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cherryrogers · 4 years

Text

➸ call me baby {3/3}

BROOKLYN

pairing: bucky barnes x reader | biker au

warnings: Swearing, smoking.

word count: 8k

synopsis: Returning to Brooklyn for the summer after a year of travelling from city to city, you hadn’t expected to find your best friend, Peggy Carter, hopelessly in love with a biker. And when she decided to introduce you to the rest of his club, you hadn’t expected to fall for one either. That was until you met one with pretty eyes and a habit of calling you baby.

series masterlist

a/n: jfc,,, i can’t believe i’ve finally finished writing this lmao i’m sorry it took so long my dudes. thank you to everyone who has shown support for this fic, and i hope you all enjoy the final part !!💛

“I’m going to miss having you around, _____. It’s been nice having another girl here who isn’t afraid to put a shitty customer in their place.” Wanda smiled, handing you a white envelope with your final salary enclosed inside.

Folding the envelope and tucking it into your jean pocket, you chuckled heartily. “I think you and your pistol will do just fine without me. Thanks for having me here for the summer, Wan. I wouldn’t even be leaving if it wasn’t for this job.”

Her grin widened as she pulled you into a warm hug. “There’ll always be a job here for you — summer, winter, any time you need it.”

After you’d said one final thanks and goodbye to Wanda, you exited the bar doors for the last time and crossed the sidewalk to where Peggy was waiting in her car for you. In a matter of hours, you’d be spending the night in Brooklyn one last time, and your summer would be over.

Initially, you were expecting a couple of months solely spent with your best friend. Lounging on shimmering sandy beaches, drinking wine and laughing till dusk in your backyard, listening to her harp on about her dreamy new boyfriend while you rambled about all the places you’d visited. You couldn’t have imagined it to be more different than it was. Sure, you had done all of that with Peggy, but she wasn’t the only one that’d shaped your summer. Following the motorcycle ride at five in the morning with a certain biker, you’d only grown more attached to each other. He couldn’t ever keep his hands off you, and you couldn’t ever bring yourself to leave the clubhouse after a day spent with him. If the rest of the club ever caught on to yours and Bucky’s affair, then they never mentioned it. You were sure that was because of Peggy. She knew it was better to leave you be, considering Bucky was the first person you’d opened your heart to in a long time.

Some days were spent simply in his bedroom, wearing nothing but a pair of underwear under his silk sheets, constantly switching between telling one another about your lives, your childhoods, passions, fears, and stripping out of your little clothing and letting yourselves completely give into each other. Some days were spent wandering the streets of Brooklyn hand in hand, Bucky showing you all the alleys and parks he’d found Steve attempting to fight guys twice the size of him, you pointing out the diners and stores you used to drag Peggy to on the weekends in high school. Every day was spent getting to know one another though, and every day spent with Bucky was never a day wasted. The only down side to every moment your were with him was that they’d only add up to it hurting even more when you inevitably left, and that time was arriving very soon.

Peggy drove you home from the bar to collect your packed backpack and suitcase before bringing you down to the clubhouse for the rest of the night. She teased you about going soft since you’d gotten close to Bucky, wanting to spend your last night with your summer love as she called him. The girl received an unimpressed glare for the comment, but what she said wasn’t exactly untrue. If you’d told yourself a year ago that your summer in Brooklyn would find you all starry-eyed for a biker you’d only just met in June, you would’ve likely pushed aside any plan to return to the place at all. Peggy would forced your ass back to Brooklyn, of course; perhaps there would’ve always been something that led you back to your hometown, to him. Christ, you were getting soft.

There was a crease between your brows as you retrieved the envelope of cash from your pocket and gently ripped it open in your lap. It felt a little... thicker than it usually was — more than what you normally earned from a week’s worth of work. As your eyes met the wad of green bills inside, they widened in shock. Yep, definitely more than your usual salary. Way more to just be a mistake on Wanda’s part.

The large sum of cash even caught Peggy’s eye from her place in the driver’s seat. “Wanda must’ve really taken a liking to you. Perhaps doubling your salary is a plea to make you stay.”

A breathless laugh escaped your lips as you ran your thumb over the edges of the bills. “If it is, that girl knows exactly what she’s doing. Maybe travelling isn’t my true calling after all.”

While they was a playfulness to your tone, you couldn’t help but notice the brunette’s smile falter at your words. Peggy was like you in a way; she wasn’t soft, often being as upfront and stubborn as you were. However, she didn’t like opening up to people about herself all that much. Not that you were necessarily thriving in that department either, but when it came to Steve, she’d said it’d took her a while to even mention her brother’s passing to him. He hadn’t known she even had a brother before Peggy brought it up a long while after they’d began dating. Peggy possessed a lot of self confidence, and she had every right to do so. Being vulnerable and open just tended to put her at unease, and when you caught her acting a little off, it took some gentle coaxing to get her to open up.

“Are you okay?” You offered her a comforting smile, to which she didn’t quite return.

“Peachy,” She replied half-heartedly, hands tightening on the steering wheel. Glancing briefly at you, she spotted the crinkle in your brows and your pursed lips. Seeing as you never took your eyes off her, she sighed. “What is it?”

“Peggy, I don’t know how long it’s gonna be before I see you again. If something’s up, please tell me.”

Her tongue hesitantly ran across her bottom lip, fingers readjusting on the steering wheel. “It’s nothing, really. It’s just... I didn’t realise how much I’d missed having you here. I know it’s selfish, but I’d be lying if I said I was excited to see you off tomorrow.”

You shuffled in your seat, turning to face your friend more directly. “It’s not selfish, Pegs. Of course you don’t want me to go, I’m the shining light of your life—”

“_____...”

“Sorry, I know I’m annoying. Can’t help it,” You apologised, internally cursing yourself out. One serious conversation. You can have one serious conversation, come on. “I mean it, though; I don’t think it’s selfish. If you were jetting off to London tomorrow, I’d feel the same— oh, red light!”

The car came to an abrupt stop in front of the traffic lights, your seatbelt pressing tightly against you chest. Before you could reprimand your friend and tell her that putting you in hospital isn’t a viable way to stop you from leaving, she was turning to you with a surprised stare.

“You’re going to London? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I mean, I actually just made the decision five minutes ago, but yeah, I’m going to London.”

Peggy let out a disbelieving laugh. “You haven’t even booked your flight yet?”

“I didn’t even have the money to go an hour ago!” You exclaimed. “But with all this cash from Wanda, I think I’ll be able to make it there. I’ve been travelling the US for a year now, Pegs. I wanna go somewhere new. Somewhere fresh, the land of milky tea and buttery crumpets. I can go to the Queens house—”

“You have a lot of nerve saying all of this to someone who was born in England.” She glared softly, pressing her foot down on the gas when the green light appeared.

An amused smile crept onto your lips. “Hm, I will need someone to Facetime twenty four-seven to tell me all the places I need to visit, preferably English and born in London...”

“So you’ll talk to me solely because my nationality is of use to you?”

You rolled your eyes. “I might miss you a little bit too.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s hard being without you too, you know,” You spoke more seriously, catching Peggy slightly off guard. “Travelling is great and all, but some days I do wake up in my motel room and wish I was back home, spending the day with my best friend.”

While her eyes were still focused on the road, a warm smile was clearly pulling at the brunette’s lips. “Just... don’t stay away for too long this time, okay?”

“You’ll see me again before next summer, I promise.”

“Hm, I’m going to need that in writing.”

“I’ll even record a video for you; I’ll buy a tripod, get some good lighting, one of those fluffy microphones—”

Peggy cut you off with a hearty chuckle, dark, conditioned curls bouncing as she shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m actually going to miss your ability to make a joke out of everything.”

You scoffed, placing a hand on your chest in mock shock. “Christ, now that is something that needs to be in writing. I’m hiring us a lawyer, he can draw us both up contracts.”

“Dont forget to book your flight first.” Peggy chimed in.

“Right, I have a lot of things I need to do today. Bucky’s gonna have to give me a minute before he can have me to himself... and I’ll need to lend his computer.”

As your gaze averted to the passing by buildings out of the car window, Peggy grinned contentedly to herself. She could see exactly why you’d been the one Bucky had really fallen for, though she couldn’t help but wonder how he’d handle your departure to a whole other continent.

However, you’d promised you were coming back soon, and there wasn’t a doubt in Peggy’s mind that he’d be counting down the hours once you stepped onto your flight.

* * *

“London, huh?” Bucky’s voice caught your attention as he entered the office, a beer bottle in each hand.

As you confirmed the booking of your flight for the next morning, you swirled around in the cushioned desk chair, taking one of the bottles once the man had approached you. “Did Peggy spill the beans already?”

“Heard her talkin’ to Steve in the garage,” He pressed his own bottle to his lips, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Doesn’t seem like five minutes since you first arrived, when you came into the backyard in those little black and white shorts.”

Standing up, you shot him an eye roll. “I’m sure that’s all you can remember from that day, perv.”

“What do you remember then?”

You hummed, leaning into Bucky as you let his arms envelop your waist. “I remember wondering why everyone was wearing leather jackets in eighty degree weather. Oh, and that I thought you were a dick.”

The biker didn’t seem offended in the slightest at your statement, only grinning and pulling you closer. “Hm, and what about the day at the carnival? Wasn’t that a good day?”

“No, I had to endure you flirting with those girls in front of us in the drop tower line. I was almost sick before we even got on the ride.”

“Oh, that?” He let out a laugh, cheeks faintly tinting pink. “I was only trying to make you a little jealous. Seems like it worked.”

You scoffed. “It did not work,” It definitely had worked.

“You liked when I held your hand on the ride though, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“You know what? Fine. I did,” You admitted, eliciting a smug smile from Bucky. “But I’m only admitting that ‘cause I’m leaving tomorrow. Don’t think I’m going soft on you.”

He ran his tongue along his lower lip, leaning closer to speak against your lips. “Wouldn’t be stupid enough to dream of it.”

Smiling in satisfaction, you moved an inch closer and let his lips meet yours, a warm feeling emerging in your chest. The kiss remained gentle as your fingers pushed some of his hair away from his face, before you pulled back reluctantly to breathe. Blue eyes pierced into yours after fluttering open almost hazily.

“Would it be stupid to ask you to stay?” Bucky asked quietly, though he knew the answer already.

A weak nod and an empathetic smile; you pecked the corner of his lips before stepping back completely as if you suddenly felt you’d been standing too close. Bucky had never seen you holding your tongue, but that seemed to be what you were doing as you put some distance between the two of you.

There was an uncomfortable silence, the warmth from your body dissipated and replaced with an aching coldness. Perhaps telling yourself all summer that you could worry about yours and Bucky’s future at the end of August was a terribly bad idea, because now it was hitting you — maybe there’s wasn’t a future for the two of you at all.

“I’ll wait for you, you know.” The biker’s voice broke the quiet, the words slicing through you.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, Bucky. I don’t think I can ask you to do that.” You breathed, meeting his eyes hesitantly.

“You’re not asking me to, I want to,” He stated, worrying his teeth over his bottom lip. “Unless... that’s not what you really want?”

Truthfully, the idea of Bucky seeing anyone else once you’d left made your stomach turn. In an ideal world, you’d like it if he was just yours. Only yours, because you guaranteed that there wasn’t anybody else that could make you feel the way that he did. But you couldn’t force him to wait for a girl that strayed away from their hometown for longer than they stayed, no matter how much it’d end up hurting you.

“It wouldn’t be fair, Bucky, to either of us. We can’t really be together when I’m only gonna come back for the holidays—”

“Was this just a summer thing to you?” He questioned, a mix of regret and frustration flashing in his eyes. He knew he shouldn’t have asked that, but some part of him was oddly curious to.

Your previously calm expression turned sour as you furrowed your brows and scoffed. “You’re—you’re kidding, right? Did you just— of course it wasn’t just a summer thing to me, you asshole.”

Admittedly, it hurt that he’d even had the nerve to think that. You’d asked him if you shouldn’t have started something together that inevitably was going to end and he said he didn’t regret it. While being together could technically only last for the summer months, it wasn’t just a fling. There were feelings there that you weren’t going to be able to shake off, memories that were going to be carved into your mind forever. Did he seriously think that it was all just temporary on your part?

“Then would staying really be so bad?” Bucky retorted. What he was saying was only making you angrier, but he couldn’t help but be honest. Perhaps it just hadn’t hit him that you were really leaving in less than twenty four hours until that very moment, and everything that left him mouth was coming from a deep place of, well, sadness.

You shook your head in disbelief. “You’re being selfish.”

“Aren’t I allowed to be? We’ve spent a whole summer together and this time tomorrow you’re gonna be thousands of miles away from here—”

“And you don’t think I’ll be hurt either?” You intervened, cocking a brow. “You think I’ll be skipping through the airport utterly thrilled to be leaving you?”

Bucky was silent, too silent for too long. You scoffed, ignoring the way he was biting down in his cheek and the faint glossiness of his eyes in your annoyance. “You knew I was gonna have to leave eventually, Bucky. If you knew weren’t going to be able to accept that... then you never should’ve asked me to stay that night.”

That night; no further explanation was needed to identify which of the many nights spent together you were talking about. It was that night when you fell inexplicably hard for Bucky, when you decided that you might never have the chance to fall in the way you’d fallen for him ever again and that you’d only regret not staying the night. Not letting him strip you of your clothes and shed his own, not letting him make love to you, not letting him wake up to you admiring his every feature. If he knew he wouldn’t be able to let you go so easily, then having you stay that night was purely unwise of him.

When Bucky didn’t you respond one again after a few moments, you sighed deeply, crossing your arms over your chest. Though your expression had softened, your tone was still rather cold. “It’s never been just a fling with you, and if after all the damn time we’ve been spending together you thought there was a chance I might’ve thought that, then maybe you don’t feel the way I thought you felt about me at all.”

The biker’s features fell as he watched you chew your bottom lip and stalk towards the door — doubting his feelings for you was the last thing he wanted you to do. He let his boot collide with the bottom of his desk in frustration as you shut the office door behind you.

He hadn’t meant to start a dispute. It was your last god damn night in Brooklyn, of course he didn’t want to spend it receiving the cold shoulder from you. You’d probably gone out and found the rest of the guys, perhaps even went to drag Peggy aside to tell her how much of a dick he’d just been, which he’d understand. He had a feeling you wouldn’t do that though; instead you’d go out and pretend everything was fine because you wouldn’t dare let anyone know that he’d managed to hurt your feelings — always so stubborn.

Relationships were not Bucky’s forte. It’s not like he’d ever been looking for one; he was still young, he had still wanted to have fun for a little while before finally settling down like his mother had been bugging him to since he’d moved out. While he wasn’t the type to sleep with a girl and never call them again, he wasn’t exactly the type to, well... sleep with a girl and do anything else with them. He hated the talking stages of a relationship, despised them with all his being. Everyone he knew insisted that he had to get through them to actually have a deeper relationship with someone, but he really just couldn’t will himself to do it. So when there didn’t seem to be a weird talking stage with you, he was pretty happy about it.

It wasn’t like he was forcing himself to try and develop a connection with you, he’d hardly been interested in dating anyone when you’d first arrived. But then it all happened so naturally and now look at the two of you — well, you were mad at him and he was standing in the office alone like an idiot.

He knew better than to follow you outside and try to play friendly with you in front of everyone else. Giving you and himself a bit of time to cool off and think, Bucky took a shower upstairs in his bathroom. The longer the hot water pelted his skin, the more he felt like an asshole for what he’d said to you. He couldn’t just ask you to stay for him, that was wrong for a start. That was definitely selfish. Accusing you of thinking it was just a fling too? Christ, what was he thinking? He didn’t actually think that you thought of him as a fling, he just stupidly asked that in the heat of the moment when he was frustrated that you one hundred percent didn’t want to stay.

Maybe he ought to get out of the shower before he steamed up the whole clubhouse and make things right.

As Bucky neared the bottom of the staircase after putting on some clothes and towel-drying his hair, he bumped into Steve, who seemed to be heading towards the living room.

“Hey, Buck. We’re starting a movie soon. _____’s just finishin’ her cigarette out back; you two joining us?”

Bucky plastered on a smile, shaking his head. Perhaps he sounded selfish, but watching a movie with everyone wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to spend his last night with you. “I don’t think so, man. Another night.”

“Suit yourself.” The blond patted his friend’s shoulder before allowing him to scoot past him and head outside.

The sky was a deep blue, the sparse, grey clouds almost bleeding into the dark hue as the stars began to peek through the dusky blanket. A single garden lamp lit up the area, just about showing your figure sitting on the picnic bench that’d never been replaced since they’d moved into the clubhouse. Between your parted lips rested the remains of a cigarette, smoke twirling through the slight breeze that’d picked up once the sun went down.

You didn’t flinch as Bucky slid onto the bench next to you, and he couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to when the two of you had met. At that time, he was sat in your spot exhaling clouds of smoke, not knowing who you were when you first walked outside. Fast forward to now and you were exactly where he was all those weeks ago, except now he wasn’t sure what he was going to do without you.

“You mind if I take a drag of that?” He spoke up suddenly, suppressing a smile at the way you paused in your actions.

While you didn’t offer him the stick between your fingers, your loosened grip on it silently gave Bucky the permission to pluck it out of your hand into his own, which he did. After taking a long drag of the cigarette, he stubbed it out on the ashtray to his right before turning his attention to you.

“I know we aren’t a summer fling to you. I- I know how you feel about me, because I feel the same way.”

Bucky felt himself relax a little as you faced him, no longer staring off into the night. A slight frown pulled at your lips; he didn’t like the sight. “If I was going to stay for anything, or anyone, it’d be you, you know.”

Not sure what to say, the biker only gave you a nod of acknowledgment, taken aback by the statement. He wasn’t sure whether it was a compliment or something he shouldn’t be happy with.

“There’s a difference between me wanting to stay and wanting to be with you,” You bit down on your bottom lip. “I don’t wanna stay, but if you asked me... if you asked me to stay again to be with you, I probably wouldn’t get on my flight tomorrow.”

Breath hitching, Bucky narrowed his eyes. “You’d stay if I asked you to again?”

The look in your eyes was enough of an answer. If he asked you to stay, you’d say yes. Yes to waking up beside him during the colder fall mornings. Yes to motorcycle rides to anywhere and everywhere. Yes to never having to worry about how much time you have left together, because you’d stayed; you weren’t leaving Brooklyn anymore.

Saying yes to that however, would mean saying goodbye London, to travelling. Exploring different cultures, trying new food, experiencing a part of the world you never thought you could reach as a child. No more reading in motel rooms until midnight. No more tours around cities with a camera wrapped around your neck. No more living the life you’d been dreaming of since you’d barely started middle school — you weren’t ready to let go of that just yet, and Bucky didn’t have to read your mind to know that.

“I’m not gonna ask you to stay again,” He declared, prompting you to raise a brow. “I’m not gonna be a jackass and make you stay if that’s not what you wanna do.”

To his joy, your frown slowly curled into a soft smile. “I know your heart’s in the right place, Buck. That you weren’t trying to start an argument. And— and I can’t stop you from waiting for me if that’s what you wanna do. I’ll be back at some point, but I just don’t want you to put your life on hold for me, you know?”

“I wouldn’t be puttin’ it on hold. I wasn’t planning on finding someone I— I liked so much ever, really. I don’t know if it’ll happen again,”

Your heart — it was going to explode. Who knew you’d ever meet someone that had the power to make you feel so... disgustingly lovesick.

“...unless you happen to take a liking to a London boy while you’re there...?”

You chuckled, a warm sound amid the cool night. “London, Paris, Berlin... none of those boys will ever come close to the one I have in Brooklyn.”

A wide grin spread across the biker’s lips. “Who’s the sap now, huh?”

With a playful eye roll, you couldn’t help but place your hand on Bucky’s jaw, caressing it with your thumb as you leaned in and captured his lips.

He reacted immediately, putting a hand on your outer thigh to pull you closer to his side.

Wherever you were in the world, you’d always have Bucky in Brooklyn — he hoped that you didn’t doubt that.

* * *

Too many mornings spent lazing in Bucky’s bed meant that reality hadn’t yet set in after a few minutes of being awake. It was so natural at this point, to wake up and feel the warmth of him next to you, to have your legs tangled with his and to feel his nose grazing against the back of your neck.

Turning around in his arms, you leaned in and laid a kiss on his nose, smirking at the way he scrunched it in response before pinching at your bare hip. You smacked his hand away before settling your head back against the pillow, gazing at him through your lashes.

“Have I ever told you beautiful you are?” You asked without a second thought.

Heat evidently pooled in Bucky’s cheeks, and you rested a hand on the side of his face before he could roll himself over to hide his embarrassment.

“I’m serious.” You pressed.

“I know,” He grinned, voice raspy with sleep; he knew you never lied to him, you were as honest as they got. “And no, you haven’t told me.”

“Well, now I have. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

“Shut up.”

“Never.”

Bucky sighed, tracing a hand down the curve of your back. He could keep you there forever, laying so close to him and calling him beautiful. If someone would’ve told him at the start of the summer that this was where he’d be by the end of it, he would’ve laughed in their face. “Where’d that come from, huh? You’re being scarily nice.”

“I’m trying to be sentimental, jerk.”

“Oh, right,” He smirked. “Just like last night when you told me to fuck—”

You interrupted him with a finger pressed to his lips. “I think that was pretty sentimental in its own way, actually.”

“Uh-huh,” Bucky kissed your fingertip gently. He had a feeling you were being a little softer than usual since the circumstances of the day were different. You weren’t sure when your next moment like this would be, if there ever would be one. Truthfully, there was an ache in his heart that was caused by that thought too. He sighed, almost sadly. “What time’s your flight?”

“Eleven.”

“Well, I think that leaves us enough time for me to show you how beautiful I think you are...” He trailed his hand lower down your spine and followed the curve of your ass.

You smirked, glancing over your shoulder to the small clock sat on the bedside table. It was nearly nine. There was just over an hour until you had to be at the airport...

“Thirty minutes, then we have to get up. Peggy will be up and banging on the door for us otherwise.”

“More than enough time, baby.”

That was a lie, however. It wasn’t nearly enough time, because once the two of you finally pried yourselves out from underneath the sheets, it hit you that that was the last time in a long time that you’d wake up in Bucky’s bed. The last time you’d be able to have him so close to you. It made you wonder what life would’ve been like if you met him before you first left to travel. If you’d fallen for him that hard so long ago, would you even have left Brooklyn in the first place?

You both took your time getting dressed, you tossing on a tank top and some leggings from your packed suitcase while Bucky put on his signature biker attire. He smugly asked if he could keep a pair of your underwear as a memoir; you told him to go fuck himself before planting a kiss on his lips. It was amazing how quickly he could switch between acting like a dick and being a sweetheart. You’d miss that, admittedly.

Everyone was eating breakfast in the kitchen when the two of you made it downstairs, the sound of your suitcase thumping against the steps signalling your presence. It was rare that you and Bucky ever saw the morning outside of his bedroom in the clubhouse, and that was proved by the raised brows and mock gasps you recieved when you entered into the room. You rested the suitcase against the doorframe as Bucky strided towards the counter, clearly eyeing the half-full pack of cigarettes placed on there.

As he reached for them, Steve looked up from his bacon and eggs, a frown pulling at his lips. “Hey, you can’t just smoke and call it breakfast.”

“I haven’t had breakfast for months,” The brunet snorted. “Don’t think it matters that much.”

“Have some coffee at least?” Steve pushed.

Cocking his brow, Bucky glanced over to you in hope of you having his back. It wasn’t like you’d had breakfast since before summer either, but you weren’t going to let the guy smoke for breakfast. Not when everyone else had a hot meal and the scent alone was making your mouth water.

“How about we get something at the airport?” You offered, strolling over to the seat next to Peggy and sitting down.

“You’re not going the airport so soon, are you?” She asked, sipping her coffee.

“Well, my flight leaves in two hours—”

The brunette almost choked on her coffee, prompting Steve to gently pat her back as she recovered. “Two hours? Oh my— why are you sitting down? We need to go—”

“Would you calm down?” You chuckled, placing a hand on Peggy’s forearm as she started to rise from her seat. She was right, though. You were cutting it very short by still being at the clubhouse when you wanted to grab some breakfast too. You moved your gaze to Bucky. “I mean, maybe we should go now...”

While he looked reluctant to nod, Bucky did so anyway, grabbing the keys to his motorcycle from his designated hook on the the wall next to the light switch.

“Hey genius, how am I gonna put my suitcase on your bike?” You furrowed your brows, grinning as the realisation hit him.

“Uh...”

“Bucky can take you on his bike,” The blond perked up, standing next to his girlfriend. “Peg and I can take the jeep with your suitcase.”

Looking to your best friend for permission, you smiled when she gave you a sure nod. She knew how much it would mean to you if your were able to ride with Bucky one more time. “Go on, we’ll be right behind you.”

After thanking her, you grabbed your suitcase and said your goodbyes to those sitting around the table. Though you didn’t speak to them as much as you’d wished you had, you’d still miss them. You all shared the same sense of humour, having a laugh with them was easy when you spent the day with the group, even when you were all simply lazing around the clubhouse. You gave each of them a quick hug, rolling your eyes when Clint told you to ‘have a right good time in London’ with a horrible English accent.

Bucky lead you out of the house, handing you a helmet and kissing the crown of your head quickly before climbing onto the bike. He didn’t say anything as you got on behind him, enveloping his waist and comfortably setting your chin on his shoulder. With every passing moment, you could tell that he wasn’t looking forward to finally waving you off at the airport. Usually when he was getting grumpy, you’d make a stupid comment about it and it seemed to cheer him up; it didn’t feel right to do so in this instance.

So as the the bike roared to life, you turned to look at the clubhouse. The place where you’d spent the majority of your summer, where you’d met everyone, where you’d met Bucky, where you’d kissed him for the first time, done other things for the first time. It’d become another home to you in a way, like a place you’d always be welcome back to. You hoped you’d always be welcome there anyway, even after being gone for months on end once you stepped onto your flight.

It’d barely taken thirty minutes to get to JFK Airport, Peggy’s jeep only a few cars behind you as you wound through the streets of New York. Bucky noticed when you didn’t start cussing out the bad drivers that were practically skimming the side of his bike like always, your head never leaving its place against his back. It was unlike you, but he didn’t mind. Perhaps like him you were just savouring the moment, the last ride you’d have for a while. Christ, Bucky had never felt so many emotions at once. He didn’t know whether to fall to his knees and beg you not to forget him or to kiss you passionately and tell you he’d be waiting for your return. To maintain his dignity, he decided against the former option.

Almost too fast for your liking, you arrived just outside of the entrance, climbing off the motorcycle reluctantly and spying the jeep just coming to park behind you. It wouldn’t be able to stay parked there for long, and you felt an ache in your chest as you saw Peggy stepping out of her car, Steve not far behind her pulling your suitcase along.

He handed it to you with a smile which you returned as you took it from him. Setting it beside you, you let out a sad chuckle upon realising how glazed over Peggy’s eyes were.

“I’m not about to cry, before you say anything,” She stated, plastering on a grin. “It’s just allergies.”

“Allergies my ass,” You smirked, stepping forward and wrapping your arms around her neck, grinning into her shoulder as she hugged you back tightly. You spoke again, this time more quietly next to her ear. “I love you, okay? And I won’t hesitate to fly back here and beat Steve’s ass if he does anything, I swear.”

Truthfully, you didn’t think Steve was capable of hurting a fly, never mind the smartest, kindest, most gorgeous woman you knew. However, Jay-Z was capable of cheating on Beyoncé — Beyoncé, so being a little sceptical of any man you met wasn’t unreasonable, in your opinion.

“I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” She chuckled. “You just focus on looking after yourself, alright?”

“Right,” You responded. “And... you’ll keep an eye on Bucky for me, won’t you?”

It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Bucky, or that you wanted a daily report of what he was up to while you were gone. You just wanted to know that he was going to be okay. Being apart would be hard on both of you, but you’d been doing the ‘being alone’ thing for over a year now, and you had a feeling that there was more to how he felt about you leaving than he was letting on. Even when he said he wasn’t going to ask you to stay again, you still felt like he wasn’t as okay with the situation as he was acting to be.

“Of course I will, Steve too,” The brunette assured you, giving you a final squeeze before beginning to pull back. “I love you too,” She sighed, returning to her place stood next to Steve. “Right, you know where you’re going after you arrive, yes? If not, you can call me and I’ll give you directions to the motel. If you’re hungry I know there’s a takeaway place just outside of the airport—”

“Pegs, I’ll be fine. I’m going to London, not Narnia.”

“Just— just be safe, okay?”

“Can’t make any promises.”

“_____—”

“I’m kidding! How about you learn to take a joke while I’m gone, huh?”

You smiled as Peggy rolled her eyes in amusement. Perhaps she wouldn’t be as amused if she knew about what happened with Brock Rumlow at the bar. You decided you’d tell her in London when you were in a whole other continent, otherwise she might not have let you leave in fear that you’d be getting into more trouble at English bars with assholes like Brock. Even if you did, Peggy knew you weren’t soft, you could handle yourself. She just worried that you were a little too unafraid of confrontation.

Turning to Bucky and picking your suitcase back up, you have him a slight tug on his hand. “We should probably go for breakfast now, I’ll be boarding soon.”

He nodded, offering to take your suitcase and rolling his eyes when you made a comment about him being ‘such a gentlemen’. You gave the blond a quick hug, warning him to take care of Peggy and grinning as he teased you about being more like her mother than her best friend, before saying a final goodbye to the two of them, giving your friend’s hand a final squeeze and turning away to head into the airport.

There was just over an hour until you had to be on the plane, so you and Bucky decided to head into cafe near the entrance and get a proper breakfast. Two steaming black coffees sat opposite each other on the small booth in the corner you were sat at, complimenting the stacks of pancakes dripping in syrup and sugar that you’d impulsively ordered and that Bucky had insisted on paying for, saying that you should save all your cash for exploring London.

“I’ll probably come back for Christmas.” You said in repsonse to him asking how long you’d be travelling for this time, stuffing a sliced bit of pancake into your mouth.

Bucky furrowed his brows. “Really? You’re not staying away until summer again?”

You cocked your brow, looking at him in the corner of your eye. “Why, do you want me to?”

“Course not,” He smirked, reaching out to swipe a drop of syrup from your lip with his thumb. “I hope that means you’re getting me a Christmas present then.”

A chuckle left your lips. “My return will be your Christmas present, how about that?”

The biker scoffed. “Okay... getting to kiss me when you get back will be your present then.”

“Eh... can’t you think of something better?”

He glared at you playfully, though you felt a little bad making the joke. You knew from the argument the night before that he wasn’t still one hundred percent okay with you leaving. Comfortingly, you placed a hand above his knee over his dark jeans.

“In all seriousness, though— I shouldn’t have told you not to wait for me to come back. If that’s what you really want, I can’t stop you from waiting for me. In fact, just seeing you again will be the best thing I’ll get on Christmas; I know it. Well, unless someone gets me some rollerblades. I always wanted them as a kid but my mom refused since I have issues with ‘being careful’—”

Bucky’s laugh cut you off, rolling his eyes at your attempt at covering up your sappy words with sarcasm. He could definitely understand why you never got rollerskates, however — you did have a tendency to be a little reckless. God knows what you were like as a kid.

“I’d have to agree with her on that one,” He smiled, sipping his coffee. “You have been punched in the face more times than the average person. You never told me about the other time you got punched, actually.”

A chuckle fell from your lips. “You remember me mentioning that?”

“Uh-huh.”

You sighed melodramatically. “I guess we have some time to kill — fine. So I was, surprise-surprise, in some random bar in Chicago...”

The hour you had left before your flight finished soon after you’d told Bucky enough stories from your travels to last him in your absence, and before you knew it, you’d reached the flight terminal.

There was an invisible force tugging at your heartstrings. While you were bubbling with excitement to get on your flight, to explore a whole new place outside of what you’ve always known, you hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be to leave what you did know behind. The thought of depending on somebody else, allowing yourself to let their feelings come into play with your decisions, had practically disgusted you only a few months ago. But with Bucky, it only felt wrong to cast his feelings aside.

The biker noticed the change in your demeanour as you neared the terminal, and a smile crept onto his lips. “C’mon, _____ — don’t tell me you’re gonna pussy out on leaving now.”

“Shut up,” You scoffed, elbowing his ribs. “I’m just... thinking.”

“About what?”

It took you a moment to come up with an answer. “About how everything has changed, and how everything is going to keep changing.”

You turned to look at Bucky, whose brows were furrowed. The corners of your lips upturned. “Bucky, nothing in my life is consistent. I’ve always liked travelling because where I am changes all the time, and I never feel stuck anywhere; I always feel free. And with you, I don’t feel stuck either. I want you to be a constant in my life, no matter where I am in the world or whatever else changes in it. I always wanted to get out of Brooklyn ‘cause it never felt like where I was supposed to be forever, but now I know that you’re here... well, maybe Brooklyn is where I’m supposed to end up...”

“...and I swear to God if you call me a sap for that—”

To your delight, you’re not teased for the most heartfelt thing you’d ever said to him, or anyone for that matter, but cut off with a intense kiss. Savouring the feeling, you placed a hand on the back of Bucky’s neck, letting yourself melt into him for one last time that summer. You’d found that Bucky wasn’t necessarily vocal in expressing his feelings, but that didn’t matter. The way he kissed you said more than a thousand words ever could.

After reluctantly pulling away from the kiss, Bucky didn’t let you go just yet. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and held you to his chest, an affectionate action that he didn’t necessarily do so often. Nevertheless, you leaned into him and let your arms encircle his waist, your cheek resting comfortably against his shoulder. This wasn’t the last time you’d be so close to him, you had to keep reminding yourself of that. But you’d never felt so hesitant to leave someone behind since you’d left Peggy the first time you left New York. You found your way back to her, though, and you were sure you’d do the same with Bucky.

“On second thought, I’d be fine if you pussied out of leaving now...” He spoke into your ear, making you chuckle against his chest.

“I’m no wuss, Bucky Barnes,” You moved back from his embrace, patting his jacket. “You’ll see me again soon, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

The feminine voice over the intercom informing you that your direct flight to London was departing soon cut your final moments with Bucky short, enabling the both of you to let out a disheartened sigh.

You leaned forward once more, pressing a soft but fleeting kiss to his lips, before giving his hand a squeeze. “Stay out of trouble, will you? At least until I get back?”

“I think I should be the one tellin’ you that,” Bucky laughed, his eyes taking in the curve of your nose and your cheekbones, the colour of your eyes and the softness of your lips; the features he’d had the luxury of waking up to every day for the past two months. Not that he could ever forget how beautiful you are, but he’d be a fool not to take advantage of looking at you properly in the flesh for the last time for a while. “Running away from a fight isn’t a bad thing, you know.”

“Practise what you preach, pal — does that mean you won’t be socking Brock Rumlow in the face next time you run into him?”

“...touché.”

A grin graced your lips as you clasped your fingers around the handle of your suitcase. “Mhm, that’s what I thought. Now, I’ve gotta get going. There might be a fight waiting for me on the plane already — a forty-five year old lady named ‘Karen’ that’s upset she didn’t get the window seat, perhaps?”

“Well, I can’t keep you waiting, can I?” Bucky stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, watching as you began to walk in the opposite direction to him, the opposite direction to the summer you’d forever hold dear to your heart.

The smile on your face widened, your last words to him falling from your lips before you turned around and headed towards the next part of your journey, which would eventually, hopefully, lead you back to him in the end.

“I’ll see you when I’m back home.”

Home. Where you belonged. Where you’d circle back to when you’d travelled across the world and back. With him, in Brooklyn.

“See you when you’re back home, baby.”

There was a time when you didn’t believe in love. When you thought that those who did were only fooling themselves, and when you once told your best friend that you’d never fall in love. Maybe you’d proved yourself wrong with Bucky.

The reason you’d always told yourself that love wasn’t real was because you never knew what it was, how it felt. However, if it felt like gliding through a sunlit sky with all the time in the world to spare, with all the space around you to explore; if it felt like finding home in more than just four walls and a roof, but in two bright blue eyes and a soul just as carefree as yours (...and a worn out leather jacket...), then maybe you had fallen in love with Bucky.

Perhaps when you returned home, you’d let him know.

@dark-academics-and-florals @thefallenbibliophilequote @kimvmarvel @broco8 @domolovee @barnestruck @igotkatiepowers

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky barnes au #biker!bucky #biker!bucky x reader

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch21: Shards Of A Broken Soul

Summary: Katie is finally reunited with Steve, Tony and the rest of the Avengers, and the extent of her injuries become clear. Can Steve push his own feelings of anger and inadequacy to one side enough to help her focus on getting better?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language, injuries, mentions of rape. Avoid if these upset you. Smut (NSFW) 18+

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

A/N: @angrybirdcr you are the best image provider EVER!!!

Chapter 20

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Both Tony and Steve were anxious, Bruce could tell. He also noticed the Soldier’s knuckles were angry and bleeding. Standing up, he headed to the back of the jet to check the medical equipment. It was fully stocked as much as could be, and picking up an ice pack and some gauze he headed over to Steve and tapped his shoulder.

“Thanks.” Steve took the gauze and wiping at his split knuckles before applying the ice pack “Be fine in a coupla hours”

“Tony, you wanna switch out?” Bruce asked, “I can fly if you…” “No, I got it, besides…” he said turning his seat and gesturing to the ‘Jarvis is my co-pilot’ sticker that Katie had gotten him a while back as a joke, which was stuck to the control panel “As the sign says, its JARVIS doing it really not me…I’m just supervising.” “So, I hate to ask…” Bruce said.

“Then don’t” Tony looked at him fiercely and Steve sighed.

“None of us want to hear it Tony but…” he took a deep breath “we need to be prepared…did they say how she was hurt or…” Tony ran his hand over his face, stroking his less-groomed than normal goatee “They said she was bruised, quite severely, her left hand is in a bad way…” Steve let out a low growl at that, and his right hand flew to his sweat pants pockets, which he unzipped and ran his hands across the smooth metal and stones. Her rings had been with him ever since they’d been returned by Coulson “…and she’s in and out of consciousness, has a nasty cough, but other than that…” Tony trailed off. “Ok.” Bruce stood up, “I’ll prep what I can to make her comfy until we get her home.”

The 2 hour flight to the airfield seemed to take an eternity, but finally JARVIS announced they were approaching and shortly after they touched down. Steve was out of his seat before the plane had landed, and half jumped off the ramp before it was fully down and Tony wasn’t far behind. Bruce opted to stay behind with the jet and Steve knew it was because the gentle man didn’t want to intrude on what was going to be an emotional reunion.

The man waiting was a huge guy. Huge. Taller than Steve and equally as wide, but with the figure of a once welt built man that had slightly gone to seed. His eyes were a warm hazel and he gave of a friendly aura.

“Captain Rogers, Mr Stark.” The man greet them on the tarmac of the airfield as the various ATC staff bustled around, heading to the jet where they were greeted by Bruce.

“Sergeant Matkinson?” Tony asked, shaking the large hand extended to him in greeting.

“No, sorry Matkinson is the one who called you. I’m Dave Bellamy, the Duty Inspector.”

He turned as Steve and Tony followed him towards the waiting car. “I gotta admit, this wasn’t what I expected when I came in today.” “Has she said anything about…” Steve began as they approached the car, but the man shook his head.

“Other than asking for you and refusing to go to Hospital she hasn’t said much at all.” he said, stopping to open the driver’s side door. Steve climbed in next to him and Tony settled in the back. “The on duty medic has cleaned her up as best she could, but she got a bit hysterical at one point when she woke up. She calmed down as soon as she realised she was safe. She did mutter something about the leather jacket we found her with and her needing to keep it as it belonged to a friend but other than that she hasn’t said much at all.” Steve frowned and looked at Tony, the pair of them exchanging a puzzled look. “A friend?” Steve turned to the officer who fired up the sirens and pulled off with a screech of tires.

“Yeah.” Bellamy nodded “We figured that whoever broke her out gave it to her, on account of her having nothing else to keep her warm but all we know is that car was taken in Collorado. And someone drove it up here and dumped it with her in the back. Whoever it was, wanted her found and safe.”

No one spoke for a while until Bellamy chipped in again. “We tried to give her some food and a warm drink but she just stared at it, like it was going to poison her or something. She looks a lot better than she did when we found her on account of her being cleaned up but she’s still…” he shrugged “Well, the sooner you can call get her some proper medical attention the better.

"And you didn’t call a doctor?” Tony bit out.

“Of course we did Mr Stark.” Bellamy sighed, his tone a little annoyed “We called an ambulance but when the paramedics arrived she went crazy. And I mean, crazy. In the end we sent them away. Like I say, she let our medic, Sarah, look at her but…” he trailed off and once more the car felt silent.

With the sirens going it didn’t take them long to arrive. Steve walked into the station through the rear entrance with a lump in his throat, which got bigger every time he thought about what state his girl was going to be in. But she was there. In this building. Ignoring the obvious looks that Captain America and Tony Stark attracted in the busy corridors of the small station, he followed the large Inspector to a room and the Inspector nodded, opening the door.

“She said the light hurt her eyes.” The Inspector said by way of explanation as Steve and Tony stepped into the room. It smelt clean, slightly clinical and was dimly lit. Steve blinked, his vision adjusting to the lower level of lighting and saw Katie was led on the little medical bench. At the sound of voices she raised her head to look at the door.

“Oh Jesus…” Tony muttered, his hand flying to his mouth, turning away clearly unable to look at her battered form any longer than he had to. But Steve remained still, his chest heaving as his eyes focussed on her face as she looked at him, almost as if she couldn’t see him. He swallowed as nothing but utter relief washed over him, drowning out the initial flicker of anger he’d seen at the state she was in. The medic may have cleaned her face but her hair was a tangle of dirt and dried blood. The entire left side of her gaunt face was a mass of bruises, some faded and yellow, some new and angry. There was a raised line of pink to the left side of her mouth where a cut had healed, another large one down the side of her right temple, a deep slash over the bridge of her nose which looked to be on its way to healing and Steve’s eyes then flew to her hand which was bent out of shape so badly.

As Katie blinked, the two men came into focus. She noticed her brother, his face was utterly broken and then she looked at her soldier, and the first thing she saw was the growth of stubble on his handsome face that was well on its way to being a beard. His eyes, his brilliant ocean blues were dull with pain, worry, fright but there was nothing on his face but relief.

They were both there, the two most important men in her life, the men that had always made her feel safe and loved, and the emotion crashed over her in a huge surge. Katie felt her face crumple up as she spoke softly “Stevie…” “Oh, Doll.” his voice cracked as he crossed the room, dropping onto the bench besides her and pulling her into his arms. His touch was familiar and comforting, she couldn’t remember how long it has been since he held her. She wound her arms around his waist, her face pushing into his chest as she began to cry.

He held her tight as he pressed his face into her hair. It was dirty but he didn’t care. “Sweetheart, I missed you so much. I’m so sorry we didn’t…we didn’t…” his words trailed off as they were replaced by a choking sob as his tears began to fall whilst he simply sat there, his arms around her. She felt small, much smaller than normal, and as his hands gently rubbed up her back and he gave a horrified swallow as he realised he could feel her spine. He took a shaky breath and loosened his grip ever so slightly and he looked up as Tony crossed the room, wiping the tears from his face as he sat on the other side of the bed and gently sat next to her. She pushed away from Steve slightly to look up at her brother.

“Hey Kiddo.” he croaked out “Place has gone to shit without you.” She let out a little jerk of a laugh as he reached out and tenderly cupped her face.

“Take me home.” she said, the tears pricking into her eyes as she pressed her face once more into Steve’s chest, his warm, familiar, comforting chest.

“Of course doll,” he choked out, looking up at Tony who wiped at his face again. “Of course.”

******

“Hi Bruce…” Katie managed to stutter when Steve carried her onto the jet, Tony doing the thankyous to the officer who had driven them back, handing Tony the leather jacket that Katie had made a huge fuss about not leaving without for some reason, but there was plenty of time to dig into that later.

“Hey Nova.” he smiled softly, as Steve set her down on the medical bench at the back. He kept her right hand in his, gently kissing her knuckles as Bruce took her in. He looked up at Steve who swallowed and nodded, understanding and the Doctor looked at Katie. “I’m just gonna take a look at you, that ok?” Katie had to stop herself from laughing “It aint gonna be pretty” she said, before she started coughing again, scrunching herself up at the pain and Steve’s hand gently dropped to her head as he crouched besides her.

“She’s running a temp.” he looked at Bruce who nodded.

“Probably an infection.” he surmised “Don’t worry sweetie, we’ll get you patched up and back to normal in no time.” he said as he gently hiked up the hoody they’d given her at the station.

“Told you.” she said, clocking the look on his face as he tried, but failed, to hide the gasp of shock and horror. Steve glanced over and his face paled at the mass of bruising on her sides. He could see her ribs, her hips. He knew she’d lost weight but this…

“I dunno when I last ate. Didn’t trust them.” She muttered as she lay back. Steve dropped a kiss to her forehead as Tony joined them.

“Well, on top of the obvious you’re probably a little malnourished.” Bruce sighed, as he leant to listen to her breathing with a stethoscope before letting out a small hum and a nod “Yeah, you have a nasty chest infection…and that hand is gonna need looking at.” “She gonna be ok?” Tony demanded as Bruce moved him out of the way to gather up some supplies. The jet was kitted out for quick missions, nothing like this, but he found what he was looking for.

“She is here.” Katie mumbled and Tony arched an eyebrow.

“Brat.” She let out a small smile and Steve dropped a kiss to her forehead, allowing himself a little chuckle at the fact her sassiness hadn’t been beaten out of her.

Beaten out of her. Jesus.

He straightened up, once more the tears stinging his eyes and looked away, composing himself.

“Once we’re home I can start you on some IV anti-biotics and glucose.” Bruce said, drawing something into a syringe. “But right now I’m going to give you something for the pain, which should help you sleep too.”

She nodded as Bruce gently rolled up the sleeve on her top, Steve letting out an angry growl at the finger marks there along with the marks on her wrists from restraints, and Bruce pushed the needle into her arm. Once he was done, Bruce readjusted her hoody for her and Tony gently placed a blanket over her, smoothing a hand over her head.

“I’ll get us in the air.” he said, and Bruce nodded.

“Sooner we get home the better.”

It wasn’t long before Katie felt her eyes drooping.

“Stevie, I’m so tired.” she mumbled and he leaned over, kissing her head.

“Then sleep.” he said gently, his hand stroking her dirty hair “I’ll be right here.”

And this time, as she drifted off into the darkness, the last thing she saw were those blue eyes, and the last thing she felt was her man’s hand gently caressing her hair in the way that always soothed her.

*****

Katie was still out of it when they arrived back, Steve not once moving from her side the entire flight back and as soon as the jet had landed, they were greeted by the rest of the Avengers plus Sam, Rhodey and Pepper. As Banner wheeled the gurney down the ramp, Steve walking along side it, holding her hand, Thor’s face contorted in rage at the sight of his friend and there was loud clap of thunder which made them all jump. Clint gently patted his back as he swallowed.

“She gonna be ok?” It was Rhodey who spoke first as they wheeled her past, the sight of the little girl who he’d seen grown up looking so badly beaten and frail made him sick as Banner wheeled her past, Steve not even acknowledging the rest of the team as they passed.

“She’s not in a great way but…” Tony sighed as Pepper strolled over to give him a hug, her eyes brimming with tears “Bruce thinks she’ll recover physically, it’s the mental trauma I’m worried about.”

“She’s strong.” Natasha said, wrapping her arms around herself. “A lot stronger than we give her credit for.” Clint gently rubbed at her back as she turned to him, blinking back tears. He pulled her in for a hug which she took, pressing her face into her best friend’s shoulder.

“Any idea on how she escaped?” Sam asked.

“No.” Tony looked at him “Not that it matters, main thing is she’s here.” he turned to Nat and Clint as the red head stepped back and turned to face him. “Cap was on about someone going back to check out where she was held…you wanna get on it?”

Clint nodded but Nat hesitated slightly. She was unnerved by the emotion she had felt upon seeing Katie and didn’t want to leave her. Sam instantly picked up on it and he turned to Clint. “I’ll come.” “And me.” Thor growled, the vein in his temple twitched slightly.

Clint nodded at the two men and Tony inclined his head to the jet. “JARVIS has the co-ords.”

With that he turned and the arm that wasn’t around Pepper gently draped over Natasha’s shoulder, giving her a quick squeeze before they headed inside, followed by Rhodey.

******

It was a good few hours before Katie came round again. When she did she sat bolt upright, panic flooding her system, a loud scream bubbling from her throat.

“Hey, hey…” she heard a voice and a gentle hand round hers and she took a panicked breath, instantly scrambling away across the bed as she felt it dip besides her. “Sweetheart, it’s ok…”

That voice. It was Steve. Her soldier.

At that realisation she instantly calmed, as she turned to face him.

“You’re safe, you’re home…” he smiled softly, his hand gently cupping her battered face as she looked at him, swallowing.

“Sorry, I was a little out of it, thought I was still…” she trailed off, looking down at the warm, clean, comfortable sheets and blankets she was wrapped in. “You’ve nothing to apologise for.” Steve sighed, “If anything I’m sorry…sorry we didn’t find you sooner. We tried…” he hung his head slightly “God did we try…” “Stop it, you idiot.” She squeezed his hand “This is not on you. It isn’t on anyone other than Hydra…” “Huh…” Tony spoke as he walked into the room “Not what Cap was saying when he broke Fury’s nose.” “You didn’t?” Katie looked at him as Steve gave a small groan.

“Oh he did.” Tony said, pulling up a chair at side of the bed next to where Steve was sat by Katie, and turning it round so he was perched straddling the seat, his arms crossing over the back as he leant forward “Made a terrific noise.” “Did J record it?” She asked and Steve groaned again.

“Oh you bet he did.” Tony smirked “I’m intending on using it as a warning to everyone about what happens when Spangles loses his shit. Not to mention the amount of punchbags, doors, walls and windows we’ve had to replace or repair…”

“Is this really necessary?” Steve sighed and Katie grinned.

“It’s very necessary.” she said seriously and Steve snorted, shaking his head. “What did you punch Fury for?” Steve ran his hand over his face and scratched his chin, he really did need a shave. “Because he was lying to us again. SHIELD knew that Sceptre had gone missing and if they had warned us then Hydra might not have targeted you specifically.” “You mean they would have taken someone else?” She narrowed her eyes at him. He fell silent.

“I tried.” Tony said softly, I tried to get them to take me, but they…” “Ok, enough.” she said, a little louder and both men looked at her. “This stops, right now, the pair of you. I can’t cope with the display of masculine self-pity.”

“It’s not self-pity…” Tony started, somewhat indignantly and she cut him off.

“I don’t care what you want to call it. But we stop now with the blame, ok? This was no-ones fault, no one but those motherfuckers who took me. And if I hear the word sorry come out of either of your mouths again in relation to this, as soon as I’m well enough to I’m going to kick both your assess…”

At that point Bruce swept back into the room, smiling softly at her. “Can I take it from the threats you’re issuing that you’re feeling a little better?” “A bit” she nodded. “Still, not great but I don’t feel as faint anymore, and my head doesn’t feel as full of cotton wool.” “Your blood sugar levels will be picking up.” Bruce smiled as he nodded to the needle in the crook of her arm which she hadn’t noticed and began to explain to her “I’ve started you on a low dose of glucose and some antibiotics to fight that chest infection, which was my first concern. You’re malnourished but I’m afraid there’s no actual food for a while, couple of days we can look at introducing nutrients orally by liquids.”

Katie looked at Steve and smiled “Know what I need?” He smiled back “Ma’s Chicken soup?” “Damned right.” she grinned “That stuff was magic when I had a cold” “I’ll make you all the soup you want.” he said, gently, his hand running over her forehead. No one stated the obvious, that she had much more than a fucking cold going on.

“And then when I can I’m gonna eat the biggest portion of Mac and Cheese I can manage” she sighed “And a cheeseburger…” “Extra pickle, chilli fries, vanilla milkshake and a slice of apple pie” Steve and Tony recited her order perfectly and she grinned.

“Preferably all from the Diner round the corner.” she said with a decisive nod.

“Well, as soon as Bruce says its ok that’s what you can have” Tony said gently “For now let’s just concentrate on getting you healthy again.” “I hate to beak this up, I really do…” Bruce said, and he did. Seeing them reunited warmed his soul, but he needed to dig into what was going on. “But now you’re awake I need to run some tests, do a few scans. I can’t see any signs of internal bleeding or anything but I want to be 100% what’s going on.”

Katie nodded “Other than my ribs and my hand…” she trailed off and looked down at her left hand which was misshapen but wasn’t as sore as it had been on account of the fact Bruce had expertly bound it to give it some support. “They took my rings…” she said softly, before looking at her right hand this time “They broke my fingers, and took my fucking rings, bastards…” The thought of anyone breaking any bone in her body alighted a fire of anger in Steve’s chest, but he gave a small smile as he shook his head “Coulson found them.” he said, reaching into his pocket. He held them out to her and her eyes started to water.

“I thought I’d lost them…” “Baby they’re not important.” Steve shook his head “Lumps of metal and stone…but you…” he swallowed “Anyway, doesn’t matter, they’re here.”

“Gonna be a while before I can wear it again huh?” she gently ran her hand over the shape of her engagement ring which lay in Steve’s palm before she looked up at Bruce who gave her a sad nod.

“’Fraid so.”

“Not this one.” Steve held up her emerald and she grinned, gleefully holding out her right hand for him to slip it back on her finger before placing a kiss just above it.

“I’ll keep the other one safe, promise.” Steve smiled.

She nodded, and held up her right hand looking at her emerald before she sighed, somewhat happily, and then she frowned.

“Hang on, how did Coulson find them?” she looked at Steve. “They were in the first place you were held.” Tony said “It’s a long story but SHIELD got a tip off about an abandoned base being back in use and they raided it, but they were too late. You’d gone.” “I don’t even remember them moving me.” she sighed, and Bruce shook his head.

“Amnesia is common when you’ve been through some kind of trauma.” he said “Your mind’s way of coping.” Katie lay her head back on the pillow. “Pity I remember everything else they did. Well, mostly…”

Steve shook his head “Don’t think on any of that. You’re safe now, and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” “Well that’s gonna be awkward when I need the bathroom.” she looked at him and he played along, pausing as if he was pondering something.

“Ok, well maybe I’ll just wait outside and listen to you pee instead.” “Kinky fucker.” she shot back causing him to snort a laugh. Thankfully the scans and tests showed nothing more serious than 6 broken ribs, 3 of which were well on their way to healing, a slight tear in the intercostal muscle between two and a small tear in her spleen which again, Bruce was pleased to see was also repairing.

“You’re normally fit and healthy.” he explained “So your body shouldn’t have an issue repairing itself, granted not as fast as Cap’s but…”

“Well we can’t all be Super Soldiers.” she shrugged.

“What is slightly more concerning is that hand.” Bruce said. “the bones have started to set, and they’re not realigned correctly and I’m worried about long term damage. So I’ve made a call to Helen Cho, the geneticist I told you all about that I met at the Convention a few months back. She’s going to fly in with an old colleague of hers, a Dr Wang Xui Ying…” Katie and Tony both snorted, because Wang, exchanging a gleeful look and Steve rolled his eyes at their blatant childishness, but he wasn’t really bothered. It was good to see.

“Yeah yeah…” Bruce shook his head, a smirk dancing on his face “For obvious reasons he goes by his middle name in the Western world…anyway, he’s a leading Orthopaedic surgeon. I’ve sent him your X-Ray results and he says he can fix it, but it’s going to need an operation. And I don’t want to put you under any form of anaesthetic until you’re stronger.” “How long?” Steve asked and Katie bit back a smile at his demanding nature.

“If you’re vitals keep improving then maybe 5 to 7 days.” Bruce said. “We’ll see how things go. They’re going to arrive over the weekend.” “I’ve wanted to meet this Dr Cho for a while, she sounds intriguing.” Tony nodded. “I’ll make sure he guest rooms are prepped.” Katie spent the rest of the day greeting her various visitors and flitting in and out of sleep, which was perfectly normal, so Bruce said. She woke later in the evening to Steve talking in a hushed voice to Clint, Sam and Thor, whilst Natasha, Bruce and Tony listened in, Rhodey who had to get back to work had left a few hours ago after popping in to see how Katie was doing the last time she had been awake.

“No idea.” Clint said as he finished giving Steve a debrief on what they had found, the Captain insisting they did it in the medical room, not wanting to leave Katie for a second if he could help it “Place was littered with bodies. Mostly gun shots, bar Jones, who we found in the cell they kept Nova in.”

“Yeah, he hadn’t been shot.” Sam said and he looked at Steve significantly “His neck was snapped, and when I say snapped, I mean crushed.”

“Good.” Natasha spat, and Steve had to say he was inclined to agree. He hoped the fucker had suffered, his only regret was he wouldn’t get to do it himself. And then the significance of what Sam had said hit him.

“Hang on, you say crushed?” Bruce asked and Clint nodded.

“Never seen anything like it Doc.” he shrugged “It was like someone had put him in a vice��

Sam looked at Steve whose eyes widened as his memory flicked back to the first HYDRA base they’d raided back in DC.

No, it couldn’t be…

“There was one man.” Thor continued and Steve looked at him “He was in the laboratory area. His death was an execution.” “Bullet, straight between the eyes.” Sam levelled Steve with another look. “It was just like in DC…” he made a gun shape with his fingers and held it at the top of his nose, miming the action.

“Do you think…” Steve started to ask and then a soft voice cut him off

“You know you could just ask me.” Katie spoke as she suddenly realised that no one had asked how she had escaped yet. The group all looked at her, breaking up their huddle to move towards her. Thor, Clint and Sam, who hadn’t seen her since she had woken up all came over to drop kisses onto her cheeks, her head and Clint gently brushed her head with his hand.

“Good to have you back Nova.” He smiled and she looked at him, his face soft with emotion.

“Good to be back.” she said before she sighed “So I suppose you all want to know how I got out?” “It’s been puzzling us a little.” Nat smirked.

She looked at Steve who took a seat back by her bed and then she told him just what he had suspected “It was Bucky.” Steve swallowed, and looked up at Sam.

“How?” Tony frowned, “And I mean I’m beyond glad he did Kiddo but what we he doing there? It makes no sense.”

“Yes it does.” Steve said, looking up “When we were tracking him we found the same thing in DC. Bodies all over the place, windpipes crushed, but one had been shot straight between the eyes. When we found the footage he was one of the men strapping him into the chair before they…” he trailed off, taking a deep breath, it still hurt to talk about it.

“We think Ol’ Frosty was on some kind of revenge rampage.” Sam shrugged “I expect if we run that Doctor we found in La Ronge through the system, we’ll find he was connected to the Winter Soldier programme in some way too.” “And Jones?” Clint asked “Think he might have been too?” Katie gave a snort “No, he was trying to make a run for it and was dragging me with him, but I’d heard the shots and knew whoever it was wasn’t HYDRA. I thought it might have been you guys so I was screaming, Bucky must have heard…he snapped his neck like it was a twig. Then he gave me his jacket and carried me out.” “So that’s why you were making such a fuss about it.” Steve looked at her. She shrugged.

“He saved my life. Figured the least I could do was save his jacket, in case we ever do find him again.”

Steve’s mind was whirring. He wanted to ask her so many more questions, had he said anything to her, had he recognised her, but he knew now that wasn’t important. Instead, he’d save it for later, when she was stronger. And he added it to the huge long list of times Bucky had bailed him out. Only this sat right at the top of things his best friend had done for him.

Right at the top. He felt her hand on his and he gave her a small smile, gently reaching over to kiss the top of her head and she smiled, looking around at the assembled crowd in the room.

“You know, they threatened to kill you all unless I told them what they thought I knew. And I laughed.” she said, shaking her head.“I mean, I’d have loved that. Them to meet you lot…”

Thor made a noise that was halfway between a snort and a growl “I would very much like to meet them too. So would my hammer.”

“Told you that you should have let me put an arrow through Ward’s head.” Clint crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Oh no.” She spat fiercely, and Steve was pleased to see there was a fire in her eyes “If anyone is putting a bullet between that fucker’s eyes it’s me. And I want him to see me when I do it.”

“Someone’s clearly feeling better.” Natasha smirked and Katie winked at her friend.

“Loads, thank God.” “You’re welcome.” Thor grinned and there were various chuckles around the room. Katie broke into a laugh which hastily descended into a coughing fit. As she took a sip of the water Steve offered her through the straw she glanced around, her eyes shining with humour.

“I love you guys!”

*******

Steve camped on the couch in the corner of the medical room for the next 2 nights, refusing to leave. He made sure Katie fell asleep in his arms as he curled up behind her whilst the sedative Bruce gave her to help her rest went to work, and she always woke up in his arms, but the pillow and the blanket on the couch were tell-tale signs that he camped there when he was satisfied she was in a dreamless sleep. Steve knew the nightmares were going to come at some point when the sedation was no longer being used, but they’d cross that bridge when they got there.

He’d finally been forced into going back to their floor for a shower, but first he decided to have a shave. He was glad to see his face looked a lot less tired, he certainly felt a lot less tired, having had the first two decent night’s sleep in weeks over the last 48 hours. Katie had told him all about Bucky, what he had said, how he had recognised her, carried her out and taken her to car, how she had tried to convince him to come back but he had refused, and she didn’t remember anything until waking up at the station in the back of the car. There wasn’t much to go on but Sam had departed at lunchtime the day before to follow up the leads. But as Katie had said, she didn’t think they’d see him for a while. Especially when Nat, who had been doing some digging, confirmed that all the men they had seen on the video strapping Bucky to the chair had been found, bullets between the eyes. With a sigh Steve wiped his face clear before turning on the shower. He was grateful to Bucky, he really was, but he couldn’t shake this horrible, hollow feeling of inadequacy that was balling in the pit of his stomach. He should have been the one rescuing his girl, and he’d failed. That said, as he stepped under the stream of scalding hot water he reminded himself that it didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact she was home, safe, and improving as each hour went by.

Katie could feel that she was improving too, although as she forced the last of the awful green concoction Bruce had given her to drink, she was seriously considering asking for her IV to go back in. The drink or smoothie or whatever it was, was fucking vile, but he’d assured her if she could manage it and her system didn’t reject it, then she could slowly start introducing different liquids into her system, starting with different nutrient packed juices and maybe, some soup. The thought of soup had never excited her as much in her life, but to be fair, Steve’s chicken soup was pretty damned tasty.

What was worse though, was the sheer boredom. At some point, whilst she was asleep, a huge flat screen TV had appeared on the wall, thanks to Tony as he had pointed out when he came to see her, and last night she’d curled up with Steve to watch the Wizard of Oz, but she was already going crazy led in the bed and she was desperate to get clean. She could still feel the dirt, and grime and them on her body. Steve had said he’d help her clean up when Bruce gave her the go ahead but she didn’t want him to. There was bound to be bruises on her thighs and she wasn’t ready for him to know about the fact they’d raped her. Not yet anyway.

As Natasha was sat with her, popping in as she did a lot during the day, she decided to take her chance whilst Steve was in their apartment.

“Bruce, I need a bath or something!” She whined “it’s been 48 hours… Look, I drank all that disgusting green shit you gave me…and I feel much better…”

Bruce groaned. “Look, I’m not sure…” “My hair and…” Katie sighed leaning back, tears pricking her eyes “please…” “Alright, but someone needs to be with you. The temperature change might cause your blood pressure to drop and you could pass out.” “Rogers can take her.” Nat nodded but Katie shook her head and looked at Nat.

“Can you?” “Me?” Nat frowned. She nodded and gave her a significant look, one Natasha could read instantly. There was something she wasn’t telling them. And as she looked into her friends eyes she had a horrible feeling she knew what. “Your hair?” She said, locking eyes with the brunette giving her an excuse and Katie nodded. “Alright. Bruce that ok with you? He sighed "fine. But not too hot, and you use the bathroom here on the medical floor.” Katie nodded and Steve chose that moment to walk back into the room.

“Hey handsome” she smiled and he dropped a kiss to her cheek as she pouted “You shaved.” “I told you, Captain America doesn’t have a beard” he chuckled. “You killed it. Murderer” He rolled his eyes. “Brucey says I can have a bath!” She said, almost excitedly “Can you go grab me some stuff? Toiletries, pyjamas, robe, towel?” Steve looked at her, then to Bruce "is that…” Bruce sighed. “It’s ok, yes. But just a short one and try not to get the bandages on that hand wet. They were fresh on this morning.” “Nat’s gonna help me” Katie said, looking at Steve. He frowned for a moment.

“I can do it.” he said, almost sullenly. She reached out with her good hand to squeeze his “It’s my hair. She can sort the tangles and braid it out of the way until I can get it cut…I think some of it might be beyond saving”

Steve looked at her, before he let out a sigh. "Alright. But at least let me help you to and from the bathroom?” She nodded and he looked at Nat who simply gazed back, her face passive.

As Steve gathered her things in their apartment, he tried not to take in personally that she didn’t want his help, he really did. It wasn’t like he knew how to braid her hair but she could always have done that once she was back in bed. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was pushing him away because she blamed him in some way. Blamed him for not finding her, for not being the one to help her. He grabbed her favourite pair of pyjamas, not just because they were her favourite, but because they were button up so would be easier for her to get on, and everything else she had asked for and headed back to the lab, and his worries temporarily flew from his mind when she smiled at him and held out her arms.

“Wanna carry me, Soldier?” Laughing he handed the items to Natasha and scooped her up easily into his arms as she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“I love you.” she said softly and he smiled.

“Love you too, so damned much.” He said, deliberately exaggerating his Brooklyn drawl making her giggle, the sound music to his ears.

Natasha didn’t comment on the finger shaped bruising in between her legs and on the outside of her thighs when she helped her undress. Instead she’d handed Katie the wash cloth and soap so she could clean herself as best she could, and helped her reach the areas she couldn’t easily do like anything where she had to raise her arms too high. She’d washed her hair for her with infinite tenderness, telling her that she would get Pepper have a stylist to come and give it a cut soon. As instructed, Katie didn’t stay in the bath too long, the water was filthy so Natasha drained it and took the small shower attachment off the wall and carefully rinsed her off before helping her stand and wrapping her in a robe. Guiding her over to the small changing room off the side she gently sat on the bench in the middle as Nat carefully dried her hair. It was mass of split ends, brittle from the malnutrition and a fair bit of it fell out as Nat gently brushed it, but at least it was clean. "I want you to ask Pepper to call Dr Kellet my ob gyn.” Katie said gently, for the first time raising the issue “Tell her it’s just for a routine check- up after my less than adequate diet or something.”

Nat nodded. “Ok but you really should tell Steve”

“Not yet” Katie swallowed. “I can’t deal with more pity and sympathy. I don’t want anyone knowing. Not until…” she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes as Natasha gently braided her damp hair “Let me get some shred of dignity back please.”

Nat kissed the top of head in a rare display of affection and nodded before grabbing the pyjamas Steve had brought down for her, laughing as she looked at them “Tigger” “I’m a sucker for Disney”

“You wear these to bed? No wonder Rogers can’t keep his hands off you”

“I don’t wear much to bed.” She grinned back, wincing slightly as Natasha gently guided the top over her arms before buttoning it up, thankful to Steve for being so thoughtful to find ones she didn’t need to pull over her head. “Pyjamas serve as lounge wear” After cleaning her teeth she was pleased to report she felt fully human again. Natasha went to find Steve and he returned, smiling at the sight of his girl who looked a whole heap better. The only thing was that now her hair was out of her face, the injuries she’d sustained were far more noticeable but he tried not to dwell on it. Instead, he focussed on the relief in her face at finally getting clean. “Feel better?” He asked, gently grazing his fingers over the side of her neck. She nodded. “So much” she said and then shook her head as he went to pick her up “Let me walk.” "Katie…” he began but she shook her head

“Please.”

He looked at Natasha who took a deep breath “He’s right Katie, Bruce will go mad…”

“Like Hulk out mad or…” Neither of them laughed, instead Steve sighed “Please sweetheart, just…” he trailed off and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine.”

He swept her up, breathing in her once again familiar just showered smell, the vanilla of her shower gel and the oatmeal in her shampoo was like a tonic to his soul and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

All in all things seemed positive. That was until the next morning when Tony picked up a message which was meant for Pepper, saying that Dr Kellet would be arriving at Lunch. Unfortunately, her being Pepper’s Ob-Gyn too meant Tony knew who she was. And even more unfortunate was that her brother’s suspicious nature had led him to grilling Bruce about why she was needed, and of course Bruce knew nothing about it. And even worse than that, was that Bruce had asked why she was calling in another doctor without telling him, and it was the absolute worst thing ever, that Steve, with his impeccable timing skills, had walked back into the room at that point, clutching the flask of soup that Bruce had cleared her to eat and asked instantly what on earth another doctor was needed for.

She had tried to explain to them all that she just wanted some goddamned control in all of this, and that frankly calling her Ob Gyn was surely the right thing to do just to be on the safe-side after spending so long being practically starved, but their demeanour and reaction had guilt tripped her big time, even if he didn’t mean to. Bruce was hurt she hadn’t told him she was concerned, Tony was pissed that she hadn’t simply just asked him to call the Ob-Gyn instead of getting Nat to ask Pepper forcing her to go behind his back, and Steve was just upset she hadn’t told him she was worried in general. As they pushed her to the brink she snapped, and the tears flooded out of her, wracking her in hysterical sobs that she had tried and tried to stop and all 3 men had been absolutely devastated.

She slapped Steve hard when he tried to pull her into his arms, screamed at them all to leave her alone and a shocked Steve had called Natasha, his own tears clouding his eyes at the sight of his beautiful, strong girl breaking in front of him. Natasha had swept into the room, ordering them all out and sat on the bed, wrapping her arms round her friend, soothing her as she let everything out.

But Steve was frightened. Frightened as to why she needed an ob-gyn and frightened as to why she hadn’t told him.

And then he pieced it together. The secrecy, why she’d wanted Natasha to help her clean up…

“Oh God.” His voice was nothing but a choked whispter as the corridor swam around him, his legs giving way. He slumped to the floor, back to the wall, praying he was wrong. “No…please no…”

Natasha stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her and she looked at Steve, he raised his head and she instantly knew he’d figured it out.

“You knew?” He spat, shaking his head “And didn’t tell me? You FUCKING KNEW?”

“Rogers she asked me not to say anything…” “Anything about what?” Tony asked as Bruce gave a small moan, the pieces slotting into place in his head too.

“You should have told me!” Steve roared as he got to his feet, his legs still shaky “That’s…she’s my fiancée…”

“Told him what?” Tony pressed as he looked between the two of them, Steve’s face contorted in rage as he glared at Natasha. “I know, I told her to tell you but…don’t you think she’s owed this? To have some dignity and some control?”

“For fucks sake…” Tony began but he was cut off as Steve turned to him.

“She was raped, Tony.” Steve’s voice cracked as he spoke that word “Those bastards…” And with that he put his fist straight through the stud wall to his right. “They raped her…”

*****

Steve headed off to take his frustrations out on a punch bag, he felt sick. But knew it was nothing compare to how she must have felt when… he didn’t even want to think about it. But it all added to the fact that he hadn’t kept her safe. He had failed to do the one basic thing a man should be able to do for his woman. Especially when that man is a fucking Super Soldier. But the fact she hadn’t told him was what killed him the most. The tears poured down his face as he continued to pound the bag in front of him wishing he could take all this away from her.

Back in the medical wing, Dr Kellet was as sensitive as always. She softly examined Katie as Natasha stayed with her, and thankfully confirmed there was no lasting damage. She took swabs for tests and when Katie fearfully mentioned that she couldn’t remember her cycle coming in she’d smiled and shaken her head.

“You’re not pregnant.” She assured her, gently. “It’s perfectly normal in stressful circumstances, especially if you’re not in the best health too.”

It was a few hours later when tempers had calmed somewhat before Katie let Tony or Steve in the room. She hadn’t minded Bruce so much, but hearing Tony and Steve off loading at Nat out in the corridor before had pissed her off. The fact that they thought they had the right to know anything was annoying enough, but taking it out on Nat had made her even angrier. As Katie conceded they could come back in, Natasha stood up to leave and Steve shot her a positively filthy look as she left, before he turned back to his girl on the bed, unsure of how to even approach the subject, and slightly surprised to find her shooting daggers at the pair of them. Bruce left to give them some space and as her brother and fiancée both pulled up a chair, she didn’t even wait until they sat down before she spoke.

“You better apologise to Nat or so help me God Rogers, we’re gonna fall out big time.” She finished and turned to Tony. “You too,”

“She should have told us.” Steve sniffed quietly and Katie shook her head

“No, she shouldn’t because I asked her not to.” she said, “And the way you’re looking at me now is exactly why I didn’t want you to know.” “Looking at you like what?” Tony said.

“Like you feel sorry for me.”

Steve wiped at his face “So what did…Dr Kellet say?”

“That I’m fine.” she said “no lasting damage, just like the rest of my injuries.” She took his hand and looked at him, then to her brother and spoke clearly to them both. “Now, I’m gonna say this, and it’s the last anyone speaks on the subject. I don’t want pity or sympathy or treating like I’m made of glass. I’m not gonna shatter. Those bastards tried to break me in there and I didn’t let them and I’m not gonna let them now, ok?”

Steve looked at his girl, and the fierce look in her eyes and despite himself he felt a glimmer of pride. Pride at how strong she was but he knew that despite her protestations she was going to be broken inside. That was inevitable. And it suddenly dawned on him that it didn’t fucking matter that he hadn’t been the one to save her, or that he hadn’t been able to stop it. What mattered was that he was there now to help her piece herself together.

He gave her a nod and as her tears started again, he looked at Tony before the scientist stood up and sat on the edge of the bed to wrap her in his arms. He dropped a kiss to her head, before he stood up.

“I’m going to find Natasha.” He sighed, before grimacing. “If I don’t survive, say nice things at my funeral.” Katie let out a chuckle as he tenderly placed a hand on her head and left.

Once he was gone Katie looked at Steve and he swallowed, before she gave him a soft smile and patted the side of her bed. He returned her smile and stood up, kicking off his sneakers.

“I’m sorry I upset you.” He gently sat on the bed, swinging his legs up so he was led besides her. Katie lay her head on his chest and he gently carded his hand through her hair.

“This isn’t getting you out of apologising to Nat.” She sniffed “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It isn’t because I don’t trust you, because I do. With my life. I was scared, I supposed.”

“Scared, what of?”

“That all the sympathy would break me.” She shrugged, a tear escaping her eye. “And that you’d…”

“That I’d what?”

“Look at me differently, like…I dunno, like I was broken or something dirty or..”

“Woah, woah…no.” Steve moved a little, looking down at her, his hands cupping her face. “This was not your fault, okay? Nothing about any of this is your fault. And as for looking at you like that, no way. Fuck, baby I love you, I love you so much. None of this, what they did, nothing is gonna change that. You hear me?” His own tears gently trickled down his face as she gave a little nod, taking a deep breath as he pressed a kiss to her head. “Please don’t worry about that, Doll.”

He wrapped his arms round her, pulling her close as she pressed her face into his chest, gently crying. Steve held her for a while, his heart breaking at how she could possibly thing he’d feel like that towards her, nothing could be further from the truth. Eventually, he felt her shift a little in his arms and she looked up at him.

“Stevie, can you do something for me?”

“Anything, Sweetheart.” “Will you kiss me? I ain’t had one in a while.” Her lips curled up into a small, hopeful smile and Steve let out a soft chuckle and dipped his head, his nose brushing hers slightly.

“Think I can manage that.” His lips met hers in a gentle peck at first before it became slightly deeper, one arm round her shoulders, the other hand cupping her face gently as hers fisted in his shirt, ignoring the dull pain in her left hand. It was soft, gentle, both of them simply enjoying the first kiss they’d shared since the quick goodbye peck six weeks ago.

“I love you.” He pulled away, pressing his forehead to hers. “Tilt e end of the line.” “Good job.” She smiled, as he wiped away the tears that had trickled down her face. “Seeing as I’m marrying you aint I?”

“Yeah, yeah you are.” Steve’s own face broke into a smile as he lay back and she once more rest her head on his chest, settling herself in his warm embrace.

***** December 2014.

Katie and Steve still took their planned trip to Europe. They’d had to rejig their original schedule slightly as Katie had only been given the all clear with her hand on the 5th December to fly, meaning they had to miss the first week of . But they didn’t care, there was plenty of time to go another time. What they did care about was the fact that they got the time to themselves. Once things had settled down at the tower they’d stepped up the search for the Sceptre, jointly deciding that was their priority. But after the events of the last few months all the Avengers had decided to take down time over the holidays, and post a large, raucous thanksgiving, they’d gone their separate ways for the holidays. Thor heading to be with Jayne, Clint and Natasha to Clint’s family (although only Katie and Steve by-proxy knew that) Bruce had gone to Seoul for a few weeks to help Dr Cho with some research and Tony had whisked Pepper off to the Maldives. Each one of them taking the chance to recover in a sense if you will, from what had been the hardest time they’d had to face as a team so far.

Katie’s hand was still a little stiff but with the physio she was getting there, and was on track to make a full recovery. And the best bit was her big fuck off Tiffany Diamond was back where it belonged. Her bruises were well gone, she had put on most of the weight she had lost (she was still a little too slim for Steve’s liking so he made it his job to feed her as much as possible) and today had been no exception. They arrived early on the Wednesday morning into Bruges, and had wasted no time in dumping their bags and heading out to explore. Their day had been full of snow, hand holding, Christmas treats, beer, long kisses stolen in the large square as they were bundled up in coats, hats and scarves. It was just so fucking normal.

And they’d never been so grateful for normal before.

Eventually, after a huge meal in a beautiful restaurant tucked away by the side of a canal, they’d headed back to the hotel. And they had every intention of just having one last drink from the mini-bar, led on the bed but things had started to get a little heated. It was the first time that either of them had pushed anything further than kissing since the incident they didn’t talk about, but whether it was the change of scenery or just the romance of being in a hotel room in Europe, surrounded by snow, they had no idea but it felt right, and they both just ran with it.

They undressed each other tenderly and Steve laid Kati down on the bed, and just took his time, making sure he worshiped every single inch of her body he could get his hands on. His fingers traced her slowly re-establishing curves, up her hips to her ribs which were no longer protruding, down to her no longer bruised thighs and across her belly, his lips simply brushing her skin just under her collar bone. He was gentle, and to some it would surprise them how a soldier made during a war to fight could be so soft and tender but Katie knew the man underneath it all and she wasn’t surprised in the slightest at how delicate he was being. He was never anything else when it came to her. What did surprise her however, was that whilst his touch was feather light and barely there she could feel it more than she ever had. It sent red hot fire spiking through her belly, and her heart swelled to the point she thought it would burst. She loved him, loved the way he touched her and felt and yet, underneath the fire there came something else. A sharp stab of fear. Fear, not of him, but fear that when it came to it, her body was going to betray her and do something stupid, involuntary, like make her freeze or lash out, or that it would feel different for either or both of them. Steve paused, his right hand gently hovering by her naval where it had been steadily making its way downwards. She was trembling. Shit. He frowned slightly and looked up to see her watching him, her green eyes shining in the soft, dim light of the room. "Sweetheart,” he said, his voice thick in his throat “if this is too much…” “No.” She replied quickly, “it’s not…” “You’re shaking” he said softly, his hand moving up to softly cup her face as his frown deepened. Was she scared of him? The thought of that was enough to destroy him and just as he was about to say something she laid her hand over his and moved her face softly to the side so she could place a kiss to his palm. And when she spoke, he was once again convinced she could read his damned mind. “These hands would never hurt me." Not could not, but would not. And she wanted him to understand she knew the difference. "I’m not scared of you Steve. I could never be scared of you…” she swallowed “I’m scared of me.”

His brow creased, he was confused. “I don’t understand.” “I don’t know what my body is gonna do, I’m worried I’m going to react differently to how it used and that it’ll feel different…I can’t explain.” His face softened and he looked at her, pressing his forehead to hers he tried to offer her some reassurance. “I love you.” He drew back to press a kiss to the bridge of her nose “And we’ll take it slow, that is if you still want to.” his nose gently brushed hers as he looked at her “If you don’t then that’s fine, I can wait…we can wait.” “No, I do, I don’t wanna wait.” She shook her head, her lips sweeping across his, drawing a moan from him. “I missed this, being close to you, being with you.” He looked at her again before their lips connected in a soft kiss that grew more urgent, but still stayed tender as they both poured their souls into one another. Steve’s hand gently gripped her hip and she let out a soft moan into his mouth making him pull back slightly, and press his forehead to hers. “I got you, Sweetheart.” He said softly, “I got you…” “I know.” She replied, voice barely a whisper. “You always do.”

His hand gently slid down to her folds, and as his fingers gently began to play she let out a soft gasp at his touch, it felt right, so damned right. He was gently, took his time, watching her carefully as she softly writhed at his touch, and when she begged for him, to feel him, he adjusted himself between her legs and slowly pushed into her. Katie sighed in pleasure, and relief too because it felt like it always had done.

Steve kept his movements slow, not thrusting but rolling, rocking softly into her over and over again, soft moans and whispers filling the room as her hands gripped round his biceps, his weight gently pressed on top of her, both of them needing to feel the other as they reconnected in the most intimate of ways possible. Katie gently moved her hands, dancing over his broad back, tracing between his shoulder blades feeling each twitch and flex in his muscles as he moved, the familiarity of it was so damned comforting. Steve’s large hands cupped her face as he kissed her, their tongues tangling together and even when he broke the kiss to let out a soft groan he kept his lips on hers, feather light in their touch.

“Katie…” Steve panted into her mouth, his hips continuing their gentle, deep roll into her “I’m not sure how much longer… are you close, baby girl?” She didn’t answer with words, instead he felt her tightening around him, her reactions the same as they always had been, and he gave another groan as she let out a soft whimper. Then, he heard it. The most beautiful sound ever to hit his ears, a sound he had heard so many times before but right there in that opulent hotel room in Belgium, the lights of the city bright and bouncing off the snow through the slight crack in the heavy, deep blue curtains, it sounded so much more sweeter, more significant almost than the first time she had said it.

"Stevie…” his name tumbled from her lips in a whisper and he felt the tears sting his eyes as he nudged her nose with his, making her look at him. She gave another soft moan before she tilted her head back and let out a gentle cry as her back arched and she came, her eyes fluttering shut. It was enough to make him tumble, gently rutting up into her he felt himself go and his movements became disjointed until he collapsed forwards, utterly blissed and consumed by her.

They both took a moment before Steve raised his head to look at her, and saw the gentle shine of a tear fall down her cheek.

“Are you ok?” He asked, wiping at her face with his thumbs. For one horrible moment he was petrified he had hurt her until he realised she was smiling and nodding. But this wasn’t her usual post orgasm grin, this was a pure, unadulterated happy smile. And then Steve understood, they were tears of joy. “Well I’ve never made anyone cry after sex before.” He quipped, his voice thick with emotion and she spluttered a giggle, sniffing a little as his nose bumped hers before his lips gently mopped up the few stray tears that fell from her sparkling emerald eyes. “I just…” she started to talk but stopped. She couldn’t find the words to explain. Explain how that last 20 minutes or so of him lavishing attention on her, right from that first kiss to taking her to the edge of ecstasy and back had fixed that final part of her that was broken. He had taken the last shards of the fragmented, shitty mess that Hydra left and slotted them back into place. "I’m ok.” She finished, unable to word it any better. "I’m ok.” He gently placed his lips on hers and drew her into a long, gentle kiss, his own tears threatening to fall at those 2 simple words. Ok was lame, she hated it, said it was just a “shit phrase and you should never just be ok” but here he knew what it meant for her to be just be ok. Without a word he rolled off her and took her with him, pulling her so she was led straight on top of him, like they would do on the couch, in front of the TV and she gave a laugh. He pulled the covers up over them and she lay her head on his chest, his fingers lightly dancing up her spine “I love you, Sweetheart.” He said as she gave a hum of contentment “More than apple pie?” She asked and he gave a chuckle, he really had missed this. Their playful banter that came before, during and after the act. “Infinitely” “More than mac and cheese?” He hesitated on purpose and she gave a loud scoff and hit him on the chest. He laughed, rubbing at the spot even though she hasn’t hurt him, giving a soft “ow” as she levelled him with a playful glare. “Is it your mac and cheese?” He asked “because we all know it’s the best damned mac and cheese in the world” “Flattery will get you nowhere, Soldier.” she teased and he chuckled again, as she lay her head back down. “But seeing as I’m in a good mood how about when I get back I make us apple pie AND mac and cheese… and then we can have more sex and you can decide which one is better?” “That sounds like the best idea you have ever had Miss Stark…” They lay there in silence and it wasn’t long before he felt her melt into him, her breathing evened out and he gently glanced down and saw her eyes were shut, her lashes fluttering slightly as she slept. He thought about moving her, setting her down beside him but as her chest rose and fell, pressing into him he decided better of it.

She could move herself when, or if she wanted to.

And if she didn’t, then that was totally fine by him.

**** Chapter 22

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #captain america #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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oh-for-fic-sake · 4 years

Text

Two More Bedrooms

Masterlist

The baby is on his way and who better to help you through slow labor then nurse Paige!

Warnings: Swearing, Graphic birth sort of?, Terribly Written Birthing Scenes, Fluff! and humor

A/N: So this is the last one of these for a while guys got a few other things I want to concentrate on however I did enjoy writing this one had a right laugh! any way I hope you enjoy as always xx

Taglist: @two-unbeatable-beaters @thatgirly81 @angelofthorr @iloveyouyen @sofiebstar @thefangirlsblog

Henry opened the boot of the car with a groan. It was go time. Well not really he had finally got back from filming late. It was late October and he was running around doing his fatherly duty of putting together the furniture for his sons nursery. His son. Each time he said it he got a huge wave of fatherly pride. He was having a little boy, he would be here in a matter of days! Well he was due in just under ten days. Henry was ecstatic. And behind he had a lot of things to get done. Starting with the cot. You had been terrified that he wouldn't be home in time and it was to late in the pregnancy to fly out to him either and you'd already sorted out your birthing plan here! To say you'd got yourself in a state was an understatement especially with the drama at the nursery, but Henry was here now he had taken care of everything!. He heaved the first heavy box up the stairs you and Paige watching from the sidelines neither of you had let him see the nursery on the phone wanting to keep it a secret. As tempting as it was to do a dc theme you'd decided against it.

Paige wanted a 'zoo room' and well to be honest it was a better idea then your 'generic pale blue'. He walked into the large room smiling you'd both done a hell of a job...so some of the mural was tilted and out of line, he didn't care it was Paige's first time helping to hang wallpaper and he was damn proud of his little nugget!

It was incredible the largest back wall was a custom wallpaper mural it was a white background with strategically placed palm trees jungle vines an 'life sized' elephants, giraffes ,zebras you name it! In the trees there was monkeys and various brightly coloured parrots perched and in flight. The floor was sanded leaving it a lighter oak and the rest of the walls painted a very light sage colour. There was boxes and boxes of toys, soft furnishings and essentials packed n the far corner including a five foot tall giraffe teddy that Paige had wanted to buy the baby...That was just one of her many gifts to him.

Henry loved it and had praised the both of you for what you had achieved. Finally four trips later he had retrieved all of the furniture and it was now time to assemble. Moving he quickly unclipped his drill box flipping it open then turned when he heard the door open and saw Paige peeking in, she had a bowl of cut grapes and apples with her, he smiled you must have gave her snacks to come an watch.

"Hey Nugget..You want to help?" She nodded and walked over to him and sat down next to him still in her pajamas even though it was two in the afternoon. She had been relaxing with you on the sofa watching tv She watched carefully as he began to pull out the flat packed crib from the box.

"Hold the box for me okay..one..two..three....there we go!...see can you guess what this is?" She looked at it skeptically humming.

"Cot?" Henry chuckled nodding.

"That’s right this will be the cot and we have a changing table a wardrobe and chest of drawers to make....then We have to get the rocking chair from the snug in here....Do you know where everything is supposed to go in here?" She nodded popping another grape in her mouth then offered hi one. He smiled plucking a red grape from the top.

"Good because mummy isn't allowed in here until we are done!" She giggled at him and began the hard task of supervising him.

Remarkably everything was much easier to put together then last time ...though he didn't wing it this time and read the instructions which Henry has decided he will do in the future, everything ran smoothly. Paige was giddy as she got to help make the furniture. Henry had held the drill a few times letting her pull the trigger and she was over the moon. Henry had given her a little lesson on drill bits and proper safety showing the little girl how it worked and she had loved it, he thinks it was less about the lesson and more about having one on one time with her dad. It was nearly three hours later but finally the room was done he and Paige had even unpacked the baby clothes. You had broke down in tears seeing the finished room, it was beautiful and calming. The wood of the furniture was all a mix of white painted and oak that was only one shade darker then the floor.

It was now four days to go. The nursery had been moved about every single day. You were nesting, it frustrated you, you needed to clean but the 'cavillry' had been on your case not letting you do anything. You just couldn't explain it, you wanted to hoover,mop,dust, clean, wipe! You wanted to nitpick! You just... you was on edge you could feel it, he was close so close to being here but you couldn't settle. Thankfully though Henry being home meant you didn't have to worry about much you were all ready!

Henry gulped...well shit if you wasn't on edge before you would be now if you found out. 'She'd be raging' He had just realized he hadn't packed a bag. Fuck. He now had to covertly pack this thing without you finding out he had forgot...he needed a sneaker.

"Paige! Can you come here a moment poppet?!" The little girl came into your Shared bed room.

"Yes Daddy?"

"Right...Daddy messed up....and i need your help can you be sneaky for me today?"

"Sneaky daddy?" He nodded

"Yes we need to get mummy's hospital bag ready! And daddy forgot so i need you to help me get all the things we need for when your brother gets here....can you do that poppet?"

"Okay daddy whats first?” and so began a morning of creeping around the house trying to pack the bag he had said was packed three days ago. Paige he been caught stealing the baby wipes but finally everything was laid out on the bed.

"Right nugget it looks like we did it now the final check okay."

"Tag on the bag? Check, wet wipes nappies-"

"Wow daddy will he be this tiny?" Henry chuckled nodding as Paige placed the tiny nappy in the bag on top of the others

"Yes nugget so tiny and cute...I truly can’t wait for him to get here, your going to love him! And hold him and snuggle him"

"I-I get to cuddle?" He nodded sitting beside her on the bed

"Oh yes baby girl! You can have as many cuddles as you want! You are his big sister...When he grows up he is going to learn a lot for you, you get to play with him teach him your games and how to grow the fruit in the garden and teach him to walk and talk, your going to be so close baby girl...your- your baby brother wont be just a brother...But a best friend for life!" She grinned wide still smoothing her little fingers over the small pamper.

"Now what else-ah bottles, formula, cool scarves check check check....reusable sanitary pads witch hazel check double check...wheat cushion and sports bottle..where the - Paige is Mummy’s sports bottle in there?" She dug around to the bottom and nodded

"Uhuh its there daddy and juice!"

"Good right then its just the baby grow! And I know that's in the front pocket! Woohoo we are all done!" Paige shook her head frowning

"No-No daddy wheres the snuggy! He will need his snuggy I got him A snuggy daddy!" Henry smiled at her.

"I know baby girl but Mummy and I think its better if you gave it to him when you meet, then he knows its from you" at that Paige calmed down...

"Really Daddy? I can give it to him...will he like my snuggy?" Henry nodded to her zipping up the bag and picked her up placing her on his hip.

"Absolutly baby he will love it...Its the wolf one mummy showed me isn’t it?" She nodded as Henry moved out of the bed room and down the stairs.

"I thought so a very good choice nugget, so soft and small enough he will be able to hold it straight away, you keep it close to the door when me and mummy go and daddy will come and get you when he is here. You remeber what we said?"

"That-that you and mummy go to hospital and get him out then I can see him in the hospital after!" Henry placed the bag by the front door so he just had to grab it on the way out when the time came.

"Forgot the chargers" Henry jumped up

"What-hey sweety what are you doing up and about thought you were in the den reading?"

"You think I wont notice my own husband and daughter skulking about the house all day collecting things?..... Come on move knew you hadn't packed idiot..." you moved over to the bag placing two chargers in the side pocket then stood up right kissing him on the cheek as he blushed at being caught out.

"Daddy does Mummy know everything that happens...." he chuckled watching as you waddled back towards the kitchen muttering something about pickled eggs.

"Yes baby yes she does...we are...bad a sneaking I think"

"We need to get better at it daddy" he nodded to his eldest and followed you to the kitchen hoping you wasn't angry, but by the soft giggles he doubted it

"I can hear you two you know! There will be no more sneaking about now come have some lunch!"

Lunch was a bad idea! You groaned holding your stomach rubbing the taught muscles, sure you had twitches but fuck! You thought they were braxton hicks! You had them for three days none stop about a week before Paige was finally born. But no you were slowly realizing that this might be it!

You rolled onto your side holding your tummy as another slightly powerful contraction pulled Kal had just left the room barking and you could hear henry stampedeing throught the house to your side Paige running in a few moments behinde...Dressed as a nurse...Oh for fuck sake...Why the hell did he get her the nurse set!

"Babe! Oh god babe are you? is it time?!" You shook your head and held out your hands signaling him to help you sit up he did kneeling before you

"Is...Is it the baxtons again? Have they started?" You took a deep breath.

"I...I don't think so had them on and off for the past few days but they are getting worse...I think I'm in slow labor can't do anything yet, gotta wait it out!" Paige interrupted by putting her 'baby headphones' on which was her toy stethoscope on your tummy and nodding

"He wants to come out got to hospital" you and Henry laughed at her.

"Oh my god haha! Paige-y Poppet!"

"Nurse Paige Daddy...I'm a nurse today!" you calmed down

"Well your right nurse Paige he is on his way...But we have to wait until he is just about to come out until we go to the hospital...A few more hours at least..Not only that I'm not leaving this house till I’ve fucking pooped! And have a coffee Henry...don't need to falling asleep again!"

"Again...Mummy have you did this before?" You and Henry shared a look.

"Yes baby with you....You were in my tummy and we went to the hospital and got you out..daddy passed out cos he looked

"I did not look woman! It was stress! And low blood sugar!" Paige meanwhile was quiet trying to process the fact that she had come out of you....The little girl knew she was in your tummy at one point but never gave it much thought....

"You-you I'm not poop am I? You didn't poop me out did you mummy?....Rose still says you poop out babies I don't want to be a poo!" You smiled at her and chuckled.

"No poppet your not poop? You were a baby just like your brother will be...but mummy does need to try poop before she leaves"

"You want a coffee mummy? You can't poo until after coffee...Daddy make mummy a coffee so she can poo and go get my brother" Henry chuckled and saluted

"Yes nurse Paige...do we still have decaf love?." You nodded to him smiling

"Yes thank you love I'm gonna get changed then I will be down" he hummed

"Nurse stay with your mum...come get me if anything happens okay poppet?" She nodded and 'helped' you up towards the stairs.

The coffee did not work as time ticked on it became clear that you was definitely in labor, the pains were bad and contractions worse then you remembered. You sat there on the toilet determined that you would empty your bowels before leaving but you were cutting it close. Your waters were slowly trickling now, but your adamant you can last you are not shitting yourself during birth! You held the side of the tub cringing at the harsh tugs of your muscles as your body tried moving the baby lower. You squinted trying to forget the pain and focus on the task at hand it was hard to go with Paige standing at the door with Kal.

"Paige?...Can mummy poop in peace?"

"Yes" you gasped as another wave started and curled over on yourself.

"....Alone maybe?" Her face lit up and she smiled

"OOOH alone? no" your face dropped what?

"Paige please?" You begged really needing her to understand and leave you to it like Henry was, though you suspected he was at the top of the stairs listening out

"...No mummy you need a nurse here in case...Me and Kal are nurses" oh for fuck sake

"Incase of what baby?"

"..If you push to hard you might poop out the baby..." you sighed rolling your eyes trying to control your tone not wanting to scream at her but at the same time you wanted a fucking shit in peace!

"Paige I promise I wont poop out the baby"

"But daddy said he's coming" you growled fisting your hands having just about enough as another contraction began pulling at you, really you should be on your way to the hospital already.

"Paige honey...I promise you I will not poop out your brother...But mummy really really needs to go and your putting me off..."

"Okay mummy..." she turned around and patted Kal

"Come on Kal turn around mummy can't poop when your watching"

"Paige please go downstairs"

"No mummy...Just poop already! Its okay if its smelly...I've been to the toilet after you before...And we got this see?" She waved a small can of air freshener that you failed to notice until then okay right that's it!

"Oh for fuck sake-BABE! COME COLLECT YOUR OFSPRING!" Paige blinked confused as Henry came in and collected her, scooping her up sheepishly.

"Come on nugget! Lets got double check the bag...Micah and his mummy will be here soon..."

"But daddy mummy needs me! I'm a nurse!" He shushed her and turned to you.

"Their five minuets away babe might want to wrap this up-"

"GET THE FUCK OUT I NEED A SHIT!!!" You swear for a second you really was married to Clark kent at the speed he left the bathroom as you flung a bottle of bubble bath at the closed door.

What felt like a few moments later you were being ushered out of the door by Fran giving Paige and Kal kisses promising to see them soon. You and Henry pulled away from the house in silence tense and excited.

"You ready?" All he got was a loud groan in reply as you gripped the door and dashboard you had left it to late

"H-henry put your fucking foot down! He is comeing fast!" Started by the change in tone he did as asked flooring it, the hospital was only five minutes away thankfully livjng on the same side of town was ta god send.

"Fuck babe are you- why didn't you say anything inside!? It he that close?!"

"YES HERNY BUT I WAS NOT SHITTING ON MYSELF BIRTHING HIM NOW FUCKING SHUT UP AND FUCKING DRIVE THIS FUCKING MOTHER FUCKING CAR TO THE CUNTING HOSPITAL!!!" You ended with a low pained groan but henry in his panic just continued his blathering

"Do-did you go for the epidural? Can they?-"

"ITS TO LATE! JUST OHHHHH FUUUCKING HELL NO!" your groans got higher and louder as the pain and awful need to push became almost to much to bare.That did the trick. Henry soon realized that you were in the middle of active labor.

"What the fuck? babe why didn't you say something?! breath breath remeber-"

"I AM FUCKING BREATHING!!! IF NOT ID BE FUCKING DEAD....oh fuck me- sorry babe these things hit hard...I didn't ant to worry you or Paige be he wants out now- OOOHHH GOD NOO FUAUHGK JUST FUCKING TOOT THAT CUNT GO AROUND HIM HENRY?! GET OUT OF THE WAY ASSHOLE! PUSHING A BABY OUT HERE!!"

"Babe the windows open-"

"FUCK THE WINDOW MY FUCKING CERVIX IS OPEN!!oooh and done wow...You know I'm done after this one...Fucking done" You pressed back into the seat taking deep breaths laughing in delight as the hospital came into veiw patting your tummy

"okay...okay breath this is it baby boy~ fUUUCK ME! Auggghhh! no don't that's whats got us here", Henry tried not to laugh but he couldn't hold it he chuckled as he sped past the barriers and skidded to a stop by the maternity unit swearing

"Fuck fuck fuck HELP HE'S COMING FAST!!! okay bag bag and plan- we have the birthing plan- whats the birthing plan babe?!" he panicked as you both made it into reception you doubled over legs spread wide baring down as the contraction built in strength.

"TO GET HIM OUT- THAT’S THE FUCKING PLAN FUCK THIS WAS SO MUCH BETTER WITH A FUCKING EPIDURAL-!" suddenly seeing what was happening you were whisked into a room by midwives that already knew this baby was coming much faster then expected.

You were quickly placed on the bed legs spread and a midwife checking she swore and pressed a button above you on the bed raising an alarm. she turned to Henry asking him questions

"Dad? this your first baby?"

"No second, our second" he lifted your papers as you screamed out again he was panicked

"Okay right was it a natural birth last time?" Henry nodded to the woman then suddenly there was two younger women in the room

"Shes crowning fast, the baby will be here in a matter of minuets okay...I need a bassinet, blanket tools the lot, get those notes off dad and get a ecg in here I want baby's heart rate!...Right dad you with me? good up here hold her hands there's no time for pain meds this baby wants out now!" you groaned holding Henry's hands tight swearing panting

"Its-He's coming! he will be here soon" you had a holter monitor on your tummy and there was another alarm pinging you looked to one of the younger women who had brought in the .

"What-whats that? is everything okay? is he okay?"

"Yes ...Your baby is just a little stressed out okay? nothing to worry about love its just that your in the end of labor already " she quickly moved around

"Right Mrs Cavill take some deep breaths for me darling...Okay in...Out good and again....Good right your baby is right here...Can you feel my fingers? Yes? that’s their head right there sweetheart now I need you to push okay? on the next contraction as hard as you can its really important okay-" you pushed with all your might but noting he didnt move, the woman tensed.

"Okay...Right Mr Cavill she doesn't have any blood condition's does she? hiv? anemia?" Henry shook his head

"No-no she hasn't why?"

"Right okay get them over here...Right Mrs Cavill I’m going to have to cut you my love" you screeched shaking your head

"N-NOO PLEASE-please don't I can do it- please" henry tooka few secons to catch up...They were going to cut you? cut your-Oh god! he moved forward holding you tight trusing the midwives to do their job, they new more about this then the both of you.

"Shh shh I know its not nice but the baby is stuck honey their shoulder is trapped my love if you keep pushing you could hurt him so just one tiny little snip and he will be here okay?" you whined crying into Henry nodding who relayed the message as the woman was already poised with the...Terrifying scissors between your legs.

"Yo-you pro-mise?"

"I promise, you wont feel a thing it will be so quick, and after we will get you a nice morphine drip how does that sound? but right now the baby needs to be out asap, you left it to long to get here, if they wasn't stuck you'd have had them in the car on the way here in the car!"

"She wouldn't leave the house till she went a loo... Didn't want to poop giving birth" the midwife rolled her eyes.

"oh sweet pea we have seen it all before, okay now ready, as soon a this contraction it over you will have your little baby I promise you love" you nodded reaching for Henry who curled over you holding your hands kissing your face

"Henry I’m scared! don't pass out-don't fucking pass out Henry! I need you please please stay with me!"

"I'm here! I'm with you love...I'm not going anywhere just think our little boy!" you nodded and screamed loud as your final contraction came on building then- nothing the burning pain was all you felt then a loud sigh of relief as your son was born.

"There we go I told you! Well done! A little boy! congratulations!" you wept as the midwife held him higher for you to see and burst out crying. Henry couldn't believe it! his son his little boy was right there! he could see him hear him!

"Dad...ready here cut just there" Henry held the scissors cutting the tiny baby from his mother the room was full with the cries of the newborn.

"C-can I pass out now?" you slapped at him watching as the midwife called out time of birth.

"And that is Cavill, male, born at three minuets past seven pm October thirtieth..ooo nearly a halloween baby~"

"He was due November third...Four days early" Henry added wiping tears from his eyes watching as they washed him up and measured and weighed him.

"Well no wonder you had to be cut lovey! he is a big boy! 9lb 9 ounces! and 22 inches in length...definitely going to take after his daddy!...Okay okay here we go fussy little monkey~" Henry was handed your son first as you were being stitched up and a morphine drip being inserted, you didn't feel anything other then shock. he was here...your baby your little man! Henry froze looking at the bundle.

"He is so...Perfect! I-I can't-love he is" you nodded leaning over as Henry sat down shushing him rocking the boy gently. The nurse who had finished putting in the canular and started the drip came over.

"Would you like me to take some pictures? first cuddles?" you both nodded handing her Henry's phone and posed with your son...Son you had a son he was here...and a noisy little bugger if you did say so yourself. Henry handed him to you pressing kissed you your head

"Thank you so much my love! you've made me the happiest man on the planet!" the nurse took some more photos then you were left alone. You both sat in awe of the little boy as you held him steady feeding him quietly rocking.

"you want a coffee love? and I will call Fran get her to bring over Paige" you nodded then looked to the bag

"Did you bring?"

"Yes I did they are in there wrapped up and ready I will be back in when they get here...Want some snacks to?" you nodded

"A coconut late with extra syrup...Double shot oh and some milky bar! the big one and some monster munch!" he nodded already on the phone to Fran to deliver the good news.

Twenty minuets later there was a knock on the door and in came Henry Paige was uncharacteristically hiding behind him unsure of herself, he must have told her to keep quiet. she tiptoed in and stood at the bed on tip toes trying to peek."I-Is he here? where is he Mummy?" you moved the blanket letting her see the blue bundle.

"Henry lift her up-Oh hi Fran?" you nodded smiling noticing she was filming the siblings meeting. Henry hoisted Paige to sit next to you she was scared stiff just looking eyes fixed on her brother. she looked to you then the baby.

"He's mine? my baby brother...He is so small daddy look at his little fingers" Henry smiled to her nodding getting all choked up already.

"Y-yes baby girl he is very small...The nurses said he is going to be tall tho...Well aren't you going to give him the snuggy you got?" Paige bit her lip and tentatively crawled over you him crouching

"I-I can touch him...He wont cry" Henry chuckled at her worried expression.

"He shouldn't do baby and if he does its just because he is a tired little baby!" slowly she made her move, moving to give him the toy placing it near his tiny hand, once he felt the softness his hand clenched around it.

That was when Paige lost it, almost as if realizing that he was a real baby, not a toy the flood gates opened and she quickly moved in over her brother crying softly into his blanket trying to cuddle him softly you rubbed her back as she was overwhelmed sobbing quietly to herself rocking slightly.

"H-hi B-baby...I-I'm you b-big sister" you and Henry smiled to each other knowingly tears welling up fast any doubts you'd had vanished as Paige coddled the tiny boy. You moved nodding for her to come sit on your side.

"Come on poppet time for his big sister to get a cuddle!" she gasped looking up wiping her eyes.

"R-really I can ho-hold him? but I th-thought dad-dy just said that to-to make me fe-eel better" Henry shook his head moving to stand beside you both so Paige as in the middle

"No of course not sweet pea...now here this is for you little lady" she blinked looking from you to Henry

"Presents?"

"Yes love a present's from the baby to you see? here open it see what he got you". you watched as she opened the gifts, one was a small wolf teddy that looked a little like the snuggy Paige had just given her brother, the other was a worlds best big sister t-shirt. she looked around stunned

"Daddy- Mummy look- look he likes wolves...Just like my snuggy I got him- see its almost the same daddy look look!" Henry smiled at her chuckling

"I see that princess..not what about this one here~" she tore open the paper holding the t-shirt

"A-a T-shirt daddy whats it say?"

"It says worlds best big sister! see he already knows your going to be the best big sister! want to put it on?" she nodded already having he top half off before he even asked once dressed in her new top you decided it was time for cuddles and pictures you both moved her little arms so she could support him properly.

You all smiled as Fran stood by and took a few snaps with Henry's phone tears streaming. Paige looked down in awe as the child wriggled she looked up alarmed.

"No- Mummy I didn't-"

"shh shh its okay see he is just waking up...It must be your snuggy he wants to have a look~" Paige watched in fascination as her brother opened his eyes yawning at her.

"Soo? what the little ones name?" Fran finally asked buzzing with excitement

"Silas...Silas Cavill" Paige quirked a brow and shook her head.

"No-no Daddy I don't like it" you and Henry burst out laughing.

"Well I'm sorry nugget that's on his birth certificate nothing we can do now-" Henry tried to explain but was cut off

"Rub it out you did it in pencil didn't you?"

"I'm afraid not Paige, He is called Silas" Paige huffed looking down at Silas bouncing him a little.

"Oookaayy but the next one is a girl and I’m naming it" you and Henry blinked

"W-what Paige-y?"

"The next baby is a girl and I wanna call it Pearl...so its Paige and Pearl." Henry waved his hands in the air exhausted by his eldest.

"Unbelievable- Paige how about we see how you and Silas get on-"

"No daddy go have sex I want a sister- there are two more bedrooms at home!" you burst out laughing as Paige said this whilst rocking Silas slowly before kissing him on the cheek.

"My baby brother...I love you and cant wait for you to meet Kal...He is a bit like a wolf...And bear so your going to love him!...He is loud sometimes but he is a good boy" you tilted your head before going to take Silas back but Paige whined and twisted him away.

"N-no mine my brother! I want to hold him longer" you and Henry shared a look and sighed choosing to let her hold him until her arms were tired.

Fran walked over taking a quick peek at the baby before handing Henry his phone giving him a quick hug which he returned.

"Here I best be off congratulation the two of you, I'm so happy for you all"

"Thanks again for watching Paige...You sure you don't want a cuddle before you go?"

"No no let Paige have her snuggles I'm sure I will get a cuddle soon see you soon" Henry moved sitting at the bottom of the bed watching his family happily. Before flicking through the pictures readying one for twitter and family. He chose one that melted his heart Paige staring down at Silas with you and Henry staring at each other smiling, glowing with pride, Silas' face was partly hidden. he posted the photo announcing to the world he was the proud father of two healthy children, life couldn't get any better then this! Henry was on cloud nine...But Paige did have a point...There was two more spare rooms, Henry will give it a few months before bringing it up. But for everything he was worth he had a feeling you'd be pregnant by the end of next year. Paige was spoilt in a sense and he just can't refuse his little princes and Sister was now on the list he would try not to disappoint.

#henry cavill x reader #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill #henry cavill fic #henry cavill x y/n #henry cavill x daughter #henry cavill x you

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munstysmind · 2 years

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I’m not posting this trying to say “woe is me” or because I’m looking for sympathy, because I’m not. I’m posting because I need to share and vent. I am finally at a place where I can talk about what’s happened.

The past two years have been hell. The darkest time of my life. And I’m not talking about COVID, although that has played an indirect part.

Everything started in January 2020.

My step father almost lost his life when the truck he was driving caught fire. He only just got out. Everything in the truck was lost. He had the clothes on his back, his thongs and his phone. He was two states away and couldn’t even get a flight home because his ID was in the truck.

Then a week later I’m in town doing some chopping when my best friend calls me. HUGE RED FLAG, she never calls unless it’s an emergency and fuck it was a big one. She’d just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and when she confronted him and ended the relationship he decided it would be a fantastic idea to threaten her and her fathers lives. She was a wreck. An emergency AVO was put in place but she didn’t sleep for days. We’re from a small town, he lives less than 2km away.

Then March, COVID. The whole country went into lockdown. To be honest I was glad for a break. I’d worked non stop for the past six months building up my business and was close to burning out. Little did we know it was the first of six lockdowns in Victoria to try and stop the spread.

By the time April came I was bored out of my mind. I’d taken up so many new hobbies try try and pass the time that I could open up a small $2 shop. End of April by step fathers Mum passed away. Now, I’ve never liked the woman. She was rude, entitled, treated everyone around her like crap. Neglected my step father when he was a child because he was a male and did so much emotional trauma to my step fathers youngest sister that she can’t even live on her own. I didn’t really shed a tear over heat death but I was hurt for his family.

May 20st is a day I won’t ever forget. Mum got a call from my aunt’s, her best friend, eldest daughter telling her she has passed away during the night. I was in shock. This is the first time I’d experienced the loss of a loved one and I didn’t know how to process it. Then nine days later, May 29th, I got a call from Dad. My nan had had a heart attack and I needed to get to the Austin. I raced to Melbourne but it was too late. She was done. I was devastated. I was extremely close with Nan. My whole family was.

We said goodbye on June 5th. Her service was beautiful. Luckily the number limits had been eased a few days before so we didn’t have to exclude anyone. I will never forget seeing my Pop crying over her casket. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him cry. This man is a veteran, he survived the London bombings. He’s tough and he was destroyed. They were together for over 65 years.

I thought, hoped, that nothing else would happen because I honestly didn’t think I could cope with anymore bad news but it came anyway. June 14th my uncle, nans son, was diagnosed with cancer… and it was terminal. Then a week later my cousin, his daughter, calls me from hospital. She’s just as an ectopic pregnancy, after 11 years of trying she finally falls pregnant then looses it. It’s like the universe has cursed my family. I was done.

July, August and most of September passed with no events. I turned 29, had an entire Woolies Mud Cake to myself, went back to work, went back into lockdown. All was good.

Then September 26th happened and my whole world stood still. I get a call from my brother at 7am. Mums at the Austin hospital, they’re prepping her for emergency brain surgery. She has a brain infection. I couldn’t put two words together. The day was spent at my brothers, curled up with him on the couch under his wife’s amazing weighted blanket while we waited yo hear if one of the most important people in our life was still with us. All we wanted to do was be at the hospital but we couldn’t because of COVID restrictions. While we understood why they were in place we wanted to scream.

After five long days of being in a coma Mum woke up but she wasn’t the same. She has a stroke while in surgery that left her right side temporarily paralysed. After an additional emergency surgery and 8 weeks in hospital where she relearn so many basic thing like walking and talking Mum came home.

I thought everything was behind us and we could start to move on but no, it got worse. I finally realised that a close family member, someone I though lived me had been manipulating and abusing me for YEARS. I had to leave my home. And quickly. I just up an left. Talking my two cats and an bag of clothes.

I was in the darkest place I’ve ever been. I was borderline suicidal. I moved in with Dad and Pop. I did get all of my stuff about a week late but when I got home to Dad’s I had a panic attack, the first one I’ve ever had, because I realised my life was never going to be the same again and I didn’t know how to process it.

Christmas was hard. Not only was it the first time seeing Mum since she got home and the full impact of what happened to her hit home, she almost died TWICE, but I also had to be around the person that abused me.

2021 arrived and I was overjoyed to fuck the worst year of my life off. I had no idea it wasn’t over.

January was amazing. I spent time with family, escaped to our cabin at Echuca. I had two whole weeks of pure peace.

February was hard for me. I had to make the decision to close my business. With everything I had gone through in the past 12 months and COVID Lockdowns I just couldn’t do it anymore. I left the industry completely.

In March my uncle passed. This man was everyone’s favourite uncle. He was so full of life and he was gone. I will never forget seeing his casket and thinking “fuck, it’s perfect” a custom Holden paint job. This man loved his Holden’s. He even requested everyone wear red or Holden shirt to the funeral. Knowing that his death was coming allowed him to plan for everything.

April, May and June were OK, great even. I started seeing a therapist and was finally able to process everything from 2020.

Then everything changed, for the worst.

My health, both physical and mental, took a nosedive. I had put on close to 30kgs in three months and nothing I did could shift it. I was diagnosed with severe anxiety, borderline PTSD and insomnia. Went on medication that made me feel like a zombie for weeks. And in all of that I turned 30. What was supposed to be a fun time, something I was looking forward to, was overshadowed by everything going on as well as yet another lockdown. I was at my limit. I had a complete emotional and mental breakdown.

My best friend got an emergency travel permit and raced to Melbourne. She stayed with me for weeks. There were days I couldn’t even leave my bed. Those around me were terrified. My dad even considered talking long service leave to stay home with me but I wouldn’t let him.

Then something happened, I discovered writing and even though I was stuck in the 6th COVID Lockdown, my mental health was fucked and I was starting to have health problems from my sudden weight gain, everything started to get better.

I started writing because I was bored and needed to find something to do with my time that wasn’t sleeping but it turned into something much more. It became my outlet to help continue to process my trauma. I started to finally, finally feel like myself again, after almost two years of hell and months being a shell. Writing has helped me in a way my loved ones and doctors couldn’t.

I have found something that I look forward to doing. Something that I’m considering going back to Uni to pursue further. I still have so much to process, so much healing to do but I can confidently say… I’m OK. I’m finally OK

I can’t wait to see what 2022 brings. For the first time in so long, I’m hopeful for my future.

For the first time in almost two years, I’m happy.

#munstysmind #thank you

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myhauntedsalem · 3 years

Text

19 Parents Share What Their Kid Remembered About Their ‘Last’ Life

1. He showed us his grave

When my brother was about 2 or 3 he told us his name used to be Austin. One day we were picnicking right along side a cemetery, when my brother took off running towards the gravestones, my dad and I followed him and found him touching a large headstone that simply read “Here Lies Austin” no name, no date. My brother did not learn to read until he was 6 and this headstone wasn’t even right out visible from where we were, yet he ran right to it

2. We don’t watch firefighter things

my son told me a few months ago he “used to be a firefighter, and we got called to a fire. There wasn’t any family inside the house, so we just put the fire out. Then the fire truck caught on fire and I died”. A few nights later, he elaborated he was taken to a hospital, where he died. We don’t watch firefighter things.

3. Her “other” mother’s name was Sally

I was talking to my four year old when she began to freak me out. She was telling me a story about her “other mother” and that she “died a long time ago on a Thursday.” I tried to brush it off, you know, whatever, shes a kid, they have wild imaginations… but then she started to go further into detail about the death of her “other mother,” whose name was apparently Sally. She has never met anyone named Sally, and I can’t recall any shows on TV she watches where “Sally” is a character. She told me that she was playing with her father’s gun that she found and accidentally shot and killed Sally while she was walking upstairs. It’s pretty weird. There are no guns in this house, I haven’t even really told her what guns are all about and how they can hurt or kill someone, shes only four! I think I am beginning to understand now why when I try to tell her when someone dies, they go away forever, she tells me that, that is not true. “We come back, mommy!” I’m only 23, I had my daughter very young and despite not being prepared, I don’t think I could have ever prepared for a conversation like that!

4. “When she lived before she was born”

My daughter did the same thing at the same age. She told me about her life “when she lived before she was born” and described herself as a woman with long hair who lived in an apartment with a long flight of stairs outside of it. She drove a VW Bug and wore long skirts. She then told me that she fell down the stairs and died. Her stories were startlingly vivid and always consistent. Quite spooky. She is now 19 and doesnt remember it. My advice would be write down everything your daughter tells you on the subject. Everything! Record her stories if you can.

5. Roanoke?

I would tell my older sister about my death. I told her my husband was captured and fire was everywhere. I took my young son and ran. I told her my son couldn’t run fast enough. I knew we would get killed and I had my husbands knife on me, I wanted to leave a clue. I wrote in capitals “CROATOAN” I told her we were caught and how my son was killed before I was killed. I told her how I was stabbed in the stomach with a knife. Then, I went about playing with dolls. I can still picture the scene and my son to this day.

6. “She used to come visit me”

my son says he remember his great grandmother (my grandmother) and can describe her in perfect detail (how she looks, how she acted, even what brand of cigarettes she smoked) , although she died 11 days before he was born. He says that she used to come visit him in his dreams.

7. Conchon

Apparently beginning around the time my friend could form sentences until he was little more than 2, he would go on and on about how he was a Native American named Conchon and that after his wife and son got sick and died, he moved to a mountain to live by himself with his horse. He died of a broken neck when he fell into a ravine.

8. “My real mom and dad were killed when the bad men came.”

when I was 2 or 3 I was talking to my grandmother and told her that my mom and dad weren’t my real mom and dad. My grandmother, knowing this wasn’t true, said they were. I calmly explained that no, my real mom and dad were killed when the bad men came. I had lived because my mom hid me behind a rock. I then went on to describe white men with guns and us “dark” people with long hair. When I was done, I went back to eating my ice cream.

9. Jesus

My cousin, approximately 3 years old and riding in the car with my mum and dad, pointed out a random house that they went past and declared “I died there”.

10. Included because, WHAT?

I did something sort of similar I guess. When I was about 3 my mum and I were driving over a bridge on which there’d recently been a major accident that resulted in a car bursting into flames and the driver dying. Anyway, I asked my mum who the man in the front seat was and when she told me to describe him I said, “Well he’s on fire and he keeps looking back at me.”

11. I drowned

My mother told me about a story I told her when I was 2 or 3. I told her she was the best mommy I ever had, to which she replied, “I’m the only mommy you’ve ever had.” “nu-uh, I had another mommy.” I said that my older sister and I went out to a pond in the woods behind my house. Around the pond, all of the trees were the same type: skinny with white paper-like bark. (I had never seen a poplar tree before in this life.) We put some logs together to make a raft, and put it into the water to play boat captain and climbed aboard. The raft fell apart, and I didn’t know how to swim. I tried to grab a log, but my hand slipped off. I could see my sister freaking out from underwater. I drowned.

12. My war memories

one of 6 hopping out of a helicopter into a field, it’s hot as shit, humid, daytime, two house/buildings smoking and heavily burning straight in front of me (to the side of the chopper), and there’s firing from the woods and field to my right. It’s chaotic a noisy, lots of firing and helicopters, my guys are firing back crouched next to the back building, one guy runs out of the other building with a kid he pushes forward and yells at to run, the kid gets shot from out of nowhere, and drops. I see a few of my guys advancing from another chopper behind me duck down in the grass as their chopper leaves, I crouch in tall grass about 10 feet from my chopper, fire my rifle twice from just above the grass line, and my chopper starts to take off, and is taking fire. I get up to move forward, panicky, and am shot dead – I feel a hard thunk, see part my chest explode, fall forward go black, and zoom out above my body. I also drew this later (still have pics, mom saved them). To me, it’s clear as day, still. Mom said some of my first chatter was about “heavy fire” “zip em boys” (don’t know what that means) and I would ask “Where are the hueys?” I was born in the early 70s, and my family was NOT military (very anti, actually). I err on the side of thinking it’s media (news footage?) I absorbed at some point from the Viet Nam war, but I also wonder if it’s not a past-life dream.

13. “That’s why I don’t like water now”

When my kid was 4, we were watching a docu on the Titanic. The scene was a picture of the schematics of the boiler room and the camera panned from left to right over the plans. He pointed at the tv and said, “That’s wrong. The boilers were on the Other side. And I was right here.” And he pointed to a small space in the boiler room. “That’s where I was. And that’s why I don’t like water now.”

14. My family’s farm, burning

When I was younger I would have dreams of living in colonial american. I remember bits very vividly and only when I was older did I realize what they were about and how accurate they were. Most of the dreams consisted of me being in my late teen years and centered around my family’s farm being set on fire during the night. I never dreamed past that night, nothing about the aftermath of the fire, and I haven’t had one in years.

15. “Nobody scroofs me there”

Getting my two and a half year old daughter out of the bath one night, my wife and I were briefing her on how important it was she kept her privates clean. She casually replied “Oh, nobody ‘scroofs’ me there. They tried one night. They kicked the door in and tried but I fought back. I died and now I’m here.” She said this like it was nothing. My wife and I were catatonic.

16. Nope

“Before I was born here, I had a sister, right? Her and my other Mom are so old now. They were ok when the car was on fire, but I sure wasn’t!”

17. “Their screams are keeping me up”

I was in my room on the computer at about 11, which is late for my sister to be awake even now. I was thinking about bed, but then my sister knocks on the door. She was maybe 10 at the time, so not so young that she doesn’t know when she’s dreaming. She wanted to sleep in my room because she was sad and scared. I asked her why, and she said, “I watched your sons burn up in the fire. Their screams are keeping me up.”

18. Role reversal

My three year old said, “Remember when I was the grown-up and you were the little boy?” to his Dad.

19. When he was a grown up

My father used to hate policemen when he was a kid, he used to tell my grandmother that they came to his house and shot him when he was a grown up.

19 Parents Share What Their Kid Remembered About Their ‘Last’ Life paranormal ghost and hauntings

148 notes

May 26th, 2019

SEE MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ON TUMBLR

#paranormal #ghost and hauntings

MORE YOU MIGHT LIKE

19 Parents Share What Their Kid Remembered About Their ‘Last’ Life1. He showed us his grave

When my brother was about 2 or 3 he told us his name used to be Austin. One day we were picnicking right along side a cemetery, when my brother took off...

19 Parents Share What Their Kid Remembered About Their ‘Last’ Life

1. He showed us his grave

2. We don’t watch firefighter things

3. Her “other” mother’s name was Sally

4. “When she lived before she was born”

5. Roanoke?

6. “She used to come visit me”

7. Conchon

8. “My real mom and dad were killed when the bad men came.”

9. Jesus

My cousin, approximately 3 years old and riding in the car with my mum and dad, pointed out a random house that they went past and declared “I died there”.

10. Included because, WHAT?

11. I drowned

12. My war memories

13. “That’s why I don’t like water now”

14. My family’s farm, burning

15. “Nobody scroofs me there”

16. Nope

“Before I was born here, I had a sister, right? Her and my other Mom are so old now. They were ok when the car was on fire, but I sure wasn’t!”

17. “Their screams are keeping me up”

18. Role reversal

My three year old said, “Remember when I was the grown-up and you were the little boy?” to his Dad.

19. When he was a grown up

My father used to hate policemen when he was a kid, he used to tell my grandmother that they came to his house and shot him when he was a grown up.

#19 Parents Share What Their Kid Remembered About Their ‘Last’ Life #paranormal #ghost and spirits #ghost and hauntings #haunted salem #ghoststories

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shinobis-of-ninjago-au · 3 years

Text

Shinobis of Ninjago

Pilot 2: Ruler of Shadows

Prologue Pilot 1 (Pilot 2, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), Episode 1

((Tw: violence, blood, injury, mild language, death))

After checking each other over and finding minimal injuries, besides Nya's face, the three returned to their camp. They packed up what little of their belongings the Skeleton Army had left intact and set off towards the Amber Temple.

When they reached it forty-five minutes later, they dropped their packs at the start of the bridge. Crossing over, they stopped at the doors.

"Skylor?" Seliel called. "Sensei?"

Pixal removed her hood, frowning as she stared at the temple. "The Sai of Absorption were here, as well our friend, but I only sense loss." She said, sitting down on the steps that led up to the door. "The elemental weapons have left this realm and are now in the Underworld."

Seliel groaned and flopped down. She removed her zukin, pulling at her pink hair in frustration. "The one place no mortal can cross over."

"We might not be able to cross over, but I know someone who can."

The three turned around, seeing that the doors had been cracked open, a person clad in orange leaning on them for support. Skylor smiled weakly. "Hey."

Nya jumped up, running over to wrap her arms around her teammate. She stopped about halfway, pointing to the figure hanging limply at her side. "Who's that?" She asked.

"Señoras, I'd like you to meet my brother, Jayson Guadjoso."

Seliel was on her feet and beside Skylor in seconds. She lifted up Jay's chin, inspecting his face before calling the Purple Ninja over. She removed Jay from Skylor's arms, handing him to Pixal. "He looks pretty bad. His pulse is weak. See what you can do and we'll drop him off at a hospital."

Pixal nodded, taking Jay to where they dropped their packs, hoping they had medical supplies that would help him. Seliel turned back to Skylor. "Not really the way I envisioned meeting your brother."

"Yeah, well, I didn't really envision becoming a ninja."

"Touché." Seliel patted Skylor on the back as she went to join Pixal in taking care of her brother.

Nya floated over to Seliel. "I was right."

Seliel turned to look at her. "About what?"

"Someone related to Skylor has to be attractive."

Seliel blanked before bursting into laughter. "Let's just hope he's nicer. And speaks Ninjargon." Seliel muttered under her breath. She knew how hard it was to learn a new language.

"I doubt that. Guadjoso siblings: pretty and feisty."

"You should get that engraved on something."

"I'm thinking 'bout it." She left Seliel's side to stand next to Skylor who was watching Pixal clean out the cut on Jay's face. "Ya said you knew someone who could get us into the Underworld?"

Skylor turned around and let out a sharp whistle. There was the sound of flapping wings as a dragon shot out of the volcano. It landed next to Skylor, staring curiously at the other three shinobis.

"Are you insane!?" Seliel shrieked.

"Once she realized we were trying to protect the sai, she actually became quite a softie." Skylor explained, patting the dragon on the nose. "I'll take her and run to Ignacia with Jay. I'll come back to get you guys and we can go get the weapons."

"There's not enough room for all of us on that... thing." Seliel stammered.

Skylor hummed. "Y'know what? You're right." Seliel let out a sigh of relief. "But I got a way to fix that."

Skylor pulled Nya and Pixal up onto the dragon's back. Jay was nestled in between Nya and Skylor. Seliel, however, refused to go near the dragon. Instead she went back to the Horse Carriage. She leaned against it as she watched the other three take off.

A few seconds later she fell backwards, her back hitting the floor of the wagon as she was lifted into the air. She peered over the edge, seeing the trees getting smaller and smaller. She took note of the large talons gripping the sides and the large wings flapping overhead.

"Skylor!" Seliel yelled. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Skylor's face appeared over the dragon's side. "Taking my brother to the hospital."

"Put me down!"

"Okay."

The dragon released its hold on the Horse Carriage, Seliel screaming as she plummeted towards the ground. Suddenly, she stopped. Looking up she spotted the dragon, Skylor smirking evilly and her teammates trying to stifle their laughs.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Now I know why you're the agitator. Let's just get to Ignacia so I can stand on the ground again." Seliel buried herself far in the corner of the wagon for the rest of the long flight, refusing to converse with her friends.

Instead of stopping at the weapons-smith shop, they flew past it into the closest village, Scarleton. The citizens in the parking lot scattered as the dragon lowered itself onto the asphalt. The ninja dismounted, and started heading for the door. They attracted a lot of attention, not only from the dragon but from the shinobis, as such warriors hadn't been seen in Ninjago since before the Serpentine Wars. (But it was mostly the dragon.)

A doctor rushed out, wanting to see what all the commotion was about. When his eyes landed on Skylor he rushed back inside. He soon re-emerged with a team of nurses and a stretcher. They took Jay and immediately took him inside, leaving Skylor at the front doors to fill out paperwork. When she was done, Pixal was waiting for her by the doors.

"Where's Seliel and Nya?"

"They wanted to get Nya's cheek checked out. She got hit pretty bad." Pixal eyed Skylor up and down. "We should get you home and clean you up." Skylor opened her mouth to protest. "We will know the second Jay wakes up. Come."

Climbing onto the back of the dragon, they took off, traveling the mile to the blacksmith shop. The dragon was left in the yard as the two ninja went inside.

Half an hour later, Skylor's ribs and wrists had been bandaged and they were sitting in the main shop when a knock sounded at the door and the phone rang.

Pixal stood to get the phone as Skylor opened the door. Seliel and Nya entered, immediately sitting down and sighing from exhaustion. Skylor took note of the Horse Carriage in the yard and thanked them for bringing it back.

They heard Pixal thank the person on the phone and hang up. All heads turned to her.

"Your brother's alive, lots of cuts and bruises, broken ribs, fractured ankles and wrists, dislocated arm." She paused, looking as if she didn't want to say something. "They had to jumpstart his heart. They said it was nothing like they've ever seen, like his life was sucked out of him."

Skylor's face went white as she slowly sat down. Shaking her head, she puffed out her chest. "I know mi hermano, he'll be okay, he's stronger than he looks. Misako's going to get the crap beat out of her though." Her teammates nodded in agreement. "Alright ladies, rest up, we have a big day ahead."

————————————————

At sunrise, the four stood outside, rested, bellies full, and with a new determination: to avenge their sensei, retrieve the weapons, and save the continent of Ninjago.

Climbing atop the dragon, they raced to the Western Coast, the Eastern Mountain Ridges, and the Forest of Second Glances.

Around ten o'clock in the evening, they were flying above the clouds, wind in their face and clouds above their heads.

"I hate this!" Seliel screamed as she clung to the dragon that had been guarding the staff. "I hate this!"

"Stop being such a baby." Skylor said. "This is awesome!"

"Yes, this is quite fun." Pixal agreed.

Nya squealed in surprise and enjoyment as her dragon did a barrel roll. "I think I'm going to call him Tsunami." She exclaimed.

"So how exactly do they cross over to the Underworld?" Seliel asked over the sound of rushing wind.

In response, the dragons pulled into a nosedive. They pulled their wings in and spun at rapid speed. Nothing seemed to be happening and the ground was getting closer with every second. The ninja closed their eyes and braced for impact that never came. Instead, there was a blinding flash of white light and a sudden stillness.

When the ninja opened their eyes, they gasped in amazement. They were racing through tunnels, little balls of purple and red light floating in the air and crystals of all colours reflecting the light.

"Is it over?" Seliel asked, hands still over her eyes.

"Nope!" Skylor replied. "Chica, you gotta see this."

Seliel carefully peeked through her fingers before letting her hands drop, staring in awe at the scenery around her.

Minutes later they reached an open cavern. The dragons skidded to a halt and collapsed on the ground, the journey seemingly having taken a lot out of them. The kunoichis dismounted, gazing around the cavern.

The little balls of light were still floating, and torches were mounted on the walls. The air seemed filled with static that only seemed to increase as they went deeper underground. They walked for a while longer, occasionally ducking behind something when a skeleton passed by. They walked through winding tunnels until they reached a cavern similar to the one they had landed in. The chamber was massive in comparison and dropped off into something resembling a main foyer.

On the opposite side of the cavern, there lay an entrance to a headquarters of some sort. Guards were positioned all along the walls, grips tight on their spears.

"They're expecting us." Skylor whispered. "This is now a pure stealth mission. Keep quiet from now on. We're going to hide ourselves down in the next cart and they're going to give us front row seats to kicking Misako's culo."

"Hey, I'm the leader. I give the orders." Seliel said.

"Okay then. What are your orders, all great and powerful Phantom Ninja?"

Seliel paused. "Do exactly what Skylor said. Stealth. Cart. Kicking Misako's butt."

They waited for a few minutes until the next cart arrived. Two guards were escorting it to be handed off to another two waiting on the platform of the elevator. As soon as the first two guards left to go get the next cart, the ninja sprung into action. Slipping into the cart before the other two could notice them, they took cover in crates and barrels. Skylor and Nya shared the biggest one, as they were the smallest. Pixal and Seliel had taken refuge in separate barrels.

The elevator ride was painstakingly slow. The cart jostled around as it was rolled off the platform and onto the hard rock.

Pixal peered out of a knothole in her barrel, seeing guards lined along every inch of the wall. When they neared the entrance she pulled back.

"Nothing gets through without inspection. Dark Lady's orders."

At that moment, the four shared the same thought, though it was Skylor who voiced it.

"Shit."

Pixal's crate was opened first, but she was waiting. "Nighty-night, bonehead." With a smirk on her face, she punched the skeleton with all her might, it flying backwards and out of the cart.

The other three stood up, a stupidly big grin on Skylor's face. "That was the most badass thing I've ever seen you do."

Pixal smiled, not quite sure if it was a compliment, but took the konran's expression as a good sign. "Thank you."

Seconds later the kunoichis found themselves surrounded by armed guards. "I count twenty boneheads to every one of us," Seliel said. A smile donned her countenance. "And I like those odds."

"Any ideas?" Skylor asked minutes later. She snap kicked a skeleton. "I'm all ears."

"What about the Tornado of Creation?" Nya yelled back.

"But it could destroy us!" Pixal reminded them.

"I'm getting those weapons or I'm going to die trying." Skylor said. "Who's with me."

Seliel hesitated before nodding. "Let's do this."

Quickly spinning into their spinjitzu, the four took down as many skeletons as they could. They began to be pulled together and knowing that it might be the end, they closed their eyes.

"Ugh, does anyone else feel like they jumped off a ten story building and landed on concrete?" Skylor moaned. There were three other consecutive groans as the kunoichis got to their feet. When Skylor finally decided to get up, she was met with three faces grinning obnoxiously. "What?"

"You love us." Nya drawled happily. "You loooove us."

"What?" Skylor spluttered. "No—I don't know what you're talking about."

"Mystake said we needed a bond strong enough so we wouldn't be destroyed. Ti nas voliš." ('You love us.') Seliel cooed, matching Nya's tone.

Skylor looked down. "Yeah, maybe, so what?" She mumbled. She grunted as she was embraced by the three. "Okay, we've established I like you guys. Can you let go, though? Bruised ribs and all." Her teammates let go, apologizing.

"Hey, did anyone see where the boneheads went?" Nya asked. At the sound of muffled shouts and angry grunts, the four turned, seeing that the army had been locked up in some sort of cage made from the elevator and the entrance to the base. The ninjas smiled and gave each other high-fives.

Pixal smirked and pulled up her hood. "Let's go get those weapons."

A lone figure stalked through the Skeleton Army base. They were not a skeleton, for they had muscles and skin. They wore white robes, which were soiled and torn.

They carefully made their way through the hallways, ducking out of sight when anyone approached. Not having a destination in mind, they soon found themselves at the heart of the underground base.

The room was darkly lit, a simple chair made from bones in the center and the far walls black with shadows.

"Sister." A quiet voice greeted. "It is so nice to see you again. When was the last time? Eleven years ago, correct?"

"Sister." Mystake growled. "I thought controlling the Skeleton Army would be beneath you."

"Oh, it is. But they do make loyal minions." Misako paused. "Tell me, how are your little kunoichis? The one seems to have behavioural issues. She was very mouthy the last time we met. I would... love to fix that."

"You will not lay a hand on my students."

Misako let out a little laugh. "Students? Is that what you're calling them now? Such a high ranking name for lowly puppets, don't you think?"

Mystake narrowed her eyes. "You will not talk about my pupils that way." Mystake's eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting and she could make out a figure lounging in a throne, robes draped loosely off her body and a warrior's helmet resting on the arm of her throne.

Misako waved her hand. "Yes, yes. The boy was useful though. I must thank you for handing him over to me."

Mystake flinched, Skylor's face flashing in her mind. 'Because of you my brother is gone.' 'You let him get captured.' 'Your fault!' " What do you want, Misako?" Mystake hissed.

"You already know what I want. But your head would be a nice bonus." Misako snapped her fingers, Samukai appearing from within the shadows. "Seize the sai, and if you can, get rid of my sister. Her voice is starting to annoy me."

Samukai bowed. "With pleasure, Mistress." Three weapons were handed to her from skeleton slaves in the shadows. Samukai stepped out, seemingly admiring the three Golden Weapons in her hands. "One more to complete the collection."

Samukai began to circle Mystake, searching for a weak spot. Stopping at the right side of the woman, she lunged forward with the trident.

Side-stepping the attack, Mystake grabbed Samukai's arm and twisted it behind her back. Samukai kicked backwards, hitting Mystake in the knee. The Sensei gasped, letting go and stumbling back.

"Why don't you use the sai, Mystake? They would no doubt help you in your dire situation." Samukai teased.

"And let you see their perfection? Never."

Samukai growled before lunging forward, this time with the bo-staff. Mystake was hit square in the chest, and fell to the ground. Samukai came at her once again, the white-clad woman somersaulting out of the way. As she got to her feet, she was hit by something sharp in her back. She fell forward onto the ground, a pair of feet appearing next to her.

Samukai kicked her over onto her back, coiling the whip in her hand. She bent down and reached inside Mystake's pack. Pulling out the sai, she stood up, turning to her master.

"What have you done?" Mystake croaked, the pain in her back growing.

"What needed to be done." Misako answered. She held out her hand. "Bring the weapons to me."

Samukai looked down at the four weapons in her hands. "No." She began slowly. "You will obey me now. I hold the power."

Misako threw back her head and cackled. Four different coloured figures stumbled into the room and she laughed harder. The four ran to Mystake who was laying on the floor, her robes becoming even more soiled with red.

The one in orange looked up Misako, her eyes narrowing and catching the light. "You. You're going to pay for what you did to my brother you—!"

Mystake reached up, grabbing the pant-leg of her student. She shook her head and Skylor stepped back, not taking her eyes off Misako.

"Remind me to deal with you at a later date." Misako said. She turned to Samukai who was staring down at the weapons in her hands, a bright golden light creeping up her bones. "No one can handle all their power at once." Misako reminded her. "Selfish fool. Did you think I wouldn't plan on your betrayal."

"What's happening to me?" Samukai exclaimed as the glow began to encase her neck.

"I've had you under my heel this entire time. You and your army were simply pawns. Not even I can handle all their power! But now that they are combined, it will create a vortex through space and time, allowing me to finally escape this ghastly place."

Samukai screamed out as the golden light encased her face, beams of light shooting out of her eyes and open mouth. There was a blinding flash of light and she was gone, the weapons laying on the ground along with her armor.

A bright portal appeared, spinning with silver, white, and golden light, the edges crackling with electricity. Misako stood from her throne, placing the helmet on her head. She walked down the few steps to the main level and stopped in front of the portal.

"Mother would not want you to do this, sister." Mystake reasoned.

"Mother is no longer here, sister. Good and evil, there has always been a balance. Where I go, the balance can be destroyed. Soon I will be strong enough to posses the four weapons, so I may recreate the world in my image." She paused, looking Mystake in the eye. "You, you were always her favourite."

With that, she was gone. The portal disappeared and the weapons lay on the ground, long forgotten. The static, which had seemed so strong before, was now gone, leaving the Underworld feeling even darker than before.

"She is gone, but she will return." Mystake winced as Pixal pressed a cloth against her back to try and stop the bleeding from the wound caused by the whip.

"Then we'll be ready for her." Skylor claimed, picking up her sai and tossing the weapons to their rightful holders.

"Then I have done my part. The balance has been restored." Mystake sighed and closed her eyes, a smile on her face.

————————————————

The five raced through the skies, happy to be out of the gloomy place that was the Underworld. Mystake was seated behind Pixal as they flew towards Ignacia. Instead of stopping at Scarleton, they continued towards the weapons-smith shop.

Skylor landed first, and was already dismounting by the time her friends had even reached the yard. Skylor looked around, now that there was light outside she could see that the neighbours had tried to fix up the yard as best they could. At the sound of a door creaking open, she turned, her face so bright it could rival the sun.

Their neighbour, Mr. Mathews stood there, pushing a wheelchair. And in that wheelchair was Jay. "Skylor!"

"Jay." She breathed.

Skylor ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his torso. His left arm was in a sling and all of his wrists, ribs and ankles had been bandaged. His right temple had been covered and all cuts taken care off.

"¿Qué te tomó tanto tiempo?" ('What took you so long?')

Skylor let out a small laugh and wiped her tears away. "Primero tenía que convertirme en ninja." ('Had to become a ninja first.')

"La naranja se ve bien en ti". ('Orange looks good on you.')

"Te extrañé." ('I missed you.')

Jay paused at the sudden topic change before wrapping his right arm around her, bringing her in closer. "Yo también te extrañé. Nunca más te vayas por tanto tiempo." ('I missed you too. Never leave for that long again.')

Skylor pulled away. "No puedo prometer eso. Ella regresará, y quiero poder protegerte." ('I can't promise that. She will return, and I want to be able to protect you.')

"Ya me has protegido." ('You've already protected me.')

"¡Casi te matan porque no pude ocuparme de unos estúpidos esqueletos!" ('You were almost killed because I couldn't take care of some stupid skeletons!')

"Casi. Estoy aquí para ti y no en el Inframundo." ('Almost. Because of you I'm here and not in the Underworld.') He wiped her cheek and smiled up at her. She smiled weakly back and he brought their foreheads together.

Skylor took a deep breath, overwhelmed. She pulled away from Jay, giving his hand a squeeze.

Jay smiled. "¿Te importaría decirme quiénes son porque me saludan como si me conocieran y no quiero ser grosero?" ('Now, do you mind telling me who they are because they are waving at me like they know me and I don't want to be rude.)

Skylor laughed, thanking their neighbour who was already headed down the path and taking control of Jay's wheelchair.

"Jay, saluda a mis hermanas".

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stitchandani · 3 years

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Why didn’t Lilo show up to meet Stitch like they promised in 2019. Or at least tell him she couldn’t make it? I know the anime explained it, but from what I hear, it’s a pretty flimsy excuse.

Doverstar Excellent point. This is the big question, isn't it? She did show up, she was just too late. Lots of details under the cut! READ IT IF YOU WANT THE MAIN EXPLANATION, EVERYONE. I don't wanna repeat it a lot (but I will)!

When Lilo graduated college, she had about a day in between the ceremony and her flight back to Kauai to pack up, say goodbye to her schoolmates, and get on that plane. She went home to Kauai to be with her very pregnant sister Nani and brother-in-law, David, and to begin a brief, long-distance relationship with her fiancé, Zeke Lau.

Stitch was slated to return to Kauai in the evening a week after Lilo graduated and came home. He was coming back from his year-long missions in space given to him by the Galactic Alliance. Lilo was on Kauai before Stitch that day, but something happened to prevent her from meeting him until much, much later that night:

Nani went into labor that morning and had the baby (her son, Kai), but it was a hard birth. For one thing, Kai was premature, and for another, Nani had to have a C-section, which is pretty rough on a person. (Don't worry, no gory birthing details would ever be shown in the storyline or artwork! These are just details you'd need now.) The point is, the situation was so fragile, Lilo couldn't get away for ages. She opted to be with Nani during that evening, and knew she'd be late. She tried to get a message to Stitch (and to Pleakley, who was off-planet for a research trip). She didn't reach either of them (by this time Pleakley's ship had crashed on an asteroid belt, so he had no contact with anyone). Stitch didn't have a communicator on him; he had no idea that Nani had gone into labor that day. The last time he'd spoken to the family (the last time he'd had intergalactic service to reach Earth out in space) had been a week earlier. That evening, he had come right off the B.R.B 9,000 with Gantu and Reuben, having used teleportation devices to appear in Jumba and Pleakley's Bed-and-Not-Breakfast (their big red ship behind the house), because that was the quickest way to the beach where he was supposed to meet Lilo. Without pausing to say hello to Page, Gunner, or even Angel in the ship, he headed straight for the rendezvous point. Meanwhile, Lilo was stuck in the hospital further up inland on the island, trying simultaneously to reach Stitch and to find out where the doctors were taking baby Kai next for Nani. It was a super stressful day, to say the least, for all involved. I agree that the anime didn't provide a sufficient explanation for their split, other than the lines "Just because [Lilo] has [a] new boyfriend now and is all washed up with 626...." and "The Little Monster was given a mission by the Galactic Alliance" and "My sister Nani was having a baby and I couldn't get away". That and some flashback scenes in Season 3 Episode 23 were all we got, and it seems so lame and out-of-character that Lilo never called Stitch to tell him it was a misunderstanding, and that Stitch didn't wait as long as was necessary to see her again like they promised. That's why I made Stitch and Ani in 2010. I wanted all those hints we got in the anime to come together and make sense. I mean, why would Stitch not wait? Why did he give up? Why couldn't Lilo reach him? What would make them stop trying and split like that? The answer lies in 2 things: Lilo getting older, and Zeke Lau. I thought, there had to be some reason why Stitch would just leave like that when she didn't show up. There had to be more to the story. So I created more. Lilo and Stitch had been emotionally drifting apart ever since Lilo left for college. Stitch couldn't come with her, and though they called each other and stayed in touch, the addition of Lilo beginning a serious relationship with my character, Zeke, in college (hey, her daughter in the anime had to come from somewhere!) put a strain on their friendship. Stitch has always been the type of character to get bent out of shape when he feels that Lilo is forgetting him in favor of someone or something else. He gets angry, jealous, naughty, frustrated, very insecure. And Lilo has always been the type of character to prioritize other things over Stitch for a while before she realizes it's hurting him. Examples? I'LL GIVE YOU EXAMPLES. IT'S NOT OUT OF THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY THAT, GIVEN ENOUGH REASON, STITCH MIGHT LEAVE LIKE THAT. READ IT AND UGLY SOB, GUYS:

Stitch gets jealous of a puppy in one of Disney's story-collection books, in a story called Doggone It, Stitch!, and he feels like Lilo doesn't like him anymore because she's taking care of this actual puppy, so he feels forgotten and disappears, and Lilo finds him at the dog pound watching the puppies (she knew he'd be there, it's really cute) to find out how to act cute like they are so that, and I quote "Lilo like him again".

Stitch gets jealous of Finder in the series and tries to out-do him in everything, because Lilo gives Finder more respect and chances to preform than she does Stitch.

Stitch gets jealous of Mr. Stenchy in the series and literally allows Gantu to trash the house and steal him because Lilo gives him more attention than she does Stitch.

In Elastico (again, in the series), Stitch RUNS AWAY FROM HOME because Lilo's special hula dance has taken priority over him and his cousins, and Stitch feels left behind by her poor treatment of him and leaves the family!

In Phoon, he's furious that Lilo leaves him at the house to go and impress the new hula fusion girls in the gated community, and scoffs at Pleakley's fond observation that Lilo is "growing up".

In Stitch Has A Glitch, winning that contest to prove herself to her mom is suddenly the "most important thing in Lilo's life", and she doesn't see that Stitch has a huge problem and is malfunctioning, and she and Stitch fight and argue throughout the film, and he leaves the island (because he feels too dangerous to be around his Ohana) and Lilo never helped him figure out what was really going on. She was too preoccupied with feeling worthy of being her mother's daughter (fair).

Keoni Jameson is a pre-teen kid in the series on whom Lilo has an enormous crush, and in HunkaHunka, Morpholomew, Melty, and almost every other Keoni-centric episode, Stitch unabashedly displays his disdain for Lilo's crush. He thinks it's gross and silly and even though he tries to help Lilo win Keoni over several times, it's clear he doesn't approve. He crumples up her picture of Keoni and throws it in the trash. He makes gagging sounds when she sighs and fawns over him. He groans when Lilo puts off rehabilitating HunkaHunka so that she can spend time with Keoni. He never gets jealous, because Lilo doesn't really neglect Stitch for Keoni, but the idea of Lilo having a crush on someone isn't met by Stitch with anything resembling happiness or approval. Just tolerance.

Now, when Lilo is older and leaves for college and has new friends, Stitch understandably is unsettled at first and feels a little lost without her. Then she re-meets Zeke, and then they start dating, and suddenly Stitch is feeling more forgotten than ever. This isn't like Keoni. Lilo is actually in a relationship with this boy, and it moves fast, and they're headed toward marriage, and Stitch is wondering if things will ever be the same again. He doesn't want to hear about Zeke or talk about Zeke, and he's so rude and nasty about it that he and Lilo end up fighting a lot during the years she's in college. They both say horrible things to each other, and it gets so bad that by the time he's in space for those missions and she's in her last year of school, they still call one another but it feels like it's a risk just to have a conversation. So many things have been said over the years that they feel like they're on thin ice with each other, and everything is uncomfortable. They never resolve it, so it's always hanging over them. Stitch refuses to let Lilo share with him how things are going with Zeke (who she loves, and who is important to her, so that's not fair of Stitch as her best friend to do) and Lilo refuses to call Stitch's feelings anything other than petty jealousy (which is not true of Stitch's feelings, and that's not fair of Lilo not to take them seriously). So they are both wrong. But they never talk about it and confront the main problem, because neither of them want to give in even though they're both quietly hurt by the other all the time, so it's just this cloud hanging over them every time they talk. That's why, when Lilo doesn't show up on the beach, Stitch literally can't take it anymore. This is the final straw for him. Lilo didn't show up, and she promised to show up, and he waits until the sun is almost set and she's still not there and there's no word from her. Did she even come back to Kauai? Is she still on Honolulu with Zeke? She's forgotten all about him. She doesn't care about him. He gives up (he shouldn't, but he does), and he leaves his tiki necklace (which he promised never to take off in Leroy and Stitch, so it's a clear message to Lilo there, yup) on a branch where she can find it and leaves the planet, devastated. He goes on a joyride and doesn't really have a plan, and ignores one or two calls on the ship's communicators from Lilo (he's still crazy upset). Jumba goes after him after a day passes, but they get sucked into a black hole, which transports them 8 years into the future (unbeknownst to them), they end up somewhere else for three more years, reunite with Lilo, and the rest is Stitch and Ani. For Lilo's part, she finally gets away from the hospital when things have calmed down, and it's pouring rain and the sun has set, and she reaches the rendezvous point and Stitch is gone. She finds his necklace and realizes what that means, and she stays on Kauai for another week trying to get in touch with him. Jumba leaves to bring Stitch back and neither of them return. Lilo is absolutely crushed and tries everything she knows to get in contact with Stitch, but Stitch doesn't answer any of her calls. (She doesn't know he and Jumba got sucked into a black hole; Stitch might've answered those calls later if the black hole hadn't happened.) The fact that they've fought so often for 4 years now, and Stitch left his necklace behind and won't answer her when she tries to reach him, really hits her hard and communicates to her that he's never coming back and it's over. She doesn't see Pleakley or Jumba again either. You can imagine how much pain that causes Lilo, to be forgotten and left behind by her own Ohana. Suddenly it's just her, Nani, and David again (and Kai). She can't handle it. Being on the island with all of Stitch's cousins is too much, and Lilo runs from the reality that she might never see Stitch, Jumba, or Pleakley again, and goes to Honolulu to live indefinitely. She gets married to Zeke Lau, they have Ani, she reunites with Stitch years later, and the rest is S&A.

It follows what happened in the flashbacks and hints given by the anime, but you'll notice I didn't mention that Stitch and the others ended up on Izayoi after the black hole incident. This is because, while that is technically canon, Stitch and Ani is meant to be seen either way. They could have ended up on Japan. Or they could've ended up somewhere else. Either way, the theme of Stitch and Ani hinges on the fact that Lilo and Stitch were apart for so long. The theme is forgiveness, and that's why I kept the idea that Lilo and Stitch had a falling out, a misunderstanding, and split up for a while. He didn't have to meet Yuna or anything. But I wanted the anime's explanation to make a little more sense, and there is evidence for it if you work at it. So. That's the story. You'll get loads more details on it throughout the blog, but that is the reason why Lilo failed to meet Stitch.

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g-46-stark · 4 years

Text

Find Me In Paris: Things I’m still wondering...

So, I really love Find me in Paris, is really funny and original.

I appreciate the way they handle all the time travel stuff... I’ve watched it like a hundred of times, but I’m still wondering:

1-Why no one ever told Lena about the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917?

Really, not even Ines, who’s like the ballerina version of Hermione Granger.

For the ones who don’t know what I’m talking about, or just wants a reminder, I’m going to make a short resume:

From 1904 to 1905 Russia and Japan were fighting a war; Russia lose it, so people weren’t very happy (they also realize some social classes needed some changes);

The Russian army repressed a manifestation in St. Petersburg (some people want to present a petition to zar Nikolai II);

It started a revolution that lasted two years (1905-1907). After it, the zar was forced to create the Duma (a sort of Parliament). Some historicals think that this was the first step of the 1917 Russian Revolution;

During WWI, the social situation in Russia wasn’t all this good, especially for the factory worker. They all unite under the ideals of Lenin, and it started the October Revolution, which led to the abdication of zar Nikolai II;

Due to some political issue (it started a civil war between the new communist government and people that still wanted the zar) Nikolai Romanov and his family (his wife Alexandra, his four daughter Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and his son Alexei) were took in Siberia and then killed.

So, Lena is a Russian princess: some people think is Nikolai daughter, but since it’s not specificated, let’s say she’s his niece.

She obviously doesn’t know about Russian nobility fate; so, she still thinks that in Russia there would be a zar, who would be one of Nikolai’s descendants.

She says on more than one occasion that she is a princess, who lives in a palace in Russia.

But the thing is this: I don’t think the old Russian nobility still lives in Russia and has all their old proprieties such as palaces.

So no one (not even the teachers) find strange that Lena goes around saying she’s a princess?

This leads me to the next point: why doesn’t Ines tell Lena about Russia 20th century history?

She knows Lena is from 1905, so she knows why she doesn’t know about it.

If I know that one of my dearest friends is a time traveler from 1900’s Russia (and part of the nobility), one of the first thing I would say to them it would be: “If you ever go back in your century, stay away from Russia! Move to the US and don’t go anywhere else!”.

I understand Ines wouldn’t say that for all the “don’t change the past because you don’t know how it could affect the future” thing, but seriously… Lena always said she wanted to go back! You don’t want to even warn her?

And later, in season 2, Lena said to Max all the truth; and she also said she wanted to go back so she could save Ines.

All Max has to say on it was: “Oh, ok. I’m really sad that you’re leaving, but that’s ok. Let’s create the most transgressive choreography that Paris Opera has ever seen.”.

And I was like… Ehm…hello?? The girl you claim to love just said she wanted to go back at the beginning of a disastrous century!! She’s leading herself into two revolutions and probably her death, but ok, let’s dance through it.

No one there knows anything about 1900’s Russian history?

And besides that, what about the history lessons or the history teacher?

What do they teach students in that school?

Oh, right...

2- Max's family: What happened between Max and Ruben (Reuben?)? What happened between Armando and his wife? And, more importantly, where is she?

I know that since Lena is the main character, we should be worried about her background story, but really… you can’t throw us some hints about Max's dysfunctional family and then just walk away.

I mean, maybe it’s just me, but I’m still confused about something.

If I get it right (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong):

Ruben is not Armando biological son: he was adopted in Spain;

He was a street boy, who was an extraordinarily talented dancer;

He and Max were inseparable;

At some point, their mum took them to London, where she wanted them to attend a boarding school (Arrow? Harrow?);

Max was accepted, but Ruben wasn’t;

So, Armando took the boy with him to New York (where he presumably worked for the Imperial Ballet) since their mum “can’t take care of him”;

Then something bad happened between the two brothers;

The result was that Max was expelled from his school and his relationship with Ruben was ruined;

Max said that Ruben came to visit him at school and started “acting like himself”: he made something bad, but we don’t know what;

After “breaking his mother’s heart” for being expelled (words from Armando), Max won a sort of scholarship for a European ballet school and chose to go to Paris;

Then, it happens all Lena’s stuff;

At a certain point Ruben comes back in Max life, “stealing” is brother baroque choreography and going at his school (and dancing with his chica);

In a dialogue, we discover that he and Max made a promise, but one of them broke it;

I think it was about not “entering in the other's territory”? Like, Ruben couldn’t go to Max boarding school and Max couldn’t go to a ballet school/found a hip-hop crew?

I don’t know if I missed something or I just misunderstood things, if you can explain it to me, I’ll be happy to listen.

Anyway, I have some main question about Max family:

WHERE IS HIS MUM??

I mean, I assumed she lives in London, her son lives in Paris, it’s like an hour's flight… why she never shows up?

Not even for his shows at Garnier? Not even when her son injured himself so bad that he ends up in the hospital and had surgery?

Is she dead? Is she ill? Like does she have cancer or something so bad that she couldn’t take a plane to go to visit her hurt son? In that case, I’m sorry for my cruel judgment.

But otherwise…I know that the others character parents never go to visit their children (the only exception were Dash and Thea’s mums), but I think that every parent would have shown up in case their child end up in a hospital.

Is she totally unaffectionate?

Because the quote from Armando: “I took Ruben to NY because he wasn’t admitted at Harrow and your mother couldn’t take care of him” sound pretty bad.

What happened between Max's parents?

I know that married couple living in different city/country due to work isn’t uncommon, so it wouldn’t have bothered me if some word in Max and Armando’s dialogue in season 1 hadn’t been said:

Armando said that his wife decided to take the boys back to London, and it sounded to me like he didn’t totally agree with that decision.

Max said something like “don’t speak about mum” as it hurts listening to his dad talking about his mum.

So, maybe I’m seeing drama everywhere, but it seems to me that something happened with Max's mum and/or between the parents.

My interpretation of that, after seeing that scene, is that Armando and his wife were divorcing, so Mum took her sons and moved to London (without Dad's consent, maybe, it’s sadly common in some difficult divorces). Both the boys were obviously traumatized by that, so Ruben started acting badly (so he wasn’t admitted at school) making his mum desperate and unwilling to take care of him? And maybe Max was angry with his father for leaving mum and them (and after, for taking Ruben to NY and leaving him in a boarding school)?

Why are Ruben and Max hating each other?

Okay, they’re brothers, but we’re going a little too far, don’t we?

Maybe Max’s a little jealous of Ruben's talent and (again) because he was taken to New York with their father while he was in a British all-male boarding school and blah, blah, blah… okay, we get it.

But Ruben?

Maybe he is jealous because he’s not Armando's biological son? Because he thinks Armando would always choose his “real” son instead of him?

It could be, but I’m totally plotting things on this point

We know that probably Ruben was the reason for Max's expulsion from his old school, and I presume that their parents thought it was Max’s fault, but I don’t think that’s all the story.

I mean, I personally want to know more about this.

In conclusion, dear producers: you can’t just toss at us two brothers that literally want to punch one another without a real explanation and expecting us to just walk away with that.

So…tell me what you think.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading it!

#find me in paris #max x lena #max alvarez #armando castillo #lena grisky

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thejollyroger-writer · 4 years

Text

To Serve and Protect - Chapter 5

SUMMARY: Detective Killian Jones has been investigating a stalker-turned-murderer for months by the time he goes home from the bar with Emma Swan. But when he thinks he sees the very man in question outside her apartment, can he separate his feelings for her and his need to keep her safe?

TRIGGERS: well, this is a fic about a serial killer. mentions of violence and death, with some physical violence/whump. as always, if you need me to discuss this further for you to be comfortable, message me. – rated teen

Prologue // Ch. 1 // Ch. 2 // Ch. 3 // Ch. 4 // Ch. 5 on AO3

a/n: another Monday, another chapter, another cliffhanger?, still no baby.

-- -- -- --

Graham shows up first, quickly clearing the two flights of stairs that lead to Killian’s walkup apartment. The first thing he notices is the open door.

The second is the emptiness in the space at the top of the steps. Emma’s not there, only a few bags of groceries and a bottle of wine.

Jesus, what’s he going to tell David — but he pushes the thought down with a gulp, not even allowing his brain to go there.

“Jones!” he calls out, turning his attention towards the half-open door. “I’m coming in!” And for a moment, the whole world stills, only silence greeting him on the other side. And then:

“Oh, Graham, thank god.” Emma’s voice comes from across the room, half-shrouded by the couch. He catches his breath closing his eyes for half a second. “Did you — are you —” He doesn’t even know what questions he’s trying to ask, but they’re not coming out either way, so he snaps his mouth shut before crossing the room to where Emma is kneeling on the floor.

There’s blood. There’s a lot of blood, actually, something which has long since stopped bothering Graham. But seeing Killian Jones passed out on the floor, a blood-soaked light blue towel pressed against his shoulder, makes his stomach churn. Sure, Killian can be a pompous asshole, he sometimes doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, and he’s been known to defy an order or two, but Graham would still place him on the short list of his friends.

“The stalker’s dead in the kitchen,” Emma says, her eyes never once leaving where she’s putting as much pressure on Killian’s gunshot wound as she can. “At least, I’m assuming it’s the stalker. And I’m assuming he’s dead, given that there’s been no movement or sound from over there since I came in.”

Graham nods, changing his course to check on that, first. Sure enough, behind the counter that separates the kitchen from the living room, there’s a dead body, a bullet in his chest and one just below his neck. Of course Killian would manage two almost-perfect shots while he’s getting shot himself.

“Yeah,” Graham confirms, pressing his fingers against the man’s neck even though there’s no way he could still be alive after those two shots. “He’s dead alright. How’s Jones?”

Emma sighs, but before she can answer, Henry calls to them from the hallway: “Jones! Miss Swan! I’m coming in!”

“We’re clear, Mills,” Graham says, meeting the young man at the door, and they share a nod before both holstering their weapons. “One DB in the kitchen, and Jones is unconscious with a shoulder injury but still alive.”

“And the ambulance?”

“On its way,” Emma says. “A few minutes passed between when I called you and them, so they should be here any minute.”

As if on cue, the two paramedics push their way into the apartment.

“Sheriff,” one of them says gruffly, sharing a nod with Graham.

“Booth. Officer Jones is behind the couch. And there’s a DB in the kitchen.”

“DB’s are your jurisdiction,” he half-jokes, but rushes to where Killian is lying on the floor. “Emma,” he says, kneeling next to her on the floor, and Graham notices the way a soft blush rises to her cheeks.

“Hey, August.”

“You did a great job with the towel. Probably saved his life.”

“Thanks,” she mumbles, letting August take her place at his shoulder, and she reaches out to sweep Killian’s hair off his forehead.

“I’ll take it from here,” he says, but Emma is already pushing herself off the floor and wiping her hands on her already-bloodstained dress.

“I’m… gonna change,” she says, her voice still soft, and she doesn’t meet anyone’s eye before she turns back towards the bedroom.

“You can take all the time you need, Miss Swan,” Graham says, and she stops but doesn’t turn towards them. “I’ll wait for you and you can ride to the hospital with me.”

But she’s already shaking her head. “No, I’m going with him.”

It’s not a question, but Graham still turns to August who confirms. After finishing his current task, the paramedic meets his eyes, nods with a shrug, and goes back to what he’s doing.

She told herself she didn’t need to know. She even told Killian that, if given the choice, she didn’t want to know. But now that the choice is here, literally, dead in Killian’s kitchen, she can’t stop thinking about him.

Because what if he is someone from her past, as improbable as it is? What if all of this was because of her?

She takes a deep breath in and holds it, pausing from trying to wash Killian’s blood off her hands to look at herself in the mirror for a moment before releasing it. From what she can tell, though her dress is ruined, none of it soaked through to her bra, which she only thinks about since she doesn’t know if she has another here to change into.

Anything to keep her mind off of what happened in the last ten minutes.

It doesn’t all come off, the blood staining her hands and her arms, but she does her best. It’s a warm day, but she has no idea what the temperature in the hospital is going to be like, so she opts for leggings and a plain white v-neck, but before she leaves the bedroom she pulls a blue and white flannel shirt from Killian’s closet overtop.

She is silent as she crosses the apartment, her arms crossed over her chest to make her as small as she can, but she’s made up her mind.

“Emma, are you—” Graham starts, turning away from where they’re moving Killian to a stretcher, but when she doesn’t stop, her path clear, he crosses the living room and tries to stop her. “I don’t think you want to do that.”

“No, Graham,” she says, shaking her head as she pushes past him and into the kitchen. “I’ve made up my mind, I need —” She swallows, stepping around the counter, but her attention is still on Graham. “I need to see him, I need to know.”

When she does turn her eyes down towards the body on the floor, though, everything stops: her words, her mind, her heart. Her breath catches in her throat. She might throw up — hell, she might faint. She needs—

Air.

Deep breaths. Slow movements. The balcony. Fresh air.

Holy shit.

“We’re ready to go here, Miss Swan, if you still want to come with us.”

But she knows she can’t. She can barely breathe, nonetheless make it down a flight of steps, so she shakes her head. “No, I — I’ll go with Graham. We need to talk to David.”

Though Graham offered to pick him up at the tavern, David insists on meeting her at the hospital. Between the slow night and the fear in Emma’s voice, he leaves almost immediately, much closer to the hospital than Killian’s apartment, but Graham and Emma still beat him there in the sheriff’s cruiser.

She’s a mess. An absolute mess, pacing in the waiting room, unable to stop moving — her feet, her hands, her mind, everything moving a mile a minute. Graham tried to get her to talk on the way there, but she couldn’t do it, wasn’t able to explain anything with David there. (Odd, he thought, but she’s certainly in a state of shock, so he doesn’t question it.)

It only takes David a few minutes longer than them to get there, but she spends them trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, trying to figure everything out.

It doesn’t help, though. If anything, it just makes her head spin faster, dizzying her to the point where she needs to sit down for a moment — a moment that finds a quick end when David finally walks through the doors. It’s obvious by both his crazed expression and the amount of his hair sticking up in different directions that he’s been worrying about her since she hung up the phone, which doesn’t surprise her, but there wasn’t much she could do about it, since she couldn’t fill him in over the phone.

He greets Graham first, sharing a handshake with him before wrapping his arms around Emma. She’s always thought that was part of the reason she got along with him much better than James, even though she’s much similar to his gruff, silent personality. But David always seemed to understand her, was there for her emotionally the way no one else ever tried to be, and he truly has been pretty much her only best friend until Ruby came home to Storybrooke a few years’ past.

“Emma, please, tell me what’s going on,” he says after a moment, the silence of it all finally getting to him.

So she does. She fills him in, letting Graham give a little background on the stalker case after she talks about going home with Killian that first night. She doesn’t share anything that doesn’t need to — he is still her brother, and she would be okay if both he and Graham just assumed that she and Killian’s relationship had never gotten physical. She sums up the past few weeks quickly, seeing him throughout the day, spending nights between their apartments, everything he needs to know, until she gets to earlier that night, to standing in the hallway helpless as she hears the gunshots, to hoping that it’s safe for her to go in even though all that greets her on the other side of the door is silence — and how she found Killian on the floor behind the couch with a bullet in the shoulder and the stalker in the kitchen, how she called 9-1-1 and they talked her through finding a towel and putting pressure on the wound until the paramedics got there.

At the end of it all, David sighs from the seat he decided to take next to Graham, even with Emma still pacing between them and Henry, now seated on the other side of the small aisle. “So everything’s okay, the stalker is taken care of and now we just have to wait for Killian to get out of surgery.”

Emma shakes her head as she whips to face him, movement enough to make her vision go blurry for a moment. “Everything is not okay, David,” she says, which grabs the attention of both men. “It all comes back to Neal.”

“What?”

“The stalker. It was Felix.”

Graham stands up, running his fingers through his hair. This is beginning to be too much for him. “Wait, you— you know the stalker?”

At this, Emma nods, sitting in the seat he just stood from. “After I graduated from high school, I needed to get out of Storybrooke, but you already know that. So I went to Boston, and that’s where I met Neal. I got into the wrong crowd almost immediately, and he was — well, he was in charge of it. I knew he was older than me, but I never cared about how much older. I was seventeen and stupid and I though he was the answer to the thrilling life that I thought I needed. And I thought I loved him, which blinded me to what he was really doing, which was serious crime on top of all the gaslighting and manipulation towards me in particular. He would be out all night, come home all bloodied up but happy, and told me I was insane when I tried to ask him about it. Plus he had all this money, which he said came from his dad, who was apparently the ambassador of something, some kind of Boston big shot, so I shrugged off the fact that he had so much money.

“His best friend was this guy named Felix, who was even more terrifying than he was, covered in scars and tattoos and he had a violent past, though Neal convinced me it was all in the past even though he was apparently wanted for murder or something near the end, which was when I found out what they were doing, what they had been doing the whole time we were together. But I was young and stupid and I thought I was in love, so I shrugged it off, especially when he talked about running away from it all, leaving behind his life in Boston that required so much from him to somewhere quiet, where we could live in peace after one more big grab. That’s what he called it. And I believed him.

“We were supposed to leave that night, so I met him at his father’s mansion, everything packed in my car. I just needed him to come home. But it was a set up, and they called the cops and claimed to have me under citizen’s arrest, though I wouldn’t have even had anywhere to run had I tried. I was seventeen, an orphan, technically family-less since Ruth had never finalized her adoption, so I went to prison until my eighteenth birthday and then came home. I’ve been trying to forget about Neal and his cronies for ten years, and since Ruth passed a few years ago, David is the only person that knows what happened in the year and a half I was gone, except that little bit I’ve told Killian over the past few weeks but seeing Felix’s face tonight, even seeing him dead in Killian’s kitchen, brought it all back.”

David, who wrapped his arm around her shoulder near the beginning of her story, pulls her in closer, an awkward hug at an awkward angle, especially with the arms of their chairs between them, but it calms Emma nonetheless.

“I don’t think it’s over, though,” she says after a moment, voicing the fear that has chilled her since she recognized the body in Killian’s kitchen.

Graham is still trying to wrap his head around it all, and this certainly doesn’t help. Both he and Henry look back up at her. “Why? What?”

“Everything Felix did, he either did because Neal told him to, or because he was trying to impress him. So if Felix really is behind all this, as you seem to believe he is—”

“He matches the sketches that some of his victims have given us, he’s definitely the stalker,” Graham cuts in, needing to have some semblance of control over the situation.

Emma nods, but continues. “He either did it because Neal told him to, or he did it for him. Either way, I can’t help but think that wherever Felix is, Neal can’t be too far behind.”

“Fuck.” The word slips through David’s teeth, sounding foreign to Emma in his voice, but it’s fitting.

“So you think this Neal guy might be here in Storybrooke?” Henry asks.

Hearing the words spoken out loud makes Emma want to scream, or cry, or curl up in a ball on the floor. Or all three. But that doesn't change the fact that: “Yes. Or he will be soon. He may even be listed as Felix’s next of kin.”

She doesn’t like making plans without Killian, since he has been so integral to her and her safety for weeks now, but hearing Graham and Henry trying to piece a plan together, one that involves police escorts and uniforms stationed outside David’s house — the only safe place for her to stay, obviously — begins to calm her still-pounding heart.

They sit in silence for a while, each of them still trying to fit all the pieces together in a puzzle that seems totally impossible, but it’s not long before Dr. Whale comes out through the doors, a smile on his face that clashes with the tension in the waiting room.

If he senses something is off, he ignores it, spreading his arms wide in what can only be described as a welcoming gesture. Understandably,all four of them in the waiting room ignore it.

“I have good news, and I have good news!”

He’s much too happy for them. Graham rolls his eyes, as he does multiple times every time he has to deal with the doctor.

When only Emma and Henry physically turn their attention towards him, he tones the theatrics down a bit, which might be all that he’s capable of. “Since it was a low-caliber bullet, it didn’t pass all the way through, stopped by his shoulder blade and the muscles around it. Normally we’d worry about irreversible nerve damage to his hand and arm, but since he already has a prosthetic, that's no concern to us and he should heal just fine, with some minor physical therapy to fully regain use of his shoulder.”

“Can we see him?” Emma asks, her voice noticeably quieter than normal, making her seem smaller. Weaker.

Dr. Whale purses his lips, his eyes turned to the floor — avoiding meeting any of their gazes. “He’s not awake yet from the anesthesia, and probably won’t be until morning.”

“Besides,” Graham starts, practically cutting him off. “You should get some rest tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to need to take formal statements from both of you, a lot of paperwork and a lot of formalities. It’ll probably take most of the day.”

Emma sighs. “We’re supposed to meet with Mayor Mills tomorrow to go over a few cases.”

Everyone in the waiting room, including the doctor, watches in awe as Graham blushes, a soft smile gracing his face. “I’ll take care of Mayor Mills for you, don’t worry.”

A shocked silence takes over the waiting room. David laughs.

Dr. Whale clicks his tongue. “Well. Mr. Jones will be ready for visitors in the morning,” he says, then turns away from them and pushes back through the double doors he came through.

David barks out another laugh, breaking the silence that has built around them, slipping his arm around Emma’s shoulder. “It appears our boy here has developed himself a little crush.”

Graham rolls his eyes, but his blush deepens nonetheless. “For your information, Nolan — not that it’s any of your business anyway — it appears that she returns my ‘crush,’” he says, putting his own air-quotes around the word. “And she and I have been on a few dates as our busy schedules have allowed.”

Henry covers his face with his hands. David, apparently, can’t stop laughing. Emma’s not even sure how to feel, but can’t keep the smile off her face.

Graham shakes his head. “Let’s get out of here, alright? The smell of antiseptic is upsetting my stomach.”

She was worried about not being able to sleep. It was much easier to convince herself that she was safe when she could feel Killian beside her, when she knew that if anything did go wrong, he would be right there to protect her, either from the ghosts in her mind or the ones that had recently manifested in the real world. But she can’t get rid of them, the memories of Neal from ten years ago and the nightmares that have plagued her since, not to mention the memory of Felix dead in Killian’s apartment. Sure, Graham told her not to, and he was probably right, but she had to, had to know. Did it make anything better? Questionable. In some ways, it definitely made it worse, the shadow of Neal hanging over her more than ever before.

She can’t do this, though. Every time she closes her eyes, she’s met with Felix, or Neal, or one of his other cronies, or something from those long few months she spent in jail. Sighing, she pushes herself out of the bed, making her way to the guest bathroom as quietly as she can.

She turns on the faucet, needing some sort of sound to stop the ringing in her ears, the screaming in her head, and it almost works. Splashing the water on her face helps a little, too, helps calm the pounding of her heart. She runs her fingers through her hair, fisting some of the strands. For a moment, she thinks about showering again, even though she stood under the spray for far too long when they got home from the hospital, but she fears that nothing will make the nightmarish pictures on the other side of her eyelids disappear.

But she has to try. So she shuts off the water, turning away from the mirror before she can meet her own eyes, and leaves the bathroom, deciding instead to try sleeping.

And it almost works. She drifts off quickly, somehow, but it doesn’t last for too long before the piercing ring of her cell phone cuts through the silence of the house.

Graham Humbert, the screen reads.

Well, fuck. Her mind begins to race immediately, but it’s racing in circles around one main point: Neal Gold.

“What? What happened?”

“Emma, relax, please,” he breathes, though his own inability to do so is prevalent in his voice, even over the phone. “Killian is fine, he wasn’t hurt, but there’s been — there was an attempted attack at the hospital, and we got him. But Killian wants you here, just in case there’s someone else here. Henry’s waiting for you outside David’s.”

“Okay.”

“See you soon.”

But then it hits her: “Wait!” she says, hoping it’s not too late, and Graham hums. “You said you got him, but who was it?”

“Oh,” he says cooly, as if his next words aren’t going to rip her world apart. “It was Neal. Neal Gold.”

-- -- -- --

tagging: @shireness-says @kmomof4 @thisonesatellite @let-it-raines @wellhellotragic @darkcolinodonorgasm @profdanglaisstuff @stahlop @teamhook @snowbellewells @carpedzem @pepperspotts @imlaxdris71 @gingerchangeling @lfh1226-linda @kday426 @scientificapricot @resident-of-storybrooke @ultraluckycatnd @itsfabianadocarmo @galadriel26 @jennjenn615 @therealstartraveller776 @nightskylover @xarandomdreamx @kristi555 @nikkiemms @vvbooklady1256 @withheartfulloflove – if you want to be added or removed, please let me know

#my writing #wordsbymeganmichael #cs fics #my fics #captain swan #the detective fic #killian jones #emma swan #answers? you want answers? WELL #you get this instead

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scribbles97 · 4 years

Text

Left Behind - Chapter 30

PART 1 / PART 2

Chapter 22 / Chapter 23 / Chapter 24 / Chapter 25 / Chapter 26 / Chapter 27 / Chapter 28 / Chapter 29

TRIGGER WARNING - MENTION OF MISCARRIAGE

It was only out of convenience that she and Lee had agreed to share the twin room of the suite. After all, Sally had volunteered to take the single room and Hugh and Kyrano the other twin. It left the boys to top and tail in the two double rooms and John and Ridley to take the double room across the hall.

It didn’t mean Val had to like it.

Lee was insufferable when he was worried.

She knew he meant well. Knew it was simply because he cared. Knew that he got scared that he would lose something more than what he had in the past.

It was because of his and Lucy’s parents that International Rescue had been born. Jeff had seen the grief of the loss and how it had affected his wife and his best friend. He had been there when the blame had been thrown back and forth, if only someone had been there faster, if there had been something to dig through the snow quicker, if only one of them had gone with them.

She remembered the day well though, remembered how both Gordon and Alan had been fussing, Virgil had had the flu, and Scott, John, and Jeff had gone to the store simply to escape it all. Her parents in law had wanted to escape it too, suggested to Lee that they took a walk up the mountain for some fresh air before dinner. They had tried to insist that he go with them and leave Val and Lucy with the three moaning children that just wanted to play in the snow.

She remembered how he had refused, insisted that he was going to make the most of the time with his wife before he headed to Mars just a matter of weeks later.

Absentmindedly, she felt for the ring on her finger, the plain silver band still in place after all that time.

She knew he didn’t really blame her for what had happened to his parents. It was just a case of hurt and unfortunate circumstances that everything bad that had happened to Lee had always happened whilst she was around.

She had been the one to lose their baby after all.

A rescue that only she knew she shouldn’t have been on. It had been all hands on deck, everyone needed to help where they could. There was a reason she hated earthquakes most of all. Aftershocks that nobody could ever quite predict and buildings already made unstable threatened further destruction.

The stupid thing was she hadn’t even been inside when it had happened. When the aftershock had hit and the community centre had come down and a stray rebar hit her just in the wrong place.

She knew immediately there was no hope for the baby she had been carrying, barely a clump of cells but already so much a part of her.

It wasn’t until much later that she found out that there never would be a baby. It was a sacrifice the doctors had had to make in order to save her.

Surrogacy and adoption had been thrown around as ideas too early on, when she and Lee had still been hurting and grieving for someone they had never even met. Perhaps she would have considered it, if only life hadn’t gotten so hectic, if five nephews and an adoptive niece hadn’t filled the hole left.

Lee had gotten angry. Blamed her for being out in the field when she shouldn’t have been. Not only had she risked her own life and that of their baby, but others too. More what ifs had been thrown around, accusations that couldn’t be taken back even if only said in anger.

She could pinpoint the exact day their marriage had ended, even if no papers had ever been signed.

It was only a fear of being lonely that left them together.

And it was only habit that they shared a drawer in the hotel room.

Except when she came back from her shower, half the drawer was empty. Glancing around the room, she realised that a whole half of it was empty. No glasses on the bedside table, no dirty socks left at the bottom of the bed, and come to think of it, no toothbrush in the bathroom.

No sign of Lee anywhere.

She should have seen it coming, they were moving Lucy that day. Taking her home to the Island so that her family could be near her even in between rescues.

Except Lee had disagreed, had insisted that she would be better off in hospital with real supervision and real equipment available. Virgil and Sally had quickly shot him down, insisting that Elliot was more than capable of monitoring Lucy and their equipment more than sufficient.

With the rest of the family on side, there had been no competition.

Pulling out her phone she set it to dial as she rubbed her cropped hair dry.

“Val,” The accented voice of Kyrano answered, “I’m currently securing the airport.”

She sighed, rummaging through her bag with a shake of her head, “Lee’s running.”

Kyrano snorted, at least that was what it sounded like down the line, some noise of disapproval before he tutted. Val stayed silent, waiting for some confirmation that he at least wouldn’t get out of that airport without Kyrano knowing.

“Have you spoken to him?”

Holding her phone to her ear using her shoulder as she fastened her bra she rolled her eyes. Everyone always left it to her to speak to Lee, some old assumption relating to the remains of their marriage no doubt. On occasion the duty would fall to Lucy, being the older of the pair there was a certain authority she held over Lee that she was willing to use when needed.

Lucy was unavailable though, so it was clear who the job fell to.

“Not yet.” She sighed, kicking her legs in the hope her jeans would pull on just that little bit easier, “I wasn’t sure if anyone might have spoken to him, didn’t want to scare him further away if I could help it.”

“He might not be running,” Kyrano reasoned, “He did alright after Jeff vanished.”

Vanished. The word still seemed wrong considering for so long they had been saying how he had died.

When Jeff had vanished Lee had been there, had been the one that had tried to get Jeff off of the damn ship before it blew. He had been there to actively do something at the time of the accident.

He hadn’t even known where Lucy was when she had been hurt.

“This is different,” She murmured, “And you know it.”

Kyrano sighed again, “Alright, I’ll tell my people to keep an eye out but you need to find out for sure if he’s a definite flight risk.”

Val scoffed as she picked up her shirt from the pile, “I’ll find out alright.”

“Keep me updated.” Kyrano told her, “I’ll see you at the airport later.”

“F.A.B.”

Throwing the phone onto her bed, she glared at it briefly as she found the arm holes of the top. Like they didn’t already have enough on that day with moving Lucy, no minor deal given the security in place and medical equipment required.

Groaning in frustration as the shirt refused to pull on, she stopped for a minute, standing with the stretchy material over her head and only one arm in a sleeve.

“Inconsiderate bloody bas--” She uttered, spying the label of the shirt in front of her and realising it was back to front.

“Why?” She uttered to herself as she pulled her arm from the sleeve and twisted the material around over her head, “Why can’t he just think? Huh? We’re all bloody stressed and unhappy and-- Oh come on!”

Top twisted too far or not far enough, she wasn’t sure, but the label was still in front of her face. Yanking it off of her head she threw it on the bed alongside her phone, deciding that the tank top would do, even if the weather outside was on the cooler side.

She’d be in her car at least.

Grabbing her phone and leather jacket from the bed, she turned for the suite door, pressing dial as she went and resisting the urge to curse at the busy tone that answered.

“Aunt Val?” Alan called as she passed him on the sofa, “Where you goin’?”

She smiled, turning to the youngest nephew as she straightened her collar, “Just to talk to your Uncle, have you seen him?”

“Nah,” Alan sighed, “heard him go though, like early this morning.”

Frowning at him, she tilted her head, “It’s not like you to be up early?”

His eyes fell to his datapad as he locked the screen and tilted it towards himself.

“Alan.” She warned, dropping her voice and narrowing her eyes at him.

He pouted, sighing as he looked up to her, “Please don’t get mad?”

Shifting over to sit on the arm of the sofa, she folded her arms, “What have you been up to?”

Still watching the tablet in his lap, he sighed heavily, “I was playing on the simulators, seeing if I could beat John’s high score.”

Raising an eyebrow, Val tilted her head, “And did you?”

“Turns out I couldn’t actually find what his score was.” Alan huffed, “So, I don’t know.”

From what Lucy had been saying, and from what she had seen herself, it was entirely possible that Alan could have at least matched John’s score.

Not that she was going to tell him that yet.

“How about, when we get back home you and me will have a go on the full simulator?” She offered, “Show the others what you’re made of.”

He sat straighter immediately, “Really? We can?”

If he had have been younger she would have ruffled his hair, but Alan was too big for that now. Too old to be treated like the youngest without protest.

“You’ll fly Three Kid, I’ll make sure of it.”

She didn’t add that if Lee didn’t pull his finger out it might have been sooner than any of them had expected.

***

Anger had been the prominent feature on Scott’s face when she had arrived at the hospital and told him Lee was gone.

That had quickly been followed by rushed, tense words and a show of storming out of the room with a promise to find him.

Val had been left with Lucy, silently praying that her sister-in-law would forgive her for letting her little brother slip away as he had. She didn’t doubt her best friend would understand, Lucy had always said how stubborn and pigheaded he was. They had all clashed with him one time or another.

He’d never gone completely off the grid before though.

Never vanished off silently in the early hours without anyone noticing.

“He must hate me Luce,” She sighed, “First your parents, then the baby, now you. What kind of wife is also a bad luck charm?”

A gentle tut from the doorway made her turn, Hugh nodded to her once as he stepped into the room, hair scruffier than ever but shirt ironed to perfection.

“Tell her Luce,” He muttered as he eased down into the chair on the other side of the bed, “How could she ever be bad luck?”

She eyed him across the bed, Hugh knew the story, had sat and drunk whiskey with her over it one night when the weather had been cold and the memories painful. Both had shared their stories, been reminded that they weren’t the only one in the world to feel like they had been at fault for losing someone dear to them.

“Lee’s gone, Hugh.” She uttered, “Without a trace.”

He nodded, leaning back in the seat and resting his feet on the edge of the mattress, “That’s not on you though.”

She could have disagreed, insisted that she should have seen it coming and should have spoken to him to stop it.

Something on her face must have given her away.

“Val,” Hugh chided softly, “Lee has made his choice. Just because he feels differently from the rest of us isn’t an excuse for him to run away. Our focus here is Lucy.”

Looking back to the bed, she took a breath. Lucy was still pale, eyes black, burns hidden beneath the swathes of bandages.

“Do you blame yourself?” She whispered, not looking to Hugh as she took her friends bandaged hand.

“Every damn day.”

It was easy to guess as much, Hugh cared for Lucy, more than just as a friend. He had been there for her when Jeff had vanished and it seemed like since then he had never left her side, even if they did live on the opposite sides of the world.

Hugh wasn’t Jeff though.

And Lucy wasn’t one for always listening to what others told her.

“You shouldn’t,” She looked up to him, knowing that he would be watching Lucy, “Nothing would have persuaded her to get out of there.”

Val knew it was only easy for her to say because at the time she hadn’t been there and she hadn’t known what had been going on. She could guess that was equally part of the reason Hugh was blaming himself.

“I should have dragged her out sooner, she could have died Val.”

She didn’t voice the thought that Lucy wasn’t out of the woods yet. Hugh no doubt knew that anyway.

“She was desperate to know about Jeff,” Val countered instead, “My guess is that nothing would have got her out of there.”

Nothing but the answers she needed to hear.

Hugh closed his eye as he shook his head, reaching out to rest his hand over Lucy’s as he sighed. Something that looked like pain crossed his features as he bowed his head.

“Hugh? What is it?”

His lips pursed as he looked up to her, his eye dark and exhausted. She could see the fear there, the look of a man that had almost lost everything and was terrified of losing what he did have left.

Val knew how to wear the exact same look.

“We won’t lose her.” She assured, smile tight as she looked back to Lucy.

Hugh snorted as he sighed again, “That’s the problem Val, I think I already have.”

#thunderbirds are go #Thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds fanfic #Scott Tracy #Aunt Val #Lee Taylor #Hugh Creighton-Ward #scribbles writes #Left Behind Part 1 #Left Behind Part 2 #Left Behind Part 3

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black-moon-raven · 4 years

Text

I will do anything to protect my sister, even if it means dying for her or lying to her.

✦————————————✦

[Name] : Oswald Baskerville

[Alias] :

Oz-kun

Oswald-san

nii-sama / onii-chan (by Ianna)

Transfer Student

Problem Child

Newbie

Dark Knight

[Race] : Human

[Gender] : Male

[Age] : ??? ( appearance of 16 years )

[Birthday] : April 20

[Starsign] : Aries

[Blood Type] : -O

[Dominant Hand] : right hand

✦————————————✦

PROFESSIONAL STATUS:

[Status] : Alive

[Affiliation] : Night Raven College

[Dormitory] : Ramshackle Dorm

[Year] : 1st year

[Occupation] : Student

[Favorite Subject] : Flight

[Disliked Subject] : History Magic

✦————————————✦

APPEARANCE INFORMATION:

[Hair] : black

[Eyes] : blue

[Height] : 1,92

[Weight] : 63 kg

[Appearance] :

Oswald is described as an attractive young man, looking almost like a Dark Knight. He is a man with a tall stature, thin waist, broad shoulders with blue clear eyes and disorderly jet-black hair thas goes white at the ends. He is always smiling although he can sometimes be seen with a serious eye.

His uniform consists of a black blazer and skirt with gold accents, a white shirt under the gray sweater and brown shoes, he wears a black and white tie, and has the magic crystal in the center of the tie. Like is sister he also wears a pair of blue earrings.

✦————————————✦

PERSONAL INFORMATION :

[Family] :

Unnamed Father ( unknown )

Unnamed Mother ( unknown )

Ianna : Younger Twin Sister (alive)

[Personality] :

Oswald is always happy and overly optimistic. He can be serious on occasion, but is usually highly active and cheerful. He appears to be kind and simple, but is actually clever and highly manipulative. Something else to note about Oswald in particular is that he can give a sharp gaze that appears as if he is looking right through someone and at their true selves.

As reincarnations pass, his love for Ianna has prolonged until the very end - as he considers nothing to be more important than Ianna's safety. Throughout his existence however, he's grown attached to numerous others and devotes his care to them almost equally. The lengths that he's willing to go to in order to ensure the safety of those he cares for is far more than enough to prove his need to protect .

[Background]:

Oswald in his first life was raised by his parents and twin sister Ianna. He was a curious and protective child of his younger sister, and he would do anything to spend most of his time with her to make her smile. A calm and peaceful life, or at least it had been in the beginning. At the time Oswald was born, Ianna was considered to be Child of Ill Omen. As a Child of Ill Omen, Ianna's existence attracted misfortunes causing unspecified difficulties for her and him during childhood, but that didn't stop their happiness, not until this cruel world for her sister decides to kill him and his parents. in front of her. With despair and stress at seeing such a scene Ianna gets out of control and ends up destroying everything around her.

In the following lives the same events were repeated, Ianna lived happily with Oswald but then he died and with that Ianna either committed suicide or lost control of herself and destroyed everything. An endless cycle, Oswald came to blame himself for not being able to protect Ianna when he saw her becoming more and more depressed with the passing of reincarnations and losing her radiant smile. He started to notice that his sister was already going crazy just like him due to the cycle of events, he wondered why it had to be them.

Oswald was noticing that with the passing of reincarnations Ianna started to have an unstable or broken personality due to the extreme stress and pressure she had when protecting “her world” but she never managed to, it was always the same ending. As a last resort of events, she began to lose or forget those memories that caused her pain as a way to escape. What she didn't know is that Oswald was making her forget those memories and not her. Oswald wanted to see Ianna's radiant smile again and he was able to do everything for that even if it means lying to her or killing to protect her and her smile.

Oswald lived with Ianna and her parents in Twisted Wonderland, as Ianna no longer had many memories of the past, at least the ones that caused her pain, she had been the same, smiling and having fun, she had even made two new friends. who were brothers, seeing how everything had returned to normal Oswald was happy, but as Child of Ill Omen she would always be a Child of Ill Omen unfortunately. One day Oswald's parents told him why they reincarnated (yes because their parents also reincarnated), the reason they reincarnated was due to a curse of residing in some family members or at least that's what they thought, as the family was cursed they are not known, but they believe the reason for the curse is for a greater good in the future. Oswald even though he knew now, he continued to question why it had to be them and why they had to make Ianna suffer. Days later when he was in the tower with Ianna playing with her dolls and him looking out the window. Oswald sees his mother running towards the tower and climbing the stairs and warns Oswald and Ianna to run away, Ianna didn't know why but Oswald did, someone was coming to kill Ianna or to take her due to her powers that had been discovered days ago before when Ianna had been upset with some people for speaking ill of her best friends and hurting them. Their mother with the last remaining strength uses magic to take Ianna and Oswald to another world and change Ianna's memories, she says goodbye and asks Oswald to protect Ianna as was always.

When Oswald wakes up he realizes that he is in another world, apparently he was in an orphanage at the beginning he was confused but then he realized that his mother's magic made them fit in with the world they were in that there was no magic or at least that was what he thought . The memories that Ianna had had been changed to memories of the world in which they were as a way for her to forget everything, and Oswald was pleased with that because he did not want to see his sad sister again. Ianna and Oswald were growing up in the orphanage and as they grew up Ianna was having heart problems and went to a hospital where she spent most of the time now, she was stuck and could not leave. Oswald worked to earn money for the operation to Ianna's heart. One day Oswald was returning from working with a gift for Ianna when he started to hear a voice that seemed familiar, he was not paying attention and has an accident where he “dies”, that same day Ianna has a heart transplant. that was the heart of her heart because if anything happens to her he would be the giver for her. Oswald was in a dark place when he started hearing the familiar voice again, it was familiar because it was his mother's voice, his mother explains that their real body was not actually in the world they were in, but in Twisted Wonderland, she in her last moments took their souls to another world and their bodies had been taken to another side where they were being protected until they "died" for their souls after they returned to Twisted Wonderland. Oswald was confused for a few moments with the explanation because only he had "died". His mother later explains that it is enough for Ianna to want to escape the "real" world for her soul to return, it was very likely that Ianna would forget the things of the "real" world. Oswald started to feel heavy and his mother said it was about time. When Oswald wakes up he is in a coffin and does not know the reason for being in one until he hears his sister's voice on the other side, talking to someone, when he leaves the coffin he realizes that he and Ianna were in he returns to his true world, which made him happy but at the same time worried, but that didn't matter to him now because he wanted to see his sister. When he and his sister stood in front of the mirror, sweat started running down his back because he was worried if Ianna and his powers were discovered, to his surprise the mirror said that they had no magic and that they didn't even belong in this world. What made him question himself.The headmaster asked them some questions and decided to let them live in an old dormitory that had no use. Later the headmaster told them that they were going to do some odd jobs as a way to pay for their residence. (And the rest of you already know about the game's prologue.)

His and Ianna's story may change when the game is released.

✦————————————✦

[Fun Facts]:

[Likes] :

Ianna (her younger twin sister)

sweets

animals

music

[Dislikes] :

stew

hear people talking badly about his sister

[Hobbies] :

write songs

play games

[Fears] : see her sister die in front of him

[Weakness]: sister

[Favorite Food] : Strawberry cake

[Least Favorite Food] : Stew

[Favorite Drink] : Black coffee

[Least Favorite Drink] : tea

[Talents] : write songs

[Unique Magic] : Eyes of True

Oswald unique magic is called Eyes of True, as the name implies, when Oswald activates this magic his eyes can see other people's true intentions. Oswald created this magic as a way of knowing if people are trustworthy or if they have other intentions inside. He can also get people to tell the truth if they look him in the eye.

[ADDITIONAL FACTS] :

[Trivia]:

Oswald's name is derived from Old English “god" and "rule”.

Oswald is perhaps is a little siscon. He loves his sister to the point of doing everything to make her happy, even if it means erasing her memories to forget the pain, lie to her or kill for her.

He cared about Ianna deeply, and blamed himself for the fact that Ianna was born a Child of Ill Omen.

Oswald and Ianna are cursed. The curse they both have is the curse of reincarnation. It is not known or certain why they have this curse, but every time they die they always reincarnate, and with the memories of the past.

Oswald is always the first to die and with his death, Ianna loses control of herself. She tries to destroy everything or she goes into extreme depression or in many cases she kills herself or tries to escape from reality.

Like Ianna, Oswald is very curious and has an impulse to touch the things that make him also curious.

Oswald even with the passing of the reincarnations he never changed his personality or the way of seeing the world, the only thing that may have changed is perhaps the fact that he is more siscon and protective towards Ianna.

Oswald is the only one who manages to calm Ianna, when she is with her attacks of anger.

Oswald is a morning person and he usually wakes up Ianna in the morning and does her hair.

Oswald does not allow any boy with a romantic interest in Ianna to approach her.(siscon)

Oswald rarely gets angry but when he does it's better to be careful because he is just like Ianna when angry, and having a second angry Ianna is not a good thing.

Oswald is very social with everyone and likes to make new friends. Of course, he makes new friends. He analyzes people to see if they have other interactions in his "friendship". Oswald has a very sharp gaze and people say that when he looks like that he looks like he is looking into the person's soul to see the real person.

Oswald does not like to drink tea, but when Ianna makes tea he drinks because it was prepared by her and not to disappoint her or make her sad for refusing.(siscon)

Oswald and Ianna are initially hated by some NRC students for being in school without having any magic. Later on, when both of them wielded their powers, that hate became fear (especially they were afraid of Ianna) because now the two twins could take revenge if they wanted to, now no one messes with them unless they want to die in their hands.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst #oc's #oc #disney twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland oc #twst wonderland #disney twisted #oc´s #Oswald Baskerville

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fuckingthefictional · 4 years

Text

Cross my heart- Part 5

Warnings: war related violence (death, murder, injuries, PTSD), swearing.

A/N: this was uploaded a while ago but as of now (3rd jan) it deleted itself and I’ve had to try and rewrite it from memory, so apologies if it’s shit.

“Sergeant Fenton, you will report for duty at 0600 hours tomorrow morning.”

“Yes sir. Who will I be with?”

“Solo Mission Sergeant. You will be flying over a suspected German camp across the battlefield. You will either confirm or deny our suspicions by reporting back to us.”

“Yes Sir.”

She hated solo missions, they were about ten times more likely to end in death. She just hoped to any God that may listen that she was kept safe.

“Why’d you have to go?”

“Because they asked me John- I’m not going to be shot up a post for cowardice and disobeying orders”

“Look- just stay safe Liza.”

“I will, you stay safe too- I’ll be back soon I promise.”

She hoped for John’s sake that she did come back soon, even though she had already accepted her own death and was prepared for what was to come.

It was safe to say that she was not prepared for this, a simple flight observation task she was prepared for- but not a crash in German territories.

The atmosphere was seemingly black, as the smoke levitated off of the fiery wreck of the plane.

She was disorientated and in pain. It hurt, her leg was leaking warm thick blood. It painted her hands and stained her flight suit.

Her foot was being pinned down by a heavy piece of the planes’ body, while further up her leg there was a deep gash with some jagged metal buried in it. She’d given up with trying to take it out, as every time she tried it pushed deeper into her flesh.

She didn’t know what to do. She was in enemy land with no way of communicating that she was down. She was as good as dead- but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Not if she could help it.

She slowly began to pull her foot from the heavy trap as she bit down on her flight suit to mute her screams of pain.

She felt a release and looked down to see her leg was now free. There was a sense of relief as she shuffled back on her bottom away from the crash site.

Until she felt something hard it her back, something that didn’t feel like a tree. But more resembled a pair of boots and legs, she looked up and towering over her was a soldier.

He’d obviously been the one to investigate the site to see if there was anyone to be found. It was obvious that the German soldier wasn’t expecting to see a girl before him and was apparently in a state of potential shock.

She took the chance while she could, as she took out a pocket knife and plunged it into the mans neck.

She was sprayed in blood. She’d just killed a man- someone who’s parents, siblings, wife and children were probably waiting for to come home. Only for it to be destroyed by her.

She wanted to vomit up her insides, the sight of the older man with dead eyes made her stomach churn uneasily.

But she had to survive. Using her wits, she stripped him of his uniform and swapped hers with his.

She dragged his body to the wreckage and tossed his body into the flames. The fire rose higher with the new sustenance that it had been presented. There- now it looked as if you had died on impact.

47 men. 47 people who were never going to see their families again because of her.

The camp was now eerily quiet and it set her teeth on edge. It was now a ghost town and all life was gone- it was silent.

Her leg was numb now and her head had become woozy from blood loss. She had a few more additions to her list of injuries- a bullet wound here and there, she was in unspeakable pain as she found herself stumbling around as the world before her became disorientated and a mere blur.

But she refused to give up, she thought about Harry and John and how she promised them that she would make it back.

The thoughts of her brother fueled her determination, Harry had always said- when in doubt, trust your gut. So she did.

Scrape. Pat.

The sounds of the shovelling were starting to drive her to a state of insanity. She had been stuck in the German’s tapper tunnel for what felt like a year- but was really only 32 hours.

She threw the soil behind her, as she kept limping forward. Every inch of her ached, it burnt in agony- and all she wanted to do was succumb to the darkness and join the 47 she had murdered.

But she refused, she kept digging as she hoped and prayed for a way out.

Her prayer was answered when she heard muted voices. Pressing her ear up against the compact soil, she concluded that the voices were speaking English.

This only fueled her encouragement, as she begun to dig faster and the dirt walls crumbled away. Finally a dim light enveloped the pitch black that she had been in for all those hours.

She was free.

And then she was thrown against a wall, she struggled against the strong force as her head cracked against a wooden support beam.

She was panicking and this only intensified when she spotted the glint of a silver blade.

She just had time to move her body slightly to the left before the knife plunged into her shoulder. She screamed out in pain.

“I’m fucking English!” She shouted, “Stop!”

The man’s blue eyes had been filled with confusion and frantic frenzy. She could have fucking swore she recognised those eyes.

“Why you wearing a fuckin’ German uniform then?” A different man who was pointing a gun at her head spoke up.

“Look if you go through the tunnel you’ll find 47 dead Germans.” She stammered, “I killed them- there’s also an allies plane, it’s mine I was shot down.”

The men seemed to confer with eachother as they decided to take the trek and see if their ‘captive’ was being truthful.

The next time she woke up she was in a bed, bandages wrapped around various parts of her body.

Her entire body ached and it was only when a nurse entered the room that she realised she was in a hospital room.

The nurse informed her of the injuries she’s had, a shattered kneecap, 3 bullet wounds, a stab wound to the shoulder, and gash in her thigh, a near cracked skull.

And yet the thing that hurt most wasn’t physical, it was the news that she had been honourably discharged from her airforce squadron.

She felt worthless, like all her effort and time that she had invested was just gone.

She had written to John and Harry, explaining what had happened and how she felt unsure of the future.

And then she was shipped off to a rehabilitation centre for recovering soldiers. It was nice to get some time away- where she could learn to walk properly and to heal up.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“Miss Fenton, please sit down.”

“It’s Sergeant!”

“Sorry, Sergeant Fenton, Please sit down.”

“You’ve taken everything from me!” She cried, “and your biggest issue is that I’m not sat down?”

“We apologise. It just isn’t appropriate to give you an award for your services.”

“My services? It was not my job to become partially disabled and to nearly get killed.” She began to rant, “You said this would be over by Christmas years ago! And here you all are, sat in comfy offices. As we’re fighting for our country and laying down our lives only to you not giving give a shit!”

“That is enough!”

“It is the fucking truth- and you would be shot for cowardice!”

“We are going to ask you to leave.”

“Gladly!”

It was the letter that arrived two weeks later, that letter was the needle that broke the horses back- the letter that informed her that Thomas Shelby, her saviour, had received extra medals for her services.

Harry woke up to the screams again, Eliza wasn’t coping at all. And it broke his spirit to see his little sister struggle like this.

Eliza was beginning to lose sleep as well, she was beginning to lose her functioning side of logic.

That became apparent when John ordered a drink at the bar and it was apparent that Eliza had not heard him.

“Liza?” John waved his hand in front of her face.

Eliza finally came back into the present. It was obvious that she wasn’t sleeping well as the dark circles under her eyes popped out and the pale shade of her skin made her look ill.

“You look shit.” John said bluntly

“I can’t do this anymore- I’m not sleeping, I’m barely functioning.” She began to tear up.

John took her out from behind the bar and took her to the private room, so that his friend could cry in her own space.

She sobbed as John held her frame, he put her on his lap as he rocked them both in an attempt to calm Eliza down. It barely worked but soon enough her heavy sobs were replaced with quiet sniffles.

“Talk to me Liza.”

“It’s Tommy- I’m falling for him and I can’t stop myself.” She sighed and rubbed her face, “but the fucking history between us.”

“What history El?”

She began to unbutton her blouse as she pulled down the fabric to show the old stab wound that ran along the junction between her shoulder and collarbone - It was long and jagged and it stood out against the milky skin.

“He was the one in the tunnel that night, the one who attacked and stabbed me.” She shook violently, “I’m falling for him but every time I look into his damn eyes all I can see is the knife and the pain.”

John just kissed her head, as his own tears began to spike at his eyes.

The door flung open, Eliza didn’t realise how wrong the position they were in looked. What with her hair messy and her button undone all while being sat on John’s lap.

It became even worse when she realised who had just walked in. It was Tommy. He looks furious and betrayed.

“So this is why we couldn’t be together Aye?” He spat, “Because you’re whoring around with me brother. You’re a fuckin’ slag Eliza.” He turned and left as Eliza frantically scrambled to her feet in an attempt to explain.

But it was too late, he had left.

She’d added another injury to her list in that moment- fucking heartbreak.

#cross my heart #tommy shelby x oc #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby #thomas shelby #thomas shelby x oc #thomas shelby x reader #Peaky Blinders #PeakyBlinders #peaky fookin blinders

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halorocks1214 · 4 years

Text

the law of relativity

AO3 Link

Word Count: 9963

Summary: The Law of Relativity states that each person will receive a series of problems (‘tests of initiation’) for the purpose of strengthening the ‘light’ within. We must consider each of these tests to be a challenge and remain connected to our hearts when proceeding to solve the problems. This law also teaches us to compare our problems to others’ problems and put everything into its proper perspective. No matter how bad we perceive our situation to be, there is always someone who is in a worse position. It is all relative

Previous Parts (in order): Alan | Virgil | You are here! | Gordon

WHY 👏🏼 CANT 👏🏼 I 👏🏼 WRITE 👏🏼 FICS 👏🏼 IN 👏🏼 MO 👏🏼 DER 👏🏼 RATION 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 also just bluuuergh. dont ask about this fic. part of it was written in a dark auditorium, another was written in a different state, another was written on a frickin bus, this fic has been places ill tell you what. half the time i think this is hot garbage and the other half i think its actually decent so im posting this while my head is in a good headspace and then promptly yeeting myself off the internet for a few hours to wait and see what happens. this series is becoming less of a canon divergence AU and more of a straight-up AU because of certain details im trying to worm in there buT IM TRYING MY BEST

thanks once more to @gumnut-logic, because of the length, this time i used three prompts, them being "What do you mean?", crease, and dream (and they werent even used that much sksksksk)

Warnings for both graphic and non-graphic depictions of violence, as well as mentions of torture and other PTSD/panic attack related stuff. I went deep with this one fellas

Orphan.

The word tasted dirty in his mouth.

He can still see the footage in the backs of his eyelids from when he watched it exactly one year ago. He was the only other (living) adult at the time in the family outside of Grandma, so he was permitted to see it. He remembered they originally didn’t want to show him, mainly because of his age, but Grandma was fierce, and she put one hell of an argument on the table.

One Scott refused to let fall through the cracks by breaking down. If only Grandma knew how he cried his eyes out and screamed to high heaven that night in the hotel room after essentially watching his father be blown to bloody smithereens then she was a goddamn saint for keeping it a secret. It made sense, she was the mother to his father. She had quite the line up of stories from Jeff’s childhood. Scott sensed the early-greying of his hair came from her, heh.

The rest of his family eventually saw it, of course, they did. Scott couldn’t shield them forever. What he will protect, selfishly he might add, was how angry he was at how much better they took it than he did. They cried, yes they did, but they never fully broke down like Scott did. Later in life, he wondered if it was jealousy: jealousy at not truly being able to let go. Whatever it was, he made sure to swallow it along with whatever alcohol he chose for the weekend.

Just add it to the ever-growing pile of shit he had to deal with. Nothing new.

Suddenly he’s 20 again and seated in a plane to be taken to his first stint in the Air Force. He said his goodbyes to Virgil, Gordon, and Alan back at home while Grandma and John metaphorically held his hand all the way to the airport. John was… quiet, more so than usual, but Grandma was stuck right in the middle between being a sobbing mess and ecstatic at the fine young man he’s become.

You’re just like your father. He would be proud.

Scott was secretly glad she never physically said it. It gave him plausible deniability in thinking that those words weren’t laced behind her big, bright, prideful eyes.

The first time went well, maybe even great. He stayed for a couple of months, did some flight tests, and while the training was brutal, boy did he learn a lot. When he came back home it was to a family slowly stitching itself back together. Grandma was a full-time house member, Virgil had taken up painting, Gordon talked about potentially going back to his swim meets, and while Alan was still as silent as ever, he was perkier than when Scott last saw him.

It would be on and off for the next few years: a couple of months at home, slowly and painfully taking over the role their father had (he can’t remember when he essentially received joint custody of his younger siblings with Grandma, but hey, he’s not complaining), then a couple of months out at the Air Force base where he slowly climbed up the ranking platform. He became skillful, perhaps too skillful. When he got his rank of Captain he felt it was less of an honor and more of something they owed him.

He was getting cocky. Never enough to be a danger to his fellow men, but enough to be somewhat of an occasional annoyance. Charles smacked him upside the head more than once. It felt like the world was right-side-up for once. Scott made many-a-calls to John and Virgil, the former enjoying his first few rotations up in space and the latter squarely in the middle of college. Gordon was being offered sponsorships to hell and back, and Alan was quietly getting along with the other kids at his school. Grandma was on welcoming duty for Kayo, who was taking her slot in the Tracy family with grace, though, a warning that their family would take custody of her if something were to happen to her parents would have been nice, Dad.

Of course, nothing ever goes right for their family for too long.

Orphan.

Age 24, it was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission of civilians. Scott was put in charge of his squad and then some. At night, they rolled-- well, flew out to get the job done. Scott can’t even remember the country anymore when minding his own business. Australia? Finland? Perhaps Bangladesh? There was a place John was insistent Scott never do rescues in, Virgil tended to agree, and the eldest unhealthily let them banish him from ever stepping foot there without argument. He could never remember the name off the top of his head until John’s familiar International Rescue, we have a situation rung out in the living room followed by the name of the country.

He would immediately forget it later, trauma too strong, too volatile, but the way his heart stopped and his head shattered and the way he felt ice water rush down his back was a good enough reason to quietly leave the room and let John delegate the job to one of his brothers. Sometimes John found him retching in the toilet halfway through the mission. He made sure to always mute Scott’s wrist communicator, even if it was never turned on in the first place.

The plane touched down. Orders sent the ground team out. But then the ground team took longer than estimated. Scott tensely waited where he was told to. It wasn’t the first mission that took a little longer than predicted and knowing humans, it surely wouldn’t be the last. Then, words mixed with heavy static came over the radio. H--p. Co-- ---7--. --nd ba---p --me--at--y.

Scott sat tensely in his seat, remembering his orders and suddenly hating them. Radio back to home if the mission goes south. Well, it didn’t look like they had the radio anymore. Still didn’t hurt to try at least. Scott spoke the familiar protocol that was ingrained into him when trying to call base. Dammit. Nothing. Probably some kind of blocker of sorts. Sitting up straight as a board, Scott looked through his options.

… He was in charge here. If something happened to his team the fault would lie squarely on his shoulders. Going against everything but his gut, he went out to help his squad. He can’t really remember what he exactly did anymore, but he does remember that it made a noise. Like a Looney Tunes scene: he flinched, froze, waited to see if anything or one heard, breathed a sigh of relief, and continued.

He eventually stumbled across one of his closest comrades, Arnold Brigeets. Yes, the name was ironic and half the reason he joined the force in the first place. The guy was one of the people that actually trained Scott and also seemed to be one of the few that was genuinely proud when Scott became a higher rank. It’s why Scott was more appreciative of Arnold than others, that, and well… Scott thought his fatherly abilities were good. The guy did have three kids back home.

Orphan.

Ducking down behind the cover his older friend was semi-situated behind, Scott watched as Arnold jumped at the intrusion before sighing. Scott had run into some enemies that he swiftly took down-- nothing too serious, he didn’t have the time or weapons for such an act, but they definitely would be out of it for a while-- so Arnold must have too on his way to find cover as well, hence why he was so on edge.

“Thank God,” Arnold wiped his forehead, “Glad to see you join us, kid.”

Scott was breathing heavily, but the grin he attempted was still there, “Y-Yeah, so what happened? More threats than we thought?”

Arnold shook his head, “Yes and no. There were a lot more baddies than we thought, but that’s because the civilians weren’t civilians. It’s a tr--”

Boom. The familiar sound of a gunshot.

Arnold fell over. Never got back up. Dropped like a rock in a lake, never to come up to the surface again.

Scott was so caught off guard he couldn’t react to the gun that swiftly beat him over the head, knocking him out cold. The only thing on his mind was oh fuck oh fuck I messed up I shouldn’t have come I wouldn’t have made any noise that way why did I--

They had him for roughly two weeks. Scott always thought the plotline in movies where the villain vehemently denied knowing any important information was dumb as hell. We’re not stupid. We wouldn’t go after someone if they didn’t know something.

The things they did hurt and no amount of I don’t fucking know anything! would help. Those two weeks were lost to Scott in a sea of pain and torment. The only thing he remembered was being captured, then waking up in a hospital drugged up to his gills with his superiors staring at him like he cured cancer.

“You saved the rest of your squad from sharing the same fate as the first half.”

“I-I did?”

“You betcha, son. I only wish I was there to see it! People be saying you were like an animal in how you took ‘em all down.”

Scott’s never remembered, and he wanted to keep it that way.

He was given the highest honors, even the chance to skip a couple of ranks to be at the same level as the big boys, but the night they were going to share the news to the golden boy himself, they found him in one of the bathrooms with a bloody hand and a mirror shattered with no hope of fixing it.

He was honorably discharged to a family that was so thankful he was home. Words like missing in action and POA never stopped haunting their nightmares. Scott was too, God, of course, he was, but sitting around and doing nothing was the last thing his traumatized mind wanted or maybe even needed. After doing what he considered to be the biggest fuck-up of his life, he needed to feel important.

This isn’t the first time he’ll say this and it surely won’t be the last: thank Christ for Grandma.

“You want me to take over?...”

“Yep, it’s about time Tracy Industries received a new pair of eyes. The Board certainly thinks so.”

“But… they’d rather have a crazy, PTSD-infected veteran over you?”

A rough pinch to his ear, “Hey now, don’t call yourself that,” the gentle motherly tone was back as soon as it left, “Besides, that crazy might exactly be what they want. Half of their argument is that I “don’t take enough risks.” They’re getting tired of listening to an old fart like me.”

A moment of contemplation, followed by the cheeky raise of an eyebrow, “So you’re saying you want me to take so many risks they have no choice but to take you back?”

A bark of laughter, “Damn straight.”

He learned the ropes faster than normal (healthy, is probably the correct term), and he immediately won the hearts of both young and old in the company. Instead of flying planes every few months, he worked on business reports and vetoed new ideas every couple of weeks. It felt satisfying for the most part, and his family was just happy he was still alive to enjoy it.

However, there was a slight roadblock on his way to becoming a somewhat stable person.

He became prone to violent blackouts. It had to have started when he blacked out and saved himself from those two weeks of hell, which made the most sense. Something was always destroyed when he came back to life. John was the best at calming him down due to his own experience with panic attacks, however, John couldn’t always be there, and the next rotation for NASA was coming swiftly. Scott swore up and down he would be fine, he could figure something out. John went back into space with an eyebrow permanently raised.

It was just him and Virgil home (Grandma had taken Alan and Kayo to watch Gordon swim) when he, unfortunately, proved John right. Scott wasn’t sure what triggered it, but he vividly remembered coming back in Virgil’s extremely tight hold. The first thing Scott thought to say was damn, beanstalk, when did you get so strong? but then he laid his eyes upon the forming bruise on his younger bro’s face and hasn’t recovered since.

Virgil swore he never held it against Scott. Scott definitely thought he should have.

That night brought sudden clarity to Scott that he was doing this horribly wrong. He was a ticking time bomb, and it wouldn’t be long before something was damaged in a way that couldn’t be fixed. Scott needed an anchor. Something to ground him before he took it too far. John wasn’t going to be earthside forever, Grandma was busy with Kayo, Alan was just a kid, and Gordon was living the dream. None of them were viable.

Then, as he was thinking, he was suddenly aware of how calming Virgil’s arms were around him, how they were preventing the growing panic attack in his chest from getting even bigger.

It was easy.

For once in Scott’s life, his eyes were big and young as he asked Virgil, “Help me, please.”

After a few brief seconds, Virgil gulped, “Okay.”

From then on, Virgil was Stone Number One. Scott’s admiration for Virgil outweighed the guilt of putting the black-haired man in that position in the first place. Virgil was glad to follow his older brother’s leadership, but just as qualified to bring him the hell back when he went too far. From getting too sacrificial to preventing a good punching-out some of the idiots they dealt with, Virgil made sure Scott knocked that shit off.

Time went on, Scott was a top-notch CEO at Tracy Industries, John was having one hell of a time up in space, Virgil was graduated and had so many life opportunities to pick from, Alan was thriving at being a (mostly) stable kid, Kayo was 100% acclimated to the family, and Gordon--

Scott found himself gripping the wooden desk very abruptly. He was shocked he didn’t snap a chunk off in the process. Why was he thinking about this right after a giant business conference? Who knows at this point. If this giant origin story seemed jagged and jumpy, maybe even somewhat vague, good, that’s how it fucking felt.

Back to said story.

Scott always thought he and Gordon would have the least amount in common.

They do, but out of all the things they could have picked to be similar, why did it have to be the PTSD caused by military-related jobs? Scott was 24 when he got his, Gordon was just under 20. It may have been a few years since their respective accidents, but they’re never going to go another day without it feeling like it was just yesterday.

At this point, Gordon was up and walking again, mainly thanks to John and Alan while Virgil and Scott helped in their own ways. Grandma’s cooking was what probably motivated him the most though, ha, the need to get away from it… Scott smiled. Grandma was always a constant. Honestly, if it weren’t for her, the family might have fallen apart. Literally.

What has he been saying throughout this whole shindig? Thank Christ for Grandma.

One day out of the blue, Grandma reserved the entire family (yes, even Kayo and Alan) private plane tickets so they could spend some time on the mainland for a few days. Honestly, even if the island wasn’t getting major renovations, you hooligans need to get out more. Have some fun. Try not to kill anything, especially each other, she all told them while creepily grinning. John and Virgil smacked Gordon more than once on the plane for insisting that she finally snapped, dudes, she’s gonna kill us.

Most of the time during their little vacation, Scott heavily focused on his breathing. He was pretty sure he knew what she was doing. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous, but the same went for his excitement.

Dad showed him these plans the day after his 18th birthday. You’re a man now, Scotty, I need your help making this big boy decision with me.

As soon as they reset foot down on the island, Scott took a deep breath and felt relaxed at the salty taste in the air. It was weird, nothing on the outside was changed, and yet… it still felt different.

“Guys!” Virgil yelled out, “Stop playing in the water! We just got back, aren’t you two tired?!”

Blinking back to reality, Scott looked over to see his two youngest brothers doing exactly what Virgil was yelling at them for. Poor Johnny was a little damp too, which is what probably caused Virgil to shout at them in the first place. The blondes didn’t care. They continued to prance around in the shallow waves with their pants legs rolled up, acting as if they didn’t hear anything outside of their laughter. Gordon shoved his hands down into the liquid and threw some directly at Alan, nailing him right in the face.

Scott exhaled slowly. He couldn’t imagine them doing this 8 years ago.

Regardless, the artist was right, and they couldn’t waste too much time. Kayo was swift in grabbing both gentlemen by the ears and dragging them onto dry land. They all painstakingly trekked their way up to the-- what would you call Tracy Island? Mansion? Over-blown cabin? Well, whatever it was, Scott would always be willing to call it home.

Stepping inside, each brother took in the view, which was underwhelmingly not that much different, except for one tiny thing. John suddenly noticed a figure already standing in the living room and blinked, “No way… it’s--”

Gordon jumped in, both with his body and his words, “Brains?! Dude, how’s it hanging?!”

The scientist in question jumped at the voices before clearing his throat and readjusting his glasses, “O-Oh, hello again, T-Tracys. It’s good to see you all once more.”

Virgil slung an arm around his shoulder, ignoring the blatant squawk, “Man, how long has it been?! What made you finally decide to crawl out of your hole?”

Snickers came from all corners of the house. Brains stood up straighter, “W-Well, I was contacted b-by Mrs. Tracy over here with an offer I c-couldn’t turn down.”

Eyebrows tilted in all shapes and sizes. Someone cleared their throat. Everyone turned to look at Grandma once again, “I think if you all follow me, you’ll swiftly understand what I’m talking about.”

I already do, Scott thought matter-of-factly. John seemed to be understanding it now, Virgil was on the cusp of remembering what his father was hinting at for him, and Gordon was just as lost as Alan. It made sense, Jeff talked to all of them about it, but the oldest had seniority. The two youngest not remembering just by words was expected, especially since that was going to be rectified very quickly.

The hangar under the island was beautiful. Point blank. It smelt of iron and steel and grease and engine and that was the first time since Scott had been in the Air Force that he didn’t gag or flinch at the thought of flying something again. Scott had seen the plans his father drew. He assumed Jeff finished building it, but he never got to physically see it since…

In some ways, he was glad he didn’t. Now he got to experience it with (most of) his family, and that made it ten times better.

After letting them absorb the scenery, Grandma slowly turned around to look at them all, “You remember that dream your father had?”

The four oldest blinked, Kayo simply raised her eyebrows, meanwhile, Alan, being the teenager he was, didn’t read the emotion in the room, “Oh, yeah! Aunt Casey always talked about how he was going to “change the world” and stuff. What did he call it again?”

Scott felt way more confident than he had in a while, “International Rescue.”

Grandma nodded, gleeful at the happy look on her oldest and youngest grandsons’ faces, “Well, I’ve been thinking about some things. I know we don’t exactly worry about money, but after everything your father put into these girls… I’d hate for them to go to waste.”

The Tracy family jumped at that. John’s mouth was wide open in shock, yes, shock, “That station is still up there?”

Grandma sighed, “You mean ‘Five? Not for long. Not if we don’t send someone up there within the next few days.”

John blushed at the grin Grandma gave him. Clearing his throat, his big brain came to a startling conclusion, “Wait… you brought Alan along?”

The other big brothers in the room jumped at that. Kayo was the only one with enough balls to say the truth out loud, “Mrs. Tracy, I mean no offense, but he’s--”

“Just a kid?” Grandma smirked, “A kid that’s topped the VR charts for Intergalactic Fury for weeks straight while simultaneously getting nothing but A’s in his classes?”

Scott nodded slowly in comprehension. He remembered Alan talking about that game for a while. It was some kind of online racing simulator of sorts. Scott caught the prettiest string of words from Alan when going to bed one night. Nearly made him shit his pants. He made the kid promise to keep it PG-13 if he wanted to keep playing.

Still, the elders in the family slowly turned to look at the freckled boy with both shock and pride. Alan blinked with wide-eyed innocence, “But my English class is only at a B--”

“Shh, kiddo, I’m making a point,” Grandma rolled her eyes. The other brothers snickered. Yep, still Alan. Grandma sighed, “Now before you point out that video games are different, I know, but the difference between them and this is that video games don’t have some of the most talented older brothers in the world to guide him.”

Said older brothers jumped at the idea. Before any objection could be made, Grandma continued, “Besides, the GDF seemed to be okay with it. The Colonel was willing to oversee some of his training too.”

John flinched at that, “But IR is supposed to be independent!”

Grandma slightly frowned. She didn’t exactly like it either, “It still is, but in the world of business, compromises have to be made.”

Virgil huffed and crossed his arms, “Well, that’s… rough. Here I thought only Scott would have to deal with the bullshit of business.”

Grandma chuckled at the somewhat un-Virgil-like behavior, “It really is, Virgil. But about that Scott part,” she slowly turned to look at him and him only, “I hate to give you more work to do, but if you want to work within their restrictions?”

Suddenly every pair of eyes in the room was on the head of the family. Gulping, Scott looked down at his feet to think. It was a tense few moments, nobody sure what he was going to decide, least of all him, before the brunette cleared his throat and brought his face back up with a grin.

“Well then,” Scott turned to look at the bright tip of ‘One, chest fluttering with a feeling that became unfamiliar to him over the past few years, “I guess now it’s time to state the obvious.”

From then on, every time he loaded into that cockpit of his girl, he felt lighter than air.

“Thunderbirds are GO!”

Everything was okay again.

Mostly.

Orphan.

Scott took another sip of his whiskey and refocused on his reports.

---

Scott was in some kind of dissociative state the whole way home.

Alan doesn’t deserve this. He’s still a kid, barely an adult, and he’s going to go through utter hell because you screwed up. You were 24, Gordon was just under 20, Alan was barely 18. Alan’s going to get fucked up like you and it’s all your fault.

His movements were robotic and rigid. Anyone with a working eye could tell he was deep in shock and running on autopilot. Mostly Jeff. Especially Jeff. The rest of the brothers all noticed too, but they were also running on their own empty fuel tanks, so the only thing they could do was guilty send their older brother the occasional glance of pity and concern.

Jeff was going to need to talk to them about that. Somehow. Maybe he shouldn’t be the one to point it out since he feels just as bad. His sons were too much like him, sometimes, and that made his guilt burn all the same. He should’ve been there to warn his sons about the dangers of unnecessary guilt. Having that kind of guilt was a parent’s job, dammit, and maybe grandparents only occasionally.

But then he remembered where he’s been for the past 8 years and… who really was Alan’s parents anymore? His gut was screaming it sure as hell isn’t you, but he knew his sons would want him to step back into the role as soon as he was physically fit to do so, not just for Alan, but for themselves as well. They would deny it, but they probably just wanted to be kids again too, even if it was only brief, fleeting moments.

Who was to tell the protective, fatherly side of Jeff no to that? No better time to fix things like the present after all.

He saw Scott go up the stairs when they first stepped into the living room, so that’s where Jeff was going to go too. Footsteps light, Jeff retraced his eldest’s pathway to his bedroom. Only, he stopped before said bedroom. Unfavorable noises were coming from the closed bathroom door, and Jeff could only swallow whatever emotion it made him feel. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the (unlocked) door to the bathroom and laid his eyes upon the incriminating scene.

Jeff was met with the sight of Scott retching his entire stomach into the toilet, hands aggressively grabbing his sticky, hair-gelled hair and trying to make himself bald from the strain.

Jeff’s reaction was always based on autopilot, and it will never stop being so.

Ignoring his protesting body, Jeff kneeled and placed a hand on his son’s back, only to abruptly pull back like he touched a hot stove when Scott only got more hysterical at the contact. The brunette clenched his eyes shut even more (and they were already shut as much as possible) while his head became a special kind of crease. Like he was in pain, “God, I wanna go home. Why won’t they listen I swear I’m telling the truth! Please, I just want Dad--”

Jeff was frozen on the spot, heart stopping in the process. His brain shut down while he watched his son continue to mindlessly ramble and panic. His freaked-out mind barely registered footsteps from behind in the hallway, followed by a voice going what’s going-- holy--

Something thundered past him. Blinking once, Jeff guiltily watched as Virgil kneeled behind the eldest and wrapped his arms around the thin man’s shoulders while taking Scott’s hands in his in a protective blanket, “Scott! Jesus-- we’re at home, you’re safe and it’s June 14th, 2--”

Scott only struggled more, panicking at the fact he could no longer yank his hair out. Dammit, it was the only way he could feel in control, don’t take that away too! “No! I swear I’ve said everything! Please--”

Virgil immediately knew that this was one of those attacks that Scott wasn’t coming back down from with pure human intervention. Add-on the sight of his father’s big eyes signifying the man was at a loss at what to do, Virgil had no choice. He snapped loudly, remembering the comms were still on and only feeling slightly bad at the way Scott flinched in his arms, “Shit-- John! It’s Scott! Get the stuff! We’re in the upstairs bathroom!”

Muffled footsteps through a few walls in the house could be heard. Jeff’s mind was only starting to catch up when the brother Virgil called for came rushing into the bathroom (Jeff never remembered it being big enough to hold four of them) and ignoring Jeff (practically shoving him out of the way too, man, this was bad) on his way to the main problem at hand. Landing on his knees in a way that made Jeff wince, John gently grabbed one of Scott’s arms from Virgil’s hold and subsequently pulled a needle from nowhere and injected something into Scott.

The response was instantaneous.

Scott’s breathing, while still labored, got slower. He stopped struggling as well, and the way he sagged reminded Jeff of ice melting into a puddle. The two other brothers’ shoulders also sagged, relieved at the crisis averted. John stood up, knees cracking as he rubbed the back of his neck. Then, he froze at the sight of something in the doorway, “G-Gordon…”

Virgil snapped his head up from where he was looking at Scott. Jeff did something similar. Yup, in the doorway was the strawberry blonde, eyes wide, making him younger by about 10 years. The ex-Olympian in question inhaled, closed his eyes, and soon speed-walked his way out of the entrance to the bathroom. Dammit, neither Gordon or Alan have seen something like that and it probably spooked him more than anything. He’d understand with his own PTSD-related issues, but still, seeing the “never weak” big brother freak out in such a scary way...

John combed a hand through his hair, shaking his head. As he started walking out of the room, he whispered to himself, probably hoping no one heard him, “Dammit, this is all so fucked…”

Unfortunately, Jeff did hear, and the dirty language made the father flinch. John was always the best about making sure Grandma didn’t wash his mouth out with soap, and the fact that he so willingly didn’t care meant that everyone was at the end of their rope. Still reeling at the sight, Jeff couldn’t react to the gentle arms that picked him up off the floor and slowly led him out of the suddenly stuffy room.

With the click of the door shutting, Jeff realized what Virgil did, “W-Wait, Scott--”

“Will be okay for a few seconds,” Virgil finished for his dad, “I know it’s nearly been a decade, but the one part of you I definitely know hasn’t changed is the need to comfort us, just like we hoped.” The small grin that fell over the middle child’s face put Jeff a little bit at ease, but Virgil wasn’t completely done, “So, I’m going to let you take care of this, but I just want to make sure you’ll handle it with grace. Take this slowly, okay? Scott might be doped up, but he’s still… volatile, in a sense.”

Jeff cleared his throat, suddenly choking on the unneeded tension, “Okay, Virgil, I promise, just… what happened? That was… bad, and really bad at that too. I know Scott would never let something that severe willingly come out in front of his family.”

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not ready for this conversation, “Listen, Dad,” he inhaled sharply, cutting himself off before sighing in a way that said fuck it, might as well get this over with, “As much as it felt like it did, the world didn’t stop spinning because you… well, we had lives we somehow wanted to continue living. We all have lives and stories now, and this is Scott’s story to tell.”

Jeff was getting misty-eyed again. Back when he was just a kid, Virgil couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, mainly in part due to his insomnia-related issues (Jeff has to wonder if he still has them, more problems for the future) and general lack of filter because of sleep-deprivation. Now Jeff knew there was a starch difference between a kid who couldn’t keep his mouth shut and a man who genuinely knew how to respect another man’s privacy, but…

It just hammers home how much he’s missed with his boys. Gulping, Jeff made a mental note to talk with his mom about certain things he’s missed. She’ll know a lot more than he would, “Okay, Virge. Thank you, for stepping up there.”

Virgil’s shoulders relaxed at Jeff’s words, as well as his father’s hand patting him on the shoulder, “Thanks, Dad. Just… go easy on him. I know it’s a little late for this but none of us ever properly talked about things. It was very unhealthy, deep down we all knew that, but…”

“You just couldn’t get the proper emotions out?” Jeff finished for his son. At Virgil’s soft nod, Jeff exhaled, “I’m not going to say that it was a smart decision, but we’re all here now. We can move forward with this.” Jeff squeezed where his hand laid.

Virgil blinked before curtly going, “Yeah. Goodnight, Dad. Take care of Scott.”

Virgil stepped around his father and walked to where his bedroom most definitely was not, but Jeff could deal with that in a little bit. He had another son who he was pretty sure just had a violent PTSD attack of some kind, plus, Virgil seemed to sour at something Jeff said. The ex-astronaut wasn’t sure what it was, so he didn’t chase after him out of worry that--

Wait.

We’re all here now.

Dammit, Jeff. Out of all the sentences you could’ve picked...

Alrighty, just add that to the ever-growing pile of things that need to be talked about later. No biggie. Jeff found himself sighing and rubbing the back of his neck much like Virgil did a few minutes ago. Turning around, he was met with the bathroom door once more. Shaking his head, Jeff slowly crept into the room and saw that not much was different, especially with Scott.

His heart softly cracked, but, again, he can deal with it later.

Sitting down on the ground and grimacing at the way his body ached (was gravity always this rough?), Jeff leaned against the floor cabinets about 2-3 feet away from Scott, who made himself into a nice comfortable ball in the corner next to the toilet, his palm smushed against his forehead. Jeff waited a few seconds. Then minutes. Then he realized he would have to be the one to initiate the conversation. He probably should’ve realized that right when he came back in. He opened his mouth, but his wasn’t the one that words came out of.

“It was… Zambia.”

Jeff’s heart stopped and his mouth snapped shut. He couldn’t stop the way his eyes clearly showed his panic, but hopefully, he guiltily thought, Scott was a little too doped up to not realize it, ��Scotty, what do you mean?”

Scott shrugged in a way that spoke he thought what he was admitting wasn’t a big deal. Yep, clearly not with it, “Mission went bad… caught for a couple of weeks.”

Jeff was hoping his first fuck back on Earth, spoken to himself like right now or otherwise, would have been a comedic thing, but the way nausea rose in his throat said this was anything but funny.

Scott wanted to be in the Air Force. Badly. Who was a father to deny his son’s want to be part of such a noble cause? He gave him tips, took him to meet friends in high places, sometimes even sparred with him when he turned 18, but then Jeff was suddenly thousands of miles away with no hope of ever having the chance of sparring with his eldest again. Despite it, Jeff hoped Scott went on to become the best pilot the world has ever seen.

Part of this looks like he did, but at what cost?

As much as it felt like it did, the world didn’t stop spinning because you… well, we had lives we somehow wanted to continue living.

Aw hell, “Jesus, Scott…” Jeff couldn’t tell if it was the brashness or the lack of a nickname that made Scott flinch and he hated it. He immediately softened his tone and brought his 27-year-old child into his arms, “Shh, shh, we’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

Like father like son, old habits die hard, and as easy as it was to still be able to comfort his children, Scott seemed to just as easily take it as he used to 8 years ago, “Alan doesn’t deserve this kind of hell, God, he’s barely not a kid anymore! Why--”

Jeff tightened his hold to keep his son in reality, and because he didn’t like the tone behind those words, “Hey, you didn’t either--”

Scott somehow managed to fling himself out of the hug, focus incredibly on point for someone who was doped up to his eyelids five seconds ago, “But I fucked up! I made the wrong call and then suddenly Arnold was dead and he had a wife and kids-- shit, what the hell did I do?”

Okay.

First of all: way to put him back in that headspace when that’s the exact opposite you were going for, Jeff, father of the year. Second: dammit. Just… dammit. This was a big fat hand grenade in a giant handbasket that they didn’t have time to gently get out while simultaneously not yanking the pin clean off with the grace of a drunk elephant. Jeff was no stranger to Survivor’s Guilt, but there was a whole untapped pile of metaphorical C4 within his son’s head that was ready for someone to push the goddamn button.

He wanted it to be him, desperately, because it sounded like he already failed his family enough, it was all he could do at this point, but he absolutely hated that he couldn’t do it right now. This was going to take a lot of time, which they didn’t have, plus, Jeff thought he had a pretty good understanding of this new Scott and the rest of his kids. Jeff was aware that if he didn’t help his sons find their baby as fast as possible over everything else it’ll lead to a fate nobody wanted.

A shaky sigh, “Okay, Scotty, let’s get you to bed. We’ll talk strategy in the morning.”

Scott simply nodded as his father flung Scott’s arm around his broader shoulders and picked him up. Slowly and painfully but surely, father and son meandered their way to Scott’s room. With a thump a little harder than Jeff wanted, Scott flopped down on top of his sheets and immediately started snoring. Despite everything that just happened, the father couldn’t help but grin at the sight. Well, there was another thing Jeff gracefully passed onto his son.

Jeff only took Scott’s shoes off. He would’ve loved to pull the sheets up around him too, but the father didn’t want to take any chances at waking him up. Slowly tip-toeing out of the room, Jeff gave one last glance back at his son before finally letting him be and gently shutting the door. He had three other sons he needed to console, but his tired joints told him to selfishly take a moment for himself for right now unless he wanted to collapse and give his family more to deal with.

Jeff eventually made his way to his room-- which was sadly unkempt, he noticed-- and sat down on the edge of his unfamiliar bed to think.

He’ll figure something out. If he had to crawl through images of his son being brutally and bloodily tortured then by God he would with the fury of a thousand suns.

He was back and he wasn’t going to throw away any second or even third chance he was given.

---

“I got him.”

Virgil turned his comms back on, and with it, Scott’s heart restarted for the first time in a few weeks. Taking a moment for a breather, Scott leaned against the wall while practically wheezing. They have him back, holy shit, they have him back. Scott vaguely heard Gordon cry in pure relief and joy. He saw John’s side of the comms flutter for a bit before a bright flash happened. Blinking away the white spots, Scott looked at his wrist to see a fully detailed map of the compound.

Gordon spoke what they were all thinking, “Woohoo! First Allie comes back, then Johnny-boy gets us a free ticket out of here! We’re winning this race, baby!”

A very loud moment of silence. John cleared his throat, “Actually, I was going to say glad to see you in one piece, you little shit,” a playful gasp came from Virgil’s side. It was too high pitched to be from the pianist’s mouth. Scott chuckled, but the paranoid part of his brain said John wasn’t done. His brain was right, ‘“But guys… that wasn’t me. Or EOS. We still haven’t found a way to get past the metal they made these walls out of.”

That silence was even more deafening than the last, and before Virgil could utter out his typical what the fuck, a small logo appeared at the corner of their new map. One that was all too familiar. The Chaos Crew wasn’t the only one who could brand their awful deeds.

Son of a bitch.

Virgil’s order over the radio was meant for Alan, but Scott couldn’t help but listen to it too.

“Shit, Alan, you need to run.”

Making quick work of the compound once more, Scott, while booking it even quicker than last time, opened a private line between him and Gordon, “Hey, how would you feel if I said go help Virgil while I cover Alan?”

The first response was stuttering, which Scott expected, but then it was followed up by something completely out of left field for Gordon, “... Okay, just as long as you promise to bring Alan back in one piece.”

Part of Scott wanted to console Gordon, another was questioning why Gordon was so quick to give up, another wanted to say of course, I will, idiot, but the first part that made itself verbal was easy, “You know I will, buddy.”

Scott could physically picture Gordon’s tiny, little, somber nod clear as day, “Sounds good, captain. See you on the other side.”

With a click, Scott was back on the group comm. Suddenly remembering what exactly his job was, he pulled out the map so graciously given to them by The Hood. Looking at all the dots, one was heading towards a prone one (oh if that asshole did anything to Virgil…) while another one was heading right for Scott himself. Actually, in just a few seconds, right as Scott rounded the corner he would--

“Woah, look out there, Tigger!”

Yes, you heard that correctly: not tiger, Tigger. Tigger hadn’t been used since Alan was itty bitty. It always seemed like the kid had endless energy with the way he wouldn’t stop bounding off the walls and furniture. Even as a baby, Lucy had to sit with him for a few hours while he slept in his crib to make sure he would stay there. In fact, their mother gave Alan that nickname herself. She was quite the Winnie the Pooh fan, and the rest of the family figured it would be one of the ways they could keep her legacy alive for the tiny potato.

Wrapping his arms around said flailing potato, albeit much bigger than a baby, Scott thought he would collapse then and there. Alan was here, in his arms, and yeah, the sight of his dirty and somewhat ripped up IR uniform made him mad, but Scott, for once in his life, decided to focus on the here-and-now, aka his precious, alive little brother, who finally stopped struggling at the realization that hey, the person holding you is a good guy, time to turn off fight mode.

Smushing their foreheads together as much as possible, Scott desperately fought to keep the waterworks back, a smile from ear to ear hopefully taking whatever energy his tear ducts had, “You are getting such an ass beating when we get home, little bro.”

Alan jumped back with a look of What the hell?! What did I do now?!

Scott simply rolled his eyes, “Really? “Not important”? You graduated high school, tiny dude! That’s huge! You remember Gordon’s party, right?”

Alan’s mouth gaped before he closed it with slightly puffy cheeks. Those same cheeks tinged with a small blush. Alan wasn’t exactly expecting to be smothered so soon (well, he did cry his eyes out on Virgil’s shoulder, but that was different!). Shaking it off, Alan moved his hands rhythmically and rapidly, To be fair, we weren’t sure he was going to get one for a while.

Scott faltered a little bit at the ASL. Darn, he should’ve seen Alan’s lack of talking from a mile away. Scott carefully hid his disappointment from Alan. Lord knew what the kid would take it as, “Yeah, that’s what he got for barely making it. Imagine what you’re going to get!”

Scott assumed his semi-fake charm worked, as Alan seemed to play along without any kind of suspicion, Oh yeah. Fair enough.

This kid, man.

Then, slow clapping came from a dark corner, making Scott’s heart leap out of his throat as well as push Alan behind himself. Glaring as much as he could towards the invisible evil-doer, Scott didn’t have to think twice, “Alan, take my map and find Virgil and Gordon.”

The youngest looked like he was going to object.

“Go.”

He no longer did. Good.

Listening to the field commander’s orders, Scott felt his wristband slip off his wrist and a warm body leave his vicinity. An inhale. Also good. An exhale, followed by an even darker glare, “What more do you want?”

Short and straight-to-the-point and angry, two things Scott typically wasn’t. Regardless, like a cold gust of wind, footsteps started approaching him from the shadow. Once Scott saw the outline of a body, he tensed even more. Virgil would snap at him for clenching his jaw so much.

A dark chuckle reminded him of what was important. The voice that spoke reminded him of something completely different, “Now then, brother, let’s not be rude to each other!”

Scott’s pupils shrunk at the familiar sight of Gordon stepping towards him. Except it wasn’t Gordon, because Scott knew that Gordon knew better. He also knew Gordon didn’t cheekily smile like that, even after a prank, nor did he walk that straight. He always had a funny walk after WASP, and Gordon wore that fact like a badge of honor.

Oh no, Scott definitely knew who this was, “What the hell are you playing at?”

Fake-Gordon rolled his eyes, like it wasn’t obvious, “I mean if we want to go that route, why did kid insist you being in the military was the coolest thing he’d ever heard you do? Maybe I wouldn’t have been pressured into joining a branch myself in the end.”

Scott’s nostrils flared, and by God, his pupils might have actually slitted like a snake’s, or possibly even a dragon’s, “Excuse me?”

Scott blinked, and suddenly he was met by not-Virgil, “Plus, why was our conclusion after hearing a three-year-old wanting to see snow to go to a ski resort? It had to have been those big, selfish, beady eyes, right?”

“C’mon, Scotty, we gotta give you some kind of calming exercise. There’s going to come a time when neither me or John are going to be there.”

“Hmm… does yoga work?”

A snort, “Well, that’s not too bad of an idea. Maybe the person pissing you off will stop whatever they’re doing at the sight of you spontaneously doing downward dog.”

Laughter, an unfamiliar action, “Yeah, okay, but for real, those breathing exercises I’ve seen you do look okay. Let’s start there.”

Scott was not a liar by heart. He had to admit that those exercises were doing jack shit right about now.

Another blink, another brother. Familiar ginger hair was all Scott could see, “To continue that previous point, why did Dad start International Rescue again? And what led to his demise?”

“Sounds like a piece of work. Why do you keep dealing with these people again?”

“Someone has to pay the bills, Johnny. Grandma’s too focused on making the perfect poison for us.”

A roll of eyes, “Right, because the billions we have saved wouldn’t be enough to last a couple of families a few lifetimes. Glad to see your calming exercises are working at least. How’s that going for you, by the way?”

A pause. A flicker of vision around the room. Someone cleared their throat, probably himself, “It’s probably not as bad as whatever space is throwing at you. You handling it okay up there?”

Another pause, followed by a sigh, “Well, since you asked so nicely…”

Scott wanted to deflect the truth so badly right now more than anything else. Telling him he couldn’t pilot ‘One anymore would be a much more enticing option than what he was hearing.

Suddenly, Scott was looking in a mirror, “Besides, I know more than anybody that he wasn’t wanted. A mistake. I thought we Tracys hated being imperfect?”

The Hood must have known their backstories from internet articles, and being the mastermind he was, it probably took him all of three seconds to see Alan had some hidden self-worth issues. By playing the biggest Guess Who? game of all time, The Hood was most likely able to figure out some less-than-positive ideals Alan thought about himself throughout his childhood and danced circles around his already weakened mind to string together some spineless blame to put on the kid by sheer evilness alone.

Knowing his kid brother, it worked.

Scott wasn’t thinking straight-- maybe even at all when the first punch was thrown.

Just like that, Scott blacked out and was running on terminator mode. John would be disappointed. Virgil would be horrified. Gordon might find it funny. Alan wasn’t here, and thank God for that. Scott wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. All his mind was telling him was make lots of pain hard and fast. His brain also blocked out any hit The Hood was giving him in return. Pain flared for a few seconds, then it was swept away in the puddle of rage his mind was currently being consumed in.

Soon, his out-of-it mind found its target and gripped his-- The Hood’s arm, no disguise would make him have an identity crisis, thank you very much-- nice and rough.

Scott heard the familiar snap of cartilage and felt only partially bad. If he was thinking more clearly, he would be disgusted with himself. Yes, even The Hood didn’t deserve this level of Scott’s fury. Oh, he definitely deserved to be hit by a truck, but not by Scott. It was mostly due to Scott’s sanity. If he could be this graphic and violent at all, even to the worse possible criminals, that meant he could be that way during other moments, and that was not a territory he wanted to cross into.

Welp, he was here now, and he’ll hate to admit it in the future, but the only thing that brought him out of it was a tiny gasp from a few feet away. Snapping his head up, Scott’s eyes landed squarely on a smaller-than-normal Alan, who was currently clutching his arm to his chest in an emotion Scott didn’t want to figure out at the moment. So much for going and finding Virgil and Gordon.

“Allie, help…” fake him grunted out, only making real Scott growl and tighten his hold (and probably making his case worse). Looking up from the person in his arms, Scott felt his heart split in two at the sight. There was fear and uncertainty in Alan’s blue eyes and boy did it hurt. Scott couldn’t tell if it was because even seeing a potentially-fake Scott being beaten up was bad or if it was because he’d never seen big brother be this brutal, even towards their enemies. Whatever the reason, it involved Scott being the main root of the problem.

Wait, that was The Hood’s plan. Shit… make Scott act past the point of no return in a way that was unfamiliar to Alan so the kid couldn’t be fully sure who was who, and Scott fell right into his trap, hook, line, and sinker.

Fuck.

Bloody well done, Scott, you absolute moron.

Scott faltered a little bit, “A-Alan, I--”

That falter was enough for The Hood to break an arm out of his grip and elbow him in the face. In the brief second of freedom he had, he tried dashing towards Alan, but Scott was too quick for everyone’s good and soon had the imposter back in his arms, both of them struggling in a way that made them look like they were tied into the weirdest knot in existence.

Then, an earthquake struck.

No, literally.

A big shake of the abandoned compound threw the look-a-likes about and subsequently off the platform they were on. The place was old; it didn’t take a lot of weight for that guard rail they made their way over towards while fighting to snap right off. With a yelp, the two of them gripped the edge as much as they could and held on. Crap, I know we talked with Fuse about potentially setting some stuff off, but--

Blinking, Scott saw a familiar mop of blonde hair come into view. Alan was rather panicked, clearly not sure which Scott was the real Scott. Not only that, he had little time to decide which one to save. Goodie, another reason to despise The Hood: not only has he put Alan through weeks of torment, now he’s forcing the kid to decide to either save his oldest brother and biggest hero or his personal torturer.

And Alan won’t know until he picks.

Holy hell, this was getting worse by the second. Hopefully, big brother charm can work its magic and get them the hell out of there.

“Alan, quickly, over here!”

“I can’t hold on for much longer, Alan, hurry!”

The two Scotts glared at one another in the exact same way, not making Alan’s job much easier. Another shake, another slip down the metal cliff, more screams, and Alan looked ready to tear his hair out. Scott watched as the kid looked around rapidly, probably praying for a miracle in the process. Suddenly, the kid jumped when he must have spotted something important. Within the blink of an eye, he was gone and out of their range of visions to retrieve it.

Whatever the hell he noticed better be important, because if just ended up wasting precious time then--

Another shake, probably the last one. Still, it was enough.

Both their grips gave away at the same time, screams identical (God, did he always sound that wimpy?) as they plummeted to their demises. Scott was briefly able to look up to see his brother pop his head over the cliff like a chipmunk again and grab the (albeit broken) arm of The Hood and save him. Dammit, Scott should have expected that, though, that display of anger was uncharacteristic to Alan. Probably terrified him even more than he already was. Fuck, Scott deser--

Suddenly, a rope wrapped itself around Scott’s left arm and stopped his descent. Hard. Hopefully, it was only torn stuff, they didn’t have time to deal with dislocation--

Wait.

Scott wasn’t dead if he could think about these kinds of things.

Blinking, he looked at his arm to see the familiar rope of his grappling hook around his forearm. Moving his eyesight to look past that, he saw the wide, blue eyes of his baby brother struggling to stay on top. The Hood was using his non-broken side to try and climb his way back up to safety. Huh, that’s weird. When did Alan get ahold of that? Scott must have dropped it during his scuffle with--

That’s when it hit Scott.

Alan saved them both.

And it would be all for jack shit if Scott didn’t get his ass up there to help.

Panicking, Scott gripped the rope and started to ascend. He had two working arms and a smother complex to boot; it wasn’t long before he overtook a struggling Hood, who could only use one arm and a weakened brother (that bastard was so lucky Alan had a literal heart of gold).

Flinging his arms over the edge and pulling himself up-- and shrugging off the extra help Alan offered. Save your strength, baby bro-- Scott was in a much calmer search-and-destroy mode. He yanked his evil look-a-like up, turned him on his stomach, pinned him down, and before he could even watch Alan blink, “Sign something.”

There, now he watched Alan blink.

Scott pulled out one of his best ‘big brother’ smiles ever, “Tell me something in ASL. I don’t think The Hood learned that kind of etiquette.”

The body beneath him growled, making Alan jump and Scott tighten not only his hold but his glare. Further prove big brother’s point, why don’t cha? He lost the angry look immediately to grin at Alan once more, who seemed to be slowly getting the picture. With a gulp, the blonde slowly strung together a sentence that Scott had to laugh at, just a little bit.

Damn, could you teach me to fight like that, Scooter?

Nodding his head, Scott had to concede, “Sure. Consider it a graduation present.”

Alan blinked again, and the immense relief that washed over the boy’s shoulders would be enough to banish nightmares for at least a couple of days. Suddenly, The Hood’s disguise blinked out of existence, making both brothers jump that time. Scott didn’t falter in his grip, however. This man was going down right here and now, Scott thought darkly, staring at the prone body beneath his.

Scott saw Alan continue to sign out of the corner of his eye, You know you look like shit, right?

Scott chuckled. Alan was always able to put a smile on his face no matter the circumstances, “Yeah, well, kindred spirits, little bro.”

Scott was probably as pale as Alan was with such lack of sleep and food. Running on what was essentially a prolonged PTSD attack wasn’t healthy in the slightest, and no doubt whatever kind of bruises and scratches The Hood gave him didn’t help, however, seeing hope fill those deep-blue eyes when Alan learned he was truly being saved drowned everything out, including the way those freckles were getting lost in those eye bags.

Yeah, their entire family probably looked like shit, and the recovery process was going to be even shittier, but they were going to suffer through it together as a family would.

That made it all worth it.

Shuffling himself so one arm was free while the other kept The Hood pinned, Scott held it out towards Alan. The flinch the youngest made tore a hole in Scott’s heart that was only slightly patched when Alan leaned into the warmth and safety of his biggest bro. Long recovery process, remember? Regardless, Alan still took to the hug like a dehydrated zebra did a pond, and that was good enough for Scott.

The Hood groaned underneath them.

Yep, good enough.

#fabfivefeb #fabfivefeb2020 #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #scott tracy #alan tracy #jeff tracy #grandma tracy #the hood #virgil tracy #john tracy #gordon tracy #my post #my fic #series: rules of alchemy

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