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#So Diane is the literal worst...as you can tell from this one-shot
spyrkle4 · 5 years
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Scars of Sycorax (Bh6 One-shot)
AN: *Evil cat laugh* since more folk than I expected saw my last Meganiper one-shot I made another that’s angsty...also sidenote I cried while writing this because of how dark the City of Monsters arc was. Enjoy the fic!
It was another day at the Lucky Cat Cafe, Officer Diego Cruz and his daughter Megan Cruz (or as she liked to be called Super Sleuth Megan Cruz) were visiting. After her dad had gotten his usual order of coffee, Megan went over to say hi to Hiro. “Huh, could’ve sworn my dad wasn’t a coffee drinker,” she pointed to the conversation Diego was having with Cass. “You don’t say,” Hiro quips.
“Well after that whole ‘getting kidnapped by Hardlight’ thing a couple weeks ago, he’s been acting weird..” Megan sighed, “At least Big Hero 6 was there to save the day.” She had been worried sick the entire time her dad was kidnapped, and was grateful he was alright. “Yeah, shame he isn’t changing his mind about them,” Hiro frowned. “He might if he found out who they were,” Megan explains, “I’ve been poking at Big Hero 6’s history with the villains they’ve fought for clues.” “Oh, really?” Hiro has a wide smile, “And have you found anything?” he looked nervous for some strange reason, that or it was just her imagination.
“Well, not yet, but I’ve been talking with a lead.” she answered. “A lead?” Hiro raises an eyebrow. “Yep!” Megan nodded, “Though enough about how my search is going, how has the college life been for you?” “The usual,” Hiro shrugs it off, the two continue their conversation talking about the usual stuff, how have things been for them, and sharing funny stories.
“So, Hiro, mind if I ask you a question?” Megan asks him after awhile of conversing. 
“Oh sure, I don’t mind answering.” he nods, she takes a deep breath before questioning. “Remember how after the whole monster attacks, the weird bear monster turned all the mutants back to normal?” “Mhmm,” Hiro frowns, “I remember.”
“And you remember how some of the ones that were turned against their will were admitted to a hospital, like Orso Knox and High Voltage?” Megan crosses her arms on the table, she gives a few glances to see if her dad is listening in, but he’s still having a conversation with Cass.
“Yeah, what’s the point you’re trying to make?” Hiro raises an eyebrow.
“Well I remember back at the dance before they...turned into weird eel people, High Voltage mentioned something about turning a new leaf,” Megan explains, “Do you think that’ll happen?” Hiro stared at Megan for a few moments, then burst into a fit of laughter. “Pfft, no way!” he exclaims, “High Voltage is just as bad as Sparkles, they just want attention! Real funny joke there Megan!” “Yeah..” Megan gives a nervous chuckle, “I got you with that one Hiro..” guess she wouldn’t be introducing Hiro to her new friend anytime soon with that attitude.
“It’s only a matter of time before they start going back to their villainous ways,” Hiro shakes his head, “Sure not all villains are bad like Globby, but not those two, no way, not in a million years.”
“No way, not in a million years.” 
After saying goodbye to Hiro at the Lucky Cat and heading home with her dad, Megan paid another visit to Juniper at the hospital, and was retelling her the conversation she had with Hiro.
“There is no way I’m going back to a life of crime,” Juniper shook her head, “Neither me or Mama wants that kind of stress anymore.” “Okay good,” Megan smiles, “Because it would be really awkward to have to visit you in jail.” Both of them giggle at the statement. “Yeah that would be awkward,” Juniper chuckles, “I don't wanna go back to jail anytime soon, the food might not be as bad people say it is, but it’s still not good.”
“Yikes, is the hospital food better? When one of my friends stayed in the hospital they mostly complained about the food than the broken leg.” Megan asked her.
Juniper hesitates, then nods. “Yeah..It’s mostly been healthy foods, the doctors said that it’s very important for me to eat that stuff because I hadn’t been getting enough vitamins in weeks.”
Megan’s eyes widened, she wasn’t expecting that response, “That’s awful!..was it because of?...” her throat felt dry, a feeling of dread washed over the two of them. “Yeah..” Juniper presses a finger to the chip shaped scar on her neck, “I um..never really talk about..what happened..except to my mom,” she starts to explain, “But whenever a reporter came to visit, that’s all they wanted to hear, except you! Well you wanted to ask me about Big Hero 6 but so far you’ve been really nice about it.” 
“I try to be nice,” Megan chuckles, she places a hand on Juniper’s shoulder, “Hey..you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” “It’s fine, I think talking about it will make me feel better.” Juniper takes a deep breath, then starts her story.
“When..she first brought us to..Sycorax,” Megan could see her struggle to get the words out of her mouth, “She acted so nice, until talking about payment, she wanted Mama and I to obtain cash for her using our crime-dancing skills.” “Did you say yes at first?” Megan questioned.
“No, we didn’t, because at that point we just wanted normal lives.” Juniper shook her head, “When we tried to leave..she threatened to call the police, I said that I’d tell the police that she was the one who broke us out..but she said that no one would believe us.” 
“I think my dad would’ve believed you,” Megan tells her, “I would’ve.” “Heh,” Juniper gives her a small smile, “Thanks.”
“We caved, agreeing to get her the money, Mama told her that we’d need our energy orb to get her the money but she..” Juniper shivers at the memory, “She..she said we could do better..” tears start to pool in her eyes, “That was when..” “That was when she chipped you and your mom, wasn’t it?” Megan realizes, “That must’ve been awful.” “It was..” she sniffles, “It hurt when she chipped it in, but it did work..We were both able to generate our own electricity, not even Big Hero 6 could stop us this time, we got her the money, and then she let us go..but..” “But what?” Megan has an inkling feeling where this is going.
“But we didn’t think what the chips did beside giving us electricity,” Juniper explains, “Before crashing at your school’s dance we both got super hungry for seafood, and we miiight have robbed a seafood truck.” Megan snickers, she stops when noticing Juniper frowning, “Sorry just..why a seafood truck?”
“Yeah it might sound funny at first but it’s not,” she sighs, “After that, there was the whole dance and..you know what happened there.” “At least you and your mom performed a catchy song about turning a new leaf,” Megan points out.
Juniper blinks, then gives a small smile, “Yeah..it was fun.” she then frowned, “I felt a little tingly during the whole song, I brushed it off but then..”
“Yeah..” Megan could recall the disgusted stares of her classmates and her horror as High Voltage turned into half-eel monsters right before their eyes, and during the whole chaos as everyone left the dance she lost sight of Hiro. “Then what happened?” Juniper turned to stare at her with widened eyes, “I want to hear the full story, please.” Megan stares back, “I want to know what that monster did to you and your mom, and I want to help you recover from that.” she grabs Juniper’s hand and gives it a squeeze.
Her friend continues to hold her hand as she continued the story. “Looking back at that now..It felt like there was a different person in my place.” Juniper sniffles, “I was trying to hurt Big Hero 6..badly, sure whenever Mama and I used to fight them we zapped them a little, but this was different..If that lizard guy didn’t intervene when he did..I could’ve,” Juniper shuddered, “I almost caused serious harm to the superheroes, and laughed about it!”
“It wasn’t you Juniper, that chip Diane put in was messing with your brai-” Megan realizes her mistake too late, saying the name of that accursed woman sent Juniper into hysterics. “And then I wasn’t myself anymore!” she sobs into Megan’s shoulder, “It was painful Megan, it hurt a lot, being forced to do things I didn’t want to do because of that...lady! Being kept in a tank..forced to eat those food blocks..it hurts..it hurts a lot,” There were no more words spoken, just the crying of a girl who had scars on her soul.
“Hey, it’s okay Juniper.” Megan held her tight, “It’s over, she’s in jail..she won’t ever hurt you or your mom again, you’re safe now.” They stayed like that for a long period of time, as Juniper’s tears began to dry up, Megan kept her in her embrace through it all, when it was over, Juniper felt the warmth of the hug. “T-thanks Megan,” she sniffles, returning the hug. “You’re welcome Juniper,” Megan smiles at her, it felt good to see a smile return on Juniper’s face, “You’ll be okay now.”
“You’re gonna be okay.”
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usermoreid · 3 years
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what would the unsub maeve story line be like? talk about it!
god im so happy you asked me this. it got so long so it's under a cut but im akfhdh i love unsub maeve arc
okay so she reaches out to spencer because she's been looking for a way to get to the team for a while now, and spencer posting to forums about his migraines was the perfect opportunity. she starts slow - introduces herself as a geneticist, asks to see the brain scans. spencer's so desperate for help he doesn't even ask for credentials, he just sends them to her. what's the worst that can happen, right??
she says she has some ideas, but she needs to talk to him; she needs to get a feel for what sort of lifestyle he's living so that she can figure out the best way to work with it. spencer's immediately overjoyed - someone has an idea of how to help him?? wonderful!! exactly what he needed!! so they start writing letters. she asks about any trauma he's been through in the past. he thinks it's to see if there could be any psychological or physical underlying issues. it's actually so that she can use it against him if need be.
talking about these things just feels so good to him - he's never been able to be so open with someone. but it's for medical purposes, he reasons, meaning that it's not like he's actually talking about it. and then they start talking on the phone. she suggests some vitamins - things she knows won't actually help him with his migraines but also won't hurt. during these phone calls, he pretty much starts using her as a therapist of sorts. and then he learns that she really is incredibly smart and wow she's so funny and oh my god she let's him ramble on and on to his heart's content and oh she's literally perfect.
his headaches become a little less severe. he pins it on the vitamins and the changes in diet and the exercises that she has him doing. he's not necessarily wrong, it is making him healthier. but it's actually due to the decrease in stress. he's not bottling up his emotions anymore. it took a little bit of time but he reaches a point where if he has a difficult case, he picks up the phone and calls maeve, whose credentials he still never asked for because why would he ask for proof when he's literally evidence of her capability himself??
this goes on for a while. spencer partially does actually develop feelings for her, but he mostly just starts associating the lack of pain with her, along with the relief that comes with it. he doesn't realise. she does. it's going exactly to plan.
she tells him about her stalker; says that he's the reason they can't meet; says that it's far too dangerous to get spencer's team involved because i don't want to hurt you and spencer believes it all. why wouldn't he?? he certainly has no reason to believe that they actually can't meet because her plan isn't ready yet, or that the team can't get involved because they'll see beyond the veil that spencer's insecurities have casted and immediately spot the red flags. no, she has no reason to lie to him, why would he ever doubt her?? he loves her, she helps him. and she loves him too, she said so herself. she wouldn't lie to him.
and then one day she gets kidnapped. there's a voice saying zugzwang and she can't answer the phone and oh my god he's going to have to tell the team. so he does. he musters up all the courage he doesn't have and stumbles marches his way into hotch's office, trying to project an air of confidence that's greatly diminished by the overwhelming anxiety coming off of him in waves and he tells his boss everything, from their first meeting to their last conversation.
hotch is skeptical, spencer can tell, but they go through with it anyway. they treat it like a regular case. they think it's the ex-fiance and oh god why didn't she say she was engaged and then they think it's the guy's new girlfriend and they've found where they are, they've figured it out let's go get her!!
and when he gets there he's told to blindfold himself and he does and then he's strapped to a chair and he needs to see her and he finally does and—
i told you we were going to make blindfolds fun again, he hears.
she's standing alone. two bodies in the back - bobby and diane. she had to kill them. bobby was going to expose who she really is and why she really had to disappear from her academic circles and maeve couldn't have people finding out that she was forced to leave after stalking someone to the point of almost getting a restraining order, not after she fought so hard to keep it quiet. and diane - ugh, diane - who stole her boyfriend and wore her clothes without even knowing they were hers. they both had to go.
he stares in shock. he doesn't understand. he came here to save her why is she free why is she stood in front of two dead bodies why is he strapped down to a chair what's happening??
she tells him. she tells him that the bau ruined her life. she tells him that they killed her parents - her real parents, the ones that weren't related to her by blood but through love, the ones who took her in when she was a child who ran away from home. they were serial killers, sure, but they loved her and she loved them. but then the bau came along and ruined their big finale. they didn't get the chance to blow up the people they were meant to, so they blew themselves up. suicide, it technically was. maeve calls it murder. the bau murdered them.
she takes spencer's gun from his hip and fires a shot into the wall, knowing that the team would come running. spencer can't tell them not to, they wouldn't hear him in time. they pile in, seeing maeve holding a detonator in one hand and the gun in the other and they realise, only moments after spencer, that she's rigged the place to blow.
she makes them all put their weapons down and throw them over, as she holds the gun to spencer's head. once the weapons have been dealt with, she throws the one she's holding over with the others and waves the detonator higher, making sure everyone can see it. she tells them that her cells have been dying ever since she returned to her birth parents, never having told them where she was for months and they didn't care enough to ask, because that was the moment she decided she was going to kill herself. she said it happened to her parents too - spontaneous cell death, she called it.
then derek lunges forward. it has such a small chance of working, but it's either this or they all blow up. either way, there's a strong chance they won't make it out. may as well give anything a shot.
he gets the detonator out of her hand by some miraculous luck but before anybody has time to celebrate, she grabs a gun out of the pile and points it to her own head whilst derek's is next to it. if the bullet gets shot, it would kill them both.
it doesn't get shot. spencer's gun does. the one he hides in his ankle holster. the one he grabbed as hotch untied him during the chaos. the one he never told her about because it was such a subconscious act that he never even thought to mention it. he's grateful that he didn't, but not until later. no, right then he doesn't feel anything as his bullet rips through the skull of the woman he loves. or as the gun clatters noisily yet silently to the floor. or as his knees give in and he falls down, staring at the blood pooling from the face he'd never seen in person. she was as beautiful as he had thought. the most beautiful girl in the world. and he had killed her.
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
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Riding High
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Ch7: Ordinary People
Chapter Summary: Frank faces the aftermath of his dumbass choice whilst Mary heads to Boston for a few days. When the court case starts, emotions are running high and Frank finally confesses his feelings to Fliss.
Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Flashback at the start involving domestic violence.
Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher
A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. As a Lawyer I know how long the types of cases depicted in GIFTED can take, however they can also be done pretty fast. With that in mind, and because it fits with how I want the story to go I’m spreading it over approximately 6 weeks or so, so just roll with me!
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 Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 6
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"I saw you...he had his hands all over you."
"John, I didn't want him too...he was drunk, just being over friendly..."
Fliss cowered as a sneer crossed her husband's face, the features she found so handsome once upon a time were distorted in anger, his dark green eyes clouded with rage as he towered over where she sat on the crouch. In a flash he had reached out and grabbed a fist full of her hair, yanking her to her feet. Fliss gave a cry of pain, stumbling after him as he dragged her up the stairs. She tripped at one point, her hip colliding painfully with one of the steps but he paid it no attention.
No mercy.
"You're mine, Sugar.” He said, his voice steely. “You know that."
"I know," she sobbed as he threw her into the bedroom where she scrambled for purchase on the bed as he pushed her so hard she fell face down. Before Fliss could raise herself, John had grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her face harshly into the pillows.
"Why do you make me do this, Felicity?" He asked, releasing his hold as his thighs bracketed hers. Fliss heard the tell-tale clinking of his belt and she gave another sob, knowing full well what was coming. He roughly pushed her dress up over her hips, leaving her underwear clad ass exposed.
And then the leather stuck her. Again. And again. And again.
"I'll mark you so hard no one else will ever want you," he snarled as he continued his assault ignoring her screams of pain and pleas for him to leave her alone. “You’re mine..." Fliss sat bolt upright, gasping as she glanced around her bedroom. She was shaking violently, the dream had been so real, so vivid, she could almost physically feel the pain. John had belted her so badly that night she hadn't been able to ride for a week, and she still bore the marks where the buckle had ripped through her skin.
The worst thing was, that after he had finished, he had held her, stroking her hair, soothing her, explaining why he had to punish her so much. It was sick, twisted. Just like him. "He’s gone, he was to blame. I’m strong, not weak, I’m strong, not weak." she repeated her mantra through gritted teeth. Thor, hearing her breathing deeply and her trembling voice, jumped up onto her bed and shoved his head under her arm as she hugged her kneed tightly. Looking down at her faithful dog, she buried her face into his fur, holding him tight as she ran through her calming thoughts in her head. The sound of the ocean, the wind in her hair as she galloped on the beach, the soft and gentle hugs she received from her dad, her mum...and dare she even think it, Frank. And then another image filled her head. The sight of him kissing Bonnie at the bar.
“Wanker.” She muttered, wiping the tears from her face as Thor licked her cheek, his tail wagging as she stroked him. With a few more deep intakes of air, her breathing evened out and she gave Thor a final squeeze before she pushed the duvet down and swung her legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.
***** Frank had also woken up to a nightmare. His head was pounding from the shots he’d downed at the bar and being jerked awake by Bonnie’s screams as Mary had turned up in the apartment earlier than she was allowed on a Saturday hadn’t exactly helped the situation. He had fucked Mary’s school teacher for no reason other than the fact he was drunk, stressed and needed a release.
Well played, Adler, you fucking moron.
Thankfully, Bonnie seemed to be in the same place as him about the entire situation, hastily telling him that it should never have happened, something he profoundly agreed with, as he saw her out to a cab, apologising for Mary’s interruption, literally incapable of thinking of anything else to say. It was the most awkward morning after he had ever experienced in his life.
And there was something else compounding his growing bad mood. When he had finally checked his phone as he stood outside for a few moments after Bonnie had gone, hoping the fresh air would sort his head out, he realised he had a number of messages and missed calls from Fliss. Groaning he remembered that he should have called her after the court case but had completely forgotten. Firing her a quick apology, along with a promise to talk to her later when it was time for Mary’s lesson, before he headed back inside.
Mary was sat on the rug with her lego, pieces scattered all over, Ice Age playing on the TV.
“Awkward…” she sing songed
“Mary.” Frank looked at her for a moment and when she didn’t look at him he crouched down “Stop! Stop! Stop with the Legos. Listen.” he took a breath and she looked at him “Do we have a rule about Saturday morning?”
“What?” she asked softly
“Are you allowed in this apartment this early on Saturday morning?” Frank pressed, looking at her.
“No.” Mary sighed, averting her eyes from his.
“No!” Frank nodded, his voice a little louder before he paused again “Are you allowed to... hey!” he reached out to stop Mary as she returned to her Toys. “Stop! Enough with the Lego. Are you allowed to use Roberta's keys?”
“No.” she still wasn’t looking at him.
“No! So, hey! Look at me. Then why are you here? Huh? Can you answer me that?”
Mary’s eyes filled with tears but Frank was too angry at the fact she had disobeyed him to comfort her.
“You broke every rule! You just embarrassed me. We have these rules.” He angrily stood up, turning to head back out of the door into the kitchen “We've gone over them a hundred times!” And then, when he stepped on a piece of Lego in his bare feet, his frustration boiled over as he hopped on one leg, clutching the side of the dresser which was pushed flush against the wall.
“Shit…God, damned it…” He yelled as he slapped the side of the dresser, leaning against it, bending down to rub his foot. “Can I just get five minutes of my own life?”
At that Mary jumped up and bolted into his bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Frank stood up, before he sighed, one hand on his hip, his eyes closed. He’d overreacted, he knew that. He was more pissed at himself for being an idiot than he was at Mary. He ran his hand over his face and glanced at the clock. Mary’s riding lesson was at two and it was now just pushing ten-thirty. Deciding to leave Mary to cool down before he made breakfast, he headed into the kitchen to clear up yesterday’s dishes.
He heard the door to his room click open about twenty minutes later. Giving her another ten he wiped the counter down before he made his way back into the main room and sat on the edge of her bed, where she was snuggled down in her alcove which sported a collection of shells they had stuck to the wood panels and a few photos, one of her mom, one of her and Frank and one of her and Fliss with Monty. She was huddled in the corner, Fred laying on her knee, the laptop resting on his back as she tapped away.
“Nothing that happened today was your fault.” Frank spoke gently and looked at her “I got mad at you...I was really mad at me,” he looked at her and she continued to ignore him, “and the manufacturers of Legos. They should all be in prison. So I'm sorry.” he said gently. She paused tapping but still didn’t look at him. “Do you forgive me?”
“Sure. Whatever.” she mumbled.
“Hey, close the laptop. Come on. Please.” He watched her as she avoided looking at him. “Doesn't count if it's not eye to eye.”
She hesitated so he asked again, gently. “Come on, please.”
With a sigh she did was she was told and looked at him. Her eyes, so like Diane’s, were full of sadness and Frank felt his gut twist in guilt.
“Do you really have no life because of me?” she whispered, her eyes shining with tears and Frank cursed himself for his outburst before.
He shook his head. “That's not what I said.” he looked at her.
“Did you mean it?” she pressed, not buying his statement for one minute, her voice soft.
“Last week you said I was the worst Uncle in the world, and you wished death upon me ‘cause I didn't buy you a piano.” Frank held her gaze. “Did you mean that?”
“No” Mary replied, her fingers tangling in Fred’s fur “Not entirely.”
“Well,” Frank said, not bothering to ask which bit she had actually meant. “There you go. We say things all the time we don't mean. So let's forget it, okay?”
“Okay” Mary agreed
“Okay.” Frank nodded, standing up
“Frank?” she called as he headed towards the door to head down and check the mail. He stopped and turned back, even though he couldn’t see her.
“Yeah?”
“Can I have a piano?”
“No.” he deadpanned, turning for the door.
He strode down across the lawn to the mail boxes, unlocked his and pulled out two letters. One looked like a bill, the other was in a manila coloured envelope, and was stamped with some kind of official seal.
“Was that really Mary's teacher this morning?” Roberta appeared. He glanced at her and returned to his post “And there was me thinking Fliss would stop you doing anything stupid.”
Frank’s head shot up “Fliss?” he frowned “What are you talking about?”
“She came here last night, to see you. Mary roped her into Karaoke before she left and said she was going to come and find you at Fergs”
Frank frowned. “Well she didn’t. I never saw her last night so she-”
Oh,fuck fuck fuck!
He trailed off with a groan as he realised that she had probably seen him with Bonnie and then felt a stinging slap round the back of his head.
“Shit!” He exclaimed, glaring at Roberta “Jesus, that fucking hurt!”
“Good.” she stared at him. “You know I have a book called ‘Fundamentals of Decision Making’. You can borrow it.”
He glared at her, he didn’t need this. Not now. His attention turned back to the letter and he noticed the seal was from the court house. With a frown he opened it. The header- ‘Highsmith, Kistler & Sellers Attorneys at Law’ -greeted him and he started to read. It was an order for him to surrender Mary for two days into Evelyn’s care, at a time and date to be agreed. It wasn’t unexpected but it was pretty fast considering it had only been agreed yesterday. His mother really wasn’t wasting any time.
“What is it?”  Roberta asked, noticing the frown on his face
“Its nothing.” he said, leaning on the post box, still reading the letter. “Looks like Mary gets to go to Boston for a couple days.” He noticed Roberta stiffen and he looked at her. “It's just two days. Relax.” he said gently.
Because he was always honest with Mary, he sat down once he was back inside and told her about the letter. She knew there was a court case going on, he had explained it all to her as best as he could so as not to cause her any worry. She soaked up the information and shrugged before saying that going to Boston sounded kinda cool. Frank simply nodded and said that he would sort out the dates on Monday. They ate a late breakfast-slash-early lunch and once Mary was changed and ready, they headed up to the riding school.
As Frank drove there his stomach was doing flips, the nerves at seeing Fliss were overwhelming, more so because he had no idea what he was going to say to her. It was strange, he felt guilty about the fact he’d slept with Bonnie, even though he had no real reason to. It wasn’t like he and Fliss were an item.
Fliss greeted Mary with the usual warmth before she turned her gaze to Frank, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, compounding that guilty feeling even more.
“Sorry I didn’t call you last night.” he offered and she shrugged.
“It’s okay, I know you were busy.” her voice carried no sarcasm, it was measured and cool but Frank knew she was referring to Bonnie, his suspicions confirmed. She turned away, barking an instruction to Joanne who looked at her, nodding.
Frank leaned on the paddock fence as he always did, a little way from the other parents and watched as Fliss taught the three girls, that gorgeous smile on her face. Mary was certainly getting the hang of it now and was able to trot around unaided. After about forty minutes they were done and heading out of the paddock. Fliss made no attempt to come and speak to him, like normal, and made straight for her office. Casting an eye on Mary who was leading Monty back to the stable he followed Fliss.
“I take it you’re mad at me.” he spoke tentatively.
“Why would I be mad at you?” she asked, pulling three cartons of apple juice out of the fridge for the kids.
“Because you saw me last night with Bonnie.” he pressed.
He saw her stiffen slightly before she took a breath and turned round.
“I’m not mad.” she shrugged.
“Could have fooled me.”
“I just, well I think you could have considered Mary a little more, that’s all.” “What does that mean?” he frowned.
“You know damned well what it means.” she looked at him “Mary told me before when we were tacking the ponies up that she saw Bonnie this morning, wrapped in one of your sheets. I mean, Jesus Frank that’s her teacher. Can you imagine how awkward its gonna be if any of the kids find out that you’re fucking her?” “Ok, I’m not fucking her.” Frank held his hand out to stop her.
“So what were you doing last night then?” Fliss hissed, “Playing scrabble?”
“Hang on, are we really arguing about this?” Frank looked at her, frowning. “Why? Why do you even care?”
He paused, looking at her. Her eyes locked onto his and she swallowed, and for a moment he hoped she was going to tell him what he wanted to hear but she shook her head and shrugged.
“You know what, you’re right. What, or who you do in your spare time is your business, not mine.”
With that she pushed past him and headed out into the yard. Frank let out another sigh before he headed out to collect Mary.
******
Fliss made no attempts to speak to Frank over the next few days. He messaged her to tell her about Mary heading to Boston at the end of the week and she replied politely, telling him that she was sure it would all work out, but beyond that she didn’t reach out further. However, she did call to wish Mary a safe trip to on the Thursday morning just before Evelyn arrived to pick her up, and told her she wanted to hear all about it when she came home on Saturday afternoon. By the time Frank got the phone back, Fliss had hung up.
“Frank she likes you. “ Roberta said when she popped over to wish Mary goodbye. Mary wasted no time in informing her that the reason Frank was in a bad mood wasn’t just because she was going to Boston, but also because Fliss was angry at him. Of course she had noticed, because she noticed everything. “She’s hurt and it’s yo’ own dumbass fault.”
Yeah, yeah he got that.
With Mary gone, he decided that night to take a cool box of beer down to the harbour and work late. He was in the middle of pulling a gear box apart when his phone went. It was a message from Bonnie asking if she could meet him to talk. Which was how he found himself sat on the deck of the boat, her opposite him, both wrapped in blankets and clutching bottles of Bud.
“I have had a series of nightmares, where I'm fired because of what happened. You get it?” Bonnie shook her head, rolling her eyes. Frank smiled at her as she laughed “And then I remind myself, that everything that happened, was just all the alcohol and people do far worse right?”
At that Frank laughed. “Yeah we were pretty drunk.”
Truth be told whilst he did think Bonnie was attractive, there was nothing there, and that was compounded by the fact that as he sat, looking at her, he felt no urges at all. She was simply another one of his Friday night hook ups, only this had turned out to be slightly more complicated.
Yeah, he should definitely borrow that book from Roberta
“So I guess, what I came here to say,” Bonnie sighed, “I think you’re a great guy Frank, and I’ve got your back on this damned custody case but, me and you…it just…” “Oh, absolutely, I’m with you.” Frank hastily agreed, thanking the Gods she’d brought it up before he had to. “It was a mistake.” Bonnie arched an eyebrow and he groaned. “Shit, I don’t mean that how it sounds but, well, it was, wasn’t it?”
She smiled and nodded, cocking her head to one side as she surveyed him. “I do think you need to speak to Fliss though.”
“Fliss?” Frank frowned, “What’s she got to do with this?”
You like her." Bonnie said simply.
Frank paused before he shook his head, smiling. “Is it that obvious?" "Well, if it wasn’t evident from the way you talk about her, the fact you called me by her name twice last night is most definitely a giveaway." Oh Jesus. Ground please open... "I called you by her name? When we- " he grimaced and she chuckled, raising her eyebrows "Oh God. Bonnie, I'm so sorry." He groaned and ran his hands over his face.
“Like we said, mistake.” Bonnie smiled, “Especially when you’re clearly hung up on another girl. “ "Yeah well, I think I've kinda blown it. Story of my life." Frank sighed taking a pull from his bottle.
“Blown it?”
“Yeah she's pretty pissed. She saw us in the bar and has hardly spoken a word to me since”
"And you’re giving up that easily?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t even know if she likes me in that way so…” He shrugged and Bonnie leaned forward slightly.
“If she’s that pissed at you over the fact that you hooked up with someone else then she absolutely feels something for you Frank." Bonnie smiled softly. “And it would be a shame to let something as stupid as a one night stand screw it all up for you.”
Frank looked at her for another moment or two before he finished his beer and offered Bonnie another one which she accepted and then asked him about the court case. Frank filled Bonnie in on the running order for the testimonies which would start on Tuesday before she bid him goodnight and left. He contemplated messaging Fliss once she was gone but decided against it. He would give her a few days to calm down, and give himself some time to figure out what the fuck he was going to say.
***** It was Saturday afternoon when Frank reached out.
Fliss was busy on a lesson when her phone went. Taking a quick minute to look at it, she read the message from Frank asking if it was ok if they swung by as Mary was home. With a deep breath she replied telling him it was fine, before she turned back to her client who was one of the boarders on the yard.
She had just about finished some thirty minutes or so later when she heard Mary calling her name. She turned and gave her a smile and a wave. Once she had finished with her client and taken payment, she turned to Mary and gave the girl a hug.
“Hey!” she beamed as Mary hugged her tight. “I missed you!”
“I missed you too!” Mary beamed “And so has Frank.”
“That so?” Fliss stood up straight and looked at him. He took a deep breath and shrugged, but the little smile on his face told Fliss that Mary had completely and utterly busted him. She rolled her eyes and then gave him a little smile of her own. “Coffee?”
“Yeah, sounds great.” He nodded, gratefully taking the olive branch she had offered.
They made their way into the office and Fliss moved to the small kitchenette area at the back, filling the coffee machine before she turned to Mary, leaning against the counter.
“So, tell me all about Boston.” Mary began to gush about all the things she had done, Fliss listening and asking questions as she made her and Frank a coffee. He took his with a thanks whilst Mary told Fliss how she had looked at some photos, learned more about her mom and then done some complicated Maths for a professor at a University. At that Fliss noticed Frank stiffen slightly and she looked at him, gently shaking her head. He smiled tightly and turned to look out over the yard, taking a few steps outside.
“And she has a piano.” Mary finished, “I mean I didn’t get to play it but…”
“You should come over to my mum’s.” Fliss smiled “She’ll let you play hers. That’s what she used to do, teach people music.”
Mary smiled, before she looked over at Frank who was stood watching a few people riding in the paddock, the lessons for the day having concluded which meant the boarders were free to do what they wanted.
“Are you still mad at Frank?” Mary looked at Fliss.
“Not really.” Fliss shook her head “I got a little bit cross but…” “Yeah, he can make me cross too.” Mary said wisely “He does dumb stuff sometimes.”
Fliss laughed and studied the young girl. “Yeah, you got that right.” “But he’s a good person.” Mary concluded.
“I know.” Fliss agreed, her eyes flicking to him before she looked back at Mary.
“I don’t want to live with Evelyn.” Mary shrugged “I mean she was nice and looks like my mom but…she’s bossy.” Fliss smiled.
“I want to stay with Frank.” Mary continued. “Because I know he loves me. And he did before he found out I was smart.”
Fliss felt a lump in her throat at the girl’s confession. She glanced over at Frank again who ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes underneath his shades.
“Hey, Mary, why don’t you go say hi to Monty.” she said gently. “Tell Joanne I said you could help with the feeds.” “Yesss.” Mary cheered, scooting off her chair and shooting across the yard. Fliss saw Frank follow her with her eyes before he turned to her as she walked over to him.
“How you holding up?” she asked him gently.
“Apart from screwing up my life, I’m good.” Frank snorted, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the collar of his t-shirt. “Just hope I’m not screwing hers up as well.”
“Don’t’ say that.” Fliss shook her head “You know that’s not true. Mary’s fine.”
There was a pause before Frank took a deep breath and looked at Fliss. “I hate that we haven’t been talking. It’s been kinda lonely.”
“I thought you and Bonnie might have, ” she trailed off, shrugging, “gone out or something, I don’t know.”
Frank sighed “I’ve only seen her once since. And that was so we could have a straight up conversation about how what happened was a mistake”
“A mistake?” Fliss raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Frank nodded. “And as far as mistakes go, that one was pretty spectacular.”
“And you actually said that to her?”
He nodded.
“Wow.” Fliss snorted.
“She agreed so we’re both going to try and forget it ever happened.” Frank shrugged and he Fliss’ gaze for a second before he took a deep breath “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?” he pressed “Because you thought me and Bonnie, were, like together?”
Fliss swallowed and looked away, trying to think of something to say that didn’t give her feelings away. He’d hit the nail on the head. She had thought that, and more over she was jealous so had distanced herself on purpose.
“I just,” she looked back at him, “well, I suppose I didn’t want to step on any toes, so to speak, that’s all.”
“There’s none to step on, trust me.” Frank looked at her. “I don’t feel that way. Not towards Bonnie.”
Fliss looked at him, feeling her cheeks growing warm before she turned away and quickly changed the subject. “So err, anyway, she seems to have enjoyed Boston.”
Frank let out a large breath at the fact that Fliss had effectively withdrawn back from what he had felt had been the edge of a breakthrough there for the pair of them but, well, he had no right to be annoyed, especially after everything he’d done. “Yeah.” He nodded with a little smile.
“So what’s next?” she asked.
“Well she has a court interview with the Child Welfare department or whatever they’re called on Monday.”
“Sure it’ll be fine.” Fliss replied “It’s not like she’s treated badly or her welfare is an issue, Frank.”
“And the hearing starts in full on Tuesday.” He explained “They’re opening with a bang.” At his words Fliss frowned as he turned to face her. “Mary’s biological father has apparently signed an affidavit, nominating my mother as Mary’s legal guardian.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Fliss hissed, suddenly seething with anger as Frank shook his head “That’s a real shitty trick.”
“Yep” Frank agreed.
“Does Mary know?”
“No. I’ll have to tell her though, otherwise Evelyn will no doubt.”
“Your mother gets access to her again?”
“Whilst this is going on she gets visitation rights so…” Frank shrugged, and Fliss couldn’t help but notice his despondent nature.
“So when you gonna tell her?”
“Tuesday night, after it’s done. I don’t want her worrying or knowing he’s in town because if she knows and he doesn’t ask to see her, well at least once he’s gone then…” he bit his lip. “She’s gonna be upset either way but, what else can I do?”
“Nothing, just what you think is best.”  Fliss said gently “I told you before that’s all you can do Frank.” He looked at her and she sighed, opening her arms and he gladly stepped towards her, wrapping her up in a hug.
******
Tuesday rolled around far too quickly for Frank’s liking. The interviews on Monday went fairly smoothly, he had a little bit of a questioning over his TV choices for Mary but other than that he’d left that session feeling pretty okay about it.
And then he’d walked into court, seen his mother and the snivelling little shit that was now being questioned by his Mother’s Lawyer.
“Mr. Polland, are you the natural father of Mary Adler?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
Frank sat still, glaring at the ass hole sat in the dock.
“And how you can be certain of this?
“Well, I always knew, but then you had me take a DNA test.”
Course they did…
I would offer the test results as result of evidence of that Mr. Polland is the father and natural guardian of the minor. As well as an affidavit from Mr. Polland nominating Mrs. Adler the maternal grandmother as the legal guardian of the minor.”
Frank sat up slightly, his jaw clenching. This ass hole had no right to decide what was best for Mary, he’d never fucking met her. Greg touched his arm, shaking his head, telling him to keep quiet.
“No objections.” Greg spoke.
“Mr. Polland has Mrs. Adler offered you any monetary reward or employment for coming forward today?” Evelyn’s attorney continued.
No, sir. I have a job of my own.”
Frank suppressed a snort. Bullshit she hasn’t paid you.
“Thank you. No further questions, your Honour.”
Greg then stood up and waited a second before he opened his cross examination “Mr. Polland when was the last time you saw Mary?”
“I've never seen her.” Polland shifted slightly and Frank watched him intently.
“Why not?”
“By the time I heard about Diane…passing the baby was gone already.”
Her name is Mary, ass hole. Frank took a deep breath.
“Well, did you try and find her?” Greg pressed.
“Best I could. I couldn't just go and search the entire country.” Polland shook his head, trying to make a joke out of it. Frank was pleased to see the judge wasn’t laughing.
Greg nodded and paused again, before suddenly asking “Do you use a computer at work?”
“Sure.” Polland replied
“You know what? Help me out.” Cullen turned and grabbed his laptop “Let's google ‘Mary Adler’ and see what we find.” he placed the laptop on the dock and turned it towards Polland. He hesitated for a while and looked at the Judge who gestured with his hand, instructing him to do as he was told. Polland began to tap when Greg spoke again “You know what? You better add her middle name.”
Frank watched as Polland stopped, because of course he had no idea what her midde name was.
“It'll narrow it down. Eileen” Cullen informed him. Polland looked up and caught Frank’s eye, his face sheepish. Frank kept his face straight, his chin resting on his hand, fingers making an L-shape round his jaw as Polland looked away and began to tap.
“Yeah, Hit enter.” Greg nodded. “Okay, now head to page two…second hit. Would you please tell the court what you see there?”
Polland hesitated “It's a newspaper article called ‘Not so terrible twos’”
“And one of them is Mary Eileen Adler.”  Greg nodded “Same name as your daughter. Born on the same day as your daughter. With a photograph”
Polland looked at him.
“In your defence, you'd never recognize it…”
“Your Honour, this is...” Evelyn’s attorney stood up but Cullen was quick to cut him off
“Your Honour, if there's one thing here that's sadly obvious it's that Mr. Polland has never been a genuine guardian of the minor and his nomination of Mrs. Adler is no less disingenuous.” he looked at the Judge.
Frank shifted slightly as Judge Nicholls looked at Polland, then to Evelyn, then to him before he turned glanced at the notes in front of him.
“While the state of Florida gives deference to nomination by natural parent, I'm inclined to side with Mr. Cullen's laptop at this time.” he said, nodding at Cullen, effectively dismissing the affidavit. Frank allowed himself a relieved smile as Cullen nodded.
“Thank you, your Honor”
Once court was adjourned for the day, Frank obligingly walked his mother to her car when she asked him to. And as they walked, she told him about his step father Walter. Frank had found it odd how he wasn’t featuring in any of this, but his silent question was answered as Evelyn told him he moved out and bought a ranch in Montana.
“Bullshit.” Frank exclaimed as they walked in the sun, his suit jacket handing over his arm.
“Exactly. A man whose idea of roughing it is being too far from the ice machine at the Ritz Carlton now owns a thousand acres of grass and dung.”
“Walter Price is a cowboy.” Frank smiled, shaking his head, making a mental not to tell Fliss later. “Walter Price puts on a Brooke's brother suit to take out the garbage!”
“Well, now he has a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and a horse that doesn't know dressage.” Evelyn shook her head.
“Is there some logical reason for this?” Frank asked.
“Midlife crisis, apparently.”
“He's seventy.” Frank scoffed
“I know. Must have been on time delay or something. I guess I should be happy it wasn't a twent-five year old cocktail waitress. But then again an affair you can explain to friends in a minute. For this, you put on a pot of coffee.”
“And he's out there right now?”
“Yessiree!” Evelyn imitated a Western accent. “Riding the range!”
Frank lost himself for a moment as he and his mother joked, mocking exactly what his Step Father would look like. He hated to admit it, but at times like this he was reminded how similar he was to his mother. Same dry sense of humour, no nonsense nature…
“The fastest asset management in the West.” he snorted and Evelyn smiled.
“The man who shot Liberty Mutual. That's what I've been calling him” she said as they stopped at her car.
“That's really, really funny.” Frank chuckled, and then sighed as his mother opened the car door. He leaned down and spoke to the driver. “Take her to the airport.” he said, straightening up. “Go home, Evelyn. Or Montana. Rustle some cattle.” he said gently.
“You know I have no desire to hurt you. I hate it that we're at odds.”
And then, he was also reminded just how different they were too.
“We're always at odds.” he shrugged.
“Yes.” She said, almost sadly before she climbed in the car. “Hotel.” she instructed her driver, closing the door.
**** As anticipated, when he broke the news to Mary about her father, she had a meltdown and locked herself in the bathroom. No amount of coaxing from him or Roberta would draw her out. She was sobbing about how her dad didn’t want her…and then Frank was struck with an idea and he pulled out his phone to call in reinforcement which arrived in the shape of Fliss some twenty minutes later.
“I still can’t believe that wank stain was even given the time of day.” Fliss seethed as Frank greeted her outside. “I mean…”
“It’s done, his claim was thrown out but...”Frank nodded to where Roberta was stood outside locked bathroom door.
“Why you had to tell her that waste of oxygen was testifying I’ve no idea.” the woman shot him a look.
“Because it's the truth. And if I didn't, Evelyn would've.” Frank reasoned.
“If I was the dad of a little girl and I never saw her and I was in the same town. I would visit her.” Fliss heard Mary’s crying and Frank saw her face scrunch up in sympathy. “He didn't even need directions. He could've followed you here.”
“Ok, Roberta, can you…” Fliss asked gently. Roberta stood to the side and Fliss spoked to the door. “Mary, sweetheart, it’s me.”
“Lissy?” Mary sniffled.
“The one and only.” Fliss smiled, before she sighed “You know what, you’re right. He could have come to see you. But he didn’t. And that sucks, but it has nothing to do with you.”
“He doesn't even wanna see what I look like.” The girl sobbed again.
“You know I never met my dad either.” Fliss said gently “He abandoned my mum before I was born, made no attempt to see me at all, and then he was killed when I was 4 months old. He died without ever seeing my face. And you know what?”
“What?” Mary sniffed.
“That was his loss.” Fliss continued. “And then my mom met Bill when I was two, and he’s been my dad ever since. He looked after me and loved me, just like Frank does for you.” Fliss glanced at him and he dropped his hand from where it had been cupping his chin, folding his arms round his chest as he shot her a small smile. “Like we all do Mary, you’re so loved. By Frank, Roberta, me…” Fliss continued, “Now come on, open the door.”
There was a pause and they heard a rustle, before the lock on the door clicked and it opened. Mary stood in the doorway, her eyes red and wet from tears before she gave another sob and threw herself at Fliss. Fliss crouched down on one knee and held her back, gently rocking her and Frank felt his chest tighten at the display of affection.
And then he had an idea.
He crouched next to them, his hand gently reaching out to brush Mary’s hair back as she turned her head which was on Fliss’ shoulder to look at him.
“Put your shoes on. We're going for a ride.” he said to her softly. Then he turned to Fliss “You too, that is if you want to.”
“Sure.” she nodded.
“Roberta?” Frank looked at her, and she shook her head.
“Your truck only got three seats.” “We can take mine.” Fliss offered as Mary gently released her.
“No, I think you two got this.” she said, with a knowing smile.
*******
“What are we doing here?” Mary asked as they sat on the seats in the waiting room and Fliss found herself wondering the same thing. She hadn’t questioned Frank, he obviously had something up his sleeve.
“Waiting.”
“We can see that.” Fliss replied playfully, and he looked at her, rolling his eyes as Mary continued.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.” he shrugged, returning to the National Geographic magazine he was flicking through.
“How long do we have to stay here?”
“As long as it takes. And keep your voice down. It's a hospital.”
As long as it takes turned out to be an hour and a half. Through which time Mary had groaned, moaned, used Frank’s legs as a climbing frame, which Fliss noticed he had expertly ignored simply slouching in his seat, legs apart as Mary draped herself over them. Eventually she had curled up next to Fliss and laid her head on her lap, dozing off.
Fliss was busy reading something on her emails when she heard a bit of a commotion and the group at the other side of the waiting room all stood up. Frank’s eyes flew to them and then he gently gave Fliss a smile before he nudged Mary awake.
She blinked and watched as a man walked into the waiting room dressed in scrubs, a huge smile on his face.
“It's a boy.” he announced and the group erupted into cheers. Fliss glanced down at Mary who was watching in awe as everyone started to congratulate the man, all crying, sobbing with happiness, cheering, praising the lord.
“That's exactly how it was when you were born.” Frank spoke softly and Fliss then understood. He was showing Mary that she was loved, that she was wanted.
“This happy?” Mary asked
“This happy.” Frank confirmed.
“Who came out and told everybody?” she asked, and Frank leaned over gently brushing her hair behind her ear.
“I did.”
The emotion of the moment got to Fliss and her eyes watered. Frank raised his head and they shared a look as he smiled and she smiled back before Mary piped up.
“Can we stay for another?”
So they did, and when the next family all celebrated Mary jumped up, heading over to the group. They all smiled at her as she was swept into their celebrations. Fliss reached over and gently took Frank’s hand, giving his fingers a squeeze, a gesture he returned until Mary came back and pulled Fliss over to the group with her. Frank leaned back and watched as Fliss simply smiled and wiped her eyes as she congratulated the family and he let out a sigh, swallowing slightly, lost in his thoughts.
Eventually the family all dispersed to go and see their new arrival and he told Mary that it was too late to stay for another. She fell asleep on the way home against Fliss and when they got home it was a careful manoeuvre to get her out of the car without waking her up. He gently placed her in bed before he walked Fliss down to her car.
“Thank you.” he broke the silence.  “You were amazing before. You’re just amazing full stop.” he said, trailing off.
She blushed slightly and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“I mean it Lissy…” he sighed, “You just…”
He hesitated for a second before he reached out and gently placed his hand on her hip, pulling her softly towards him
“Frank.” she protested softly as his face dropped towards hers, her hands gently on his chest keeping him away from her “Look, I, ”
“I’m sorry.” he swallowed, his head dropping as he sighed at her rejection “You don’t have to explain.”
“It’s not even three weeks ago you were in bed with another woman.” she looked at him and he grimaced, pulling away.
“I know and I really wish that hadn’t happened” he sighed, the hand that had been on her hip moved and ran through his hair “My head was fucked and…”
“How do I know it isn’t now?”  Fliss looked at him “How do I, or you for that matter, know that this…” she gestured between them with her hand “…isn’t just an emotional response to what’s going on as well?”
“Because it’s not.” he shook his head, his eyes not leaving hers as he drove his message home “I care about you Fliss, more than just as friends, and I’m kicking myself now because what I did means you don’t believe me.”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” she took deep breath, as she looked down at her hands, the fingers of her right hand fiddling with her left. “And it’s not that I don’t feel the same.” She looked up at him, her voice quiet.
At her words a soft smile formed on his face as she continued to talk.
“But right now, you need to concentrate on Mary, and getting through this week.”
He nodded, swallowing “Yeah, I know, you’re right.”
She smiled, and reached up, taking his face in her soft hands. “But I promise you I’m not going anywhere.” her eyes locked onto his “And whatever this is,” she gestured between them once more, “if it’s right, then it’ll still be there when this is all over.”
She stood on her tip toes to place a gentle kiss to side of his mouth and he leaned down, pressing  his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he swallowed. They stayed like that for a moment until Fliss backed away gently, squeezing his hand.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” he frowned
“Yeah, the Wicked Witch of The West is testifying is she not?”
Frank gave a huff of a laugh “Yeah she is.” “Like I said, you’re not alone. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched her climb in her car and waited until the tail lights had disappeared before he turned and headed inside. Finally all the cards were on the table, and it hadn’t been a rejection, quite the opposite actually.
For the first time in days, Frank slept soundly that night.
**** Chapter 8
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chemiste · 4 years
Text
Voicemail. ~part 2~
a/n : you want it? go get it! heres the second part to voicemail!! I’m thinking a 3rd and final part for this??? if y’all want it tell me! ALSO I’ve linked what the reader is wearing and maybe what others are too so if you see a link thats what it is. also wanted to say thank you so much for the support on this one shot!! i would put those big eye emojis but im typing on a laptop and i dont think O.O is the same....
first part!!!! go read
mah masterlist
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“Next on the red carpet is singer/song writer Y/N L/N, wow look at that beautiful dress!! This year at the Grammys she is up for 3 awards, Song of the Year, Best Dance Recording, and Best Solo Pop Artist!” 
The interviewer exclaimed excitedly from her podium along side the paparazzi wall. It had been a week since the songs were let out for the world and so there was definitely an electricity in the air at the awards ceremony.
“All you fans are probably watching for the most anticipated performances of tonight! Harry Styles will be singing one of his new songs from his album FineLine! Twitter is going ballistic from the recently leaked songs about is break up with L/N, we all know the cameras will be on her tonight whenever he’s mentioned! Oh look, here she comes now!”
You walked over in your beautiful award dress, safe to say you were the best dress star there. Your hair was done up and the red long dress seemed to flow around you effortlessly as you walked. 
“Hello Diane, it’s lovely to see you again.” 
You said in a polite voice, smiling to her and the camera, she handed you an extra mic, ready to drown you with questions.
“I’m going to cut to the chase— did you listen to the songs?”
Wow, this lady’s cut throat I’ll give her that.
“Oh yes! I’ve listened to all the albums nominated this year and I’m so excited.”
“Oh I was talking about—“
“I’m so incredibly grateful for the nominations, I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this album and I’m glad the fans love it as much as I do.”
You could see the Diane deflate a little, understanding you’d keep dodging questions about Harry until it was over so she moved on. 
“Yes, you’re nominated for Best Dance Recording, the music video for your song Clouds was crazy! How long did it take you to figure out how to dance while flying?!” 
You laughed, thinking back to the many rehearsals of choreography on the ground and then being connected to cables and hoisted into the air to perform it. 
“A girl never tells her secrets,” you said with a wink. 
“Well speaking of flying in a music video, I know one performance tonight will be—“
Cheers and hysteric screaming filled the fan area as someone came on to the carpet. 
“Is that? Oh look, Harry Styles enters the stage in a—, my goodness! You and him are matching!”
You couldn’t believe it.
Harry was decked out in a full red suit, hair beautifully fluffed and glimmering in the light. He had red heels that looked like Dorthy’s slippers.
And he had the faintest amount of red lipstick on, making him look like an ethereal being in red.
“Wow, we really are matching.” 
You mumbled to yourself, half forgetting you were being filmed. 
You turned back to the camera the moment you remembered, making your face emotionless so hopefully the interviewer wouldn’t pick up on your thoughts at the moment. 
You quickly thanked her and slipped off into the sea of celebrities, hearing his voice ‘hello love! So happy you could come’ to the fans hoping he would give them a signature.
You entered the award room, looking for your assigned seat. Luckily you were strangely one of the only people in there aside from a few techies working on the stage lights.
“Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Billie Elish, Kahild… Harry….” 
You gasped, basically scoffing at what you saw next. 
“Y/N L/N? Are you fucking kidding me?!” 
You started to breathe a little faster, “Oh god, I don’t think I can do a whole ceremony next to him, after the whole thing online… and not responding to his texts.”
It’s true, when he had texted you that morning, it took you 5 hours and a shot of tequila to actually open his messages.
Bastard (wasn’t allowed to block, fuck PR)
Hey… I don’t know if you’ve gotten a call from one of your PR people yet but, I just wanted you to know I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I don’t wish to put you through anymore than what I already have…
Bastard (wasn’t allowed to block, fuck PR)
Um, but uh, if you’ve listened to the songs, just know that I really do mean the words I sang. I wish we could have, uh talked, but I understand I’m not in any position to ask for that. Just, there were a few others songs that didn’t get leaked, and uh, I’d like you to have them. You don’t have to listen to them but, it would mean a lot to me if you did.
Bastard (wasn’t allowed to block, fuck PR)
“Mrs. Styles.”M4A. Click to open.
Bastard (wasn’t allowed to block, fuck PR)
“I Should Have Fought.”M4A. Click to open.
Bastard (wasn’t allowed to block, fuck PR)
“I’m Sorry.”M4A. Click to open.
You didn’t listen to them, like the others. 
You just… couldn’t. 
It had taken you so long to get over him and grind it into your head that you didn’t do anything wrong, he did. 
Your PR team decided the best thing to do was acted like nothing had happened because if you didn’t give a response the public would have nothing to go off of, so here you were, looking at one of the scheming ideas from someone on the Award Team to see if they’d be the first to get some action between the two of you.
“Fuck that.” 
You said to yourself, looking around to make sure no one was looking, you snatched your name paper and walked about 15 seats over and changed with Lana Del Ray. 
Because you were all in the front row, you couldn’t get farther than that, but this would have to do. You quickly put Lana’s paper in your previous seat and walked out of the room, escaping the ‘crime scene’.
At least I’m sitting next to Shawn now.
You and Shawn had gotten to be friends around a year ago when you bumped into him at the recording studio and....maybe spilled your marshmallow milkshake down his shirt.
“I’m so fuckin sorry! Oh god please don’t sue me for this, or worst, tell your fans!!” 
You rambled, padding him off with the napkins from your fast food bag. You looked up at the tall Canadian in front of you that just had a smile on his face.
 “Hey don’t worry about it, uh, I’m Shawn but I guess you already knew that.” 
“Yeah, I’ve been listening to your music for a while its fantastic, I’m—“ 
“Y/N L/N, America’s Favorite Child and Feminist thats not faired to fuck you up?” 
You grinned, “Oh you saw that video?” 
He laughed, “Hell ya I did, You punching that old misogynist groping that girl on the street is one of the videos saved on my phone!”
After that day, you both caught on like a house on fire since you seemed to be in the studio at the same time, it was great having someone to throw ideas around with at 3am when everyone else had left the studio.
“Y/N! Girl! I haven’t seen you in forever!” 
You looked up from the corner of the red carpet you had been hiding standing in. Hailee Steinfeld made her way over to you in a black dress that hugged her perfectly. 
You let out a sigh of relief, you gave her a big hug, breathing in her sweet perfume. 
“Hailee you’re a life savor, I feel so out of it here.” 
She gave you a soft look, “Cause he’s here right?”
You clinched your jaw, “And we’re fucking matching! How did that even happen? It’s literally the same shade of my dress and everything! There are so many shades his team could have chose but they went with that one! And the lipstick! He’s basically a devil personified! But he’s got style!”
You quietly rambled to your fellow singer, she squeezed your hand when the bell chimed telling everyone it was time to enter. 
“Y/N, before we go in I wanted to ask if you had listened to the songs.” 
“Uh, no… I… I couldn’t hear his voice staying those things to me so I just read the lyrics.” 
Hailee gave your bare shoulder a squeeze, “Well, I don’t want to play devil’s advocate,” you smiled at her little quip, “but I did, and what’s not in the lyrics just written is the emotion you could hear in his voice. During Drunk Thoughts, theres a part that people are speculating he’s crying while recording, trying force sing it out and, it’s just, I think it’s time you spoke to him.”
Hailee was one of your most trusted friends and to hear her say this, wasn’t surprising.
You were starting to think it too.
“But, I’m scared H, what if makes it worse?”
The final bell chimed and you both started to walk inside. “I have a feeling it won’t."
                                                        ........
“What an incredible performance by Ariana Grande, next up is the show we’ve all been waiting for, or well I’ve been waiting for, here’s Harry Styles performing a new song from his nominated Album, FineLine!” 
James Corden announced from the side aisle. You felt Shawn subtly queen your hand, knowing there was bound to be a camera on you the whole time while Harry sang.
You took a deep breath,
No facials.
No twitching.
Calm.
The curtain came up from the stage, the set was a back cube cut diagonally so the audience could see the inside. 
Harry stood in a white suit sans a shirt. He wasn’t wearing shoes so you could see the painted red toe nails peeking out from underneath the too long suit pants. 
His hair had been messed with a bit, giving it a soft and fluffy just out of bed look.
Now he looks like an angel.
He held a red mic in his hand, and spoke into it.
“Before we start, I’d like to inform you that I will be singing an unreleased song not from my album called.”
He took a breath.
"Red.”
You curled your toes in your heels the only way you’d be allowed to release the tension you felt in your body since they were covered by your dress.
Fuck, that’s why we match.
A piano started playing, a sort of dark melody that reverberated through your bones and into your soul.
It’s all I can see,
It’s all I can hear,
The sound is loud,
But it’s not clear.
The tone of your voice,
Plays in my head,
That look in your eyes,
I can tell you want me dead.
Grays are the only color I see,
Black and white and in between.
But then I saw you in that dress.
The color of blood always suited you the best.
You and your red dress.
You and your red…… dress.
Thoughts swirl around, in my mind.
Pretty eyes and satin clothes,
They plagues my dreams, in the night.
Grays are the only color I see,
Black and white and in between.
But then I saw you in that dress.
The color of blood always suited you the best.
You and your red dress.
You and your red…… dress.
You watched as he struggled to hold back the emotion in his voice, you sucked in a small breathe when his eyes made contact with yours, unwavering.
Oh… I wish could take it back.
Oh… I wish I could take it back.
Oh… I wish could take it back.
Oh… I wish I could take it back.
You and your red dress.
You and your red…… dress.
You and your red dress.
You and your red…… dress.
The song ended and the audience was silent.
 Everyone could feel the tension in the room, so you did the only you could do.
You stood and started to clap.
Shawn and Hailee immediately followed your cue and soon the rest of the auditorium was erupting with cheers and roars of excitement.
But all you could focus on was the smile on his face, looking down at you.
And the one forming on yours too.
<3
3rd part right here!
alsoooo i’d like to say a big wtf to people that white wash reader inserts! it’s so damn easy to just put a little colleague together like i did and add it so everyone can envision themselves and like,,, need a hairstyle? literally say ‘you did your favorite hairstyle’ thats perfect and a neutral way to keep everyone happy!!! people that bitch about going the extra mile are worthless writers smh
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TELL US HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT DIANE !! The whole time I was terrified of her and terrified for Chloe, but I also wanted to give her a hug? So it’s just a lot of feelings. And Sarah is amazing and gave me chills. And Kiera Allen!!!!! She is so amazing!!!
ALSKALDJLAKDLFKG EMMY OF COURSE I WILL THANK YOU FOR STICKING THIS IN MY ASK BOX I AM SO READY 👏🏼👏🏼
Okay first and foremost let’s just talk about Kiera Allen because WHAT?!?! She was astounding. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t THAT— I spent the entire first viewing of the movie just sitting in awe of her. There are no words. I was blown out of the water, and continue to be every time I watch.
~AND NOW FOR DIANE~
Okay I have a LOT of thoughts about this lady, but I finally watched the movie a third time and feel adequately equipped to answer this!! Here we go:
First of all, we love a batshit queen. She’s insane - that’s a given. But I wasn’t expecting just HOW insane she was going to be. I expected to come out of it riding high on a mommy kink, and instead I just- I have no words, but I was fucked up.
Love the character, love the progression of everything, love how I didn’t trust her for a SECOND from the start and you can see her pulling the wool over Chloe’s eyes over and over again. I wasn’t expecting the gaslighting, but BOY did that hit. And UNGH Paulson’s hands-
Okay so I have a lot of thoughts about the way Paulson uses her hands as Diane. The way they shake and tap when she’s losing control, the way she slides them together when she’s thinking, the HARD tapping of the computer keys when she’s angry, mixed with the way she grabs the paint thinner and mixes that pot until the spoon nearly breaks. And then you have the contrast of the way she touches Chloe, the hands on the face, ALWAYS on the face, tucking hair behind her ear and going in so delicately when she tries to give her the insulin shot. And of course the fateful handshake. (I’m not even going to get into how upset I am that the first one of these was cut, because it would have rounded out the entire film and UGH okay if you want to hear me rant about the deleted scenes that’s going to have to be a different post because I DIGRESS—)
The point is that every time Diane actually TOUCHES Chloe, it’s always delicate and loving and kind. As if she needs to do it like that, so that when she says “I’ve never hurt you,” she MEANS it. Or she thinks she means it. Because from her backstory and her history, hurt seems to almost always be physical. So giving her daughter pills to “help her”? What is that? That’s nothing. Chloe doesn’t have to take them, right? And Diane would NEVER lay a hand on her daughter. She would NEVER hurt her (as further evidenced by the “I don’t want to die—“ “DON’T SAY THAT! I would never” scene. OOF).
And this brings me to something I noticed while over-analyzing the deleted scenes specifically. (You know. As you do.) Every time Diane feels like Chloe’s trust is fractured, like she needs to somehow win her back, she gets down low in front of Chloe. Whether she’s crouching or kneeling, she makes sure that her eye level is lower than her daughter’s. Chloe has to look down at her, she has to look up at Chloe. The ultimate power play. The ultimate manipulation. Regardless of the gaslighting and the lying and everything else that happened, this struck me as the worst bit. Because she’s placing Chloe in charge, in a position of power. She’s making Chloe feel like she is in control of her own choices, like she is the one who gives Diane permission (hello handshake, we meet again). And you can see it in Diane’s eyes. The way she watches Chloe, the way she softens her gaze and doesn’t touch her, or conversely, the way she grabs her and clings to her and holds her gaze like a lifeline (i.e. the basement scene). It’s terrifying. And it’s a brilliant move.
And just circling back to the hands oneeeee more time: Diane + hands is a theme from literally the first scene. Hands folded in prayer, hand on the glass of the incubator. It’s her first instinct, right? To touch. She craves that physical love, the tangible love. So much so that we know she’s going to steal a baby JUST BECAUSE of what Diane does with her hand. She touches the glass, and the decision is made.
So then isn’t it poetic when at the end, she can’t touch? She can’t move, let alone speak. And yet, because Sarah Paulson is a goddess among us, you know EVERYTHING that’s going through her head by the way her nostrils flare. Genius.
So yeah I could ramble about this woman for days and maybe I’ve analyzed this film too much, but HEY what’s a girl to do 🙈
(Also I’m just going to put it out there, I could barely look at Diane at the end. That makeup was too good and I just can’t stand to see Paulson look like that. It physically hurt. Is that pathetic? Yes. Do I know it’s fake? Also yes. But here we are and I still couldn’t bring myself to do it.)
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Riding High Ch7: Ordinary People
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Chapter Summary: Frank feels the aftermath of his dumbassery
Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Flash backs to domestic violence.
Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher
A/N: Contains SPOILERS for the film!!!!! If you haven’t seen it please be aware of that before you read on. As a Lawyer I know how long the types of cases depicted in GIFTED can take, however they can also be done pretty fast. With that in mind, and because it fits with how I want the story to go I’m spreading it over approximately 6 weeks or so, so just roll with me! As always I’m a ho for a REBLOG and COMMENT!
Chapter Song: Ordinary People by John Legend
Series Masterlist Main Masterlist
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“I saw you…he had his hands all over you.”
“John, I didn’t want him to…he was drunk, just being over friendly…”
Fliss cowered as a sneer crossed her husband’s face, the features she found so handsome once upon a time were distorted in anger, his dark green eyes clouded with rage as he towered over where she sat on the crouch. In a flash he had reached out and grabbed a fist full of her hair, yanking her to her feet. Fliss gave a cry of pain, stumbling after him as he dragged her up the stairs. She tripped at one point, her hip colliding painfully with one of the steps but he paid it no attention.
No mercy.
“You’re mine Sugar” he said, his voice steely “you know that.”
“I know…” she sobbed as he threw her into the bedroom. She scrambled for purchase on the bed as he pushed her hard so she fell face down, but before she could raise herself again he had grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her face into the pillows.
“Why do you make me do this, Felicity?” He asked, releasing his hold as his thighs bracketed hers. Fliss heard the tell-tale clinking of his belt and she gave another sob, knowing full well what was coming. He roughly pushed her dress up over her hips, leaving her underwear clad ass exposed.
And then the leather stuck her. Again. And again. And again.
“I’ll mark you so hard no one else will ever want you…” he snarled as he continued his assault. “You’re mine…“ Fliss sat bolt upright, gasping as she glanced around her bedroom. Thor, hearing her breathing jumped up onto her bed and shoved his head under her arm as she clamped her hands over her face. Looking down at him she buried her face into the dog’s fur, holding him tight as her breathing evened out. She ran through her calming thoughts in her head, imagining the sound of the ocean, the wind in her hair as she galloped on the beach, the soft and gentle hugs she received from her dad, her mum…and dare she even think it, Frank. And then another image filled he head. The sight of him kissing Bonnie at the bar.
“Wanker…” she muttered, wiping the tears from her face as Thor licked her cheek, his tail wagging as she stroked him. She was shaking slightly, the dream had been so real, so vivid, she could almost physically feel the pain. John had belted her so badly that night she hadn’t been able to ride for a week, and she still bore the marks where the buckle had ripped through her panties and skin.
The worst thing was, that after he had finished, he had held her, stroking her hair, soothing her, explaining why he had to punish her so much. It was sick, twisted. Just like him. “No power over me anymore, no power, no power…” she repeated her mantra through gritted teeth before she pushed the duvet down and swung her legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.
***** Frank had also woken up to a nightmare. His head was pounding from the shots he’d downed at the bar and being jerked awake by Bonnie’s screams as Mary had turned up in the apartment earlier than she was allowed on a Saturday hadn’t exactly helped the situation, not to mention the fact that he had fucked Mary’s school teacher for no reason other than the fact he was drunk, stressed and needed a release. Thankfully she seemed to be in the same place as him about the entire situation as he saw her out to a cab, apologising for Mary’s interruption, literally incapable of thinking of anything else to say. It was the most awkward morning after he had ever experienced.
And there was something else compounding his growing bad mood. When he had finally checked his phone as he stood outside for a few moments after Bonnie had gone, hoping the fresh air would sort his head out, he realised he had a number of messages from Fliss and a few missed calls. Groaning he remembered that he should have called her after the court case. Firing her a quick apology promising to talk to her later when it was time for Mary’s lesson, before he headed back inside.
Mary was sat on the rug with her lego, pieces scattered all over, Ice Age playing on the TV.
“Awkward…”  she sing songed
“Mary…” Frank looked at her for a moment and when she didn’t look at him he crouched down
“Stop! Stop! Stop with the Legos. Listen.” he took a breath and she looked at him “Do we have a rule about Saturday morning?”
“What?” she said softly
“Are you allowed in this apartment this early on Saturday morning?” Frank pressed, looking at her.
“No.” Mary sighed, averting her eyes from his.
“No!” Frank said, a little louder before he paused again “Are you allowed to… Hey!” he reached out to stop Mary as she returned to her Toys. “Stop! Enough with the Lego! Are you allowed to use Roberta’s keys?”
“No.” she still wasn’t looking at him.
“No!” Frank said, his voice gathering momentum “So, hey! Look at me. Then why are you here? Huh? Can you answer me that?”
Mary’s eyes filled with tears but Frank was too angry at the fact she had disobeyed him to comfort her.
“You broke every rule! You just embarrassed me. We have these rules.” he said standing up, turning to head back out of the door into the kitchen “We’ve gone over them a hundred times!” And then he stepped on a piece of Lego in his bare feet. His frustration boiled over as he hopped on one leg, clutching the side of the dresser which was pushed flush against the wall.
“Shit…” he yelled “God, damned it…” he slapped the side of the dresser, leaning against it,as he bent down to rub his foot  “Can I just get five minutes of my own life?”
At that Mary jumped up and bolted into his bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Frank stood up, before he sighed, one hand on his hip, his eyes closed. He’d overreacted, he knew that. He was more pissed at himself for being an idiot than he was at Mary. He ran his hand over his face and glanced at the clock. Mary’s riding lesson was at 2 and it was now just pushing 10:30. Deciding to leave Mary to cool down before he made breakfast he headed into the kitchen to clear up yesterday’s dishes.
He heard the door to his room click open about twenty minutes later. Giving her another 10 he wiped the counter down before he made his way back into the main room and sat on the edge of her bed, where she was snuggled down in her alcove which sported a collection of shells they had stuck to the wood panels and a few photos, one of her mom, one of her and Frank and one of her and Fliss with Monty. She was huddled in the corner, Fred laying on her knee, the laptop resting on his back as she tapped away.
“Nothing that happened today was your fault.” Frank said gently and looked at her “I got mad at you…I was really mad at me…” he looked at her and she continued to ignore him “…and the manufacturers of Legos. They should all be in prison. So I’m sorry.” he said gently. She paused tapping but still didn’t look at him. “Do you forgive me?”
“Sure. Whatever.” she mumbled.
“Hey, close the laptop. Come on. Please. Doesn’t count if it’s not eye to eye.”
She hesitated so he asked again, gently. “Come on, please.”
With a sigh she did was she was told and looked at him, her eyes so like Diane’s were full of sadness and Frank felt his gut twist in guilt.
“Do you really have no life because of me?”
Fuck. Frank cursed himself for his outburst before and shook his head.
“That’s not what I said.” he looked at her.
“Did you mean it?” she pressed, not buying his statement for one minute, her voice soft.
“Last week you said I was the worst Uncle in the world and you wished death upon me ‘cause I didn’t buy you a piano.” Frank looked at her, holding her gaze. “Did you mean that?”
“No” Mary replied, her fingers tangling in Fred’s fur “Not entirely.”
“Well…” Frank said, “There you go. We say things all the time we don’t mean. So let’s forget it, okay?”
“Okay” Mary agreed
“Okay.”  Frank nodded, standing up
“Frank?” she called as he headed towards the door to head down and check the mail. He stopped and turned back, even though he couldn’t see her.
“Yeah?”
“Can I have a piano?”
“No.” he said, turning for the door.
He strode down across the lawn to the mail boxes, unlocked his and pulled out 2 letters. One looked like a bill, the other was in a manila coloured envelope, and was stamped with some kind of official seal.
“Was that really Mary's teacher this morning?” Roberta appeared. He glanced at her and returned to his post “And there was me thinking Fliss would stop you doing anything stupid…”
Frank’s head shot up “Fliss?” he frowned “What….”
“She came here last night, to see you. We roped her into Karaoke before she left and she said she was going to come and find you at Fergs”
Frank frowned. “Well she didn’t. I never saw her last night so she-”
Oh,fuck fuck fuck! He trailed off with a groan as he realised that she had probably seen him with Bonnie and then he felt a stinging slap round the back of his head.
“Shit!” He exclaimed, glaring at Roberta “Jesus…that fucking hurt!”
“Good…” she stared at him. “You know I have a book called ‘Fundamentals of Decision Making’. You can borrow it.” ‘
He glared at her, he didn’t need this. Not now. His attention turned back to the letter and he noticed the seal was from the court house. With a frown he opened it. The header- ‘Highsmith, Kistler & Sellers Attorneys at Law’ greeted him and he started to read. It was an order for him to surrender Mary for 2 days into Evelyn’s care, at a time and date to be agreed. It wasn’t unexpected but it was pretty fast considering it had only been agreed yesterday. His mother really wasn’t wasting any time.
“What is it?”  Roberta asked, noticing the frown on his face
“It’s nothing.” he said, leaning on the post box, still reading the letter “looks like Mary gets to go to Boston for a couple days.”
He noticed Roberta stiffen and he looked at her. “It’s just two days. Relax.” he said gently.
Because he was always honest with Mary he sat down once he was back inside and told her about the letter. She knew there was a court case going on, he had explained it all to her as best as he could so as not to cause her any worry. She soaked up the information and shrugged before saying that going to Boston sounded kinda cool. Frank simply nodded and said that he would sort out the dates on Monday before they ate lunch and headed up to the riding school. As he drove there his stomach was doing flips, the nerves at seeing Fliss were overwhelming, more so because he had no idea what he was going to say to her. It was strange, he felt guilty, even though he had no real reason to. They weren’t an item.
Fliss greeted Mary with the usual warmth before she turned her gaze to Frank, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, compounding that guilty feeling even more.
“Sorry I didn’t call you last night.” he offered and she shrugged.
“It’s ok, I know you were busy.” her voice carried no sarcasm, it was measured and cool but Frank knew she was referring to Bonnie, his suspicions confirmed. She turned away, barking an instruction to Joanne who looked at her, nodding.
Frank leaned on the paddock fence as he always did, a little way from the other parents and watched as Fliss taught the 3 girls, smile on her face. Mary was certainly getting the hang of it now and was able to trot around unaided. After about 40 minutes they were done and heading out of the paddock. Fliss made no attempt to come and speak to him, like normal, and made straight for her office. Casting and eye on Mary who was leading Monty back to the stable he followed Fliss.
“You’re mad at me.” he observed gently.
“Why would I be mad at you?” she replied, pulling 3 cartons of apple juice out of the fridge for the kids.
“Because you saw me last night with Bonnie.” he pressed.
He saw her stiffen slightly before she took a breath and turned round.
“I’m not mad.” she shrugged.
“Could have fooled me.”
“I just…well I think you should have considered Mary a little more, that’s all, instead of simply wanting to get your end away.“ “What does that mean?” he frowned.
“You know damned well what it means.” she looked at him “Mary told me she saw Bonnie this morning, I mean…Jesus Frank that’s her teacher…can you imagine how awkward its gonna be if any of the kids find out that you’re fucking her?” “Ok, I’m not fucking her…” Frank held his hand out to stop her.
“So what were you doing last night then?” Fliss hissed, “Playing scrabble?”
“Hang on, are we really arguing about this?” Frank looked at her, frowning “Why? Why are you so mad about it?”
He paused, looking at her. Her eyes locked onto his and she swallowed, and for a moment he hoped she was going to tell him what he wanted to hear but she shook her head and shrugged.
“You know what, you’re right. What, or who you do in your spare time is your business, not mine.”
With that she pushed past him and headed out into the yard. Frank let out another sigh before he headed out to find Mary.
******
Fliss made no attempts to speak to Frank over the next few days. He messaged her to tell her about Mary heading to Boston at the end of the week and she replied politely, telling him that she was sure it would all work out, but beyond that she didn’t reach out further. However, she did call to wish Mary a safe trip to Boston on the Thursday morning just before Evelyn arrived to pick her up, and told her she wanted to hear all about it when she came home on Saturday afternoon . By the time Frank got the phone back, Fliss had hung up.
“Frank she likes you. “ Roberta said when she popped over to wish Mary goodbye. Mary wasted no time in informing her the reason he was in a bad mood wasn’t just because she was going to Boston, but also because Fliss was angry at him. Of course she had noticed, because she noticed everyting. “She’s hurt and it’s yo own dumbass fault.” the woman concluded.
Yeah, yeah he got that.
With Mary gone, he decided that night to take a cool box of beer down to the harbour and work late. He was in the middle of pulling a gear box apart when his phone went. It was a message from Bonnie asking if she could meet him to talk. Which was how he found himself sat on the deck of the boat, her opposite him, both wrapped in blankets and clutching bottles of Bud.
“I have had a series of nightmares…where I’m fired…because of what happened. You get it?” Bonnie smiled, rolling her eyes. Frank smiled at her as she laughed “And then I remind myself, that everything that happened, was just all the alcohol and people do far worse right?”
At that Frank laughed. “Yeah we were pretty drunk.”
Truth be told whilst he did think Bonnie was attractive, there was nothing there, and that was compounded by the fact that as he sat there, looking at her, he felt no urges at all. She was simply another one of his Friday night hook ups, only this had turned out to be slightly more complicated.
Yeah, he should definitely borrow that book from Roberta
“So I guess, what I came here to say…” Bonnie sighed “I think you’re a great guy Frank, and I’ve got your back on this damned custody case but…me and you…it just…” “Oh, absolutely, I’m with you…” Frank said, agreeing quickly, thanking the Gods she’d brought it up before he had to. “It was a mistake…” Bonnie arched an eyebrow and he sighed .“Shit, I don’t mean that how it sounds but…well, it was, wasn’t it?”
She smiled and nodded, cocking her head to one side as she surveyed him. “I do think you need to speak to Fliss though?”
“Fliss?” Frank frowned, “What’s she got to do with this?”
"You like her.” Bonnie said simply.
Frank paused before he shook his head, smiling “that obvious?” “Yeah, and there’s the fact you called me by her name twice.” Oh Jesus. Ground please open… “What when we… ” he grimaced and she chuckled, raising her eyebrows “Oh God. Bonnie… I’m so sorry.” He groaned and ran his hands over his face.
What a fucking ass hole.
“Like we said, mistake…” Bonnie smiled, “Especially when you’re clearly hung up on another girl. “ “Yeah well whatever may or may not have been there, I think I’ve kinda blown it… story of my life.” Frank sighed taking a pull from his bottle.
“Blown it?”
“Yeah she’s pretty pissed. She saw us in the bar and has hardly spoken a word to me since”
“And you’re giving up that easily?” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. He sighed and she leaned forward slightly “Take it from me, another female, that if she’s that pissed at you over the fact that you hooked up with someone else then she feels something for you Frank.“
They stayed and chatted about the court case for a while and he filled Bonnie in on the running order for the testimonies which would start on Tuesday before she bid him goodnight and left. He contemplated messaging Fliss but decided against it. He worked late again on Friday, for the first time in months foregoing his trip to Ferg’s and by Saturday afternoon he was ready to welcome Mary home. He’d missed her.
“I’m loaded with swag!” she said, with an air of someone out of Gossip Girl, not that he’d seen a lot of that mind, as she skipped towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist as well she could with the bag she was carrying. His hand dropped to the back of her head as he hugged her before he looked up at his mother.
“Wanna come inside?” he asked as Mary skipped off calling Fred’s name.
“Cat.” she said, with a faint smile as she shook her head.
He nodded to her and turned to follow Mary.
“I need to ring Fliss…” Mary said immediately.
“Well, I got a better idea.” Frank said, “How about we head over there and see her?”
“Yesss.” Mary said, before she looked at him. “Are you friends again?”
“We never stopped being friends she’s just mad at me because I did something stupid, but don’t worry, it’ll work out.” he said.
I hope…
***** Fliss was busy on a lesson when her phone went. Taking a quick minute to look at it, she read the message from Frank asking if it was ok if they swung by as Mary was home. With a deep breath she replied telling him it was fine, before she turned back to her client who was one of the boarders on the yard.
She had just about finished some 30 minutes or so later when she heard Mary calling. She turned and gave her a smile and a wave. Once she had finished and taken payment, she turned to Mary and gave the girl a hug.
“Hey…” she smiled. Mary hugged her tight and Fliss chuckled before she glanced up at Frank “Coffee?”
He smiled, taking the olive branch she had offered. “Yeah, sounds great.”
They made their way into the office and Fliss moved to the small kitchenette area at the back, filling the coffee machine before she turned to Mary, leaning against the counter.
“So, tell me all about Boston.” Mary began to gush about all the things she had done, Fliss listening and asking questions as she made her and Frank a coffee. He took his with a thanks whilst Mary told Fliss how she had looked at some photos, learned more about her mom and then done some complicated Maths for a professor at a University. At that Fliss noticed Frank stiffen slightly and she looked at him, gently shaking her head. He smiled tightly and turned to look out over the yard, taking a few steps outside.
“And she has a piano…” Mary finished, “I mean I didn’t get to play it but…”
“You should come over to my mum’s.” Fliss smiled “She’ll let you play hers. That’s what she used to do, teach people music.”
Mary smiled, before she looked over at Frank who was stood watching a few people who were riding in the paddock, the lessons for the day having concluded which mean the boarders were free to do what they wanted.
“Are you still mad at Frank?” she turned back to Fliss.
“Not really.” Fliss said “I got a bit cross but…” “Yeah, he can make me cross too.” Mary said wisely “He does dumb stuff sometimes.”
Fliss laughed and studied the young girl “Yeah, you got that right.” “But he’s a good person.” she shrugged
“I know.” Fliss said, her eyes flicking to him before she looked back at Mary.
“I don’t want to live with Evelyn.” Mary shrugged “I mean she was nice and looks like my mom but…she’s bossy.” Fliss smiled.
“And I want to stay with Frank.” Mary continued “Because I know he loves me. And he did before he found out I was smart.”
Fliss felt a lump in her throat at the girl’s confession. She glanced over at Frank again who ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes underneath his shades.
“Hey, Mary, why don’t you go say hi to Monty.” she said gently, “Tell Joanne I said you could help with the feeds.” “Yesss.” she said, scooting off her chair and shooting across the yard. Fliss saw Frank follow her with her eyes before he turned to her as she walked over to him.
“Hey.” she said, her tone soft. “How you holding up?” “Apart from screwing up my life, I’m good.” he snorted, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the collar of his t-shirt  “Just hope I’m not screwing hers up as well.”
“Don’t’ say that.” Fliss shook her head “You know that’s not true. Mary’s fine…”
“I hate that we haven’t been talking.” he said after a pause,  looking at her. “Been kinda lonely.”
“I thought you’d have been with Bonnie.” she said softly, shrugging.
Frank sighed “I’ve only seen her once, this week. And that was so we could have a straight up conversation about how what happened was a mistake”
“A mistake?” Fliss raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Frank said “And as far as mistakes go…that one was pretty spectacular.”
“And you actually said that to her?”
He nodded.
“Wow… “ she snorted.
“She agreed so…” Frank shrugged and he held her gaze for a second before he took a deep breath “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?” he pressed “Because you thought we were… you know, together?”
Fliss swallowed and looked away, trying to think of something to say that didn’t give her feelings away. He’d hit the nail on the head. She had thought that, and more over she was jealous so had distanced herself on purpose.
“I just…” she looked back at him, “Well, I didn’t want to step on any toes, so to speak, that’s all.”
“There’s none to step on, trust me.” Frank said gently.
“So err, anyway, she seems to have enjoyed Boston.” Fliss changed the subject.
“Yeah.” Frank said
“So what’s next?”
“Well she has a err, court interview with the Child Welfare department or whatever they’re called on Monday.” he said.
“Sure it’ll be fine.” Fliss replied “It’s not like she’s treated badly or her welfare is an issue Frank.”
“And the hearing starts in full on Tuesday.” he said “And they’re opening with a bang.” Fliss frowned as he turned to face her “Greg called me yesterday. Mary’s biological father has apparently signed an affidavit, nominating my mother as Mary’s legal guardian.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Fliss hissed, suddenly seething with anger as Frank shook his head “That’s a real shitty trick.”
“Yep” Frank agreed.
“Does Mary know?”
“No. I’ll have to tell her though, otherwise Evelyn will no doubt during her access.”
“She gets access?”
“Yeah, whilst this is going on she gets visitation rights so…” Frank shrugged, and Fliss couldn’t help but notice his despondent nature.
“So when you gonna tell her?”
“Tuesday night, after it’s done. I don’t want her worrying or knowing he’s in town because if she knows and he doesn’t ask to see her…at least once he’s gone then…” he bit his lip “She’s gonna be upset either way but, what else can I do?”
“Nothing but what you think is best.”  Fliss said gently “I told you before that’s all you can do Frank.” He looked at her and she sighed, opening her arms and he gladly stepped towards her, wrapping her up in a hug.
******
“Mr. Polland, are you the…natural father of Mary Adler?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
Frank sat still, glaring at the ass hole sat in the dock.
“And how you can be certain of this?
“Well, I always knew, but then you had me take a DNA test.”
Course they did…
I would offer the test results as result of evidence of that Mr. Polland is the father and natural guardian of the minor. As well as an affidavit from Mr. Polland nominating Mrs. Adler the maternal grandmother as the legal guardian of the minor.”
Frank sat up slightly, his jaw clenching. This ass hole had no right to decide what was best for Mary, he’d never fucking met her. Greg touched his arm, shaking his head before he stood up.
“No objections.”
“Mr. Polland has Mrs. Adler offered you any monetary reward or employment for coming forward today?” Evelyn’s attorney continued.
No, sir. I have a job of my own.”
Frank suppressed a snort. Bullshit she hasn’t paid you.
“Thank you. No further questions, your Honour.”
Cullen rose again and waited a second before he opened his cross examination “Mr. Polland when was the last time you saw Mary?”
“I've never seen her.” Polland shifted slightly and Frank watched him intently.
“Why not?”
“By the time I heard about Diane…passing the baby was gone already.”
Her name is Mary, ass hole… Frank took a deep breath.
“Well, did you try and find her?” Cullen pressed.
“Best I could. I couldn’t just go and search the entire country.” Polland shook his head, trying to make a joke out of it. Frank was pleased to see the judge wasn’t laughing.
Greg nodded and paused once more before suddenly asking “Do you use a computer at work?”
“Sure.” Polland replied
“You know what? Help me out.” Greg said, grabbing his laptop “Let's google 'Mary Adler’ and see what we find.” he placed the laptop on the dock and turned it towards Polland. The man hesitated for a while and looked at the Judge who gestured with his hand, instructing him to do as he was told. Polland began to tap when Jason spoke again “You know what? You better add her middle name.”
Frank watched as Polland stopped, because of course he had no idea what her midde name was.
“It'll narrow it down. Eileen” Cullen said. Polland looked up and caught Frank’s eye, his face sheepish. Frank kept his face straight, his chin resting on his hand, fingers making an L-shape round his jaw as Polland looked away and began to tap..
“Yeah, hit enter.” Greg instructed. “Ok, now head to page 2…second hit…would you please tell the court what you see there?”
Polland hesitated “It’s a newspaper article called ‘Not so terrible twos’”
“And one of them is Mary Eileen Adler.”  Greg nodded “Same name as your daughter. Born on the same day as your daughter. With a photograph”
Polland looked at him.
“In your defence, you’d never recognize it…”
“Your Honour, this is…” Evelyn’s attorney stood up but Cullen was quick to cut him off
“Your Honour, if there’s one thing here that's sadly obvious it’s that Mr. Polland has never been a genuine guardian of the minor and his nomination of Mrs. Adler is no less disingenuous.” he looked at the Judge.
Frank shifted slightly as Judge Nicholls looked at Polland, then to Evelyn, then to Frank before he turned glanced at the notes spread out in front of him.
“While the state of Florida gives difference to nomination by natural parent, I'm inclined to side with Mr. Cullen’s laptop at this time.” he said, nodding at Cullen, effectively dismissing the affidavit. Frank allowed himself a relieved smile as Greg nodded.
“Thank you, your Honor”
Frank walked his mother to her car, as she told him about his step father Walter. Frank had found it odd how he wasn’t featuring in any of this, but his question was answered as Evelyn told him he had bought a ranch in Montana.
“Bullshit.” he exclaimed as they strode down the path in the sun, his suit jacket handing over his arm.
“Exactly. A man whose idea of roughing it is being too far from the ice machine at the Ritz Carlton now owns a 1000 acres of grass and dung.”
“Walter Price is a cowboy.” Frank smiled, shaking his head.
“Walter Price who puts on a Brooke’s brother suit to take out the garbage now has a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and a horse that doesn’t know dressage.” Evelyn shook her head.
“Is there some logical reason for this?” Frank asked making a mental note to tell Fliss.
“Midlife crisis, apparently.”
“He’s 70.” Frank scoffed
“I know. Must have been on time delay or something. I guess I should be happy it wasn’t 25 year old cocktail waitress. But then again an affair you can explain to friends in a minute. For this, you put on a pot of coffee.”
“And he’s out there right now?”
“Yessiree!” Evelyn imitated a Western accent.
Frank lost himself for a moment as he and his mother joked, mocking exactly what his Step Father would look like. He hated to admit it, but at times like this he was reminded how similar he was to his mother. Same dry sense of humour, no nonsense nature…
“The fastest asset management in the West.” he snorted and Evelyn smiled.
“The man who shot Liberty Mutual. That’s what I’ve been calling him” she said as they stopped at her car.
“That’s really, really funny.” Frank said, and then sighed as she opened the car door. He leaned down and spoke to the driver  “Take her to the airport.” he said, straightening up. “Go home, Evelyn. Or Montana. Rustle some cattle.” he said gently.
“You know I have no desire to hurt you. I hate it that we’re at odds.” she said as she say in the car, looking at him through the open window.
And then, he was also reminded just how different they were too.
“We’re always at odds.” he shrugged.
“Yes.” She said, almost sadly before she spoke and issued an instructions to her driver, which Frank also realised as a direct defiance aimed at him “Hotel.” 
**** As anticipated, when Frank broke the news to Mary about her father she had a meltdown. What hadn’t anticioated was her locking herself in the bathroom and no amount of coaxing from him or Roberta managed to draw her out. She was crying her little heart out, sobbing about how her dad didn’t want her…and just before he kicked the door in he had a stroke of inspiration,  pulling out his phone to call in reinforcement.
It arrived in the shape of Fliss some 20 minutes later.
“I still can’t believe that wank stain was even given the time of day.” she seethed as Frank greeted her as she strode in the door.
“Well his claim was thrown out but…”Frank nodded to where Roberta was stood outside locked bathroom door.
“Why you had to tell her that asshole was testifying I’ve no idea.” the woman shot him a look.
“Because it’s the truth. And if I didn’t, Evelyn would’ve.” Frank reasoned.
“If I was the dad of a little girl and I never saw her… and I was in the same town… I would visit her.” Fliss heard Mary’s crying and Frank saw her face scrunch up in sympathy. “He didn’t even need directions. He could’ve followed you here.”
“Ok, Roberta, move…” Fliss said gently. Roberta stood to the side and Fliss spoked to the door. “Mary…honey, it’s me.”
“Lissy?” Mary sniffled.
“The one and only.” Fliss smiled, before she sighed “You know what, you’re right. He could have come to see you. But he didn’t. And that’s nothing to do with you.”
“He doesn’t even wanna see what I look like.” The girl sobbed again.
“I never met my dad either…” Fliss said gently “He abandoned my mum before I was born, and then he was killed when I was 4 months old. But before that he never made any attempt to see me. He died without ever seeing my face. And you know what?”
“What?” Mary sniffed.
“That’s his loss, just like it’s your…father’s loss, and I hate to use that word because he’s not really got any right to be called that.”
Mary said nothing, but Frank could hear her sniffling still.
“But then my mom met Bill when I was two, and he’s been my dad ever since. He looked after me and loved me, just like Frank does for you.” Fliss glanced at him and he dropped his hand from where it had been cupping his chin, folding his arms round his chest as he shot her a small smile. “Like we all do Mary, you’re so loved. By Frank, Roberta…me…” Fliss continued, “Now come on, open the door.”
There was a pause and they heard a rustle, before the lock on the door clicked and it opened. Mary stood in the doorway, her eyes red and wet from tears before she gave another sob and threw herself at Fliss. Fliss crouched down on one knee and held her back, gently rocking her and Frank felt his chest tighten at the display of affection.
And then he had an idea.
Fliss watched him as he crouched next to them, his hand gently reaching out to brush Mary’s hair back as she turned her head which was on Fliss’ shoulder to look at him.
“Put your shoes on. We're going for a ride.” he said to her softly. Then he turned to Fliss “You too that is if you want to.”
“Sure.” she nodded.
“Roberta?” Frank looked at her, and she shook her head.
“Your truck only got 3 seats.” “We can take mine.” Fliss offered as Mary gently released her.
“No, I think you two got this.” she said, smiling.
*******
“What are we doing here?” Mary asked as they sat on the seats in the waiting room and Fliss found herself wondering the same thing. She hadn’t questioned Frank, he obviously had something up his sleeve.
“Waiting.”
“We can see that.” Fliss said, and he looked at her,rolling his eyes as Mary continued.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.” he said, returning to the National Geographic magazine he was flicking through.
“How long do we have to stay here?”
“As long as it takes. And keep your voice down. It’s a hospital.” Frank said.
As long as it takes turned out to be an hour and a half. Through which time Mary had groaned, moaned, used Frank’s legs as a climbing frame, which Fliss noticed he had expertly ignored simply slouching in his seat, legs apart as Mary draped herself over them. Eventually she had curled up next to Fliss and laid her head on her lap, dozing off.
Fliss was busy reading something on her emails when she heard a bit of a commotion and the group at the other side of the waiting room all stood up. Frank’s eyes flew to them and then he gently gave Fliss a smile before he nudged Mary awake.
She blinked and watched as a man walked into the waiting room dressed in scrubs, a huge smile on his face.
“It’s a boy.” he announced and the group erupted into cheers. Fliss glanced down at Mary who was watching in awe as everyone started to congratulate the man, all crying, sobbing with happiness, cheering, praising the lord.
“That's exactly how it was when you were born.” Frank said softly and Fliss then understood. He was showing Mary that she was loved, that she was wanted.
“This happy?” Mary asked
“This happy.” Frank confirmed.
“Who came out and told everybody?” she asked, and Frank leaned over gently brushing her hair behind her ear.
“I did.” he said softly.
The emotion of the moment got to Fliss and her eyes watered. Frank raised his head and they shared a look as he smiled and she smiled back before Mary piped up.
“Can we stay for another?”
Frank smiled and Mary jumped up, heading over to the group. They all smiled at her as she was swept into their celebrations. Fliss reached over and gently took Frank’s hand, giving his fingers a squeeze, a gesture he returned until Mary came back and pulled Fliss over to the group with her. Frank leaned back and watched as Fliss simply smiled and wiped her eyes as she congratulated the family and he let out a sigh, swallowing slightly, lost in his thoughts.
Eventually the family all dispersed to go and see their new arrival and he told Mary that it was too late to stay for another. She fell asleep on the way home against Fliss and when they got back t was a careful manoeuvre between them both to get her out of the car without waking her up. He gently placed her in bed before he walked Fliss down to her jeep.
“Thank you.” he said to her gently “You were amazing before…you’re just…amazing.” he said, trailing off.
She blushed slightly and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“I mean it Lissy…” he said, “You…I dunno.”
He hesitated for a second before he reached out and gently placed his hand on her hip, pulling her softly towards him
“Frank…” she said softly as his face dropped towards hers, her hands gently on his chest keeping him away from her “Look, I…”
“I know.” he swallowed, his head dropping as he sighed at her rejection “You don’t have to explain.”
“It’s not even 2 weeks ago you were in bed with another woman.” she said gently and he grimaced, pulling away slightly.
“I know and I really wish that hadn’t happened” he sighed, the hand that had been on her hip moved and ran through his hair “There’s really nothing going on between me and Bonnie…it was just a one night. My head was fucked and…”
“How do I know it isn’t now?”  Fliss looked at him “How do I, or you for that matter, know that this…” she gestured between them with her hand “…isn’t just an emotional response to what’s going on as well?”
“Because it’s not.” he said, his eyes not leaving hers as he drove his message home “I care about you Fliss, more than just as friends…and I’m kicking myself now because what I did means you don’t believe me…”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” she said gently, shaking her head as she took deep breath. “And it’s not that I don’t feel the same…”
It’s not that I don’t feel the same At her words a soft smile formed on his face as she continued to talk.
“…but right now, you need to concentrate on Mary…and getting through this week.”
He nodded, swallowing “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“No maybe about it.” she smiled, and reaching up she took his face in her soft hands. “But I promise you I’m not going anywhere.” her eyes locked onto his “And whatever this is…” she gestured between them once more “if it’s right, then it’ll still be there when all this is over.”
She stood on her tip toes to place a gentle kiss to side of his mouth and he leaned down, pressing  his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he swallowed. They stayed like that for a moment until Fliss backed away gently, squeezing his hand.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” she said softly.
“Tomorrow?” he frowned
“Yeah, the Wicked Witch of The West is testifying is she not?”
Frank gave a huff of a laugh “Yeah she is.” “Like I said, you’re not alone. I might bring a hosepipe,see if she melts. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He chuckled at her joke and watched her climb in her car, waiting until the tail lights had disappeared before he turned and headed inside. Finally all the cards were on the table, and it hadn’t been a rejection, quite the opposite actually.
For the first time in days, Frank slept soundly that night.
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Teenage Wasteland (Sriracha, Part 20.)
Description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could let you far away from all the trouble
Part Summary: The relationship seems to reach it's top by the November of '83 - but you're not one of those who would've Jim walk away without explanation.
Warnings: Angst, more angst and a child.
A/N: And after the whole relationship thingy, we've finally arrived at the destination I was most excited about. Inspired by Cold As Ice by Foreigner and Baba O'Riley by The Who. 
Word Count: 6.5 K
Tagging: @nemodoren​, @creedslove​
Master list: H E R E
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That morning, you got out of bed really late - it was Saturday, a few days after December had started, so neither of you had to leave early for work or school. Your nearest shift at the bistro started on Sunday evening, so you had all day just to hang out around each other.
And you could just tell that something's bugging Jim of since the moment he let his feet slip out of the bed. It was the start of December and you knew that it could be the incoming Christmas. Also, you agreed to have dinner at your parents' next weekend, so that could be adding up to his stress as well. You visited Joyce and both her boys just the weekend prior, training for the Christmas Eve.
You helped her with cooking the potatoes and baking the turkey, preparing all of the cookies and even drank one shot of a weird Brandy she offered you. It was an awesome dinner - Will brought his whole party over, Hopper spent most of his time talking to Jonathan and when the dinner came by, eight persons were sitting at the table without anyone realizing, since Nancy Wheeler came by as well, picking the kids up. You really enjoyed the whole night and Hopper seemed so as well.
When he didn't speak to you a word during the whole morning, that was when you started to get irritated by his behavior as well.
"Something bit your ass in the bed?" - You looked at him when he came back from having a cigarette, closing the terrace door behind him. - "I swear it wasn't me." - You joked and continued preparing the lunch, checking out the burning stove in the corner as well. 
You could pinpoint the exact moment when you knew something's off - he didn't even smile at your remark. You wouldn't want to let him walk away with such an attitude. If he thought he can fucking just walk away without explaining himself, boy, wasn't he wrong?
And yes, there was, in fact, much to talk about. But how the hell should he tell you without making you upset? He found a little girl in the woods who was scared out of her mind and who needed home. He didn't want to break up with you, under any circumstances - once he found the happiness, why should he give up on it? But at the same time, he knew that he can't make Eleven trusting him with you being around. All he needed was some time. 
“Partners.” - Suddenly, you stood up in front of him, looking him in the eyes, obviously having another of you monologues, just as you used to when there was an argument incoming his way. And again, he surely didn't hear more than half of it. - “Do you know what that word means?” 
“Two people loving each other?” - Jim guessed and took a beer out of the fridge. You stood there with the cloth you were using for cooking on your shoulder and you had both your palms on your hips. You opened up your mouth and furrowed, not expecting such an answer. 
“Yes, basically. But don't you try to beer me out or outsmart me, Jim Hopper! But you know what else partners should do? Share feelings, talk about things that are ailing them? Have you heard that before?” - You slowly walked next to the couch, following him, kneeling next to him. He felt your palm slowly tracing his shoulder and neck just before you turned his face at you. 
He knew that he's dancing on thin ice because you were literally everything he got at the moment. You were a person that meant home, warm arms when he needed a hug, kind words when he needed to brighten up his mood, lips that always accepted and gave him the sweetest kisses. And you knew him - he told you everything. 
You knew everything about Sara, he told you about Vietnam, about Diane, his time in New York. And you didn't stop listening for a moment - once he was done, you just held him in your arms for a little longer than the previous time, letting him know that it's still isn't late for him.
You let him understand that he still has the right to love and to be loved in the first place. 
“Come on, Jim. Just tell me.” - You begged before stealing his breath away with a kiss. He smiled when you leaned your forehead to his with a calm expression.
“I'll be moving out of the trail.” - Hopper started slowly. You almost smiled when he told you that, but then you realized that he said he's moving out. There wasn't any we are moving out. There was no you in that plan. With a stiffed smile, you moved away from him. The tears started to gather in your eyes and Jim almost gave himself a smack. So much for not making you upset, huh?
“That's great, I suppose. Good for you.” - You nodded and stood up, facing away so he wouldn't see you crying. 
“No. It's not what you think.” - He stood up, catching your shoulders in his palms, gently massaging them. - “I just need to be alone for a while. I think I've discovered something and I just need to test it out. I need some time.”
“And where exactly in the sentence I'm moving out you hear the word we?” - You asked back, making his hands let your shoulders go. - “Because I can't hear no matter how hard I try, Jim.” 
“Y/N, come on...” - Hopper followed you to the bedroom. He was watching you running around that room, abruptly packing all of your clothes while you started to cry. 
“Jim, if it's just that you're not happy or feeling safe with me anymore, you can just tell me. If it's just another woman, come on, tell me. If you're worried about that we are going to end up like you and Diane, I did all I possibly could to show you otherwise. Just...” - You stood up, looking him in the eyes. - “Don't give me the famous I need time excuse. I beg you. Just tell me that we are breaking up, make it quick, painful and hard to swallow. At least, make me hate you.” 
Really, so much for upsetting you. He fucked up grandiosely, Just as Jim Hopper always did. There was no way that all of this could go any worse than it already did.
“I don't want to do any of that, you crazy woman. Did you even listen to a word I said?” - Hopper opened up his mouth and your eyebrows rose rather quickly. He already upset you and now he was calling you crazy? Oh dear Lord. You stood up, exhaling loudly, putting your hands on your hips again. You, my dear, you were a piece of art in his eyes. 
Because no-one could make him feel like a little bitch as you were capable of in five minutes of your free time.
“You selfish bastard.” - You laughed ironically and continued with packing your things. Now, he turned on an engine inside of you and he could be sure that you're not going to leave a single string of his clothes dry. - “Are you planning to add me to your tragic backstory? To tell women in pubs how you had a crazy ex-girlfriend who left you all alone, brokenhearted, in your trail and never came back? That's what you want?”
“Y/N, calm down, this is...” - “You won't be telling me when to calm down, James Hopper. No. I gave you five months of my life, I found a part-time job so I would be sure that I have my own money to help you paying food, rent, clothes. I patched you up mentally when you came back home after the whole Will Byers thing, I tried to give you everything I could. Don't you even dare to tell me to calm down!” - You yelled at him while you packed the stuff you got in the bathroom and pushed it inside the bag, taking your shoes on.
Fuck his lunch, his trail, fuck him. That was what you repeated to yourself when you put the jacket on and ran into the snow in front of the trail. It looked beautiful - snow was covering every inch of the driveway, the trees, the grass was nowhere to be seen and the quarry behind the house was frozen down. Such a beautiful look, but you didn't have the time to look at it.
“Stop!” - Hopper ran after you only dressed up in his shirt, jeans, and socks. But you walked further and further away from him, showing him your middle finger. - “I love you, okay? I love you, you lunatic.” 
That was what stopped you from walking further away, taking a short breath in. He never said that. Never. You could feel it in his touches and looks, yes, but he never told you just as you never told him. You turned around to look at him, watching him walking to you only in his socks. He must've been so cold and you just knew that he's going to be sick after that. 
“I love you, yeah, I guess. I mean, I've never been good with my words and you know that.” - Hopper mumbled and caught your face in his palms. He felt so warm, but you felt how much he was trembling. No wonder, Hawkins was always freezing during winter. - “But that's just how the things are. How they are supposed to be, I guess. And you better believe me when I tell you that there is anyone who would I rather spend every minute with. But I really need some time.” 
At that moment, you smiled dreamily and caught his sides, letting the bag fall on the ground. It wasn't the biggest or the greatest feelings sharing you have seen, but that didn't matter. All that did matter was that he wasn't lying, which you could easily say. What other lunatic would run after you in socks? 
“So just... Don't leave me, alrite? And when it's goin' to be the right time to come back, I'll let you know.” - Hopper smiled at you when he saw you crying again. After that, you almost pushed him to the ground when you leaned for a kiss. 
“How much time do you have on your mind exactly?” - You led him back inside and made him change his socks and tugged him into the blanket on the bed. Now you were believing that maybe he really just needs some time. 
“Hard to say. Just wait for me a while?” - He asked, pulling you in for another kiss. You knew it's time to leave even if you wanted to undress him and make sure that he's all warmed up. 
“I'll ask my mom to take me back for a time. At least, I'll have time for studies, because there ain't going to be anyone who would distract me with fucking.” - You mumbled, sticking your ice-cold fingers under his shirt, having a sick smile on your lips. 
“You love to be distracted with the fuckin', baby.” - Hopper mumbled back while he undid the zipper on your jacket, ready for a few rounds. But you stopped his hand and kissed his forehead. 
“I do. And I do love you too. But this has to wait.” - You rose your eyebrows, leaning in again. - “I'll do wonders to you once you tell me that you're ready, baby.” - You whispered, stealing him one last peck from the lips. Hopper was smiling as he watched you leaving his driveway in your car. He could only thank Gods that such a wonderful and nasty woman found him and made him hers.
On the other hand, your mom was rather surprised to see you at home with your things packed into a bag. She was still pretty sour about the thing, as she called it, happening between you and the Cheif, but she somehow managed to keep her face straight during all of your family dinners and she even defended your choice when someone asked her about that relationship.
“Oh, honey.” - She opened up her arms as soon as she figured out you must've broken up. You let her hug you, but you chuckled nervously. - "It didn't work out, did it?"
"Mom..." - You waved her off and took your shoes off while she closed the door behind you. It was freezing outside. But you knew that she still had something to say. - "It's natural, it happens sometimes. The things just don't work out. I'm not even surprised that you and the Chief... That wasn't a healthy relationship for you, darling. He's a complicated man with a complicated past. Don't blame yourself. You're so young and you'll find a man to love you properly."
"Mom, we didn't break up." - You told her with a big smile while you put your jacket on the back of a chair. Your mom turned back at you and she started to apologize, but you just laughed again and hugged her. You knew that she's worried and that she doesn't like seeing you falling for a man so older than you were, let alone falling for a man with past as complicated as Jim's was. It wasn't that she hated him or whatever, she was just worried that he breaks your heart one day.
"I got your point mom, it's fine, really." - You hugged tighter and kissed her cheek. - "We just talked like two responsible adults and agreed that Jim needs some time for himself. Also, he said that he wants to move out to something bigger than the trail is."
"Oh, wow. Chief really means it seriously." - She said and you could say that she's really surprised. And pleasantly surprised. - "You can just start to call him Jim already, it's been five months since we started dating. He won't take that as a disgrace of his Chief status." - You mumbled to her and stood next to her by the sink, helping her with cooking the lunch.
Your brother did something that you didn't expect at all - as soon as he got home from hanging out at his best friend's, still Steve Harrington's, he hugged you so tight that you almost couldn't breathe. Even your father was glad to have you home around Christmas.
You did as you were told and went to work, studied for exams and overall really tried to move on with your life while Jim was up to his business.
He called you on Christmas Eve and wished you Merry Christmas, repeating you that he loves you and how much you mean to him, promising you a big gift once you come back. The call on its own was already a big present for you.
But that was the last time you heard about how he's doing and his whereabouts. Days passed from Christmas Eve, weeks and then months. January flew past you so quickly that you had barely any time to notice the time. Hopper was in your mind literally all the time, naturally, but the loneliness really hit you on Valentine's Day. You watched all the couples going for a dinner to their bellowed fast-food bistro, Marty's, girls were carrying chocolates and roses they got from their lovers and you?
Hopper didn't even call you. There was no call, no message on the recorder, no letter or a goddamn card. Not even a piece of paper with a stamp on it. That was the day when you've had about enough.
Hopper was literally just fucking around with you - and he should know better than doing that. You were a lady that didn't take any shit. His shit, your brother's shit, Harrington's shit, just no-one's.
The other day, you literally stormed into the office of the PD, looking as pissed as never before. When the boys saw you, they knew that the boss is in some serious trouble. They noticed that you hadn't shown up for a time - in the fall, you stopped at least twice every week with something homemade for them, but haven't visited the station for months at that point. And when they asked Hopper, he never gave them valuable answers. But your face at the moment you walked in and, holy damn, even Callahan almost pissed his pants.
"One question." - You looked at each one of them. - "Where is James Hopper?"
"Did something happened?" - Powell slowly got up and tried to at least... Negotiate with you. You rose your eyebrows.
"So he stands me up for almost three months and you dare to ask if something happened?" - You told in an ironic voice. - "Nothing happened, yet. But when I get my hands on him, either I will smack the fuck out of him, kick his balls or just straightway kill him. I haven't really decided yet."
Calvin looked at Callahan and gulped. That man brought a storm upon himself. The first few weeks, they made fun of him having a full-on blown relationship with you, but they accepted it as a matter of fact. In the end, there was no wonder why Hopper fell for you with your character and witty remarks. There were a lot of people actually wondering about why the fuck you've chosen Jim as your partner, but it worked out somehow. And everyone who wasn't blind saw it. But when he pissed you off and clearly did, the officers wanted to be as far away from you as they possibly could.
"He took a few days off. We thought you're together and you have some plans, you know, all the Valentine stuff going around..." - Calvin spoke to you and he saw you grinning. That bastard. That ass. That jerk. Oh, you had about hundreds of names for him and you'll yell each other at him once he'll stand in front of you.
"Try to look for him in the trail. If he's not there, drive to the cabin on this address. But don't give it to anyone, it's for cases of emergency. It's in the woods about fifteen minutes from the town." - Florence gave you a small piece of paper with an address and you knew that you'll have to buy a map to find that. You nodded. She really meant the part about the secret, whispering it to you.
"If he stops by, tell him that I'll kick his little sorry ass as soon as I see him." - You mumbled to his boys and left the station, walking to the car as cold February wind messed up your hair.
"Well, normally tell I would like to have her at home." - Callahan told to Powell as they both turned away to sit down again at their tables. - "But I wouldn't want to be Hopper right now."
"If you're going to thirst about boss' girlfriend again, leave me out of it, I beg you." - Powell told him, looking at his crosswords again.
First off, you stopped at the trail just as Florence advised you. Jim's car wasn't there, but you wanted to look inside - when you took the key from under the big mossy rock, you got into the trail easily.
You stopped for a second and looked around. It was just empty, not the home with the burning stove you remembered. So, Jim really did move out - there wasn't anything remaining after him or you, or your relationship.
There were no dishes, no clothes, the bathroom was completely empty. You could see yourself walking out of the terrace just two months ago, giggling as you run through the trail, James laughing and following you. That was the first day it snowed and you stood there and laughed before the first snowflake fell on your nose.
The pictures he had there had disappeared as well - even the one where you've had a beautiful dress and you were giving James a smooch while you were in a police department party together, it was when November was ending. He looked happy as he was holding a beer to the photographer, telling him not to take a photo of you, smiling from ear to ear.
Even his album of nasty photos of you has disappeared - for example only wearing his shirt or you in the shower, or the photo he took on the day you were supposed to leave Hawkins. There was no clue remaining after you ever being there - or that he ever was there.
You felt brokenhearted and used. You didn't leave the goddamn town just because of him. You threw the chance to study at an elite university out of the window just to be with him. You had already sacrificed so much for that man - you whole dignity which you just threw away because you were crazy for him, the whole town just having straightaway fun of you now. You hid in the trail for two months only to spend time with him, not leaving it for the whole day so nobody would know. Every night of those two months, he had a plate of food finished minutes before came home, his laundry was done, you ironed his clothes and took care of the whole trail...
And James repaid you with this. Just disappearing into the thin fucking air. 
You looked at the piece of paper Florence gave you and for a while, you searched it on the map. You've visited a few wrong locations on the search and smoked almost half of the pack of cigarettes. But when the night came, you stopped at one place that indeed looked old, but the lights were on. After a short walk, you've noticed his Blazer. And you got mad again.
While you walked in the direction of the cabin, preparing a speech for him, you stumbled upon a wire, making a loud shooting sound when it ripped apart. It was a bang sound so loud, that it scared the birds away. Before you picked yourself up, you saw movements inside the cabin, lights going almost immediately off, and shortly after, James himself came out of the door.
And when you saw him standing there, the bomb inside of you just went off.
"Hey!" - He yelled at you, certainly not being able to recognize you in the darkness. Slowly, he was walking to you and you noticed a gun in his hand. His personal gun. - "Who's there?"
Without hesitation, you ran to him, smacking his cheek and pushing him back. Then you grabbed some leftover snow and threw it at his shirt. Yeah, at the moment James perfectly knew who you were.
"You selfish, fucking, arrogant, ignorant dickhead! You jerk! You idiot! You motherfucker!" - You yelled at him at the top of your lungs, crying hysterically. James slowly exhaled, messaging his nose, lowering the gun. He should know better - he should know that you're capable of tracking him down. He should give you a call or something, but he needed to keep distant and radio silent.
One of his sides was happy that you were there. He missed you so much that it often kept him awake all night long. Sometimes, when he sat at his office all alone, he almost dialed your number just to hear you asking who's on the other end. He missed you sleeping next to him, the way you talked and poked fun of him. He missed you as a whole.
The other side was straightway terrified. You were already in a hysterical state and he knew he fucked things a lot by what he has done. Jim knew that he should explain rather quickly before losing everything that was remaining of your we.
"How can you fucking explain this, James?! How?! You stood me up for almost three fucking months, you left me all alone without a clue whether you're alive or dead, you haven't called, send me a letter, you haven't done anything to let me know!" - You pushed him again and Jim closed his eyes for a while, licking his lips. - “Was it a fucking guessing game for you? Huh? Because I didn't find any of it exciting or fun.”
Yeah, he fucked up badly. You even called him James and you barely have done that before. This is going to take a lot of talking, step by step trust re-building and a load of eating out before you'll be able to trust him again.
"Baby, listen..." - Jim tried to calm you down, but you made one of your hissing sounds, warning him that if even dares to come closer, you'll hit him again with no problem.
"No, you listen! If there's another woman in there, I swear to fucking God, James! You're dead if I find someone out there. I will cut your fucking balls off and wear them as a necklace!" - You pointed at the cabin and at the exact same moment, someone else came out. But it wasn't a woman, just as you would've expected. It was a boy, presumably, looking at you with their hand risen up. You saw James looking at him, snapping as soon as he saw the risen hand.
"Down. Put the hand down, immediately. She's not evil or dangerous." - James stood up in front of you, pushing you behind him, covering you with his body. - "She's just very angry."
After a minute, the boy straightened up and put the hand down, looking at you with interest. What the fuck was happening? Since when did James have a child? Or at least another one which was at least ten years old? Since when it lived with him? What on the world was going on? - "Angry?" - The child asked back and at that moment, you realized that it's not a boy. It was a small girl with short, curly hair, dressed in an old sweatshirt and sweatpants that were too big for her.
"Angry." - She repeated once again before disappearing into the cabin once again, presumably thinking about something.
You stood outside for a moment longer, your arms were still holding Jim's sides and his hands held you in once place.
"Let's just say we have a lot to talk about." - Jim muttered slowly before letting go of you to take a good look at your face since he hasn't seen it in months. He looked at your photo on his nightstand every night since you separated and even though, he forgot how beautiful you were. Especially when you got mad at him. The curve of your nose, opened up lips, and wide eyes. You were stressed and you didn't have any idea of what to think, but it didn't take away any of your beauty.
Without him barely realizing what he's doing, his palm went to palm your jaw, his thumb drawing a circle on your cheek. You were a person who meant the world to him and for the first time in the last three months, he finally felt complete again.
"Will you come inside? We're just havin’ dinner." - Hopper whispered to you and you nodded, wiggling out of his arms, walking to the door. The girl was cautiously watching every move you made, her finger was put on a word in the vocabulary. She was reading the definition of the word angry. That situation was making less and less sense.
Jim helped you out of the jacket, putting it onto the couch. The couch he had in the trailer. Actually, you knew a lot of things in the cabin apart from the couch - you also knew the TV, the fridge and the bookcase. But where did the child came from, you had no idea.
You sat down onto the reaming chair between the girl and Jim. The girl moved further away once you sat down, keeping a safe distance between you. The dinner was rather quiet since you and Jim needed to talk and the girl he got there wasn't really talkative at all. When the main dish was over, Hop served you and himself chocolate ice-cream and a cup of coffee while he gave the girl a frozen Eggo and sent her to the room, telling her not to get the food all over the bed.
"Start talking, James, because this shit is just ridiculous." - You mumbled and watched the wall in front of you, drinking the coffee, not even trying to pay attention to the ice-cream. But you made sure that the girl's doors are closed. - "Do you have any more daughters I should know about?"
"She's not my daughter, Y/N... Or... It's complicated. Remember the Will Byers disappearance incident?" - He asked and you just nodded with a quiet hum, still watching the wall. - "She had escaped the lab nearby. They held her there like a little biology experiment, can you imagine?"
"No, Jim, I can't, but I'm sure that that won't stop you from continuing your story." - You mumbled ironically as a clap back, which made Jim pause for a second before continuing. He was getting everything he deserved, after all.
"She lived in the woods ever since. I was giving her food into a small box every night and one day, she appeared there and started followin’ me. The government is after this girl. And they would do her terrible things once they would find her. I couldn't let that happen." - Jim finished quietly.
He was saving a little girl while you thought he's back to his fucking everything that moves schedule. He was there with her the whole time.
"But not telling me wasn't a solution. Leaving me in the dark wasn't a fucking solution." - You whispered back, not able to look at him. Saving a girl was a good excuse to disappear from the surface of the earth for three months. It was. You couldn't argue with him because of that. But that didn't mean you're over it. Not that easily.
"I know. I should've told you. It was a dick move and I'm really sorry. For everythin'." - His palm found yours on the table and entwined his fingers with yours. - "I'm really sorry."
At that moment, the girl opened up the door again. You almost tried to drag your hand out of the table, but Jim just tightened the grip. Once you knew about Eleven, she should know about you.
"Angry?" - The girl pointed at you with a question. Jim smiled and shook his head, motioning her to sit down with you.
"She was. At me, not at you." - He answered and you nervously looked at her sitting down next to you. She was watching every inch of you which really made you nervous.
"Pretty." - She said simply before turning her face to Jim. She looked at your entwined fingers and furrowed a bit. - "What's that?"
"Holding hands, that's somethin' you do with a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you know, kiddo? This is my girlfriend, Y/N. This is Eleven." - Jim introduced the two of you. For a long time, you just stared at the girl without any movement before you rose your palm to shake hers. Small steps at a time, you reminded yourself, small steps at a time.
The girl was definitely weirded out by the gesture, her hand reached out for yours with suspicion before she caught it. It was a ten seconds lasting handshake before she quickly fetched the hand back on her lap. Clearly, the trust between you two was on point zero and lower.
Then, when this awkward part was finally over, she turned back to Hopper, clearly having more questions on her tongue. For a while, there was silence as Eleven tried to think about some meaningful sentences.
"What is a girlfriend?" - Eleven asked silently, giving too much caution on every syllable.
"Someone you love. A member of your pack, just like the lonely wolf in the fairytale we read yesterday. A member of a family." - Hopper enlightened Eleven in a quiet voice, smiling at her.
"What is a love?" - Eleven asked, being completely caught up in the topic. Her eyes were curiously shining.
"Fetch the vocabulary, this is the word of the day." - Hopper said and as you watched Eleven disappearing in the only room with a proper door, bringing the book she had there before, you realized that you're completely silent, barely breathing. You were afraid to talk or move - Eleven finally calmed down and at least ignored your presence. You didn't want to disturb her and Hopper having their time. Also, from a psychological standpoint, it was seriously interesting.
Finally, Hopper let go of your hand and looked at the word love, just as Eleven did.
"Deep and affecti-cti-onate emotional at-tachment to a person." - She read slowly and really, she was far behind the kids of her age. She looked at Hopper as if she read a spell, and Hopper nodded, licking his lips before continuing.
"It's a feelin’. A feelin’ inside of here." - He pointed at his heart and Eleven mirrored his actions. She nodded, which made him continue. - "You feel happy and safe when the person is around. They make you stron’ and they care about you."
Eleven nodded, looking away for a while before she first pointed at Hopper before she pointed her finger at her chest. - "Love?"
"Yes, this is love." - Hopper stood up and packed her vocabulary, messing her curly hair up. - "Say good night."
"Good... Night." - Eleven mouthed slowly, looking you in the eyes. You smiled back, wishing her a good night as well. With a grin, Hopper led her to her door, making her dress up into her pajama.
"Are you goin’ to stay here a while?" - Hopper asked with hope in his voice, walking behind you. His palms circled around your shoulders, massaging them. - "Here? With me? I have a bottle of good wine in the fridge, I'll give you a ride home, I've missed you..."
"A little while won't kill me." - You bought his offer and a contained smile appeared on your lips. Hopper was still caressing your shoulders and the back of your head leaned into his belly when Eleven opened up the door, standing there, cautiously watching you. She never stopped looking around for a second, didn't she?
"Ready." - She nodded at Hopper and he left to tug Eleven in. You walked around the cabin and cautiously looked at every corner of it, listening to a quiet small talk going on before you saw his shadow sit down to read her a bedtime story.
The cabin seemed oddly impersonal. Hopper was trying to hide his life away from Eleven. It was for Eleven to feel like she was the only one in his life, the center of his small universe. Hopper was focused on Eleven and their bonding and you knew that, but it hurt to see Hopper completely erasing everything you two had. He should've told you right away. You weren't a bitch and this was a completely understandable situation.
Then you looked into his small room in the back of the cabin, repressed by only a doorframe and a piece of dark cloth. And Jesus fucking Christ, you could straightway tell that this room is Hopper's doing. It was ultra messy, his clothes were everywhere, there was an empty can of beer here and there, some leftovers, dirty and fresh clothes, unmade bed - yes, home sweet home.
And there you saw it - his old detective books, the album of naughty photos and the photo you loved so much directly on his nightstand. You walked through the mess and looked at the framed photo, having a small smile on your lips. When you put it down, you bent over to pick up his shirt, covering yourself in it.
You've missed him so much. Oh, you closed your eyes, breathing in his smell mixed with cologne and cigarette smoke. Dear Lord, the smell on its own made you smile.
After a while, you went back to the living room, still seeing his shadow reading the bedtime story, you've heard his voice changing rhythm and depth depending on which character he was reading as.
You didn't even know how, but during your waiting for Hopper, you've fallen asleep. When he entered the room, looking at sleeping Eleven for the last time, you were sitting on the couch, your legs were folded below you.
A smile spread on his lips when he walked to sit on the couch next to you. Hopper didn't mean to wake you up, but he couldn't stop himself as his fingers reached out to smooth the hair off your neck. Before he could stop himself, his lips were traveling on your neck. He heard you sleepily giggle, your palm smoothing one of his shoulders while he laid you down.
"Well, hello there." - You murmured into his ear and hugged him, while he pressed his body onto yours bringing you even closer. - "I've missed you." - Hopper sighed and continued with kissing down a trail between your breasts.
"Oh, did you?" - You mumbled back, slowly waking up. You've been sleeping for only twenty minutes, but since you've been on the edge of breaking down the whole day, you've been really tired.
"Every damn night." - His face appeared in front of yours and that smile... Made your heart pound faster. Your fingers were caressing his jaws and you finally rose your knees to rest them on his sides, pressing himself closer.
"Jim, Eleven..." - You mumbled and looked on the door while Hopper worked on kissing your neck, unbuttoning the shirt you had on. - "She's asleep. I swear."
"You also swore that you have a bottle of wine. Empty promises." - Your fingers caught his chin and you brought his face back to look at you. - “It will be better not to take things quickly. What about me coming here tomorrow? Its Saturday and maybe, I can find some things both me and Eleven like.” 
“No. For the first few times, I think it shouldn't be for too long. Before you both get a hold on it.” - Jim sat up and you immediately followed him. - “What about Monday night?” 
For a while, you kept quiet. Eleven was definitely a special girl, but now, she was somehow a part of your life as well. It was up to Jim and you to find a way to make all of this work. Slowly, you reached out for his hand and held it tightly. 
“Yeah. Monday evening sounds about right. I’m usually ready to go at eight o’clock precisely. Do you want to pick me up at Marty’s?” - You asked innocently, a smile appearing on your lips. 
“I'll be there. Eight o’clock, not a minute late.” - Jim answered and you nodded, standing up, ready to go for your jacket. Both you and Hopper knew that you have his shirt on, but you weren't giving it back by any chance. Of course, he walked you to the car, where you gave him a short look before opening the door. 
“See you on Monday. I'll take some food from the bistro so you won't have to cook. That girl is already enough of a wretch.” - You smiled and almost got in, but an arm stopped you. Hopper leaned in, cathing your waist and giving you a deep kiss. You got caught up in the moment for a while, but after a while, he let go off you.
“Monday, at eight o’clock. not a minute later.” - You whispered, stealing the last peck before you drove home.
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margoleon · 7 years
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Oh my god, you guys, I just came back from watching T2 and I still feel like I’m in a dream so please let me rant a bit.
Under a cut because HUGE SPOILERS, the only thing I can say without giving stuff away is: this thing runs on nostalgia and acknowledges it openly and I loved it so much.
First of all: SPUD!!!!! MY BEAUTIFUL FUCKED UP CATBOY, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! Daylight savings! Raging Spud! He’s the catalyst of pretty much every major thing that happens in P0rno and it was great to see him precipitate the climax (and save the day!) and that he was very much the heart of the story, he’s just so helplessly good-natured and well-intentioned but he can’t help being a fuck up. AND HIS WRITING! Spud writing was one of my favourite storylines in the book and I was sad when Welsh just kinda dropped it so i loved loved loved that the film kept it front and center and that it was portrayed as something meaningful and worthy. My shitty writer self is very grateful for that. And him using lines straight from the book (and implying it IS the book) is just the kind of self-wink I’m here for --and this movie is chock-full of them and I loved every singe one.
Irvine Welsh remains hopelessly bad at acting and it’s so endearing.
The cinematography and effects and camera movements are perfect. Tho, if you’re gonna give me JLM and Ewan McGregor’s naked asses you could at least do it in a closer shot.
The singing scene. Please tell me that’s in the soundtrack.
Also, thank you for making Veronika more than just a sexual thing and a plot device to make Simon and Mark fight. I was kind of afraid when I saw the trailer but, hell yeah, girl got away with everything. And, fuck yes, Diane, clean their wallets with your hourly fee, you competent, professional angel.
About Mark and Simon. On one hand, I confess while reading P0rno, every single scene between them my brain was like, just fuck each other, all the bullshit between you will resolve itself if you just fuck. each. other. On the other, I confess I kinda side-eyed all the folks who started shipping it recently but after watching it, holy fuck, these two are so fucking married. They way they just fall back into each other, almost against their will is the kind of stuff my trash shipper kinks are made of. AND THAT THE FILM LITERALLY SAYS IT OUT LOUD, PLEASE JUST FUCK EACH OTHER. And Simon spends the whole film planning to hurt Mark and at the end he saves him.
Also also: YOU GAVE THESE ASSHOLES A MEASURE OF REDEMPTION!!!! (I’m looking at you Sick Boy and Franco) AND THEY DON’T DESERVE IT BUT I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I confess that at the end of P0rno I was kinda hoping Simon would get away with all his bullshit even though he’s the worst, and the film kinda lets it happen; yes, he’s back to square one but he didn’t get as thoroughly screwed over as in the book AND he got his best friend back. And the whole moment with Begbie and his father and his son (also, nice nod to the reason behind the title), again, they don’t deserve it but it was so good.
I just really, really loved this film. The only think I could probably complain about is that I didn’t get the one scene from the book I was really hoping they kept: when Sick Boy and Rents see each other again and start fighting and end up joking and laughing together. But I got so much more and I’m so pleased, I need to watch this thing like ten more times.
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jillmckenzie1 · 5 years
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Moby Dick + Wild Things + The Matrix = WTF
One of the most valuable things in life is honesty; particularly, the honesty of someone calling out your bad ideas. When someone cares about you on a personal or professional level, they’ll do their level best to pull you back from the brink. I cannot emphasize how important that is, but let me explain with my own idiotic example.
I do screenwriting on the side. Years ago, I was batting about script ideas with my writing partners. As we kicked around ideas, I was struck by the Bad Idea Fairy. “Guys, guys, so there were gold reserves in the sub-basements of the Twin Towers. What if, in the aftermath of 9/11, a group of thieves pose as rescue workers to try and get to the gold? Maybe one of them is struck with an ethical conflict and comes into conflict with the rest of his crew!”
Their response proved to me that, even now, they are true friends. “No. You absolutely shouldn’t do that. Not now, not ever. That’s not good.” What was I going to do, have an action-packed gunfight set in the wreckage of the World Trade Center? Thankfully, my friends exorcized the influence of the Bad Idea Fairy, and I endeavored to come up with less stupid concepts in the future.
Some people are more susceptible to the dark and wicked magics of the Bad Idea Fairy than others, and when they bring a vision to life that should not be they are to be pitied, not jeered. Worst of all is when someone genuinely talented is seized with a terrible concept and nobody stops them. Want proof of that? Steven Knight’s Serenity is showing in theaters now, but it won’t be for long.
We’re introduced to the amusingly named Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey), a charter fishing boat captain dealing with a nasty case of depression. How do we know he’s depressed? He mutters darkly about his experiences as a soldier in Iraq. He smokes constantly, drinks nearly constantly, lives in a shipping container and dives naked into the ocean in lieu of taking a shower like a normal human being. He yells at the sky and threatens people with knives, but everybody gives him a pass because he looks like Matthew McConaughey.
His life isn’t completely terrible, because he’s got a first mate and trusty best friend in Duke (Djimon Hounsou, veering dangerously close to “Magical Black Man” territory). He’s also got Constance (Diane Lane) in his life, a gorgeous older woman who spends her days lounging in bed and paying him for sex. Yes, literally. She also spies on him through the slats of her windows and comments on his actions like a Greek chorus by way of The Graduate.*
 I almost forgot to tell you: Baker is obsessed with catching a giant tuna that he’s named “Justice,” and he scrawls information about his attempts to catch it in a battered notebook. He’s also being pursued by Reid Miller (Jeremy Strong) a mysterious man in a black suit who’s a…um…bait salesman. That’s not even the 10th weirdest thing in the movie, and we haven’t even gotten to the A-plot yet!
Back into Baker’s life strolls Karen (Anne Hathaway), a stylish blonde who’s not only his ex but also the mother of their son (Rafael Sayegh). She’s gotten remarried to Frank (Jason Clarke), an abusive creep, and now she has an offer for Baker: all he has to do is take Frank out for a fishing excursion, dump him overboard, and let the sharks do their work. In return, she’ll pay him $10 million for his trouble.
Before we go any further, I need to properly calibrate your expectations. If you look at the movie poster for Serenity, here’s what you’ll see:
Photoshopped images of McConaughey and Hathaway’s floating heads
A cast list
The tagline, “On Plymouth Island, no one ever dies…unless you break the rules.
Based on that information, you can be forgiven thinking that the film is an erotic neo-noir in which you’ll see copious McConaughey ass, Hathaway as a duplicitous femme fatale, and a kinda-dumb main character in over his head. It is that, and so, so much more. And less.
Director Steven Knight is a person of genuine talent. He’s written a number of scripts, including the very good Eastern Promises, and directed the contained thriller Locke.** Here, his film looks glossy and decent with some nice shot compositions, but in short order, things start to feel off. We have a pulpy tone that feels like it’s mocking pulp at the same time. Then…dammit, let’s get this over with, and talk about the script.
Knight also wrote said script, which is…um. Okay, let’s imagine that the genie from Aladdin decided to bring the mountain of cocaine from Scarface to life. As the mountain of cocaine achieves sentience, the genie says, “What do you want to do with your life, Mountain of Cocaine?” It replies, “I have this idea for a screenplay! Let me tell you about it! Am I blowing your mind, man?” It’s not just the dialogue that’s the problem, which sounds like it was written by a computer that hated both people and film noir. It’s not even the character work for Baker, where he’s supposed to be Sexy Damaged Guy, but actually comes off as Check Out My Bipolar Disorder Guy.
The real problem? There’s a series of twists that increasingly feels insane, and during the last half hour the movie doesn’t just go off the rails; it hits a mountain, explodes, and the fiery wreckage strikes a bus full of nuns and orphans, also causing them to explode. It’s like Knight said out loud, to an empty room, “Hold my beer, M. Night Shyamalan,” and proceeded to make cuckoo storytelling choices that you simply must see to believe. He’s pulling the rug out from under you, beating you with the rug, and yelling, “Do you see the rug I’m beating you with?”
 I’d love to clown on the cast, but in good conscience, I can’t. They’re doing what is asked of them. If you want someone who excels at playing an entitled rich jerk, you get Jason Clarke.*** Anne Hathaway, who was so damn good in Colossal, is pretty good here, and if you squint and turn your head sideways you can see the iconic femme fatale performance she’s capable of and that could have been.**** Then there’s Matthew McConaughey, who excels at playing deeply strange men. As Mr. Dill he’s fine, I guess? There’s a good bit of scenery gnawing from him, and I never felt like he was phoning it in. The main problem with our cast is that it never feels like they’re in the same movie and their performances never mesh together.
Sooner or later, we’re all visited by the Bad Idea Fairy. Most of us are lucky that our bad ideas don’t involve a $25 million budget and an end result that millions of people can see. Steven Knight is a talented filmmaker, and his cast and crew are talented professionals. I’m hoping that Serenity acts as a reminder of the importance of one lone voice saying, “Dude, no.”
  *I have to genuinely give Serenity credit for featuring an older woman with sexual appetites and treating her as a completely normal person. While the film ain’t exactly woke, let’s give credit where credit is due.
**He’s also one of the creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
 ***For an excellent Clarke performance, check him out in Chappaquiddick as the loathsome Ted Kennedy.
****As much as Hathaway and McConaughey are wildly attractive people, they have a kind of anti-chemistry here.
from Blog https://ondenver.com/moby-dick-wild-things-the-matrix-wtf/
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