#she still would have had Rory. And without the crack

[polaritydisturbed]

I’ve seen some posts floating around saying things like, “Belinda was always a mom, the Doctor just corrected the timeline,” and I genuinely cannot stress enough how little that addresses the core issues people have with how her story was handled.

First of all, if that was the intention—if the idea was that Belinda was always meant to be a mother and the timeline just needed to be “set right”—they did a poor job of executing it. A twist that major, one that fundamentally alters a character’s identity or arc, requires setup. Foreshadowing. Emotional groundwork. You can’t just spring something that massive on the audience in the last five minutes and expect it to feel meaningful instead of disorienting.

And here’s the thing: Doctor Who has done that kind of plot before—successfully. A great comparison is Amy and Rory. The show literally did the “someone you love was erased from time and the universe needs to be corrected to bring them back” storyline already. And while I’ve got my own qualms with how Amy’s arc was handled overall, that particular beat actually worked.

Why? Because there were signs. The cracks in time. The missing memories. A sense of loss Amy couldn’t place. Little inconsistencies that made the audience lean forward and feel that something was wrong. Not to mention: Rory was introduced before he disappeared. We knew him. We saw his dynamic with Amy. We cared about him. We barely see Poppy in these two episodes, other than "child missing bad" we really have no attachment to her.

Now imagine if we never met Rory. If Amy had been introduced as a fierce, independent woman with no attachments, someone whose refusal to be tied down was a defining trait—and then the show suddenly revealed, in the finale, that actually she was about to get married the whole time to a man we’d never seen, and now she’s a devoted wife. No buildup. No context. Just surprise! emotional transformation. That would feel bizarre, right?

That’s exactly what happened with Belinda.

The final minutes of the finale reframe her not just as someone who once had a child, but as someone whose true self is supposedly defined by that role—and we’re meant to believe that this identity has now been “restored” to her, and we’re told it’s been restored to her as a reward. But it doesn’t feel like a revelation. It feels like a contradiction.

It’s like they wanted to write her as fierce and independent, but didn’t also want to imply that she wanted kids or thought about kids—because society still tends to associate maternal longing or caretaking instincts with weakness, or with not being a “strong” woman. So instead of exploring that complexity, they just didn’t. They wrote her as a fully autonomous character, with no visible yearning or absence, and then stapled a child onto her arc at the end.

And just to be absolutely clear: the problem is not that Belinda is a mother. You can write a fierce, independent, female-presenting character who’s also a parent. Those things are not mutually exclusive. The problem is that the story didn’t earn it.

Writers often avoid giving powerful women maternal traits because they assume femininity and strength can’t coexist—but that’s a separate conversation. The real issue here is that the show never showed us that this part of Belinda was missing. It never laid the groundwork for that emotional restoration to resonate. It didn’t feel like they revealed who she truly was—it felt like they replaced her with someone else.

It’s not that you can’t tell a story where a forgotten child or a missing family is recovered from a broken timeline. That kind of emotional twist can be powerful. But if that’s the story you want to tell, you have to earn it. You have to make the absence felt before you try to fill it. You have to let us sense the missing piece and ache for its return. Without that, it doesn’t feel like a twist—it feels like a contradiction.

And no, Poppy showing up once in The Story & the Engine is not proper setup. If this was truly the intended arc from the beginning, then it needed clues. Give us subtle signs. Let Belinda hesitate when asked simple questions. Let her glance at a photo and seem unsettled. Let her correct someone’s memory and then immediately second-guess herself. Plant a sense of wrongness in her own life that even she can’t quite name.

There’s even a interview with RTD about reshooting the beginning of The Robot Revolution to give Belinda roommates, because he thought no one would buy her owning an entire house by herself.

But if this twist with Poppy was truly planned from the start? Then leave her in that big, echoing house. Let it be part of the unease. Let there be a child’s toy tucked into the back of a drawer she doesn’t remember buying. A room she avoids, too pristine and untouched. A lullaby she hums under her breath without knowing where she learned it. Give us texture. Give us silence that feels too quiet.

Let us feel the shape of what’s missing before you tell us what it was.

That’s how you write a twist that resonates—by trusting your audience to notice the gaps, to feel the ache, and to recognize the truth when it finally appears. Not by pulling a rabbit out of a hat and calling it destiny.

[transmasc-rose]

I'm thinking about the horror of the Doctor from the perspective of non-companions again, especially as it relates to people those companions know.

Rose? "Ran away" (not wrong) for "a year" (a week) with a "man" (alien) "twice her age" (approximately 50 times her age but yeah, he is Time Lord middle aged), and then gives absolutely no explanation for how or why that happened, except that she was "travelling".

Then when her mum does get an explanation (which, frankly, is only comforting because of the unfamiliarity of the alternative given. The devil you know.), Rose barely checks back in.

She almost dies for him. When she thinks he's dead, she's changed in a way her family doesn't know how to handle. Then she's gone for who knows how long and comes back with the Doctor wearing a new face.

When her original tenure as a companion ends, and Rose lives in Pete's World, she works for Torchwood/UNIT (they become the same organization). She volunteers for the Dimension Cannon. She explains to the alternate earth how to rig up a time machine.

She's changed in ways that no one else can really understand.

Amy? There's everything with River Song of course (though I'm still not there in my viewing), him running away with Amy the night before her and Rory's wedding, and also the connection between the Doctor and the Time Crack being the reason all of Amy's family's dead. Obvious stuff.

However he's also the strange man who broke into this child's house and made a mess of her life that she never got over, that promised to take her away from here, that she wrote about and drew and carved and made her friends dress up as.

And they sent her to psychiatrist after psychiatrist without any help. In their perspective, to work through what she imagined. In her perspective, to tell her that her reality wasn't real.

And then he comes back.

And to some extent, later, when he shows himself to everyone, isn't that more frightening? That the story your child told you, of the strange man she met as a child, of time travel, of nearly being stolen away, hadn't been a lie, or a misinterpretation, or an imagining?

And so he shows up at her wedding. And steals her away again.

Donna I feel like has the least horror until her final episode. I think exploring the in between section of her meeting the Doctor and finding him again would be interesting, but not exactly horror. More an exploration of how obsessive the companions can get about him, how it eats their whole lives with even one encounter, even as it makes them better people.

And then, obviously, the horror of having your mind altered and erased against your will by someone you trusted. For your own good, of course. Because he knows best. How could you know better than him? He's ancient. He's practically all knowing.

Shouldn't you be grateful?

(And he's forgiven.)

[gothmoes]

Astrid deetz x fem!reader

R is a ghost who is indebted to beetlejuice due to him helping her and cash in the favor by having her help him

she stuck in the old deetz house and is used as a messenger and tell him everything that going on *but she really wants to scare scaring Lydia’s “boyfriend” away cause she see right through his nice guy act.* She takes a liking to Astrid and keep an eyes on her which cause Astrid to feel like smth or someone is watching her

She join Lydia to help her after hearing about Astrid being in the netherworld.

*though R’s friendship with beetlejuice is both mutual but also being frenemies and mean spirited toward to each other. Think of the “he push me down the stairs” or them being annoying siblings *absolutely hates when the creepy baby beetlejuice and has the urge to kick it every time it bites her ankle to spite him*

I kind of like the idea of her doing a self-sacrifice and taking beetlejuice back to the netherworld but also has to tearfully say goodbye to Astrid. But end up coming back as human *wether if it’s marrying Astrid or switching with a living person*

But I also kind of like the idea of beetlejuice not being gone *given the fact that Winona Ryder mention that she ships beetlejuice and Lydia. Astrid and Lydia agree that r and beetlejuice are not to be left alone unsupervised*

R- totally worth for a cute girl like you. 😒but serious you are one dumb girl. Why did you believe ghost boy you know for a day over your mother!?

Astrid-😠 *ready to throw smth at r*

R-😘 also your dad gave me his blessing on dating you but he also gave me the shovel talk

Went to see it and love but one thing that suck was the ac in the theater near me wasn’t working so I watch it with the room hot and stuffy🥵🥵 *but totally worth it*

But during the I knew there was something off about the character Rory like how can you ask someone to marry right after her dad wake ceremony/funeral service!?

𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 [𝟏]

❥ Astrid Deetz x fem!ghost!Reader

❥ wc: 2k

❥ warnings: none

❥ author’s note: thank you for this request. as soon as I saw it in my inbox, I knew I had to write it. unfortunately, life got in the way, so I didn’t have the chance to get to it immediately, but here’s a little something to kick things off. this is a sort of prologue/part 1 (out of what will be a total of 2 or 3 chapters). it’s a little wordy for my taste, but I feel like it was necessary to set the scene for what you can expect for this story. next part will be coming some time next week.

❥ additional note: this is canon divergent from the movie. while the movie took place within two or three days (if I remember correctly), this fic will span across five to seven (still working out the kinks), and it’s important to note that Astrid has been aged up to 17, as opposed to her canon age of 16.

You are not quite sure why he insists on meeting you here, in his fake therapist’s office behind his real one, but he does. 

Three times a week, well after his designated “Couples Counselling for the Dead” appointments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (because he doesn’t work during the weekends, “Work/life balance is essential to me.”) leave, an invisible force plucks you from your post at the abandoned Deetz’s residence. 

It’s incredibly annoying. You can more than transport yourself through the plane of the living into the netherworld, and vice versa, without his “assistance”, but he ignores your complaints every single time.

You are then deposited unceremoniously into the cracked leather chair of human skin in front of his desk. Immediately, whatever good mood you may or may not have been in is sucked out of you, like the room itself is a soul sucker. 

With his unrestrained powers, one would think he’d be more inclined to renovate the place a bit. Maybe he thinks the drab and depressing atmosphere of the dimply lit and dusty storage room will intoxicate you into your second death, duplicating your debt to him. You doubt it works that way, but you don’t dare voice your thoughts. You’re afraid of being right.

This is where you find yourself today. Again.

You straighten up in your seat, breathing a deep sigh discontentedly. You'll need your wits about you to get through this meeting.

“Beetlejuice,” you greet flatly. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“There she is! My sister from another mister, back from the world of the living.” 

Beetlejuice rises out of the seat with a dramatic clap of his hands and comes around to lean against the desk, facing you. He opens his arms grandly as though he were asking for a hug. You stare at him, unamused and unmoving. 

“What?” he lowers his arms in mock hurt. “No hug for your big bro? Ouch. That’s cold.” 

You roll your eyes at his childish antics, not in the mood to entertain him. You were having a wonderful time messing with the neighbour’s dogs back home. Humans placed so much trust in their pets to protect them from the unseen. It had quickly become one of your favourite pastimes to torment the annoying pair of huskies that kept up the entire neighbourhood at night. 

“Alright. I get it. You’re all business, no fun, you know that? I think you could learn something from dear ol’ Bob.” Beetlejuice gestures through the blinds toward the office space on the other side of the window, where Bob and the other shrinkers are dutifully taking calls. He’s upset for all three seconds before breezing past his dismay as though it never happened. 

“Anyway, I called you here because I have some good news. Charles is dead, and Lydia is coming home to me! Can you believe it?”

You arch a brow, leaning forward slightly, and a wicked grin curls Beetlejuice’s lips, exposing his mouldy, rotted teeth. 

This is news. 

In all the five years you’ve spent haunting the Deetz, formerly known as the Maitland, residence, you’ve never actually seen the family in person—or, phantasmal person. 

Not anyone besides Lydia anyway, whose photo Beetlejuice keeps on his desk at all times and who you have seen out in the wild a handful of times during the rare occasions Beetlejuice required your assistance in tormenting her. 

You obviously knew who the family was and what they looked like; newspapers continued to be delivered to the home every morning, and various members of the wealthy Deetz family often made the covers. Even without those current updates, you still had multiple photo albums and framed pictures carelessly discarded in the attic to study in your free time. 

“Interesting,” you murmur, a smile creeping up your face. You smell chaos on the horizon. As a human, you were never much for trouble, but with fragments of your soul slowly fading and Beetlejuice’s constant presence over the last years, chaos now seems to nourish you in the way food used to. “And what does this mean for me?” 

“I am so glad you asked, girlie!” 

Beetlejuice snaps once, and the scene around you changes instantly. The office walls disappear on all sides, and the floor opens up beneath you, swallowing you both.

When you blink again, you’re standing in the middle of a hoard of dressed-up teenagers. You are now wearing a ridiculous costume of a caricature you are unfamiliar with, while Beetlejuice is still wearing his pin-striped suit. Everyone passes through you without a second thought.

“Really? This?” you huff, sending the old man a scathing glare. “What the hell am I even wearing?”

Beetlejuice wraps an arm around your shoulders and brings you into a half hug, following the crowd into what seems like some sort of courtyard. You wrinkle your nose and nudge your face in the opposite direction of his. You’ll never get over how moss covers his skin and roaches crawl over him. 

“It’s Halloween season.” He replies cheerily. “Just thought you’d want to blend into the crowd and not stick out like a sore thumb, you know?”

“No one can even see me,” you grumble with a roll of your eyes. Your gaze sweeps across the heads of the flesh bags in front of you, then toward the stone building. “Wait… Where are we?”

Beetlejuice stops you by some iron gates, letting the teenagers pass you. “Why, this is my daughter’s school!” He grins, then turns to point out toward the courtyard. “And right over there is my beloved bride-to-be!” 

You follow the direction of his finger and sigh, your eyes fluttering closed in irritation. 

Sure enough, Lydia Deetz is only a few metres away, sitting on a stone bench in front of a fountain. At her side is who you can only assume is her daughter, a much more grown-up Astrid Deetz from the photos you’ve spent hours parsing through back home. She’s facing away from you and is facing her mother, but Lydia is in clear view of where you are. They seemed deep in earnest conversation, with Astrid’s voice rising irregularly. 

“Astrid Deetz is not your daughter, you freak,” you repeat for what must be the nth time. “Just because her father passed doesn’t mean she needs a new one.”

“Tomato-tomato.” Beetlejuice sighs dreamily, waving your words offhandedly. “Once I finally wed my woman, Lydia, she will be. I’ve come to terms with having a kid in the house. We’ll be a perfect family!”

“Right.” You shake your head, changing the subject before you get another migraine. You cannot explain to him why his delusions will never come true again. You just can’t! 

“So, why are we here, and what’s the plan?” you prompt impatiently.

“Oh, I just wanted to see Lydia and our daughter again.” 

You resist the urge to bash your head into the stone walls of the school. 

“The plan,” he rubs his palms together eagerly, turning to face you with a horrific smile, “is that you will scare away that placeholder of a flesh bag that hangs around Lydia. He’ll be coming to the house along with the Deetz’s, and you know I will need some alone time with my old woman.” 

“Riiiight.” You eye the bio-exorcist in front of you suspiciously. The plan seems simple enough, but nothing is ever simple with Beetlejuice, which makes you wary that there must be more he isn’t telling you. “And where’s the guy?”

Beetlejuice cranes his head, jabbing a finger toward a vehicle parked in the courtyard where a tall man with sunglasses is pacing around, a mobile phone attached to his ear. 

“Ew, him?” You’re not often surprised by things any more. Beetlejuice has taught you to expect the unexpected, but this time, you visibly recoil. “Lydia Deetz is with that man? I can tell he’s an ass just by the way that he stands.”

“He started as the manager of her show,” Beetlejuice growls, lips curling with disdain. Even his roaches scatter irritably beneath his suit. “Can you believe that? She is way out of his league.”

The irony of his words is not lost on you, but you bite your tongue to peer back at the Deetz women. Your eyes widen, and you turn back swiftly, ducking your head. Most people can’t see you, but Lydia Deetz is not most people. She’s the one person whose eye-line you’re supposed to stay out of. It’s in your contract. 

Fortunately, this ridiculous disguise Beetlejuice put you in has done its job. You doubt Lydia can focus on anything that isn’t Beetlejuice’s loud stripes. She seems to be extra sensitive to his presence. 

“Uh, BJ?” You jab your elbow into his side, gesturing with your chin back toward the Deetzs. “Lydia is looking over here. I think she just saw you.”

Beetlejuice spares a look over his shoulder to confirm and grins mischievously. He did that on purpose. 

“Time for us to go. We ought to get you home so you can receive my girls later.” 

Lydia is rubbing her fist furiously into her eyes when Beetlejuice snatches your arm, and the scene around you changes again. 

A second later, Lydia looks up again, eyes wide and mouth agape. She shakes her head, unable to make sense of the sighting even as Astrid angrily gets up, gesturing wildly in front of her. 

You’re standing by the attic window when the Deetz’s sleek black Tesla rolls into the driveway. 

Beetlejuice is long gone at this point.

By now, the sun has long hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds. The sky turned a lovely indigo as the moon illuminated the rolling hills behind the home. The moonlight makes the house seem ghostly glowing with its pure white exterior and elevated height on the hill. 

After Beetlejuice brought you back home hours earlier, he instructed you to keep an eye on Lydia and do whatever possible to keep her boyfriend away from her until he could return.

“I have nether-world business to take care of,” Beetlejuice had told you, rolling his shoulders smoothly. “Left Bob in charge, it’s good for his self-esteem, you see, but you know how it goes. Without the head honcho,” he gestured toward himself, “the family business will fall apart. I’ll probably be back in a few days. I’ll let you know if plans change. Take care of my girls, will you?”

Then, he disappeared in a plume of black, smelly, probably toxic smoke. A flyer for his bio-exorcism and newly established match-making cupid business fluttered to the ground in his wake and landed at your feet. 

“Ew,” you muttered to yourself upon reading the flyer. “Who’s going to fall for that?” 

You tossed the page behind you with a roll of your eyes, letting it land wherever, and waited. 

And waited. 

Waited. 

Until finally…

Delia Deetz leads the two younger Deetz women through the door, letting it fly open noisily and slam against the interior wall. 

From what you’ve heard, she never did have much respect for the residence, even after all of the interior changes she made throughout the years. 

You cringe, feeling somewhat bad for the house. It’s not the same as the one you grew up in with your parents, but you’ve become attached to it nonetheless. 

Can anyone blame you? It’s been almost exclusively yours for the better part of five years. 

Astrid brings up the rear of the three women and slams the door shut behind her, making the door rattle in its hinges. You can feel its vibrations even up here in the attic. You click your tongue disapprovingly. The lock to the front door clicks shut as the tall, dark-haired man you’d seen earlier with Lydia at the school clambers up the porch to rattle the doorknob. 

You bark a laugh, watching the ridiculous man go around the side of the porch to knock on the glass windows, desperate to get someone’s attention from inside.

“Interesting,” you note to yourself, biting your lip mischievously. “It seems like Lydia can’t be bothered with her so-called boyfriend. And Astrid clearly dislikes the man. This should be fun…” 

You step away from the window just as the door opens, and the male scrambles inside, the different voices of the women inside carrying out into the night. 

[steddieas-shegoes]

eddie's 1st xmas

for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt 'ornament'

all of my holiday drabbles will be from the bear hugs universe. many of them could probably be read standalone, but will make the most sense and be enjoyed best if you read that first!

rated t | 940 words | cw: mention of character death in the past | tags: established relationship, sentimental, christmas fluff

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

The ornament is hung in the back of the tree when Steve first notices it. He’s sweeping the pine needles up when he sees it glittering between the lights, pushed back so it’s almost hidden from view.

He recognizes it immediately, even though it’s been 12 years or so since he’s seen it.

He’s careful when he touches it, knows that it’s already broken at least once and has been glued back together with gorilla glue and patience by Wayne. He sees one of the cracks as he tilts it closer to one of the lights on the tree, smiling sadly when he remembers exactly how devastated Eddie had been when it fell and shattered into pieces. Luckily, only a couple of the pieces couldn’t quite fit back together, and they were small.

Eddie’s mom’s handiwork deserves a better place on the tree than facing the wall.

Steve sets the broom down and gently lifts the ornament off the branch. The glitter on the top of the ball is nearly gone, and what’s left is dull. Steve thinks he has this exact color in his craft bin, but he wouldn’t dare touch it without asking Eddie.

Unless…

Eddie won’t be home for hours. Rory’s at practice. He already caught up on his lesson plans for the week.

All he has to do is touch up the glitter. It’ll make it look brand new, might even distract from the cracks.

He walks carefully to the spare room that’s mostly used for storage and sets the ornament on the table. He finds the glitter he needs, the clear liquid craft glue he saves for his own projects, and gets to work.

It’s a simple task, but he can’t risk the ornament falling or even cracking further.

When he’s done, and he manages to set it up to dry properly, he smiles.

Eddie’s 1st Xmas is painted in red around the middle, glitter covering the top.

Wayne explained to Steve why this one ornament meant so much while he was fixing it years ago. Eddie had been so upset, he locked himself in his room and wouldn’t even let Steve in.

“She made it while she was still pregnant with him. Before things got hard for her. It’s the only thing he really has as a reminder that she loved him.”

Steve knows he probably kept it hidden in the back so there was no chance Rory would accidentally break it while playing knee hockey, but they can set new rules for Christmas. Eddie deserves to have something special on display just like they do.

Steve finishes up with his chores and starts to head back into the spare room when the front door opens.

He walks to the living room and suddenly feels nervous.

Eddie is removing his jacket and shoes at the door, hasn’t even noticed Steve yet. He may not even realize Steve’s home since he insists on Steve being the one to park in the garage.

“Hey baby,” Steve greets him.

Eddie turns and gives him a small smile. “Hey, sweetheart.”

“Everything okay?” Steve asks. Something seems off.

“Yeah. Just a long day.”

Steve nods and plants a soft kiss on his lips. Eddie kisses back, but it’s not his usual enthusiastic response.

“Can I show you something?” He asks, hoping it will cheer him up to see his ornament with a makeover.

“Sure, Stevie.”

Steve leads him into the spare room and tells him to close his eyes and hold out his hands. He places the ornament in his palms as carefully as possible, leaving his hands there to catch it if Eddie accidentally drops it.

“Open your eyes.”

Eddie is silent. It’s alarming. The strange mood, the quiet, it’s enough to put Steve on edge. He tries to stay positive though.

“I saw it on the tree earlier and thought it could use a little fresh glitter. I hope it’s okay,” Steve is ready to start apologizing for touching it when Eddie bursts into tears. “Shit.”

Steve takes the ornament from him, or tries to, but Eddie holds it to his chest instead.

“Today’s the anniversary of her death,” he sobs.

Steve pulls him close, wraps his arms around him and squeezes as tight as he can while keeping space between them so he doesn’t crush the ornament. He didn’t even realize the date, and he’s not sure he would’ve remembered anyways. Eddie doesn’t talk about her much.

“I didn’t realize,” Steve whispers against his hair, kissing the top of his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No, this is-” Eddie takes a shaky breath. “This is amazing. Thank you for doing this. I’ve been so scared to touch it up.”

“Do you wanna hang it up in the front of the tree?” Steve asks.

Eddie shakes his head. “No. I don’t want it to break.”

“We’ll make Rory play in her room if she plays while the tree is up. I think it deserves to be front and center.”

Eddie pulls back and tries to wipe his eyes on his own shoulder. It’s useless as more tears fall.

“Okay. As long as we’re careful.”

“You wanna tell Rory about her?” Steve asks. He knows Eddie doesn’t remember a lot of his mom, that she was sick from the time he was a toddler, and died before he even started school. He knows most things Eddie can tell are things Wayne’s told him. But maybe it will help to talk about her, especially today.

“Yeah, if she wants to hear about her.”

Steve takes the ornament from him and leads him out to the tree. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”

[jtargaryen18]

The Arrangement ~ Chapter 10 Preview

Coming by Friday...

Tommy arrived late to the shop that morning, not by hours, but late enough to turn heads. His tie was slightly loosened, a rare thing for him. He couldn't get the sight of his beautiful fiancee out of his head. He wasn't sure how he'd even dragged himself out of his own bedroom with her still in bed, wearing only his shirt and her brand new ring. With her smiling at him like that... He'd really wanted to strip everything off her but the ring, and spend a couple of hours making her sing for him, beg for him. 

But there were things to be done now. There was security to plan, names to cross off lists. A wedding to finalize that would silence every voice in Birmingham daring to question who she was to him.

Still, as he pushed open the door to the betting shop and stepped inside, a ghost of a smile stayed with him. 

Arthur spotted him first. “Well, would you look at that,” he muttered, elbowing John. “He’s grinning. Poor bastard’s in love.”

John leaned back in his chair, boots on the table, hands behind his head. “So? Did she say yes?"

Tommy crossed the room like a man with a hundred fires to put out, but for once, he didn’t seem burned by it. He dropped a file onto the table with a quiet thud, glanced up, and smirked. “She said yes.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” Arthur said with a grin, clapping a hand on his brother's shoulder. “We’re all done for.”

Even Rory cracked a smile from where he stood near the window, arms folded.

The jokes settled after a moment, replaced by the sound of pages turning and footsteps echoing down the hall. But Tommy didn’t sit. Instead, he glanced toward Rory.

“I need a word,” he said. Not unkindly.

Rory stepped forward without hesitation, and Tommy met him halfway. 

“I know your father’s gone,” Tommy said. “And I’d like to ask you to stand in for him.”

Rory’s brow furrowed.

“At the wedding,” Tommy clarified. “To give her away.”

Silence. Arthur went still, and even John lowered his boot from the table. Rory looked like the breath had left his lungs.

“I...” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “You want me to...”

Tommy nodded. “If you’re willin’.”

Rory swallowed hard. “Yeah. I’d be honored, Mr. Shelby.”

Tommy clapped a hand on his shoulder, firm and brief. “Good.” His grip lingered a second longer as his gaze met Rory’s. “And it’s Tommy,” he said quietly. “You’re family now. One of us.”

Rory stood a little straighter, as if the weight of the words hit him somewhere deeper than he expected.

Arthur gave a rough nod. “’Bout bloody time someone around here had some sense.”

John grinned, nodding his approval. Laughter loosened the tension in the room for a moment, but the meaning stayed. Rory wasn’t just marrying into this life through his sister. He was part of it. And from where Tommy was standing, Rory had bloody earned his place.

Flipping open the map of Birmingham laid out on the table, Tommy steered the conversation back towards business. “Now, security. I want every man on alert. We’ve got a week, and no surprises.” He jabbed a finger at the church, then the mansion, then a few key streets surrounding both. “Stationed here, here, and here. Anyone breathing the wrong way near the wedding party gets stopped. Ask questions later. I want eyes on rooftops. Intersections. Train platforms.”

Arthur leaned in. “You want snipers?”

“Don’t want ‘em,” Tommy said. “Already called two. Lee boys. Trusted.” He looked up. “They’ll be on rooftops."

John gave a low whistle. “All this for a wedding.”

Tommy looked him dead in the eye. “Not just a wedding. It’s a message to every family from here to Camden Town. I want everyone to know who my wife is, that she's mine to protect. That means something.”

Rory nodded his understanding.

That was when John shifted, clearing his throat. “On the topic of family… Lizzie’s still seeing Angel Changretta.”

Tommy’s brow lifted slowly. “Still?”

“Spotted ‘em two nights ago, walking by the canal like they didn’t have a care in the fuckin’ world.”

Arthur scoffed. “Christ, she knows better.”

“She should,” John muttered, sharper now. “Should’ve known better than to get tangled with Italians. Especially that Italian.”

Tommy sat back slightly, eyes narrowing. “It’s a distraction. And worse, it’s sloppy. She knows who the Changrettas are.”

“She doesn’t care,” John bit out, then caught himself. “Or maybe she does. She’s always liked trouble.”

Arthur smirked. “Or maybe it’s you that cares, eh?”

John glared at Arthur. “Shut up.”

Tommy raised a hand. “That’s enough. I’ll speak with Lizzie. She’ll end it.”

Rory hadn’t said a word, but he was watching them all with that quiet, calm read-the-room silence of someone new to the politics, but no less aware of the tension.

John huffed and sat back. “I’m just sayin’… if he keeps sniffin’ around, someone’s gonna have to put the bastard in his place.”

Tommy gave him a cold look. “Not until I say.”

John didn’t argue, but the heat in his eyes hadn’t cooled.

Tommy closed the map with a snap and leaned forward, voice low and final. “No fuck-ups this week. None. After the wedding, we can deal with any loose ends.”

Tommy’s fingers tapped against the edge of the table as the others started murmuring about routes and patrols. But his mind wasn’t on the map anymore. It was on John. On that twitch in his jaw, the low simmer in his eyes. John was going to be a problem. Not because he meant to be. But because when John got that way, jealous and wound too tight, he didn’t always wait for orders. No, he'd look for somewhere to bleed out that frustration.

Tommy's gaze landed on Rory across the table, still silent. But his eyes had shifted too, narrowed slightly, tracking John the same way Tommy was. Good. At least someone else saw the storm coming. And if it came to it, he might need Rory to help hold the line.

As the meeting wrapped, Tommy straightened, brushing a hand over the lapel of his coat. “I’ll be in London for a couple of nights for the expansion if you'll remember. I leave in the morning.” His voice was cool, but the weight behind it was unmistakable. “Until I’m back, I expect the house guarded. Eyes on her at all times. No risks.”

Arthur nodded immediately. “You don’t have to worry, Tom. We’ve got it covered.”

Rory nodded.

Tommy gave a short nod of approval, but his gaze lingered for a beat on John, who hadn’t said a word. John was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, jaw tight. Distracted. His foot bounced restlessly beneath the table.

Tommy’s eyes narrowed slightly. “That clear, John?”

John snapped his head up, forcing a smirk. “Crystal.”

But Tommy didn’t buy it. Not for a second. He turned for the door without another word, but the thought stayed with him, pressing sharp against the back of his mind. Something was coming. And his brother John was going to light the bloody match.

[tenmartha]

Please write that Amy’s choice essay

amy's choice is an elevenamy episode masquerading as an amyrory episode and in this essay i WILL be addressing that.

the whole concept of the episode is deeply interesting to me. this is one of the first instances of amy actually not really having a choice at all. at this point, halfway through season, we've decently established amy and the doctor's relationship, and the hints we've gotten of rory have been. uhm. crazy.

rory is introduced to us as amy's bumbling boyfriend, who, while well meaning, is ultimately not someone that is seriously compatible with amy. amy has experienced some childhood trauma (her parents were eaten by a fucking crack in spacetime and then the only guy she could sort of trust disappeared on her for 12 years. yeesh) that has stunted her emotional growth and leaves her in a state of sort of perpetual adolescence. rory is a band-aid to the solution. rory is representative of someone that amy could have wanted to be with if she didn't carry this trauma. but that's not what happened to her.

the major appearances that rory has had when we start amy's choice is the eleventh hour where amy does not want to admit they have a serious relationship (she calls them just friends still. idk if this is in general, or just in front of the doctor, but she does not want to be perceived as in a relationship with rory. lmao) and then at the end we see amy actively using the doctor to run away from her obligations to rory. then she cheats on him with the doctor in flesh and stone. and then they meet up again in vampires in venice where amy basically avoids making a choice by dragging rory into the tardis, even when rory himself expects that they will just go on a break or something. i would argue that this in and of itself is amy not choosing rory. she is not ready for marriage. she still wants to explore herself and who she could become if she doesn't settle down.

amy's choice starts off with amy and rory in domestic bliss with amy barefoot and pregnant. the show makes a deliberate choice to frame being a wife and mother as the only thing amy will be if she chooses this life. there are plenty of women who find enjoyment in being a mother and women who continue to have rich lives in addition to being a mother. but amy doesn't get this. being a wife is a cage to her. it will only trap her.

then, when they flash back into the tardis, the doctor describes this vision as a terrible nightmare and even hugs amy to reassure himself that that won't happen to her. (elevenamy crumbs. as we know, eleven and amy are one entity, so we can assume they have similar views on the matter). then we meet the dream lord who we know is the manifestation of a dark part of the doctor's subconscious. and he sets up this entire game of choosing. the fact that dream lord knows this is the sensitive spot to poke shows that the doctor is aware that amy has feelings for him that are actively stopping her from fully committing to rory. (and the dream lord knows about amy's sex dreams. which could mean nothing.)

amy and rory have a conversation in the fake tardis world where rory wants the leadworth life to be real and amy can't fathom ever "giving up all this" (traveling + the doctor). she also says she never wants to grow up. when she is blatantly asked by rory if she still wants to get married, she says "someday" which is another nonchoice! she wants to keep both these men in her back pocket and avoids doing anything that will lock her into a choice, lest she regrets it later.

the main part of the episode that people point to as "amy choosing rory" is when he dies in fake leadworth. when he turns to dust, amy demands that the doctor fix it, and when he can't, she says this must be the dream and insists on elevenamy joint suicide. what i find interesting about this is that amy has "chosen" rory in a way that still leads her back to the doctor. she says she can't exist in a world without rory, so the one where they're still traveling with the doctor must be the real world. i also think this is another example of amy being strong armed into a choice. rory is clearly very important to amy, but i don't think that means he's whats best for her, or that his values align with hers. amy not wanting rory dead does not fix their incompatibility.

amy insisting that the doctor fix it and saying "whats the point of you" when he can't is also deeply interesting to me. amy is so aware of the doctor's otherworldliness. she turns him into a god in many ways and i think she almost has to view him like that. he's never allowed to be flawed. he saved her when she was a kid and he came back for her and he took her to see the stars. amy literally views the doctor as a panacea. in any situation, the doctor has an obligation to save her. in this instance, it's stopping rory from dying, but in most of their relationship, the doctor is saving her from having to marry rory.

i don't think amy ever fully chooses rory. she's never put into a situation where rory explicitly (and without the threat of death) asks her to leave the doctor for him. (i think he doesn't ask this because he knows amy won't choose him.) rory comes along with her and the doctor because amy is not capable of making a choice.

(TATM is...interesting. once again amy is forced into a choice by the narrative; if the weeping angel wasn't there, amy would not have left the doctor on her own volition. i also think the narrative itself guilts her into choosing rory, but we can talk about TATM somewhere else. this is getting long.)

and if this whole episode is a metaphor for amy choosing between rory or the doctor, what does it mean that it's revealed that both the realities are false? that there was never a choice? it's about the lack of choice and agency that amy has. it never mattered what she actually wants, because she will not be allowed to make a choice. everything will happen around her, or the doctor and rory will make choices for her, but amy doesn't actually get to choose. this episode is ostensibly about her choosing rory or the doctor and she does choose the doctor. it ends the exact same way it started, with amy continuing to travel with the doctor (and rory on their heels), because amy doesn't get to choose. the plot moves along and takes her with it, not the other way around.

(also dying in a fiery car crash w someone (on purpose) is the most romantic thing in the universe argue with the wall)

[deanoheartspie]

SUNSHINE 6

Pairing: Cowboy Sheriff Dean x female City Gal Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: After your family cut you off, your great-aunt Laura invited you over to her ranch you often visited when you were just a child... You drive through the beautiful town until you accidentally graze a horse that just so happens to be the sheriffs...

A/n: Hello! I've been slowly going back and fixing up my past chapters ( still editing and such but ofc it'll take time! So beware of all of that!) ALSO CLOSED MESSAGES I've gotten a crap load of bots spamming my inbox so if ya need me send me an ask and I'll get to you!

Edited?: fixing up

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

DEAN'S POV

~Weeks went by and surprisingly enough I became more close to Y/n, we have a somewhat friendship now.

I sat in the stands alongside Rory and Lisa, watching Ben during his baseball game. I had invited Y/n but in all honesty, I didn't think she'd show... Yet she did, she hadn't met Ben yet but here she was making her way to sit near me.

She wore a beautiful sundress... That showed off her curves and god her smile... Maybe I had been staring too long but Lisa smacked my arm pulling me back to reality.

"So which one is the little guy?" Y/n asked looking at all the boys on the team as they sat out. I pointed to the little boy who had spikey hair... Even though the kid wasn't biologically mine I still took care of him as one of mine own since he didn't have a father.

Rory shyly walked towards the woman and sat between her and me, holding each of our hands. That caused Lisa to give me the 'You better fix this' type of look. "Rory baby... Momma wants you to sit with her you don't want her to be lonely right?" I asked the little girl scooping her up, she frowned shaking her head before hesitantly sitting with Lisa.

I felt bad. Of course, I did. The last thing I needed was for Lisa to go off on me later.

Y/n searched my eyes, giving me a reassuring smile and hand squeeze before tugging her hand away, without a care in the world I held her hand tighter not wanting the warmth of her hand to leave. I noticed the way she blushed and looked off at the field.

"Woohoo! Go Bears" She shouted standing up, I snorted gently pulling her down "Sweetheart... Wrong team" Her face grew redder, clearly embarrassed.

"S'okay. I'm sure they appreciate your support" I teased wrapping an arm around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

Why was I being so... Touchy-feely? What is going on with me? Goddamn Y/n what have you done to me.

-------

"Dad, did you see me? The practices after school helped more! I hit the ball farther" Ben stated throwing his fists up into the air, smiling happily.

"Yea-" I was immediately cut off by no other then Lisa.

"What do you mean after school? You have piano after school?" Lisa looked Ben and I up in down, trying to see who'd crack first.

"We mean after Piano practice" I lie, during the years I've seen how miserable the poor kid was, the moment Lisa found out he had some musical talent she forced piano, and voice lessons down his throat. So when Ben came to me, a year ago saying he wanted to try baseball, how could I deny him something he wanted? Lisa and I came to an agreement that he stay in piano, but... Ben would flash off those adorable puppy dog eyes each time and I always found myself driving right past the studio.

"Hmph good." Lisa huffed and sighed, gathering the kid's things which I helped put in her trunk.

-------

When I arrived back at the ranch, Y/n was already waiting there with a small smile. If I'm being serious, my mind kept going back to the day she said she was a runaway bride. It didn't bother me, it just made me a little worried.

"How the hell did you beat me here?" I mutter taking off my baseball cap and walking up onto the old porch that's going to need to be repaired sooner then later.

"Because I've seen fast in furious"

I quirk a brow and walk past her, "Sure sweetheart. Let me guess you got lost and went the muddy route?" I state seeing the mud on her tires proving that I have solid evidence.

"Yeah... Yeah, I got lost! I can see why no one takes the quick route... It's sorta scary"

We both walk in tossing our boots off, I nod and smile a little "Thanks for coming to the game...even though you cheered for the other team twice" I playfully smirk and walk over to the kitchen making us some sandwiches.

"Anytime, I surprisingly had a good time. I've never seen baseball before but it was cool to see the boys get happy whenever they hit the ball." She softly smiled and turned around raiding the kitchen for whatever she must be looking for.

I learned very quickly not to ask what she's looking for, even if it's to tell her that it's right in her face. Especially at night when she's raiding the fridge, with her messy hair she looks like a raccoon which I also learned not to call her that when she's half asleep.

She pulled out some leftover chocolate cake from last night, hell fuckin yeah.

"Are you gonna' share that?"

She holds the container closer to her chest "Nope."

"Oh, c'mon! I made you a sandwich, it's only fair" I try my best to mock the kids' pouts since they always seemed to work.

"Fine fine, one slice only because you ate all the pie yesterday"

"I asked you if you wanted some" I muttered, going off to the back porch and setting down our plates, this became our ritual. We'd eat and talk, every damn day we did this. I didn't mind it on bit.

"After the fact that you were almost done with it" She followed behind with the two slices of chocolate cake, she sat down her hair flowing in the wind.

"I still offered" I argued with a small smile digging into the piece of cake first before taking a bite of my sandwich.

I looked at the view in front of me, and god I loved it. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else, the way the birds chirped and how the flowers looked in the field. Beautiful, this time though. My eyes weren't on the field they were on her

"Hm, back to our subject from yesterday." She whips out a clipboard from under the chair, she was trying to be funny as she showed me her fake 'file' she made of me with all the things I like, etc.

"Would you ever leave?"

That question caught my attention.

"What do you mean? Leave the ranch?"

Y/n shook her head “I mean leaving this town. It never gets boring?”

I've never actually given it much thought before. Living here all my life, what was the point of leaving a place that you have it easy in?

"Nope. I did go to New York once. Never again, way too many people for my liking, I also got my younger brother around here so I don't plan on being far from him and his little family."

New York was a shit show, way too many people with attitudes, and too crowded. In my opinion, it was like hell. Though did have cheap hotdogs which were a nice plus and some of the views, besides that, it all was way too expensive and not worth it.

"Would you ever move back...?" I question, wondering how long she was planning on staying.

She stayed quiet, fiddling with the ends of her sundress as she kept her head down low.

We sat in total silence until she spoke.

"Maybe. It has been my home... But I like it here too so it's a little confusing." she admits running her fingers through her hair.

"So as of right now your staying?" I look at her, I feel those god forsaken butterflies in my stomach.

"Yes sheriff you don't have to worry about me up and leaving without two weeks' notice" she teased bumping her shoulder with mind, she smiled.

The way she smiled always made me melt... I liked seeing it. Seeing her happy. Without a thought second I blurt out "Will you go on a date with me? As friends...or y'know?" The moment I realized what I had said it was too late to take it back and didn't want to seem like a jackass for taking it back anyways.

I saw her thinking with a faint blush on her face, maybe she was thinking how to let me down slowly so it wouldn't be awkward.

Y/n lifted her head up and nodded "I'd like that Dean."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

----Tag list----

@deans-spinster-witch @leigh70 @mrsjenniferwinchester @ladysparkles78 @hobby27 @khaleesihavilliard @foxyjwls007 @lucidlivi @jc-winchester @globetrotter28 @beskarfilms @the141bandicoot @alysinwonderland-at-tea @randomgurl2326 @ambergoddess444 @westernwinchesters @lemmons1998 @julie04090 @nic-kolas @raisinggray @alternativeprincess94

[agaypanic]

Okokok bbf!(brothers best friend)Benny Weir x Morgan!male reader where reader is Ethan’s brother/twin (you pick). Reader having a crush on Benny and Ethan trying to prevent them from dating but failing miserably. <3

His Best Friend's Brother (Benny Weir X Male!Morgan!Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: After finding out his brother has a crush on his best friend, Ethan does whatever he can to keep them separated. But he soon finds out all his efforts are futile.

A/N: I would’ve made that title “Brother’s Best Friend” but apparently I’ve already written a benny fic with that title lmao

***

You don’t know why Ethan’s so surprised right now. You had been playing a little game of truth or dare with Sarah and Rory to pass the time while you all waited for Benny and Erica to come over. Sarah asked if you had a crush on anyone, and you shrugged and said Benny. Sarah and Rory just nodded, commenting about how it made sense, and you continued with the game.

Ethan looked like a fish out of water.

You couldn’t tell if it was because Benny was a boy or Ethan’s best friend. But either way, he shouldn’t have been surprised. You thought he noticed how you always looked at Benny or how you went to him first after taking down a bad guy to make sure he was okay. Or the way you did anything you could to be near Benny without being too weird about it.

“You guys are just gonna brush past that?” Ethan asked your friends in surprise. Sarah and Rory looked at each other, then you, and then Ethan.

“Yeah. Why?” Sarah asked. 

“Why? Why?” Ethan looked like he was about to pull all his hair out. “He likes Benny, my best friend. We’re all in the same friend group; it’s weird.”

“Being in the same friend group hasn’t stopped you from having a crush, E.” You reminded your brother, rolling your eyes. He turned red, looking anywhere in the room but at Sarah. “Are you acting insane because Benny and I are both guys?”

“Of course not!” Ethan looked offended that you would even suggest that. “Y/n, I could care less about that. But he’s my best friend, and you’re my brother. It just feels… Icky.” You couldn’t help but laugh at his choice of wording. Sarah and Rory joined in, and soon all three of you were cackling at your brother’s ridiculousness.

“What are you guys laughing at?” You all jumped at Erica’s sudden presence. Sometimes you hated how sneaky she was.

“Ethan’s throwing a fit because Y/n likes Benny,” Rory answered, earning a slap in the arm from Sarah for exposing your secret the second someone new came into the conversation. But you didn’t really mind. You knew Rory would tell someone eventually, and you probably would’ve told Erica anyway.

“You’d throw a fit, too, if your brother had a crush on your best friend!” Ethan whined.

“Ethan’s right.” Erica nodded, turning to look at you. You all knew there was some kind of joke leading up to this, because there’s no way in hell Erica would actually agree with Ethan. “Y/n, you could totally do better.”

You all laughed at the serious tone in her comment. Even Ethan cracked a smile.

“Okay, ha ha. But I still don’t like it.”

“No one said you had to, Ethan.”

“No one said he had to what?” Your friends had to stop coming into your house unannounced. Benny stood in the living room looking at everyone, holding a few boxes of pizza and a bag that was probably filled with drinks and candy.

“Y/n said that no one said Ethan had to like that- Ow!” Rory was interrupted from spilling truths again by Sarah, who hit him harder than last time. Benny gave the two a strange look but brushed their behavior off.

“Whatever. I got pizza, pop, and sweets to make our teeth rot. What are we watching?” Benny asked as he set everything on the kitchen island. Erica smirked, reaching into her purse to pull out multiple DVDs. Catching sight of the titles, Benny whined, and Sarah squealed. “No, please.”

“Oh, yeah. All three Dusk movies.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have the fourth.” You muttered, standing from your spot on the couch and going to the kitchen to grab plates and food.

“Only because it’s not on DVD yet.” 

You grabbed two slices of pizza from one of the boxes when Benny slid to stand next to you.

“I grabbed you your favorites.” You looked at the stuff he pushed toward you, and indeed, he had gotten you your favorite drink and a couple of your favorite candies.

“Thanks, Bens.” You gathered it all around you before looking up at him. It was crazy to you that he was leaning on the countertop and was still taller than you. “You didn’t have to get me all of this.”

“It’s no problem, really.” He smiled at you, and you wished you could look at him forever. The little twinkle in his eye he had when he looked at you made you giddy.

“Oh, nice, pizza.” You were pushed away from each other by an annoying force, more commonly known as your brother. He stood between the two of you, piling his plate with food. After one last look at Benny, you gathered everything in your arms and went to sit on the couch.

When everyone had gotten their food (you, Ethan, and Benny had food. Sarah, Rory, and Erica had some blood bags, and you didn’t want to know where they got them.), you all settled in the living room, either anticipation or dreading the movie marathon that was about to be put on.

Benny sat next to you on the couch, and you were about to offer him one of your sweets when Ethan stood in front of you two.

“Benny, move over a bit, will you?” Ethan made a waving motion to get him to move away from you. You and Benny looked confused. “You’re in my spot.”

“Since when has this been your spot?” You asked. Ethan started to look flustered, trying to come up with an answer.

“Shut up and sit down!” Erica demanded. “The movie’s starting.”

Knowing it’d be better to listen to Erica than continue fighting with Ethan, Benny scooted over, albeit reluctantly. Ethan sat between the two of you, subtly spreading himself out on the couch so you were further away from Benny. You leaned over to Ethan.

“I know what you’re doing.” You whispered to your brother. “Stop it, baby.”

“I’m not doing anything,” Ethan muttered back, ignoring your glare to focus on the movie.

You suffered through the first movie in silence. Your brother was acting like a child. Anytime Benny tried to make a joke about the movie to you, Ethan got in the way by constantly “assuming” he was talking to him. You understood that he was uncomfortable with the fact that you liked his best friend, but that didn’t mean he got to separate you and get in your way.

Getting up and stretching, you told the others you were going to go change into something more comfortable and went up to your room. Although that was true, you also needed a minute away from your brother to avoid losing your mind on him. You changed into sweatpants and were about to change your shirt when there was a knock on the door.

“Oh please, don’t stop on my account,” Benny smirked when you opened the door and saw you drop and smooth out your shirt. You rolled your eyes and let him in, closing the door behind him.

“I’m surprised Ethan let you up here.” You said, taking your shirt off to pull on a loose hoodie. Benny sat on your bed, staring at you.

“I told him I was going to the bathroom, so I bought myself a few minutes.” He hooked his finger in the waistband of your sweats and pulled you close so you were standing between his legs. You smiled down at him, hands resting on his shoulders.

“Let’s make them worth it then.” You murmured before leaning down to kiss Benny. He held you closer to him, arms wrapping around you.

What your friends didn’t know about you and Benny was that you had been secretly dating for a few weeks. It wasn’t that you were scared to tell your friends; you just didn’t feel the need to. Plus, you had a bit of a feeling Ethan would react weirdly. You two had confessed to each other at a party, and the rest was history.

“We should probably go back down.” You said as you pulled away. Benny groaned in disappointment.

“Just a couple more minutes.”

“I mean it, Benny. Ethan will get suspicious.”

“Fine.” He stood up, still holding you. “One more kiss before we go?” You leaned in, unable to say no to his puppy dog eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Ethan shouted, and the two of you jumped apart, startled. He stared at you in horror.

“What?”

“You were kissing him, Y/n!” Deciding to play dumb, you looked around your room like Benny wasn’t there.

“Kissing who?”

“Don’t play dumb. How long has this been going on?”

You and Benny looked at each other, knowing there was no way to escape Ethan and his questions. 

“Since your Halloween party….” Benny said, looking anywhere but at Ethan.

“What?!”

“What’s going on up here?” Erica appeared behind Ethan, scaring the crap out of all three of you. Sarah and Rory stood behind her, watching the scene.

“I just caught Y/n and Benny making out,” Ethan said. The three vampires stared at you and Benny in silence, trying to formulate a response.

“Y/n, I told you that you could do better!” Erica whined, pushing everyone away to go back downstairs.

“Hey!” Benny shouted in offense.

“How are you guys not freaking out?” Ethan asked, looking at Rory and Sarah. They shrugged.

“Who cares? It’s their lives.” Sarah answered, grabbing the back of Ethan’s collar to drag him down the stairs. Rory, you, and Benny trailed behind them. “Come on, let’s watch Dusk.”

“Can Y/n and I stay in his room?” Benny asked, wanting to get out of watching the franchise more than anything.

“No!” Sarah shouted at him. “We’re watching Dusk, and you’re gonna like it!”

[fairytales-and-folklore]

The Wedding Night Of River Song

Doctor Who » Eleven x River

Title: The Wedding Night Of River Song

Author: fairytalesandfolklore

Fandom: Doctor Who (Masterlist)

Relationship: The Eleventh Doctor x River Song

AO3 Rating: Mature (a complete collection of author's notes, inspiration credits, content warnings and tags can be found on AO3)

Summary: When the Doctor promises Melody Pond a whirlwind adventure, the last thing she expects is to spend her night standing guard while he visits another woman — his wife. Little does she know it's herself from the future. That's the trouble with time-travelers. Word of advice: Never fall in love with a man from the stars. Especially one you're meant to murder.

"We've just been to one of the most beautiful planets the universe has to offer. We've seen volcanoes erupt in the distant mountaintops, with the comfort of knowing we can't be touched. We've climbed to the top of the tallest tower and danced in the rays of the setting Barcelonian sun," he whispered, pausing for a moment to release a short, breathless chuckle as he exchanged his smile for a look of pure longing. "And all I could think about was her." The words shot through Melody's heart like a dagger. "Doctor," she said, before she could stop herself. "Who is she? Why is she so special? And why tonight?" The Doctor's smile widened, and this time, he didn't miss a beat. "She's my wife, Mels, and this is our wedding night."

Read On AO3 | Read On Tumblr:

When Melody was a little girl, she had a best friend named Amelia Pond. Like most best friends, Amelia wasn't imaginary, she didn't have a mad appetite or a taste for peculiar attire, and she didn't make promises that she couldn't keep. On the day that Melody was born, Amelia promised her that she would be safe, that she would be brave, and that no matter where she was taken, her parents were coming to find her. That promise, Melody broke on her own, because she found them first. Only, she found them quite a bit earlier than she'd intended to.

The best thing about Melody's mum was her imagination: her head was full of mad, impossible stories, and she never grew tired of telling them. When they were both seven years old, Amelia told Melody about her imaginary friend: the man from the stars. A mad time-traveler who fell from the sky and crashed into her garden. A man who ate fish fingers and custard, and opened a crack in her bedroom wall that splintered off into the end of the universe. A man who promised her that he would take her traveling in his bigger-on-the-inside blue box. A man who made her wait for fourteen years before he finally stole her away.

She told Melody that she could remember adventures that had never happened, wonderful dreams of faraway planets and the future of Great Britain carried off on the back of a star whale. Of terrible creatures made of stone and reptilian women with fiery tempers. Of millions of spaceships lighting up the sky and nights without any stars at all. Once, she'd said, Rory Williams had been a Roman Centurion, and he had waited for her for two thousand years while she slept in Pandora's box. Mels had never laughed so hard in her life, trying to picture her awkward, gangly father in Roman garb.

Amy told Mels how wonderful the Doctor was, how he had lost his entire race to a terrible war, and still, he'd soldiered on. How, in all of his nine hundred and seven years, carrying with him all of that pain and misery and loneliness, he'd never once succumbed to violence if he didn't have to. How he'd saved thousands of civilizations, altered entire worlds by changing a single mind, and had even sacrificed himself to reboot the crumbling universe.

What Amy had neglected to tell Mels all those years ago was that the Doctor was, in fact, a cheeky bastard with appalling manners and very little common sense. On the eve of Melody's twenty-first birthday, a blue police box appeared outside of her window. She never questioned who he was, or why he had come for her. She simply stepped outside and into the blue box, and the mad man with the time machine took her to see the stars. 

That night, they traveled to Barcelona, a beautiful planet with a temperament to match her own, with chains of active volcanoes surrounding its outskirts like a protective gate, golden skylines blanketing the towers of the inner cities, and beaches with white-hot sand and deep, violet oceans stretching to the edges of the planet's surface. Together, they ran back into the TARDIS, laughing breathlessly, their arms filled with enough Barcelonian chocolates and spirits to last Mels three lifetimes.

The Doctor set new coordinates, and Mels waited in anticipation for their next destination. Within seconds, the TARDIS had vworped to a halt, and Mels released a gust of air she hadn't realized she'd been holding. On the other side of those doors could've been anything at all in the entire universe. This was the adventure she'd been waiting for: for this man to come and take her away. To become more than fairy tale and legend. To rewrite time and make her his companion, rather than his assassin. Heart in her throat, Melody pushed open the TARDIS doors, and an ugly grimace spread across her face.

"Now, this can't be right," she said, stepping out of the comfort of the blue box and into a dimly lit, dark gray corridor. "Where are we?"

The Doctor smiled sheepishly as he climbed out of the TARDIS. He gently closed the doors with a semi-silent click, looking about the corridors cautiously, as though expecting an ambush at any moment. His eyes met Melody's and his face broke into a ridiculous grin.

"Stormcage Containment Facility," he whispered, a ruddy blush settling into his cheeks as he added, "Just popping in to visit a friend."

In every one of Amy's stories, the Doctor had always been confident, calculated and very, very brave, if a little mad. If Mels didn't know any better, she'd think she was staring at a giddy five-year-old in a man's body. The Doctor's true intent became evident as Mels observed his nervous laughter, the way he checked the corridors around them so often you'd think he had a tick, and the way he placed special emphasis on the word friend.

"You have got to be kidding me," she nearly shouted, her heart sinking into her stomach. The Doctor placed a finger to his lips and smiled somewhat apologetically.

"Won't take long, I promise. Well, alright, it might take long. Quite long, actually, as River does like to…anyway, I'll be back in a bit. Promise."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do while you go off for a random shag?" Mels asked, not bothering to keep her voice down in the slightest. His eyes traveled to the spare guard uniform hanging up on a hook on the opposite wall, and Melody's mouth dropped open in horror. Confounded by this man's inherent lack of social code, Mels leaned up against the cold, dark gray wall, crossed her arms, and shot him a murderous glare.

The Doctor said nothing, nervously scrubbing his fingers through his disheveled hair, his blush deepening. He seemed torn between pleading and pouting as he tentatively approached her, careful not to earn a well-deserved slap across the face. He casually slid up against the corridor wall beside her, leaned in close, and gently tucked a strand of her dark, curly brown hair behind her ear, his breath ghosting over her skin as he whispered, please.

She could feel his eyes on her, burning into her skin, willing her to look up at him, and for all of her rebellious charm, he was the one who could melt her resolve with a simple flash of his magnificent smile. She'd only just met him tonight, but she had spent years of her life hearing stories about him, wondering where he'd gone and if he would ever come back. In this moment, he was Amelia's dream, and Melody's reality.

There he stood, all tweed jacket, braces, boots and bowtie-clad, his white button-down shirt rolled up to his elbows and wrinkled from their adventure on Barcelona. Pale skin brushing sweetly against hers. Soft, pink lips nearly tangible. He was real. She could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. And still, he was the one boy Mels couldn't have. He smiled lazily as he traced a fingertip down her cheek and along the bridge of her nose. For a moment, she thought he might change his mind, but his expression shifted and he pulled back, eyeing her cautiously.

"We've just been to one of the most beautiful planets the universe has to offer. We've seen volcanoes erupt in the distant mountaintops, with the comfort of knowing we can't be touched. We've climbed to the top of the tallest tower and danced in the rays of the setting Barcelonian sun," he whispered, pausing for a moment to release a short, breathless chuckle as he exchanged his smile for a look of pure longing. "And all I could think about was her." 

The words shot through Melody's heart like a dagger, twisting the nerves of her stomach. She refused to look at him, knowing full well that a single glance would fracture her façade.

"She must be something special," Mels finally managed.

"Yeah, she is," the Doctor said fondly, "but she's trapped here, and…well, it's not exactly her fault. It's all a bit complicated. I really need to see her tonight, but if the guards ever found out…" The Doctor trailed off, anxiously running his hands through his hair as he peered around the corridor again. He turned back toward Mels, his expression troubled.

"Will you do this for me? I'll make it up to you one day, I promise."

Yeah, sure you will. Go on, then, raggedy man. Twist the knife.

"Bet that's what you tell all the girls," she said with a humorless chuckle.

The Doctor smiled, pure and genuine this time, and kissed the top of Melody's forehead in gratitude as he handed her the spare uniform.

"Doctor," she said, before she could stop herself. "Who is she?"

The Doctor paused on the edge of a clever lie, and then smiled.

"Spoilers," he said. "Really, though. Ridiculously complicated, timey wimey spoilers. I wish I could tell you, but I just can't."

Mels rolled her eyes in frustration, growing more irritated with him by the second.

"Who is she to you, then? Why's she so special? And why tonight?"

The Doctor's smile widened, and this time, he didn't miss a beat.

"She's my wife, Mels, and this is our wedding night."

He gave her a soft smile, turned on his heel, and disappeared down the opposite corridor, swallowed in shadow. With a sob of despair, Melody sank to the floor, the overlarge guard's cap sinking down over her eyes.

Never fall in love with a man from the stars, she mused sadly, pulling a small bottle of Barcelona's finest chocolate liqueur from her purse. She smiled softly and downed a quarter of the bottle, delighting in its fantastic taste. The cruel irony of the situation, of where and with whom she had ended up tonight finally registered, and Mels couldn't help but laugh. Especially one you're meant to murder.

• • •

This wasn't the Doctor's first time in Stormcage, and it certainly wasn't his first time in prison, but that's a different story entirely. He found River instantly — the only light in this dark corridor, with rows of narrow containment cells and an eerie silence radiating chills throughout any passerby that dared walk its halls. Most of the inmates had already gone to sleep, as it was well past four in the morning, with the exception of River Song. There she sat, cuddled up in the corner of her tiny bed, covers pulled up to her chin, and a dark blue journal resting across her lap. She looked up the moment his fingers slid around the metal bars, and her lips curled into a smile.

"And what sort of time do you call this?" she scolded as she shrugged out of her comforter to check the clock on her vortex manipulator, revealing perfectly-curled blonde hair that fell in rivulets to her shoulders. The Doctor flashed her his best apologetic smile, and whipped his sonic screwdriver from a pocket in his tweed jacket, unlocking the cell with a simple click.

"Thought I'd make a house call," he said, strolling into her room and observing the monotonous color of the walls with a look of disgust. It seemed unfair, really, that River had spent nearly all of her life in one form of a prison or another, but the Doctor was determined to make it up to her. It was, after all, in a very twisted way, his own fault that she was here.

"Where are we off to this time?" River asked, appearing behind him suddenly. Her hands curved around the muscles of his arms, her scarlet fingernail paint a stark contrast to her pale skin. He curled into her touch, and found himself properly dumbstruck. River pressed herself against him, the only fabric between her skin and his clothes a white silken nightgown, flowing from the curve of her breasts to the floor, like an intimate wedding dress. The Doctor could only stare, incapable, for the first time in his life, of speech.

"Nowhere," he finally managed. "We're staying right here."

"But, sweetie, the guards…"

"I've brought someone with me, and she's agreed to stand guard out in the main corridor."

"Oh God. You haven't got Amy—"

"No, no, of course not," he quickly amended, making a face. "It's someone else. Someone you might recall from a very, very long time ago."

Realization dawned on River as the blurred, forgotten memory returned to her. She promptly smacked the Doctor on the arm and hissed, "You bad, bad man. You made me believe I was dreaming it all up that night."

"Did I? Well, suppose I will have," he said shamefully, rubbing his arm absentmindedly. River moved in closer again, a flurry of emotions flashing across her eyes as she stared into his.

"You really hurt me that night. I spent all that time trying not to think about the fact that you were here with another woman, and…well, now I suppose that woman was me, wasn't it? This is all very confusing. It's still difficult to remember. Obviously, the Barcelonian liqueur served its purpose. Had a bit too much, though. Trouble keeping it down. Speaking of which, I am sorry about your glass floor…"

The Doctor made a face, but reasoned that he probably deserved it after the way he'd hurt Mels. The way he was currently hurting Mels. He tried to comfort himself with the fact that he was doing the right thing. That he would make it up to her, someday. That he was about to make it up to her right now.

"Doctor, why did you bring her here?" River asked, the sorrow in her voice prickling the back of his throat as he fought for a reasonable answer.

"Why did you pull a gun on me and blow holes in my TARDIS?" he retorted.

"Fair enough," she said, rolling her eyes. "Still, that is quite an evil revenge tactic. In her timeline, she hasn't even done it yet."

"Let's just call it preemptive punishment," he said. "Besides which, Kovarian and her army of religious whatsits raised you to become a weapon. You were meant to despise everything that I am, to want to kill me. That event, my death, as you well know, is a fixed point in time. I couldn't have you spoiling history just because I'm irresistible and you happened to fall for me."

"Oh, I hate you," she said, smiling in spite of her vexation.

"You see? My plan worked. But really, you don't," he said, taking her hands in his and lightly kissing her palms. She sighed and fell into his arms, tracing the curves of his shoulders with her fingertips, and nestled into the arch of his neck.

"What brings you here, then, if not some mad adventure that will most likely get us killed, in spite of our established timeline?"

"We never did get our wedding night," he whispered softly, leaving a trail of kisses from her chin to her collarbone.

"That was in a different universe," she laughed, swatting him delicately on the head as he attempted to snake his hands underneath her nightgown.

"I can remember it. Every detail of that day exactly. So I'm still counting it."

"Oh, shut up," she teased, pulling him closer and curling her fingers into the strands of his hair as he hungrily kissed every inch of her skin that wasn't covered in the fine fabric of her nightgown. The Doctor, of course, had every intention of removing that pretty little hindrance.

"Make me," he growled, winding himself around her like a helix, until there was nothing left between them but the steam of their breath and the touch of skin against skin.

• • •

When the Doctor crept back into the main corridor several hours later, it was to find that Mels had completely disappeared. Silently panicking, he threw his hands into the pockets of his tweed jacket, frantically searching for his sonic. He felt a poke in the small of his back, and whipped around to find River, her hair now properly disheveled, handing him his screwdriver. She then pointed to the corner of the corridor, where a young girl slept soundlessly in the shadows, curled up in an overlarge guard's uniform and slumped against the front doors of the TARDIS. 

"Penny in the air," River said, giggling at the Doctor's complete disregard for the obvious. He smiled in relief, wrapped his arms around River's waist, and kissed her with all of the strength he had left, promising he'd come see her again soon. 

"I know," she whispered, kissing him softly, before wandering down the corridor and returning to her cell. The Doctor sighed as he strolled over to where Mels slept. Not wanting to wake her, he delicately removed the guard's uniform, hung it back up on its hook, and carried her into the TARDIS. He laid her down on the newly-conjured couch, and bundled her up in his tweed jacket, silently thanking the TARDIS for being so accommodative. 

On cue, Mels promptly turned over, mumbled, "and the penny drops," and covered his shiny glass floor in her sick. The Doctor grimaced in disgust, but quickly converted his expression to a smile, and kneeled down beside her. He brushed her hair back from out of her eyes and kissed the top of her forehead, and Mels smiled contentedly in her sleep. The Doctor sighed heavily, shifted to the controls and set the coordinates for Melody's backyard. He landed as quietly as he could, found his way to her bedroom, and tucked her up into her bed.

In the morning, Mels awoke, disorientated and quite hung-over, her purse empty of Barcelonian spirits, her mind filled with brand new, impossible dreams that she could swear were real, and an ache in her heart that she couldn't quite explain. It was all a bit shambolic, but if Mels was certain of anything, it was this: it wouldn't be the last she'd see of that mad time traveler and his bigger-on-the-inside blue box.

[dominimoonbeam]

To The Edge - 9

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: scifi romance, hijinks in space, rogues learning to trust, violence, blood, guns, death, explicit language, so much kidnapping,

Works organized and easily found over on the patreon. <3

TO THE EDGE - CHAPTER 9.

They were almost there. Almost to the hub station where the mercenaries they’d contacted had said to meet them. For a second, before he patched them up, Stardust had considered trying to buy Cosmic’s help. They needed to get someplace and they needed a ship. From what they’d learned on Styx, buying a jet this far out was nearly impossible, but hiring transport was easy. Just about everyone with a ship was looking to make easy money.

…It wasn’t going to be easy money, though. There was a good chance their cousins would send more bounty hunters and, even if they didn’t, if Cosmic betrayed their contract he’d end up with a price on his head.

There was no way they could trust him to help them at his own risk, and if he was willing… there was no way Stardust could do that to someone. Especially not someone that had patched them up.

The console lit up in a strobe of bright yellow.

Incoming—

They tapped the console.

Call declined.

Cosmic sighed loudly. “That’s the third time that L-class yacht has tried to call, Stardust… Maybe you should just answer.”

They scoffed, swiveling side to side in their seat and watching the stars rather than their captive. Why answer? To hear Tansy’s terms of surrender? Or to have Genesis list the ways he’d make them pay when he got his hands on them? No. They’d rather not know which one it was.

They spun around to face their bounty hunter, smirking when a thought occurred to them. “Wouldn’t that reflect badly on you? You should be begging me not to answer.”

“Yes, it would look bad for me if you did and someone found out I’d lost my ship to my bounty…but I don’t think that’s why you’re avoiding the call.”

Stardust felt their smile sag. What if it wasn’t Genesis or Tansy? What if Illya was involved? Or Galileo herself? Would Stardust have to return if they called? How could they not? Solinoh knees only bent for the family and those were the names that brought them crawling.

No. It couldn’t be Galileo. If she knew, it would be over. If she knew, the others would have scattered and pretended they’d never had their eyes on the prize.

“Did you really run away from home? Is that what you were doing out here when you got picked up by pirates?”

Stardust looked at him. Rory Antilla. They still thought Cosmic suited him better. They’d had time to sift through his ship logs. He was a jack of all trades and had been to just about every corner of the edge, flirting with the border to the Court but not quite crossing. He was a smugglers, a thief, and a bounty hunter with an impressive log of successful jobs. No wonder he’d been the first to find them.

He laughed when they didn’t answer, the sound frustrated. “It is, isn’t it? Why? What cracked plan led you to think that life out here would be better than on some luxury resort planet back in the prime?”

They wrinkled their nose and tried to push away thoughts of Lu-Pan and Cory’s offer to hide out on a beach. There was no way to explain it to Cosmic—definitely no way without giving him enough information to get him killed. “What do you know about it?” they snapped off instead.

“Yeah, I don’t know anything,” he agreed. “But you could tell me. I mean, I am a captive audience. Emphasis on captive…”

They scrubbed a hand over their face, hating how much they did want to tell him. “My family can be… dangerous.” Fuck. That was nowhere close.

“Yeah, I know your family is dangerous, Stardust,” he started with a scoff but slowed, his eyes reconsidering them in a way that made their skin feel exposed. “Is that… I mean, why would that matter to you? Are you…scared of them?”

Their chest tightened. It was so much more complicated than just being family. They were blood. They were Solinoh. But not every branch of their tree was equal and not every branch loved the others. Stardust was a Solinoh Fairvell, a line of the family that had swung back and forth between trying to rule and trying to leave. It had not inspired closeness.

“Is that why you ran?” he asked, trying to understand.

They flinched at that honest effort—at what sounded dangerously close to caring in his voice. “I didn’t run,” they retorted. “I just left.”

He huffed, rolling his eyes. “Oh, you didn’t run?” he asked, words dripping with amusement. “Like how you didn’t faint?”

They set their jaw. They would absolutely never admit to having fainted.

Cosmic dragged a breath and slouched back in the chair, having long since stopped trying to pull his arms and legs free of all that duct tape.

“Okay,” he tried again. “Just tell me what you’re doing and maybe I can help. Was your family after you before the pirates tried to ransom you?”

Stardust swiveled side to side. He was smart. They felt like if they didn’t get off that ship with him soon, he might actually figure out what was going on.

“Damn. You do have bad luck, Stardust…” he laughed, like their silence was answer enough. “So, why are they after you? Did you steal something?”

They laughed before they could think better of it, shrugging and leaning back to look up at the ceiling. “I guess you could say so. I stole myself.” And now they were in deep.

“…You…You stole yourself? What does that mean?”

They pressed their mouth shut and shook their head. They shouldn’t have said that. They shouldn’t be talking to him at all. So, why hadn’t they just taped his mouth shut? With a sigh, they sat upright and swiveled forward again, back to him.

“Wait! Wait! Come on, we can figure this out. You don’t want to go home? Fine. I’ll drop you someplace else. Cut me loose and I’ll forget about the whole stealing my ship thing. Promise.”

They smiled despite all effort not to but refused to look back at him again. “Really?” they asked, doubtful. Hadn’t he been promising to make them pay an hour ago?

“Yeah, I mean, if I wasn’t taped to this chair, I could even make it a pinky promise.”

They ignored him.

Cosmic groaned, kicking at the floor. “Come on, Stardust! You don’t have a plan! You’re going to get us both killed.”

They tsked at him. “I have a plan.”

“Oh, you do have a plan? Fantastic! What is it? I’m all ears.”

They watched the stars. “I’m hiring alternative transport. We’re going to some station called Carina where you will get your ship back and I will be on my way, out of your hair.”

Quiet stretched with only the hum of the ship for so long that they had to look back just to make sure he was still there. He was. Still taped to his seat and staring at her.

“You… No. That’s not a plan. That’s like jumping out of a ship without a helmet and calling it a plan, Stardust.”

They rolled their eyes and turned their attention forward again.

“Going to another station to meet—”

“I’m hiring alternative transport,” they corrected. “I’ll let you go after!”

“Oh,” he said with sarcastic cheer. “Oh! You’re going to hire some mercenaries to take you where you want to go and then you’ll cut me loose. Well, thank you, but that’s not going to work.”

“Really? You think I can’t find someone with a ship willing to take me where I want to go?” They’d already found someone, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Logistics aside, you don’t stand a chance. There is a bounty out for your return. You think I’m the only one that got wind of it? Why do you think I was hauling ass to get you home? Every hunter on this side of the galaxy is going to be looking for you.”

They shrugged. How many could there even be out on this side of the galaxy? There was nothing out this way but abandoned settlements and stations.

“Stardust… Have you ever heard about Baron?” he asked.

Baron? They almost rolled their eyes. They’d known plenty of people who called themselves Baron, half of them legally named it. Royalty names were always popular in the prime. Cornelius had been middle-named Contessa. Admittedly, it was cooler than the affinity for space names like Stardust.

“He was some high-born primer like you that roamed too far from home and got kidnapped.”

Stardust shot Cosmic a lifted eyebrow. He was bullshitting now.

Only, nothing about his expression hinted at a joke. “It was a while back… but things didn’t go smoothly. Hunters started killing each other to be the one collecting that bounty. If anyone realizes who you are, things are going to get ugly. Shit, Stardust, even if they don’t realize who you are, they’re going to double-cross you. You’ll get yourself killed.”

They tore their gaze off him. He could be right. What insurance did they have that these mercenaries wouldn’t double-cross them? Payment. Part now and part later. It wasn’t like they had any other options. “So why did you do it?” they asked the stars, not turning to look back at him this time.

“What?” he asked, confused, and then he laughed darkly. “You want to know why I took the job if it was so dangerous?”

They nodded at the window, his reflection there in the glass, like he was out there in the stars.

“Because I’m the best,” he said, so smug that it sent a chill right down their spine. “Because it’s a huge payday and because…” He stopped short, the words and thoughts catching on something else. Some memory or terrible truth? The bounty hunter sighed, his eyes finding theirs in the reflection. “Because last time, that rich kid didn’t make it back… The hunters were so busy fighting over the bounty that he just… He got caught in the crossfire. That’s what happens out here. Things go wrong and people die. People like you are dangerous because everyone else around them gets hurt too.”

Stardust stared back at him. “That’s no different than back in the prime.” People like them, Solinohs, were dangerous everywhere.

“When that high born died, even though half the hunters that were fighting over him had died too, his family sent one of their yachts out here armed to the teeth and shot down everything they laid eyes on. They blew a whole station off the map.”

Stardust refused to wince, because of course that was what would happen. When a Solinoh died, even in the prime, even in the house of other primers, someone had to pay for that loss—someone had to learn the lesson so that everyone else would remember the value of their lives above all others. Why wouldn’t the primers do the same to others? It was ugly and wrong, but it was exactly what they would do.

Cosmic nodded at their reflection, lip curled, and they knew he saw it in their face—saw the lack of surprise. “So, you, Stardust, are going home. Right back where you belong. I am getting that payday and that’s going to be the end of it.”

Stardust pushed their boot along the floor, twisting their seat around to look at him. “I don’t think anyone but my relatives have ever tried to command me, Cosmic. It’s honestly adorable, especially considering that you’re still taped to that fucking chair.”

He grinned, and it looked like he’d bite them if he could. “Yeah, I can see why you think you have the upper hand right now, but we both know you’re not going to leave me here to die. So, you will have to cut me loose eventually.”

They bit back a laugh. He was so clever but he still hadn’t figured out how this was going to go down… “I know you really wanted that bounty. How about this, I’ll send you the money myself when I get someplace. It’s only fair for you getting me out of that situation with the pirates and letting me borrow your ship.”

His teeth clicked angrily. “Whatever tiff you’re having with your bloodline, you can sort out after I drop you off.”

The ship beeped and then announced, Approaching station.

The bounty hunter glared. “You’re not listening to me at all, are you?”

“Never have, no,” Stardust admitted, getting up from the captain’s chair and pulling their jacket back on.

“Stardust, you are going to get us killed,” he implored, all serious and big eyes now.

They fixed their collar, the ship jostling a little as it neared the station. “I’m saving you, asshole. You’ll realize it eventually. Or you won’t but, by then, I’ll have wired you some cash and you’ll feel better.”

“Saving… Stop! You’re not saving anyone! Least of all me.” He kicked at the ground, struggling against his bindings anew. “Fine! Go! Just cut me loose and get the hell off my ship!”

Preparing to dock.

They grabbed onto the edge of wall near him, the ship jerking to the side when it coupled with the station. Gears and valves hummed as it connected.

Stardust reached into their boot and pulled out the little weapon they’d kept since they first tied him up.

Cosmic tensed, staring at them. “What are you doing with the stun gun?”

Stardust bit back a guilty smile.

“No. You don’t have to knock me out before you cut me loose. I’ll let you go!”

“Oh, right, I’m definitely going to believe that…”

“I’m not lying!”

They waited, raising an eyebrow.

He snarled. “…Okay, I’m lying! But if you stun me with that thing again, I swear, I’m going to make you pay. I don’t care how far you run or how many mercenaries you hire, Stardust. I’m going to get you back, I’m going to steal your jacket, and I’m going to drag your ass all the way back to your cousins.”

Stardust stepped closer, grabbing the back of his chair over one shoulder. “You’re not the first to threaten me or even the first to hunt me.”

Docked.

They flicked the safety off the stun gun.

He stared right into their eyes. “Don’t do this…” It was more of a warning than a plea.

Stardust had had a lot of enemies and rivals over the decades of their life, but they thought they might like him the most. “I am sorry,” they admitted because it was true. They didn’t want to hurt him. If there was a better way to knock him out, they would take it. They hadn’t been familiar enough with the drugs in his med room to risk using one of those.

“Don’t apologize! Just don’t do it!” he yelled.

Stardust tased him. Again. They didn’t look away, because they wanted to. They didn’t like seeing his body seize and his eyes roll back like that. It looked painful and it felt cruel, but it was their choice to do it—so they’d witness it too. That was how they’d been raised. They could do bad things, but they had to look.

When he was out, they made quick work of cutting the tape, not enough that he’d fall out of the seat but enough that he’d be able to get loose when he came too.

“Thanks for the ride,” they said to no one before leaving.

[synthient]

Just thinking about how the date Belinda wants to get back to will be the irl date of the episode they finally manage to get there, that reminds me of series 5 where they did something very similar with Amy's wedding day which was also the date the Tardis exploded, the difference being that Amy at first intentionally kept travelling instead of returning to that day to make the night before last longer (and then when the Doctor realised it was when the Tardis would explode he tried to stop River from taking her there but it was inevitable at that point) whereas Belinda wants to get back to where she belongs and the Tardis seems to be avoiding the date...

Also an interesting parallel is how in the first episode of series 5 the Doctor first met Amy when she was a child and when he returned he didn't realise at first how long he'd been gone, and it sounds like Belinda will also be away for longer than she realises at first with the hours vs months thing? (Side note also, if the date she's trying to get back to is the day she was taken, maybe something happened in her absence that led to the Doctor finding her a few months later and it would be a paradox to send her back as if she'd never gone missing and that's why it's not working? Or maybe the date they're trying to get her back to is after she's been missing if they know about that and take it into account but the Tardis just can't seem to get even slightly close enough to the right date?)

Could all just be a coincidence, but the fact that the animated poster thing for the title of the Reality War had those big red cracks in the walls... Series 5 showed that if the Tardis is killed, (at least in the specific explodey way they did that time) all of time and the universe goes with her, with existence-erasing (reality-altering) cracks spreading everywhere in anticipation...

(and the cure was stored conveniently in the trap some enemies made for the Doctor, and Amy was able to restore the Doctor and the Tardis to the universe thanks to having grown up with one of those time cracks in her bedroom wall and it never eating her despite being right next to her all that time and eating her parents and technically Rory survived better by being removed from existence after he was lethally shot so that he could be part of Amy's subconscious memories for the autons to create a replica of who would overwrite his auton programming to romantically protect and save Amy after killing her and oh no way The Tardis Did It all along back then too (kind of) knowing she would be assassinated and setting things up so she could survive...???)

But yeah anyway main point do you think they could be drawing attention to series 5 on purpose or is "the date this episode airs is important in-universe" just a thing that happens sometimes?

Huh! Wow. Well. I thought I'd been broadly spoiled on most of the convoluted 11 twists by now, but somehow "Rory is technically a mannequin" is still news to me

Ty for the breakdown! Since I've only watched the tail end of 11, I wasn't really equipped to make the connection on my own between Reality War's cracks in reality, and the crack in the wall/Tardis explosion plot. But RTD2 seems to be referencing and drawing from a lot of Moffat-era elements - Belinda as Impossible Girl 2, Mrs. Flood's Clara and Missy signals, my hunch that the whole Tardis plot stems from Twice Upon a Time - so it definitely checks out.

If the cracks could be a sign that the Tardis is injured, then that raises a few intriguing possibilities for the finale:

The Doctor/UNIT/etc thinks they've successfully killed whover the S2 Sutekh is. But instead, they accidentally hurt its puppeteer, the Tardis. (Clara in the Dalek vibes)

The Tardis has overstretched herself, and is now sick/dying because she expended too much energy on reality warping

The Tardis has lost control, and now the Doctor/UNIT/etc don't know how to stop her without destroying her (and endangering the universe in a different way)

[besidesitstoowarm]

"The Day of the Moon" thoughts

i would argue we stuck the landing here, but it's a bit shaky. my bf said he was frustrated bc we never got back around to the astronaut in the lake and i think that's a fairly good point. i know where the season is going but so far the show has been fairly self-contained, we haven't really had such a major story beat be kind of dropped. obviously i know it'll come back but it does feel like the story itself kind of forgot about its own inciting incident. that said i still loved it

so we open 3 months later, amy is on the run and covered in tally marks. canton shoots her, then chases down river until she jumps off a skyscraper, then tracks down and shoots rory, both of whom also have tally marks. canton has the doctor at roswell and puts him in super prison and then drops the act once they're alone; amy and rory are fine, he lets the doctor go free, they're a-silence huntin'. they catch river. amy tells the doctor she was wrong, she isn't pregnant

the doctor implants them with the career chip from futurama but it's a recording device and all of a sudden canton's shows that he has a message "how did it get in here" and it's genuinely unnerving. moffat is really, really good at horror episodes, very "something scary enough for children without being too scary for adults", he taps into these primal fears (aging, the dark, something under your bed, something in the corner of your eye, being watched) in a way that is always effective for me

they try to track down the little girl from part 1 by going to an orphanage. the guy running it is visibly unwell and the entire place looks condemned, LEAVE NOW GET OUT is painted on the wall, the guy says they're planning to close in '67. canton says that can't be true cause it's already '69 and the guy is confused. amy gets trapped in a room with more creepy writing on the walls, threadbare beds, suddenly covered in tally marks with a message saying she found them sleeping. we see them nesting on the ceiling like bats, and it's gross and creepy

she escapes the room and sees a hatch open on another door, we see a woman with an eyepatch who says "no i think she's just dreaming" and closes the hatch. hm. amy opens that door but it's just a child's room, the little girl's room. there are a lot of pictures of her on the dresser and one pic of amy holding a baby. what could it mean! amy gets ambushed and kidnapped

the doctor and rory find her palm chip on the group and it's live playing her crying and begging for help. rory says amy knows he'll always come for her and she starts begging for the doctor. poor rory, man. like i said in the other recap, that insecurity hasn't gone away, no neat bows on that arc. i love them your honor. the doctor and river find the empty astronaut suit and it's life support but the little girl busted out. "incredibly strong and running away, i like her" yeah i'll bet you do

the doctor and rory have a good weird little moment. the doctor says fighting the silence is like kicking the romans out of rome and rory says "rome fell" and the doctor says "i know, i was there" and rory says "so was i" god he's so cool. rory says he kind of remembers the lone centurion years, sometimes. the davies era has the companions all end up for the better after traveling w the doctor, he's the best thing that ever happened to them, a miracle. and he is, but the moffat era also acknowledges that he leaves scars, he's like cpr in that he saves your life but also cracks your ribs

they find amy! river has a gun! the doctor gets horny again "she really doesn't mind shooting people, i shouldn't like that but i sort of do" and then says she could kill at least 3 of them before they get to him, she says easily 7, 8 for you honey "oh, stop it" "make me" "mm, maybe i will" i NEED to be their third. i want what they have. i want to be the peanut butter in their sandwich. the doctor harnesses the power of gaslighting by inserting a clip of the silence saying "you should kill us all on sight" into the moon landing, ensuring hundreds of millions of people will see it and drive them away, even if they don't remember it

anyway we learned last episode that canton got kicked from the fbi bc he wanted to get married so nixon is like "the one you want to marry. black?" canton says yes and nixon is like "well i'm a little more liberal than–" and canton cuts in with "HE is." nixon does not approve. naturally. remember in that call of duty game when reagan asks for your pronouns? fuck me that was funny. nixon does not do that. we love a gay interracial romance however. i love you canton

the doctor asks amy why she told him she's pregnant and she's like idk you're my best friend (only friend, i think) and he's like "but you didn't tell rory?" and rory is like yeah you def should have told me. i'm a nurse, and also your husband. the doctor surreptitiously scans amy for pregnancy and it keeps oscillating between positive and negative. paging dr schroedinger

he drops river back off at prison and she kisses him and he flails a bit and she realizes they haven't kissed before, and his firsts are her lasts so this is it for her :( it's good, it's tragic. river hides so much pain under her flirtation and quips, she's very much like nine in that. i'd love to have seen them together

last scene we see the little girl who escaped the astronaut stumbling down a nyc alley and she tells a homeless man that she's dying but it's cool bc uhhhhh *explodes into light* you know how it is in nyc. what could it mean?!

next episode is mid if i recall. that's okay i need a break from thinking

[crimsonlyinglilly]

Day 4 “Does that hurt?”                              

 | Impalement | Fracture | Punishment | also alt Whip

Still with Caged Founder and another day for @juneofdoom,

Tristan thinks in the aftermath of stress relief for him.

Both Tristan and Elijah need therapy and to talk.

Set around the same time as Nightmare

----

“Tristan, why aren’t I healing?” Elijah asked calmly, his voice carrying nothing more than faint curiosity.

He’s not sure if Elijah’s new acceptance, almost enjoyment of pain is a development from what they once shared when he was human, Elijah had taken what he dealt and returned it with a smirk when all his past fleeting playthings had winced or teared up, or Elijah grasping at any control he can after they-Tristan had striped so much from him.

Whatever it was Tristan wasn’t going to deny it or fail to enjoy himself with the opportunity. 

“I’ve soaked the whip in vervain, do you wish to stop?” He asked in return, this wasn’t a punishment, this was something Elijah had offered once he noticed Tristan’s growing tension, too many pointless hold up in several of the Strix’s plans in short notice.

“No point since I'm already here, it’ll heal.” Elijah shrugged

—

Later as he sat beside Elijah’s sleeping body, Tristan reminded himself that Elijah had offered, he had noticed Tristan’s rising tension and anger and asked him about it, offering him an outlet before he slipped up.

Perhaps accepting that was the slip up.

Aurora was going to be very angry at both of them but mostly him, unless her night of research kept her away long enough for the lashes to heal, he wasn't sure if she was looking up myths and gods or looking up another university course in psychiatry.

He traced the wounds, they would heal and be gone by the morning, yet now they remained the only marks on flawless skin.

There weren't as many as he was better known for, few had truly broken the skin too deep, he attention hadn’t been on the damage he had inflicted but Elijah’s reaction going just only enough to get his reactions before he slowed and stopped.

In his sleep Elijah’s face twitched as he grazed a nail along the edge on one of the few open wounds, no attempt to hide it in his sleep.

Elijah still kept so much of himself hidden, so rarely allowing himself a moment without rigid control but he had been letting them see more since Aurora had made her intentions clear and started speaking about it, telling and warning Tristan when he went to far where Elijah wouldn’t.

Elijah had proved surprisingly good at dealing with Aurora’s mood and finding ways to manage them, it should be surprising given what Elijah is like.

Tristan knows if they hadn’t come together, he would have accidentally pushed Elijah past breaking point, in a way he couldn’t fix and he would have been forced to lock Aurora away instead of getting to see her flourish.

Elijah’s face twisted in his sleep and Tristan's hand paused before he could reach out, never sure how he could sooth nightmares like he could with Rory when he was half the cause of Elijah’s.

He had been sleeping more, some days refusing to leave the bed, others even when he did dress and leave their rooms, exhaustion clearly weighed on him.

Tristan was well aware that the demons of the mind didn’t solely affect humans, that the depression that now haunted Elijah was his doing, and was about as simple to fix as the ritual that now bound Elijah’s ability to protect himself.

Elijah Mikaelson had once been a marble statue, Tristan’s actions had cracked the facade, just as they had fractured his mind but cracks and fractures could be filled with molten gold and become a far greater piece of art.

This Elijah wasn’t the marble statue and even when Tristan wished he could erase all the damage he had done it was too late, but this Elijah was his.

And he treasured what was his.

[ghostofafruit]

ElevenJackRose Prompt: After losing the Ponds' the three are trying to cope in their own ways, not wanting to burden the others. But forgetting that the other people are always there for them, eventually one of them just cracks and it leads to the others cracking as well. The three finally letting themselves rely on the others again.

Ooooh, you are my new best friend now.

No tentoo, Jack reunited in Journey's End not mentioned in the fic but important to know. Also posted on ao3, under the name Doctorjackrose Tumblr Fic #1. This is 1234 words long, I couldn't have managed that if I tried. Enjoy! (I'm still open to prompts for doctorjackrose, just be aware that I'm working on a lot at the moment and it may take some time.)

The Doctor had let himself openly mope about losing the Ponds for a total of a seven Earth days, one week. That was all he allowed himself, and it seemed that Jack and Rose had managed to get over it in a week. He must have guessed the correct period of time to mope over friends then.

He hadn't much been one for reading aloud to his partners this regeneration, but he started doing that more often. It was especially calming to do while Jack and Rose worked on their own projects. Jack had taken up knitting, although he really wasn't very good at it, and Rose had started painting more. They certainly had more time now they weren't travelling with the Ponds every chance they got.

Sometimes he wondered if he was too attached to Amy and Rory because Jack and Rose were getting on just fine without them. He still missed them, and he still blamed himself for loosing them. Surely he could have done something to save them, anything. He couldn't think of anything he could have done, but it still hurt.

Jack had let himself openly mourn the Ponds for a week. He was used to grief, he was old now and he'd lived on Earth for a good couple of hundred years while he waited to find home again. The Doctor was fine, he had to be too. Especially if Rose was ok too. He'd tried knitting back when he was stuck on Earth as a way to help him process the grief, he started it up again.

The Doctor hadn't really read to them in this body. He'd liked doing it in both his past regenerations, but not so much this one. He loved books and reading, but not so much reading aloud. However he'd started up again. Perhaps, Jack reasoned, he hadn't wanted to read with Amy and Rory on board.

He knew he was awful at knitting. It was obvious, and it always had been. The point of his knitting though was not to make something good, but instead to give him something to do while he thought. The lull of the Doctor's voice and the strokes of Rose painting helped him relax and think too.

He wondered if he was perhaps too attached to Amy and Rory. If perhaps he had convinced himself they would get to have a good life after the Tardis. Perhaps they still where, but he wouldn't know. They could never visit them. Not even if they convinced the Doctor to actually go.

Rose gave herself a week to mourn. She'd given herself two when she left the other universe. That had been her mum, her dad, and her brother. As well as the few friends she had let herself make there. This was just two friends. There where still ways she could see them, complicated and ridiculous ways, but still ways. Still, she stopped showing it effected her after a week.

With Jack and the Doctor being fine after a week she figured it was the right thing to do. She'd have to get used to this, loosing companions. Both her partners were familiar with the lose, both the dying and impossible situations. She wondered if the pain they felt had been numbed from the familiar experience of if perhaps they were still hurting too but hiding it. Or maybe she had gotten too attached to them.

With nothing else to do, Rose threw herself further into her painting. It helped her process in a way. It gave her something to focus on as she let the feelings flood through her. The Doctor had finally started reading aloud to them again. She'd missed it, and now it provided a soothing background noise as she worked.

Jack had, for some unfathomable reason, picked up knitting. He was awful, but the clacking of the knitting needles provided a nice background noise as well. Whatever he was attempting to make, it didn't look like anything. It was sort of lumpy and uneven. She didn't say anything about it though.

Now it had been three more weeks, a whole month, since they had lost the Ponds. Their routine was still get up get food, do their limited activities, go for a quick hopefully relaxing trip, and get on with life. The Doctor still read aloud to his partners, Rose still painted more than she ever had, and Jack still failed miserably at knitting. The Doctor slammed his book suddenly and groaned.

"I'm going to get food," he told them.

"Ok love," Rose said.

"Bring me back something sweet?" Jack asked.

"Sure," the Doctor agreed before he sulked out the door.

"Somethings up with him," Rose muttered. Jack hummed.

"Where you listening to what he was reading?" he asked.

"No, it was more soothing background noise," she admitted.

"Same here, maybe it was something with the book," Jack suggested. Rose put her paintbrush down, wiped her hands on the cloth she kept by her easel, and went over to the book. The book mark was easy to spot, it was like a mini scarf and it dangled out both ends of the book.

Jack come up behind her and grabbed the book from the Doctor's favoured chair. He flipped it open to the pages the doctor had been reading and read through the two pages aloud. There were mentions of ponds and a ginger girl.

"He was reminded of Amy," Rose realised.

"It's a fairy-tale too," Jack added as he read the back cover.

"He's still mourning them," she muttered. Jack hummed and grabbed Rose's hand.

"We should go check on him," he said. Rose nodded and let him pull her from the library and towards the galley. Their partner was sat at the table, his head resting against it and a cup of tea next to him. The oven was on, presumably cooking up some fishfingers. Rose slipped into the seat next to him and took his hand as Jack slipped around to start on the custard the Doctor enjoyed with his fish fingers.

"I miss them," the Doctor admitted, though it was muffled as his face was still against the table.

"I do too," she admitted.

"I also miss them," Jack admitted. Rose gave him a sad smile over the Doctor's head.

"It's normal yeah, missing people we lost. It's a sign we have hearts," Rose said.

"It's a sign we're good people," Jack added on. The Doctor nodded, which looked strange against the table. Rose gently removed her hand from the Doctor's and wrapped her arm over his back.

"We're here for each other, it's what we do," she said. The Doctor hummed and shifted so he was sat up. He leant into Rose's side then, and smiled weakly over at Jack.

"Can we," the Doctor started though he huffed and shook his head.

"Can we what?" Jack asked softly, briefly turning round to squeeze his hand.

"Go settle somewhere and just have a life for a while?" he asked. Jack and Rose looked at each other.

"I think it's a good idea," Jack said.

"Me too, where have you got in mind?" Rose asked.

"Remember Madame Vastra?" he asked, they both nodded. "Somewhere near her."

"We'll set off after some food," Jack promised.

They weren't ok yet. But they would be with some time. And support from each other of course.

[polillastoryarchive]

They fell asleep next to each other. Yet the voice that woke Isi up the next morning, way too early for her to even register the time, wasn't Rory's.

"Come on, you should already be dressed, Isidora!" It was Adelyn, wearing workout clothes. And the other side of the bed was cold.

"What do you mean dressed? Where are we going?"

"Remember what Rory said? We're on training schedule now."

"Which means?" Isi asked, her voice cracking with sleep-deprivation. She knew what it meant, she'd been told. Somehow, she hadn't expected waking up at 5am to be so hard.

Isi really was a creature of the night, had never been able to function while the sun was still on its way up. Yet, she quickly put on clothes and headed out for an early morning run with the teenager. She was grateful to Adelyn who seemed to pace herself to stay by her side the whole time.

They ran for longer than Isi had expected, the sun peaking out from behind the trees by the time they were back at the house. And Ade didn't stop at the door, continuing all the way to the bunker instead.

"Lux is waiting for you downstairs."

"Oh." Isi hesitated.

She hadn't realised Lux would be the second person she'd see in the morning. But she couldn't let herself overthink this. She wasn't scared. She couldn't afford to be. So she entered the bunker, chin high. And indeed, found Lux waiting.

"Hi. Are you warmed up enough or do you need to stretch?"

Unsure what the right answer was, Isi simply said: "I'm good."

Without another word, Lux turned around and walked through a glass paneled door, leaving it open. "Take the beanie off, it'll get in your way." They ordered, putting a yoga mat away. As she was obeying, Isi looked around.

The room was clearly a sparring space. Blood and scratches were covering pretty much all surfaces. A shelf in the back stored some towels and exercise equipment. Fear twisted Isi's stomach. How hard did they fight? How much was one allowed to hurt the other? And would Lux even respect Rory's orders?

She cleared her throat, ready to ask if anyone else was going to join them, hoping to get some backup in case things went awry. But before she'd said anything, Lux gestured for her to come closer. Then, tone neutral, said:

"We're not gonna be in contact today. You have to learn the basics first."

Isi couldn't help a relieved sigh, which seemed to make Lux smirk. She thought of asking if she could go make a coffee first, but didn't dare disturb the practice that had clearly already started, as Lux struck a pose, telling her how it would protect her from frontal attacks.

They spent over three hours learning defensive poses. Lux taught her how to block, trick someone to be off balance, stand your ground and when to give in. By the end, Isi could only think of how sweaty she was and coffee was now number two in her list of priorities. Shower would come first.

"Right. I think that'll do for today. Your sister is waiting for her turn anyway. Tomorrow, we'll start on offensives. Still no contact though, don't worry."

Isi didn't know if it was contempt or amusement painted on Lux's face, but she decided she didn't have enough energy to care either way.

She still stopped on the way out of the room though, something in her wanting to thank the wolf for their in-depth instructions, the lack of mockery and the overall patience they'd demonstrated. It was going against what Isi had known of them so far.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Why give them another occasion to sneer at her? It would probably just come off as rude to say out loud that she'd thought they'd be a bad teacher anyway. Shaking her head, she headed out, crossing paths with Idrina. The fierce look on her face instinctively made Isi feel like a proud sister.

[flawedxshatteredxsouls]

@prophecid

Jess had left Stars Hollow the way he always did — suddenly, without a word. He could still recall the first time he ran; Rory had gotten on a bus to find him, her eyes full of determination he didn't think he deserved. That was when he knew their bond was something deeper. Sure, from the moment he met Rory, there’d been a spark he couldn't shake but guys like him never got the girl. Until she chose him, he'd forced himself to accept that.

But this time, it was different. Just before leaving again, the words had slipped out —words he never imagined himself saying. I love you. He hadn’t meant for them to escape, hadn’t prepared himself for how heavy they would feel. But Jess didn’t stop to see her reaction. He couldn't. His heart was already cracked from screwing up so many times and facing Rory was more than he could handle.

Now that he was back, the quiet of the town pressed in on him. Stars Hollow was always dead after 10 PM (unless there was some lame-ass town event), with nothing but empty sidewalks and an occasional car driving through the streets. Jess let out a small sigh as he walked with his hands deep in his jacket pockets. He then stopped under a familiar lamppost right next to Luke’s Diner.

The weight of everything he'd run from pressed against his chest: the mess he made, the people he hurt. Why did I have to say it? The question ran through his mind as he lit a cigarette. His thoughts scattered when the diner door opened and Rory stepped out. His eyes met hers and for a moment, everything else fell away. He took a small step forward. "Hey," Jess said with his voice barely above a whisper — the only thing he could manage.