#watch him unlock the parkade door and go in

[six-of-ravens]

anyway the "stop so people don't follow you into the parkade" rule always seemed stupid to me because I was like "what do you even do if someone follows you in lmao"

and then the ONE TIME. the ONE TIME I try to Do My Part to enforce that rule SOME GUY DECIDES TO BE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE ON THE PLANET ABOUT IT!

[kilyra]

We’ll be Free

Ward Meachum (Iron Fist) One-Shot

A/N: I received a request from @damalseer (Who has been incredibly patient with this request, thank you!) for a sequel to “Be Seeing You Friday” where Ward tells the reader about Harold’s death.

Also, I gotta say this was SO fun because I had to dive back into the show to remember some of the sequence of events. And, for anyone interested, @presidentmeachum has made an All-Ward cut of Iron Fist. It’s freaking awesome!! I would put up a link to the actual post about it, but Tumblr search hates when I do that. So I encourage you to check out her page or send an ask. It’s absolutely perfect! 

But yeah, so anyhow...so the fic synopsis:

Ward has been hiding you since Harold’s threats, but when he comes home one day looking distraught and with no regard to the rules, you realize can see something is very wrong.

Warning: Season 1 spoilers

NOTE: If you want to be on a Ward (or all) tag list, let me know :)

“I'm pulling into the parkade now. You can wait until you see me on the camera before you unlock the door if you want but...but you don't have to this time...y-you don't have to.”

There was a distinct air of excitement in Ward's slurred words before the line went dead. In that quick phone call, your mounting cabin fever was suddenly forgotten, but it wasn't replaced with the usual relief you got when Ward was on his way home. Your chest tightened as you hung up the landline.

Something was wrong.

Sitting in the panic room deep inside Ward's penthouse suite, you glanced over at the door. It was locked. And, despite his assurances, you made no move to change that. Turning in the seat, you glued your eyes to the monitors as they flashed scenes from around the building. You watched his car pull into the parkade and, a few moments later, him heading towards the elevator.

The glimpses you caught of him cinched the knot in your chest that spread toward your stomach. With his unkempt hair and wrinkled t-shirt, he looked like a wreck as he hurried across the monitors.

To be fair...he had been a wreck for a while. You both had. The night Harold threatened you, Ward went into full protection mode. He had you take a leave of absence from work and, in the cover of night, brought you to his home. You had been in hiding ever since.

As far as he was concerned, his father lost his mind and he refused to risk your life to keep up appearances. Apparently, Harold wasn't even all that bothered when you disappeared. He was far too focused on Danny and Rand Industries. But that didn't stop Ward from being strict with the rules.

So his dishevelled look and bizarre assurance that you could suddenly break those rules? It was a new level of worrisome.

When he came into the apartment, and was alone, you finally unlocked the panic room. As you carefully pulled the heavy door open, you caught the quick frown that crossed Ward's face.

“You look worried. Why are you worried? I told you that you could come out of there.” His words blurted out in a rush as he scanned your face.

Hesitating at the entrance, you gripped the handle of the door. He was agitated. His smile did nothing to hide it as he continuously shifted his weight and rubbed his hands along his forearms. Lifting his eyebrows, his deeply red-rimmed eyes screamed at you with a desperation that you couldn't name. A paleness clung to his skin and even his full lips seemed dry and drained of colour.

“Yeah, you did. Ward...what's going on.” You couldn't mask the nervousness in your tone.

Letting out a curt sigh, he dragged his thumb across his forehead, the dirty bandage hiding his eyes for a second. His hand froze with his thumb resting between his eyebrows as he glanced in the mirror across the room. The curt sigh turned into a deep exhale as his shoulders softened. “We're free. We're...we're free now.”

Your head was pounding as the blood throbbed through your temples. Pressing your fingers against the side of your head, you tried to will yourself to relax. "We're free? Does that mean you made all the arrangements? We're leaving?"

Dropping his hand and resting his knuckle against his mouth, he chewed his lips as his gaze swept over your face. Avoiding looking directly in your eyes, he shook his head. “N-no. No, Harold found out about that. All the funds I put aside...that's all gone.”

The head rush swelled, and you tightened your grip on the door handle to keep steady. Everything was falling apart.

His eyes darted to your death grip and he let out a huff through his nose. But, with his eyebrows lifted, he looked more anxious than irritated. “No...no, it's not like that. Look, I...just...come here.”

As he spoke in fragments of a sentence, he ran his hand through his hair before reaching out for your hand. His loose hair immediately dropped back in his eyes, and you didn't let go of the door. Pursing his lips together in a faint frown, he lightly grabbed your elbow and gently guided you to one of the oversized chairs in the main room. You could feel his strength in that simple motion and let him take the lead as your mind scrambled.

The money was gone. You were still trapped. And Ward was clearly not okay.

He sat in the chair next to you, leaning so far forward, his knees brushed against yours. His fingers ghosted across your hands but you kept them still. Wetting his lips, he swallowed hard as the anxiety in your chest felt like it was ready to burst. Finally, he spoke in a soft voice.

“Harold is dead.”

“What?” Sharply exhaling, your heart raced so fast that colours pulsated around your narrowing field of view. If Ward hadn't made you sat down, you might have actually fainted. A numbness swooped down and you couldn't even feel your hand as he intertwined his fingers with yours.

When he spoke again, it sounded muffled. “He's gone.”

The icy numbness blended with the tightness that was still a vice in your chest. This should be good news, but you just felt sick. “How...how do you know?”

Staring at you, the red rims around his eyes grew even more pronounced as his face seemed to fall. His chin trembled and his eyes were watery even though he didn't shed a tear. With a shaky sigh, his features relaxed as he dropped his stare back down to your hands.

“I snapped. H-he knew about everything. And then he took it. The money, our freedom, your safety...and after he hit me for being mean...there was a knife and...I lost it. I lost it, Y/n. And he's gone.”

As he softly confessed, he slid onto his knees, resting his head on your lap. Moving your hands, you let them hover above him for a moment as he finished. Keeping his eyes open, he stared blankly at the room and slowly wrapped his arms around your legs.

Your hands shook as you lowered one along the top of his shoulders and ran the fingers of your other through his hair. You were numb, but his raw need for comfort broke through your wall of confusion and horror. “D-did you...I mean the body...is...do we need to...”

It was your turn for fragments of a sentence. As much as you wanted to be his rock, you were floating somewhere above your body. Your Ward was a...a murderer?

And, shouldn't that bother you more?

His grip around your knees tightened as he nestled into you harder. “No, it's fine. I took care of it. I took care of everything. Not that it matters – can they really charge me with the death of a dead guy?”

The strained laugh that fell from his lips was chilling.

“I even threw Danny off the trail. He came sniffing around and seems to think Harold died from whatever it is the two of them were mixed up in.”

The details weren't helping you come to grips with anything he was saying, but you continued to smooth his hair back as you cradled him. “So...what now?”

Taking a deep breath, it seemed to take effort for Ward to push himself from your lap. On his knees, he looked up at you and offered a hollow half-smile. Reaching over, you brushed the hair back from his eye, letting your fingers linger on his cheek. Grabbing your hand, he turned to kiss your palm and sighed. His eyes were still red, and the colour was still drained from his cheeks, but he looked slightly calmer.

"Well, tomorrow I have the meeting with the board and they're going to present Joy and me with our buy-out packages. I expect it'll be pretty generous considering they don't want any more scandals. And then...we'll be free to do what we want. Free of Rand, free of Harold...free of all of it."

His hollow smile slowly dropped as he leaned forward to rest his forehead on your knees. Still holding your hand, he hugged it against him like it was a lifeline. “We can do whatever we want now. You...you can go back to work if you want or we can just...we can just go like we were planning. We can leave this all behind and start fresh somewhere.”

Exhaustion rolled off of him as he finally seemed to settle. It tore at your heart as you ran your free hand over his hair again. Leaning forward, you planted a gentle kiss on his scalp before resting your cheek against his head. What would a fresh start even look like anymore?

As he rubbed his thumb across the back of your hand, you heard him mumble. “We'll be free...”

You wanted to believe him. With all your heart, you wanted to believe him.

Taglist:  @foreverfaeries  @flower-two  @getlostinyourparadise   @selfishkiddo  @angelicshinigami  @pansmexualparker   @natsukitakama  @fortnitevevo  @randomtwistedlife  @summer-goblin @hudsonbird

[lurkch]

Time Out

Fandom: Star Trek AOS Pairing: Leonard McCoy x Reader Summary: After weeks of far too many nursing shifts, McCoy whisks his wife away for a weekend of relaxation. Word Count: 2948 Warnings: No plot. Fluff. Rating: PG-13? I don’t know. Note: So, not my usual style and not too sure about this. Reader insert (or maybe it’s an imagine, I don’t know) and fluff aren’t my thing but, uh, here you go? Happy birthday, Jo! (@star-trekkin-across-theuniverse​) 

"Let's go," Leonard McCoy said, grabbing you by the arm and putting the chart you had just picked up back on the counter in one smooth motion as he half-steered and half-dragged you down the hall. You stumbled after him as his long legs outpaced you, but your husband had a firm grip and wasn't letting go.

"The staffing clerk wanted to talk to me--" You managed to yank your arm out of his grip and watched him continue a few paces down the hall before realizing he had lost something. He stopped and looked back at you, frowning as he retraced his steps.

"She can go fish. We discussed this last night." He slid his arm around your waist and waited for you to stop resisting. It wasn't like you wanted another shift anyway, you just didn't enjoy being kidnapped off your unit. At the elevators, Leonard punch the elevator button and leaned against the wall. You could see the bags under his eyes from his own patient overload. He pulled you close and rested his forehead on yours. "Sorry, Sweetheart, I just want to get the hell out of here before--"

"Oh, there you are! I thought you were going to stop by--"

Leonard glared over your head at the clerk and punched the elevator button again. "The answer is no."

"Excuse me?" The clerk's expression vacillated between affronted and scared, eventually settling on the latter. It was no secret at the hospital that a scowling Leonard McCoy was not to be trifled with. Actually, it wasn't much of a secret among his family either.

"You're going to ask her to work another shift and give up her weekend. Well, you can damn well ask someone else. She's taking the weekend off and that's that." This time he punched the elevator button with enough force that the clerk flinched. "What the hell is taking so long?"

"I wouldn't normally ask, but I've already asked everyone else--"

"Then ask them again. She's worked 72 hours every week for the last month. I know for a damn fact other nurses have had more time off even with the overcrowding so find someone else." The elevator opened and Leonard guided you inside before stepping in himself and hitting the button for the parkade level. "Damn town is full of nurses sitting on their asses. Go get one of them, this one's taking a four-day weekend."

You shrugged non-apologetically as the elevator doors closed, fairly certain that when the elevator came back up the clerk would probably still be standing there like a deer in headlights.

"I can speak for myself you know," you said, letting the elevator wall hold your sleep-deprived body upright.

"I know, but you can't be trusted to put yourself first when you do. I'd probably still be waiting in the parkade for you if I hadn't come up here." He waited for you to disagree and his shoulders relaxed slightly when you conceded the point. "There's plenty of other nurses. And some of them can probably even manage to keep their patients alive until Tuesday."

"They're not that bad." You didn't blink as Leonard turned his scowl on you. "Well, maybe Murphy."

"Imagine giving a kidney regeneration patient ibuprofen. Of all the damn fool idiotic things to do. Almost made me a patient by giving me a heart attack."

"Well, you can be a bit excitable," you said, poking him in the ribs but you were too tired to put much force into it.

"Is that so?" He turned to look at you with an affronted eyebrow as the elevator came to a stop. His hand stayed at the small of your back as he guided you out, and dipped his head to your ear, "you better be the only thing exciting me this weekend."

"No promises." You grinned as he gave you a playful smack on the backside and you left the hospital behind.

"Where are we going?" You had fallen asleep almost as soon as you got in the groundcar. It had been an eternity since you had actually sat down for more than a minute and you had been out before you knew it. Now none of the scenery looked familiar and according to the dash clock, you had been out for several hours. "Len, I thought we were going home."

"We're going to relax," he said emphatically, completely unperturbed by the sudden storm brewing in the passenger seat.

"I swear to God if you are taking me camping I'll divorce you so fast—"

"I'm not." He gave you a sidelong amused glance. "I promise. I know you don't believe it, but I do learn from my mistakes."

"Then where—"

"It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"I know you do. You'll love this one, trust me."

"Len—"

"Nothing to do but eat and sleep," he assured you. "And anything else we might want to do in between." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at you.

"You're going to have to do all the work, I'm too tired to move."

"Wouldn't be the first time—ow!" He rubbed his arm and smirked at you. "Go back to sleep, you're cranky when you're tired."

The next time you woke, the groundcar was parked and Leonard was nowhere in sight. Stretching, you let yourself out of the car and took in your surroundings. The sun was sinking in the sky and there was the faint sound of surf coming from the distance.

"Thought you'd still be asleep," Leonard said, coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around you. "Got the room code. We're all set."

"Do I get to know where we are now?" You followed him as he grabbed a suitcase from the groundcar that struck you as suspiciously undersized. "You better have packed for me too."

"Why? You plannin' on leaving the room? And to answer your question, we're in a sleepy little beach town at a world class resort."

"Is it a nudist colony? Because if you didn't pack any clothes—"

Leonard silenced you with a kiss as he unlocked the door. "We have everything we need, I promise you."

The room was actually a suite with a sitting area, a media console that covered the wall, a shower and bath big enough for two and, most importantly of all, a bedroom with a king size bed. You loved Leonard dearly, but the man sprawled when exhausted and you had been relegated to the spare room at home more than once rather than try to rearrange his dead weight to make room for yourself.

"You haven't seen the best part yet," Leonard said when you finished your tour. He pointed out the wall on one side of the bedroom that faced the ocean and touched his hand to it. It shimmered and turned transparent revealing a private patio opening up onto a sandy beach.

"Can't they see in?" You pointed at the people down on the beach and glanced skeptically over at the bed.

"Nope. It's a privacy shield. Noise-absorbing too," Leonard said with a grin.

"Shush."

"Won't need to," Leonard said with a wink as he stepped out onto the patio. There was a hot tub with a view of the ocean and some lounge chairs as well as a table with chairs suitable for meals. "Wanna take a dip?"

"Did you pack me a bathing suit?"

"Don't need one." Seeing your look, Leonard added, "There's another privacy shield around the patio. Watch."

Leonard began stripping off clothes, pulling his T-shirt over his head and moving onto his jeans, socks, and underwear in quick succession. "What do you think," Leonard asked, doing a silly little dance--wiggling his ass, among other things.

You bit your lip trying to suppress a grin. "I think … that you are attracting a lot of interest for a man dancing buck naked behind a privacy shield."

"Well, that was kind of the point," he said, winking at you.

"Not me, them," you said, nodding towards the beach.

Leonard turned towards the beach where several people had stopped and were looking towards the patio. His smile faltered as he raised a hand and waved tentatively. One of the women waved back, much to the apparent displeasure of her husband. Two men holding hands gave him a thumbs up. "Oh, lordy," Leonard muttered under his breath, his cheeks flushing pink as he turned back to you.

"Is the panel light for the shield supposed to be green or red?"

"Green."

You pressed the button and the patio perimeter shimmered for a moment and then cleared. After a few moments the beach goers went on their way as Leonard sheepishly pick up his clothes. "Fixed it," you announced, biting your lip.

"You better not be laughing."

"Uh, no. Not at all," you said, trying to keep the grin off your face. "I'm just going to go into this soundproof bedroom now for, uh, reasons." You almost, but not quite, made it. You tried to muffle your mirth in one of the pillows as Leonard followed you in but it didn't work.

Leonard reappeared from the bathroom in a white bathrobe and dropped another one beside you on the bed. "Strip and put this on, Chuckles. If you think you can manage it in between guffaws."

"Why?"

"You've been saying your shoulders and back are botherin' you with all these shifts so I booked us the last massage appointments of the day to work out some of the knots."

"Really? Now I'm sorry I laughed," you said, sitting up and giving him a kiss. He started working your clothes off and the kiss threatened to turn into something more until a chime sounded.

"Don't be too sorry. They do them out on the patio. Woulda both given everyone a show if you hadn't noticed the shield was off." He grinned at your horrified look and left you to finish stripping down as he went out to greet the masseuses.

The last of the sun's light was disappearing on the horizon when you woke and it took a moment to orient yourself in the unfamiliar surroundings. You were alone on the patio, still ensconced on the massage table under a thermal blanket. The knots and kinks in your muscles were definitely gone, as were the masseuse, Leonard, and the other massage table. A cool breeze was blowing in from the ocean so you put on your robe and went inside.

"Just in time," Leonard said, getting up from in front of the media centre when you walked in.

"How long was I out there?"

"About an hour. You looked so peaceful I didn't wanna wake you. Feel better?"

"Yup. I take it we're not going out to eat?" Leonard was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. Even casual dining wasn't that casual.

"Thought we'd eat in," he said pulling you closer. "Watch a movie or … somethin'." His hand trailed along the lapel  of the bathrobe you were wearing and down to the loosely tied belt. A single tug let the robe fall open. It had all the potential to be a romantic moment … right up until your stomach rumbled. Loudly.

Leonard laughed. ""Guess we better eat first. Kitchen's closed now but I scrounged up some eats while you were sleeping."

"I don't supposed you brought me any clothes?"

"Top drawer in the bedroom. I am many things, but I am not a man with a death wish--even though I'd like to keep you to myself all weekend."

Dinner was a sampler platter from the resort restaurant and wine, which was fine by you. Leonard picked out a movie you had both been wanting to see and you relaxed on the couch, snuggled up with each other after you had finished eating knowing that no one was going to get called in.

It had been ages since the two of you had spent time together outside the hospital that wasn’t focused on catching up on chores that always seem to pile up when you weren't looking. You could swear the laundry multiplied like tribbles when you were away from the house. That was one thing you missed about being on Enterprise. Even though the shifts weren’t any shorter or any fewer, it was easier to recover when food, shelter, and clothing were all taken care of for you. And it helped that your husband was in charge of scheduling there, unlike at the hospital.

Partway through the movie you felt Leonard's arm draped over you slacken and you tell by his breathing that he had fallen asleep. Small wonder since he had just as long of a shift at the hospital and had done all the driving (not to mention when he must have made time to plan this getaway). You decided to let him sleep and snuggled into him as the movie played on, not really paying too much attention to the screen.

It was the silence after the movie stopped that woke Leonard and you convinced him to crawl into the King size bed with you. Laying there, listening to the surf crashing on the beach and the seals slapping the water for fish, you asked Len if he remembered Cetaceus VI. 

“The waterworld with carnivorous sand? Rings a bell,” he said drily.

You smiled into his chest. “Worst shore leave ever. I’ve never been so glad you insisted on catching up on all the paperwork before time off.”

“You certainly weren’t happy about it at the time, as I recall.”

“Yeah, well changed my mind pretty quick when people starting coming back with peeling skin and open wounds from laying on the beach.”

"That was pretty bad," he agreed. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

"I don't know. Just came to mind. I don't think I'll ever be able to step foot on sand again without wondering if it wants to eat me."

Leonard laughed and held you tighter. "You sayin' this place was a bad idea?"

"No. Just glad it's on Earth and not somewhere else."

"Preaching to the choir, sweetheart. Preaching to the choir."

You didn't remember falling asleep but when you opened your eyes, stars were dotting a pitch black sky and Leonard was snoring softly beside you. You would have rolled over and gone back to sleep but you realized you were starving, probably from skipping lunch at work. Getting out of bed as quietly as possible so as not to wake Leonard, you went in search of any leftovers (even though you were pretty sure there weren't any) or a mini bar.

Nothing but stray crumbs leftover from dinner, but you picked at them anyway until the plates were clean. Upon opening the mini bar, you saw the usual assortment of snack foods but also two white take out boxes with Leonard's barely legible scrawl on them. Taking them out into the light, you saw that one said: Thought you might need a midnight snack, love Len. 

You smiled and placed that box on the counter. The other box said: Mine. Unless you're really hungry, then I'll forgive you. Maybe. Best not risk it. You laughed out loud before you caught yourself and placed that box back in the mini bar.

Lifting the top of your box, you peeked inside and grinned at the contents, grabbed a fork, and headed back to the bedroom. The night air was warm so you went out to the patio and had a seat. It was a strange feeling to look up at the stars and be able to pick out familiar constellations rather than the ever changing field of stars Enterprise passed through. You and Leonard had yet to discuss whether you would sign up for another five year mission or what either of you would do if you could not agree to both stay or both go. You willed away the knot that formed in your stomach at that possibility and focussed your attention on the crashing of the waves in the dark until the earlier sense of peace returned.

Too soon, you had finished the cheesecake in the little white box. As you licked your fork clean you briefly considered Leonard's box but decided against it, heading inside and crawling back into bed for a few hours more sleep.

The sky was beginning to lighten the next time you woke and Leonard was most definitely awake judging by the hands roaming your body and the firm press of his body against your back.

"Mornin', Sugar," he whispered, nuzzling your neck. You smiled into your pillow at the endearment.

"Sugar, huh?" You rolled over and looked up at him. His hair was sticking up in all different directions and there was stubble where his beard retardant had worn off. No one got to see him this way but you and it was one of your favourite views. "What did you have in mind?"

He leaned down and kissed you, thoroughly, and then pulled back and looked at you with a twinkle in his eye before rolling you over so that he was spooning you. "As I recall," he said conversationally as his hands explored you, "you said you were too tired to move."

"I might have recovered a bit."

"Is that so? Well, save your strength," he said, working his leg between yours. "It's a four day weekend and I intend to make very good use of it."

"Like on Risa?"

"Better."

"I don't know if we can survive better than Risa."

"Maybe not," he said with a chuckle, "but it'll be a hell of a way to go."

Click here if you want to be tagged for future stories.

[downbyashes]

Luke's 20th

I woke up alone.

This was usually odd, as my boyfriend of almost two years was almost always right next to me.

Instead, his side of the bed was empty.

I groaned. Maybe he'd gotten up to go to the bathroom. Maybe he was making breakfast. Maybe he was getting our daughter up.

I looked at my phone, looking for the time, and when it sunk in, I threw my body up. "Shit!" I shouted, throwing the blankets off, and running out of the room. I looked around the apartment, but found myself to be alone. No Cody, no Aubrey. At 10:35 in the morning on January 9th, I was alone.

I was alone for my birthday, I realized.

I went into the kitchen, hoping Cody had made me something for breakfast, but there was nothing, only a note on the counter.

'I had to go to class, and you just wouldn't wake up. I dropped Aubs off at daycare, so you're free for the day. Draw me something pretty if you have some free time. ;)' I sighed, but smiled. He seemed to have forgotten my birthday. Nothing he'd written or sent me said happy birthday. And he'd even sent my daughter to my foster mom's. He thought he was helping, and if it were any other day, it would have been a help. But I'd already cleared the day and arranged my schedule around my birthday so I could take my daughter out. I was too lazy to rearrange it, so I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching.

I drew Cody and I, holding hands, holding each other, kissing. Little doodles of me blushing like crazy, and others of me pulling him close. I yearned for him, to hold him, to kiss him, to feel his body on mine.

Especially on my twentieth birthday.

Cody called me on his lunch break, as he always did.

"Hey, babe. It's odd not to hear your voice in the morning." He said.

"It's odd for someone to forget their partner's birthday." I replied.

"Oh my god." He gasped. "It's the ninth. Oh my god! Lucas, I'm so sorry. I don't know how it slipped my mind this morning. I'm going to make this up to you. I promise. I'll take you out for dinner tonight. Abby will watch Aubrey. It'll be romantic. Please?"

I sighed. "Okay. Fine."

"Babe, you have no idea how shitty I feel for this. I love you so much." He whispered, his voice shaking.

"It's okay, Codell. I'm only twenty. It's not really a big deal." I mumbled, brushing it off. It really was. I would always remember his birthday was June thirteenth. He was my boyfriend. How could I forget a thing like that?

"Don't do that, Luke. The whole it's not really a big deal crap. We both know it is. Look, I have to go. I think a good fight is about to start. But I'll call you when I'm on my way home." He said quickly before the line went dead.

Still not a wish for a happy birthday.

I went back to sketching, but nothing came out looking right, so I stopped quickly and instead watched some TV.

When the time Cody usually came home drew near, I got dressed in something fancier than usual, and got ready to see him walk through the front door of our tiny apartment.

But he didn't.

And I started getting worried.

I eventually got a text from him, and I was able to relax.

'Stuck in traffic. Not sure how long I'll be. Sorry. :'('.

'It's okay. Drive safe.' I sighed. There went dinner. I was so completely alone, and on the day of which I should have been with my closest friends and family. It just wasn't fair, like so many aspects of my life.

It couldn't have been twenty minutes after that that I got a frantic phone call from Abby. "Luke? Hey, it's a bit of an emergency. Long story short, I need you to come over and get Aubrey as soon as you can."

"What's going on? Is she okay? Is everyone okay?" I frowned.

"Yeah. Everyone's okay. Relax. Just please come pick up Aubrey as soon as you can. Thank you so much." And she hung up. Another call with no happy birthday wish.

I sighed. Everyone knew I hated driving, and especially when there was slush on the roads. Abby especially knew how much I hated being in a moving vehicle.

I got on a jacket, and made sure my wallet was in my back pocket before leaving. My stomach ached as I made my way to the underground parkade below the building. I got in my car, and even that made a wave of nausea roll over me. How was I going to get to Abby's without vomiting?

I did make it, going thirty kilometres in the fifty zone, and I frowned when I realized that the house was dark, like no one was home.

I groaned. I had hoped I wouldn't have to get out of the car, but I realized now that I would.

I locked the door and took out my keys, unlocking the house when I got to the front steps. It was dark inside, and it didn't look like anyone was home.

"Abby!?" I called, closing the door behind me.

I made my way to the kitchen, not seeing any sign of anyone until the lights flew on. "Happy birthday, Luke!" My friends, family, and boyfriend shouted.

I froze. They'd surprised me, taking me aback. I hadn't gotten one call or message from anyone, and I had been starting to think that either no one remembered, or no one cared.

"Babe?" Cody said, stepping forward to take my hands. "Are you okay?" I nodded, smiling. "You never actually forgot, did you?"

"As you said, how can anyone forget their partner's birthday?" He whispered before kissing me.

I held him at the waist, pulling his hips to mine. "I love you." I breathed when I pulled away.

"I know it's not the nice dinner I promised you, but I hope that dinner with our families and Damian is nice enough." He murmured.

"Damian is family." I replied.

Cody shrugged, pulling back, and just holding my hand.

"Thank you guys. You really had me going." I smiled.

"Happy burfday, daddy!" Aubrey called out, grinning as she ran over to us, and hugging one of my legs.

I swung her into my arms, and joined my family.

"I can't believe you're twenty!" Abby cooed. "It feels like you were three and just being dropped off here yesterday."

"It feels like I just got here yesterday." Jay added, crossing his arms. He was going through a growth spurt, and at fourteen, he was gaining on me in height.

We had dinner, and cake was brought in after, twenty candles sticking out of the icing. I got all but one blown out and Cody let out a sigh of relief. "One boyfriend." He said. "What a relief."

I grinned, kissing him after pulling him onto my lap.

"Happy birthday, Lucas." He whispered, wrapping his arms around me.

I pressed my face to the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Codell."