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wiypt-writes · 2 years

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Leave No One Behind

Chapter 17: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: Ari confronts Sarah about her behaviour towards Hannah and is surprised by the reaction.

Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (nsfw, 18+)

Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Word Count- 4.5k

Saturday arrived, his ‘Dad Weekend’, as coined by Maya, come and gone in the blink of an eye, and Ari was about to drop her home, still undecided as to whether he was going to confront Sarah about their ‘arrangement’. Hannah had been right the last time they had discussed, well, almost argued, about Sarah's stupid and vengeful rules. It had to end, Ari knew that. The problem was, he didn’t know how to address the issue, and more so he feared that this would be the last he saw of Maya if the conversation went wrong, without a long and tiresome court battle. Fuck, setting up and fleshing out an top secret operation from scratch had proven an easier task than calling out his soon-to-be ex-wife on her childish behaviour.

So, with a sigh to appease the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he knocked lightly on the door to inform Sarah they were back, before he introduced the spare key of his former family home in the lock and decided, as per usual, to wing it.

Sammy had been right all along; he never had a plan, he was just a lucky bastard.

As soon as he had the door open Maya walked in through it and Sarah poked her head out of the kitchen. “Mom!”

"Hi, honey. Did you have a good time at your dad’s?" Sarah chuckled as Maya ran to her and hugged her round her waist.

Maya nodded as her mother helped her to get rid of her backpack and placed it on an armchair beside the coffee table. "Yeah, Hannah bought me a new colouring book and some stickers. And I saw fireflies!"

"Well, that’s… nice. You saw… you saw fireflies?" Ari watched as Sarah swallowed hard and tried to keep the tone of her voice even as she spoke. He knew for a fact she hated that word. She always had.

"They’re really pretty." Maya nodded with a grin.

Ari groaned internally, he should be used to Maya's tendency to blurt out any kind of information straight away by then but he wasn't. He brushed his fingers through his hair before speaking for the first time since they arrived. "Munch, why don’t you go put your things in your room. I need a quick talk with your mom and then I’ll come see you before I go home, okay?"

Sarah looked at Ari, her eyes steely, before turning to her daughter who was picking her things up. "Go, honey. You can tell me all about it later."

"Okay!" Maya agreed before prancing away from the living room under her parents' watchful eye.

"Fireflies, huh?" Sarah spat as soon as she heard the Maya’s bedroom door close.

Ari took a breath and decided at this point that there was no other way to deal with the situation than honesty. "Yeah, we went to Maria’s for dinner. They were out in the garden."

"I figured that much." Sarah sneered as she sat on the couch. "Ari, we..."

“Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there.” Ari held his hand up. “Two things. Firstly, Hannah didn’t stay over, after dinner I took Maya back home. And secondly, WE decided nothing. It was you that made that bullshit rule.”

Sarah shook her head stubbornly. “I just don’t want her staying when Maya is there, Ari, it’s simple. Maya is your priority during your time together."

"And you think she wouldn’t be if Hannah’s there?! For fucks sake, Sarah! Who do you take me for?!" Ari asked with a frown.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" She scoffed.

"Don’t throw all that at me." Ari groaned, “Not again! I know that I haven’t been the best father to her over the years, I get that, okay? But I’m trying and she’s happy!" Sarah bit her cheek as she blinked and Ari sighed, his hand scratching at his beard.

Sometimes the best defence was a good offence…

"You know, Maya told Hannah she thought she hated her this weekend.” Ari’s voice was quiet as he looked at his estranged wife. “She thought Hannah didn’t like her anymore because she never stayed over. Is that what you want? Maya to think that? That she's not liked or loved, when you know it's not true?"

"No, I…" Sarah whispered before clearing her throat, and repeated her earlier sentiment. "I just don’t want her near Hannah.

"Okay, fine. Well, you can explain to Maya why then. Because she heard you on the phone to your ma, telling her all about you banning Hannah from staying. She asked me why, and I deflected as best I could, but I’m not making up anymore bullshit to cover for you." Ari shot as he got up from his seat, waving his hand in the direction of Maya's bedroom. "So how about we get her out here now and you can explain why Hannah can’t stay. Why she can’t braid her hair for her, why she can’t watch movies with us. You can explain all your crap to her because I'm done."

"She heard me?" Sarah gasped as she looked up at Ari, standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Yes.” Ari shot back, his anger starting to spiral. “She also heard you telling Louisa that Hannah would need luck being married to me. So, if there’s anyone filling her head with shit, it’s you, not Hannah, or me."

"I never said you were! I just…" Sarah began to protest before she sighed, “you wouldn’t understand..."

"Then fucking explain, because I’m lost!" Ari demanded as he sat again, this time next to Sarah. "Hannah is gonna be my wife, but you’re basically asking me to choose. And, you know what, if you give me no alternative, then I’ll pick Maya." At that Ari paused to look at Sarah and realised her eyes were starting to water, but he felt no sympathy, just an overwhelming sense of frustration. “I will choose my daughter, but I swear on her life, I would never forgive you."

"Then you would know how it feels, Ari! How it hurts! You fucking bastard!" Sarah raised her voice at him, her words cracking a little, “you’ll know how it feels to have so much anger and hurt and…”

"Sarah, I…"

“No! Save it, Ari. I’m done. I always knew what I was getting into, I fucking knew it…" She sniffed.

"You left me!” Ari shook his head, his voice loud. “And I know, God, I know that was my fault but…fuck, I’m trying here." Ari took a deep breath as he stood up, pacing a little before he turned to look down at Sarah. "Do you want me to finish with Hannah, is that it?"

"Oh, don’t play tricks on me, Ari Levinson!" she scoffed as she stood, wiping the tears that ran down her cheeks with her shirt sleeve. "Look, it’s getting late and Maya needs to get ready for bed as she has school tomorrow. I think it’s better if you go.”

"I’m not going anywhere until we sort this out.”

"Just go, Ari. Say goodbye to Maya. I’m tired.” Sarah demanded.

“You know what, I’m tired too.” Ari shook his head, “I’m tired of always walking in circles around the same conversation. I’m tired of you reminding me constantly of how much of a failure as a husband and father I’ve been. I get it, I’m not an idiot, I know I’ve been a disappointment but I’m trying to make up for everything I’ve done wrong. You always told me you wanted me to do better. And I’m trying but I can’t do anymore. You’re giving me an ultimatum, here. Can’t you see that?"

"That’s not what I’m trying to do,” Sarah looked down, causing Ari to groan with frustration.

“Then what is it, because I don’t understand. Please, help me out here! You were fine with all this when we came home, but as soon as you found out we were engaged you lost your shit! Is that what this is about?” Sarah blinked in response and with a groan, Ari continued his ranting. “Fuck, we’ve been separated for years. I agreed to everything you wanted in the separation. You got the apartment, half the savings, the fucking car… and I’ve stood by that in the divorce papers…”

Sarah gave a sarcastic laugh. “I should have known this was all about those papers!”

"This isn’t about the damned papers! Fucking hell, Sarah. Right now, I don’t give a shit if you sign them or not. I’m bothered about Munch and whether or not you’re gonna stop me seeing her!" Ari was fully riled at this point. He could feel the rage cursing through his system. Every time he thought he had got Sarah to understand what he was trying to say she turned the tables instead and threw a new punch at him.

"I’d never do that!" Sarah yelled back at him.

"So why are you making it so impossible for us to be as normal a family as we can?” Ari shouted back, his jaw clenched and his eyes boring into his estranged wife. “Do you think it’s right or fair, or stable for Maya that Hannah has to leave our home and go to her mom's when Maya stays?" Sarah looked away and then shook her head. “I mean, would you be doing all this if I was engaged to another woman? If it wasn't Hannah?"

At that, Sarah's closed her eyes, her breath hitching a little and Ari knew he was right. She might not admit it aloud, but her actions were more than enough. “Sarah, don’t take this out on Munch because you’re angry at me and Hannah, please.”

After a moment, Sarah opened her eyes and took a shuddering breath. "Fine." she swallowed, her voice quiet. "I’ll… stop. You can do as you see fit."

Ari blinked a little, temporarily sideswiped by her sudden turn about. “That’s…that’s it.”

“What else do you want me to say?” Sarah scoffed, “this is what you want, isn’t it?”

“What I want is for Maya to be happy.”

“Well, there you go. You and Hannah can…play happy families all you want.”

“Sarah, that’s not-“

“But if I get one sniff that Maya isn’t top of your priority list when she stays, that she even mentions to me she’s been left to her own devices, or that you haven’t given her your full attention…”

"Of course,” Ari took a deep breath, holding his hands up.

“Fine.” Sarah nodded, “now you can say goodnight to her and leave.”

Ari nodded in agreement. Still a little shocked at Sarah conceding like she had, he turned to head down the hallway towards Maya’s room.

"Just tell me one thing, Ari." Sarah caught his attention again and he stopped and spun slowly back to face her. “And be honest with me for once in your fucking life."

"What?" he asked softly, not wanting to start another argument.

"Did you ever stop loving her, thinking about her? What it might have been?"

Ari hesitated for a moment before answering. He could see in Sarah’s eyes how hurt she had been but he also knew she deserved to hear the truth. He owed her that much. No matter how much of a bastard it made him out to be. “Honestly? No. No I didn’t. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy with you, Sarah. I loved you, really loved you. We had a life together, you gave me a beautiful daughter and for that reason I’ll always love you in a way. But I’m not in love with you anymore, and you’re not in love with me either. And you know it.”

"Yeah, I know." She whispered, her voice broken.

"I’m sorry, I really am.” Ari hung his head, sighing. “I never set out to hurt you or for any of this to happen. I was a shit husband. I know."

Sarah took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together before she spoke. "Now can you please go? Say goodbye to Maya and then you can collect her on Wednesday and have her till Friday if that works. I’d like the weekend with her next week."

Ari nodded. At that point he would take whatever she suggested, may it suit him or not. He’d make it work, he didn’t give a shit.

"That’s fine, Sarah. I told you I want to co-parent, I don’t want a court arrangement when it comes to Munch."

"I’ll see you on Wednesday then."

“Yeah." He gave her a little smile and then headed to Maya's room where she was flicking through the pages of her new colouring book.

After Maya asked him what they’d been arguing about, Ari deflected a little by telling her Sarah was mad at him for letting her eat too many jelly beans and Maya giggled.

“Whoops.”

“Yeah, whoops. Maybe next time one bag is enough, huh?”

“Okay, Dad.”

“I gotta go now, sweetheart, but I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

“Wednesday?”

“Yup, its Dad Week this time.” he chuckled, before he placed a kiss on her head and bid her goodnight.

When he emerged back into the hallway, Sarah got up from the chair she was sat in and picked up an envelope that was on the dining table. Without a word she handed it to him, then she turned and headed to Maya’s room.

*****

When Ari arrived home, Hannah was already in her pajamas and sat on the couch, reading. Simon alerted her to his presence before she heard the key in the lock. He strode into the living room, flopping down next to her with a groan.

“That bad, huh?” Hannah shut her book as Simon climbed onto Ari’s lap, licking at his beard. He stayed silent for a moment, before he turned to her.

“I talked to her. We had an argument, both said a few shitty things but…” he bit his lip, “she agreed to stop being unreasonable.”

“What?” Hannah frowned.

“She said that she won’t stop Maya being here when you are anymore.” Ari held Hannah’s gaze, not divulging anymore.

“Oh, Ari!” Hannah gave him a smile, “that’s…that’s great. How did you get her to change her mind?”

“Just explained to her that it wasn’t fair on Maya, which it isn’t.” Ari popped a shoulder, “but, anyway, it’s done. Hopefully, the last we’ll hear about it. Oh, and she also gave me these.” He leaned forward, jostling Simon off his knee, the dog giving a grumble as he landed on the floor. Ari pulled the envelope from his back pocket and held it out to Hannah. She took it with a frown and opened it, her eyes widening.

“She sighed the divorce papers?”

“Yup,” Ari nodded, his lips curling into a little smile, “Tomorrow morning first thing I’ll drop them at the solicitors. Couple of weeks, it should be finalised.”

Hannah blinked at them, before she closed the envelope and handed it back to Ari. “I know I shouldn’t feel happy about that but, I can’t help it,” she whispered, and Ari gave her a small smile. “How do you feel about it?”

“Relieved, more than anything.” Ari popped a shoulder. “Perhaps happy isn’t quite the right word but I came to terms with the fact my marriage to Sarah was over a long time ago. Now we can finally start to plan ours.”

The glint in Hannah's eyes made Ari smile warmly. "I can't wait." She said.

“Me neither,” he smiled, turning his body sideways so he was facing her on the couch. “I know it hadn’t been easy since we got home but I’m hoping it’s gonna be okay from now on. And I can’t wait to marry you, Firefly.”

"I wanna believe that too, Ari, I do. And I really hope this helps me with Maya. I want her to know, and Sarah too, I'm not out to replace her mother." Hannah leaned in, scooting closer to him. "This makes the weekend feel so much better. I was starting to feel like... well, there wouldn't be a good outcome and I'm tired of not being here, with you, with Maya."

“I know, and that’s on me. Sarah’s angry and in all honesty I can’t blame her for feeling that way. All we can do is play ball, I suppose, show her that we’re serious and want to do right by Maya, and her for that matter. I want Sarah to talk to me and feel she can, I don’t want Maya to see her parents at each other’s throats. She deserves as stable a family as I can give her.”

Hannah's hand reached up and brushed a long strand of his hair. "You're a good man, Ari Levinson. One of the greatest." Hannah leaned up and pressed her lips to his, his beard bristles soft against her skin.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he chuckled as she pulled away, her hand curled round the back of his neck.

"I would." She whispered.

“Some might say you’re slightly biased.”

"Yeah, don't care."

Ari chuckled as his lips brushed hers again, “yeah you’ve never given much of a shit about other peoples’ opinions, really.”

"Nope." She smirked against his lips.

“Good job,” he whispered, his nose brushing hers, “because if you had you’d have run a mile by now.”

Hannah sighed and dipped herself into his lap. "What are we gonna do for the rest of the night, Lobo?"

“Well, I’m up early tomorrow so should probably take an early night,” he looked up at her, his eyes flashing, “but when have I ever done what I should?”

“Hmmm, I know what I think you should do,” Hannah’s hand smoothed down the outside of his shirt and Ari grinned.

“Yeah? What’s that, Firefly?”

“Me.”

"Oh honey," Ari growled, his lips covering hers quickly. "That's a great plan."

“Yeah, I thought you’d approve.” Hannah straddled Ari, her knees on each side of his hips as their kiss deepened. His hands cupped her jaw and then moved down her neck and sides to her hips, steadying her over his lap.

Her own hands cupped his jaw, fingers threading into his beard as his tongue gently flicked at her bottom lip. "Mi Lobo, mi amor."

“God,” Ari sighed, it always went straight to his dick when she spoke like that to him.

Her delicate and skillful hands curled at the hem of his tee and quickly pulled the material over his head. Hannah's lips curled and flashed a toothy seductive smile before leaning in to nip at his neck, her nose inhaling that scent that was all Ari.

Ari let his head tip back with a sigh, his throat bared as she swallowed, the veins and tendons straining in his neck.

"Te necesito."

“Fuck, Hannah,” Ari groaned, the phrase being one he recognised, “you got me, baby.”

Skilled fingers found his flies and with ease flicked them open, dragging that zip down and dipping a hand inside. Ari’s eyes fluttered shut as he felt her warm hand wrap around his girth. He pushed his hips upwards, thrusting into her palm. She twisted around him, gently pulling him free, her clothed hips rising and settling above him. Ari's beard settled into the swell of her chest.

"Quiero hacerte el amor." She dipped her head back.

“Yeah, that…” Ari’s mouth trailed up her neck, “that one I don’t know.”

"I wanna make love to you," Hannah translated with a whisper.

Ari’s mouth found hers, the kiss full of want as his hands pulled at the hem of her pajama top, tugging it over her head. Trailing a path down her neck, a large hand cupped a breast and brought a pebbled nipple to his mouth. All the while, Hannah's hand pumping his cock.

“Fuck, Lobo,” she groaned, her hand squeezing round him as she felt herself flutter, “I need you.”

Ari's hands gripped her hips and led her flat on her back on the cushions. Her hand slipped from his shaft as he kneeled over her, caging her in. "I'm gonna fuck you so good, Firefly."

“Please, Lobo.”

Hands folded over the sides of her shorts and pulled them down her legs. Ari tossed the material and her panties to the floor where his booted right foot rested on the floor. He pushed his hands down his jeans. Pulling himself free, he gave a hiss, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth as he pumped his cock a few times, leaning back down as he lined himself up. Lidded eyes poured over his frame as Hannah watched him, the way his concentration was on her, despite his actions. Ari slid the head of his cock along her glistened folds, wetting his top and sliding in. Mutual moans escaped their throats as he filled her, all the way in. Settling over Hannah, Ari planted his foot firmly into the carpet while his knee rested along the back cushion, fisted hands holding himself over her. A twist and a thrust had her keening. Her back arched as his lips crashed to hers, hips finding a slow but deep rhythm.

“Fuck, right there, Ari!” Hannah’s hands slipped round his back, nails digging into the skin below his shoulder blades.

"Fuck, Hannah," Ari shuddered as those nail dragged down his back. "You're so good, honey."

“Harder, Ari, please.”

"Yeah, Firefly," he ground out, picking up his pace, one hand curling around her hip, the other gripping white knuckle the back of the couch.

Those longer bangs fell forward over his face as he pounded into her, the old couch which he really did need to replace was groaning precariously underneath them both. Hannah cried out for more and Ari went for it, a splintering sound under his hand as he did so.

“Fuck,” he let go of the back of the couch, where he’d managed to snap through the tired wood and grabbed Hannah’s other hip in his hand.

"Lobo," She whined, she was ready to cum, her body on fire.

“Come on, Hannah, let go baby.” He ground out through grit teeth, fighting back his own release as he felt her fluttering around him.

Ari grunted, his hips growing sloppy as the tight band in his abs snapped and he came, hard. But he didn’t have much chance to bask in the afterglow as the sofa gave a final creak, and with a snap and a crack, the wooden slat beneath his knees gave way. He let out a yell as Hannah shrieked in surprise, Simon barking as he stood up and scooted to the other side of the room. Thankfully, the cushions remained beneath them both, the now busted couch basically folded in on itself in the middle. Ari ended up on his knees, Hannah in his lap as the two ends of the sofa raised up behind them slightly. There was a moment where they both simply looked at one another, stunned. Ari, still deep inside his fiancée, blinked and then they giggled as the realization came.

They broke the couch.

“Hard enough for you?” Ari snorted as he reached up, brushing Hannah’s hair off her face.

A smirk and a satisfied sigh, "perfectly."

“Ethan’s gonna kill me, you know technically that sofa belonged to Mossad.”

"Fuck it. It sucked."

At that, Ari laughed his head tipping back as Hannah’s hand smoothed up and over his shoulders. “Besides,” she continued, smirking, “he’s been dating Mama now for years, almost as long as we’ve been together. Leave him to me.”

"You got it, Firefly." Ari's lips pressed into the hairline at her forehead. "Let's shower so I can love up on you some more."

She smiled, and kissed him softly, “sounds perfect.”

#leave no one behind #ari levinson fanfiction #Ari Levinson #Ari Levinson x ofc #Ari Levinson x original female character #chris evans characters #red sea diving resort fan fic

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what-is-your-plan-today · 3 years

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Leave No One Behind

Drabble- A Quiet Moment

Summary: After another successful mission, Ari and Hannah take a quiet moment.

Warnings: None

Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

A/N So, @sweater-daddiesdumbdork came out with this before and killed me... and then made me write this. Like forced me... p.s @icanfeelastormbrewing happy first early birthday present 🥰

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction Andor classes as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Hannah and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Another successful mission, another hundred or so refugees safely out of the country. As the rest of the team headed back to their respective huts following hushed goodbyes, Hannah slipped her hand into Ari’s and gently tugged him down the sand towards the water, Simon trotting ahead in front of them.

Ari didn’t speak, merely let her lead. Eventually, she stopped by the side of the outcrop of rocks that formed their cave and simply sat down, unlacing her boots and removing her socks.

Without a word, Ari did the same. He settled behind her, stretching his legs out and bending them slightly at the knee, leaving Hannah caged in between them.

He shifted and reached into his pocket for his cigarettes, lighting one quickly before he took a drag and exhaled, watching the smoke dissipate in the air above them both. The sun was barely cresting the ocean horizon, and the sand was slightly chilly but in a satisfying way, that made them both bury their toes in it.

With a gentle movement, Ari leaned forward and softly kissed the side of Hannah’s neck, gentle pecks and tender nips moving up to the hinge of her jaw. She sighed, leaning back into him as his strong arms wrapped around her leaving her back braced against his chest.

They sat still, the pair of them just admiring the scene unfolding before them, happy to take a quiet moment. Both were tired thanks to the inevitable crash that came after the adrenaline rush that the missions provided.

Hannah reached up and plucked the cigarette from Ari’s hands, taking a pull herself before she handed it back.

“You know, if Sammy catches you smoking...” Ari broke the silence and Hannah chuckled.

“Fuck him.”

Ari snorted as he shook his head, “don’t ever change Firefly.”

“Don’t intend to, Mi Lobo.” She tilted her head round slightly and Ari smiled, leaning down to catch her lips in a soft, slow kiss that perfectly echoed the lazy, quiet and content mood that had fallen over the pair of them.

As the kiss broke, Ari slid his nose against Hannah’s before pressing his forehead to hers, his eyes closed as he listened to the waves gently lapping on the shore, cresting closer each time, occasionally hitting them with a cooling, salty spray.

How long they sat there, neither could have said, but when the first sounds of the seabirds welcoming the dawn broke through the silence, Ari pressed another kiss to Hannah’s neck and fell back on the sand. He pulled her with him so she lay half sprawled over his chest, her head tucked under his chin.

“I know we’re here for a reason, but I wish we could have these mornings everyday, forever.” Hannah whispered and Ari gave a little chuckle, his chest vibrating her cheek a little as his hand rubbed up and down her back in slow, soothing arcs.

“Me too, sweetheart.” He moved to glance down as she shifted, looking up at him and with his left hand he gently tipped her chin upwards, his lips meeting hers in another sweet kiss. “For now, let’s just make the most of our quiet moment.”

*****

Okay I’m dead, thank you and goodbye.

#leave no one behind #ari levinson x original female character #Ari Levinson #ari levinson x ofc #red sea diving resort #red sea diving resort fan fic #ari levinson fanfiction #chris evans #chris evans characters

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killian-whump · 3 years

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Game Night! [Liveblog #4]

I’m gonna try to finish up the last game and the end of the video in this post, so we better get right to it!

The last game they’re going to play is called Quiplash. Okay, they’re going to be given a prompt... and whoever finishes the quip in the funniest way wins. Kat warns that she’s a master at this and that everybody’s going down. Colin seems impressed by her bravado, but incensed to win nonetheless. “Here we go,” says Sam unenthusiastically 😂

AND THE GAME IS ON!!!

...or it’s meant to be on. Sam’s not joined the game yet. Seems to be having some sort of technical difficulty. “You scared of losing, Sam?” Colin asks helpfully. “All the rest of us got in pretty easy...”

Sam has joined. His name is now Colonislosin 😂 It’s hard to see exactly how it’s spelled. I don’t think any of them can see it that clearly, either. Sam has to tell them what it says.

“We’ll see,” Colin says. “We’ll see.”

The game begins. “It’s more like Col-on is losin,” Sam says. “Col-on.”

The audio is breaking all up in this segment, and Josh even comments on “Low internet signal. We’re doing great.” Hmm. I paid $10 for this, you damn well better find a stronger internet signal.

ROUND 1! The first quip is: We can all agree that... The two answers are: “Covid sucks” and “Josh... is... hairy” “Covid sucks” wins ~ and Colin gets all the points.

The second quip is: A terrible name for a funeral parlor. The two answers are: “Happy Times Palace” and “We put the Fun in Funeral” “We put the Fun in Funeral” wins ~ and Kat gets all the points.

The third quip is: “Knock Knock” “Who’s There?” The two answers are: “Me DUH” and “Get the fuck away from my door” “Get the fuck away” wins and Josh gets most of the points. Colin gets some too, I think, for his answer, because Sam voted for it.

The fourth quip is: “Something that would make a creepy replacement for the horses on a merry-go-round.” The two answers are: “Mini Josh’s” and “Creepy Princes” AREN’T THOSE THE SAME THING?! 😂 “One and the same,” says Sammy. “You don’t want to sit on a mini Josh, do you?” Sam ponders. Josh forgets to even vote, and Sam gets points for “Mini Josh’s”

At the end of Round 1, Sam is in the lead, with Kat and Colin tied for second.

I wanna take this moment to apologize for how BORING this post is so far. During the games, all five people (the three stars, Josh, and Sammy the producer) are in these miniscule windows on the far right of the screen. You can barely even see them. And during this game, there’s little to no conversation going on between/during the quips. As much fun as this game might be to play, it’s not a lot of fun to watch. The last one was better, but even that tended to DRAG for the audience at home. Josh really needs to work on the games he’s having stars play if he plans to keep charging $10 a month to watch this stuff. Also, the audio keeps breaking up in this segment, so even when they talk, some of it’s hard to decipher.

“I respect that Colin is doing this instead of reading bedtime stories to his children tonight,” Josh says as everyone’s entering in their answers for Round 2. “[That’s] how committed I am,” Colin replies. Kat says something that is so broken up, I can’t even begin to figure out what it is. Something about bedtime stories and Colin’s kids. It’s probably funny. 🤷‍♀️ I’m getting mad about my $10 gift card being gone again.

Alright. Round 2.

Quip #1: It never ends well when you mix ___ and ___. Answers: “poo and oatmeal” and “Sam and Josh” Okay, that second one is gold. Who did that? Apparently Colin did “poo and oatmeal” and Kat did “Sam and Josh”. Bless her. Colin gets the points with more votes, though.

Quip #2: The worst car feature that ends with “holder” Answers: “penis” and “diaper” Sam is just blinking rapidly. Now he’s laughing. “How does that work?” he asks. No one answers. “But I wanna know,” he says. “How does it work?” Josh wins the points with his “penis” answer - which Colin voted for, by the way - but no one cares now. “Does it move?” Kat asks. “Or does it just-” “Don’t ask too many questions,” Josh says. “What kind of size is it?” Sam asks. “Is it stationary or is there a motor feature?” Kat asks. “Maybe it’s a good idea...” Sam concludes, as Josh laments the kind of dreams he’s going to have now.

The third quip is literally happening in the background now, as everyone talks about the penis holder. Colin is noticeably silent on the topic XD

Quip #3: Something upsetting you could say to the cable guy as he installs your television service. Answers: “you smell like fart” and “want to see my murder room?” I’m sitting here going, “don’t be Colin, don’t be Colin” while simultaneously knowing 100% that Colin absolutely typed “you smell like fart” into his phone and... Yeah. Yeah, I’m right. That was him 😂 And he got 0 points. “Oh, boooo,” says Colin. Honey... Honey, I’m sorry, but that was bad.

Quip #4: The name of the reindeer Santa did not pick to pull his sleigh. Answers: “ohdeer” and “tipsy” Neither of these are very good. I hate this game. Kat gets the points with “tipsy”.

OH WOW, YOU GUYS. The final points are tallied and...

WHAT IS THIS TOMFOOLERY?! Colin is LOSING?!?! I mean, I know “you smell like fart” was bad, but this is unbelievable! I call shenanigans!!!

Colin is literally sitting forward in his chair now, lmao. The determination is intense, you guys. I once again cannot handle him right now. I wish he wasn’t in the teeny tiny window so I could show you guys better, but look at him getting his fucking game face on:

This man is a peanut and I love him with every fiber of my being. Look at him being a competitive little somesuch in last place. I can’t, you guys. Bury me here, etc, etc, I’m just a goner for this ridiculous man.

O’DONOINTENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Round: Quip: Strange side effect to hear during a drug commercial. Answers: “cream cheese will come out of your butt” “seeing double horowitz” and “the screams of baboons” - there’s only three because Kat didn’t get her answer in before the time was up. Aaaaaaand the sound’s breaking all up again 😣 Josh is wondering what the point is of voting, if all you’re doing is giving points to your competitors. “Do you have to give all three votes?” Colin asks. “See,” Josh says. “Colin is thinking strategically, like me.” “Well, I’m not entirely sure the other two, I think, deserve any more than one point.” But it’s... it’s the WAY he says it, OH MY GOD, lol. Lemme... I gotta... Okay, I screen recorded it for you guys.

That O’Donosass is actually almost worth $10, you guys.

Which is good, because the audio is getting worse and worse on this and it’s starting to piss me off. Anyway! Everybody’s got a lot of points, because those were ALL good answers (Colin’s was “the screams of baboons” which I quite like). Let’s see the final tally...

Josh is the winner! But Colin managed a come-from-behind close second, so I’m really proud of him :D Sam mentions how Josh invited them all there to play games and then BEAT them. Josh is closing out the show, saying he hopes everyone enjoyed it... “I enjoyed it,” Josh says "But maybe that’s just 'cause I won at the very last second.” “No, well, you won ONE,” Colin cuts in. “You won ONE game.”

SERIOUSLY. BURY ME RIGHT THERE 😂😂😂

“Colin won the first round,” Josh says.

“...and then we have these two other people.”

Incidentally, I wish everyone’s webcams were as clear as Kat’s.

Anyway, now there’s some sweet summing up... and Josh hawking everyone’s current projects... (gee, it’s like this is promotional content or something) and the show closing down and-

“Can I win next time?” asks Sam Heughan.

~ The End ~

I hope you guys had fun reading this. I gotta say... this one video isn’t worth $10. I can see if you’re a huge fan of Josh’s or really into celebrity culture, $10 a month might be a fine price to pay for a bunch of this kind of content... but for a one-time video when your fave happens to show up on his channel? Nah. He really should have a “one time access” fee available for individual videos that’s a LOT less. Like, I’m talking, like... $1 or 2. This is literally a zoom call... and as such, the quality’s only as good as his guests’ webcams and audio and everyone’s internet connections. Also, I found the game format enticing... but ultimately boring due to the games chosen. The Would You Rather was the most fun of the three, because we actually got to hear from the stars and get some banter going. The games relied too much on the stars interacting with their devices instead of each other or anyone really engaging the audience. Honestly, if it was any of my faves other than Colin in this video, I might not have even watched the whole thing. Colin’s adorable competitive streak and eagerness to win play games is what kept me watching. The idea is cute, but it needs some work. And the price is too high - especially with the audio issues in the last ten minutes or so. That’s my final verdict.

#colin o'donoghue #game night #liveblog

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filmniller · 2 years

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Shut In

3½ ud af 5 stjerneskruetrækkere

Jessica (Rainey Qualley) er tidligere meth-misbruger og mor til to børn, den lille datter Lainey og den lille søn Mason. Hun har boet i sin afdøde mors hus efter afvænningen, men er nu tvunget til at sælge, fordi hun ikke kan betale ejendomsskatten. Da Jessica uventet bliver spærret inde i sit spisekammer af sin voldelige ekskæreste Rob (Josh Horowitz) og hans pædofile ven Sammy (Vincent Gallo), må hun lægge hjernen i blød for at redde sig selv og børnene.

Denne film har fået høje karakterer på både Imdb (7.4) og Rotten Tomatoes (100 %), så mine forventninger var høje, men blev ikke indfriet hundrede procent. Må dog siges at være okay underholdning.

Hvis du virkelig vil have pulsen op, så se "Till Death" med Megan Fox i stedet.

#Shut in

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gdelgiproducer · 6 years

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DOTV AU: An Exercise in Alternate History (Part VII)

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI offer more detailed context. (To briefly sum up why these posts are happening: alt history – as in sci fi, not “alternative facts” – buff, one day got the idea that DOTV could have turned out hella different if Jim Steinman looked for a star lead in other places, decided to reason out how that might work.) This is still getting a good response, so I’m gonna keep the train rolling.

Parts of the AU timeline established so far:

Instead of stopping at recording two songs from Whistle Down the Wind on a greatest hits compilation, Meat Loaf wound up taking more of an interest in Steinman’s new theater work than he did in our timeline, and through a series of circumstances found himself volunteering to play Krolock in the impending DOTV when Jim poured out his woes to him about needing to find some sort of star to attract investors. At a loss for any better ideas, Jim accepted Meat’s impulsive proposal, but not without resistance from his manager, David Sonenberg, who proposed Michael Crawford as an alternate candidate. Through quick thinking on Meat’s part, and inspiration on Jim’s, Crawford left the room accepting an entirely different role than he walked in hoping to get, leaving Krolock still open for Meat.

There was a brief speed bump, when Meat disliked Jim’s English script for the show, but after meeting with the original German author Michael Kunze and convincing Jim to compromise, things were on the road to being back on track… at least until 9/11 occurred.

Following a brief hiatus, everyone involved met to re-assess their options. The current game-plan was to put the new script on paper, schmooze with potential investors or producers, and put together a new creative team. Preferably not all at the same time, but with the crunch on, they’d do whatever needed to be done.

So far, the schmoozing has gone well, but everybody that Meat, Jim, and the crew would like to be involved is tentative. The newest conclusion is that they need to show them there’s a working show, and a concert of selections from the score seems to be the route they’re taking, possibly financed by an unlikely source.

Continuing the alternate DOTV timeline, a little differently this time! This time we get a feature on the concert from the New York Post’s own Michael Riedel. Take it away!

VAMPIRES: NEW MUSICAL BLOOD by Michael Riedel

If you’ve heard the buzz on the Rialto of late, you’d be forgiven for wondering if you were having a particularly nasty acid flashback. Dance of the Vampires, a new $15 million musical of the macabre based on the 1967 Roman Polanski movie The Fearless Vampire Killers, is already a monster hit in Austria and Germany, and it’s starting to gather steam here in the States as well, with some... we’ll call it unlikely... star power attached. After all, what other musical (even in a preliminary concert presentation) can boast Courtney Love as an emcee slash investor, and such disparate names as Meat Loaf and Michael Crawford as co-headliners?

Admittedly, Meat Loaf’s presence is slightly less surprising, as the driving force behind the show is Jim Steinman, who wrote Mr. Loaf’s classic Bat Out of Hell albums as well as the lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind. He has written the score and is co-adapting the book for Vampires with playwright David Ives (All in the Timing), who is also currently at work with Steinman for Warner Bros. on a musical version of Batman, from German dramatist Michael Kunze’s original script. He also co-directed this concert with Starmites composer Barry Keating, though early reports that Steinman would be co-directing the eventual Broadway run with Jane Eyre creator John Caird have ultimately been dismissed.

“Roman directed it in Vienna, but he can’t work here because of his legal problems,” Steinman said, referring to Polanski’s indictment for statutory rape in the 1970′s. “He may be the first director who can’t work over here because of a statutory rape charge.” When queried about who then would be directing the New York run, Steinman was tight-lipped, but among those in attendance at the evening’s proceedings was Urinetown’s Tony-winning helmer, John Rando, who is now rumored to be in talks for the slot. Said Rando of the new show, “It takes the vampire myth and pokes fun at it, but it also embraces it. Its message is about the excesses of appetite. It has wit and an edge to it. I’d love to be involved!”

The presentation (at the 499-seat Little Shubert Theatre, about half a mile west of Broadway; events like this cause us rightfully to wonder why it doesn’t see more use) for a by-invitation-only crowd was kicked off by Ms. Love, Hole rocker and widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, in memorable form. Says a source in attendance, “You could sum it up in two words: too drunk. She was literally falling over. She wasn’t coherent at all.” Managing to gather herself enough to announce that Dance of the Vampires is a musical for people “who think musicals suck,” she didn’t manage to say much else of importance. “It just became a little too sloppy, and she was removed.” Insiders report that Steinman’s manager, David Sonenberg, who is also one of the show’s producers (and a first-timer at that), worried that those involved would be seen as taking advantage of a troubled addict. Ms. Love’s performance did little to dispel this perception. Lucky that representatives from noted L.A.-based promoter Concerts West, major music manager Irving Azoff (who numbers The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Christina Aguilera, and Sammy Hagar among his clients), film and music mogul Jerry Weintraub, and Broadway’s own Barry and Fran Weissler were in attendance; a cash infusion from such sources may well be needed to save face if she can’t “live through this,” to twist a phrase from her 1994 album of the same name.

In addition to Sonenberg, already attached to Vampires on the producing side are Andrew Braunsberg (another first-timer, who also produced Polanski’s 1971 film version of Macbeth), Leonard Soloway, Bob Boyett (Sweet Smell of Success, Topdog/Underdog), Lawrence Horowitz (Electra, It Ain’t Nothing But the Blues), and Barry Diller and Bill Haber’s USA Ostar Theatricals. Boyett, a TV producer turned legit entrepreneur, used the phrases “trial by fire” and “going to war,” perhaps because while some novice producers just put up the money, get the credit and run, Boyett says he’s been taking the process very seriously: “I went to all the meetings and learned, like it was grad school.” While some Hollywood types find Broadway “less cutthroat,” Boyett finds it “more restrictive.” He mentions the sheer physical space of the theaters but also all the rules and regulations: "I’ve dealt with unions all my life, but I do find Actors’ Equity is very restrictive to the creative process.” Further, he regrets that Vampires will not have an out-of-town tryout. “I loved the experience of taking Sweet Smell of Success to Chicago,” he says with real enthusiasm, as if the project ended happily. “It was helpful to have the critics say what they did.” Not that Boyett thinks the right message from the critics got to the creative team.

As for Boyett’s teammates, Bill Haber attended on behalf of USA Ostar, and although he wouldn’t consent to a formal interview, he couldn’t resist answering one question -- and it has nothing to do with Dance of the Vampires. Why is Haber’s other fall production, Imaginary Friends by Nora Ephron, being called a play if it has six songs by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia? “It has nothing to do with how many songs there are,” he shot back. “It has to do with the fact that if you took all the songs out, it still works and you still have a play.”

And all this before we even get to the show itself. Vampires is your typical erotic musical about an innocent girl (played this evening by impressive newcomer Mandy Gonzalez, currently standing by for the role of Amneris in Aida and late of Off-Broadway’s Eli’s Comin’) choosing between two lovers, in this case an older, aristocratic vampire (Loaf, whose appearance here marks the first time he has worked with Steinman in theater since the early Seventies) and a hunky young grad student (Max von Essen, who reportedly also appeared in the Steinman/Caird-helmed reading in April 2001) under the tutelage of a rather intensely wacky vampire hunter (Crawford). Given the level of Loaf’s obvious commitment to the piece, it is surprising that his manager (Allen Kovac, of Left Bank Management) was a no-show, and in that light, rumors that Loaf has yet to formally sign on the dotted line for Vampires (in spite of previous announcements to the contrary, no less) prove even more curious. Calls to Kovac’s office were not returned. The rest of the cast, boasting some fine voices indeed, was filled out by assorted Broadway names and members of Meat Loaf’s long-time touring band, The Neverland Express, which also provided accompaniment for the evening under the crisp musical direction of veteran rock bassist Kasim Sulton (best known for his work with Todd Rundgren and Utopia, among others).

Speaking of the music: the score, as per Steinman’s usual style, is appropriately big and Wagnerian, with plenty of luscious, operatic melodies, including one familiar favorite that sticks out like a sore thumb: Steinman’s famous “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” under whose operatic pretensions I swooned as a teenager. “I couldn’t resist using it,” he says of a song that goes, ‘Once upon time there was light in my life / But now there’s only love in the dark.’ “I actually wrote it for another vampire musical that was based on Nosferatu, but never got produced.” Close listening to the CD sampler for interested investors also reveals a rehash of the vigorous “Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young,” his song for the film Streets of Fire, which I saw in Los Angeles in 1984 and sent me racing along Mulholland Drive to keep up with the propulsive beat.

As for the new stuff, maybe 50′s rock ‘n’ roll with a 70′s preen isn’t what the 80-year-olds who constitute Broadway’s audience want to hear (and Jim’s rock-mock-Wagnerian shtick admittedly tends to play better in London and Las Vegas than in Manhattan), but my sources say they knew from the first number -- an angelic trio with a beguiling (what did they used to call it?) melody and some expert (the Andrews Sisters used to do it) harmony -- that this would be my kind of score. Frankly I’m glad; since the prehistoric vinyl days, Steinman has been the guy I keep calling for to rejuvenate, or just plain juvenate, the Broadway musical, in a world where the musical theater establishment pronounces old ABBA records a hip pop sound.

The book, while reportedly in better shape than the April reading, is something else again. From the excerpts on display last night, the mix of bawdy humor and eroticism still needs fine-tuning. Says Sonenberg, “By the time we open, it will be a new version of the show, significantly changed with a view toward a New York audience, but right now it plays very much like the original in several respects.” Adds David Ives, “The German production is probably more faithful to the film, but it’s a fairly humorless show, with people getting hit on the head with salami. And I’ve been brought in to take out the salami and put in the chorus girls, without veering into camp in the process. Now it’s just a question of finding the balance, which, needless to say, isn’t easy. But I like what we’ve accomplished so far: Meat’s character is vastly different, a much more multifaceted, dynamic, complete figure. We’ve also made other changes and cuts and restructured the show into a book musical, with dialogue; the original is all sung. I think we’ve made it a much more interesting story.”

Time, as always, will be the ultimate arbiter of fate.

#tanz der vampire #Taniec Wampirow #Vampyyrien tanssi #tanzblr #tanz network #tanz discourse #Dance of the Vampires #le bal des vampires #Vampirok Balja #Dans der Vampieren #vampiiride tants #vampiru no dansu #Jim Steinman #Roman Polanski #Michael Crawford #Michael Kunze #alternate universe #bal vampirov #meat loaf

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goldencos · 4 years

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░ °◖ the town of 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍, 𝐂𝐎 is happy to welcome SAMMI, ROWAN, FERN, CAMRYN! if you could just initial here & here on your lease within the next 8 hours, we can get things rollin’. see you soon ! ↬ NOEMY PETIT, ROLEMODEL, DELEIRAW, & NAOMI ROESTEL are now taken.

*unholy creations is now capped.

╰ °● ❬ NOEMY PETIT, TWENTY ONE, SHE/HER … you’ve gotta be kidding me, is that SAMANTHA ‘SAMMI’ HENDRICKS ? they’ve been in golden for like, 10 YEARS NOW now but you’d never be able to tell. i’m pretty sure they work at THE BODY SHOP, i always see them there INSTRUCTING YOGA through the front window. i heard they have a tendency to DAYDREAM. someone once tried to call them the CHER HOROWITZ of golden, which i can see because they’re very CONFIDENT and VIVACIOUS, but also a little NAIVE. if you ask me they remind me more of the DANCING IN THE RAIN WINE DRUNK type. anyways, one fact you absolutely need to know about them is that SHE IS DOUBLE JOINTED. ⋰ E, mt.

❬ ROLE MODEL, TWENTY THREE, HE/HIM ⋯ you’ve gotta be kidding me, is that ROWAN BIANCHI ? they’ve been in golden for like, 3 YEARS now but you’d never be able to tell. i’m pretty sure they work at SKATE DAZE, i always see them there TYING PEOPLE’S SKATES through the front window. i heard they have a tendency to FALL ASLEEP AT THE DESK. someone once tried to call them the DAKOTA JOHNSON of golden, which i can see because they’re very JOCULAR and CHARISMATIC, but also a little HOT HEADED. if you ask me they remind me more of the THE GHOSTING AFTER ONE CONVERSATION type. anyways, one fact you absolutely need to know about them is that THEY CAN’T GO A DAY WITHOUT WATCHING THE OFFICE. ⋰ ag, mst.

╰ °● ❬ DELEIRAW, 21, SHE/HER ⋯ you’ve gotta be kidding me, is that FERN FAIRFAX ? they’ve been in golden for like, six months now but you’d never be able to tell. i’m pretty sure they work at THE DAILY BLURB, i always see them there WRITING through the front window. i heard they have a tendency to SEEK ATTENTION. someone once tried to call them the ASHLEE SIMPSON of golden, which i can see because they’re very BUBBLY and OUTGOING, but also a little IMPULSIVE. if you ask me they remind me more of the DAMSEL IN DISTRESS type. anyways, one fact you absolutely need to know about them is that SHE KEEPS A LIST OF PEOPLE SHE’S HOOKED UP WITH. ⋰ J, EST.

╰ °● ❬ NAOMI ROESTEL, 23, SHE/HER ⋯ you’ve gotta be kidding me, is that CAMRYN TRAN ? she’s been in golden for like, HER WHOLE LIFE now but you’d never be able to tell. i’m pretty sure she works at UNHOLY CREATIONS, i always see her there TATTOOING through the front window. i heard she has a tendency to SELF-SABOTAGE IN RELATIONSHIPS. someone once tried to call her the PEYTON SAWYER of golden, which i can see because she’s very CREATIVE and LOYAL TO HER FRIENDS, but also a little DRAMATIC. if you ask me she reminds me more of the ARTSY BROODING type. anyways, one fact you absolutely need to know about them is that SHE ACTUALLY ENJOYS COMMERCIALS. ⋰ liv, est.

#accepted #thank u babies for joining us!!

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jerryepstein · 5 years

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During my 43 years in the LA Philharmonic, I had an opportunity to work with amazing talent..here's a partial list....Alfred Brendel, Alicia de Larroccha, André Watts, Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Billy Childs, Brian Childers, Burt Bacharach, Cab Calloway, Captain & Tennille, Carole King, Christopher Parkening, Dan Higgins, Dawn Upshaw, Denyce Graves, DIanne Reeves, Emanuel Ax, Evelyn Glennie, George Duke, Gerald Robbins, Gil Shaham, Glenn Dicterow, Greg Hutchinson, Guns & Roses, Heinrich Schiff, Herb Alpert, Ian Whitelaw, Igor Polesitsky, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Jamie Cullum, Janine Jansen, Jascha Heifetz, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jimmy Fields, Jimmy Lin, Johannes Moser, John Rubinstein, Jonathan Biss, José Carreras, Josh Bell, Kathleen Battle, Lang Lang, Lani Hall, Leila Josefowicz, Lily Mahler Epstein, Luciano Pavarotti, Mariachi, Marisol Montalvo, Mariza, Matthias Goerne, Mel Torme, Michael Feinstein, Michael Nowak, Michel Camilo, Milton Thomas, Mstislav Rostropovich, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Natalie MacMaster, Nathan Milstein, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Olli Mustonen, Pablo Casals, Patti Page, Pinchas Zukerman, Placido Domingo, Radu Lupu, Randy Newman, Renée Fleming, Roland Kato, Rosemary Clooney, Sammy Davis Jr, Sarah Chang, Sergio Mendez, Silvia Marcovici, SIMON TRPČESKI , Steward Rupp, The Swingle Singers, Thomas Quastoff, Vadim Repin, Victor Borge, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, Wayne Shorter, William Primrose, Wynton Marsalis, Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuhudi Menuhin, Zadel Skolovsky... Stay tuned for stories... IG@jerryepstein . . . Jerry Epstein’s Stories are all co-written and edited by Rebecca Dru @druified ©2019 Jerry Epstein and Rebecca Dru All Rights Reserved #LAPHIL #classicalmusic #Jerryepstein #violist #Musician #43yearsinthelaphil #mylifeasamusician #performance #Waltdisneyconcerthall #WDCH #concert #Maestro #concertviolinist #violinist #izthakperlman #famousconductor #orchestraconductor #storytelling #documentary #recordkeeper #dailystory #instastory #History #druified #rebeccadruphotography #portraitphotography #getolympus https://www.instagram.com/p/ByHLumRgPvC/?igshid=142n619etdrz8

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rtirman-blog · 7 years

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8 E.48th St.

The next place we lived was on E. 48th Street between Avenue D and Farragut Road. It’s where we lived when I almost got hit by the bus followed by a scolding from, and a battle with, a girl who unknowingly became my second romantic interlude.

We lived next door to Spinning Sun, whose dad, Smiling Bear, was the brother of the radio “Tonto”. I suppose I didn’t have to say radio because there were no television sets. The only Tonto was on radio, and his brother and nephew lived next door.

Spinning Sun was a few years younger than me, and was able to participate with his dad and other American Indians in performing dances and rituals to entertain and

educate elementary and high school kids in the New York area. I got to see them perform once. It was really great. In those days, Indians were not referred to as Native Americans. They were just Indians. Also, as best I can recall, there was no such thing as “political correctness’.

Granny, Mother’s mom, was married to Bob Albrecht. Bob was her third husband. Her first husband, Reginald Hylton (my mother and her sisters’ dad) died at age 33 because of malaria. Granny’s second husband passed away. His name was Vernon Brown. Of the three of Granny’s husbands, Bob is the only one I remember. He might have been a carney because the first time I met him, he was running the electrified horse races that went totally around Steeplechase. At that time, in the 1940’s, Steeplechase was probably the largest amusement park in the United States.

Bob had a pigeon coop above our garage. There were almost 100 pigeons of all varieties. He could open their coop, and they would fly all over the place bombarding the homes and landscape with white pigeon shit…something with which New Yorkers were quite familiar. The homing pigeons would eventually lead the flock back to the coop. I have no idea why he had those pigeons. We never ate one, and there had to be a cost to house and feed them.

Behind my school, P.S. 208, we had a Victory Garden as part of the War effort. We grew lettuce, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes. I can’t remember what we did with those veggies to help our soldiers and sailors. My guess is we sold them and contributed the profits to pay for planes, tanks, and anything else we needed to win the war.

I had a friend named Sammy Horowitz, who lived a few streets away from where I lived. He asked me to come over to his house for lunch one day. Sammy was Jewish, and it was the first time I ever was in a Jewish home. We went into the kitchen and talked, while his mother cooked up some tomato soup. That was one of my most favorite of the Campbell’s soups. The next thing that happened, Sammy’s mother took a bottle of milk, instead of water, and poured it into the pot with the tomato soup. For many years after that, I assumed all Jews put milk in their tomato soup. It didn’t taste as good as the way my mother made it.

There are two other things I remember about living on E. 48th St. The first of these was how we would get to look up the skirts and dresses of the ladies who walked by the lot in which we were playing. We would make believe we were in a war battle, shooting machine guns. Just as a lady would walk by, you would fall to the ground as if you were hit badly. On the ground, if you were close enough, you could look under their dresses. I’m certain that some women walked by us more then they had to just to give little 8 year old boys something to talk about.

The last thing I remember about that neighborhood was a place we would go to when we wanted to smoke. On the Southeast corner of Utica Ave and Farragut Rd.

There were underground tunnels we could crawl into, and light up a cigarette. As I look back, I think we were in a defunct underground waterway. Another possibility was the tunnel might have been above ground, sitting under a whole bunch of lumber. But if I traveled back there today, there’s probably a McDonalds on that property. And you can’t get cigarettes at McDonalds.

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cheshirelibrary · 7 years

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Love the bits about the Academy Librarians - that seems like a pretty great gig...

“In the back corner was my favorite part of the press room: the librarians’ table, where the Academy librarians are on hand to answer questions. Under a sign that said “reference,” a librarian named Lucia Schultz had a thick binder of Oscar history and another of credits for the nominated films. Reporters came by to ask questions. Had there previously been two African-American acting winners in the same year? (Yes, in 2002, 2005, and 2007.) If Lin-Manuel Miranda won Best Original Song, would he be the youngest-ever “egot”? (Depends on whether you count noncompetitive awards. Barbra Streisand was younger, but she won a Special Tony Award.) Was Mahershala Ali the first Muslim to win an Oscar? (They couldn’t say, because the Academy doesn’t keep records on winners’ religious affiliations.)”

“On the monitors, a guy in a headset was onstage, and the “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz was saying, “This is not a joke. ‘Moonlight’ has won Best Picture.” When the camera zoomed in on the envelope, the press room collectively screamed. A reporter ran up to Schultz and asked, “Has anything like this ever happened before?” Schultz, who had not prepared for this scenario, was frantically searching her records. “I cannot think of a case where this has happened,” she said. “There are times when people thought it happened.” More reporters lined up with the same question—it was the most attention Schultz had got all night. She remembered something about Quincy Jones and Sharon Stone forgetting the envelope for Best Original Score, in 1996, but no other precedent came to mind. (In fact, Sammy Davis, Jr., once read from the wrong envelope, in 1964.)”

#oscars #Cheshire library #Academy Awards #Oscar winners #oscars 2017 #librarians

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Leave No One Behind

Chapter 16: Endings Beginnings

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: Ari and Hannah settle into life back home, but it isn’t all as smooth as they’d have hoped…

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Word Count- 4.5k

A/N: It was recently brought to our attention that in a few other chapters there have been a couple of things that Ari has said/done that are not technically accurate for someone of Jewish heritage. First up, it was reference to Ari observing a ‘Sunday Roast’ when he visited Mama Navon. We just wanted to remind people that Hannah is of Catholic Christian and Jewish heritage (Spanish Catholic Mother, American Jewish Father) and her and Sammy’s upbringing has always been a combination of the two. So, when Ari visited Mama Navon when he was home from Sudan, clearly this was her tradition he was observing. Secondly, in another chapter Ari was praying to the ‘God and the Saints’. Of course, Judaism does not have saints, so there’s a slip up on our part with that one. As with the third point, when we described Ari rushing Sarah to the alter. He would have rushed her to the hoopa.

Regarding all of the above, we would hasten to add, that Ari grew up in the USA, leaving when he was 18. From what little we learn of him in the film, we know was taken by a British Soldier, who married an American Nurse. From the way he talks about it, we don’t get the impression his ‘adoptive’ parents were Jewish, so that alludes us to suspect he had a largely Christian upbringing, whilst clearly being aware of his heritage. Therefore, we don’t think it is beyond the realms of possibility that he would pick up the odd little thing such as the above three points.

That aside, we hope the above didn’t distract anyone else from the narrative as it did the reader who brought it to our attention.

Now, just a personal plea from myself in general. Myself and Storm do this for free, and not being a person who pays much attention to religion at all (that’s another debate in itself) it is for this reason I was VERY nervous about continuing this storyline beyond the plot of the film. We certainly don’t have the time, nor brain capacity to be researching things into any kind of huge depth. It’s why most of my story lines centre along similar types of things that I have a good background in. This fic was never supposed to focus on the ins and outs of a particular race of people, just the lives of two dumbasses in love. As all writers on here, we do this for free, and the moment it becomes hard work or unenjoyable, we won’t be continuing. So any other little slip ups, please, unless they’re offensive, give us a little leeway and put it down to Ari being exceptionally Westernised as pointed out above.

Sorry if this comes across as being a little harsh, but this has been playing on my mind a lot over the past few days, to the point I was seriously considering if we ended the fic where it currently stood. That said, I think we have a lot left to tell of Hannah and Ari’s story so, I’ll shut up now and let you read it…if you want that is.

Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Part 15

“You haven’t forgotten tomorrow?” Hannah heard her mother ask, as the woman stood up from the table while holding the teacup and saucer to place them in the sink. “You do remember you have to pick Sammy up from the airport tomorrow afternoon, right?”

Hannah rolled her eyes at her mother’s back. “No, I haven’t forgotten,” she sighed as she played with the crumbles of the pastry she had been nibbling on, “I mean, it’s not like I’ve got anything else going on, is it? Seeing as Ari is with Maya and according to Sarah’s stupid rules I can’t be there with them…”

At that, Maria Navon turned, giving her daughter a sympathetic look and Hannah snorted in anger.

It had been four months since they arrived back in Tel Aviv, and Hannah had to concede that for the first few weeks it was fine. She and Ari settled nicely in the apartment Mossad rented in Ari’s name once all the paperwork following the end of the mission had been sorted. Ari had asked Isaacs for an upgrade of his living quarters, given he was now having Maya over to stay every other weekend, plus numerous nights of the week. Not to mention the fact Hannah was moving with him. When Isaacs had asked Ari to put a justification forward, he had simply shrugged, “I fucking earned it, Isaacs.”

So he got it. Just like he usually got what he wanted, one way or another.

Hannah was back working at the clinic. Her hands and the experience she had acquired while in Africa were needed more than ever now that it was only her mother and her to run it, although how long it was before her mom decided to retire fully was anyone’s guess. It had been a couple of busy months, what with interviewing for new nurses and locum staff, but Hannah would be lying if she denied having enjoyed every minute of it. She might have Mossad secret agent skills, obviously passed down by her father, but she was a doctor at heart. And that hadn’t changed in the two years she had been away.

The team had split up within a month of arrival back in Tel Aviv. Ari and Max had been working to help the refugees. Many of them had simply melted away post their arrival, still not trusting the mysterious white men who had come to their aid. However, some had stuck round; being housed temporarily in hostels, and was those who Ari and Max were tirelessly working for. They focussed their efforts on obtaining them permanent, legal status along with finding them better places to live and jobs of sorts to help them fit in their new reality.

Jake had headed back overseas to continue work as a diving instructor, this time in Jamaica, whilst Sammy had been in the States with Rachel for almost two and a half months now, and was, as Maria just reminded Hannah, due back the following day. Hannah suspected, however, not for long, fully expecting him to move there permanently to be with Rachel.

“Sammy is lucky, you know? He has none of this shit with Rachel’s ex.” Hannah grumbled, “Sarah is just being a pain in the ass. And I know for a fact it’s because we told her we got engaged. She was fine with me being there when Maya was until that point.” Hannah finished her rant as she placed her teacup and saucer on her mother’s extended hand.

“You can’t be sure about that, sweetheart. Maybe there’s something else."

“No, she’s being a bitch.” Hannah quickly stopped her mother’s attempts at justifying Sarah’s behaviour. “She seems perfectly fine with us having dinner during the week and going out and stuff but won’t let Maya stay when I’m there on a weekend, basically just preventing us from spending those days together, for no reason other than she’s bitter.”

Maria Navon sighed. She knew where her daughter was coming from but, being the gentle and caring woman she was, she couldn’t help but try to put herself in the other woman’s shoes. She saw Hannah bite her lip and twirl her engagement ring round her finger, a rounded blue sapphire as deep as the ocean set against a halo of smaller white diamonds on a white gold band, before she spoke again.

“I wouldn’t mind mama but they’ve been legally separated for years! The terms of their divorce are basically already been agreed. All they need to do is sign the damned papers but recently, well, Ari seems afraid to even raise the issue in case Sarah starts making it all awkward again and stops him seeing Munch.”

“Hey, sweetheart. Listen to me.” Hannah’s mother caught her attention as she pulled out a chair to sit next to her. “Everything is going to be ok, she’ll sign eventually. She knows there isn’t anything she can do about it, she’s just grieving.”

Hannah’s brow creased at her mother’s choice of words. “Grieving for what? She left him, years ago!”

“She left him because she couldn’t cope with his lifestyle anymore, and he wasn’t winning any awards for being husband of the year, Han. That doesn’t mean she didn’t love him,” Maria woman spoke softly as if to appease her daughter’s raging tone.

“So, basically, I’m just stuck here waiting until she gets her head out of her ass?”

“Have a little patience, honey. You two have waited over a decade, one way or another, to be together. You sure can wait a few weeks more.” Maria smiled as she reached out for Hannah’s hands who were fiddling with a teaspoon.

“That’s the thing, Mama.” Hannah sighed as she looked up to meet her mom’s eyes. “I don’t think it’s just going to be weeks.”

“You don’t?” The woman frowned. “Well maybe she’s more stubborn than I thought.”

Hannah shook her head and then noticed her mother’s features had suddenly softened into a smile and she was looking straight over her shoulder. Hannah turned to see Ethan walking into the kitchen in his signature crisp work suit.

“Hi Ethan,” Hannah smiled at him and then looked up at the clock over the fridge before standing up and shrugging. “I should go. Spend the night with my fiancée before I’m banished back to my childhood home for the weekend like a love sick teenager.”

As she left the kitchen dramatically, she heard Ethan ask Maria. “That bad?”

“She’s pissed off,” Hannah heard her mom whisper back, “can’t say I blame her but she needs to make an attempt to see this from the other side, so to speak.”

With an angry growl, Hannah slammed the door and set off walking back to their apartment, in even more of bad mood than she’d been in when she arrived at her mother’s.

Why was anyone treating her like she was the spoiled brat?

****

Ari was getting ready for Hannah’s arrival. He had been cooking, or sort of, making an attempt at dinner for a while and was now setting the table for two. He wanted to make tonight special as he knew this week was going to be the third weekend out of six that he and Hannah would be apart thanks to Sarah and her fucking rules.

He was finding it hard himself. He’d gotten used to sleeping besides his Firefly since they had got together in Sudan, especially at night. But he knew Hannah was finding it harder. He was sacrificing their time together so that he could spend his allotted weekends with his daughter, which lessened the blow a little, but Hannah was basically being banned from living her life as it was for two days every two weeks, and that make his heart ache.

And the worst bit about it all, was that he had seen it coming a mile off, and had been powerless to prevent it.

It was a bright Friday morning when they told Maya about their engagement. The previous evening Ari had proposed to Hannah for a second time after buying her a lavish ring. Thus, they had decided to take Maya for a walk and ice cream to break the news to her. The little girl had been over the moon with the idea of her dad and Hannah getting married, which hadn’t surprised Ari seeing as his daughter had been all over his fiancé ever since they had met at Mossad headquarters the morning they had arrived home.

Now, as he approached Sarah’s apartment to take Maya back, he was about to tell his ex-wife and he was not particularly looking forward to it. But, he was being cautiously optimistic. Sarah had, after all, been amendable since they’d gotten home and seemed okay with Hannah being a part of Maya’s life.

Still, he felt his stomach churn as Maya walked up the apartment they had all shared once upon a time, and rang the doorbell. No sooner had Sarah opened the door, Maya bounced in blurting the news out without hesitation.

“Mom, guess what? Dad and Han are getting married! He asked her yesterday and she said yes!”

Ari groaned internally to himself, “Sarah, I didn’t ask her last night,” he smiled bashfully as he explained himself, “and I certainly didn’t do it in front of Maya.”

Sarah shook her head and brushed it off. “Don’t worry, Ari and … erm, congratulations, I guess.”

“Erm… thanks.” Ari blinked. “I just thought you should hear it from me first… even if you technically did hear it from Munch.”

Despite the civil exchange, Ari could tell that Sarah was hating she didn’t have time nor the privacy to digest the news, and that wasn’t what he’d planned at all. He’d wanted to tell her, quickly, and leave, but Maya had put paid to his plans. Ari could feel coldness of his estranged wife’s stare, along with the tell-tale faint twitch of her nose and upper lip. He knew Sarah well and he, also knew how she deep down felt about him and Hannah.

“She seemed cool about it but I know her, Han. Too cool for Sarah.” Ari told Hannah that night over dinner. “I can’t help feeling this is going to be bad…”

For once, Ari wished to God he’d been proven wrong. But, Sarah ended up doing what he feared, reverting back to being petty and petulant. She called him the next day to announce from that moment on, when Maya stayed with him, be it during the week or on her agreed weekends, Hannah wasn’t to be there overnight because, as Sarah had put it, it wasn’t appropriate for Maya to be around when they were… well, “up to stuff.

Hannah went ballistic, telling Ari his estranged wife was being ridiculous and she could go to hell, but Ari knew Sarah well enough to know she needed to get this out of her system. He tried his best to explain to Hannah that until she did, there was nothing he could do but roll with it, certainly for the time being. Making Sarah angry would not only risk her going back on terms of the divorce they’d set out in their separation degree, but also, he feared, make her get pissy about him seeing Maya. And that simply wasn’t something he was prepared to risk. He’d already missed too much of Maya over the years, admittedly through his own fault, but he didn’t want to miss a single second more than he had to.

Just as Ari was turning down the heat under their dinner, Simon’s ears pricked up and a second later Hannah’s key was heard in the door. Air smiled at the dog, who let out an excited whine, and leaned to give him a scratch behind his ears.

“Mama’s home, buddy.”

The pooch looked up at his master almost like he was pondering his words and Ari scoffed.

Yeah, home. Bar the weekends when she’s banished to her mother's…

Simon trotted off and soon after Ari heard Hannah greeting him. A moment later she walked into the living area and gave him a tired, but genuine smile.

“Hey Lobo.”

Ari beamed at his fiancé as he walked to meet her and without warning, he grabbed her face with both hands and stamped his lips on her plump ones, kissing the hell out of her. Hannah moaned in surprise but melted into his hold, her hands instantly reaching for Ari’s bearded cheeks.

“Hey Firefly.” He whispered when he broke the kiss.

She smiled at him as her hands travelled upwards and tangled in his hair. “Something smells good.”

“Thanks, I just showered.” Ari drawled, a cheeky smile on his face.

“I meant the food, you ass.” Hannah laughed as one of her hands slapped Ari shoulder, but his grin never faded.

“I’m a whole meal, honey.” He continued, playfully. Hannah rolled her eyes and stepped back. “But yeah, I’ve been cooking or rather mixing things in pots and pans.”

“Hmmm should I be worried?” She shrugged off the light jacket she was wearing to shield her from the summer showers.

“Well, Simon tasted everything and he’s still breathing.”

“Simon used to eat jellyfish, Ari. That’s not a bar to measure your cooking with.”

“Hey, I tried, okay? Give me some credit. I’ve never cooked for a woman before.” He grabbed her hips and pressed her to his body, one of his big hands splaying over her back.

At that Hannah smiled at him lovingly. He was right. She suspected he had never cooked for Sarah and he certainly hadn’t cooked for her, not once. Never in the brief amount of time they had been secretly dating, and at the resort it had been Chef Aziz's job to cook for everyone.

“I’m honoured, and I’m sure it’ll be great. Give me five to go wash up okay?”

“Sure, babe. I’ll plate the food and open the wine.” He winked at her and Hannah stood on her toes and gave him another quick peck before she headed into the bedroom, Simon following her.

True to his word Ari had done a pretty good job and thirty minutes later they were both sat at the table after having enjoyed a dammed passable and tasty attempt at a beef stroganoff on Ari’s part that left Hannah pleasantly surprised.

She sighed with satisfaction as she left her fork on her plate and when she looked up she noticed Ari was looking at her intently, his eyes shining under those long eyelashes.

“You trying to seduce me before my carriage turns into a pumpkin tomorrow, Levinson?” Hannah asked before bringing her glass of wine to her lips.

“Hannah...” he sighed.

“What?”

“Please don’t, sweetheart. I don’t want to argue.”

It was her turn to sigh, heavily. Ari’s words were more of a plea than a warning to her, but she couldn’t help the way she was feeling. Granted, she wasn’t quite as pissed as when she had left her mother’s house, but she still had a sour feeling which was nagging at her.

“I don’t want to either, Ari. I just don’t like the prospect of spending my weekend away from you. Again.”

“And you think I do?” He asked, reaching for her hand over the table. “Honey, this won’t be forever. Sarah just needs to get her stupid tantrum out of her system.”

“Yeah, I know and I don’t want you having trouble with Maya because of me, I wouldn’t keep you from Munch, ever. But you’re my fiancé and I just...” she trailed off, shrugging, “I don’t want us to be apart.”

Ari licked his lips and pondered for a moment as he looked at their entwined hands. “Okay, I’ll talk to her when I pick Maya up tomorrow.” He nodded with determination when he looked up at her. “See if I can reason with her and...”

“Don’t Ari. You’ll only set her off.” Hannah rapidly cut him off.

Ari groaned and let go of her hand, his look and voice growing harder. “Well then, what do you want me to do? You literally just said-“

“I know, but I don’t want you to poke the bear! I just want this fucking ridiculous situation to be over.” Hannah shook her head. She knew she was riling Air up, but she was sick of everyone trying to get her to accept the situation they were in without so much as a word of complaint. “I’m not blaming you, it’s just…forget it, can we just pretend we are a normal couple who are having a normal evening dinner?”

“We are a normal couple. Well, as normal as most anyway.” Ari took her hand again, his features softening. “Look, I’m sorry. I really am. I just don’t know what I can do.”

“Love me.” Hannah stated after a while.

Now that puzzled Ari. Was that a request or was she doubting him. She couldn’t be doubting him, right? With concern written all over his face he pushed his chair back to stand up and hurriedly crouched beside Hannah, his hands grabbing her thighs firmly as his eyes searched for something in hers.

“Firefly, I do love you. You know this… I mean, at least, I hope you do.”

“I do.” She nodded as she looked down to him. “Just don’t stop loving me, no matter what crazy ideas Sarah comes up with.”

“Hannah, that’s not gonna happen.” He assured her after swallowing hard. “I promise you. Nothing she says or does is gonna change the way I feel about you.”

****

Ari meant what he said and took it upon himself to make sure his Firefly was left with no doubt as to his feelings for her all through the night. And then again he made sure she hadn’t forgotten the following morning too before she left to pick Sammy up from the airport.

Ari collected Maya, as arranged, from the summer holiday camp run by her school and then, throwing caution to the wind, took her to Maria’s to see not only Hannah, but Sammy and the family. Hannah was surprised, but pleased to see them both and hugged Maya tight as the girl threw herself at her, chatting away about her day. They ate a lovely dinner, courtesy of Maria, and later, retired to the shared garden in the warm, July air.

As Maya sat with Sammy, who was telling her stories about the states and Rachel’s kids, Ari found himself watching Hannah. She was sat with her mom and Ethan, the three of them sipping wine as the dusk drew in. It wasn’t long before the first little twinkles around the tree flashed through the darkness, signalling the fireflies had come out to play.

Ari’s mind quickly travelled back to when he first met Hannah, how those little bugs had been present in the garden, earning her the nickname. His nickname for her, which had stuck and become a term of his love for her, symbolised by the pendant round her neck. It was that pendant, or more specifically how he had given her that pendant, which had fixed the idea on how to present her with the sparkling sapphire and diamond ring on her finger…

It was a Thursday morning, and Hannah walked into the bedroom after her morning shower. Ari looked up from where he was fastening up his short sleeved shirt and smiled as she grinned back at him.

“You really do suit that colour, pretty sure Ethan’s secretary will approve.”

“Ethan’s secretary?” Ari continued, stopping two buttons under the collar.

“Yeah, that’s what I said Lobo.”

“Ethan’s secretary is nearly a hundred years old, Firefly.” Ari rolled his eyes with a chuckle, his hands on his hips as Hannah frowned.

“Well who was the young, blonde girl at her desk the other day when I called in?” She picked up her hairbrush from the top of the chest of drawers that served as her vanity unit.

“Lorraine? She’s an intern, Mrs Goldman is training her.”

“She likes you. I can tell.” Hannah hummed, combing out her locks which had been piled on top of her head to prevent them getting wet.

Ari rolled his eyes as Hannah pulled her hair back into a neat ponytail. “Whatever.”

“You can whatever me all you want,” Hannah sang as she picked up a bottle of lotion and sat on the bed, “I can sense these things.”

Ari snorted, looking down at his girl as she sat on the bed applying lotion to her legs. “You getting all territorial on me?”

“Do I need to?”

“Don’t be an ass!” Ari snorted, leaning down to kiss her.

As they moved around the room, Ari took his time, a lot longer than usual, dragging his morning routine out as long as possible. If Hannah noticed he was making a meal out of tidying his beard up, something he had taken to doing since returning to civilisation, she didn’t notice.

He was stalling for one reason, and one reason only. The surprise that was waiting for her in her underwear drawer.

After what seemed like an age, she crossed the room and pulled it open. Ari held his breath as she reached in for a pair of panties, but instead she gasped, he hand flying to her mouth.

Bingo.

When Hannah spun around, the red, velvet box in her hand, Ari was waiting on one knee, beaming up at her. “Still wanna marry me, Firefly?”

Tears brimmed in her eyes and she nodded, her voice thick with emotion, “yes, you know I do!”

“Had to ask with a ring, sweetheart.”

He watched as she opened it, her mouth dropping open once more as she stared at the ring.

“Lobo, it’s gorgeous… I… I love it!”

As Ari rose to his feet, he sighed with relief, “good, ‘cause I had a hard time finding something worthy of my girl.”

“It reminds me of the ocean,” she smiled up at him, “and your eyes.”

“Kinda why I bought it, the ocean that is.” Ari smiled as he took the ring from the box, slipping it over her knuckle, watching as the sapphire settled at the base of her finger. “Hannah Maria Navon, I love you, baby girl.”

Hannah glanced at the ring before she beamed, her hands cupping his cheeks, “and I love you, Ari David Levinson.”

Ari smirked a little at the memory, they were totally late for work after getting a little ‘distracted’ so to speak celebrating their engagement once more, only this time in a bed and not the back of a shitty jeep in the Sudanese desert.

“Dad?” Maya bounced into his lap, drawing a huff from him as she accidentally elbowed him in the ribs, “Are those fireflies?”

“They are Munch.” He nodded, kissing her head as she watched them zipping around. “Can you see now why I call Hannah my Firefly?”

She grinned, “yip!”

Hannah, who had been watching them, cleared her throat. “Ari, it’s getting late. Shouldn’t you two be heading back to your apartment?”

Ari looked at her pointedly. “Our apartment, sweetheart.”

Hannah was about to shoot a response back but then remembered Maya was there so she merely sighed. “Ari, look, you shouldn’t even be here now anyway. It’s not worth the argument if she finds out.”

“Why can’t we stay here, dad? I wanna stay with Han!” Maya piped up and Hannah groaned a little, shooting Ari a look.

“Because Han needs to stay with Sammy tonight, she’s not seen him for a while. You can stay some other time, okay?”

“I’m not gonna say anything to Mom if that’s what you scared of.”

At that, Ari and Hannah exchanged a look. “Why do you say that? Why would we be scared?” He asked and Maya shrugged.

“I heard Mom say some things.”

“What things, Munchkin?” Ari smoothed her long hair back and waited for her to reply.

“Well, I was upset, because at first I thought Hannah didn’t like me anymore as she always left when I stayed over. But one day last week, I heard Mom tell Grandma on the phone she had made you and Hannah spend the weekends apart because I was with you.” Maya paused and looked at Hannah, “Is that why you don’t stay with us at the apartment?”

Hannah blinked, she was stuck. She didn’t want to lie but also didn’t want to start bad mouthing Sarah in front of Maya, no matter how tempting. “Erm, it’s, well it’s complicated, sweetie. You and your dad need to spend time together. But I promise you it’s absolutely not because I don’t like you. I do, I love you very much.”

At that Maya stood up and launched herself at Hannah. “I love you too, Han.”

Ari and Hannah could do nothing but exchange a look, which Hannah broke as she leaned down to hug Maya, tears visible in her eyes.

And it left Ari feeling even more like shit than he already did.

No, he had to fix this, even if it meant pulling Sarah up on her attitude despite Hannah asking him not to. Whilst he understood Sarah’s anger, and that she had every right to direct it at him, the fact that it was clearly having an impact on Maya was something he couldn’t let slide.

With a sigh, he stood up, instructing Maya to bid everyone good night. Before he left, he pulled Hannah into a kiss, his hands cupping her face.

“I’m gonna fix this,” he whispered against her lips, “trust me, baby.”

“I do.” She sniffed a little, her nose bumping his. “Go, go on. I’ll see you Sunday.”

As they walked the few blocks home, Maya’s hand locked in Ari’s, he was only partially listening to his daughter as she spoke.

“Dad!” Her voice drew him from his thoughts about how exactly he was going to approach the subject with his soon to be ex-wife. He glanced down at her.

“What?”

“We’re you listening to a word I just said?”

“Honestly, no!”

“Daaaaaad!” She whined and Ari chuckled.

“I’m sorry baby, what were you saying?”

“I was saying that I should get Hannah something for luck.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Mom was talking to Auntie Louisa, and she said that Hannah was going to need plenty of luck being married to you so…”

Ari took a deep breath, anger flashing through his system, rolling his eyes. “Oh, did she?”

“Yup.” Maya nodded.

“And, do you think Hannah’s gonna need luck?”

Maya looked at him, and grinned cheekily. “Well, you are an idiot!”

“Rude!” Ari narrowed his eyes playfully, “mind you, technically, you might look more like your mom but you’re half me. Guess that makes you half an idiot, huh?”

Maya went to dig him in the ribs and with a chuckle, Ari swung her up and onto his shoulders. Her hands tangled in his hair as she giggled, before she leaned down, fingers threading into his beard.

“Han’s right, you do look like a wolf.”

Ari laughed, his hands tightening around his daughter’s ankles as her heels lightly bounced against his chest with each step he took.

#leave no one behind #ari levinson x ofc #ari levinson x original female character #Ari Levinson #ari levinson fanfiction #red sea diving resort #red sea diving resort fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Leave No One Behind

Ch 12- Win Some, Lose Some

Part 2

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: After 2 years of being at the resort Ari and the other agents are gearing up for yet another mission, but there’s a little bit of trouble in paradise for him and Hannah…

Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+ only)

Pairings: Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Part 1

Ari woke the next morning and instantly realised something was missing. Simon’s ass from his face. With a stretch he cracked his neck slightly and opened one eye to find that Hannah was also gone. With a little yawn he sat up, rubbing his eyes before he swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up, heading to the small bathroom. Once finished, he located a pair of swim shorts form the chest of drawers at the side of the hut and pulling them on he made his way outside.

Hannah wasn’t far away. In fact, she was stood straight in front of the hut at the water’s edge as Simon stood by her side, the pair of them simply looking out over the ocean which was alive with the rich, warm pinks and oranges of the rising sun. She was dressed in Ari’s shirt from the night before, her hair in a tangle of curls as it fell down her back, and there was something so raw and intimate about the moment it made Ari’s breath catch. Slipping back into the hut he located Hannah’s polaroid camera and quickly made his way back outside. He took a quick snap, and returned back inside, placing it back down along with the photo to develop before he strode back out of the door and down to the water’s edge.

Of course Simon heard him coming and turned, eliciting a little bark as he trotted towards him. He leaned down to give his dog an ear scratch before he smiled at Hannah who had turned her head over her shoulder to face him. She responded with a smile of her own, looking back at the ocean as he wrapped his arms around her from behind dropping a gentle kiss to her neck.

“You’re up early.” He said as her hands gently came to rest on his strong arms as they pulled her back into him, the fabric of the shirt she was wearing brushing against his bare chest.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugged.

Ari’s nose nuzzled against the skin below her ear and he pressed another soft kiss to her jaw line “You still feeling a little down?”

Hannah took a deep breath and shrugged as her nails raked over his arms.

“You know, if it’s too much…you could go back.” He suggested and felt her still.

“As in, for good?”

“Yeah.” Ari shrugged, “Like I said, I don’t think we have an awful lot of time left…”

“I’m not quitting” Hannah said simply, turning in his arms. “I came to do a job, and I’m gonna see it through.”

“I knew you’d say that” he chuckled and Hannah watched her hands as they smoothed up over his pecs to his shoulders before she met his eyes.

“Why ask me then?” she arched an eyebrow as she looked at him, his hands flexing on her hips.

“Because I love you and I don’t wanna see you sad or unhappy because of me ever again.”

“This isn’t because of you.” Hannah shook her head “You egotistical ass.”

“Harsh!” Ari cocked an eyebrow as she grinned as he huffed out a laugh, “But I mean it Han. I don’t want you feeling like you have to stay.”

“I don’t” she shrugged “Honestly, don’t worry about me. It’ll pass Ari, I promise.”

She pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss before she glanced over to their left and nodded as two people passed them on the beach. “Guests are stirring, I should go shower and get ready for breakfast.”

“Ok.” He nodded and she looked up at him, biting her lip.

“Wanna come scrub my back?”

“You know…” Ari’s hands locked at the base of her back “The amount of times you ask me to do that, you should really invest in a loofah.”

“Yeah but, where’s the fun in that?” she grinned “Besides, why have a wolf and howl yourself?”

Ari gave a snort as she grinned again, stepping out of his hold, slipping her hand into his before she tugged him along with her over the sand towards their hut, Simon trotting behind them.

****

One of the best traditions the team had come up with since they had started running a now not-so-fake hotel was the party they always held the night before a group of tourists were due to leave. It was the perfect excuse to let loose and celebrate together with another group of satisfied guests, albeit not the ones that were counted on the board. There was always a great bonfire, drinks and good music all accompanied by lots of laughter and wishes of a safe trip back home.

That night was to be no exception to the rule and as Ari and Max were putting the final touch to the makeshift dance floor and checking the sound system, which had been upgraded since the first time they threw that kind of farewell party, Jake and Hannah were in charge of starting the bonfire under the watchful eye of Sammy. Rachel was looking after them all and ensuring they had a steady supply of beer before she settled down on Sammy’s lap. Simon stood a little away from the group, minding his own business which was chasing and trying to bite his own tail.

They were all discussing the choice of music for the night, as Ethan had sent them some new records with the latest shipment, and Max picked one out to check the sound system was up and running. As the upbeat sounds of Rio by Duran Duran rang across the beach the conversation had taken a rather odd turn, shifting to the discussion about who was the best front man- Simon Le Bon vs John Taylor.

"I used to have hair like John Taylor..." Jake piped up, taking a swig of his beer.

"So did Sammy." Hannah snorted, the look on her brother's face made her burst out with laughter as besides her Ari chuckled, his arm draped over her shoulders.

Sammy groaned. "Yeah, laugh all you want but we don't need to discuss that."

"And the stash?" she pressed, making Jake laugh out loud and Rachel chuckle. “Can we discuss that?”

Sammy glared at Jake and then at his sister. "Shut up, Han."

But, despite Sammy's deadly stares, Hannah continued her tirade. "You should have seen him. It was pretty...”

"Cool?" Jake cut her off.

"Disturbing." she blurted out with a grin.

"You two can kiss my ass." Sammy snapped at them, the pair of them dying with laughter by then, before he patted Rachel's hip and stood up to go and get changed.

A few hours later the party was in full swing, and the alcohol was flowing. Hannah who was visibly drunk by then had disappeared for some time and had returned with her polaroid and was busy annoying the boys with it.

“Pose for me guys…you’re so pretty.” She grinned, before she looked at her brother “Well, apart from you Sammy."

"Fucking fuck you Han." Sammy protested as he staggered, almost falling over.

Rachel started howling just as Ari chuckled and hiccuped. "You can’t, don’t talk to her like that man." he said, shoving Sammy a little, spilling some of his beer in the process. "Oops." he hiccuped again.

"She’s a dick." Sammy snarled.

"Yeah but man…just no." Ari managed to say, his tongue feeling thick and not quite cooperating.

"Lobo stop mooooving. I’m tryina take a photo." Hannah whined, looking at them. "Sammy can you just... like not be here. In the picture I mean." she said as she shifted her weight on the sand trying to not lose balance.

"Red if you make us stand here any longer my clothes are gonna go outta fashion." Jake complained as he let his head fall, his arms over Max and Ari's shoulders.

"Your clothes were outta fashion when my papa was alive, Jake." Hannah quipped, fast as lighting

"Bitch!" Jake groaned.

“Hey, don’t call my girl names, asshole." Ari teased, yanking Jake's arm off his shoulder and turning to shove him which ended in both men faking a heated fight on the sand. "For fuck sake Hannah." Sammy yelled, stepping away from Jake and Ari's mock fight. "Take the camera back inside. You’re drunk."

"So are you." she said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

"Yeah but I ain’t holding a camera, it’ll end up full of sand or broken."

She paused and looked at him as his words sunk in, and then she shrugged “Yes Dad” and started walking towards her and Ari's hut, stumbling on the sand, drunk as she was. Only she stumbled a little more heavy than she was anticipating and unable to steady herself she was fully expecting to face plant into the sand, until a hand gently grabbed her arm to stop her from falling.

"Thanks." she whispered honestly as she looked up to see one of the younger guests from the group that had been diving with Jake the day before smiling at her.

“You’re welcome.” He spoke, but not loosening his grip, instead he kept his gaze locked on her, grin spreading across his face.

Max, who had been watching the guy with curiosity, nudged Ari and nodded his head towards the scene.

"What the fuck is that bastard doing?" Ari yelled, a big frown on his sweaty forehead as he released Jake from the headlock he’d had him in.

"Touching up Cracker...I think..." Max shrugged.

"Quit stirring Max " Jake spoke, brushing the sand off his shirt. "She tripped and he stopped her falling bud, that's it."

Ari groaned and took a sip from his beer, eyes still watching. Eventually he saw Hannah step back and laugh before heading up towards their hut. But he didn't miss the way the dark haired man’s eyes followed her, or the way his pals all nudged him and gestured in Hannah’s direction, all of them grinning.

"I’m watching you, you German bastard." Ari mumbled but loud enough for Sammy to hear.

"I told you. It’s always Germans." Sammy said before hiccuping.

"Fuck off. My parents are German." Rachel shoved Sammy.

"Yeah Sammy, the in laws won’t like you talking like that." Max scoffed and Ari snorted as Sammy's eyes opened wide with realisation.

"Sorry babe." Sammy apologized and then glared at Ari. Having heard his snort "Yeah, like my mother likes you, asshole."

“You know your mother loves me, jerk. So much so I went round for dinner last time I was home and she made meatloaf."

"What? Why did you…" Sammy stuttered and Ari grinned at him. "Fuck…"

"No, that’s Ethan’s job." Ari quipped, making everyone but Sammy burst out with laughter.

"You’re sick, you know that? That’s disgusting." Sammy glared at him.

"Everything is disgusting according to you." Jake stated, with a shrug.

"To be fair the thought of my mom banging my boss...." Max said, shuddering at the thought.

"Shut up Irving!"

"He’s very charming with all those elegant outfits." Rachel conceded.

"Yeah well he can go and charm someone else." Sammy glared at her.

"Don’t you mean some-mum else?" Jake snorted, making Sammy groan as they all sniggered.

"But Rachel has a point. None of you have seen his silk robe." Ari spoke and Max was fast in following suit. "Mama N has." He grinned at Ari who grimaced, readying himself for Sammy's final outburst.

"Will you all shut the fuck up?" he growled.

"Ok, ok sorry Sammy." Ari tried to calm him down as he shook his head

"What’s up? Are you angry again Sammy bear?" Hannah, who had just come back, asked noticing her brother's angry face. And she felt Ari's arm curl possessively round her waist, pulling her to him as he chuckled at Sammy's roll of eyes at her sister's pet name for him.

"Sammy doesn’t like Ethan banging your mother, Red." Jake explained, crooking a smile at Sammy.

Hannah wrinkled her nose at the mention of Ethan being her mother's partner. "Well... whatever" she started and then shrugged "Come on guys, let’s dance. I wanna dance." she suddenly changed topic as she grabbed Rachel's hand pulling her towards the “dance floor”.

"Bye then." Max raised his beer to the retreating girls.

"Yeah I’m gonna go dance too." Jake announced, and Ari saw his eyes flicker over a pretty blonde woman who was stood with a group of her friends.

"By dance you mean grind against some clueless tourist?" Max jabbed at Jake who flipped a finger at him as he left.

"They won't be clueless for long." Ari snorted. Half an hour later, after some dancing and more drinking, Ari noticed Hannah and Rachel were surrounded by the German Tourists who had all been watching Hannah. Ari was observing from a distance, the jealousy building slowly but surely, and when at one point he saw one of them wrap an arm round Hannah's shoulder and dip his head unabashedly towards her face he snapped.

"Fucker" he snarled as he started striding over but was stopped by someone grabbing his shoulder. He turned round only to see Sammy was the one holding him back.

"Don't cause a scene man. Han's got it, look." Sammy nodded his head in the girls' direction causing Ari to turn to look in time to see Hannah pulling away, her hands planted on the guy’s chest, shaking her head firmly.

"Yeah, back off asshole…" Ari hissed. "Wait. Is she smiling at him? Why is she smiling at him?" he asked Sammy, his eyes never leaving the scene though.

"She's just being polite." Max said in an attempt to downplay the issue.

"Sure." Ari snorted as he watched Hannah still smiling, her hands still on the guy’s shoulders. "Whatever. I’m ending this now." and he motioned to start towards the guy again. Sammy groaned and called at him to stop, but this time it was Max who physically did it.

"Look chill. There’s nothing going on there and like Sammy said, you’ll cause a scene. Besides Jake is close by."

But Ari was pissed and he was equally drunk, his alcohol fuelled brain wasn't working logically as all he could see was Hannah smiling at that guy that was far too close to her. As he stood watching, his jaw twitching, fists balling at his side, eventually the guy stepped back and held his hands up, turning to leave the girls alone.

Hannah watched the guy as he went, shaking her head at his complete and utter forward nature, and then spotted Ari. His handsome features which were usually soft when he looked at her were hardened and his gentle blue eyes blazed with rage she hadn’t seen in a long time. She frowned at the outward display of anger and she excused herself from Rachel and Jake and headed over.

"I’m gonna grab a snack." Max was the first to split, as soon as he noticed Hannah approaching.

"Good idea." Sammy agreed and they hastily headed off.

Hannah watched them for a moment as they left and then turned to Ari, whose jaw was twitching. "What’s wrong Lobo?"

"You tell me Firefly." he replied and she frowned at his flat tone.

"I don't know that's why I asked." she said softly, not wanting to fuel whatever was bothering him.

He scoffed. "You can’t be that oblivious."

Hannah stared at him and frowned again. "Are you talking about that guy just then?"

"Oh, so you do know what I’m talking about then."

She groaned, his jealous nature which was cute at times was at others fucking annoying. "Ari, he made a pass at me, I told him no. I'm not sure what else there is to say."

She frowned, feeling slightly puzzled not least because she had done nothing wrong but if Ari really believed what he had seen, then he surely would have been straight in there. He had done it before…

"Why you think he made that move?" Ari asked shrugging slightly at Hannah’s shocked expression.

"You think…” Hannah trailed off, her puzzled expression sliding into one of anger as she realised what Ari was implying and she narrowed her eyes. “You know what? Fuck this." she snarled and turned to leave.

"Firefly!" he growled. "Where do you think you’re going? Come back here! Hannah!"

Hannah stopped and turned to face him, gathering all the self-control she had in her not to slap him straight across his face for yelling at her. "To bed Ari. But for the record the only reason I'm not screaming at you right now is because of all these guests. You're being a fucking asshole, Levinson."

"No, I’m not." he hissed. "You’re being a brat Hannah."

"I’m being a brat?" she let out a sarcastic, hearty laugh. "Fuck you." she spat at him and with that she stormed off in their hut direction.

Ari stood frozen watching her leave for a moment and when the realization of what had just happened washed over him he kicked the sand. "Fuck!" and he paused for a few seconds, considering his options, before he went after her. He could tell she was aware he was just behind her as she sped up till she finally reached the hut and went to slam the door but Ari got his foot in the way.

"Nice try Firefly."

"Fuck you Ari." she spat those words at him again.

Simon looked up from where he had been dozing on the bed, his head cocking to the side at the raised voices.

"Hey! I’m the one who has the right to be pissed."

"No, no you don’t Ari!"

"Ok, now, you listen to me…" Ari said sternly as he brushed his hair off his face.

“I don't wanna listen. I'm done." she bit back.

"Fine, whatever." he said as he took off his shirt and went into the bathroom. He usually let her go first but not that night, he was making his point and was determined to stand for it, whatever it took or so he thought as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, his hands gripping the basin so hard his knuckles were now white. He sighed and tried to steady his breathing before sorting himself out and emerging into the room again.

"Can I go in now?" Hannah asked sarcastically, standing up from where she was sat on the bed.

"All yours." he replied, equally as sarcastic.

She stalked past him, staring straight ahead, before she shut the door behind her. Once alone in the room she sat on the toilet, her head in her hands as she started sobbing, all the rage she was feeling seeping from her eyes. That was not how that night was supposed to go, but she had no fucking idea what or why he thought she’d encouraged anything. And the hypocrite was talking just the previous day about keeping the guests satisfied after she’d teased him about flirting. Did he really not trust her that much? She was well aware they were both drunk, so that was probably worse than it should be but still…it hurt. She felt the tears sting her eyes and wiped them away as he breathed in deeply before standing to wash her face and clean her teeth.

When she came back into the bedroom Ari was led on his back, looking up at the ceiling. She made an effort to ignore him and grabbed a vest and a pair of shorts, changed and got into bed, turning so her back was to him before clicking off the small lamp at her side of the bed.

Ari turned his head to look at her, letting out a sigh. He hesitated for a moment but he then shuffled and turned towards her back and was about to stretch his arm out for her when she spoke.

"Don’t you dare touch me, Ari."

He grit his teeth at her hoarse voice. He could tell she had been crying but at that point in time he was pissed off. He tried to come up with an equally hurtful comment to show his annoyance but all he managed to say was “Good night firefly."

As no response came on Hannah's part, with an angry groan and a roll of his eyes he turned back the other way and for the first time since they started sharing a bed 2 years ago, they didn’t fall asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.

And the space between them felt like miles.

******

The next morning Ari woke up to Simon, as always, led on his face. Pushing him off, the dog giving the usual low grumble of protest, Ari grimaced a little at the movement, his limbs feeling heavy. The room was quiet, but he could hear Hannah in the bathroom. With a groan he dropped his arm over his eyes in an attempt to keep the light from painfully flooding his system. His head was pounding and the inside of his mouth felt like he had been eating the sand from the beach.

He cast his mind back over the events of the night and he could remember drinking, fooling around and then everything going to shit. He really didn’t want to think about it, but his stubborn brain led him to replay it over and over again. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he had been an ass, but that bastard making a move to kiss his girl had sent him into overdrive. Fortunately the current set of tourists were leaving that morning and once they were gone Ari could concentrate on damage control with Hannah.

At that point the door to bathroom opened and he moved his arm away from his eyes to see Hannah stepping back into the room, already dressed in a pair of red shorts and a loose fitting white t-shirt that slouched off her right shoulder giving him a flash of her blue bikini strap. Ignoring the fact that the room was spinning, Ari sat up slightly in bed to look at her for a moment before he tentatively spoke.

“You woke up early Firefly” his voice was a little croaky, fuck he needed water.

“Couldn’t sleep” came the clipped response.

“Han…” he sighed, but she clearly wasn’t in the mood to speak to him.

“I think I’m gonna go for a walk on the beach.” She replied, her tone flat. Ari started to protest but she completely ignored him. “I need to get out of here. I’m suffocating”

“Hannah.” He tried again, and this time she took a deep, annoyed voice and snapped her head round to look at him.

“What?” she demanded.

He knew that speaking to her whilst she was still angry at him would merely result in them arguing even more so he sighed, shaking his head. “Nothing.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and walked towards the door. As she wrenched it violently open, Simon bounced off the bed and trotted after her as she left, slamming it behind her causing Ari to wince at the noise.

He lay back with a groan, cursing himself. Hannah was really pissed, and now his mind began to wander furiously. He had to make this right, he couldn’t risk losing her. Not again.

“For fucks sake Levinson, get a grip” he chastised himself. This was an argument, a stupid, ridiculous argument that’s all. Worrying about losing her was a little extreme. Wasn’t it?

He lay there, his mind arguing with itself for a few minutes before the sound of voices drifted through the lattice screens which covered the window to their hut. Knowing that he really should get up to see the guests off he kicked off the blankets and swung his legs off the side of the bed before he headed into the bathroom. After a quick shower he pulled on a clean pair of swim shorts and a light and pink hooped t-shirt before he shoved on his socks and hiking boots and headed out.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Everyone was visibly hungover, plus the tension between Ari and Hannah was festering in the air casting a shadow over the usual well natured meal. There was no gentle touching, no longing looks, no grins, no giggles. The atmosphere was sour, and impossible to ignore.

“You ok, Han?” Sammy looked at his sister as she was picking at a croissant, not really eating much of it.

“Fine Sam.” Her response was short but not angry. Sammy frowned and looked at Ari who was drinking his coffee, deliberately avoiding anyone’s gaze.

Rachel and Jake exchanged glances as Max studied Hannah for a moment. Suddenly conscious everyone’s attention was her she pushed her plate away from her and stood up.

“Excuse me, I need to feed Simon.”

She moved away from the table, Ari following her with his eyes, his head bowing slightly once she was out of sight.

“Something wrong with Cracker?” Max asked.

“Leave it.” Sammy instructed, his eyes flicking to Ari’s before his best friend turned away. He then glanced at Rachel who gave a small sigh and stood up, ready to go and find her but Ari stopped her as he drained his coffee and issued an instruction.

“Make sure everyone is checked out, the bus will be leaving in 30.”

Rachel looked at him, blinking but she didn’t argue “Sure.”

With that he stood up and wandered outside, lighting up a cigarette. As he took a drag he leaned on the wall and out came the group of tourists that had been dancing with the girls the night before. He nodded his head to greet them, a little stiffly, offering no trace of a smile. His eyes watched the asshole that had made the move on his Firefly as he nudged one of the guys on his left, laughing as one by one they settled on the sun-loungers, a few meters away, suitcases by their side ready to depart.

Ari tuned his attention to the ocean, watching the early morning sun bouncing off the surface, and he was trying not to listen, he really was, but he just couldn’t help it when one of the guys, clear as day, asked the asshole if he had said goodbye properly to the Spanish hotty. Ari stiffened, and found himself suddenly undecided as to whether he was happy he could understand German or not.

“I wish.” The asshole laughed in his home language “She seems to have disappeared into thin air. I’m so pissed I only got to speak to her on the last day.”

“You’ve been eyeing her up since we arrived man!” one of the other guys shot back “Pity she turned you down.”

Another snorted “Yeah man, flat out no!”

Sniggers arose from the group and then one of them looked up, Ari hastily averting his gaze, but he clearly wasn’t quick enough.

“Keep it down, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her with the owner”

Asshole shrugged “He’s American, not German, can’t understand us!”

Ari fought to keep his face straight. Dick.

“You know, you’re worse than that dog that wanders around!” the guy that had told them to shut up shook his head “You cannot keep it in your pants anywhere!” “Can’t help it. But come on, guys! You seen her?”

“Yes, yes we have. She cute.”

Asshole sighed “Pity we’re leaving, reckon I could have worn her down, got her on her back with a little more time.”

Ari felt his jaw clench, he’d heard enough. With a cough he cleared his throat and then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Rachel looking at him.

“All set.”

He nodded and turned back to the group of boys “Bus is ready if you want to climb up.”

They all turned to look at him and the one sat nearest on the edge of a lounger nodded. “Sure man.”

Ari watched them all gather their luggage and make their way back into the hotel. He nodded as they all walked past him, Asshole taking up the rear, and as he went to pass, Ari placed his arm over the doorway, hand curling round the edge of the frame, blocking his way.

“Hey…” Asshole began to protest but Ari fixed him with an icy glare.

“Next time you wanna talk about getting my girl on her back, maybe check I can’t actually understand you…and for the record, if you weren’t leaving today you’d be shark bait.” He hissed in German, before he moved his arm as Asshole swallowed, his eyes wide with shock and horror. Ari smiled and then spoke to him in English “Have a safe trip home, dick.”

The guy scurried away as fast as he could, Ari’s eyes burning a hole in his back as he left. Once he was out of sight the anger Ari was feeling gave way to guilt as he had basically accused Hannah of leading the asshole on, even though he knew that wasn’t the case. Hannah wouldn’t dream of doing something like that. Sometimes she could be a little flirty but then so could he, it was just who they were, and to accuse her the way he had done was ridiculous. But then again he had been drunk, and even when sober he was a total mess when it came to his girl, and now she was giving him the cold shoulder.

He had to fix this.

Taking a deep breath he headed inside to look for Hannah and found her in the office with Rachel. Immediately he spotted her red puffy eyes and the concern on Rachel’s face and that made him feel like complete shit.

“Rachel, can you give us a minute?” he asked softly. Rachel looked to him before she shrugged.

“Sure”

She turned and left the office, not before giving him a filthy look and once she was gone Hannah looked at him.

“What do you want Ari?” She sniffed and Ari took a deep breath

“Sweetheart, I'm sorry”

“Sorry for what exactly?” she tipped her chin up to look at him, and Ari should have known she wasn’t going to let him off with a mere, simple and overarching apology.

“Last night. I was out of order” “Talk about an understatement! You basically called me a slut.”

“No, Hannah.” Ari began to protest “That’s not what I said.”

“Not with those exact words maybe, but you implied it Ari.”

“It’s not what I meant.” He repeated his sentiment, “Look, I’m so sorry Han. I don’t know what got into me”

“You know…” Hannah shook her head “I knew you had this jealous streak in you but..” she took a deep breath and licked her lips .”I think I need some space”

At that she made to pass him in the doorway but Ari gently grabbed her arm. “Han, wait.”

“Let me go Ari”

Ari glanced down at his hand and released her arm “Hannah.”

“I just need to be alone.” She swallowed “Please.”

At that Ari gave a small nod and stepped to the side allowing her to leave. With a groan he ran both hand through his hair before his right fist slammed down on the desk in a fit of rage.

“Fuck!” he yelled out, his voice and the thud of his hand punching the desk echoed around the room and he ran his hand down his beard. He was really worried now that he’d completely screwed everything. Today was fast shaping up to be a complete shit storm and it wasn’t even midday yet. For a second he considered heading after her but he knew he needed to respect her request for space, so instead he headed into the bar area, grabbed a bottle of bourbon, necked a shot or 3 to sort his headache out and turned on his heels and left.

****

Later that afternoon Hannah was heading to her hut when Rachel stopped her and said that she needed Ari’s passport for some paperwork which Colonel Madibo requested when he had stopped by on his Annual Visit a month or so prior. Rachel had failed to find Ari so had instead asked Hannah if she could find it in his absence.

As usual when she needed something, Rachel couldn’t wait, so Hannah shrugged and headed back to the hut to see if she could find it and decided to try his backpack first off. As she dug around her hands curled around a leather book. Curiosity piqued she removed it to see it was a note book of sorts and she flicked open the first page, finding it simply to be a log book, written mostly in code but she recognised it as being a short hand that most agents were trained in. It appeared to be accounts of the missions they’d run but as she closed it, she noticed that there were a few photos tucked into the back cover. She gently pulled them out and smiled as she saw the first one was of Ari and Maya when Maya was a toddler. Ari’s hair and beard both much shorter. The next one was a Polaroid of the team at the front of the hotel, then there was one of her and Simon which she had never seen before, but that had been taken yesterday morning from the looks of things, and then one of her, Ari and Sammy which was of her graduation. She frowned a little, unsure why Ari kept this with him considering it was from so long ago at a time when they hadn’t even been together. She turned it over, as if expecting to find the explanation there but she didn’t find anything but Ari’s haphazard scrawl in the bottom right hand corner- “Firefly’s Graduation”

A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she thought back to that day, the gift Ari had bought her, and that being the time she realised she was hopelessly in love with him. She swallowed, before tucking the photos back where she found them. After a little more digging in the backpack she found his passport and headed back to the main hotel and into the office. She held it out to Rachel who smiled, the grin immediately slipping as she caught sight of Hannah’s face.

“You ok?”

“Yeah…have you seen Ari?”

“Not since before no.” Rachel took the passport she was holding out from Hannah “you know I’m sure he-“

“Yeah, I know.” Hannah shook her head, not wanting to talk about it anymore “Listen, Rachel, I don’t want dinner. I’m tired so I’ll grab something later if I’m hungry.”

“Ok, sure.”

She gave Rachel another smile before she made her way back out to the beach. She stood, hands on her hips as she contemplated going to find Ari to talk but before she could she heard Max yelling at her to take care of Simon who was chewing some of the equipment he and Jake were trying to store. With a groan she went to retrieve the pain-in-the-ass dog, took him back to the hut where she led on the bed and closed her eyes, completely drained.

When she woke a few hours later it was dark. The hut was completely silent apart from Simon’s soft snores and Ari was nowhere to be seen. Standing up she grabbed a warmer top as it had gone a little chilly outside and leaving Simon snoozing on her bed she wandered out onto the dimly lit beach to find him. The resort empty, not a soul to be seen, and it was completely dark apart from the light which was pooling out of the door which led to the main reception area. She made her way to the door which was open and saw Ari sat straddling the desk, legs dangling either side. They were swinging to and fro slightly, the muscles in his strong thighs straining and stretching as he did so, cigarette in his mouth as he studied the ‘Satisfied Guests’ board on the wall. With a soft sigh he led back against the desk, closing his eyes.

“Ari?” Hannah spoke softly and he turned his head sharply towards her. He eyed her for a moment, clearly trying to size up her mood and she allowed her face to soften slightly and he gave a slight smile in response.

“Hey firefly.”

“It’s late.” She stepped into the room a little more.

“I know.”

“So what are you doing sat on the desk?”

“Just reviewing our satisfied guest number.” He shrugged “Which is gonna go up tomorrow.”

“Exactly, so you should come to bed, you never sleep the night after a mission so…”

“I was gonna take one of the spare rooms.” Ari admitted and Hannah rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic” he shrugged. “You said you wanted space…”

“I’ve had space all day.”

“I know I just…well, was waiting for you to decide when you’d had enough…”

Hannah took a deep breath, bit her lip and nodded to the board he’d been studying. “Look at the back.” She instructed.

“What?” he frowned at her sudden change of subject.

“I said, look at the back of the board, Ari.”

He gave her another puzzled look before he shuffled over and spun it round, his eyes roaming the 5 digits that had been carved into the back. “3. 19. 80.” He looked at her “That’s you birthday 2 years ago.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, “I wanted that date permanently carving into something other than my brain.”

“I’m not…”

“It was the first time you told me you loved me” she explained softly, and Ari felt his eyes widen “I waited so long to hear you say it.” She took a deep breath “Which is why I can’t understand why you think I’d ever look at anyone else.”

Ari sighed, turning the board back round, as he spun his body to face her, legs dangling off the edge of the desk. “I don’t, Han. I was just being a stupid, jealous prick.”

Hannah took a deep breath, looking at him. His eyes were down cast, his face pinched with regret. She exhaled and shook her head “No more ok? I can’t deal with your stupid fits of pathetic jealousy and possessiveness.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” He shook his head, looking down at his hands. “I just, well, you’re not the only one who waited so long for us. Sometimes I worry that, well you’ll realise that I’m just an asshole after all and that you could do so much better.”

“I already know you’re an asshole.” She shrugged, a smile playing on her lips “But you’re my asshole. And I don’t want to do any better.”

Ari’s eyes locked onto hers and he let out a deep breath, smiling softly before he gave a jerk of his head “C’mere…”

“Ari…”

“Just get up here Firefly”

The roll of her eyes and little groan would have maybe fooled anyone else into thinking she was frustrated, but not Ari. He caught the smile on her face as she walked over towards him and hopped up onto the counter. With a grin, Ari looped both his arms around her waist and clumsily pulled her with him as he fell back, both of them laying chest to chest, his arms round her holding her close. She gave a low chuckle, shaking her head.

“Dumbass.”

“Yeah.” He agreed, reaching up and tucking her hair behind her ears with both his hands. He then cupped her face gently, before he leaned up and gave her a soft kiss.

“I love you.” He said gently “And I really am sorry.”

“I know.”

“You know that I love you or you know that I’m sorry?”

She hesitated for a second before she smirked and arched an eyebrow “Both”

Ari chuckled and Hannah grinned and lay against Ari’s chest, snuggling into his t-shirt, the top of her head up under his chin. Neither of them said anything for a little while, just lay there basking in one another’s warmth, the argument forgotten until eventually Hannah felt her eyes growing heavy.

“Ari.”

“Yeah”

“Seriously, we need to go to bed.”

“Yeah…” he hummed back, his hands stroking up her neck.

“I mean it.”

“Mmhmmm.”

“Ari!” she said exasperatedly and he gave a low groan.

“Okay, okay…”

With what felt like a Herculean effort Hannah pushed herself up and hopped down from the counter, Ari doing the same, his boot clad feet echoing around the empty room as the soles slapped on the tiles. He stretched his arms, causing his t-shirt to ride up a little at the bottom as he ran both hands through his hair. Silently, he held out his hand and Hannah slipped hers into it, and together they headed out of the door pausing only to turn off the lights and make sure the main doors were locked.

**** The next morning was hectic, for two main reasons. A new batch of guests had arrived and in between that they were doing the preps for the mission later that evening. Rachel and Hannah were busy with the guests whilst Max, Jake and Ari were busy with the equipment. Radios needed to be tested, the trucks needed to be checked over to ensure there would be no mechanical issues and Sammy was busy making sure the medical supplies were stocked and packed.

Once that was gone, Ari took himself off for a run, in an attempt to burn off some of the usual nervous energy he had the day of a mission. He was out for a good hour, and as he rounded the edge of the cove onto the last few hundred yard stretch of beach up to the resort he spotted a few new guests were sat out in the sun reading and chatting. He nodded to them as he rounded up the small path off the main shore line, coming to an abrupt halt as Simon ran up to him from goodness knows where, almost tripping him over.

“Hey bud…” Ari panted a little, removing his headphones and clicking off his walkman “Where’s mom?”

“Here.”

Ari spun round to see Hannah stood there in a pair of shorts and a white tank top, the strings of her bikini visible round her neck, her hair damp.

“Hey sweetheart.” He smiled, and she took a moment to look him up and down, noticing the sweat dripping from his forehead and his damp t-shirt that was sticking to his torso. “Pervert.”

She shrugged and grinned before she spoke again, her cover accent thick on her tongue. “Good run?”

He nodded as he continued his deep breathing looking round “Not as much fun as this morning’s exercise though.” He flashed her a cheeky wink as she chuckled and took the soft kiss he offered. “How’ bout you? Good dive?”

She nodded “Still waiting for that elusive Hammer-Head sighting. You know, I’m beginning to think Irvine made it up.”

With a chuckle Ari gently looped an arm round her, pulling her to him as they headed into the main room of the resort, Hannah shoving against him, protesting at the fact he was basically wiping his sweat all over her but their teasing and joking died down as Rachel immediately accosted them, her German accent flawless as always.

“There you are. I was just talking about you with our new guests.”

Ari looked up to see 3 people in chairs in the reception area, and as the man in front of him stood and turned he saw it was Walton Bowen, the guy from the CIA that he had last seen in Khartoum Airport.

“Mr. Thomas, nice to see you again.”

“Now this is a surprise.” Ari smiled, shaking the hand Bowen offered before his hands dropped to his hips, his breathing still recovering from his run.

“Well, I'm sure it is. You're not an easy man to find. I think I saw you nearly two years ago. You were an anthropologist back then.” Bowen eyed Ari shrewdly taking a drag from his baby cigar.

“Right, well...” Ari smiled again, “Didn't pay the bills.” He offered as means of an explanation for the huge change in career direction.

“Yeah…” Bowen looked at him again, his eyes then flicking to Hannah.

“Sorry, where are my manners.” Ari apologised, “Rosa, this is Mr Walton Bowen. Works for the US Embassy?” he made it a question, even though he knew full well all about Bowen’s actual background having been debriefed back in ‘79 following his arrest.

“Of a fashion” Mr Bowen smiled. “Cultural attaché”

“Right.” Ari nodded “Well, Mr Bowen, this is Rosa Garcia, my partner and head of guest relations.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Hannah smiled, shaking Bowen’s hand.

“Likewise.” Bowen smiled, releasing her hand.

“And you’ve already met my general manager, Angela.” Ari concluded and both Bowen and Rachel nodded in agreement before she spoke.

“I was just about to give Aziz the dinner order, will you be staying?

Bowen shook his head “That’s very kind but, no thank you. We’ll need to get back.”

“Ok, well in that case can I grab you anything for now?” she asked.

“I could go for something.” Ari looked at her, knowing full well the mission meant he would miss dinner and they usually ate a little earlier. Rachel understood perfectly and gave him a nod, turning to go.

“I’ll help.” Hannah turned to Ari who nodded and dropped a kiss to her temple before she hurried out after Rachel. He turned back to Bowen who was simply looking at him, his eyebrow raised a little.

“She a guest who never left or…”

“It’s a long story.” Ari smiled.

“I’m sure it is Mr Thomas.”

Ari nodded and then gestured towards the dining room, indicating one of the tables. “Shall we?”

Bowen turned to the two people who were with him and with a jerk of his head they moved outside. Ari watched them go before he nodded and the two men made their way over and settled at the large table the team usually ate round. Ari grabbed them both a bottle of water from the fridge at the far side of the room and settled in a chair, his elbow leaning on the back of it, as relaxed as he could make himself. They made small talk until Hannah and Rachel, or Rosa and Angela even, having had Aziz fix some crudités and hummus brought them out and dropped them onto the table before they too moved outside to take some to the two other unannounced guests. As Ari watched Hannah then walked back past them into the kitchen, and he returned his attention to Bowen, trying to appear interested, all the time simply waiting to find out what the man had actually turned up for. “Well... the hawks are demanding stricter Sharia law. Nimeiry is increasingly paranoid.” Bowen spoke, dipping a carrot into the hummus. “If you ask me, this entire country is a fucking tinder box.”

“Really? We don't really feel that out here.”

“No?”

“No.”

At that they both looked up as Hannah walked back into the room with a jug of iced tea and placed it in the middle of the table.

“Thanks honey.” Ari smiled at her as he reached for it “You wanna join us?” He paused and glanced at Bowen who gestured with his hand to say he didn’t mind so he poured 3 glasses and Hannah sat down at the seat next to him. Ari sat back in his chair, his arm casually draping over the high back of hers, her hand dropping to his thigh, fingers curling around the curve of the muscle, gently squeezing. He was tense, she could feel it. She softly rubbed his skin and his hand moved slightly in response, the pads of his fingers began tracing random shapes on the top of her arm.

“State's sent cargo planes for us, ready to evac in the event things take a turn for the worse. Oh. -And this refugee crisis, it's... it's really not helping.” Bowen shook his head as he looked at Ari, then Hanna, who met him with a blank look.

“Refugee crisis?” Hannah frowned.

“Yeah, you have entire refugee neighbourhoods just disappearing.” Bowen gestured with his hands “Into thin air.” “And that’s bad?” Hannah’s voice was puzzled. “Refugees are normally viewed as a burden, I’m not following.”

Clever girl… Ari looked down at the table, scratching his head

“The UN offers a stipend to the Sudanese for every refugee they house, so when people start to disappear that's just... bad for business.” Bowen finished matter of factly.

At his blasé tone, Hannah felt herself growing a little angry at the way he was talking about real life people. Her people more specifically, as if they were nothing but commodities to be traded.

“Well…” Ari cut in, “The only crisis we face is whether or not we catch fresh lobster.” The three of them laughed as Ari shook his head. “Just kidding.”

“Well, I just got back from Gedaref, where the Mukhabarat had executed another 30 people.” Walton Bowen deadpanned and instantly the mood around the table changed. Cold washed over Hannah and besides her Ari shifted ever so slightly in his seat, the smile slipping from his face. “This is quite serious.2

Ari inhaled deeply and raised his eyebrows, he was done. They had a mission to prep for, and now more than ever he had to make sure that it was a success especially as his prediction seemed to be coming true- the net was closing in on them now and who knows how long they had. “I'd like to stay and chat, but I gotta get back to work.” He spoke, looking at Bowen.

“Yes, we have dinner to do and some night diving to prepare.” Hannah added.

“Sure. Okay.” Bowen nodded as the two of them stood up “Enjoy the...” he waved at the food on the table with his other hand as they both walked towards the exit, but Walton said something else that stopped them both in their tracks.

“Kabede Bimro, right?”

Ari glanced at Hannah, the pair of them hastily covering their shock with what they hoped looked like a confused glance and Ari shot a look at Bowen “Excuse me?”

“Hmm? Oh I just think it's such a funny name. Kabede.” The man shrugged.

“Yeah…” Ari made a face as if he found the whole thing baffling, before he turned back, his hand dropping to Hannah’s back but before they could move Bowen spoke again.

“And what about Ethan Navon…”

Hannah gave a little start. It was slight, an almost imperceptible slip, but a slip none the less. She swallowed, recovering, and turned to look at Ari, frowning.

“Guy, do you know what he’s talking about?” she asked.

Ari shook his head “Not a clue Firefly” he used her nickname in the hope it would calm her, and also to play the whole situation as naturally as he could. He looked at Bowen “I really have no idea who these people you’re talking about are, should I?”

“You tell me”

“I wish I could.” Ari gave a chuckle, shaking his head again, and giving Bowen a look that he hoped made the man believe that Ari thought he was crazy.

“You know, Mr Bowen…” Hannah spoke again “It’s getting late and it can get dark out there pretty quickly. If you’d like a room for the night we can fix it.”

“Not necessary, but I wouldn’t mind a look round.” Bowen shrugged “Maybe I’ll come stay sometime in the future, that is if I’m still in the Country, of course.”

“Go ahead” Ari nodded “Just shout if you need us.”

At that the pair of them made their way as calmly as possible from the dining room and into the kitchen, where the rest of the team was congregated. “What's the CIA doing here?” Sammy asked, “What did he want?”

“I don't know.” Ari ran his hand over his beard.

“He mentioned Dad, Sammy. Hannah looked at him.”

“I heard” Sammy nodded.

“I think he was trying to warn us.” Hannah shrugged.

“Fuck! He knows about Kabede.” Jake slapped his palm on the side behind him and Ari stood up tall, looking through the doorway at Bowen before he turned back.

“We gotta go.”

“No, this is just so fucking stupid.” Sammy shook his head “Tell Kabede it's too dangerous. We'll pick it up in two weeks when we have a chance to assess the threat.”

“We have 200 people—“ Ari began to protest but he was cut off by Sammy

“Yeah, and we'll have 200 people less if we fuck it up.” He hissed.

“For fuck's sake, Sammy, will you just trust me for once?”

“Well, if we're doing this, we need to leave now.” Hannah spoke, looking around “So what's it gonna be?”

Max, who hadn’t spoken a word since Ari and Hannah had joined them, swallowed the sandwich he had been eating and wiped his hands on his shorts “We go.”

“That simple?” Sammy looked at him and Max turned to Sammy, fixing him with a stare.

“Yeah, that simple.”

#leave no one behind #ari levinson #ari levinson x ofc #ari levinson fanfiction #red sea diving resort #red sea diving resort fan fic #chris evans characters

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