFC)

There and Back (Nestor x Erin)

How We Got Here (Coco x Daniela Reyes)

Tryst (Kozik x F!Reader)

Recovery (Juice x F!Reader)

Coming to Terms (Rafe x OFC)

5 Times (Jax x Diedra Lowman)

Always (EZ x F!Reader)

Honest With Me (Juice x OFC)

Favorite Place (Riz x F!Reader)

Pieces Into Place (EZ x OFC)

I hate that this list is shorter than it would be if I actually took a stab at writing for the fandoms that I’ve been thinking about lately 😅 I’m out of control and must be stopped.

Tagging (no pressure if you don’t want to have to come to terms with your WIP folder the way I just did lmao): @thatsfuckingpathetic @lady-writes20 @passionatewrites @ashlingiswriting @narcolini @lovebarefootblonde @twistnet and anyone else who wants to share! (Also if I didn’t tag you but you post please tag me I love seeing people’s WIP lists 👀)

[drabbles-mc]

D, F, G!

Thanks for these! 🥰

D. Any drawings or pictures that had a big influence on your writing?: I feel like I'm always scrolling through pictures on different websites looking for inspo. However, this picture that i came across somewhere along the way

and it became a huge source of inspo for my OC Daniela!

F. What stories are you planning for the future?: As we all know I have a catastrophic number of wips 😂 But! s of right now, my main focuses coming into 2023 are: a Nacho x F!Reader fic, a Canche x OFC fic, and Steve Murphy x F!Reader fic, and my EZ Reyes x OFC fic Remind Me! I'm sure I'll put out other stuff and pluck away at things because focusing is not my strong suit. But those are my top priorities as of right now!

G. Where do you think you grew the most this year?: I think that I got better at putting down boundaries as a writer. I worked really hard on not feeling so compelled to write things that I didn't really want to write. It was tough for the people-pleaser in me, especially when it came to requests, but I definitely made some progress! And, in terms of actual writing skills, I think I definitely got better at getting out of my comfort zone with certain things. I did a few month-long fic-a-day challenges that really pushed me! And I did NaNo! So, all in all, a busy year!

End of the Year Writing Asks!

[drabbles-mc]

Caretaker

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & Sister!OFC (Daniela Reyes)

Request by @cherieann-2001: May I Please get an Ez, Angel, Baby Sister story where the guys take care of their niece for the weekend ( baby sister and Cocos kid) while she takes care of Pops whose sick. (Coco is unfortunately out of the picture he is trying to clean up from drugs and baby sister kicked him to the curb when she caught him with Hope).

Warnings: language, alcohol, slight family tension, super super mild angst

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: I included everything from the request except the cheating thing. Only reason I left it out is because I want to write more for this entire dynamic down the road and I don’t like including cheating in fics where I’m planning on doing any sort of a redemption arc. Total “me” thing lol. Everything else is there, though. So, enjoy the introduction to Daniela and Ana! xo

Angel/EZ Taglist: @helli4nthus @starrynite7114 @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @beardburnsupersoldiers @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @garbinge @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @withmyteeth @encounterthepast @lilacyennefer @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @luckyharley1903 @masterlistforimagines @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @black-repunzel99​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @punkgoddess-98​ @lexondeck​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindos​ @amorestevens​ @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @mveggieburger​ @thanossexual​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @bruxasolta​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @ly--canthrope​ @noz4a2​ @doritosandjellybeans​ (If you want to be added just let me know!)

Daniela took a deep breath as she rolled into the driveway at Angel’s house. Cutting the ignition, she leaned her head back against the headrest, shutting her eyes for a moment. Her daughter, however, didn’t have any of the same hesitation as she practically threw herself out of the back seat and took off up the driveway. Daniela couldn’t help but to chuckle and shake her head slightly, noticing how her daughter forgot to grab her little overnight bag in all of her excitement.

Stepping out from the driver’s seat, she went and grabbed the bag before making the walk up the driveway, something that felt much longer than it really was. The opportunity to knock had already been stripped away as her daughter burst through the door, immediately greeted by her two uncles who were laughing on the other side.

Angel crouched down to catch her as she charged directly for him, a beaming grin on his face as he scooped her up and swung her around in a hug, “Anita!” he lowered her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “What’s up, small fry? We missed you.”

She giggled, flitting over to her other uncle who was patiently waiting to give her a hug, “I missed you too,” she mumbled into his shirt.

While EZ was wrapped up with his niece, Angel took the time to step in and wrap his sister in a hug, “Hey, Dani,” he gave her a squeeze.

She couldn’t deny that there was a large sense of comfort in the gesture, “Hey, Angel,” she stepped back, getting her daughters attention, “Ana, can you take this to your room, please?” she handed over the bag in her hands.

Ana let out a huff at being given a task, but she knew better than to give her mom attitude. She swiped the bag from Daniela’s hand and took off towards the guest room that she took over every time she came to stay with her tío Angel.

EZ stepped in and hugged his sister, pressing a kiss on the side of her head, “Sup, trouble?”

She laughed, shaking her head, “Trouble is a more fitting name for the little girl who is gonna be wreaking havoc here for the next couple days,” she paused, her expression shifting to be a little more serious, “Thanks again for this, guys. I really appreciate it.”

Angel shrugged, “Don’t gotta thank us. We’re never gonna say no to the little princesa.”

“Or your sister, right?” she cocked an eyebrow.

Angel made the maybe motion with his hand, “Ehhh…”

Daniela laughed as she gave him a good-natured shove, “Cállete.”

Angel pulled her against his side, draping his arm around her shoulders with ease, “Nah, but for real, thanks for looking after Pops.”

She shrugged, “It’s fine—that’s what I get for going to nursing school, right?”

EZ chuckled, nodding, “That’s right.”

On the other end of the hall, Daniela could see her daughter darting back and forth between the rooms, checking to see what had changed since the last time she was there, “Sure you guys can handle her for the whole weekend? She’s not a baby anymore, you know.”

“I think between the two of us, we’ll be alright,” EZ stuffed his hands into his pockets.

She could tell by the expression on Angel’s face that he wanted to actually have a semi-serious conversation about something. The opportunity was lost, though, as Ana came bounding back into the room. EZ could pick up on the tension that was starting to fill the air, though, so he made quick work of distracting his niece and bringing her to the kitchen to start pulling lunch together so that Angel and Daniela could talk to each other uninterrupted for a couple minutes, a conversation he was sure he didn’t really want to be part of anyway.

Daniela had a feeling she knew what was coming, but even so, she gently patted him on the back before pulling away to look at him easier, “What’s on your mind, Angel?”

He shook his head slightly, “Nothin’.”

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t bullshit me—you’re not good at it,” a half-smile crossed her features.

He chuckled, but there was a heaviness in his body language as he tried to figure out how to say what it was that he wanted to say, “You know I always love havin’ her here,” he nodded towards the kitchen where they both could hear Ana giggling with her uncle as they got into some kind of mischief, “I ain’t ever gonna say no to that. But, I was just, I dunno, I was wondering if maybe it wasn’t time for her to start seein’ Coco.”

Daniela clenched her jaw and shook her head, “He’s not ready for that.”

“He’s doin’ better, you know. He’s trying. I know you don’t got a lotta love for him right now but I just thought maybe—” he stopped himself short when he saw the look on her face.

Her glare tore through him from top to bottom, “I can separate my relationship with him from the rest of this. But he’s not ready to step up and be a dad yet. When he is? He’s more than welcome to come and visit her.”

“Yea but I just thought—”

“Angel, I love you, alright? But what he does with you and the club, and what happens with him, Ana, and I, are two completely separate things. Being ready to run with the fuckin’ MC and being ready to help take care of a kid are not the same.”

He nodded, eyes falling to the floor knowing that it wasn’t really his place to push any of it, “I know. I…I’m sorry, Dani. I just—”

She waved off his explanation, “I know, Angel. Believe me, I get it. And I know,” she cast a glance over at EZ who was watching Ana carefully get things set up for sandwiches, “I know it’s not easy on you guys because you’re around him all the time. But you gotta trust me, okay? I can’t…I don’t wanna do this without you. It’s hard enough without him, I don’t wanna lose you guys too.”

He shook his head, reaching to give her shoulder a light squeeze, “You always got us, alright?”

She nodded, pushing down the emotions that were welling up in her chest, “Thank you.”

“C’mere,” he pulled her back into a hug, “I love you, you know that, right?”

She nodded, “I know. Even when you’re being a total asshole,” she smirked.

“Hey,” he playfully slapped her shoulder as she pulled away from him, “watch your language, there’s kids here.”

She laughed, “Like she hasn’t heard it from you two before.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he laughed before tilting his head back, “Ay, Anita! Come say goodbye to your mom so she can leave and we can party.”

Daniela laughed, “Wow, I see how it is.”

Ana’s laughter filled the house as she bounded towards her mother, leaping to give her a hug, “Bye, Mama!”

Her mother laughed, hugging her daughter a little extra tight, “Adiós, chiquita. I love you.”

“I love you too!” she kissed her mom goodbye before dropping back down to the floor and scurrying back to the kitchen.

All three of them chuckled at the seemingly boundless energy and excitement the little girl contained. Daniela hugged them goodbye, making sure to thank them one more time before heading back out to her car.

It was a short drive from Angel’s house to their father’s. Still, she relished the calm and quiet. She always missed Ana the second she dropped her off anywhere, whether it was at school, or Angel’s, or Felipe’s, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t take advantage of the quiet while she could have it.

She saw the truck parked in the driveway, and there was something comforting about the familiarity of it all. He’d had that truck for as long as she could remember, and it had never run the risk of breaking down. It was amazing how things could last so long when you took care of them so well.

Hopping out, she grabbed her own overnight bag and made her way towards the front door. The house was quiet, no lights on, which wasn’t exactly surprising to her. She was just hoping that she would walk in to find him either in bed or on the couch, rather than trying to fix things around the house or tinkering in the garage. The man had never been good at resting—apparently that was something that ran in the family.

“Pop!” she called out as she walked through the house, “It’s me!”

His gruff, annoyed voice came from the living room, where the television was on but muted, “I told them I don’t need a goddamn babysitter.”

Daniela laughed as she walked in, “I’m not a babysitter, I’m a nurse. Which by the looks of it, is exactly what you need,” she leaned down and gave him a hug, kissing him on the cheek, “How you feelin, Pop?”

He waved her off, “I’m fine.”

She cocked her eyebrow, “Really? ‘Cause you kinda look like death warmed over. You been eating?”

Turning to look at her, he huffed, “I’m fine.”

There was a smile on her face as she rolled her eyes, taking solace in the fact that he at least wasn’t too sick to be the same grumpy man that she’d grown up with, “Right. Well, I’m gonna go throw my stuff in my room and we can continue this riveting conversation when I get back.”

When she came back into the living room, her long, wavy hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she had left her boots behind, opting to glide around Felipe’s house in just her socks. He was trying to hide it, but there was a tiny smile on Felipe’s face as he watched her move around the house with such ease and comfort. It was good to know that it was still home even if none of his children lived there anymore.

“I’m making lunch,” she patted him on the shoulder as she made her way to the kitchen, “So we can eat together,” she kissed her fingertips, pressing them to her mother’s urn as she walked by it, a habit that was instilled in the Reyes children.

Daniela was fussing around in the kitchen for all of a few minutes before she heard her father stirring in the living room. Chuckling to herself, she shook her head at the fact that even after all these years, even though she was a grown adult, he never would leave her in the kitchen alone for very long if he could help it.

“How is she?” Felipe asked as he sat down at the small kitchen table.

“Hm?” Daniela turned back to face her father, not having heard his question.

“Anita,” there was a softness in his tone as he said it, “Cómo está?”

Daniela smiled as she nodded, “Contenta,” she paused, chuckling as she turned back to the stove, “Ella quiere un gato, pero…” her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

Felipe laughed, leaning back in his chair, “It’ll be your cat, you know. At her age.”

She nodded as she reached for seasoning to shake into the pot, “Oh, I know. Trust me. That’s why we haven’t gotten one.”

There was a bit of silence between them before Felipe asked, “She with Angel and EZ this weekend?”

Daniela nodded, not responding verbally for fear of what direction the conversation was going to go. She showed up to make sure that he was doing alright and to help take care of him, not get into the finer details of her own life and relationships. Felipe had never been overly nosey with any of his children, trusting them to make the right decisions and letting them deal with the consequences when they didn’t. However, once Ana came into the picture, everything was different. Kids changed everything.

“Does she see him?” he finally asked when he realized that Daniela wasn’t going to give up the information willingly.

“See who?” she played dumb, not that it was believable at all.

Felipe didn’t buy into it, “Coco. Her father. Does she see him?”

Daniela shook her head as she stirred the pot on the stove, “No, she doesn’t.”

It was no secret that Felipe had no love left for Coco after everything that happened between him and Daniela. He knew that the dynamics between his children and the man in question were more complicated than the surface-level information he had, but that didn’t change how he felt when it came down to it. It was a topic that he never broached with his sons, knowing that it wasn’t really their business. He didn’t bring it up often with Daniela either, for that matter, and she wondered why now seemed like the ideal time for him to get into it with her. What about being trapped in the house together for the next two days made it seem like a good idea to have that conversation?

“Is that going to change anytime soon?” he asked.

She sighed, loudly, “I’m not here for relationship counseling, Pops. I’m here to make sure that, in Angel’s words, you don’t croak. Can we…can we not do this? Please?”

“Hmph,” he folded his arms across his chest, “He needs to get his shit together. You both deserve better, you and Ana. You know that.”

It was a statement, not a question, and yet she still found herself responding in agreement, “I know that.”

“Okay,” he nodded.

“Okay.”

The topic fell by the wayside and they moved on to more pleasant things. Daniela told her father about all the things that Ana had been up to since the last time they were all together. It was good to see him smiling despite the fact that he wasn’t feeling well. Realistically, Daniela knew that he probably didn’t need her staying with him the entire weekend, but it was well known amongst the Reyes siblings that their father was bad at taking care of himself on a good day, let alone when he wasn’t feeling well. The best thing he could do for himself in his given state was rest, drink lots of fluids, and eat some hearty, home-cooked meals. None of those things would happen if he was left to his own devices. And, as much as he didn’t like feeling like he was being doted on, deep down he knew that if he didn’t take his daughter’s advice it would just prolong his issues.

“Here,” she handed him two small pills before they sat down to eat, “It’ll help with the aching and the fatigue.”

He grumbled something incoherent under his breath, but took the pills with a long drink of water. Daniela smiled as she filled both their bowls with soup and carried them towards the living room, “C’mon, come get comfortable.”

The rest of the day was uneventful, which was for the best. A few check-in texts to her brothers confirmed that everything was fine, especially when they replied with pictures of Ana running around with a frosting-covered spatula in her hand. She showed the pictures to their father, who smiled at it even in his drowsiness.

It was relatively late in the night when Daniela went and grabbed herself a beer from the refrigerator. She sat down on the couch, not noticing the way that Felipe was watching her from the recliner.

“Grab me one?” he said, sounding like he was half asleep.

She laughed and shook her head, “You don’t need one of these, Pop. You should be drinking water. Or I can make you some tea.”

“Pfft,” he shook his head, “Unbelievable.”

She laughed as she took a swig, “You should be getting to bed anyway.”

“Fine,” he relented, “Only so I don’t have to sit here and watch you drink my beer.”

Daniela laughed as she stood up, “Alright, that’s fair. C’mon,” she held her hand out to help him.

He immediately waved her off, “It’s a cold, Daniela. My legs work just fine.”

She held her hands up in mock surrender, “Sorry, Pops. Didn’t mean to offend you,” she waited until he was farther down the hallway before calling after him, “G’night!”

The amused exasperation was palpable in his voice, “Night.”

By the time Daniela decided to give her father a clean bill of health, the entire house had been cleaned, the fridge was stocked with fresh groceries and also food that she’d prepped for him, and there was a fresh pot of coffee brewing for when she was gone. Felipe had fought her on it every step of the way, insisting that he could handle himself just fine, especially now that he was feeling better, but Daniela waved him off. He might’ve been her father but she knew that as long as she moved quick enough, he wasn’t going to be able to stop her.

“As long as my child is still in one piece when I go to get her from Angel’s,” she laughed, “I’ll try to bring her over in a few days.”

Felipe nodded as they walked towards her car, “I’d like that.”

“Figured you might,” she smirked and, in that moment, she was a spitting image of her older brothers. She tossed her bag into the back seat of her car before stepping in to hug her father, “Te quiero. Cuidate, hm?”

He rolled his eyes as he hugged her, “Te quiero. I’ll talk to you soon.”

He waited in the doorway until she was safely out of his driveway and cruising down the road to get her daughter from Angel’s. For as much of a fight as Felipe put up about it, he had to admit it was nice to have any of his kids home for a few days. Even if they only lived across town, it wasn’t the same as when they were all under one roof together. It was the nature of being a parent, but he still relished the time when he got it.

Daniela could hear the laughter coming from inside the house before she even made it to the front door. She chuckled to herself, shaking her head as she let herself in without knocking. The sight she was met with didn’t disappoint her. Both of her brothers were in old sweatpants and t-shirts, meanwhile Ana was running around in a shirt that most definitely belonged to Angel, as it was a dress on Ana. She looked more than content with her current wardrobe choice, though, as she booked it down the hall holding one of their phones tight in her hand.

Her eyes brightened when she saw her mother standing in the doorway, “Mommy!” her run turned into a complete sprint as she charged towards Daniela, who was already bracing herself for impact, “I missed you!”

Daniela smiled as she wrapped her daughter in a hug, peppering the top of her head with kisses, “I missed you too, baby,” she lifted her and propped her onto her hip, “You have fun with your tíos?”

She nodded excitedly, “Yea! We made tacos!”

Her mother laughed, nodding in approval, “I’m assuming that it was you and tío EZ?”

“Hey,” Angel strode into the room, an offended look on his face, “whatchu tryin’ to say, hermanita?”

“That you can’t cook, hermano,” she laughed as she set Ana back down on the ground.

EZ came down the hall, carrying his niece’s overnight bag. He knew that it was going to be a bit of a fight to get Ana to leave, and the bag would just be one less thing to worry about.

“Gimme that,” Angel playfully snatched his phone back from her, “Told you, I ain’t got no games on there.”

Ana giggled before taking off down the hall again. Daniela chuckled, shaking her head, “Put your shoes on while you’re down there, chiquita!”

“How’s Pop?” EZ asked.

She shrugged, “Good. He really just needed someone there to tell him to drink water and rest.”

“Yea, but we wanted to hang out with the munchkin,” EZ smiled as they all heard Ana clamoring as she put her shoes on.

“Who doesn’t?” Daniela laughed, “Thank you, though. She loves you guys.”

“We love her too,” Angel said, a soft smile on his face.

“C’mon, baby! We gotta go! If you’re quick enough, maybe tío EZ can buckle you in,” she knew that that would be the only thing that would get her daughter out of Angel’s house in a timely fashion.

Sure enough, in a few minutes’ time, Ana was being buckled into her seat by EZ, who was telling her ridiculous stories to distract her from the fact that her time at Angel’s was coming to an end for now. The sleepovers were always a highlight, and heading home wasn’t ever fun, but making her laugh throughout the process made it a little more bearable.

The Reyes brothers hugged and kissed their sister goodbye, reminding her that anytime she needed someone to look after Ana, they would be more than happy to do so. She appreciated it, knowing that between them and her father she had a good network of people to help manage all of it. And what made it better was the fact that Ana absolutely loved spending time with all of them.

“Should I honk goodbye?” Daniela tilted her rearview mirror so she could see her daughter.

Ana beamed, nodding, “Yea!”

With a laugh, Daniela rolled down her daughter’s window so she could wave goodbye, and then laid on the horn for a solid five seconds before pulling away, leaving a laughing Angel and EZ behind.