#'don't cry avery because then i'll cry too' - relationships

[giftedverse-confidential]

Marie Lee-Shifukukan

Marie Lee-Shifukukan, born Eun-mi Lee, is a Korean-Canadian engineer at Toronto Support Labs. She's the one who made a majority of the support equipment for all the Canadian Heroes.

She is married to Cloud Nine (Karly Shifukukan) and has a son named Skylar.

Description

Marie is a short, fat woman with a round face, tanned skin, and dark brown eyes. Her hair is dyed teal and is her natural black at the roots. On her left (or right) eyebrow is a silver piercing. She can commonly be seen with a large pair of black goggles with dark green lenses resting atop her head.

Marie tends to dress in a very stereotypically masculine manner with tank tops/wife beaters, flannels, etc. There are times where she's been mistaken for a man.

Personality

Brash, tough, and loud, Marie is a natural born wild child. With the mouth of a sailor and a big attitude, she makes herself stand out and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Firing back at negative comments, standing her ground during arguments, even not being afraid to fight, she's the poster child for a headstrong rebel. Marie is also not afraid to tease or joke on others, as she does with Soregum (@floof-ghostie).

As an engineer, Marie is one of the best in both her city and Canada. She puts a lot of passion and grit into making support items for the heroes of her home, including her wife. With her works being high demand and highly praised, so much so that there have been talks of promoting her to the head of the support labs.

Despite being a busy bee, she always makes time for her wife Cloud Nine and son Skylar. Marie sometimes brings Skylar to work with her and has a little playpen she built for him to play in.

History

Marie was born in Busan, South Korea. Her parents owned a small convenience store before selling it in preparation to move to Canada. When she was 2 years old, Marie moved to Canada and adopted her name.

Growing up, Marie had a complicated relationship with her femininity. She never really fit in with other girls because gravitated towards more traditionally masculine things and dressed like a boy. Part of her felt like a boy but didn't want to be one. This made her feel disconnected from most girls her age.

Things got worse for her when her father became permanently disabled after getting into a car accident, leaving Marie's mother to be the breadwinner.

Marie discovered she was a lesbian in high school. She had trouble coming to terms with her newfound sexuality as well as telling her parents. To cope with her struggles, Marie would build things with used car parts from the local junkyard. She used engineering as an outlet to her problems both at home and at school.

What started as a way to cope then became something that Marie was genuinely passionate about. It also helped her come to terms with both her gender and her sexuality. After graduating high school, Marie applied for college to major in engineering.

While there, she met her future wife Karly and they started dating before eventually getting married and having their son Skylar.

Relationships

Karly Shifukukan | Cloud Nine

Marie is a Human, therefore she doesn't have powers like Karly and Skylar.

Marie and Karly are very much in love and always have been. They contrast each other in all the right ways.

Abilities

Master Engineer: Marie is one of the best engineers in the world of the Giftedverse. She's built a myriad of devices from any type of material, mostly from car parts.

Mechanical Intellect: Marie is very intelligent when it comes to machines and their elements. She can tell what something is made of and how it works just by examining it.

Strength: While she doesn't have super strength, Marie is considerably strong due to all the work she does in the lab. From lifting heavy objects to screwing in bolts, Marie has some incredible arm, upper body, and leg strength.

#characters: civilians #oc profile #oc: marie #tag dump: #'they don't call me greasemonkey for no reason' - face #'not too shabby. not too shabby at all' - fashion #'don't cry avery because then i'll cry too' - relationships #otp: i think i'm in love with you

[izzielizzie]

Please give a big master post of your thoughts for episodes 1-3! I love your opinions ❤️

sure!! i'll break it into episodes for now bc i didn't write anything down when i first watched and i don't have the time to watch all three today unfortunately

spoilers for episode 1 under the cut

- okay first of all maeve is a queen she's perfectly sassy and it hasn't even been three minutes

- kevin and cooper 🥺 they're gonna break my heart goddamn

- ew i hate addy's mom

- ew i hate jake too

- ugh and vanessa why??

- tj's so adorably confused omg

- study buddy is a classic at this point tbh

- hate the word with my whole heart but ms. avery is a bitch

- evan being british makes this so much better and i have no reason behind that

- "that was a hate read" honey don't change

- yep avery is definitely still a bitch

- coop's tossing a ball and nate's leaning in his chair i love the small details

- nathan that's so funny

- when i first watched i was really hoping that wasn't his real name in the show thank god it's not

- okay bronwyn and her environmental reasons cracked me up

- and not to continue with "avery's a bitch" but really? some people can't go for 45 minutes without water

- EGGS ARE A SAD REPLACEMENT FOR LUIS SANTOS PEOPLE

- "because what? rules don't apply to them?" simon is literally the mayor's kid everything he says is ironic

- okay that scene was so chaotic and idk how they even did that but i felt every emotion that every character felt it was great

- that being said i never want to see it again

- if i hadn't read the books i actually would have really liked jake

- nate's "are you okay" made my heart melt he cares for her so much

- the way he rocks into her while sitting next to her on the bench is so cute

- i feel like there's subtext in the "will you go slow" "it's more fun to go fast... yeah i'll go slow" conversation but i can't tell what it is

- i love the way the camera pans between nate and bronwyn. they look close because nate keeps shifting but when it pulls away you can see they aren't close

- again i feel there's some subtext there

- okay i feel so bad for janae she just wanted to make sure her friend wasn't hurting i honestly don't like addy yet

- but i didn't like book addy in the beginning either

- the way nate looks at bronwyn during the interviews ahhhh

- the entire interview scene was so well done

- the fact that maeve calls bronwyn "b" and not "bron" seems like a missed opportunity but okay

- vete lol bronwyn is such an older sister

- why does the rojas's house look like a weird museum? what's up with that?

- wow that was a very charged conversation i love that they’re tying into bronwyn and nate’s past friendship

- nate just casually climbing out of the window is hilarious

- so that’s what the trunk scene was about damn

- nonny 🥺 and lucas 🥺

- keely just chilling with her gay best friend i love it

- for some reason watching nate pull the blanket over his dad as he talks about his shit week made me cry i’m crying i hate crying

- stan!!!

- ohhhh safe that’s what the safe was about

- can someone please just like,,, hug this guy nate needs a hug

 - instead he gets beat up okay the poor boy :(

- this pool party is very teenager-ish 

- i really appreciate that they’re acting like teens

- i’m glad addy’s anxiety is actually being addressed

- maeve is so tiny oh my god

- “hashtag thanks for the ride” i love this girl so much

- why does maeve watch nate and then look away like that?

- and then she looks surpised like she wasn’t watching him?

- i simply do not vibe with this Maeve but their relationship looks like it has potential i just want sibling moments please

- nate is so much taller than her omg

- what’s with the dramatic arm flourish maevey?

- maeve’s lowkey shipping them already but whyyyy is she so mysterious?

- oh god janae’s singing

- part of me wants to sing along bc lily allen is a queen and the other half wants to never think of this again

- oh look kris

- my god that was a chilling ending

- they’re really leaning on the “maeve looks guilty” thing here aren’t they?

#one of us is lying #oouil tv show spoilers

[linawritesocs]

💓💟 for meditrina and roland please, you choose if you want to make it in the same drabble >:D

.. so i don't apologize for the yandere!roland drabble.. LISTEN I JUST WANTED TO SPICE IT UP A BIT. and yes, i did in fact write a drabble for the mediland amusement park au because i thought it's too cute.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"i think we're done for today! do you need anything else from me?"

roland's shift at the mediland ended a few hours ago, but he still stayed because he needed to make sure avery is doing his job well and.. not fighting the kids. he was the one who recommended avery to meditrina, so yeah, he didn't want her to be disappointed in both him and the younger boy.

for some reason, meditrina didn't answer and she just.. stared at roland. it looked like there were no thoughts in her head at all.

"is there something on my face?" roland touched his cheek. "or maybe i did something wrong? please tell me, and i'll fix-"

"NO!" meditrina realized just how loud she said that and used her normal voice, trying to hide just how embarrassed she feels right now. "n-no, i mean, you did well today. thank you for everything, you can go now."

roland sure felt relieved once he heard that he didn't do anything wrong. but he still couldn't understand why meditrina looked at him like.. that.

"ahaha, i'm happy to hear that!"

but he wasn't brave enough to ask meditrina about it. he knew that he has to leave, meditrina looks very tired, she most likely stared at him because she was annoyed with him and wanted him to leave her alone.

".. um, i'll see you tomorrow then! and you did well too, you know that?"

there he goes again. why is this guy so kind and thoughtful? meditrina doesn't even like kids that much, he's the one who always plays with them, helps them and he's patient with them even if they cry, grab his horns or try to take his eyepatch off. but he still thinks that meditrina is the one who does the most work here.

and what was she supposed to say to that? just accept it? she will probably look arrogant and selfish if she does.

.. why roland is still here anyway? didn't she just tell him to leave?

no, actually, why is he walking closer to her?

"i think i told you that you can leave now." meditrina tried to stay calm, but she was LOSING HER MIND at that moment. she just hoped that roland won't notice how nervous she is right now.

"w-well, the thing is, i stayed here not only because i had to watch over avery-kun, but also.."

meditrina noticed that roland was just as nervous as her and he was fidgeting with his hair, trying to calm himself down.

".. i wanted to spend more time with you. i wanted to help you, and i wanted to make your job at least a little bit easier today."

how can he- HOW CAN HE JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT? HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO REACT? KEEP ACTING LIKE THAT AND SHE JUST MIGHT KISS YOU.

wait. what if he means it in, like, a platonic way? or he just respects her a lot?

yes, that's probably it. roland can't be in love with her, meditrina is his boss and why would he have a crush on her in the first place?

meditrina was about to say something, but she forgot what it was, when roland suddenly gave her a quick and light kiss on the cheek.

"let's do our best tomorrow, okay, meditrina-san?" he smiled at her, and meditrina got a feeling that he winked as well, but she couldn't tell because of the eyepatch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

".. what did you do to him, roland?"

"why do you think i'm the one who did this to him? meditrina-san, you know that i'm not even from nrc, why would i think about hurting a nrc student when the relationship between our schools is already this bad?"

"WELL, YOU SURE DID USE YOUR UNIQUE MAGIC ON ME, A NRC STUDENT, SO WHO KNOWS WHAT YOU COULD DO TO TREY?"

roland did use his unique magic on meditrina, making her invisible to everyone except him. they couldn't hear her voice, they couldn't touch her, it's like she stopped existing for them.

but she still existed for roland.

"why do you think i used my unique magic on you?" he stayed calm, as always, but there was something wrong with that calmness of his. it's almost like he didn't care about anyone else except meditrina. she was the only one who existed in his world and he was the only one still able to see her and hear her.

"because when i tried to talk to lumi, she couldn't hear me, when i touched iris, she didn't feel it, my friends can't see me and they're wondering where i could be when i'm standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! you told me about your unique magic before and it feels like you used it on me!"

meditrina felt confused, scared, but most of all, she felt betrayed.

"why did you do it, roland? you told me before just how much you hate your unique magic and you think that it's disgusting, so why would you use it on me? i thought we were good friends, i trusted you, roland! why did you-"

meditrina suddenly felt sharp pain and she looked at her right hand that was bleeding even though meditrina couldn't possibly hurt herself right now. and then she looked at roland, who pointed at his right hand with the index finger of his left hand and it looked like he was drawing the exact wound meditrina got.

ah, so he decided to not only use his unique magic, but his other magic abilities as well. which also was weird, because roland used his magic only for gardening and he said that his magic is too powerful and he doesn't like using it.

but again, he said the same thing about his unique magic and look where they were now.

"this is exactly why i did it, meditrina-san. we were good friends. not lovers, just good friends. and i'm sorry for being so greedy, but i felt like being your friend wasn't enough for me."

it's fine, it's not a serious wound at all, meditrina can heal herself easily. but why is she still so anxious?

is it because she knows that roland can hurt her much worse and right now he's just playing with her?

"well, now you've definitely lost the chance to ever win my heart." meditrina wasn't planning to give up just yet. but she needs to come up with the way to fight this guy.

and the thing is that they both know a lot about plants and she told roland about what she can do before.

so this fight is going to be very long and very painful.

"if i can't win it, i'll simply take it!" the way roland acted right now reminded meditrina about that childhood friend of lumi. are all rsa students like this? if they are, then they have no rights to say anything about nrc students being "scary" and "evil".

meditrina really wanted to punch roland right in his face, but when she was going to do just that, roland took her right hand and kissed the wound that he caused himself.

wiping the blood from the wound off his lips, roland looked right into meditrina's eyes.

"if you want to fight me, do it, i'd love to see what you're capable of. you're a talented and strong person and i know it. but remember, that if something happens, no one will see what i've done to you and no one will hear your screams. i'm still using my unique magic right now, hehe~"

#sorry for the whiplash you'll probably get #also yandere roland drabble could be much more extreme but then i remembered 'he doesn't have to kill her he just needs to kiss her wound' #also I AM LIVING for the boss! meditrina x employee! roland concept #the gardening club leader: roland thorn #friends' ocs! #friend: sol!

[ma-gic-gay]

A few hours later, Carly's finally managed to sleep. It was a battle to get her to even admit she was tired, so it's peaceful that she's agreed to.

Besides one ten minute bathroom and punching a wall break, he hasn't left her bedside, nor alerted her kids yet that she's in the hospital. Sound the alarms when she's okay with it, or really needs everyone to be there that very second. That might mean it'll be a while before they find out, but whatever.

Well, it was peaceful, that is, until she woke up screaming for him even though he's sitting right next to her.

"Jason!" She screams, half sobbing. She's reliving it, breaking his heart once more. There are very few things in this world that can make Jason Morgan cry, but Carly Corinthos crying or being hurt in any way, shape, or form can in a single second.

"I'm right here," he assures her, watching her breathing slow slightly from the rapid pace it was at as she registers the sound of his voice. "You're safe now, I'm here."

"Don't let me go," she half begs. "Cyrus, he'll be back any minute now."

"Hey, look at me. Focus on me, alright?" Jason asks, shifting her face so she's looking at him. "Take me hand. Just trust me, you're safe."

"Is that blood? Do I feel blood? Did you- where's Cyrus? Did you kill him?"

"Yes, you feel blood but that's not what's important right now-"

"You are bleeding, I think that matters. Did you do it, did you kill Cyrus?" Carly asks, still thinking they're in that little room from what he can tell.

"No, I didn't kill him. Carly, you're at GH. You got kidnapped and raped. Cyrus is in police custody right now," he reminds her gingerly.

She starts looking around, calming down from her nightmare. "Jason, why the hell are you bleeding?"

"I punched a wall."

"Sudden outbursts of anger like that in a public place aren't a good idea."

"Yeah, well you were sleeping, I had to pee and I heard the nurses gossipping about what happened to you so I punched a wall."

"And you've got bloody hands. You've got to get these stitched, this could be a deep cut. Let me look and check it out."

"You barely passed nursing school, Carly, and that was 30 years ago. Do you feel qualified to tell me whether or not I need stitches?"

"Yes, I do."

Sighing his defeat, he lets her look at his hands. "Okay, this isn't that bad. You don't need stitches but you do need a bandage and some hydrogen peroxide that I will apply myself because I do not trust that twelve year old to do it for you," Carly smiles. "God, if only I'd paid attention in nursing school."

"I take it you mean Elizabeth when you say the twelve year old?"

"Correct. Liz can go treat the other patients. I, on the other hand, have absolutely nothing to do so you are going to let me find bandages and a first aid kit and fix you up."

This is better than sobbing, right? Maybe?

She presses the little red button for a nurse and Elizabeth walks in. "I need a first aid kit and bandages."

"For what, exactly?"

"Jason's hand," Carly answers smugly, holding it up. "I'm patching it up for him."

"It's my job to do that, Carly."

"No, it's my job to make sure he doesn't get hurt as his best friend. It's your job to make sure I'm not going to be dead by morning," she responds sarcastically. God help them all, she's gonna pick a fight.

"Fine, Carly. I'll get you the first aid kit. Don't kill him, alright?" Elizabeth says, grimacing.

"Not to worry, Liz, I take plenty good care of him."

When she leaves, he rolls his eyes at her. "I thought you and Elizabeth called a truce. Or did I forget and now I'm going to be in hell for the next few days while you're in here?"

"I'm not being rude. We agreed to not fist fight each other and I'm not bad mouthing her," she defends herself quickly before changing the topic in a way only she can do successfully. "Alright, we need to have a discussion."

"I liked it better when you were sleeping," Jason groans.

"You love me," she counters. "And besides it's not going to be taking forever."

"Sure," he agrees sarcastically and she fakes offended.

"Well I need to stay awake somehow until little miss perfect over there gets me some damn bandaids," the blonde smiles, "and now I want to walk down memory lane. Let's reminisce, shall we?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

"Then I guess we're reminiscing."

In light of recent events (fucking and kissing), this is definitely a stupid idea. Probably one of her dumbest yet. Well, no, it doesn't involve a kidnapping or marriage. So probably one of the weirder ones. Not dumb, persay, but strange.

"You remember the morning after? The first one, when I told you you were gonna be my boy on the side and you didn't even want to know my name?" She asks, smiling at the memory.

"Yeah. We never managed to do that, did we?"

"Well, in my defense, I was thinking, here's this super hot guy, and I wanted to know more about him."

"You were bored and needed a friend."

"Well, I did need a friend too but my point still stands." When he waves his hand unceremoniously, she continues, "and then I remember when I showed up on your doorstep, pregnant with Michael. I kicked you out of a meeting and everything to tell you and beg you to claim to be the dad."

"I agreed because he needed to be kept away from AJ, which I still stand by. Besides, I didn't have anything else to do."

"And I ended up giving you a child. Sorry for, you know, fucking that up with AJ," Carly says, "but I think that kid grew up with you and Sonny as his dad figures, which is better than I ever got."

"I don't know how much better but I agree he's a great guy"

"Because of you. Sonny, yes of course he loved Michael, but come on. He raised him when it was convenient, like all of his other kids. You raised Michael and didn't accept any credit I gave you for how he turned out," she smiles sadly at him.

"Well, that's because you raised a great kid with Sonny."

"And you. Moreso you, if you think about it, because as much as I loved Sonny, he didn't raise a kid. Dante was raised by Olivia, you, Jax, and I played more of a role in Michael's life, Alexis raised Kristina, Ava and I raise Avery more than him, Morgan was raised more by Jax, you and I, and Donna won't even have any memories of him, so I'm hoping she turns out okay."

"She will. After all, all of your kids are doing great."

"Thanks," she smiles. "And thanks for not calling them when you got here. I just, I can't deal with that right now."

"Exactly why I didn't tell them."

"You remember that time you kissed me, after Bobbie's not wedding to Jerry?"

"Yeah."

"God, who would've thought all those years ago we'd end never even giving it a shot."

"Me."

"Only after I slept with Sonny."

"Fair enough."

"Sorry for pretty much cheating on you and, you know, ruining what was basically the healthiest relationship I ever had up until that point. It really only rivals Jax, and even then, he was a bitch about Josslyn's custody."

"I forgave you for that a long time ago, Carly. You know that."

"Yeah but it was still a shitty thing to do. I mean, if I had any sense at all, I would've just stormed in there and asked you what you were doing and it never would've happened."

"No point dwelling on the past," Jason suggests.

"No point? Do you know what I was doing the whole time you were gone and I wasn't kidnapped? Thinking about the past. Thinking about everything we went through. I mean, the fact we didn't kill each other is impressive as it is." Carly marvels at their past.

"Because of last night?"

"Yeah, because of last night and because of this whole year and just everything. It just, it made me think."

"Oh no."

"It's not bad thoughts! But it got me thinking, we never gave us a shot."

"Because we decided each time we had an opportunity it wouldn't work," he reminds her. "Or you came up with yet another plan that would inevitably lead to us getting into a fight."

"My plans happen less and less now."

"Which makes them more and more dangerous," Jason argues.

"This isn't about my plans, it's about our past."

Ugh, conversations like this are the bane of his existence. They're also a great time, normally, to tune her out but this one, he can't. Not after his own mental confusion regarding their present and maybe it had something to die with their past. Maybe.

"Because of what happened last night, Carly, you think we're, what, meant to be or something?"

"When did you get to be such a mind reader?" She asks with a very large smile on her face.

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Just kiss me."

He obliges.

To be continued after I get a good six hours of sleep (:) I live in pain

for you :)

[ma-gic-gay]

So this is a new one of these and the other one is probably over so yeah

It's a weird Christmas.

It marks a year since anyone last saw Sonny, a year since Julian's death, and a year full of drama, as one would expect.

Michael and Willow had had another child, a girl this time. Her name was Ophelia and Wiley loved being a big brother to her. The pair had also burned their annulment papers when they'd realized she was pregnant and finally admitted their feelings for each other. Watching them together had probably been the highlight of the year for their family.

Sam had started hooking up with Dante much to the chagrin of, well, everyone. It had started as a few random hookups but changed quickly into an actual relationship, testing several familial bonds.

Luckily, that disaster on wheels had been halted when Lulu had woken up from her coma. Lulu and Dante got back together and fell in love, again.

Sasha and Brando had formed a relationship as well, which was quite a surprise at first glance but made sense after a few weeks.

"Carly? You okay?" Jason asks. Surprisingly enough, she hadn't completely broke down yet, or ran away. The furthest she'd ran was the island and even then, it was only a few hours no one knew where she was, since he couldn't teleport and it took that long to get to the island.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking," she responds, faking a smile.

"Tell that to the tears in your eyes and obviously fake smile," he says to her. "What are you thinking about?"

"It's been a year since any of us have heard from Sonny. For all we know, he's dead. Hell, he probably is. I know I should give up and just agree to a funeral, but it feels wrong to do that without a body," Carly sighs, head in her hands in an effort to hide her tears. "It feels wrong for him to not be here. Last Christmas, we were convinced he'd be home by now and now it's like we've all resigned ourselves to him being dead."

"If it doesn't feel right to have a funeral, don't have one. I've known you for a long time, and your instincts are right a lot of the time. Just because Sonny's not confirmed dead doesn't mean he's not," Jason frowns, putting his arm around her and rubbing circles along her back.

Sonny's "death" meant he had to step up in more ways than one. This had marked the year of Jason running the mob, which he'd practically been doing before but was actually doing now. He'd also had to become sort of a surrogate husband to Carly to the point he practically lives there by now. The kids hadn't questioned it; they'd asked a few times if there was anything going on there but after getting a firm no there hadn't been anything else from them in forms of questioning their relationship status. It was what it was and that was the same friendship they'd always had.

There had been times even Danny had questioned why they were at that house so much, to the point he once asked Carly if they were together or not.

You know it's reaching an odd point when a twelve year old is asking if you're in love with your best friend.

Of course, they didn't take into consideration the fact the whole town thought they were together. Again. Everyone had assumed, based off of how much time they'd been spending together- surprisingly more than normal- and the fact that he'd all but moved into the house that they were together.

That was a fun one to realize when he'd gotten shot and everyone had assured her that her boyfriend would be fine.

It just wasn't happening, they were friends. Anything more could complicate it and complicated almost always meant that there would be fights they couldn't go to each other to uncomplicate.

"I know that, but I just don't want to live knowing that there's a chance he could be alive somewhere and he's been kidnapped or forgotten his name or something. It's like I'm stuck in this neverending circle where there's barely any hope but I can't pretend there's none either. Sometimes, I wish that the police would show up with a body and I would have to confirm that yes, he is dead, just so that I could get out of this loop," Carly sobs. "And then I feel terrible for wishing he was dead because I love him, you know, but then at the same time, I can't help but feel like I need closure."

"That's not a bad thing, to need closure. None of us get any closure when it comes to this, Carly. You're not a bad person for wanting some," he reminds her. "You've been grieving for a year a man you don't even know for sure is dead. It doesn't make you bad to want to have something definite."

"But wanting my husband dead? That's dark," she argues with him.

"You want to know if he's dead or alive, something to confirm what's happened to him. I hate to break it to you but you don't qualify as a terrible person," Jason chuckles. "You've never killed someone, never hurt a kid."

"I shot a dude in open court, I almost killed AJ. I've done a lot of questionable things in my life, Jason," Carly fights back.

She's not wrong, persay, but she's not right. "That stuff doesn't make you a bad person. Morally grey? Yes. Bad? No. You do what you think is best and you're impulsive. If something's not going your way, you'll tip the scales. It's just how you are. None of that makes you a bad person. Some people might not like it, but you've never killed someone or hurt a kid, so in my book you're a good person."

Carly's head comes out of her hands for a minute and he smiles, wiping away the tears. "Well you're not a bad person either. You'd never hurt a kid and you only kill in self defense or if the person's really bad and threatening someone you care about. It's not like you wake up and go kill someone for shits and giggles. You mourn the people you kill and feel bad about it. Only a purely horrible person wouldn't feel bad about their murders."

"Neither of us are bad people, let's just agree on that at least."

"Fine," she relents finally. That only took a year. "I miss Sonny. Especially this time of year. Last year, he read Donna and Avery the Grinch and he had the world's worst Grinch voice. I practically begged him to read another book because of how bad it was. But this year, I wish he would be able to read it to them."

"I miss him too," Jason admits. "It's been a hell of a year without him."

"That it has. So much has changed," she agrees with him, shifting her position on the couch so she's lying her head on his lap.

That's probably why the kids thought they were dating.

He plays with her hair as she laughs, remembering some obscure detail about his telling of the Grinch and decorating for Christmas.

Scratch that, this is definitely why everyone thinks they're together.

"Hey Mom, Jason," Joss greets them, coming in from the kitchen. "I'm going to Trina's. Donna's with Ophelia at the Quartermaine's and Avery's with Ava."

"Alright sweetie, have fun," Carly bids her daughter goodbye, sighing. "Why is she so adult now? I mean, I can remember when she was born and it feels like yesterday. Hell, Michael's birth feels like yesterday. And they're both so grown up."

"Time flies when you're having fun," he answers.

"Where'd you get that? A throw pillow or some advice of my mother's?"

"A card someone sent me back when I was in the hospital. Needless to say, that card got tossed in the trash as soon as you'd let me stand up to go to the trash."

"Who the hell sent that to you of all people?"

"No clue. It didn't have a name attached."

"Huh. Well, it's a terrible expression. Too throw pillow. The real answer would be that we're aging, sadly," Carly sighs again, equally as dramatic. "Granted, I still look like I'm 27, but somehow I've aged."

"Age is but a number."

"You sound like a Hallmark card."

"Rude."

"You do!"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm aging as well. You're not in this whole getting old thing alone. Provided, of course, that you agree to age," he smirks.

"I don't have anything better to do, sadly, so I suppose I'll agree to getting older. But I refuse to have a gray hair."

"Then go to the salon when you notice one and dye your hair."

"I plan on it," the blonde smiles at him before changing the topic. "Do you think we're weird?"

"That came out of nowhere."

"Answer the question."

"No?"

"That sounded like a question."

"Carly, how am I supposed to answer this one? I don't know, maybe?" Jason says, though most of it comes out as a question.

"Well, I mean, think of it. Sonny's been presumed dead for a year. You've been in charge of the business and been there for all of us in more ways than I can count. Seriously, I think Donna sees you as a father," Carly chuckles. "And you've listened to me crying and losing it. Hell, you spent a month and a half at the island just so I wouldn't be alone."

"Hey, you're family. I was happy to do all of those things. Besides, you wouldn't leave my side when I got shot. Or for a very long month after that," he jokes.

"I know but you didn't have to do that. You didn't have to step up and parent the kids. You already had Danny and Scout and the breakup with Sam to deal with, that's a lot at once. Not to mention, taking over the business and grieving Sonny. And dealing with me. All at the same time," she smiles. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful, but you had no obligation to do any of that."

"Carly, do you think I'd be here right now if I didn't want to? You know me better than that. I love you and the kids and want to be there for all of you. So far, I've only gotten shot once and that was unrelated, so I'd consider this a pretty good experience."

The blonde scoffs at him and he chuckles. "Not funny. You could've died."

Rolling his eyes, he reminds her, "I didn't."

"Well you're not allowed to get shot for a long time."

"I'll take getting shot off of my to do list."

"Don't you dare joke about this!"

"Alright. Look at me. I'm not going to die anytime soon. I promise. It takes a lot more than a measly bullet to kill me, after all. Not even Russian madmen could do it," he says seriously.

"Good. Because if you do that to me again, I'll have no choice but to resign myself to a life in either prison or Ferncliff," she says half seriously, getting a laugh out of Jason.

It's not entirely unrealistic she'd end up in one of those positions, especially given that it's already happened. Repeatedly.

Maybe there's a sign she should stop doing dangerous things.

Almost as though she's being told to by something inside her, Carly connects her lips with his.

to be continued

why do i get myself into these things smh