#she's just going to come back with his doctor and be that annoying spouse

[softquietsteadylove]

JESUS your prompt with Gil being a special force agent was sooooo good! The DRAMA! my heart! Pls do a part 2! the mission and if he fulfilled his promise! I need to know! May the drama, action and sweetness be with you! :D

Gil opened his eyes to a white ceiling and a dim light over him. Last he remembered was the operation and covering the stairwell. He was pretty sure it was going well, last he recalled.

He tried to raise his hand to rub his eyes but found it occupied. He looked down, and now he was pretty sure he had died during the sting and was now in his own personal heaven.

Thena was asleep in the chair next to his recovery bed, head on her arm, her hand holding his in her sleep.

Yeah, he had definitely died. He must have, for this to be happening.

"Hey, man."

Gil startled, looking over and getting just a peek at Kingo, where the curtain between their beds had been pulled a little too far. He could just see a little bit of him. "What happened?"

"It went fine until there were more unsubs than we thought," Kingo narrated, his eyebrow doing a lot of work to help him express what he thought of it all. "One of them tried to take the stairwell to escape and, well, that's where you come in, pal."

Right, now Gil could recall the weight of three men plowing into him, pushing them all down one and a half flights of stairs. And that was before he had to fight and apprehend them all, too.

"Good thing you were in there," Kingo puffed out a faint laugh. "That's the Boss, though--doesn't leave any stone unturned."

Yes, that certainly was their surprisingly fretful and caring boss. Gil snuck a look back at her on his other side, probably completely concealed from Kingo's view by his body. At least for the time being, so long as he could be cool about it.

"Relax, I know she's there."

Fuck.

"She came in a few hours ago, after everyone else and the higher ups had already come in to tell us the mission went well," Kingo snorted amidst his quiet laughter. "She took one look at you and didn't leave your side--obviously still hasn't."

Gil blushed, his hand aching to tighten around hers but not wanting to risk waking her and ending his little moment of bliss.

"She really cares about you, big guy," Kingo said softly from his half of the room. "Tries not to--I guess it wouldn't look too good for her rep. But it's obvious you mean a lot to her, at least from where I stand."

"Well," Gil sighed, now free to look at her all he liked with Kingo's graciously given secrecy. She looked even more beautiful than she did when she had her stern Goddess of War face on. "She means a lot to me, too."

"Oh my god, I'm going to sleep."

"You brought it up!" Gil hissed at his partner, who was already faking a deep, loud snoring next to him. Gil rolled his eyes, at least shifting to look at Thena again. As soon as she did wake up he was going to tell her to sleep in a proper bed, for the love of-

"Gil?" Thena blinked herself awake, pulling her head up and cracking her neck through her discomfort. She looked at him, finding him still asleep. She sighed, "what am I going to do with you?"

Gil let himself 'awaken' as he felt her fingers brush over his forehead. If he let this go any further he might not be able to live with himself. He opened his eyes and the first thing he did was smile at her, "hey."

"Hey," she smiled back, resisting the urge to put a nautical mile of distance between them. In just this particular moment, her concern for him won. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm guess I'm pumped full of drugs at the moment, so not so bad," Gil noted lightly, much to Thena's chagrin. He was always like this, happily reporting that so long as things went well, then he could endure whatever collateral damage he had suffered in the process.

"You had quite a fall, Gil, and then quite a fight," Thena informed him more firmly, one hand still on his, the other smoothing down some of his bed head for him. "It's nothing to take lightly."

"But I still did it," he proclaimed proudly. She blinked at him in confusion, but his smile only grew, "I cam back to you...alive."

"I suppose you did," she cleared her throat, finally pulling back and standing, brushing off her skirt suit and smoothing down her hair.

He supposed it could have been the weird hospital lighting, but Gil really could have sworn there was a little bit of pink in her cheeks. "I will next time too, Thena."

She spared him another, quickly withering glare. Her hand brushed over his shoulder ever so lightly - and too quick for his hand to come up and reach for it to keep it there - before she went to retrieve his doctor, "consider it a direct order."

Kingo lay in his bed, wide awake and wishing he weren't.

[one-piece-aus]

What would marriage life would be like with the seven warlords?

This is an old anon request, I do apologize for not getting to it sooner but here we go

What Marriage Life Would Be Like With the Seven Warlords (Headcanons)

It's pretty chill being married to Mihawk

Y'all just vibe in a mansion on an isolated island

I imagine Mihawk is a person of quality time and acts of service so the two of you would often spend time together

Whether it's reading in your library or cooking dinner for each other, every moment you do together and action you do for him is cherished in Mihawk's heart, even if he doesn't mention it

He makes sure you're healthy and well (eating properly, making sure you get your sleep)

This man will be able to instantly tell if your state is the slightest bit off and will not hesitate to voice his concern

He is not opposed to having children, the idea might amuse him

In fact, after Zoro and Perona had made their appearance, Mihawk grew fond of the idea taking care of his own child, even if they would be irritating at times

Btw, Zoro and Perona think you two act like an old married couple ❤

Only way this would be possible is if you are someone like Luffy

She might not understand exactly what marriage life means but she will do her best to make you happy

She is going to cook for you and feed you

She will bathe you and make sure you have the best clothes to wear

And she will order the best doctors to bring you back to your best health if you get sick

She is taking ✨amazing✨ care of you

The two of you are just living the life of luxury regardless of where you choose to live because you two are together and happy

You will not have kids (for a number of reasons that I will not get into because this is supposed to be a fun post)

Alright, I had no idea what to do for Moria so I asked @ask-the-night-crowl for these headcanons, thank you again Snugs

In a marriage, Moria would totally rely on his partner to fulfill all the duties he has/ should be responsible for. Granted, the other mysterious four already take over most of those, but someone has to keep them all in check.

His spouse better not be aversed by his crew, because for as much as he says he doesn't care about these idiots, he would also face death to protect them.

Unless him and his s/o have known eachother for a pretty long time, he'll try to keep them at an arm's length. Not necessarily because they don't have good enough of a connection, but the idea of loss is always on his mind.

He doesn't mind affection. In fact, he'll back-handedly seek it out by annoying his s/o until they give him attention if he so desires. He's pretty much like an oversized cat.

On the other hand, you'll also have to be prepared not to see him for days on end, because of his sleeping habits (Again, like a cat).

But in that time, cuddling with him is totally fine, because once that man is out, he sleeps like a rock.

His frequent nightmares might lead to the conclusion that comforting him would be the answer. But he hates the idea of being treated as weak as that and would much rather appreaciate the mere presence of his s/o when he wakes up next to them.

In contrast, he'll offer the same to his s/o when they feel down and would have an immediate (even petty) grudge against anyone harming them.

Staying in with him at a fireplace, drinking fancy wines and making fun of the other warlords would be his favorite way to spend time when he's awake for once.

If the spouse is good at cooking, you can bet they'll become his personal chef - after all, love goes through the stomach amirite.

If you're marrying Doffy, his family comes as a package deal, you can't have him without it, that being said, he expects you to get along with them (you can tolerate them instead but just don't let him notice)

Of course, he will expect you to take care of Baby 5, Buffalo, and Dellinger as if they were your children, he is open to making blood offsprings, but never put them before him

Doffy is your number 1 priority, whatever he says goes

But just because he's demanding doesn't mean he won't show you affection, in fact, most of his demands is just him wanting to give or receive affection

You are showed in gifts and luxury, he is the king of Dressrosa afterall, your word has every weight as his own since your are his queen

He is proud to show off his spouse, you are his most prized possession after all

However, you are more than just a trophy, after the loss of his dear mother and brother, he holds you close and tells you how dear you are to him every night

You are often woken up in the middle of the night due to his rustling from nightmares, just hold him to calm him down

Crocodile keeps you in the dark about his work, for all you know, he is a casino owner in Alabasta that keeps the people safe from pirates since he's a warlord

He takes you out for a stroll around in the evening, outside to admire the stars, or in the casino where your every need is met

He doesn't show affection in public but his gestures do show you belong to him and no one else

He keeps you company in bed at night until you fall asleep but when you wake up, he is not there, he's working as always

When see him next, he'll have a gift for you, an apology for not being able to always be around as he is a very busy man, but he'll make it up to you

I imagine it would be comfortable, like little cottage in nature kind of comfy

You both would wake up in the morning with a nice cup of tea

Your place would be clean and organized

You'd receive lots of comforting hugs and cuddles

Life would be peaceful

Until strawhat crew comes knocking on your door

Don't quite have any ideas for Kuma so... This is end, I hope you enjoy anon, and thank you for requesting

[capybaraonabicycle]

River Song for the Blorbo Bleebus thing!

Anon, thank you!!!

I am in love with Melody Pond - which is pretty obvious, I guess - so this was so much fun!

In case anyone is interested in some random explanations:

Soft and Sweet: I mean, she isn't, not really, she's poison, she's tough, she's hell in high heels, she will kill you for fun. But she also is. River is and Mels is. In her core. She has so much love in her and we always see it concentrated on the Doctor but it reaches so much further. She will deny it but she is the softest and sweetest when circumstances allow. Also, she's Rory's daughter, if you need further proof.

Chew Toy: I interpreted this a little as 'canon's punching bag', not sure this is what it means.

Aspirational Character: Do I want to be her? Absolutely. But also hell no. She has to deal with so much crap and she is a highly morally dubious person but she is awesome and she loves life so beautifully so really, how could I know whether I aspire to be her?

Orphan: Melody Pond is. Mels Zucker isn't. River Song is and isn't. Also one of her parents is an immortal box?

Divorced: River isn't divorced because why go through that trouble if you can just leave the timezone of your spouse or delete their memory when they start to annoy you?

Pets stray animals: She married the Doctor, that already counts. But also, I strongly believe Mels cares so much for stray animals. They remind her of herself and she cares for them like she wishes someone would care for her. (She does not pet them when anyone is around to witness. Except for Rory, maybe. Rory and her feed stray cats together.)

Ray of sunshine: That woman is the embodiment of loving life but she will also kill you without hesitation, so...you do the math.

Sadistic/Helps others for fun: Really, it can always be any of the two, depends on her mood, I guess.

Scary smart: Okay, she is a genius, I think we've established that (and she has a professor title to prove it). But then there is this:

(Like honestly that whole episode? Not realising she married a cyborg, trying to sell his head to his admirers, not realising the very obvious fact that the 'Doctor' she called was the Doctor. She is such a dumbass and I love her)

Also jumps down from skyscrapers and spaceships in hope her mum will catch her. Badass, but frankly quite stupid, too. There's easier ways to do this. Although, admittedly, they would not be quite as extra.

1000 Weapons: River is 1000 weapons incarnated but also sonic trowel plus decoding devices plus sonic lipstick plus sonic screwdriver plus dress perfume... anyway, she turns most of them into weapons, too, so she gets a mark close to it

Powerful violent urges: NEVER against her. But often enough against other people following something she says or does, when she shows vulnerability - mostly against Kovarian, occasionally against the Doctor

Creative Drive: She's my most tagged character on ao3, so...

No less trauma: Listen, I want her to have a better life, I do. But her trauma is so important to who she is, I would not dare to rewrite a single line.

Romance/Sex: Yes, she has plenty of that already. But she enjoys it and I would give her anything she desires. Also, she needs to meet 13 and the fugitive Doctor, that is just a given.

The Realisation: that the Doctor is helplessly and deeply in love with her. I want her to have that realisation for every day of her life, again and again. It took way too long.

A satisfying ending: Yes, she had one. She had the best one. Actually she had several and all of them were beautiful. (Yes, I even love the tragedy of her being left like a book on a shelf when she told 10 (later) that it would be the worst possible fate for her.) I checked this box because I am still hoping for her to come back to the screen but if they do that, they better not destroy that ending!

[dragonmuse]

My friend and I just did a reread of the faith fix (and ofc the au of the au as a bandaid after). Would love a ficlet of izzy spending time with both his wife and boyfriend. Perhaps them ganging up on h to tease him

(To the AU of the AU! All aboard! Hope you enjoy, anon!) 

Izzy was making breakfast when Lucius wandered in, just in his underwear, and kissed Izzy  on the cheek then  plastered himself to his back. 

“Gonna get hot oil on you,” Izzy warned. 

“Meh. You’re a human apron. What are we eating?” 

“Hash browns with sausage. Mixed in some of the peppers and onions from dinner last night.” 

“Such a good house spouse,” Lucius teased. 

“Fuck off,” Izzy snorted. 

“It’s too early for profanity, Israel,” Faith scolded, shuffling in. She had on his slippers and her favorite fluffy black robe that enveloped her. 

“Yeah, Izzy,” Lucius grinned.  

“Luc, is there coffee yet?” She asked. 

“Uh,” Lucius unglued himself to check the pot. “Yes. Sit, I’ll make it.” 

“Thank you.”  

For a moment there was quiet as Lucius poured three cups, doctoring them to specifics, then leaving Izzy’s mug next to the stove. He took the other two to the table, sliding one to Faith. 

“So why was Israel annoyed with you this early?” she asked. 

“I said he was a good house husband.” 

“He is an excellent house husband,” Faith agreed. 

Izzy stared bleakly down at the potatoes. 

“Tell me more,” Lucius said eagerly. 

Why did they have to get along? It would be much easier if they could be like him and Lydia who politely loathed each other and never talked about Faith even a little unless she was ill. 

“When it’s his turn to do the laundry, he arranges my sock drawer by color,” Faith said with evident fondness laced through the amusement. “You know how I like to wear a fun sock.” 

“You do,” Lucius allowed.  

“So you can imagine it's a very complex rainbow. Let’s see....he vacuums very efficiently. Usually only after a bad day at work though. So it’s very angry vacuuming.” 

“How does someone vacuum angrily?”  

“I’m not sure how to explain it. You know it when you see it,” she laughed a little. “Oh, and he always remembers to clean out the filters in the dryer.” 

“Because I would like the house to not burn down,” Izzy grumbled. 

“And sometimes at night, he turns down the covers on the bed,” she said softly. “I like that.”

“That sounds sweet,” Lucius said in that half-sarcastic, half-sincere way that he couldn’t seem to avoid. 

“It is sweet.” Faith took a sip of her coffee. “Too bad for him that he’s the money maker and I get to work part-time if I feel like it.” 

“You never feel like it,” Izzy pointed out. 

“It’s boring. And I don’t like domestic chores,” she said lazily as if she wasn’t the one who had nurtured the enormous garden outside into life. 

“I’ll drink to that.”  There was a clink of coffee mugs touching. 

Izzy loved doing these things for her. Being of service, making her life easier was one of the great joys of his life. Sometimes he wasn’t sure she noticed things like her socks, but it was good. That she did. 

He shuffled the spatula under the potatoes, turning them over carefully. Sometimes after spending his day with numbers and criminals,  it was nice to just come home to a well-feathered nest. Maybe that did make him a house spouse. 

“Almost done,” he told them. 

“Uh oh,” Lucius said mildly. “We annoy you, Iz? You’ve got tense voice going.” 

“No,” he said honestly. “Just thinking.” 

“About what?” Faith asked. 

He turned to face them. Two very different bodies, both angled towards him, full focus on his face.  It was a lot to take in sometimes. Faith’s dear familiar interest and Lucius’ newer intense devouring. They made a nice picture, the two of them. Whatever dismissive sarcastic comment had been coming died on his lips. 

“I don’t mind making things nice,” he said instead. “For both of you.” 

And that got him very thoroughly kissed and it didn’t really matter by who. Even if it was both, one after the other.

[animeyanderelover]

Hello🐚Can I request Hashirama,Tobirama,Madara,Sakura,Tsunade,Pein,Sasuke,itachi,Obito with a darling who gets bonked on the head and now doesn’t remember them?Thank you 🌻

Why do I feel like some of them would like that?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, manipulation, s/o suffering from amnesia

Who are you?

Madara Uchiha

🌑He could really curse his darling for being so stupid for having bonked their head because now he has to start where he began. It isn't like Madara doesn't enjoy himself a more stubborn darling, but just as he was beginning to establish the final saying in this relationship and his darling started to learn her place they had to suffer from memory loss. It's extremely frustrating and annoying for the Uchiha because now he can begin at level zero once again.

🌑He even feels embarrassed about it in a way because what is he supposed to tell his clan now? That his own spouse forgot him because they hit their head? Technically it might be his fault because he subdued you to rather harsh training which means he might have caused you to bonk your head on the ground or something else. Not like he would admit that it's his fault, it's much more easier putting the blame on his darling for their own weakness.

Hashirama Senju

🌳The poor, poor guy. His immediate reaction when you ask him who he is would be confusion and at first he thinks you're joking. But the truth starts dimming when he notices that you're not kidding which unnerves him more and more and he tells his s/o to please stop this before some of the doctors interfere and inform him that you might have suffered from memory loss. That's what really breaks his heart because everything was just working perfectly between you two. How could you forget him?

🌳Hashi of course doesn't blame his darling for this, he rather blames himself for not having been able to prevent this from happening. Normally he could get depressed over this situation, but instead he is determined to make you remember again so things can go back to how they used to be. His whole clan ends up helping him with this as well since you're his partner or maybe even already spouse so you have to remember him. Also, if you were somehow working or were doing a specific action that caused you to bonk your head, he won't let you do it again. He's protective, much more after your amnesia and he grows more clingy as well.

Tobirama Senju

🌊He is lost for words for quite a few seconds when he finally pieces together what has happened. He feared that this might happen given that you fell hard enough to suffer a mild concussion, but hearing that he's proven right still hits hard. Similar to Hashirama he starts feeling bad for not having been there to prevent this as well and the Anbu who were watching over you will have to hear something from him for not having done something. Tobirama really tried his hardest in this relationship as well despite his flaws and now it's all gone from your memory.

🌊 He pounders over it for quite a while before he suddenly realizes that he might as well use this chance to start new with you and this time settle for a better relationship than it was before. One without him having to threaten his darling and without him having to force them. Initially he feels a bit ashamed for using such methods, but wouldn't it make life for you easier as well? You could be happier as well with this and he would finally be able to have a normal life with you. He still plans ahead in case your memories come back.

Tsunade Senju

🐌Tsunade would be at a total disbelief that you just lost all happy memories you ever had with her and she places the guilt rather heavily on herself as well. If she would have just been with you at that time or at the very least have done a better job in healing you this all might have been prevented. But no, now you don't know her anymore and that knowledge hurts. She becomes extremely saddened and discouraged afterwards as well, but Shizune quickly remains her that you aren't dead and that your memories might come back. That's enough for Tsunade to get up.

🐌She's right after all, you are still here. And even if your memories don't come back immediately, she'll just make new ones with you in the beginning. As a medic I see her definitely searching for a jutsu with which she can somehow bring you to remember again and that's why Shizune will find her often in her office with a good amount of books in her hands. Such a jutsu might even help other victims as well. Tsuna grows just like Hashirama more clingy and protective afterwards as well because being forgotten by the person she loves most will remain as a terrible memory.

Pain

🌧️I'm surprised that happened merely because you bonked your head rather than it was somehow caused by him, be that due to isolation or an effect of his Rinnegan and maybe Pain thinks that himself as well. But no, instead his darling merely tripped because it was too dark in the tower and hit their head against the hard wall. Konan and him aren't dumb, both of them kind of believe a mild concussion might be possible given the fact that you passed out right after you hit the wall.

🌧️But it's not good that their worries are made reality and the question afterwards really is what can they tell you? Pain might actually play with the thought of completely shadowing the truth about the whole kidnapping thing, though Konan might be against it. Pain still tries to convince her since it would make things just so much easier, you would finally not be as scared anymore and he could finally have a better relationship with you. For once you wouldn't be scared of him. It would allow him to be softer and nicer to you and if Konan does agree, Pain just hopes that you'll never remember what happened before.

Obito Uchiha

🔥How did this even happen in the first place with the man who literally never leaves your side?! No matter how it happened, the moment Obito hears the sudden loud noises, he's instantly there and to say that he had an outburst when he saw them unconciously on the ground is a terrible understatement. And to make things much more worse when they woke up, they couldn't remember. Just as things were finally getting better and you warmed up to him. It's a rather huge blow to his sanity and he feels far beyond responsible that this happened in the first place.

🔥Funny thing is that initially doesn't plan to use this situation against you since he believes that you two had just started finally loving each other. Depending on how much you forgot he might suddenly think that he might as well use this opportunity to push his beliefs on you a little bit more so you can finally fully understand that he only wants the best. The best thing is that even if your memories should come back, by that time you have already developed your own paranoia.

Itachi Uchiha

🍡It's probably the only time he ever feels frustrated with the thought that you might be scared of him all over again. He was expecting it when he took you for the first time, but now he might have to go through all the same fear on your face and your pleas to let him go again. Because Itachi won't lie to his s/o even if he could have the chance, it just goes against him to use what you don't know against you. There is slight hurt on his face when you ask him confused who he is, no knowledge can really soothe the pain of being forgotten by the person you love.

🍡Especially not if considering that he could have done something to prevent it and he really was only lucky that he wasn't on a mission and could instantly aid you the moment he heard the sudden crash. But as frustrating and hurting this is, it happened and all he can really do now is comforting you and your confusion and hope your memories will come back. Itachi might be a bit selfish with this, but how couldn't he after you had finally started liking him? He will still be prepared to start all over again, but he looks forward to you remembering again.

Sasuke Uchiha

💙Depends on whether we're talking about his teenager days or not. As a younger boy his reaction would be much more worse because even if he is hurt, he shows it rather in a small and frustrated outburst over this whole situation, even if you could have hurt yourself similar to how it happened to Madara's darling. I imagine it to be extremely bad for Sasuke if he knew his darling since a very long time and they him because in such a scenario he would be much more sensible to the fact that he has been forgotten. In either case he'll pester Orochimaru and Kabuto over a way to bring your damn memories back.

💙As an adult he would handle this situation more calm and even go as far as playing with the thought that this might happen as a result of you hitting your head. And he'll aplogize for this as well, even if it wasn't technically his fault. He should have been there with you. I still see this Sasuke as someone who would halfway manipulate his darling with the him presented situation. He will tell them for most part the truth about what both of them have gone through together, but he'll leave at least some parts out or change them a bit.

Sakura Haruno

🌸Her reaction bears similarities to the one of her sensei since both of them will share the same disappointment that they weren't able to heal the concussion their darling suffered from this sudden accident of their and just like Tsunade she as well will try to invent or find a jutsu that can heal a memory loss. Her relationship with you was really just working fine with you and there were no problems. So many happy and love-filled memories, all gone in one day because of some stupid accident. Don't blame her for being hurt and sad about this, but she is a stubborn and determined person, she won't give up that easily.

🌸Of course she'll also start spending more time with you so you can fall in love with her once again whilst at the same time trying to make you remember. She goes with you to places you two often visited, shows you photos of you two and everything else. Her friends help her too with stories how you met and other things that they can offer. Chances are that Ino might offer to try somehow bringing her darling's memories with the help of her kekkai genkai back, though I doubt Sakura would be comfortable with letting someone in your head.

[kenganparadise]

Can we get Raian Ohma Restuso and Agito who find out there s/o is gonna have Triplets or quadruplets and after the pregnancy?

Thank you so much for requesting this! I hope you enjoy!!

Raian-

• Raian is VERY overprotective of his mate. He never really wanted to be a dad and he’s sure as hell not going to be a good one. But his Kure instincts get the better of him. Though seeing his partner’s swollen belly fills him up with so much pride.

• He does notice that his partner’s belly looks a little bigger than average pregnant bellies. He’s seen pictures of pregnant women and plus he sees a lot of pregnant Kure women.

• Finding out his partner is pregnant with- not one- not two- but THREE maybe FOUR children makes him a little light headed.

• He doesn’t know if he can be the dad of THREE/FOUR children. He disappears for a while to process this information. He dident know how he’ll handle one baby let alone FOUR.

• After a very long time he comes around and accepts that he is going to have three/four babies. He gets one of those shirts that says “real men make triplets”

• After the birth his S/O is pretty much going to be doing all of the work themselves. That means they’re going to change all the diaper, feed all of them, play, and be the one waking up in the middle of the night when they cry.

• Sometimes every blue moon Raian would get up in the middle of the night if his S/O is super exhausted. He’ll only do this if he’s super annoyed and his S/O won’t wake up. He’d place a hand on his baby’s back and rub them gently to sleep.

• It’s when the kids get older when Raian steps up. He teaches them to fight for sure. They are his offspring and they will learn the Kure ways. He’ll take them on training expeditions. It’s then when Raian forms a stronger bond with his children.

Ohma-

• Ohma is a pretty chill dad. Once he’s ready to settle down and father children, he’s pretty excited.

• he watches his S/O quite closely over time. He watches their belly grow and grow and grow.

• At first he thinks there’s some MEGA baby in side of them. Like there’s just one baby but it’s just HUGE and that’s why their belly is so big.

• He then find out that that MEGA baby is just a made up of a bunch of three tiny babies. Finding out that he has to change 3x the diapers and listen to 3x the crying he gets a little nervous actually.

• He likes kissing his pertner’s belly and rubbing his face on it. He wants to be as close to his babies as possible. He’d cuddle their swollen stomach.

• He forms his bonds right off the bat when the babies are born. He IS going to teach them to fight. He can’t wait to pass on his knowledge.

• Once they are older he will take them out of training expeditions like Raian. He’ll turn them into fine warriors no matter the gender.

Retsudo-

• He’s happy for his S/O’s pregnancy. He’s quite excited to be a dad. He’s there at every ultrasound and every doctors visit.

• Hearing his baby’s heartbeat for the first time is one of the greatest moments of his life. He’s pretty happy. Well that is until the doctor finds another heartbeat... and another.... and another.

• Retsudo gets light headed. He feels like he might faint. He needs some fresh air. He’s breathing heavily (out of excitement of course) he’s happy to become a dad.

• He calls his sister right away and tells her the good news. He’s ecstatic.

• He now becomes 100x more protective over this S/O. They are NOT allowed to lift anything or walk too far or go ANYWHERE alone.

• After the birth of his children he becomes so protective in the first years of his life. Every time they fall down he thinks they’ve broken a bone. Every time they sneeze or cough he’s convinced they’ve got some disease (keep this man away from WedMD)

• He also takes a lot of pictures of his kids. Auntie Sayaka is over at the house often, she adores babysitting and spending time with her nieces/nephews. She’s always bringing them gifts.

• Christmas time with the Kataharas is always a fun time with the triplets/quadruplets. I can see Metsudo/Sayaka dressing up as Santa. Could you imagine Takayama and Omori dressing up as the elves.

Agito-

• Once Agito is ready to become a dad and settle down (it’s is most likely biker babe Agito) he becomes very very very chill.

• He feels as though nothing can really can take him by surprise anymore. Finding out his spouse is pregnant he is filled with joy. His heart is filled with love and excitement.

• Agito does actually want to be a father.

• He enjoys watching his S/O’s body change as their belly grows more and more. Though one doctors visit goes a different direction as he finds out his S/O is pregnant with more than one baby.

• He feels overwhelmed (with joy of course) he is going to be the father of THREE/FOUR kids. He didn’t even know he was able to make that many.

• Lady luck must be on his side. He’s close to his S/O so much more often now. He rarely ever leaves them alone. He’s so excited to meet his kids.

• After the birth he wants to hold his kids. If it were one baby he and his spouse would fight over who gets to hold the baby more. But with more than one he can have as much baby time as he wants.

• He forms stronger bonds with his children once they get older. He wants to teach his children how to fight for sure. It doesn’t matter if they’re boys or girls. His heart would burst with happiness if they all look like him.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Friday Night Crew headcanons

out of everyone on the ship, Joker likes Astro the most bc Astro is the only one he never has any real beef with

Joker's favourite person to team up with as imposter is Etho bc they actually think quite similarly when they're imposter together and more often than not they win

the crew sometimes have sleepovers on the ship. one of these nights, Joker had a nightmare and accidentally woke Mrs Tango, who then sat up with him and talked with him until he felt comfortable enough to go back to sleep

after his goofy round the other night, Etho got a bit worried that he annoyed people so he went back to being serious. until another round when dead Skizz and Joker decided to haunt the imposter who killed them and rope Etho into singing the Three's Company song with them

Etho is an extremely good detective but sometimes he feels guilty when he can't figure it out. one round, Tango is killed after Etho promised to protect him, and Etho feels such crushing pressure to discover the imposters who killed him that he has a panic attack at the meeting table, leading the others to try uselessly to comfort him. the rest of the crew unanimously agree that that is the most terrifying thing they have ever witnessed in this game

Brody is the dad of the group but he doesn't know how to be gentle about it. "Joker i swear to god if you don't go hydrate right now i'm gonna vote you off" "WH-"

Joker accidentally called Mrs Tango "mom" once in front of Tango. but he was crying when he did, so Tango grudgingly decides he can't tease him about it or he'll feel bad

Skizz has learned that fake-crying works on his friends almost every time, even Impulse. if he can be ultra convincing, even if they know he's faking it, he can 8/10 get what he wants

Skizz and Joker had an argument in the lobby right before the game began. when the two of them were left alone in the dropship, Endless walked up to them and killed Joker in front of non-imposter Skizz, who then just walked away with Endless and didn't report Joker's body. Joker sulked for the rest of the night

Tango actually has no idea his "dum" sticker is there. someone put it there and no-one bothered to tell him. both bc they think it's funny and bc they have bets on how long it will stay up. ofc it was Skizz who put it there.

Evil wears the plague doctor mask because he wants to hide his face. he and Etho are close because of this shared trait. everyone forgets how close they are bc of this until they just randomly fist bump with no warning and go "mask bros" simultaneously.

the unlikeliest friendship on the ship is Astro and Joker. they're almost total opposites but somehow they always get along and will often team up to trash talk the others out of nowhere

Endless used to get ignored a lot so he's used to being quiet and not having people talk to him. the only person who knows this is Joker, who's also used to being ignored but deals with it by being louder not quieter

Impulse sometimes sings the Three's Company song when he misses Skizz. like when Skizz dies or kills him, when he's separated from Skizz by death

Skizz carries around a pair of drumsticks with him and will sometimes tap Joker on the head when he annoys him

Tango is often inadvertently extremely loud; he yells when he gets angry, which surprisingly is often. his friends got him a compressor, which comes in the form of a small device that he keeps in his pocket and takes out and angrily holds as he yells at his friends for whatever reason. Skizz and Joker like to wind him up to see how quick they can get him to take the compressor out. it's become a competition between them

Brody and Evil have a weird frenemyship that Tango likes to antagonise out of nowhere. "hey Brody Evil said you suck at the card swipe" "no he didnt" "i didnt but you do" "EXCUSE ME"

when Astro and Endless are done with their tasks as ghosts on the Polus map, they go to the office and read books together

even though they're all pretty much the same age, everyone jokingly refers to Mrs Tango and Tango as "mom and dad", but only rly in the context of when they're arguing, someone will make a "i dont like it when mom and dad fight" joke and it makes the Tangos laugh so much they forget why they're arguing

Etho and Brody are considered two of the best players in the game but every once in a while, when they're imposters together, they will choose a random person and make a competition to kill that person first without getting caught, just to do something a bit different

Mrs T and Lala are good friends, and Mrs T knows how much Astro misses Lala when they're away so she will often ask Lala to write Astro a letter before they go, and when Astro starts to miss Lala, she'll give him the letter

Joker can sense when Endless is frustrated about not being listened to during meetings so he will yell at the others to get them to shut up so Endless can talk

Skizz and Tango are known as "the bad luck duo" bc somehow, they more than anyone else have the worst luck when it comes to killing someone and then having someone else come by right at that moment

Mrs Tango jumped on Etho's joke about Tango being his queen, so now they refer to Etho as "Tango's husband" and call their duo "Tango's spouses". it annoys the hell out of Tango but Mrs T and Etho love it

Etho is genuinely a little scared of Impulse because of how unpredictable he is. Etho knows he can count on Joker to be sus all the time, but Impulse does imposter things when he's crewmate and pulls off tiny brilliant moves when he's imposter, and this completely throws Etho off

[jiejie-eonni-onee-sama]

The only one I need...

For the sweet @stardancerluv 🥰🥰🥰🐇🐰

Hope you like it!

Sitting on her couch, (Y/N) glanced at the window of the penthouse with a thoughtful look in her eyes. She distantly stroke her slightly rounded belly. The young woman could not still believe that in five months, she would become a mother.

This perspective positively thrilled her, of course. She was happy to start a family with the man she loved... even if the latter was not the suited man for being a father, according to many Gothamites. Indeed, (Y/N) was married to Roman Sionis, one of the ruthless mob bosses of the city. Of course, when he was in business, he was cruel and wicked. But, when he was with her, Roman was the perfect husband.

The young woman sighed: honestly, he was happy to be a father. Well, she guessed he was glad. Since the beginning of her pregnancy, she cannot confirm if her husband was ready to start a family.

Moreover, she felt that he was distant from her. Roman barely even hold her when he was an insatiable hugger. Perhaps being pregnant made her look less glamourous in his eyes. After all, Mister Sionis was a man who showed interest in appearances. Sure, a changing body was not a pleasant view for him. He certainly preferred spending time with gorgeous women in hourglass bodies.

(Y/N) felt tears rolling down her cheek. Of course, she had everything she dreamt of, but she felt so alone.

"Hi, (Y/N)! You're alright?"

Wiping her tears, she turned around and saw Victor, who stood there, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Oh, hello, Vic. I am sorry I did not hear you coming."

"That's okay... Are you sure you're alright? You seem upset."

"Me? No, don't worry: I am just tired. Pregnancy mood swings, you know."

"I guess so. Well, I mean: I trust you on this one... Is there anything you want?"

She shrugged.

"No... Unless you know where Roman is?"

"He has a business meeting at the club. Stu and Joe are with him."

She nodded, a sad look on her face.

"I see... Thank you, Victor. You can go if you want."

Shaking his head, the scarred man sat on a chair and asked:

"Do you think I am going outside and leaving you like that? I may not be the smartest, but I am not blind. I see there is something that worries you."

(Y/N) stuttered:

"No, no, no! I assure you..."

The skeptical look Victor gave her made her stop. She sighed:

"Okay, you won. But I don't think that the wailings of a pregnant woman are interesting."

"I will see... Go ahead!"

She bit her lip before explaining with a quivering voice:

"I feel so alone. Since I told Roman the news, he acted distant towards me. It feels like he did not want this child or that he found me ugly. I cannot tell what he thinks... Argh, I am getting mad!"

The henchman gently patted her hand.

"Don't worry, (Y/N). Roman always acts like that when something new happens. I know him for years, and I can tell you that he would never think about having a family of his own... until you tripped in his life!"

"Do you just said that I am clumsy?"

"Maybe! Seriously, (Y/N): he always told me that no woman could compete with you, concerning beauty or cleverness! But he just tried to cope with this new situation. And you know that he does not easily share his feelings..."

She slowly nodded.

"I guess so... I wished that he opened up to me about his opinions."

She slightly grinned.

"I appreciate your help, Victor. Thank you!"

"Hey, you make my boss happy! It's the least that I can do!"

He looked at his phone.

"Ha, I have to leave: Roman needs my help!"

"Is there anything wrong?"

"No, no: he just needs my... special skills!"

"Okay, okay, I got it! See you later!"

"Bye, (Y/N) replied Zsasz before leaving the penthouse.

While (Y/N) relaxed, Victor drove to the warehouse where Roman and his bodyguards waited for him with their prisoners.

"Hi, boss!"

"Ah, Mister Zsasz! You come at the right time! You see, those gentleman tied upside down belonged to the gang of the Davinovitch brothers. And they thought messing with our dealers was a good idea. Anyway, peel off their faces! I want to send a warning to their bosses! Make sure they suffer!"

Victor sadistically grinned.

"With pleasure, boss! Just let me pick my tools!"

And while Zsasz peeled off the faces of the prisoners, Roman asked:

"I wonder... Where were you before I called you?"

"I went to the penthouse checking on (Y/N)."

"Ah, my beloved wife! So, how is she doing?"

His henchman grimaced:

"Well, she is physically healthy. However, I am afraid to tell you that she is upset, to say the least!"

The mob boss started to worry.

"What do you mean?"

"Honestly, boss: she is on the verge of depression!"

"WHAT? AND YOU SAID THAT JUST NOW?"

"I just saw it today. I asked (Y/N) what's going on, and she confessed that something upsets her. Well, someone upsets her."

Roman turned towards his bodyguards and yelled:

"WHO DARED MAKE MY WIFE FEEL MISERABLE?"

The henchmen denied their involvement, shaking with fear: the last one who dared made (Y/N) cry rested in pieces with the fish.

"You better not lie to me because if I found the guilty, he would finish like those jackasses! Am I clear?"

His guards nodded.

Once Victor finished his job, they went to the club. The scarred man cleared his throat and said:

"Boss, when I said that someone upset (Y/N)..."

"Yes?"

"Well, I was talking about you!"

"I beg your pardon? How can I upset the woman I love, the mother of my child?" asked Roman, annoyed.

"Seriously, boss. (Y/N) feels alone, and you do nothing to reassure her! If only you saw her, she was down depressed!"

Roman frowned.

"To that point?"

"I'm telling you!"

The mob boss sighed.

"What have I done?" he muttered.

He turned towards Victor.

"Call Dean: tell him I have a specific order!"

"Consider it done, boss!" smirked Zsasz as he dialed the number.

The next day.

Thanking the driver, (Y/N) went out of the cab and entered the penthouse. Her appointment with the doctor went well. She was in good shape, and her baby was healthy. Moreover, she knew that she expected a boy.

The woman smiled: a mini-Roman. Let's hope that he won't inherit his father's temper!

She headed to the living room when a pleasant smell welcomed her. Intrigued, she went forwards and discovered a table perfectly laid with her favorite meals.

"Is anybody here?" she asked.

Suddenly, Roman appeared with a huge bouquet in his hands.

"Here comes my beautiful wife! How was your appointment?"

"Uh, it went well." (Y/N) answered, taken aback by Roman's behavior.

Yesterday, he was cold as ice, and today, he acted like at the beginning of their relationship. Something was fishy...

"Wonderful! Now, let's sit down and enjoy our dinner! Let me take off your coat!"

"Thank you, Roman. But I can do it."

"No, no, no: let me take care of you, darling. You must be exhausted!"

Once they sat down, they started to eat. (Y/N) ate a few mouthfuls, which confused her husband.

"Is everything okay, sweetheart? You don't eat that much. Yet, you must build your strength for the baby!"

"Can I ask you a question, Roman?"

"Of course, my love. What do you want to know?"

She sighed before requesting:

"Can you explain why do you plan this dinner? Do we celebrate something? A successful trade?"

The mob nodded before he put down his fork and said:

"So, Victor was right. Do you think that I neglect you?"

"WHAT? No, I would never say..."

She mentally cursed Victor: why did he need to tell Roman?

"My little doe, there is no need to panic. Besides, I owe you an apology..."

"What for?"

"I made you feel miserable. You, the only person who sincerely loves me for who I am and not for who I seem. And how do I thank you? By letting you alone with your insecurities and sadness!"

(Y/N) was impressed: she did not expect Roman to do this! 

She gently put her hand on his:

"You know, I appreciate your gesture. But I can understand that starting a family might trigger you, as you don't have good memories of your parents..."

"As it happens, it gives me a lesson: it taught me what not to do with a child! I don't want my offspring to suffer as I did!"

He paused before he explained:

"About my distant behavior, I know I have no excuses. But... I was scared!"

"Scared?"

"Yes, I know: coming from me, it sounds weird. But I feared to fail you and our kid. Imagine that I end up being like my old man: a pure jackass!"

His wife firmly stated:

"But you're not your father. You succeeded better than he would ever do! You just proved it: you have concerns about how to raise our child properly!"

He smirked:

"That proves I rightly choose my life partner. I don't know what would I do if you were not here!"

Roman leaned and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"And don't ever think that you are ugly! No matter what happens, you're still the most gorgeous woman in all Gotham!"

(Y/N) felt her heart melt: she never managed to resist his sweet talk!

She hugged him:

"Thank you."

"No, thank you!" he muttered while hugging her back.

They stayed like that a few minutes before Roman exclaimed:

"Now, let's finish our dinner, and then, let's go to bed!"

An hour later, the spouses laid in their bed, in each other's arms. Roman gently stroke (Y/N)'s hair while she laid her head on his chest.

Suddenly, she felt his hand resting on her belly, making her chuckle.

"You wanted to check if the baby is alright?"

"Kind of... I just want to let them know that I am here for them, no matter what happens!"

(Y/N) beamed.

"I am sure our baby boy would appreciate it!"

"Indeed... Wait, did you just say...?"

"You heard it right: there will be another Mr. Sionis in Gotham!"

Roman happily laughed.

"Amazing! I can't wait to meet him"

"Let's hope he won't have your flair for drama!"

"What?" exclaimed Roman, faking shock.

They both laughed and talked during the night, planning what they would do with their son. 

In the end, while they drifted into sleep, (Y/N) heard Roman whispering in her ear:

"You're the only one I need..."

And as she closed her eyes, all her fears vanished in the air. She could not wait to write this new chapter with the two men of her life... 

Thanks for the reading!

I hope you like it and do not hesitate to ask for another story!

Take care! 😘🥰😍

[fanmoose12]

Can I have one where Levi is a highschool teacher and a lot of people assumed hes like this grumpy man who doesnt have a partner (although the students who are close to him think he's pretty cool). Then one day hanji came to give him his lunch which he forgot and the students in his class are like shook. I thought this would be cute and funny hehe

There were a lot of rumors about Mister Ackerman. Not that Armin, or anyone else in his class, found it hard to understand him – under all of his cutting remarks and cold eyes, there was a kind man, who actually loved working with children and who tried to make better people out of them. But his past was clouded in mystery, and Armin with his friends frequently discussed the most interesting rumors about their PE teacher.

The most famous was the rumor about Mister Ackerman being an ex-member of a notorious gang. No one actually knew the gang’s name, or in what city they had operated, but a few upperclassmen convinced everyone that Mister Ackerman was a criminal, who managed to escape from authorities only with the help of their history teacher, Mister Smith.

The second most discussed rumor was about another student from their school and Armin’s own best friend, Mikasa. Mikasa had the same surname as Mister Ackerman, and that fact had given birth to a gossip that she was his distant relative. Or not so distant, as some students even claimed that she was his sister or illegitimate daughter. It was true that they looked very much alike, with their dark hair and similar scowling faces, but Mikasa fiercely denied any relation to Mister Ackerman, and no one dared to ask him about those rumors.

But most interesting talks were regarding Mister Ackerman’s spouse. He wore a ring on his finger, but no one had ever seen his wife or husband, and that intrigued the students of their school. After all, everyone knew that Mister Smith was single, everyone loved Mister Dawk’s wife, Marie, who brought homemade and extremely delicious cakes on school’s festivals, and it wasn’t a secret that their English teacher, Mister Zacharius was married to a school’s nurse, Nanaba. But no one had ever seen Mister Ackerman’s spouse. No one waited for him after school, no one brought him lunch and no one accompanied him to school’s dances or trips.

“Whoever he was married to, they probably dumped him, because he is annoying,” Mikasa declared during one of the lunches. “That’s why he’s so angry all the time.”

“Or maybe, they have died?” Historia asked with a sorrowful expression on her face. “And that’s why Mister Ackerman always looks so sad.”

“He’s not sad, he’s just an asshole.” Mikasa argued.

“Nah, I think Historia’s guess is better,” Ymir smirked, wrapping her hand around Historia’s shoulders.

“You say that just because you’re dating her!” Eren interfered, pointing an accusing finger.

“Maybe,” Ymir shrugged. “But you are just a lonely loser with anger management issues, so your opinion definitely doesn’t matter.”

Eren flared up and shot up to his feet, his face red from anger. Armin stopped him, putting a hand on his elbow.

“Eren, calm down!” he whispered worriedly. “Besides, we shouldn’t discuss Mister Ackerman’s personal life so loudly.”

“Yeah, he can come in at any minute,” Sasha nodded.

“And I don’t know about you,” Jean added. “But I don’t want to run fifteen laps during today’s lesson. So shut your stupid mouths and hurry with your eating. We can’t be late for Mister Smith’s class.”

“Fine,” Eren begrudgingly returned to his seat, continuing to glare at Ymir’s smirking face.

***

Armin walked inside the teacher’s room, meaning to find Mister Smith, when he witnessed a peculiar scene.

Mister Smith was sitting at his usual place next to Mister Zacharius, as always, but today there was also a bespectacled woman Armin had never seen before. Mister Zacharius had his hands wrapped around her shoulders and Mister Smith was smiling happily, as they both intently listened to that woman.

“I’m sorry!” Armin squealed, when Mister Smith’s eyes landed on him. “I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“Oh no, it’s nothing, Armin, don���t worry,” Mister Smith told him kindly. “Did you come to return me my book?”

“Y-yes,” Armin took a step closer and handed the book to his teacher.

“Ah, don’t be so shy!” Mister Smith chuckled. “Come here, I’ll introduce you to my good friend. That’s Doctor Hange Zoe, Professor of Archeology. And that’s Armin Arlert, one of my most prominent students.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, P-professor Zoe,” Armin shook the woman’s hand with a nervous smile.

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” she answered warmly. “Erwin told me a lot about you, he’s very proud of your grades.”

Armin’s eyes darted to Mister Smith, and he blushed, seeing the smile on his teacher’s face. “T-thank you!”

“Say, Armin,” Mister Zacharius called. “What is your next lesson?”

“Um, PE, sir.”

“What a coincidence!” Professor Zoe shot to her feet. “I was just going to see Levi! Armin, would you be so kind to show me the way?”

“Of c-course!”

“Excellent!”

“Just try not to surprise Levi too much, alright, Hange?” Mister Smith chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t give our shorty a heart attack.” Mister Zacharius added.

Professor Zoe threw her head back and laughed. “Can’t promise anything!”

***

“Ah, the school changed so much!” Professor Zoe mused, as Armin and she made their way through the school corridors.

“You’ve been here before?” Armin asked. “Have you been studying here?”

“Oh no, I haven’t. But my friends work here, so I used to visit a lot.”

“Used to? Why did you stop?”

“Oh, I’ve just returned from an expedition with my team. We’ve been digging in Norway for almost a year.”

“Trying to find something from Viking Age?”

“Yeah!” Professor Zoe beamed. “Erwin was right, you’re a bright one.”

The warm gaze of an older woman made Armin blush once more. “So you’re friends with Mister Ackerman as well?”

Professor Zoe giggled. “Yeah,” she said, playing with a ring on her finger. “We’re very close friends.”

Soon they reached the doors to the school’s gym.

“The lesson is about to start,” Armin said. “Mister Ackerman is probably inside.”

“Alright, thank you,” Professor Zoe nodded. Armin looked at her more closely, the woman seemed to be nervous.

“Are you alright?” he asked tentatively.

“Yeah, of course,” she answered, running a shaky hand through her hair. “I just haven’t seen him in a while.”

Professor Zoe exhaled loudly, fixing the glasses on her face. “Let’s do this,” she whispered to herself and pushed the door open.

When Armin entered the gym, he saw that his classmates were already standing in a straight line, dressed in their sports uniform. Mister Ackerman was in front of them, and he tsked as he heard the door open.

“You know that I hate it when you brats are late to my lesson,” Mister Ackerman turned around, clearly meaning to lecture Armin. However, as he saw who was standing next to the boy, his eyes widened almost comically. “Hange?” he asked in a quiet, disbelieving voice.

“Hi,” she answered, awkwardly waving her head.

“You’ve returned? But you said you won’t be back until the next month.”

“Surprise?” Professor Zoe giggled nervously. “I brought you lunch by the way!” she dug through bag and produced a pack of sandwiches. She smiled victoriously at Mister Ackerman, but he just continued to silently stare at her, completely dumbfounded.

Armin and his classmates watched the scene with great interest. Who was this woman? Why was Mister Ackerman so surprised by her arrival?

“Dismissed,” Mister Ackerman suddenly announced, his eyes never leaving the face of Professor Zoe.

The class remained in their place, not sure if they had heard him right. Mister Ackerman had never ended his lessons earlier.

“Dismissed.” He repeated urgently.

Armin and his friends hurried to leave the gym, and as soon as they turned around, Mister Ackerman started walking towards Professor Zoe.

Armin was the last one to walk out of the gym, and before he opened the door, he swiftly looked back. Mister Ackerman was standing next to Professor Zoe, holding her in his arms. They were talking about something, but their voices were too soft for Armin to hear.

But he didn’t need to know what they were talking about to understand what was going on. Seems like he managed to solve one of the many mysteries about Mister Ackerman.

Armin was sure that there was no need to gossip about his spouse anymore. They’ve just met his wife, after all.

[maggotzombie]

LIEBE LIESE: ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴠɪ - 𝒰𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒

→ CHAPTERS LIST — CHAPTER V: BOYFRIEND MATERIAL WORD COUNT: 3,8k TW: Alcohol, swearing, so much fluff. A/N: GUYS! I’M FINALLY BACK! Posting a new chapter of this fic makes it official. I’m so happy I’m able to update it, you have no idea. Also, so many great plots came into my mind while I was in this forced hiatus. Things will spice up hehehe Okay, now I’ll let you guys read it! :D HEADS UP: Dialogue between “[  ]” is in German.

“SO… THE girl,” Nik starts casually as if he wants nothing.

Oh, yeah... Very smooth, Niki. Very smooth.

He and Simon share a glance when Henry does not reply, eyes fixed on the TV.

“Henry,” Nik calls.

“Yeah?” He replies without prying his eyes off the flat screen, mildly paying attention to his brother.

“The girl,” His brother repeats.

“Hm,” Henry hums, sipping on his bear. “Who?”

“The one you’re seeing,” Simon quips in.

Now they have the actor’s full attention, but he plays it off by keeping his gaze on the TV.

“Woman,” He says, licking his lips. Giving the fact that he has actually dated girls, he feels the need to point it out. “She’s a woman,” He explains.

His brothers share another knowing look.

“So, you’re seeing someone,” Nik remarks with a grin.

Henry hasn’t said anything about Liese to any of his brothers yet. He mentioned, briefly, that he was taking someone out for dinner but that was it. And now interrogation starts, as it seems.

“What’s her name again?” Simon asks.

“I’ve never said her name,” The actor muses, finally looking over at his brothers.

Their interrogation confidence falters slightly as the tactic fails.

“Does she have white hair?” Charlotte inquires all of the sudden, coming from outside.

The man frowns, looking at her. “Yes,” He confirms. “How do you know?”

Charlie calmly reaches down on the back of his shirt. The long white hair strand is a stark contrast to the black fabric and she picks it up gently, bringing it to Henry’s eyesight. Just then he realizes that is the shirt he borrowed her after they’ve met (aka the night he ripped her dress open).

“She has a nice perfume, too,” The woman adds, getting a water bottle from the fridge and walking back out of the door.

With the most confusing expression, Henry pulls the collar up to his nose and sniffs it. Surely enough, there’s a whiff of Liese’s perfume on the fabric – giving the fact that she washed and kept the shirt with her clothes before giving it back to him. Nevertheless, it’s impressive that Charlie could pick that at all.

“How the heck did she smell that?” Henry asks, confused.

Nik and Simon shrug, both of them also impressed by Charlie’s heightened sense. “What’s her name, Henry?” His older brother now asks, joining the conversation.

“Liese,” He replies without any mystery.

“That doesn’t sound British?” Piers says.

“Yeah, her family is German,” The actor explains.

“Oh,” Nik smirks suggestively at Simon and Henry rolls his eyes.

Some cheers come from the TV but it’s long forgotten by now.

“And how old is this woman of yours?” Simon teases and the actor gives him a look, meaning he doesn’t appreciate the joke.

“She’s not mine,” He clarifies. “And, I don’t know…” Henry frowns and nips on his bottom lip thoughtfully. “But she’s a doctor. So, I’m guessing about my age.”

Eyebrows shot up in surprise. “A doctor, huh?” Nik muses.

“Yup. Pediatrician and A&E doctor,” The actor nods.

“She’s a woman, after all,” Simon grants, making a face.

“Are you sure she’s real?” Nik plays along.

Henry flips them off, something he rarely does, which makes all three of them laugh in amusement.

“Seriously,” Nik starts as he stops laughing.

“She is real,” The actor emphasizes.

“Right, Hollywood star,” He shakes his head. “Do you have any photos of her? We need visual confirmation,” Nik says.

A grin spreads on his lips. “I do, actually,” He says, fishing his phone from his pocket. “Just a few, though.”

Simon snatches the phone from his hands and Nik and Piers gather around him to look at it. They quickly locate the woman in a figure-hugging red dress with a generous cleavage amongst random photos and videos of Kal.

“This is her?” Nik looks back at Henry, not believing his eyes. “Wow.”

“Damn, she’s gorgeous,” Simon says, sliding from a smiling photo to one which she gives Henry a much seductive look.

“Is that all of it?” Nik seems disappointed when Kal shows up at the screen again. “Didn’t even have the time to properly access her.”

Piers chuckles. “Knock it off, you two,” He says before looking at Henry. “She’s beautiful, brother.”

“Beautiful? She’s hotter than all of his exes!” Nik declares.

A scowl sets on his face as he takes his phone back. “What are you boys up to?” Kiri comes into the house with the other spouses following behind.

“Still picking on poor Henry?” Charlie inquires.

“The woman he’s dating is amazing,” Nik says to the women, making a gesture to imply Liese’s boobs.

“Oooh,” Victoria says excitedly before Henry could correct his brother. “Show us the photos.”

Once again, a crowd gathers around Henry’s phone to gawk at Liese. And not only the wives, but also his brothers to take a second look at the doctor.

“Only these?” Kiri scoffs after looking at the four photos. “Are you kidding me, Henry?”

“Right?” Nik nods at his sister-in-law.

“I only took her out once, okay? And I didn’t want to spend the entire date on my phone!” The actor tries to defend himself.

“Is she nice?” Charlie asks.

The silly smile is on his face before he can stop it. “Yeah, she’s pretty amazing,” He nods.

“How do you spell ‘Liese’?” Simon asks with furrowed brows while Kiri, Niki, and Vicky look over his shoulders.

Henry’s smile faints. “What are you doing?” He asks suspiciously.

“Trying to find her Instagram,” Nik replies.

“It shouldn’t be hard with her name,” Vicky chimes in, and Kiri nods.

“I don’t know about that,” Henry narrows his eyes. “There’s a lot of people on Instagram…”

“Found it,” Simon interrupts him. “She’s ‘Liese Hartmann’ with an ‘e’ and double ‘n’, right?” He asks just to confirm but the woman in the profile picture is definitely her.

Nik chuckles slightly. “Totally German.”

“What?” The actor frowns, moving to look at his brother’s phone as well. Sure enough, it’s Liese’s profile. “Yeah, that’s her.”

With the confirmation, Simon clicks on her profile and the group of nine adults all gather around the phone screen that has become way too small. There was nothing too revealing nor pretentious – not even a bikini photo sipping on a glass of champagne in a boat. It’s actually the other way around.

There are a lot of children; both from the association and her nieces and nephews. The doctor is either wearing her scrubs or casual clothes, surrounded by said kids, friends, and family. There are a few selfies then and there and some pets. Overall, just what Henry expected to see from knowing her, even if very little.

“She’s thirty-three,” Simon says, tapping on a photo.

Liese has a birthday hat on and she’s holding a cake, blowing the number thirty-three candle on it. Henry knows it was taken in the association given the background, the kids surrounding the doctor once again, and her scrubs.

“That was last year,” Kiri points out the date.

“Well,” His brother shrugs. “I’ll take it.”

“And she’s really pretty,” Vicky remarks.

“Works a lot, though,” Nik says.

Henry shakes his head. “Alright. Are you done?” He asks them.

“She seems good with kids,” Charlie says but her comment doesn’t have the teasing tone like the others.

“Yeah. Are any of these hers?” Vicky looks back at Henry.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, most of them are her patients.”

“Even the blonde ones?” Simon asks. “Some of them look a lot like her. Like this little girl,” He shows a photo.

“They’re her nieces and nephews,” Henry replies with a sigh.

“Are you sure?”

“Have you met any of them yet?”

The questions are asked at the same time and the actor frowns, glaring at them.

“Alright. Enough of this,” He shakes his head, taking the last swing of his beer.

“You’re leaving?” Nik asks with a cheeky grin and his wife nudges him to stop.

“Yeah, I have some things to do,” He says, taking Kal’s lead. “Kal!” Henry calls.

“No, Henry, don’t go! I promise they’ll stop,” Charlie says, nudging his brother again to act like a grownup but Nik’s smirk is set to annoy.

“Yes, they’re done,” Piers’ smile turns into a stern look directed towards his brothers and wives, including his own.

“Thanks, sis,” The actor kisses her cheek. “But I do need to go,” He says.

Kal comes into the house trotting with the kids following behind. “Uncle Henry is leaving?” Grace asks with unruly hair for running after the dogs.

“Yeah, he’s gonna see his girlfriend,” Simon replies, picking his daughter up in his arms.

Oh, how badly Henry wants to punch him right now. But the smack he gets from Victoria is satisfying. It looks like she’s okay teasing Henry around the adults, but not in front of the kids.

“Uncle Henry has a girlfriend?” Willian asks with a weird expression.

“Lucy?” Thomas adds, beside his brother.

“NO,” The actor emphasizes quite quickly. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” He says, latching Kal’s lead into his collar. “Uncle Simon is joking.”

“What’s a girlfriend?” Harry asks, frowning in confusion as he looks at his father.

“It’s when…” Thomas starts to explain but Henry cuts him off.

“Nothing you should worry about, mate,” He says, grabbing the boy’s head and leaving a kiss on top of it. “Now give Kal and Uncle Henry a hug because we’re leaving.”

-

After working in the morning, Liese tries to relax and take a nap. But she’s too tired and with a head full to just lay in bed to wait for sleep to come.

Instead, she tries to chill out by studying. Unconventional, but what’s new to the silver-haired doctor.

Just as she’s reviewing her notes from a paper about a study on leukemia treatment, her phone starts to ring. She reaches out to the coffee table and retrieves the device.

A smile tugs on her lips at Henry’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” She smiles at him, answering the FaceTime call.

“Hello, gorgeous,” The actor greets her with his handsome smile. “I didn’t know you wore glasses,” He tilts his head adorably.

“Only for reading when my eyes decide they had enough,” The woman chuckles.

“What are you up to?” Henry asks, biting his bottom lip slightly.

“Studying a bit,” She replies and she can tell she just crushed his plans.

“Oh,” He utters.

Liese chuckles slightly. “Why?”

“Nothing,” The man shakes his head quickly. “Kal and I were just wondering if you wanted to go to the dog park with us. But you’re busy, so it’s okay.”

She laughs with mirth. “Well, tell Kal I’ll be honored to go to the dog park with him,” She says.

Henry’s smile returns to his face. “But what about your studies?” He frowns.

“It’s not like I have a test or something like that,” The woman replies, abandoning the paper on the coffee table. “I’m a doctor, love. I’ll always have to study something,” She explains.

“Okay,” He says hesitantly. “I just don’t want to get in your way.”

“You won’t,” Liese guarantees, walking towards her room. “Can I sleepover?”

“You don’t have to ask. I’ll pick you up in a few,” Henry replies.

She frowns. “Nonsense. The dog park is your neighborhood. I won’t let you drive all the way down to Brixton just to pick me up.”

“But I want to! I don’t like making you take the Tube every time you come to see me,” The man tries.

“You don’t make me, I chose to,” Liese explains. “But I’ll take an Uber if that’ll bring you peace.”

He makes a face. “It doesn’t. It actually makes me more uneasy. Just let me pick you up, please? I swear it’s nothing…” He insists.

“[No! Stop insisting! I might cave if you continue to do this adorable pout,]” The woman replies in German unconsciously.

Henry’s response is a delicious laugh. “Okay, okay,” He says. “I think I might have pissed you off right now but I hope you didn’t just cuss me.”

She chuckles, realizing the switch of the languages. “You didn’t piss me off and I didn’t cuss you,” She clarifies. “But I’ll hang up to get ready because I think Kal might get upset if I make him wait too much.”

“Oh, yes. We don’t want that,” He shakes his head and glances over Kal. “Actually, he’s already too excited. Look.”

The man turns the phone to the dog so they can see each other. A big smile takes over Liese’s face as she sees the large bear sitting expectantly in front of his owner.

“Hey, Kal! How are you doing buddy?” Liese asks and his tail starts wagging immediately at the sound of her voice. “Do you wanna go to the park?”

The well-known question makes the dog stand up in all fours and bark on the phone. Then he tries to sniff and lick the device which makes the woman laugh.

“Alright, buddy. I’ll be right there,” She says to Kal and then Henry turns the phone back to him.

“Wait! I have to ask one little thing,” He says.

Liese nods, biting her lip in concentration. “Shoot.”

“Can I go and pick you up?” A smirk grows on his lips slowly and a laugh reverberates through his chest as she rolls her eyes and ends the call without answering him.

-

“I’m just around the corner,” The woman says immediately after picking up the call.

“So, you’ll be at the door when I get there?” Henry asks.

“Probably,” She replies.

“Okay, then,” He says. “I’m walking towards the door.”

Liese chuckles in amusement as the Uber driver stops in front of Henry’s mews house. She mouths a ‘thank you’ through the rear-view mirror and steps out of the car. When the actor opens the front door, the phone glued to his ear, he makes good use of his quick reflexes to grab the giggly woman jumping to his arms.

His hands keep a strong grip on her things and he chuckles at the pleasant “surprise”. With her arms around his neck, the woman kisses his neck softly before untangling herself from him to give some attention to Kal, who’s barking like crazy. As usual, she greets the excited dog in German without sparing compliments.

Henry closes the front door and puts his phone down, looking back at the gorgeous woman peppering his dog’s face with kisses.

“I had an idea!” Liese says, straighten up to her feet. “How about we make a picnic?” She suggests excitedly.

“A picnic?” He frowns. “Baby, it’s cold outside,” He points out.

Then he realizes: while he’s wearing a T-shirt and warm sweatpants, the doctor is wearing a tank top and shorts.

“Aren’t you cold?” The man asks.

“No, I’m fine,” She shrugs off. “But I guess you’re right,” Liese nods, sounding very disappointed.

“You’re so German,” He says, shaking his head and walking towards her. “If you want to, we can have a picnic.”

Her face lights up in excitement. “Really?” She asks, looking up at him.

“Really,” Henry nods again, smiling at her.

He laughs with mirth when she, once again, jumps to his arms. “[You’re the best,]” She says in German but the actor has a good idea of what it means. “What do you have here?”

Liese moves away from him to check his kitchen, but he grabs her arm before she can go any further. “Hold on,” He says.

The woman looks back at him and he pulls her back. He reaches out to her face and seals their lips together. A small giggle escapes Liese’s mouth when she opens it to let Henry’s tongue get into it. She feels warm and tingly from the kiss and she glues her body to Henry’s, fitting perfectly to his strong and tall build.

“Hey, you,” She says quietly against his lips when they break the kiss.

“This is a proper hello,” Henry pecks her lips.

“I like it,” The woman agrees, clasping her arms around his neck and pulling for another kiss.

The second kiss doesn’t last long as Kal jumps on them, whining. Liese laughs, looking down at the bear. The man groans slightly before looking at Kal too.

“You’re supposed to help me out, pal,” He says.

“He is,” The woman says. “Why do you think I came all the way here from Brixton?” She teases.

“Oh, yeah? You can sleep with him today,” Henry squeezes her waist.

“I will. He sleeps in your bed, anyway,” She winks at him.

“Fuck, that’s right,” He laughs and Liese steals another kiss from him, but Kal paws them. “Alright, buddy.”

Liese orders the man to go get ready while she prepares something for their picnic. She organizes everything she can find into plastic containers and Henry finds a bag to put the food into and a thick blanket. An overly excited Kal gets into his leash and they finally walk out of the house.

The actor doesn’t let Liese carry the bag, so she walks with Kal.

"Did you go to work today?” The man asks casually.

“Yeah, but just for a little bit. One of my kids isn’t doing great, I went to check on him,” Liese replies.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” He sends her a sympathetic look. “Is everything going to be okay?”

She sighs and Kal looks at her worryingly, picking up the shift in her humor. “I don’t know,” The doctor shakes her head. “This disease is really hard to figure out. The immune system can start functioning again or... I don’t know,” She shakes her head again. “How about you? How was your morning?” Liese changes the subject, smiling at him.

Henry doesn’t press on the subject, instead, he smiles as well. “It was good, I had lunch at Nik’s.”

“This sounds nice,” She says, smiling wider. “Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, I was having a good time until they started teasing me,” He shrugs off.

“Oh?” Liese looks at him, puzzled.

“Yeah,” Henry scratches his beard in thought. “They’re asking me about you and they’ve found your Instagram profile which I haven’t even seen before,” The man says.

“Really?” She grins at him. “What did they say of me?”

Henry smiles. “I believe the words used were ‘gorgeous” and ‘hot’.”

The woman frowns. “Which photo did they see to call me hot?”

“I may have shown a few from our date?” He replies with a face.

Liese’s eyes widen. “With that dress?” He nods. “Oh my God, Henry! No! They must think I’m such a pretentious posh!” She says, mortified.

He laughs. “Look at you! Speaking British!” He teases.

The woman whines and tries to push him, but Henry doesn’t budge an inch. “I’m serious!”

“You’re great, love. They don’t think that of you,” The man reassures her.

“How do you know that?” She asks with a pout.

Fuck. That’s so adorable. She’s so adorable. I’m so falling for her, Henry thinks.

“They’ve stalked your Instagram,” He starts. “They’re probably doing it again. You’re not posh at all. You’re thoughtful, you care for your patients, and you’re lovely,” The man places an arm around her shoulders, bringing her close.

Liese smiles, looking up at him lovingly. “And gorgeous and hot?” She raises an eyebrow jokingly.

“Well, that’s obvious,” He says.

The woman laughs and leaves a kiss in the corner of his jaw, which gives Henry goosebumps.

At the dog park, they set up their picnic blanket under a tree and Liese leaves the man there to play with Kal. The overly excited dog forgets his size and ends up knocking the doctor on her ass.

Henry quickly gets up, worried about her. “Kal!” He calls with a stern voice. “Are you okay?” He asks, reaching out a hand for Liese.

She giggles in response. “Yeah. I’m okay,” She takes his hand and the actor quickly pulls her up.

With a frown, he looks at his dog. “That wasn’t nice, Kal,” He chides.

“Ah, don’t scold him,” The woman says, dusting off her backside. “He’s just too excited and forgot his size,” She defends the dog, petting his head fondly. “Right, buddy?”

“You’re going to spoil my dog, aren’t you?” Henry asks, watching Kal trots beside her as she walks towards their picnic blanket.

“I’m most definitely will,” Liese nods, sitting down and looking up at him. “Wow, what a sight from down here,” She immediately says.

The actor chuckles and shakes his head, taking a seat by her side.

“Say,” She starts. “What would happen if I were to kiss the famous Superman actor, Henry Cavill, right now?” She teases.

His mouth waters and his pupils dilate immediately. “Guess we’re going to find out,” He says.

Biting her lip, Liese gets closer to him and places a hand on his cheek fondly. The kiss is short and sweet, after all, he’s in the public eye and, although the park is empty, you’ll never know if a paparazzi is lurking around.

The woman keeps her promise to spoil Kal as she gives him all the belly rubs he wants. Henry is mortified when the bear, not so kindly, pushes him away from Liese and takes his place. She simply laughs it off and kisses his pout.

After an hour or so in the park, they decide to head home. The doctor finally feels the tiredness catching up to her but she refuses to yawn while Henry excitedly tells her about a match he's gonna watch at his favorite pub next Friday with some friends.

“So, I was thinking,” Henry starts not even fifteen minutes after they got back to his place. “I know it’s too soon, but we could go out for dinner,” He suggests. “It doesn’t have to be in a fancy place, though,” Henry adds, walking from the kitchen to his living room, where Liese is. “What do you think?”

He stops talking at the sight of the sleeping beauty snuggling with Kal on the sofa.

“I guess we’re gonna order in, then,” The man whispers, grabbing the overthrown blanket on the backrest of the sofa and covering her. “You’re supposed to help me get the girl, not steal her from me, mate,” He says, patting Kal’s head.

-

HENRY CAVILL GETS COZY AND PACKS ON PDA WITH A HOT STRANGER

The 34-year-old Superman actor was seen out and about this afternoon with a mysterious white-haired woman and his dog. The couple shared a hug and a few kisses on a lovely picnic at the park.

While we do not have more information on the lucky lady, we know our beloved British Superman is back on the dating scene. Back in February, Cavill ended his relationship with stuntwoman Lucy Cork after almost a year together.

Check out the photos from the romantic picnic here.

* * *

— CHAPTER VII: BADDEST BITCH

[come-on-shitty-boys]

//chocolate impressions. akaashi keiji//

Warnings: None.

Word Count: 2.8K

Notes: I’m such a simp for Akaashi like hi.  He should not be allowed to be that gorgeous?  Choke me, please. *Single Parent!/Doctor!Akaashi x reader*

*Read Part 2 HERE*

“You’re stressing out over nothing.  It’s not like you’re going to be with him alone,” Akaashi soothes, placing the hand that wasn’t holding onto the steering wheel on your thigh in an attempt to get you to stop bouncing your leg.  

It was the first time that you would be meeting his son, so there was, of course, something to stress over.  What if his son didn’t like you and Akaashi broke up with you?  What if you weren’t cut out to be a step-parent?  What if Akaashi realized that you had no idea what to do around kids and decided that he should find some other woman who did?  Every hypothetical situation ran through your head, finding the worst possible outcome to conclude them all.  You had been worried about this day all week.  Akaashi had invited you to spend the weekend with him. Excited to finally be able to enjoy a peaceful weekend with your boyfriend where he wouldn’t be on call at the hospital, you were quick to agree.  There would be no phone calls in the middle of the night, begging him to come in to assist with a patient.  He would finally be able to get a good night of much needed rest and the two of you could just spend some quality time together.

But your plans for the perfect weekend when you caught sight of his calendar hanging on the side of his refrigerator one night when you were over for dinner.  There was a red circle around Friday and in Keiji’s sloppy script was “My week.”  He must’ve noticed the fall in your disposition, because he pushed the skillet to the back burner and wrapped his arms around your waist, a hum as he rested his chin on your shoulder being the only question.

“I didn’t realize that your son was going to be here too this weekend.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but he’s important to me.  I don’t want to move things further with you until he has a chance to meet you.”  

There was a pause in which you couldn’t think of anything to say.  Move things further.  The fact that he saw you in his future made your heart skip a little in your chest.  This weekend was important to him and to your future together, so you were going to try your best not to disappoint.  

“You’re going to have to cancel any plans that  . . . aren’t exactly PG,” he whispers, a soft kiss placed at the base of your neck.

“Damn, so we can’t play Smash Bros?”

You can feel his chest shake against your back as he laughs quietly to himself.  “No.  No, Smash Bros. until he’s back at Akiyo’s.”

The car slows down to a stop as Akaashi pulls into the driveway of his ex-wife’s house.  He hides a small yawn in the sleeve of his scrubs, climbing out of the car.  Not sure what to do, you stay in your seat.  Were you invited inside?  His ex-wife had never met you so maybe- no.  

“Are you coming in?” Keiji asks, giving you a bemused look.

“Am I allowed to?”

“Am I allowed to,” he mocks.  There’s a playful eye roll as he shuts his door.  You watch him walk, anticipating him to head towards the front door, but the passenger door opens and he’s holding out his hand for you.  “Come on, princess.  Let’s go.”

You follow him up the front steps, your anxiety returning as he rings the doorbell.  He gives your hand a firm squeeze as his thumb runs over your knuckles.  “You’ll be okay,” he whispers as footsteps on the other side of the door become audible.  

The door swings open to reveal his ex-wife, a polite smile on her perfectly painted lips.  “Katashi’s just getting his school stuff together.  Come in.”  Akiyo steps out of the way to let you both in and leads you both to the kitchen.  “Can I get you anything?  Tea? Water?”

“No, we’re fine.  Thank you.”

She nods, sitting down at the table across from you.  “I didn’t realize that she’d be with you,” Akiyo states as if you weren’t even there in the first place. 

“Is that a problem?”

“No.  You’re allowed to bring whoever you want into your life, Keiji.”

The quickly growing tension in the air causes the environment to go quiet as the ex-spouses try to refrain from getting into a hostile argument.  Keiji’s face carries his signature frown.  You can’t remember the last time that you’ve seen him annoyed enough to look this bored with another person.  His hands are clasped tightly together on the table in front of him, his steady stare trained on his ex-wife.  Her lips fell from their polite smile and have settled into a look of distaste, hands wrapped around a steaming mug, knuckles white as her grip tightens.

This is awkward.

The steady sound of feet running down the stairs is enough to break the tension.  Keiji stands up from his chair as a boy, probably no more than eight, races through the doorway, instantly running straight into the open arms of his father.  “Dad!”

“It’s good to see you too,” Akaashi says, laughter bubbling in his chest as he runs his hand through the messy black curls on his son's head.  “We’re ready to go home whenever you are.”

“Okay!” Katashi runs over to his mom, throwing his arms around her in a quick hug, a “Bye, Mom!” leaving his mouth as he excitedly runs to the front door, his backpack bouncing against his back with every step.  

“I’ll see you next week,” Akaashi says, waving politely to his ex-wife, following his son to the door.  

“Thank you for the hospitality,” you say, putting on your best smile for her before joining the boys at the door, bickering back and forth at each other before they even have a chance to step outside.  

“Well, I don’t see how it’s fair that you get a head start.”

“You’re older, so you have to be faster!” 

“I don’t think that’s how speed works,” Akaashi argues, his hands on his hips as he stares down at his son.  “Besides, these shoes put me at a total disadvantage!”

“Then take them off!”

“But, then I have to come all the way back here to get my shoes!”

“I get a three second headstart.  Take it or leave it,” the little boy huffs, holding out his hand for his father to shake.

“Deal.  Y/N, will you hold my shoes?”  Before you even have the chance to object, Akaashi is taking his shoes off and handing them to you.  He shakes Katashi’s outstretched hand and the two get in position at the back of the porch.  “First one to get in the car wins.”

“Hey, miss! Will you start us?” Katashi asks, turning to look at you.

“Uh, sure.  Yeah, I can do that.  On your mark . . . get set . . .” The boys get down in a track starting position.  “Go!”

You hear Keiji counting to himself before running off to catch up with the younger boy who is already almost to the car.  But, his old high school athleticism kicks in and he has little problem closing the distance.  You hear hands slam against the car mere seconds apart.  

“I win!” Katashi shouts, beaming at his father.

“I distinctly remember saying first to get in the car wins.  You’re not in the car.”  Katashi tugs on the handle only to find his door locked as Akaashi twirls the keyring on his finger.  “Wow.  That’s rough, buddy,” Akaashi says, unlocking his own door.  

Katashi sees his slim window of opportunity and jostles Akaashi out of the way, sliding into the driver seat.  There’s a smug smile on his face.  “Now, I win.”

Akaashi’s mouth falls open and he just turns to look at you, a silent plea to help him out in his eyes, but you can’t do anything but laugh.  “It’s not his fault that you were slow, Keiji.”

“That’s not fair.”

Katashi just shakes his head in disappointment.  “That’s rough, buddy.”

You try to hold back your giggles as Akaashi shoots you a soft glare.  “He’s got your sass!”

Katashi crawls into the backseat so his father can get in the front seat next to you.  “So, are you my dad’s girlfriend?”  He asks, buckling his seatbelt.

“Yeah, I am.  I’m Y/N.  It’s really great to finally meet you.  Your dad has told me a lot about you.”

“Oh, okay.”  He sits back in his seat as Akaashi pulls out of the drive, heading in the direction of his own house.  “What are we going to do this weekend?”

“Depends.  Do you have homework?” Akaashi asks, looking at Katashi in the rearview mirror.  

Katashi begins to shift in his seat and refuses to meet his father’s eyes.  “Well, not exactly. . .”

“Katashi,” he warns.

“I have extra lessons,” the boy sighs in defeat.  

“Math again?”

“Yeah. . .  I can’t help it! I don’t understand division.”

Keiji sighs heavily.  This had been the last thing he had wanted to do this weekend, but it needed to be done.  “We’ll work on it after dinner, okay?”

“Yessir.”  Katashi slinks down in his seat, staring at his shoes as his cheeks flare up.

You turn around in your seat to look at the boy in the back seat.  “I used to get extra lessons all the time.”

He looks up at you, almost startled that an adult would say something like that.  You can see his eyes had begun to water, upset that he had disappointed his father.  “Really?”

“Yeah.  I was really bad at math so my teacher sent extra work home all the time.  I just had to find what kind of studying worked best for me and I eventually caught up to everyone else.  You’ll get there too.”

Keiji takes his eyes away from the road momentarily to shoot you a look of confusion.  “You never told me that you had extra lessons.”

“Oh, sorry.  I must have left ‘given supplementary lessons in second grade’ out of my Tinder bio.”

He lightly punches your shoulder.  “And you call me sassy.”

“You are!”

“You are pretty sassy,” Katashi agrees.

“I did not invite you over so you could turn my own son against me,”  Akaashi says, mock betrayal etching his voice as he pulls into his driveway.

Once inside, Katashi immediately nestles himself on the couch, the television remote in his hands so he can watch cartoons.  Keiji follows you into the kitchen, setting his briefcase down on the counter and hanging up his jacket.  He can’t even bother to change out of his scrubs before slumping down into one of the dining chairs, the exhaustion of a long work week finally taking over him.  

In a matter of minutes, a steaming cup of tea is set down in front of him.  A soft sigh escapes his lips as your hands make contact with his shoulders, massaging the tired muscles.  “We could just order in tonight, if you want,” you say, watching Keiji’s form relax as you continue to release the tension from his body.  He only nods in response.  “You want your usual?”  Another nod.  

“Katashi likes the Miso one,” he mutters, further melting into your touch.

“Okay.  Why don’t you go take a nap?  I’ll get you up when it’s here.”

He shakes his head, sipping his tea.  “I’m fine.  I’m just going to take a shower.”  He gets out of his seat slowly, tired eyes hiding behind a small smile.  “Thank you.”  Keiji places a soft kiss on your lips before wandering off to the bathroom.

You slump down on the couch with Katashi, the take out menu and your phone in your hands.  “Are we getting take-out?!” He asks, scooting towards you to look over your shoulder.  

“Yeah.  Your dad’s really tired tonight, so we’re just going to order ramen.  Is that okay with you?”

Katashi nods.  “I like that one,” he says, pointing to one of the pictures on the little menu pamphlet.

“That’s what I always get too.”  You smile at him, dialing the number of the restaurant to place the order.  “Okay. . . Yes, that’s correct. Thank you!”  You say, hanging up the phone before turning to the boy on the couch who has, at this point, completely invaded any and all of your personal space.  “Thirty minutes.”

“Is that enough time to finish my lessons?”

“I don’t know.  Probably.  But, I thought your dad was going to help you after dinner?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

Your eyebrows furrowed together.  “What kind of secret?”

“He’s a really bad teacher,” Katashi whispers in your ear, making you giggle slightly.  Who knew that Dr. Akaashi Keiji was terrible at explaining basic math principles?  Honestly, you weren’t surprised.  His mind was so flooded with fancy medical words and the obvious secret doctor scheme to make any written prescription completely unreadable that he struggled to explain things in simpler terms when it was needed.

“Your secret is safe with me.  Go get it and I’ll see if I can help.”

Katashi runs off down the hall and returns a little later with a piece of paper and a pencil.  He sits himself down at the kitchen table and waits for you to join.  Rather than immediately sitting down, you start rummaging through the cabinets.  “What are you doing?” He asks as you start pouring chocolate chips onto a plate.

“This is how I learned how to divide.  We can always see if this helps you too.”  You sit down next to him, placing the plate down in front of him.  “Okay.  Number one.  36 divided by four.” Katashi watches as you place 36 chocolate chips in front of him.  “So, let’s think about it like this.  You have 36 chocolate chips that need to be divided evenly between you and three friends.  Four people.  We’re going to start by giving each person one chocolate chip.”  You push one chocolate chip to four different spots in front of him.  “But, we still have more, right?  So, let’s give everyone another chocolate chip.” 

Katashi adds one chip to each pile.  “Do I add more?”

“Why do you add more?”

“Because I still have some here?” He says, unsure of himself.  

“That’s right!  Go ahead and divide the rest out.”

Katashi nods, pushing chocolate chips into piles until all 36 have been evenly separated into four piles.  “Is that right?”

“Yes!  Very good.  Okay, so how many chocolate chips did each person get?”

You watch as Katashi counts the pieces of chocolate in each pile.  “Nine.”

“So, what’s 36 divided by four?”

“Nine.”

“Exactly.  And it works backwards too.  You have four groups of nine so how many chocolate chips are here in total?”

“36.”

“That’s right.  You’re already better at math than I was.  Let’s move on to number two.  18 divided by 6.”  You count out 18 chocolate chips and move the rest to the side.

“Everyone gets one. . .  There’s still some left, so they all get another one. . . And another one.  Three!”

“Very nice, Katashi!”  

“Division is so easy.”  He takes one of the chips and puts it in his mouth.  “And delicious.”

“See?  You just had to find what worked for you.”

“You’re pretty good at this math stuff.”

“I don’t know if I’d say that, but thank you.”

The minutes on the clock tick by as chocolate chips continue to be divided into various piles.  Katashi is lost in thought as he tries to divide 24 by three.  A pair of hands come to rest on your shoulders, causing you to jump at the sudden contact.  You gaze up into Akaashi Keiji’s smiling eyes.  “Hey,” he whispers, damp hair causing droplets of water to slide down his face.  You watch his face twist from soft happiness into pure bewilderment.  “Why are there melted chocolate chips everywhere?”

“We’re dividing!” Katashi exclaims, using his chocolate covered fingers to scoot around his division tools.

“Katashi, I told you that I’d help you after dinner.”

“Y/N helped me instead,” he shrugged, writing down the answer onto his paper and moving onto the next problem.

Keiji looked down at you and shook his head.  “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind.  Besides, now we have more time to kick your butt at Mario Kart later.”

“You’re totally going down, but okay.”

“Hey, Dad?” Katashi asks, not looking up from his hard work.

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to marry Y/N?  Because I really like her and I think you should get married to her.”

“Well, I’m glad you really like her, because I really like her too.”  Keiji reaches for your hand, giving it a loving squeeze.  He brings it to his lips, leaving a soft kiss on your ring finger.

[capybaraonabicycle]

A Family Wedding-Part 1

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I wrote a little story inspired by ‘The Wedding of River Song’ by @elsaistherelifeonmars​ about one of the guests at the Doctor’s and River’s wedding

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Some swearing, I think?

Summary: Since her resurrection, between all the running and adventuring and seeing new worlds, Jenny has been looking for her dad all over the universe. It is quite difficult to track down a time-traveller and until now she’s run from one dead-end to the other. Luckily, the Doctor has decided to get married during her timeline and she can’t miss that, can she?

Words: ~2000

AO3

She wasn’t strictly on the invite list. But she had been so sure, he’d be happy she showed up. Had put on her best dress and parked her space shuttle next to the restaurant on Darillium. Well, neither of the two items were actually hers, she was ‘borrowing’ them. But no one needed to know, and she didn’t think he would mind either.

So, here she was, trying to understand why she was fidgeting nervously. She had never fidgeted before, hell, she couldn’t remember ever being nervous. Even when that bullet had shot towards him and she had jumped in between, shielding him with her body, she hadn’t been nervous. And this should be so much less frightening. He would be happy to see her, of course, he would. And his spouse would like her as well and if they didn’t, what was it to her? She was here for her dad.

Maybe she was nervous because it had taken her so long to track him down. For a man this celebrated and feared across the universe, the Doctor was surprisingly hard to find. At least if you worked on your own and couldn’t ask UNIT for help because you had accidentally blown up one of their laboratories during your first visit of the headquarters. But his wedding had been the talk of the universe and even though the location was supposed to be secret, there was always someone you could get to spill. In her case it had been a handsome face in a red robot suit who apparently had worked at the restaurant before.

And now she was staring up the front of the building, her fingers playing with the satin bow on her dress. It was a beautiful gown, dark green, knee long with a cute petticoat, that she had found in a little shop in New New New York. None of the accountants had even noticed her being in the shop, let alone how she took the dress with her when she left. A smile played on her lips as she stroked down the skirt.

Would she recognise him? she wondered, when she finally could convince her legs to take her into the bustling interior of the restaurant, silently closing the door behind her. Of course, she had heard of the Doctor’s many faces, but she had only seen the one. Apparently at one point he had had an enormous chin, another time he had had eyebrows that would send armies fleeing. She still had to chuckle silently at that image. Her dad, the soldier who refused to be one with eyebrows that were their own army. Would it be one of the two she would see getting married today? Or would it be the face she knew?

In any case it wasn’t difficult finding the wedding, she just had to follow the clutter of excited voices. And only a few steps into the restaurant past the empty reception she saw the legendary blue box, parked between an abundance of wedding decorations. Someone had even fasted a little heart shape to one of the TARDIS windows. It read River & The Doctor and she had to smile at the cursive letters. She was actually here, she had found him.

Well, she hadn’t found him yet, she corrected herself, when she rounded the TARDIS, coming face to face with a huge crowd of wedding guests. None of them seemed familiar at first glance, which was not a surprise. A little unnerving maybe, but she wasn’t one to shy away. She’d just have to find someone to help her out. What was that woman’s name again? Right, Donna. Donna was bound to be here, she would be able to help her.

“Excuse me, Miss, but this wedding is invite-only” a voice startled her.

She looked to her left and saw a short, bald man, staring at her in a way that he probably considered intimidating.

“Do you have an invite?” he asked, taking a few steps towards her and effectively moving himself between her and the party.

“Yes, of course” she lied, flashing him the sweet smile that got her out of trouble half of the time.

“Well, let’s see, shall we?” he said, pulling out a very long list from his pocket, “What’s your name?”

“Donna” she said, automatically, hoping he wouldn’t know any better, and she could go on and look for her dad.

The little man shot her a mocking glance, and she cursed her luck.

“No, it’s not” he stated, “You’re not Donna.”

“No, I’m not” she admitted, “But I’m here with her. My name’s Jenny.”

Now he smiled a small, tight-lipped smile.

“I do have a Jenny on my list” he mused, “However, you’re not her either. And you’re not here with Donna.”

“Listen, I really am” she pleaded. Of course, she could just go past him, he wasn’t really a match for her. But causing a scene was the last thing she wanted to do right now. “And I promise you, the Doctor will want me to attend. Just please, get him or get Donna, they will understand.”

The man tilted his head curiously.

“You’re surprisingly misinformed” he said. He even sounded a little amused. “So, if you came here with malintent, I don’t think you’ll get very far.”

“I really just want to attend the wedding” she promised, “And I’m sure, the Doctor will want me to. Honestly, if you could just tell him…”

She trailed off because she finally had caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the crowd. A dark-haired woman who was seating guests a little to her right. It took her a while to remember her name, but then she couldn’t help giving a small, triumphant shout.

“Martha!” she called, loud enough that it carried over the chatter of the guests and made the woman turn her head. Jenny waved at her, a little too excited perhaps. “Martha Jones!”

“Well, at least that’s someone who’s actually here” the bald man mumbled, turning around to face the Doctor’s friend.

“Do you know this woman?” he asked Martha, who had left the crowd of guests to stroll over, “She said her name was ‘Jenny’ and that she came with Donna.”

Martha was halfway through a confused shake of her head, when she stopped, her eyes flying open.

“No!” she breathed, “You are kidding me!”

Jenny felt her smile spreading and gave a little wave. It was no surprise it had taken Martha a moment to recognise her, all dressed up for the wedding.

“I’m not kidding you” she grinned, very pleased with the stunned look on Martha’s face.

“You’re not actually here, are you?” Martha asked, coming closer and very carefully poking Jenny’s arm as if she couldn’t believe she was real.

“’Course I am” Jenny beamed, “I couldn’t miss my dad’s wedding after all.”

______

Nardole, as the bouncer was called, had let her leave with Martha after all, even though he seemed more than confused. Maybe it hadn’t helped that her and Martha had simultaneously tried to explain the situation to him, reconstructing a story that was well in the past for both of them and that involved things like progenation machines, fishlike aliens and a war of seven days that lasted for generations. Now Martha was pulling her along excitedly.

“We’ve got to get you to the Doctor” she said, “We thought you died!”

“Yeah, so did I” Jenny chuckled, following her through the rows of seated guests, “But then I woke up.”

“Curious, you don’t seem to have regenerated” Martha said, smiling quizzically at her, “Must be something else that has brought you back… The Doctor has regenerated though, you know, that’s why Nardole didn’t believe you.”

She seemed, like she wanted to explain more, but a hush had fallen over the crowd and she stopped herself. Jenny noticed that they were the last ones standing and some guests were shooting them annoyed glances, while an elderly man in the fourth row was waving at them to come to him.

“Oops” Martha said, quickly changing their course and steering Jenny towards the man.

“You’ll meet the Doctor later” she promised in a low voice, while they sat down next to a young man who immediately took Martha’s hand, offering his other to Jenny.

“Hi” he whispered, “I’m Mickey.”

“Jenny” she introduced herself, taking his hand.

“My husband” Martha explained.

“And I’m Wilf” the elderly man added. He was sat on Mickey’s other side and clutching a veil.

“It’s my granddaughter Donna’s” he explained with a sad smile, when he caught her staring, “From her wedding. Now it’s a bit like she’s here, too.”

Jenny felt her heart break at his sad demeanour and the memory of Donna Noble. What had happened to her?

“Donna’s safe, she just can’t be here today” was the last thing Martha managed to whisper in a too tense voice, only slightly reassuring her.

Then the ceremony began. The giant crowd fell silent, staring expectantly at the TARDIS. Only the beautiful melody of the singing towers was filling the air now, a melancholic but festive tune. According to everything Jenny knew about her dad, it fitted him perfectly. Where was he, by the way? She wanted to turn towards the front where he surely had to be waiting. After all, that was where Martha had been leading her.

But then the door of the TARDIS opened, and she couldn’t avert her gaze anymore. A woman stepped out of the box who was nothing short of stunning. Her curls were wild even though a flowery hairdo tried to keep them in line and her smile was youthful and ancient at the same time. On her arm was a man, apparently younger than her, so normally Jenny would have considered him to be her son. But she had been born and raised in mere seconds herself, so he could very well be her dad.

“That is my dad’s fiancée?” she breathed, and she heard Martha chuckling.

“That is River Song” she agreed.

“Wouldn’t think the Doctor of all people would make such a catch, right?” Mickey snickered, but Wilf shushed him.

Like all the other guests Jenny trailed River with her eyes down the whole length of the aisle.

‘That’s my dad’s spouse’ she thought. She tried to figure out how that made her feel and was surprised when the only emotion she found was pride. Pride and delight, that her dad was marrying a woman who seemed so happy to be here, so sure in herself and the fact that she was marrying him.

River and her companion passed them and finally Jenny could avert her eyes and look for her dad. There were three people at the front: the officiant, then a woman in a long dress who was holding a little box, so she had to be the ring-bearer or the best person or something similar, and…a petite blonde in a tux. Who was looking at River the exact same way River had been looking at the front before.

Jenny’s jaw dropped.

“That’s my…” she started, stopping herself shortly to get the words right, “...mum?”

That explained at least why Nardole hadn’t believed she was close to the Doctor. When she had been misgendering her until now.

“The one and only” Martha said as River reached the front, taking the woman’s hands in hers. In both their eyes tears were glimmering and Jenny felt herself getting emotional as well.

“I have a mum” she repeated, stunned, a slow smile spreading across her face when the officiant commenced the ceremony.

Martha took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I don’t know River that well” she murmured, “But if I’m not terrible mistaken, you’ll have two mums now.”

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :) This will probably get 3 more parts soon, we’ll see. I at least want Jenny to meet her mums and possibly a couple other people...

[myhauntedsalem]

30 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics Describe their Most Disturbing Medical Stories

1. The Guessing Game

“I work as an ICU nurse. A mid-20s female came in with some serious cardiac abnormalities and then went into respiratory distress. Never had any medical history at all. We had to put her on the ventilator, but she was on just enough sedation to keep her lucid. She could nod/shake her head yes and no appropriately to questions.

One night, the patient in the room next to hers died, but the body was still in the room about to be taken to the morgue. The female patient’s door was closed with curtains drawn, so she couldn’t have seen what was going on next door. When I went in to check on her, she had a look of sheer panic on her face, trembling. I asked her a series of questions to see if she was cold/hot/in pain/etc. and she denied all. I asked her if she saw something—she started to aggressively nod her head YES. She wasn’t on any drugs that would make her hallucinate. I went on to get details on what this thing looked like. After playing 20 questions I got this: a man, pale white, left arm missing, heavy, bald, standing still, behind me. This was the man who had just died next door.

I spent the rest of the night consoling her.” – whites42

2. Life After Death

“When I was on an ER rotation during med school we got a call about a 23-year-old woman who was shot in the head, and who was already completely gone, but was reportedly five months pregnant so they were doing CPR until they got her to the hospital to see if the baby was viable. They got her to the ER and did an ultrasound and turned out the baby was full-term so they did a C-section in like under a minute and got the baby out.

I don’t think it’s so incredibly uncommon but it was pretty surreal to see a baby delivered from a dead person with their brain exposed and she was pretty close to the same age I was at the time.” – bluegraypurple

3. The Last Goodbye

“When I was a student, I got called in on a stroke patient. She had coded and they were doing CPR. They worked for 45 minutes, but she died. They cleaned her up, and called on the family to say goodbye, but by that time the family left. She had been both brain dead and without a pulse for more than 45 minutes. Blood had filled her brain, and she was completely grey and started to smell. Suddenly, she sat up, and called for her family. The nurses rushed to get monitors and equipment back on her. They started working on her again, she stabilized, said goodbye to her family, and promptly died a second time.” – simplesimon6262

4. Miracle Man

“When I was in trauma surgery in upstate by, got a notification about a man who was shot 3 times in the head. He comes in, literally one eye hanging out of the socket, blood everywhere, and he’s slumped forward. Apparently, he was shot in the temple, exited out his right eye socket, in the nose exited from the roof of the mouth, and In the cheek one with exit from the side of the head.

At this point, I’m thinking they just brought him in so we can pronounce him in the ER because he looked dead. I go to examine him and tilt his head back, and he says ‘Yoooo be gentle!’ I jump back and scream like a little boy, as did everyone in the room. Literally, the bullets missed his brain in every single shot.” – Noimnotonacid

5. Bleeding

“One of the aides I work with said she was doing postmortem care on a patient who had been on many, many anticoagulants before death. She said when they turned her on her side she started bleeding out of every orifice—eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. She said her and the nurse went home and had nightmares for a week.” – sparklingbluelight

6. The Haunted Hospital

“My town has two really old hospitals. One no longer functions overnight, and the stories are unsettling. No one cleans the old ER alone because all the lights and call bells go off. On other floors, there’s a kid with his ball, a lady in a white dress, etc. A coworker was cleaning an entire floor utterly solo (the norm) and bounced between rooms because the cleaning solution stays wet for a few minutes. Upon returning to a freshly wiped bed, hand prints were clearly visible.” – Sapphire_Starr

7. Eyeless

“I used to do home care for an elderly lady with learning disabilities and no eyes (they were removed due to a congenital condition). She was lovely but prone to wandering around her flat at night in total silence, which led to several horrifying situations where I left my room at 2 am only to encounter her standing silently in the hallway, turning her eyeless face towards me.” – NovelistResearcher

8. Lonely

“One call that will always haunt me was on an unresponsive female at around three in the morning. We get there and do some pointless CPR along with the fire department… She had been dead for a while; no shock-able rhythm, and clear rigor mortis. The most disturbing part was that the original caller was her 11-year-old daughter, who had just spent three days with her mother’s corpse and called 9-1-1 because she was ‘lonely’. It also didn’t help that the victim was completely naked when we arrived.” – CupofJoe776

9. Clear Waters

“I have quite a few stories, most of them are hilarious and then there are those you never want to think about. What fucked me up the most was when I saw how eyes change at the moment of death. Imagine you are looking at clear water but that clear water changes to foggy in an instant. In my 8 years here I’ve only seen this once, and I’ve personally seen well over 250 dead or dying people.” – ImCuden

10. Night Lights

“I work nights in a long-term care facility as a nurse’s assistant. I have two men under my care and both of them are unable to use their call lights. They have severe dementia and debilitating Parkinson’s disease but still, their lights are looped around their bed rail. One night their light came on and I went to answer it already confused and creeped out. I turned it off and left the room. Before I could get two doors up the light came back on. I went in there and both lights were unplugged from the wall and thrown under their beds. I fished them out, plugged them back in and left.

I’ve seen shadows standing over the dying and felt a tap on my shoulder while doing chest compression’s so I knew that lady had passed.” – beeoakly

11. Holding Hands

“I’ve had a couple of weird calls. One was a major MVA-head on many, many years ago when we played M.E. as well. We had 2 DOA (husband and spouse) that were killed instantly in a head-on collision. They had a 12-year-old daughter that was in between them and they actually took the impact, saving her life.

While en route, we noticed the husband’s arm had come loose so I went back to re-strap it. As I was doing that, the wife’s arm suddenly fell out as well, and her hand fell into her husband’s. My boss was watching in the rearview mirror and helped clear the way as I ran back into the front. It spooked both of us. Apparently, the couple (mid 30’s), had just found out he was cancer free after his last treatment.” – Anonymous

12. Last Meal

“I had an old lady come in by ambulance, near death. She was a DNR (do-not-resuscitate), so we weren’t going to do much for her. She didn’t have any family that we could find. The hospital was full, so we had to keep her in the ER for the night.

Again, she was near death. When you’ve seen enough people die, there’s no mistaking it, and she was almost there. Barely responsive; pale, cool, breaths were really irregular, heart rate was up and down, too. We just turned the lights down and kept an eye on her monitor, basically waiting for her to die.

About an hour later, she’s standing at the door of her room. She’d gotten up and put on all her clothes. We were all like, ‘WTF?’ One of the nurses went to check on her, and she said she was hungry. Not knowing really what to make of things, we got her a chair, a bedside table, and went to the cafeteria and got her a tray of food.

She sat there, ate all her food, talked with the staff a little. After about an hour, she told her nurse that she was tired and wanted to lie back down. We helped her back into bed, and within 30 minutes she was dead.” – Anonymous

13. “Don’t Let me go Back there”

“When my mom worked as an E.R. nurse a guy came in from a car accident and was losing blood. In the midst of resuscitation, the man jolts awake and screams ‘Don’t let me go back there! Please, please, please don’t let me go back!’ A few seconds later they lost him.” – JeremyHowell

14. The Rusty Old Saw

“This woman was clearly struggling mentally. She went into her basement and started sawing at her wrists horizontally with a rusty hacksaw, bleeds a good amount, and then starts walking around the house. She wasn’t dying quick enough, so she sat down in a chair in the middle of the living room, and started going at her wrists again, this time with a pair of scissors.

I was the second person inside the house. It looked like a massacre. We searched the house top to bottom, fully expecting to find multiple dead bodies in there. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. Every single room had a trail of blood in it.

The woman was found on a chair in the living room. Rigor mortis had contorted her body into a really strange, unnatural pose, and her face was haunting. Literally the stuff of nightmares. Her wrists had huge chunks of skin/veins/muscle missing from them. Saying she slit her wrists is inaccurate. She ripped them to pieces.” – anoncop1

15. Visitors

“I work a stroke/telemetry floor on the bought shift. Most of our patients are elderly. Apparently, there are two things that patients see before they pass away. Some will say that two men are walking in their rooms and telling them to get ready to leave. The patient will call and tell us that these men are big and abrasive in their demeanor. They are either terrified or annoyed when they see the two men. The other thing they will see is a little boy who will go into their rooms and try to wake them up. The boy is usually loud and runs around their rooms. The patients will call and ask who’s letting children just run around late night. Several nights or even that same shift we’re coding or cleaning the patient for the funeral home to pick up.” – pokfynder

16. The Handsome Man in Black

“I used to work in a skilled nursing facility, usually assigned to the Alzheimer’s ward. One night I’m in the linen room stocking my cart, and I heard someone shuffle up behind me, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and there was no one else in the room. The door was still shut too.

Another lady started to complain that a man was coming into her room at night (again, Alzheimer’s so I didn’t think much of it) so to reassure her, I told her I’d check on her throughout the night. She complained of this man for every night for two more weeks when I asked her to describe him to me.

‘He’s real handsome, and wears a black suit. Oh. He’s right behind you now, honey.’

That freaked me the f*ck out. Of course, there was no one behind me. She died the next night in her sleep.” – Anonymous

17. The Blender

“We got a call for a male in his early 30s with ‘heavy groin trauma’ (exact words of the dispatcher). We roll up lights and sirens and the guy is waiting for us on the front step with a towel over his crotch. We barely come to a stop and the guy is already running towards the rig holding this towel. I asked him what was wrong and he moved the towel and this guy’s dick was just barely hanging on. Apparently, he had ‘lady problems’ so he decided to fornicate with the food mixer he had in his kitchen and accidentally turned it on.” – YayShinny

18. The Charred Skin

“Motorcycle driver, accident, third-degree burns, arrived DOA. Had to transfer him from ambulance gurney to ER bed. As we were moving him with a transfer sheet, the liquefied/cooked subcutaneous fat caused the charred skin on his back to separate and his body slipped onto the floor (despite several of us trying to ‘catch’ him).” – Doc-in-a-box

19. Dead Man Moaning

“Worked security through college at a local hospital. The only ‘creepy’ thing I remember is when a dead man moaned. One of my duties was to help wheel patients who had expired down to the in-house morgue. Once we were wheeling an older man from the ER down and halfway down the hallway he let out this low moan. I started to panic, thinking that he was coming back to life but the RN explained to me (newbie) that sometimes the air in the lungs doesn’t come out until sometime later or is delayed for a bit.” – ill_do_it-later

20. Otherworldly Screams

“I have had fellow coworkers swear that strange things have occurred in the ER. Two people that I work with were charting at the nurse’s station when they both heard a scream followed by incoherent words come from one of our open bays. There were three patients in the room and they denied screaming or hearing anything. I have also had fellow coworkers talk about hearing strange voices especially after really bad codes and one person states she felt someone grabbing her shoulder after the doc pronounced a trauma code. These are all respectable people and I do not think they would lie.” – Anonymous

21. Blank Stare

“We got a call to go out to a scene for an elderly woman with chest pains. I arrive at the house, front door is open. We knock, hear the old woman calling out from the back ‘I’m in the back room’ in a very monotone and calm voice. My partner and I go to the back of the house looking for this woman, and that’s when we smelled it. Nothing prepares you for the smell of rotting corpse. I’ve smelled it a dozen times, and it never gets any less disturbing. We radio for police and ALS backup as we move through the house.

We opened the door to the master bedroom, and there is our patient. She is approximately 80, and she is staring at the master bathroom with these cold, dead eyes. She never once looked at us as we approached her and began talking to her. I got to the bedside and got in front of her gaze, and she just looked right through me. I turned around to see what she could possibly be looking at, and there was the source of my smell.

A man, about the same age as my patient, is on the floor with very little left of his head still attached to his body. A shotgun lay on the floor next to him, and most of his head was strewn about the walls and bathroom counter. We loaded the woman up in the ambulance, and our police backup pulled up.

I don’t think that woman blinked once the entire time she was in our care.” – TheFilthiest

22. “Bill’s Here”

“I’m an RN and while I was a student I was caring for a lady who had an end-stage renal failure, had a DNAR (do not attempt resuscitation) and was shutting down. We were having a little chat when she stopped, looked over my shoulder and said ‘Bill’s here love, I’ve got to go,’ and swiftly stopped breathing. Read her old notes and Bill was her deceased husband.” – Jesspandapants

23. The Body on the Floor

“The call was for an older woman, lying in bed. When we get there, the smell is horrendous of a dead body. There are millions of flies everywhere and a little old lady in lying in the bed, alive. About five feet away, there is a body covered up by a sheet. The lady was a dementia patient, and her husband (the deceased) was the primary caregiver. Based on the number of flies and state of decomposition, the police estimated the guy had been dead for about three weeks. The woman must have been getting some food out of the refrigerator, but it was totally empty by the time we arrived.

The creepiest part happened on the way to the hospital with the woman, she said, ‘I hope that nice man on the floor is OK’.” – Tools4toys

24. The Fallen Cross

“I responded to a call where a janitor was dusting quite a large stone cross in the middle of a church. He had been up on a ladder cleaning, when he slipped off, and proceeded to try to hold onto the cross to keep from falling. Unfortunately, the weight of the 200-pound man was too much to support. The cross fell towards him, landing on his left arm, with a part of the horizontal stone of the cross, pushing his muscles and tendons out of his wrist like a squeezed toothpaste tube. Then the cross fell completely on him splattering his brain across the floor. Quite disturbing, and definitely the most horrific and gore filled call I had ever witnessed.” – UpboatOarKnotUpboat

25. The Headless Nurse

“I used to work in St Barts Hospital in London, which in parts is over 1,000 years old. One of the buildings had 2 floors (with massively high ceilings), and so the floors were taken out and rearranged to make into 5 floors. The nurses working night shift would often tell us of the ghost of a night nurse who wandered silently doing her ’rounds’ at night—but due to the new floors, only her head would be visible drifting down the ward.” – jenthejedi

26. Monsters

“I was still a nursing student at the time, but this was from when I had my psychiatric clinical placement in my 3rd year.

I was assigned to a young male patient with schizophrenia. He had been a voluntary admission because he heard voices telling him to hurt people around him, and he admitted himself because he was afraid of actually going through with it.

Anyway, I went into the room alone, as usual, and did the usual introduction and asking how he was doing. He was at a desk drawing creepy, hideous monsters—each monster had its own page, and there had to be at least half a dozen of these pages scattered around him. I asked him what they were. He answered that those were the monsters he saw. They were the monsters that whispered to him and told him to hurt people and do awful things. Guarded, I asked him, ‘Are they telling you to hurt me?’

He answered, ‘Yes.’

I didn’t stay very long in that room.” – duckface08

27. The Man in Black

“People turn batshit crazy and creepy as hell when they get really sick. There’s even a term called ICU psychosis…and trust me, it’s real. Anyway, the creepiest that takes the cake for me is this (am an ICU nurse, btw): Had a patient who was admitted for overdose. Very long history of mental health problems. She was thrashing around in bed, very combative, kicking people’s asses for days, totally incoherent.

Well, the night I had her, she started making decent sense, but still not oriented at all. She was extremely paranoid and kept talking about the man in black in the corner. I’d hear her talking to him and screaming, all night long. So I’d go in there and try to calm her down, but you could see the fear in her eyes. she was talking other nonsense about how she was in space and shit, and with certain patients, you try to redirect their ‘reality,’ but what I did didn’t help. She said ‘that man in black! Don’t you see him!’ and pointed to the corner. I said ‘there’s nobody here.’ I stepped in the corner she was pointing to and waved my hands around. While I’m waving my hands around in the air, she had the most horrifically terrified look on her face that actually scared the shit out of me, like I had just assaulted the man in black. I said ‘see, there’s nobody here’ and she said in a matter-of-factly that’s what you think.’ I promptly got the fu*k out of there.” – HeatherTakasaki

28. Eyes Wide Open

“I work in palliative. Most deaths I’ve seen have been more or less peaceful, though the ones that are not, stick with you. One guy was silently screaming through his last few hours of life. Another guy (who up until this point had been unresponsive) reached up and grabbed me when we attempted to lower his bed to turn him.

One time while doing post-mortem care I walked into the room and thought ‘that’s weird, how come nobody has closed his eyes yet?’ He had that movie-perfect dead look, with pale blue staring eyes and slack jaw and greyish, waxy skin. I closed his eyes and started the care, and when I looked again those eyes, still staring at me, were slowly opening, one slightly slower than the other. He groaned when we turned him to wash his back and his hand managed to clamp onto the bed rail and we had to pry it off. When we finally got him onto his back again, there was a foul-smelling, oily black, viscous liquid on the pillowcase. I cleaned his mouth again thinking it must have come from there, but his mouth and nose were clean. The best I could figure the stuff had come from his eye. I couldn’t wait to get that bag zipped up.” – draakons_pryde

29. Crawling up the Hallway

“I used to work as an STNA in a nursing home. Worked third shift throughout university. During the night we turned half the lights off so it was darker for the evening and didn’t get a lot of light in the residents’ rooms. We had one resident who was younger (70s) and was mostly in for mental reasons. She had long, dark hair and was very thin.

I was sitting at the nurse’s station at the top of the hall and heard a call light go off. I stood up, looked down the dark hall, and on all fours—straight out of The Ring—this resident was crawling up the hall toward me. The other STNA had forgotten to put the bed rail up and the resident was VERY good at climbing out of bed.

Needless to say, I needed some new britches and my heart was racing a mile a minute.” – blameitonthewookie

30. Heaven

“Had a young woman in full liver failure. She was orange in color and she was still conscious. She asked me what I thought it would be like to die. I told her I didn’t know but I hoped it wouldn’t be painful. She then asked me if I thought I would go to heaven. I told her that I believed I would. She asked me if I thought she would go to heaven, and I told her I wasn’t able to answer that question.

She then told me ‘I am going to heaven and I know it,’ and I asked her how she knew that and she told me something that I will never ever forget. She told me ‘I know I am because that man over there told me so.’ I asked what man and she said the man sitting on the end of the bench. I asked her what he looked like and she said ‘he looks just like the Jesus on the windows of my church.’

Well, to tell you I was pretty well affected by that statement. She then went on to say ‘And he says that you are going to go to heaven too.’

We then prayed and I will never forget that interaction between the two of us. About a week later she passed away. I hope she made it to heaven.” – Anonymous

[ollieofthebeholder]

leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic

Tumblr tag || Also on AO3

Chapter 24: Helen Richardson

It’s been almost five hours that Helen has been making the rounds of this particular house. It’s a Grade II listed building, which means that on top of the usual bankers, executives, dentists, and barristers traipsing through, she has a few people she’s fairly certain can’t afford the building but who are clearly interested in what a historic home that can be lived in might look like, despite the fact that the interior has been redone several times. She’s a little more brusque with them than the others—nothing that can be complained about, of course, just on the off-chance they are actually able and, more importantly, willing to buy it, but there’s no point in wasting her time on someone she won’t earn a commission from.

She checks her list. She has one last viewing scheduled for the afternoon, and she frowns slightly at the entry. She’s not certain how to pronounce the last name, which instantly puts her on edge, and she’s a little bit annoyed that whoever put together her appointment schedule didn’t proofread it before they printed it.

It’s only when she answers the door that she realizes that her list is actually meant to say Dr. and Mr. Walter Koskiewicz.

“Ms. Richardson?” one of the two men says. His voice is far more polished and refined than she would have expected. He’s neatly dressed in a pearl-grey button-down, tailored black pants, and a discreet but expensive-looking watch. His bearing is assured and confident, and despite the warm smile on his face, he moves like a man accustomed to obedience, respect, and wielding a decent amount of power.

Still, Helen is hard-pressed to keep her distaste from showing. The man’s silver-streaked dark hair is longer than she thinks is decent for someone in a position of authority and worn in a style more appropriate to a twenty-something entrepreneur running an experimental tech start-up than the middle-aged academic he appears (she guesses the “doctor” title is more in the nature of a Ph.D. than a medical degree). He’s also covered in scars, round and slightly ridged, pale against his brown skin, and she can’t even begin to guess where they came from, but it’s probably not something she wants to even think about, let alone know about.

And then there’s his…husband?

They’re an odd-looking couple, to be sure. The second man is at least a head taller than the first and decidedly fatter—Helen thinks uncharitably of an illustration in the book of nursery rhymes she had as a child depicting Jack Spratt and his wife—with blue eyes and fair skin dusted with freckles. His hair is short and curly, a mix of caramel and white, which is the only clue that he’s probably around the same age as the other man. He doesn’t hold himself with the same assurance and authority; while he’s smiling as well, he actually seems more than a little nervous. He’s dressed just as neatly and professionally as the first man, but he’s clinging to the first man’s arm very tightly. She can’t tell if it’s out of nerves or possessiveness or what, and she almost wants to tell him that she’s not interested in his man.

Instead, she schools her expression as best as she can. “Yes, I’m Helen Richardson.” Normally she would ask if they are the last name on her list, but she doesn’t really want to try and pronounce it, so she simply waits.

“I’m Dr. Walter Koskiewicz,” the first man says smoothly, holding out his hand. It bears the same round scars as his face, with the addition of what looks like the remains of a severe burn on his hand, which makes Helen extremely reluctant to touch it. “This is my husband Kieran. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Charmed,” Helen says. She accepts his hand for a perfunctory shake and keeps her professional smile on her face despite the somewhat unpleasant feel of the thing. She ought to offer her hand to the other as well, but frankly she just wants to get this over. “Shall we begin the tour?”

“Of course.” Is it her imagination, or does Dr. Koskiewicz sound slightly disappointed?

Helen launches into the by-now familiar script as she begins showing the two men around the house. Dr. Koskiewicz makes several remarks that seem rather banal to her regarding the decor, and she finds herself wondering what his field is. She can’t place what Mr. Koskiewicz does for a living, either. She’d almost suspect he was simply arm candy if he was younger and fitter, but unless he’s let himself go to seed a great deal, there has to be a reason beyond that they married. And in her experience, most men whose trophy wives no longer meet a certain standard of attractiveness obtain divorces and trade in for a newer model. It may be different for gay men, though—how would she know? Of course, Dr. Koskiewicz isn’t exactly a beauty prize himself, and considering this house is on the lower end of the pricing spectrum for the sorts of places Helen usually shows, he likely isn’t as well-off as all that, comparatively. So it’s entirely possible he simply doesn’t want to rid himself of an old spouse until he’s lined up a new one.

It’s also possible that they’re actually in love, but Helen wouldn’t know about that either.

As they approach the kitchen, she begins mentally wagering with herself on whether or not they are actually interested in purchasing the house. Usually the kitchen is where the distinction comes in. It’s had all modern appliances and new counters and cabinets put in, so generally speaking, the people who are only there for curiosity’s sake start asking questions about when it was renovated and how permission was obtained and what it looked like before (Helen has no idea; the renovations were done some years ago, per the specs, and she wasn’t even working for Wolverton Kendrick then) and, often, rant about destroying the historical significance of the house, even though it’s only a Grade II. At least it enables her to weed them out as having an intent to buy before they see what’s been done to the upstairs. The serious buyers will peer in but not usually show much interest in it, considering most of them have someone to do the cooking for them, or else comment on the colors or the brand of the appliances.

She doesn’t tell the two men this, of course, only gives them the standard patter about the timing of the upgrades as she leads them in to show them the door to the back garden. Dr. Koskiewicz checks in the doorway and turns to his husband. “It’s a bit narrow. Do you want to go first?”

“You go ahead,” Mr. Koskiewicz says. It’s the first thing he’s said since he came into the house, and his voice definitely isn’t as polished as the doctor’s. Helen wonders if he’s an academic as well, just not as highly distinguished a one—a librarian, maybe? He also has a faint accent she can’t quite place. She can’t tell if they’re both foreign and Dr. Koskiewicz just had better teachers, or if, odd as it may seem, Dr. Koskiewicz chose to take his less-impressive husband’s surname rather than whatever name he had before. “Just warn me before you stop.”

“Of course.” Dr. Koskiewicz kisses him on the cheek, then moves forward to follow Helen.

She watches Mr. Koskiewicz for a moment, and then it hits her all of a sudden. He’s blind. She didn’t notice at first because of his glasses—clear glass, not sunglasses—and his eyes look, well, normal, not cloudy or scarred like she might have expected. The fact that he can pass himself off as a normal person bothers her, for some reason. However, the couple appears to be in the class of being able to afford the house, so she’s not going to risk saying something that might offend him, or his husband. She merely continues with her spiel.

“What are the schools like in the area?” Mr. Koskiewicz asks as they come back in from the back garden. The question makes Helen miss a step. The sorts of people who usually buy homes from Wolverton Kendrick normally have their children taught at home, and the older ones tend to get sent away to boarding school. It’s so unheard-of for her to get that question that she hasn’t even bothered to familiarize herself with the answer.

“How old are your children?” she asks, to buy herself a bit of time while she sneaks a quick glance at the folder. Surely there’s something in there about area schools. Surely.

“Oh, we don’t have any yet,” Dr. Koskiewicz says. “At the moment, it’s only the two of us and the cat. We’ve begun the application process to adopt, though, and we’re hoping to be matched soon. It’s why we’re looking at homes. Our current living situation is spacious enough, I suppose, but…not necessarily somewhere you’d want to raise a child. Or children, as the case may be. We’re hoping for more than one, at some point.”

“Well, then, you’ll have time to select the right schools.” Helen manages to find the data on local primary schools and reads off the statistics in her file. She tries to make it sound like she already knew the information, but the steady look Dr. Koskiewicz gives her makes her suspect he knows she was unprepared for it, which makes her tense and a little angry. It’s not her fault they chose to ask about something so unusual.

As they head up the stairs, she decides to fish about a bit for some information. The problem is that she still isn’t confident that she’ll pronounce their name properly, and the last thing she wants is to be condescended to. That’s the way with these academic types, she’s often found; they have a little bit of power and wield it like a weapon, especially over a woman or someone they perceive to be beneath them. So in order to get the information she wants, she’ll need to come at it sideways.

“Are you at Kings College?” she asks, casually, trying to sound as if she doesn’t care one way or another if he does.

“No, I work in Chelsea,” Dr. Koskiewicz replies. At first she thinks that’s all she’s going to get, but after a moment, he adds, “I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Magnus Institute?”

Helen isn’t, not really, but she’ll chew off her own arm before she admits that. It never goes over well with clients when you profess ignorance of their profession; they always get offended if they think you should have heard of them, or at least what they do, and you haven’t. Besides, she doesn’t want to wind up in the middle of a history lesson on a non-profit or a think tank or whatever the Magnus Institute qualifies as. Best to hedge her bets. “Quite a prestigious institution,” she says in as neutral a voice as she can.

“You might say it’s outstanding in its field,” Mr. Koskiewicz says. His voice is almost as bland and neutral as Helen’s.

“It’s where we met,” Dr. Koskiewicz informs Helen. She glances over his shoulder to see him smile at Mr. Koskiewicz in a way that makes her stomach turn over. “I was hired as a researcher, he was in the library.”

Helen feels a slight stab of vindication—she was right about Mr. Koskiewicz—but it’s layered with a veneer of disgust about the whole situation. This isn’t the sort of neighborhood that would normally welcome people like them, she doesn’t think. Some of these high-end neighborhoods are getting a bit more diverse, but these two are a bit much all at once. She’ll admit that Mr. Koskiewicz seems normal enough, at least to all outward appearances, but he’s very clearly the less powerful of the two, and his blindness is definitely a point against him.

Upstairs in the home are four rooms designated as bedrooms, and used as such by the current owners, but which can also be studies or something similar if need be. She delivers the usual speech extolling the virtues of the rooms. Mr. Koskiewicz is listening rather intently, but to her surprise and slight annoyance, Dr. Koskiewicz seems distracted. He keeps examining every door intently, peering into the spaces in between, like he’s looking for evidence of woodworm or wants to see the details of the construction. There’s something a bit unsettling about it.

“Calm down, serce, you’re going to give me a headache,” Mr. Koskiewicz murmurs. “It’s okay.”

“I know, it’s—” Dr. Koskiewicz sighs and squeezes his husband’s hand before turning to Helen. “Ms. Richardson. Have you ever noticed…something unusual in this house? Or any house you were showing? Like…a door that shouldn’t be there?”

“I’m…sorry?” Helen says cautiously. She’s had some weird questions asked before. She’s been asked about whether or not a basement can be made watertight (not waterproof, the client had insisted, he wanted to fill the basement with water and have a subterranean swimming pool and wanted to know if it was possible). She’s been asked about a room’s suitability for rituals to the Old Gods and about whether it contained enough space for an exorcism. She’s been asked if homes are haunted, if any murders have taken place in them, and if they might have secret tunnels used by robbers or counterfeiters. But being asked if she’s ever seen a door that shouldn’t be there? That’s new.

“It’s not a trick question, Ms. Richardson. Have you ever encountered a door in a place you weren’t expecting—yellow, perhaps?”

Okay, this is definitely weird. And a yellow door? Why is he being so emphatic about it? Her smile is slipping. The worst of it is that Helen doesn’t know the right answer. The truth, of course, is that she has no idea what he’s talking about. Of course she hasn’t seen any appearing or disappearing doors. She deals firmly in reality. She’s never seen a ghost, never spotted a UFO, never met anyone possessed by a demon. She doesn’t believe in magic, or have much truck with religion—she goes to church services with her mother on Christmas and Easter, but that’s about it, and she’s not sure how much of it she actually buys into. Certainly she’s never seen a door that wasn’t exactly where the house plan said it should be.

But she’s also usually fairly good at judging why a client is asking about such things. Some of the people who ask about murders or hauntings are fearful. Others are hopeful. The answer is almost always actually no, especially if it’s about the supernatural, but when she senses a client who will pay extra to be haunted or to be able to claim a salacious history to their new home, she’ll make something up, then jot it down after the client leaves just in case someone else asks before the first client commits to the sale. Very, very occasionally, there is an actual alleged haunting attached to the house—and once she really did have a house on the market that may have been lived in by a serial killer during the height of his crimes—but she’s good at spinning the story properly whether it’s something the owners disclosed to her or she made it up on the spot. The trouble is that she doesn’t know if Dr. Koskiewicz wants this alleged door to be there or not.

After a heartbeat, she decides on honesty. Frankly, she doubts they’re actually going to buy the house, regardless of what she says. At least this way she doesn’t have to pretend to have seen an unexpected door, be asked to describe it, and get caught out in a lie. That won’t do much for her credibility, or her commissions. You never know what kind of influence people actually have and they might spread around that she can’t be trusted.

“I can’t say that I have, Dr…” She trails off as she realizes she still doesn’t know how to pronounce his name properly.

“Koskiewicz,” Mr. Koskiewicz supplies. He’s studying Helen intently, making her wonder if she was wrong about him being blind…but no, he’s just looking in her direction, but seeming to focus on a point slightly to the left of her. It’s actually more than a little creepy and she wishes he would stop. “That’s a good thing, Ms. Richardson. A very good thing.”

“Please, allow me to explain,” Dr. Koskiewicz says, sliding his arm around Mr. Koskiewicz’s waist. “We at the Magnus Institute study the paranormal and the supernatural. One of the phenomena I have been studying involves this…door that keeps turning up unexpectedly. You might say it’s a rather persistent haunting. And it’s dangerous. Very dangerous.”

“I see,” Helen says politely. She hopes he’s not about to lecture her. There is nothing she finds less enjoyable than an academic explaining his pet project or particular area of study to her. She would, in complete honesty, rather jam a sharp stick into her eardrums. And the paranormal? Definitely not an area she has any interest in. The historians she can just about tolerate, as she occasionally learns something worth sharing about a house she’s showing that can bump up the price if the right party hears it. But she really isn’t sure she can sell a haunted door as a feature. Unless this mysterious door comes with a ghost of some kind, but really, that seems a bit ludicrous. And there’s no guarantee it would be tied to any one particular house. There’s no resale value in it.

“But you haven’t seen anything like that,” Dr. Koskiewicz says. “You’re certain?”

“Very,” Helen says firmly. “I would remember.”

Dr. Koskiewicz studies her, then nods. “Good. Very good. I’d hate to raise a child in a house with that hanging about.” He laughs and adds, “I’m not altogether certain the Professor would be all that thrilled with it, either.”

Helen raises an eyebrow before she can catch herself. “Ah, if you have an adult housemate, this room right here also has an en-suite bathroom. Not as grand as the master suite, of course, but certainly private and well-appointed.”

“The Professor is our cat,” Mr. Koskiewicz says with a smile. “I doubt he needs a whole room to himself, but we do appreciate your point. Perhaps a room for an oldest child.”

“Perhaps,” Dr. Koskiewicz agrees, the corners of his eyes crinkling upwards. “Someday.”

Unbelievably, there’s still a chance Helen can make this sale. She still isn’t sure she wants to, but there’s a chance. She slips back into the familiar patter, rattling off the specs and amenities of the house and neighborhood. Now that they’ve dealt with the ridiculous question about an unexpected yellow door, it’s a lot easier.

She winds down the spiel as they head down the steps. Dr. Koskiewicz asks several questions, more normal ones than asking about the supernatural or the paranormal, and from the sorts of things he asks, she thinks she gleans a bit more information about the pair of them. Certainly enough to tailor her closing speech properly, anyway. It’s something she prides herself on. She tends to get the bigger commissions from her employers because she can sell houses most people have given up on, at a higher price than the seller is asking, by targeting specific things about the potential buyers—either something they’ve shown interest in regarding the house, or something they’ve let slip about themselves that she can exploit. Admittedly, she’s prone to occasionally exaggerating a teeny bit, and sometimes downplaying things she can be sure won’t show up as a hit on a pre-sale inspection, but nobody’s ever come back to complain about it. As long as the company does well out of it, nobody really cares.

She delivers the closing remarks, highlighting those things she thinks they’ll be drawn to, and talks up the amenities. She decides not to mention her concerns about how well-received they would be in the neighborhood, since neither of them looks like they belong; if they buy the house and find out their neighbors are going to make their lives miserable, well, that’s not really on her, and maybe she’ll get the listing if they decide to resell. Not that she’s necessarily hoping for that, but hey, a commission is a commission.

“Contact me if you decide you want to buy,” she finally says, handing Dr. Koskiewicz her card. He studies it for a moment, then pulls out a leather wallet and tucks the card inside. “I understand you’ll need to think this over, but if you’re interested, you may want to hurry. There was a couple in this morning willing to put in an offer.”

It’s a lie, of course; these two are the most intent viewers she’s shown the house to yet, and nobody’s made an offer. The house also hasn’t been on the market very long. But she’s learned that dangling that bit of bait often gets people to put in a higher offer. The owners want two and a quarter million, but she wonders if she can get these two to go to two and a half or maybe even more. She might even be able to get them up to three, which of course means a bonus for her.

“I can assure you that you’ll be the first to know, once we’ve talked it over,” Dr. Koskiewicz says. He holds out his hand. “Thank you very much, Ms. Richardson.”

“Of course.” Helen gives him her most professional smile and accepts his hand, trying not to wince at the feel of the scar tissue against her palm. She means to give it another quick shake and move on, but he tightens his grip slightly, holding her still, and stares at her intensely. It’s extremely uncomfortable.

“Please be careful,” he says quietly. “And if you do run into…anything unusual…I urge you to come to the Institute. You’ve been so kind to us. It’s the least we can do.”

Helen has no idea what he means, or what she should be worried about. And she doesn’t feel like she’s been especially kind, unless the other real estate agents they’ve dealt with have been more openly hostile about their foreignness and their homosexuality and his scars and his husband’s disability. But she’s not stupid enough to say that out loud.

“I assure you,” she says, fighting to keep her smile in place. “If anything unusual happens, you will be the first to know.”

“Thank you.” Dr. Koskiewicz releases her hand, but he keeps staring at her intently.

Mr. Koskiewicz holds out his hand uncertainly in her direction. “Thank you for being so helpful and direct. It’s refreshing to not feel…misled.”

Helen accepts his hand uncertainly, but honestly, after the doctor’s, it’s a relief—soft and fleshy to be sure, but he doesn’t grip overly hard, and it’s not as dry or, well, corrupted. Still, she’s a little unnerved by his statement, or more accurately by the way he says it, like it’s some sort of joke she doesn’t get. “Certainly. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I wasn’t.” She takes a half-step back and manages another smile. “Have a nice evening.”

“You as well.” Dr. Koskiewicz takes Mr. Koskiewicz’ arm and leads him to the door.

Helen, as is her habit, walks them to the door and watches them head down the path. Then, unable to stand it, she quickly hurries after them and peeps through a gap in the privacy fence sheltering the front garden. She doesn’t know much about cars and isn’t sure what she’s expecting, but the battered, ancient Ford Escort isn’t it.

She stares, utterly gobsmacked, as Dr. Koskiewicz opens the door for Mr. Koskiewicz, then goes around to get in the driver’s seat. The engine coughs and chokes for a moment before it catches and the car pulls away. It somehow doesn’t fit with the image she cultivated of the two of them. Either they have less money than she thought, or they have as much money as they do because they don’t spend a lot of money on new vehicles.

Either way, she thinks, glancing at her watch, her appointments are over for the day. She’s free until eight o’clock tomorrow morning and can go get something to eat, and she decides then and there that she is going to have a martini. Maybe two.

She rather thinks she’s earned them. Even if she doesn’t make a commission off of this one.

[molluskwritesfic]

Where the Roses Grow: Chapter Two

The compound on Arvala-7 didn’t house one bounty, but two. Elsi Nokk is an enslaved nanny with more than a few tricks up her sleeve. She’ll do anything to protect her charge, even if it means standing against - and then with - a certain Mandalorian. Rated M.

This story can also be found on fanfiction.net and Ao3.

@killtherandomness​

CHAPTER WARNINGS: Mild violence, strongly implied child abuse, slavery and associated themes.

Chapter One - This Chapter  - Next Chapter

Chapter Two

It was hot.

The walk hadn't started out horribly. Despite her trepidation, she was still able to appreciate a change in scenery after being penned up in the compound for so long. Thankfully, they'd only been in direct sunlight for about a half hour. After that, they walked in the shade offered by the maze of shallow canyons that stretched out around the compound in every direction.

The baby was having the time of his life. He perched in his bassinet, happy as a clam as he watched lizards skitter in and out of cracks. Life in the compound had been boring for Elsi, but it had been even more frustrating for him. Elsi had done everything in her power to keep him entertained and happy, but a child needed more than his nanny to play with while locked in the same building for so long.

There had been so many games of hide-and-seek.

To him, the change in scenery was magical. He would communicate this to his caretaker, who would humor him by nodding and forcing a smile. He also tried talking to his new friend - the Mandalorian - who ignored him entirely.

Elsi, mindful of annoying a new master - even if it was only a temporary arrangement - had to repeatedly reinforce their little 'be quiet' signal. Each time she held her finger over her lips, the baby would dutifully copy the motion and fall silent, only to forget a minute or so later and go back to chittering for attention.

Not that she blamed him. Their joint existence had been a lonely one.

. ~0~0~0~

Elsi didn't dawdle.

'Daddy's special quests', as Hetta so eloquently put it, was a not-so-discreet euphemism for 'Underworld Contacts'. Like almost every nobleman that managed to cling to power through the rise of the Empire, Lord Burkisn made deals - most under the table, some not - with Imperial officials and dealers. Elsi didn't hold it against him; he was a politician, and that's what politicians did. But now that the Empire had fallen, Lord Burkisn was scrambling to appease the New Republic while still managing old promises.

Although the Empire was technically gone, the power and influence of the Imperial Underworld remained. When an Empire Remnant called in a favor, you did your best to accommodate.

Elsi's soft shoes were soundless on the shiny tile floors as she bustled through the ornate halls, keeping to the walls in order to avoid other servants and the odd protocol droid that bumbled past.

Lord Burkisn had a wide range of servants in his household - approximately a third of them were slaves. Droids could do a slave's work, but weren't nearly as fashionable. House slaves were much harder to replace; you couldn't program them or fix them when they broke. They had to be taught. Fed. Like most pets: a potentially expensive long term investment.

She bypassed the main study - where New Republic representatives were often hosted - and down a set of stairs into the lower levels of the house. Lord Burkisn's private study was well-cushioned and unassuming, but Elsi couldn't help but feel the very air had been tainted by the people that had been hosted there over the years.

If you thought there was nothing worse than a nobleman that both owned slaves and had the gall to manipulate the New Republic system into letting him keep them - you'd be very wrong.

The prospect of a baby was troubling. Why would Underworld entities have a baby in the first place? Let alone a sick baby? Even then, why the hell were they bringing it to HER? Surely they had deep enough pockets to buy their own doctors and nannies to care for it.

She reached the polished oak door and took a moment to straighten out her cotton dress, ensuring she was prim and every hair was in its proper place. This gave her a moment to eavesdrop.

The conversation came in bits and pieces, muddled by the door.

"... Hays Minor. They won't…"

"...sold… from spice dealers on… delivery."

"We couldn't take it to… when it's…"

Lord Burkisn's voice rose above the others, shrill and irritated. "Where the hell is that damn nanny? I paid twelve thousand credits for that overpriced whore…"

Elsi grimaced, realizing that she'd already pushed her luck too far, and knocked.

"Enter!"

Elsi eased her way into the room, head down with her eyes politely on her toes, hands folded chastely in front of her.

"About fucking time," he swore at her, which wasn't out of the ordinary. However, it WAS uncharacteristic of him to do so in front of business associates. Lord Harl Burkisn was tall and on the back side of middle aged with charmingly light blue eyes, chestnut hair streaked with grey at the temples, and impeccable jawline; handsome, really. He took great pride in his appearance. His usual suave, put-togetherness was a huge part of his professional image. "What took so long?"

Elsi lowered her head further in the perfect imitation of shame. "I came as soon as I was told, sir."

He growled under his breath, "Hetta…"

Elsi did nothing to confirm or deny the inference.

Thankfully, Burkisn moved on. He flicked his fingers to summon her closer. She obeyed without question.

Though her eyes were down, she quickly surveyed the room through her eyelashes. Her master was accompanied by two other men, a human and a twi'lek. They were reasonably well-put together, but their dark, closefitting clothes suggested mercenaries, not anyone high-ranking. They were all looming around Lord Burkisn's desk, upon which sat a large metal storage container.

Lord Burkisn led her to it and gestured for her to peer inside.

When Hetta had said that there was a baby, Elsi had assumed that it would be the child of another nobleman - perhaps a bastard that they didn't want their spouse to know about and were secreting away to live somewhere else.

She couldn't have been more wrong. Or confused.

It was a child, alright. A tiny green baby with massive bat ears held flat against a dirty brown sack of an overcoat. It was short, squat, and unlike anything Elsi had seen before.

The little creature was beyond pitiful; curled up in on itself like it was trying it's hardest to be swallowed up in the dirty sack that it wore, which was already much too big for it. It sat with its back to it's audience, pressing the front of its tiny green body into one corner of the box like it desperately wanted to hide.

It was awfully, awfully still.

Elsi's heart broke for it. She looked to her master for instructions.

Lord Burkisn seemed troubled. "Can you care for it?"

Elsi didn't like making promises. "I've cared for many children."

He scoffed and dragged a hand through his hair, making it stick out in every direction. "Yes. Yes. But this one?"

"I don't see why not. But…" She hesitated. "Is it alive?"

Burkisn whipped back around to study the child more closely. His eyes glittered nervously as his less practiced gaze caught what Elsi had seen at once: the unnatural stillness, how quiet it was. Children weren't supposed to act like that.

He turned and fixed the two couriers with a glare.

"Err…" The twi'lek shuffled nervously, very much out of his comfort zone. "Should be…"

"When did you last check?"

"This mornin'," the human said defensively. "It's been sluggish since we got it, but it hasn't done much since midweek. It just sits and stares."

"What changed then?"

"Nothin'! We kept in the landspeeder, just like always - "

"On Hays Minor? It's freezing there! And you just left it in the speeder?" Burkisn accused, dark eyes thunderous with disgust. "This precious, EXPENSIVE asset? And you've treated it so carelessly? Can you even BEGIN to understand what they'll do to m… to YOU… if it perishes? Do you change it? When's the last time it had anything to eat? Have you bathed it recently?"

Rich, coming from a man that hadn't done any of those things for a child in his life. Elsi wasn't fooled by the righteous tirade. It had nothing to do with the baby's welfare.

"Is it alive or not?" He went on to demand. He was worried. While coming to the 'rescue' of something valuable could be beneficial, having the asset die while under his roof would be very, very bad indeed.

The courier closest to the crate reached out a gloved hand and gave the box a sharp shake. Elsi was no stranger to cruelty; her expression didn't change.

The baby gave a barely audible squeak as it was loosened from its makeshift safe spot. Other than that, it's only response was to weakly shift to press its face back into its corner.

"See?" The twi'lek said triumphantly. "It's alive."

The poor thing was half frozen. Lonely and terrified. No wonder it was sick.

Elsi grit her teeth, anxious to be rid of the other adults so she could take over.

"If it's sick, shouldn't we take it to a medical facility?" The human courier piped up. His eyes ghosted over Elsi's form appraisingly. "No offense, but why're we just giving it to a house slave?"

Burkisn sniffed. "You've lost the right to make those decisions. And do you think I'd let my daughter, my own flesh and blood, be cared for by any less than the best?" He prodded Elsi roughly in the shoulder. "Your credentials."

Elsi's collar felt tighter than usual. It was the same practiced spiel she'd given to potential buyers since she was twelve, and she delivered it with less emotion than a droid. "Educated by the Flirkgen Order of Servitude, First Class. I am trained in all forms of childcare from birth to adulthood, including, but not limited to: childbirth, nursing, emergency first aid, education, and nutrition. To date, I have cared for…"

Burkisn silenced her with a wave of his hand. "You see? We can't risk calling for a doctor, anyhow. The asset doesn't exactly blend in, does it? And if they found out it…"

He cut himself off. Elsi didn't bother wondering who 'they' were.

"Can you care for it?" Burkisn repeated. "Nurse it back to health?"

"I'm not a doctor, master," Elsi said warily. She wouldn't know the full extent until she'd had a chance to look it over properly, but the poor creature already seemed half dead to her. "But I will certainly do my best."

"Good. It's settled." He clapped his hands with an air of finality. "You'll make it your top priority. All of your other duties are suspended till further notice."

That was fine by her, so long as she didn't have to be the one to tell Hetta. The child did NOT like sharing anything, especially the slaves that were at her beck and call. There were other childminder's in the household that were more than qualified to care for the master's child, but none of them were Elsi.

Elsi bowed deep. "Yes, master."

We waved her away. "Take it, then. I'll inquire later as to your progress."

With a final curtsy, Elsi bustled forward and picked up the crate, closing the lid in hopes of making the little creature feel a little safer. The metal was icy cold against her skin. Without a moment to spare, she hurried out of the room.

~0~0~0~ .

Elsi was exhausted.

The skin under her collar still burned, the already tender skin actively being rubbed raw by the collar every time she moved her head. Every muscle in her body threatened to give out at a moment's notice. She moved in constant fear that the next step would be the one to send her sprawling to the ground.

She wasn't sure she wanted to suffer that brand of embarrassment today. Not that she had much pride left after a lifetime of humiliation and servitude, but she already had enough to worry over.

She stumbled a few times, but didn't fall. She kept walking.

After several hours, their pace had begun to slow. With every step, a little of the strength she'd pretended to have was leached away. It took everything she had to put one foot in front of the other.

The Mandalorian didn't comment, but Elsi noticed how the brisk, utilitarian pace he'd originally set had dwindled to something that was clearly designed to accommodate her. She appreciated, yet hated it.

Being thought of as weak was usually a good thing. But it wasn't in this case because it was the truth. Being underestimated gave her an edge, one that - staring at the tattered, dirty cloak of the silent wall of armor that stalked silently ahead of her - she wished she still had.

The baby finally settled down, tired from the day. He sat in his bassinet, nibbling his cloth frog and peering out at the changing scenery. His dark eyes flickered as he sought out the lizards that occasionally darted across their path.

Elsi knew he must be getting hungry. She was, too. Their last shared meal had been that morning, and it was well into late afternoon now. Elsi was used to functioning on very little; years of being fed the bare minimum had taught her to ignore the empty gnawing in her gut.

She didn't want the baby to have to learn the same way she did, but had a feeling that the Mandalorian wanted to get somewhere specific before nightfall. The canyons weren't exactly the best place to spend the night. Too many places for an enemy to hide.

She would wait until then before asking for a brief respite to feed her charge.

As if to confirm her suspicions about the canyons, the Mandalorian suddenly came to a halt. He lifted a gloved hand, cautioning Elsi to do the same. It was unnecessary, of course, because she'd heard it as well.

A near-silent footstep. The soft clink of a rock being kicked out of place and knocking into another. A quick, panted breath.

Then silence.

Elsi cast a warning glance at the baby, who didn't need to be directly told to stay silent. The adults' sudden tension was more than enough. He gripped his frog tighter.

Elsi watched the Mandalorian closely, taking note of the tension in his shoulders, waiting for some kind of signal.

She saw the Mandalorian's hand ghost over his blaster.

When the first bounty hunter exploded out of the shadows, Elsi was already on the move. While the Mandalorian met the threat, both of them, head on, Elsi made a beeline for the bassinet.

Sand flew as the sound of battle echoed throughout the narrow canyon. The baby whined when she scooped him into her arms. She hushed him, giving him a little reassuring bounce before slinking away from the conflict.

The baby cried out, distraught. He'd tried to take his frog with him, but dropped it. Elsi cast a glance backward to see it lying prone in the sand, only a few meters away from where the bounty hunters fought.

She went on, melting into the shadows and through a passage in the canyon walls. Worst case, she could make him another.

Elsi turned twice down different paths before deciding they'd gone far enough. She leaned her back against the stone, tucking them away in a dip in the rock face. The sounds of the fight had faded, leaving the pair washed in a heavy silence. Elsi struggled to quiet her breathing, which rasped loudly in her throat as she fought to catch her breath.

The baby buried his face against her chest and grumbled.

"Froggy's fine," she sighed, tipping her head back against the rock and closing her eyes. "We'll get him in a minute."

From what she'd seen, the Mandalorian had been holding his own fairly well, so hopefully they'd be able to go back to the bassinet in a few minutes. Not that she wanted to go with the faceless hunter, but for now she preferred him to the others. At least she was almost certain that he didn't have any immediate plans for killing her or the baby.

Also, he had her fob. She couldn't go very far without it.

Suddenly, the Mandalorian was there. He appeared without warning, scaring the shit out of Elsi - though she'd never show it.

He was more or less unscathed except for a gash in his upper arm. It looked nasty, but he seemed unbothered.

His helmet ticked forward minutely. "You good?"

Elsi's response was collected and emotionless. "Yes."

The child chirruped to say that he was fine, too, thanks for asking.

The Mandalorian cocked his head slightly, then held something out to him. The baby's ears perked forward when he recognized the beloved patchwork frog sitting in the warrior's hand. He gave a squeal of delight and all but threw himself out of Elsi's arms to get it.

Elsi almost dropped him, but was able to adjust fast enough to prevent him from falling. With a weary sigh, she moved to place the baby back in his bassinet, which still floated obediently at the Mandalorian's elbow.

The baby hummed happily and snuggled down in his blankets, squishing Froggy against his cheek.

Elsi's quick eyes went back to the gash on the Mandalorian's arm, then lowered submissively, fixing on the diamond shaped indent on his cuirass. "Your injury looks painful. I can dress it, if it pleases you."

His shoulders settled back; in surprise, Elsi thought.

"It's fine," he rasped. "We need to keep moving."

Elsi didn't argue.

. ~0~0~0~

Despite the awkwardness of the box, Elsi took the steps of the narrow servants' staircase two at a time, doing her best not to jostle the baby.

She winced and murmured an apology when she accidentally bumped it against a wall as she turned a corner, feeling the occupant slide from one corner to another.

Elsi bumped the door to her room open with her hip, and then closed it with her foot. As the head child-minder of a prestigious household, she had been granted her own quarters. She was still a slave, so it wasn't much: a small bed, a fireplace, a couple of chairs, a minuscule refresher, and a table that was covered with her current sewing projects.

She swept the half-finished articles of clothing off the table without a second thought, no longer caring if they got trampled and dirty, then sat the crate gingerly in their place.

Finally alone, Elsi flipped open the lid. Now she was closer, she caught a whiff of what could only have been the child; an unpleasant mix of bodily waste and mildew.

A distraught sigh hissed between her teeth. Elsi cautiously moved to pick up the baby.

The baby seemed to know she was coming and pressed itself more firmly into the corner. She crouched beside the table so that she was level with the box, reaching out tentatively towards the cowering child to smooth the fuzz on the back of its head.

The baby squeaked weakly, somehow succeeding in making itself look smaller. Elsi recoiled. Time was at the essence, but the last thing it needed was to be frightened even more.

"It's okay," Elsi hummed in her most reassuring voice, the same tried-and-true one used to soothe nightmares. She settled back just enough to kneel in the chair and rested her forearms on the edge of the crate.

The baby whined.

"Hey, hey. Shhh," she murmured, reaching out again and brushing her knuckles gently down the baby's spine. It quivered. She repeated the motion, "It's okay. You're okay. Shh."

The baby gave a plaintive squeak that was muffled by the side of the crate.

"Yeah, I know you're cold," she crooned. "Will you let me warm you up?"

The baby didn't comment, but it did turn its head, daring to peer at her with dark, watery eyes. Elsi noted the crusty discharge that had dried at the corners. Then the dampness of its nose.

"Can I hold you?" She asked, holding out her hands to it expectantly.

The baby squeezed its eyes shut.

Elsi figured that it was the closest thing to permission she was going to get. She gingerly wrapped her fingers around the baby's middle and lifted. He weighed next to nothing; she could wrap her hands all the way around him. She immediately transferred him to her chest, tucking his fuzzy head under her chin. Tiny claws curled into the fabric covering her collarbones.

Holding him in place with one hand, she bustled around the room, humming softly for the baby's sake as she unearthed cloth diapers, towels, and wash rags.

She took the supplies to the refresher, where she spread out one of the towels on the counter next to the sink, which she then filled partway with warm water. The child was far too small to consider using the tub.

Careful to cradle his head, Elsi eased the baby down on the counter. His sallow green skin stood out starkly against the fluffy white towel. The child stared up at her blankly through half-closed eyes.

"We're gonna get you clean, m'kay? The water's nice and warm for you. Then maybe you'll feel a little better. That sound good?" She explained to him kindly, but he only blinked in response.

The baby was heartbreakingly easy to manipulate out of his clothes, making her suspect that he was used to being handled roughly. She made a point to be as gentle as possible.

"Do you like bubbles?"

Before his bath, Elsi wiped him down and checked for injuries. He didn't react much to the water, leaning heavily into the hand that was keeping him propped up while she smoothed his skin with the gentlest soap she had and ran a kitten-soft washcloth over his ears.

After, she wrapped him in a small clean blanket instead of redressing him. His tiny robes would need to be cleaned before she would even consider putting them on him again, and even then, they were past use.

She would make him others, but that would take some time.

She laid him against her chest, lifting one of his little three-fingered hands to her lips to press a kiss to his knuckles. Elsi toed off her shoes and settled down on her bed. The baby snuffled a little, but otherwise stayed quiet as she tugged the other blanket over top of them both.

He felt much warmer now, at least. Elsi nuzzled the top of his head, breathing in the gentle smell of flowers from the soap. The baby mumbled softly before blinking his eyes closed.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. Elsi rubbed her hand up and down his back. Pressed kisses to the top of his head. Stoked his ears. Hummed a lullaby. Then another.

It seemed that he had given up, but children could be dazzlingly resilient. As awful as he seemed now, he could be up and playing in a day or two. She'd seen it before. Hopefully, a little love and attention would be enough to breathe a little life back into the poor little runt.

She wasn't optimistic, but that wouldn't stop her from trying.

~0~0~0~ .

The trio walked well into the evening, not stopping until the canyons were far behind them and they were surrounded by nothing but flat, rocky plains.

Elsi saw the logic. Out here, nothing could sneak up on them. The Mandalorian would see or hear anything a long time before it became an active threat.

Though she appreciated the strategic value of the decision, she loathed the bounty hunter for forcing them to travel so far before resting.

The last of the sun's rays were fading below the horizon, painting the desert in a myriad of lovely violet hues. The Mandalorian chose a flat-ish expanse of rock to kneel down, producing a collapsible lantern. He set it down at the center of the space and turned it on, casting them all in an orange glow.

"We'll camp here tonight."

Music to Elsi's ears. She all but collapsed to the ground, disguising her exhaustion as productivity by immediately starting to dig through the russack bag. She found the water and two jerky ration packs that she and the baby would share. She uncorked the water and drank, nursing it to make it last.

"Muu?"

The last few hours had them walking directly into the setting sun, prompting Elsi to close the bassinet shutters so as to offer the baby some shade. He'd been quiet for the most part, but now that they'd stopped moving, he seemed to have enough reason to draw attention to the fact that he still was still secluded.

"Muuuu?" Muu? A soft, drawn-out squeaky sound, always turned up at the end like a question. It was the baby's name for his caretaker. It was cute, really. So much better than Nan.

Elsi forced herself back to her feet, ignoring the screaming of her aching muscles in favor of retrieving the baby. When the shutters peeled away, he rewarded Elsi with a wide, toothy grin.

Mood slightly improved, she got him out, but also tugged the bassinet over to where she'd been sitting: away from the Mandalorian.

The baby trilled conversationally at the bounty hunter, who continued ignoring him. In the time it had taken Elsi to get the baby and sit back down, the Mandalorian had removed his cuirass and sat prodding at its inner workings with a tool from his belt.

The baby was entranced by the occasional shower of sparks tossed into the air as the Mandalorian worked, but not so much that he was distracted from consuming every morsel of food Elsi placed in his greedy little hands.

She figured that she ought to hurry. While she was no expert on Mandalorians, she was vaguely aware of the limitations regarding the helmet. He hadn't been able to eat or drink all day, and while Elsi didn't really care much for his welfare, she knew she would if he became frustrated and decided to take it out on her. He could also die from heatstroke, which would essentially trap her and the baby in the middle of the desert.

Until a better option presented itself, he was their best bet.

Elsi didn't give two shits about seeing his face. She had better things to worry about than satisfying basic curiosity - especially curiosity that could end with him killing her out of rage. If he simply asked her to not look, she wouldn't. As her (temporary?) owner, he could also order her not to look, and she'd have no choice but to obey.

But she didn't think he would do either. The Mandalorian would probably wait until they'd both fallen asleep to remove his helmet; which was absolutely no problem for Elsi - she was already half-asleep sitting up. The baby was a little trickier. Elsi would have to make sure he was asleep before settling down herself.

Luckily, the baby hadn't slept much throughout the day. By the time he finished eating, he was snuggling into Elsi's shoulder, making the soft little grumbling noises he made when he was tired.

Elsi hummed to him, soft enough that only he could hear, rubbing his back in time with the melody. It was an old slave song, one she distantly remembered her mother singing for her when she was fussy and small.

The humming also kept the baby from hearing the sounds that the Mandalorian was making. Forgoing Elsi's offer to clean and dress the wound on his arm, he'd settled on cauterizing it with the same tool he was using to repair his armor.

It looked painful. She almost insisted that he stop and let her tend him, but then remembered that she didn't care.

Elsi tucked the sleeping baby in the bassinet, ensuring he was snuggly wrapped in his blankets and clutching his stuffed frog before she closed the shutters.

Confident that he would sleep through the night, Elsi lay down on the stony ground with the russack bag tucked under her head. Mindful to keep her back to the Mandalorian, she allowed her exhausted and abused body to finally rest.

~0~0~0~ .

[oboevallis]

trying

“Hey, I’ve gotta get to work. Are you sure you’ll be fine here?” Link asked his girlfriend who was watching the TV.

“Yep.” A distracted Amelia responded.

“Mkay, love ya.” Link pressed a kiss to her forehead, and one to her swollen abdomen which she pushed him off of her.

“Link, you know I hate it when you do that.” The neurosurgeon sighed dramatically.

“I know I’m sorry.” Link apologized as he made his way towards the door.

“You know you keep saying your sorry, but continue to do it.”

“Bye Amelia, have a good day.” Link smirked as he closed the door behind him.

“Whatever.”

________________________________________

“Oh hey, Maggie.” Link greeted as he walked into the scan room. “I was hoping I’d run into you I need some advice.”

“Sure, what can I help you with?” She asked spinning in her chair to face him.

“I’m just worried about Amelia. I mean she told me about her son once and hasn’t talked about it since, and I think she’s just shoving down a lot of her feelings. I just want her to feel okay, I understand it’s difficult for her but maybe if she would just talk about it she’d be able to feel better. I don’t mind being her punching bag, but she’s just going off on the littlest things.” Link ranted, he’d never thought it was a thing, but you really do pick up on your spouses mannerisms.

“Wait what?” Maggie asked confused.

“Wait what, what?”

“Amelia’s had a baby before?” Maggie asked confused, Amelia always talked about everything how did this never come up?

“Wait, you didn’t know? Crap sorry, I probably shouldn’t of said anything.” Link was internally beating himself up, of course if she so grudgingly told him, she probably wasn’t quick to tell anyone else. His pager then went off with 911. “Sorry I’ve got to go.”

This left a very confused Maggie, how did she never know about this? she knew it was an invasion of privacy and most likely illegal. But that didn’t stop her from pulling up her sisters medical records on her tablet. She scrolled past the time she would’ve been in Seattle, she would’ve known. She slowed down once the hospitals and practices she was admitted in when she was down in LA. She tapped on the last visit she had while she was there, and a ‘locked’ notice showed up on her tablet. She knew if she requested access that’d send a message to her doctor to her allowing for consent to allow another doctor to look at the information.

“Any good cases?” The door opened, causing Maggie to jump.

“Are you okay?” Meredith asked concerned.

“Oh yeah. I don’t have any good cases.”

“Really? Then why’d you turn you tablet over abruptly when I walked in? Oh, please don’t tell me your planning to commit a crime to save someone’s life, we can’t have you in the verge of jail as well.” Meredith jokes with her twisted sense of humor.

“W-what? Nothing I was just d-diverting my attention to you.” She’d always been a terrible liar.

“Ooookay then. Hey could you possibly get the kids from daycare tonight? I maybe late getting home.”

“Sorry I can’t tonight.” Maggie apologized, she was now planning to go see Amelia.

“Hot date?”

“Oh no not tonight.” She looked down at her watch, her shift was about to end. “I’ve got to go, bye Mer.”

________________________________________

A knock on the door interrupted Amelia from the reality show she’d been binging. She slowly got up to answer the door whilst still paying attention to what was happening.

“Hey! I saw you were off today and tomorrow, sooooo I thought I’d come over with some fries and ice cream.” Maggie cheerfully smiled holding up the bags in her hands. Amelia distractedly welcomed her in then she made her way back to the couch. It was nearing the part where an obviously staged fight would take place, it was her absolute favorite part. But once the episode ended Maggie got hold of the remote and turned off the TV, which caused Amelia to let out an irritated sigh.

“Maggie what is your deal? You come over unannounced and then turn off the Tv?” Amelia was letting her hormones get the best of her.

“Well, since you’ve moved out I haven’t seen you as much.I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, but it’s not normal for you to show up to somewhere without clarifying your plans ten million times. Are you okay?” Amelia asked less annoyed but now concerned with her sisters surprise visit.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know you’ve just kind of been kind of quiet lately and your definitely not a quiet person and when you do have conversation with someone your kind of snippy.”

“I’m hormonal, Maggie.” Amelia said as she hoisted herself off the couch, and went into the kitchen.

“Amelia.” Maggie said with concern tainting her voice. “I know your not okay, and that’s fine. You need to talk though.”

“I appreciate your concern but I’m fine, just hormonal.”

“Link told me.” Amelia froze as she scooped ice cream.

“Told you what?” She faced away from her sister, she didn’t want Maggie to see her cry.

“That you’ve had a baby before.” Maggie cautiously said, trying not to upset her sister any further. “You’ve never told me that.”

“It’s not something I talk about.” She handed Maggie a bowl with ice cream and slowly lowered herself onto the couch. They sat in silence eating ice cream. She knew she couldn’t go through telling the story right now, so she grabbed her work tablet from the coffee table and opened up her OB files, handing the tablet to her sister. Maggie silently read over the information she was just handed. “Ironic right?” She chuckled trying to make light.

“Oh Amelia.” Maggie didn’t quite know what to say, she couldn’t imagine what that must of been like. As Maggie tried to find the words to say Amelia spoke up.

“I feel guilty.” Maggie tried to speak up but Amelia cut her off. “I know I shouldn’t but I do. Don’t get me wrong I’m so so so grateful this baby is healthy. But I just feel guilty, and I know I should talk about him I just can’t muster up the energy. So I’m just crappy to Link and he doesn’t deserve that.”

Maggie didn’t know what to say in the least bit. So she placed the bowl onto the coffee table and brought Amelia into a hug which she tried to push off at first, but eventually complied. She let the neurosurgeon sob, while assuring her it’d be okay. Even though that probably mean nothing, because everything was obviously not okay. But eventually she cried herself to sleep, but Maggie continued to hold her.

“Hey.” Link greeted, and then turned around taking in the situation. “Is she okay?”

“I think she will be.” Maggie whispered. “I had no idea she went through any of that.”

“Me either until she told me.” Link whispered in response. Going over to the couch to pick up his girlfriend and bring her to bed. “Thanks for coming over. It really means a lot.”

“Of course.” As link walked out of the living room carrying his girlfriend Maggie headed for the door.

“Thanks for carrying me to bed.” Amelia whispered as Link was almost at the doorway, this caused him to turn around and lay on the bed facing his girlfriend.

“Do you want to talk about Christopher?” Link said in barley a whisper.

“Not right now, but maybe later.” Link kissed her forehead.

“May I?” Link asked a hand hovering over her bump. To this Amelia nodded yes, he traced soothing circles onto her abdomen.

“When i was pregnant with Christopher, I never had this. The father just being there. It’s just new, and I just feel guilty. I’m sorry I’ve been so crappy to you.”

“Don’t apologize. Not for a second should you apologize.”

“God, have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Only everyday.” Link smirked. “And for the record I love you too.”

i got a prompt form an anon asking for a fic where amelia is annoyed with people touching her bump i feel like this wasn’t what they were looking for so sorry about that ill probably do a fic more around that,but i hope everyone is doing well and staying safe