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snezfics-n-shit · 4 years

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Whumptober Day 26: Faint

Fandom: Ace Attorney

Characters: Godot, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Franziska von Karma

Notes: Post-SoJ, Godot has recently been released from prison. Phoenix and Maya take him out for burgers and ketchup catching up. Human socialization? For Godot? He’ll take it. Too bad there’s someone who wants to ruin his fun.

“Don’t you think your first restaurant visit after prison should be something, I don’t know, nicer?” Phoenix stared at the Burger Barn menu. Was this really Godot’s idea? The coffee served there wasn’t even that good. “Miles offered us a reservation at a five star place downtown.” At least at somewhere more high end, the brand new suit Phoenix bought specifically for this event would have been appropriate. He still wore it, but it was definitely out of place.

“Are you saying this place isn’t nice, Nick?” Maya gaped in feigned hurt. “How could you!?”

“Yeah, how could you, Nick?” Hearing Godot call him ‘Nick’ made Phoenix uneasy. Maybe ‘Trite’ had a nice ring to it after all. “This isn’t for me, anyway. It’s for the Master.” Godot shot an affectionate smile at Maya. “Mia’s so proud of you. I promised we’d take you here once they released me.”

“Yeah, she didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but I got her to tell me!” Maya laughed. “Sorry Pearly couldn’t make it, by the way. She and Trucy are comparing admissions essays tonight.”

“Who?” Godot stared at the two. “I know Pearl, but who’s the other one?”

“Oh, Trucy? My daughter.” Phoenix presented Trucy’s senior photo he kept in his wallet. “She’s around Pearl’s age, actually.”

“What the hell!?” Godot raising his voice caught the attention of the other patrons in line. “Then why didn’t you drag her around and put her in harm’s way at Hazakura Temple?”

“She’s adopted.” Maya corrected him. “I made the same mistake, honestly.”

Did Phoenix even look old enough to have a biological daughter Trucy’s age? Who would be Trucy’s mother if she was his? He certainly wasn’t surrounded by women during the year Trucy was born.

“I think I’m going to pick out a place for us to sit.” Phoenix excused himself. “I don’t want anything, so you two can order without me.” Now that he had essentially been spoiled with home cooking, Phoenix had little interest in fast food. That, and he wanted Maya to understand how it felt to deal with a notorious fry thief.

He found a clean table next to the booths. There were four chairs, so he could use the extra one to hold coats unless someone from another table asked to use it. He couldn’t help but notice a familiar shade of blue in the corner of his eye and tried to pretend he wasn’t there.

“I know you can see me.” A woman in the booth next to him spoke. “How foolish to think you can call ducking your head ‘hiding.’”

“Oh, uh,” Phoenix laughed nervously, fully acknowledging the woman, “hi, Franziska.”

“You look frightened.” Franziska observed, not at all realizing that maybe, just maybe, it could be the whip sitting beside her. “You shouldn’t be,” she glared at Godot standing in line, “but he should.”

“Who? Godot?”

“He shouldn’t be here.” She stuck up her nose.

“Is he not actually released from prison?” Phoenix blinked a few times. “Did we accidentally help him escape?”

“No, he’s been released. He should be at home.”

“So, he’s on house arrest now?”

“No, he-” Franziska stopped herself and looked away as soon as Godot and Maya approached the table with their food; to put it more accurately, Maya’s food and Godot’s coffee cup.

Wait, was that some kind of string dangling around from the cup?

“Hi, Franziska!” Maya greeted her, completely blowing any attempt of cover. “Since when did you eat at Burger Barn?” She wasted no time after setting down the tray to start digging in.

“I don’t.” Franziska answered flatly. The bacon cheeseburger with the works, apple pie, and strawberry shake on her tray said otherwise. “I, um,” her ears looked red, “was told to order something if I wanted to sit here.”

“How’s Adrian doing?” Maya tilted her head before grabbing a handful of fries. “And why are you here ‘just to sit here?’”

“She is well, thank you.” Franziska took a sip of her shake. “She’s overseeing some renovations to our home right now. As for why I’m here, I have been tasked with monitoring Godot’s wellbeing until we’ve found someone suitable for helping him adjust to life out of prison.”

“You missed me that much, Princess?” Godot smirked. “After your chat with that author, you just had to see me again.” He took a brief sip from his cup, his hand obstructing Phoenix’s view of whatever was attached to the string.

“You really went through with that book deal?” Maya hummed. “Is that why you moved back here from Europe?”

“I did go through with it, yes. I left Godot’s apartment to discuss some things with that fool in the beret, but I told him I would only be out for a few hours.” Franziska took another, bigger sip of her shake. “I was on my way back to his apartment when I was informed he left home without my knowledge.” Franziska frowned at Godot, who was already confused why Phoenix was staring at him for so long. “Don’t even try to change the subject again, either. You know very well why you shouldn’t be here.”

“Doesn’t mean I care.” Godot shrugged and then directed his attention to Phoenix. “And what’s with you? I know you’ve seen a tea bag before.” His body swayed slightly in a way that didn’t look at all voluntary.

A tea bag? Wait.

“You should care.” Franziska stood up, preparing for what she saw coming a mile away. “You were explicitly instructed to stay home and monitor your temperature on an hourly basis.”

“We both know that’s overdoing it.” Godot leaned on the chair next to him.

“You were also told that if your fever went up, you would need to go to the hospital.”

“Are you sick, Godot?” Maya gently tapped Godot’s shoulder, causing him to lose some balance. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal.” As if only to prove him wrong, a sensation crept up in Godot’s chest, prompting a barking cough that he had worked so hard to suppress; he had done such a good job doing so, too. “I was going to go home right after this.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Franziska commanded. She took a quick bite of her burger before she grabbed hold of Godot from under his arms. “He pulled this with Adrian when she checked in on him earlier. I refuse to allow a fool like him manipulate anyone with such lies, especially not my wife. I also will not stand for whatever foolish escape tactics he roped you two into employing.”

Phoenix reached for Maya’s fries while everyone was so caught up in the distraction, only to find she had managed to wolf down both her burger and all her fries while he wasn’t paying attention. With an inaudible sigh, he put on his coat, considering the group was likely going home soon.

“Actually, um,” Maya fidgeted with one of her hair beads, “we just picked him up like normal. We never would have guessed he wasn’t supposed to leave home.”

“Figures.” Franziska pursed her lips. “I’m going to hazard a guess that he’s been regularly dismissing himself to ‘watch videos of seals’ as well?”

“Hey! How did you know?” Maya looked surprised as if by the third time Godot was ‘sent a funny seal video,’ it wasn’t at all weird. “He said it was a habit he developed in prison.”

“So he was going to the bathroom just to cough?” Phoenix asked. “That’s actually better than what I was thinking.”

“You are disgusting! How foolish do you need to be to-” She suddenly felt Godot become much heavier in her arms. As she expected, his fever caused him to collapse. “Wright,” She hoisted an unconscious Godot over Phoenix’s shoulder, “you are to carry him to the limousine.”

“Why me?” Phoenix grunted as he carried Godot; just staying in place like this was doing a number on his back. Not only was Godot heavy, but there was no doubt his fever was high. Phoenix felt sweaty on every part of him that Godot touched.

“Because I said so, that’s why.” Franziska gave such a strong argument, no wonder she was considered a prodigy prosecutor early in her career. She must have attended the same law school as Phoenix’s mother. She huffed as she hurriedly put away the rest of her meal in the to-go bag, grumbling something when she heard Phoenix and Maya share a chuckle over her ‘required purchase’ story being a flat out lie. She pulled out her phone and tapped on a few touchscreen buttons. “Our ride will arrive shortly. We’re taking him to the hospital, so don’t expect a ride home so soon.”

“Wow, we’re going to the hospital in a limo!” Maya said as if this were some kind of amusement park attraction. “That’s so cool!”

“Maybe we, uh,” Phoenix adjusted Godot’s position over his shoulder, “should refrain from calling a trip to the hospital ‘cool.’”

“For one thing, at least, I agree with your foolish boss.” Franziska collected her things as she led the two conscious parties to the exit, paying no mind to the crowd of patrons who stared in fascination with the spectacle. “You do still assist him, yes?”

“Well, not really since I became the Master of Kurain, but it would be really fun to assist him again.”

“I see.” Franziska hailed the limousine that approached the parking lot. “If you should ever consider assisting me on an international case, Adrian and I would be more than happy to bring you along.”

Phoenix wasn’t allowed to open the door, as demonstrated by the driver stopping him before he could even try. When the driver at last allowed the group in the vehicle, Phoenix and Maya found themselves amazed by the spacious interior. It would be an understatement to say the back was just the right size for Godot to lie back in.

“I’ll consider your offer, but something’s been bothering me” Maya held her hand to her face.

“What? Besides Godot’s cough?” Phoenix didn’t bother pushing Godot off his shoulder as he felt the edge of Godot’s visor pressing against him. “Or how sweaty I’m going to be if he keeps radiating this much heat?”

“I just think Godot could have used a good whipping!” Maya declared, surprising Phoenix and making Franziska laugh until she snorted. “I mean it! That would have told him he should go home!”

“He could have, yes.” Franziska patted the feverish ex-convict on the back. “The whip is retired, though. I just take it around as a habit.”

“No way!” Maya’s volume was toeing the line of potentially waking Godot. “Maybe you’re sick, too.” She jokingly felt Franziska’s forehead. “You feel fine, but something’s up.”

“It just does not fit in where I want my life to be right now.” Franziska spoke matter-of-factly. “Am I not allowed to improve myself?”

“I never thought of it that way.” Something about what Franziska said felt familiar to Maya, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Didn’t stop you from threatening me with it whenever I got out of bed.” Just as the conversation reached its softest point, it was too late to prevent Godot from regaining consciousness. “For a more pressing matter, why aren’t we at Burger Barn?”

“You collapsed!” Franziska raised her voice. If Godot was awake, why bother toning herself down? “We’re taking you to the hospital. You’ll likely need another breathing treatment and you are not making any excuses this time.”

“Do you think I can use the whip if he tries anything?” Maya grinned. “Why let it gather dust?”

“I’d like to see you try.” Godot laughed, but soon enough there was that cough again. “This cough makes me miss being unconscious.”

“I don’t blame you.” Phoenix looked out the window, watching the scenery move along and keeping an eye out for landmarks that could tell him how close they were to the hospital. “That cough is pretty bad. Never heard one quite like it.”

“You know what?” Godot leaned back into the position he was in before he came to. “I’m going to wait and see if I can pass out again.”

“Then Nick can carry you again!” Maya clapped her hands together.

Phoenix had one thing to say to that.

“Objection!”

#whumptober #whumptober 2020 #sickfic whumptober alt #snez attorney

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singledadchronicles · 4 years

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It’s an Introduction

Hello All Who May Someday Stumble across the Tumblr,

This is going to be my introduction. First and foremost if you feel like reaching out, you can call me M. I am currently 28 years old, divorced, and have a young child. I was married for just short of 9 years to someone who told me on her way out that she wished we never would have gotten married at all, it ruined her life. I am going to post a lot of stuff on this blog that I won’t even tell my family about. Real feelings I have had, do have, and day to day thoughts. I’m not usually one for introspection but I do find that I need to be to move on with my life.

I am also going to try and stay away from talking badly about my ex-wife. I loved her and even if for what ever reason she didn’t love me back I won’t speak negatively about her. I promised that to myself so that my daughter will not think anything less of her mother. So that extends to here on the off chance that someday she grows up and stumbles across this blog and begins to read about her dear ol’ dad.

I guess I can give some more information about me. I am from the Mid-West area of the United States of America. I am a Conservative leaning Libertarian. My blog will not deal with politics or anything in that realm so please don’t hold that against me. I am a veteran, having served just 20 days shy of my five year mark with the Worlds Greatest Navy, USN. I am a proud veteran and served with many great men and women during my time.

Better background now on why this blog will go on. I am a single dad. I know there are single dads who blog, vlog, tiktok, youtube, run websites, what ever. But I think for the most part my experience is unique. I married my wife when I was 19 years old, twenty two days after she graduated high school. She was 18, I was 19, and I knew from the first moment I kissed her that I was going to marry her. Maybe that was my mistake. We moved to the town where she would go to college and I worked for a pharmacy as a shift supervisor. Around September 2012, I was only making about $500-$600 a month and we couldn’t survive, I asked for a raise or to be trained for promotion two days before the company came out and said the max salary for a hourly employee was now only going to be $.50 more than what I was already making.

I was in a recruiters office the next day. My ex-wife and I were infatuated with one another. In March of 2013 I left for bootcamp and A-School. When I got my orders to my first duty station my ex left school and moved with me. She gave up her dream because I wanted to provide for my family. Of note, I begged for her to stay and complete her degree. Two years would seem like nothing if she could come to me with her degree and then we could both really work on careers we were enthralled with. She refused and moved. I don’t blame her or hold it against her, it is just what happened.

I will be honest about myself too. I am not an easy man to deal with. When I get angry or upset I need time to cool down so that I don’t say something I do not mean or something in a hateful way that was not meant in that vain. My ex-wife however is a get the problem over quick and get past it type personality so we clashed a lot. We NEVER laid a finger on each other. But we were not mentally good to one another. I can take my blame in that. I was a young guy and I did not have great control over my emotions. I still at 28 struggle (Part of putting this blog out here) to control my emotions. But through it all we fought for one another more than we fought with each other.

We struggled for three years with infertility, we tried to be a if pregnancy happens it is meant to happen couple so no protection was ever used after we got married. We found out in early 2014 that my ex had PCOS. We fought that battle together. She took injections and we had to have a schedule of when the best time to have a baby was. After three failed attempts of IVF (We got pregnant once but the baby was not a “viable pregnancy” and we lost that embryo after 8 weeks) we took a break. Again we said if it was meant to happen it would happen. So in late 2014 we told the doctor that we wanted to do an aggressive treatment, that this would be our last shot before we looked into adoption. IVF and infertitlity are much harder mentally than anything else and my ex and I were worn out. Thankfully that “Last ditch effort” paid off and my ex got pregnant. We welcomed my beautiful child into the world in 2015 and she has been the light of our lives sense.

In 2016 thought my own personal tragedy struck. On October 3rd of that year I was changing my child’s diaper at my parents house on leave from the Navy in between duty stations. I was transferring to a base close to home and was very excited. Suddenly I felt a pain in my stomach and asked my dad to take over the diaper change (he never changed grandbaby diapers) he saw something was up and jumped in as I took off for the restroom. I sat down on the toilet and next thing I knew I was on the floor of the bathroom looking up at my dad and he was asking if I needed an ambulance. My reply (according to my dad) “Yeah I think so cause I have no clue how I got down here”. I tried to get up but pain shot through my body again and next thing I knew I was surrounded by paramedics and they started to tell me to relax I was having a heart attack. To just keep breathing and that I was going to be fine.

I waited in an emergency room for pain meds, so long that I apparently got so frustrated I snapped one of the handrails off the bed. They refused to give me pain meds because they thought I was just a junkie trying to get my fix (It’s in my charts that the refusal for medicine was because I was showing physical signs of being an addict). At the first hospital I was treated until midnight (approximately 15 hours) like I had pneumonia. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me. I was taken to an ICU as my oxygen levels dipped and it was at midnight that the doctor on staff looked at what is called a lipase level and saw that it was over 13,000 (Normal lipase for an adult male is between 40-50) and had me medevac’d to a different hospital so that I could be taken care of.

What I actually had was Necrotizing Pancreatitis. Basically my pancreas was revolting against my body and trying to kill itself and take others with it. A massive revolt against my body. I remember only three things that happened next. Getting to the second hospital and having them not give me pain meds again until they assessed my situation, a doctor telling me that I could die and asking if I had a living will to take care of my wife and daughter, and that same doctor coming back and asking who had permission to make any calls on my behalf. The last part I raised my head what I could and pointed at my dad (who was with me this whole time) and my wife. They video recorded that so if anything happened they had evidence.

I spent the next 14 days in a medically induced coma. When they finally brought me out of it it took 9 nurses and two doctors to take out my breathing tube because I was fighting them so much. I can say I spent 90 percent of the next year of my life in a hospital. I missed my child’s first birthday and barely got out of a hospital in time for their second. Also during 2016 my ex-wife’s mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer. So my ex was not only dealing with me being in and out of the hospital but also her mother.

I’ll talk about her mother more in another blog post. She was an amazing woman.

It was at this time thought that I think my world really started to spiral. I was told I would no longer be able to serve in the military (right as I had really felt I was getting the hang of it and wanted it to be my career). My medical retirement took a little over a year to process and finalize and I was retired 20 days short of my five year mark in the Navy in 2018. That was the first time I felt really lost.

My ex-wife became an esthetician around this time and I became a stay at home dad. Anyone who knows me would tell you that this is not in my nature. Not that I don’t want to spend time with my child, but I have always seen myself as the provider, the patriarch, and the “Man of the house”. You may not like it but it was how I was raised and it’s a value I still hold. Fuck off if you don’t like it.

So I started a management job at a retail company and whenever my ex wasn’t working I was. This was probably the start of the deterioration of our relationship. We started seeing one another just long enough to argue, eat, or have sex. It was one of the three, period, the end. We went on like this for a little under a year.

In December of 2019, 7 days before Christmas, as my ex and I woke up to go to school (we had moved back to where she had started college so she could finisher her degree and I could do my degree as well) she looked me in the eyes and said “I don’t love you anymore...I want a divorce.” At that moment I felt like it was out of nowhere. I yelled, I cursed, I felt betrayed, abandonded, and hopeless... I went to class, took my child to school, and for the next three days came home to a woman who didn’t want to be with me anymore and wasn’t willing to let me try and fix anything. She had made up her mind, and had a million reasons why. Her biggest being that she didn’t love me anymore and she couldn’t put her child through to parents pretending to play house.

Now here I am, 6 months post divorce (we separated the weekend before Christmas and our divorce was finalized the first of January), trying to figure out dating as my ex wife begins her plans to move in with her new boyfriend and start her new life. I am still single, still depressed, and still not over her. I’m trying to be, and my ex and I have an exact split schedule for our child. We probably have the most legit 50/50 custody of a child ever and that’s really nice.

This blog is to help me move on, to express my feelings somewhere, where I don’t have to be afraid of telling the truth about myself and what I am going through. This was the introduction of what could be a very fun experience for me. Lots of stories and even some more background to come.

Thanks for Reading,

#single #dad #singledad #divorced #divorcedunder30 #depression #PCOS #USN #Navy #infertitlity #ex #problems #writer #student #father

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jarienn972 · 7 years

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The Recreant - Part Two

I had hoped to have this chapter up last week but a household of people with colds got in the way. I’ll try to get part 3 posted early if I can.

Complete story available on AO3 and FF.net.

Part one here

12:58pm

More than four and a half hours later, Killian's condition was finally stabilized – at least for the time being. Whale had painstakingly pieced together what he could of the fractured section of the pirate's rib cage then repaired the damage to his left lung to the best of his ability. The lung had collapsed from the trauma, but it would re-inflate over time. His spleen had been another story with portions of it damaged beyond repair from bone fragments so Whale had made the decision just to remove it, knowing it would cause few adverse effects later. It was better for him to live without it than run the risk of it slowly killing him with tiny hemorrhages.

The bleeding within his chest cavity was now under control, but his head injuries were going to require close monitoring over the next few hours. As the doctor had expected, the CT scans showed deep bruises and some minor swelling beneath his skull. So far, there was only a slight trace of intracranial bleeding, but there were definitely troublesome spots that bore watching. Whale had alerted the Radiology team that they'd need hourly scans and he was to be paged at the first sign of any anomaly. Whoever had accosted Killian in that alley hadn't exactly been gentle and there was no doubt in his mind that this was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

Dr. Whale took a moment to check on his patient who'd just been moved out of recovery into Intensive Care, noting the work his surgical team had done to attend to Killian's other, less life-threatening wounds. The deep slash across his face had been closed with sutures and covered lightly with gauze bandages. They'd also uncovered an injury that had gone previously unnoticed as it had been less obvious – his blunted left arm was fractured just above the welts in his skin where he fastened the leather prosthetic device that he utilized to attach his namesake hook. The location and severity of the break made it appear to be a defensive wound, but it hadn't been discovered until they'd gone to remove the prosthetic and found the deep purple bruising beneath. Whale had instructed them to splint the fractured limb, but with Killian unconscious and facing a slow recovery, he wasn't overly concerned about fully immobilizing the break with a cast. There were far more worrisome things to focus on.

He didn't linger long in the room before heading to the nurse's station with was conveniently and purposefully situated in the middle of the floor surrounded by the patient rooms. He'd begun giving some instructions and making some quick notes on Killian's chart when he noticed David Nolan exiting the elevator, wondering if the Sheriff had been waiting around the hospital for the past few hours.

"Whale – just the man I need to see," David stated as he saw the doctor standing next to the island-like desk in the middle of the floor.

"Sheriff," Whale greeted him as David approached him. "I apologize for not acknowledging you earlier this morning. My attentions were otherwise occupied."

"No apologies necessary. I expected you to have been focused on treating my son in law, but now I've got a few questions for you."

"I assumed you might," Whale said, directing the Sheriff toward an unoccupied room where they could speak with more privacy. "Have you been in touch with your daughter yet? There's a note on the chart that stated my staff haven't been able to reach her."

"She's in Boston," David explained. "She sent everyone a text message this morning to tell us her cell phone battery was dead and she wouldn't be able to charge it until after the parole hearing she's testifying in. As far as I know, she still has no idea what happened because I'm still getting her voicemail myself."

"Hopefully, one of us will be able to speak to her soon. She needs to know what's going on."

"I agree and I intend to keep trying to get through, but for now – what's his prognosis?"

"Is this on or off the record, Sheriff?" Whale wondered so he could phrase his answers accordingly.

"Let's start with on the record," David replied, hoping the clinical answers would be easier to process.

"Condensed version – he's in extremely critical condition, suffering multiple head injuries, fractured ribs and a fractured arm. We just moved him out of recovery after surgery to repair those fractured ribs and the organ damage caused by splintered bone fragments that had caused severe internal bleeding. At the moment, he's doing better than I had expected, but it's way too early to make any long term speculation. Emma will likely be able to heal a lot of the injuries once she gets here, but my job is to keep him alive until then and we're keeping a close watch on those head injuries."

David had to take a moment to determine what to say next, finally deciding to stick to the evidence he'd collected. "I went back out to the scene after you took him into surgery and found a bloody ax handle not far from where Hook was found in the alley. Would that be consistent with his injuries to be the likely weapon?"

"Definitely consistent, although I can't say it with 100% certainty. All I know is that whoever did this knew what they were doing. He was fortunate…"

"Fortunate?" David scoffed. "Right… From what I saw out there, he didn't look all that fortunate. Just hoping that he managed to fight back and got a piece of his attacker."

"All of his clothing and personal effects were bagged by my team in case you needed them as evidence. I'll have someone fetch them for you, but as far as defensive wounds go, I didn't notice any scrapes or bruises that would indicate he'd attempted to fight off his attacker, but his broken arm could be considered a possibility if the arm was fractured in an attempt to defend himself."

"What about his hook? Anything to indicate that he struck his attacker with it?"

"He didn't come in with it," Whale informed him. "We assumed that either the paramedics removed it before transport or you'd retained it as evidence at the scene."

"Not that I'm aware of," David replied. "I certainly didn't take it, but I hadn't even noticed that it was missing. I'll have to head back out to the alley and see if I can locate it."

"It's certainly a possibility that it was displaced during the attack. If he swung at his assailant using the hook as a weapon, it could have been dislodged from the blow that fractured his arm."

"Which means that it's pretty likely that he got a piece of his attacker," David stated, done asking questions as Sheriff and now switching gears to be the concerned dad. "Off the record now, Whale. What are his chances?"

"It's just too early to say for sure, David," the doctor admitted. "He's in bad shape. This was sheer malice. Even if he survives, there could be long term challenges ahead."

"That's what I was afraid of," David sighed and as he started to say something else, but was cut off by an urgent page that blared over the loudspeaker.

"Dr. Whale – you're needed in ICU 1 Stat!"

David's face blanched as the realization hit him that the patient in ICU 1 was very likely his own son in law.

"I've got to go. Duty calls," Whale stated. "Please tell Emma to call me as soon as possible." The sheriff nodded in response as the doctor disappeared through a doorway just steps away. Whatever was happening in that room, it was clear that they'd wanted to advise Whale in the privacy of the room because the nurse certainly could have approached him in person. Probably meant it wasn't good news.

David remained there staring at the glass partition for a few minutes, fumbling through his pockets to find his cell phone. He didn't know if he was waiting there to try to catch a glimpse of what was happening or if he was just immobilized from the overwhelming emotion of all that had happened this morning, but either way, he finally forced himself to move and took a step toward the elevator as he retrieved his phone and re-dialed Emma's number once again.

"Emma – call me as soon as you get this," he said to her voicemail. "Killian's been hurt and we really need to talk to you. Just call me, okay?" David realized as soon as he disconnected the call that he'd referred to his son in law by his given name. He generally still referred to the pirate as Hook, but this time, his real name had slipped out. That snafu alone was sure to garner Emma's full attention. She'd definitely know that something serious was happening if her father was referring to her husband as Killian instead of Hook, but as her father, David couldn't think about that right now. The best thing he could do was to head back to the crime scene and take charge of the search for Killian's missing hook.

As he entered the elevator, he made the mistake of looking back toward the room to see Whale and two other hospital employees pushing a gurney through the double doors at the end of the corridor, presumably toward the operating room that was indicated by signage on one of the doors. He almost hit the button to re-open the elevator doors as they closed before him, but he stopped himself. There wasn't anything he could do to help the situation here. It was his job to track down Killian's attacker and just stay back so that Whale and his medical team could do theirs.

2:35pm

All Emma could think of right now was that the hearing was almost over. She'd given her testimony hours ago, but was waiting for the District Attorney and the Parole Board to excuse her and then she'd finally be on her way back home. Sitting in the uncomfortable metal chair, she kept thinking about her stupid, currently useless cell phone back in her jacket pocket. She could just kick herself for forgetting to bring the charger. God, she felt so cut off without it. Who knew what was going on back in Storybrooke? Seems like every time she left town for a day, all hell broke loose so hopefully, the town would still be standing by the time she could finally call or text Killian or her parents.

A little before 3pm, she was finally allowed to leave with a brief thank you from the Assistant District Attorney.

"Ms. Swan, I mean, Mrs. Jones. Sorry, I keep forgetting about your name change," the ADA said as she approached. "Thank you so much for coming all the way down here for this hearing today. I knew your input from the perspective of a bounty hunter, skip tracer – whatever you preferred be called, would be so valuable to keep this guy behind bars."

"I suppose no one would know how much of a flight risk he was better than the bondsperson who had to track him down twice," Emma smiled, being polite, but really wanting to get out of this building soon.

"I'm sure you're anxious to get home so I won't hold you up any longer," the ADA said. "Sorry about all the delays, but at least you should be able to get back to Maine before dark."

"I hope so. I'm looking forward to a very special evening with my husband."

"Well, then have a safe drive and please accept the thanks of the entire District Attorney's office."

The actual parole decision really didn't affect her, but she'd done her job, reminding the system of the inmate's flight risk. If she'd had to chase him down twice, odds were he'd try again, but that was now put behind her as she hurriedly navigated the maze of corridors back to the entrance where she could collect her checked personal items. That process took another ten minutes – not that she was counting, but she was so relieved when she was back inside her yellow bug ready to start the drive. She'd lived in Boston long enough to know that traffic was already going to be horrific so she estimated that it was probably going to be three or four hours to get back home with at least an hour of that spent getting through Boston proper.

As soon as had she settled herself back behind the steering wheel, she went fishing for the cigarette lighter charger and got her phone plugged in. She knew it would be a couple of minutes before the battery had enough power to actually turn it on, but it was comforting to know that she'd soon be back in touch with reality after being out of sorts for nearly 24 hours. Rather than stay in the State Prison parking lot while she waited, she decided to put a few miles between herself and the depressing institution. A little donut shop a few miles away caught her attention and she eased the car into their parking lot figuring she'd get some decent coffee for the drive. She made a quick trip in selecting a glazed donut to munch on and a large cup of strong black coffee, then for a few minutes after her purchase, she sat in her car outside the shop figuring she should probably check and respond to any messages before hitting the road.

And almost immediately, she wished she hadn't.

There were three voicemail messages and about half a dozen texts. Most of the text messages were unimportant – quick responses to the message she herself had sent out that morning, but one from her father was a bit worrisome. It simply read Call Me ASAP. That could mean any number of things coming from her father so she decided to wait a moment before calling him to see what the voicemail messages were about. The first message was disturbing enough. It had come in at 8:15 that morning – only a few minutes after she'd sent out the text to her family and powered her phone off.

"Mrs. Jones, this is Nurse Carter from Storybrooke Hospital. We need to speak with you urgently. Please call us back at your earliest convenience." The nurse went on to leave a contact phone number, but Emma had already tuned it out. Storybrooke Hospital? Why were they calling her so early on a Monday morning? Combined with her father's urgent text, she knew something was wrong, but she didn't know exactly what it was until she listened to the second message. It was from her father and he'd left it about two hours ago:

"Emma – call me as soon as you get this. Killian's been hurt and we need to talk to you. Just call me, okay?"

Killian's been hurt.

Those three words echoed in her ears. Her father called him Killian, not Hook. His use of her husband's given name was startling, setting off every warning alarm in her brain that this was really bad and the glazed donut she'd just eaten was beginning to churn her stomach. But now she'd reached the last message and it sent chills down her spine. It had been left by Dr. Whale just a matter of minutes after her father's call.

"Emma, Dr. Whale here. I'm not able to go into a great deal of detail over the phone, but you need to know that we're taking your husband in for emergency surgery for the second time today. I would have preferred to wait until you got here, but the bleeding inside his cranium has gotten too severe. His condition is extremely critical and we need to speak with you as soon as possible. I know you're out of town, but please call me as soon as you're able." He left a different call back number than the one the nurse had provided so it was likely his direct number.

Now she was distressed. She was still hours away from home and Killian needed her.

Her father's words – Killian's hurt.

Whale's words – condition extremely critical. Bleeding inside his cranium?

What the hell had happened? She quickly tapped the speed dial button for her father's cell phone and waited anxiously for him to answer.

"Emma! I was hoping you'd call back soon!"

"Dad – I got all of the messages – from you, from the hospital…What's happened?"

"There's still a lot we don't know, but what I can tell you is that Archie found Hook in an alley by the docks this morning while walking Pongo. Someone had beat the hell out of him and left him there by the warehouse."

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, wondering how this could have happened and who might have done it as she tried hard to maintain her composure in the busy donut shop parking lot. "Any idea who attacked him?"

"No idea. All that has turned up so far is a grainy video from a security camera at the cannery showing someone following him around dawn. The angle of the camera didn't catch the actual assault and there just wasn't enough detail on the black and white image to make out a face or any other distinguishing feature."

"Whale's message said they were taking Killian for emergency surgery – something about bleeding inside his skull, but he didn't give a lot more details. Can you tell me what the hell happened to him?"

"Looks like the attacker hit him multiple times with an ax handle. There's no way to know for sure, but I'd guess at least three or four pretty vicious blows to his head and body. You'd have to talk to Whale to get more specifics, but suffice it to say, it's pretty bad."

"I knew it was going to be bad as soon as I heard you call him Killian," she said with a slight sniffle. She was trying hard not to cry while in view of so many other customers, but a single tear found its way down her cheek.

"I was afraid you'd pick up on that," he said, hearing the painful crack of her voice. "He's in good hands. Whale wouldn't dare risk your wrath."

"I know. I'm just struggling a little bit with the irony that I'm entrusting Dr. Frankenstein to perform surgery on my husband's brain…"

"Yeah, I guess I can understand how that would be a bit unnerving…"

"Okay, I've got to get on the road. I'm still several hours away. Call me back if you hear anything new. I'm going to see if I can reach Whale and get any more details out of him."

"Okay. Just drive safe. We'll see you in a couple of hours."

3:22pm

What David hadn't shared with his daughter was that while he was speaking to her, he was standing next to the exact spot where Archie and Pongo had found her husband that morning. With some assistance from Leroy and a few of the other dwarves, he'd ordered the entire alley sealed off from Main Street to the furthest corner of the warehouse where it met the harbor front and the vicinity remained taped off as a crime scene. Until he'd had a chance to search the whole area for evidence, he was keeping the alley cordoned off and at this moment, the most important evidence he sought was a missing steel hook.

In the midday sun, the shiny steel should have been an easy find, but it was proving to be far more difficult a task than he'd anticipated. Common sense dictated that if he wasn't seeing any sunlight reflecting off of polished metal, the hook must be obscured by something which meant it was likely closer to the warehouse than in the middle of the alley or along the harbor so he was concentrating search efforts around the building itself. He also was well aware that despite not knowing much about the locking mechanism that was used to hold the hook in place, it had taken a substantial amount of force to dislodge it so he was trying to visually imagine how far it could have been thrown when Hook's arm was struck and fractured. Unless the assailant had taken it with them, it had to be close by.

His efforts were also being hindered by the alley itself. With so much construction going on both on the neighboring street and at the warehouse, the whole area around the back entrance of the warehouse where the attack had occurred was littered with debris and piles of broken and worn out equipment that had long ago overflowed the dumpster. It was in one of these junk heaps that Killian's attacker had found the ax handle that had been their weapon of opportunity, but if the missing hook had found its way into one of these piles, it was going to take a while to locate.

Knowing it wasn't going to be able to cover the entirety of the crime scene, David and the dwarves had each taken a section of the alley around the warehouse to search. Each of them knew that finding this particular piece of hardware could be the key to finding the person responsible for the malicious attack. It was still a lot of real estate to search, but hopefully, they'd be able to find it before Emma returned from Boston.

"Anything yet?" David asked as he tucked the phone away, still replaying his conversation with Emma in his head.

"No sign of a hook," Leroy replied gruffly, "but I'm gonna need a tetanus shot after digging through all of this rusty stuff."

"I'll make sure we get those provided," David replied. "And if you see anything else that seems out of place, let me know. Anything could be a clue as to who attacked Hook."

"How did someone manage to get the drop on the pirate?" Leroy wondered, well aware of Hook's fighting skills. The man certainly wasn't an amateur so someone getting close enough to catch him completely off guard was a bit unnerving. Would someone else be the next target?

"We don't know. The warehouse security camera on this side of the building was out of commission so there's no video of the actual attack, but a camera over at the cannery caught a grainy image of someone following Hook, so it's likely that he was targeted specifically. So far, no witnesses have come forward and we can't exactly ask Hook because he's still unconscious."

"Is he going to make it?" one of the dwarves asked knowing that the pirate was part of Charming's family and in many ways, part of their own extended family through their long relationship with Snow White.

"We don't know that yet either," David sighed. "Last I heard, he was in surgery again so it's too early to say. For Emma's sake, I sure hope so though."

"Emma knows?" another dwarf asked.

"Yes," David responded. "She does now. She's on her way back from Boston, but I had a chance to talk to her. I'd just like to have a lead on a suspect by the time she gets back here."

"She's gotta be a mess," Leroy stated in his unique, matter of fact manner.

"Emma's tough. She seemed to handle the news fairly well, but she's got a long drive ahead of her – a lot of time for her thoughts to get away from her, but they have been through far worse. I just can't imagine that Hook didn't get in one good defensive strike against his attacker…"

"We're looking…," Leroy reminded him. "We're looking…"

David shook his head with a little half smile as he switched on his flashlight and began searching his chosen area around the steps leading up to the warehouse's unused - and currently barricaded - rear entrance door. Sheets of plywood and plasterboard were leaned against the metal railing which had certainly seen better days before the salt-laden sea air had rusted it nearly through. How it was even able to support the weight of the plywood was a mystery, but one for another day he reminded himself. Of course, he was more interested in the pavement around and beneath the stairs than the rickety steps themselves. The asphalt here was covered in a scattering of broken glass which sparkled in the beam of the flashlight. Rusty nails, old screws and an assortment of other odds and ends were also strewn about. Lots of little metal objects, including many David couldn't identify, but none was as shiny as the one he sought – until something reflected back a flash of light.

He passed the beam back over to where he'd seen the reflection, and once again, a bright glint of light shone back at him from the surface of something partially beneath the staircase and partially beneath the building's foundation.

"I think I've got something over here!" David shouted. "Someone bring me another light!"

All too eager to stop digging through the refuse, Leroy quickly produced a flashlight and hurried over to the stairs where David was keeping his own light focused on an object just beyond the stacks of plywood.

"You see something?" Leroy asked as he trained the beam of his flashlight toward the same spot and there was without a doubt a shiny, most likely metal object poking out from a space beneath the crumbling concrete block foundation.

"Think you can reach that?" David asked the dwarf.

"There's a lot of junk over here, but let me see…," Leroy frowned as he pushed a broken slab of sheet rock out of his path while keeping the flashlight aimed at the object. "Looks like the right shape," he stated as he crouched down next to the stairs and reached around a sheet of plywood into the opening with his gloved hand. Knowing it could be valuable evidence he gingerly grasped it with only his thumb and forefinger and pulled it free. "Sheriff, we have a hook," he stated as he held the shiny metal up for David to see, then as he stood back up, he passed the hook to the Sheriff who treated it with the same degree of caution.

It was unquestionably Killian's missing hook and as David gave it a quick preliminary examination under the flashlight, there appeared to be a smear of dried blood across the sharpened point.

"Looks like our pirate did get a piece of his attacker after all," David smiled, thrilled to have one little bit of positive news to take back to his daughter. "Now we just need someone to match it to."

Author’s Note: Please forgive any inaccuracies with medical terminologies. I tried to research as best I could but took some artistic leeway as well.

#csff #cs ff #cs fanfic #captain swan fanfiction #captain swan ff #captain swan #the recreant #cs fan fics #captain swan fan fic

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webdesignersolutions · 5 years

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So this is going to be a really long post and the TLDR is that I’m not sure “what to do”. I’m going to cross post this on several different subreddits because I’m getting advice from people in real life but I think really that I need to talk to people online to make the advice objective. I am going to dox myself hard so anyone in my field who reads this will know who i am and thus this is a throwaway.

I’m at a moment where i’m like “what next”.

The situation: So around 2005-2006 I was able to restore web services to a significant number of domain names and hosting packages, setting most up with Google Apps back when it was free, after a natural diaster, i’ve kept most of them all since then. The stats are below.

The 3 main services i provide are web site design, 99% wordpress, a dozen or so static sites still on my legacy dreamhost account, the majority of them on my veerotech server and all new clients going on wpengine just because…well, i like them. We also host web sites and do branding/design work as well.

Domains: At 241 domains, my domain registration is pretty standard pricing $34.99 minus whatever enom takes, i think it’s like $10-13 per domain per year? The thing with domains is they are a bitch to move for non tech/web people so they tend to stay with me, with people just paying it because it’s a hassle to unlock/request epp, transfer, get the transfer going, etc. The only issue is that enom keeps going up in price and i’ve never raced my price since 2005 but enom bumps their prices up over and over and it’s almost not worth the hassle of dealing with it but it’s kind of just something i have to provide if you are a web host or a web site designer. Also having it all under one roof makes me kinda more attractive in a sense and honestly i like being the registrar so i don’t have to deal with clients calling because they didn’t pay godaddy for a domain renewal because they thought “we handled it”.

241 active domain name registrations at $34.99 with enom so very little profit there but i kinda “have to do it”…

Hosting:

151 active clients in my whmcs account, lots of free hosting given to non profits in exchange for publicity at events,

1 dreamhost account as a legacy type server, mostly static sites – $19.99 a month

1 web server with veerotech – 213 cpanel accounts, lots of accounts are just cpanel accounts that forward to another site so it’s not as bad as it looks KVM VPS-400 – Managed Managed VPS $327.99 USD Monthly

1 web server with wpengine for new clients – 15ish sites – $290 a month

Whmcs install license/support – $whatever

I have a lot of $35.00 a month clients left over from 2005. This is almost 15 years without a single price increase, in fact the service has gotten better since i took it over. I’ve setup lets encrypt on existing clients to get them the free ssl, etc as well. We have a ticket system that is monitored by my overseas employee who takes care of 99% of the updates to the site such as content, etc. I’ve tried over the years to get clients to make the changes to the sites themselves or a office manager but I’m starting to wonder if the direction to go in is more of a concierge thing where they just submit changes and they are done and there is no hourly nickle/dime situation.

Veerotech has been great support, good uptime, really can’t recommend them enough but with the cpanel price increase causing a huge ? in the web hosting world, i’m really wondering if they are going to increase their prices just because.

Wpengine is the cadillac of web hosting in my opinion and I’ve bumped up my web hosting prices to $49.99 a month for new clients but it’s still amost not enough for basically unlimited content updates, etc.

My problem is that i have certain clients that i never hear from but they cut me a $400 a month check a year for web hosting that requires absolutely no support, etc. Mostly the static sites they don’t want to redesign, just easy money.

Everyone says i should raise my price etc but i’m so afraid of losing a $400 a year per client on mailbox money client because i rose my price and made them think about it and shop around. Cutting off your nose type situation. I’ve often thought about just moving the price up on every client but doing it in waves so i might lose more hosting clients but if i move it to $99.99 a month then maybe it comes across as “better service but more expensive”. This also gets into the clients that are condo associations and stuff that don’t update their web sites ever, just a static point of presence site on a $20 a month dreamhost account, why lose that money?

Design: I have a overseas developer/designer who makes incredible work. We do logo and branding around $750 for 4 logos, cards, kind of a basic branding package. Seriously amazing work.

We’re known for our wordpress designs tho. I charge about $3,500 for a wordpress site, they are all custom but i follow a equation with call to action items, etc to try to make them as effective as possible. I pay my web design team about $1,300 a month to create this work.

Please understand I’m scared to dox myself too bad on this but this is roughly what my market charges, i’m in the united states so don’t say “oh i charge $10k a site and live in L.A.” please, this is all relative.

Internal Marketing: I was paying someone locally to update my facebook/instagram/web site blog to try to get more organic search, also paying about $500 in PPC with google. I got a few cold calls from it but it just didn’t turn ROI enough so i had to stop. I’m thinking about starting back up with PPC in september to try to get more work in to try to turn this ship around but i’m so far in debt that i’m nervous going even farther. I talked with someone who can do a email marketing campaign with 100% verified emails, etc but i can’t really make a move on marketing until summer ends and my local market picks up. I’ve tried BNI many times and it just seems like a lame/weak way to get clients and the time it takes is insane. I network in other groups and what not but it seems like so much effort for so little reward.

The issue: My problem is i’m just not making enough money to support it. I have a mortgage note, child support, a office lease, car payments. I’ve taken loans to do balance transfers on credit cards but i really feel like i’m in a borrowing to pay situation. I know most people in this world are in debt in a sense but mine just seems to continue to get worse and worse. The city i live in has the worst insurance of the country, the cost just to live here is insane with rent and mortgage prices.

I’m a “local” web designer so if i do decide to just liquidate my assets and move, i start over from scratch which is tough at my age(i’m 40).

I don’t even know where the latest version of my resume is. If i did update it, i don’t really have a history of work since the last job i had was in 2006-2007 before i went back to freelancing full time. I’m not adverse to moving and starting new, it actually sounds amazing but I’ve lived for so long with the freedom of being self employed that it would be weird to just say “i didn’t do it right and now i sit in a fucking cubicle in a boring city”.

I just don’t know what to do. I’ve posted before about selling the domains/web hosting for a bulk sum and walking away from it and just focusing on design work, which is where the profit really seems to come from and totally walk away from “hosting” all together. Outsource hosting for everyone and just say “if you call me and need something i need you to pay in advance and we’ll do the design work, otherwise call godaddy or wpengine because if you want me to do anything it costs money up front”.

The problem is then it’s totally all design work and zero residual mailbox money from web hosting. The domain name stuff is even worse. It’s so little profit but over the years so many of my clients just call me first before even thinking about calling godaddy or anyone else.

Overall I’m feeling a real sense of dread. I have loans that i’ve taken out coming up due soon and i just can’t seem to bring in enough money. I’d post my monthly budget and people would tell me i’m spending too much on my car, house, etc but i really try to live within my means.

I’ve had people offer to buy it outright and i can just walk away and maybe keep the design business going but remove all the overhead of servers and the hassle of dealing with domains even tho that’s pretty much automated. The hosting is mostly automated as far as invoicing goes, etc but it still almost seems too much of a hassle vs profit.

Also the way hosting seems to be going, i almost just want to lose 90% of my clients by bumping up my pricing but i don’t even know what the value of the service I’m offering even is at this point?

Anyway, cross posting this to a dozen subreddits because i need advice.

Submitted July 14, 2019 at 04:21PM by bigblackboots https://www.reddit.com/r/webhosting/comments/cd9sqh/web_designhostingdomain_business_in_need_of_advice/?utm_source=ifttt

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webdesignersolutions · 5 years

Text

Web design/hosting/domain business in need of advice

I’m at a moment where i’m like “what next”.

The 3 main services i provide are web site design, 99% wordpress, a dozen or so static sites still on my legacy dreamhost account, the majority of them on my veerotech server and all new clients going on wpengine just because...well, i like them. We also host web sites and do branding/design work as well.

241 active domain name registrations at $34.99 with enom so very little profit there but i kinda “have to do it”...

Hosting:

151 active clients in my whmcs account, lots of free hosting given to non profits in exchange for publicity at events,

1 dreamhost account as a legacy type server, mostly static sites - $19.99 a month

1 web server with veerotech - 213 cpanel accounts, lots of accounts are just cpanel accounts that forward to another site so it’s not as bad as it looks KVM VPS-400 - Managed Managed VPS $327.99 USD Monthly

1 web server with wpengine for new clients - 15ish sites - $290 a month

Whmcs install license/support - $whatever

Design: I have a overseas developer/designer who makes incredible work. We do logo and branding around $750 for 4 logos, cards, kind of a basic branding package. Seriously amazing work.

I’m a “local” web designer so if i do decide to just liquidate my assets and move, i start over from scratch which is tough at my age(i’m 40).

Anyway, cross posting this to a dozen subreddits because i need advice.

Submitted July 14, 2019 at 04:21PM by bigblackboots https://www.reddit.com/r/webhosting/comments/cd9sqh/web_designhostingdomain_business_in_need_of_advice/?utm_source=ifttt from Blogger http://webdesignersolutions1.blogspot.com/2019/07/web-designhostingdomain-business-in.html via IFTTT

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webdesignersolutions · 5 years

Text

Web design/hosting/domain business in need of advice via /r/webhosting

Web design/hosting/domain business in need of advice

I’m at a moment where i’m like “what next”.

The 3 main services i provide are web site design, 99% wordpress, a dozen or so static sites still on my legacy dreamhost account, the majority of them on my veerotech server and all new clients going on wpengine just because...well, i like them. We also host web sites and do branding/design work as well.

241 active domain name registrations at $34.99 with enom so very little profit there but i kinda “have to do it”...

Hosting:

151 active clients in my whmcs account, lots of free hosting given to non profits in exchange for publicity at events,

1 dreamhost account as a legacy type server, mostly static sites - $19.99 a month

1 web server with wpengine for new clients - 15ish sites - $290 a month

Whmcs install license/support - $whatever

Design: I have a overseas developer/designer who makes incredible work. We do logo and branding around $750 for 4 logos, cards, kind of a basic branding package. Seriously amazing work.

I’m a “local” web designer so if i do decide to just liquidate my assets and move, i start over from scratch which is tough at my age(i’m 40).

Anyway, cross posting this to a dozen subreddits because i need advice.

Submitted July 14, 2019 at 04:21PM by bigblackboots via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/webhosting/comments/cd9sqh/web_designhostingdomain_business_in_need_of_advice/?utm_source=ifttt

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