Payment for surrogacy gets really complicated because on one hand paying for it means most surrogates will end up being lower class women who need the money and will be easier to exploit, something which is rife in the current implementation of surrogacy, but on the other hand being pregnant is genuinely like body horror to me and I think that if you go through that for someone else you should get a billion dollars.

Island Dreams - Chapter 26

Hello people! Chapter 26 is finally here.

So, Aelin and Rowan go on an adventure for a while because something happens (you will found out what in the first line)

Toward the middle, they have a Harry Potter chat. I am not a fan but i inserted the dialogue because of where they are. And guess where Rowan gets sorted? Also, sorry I was nasty to Gryffindors... the little I know about them it's enough for me not to like them. Once a Slytherin always a Slytherin.

All the locations I have mentioned and the restaurant actually exists. Please google them if you are curious :)

Aelin during one part of the trip sings a song (near Loch Lomond) The song she sings is Loch Lomond by Runrig. This is a very, very sad song but is also one of those that it's almost impossible not to sing along. At least the version by Runrig. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHu0h9XaNcg

As of this morning I officially wrote the last sentence in the fic. One chapter still has some parts that needs developing, plus my usual editing but i wrote the end this morning.

Anyway, for now I'll leave you with chapter 26.

Have fun :)

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It was the beginning of May and Aelin and Rowan were packing for a small adventure. Two months before they had received an invitation from Elide and Lorcan to attend their wedding in Glasgow. They had accepted and they were now getting ready for their little getaway. This was going to be their last chance to have a holiday before the arrival of the twins. Lysandra was going to look after Rowan’s shop. She and Aedion had arrived a bit earlier than scheduled as he had been asked to start working a bit earlier. Lysandra, on the other hand did not have as much luck on the work front. Her job had been put on hold for the foreseeable future so when she had overheard Rowan talking about hiring as assistant for the shop she had volunteered. She had admitted that she was not a book nerd like the two of them but she liked to read so she was happy to run the shop. He had given an intensive training and once he was happy he decided to leave her in charge while he was away with Aelin.

“I can’t find my hoodie.” Aelin grunted while she was finishing packing her case. Their house was now a sea of boxes. They were a few weeks away from moving to their new place. The works had taken longer than expected which in the end it turned out to be a blessing. Lys and Aedion were there and they had offered to help with the move. Aedion had joked that they were Aelin’s personal removal company. “Which one?” “Yours. The uni of Glasgow one. It’s big enough that I can fit my huge belly in it.” Rowan came back two minutes later with the hoodie in his hands “You can’t function without me.” She stuck her tongue out and donned the hoodie “It’s far too early in the morning.” “We need to leave in half an hour. Is your bag ready?” “Yes. It was ready last night but then I realised I forgot some bits.” And she placed her Scotland’s guide in her carry on backpack. “You don’t need that.” He said pointing at the book “I know Glasgow very well.” “It was mostly for the drive from Skye to Glasgow.” “I know that very well too. I have done it a million times.” He grabbed the book from her. “Fine.” And he put the book aside. Ten minutes later she announced to Rowan that she was ready to go and he sighed in relief. They had a ferry to catch and he was being his paranoid self. He grabbed her suitcase and his duffel bag and walked out to the car to load it. Once he was done he went back to the house. Aelin was already in the car and noticed him coming back with a bulky pillow that he bought her to help her for the long road trip and stay as comfortable as possible. She smiled and noticed his other hand holding a bag. A moment later she found out that bag contained snacks for their very long car ride. Since the accident with the Korean he had been even more careful with her food. “Are you ready?” He got in the car and made sure she was all set to go. Aelin smiled “Punch it.” They arrived in Tarbert with plenty of time for their ferry. Rowan had gone to buy the tickets and Aelin waited in the car all excited for this big adventure. She had driven a part of the road they were taking when she arrived a year before but she knew that with Rowan as a guide it would be much, much more different. She had a look at her phone and realised that a year ago exactly on that day she had arrived on Lewis and walked into his shop and changed their lives. She patted her belly “It’s a big day today for mum and dad.” “I am back.” Said Rowan while getting back in the car and placing a ticket on the dashboard of the car “They should start loading soon.” “Is this one of those where we can go on deck?” “Yes, we will be able to go on deck. It’s a gorgeous day. This is an amazing crossing.” Aelin took Rowan’s hand a placed it on her bump “Do you know which day is it today?” He stared at her “hmmm… I think it’s the day when my favourite menace walked into my shop looking for books and never left.” “Happy anniversary.” She whispered while leaning forward to kiss him. “Thank you for coming into my shop.”

It was over an hour later when they docked in the tiny village of Uig on the Isle of Skye. And Aelin was in hyper mode already. When he told her they were going via Skye she had started reading all about it and it looked like the most magical place she had ever seen. They would stop in a few places along the road but they had planned to stop a bit more on their way back when they had more time. They got back on the road and not long after she noticed Rowan taking a very small road “Where are we going?” “There is a place I need to show you.” They arrived not long after and Aelin’s mouth fell open. The place in front of her seemed like it came out from a fairy tale book. And she could not stop staring at how green and lush it was. “Welcome to the Fairy glen.” Aelin’s head whipped to his side “You are kidding.” “No, that its name.” He got off the car and reached her side “We’ll go for a short walk. We’ll stop again in Portree and have proper lunch there, but I had to show you this place.” Slowly they walked to the small hills. Aelin spotted what looked like the remains of a castle and was annoyed that she could not climb there. Rowan held her from behind and turned her “Look over there.” And he pointed at the big hill in the distance and Aelin spotted a few waterfalls “This place is amazing.” “Why is it called Fairy glen?” “Skye has a connection with the Fairies thanks to the Fairy flag at Dunvegan castle, which will visit when we come back.” “Is Schatach’s castle far away? According to the legends she was a warrior on the Isle of Skye and there should be a place called Dun Scaith which allegedly was her home.” His arms tightened around her, he loved her interest in Celtic mythology “It’s in the south. I’ll take you there when we come back. I promise.” Then he grabbed his backpack and took a couple of sandwiches from it “Sit down and have a little snack” He helped her sit down in the grass and she took food and strawberry milkshake from him. Once their breakfast was over Rowan helped Aelin to stand and hand in hand they walked around the glen and Rowan had to restrain Aelin from climbing in places where she shouldn’t “Seriously?” And he folded his arms at his chest. “Fine, I am not climbing.” They explored a bit longer and then Rowan pressed to go back in the car and on the road. “I was planning on getting into Portree for lunch. Fancy doing a very touristy thing?” “If I can get a fridge magnet, yes.” Rowan roared with laughter. That had become their recurrent joke “I think so and you will be able to get more once we are in Portree.” “Good. Our new fridge will be fully covered.” “I have not agreed to that.” He complained, giving her a smile at the same time. “Where are you taking me?” “We can take a detour to Carbost and we can have a tour of Talisker distillery. All the tourists go to whisky distilleries when they come to Scotland.” “Yes. I know I will not be able to drink but I don’t care. I always wanted to do it. Yes, let’s be tourists.” “As you wish, Fireheart.” An hour later they had arrived at the distillery and Aelin jumped out of the car “This is so awesome and I can smell the whisky.” Rowan took her hand and they walked in. The next tour would be in half an hour so they explored the shop and Aelin bought her magnets and a bottle of whisky for Aedion, she knew he’d love it. She just had to find a nice present for Lysandra now as a thank you for covering the shop. “Let’s go and sit outside, it’s gorgeous.” The view in front of the distillery was breathtaking. The loch in front of them seemed infinite and it was framed mountains in the background. Aelin ate another sandwich while suntanning. She had shed her hoodie and was in a t-shirt, her bump pointed at the sun “The girls and I are suntanning.” Rowan sat on the bench beside her and kissed the bump “how are you three doing?” “They are quiet. They kicked a couple of times but now they are probably snoozing.” And caressed the belly. “If you get tired you let me know. I have enough breaks planned so you don’t spend too much time sitting in the car.” “We are doing fine. I promise.” She brushed his hair. After her night trip to the A&E he had been even more over protective and his fussing levels had sky rocketed. But he had been wonderful to her. He had gotten her all the food she was craving and cooked for her all the recipes she wished. He was with her at every single appointment and he had started reading a lot of books about pregnancy and parenting. She had realised a while ago that Rowan had been brooding. He had confessed to her that he had wanted a family for a very long time and she knew that Lyria was against it and Aelin had a feeling that it had been one of the things that destroyed him the most about the failed relationship. “Let’s put the bag in the car and go for our tour.” He offered his hand and she took it and followed him.

It was later when they came out of the distillery and Aelin was ecstatic. “I had no idea you guys had so many varieties of whisky and it was so fascinating.” He kissed her head “glad you loved it.” “One of the ladies in our group kept staring at you.” Rowan took her hand “Thank you for leaving her alive.” “She got some cold stares from me. Seriously woman, stop staring at another woman’s man.” “Let’s go, menace.” Aelin followed him back to the car and not long after they were on the road to Portree. Rowan had explained it was the main town and after a year on the islands she had an idea of what main town meant. Once in Portree, Rowan parked the car, Aelin grabbed her backpack and off they went. When in the main square, she noticed the tourist office and she dragged him inside explaining that that was the perfect place for another fridge magnet. Rowan sighed and followed her inside. He waited for her in a corner of the office and she came back later with a big bag. “That’s a bit of an oversized magnet.” He joked. “It’s Lys’ present. I got her a lovely bag made locally here on Skye. Lysandra loves bags and I know she will adore this one.” “It’s actually really nice.” He added, looking at the present she had bought. They dropped the bag in the car and Rowan had convinced her to put her stuff In his backpack so she didn’t have to carry anything. Once they were all sorted they walked to the marina and Aelin squealed when she saw the houses painted in pink and blue and green “That is so lovely.” For a while they followed the path along the marina until Rowan declared it was time to feed her and for her to sit down for a while. Aelin did not protest at the idea of food and followed him to his favourite seafood restaurant. The meal had been superb and Aelin leaned back on the chair with a satisfied smile on her face “I wonder if the desserts here are nice.” Rowan scoffed “How can you still have space?” “You should know that you have agreed to marry a bottomless pit.” Once lunch was over they were back in the car. Rowan had told her they were taking the ferry across to Mallaig instead of the bridge back to the mainland. They would do that on their way back. He had also explained that once across the water there were some amazing beaches they could stop to and have another break and Aelin was easy to convince. During the trip down to Armadale he had chatted away being her personal guide and she realised they might need a week just to explore Skye. She loved the islands but she realised there was so much on the mainland that a lifetime might not be enough “we should take breaks more often. There is so much to discover.” “We can definitely do that and it would be nice to travel with our two girls.” She put her hand on his knee and in that moment one of the girls or both kicked “They agree.” “Are they moving?” Aelin smiled as his hand moved to the bump. “Every singe time, it amazes me.” And she saw love in his eyes “It just the idea that there are two small human beings growing inside you. It’s just… incredible.” She took his hand and kissed it “just don’t be too in awe. You will be less impressed by the process when you will see how it happens, live.” “I will be in awe of you and what you will do.” She turned to him and blew him a kiss “You will be such a loving dad.” “I will do my best.”

They were just about to dock in Mallaig when Aelin’s phone went off and she noticed it was Lysandra. “Hi Lys, how are you doing?” “I am doing amazing and the shop is fine. I had a busy morning and I had no idea how fun it was to work in a bookstore. Tell Rowan the shop is fine and that I had good sales as well.” “He will be happy to hear that.” Aelin gave Rowan the thumbs up after she noticed the worry in his face when she said it was Lys on the phone. “How are you guys doing?” “We are about to dock on the mainland in Mallaig. The weather down here is amazing and we are having fun.” “Gotta go. Customers. Keep me posted.” Lysandra hung up and Aelin followed Rowan back to the car “Lys says the shop is fine and that she had a busy morning with good sales and that she is having a great time.” Rowan laughed “good. You can tell her that she can keep being my interim assistant until she gets a job at the hospital. It seems like she has a knack as well. She might want to keep busy and well, I need an assistant and we could not find anyone I liked so…” “You had very high standards.” “No. I just wanted someone who had a bit of interest and willingness to work.” “Time to drive, old man.” Joked Aelin when one of the car deck crew motioned them to move forward and disembark. They drove for a very short distance until Rowan pulled in, in a car park. Aelin was giddy, while they were driving past Morar bay, her face was attached to the window. There were sands everywhere, but Rowan kept driving. She was dying to get off the car. She new he was trying to get them as close as possible to their destination. Walking for long was getting very problematic for her so he was just being his thoughtful self. Once at the car park, she opened the door as soon as the car stopped and was out. “Come on, Buzzard. I need to go to the beach.” He grabbed the backpack and put a hat on her head “Now we can go.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the small path. Usually he was the guide, but when it came to beaches, she was the one leading the way. Rowan would joke saying that she would smell beaches like a bloodhound. Aelin stopped when the beach finally appeared in front of her. It was not Luskentyre but the water was still crystal blue and the sand white. “This is Camusdarach beach.” Aelin toed off her shoes and started walking to the water. Rowan picked up the shoes and followed her. By the time he got there, she was already in the water, waves gently brushing her ankles. “Come on, this is beautiful.” Rowan smiled and toed off his shoes as well, dropped his backpack on the sand and joined her in the water, right behind her with his arms folding on her bump. His smell of pine engulfed her and Aelin leaned against his chest “I am glad Elide and Lorcan are getting married and invited us, it gave us a lovely excuse for this amazing trip.” Hand in hand they walked the length of the beach and eventually Rowan dragged her back on the sand and they sat down enjoying the sun. Aelin started playing with the sand and began building a sand castle and Rowan joined her a bit later. “Aelin’s castle.” After her castle was finished, Rowan pulled her down on the sand and he rolled to the side, facing her “thank you for not giving up on me.” “You were a bit of a hopeless case,” she added, flicking his nose “but being cute saved you.” “Just cute?” He pouted. “Fine, as Lys would say, you are sex on two legs.” “Poor Aedion.” “Ach, she just looks. She loves him.” His hand caressed her face “You can look as well, but remember that I exist. I can be jealous too.” Aelin snuggled closer and five minutes later she was snoozing and Rowan let her. They had a very early start and he wanted her to relax as much as she could. He rolled back on his back but then sat up and kept playing with the sand castle she had built. When she woke up it was an hour later. “Hello, sleeping beauty.” “Did I just fell asleep on the sand?” He leaned forward to kiss her “that you did.” “And you let me?” “Yes.” Aelin fought to stand but failed miserably so Rowan helped her. “We can’t waste too much time dillydallying. We need to hit the road again.” She tried to bend over to grab her shoes but she had no such luck. Rowan stood and patted the sand away from her and squeezed her ass in the meantime. “Aye, aye captain.” He said picking up her shoes and patting the sand away from him as well. Ten minutes later they were back on the road and Aelin was happily sipping on her smoothie. “This road we are on is called the road to the isle because it’s the road that connects Fort William to Mallaig where you can get the ferry to the islands.” “Were you a Harry Potter fan?” He asked. “Not really. I have only seen the movies to keep company to Lysandra. Why?” “There is one place on our way that became quite famous in one of the movies.” “Oh, the viaduct?” She asked. Lysandra on the other hand, was obsessed with Harry Potter and they had watched the movies together. “Lys is a huge Harry Potter fan and since I haven’t read the books she convinced me to at least to watch the movie. She had told me the viaduct was in Scotland.” “We will pass Glenfinnan and if you want we can stop there.” “Yes, I need to take a picture for Lys.” They arrived at the site half an hour later and Rowan parked in a small car park and Aelin could see the viaduct in the distance. “There is a visitor centre and you can get your magnet there.” He joked and they started the walk to the viaduct and Aelin took a lot of photos and started sending them to Lys via WhatsApp. “Were you a Harry Potter fan?” She took his hand. Rowan shook his head “I read the books just to see what all the fuss was about but I never got into them. Not my kind of thing.” “You could be a Slytherin.” Added Aelin looking at him with a wicked smile. Rowan looked away for a moment “Lyria made me took a test. She was into the books. I was sorted in Slytherin.” Aelin lifted the hands they were holding to his mouth and kissed his “Let me guess, the bitch was a Gryffindor.” Rowan laughed “that she was.” “As if I needed another reason to hate her.” Rowan squeezed her hand “you don’t like them?” “I hate them. And I hate Potter. He is the most annoying, most useless and most boring character ever written.” She confessed “Lys made me take the test and I am a Slytherin too, Lys is a Ravenclaw and Aedion is alas, a Gryffindor.” “Poor Lys.” They finally arrived under the viaduct and Aelin took a picture of her holding the pylons of the viaduct. “This is quite impressive. Do train actually run on it?” Rowan nodded “The regular Scotrail trains from Glasgow to Mallaig come through here but from Fort William there is also the Jacobite steam train, which by the way was used in Harry Potter 2, and it’s a very fancy train that runs twice a day.” “That must be one heck of a gorgeous train ride.” “It is, I have done it a few times, the regular train, I mean. Probably one of the most stunning we have in Scotland.” He started walking back and took her hand again. “Lys is saying that she is so jealous right now and told me that I am lucky girls because my fiancé is not a Gryffindor.” “Come on Buzzard, I have a few tacky things to buy.” She pulled him toward the visitor centre. Slowly they got back to the car and Rowan drove the small distance back to the visitor centre. He parked there and Aelin went inside the shop and bought stuff for her and Lysandra and got back to him who was waiting for her outside. Together they walked to the monument standing in front of Loch Shiel and sat down at the table at the viewpoint “Remember the scene in the third Harry Potter movie when Harry flies on the big flying creature whose name I can’t remember?” Aelin nodded. “This is the loch in the scene.” He looked at her puzzled expression “I only know because I have a book in the shop about movie locations in Scotland and in the summer is quite popular with tourists and once I had a look through it out of curiosity.” “I need to read it next time I am in.” He sat down beside her and pulled her close “How are you feeling? Are you tired?” “Are you joking? This is amazing. I will sleep tonight. I have a feeling I will be out as soon as I hit the bed but for now I am fine. Really, Ro.” He grabbed his backpack and opened it “Are you hungry?” She nodded and Rowan offered her another sandwich and Aelin munched away while taking in the incredible view in front of her. “Did Elide tell you where they are getting married?” Aelin nodded “The cloisters at Glasgow University. I have no idea what it is, but I assume you know. But Elide told me that she loves that place so much and felt like it was a cool place where to get married. They don’t have a large numbers of people so we will fit.” Rowan had a large smile “It was and still is one of my favourite places around the University and once we are there you will know why. I will take you there tomorrow. Our accommodation is very close by to the university so got very lucky.” “She said that they are having the reception inside the centre hall at Kelvingrove art gallery.” Rowan laughed “they have amazing taste. That’s all I am saying right now.” “I googled some pictures and they are amazing sites.” Then she looked up to him “are you looking forward being back in Glasgow?” Rowan nodded “I love the islands but I have some great memories of the city.” Eventually Rowan stood “Let’s go. We still have a very long drive. I want to show you Glen Coe before we continue our drive south.” They got back in the car and on the road “sleep a bit, “said Rowan caressing her head “it will take us about an hour to reach Glen Coe.” Aelin blew him a kiss and did as was told and woke up only when Rowan nudged her awake. She opened her eyes and gasped at the beautiful view in front of her. “We are driving through Glen Coe.” “I am speechless.” “It’s quite incredible, I agree.” A few minutes later Rowan stopped the car and he got out and motioned for Aelin to follow him. They both sat on the hood of the car and he put an arm around her shoulder, “see this three ridges in front of us?” Aelin nodded. “They are called the three sisters of Glen Coe.” “That’s a cute name.” “Did they film anything in GlenCoe? It seems like such an mazing film locations,” she asked curious. “Tons of stuff, actually. Some more of the Harry Potter movies, some bits of Braveheart, one of the James Bond movies, Skyfall I think, and another one I remember is Monthy Python and the Holy Grail.” “I really need to read your book.” They sat in silence for a moment, then Rowan pushed her to go back into the car “Come on. We’ll have a last stop in Balloch and then from there we will do the last leg to Glasgow.” They got back in the car and Aelin was asleep again within minutes and he let her sleep. From time to time he brushed his hand on her bump but the twins seemed asleep as well. She woke up again much later “where are we?” She asked with a sleepy voice. “Near Tarbert, we are on Loch Lomond.” Aelin smiled “there is a song.” And she started fiddling with his mp3 player to find the song. A couple of minutes later she found it and pressed play and Rowan smiled fondly. He had created a monster in terms of music. Aelin started singing and he laughed. “You’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye. Where me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.” “You know this is a sad song, right?” “I know I read the meaning behind it but it’s so good. I love it so much.” Once in Balloch, Rowan took Aelin for a walk into Balloch castle country park but when he noticed her trailing behind slowly he called it a day and decided they were going back to the car and drive the last leg to Glasgow. She was getting tired and he felt as if he had pushed her enough although he was alway careful and walked always short distances. Aelin slept until Rowan woke her up announcing they were arrived at the hotel. “We are in Glasgow?” He kissed her “yes, we made it.” She gave him a big smile and slowly got out of the car, grabbed her backpack and followed him. Rowan unloaded the bags and they got inside the hotel and at the receptions. She let Rowan check them in. She was feeling tired and only wanted to take a shower and collapse in bed. Once in their bedroom Aelin sat on the bed and then lay down heavily under Rowan’s worried stare “are you sure you are okay?” “Yeah, a shower and a nap and I will be okay.” Rowan had a look in the bathroom “even better, you can take a relaxing bath and if you behave I might join you. I am pretty wiped as well.” At that statement Aelin stood and went to open the taps in the bathtub “no take backs.” Fifteen minutes later they were both in the tub, Rowan behind her and he was washing her hair and then her back “That’s not fair, I can only wash your legs.” Then she leaned back against him and he purred. “Will you manage to go out for dinner or shall we order in?” Aelin shook her head “I want to go out. Do we have to go very far?” “No, it’s a twenty minutes walk. Or we can walk five minutes and take the underground for one stop. There is a lovely area for food in Hillhead, the uni area. There is a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant that I adore and I haven’t been there in a lifetime. Or we can try something else. Whichever takes your fancy.” “Vietnamese sounds perfection. But can we do the half walk half underground option?” “I would drive but parking is a nightmare in that area.” She took his hands and placed them on her bump “half and half is perfect.” Rowan kissed her neck caressed her bump when he felt a kick. “I think we are getting close to the stage when they will be able to hear sounds. Their ears should be formed by now and they will hear muffled sounds from outside.” “I need to go back reading to them.” He asked tugging her even closer. “I’d love that. But only stories with badass females.” “Of course and I’ll make sure I will read them about their namesakes.” “Morrigan is going to hate us for her name as soon as she discovers where it comes from.” Rowan kissed her head “We can change it.” But Aelin shook her head in dissent “I adore it.” They cuddled in the bathtub a bit longer but when the water started to cool down Rowan ordered them to get out. Aelin, in her bathrobe collapsed in bed. It was still far too early to go out for dinner so they were going to chill out in bed. Rowan had driven all day and she was positive he was exhausted as well. He joined her in bed and snuggled against her “What are you doing?” Aelin took her phone “what’s the name of the restaurant?” “Hanoi bike shop.” “That’s a very random name.” Rowan chuckled “look at some photos and you will see why.” Aelin did that “oh wow. The place looks amazing. There are actually pieces of bikes hanging… and look at the lanterns.” “And their food is delicious.” “Let me see the menu.” She was too busy browsing her phone to notice that Rowan had fallen asleep in her arms. She set an alarm for half past six and cuddled against him and placed one of his hands on the bump, then kissed his head and slept a while as well.

She woke again five minutes before the alarm was meant to go off. Rowan was still fast asleep and she felt horrible at the idea of waking him up but her stomach was grumbling and she was getting hungry. She kissed him gently and brushed a hand through his hair and slowly he woke. “Hi you.” “Hey,” his voice still gruff “did I fall asleep?” “Like a baby” she kissed him “I didn’t want to wake you but I am starving.” Rowan laughed and rolled on his back. A second later he was off the bed and went to the suitcase to grab some clothes “Come on, let’s get you fed, then we can come back and relax.” Ten minutes later they were both ready and outside. Aelin had a look and in the distance she noticed a park. Rowan had told her they were near his uni. They walked for a bit along Sauchienall st. until in the distance she noticed some amazing buildings and pulled him to walk faster. Rowan stopped her and went back into guide mode. He went behind her and took her arm and pointed “that, is Glasgow university. And this amazing red building in front of us is Kelvingrove museum. Glasgow uni is the second oldest uni in Scotland dating to 1451 and the fourth oldest in the UK.” “I am jealous. I went to a modern uni. Yours looks amazing.” “We’ll have a proper look tomorrow, same for the museum.” They reached the underground and while they were waiting Rowan explained that it was a circular line and they only had the inner and outer circle. And that the only mistake you could make was to take the wrong one and having to go all the way around before reaching your destination. The whole concept puzzled her, behind used to the London tube and all. Once out of the subway the restaurant was at a minute walk and Aelin loved the place already. The restaurant was busy but they did manage to get a seat. Aelin would have killed if they told her that there was no space. She was now dead set on that restaurant and did not want to go somewhere else. She had already studied the menu in full. An hour later Aelin relaxed back satisfied. The meal had been wonderful and after her dessert she finally felt full “I think we can walk back to the hotel, I ate too much and I need to walk it off.” Rowan laughed “are you sure?” It took them forty minutes to walk back to the hotel. Aelin had decided to be brave and walk and she soon realised it had been a very bad idea. Rowan had tried to convince her to at least take the subway again but she had been stubborn. Rowan knew she was struggling but had given up when he suggested a taxi and he got a deadly glare from her. They were finally in front of the hotel and Rowan relaxed a bit. “Don’t.” She snapped. “What?” “You have a ‘I told you so face’ I know, I was stubborn and now I am paying for it. Now stop gloating.” He gave her his hand “Come on, Fireheart, I am curious to see which funny pj you have with you tonight.” Aelin took his hand and followed him to the lift. Once in the room, Aelin threw herself on the bed but Rowan grabbed her hands “get changed first.” Then he let her go and grabbed her suitcase and placed it on the bed “come on, jammies on and then bed.” “Can we cuddle? Perhaps with a back massage.” “That can be arranged, but I need you in your jammies to do that.” Aelin dragged herself up and grabbed her night clothes from her bag and got changed and Rowan did the same and both get ready for bed. Rowan was the first one under the blankets and once she joined him he pulled her to him, her belly facing him. His hands went to her back and started rubbing the sore spots. Aelin melted in his arms. “Thank you for today,” she mumbled against his chest, snuggling against him a bit more. She felt a kiss on her head and then laughed when he felt a kick “I think our girls had a great time as well.” “They did, but now they are exhausted like mum.” Rowan pulled her down to an horizontal position “Turn around,” he said to her when he noticed she was not on her left side. “But I want to face you.” “You know the left side is the recommended position. Turn around.” He helped her and once she was settled he climbed over and lay down in front of her “Sorted.” “You are such a mama hen.” She joked, running her hand through his hair. “Your hair getting longer.” “I was thinking about letting it grow. What do you think?” Aelin kissed him “very naughty thoughts right now.” Rowan laughed “I used to have them to my shoulder when I was t uni. Not practical for swimming but I loved it.” “I can braid it.” She smiled “Please let it grow back.” He leaned forward and gave her a kiss back “As you wish, my Queen.” Then he took her hand and placed it on his heart “Now sleep, please.” He told her gently, closing her eyes with her fingers. Then his arm reached out over her and pulled her as close as possible. “Goodnight,” he whispered to his favourite women.

Tag: @rowaelinismyotp

The alluring charm of Henry Cavill - Chapter 3

Summary: During a trivia game, Adelaide impresses people with her knowledge.

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park (ofc)

Wordcount: 3.5k

Warnings: None

A/N: For the people who have send in character asks and I haven’t answered it yet: I’m working on it 🤗 Because of school, I haven’t gotten to it yet. But somewhere this week I’ll answer them. Also: I love the responses to this fic. I want to let you know that these comments make my day 💕 Also, did I use the twitter accounts from the characters of my other fics for the tweets at the end? Yes, I did.

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Why am I in bed?

I look around and see that I’m in the middle of the bed that Henry and I share back on the show, but the improvised wall between us is gone.

Back when I was growing up, we had one bedroom and one bed, where we had to squeeze in if we happened to be all home. That rarely happened. It was usually just me, or later on my dad joined, when he got back from work. On mom’s days off, she’d be in bed all day, resting from all those hard days at work. Sharing beds isn’t something that I really mind, even if the person I’m sharing with, is Henry Cavill.

‘You’re awake,’ I hear Henry’s deep voice and I look to my left, to see him standing up from a chair. He sits on the edge of the mattress, sinking into the soft material. ‘How are you?’

‘I don’t know,’ I mumble, pushing myself up straight. I’m not in the muddy clothes anymore and I look at Henry again, slightly worried and ashamed. Did he undress me?

‘Don’t worry,’ he calmly says, ‘Jennifer went with us. She changed you.’

I clear my throat, as I start fidgeting my hands, one of the many nervous ticks I have. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Why?’ Henry asks.

‘We were leading and then…’ I sigh deeply, trying not to think about what happened to me. I never learned how to swim, but I always avoided waters like the plague. During my acting career, I only had to swim once, but I was with David Castañeda, who played my love interest. I let him know that I was scared of water. He promised me he wouldn’t let go and the director actually loved the twist we gave to that swimming pool scene.

However, David knew I was scared of water, but didn’t know I couldn’t swim. Now I told Henry and in a matter of days, the rest of the world will know too, when this episode will air.

Henry doesn’t say anything. I bet he is mad, I think to myself. Fuck, I really let him down, didn’t I?

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, ‘that I let you down.’

His gaze softens. ‘You didn’t,’ he tells me. ‘I shouldn’t have pushed. I should’ve calmed you down. It was obvious that it really scared you.’ Henry sighs deeply. ‘But Adelaide… Why can’t you swim?’ he asks.

I could tell him. The whole world will know I can’t swim in the near future, why not tell them the entire story? ‘We didn’t have the money back when I was younger to go for swimming lessons,’ I say. ‘And I haven’t had the chance to do it now.’

Henry nods. ‘There is a pool in the backyard,’ he says, a telling smile toying on his face. ‘How about, over the course of these two weeks, you and I try it. It’s not deep and I’m there with you every second.’

‘Why?’

He shrugs, as if he is a little embarrassed that he offered, but he shouldn’t be. It’s just that I’m surprised, because the last time someone offered something like that to me… That was so long ago. I think it was when I still lived at home. I always do everything myself and people on set know that I tend to be very independent, so they don’t try. But Henry doesn’t ask or offer, he just does it. In the days that I’ve come to know him, he has been nothing but a gentleman. He made me breakfast and when we were cooking dinner, the oil was splashing over the pan. Before I could step aside, Henry grabbed another pan to shield me from the hot oil. The way he lifted me up during the obstacle course when I couldn’t reach the bars and how he caught me when I fell.

‘Well,’ he says, ‘because I think everyone should know how to swim.’

I smile and say: ‘Well, let’s consider it,’ I say. ‘We finished last, didn’t we?’

‘Yeah, we did,’ he says. ‘But don’t apologize for it, please. I don’t want you to feel bad about it. We were really great during this first challenge, so we’ll climb our way back to the top.’ Henry sends me a dashing smile and I can’t help but blush a little bit. ‘How about you get ready for tonight, then I’ll go and make you something to eat.’

‘Ready for tonight?’

‘Trivia night,’ he says.

I nod. I can’t seem to tear my eyes from him, as I look into his soft eyes. When I first met him, I thought he had that stern look in his face and I still did think that from time to time, but in those days that we spend together, it never looked like this. ‘Right, I’ll get myself ready.’

After a fifteen minute shower, I get dressed in a jeans skirt, with a simple black shirt that I tugged in. I paired it with the same white sneakers I wore the first day. I keep my hair and make-up pretty simple.

Henry made some sandwiches. I never knew that I thought it was attractive that a man could cook, but I sure do know now. Come to think of this, I never really thought about what I wanted for traits in a man.

My parents were happy with one another, but I feared that one day, I ended up like them. Poor, overworked, with two kids and a husband, who maybe felt—just like my dad—that he had to take care of us. Besides, I never experienced love. I never fallen in love, I only had on stage kisses and sex scenes. It was never real.

Maybe I’m way ahead of myself, but I feel something. I feel cared for. I feel noticed. I feel appreciated. Like I’m worth it. And that’s all thanks to Henry Cavill.

◎ ◎ ◎

Everyone seems concerned about me, but after I reassure everyone I am okay, we take place at three different tables, one for each duo. I take a seat on the chair. It’s a little colder than I imagined and I curse myself for not bring a jacket with me. I rub my upper arms as the crew is setting everything up, checking if our mics are working well enough, making sure the screen works.

Henry stands up as he wiggles out of his cosy vest, before placing it without a word on my shoulders.

‘Oh, that’s not necess— uh… needed,’ I say to him.

‘I’m not cold,’ he tells me, as he sits down next to me again. I want to stop my smile, but I can’t help it.

‘Thank you, Henry,’ I say in a soft tone, as if I don’t want him to hear me, but seeing how the corners of his mouth curl up, I know that he heard me.

The game is pretty simple: there is a host who asks a question and you have to answer it. It’s fairly easy and I almost feel like they are taking it easier because of me.

Every team has a button in front of them and ours meows like a cat.

‘What country won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930?’ the hosts asks.

Meow. ‘Uruguay,’ I answer, as I retract my hand from the button. .

Even the host seems impressed. ‘That is correct.’ On the screen behind him, I see that we are actually first now, with only one point, but it feels nice to be ahead of someone else, because of what I did. ‘Okay, next question. Which boxer was known as “the Great—’

Meow. That is not because of me, but because Henry slammed the button a little harder. Guess he doesn’t know how strong he is. ‘Muhammed Ali,’ he answers.

‘Correct.’ Why does the host not seem impressed now? Okay, this is nothing to be surprised about, so I should stop letting the subtle differences in reaction get to my head. It’s true, I’m pretty stupid according to the public.

And besides, we only had two questions and I had one right.

‘What animals have the longest gestation period?’

No one presses the button and I tap Henry on his leg. He looks at me and I usher him closer. ‘What is a gestation period?’

‘Pregnancy,’ he whispers, his hot breath against my lips, that start to tingle as a response. I shouldn’t get distracted because of that.

Meow. ‘An African Elephant,’ I answer.

We are ahead now with three points. I can’t help but beam with pride. Maybe the public will think a little more highly of me now.

‘What does HTTP stand for?’

Meow. ‘HyperText Transfer Protocol,’ Henry says with a smile.

‘What year was the first model of the iPhone released?’

Meow. ‘2007,’ Henry answers with ease.

He knows a lot, I think to myself. I look to the side for a second and I wonder what goes on in his head, right now and basically every single time we’re just alone. He can look at me in a way that I can’t explain and I don’t even understand why he looks at me like that.

We continue to answer multiple questions correctly and the meow is one of the only sounds that we hear. By the time we reached ten points, I discovered that Charlie and Jennifer’s sound is a bark and when we reached fifteen points, I found out that the Biebers’ sound was a chicken.

Who were the founders of Adidas? (Rudolf and Adolf Dassler—I knew this one.) Some Greek mythology questions that I knew nothing about, but Henry did and he seemed so giddy to explain it all to us, though no one seemed cared, besides me probably, because I could listen to this man for days on end. Together we knew the seven world wonders, who the Danish author was who wrote many fairy tales and they even asked us what Superman’s birth name was…

While Superman is in the room.

We are way ahead of everyone with twenty points, Charlie and Jennifer have ten (who knew that babies weren’t born with kneecaps—for knowing that alone I feel like they should win) and Justin and Hailey have nine. But the next question we can think about for a few seconds and it’s worth fifteen points. So we either become second or first, depends on how well we do.

‘Name these chemical elements of the periodic table. Ge, Sn, Rf, K and Ba.’

Henry places his arm on the back of my chair and leans over. Gosh, he is really close. Not that I’m complaining, but feeling his body heat so close to mine and it’s not even acting… Why does that make me feel all sorts of things?

‘Ge is Geranium,’ he whispers, ‘and Ba and Barium.’

‘K is Potassium,’ I say in a soft tone. ‘So we only have Sn and Rf left. Sn is Tin.’

‘You know a lot,’ he says with a smile.

Does he mean that? Did he just say I know a lot? Me, the Hollywood ditz? ‘Rf is Rutherfordium,’ I whisper.

Meow. Henry presses the button and he looks at me, non verbally asking me if I want to answer this, but I simply shake my head. He names them in order and everyone seems impressed, but before they can give him a compliment (I know the host is desperate to call him ‘Handsome Henry with a Brain’ again. He did it seven times already and it was annoying the first time, let alone the seventh time), Henry says: ‘I only knew Geranium and Barium. Adelaide is the real genius here.’

◎ ◎ ◎

It’s twelve ‘o clock when Henry and I are in bed, both staring at the ceiling. Normally I’m in bed long before he is, but today we’re awake in the bed together. The only reason why I get into bed early, is that I hope I can fall asleep before he gets in.

But not today.

‘I have something I want to ask you,’ Henry says. ‘I’ve been thinking about this for awhile.’

‘Okay?’

‘Are you dyslexic?’

He could’ve given me a slap across my face and that wouldn’t have shocked me as much as this question. I push myself up, so I’m sitting. ‘Why?’

‘Just wondering.’

I simply shrug. ‘I don’t know. I never got tested back in school.’

‘Why not?’ Henry sits up straight as well and from the corners of my eyes, I see him placing his pillow on the headboard. That one curl covers part of his forehead and it’s almost a signature look when we are in the cottage.

‘The teachers didn’t care and we didn’t have a lot of money,’ I explain. It feels weird and uncomfortable to open up to him, however on the other hand, it feels right to have this out in the open. ‘And I don’t want to get tested now,’ I whisper. ‘I’m an adult, I can manage.’ I finally force myself to look over my shoulders, only to see that same soft look in his eyes, that I almost grown accustomed to. ‘What?’

‘Nothing,’ he whispers. ‘I just want to say to you that I underestimated you and—’

I can’t help but chuckle. ‘You are not the only one,’ I interrupt him. ‘It’s okay.’

‘No, Adelaide, it’s not okay.’

The sternness in his voice, make me turn around on the mattress completely, so I can look at him. ‘I did it myself, Henry. Really, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.’

Henry moistens his lips, before he clears his throat. ‘Then I won’t worry about it. Just know that I—now—think very highly of you.’

‘You don’t need to,’ I say as a frown appears between my brows. ‘Henry, what is really the case?’

He rubs his face, resists even and he actually looks really frustrated. ‘It’s just that I’m trying to figure you out, but I can’t seem to actually get to know you.’

‘There is not much to know,’ I say, but he shakes his head and says: ‘There is. You are so intriguing, Adelaide, you don’t even know it.’

I don’t really know what to say. He thinks there is much to know about me and that I’m intriguing? ‘Oh.’

‘And I get that it can be hard to open up, truly, I know, but… We have to work together. Wouldn’t it be better if we knew something about each other?’

Okay, that’s a fair point. ‘You tell me something first,’ I say to him.

‘Like what?’ he says, genuinely looking relieved that I’m going along with it.

I tilt my head as I look in his eyes as I take in the brown spot on his left eye, that is surrounded by a beautiful blue. ‘You want to win?’

Henry frowns, probably confused by my question, but when he sees I’m dead serious, he nods. ‘Of course,’ he says, ‘I’m competitive. Why was that your question?’

‘Because now I know that I have to work extra hard not to let you down. It doesn’t really matter to me if I win or not.’

‘You won’t let me down, Adelaide.’

‘I did already,’ I say, ‘and don’t try to convince me otherwise. Now, what do you want to know about me?’

He tilts his head and says: ‘You have a nickname?’

And he thought my question was a bit weird? I snort. ‘My parents called me Dasom. That’s my Korean name.’

‘Really?’ he asks. ‘I didn’t know that.’

No one knows that. ‘But other than that I don’t really have a nickname. People call me Park every now and then, but that’s it.’

‘What does Dasom mean?’

‘Love,’ I whisper. ‘Because, as my parents always say: I was born out of pure love.’ I roll my eyes, because I hate the cliché, but thankfully I was born out of love. It meant that I was welcomed in their lives, though they were poor and barely had anything.

‘That’s sweet,’ he says. ‘So, no one called you Addy for example?’

‘Come to think of it, Keanu Reeves called me Addy every now and then. Especially when we were doing stunts for the movie and he had to encourage me.’

‘Can I call you Addy?’

The fact that he asks me if he can call me Addy, shows me that he is so much more than the news outlets let him to be. Of course, he is handsome, but there is more than just looks. He is intelligent, caring and a real gentleman. Though he can look slightly intimidating, he is a big softie. ‘I would like that, Henry.’

As much as I want to sleep, I can’t. I’m too awake for that, maybe because of the thrill that we are actually ahead of the others now. Who knows how long that will last…

‘You want to do something?’ Henry suggests. ‘I’m not as tired as I figured I would be.’

‘Like what?’

‘You want to swim?’

◎ ◎ ◎

Henry is already swimming laps in the pool, as I try to build up the courage to actually walk out of the door to the pool. I have a large towel wrapped around me, to hide my red and white striped bathing suit.

I can do this, I think to myself. I wore a skimpy bikini for a movie, I’ve been naked on sets with the crew around me. This isn’t too hard.

I walk out of the cottage and see that Henry leans with his under arms on the edge of the pool, placing his chin on one of them. ‘There you are,’ he says with a smile.

I dip my toe in the water and start to shiver, goosebumps appearing on my entire body. ‘It’s cold,’ I mumble. ‘And it looks too deep.’

‘It’s not. It’s only one meter sixty.’

‘I’m one fifty,’ I retort. ‘What if I drown?’

‘I’m not letting that happen,’ he says. ‘I promise you, Addy.’

The use of that nickname, makes my feel all sorts of things. Normally I’m not too keen on nicknames, but I could get used to this.

I fold the towel, before I place it on the floor and I sit on the edge of the pool, as my legs dangle in the cold water. Henry bumps his elbow against the side of my thigh and he asks: ‘Ready?’

Maybe it’s because of the dim lighting of the lanterns outside, or the reflection of the water, but he looks even more ethereal than other times. My eyes fall on his beautifully formed lips, that curl up in a smile.

‘I am,’ I say.

He stands in front of me and I place my hands on his broad and tight shoulders. I shimmy myself off the edge, into the cold water. Despite the fact that his large hands in the dips of my waist, makes me all warm from the inside, the water is really cold. Henry starts to laugh, probably because I scrunch up my entire face like I’m a Sharpei dog. ‘Maybe you should keep breathing, because I can’t have it that you pass out on me twice within one week.’

‘Shut up,’ I shiver, as I hold on tightly to his shoulders. ‘You’re not going to let me go, right?’ I ask, just in case.

‘Of course not,’ he whispers.

For a second I envision we’re having a moment together, but then I realize that’s not the case, because he takes a step backwards and we are further away from the edge. I can still reach over to my left, so I’m directly at the other edge, but it does terrify me a bit.

‘Henry,’ I say.

‘Yes?’

‘I’m scared.’

‘I know,’ he tells me, squeezing my waist to let me know that he is there. ‘But there is no need for you to be scared. You just have to grow comfortable in the water and that takes time.’ Henry’s voice is soft and I have to take a deep breath. ‘You’re doing great.’ He slowly takes more steps backwards and smiles at me, as if he knows that that comforts me.

After two laps of him walking backwards and me moving my legs (I don’t know why I do that, but it just happens), I feel more and more accustomed to the water. Still, I don’t want to let go of Henry for one single second, because the fear that I might drown is still there. For the other two laps, he wraps his arm around my waist, as I hold onto the edge and my other arm around his shoulder.

Henry lifts me on the edge, before he hoists himself next to me. He reaches behind him to grab my towel and wrap it securely around my shoulders. ‘How was it?’ he asks.

‘It was good,’ I admit. ‘I mean, I still don’t want to swim myself, but it’s not that scary anymore.’ I look to the side, only to discover that he was already looking at me. From the looks of it, he is looking at my lips, but I must’ve hallucinated that. ‘Thank you,’ I say, to break the silence between us.

‘You’re welcome,’ he says, his voice low.

I smile, before I stand up and hurry back inside. I was making that up, wasn’t I? He wasn’t totally staring at my lips?

Or was he?

◎ ◎ ◎

After the first episode was aired, showing the first few days of the duos together, these were the favorite tweets of the producers of ‘the Celebrity Project’

Taglist: @thelastsock​ // @jolly-polly​ // @henrythickcavill​ // @maan24​ // @diegos-butt​ / @agniavateira​ // @onlyhenrys​ // @turkish276​ //

Seeking Mercy-Chapter 2

Back at the Snack and Shack motel/diner, Sam and Mary sit at the tiny round table in room 14 reading police reports and witness accounts while Dean lounges on one of the beds, playing on his phone. 

“Did you think our friendly sheriff was being weird?”

“You caught that too huh?” Dean answers his brother, taking his eyes off his phone to look at the younger man. “She seemed….out of sorts. Like, she has always wanted to meet Mom? We just got Mom back ourselves, so how the hell has Donna ‘always’ wanted to meet her?”

“Maybe she meant, if I hadn’t been killed by Azazel,” Mary suggested, looking between her two sons. “You said you all had gotten pretty close since she was brought into the hunting life, maybe she just meant she’d always wondered what I’d be like.”

With a shrug Mary went back to reading the tome in front of her. Dean and Sam looked at one another, silently questioning if that could be a possibility.

“She acted like she was surprised to see us, though,” Sam brought up. “Like she hadn’t called us to help with this case. I don’t know, things just aren’t adding up.”

An hour passed before they decided it would be best to go and interview the witnesses and get their own recollection of events.

Putting the kids’ down for the night went a whole hell of a lot easier with two people working together than it had been for the past nights. It was a nice change to be able to get Kash to sleep while Adalyn’s dad was getting her bedded down.

I couldn’t wait to join my husband in the bed, even if it was just to cuddle and let him tell me about the case he had been away on. That’s how most of our nights went anyway; after getting the kids bathed and in bed, we would lay together and he would tell me about whatever case he was working on. 

It made me both miss work and glad I could be a stay-at-home mom now. Resigning from Sheriff had been a no-brainer with just one look as Ada’s perfect face. Putting myself in harm’s way was just nutty when I had her to come home to. 

He walks into the bedroom and I watch from my perch at the head of the bed as he goes about disrobing and walking into the ensuite in nothing but a tight pair of blue boxer briefs. I listen as the sink comes on and I can hear him brushing his teeth before the water turns off and he comes back into the room, wiping his mouth on a towel.

“Now that is a sight for sore eyes,” he says as he sees me sitting in bed. I’m wearing nothing special, just an old police academy tee-shirt that has been washed too many times and a pair of sleep shorts. But the way he looks at me makes me feel beautiful; scars and the extra weight from carrying his children be damned.

He quickly joins me in bed, climbing in on his side and immediately takes me into his arms. “Damn, D! I hate being away from you but I love coming home to you.”

“I missed you too, Dean.”

He quickly captures my lips in a kiss and in no time, he is buried deep in the familiar and well-known territory that is his. 

After a rigorous performance we both drift off to sleep, exhausted but satiated. 

“He was just different,” the wife of the third victim says, while dabbing at her eyes. “He wanted things that we never even discussed before.”

“What type of things?” Sam asks, gently as to coax the answers from the distressed girl. 

“Well,” Mrs. Halford, Kimberly, answers. “He didn’t want me anymore,-” her sentence ends in a sob as she grabbed another handful of tissues that Mary offered. “-He was more interested in our downstairs neighbor, Keith.”

“Where is your husband now?” Dean speaks up. This case is just weird and all the cases just result in loose ends.

Kimberly just shrugs and looks out the window. “If I had to guess, he is with Keith.”

“Ma’am, I hate to ask this but,” Dean says, then clears his throat. “Is your husband bisexual?”

“No, not at all. He has always been 100% a man’s man. Chasing after women; well until he caught me, anyway.”

As Sam, Dean and Mary head toward the Impala they discuss the case. 

“So victim #1. Jenny Ventreler. She disappears for a week, comes back only to pack up and leave for the big times according to her mom. Victim #2 George Casseni is missing for a week and comes back to show up for work at a place he has never held a job at before. And now, Kevin Carr is gone for a week and comes back gay? What the fuck is going on here?”

Neither of the three Winchesters have any explanation for any of it; they just look at each other dumbstruck. 

“Let’s get a bite to eat and then hit the books again, I guess.”

“Do you always have food on your mind?”

“Dude, I’m starving! It’s been hours since breakfast.”

“You’re always starving!”

“Shut up bitch!”

“Jerk!”

“Boys! Both of you shut up. Get your asses in the car,” Mary states. “Dean, we will get food to go.”

Back in the motel room, once again Sam and Mary are studying the lore and comparing the witnesses accounts while Dean finishes up his pie and is texting on his phone.

“Guys, look! Mavelin let Y/N pull her hair up into pigtails.” Dean turns the phone toward his family who awws at the picture on the screen; his little girl with two tiny hair bows holding up what little bit of hair she has. He texts his wife back as his brother and mother continue working the case. 

“Guys,” Sam speaks up as he picks up a book. “Did you know that djinn have a cousin?”

“Oh great. Those bastards!” Dean answers with an eyeroll,  but his interest is piqued.

“Yea, according to this, a ‘Fgovalen’ is a distant cousin of djinn. They have almost the same characteristics of djinn except they don’t bleed their victims dry. They put them in a dream-induced coma and feed off of them until they get recharged and then let the victim go.”  Sam quietly reads more of the  mythology of the creatures before he stops and slams the open book onto the table. “Look, they usually drink off the victims for a week. The same amount of time all the people here were missing! I think we are dealing with a ‘Fgovalen’.”

Dean joins his mom and brother at the table and they all delve into the legends of ‘Fgovalen’.

BACK AT THE BUNKER

Caring for a baby who is tired and sleepy but doesn’t want to go to sleep and whines is exhausting! Mavelin struggles around, crying and fussing while I try to rock her to sleep, humming all the songs I can think of; even the ones I know for certain usually puts her out like a light. But this morning, she is fighting it. 

When she finally succumbs, I hold her close and continue rocking her to make sure she is out. I have something important I need to do and I want to do it while I have time to prepare for what I know I am going to find out.

Once Mav is bedded down in her crib, I grab the monitor and head out of the room, shutting the door softly. I head to the bathroom, taking some deep and calming breaths knowing that in less than 15 minutes my life could change drastically.

Opening the cabinet door, I reach into the very back where I know I had hidden the extra pregnancy test from before. Wrapping my hand around the box, I pull it out and stare at it. 

How is this my life? I am married to the best man on Earth, we have the most gorgeous little girl and I am pregnant again with a baby that might belong to his brother! How the hell did I get here?

Tearing open the box, the test stick slides out into my palm. I approach the toilet and pull my pants down, sitting wide-legged over the opening. At first nothing will even come out, not even a trickle. Concentrating on nothing else, I will myself to pee.

Finally, a stream begins and I slip the test end of the stick in it. As soon as it’s done I re-cap the test, place it on the counter and sit the timer on my phone. In less than 5 minutes, I’m either fucked or not. 

‘A watched pot never boils.’ That old adage keeps running through my head as I watch the time on my phone count down. How the fuck has it only been two minutes when it feels like I’ve been in here a lifetime already.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” The loud alarm sounds and I quickly shut it off. It’s now or never. Am I going to find out I’m carrying another baby or is my womb still empty? And if I am, how can I know who the father is? Yes, both Adam and Dean are possibilities. I have slept with them both numerous times since Cas healed Dean. He could very well have impregnated me as much as Adam could have. How the hell would I ever find out? Is there a way to find out?

I flip the test over, and the answer slaps me right in the face. Two blue lines. I’m pregnant again! There is a human growing inside me and I am not 100% who the father is. Fuck my life!

A pregnancy usually means celebrations and joy. When most women find that they are pregnant, they are ecstatic and can’t wait to tell the father. And that’s how it was with Mavelin. When I found out I was pregnant, I cried. I was so happy and I knew Dean would be too. I had even planned out a way to announce it to him. But with this one, I wanted to hide it away and forget about it. But I also knew that wasn’t possible. I had to face this head-on. 

With Dean being away on a hunt, there was only one other person I could hopefully talk to about this. Adam. After sitting on the end of mine and Dean’s bed, gathering my thoughts, I head to the kitchen where I know Adam is.

“Adam,” I say to get his attention. “Can we talk?”

@lostinaseaoffictionalbliss​​ @squirrelnotsam​​ @sandlee44​​  @internationalmusicteacher​​ @kricketc29​ @natura1phenomenon​​ @blacktithe7​​ @spnbaby-67​​ @travelingriversideblues-x​​  @keymology​​ @tftumblin​​ @markofdean79​​ @thevelvetseries​​ @deanwanddamons​​ @winchester-fantasies​ @akshi8278​ @michellethetvaddict​ @larajadeschmidt13​ @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid​ @hoboal87​ @atc74​ @maddiepants​ @delightfullykrispypeach​

Replies - All about Odin...

Best legacy spouse I’ve ever played (which isn’t saying much as I’m terrible at legacies, but we love him anyway)

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tamtam-go92Oh lord, what a chaos xD

And this chaos wasn’t even ROS, it was pure Odin XD

“Double pregnancy smoochies”

laylassimsOmg these two😂❤️ 

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spiderprincessYes, I'd consider her a well-behaved ghosts, paying a visit only to those who can handle it. 

deedee-simsI guess it was a nice haunting if he got a green memory 

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“Back in our main legacy household...”

penigAnd the sibling rivalry starts early! 

Overshadowed by the birth of a new sibling, no wonder she grew up grumpy ;)

“It’s a boy!”

spectral-catlmao Thor McElroy is a GREAT name! Still sorry that nobody had twins though...so close to 10 kids! 

So close!

veronaviileomg i love that 

sushigal007XD 

audreysims14Love the name 😂 also, I am really loving all the babies in your round. Maybe it's just the fact that if I were a sim I'd no doubt be a family sim 😝 

I’ve done the “what aspiration would you be” quizzes that fly around, and I always get family or romance, usually family, which suggests family with a romance secondary for me. Wants a big happy family but commitment issues - me to a T XD

hystericallytragicsimmerFitting name ngl 

tamtam-go92The name couldn't be more fitting! 

Glad we are loving Odin’s choice of name - originally I was gonna have Odin give all the kids Norse Mythology names and then figured Penny might vote for something a bit more out there. But for his alien baby he has free reign - and Thor son of Odin, how could I not!

“ Baby <3″

elfpuddleTwo more? C'mon, you know Odin wants them! 🤣😂

Honestly if this wasn’t a round robin I probably would have indulged him - fell bad already passing on so many spares! I’m a family sim at heart and although I don’t normally have so many toddlers at one time, I do find big families more fun to play!

laylassimsHow do they adopt each others' kids?🤔 

I use the SimBlender for this, and I use it for almost all alien babies born in my game (and occasionally for babies born outside of marriage as well). I feel like if one sim is in the house with the baby and raises them etc, they probably think of them as a child, and if alien babies existed in our world (although can you imagine), I reckon people adopting their spouses babies would be a pretty normal thing!

E L S E W O R L D S ? ? ?

MY THOUGHTS ON THE WORLDS AND THEIR ELSE-ENING ARE MANY.

Gonna put most of this under a spoiler cut just in case, but right up front: I only regularly watch The Flash starting with Season 4 (along with seeing the first half-seasons of it and Supergirl, plus sporadic episodes of the other shows and Invasion!), and while there are absolutely standout episodes, it’s probably the most lukewarmly received piece of media I consume on a regular basis. So Elseworlds looked rad, and The Best Superman was coming back for it, but aside from hints that it was going all Final Crisis (which sadly weren’t realized) I was hardly outright ecstatic at the prospect of a Freaky Friday alone, even with Batwoman’s introduction in play. Basically I assumed it’d a bunch of fine stuff I’d get through so I could drink up the Superman content like a dying man in a desert.

This was my favorite live-action DC thing since The Dark Knight Rises if not in fact The Dark Knight itself, and in all honesty probably my favorite period of the non-Batman division. It was everything I want out of this sort of project and more.

I’mma break this down into a few categories: as a whole, Superman specifically because if you’re here you know what my deal is, THE ENDING, and a multitude of scattershot impressions and thoughts.

AS A WHOLE: Was this a masterwork of layered conceptual depth and calculated plotting tight as drum? Hardly - if nothing else, the sheer fact that the entire Superfamily is functionally and thematically superfluous precludes that upfront. But again, this is the perfect version of this kind of series, where clockwork precision is rarely the name of the game (aside from that dope episode of Flash with the bomb) so much as excitement and character-driven emotion, and in that regard this is the platonic ideal. Oliver and Barry hold the narrative together as Barry low-key relearns the value of his own kind of strength, and Oliver high-key learns to accept that he’s not living in a world defined by him anymore and he needs to be better, to the point where I may not even rag on him as Walmart Batman anymore every time I have cause to mention him, especially since that gets its own perfect sendoff. Batwoman functions as a perfect pilot capsule while still functioning as a chunk of a larger story, and Ruby Rose is on point. Supergirl gets some quality content even with her hands off the wheel (which is one of the lesser aspects given…well, given this is probably gonna be the last crossover like this and she really should have been the lead for one of them). It’s funny and thrilling and so damn weird, concerned above all else with making you giggle at doing stuff you’ve wanted to see for years and then making you give a shit about the emotional consequences of Barry Allen picking up some archery classes, and it earns what it reaches for.

Moreover, this episode represented a moment of maturation for me in terms of its status as a shared universe: Crisis on Earth-X was the culmination of what this world HAD been with its massive group shot aboard the Waverider, and that culmination was my going “wow, lookit that, they really did build something kinda functional out of what they had to work with”. It was a world that was comic book as all hell in the best way, but its own oddball strain made up of recognizable pieces broken off from a larger puzzle and rearranged into a new configuration. Here? From the moment the Monitor chases off 90s Flash on a desperate race from his dead world and the bodies of an army of superheroes to save all creation, into Superman taking his place as a central figure, Batman’s mythology unfurling out of nowhere at a beautifully shameless breakneck pace, the establishment of the Multiverse and Monitor mythology as the base level concept uniting the universe as a whole, and hotlinks to a half-dozen other major mythology elements I’d given up on ever seeing acknowledged, this really and profoundly feels like DC Comics.

SUPERMAN: Still so so good! I will say, this wasn’t nearly as much a breakthrough standout display for Hoechlin’s Clark as his prior Supergirl appearances, with a couple line readings where he’s maybe just a little too chill, and less opportunity to display range or depth given he’s in the back seat. And dude’s gotta practice pretending to be thrown back, however you do that, because that was pretty badly fakey-looking. If this had been his debut, I still would’ve loved him, but he’d be taking up third or fourth on my list of live-action Superman actors rather than sitting pretty at #1; I have to wonder if a lot of his energy simply went to his killer performance as Deegan, or if he’s still modulating his kinda-being-his-real-self-but-also-still-putting-on-the-Supermanness chunk of his performance given it’s with Kara and Lois that he really shines. If someone writes him off as a dime store Reeve though, they’re still wrong and also probably bad. Shoring up his cracks though is Elizabeth Tulloch, who’s already at least vying for a place on the Lois Lane Mount Rushmore. Reminded me heavily of the best of Erica Durance’s take, but with an additional straightforward bluntness that suits Lane incredibly well, and a talent for talking rings around Clark that does more than any other Lois to date to sell the idea that that’s a huge part of what he loves about her. Also she slaps around a mad god with the hammer for the cosmic anvil from All-Star Superman, because if there’s one thing Lois Lane steadfastly refuses to be in the business of, it’s in any way fucking around.

As for the big question: even aside from Tulloch making pretty clear in a recent interview that it’s something producers are talking about, yes, I absolutely think the Superman/Lois chunk of this was as fully intended to act as a backdoor pilot for them as the second act was for Batwoman. I know I’ve been certain on this in the past just as a matter of ‘they can use Superman so it would be foolish not to push that’, but then, well, nothing happened. But here, while the creators are clearly hedging their bets with providing them what could easily be a happily-ever-after, their appearance in this way in this context is bizarrely conspicuous and pointless if that wasn’t what was intended. They’re incidental to the plot (Deegan becoming Superman, while great fun that gives us an interesting new spin on the evil Superman concept, is basically just an aesthetic), the functionality of getting Clark away from National City had already been handled by the season premiere and never actually takes anything more than ‘he’s busy in space/plugging up a volcano/fighting Luthor’ as has already been done in the past, the guest spots and relevant emotional beats could have easily been contained to an episode of Supergirl rather than spilling out into an already stuffed three episodes, and if they could only be used in one crossover for some reason they’d obviously be saved for the next one. And they get a scene to themselves AFTER their role with our leads is wrapped up, with a moment that could have already come off-screen earlier but didn’t, purely to endear them to us in a way that would make us want to see more of them. I’m not saying a Superman show is now guaranteed, but unless there was some bizarre instruction that they suddenly once and for all needed to permanently get rid of him - yet permitted that to be accomplished via the delivery mechanism of more Superman, in a way that’s noted as impermanent in-universe and in a context that’s going to introduce him and Lois and push them as big deals to the maximum possible number of viewers - yeah, I think that’s what the people who made this must have been intending. And that the powers that be let them is incredibly encouraging. As Tulloch said, a lot of this is out of the hands of anyone but corporate, but Elseworlds got season highs so that’s a point in their favor; hopefully Cryer works out as Luthor, because I imagine that’s the other checkmark needing to be crossed off that comes down to the response of the viewership.

Also the proposal was perfect, and I am astonished that happening after the pregnancy was announced got to go through - ‘modern’ indeed, as Cat Grant would put it. I get it’s got precedent of a sort in Superman Returns, but on the other hand, that precedent was Superman Returns. I’m surprised I’m not already seeing thinkpieces on the degradation of American Values coming out of this.

FUCK: 

FUCK.

I really thought there was gonna be one more crossover before they dove all the way in. But nope, nope nope nope, instead by this time next year for-real live action Crisis on Infinite Earths with Flash, Supergirl, Superman, the Monitor, shadow demons, the Psycho Pirate, and assuredly a comprehensive collection of carefully curated cameos from the ghosts of DC TV past will be a thing out there in the world. Marv Wolfman sure must be having a nice day.

And boy, they are not in ANY kind of position to half-ass it. The name value alone would be enough, but if that was it they could at least maybe get away with Dean Cain and Brandon Routh showing up in their old working clothes to help beat up the Anti-Monitor on a cordoned-off Vancouver street, maybe a couple of the Legends folks biting it. But they‘ve been explicitly acknowledging it as a thing they’d build up to for five years, since episode one of their most popular show, and if I’m right and the writing in the book of Destiny was supposed to be the same kind of text that Nora’s writing, they’ve been actively setting up Chekhov’s guns within the shows themselves for at minimum two years. AND they’ve already done three other world-threatening multiversal crossovers, including a classic JLA/JSA-model Crisis, so they’ve already established a threshold of crossover event that this needs to plainly mark itself as an entirely different order of magnitude from, AND they’ve had a threat to the multiverse before in Zoom so just saying that again without really showing it isn’t going to measure up. Hell, the idea of massive status quo changes is reinforced as being just the much of the mission statement of this as the original via Psycho Pirate. They’ve apparently quite knowingly backed themselves into a corner where they actually have to Wreck Shit. At minimum one of the three leads has to die for keeps, and all have the symbolic weight behind them - Oliver included after Elseworlds, and really in the first place as the founder of this DCU - and have obvious enough successor shows waiting in the wings to feel like they’re legitimately in the line of fire.

My hope? One that unlike usual I’m not gonna bolster by drawing on evidence at hand and logical assumptions, but the way I simply feel it Should Go and think at this point has a legitimate chance of being the case? Crisis is its own miniseries in the fall in place of the return of the other four shows, a massive high-budget ensemble piece with room to breathe…and at the end pretty much everyone dies. Most of the Legends, some supporting cast members, and above all Oliver, Barry, and Kara ALL die grandiosely and nobly to save all creation, hidden from the audience successfully by way of a miniseries ‘putting off’ the actually nonexistent renewals of the existing series. Earths 1 and 38 are merged (hopefully without discarding the multiverse as a whole, and with the heroes remembering their pasts), and in the wake of this massive conclusion, the entire DCTV lineup is effectively relaunched. Batwoman comes in here, taking Arrow’s place, while Superman emerges (likely with a psuedo-Rebirth setup since Jon’s on the way - they can figure out a way to get him to the appropriate age) with him dealing with his family and his initial grief, The Flash is relaunched with Wally and/or Nora assuming the mantle, and Legends reconstituting itself, whether by its original title or as Legion of Superheroes or Justice League, with a new lineup made up in large part of the castoffs from the cancelled series. Again, obviously there’s nothing definitely pointing towards this being the case, but somehow it just feels right, especially with Batwoman and Superman shows clearly being gestured towards when Arrow and Supergirl are the shows that would definitely have to end or at least change names with the death of their leads. The strongest evidence against all this, I think, is that Supergirl wouldn’t quite have hit a hundred episodes and syndication yet. Though there may still be that Supergirl movie too, so that’s a factor.

A couple incidental thoughts on that front: 

* Interesting that Flash vanishes in 2024 and is still gone in 2049, but the first crossover - made when ‘Flash vanishes’ was already a keystone mythology element, and given its place at such an important moment you’d think the writers would remember - makes clear there’s an old Barry around in 2056. I could see that coming up. 

* Thawne’s role in this season of Flash feels at this point like it has to dovetail into everything, and I could see him taking up Psycho Pirates’ role in the original story even if the genuine article’s around. 

* I wonder if Jon Cryer’s gonna play Alexander Luthor.

* If Kara and Barry do die, and likely make some post-death appearances, I wouldn’t mind if they for the sake of novelty reverse things so that it’s Kara who comes back for real in Final Crisis, while Barry’s the one who comes from the past unknowingly and tear-inducingly ala Whatever Happened From The Man Of Tomorrow? (that could easily be set up via the “three hardest days of your life” thing Johns did in his Flash run).

* Incidentally, do Final Crisis as the ultimate event the next wave of shows build up to like this was built up to, and make that the end of everything.

* If I’m all wrong about Superman and he’s just being set up as a lamb to the slaughter for Crisis to fill the Supergirl role (which would still by no means require him appearing in Elseworlds, especially given it’s not like he develops a relationship with Barry or Oliver, so I’ll say my points all still stand), I get the impulse is to do him dying in Kara’s arms. But if they do wanna go this way and finish his story, I really, really hope that instead they let him deal at least part of the killing blow and then somehow vanish into ‘Heaven’ with Lois and Jon. If you’re gonna homage a Superman bit from there to close him out, that’s the one to go with.

* If Ezra Miller wasn’t bullshitting and would be willing to put in a little appearance, this is the place.

ASSORTED REACTIONS:

* “Oh Barry, what have you done this time?” Oliver’s wise to your shit, boy. He knows full well he’s pretty much in a ‘Barry fucks up with Flashpoint even further’ meme come to life.

* Barry freaking out that he knows kung fu is a delight, as is Oliver trying so dang hard to do this whole ‘Flash’ thing.

* Knocking out the pair of them is admittedly *a bit much*, but while some might correctly note that they’ve seen so much weird shit they should be able to accept this, I’d say it’d also be fair to note that they’ve seen so much weird shit they’re not wrong to think this is gonna snowball into some bullshit and it’d maybe be simplest to nip it in the bud and get things under control.

* Barry, I’m glad there are toilets in the Pipeline, but someday you’re going to think to ask ‘so Cisco, what are you feeding them down there?’, and then Vibe’s gonna go OH FRAK or some other nerd shit and they’re gonna find 5 seasons worth of corpses to clean up.

* Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha they did fuckin’ KGBeast on Arrow. Was that who Dolph Lundgren played? Checking…no. Dang.

* I had heard there was gonna be a Remy Zero shout-out for Smallville, but I assumed someone would just ask for someone to save them or it would be playing on the radio, not that they’d hard swerve from vague orchestral stirrings to pseudo-Nickelback. Loved it.

* Clark’s doin’ Clark stuff and I love it, Lois is doin’ Lois stuff and I love it, she nearly kills the Flash and Green Arrow with a hammer (truly her weapon of choice!) and I love it.

* Oliver pathetically puffing out his chest, WHILE CLARK ISN’T EVEN BEING SUPERMAN, is as good as television gets.

* AMAZO. Aside from basic delight at his existence, I love that the ‘Mirakiru’ ties into the Ivo material I know was in early, pre-superhero Arrow. It’s as if when Smallville got to do Supergirl and Doomsday for real they went ahead and tied them back in to the weird proto versions of them they’d already set up not knowing what they’d be able to do later. Much as Mxyzptlk or Grodd or Muppet Legends (I also caught that shows’ midseason finale, it was delightful) are easy to point to as indicators of how far this universe has come, this underlined that in a very unique way.

* Harsh, Barry - and where did you get those crossbows? - but earned as the Superfamily probably put together when they heard Oliver yelling about how when HE shot Barry he totally had a good reason for it. And along with the sheer, savage power of “I don’t think you can go more than nine hours without some sappy motivational speech”, it sets up Barry’s more understated character arc relative to Oliver in questioning and then reaffirming that his brand of emotional strength is just as strong as what your cowled types draw on. And while Lois obviously had the killer moment, Clark’s little “well, you kinda had that coming” look when Barry floors Oliver is nicely done. Smart money says he was thinkin’ about Bruce.

* Continued into the porch conversation, where the show takes its first real step in rehabilitating CW Green Arrow into a character I may no longer refer to by default as Walmart Batman as the show continues to dunk on him but he begins to take it in stride and realize he’s gonna have to change things up a bit.

* “Cool. Who are you?” “A friend.” So choice. Is that very clearly Williams-evoking musical sting at the end there something that often shows up in Supergirl? And I can’t tell whether’s Clark’s grin is in response to what he’s about to do, or because he’s relishing the hilarity of meeting a normal dude for the first time in his adult life who doesn’t know who Superman is, but either way I love it. And since I found his previous introductory shirt-tear honestly a little sub-par, this was an appreciated moment of redemption.

* Amazo fight rules, obviously. I do like to imagine the headlines the next day mentioning “hey, another superhero teamup happened with Supergirl from that other Earth who helped out with those invasions, and this time a male partner of hers showed up, some kind of…Super-man?” as the one pubic mention of Superman in the history of what’s presented as a ‘main’ DC universe.

* Barry just casually addressing ‘Clark’ by his first name is the first moment where I really thought ‘oh wow, this IS the DC Universe now’. And that “You’re welcome” worked as a reminder where there otherwise wasn’t space that yeah, he’s a nice dude, but maybe don’t tug too hard on his cape.

* Even though it wasn’t overtly followed up on, Barry being reminded that following Oliver’s example as his source of strength isn’t what’s gonna win him the day in the long run in the way that matters is a pretty essential piece.

* Every moment of Total Bat-Bullshit in here was so cheap and I loved it all so much.

* Oliver-dunking takes on its glorious apotheosis here - you know the line I’m thinking of - but it’s a necessary aspect of his journey here.

* Ruby Rose is very good as the charismatic vaguely menacing but easily flirty businesswoman, and again later kicking ass and delivering the growl, which she honestly does better than any live action Batman to this point. Curious to have it elaborated what kind of role she had in Bruce’s operation, given she clearly knew and has her own friggin’ cave.

* And then Barry stands up to Oliver’s demons while Oliver realizes Barry’s.

* “You really do have a lot of tattoos.” Oh my, Kara.

* “You have real steel in you, my friend.” And there you go for Barry’s arc.

* Well, wow. Fan theory bullshit triumphs at last, and now I kind of have to imagine we’re gonna see some actual Lanterns down the line. Hope, likely in vain, we see Hal so he can pal around with them before Oliver and/or Barry bite it.

* Mar Novu, huh? Somea that Final Crisis bullshiiiiit, please do feel free to pursue that further. Mandrakk’s cousin or something I guess?

* That can’t really be the end of the 90s Flash, right? If nothing else, he needs to stick around so that if they decide not to disintegrate Grant Gustin after all he can be the one there to make the death run.

* Episode one: “The darkness…I feel it…it threatens…to…CONSUME me…” Episode three : “oh my GOD Oliver we broke a LAW I’m gonna THROW UP”

* Hoechlin plays the hell out of Scary Dickhead Superman, even if it’s odd that Deegan was defensive about making an arguably sexist choice of identity when he already openly fucking supports eugenics. But an anon asked me about this and suggested this is a top-tier evil Superman, and yeah, I’d agree with that. He’s not scary because’s a mad god, he’s scary because he’s a small, small man who’s lucked his way into being GTA mod Superman, all of the pluses with none of the minuses, all of the ego-assuaging praise and power without having to meaningfully hold up his end of the bargain. It’s an effective twist on Superman as a power fantasy, one that’s scary in a very different way than the idea of it going wrong usually is. Because instead of him letting us down, it’s one of us joining him in the sun and trying to kick him and the rest of us out because it’s all HIS now.

* Oh yeah, of course Superman totally knows about the Book of Destiny. All the REALLY cool superheroes got that that kind of experience in the bag.

* As I said, Supergirl takes a back seat, but Benoist really shines with swaying Alex Danvers - from the moment I saw she’d be in this from the trailer I thought “Kara swaying her can’t be done very believably, it would be convincing her of a whole other life instead of a minor alteration”, but damn if she didn’t sell it.

* I must admit, the Superman V Superman fight is Hoechlin’s low point; him losing the advantage because he’s saving people is perfect, but some of his good-Superman deliveries lack the necessary conviction, and whether due to the animation or his overexagerated tumbling, him getting knocked around the city looks notably fake in parts to an extent that breaks the immersion.

* I guess Superman fought Bizarro at some point, if that concept carried over (I know Supergirl fought a Bizarro too, but if Superman never fought one the average citizen wouldn’t make that comparison). I suppose it’s the Earth-1 Alex Danvers and James Olsen though?

* Similar note: Kara mentions that ‘maybe my pod didn’t make it here’, and given doppelgangers are a thing, it’s been noted there’s a Krypton in each universe, obviously at least one other major superhero carries over in Batman, and the degree of long-term planning clearly going on at this point with the multiverse stuff, I honestly wonder if they might be laying the seeds for something on why Superman and Supergirl never happened on Earth-1.

* I do like that Superman’s technically the one who beats the bad guy flat-out and saves the world from a broken history by sheer force of will, even if he’s not the one with the splashier more permanent win later (and even then he saves Lois).

* Fuck yes. Never liked Superman turning the world backwards, but now entirely worth it for how that shit comes back here in the most gleefully unhinged manner imaginable (even if Mach 7 wiping out Barry and Kara is absurd on the face of it).

* And Oliver comes full circle to realizing he’s no longer the center of his own universe, realizing he can be better while still proving he has it in him to make the hardest call. This dude still ain’t Ollie, but I guess I can acknowledge him as Green Arrow.

* And then it’s all Superman stuff and Crisis, which I discussed, though worth mentioning just how off-guard the Jon confirmation caught me. Thumbs up on that!

~Who Names The Colors~

 Hi loveys! I’m on the beach, I hope!! But this is all cued up for you all!! I am enthrall to @nocontrolforlouis, @bleedinglove4h, and my banner(wo)man @dirtystyles!

 All the usual warnings apply! Age Gap, blah blah blah

 If this makes you look like the dude above our trio, come SCREAM at me! 

Chapter 11-The Scream

December 2014 The sun had risen, just- it was a new day, perhaps a new world. Jo was just as unfamiliar with it as a 16th century Spaniard in a jungle. She just didn't know how to navigate this and had no compass to help, not that she was even sure of what direction she wanted to go. The night had been a fever dream, but dreams unwound, and as undone as Jo had come with them, repeatedly, she was now in an even more complicated situation than before.

She was no longer lusting after a student, she had slept with one, her advisee to boot. The provider in her felt like she needed to immediately call this off. She didn't think Harry would go to the University if she did that, but she knew rejected men often acted in ways that could surprise you, hurt you.

It hadn't felt like he had any wish to hurt her. He'd been sweet and considerate and solicitous.

After they realized it was morning, he had located his phone. "It's 7:30. What time's Zoe get up?" He was still naked, and it was distracting. He was covered in more markings, from her hands and mouth, and he was splotched with gold, except his hand, which revealed him as the Midas who had turned her to gold. If he looked that messy....

"Soon." It was unpredictable when they had nothing going on for the day and as the Christmas holidays dawned schedules were loose. Shit! Ethan.

"Harry, where's Ethan?" Jo had asked as she stood up abruptly and tried to find her clothes. Her shirt she had taken off by where they, well where they were, but Harry had shucked her like a corn before they got into the paint. God, he was so distracting. Thinking about the night before doubly so. She was staring at him, because he was watching her intensely while she panicked.

"Harry?" She whisper shouted.

"Sorry, you look, really," And he was fumbling with the phone in his hand. "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Are you mental?" had been her immediate response. "You want evidence?"

"No, no," his voice went up a little then. "Course not, you just look like a piece of art? Like living and breathing creation." The wonder on his face made her ache. She wanted to go back to night with him. He still seemed to be existing there or had moved to basking in golden dawn where she was definitely standing in the cold of a December morning. She even had gooseflesh, from the cool air in her studio, her nudity, and mostly from reality. "I won't get your face. Just your torso. Want you to see yourself this way too. Please Jo?"

She surprised herself, again, with her response. It seemed to be her continual mood in his presence, "Yeah, go ahead Harry." And she let him stand her behind a painting stool so her lady bits were covered but her shape was revealed. She stood still and rather than curling into herself in embarrassment or shame she found her back straightening and her confidence growing through the lens of his camera, his eye

"Here, look. I'll delete anything that makes you nervous." He handed over his phone, but came to stand behind her and when he breathed she could feel his pebbled nipples on her shoulder blades. The sensation was pleasant and his heat sent the gooseflesh away and Jo forgot what they were doing other than being close for a moment until Harry started to scan through the photos. He had taken about 10 of them. And he hadn't gotten her face like he promised. But he had captured something else. Jo knew she was conventionally attractive, was reminded of it often enough, but she had never felt exquisite. In Harry's pictures, she was just that. In some, the turn of her body was soft and she looked like a nymph, in others, an Amazon. Always otherworldly, mythological. She was breathing heavy when he put the phone in her hand.

"Thank you, for trusting me. Scan through and make sure, so you feel safe." He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly ran them down to her elbows, and his nose came to smell her hair.

He was exquisite.

And he clearly trusted her too. Harry just handed her his phone, while it was open to the camera roll. She leaned back into him, her back resting on his chest. Last time Ethan was home he was showing her pictures and she went to swipe to see another and the yanked it away from her like she was a hot stove. People's phones were as personal an object as they got.

Shit, Ethan! And Zoe was going to be awake any moment.

"Harry, when is Ethan coming? Since he ditched me last night." While she asked, she pulled away and held her clothes to hide the front of her body.

Harry sighed, "I'm not sure, later today? He was hoping his date would go into break...um....sometime today, but he's not exactly an early riser!" He tried to joke.

"Are you?" Jo asked. But instead she winced when she tried to shift and felt the tight paint over her shoulders. Perhaps Harry's pictures lied and she wasn't the best canvas.

"Am I what?" Harry's eyes popped up like popcorn from where he had been admiring her.

"An early riser?" She should be showering, who knew if the paint would come out of her hair with any ease. It might cling on like the memory of last night. She was sure she'd be smelling them and feeling their communion for days. She hoped.

"Um, Yeah, usually but I can sleep all day if I'm up all night, painting or..." And he gave her a cheeky smile.

Her own was timid, she could feel it. How would she act if her feelings weren't so ambiguous? If there was not reason to feel shame of fear, no taboos? Jo imagined she would be jolly, hopeful like Harry seemed to be. She wanted to join him in his time out from reality, she would even take 42 minutes if she had them, but she did not. Zoe and Ethan would be round soon. She hooked a finger toward the door, "I'm gonna shower."

"Can I join you?" She pretended not to hear him as she fled.

Jo was busy freaking the fuck out in the shower about what happened now. She needed to get Harry out of her house before Ethan turned up, and she turned on her monitor, that she was sheepish to admit she still used to check on Zoe, to make sure her little girl was still sleeping. By the grace of god she was, and Jo was gonna get this gold off her body and out of her veins before she woke up. She was also gonna get the 6 foot piece of evidence out of the house. She was gonna get herself together and figure out how to get over this.

The dull thud of a knock interrupted her planing then. "Jo, can I come in?" She heard Harry's voice through the door.

"Um, I'm naked." She asserted and she nearly rolled her eyes, but she most certainly heard his scoff.

"Well, I hope so. Do you need me to wash your back?" He volleyed. When the air was dead for a minute he spoke again, "to get the paint off you. Is it coming out ok?"

It had, but she couldn't see her back, but jo was pretty sure she could explain some paint away and Harry in the bathroom would lead to more than back washing she was fairly sure and all of her resolutions would go down the drain, mixed with paint and come. "Think I got it."

"Jo, can I please come in?" She felt like he had his face against the door, his voice sounded like it.

"I'll be out in a minute." And she would, she thought as she combed and picked the paint out of her hair.

"Can I make you something: tea, coffee, toast then?"

"You can go home if you want Harry." She responded. And lay her own head on the shower door and felt the overwhelming need to cry all of a sudden.

Harry didn't say anything to that and Jo finished up and put on her winter robe, a pregnancy Christmas gift from Ethan, to get her coffee. Her house felt brisk this morning.

She yelped in surprise when she got to her kitchen table and Harry was sitting there, clean, with curling hair like melting chocolate and two mugs of tea on the table.

"Tea one still?" He opened with.

"Um, Yeah," Jo went to the bread box.

"Your bread is in the toaster, I didn't put it on, didn't want it cold for you. I have a banana over here too." his voice was a silly flirt and she wanted to joke with him.

"Thank you." She popped the toast down, and left his innuendo where it lay next to the food on her table. Jo realized she could see her reflection in the microwave glass next to her red toaster. She thought she was alone, that he would have taken the escape from the awkward situation she had set up for them, she hadn't even brushed her teeth, definitely not her locks. Jo smoothed her hair using the blurry image of herself in the door while she waited, she jumped when she saw Harry's reflection. He was right behind her and definitely in her space.

"Jo," Harry said quietly, "I can feel you freaking out. Please, it's freaking me out."

"I'm not freaking out." She said to the microwave and the black box was maybe the only thing that would believe her. "I just need to get cleaned up before Zoe wakes up and I gotta get ready before Ethan gets home." Which means getting you out of my house.

"Which means me leaving." He waited for her to confirm, she wouldn't. It seemed cruel no matter how true is was. "Ok, Miss Jo, I'll leave." And when he put his hands on her shoulders she tensed up like she was about to take impact from a huge lorry. Harry dropped his grip. "May I please have a hug?"

Jo finished her revolution towards him, the one he had started before he read her body language so accurately and knew this move was going to erase her morning's work. The call in his voice, and the base note of hurt too meant she would answer, like the call from the doctor you don't want to get but have to take. She kept her eyes on his clavicle though, his eyes were too much of an eraser. Who knew what would happen if she connected to him there as well.

He wrapped his spaghetti arms around her, he was floppy, like he needed her support to stay upright, and she held him. Jo wanted to hold him, feel him a little too.

"Can you look at me?" He asked to the air around her.

She shook her head against his chest and he nodded his understanding and pressed his mouth to her hair and kissed her there, breathed her ore in.

"Can you come see my new piece? Soon?" He asked, he seemed to be prolonging this hug as much as he could, and Jo clung on too, but opened her balled fists to press her palms to him as well and ran them down to disconnect them before she threw him a bone.

Jo finally looked up. "I'd love to, but, um, I think you'll need to bring it to me at my office, maybe after the new year. I'll be getting ready for my semester." Including checking her rosters to make sure he wasn't in any of her classes. Best to avoid minefields, or at least have a map for them.

"You can't come to my studio?" He was biting his lip before he spoke and she swore she saw wet emotion in his eyes.

She shook her head.

"Are you sure? I have a few things to show you I'm sure, and I think I found a new source of inspiration too." He bit his lip again, this time to try to evoke rather than hold back emotion she thought.

It did bring up something in her. He was successful, but he always was. It may have not had the effect he wanted. Jo's first response was tingly but it's companions came tripping on its heels, Fear, and longing. She had to say something. She knew she should not do this, knew before she kissed him, or fucked him.

"I can't go to your studio, Harry. I think we should not be alone together—"

"We're alone now."

"This should be the last time." They were so close, she was basically part of him still. And then she was kissing him. One last time. "This is the last time." She said against his mouth and promised them both.

"No it's not." He shook his mouth against her and she could feel his words and his grin.

"Has to be. You gotta go." They were still kissing and he was smiling and she was kissing his teeth. And she laughed when their teeth glanced against each other. She meant what she was saying, but she let him pick her up and put her on her kitchen counter and stand between her legs. She was just about to let Harry take her shirt off and maybe have her for breakfast when Zoe cried "Mummy."

Saved by the belle.

Harry was breathing heavily and she pushed him back against the cupboard to get herself back together. "You gotta go!" she said. This time it sounded like she meant it. and he grinned like a cat yellow because of all the canaries, like shrimp turn flamingos pink.  Harry kissed her one more time.

"Last one, right?" he smirked at her when he pulled back.

"Get out of here, you cheeky ass!" Jo pushed around him and couldn't help looking back. It made her grin. He was leaning back against her counter top with his eyes closed and first two fingers against his mouth.

Her grin didn't return when she got up and found that Zoe had wet herself while she was being a horrible mother downstairs.

"Oh sweet one!" She pulled her out and stripped her and the bed. Jo heard the door close when she was taking her to the bathroom to rinse her off.

Harry didn't understand, what did he have to lose?

The chance to fuck his professor, again? Whereas she, she looked at her weepy little girl, and later that day, her handsome lad. She had so much to lose.

Ethan when he arrived was a beacon. He looked bright with love. Before she could even tell him he turned her thoughts back on her, like missing the exit on a revolving door.

"Mum, I think you are even prettier today!" He said while she served him and she almost asked what he wanted. Instead, Jo decided to observe him. She decided to turn up the magnification on the microscope up and crawl out from between the sandwiched pieces of glass. It was his turn to be the specimen.

He was grinning, there were no visible marks on his neck, but he had a collar and it was done up over his undershirt which was unusual. She watched him make faces at Zoe, and then pick up his phone to play the Moana song she was singing to her toys, then snap chat it. He was good with her. "Hmmm, thank you, love. How was your date?"

Ethan looked like a the bullfrog in his mouth accidentally had lodged in his throat, "um, it was really good! Not as good as yours though Mum!"He deflected back and she was concerned they were playing figurative ping pong.

"Why do you say that?" Jo tuned away with cheeks like a trash fire. She could feel it.

"You're glowing. Did he stay over?"

Jo looked back to admonish him about little  ears and he was already covering Zoe's and smiling like a cartoon villain.

"Ethan! Are you really asking your mum this"?"  Because yes, she had had sex, all night, for the first time ever and it was all she could do to not but her hand in the flames while she made breakfast because she wanted to approximate the feeling again. That was not information to share with your son, even if he was grown, and even if your partner was not his mate.

"I'm just dragging you, mum! Can tell it was good because you have paint under your nails.  Inspiring?"

She turned back abruptly and knew the blush had migrated to her whole body.

Before she she could help herself, "maybe." Slipped out.

"What's his name? When do I meet him?" Ethan asked and Jo had a moments freak out. No way, no how. That was a scenario that could ever happen. Because Ethan knew the man, very well, and that made him wholly unsuitable. So, like any good parent, she pinged back his pong.

"Why are you so interested in my love life then?" She put some food before Ethan and on the tray Zoe was still using. Hmmm it was about time to transition her outta that.

"You have had bad goes Mum, you deserve somebody who is good to you and who you want." His brown eyes made her soft inside. They looked like her own. "You just look like you might have found it."

No, that was inconceivable, she wasn't gonna entertain that thought. She kissed the top of his head, "so do you!" And left it at that.

But, she did think about it. Jo thought about Harry and the night before and Ethan's attention to the color on her cheeks every time her mind wandered. Later when she was alone because Zoe was taking a nap that may very well be her last and Ethan was getting ready to meet mates at the pub, she got to thinking about it again, it was like the bad penny that kept turning up. Jo even had to stop herself asking if Harry would be at the pub. She needed to focus on the consequences, so she snuck into her studio, returned to the scene of the crime.

She had had time to get herself together this am, but had not been able to clean up the wreckage there. Usually this would be no problem, Ethan rarely came in here and Zoe couldn't do the doorknob she had on it yet. Today it felt like a stolen dress with the sensor still on, incriminating evidence, and she needed to see to it. When she stepped in her fears about the evidence were confirmed, the things made in this room last night weren't just on the canvases, and the proof was everywhere. Jo blushed at the print of her body inside of the thicker gold outline. Where Harry turned her over to press her down, the details were blurry, like she was a golden hummingbird, only hovering and impossible to capture. The halo he'd created when he poured the paint over her was much more defined. The edges of her were clear, like a holy halo.

It made her ache, because it was beautiful and because she had to hide it, and put it away. Him away. That was not a painting she could ever explain. Jo picked up the heavy canvas and hoisted it behind others, blocking the golden image, the memory with it. Jo felt like she needed to get rid of it. She also knew that she would not. Jo felt the imprints of last night within her body and without and would never be able to bear throwing out what she and Harry had made. Not even the memory. The point of coming in here had been to cover her tracks and remind herself the consequences, but instead she was reminiscing, or mourning, she wasn't sure which or what either meant.

A knock sounded on her studio door and she heard it open and she nearly barked at Ethan for intruding. It wasn't nice to be caught with your hands covered in crimson, or gilded here she supposed. She kept her cool but barely, "come in, love."

"I'm gonna head out, everybody but Harry's already there, but he runs late anyways."

She winced at the name. Jo certainly didn't need reminders of him. He surrounded her like the hoodie she had on. It also was a curious fact about him. Jo ran over her own interactions with him backwards. He'd never been late to her class or Zoe's lessons, or babysitting jobs, or her office. "Ok, can you...." she started to ask before she bit her tongue.

"I'll call if I'm gonna be late and no body will drive. Pinky promise." He'd come over to her and extended his pinky to her.

They kept promises, did Smiths, and least the Smiths she made. Jo promised herself she'd try to keep away from Harry as well while she hooked her tiny finger through his. "Thank you!" Jo exhaled and folded him into her arms like Ethan was smaller than her. Like when he was small.

"What were you working on after your hot date?" Ethan asked after she released him.

And then she lied to him, bold faced and intentional, "oh," she snapped the lid on her can of gold paint, which was way lighter than it had been since Harry's golden sunset 6 years ago. "I was so worked up I spilled paint over it. I think I'll have to trash it." She walked over to her bin and put the rest of the gold paint in there.

"That's to bad, mum! I wanted to see what this bloke brought up, besides your blushes!"

She blushed and pushed Ethan playfully out the door. "On with you!"

When he was gone, she sat on the stool Harry had used to protect her and put her head in her hands. "Five Minutes Jo!" She told herself and indulged her thoughts, the ones that kept brimming to the surface, about how he had touched her, treated her soft, but touched her cruel, and brought out desire and actions she had never thought of let alone acted on. She kept her reverie cerebral, she promised herself she was done touching herself to thoughts of him.

When her five minutes were up, she used the rest of Zoe's nap to paint. Her strokes were furious and fast. It was another woman, a voluptuous one, walking another beat, but this one went away from the viewer and Jo figured she had somewhere to be, maybe over a rainbow, or over the cliff. She switched on the monitor an hour in, and was trying to finish the beginnings when Zoe stated to stir. Something was missing and Jo couldn't figure it out.

The cries had reached the can't be ignored stage quickly, and with a mother load of guilt, Jo hustled up the stairs to get her girl.

But the missing piece niggled the back of her mind, all night, through the shop she ran to with Zoe to pick up a special gift for Ethan's stocking and through the easy dinner she threw on, she and Zoe made pizza's, and through bath and bed time.

Jo lay in her own bed, and could not close her eyes, or touch herself, or forget. She wanted to scream, but that was definitely an overreaction.

The ruffle of the bedclothes sounded in her ears before she even made the conscious decision to go to her studio. She threw on her thick robe and grabbed a bottle of wine and the key. She was pulling out the cork and closing the door, as she tossed the refuse, she missed the bin and reversed her steps to fix it. The gold paint can wound up in her hand before she even thought about it.

The Bordeaux was thick on her tongue and dried her mouth out like desire. She popped the top on the metallic pigment and didn't even bother with the paint brush. She dipped the ends of her fingers into it. She stared at the gild on her fingers and swallowed another sip before painting gold smudges for footsteps behind her woman. And the cliff, she was about to smear the gold into the distance. Over that colorful cliff, there was more than a pot of gold, maybe a valley of it instead.

A familiar chuckle hit her ears. Harry's when he was bemused and just that touch annoyed. Then she heard her son's mumbled tones. She was surprised she wasn't relieved. Ethan had made it home, but he had brought a problematic plus one.

"Mum!" Ethan happily smiled at her. "You know by now you don't have to wait up!" He only was mildly slurring, but he was hung on Harry's shoulder like he was much drunker than he appeared to be.

She quirked a brow in Harry's direction for confirmation, but he was avoiding her eyeline.

"Are you alright?" she directed at Ethan and returned Harry's icy shoulder, moving her body between the two of them, physically taking his place. She ignored the race of menthol burn across her skin when her clothed body glanced across his.

"I'm fine, I twisted my ankle trying to do a stupid dance. I could have made it home, but Harry insisted he help me." The ridiculousness of this was plain in Ethan's tone.

"You were limping, nearly fell again at the curb. You need a hand." Harry kept a careful gaze on Ethan.

"Yeah, yeah! Mum, were you painting? You've gone gold again!"

Harry's head snapped up at that and she tried to hide her ombre hand behind her leg.

They stared at each other and Jo shivered and pulled her robe a bit tighter. "I got carried away." She explained.

It looked like Harry wanted to be pleased, a smile crept around his mouth, but it wasn't so much suppressed as blocked.

"Should have seen her this morning, Harry! Not sure what her date was like, because she wouldn't fess up at all. But she had gold speckles on her neck, and in her hand. Even under her fingernails. And it wasn't event he gold paint that had her glowing. Must have been some goodnight kiss, at least that better be all it was, to inspire such crazy artistic fits. Can't wait to see this one. Are you recreating the one you spilled paint on?"

Jo and Harry were still staring while Ethan monologued.

"Mum, were you able to do it again?"

She blinked, "Um, something like it, let's get you off this leg poppet." Jo tried to get him moving, but he resisted.

"Make Harry help me, mum. I don't want that gold on me! Might make me all glowy too, ewww!"

"You are ridiculous!" Jo tried to remain unruffled, but is Harry looking at her had disrobed me, Ethan babbling about her shine made her feel totally stripped. "Harry?" she asked without making contact of any kind with him.

"I got him."

Jo didn't stick around and fled to her studio. She figured she'd be safe there.

Wrong, she was wrong. Apparently Harry saw no impediments.

Or any boundaries. "Harry?" She was startled, but before her hand had even come off her galloping heart, he was off to the races. His mouth covered hers and he swallowed her startled sound, and its follow up moan. His fingers clasped around her own and her heart rate beneath them never slowed down.

He tasted like wine and bread, like a sacrament, and wholly foreign to the morning, like the hours between were centuries.

Her mouth opened, so she could swallow his flavor whole and she took him down and laced her fingers with his before her brain could catch up. His free hand opened her robe and they had to move their hands and uncouple to get it off.

It was her colored hand, the one he held. He stared at it before he took it again. Then he kissed her again, sweet and low down, with slick tongue and wiggle. She followed him close, her bore her weight in their tangled tango and backed up until his back hit the wall.

"I want it!" Harry swallowed the words with his oxygen.

"What?" She tried to keep up with kissing him, if they talked, it gave her time to think.

"The gold, I want it all over me." He groaned out while he tried to her her shirt over her head without stopping their kiss again.

What was he saying? Gold? And then it dawned on her, Ethan had said he didn't want her to get the gold paint on him. Ethan, who was upstairs and Zoe too. And she had just promised herself this morning this was over.

Jo yanked her body away like when she had to yank a distracted Ethan back from walking into oncoming traffic.

"No, Har-H! We can't! I promised!"

"Who?" His mouth gaped open. "You told Ethan?"

"No, course, not!" She said.

"Good" And he rushed back onto her and pressed himself, desire and all from mouth to metatarsals.

Jo felt her shirt coming off her naked torso before she was able to slow again.

"No, no, I promised myself. My job Harry! My kids!" She pushed him against the wall and stumbled back until she was sat on the stool, it wobbled and fell. Jo didn't turn to check the wreckage, she kept her eyes on Harry, who was the picture of sexual frustration, his plaid was pushed off his shoulders and and his undershirt was stuck at nipple level. All that hair was disheveled, she guessed from her clawing at it, and his mouth was red. His eyes, where any green was visible glowed against the blacked out pebbles.

He panted and then threw his head back and shoved both hands into his pants. She could see him give his cock an almighty squeeze and she winced in sympathy. For all three of them.

"Ok, ok, I'll go."  He said after taking minutes to collect and calm himself. Watching him unhand himself and catch his breath had Jo panting again, but she couldn't say that, they'd start all over again.

She turned her back to get her eyes off the spectacle she'd created and noticed her gold paint had been spilled.

"Jo," she heard behind her. "I know, I get it. But-" He seemed at a loss. "I'll try. I just don't know if I could go back."

Was her lady walking backward, away from the gold, if not, how did she get the golden footporints. If she wanted to leave, why was she backing away not running.

She nodded and heard the door close.

And she stayed out of her studio, after she cleaned up her hand and the spill. She walked backwards, stayed off campus, gave short worded critiques to Harry's texted pictures of his paintings.

He was increasingly frustrated. His lady was back to hide and seek.

His other texts she deleted. And she stayed away from the golden valley until she picked up the mail one morning just before the semester started while Audrey had Zoe so she could get prepared.

There was no return address, but it was a card, not soliciting mail. She ripped it open trying to think if she was expecting anything.

She wasn't expecting this.

"Dearest Joanne,            I think about you every morning and wish I could greet the sun with you once again. In my paintings, my woman, who I wish was you, because then you would be with me and I could paint us together, is hiding from me as well. I would love to see her face, as I long for yours. I think of you constantly and can feel you on my skin, still.

 My morning tea tastes different. I suspect it's because after having drank it with the taste of you on my tongue, I want to mix in your lemon and honey. I'd dip it in on my spoon if I could. Please, let the dawn break again.        Craving you, sincerely and discretely,                 Harry"

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you! I promise you, I will honestly and truly love any story you want to tell or enjoy writing!

General Request and DNW

I love worldbuilding and cultural detail, family relationships (I am all about the sibling feels—found family and family you were raised with), extremely competent characters, discovering secrets, mythology, and discovering/building competence. You know how training montages are common tropes for saving time? I’d be a happy clam if those were expanded into entire series where I could watch people building their skills, connecting to the people around them, and learning more about the world. I adore fantasy world-building—the concept of everyday magic, for example, where everyone has their own little piece of the world (always knowing when the phone is about to ring, or being able to call how many times a rock will skip on the water) or integrated magic systems.

Anything from gen to smut is welcome, angst with a happy ending is good but the happy ending is key, kidfic is lovely, femslash is beautiful although slash and het and other are more than fine too. If you present me with a love triangle my go-to solution is always polyamory. Please no child death, death of pets, grim!dark, or character bashing.

Optional Details for Fandoms:

Smash and Grab

Man, they were just so incredibly expressive throughout this. I have so many feels for the robots. The playing and the obvious care for each other and figuring out ways to have fun with each other. The robots had clearly played together before. How did that start? And up on top of the train, when tall robot was like, ok, time to play and small robot just went with it, clearly before it had figured it out…it was so precious. (I’m trying really hard not to gender the robots, I got to say.) And OMG, at the end, when they tried to go different directions and Tall one figured it out and then shrugged and was like fine, we’ll go your way…I’mma cry.

I got questions too, though! Is this a society entirely of robots? Why were the robots Tall one watched touching hands?  Do the trains run constantly or are there off hours or days that they are being repaired? What happens now? Why were there bots with guns on that train? What are they usually there for? Two robots with three arms and one power source? They vaguely look like they’re heading toward a floating city, what then? How long do those power sources last?

Jumanji

This one is all about the world-building for me. And the found family and traumatized sibling feels.

 I’m interested in where this game came from; why it exists. I’m interested in Alan’s life in the jungle—a kid surviving on his own so long is pretty unlikely. And the hunter proves that there are other people there. Is it entirely a part of the game? Or is it like Narnia where the game just takes you to a different real world? Is the jungle in Neverland? The movie sets it up where Alan learns a lesson about family and honesty, etc. But what if the game ended up in the hands of someone who didn’t want to go home? Someone who has a truly bad home life and wants to go somewhere else? A lot of what fascinates me in the movie is how this suburban/small town kid got so incredibly good at surviving in the jungle. Also, the idea of it as a real, functional (magical) place is pretty amazing. Him figuring it out by himself would be great but I’d especially love to see him interacting with others. What if Sarah got pulled in too? How would two kids take care of each other? What would that relationship look like when they grew up? Or if the Shepards got pulled in instead of getting Alan out…how would he deal with two grief-stricken kids in a dangerous, fantastical jungle? Is the jungle a real place somewhere? Do other players get different places?

 Oh My General

I have to confess, I’m not actually all that far into the series. I’m mostly here for the bi!rights, trans/NB!rights, and kickass woman warrior. I love that Ye Zhao continues to be a general. I love that she keeps referring to herself as a man and then correcting herself in that same tone of voice you use when you’re trying to stop yourself from swearing in front of small children. I love her grandfather referring to Zhao Yujin as daughter-in-law and giving him the sort of pregnancy charms new wives get. I love the concubines swooning over her as she is training. I would be very, very down for some polyamorous relationship negotiations here—this is *our* harem now. Also, Ye Zhao and Zhao Yujin discovering/appreciating each other’s competencies—dance takes similar muscle control to martial arts, just applied in very different ways. Art is amazing and artists are wonderful.

Jeeves and Wooster

I wouldn’t normally request this, although I do enjoy Jeeves and Wooster, but I glanced at the character listing and immediately went ooooo, WLW/MLM solidarity. Nice. I greatly enjoy Jeeves’ competence and I find Bertie kind of sweet—Hugh Laurie’s version, at least. I enjoy the shenanigans. This is also a setting where I would be fascinated to see how the addition of some kind of magic did or did not change elements of the canon. Either a well-known magic system (like in the Sorcery and Cecelia books if you know those),  or some of the Tumblr strings of thought where everyone has a small magic like the ability to always find your keys or knowing the weather without looking outside, or a hidden magic system that Bertie stumbles on. Or possibly one where Bertie has magic and he’s been keeping it hidden from Jeeves—I also greatly enjoy when someone has hidden depths and we get to discover the ways in which they’ve been underestimated.

Sinbad

I ask for this fandom every year because: people with different cultures and languages coming together and forming a functional group/found family/deep friendships, real mythology being played with, magic hiding in the world as science becomes more prevalent…it’s all amazing.

 Sinbad’s original curse—not being able to stay on land for more than a day and what that would mean if they had succeeded in being traders; the possibility that Cook has something strange going on with his own refusal to leave the ship; and post-series what these people end up doing and how they interact. Any and all back-stories are love, any and all myths, legends or monsters entering the story are brilliant.

 Emelan

I love the magic system in this so much. The idea that there are people who learn this school-based/book-based magic, but also people who just interact with magic in their own ways. Craft-based magic and magic that flows through how you interact with the world—love it. I loved all of the found-family feels in the books too and I adore fics where we get to see that relationship as they grow up and continue to care for and take care of each other. But, one thing that truly fascinates me in the idea of the story is—the teachers. Rosethorn/Lark, sure, love it, but also all of the teachers and what it’s like to be a teacher in a school like that and how they deal with other the other more traditional schools and what they think about the kids in their care. What about the other students they’ve had in their care over the years? How did they find their kind of magic? What conversations are going on between the teachers during canon? In the “break room” teachers have so they can (hopefully fondly) complain about students?

Into Eden, chapt 3; It Was Fake

Into Eden

rosymamacita

Chapter 3 READ On AO3

This mail order bride thing was an uneasy partnership. Keeping it just business should have made it easier. But Bellamy still thought she was a princess and he was somehow lower than her. A slave even. And everything was complicated by the fact that Clarke was very attracted to him. He was her husband. But he wasn't.

Maybe they could find some sort of balance where everyone got what they needed.

Fake. It was fake.

Clarke was worried that after only two weeks pretending to be a long term mated pair with her husband, whom she’d just met, JUST MET, she was having a hard time remembering that she wasn’t planning any happily ever after with him. She was having a hard time remembering that it wasn’t REAL.

It was horrible. It was unexpected. It was against her will. It was STUPID.

She kept trying to tell herself that. She kept reminding herself that it had only been a few weeks since she was with Lexa. Although when she thought about it, the tail end of her year long relationship with Lexa had not been all that loving, or happy, or connected. Lexa had never understood her grief over her father’s death and had wanted her to just get past it. Their relationship had started out passionate, needy even, but just gotten more political and resentful as time went on. Lexa didn’t like the time that Clarke’s career as a medical researcher took and thought she should quit. She called her naive when she disagreed. And when she’d said they should get married, she hadn’t even asked. She just declared it.

She liked that Clarke was the daughter of Chancellor Griffin from Alpha Station, with whom she she very much wanted to be allied. It would be advantageous for everyone. But Clarke disliked all the station politics and jockeying for power and alliance, always had. And she hated it more after her father was killed two years ago, for doing what was right, not what was political. It all made her wonder if Lexa ever really loved her at all, or if she’d just wanted her for her political power.

Clarke wasn’t even sure she believed in love anymore, that’s why this business arrangement had seemed so much better. No politics. No love. Just a marriage for convenience sake.

She tried to tell herself that at least they were honest and they had both agreed and they both knew that it was in name only. They were… business partners.

And, as he kept reminding her, she was the one in charge, so it wasn’t really a business PARTNERSHIP so much as she was the boss, and he was, kind of, her employee.

“You might call me a slave,” he said. She’d gaped at him. It was after a formal dinner and he threw off his tuxedo jacket in anger. He hadn’t liked sitting in that room of dignitaries and wealthy, smug colonists, pretending to be one of them, letting her hang onto his elbow and look up at him adoringly. Fake adoration. It wasn’t hard to stare at his beauty, but she was under no illusions. It was not love.

“You’re not a slave. We’re married. It’s a partnership.” No matter his beauty. And that wouldn’t influence her at all.

“You bought me. I’m a slave.” He glared at her darkly and damned if that didn’t make him more attractive. It was simply outrageous.

She wanted to yell at him, but he just kept stripping. First the tie that he’d been complaining about, then the shirt with all its complicated buttons. He was down to bare chest and starting on his pants when she turned around and hid her face in her own wardrobe. “We agreed to this. You agreed to this. We both wanted to get to Eden Colony,” she said, and her voice wasn’t strangled with lust or emotion or whatever. It was frustration. With him! Not her feelings. “We’re both getting something out of it. You get the free trip. I get to bypass the stupid rules.”

“Yeah, but you don’t get to bypass them, do you. We still have to be married.”

“In name only.”

“We still have to live together.”

“I’ve got the plans for our homestead. It’s required we share a dwelling, but I’m constructing a dwelling with two separate apartments. We’ll be more like neighbors, once we get out to the claim. And the nearest town is an hour away so there’s no one to call us on our separate living arrangements. We’ll be fine.”

“You have the resources to build a house with an extra apartment, all so that you don’t have to live with me?”

She didn’t know why the question made her heart skip. She pushed it aside. “I spent ALL my money, Bellamy. I was going to get what we needed. And I never intended to treat you like a slave, even before I met you. This is a mutually beneficial partnership. We’re sharing all the resources. We’ll be pulling our own weight on Eden colony. Together. Not me with all the money and you doing the labor. This is not me owning you. Please. You will own me as much as I own you. And we still have to have children. Together.”

He went silent then. The silence went on so long that she took her nightgown out of the wardrobe and clutched at it like it would protect her, like it would slow her rapidly beating heart, and turned slowly to look at him. All he wore was plain black briefs, ones she had actually bought for him. But she wouldn’t let herself look. “Not that—I mean— I’m a medical professional. We have a fully functional scientific module. The intention is for us to use it to raise livestock from our bank of frozen embryos, but I will also be able to fertilize my eggs with your— I mean— we have options is all I’m saying.”

He just looked at her. “We haven’t talked about this.”

“We’ve only known each other two weeks. It’s kind of personal.”

“It’s personal to both of us. This is about— us.”

“We— we have options, Bellamy.” She looked at him with as blank a face as she could manage. It seemed to be effective. He nodded, business like.

“I never asked. I assumed that, because you paid for a man to be your husband that you were attracted to men. I shouldn’t have assumed. Perhaps you just wanted a male for the farm. Or as a father. Not as a mate. Not in that way.”

She swallowed and did not look down at his bare chest and tight abs. But she couldn’t help but see anyway. “No.” She said shortly. “I am attracted to men and women both, no preference. Thanks for checking. I’m sorry I didn’t say. But like you said, we haven’t talked about this, and our sexual preferences and plans for impregnation weren’t exactly going to be part of the polite dinner conversation with the other wealthy colonists. We had more important stories to straighten out.”

He laughed and then moved to his wardrobe where he pulled out the cotton pajamas she’d bought for him. She liked them. They looked soft. He looked relaxed in them. He put them on and she could breathe deeply again, although her eyes kept returning to the suggestion of muscles underneath the shirt. It was good he had muscles. Good for breeding. Good for working their claim. He’d been a good choice for a husband, even if she’d picked him by chance. The marriage brokers she’d chosen had done their job well. She was sure they’d be able to work things out and it would stop being so awkward. Someday.

“So I assume you will be… carrying our child? Yourself? Or do they do human surrogates the way they do the livestock surrogates?”

Clarke choked on air. He smirked and clapped her on the back. “Sorry. Was that topic too sudden? I thought we were talking about it. Sexual preferences, I am also bisexual by the way, with a strong preference for women. And plans for impregnation. Were we not talking about it?”

She cleared her throat and shook her head. “No, I just— I hadn’t thought about carrying a child. I hadn’t thought of it. I mean, I knew I would have to have children, that it was the charter, but— the idea…” she looked up at him wide eyed, as if he could help her. How could he? The very thought. She pressed her nightgown into her stomach, imagining.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His eyebrows were drawn together in concern. “I was teasing you. A little. I shouldn’t have. We don’t have to talk about it. We’re not there yet.”

She gaped at him. How was he so sensitive? This man, who she’d learned had been nothing but a worker, then a guard, then a janitor in a factory on a dirt colony, a dome that manufactured synthetics. Nothing all that special. Just one colony in a hundred. He had calluses on his hands and he’d raised his sister after his mother died. Just a hard working man. They had nothing in common and they had to make up the story that they’d bonded over the net, on a webring about ancient earth mythology, strangely , an interest that they both shared in real life. He liked mythology. And human history. Inside his factory station skin, he was a man with a mind. And she was getting to like him more every day. She wasn’t ready to talk about having his baby yet. But it wasn’t going to get any easier if she waited.

“No. We should talk about it. It’s going to happen, one way or another. This is our last night cruising before they put us into cryo sleep for the the jump to hyper flight. I just hadn’t thought about how soon it would have to happen. I mean. If we’re going to free you from your contract as soon as possible, that means I should attempt impregnation was soon as we reach our claim. That’s, not counting the time we’ll be in cryo sleep,” she paused and realized the time frame. Her breath left her forcefully. “Two weeks from now.” She laughed and it sounded kind of panicked even to her own ears. “I should start adjusting to the concept. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I meant to be so prepared.”

“Woah, Clarke,” Bellamy said, putting his big hands on her shoulders and holding her down. She was glad for it. She felt like she might fly off into space. “Slow down. We don’t have to move so fast. There’s no time constraint for pregnancy and children in the charter agreement, is there?”

“No.” She shook her head and laughed a little and this time her laughter was tinged with tears. “Of course not. We could take as long as we wanted. If we reach the end of my fertility, they would have us requisition a surrogate, like you said. But that only is necessary in medical cases. I should be fertile through my forties. We have twenty years.”

“Then why are you saying it has to happen now. Can’t we get used to our claim? Get used to each other?”

She blinked up at him and the tears that threatened had the audacity to fall. She ducked her head, but he saw. “You’re not a slave Bellamy. I don’t want to keep you longer than you need. You’re free, okay? The definitions for marriage in the charter are very broad. Okay? You can live your life however…” she paused thinking about the tall and beautiful dark haired colonist that had been eyeing him at the dinner even though he’d been holding her hand. She’d seen him looking back at the woman. Clarke thought she was beautiful too but she hadn’t been looking at Clarke like she wanted to eat her up. “You can live your life however you want, okay, Bellamy? I’m not going to hold you to any antiquated notions of marriage. I’m the one who has to monitor my fertility and the genetic background of our offspring. I’m the one that can get pregnant. You can do what you want, just be careful.”

“Hold up. Are you telling me I can sleep around?”

She shrugged.

“But you have to be faithful to me? Even though we’re not a real couple?”

“Just in relationships where I might become pregnant. They don’t just want men and women on Eden, they want prime genetic material, and that’s us. That’s how we got accepted. They liked my money and connections, but you? You’re perfect. They want your genes populating Eden. You could probably even get some other women pregnant and they wouldn’t mind, as long as the child was registered and its background confirmed to guard against future inbreeding. It’s a worry on a colony with a small population and not much migration.”

He raised his hands. “No Clarke. No. I’m not doing this.”

“What? Uhm. You signed a contract. You have to. If we don’t have children they’ll take our claim and we will have to hire on to someone else’s or find a way back. Because we’ll have no credits left.”

He snorted. “No. That’s not what I meant. I signed a contract. That means we’re married. I don’t cheat. Okay? Maybe it wasn’t a love match, but to me, this marriage is real.”

“But the charter definition of marriage is broad—“

“Clarke. I don’t cheat. I’m not going to sleep around. And, for god sake. I’m not looking to get out of our marriage as soon as possible. If I’m building a stake with you, I’m building a stake. We’re doing this together. We’re partners. And there’s no way I would even think of leaving my children. We don’t have to rush to have children so I can be free. Please. So stop that.”

“I thought you said you were a slave?”

“I was pissed off. I got accosted in the corridor by some woman who seemed to think that because we came from different classes I must be a space spouse—“

Clarke gasped. “She knew?”

“Oh don’t worry. I sold my love for you. She now thinks our forbidden love is why we were so desperate to get away from your family’s connections.”

“Oh. That’s good. Alpha Station is full of incredible snobs. Why didn’t we think of that?”

“I did. I told Echo. We’ll have to use that story from now on. Especially since mail order brides have a reputation in the wealthy colonies of being, well, whores.”

Clarke felt her mouth fall open.

“Mmhm. Yeah. Apparently, it’s a rather common occurrence on colonies for space spouses to be thrown over when the colonists find a better candidate. I’m surprised your research didn’t look into the black market economies on the colonies. Even on Eden. There’s a thriving community of comfort women and men and Echo thought she’d get her bid on me in early.”

She stared at him and felt her anger rise. She clenched her hands and imagined the tall woman’s throat in her fingers. “I’m going to kill her.”

Bellamy laughed. “What?”

“I’m going to kill her,” she said, her voice lower. “How dare she treat you like that. I won’t stand for it. And you thinking you have take it? No. I’m going to kill her.” She began stalking towards the door.

He grabbed her arm and spun her around. She was standing very near him. “Woah. Calm down. It’s nothing new. This is the way the privileged treat us lowborns. We’re there to be used, as workers, as guinea pigs, for service, in one way or another. At least with you around, I’ve got some defenses and I don’t have to, I don’t know, fight my way out of it and get arrested or on the wrong side of the power structure, like what happened to me back on my factory colony.”

“That happened to you there, too?”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I might have said yes. I’ve done so before. But I never liked Shumway. I didn’t trust him. Why do you think I went from being a guard to being a janitor? I was on track to become an officer, even run for office some day. Factory is a democracy, not a hereditary monarchy like Alpha.”

“Alpha isn’t a hereditary monarchy, we have a council.”

“Who all come from the hereditary ruling class. And Polis? They only elect commanders from within a privileged gene pool. It’s a little more complex than just family lines, because they require a certain genetic marker, so one person who has it might be eligible to rule, but not their full blood sibling, or either parent, since it’s a recessive gene.”

Clare gaped at him in surprise. He caught and grinned at her. “Oh I studied, Clarke. Factory wasn’t moving me up in the world just because I’m pretty. I didn’t get bumped to the top of your space spouse list for my abs.”

Clarke couldn’t help but look down to where his soft shirt clung to his stomach. She cleared her throat. “Regardless. I won’t allow anyone to treat you like that. You’re not at their mercy. You’re mine.”

“I’m at your mercy, Clarke?” His grin slipped into a smirk, as if he’d caught her in something. “I thought I wasn’t your slave.”

Her nostrils flared. This man. “You are not my slave. I did not buy YOU, Bellamy, I bought your ticket and I cleared the bureaucracy so I didn’t have to deal with it. Fine. I used my wealth to make my life easier. And you were definitely the top of space spouse list and I used my damn money to get the best husband I could and that is you. I paid THEM for their services. Not your life. You’re not my slave. You’re not my property or my employee. Even though I have more money than you. Had. The money never meant anything to me anyway. This is our life now. Everything I have is yours. I’m your wife. You’re my husband.”

Silence filled their stateroom after her outburst and he stood there, watching her. His breath coming slowly. He was quiet so long she started to get nervous. Her fingers tangled in the nightgown she was still clutching in her hands.

“I got really lucky,” he finally said, almost reverently, “with you.” Their eyes locked. “I maybe didn’t think very closely about how this could have gone for me, how badly. Who I might have ended up with. Maybe I did think it didn’t matter, it would be the same on Eden as on Factory. I maybe thought you’d be like Shumway, or Echo. Or the rest of the privileged. I never even stopped to think that I might… like you.”

Clarke couldn’t breathe now. She was afraid that if she moved he would stop. And she could tell he had more to say. She wanted to know.

“I think…” he said. “I think we have a chance to be happy, Clarke.” He laughed like he couldn’t believe it. She bit her lip. “It wasn’t a love match. You found me on a list. Your proposition worked with my needs. I could have said no. But we fit together.” He ran his hand through his hair. “This marriage is real to me, Clarke. I’m all in. Are you?”

That was what she had been fighting all along. She didn’t need to anymore. She took a deep breath. “It’s real to me, too. I want to try for real, Bellamy. I’m in.”

He smiled at her. His eyes were so warm.

“Can I hug you Bellamy?”

He laughed. “Of course,” he said and didn’t wait for her to come to him. He wrapped his arms around her and she’d never felt so safe. Never. He was strong and kind and smart and she wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten to be so lucky finding him the way she did, but she was and she wasn’t going to take it for granted. She tucked her nose into the crook of his neck and god he smelled so good.

He ran his hands up and down her back and they stood like that for a while.

“Just saying, Clarke,” he said after a while. “If I get a say in this impregnation thing—“

“Of course you do. You’re my husband. We’re family.” The word sent a bigger thrill through her.

She felt him nod against her hair. “Okay then, well I’d like to try to do it the old fashioned way.”

She tensed, because god she could push him down on that bed right now and get started. But he must have only felt the tension. He pulled away from her and held onto her shoulders again. So calming and grounding.

“But I want us to wait, and take it slow. Okay? To get to know each other, to get to know Eden, so when we’re ready to have a baby, to make a family like the charter said, we’ll really be ready. And we’ll know who we are to each other and how we work together and everything.”

She didn’t move. She just stared up at him, clutching her nightgown against her stomach so she didn’t reach out. Dammit.

This was real. It was real. But she had to restrain herself, because Bellamy wasn’t a whore, she hadn’t bought his services at all. He wasn’t her property, he wasn’t a slave and what he wanted mattered. And he wanted to wait.

She nodded and smiled. “Okay.” It was her politician’s smile. The one that hid her feelings. She didn’t think he knew her well enough to read it, but he narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s a good idea. We’ll take it all one step at a time and get to know each other and our claim. Great plan.”

He looked at her sideways.

She raised her eyebrows and her chin. “We’re going into cryo sleep tomorrow morning, but when we wake up, we have another two weeks on this ship until the colony, and I will damn sure make it known to Ms. Echo and all the rest of the predatory colonists that you are mine and they are not to touch you.”

He chuckled. “Possessive. Is that what marriage means to you?”

She shook her head. “No. Protective. No one treats my husband like a thing, because he’s wonderful.”

The grin slipped off of his face and he blinked at her. His lips parted like he was having trouble breathing. She tried to make him believe her just by force of will. He shook his head and a small smile quirked the corner of his mouth.

“Go get ready for bed, Clarke. Cryo sleep isn’t restful. They said we need a full night sleep to avoid disorientation upon waking.”

“Okay,” she said. She would let him have it. She had a lifetime to convince him he was wonderful. A lifetime. She turned back to her closet while he slid under the covers of the bed.

He wanted to go slow and get to know each other. She could respect that. No matter how she wanted to kiss him for real, not just a peck here and there for show with the other colonists and officials. She wouldn’t do anything with him that he didn’t want. That was for damn sure, knowing now how he felt about privilege. Knowing his concerns about slavery. The very thought that anything about their partnership— marriage— might make him feel like a whore? She couldn’t bear it.

She sent a glance towards him and he was settling into bed, getting comfortable. He’d already said how he enjoyed the luxury of the down pillows and was planning to swipe them and stuff them into his duffel. She ducked her head and held back a laugh.

She wouldn’t do anything he didn’t want. But what if he wanted to?

She peaked at him one more time and he wasn’t asleep. He was flipping through the pamphlet that prepared them for cryo sleep. He was there. She was here. They would be sharing the bed as they had the whole two weeks they’d been on the ship, but now their marriage was real, not just business.

Clarke pulled her shoulder back and unbuttoned her silky blouse. She did not retreat to the bathroom the way she usually did. She didn’t need to hide from her husband.The blouse slid off of her shoulders and she stowed it. She reached up and let her hair down. She hadn’t cut it in a while. It reached almost to the small of her back. She felt Bellamy’s eyes on her. She didn’t look back at him.

Instead, she pulled her hair around over her shoulder and reached around to release the hook on her bra. She sighed as she took it off and she thought maybe she heard him, drawing a breath. She did not turn around but she smiled to herself as she slipped her skirt down and then her panties.

They were married. It was real. She would take it slow. Oh she would.

Clarke took her long thick hair in her hand and pulled it up on top of her head, twisting it into a loose bun, still keeping her back to Bellamy. She turned slightly, so he could see the side of her breast, and then slowly donned her nightgown.

It covered her to her knees and even the neckline was high, but it was soft and draped over her curves, and she knew he’d been watching and he’d be thinking about what was underneath it. She put everything away like a good spacer, and then locked the wardrobe door.

When she finally turned around, he was watching her, his eyes dark and heavy. She smiled.

“Tomorrow is going to be a big day,” she said. “We’d better sleep.”

He cleared his throat and nodded and turned off the light as she slid under the sheets next to him.

It felt different now. Knowing that this was real. Knowing that this was her husband. Her family. That they were a unit, not just uneasy allies. Before her skin had tingled, knowing she shared a bed with a handsome man who she might some day have sex with. Tonight, it was different. The warmth had settled deeper, inside of her. Somewhere above her stomach. She might almost have said her heart. But she wasn’t going to get sucked in again like that.

She inched closer to him. She could feel his body heat.

“I’m glad we’re doing this together, Bellamy. I’m glad it’s you. I have hope for us.”

He began rubbing her arm. “Me too Clarke. Me too. I’m glad you’re my wife.”

She put a hand on his chest. “But if you screw me over,” her voice went gravelly, “I will destroy you.”

He laughed. The bright sound filled the stateroom and it sounded like joy. She could see the gleam of his broad smile in the ship running lights. “That’s my wife,” he said. So proud.

He pulled her all the way into him and wrapped his arms around her so she could cuddle into his broad chest, and it felt so good.

“That’s my wife,” he murmured again into her temple. Her tension simply drained right out of her. Worries, fears, anger, anxiety. Even that strange buzzing sexual tension.

She just felt at home, in his arms. As much as she wanted to kiss him and more, she thought that if this was what she was allowed to have right now, she could wait. Because this was good. So good.