#he crossed that room pretty fast to check on his rick

[smurphyse]

Zero the Weirdo | Eddie Munson

Smurph's Masterlist | Zero to Hero Masterlist

Warnings: nudity, Eddie's first time seeing a naked woman o.O, skinny dipping, fear

Summary: You take Eddie down to the pond for some physical therapy... and something unexpected happens.

Eddie isn't sure when exactly he woke up. All he knows is he's been laying in bed for hours now while Zero putters around in the cabin. 

She talks to herself a lot. She's even doing it now though the sun is only just beginning to rise. It peeks through the window above Eddie's head, and for the first time he notices the sun catcher dangling from the ceiling that glows on the far wall. 

It, like nearly everything Zero seems to be interested in, is shaped like a plant. Eddie doesn't recognize it, but it's a big one in a pot with splits in the leaves. The glass is stained with different colors, and when he angles himself up enough to eye it, it looks handmade. 

Tools lay around the place in buckets and bins, stray book piles litter the floors. They're all well-worn and well-loved, dog eared pages and stains on the covers. Plants grow through the cracks in the floor and ceiling, trailing behind shelves and through the bed posts. They’re everywhere, from pots on the floor to little coffee mugs nearly bursting with dirt and flora.

She'd shown him where the bathroom was after his crying fit last night, fed him tomato soup in bed. It was amazing, but Eddie's tear-swollen eyes and hiccuping meant he never got around to telling her that. 

Zero waited patiently outside of the bathroom each time he used it, waiting until he knocked on the door to open it and help him hobble to the bed. By the time he was ready to fall asleep, she was lightning fast ready with a clean blanket and a first aid kit to check his wounds. 

She told him the stitches were healing well, that he was doing a good job, but Eddie spent the rest of the night in contemplative silence. Much as he was now, he stared at the ceiling from the mattress as his mind raced a thousand miles a minute. 

Do they really think I'm dead? Does Wayne? Did they tell him or is he still waiting for me to come home? 

His heart twisted in his chest each time his uncle crossed his mind. Eddie knew he could have called him when he was hiding out at Reefer Rick's, but the thought of dragging him into all this when Wayne had clawed his way out of the life of crime that always seemed to plague the Munson’s settled heavily in his gut. 

Eddie's father, Edward the Asshole, was in jail more than he wasn't, and Wayne bailed him out when he could. This last time he was arrested for armed robbery, back in 1975 when Eddie was ten, Eddie was in the car. Wayne never bailed Edward out again and Eddie stayed with him ever since. 

He raised Eddie, and now Wayne was spending his nights like he had with his father…waiting for him to come home safe and without handcuffs. All this time Wayne wanted Eddie to be better than his father, and Eddie was wanted for multiple murders and cult sacrifice. 

"Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga. Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga…" plays in the other room. Eddie scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

Pretty girls have the worst taste in music. Zero is no exception, weird as she is even without her good looks. Her voice filters through to him as she excitedly sings along to the song, "I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me! Girl, you just don't realize what you do to me."

Eddie finds himself smiling as she steadily gets louder. Sometimes it's like she forgets he's there, nearly screaming along to her music. He knows when she remembers as he'll hear a gasp and a shit! And then the music will get softer as she pads around doing whatever she's doing. 

She puts up a guarded front around Eddie, but over the last night he's listened to some of her more… quirky parts, to put it nicely. She babbles to nobody most of the time, hardly sleeps, and listens to a lot of music from decades ago. 

"Shit!" she snaps, and the music fades. Her perpetually bare feet pad toward the door - Eddie's yet to spot a pair of shoes besides his own torn up combat boots in the corner of the bathroom - and Zero's face appears as she tries and fails to peek around the door frame. 

Eddie lets his head roll to flash her a smirk and a wave, "Concert's over?"

Her face flushes to a sweet red color and she bites the bottom of her lip. "I forgot you could hear me."

"I'm not the only person you've talked to in eleven years, am I?"

Zero shakes her head adamantly, "I talk to Stoney Hightower at the market when I bring him produce."

"Stoney's pretty well-known for being the 'silent type', so he doesn't really count."

Now she shrugs and makes a face, "Whatever."

Zero stands there awkwardly, tapping the doorframe and looking around. Eddie just waits as she gathers up whatever gusto she needs to speak again, and finally she walks in and sits on the edge of the bed. 

She eyes the scars on his chest much like she had last night, but he can see her mind churning. "You up for some physical therapy today?"

Eddie squints at her, but when Zero meets his gaze she beams mischievously. "What do you have in mind?"

Zero squeals and jumps a bit in her spot. The springs of the bed creak in protest but she doesn't seem to notice. 

"You're gonna love it!" she grins happily. "It's my favorite spot in the Haven."

I lead Eddie out of the cabin and around the back when the sun rises. He leans heavily on me, his arm slung over my shoulders. 

"It's okay if you're not up to it," I say as we stare down the hill where the garden lays. To get to the pond we have to go around it and through a few trees. "I'm not pushing you to do this."

"You said I've been in bed for two weeks?" he asks, but his breath is patchy. Heavy. 

I nod, "An unconscious two weeks, but…"

"I've got people waiting for me, Zero. If you're not going to come back to the real world to help keep me alive, then I have to get better before I leave here."

"Oh-kay," I sigh. If he wants to go we'll go. I start to lift him with my powers so he doesn't have to walk all the way down, but Eddie clutches my shoulder joint in a death grip that nearly makes my knees buckle. "Ow! Munson what the fuck?"

Eddie stares at me, his dark eyes stern and fierce. "Don't carry me. I can walk."

I lean on one hip and glare back the best I can with him draped around me. I shake his waist, "Not really. You scared of flying? Most people think it's a superpower."

"I don't have any power over it, do I?" he snaps back, but a strange smirk plays at the corner of his lip. My stomach churns at the sight…but it also oddly feels nice. "I feel like the boy in the plastic bubble except I don't have the bubble to roll around in."

"Your friend lives in a plastic bubble?" I ask, making a face. "Why..?"

"Not my friend," he sputters, "it's a movi-. I thought you've been in the outside world. You listen to a ton of music."

"Alecia Hightower gave me a bunch of cassettes a few years ago in exchange for some pot. You think I'd spend money on a movie?"

"What else do you spend money on besides entertainment?" he asks, his brow cocked. It raises and a grin peels open across his cheeks, "Did you say pot?"

"When you can roll a joint on your own with those busted hands," I say with a false smile he glares at. "You can have some of the primo weed I grow."

Eddie thinks about that and nods. "Zero?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a weirdo. I kinda dig it."

The heat that rushes to my face is so foreign for a moment I think I'll pass out, but Eddie's warmth under my baggy clothes that are still too small for him grounds me. I try to hold back my smile but fail, so I look away. 

"Get on my back," I decide, but he pulls away a bit. 

"Your back? You're like four feet tall. I'll crush you!"

"I'm adult sized. You'll be fine, c'mon." I slip my arm from his waist and pat my thighs, and it's hard to miss Eddie's eyes flashing down my top as I bend down. I do it again, "Come on, Munson. I don't have all day."

Eddie lets out a grumble and a sigh, but he does as he's told. I hear the sharp gasp that leaves him as I lift him a bit with my powers to keep him in place on my back. His legs wrap around my waist and his arms encircle my neck like a collar until I tap his arm to ease up. 

I take some of his weight so he doesn't feel like he's being carried by my powers, so by the time we make it down to the pond I've got a nice sheen of sweat forming over my forehead and the back of my neck. The flannel sticks to my back as I lower Eddie to the ground, and he marvels at the place I've built. 

The water here is still contaminated, so years ago I dug out this section in the enclave of trees. I bought a giant pool lining at an estate sale for fifty bucks, patched it, and set it in the hole. Filling it with water took the longest, and when it gets dirty I use my powers to pull the muck out and toss it further into the trees. 

An army of trees stands guard, hiding it in plain sight. The only opening is the view up to the garden and cabin. My vining plants have trailed out here and bloom in the small patches of sunlight through the leaves, a large patch in the middle of the water. I even made steps out of stone to walk into it. 

"I made it myself," I declare proudly. 

"Holy shit," he mutters, then looks down at his-my clothes. "I don't have a bathing suit."

"So?"

"So…" Eddie starts, cocking his stupid eyebrow at me. "You just want me to swim around naked in front of you? That's not fair."

I cross my arms and lean on my hip. "What are you talking about?"

He mimics my stance like an asshole and points at my flannel. "You've seen mine but I haven't seen yours."

Oh, I realize. He's talking about my body. 

I shrug, "Then I'll get in with you."

His face turns beet red as I start to work at my buttons. I stop. He didn't grow up in a lab. 

"Is that okay?"

His eyes widen like saucers, pupils dilating visibly in his dark eyes. "Uh…yeah. Yeah, we'll- yeah."

I watch Eddie curiously as I unbutton my top and shrug it off. His jaw drops as it crumples to the ground, his eyes going glassy and wide. I know he's looking at my boobs but to ease some of the awkwardness I'm feeling I gesture to the long tendriling scars on my belly that match a few of his. 

"I was my first patient, you were my second. Sorry about the shit job I did."

Eddie stares for another few moments before picking his jaw up from the ground. It snaps shut and he shakes his head, "No, you look… wow. It's good."

His cheeks flush a deep red as he nods uncomfortably. I loop my thumbs under the waistband of my underwear and push them down. When I stand back up he's gone a plummy shade of purple, but I wave a hand at his clothes. 

"Go on."

Eddie slips his hands under the waist of his sweats, then waves a hand back at me. "Turn around."

My jaw drops in exasperation, "Are you kidding me?"

"Just-, c'mon," he begs softly. I can see the outline of his boner underneath his pants, and I know he doesn't want me to see it. "I've got a situation here."

"How are you gonna get in if I can't see you? You don't want me to lift you."

"Just do it," he snaps, so I oblige. I let my hands flap down to my sides and head for the pond. 

The warm water encircles my ankles as I head down the little steps. I wade in until the water reaches my shoulders, listening for Eddie behind me. I hear the shuffling of the old cotton hitting the grass, then a curse. I cock my head to the side, "Do you need help?"

Eddie's pants grow heavier as I hear him try to take a few steps. "Fuck, just lift me."

I sigh knowingly and flick my wrist behind me. Eddie's breath huffs from his chest as I lift him the best I can without looking at him and bring him toward the pond. A sharp yelp erupts from somewhere above me. 

"Holy shit!" he yells, just before I see a flurry of flailing limbs and long curly hair dropping from the air. Eddie hits the water with a loud splash, staying under for a second before bursting through the surface. 

"You…are an asshole," he pants, and I can't hold back my childish giggle at the way his hair sticks to his cheeks. 

"You try lifting something you can't see. It's not as easy as it looks."

It takes a few minutes of me swimming around for Eddie to forgive me, and then we spend an hour or so doing simple exercises. I have him walk back and forth across the pond, holding onto me for support when he needs it. We do some leg kicks in tandem, but Eddie draws the line at much else, complaining the whole time. 

I'm surprised he did as much as he did, to be honest. I haven't finished his healing internally, but I want to keep his muscle mass up. He wasn't very big to begin with and he's already lost a good amount of weight. 

I help him to the edge of the pond and lean him against the lip. I put a steadying hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna go get your clothes."

Eddie waves an exhausted hand and leans his head on his forearm, "I won't look."

I look back to see if he's sneaking a cheeky glance, but instead he's trying to catch his breath. I whisk the water off my skin and grab my underwear and flannel, slipping them on quickly. As I'm buttoning up my shirt I notice something peeking through the leaves of the trees. My fingers still as I stare in shock.

A deep purple stream of darkness filters through, blighting the foliage with particles of dust. 

A piece of Henry in my safe Haven. 

A panicked chill seeps into my bones as I reach out to touch it. It's freezing cold, shadowing my fingers in the decay that encompasses the Darkness outside. Goosebumps form along my skin, terror settling heavy in my gut. 

I need you, sister, his voice flashes through my mind. Come see me. 

Blood drips from my nose as I reseal the dome over the Haven. It takes more effort than anything else to keep up the sunshine and warmth, and my head goes a bit hazy as the heat filters back through over my hand. 

"Zero?" Eddie's voice comes from behind me, and I quickly wipe my nose before turning back to him. He's watching me with tired eyes, his body trembling. "I think I need a nap."

"Tired you out, huh?" I grin, then head back over. He doesn’t need to know how close we are to total Darkness. It would only frighten him more.

I help Eddie out of the pond and swish the water from him like I did myself. He shudders and clutches my shoulder tightly, "That felt really weird."

"Gets the job done," I shrug. I keep my eyes averted as I help him into his clothes, then put him on my back again and carry him up the hill. 

Eddie's eyes droop as we enter the cabin, and by the time I put him in bed he's already half asleep. I cover him up and close the curtain over his head, then turn to go back into the living room. 

"You think I'm gonna be okay?" he asks quietly. His voice is small, afraid. I tap the doorframe and come back over to sit on the edge of the bed. 

"I think it's going to take some time, but one day you'll be okay. You'll never be the same, though."

He gazes up at me through bleary eyes, hardly able to keep them open. His hand comes up to grip my flannel, and I watch as he runs his thumb along the buttons. "Henry did that to you, didn't he?

"I did a better job on you than I did myself, Eddie. Just give it some time," I whisper, eyeing the scars on his fingers. He'll always have them. They'll be his constant companion for the rest of his life. 

"You can come back to the real world with me. I have friends… they can help."

I watch the earnestness in his eyes for a moment. It's so honest it hurts. Something twists deep in my chest and I have to get up and head for the door. 

“You don’t have to be alone, Zero.”

"Get some sleep, Munson," I say, and when I look back he's already out like a light. 

Letting out a sigh, I close the bedroom door softly. I snatch the radio off the counter and head for the middle of the living room. I pull the rug back to reveal the crawlspace and open the latch, then drop down inside. 

It's dark down here no matter what time of day it is. I can't even stand, so I sit on the cushion I laid on the dirt a long time ago and close the lid. Darkness covers me like a blanket, and I turn the radio to static and close my eyes, taking a deep breath. 

The white noise surrounds me, dropping me into a pool of nothing. There's no feeling, no scent, no sound. Nothing but black. 

When I open my eyes, there he sits. He's not the monster he became, or even the little boy I met so long ago who became my big brother, eight years older than me. He's the man I knew who helped me escape, the one who freed me from Papa and his torture. 

"Hello, Zero," he says in that voice that sends chills down my spine. His grin peels open like a scar, all white teeth and ice blue eyes, sitting cross-legged in his white jumpsuit. "It's been a long time."

It takes a few moments before I answer. I swallow down my paralyzing fear and the thickness in my throat. I sit up straight like he taught me and set my jaw. 

"Hello, Henry."

Smurph's Masterlist | Zero to Hero Masterlist

Notes: OOOOHHHH HELLO HENRY o.O

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@tlclick73 @theloser007 @sadbitchfangirl @chaoticcancer  @harrys-tittie @assassinsasha23 @spacedoutdaydreamer @legendarytrashcopeclipse @notahappystan

#Zero to Hero #eddie munson x f!reader #eddie munson x oc #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #virgin!eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #smurph writes #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfiction #Eddie Munson/OC #ocapp #ocappreciation #ocfairygodmother #eddie munson imagine #stranger things #stranger things fanfic

[thomas-s-magnum]

#this is really cute #he crossed that room pretty fast to check on his rick #thomas magnum #magnum p.i. #rick is sick #rick wright #temperature #thermometer #poison

[to-hell-and-beyond]

“On The Inside”

Samantha LaRusso x Female Reader

Requested: Yes : No

Request: Sam x fem! Tory’s sister! reader? Enemies to lovers please! Btw, I’m Cherry anon, but call me Cherry!- Cherry

OMG! A Cherry Anon ask! Sorry this took so long, I’m actually pretty proud on how this turned out.

Summary: What first starts out as protecting your sister turns into a full on Karate Battle. Little did you know what a kiss can do...

Words: 2375

“Y/n!” Your sister screamed. She had never wanted this to happen to you. Karate was her thing, in order to protect you. But here you were lying on the cold hard floor, bleeding. It was her fault, if she had just let you go and not drag you into this you could still be ok. It all started with a fight…

“I just don't want to treat Miguel like you treat everyone else!’ Sam shouted at your sister, as  she pointed her finger at her.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Tory shouted enraged. How dare this brat come here and mess with her love life and then accuse her?

“Tory?” You called out from the back door. Both girls then turned their attention to you. Standing there before was a girl, with the most beautiful hair you have ever seen. She kinda looked like a goddess. You both locked eyes before your sister interrupted.

“It’s nothing Y/n, let’s go in now.” She told you as she pushed you past the LaRusso girl. You tried to ask your sister more about her but she wouldn't budge.

“I just want to be no more Tory.”

“You want to know more?” Tory asked as she got up from the couch. “Shure I’ll tell you more. That girl is one of those rich stuck up girls, I tell you to stay away from. She’s a bitch that thinks she’s better than everyone else and can get all in my face.”

Tory then finished her rant and walked away, leaving you to stand in the middle of the living room. Was Sam really all those things? Guess beauty is really on the inside.

You were walking to school like you always do before you looked to see some of the popular students. With them was Sam. You frowned, still thinking about what your sister had just told you about her.

“You’re Y/n right? We have biology.” Sam said as she came up to you. One hand on her hip as she flashed an award winning smile at you.

“Um, Yes. Can you, um leave me alone please?” You quietly asked as his smile turned into a frown. 

“What? Why?” She kept on asking as she blocked your way. She had just met you now, why did you want her to leave?

“My sister told me to stay away from you.” Just as you said those words clicked in her mind. You were the girl that called Tory’s name, Tory must be your sister that’s why you must have wanted her to leave.

“Wait, your Tory’s sister?! So you're just gonna listen to every word that comes out of her mouth? Like some sort of pet?” You were outraged that she had even said those words. 

“Excuse me? My sister told me to stay away from you because she knew you would act like this, and it's really disgusting that you do.” You told her as you pushed past her to make your way to school.

From that point on you and Sam were enemies. You weren’t as bad as her and your sister, but you two still had bad blood. What was worse is that no matter what she did you still had feelings for her. Even when she said those bad things to your Sister you still liked her. And for that you hated her.

“I have another Karate practice, so make sure to pick up Mom’s pills ok?” You’re sister told you as she grabbed her bag and handed you the prescription.

Next thing you knew you were standing in front of West Valley pharmacy. You waited for it to be your turn as you looked and checked your texts on your phone. The line wasn’t moving that fast  as you would like so it looked like you were going to be there for a while.

“Yes Mom...Don’t worry...I’ll be fine...Love you to.” You heard the familiar voice of Samantha LaRusso behind you. Yu locked eyes as she moved to stand behind her.

“What are you doing here?” You asked. Why on planet earth would a spoiled rich girl be standing in line for medication. Maybe she was a drug addict?

“I could ask you the same thing.” She fired back as you two waited for the line to move.

“Hey Rick.” You said as you passed the familiar pharmacist the prescription. He smiled up before handing you the orange bottles.

“Make sure your Mom takes it twice a week right?” You nodded as he flashed you a smile. Sam looked you way as he mentioned your Mom but you ignored her. You didn’t need to add fuel to the fire.

You waited outside as you texted your sister when practice would be over. She had the car and the next bus wouldn’t be available till 8. The ringing of the bell chiming, made you look up from your phone to Samantha LaRusso coming towards you.

“I’m sorry Y/n. I had no idea that your Mom was so sick.” You looked down as she apologized. You didn’t really believe that it was from her heart and you really didn’t need her sympathy.

“Well it's not like I wear a shirt saying “Hello, my Mom is super sick” Sam.” You fired back. She looked down before looking up to meet your eyes again.

“I-I just want to tell you Y/n that the way I’ve been treating you is wrong. My fight is between me and your sister. You're being the good sister standing up for her like that, I’m the one at fault and I’m so sorry.” She apologized, but this time it seemed to be from her heart.

“Tell that to Tory then.” You spat as you turned around to go back to your phone. If she really wanted your sympathy, that apology thing she was doing was not going to work.

“I promised my Mom I would drop this off at my friends house. She lives close to you, I can walk with you if you’d like. I know how scary those streets can be when you're alone.” You thought about it for a minute. It would be nice to not have to wait for your sister and if anything ahppens there’s always Tory to help you.

“Alright.” You agreed as the two of you began to walk. It was silent for most of the walk until Sam suddenly stopped walking and turned around to face you.

“I know this is probably really personal and you don't have to answer it. It’s just-there’s a few rumors going around that you like girls and well...I was wondering if it was true.” You scowled as she asked you the question.

“I do, so what?” You snapped as you crossed your arms to look as intimidating as you could. You couldn’t care less what this girl thought of you.

“What did Tory think about it?” Sam asked.

“Why the hell do you care!?” You shouted outraged. Couldn’t she keep all these questions to herself? It's not like you were playing 20 questions here.

“S-sorry I just wanted to now…” She turned around as you both began to walk. She actually kinda looked hurt. Maybe she was actually sorry?

“She was ok with it.” Your answer surprised Sam as she looked up back at you. “That’s actually the reason she joined Cobra Kai. One time a bunch of homaphobic guys came and they beat me up. Tory was mad that she couldn’t protect me so she joined Cobra Kai. Don't get me wrong I was happy, but I just don’t need her to protect me all the time, you know? I’m my own person.” She nodded along agreeing with you.

“But seriously Sam, why do you ask?” You turned around to face the girl as she stared down.

“W-well, there’s this girl at school and I t-think I might like it. I’m just kinda scared. I thought I was straight but here I am.” You felt sympathy for the girl understanding how hard figuring out one's Sexuality’s can be.

“Well I’m here if you need anything.” And true to your word you were. You and Sam began to hang out more and more in private and next thing you knew you actually had formed a crush on the girl. You weren’t sure that she also felt the same way but your feelings were there. 

“Moon’s hosting a party, If you want to come.” You sister invited you. You had actually become kinda close with her fellow Cobra Kais. They were really nice and you felt like a part of their dysfunctional family. 

You guessed the alcohol had taken a toll on you as you found yourself in the backyard of Moon’s home. You didn’t want to be a part of the Cobra Kai vs Miyagi-do energy that was inside. You supported your sister and the rest of the Cobra Kai’s but you didn’t want to be a part of that.

“Hey Y/n.” Sam said as she came over to you and sat down beside you. You flashed her a  sweet smile. You had seen her with Robby and you were kind of jealous. You had liked her longer than that guy had been now she existed.

“ Are you and Robby a thing?” You asked as you took a sip from your cup. Jealous friend/crush mode was now on.

“Robby? Oh no, he’s like my Brother to me and I didn’t tell you this but he totally swings there other way.” You both laughed. Yes you may have been jealous of the guy, but you were glad he knew at least who he was when it came to that. Just imagine the double dates you guys could have…

“Y/n?” Your dreams about dates were interrupted by the sweet voice of Sam. You looked at the way his lips were slightly parted and the way his hair was flowing in the wind.

“Yah Sam?” You breathed as you moved to be closer to her.

“Remember I told you about my crush on that girl?” You nodded, it was the same day you had become friends. What a wonderful day that was…

“That girl...it was you.” Sam whispered as she captured your lisp in hers. There were sparks flying everywhere as you two go more and more passionate about your kiss. Little did you know that you weren’t the only ones there…

Tory was uspatires looking for the extra cups Moon had asked her to get. She was interrupted by the view of her sister making out with the one and only Samantha LaRusso. Tory’s hatred of the girl had ever been as bad as it was at that very moment. That little rich girl and corrupted her sister, brainwashed her. This was just the beginning...that it was.

You were seated in biology class, sitting right beside your new girlfriend Sam. You both mindlessly listened to the announcements before it started to break up. You looked at each other wondering what was going on.

“Samantha LaRusso.” You both froze as you heard the familiar voice of Tory. “You know what you did, and now you’re going to pay for it.” The students around you began to whisper as all the color drained from your face. Had Tory seen you kiss Sam?

“I’m coming for you, bitch!” You were frozen to your seat and Sam rushed out to go find Tory. You knew one thing for a fact...This was not going to end well…

“I saw what you did at the Party.” You pushed past people to try to get to your girlfriend and Sister before a fight broke out but the people around you wouldn't budge.

“You kissed Y/n.” You stood frozen as the students around you began to “Oooh”. Your sister knew for a fact that you never wanted your school to find out you like girls. But she was telling everyone as she looked like she was stalking her prey. 

“Tory!” You screamed, but that apparently I did nothing as Sam froze to look at you as Tory tried to kick her. And just like that an entire fight broke out. People all around you pushing and kicking and punching as you tried to make your way to the girls fighting on the stairs. 

You were worried that Tory was going to hurt Sam or worse. You loved your sister but this had to stop. Nobody needed to get hurt.

“Tory! Tory c’mon stop!” You yelled on the top of your lungs as you pushed past more people. You saw that Miguel and Robby were fighting on the top of the staries, and that Hawk and Demitri were always fighting. Everything seemed to be going to hell.

“Y/n!” Tory yelled. She had kicked Sam making her hit the banister where you were, meaning kicking you off. They say that falling is like rewatching your life. But it wasn’t like that, you were watching a different life. A life where Tory and Sam got along and there was no Karate War. A good life you wished you had.

The crack echoed through the school as you landed on the staries. Blood escaped from your head, you knew you were going to die right then and there. Everyone stood frozen as they looked at your body laying on the ground. Sam was the first moving pushing past Tory to get to her girlfriend.

“Y/n! Y/n! C’mon wake up!” She cried as your body lay flat like that. The only sign of life was your small breaths and the fall and rise of your stomach. Tory stood there speechless as she watched the paramedics make your way to you. This was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to help you not cause you harm. 

Everyone stood still as they transported your body to the hospital. But doing so they left a bunch of morning students. A heartbroken girlfriend, a guilt ridden sister, Karate students wishing that none of this had happened. But no matter how much wishing they did, you were still unconscious, in the ambulance on your way to the hospital. 

#samantha larusso #samantha larusso x reader #sam larusso x reader #samantha larusso imagine #cobra kai #tory cobra kai #tory nichols #robby keene #hawk #hawk cobra kai #demitri #demitri cobra kai #season 2

[hournites]

Take it slow, but it’s not typical

Hournite fluff 

@barrysollie

~.~ 

Beth’s heart was still hammering when she stepped off the stage with cameras flashing in her face. The heavy weight of the gold medal around her neck felt good. Really good. Beth always knew her mind worked differently than other people. Ideas came faster, her thoughts crowded in and then sometimes didn’t even filter fast enough for them to come coherently out of her mouth. But since middle school, Beth has learned to manage, refine, and store information in so many hundreds of thousand mental boxes. It’s natural, an automatic mechanism she uses just to cope with her thinking. It’s crazy that it’s what contributes to scholastic awards. She has a collection of plaques and trophies, and other ribbons of accomplishments for her school competitions in her room from school. But this is the first one she’s tried at the college level, registered as the youngest qualifier for Nebraska State. And she won. 

The girls ambushed her once she weaved her way through the auditorium, stopped five hundred times by professors and faculty for praise and greetings. It was a lot, it was so much, and so novel. At Blue Valley High School, nobody cared about these competitions. The audience was near-empty, only parents and occasional siblings spread throughout the seats with the mandatory judges. But here, Beth was a superstar. She was the centre of attention. It was crazy and awesome, overwhelming and validating all rolled together in an incredible ball of emotion. Courtney threw her arms around her, bouncing on the balls of her feet with an excited squeal before Beth’s own mom could get a word out of congratulations. Beth laughed and nearly dropped her bursary prize, the envelope pressed between them. 

She lets go for Yolanda’s turn, who’s hug is not quite as intense but just as meaningful. “We are so proud of you! That was amazing!” 

“Thanks for studying with me,” Beth said back. 

Yolanda smiled and let Beth step away to hug her dad and mom. They freed her of her certificate, bursary and ribbon so she could have her hands to herself again before mingling with the rest of the crowd. 

They made it out to the lobby and Beth spun around in her blue checkered professional jumpsuit. She tried to level her voice as she looked around. “Where’s Rick?” 

Courtney looped Beth’s arm on one, and Yolanda’s with the other, walking them to a coffee cart. “He stepped out.”

“Oh?” Beth didn’t want to sound disappointed. She had spotted him in the audience between turns, sitting with her back straight on a hard metal chair under the stage lights. “He wasn’t bored, was he?” Beth didn’t think so. 

“No!” Courtney nearly shouted. Yolanda glared at her and reached out to order them all chocolate bars instead of coffees from the cart. “He saw you win! He’s super stoked, he just had to check on his parking spot or something, he’ll be back!” 

Beth didn’t need Chuck to know Courtney was lying, but the high of the event and Yolanda’s nod of reassurance when she glanced at her was enough for Beth to tuck that weirdness away to think about later. She took the chocolate from Yolanda appreciatively and tore into the wrapper. She covered her mouth with her hand when more people stopped to remark on her quick-thinking and bright future, waving at them instead of saying thank you with her mouth full. 

“Where’s your mom?” Yolanda asks. Pat was with Barbara and Mike, talking to some random lady that they ran into who Barbara used to go to school with. Beth shrugged, not really sure, but she had a good hint. “Probably bragging about me somewhere…” 

Courtney laughed and poked at her side. “You say that like it’s a bad thing!” 

Beth’s mouth twitched up at the sides, conceding that Courtney was right. There were far worse things to be embarrassed about your parents. 

Twenty minutes full of bathroom mirror selfies later, they pushed through the wooden academic arched-top doors. 

Someone tapped on her shoulder. Beth turned around in her mini heels and smiled at the familiar face. 

“Rick!” She smiled breathlessly. “Hi!”

His eyes softened in front of her, then flickered down at the medal hanging around her neck. “Hi,” he said back. “Sorry, I had to go...do something. You were great. You’re amazing, Beth.”  

“Thank you,” she replied. She clasped her hands together behind her back, swallowing down the bundle of nerves that suddenly graced her stomach again. Which was really weird. That butterfly feeling always melted away by the time she got in front of a mic. And the competition was over. So why were they making a comeback? 

Rick shifted his weight and ran a hand through his hair, still sporting that soft-eyed grin.. “Hey, do you want to walk with me to my car? I forgot something.” 

Beth turned to confirm with Yolanda and Courtney in case her parents wondered where she went off to, but both were already promising of that before Beth could get the sentence out, nodding their heads eagerly at her. Courtney actually gave her a shove into Rick.

 “...Okay.” Beth got the hint. She should go with Rick. Okay, that was fine with her anyway. 

They walked in silence, which was a bit unusual, but silence isn't awkward between them. Beth fiddles with her medal as they walk off campus. Rick’s yellow Mustang is very easy to locate even a block and a half away from where it sits by a parking meter. At his car, Rick opened the door and pulled something out from his backseat in a plastic bag. 

“Turn around,” he said. 

Beth tried to peer over his shoulder. “What? Why? I don’t care about your car mess.” 

Rick rolled his eyes and gently swivelled her around to face the line of student housing. “It’s just for a second.” 

Beth crossed her arms. “Okay.” 

There was rustling, and then his car closed and a full bouquet of yellow lilies and red roses came in front of her. Rick used his free arm to wrap around for a behind-half hug. The stems were still wet, cut fresh from the flower-shop, according to the sticker against tissue paper and plastic wrap.  His neck right by her ear. “For you.” She could hear the grin in his voice when she gasped. Their fingers brushed when she took the flowers. 

“What!” She spun around to face him and beamed. “Rick!” 

“You like them?” 

He seemed flustered, but that was okay, Beth could hardly contain her awe. 

“These are so pretty!” Beth brought them to her nose to smell. Nobody has bought her flowers before. Not anyone other than her family. Yellow was their favourite colour...And she knew what red roses meant. She blinked back very sudden grateful tears. “I love them very much.” She wrapped her arm around him again. Rick bent down so she could reach for his neck. “Thank you. This was where you ran off to?” 

“Uh.” Rick messed with his hair again. “Yeah. Sorry for making it look like I ditched, I saw the flower shop downtown on the way over and I made a call during the intermission to pick them up.”

“Intermission?” She frowned at him, a little confused. “That’s before I won.” 

“Does it matter? I was going to give them to you anyway.”  

Beth’s heart did a little nerdy summersault in her chest. “Oh,” she said delicately, a bit at a loss for what else to say. This time a tear really did fall down her face. Rick really owned a whole piece of her heart. She huffed out an embarrassed laugh and quickly wiped it away. With a shaky exhale, she reached into her pocket for her phone. 

“C’mere,” she said, beckoning Rick forward for a selfie with her bouquet. Rick leaned into the frame, smiling with Beth at her front-facing camera. Two seconds before her thumb pressed on the shutter, she sucked in a breath of courage and pressed a fast kiss to his face. 

“There!” Beth sent the photo to the JSA group chat, then put her phone away. “Let’s head back, I think my dad said Ms. Woods organized a group dinner to celebrate.” 

Rick’s cheeks were still as rosy as her perfect red flowers. He ducked his head, still smiling as Beth tugged him along back up the street.  “Okay.”

#hournite #hn fic #fluff #prompt #the first time rick gives beth flowers #stargirl #rick x beth #hournites fic #tkv fic

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Stay With Me (Pt. 08 of 09)

Pairing: Daryl Dixon X Reader

Word count: 3 K

Summary: Daryl found you surrounded by the dead, stuck in the backseat of a car. You were wishing for death to take you away for quite a while now, but, as you slid back and forth into consciousness, there was only one thing keeping you alive. Him, the man with blue, worried eyes and kind voice. Your beaten up body was ready to give up, too wounded and broken to keep going. But this man, who went out of his way to save your life is the only thing in the world holding you up. And, because of him, you feel something you haven't felt in a very long time: hope. Wherever he's taking you, you want to get there, and not only to be buried. For what it feels like the very first time, you want to live. He takes you back to Alexandria, but even there, the nightmares and the terror from all the torture and pain you've been through keeps creeping closer, and Daryl, your hero, is the only one who can keep that all away.

Warnings: Mentions and description (not graphic) of past abuse; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); some violence at the end of the story (a little bit graphic, but not so much); blood.

<- Previous part (07)

Next part (09)->

{The Walking Dead Masterlist}

I want to thank my awesome friend @jodiereedus22, who helped me (and still does) a lot to get this story done. She's also a writer and she's amazing so please go check her work!!

×

Nightmare

It's amazing to know you're excited about the party. Luke is two months old, and since you had a welcome party in-store, you turned it into a birthday party. It'll happen later tonight, by nightfall, and you're enjoying the last moments before you have to leave the bedroom and start organizing things.

After brushing your teeth and hair, you leave the bathroom, smiling to see Daryl still lied in bed. He seems peaceful, eyes closed, so handsome in the morning light. You've been wanting to tell him something, it's been a while... But you never get the right time. Or maybe you're just a little scared...

But looking at him now, it just fades away. You and Daryl have been in a solid relationship, and despite the short time, things have been amazing. Perfect. Carol is even talking about moving out, so you and Daryl can have your own space, but you don't want to push her to it. In the privacy of your bedroom, you're fine. And living with Carol is nice.

“Hey, D.” You say in a soft voice, going to the bed and climbing on top of him. Daryl grunts something, his eyes opening, hands coming to your hips and waist. “Are you awake?”

“I am now that a kitten came to lie down on me.” He mumbles as you move up until your face is at the same level as his. You place your legs around his hips, hands sustaining your weight on each side of his head.

“Sorry.” You mutter, moving to stand up. But Daryl's grip gets tighter, and you let yourself fall, collapsing against his chest, giggling. “Alright, alright. But listen up now...”

“What is it?” He brings a hand to your face, fingers caressing your chin.

“Uhm...” Blushing a little, you clear your throat. “I... I think... No, I do.”

Daryl raises an eyebrow, and you can tell he's trying to figure it out on his own. “Ya wanna break apart?” He bursts out suddenly. “ ‘Cause if that's what ya want, I–”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” You say in a sarcastic tone, rolling your eyes. “I'm literally on top of you, Daryl Dixon. How can you possibly think I want to end things?” Moving to sit up, straddling his hips, you cross your arms. “What do you have in this pretty head of yours? Only hunting skills?”

“Yer very funny.” In a sudden motion, Daryl pulls you down again, switching positions so he's on top of you instead. “What is it then?” He asks, his face way too close.

“Can I kiss you first?”

“Nah. Ya got me curious.”

“Alright...” Taking a deep breath, you gather up some courage to push the words out. “I want a baby.” Shrugging your shoulders, you giggle at Daryl's funny face. “What?”

“Don't ya have one already?”

“Yeah...” Mumbling, you wrap your arms around his neck. “Daryl?”

“Huh?”

“I want another baby.” Smirking, you place a kiss on his lips. He's fast to kiss you back, a hand cupping your cheek. “So. What do you think?” You ask when you pull away.

“How are ya plannin’ to get one?”

You're not sure if his intention was to make you blush, but you're blushing anyway. “Uhm... First I need to get married.”

“Get married? People don't care about these things anymore.” He answers quickly, and you wonder if you went too far. Maybe it's way too early, and these thoughts should be kept inside your heart for a while longer.

“I know but... That's exactly why I care.” Sighing, you avoid his eyes. “I'm sorry, we haven't talked about this and I don't even know if–”

“Hey, calm down.” With his thumb and index finger on your chin, he makes you look at him again. You always appreciates Daryl's touch, it doesn't matter how small it is. It took a while for him to get comfortable enough to do this so easily, and you never take it for granted. He's always gentle as if you're a porcelain doll. He's never rough, never violent, not with you. Loving Daryl happened fast and strong, and it's a feeling that only grows, every passing day. “Ya wanna talk about it we'll talk about it.”

“It's just that... I-I love you. With all my heart and... It does feel like we already have this family thing going on and...” Daryl has fallen into this father role, and he's absolutely amazing with Luke. He can make him fall asleep in minutes, and you love to watch as he rocks the baby to sleep. And those moments always get your mind racing. He's already being such a good father so maybe he'd like a baby of his own... And you'd like to give him that. “...It got me thinking.”

“I love ya too, babygirl. But marriage... It would bound you with me on a whole different level.” Daryl sits up, and you follow his movement, your arms still around his neck, keeping him close. “I wanna make sure ya have the choice ta’ walk away when ya want to.”

“I won't walk away, Dixon. I love you.” He needs to be reassured of that from time to time, but you don't mind. You want to spend the rest of your life making sure Daryl knows he's loved. That he's desired and wanted. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life and if that's what you want too... You know, I'm a girlish girl, I'd like to get married someday, and honestly, if not with you then I won't marry anyone else.” Shrugging your shoulders, you look down, a shiver rolling down your spine, feeling his fingers caressing your bare thigh.

“Ya sure ya want this? With me? Are ya sure about what yer talking about?”

“I am.” You mutter in a low voice, blushing. “I am.” Repeating in a low voice, you kiss him, slowly at first, but soon enough his taste overcomes everything, and you think he feels the same since he deepens the kiss. Pulling him down again, you smile when his hand touches a ticklish spot on your side.

“Hey, you two!” Carol calls, knocking on the door. “Wake up. There's a lot to do today.”

Daryl grunts in response, not pulling away from the kiss.

But Carol is right. It'll be a long day and both you and Daryl have stuff to get ready for the party.

The day passes by quickly since you're helping everyone a little. The only thing you can't do is lift heavy stuff. Daryl forbade it, with Denise backing him up, you have no idea for how long. The party will happen at Rick's house since the living room is the biggest, and you spend hours there decorating everything. You try not to think too much about all the people who will be here tonight. You know them, you befriended them, they won't hurt you.

When it's finally time to go, you're impressed by how you feel. Happy, not scared, and actually excited. You never thought stuff like this would ever happen again. It's silly, but it keeps people sane, said Deanna. The sun is making its way to the horizon when you're getting dressed. You chose to wear a dress Daryl brought you from one of his runs. It's a light shade of blue, with thin straps and a nice cleavage in the back, reaching a few inches below the mid of your thighs. You never wear anything that will show the scar on your leg, you don't like it. Nor what it represents. You're putting on your flats when Daryl comes out of the bathroom, hair still damp, but completely dressed. He's wearing what he usually wears, always dark colors, but you don't mind. You really like it.

“Are you ready?” You ask, turning on your heels to face him. Daryl doesn't answer, eyes locked on you, lingering for so long it makes you blush. “D? Cat got your tongue?”

“Nah, it just...” He looks down at his feet before making his way over you. “Ya look beautiful, that's all.”

“Thanks.” Smiling shyly, you tiptoe to kiss him. “But I'll need a coat for when the night falls... Mind if I get one of yours?”

“Won't ya ever stop stealin’ my clothes?” Daryl fakes an annoyed tone, but it takes two seconds for his lips to break into a smile.

“Well, you stole my heart, Dixon. I'm just looking for revenge.” Winking at him, you search on the wardrobe for one of his jackets. “Now let's get going. Maggie and I baked this brownies and I'm dying for one.” Grabbing the jacket, you take his hand and leave the bedroom.

Carol is already there, so you just have to take little Luke and head out. He wants Daryl this time, so he's the one carrying him to Rick's place. As you walk there, the wind messes with your hair, and you try to keep it from your face.

“Who are the new residents, by the way?” You just remembered them. If the day wasn't so hectic, you'd ask Daryl to introduce you to them, just so you could know their faces before having to meet them at the party.

“Two men. Aaron found them starving to death a hundred miles Northwest. They're alright I guess. Since Deanna allowed them to stay.” Daryl reassures you, his free hand taking yours. “Ya ok?”

“Yeah... I'm excited, actually.” As you climb the few steps to the porch, Luke giggles, you're not sure why. “Right, little one?” Stopping by the front door, you step closer to the baby in Daryl's arm. “Are you excited too? For your party? Two months old already, you're growing up so fast.” You're still baby-talking when the door is opened, a smiley Carl gesturing for you to get in.

“C'mon, let's get ya those brownies,” Daryl says as you step inside.

It takes no time for people to come to talk to Luke, him becoming the center of attention. He throws himself on Maggie's arms, who happily welcomes him.

“(Y/N),” Rick says and you turn on your heels to talk to him. Daryl remains close, and you know why. But you feel fine, comfortable around these people. “Judith said a funny word this morning. I wonder where she learned it.” He has his hands on his hips, and you innocently shrug your shoulders.

“What word?”

“Damn it,” Daryl answers, not a hint of doubt in his voice. Rick nods, raising his eyebrow.

“Oh my gosh. Where could she have heard such a thing?” She learned it from you because that's what you exclaim almost a hundred times a day and that's not really a secret anymore. “I'm sure she said something like ‘dang it’ so I don't see how that's my fault. ‘Dang it’ it's not that bad is it?”

“Well, I think–”

“(Y/N). Daryl.” Deanna calls, and you give Rick a smirk, meaning you're happy to be saved from this conversation. Turning around, you focus on Deanna. “Come, you're the only ones who haven't met Michael and Daniel yet.”

“Ok.” You can't help but feel a little anxious to meet new people, so you grab Daryl's arm as you follow Deanna through the living room.

“Over here.” She gestures, a kind smile on her lips. “This is Daniel, and Michael, they were found–”

Her words fade when both men turn to look at you. Their faces are unmistakable, and you feel yourself sinking, skin burning, head spinning as it all comes back.

Their voices, touches, and threats. You're suddenly back there, in the darkness, starving, freezing, waiting, wishing for death to come before they did. You're in the basement where your screams used to echo. All of your wounds start hurting, pulsing, as if they were reopened, all over again.

You never got the names, but you'll never forget the faces. One of them, the you thought looked like Rick, has a smile on his lips. The same sick, wicked smile, the same he had every time he went to see you, never failing to draw some blood.

“Hi, (Y/N).” He says, in the same tone he used to. Low, dark, more animal than human.

What happens next is a blur. There's yelling, and Daryl suddenly isn't by your side anymore. He's a blur, moving towards both men, drawing punches. You're pulled back by someone, you don't know where, but you know it isn't Daryl. You know his touch by heart, and it's the only touch you want.

“Let go of me!” You yell, pushing whoever that was, sinking, falling backward until you hit a wall. You want to disappear again, to vanish from existence. With both hands covering your ears, you push yourself into the wall, hoping it'll absorb you, hide you.

“Take them. Now.”

“The trial happens tomorrow.”

“Lock those assholes up.”

“Enjoy your last night on Earth.”

The words have no meaning, they just keep echoing. The low chattering, the many footsteps... Why are you still here? Why can't you be strong for once and just run? Run where? If they're here... Where else could you go?

“Babygirl,” his low, calming voice is like a beacon, lighting up the darkness, bringing you back, pulling you into consciousness again. Into life.

Moving just a little, hands off your ears and muscles relaxing, you look at him, immediately running to his arms. “They're here. They're here, they... They found me.”

“Alright, calm down now.” He holds you tight, a hand rubbing your back. “Let's get ya outta here.”

Nodding, you offer no resistance when he picks you up. You keep your eyes closed, face hidden on the crook of his neck as you float away. It feels like the first time, when he was carrying you from the infirmary into what's now your house.

You flinch a little when you're pulled down, suddenly recognizing your bed and curling up, pulling the blankets over your head.

“How is she?”

“I don't know.” Daryl sounds angry, furious. “I'll kill them right now.”

“No, Daryl. The trial will be tomorrow. You know they'll die for what they did”

“I don't care!”

“You need to stay with her now.”

You know it's Carol, but still, you want her to go. You need everyone to go away now, you just need Daryl. You need to... Go away. Alexandria isn't safe anymore. You rather face the dead.

Silently, moved by fear, you get up, taking the dress off, and struggling with the first pair of jeans you find.

“(Y/N),” Daryl calls, but you ignore him, sight blurred by the tears as you put a shirt on. “Hey, (Y/N).” You don't know what to take... You just need to leave. These walls won't keep you safe anymore. If you stay... You know they'll find you again.

“I'm leaving.” You mumble, looking around and finding the white sneakers you left by the edge of the bed and putting them on.

“What–”

“I'm leaving! I can't stay here. If I stay here it'll happen all over again.” You're yelling, sitting on the bed, sobbing. “They're here, they'll take me again, they-they–”

“Shh, yer ok.” Daryl pulls you up, into his arms, and you melt. The sobs are muffled by this jacket, and your tears are certainly soaking the fabric. “Look at me, babygirl. Look at me.” Slowly, you raise your head, his blue eyes acting immediately, like a medicine made only for you. “There's a place I can take ya for the night. But ya need to be here tomorrow. To officialize their crime so I can kill those–”

“Take me away, please.” You beg, holding onto him as if he's the only thing keeping you sane. Alive. Because he is. “Please, if I stay here I'll–”

“Alright, alright.” He nods, a hand caressing your cheek. “Let's go then. C'mon.”

Everything happens in the background, you feel. Carol stays by your side in the porch, guiding you to the car Daryl took to drive you away. You barely feel your body now, out on the street, feeling their eyes on you... Their eyes, evil and disgusting, as they lust over you. You know they're not here, but still, you feel them. Wanting you to cave in, to agree to fulfill their needs in the most vile, degrading ways. You're hyperventilating when the gate opens, the woods before you suddenly looking far safer than these walls.

When Daryl crosses the gate, you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding, lungs burning. The sun is coming down, so there are a some shadows creeping in... But it's better out here. The wall will keep them inside, you hope.

“Babygirl,” Daryl says, getting your attention. “We're almost there, alright?”

“Ok.” You mumble, and Daryl puts a hand on your knee.

“Nothin’ will hurt ya. Never again. M’ gonna keep that promise.”

Holding his hand, your eyes meet his when he gives you a glance.

Around ten minutes later, Daryl stops the car. You haven't noticed before, but he parked in front of a small, wooden house. It looks like it was some kind of cabin in the woods since there are no other constructions around it. “C'mon.” He says when he opens the passenger door for you. Your legs feel a little weak, but you manage to stand up, immediately looking around. “There's nobody here, I promise ya.”

Nodding, you let him guide you inside, a flashlight on his hand. Daryl unlocks the door, and you wonder why he has the key to this thing. When you step in, the light coming from in between the planks on the windows helps you see the interior. There is a cough and a coffee table, you recognize it despite the dark plastic covering both things. Walking further in, you peak at the kitchen. Everything is clean and has a plastic placed over them. It kinda looks live someone used to live here not too long ago.

“I found this place a while ago.” Daryl starts, placing his backpack on the floor. “Was fixin’ it, cleanin’... So I could bring ya here every once in a while.” He gestures at the whole place in general, and you take another look around. He did say he'd try to find a place he could take you outside Alexandria, but you never thought it would be this good. “Still has a lot to do. Gonna put electricity, runnin’ water will be more complicated but I'll do it.”

“You're doing all that for me?” You whisper, hoping the dim light will hide your blushing cheeks.

“Yeah... Wanted to bring ya here under different circumstances but...” He takes the bag again, gesturing at the hall. “First door to the right it's our bedroom.”

Following his direction, you open the door to a small bedroom with a double bed, also covered with black plastic. The windows have wooden planks on it too, but there's enough space in between them so let some light come in.

“Here, lemme’–” Daryl drops the bag, walking over the bed and removing the plastic. Underneath, the light green sheets seem comfortable and you get it now why everything is covered up. To keep it clean. “Ya can lie down it ya want to. Brought some blankets.” As you move to the bed, Daryl searches in the bag, picking up two blankets and fixing them on the bed. “Ya hungry? Or thirsty? I brought–”

“I just need you, Daryl.” You whisper, drying off some tears that are still rolling down. “Can you come here?”

“Of course, babygirl.” Quickly, he leaves the bag behind and joins you in bed. Daryl pulls you close, you head on his chest as his arms hold you tightly, keeping you safe.

“I hope this is just a nightmare... That I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll all be gone.” Mumbling, you push yourself even closer to him, if that's even possible.

“I'll kill them myself, I swear.” There's a fire in his voice, hate. You've never heard him talking like that, his chest vibrating powerfully. “I'll wipe them off the face of Earth.”

Involuntary, your hand finds its way to your leg, to the scar. The pain is a vivid memory today, and for a moment you feel like you should lie down, as motionless as you can so it won't hurt. So the stitches won't rip again.

How is it possible that all the horrible memories came back all at once? On one second? “I-if I didn't have you, I... I'd die today, I know I would.”

“Nah, ya wouldn't.” Moving, he brings his index finger to your chin, making you look at him. “Yer stronger than ya give yourself credit for. Ya don't see it, but I do.” Then, he places a soft, sweet kiss on your lips, which is sadly, too brief. “But I will protect ya. Always, until my days are over.”

“Daryl, I–”

“I wanna marry ya.” He bursts out, his low voice burning through your head as you wonder if you heard him right. “When this is over and those monsters are dead... I wanna marry ya.”

Despite the terror, creeping through your skin, the darkness threatening to swallow you again, you smile. Everything fades away, and a different kind of happiness washes over you. A type of bliss you didn't even know existed. Unable to control yourself, you climb over him, wrapping your arms around his neck. “I love you,” you mutter, not giving him the chance to answer, connecting your lips on his in a loving, passionate kiss.

×

@funeral-7 @heyyy-hey-babyyy @twdeadfanfic @soraitmnt @winchester-angel @bvbwestfall @shawtygonemad @cameronsails @pulplorrd @browneyes528 @btsiguess-kpop @a-dlv @bibibeauelle @lightning-butterfly @yttricuz

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon x reader #imagine daryl dixon #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead imagine #imagine the walking dead

[xhannahbananax03]

Back To You

Words:2.4k

Warnings: Slight gore, abandonment, fighting

MASTERLIST

Standing in the field were your husbands throat had been slit not even an hour ago, you finally dropped to your knees, landing in a mostly dried puddle of Negan's blood.

Colors from the hanging window of painted glass behind you danced on the back of your head as the wind blew the frame around slightly. The slowly setting sun leaving your shadow growing ever smaller.

Everyone else had long since went home, the saviors going back to the sanctuary or back to the hilltop, Rick and his people leaving back to their chosen homes. They left you standing there while a few men carried Negan away to live out the rest of his life in a cell, far away from you.

It was over, the war had ended. You were no longer the queen who ruled with an iron fist alongside her husband. Sure he had other wives, but you were number one. You shared a bed with him, every night. He cut down the amount of time he spent with the others and made sure to always return to you. He even let you fight.

Your tears had dried up a long time ago, leaving dirty streaks down your cheeks. You fell backwards, not caring that your head had practically bounced off the ground. You were finally alone, completely. No more faithful followers, no more hatred from your enemies, but worst of all, no more Negan.

He hadn't always been the Negan that everyone knew today, he used to be more caring. Still cocky as hell and still obviously the one in charge, but he used to be the kind of man to volunteer at animal shelters and help feed the homeless. You used to be different too. Used to do those same things along side him.

But after shit hit the fan, you were both allowed to show a darker side of yourself, a side you'd both fought so hard to hide for so long.

Memories flashed through your head of your life with him before the apocalypse, memories of an easier but somehow more dreadful time.

"Negan stop!" You squealed out, lofting one leg and covering yourself with your arms as best as you could.

You had decided to spend the day outside with him as he cleaned off his car, his baby. You could hardly blame him, it was a beautiful cherry red Mustang.

You sat on a lawn chair in your tiny bikini, tanning while admiring his firm backside whilst he bent over the hood of his car, he caught you staring and whipped around with hose, spraying you down and starting a dangerous game, one that would probably end in heated, rough, fast sex. Just how you both liked it.

"No way darlin!" He chuckled deeply, pressing his thumb against the head of the hose to spray it out.

You laughed and ran straight at him, grabbing the hose and wrestling him for it, ending up with both of you practically soaked. You giggled as you ripped it away from him and threw it on the ground.

Breathing heavily, you both let a few more chuckles slip past your lips as you stared at each other, the staring contest ending by him picking you up quickly and setting you down on the hood of his car.

You pulled him down quickly and pushed your lips against his roughly as he planted both hands firmly on either side of your hips, "Get a room!" Your elderly neighbor shouted over the fence before grumbling and walking away.

You and Negan pulled away quickly before busting out laughing, he scooped you back up and carried you into the house, to try once again and hopefully be successful.

You smiled at the memory, your smile faded slightly as you remembered the following week.

He leaned against the frame of the bathroom door as you stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring intently down at the small stick like test for what felt like the hundredth time this year.

He reached a hand out and rubbed your back, "This ones gonna be the one hun, I can feel it." You said with determination shining in your eyes.

You and Negan had been trying desperately for the past year and so far, every test came out negative. You went to several different doctors to see if there was any reason why it wasn't working, but so far the answer had always been the same, 'Everything seems to be normal ma'am, you just have to keep trying.'

You rolled your eyes at the thought of the several doctors voices in your head, "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves sweetie.." he reminded gently. It was becoming increasingly obvious that your husband was becoming more and more disheartened.

"Shut up." You snapped slightly, he just chuckled and wrapped his arms around his waist, he checked his watch again and nodded his head.

"Times up sweetheart." He told you, slowly reaching his head for the test. For the past few months you had to have him look at the tests, to scared to see the small negative symbol again.

But you reached your hand out and set it on the test, "No, let me." You said firmly, closing your eyes tightly for a moment, hoping that this would be the one time it came out good.

He squeezed your wrist softly but nodded his head and waited for you to turn the test over. When you did, you felt his arms fall away from you as you slowly opened your eyes to see yet again, negative.

He stepped back slightly and sighed, rubbing at his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest and looking down to his feet. You nodded your head while staring at the test and took a deep breath to try to hold the tears back. But it was just too hard.

You threw the test onto the ground and stomped on it, crushing it into pieces. Sobs racked your body as you crumpled to the floor, Negan had tried so many times to be the tough one for you, but after seeing so many times that it didn't work, he just couldn't.

He walked out of the bathroom, leaving you on the floor to go to the kitchen and fix you each a drink. Tonight was going to be another one of those nights where you get so drunk together, you just pass out.

Squeezing your eyes shut at the memory, you tried to push it out of your head. You and Negan had gotten into a horrible fight the next night and he stormed off in a rage.

He didn't come home that night, or the next. You began to worry, but then you got world shattering news, a horrible disease had broken out across the country and probably the world.

You tried to stay put and wait for Negan to come back for you, but when he didn't show up a week later and the dead started rising, you knew you had to get out.

You packed your bag with a heavy heart and stuffed a few pictures into it along with one of Negans shirts and his favorite necklace.

You left your house and pinned a note to the front door. It read, Dearest Negan, if you're reading this, I already left. I'm heading towards Washington D.C. in hopes that someone there might know what the hell is going on. Here's to hoping we'll meet again. I love you.

-(Y/n)

You remember shedding a few tears as you left home and your beloved Husband behind, but he should've come back for you. Why didn't he come back for you?

Your sadness soon grew into an anger, your own husband had left you behind over a stupid fight! You wouldn't be surprised if he completely skipped town that very night with no regards to you.

You pushed through town after town, nearly dying multiple times. You hadn't killed more than a handful of the dead and spent most of your time holed up in shitty versions of a shelter.

At one point you'd gotten morbidly sick, part of you feared that somehow the disease had become airborne, but you kept on pushing through. You'd been on the road for maybe a year. You got to D.C. not long ago and discovered that everyone there was just about as gone as everyone else. Even the president was dead.

Since then, you've been traveling around D.C. looking for sanctuary or even a small group to gang up with. But so far nothing, granted you've been too scared to go back into the woods alone and anytime a larger group passed though you'd hide away.

Finally, you decided to test your luck in the wilderness, maybe some people have been holed up back there just waiting for you to come and find them. You'd long ago given up on the idea that Negan would ever come looking, he was a strong man but for all you'd know, he died right at the start of things.

You'd been walking for hours, hoping that maybe you'd find a small animal to take down or a clean creek to drink from, when you happened across an older building. A factory of sorts.

You staked it out for several days, watching the many people inside and hoping that maybe if you approached them right, they'd take you in.

Unfortunately, luck was not on your side. You'd been awoken by a gun in your face, "Well at this a pretty sight.." a male voice chuckled deeply, keeping the gun aimed directly at you.

You cowered back slightly, not having the strength to fight, even if you wanted to. "Get up." He growled, pulling his gun slightly away but keeping it trained on you nonetheless.

On shaky legs, you stood and used the tree that you slept on to balance yourself, "What's your name?" He barked sharply at you.

"(Y-Y/n).." you stuttered out softly, your voice rough for not having been used in months.

A sinister smirk took over his face as he lowered his gun and gently stroked your cheek and as you flinched away slightly, bumping your back into the tree, he gripped your chin roughly, "Don't try to run from me now girl.." he threatened lowly.

"Grab your shit." He said while flicking your face away, "I'm taking you upstairs to the boss man."

You whimpered softly while gathering all your things, you didn't know who this so-called "Boss man" was, but you had a feeling you didn't want to. But your only other option was to run, leaving all your things behind which would surly lead to a slow and painful death.

So you grabbed your things and started following the strange man through the woods, "Do I get to know your name?" You squeaked out, trying to keep up with his quick pace.

He didn't answer you, just kept walking and you decided to keep your mouth shut for the rest of your journey.

Once you finally reached the building, the man leading you in shouted for someone to ' hurry their ass up and open the damn gate!'

Once inside he turned to you and smirked once again, "A few things; Don't speak unless spoken to, keep your head down, and do everything your told as you're told to do it. Got that sweet cheeks?" He snarled.

You simply nodded and looked down to the ground, he ripped your bag away from you and threw it onto the ground, "Dwight, go through her things." He nodded to a man who had a gnarly scar on his face, you wondered if the boss man did that.

You followed the man into the building and down a few hallways to reach a tall door, the man knocked on the door twice and then put his hands behind his back, seemingly waiting patiently.

"Come on in!" A voice shouted from inside, a male voice which sounded very familiar, but you shook it off as wishful thinking.

The man opened the door and smirked down at you, laying a firm hand on your ass to push you inside, "Got a surprise for ya." He told who you assumed to be the boss man, who sat in a chair facing a long window with his back to you.

You kept your eyes down the man had instructed and kept your mouth shut, letting some hair fall forward and hide your features more.

"Is that so?" A deep gravelly voice spoke up. No, it couldn't be, could it?

Slowly, you raised your head up to stare at your husband with wide eyes that quickly started filling up with tears.

Once he saw who it was, his cocky demeanor dropped and he cleared his throat, "Simon, get out." He snapped slightly.

Simon only chuckled and nodded his head, leaving and shutting the door behind him. "(Y/n), darlin. Is that really you?" He said softly, standing and reaching a hand out towards your face.

"Negan?" You whispered softly, a tear falling down your cheek as you refused to break eye contact.

A smile grew over his face as he scooped you up and a sob broke out from your lips, "Fucking lord.." he chuckled softly, pulling his fingers gently through your ratty hair.

You pulled back and gripped his face tight in your hands before pulling him down to kiss him roughly.

Things just took off from there. He quickly made you his newest and final wife, to say you were shocked to find out he had other wives, was an understatement.

You were heartbroken. The worst part had been the fact that even though you were back, he kept the around and tried to spend an equal amount of time with them as he did you.

But you learned to live with it, he had made it abundantly clear that you were his favorite, his right hand woman, his equal. Unlike the other girls, you stood beside him, whereas they stood behind them.

You spent several years, up until now living with your husband. You always knew your husband wasn't the good guy in this story, but he wasn't the bad guy either.

Standing, you dusted off your knees and stared at the shards of broken glass on the ground, one of which still covered in your husbands blood.

You started back towards Alexandria, where you knew Rick would be keeping him, you didn't know how yet, but you would see him again.

#twd #the walking dead #negan #jeffery dean morgan #negan x reader #negan x you #negan x y/n #rick grimes #andrew lincoln #andrew #jeffery #fanfic #fanfiction #twd fanfiction #the walking dead fanfiction #original writing #original fiction #fluff #twd fluff #negan fluff #war #heartbreak

[chaoticbi-cheesecake]

Movie Nights and Pillow Forts. (Hournite)

Summary: The team has a movie night and Beth and Rick share a pillow fort.

Warning: None

Categorie: Fluff

Read notes at the end.

The week had been hectic for the new JSA, fourteen tests collectively, a fitness gram in Beth's gym class, six late assignments for Rick, and sleep deprived Courtney and Yolanda were not having any good times. And that's not even mentioning the ISA and their mysterious plans.

Pat tried to take it easy on them during training, his parental instincts telling him something was wrong.

As they walked into Pit Stop for their training session on Friday, they found the training room to be void of equipment. No half made puppets of the ISA, no punching bags or targets to aim at.

The team gave Pat a questioning look and he explained himself.

"We're gonna try something different. You guys have had a hard week and over exerting yourselves isn't helping anyone out in the long run. So you're gonna take it easy for today."

"Thanks dad," Yolanda and Rick joked.

"So what are we going to do?" Courtney questioned.

"Just some easy team building excercises. You all have to feel just as comfortable being together as you do being apart."

"We do," Beth defended brightly, but shrunk at how everyone stared at her. "at least, I do."

"Yeah, no thanks. Team building excercises? This isn't summer camp and I'm not three." Rick stated.

"Be nice, Pat's just trying to help." Beth chided.

Rick rolled his eyes but complied.

"So what did you have in mind?" Yolanda requested.

"Well, just something easy, hopefully that you'll find fun. Get you guys a little de-stressd."

"Pillow forts!" Beth exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, what?" Rick turned to her.

"Pillow Forts. I never had any friends to make pillow forts or have sleepovers with, but they always seemed super fun to make." she explained brightly, not even realizing the sadness in that statement.

Rick's heart hurt at the underlying weight of the words she didn't even realize was there. He understood what it was like to feel alone. He wanted to reach out and hold her hand but he didn't.

Courtney smiled at the girl and said, "I think that's a great idea, we could build them together as a team-"

"And Chuck could project a movie while we're inside. We could totally have a sleepover." Beth proposed.

"And where are going to get pillows to make the forts, this is a car shop not a mattress firm." Yolanda brought up.

"Pat can go home and get stuff." Courtney offered.

The team looked to Pat, the girls had pleading eyes and Rick looked plain uninterested.

"I don't see why not." Pat said.

Smiles took over the girls' faces and Courtney highfived her friends.

"Ooh, and I could get snacks from my house. Just get on comms and tell me what you guys want." Beth offered. "Of course, if you're willing to drop me off, Mr. Dugan." she said sheepishly.

"Sure, kiddo."

"Yay!"

"Okay, well, let's get going. Court, I'll tell your mom you're staying over at a friend's house, the rest of you call your parents and let them know you'll be out."

"It's fine, my parents probably won't even notice I'm gone." Yolanda grumbled bitterly.

"Same here," Beth chided. "They work at night a lot now that I'm older."

Rick stayed silent, wondering if his uncle would come home at all that night. Not that he'd bother to check on the boy.

"Okay, well be back soon," Beth smiled, grabbing her goggles our of her bag and running out the door to catch up with Pat who had already gone outside.

The three teens stood in silence for a bit before Courtney and Yolanda started looking for good spots to set up their fort.

"Don't forget comms," Courtney reminded before turning hers on.

Yolanda and Rick followed her example and were met with Beth's voice.

"Alright, we're almost at my house, what movie were you guys thinking of watching?"

"Umm, we're not really sure, what can Chuck play?" Courtney replied.

"He can do anything really, oh wait, okay, anything but badly done historical drama or science fiction. He prefers something more accurate."

"But isn't the entire point of both those genes the fact that they're dramatic and fictional?" Rick queried.

"Chuck says some stuff just goes too off the charts. It's more the inaccuracy that irks him. What about something from the 80's, that's always fun. Maybe something like The Breakfast Club, or Heathers." she proposed.

"Nah, not Heathers. That Kurt guy was a real asshole." Rick chided.

Courtney and Yolanda turned to him in confusion, surprised he knew anything about the dark teen drama.

Rick simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, we're at my house, gimme a minute while I look for my keys. Be right back." Beth said before their connection cut out.

"Kurt was an asshole?" Yolanda prodded

"What?" Rick defended. "Beth told me a bit about the movie."

Courtney snickered.

"You shouldn't say profanities around Beth. It would be a shame if her Prince Charming was a bad influence."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rick interrogated

"Nothing," Courtney shrugged before giving Yolanda a knowing look.

"What?" Rick pushed.

The girls only shook their heads. He was about to say something else when Beth came back online.

"Hey guys, sorry, I kept dropping my keys. What do you guys feel like. There's a ton of chips. And some chocolates. Ooh, I found a huge bag of candy from Halloween. It's still closed!"

"Uh-" Courtney was interrupted.

"Popcorn is a must." Beth added before the sound of something being placed in a bag took over the coms.

"Are you just taking everything?" Yolanda asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Beth confirmed. "And Pat shouldn't be back for another fifteen minutes so I should have time to grab some pajamas."

"Oh, that's smart. We're just going to be sleeping in our school clothes." Courtney stated.

"Actually, I have some clean gym clothes in my bag, a few shirts and a couple pairs of shorts. You can borrow some." Yolanda supplied.

"What about you, Rick?" Beth spoke.

"It's fine."

"No, come on, we're all gonna have something to wear. I'm sure I can find something, or maybe Pat can get you some clothes."

"It's okay, really."

"Nope, too late, I already have clothes for us."

"How are you so fast?" Courtney wondered aloud.

"I'm magical." Beth joked.

Rick almost said 'yes, you are.' But pushed that thought down to the furthest reaches of his soul.

"Maybe something scary?" Yolanda said.

"I'm not a huge fan of scary movies." Beth replied.

"What about a rom-com?" Courtney offered

"No way." Rick opposed.

"How about Twilight." Courtney said.

"No!" Rick and Yolanda exclaimed in unison.

"Harry Potter?"

"We don't stan JK these days." Beth expressed, earning a nod from Yolanda.

"How about a mystery movie?" Rick proposed for the first time.

"I'm unopposed." Yolanda declared.

"Me too," Courtney agreed.

"Okay, I'll if there's any mysteries Chuck reccomends. He says he likes Clue." Beth provided.

"Sounds good." Courtney replied

"Yeah, sure." Yolanda answered.

" M'kay," Rick added.

"I'll be back, I need to get the rest of my stuff."

"Rest of your stuff," Courtney began. "I thought you had everything, what else are you-"

"Bye guys!"

"-getting?"

Courtney quickly shrugged it off before guiding Yolanda to once again look for a place to set up their pillow fort.

Rick leaned against the table behind him until Pat and Beth got back a bit later.

The short girl came in wheeling a suitcase behind her.

"What do you have in there?" Yolanda was first to question.

"Food, clothes, nail polish, some toiletries, pillows, blankets. Just the basics."

"Isn't Pat already bringing blankets? That might be too many."

"We're making pillow forts, is there ever such a thing as too many blankets?"

"That's fair." Courtney input.

Pat came in, sliding a cardboard box against the floor.

"These are some covers we never unpacked and I have pillows in the car." The man announced.

"This is going to be so much fun." Beth proclaimed, opening her suitcase and pulling out five blankets. Two pillows that had been shoved inside sprung out and we're grabbed by the girl. "So, where are we making these?"

"Court and I decided we'd have a place over here," Yolanda pointed to a corner below the stairs. "And we would tie some of the blankets up and let them hang down and then we could space the sides out with the stools."

"Nice," Beth complimented. "How about you Rick?"

"Umm...I don't really know how to make a pillow fort." He stated plainly.

"Oh, that's okay, I can help you. I read up on it during the ride back."

Rick nodded his head curtly before standing up straight and allowing the girl in front of him to lead the way.

With arms crossed over his chest, the boy listened intently to Beth as she rattled on about all the different ways and places they could put up the fort. He felt strangely giddy at the amount of excitement in the girls voice.

The two settled on a spot next to Courtney and Yolanda, choosing a similar approach to the construction of the fort. Beth ran up the metal stairs and instructed Rick to toss up a blanket. She tied two of the ends around the rails of the walkway and repeated the steps until the fort had four 'walls'.

Beth ran down to Rick, who was tossing pillows inside the fort, taking an excited look at their creation.

"And for some added structure," the girl grabbed two foldable chairs from across the room, dragging them to the fort, placing them inside. She moved one back until it, and the fabric covering it, met Courtney and Yolanda's stool. She then moved the other side approximately the same distance on the side parallel.

Beth emerged from the fort all smiles. Rick embraced the slight smile that made it's way onto his face when he saw her ecstatic expression. She raised her hand to highfive him which he awkwardly returned.

Pat had sat watching the kids build their forts, happy that they were having fun, but stood when he realized it was getting dark.

"Okay, I'm gonna head home. Please, keep everything in one piece. And Court," Pat gave the blonde a pointed look, " the staff comes home with me."

"What?" Courtney, who had built her fort with the help of the staff, asked caught off guard

"Yes. I'm going home and it needs to come with me. It had to go back in its box for the night. I'm glad the two of you..." he struggled to find a word," bonded. But it needs to go back home."

"But Pat," Courtney groaned.

"No 'but pat's, it needs to go back home." he stated softly.

Courtney looked at the glowing stick that levitates next to her. She pouted, but moved her head in Pat's direction, signaling the staff to go with him.

"See you tomorrow," she told it.

"There's a mini fridge and a microwave in my office. Remember, one piece. Night kids, have fun." Pat chided as he walked out the door.

"Goodnight Mr. Dugan." Beth called.

When he drove off, the teens sat in silence before Beth spoke up.

"I'm gonna go heat up some popcorn. There's snacks in my bag and Rick, I brought some clothes for you to change into."

"Thanks." he said as she tossed a large t-shirt and pair of pajama pants in his direction.

Beth went into Pat's office to make to popcorn as Courtney and Yolanda settled into their pillow filled heaven, wrapping themselves in blankets and waiting for Beth to get the movie started.

Rick went in his fort and decided he might as well change into the clothes he was given.

He had just reached for the t-shirt when he heard the fabric pulled back.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Beth cried and turned away when she saw Rick was shirtless.

"It's, fine, what's up?" he asked masking his blush by pulling the shirt over his head.

"Um," Beth flushed. "I was just wondering if you wanted any popcorn. She said shaking the bag in her hand.

"No, I'm good, thanks though."

She simply nodded before uttering,

"Chuck's gonna start the movie soon."

"Kay."

Beth shuffled off to give the girls popcorn. Entering the tent she was greeted by Courtney and Yolanda saying, "Hey," in unison.

"I have popcorn." Beth sang.

"Ooh, yay." Courtney praised.

"Give," Yolanda said, making a grabbing motion with her hand and smiling happily.

Beth gladly complied, handing the bag over to the girls.

"I'm gonna get Chuck to start up the movie. Don't eat all the popcorn without me, I'll be right back."

The two girls nodded, grinning, and opened the popcorn.

Beth left the fort and got her goggles, placing them over her eyes.

"Ready Chuck?"

"Indeed."

"This is going to be great!"

Beth took off the goggles and pointed them at the wall across from her, gently placing the goggles on the floor as the opening credits began projecting on the wall.

She rushed back to the girls' fort and stepped inside to see Courtney trying to throw popcorn into Yolanda's mouth.

"Okay, it's on." Beth announced, loud enough for Rick to hear as well.

The girls moved closer to the opening of the fort and peeled back the opening to watch the movie.

They watched lazily, sometimes shifting to find a better way of sitting. Courtney and Yolanda carried on their own conversation as Beth painted Courtney's nails listening to the movie in the background.

As the girls waited for their nails to dry spoke to eachother lowly as to not disturb Rick next to them.

Beth lightly tapped her nails to see if they were dry and Courtney and Yolanda shared a teasing look.

"Do you think he's lonely over there?" Yolanda asked Courtney, just loud enough for Beth to hear.

"I'm sure he's fine." Courtney continued

"I don't know, maybe someone should check on him?"

The two turned to Beth with a knowing look.

"I'll do it," she offered immediately. "Yeah, it's not right for him to be all alone."

She rose from her position and stepped over pillows to leave the fort. She quietly walked over to his fort, hearing Courtney and Yolanda's quiet giggles behind her.

The front Rick's fort was a little open. Beth walked to the side and pulled the blanket back.

"Knock, knock." Beth spoke

"Hey," he greeted.

"I thought you may be lonely. Well, Court and Yolanda thought, but I wanted to see if you needed company. So I can stay. Only if you want me to of course." she rambled.

"Yeah, sure." Rick responded softly, scooting over and patting the spot next to him. She gladly entered and took her place next to him.

Her legs were crisscrossed and she twiddled her fingers, appreciating the glittery polish on her nails.

Rick turned to her, a smirk on his face.

"Thanks for making this with me," he gestured to the fort around them. "It was...surprisingly fun."

"Told you." Beth gloated, bumping her shoulder to his.

"Yeah, you did." Rick said under his breath as he gazed at her. He admired her eyes, the way the light reflected off of them. Rick inhaled sharply before taking a leap of faith.

He draped his arm across her shoulders to test the waters.

She quickly moved closer and laid her head on his chest. A wide smile graced his face, she didn't notice though, focusing all her energy to prevent the blood rushing to her face. She failed.

They stayed in that position until the movie ended.

Rick was half asleep by the time the credits finished rolling. He was snapped awake by Beth moving from her position and making a move to leave the fort.

"Where are you going?" He whispered.

"I'm gonna change then go to sleep in the girls' tent. And of course say goodnight to Chuck."

"Oh," he responded, trying not to let his disappointment peek through. "Okay. Goodnight."

"Night." she smiled and left the fort.

Rick frowned but perked up just a bit when her heard Beth's sweet voice say goodnight to the goggles. He thought it was adorable how much she cared about the AI in those goggles.

He layed back and tried to fall asleep but soon realized it was much more difficult when Beth wasn't in close proximity. He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly and tried to build up enough courage to just ask Beth to stay with him that night.

But he quickly found he didn't have to. As if the universe heard him, he saw Beth cautiously lift up the opening of his fort.

She looked sheepish as she met his eyes.

"Courtney and Yolanda are hogging all the space inside. Would it be alright if I could, maybe, stay here. It's up to you." she questioned quickly.

Rick nodded his head as apathetically as he could, when on the inside he was absolutely thrilled.

Beth slowly stepped into their fort. Rick made note of the oversized black t-shirt she wore that fell over her light green pajama pants.

She layed down facing the opposite direction as he did, but bot could still feel the body heat radiating off the back of the other.

"You know the reason Court and Yolanda sent you over here was probably so they could have the tent all to themselves." Rick stated.

Beth thought about it for a minute before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried they were getting tired of me. Phew."

"Why would they get tired of you?"

"Everyone does at some point. Even if it's just for a little bit."

"Hey," Rick said darkly. "I'm never gonna get tired of you. Ever. Not even for a little bit. You understand?" He asked with a seriousness yet softness she didn't see often.

She nodded her head, hoping he could understand the gesture even if he wasn't looking at her.

Beth moved back until she made contact with Rick. Their backs were pressed up against eachother and they both found comfort in the warmth of the other.

Beth lay frozen, worried about if Rick was okay with the contact, but her worries were soon relieved when she felt Rick's hand reach for hers.

They interlocked their fingers, still not looking at one another, before they both fell into a peaceful sleep.

...

Rick woke up to light streaming through the covers of the fort and the sound of giggling.

He looked to the source of the noise to see Beth and Yolanda holding the blankets open.

"What?" He asked groggily.

They only giggled more.

That's when he registered the weight that covered half his body. Beth was practically on top of him, her face snuggled in his chest.

Rick's eyes widened and his system was shocked awake. He heard Courtney smack her hand over her mouth to muffled her laugh at the sight of the boy.

"Pat's going to be here in half an hour. We need to take everything down." Yolanda supplied.

Rick nodded his head tiredly and the girls walked away, letting the blankets drop behind them.

Rick gazed down at Beth, angry with himself for liking their position so much. He groaned internally as he tried figuring out how to wake Beth up.

He gently tried to move her off of him, laying her just beside him.

"Beth, you have to wake up." He tried softly, lightly shaking her shoulder.

She groaned, but complied, blinking several times.

"Pat's gonna be here soon, we have to start taking everything down."

Beth frowned.

"But it's Saturday, can't we just stay here for a few more...hours?" She proposed.

Rick chuckled softly at her question but shook his head.

"It's already light out, my uncle probably knows I'm gone." the boy grimaced.

"I wish you could just live with one of us."

"Yeah me too," he whispered.

Beth propped herself up before crawling out of their fort.

Rick followed and saw she was heading up the stairs to untie to blankets. He saw the pout on her face as she undid the knots and watched the sheets fall to the floor.

"You know, maybe we can do this again sometime?" Rick called up, smiling when he saw Beth perk up.

The team worked together to undo everything and neatly organize their pillows and blankets. They all decided to change back into their clothes from the day before, Courtney and Rick returned their borrowed clothes.

Rick helped Beth stuff everything back into her suitcase and they finished just as Pat arrived.

"Hey guys, how was your night, good I hope?" he questioned.

"We had a really great time," Courtney confirmed. "Thanks for coming up with the idea, Beth."

"No problem, I always wanted to do something like this." the girl smiled.

"You guys ready to go?" Pat asked.

"Yeah, we're all set." Yolanda said.

Beth just nodded happily.

"Help me get everything in the back." the man directed.

Once everything was done, the girls began piling into the car.

"Rick, you coming?" Courtney asked.

"Oh, nah, I'm just going to walk home."

"You sure kid," Pat verified.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Aw, okay, talk to you later Rick," Beth came over and gave him a quick hug before retreating into the car.

Pat drove off and Rick waved goodbye to the girls.

The boy turned and made his way home. As he walked, he thought of his interactions with Beth. He couldn't explain the flutter in his stomach when he saw her excited, or how naturally comfortable he felt by her side.

One thing he did know though, was that Beth made him happy. They could do anything from sitting in silence at lunch, to fighting crime, to sleeping in a pillow fort.

One thing was certain, Beth Chapel was a wonder, and Rick was all there for it.

The End.

Okay, that was my second hournite fic, i hope you liked it. I'm super lazy so i didn't edit it, so if there are any errors please let me know. I'm not sure if anyone picked up on the reference I made when Rick said Kurt Kelly was and a-hole. For those who didn't know, Cameron Gellman played Kurt Kelly in a television adaptation of Heather. I just thought it was something funny to throw in there. If you have and comments or criticisms, let me know in the comments. I sound like a YouTuber, lol. I hope everyone has a great day and if anyone has any prompts they'd like to see, let me know. That's all for today💕💕

Sincerely, Tessa.

#beth chapel #hournite #rick tyler #stargirl #stargirl 2020 #yolanda montez #jsa #cw stargirl #dcu stargirl #Rick×Beth #give my babies all the happiness in the world #Beth Chapel #Rick Tyler #HourNite #implied! WildStar

[jingle-jangled]

Rick is a dick but we all love him, don’t we? There’s something philosophical in there but idk what it is. He’s like 70, I mean come on, us.  (Rick Sanchez x Female reader) Pt.2

Summary: Continuation of the previous story, with the least satisfactory ending possible. Also, good relationships need communication, right? Right?? 

// NSFW, Some angst, make-up sex in the bathroom because that’s not gross and alcohol. 

You never recovered from that night and spent the weekend under the covers. No matter how much you tried to bear and grin it through work, you had to excuse yourself to the bathroom several times to cry. It seemed like everything reminded you of Rick. The smell of cheap coffee was an especially hard gut punch and you admitted to holding your breath when passing someone with a cup. At the end of your days, you went home, ordered food on the odd days you felt like eating at all and then went to bed to sleep the day away. They say time heals all wounds but you couldn't sit and wait patiently. You wanted to move on. Now. 

After a month of no contact, you were still nervous to sleep, wondering if you'd dream up some scenario where you two makeup and everything goes back to normal. Then you’d wake up and the wounds were freshly ripped. You hadn't heard anything from his family and was too scared to reach out. What if they saw you as an evil monster and hates you now? Because of that nagging thought, you couldn't face even sending a text their way. You had pretty much tried everything to distract yourself, indulging into some of your vices but when nothing worked you decided to try something else. Someone else. After chatting for just a day you set a date with some blonde with a decent sense of humor and a nice smile. 

You met up at a bar where he took the liberty of ordering a few of their specialties with the excuse of wanting to try something new. It wasn't hard to gauge what he was really after. But you didn't have a problem with that. As the liquor buttered you two up you found yourself having a decent time and for a second, Rick wasn't occupying your head. Until the door to the bar swung open and someone took a seat at the bar. It felt like time slowed down when you glanced across the room and spotted the blue mess of hair. He met your eyes before turning to the bartender. You didn’t miss how gaunt and tired they looked. 

"You okay?" Your date asked, pulling you out of your trance-like state. It almost hurt to turn away, but you managed to force a painful smile and excuse it as nothing. He droned on about boats as you pretended to be interested so that you wouldn't have to talk. You were sure it would come out as a shaky whimper anyway. Your cheeks burned and your legs tingled. You just wanted to run over and hug him. Kiss him and tell him that you missed him. And you could feel his eyes on you too, never relenting even when you caught him. All this, coupled with the loud music playing over the speakers made your head spin and you had to go to the bathroom to cool down. But you knew what you were hoping for when you locked the door behind you. The only person who could walk through locked doors.

You stared at yourself in the mirror, the dress riding dangerously high on your thighs. You wondered if Rick had watched you walk away. You wondered if he liked what he saw. Of course, he did. He got you this dress. Like phantoms, memories of his hands gliding over your hips made you sigh. He'd let his hand push past the fabric and onto your skin beneath, pushing the dress over your head. And you'd turn around, clawing at his pants as he kissed your neck. 

You were so immersed in rolling your hips that you barely noticed the room lighting up in green. 

"Y-you weren't taking a shit, good." Rick leaned against the wall on the other side of the bathroom, crossing his arms over his chest. You watched him through the mirror, swallowing roughly. 

"Rick... what are you doing here?" You turned to lean back on the sink, not bothering to push the dress back down.

"Always such a tease. You thought I *urp* wouldn't notice you swinging your hips on your way in here? O-or you gonna play stupid and say you didn’t want me to follow you?" 

"I mean at this bar." You crossed your arms too, creating a thicker wall between you two. 

"Wanted to see what kind of douche you were trying to replace me with. What? Can't a man be curious? By the way, not impressed." He hissed. 

"So you were following me?" You felt the heat building in your stomach. So he knew how much pain you were in and didn't do anything until you threatened to fuck someone else? Rick just shrugged before taking an exploratory step forward, and then another when he saw you weren't backing off. 

"Rick-" You tried as he lifted you onto the sink, his tounge striping your neck. You gave in embarrassingly fast and carefully wrapped your arms around him, pulling him closer so he could get a better angle at your skin. He pushed your knees apart and pushed himself between them, revealing the bulge you hadn't even noticed before. And you let out a whimper, your body reacting to him immediately. With your nose in his neck, you inhaled his scent and it made your heart jump. All the pain was pushed away, so far back you forgot all about it. How could a man have this effect on you? 

Before long he had pushed your panties aside and pushed inside, making you shudder around him. He worked hard and fast, almost angry as his thrusts made the sink shake. You bit down into his neck to drown your moans. He grunted when you managed to break the skin, blood staining your bottom lip. The fire inside of you was spitting out of your mouth and you had no mercy on his flesh. And neither did he, his fingers were digging into your frame so hard you were sure it was bruising and his hips slammed hard and deep. Deeper than you had ever felt before. Rick wrapped his bony fingers into your hair and pulled you back by the scalp, staring into your wet eyes. 

"You're crying?" He chuckled as you licked the blood of your lips, swallowing loudly.

"Fuck you" you hissed and pushed your hips into his, making him screw his eyes shut.

"Babe-baby, you're so good when you're pissed." He smirked before taking control of your mouth, pulling and chewing at it. "Damn it, I missed you so fucking much-" He slammed his hips into you again, growling against your cheek. And your heart jumped yet another time, so hard it made you choke back a cry. He leaned back and smiled, wiping the tear from your cheek before pushing his tounge back in your mouth.

"Me too, Rick-" You mumbled and you tried to tell him everything your heart was screaming. But, when he began rubbing at your nub all you could do was pull him closer as your muscles began to tighten, making you whimper into his neck as you came. He fucked you through it, holding you in place as your legs jerked. 

"That's it, that's my good girl." He praised you as he continued pounding, reaching his own finish line. 

"You're so fucking beautiful. Y-you're my girl, mine. I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry." He rambled between deep grunts as his nails clawed down your back. His knees gave out, pulling you both to the floor with a loud thud. You landed on him. After managing to roll over with great effort, you pushed your hand under his probably sore head that took the fall. He groaned and began lazily zipping his pants back up. Rick then stood up, checking himself in the mirror before reaching a hand out to you. With shaking knees, you got up and cringed at the feeling of him dripping out of you. He chuckled and handed you a paper towel before shuddering. 

"So... how we gonna do this?" He mumbled as you cleaned yourself up and made great effort to look away. 

"What do you mean?" You questioned. He sighed deeply before walking up behind you in the mirror. You turned the tap off as he wrapped his hands around your waist.

"I can't fucking- I'm yours if you want me. Alright? No other chicks, just you." 

"Okay, Rick. I want you." You smiled at him through the mirror. 

"Cool, I'm starving. Let's get something to eat." Rick grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you along, making a final declaration before stepping through the portal.

"If you tell anyone I got mushy, you're dea- I'll burn your apartment down."

END

Thank you for reading this and I’m sorry if you’re not interested in NSFW. If you want me to, I can make a SFW ending too. Just request it ^^ 

#rick sanchez #rick and morty #rick and morty fanfiction #rick sanchez x reader #Rick Sanchez/reader #rick sanchez writing #rick sanchez ff

[depressed-sock]

Monster of the Week 2

one

Words: 3k

This work is entirely a self-indulgent throw a bunch of Oc’s at the TMA world and see what happens lmao

Tw: threatening of bodily harm

sections 2 and 5: stranger fear, harassment of a colleague, purposefully using the wrong name, mention of intent to gaslight, it/it's pronouns used

section 3: flesh fear, not actively descriptive but it deals with meat if you want to skip it.

Click. 1

“Investigation of Why the Archive never stays organized, brought to the Archives attention by me for the last thirty years." She stresses the words, trying to make her frustration clear to everyone who can hear her in the room. "Investigation begins on July 9th, 2014, and is being investigated by archival assistant Olivia Stanek.”

"So, first things first." She pauses, taking in a deep breath as her hands stay firmly clasped together before she finally releases her pent up anger with a quick movement. Standing up sharply and banging her hands on the desk. "What do you people not understand when I say to put things back where you found them!"

She turns with a barely held back growl, glaring at the now suspiciously empty room around her. "You fucking little cunts, I will find you and I will get you to leave my organization system alone!"

Click. 2

"Did you try turning it off and on again?" The man next to them sighs heavily, his shoulders already taking on a stiffness of agitation.

"Yes, Rupert. That was literally the first thing I did." Corwin glares at the blonde man who now decides to lean against their desk. His face forced into a quiet contemplating frown as he stares at the static-filled screen of their computer.

"My name is Rick, and did you click any suspicious links?" He glances at them, missing their glare that's turned into the perfectly innocent look of boredom.

"Do I look that stupid Rupert? Really?" They cross their arms over their chest defiantly, watching carefully as the man's frown twitches into a barely held back snarl.

He's already breaking down and the day has barely started. An accomplishment that's taken only a few weeks of patience and maybe Corwin is a little too proud of that.

"Rick. My name is Rick. And," he sucks in a deep breath before blowing it back out, "You know what, move I need to check the cable from the computer to the screen." He pushes their chair back without their consent, kneeling down under the desk to look for the cable.

The cable that they had purposefully cut with scissors earlier. After they unplugged it of course. They're not that stupid.

"Why is this cut?" He brings half of the cable out, holding it up for them to see while he tries his best to glare them down.

An attempt that feels more like dealing with an upset child. So they treat him exactly like one. "If I knew that, why would I have called you?"

"You!” He bites back the rest of his reply. Taking a moment before he finally grits out, “Just use a different computer until I find a replacement cable!" He stands up fast and awkwardly, knee slamming into the desk and forcing out a string of curses before he finally storms out of the room in anger.

"You got it, Rupert!"

The scream of rage that follows is a lot more satisfying than they'd thought it would be. Maybe they should go out into the world and do this more often. Maybe it's their true calling.

"Was that the doppelganger thing? I figured it would have quit by now." Olivia walks up from behind them, coming to a stop beside them as she tries her best to force her greying hair up into a messy bun. "Or at the very least murdered you next."

"Yeah, I think we need to start upping our tactics." They stare at the doorway he had left through an evil grin slipping free, "I say we gaslight it next."

She gives them a look of disgust, "Corwin really?"

They shrug in response, "It's not my fault it decided to kill and replace the I.T guy. Or that it's choosing to suffer by continuing to work here."

"Speaking of suffering. Where's the statement you were investigating in California?" She leans just a bit closer to them, her hand gripping the edge of their desk. While her eyes take in every aspect of their existence.

"I don't know. I put it back after I was done writing down the details I needed." Which is most of the truth. They put it back. Then Jordan took it back out and then they lost it in California because neither of them wanted to go back to the campsite.

Corwin's not going to tell her that. At least not yet. Maybe when Jordan pisses them off at some point but right now they'll wait to throw him under the bus.

Even if she's towering menacingly ever closer over them, her voice a whisper of threats, "If I find out that's a lie, I will personally hunt you down and skin you for the Stranger."

"Right, you do that. It's been great chatting with you Liv, now if you don't mind I'm trying to make the doppelganger’s life a living hell."

Click. 3

"Imani! Do you know where the werewolf files got put?" Jordan's voice echoes through the room of filing cabinets. Well, she thinks room, but it almost feels like an endless warehouse at times. Like now for example. She's pretty sure she's somehow gotten lost even though she's exactly where she needs to be.

"Um, I think it's somewhere near me?" She responds a bit more quietly but nonetheless heard; the room already echoing with her voice. It's what she likes about this particular room, no matter how loud or quiet she tried to be if someone else was in the room they'd hear her. "Let's see, nightmares about trees, mutated frogs, hmmm oh is this…. WHAT THE HELL."

She barely has enough time to cover her mouth and nose with her sleeve, backing away but still not fully able to escape the smell that layers itself against her tongue.

"Imani?"

She gags, backing up further away. Taking a second before she feels safe enough to speak muffled words, "Why is there a filing cabinet that's filled with rotting meat? This is… oh gods this is disgusting."

"....Oh um, I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be in Artifact storage. One second, let me go get someone to come collect it."

Her brow furrows as she stares at the cabinet, confusion becoming more and more prominent, "What? Why is there supposed to be a filing cabinet full of meat in Artifact storage?"

"Good question! I have zero answers." Is all she gets out of him before she hears the door shutting behind him. How did he even find the door that fast? She’s never been able to find the door that fast in the last few months she's worked here.

When she had applied for the job she had thought she had known what to expect. Creepy things, supernatural things. Gwen had given her a full rundown of the fears and the possibility of not being able to quit. She knew what to expect.

But knowing and experiencing are apparently two different things. And she's pretty sure nothing could have really prepared her for… this.

Click. 4

“I’m thinking we need more empathy in the Archives,” Gwendolyn says, as she adjusts her glasses, though it seems to do nothing to help as she continues to squint at the paper in front of her.

Oliva feels her face crawling into a snarl in response. Her fingers gripping into the edge of Gwendolyn’s desk she leans against. “Which one of those little fucks complained about me?” She would be sure to personally show whoever it was, exactly how empathetic she couldn’t be.

Gwendolyn turns her squinting from the page straight up to her with a look of amusement followed by an exasperated sigh, “Love, is there something I should be aware of if you think someone's complaining about you?"

Olivia glares down at her before a smile splits her lips and she lets out a bark of laughter, "Would I really need to tell you that bright eyes?"

Gwen's laugh is light, her eyes taking on a brighter sheen before fading to a dull grey, "No, I guess not. But I’m talking about empathy in general. Corwin seems more intent on harassing I.T than ever before, Jordan has begun to withdraw from people, Imani is starting a bad habit of asking questions she shouldn't, and you continue to be you.” The last part of her complaint dulled as she pries one of Olivia’s hands free from her desk, pressing a soft kiss against her knuckles.

“I don’t see how this is a problem?" She shrugs, not bothering to free her hand. "Everyone in the Institute is some kind of fucked up. So Jordan’s a little more untrusting of everyone and Imani is overly curious, she certainly wouldn't be here if there was no attachment to the beholding. It’s all problems that will eventually resolve itself.”

“I see you didn’t mention Corwin or yourself in that.” Gwen let’s go of her hand to set her glasses down. Quickly trying to rub the tiredness from her eyes.

“You love me just the way I am," she leans forward planting a soft kiss on Gwendolyn’s wrinkled brow, "and Corwin is trying to deal with our doppelganger issue.”

She grins widely in response, “I wouldn't have it any other way Love." Before her grin turns into a soft frown, "So, it was one of the poor lads in I.T? Which one?”

“Gwen, you already know who. And do you really expect me to ever show an interest in learning anyone’s name or Identity here?” She doesn’t bother to add on the last of her thoughts; considering how often people die. Too often to really get attached anymore.

“As much as I love you all thinking I’m all knowing I truly am not. Honestly though, I don’t think anyone here really has bothered with that. The poor thing chose very poorly in any case. Not much fear to be fed on when everyone is either already a stranger or you just have a deep-seated hatred for everyone and everything here. Not to mention, every single member here has been estranged from anyone they could call family.”

She narrows her eyes at that, “You know I’ve always wondered about that.”

“What? Do you really think any sane person with love and support would ever continue to work here? Let alone apply for a job here?”

"What does that make us then?" She leans forward, arms resting on Gwendolyn’s shoulders as their foreheads touch together.

"Two old women who are deeply in love with each other and bringing terror wherever we go."

"You always do know how to sweet talk me. But I'm still going to strangle the first person who doesn't put a statement back correctly."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Click. 5

"Alright, I've got your computer back in working order." The man claps his hands together, a look of accomplishment on his face.

A look that is quickly wiped away by Corwin’s own smile, "Great, but uh, something seems to be wrong with Olivia's computer now. Not sure what but it's stuck on this video and I can't seem to get it off."

"Why were you using Ms. Stanek's computer?" The man asks carefully. Lines of frustration already wrinkling around his eyes.

"Because you told me to use a different computer? Seriously are you always this forgetful Ralph?" They tut half heartedly with a shake of their head.

"What I meant by a different computer, was one of the dozens we have that no one else uses. NOT Ms. Stanek's.” They can almost see a static around him. A form that’s too long, too strange takes up the dark fuzzy spaces around him. It probably doesn’t even realize how badly it’s giving itself away.

"Well, I guess you should have been clearer then. Either way doesn't change the fact that the screen is still stuck on that video."

“I can’t believe this, why are you doing this?! I thought we were friends, Corwin!” He finally breaks, words echoing in slightly different tones against the emptiness of the room. They can’t help the sharp grin as it finally asks exactly the question Corwin has been waiting for. They stand from their chair, immediately crowding it’s space.

“See the thing is Ralph,” they lean in close, “I don’t have friends. So you being my friend is incredibly suspicious. So suspicious that I may have to do something about it. And I’m sure you don’t want that, do you Ralph?”

It tries not to look intermediated by their smaller stature but fails as their eyes take on a dangerous hue. It’s voice comes out weakly, now a pale imitation of what it was, "my name’s rick..."

“No. It’s not.” They know. They see.

It’s beginning to shake. Fear overriding its previous anger. Until finally it turns, fleeing the room. Not bothering to try and rebuttal them. A disappointing outcome to say the least. They had at thought it’d try to murder them. It’s why they didn’t point out the real reason they knew he wasn’t Rick.

It would have been funnier though if they had. They can already imagine what would happen. Watching the dawning realization on its face and it immediately looking down at his ID to find a man who looks vastly different than it. After all, everyone's ID photo on their work badges are all polaroids that have been laminated on.

Too many missteps from previous generations that made it necessary. At least it’ll make it easier to know if the doppelganger decides to switch to someone else in the Archives.

They wonder if it'll finally leave now.

Something in the back of their mind tells them it’s far too late for that.

Click. 6

"Jordan! Don't you dare run away from me you fucking little-"

"Olivia?" his footsteps slow and he turns back to face her with a furrowed brow, "I'm not running from you? We've got a loose artifact in the filing room."

"Don’t you dare start making up excuses!" She's still storming towards him, face scrunched in anger.

He should probably be afraid. Olivia on rampage mode always meant that someone was at the very least going to be severely injured. Mostly because some idiot didn’t take her threats seriously even though it’s been proven time and time again that her threats are 100% serious. But he's got far greater fears than anything she could ever do to him.

"I'm serious Oliva. Imani found the meat cabinet there." He holds up his hands in surrender but it does nothing to placate her.

"AND YOU JUST LEFT HER THERE!"

"Yeah? It's just the meat cabinet. At most it'll make her sick for a couple of days and then she'll be fine." They’ve all had to deal with a rogue artifact at one point or another. It was the archives own official... hazing? No, it’s not so much a hazing as it was just something that happened too often and the newbies didn’t know better yet.

"I can't believe this, you just abandoned your co-worker to an Artifact!"

"Olivia you've literally done the same thing to all of us. Live by example maybe?" He’s also pretty sure she’s killed people so he doesn’t really understand where this is coming from.

She stares at him for a long moment before her body immediately relaxes as if she’d never experienced anger a single day in her life. "Eh, who am I kidding, I honestly don't give a shit if you've let your paranoia get the best of you. Anyway, did storage move it there? Or did it decide to do that itself?"

"I'm not paranoid," he bites back. And what does paranoia have to do with leaving Imani there? She can handle herself, she doesn't need help. "I haven't gotten to Artifact storage yet to find out."

"Right well you get that sorted, I'll go grab Imani out of there before we have to hire janitors." She pauses turning back with a glare, "By the way do you know what happened to the California statement you were helping Corwin with?" Her voice takes on it’s previous edge, eyes tightening in anger.

"No." He definitely does not know exactly what happened to it. It could have caught fire, or could be buried, or ripped to shreds. He doesn’t even know if it’s still anywhere near that makeshift campsite.

"I'm watching you, little man."

“Yep, bye Oliva.”

Click. 7

(The sound of the air conditioning kicking on fills the room, accompanied by the sound of a man cursing under his breath.)

"Ah there you are-”

(The man lets out a barely held back scream, and something flatters to the floor.)

“Oh calm down, your name is Rick, correct?"

"Uhm...Yes, Ms. Gwen."

"Fantastic, I've been looking for you. Unfortunately, there seems to have been an issue with your work contract and you're now being transferred to the Archives."

"What! But. NO, I quit, I'm not going back down there with those demons."

"Oh dear. You can't quit. And I think you'll fit in just fine if you think them monsters of your equal."

"I-"

"No, hush now. If you kill any more of my employees, I'll have to let Corwin deal with you exactly how they wanted to and believe me. That young person is incredibly creative when it comes to killing your kind."

"..."

"So. Pack your things, and I'll get your contract sorted. Don't try to run, because" (a harsh bark of laughter fills the room.)

"We'll find you."

(The man curses a bit more under his breath before heavy steps lead out of the room and fade away. The woman gives out an exhausted sigh.)

“I see you’ve started recording again. Preparing for an Archivist who’ll never exist? Or are you preparing for one that’s coming to visit?”

…

“I guess it doesn’t matter because we both know the answer to that don’t we.”

Click.

#the magnus archives #tma #original characters #my writng #long post #monster of the week (fanfic)

[eerythingisshaka]

Will the Bell Ring? Pt. 6

[Erik Killmonger x Black!OC]

Word Count:  6.7K

A/N:  I am now inspired to write again because a tweet said that Disney+ had hella issues on the date it dropped and 10 million people still stuck around to watch it.  I’m taking that same energy with me.

“Mara, I won’t ask you again.”  Erik says sternly.  Kimara looks around casually, glad that they are at least located in a public place...though he still doesn’t seem to care.

“MARA!”  Erik barks.

“Don’t cause a scene!  Damn, you have absolutely no common sense!”  She hisses as an elderly white couple looks away and walks faster down the path.  A breeze starts to pick up in the air, causing the treetops to dance in the distance.

“Really?  All I got is common sense when I hear you tryna pull a fast one on me.  And to bring someone I respect in on this, that’s fuckin low!”

Kimara adjusts her seating on the bench as the metal digs into you thigh meat.  “Respect??  Oh please, you were just knocking him on some petty shit last week!  And I didn’t mean to!  Ok?  I’m sorry!”

“For what?  I need specifics, lay out the entire situation for all the other nosy white folks walkin round the park today.  They wanna see someone act a fool, I’ll give it to them if you keep pussy footin around.”  Erik leans back on the bench, spreading his chest wide with pride as he stares her down.  She can’t stand him.

Kimara lets out a sigh, laying one hand on his inner thigh for extra focus.  “I am sorry...for putting you through so much pain and agony.  I know how much the relationship means to and I shouldn’t have put it in danger by getting myself involved without talking to you first.  And even then, I should’ve known better.  I couldn’t even enjoy it without thinking about you and what you would think.  So...never again.  I promise.”

Erik scratches his chin, bouncing his leg before dipping his head down to look at Kimara over his fake gold rimmed eyeglasses with matronly contempt.  “Long as you learnt never to watch Euphoria without me, we good.”

Kimara squeezes his leg, letting out a huge sigh of relief.  “Thank God.  You really bout to cut me over Fez and Rue huh?”

Erik sits up, clapping his hands together.  “They are the true OTP if I ever seen one.  They ain’t even gotta be intimate or whatever, just the fact that someone been through her journey and is now doing everything to help clean her up while the forces of small white town bullshit enable her is...poetry dawg.”  Erik leans back shaking his head in awe.

“Babe, you are sappier than a maple tree in the summertime.”  Kimara shakes her head, the loveliness of their conversation filling her head like a delicious fog she didn’t want to ever see the end of, but Erik’s lunch break was almost up.

Erik kisses her softly, making Kimara wipe the transfer of her gloss off his lips.  

“Uh uh!  Don’t worry bout all that baby.  If that shit makes your lips as good as I like, I could use some too.”

“You so stupid!”  Kimara cackles as they both get off their bench and walk side by side: his hand on her hip, her arms locked around his waist with one ear to his chest.

“This was nice.”  Erik says distantly, more to himself than to her.

Kimara cranes her face toward his.  “Yeah?”

He nods.  “Yeah, just to not think about any of the bullshit we’ve had to deal with, enjoy God’s creations out here in the gentrified park.  I feel like a damn retiree with stock and bonds and 401K real fat.”

Kimara settles in step with him again.  “But you have all those things…”

“But I ain’t retired!  White America don’t want a nigga to retire.  Swear everything would go belly up if Black folks could live off of the fruits meant for them.  They’d burn the whole damn thing down before that would happen.”

Kimara rubs his back to settle him.  “Peaceful thoughts, remember?”

Erik’s chest expands and caves.  “Aight.  But real life is literally around the corner, so as much as I would like to have you in my office, I got shit to take care of.”  Erik takes her chin and lifts her face up to his.  “My Mara, My Mara…”

“...I’ll never be farther.”  Kimara says with only slight embarrassment beause their little saying is so damn cute.  Erik used to do cute rhymes with her name around the quad whenever she got down on herself or he thought he had her on the ropes to giving in to him.  Rarely worked, but constantly appreciated.   “I gotta go get some extra stuff for our dinner party later this week, so hopefully I won’t be too long at the studio.  We got a new artist laying down a demo that should be pretty fire.”

Erik puts a fist to his mouth excitedly.  “Oh worm?  Finally my lady finna be the new M-M-M-Maybach Music!”

Kimara rolls her eyes.  “I’ll be more than that!  I got about two songs on there I’m getting writing credit for.  I may wind up on the radio and you don’t even know it.  But you’ll know them checks!”

Erik couldn’t smile harder if he had hooks in his mouth.  “Your passion got you going off!  Nothing wrong with it either, you deserve it.   It’s been a long time coming.”

“It has.  So, go on so I can make this deal happen.”

They locked fingers until distance forced them to break their grip.  Erik waves  off Kimara as she saunters up the path to the main road.  His chest swelled with pride over his lady, she’s always been one of a kind.  Her happiness is his happiness, without question.  As he walked away, across the exquisitely decorated post modern/art deco lobby, to the elevator to the 33rd floor to his office, a cloud of dread weighed back on him that only got better with the help of Alaina.  If she wasn’t his partner on this revamp project with Boeing, he’d be shitting himself on a regular.

Erik walks by a conference room, stopping short of turning the corner of the glass walls.  He opens the door and peeks inside to see his friend hunched over a laptop, jumping slightly in her seat as he came across the room towards her.

“Damn, Erik!  Why do your big ass feet step so lightly?  Almost gave me a heart attack!”  She breathed out a ragged sigh of relief.

Erik pulls out a chair to sit down, chuckling at her expense.  “My bad,  I just had to come in when I seen you slaving away in here.  Figured you could use a distraction.”

Alaina smooths her hair back in her bun, her nude colored mouth in a tight, closed smile.

“I WISH you were a distraction for me, but unfortunately this involves the both of us.  While you were on break, Asshole and Son recommend we draft a final proposal for the FAA to approve.”

Erik sat shocked.  “What? Fuck, I mean that’s fucking crazy but kind of exciting too, right?”

She wags her finger.  “Don’t forget we are only the field niggas round here.  It sounds like an honor but in the end I am sure little Leave it to Beaver will be taking all the credit his daddy can send his way in order to keep the big wigs in good graces within the family.”

Erik taps his fingers on the deep wooden table, thinking.  Would they really double cross him that far?  Bringing him in on a project to mentor the bosses son only to pull the rug up under him and make him look like player two?

“That’s so damn white, sounds right.”  Erik sighs in somewhat disbelief.

Alaina shrugs.  “Told you.  And until I hear it from him otherwise, that’s what I’m going to assume.”  Alaina sighs and stretches her shoulders before going back in on the keyboard.  

Erik furrows his brow.  “If that’s it, then why are you still working on it?  Don’t you wanna pack up and move on?  You were brought here special for this, your time is wasted the most.”

Alaina’s eyes cast a ‘nigga please’ gaze on Erik.  “Mr. Future Baby Fava, I think our time has been equally wasted.  But guess what isn’t cut for my time here?  My pay: which is double what I make at my primary while I’m here so…”  She slowly leans over to grab Erik’s wrist.  “...until I hear the fat white man sing, we’re gonna work on this project for as long as we can to milk that cow til it lays a golden goose egg and rolls the tortoise to the finish line!”

Erik scoffs.  Alaina’s antics are half the reason Erik can’t quite distance himself from her.  She has a liveliness that he’s kind of missed lately.  “Man, you a trip and a fifth.  But I like your style. Might as well get it done then.”

“Oh fuck that, I’m done for the day.”   Alaina crisply closes her laptop, packin it under her arm and grabbing her case with the other.

“Whatchu mean?  I thought you said-”

“I worked through my lunch, like a boss ass bitch does.  You gotta work yours off, so Imma leave you to it.  Call me if you bleeding out your ears from stress: no less than that.”

Erik rolls his eyes as he gets up and watches her walk away.  The woman is working his last good nerve on purpose, but he likes it.  The job isn’t as boring or predictable with her around.  Now he just has to show her who the superstar has been all this time.  If he works hard at this, it won’t be for these fat cats, it’s gonna be a bonafide competition and he ain’t scared to fight a girl.

—

At the studio, Kimara finishes up a session with a local up and coming artist named Delilah.  Sweet girl, comes across very introverted until a mic is in front of her.  Kimara appreciated her vibes and talent, baby girl is on trend so long as she stays cute she is bound to be noticed.  Kimara ends their session a little early, wishing her well when it was time to wrap.  

Kimara felt like the studio was her second home most of the time but today she had to get to her real home REAL quick to get dinner prepared.  Tonight is the double dinner date with T’Challa and his boo of the moment.  She kept trying to get ahold of Erik for help with ingredients but he kept leaving her on read.

Rick, the studio owner caught Kimara before she was able to get out the door.

“Hey Rick  I know I cut things early, but I don’t have a lot of time unfortunately.  I have dinner to take care of tonight with some friends that is so damn important, you wouldn’t believe.”

Rick smiles a large proud papa smile.  “Oh I won’t keep you, but this news might.  Remember Peter Gafflin?  Legendary alternative rock/country artist extraordinaire who really love you last time y’all were in the booth together.”

Kimara couldn’t forget that man from their last session.  She hadn’t been exalted for her talent that highly since Petey Pablo came in that one time and promised her name would be on a Freek A Leek remix.

“Yeah, what about him?” She asks.

Rick could not help his smile to save his life.  “He called me up earlier today, saying he is planning to go on the road soon.”

“Yeah, yeah.  That happens often when you drop a new album.”  Kimara says impatiently.

“Right.  So he was thinking that you would hopefully be available to join him for some shows on his North American leg of the tour.”

Kimara stood there like the Men In Black just wiped her memory.  “Are-are you serious?  When?  How?  What would I do??”

“He wants you to SING for him like you did that day, background vocals and he thought a duet portion would be nice too.  You know the song ‘Boys Aren’t Born on Tuesdays?’”

Kimara clutches her chest.  “Oh my God, that song is so rich.  And he wants ME  to sing it with him?”

“Uh huh!’  Rick slaps her arm in congratulations, but Kimara could barely feel anymore.  

“In front of thousands.  Across America...oh my God!”

Rick and Kimara hug excitedly, so much so that Rick has to wipe his eyes a little.  “So is that a yes?”

Kimara stopped cheering to finally think a little.  “I mean, I don’t know.  If this was any other time I would say yes, but...I have some obligation here.  I’m deep into trying to start a family and settle a little.”

Rick makes a face of pity.  “I understand, I know.  And I hope you do get that.  Just…”

“Just…”   Kimara parrots.

“...it’s Peter Gafflin.”

“It is Peter Gafflin.”  Kimara says disheartened.  She had been waiting for years to get something off the ground with a top tier artist, but the universe had a funny way of timing.

“Did I mention how much pay is?”  Rick muses.

--

Kimara fans herself with a newspaper as she watches the rolls baking in the oven.  She is so thankful to have gotten dessert from the bakery, because she was over it with cooking.  She checks her phone for the time:  ten minutes til 7.  Her notifications show nothing from Erik yet, though she texted him twice today reminding his to not forget them hosting T’Challa and his girl.  Twice, Erik texted that he’s got her, but that was five hours ago, now who knows what the hell he is up to.  It would be perfect to bring up her good news with him in front of T’Challa and his date, while he smiles up at her with a hand inconspicuous and possessively on her behind...

But the light and fluffy feelings for the evening were quickly dwindling.  Before she could send a last threatening text to convince him to bring his ass, the doorbell sounds at the last sentence.  Kimara curses out loud, grabbing her oven mitt to take out the rolls that are a perfect golden brown.  She dabs her brow with a spare dinner napkin before clopping her way to the door.

Opening it with a flourish, Kimara opens her arms in excitement.  

“You made it!”  She says with a cheery song.

T’Challa looks at her fondly, his mouth slowly curling into a smile.  Kimara warms up to seeing her friend at her doorway.

“I was going to say it has been too long, but time moves backward for you.  You look beautiful.”

Kimara places a hand on her hip for emphasis, trying to withhold her joy in his compliment in the worst way.  “Oh please, it hasn’t been that long.  You cleaned up good too.”

Kimara always enjoyed the way T’Challa dresses like royalty without even meaning too, choosing pieces that elongate his lean body, squaring his wide shoulders to create a proud presence.

T’Challa places a hand to his date’s lower back.  “Iman has been looking forward to this night all week.”

A smiling Iman holds out a bottle of Proseco.  “T  has told me so much about you and your husband.  You all seem to be a pretty tight family.”

Kimara takes the chilled bottle and leads them inside.  “Oh yes.  We have all known each other for so long, I can’t imagine not having known them.”  

Placing the bottle on the table, Kimara claps her hands anxiously.  “So I have prepared us a nice little salad and a pork...uh...pasta ”  Kimara’s mind goes blank trying to remember what it’s called, she had only Googled the recipe that day.  Tapping her foot, fidgeting, Kimara gives up.  “Hell, some type of pork and spaghetti with peppers and shit.  It’s got cheese too, it’s good.  LEGGO!”

T’Challa and Iman chuckle as they head to the dining room.  “Well whatever it is it smells great!  I know your man must be fat and happy living with you.”  Iman gushes, pulling out her chair to sit at the table.

Kimara shakes her head humbly as the unwraps the foil on the proseco.  “Lucky for me, he is pretty active at the same time so it sticks in the right places.  If only he could actually BE in the right places when we schedule things that way.  Oh shit, lemme find a cork opener.”  

Kimara rushes into the kitchen slamming drawer after drawer looking for the elusive corkscrew.  She slams the bottle down a little too hard in frustration and hears the vibration of her phone on the counter next to her.

“Do you need assistance, Kimara?”  T’Challa’s steady, gentle voice says behind her.  She turns to see his concerned face looking down at her, hands firmly planted behind him respectfully.  

Kimara waves her hand in frustration.  “Aht aht!  It’s fine, don’t leave Iman alone in there!”

“She is fine.  Are you?”  He asks quietly while opening a cabinet above the sink.  

Kimara opens her phone to look at her notification.  “Been better.  Rather not talk while I’m supposed to be entertaining you guys.”

“But-”

Kimara puts her phone down hard.  “RAGU!  It was a pork ragu!  With basil fettuccine, ugh!  DUH!”  Kimara turns to see T’Challa holding the corkscrew in his hand.  

T’Challa continues, ignoring her topic change.  “You should let me know if he isn’t being good to you.”

Kimara takes the corkscrew in one hand, bottle in the other trying to maintain her blood from boiling.  “No I don’t.  I would discuss that with my husband.”  

“And he is where?”  T’Challa asks calmly as Kimara walks past him and back to the table.

“God, what a help your beau is, we can finally have a much needed sip sip, eh?”  Kimara exclaims a little too happily, sitting at the table as she drills the corkscrew in.

T’Challa opens the glass serving dish to examine dinner.  “This smells very good, I will fix a plate for you, Iman.”

“No!  I should serve you, Mr. King!  Move your hand from that spoon.”  Iman gets up, swinging her hips happily from side to side, digging the serving spoon into the delicious mix of sauce, noodles, and meat.  

T’Challa gives a shy smile.  “I appreciate it greatly, thank you.”  

Kimara jerks the corkscrew out of the bottle too hard, knocking the handle against the table, causing T’Challa and Iman to look at her with shock.

“Pop goes the weasel, right?”  Kimara giggles as she pours a third of the bottle into her glass, half an inch from the brim.  She takes ahold of her glass, taking  a few hearty gulps.

“So!  Tell me how are things with you all, still in the honeymoon phase?”

Iman finishes off her plate, settling in to eat.  “Well,  I wouldn’t say that.  Me and T are still kinda getting to know each other still, so I think honeymoon phase is a little too soon to call,”  she says as she nervously scratches the back of her head as T’Challa just keeps on eating.

Kimara starts to feel warm, keeping mental note that the fucking must’ve halted between them.  “Well there’s no need to rush at all.  Relationships are so much damn work, it must be nice to cuddle up to a stranger every so often.”

Iman offers some wine to T’Challa who declines.  “Have things been going well at the studio?  Recording?”

“Oh yeah, more than recording actually.  Sure, I just wish that I had the gumption to pull the trigger on doing some of my own shit.  I got a lot of praise from artist and even the owner of the studio; I’ve known him a long time.  But when it all comes down to it I just wonder what’s the point.  That’s all gonna change soon though, no worries about me!”

Iman pouts with sympathy.  “What do you mean?!  You are a damn good looking lady and to have talent enough that people brag about, you gotta do something with it while you’re young and able!”

“I know I’m young and able.  Well, I’m trying to start a family while I’m still young and able too.”  Kimara mumbles, slumping in her chair.

“Oh!  You are?  Congratulations!  From what little I remember from the night I met T, he seemed like a handsome guy with a good head on him.  If he hadn’t brought us home, we may not be seeing each other now.”  Iman’s hand disappear under the table to presumably T’Challa’s thigh, who looks over at her with kind eyes.  “And that reminds me of your story.  So T here got you and your husband together.  What are the details on that?”

Kimara is two sips from the bottom of her glass.  “Ohhh, that’s not dinner conversation unfortunately.”

Iman makes eyes at her.  “Oooh, that scandalous huh?  We all adults here, but I understand.  Me and T weren’t very biblical our first night meeting so, hey.”

T’Challa wags a finger.  “It’s not that, don’t be crass.”

Iman tuts at him.  “I’m just being friendly, what’s the issue.”

“It’s a personal story.  It should wait until Erik is here at least.”  T’Challa offers.

Kimara puts her glass down, plate still empty or any dinner.  “I don’t wanna bring that nigga up here anymore tonight, aight?”

Iman freezes mid bite as T’Challa sits up in his chair.  “Kimara, please-”

“Uh uh!  I’m in my house, I say what I want, I won’t be talked down to.  Iman?”

Iman is still frozen.

T’Challa speaks up.  “I’m just saying-”

“I’m talking!  Iman?  My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for months now, fucking like rabbits and I have yet to get pregnant.  It’s gotten so I think he;s getting tired of fucking with me and now he is out ‘working late’.  Now, he loves me because we have been through a lot to get to the point of being a married couple and he has had to prove himself loyal to me after...a lot of bullshit.  But I ain’t got it in me to discuss play the Newlywed Game with you cuz hell if I know what my husband is up to anymore.”

T’Challa gets up from his chair abruptly, scraping the chair across the floor, stomping towards the kitchen.

Kimara starts to laugh out loud.  “Oh shit, I think he’s pissed!  Ohh, let me see what this is about…”

Iman sits up anxiously.  “Do you need help?”

“No, no!  I got him, he’s very reserved with his frustrations, so I can deal.”  Kimara stomps into the kitchen.  “Now what is up with you??”

T’Challa takes a towel off of a rack, folding it twice.  “Did you need to unload on her like that?”

Kimara leans on the counter.  “Sure, woman to woman.  She seems to appreciate it.”

T’Challa opens the oven door, a plume of smoke billows out.

“Fuck!  Oh noooo, my rolls!”  Kimara exclaims, running to a window to open and fan out the smoke.  

T’Challa puts the baking sheet to the sink.  “I was trying to tell you I smell smoke.”  He tossed the towel down making the sheet clang.

Kimara fans her face, coughing.  “Oh, shit.  I just forgot.”

“Mhm.  You forgot your head this evening that’s certain.”

“What do you mean by that, T??”  Kimara asks mockingly.

T’Challa glares at her.  “If things weren’t going good, we could’ve rescheduled.”

“It’s funny you think I plan for my life to fall apart, cuz that is how it works right?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“No, no one means to hurt my feelings or make me feel like shit until it happens.  You want me to be the perfect host.  Erik wants me to be a good wife and mother when I can’t even get a bun in the ov-”  Kimara stops short of the sentence.  T’Challa hangs onto silence waiting for her to finish.

“T’Challa, what if this is all a sign?  I burnt the rolls in the oven...because I can’t keep a bun in the oven?  Like pregnancy?  I can’t bake anything!!”  Kimara wails as she covers her mouth crying.  T’Challa goes over to her but stops short as Iman enters the kitchen.

“Hey, if everything is under control, I might head out.”

T’Challa looks back at Kimara then Iman.  “Well, let me call you a ride.”

“Already did.  Kimara, dinner really was good, I’m sorry to leave so soon.”

Kimara has her back turned, wiping her face before facing her.  “Thank you for coming.  You’re as nice as I heard.”

“I will walk you out then.”  T’Challa offers as they leave Kimara in the kitchen.  Her phone begins to ring, as she picks it up to find Erik’s name glowing on the screen.  All she can do is silence it, she was in no mood to talk, otherwise she might have to make a Lemonade album about it.  

Kimara goes back to her dining room table, sitting down to the bottle of wine.  T’Challa comes back in, closing the front door behind him.

“Eh, eh.  Put that down.  Eat something instead.”

Kimara groans as she swallows one more gulp from the bottle before getting it snatched from her hand.

“I’m not feeling your vibes T’Challa, honest.”  

“Vibes?  Do you hear yourself talking?”  

“Yeah I do.   That’s all I ever hear is my damn self.”

“You are not supposed to be drinking while planning a family, aren’t you?”  T’Challa asks softly, sitting next to her.

Kimara sighs deeply.  “I’ve done everything right.  All I’m supposed to do is carry, I can’t even get there.  God, I would kill for even a miscarriage, just to know that I didn’t completely fuck up my reproductive system!”

“STOP IT!”  T’Challa’s voice booms between them, reverberating off the walls.  Kimara sits upright, looking away from T’Challa’s face.  His energy calms as he leans a little further towards her.

“You do not deserve to beat yourself up like this.  Do you realize how far you’ve come in life from when I first met you to now?  There is no one as smart or witty or brilliant as you that I can also put faith in as a friend.”

Kimara fidgets with her fingers.  “Good thing Iman isn’t here to hear that.”

T’Challa sits back, taking a swallow of wine from the bottle himself.  “I won’t edit my statement, but she is a nice girl.”

“I still like Nakia better.”  Kimara says matter of factly.

T’Challa bristles at the name, looking into the distance.  “Yes, I guess she is my kryptonite, however too flighty.”

They sit in silence for a beat.

“What about that night?  What did it mean?”  Kimara asks.

T’Challa’s brow furrows.  “Which do you…”

“A few weeks ago?  My car?”  Kimara rubs her face roughly.  “Ughh, I hope it’s not the wine talking but I swear there was a moment that felt like...a thing.  Am I wrong?”

T’Challa does something he does not always do:  he begins to stutter.  It’s slow, without the skip, but a stutter nonetheless.

“I...Well...hmm,”  He says before his mouth motions wordlessly.

“...T?”  Kimara asks teasingly.  “It’s ok!”

He looks her in her eyes intensely, like she just cursed him out.  “Huh?”

Kimara shrugs.  “We didn’t do anything so it’s ok.  Don’t sweat.  That’s why I’m glad we are friends cuz I know nothing bad happens when you’re around.  No craziness, drama, you just bring me back down to earth with a good talk.  It was just a moment.  Gotta remember that.”  Kimara pats his knee and gets up.

“Wait, so were you thinking of me in a way that night?”  

Kimara sees a light flash across the curtains of her window.  “Well, look at this.  Daddy’s home.”  Kimara comes back to the table to pick up plates.  “T’Challa go ahead and have a good night.  You don’t wanna be here when I’m throwing dishes into the sink until Erik comes in and has the nerve to ask what the fuck is wrong with me.  When the whole nigga nerve of it all is that he would have the gall to think I’m wrong to begin with!”

T’Challa waves his hands heading for the door.  “I am already gone.”

--

The early morning sun is extra bright as erik drives himself and Kimara to see their regular fertility specialist Dr. Tracy.  

“I’m glad she was able to see us today.”  Erik says.

“Are you?”  Kimara asks while scrolling through her phone.

Erik scratches himself.  “Ion know, I just…”

“What?”

“I mean...if we do this it’s like cool, we finna get a baby off top-”

Kimara tuts at him.  “No!  She said that it still isn’t guaranteed.  We are good candidates but not to expect success right away.”

Erik lets out a groan.  “Right, right.  Can’t no shit come easy for me.”

Kimara looks at his profile as he drives, catching Erik looking out the corner of his eye.  “What you lookin at me like that for?”

Kimara crosses her arms.  “I’m just trying to figure out what to title your sob story in all of this.  ‘I do what I want and when it don’t go like I plan I pout?’  Or ‘Fuck everything and everyone, I’m going through it but don’t ask me what’s wrong?’”

“Damn Mara!  The fuck you gotta go there for?  The minute I try and share something with you, you bite my fucking head off!”

“Watch yourself cursing at me!  I ain’t in the mood for it, and I ain’t letting it fly like that today, ok?  I don’t need this much excitement before an appointment.”

“Then don’t go nuts on me like you some damn comedian, roasting my ass.  I’m here ain’t I?”

“Do you not wanna be?!”  Kimara shrieks.

Erik goes silent, turning on the click of his turn signal.  The tension in the car is sky high and although Erik doesn’t mind a fight, he knew not to act a fool in front of these doctors in this side of town.  

Kimara leads inside to check in with the receptionist.  As they sit in the lobby, Erik is glued to his phone the entire waiting period, fingers texting furiously.

“Why ain’t you holding my hand?”  Kimara asks.  “You always hold it while we wait.”

Erik looks over quickly and leans back offering out his hand.  “My bad.”  While the other continues to work double time on his screen.  

“Who is...Alan?”

Erik jerks his phone back.  “It’s not Alan.”

Kimara drops his hand.  “Than who is it?”

“Work.”  He says curtly, flipping to his Instagram instead.

“Is something wrong with the project you’re working on?  Is Alan the one helping you?”

“Yes and no.”  Erik says.

“Wait.  It is wrong and Alan isn’t helping?”

“It’s not Alan!”  Erik bellows before coughing to cover his outburst.

“Kimara?”  Dr. Tracy says brightly with a smile, waving them back.  Kimara smiles tightly back.

In her office, Dr. Tracy goes over the procedures and preparations for IVF, with all of the medical jargon, followed by some generous simplified explanation.  It all sounded complicated and expensive but Kimara was grateful to hear about everything that could make her miracle possible.

“And Erik, you can be an awesome support by making sure to watch your alcohol intake, exercise, eat healthy, and avoid any environmental pollutants.”

“I was bout to watch that Chernobyl show; is that off the table now?”  Erik asks.

“Erik, you ain’t got time for shit else, quit playing.”  Kimara says with a little bark in her voice.

Erik laughs in a menacing tone.  “Ok.”

Dr. Tracy looks between them nervously.  “...we also provide counseling to couples during the process, as it can be difficult.”

“I wouldn’t mind it, but he wouldn’t be able to make it.”  Kimara says.

“Oh you speak for me now?”

Kimara shrugs.  “If you ain’t there, how else can things go forward?”

Erik sputters in disbelief.  “I won’t be getting like this in front of the damn doctor.  Thanks, doc.  I got the prescription and shit, let’s go.”  Erik keeps talking under his breath as he leaves the office.  Kimara gets up to leave

“Is everything ok between you two?”  Dr. Tracy asks.

Kimara hesitates before saying it’s fine, nothing more than a couples spat.  Erik may have been right about needing to change doctors.  At least a new one wouldn’t know when things were wrong.  This would just look like a normal interaction to fresh eyes.

Back at their house, Erik is reading the instructions for her shots.

“Says this supposed to help in producing eggs for you.  Still gonna take a while though.”

Kimara sits silent watching her shows.

“Remember to mark down when you got your period last.  Supposed to start doing these on your next cycle.”

Silence.

Erik folds the instructions up, standing from the dining room table.  He comes up behind the couch, leaning next to Kimara’s ear.

“Nassau is this weekend, you know?”  SIlence.  “You picked us a real good spot to make our own magic down there.  I think we need it.”

“WE need a lot more than a trip to an island.  Erik, you still ain’t said sorry for a damn thing you said to me today.”

Erik scooches to one side of Kimara to face her.  “What should I apologize for?”

“Embarrassing me?  Not telling me about what’s going on with you and also not asking how things are with me?  Being secretive and mean to me?”  Kimara’s eyes begin to well up.  “You ain’t talked to me without walking off mad in so long, I don’t wanna get used to it Erik!  You didn’t used to do that!”  Erik hooks one leg followed by the other over the back of the couch to sit next to Kimara, holding her hands tight.

“It makes me think about before you left for that damn military out the blue.  You snapped on me back then too.  You tryna go somewhere else again?”

“Hell no!  That life is behind me, I got nothing but you and work to get through now.”

“So I’m a damn task?”  Kimara mopes.

“No!  Look:  I don’t mean to say anything to make you think you boring because you’re not.  You’re the most exciting thing in my life, and I love having you with me.  Every time I’m reminded you’re my wife, I’m thinking how we should be on our damn tenth wedding anniversary instead of third.  But I’m done and thankfully you’re not.”

“Then why are you doing me like this?”

“I-I don’t wanna force shit on you more than you can handle.  I got things happening at my job right now that could make you think the worst, but I promise it’s not.  And you don’t need that pressure right now.”

“Neither do you!”  

“I can handle it.  You focus on your dreams at the studio, and getting ready to host the biggest headed baby your womb will ever know.”

Kimara snorts thinking about this, looking down instinctively.  Erik takes one side of her face in his hand.

“I wanna be more open but I don’t wanna cost you anything too.  So until shit blows over, just know I got this.  Be patient with me, and I promise to be more patient too.”

Kimara pulls Erik to her for a longing kiss, rubbing his face for comfort.  She could feel he cares, but there was still so much gnawing in her mind, she just wasn’t ready to discuss.  But there was one thing.

“One more thing though, before I call it forgiven and get to packing for the trip.”

“You still ain’t packed?”

“I’m asking the questions!  Who is Alan?”

Erk sighs, dipping his head down before looking her in the face to answer.  “Alaina.

“He’s a what?”

“Huh?  No, Alaina.  The name was Alaina not Alan.”

Kimara’s face draws up inquisitively.  “And...she is?”

“My partner for the project I’m working on.  They recruited her from another region and-”

“That’s who you spent the night with instead of dinner with T’Challa and me and his girl?”  Kimara asks.

“I came home!  Don’t make it sound like that, it was a late night.  Ole dude I work for keeps piling shit on me and deadlines-”

Kimara waves her hands in front of him.  “It’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“It’s ok!”  Kimara smiles.  “Seriously, I trust you.  You said works been beating your ass, and I know you wouldn’t be looking all sour if you were getting some ass on the side, so I think I can trust you aren’t cheating.”

Erik stared at her speechless before nodding and agreeing.  

“Plus, we tryna have a baby and I know you wouldn’t mix shit up with her when all that seed is mine, like that would be wasteful.”

Erik growls in his chest, leaning over her, nose to nose.  “Say that again.”

Kimara holds back her smile, rubbing his chest.  “Your seeeed is miiiine.  Don’t waste it.”  Kimara bites his lip at the end of ‘it’, catching him of guard, but not enough to lay her out legs spread quicker than she could blink.

“Wait wait, Erik.  I can’t!”  Kimara says, half giggling.

“Whatchu mean??  You playing with a dog and get afraid when you get the bark?  Quit playing and get them draws off.”  Erik pulls at her bottoms.

“No!  Wait!  I mean it, I’m cramping and shit.  I don’t want nothing near my pussy right now.”

Erik moans out loud in frustration, plopping backwards on the couch, erection pushing at his sweatpants.

Kimara lowkey loved making him wait, period or not.  It’s nice to see he still wants her, and no one else has his attention to fix his rather big problem throbbing in his pants.

“Erik?  You never told me what you think about the tour.”

Erik exhales loudly.  “Good idea, that’s finna kill my hard on real quick.”

“Erik!”  

He sits up, pushing down on himself.  “Mara, I want you to get your hustle goin, I know you been singin since way way way back.”

“Hold up, it ain’t been that long, makin me feel old.”

Erik bops her with his shoulder.  “You know you been my Suga Mama.”

“Two months older Erik.  Dassit!”

Erik looks at the floor, rubbing her knee.  “I just don’t understand why you think it’s best to leave now.  What Imma do without you for two months?”

“Whatever you been doin get home late at night.”  Kimara says flatly.

“The project is almost finished, do I don’t know where that attitude came from.”  

Kimara sits silent, not up for a fight, especially in her hormonal state.

Erik stares at her, testing her.  He knows she wants to say more, she always does.  “I got two more weeks on this, and it’s done.  My workload is gonna be lighter, more boring, and I promise my time will be yours, but now you wanna leave, so.”

“But you understand why right?  It doesn’t sound like you do.  I don’t wanna leave you alone or stop trying, but...this is my dream!”

“Having a family is too right?  That’s why all our time and money been revolving around everything related to that for almost a whole damn year.  It’s fucking flaky.”  Erik shoots back.

“Erik, you got to do what you wanted, right?  This ain’t new with you!  When you want something, you go for it, fuck anybody that gives a shit, it’s yours.  I’m tired of being in the shadow of your shit, cleaning things up so you can have your peace.  This is mine.”

“The fuck is you talkin about??  Is your PMS going retrograde or some shit?”  Erik speaks over her in an agitated tone.  Nothing Kimara said made sense anymore to him.

Kimara gets up, waving him off.  “Eat my ass Erik,  I said what I fucking had to say and I mean that shit.”

Masterlist

Ragtag

@chaneajoyyy @sarcastic-sunshines @muse-of-mbaku@dameshaemonique  @fonville-designs@destinio1@bakarisange l@wakanda-inspired @klaine15689 @savageiz @nickidub718 @yoyolovesbucky @alexundefined @forbeautyandlife​ @bakarisangel

#shakafic #black panther fic

[sourwolf-sterek32]

Past & Future ( Daryl Dixon Mini-Series)

Summary: You had been with Daryl Dixon for most of your life. Sticking together through all the curve balls life tried throwing at you, until one day something happened that changed everything. 

Now after 18 months apart, your paths cross again in this new world and you’ll both have to face what had happened in the past in order to move forward for the future.

Parings: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: language, blood, guts, just usual twd warnings 

Chapter 7-

*Three Months Later*

The next few months went by in a flash. You, Enid and Mia had finally settled into life at the prison and everyone seemed to like you guys. You continued to work on the fence and guard duty in the watch towers. Enid wanted to help out around the community like you were, so she began helping Beth out with baby sitting which she seemed to enjoy.

Your relationship with Daryl was complicated to say the least, he helped out with Mia whenever you asked without hesitation. Even looked after her a few times when you joined Glenn and Michonne on a few supply runs, despite him not liking you going outside the prison, but he couldn't tell you what to do, he didn't have that privilege.

You still had no idea what to do about the two of you, you wanted to be together again, you missed Daryl so much, God, you missed him. But every time you looked at him it all just came flooding back. The pain. The loss. The loneliness. The regret. The sadness, everything you felt that night when he walked out... You'd never say it out loud, but you were scared to be hurt like that again, you were scared of him leaving, you were scared of losing Daryl again because you knew that if you let him get close, if you let him back in and then it all happened again... you wouldn't be able to handle it. 

"Y/N? Hey, Y/N?" A voice called out from behind you somewhere, taking you away from your thoughts as you turned around to find Rick walking across the field towards you as you leant against the wooden fence of the pigpen. "I've been calling out to you for a while, everything alright?" He asked as he reached your side, leaning against the fence beside you with a concerned expression. 

"Yeah, sorry must have just zoned out for a second there. You guys still going on the supply run today to that hospital?" You asked, glancing over at the former deputy.

They had been planning this supply run for weeks. Daryl and Glenn had scouted it out from a distance a while ago and the place was crawling with walkers, but as far as they could tell the inside looked fairly intact which meant there might still be medicine and supplies inside and you guys really needed it. You were on your last lot of antibiotics and Maggie had used the last of the painkillers when she sliced her hand pretty badly on some wire. The group really needed the supplies, so Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Tyreese had been going over different plans for the past week to make sure they had the best plan of attack.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Rick replied, not looking at you as he stared at the four pigs playing around inside the pen, but you didn't say anything as you waited for him to continue talking. "Tyreese isn't feeling too great today and I know it's a dangerous run, we haven't done something like this in a long time... but you're one of the best out there, you scavenged that town near your cabin all the time, despite it being infested with walkers. I've seen you on supply runs before, Michonne has told me how good you are out there, you're fast, stealthy and can think on your feet. I wouldn't be asking this if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary, but we could really use your help. Maggie is still recovering with her hand, Sasha is looking after her brother, I don't trust that new Bob guy yet, I'm not letting Carl out there and I need Michonne to stay home and watch over the place-"

"You can stop talking, I'm in. This supply run is important for the group and I like being out there." You replied as Rick visibly relaxed and you chuckled. "You guys are gonna have to go over the plan with me though, I wasn't there when you talked about it."

"That's fine, we were gonna go over it again anyway just to make sure everyone knew what to do, but I haven't told Daryl that you are coming yet, he won't like it." Rick informed and you rolled your eyes. Of course he won't like it, doesn't like you on fence duty because 'you're too close to the walkers' but you just ignored him. He was trying to look out for you, but you hated being told what you can and can’t do, you could take care of yourself and he needed to realise that.

"Well bad luck for him because he doesn't get a say about it. Now lets go, we're losing daylight." You replied, pushing yourself away from the fence as you and Rick began walking back towards the courtyard to get ready for the supply run.

-

The conversation with Daryl went about as well as you expected, but in the end he gave up arguing, realising he was fighting a losing battle, but he still wasn't happy about it.

You made sure Enid and Carl had everything under control with Mia and Judith before you left, but they already knew what to do and didn't mind looking after the baby girls while you guys were away. They had Carol, Beth, Maggie and the others there anyway so you knew they would be fine.

You, Glenn and Rick opted to take the red pick-up truck since it had the most room for supplies, despite it being a little squishy inside the single cab with the three of you, while Daryl took his motorcycle. You wanted to join him on the back of the old Triumph just like the old days, but you knew that wasn't a good idea. You guys were still trying to figure everything out and you didn't want to get too close, not yet. So, you were stuck sitting between Rick and Glenn, in the rusty pick-up truck that didn't have a working air conditioner, but with the windows down were down with a Queen CD playing softly through the speakers, so it wasn't so bad.

The three of you went over the plan again; the hospital was surrounded by a security wire fence that was full of walkers, Glenn was gonna set off an old wind-up alarm clock on the South side of the building after you opened one of the gates to lour all the walkers roaming around. Once the walkers were cleared out two of you were gonna sweep the ground and basement level while the other two were gonna sweep the second and third level to save time.

The plan seemed to work for the most part, there were only a few walkers left inside the fence that you guys took care of easily before breaking into the three-story building, It was clear that this place fell early, most of the walkers were either in nurse uniforms, hospital gowns or military gear, which gave you hope that they might still have supplies inside.

Rick and Glenn had disappeared downstairs to check the basement first, while you and Daryl went upstairs, figuring you'll start at the second floor and work your way up. You each had a walkie talkie strapped to your belt to keep each other up to date along with your usual knives and gun holstered around your belts.

"Clear." You heard Daryl yell from down the hallway as you continued sweeping the room you were currently in. You decided to take all the rooms on the left side of the hallway while Daryl took the ones on the right.

"Clear." You called, as you began walking back out into the hallway after another room was yet again completely clean. "I got a few bottles of stuff, but I have no idea what it is. Can't pronounce the name on the label but it seems scientific so it'll probably be useful and make sense to Hershel." You stated, walking out the room to find Daryl waiting with his crossbow in his hands and chuckled at what you just said before glanced around the empty hallway sceptically.

"Don't like this. Somethin' ain't right, where are all the walkers?" Daryl muttered glancing back over at you as you shrugged your shoulders.

"Maybe there aren't any inside, maybe we just got lucky and found the only building that isn't crawling with the dead." You replied as you began walking down the hallway to the first room on the right where you and Daryl had been putting anything that seemed useful so Rick and Glenn could look over everything and decide what was worth bringing back and what wasn't.

"Nah, nothin' ain’t ever this easy." You heard Daryl say and you rolled your eyes placing the bottles down beside the bags of supplies you guys had already collected. He had a point, but maybe this was actually going to be an easy supply run for once, it was bound to happen eventually right?

"Don't be such a downer, if everything keeps going smoothly we'll back home sooner than we expected and-" You began to say, walking back out into the hallway before Daryl began speaking.

"Shhh. Ya hear that?" He questioned, his voice now softer and you barely heard him from the other end of the hallway, but you instantly stopped moving, trusting Daryl's instincts more than your own as you tried to listen to whatever he was talking about it.

"Sounds like it's comin' from the roo-" Daryl started to say, but he never got to finish when suddenly the roof above you began to crack and you could have sworn you heard Daryl shout something, but you had no idea what he said before the roof came crashing down.

-

For a few seconds you couldn't process anything other than the high pitched ringing in your eyes. You were aware that you were now lying on the ground on the other side of the hallway, but you had no idea how you got there. The last thing you remembered was Daryl shouting your name before the roof collapsed and everything turned black. Daryl. Where was he?

You quickly sat yourself up, wincing at a sharp pain in your leg, but you ignored it when your eyes landed on a familiar body lying down beside you. He was lying on his back, his long hair covering most of his face but you didn't miss the blood coming from a cut along his forehead.

"Daryl?" You called, shaking his shoulders slightly, but he didn't move and you felt yourself starting to panic as you pressed your fingers to his neck and you sighed with relief realising that he was just unconscious.

He must have pushed you out the way before the roof collapsed because you were standing directly under the section of roof that was currently caved in, the floor in front of you covered in debris. If he didn't push you out the way you would have been dead, that was plain and simple.

"Y/N? Daryl? Someone answer! What the hell was that? Guys?!" Ricks voice shouted through the walkie talkie still clipped to your belt, but before you could reply familiar groans began filling the air and your blood turned cold. Shit.

You quickly looked away from Daryl as you glanced down the hallway, but even through all the dust in the air you could spot the figures stumbling out from all the debris on the ground and falling down through the hole in the roof into the hallway.

"Daryl. I need you to wake up, right now." You whispered turning back towards him, but his eyes were still closed as he laid on the floor beside you completely out of it. "God damnit, Daryl, you have to wake up. I can't take them all on by myself." You said, glancing over your shoulder towards the walkers that were now stumbling in your direction. There had to be over 20 of them, more falling through the roof as the seconds passed.

You could hear Rick and Glenn both shouting through the walkie, but you didn't have time to reply as you pulled out your axe from your belt and forced yourself onto your feet, but nearly fell over again as pain flared through your right leg.

Glancing down you realised your jeans were ripped by the side your calf and you grimaced spotting all the blood seeping out a large gash on the side of your leg and you knew you wouldn't be able to fight against the walkers like this.

You quickly holstered your axe and pulled out your handgun, realising just how close the walkers were now as you pulled the trigger, killing the ones inches away from grabbing you before you quickly dropped back down beside Daryl shaking his shoulders, but he wouldn't wake up.

"Shit." You hissed, glancing back down the hallway towards the walkers before you grabbed Daryl's arms and began dragging him backwards, ignoring the burning pain coming from your leg as you forced yourself to keep moving.

It only took a couple of seconds but you managed to pull him into one of the rooms and quickly shut the door behind yourself as the walkers slammed against the door. Their faces squished up against the small sheet of glass in the middle of the as they tried to get to you.

Thinking on your feet you limped over to the hospital gurney in the middle of the room and pushed it against the door, satisfied that if the door didn't hold then the bed would give you guys an extra few seconds to prepare for the walkers.

"Daryl? Y/N? Can you hear me?" Rick's voice called through the walkie again as you dropped down beside Daryl, groaning at the pain in your lower leg. But you were more worried about the man in front of you as you brushed the hair away from his face, spotting a cut along his forehead which had been bleeding heavily, but didn't seem too bad now.

"Yeah." You sighed into the walkie, only just realising how out of breath you were as you held the walkie to you mouth. "Get out of the building... There's walkers, I didn't shut the door to the stairs, it won't be long before they get down to you guys."

"Shit, where are you? We heard a crash and gunshots." Rick replied, his voice laced with concern as you stared at Daryl.

"Roof collapsed, walkers came down, I had to use my gun. Daryl's unconscious, he hit his head. But I got us inside a hospital room, we're safe from the walkers." You explained with limited words as you glanced around the room trying to think of a way out of this. Your eyes landed on the bags of supplies you and Daryl had collected in the corner of the room. Holy shit, you picked the right room to lock yourself in.

"Shit. Can you guys get out?" Rick's voice asked as you opened one of the backpacks and pulled out a roll of bandages. Carefully you pulled your jeans up over the deep gash in your leg and you winced at the sight of your leg before you quickly began wrapping the bandage around it. It definitely needed stitches, but you couldn't do that right now. "Y/N?" Rick asked again as you finished wrapped the cut.

"No, walkers are covering the hallway, trying to get through the door, we can't get out." You winced standing up from the supplies of bags as you limped towards the window on the other side of the room. Shit, that was a long drop, no way would you guys be able to jump out.

"Are you hurt?" Rick asked, and you mentally cursed yourself for not taking your finger off the button quick enough when you winced earlier.

"I'm fine. You guys need to get out the building, I'll figure something out." You replied, turning back towards Daryl as you sat down beside him.

"We aren't leaving without you guys." Glenn replied.

"You don't have a choice." You snapped before lowering the walkie as you took a deep breath. "There's a window, it's a long drop, but if we had a ladder or something we might be able to get out." You informed, glancing back towards the window, knowing it was your only option, but if you tried without a ladder you were almost certain you'd fall to your death.

"There's a ladder back at the prison." Rick stated and you sighed with relief. "Will you guys be alright in there while we get it?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." You replied, clipping the walkie back to your belt as you grabbed one of the bags and pulled out a packet of alcohol wipes and sticker stitches.

"This is gonna sting, good thing you're not awake." You commented to yourself as you began cleaning the wound on Daryl's forehead, wiping away the blood before you started applying the sticker stiches.

Once you finished checking him over for further injuries you stood back up, grabbing the pillow from the hospital gurney, double checking that the door was still secure despite the walkers banging against it.

You limped back over to Daryl, placing the pillow under his head before you sat down beside him, leaning your back against the wall. You reloaded your handgun and rested it over your lap as you stared at the walkers through the glass slat in the door.

You sat there for nearly 20 minutes, the glass in the middle of the door now completely broken as you stared the walkers rotten hands trying to reach into the room and that's when you slowly come to realise that you and Daryl were most likely going to die here.

There was no way Rick and Glenn would get back before the walkers broke through that door. There were too many of them for you to take on even if Daryl did wake up, there was too many of them.

You were never going to see Mia again... or Enid. Your daughter was going to grow up without a mother, Enid was going to lose another person she loved...

You let your thoughts wonder for a while as you thought of the two girls before you felt a few tears fall down your cheeks as you wiped them away.

You had spend the past four months trying to keep Daryl away, trying so hard to not let him back in, to not let your feelings get the better of you because you were scared that he was going to leave again. You were scared to lose him again. But, now... it looks like you had just wasted all that time because you were both going to die anyway.

-

NEXT CHAPTER

-

Link to Masterlist is in my bio. I will reblog with my tag list.

A/N- *Posts chapter than quickly hides* Another cliff hanger... my bad. But there’s only ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT!! I can’t believe this mini-series is nearly finished, this has been so much fun to write, despite making myself cry during the first few chapters when Daryl was an asshole to Y/N. 

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx

#Daryl Dixon #Daryl Dixon x Reader #The Walking Dead #twd #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon fanfic #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead imagine #Norman Reedus

[twdeadfanfic]

It’s a dog’s life Pt.4

*Summary: The reader is new and alone at the quarry’s camp, the only one she has is her dog, who seems to be best friends with Daryl Dixon, a not so friendly man, but that friendship will bring the reader closer to Daryl, finding that there’s more to Daryl than what you can see at first glance…besides, he’s pretty hot at first glance, isn’t him?

*Slow burn, both reader and Daryl’s pov, violence and language twd style.Follows the events of season 1 and 2.

*3526 words

*Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Chapters: 4/14

Last chapter, Daryl and the reader had a fight after he lost Merle in Atlanta. They made up, though, and are now on their way to the CDC.

I loved writing this chapter, so, so much...so I hope you’ll love it too!

*Link to my masterlist with my other works can be found on the description of this blog. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but tumblr doesn’t show posts with links in the tags.

.......................................................................

The CDC wasn’t what you’d been expecting, though you weren’t sure of what had you been expecting. It was some sort of subterranean lab with only a man in it, who almost let you all be eaten by walkers outside without opening the doors.

That doctor was a strange, somber guy, but he was taking you in, the place seemed secure, with bedrooms and all, and there was plenty of food and drinks. It didn’t take you all long to celebrate your luck while having a big dinner.

You were stuffing yourself with as much food as you think you could handle. One part of you thought you should be saving food, you’ll be needing it, but other part tell you to eat as much as you could cos you never knew when you’d have another chance. Cole was lying down on the floor after having stuffed himself with food too.

“Fat.” You told him fondly.

Everyone was laughing, eating, drinking…it felt strange but the more you drank, the more relaxed you felt, and the more you were enjoying it. Glenn seemed quite drunk and you laughed aloud as Daryl loudly teased him. You looked at Daryl, sat down next to you, and grinned, your stomach doing a funny thing when he grinned back. He had had his fair share of alcohol too, drinking straight from the bottle, didn’t even bother to take a glass.

He could be an asshole but damn, wasn’t he hot. You bit your lip as you checked him out, didn’t even bother trying to hide it. It’d be a damn shame to finally have a real bed and having to spend the night alone.

“Hey, Dixon!” You nudged his leg with your foot under the table. “You’re a damn show off, you know that?”

“What?” He raised an eyebrow at you, flinching his leg away when you rubbed it with your ankle.

“I bet you rip the sleeves of your shirts so you can show off those muscly arms.” You giggled drunkenly. “I’m not complaining though, they’re quite a thing to look at, actually, thank you.” You giggled again.

“You’re drunk, girl.” He stammered, looking at you like if you were crazy.

“Yes, but I know what I’m saying.” You reached out to take the bottle of booze from his hand, slowly brushing your fingers over his. “You got quite the eyes too when you’re not frowning, you know?”

Those blue eyes were now wide as they looked at you as if he didn’t know what had gotten into you. You leaned back in your chair, taking a long sip while you looked at him. He opened his mouth but said nothing, closing it again, seeming dumbfounded. Maybe you had been right thinking that you’d have more luck flirting with a walker than with him.

Before you could say anything else, Shane began questioning the doctor about what had gone on there, and Dr. Jenner’s story about his co-workers going with their families or committing suicide was enough to kill everyone’s mood and people began getting up from the table to go to their rooms or to the showers. You were a bit too drunk to actually register the doctor words, and your mind was occupied with other things.

“Mr. Dixon.” You might as well try your luck. “Walk me to my room.”

“Nah.” Daryl frowned, still looking at you like you were crazy.

“Come on, you said I was drunk, well, I am.” It wasn’t a lie. “So be a gentleman and walk me to my room or else I’ll trip and I’ll knock my head on the floor and I’ll die and it’ll be on you, and my dog will be an orphan and he’ll be soooo sad, he won’t love you no more.” You let out another drunken giggle. “So come on, Dixon.”

“You’re exasperating,” Daryl grumbled, getting up. “You’re gonna be bugging me all the time, right?”

“Yep”

“Come on.”

You got up, hooking your arm with his, ignoring him as he scoffed, and you tried to keep his fast pace as he walked without actually tripping over. Cole padded behind you both, tail wiggling happily.

“There.”

Daryl shook your arm off his when he stopped in front of your door, but you didn’t let go of him, taking hold of his arms and pulling him to you. You ran your hands up his arms, feeling the strong muscles under your palms, stopping on his broad shoulders.

“Have I told you that you’re like really, very, hot?” You said quietly, leaning closer. Daryl swallowed hard, frozen in place, but when you locked your hands behind his neck to try and pull his lips to yours, he shook you off.

“Damn, drunk, silly girl.”

He grumbled and before you knew what was happening he had grabbed you and lifted you off the floor, throwing you over his shoulder.

“What the hell, Daryl!” You yelped. “Okay, never mind, keep going.”

You giggled when he opened the door of the room and strode towards the bed. Damn finally. He dropped you onto the bed unceremoniously and you looked at him expectantly.

Daryl just turned over and walked away.

“Daryl?” You called after him, sitting up on the bed. “Where’re you going?”

“Watch her.” He muttered to Cole before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

You fell down onto your back with a frustrated groan. Yes, definitely you’d have more luck trying to flirt with a walker.

*

A loud banging on your door woke you up. Why was it so loud. Why did your head hurt that much. You groaned, trying to open your eyes. You were sure you wouldn’t feel worse if you’d been bitten by a walker. You stumbled towards the door, opening it to find Carol.

“Carol..hey…hi…” You greeted, surprising yourself with how hoarse your voice sounded.

“Morning, Y/N.” Carol seemed a bit amused at your state. “I came to tell you we’re having breakfast, if you want to join us.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, thanks.” Your stomach was doing funny things and you didn’t think you could eat, though. “I think I’m going to have a shower first.”

“Good idea.” Carol chuckled, giving you a warm smile. “Is Daryl there?”

“What, why would he?!”

You didn’t embarrass easily but you felt your cheeks heating up at Carol’s question, memories from the night before coming to your mind. Oh, god, poor Daryl. He barely looked at you in the eye when you talked, flinched when you touched his shoulder, and you had thrown yourself at him. You hoped he wasn’t mad…

“No reason,” Carol smirked. “Well, he’s not in his room, so if you happen to see him tell him we’re having breakfast.”

“Okay…”

On your way to the shower you crossed paths with Glenn, his hair wet, seeming to have had your same idea and seeming to be as hungover as you.

“You should go back in there, you still look shitty.” You teased.

“Yeah, don’t get scared when you see yourself on the mirror.” He teased back. “At least I wasn’t all over Daryl last night.”

“You noticed?”

“Who didn’t? You weren’t discrete.” Glenn chuckled

“God, no.” You groaned, hiding your face on your hands. As if you couldn’t get more mortified… Daryl was bound to be pissed.

“At least you had fun last night, all I did was puke.” Glenn grimaced. “Saw Daryl walking you to your room.”

“Pff…to get my drunken ass into bed.”

“Wasn’t that the point?”

“No, I mean…he made sure I was on bed, then he left.” You let out a sigh. “I hope I didn’t scare him…I should apologize when I see him.”

“Good luck with that.”

Once you were feeling almost awake, you joined the others for breakfast. Nobody was as chatty as last night, you could feel some tension but you didn’t know what was going on and honestly, you didn’t want to know.

Daryl looked at you as you walked in and quickly avoided your eyes, looking anywhere but to you. Cole ran to him as soon as he spotted him and Daryl seemed glad for the distraction.

You didn’t know if Daryl was mad or not, but he was obviously embarrassed. You ought to apologize. But honestly, as you sat down on the table, you could barely look at him either.

You didn’t have time to apologize after breakfast, since the doctor decided to finally tell you what was going on. You wished he hadn’t. So apparently the whole world had gone to shit, those monsters were everywhere, and there was no cure, no place standing. Great. Just great. What were you supposed to do now?

Daryl walked away, bottle of booze in hand, saying he was going to get drunk again. Probably not a bad idea, considering the news you had just gotten.

You weren’t sure what to do. Rick and some of the others had gone to the basement to check the generators, after the doctor said something you didn’t understand about them shutting down at some point. The others were silent or talking quietly with each other, despairing and depressed after the news Jenner had broke.

You’d rather be drinking with Daryl but you weren’t sure if he would want you to join him. You weren’t sure if he was mad or not, but he had done everything not to look at you during breakfast. Another look around at the somber mood and at the strange doctor and you decided you’d try your luck with Daryl and also apologize.

You thought he might have gone to his room and you took a deep breath before knocking on it.

“Go away!”

It wasn’t the best start.

“It’s Y/N…”

You weren’t sure if it was going to make it better or worse, but he opened the door.

“What?”

“I was wondering if I could join you for a drink?” You asked and Daryl looked at you warily. “I’m not going to get drunk and jump on you, I promise.” You blushed as you spoke and noticed Daryl’s cheeks getting red too. Great, you were making everything more awkward. “Just…after what that doctor said…don’t know what to do with myself…” You shrugged helplessly, not sure of how to explain it.

Daryl said nothing but nodded at you to walk in, and Cole almost ran you over as he rushed inside. You walked inside and leaned against a wall awkwardly, looking at Daryl, who was silent as he petted your dog.

“What do you think of what that doctor said?” You asked and Daryl just shrugged. You didn’t seem to be making much progress. “I just…I wasn’t expecting a cure just…I don’t know.  I thought someone, somewhere, was working on solving this, that it’d be temporal…but everything is gone…” It was worse than what any of you had thought. “There’s no safe place anywhere.”

“We have this place.” Daryl finally spoke but he still didn’t look at you.

“I don’t know…that man gives me the creeps.”

Daryl nodded, humming.

“Mind sharing?” You reached out your hand so he’d pass you the bottle, hoping it’d make him look at you.

It did, but only for a second, as he took a couple of steps closer and passed you the bottle, dropping his gaze down again. You took a deep breath.

“Daryl, I have to apologize for last night.” You told him before he could walk away again. “I’m sorry, I truly am, I was drunk. I’m sorry I was…well…like that.” You felt your cheeks blushing again. “I didn’t mean to be like that, sorry.”

“It’s okay…” He muttered, fidgeting. “You were drunk, I know you didn’t mean it.”

“You are not mad?” You asked cautiously.

“Nah.” He shook his head.

“Okay…okay, thanks.” You smiled, relieved.

He shrugged again, giving you what you almost could call half a smile. Even though you were happy he wasn’t mad and that he didn’t seem to think you were a creep, his words about knowing you didn’t mean it rubbed you the wrong way. You had meant what you had said, you just hadn’t meant to act like that, pushing his boundaries as you had done.

“You do have pretty eyes, though.” You said softly, tentatively, hoping it wouldn’t make him flip.

“Stop it.” He scoffed, rolling said blue eyes.

“Okay. Sorry.”

Daryl opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it and began chewing on his lower lip. He was looking at you, longer than he had ever done, his intense eyes unreadable to you. You couldn’t help but look at the lip he kept nibbling. You bit your own lip and reached down to leave the bottle of alcohol on the floor next to you before locking eyes with him.

“Daryl…” You whispered. “The world has gone to shit, everything’s dead around us, there’s no solution, there’s nothing we can do, nowhere to go, and I really, really want to kiss you.”

He said nothing but didn’t pull away from you and so you leaned closer but waited for him to make the move. He didn’t. You heard him swallowing hard and you were about to pull back, afraid you had made him too uncomfortable and he didn’t know what to do, when he crashed his lips against yours.

You gasped in surprise but quickly kissed him back, tasting the bitterness of the alcohol in his lips and holding onto his arms.

You were surprised by the strength of his kisses but you kissed him back with the same hunger. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and moaned into the kiss when he walked you to the wall, pressing you against it.

You tried to wrap a leg around his and Daryl seemed to catch on what you wanted, hooking his arms under your thighs and lifting you off the ground. You wrapped your legs around his waist, letting out a breathless laugh against his lips when he pushed you harder against the wall.

You moaned again, lost in the kiss, one of your hands shifting up to caress his cheek, when suddenly he pulled his lips off you and dropped you, pulling himself away from you.

“No.” He grunted.

You looked at him with wide, confused eyes, breathing hard. He was panting too, his face flushed, looking at the floor.

“Daryl? What’s wrong?”

He just shook his head and when you tried to reach out for him he flinched away. You were confused. Maybe he didn’t want you? But then why had he kissed you back? Maybe you had pushed him too much…but still…that kiss… You didn’t know what to think.

“I’m sorry.” You said, not knowing what else to do and before any of you could say anything else, the lights went out.

“What’s going on?” You asked Daryl, trying not to freak out.

“Dunno…”

You heard him moving and then tripping over something and cursing, followed by a whimper from Cole.

“Shit, sorry dog, you’re in the middle.”

You followed Daryl’s voice and clung to his arm when you found him, hoping he wouldn’t push you away. He didn’t, walking you both to the door and opening it to find the others in the corridor, their rooms dark too.

You all followed doctor Jenner, demanding explanations that he ignored until an alarm began blasting and he finally explained what was going on. The lab had shut itself down and was about to explode with all of you inside.

You didn’t think you had ever been as scared as you were in that moment, seeing the clock counting down, knowing that the lab you were in was going to explode, while that damn doctor Jenner was acting like it was for the best, deaf to all your pleas.

Everyone seemed to share your panic. Some were crying while others tried to break the doors with axes and everything they could get. Rick was trying to reason with Jenner without any success. Your dog seemed to feel the panic and he ran behind you, nervous, barking from time to time.

“It’s not working.” You said in panic to Daryl and Shane, the door not giving up.

“These doors are made to stand a rocket launcher.” The doctor commented and you flipped him off.

“Your head ain’t!”

Daryl raised the ax he was wielding, running to the doctor, but before he could reach him Rick grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Get off!”

Daryl shook Rick off and tried to throw himself to the doctor again, but you stopped in front of him.

“Daryl, wait.” He tried to push you to the side but you grabbed his wrists. “If you kill him then he won’t open the doors. Give me that.”

You took the ax from Daryl’s hands and turned to Dr. Jenner.

“Open the door or I start cutting pieces of you until you open it.” You threatened but the man didn’t even flinch. “Okay, I start with your feet!”

“What the…Y/N!” Rick forcefully took the ax from you. “That’s not the way!”

“Whatever, keep begging him, he’s not even listening.” You snapped, trying not to cry of frustration and fear.

You went back to trying to open the door with Daryl even though you were pretty sure it was useless, but you had to do something. You couldn’t help your tears and you rubbed them furiously before you started kicking the door in frustration.

“Y/N.” Daryl stopped you, grabbing your arms and pulling you away from the door. “You’re not gonna open it like that, you’re gonna hurt yourself.”

“What do we do then?” You whimpered, hating that you couldn’t stop crying. “Nothing?”

“Dunno…” Daryl seemed as lost as you.

It seemed Shane couldn’t take it anymore either, he began shooting at the computers and then threatening Jenner with his shotgun, only to be stopped by Rick. Neither that had the doctor change his mind and you dropped to the floor, pulling Cole to you and burying your face into his fur, waiting for the end.

Somehow, when you were sure you all were lost, Jenner finally seemed to listen to one of Rick’s pleas, opening the doors.

“Come on, come on!”

Daryl pulled you onto your feet and you ran down the corridor, Cole at your heels, until you reached the reception of the building, stopping when you noticed some of the others weren’t coming.

“What’s going on?”

“Jacquie, Dale and Andrea don’t want to come,” Glenn told you, seeming about to cry.

“What?!” You couldn’t believe it.

“Shit!” Daryl cursed. “This is closed too!”

You ran to him as he began hitting the main door with the ax but it wasn’t breaking. You couldn’t believe that after thinking you were going to make it, you were still trapped inside.

Shane aimed at the glass windows with his shotgun but that didn’t break it either, and you were once again sure that this was your end, but then Carol passed Rick a grenade she had found in his clothing and that finally, finally, broke the window.

You all ran outside only to find yourself face to face with a group of walkers. Some began firing at them but you had to keep going or the explosion would kill you.

“Come on, we have to get to the cars, come on!” Someone yelled, you weren’t sure who, you could barely hear anything over the pounding of your scared heart in your ears.

“Y/N, get the dog, don’t let him get separated!”

Daryl told you and you grabbed Cole’s collar, keeping him with you while he barked like crazy. Daryl kept you behind him as he hit the walkers blocking the way with the ax. You wanted to do something but you couldn’t take your knife and keep holding Cole at the same time, and you were afraid the walkers would get him if you didn’t keep him close.

“Come on!”

Daryl grabbed your arm once there weren’t walkers too close and you three ran to his truck, rushing inside. You held onto your dog, closing your eyes and trying to shield him, and you felt Daryl’s body over yours doing the same.

No matter you had been waiting for it, the explosion was so loud it took your breath away as your heart did a somersault, it made the cars shake but you were far enough to be safe.

“You okay?” Daryl pulled away from you, moving to the other side of the seat as he looked at you with worried eyes.

“Yeah…thanks…” Your heart was still beating like crazy. “You?”

Daryl nodded and looked through the window.

“Look!”

Dale and Andrea were rushing into the RV, somehow.

“They’re fine!” You smiled to Daryl, barely believing it. They have made it!

“We have to leave, that sound and the fire are bringing every walker around here.” Daryl turned on the engine to drive away.

“What are we going to do now?” You felt lost again. The CDC had been your best shot and look at how it had turned out. What were you supposed to do know?

“I don’t know…”

...............................................................

So...that happened!! Did you expect them to kiss so soon on a fic of mine? Did you liked it? Or maybe it wasn’t really your thing?

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I loved writing it a lot!! I had such a good time! Please, if you have a moment drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts, I’d love to read it and talk to all of you!

Something tells me we’re getting Daryl’s pov soon...*wink* More comming next wednesday!

As always, English is not my first language so sorry if there are mistakes.

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[belphegor1982]

That blonde woman who was with Jonathan still waited his call for days and jonathan didn't know how tell her "sorry for not call you, my nephew was kidnapped by a mummy and you know"

I started writing a reply and it turned into a fic :3 (Thanks a LOT - again - to @thisstableground for the Britpick! And Em, I hope you don’t mind that I published it before you sent it back. I know you’re crazy busy, I just hope RL is being kind to you.)

Call Me (on AO3 / on FFnet)

To think the evening had begun so well.

Minnie – real name Winifred Cooper, but who used real names in this game – had found a suitable rich idiot, they’d had a few drinks, made attempts at conversation (not that she really listened to him; one rich twit was as good as another and the only thing rich twits were good for in the end was money), and after a bit of a snog he’d taken her home for more.

His ‘home’ looked like a manor. Minnie couldn’t believe her luck.

Unfortunately that was when the evening went from promising to just plain weird. And not the fun sort of weird, either.

Judging from the look on her toff’s face – Jonathan, he said his name was, and he did look like a Jonathan more than she did a Winifred – people with stormy looks on their faces barging into his room wasn’t part of his plans.

“Oh, sorry,” he said with a nervous grin, “we must be in the wrong house.”

Minnie’s smile froze. But he’d had the keys and everything…?

“I thought you said this was your house,” she said, eyeing thestrange men in red robes striding towards her and Jonathan. Wait, wasthat a knife in the bloke’s belt!?

One of the men roughly pulled her away. She had ample time to checkthat this was, indeed, a very long, very deadly-looking knife with ahilt that appeared to be made of ivory and looked quite valuable.

The pitch of Jonathan’s voice climbed several notches when heretorted, “No, I didn’t!”

Minnie was about to protest, but a quick mental review of the evening– even accounting for the fact that she had only listened to hisprattle with one ear – confirmed that he had never actually saidthe house was his. Now she thought of it, it was even doubtful thathe’d said he even lived there.

But he had said he was rich. Several times, in fact.

Minnie resisted the thug manhandling her for a couple of seconds tostick her head in the door and say, “Call me!” just in casebefore the red-robed stranger closed the door in her face.

The next minute she realised the futility of her request. Whoeverthose men were, whatever the reason for their presence – and shehad a hunch it was about money – Jonathan was undoubtedly notgetting out of the room in one piece. She had wasted an entireevening on a man who was probably neither rich nor a complete idiotand almost certainly going to meet a ghastly end. The best thing wasto discreetly retrieve her coat and bag from downstairs and leg itwhile she still could.

…The door to the corridor was locked.

Minnie’s grandfather had been a hansom cab driver, and the old dearhad taught her a number of colourful and very creative oaths. Sheexhumed half of them from her memory to curse the air blue.

And then screamed as gunfire erupted from the next room.

In a haze of terror she tried to break down the door, only to findthat the hinges were on the inside. She looked about wildly andspotted a large wardrobe.

Minnie didn’t stop to think. She flung herself among the clothesand slammed the door shut.

The gunfire continued, louder than the earlier thunderstorm. She madeherself as small as she could, flinching every two seconds, her eyesscrewed shut. It seemed to last a long, long time.

After what felt like hours, Minnie realised that silence had fallen.There was no sound at all except the creaks of the wood when sheshifted. Maybe it was safe to come out, after all – even thoughshe’d have to cross the next room to get out. Considering whatshe’d heard, she wasn’t that keen on it. There were probably goryremains splattered everywhere in that room.

At least she’d be out of this madhouse, though.

Her hand found the door of the wardrobe and she pushed.

And pushed.

And spewed the rest of her grandfather’s curses when the damn thingdidn’t open.

Minnie raged, she cried, she whimpered, she swore, but she remainedlocked inside the wardrobe. At some point she gave up and slumped onthe floor between the coats, trousers, and dresses, thoroughlymiserable.

Wait, dresses?

Either Jonathan was a little more unusual than she’d thought or thelittle weasel was married and had kept mum about it. She was usuallyso skilled at spotting the traces a ring left on a man’s finger,too.

She spent a long time wondering exactly when the evening had turnedinto such an unmitigated disaster and feeling sorry for herselfbefore she gave in to boredom and fell asleep.

.⅋.

Minnie was abruptly woken up by a footstep approaching her hidingplace and the door being yanked open.

She screamed.

Jonathan screamed.

He stopped first and clutched his chest dramatically.

“Good God, woman,” he gasped, “what the hell are you doinghere?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she snapped, all too awareof the countless little kinks and aches in her body and the fact thather mascara must have painted black tracks on her cheeks. Jonathan,she noted, looked dishevelled and tired, but completely unharmed. Howon earth…?

Minnie made to clamber out of the wardrobe, her whole body stiff andawkward. He didn’t help her out, too busy goggling at her.

“The bloody door was locked,” she spat, trying to untangle herlegs. Her tight dress wasn’t helping any. “And I wasn’t aboutto intrude on your little party, was I? Especially not once peoplestarted shooting all over the place!”

As if on cue, a tall man in a blue shirt ran into the room, holding agun in each hand and pointing both of them at her and Jonathan.

She gave a high-pitched squeal, and Jonathan yelped.

“Who are you?” the man asked with an American accent, his eyesnarrowing at her. “No, wait, I don’t care. Jonathan, take care ofit – and when this whole thing is over you and me are gonna have achat. Remember, twenty minutes.”

And he was gone in the blink of an eye.

Minnie was too angry and frazzled to be surprised.

“What is wrong with you people!?” she cried. “Costumedfreaks! Machine guns! Bloody… cowboys! What the hell?!”

“Well,” said Jonathan with a weak attempt at a smile, “at leasta resurrected mummy didn’t try to kill you. I’d count that as awin.”

Minnie stared at him, still vibrating with anger and residual fright,and opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She pushed past him andstormed out, only stopping on the entrance steps of the house.

It had stopped raining, but humidity hung in the air and it wascolder than even an English June night had any right to be. Thecountryside might be less smoky and dirty than London, but it wasalways colder, stranger, always reminding her that she felt better inthe middle of bustling traffic and busy streets. She belatedlyremembered that the nearest train station must be at least ten milesaway and cast a forlorn glance at her shoes, knowing they would notlast nearly as long. Then it hit her that she had left her coat andbag somewhere inside the house, and she sank on the stone steps witha frustrated sigh.

After a while, she started badly when she felt something heavy andwarm drop on her shoulders. The familiar perfume registered beforeshe recognised the coat as the one she’d worn earlier tonight,before the madness started.

Jonathan handed her her bag and sat clumsily beside her, drawing ahip flask from a pocket. He had changed his clothes, and lookedmarginally less foolish without his wilted dinner jacket.

“I called you a taxi,” he said.

You’re the taxi,Minnie almost retorted. She curbed the automatic childish sarcasm andwiped her cheeks with the heels of her hands.

She really could have done with some of what must be in that hipflask.

“Sorry about that wardrobe. The door’s always been a bittroublesome.”

Oh, what the hell. Might as well make small talk.

“I thought you said it wasn’t your house,” she said in alow voice. Jonathan didn’t smile, but something twinkled in hiseyes. He took a mouthful from his flask and threw her a sidewayslook.

“I never said that.”

“Then what…?”

“It’s my family’s house. My sister lives here with her husbandand her son. Rick’s actually a good chap when you know him, he’sjust a little on edge – what with those blighters in the red takingEvy, then the whole nasty business with Imhotep and the mummies onthe bus, then Alex being kidnapped…”

Minnie watched him rattle off things that made absolutely no sense atall, wondering if she should actually wait for the taxi to come pickher up or get away from him as fast as she could. Curiosity overrodesense.

“So Alex is your nephew?”

“Hm-hm.”

“And he’s been kidnapped?”

“That’s right.”

Minnie usually considered herself a pretty good judge of when peoplewere lying or not – when she decided to pay attention, anyway.Jonathan’s voice sounded on the offhand side of neutral, but thelittle worry lines around his mouth and the deep crease between hiseyebrows told her that, of all the nonsense she had witnessedtonight, this at least was real and personal.

“How old is he?”

“Eight.”

Something tightened in the region of her chest. Toff or not, that wasan awful thing to happen to a kid so young.

“Eightyears, three months and, er,seventeendays old,Ibelieve.” Jonathan rubbeda hand over his face and let out a slightly shaky breath.

Compassionand anger were having a go at each other in Minnie’s mind. How darehe. How darehe make her feel sorry for him and the kid. Whoever had kidnapped thechild were probably after the kind of ransom you’d expect peopleliving in a stately home like this to pay: the familywould either call the police or pay a lot of money and everythingwould be right as rain.

That hipflask was looking more and more tempting by the minute.

Everything– the evening she’d had, the damp cold despite her coat, theawkwardness of the situation – rattledaroundher brain louder than a train clatteringalong its rails. Inthe racket she heard herself say, softer than she meant to, “I’msorry.”

Jonathan’shead jerked towards her, as though she had just reminded him she wasthere. His eyes followed her gaze to the hip flask he was stillholding between two fingers. He handed it to her wordlessly, and shetook it with a nod of thanks.

Thankgoodness for posh twits who carried silver hip flasks. Jonathandidn’t stint himself on booze. The whisky was top notch.

Minnie wasnot the sort of girl who went red and giggly after only a sip ofalcohol. She had learned the dangers of that early on. But shecouldn’t help a snort.

“Ijust wanted afun evening with a rich idiot, you know that? And you, sir, are justlousyat the rich idiot thing.”

Jonathanpocketed his hip flask and shrugged. “Well, Ionly wanted a fun evening. But it looks like neither of us is gettingwhat we want tonight, doesn’t it.” He tilted his head to the sideand looked at her. “Tell me something. When we started, er…talking…”

“Is thatwhat you call it?” Minnie slipped in slyly. Jonathan looked ratherput out.

“Yes,well, I’m quite aware I might not have been the most scintillatingconversationalist, but then again neither have you, so.”

Sheresented that remark. Or maybe resembled it.

The nerveof that man.

“Whatwere you looking for, really? A good time, or a mark?”

The wordsurprised her. Maybe he really wasn’t as wet as he looked.

Andmaybe pigs were flying in the night sky, aswell,because Winifred Cooper took a look at herself and answered honestly.

“…Both?”

Jonathanlooked at her, his expression inscrutable. Thenhe shrugged with a smile that had more than a touch of silliness.

“Youreally got short-changed on both, didn’t you? Your evening was anightmareand I’m flat broke.”

“What!?”Minnie’s eyes went round.

“Or nearenough, anyway. As it turns out, it’s a bad idea to trustuntrustworthy people.”

“Oh.”

Justhow gullible washe, really?

Thesound of anoncoming motor and wheels creaking on the gravel of the drivewayinterrupted her trainof thoughtand she looked up to see a taxistopping near the house. Jonathan stood up with a wince and held outhis hand.

“Lookslike your carriage hasarrived,Milady. Come on, up you get.”

Minnietook theprofferedhand, holdingher coat tightlyshut.Whenhe let go she almost had to quash a pang of regret. His hand had beenwarm.

Beforeshe closed the door of the taxi,something – temporary insanity,no doubt – made her call him back.

“Jonathan?”

Jonathanwas halfway up the steps to the house. He turned back to her with aslightlystartled expression.

“Look…Thisevening really has been, um…”

“Anunequivocal disaster?”

“Somethinglike that. Itwas fun, though, before… Well, before.” Not that Minnie wanted torepeat the experience. Maybe she should start chasing the broodyloners from now on. Quirky airheads were deceptively dangerous.“Aboutyour nephew… Could you give me a call when you get him back? Justso I know he’s safe.”

Immediatelyafter she mentally kicked herself. Nevergetting involved in any way wasn’t just a convenientdefencemechanism, it was a necessary one. Congratulations,you sap, now he thinks you care.

Shedefinitely didn’t. Not a jot. What was it to her, really. Manyother kids had it much worse every day.

Jonathanstared at her, looking taken aback. Then he smiled.

“I’lldo that, then. Thank you, Minnie.”

Thatwas when she realised that she would havetonever see him again. Batting her eyelashes to part fools andtheir money and fooling around for a good time was one thing; takingadvantage of a moment of vulnerability was too low, even for her.Minnie couldn’t in good conscience say that she wasa woman ofprinciple, but she did have standards. And she didn’t do personal.That way lay danger.

Shecouldn’t help turning back in her seat just before the taxileft the driveway for the road. The steps were deserted; Jonathan hadgone back inside the house.

Onecall, she told herself firmly. That’s it. Then it’sbusiness as usual.

No harmever came from making one single phone call, after all.

.⅋.

Notes:

I’mnot saying I had “Minnie the Moocher” in my head the whole time Iwas writing this, but… I kinda did :D ThisMinnie doesn’t have a “heart as big as a whale”, though. Maybea dogfish shark :3 Still,Iliked creating her. She’s a gold digger and owns up to it, but doeshave standards.

Hope you liked!

#fanfiction #the mummy #the mummy returns #the mummy films #answer #Jonathan Carnahan #my stuff #Anonymous

[theresnosafeharbor4myships]

a Christmas Caryl, them together and warming my heart. Merry Christmas! <3

Back For Good (also on 9L)

Daryl heard the news from Tara and headed straight for the bedroom he’d claimed to get the bag from the closet’s top shelf.

He’d grabbed it all a few days ago in defiance and anger, stuffing the items into his backpack. They didn’t need it anymore and had never deserved it in the first place. He’d gone through it all when he’d gotten back, choosing a few select items for her and distributing the rest to the others in their group. He just hadn’t expected to be giving them to her so soon.

Tara had said she’d be next door settling in, and he rushed out the back door and across the yard, shrinking the distance between them as fast as he could—until he reached for the door handle.

She’d come back. Only a few days had passed since the war ended and he’d watched Carol walk away with the Kingdom dwellers. She’d said goodbye, even hugged him—God, he shouldn’t have let her go again, not in this world—but then she skirted away to help rebuild the city that’d helped them win by losing so much.

He wanted to see her, needed to know she was okay, and, more pressing, why she’d chosen to come back to Alexandria.

He pushed through his doubt and the door, calling her name.

“In the living room,” Carol responded.

The sound of her voice soothed him in a way he hadn’t felt since the prison, since the times when he’d return after days, sometimes weeks, out on the road, and the sound of her voice welcoming him back made the world seem less skewed than it’d actually become and everything he’d endured on the road somehow worth it. He hadn’t realized how much he’d come to rely on that—on her—until this moment and all the memories of feeling like home overwhelmed him. It’d been so long…

He made his way through the kitchen, steeling himself—his heart—against the onslaught of emotions that always bowled him over when reuniting with her, and stepped into the living room.

She sat on the couch, removing the Kingdom gear she wore across her chest and on her arms, looking out of place in the home that wasn’t hers, and he instantly wondered if she regretted her decision to come back. His chest tightened at the thought, so badly wanting to believe she’d returned for good that it hadn’t crossed his mind until now that it could be temporary.

She looked pensive, unsure, and entirely stunning, her hair framing her face in silvery curls, her round eyes seeking him out.

“Hi,” she stated simply, breaking the still air between them.

He gripped the small bag tighter in his hand and made himself speak. “Hey.”

She stared at him for several moments, drinking in the familiar sight of him, tall, lean, wearing a knife at his hip and his crossbow on his back, those worn, patched pants he kept washing but refused to get rid of, a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt under his ever-present angel-wing vest. He peered at her through his overgrown hair, his gaze intense and cautious but kind.

Her heart seized in her chest. How she’d missed him.

She patted the cushion next to her. “Come sit with me,” she invited.

Daryl moved through the room silently, removing his bow and leaving space between them as he tucked one leg underneath him and sat sideways, facing her, surreptitiously dropping the bag near his feet as he propped his weapon against the couch.

Carol turned toward him, and the room grew silent again as they both watched her pick at the flawless couch cushion with one hand.

Daryl had plenty to say, a myriad of things to ask her, but as he often did, he kept quiet, reveling in the fact she sat not two feet from him. Unharmed, seemingly content, and, as was their way, comfortable enough in silence that she didn’t immediately try to fill it. He felt as though the world had shifted since he’d last seen her, and he realized the last time they’d spent time alone was at that cottage she’d stayed in. Had that really only been a week ago? He wanted to know everything that’d happened to her since he’d left that night—and everything before that, when they’d forgotten they could lean on each other. He didn’t begrudge her her new-found friends and would be forever grateful that Morgan—who’d disappeared—and Ezekiel and Jerry and the others had taken her in and helped her heal. Still…he’d missed her. Still did, even as she sat in front of him, with all of the trauma and time and evil deeds they’d done lying like so much rubble between them.

He’d spend the rest of his life wading through the muck and mire of it if it meant she’d stay with him. He hoped he’d get the chance…

He glanced up to see her still staring at the couch, waiting for him to say something.

“Tara told me you’re back for good,” he broke the silence, and they both heard the question he couldn’t ask: Is it true?

She finally met his eyes, noting the hesitation and fear in them. She gave him a small smile. “I am. It feels…strange after…everything, but good. I’ve missed being with you and Michonne and Maggie, the kids.”

Daryl willed his blood to pump normally, her admission sending hope flooding through his veins like a drug. “Missed you, too,” he murmured, not willing to let any more time slip by without trying to acknowledge how much she meant to him.

She lent him a knowing smile before letting it slowly fall from her face. “I wanted to help them. I felt I owed them that much after they’d taken me in. They’re good people, kind, fierce, and loyal…to a fault, actually. I wanted to help them shore up the city, rebuild the walls, and I was…”

Carol trailed off, still absent-mindedly playing with the seam of the couch cushion, and Daryl knew something, or someone, had caused her to leave. He waited patiently, his silence encouraging her to tell the story at her own pace, even as he chomped at the bit to know what’d transpired.

“I only wanted to help…I wasn’t looking for anything else.”

She paused again, and he wondered what exactly she was trying to say. Had someone forced her to leave? Banished her like Rick had—which he still needed to process with her someday—leaving her no choice but to come back here? After fighting so valiantly in the war, how could they determine it better to let her go than keep her with them? He’d never rooted for her disengagement from Alexandria, but he’d have words with anyone who actively sought to push her out of their community.

“But he was.”

It took a minute for Daryl to realize her meaning, and his heart thundered rapidly against his ribcage, gripped by fear of what came next.

“Ezekiel, I mean,” she explained unnecessarily, finally meeting his gaze.

He kept his expression neutral as a quiet storm raged inside of him. He nodded once, encouraging her to continue. “I thought I’d made myself clear all this time. Back when I was in that house, he’d visit, and I’d tell him to leave. He’d bring supplies, and I’d refuse them. He’d send people to check on me, and they’d piss me off, springing my traps, and I’d send them away with an earful.”

He kept his smile to a minimal but couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride at how far she’d come since those days in the quarry. Living alone, setting traps, railing at people who encroached past boundaries she’d set, she was a force of nature.

Her admission also explained the initial look of irritation on her face as she’d opened that door to him, before the shock and relief and—dare he think it?—tenderness took over and the walls and tears fell.

Just thinking about it made his arms ache to hold her again.

“I didn’t lead him on—at least I didn’t think I did. He’s very persistent, though.”

“Seems like you made yourself pretty clear to me,” he agreed levelly. Only a lifetime of hiding his emotions allowed him to keep the irritation out of his voice. If a man kept pressing after repeatedly being rejected, he only had himself to blame for her walking away. And though he knew she could handle it—and likely had—he couldn’t help wishing the man lived a bit closer so he could pay him a friendly visit.

She shrugged one shoulder lightly. “Since I was going to be living inside the city, I asked him where I should move to, and he suggested I live with him. It’s when I realized I…I wanted to be here.”

He waited a beat. “Alexandria, you mean?”

���No. Yes. I mean, yes, Alexandria, but…not just Alexandria. It’s important to me that I’m here…with you and the rest of our group. The people who’ve been by my side since the beginning. The people I trust the most. The people who know me the best.  The person who knows who I am and the things I’ve had to do to make it this far.”

Daryl nodded in understanding, thinking of the journey they’d been on together. The trials and losses, the displacements and running and fighting and wars fought long before the man with a bat tried to rule a small corner of the world.

“I wanted to escape. After everything…after all we’ve lost, I thought I needed to be somewhere….someone else.”

Her words sent him back to their trek into Atlanta, another lifetime ago. She’d tried explaining to him then that she needed space, but he knew space, at least the kind back then, without other people around, would kill her. Survival meant sticking together, and he’d tried with every weapon in his weak arsenal to show her she belonged with him: protecting her, feeding her, listening and defending and encouraging and just being with her. He’d even waited until she slept to slip out and put down the mother and child walkers, knowing that act would likely push her over the edge if she had to do it herself. As a rule, if time allowed, they burned or buried the bodies of friends and loved one, not walkers. But that…he’d needed to do that for her. They’d both missed the funeral held for Sophia, she out of defiance or denial, he to ensure she wasn’t alone then, so the burning of those bodies had been his way to pay respect to the mother/child unit, the young girl he’d failed to bring back to her mother, the scared, scarred, and abused who hadn’t escaped from a living hell after all. She’d brought him back from the brink too many times to count; it’d been the one time he’d felt like he’d returned the favor.

“But all leaving did was made me feel like a pariah. I didn’t fit in there, and staying would’ve felt…weird. He’s a decent man beneath his disguise, and I could’ve even overlooked the whole…ridiculous king schtick to stay and help them rebuild. But not after he asked me that. It would’ve made things too uncomfortable.”

“I get it,” he confirmed. And he did. It was the main reason he’d never told her how he felt: because he feared she’d turn him down and leave, not wanting to bother with someone who made a tough life even more difficult. No, he’d rather suffer in silence and keep her around, have her friendship and watch her back, than ever risk her rejection and discomfort.

“I just...want to be here.”

His heart soared, and he desperately wanted to reach out and touch her, prove to himself that he wasn’t having a deluded fantasy, but he sat still, staring at her intently. “Glad to have you home.”

“Home,” she repeated, the word sounding like both a question and a resolution.

He nodded. “You always got a home here. Wherever we are.” Where I am, he wanted to say, but he just couldn’t make the words come out.

“Thank you.” He thought he saw tears in her eyes, but a few blinks later and they were gone. “Did you know tomorrow is supposedly Christmas?”

She sounded skeptical, but surprised and a little excited, and he nodded in response, realizing the heavy moments from before had passed. He’d learned how to manage those conversations over the years—hell, you couldn’t live in close proximity the way they had without getting into them—and even though they still made him uncomfortable, he treasured them. He never felt more important, never felt closer to her, than in those deep, often dark, places where she needed a companion. And when she chose him to accompany her, he faced the shadows, heart pounding, courage wavering, but determined to help her through at the expense of his own dis-ease. His chest ached that she’d come back to him—to them, he corrected himself—because it meant she wouldn’t seek out her new friends or a king or a stranger but him or Michonne or Maggie or others he trusted.

Damn, but he’d missed her. He nearly lost his breath at how much the realization suddenly overwhelmed him.

Carol gave him a questioning look. “You do?”

It took him a few seconds to realize she hadn’t read his mind but instead continued their conversation.

He nodded toward the front window at the blustery, overcast day and the bare trees in the yard and cleared his throat. “Seems about right with the weather getting’ so cold and the snow flurries we had the other night. Huntin’s been harder, and the jacket ain’t doin’ its job anymore.” He looked at her again. “Plus, Tara told me about the calendar the Alexandrians’ been keepin’.”

She huffed a laugh, shoving his arm a little at his teasing and making him smile in the process.

Her smile pierced his heart with affection. She looked beautiful, cheeks slightly pink, eyes happy with mirth, staring at him like he’d dreamed about since nearly the day he’d met her. If he could bottle this moment and hold it for safekeeping, for days when he thought he’d never see her again or the struggle to survive became nearly too much to bear…  He stared, drinking in the aura of her presence, the joy on her face, the sound of her chuckle, the way she sat turned towards him like he was important.

“Seems unreal that they’ve kept a calendar all this time.”

She sounded nostalgic, almost sad, and he understood the depth from which she spoke. While others had become mini-Hitlers, lived like kings, and played at Utopia safely behind walls, they’d clawed and clamored and scraped their way by just to stay together and feed themselves. It didn’t seem right.

“It’s stupid...but they didn’t know better.”

“I guess it’s part of what makes life…livable, huh? We’ve just been surviving for so long.”

He’d never known much of anything else, knew too that she’d spent at least part of her life like that, but he remained quiet, sensing she wanted to say more.

She stared out the window at the waning sunlight as the shadows crept longer across the lawn. “We never could stop to smell the roses like the others. Art and music and reading, birthdays and holidays and celebrating a new year…they all became ancient relics. Until the prison. Until we came here and met these groups.” She smiled sadly. “I guess I wanted to live in a fantasy. After everything we’d been through, everything I’d done, I…I just wanted to escape, to put on another costume and pretend I hadn’t sunken into a hell worse than Before.”

He watched her, knew the exact moment the scenes in her head turned from playing faux-happy homemaker to self-realized hoax. She blamed herself, he could tell, and though he wanted to defend her from her own incriminations, he waited.

“It didn’t work this time. It always had with Ed. I could….will myself to move past whatever nightmare had occurred that week. I had Sophia, and she made it worth the effort to try again. I thought I could do it this time like I always had before, but…” She shook her head, frustration on her face. “it was different. Sophia loved me. Ed didn’t love anything but himself, but she loved me, the real me. None of those people were like him, but they don’t know me and if they did…they’d be afraid.” She finally turned her gaze to him. “But you…you and rest of our family know. They know who I am, what I’m capable of.”

And love you just the same, he wanted to reassure her.

He hadn’t asked, and she’d already briefly explained why she’d returned, but it sent flutters through his stomach to know she trusted him with this…her past, her choices, the reason she’d decided to leave…and come back.

“We know,” he agreed quietly. “We know, and it doesn’t matter to us because we’ve all done the same. They don’t know…but we do. We’re stronger together. I know things happened that you ain’t ready to talk about—and maybe never will be—but I’m here if you ever do. And you think some of it’s unforgivable, that it makes you…worse than the rest of us. It ain’t true. I wouldn’t be here without you—none of us would. The CDC, Terminus...that was you savin’ us. You saved Judy. Wouldn’t let me leave when I distanced myself and acted like an ass. And always takin’ care of everybody except yourself.” He realized how emphatic and forceful he sounded, and he dropped his voice. “You gotta let us take care’a you.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I don’t know how.”

“Gonna have to learn…to live with the love,” he nearly whispered, reaching up to softly wipe a tear away from her cheek with his thumb, the ghost of a smile on his face at the memory of her words to him from another time, a better place. “The only sense this world makes is when we’re together. You gotta know that.”

He reluctantly let his hand fall away from her face, the air between them a live wire he wasn’t sure he felt ready to touch. But, oh, he wanted to, wanted to lean toward her in the darkening room and tell her everything she’d come to mean to him. Cleanse the fear from her and let her know how he treasured her. His heart felt like it would explode inside his chest.

Carol swallowed hard and closed her eyes, severing the tension a bit, and he let out the breath he didn’t realize he held.

She covered her face with her hands for a minute before wiping her tears away and meeting his eyes. “I do. It’s the only thing that’s ever made sense. It’s why I had to come back.”

Daryl held her gaze and nodded, desperate to reach for her but afraid to disrupt the connection they were rebuilding.

“I’m glad you did. Glad you’re here.”

She grabbed his hand, squeezing gently, and her touch sent fire racing through his veins. What he wouldn’t give to hold her close, kiss her tears away, wash the darkness from her soul, calm her fears.

“I am, too,” she breathed, the pain easing away from her face.

He needed to move, needed to refocus their conversation, before he made a fool of himself by revealing too much. Having her back for good, sitting so close to him in the fading light of day, her hands on him, her soft voice caressing his heart, he needed to retreat.

He shifted on the couch, and his foot hit the bag he’d brought with him.

“I, uh…” He withdrew from her, reaching down to grab the gift he’d brought. “I got something for you.” He handed the medium-sized black zippered makeup bag to her. “Call it a Christmas gift.”

She stared at the bag for a few seconds before raising her eyes to meet his, and he felt the room get inexplicably hotter. Her blue eyes, intense and penetrating, held his gaze, and for a minute he thought she was going to kiss him, the space between them coiled tight with electricity.

He swallowed hard. “Go on.” He pushed the words out, and they sounded strained, even to his own ears. “Open it.”

Carol stared at him a moment longer before looking down at the bag in her hands again, and he felt the loss suddenly, like they’d missed a ripe opportunity for everything he’d ever wanted and would never have.

He watched her unzip the bag and open the top to reveal it full of sundry items: a few tubes of chapstick, a mini hairbrush, silver and black snap hair clips, a pair of sunglasses, a bottle of body spritz, a container of face scrub, a jar of moisturizer, and a small tube of sunscreen.

“Daryl...where…?” She rifled through the items, surprise written on her face.

“I was at the Sanctuary lookin’ for supplies and food, and I came across the stash of things the women over there had. Brought it all back with me and…set aside a few things for you before sharin’ with everybody here. I know it ain’t much, and I didn’t exactly know what you’d like, but I thought—”

She suddenly flew towards him, and he caught her up in his arms just as she flung hers around his neck. He froze, his body in shock, every muscle strung tight and attuned to the softness of her in his arms. He closed his eyes, reveling in the feel of her against him again, never wanting to let her go. Her cupped her head with one hand, the other fitting around her waist, tentative but firm.

She felt perfect, scorched him everywhere she touched, his skin set aflame by her arms around him, her breath, ragged but soft, near his ear, her chest gently heaving against his.

“You, uh, you like it then?” he queried.

Her laughter rumbled softly against him, and she withdrew enough to look at him, joy evident on her face. “It’s wonderful,” she breathed.

Her fingers teased the hair at his nape, her hands, still draped around his neck, sending sparks through his blood, and he realized a small lean forward, just a single moment of bravery, would tell him what she tasted like. She sat so close, nearly in his lap now, and he felt time freeze, her words hanging in the air like mistletoe, waiting for a response.

“Carol…” he murmured, afraid she’d recoil. Afraid she wouldn’t.

With one hand she fluffed the hair away from his face, her eyes never leaving his, and he thought for sure he’d melt into a puddle at her feet.

She slid her thumb across his lips, the movement soft and sensual and altogether hotter than anything that’d ever happened to him in his life. Her eyes flicked to his mouth, and he was about to say her name again when she eased toward him and touched her lips to his, chaste and sweet and more than his brain or body could process.

He froze, his body tense, his mind scrambled, his hands at her waist hoping to keep her in place until he could come to his senses. His head swam, his body burning everywhere at once, the world tilting as he soared and fell, the motions leaving his stomach floating into his throat.

He sunk into the moment just as she began to pull away, and he chased her lips with his, gently tugging her back towards him. She moved into him again, her arms tight around his neck, and he felt her everywhere, against his thighs and his chest and his mouth, wrapped around him and stealing into his veins, settling into his muddled mind and burrowing deeper into his heart.

He never wanted to come up for air.

“Daryl.”

She whispered against his mouth, and he felt the vibrations of his name on her kissed lips deep in his soul. She was driving him mad, and he went back for more. He felt her smile against his lips, her tongue teasing him, his heartbeat thundering so wildly he feared it’d jump right out of his chest.

He eased away slowly, trying to catch his breath, and Carol gripped his neck, leaning her forehead against his.

He couldn’t believe what’d just happened, felt sure he’d wake up from this erotic dream any moment now, but it continued on…her breath feathering against his lips, her face mere inches from his, her soft skin beneath his hands at her waist, her forehead pressed to his in an intimacy he’d never imagined actually occurring.

She pulled away slowly, a satisfied look on her face. “You give the best gifts,” she stated, both teasing and serious. “We should celebrate more often.”

He huffed a little, still overcome by her kisses. He could barely breathe—let alone think of a witty rejoinder—with her nearly in his lap, her hands on him, the memory of her kisses still searing his lips.

“I’m glad I came back in time for Christmas.” She stared at him intently, speaking directly into his heart. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

A/N: this is a special fic written for @madwomanlexie and @jaimelannistre  Merry Christmas, my friends!!  Lexi, I told you (maybe a year ago? I’m horrible, sorry!) that I’d write a fic somewhat based on this post--and here it is! And Eena, you wanted a fic where they sit and talk. I don’t know if this suffices but I tried! Hope you both have wonderful, happy, merry Christmases. Love ya! <3

#caryl #carol x daryl #daryl x carol #caryl fanfiction #caryl fanfic #christmas caryl #christmas caryl 2018 #my writing #personal #madwomanlexie #jaimelannistre

[elizaviento]

Wine & Spirits

Well, I was actually able to bang this one out quicker than I anticipated as a nice little stress release.

Wine & Spirits

(Rick Sanchez x Reader)

NSFW lite -- 2100 words.  Suggestive language and some smoochin’.  But, overall cuteness.

*****

I first met Rick Sanchez at the grand opening of a new liquor store on the edge of town.  After perusing the aisles for a decent bottle of red wine to take to a birthday party, I bore witness to his ire with the store’s owner as I tried to exit.

“Wha -- what do ya mean, he can’t come in?!” Rick shouted while gesturing wildly toward his teenage grandson.   

“Sir, no person under the age of 18 is permitted to enter the store.  It’s state law” the shop’s owner politely explained.   

“Oh, so -- so you just assume that he’s under 18?”

“Sir --” the shop owner began again with a sigh while rolling her eyes, “-- it’s pretty obvious he’s not.  I mean, he can’t be older than 12.”

“Um, actually I’m 14” the boy -- who I would later officially meet as Morty -- whined while wringing his hands.   

The shop owner rolled her eyes again in response but firmly stood her ground.  Meanwhile, I was directly behind her during the entire exchange, waiting for the three of them to clear a path.   

“Excuse me” I finally piped up when I checked my phone and realized I was running late.  All three focused their attention on me as I stood there with my wine safely tucked away in a brown paper bag.   

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the shop owner apologized, stepping aside.   

“Yeah, no problem” I replied, smoothly walking past her out the door only to be stopped in my tracks, once again, by Rick -- who I then only knew as the odd man in the lab coat.

“W-w-what do you think?” he asked me, blocking my path when I attempted to side step him.  When I realized that he was actually attempting to pull me into his petty disagreement, I couldn’t help but laugh.   

“Look, I seriously don’t care about any of this.  So, bye” I said, finally passing him only to run directly into his grandson who stuttered an apology and colored a shade of red I’d never seen in nature.  “Don’t sweat it, kid.  Just make sure to bring your ID next time” I joked and winked before hauling ass to my car.

----------

The following week, I ran in to him again at the same liquor store.  This time, however, I was shopping for myself.  He was standing in the vodka aisle with two gallon size jugs tucked under each arm as I passed through to locate the whiskey.  He didn’t glance my way when I shuffled by but I couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that I needed to speak to him.   

“No teenage tag along today?” I asked as I came to stand beside him.  I leaned forward slightly to feign interest in the label of the bottle directly in my field of vision.  At first, he didn’t even acknowledge my existence -- only reached for another comically large jug before turning in my direction, presumably to head to the register.  When he nearly bumped into me, it was then he must have realized that I was talking to him.

“Uh -- what?” he asked with an adorably dumbfounded look on his face before making a quick recovery.  “Nah.  His -- uh -- his fake ID got stolen by a hooker.  New one’s in the mail.”

“Humm. Maybe next week” I mused, plucking a bottle of Grey Goose from the shelf before strolling away.

The week after that, he was standing in front of the store with his arms crossed and, when I approached, he made a show of checking his watch before shaking his head.   

“You -- y-y-you’re late.”

“Or maybe you’re early” I countered while pulling the door open and motioning for him to step inside. 

And so it went for several weeks.  I knew what was happening.  I knew I was going to that liquor store specifically to see him and I was pretty sure he was doing the same.  During our little weekly encounters, he’d share bits and pieces of his life -- most of it sounding like a complete bullshit fairy tale. However, I couldn’t deny belief any longer the day he asked me if I wanted to take a ride in his spaceship -- his fucking spaceship! -- and then pulled me through a swirling green hole that he shot into thin air, from something he called a ‘portal gun’, directly into my living room. 

“What the fuck?!” I had exclaimed when I recognized my surroundings. “How do you know where I live?!”

“Trust me, sweetheart.  You -- uh -- you don’t wanna know how many answers that question has” he teased with a smirk before shooting another portal at my front door and stepping through.

I only balked as the green swirl popped closed, amazed that all of his crackpot stories were true and that I had somehow developed a crush on a legit mad scientist.

----------

“Hey. You wanna come -- wanna see my subterranean lair?” he asked one Saturday afternoon as we stood in the beer cooler.

“Is that where you keep your clones?”

“Yep” he replied, picking up a 36 can case of Natural Light.

“Sure. I could go for a good gang bang with, like, ten younger versions of you.” I shot him a sidelong glance before reaching for a craft berry blend.  “How on earth do you drink that piss water?” I asked, suddenly changing the subject as I was apt to do once I’d pushed the flirting envelope another inch further. 

“You’re pretty confident of -- of yourself, huh?” he quipped with a raised brow.  “And, I-I-I’m trying to get drunk, not tickle my taste buds.”

“You check out my ass enough for me to be pretty secure in my assumption” I said, turning to leave the cooler.  He was directly on my heels as we approached the register where the shop owner greeted us with a smile.   

“My two best customers” she said, tossing a book of coupons in my bag. “Don’t miss the big sale next week!”  The bell hanging above the door jingled to signal our departure and, a moment later, Rick yanked me through a portal leading to his garage.   

I’d been in his garage a couple of times prior but the atmosphere seemed a bit different now.  I couldn’t hear voices or movement from inside the house like I had on my previous impromptu visits and I suddenly felt my stomach drop to my toes at the prospect that we were alone.

“So, where’s the Sanchez clones?  I’m ready to par-tay!”  I pulled my 6 pack of craft beer from the bag and shook it playfully before plopping down on a nearby stool.

“I lied” he said, dumping the Natty Lite into a gigantic cooler he had tucked away under his workstation.  “I killed them all so it’s -- ya just got me.”  He cracked open one of the warm cans and chugged it, making me wince as I imagined how disgusting it must taste.

“Darn” I replied with an exaggerated pout, spinning on the stool.  Even I had to admit that I was trying much too hard to be cute.

“Don’t -- uh -- don’t you worry, baby.  I-I-I may be old but I gotta big dick and know how to eat a pussy” he said, making a V with his fingers and wagging his tongue in the middle.   

“Oh my god” I breathed, my face flushing as I spun the stool away from him to face the wall.  This was the first time he’d successfully one-upped me and I heard him laugh victoriously as he grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him once more. “You win” I conceded.

But, instead of poking fun -- as I fully expected -- he sat down on the other stool and pulled me toward him; my stool gliding effortlessly on four wheels across the concrete floor until our knees bumped together.

Something had changed.  I couldn’t think of an adequate come back to continue this little game of cat and mouse we’d been playing for the last few months.  Instead, I only stared at him -- completely consumed with the urge to lean forward, close the distance between us and kiss him.

“Do it, do it, DO IT” my mind chanted.  But, I was frozen still as his large hands began to knead my shoulders and one side of his unibrow quirked in challenge. When I still didn’t move or speak, he finally broke the silence. 

“W-w-what would you do if I kissed you right now?” he asked, turning his stool slightly so that one of his knees slipped between mine, effectively bringing us closer.  He thought he had me, but I’d finally come to my senses.   

Without warning, I darted one arm forward to capture him by the back of the neck and tugged his face toward mine.  Opening my mouth slightly to encase his bottom lip on contact, I gently nipped and pulled as I just as quickly retreated.  The look on his face was that of pure shock and I giggled triumphantly.  He thought he had me.  He was wrong. 

Or was he?

Before I knew it, he had snatched one of my wrists and pulled me back in. And, when our lips collided a second time, he threaded his fingers through my hair to palm the back of my head and pushed his greedy tongue into my gaping mouth.  As expected, he tasted like the warm, cheap beer he’d chugged moments earlier but that was quickly overshadowed by the ridiculous skill his tongue displayed as it sought and danced with my own.  Within minutes, I was breathless as I struggled in vain for dominance and completely gave in when I felt him tug me further and further until he’d dislodged me from my stool and had me securely perched on his lap.

When he finally let me pull back for a breath, I lowered my head to his shoulder with a strangled laugh.  “You win again.”

“Mmm” he hummed in agreement, settling his large hands on my hips.  “How long have you wanted -- you been waitin’ for that?”

“You’re pretty confident of yourself, huh?” I asked, throwing his earlier jab back at him.

When the garage door engaged and began to slowly rise, I shoved myself from Rick’s lap so fast that the stool flew backward and caused him to crashed against the counter of his work station.   

“Ow, fuck!” he yelled as I scrambled to remain on my feet as the garage door continued its ascent and reveal Rick’s granddaughter landing his spaceship in the driveway.  As she pulled into the garage and got out, I leaned nonchalantly against the counter and gave her a timid wave.

“Oh, hey” Summer greeted with her signature bored expression.  “Sorry I, like, interrupted your make out session.”

“How --” I started, shaking my head.  There was no way she had seen us with how slow that garage door moved.

“God, adults think teenagers are so dumb” she said, pulling her phone from her back pocket.  “It’s, like, so obvious with the way you two flirt with each other.  Gross.”  With that, she tossed the keys to the ship toward Rick where they bounced off one of his knees to land on the concrete floor with a clatter.  So -- I obviously wasn’t the only one taken aback by Summer’s effortless observation.

“Nice catch, Grandpa” she said, rolling her eyes.  “Thanks for letting me borrow the ship.”  And then she disappeared through the door leading to the kitchen.

“Well, I should probably go” I said, grabbing my 6 pack from the counter.  The moment had passed and I suddenly felt awkward, wondering if I’d somehow ruined our easy going friendship.

“Yeah. I need some time to -- to uh -- regrow the clones” he said with a smirk, standing from the stool while rubbing the section of his back that had slammed against the counter.  I instantly released a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding as the atmosphere became light and playful once again.

“Well, if what you said earlier is true; don’t bother.”

Rick raked a hand through his hair and pulled the portal gun from the inner pocket of his lab coat, preparing to send me back to the liquor store parking lot so I could retrieve my car.

“See ya next week, baby” he said, pulling the trigger and repeating the lewd gesture with his fingers and tongue as I flipped him off and stepped through.

I already couldn’t wait.

The End.

P.S. Yes, I used my favorite line of Rick’s again.  I’ll never get sick of it!

#rick and morty #rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez #fanfiction #fanfiction request #wine & spirits

[write-havoc]

The Flame Is Gone, The Fire Remains Ch. 5

Summary: Negan and Chuck have cemented their relationship and are proud parents of a new baby girl. Will they be able to balance their new found parenthood with keeping their community safe from the perils of the world?

Sequel to This Is How I Disappear

Fandom: The Walking Dead AU

Pairing: Negan/Original Female Character

Status: Ongoing

Contains: swearing, violence, blood, smut

Intended for readers 18+ of age only

Masterlists in my bio

——— Negan’s POV ———

I look at Simon, letting it fuckin’ sink in that we’re gonna fuckin’ know where Eldritch is laying his goddamn head.

“I wanna know the second our guys get back and tell us where that motherfucker is.”

Simon nods.

“And get on the horn and talk to Rick and Ezekiel. Tell them when we get Eldritch’s fuckin’ location, we’re gonna head out to scope the place. I want to fuckin’ start planning to kill that fuckin’ piece of shit as soon as we goddamn can.”

“Sure thing, brother” Simon replies. He claps me on the shoulder before fuckin’ leaving.

I turn back to Chuck and she’s fuckin’ staring at me. “I’m gonna fuckin’ get him this time.”

I can see her face fuckin’ twist up with worry. “I don’t want you to.”

I don’t fuckin’ understand. “What? Why? Why the fuck wouldn’t you want him dead?”

Her eyes start to well up. “I do,” she chokes out. “I just don’t want you risking your life to do it.” She puts her hand on Maddie’s head softly as she clutches her closer to her chest. “We need you, Negan,” she whispers.

Fuck, that almost breaks my heart. I walk over to her and hug her lightly so I don’t fuckin’ crush my little girl. “I’m gonna come back to you.” I cradle her face with one hand and set the other on Maddie’s head. “Don’t worry, baby girl.” I kiss her softly. “I’m never gonna fuckin’ leave you.”

The tears start to fall from her eyes. “You can’t prom-“

I don’t let her say it. “I will always come back to you. I will promise you that.” I sweep my thumb over her cheek to rid it of a fuckin’ tear. I hate to fuckin’ upset her, but I have to do this.

We sit together with Maddie on our laps, just holding onto each other until Simon comes back up a few hours later.

“Get the location?” I ask as I stand.

Simon nods. “Eldritch is in a mall over in Maryland. The guys are all ready to go, waiting for your say.”

“Relay the location to the Rick and Ezekiel,” I say to him as I move over to the door to pick up Lucille leaning against the wall. “Tell them we’ll meet at Alexandria and we’ll come up with a fuckin’ plan when we see what we’re dealing with.”

“Alright, boss.” Simon doesn’t waste any fuckin’ time and leaves.

When I turn back to Chuck, she’s already walking toward me with Maddie in her arms.

“I’m gonna see you off,” she says with tears in her eyes.

“Okay, baby girl.” I kiss her on the forehead before we head downstairs.

When we get to the waiting horses, I put Lucille on my saddle and take Maddie from Chuck.

“Daddy’s gonna be gone for a couple days. Take care of Mommy while I’m gone,” I say to her as she smiles up at me. “I love you, my little princess.” I kiss her on the cheek and she lets out a little giggle.

Chuck comes up to me and wraps her arms around me with Maddie between us. “Please be careful,” she whispers. “Don’t attack unless you’re sure you’re gonna beat him.”

I give her a kiss. “I won’t, baby girl. I promise.”

She takes Maddie back from me. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I mount up, never once breaking eye contact with my girl. Not until I have to turn to leave.

It’s a long fuckin’ ride on the horses. We get to Alexandria and strategize with Rick and Ezekiel. Since The Kingdom is just about as far away from Alexandria as The Sanctuary, Ezekiel and his men got there not long before we did. After our little rest and planning session, we head out again.

The bridge is fuckin’ clear, so we cross it easily. Once we’re on the other side of the river into Maryland, we decide to split the fuck up. With all of our guys combined, we got a hundred or so people in our caravan. Splitting up will allow us to go faster and to be less fuckin’ conspicuous. It also means that we can hit this place from both sides.

The biters seem to be pretty goddamn sparse the whole way, so the ride is mostly uneventful. We push through the night and get to the fuckin’ mall just before dawn.

It’s a fairly large fuckin’ building surrounded by parking lots, which isn’t fuckin’ ideal. That’ll make it fuckin’ hard to get close to the building without being seen. Thankfully, there’s a fuckin’ forest surrounding the parking lot on the front and one side, so me and Rick take half the men to hide in the trees. Ezekiel takes his guys to hide amongst the fuckin’ buildings to the back and we all start to look for the weak spots.

Fortunately for us, there’s a lot of fuckin’ windows in the building, so we can see in pretty goddamn easily with our binoculars and shit. Once the sun comes up, anyway. We start to see people fuckin’ milling around as they wake up. Everyone we see aren’t exactly fuckin’ heavily armed. In fact, it looks like there not fuckin’ armed at all.

“You seeing any guns?” I ask Rick as we both have binoculars held up to our eyes. He and Daryl are the two closest guys standing around me.

“No,” he answers. “You know what else I’m not seeing?”

“What?”

“Crops,” he replies. “Or animals.”

I put the binoculars down. “I noticed that, too. There’s no fuckin’ way they got numbers in there without raising crops or animals for food. And there ain’t exactly a lot of animals to hunt around here and anything scavenged would be gross as fuck now.”

Daryl pipes up. “There couldn’t have been much more than twenty people that attacked us with them BB guns.”

Rick turns to look at him. “You think that’s all they got?”

“I’m not seein’ signs of much more,” he answers.

I look back through my binoculars. “I’m not either. But there’s interior rooms and shit in there. People could be hiding. I went to that fuckin’ mall a few times and there’s a ton of fuckin’ space in there.”

Rick scratches at his beard. “There’s no solar panels. Doubt there’d be enough fuel left to run generators here.”

“So no power,” I finish Rick’s thought. “Those interior stores would be dark as fuck without windows. Unless they went full mole-people, they’d probably be out where they could see what the fuck they’re doing. I’m doubting they got as many fuckin’ guys as we do in there.” I focus on the people walking around in what was the fuckin’ food court and notice something. “Are they all fuckin’ dressed the same?” They seem to all be wearing long black or gray coats and dark pants.

Daryl and Rick look at what I am and let out uncomfortable grunts.

“That’s weird,” Rick finally comments. “Are we dealing with a cult?”

“Fuck,” I groan. “I fuckin’ hope not. Who the fuck would follow that pretentious dickhole?”

Now that I think about it, Eldritch seems like the exact kind of crazy motherfucker to start a cult.

“Those people The Kingdom let in did commit suicide just to turn,” Rick brings up. “That seems like cult behavior. Or at least crazy behavior.”

“Goddamnit,” I mutter to myself. “If these motherfuckers are full on crazy, that changes shit. They’ll be fuckin’ unpredictable.”

“We got more men,” Rick states optimistically. “And we’re well armed.”

“Yeah,” I nod. “But they play fuckin’ dirty. And I don’t want any of us getting fuckin’ nicked by a tainted fuckin’ projectile and turning. We got all that open space to cover before we even get to the building.”

“It ain’t open ,” Daryl jumps in. “There’s cars we can blend in with all over the place. If we wait until dark and don’t move too fast, they won’t notice us comin’. It ain’t a full moon tonight. It’ll be dark.”

We spend the rest of the fuckin’ day planning and strategizing. By the time the sun starts to set, all of us are getting into position. When it’s fuckin’ dark, we start to move forward in small groups, slowly weaving in between the cars. Luckily for us, the dead seem to be staying away, so we can do this shit without any surprises from them.

We finally all surround the goddamn building and some of us make our way inside. We keep some guys on the exits, just in fuckin’ case these fuckers try to flee. None of Eldritch’s guys are fuckin’ up and about, which is either good or really fuckin’ bad. We might fuckin’ catch them unawares, or they might be lying in fuckin’ wait.

A gunshot rings out on the other side of the mall. Hopefully it came from Ezekiel’s guys.

“Guns up,” I call out, anticipating the baddies to start coming at us. I got Lucille in one hand and my handgun in the other. I haven’t exactly split any skulls recently, so I didn’t want to deny my dirty girl the chance.

We keep pushing forward cautiously, still hearing the gunshots from the other side. Then it dies down and our radios go off.

Ezekiel’s voice comes through the speakers. “We have slain half a dozen that attacked us and we’ve found just as many that surrendered easily.”

That’s fuckin’ confusing. Maybe these fuckers aren’t so goddamn crazy. At least not all of them. Right at the fuckin’ moment I’m thinking that, some crazy ass fuckface comes running out of a hallway at us full bore, covered in fuckin’ blood and guts wielding a goddamn machete.

“Holy shit!” I call out and bring up my pistol to shoot that fucker.

We all end up fuckin’ shooting him and he drops like a sack of fuckin’ potatoes, full of holes.

“Keep alert!” Rick yells to all of us as we stand our ground. “Ears open!”

Just a moment later, we hear a weak voice coming from one of the dark stores. “We don’t wanna fight.”

I’m not taking any chances. “Come out slowly with your fuckin’ hands up!” I call out to whoever the fuck is in there.

A frail looking woman and man and an equally frail teenage girl come out with their hands raised to the fuckin’ sky. They’re wearing goddamn rags and look like fuckin’ holocaust victims.

“You infected?” I ask.

“No, sir,” the man answers.

Some of our guys go over to them to check for weapons.

“They’re clean,” my savior says.

“Where’s Eldritch?” I ask immediately.

The man starts to answer. “He lives on the upper floor in the Sears store.” He points weakly with his bony finger in the direction. “We never followed him,” he adds. “We we’re here first. Our people. He came in and took over. I-I don’t know how he got so many of us to believe him, but they turned into monsters. They wouldn’t let anyone leave.”

The woman and girl cling to each other as they start to fuckin’ cry.

The man continues. “If you didn’t obey, you starved. I wouldn’t let him...” He looks away. “I wouldn’t let him sleep with my daughter, so we were all punished.”

“Goddamn,” I mutter. That’s fucked up. “Is the Sears gonna be fuckin’ guarded?”

“Yes,” he answers. “Most of his fighters are up there. We were about to make a run for it since Eldritch pulled them off the exits. But you guys showed up.”

Me and Rick share a look as if to say, “What the fuck do we do with these guys?”

“Are there others like you around here?” Rick finally asks. “People that want out.”

“There are five more in the store,” he answers. “And some others, too. I’m not sure where.”

“How many fuckin’ guards up top?” I ask.

“Maybe ten.”

“Armed?”

“Yeah. I don’t know exactly how many, though.”

“Any more fuckin’ berserkers like that crazy fuck over there?” I point to the dead guy a few yards away.

“I don’t think so.”

Me and Rick share another look before he speaks again.

“Gather those people and leave. You can set off on your own or you can wait for us. Then we’ll see about getting you a home.”

He woman starts to sob. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

We call it in to the guys on the exit to let them out and head upstairs. The Sears is at the very end of the building, so we have a lot of ground to cover. When we’re halfway down the hall, Abraham calls out, “Movement ahead!”

We all only have a split second to get cover before bullets start flying. We return fire and when there’s a lull in the action, we push up. We start picking the fuckers off one by one until only a few are left.

“Fuckin’ surrender, assholes!” I call out. “You’re not gonna fuckin’ make it out of this alive!”

We hear guns siding along the ground then three sets of hands raise from their hiding spots near the entrance to the store.

Rick yells to them, “Come out slowly!”

They start to obey. That is, until their fuckin’ heads explode one by one from the back forward. We all get back in cover, since it seems like someone is shooting from inside the goddamn store.

“Put your fuckin’ weapons down now!” I scream.

“Loyalty is so hard to find these days!” Eldritch’s voice echoes through the halls.

“I want this fucker alive!” I call out to the guys around me. I’m certainly not giving him an easy way out.

“It looks like you’ve been making friends,” Eldritch says fuckin’ smugly.

“Goddamn right I did. Because that’s what a leader fuckin’ does. He doesn’t starve his fuckin’ people. Enslave them. Turn them into fuckin’ mindless kamikazes.”

“ Those people were loyal. They got it. They understood what this all meant.”

As he speaks, Rick whispers, “Anyone got eyes on him?”

Sasha answers. “To the left. Behind a display shelf. Keep him distracted,” she says to me.

I nod. “What the fuck does that mean?” I call out to him.

Sasha, Dwight, Abraham, and Jerry all move off to the left and push forward closer to the entryway of the store.

“It means,” Eldritch starts to answer and I can hear the barely contained rage behind his voice, “they understood that I have the power here! This is my fucking domain! You can’t take it away from me again!”

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing here, you limp dick fuck?! I already killed your goddamn men! I got your fuckin’ hostages downstairs and I’m gonna fuckin’ show them what a real leader looks like! What real power is!”

“I will kill every last one of them before I let you take them!” he screams.

“Try it, bitch! Come out here and fight like a man!” I push him further. Sasha and the others are in position now, I just gotta get him to leave his fuckin’ spot.

Eldritch laughs a maniacal fuckin’ laugh. “A real man?” He laughs again. “Ask sweet Miss Charlotte about that! I certainly showed her what a real man is like.”

He’s trying to get to me. It’s fuckin’ working, but I’m not gonna let it show.

“You didn’t do shit to her! In fact, she told me you didn’t seem man enough to try anything! And she was right ! You couldn’t even keep a fuckin’ pregnant woman hostage! How fuckin’ inept do you gotta be to let a pregnant woman give you and all your men the slip?!”

He starts to shoot blindly at us from his cover, so we all duck down.

“He’s running!” Dwight yells and we all start to run into the store after him.

There are floor to ceiling windows all along the back of the fuckin’ store, so we all can see that Eldritch is running straight for them. He shoots some of them out with his gun, shattering the glass and I realize what he wants to fuckin’ do.

“Don’t let him jump!” I scream to the guys ahead of me.

Sasha lunges for him, knocking him into his fuckin’ belly just feet before the window. Abraham comes in and sets his weight on him, holding him the fuck down as he fights fuckin’ hard to get up.

“You didn’t win, Negan,” he growls. “You didn’t win!”

“I sure as fuck did!” I answer as I get closer to him.

Even though Eldritch is struggling, Sasha manages to get zip ties on his wrists and ankles.

I kneel down and wrench that fucker’s head up by his hipster ass hair so he can look at me. “You’re just a no dick prick who thought he could tussle with the big boys.” I lean in closer. “And I’m telling you, I’m a very big boy. And you made a fuckin’ mistake pissing me off, dipshit.”

“What are you gonna do, old man?” he grunts out, since I still have him in that uncomfortable position with his back arched. “So you’re gonna kill me. I don’t give a shit! Fucking kill me!”

I slam his head down on the hard tile floor, the crunch of his nose fuckin’ shattering seems to echo for a second. “Oh, you don’t fucking know me well at all.” I lean down closer to him and lift his head again. “You know what I did to the last man that touched my girl?” I ask quietly so he has to listen fuckin’ hard. “I sliced his face up with a switchblade. I broke both of his collarbones and then I hit him so goddamn hard in the dick with Lucille I broke his pelvis. All while he was alive.” I lean in even closer. “And then I fuckin’ crushed his windpipe with my bare fuckin’ hands and waited the seven fuckin’ minutes to see the life slowly drain from his eyes.”

I can see the fear on his fuckin’ face, but he’s still acting fuckin’ tough.

“You don’t scare me,” he whispers.

“Then you’re just as fuckin’ dumb as I thought you were.” I stand and start to walk away. “Put a bag over his head and throw him on the back of my horse,” I call out.

When we’re all back outside, we got some decisions to make. There are fourteen people in various stages of starvation all huddled together, scared out of their minds. None of them decided to go it alone, which is smart on their parts. But now we gotta figure out what to do with them. We all decide to split them up amongst us, five to The Sanctuary, five to The Kingdom, four to Alexandria. The few families in there weren’t split up cuz that would be fuckin’ heartless. They all get loaded onto horses and wagons to ride off to their new homes.

Rick walks up to me. “What are you doing with Eldritch?” he asks.

“You can leave. Me and my men will take care of it.”

“What are you doing with him?” he asks again pointedly.

I shake my head. “I’m not sure. I have an idea.”

“Well, what is it?”

I let out a huff. “I know things have been hunky fuckin’ dory for a bit with all of us, but this isn’t gonna be all judge and jury court stuff where the sentence is decided by a council. This is gonna be punishment . What he fuckin’ deserves.”

“Did you really do all that?” he asks. “Was it to Brendon?”

I nod. “Yeah. I fuckin’ did all that.”

“Should I be worried?”

I let out a scoff. “You told me your-fuckin’-self that you bit out a man’s throat for your son.”

“That was to protect him. It wasn’t vengeance .” He lets out a breath and puts his hands on his hips. “Are you still torturing Gregory?”

“You know he deserves it,” I spit back.

“We’re trying to make a better world here. We can’t do that if this is the kind of justice we’re doling out.”

“You want Eldritch alive? After all this?!”

“No. I want him dead. But this... torture. This revenge. It has to stop. It can’t be like this, Negan.”

“I’m taking him, Rick. And I’m gonna give him what he deserves. You’re not gonna fuckin’ stop me.” I glare at him a moment. “I need this,” I say more quietly. “He almost took everything I love away. My girls. What would you do?”

He looks away and shakes his head, taking a moment before he speaks again. “I’ll help you. If we kill him before we get home. No prolonged torture. This ends today.”

I stare at him for a second. “Fine,” I concede. “But I want to do it my fuckin’ way.”

“And you’ll execute Gregory when you get home,” he tacks on.

I let out a huff. “Fine.”

He nods. “Let’s do this.”

We only take a few men with us, Dwight, Arat, Daryl, and Michonne. We ride out and find the perfect spot, an open field with a lone oak tree standing tall. Under one of its branches, we start to dig a pit about seven feet deep. It takes us the whole rest of the night, but at least the temperature isn’t too fuckin’ hot so we don’t die of goddamn heat stroke.

Eldritch, still fuckin’ tied up with the bag on his head, pipes up every once in a while. Someone’s usually right there to slap him to shut the fuck up, though.

We keep digging until after the sun comes up. As me and the guys finish up with the hole, the girls go out and gather us some walkers. When they come back with six biters, we push them all in the pit and take a rest for a few minutes before we get shit started.

“What the hell is going on?” Eldritch calls out. He has no idea because he still has his eyes fuckin’ covered. “Fucking answer me!”

Alright. It’s fuckin’ on now.

“You’re gonna fuckin’ find out.” I stomp over to him and drag him away from where he is sitting under the tree so he’s right where I want him. I nod to Daryl and he comes over with a rope.

Me and Rick cut the zip ties keeping Eldritch’s hands behind his back and pin them above his head so Daryl can tie them with one end of the rope.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Eldritch asks, a little panic in his voice.

“Shut the hell up!” the redneck growls out.

When we have Eldritch tied back up, I take my knife out and start to cut the clothes off him.

He squirms more as panic sets in. “What the fuck are you doing!?”

“I’m not gonna make you put on a nightie if that’s what you’re fuckin thinking.” I stop what I’m doing and stand back up. “Shit. I shoulda made you wear a nightie. That woulda been fuckin’ hilarious. Wouldn’t it?”

Michonne shoots me one of those mom looks.

“What?” I shrug.

She just shakes her head.

I finish cutting off his clothes until he’s fuckin’ naked. “You really do have a tiny dick.” I almost have to say that. I guess it’s not really tiny, but I’m not gonna say that . I’m definitely bigger than him. Just saying.

“Shut the fuck up.” He tries to squirm more as if that’s gonna fuckin’ help him.

Daryl throws the rope up and over the fuckin’ tree branch that’s about ten feet above the top of the pit and attaches it to one of the horse’s saddles, making a pulley. As he’s doing that, I bend down over Eldritch and take off the fuckin’ bag covering his face. He instantly whips his goddamn head around to see where he is and what’s fuckin’ going on. I nod to Daryl and he mounts the horse, pushing it forward slowly. The rope goes taut against the branch and then starts to pull Eldritch by the arms closer to the pit.

“Whoa, whoa!” Eldritch calls out. “What the fuck!”

“Wait! Stop!” I yell and Daryl stops the horse. “I almost fuckin’ forgot!” I walk around to stand by Eldritch’s still bound feet. “I promised my dirty girl a drink!” I swing Lucille off my shoulder show him. “But she hasn’t had even a drop to wet her whistle!” I bring her back and swing her down, like I’m gonna fuckin’ hobble the motherfucker, but I stop short causing him to let out a pathetic fuckin’ whine. Instead of hitting him, I run Lucille’s barbs over the bottoms of his feet, cutting them open as he screams like a bitch.

I nod back at Daryl and he pushes the horse forward again. The rope pulls Eldritch closer and closer to the fuckin’ pit of snarling biters. As he gets lifted into the air, he starts struggle more.

“What the fuck is this?!” Eldritch manages to get on his feet, sorta, as the rope pulls his upper body into the air. He drags his fuckin’ heels, like that’s gonna stop anything. “You can’t fucking do this!”

“I think I am, shitface.”

Finally, he feet get dragged over the pit, over the fuckin’ dead ones that want to eat him, and he curls his legs up as high as he can.

“That’s enough, Daryl,” I call out and he stops.

Eldritch is grunting and yelping as he tries to figure out how the fuck to get outta this. Which isn’t gonna fuckin’ happen. All he can do is try to keep his fuckin’ feet as high as he can.

“You want me to lower him?” Daryl asks. Shit, that redneck is growing on me.

“Nah. He’ll get tired soon,” I answer from just a few feet away from the pit. Rick, Michonne, Arat, and Dwight are all standing further back on the other side across from me.

“Jesus Christ!” Eldritch screeches. “You’re gonna feed me to them?!”

“Did you just figure that out?” I laugh. “Shit! You really aren’t that smart.”

“Y-You...” he turns to the others, “you’re gonna let him do this to me?!” His voice is fuckin’ high pitched and strained.

“You did this to yourself,” is Rick’s answer.

After a few minutes, and with the blood from Eldritch’s feet whipping the dead fucks into a frenzy, he changes tactics. “You can let me go. You’ll never see me again. I promise!”

“And let you fuck up some poor innocent peoples lives again?” I scoff. “I think not!”

“I wouldn’t!” he snivels. “I would stay by myself!”

“Fuckin’ save it!” I bite back.

“I wasn’t gonna hurt Chuck! I was gonna give her back!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I yell. “I know what you were gonna do with her!”

“I wasn’t- I like Chuck! I wouldn’t hurt her!” His feet dip a little too low, but the second he feels the hands of the tallest biter, he tucks his legs back in as quick as he can.

“Don’t you say her fuckin’ name!” I roar. “I know exactly the fucking monster you are! All those women slaves you had at that compound, they were smarter than your fuckin’ men! They survived! And they told us everything!”

I see the realization go across his face. He can’t talk his way out of this. There’s no fuckin’ way he’s surviving this day. Then I see his tactics change again. He still has that fear on his face, but he’s not gonna fuckin’ beg anymore.

“I was going to keep Chuck,” he comments. “I was going to raise that baby in her belly as my own and make more after that. As many as I could.”

“That didn’t fuckin’ happen because she outsmarted you, shit-for-brains.”

I know what he’s doing now. He wants me pissed off so I just kill him. But I want him to suffer too fuckin’ much to allow that.

The horse suddenly takes a step back which drops Eldritch a few inches.

“Shit! Shit!” he yelps and tries to keep his feet away from the fuckin’ hungry biters.

“Looks like the horse has it out for you, too!” I joke.

After that, Eldritch shuts up, but he’s still trying his fuckin’ hardest not to get eaten. After close to an hour, his whole body is fuckin’ trembling as he struggles to keep his feet out of the walkers’ mouths. Then, his legs drop. I guess his fuckin’ muscles just failed.

He lets out a fuckin’ scream as the dead fucks start to chomp down on his toes. Within fuckin’ minutes, there’s nothing left of his feet. I’ll hand it to the fucker, he’s still conscious. Barely, but his eyes are open.

“That’s gross as fuck!” I turn to the others, but none of them are even fuckin’ watching, all their eyes on the ground. “Back it up,” I call out to Daryl.

He lowers Eldritch about a foot and the biters feast on all the new flesh. Eldritch is fuckin’ in and out of consciousness, I don’t know from the pain or from blood loss. But when he’s awake, he’s fuckin’ screaming. And that’s what I want. I want him to realize just how bad he fucked up. And I want him to suffer for it.

I really would have liked to see him get eaten from the feet up and still be alive once the biters got to his head, but as soon as they get to his thighs, he’s fuckin’ gone. Too much blood loss, I guess. Oh well.

“I’m gonna cut him lose,” Daryl calls out.

“No!” I immediately respond. “We’re gonna keep that fucker just like this. Leave him to fuckin’ turn, half eaten.”

Rick starts to walk toward me. “We’re not doing that, Negan.”

“Yes we are!” I growl out. I hear a noise and turn to see a fuckin’ bolt sticking out of Eldritch’s head. “No!” I whip my head to Daryl, who lowers his crossbow.

Michonne’s calm voice comes from behind me. “We’re putting them all down.”

As she and Rick start to go to town on the dead fucks in the pit, Daryl cuts the rope loose from the saddle, making Eldritch drop into the growing pile of bodies.

“You didn’t have the fuckin’ right!” I call out to them.

Rick looks up to me. “It’s done, Negan.”

“He deserved-“ I start, but Rick interrupts me.

“Would Chuck want that?”

“Don’t you fuckin’ do that,” I bite back. But he’s right. She wouldn’t and I know it.

Daryl walks up to me. “Eldritch deserved to die and that’s what happened. He’s gone and we’re all safer now.”

I look down and shake my head. All the shit I imagined I’d do to Eldritch... It’s all fuckin’ done now. Just an hour’s worth and he’s dead. That’s it.

“You’re a father now,” Rick says quietly from right beside me. I didn’t realize he even walked up to me.

“He almost took that from me, Rick,” I whisper and lift my eyes to his.

He sets his hand on my shoulder. “He’s gone. Now you can move forward. With your family .”

I nod my head. I suppose there’s nothing else I can fuckin’ do about it, anyway.

We all mount up and leave. By the time we’re back across the river into Virginia, it’s pretty late. I decide to stay overnight in Alexandria and head out in the morning.

After calling Simon on the radio and telling him I’ll be back tomorrow, I head to Aaron’s to sleep there. It’s only been a couple of weeks since he lost his husband, so I figure I should say something to him. Chuck has been keeping in touch with him on the radio almost every fuckin’ day, but I haven’t talked to him too much.

He gives me a small smile as he opens his door to me. “Hey, Negan.”

“Hey, Aaron.” I walk into his house. “How you doing?”

“Getting there, I guess.” He closes the door. “Are you hungry? I can heat you up some leftovers.”

“That sounds fuckin’ great.”

As I eat at his dining room table, he sits with me sipping on a cup of tea.

“You got him?” he finally asks.

I know he means Eldritch. “Yeah. I got him.”

“How?”

I look up from my plate. “Do you really want to know?”

“That man’s attack killed my husband. He kidnapped my niece. Yes, I want to know.”

I set my fork down. “Rick stopped me from doing what I really wanted. But, I guess he was right to.” I let out a sigh. “We dangled him over a pit of biters and let them eat him from the feet up. He died within a goddamn hour. The biters only got up to his fuckin’ thighs.”

Aaron nods. “Good,” is all he says.

I pick up my fork and take another bite. “Chuck really wants to see you,” I change the subject.

“Yeah,” Aaron replies. “I guess I haven’t been much for traveling lately.”

“I was thinking that maybe Chuck and Maddie could come here. We’ve been doing a good ass job at keeping our shit clear and safe. With that fucker Eldritch gone, I think we could do it.”

His face lights up. “Really?”

“Yeah. Why not? I might be a nervous wreck the whole way here, but I think it’d be fuckin’ nice for Chuck to get out of The Sanctuary for a bit.”

“I’d like that a lot.”

———   ———

 As soon as Chuck hears on the radio that Negan is approaching, she heads downstairs with Maddie to greet him. Not only is she excited to see Negan, but she wants to hear that Eldritch is finally gone, once and for all.

“There’s my girls!” Negan calls out after dismounting his horse. He jogs over to Chuck holding Maddie and scoops them up in a hug.

“Is it over?” Chuck quietly asks.

“Yeah, baby girl. It’s over.”

As the summer heat starts to cool and the crops near their harvest, life goes on. Quite well, actually. All of the communities are prospering. The free trade between them continues and all of the communities have plans to get through the approaching winter in a few months.

Since it’s still pretty nice out, Chuck and Negan are walking the grounds with Maddie, letting her get some sun. Simon makes an appearance and sweeps Maddie away in his arms to walk around the gardens with Chuck and Negan following.

“He’s kinda adorable with her,” Chuck comments to Negan.

“Yeah. I’m glad he didn’t decide to hate my ass for everything.”

“He’s a good man. I’m glad he’s happy with everything. And with Patty, too.”

“They are quite the couple.” Negan chuckles.

Simon circles around and starts to walk toward Chuck and Negan.

“Say Uncle Si Si,” he says to the little girl. “Si Si,” he repeats.

Before Negan or Chuck can comment on Simon trying to hijack Maddie’s first word, Negan’s and Simon’s radios go off.

“ We’re escorting three people into our territory. Unarmed. No bites, but they’re skinny. Look pretty harmless ,” the savior starts. “ They said they knew Simon. We didn’t confirm he was here .”

Simon looks confused as he hands Maddie over to Chuck. “Who the fuck would know me?”

“Looks like we’re gonna find out.” Negan brings his radio up and pushes the talk button. “I want extra guards on the gates just in case some shit is gonna go down.” He turns to Chuck. “Hang back.”

“Okay. You think they’re a threat?”

“Everyone’s a fuckin’ threat until they’re not.”

Laura escorts Chuck a ways back, but still within range to hear what’s going on at the gate. After a few minutes of waiting, Chuck sees saviors walking in, surrounding the three newcomers. She sees the instant Simon recognizes them, his face twisted in shock and relief. Negan seems to recognize them, too.

“Holy shit!” Negan calls out.

“Simon!?” the young woman of the group, who looks to be about Chuck’s age, almost sobs.

“Mikayla?!” Simon pushes himself through the saviors to wrap the woman in his arms.

The two men, who look to be identical twins in their early twenties, hug him, too.

Chuck, figuring there’s no threat, starts to walk towards Negan, eager to figure out who these people are.

Simon pulls away from the hug to get a good look at the men. “And the boys, too.” He pats one of them in the cheek. “I thought you were dead.”

When Chuck gets close enough to Negan, he wraps his arm around her. She can see that Simon has tears running down his face, so she figures that these newcomers were very close to him before the end.

“Mom died a year ago,” one of the boys says, his voice full of emotion. “Grandma about six months after everything went to hell.”

Chuck puts it together then. These people are Simon’s niece and twin nephews. He had only mentioned them maybe once or twice before. The newcomers end up turning to Negan with smiles on their faces. Negan returns it easily.

“You kids fuckin’ grew up.” He holds his arms out and the newcomers gladly accept his hug. “Why don’t we get you guys to the doctor and get some fuckin’ food in you.”

Simon goes inside with his family as Chuck and Negan follow behind.

“I’m so happy for Simon,” Chuck says to Negan. “He has some of his family back.”

“They were always good fuckin’ kids,” Negan explains. “Simon was real close to them their whole lives. Until they moved to Colorado with their mom. He always hoped this shit didn’t make it out there and they were alive.”

Maddie starts to fuss in Chuck’s arms.

“I better get upstairs to feed her,” Chuck comments.

“I’m gonna get the kids all situated.”

Chuck giggles at the way he refers to the newcomers. He must’ve been close to them, as well. It makes sense, considering Negan and Simon were such good friends for so long.

Negan bends down to kiss Maddie’s head and then Chuck. “I’ll be up later.”

Chuck goes back upstairs, with Laura escorting her. The whole time she has a huge smile on her face. She’s happy. Negan’s happy. And Simon’s happy, too.

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