I just know Barbara Gordon’s pet growing up would have been two gold fish that her uncle Jim got her.

she would get SO annoyed anytime jim messes up and calls one fish the other's name too...

(also, he tries his hardest to tell them apart, really, but also just... its two goldfish. what the hell do you mean ‘you can just tell’??)

HiJack AU - Rise of the Guardians Plotbunnies

(Context: Before Hiccup returns to HQ when the Guardian signal came up, he was spending time with Jack, as per usual. When the signal came up, he had to go. Jack looked disappointed, because Hiccup had just arrived a bare ten minutes ago. It was the quickest the Aide of Hope had to leave. Hiccup was in a rush to leave, since it was the first time in a long time that the urgent signal was put up to assemble all guardians at the same time, the last time was to report about what had happened to Kozmotis. In his rush, he wasn't thinking, and accidentally kissed Jack on the cheek in a parting kiss.

They were both shock.

Before Jack could collect himself to make a respond, Hiccup dashed off, all the while thinking "Shit shit shit shit shit what did I just DO?!)

More details added to the Answer (an ask from @hamish-fanfic-fangirl )already mentioned here

The Guardians love children, as they are the Guardians of Childhood. They can't, however, have children. With the exception of Kozmotis and Anastasia's relationship, as they were created together at the same time by Manny.

Manny formed Pitch to safeguard chaos energy that would strike fears in children and leave them traumatize, impeding a healthy and happy development of growing up. Anastasia was formed at the same time, because children, and to an extent people, need to live in a harmonize environment, right?

The Guardians do consider themselves, as what humans coined nowadays, as 'Found family.' Addition to that, they think if they could have kids, they would be like and be treated like their aides.

They joke about it sometimes; North fits the role of a dad, as leader of the Guardians, Thiana being like the mother, with Aster, Sandy, and Kozmotis like uncles. Sandy's the "cool" uncle with a lot of stories to tell (or show). Kozmotis is the "chill" uncle who leaves you be but offers sage wisdom whether or not you ask for them. Aster is the one who nags a lot, sometimes more than the parents but is exciting to spend time with because of all his cool tricks.

Jamie and Astrid found it awkward, but Thiana was being playful and pretending to be like a parent and giving Jamie 'the shovel talk', when Astrid and Jamie got together, as she heard a story told to her by North, from Jim.

She was sweet about it though, going on about how they should be caring of each other and how lovely it all was so Jim made a remark later that he didn't think the guardian of memories got the point of a 'Shovel talk'

Even to the aides that aren't their own, the Guardians do feel rather paternal/maternal towards them.

Dialogue

North: Sandy, thank you for coming.

Sandy descends from the plane and floats to the ground. He joins North, Bunny and Tooth as they walk through the Globe Room. Sand glyphs appear above Sandy's head communicating

Jamie: He says that he is busy and has a lot of work to do.

North: I understand, you work ‘round the clock, da, But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious.

North, Bunny, Tooth and Sandy reach the center of the room. Tooth does her best to shush her mini-fairies.

North: Kozmotis as the Boogeyman was here at the Pole. *points to the globe. The everyone turns to look.*

Astrid: *shocked* Sir Kozmotis? Here? After all this time...

Jamie: Jim, did you really see...

Jim: Well, I didn't but sir North had. I think, I... Wait. *frowning as he looked around in concern* Where's Dimitri?

Tooth: But... Pitch Black? Was it really him?

North: Yes! There was black sand covering the globe.

Aster: What, what...what do you mean black sand?

North: And then a shadow!                                                

Aster: Hold on, hold on, I thought you said you saw Pitch.

North: Well, ah, not exactly...

Aster: Not exactly? Can you believe this guy?

Bunny turns to Sandy, who shrugs while forming a Dreamsand question mark above his head....

Aster: Yeah, you said it, Sandy.

Bunny goes back to painting one of his Easter eggs.

North: Look, he is up to something very bad. *gropes his gut* I feel it, in my belly.

Aster: *eyes narrow* Hang on, hang on, you mean to say, you summoned me here THREE DAYS BEFORE EASTER - because of your? Mate, if I did this to you three days before Christmas-

Tooth (to her fairies): Argentina. Priority alert! A batch of bicuspids in Buenos Aires.  Weather advisory, Astrid?

Astrid: *Pauses* Fair, all of them. Snowstorm warning in Moscow.

Jamie: Maybe that's where Jack is now.

Jim: And maybe Hic too; would explain why he's running late... Now Dimitri...           

North grabs Bunny's painted egg, casually juggling it in his          hand as he walks off. Meanwhile Sandy, who is being served          eggnog by a yeti, suddenly notices something high above.         

North: Please. Bunny. Easter is not Christmas.

Aster: *sarcastic laugh* Here we go... North, I, I don't have time for           this. I've still got two million eggs to finish up.

The moon rises into view, high up in the ceiling; its rays of light begin to shine brightly through as they cascade down the walls of the globe room.

North: No matter how much you paint, is still egg!

Sandy points to the moon unsuccessfully to get the others' attention. Even Jamie is distracted with Jim and Astrid, talking about whether one of them (Jim) should go and get Dimitri. Their guardians are distracted and they didn't want to interrupt them...

Aster: Look, mate, I'm dealing with perishables. Right. You've got all year to prepare.                                                

Tooth (to her fairies): Pittsburg, boy eight, two molars. Saltwater taffy.

Sandy puts his fingers in his mouth to whistle, a silent musical note forming above his head.                                                

North (to Aster): Why are rabbits always so nervous.

Aster: And why are you always such a blowhard!                                  

Tooth (to her fairies): Ontario, sector nine: five canines, two molars, and fourteen incisors. Is that all in one house?

Sandy waves a sand flag above his head, pointing and jumping and down as the moonlight continues to fill the room.

North: Tooth! Can't you see we're trying to argue.

Tooth: *Good naturedly* Sorry, not all of us get to work one night a year. Am I right, Sandy?

Sandy tries to signal with a golden arrow, pointing toward the ceiling, but to no avail as the others continue their bickering. Sandy thinks Tooth has noticed for a split second, but then-    

Tooth (to her fairies): San Diego, sector two! Five incisors, a bicuspid and a really loose molar on stand-by.

North: I know it was him. We have serious situation!

Aster: Well, I've got a serious situation with some eggs.

Tooth: Hey, I hate to interrupt the, "We work so hard once a year club" but could we concentrate on the matter-

A silhouette comes out from a black spot of a shadow in the middle of the room, and Dimitri comes up and stumbles out from it. The aide of the former Guardian of Chaos seemed recovering from injuries. Even with his quick healing, it's taking some time...

Jim: Dimitri!

Jim rushes to help support him...

Tooth: Oh dear!

Astrid: Is he okay?

Dimitri: Sorry... The darkness is more restless than ever for some reasons. I had to defeat about a dozen minions before securing and leaving the base.

Jim: Wha- so if Pitch is really back, why hadn't he showed up here yet?

North: He did lad!

Jim: All due respect sir, you said it was a shadow.

North: Shadows are his thing!

Dimitri: I don't think that was Pitch yet, but a harbinger, maybe? If he had awoken, I think I would be the first to know.

Aster: Hah!

Sandy can't take it anymore, grabs an elf by his hat, and vigorously shakes it's bell. The other Guardians are finally silenced and all turn to look at Sandy, who points up, a sand crescent moon forming above his head. The dizzy elf staggers away. Finally the others turn to see the shaft of moonlight as it concentrates on the circle between them as Manny starts beaming down into the room...

North: Aah! Man in Moon! Sandy, why didn't you say something?

Sandy gives him a deadpan stare, Dream sand smoke shoots out his ears.                                                

North (to Man in Moon as he finally appears, with Anastasia by his side) : It's been a long time old friend! Madam Mother Nature *bows curtly*

Manny: Likewise.

Anastasia: A pleasure as always, North.

North: So... What is big news?

Manny: Before I get that, there is one thing I need to address first...

Everyone looks to the center of the room where Manny manipulates moonlight to shine down intensely, the light ebbs away, leaving a dark spot ---- which resolves into the shadowed silhouette of Pitch. The Guardians look on, stunned.                                                

Aster: It is Pitch.                                  

North pats his belly and gives Bunny a look...

North: Manny... what must we do?

Manny: The matter I mentioned needing to be addressed...

The shadow of Pitch disappears and the circle of moonlight intensifies and shrinks, concentrating further luminating an ornate symbol on the floor, at the center of their circle. The symbol rises out of the ground revealing a large gem at the head of a pillar.                                                

Tooth: Ah, guys, you know what this means?

The moons light suddenly refracts through the gem casting          light all over the chamber.                                                

North: He's choosing an aide for himself.

Aster: What?! You never needed one before, why now?

North: Must be big deal! Manny thinks we all need help!

Aster: We have our help. *Gestures to all aides present* Now if my own would show up too...                                               

Tooth: I wonder who it's gonna be?

Then a bright flash, a rush of wind- and a FIGURE resolves over the central pillar: slight, hooded, bearing a familiar  hooked staff.                                                

North:

North: Jack Frost.

The Mini-Teeth all sigh and swoon as the Guardians stand there, stunned.                                                

Jim: Well then, at least Hiccup's going to be happy

Astrid: *Shrugs, and idly shifts her axe from one hand to another* Well, as long as he does his part in caring for the children…

Tooth: And Hiccup’s going to be motivated more than ever now too.

Aster: Jack Frost!? He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts. Right? He's an irresponsible, selfish...                                                

Manny: Aide.                            

Aster: I can tell you that Jack Frost is a lot of things, but he's--

Hiccup finally flies in with Toothless

Hiccup: I'm sorry I'm late! *He jumps down from Toothless* Snow storm in Moscow delayed me... Er, among other things...

Everyone looks at him

North: Perfect timing Hiccup! We need you to find Jack and bring him here.

Hiccup, remembering his final moments with Jack before leaving, looked mortified...

Hiccup: Do you guys hate me or something?

Raven King chapter 6

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions.

Chapter 6

Nicky was bringing Jim from his improv class...

I thought Nicky had a long-term boyfriend?

Well, if he did, he probably doesn't anymore. Not with all of Nicky's jokes about cheating and him taking some rando to the big dinner.

Blackwell was slow to appear in the distance, but it didn't take long to spot the two stadiums. The football and Exy stadium were on opposite sides of the campus like massive bookends.

I'm still having a really difficult time swallowing that society completely shifted because of a sport invented some 30 years earlier.

Like I'm willing to overlook a lot for the sake of a story. But for society to just go completely and utterly apeshit over a 30 year old sport makes zero sense. AND I READ THE STORY WHERE THE LADY HAD SEX WITH THE LITERAL BULL.

Wymack pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag and put it down beside Kevin. "You have ten seconds to inhale as much of this as you can. I'm timing you. Go."

It was alarming how much a man could drink when he needed an emotional crutch.

WOW THAT'S SUPER FUCKING HEALTHY.

Like I get that his foster-father and brother abused the shit out of him. But therapy is much better than alcoholism.

Madison was using the home locker room to change right now, so the Foxes had to go all the way around to the away side.

I really love how there's this big fancy banquet dinner where they invite all of the college exy teams, and they literally have to change in the locker room.

My high school did this band banquet, too. But we didn't have to fucking eat dinner out on the football field with our parents... We had the school cafeteria for the evening.

Out of touch author can't even think of a world where these idiots would want to rent a banquet hall. Oh no... it's got to be at the fucking stadium, for some unholy reason.

Judging by Neil's quick headcount, the Ravens hadn't brought dates. They hadn't brought any color along, either. All twenty-two of them were dressed head-to-toe in black. The twenty men wore the same shirts and slacks, and the two women wore identical dresses. They even sat the exact same way, all with their right elbows on the table, all of them with their chins in their hands. Another team might look foolish going so far, but somehow the Ravens looked imposing.

I joke about the fox characters outside of Neil, Kevin, and Andrew being cardboard cut-outs... but this ain't got nothing on those cardboard cutouts.

"I know who you are," Riko said. "Who here doesn't? You're the woman who captains a Class I team. You've done admittedly well despite your disadvantages."

CASUAL SEXISM.

The man to Riko's right stood up as soon as the Foxes were settled and walked behind the Ravens until he was across from Neil. Two fingers to the woman's shoulder got her out of her chair and she moved to the newly-emptied seat. The stranger sat across from Neil. As he did the Ravens fell out of their frozen poses, but they did so only to lean back as one in their chairs.

Did they practice this ahead of time?

The black three tattooed on his left cheekbone meant he could be no one but Jean Moreau.

Imagine getting a tattoo of a college sports number. Of which you would only get to play for a few years before being forced out.

It took him only a few seconds to realize the Ravens were coming. The entire team was crossing the court toward Kevin, walking in V formation like a flock of birds going south.

I can't with her descriptions of the Ravens. Like one team's colors are orange and white, and the other is black and red. ONE OF THEM IS GUD AND THE OTHER IS EBUL. THE RAVENS ARE EBUL, AND THEY'RE ALL HENCHMEN ROBOTS.

"We're sure it is," the Raven striker said, "seeing how you're dating a prostitute."

"Stripper," Dan corrected...

[…]

Neil tried not to stare at her. He would have dismissed the Raven's insult as an outright lie if not for Dan's easy response. Too late he remembered her telling him she'd worked an overnight job during high school to make ends meet.

THE AUTHOR DOES REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE TO BE 18 TO WORK JOBS LIKE THAT... RIGHT?! Like please tell me that the author didn't write about a 15 year old getting a job as a stripper.

This series is bad enough without needing to drag child strippers into the mix.

The others fell asleep within a few miles, but Neil spent the entire ride thinking about Riko and his father.

Chapter 6 summary: So it's time for the banquet. They do a random lottery draw where they decide which school will host the banquet this year. The school picked is only about four hours away. The banquet itself lasts for two days, in order to justify some of the travel time for those further away. However, the foxes are of the opinion “fuck that; we're not staying the entire two days”.

As they get closer to the school, Kevin starts to have a panic attack. As the others leave the bus, David gives Kevin some alcohol, and tells him to chug it. Which... yeah, that sounds fucking healthy. They have to change out in the locker room, which is fucking weird if you ask me. And then they go into the stadium, which has been turned into a banquet hall. The sight makes Neil angry, and mood. Rent a fucking banquet hall for this, assholes.

They're upset to see that the foxes are randomly supposed to be sitting across from the ravens. And the ravens are all dressed like evil henchmen, and are even randomly acting in unison. Talk about zero personality. David warned the others not to pick a fight, but obviously wasn't counting on Riko bringing his planet-sized ego with him. A rando Raven player named Jean-- who is the embodiment of every French stereotype you can think of-- starts to antagonize Neil, and calls him by a bunch of Neil's former names. He then moves on and starts insulting everybody else.

Their little pissing match goes on for a long while. But hey, it's not like anything else is going on, so this might as well happen, I guess. Finally, Riko antagonizes Neil into speaking, and Neil calls Riko out on his shit, saying that he's a whiny, entitled little brat who doesn't have anything going for him. Then, Jean and Riko start to act like they “own” Neil, which has fucking creepy slavery undertones to what they're saying.

David finally shows up to say that they're trying to move the foxes to another table. As they get up to leave, Jean can't help but name-drop Neil's father. The others rally around Kevin and Neil once they're away. Kevin is sent back to the bus to drink some more liquor, and Neil thinks about following. Not only that, but just fucking leaving. But he doesn't, because then this series would be put out of its misery.

After dinner, then they put all of the tables away and everybody starts socializing and networking. The ravens come over, act like they've never met the foxes before, but then continue to insult them. I'm really fucking over this. Riko's uncle and the raven coach comes over. The two teams awkwardly stare at one another, and the only thing this scene needs is some dramatic finger snapping. Tetsuji says that he ran fingerprint test off of a glass Neil drank out of back during that dumb morning talk show, and knows who he is. He yells at Neil about crimes that Neil's dad committed against The Family©, as if Neil himself personally did all of that. However, Neil stands his ground and refuses to be bullied by these assholes.

Matt finally drags Neil away, and threatens to tell the exy board about Riko's shit behavior and have him benched for the rest of the season. They all go back to the bus finally, and start to head home.

12 Days of Turn- “Cookies”

For those of you who may not be familiar with the young man in the corner, his name is Levi Tallmadge Ben’s 13-year-old little brother and the OC of @culper-spymaster​.  Her fic Band of Brothers (BoB) is absolutely amazing, so if you have not yet read it , please give it a look!  And I am sure by now you must have guessed that this is a crossover piece, it about the average length of a chapter and it was worked on by both Susan and myself.  We easily spent several days writing this for you all so if you like it please give it a like, comment, and/or reblog!

Levi was bored. Massively, and terribly bored. He and Zipporah had been in the damn wagon creeping by at a snail's pace along the wagon's trails for nearly an hour. The scenery didn't even change. It was the same trees and bushes all the way to Brookhaven. At least at the end of the journey, he'd get to see his father. His father. Who he hadn't seen in over a year. If only Benny and Sammy were there too, then they could have a real family holiday. But Ben was off fighting a war, and Sam was rotting away somewhere. It was just him and Zipporah for now. "Are we there yet?" Levi groaned ten minutes later. This journey was taking forever. Why did they have to take the wagon? "We're nearly there. Just a little farther," Zipporah chuckled patiently. As easy as it was to forget, Levi was just a normal 13-year-old boy, and it shone through, especially in moments like these. They continued on, but before long, the trees and bushes changed to small saltbox homes, large colonials, taverns, and shops. Finally, they were pulling in front of his grandfather Jim's house, a large colonial with pale shutters. His father was already waiting on the stoop, expectantly. Before the wagon even pulled to a full stop, Levi was jumping down and running towards his father. "Dad!" He exclaimed as he leaped into Nathaniel's arms. Zipporah stepped down from the wagon at a more subdued pace. "Levi, my boy! Look at you!" Nathaniel grinned, clutching his son tightly. "You're so tall! And your leg, it's good as new!" "Yeah, Zipporah was better than any doctor," Levi complimented as his father released him. "I'm sure she was," Nathaniel smiled sweetly, turning to Zipporah. "Hello, sweetheart." He leaned forward and gave Zipporah a deep kiss. Instantly, Levi's face scrunched up. "Ugh... I'm going to unpack the wagon," He grunted, turning his back to the lovesick couple, who simply chuckled.

Levi lugged the first of the trunks, likely Zipporah's, from the wagon, his father joining him shortly after watching him struggle with the trunk's weight. "How has she been, Levi?" Nathaniel asked under his breath.  It was purposefully quiet, obviously intended to reach Levi's ears only. "How has she really been?" Levi replied in the same tone, voice just above a whisper, "She has been dealing.  She visits with Anna as much as possible, and I have been trying to stay in and around the house if I can, just to make sure she doesn't worry too much about me. Auntie Loretta gave her job at Uncle Lucas's orchard, so that keeps her busy." Nathaniel sighed, helping his son move in the trunk into the foyer, glancing over to Zipporah waiting in the parlor. "I wish that she did not have to remain there," Nathaniel shifted his gaze down to Levi, "You as well.  I have already lost one of your brothers due to this damn war, it's also keeping me from seeing Benjamin, and now it must tear you from me as well." "It's ok, father. We'll be ok. I'll keep Zipporah safe, and don't worry about Benny. He can handle himself; Caleb will take care of him." Levi understood how Nathaniel felt.  He has seen things he never should have at his age because of the war.  He was becoming more and more used to being left behind because of this war.  But Levi did not say any of this.  He just offered his words of comfort, as empty as they may have been. Levi's struggle was not his father's and would give him no cause to think it was. Let him worry about Ben and pray for Sammy, but he will not be given any such strife by Levi. The men returned to the wagon, pulling out Levi's trunk and stacking it on top of Zipporah's.  Levi walked back to the doorway, intending to grab the last of the trunks, turning to search for his father.  Nathaniel stood just behind the parlor's line of sight, staring longingly into the room at Zipporah.  Levi rolled his eyes, groaning to himself, and called out behind him, walking out the door, "I'll get the last one, Dad! It'll be light, only presents." Levi lugged the light trunk from its position in the wagon, pulling it into his arms, and instantly regretted turning away his dad's help. Whatever Zipporah packed in here was as heavy as bricks.  As he was busy struggling with getting the trunk into his arms, a too-sweet familiar voice rang in his ears from a distance.  Unfortunately for Levi, he noticed it the same moment he pulled the trunk into his arms, promptly dropping it partly on his foot, causing a loud curse to slip out of his lips.

Adrienne Fairfax had decided that she hated taverns.  There was always someone to harass or someone harassing others.  First in York City with the young Tallmadge boy, now in Brookhaven with the tavern owner, and both over the cause of a room.  She ought to go to the local garrison and complain. There was not a single respectable establishment in this town, and so she had become frustrated enough to argue with the tavern owner in front of the building.  There was a loud, profane shout in the distance, a familiar shout.  Excusing herself from her heated argument with the man outside the tavern, Adrienne approached the uncovered wagon, and the raggedy little boy that had become more and more familiar to her stood there, leaning against the cart and cradling his foot, muttering another string of profanities under his breath.  Before Adrienne could approach him, a quaint brunette woman rushed from the house, a dirty blonde haired man following her to crowd around the poor boy as he tried to wave them away. "I'm fine, Dad. I just got distracted." "I thought you said it was light, Levi," the man, presumably his father, scolded. "I thought it was," Levi defended, "What did you put in there, Zipporah?" "Just the gifts," the brunette, who she could now identify as Zipporah, replied. The dirty blonde haired man, Levi's father, looked up, making eye contact with Adrienne and his demeanor changed immediately, "Zipporah, Levi, head inside." Zipporah followed his line of sight and nodded, placing a hand on Levi's shoulder, but he did not budge. His eyes, too, rested on Adrienne as he spoke. "Zipporah, head inside," he said, continuing before she could protest, "Everything is fine, just head inside." "Levi," Nathaniel whispered sharply, grasping Levi's arm tightly when the boy tried to stand, "This is not the time for more of your shenanigans." Levi did not reply, simply brushed him off with a brisk nod and began to limp over to Adrienne, grabbing her roughly by the arm and walking her out of earshot.  As they came to a stop, Levi spoke in a hushed and clipped tone, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" "I heard you scream; I came to see if you were alright," Adrienne replied indifferently. "Not that," he said, clenching his jaw, "What are you doing in Brookhaven?  This is borderline stalking me." "It is not!" she defended, a wave of sudden anger seeping into her tone, "My horses needed to be changed, one had an incident with the ferry, and now we are stuck here for the night." She huffed, her tone becoming short, "Believe me when I say I have no such desire to stay here." Levi examined her face for a moment in the silence before he cracked a grin and started to laugh, "You couldn't get a room, could you? That's why you were arguing at the tavern?" Adrienne flushed a rather pretty shade of pink from her embarrassment but offered no rebuttal. Levi, still allowing a short chuckle to escape from his lips, spoke, "You go get that fancy little carriage of yours taken care of, and I'll see what I can do about a place to stay." His eyes shifted behind him, to his father staring worriedly at his son as they discussed, "As soon as I go talk to my dad." Adrienne gave a short nod and returned to her carriage as he requested, leaving Levi to explain the predicament he just placed them in to his father.

Nathaniel took Levi in his arm as he returned, "Levi, what on earth could such a girl want with you?" "What? You don't think I can get a gal like her? I'm a catch," Levi responded, appalled. His father just looked back impassively. "Relax. Lady Fairfax just wanted to make sure I was ok." Nathaniel's eyes grew wide, and he bit back a gasp as he pulled Levi closer, dropping to a whisper, "Lady Fairfax?  What on earth could she want with you?" "Oh," Levi replied cheerfully, his voice remaining at regular volume, "We know each other.  I wouldn't say we're friends, but I like to think I'm growing on her. Like fungi." "You know each other?" Nathaniel whispered, shock clear in his voice, "Levi, what did you do?" "Just now or the first time I met her?" "I have a feeling that the answer 'just now' will do me far more good." "She was having troubles with the tavern owner in securing a room for the night, so I told her I would find somewhere for her to stay." "And where," Nathaniel began, his voice exhausted, "Exactly is that?" "With us, of course," Levi replied as if the answer should have been obvious. "Levi!" his father exclaimed, sighing, "Have you lost your mind?  She can't stay here with us." "Why not?" "I-" Nathaniel was stuttering over words, stumbling for an answer.  Finally, he found one as he began, "Because there aren't enough beds." "You and Zipporah can share," his father gaped at him, scandalized, "It would do you both some good." "Absolutely not.  That young lady cannot stay with us." "Who cannot stay with us?"  Zipporah's voice rang clear from the doorway, causing both of them to turn their attentions' to her. "The girl by the cart earlier," Nathaniel replied at the same time Levi did. "My friend."

At the word 'friend,' Zipporah's eyes flicked over to Levi, raising her eyebrow curiously. 'Friend' wasn't a term used often or lightly around the boy. Then furrowing her brow, she approached Nathaniel, wrapping her hands around the front opening of his coat, "And why can Levi's friend not stay with us, my dear?" Levi watched, amused, as he saw his father's mind go blank as she peered up at him, smiling sweetly.  He tried his best to protest, his attempts suddenly half-hearted, "Zipporah, she's a Lady, aristocracy." She hummed in acknowledgment, allowing her hands to run down from the top of his coat to the middle, "And how does that affect anything?" This time Nathaniel could do nothing but stutter and trip on his own tongue; Levi even bet that the rather loud snort that escaped him went unnoticed by the man as his mind short-circuited. "Yes," Zipporah hummed, "I think that we can more than accommodate another person here.  I will have my things placed in your room for the time being." She turned to Levi, still smiling sweetly, "How many nights would she be staying with us?" "Uh, good question," Levi shrugged, "Didn't ask." "Alright, well, you go fetch her," She turned back to Nathaniel, who appeared to be coming out of his trance, and smiled sweetly, "And we shall go prepare the rooms upstairs?" His father let out a pathetic noise that could have been a yes, or a whimper, causing Levi to crackle with the laughter that attempted to escape his lips.  Nathaniel cleared his throat, shaking his head clear before nodding firmly and heading into the house quickly with Zipporah strolling leisurely in behind him. As they disappeared into the house, Levi took running after Adrienne towards the tavern. Adrienne was talking to a footman in the livery stable beside the tavern when he arrived. "Alright, got it all sorted. You're staying with us. Zipporah got involved, and my dad sang like a canary. Or rather... didn't sing," Levi told her, as she finished her conversation, the footman walking off.

"Are you sure I am not imposing?" Adrienne asked him. "Nah. Just let me and Zipporah worry about my father. What Zipporah gets involved, he's a lovesick pushover," Levi responded, grinning as he started walking back to Grandpa Jim's with Adrienne. "Especially since he hasn't seen her in over a year." "Why isn't your dad in Setauket with you?" Adrienne asked him, curious as to why his father was living so far away from his loved ones. "There was...an incident in Setauket last year," Levi hedged slightly, thinking back to August of 1777. "One of the Redcoats in town basically went crazy. They were rounding up Patriots, and they were going to send them to the Jersey. But this soldier...he decided to defy orders and hang the Patriots instead. The outcome was one hanging, a dozen or so dead Continentals, and I was shot." Adrienne pulled to a stop in shock, eyes grown wide as she stared at the boy. "Surely you are not referring to any such soldier of His Majesty's Army?" Adrienne questioned. "You bet your fancy, pretty little ass, I am," Levi replied. "The soldier in question is now Captain of the Queen's Rangers." "And it truly happened?" she spectated, electing to ignore parts of his reply, "I have never been given cause to believe such tales, though I have heard many of misconduct before." "Of course, it happened, and I have the limp and scar on my leg to prove it," Levi replied as they approached the colonial home. "What other reason would my father have to live over an hour away from us?" Adrienne furrowed her brow slightly, careful with her questioning, "And they gave the officer, a presumed gentleman, in question a promotion for such abhorrent and disgraceful behavior?" "I'd use the term 'promotion' loosely. Same rank and he isn't even technically part of the Royal Army anymore. But no, he didn't get punished," Levi told her as they stood facing each other in front of Levi's Grandpa Jim's colonial. "Anyway, this is where we're staying." Adrienne had intended to question the boy further on what he meant by 'no longer a part of the Royal Army' but was stopped by the house itself. "Oh," she began, taking in the flat and simple facade. "It is certainly very," she trailed off for a moment before continuing, "American?" "Thanks," Levi grinned. "My Grandpa Jim built it." Adrienne hummed politely, thinking to herself, 'It certainly looks it.' Thankfully, she was saved from having to search for a polite reply by the dirty blonde man, Levi's father, who had come out to the porch to greet them.  She almost took pity on the man. He looked terrified, as severely as he attempted to hide such a thing.  He brought his hand around her but abstained from touching her silks, leaving his hand hovering just off from her back as he motioned with his other hand inside the house.  Levi bounded forward, rushing inside to a room full of casually chatting voices and the sound of a crackling fire, leaving Adrienne to stand alone in the hall with his father, as well as the horribly awkward tension rolling off the man in waves. "Lady Fairfax, I presume? Please make yourself at home," Nathaniel greeted the young lady, then with a sheepish smile, "I do hope my son hasn't been causing you too much trouble?" "Only the necessary kind," she assured him as warmly as she could, "Though, dare I say that he might be incapable of avoiding most of the trouble he encounters." Adrienne gave the man a slight curtsy as her mother taught her to greet him properly, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Tallmadge." "Please, call me Nathaniel. Zipporah should be upstairs setting up your room if you would like to go get yourself settled," Nathaniel informed her, gesturing up the stairs. "Your room will be the first on the right." She nodded to him politely and made her way up the stairs, aware of his stare on her back the entire time.  The door to the bedroom was open, finding it exactly where Nathaniel told her it would be.  The room was positioned so that she would hear any and all footsteps in the upstairs hall and on the stairs, both a blessing and a curse. There was the brunette, Zipporah, dressed in a somewhat pretty floral pierrot jacket and a dark green colored quilted petticoat.  She was humming a jaunty tune to herself as she unfolded and tucked bedsheets, stopping in her actions to look over her shoulder at the sound of Adrienne in the doorway. "You must be Levi's friend. I am Zipporah, Nathaniel's fiancee," Zipporah introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady…?" Zipporah raised an eyebrow in question, waiting for Adrienne to finish the introduction. "Fairfax," Adrienne offered, "Lady Adrienne Fairfax of Virginia." She made sure to give the woman before her the same courtesy given to Nathaniel, greeting her with a curtsy and a nod of her head in acknowledgment. Zipporah went back to preparing the bed. "I was rather shocked to hear that Levi had a friend, let alone a female friend," Zipporah told Adrienne casually. "He's a 13-year-old boy, after all. Half his mind still thinks girls are gross, while the other half is saying girls are pretty. So I am rather curious as to how you two came to meet."   "He tried to bribe me out of my room in York city," Adrienne replied plainly in her sweet tone, leaning against the doorway slightly, "An endeavor in which he did not succeed.  And then proceeded to act as my valet for the duration of my stay in the city." Zipporah let out a breathy laugh. "He didn't steal your key and lock you out of your room, so call yourself fortunate," she chuckled, shaking her head at the boy's antics as she tucked in the bed's sheets. "Likely because my key was not on my person," Adrienne offered the woman, "It was in the possession of my godfather, Lord Howe, who I had come to York city to visit." At that, Zipporah's head snapped to look at Adrienne, eyes wide. "Lord Howe? As in William Howe, the British Royal Army general?" Adrienne smiled at the recognition, affirming her supposition, "Yes, Madam.  The very same." Zipporah was impassive for a moment before shaking her head with a small smile, snorting in a very unladylike fashion. "And suddenly everything makes sense," she muttered under her breath, almost too low for Adrienne to hear. Adrienne furrowed her brow, approaching slowly so that they were no longer speaking freely across the small room, "I am afraid I do not follow.  What precisely makes sense now?" Zipporah's eyes flicked up at her in shock, the gears in her head working viciously. "Sorry, that is way above my station of knowledge and definitely above yours," Zipporah told her after a moment. "If you were meant to know, you'd know already." "And who," Adrienne spoke low in tone, stepping too close to Zipporah for the brunette's own comfort zone, "Says that I do not." "The fact that you had to ask says you do not, my Lady," Zipporah stated simply. "Funny," she replied impartially, "I was under the assumption that the youngest Mr. Tallmadge was assisting his elder brother by visiting a few friends in the city.  Few as they may be." Adrienne smiled innocently at her, "But what would I know." "When it comes to Levi, helping his brother is all the information you need to know. Trust me, the less you know, the better," Zipporah sighed tiredly, suddenly exhausted. "Well, he has done a miserable job at that," Adrienne laughed quietly before smiling comfortingly at Zipporah, "But it takes one to know one, I suppose." "He's done better than you might think. Levi has a good sense of one's character. But what do I know about all this? I'm just the mom," Zipporah shrugged. "I am sure," Adrienne agreed, "Which is why I will not be mentioning to the Major how it took less than five minutes to get him to admit to such activity." Clearing her throat, Adrienne ran her hands over her immaculate silk skirts, flattening non-existent wrinkles, "The trunk needs to be partially unpacked. The Mulberry silk doesn't take well to being closed up for too long.  If there is anything I could do to help you, please let me know; otherwise, I think it best to excuse myself and leave you to finish here." "Well, they're your clothes. Make yourself useful and unpack them, then, young lady," Zipporah responded in an unintentional 'Mom' voice. Adrienne, who had already turned towards the door, turned back around to look at Zipporah, who now had her back facing the blonde, with her mouth slightly agape.  Zipporah looked over her shoulder, raised an eyebrow at the young woman, and then pointedly looked at Adrienne's traveling chest.  Now, Adrienne was aware that she had offered her assistance, but she had not expected the other woman to take her up on the offer.  She hesitantly approached the trunk, opening it as she attempted to keep her skirts from gathering dirt by brushing the floor.  Crouching down with skirts in hand, Adrienne unpacked the fussy silks with perhaps a bit more struggle than she would have liked, courtesy of her hat.  As she did her best to unpack, Adrienne could hear the humming as Zipporah returned to the sheets, noting when it stopped more by the intense stare the brunette had fixed on her back as she watched the blonde struggle unpack than the lack of sound. "You doing ok over there?" Zipporah asked, not taking her eyes off the girl. "Yes, of course," Adrienne replied politely, utterly unaware of just how out of breath she sounded.  This should be easy, but the bending and interference of her skirts, lace, and accessories was proving to make the task quite challenging. "Alright," Zipporah answered skeptically. "Just looking like you aren't used to unpacking your own trunk." Adrienne flushed a light pink across her cheeks and looked sheepishly to Zipporah, knowing there were no words that could defend her in this situation.  Adrienne may have been some form of great lady, but that mattered very little in this quaint country house. "If you really need the help, I can go get Levi to help you unpack. Sorry to say, we don't have any other ladies in the household," Zipporah offered sweetly, behind a poorly hidden, devilish smirk. Adrienne's flush suddenly turned a very light pale at the idea.  If there was one thing that she had learned from her week with the young boy, it was that he could be absolutely relentless in his teasing.  Especially whenever it was something that any average person would have been perfectly capable of, not being so squeamish as to shy away from it.  But before she replied, declining the offer, Adrienne weighed her choices.  She could stay here herself and attempt to unpack the trunk, leaving her in an incredibly disheveled state when she returned to her hosts, or she could bite the bullet and suffer through the teasing from the younger boy but at least maintain some sense of dignity, if not propriety.  With a slightly defeated sigh, Adrienne conceded, "That would be much appreciated, Madam.  Thank you." Instantly, Zipporah raised an eyebrow in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that. She had been expecting the younger girl to decline out of pride. Didn't really matter to Zipporah, she got to be entertained either way, but now she would have endless enjoyment from seeing Levi having to touch ladies undergarments. Oh lord, when Benjamin and Caleb heard of this…. "As you wish," Zipporah said, inclining her head before sweeping from the room. However, she wasn't going to go all the way downstairs, just to come back up. Standing at the top landing, she leaned over the railing and yelled. "Levi! Get your butt up here!!" Adrienne stumbled at the sudden yelling as she attempted to rise to her feet, almost sweeping her flat onto the floor.  To say that she was unused to such noise and ruckus would be acceptable in any other place. Women and men of her breeding were usually far more gentile and subdued in their tone and volume.  But she allowed the complaint to slip through her mind, keeping such comments to herself, opting instead to reach out and catch herself, her skin getting pale again, just as it was regaining some color. 'So much for dignity,' she thought. With loud stomping, Levi came stomping up the stairs, pulling to a stop on the top landing beside Zipporah, an irritating look on his face. "What the hell, Zipporah?" "Help Lady Fairfax unpack her trunk," Zipporah ordered him, none too gently. Levi's eyes quickly flicked from Adrienne to Zipporah and back. "Why? Can't she do it?" He shrugged, annoyed. It was just a trunk. Any normal person could unpack a trunk. "You're doing it because I'm telling you to do it. Now go," Zipporah ordered sternly, pointing to the trunk beside Adrienne in the guest room. Levi let out a dramatic groan before turning and stomping over to Adrienne. Adrienne had seen such behavior from the boy before, mostly complaining about how his arms ached from carrying 'absurd amounts of bags and boxes' whenever Lord Howe and her went out to peruse the city's shops. Still, this time Adrienne did not find herself playfully annoyed.  This time she truly felt as if she was the annoyance, however clear as it may be that Levi was pulling their leg.  She stared silently as he approached the trunk, moving a step away from her. Crouching down, he started pulling clothes from the trunk. Quilted petticoats, silk petticoats, jackets, gowns, panniers, chemise, cloaks, muff, hats, and lace. All types of clothes. Some looked the same. Others looked different. Levi didn't quite understand why she had to have two or three petticoats that looked nearly identical. He pulled out another garment and looked at it curiously. "What the hell is this?" Adrienne looked down at the pure white piece that was being held in the boy's hands, a soft linen chemise, and she blanched, practically fainting at the very idea of such a thing being put on display.  It would make sense that he had never seen one before, and surely the boy did not know that such an item was meant to be handled discretely. Adrienne's floundering suddenly made her wish she had a fan behind which she could hide, but of course, her fans were packed underneath the rest of the garments. "My apologies, I thought I had gotten the last of those already." "That doesn't answer my question. Actually, you seem to actively be avoiding my question," Levi responded, his piercing blue eyes flicking up to burrow into Adrienne. Zipporah stifled a laugh behind her hand from her spot against the door jam, where she was watching the exchange. "So I repeat, what the hell is it?" Adrienne braced herself against the bed as she replied as quickly and meekly as possible. "It is a," she paused, swallowing in an attempt to keep her wits about her before she fainted back onto the bed out of sheer embarrassment, "Chemise.  It is a lady's chemise." Levi immediately let out a loud yelp, dropping the chemise. Zipporah tried to hold back her laughs, she really did. But nope, she couldn't do it. The laughs came bubbling out, and soon, she was laughing loudly, with only the door jam holding her up. Levi glared over at her, eyes narrowed in accusation. "Zipporah, did you just play me?" "No, no. Lady Fairfax really does need help unpacking," Zipporah laughed, finally taking control of herself. "Then you can do it," Levi growled, getting up and stomping off to his room across the hall, irritation, and embarrassment rolling off him in waves. The bedroom door slammed loudly behind him, the silence echoing off the walls afterward. Adrienne, attempting to diffuse the tension, spoke softly to Zipporah, "Well, I think that went well.  All things considered." "For Levi, definitely," Zipporah chuckled as she reentered the room and crouched down next to the trunk. She picked up the discarded garments and started putting them away in drawers. "Thank you," Adrienne offered, sitting on the edge of the bed till the lightheadedness went away. "You'll excuse me," she suggested as she sat, feeling bad for leaving the woman to the clothing. "I am afraid I'm feeling incredibly faint, and I would be terribly embarrassed to pass out in front of you." She had minimal dignity left, but by god, she would cling to it as best she could. Zipporah nodded sympathetically. "Take the time you need. Is there anything I can do for you?" Zipporah asked, looking up at the girl. Zipporah supposed she wouldn't give her too much more of a hard time, she probably did have a long day. Adrienne knew her answer should be a glass of Madeira. She had heard enough from McHenry during her Christmas at Valley Forge to know that it was a fine replenishment for the blood and often helped best when an individual was faint.  But she did not ask, knowing that she had asked plenty already. "Oh, no, thank you.  I do not want to be a further burden to you, Mrs. Tallmadge." "It's not a problem. To be fair, we have tortured you enough for one evening. The least we can do is offer you some comforts," Zipporah responded, putting the last of the clothes away. "However, if you'd prefer to be left alone and get settled, I can leave you be." "Oh, I would hate to be rude," Adrienne began, smiling weakly, "But I would also hate to take time away from you all sharing it with each other." To be honest, she was desperate to curl up in her dressing robe with her books and forget all that had occurred today. "I truly appreciate that," Zipporah told Adrienne earnestly. "You look exhausted. I will leave you be." Zipporah nodded in her direction, then swept from the room, leaving Adrienne alone.

Adrienne sat in the bed, sheets haphazardly thrown over her legs, candlelight burning over her shoulder as she read. The sun had begun setting already in the window, casting shadows over the room that went unnoticed.  She barely noticed the soft knock on the door, her attention being drawn by the unusually soft voice belonging to Levi. 'He must be terrified to enter now,' she mused, pulled her dressing gown closer around her as she closed her book. "Yes?" she called softly to the still-closed door. "Can I come in?" His voice was soft and slightly sheepish. "You mean am I decent?" she teased, continuing tenderly, "Because if so, the answer is yes.  You may come in." The bedroom door quietly opened, and the boy stood awkwardly in the doorway, shuffling on his feet and avoiding eye contact. It made him look pitifully small and young. "Would you mind helping me with something?" He asked, his hands fidgeting behind his back. "Depends. What is it?" She bookmarked her page with a ribbon and placed the book in her lap. "I am afraid you might have to wait for me to get dressed again." "That's fine. I want to surprise Zipporah and my dad with Christmas cookies when they get back from their date...but I don't know how to make them. Or anything else, for that matter," Levi told her, finally glancing up at her with those big, blue eyes. Adrienne's heart melted slightly at the sweeter side of the boy; she sympathized with his request. She remembered making many a gift for her own parents, made mostly out of things that made her mother very cross with her.  She had lost count of how many curtains she had terrorized for the same cause. "Of course," she nodded, "But I am afraid it will be a learning experience for both of us." There was a pause before Adrienne continued, cautiously, "What exactly would be appropriate for a kitchen, as far as attire goes?" Levi let out a bark of laughter, but with her, not at her. "Something casual, something you wouldn't mind getting dirty. But don't worry, we have aprons. I'll meet you downstairs," Levi grinned, turning on his heel and sprinting excitedly from the room. Adrienne huffed, forcing herself from the warmth of the bed to the dresser.  Usually, she would not have to assemble her own outfits, but she never minded doing so.  Adrienne enjoyed her clothes far too much to ever complain about such a thing.  After lots of searching, she found a simple blue long-sleeved gown, donning a warm winter lace fichu, short entanglements, and a light blue sash around the waist.  Adrienne left her hair in the smoothly assembled half-up style that Zipporah had offered gladly to do for her and descended down the stairs. "Levi?" she called out, the house silent besides the crackling of the fires, providing warmth to the house. Upon entering the kitchen, Adrienne saw Levi in the corner, pulling a large bag of flour from the pantry. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at her, seeing she was fully dressed in casual wear. "Apron is on the chair if you want it. Once you got that taken care of, can you get a fire started in the oven?" Levi grumbled out, dragging the flour across the floor towards the counter and the bowl sitting on top. Adrienne approached the chair, wrapping the apron around her waist as she watched him struggle with the flour. "Do you always take on more than you can carry, or is that just today?" "I'm the youngest of three boys, both are...were soldiers and Yale graduates. This is totally normal. I got a lot to live up to. I have to make a name for myself somehow," Levi explained, pulling a knife out to cut the top of the bag open. "And will you be attending Yale as well then, Mr. Tallmadge?" Adrienne asked, still watching him from where she stood as he worked. "That was the plan, before the war. But since the war broke out, I haven't really been to school. So right now...I essentially only have a fifth-grade education," Levi replied, setting the knife down and hefting the bag of flour into his arms. As he went to dump the flour into the bowl, instead of pouring in moderation, the whole bag dumped out into the bowl with an ungracious flour cloud. "Oops," Levi coughed, waving the flour cloud out of his face, his whole head and torso coated in flour. Adrienne laughed, ignoring the light flour dusting her skirts and bodice received, having fun at Levi's expense. "You know, I think that perhaps that a bit too much face powder, but if you are certain, I can go grab my rouge, and I am certain you will be very handsome, Mr. Tallmadge." "Are you calling me ugly? I'm a dream, a total catch, the complete package. Girls are beating down my front door," Levi responded, dramatically scandalized at the insinuation that he wasn't already handsome. "Can you start the fire in the oven while I get the eggs and powdered coriander seed?" "I would love to," Adrienne began, laughing gleefully at the younger boy's antics, "Just one question.  How does one light a fire?" "There's some flint in the top drawer, and kindling is by the fireplace. Just put the kindling in the oven and spark the flint," Levi explained, chuckling slightly. "Right, spark the flint," she trailed off, "And how would one do that exactly?" Levi sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. "Ok, change of plans. I'll start the fire, and you get the eggs and coriander seed. Coriander seed is in the pantry, eggs are in the cellar," Levi told her, pointing to the pantry on the side of the kitchen. Adrienne nodded, heading first to the cellar with a candlestick.  She wasted no time down in the dark underground storage space behind the house, climbing back out with several eggs carefully put into a basket.  Entering the kitchen once more, she placed the basket on the counter atop of a small mountain of flour that had seemingly missed its intended target. Next, Adrienne pulled out the glass jar of the Coriander seeds and placed them on the table as well, chuckling as Levi cried out triumphant when the fire sparked to a comfortable roar. Levi turned back to Adrienne, nodding in approval as he saw the eggs and the coriander seeds. Turning to the countertop, he pulled a slightly floury cookbook towards him. "So...we need sugar, and the coriander seeds need to be powdered," he read, brushing the flour from the pages. "If you want to powder the seeds, I'll get the sugar. The mortar and pestle are on the counter, right there." Adrienne took a moment to cheer as she turned to find the bowl and tool.  This she knew precisely how to do.  Her father used to make his own various herbal concoctions as experiments and oftentimes would let her help him.  She could distinctly remember that he would wrap his hands around hers and walk her through the motions of the tool while tucked away in one of Belvoir's greenhouses.  She leaned over Levi to look at the recipe in order to discern the amount required, not noticing just how close she was to the boy as she peered down at the flour-coated book. Instantly, Levi flinched away from the close contact. He hated fast movements or unpredictable movements. He stumbled a bit before regaining composure, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I'll just...get the sugar," he rasped out awkwardly, turning his back on her and entering the pantry for the bag of sugar. Adrienne furrowed her brow but let the boy go, happy to sing softly to herself as she crushed the seeds, motions careful and well-rehearsed, constantly shifting eyes to the door Levi had disappeared through, then back to the cookbook and her hands as they worked.  She was attentive this time, to when the door creaked back open, her singling trailing off as Levi entered. "At least if this one gets everywhere, it's delicious," Levi commented as he pulled the smaller bag of sugar out on his shoulder, slamming it down on the countertop beside the bowl full of flour as he stepped up next to Adrienne. This time it was Adrienne's turn to flinch away as a small pile of flower rose.  She was certain that it could be played off as simply being startled by the sudden slam. Men loved to believe that women were fragile, delicate little things, so there was no reason she should not get away with it. "Levi-" Adrienne began before cutting herself off. She was likely not going to like the answer to her question, so she decided to leave the boy alone for the time being. Once again, Levi took the knife and slit open the top of the bag. This time when he poured it, though, he took hold of the top corner, hoping to be able to control the moderation slightly better. Once he had the appropriate amount, he set the bag on the ground. "Let's see if I can crack these eggs without making a mess, shall we?" Levi laughed as he picked up one of the eggs. He slammed the egg on the edge of the bowl, way too hard, causing the whole egg to crumble and egg yolk and egg white to get all over the countertop. "Oops...again," Levi mumbled, the shell's remnants crushed between his fingers. Adrienne tried only barely to stop herself from full out laughing at him. "You will ruin all the eggs like that,  are eggs not usually cracked carefully?  Because if so you, have done a miserable job." Levi glared up at her. "Yeah, they are," He grumbled. "But I'm not particularly good at the 'gentle' aspect of things. If you need someone roughed up, though, I'm your man." He grabbed the basket of eggs and pushed it towards Adrienne. "You give it a shot, then, if you're so skilled," He mocked, crossing his arms. Adrienne huffed, moving the basket even closer to her before taking an egg out and attempting to crack it, but unlike Levi, her attempt was so gentle the egg did not crack at all.  She huffed and tried again, still nothing, and then she repositioned herself and hit it harder against the counter, causing it to shatter and splatter all over Adrienne's hands and Levi's front.  Adrienne cracked a grin at him as he was now covered with flour, some light sugar, and now two eggs, "Well, I think it is certainly clear that you are closer to becoming a cookie than whatever is inside that bowl." "As long as we don't put me in the oven, I'm fine with that," Levi shot back. "Though it's clear that neither of us is skilled at egg cracking." He picked up another egg to try again, posing his hand over the edge of the bowl. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he tapped the egg against the bowl. A slight crack appeared in the shell of the egg, causing a small smile to blossom on Levi's face. Prying his nails into the crack, like he'd seen Zipporah do many times, he slowly pried the two halves of the eggshell apart, the yolk and white sliding goopily into the bowl with a loud plop. Adrienne cried out with a cheer, causing Levi's smile to spread a bit wider as she moved back across the table to hand him the cookbook. "So, Mr. Baking Extraordinaire, what will you have me doing next?" she teased, wiping her yolk covered hands on the apron tied around her waist before plopping herself onto the chair at the side of the table. "Have I complained about how exhausting this is yet?" she asked, "I hate to sound repetitive." "Actually, you have not. So you're allowed a complaint," Levi teased with a grin as he cautiously cracked one more egg into the bowl. He looked over the bowl to the cookbook being offered to him. "We need some butter and a cup of milk. The butter is still in the churn, easy enough. Just scoop it out and plop it in. Milk is in the cellar. Then it says we need to knead it together." "Ok," she sighed, rising to her feet once again, "I will take the cellar and leave you to your churn." She smirked playfully at him as she made her way to the door, skirts dragging behind her as she took a candle once more and headed out the back door.  The temperature had either dropped significantly, or that kitchen was hotter than it seemed. Adrienne was practically shaking as she collected the milk, thinking to herself, 'It better not be frozen.  That would seriously dampen my mood at the moment.' Success was found when the milk was indeed still a liquid. She toted one small carton up the stairs with some slight struggle. "Mr. Tallmadge, I believe I have-" she cut off as he stared at Levi, frustratingly scraping at the churn, "Are you alright?" "Yeah, there's just some butter stuck to the bottom. This would be so much easier if I had already hit my growth spurt," He grumbled as he tried to scrape the butter from the bottom, plopping the little bits he could with the large pile of butter that was already sitting on the countertop. Adrienne approached the table, placing the jug of milk down on the table. "Do we really need this much butter?" she asked, "It seems a bit excessive to me, but what do I know." "The recipe says a pound of butter. Pick that up. Does it feel like a pound?" Levi replied nonchalantly. Adrienne opened her mouth to speak but promptly closed it, hesitating for a moment before doing as she was told.  She turned to Levi, awkwardly cupping the butter in her hands, "I have no idea.  The only experience I have with weight measuring is marzipan, money, and jewelry." Levi shrugged. "Does it matter? A pound of feathers, a pound of bricks, either way, it's still a pound," He stated logically as he stood up, wiping his hands off on his breeches. "Fair enough," she sighed, "In that case, I think that we have enough." She awkwardly dropped it into the bowl and wiped her hands off on the borrowed apron. "So," Adrienne motioned at the flour-covered table, "What is next?" "Put in the milk, and mix it all together. Easy peasy," Levi said simply as he grabbed the milk jug. Adrienne took a step back as he did so.  Levi cast her a judging glance, and she replied, "Just pointing out that you have not had a great track record tonight, and while you may have very little salvageable dignity at the moment, I still have plenty." Levi paused a moment, deciding whether or not to be insulted. Finally, he shrugged. "Ok, valid point," he nodded. He grasped the jug firmly, gathered himself, and then poured a cup or so of milk into the bowl. As he pulled the jug back, in his haste, the milk sloshed over the edge of the jug and onto his face, soaking his bangs. He blinked his eyes rapidly against the milky onslaught. A glare was sent Adrienne's way by Levi as she laughed at his plight.  The boy was quite a sight now and would undoubtedly need to seriously clean up before his father and Zipporah returned.  Adrienne stepped back again as she spoke, "I stand corrected. There is no dignity left to be recovered, Mr. Tallmadge." "I would glare, but you...might have a point. I never did say I could cook. Which is why I asked for your help. You're a girl. You're supposed to know these things," Levi stated, thinking this was the most apparent train of thought. "If I was supposed to know this, I assure you between my parents, maids, governess, and tutors, I would have been taught to full proficiency." She looked him up and down, trying not to laugh, "If it makes you feel any better, I think you are doing an excellent job for your first time cooking!" "That actually does make me feel better, thank you," Levi said as he pulled out a wooden spoon. Dipping the spoon into the bowl, he started to mix all the ingredients together into a dough. With the bowl wedged against his chest, he used all the muscles he had to turn each separate ingredient, the milk, the eggs, the flour, the sugar, into a single product. Adrienne took this moment to sit down at the table for a moment's rest, watching him tiredly.  Watching as he began to shape the cookies, "How long should they bake?" she asked quietly, not wanting to disturb him. "Only 15 minutes," Levi told her as he pulled out a baking stone and placed small lumps of sugar cookie dough on the stone. He ripped off a small chunk of dough and held it out to Adrienne. "Dough?" She looked up at him, her face unintentionally confused in the way a naive child might be. "What for?" she asked, genuinely curious about his offer.  Her mother had never so much as allowed anything even slightly imperfect on her dining tables, and to be honest, Adrienne could not locate the kitchens in her own house without asking someone for guidance.  Levi looked at her equally confused, so Adrienne explained, "My mother never let me even venture into the kitchens, this might be the first time I have seen cookie dough, so I genuinely do not know why it is being offered." "Damn. And I thought my childhood was depressing," Levi responded, still holding the dough out. "Well, you have no choice now. I am forcing this upon you. Raw cookie dough is the best thing to ever grace human existence." He practically pushed the dough under Adrienne's nose. Adrienne leaned back in the chair to avoid the dough touching her skin, laughing lightly as she accepted the piece from his hands as she replied, "There is plenty more where that came from. My childhood was one of many rules and prying eyes." She cautiously broke off an even smaller piece in her fingers.  Her face lit up, shifting from amusement to delight once she tried it. "I will concede to you this time; cookie dough is absolutely a delicacy in my books now, Mr. Tallmadge." "See, told you," Levi grinned as he popped his own small piece of dough into his mouth before continuing to put small, little lumps of dough on the baking stone. Once there was no dough left, and the stone was filled, he picked it up and walked over to the oven set into the brick next to the fireplace. "Mind opening the door for me," Levi asked, his hands full with the baking stone. "Of course," Adrienne jumped to her feet, walking quickly over to the fireplace that was set into the side of the kitchen. She opened the small door that was the baking oven. Levi slowly slid the baking stone into the oven, closing the door behind it. "Alright, we'll check on it in 15 minutes," Levi told Adrienne as he stepped back from the oven. He went over to one of the chairs and slumped down into it. "Whoo, I'm exhausted now." Adrienne nodded, "I told you that about 30 minutes ago.  This is exhausting." A moment of silence passed before Adrienne spoke up again, "Would you find it horribly impolite if I went to go fetch my book?" "Nah, go right ahead," Levi said as he laid his head down for a second. Just a second, he promised. Adrienne did as she promised, ascending the stairs in search of her book, which he could not help but read on her way down.  Except, reading in motion always made her nauseous, so she figured she could sit down on the bed and read a page.  Or two. Voltaire's philosophy was always so entrancing to the blonde.

"What in Heaven and Earth is going on here?" Levi stumbled out of his chair as the booming voice of his father rang through the kitchen, barely catching himself on the countertop. Righting himself, he spun around to see both his dad and Zipporah standing in the kitchen's doorway. "Dad! You're home early!" Levi looked from his dad and Zipporah to the mess of a kitchen around him. Flour everywhere, sugar everywhere, puddles of milk, eggshells, egg whites, and egg yolks all over the countertops and floor. And Levi didn't look much better. "Umm...I can explain," Levi stated awkwardly, his hands fidgeting and feet shuffling. "I sure hope so, young man," Nathaniel responded sternly, crossing his arms and not taking his eyes off his youngest son. "Umm….I just thought... I'd surprise you and Zipporah with Christmas cookies. They're still baking, though. I wrangled Adrienne into helping me," Levi told his father, refusing to look at him. Instantly, both Nathaniel and Zipporah's faces softened. "Let's see how well you did then, shall we?" Zipporah said with a sweet, gentle smile as she went over to the oven and opened it up, pulling out the baking stone. The cookies were just about done, so she pulled them out and set them on the counter to cool. "These look delicious, Levi," Zipporah picking one up and taking a delicate bite. "Not bad for a first try." "You like them?" Levi looked up at Zipporah hopefully. "I do. You and Lady Fairfax did an excellent job, thank you," Zipporah said, kissing him on the forehead, making a face as she pulled away. "But you really need a bath, young man." Both Nathanial and Levi started laughing at the same time. She wasn't wrong. Levi was a mess. Zipporah ushered the boys upstairs, making sure to leave Levi to be put to bed under his father's care, knowing full well that no matter how filthy he is, he will find a way to smuggle himself to bed without washing up first and soil all his sheets.  She knocked quietly on Adrienne's bedroom door, creaking it open when no response was received to find the candles still burning, but the girl fast asleep atop the pillows, apron wrapped around her waist and a long streak of flour going down the side of her face. Zipporah removed the filthy apron, gently wiping away the flour from the younger girl's face and snuffing out the candles in the room.  She chuckled to herself at the book in the blonde's hands as she marked the page and placed it away.  Finally, before closing the door, she looked back at the girl, shaking her head at the antics of the two young people.  Her hesitation allowed Nathaniel to sneak up behind her as she was winding down. "They are to bed now, my dear," he stood directly behind her, placing his hands tenderly on her waist, "I think it is time we retire as well." Turning their backs on the sleeping children, Adrienne in her room and Levi in his, Zipporah and Nathaniel walked silently, hand in hand, to their bedroom down the hall, the door snapping shut behind them. The only noise left in the silent home was the breathing of the children and creaking of the old house.

K. Hayes -  All My Own in a Big Red Bow

A/N: This is for @hockeyandtaylorswift​, for Christmas. She requested it and I love her and she deserves the world. Also I posted this on my phone so I could get it out asap. Sorry if the formatting suffered.

Prompts:

23. “Chocolate chip is the only cookie that matters.”

24. “Is this the part where we kiss?”

"Kris, are you sure? I don't want to make it awkward. I'll be the only one from your side there." Your sister scoffs into the phone. 

"Babe, it's fine. You know how they Hayeses are. The more the merrier." You do know this. Your sister's in-laws are incredibly warm. They invited you to a pool party this past summer and  text you for your birthday.

You're right. I'm still just a little annoyed that Mom and Dad felt the need to have their midlife-crisis now and jet off to a tropical island for Christmas. They couldn't wait a week?" You hear Kris hum and there's a cry in the background. 

"I'll let you get back to it. Keep my nephew happy. I'll see you tomorrow." Kristen reminds you of the time and tells you to bring pajamas and an overnight bag so you don't have to go home and when you hear the door to the nursery and the baby's cries get louder you assure her that you've got it and hurry her off the phone. 

It could be worse; you'll be with your sister for Christmas at least. You can't really blame your parents. When they made the plans months ago you were still with your ex and planning to travel out of state to see his family, but that was months ago and you'd really rather not be alone on Christmas. The flip side is you'll spend it with your sister's perfect little family, which you're happy about, but obviously a little envious you haven't been able to find your own prince charming yet. They don't make them like Jimmy anymore, obviously. 

_______

When you get to Kris and Jimmy's house the next day you immediately relieve her of the baby, delighted to bounce him around the house on your hip and make silly noises at him. 

Glad you came to see me. I feel really special," Kris yells across the kitchen to you as she mixes up a batch of cookies for later. 

"Don't make me choose, you won't like the outcome. You know where my love lies," you hold your nephew up high over your head and blow a raspberry with your lips, aiming for an engine noise but really just spitting all over yourself. The baby doesn't seem to care much and he giggles and coos before he's plucked from your hands. 

"How's my favorite little man? Huh? You excited for Santa tonight?" Kevin lights up as he talks to his nephew and you're not really sure if you want any kids of your own, but boy does a man who's good with kids punch you right in the ovary. 

"Hey! Give him back, we were playing airplane," you whine at Kevin, all the while smiling at his stupid ugly sweater. He plops a kiss down on the baby's fuzzy head and hands him back over to you. 

"Okay, but I'm next in line. Hand him right to me or I'll never get him. My mom's vicious." Nodding, you wink and promise Kevin exactly that. 

He pats you on your back and bends down to drop a kiss on your cheek, "Sorry, hi. Where's Dennis?" 

"Merry Christmas. I don't know. Hell?" 

Kristen snorts, obviously overhearing you. "Touchy subject, Kev." You roll your eyes. 

"It's not touchy, I'm just being grinchy. We broke up, that's all." Kevin lifts his eyebrows and nods. 

"I'd say sorry to hear it, but Jim said he's a douche." He sits down on the chair across the table from you. 

"Your brother is perceptive and wise beyond his years." Kris drops a bowl of dough on the table in between you and Kevin. 

"If you're in the kitchen, you're helping. Make these into balls and put them on this cookie sheet, please? I want to check on dinner." She walks away with the grace she's always had that you've never been able to emulate, floating on air.

Kevin washes his hands and stands over the table, balling up cookie dough and putting them far too close together on the cookie sheet. When you look over you notice something's missing. 

"Kris? Where are the chocolate chips?"

"They're sugar cookies. I ran out of chips," she calls from where she's bent down checking the roast in the oven. 

"Oh no. I'm running out then. Everyone knows chocolate chip is the only cookie that matters." She nods, placating you like only a big sister can.

"Be my guest. But give me the baby, I want to feed him so he'll take a nap before dinner." She scoops him up and his little face lights up at seeing his mother and your heart breaks with love. 

"Kev, you wanna come?" Glancing at him as you shrug on your coat, he's leaning over the sink washing his hands again, but looks up when you call his name. 

"For sure." He looks at you, brows drawn and mouth in a straight line, serious. "I hate sugar cookies." He gives you a big dopey grin and you are eternally happy your sister married into this family. 

_______

"Not sure how I ended up driving," Kevin backs out of the driveway, turning and looking behind him with his big hand on the back of your headrest. 

Making your eyes big and innocent you smile up at him, "Because you blocked me in and your truck is nicer than my car." You adjust the climate control on your side of the car and he lowers the radio from the buttons on the steering wheel.

"You wanna talk about Dennis?" He glances over at you at a red light and you want to sink into your seat. 

"There's not much to tell. He started seeing someone at work and hit me with it back in September. I just moved out and that was that." It's the truth. It was a pretty clean break, your name wasn't on the lease, you didn't have a pet or child together; it was as easy as packing up your clothes, a lamp and a coffee table and it's like you were never there. 

"You find a new place yet?" You didn't expect Kevin to be so interested in your break-up, but you do get along best with him out of all of your sister's in-laws. You're close in age, goofy, and all too happy to play the part of doting aunt and uncle. 

"Why, you looking for a roommate?" Kevin sighs like you just told a bad dad-joke, but you can see he's sincere so you back off. "Nah, I didn't, though. I'm just back with my parents for now until I can find something. The commute is killing me."

You unbuckle your seatbelt as he pulls into a space at the supermarket, he walks around the car to fall into stride next to you. "I have a place in Boston I never use if you want to use it. Just a one bedroom, but I could give you the key and you can pop in whenever you need it."

That's not what you were expecting, and you're stunned, but you say thank you and promise to let him know if you want to take him up on his offer. You only see Kevin a few times a year, but every time you leave, you wish he lived a little closer because you could see the two of you being good friends. 

He picks up a shopping basket and walks over to the refrigerated section. "You can't get a log of cookie dough, Kevin. That's cheating." 

He throws two in the basket. "I don't know how to make them from scratch. What do I look like, Emril?" You dig your hands into the basket and pull the logs of dough back out to put on the shelf. 

"I'll teach you. They're better from scratch." He concedes and follows you through the store as you call Kris and take inventory on what she has and what you need. Apparently she hasn't been shopping in forever because you need everything except flour.

It feels nice to do such a domestic chore with someone so silly. He tries to sneak sour patch kids into the basket while you're in the aisle looking for chocolate chips. "Are you kidding me?" He looks around like he has no idea who could have put the yellow bag of candy in your basket. 

"You're literally a professional athlete. How can you eat like this."  He cracks open the bag of sour patch kids and pops a cherry one into his mouth. His lips pucker a little at the tart flavor, but it fades quickly and he chews happily.

"Just lucky, I guess. Still have this rockin' bod." He flexes a bicep, but it's useless under his fluffy sweater. 

"You're an idiot," it is hilarious though, so you laugh and steal a sour patch from the open bag. "Let's go checkout, they're going to kick us out since you can't be trusted around a bag of candy."

You use self checkout and Kevin bags. He taps his Apple pay to the terminal before you can even get your credit card out of your wallet. 

"I got it." He shakes his head at you, "You're gunna teach me, so I'll provide the materials," he takes the bag and you walk to the car side by side. 

By the time you get back to your sister's house, you and Kevin are chatting happily about New Year's Eve plans after he mentions he'll be back in Boston for it. Maybe you want to see him again soon, so you don't hesitate to extend an invitation to the house party you're throwing while your parents are still sunning themselves on some exotic island. 

"I mean, it's just a small group of friends. I think Kris and your brother are going to stop by for a little," you think maybe you're not playing this cool enough so you back off a little. "You could bring a plus one, obviously. The more the merrier."

You walk into the house behind Kevin, who is still holding all of the bags, and he is pushed back into you abruptly, pinning you against the front door with his strong frame. 

"Uncle Kevin!" More Hayeses have arrived since you two left, apparently. He shifts the bags to his other hand and steps away from you, lifting up his niece and placing her on his hip."Hey pretty girl," he places a kiss on her fat little cheek and she giggles. 

"Can I ask you a secret?" She says it solemnly and he nods and turns his head so she can whisper into his ear. In true childhood fashion, she cannot whisper for shit. "Is that your girlfriend?" 

You laugh and steal the bags from Kevin's hands and head towards the rest of his family to kiss them hello. Jimmy chooses to answer her first, "That's Aunt Kris' sister." The little girl nods in appreciation at the new information. 

"She's pretty like Aunt Kris. Uncle Kevin, she can be your new girlfriend." He pulls one of her pigtails and lets her down to the floor, "I'll be sure to ask, thanks for the good advice." She seems happy with his response and resumes whatever game she was playing with her grandpa before Kevin interrupted; it looks like guess who. 

"Okay I'm going to make cookies, whoever would like to join is more than welcome." You finally make it to the kitchen and drop the bags on the island. Kevin is behind you a moment later. 

"Sorry, she really liked Brooke. It's kinda hard to explain to a kid," he's mumbling through a totally unnecessary apology so you just cut it short for him. 

"So you're not my new boyfriend? Is that what you're telling me? Because I don't appreciate you doing this on Christmas, Kevin. And in front of your family? Cheap shot." 

Placing your hand on your hip you cock it out and he laughs, "Okay, okay, we can stay together until Valentine's day but then we're through." 

"That's fair," you hold out your hand and shake his, biting back a laugh. 

______

A half hour later finds you and Kevin rolling up your dough into balls and dropping it onto a baking sheet.

"These are way too close together. You know they expand when you bake them, right?" You go back over all the ones he did spreading them out.

"I don't know shit, look at me," looking up you see him holding out his hands gesturing to his sweater, which is covered in flour, white dusted all over navy blue. 

You're staring at him and laughing when he reaches his hands behind his head and pulls the sweater over the back of his head and off and you maybe forget that it's rude to stare. He's wearing an undershirt, stark white against his skin, but it creeps up a bit as he's shucking clothes and you catch a peek of toned abs and have to avert your gaze before you make this sufficiently awkward. 

By the time he's gotten his big, fat head out of his sweater you've gone back to spacing out the dough and doing your best to be cool. Like, you've obviously seen some abs before, they just haven't been attached to someone you actually enjoy and are maybe a little… attracted to?

This is a bad time for this revelation. 

It continues to be a bad time for this revelation when his niece wanders into the room all changed into Christmas PJs. "Uncle Kevin," she tugs on his t-shirt, "I want to make cookies for Santa too." 

He scoops her up and sits her on the counter next to the bowl. "Okay, watch how (Y/n) does it. She's a pro, taught me everything I know." He winks over at you and you grab a fresh baking sheet as he helps her wash her hands over the sink. 

"Okay, first we take a little bit of dough like this," you grab a piece for you and a piece for her, but then Kevin holds out his hand too, so you grab another piece and place it in his outstretched hand. "Then we roll it up like this," you roll the dough in between flat palms and make it into a little ball. 

"Wow," you see her doughy little hands making a wobbly shaped sphere and look at her amazed, "are you sure you haven't done this before? You're a natural!" She grins at you before turning to Kevin, who wears a matching mask of amazement. 

"I never did this before, Uncle Kevin. Look I'm doing good!" He's got so much love in his eyes for his family that you can barely look at the two of them without your eyes watering.

After you pop the tray in the oven you all sit down for dinner, which is just everyone shouting over each other trying to be heard while passing the mashed potatoes around the table. 

Kevin sits next to you on one side and his mom is on your other. She keeps glancing over as you chat with her son and you're feeling as self conscious as ever as she smiles at you when you start helping Kris clear the table for dessert. 

She's whispering conspiratorially to Kevin over your empty chair as you place the mountain of chocolate chip cookies in front of him. He looks miserable. 

Eventually the crowd thins out. Most of Jimmy's family lives close by in the suburbs and they'll be back early tomorrow. Apparently it's just you can Kevin spending the night, since he didn't want to drive back into the city. 

When it's just you, Kris, Jimmy, and Kevin left, the baby long since put the bed, you all leave the dining room in favor of the cushy couches in the living room. You pick up the remote and scroll through the channels before putting on A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

"Classic," Kevin turns his head towards you from where he's reclined on the couch to your right. 

About halfway through, Kris yawns. She exhausted and you understand, but you never could fall asleep on Christmas Eve. "Go to bed, Krissy. We can take care of ourselves. You out-hosted yourself today, you earned it." 

Jimmy stands and pulls her up off of the couch, "Let's go momma Hayes." She complies to him with no hesitation. Before she's halfway out of the room she's turns around and grabs a fleece blanket off of the decorative ladder against the wall and walks back to throw it over you. 

"Kevin called the guest room. You get the couch," she leans down and kisses you on the cheek. "Love you," she hugs you before scampering off to get waiting husband. 

You pause Charlie Brown. "You called the guest room, you absolute child??"

"We can share." He says it low, sleepy and raspy and from the back of his throat. 

Choosing to ignore the warmth it sends through you, you pull the blankets up to your chin, "Bully."

Charlie Brown ends and Kevin pulls the the remote from your hand. "Let's make hot chocolate."

You follow behind him on stocking feet, quiet not to wake the baby or your sister. But then Kevin gets out a pot and pulls cocoa from a pantry and this is no Swiss Miss situation. So, you push yourself up onto the counter next to the stove and watch him move quietly about the kitchen. 

"But you didn't know how to make cookies," you accuse. 

"This is a secret family recipe." He adds all of the ingredients into the pot before opening the cabinet and hiding whatever he reached for in his big hand; he covers your eyes with the other and you can hear something get added to the pot before a cabinet door closes and you see Kevin stirring with a wooden spoon, looking at you. 

"Secret ingredient. You can't know it." You bite the inside of your cheek and push your hair back off of your face. 

"Is it Vanilla extract?" The smug look flattens out in his face and he squints his eyes at you. 

"You're the devil." You laugh, leaning back on the counter before hopping down and over to the fridge. 

"Do you think they have whipped cream" you're hopeful your sister would keep it on hand. 

"Bottom shelf on the door," he's right and you spot it straight away. 

He keeps stirring the cocoa and you pop back onto the counter and uncap the whipped cream before squeezing some out on the back of your hand. You slurp it off and point the can at Kevin when he looks over at you, still licking the back of your hand. 

He tips his head back and opens his mouth, "No, gross you're not putting your mouth all over the nozzle." You slap at his shoulder. 

"I have to stir the cocoa, (y/n)." 

It sounds like a line and you're just about delirious enough to accept it, so you squeeze out a dollop onto the back of your other hand and put it in front of his face. 

He tips his head down and sucks it up, and it's a lot less sexy than you imagined this whole exchange would be, but his eyes do catch yours and they're warm in a way that has nothing to do with the flame on the range. 

The pot on the stove starts to boil and he turns off the heat and starts looking for mugs, while you try to figure out what the fuck you're doing hitting on your sister's brother-in-law. 

He hands you a mug and starts to pour into it when you look up and see his stubble is coated in whipped cream. 

"Uh, Kev," he put the pot gently back on the stove, "you've got a little," you gesture to above your lip, "here." He must be purposely obtuse when he attempts to get it off, missing entirely despite the size of his hand. 

"No, here," you gesture again and this time he tries with his tongue, still missing the sugary cream by a mile. 

"Help a guy out," is what comes out of his mouth. Not one to miss a golden opportunity, you lean over and run your thumb along his upper lip, corralling it. He tips his head up before you can pull your hand away and kisses it softly. 

You tilt your head sideways, trying to figure out your next step, but all you can come up with is to outright ask, “Is this the part where we kiss?"

He nods soberly and steps in-between your knees where you sit on the counter, hot chocolate forgotten on the island behind him, and presses his lips to yours. 

His lips taste like Christmas, sugary sweet and decadent like the cocoa on the stove. You wind your hands up into his hair, thankful that you're propped up on the counter since he's so much taller than you, you're not sure if you'd reach otherwise. 

When his hands slide down from your waist to your hips you bite into his bottom lip and hear two things. 

The first is a little moan, which you're sure came from Kevin, since you could feel it against your own mouth. 

The second sounds distinctly like the clearing of a throat and came from somewhere to the left near the fridge. You gently back away from Kevin, head against the cabinet behind you and spot Jimmy, wide-eyed, but smirking, and holding a water bottle. 

"Just wanted a drink," he holds the bottle up. "You guys can, uh- share the guest room… Just keep it down, it shares a wall with the baby's room." He practically swaggers away and you drop your head to Kevin's chest. 

"Shit." 

The next sound you hear is your sister screeching your name from her bedroom, closely followed by the resulting cry of a woken baby, and lastly Kevin laughing, clear and bubbling up through his chest where you're leaning. 

"Yikes, tomorrow is going to be fun." He kisses the top of your head and helps you down from the counter. Fun indeed. 

Engineering the Future

Hi everyone! So this is my second Supernatural fic, the first one I cross-posted here on Tumblr, though I have written a couple of other things on this wonderful series. So here’s the thing: this is a bit of a project that I’ve been working on to keep myself writing even when I feel like I have nothing to say.

So here’s the deal: I’m going to write one one-shot per episode. Multiple friends say that I’m driving myself to drink, but so far it’s been fairly smooth sailing. If you guys have any ideas about certain episodes, I’d be happy to hear them, but know that I’ve got a list of prompts for three quarters of the episodes, so I may not write your prompt. But I’d love to hear your ideas. Just, no Wincest or Destiel because I honestly don’t ship either of them (no hate please, it’s just the way I feel. And no, I don’t hate anyone who does ship them). Just brotherly love here!

This chapter is tagged to episode 1x01, Pilot. Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. This is a work of fiction based on characters from The CW’s Supernatural, created by Eric Kripke.

To completely plagiarize someone else, “Being his real brother I could feel I lived in his shadows, but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow.” Who said that? Why was his relationship with his brother so important? Doesn’t matter. This isn’t about him. This is about them, and the moments we don’t get to see.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Dean had imagined this day since that balmy July evening when a rickety tin door had slammed shut and seemingly separated his family forever.

Depending on his mood, there were several different scenarios that would play out. When he was at the bottom of his third bottle, he would imagine showing up at his front door, having him open the door, stare at him, then shut it again without a word. The second bottle was kinder, allowing them to pass on the streets, perhaps nodding at each other before the one went on with his normal life, leaving the other to thank a God that he didn’t believe in that he had at least seen him one last time. The first bottle didn’t give him enough hope to even attempt to dream up a reunion with his little brother.

The fourth bottle was Dean’s favourite. He would get an excited phone call and drive all the way to Stanford just so that Sam could tell him he was getting married face to face. They would settle into a table at some hoity-toity bar or into a booth at some frou-frou café and would talk as though no time had passed. The natural lighting would fade to black and neither of them would move. Topics of conversation would wax and wane until they found themselves in the same companionable silence that graced the majority of their childhood together.

Sam would eventually sigh sadly and mutter something about having to be in court early the next morning, to which Dean would make a crude joke that would have Sam blushing behind the ears as he laughed. Dean would walk him to his car and deal with the chick-flicky hug bestowed upon him by a drunk and/or over-caffeinated Little Brother. As they pull apart, Sam would get all shy and red again as he stammered through saying that he hoped Dean would be his Best Man (because screw this Brady kid that introduced the happy couple). Dean would laugh, hug his brother, completely deny the tears in his eyes, and say “Who else could fill those shoes, bitch?”

Dean would hang around in California for a couple of months and relish in being stationary for the first time since he was four. He would meet Jessica, automatically start calling her Jessie, and plan a small bachelor party for Sammy and his college pals before taking his kid brother on a kick ass, blow out ‘Brochelor’ party in Vegas to make up for every birthday, Christmas, and any other calendar holiday that they had missed out on. On the day of the wedding he would straighten out his brother’s tie, all the while denying that he had asked the guy at the store how to do so. He would give the kid the picture of Mom that he carried around in his wallet with the explanation that she needed to be there with him on this day. He would stand up next to his little brother during the ceremony, give the most awesome speech ever written during the reception, and dance with his new sister-in-law when the time came.

While he and the other, less important guests waved the happy couple off (he had even given them the Impala to borrow for their honeymoon road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway) he would get a phone call from Dad, saying that he had finally pinned down the son of a bitch who had killed Mom, and that he needed his son there with him. Dean would hotwire a car and go. He’d stand side-by-side with his father as they ganked the sucker, turn, and shake his father’s hand before walking away from the life.

He’d stand hat in hand on Sam’s doorstep when they returned from their honeymoon, praying that his baby brother still had room for his older, less intelligent but far more handsome brother in his new married life. Sam would laugh and pull him into a hug, ensuring him that of course he would always need his big brother. After all, he and Jessie apparently hadn’t come home from their month-long vacation on their own, and this kid was gonna need a really cool uncle to bitch at when his/her parents were giving them a hard time. Any nephew of his was gonna be educated in the ways of the Impala, rock music, and the Dean Winchester Scale of Burger Perfection. Any niece of his would also be educated in these things, but he would need to be there more for Sam when the boys came snooping around, because what was more intimidating than two guys over 6-feet tall who had marksmen’s abilities?

Dean would maybe become a cop, or a mechanic, or maybe even a firefighter, but one thing he would do for sure is protect his family. He’d gank any evil bastard that came within a thousand miles of that two story, white picket fenced house on Normal Boulevard.

Maybe he’d settle down, maybe not. All that was important to him was that his Sammy was happy.

That was all that would ever matter to him.

So, when it came down to it, Dean would have traded everything he had for it to have not happened like this. Never like this.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Sam had imagined this day since that first night alone at Stanford.

At first, he’d dreamed that Dean would show up, kick his roommate out, and curl up in the twin bed approximately six feet away from him. Dean would go to the registrar and apply to the school and get in, obviously, because his big brother was a genius. He’d probably take engineering, because Dean could do things with machinery that Sam could never have dreamed about. They’d watch each other’s backs on and off campus, and when one of the dorm rooms ended up being haunted, they’d take care of it, as though they had never been off the job. Dean would go on to open his own body shop, while working side projects like helping to rebuild homes for people who lost them in fires or natural (and supernatural) disasters. Sam would become a kick ass lawyer and help the law protect people. He’d help Dean on the weekends at the shop or with the houses, because they were brothers and why wouldn’t he? They’d still go out and watch the stars when they could, and they’d make sure to go to the first game of every season for the Jayhawks. They’d make a weekend of it. Just Sam, Dean, and the Impala. Of course, Jess would be fine with it. She’d love Dean as much as he did, because what wasn’t there to love? Eventually, he and Jess would get married and Dean would be his Best Man (even though Brady would throw a fit about it, but Dean was right, he was better off without douchebags like Brady in his life), then go on to be the best uncle to the kids they would have. Dean would meet a nice girl and they’d settle down too, and soon it would be Winchester Weekends, filled with barbeques and Little League games and dance recitals and tinkering with the Impala while drinking a cold one together and hiding from their wives and kids.

A few months in, the dream changed. One of the kids in Sam’s classes had a brother in the military, who surprised her by showing up during lecture wearing his fatigues and announcing that he had been honorably discharged and was staying home for good. She’d broken down into tears and hugged him until the professor had just wiped his eyes and dismissed the class, claiming that he didn’t want to bring the room down by talking about the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

Sam started imagining that something similar would happen to him. Dean and Dad would kill the thing that had killed Mom, then Dean would stroll right into his Economics class wearing his torn jeans, steel toed boots, band shirt and leather jacket (the uniform of one of the longest living hunters out there, and the youngest to boot), acting as though he owned the joint. Sam would launch himself into his brother’s arms, not even minding that that cute girl Jessica sat only a few rows behind him, and bury his face in his brother’s shoulder to hide his tears. Dean would clasp him around the back of his neck and whisper that he and Dad had gotten the damned thing, and that he was quitting the life. Dad would keep hunting with Uncle Bobby, Pastor Jim, and Caleb as back up when needed, but he was out.

Dean would help him hook up with Jessica, because he had seen the way they looked at each other, and Dean couldn’t stand the lovesick puppy dog eyes anymore, then the rest of the daydream would stay the same. Engineering, lawyering, cars, court cases, house building, Jayhawks, star gazing, the Impala, wives, kids, all culminating in the two of them sitting side by side at some Old Folks Home, the lines between what they knew and what the world knew blurred by old age and one too many hard knocks to the head courtesy of any one of monsters of the week that they used to hunt. They’d sit on the front porch, drinking whatever alcohol they could get their hands on, loudly debating the proper way to kill a wendigo (Sam would say iron because he knows his big brother’s mind is fading and he needs him to stick around a while longer because Jess was already gone and he wasn’t quite ready to go and he doesn’t want to be left alone, not again).

No matter which scenario he dreamt up (defending Dean in court, forcing him into retirement when a werewolf gets the better of him and his left leg is basically useless so Sam brings him home with him, or even something as simple as Sam just picking up the phone and asking him to visit (because it’s DEAN, and there’s nothing he won’t do for his little brother, and Sam knows it), there was one common thread that remained the same, and that was that the time they had spent apart held no consequences. They would just fall back into being brothers, knowing that if they were back to back or side by side they would be fine.

That’s why, when Dean bursts through the bedroom door and drags him out of the burning brownstone, Sam couldn’t bring himself to fight at full strength. Dean was there. As much as Sam wished it had been any other scenario he had dreamt up (and not the nightmare that had been plaguing him for weeks), he knew that his big brother was there. And since when had there been any problem that Dean couldn’t solve? He could’ve been an engineer, after all.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Exchanges and Promises - Chapter 5

Barbara Gordon hated Chicago with a passion. It was the city where her mother had disappeared at, and her father had died of broken heart. The instant her uncle, James Gordon, claimed custody of her and said they were going to Gotham, she was beyond excited.

But that was more than a decade ago. She was thirteen years old, and didn't know better. She didn't know that Gotham was often referred to as the Septic Tank of the Eastern Seaboard, or that people and crime walked hand in hand and it was only a matter of time for anyone and everyone to be touched by crime in Gotham City. She had thought that since Uncle Jim was a cop, she was home free.

Four years ago, Barbara had gotten shot by a madman wearing a red helmet in a home invasion. The invasion had been a terror to uncle Jim, who was a police Captain by that time. The shot left Barbara as a paraplegic, unable to move her legs. Extensive therapies and the fact that Barbara - as a ballet dancer - has had strong upper-body muscles have allowed her to move. Her brain, thankfully, was intact. As was her innate curiosity and determination to help justice be met by any way, means, and cost.

The madman, ironically, was later found beheaded and very, very dead. Rumor said that a Talon had exacted revenge on the madman on her behalf.

Barbara had often wondered if it has been true, or if the Talon had simply chosen its victims at random - and random happened to be the red-helmeted madman named Jack Napier. Over the years, she has built her own network of informant and surveillance, and none has ever come up to her with the existence or even a picture of this 'Talon'.

That is, until she caught a boy wearing Catwoman-like suit, carrying a camera with a picture of a Talon; in one of her sturdier traps.

"He has been... I would say stalking, but he really didn't do anything but look. And I can tell you that he'd not looked at anything... out of line, either." The boy said shyly. "You were, of course, looking for the Talon. There are quite a few of them, I think. But there's only one who has been kind of looking at you. I could tell. He has quite a distinct physique, even with the armor and whatnot." 

Barbara herself had caught the boy when she was chasing Catwoman, trying to find evidence that she was the thief behind the looting of Mayor Hady's art collection. She was initially amused that, instead of catching Catwoman - whom she was sure was an adult, in spite of her petite and slender figure - she had caught herself a kitten.

"Why tell me all these, kitten?" she asked. She had caught the kitten - Stray, please - when he was scoping the outside of an art dealer's home.

"Look, we don't steal from honest people, okay?" he said. "I scope them, find evidence that their gains were from... unlawful or unfair means, and then Catwoman would... relieve them of their unlawful goods. We sold them and use the money for good."

"That's your excuse for stealing?"

"I think you're a fair-minded person, Oracle." Stray said, and the small hairs on Barbara's neck stood. He said 'Oracle' as if he would know the real person behind 'oracle'. And then she remembered - the boy stated  that he had seen Talon prowling outside her - Barbara's - apartment.

He continued nonchalantly, "I have evidence of a plethora of crimes - mostly small - done by the 'distinguished' folks of our city's council. You have evidence of me taking photos outside Mayor Hady's house. I'm only standing here, in your so-called containment unit, because I wanted to talk to you. You're not going to call the cops on me, because you know that most of the cops down here are not to be trusted with your parking tickets."

"Not all of the cops are corrupt," Barbara retorted, rather instinctively. It would be true, too. Since her shooting, uncle Jim - now Dad - has been working hard to clean the Gotham City Police Department of its crooked and corrupt elements - with Oracle's help. At this rate, Barbara figured, he would be successful by the next 30 years.

If not 50.

"Maybe not all, but you can't risk it, can you? Also there's the fact that if I don't return in 24 hours, all of my findings on the city's finest would be delivered to the FBI. They would storm in, tear the GCPD apart, tear the city apart, and walk away with all the glory - regardless on whose toes they stepped on or how many figurative or literal bodies they left behind.

"I, on the other hand, has a proposition for you." Stray said, climbing the bars of the cage that Barbara has locked him in, with enviable upper- and lower-body strength and flexibility.

"What kind of proposition?" she asked, thankful that her Oracle program would hide the curiosity out of her voice through its voice synthesizer.

"I'll give you some evidence of some of the juicier crime. You will deliver them to your trusted GCPD people, and they would get the credit. Heck, maybe they'll even get some rewards from the Feds or Marshals." he said, glaring to the camera with his goggle-covered eyes fishbowled on Barbara's monitor.

Barbara bit her lower lip, keeping her amusement in check. She could tell that this 'kitten' was indeed a kitten - a very young boy with small stature. Black haired, and undetermined eye-color since they were covered behind the same type of goggles worn by Catwoman.

"What's the catch?"

"Well, me. You let me go and do my thing, that's it. You've got worse offenders than me or the Cat to chase - like this Talon dude." he said, backflipping from over 8 feet high back to his feet. "He'd probably killed people, but they're like, bad people, really. I don't think I'd want to chase him if I were you."

"What if I want to chase him, anyway?" Barbara challenged, "bad people or good, if he has murdered people. He would need to face the law."

He shrugged. "I can only help with pictorial evidence, alright? I can't go and testify, obviously." he replied. "Just as a disclaimer, I've never seen him kill anyone. Like, cut someone's throat and make said person dead kind of 'seen'."

She considered the offer for a good minute, in which 'Stray' continued to stretch languidly from bar to bar of the cage. "You know who I am," Barbara decided.

"Yeah, sorry. But the power bills was a dead giveaway." he smiled.

"How about you take off the goggles and show me who you are?"

He scrunched his nose. "How about I go over to your place and show you who I am?"

The deal was too good to be true. "Done deal. Be here in an hour, and it's good. More than that, it's off." she said, turning to undo the locks of the cage. Stray grinned cheekily.

"Don't worry about the cage, I know my way out." he remarked. Barbara blinked, and he was out of the cage through the hidden safety door. Or so she thought. "Eh, mama Cat taught me how to get out of tight spots. See you in an hour, Oracle!"

Paparazzi (J.A.)

Prompt: Requested by anonymous for a friend. (I’m sorry, I lost the ask so I came up with this without the prompt)

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Daughter!Reader, slight Thomas Padalecki x reader

Words: 3193

Warnings: cursing, Paparazzi, panic, anxiety

Notes: I may or may not have been reading a lot of fics about the daughter/dad relationship between Jensen and his daughter, the reader. For the purposes of this story, Thomas is 17, Shep is 10 and Odette is 5. JJ is 8, Arrow and Zep are 4. Maison is 13 and West is 16. Obviously I’m changing the years of birth :)

Part 2

Ever since you could remember, you had been put in the spotlight. Your father, Jensen Ackles, was a huge star in the show Supernatural and everyone wanted to know about his personal life...and that included you. Not to mention that you had a weird family from the cast of Supernatural. You had your Uncles Jared, Misha, Jim, and so on. You had you Aunts Ruth, Kim, and so on.

The nice thing was that you could shield your younger siblings from the paps. You could almost make their life normal. You were the oldest, you could grab all of the attention in the room in order to keep your siblings at a safe distance from those who would try to get too close to your younger siblings.

You weren’t Danneel child biologically. You did call her mom, though. Your mother had dropped you off at Jensen’s when you were just a baby. That had been eighteen years ago. You’d met Danneel in 2007. It had been a while since your father had met someone and you knew he was seeing someone, but you hadn’t gotten to meet her until about a year after they had started dating. You were seven at the time and loved her instantly. When you turned nine, Danneel and your father were expecting their first child and you finally got your wish for a little sister. When you turned thirteen, you got two more siblings and you loved them all unconditionally.

You would do anything for them. Which is why you were in your current situation. “You remember the store Mom went in, right JJ,” you asked her quickly.

“Yeah, the Victoria Secret store,” she replied.

“Good, take your brother and sister into the store and find Mom, okay? Tell her that we need to be leaving soon,” you gave your sister a tight smile, trying to keep calm.

You watched as they left through the back of the music store. You watched as some of the paps went to follow and you had to think fast. You started playing the piano in a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody accompanied with the singing. That certainly drew the paps eyes. They swarmed you and you inwardly cringed. You hated singing and playing any instrument in front of anyone, let alone paparazzi.

As you finished the small segment of the song, you stood from the piano and tried to make your way out of the store, but there was no out. Your breath picked up slightly. You hated being trapped. The paps just kept shouting questions at you. Some of them on how you learned to play the piano and sing, others on very personal matters, others you couldn’t distinguish. “I need to go-please.”

You tried to push through the paps, but they kept pushing you back. “P-please, I need to leave. I have-I have to go,” you whispered.

They kept shouting questions and kept preventing you from leaving. Your breathing continued to get faster as tears started to prickle at your eyes. You don’t know how long it was until someone was pushing their way through the crown and putting an arm around your shoulder, shouting back at the paps and forcing his way through the waves of men and women trying to get a story.

Once you were a safe distance from the store, the person stopped walking. “Hey sweetheart, are you alright,” he asked.

“Daddy,” you buried your head in his chest and wrapped your arms around him tightly. He wrapped his arms around you just as tight, placing his chin on the top of your head and talking calmly to you.

“It’s okay, don’t work yourself up. I’m sorry they attacked you like that. I thought y’all would be fine for a couple of hours by yourselves,” he hugged you even closer, running a hand over your back in an attempt to ground you.

“They-they just came out of nowhere and I was-I was with JJ and the twins and I knew that they would be scared if they stayed and I told them find Mom and then some of the paps wanted to follow them so I had to distract them and then they just all crowded me and they wouldn’t let me out and they just kept coming and screaming at me,” you sobbed slightly, holding your dad tighter.

“I’m sorry baby. I should have been there sooner.”

“Are Mom and the kids okay,” you asked after a quiet moment.

“They are just fine. They’re waiting in the car. Dani’s worried about you,” your father responded, pulling away from you slightly. “Ready to go, kid?”

A couple of weeks passed and you were finally feeling less afraid of leaving the house. As you walked through the door of the house after your classes, you were met with an eight year old running into your legs followed by the four year olds stumbling over each other as they ran towards you. “Hello, what’s the occasion for you all to attack me the second I get in the house,” you raised an eyebrow at your parents as they rounded the corner with smiles on their faces.

“Mommy and Daddy can’t take us to the park and said that maybe you could! They have work,” Arrow smiles up at you.

You chuckle but nod. “Hmm, I’ll have to check my schedule. Let’s see, I did have that scheduled tickle monster attack for my siblings at 3 PM, but I guess I could bump that up in order to take y’all to the park, Munchkin,” you raced towards JJ and picked her up, tickling her relentlessly.

“No, stop it! (Y/N),” she whined. You laughed and put her down.

You turned to your parents and smiled, “when should I be expecting y’all back?”

“We will be going to dinner at Jared’s house around seven. Do you think you could bring your siblings over? Dani and I will be coming directly from work.”

“Sure, Dad. We’ll go to the park, maybe get a light snack and either do something in town or come back here until it’s time to come over for Dinner,” you stated.

“Great, thanks baby, you’re the best,” he responded, placing a kiss on your head and doing the same to your siblings.

“Really, you’re amazing. I don’t know what we would do without you,” Dani added as she brought you into a huge hug while kissing the top of your head.

“Mom, it’s not a big deal. I love watching out for the little ones. They remind me of the energy I use to have and wish I could get back.”

“Don’t we all,” she responded.

“Alright, Miss JJ, I need to change and then we’ll head out. Help your brother and sister with their shoes,” you called out. An excited ‘okay’ was called back to you and you went to your room to change.

“JJ, don’t go to far away. I need to be able to keep an eye on you,” you called as you pushed the twins on the swings and JJ played around with a couple of the other kids at the park.

“Single mom,” the woman next to you asked.

You laughed slightly, “no, oldest sibling that only has two hands.”

“Think of it this way, the day you have your own family, it will come much easier after doing all of this now,” she responded, “and I’m speaking from experience.”

“I would hope so.”

JJ came running back over, “can we go get snacks,” she asked, face flushed from the running around she did.

“Yes, please (Y/N),” Arrow yelled, clapping her hands.

“Snacks,” Zep asked.

“Okay then, let’s go find a place to get something to tide you over to dinner.” You grabbed the twins hands and instructed JJ to walk close to you.

You walked a couple of blocks until you found a place to go. “How about we get ice cream? Just don’t tell Mom and Dad,” you winked at JJ.

“Yes,” the twins shouted. JJ nodded, bouncing on her feet. You decided to save yourself some trouble and sit the twins down with JJ in charge of making sure they don’t get up. You went to get the ice cream for the four of you.

You paid for the ice creams and sat a table. JJ took a huge bite out of her cone. You set your ice cream aside and get Zep and Arrow ready to eat theirs by trying to protect their clothes the best you could. Finally, you gave them the cups of ice cream and turned to yours, taking a bite. “Try not to get it on your clothes, Jay.”

You spent a couple of hours walking around town until it was about six twenty. “Okay, who wants to go see Uncle Jared and everyone else,” you asked. You got variation of happy sounds so you headed towards the house.

You were almost there when things turned sideways. You tried not to stop, but they swarmed you. You gave your phone to JJ with your dad’s number already dialed. You put had her get on your back. You put a twin on each hip and hugged them close and they returned the favor by burying into you. The second you heard one of the twins start crying, you lost it.

“HEY! BACK THE HELL UP, YOU ARE SCARING THE CHILDREN,” you yelled. The paparazzi went quiet, but you didn’t stop. “You guys would do anything to get a damn story and I’m fucking tired of it! There are better ways to get your stories than ganging up on people! Back the hell up and let me through or I swear to God it’s not going to be pretty,” you glared at the paps in front of you.

They moved slowly to let you through. JJ quietly handed your phone to you as you moved through the crowd who was slowly starting to get louder. “Dad, yeah. I’m three blocks away. Concord Street. Please hurry, I think they’re gonna start up again,” you quietly whispered through the phone.

Not only were the paps freaking your sibling out, but they were freaking you out, but you didn’t get to hide away from them because you were protecting your siblings. You sure as hell weren’t going to let them be even more freaked out by the jackasses.

You backed up from the paps-who were starting their shouting again. “You want a story? Why don’t you write about how paparazzi don’t understand the term ‘personal space’ or how the paparazzi are willing to scare the hell out of three children in order to try and get the juiciest story? I don’t care if you swarm me when I’m alone, but don’t you dare do it when I have my siblings with me! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

More questions were shouted your way and you ignored them. “You wonder why no one wants to talk to you and this is why. You take and take and take and never give back. You do anything for a story that isn’t even true. You twist the words and situations and you give bad reputations to people who deserve so much better than that. Fuck off and stop scaring my family,” you growled, chancing a look behind you to see your father, Jared, and Misha hurrying towards you.

You placed Arrow and Zep down and they ran to your father. You let Misha take JJ and Jared took care of you. Before you could completely walk away, you turned back and got out of Jared’s grip. “And another thing, why don’t you try being decent enough human beings to try and get the stories straight. Stop scaring the shit out of people and book an appointment to talk to someone. Or is that too complicated for you to follow? You should all be fucking ashamed of yourselves! You made children cry, you scarred them and for what? For me to yell at you? For me to yell at you and you to make up a story about how mentally unstable I am? To shine a bad rep on my family? Yeah you should be fucking ashamed,” you growled and let Jared lead you away.

You climbed into the car, biting your lip. All attempts to talk to you slowly died out once you got to Jared’s house. You quickly got out of the car and walked into the house. You bypassed Dani and the others, heading straight for a bathroom. You locked the door behind you and looked into the mirror. You hadn’t realized you’d started crying.

You wiped your tears and let out a couple of shaky breaths. You turned the sink on and splashed your face multiple times before wiping it off. You looked at your form in the mirror, seeing the shaking easily and you took a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

A knock shook you out of your head. “Just a minute,” you called out quietly.

“It’s Tom, open the door, Ackles.”

You debated for a minute before unlocking the door to let him in. He walked in, closing and locking the door behind him. You had sat leaning on the cabinet before Tom had turned to look at you. He joined you on the floor, sitting close enough so that the sides of your bodies barely touched.

It was quiet for a few minutes before Tom spoke. “They don’t know when to stop. They don’t know boundaries and they think that they can do anything. I’m scared of them too. I hate being in the spotlight. It’s okay to be afraid,” he stated.

You leaned a head on his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist, “I know...it’s just like they’ve been targeting me and Jay and Arrow and Zep and they freak me out but I can’t show that to my siblings or else they would be even more scared. So I push it back and handle it. Then it all catches up and it crashes down all at once,” you whispered back. Tom’s arm pulled you closer, his head resting on top of yours.

“It’s going to be okay. They’ll find someone else to chase after soon enough.”

“But they shouldn’t! It’s fucked what they’re doing and they know it. They made all three of my siblings cry today, Tom! That’s not alright,” you brought a hand to your face, wiping away your tears.

“I know that. Them making you cry isn’t alright either...but there’s not much we can do about it. We just have to keep moving on and making sure you and your siblings are alright.”

You sighed and nodded slightly. “Yeah...but I need a moment to pull myself together,” you responded.

“And I’m right here to help you get it together.”

Everyone had decided to stay at Jared’s for the night. He had plenty of rooms to share anyway. You couldn’t sleep though. The paparazzi swarm had really gotten to you. Slowly over dinner, you had forgotten about it, even if it was just for a little while, but now it was coming back full force.

You got yourself up from the bed and quietly made your way to the kitchen. You grabbed a glass and filled it with water. You sighed and leaned against the counter. “Couldn’t sleep,” Tom asked from the doorway. His tall frame was covered in shadows.

You shook your head. “My brain won’t shut off,” you whispered.

Tom walked into the kitchen and began getting things out from the cupboards. “I have an idea.”

You shook your head as Tom started putting ingredients into a bowl. “You are insane, Thomas Padalecki,” you laughed and started to help him.

You relaxed into the couch, Tom sitting beside you as you both were eating the cookies you’d made and were drinking the milk. “I’m surprised, they actually taste good,” you looked at Tom.

He fake gasped and placed a hand to his heart, “I’m offended. I am a wonderful cook and baker.”

“The last time you cooked, you burned the pasta.”

“That was one time,” he quietly exclaimed. He placed an arm over your shoulder and leaned further against the couch.

You relaxed even more against him, feeling sleep pull you in. “Thanks for this, Tom. You didn’t have to stay and put up with me,” you yawned.

“I’d do anything to see that beautiful smile on your face,” he responded as you fell into the arms of sleep.

You slowly woke to the sound of muttering voices. As you slowly became aware of everything around you, you felt the arm around your waist. You could also feel the mattress below you moving….wait, that wasn’t a mattress. You opened your eyes and squinted at the light. Somehow during the night, you and Tom had moved to lay fully onto the couch with you on top of Tom.

The voices got slightly louder as they entered from another room. “We should wake them up,” your father stated.

“It looks like they had a long night, Jens, let them sleep,” Gen replied.

“Yeah, let them sleep,” Tom’s chest rumbled under you. His voice was deeper from lack of use. His arm around you tightened slightly as he started to doze off again.

You flushed slightly and bit your lip. “You should see your faces,” Misha lost it. Curious, you looked over the couch to where your father and Jared had varying degrees of shock, excitement, and amusement on their faces.

“Your faces are kind of funny,” you mumbled and placed your head back on Tom’s chest, feeling the tiredness sink in again.

“Oh no you don’t,” your father responded. “Time to go (Y/N).”

“I don’t want to,” you grumbled and snuggled more into Tom’s chest, wishing to go back to sleep. You heard multiple choked laughs at the response. You assumed your father was giving them a look that made them try to be serious.

“Tom, (Y/N) needs to go,” Misha stated.

“No,” he responded.

You laughed quietly. “We can do this again sometime. We can talk later,” you whispered, not really wanting to make your father angry.

Tom made a sad noise but his arm slowly released you. He sighed and sat up. Because you were on his chest, you went with him. “Hello there,” he smirked as your faces were inches from each other.

“H-Hey. Um, I have to-I’ve got to g-go,” you quickly got off Tom and leaned down to give him an awkward hug. “Talk to you later,” you rushed.

“Yeah,” he smiled genuinely. “Maybe next time we won’t be so rudely interrupted,” he smirked.

Your face flushed even redder and you made a couple of unintelligible sounds. “I-uh-I d-don’t think-that’s not-I-bye Tom,” you stuttered and hurried out of the room, catching small glimpses of the adults’ faces. Most were close to cracking up. Jared had a proud but amused look on his face and Jensen’s was stone hard. This was going to be a fun ride home.

Supernaturalites

@dragon-star-light @lifelovelaughangell123 @clarinette07 @jessikared97 @the-wintergirl

Jeremiah x Reader - Heart break

(I don’t own the above gifs credits go to their creators)

Jeremiah and the reader (Jim Gordon’s Niece) get into a fight after he announces his plan for Gotham...

Warnings: Some swearing, angst, general gotham themes.

1235 words.

(Please note this is my first x reader, so I’m still learning!)

Prompt: (I don’t own this.)

“Sometimes, I think you break my heart a little bit”

“Sometimes, I almost believe you have one.”

Working as a Sketch artist and Detective for the GCPD, didn’t have a lot of perks. It was long hours, as almost every minute brought a new victim in with a new description for you to sketch, and most of the time, they were too inconsolable to actually describe the person to you, making your job all the more harder. And on top of that, you were the one to bring the perps in once you had the description. Great.

It was a frustrating day when word had come that Jeremiah Valeska was outside, and was not alone. It’d been a few days since you’d last seen him, and with no word emerging you’d begun to worry for the intelligent man. You met when a job had led you to his home. At first glance, you tried to kill him- what were you supposed to do?! He looked exactly like that psycho Jerome! A second glance was enough to hear him out, and then keep his secret, and existence safe from Harvey, Jim and everyone else for that matter. 

Yeah. It was safe to say Uncle Jim wasn’t so happy when he found out.

You and Jeremiah had a bit of a complicated relationship. You really liked him, hell it was practically love, but boy did he have some problems. After all, how easy was it to date a man with identity issues, a maze like house, people problems and a psychotic brother? (Uncle Jim really wasn’t happy at this point.)  Jeremiah’s brother had scared him, enough for him to make the decision to hide for his whole life, and with everything that’d happened the last few days, you’d been worried that somehow Jerome had gotten the last laugh.

Little did you know, he pretty much had.

With no word from your Uncle, You and Harvey took it upon yourselves to head outside first, Guns at the ready. You’d probably never be able to actually shoot Jeremiah, but the effort had to be made. Much like the first time you saw him, the first glance was enough to make you want to shoot him. The second send a shiver down your spine.

There he stood, with a pale face, almost white, eyes a suspicious green, looking more like contacts than real eyes, and black hair, instead of the brilliant rusty red you’d grown accustomed to. You couldn’t say he’d lost his attractiveness, if anything he’d gained some, but it caught you off guard to see the dramatic change in character and appearance. 

Harvey gives you a look, asking if you’re prepared to do what needs to be done if it comes to it. You’re not sure, but if Jeremiah’s appearance tells you anything, it’s that this is not the same boyfriend you saw only a few days before.

“You might not recognise Jerome’s followers, as I’ve given them something of a makeover, but I assure you they are as loyal to me as they were him.” Jeremiah starts off. God, even his voice sounds different.

“More so now that I accomplished something my brother never could; killing James Gordon.”

“JEREMIAH, JEREMIAH!”

“You did what?!” You stagger forwards a step as your voice breaks through the chaos, almost dropping your gun as the news of your Uncle’s demise is told to you. Jeremiah smiles almost sympathetically at you.

“I killed James Gordon. Unfortunate but necessary. I assure you Y/N there was no other way. For my plans to succeed there must be no James Gordon.”

“YOU’RE A LIAR!” Harvey yells, as he pointed his gun at Jeremiah. He pulls you back by the shoulder.

The conversation goes on by you can’t hear much over the ringing in your ears. Why did your life have to be this way? Your uncle was everything to you. He raised you when his brother, your dad, disappeared on you. He raised a Five year old, all whilst being Army and police based. It wasn’t an easy job. You didn’t always make it easy for him. But you loved him and he loved you unconditionally. And your boyfriend killed him. 

Maybe Jerome was right. Maybe the craziness didn’t just linger in Jerome, but rather in all of the Valeska’s veins. From what you’d gathered, Lila was just as out of her mind as her boys were. After all, who in their right mind beats their child for fun? Jerome’s condition was pretty self explanatory, and Jeremiah... Well you thought you’d finally found the sane one of the family, but really, he seemed the most fucked up.

He pleads sanity, but he acts like a madman. He swears to be a builder but he wants to tear gotham apart at the seams. He compares his work to an artists, but to paint his canvas, he has to paint the streets with blood first. Sweet, gentle, caring Jeremiah wouldn’t have done this. He wouldn’t be like this! 

‘This isn’t my Jeremiah.’ You think grimly, raising your gun again, telling yourself that no matter how much he looks, (or doesn’t look, really,) like Jeremiah, he needs to go down. His eyes flit to yours behind the glasses, and he smiles, the bastard actually smiles. And for some reason, you still find that smile so very attractive, and your heart swells with love for this crazy man.

“Now, now. There won’t be any need for that Y/N. As I just told Harvey, I have a dead man switch. One slip of my thumb, and the city goes boom. No one has to die, well except these people.” Jeremiah trails off, taking another switch from his pocket,  “But I know seeing is believing, and I do want you to believe me so...” He clicks the button.

Loud explosives go off from down the street, and you jump back in terror as you realise that he’s just blown up Gotham Clock tower, with hundreds of people inside. 

“NOOOOO!!!” You scream in horror, eyes locked on the smoke and fire.

“OH MY GOD. GET OFFICERS ON THE SCENE NOW!!” Harvey yells in a panic, shoving a few officers forward, as they look on in shock.

“6 hours detective. The clock is ticking.” Jeremiah begins to walk away, as Harvey springs into action, ordering everybody not to follow Jeremiah, and instead head down to the clock tower to help. 

Any love you had for him is immediately swallowed by a boiling rage. This man, if you can even call him that, Isn’t your boyfriend, he’s a menace, and needs to be stopped. You storm after Jeremiah, shoving his followers out of the way, jumping in front of him. He sighs at the sight of your gun trained to his chest.

“Come now Y/N. Put it down. I still have the switch.” 

“No.”

“You don’t want to kill me do you? I’m your boyfriend.” Jeremiah coaxes, waving his followers ahead.

“No. The guy who wears glasses and has red hair is my boyfriend. The guy who actually gives a damn about me and humanity is My boyfriend. My boyfriend is obviously dead! The freak in front of me sure as hell isn’t. You’re the freak who doesn’t give a rats ass if people die! You’re the guy who seriously needs to have a bullet or twenty sent through your skull.” I spit, and he sighs.

“Sometimes, I think you break my heart a little bit” Jeremiah remarks.

“Sometimes, I almost believe you have one.” 

Staying at the in laws p2

REAL LIFE:  COUPLE: TBS X READER RATING: CONFUSING

THOMAS’ POV:

"we're here!" I heard y/n cheerful yell we swapped over at the McDonald's car park when we got to her home town because my legs where going to sleep plus she knew this place a whole lot better then I did somehow in whatever distance it was between that car park and her parents place I had fallen asleep "We're here?" I ask hardly awake "Yep, come on we need to get our stuff before it gets to dark" she says getting out I look around it already seemed pretty dam dark to me so I got out helping her get out our bags of stuff and clothes for all the time we would be spending here  we opened the little gate and snunk in I instantly could smell an odd mix of roses from the garden and huge piles of dog shit pooled around each car, all of them I assume members of her families? Alot of them didn't look good in fact there was half a car across the back of the garden she ran up as I shut the gate dinging the little doorbell I could here the little dinging going off inside and I saw a large dog jump up the main window starting to growl I stepped closer trying my best not to step in anything as I got to the little stone path close to the door just as it opened "Y/N! ITS Y/N EVERYONE! YAY!" erupted from the door as a woman stood there and many people where sat around inside the dog pushed past this woman it was a big and bouncy black dog it jumped on y/n putting it's paws on her shoulders as it stood "Awwww hey boy" she smiles giving the dog a pet before it jumped down coming to me and growling at me "awwww, it's okay boy it's just Thomas" she giggled "Uhh hi uhh dog" I began trying to pet it but it barked at me "He won't bite, unless he thinks your going to do something bad" a man chuckled from inside y/n went in the dog following her so I went in putting my stuff with her's she had put it on the stairs as she walked into the large living room so I followed her I felt... Out of my element this was alot of people they can't all be her family? If so she has a big family they all turned to look at me judging every thing about me y/n was stood talking to the woman from the door she turned to me and smiled so I mouthed "help me" to her but she ignored me "So... Your his Thomas I've heard so much about?" A man asked he was sat in a recliner chair a pint glass of beer in his hand and a walking stick wedged between his leg and the cushion of the chair he looked at me glaring waiting for my answer "Uhh.. yeah I'm thomas y/n's boyfriend" I smile "Really? How long have you to been together now?" A woman asked smoking her vape by the fireplace "It was a year a few months ago" I blush "Then why not ring! My granddaughter shouldn't be fooling With some boy till he puts a ring on her finger!" A woman began yelling "Ignore her, old bag, hi lil y/n's sister" a woman smiles getting up and coming to help me to a wooden chair by the dinning room door "Ohh hey, yeah y/n's told me about you" I smile just as the dog jumped up his dirt covered paws sitting on my legs "whoa! Hello uhh dog" I say a little confused as it sniffed me and licked me "Aww he likes you Tommy" y/n giggles sitting beside me as everyone in the room sat around looking at the tv "What's going on?" I whispered "It's Saturday, football is on" she answered "Ohhhh" I sigh "so.. who's who? Come on I've never met anyone before" I ask her "Fine, well there is more here then I though so... Obviously my sister lil, her husband Danny, my aunt Lou who is my dad's sister, my uncle Jim who is my dad's brother, granny pen and grandpa reg who are my dad's parents, my dad obviously, my mum, my mum's brother uncle Warren and his wife Sara my cousin Harry then little puppy fluffy" she explains "Dam that's alot of names" I sigh "You get used to it" she smiles snuggling her head closer to me "only my parents my sister my grandparents and us are sleeping here tonight though" she smiled "Ohh.. I was worried for a minute" I smile giving her head a kiss as the little kid ran up to us her cousin if I remember rightly he came and sat looking at us "what is he doing?" I ask " He does that to new people he is leaning what your face looks like" she answers "Ohhh... Okay" I shrug "hey" I smile but he ran away from me hiding behind a sofa "what did I do?" I ask her "Nothing he recognised your voice that's all" she smiles "How did he- right he's a kid Thunderbirds or freb?" I ask "Freb most likely his mum won't let him watch Thunderbirds too violent" she laughs "shhh unless you want your cock cut off footballs starting" she says "You hate football?" I laugh "Shhhhh not when with family I don't and neither do you unless you want to be crucified I come from a football mad family Thomas get used to it" she explains "Y/n? Can you come give me a hand!" Her mother called from the kitchen she gave me a kiss and went off alot of the other girls following her too them all hanging in the kitchen chatting about... I have no idea actually only me and all the guys in her family "Well we got time before kick off, that blue thing out there yours Thomas?" One of her uncles asked I was unsure which one actually "Ohh yeah, that's my car" I answer "It's nice, do the work yourself?" Another asked "Yeah, I picked it up at a scrap yard a few years ago been repairing it ever since" I answer "it's just been a bit complicated because it's left hand drive so..." I shrug "out of curiosity what is the half broken car in the garden?" I ask "Mine" her father said "my old rover been fixing it up, used to take y/n and lil to school in that you know?" He laughed and everyone chuckled "so sangster you keep yourself busy with that sort of thing?" He asked "Ohh yeah, I mainly work with my motorbikes but cars as and when I need to" I shrug "Ohh biker boy" one sighed "Have you seen they have been re running the originals last couple weeks?" One asked another "Yeah got my box recording them" her dad answered "you watch the trek sangster?" Her father asked me "The trek?" I asked very lost trying to follow this "Star Trek?" He laughed "Ohhh no, I watched the new ones they did with uhh Chris pine" I began "Ohh the shit ones!" They all laughed "Fine not cars, no trek, uhhh music?" Her dad asked "Well I quite like older 50s stuff and more alternative-" I began "Clearly not music" he interrupted "star wars?" He asked "Yes I love star wars" I answer "Well there we go something to talk about" another man laughed "I uhh I was actually in one of them" I smile " the first new one, force awakens" I tell them "Yeah for like two seconds" one laughed as someone clicked the volume for the tv on it was in Some football show I have no idea what it was it was just so loud like in humanly loud I see why all the women went to the kitchen I might go join them in a minute they all say loudly talking over the tv about teams and players I have no idea about most names I didn't even recognize "Thomas! Can I borrow you?" Y/n smiled leaning on the kitchen door "Ohh course" I smile getting up and going across the living room to her but someone I'm not sure who tripped me up sending me face first onto the red carpet making every laugh shit that hurt I got up best I could going to see y/n Busy working away in the kitchen "hi honey?" I say in pain "Aww hi Tommy, your doing well" she giggled giving me a cuddle "I'm in emotional and physical pain and aggony people are literally beating me up and I think your dad is going to murder me for my tv choices" I explain "That's good, your doing better then I thought you would by now" she smiles "just don't let on you don't like football, don't bring up F1 because my dad hates your favourite driver and I'm not breaking that fight up because you will instantly lose, do not bring up politics for yours and my safety, and yes I know it's a lot of racisum and horrible things but please just nod and keep quiet Thomas please for me" she begs "I'll try, for you... I mean I knows they might be my in laws soon?" I smirk "In your dreams" she smiles giving me a kiss "now go out the case of beer on the table for everyone" she says " ohh and take a Stanley knife" she says "Why?" I ask a little puzzled "That's how all problems are resolved in my family Stanley knifes and duck tape whatever is more appropriate, love you" she smiles kissing my cheek and rushing off to help her mum

If you ever have the time, please tell me about your Hopper prequel headcannons.

He graduates high school in 1960, same class as Joyce and Bob. Almost immediately after he enlists in the army to go to Vietnam. It’s p canon that Hop wasn’t exactly the best behaved kid in high school, and I think he def came from a very traditional family with a lot of expectations for masculinity. His grandfather served in WW1, his father in WW2, he may have even had an uncle or brother or someone in Korea. He grew up hearing stories from war, but definitely that kinda idealized “glory days” version of it. I think he was always kinda expected to join the military and his family definitely also saw it as a way to kinda get him in line and stop the teenage messing around. And he didn’t really have any qualms with it. He joined the army and left Hawkins as a young, kinda naive kid who didn’t really understand yet what war would really be like.

Cut to a few years later, he’s out of the war and moved to New York, and he’s not the same person at all. I think Vietnam was really the start of the Hopper we know. He’s not really the immature kid he was in high school anymore, he’s a lot more serious, he’s dealing with a lot of PTSD, and he’s honestly kinda starting to fall apart. But he holds it together, he’s still young and he’s got aspirations. He certainly doesn’t want to head back to his hometown in Indiana. So he starts fresh in New York, becoming a rookie cop that’s able to climb through the ranks pretty quickly, he becomes a detective. The War on Drugs hadn’t really started yet, and he’s investigating more violent type of crimes. Definitely not the best for his PTSD, but as he said himself, they’re strangers, so he’s a bit desensitized. He’s not really all that healthy mentally, but he’s holding himself together and trying to pretend everything is fine.

Around 1970 is when he meets Diane. He falls for her quickly, and she’s really one of the most serious relationships he’s ever had. Before her, he dated around a lot, never really staying with one person for more than a few months, but he never really had a long term relationship. Diane is nothing like him at all, she’s a very well put-together person and she’s sociable and outgoing and helps Hop feel that way too. They get married in 1971, move to the suburbs, and have Sara very quickly after. And for a few years they’re really the perfect happy family. Being a dad gives Hop something he can channel himself into, he’s no longer fixated on the past or on work, and for the first time in his life he’s really happy. He’s perfectly content with his happy, normal family and feeling like the happy, normal dad.

Then Sara gets sick. And around here is when I wanna leave it kinda open-ended, because obviously there’s so much we don’t know about what happened with Sara, and David Harbour has hinted enough that there’s more to the story than just her getting cancer, and it’s a canon fact she died at Hawkins Lab. But then she dies, and Hopper is a wreck. His marriage with Diane kinda folds in on itself almost immediately too. She wants to rely on him and work through it with him, but he’s just too much of a mess. He’s isolating himself and drinking and smoking and doesn’t really ever want to go home bc every reminder of Sara is painful. He’s falling apart, and all the unresolved stuff he was able to ignore before like his trauma with the war and just a general not-so-great mental health is resurfacing and everything is amplified by Sara. For years he was able to ignore everything and pretend he was living this happy and perfect life because that’s honestly how he felt, but once Sara dies he’s just a complete wreck. Him and Diane cope with it in such different ways, and Hop doesn’t even try and keep his marriage going. They divorce around 1978.

I think somewhere within his marriage with Diane they moved to Indiana (bc again they were in Hawkins when Sara died). But they weren’t living in the town though. Maybe in Indianapolis somewhere, but then after the divorce is when Hopper moved to Hawkins for real. Part of it was because he was offered the job as chief, but I think a bigger part of it was wanting to be near Sara, while also not wanting to be near all the painful memories of where they lived before. He moved to New York to start fresh, but now he just wanted some stability and familiarity and to be where he was before the war and before Diane and before Sara and before everything.

Very quickly he makes a reputation for himself in Hawkins. A lot of people remember him, but he’s not the same Jim Hopper as he was in high school. It’s a small town and people talk, everyone knows about Sara, and everyone knows how he’s dealing with it.  

Then we get to the Hopper we knew in season 1. He’s a mess, he’s got a real drinking and smoking problem, he’s sleeping around, living in a trailer, doesn’t really have any close friends. Even Joyce he didn’t really reconnect with until the events of s1. Hawkins doesn’t really have much crime, so there’s not much for him to do as chief, and I think that kinda contributes to his spiral as well. He doesn’t really have anything to focus on so he spends all his time thinking about Sara and his failed marriage and everything that came before it. I think even before Diane and Sara came into his life, Hop was already holding himself together by the seams. He was struggling and right on the edge of falling off a cliff, but he held himself together just enough and then when Diane came along he really pulled himself together and for a few years he really was happy and stable. But then after Sara, not only is he back at square one, but he’s completely flung off the aforementioned cliff.

Diane remarried soon too. Within only a year or two of the divorce, and then she has another baby pretty quickly too. That does not help Hop at all. The one thing really holding him together before was knowing that at least there was someone else going through this with him, even if they didn’t speak much and Hop feels guilty knowing he wasn’t the best husband. But once he starts to feel like Diane is moving on, it makes everything ten thousand times worse for him. His only real way to cope is to deny everything, making drunken calls to Diane and talking about Sara like she’s still around, but of course that only hurts. And not only is he dealing with a ton of grief and unresolved trauma, but he feels very meaningless as well. There’s nothing for him to do as chief really, and he doesn’t have anyone close to him in his life. And I think that’s why everything that happens in the show really helps turn him around. Right off the bat, he has something to do, some meaning to help others. There’s a missing child, and he’s the one responsible for finding him. But even more than that, Will being missing helps him to reconnect with Joyce, and he discovers this whole conspiracy behind the lab.

But then at the end there really is only one decision for him, he can sell out Eleven and save Will, or let Will die in the Upside Down. So he makes a rash decision that ultimately he feels so guilty for and tells the lab where El is hiding, and it’s not until everything is over that he realizes the severity of what he’s done. The lab is putting him in charge of keeping everything hushed up, but now he has to deal with people like the Hollands coming after him when he can’t just tell them the truth, there’s people like Murray coming up with conspiracies. Even Joyce originally was trying to expose the lab for everything if you look at the “The Boy Who Came Back To Life” newspaper article. And then on top of all the stress, he’s got the guilt weighing on him that there’s this little girl that could be dead for all he knows all because he chose Will’s life over hers. So he starts searching for her. Probably talked to Mike or someone about her, found out where they met her, found out her favorite food, found out as much as he could. Mike probably told him about seeing her the night the lab interrogated him, so Hop hoped she wasn’t in the Upside Down.

He puts the crate with food out in the woods by Mirkwood as a shot in the dark that she may see it. I don’t think he expected much out of it, and the first time he saw the food missing he probably assumed it was an animal or something, but he kept doing it every day because it helped him feel like he was doing something and helped to pacify some of his guilt, plus it’s all he knew he could do. Likewise he also probably was the one to help set up Will’s therapy sessions with Owens, and came with Joyce every time to bring him there.

Then one day he actually finds El. He does the only thing he can think of, brings her to his grandfather’s hunting cabin, and starts to make some home for her. And I think it’s important to note that when Hop took El in, he wasn’t immediately thinking about adopting her or becoming her dad or any of that, he wasn’t even thinking that far ahead, he just knew there was this little girl here he needed to protect. And they weren’t immediately family right away, they were strangers who honestly didn’t really know or trust each other. But over time they’re together so much and they begin to bond. Even if it still takes a while for El to really be his daughter, both emotionally and legally, she starts to become family for Hop, and I think she kinda helps him in the same way Sara once did.

He has some newfound meaning in his life, he has someone to love and protect and take care of. We start to see him acting more like a dad again, he’s more domestic. He’s not, ya know, the mess he was in season 1. Instead of waking up and getting drunk before heading to work, he’s making french toast and waking her up and talking to her. And obviously their relationship is very rocky for a while but I do think overall they’re happy and for a while El is able to keep her frustrations about the cabin under the surface. And of course El and Sara helped Hop in different ways, but I think where Sara and Diane gave Hopper this feeling of normalcy that gave him some temporary happiness, I think El was actually able to help him heal. That’s what I love so much about Hopper and El’s dynamic. They’re both extremely messy people, both dealing with their own cocktail of trauma and mental health, but they both kinda accept the other as they are and help the other not to really cope per se, but to feel supported and accepted. Hop knows he’s never really going to be the person he was before Sara, who was super happy and healthy and perfect, and he knows that him and El aren’t exactly a normal family, but he accepts that. And I think one of the overall themes on this show is about not feeling normal but accepting it, and everything with Hop kinda shows that. He’s not the same person he was before Sara, but deep down he knows even then he wasn’t perfect and he had a lot of other issues he just kept below the surface. But then with El he’s actually able to find some meaning again and work through his grief and guilt and accept his life for what it is now, and their whole arc together in s2 really is so monumental for Hop’s whole character.

Welcome To Gotham Part 5 (Victor Zsasz/OC)

"Arf!Grrr!Arf!" I bolt up in bed "Ow" I groan that sent a shock of pain up my leg and right to my wound, "Raven help!" I laugh as Lily has a hold of Jim's trouser leg "Lily come here! They are friendlies" She lets go of Jim and jumps up beside me. "You got a dog? And you managed to set up the sofa bed? How?" Harvey asks sitting on the opposite sofa "I had a friend come to visit, He helped me set everything up" Harvey nods and Jim sits beside him "A friend? I thought you didn't know anyone in Gotham?" I smile slightly annoyed "I don't, He's not from Gotham. I called him and he offered to come to town to help me out" I growl and Jim nods, "So the dog? What's the deal?" Harvey asks as Lily jumps up on him "I wanted a companion...This loft gets very quiet and lonely" I smirk at Harvey and he smirks back "She's cute" Harvey winks at me and I feel my face get very hot "Uh yeah" I mumble and hold my head as I feel dizzy "Raven? You ok?" I lay back and groan "I don't feel too good" Harvey comes over to me and touches my forehead "Your really warm and really pale, When did you last eat?" He asks and I think for a minute.

"Uh, L-Lunch yesterday...Whoops" I laugh innocently "Well that's not healthy" Harvey Smirks and heads to the kitchen, Jim stays on the other sofa and plays with Lily.

XX

15 Minutes later Harvey places a plate of scrambled eggs on my good leg "Thank you Harvey, I owe you" I smile and dig in.

"So Raven, Me and Harvey have been thinking. How would you feel about a friend of mine coming over to help you?" I tilt my head "I saw Harvey smirk when you said friend..." I smile as Jim looks at Harvey "Ok fine, She's kind of my girlfriend and she's a doct-"

"I don't need help!" I snap harshly cutting him off, "Raven. You've been forgetting to eat, You don't get around very well on your own, You need help when Harvey and I aren't here" I glare and look into his eyes "I do not need any help" This is frustrating "At least meet her" I growl "Fine, But she needs to be gone by 6 pm I like my me time at night" Jim nods "Ok! I'll go call her" He smiles and walks into the kitchen "Ugh I hate pushy people" I growl and I hear Harvey laugh "Try working with him" He smirks making me laugh, I stretch and cringe as I smell my body odor "Ew I need a bath" I groan putting my arms down and I get an idea "Hey Harvey?" I smile sweetly "Yes Raven?"

"Um, If I p-put on a bikini or something can you h-help me into the bath?" His face goes a little red "You sure? We haven't even had a date yet?" I laugh "Harvey I'm sure, Maybe because your a cop but I trust you" He smiles "Ok Lee will be here in about 30 minutes, She will check your wound and you in general" I nod "Well Harvey! Looks like seeing my body will have to wait" I laugh as both Jim and Harvey's Jaw's drop, Lily starts running and playing around the loft. I laugh as we wait for this 'Lee'.

XX

40 Minutes later there is a knock at my door and Jim goes and answers it.

Lily actually stayed put this time, Jim walks over to the sofa with a very pretty brown-haired woman. "Hi I'm Dr. Leslie Tompkins, But just call me Lee" I smile "Hi I'm Raven Volturi" She tilts her head "Volturi? Are you Italian?" I smile " Sì, sono Italiano" (Yes I am Italian) She laughs "Lo sapevo!"(I knew it!) Harvey and Jim look very confused about this.

Lee looks down at Lily "Go say hi" I tell Lily in a baby voice and she goes and greets Lee. I laugh as she jumps and barks playfully "What's her name?" Lee asks laughing "Lily" I smile.

XX

A few minutes of playing later Lily jumps up beside me and I turn to Lee "I need help with a bath before you change my bandages, I did ask Harvey to help me but I suppose a girl is better" I laugh, She nods "Where do you keep your bikinis?" She asks with a smirk "Um closet, Middle shelf, Upstairs" She nods and goes up to my room, "Hey Jim?" I smile "Yes?" He looks confused "You and Lee are cute together" Harvey and I laugh at Jim blushing as we wait.

XX

A couple of minutes later Lee comes downstairs with a plain black bikini in her hands "Ok Boys, Face the wall! I'll watch them while you change" She winks and hands me the bikini "Thank you" I smile and she turns around.

I use my powers to change and wait a few more seconds "I'm done" I mumble feeling a little exposed, Thankfully Lee faces Jim and Harvey to the kitchen before helping me to the bathroom.

XX

An hour later and I am sitting on the toilet with a towel wrapped around my body, The bath went pretty well and Lee is about to dry my leg and change the bandages. "I don't have to tell you this will probably hurt"  I laugh "I know" As she goes to work.

XX

10 Minutes later my wound is Re-Wrapped and I am waiting on Lee bringing me some PJ's, I told her Shorts for my leg and I obviously didn't tell her this but I am going to use my powers to dry my hair when they leave. "Ok here is your PJ's and I will be just outside the door"  Lee smiles and leaves.

I use my powers to change into the black and grey flannel shorts and Black longsleeved top Lee picked out "I'm done!" I yell slightly and Lee comes back in "Harvey fed Lily for you, let's go" I smile and nod as she helps me limp back to the...Folded...Away...Sofa Bed. Shit Zsasz won't be happy, I sit on the sofa and Harvey sits beside me "Thanks for feeding Lily" I smile "Your Welcome, You can put your legs over me if you want" I smirk and slowly lift my legs onto his "This feels nice" I mumble as the pain fades, Lily hops up beside me and Harvey while Jim and Lee sit on the other sofa together. I put the TV on "Arf!" Lily barks happily as all 5 of us settle into a comfortable silence and watch TV.

XX

"Harvey?" I ask breaking the silence "Yes Ma Lady?" I laugh "Wanna help me make coffee?" He nods "Of course" And helps me over to the kitchen counter.

"How is your leg?" Harvey asks Grabbing 4 cups "The bruise looks a lot better, The bullet hole hurts like a bitch. Lee said whoever shot me had to have known what they were doing to have missed the bone completely" Harvey thinks for a minute "SON OF A BITCH!"  Harvey yells making me jump "Jim! Get in here!" What is he doing?! "Harvey why are you yelling?" Jim groans walking into the kitchen "ZSASZ!" My heart pounds "What about him?" Jim asks "He has to be the one that shot Raven! Lee told Raven whoever shot her had to have known what they were doing to have missed the bone. Zsasz is a hitman he also had an agenda against You and Raven! Motive!" Oh no...I do a spell on myself to make me pass out "Uh guys I-" The spell works and everything goes black.

XX

"Ugh" I groan holding my head and sitting up slowly, "Raven? Are you ok?" Lee asks flashing a light in my eyes "Doc I know you're trying to help but If you don't get that light out of my face I will break your fingers" I growl as the pain fades "I only just noticed your eyes, Can you tell me about them?" She asks standing back a bit "Jim and I have been wondering about those too" Harvey smiles kindly at me "It is a genetic mutation. My dad and uncle have them while my m-mother has purple eyes so it is kind of a family thing" The 3 of them nod and just mentioning my mother has made me extremely...Annoyed "I need you guys to leave, My mother is a very touchy subject and I am ever so slightly annoyed right now. And trust me an annoyed me is not a me you wanna be around" Jim and Lee nod while Harvey walks over to me and Hugs me slightly "I'll see you tomorrow" I smile and nod as they leave. Not worried about containing my powers I start crying and a few things shake, Lily cuddles up to me as I fall asleep crying.

XX

"Arf!" I'm woken up by Lily playing with...Zsasz? "Leave Zsasz" I groan sitting up "Hm sorry didn't catch that" He smirks standing up, Slightly losing my temper I stand up barely on 2 legs "I said you need to leave Zsasz" I growl trying not to flash my eyes "Would if I could but bosses orders" He clicks his tongue "I want to talk to Falcone, Call him" He raises a hairless brow "No don't think I will" I teleport his phone into my hand "Fine, I'll do it for you" I show him the phone and his smirk vanishes "How did you do that?" He says a little too calmly "I know how to pickpocket" I sit down and he snatches his phone back "Hey!" I yell a bit too loud "Do you want me to call Falcone or not?" I growl but stay quiet as he dials the number.

"Boss, The girl wants to talk to you" Zsasz mumbles into the phone "I'll put her on" He hands the phone to me.

R: Hello Carmine.

C: Miss Volturi, How are you doing?

R: I'm fine but Zsasz needs to leave.

C: Why is that?

R: Gordon and Bullock know he shot me. I didn't tell them, After Gordon's girlfriend looked at my wound they figured it out.

C: They will never know Victor has been at your house.

R: They are a lot smarter than you think.

C: Oh I have no doubt about that. However, Victor Zsasz is a professional hitman it is his job not to leave tracks. Goodbye Miss Volturi!

Falcone hangs up and I hand the phone to Zsasz "I'm stuck with you" I glare and put my legs on the sofa. "Uh, why is the bed away?" Zsasz asks head tilted "I don't know" I groan closing my eyes, A few seconds of silence and I feel his hand on my leg "What the hell are you doing?!" I snap eyes now open "Nothing" I watch him very carefully as he gets dangerously close to my wound and I panic because I know what he is going to do "N-No Zsasz please!" I yell and try to move away from him "Are you going to try and make me leave?" He freaking purrs rubbing my thigh "N-No I won't I p-promise" Honestly I can probably deal with the pain if he presses onto it but my main issue right now is that my thighs are very sexually sensitive and he is touching my bare sexually sensitive thighs...I'm aroused. He puts pressure on my thigh to stop me moving and it works, I freeze! "Z-Zsasz? C-Can you please let me go?" I mumble shaking a lot "Are you sure you want me to?" He's toying with me now, So I decide to toy with him too.

I steady my nerves and slowly put my hand on his thigh "Hmm" He hums watching me and I smile squeezing his thigh a little. "You're getting awfully close to me Zsasz" I smirk head tilted slightly, He growls and leans in toward me only stopping a few inches from my face "You better choose your next move very carefully Little Bird" Zsasz says looking into my eyes. I don't know what to do! I don't want things to get awkward...Well more awkward than this anyway "Uh I um, Can you please get off of me" I start blushing and moving away as much as I physically can "Of course" He groans a little too sexually! He gets off of me and goes back to playing with Lily "Oh about the bed? I'll fix it before I leave" He is so weird! "O-Ok thank you" I smile and watch them play well more Lily.

XX

30 Minutes later my stomach growls and I notice Lily's bowl is also empty "Shit" I mumble and catch Zsasz glaring at me "What?!" He snaps standing up "Can you help me to the kitchen? I'm hungry and I'm sure Lily is too" I stand up and start limping toward the kitchen as he says nothing "Fine!" He groans and puts his hand on my waist.

He lets me go at the counter "Can you hand me her food bowl please?" I take the food container out of the cupboard "Here" He hands me the bowl "Thank you" I smile and pour dog food into the bowl "Arf!" Lily barks excitedly as Zsasz puts the bowl back down on the floor, Wow he is actually being helpful "Zsasz?" I ask with my hand on my hip "Yes?" He says a little too nicely "Why are you being so helpful? Don't tell me I'm growing on you?" I smirk "It is my job at the moment remember? Bosses orders" I don't even know what to say about that.

I start making my food, A turkey and cheese sandwich. I make Zsasz one too and also make 2 coffee's "Here" I hand him his sandwich on a plate and his coffee "Pft" My jaw drops! I made him food and coffee and all I get is a 'Pft!' "Wait!"  I yell and he turns to me "What? I was going to the table" He smirks putting his food and coffee on the table "P-Please help me with mine?" I smile and he groans "Fine..." I limp to the table and he gets my plate and cup for me.

We sit at the table and I put my leg up on a chair as usual "You had a bath? Don't tell me you let 'Them' see you naked" I choke on my coffee "N-No! Of course Not! Jim's doctor girlfriend Lee helped me!" I glare "She's the one who told you the guy...Me that shot you knew what he/ I was doing?" I nod "Huh Docs smart" He laughs and I start eating.

XX

After we finish eating I look at Zsasz "Do you wanna play a game on the PS3 with me?" I blush a bit "Sure, What game?" I smile "Hm, What about Resident Evil 6?" He nods and stands up "Lets's do it" I laugh as he helps me over to the sofa.

I sit on the sofa and get somewhat comfortable as he puts the game in and grabs 2 controllers. "Don't worry it tells you the buttons" I laugh as I see him looking at the manual, He glares at me and sits beside me...Thighs touching! I take a breath and we start playing.

"BEHIND YOU! ZOOMBIE! SHOOT IT!" I yell my gaming panic coming out "I GOT IT!" He yells back wow color me surprised "Ayy we did it! Hight five!" I laugh and put my hand up "We did chapter 1" He laughs and high fives me! "Ok, I will get your bed fixed up" I yawn "Huh it's late" Lily jumps up beside me as I watch Zsasz fix the bed.

XX

A few minutes later he finishes setting the bed up and helps me over to it "Get in bed" I laugh "Ok nurse Zsasz" I laugh and as I am about to get into bed he grabs my hips from behind "Z-Zsasz?" I take a deep breath and he slowly turns me around "You have no idea how much I want to hurt you right now" He groans in my ear " In a good way or a bad way?" I smirk and he growls " Maybe both but then I would have to be around you longer" He moves away from me "Go to bed" I slowly get into bed and lay down "Night Zsasz" I mumble and fall asleep.

End of Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed it!

-Ray

@thefandomfires

TFP LEAKED VERSION TRANSLATION

I have translated 17 minutes of the episode, i’m working on more... if you have a request what scene should I translate asap please send me its time

I apolgize for any mistakes

hope you enjoy it :))

LITTLE GIRL: Mom, wake up!

Please!

Please help, I’m on a plane and everyone is asleep, please save me.

ON THE PHONE: My name’s Jim Moriarty and this is the final problem, welcome!

 THE MAN ON TV:

I could arrest you

LADY: Why?

MAN: Why are you wearing this dress?

LADY: Do you want me to take it off?

MAN: Then I will arrest you for sure (but there’s a dickjoke pun)

LADY: They started like this.

MAN: Who?

LADY: Adam and Eve, everything ended up quite okay.

MAN: You think? I thought that all the sins originated there.

LADY: So are you going to arrest me or what?

MAN: I think not, I might just watch you.

LADY: Very carefully?

MAN: Yeah…

LADY: What a shame, I’d be so glad to give myself up to the government. Finger prints, personal guards.

 CREPY VOICE: Mycroft….

MYCROFT: Show your face finally, I don’t have time for games.

THE VOICE (KID SHERLOCK/EUROS?): We have time, brother mine. We still have time.

THE VOICE (KID SHERLOCK?EUROS): Myyycroft!

MYCROFT: Who are you?

THE VOICE: You know who.

MYCROFT: Impossible.

THE VOICE: Nothing is impossible. And you know it better than anyone.

THE VOICE: I’m coming to you. The east wind is coming and it’s going to take you away.

MYCROFT: You can’t get out. You can’t!

THE VOICE: That’s useless, Mycroft. You can’t defend yourself or hide.

MYCROFT: Sherlock, help!

SHERLOCK: The experiment is completed. Outcome: I have a sister.

MYCROFT: What is that? This all is a joke of yours?

SHERLOCK: Outcome number two: My sister is in a strictly protected custody under control of my brother. Right, brother?

MYCROFT: Why did you organize this pantomime? Why?!

SHERLOCK: Outcome number three: You are very afraid to death of her.

MYCROFT: You don’t have an idea what are you playing with. Not in the slightest!

JOHN: New information, she’s free.

MYCROFT: That’s not possible.

SHERLOCK: More than that, she was John’s therapist.

JOHN: She tried to shoot me on our session.

SHERLOCK: It was just a tranquilizer.

JOHN: I had ten minutes left.

SHERLOCK: You should think about a refund.

SHERLOCK: And you are going to get your money at the doors. I hope we didn’t ruin your evening.

MYCROFT: What? You’re just going to leave?

SHERLOCK: We can’t stay, Euros is coming and by the way, someone took down your guards. Sweet dreams!

MYCROFT: Dr. Watson, why does he do this to me? It’s madness!

JOHN: Yeah, but someone convinced him, you’re not going to tell the truth until you pissed yourself because of fear.  

MYCROFT: Someone?

JOHN: Well, maybe me.

MYCROFT: And that’s all? You’re just leaving?

JOHN: Don’t worry, for the people who have nowhere to run, scared and hopeless, there is one place.

MYCROFT: What place?

JOHN: 221B Baker Street. See you in the morning. If there’s a lot of people take a place in a queue.

MYCROFT: For god’s sake, it’s not one of your idiotic cases!

JOHN: You should close the windows, the east wind is coming.

  MRS. HUDSON: You can take a seat. The interview is not going to start until you take a seat, That’s the rule.

MYCROFT: I’m not a client!

SHERLOCK: Then go away.

MYCROFT: She’s not staying here, right?

MRS. HUDSON: Would you like a cup of tea?

MYCROFT: Yes, thank you.

MRS. HUDSON: The kettle is over there.

MYCROFT: And what now? You’re going to switch on your deduction?

SHERLOCK: You’re going to tell the truth, pure and simple truth.

MYCROFT: Who did once say, the truth is rarely pure and never simple?

SHERLOCK: I don’t care who. So it turns out there were three of us? Now I know it. You, me and Euros.

MYCROFT: (nods)

SHERLOCK: The little sister I don’t remember. Interesting name, it is Greek, right?

JOHN: Yes, literally the goddess of east wind.

MYCROFT: Yes.

SHERLOCK: the east wind is coming, Sherlock. Remember? How you used to scare me? You turned my sister into a ghost story.

MYCROFT: No, what a nonsense. I watched after you.

JOHN: Watched after?

MYCROFT: Memories come back, wounds open. The roads we go have demons beneath. And yours are able to wait very long time. I never tried to scared you, from time to time I used potential activators to understand your psychological condition. I cared after you.

SHERLOCK: But I don’t remember her at all.

MYCROFT: That’s a private conversation.

SHERLOCK: John stays.

MYCROFT: It’s family business.

SHERLOCK: That’s why John stays!

JOHN: So, there were three siblings. What’s the age difference.

MYCROFT: Seven years between me and Sherlock, one year between Sherlock and Euros.

JOHN: Of course, it explains a lot. Middle child…

JOHN: She also had it?

MYCRPFT: Had what?

JOHN: This whole deduction.

MYCROFT: (mocking) This whole deduction.

JOHN: Ehm… yes.

MYCROFT: That’s hard to imagine.

JOHN: I will try.

MYCROFT: You know, I am smart.

SHERLOCK: You talk about it all the time.

MYCROFT: But Euros was extraordinary even then. Our abilities not once examined professionals, mine evaluated as phenomenal but Euros was a genius who determined our century, even more than Newton.

SHERLOCK: Than why can’t I remember her?

MYCROFT: You do remember her, in some way. Every your choice, every path. The person you became, that’s all memory of Euros.

MYCROFT: She was different. She knew things she wasn’t supposed to know. It was like she befell the truth beyond all order of things.

EUROS: You’ve grown up amusing.

JOHN: What’s the matter?

MYCROFT: I’m sorry. Memories are distracting me.

SHERLOCK: I don’t understand what are you talking about.

MYCROFT: Once they found her with a knife in her hand, as though she was cutting herself. Mom and dad were in shock, they thought about a suicide attempt. But she, on my question: Euros, what are you doing?, answered: I just wanted to know, how do muscles work.

JOHN: God.

MYCROFT: Then I asked her if it hurts and heard her say: What does hurt mean?

SHERLOCK: What happened next?

MYCROFT:  (this part she says phonetical) Mass (Muss?) grave. Family mansion, where always was honey to take with tea and where Sherlock always played among strange gravestones.

JOHN: How strange?

MUMMY HOLMES?: Come here, boys!

MYCROFT: They weren’t real, with wrong dates. Architectonic joke charming Sherlock.

SMALL SHERLOCK: (singing) – looking for me and dig a hole where old beech grows, forgot east wind, wants to help me, trust the wind it will take you to your aim.

MYCROFT: You’re starting to remember?

SHERLOCK: Fragments.

SMALL SHERLOCK: Redbeard! Redbeard!

JOHN: Redbeard?

SHERLOCK: That was my dog.

MYCROFT: Euros took Redbeard and locked him down in the place when no one would be able to find him and refused to say, where he is. She just repeated the song over and over. Something like a ritual. We begged her to tell us, where he is. But she said: The song is the answer.

MYCROFT: But the song didn’t make sense.

SMALL EUROS: We go down (sorry can’t really hear what she’s saying)

SHERLOCK: Where was Redbeard?

MYCROFT: We didn’t find him. She started to call him Drowned Redbeard, so we got ideas. Sherlock was traumatized, well of course even before that he was very emotional, but then he changed completely. Never talked about it, then we thought he forgot about Euros ever existing.

JOHN: How could he forget? They lived in the same house.

MYCROFT: No, they took her.

JOHN: But… kids don’t get taken away because of the missing dog.

MYCROFT: Certainly. But after that accident there was a second one.

MR. HOLMES?: She knows where he is.

MOMMY?: We can’t make her tell us.

MYCROFT: After that they took our sister away.

SHERLOCK: Where?

MYCROFT: To one very comfortable place, or everyone thought so. And there she died.

JOHN: How?

MYCROFT: She started another fire and died in the flames.

SHERLOCK: That’s a fairytale.

MYCROFT: Yes, a happy fairytale. I told this to our parents to save them from the pain and make them understand why they couldn’t see her.

SHERLOCK: And also because you didn’t want them to interfere.

MYCROFT: Yes, that too, obviously. Euros psychosis and her extraordinary powers didn’t allow to take her to a normal facility. Uncle Rudy took care of it.

SHERLOCK: Where is she, Mycroft? Where did you put her?

MYCROFT: It’s an island called Sherinford. Secret port. It is guarded and it’s only purpose is to be a shelter for those, who are called uncontrollable. We hold them and their demons. Sherinford isn’t just a hospital or a jail it’s a fortress protecting other people from demons.  Gullible and scared need a fantasy an Eden, I know the coordinates of the hell. So, there’s our sister been from her childhood. She didn’t leave it even for a day the woman you saw, can’t be her.

(the song form earlier)

MYCROFT: Go away and don’t move.

JOHN: What is that?

SHERLOCK: It’s a drone.

JOHN: Yeah, I can see that, but what’s on it.

SHERLOCK: What’s the silver stuff on the top?

MYCROFT: It’s ??? 707. I bought quite a lot of them. It’s also known as a patient grenade.

JOHN: Patient?

MYCROFT: Yes, the sensor is activated, if you move it’s going to blow up.

SHERLOCK: How strong?

MYCROFT: This flat would be surely destroyed. If the walls are thick, neighbors will survive but it’s on the ground, I wonder if the café underneath us is working.

SHERLOCK: Sunday morning, it’s closed.

JOHN: How about Mrs. Hudson?

SHERLOCK: She’s cleaning, I think she has two minutes.

JOHN: She keeps the vacuum in the far end of the flat.

MUCROFT: So what?

JOHN: She’s going to put it away soon. We will move sooner or later so it’s better if she’s safe.

SHERLOCK: After the vacuum is turned off we give her 8 seconds, she walks fast when she’s not cleaning. How much do we have?

SHERLOCK: How many seconds from the movement to the explosion?

MYCROFT: We will have 3 seconds.

SHERLOCK: I and John have windows, you take care of Mrs. Hudson.

MYCROFT: Me?

SHERLOCK: You are closer.

MY dad went to Lisbon and Milan.

Hello to all CQNrs. Long time lurker here, now is the right time to post my story of my memories of Lisbon.

This story is inspired by BRTH , thank you Jim for all the help that you have given me with my Lisbon booking. It will be both an emotional pilgrimage for me and a short holiday break as well.

My dad did indeed travel to both Lisbon and Milan to support Celtic. He travelled with his beloved brother Tommy to both games. The Lisbon story obviously remains the favourite. We were a family 8, mum, dad and 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls aged between 4 and 12. Dad’s trip was paid for by his brother Tommy, who was a confirmed bachelor and had the sense to put a bet on Scotland to beat England at Wembley on 15th April 1967.

With the funds in place, all that was needed was for Celtic to beat Dukla on 25th April in the away leg in Prague and Lisbon was on!

Travel arrangements courtesy of BRTH’s dad’s company Holiday Enterprises went something like this :

Flight tickets; check.

Hotel booking; check.

Tickets for game; check.

Foreign currency Escudos; check.

Passport; eh, what do you mean passport? We are only going to a game of football ?

As we were at the time, it is hard to put into words the feeling of knowing that dad was going to go away abroad for about a week, in an aeroplane to a foreign country to watch Celtic !

Words cannot fathom the feeling of both dread and excitement.

Would he come back ?

Will we win ?

Today’s generation will probably wonder at the apparent naivety of this feeling, but back in the day, for a lot of families this was what it was like.

Dad was a handsome man. Can anyone remember the cult TV programme from the late sixties, The Champion, starring Alexandra Bastedo, William Gaunt and Stuart Damon?

Well if you check out the actor Stuart Damon from that programme that is what dad looked like, maybe not as tall. Jet black brylcreemed hair, white shirt, thin lapels, skinny tie. Yes, dad feeling champion, set out looking like a champion to support the champions in their quest to become champions of Europe.

Back home things were bit more basic as we sat in our ground floor tenement living room around the wee 20 inch black and white 2 bob slot meter telly complete with an indoor aerial.

Why mention the aerial?

Well during the second half our budgie Cheeky decided to go for a wee fly round the living room.

It’s 1-0 to Inter, we are all wound up desperate for the equaliser.

Cheeky decides to land on the aerial for a better view.

The aerial is precariously placed on top of the curtain pelmet for the best TV reception.

Crash bang wallop, down comes the aerial, we lose the picture.

Well what do you expect, Cheeky was blue and white after all!

As I was the tallest, I was dispatched to pick the aerial up to get the picture back by standing with my right arm fully extended for the rest of the match. My arm still sore to this day!

As the great song goes ‘’ It was one Thursday Night……and we won !‘’

Dad and Uncle Tommy did come home, tanned and absolutely ecstatic.

Their beloved Celtic had done it, and they were there with thousands of other Celtic supporters to witness and experience it.

The only down side was that in their rush for the departure gate (airport bar anyone?) they had left a carrier bag with the presents from Lisbon for the children in the departure lounge. Medallions and pennants for the boys and Portuguese peasant dolls for the girls. Too bad we thought, but dad was back home and we were The Champions of Europe!

However, fate took another wee turn in our story.

My dad was a vivid Celtic View man, and in the letters section a couple of weeks later he found a letter from a kind Celtic supporter who had found the carrier bag in the departure lounge and who had put two and two together and had brought the bag back.

‘’If anyone knows who this bag belongs to, please call this number.‘’

  A telephone call later, a car pulls up to the house, and the carrier bag with all the presents intact are safely delivered to dad’s children in the middle of June!

It’s a shame that we never got to find out who this kind stranger was. A Celt through and through. In the modern day he would undoubtedly be a CQNer.

Life got tougher for us 11 years later. Uncle Tommy died if a sudden brain haemorrhage aged 56, my dad aged 52 two weeks later died from the leukaemia that he had been fighting the previous 4 years.

Dad could battle the leukaemia, but with Tommy dying so suddenly just finished him.

As brothers, they were inseparable and great mates. They travelled to support the Celtic whenever they could, and travelled to both Lisbon and Milan to witness in my opinion, the greatest Celtic squad ever.

Both are buried together in St Andrew’s Cemetery in Dumfries, less than a mile from the Mount St Michael Cemetery where Brother Walfrid is buried. This seems just so apt.

So later this month I travel to Lisbon to not only celebrate Celtics famous victory, but to also try to follow in dad’s and Uncle Tommy’s footsteps from that crazy week 50 years ago.

It also feels right that I travel as a CQN blogger and can join in the BRTH CQN dinner where no doubt we will all exchange many many stories from back then.

It is going to be some week, with much rejoicing and partying. I can’t wait. As Jobo on here would say, how many sleeps?

God Bless you dad, I was too young to ever buy you and uncle Tommy a pint, but I guarantee that I will raise a glass for you both in Lisbon 50 years on. Por Cierto. Will have you both prayed for at the Lisbon CQN mass too.

Aye, dad feeling just champion, looking like a Champion, watched the Scottish Champions become Champions of Europe. Lisbon, Thursday 25th May 1967.

That will do for me.

Aye, aye, aye, aye……………… we are the Glasgow Celtic !

HH ChampionsCSC

Written by TC as his debut post on Celtic Quick News this week. A long term lurker TC has given us his blessing to run the post as a feature on CQN Magazine.

http://ift.tt/2pQEuCB

Rosie Watson’s Diary - Sat.16/02/2030

Yesterday, I got plenty of text messages. From Molly, from Stella, from Kiara, from Yifan… even from Irene Adler. And from an unknown number who remained anonymous. This is all kind and sweet but… Right now, I hardly care.

I spent all day in bed, unable not to think. I HATE thinking.

In the evening, Daddy and Sherlock both came in, stepping slowly over the pink carpet. Daddy sat on my bed edge, at my feet and Sherlock settled on the ground, cross-legged, by my head. He seemed to be far better.

“Watson, how are you feeling ? Better ? Should your Doctor Dad take a look ?”

I didn’t answer, just closed my eyes. Deduce it by yourself, genius.

“You’re angry.”

“Who’s not in this fucking family ?”

“Rosie, watch your mouth !”

“John…”

 Silence.

 “Why are you angry ?”

 As I already mentioned (yes mentally, and ?) : deduce it by yourself, genius.

 “Rosie, we need you to speak. To tell us… is it about school, is it about us, is it about…”

“Just leave me alone, I am sick.”

Sick of you, could actually be an appropriate answer. But I was in no need of a dramatic argument.

 They had a gaze exchange. Daddy patted gently my calf through the cover and Sherlock sighed.

“Just an idea, Watson… merely a deduction… Maybe you want us to talk ?”

 Ow.

Daddy went on, in a gentle slightly hesitant voice : “Feel  free to ask, Rosie, love.”

Okay then. Let’s play.

“Mary Morstan…”

“Mary Morstan is your mother. Morstan was her name before we got married.”

“Who was she ?”

While Daddy said carefully : “She was a nurse.”

Sherlock said, disdainfully : “She worked for the Government.”

Great. At least something started to make any sense here : “Like your creepy Mycroft brother ?”

“Kind of.”

“How is she related to Jim Moriarty ?”

“What makes you think she…”

“I read your text messages. The one from Greg about dead people involving Magnusson, Moriarty, Morstan and a fourth M.”

“Morstan is a very common name, you know…”

“Molly told me my Mum got somewhat involved with Sherlock’s powerful enemies. I know that my Mum and you, Sherlock, didn’t really like each other and that she put you, somehow, in great danger… and I know that Jim Moriarty was an insane creep who liked you (I looked at Sherlock, he made a face) and made you jump from a roof and whose net you failed to dismantle despite spending two years on that matter… How many other enemies do you have ?”

They were like hit by the thunder :

“How…”

“I never told you…”

I just snapped dismissively : “Yifan has done some research. She has actual access to the internet, and Molly has at least the decency to answer to my questions in some way.”

“Well…”

“So, did Jim Moriarty kill my mother ?”

There was a deadly silence. Daddy’s jaw was so tight, his cheeks were trembling. Sherlock eyes were flipping from one side to the other, unable to focus. I had hit hard. I felt some cruel joy. The game was on.

“Watson… what if… you told us all the things you know ?”

“Why ? Would that help you to decide what to answer and what not ? Who was Janine Hawkins ?”

Dad almost swallowed his tongue and Sherlock froze, eyes open wide. I could have stabbed them, it would have been the same. Daddy was coughing hard, trying to catch his breath : “Wha-at ?!”

I wanted to start getting really angry but Sherlock suddenly answered in a calm voice, like he was explaining some dull geometry : “She lives in Sussex, in a nice cottage.”

“You were in a relationship with her ?”

“Yes, briefly. I might remember proposing to her.”

Daddy rolled his eyes, seemingly exasperate.

“W.h.o - w.a.s - s.h.e ?”

Sherlock had the courtesy to answer my poisonous question : “Janine was the maiden of honour of your Mum during the wedding. I was the best man of your Dad, so… it somehow made sense that we ended up together. Social conventions or something.”

Dad roleld his eyes : “Sherlock…”

Sherlock snapped back, petty, fast speaking : “Well, what ? I was b.o.r.e.d and alone and maybe slightly in a vindictive mood and anyway, what was the point ? You had moved out from 221B, your wife was pregnant and I was left on my own to solve Greg’s or Mycroft’s cases…”

“Sherlock…”

But Sherlock went on, speaking even faster : “Magnusson was one of my cases. Lestrade is right, he is dead. I killed him. As a high functioning sociopath, I sometimes… behave in an unappropriated way, especially when I’m bored. Or high. Or when I’m trapped. He was brilliant, he trapped me.”

“Sherlock !”

He rose a challenging eyebrow at Daddy. Something was burning there. Something unsaid.

“And how…”

“Two seconds, Rosie, love, please. I have to add few details, here.”

Sherlock straightened up and crossed his arms, all his attention focused on Daddy.

“Sherlock, on this planet if there were only two people who wouldn’t buy you sociopath bullshit, it’s Rosie and I.”

He took a deep breath : “So… stop it. Stop the self-depreciation. Just stop it. You didn’t shot Magnusson because you were… bored (eye roll), you shot Magnusson because he was a threat to her, to... Mary... and therefore to me. It wasn’t even close to sociopathic unappropriated behaviour or whatever bullshit you want to call it, you dick.”

Sherlock looked down, chewing his tongue.

He suddenly looked up, eyes bright : “Anyway, I killed him.”

“Good, and I killed... the cabbie. That wasn’t boredom either. Just saying.”

They were both looking intensely at each other, something was obviously unsaid, here... and I just… didn’t know what to think. So there we were. It all started with a killer Mum and now I had two killer Dads.

Was that funny ?

Might have been in a parallel universe.

But it was my fucking life !!!!!

I must have looked somewhat under shock because suddenly, Daddy gently squeezed my leg and explained, in a soft voice : “Rosie, don’t panick. Let me explain. You know I was a soldier, a Captain. I was on war, I got hurt. You knew this was no picnic, you know what soldiers do on war. No breaking news here. I have seen many people die. Good people, young people. Anyway, I know when it is time to act, and I know how to use a gun. Regarding that cabbie story, Sherlock was in immediate danger. So I shot. And killed. It was self-defence. Regarding Magnusson, he was powerful and had already tried to kill me. It was also self-defence. Your Sherlock Dad is trying to deflect because of…”

“I’m not deflecting, John !”

“... because he still don’t take it that he…”

“John…”

“…killed out of love for his husband, hello, by the way, that’s me.”

“I…”

“Yeah, I know, you never told it, never did, never do. But I know anyway. Have had devouring doubts since the stag night but I’ve known for sure since the wedding, have known for sure since your best man’s speech.”

“Oh. Was it that obvious ?”

“God Sherlock… even Greg got it.”

“Oh.”

I was still lying in my bed without knowing how or what to think. I wanted to shout like “HELLO DO YOU REMEMBER ME ????” but… this was actually talking. I started to get the feeling that none of us three had the full version of the very story that had lead to our family.

“So… who was killed by my Mum ?”

“She worked under cover for the Government Rosie Sweetie, neither of us knows it. I even doubt your uncle Mycroft knows all of it.”

“Ah.”

There was a silence. And as I mentally checked the bullet points on my list, I noticed which answer was lacking : “So, who killed Jim Moriarty in this Swiss waterfall car crash ?”

They were both amazed : Daddy in a horrified way and Sherlock in an admiring one.

“I think I’m not wrong in presuming my brother stepped in to take care of that.”

Daddy gently squeezed my leg, again. Sherlock lent back against my desk and looking around my room he noticed –of course he did- the Heather-flower. He rose an eyebrow.

But he didn’t say anything. He just smiled.

My thoughts were dazzling wild around. Or would have if I hadn’t such a headache. I needed some time and some help to sort all this. I would have to ask Yifan and Kiara for help.

My room was filled with a strange silence. Cosy somehow. But also really unusual. And suddenly, Sherlock, still gazing at my Heather-flower, broke it :

“John… you were right. It was not boredom. It was love.”

There was another short silence during which he turned his gaze to Daddy.

“John… I love you.”

Daddy’s hand squeezed my leg so hard I almost screamed out of surprise. But I didn’t. Because I have a certain experience in “playing cool”. Daddy obviously has too : army training I guess. Wouldn’t his fist have stopped my blood from circulating through my leg right then, I could not have said how shaken and struggling to keep maintenance he actually was. Okay, got it, this would be our Watson’s secret. I started thinking… Daddy often calls Sherlock “love”. I had also heard him confess last week. But I actually couldn’t recall of any… wait… was this the first time Sherlock actually said…

“God Sherlock ! During the past 13 (t-h-e-e-r-t-e-e-n) years you didn’t manage even once to tell that ONCE to Daddy ???”

He shrugged : “Considered it to be elementary, Watson.”

Daddy smiled, letting my leg go.

Damn grownups.

And suddenly I threw up.