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longitudinalwaveme · 4 years

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Where Are The Ghostbusters When You Need Them?

Hi! Thanks for checking out my story!

Despite the title, the story actually does not feature the Ghostbusters, but it does feature the Flash Rogues. That's almost as good, right?

The story can't really fit anywhere canonically since Evan and Sam are alive simultaneously, among other things, but hopefully it'll be an enjoyable story anyhow.

Mirror Master I: You ever seen one of those creepy houses? You know, the ones with broken windows and crumbling spires and ivy growing all over them? The ones that used to belong to super rich people and are now allegedly owned by some mysterious “third cousin once removed” that no one’s ever actually seen? The ones that stupid teenagers dare each other to spend the night in? Well, Central City has one of those creepy houses. Or, more accurately, Central City’s Pine Woods suburb has one of those creepy houses. It’s commonly known as the old Jackson place. It's a three-story mansion, with broken windows, crumbling stone, a creepy staircase, massive spires....the works. It was even used as a set for a horror movie back in the 80s. Even though it technically isn’t in the city proper, it’s close enough that everyone knows about the house-and the stories surrounding it. Allegedly, the old Jackson place was built by Adolphus Jackson in 1792, after he immigrated from somewhere in Ireland with his family. They were Central City’s first settlers (the Rathaways were second). He and his wife, Betty, had sixteen kids (although only ten survived to adulthood). All the dead kids were buried in the backyard of the house, so things are already getting creepy. (Some people say that you can hear crying when you go by the house, and other people have claimed to see ghostly children.) His oldest son, Jared, inherited the house when old man Jackson died in 1846. (He was buried behind the house, and yep, people have claimed to see him, too.) Jared worked alongside Martin Garrick (yes, he IS related to Jay Garrick) and my great-great-great-great-grandfather, Shawn Scudder, in Central City’s Underground Railroad. (Am I shaming my heritage? Yeah, probably. Moving on.) People have claimed to see the ghosts of slaves and such around the old Jackson place, and they’ve also claimed to see the ghosts of Harold and Rufus Jackson, an uncle and nephew who fought on opposite sides of the Civil War. In 1877, Jared died, and his second son, Arnold, inherited the house. (His oldest son was Harold, who died at the Battle of Chancellorsville.) Arnold got married to his second cousin, which is several levels of weird, and he added onto the house, making it a lot bigger and more impressive looking. He died in 1885, after adding to the family’s sizable fortune, and his son, Bernard, inherited the house and made it even fancier. Bernard is also where the really messed up stories about the Jackson place begin, as his oldest son, Robert, fell in love with a girl his father hated (partially because he had planned for his son to marry Lydia Rathaway, Piper’s great-great-great aunt). Their arguments over it got really nasty, and so eventually Robert ran away with his chick and got married to her, only for his father to threaten to cut him off. Sonny boy decided that he wanted the money more than his wife, and he abandoned her and was remarried to Piper’s great-great-great aunt. There was only one snag: his old wife had gotten pregnant and drowned herself in the pond (now dried up) on the back of the property to get revenge a few days after her baby was born. (People claim to see her ghost quite frequently.) Her parents, the Desmonds (and the Rathaways, who were mad that Bernard had had his son marry their daughter when he already had a wife) sued the pants off the Jacksons and the family was reduced to semi-poverty. Robert hung himself a few weeks after the lawsuit was settled (he allegedly haunts the house, too) and Bernard started drinking. A lot. He died in 1910 (probably from alcohol poisoning) and the estate was inherited by his only surviving offspring, a 19-year-old daughter named Alicia, who became a librarian and never married. (Alicia didn’t live in the house after the age of 21, probably because of all the bad memories, but people still see her ghost there.) She died in 1971, and the house, which had sat unused for over three decades, had already gained a reputation as being massively haunted, a reputation that only increased when some stupid 17-year-old broke into the house on a dare, fell down the old stairs in the dark, and broke his neck in 1995. (Since then, people have claimed to see HIS ghost as well.) So you get the point: the old Jackson place is massively haunted, massively creepy, and massively empty, so, of course, Captain Cold decided that we needed to break into the place on Halloween. Now, to be fair, we do something to get our adrenaline up every year on Halloween, but there’s a difference between going to a commercial haunted house, where nothing is real, and going to an old house that might actually be haunted, especially when said old house is falling apart and everyone is wearing ridiculous costumes (as we do every year). Earlier in the month, we had decided to dress up as classic movie monsters. Or at least I thought we had. As it turned out, some people had badly missed the memo….

Mirror Master II: Okay, so maybe the scarecrow costume I had wasnae all that scary, but it wasnae my fault! How was I supposed to ken that all the scary scarecrow costumes would be sold out by October 24? I wasnae PLANNING to be the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz! But I’m off topic. All of us had agreed to meet on the front lawn before we broke into the haunted house, so at 7:00 PM on Halloween night, I got into me costume and went to the lawn. Golden Glider (dressed as a vampire), Scudder (dressed as a zombie), the Trickster (dressed as a bedsheet ghost), Captain Boomerang (dressed as Frankenstein’s monster), and the Pied Piper (dressed as the Phantom of the Opera) were already there, and, of course, as soon as he saw me costume, Scudder started laughing. “They were sold out of the scary costumes, ye eejit,” I said. “Then why didn’t you alter it or something? You don’t look scary at all!” Scudder asked. “Hey, at least I look scarier than the Trickster. And besides, not all of us be seamstresses, Scudder,” I replied. (He’d made his own costume and thought that nobody knew. Eejit.) Scudder flushed and suddenly became very interested in the bushes. At this point, Captain Cold showed up in cat ears. That was his whole costume. Otherwise, he jus’ looked like a hockey fan (which he be). His sister-a bonnie lassie, she-wasnae pleased with that. “Lenny, you were supposed to dress up as something scary!” “I did. I’m a werecat.” I’m nae sure why he thought that would be convincing. “Oh, come on! You didn’t even try!”“I never try. Why are you acting like this is something new?” The Glider threw up her hands. “Because you promised me you would try this year!” “I have a tail. Does that make it better?” The Glider rolled her eyes.“I give up.” She tossed her golden hair over her shoulder-I tell ye, she is a bonnie lass-and went to talk with the Piper. The Weather Wizard showed up a few seconds later, and I saw soomthing I never wanted to see: him in a dress. “What are ye supposed tae be, me gran?” The Wizard scowled.“I’m a witch!” I looked at him oddly. “Ye could have been a werewolf, and ye decided tae be a witch?”“It’s thematic! You know: wizards are magic; witches are magic….” I laughed. “Look, if ye want to dress up like a lassie, ye kin. Just donae expect me tae understand why.” The Wizard stormed off, and the Top arrived on the lawn, dressed as a gigantic top. Scudder laughed so hard that he had tae sit down, and I laughed pretty heartily myself. “What is so amusing?” the Top asked. Naebody bothered to explain that it was because he wasnae cooperating with the theme, because we all knew he wouldnae listen. “They’re just being stupid, sweetie pie. You look amazing,” the Glider said. (I’m nae sure if she meant it or if she was just trying to calm him doon.) Luckily for the Top, Heat Wave decided to show up at this point, and his costume made Captain Boomerang laugh so hard he wet himself and made me laugh so hard that I had to join Scudder on the ground, so everyone forgot about him. “Why are you wearing a tutu?” Captain Cold asked (as soon as he was capable of speech again.)“Well, I was gonna be Frankenstein, but Digger stole my idea, and I didn’t have any other ideas, so I decided that me in a tutu was scarier than any monster,” Heat Wave replied. I looked him over again and immediately wished I had nae doon it. He was right; the sight of a 6’6”, 250 pound man in a frilly pink tutu is more terrifying than any monster. His logic seemed to work on everyone else, too, because Captain Cold quickly changed the subject. “Okay, are we ready?” Scudder raised an eyebrow. “To break into the creepy ghost house? No, but I know I’m doing it anyway,” he replied. (At the time, I thought that he was being a wet blanket, but as it turned out, he was right to be a tad worried.) “As long as we’re bringing flashlights, I suppose so,” the Piper said. (He had been against going to the haunted house, tae, but he had been opposed to it because of some kid who had died there back in the 90s because the house didnae have lights, not because of Scudder’s ghosties, which he didnae believe in. Because of that, he had changed his tune after Cold promised him that he could bring a flashlight if he wanted tae.)“Then let’s go,” Captain Cold ordered. With that, Scudder and I transported everyone to the house via Mirror Realm. Having only lived in Central City for a year, I had never seen it before, and I was a tad freaked out by what I saw. The house itself wasnae too bad, but the creepy dead grass and trees, and the graveyard in the back of the house, were spooky, especially under the huge moon.“‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here?’ Really?” Golden Glider said scornfully, pointing at a sign in the yard. Her brother shrugged. “Probably some kid’s idea of a prank.” Piper, meanwhile, was looking nervously at a different sign. “Cold, this sign is from the government. It says the building is condemned. Are you sure we’ll be safe to go in there?” he asked. “Since when do we care what the government thinks?” Captain Cold replied. “When a building might collapse on our heads!” Piper exclaimed. “And when it’s haunted!” Scudder added, sounding happy to have an excuse tae go home. Captain Cold sighed and rolled his eyes. “Piper, if the house seems like it’s gonna collapse on us, we’ll just have Scudder and the Scotsman transport us out. We’ll be fine,” he said. Piper seemed to relax.“Good point,” he said. Sam didn’t look as calm. “But what about the ghosts?” he asked. “Sam, ghosts don’t exist. They’re a product of overactive imagination and too many horror stories,” the Piper replied, only for Captain Boomerang to join the conversation.“They are too real! My second cousin’s ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s dad’s third cousin’s aunt saw one!” he exclaimed, sounding offended. Piper didnae look convinced. “That’s hardly conclusive proof of-” he began, only tae be cut off by Captain Cold. “Enough about ghosts! Let’s go inside already!” he exclaimed. With that, Trickster picked the lock on the door. He pushed it open, producing a loud CREAK, and then we went inside.

Weather Wizard: I’m going to tell you a secret: the witch costume was an accident. I swear, I thought I ordered the Dark Wizard costume, but when I opened up the package a week before Halloween, I found a witch costume instead, and because I didn’t have another two weeks to wait (or any more money) I was stuck with it and just decided to pretend it had been my plan the whole time to save face. (At least it matched the theme, unlike cats, tops, and ballerinas.) But I digress. So, after the Trickster picked the lock, we went inside and Piper and Cold turned on their flashlights. The hallway contained cobwebs and a moth-eaten carpet, but nothing else.

“We'll cover more ground if we divide and conquer, so let’s split up into groups and search this place for valuables. Lisa, you’re with me. Scudder, you’re with McCulloch. Mardon, you’re with Rory. Rathaway, you’re with Jesse. Dillon, you’re with Harkness,” Cold barked.

“WE’RE SPLITTING UP? That’s like the #1 way to die in a haunted house!” Scudder whined. (As it turned out, he was right to be worried, but at the time, I thought he was overreacting.) Hartley sighed.

“Sam, ghosts do not exist,” he said. (He was wrong.) Then he turned to Cold and asked,

“How will the Mirror Masters be able to transport us to safety if we’re not in the same part of the house?” Cold rolled his eyes.

“Piper, unless there’s an earthquake, the Mirror Masters will be able to get to all of us before the house falls. They basically have access to a teleportation system. We’ll be fine,’” Cold replied. Piper didn’t look entirely convinced, but he didn’t keep arguing.

“Why am I with Harkness? He’s an uncultured boor,” Dillon demanded.

“Well, I ain’t too fond of you, either, you wowser!” Harkness yelled.

“Why can’t I be with Roscoe, Lenny?” Lisa asked. Cold sighed wearily.

“Fine. Dillon, you’re with Lisa. Harkness, you’re with me. Sam, stop whining. Now let’s go!” Cold exclaimed. McCulloch saluted, dragged Scudder into a mirror, and vanished, and the rest of us fanned out to search the house. After walking through some more cobwebby hallways, Mick and I reached what I assumed was the living room. The room was filled with decaying furniture and mysterious old knicknacks, everything was covered in cobwebs, and part of the roof had fallen in. Seeing this, I had to wonder if the Piper had been right about the dangers of the building.

“How long do you think it’s been since someone touched any of this?” Mick asked me.

“If I had to guess, I’d say at least forty years,” I replied. I glanced out the window and noticed that a cloud had covered part of the moon and that the rest of it had turned red, and I shuddered. “Mick, there’s a blood moon.” I said quietly.

“So? They talked about that on the news,” Mick replied as he started pawing through the knicknacks laying on the floor.

“Never mind,” I said quickly as I joined him. I didn’t want him to think I was scared or anything. Several minutes later, we were still sorting through things and had found nothing but a broken teacup, a broken porcelain doll, and a dusty beaded shawl.

“I hope the whole house ain’t like this. If it is, Captain Cold’ll be mad,” Mick said. I shrugged.

“That’s his problem, not mine.” I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance, and, a few seconds later, the sobs of a child. Mick looked up from the floor in shock.

“Did you hear that?” he asked me.

“The thunder, or the kid crying?”

“The kid crying!” I nodded.

“Yeah, I heard it too. Why?”

“Because we need to go help that kid!” he replied. I rolled my eyes.

“Mick, we’re here to get rich, not help some kid.” Mick ignored me and pulled me in the direction of the crying sound, despite my attempts to break free from his grasp. We had gotten halfway across the living room when we saw a little girl. Her hair was in...uh, ringlets, I think they’re called?-and her dress came down to the floor. She was crying (of course) and Mick went over to her.

“Hey, there, little one. Are you lost?” he asked gently. I thought about leaving Mick with the girl and continuing to search for loot, but there was something about the little girl that made it impossible for me to pull away, and NOT in a “she’s so small and helpless” way. Mick reached out to put his hand on the girl’s shoulder-and his hand went straight through her! My knees went weak under me, and then the world went black. When I came to, I found myself on a dusty couch. I looked around the room and saw Mick waving good-bye to the vanishing ghost.

“Oh, hey, Mark. Glad to see you up-although there wasn’t really a reason for you to faint like that. Georgia was just worried that we were gonna hurt her doll. When I told her we weren’t, she cheered right up and went away,” he said cheerfully.

“The ghost has a name? And is friendly?” I asked. Mick nodded.

“I don’t even think she knew she was dead. Poor little thing,” he said, and I sighed in relief.

“In that case, let’s get back to work. If she’s the only ghost here, we’ve got nothing to worry about,” I said. (Famous last words.) With that, the two of us continued our search of the living room.

Trickster: The Piper and I- James Jesse, con artist extraordinaire-decided to investigate the attic. I’m a horror movie junkie, so if I’m breaking into a haunted house, what better place to get that adrenaline rush than the attic? Piper and I climbed three sets of narrow, creaky, cracked, cobwebby stairs to the attic (although Piper got winded halfway up the second flight and I had to drag him up the last one). Then I opened the door to see lots of cobwebs, a shattered mirror, a broken window, an old, rusted bedframe, some old-fashioned cabinets, a sword, an old rocking horse (sadly, it was too small for me), and a bunch of other old stuff. The roof was low, and it was really dark. My heart pounded, but in a good way.

“This is so much better than the fake haunted houses! We should go here every year!” I exclaimed. Piper swept his flashlight from left to right, and then started examining the boring knick knacks that were lying around. I pulled out a yo-yo and some bubble gum and waited eagerly for the walls to start dripping blood. After about two minutes, Piper pulled a stack of old papers out of one of the cabinet drawers.

“James, these are from the Civil War!” he exclaimed excitedly. I yawned.

“So?” I asked. Piper looked shocked.

“James, these are valuable historical documents! If they’re really as old as they look, they could provide priceless information about the role of Central City in the Civil War!”

“Can they summon a ghost?” Piper sighed.

“No. They cannot.” I blew a particularly large bubble.

“Then I’m not interested. Let’s find something that CAN summon a ghost!” Piper rolled his eyes.

“James, you’re not going to find something that can summon a ghost, because ghosts-” Suddenly, the windows rattled and we heard a loud moan.

“Don’t exist?” Piper squeaked. Five seconds later, a transparent man with a noose around his neck appeared and floated towards us. Piper screamed and bolted down the stairs, and I whooped with joy and followed him, narrowly missing the ghost’s clammy hands.

“Catch me if you can, you stupid ghost!” I yelled. I followed the Piper to the second floor and into a spooky old bathroom, complete with dusty mirror, a big tub with clawed feet, a broken toilet, and a sink. Mold was growing in the sink and on the walls, and I grinned. This day just kept getting better and better! Piper slammed the door and locked it behind us.His chest was heaving and he looked exhausted. (Rich kids don’t have much reason to be athletic.)

“You were saying?” I asked ‘sweetly’. Piper gave me a death glare.

“NOT the time!” Piper said. I laughed.

“Do you really think a locked door will keep out a ghost? It can’t even keep us out!” I asked him. Piper’s face went white, and he ran over to the dirty mirror.

“Sam! McCulloch! Get us home now!” he yelled. There was no response.

“Piper, you know the Mirror Realm doesn’t work that way. You can only talk to them through it if they want you to, and if they haven’t had the good luck to run into a ghost, they won’t be able to guess that you might want them to pick us up.” I said as I played with my yo-yo. Piper whimpered and buried his head in his hands, then started muttering incomprehensibly as I whistled merrily.

“How can you be so happy?” Piper demanded after a few minutes.I grinned.

“Kid, we’re being chased by a real, honest-to-goodness ghost! It doesn’t get more awesome than that!” Just then, the ghost drifted through the door, and I pulled out my camera and started snapping pictures as Piper screamed.

“We’regoingtodiewe’regoingtodiewe’regoingto die !” He darted to the door, fumbled with the lock, and opened it just as the ghost brushed his clammy fingers against his back. He screamed louder and ran down the hall. I snapped a few more photos, stuck my tongue out at the ghost,and followed Piper. The ghost roared angrily and flew after me. I caught up with Piper after about a minute and lead him into a dumbwaiter, then slammed the door behind us.

“James, how is this closet preferable to hiding in the bathroom? The ghost can still walk through walls!” Piper demanded.

“Piper, YOU’RE the one who had all the servants. Shouldn’t you know what a dumbwaiter is?”

“I know what a dumbwaiter is,I have just never seen one before. I was not allowed to spend time with the servants.You can hardly blame me for mistaking it for a closet. Besides, my point still stands: why would hiding in here keep us safe from the ghost?” I laughed.

“Piper, that ghost is Robert Jackson, who hung himself because he wasn’t rich anymore and gave up the love of his life for money! Entering the dumbwaiter that the servants used would be beneath him. As long as we’re in here, we’re safe. For a guy who’s college educated, you sure are stupid,” I explained. Piper frowned.

“You were taking selfies with the ghost, and I’M stupid?” he yelled. I smiled “innocently”.

“I never said I wasn’t stupid...but I’m not a graduate from Harvard, either. But I knew how to save us from the ghost, and you didn’t,” I replied. Hartley sighed wearily.

“Whatever you say, James...but how did you know what a dumbwaiter is? You thought that the American Civil War started in 1961 until last month, so you cannot have known about them from history, and you were not wealthy, so you cannot have had servants who used one,” he asked.

“My Nonna Gianna was a maid for a wealthy family in Italy when she was a girl, and she used a dumbwaiter when she worked for them,” I explained.

“Wait...you’re Italian?” Hartley asked.

“Sí. Well, Italian-American, anyhow.My paternal grandparents immigrated from Italy in 1935 after Mussolini took over and invaded Ethiopia. When they got to America, they joined the Big Circus because my Nonno Antonio had been an acrobat in Italy. They had a whole lot of kids, and my dad was the youngest. He was born in 1955, and he married my mother, who was a second-generation Italian immigrant herself, in 1980. I was born eight years later,” I explained.

“But your name is James Jesse! That doesn’t sound remotely Italian!” Hartley protested.

“Hel-lo! My nonni were Italian immigrants performing for the American public at the height of World War II! They took stage names: Jesse for the last name, and Rosie and Jared for their first names. By the end of the war, they’d gotten so famous under the Jesse name that they couldn’t really change it back to their real one, so they just kept the stage name. My dad’s real name was Alessandro, but he called himself Jacob. My mother’s name really was Helen, though, because her parents had given her an American name. My real name’s actually Giovanni Giuseppe. How’s that for a mouthful?” I exclaimed.

“Sai parlare italiano?” Piper asked.

“Nonni, nonna, nonno, pizza, spaghetti, Venice, Rome, sí, il Dulche, Mamma Mia, madre, padre, nipote, figlia, figlio,Ti amo, caro, Coinvolgimi, bella noche, Dov'è la birra? That’s all the Italian I know. Well, that and a lot of swear words,” I replied.

“En d’autres termes, tu sais autant d’italien comme vous le français?” Piper asked. I looked at him oddly.

“English?”

“So, in other words, you know as much Italian as you do French?” he replied.

“Yeah, pretty much. Not everyone can afford tutors for twenty languages,” I said.

“I only speak six languages-Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese, and I can only write in the first four. I’m passable in Arabic and Russian, too, but I’d hardly say I can speak twenty languages.” I grinned evilly.

“Let’s go find some more ghosts!” I exclaimed.

“No! I’m staying right here, where it’s safe,” Piper yelled.

“Spoilsport,” I said. I started using my yo-yo again.

Captain Cold: So, as I guess you already know, I ended up partnered with Captain Koala, because he and Roscoe insisted on being stubborn morons. I wanted to look for the safe, but Digger insisted that we go to the kitchen because he was hungry, and, since Digger seems to have an immunity to food poisoning, I figured it would probably be safe to let him eat 85-year-old food, and feeding him would get him to shut his big mouth besides. Digger, who practically has an internal homing device for food, found the kitchen in about a minute flat. The kitchen was dusty, covered in cobwebs, and filled with a lot of rusted-out junk, and it was so dark that, without my flashlight, I don't think I would've been able to see two feet in front of me. It was a little creepy, I’m not gonna lie. But I don’t scare easy, so I started pawing around for valuables while Digger found the world’s oldest box of crackers and started digging in. I found a bunch of silver spoons and shoved them into my bag…and then something weird happened. A really attractive lady appeared out of basically nowhere and walked right through me like she couldn’t even see me. It felt like when I accidentally shot myself with my cold gun, and I frowned. Ghosts weren’t supposed to exist. However, I had business to do, so I ignored the ghost lady and went back to my work. Digger, on the other hand, didn’t take the ghost so well. He let out a string of Australian swear words, yelled something about a “ghost sheila” (knowing him, it was probably the exact opposite of polite), grabbed his crackers, and started to run. I grabbed him by his scarf before he could exit the room.

“Let me go, you bloody loon! You’ve got kangaroos loose in your top paddock if you want to stay here with a ghost, Cold!” Digger yelled.

“Stop freaking out, Digger. She doesn��t have any weapons, she’s not dripping blood, and she’s not bad to look at besides. Just ignore her. We have work to do.” Digger looked closer at the ghost and grinned.

“Bloody oath! She is a beautiful Sheila, ain’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s pretty. I just said that. Now get to work.” I said. Digger ignored me and walked over to the ghost.

“G’day, Sheila. I’m Captain George Harkness of the Australian Secret Service. Who are you?” he asked. (He tells every girl he takes a fancy to that he worked/works for the Australian Secret Service. It’d be a great pick up line if it wasn’t a total lie.) I rolled my eyes as I helped myself to some fine china plates. Was Digger seriously hitting on a ghost?

“Is Australia a northern state, Master Harkness?” the ghost asked. She sounded terrified, and had an accent I couldn’t quite place. Digger laughed.

“Oz? In the North? Sheila, it’s called the Land Down Under for a reason,” he replied. The ghost looked terrified and started to cry. I tried valiantly to ignore the sound and shoved the remainder of the china into my bag.

“What’re you crying for, Sheila?” Digger asked, sounding annoyed.

“B-b-because if you a Southern soldier, you gonna take me and my baby back to slavery!” I noticed that she was, indeed, carrying a baby and grimaced. I did NOT have time for dealing with this crud. Digger walked back over to me.

“I didn’t notice she had an anklebiter. She’s a lovely sheila, but not enough for me to want to be a daddy. And why’s she wailing about slavery?” he asked.

“How should I know? I dropped out of high school at 14, and I don’t have many dealings with ghosts,” I replied in annoyance as the ghost’s wailings got louder. She moved rapidly toward Digger and fell on her knees.

“Please, don’t take my baby, Master Harkness. Let him be free, please, please!” she begged. Digger shot me a pleading look, and I sighed wearily. How did Digger get himself-and me- into these situations?

“Look, lady, we don’t want you or your baby. Now go on, shoo. You and the kid are free, and “Master Harkness” and I have business to do,” I said. The ghost stared.

“Ain’t you Confederate soldiers?” she asked, obviously confused.. Digger and I looked at each other in equal confusion.

“What’s a Confederate?” Digger asked the ghost.

“They’s the soldiers who be fighting to make their own country,” she replied.

“What’s she talking about?” Digger asked me. I shrugged.

“The Civil War…..I think,” I said, drawing desperately from my memories of 8th grade history.

“You mean the war you Yanks had between each other? What’s that gotta do with this sheila?” I racked my brains for any connection between the two and wished that I hadn’t chosen 8th grade history as the class to sleep through.

“Um...she was talking about slavery…I think the South had slaves...probably….and that was maybe why the war started? Possibly? And-and since you said you were from the South, and she’s probably about as well-educated as we are, she didn’t realize that you meant you were from another continent entirely, and so she thought that you were gonna want to make her a slave again,” I said, feeling pretty proud of myself for figuring all that out.

“Didja hear that, Sheila? I’m not a Confederate, whatever that means! Australia’s an island. It ain’t part of America. Now, it’s London to the brick that I’m dangerous, so you probably wanna steer clear of me, but I’m not gonna be taking you to slavery, neither. And, hey, if you got any single friends without anklebiters,, tell ‘em t’ look up Captain Harkness, will ya?” Digger told her cheerfully.

“I..I’m free?” she asked quietly.

“As a bird. Now get outta here. You’re safe in this city,” I told her flatly.

“Thank you, sir! Thank you!” she said. She kissed her baby, and they passed through the kitchen wall and vanished into thin air. As soon as she was gone, I glared at Digger.

“Okay, now that you’re done hitting on a ghost, can we get back to work, please?” I asked.

“If you want to, that’s fair dinkum. I’m gonna go back to my chips,” Digger said. He tried to walk back to the table, but I grabbed him by the scarf before he could and forced him to clear out the rest of the valuables while I took a smoke break. He swore colorfully in Australian the entire time, but I ignored him. He was just packing the last of the chinaware away when another ghost, this one holding a gun, showed up. One look at him told me that we were in trouble, and so I ran out of the room, Digger hot on my heels.

Golden Glider: So, while Mick and Marky-Mark were in the living room, James and Hartley were running around like lunatics, and Lenny and Digger were running away from history as much as they were running away from ghosts, Roscoe and I had decided to investigate the backyard. It contained a rotting porch and a small cemetery, one which was surrounded by a wrought iron fence. It was quite dark, because there were no porch lights, but that just made it all the more romantic. As soon as we left the house, I snuggled up close against Roscoe and we both sat down on the one intact porch step. “Isn’t the darkness so romantic?” I asked him. He looked puzzled, and it was adorable. “I believe that the darkness is the absence of light, my darling,” he said. I tittered. “You’re so funny, Roscoe,” I cooed. He smiled. “I am glad I have pleased you, sweetums,” he said. A cloud moved and revealed the moon, big and red and lovely. I pointed at it in excitement. “Roscoe, look at the moon! Isn’t it beautiful? Doesn’t it remind you of us?” I asked. Roscoe looked concerned. “My darling, the moon is a celestial body that revolves around the Earth. I do not see how it can remind you of us. Did no one teach you about the nature of the moon? It is not a human being,” he said. I sighed; having forgotten how literal Roscoe can be. “Roscoe, dear, I was speaking figuratively. I said it was like us because it’s beautiful, just like we are,” I explained. Roscoe’s eyes lit up in understanding. “I see. Forgive my confusion, my darling,” he said. I kissed him on the cheek. “Of course, honey,” I replied. He kissed me on my cheek, and then I kissed him full on the lips. We were still embracing five minutes later, when a young girl in a white dress appeared. She was completely transparent, and stared at us in silence for a few seconds. “Are you lovers?” she asked quietly. “We are indeed, and my Lisa is a goddess among women,” Roscoe replied. Her face fell, and then twisted into fury. “How dare you flaunt your happiness in front of the grave of a poor rejected woman? Is it not enough that I was rejected by my Robert? Is it not enough that I killed myself of despair? Must I be mocked by your love as well? For your impudence, I will make you suffer as I have suffered!” she screamed. She moved over to Roscoe, kissed him on the lips (please don’t ask me HOW) and then disappeared. Roscoe shoved me off his lap violently and stood up. “Get off of me, you wretch!” he spat. The words felt like a blow. “R-R-Roscoe, what….what’s wrong?” Roscoe had never talked to me like that before, and in that moment I saw Lewis-my “father”-in his face. “You are what is wrong! I am a gentleman, and you-you are common trash. Why I was mad enough to kiss you I’ll never understand!” Roscoe said coldly. “What are you saying?” I asked. “I am saying that I have had enough of dating a welfare queen,” Roscoe replied. Normally, I would have struck back, but I was so bewildered by his behavior that I just stared at him. After a few seconds, he scowled. “What are you staying for, you pathetic wretch? Leave me!” he ordered, and I found my tongue. “No, Roscoe. I am staying right here with you. You may not think you love me anymore, but you will not drive me away. I won’t give you the pleasure of ordering me around like a dog,” I said. “Why not? You are a dog,” Roscoe spat. I moved to slap him, but before I could, we were interrupted by another ghost, this one wielding a old-timey gun, who charged at us. I kicked at the ghost on impulse, but, of course, it went straight through him. While I was distracted, Roscoe abandoned me, but after I regained my balance, I rushed after him and we went into the dining room. “Stop chasing me, you hussy!” he yelled. “I’m not chasing you, I’m running away from the ghost,” I said. As if on cue, the ghost lifted a table and threw it at Roscoe’s head. I pushed him out of the way and narrowly avoided being hit myself. “Why did you save me? It will not make me love a woman like you,” he demanded harshly. This time, I did slap him. “You’re welcome,” I spat. Roscoe frowned. “You dare lay a hand on a gentleman?” he demanded. Before he could continue, however, the ghost levitated all six chairs in the room, and so I grabbed him and pulled him into the hallway. A series of loud crashes followed almost immediately. “I notice that you don’t complain when I touch you in order to save your life,” I said pointedly. Roscoe sniffed haughtily and didn’t reply. Under normal circumstances, I would have led us to the door and left the house, but with Roscoe acting so strangely, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to leave only for Roscoe to keep treating me like dirt, so I decided to stay and take charge of the situation. “All right, so where do we go from here?” I asked. Roscoe scowled. “‘We’ are not going anywhere. Have I not made my disdain for you utterly clear? I am going to one of the bedrooms to go to sleep, and you-I care not where you go, so long as you stay away from me,” he said. I shook my head firmly. “No, we’re staying together. Even if you really do hate me, from a logical standpoint you’re obviously safer with me around,” I replied. Roscoe pondered this for a few seconds, then nodded. “Very well. We will stick together. However, let me make one thing clear: I do not love you. Our current predicament does not change that,” he said, and I felt my heart break. I slapped him again and said, “Fine! See if I care!” With that, I pulled Roscoe up the stairs to the second floor and into one of the bedrooms, which contained an canopy bed, a broken window, an old armorie, and a painting of a handsome young man. The plaque beneath it read "Robert Jackson, beloved son". It was a picture of the man who had spurned his lover. How appropriate. Roscoe laid down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately (he is definitely not a night owl) and I started crying. How had this perfectly romantic night gone so badly awry?

Mirror Master II: After a quick trip through the Mirror Realm, Scudder and I arrived in the basement. It was awfy dark doon there, I’m nae gonna lie, but the way Scudder was reacting, you’d have thought it was a torture chamber. He was jumping at every little sound and keeping so close tae me that I was practically tripping over him. After aboot a minute of that, I got fed up with him and decided tae tell him tae grow a spine.

“Stop acting like a wean, will ye? It’s hard eno to move doon here without having tae avoid you,” I told him. He moved about an inch further away.

“If we run into a ghost, I’m feeding you to it,” he muttered. I laughed and started looking for trinkets, while he stayed right next tae the stairs. After a few minutes, I uncovered an emerald ring.

“This is worth something, int it no?” I asked happily. Scudder shrugged.

“Great, you’ve found your prize. Now let’s get out of here!” he said.

“Not yet! I need a bigger haul than this!” I replied. Scudder frowned.

“Look here, you second-rate Mirror Master. I am not about to have my brain turned into soup by a ghost just so that you can sell two rings instead of one. We’re going upstairs now,” he said.

“Who are ye calling a second-rate Mirror Master? I use the Mirror Realm better than ye ever could, ye minger!” I yelled.

“You don’t even know how it works. You just swiped my equipment, you Glaswegian thug!” Scudder replied. Then I punched him, and he punched me, and we got into a fist fight. He was trying tae get oot of my stranglehold when soomthing weird happened: a ghostie showed up. You ken those drawings of fat rich people? It looked like that. I was so surprised that I let Scudder go, and he screamed like a lassie and dove intae the Mirror Realm. Me? I just froze. I didnae have a clue how to fight a ghostie, so I did soomthing pure stupid: I waved at it! The ghostie levitated a lamp and threw it at me head, only narrowly missing me. I dove intae the mirror after Scudder. He was panicking.

“I don’t wanna die I don’t wanna die I don’t wanna die; please don’t let me die please please please don’t let me die!”

“Calmy doony, Scudder. The ghostie canae come intae the Mirror Realm,” I said. Ten seconds later, the ghostie came intae the Mirror Realm.

“You just had to say it!” Scudder wailed.

“Dinae just stand there, run!” I yelled. Both of us took off running, and only stopped when the ghostie vanished. I grinned.

“We did it! We escaped the ghostie!” I yelled. Scudder smiled slightly, but then he looked around and his smile vanished.

“Oh, no. This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad,” he said.

“What do ye mean? We escaped from the ghostie!” I replied.

“Look around you! Do you recognize any of this?” I looked around, and realized that we were in big trouble: I didnae recognize anything around me, and I ken most of the Mirror Realm like the back of my hand.

“We’re lost,” I said.

“No duh, really? I had no idea,” Scudder replied sarcastically. I tried tae punch him for that, but he dodged me swing.

“I don’t see why you’re punching at me. I was against coming to the creepy ghost house from the start, and if we had stayed home and watched A Nightmare on Elm Street like I suggested, we wouldn’t be in this mess! But did you-or anyone-listen to me? Oh, no! “Ghosts don’t exist, Sam.” “Stop being such a wimp, Scudder.” “We’ll be fine.” “Stop being such an idiot, Scudder.” Well, WHO’S THE IDIOT NOW?” he yelled hysterically, and I wished that Captain Cold hadnae put me with him, because he looked downright loony.

“Ah am, all right? Now help me find a way oot of here!” Sam laughed weakly.

“Find a way out of the Mirror Realm? You might as well tell me to beat Superman in a fist fight. It’s impossible. There’s a reason that I never go out of sight of the mirror portals: the Mirror Realm is so vast that if you get lost, you’ll probably never find your way back to them-and they’re our only way out of the Mirror Realm. I can’t get us out without the portals, and, thanks to you, Len, and that ghost, I have no idea where they are. Heck, I don’t even know where WE are!” he exclaimed.

“The Land of Abstract Art, mebbe?” I suggested. We were surrounded by swirls of colors and strange shapes, ye ken? Scudder didnae seem to find that as funny as I’d thought it was.

“Really? We’re lost in a never-ending mirror maze, and you’re cracking jokes?” I shrugged.

“Aye. Beats whining aboot it, ye jerrie.” To tell the truth, I was just as freaked out as Scudder was, but I wasnae about to let him know it.

“You’re a lunatic,” he spat.

“Ah am’nae!” I yelled back. I punched him, he punched me, and we ended up in another fistfight that only ended when both of us collapsed from exhaustion. Apparently, all the running had taken a lot oot of us. Scudder basically ended up falling asleep on my lap, and I was too tired to move him. After aboot a minute of embarrassment, I fell asleep tae.

Heat Wave: Hi, there. I’m Mick Rory, but you can call me Heat Wave. Everyone does. So, uh, while everyone else was running away from angry ghosts, Weather Wizard and I were still searching for valuables, and not finding any. After about an hour of searching, I got bored, pulled out my flamethrower, and lit the sofa on fire. It was beautiful and pretty and warm, and I decided to touch it. Bad idea, because I was still wearing the tutu, and..well...tutus are really flammable. The fire didn’t exactly hurt me (the prison doc tells me my skin’s so badly burned by this point that it doesn’t feel pain anymore), but it did freak out Weather Wizard, who doused me (and the sofa) with what felt like a gallon of water.

“Hey! You put out my beautiful sofa fire!” I complained. The Wiz scowled.

“In case you didn’t notice, YOU were on fire, too!” he said angrily.

“And now I’m sopping wet AND don’t have my precious fire. I don’t see how that’s an improvement,” I replied. In response, the Wiz beaned me over the head with his wand. (He doesn’t have a good swing, so it didn’t really hurt.)

“Being wet doesn’t kill you, you big oaf! You know what does? BEING ON FIRE!” His face was red and his eyes were crackling with electricity, so I knew he was pretty upset. Because he can create tornadoes, I decided to apologize.

“You’re right, Mark, and I’m sorry. Thanks for saving me,” I said. His eyes stopped crackling.

“Just don’t do it again,” he said. I nodded and sat down on what was left of the sofa, and Wiz went over to the window and gazed out of it.

“A storm’s brewing,” he said. I don’t think he was trying to sound spooky, but with his tone of voice and his witch costume, he did. A few seconds later, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Wiz opened the window and leaned out. The wind whipped his (impossibly spiky) hair, and he stared at something in silence. After a few seconds, it got creepy, and so I went over to him and dragged him away from the window. I closed it as soon as he wasn’t in the way.

“Come on, Mark, let’s go to another room. Captain Cold’ll be mad if we don’t find something valuable,” I said. When he didn’t move, I picked him up, threw him over my shoulder, and took him up the stairs and into a bedroom which looked like it might have belonged to a little kid at some point, since there were a bunch of old toys in it. One of the windows was broken, and everything, including the toys, a rocking chair, and a crib, was covered in dust and cobwebs. It was very spooky, although it was in better shape overall than the living room had been. I started looking for something valuable, and the Wiz made a beeline for the window.

“Hey, knock that off! Just ‘cause you’re the Weather Wizard doesn’t mean that you get to look at the weather and not help me!” I said. Wiz turned around and locked eyes with me.

“The storm...it’s an ill wind that blows no good,” he muttered. It was almost like he was in a trance or something. And then it happened: a ghost appeared. Now, it wasn’t super gory-really, it just looked like a transparent teenager-but let me tell you: it was scarier than anything I’ve ever seen in a horror movie. At almost the same time, it started to rain heavily. The Wiz passed out again, and the ghost advanced on me. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor (what? I saw Shakespeare on TV one time), threw the Wiz over my shoulder, and ran downstairs and out of the house with him. (Question: Why is it that he was WAY heavier when he was unconscious than when he was conscious?) I wanted to make Captain Cold happy, but I wasn’t gonna fight a ghost just for some loot. As soon as we got out the door, the ghost stopped following us, so I dumped the Wiz on the ground and began what proved to be a LONG wait for the Mirror Masters to come pick us up. Wiz woke up about five minutes after we got out of the house and cleared up the rain (thank goodness), then took a look at me and smiled.

“You should see yourself. Your tutu’s unrecognizable and I can see your underwear,” he said. I felt my cheeks heat up. Man, that was embarrassing.

“Yeah, well, you fainted twice, so I think we’re even,” I replied. The Wiz flushed, and looked at the ground. A few seconds later, he yawned, then produced a wind that dried up the ground.

“I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me up when Scudder shows up,” he said. With that, he curled up on the ground and dozed off. After a couple seconds, I sat down next to him, and, after a few minutes of trying and failing to come up with an excuse for not finding any loot, I dozed off too. (One of the benefits of being….less than legally employed is that you learn to fall asleep anywhere.) I woke up about twenty minutes later when the Wiz poked me in the side with his wand.

“Huh?” I asked drowsily.

“Where are the Mirror Masters at? Surely they’ve gotta be finished by now,” he whined. I shrugged.

“Maybe they’re still looking for stuff. Or maybe they hit the jackpot and are still gathering up all the stuff they found,” I suggested.

“Well, they better hurry up. I’m bored and tired and I want to get back to my nice soft bed,” the Wiz replied.

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” I said. Then I fell back to sleep and was dead to the world for another forty minutes.

Pied Piper: After being trapped in the dumbwaiter for about ten minutes, I turned off my hearing aids. Not being able to hear is never a pleasant experience, but it was highly preferable to listening to a bored Trickster sing “This Is the Song That Never Ends” again and again and again. This solution worked reasonably well until I realized that I very much needed to use the powder room and needed advice as to how to do so without attracting the nightmare creature that wanted to devour my internal organs. Therefore, I had to turn my hearing aids back on, because none of the other Rogues have ever bothered to learn sign language and I had no desire to play charades. As soon as my hearing turned back on, I was greeted with what must have been the fortieth rendition of “This is the Song That Never Ends”.

“James. James. JAMES! I, um, need to use the powder room. Do you have any idea as to how I can do that without meeting the ghost?”

“Depends. What’s a powder room?” He batted his eyes and smiled in the most irritating manner imaginable.

“You know full well what a powder room is!” I exclaimed. James’ smile grew wider as he shook his head.

“I can’t help you if I don’t know what you need, Piper,” he said. I sighed and gave in.

“It’s a restroom,” I said, blushing terribly. James laughed and did a particularly impressive trick with his yo-yo.

“Oh, so you need to pee! Why didn’t you say so?” he asked.

“Because my parents did not allow me to discuss bodily functions in public. Ever,” I replied.

“Did your parents allow you to breathe without their say-so?” I frowned. My parents had indeed controlled my days down to the second before they disowned me, but I didn’t want to admit it, so I said,

“Never mind that. Just tell me how to use the powder room without getting killed!”

“Oh, that’s easy. I’ll close my eyes, and you can do your business in here,” James replied. As I did not have access to a mirror, I cannot be sure about this, but I believe that I blushed even harder.

“No!”

“Why not? You can even blindfold me if you want. Believe me, I do NOT want to watch that,” James replied. I scowled.

“Because that is disgusting, James.”

“I don’t see why. It’s what we did in the circus,” he said, sounding genuinely confused.

“This is not the circus!”

“Well, it isn’t exactly Rathaway manor, either. I’m not saying that it isn’t gross, but this place is in bad condition already. You can’t make it much worse,” James replied.

“I think I would rather face the ghost,” I said. James laughed.

“I can’t believe that you’re more scared of breaking your parents’ rules of being “proper” and pretending that you don’t have bodily functions than you are of a literal ghost,” he said.

“This has nothing to do with my parents!”

“Somebody’s in de-ni-al!” James singsonged.

“I’m not in denial. Just because I do not want to be Digger does not mean that this has anything to do with my parents,” I insisted.

“Yep, definitely in denial,” James said. I ignored him and pulled out the mirror that I had brought with me in order to contact the Mirror Masters.

“Sam! McCulloch! If you can hear me, I need you to get me-and James-out of this house!” Nothing happened, and I sighed wearily. There went that idea. About three minutes later, I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer. I opened the doors nervously and, not seeing anything, bolted down the hall to the powder room, used it, and was on my way back when the ghost reappeared. I screamed like a little girl (which is quite humiliating in hindsight) and just froze up in terror. If I had been alone, I don’t want to know what would have happened next, but, luckily for me, James showed up at exactly this point and yelled,

“Hey, Casper! Over here, you preposterous poltergeist!” The ghost howled and started chasing him, and he whooped with glee and ran down the hall in the direction of the staircase. Thirty seconds later, I heard a loud cry of pain from James. I bolted to the top of the stairs and saw that one of the steps had given way under James, and that he had clearly broken his ankle. Worse, the ghost was floating over top of him, and, for the first time, he looked scared. I stared at the scene for a few seconds, unsure of what to do, and then pulled out my flute and started playing it in the desperate hope that its hypnotic powers would work on a ghost. I tried to ignore the fact that my knees were shaking under me as I played, and, after a few seconds, the ghost stopped howling and floated away from James. I carefully went down the stairs to my partner, still playing, then knelt down beside him and put the flute away.

“Do NOT do that again! You scared the daylights out of me!” I snapped. James smiled.

“Aww, you do care,” he said. All his fear seemed to be forgotten and I shook my head in amazement. He had almost been killed (possessed?) by a ghost, and he was already making jokes.

“I did owe you. After all, if you had not attracted the ghost’s attention, I might have been killed. How’s your ankle?” I asked.

“It hurts like the dickens,” he replied.

“Can you walk?” James stood up shakily, winced, and quickly sat back down, then smiled and said,

“I can walk on my hands!” He proceeded to demonstrate. In spite of myself, I laughed a little.

“Can you keep that up long enough to get to the front door?” I asked him after I stopped laughing.

“Probably. Why?”

“Because we are leaving. I don’t know how long my hypnosis will last, but it will wear off eventually, and I do not want to be here when it does,” I explained.

“Aww, but I wanted to see some more ghosts!”

“Can you run on your hands?” I asked. James grinned slightly.

“Maybe?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Let’s go. We can watch The Shining when we get home if you want,” I said. (It’s James’ favorite horror movie, and very useful as a bribe.) James’ grin widened.

“You know me well, Piper. Let’s go home,” he said. With that, we left the house-only to find Mick and Mark asleep on the lawn; Mick in little more than his underwear.

“There’s something you don’t see every day,” James said.

“What, Mick and Mark sleeping on the lawn or Mick in his underwear?” I asked.

“Both, but mainly Mick in his underwear. That’s an image I’ll never get out of my mind,” he replied.

“Me, neither,” I agreed. After a few seconds, James sat down on the ground and pulled out a pack of bubble gum.

“I swallowed my gum when that step broke under me. Want some gum?” he asked.

“I suppose,” I replied. James handed me a stick of gum and then took out one for himself as well. I sat down next to him, unwrapped the stick of gum, and started chewing it. James blew a huge bubble.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

“Blow bubbles? Haven’t you ever had bubble gum before?” he asked. I shook my head.

“My parents said that gum was for plebeians,” I replied.

“Well, if they really did cut you off, you are one now, so that shouldn’t be a concern anymore,” he said. I smiled.

“You have a point. So, carnie, how about teaching this ex-patrician how to properly blow bubbles with bubble gum?” I asked.

“You’re on!” James exclaimed.

Captain Boomerang: I hate all the bloody ghosts in that bloody ghost house! (I also hate Cold for making me go into the ghost house, but that’s beside the point.) After Cold and I ran out of the kitchen, the ghost chased us through several rooms and to the basement stairs. We exchanged a brief look and ran down the stairs into the basement.

“If that bloody ghost follows us, I’m gonna be as mad as a cut snake,” I said. I was tired of all the running, tired of risking my life, and even more tired of not getting to eat my chips.

“I think he’s stopped chasing us,” Cold said as he looked around. Then he gasped.

“What is it?” I demanded. Cripes, I need a coolie , I thought.

“The Mirror Masters...at least one of them left their Mirror Gun here. It’s their only way back into our dimension. They’d never leave it here.”

“Well, if they’ve carked it, there’s nothin’ we can do. Let’s take our loot and leave this spooky place before another ghost shows up!” I said. I thought that I’d made a good point, but Cold disagreed and punched me in the face.

“We don’t have any proof that they’re dead, so we’re goin’ in after them. They’re too valuable to lose, and besides, the Rogues don’t abandon their own,” he said. Cold activated the portal to the Mirror Realm and dragged me inside by the scarf. As soon as I got inside, I had a sickie and vomited all over the floor.

“Scudder? McCulloch? It’s Cold. Where are you?” Cold yelled. No answer. I stopped vomiting and looked around, then noticed something shiny. I went over to it and discovered that it was an emerald ring.

“Cold, have a Captain Cook at this! We’re rich!” I exclaimed. Cold looked at it...and went pale.

“Oh, no….one of the Mirror Masters must have been spooked by something and dropped it-and if they ran that way and were so panicked that they didn’t notice that they dropped a valuable thing like that, then they’re lost in the Mirror Realm,” he said.

“Okay. They’ve carked it. Oh, well. Let’s go home,” I replied. Cold shook his head.

“No. We’re gonna find them,” he said.

“Cold, you just said that they were lost in the Mirror Realm. If THEY got lost, we’ll get lost, too,” I protested. Cold didn’t listen.

“We ain’t gonna get lost, because we’re going to make a trail to follow,” he said. He drew one the spoons out of the bag and placed it on the ground next to his feet. Then he moved about ten feet forward and did the same thing, and did it again about seven feet after that. He’s got kangaroos loose in his top paddock for sure, I thought.

“What are you doin’, Cold?” I demanded.

“I’m making a trail,” he said.

“Outta spoons ?” I asked.

“Didn’t you ever hear the story of Hansel and Gretel?”

“I don’t read fairy tales. They’re for wusses,” I said. Cold scowled.

“Look, I have a little sister, okay? Anyway, Hansel and Gretel didn’t want to get lost in the woods, so they used bread crumbs to mark where they’d been. That way, when they turned around, they’d know which way would take them back to their starting point. This is the same idea, only our markers can’t be eaten by anything,” he said. With that, he started dragging me by my scarf towards the direction he thought the Mirror Masters had taken.

“You know, I can walk on my own,” I said.

“ Maybe so, but if I let you go, you’ll probably be walking towards the exit, so I’m keeping ahold of you to be on the safe side,” Cold replied. I stuck my tongue out at him, but he ignored it. After about twenty minutes of walking, we entered the weirdest place I’d ever seen. There were all these bloody weird shapes and colors, and I couldn't tell which way was up. It freaked me out, but for some reason, it didn’t seem to bother Cold at all.

“Cold, this is really freaky. Can we go back now? We’ll never find the Mirror Masters in this crazy place,” I said.

“Shut up, Digger. We are going to find them, and we are not going to stop walking until we either do or run out of silverware,” Cold replied.

“Ace!” I muttered sarcastically.

“What was that?”

“Nothin’,” I lied.

“That’s what I thought.” He dragged me along for about ten more minutes before I opened my big mouth again. (I think that must be some kind of record.)

“Can we stop now ?” My legs were killing me (not to mention my neck)!

“No. Stop acting like a six-year-old,” Cold replied. I really need a coolie, i thought.

“I wouldn’t be actin’ like an anklebiter if you weren’t actin’ like a dictator,” I snapped. Cold punched me in the side and continued to drag me along like a bloody kelpie. After about four more minutes, i decided that I’d had enough of being dragged around and stabbed Cold in the arm with one of my razor-sharp boomerangs. He swore in pain and let me go, and I grabbed the mirror gun and ran towards the exit. Sadly for me, Cold managed to bean me over the head with a plate and knocked me out. When I came to, I awoke to see a pair of unconscious Mirror Masters. Normally, I would’ve been crosser than a frog in a sock that Cold had knocked me out, but at the moment I was too glad that Cold wouldn’t be dragging me through the Mirror Realm anymore to really care.

“You little Ripper! You found them!” I exclaimed happily.

“No thanks to you,” Cold muttered. He shook McCulloch awake.

“Cold? How did ye get in here?” he asked.

“Either you or Sam dropped your Mirror Gun outside of the mirror in the basement, and I used it to get in here,” Cold explained.

“But how did ye find us?”

“Stubbornness, mainly,” Cold replied. I laughed.

“That’d be right!” I exclaimed. Cold looked at McCulloch oddly.

“Why is Sam sleeping in your lap?” Cold asked.

“ WHAT? ” McCulloch yelled. He quickly moved Sam off his lap and stood up. This woke Sam up, for obvious reasons. Once he realized what had happened, he noticed Cold, gave him a huge hug, and then punched him in the face.

“I’m...getting some mixed messages here,” Cold said.

“I’m happy you found us, because I thought we were going to die here, but I’m about equally angry at you, because you wouldn’t have had to rescue us if you hadn’t decided to take us to the creepy ghost house in the first place,” Sam explained. I laughed. It’s always good to see Cold get taken down a peg, the arrogant knocker.

“I do nae see why you being here is a good thing. We do nae ken how to get back to the Mirror Portals from here, we’ll all die here,” McCulloch said.

“Actually, we won’t. I marked the path we took from the portals with our loot, so we’ll able to get back fine,” Cold replied. McCulloch grinned, and my stomach growled.

“Can we go home now? I’m hungry,” I asked.

“Ye and me both, Digger,” McCulloch said. Cold nodded.

“Let’s get back to our reality,” he said. With that, we started the long walkabout back to the Mirror Portals.

Top: My nap lasted precisely twenty-five minutes and fifteen seconds. Then I awoke to see Lisa crying quietly. Normally, I would have felt horrible upon seeing such a sight, but at the time, I simply felt disgusted.

"Stop sniveling, you piece of gutter trash. I will not be moved by your feminine wiles,” I spat. (I have since apologized profusely for this comment, and for all others made under the influence of the ghost, but my darling Lisa is still distrustful of me, and her brother would have beat me to within an inch of my life for them had she not stopped him.)

“All right. I WILL stop crying. I should have known better than to show weakness in front of a man who’s just like my father,” she replied angrily. If I had been myself, I would have been horrified by this accusation, but as I was, I merely sniffed dismissively.

“I am nothing like your father. He was an alcoholic boor who lived off of welfare for most of his life, and I am a gentleman,” I said haughtily.

“And yet you’re calling me names just like he did,” Lisa replied. (In hindsight, her self-confidence was quite admirable, but at the time, I found it irritating.)

“Shut your mouth!” I snapped, unable to refute her argument.

“And let you walk all over me? I don’t think so,” Lisa said. Furious, I raised my hand to slap her, but thankfully, the Civil War-era ghost interrupted us before I could. Lisa grabbed me and pulled me out of the room before the ghost began to levitate anything, thereby saving my life for the third time that night.

“I told you not to touch me!” I said icily. In response, Lisa kissed me on the cheek and I pulled away sharply in utter disgust. (I believe that she was trying to make me uncomfortable in an attempt to snap me back to my senses.)

“I just saved your life again , and you want to complain about me touching you? AGAIN?” she yelled.

“I was aware that we were in danger. There was no need for you to touch me,” I replied coldly. The ghost drifted out of the bedroom we had been in, and the two of us ran to the stairs-only to find that one of the steps had collapsed. Lisa sighed and slid down the banister to the bottom of the stairs, and I reluctantly followed her when the ghost appeared behind me and it became apparent that there was no other means of escape. (We were able to keep our balance because my darling Lisa was a figure skater and I am very resistant to vertigo.) We ran back through the dining room and back into the backyard, and were greeted by a most unusual sight. The ghost who had kissed me was holding hands with another ghost, this one with a noose around his neck.

“Oh, darling, you’re back!” she cooed. The other ghost kissed her.

“Yes, and I’ll never leave you again. I’m so sorry that I abandoned you all those years ago. My father was wrong: you were more important than our money ever could have been,” he said.

‘I forgive you, Robert,” she replied. Lisa started to cry again.

“Oh, shut up, you sniveling hussy! You are too far beneath me to deserve my sympathy,” I said harshly. Lisa frowned and dried her tears rather angrily, then elbowed me in the side.

“Where have you been, Robert?” the female ghost asked.

“I don’t know. All I remember before seeing you tonight was a lot of anger at something,” the other ghost replied. The female ghost embraced him.

“Oh, well, you’re here now. That’s all that matters,” she said. They kissed again, and then the female ghost noticed us and frowned.

“Are you the lovers?” she asked.

“Formerly. I thank you profusely for showing me my folly,” I said. Lisa nodded sadly.

“Why do you want to know? You can’t possibly make me any more miserable,” she said. The ghost smiled.

“Because I am going to show you both mercy. Since my happiness has been restored, I will restore your happiness,” she said. She kissed me once again, and all my love for Lisa came flowing back-as did a crushing sense of guilt.

“My darling, I am so sorry for what I said. I don’t know what came over me, but I swear to you that I do not care how rich you are. You are a goddess, and I adore you. Please, please forgive me,” I pleaded. I felt like an utter cad. Lisa frowned.

“R-Roscoe?” she asked nervously.

“Yes, sweetums,” I said. I tried to kiss her, but she pulled away.

“Don’t , Roscoe. After what you said to me tonight, I just don’t trust you. How can I be sure that you aren’t saying you don’t care that I’m “gutter trash” only because of your hormones? What if two or three years down the line, you don’t find me attractive anymore? Will you still love me, or will I suddenly become a “welfare queen” again? I still love you, but I can’t trust you anymore,” she asked

“You...you are breaking up with me?” I was heartbroken and rather tempted to attack the ghost (if that was even possible), but I could not really blame her.

“I’m not sure. Let’s call it a vacation,” she replied quietly. There was an awkward pause, and then I said,

“In that case, since our date is off, perhaps we should go to the front lawn and wait for the Mirror Masters to take us back to our hideout.” Lisa nodded, and we left the backyard, walked quickly through the house, and made it to the front lawn of the house without issue. Upon arriving, we saw Mark curled up on the lawn, fast asleep, Mick napping in little more than his underwear ( a sight that will haunt me until my dying day), and James and Piper blowing bubble gum. James waved at us.

“Hi there, lovebirds! How was your date?’ If there is one thing that James is the master of, it is saying things at the most inopportune times.

“Badly,” Lisa replied. With that, she left my side and sat down next to Mick. James looked at me quizzically.

“It is a very long story that is frankly none of your business,” I told him. I walked a few feet away from him, sat down, and buried my head in my hands, ashamed of what I had done to the one person in my life I ever cared for. Apparently, I dozed off at some point, because the next thing I remember was the two Mirror Masters arriving alongside Digger and Leonard.

“Look alive, everyone! We’re moving out!” he barked. Five minutes later, we were all back in our hideout (thanks to the Mirror Masters). Lisa immediately ran over to her brother and started sobbing. My stomach twisted with guilt and I looked away.

“Shhh..shh...shhh..Sis, what happened?” In response, Lisa told him the whole story through hiccups and sobs. When she was finished, Leonard marched over to me.

“ Is this true, Dillon?” he demanded.

“Sadly, yes,” I replied awkwardly. In response, Cold punched me so hard he knocked me to the ground.

“Then you’re gonna wish you’d never been born. NO ONE hurts my baby sister,” he snarled. He moved to hit me again, but before he could, Lisa ran over to him and grabbed his arm.

“Lenny, don’ t! He was under the influence of a ghost! It wasn’t all his fault,” she said. Cold scowled, but he walked away anyway as Lisa helped me back to my feet.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Better than I should be after treating you so terribly,” I replied.

“It’s good to to have you back, Roscoe,” she said.

“Does this mean that we’re back on?” I asked eagerly.

“No, Roscoe, I’m afraid not. It’ll probably be awhile before I feel comfortable around you again,” she said. She left me and went upstairs, and I was left to mentally berate myself for my idiocy.

Mirror Master I: And...that was basically it. We managed to get home alive from the creepy ghost house, everyone changed out of their costumes, and most of us, exhausted, went to bed (except James and Piper, who decided to watch The Shining for some reason.) The next morning, Trickster went to the hospital to get his broken ankle treated, and the rest of us decided to never, ever go to any house that was supposed to be haunted again. A week later, the Flash caught Len trying to fence his loot, so he’s in prison again. Lisa still hasn’t forgiven Roscoe, and James’s ankle is still very broken, but otherwise, things are pretty much back to normal for us Rogues. So, with that in mind-we would like to wish you all a Happy Halloween!- What James said.

FIN

#flash rogues #ghosts #dc comics #lisa snart/roscoe dillon #len snart #sam scudder #evan mcculloch #james jesse #hartley rathaway #george digger harknesss #mick rory #mark mardon #fanfic #@gorogues

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shirtlesssammy · 4 years

Text

2x08: Crossroad Blues

Welcome to this season’s real hellatus! We’ve got a little theme for the episodes we’re recapping. Try and guess what it is :D Also, we have some good news and bad news. Good news: We’re going to do a whole week of recaps towards the end of the break! Yay! Bad news: They’re all episodes that we hate. We need to get them off our recap plate before the show ends. Enjoy the hellatus (*crying noise*).

Then:

Sam Winchester, professional puppy dog

Now:

Greenwood, Mississippi

August, 1938

Robert Johnson plays Crossroads Blues on a stage to a crowd at a bar. He briefly hears growls but continues to play. He stops again when he sees shadows race outside. The crowd looks confused. Robert runs outside after hearing barks. He races to a shed, but the unseen source of the barking follows him. He kneels to await his fate.

The door bursts open to find a woman and two men from the bar. The men run to find help and the woman pleads with Robert to stay with her as he mutters, “Dogs, black dogs.” He dies in her arms.

Sam and Dean are at a diner and Sam’s researching how much of an outlaw Dean is. Sam is upset because it’s going to make their job harder now that the feds have them on their radar. Well, they have Dean on their radar. Dean thinks Sam is jealous.

Sam’s got a case. An architect jumped off a building he designed, after calling animal control about seeing wild black dogs in his condo.

There’s a ton of lore on black dogs. Dean brings the real insight to the situation when he tells Sam, “Bet they could hump the crap out of your leg.” AND I MISS THIS DEAN SO MUCH SOME DAYS.

They interview Gunner Lawless his business partner under the guise of writing a tribute for Architectural Digest. His partner is resentful but admits that the man was a genius. He wasn’t always that way though. He wonders why people with true talent die young.

The brothers’ next stop is at an area animal shelter. Dean flirts his way into learning more about black dogs in the area. Dean Bean got Carly’s MySpace address too.

They next head to interview all the people that reported the black dogs. The first on their list is Dr. Sylvia Pearlman. She hasn’t been home in two days. Dean notes that she’s chief of surgery at her hospital, a position she’s had for ten years. She’s only about 42, so she’s very young for that position. They also find a connection to their vic and the doctor. They both visited a place called Lloyd’s Bar.

Meanwhile, the doctor is hiding out in an early season dingy motel room. She’s frazzled and petrified when someone knocks on the door. The motel staff is there demanding money for another night’s stay. She grabs her money and turns to the man in the door, only to see his face warp unnaturally.

The boys find Lloyd’s Tavern next. On the cross road outside the joint, Dean notices yarrow flowers growing alongside the road. These flowers are used for summoning rituals. They put things together and start digging a hole in the middle of the crossroads. They find a tin with various items in it.

People have been summoning and making deals with a demon. “Y’know cause that always ends good.” EAT YOUR WORDS DEAN. Sam says that these people aren’t seeing black dogs, they’re seeing hell hounds.

Meanwhile, the doctor meets her end with a visit from her own date with the hell hounds.

Rosedale, Mississippi

1930

We witness Robert Johnson make his crossroads deal with a demon.

Sam notes that whatever they’re dealing with is a lot like the Robert Johnson lore. Dean notes that Johnson’s music is full of references to hell hounds, demon deals, and the occult. Dean’s barely-tolerating-this-bullshit eyeroll is truly a wonder. (Objectification Sidenote: Damn, Dean’s pretty in this scene.)

Anyway, they have a picture of another person that made a deal, George Darrow. They head to where he lives. They notice pepper on the doorsill. George answers his door but doesn’t want anything to do with them. They reveal that they know about the supernatural and tell him they want to help. Sam asks about the pepper and George tells them that it’s actually goofer dust. It keeps out demons.

George talks about making his deal and reveals that the demon stayed around Lloyd’s for a week making deals with other people. George mentions the architect and doctor. There’s one other person that also made a deal ten years prior, a man named Evan Hudson. George is resigned to his fate and tells the brothers to leave.

Evan Hudson works in his home office late at night and flinches at hell hound barks. His wife peeks in before she heads off on a trip.

As she’s bidding him farewell, her face warps into a dead zombie howl. WHEE HALLUCINATIONS!

Sam and Dean arrive at Evan’s house. Dean opens with asking about Lloyd’s Bar, and Evan immediately slams the door in his face and retreats into his home. That went well! Dean kicks down the door and I’m FINE WITH THIS and not objectifying him at all.

The Winchesters corner Evan in his office. Yes, he knows hell hounds are coming for his soul. Dean’s bitterly dismissive of Evan’s distress, joking about potentially frivolous reasons for him to bargain his soul away. Evan reveals that his wife was dying of cancer, and he made a deal for her health. While Sam melts into a puppy-eyed puddle, Dean still reacts to this with anger. “You ever think about her in all this?” Dean asks. “I think you did this for yourself. So you wouldn’t have to live without her. Well guess what? She’s gonna have to live without you now.”

Dean’s anger is...counterproductive. So Sam pulls Dean away and they consult in the hall. Dean instructs Sam to spread George’s goofer dust around while he high tails it to the crossroads to summon himself a demon. He’ll exorcise it, and that will buy them a little time. Sam calls this out as a reckless plan and speculates that Dean’s only doing it because he thinks their dad made a deal. “What if he struck a deal?” Dean asks. “My life for his soul?” OH this SWEET EMOTIONAL TORTURE! He heads out to summon the demon.

Dean buries his offering in the crossroad and turns around to find a woman smirking at him. She’s a crossroads demon! They take turns objectifying each other and then Dean invites her to meet in his car for a little privacy. Classic serial killer pickup line.

Dean tells the demon his terms. He wants Evan released from his deal and he’ll barter himself for it. “You’d sacrifice yourself for someone else?” she says with a devilish smile. “Like father, like son.”

DRAMATIC MUSIC BREAK

The demon gleefully taunts Dean about John’s deal. When Dean tries to usher her into his car, she balks at the edges of the devil’s trap she sees peeking out from under Baby. Nice try, Dean Bean!

Meanwhile, Evan does his best dramatic chipmunk (prairie dog) impression.

The hell hounds are now growling from INSIDE THE HOUSE! Sam and Evan watch the doors warily.

While the hounds close in, Dean gets emotionally traumatized by the demon. (Side note, her breath is visible in this scene and she’s wearing a short sleeved, thin dress. I’m cold in sympathy.) She taunts him about his man-pain and terrible guilt about John’s death. She has the power to bring back John. Dean seems...interested.

The hell hound at Evan’s house stops rattling the door and the room goes silent for a moment until...the hound bursts through the ventilation grate! What a smart doggo!

Dean wants to learn more about the potential to bring back his dad and mopes under a wooden structure until the demon joins him there. She tells him she can give him a ten year deal: John’s life for Dean’s, and they get ten years together before Dean heads below. She plays Dean like a fiddle, and we get a callback to Dean’s feelings in Faith - that he’s not supposed to be alive. Dean experiences VERY LARGE EMOTIONS before wandering out of the structure. “You think you could throw in a set of steak knives?” He directs her attention upward, where he’s painted a devil’s trap on the underside of the structure. What a smart Dean Bean! Excellent misdirection.

Dean reels off HIS deal: Evan lives, and the demon goes free. If she doesn’t strike a deal, she gets exorcised. (Which is SO embarrassing amirite?)

Dean starts the exorcism and it starts a fierce wind to howling. The wind gusts into Evan’s house and blows away Sam’s goofer dust circle. Sam and Evan run for safety. The hell hound barks fiercely...until it doesn’t.

Cut to Dean angry-kissing the demon. A kiss seals the deal (apparently all demons like to slip a little tongue). (Insert crack headcanon that this is Crowley in an alternate vessel, when he first gets heart eyes for Dean.)

The demon tells Dean that her word is her bond, but if Dean breaks their deal then the first thing she’ll do when she escapes Hell is tear into Evan like he’s wet paper.

The demon can’t resist one parting shot. Dean should’ve taken the deal. John Winchester’s torture is unimaginably bad. Dean charges for her, the demon smokes out, and Dean’s left with a scared woman in the middle of the crossroads and way too many feelings.

Driving away, Sam and Dean listen to the blues and contemplate John’s deal. Sam tries to focus on the people John saved, but Dean’s stuck in a sadness pit of his own making. Sam asks him if he considered actually making the deal. Dean doesn’t answer, instead just turning the music up.

Oh, Dean.

The Quotes Bark at Midnight:

Dude, I'm like Dillinger or something

I bet they could hump the crap outta your leg

MySpace, what the hell is that?

Somebody goes over Niagara in a barrel, you gonna jump in and try to save 'em?

You're lucky I've got a soft spot for lost puppies and long faces

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 2x08 #crossroad blues #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural season 2

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mercysingstheblues · 4 years

Text

This Christmas || Samcedes

Who: Sam & Mercedes Evans, family and friends. When: 3 Years Later Where: Samcedes’ Household What: A look into the future as Samcedes host a Christmas gathering for their friends and family.

Mercedes: “Red or green?” Mercedes asked her daughter as she held up two different bows from her dresser. The preteen studied carefully as she pretended to be in deep thought. “Green,” she answered with a doubtful smile. “Red,” she came again looking more satisfied with her answer. “How about we do both?” Mercedes settled as she made her way to the bed where both her children sat. “She likes when o do pigtails anyway so might as well stick to what works.” She handed the red bow to Sammie who went to work helping her perfect her little sister’s hair. “Are you excited to see everyone?” She asked making small talk. “Yes! Grandpa said he something really special for me. I think it’s a car.” Mercedes side eyed her daughter with a shake of her head. “You are 12, I can guarantee you it isn’t a car.” She smiled at the pout of her child’s lips as she continued to twist Grace’s hair. “Fine, then I’ll settle for nothing less than Beyonce tickets. Floor seats.” “Negotiate a ticket for your mom and I’ll throw in dinner at your favorite restaurant.” Mercedes added. She was definitely her child. They made quick work and Mercedes asked Sammie if she would take her sister downstairs and she would join shortly. She did her makeup not really caring to look extra spiffy. She was tired and her feet were too swollen for her to worry about looking cute. After being satisfied with her attire she finally made her way down the stairs spotting Sam laughing it up with Quinn. She smiled at the sight in front her knowing Sam had to be doing one of his many impressions by the look on Quinn’s face. “Any chance he’s coming tonight?” A voice met her as she made it to the bottom. “God I hope so. I’m so ready for him to be out. Grace came early three weeks at that. Sammie was five days early but this one doesn’t want to seem to leave.” She hugged Finn who helped her down the last two steps. “Well I’ll be 50 dollars richer if he does. So maybe put in a good word for me?” She laughed at his reply. “I make no promises but I’ll see what I can do.”

Sam: He teased Quinn mercilessly, making her blush as he imitated Mike being caught in the act by the practice nurses just the previous week. “I swear Quinn, I’ve never seen him so embarrassed! You’re gonna be giving me and Cedes some serious competition..” Quinn giggled in spite of herself and shook her head. “ I don’t think so- you’re still the King and Queen of Freak! I can’t believe you guys are on your third kid!” A tiny mew, came from the tiny bundle she held carefully in her arms. “Seems like he’s waking up..Better go feed him..” she chuckled a little self consciously and he grinned, peering down at the newest addition to his best friend’s family. “Jeez he looks so much like Mike...Lizzie looks a little more like you, but Oliver has Mike all over him..” Fixing her with a serious look as his smile faded he asked her softly, “You happy?” Quinn nodded, smiling widely. “I’m so happy Sam...Thank you..” she reached out, laying her hand on his, “ You didn’t take advantage when I threw myself at you that time and I remember what you told me then- that Mike would find a way..and he did..” Sam shook his head slowly, “ No need to thank me, Quinn. Just glad to see you guys happy and finally free of Kitty. Even Missy seems a lot happier and Sammie said she’s one of her best friends now.” Leaning forward, he kissed her on the cheek, saying “You guys deserve this..” Looking up, he bit his lip, hiding a grin as he spied his wife aiming down the stairs. He knew she was feeling pretty uncomfortable- she kept saying she felt like a stuffed butterball, but to him she was breathtakingly gorgeous as ever. He smiled as Finn, helped her down the last few steps, no trace of the former jealousy he’d once felt. She was his, had always been, even when he’d been too dumb to see it, and boy did it feel good. “I’ll leave you to your feeding..if you want some privacy you can use one of the guest rooms upstairs..” he told the blonde before making his way over to his wife and catching her around the waist. “Hey Hudson,” he greeted Finn jovially, before kissing his wife lingeringly on the lips. “Hmmm...I’ve gone too long without a kiss from you, gorgeous..” He bent down and gave her belly a gentle kiss. “How’s my little grinch doing?” he teased her as he straightened, his hand stroking the tight mound of her stomach over the soft material of her dress. “Oh God..think I’m gonna be sick,” Finn complained, grinning at his friend’s antics. “Whatever bro, I saw the tears you were crying on your wedding day..Rachel has you so damned whipped, “ Sam bantered back good naturedly, bursting into laughter as Rachel herself came up, threading her hand through Finn’s arm, and watching how the big guy softened to a big pile of jello as he gazed at his tiny wife.

Mercedes: softened in her husband’s arms. This was one of the big changes they had made in strengthening their marriage and she loved the fact that them touching without any awkwardness was so simple and easy now. So much they had missed out on being shy and far from transparent with one another. Now was like a 180. They communicated more, always talked things through and never left anything off the table. Long gone was any need for jealousy when it came to him and Quinn and seeing them converse and laugh just now only warmed heart cause she herself got to know Quinn on a personal level and they had now become the best of friends. These past three years not only did she rejuvenate her marriage but her friendship with Sam as well. He was her ride or die and she couldn’t have been happier. “Baby, don’t tease him. I think it’s cute. Two of my favorite people found love with one another and I got a Goddaughter out of it. They’re perfect.” She smiled at the couple in front of them. She then turned her attention to her husband fixing her mouth with slight grimace. “He’s still chillaxing like my womb is a utopian wonderland.” She looked down at her extended belly as if she could will her labor through penetrating glares. “Plus, I’m wearing slippers cause none of my fancy shoes fit. Also this baby and I voted and we refuse to be in any Christmas photos.” She folder her arms as of her word was final knowing she would never get away with that one.

Sam: He laughed at the disgruntled expression on her face, sliding a hand into her hair and kissing the pout away from her lips. "You so are going to be in every Christmas photo..you're sexy and gorgeous and you know it.." It was amazing how much he loved her, he'd thought he'd known how much back when they were first married, but he'd soon learned how fathomless everything he felt for her was. He felt the clap on his shoulder that indicated his father was standing behind them and wrapping his arms around his wife he turned to see his parents and in-laws standing in front of them. "Don't you ever get tired of kissin’ up on your wife?" his dad asked, shaking his head. "Nope," he retorted, pressing another kiss to her soft lips. "Not at all..And before you say it," he fixed his mother and his mother-in-law with a look, "we are not doomed..In fact I think you can safely say, we're exactly where we want to be.." Mr Jones threw back his head and laughed. "That told you, sweetheart," he said to his wife, grinning. "I always knew, though, you two were meant for each other. I'd never have let you marry her if I hadn't have known that." Mrs Jones smiled nodding "I think we can say that three children in, you are definitely sticking together. One might have been an accident..but three? That has to have been on purpose.”

Mercedes: “Three kids and 13 years,” Mercedes added. Despite them not being all glorious years of marriage she was still for the time she had with Sam. They stuck together through thick and thin and what probably would be the toughest test to their marriage and they survived. “I’m still questioning how you gave away my hand in marriage to a seven year old dad.” “It was easy, watching the two of you interact when y’all were younger. It was obvious he was hooked. He had that same look in his eyes I had when I met your mother. The look that he had just found his match.” Mr. Jones admitted. “What a lovely match y’all are.” Mr. Evans chimed in. “Yes, thank you for making our son so happy. Thanks for the beautiful grandkids.” His wife added. “I’m just glad we are finally getting a boy. For a moment I thought I chose wrong when we got two girls back to back,” Mr. Jones joked receiving a nudge from his wife. “Dad!” Mercedes fussed. “Oh stop you know I love my baby girls from the moon and back. I only kid.” Mercedes shook her head with a warm smile as she rested her head on Sam’s shoulder surveying the scene in front of her. She was surrounded by family and friends that she loved and adored and felt like at that moment she couldn’t be any happier.

Sam: He gently pulled her away from their parents, his arms around her guiding her to stand by the huge Christmas tree the dominated their entrance hall at the foot of the stairs, festively decorated in gold and red. “It’s great to see everyone happy and whole..I thought for a time Mike and Quinn would never get their shit straight..Kitty certainly made it difficult for them..but now that she’s marrying that Ben Israel geek, she could wait to give them full custody of Missy and go after his millions. Always said she was deadlier than a rattlesnake that one. I’m stoked to finally see that back of her.” He turned her slightly towards him, eyes twinkling devilishly, a smirk twisting his lips. “You wanna know how to induce labour?” He whispered conspiratorially, lips brushing her ear as he leaned in towards her, then dropping his head down to nuzzle her collarbone. “Wild, rampant, hot sex..so what do you say? Everyone’s busy eating..talking..whatever..they’ll never miss us...Just you, me, upstairs in that big old bed..” he grinned enticingly, tugging her towards the stairs, threading his fingers through hers. “If it works, then amazeballs..but if not...try, try and try again..not to mention, it’s good practice for the next one..” Clearly, he reflected, much later on, in the early hours of Christmas Day, watching his wife hold their newborn baby boy, that old wives tale had worked a trick very nicely...He picked up her hand as she held the baby in the crook of her arms and kissed it gently, with all the love that he felt for her now and always. “Thank you, Cedes...not just for this...but for all of the Christmases that have gone before..”

#sam evans #samcedes 1x1 #samcedes rp #mercedes jones #samcedes

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ladyofmercy · 4 years

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Once I was 7 Years Old || Samcedes

Who: 7 year old Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans

What: Mercedes moves into her new home and meets her new neighbor Sam.

Where: Mercedes Jones home in Baltimore, MD

Notes: None

@thelegendevans

Mercedes Jones stared at her new room. When her parents told her that they would be moving and she would be starting a new school, she was excited but also nervous. She didn’t know anyone and First Grade was scary enough without having to be the only new kid in class. Moving towards her huge bay window, she glanced out, looking across into the house next door and seeing someone staring back at her. Shutting the curtain’s quickly she panicked, only to open then again seeing a little blonde boy staring at her.

Sam was playing with his Power Rangers set, happy that it didn't get damaged during the move. Even though they moved here a few weeks ago, there were boxes everywhere. His mom was pregnant with his little brother and sister so she couldn't move around much or get to the boxes. His dad started his new job right away so he didn't have time to unpack either. The Power Rangers were easy to get because they were in his little book bag. And although he loved them, he wished his other toys were unpacked. As he was playing he noticed movement in the house next to his. He saw a little kid that looked like his age. His eyes lit up as he went to ask his mom if he could play outside. At her nod, he ran outside and went to the window where the girl was and knocked. He hoped she like Power Rangers.

Mercedes shut the curtain when he ran out of the room and shook her head. He was hyper. She went to her bed. Her lavender room was complemented with her white lace canopy bed. She grabbed her barbie, still waiting for her dad to bring up her barbie dream house when she heard a knock on her window. Walking to it she smiled seeing the boy. "Hi." She said, chubby cheeks cheesing and showing her missing front teeth.

Sam’s smile widened when the girl came to the window. “Hi!, I’m Sam. Sam, I am, and I don’t like green eggs and ham!” Sam hoped she found him funny. He worked on that opening all week with his mother. She assured him that it would help him make friends faster. “Do you want to be my friend? We can play with my Power Rangers set. I have all of them. The green ranger is my favorite.” Sam smiled and tried to remember to let her talk, but he was too excited.

Mercedes eyed him as he talked. He talked fast. But his joke made her laugh. "Dr. Sueuss. I love to read." She held up her black barbie. "This is my favorite toy her name is Michelle and she is a doctor. Maybe she can heal the green power ranger if he is sick."

Sam frowned. “The green ranger doesn’t get sick. He’s super strong.” He emphasized by pointing to the green power ranger’s muscle. “Anyway, do you want to play with me?”

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “Everyone gets sick!” She said smartly. “Poppa said so and he knows everything.” She opened her window wider. “You wanna swing? My uncle just helped put up the swing in the back.”

Sam didn’t care what her father said, Power Rangers didn’t get sick. “Yea, we can swing, I’ll push you first, and then you push me. Do you have a tire swing? That’s my favorite.” Sam waited for her to climb out the window before following her to the swing set. He couldn’t wait for his parents to set up his swing set.

Mercedes ran to her door. “I’m going out back!!” She yelled as she ran back to the window and outside. Going to the swing set she beamed brightly. “We have the seesaw swing and other swings and we have a slide. I can’t wait for them to put my treehouse cause its gonna be my secret club.” She sat on the swing so Sam could push her first.

Sam’s eyes lit up when he saw her swing set. His swing set wasn’t like hers, at least he didn’t think so. He ran behind her swing and began to push her. “Hold on tight. My mom said I’m getting super strong, but I’ll try not to push you too high.”

Mercedes laughed as he began to push her. “Higher!!! I wanna fly.” She squealed as Sam continued to push her. She really loved the swing it made her feel so high.

Sam used all his strength in his push to get her as high as she can. “It would be awesome if you could fly,” Sam said with a big grin. “If I could have a superpower, it would be flying. Then I can go anywhere I want. He pushes the swing again before asking, “What would your superpower be?”

Mercedes laughed. “Flying too!!! Really really high so I can spit on my brothers for being mean to me.” She laughed. After a few more moments she was ready to get down and give Sam his turn. “Okay, your turn!” She said moving her feet out so she could slow down.

Sam laughed at her when she said she wanted to spit on her brothers. If he had older brothers that were mean to him, he would do the same thing. But soon he would be the older, brother, and he hoped his new brother and sister wouldn’t think he was mean. Not hearing Mercedes, he went on to push her again, hard, while still talking, oblivious to what was going on. “I hope my brother and sister don’t think I’m mean when they get older.”

Mercedes moved to hop off the swing when Sam pushed her hard. She flew off the swing landing in the dirt on her arm and she screamed out in pain.

Sam’s eyes widen when he heard Mercedes scream. He didn’t mean to push her that hard. But before he could go to her, adults were rushing out of the house. Sam couldn’t stop the tears stinging his eyes.

Amelia Jones heard that scream and knew nothing good was happening. She ran outside, to see Mercedes on the ground in tears and a little boy standing over her with a worried look on his face. “Oh Mercy, honey what happened?” Mercedes sniffled as her mom helped her up. “He pushed me hard and.. and I fell off the swing.” she cried. “My arm hurts.”

Mary Evans heard a scream and rushed out with one hand protectively on her swollen 8-month belly. She was worried that Sam had gotten hurt. Buy the time she reached the back yard, she saw Sam looking so worried with tears in his eyes, and a little girl crying in her mother’s arms. Mary wobbled to the scene and immediately wrapped her arms around her son, before addressing the little girl and her mother. “Is she okay?” Sam interrupts his mother. “Mom, I didn’t mean to make her fall. I’m sorry.” Mary kisses Sam on the head, before turning to the girl and her mother. “Is there anything we can do?”

Amelia smiled looking over to Sam and his mother. “It was an accident, pretty sure she just sprained her wrist, it’s okay.” She said directing the last part to Sam. She stood smiling at Mary. “What a way to meet huh? I am Amelia Jones, and this is my daughter, Mercedes. We just moved here with my husband and two older boys.” She said dusting Mercedes off and wiping her tears.

“Well, nice to meet you, I’m Mary Evans, and this is my son Sam Evans.” She said smiling down at her now tear-free son. “We moved here three weeks ago. And it’s good to see that Sam has made a new friend so fast.” Mary looks at Mercedes and smiles at her. “And you seem like a brave big girl Mercedes.” She turns to Sam. “And what do you say to Mercedes Sam?” Sam lowers his head and speaks low. “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

Mercedes continued to sniffle as Sam spoke. “It’s okay.” She said softly moving closer to her mom as she held her wrist. Amelia looked at Mary’s stomach. “Well, it looks like you guys will be welcoming another baby soon. Are you excited, Sam?”

Sam nods but doesn’t say anything else. “Yea, we’re expecting two more babies. A boy and a girl.” Mary looks back at Sam and decides to take him for lunch. “Well, we will let you go to take care of Mercedes. It’s lunchtime for Sam. But if you ever need anything, you can just ring the bell. May take me a while to get to the door though.” Mary joked.

Amelia laughed. “Yes go right ahead we are going to get our arm checked, right Mercy.” Mercedes nodded tearfully. Her arm really hurt. Amelia smiled back up. “You guys have a nice night, we really should do dinner though.” Amelia pulled Mercedes closer and waved as they walked into the house. Looking back at Sam, Mercedes sniffled following her mom.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mercedes was awoken by her mom, she was given the children Tylenol for her sprained wrist and it had been wrapped and in a brace since the accident a few days ago. She hadn’t felt much like playing so she just stayed in her room. Though her dad felt bad for her and put a TV there. She sat up as her mom left, promising that if Mercedes left her room, she could have a cookie with her lunch. It was a last-ditch effort to try and lift Mercedes spirits but nothing did she was just sad.

Mary was in the kitchen making breakfast for her and Sam since Dwight had to head in early. She called Sam down and smiled sadly at him. “Why the long face? Are you still upset about Mercedes?” It’s been a few days, and Sam hasn’t smiled since the incident. “I just feel so bad that I hurt my new friend.” Sam sat at the bar stool in the kitchen head in his hands. “Sam, it was an accident.” Mary knew that her words weren’t getting through to her son. “How about if you do something special for Mercedes. For the first time, since the accident, Sam smiled and his eyes lit up. “Mom, do we have construction paper and my art supplies? I want to make Mercedes a card.” Mary helped Sam find his art supplies and watched as he began drawing. Mary decided to make a cake to go with the card as well as a welcome to the neighborhood gesture. After an hour, Sam was ready to head over to the Jones house. “Mom!! Hurry up!” Mary put the cake in her cake dish, and she and Sam headed to the Jones house. She rung the bell, while Sam was hopping up and down in excitement.

Amelia sighed as Mercedes sat on the sofa quietly, she didn’t know what else she could do to cheer her daughter up. Nothing seemed to work. Not even Beauty and the Beast and that always cheered her up. She had finally gotten Mercedes out her room with the promise of once she felt better they would go to the water park, but Mercedes still wasn’t in a good mood. Thankfully her brothers were away at camp for the week or she knew things would be worse. Hearing the doorbell she kissed Mercedes’s forehead and walked too it. Seeing Sam and Mary she opened the door and smiled brightly. “Well hey guys, what brings you over here?”

Mary smiled when Amelia opened the door. "Well Sam feels terrible that he hurt Mercedes, so he made her a get well soon card." Mary smiled encouraging her son. He shows Amelia the card. "Can you give this to Mercedes Mrs. Jones? And tell her it's from Sam? We also made a cake." Mary lifted the cover off the container. It’s Chocolate fudge cake. I hope she isn't allergic or anything."

Amelia smiled. “I think Mercedes would really love that card. How about you take it to her, and I help your mom to the kitchen and get her off her feet.” She moved so they could come in. “Mercedes is in the living room go right in Sam. And you momma come with me, I have some tea with your name on it.” She said taking the cake from Mary.

Sam smiled at Amelia and left his mother to go give Mercedes the card he made for her. He hoped that she liked it. Sam entered the living room nervously. When he saw Mercedes, he took a deep breath before speaking. "Um--- hi Mercedes. I made you a card. In sorry for hurting you and I hope you feel better soon, so we can play again."

Mercedes sat there staring at the teapot singing when she heard Sam. Looking over to him sat up taking the card with her uninjured hand. “You draw really good Sam.” She said after a while. “Thank you.” She held up her arm. “It doesn’t hurt as much. But I can’t play yet.” She said sadly.

Sam nodded seeing the brace on her arm. "Don't be sad, we can do other things besides playing." He saw Beauty and the Beast on the TV. "Maybe I can watch TV with you? And my mom made a chocolate cake. We can have a slice with some milk. I can get everything if you want." He was determined to show her that they can still have fun.

Mercedes nodded. “You can watch with me! It was just getting to the best part.” She said moving for him to sit with her. “I like chocolate cake almost as much as I like yellow cake!” She said smiling for the first time.”

Sam smile big, glad that she was smiling back at him. "Okay let me get everything!" Sam ran to the kitchen and up to his mother and Mrs. Jones. Mercedes and I are going to watch a movie, but we want cake and milk. Do you have a tray that I can put everything on and carry into the living room?" Mary smiled at how excited Sam was. “I'm sorry Amelia. When Sam has his mindset on something, he gets overly excited."

Amelia smiled down at Sam. “I do have a tray that I think will be perfect.” She said standing and grabbing two plates. Handing them to Mary to cut the kids slices, she grabbed two cups of Milk and placed them on a tray with two carrying handles. “Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

Sam nodded enthusiastically. "I'm really strong. I won't drop it. I promise." Mary chuckled while cutting two nice size slices of cake and put them on the plates with two plastic forks. "Sam please be careful." Sam rolled his eyes. "I will mom. I promise." Mary placed the tray in Sam's hands, steadying them before letting go. Sam made sure to walk extra slow so nothing spilled. Once in the living room, he placed the tray on the coffee table. "Ready to eat?" He asked Mercedes excitedly.

Amelia smiled brightly watching Sam walk away. “How cute would it be if those two got married one day?”

Mary smiled at the thought. Sam never took to anyone the way he took to Mercedes. "Only time will tell."

Mercedes looked up and smiled. “I paused for you. Do you want me to start it over?” She pulled her blanket closer. “This is my Mulan Blanket, I really like that movie too.” She said softly.

Sam nodded and sat next to Mercedes under her Mulan blanket. "My favorite movie is Aladdin. I love the genie. But Beauty and the Beast is my second favorite movie, also Lion King. I hope the cake makes you feel better."

“I like Aladdin too! I have that and Mulan, Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. OOoooo and Lion King. But my brother destroyed Snow White. I'm glad they’re gone right now.” She took a bite of the cake. “This is so good your mom is a good baker.” She scooted over to Sam and smiled as she started Beauty and the Beast again finally feeling better about everything.

#samcedes #para #dash #samcedes 1x1 #samcedes au rp

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niennanir · 5 years

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Why I Enjoyed Endgame and Why I Don’t Think That’s Important

This is not a movie review, not the way you’re thinking. This, broadly speaking, is a discussion of story-telling in the 21st century and modern fandom. The movie has been out a week and you would probably need to be dead in a ditch on a remote unpaved road in the wilderness to not be aware that some bad things happen to some characters and that a lot of people are upset about it. This is meant to be comfort, not critique. If you didn’t enjoy Endgame, believe me I understand why and I support you in that. But maybe I can offer you something that will ease that lump in your chest a little. There will be spoilers under the cut.

I’m going to start off by saying that I have been less than pleased with some of the Marvel script writing lately. I thought Homecoming and Civil War in particular were badly done and Ragnarök and Ultron could have been better. I was also a bit frustrated with Infinity War. I can dissect why I feel the writing fell apart a bit here but it seems pointless as anything more than a cautionary tale. I can still watch three of those five without feeling the urge to throw things at the TV so they’re not a total loss at least.

I think that when we look at a film like Endgame and at the MCU as a whole we tend to be so absorbed in the realness of the characters that we forget that Chris Evans is not 102, that RDJ is not ten years younger than his actual age and that Scarlett Johansson hasn’t been augmented by the Red Room. These are very talented people, but they are real people. They have real, for certain values of it, everyday lives. They have careers, careers they specifically went into so that they could spend their time being different people. And they have spent the last ten years playing the same character over and over. Do I think they enjoyed it? Absolutely! Do I think some or all of them are getting tired of it? Hell yes. Because I went to college on an acting scholarship and let me tell you; my roles on the college stage ran about 6 weeks and I was so damn glad to be done with that by the end of a run and on to the next thing I cannot begin to tell you.

The point is, Fandom is Forever but acting gigs aren’t. Working action films is physically demanding. CGI can make you look young but it can’t fix your bum knee. At some point every actor is going to go “I don’t want to jump off any more tall things” This is reasonable. As fellow humans, most of us anyway, we were subconsciously preparing ourselves for the day when RDJ wasn’t going to be Iron Man any more. The question we should be asking ourselves isn’t “Did the writers do a disservice to the fans by killing off these characters?” It’s “Did the writers do a disservice to the fans in the way they killed off these characters?” I believe they did okay overall, and I’m going to explain why.

The primary reason I am okay with how Endgame played out is that the writers effectively broke up the band. At the end of the movie, Thor and Steve have moved on, Clint has moved home, and well, Flowers. I think we can all agree that Tony Stark’s life philosophy was: You will pry the Avengers and The Suit from my cold dead hands. He was never going to be able to rest enough to retire. He bought a cabin in the woods and made babies and still could not let that shit go. Iron Man was only ever going to go out in a blaze of glory. We all knew this even if we weren’t admitting it to ourselves. Likewise I think most of us just wanted Steve to catch a break for once in his damn life. I am freaking relieved that he finally learned how to dance. I think the only reason he could walk away from the Avengers at all was knowing that his original team had served their time and his chapter was over, it was time to hand things off to the next heroes. I don’t feel like being effectively trapped on earth was good for Thor so I’m glad to see him heading back out into the galaxy and getting his crap together. I wasn’t pleased about the fat jokes, but you know what? Thor was a self destructive, emotional basket case and he was Still Worthy. He didn’t have to be buff and psychologically stable to be a hero. I feel like after everything that’s happened to Clint and his family that he needs to be there for them and I think that after everything that’s happened to Nat she needed that moment to make the sacrifice play for the greater good. Is there a part of me that’s bitter that they killed off the first female Avenger? Oh for certain. But Natasha was just as attached to that team as Tony was, probably more, she wasn’t going to let it go, and more importantly as someone who grew up without a family she wasn’t going to let Clint’s kids lose him. She chose, the same way Tony did, the same way Steve did when he crashed into the ice. The same way Bucky did when he fell. If we honor that sacrifice when the boys make it we should honor hers too. Like Peggy said, she must have thought it was worth it.

I always maintain that there are legitimate reasons to kill off a character, one is in service to the plot. Another is to release an actor. And this second one is the biggest reason I’m happy with Endgame, because I have been bracing myself for a reboot that I’ve been sure was coming for a long time. I knew that eventually every one of the original five would be ready to hang up their hero capes and move on. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to have to look at someone who wasn’t RDJ calling themselves Tony Stark. I didn’t want to see a Clint Barton other than Jeremy. I didn’t want that but I was bracing myself for it. Because the franchise is very successful and no one with good sense is going to stop making Marvel movies. But with Endgame, I might not have to deal with that so soon, if ever. The writers have set us up very nicely to one day see Cassie Lang in the Pym suit. Sam could pass the shield to Steve and Peggy’s grandson. T’Chall’s son could one day be the Black Panther. Morgan Stark could be Iron Woman. These are all things that could happen, and when you view the future through that lense a lot of the sloppy science and weird plot choices suddenly seem slightly more reasonable. At least reasonable enough to feel less like you need a drink. What happened in Endgame was always going to happen, because this is film and its shelf life is short. What you need to decide for yourself is if it happened well, if you’re okay with how it happened.

Maybe that makes you feel a little better, or maybe not. That’s okay. You can hate Endgame because it took something from you, it did. You can love it because of what it didn’t take, for what it gives. Both are okay. I personally feel like the plot for Endgame itself could have been better if the writers had done a better job on those previous films I mentioned earlier but overall I’m good with it.

Here’s the thing: You can pull up your browser, point it to AO3 and read a universe where all the Avengers still live in the tower and have movie night and if that’s your favorite Marvel Universe then good for you. You do not need that on the big screen to be validated. The MCU was never going to give you that because that’s a severe lack of explosions for a major motion picture adventure. That does not devalue it in the slightest. Find your happy place and set up camp and then remember that because of Endgame there are more faces and heroes you could meet in that universe too. Because that’s what we do in Fandom, we hold on to the best parts and we fix the messes and we fill in the gaps. And If I don’t have to worry about a reboot in the near future mucking up my nice alternate universe, so much the better.

#Avengers #avengers endgame #marvel #MCU #endgame spoilers #endgame #marvel endgame

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qb-sam-evans-blog · 5 years

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Forward in Time|| Samcedes

Who: Sam Evans and Mercedes Jones @mercedesaevans

Where: Sam and Mercedes duplex, and their new house

When: June 1,2019

What: Sam wakes up and finds himself in five years in the future.

Sam

After a wild night the night before, Sam was expecting to sleep well past noon. What he didn't expect was to be pounced on early in the morning, when he lived by himself. He jumped up and was shocked to see a little boy with tan skin and black curls. Before he could ask where the boy's parents were or what he was doing here, the little boy spoke. "Daddy! Wake up!" Now Sam knew he must have had the biggest hangover in history, because this little boy just called him daddy, and he knew he was no one's daddy. Sam rubbed the sleep out of his eye and tried to blink himself awake, but the boy was still there. And when he glanced around at his surroundings, he didn't recognize the room he was in. Sam had to be dreaming but he didn't know how to wake up from it.

Mercy

Mercedes had gotten up early to make Sam breakfast, he was in shock last night when she told him about the twins, but it was a good shock. She had just placed the plate onto the tray when she noticed that Cameron was nowhere to be found. She knew exactly where he was, where he always was. Putting the orange juice on the tray, she walks up the stairs of their duplex and shook her head as she opened the door. "Cameron Logan Evans I told you about jumping on your father." She said with a smile on her face. "But its morning." She smirked at him. "Ning baby not ting, But still I told you to wait for mommy. " Going over to the bed she placed the tray of French Toast, Bacon, Eggs and Orange Juice in front of Sam. Leaning over she kissed Sam before pulling back and smoothing down the pink baby doll dress she wore and the matching robe that wasn't tied. "Morning babe."

Sam

Sam knew he must have entered the twilight zone when a woman, who looked like Mercedes Jones came into the room with a tray of food and kissed him. But her confirming that this little boy Cameron was his son made him jump off the bed, carefully so he didn't drop the food. "What's going on here? Where am I, and why did you call me his father?" Sam looked bewildered. If this was a dream, waking up now would be paramount. "Why can't I wake up? Did I entered some alternate reality or something?" Sam needed answers, but he didn't know if he would get them anytime soon.

Mercy

It wasn't until she stopped talking did she finally see Sam's face. "Sam?" She said as he hopped off the bed and Cameron moved over to her arms. "What are you talking about?" She kissed Cameron's forehead as he grabbed a piece of bacon and placed him on the pillow as she stood up. "Sam you are awake. What's going on with you this morning? Are you freaking out because of last night? I know it a lot to take in but I mean we always talked about more kids, you said you were happy about it."

Sam

More kids? At that moment, he took a good look at Cameron and saw the resemblance. But this couldn't be true. He didn't have any kids, and last he checked, he wasn't married. But the shiny ring or his left ring finger told him a different story. "We're married? And expecting more kids?" Sam thought someone must have slipped something in his drink the night before. ""I don't get it. Every time I asked you out you turned me down, and now we're married with a son and expecting another child? How does that happen in less than 24 hours?"

Mercy

Her eyes follow his to Cameron and it was like he was seeing the little boy for the first time. She placed her hair behind her ears walking closer to him. "Sam, what's wrong baby? You are starting to scare me." He asked his question and she smiled shaking her head. "How many times did you get sacked this season Sam? And hit your head? Yeah a few years ago I wasn't interested, but you convinced me to take a chance on you." this was starting to scare her because the longer she waited for him to say "gotcha" the more fearful she became.

Sam

"Years?" This couldn't be right, but he saw the fearfulness in Mercedes eyes and didn't want to alarm her though he was pretty alarmed himself. He figured maybe he should play along and get some information out of her and then he would wake up from this dream. "Oh, it seemed like it was just yesterday that we were at a bar and I asked you to take a chance on me and go on one little date, and you turned me down because of my reputation. I bet you can't remember how many years went by since." Sam hoped that he was being subtle and she would fill in the blanks for him.

Mercy

Mercedes gave a little sigh of relief as he spoke. She looked back at Cam and then to Sam as she sat on the bed in front of him. "Oh trust me I remember. Five years and some odd number of days ago I, after some clever maneuvering by you, agreed to go on one date with you. I say one because I was very clear about that. And yet, you surprised me. Enough to get two and three and eventually get me to say yes to marriage. It's like I told you on our Anniversary, which thanks to your ability to charm me right out of my clothes probably led to these two little buns in my oven, it was the best decision of my life."

Sam

Five years of his life that he has no recollection of. But the look of pure love in Mercedes eyes as she talked about their history of him asking her out and she turned him down made him want to believe that this was his life. The fact that he didn't remember their first date, or the day they got married, or her giving birth to their son, made him feel horrible. So horrible that he didn't notice his eyes filling up with tears until one lone tear fell out. He quickly wiped it away. "So we are expecting twins?" God, why couldn't he remember? "Mercedes I just think I had a bit too much to drink last night, so a lot of things are a little fuzzy. I don't mean to alarm you or Cameron."

Mercy

She could see the look of surprise on his face. Like he was hearing all of this for the first time. When she watched him wipe away a tear that is when the real fear kicked in, Sam didn't just cry he wasn't that type of guy. And that's when she heard it, he called her Mercedes. It had been years since he used her full name. And he hardly ever called Cam, Cameron. "You didn't drink last night." She said slowly rising from the bed. "You haven't really drunk since you and B went on that bender a few months back to celebrate him being nominated for a Tony..." Her voice trailed off was this a body snatcher situation? Damn him for making her watch that movie with him!

Sam

"That also surprised him. He didn't drink? Since when? He was sure he was at a bar last night. "Blaine was nominated for a Tony?" He saw the panicked look in her eyes and hated that he was causing so much confusion. "You know, I'm probably reeling from a dream I had last night. Let's just eat breakfast before it gets too cold. Seems like Cameron has the right idea." He said looking at his son munching on a piece of toast. Sam reached over and ruffled his hair, the movement looking awkward because Sam didn't know how to act around him. "So Mercedes, you cooked this? It looks really good." He sat back down on the bed trying to act natural and begin to eat some of the food. "What's on the agenda today?" Sam didn't know what he normally did as a husband and father, but he would try to let his dream play out.

Mercy

This was getting weird, and the more he tried to pretend that it wasn't made things more awkward. She watched him with Cameron and if nothing else told her that he wasn't her husband, that did. He was the most attentive and active father to Cam, and that awkward little hair ruffle was not Sam. "Sam, what's going? Are you trying to get back at me by pretending that you have no idea what is going on because you are really scaring me? " And she was scared. This was her fear that one day he would wake up realizing that being a husband and a father was too much. Before she could say anything else, she heard the door open and someone yells "Hello" turning to the doorway she smiled seeing Stacey walk into the room. "Where's Auntie's favorite boy?" Cameron jumped up excitedly. "Here! Stacey!" Mercedes glanced at the younger girl and back at Sam before she turned her attention to Stacey. "Hey, Stace." "Hey Merce, Whoa Sammy, put a shirt on! Nobody wants to see your dad bod." she teased looking at Merce. "Or like he says ‘Rad’ bod."

Sam

"Get back at you? No Mercedes. It's just that I had a really freaky dream and I'm probably just reeling from that." Sam didn't feel good about lying to her at all, but he didn't know how to explain it. before he could finish his thought, he heard the very familiar sound of his sister coming through the door and walking into their bedroom. She looked exactly the same and he was relieved to see her. He watched her interact with Mercedes and Cameron and thought she seemed really natural with them. As if she does this on the regular. He glanced down at his body, and then playfully rolled his eyes at her. "Well, this is my room that you just walked in. If you want me to cover up, all you have to do is knock." For some reason interacting with Stacy was easy. It reminded him of when they were younger teasing each other while their parents looked on fondly. "Anyway, Stace, does anything look out of the ordinary to you?"

Mercy

He was lying, she could always tell, and it wasn't even good lying at that. As he and Stacey interacted she knew it had to be her. She had to be the cause of Sam acting this way. Stacey held onto Cameron and stuck her tongue out at Sam. At his question, she looked at the room and with a serious note in her voice she nodded. "Wait... yeah Sam something is seriously out of the ordinary." She nodded towards the tray. "That plate still has food on it. God knows the only cooking you love more than Mercedes, is mom's." Mercedes looked at Stacey and smiled. "Yes, and I have come to be okay with that. Your mom can throw down."

Sam

Sam chuckled at his sister's joke and sat back down to eat what was left on his plate though it wasn't as hot. And Stacey was right, the breakfast was heavenly. "This does taste delicious Mercedes." It felt weird being so formal with her when Stacey was so casual. He couldn't believe this was his life now. He pinched himself a few times, to see if he would wake up, but all that did was leave a few bruises. "Anyway, Stace, why are you here so early? Not that I’m complaining, but you've never been a morning person."

Mercy

As Sam sat down to eat, Stacey looked at Mercedes. "Is he okay? He keeps calling you Mercedes." Stacey whispered. Mercedes sighed shaking her head. "TBD Stace." Mercedes leaned in to kiss Cameron's forehead while he was still in Stacey's arms. Hearing Sam's question Stacey smiled. "I am picking up Cammy Cam for Mom, she and dad are watching him for you guys remember?" Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "Speaking of, let me go grab his stuff. Cam come with me so we can grab the rest of your things. We will return." She said leaving Sam and Stacey alone.

Sam

"Watching him for us? Where are we going?" Sam was still confused about everything and when Cameron and Mercedes left the room, he turned to Stacy hoping that maybe she knew what was going on. "So something weird is going on? This isn't my life. This is either a very elaborate dream, that I can't wake up from, or I'm living someone else's life." Sam knows he probably makes no sense, but it baffles him. "I remember nothing from the last five years. The last thing I remember was that I was a bachelor, with no child. I have no idea how I ended up here." He looked at Stace, with pleading eyes. "You have to help me figure this thing out."

Mercy

Stacey raised an eyebrow. "You asked mom and dad to watch him so you could surprise Mercedes..." She looked at him seeing the confused look on his face. "With the new house... Sam come on how are you not remembering something you were excited about?" Sam began to speak and she sat down on the bed staring at him. "Sam? What are you talking about? How hung over are you? Are you- are you changing your mind about all this? I mean I am not shocked we all thought you would die a bachelor but when you married Mercedes I thought you changed."

Sam

"A house? This is what I'm trying to tell you, I don't remember the last five years. And why are you asking me if I changed my mind? Why would I wait five years and a son later to change my mind? And why am I buying a house? This one seems pretty great and spacious?" Sam let out a frustrated sigh. "Just forget it. You can't help me, and it seems that you only have a one-track mind. I'll figure it out myself."

Mercy

Stacey frowned. "You and Mercedes wanted a house with a backyard...you are serious, you don't remember anything do you? Not the marriage, Cam's birth...that's why you keep calling Merce, Mercedes." She took his hand. "You need to tell Mercedes."

Sam

"I can't tell her. Just because my whole world is turned upside down, I'm not going to do the same thing to her and Cameron." Sam shook his head wishing that this was a dream so he didn't disappoint anyone. "Anyway, do you know where this house is because I'm at a complete loss."

Mercy

Stacey frowned. "Sam, she is your wife, she is gonna know something is wrong. And Cam, he's a great little boy. You do know who he is named after right?" She took his hand. "Tell her, she may react to it in some way but she will help you." Stacey shook her head. "All I know is its a house on Cedar... big back yard, all that good stuff. Sorry, I can't be more help. Mom might." Mercedes walked back in the room carrying Cameron. "We are all ready to go! I have his change of clothes and Captain America Pillow that he can't be without. Not that he needs it."(edited)

Sam

Sam shook his head. "I'm not telling her Stace. I'll figure out where this house is, and take her to go see it, but I'm not going to ruin her day by telling her that I don't remember her or Cameron. Maybe you can give me some inside information on how I react towards her and Cameron. Like maybe little things that I do that is specifically Sam."

Mercy

Stacey sighed, she didn't want to fool Mercedes but if Sam wasn't going to say anything, she knew she couldn't. "Stop calling her Mercedes, you don't do that. You were scared shitless when you learned about Cam but when you saw the sonogram for the first time you just knew everything was going to be alright." She heard Mercedes walking towards them and stood. "You love your family, when you got married you said that the first time you saw her, you just knew. " Stacey gave Sam a reassuring smile when Mercedes and Cameron were fully in the room. Mercedes placed Cameron on the bed. "Give daddy a big kiss so you can go with Aunt Stacey." Cameron nodded jumping at the chance to pounce on his dad.

Sam

Calling her anything but Mercedes would feel weird, but he would try. "What do I normally call her? Mercy, Merce, Cedes? Maybe I'll just stick to baby or love." Hearing about seeing his son's first sonogram hurt him because he didn't remember. He would have to learn how to be a dad all over again and hopefully in time for when the twins will be born. "Thanks, Stace, I will do my best to do right by her." Sam knew that when he first saw Mercedes, he wanted to propose on the spot. He remembered that feeling of butterflies and goosebumps. He just had to channel that. It seemed like he did alright, marrying the one person he saw himself settling down with. When Mercedes came back in, Sam smiled softly at her, but that was short-lived as Cameron jumped on him again. "Woah, buddy. Are you always that energetic?" He said teasing the little boy. Sam gave him a hug and kissed his forehead. "Daddy loves you. You be good to your Aunt Stacy okay?" Sam walked over to Mercedes, wrapped one arm around her waist, and pulled her to his side, before giving her a kiss quick kiss on the lips. "I'm going to head to the shower." He gave Stacy a kiss on the cheek before heading to the master bathroom.

Mercy

Cameron jumped and laughed kissing Sam then running into Mercedes' arms. Kissing the boy softly, she handed him to Stacey and was surprised by Dam coming and wrapping an arm around her waist. After he kissed her and said goodbye to Stacey, Mercedes looked at the younger girl and raised an eyebrow. "Is he okay Stace? I would never ask you to break that sibling bond so just tell me." Stacey sighed. "He's okay," she said hoping this was just a temporary thing. She would have her dad call him though. Walking Stacey and Cameron to the door, Mercedes kissed the boy once more and hugged them both before shutting the door. Hearing the shower running she made her way to the bathroom and opened the door, walking in. Without another word, she undressed and walked into their spacious shower wrapping her arms around Sam's waist. "Time to "conserve water," as you say." she teased.

Sam

Kissing Cam, and Mercedes felt so natural to him, and that confused Sam even more. Why did it feel natural when he didn't remember anything for the last five years. He probably should consider himself lucky that he married Mercedes, because he remembers when he first saw her, he fell for her almost immediately. He remembered wanting to get to know her and to take her. He remembered telling his friends that he would marry her one day. And though he really believed those words, he is shocked that this is his life. He hates that he can't remember what she looked like coming down the aisle, or how their first date was. Not remembering Cameron's birth also hurt him. Those are memories that he won't be able to retrieve. And Sam still wants to know why things turned out this way. He was Sam was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't realize that he wasn't alone in the bathroom anymore. It wasn't until Mercedes stepped in and wrap her arms around him. He jumped, startled, before grabbing his towel wrapping it around his waist, not caring that the towel was getting soaked. "Mercedes! Uh, this is sweet, but I kinda wanted to be alone in the shower to work through some things." He hoped she understood. He just didn't think he could have sex with her without her knowing something was up. It felt wrong to him. This wasn't his life. He wasn't her Sam.

Mercy

If Mercedes didn't know something was wrong, she knew now. Sam's appetite was insatiable and he turned her down, turned her down in such a way that it scared her. "Oh umm yeah, of course, I understand." She said grabbing g her own towel and opening the shower door. Was it her? Did he not want her? Old insecurities popped in her mind and she tried to shake it off. One bad morning couldn’t ruin 5 years of Marriage. "I'll just leave you to your thoughts." She said trying to hide the hurt.

Sam

Sam instantly felt bad. He wanted to apologize her to her, but he didn't. He didn't want it to turn into makeup sex. He felt that if he had sex with her, then the real Sam will probably find out and it would just cause problems. So instead he finished his shower, and brushed his teeth, before making his way to the bathroom. Once in the room, he looked around to see where his clothes could be, and figured that it would be in the closet. When he opened the closet, he grabbed one of the many Henly shirts, and a pair of jeans before going through some drawers to find his boxers. He walked into the room to get dress but kept his towel on until the last possible moment. He didn't need to flash Mercedes after what happened in the bathroom.

Mercy

She had showered in Cameron's bathroom and quickly gotten dressed into a pair of hi hugging Jean's and lavender of the shoulder short with a black tank top under it. Throwing her hair into. Messy bun she grabbed the tray and went to the kitchen, cleaning breakfast up and realizing she hadn't eaten, her appetite gone now, she just wanted her husband to tell her what was wrong. Shooting Bas a quick text, maybe even though he and B were in Paris, B could call and talk to Sam.

Sam

Once Sam was ready and dressed, he realized that he had no idea where this house was that he brought for them. He couldn't ask Mercedes, because she wouldn't know since it was a surprise. And Stacey already said she didn't know. So he looked through his phone at emails and text messages until he found the paperwork that was emailed to him. He put the address in his maps apps on his phone, and head to the kitchen where Mercedes was. "So, are you ready? I don't know how long my parents have the kid, so we should get going."

Mercy

Mercedes was deep I thought when Sam came in. She shook her head. "Overnight, though I am gonna call them and let them know it's not necessary." She walked past Sam. "Not really in the going out mood, sure you can relate. So I'm just gonna go lay down or something." Something was wrong with her husband, maybe this was the beginning g of the end.

Sam

"What? Why? You were excited to go out earlier and now all of a sudden you're not?" Sam didn't know what he normally did to put a smile on her face or to make her feel good. This was like learning everything all over again. Maybe seeing the new house will put a smile on her face. "Come on, just come out with me. I bet it will make you feel better."

Mercy

She looked at him. "Sam, I'm not stupid, I know something is wrong, and if it's me or the twins, Cam? Just tell me. Please, because you are pulling away from me."

Sam

He didn't know what to say or if she would be able to handle the truth. He didn't want to hurt her more than she was. "Babe, it's nothing. I told you I had a bad dream and was a little shaken up. Everything is fine. Can we please go?"

Mercy

Mercedes stared at him for a moment, something was still off, but she was learning to accept that something she just couldn't control. "Okay." She said softly, he was acting very weird but maybe it was the whole bad dream thing. She grabbed her purse and keys walking to the front door. "Still not telling me where we are going? She asked trying to change the subject.

Sam

Sam was relieved that she changed her mind about going out. Now he can show her the house, which would be a surprise to both of them. Sam saw Mercedes grab her keys off of the hook, and saw a pair of keys next to it and assumed it was his and grabbed it. As they walked out of their duplex, Sam saw a few cars in the driveway and had no idea which was his. Last he checked, he drove a regular Toyota. Now he sees a few Luxury cars that baffled him. So Sam hit the unlock on his keys to see which car chirped, and saw that it was the white Range Rover. That shocked the hell out of Sam. He walked over and opened the door for Mercedes, and waited until she was in to walk over to the driver's side. "Nope, not telling you... in face put this on." He handed her a black eye mask to cover her eyes with.

Mercy

Mercedes was deep in thought all the way down to the cars, she tried to clear her mind, not focus on what happened that morning but that her husband had surprised her with something and she truly wanted to know what it was. Sam had been tight-lipped about it all week. She glanced at the mask and smiled. "God the last time you made me wear this we ended in the back seat of this Range Rover," she said taking it. "If I get sick because of this don't blame me." She said smiling towards him, placing the mask on her eyes she leaned back and decided to just close her eyes and relax on the car ride.

Sam

Sam didn't know what events led them to get it on in the back of a car, but he found that to be a bit amusing. "Babe, if you feel sick, tell me and I'll pull over because throwing up in this car won't be fun for either of us." He put on some music, and just drove the 30 minutes that the GPS said it would take to get to the new house. Sam was curious as to what the house would look like. Actually, he was curious about a lot of things. He knew he was back up quarterback, but how would he afford a Range Rover, and their duplex and Sam was sure that Mercedes had a nice car also. Maybe her singing took off and paid for everything. He wouldn't be surprised at that. Twenty-five minutes later, Sam was shocked into slowing down. He couldn't believe this was the place. Maybe he put the wrong address in. Sam took out his phone and double checked the email. How did he afford this place? It was way bigger than any house he's ever been in. And why do they need such a big house for the three of them? "Uh, babe, don't take the blindfold off yet. I have to check something." Not believing that this was now theirs, he got out of his car, and walked up to the front door and opened it. It was locked. He checked his email again and it said something about him picking up the keys. He looked at his key chain and saw a set of keys that looked fairly new. He used that key, and voila, the door opened. Still not believing that this was their's he went back to the car and opened Mercedes door. "Uh, you can take off the blindfold now."(edited)

Mercy

Mercedes sighed getting comfortable and when he started to drive she could feel herself falling asleep due to the darkness. All too soon she was awoken by Sam stopping the car. She stretched out as far as she could and waited for the okay to remove that mask. When she did she stepped out the car, mouth agape. No, he didn't. "Sam?" She walked towards him seeing the keys and shook her head still in disbelief. "You bought it? You actually bought it?" She smiled moving closer to him. "I love you, and I love this house. She pulled him into the house and they stood in the foyer. "I can't believe you snuck back here and bought this. When we looked at it a few weeks ago, we saw everything. Our growing family, a place for your parents to stay, a gym for you, studio for me and everything. And I know you are right, this is the kind of house that a Grammy Winning Artist has, a Diva who rocked her world tour while pregnant and still made it back to watch you lead the Giants to the Superbowl. This is the type of house the Starting Quarterback has, but are you sure you are okay with this? We can go simple you know me as long as I have you and our kids I am good with anything?" She wanted the house, she loved the house but she wanted him to be sure.

Sam

Sam smiled at how happy she was. Seeing her big smile made his stomach flip. He didn't know why, but he loved making her happy. He wondered if the real Sam did this because he knew it would put a smile on her face. Still, as she begins talking about being a Grammy Award Winning Artist. When they meant, she was an up and coming star, but it seems like she blew passed that title. He almost choked on his saliva at her star quarterback comment. "Star Quarterback? What happened to Eli?" And did she just say that he led the Giants to a Superbowl win? This was everything he wanted and it would be so cruel to wake up just to find out this was a joke. "This is your dream home, and I think it's perfect for growing our family. And besides, I already paid a million for it, so it's kind of too late to go back on it." He joked. "This is the house that lil Cameron and the twins will grow up in. The schools are great, we aren't surrounded by neighbors. It's perfect." And at the moment, it wasn't just empty words. (edited)

Mercy

Mercedes looked at Sam. "Eli retired like three years ago, and you stepped up and signed an amazing 5-year contract. You are the man as your teammates call you." The surprised look on his face worried her. She smiled. "This is my dream home Sam, but that also means we are gonna have to hire staff. At least a maid and you know how I feel about that, I don't even like it that Bruno has to drive me places when I am not with you." She walked around but stopped at his joke. "I mean you did pay for it." She smiled. He mentioned this was the perfect house and she nodded walking into his arms. "It is perfect," she said reaching up and kissing him.

Sam

"Eli retired?" Sam said in confusion, and then at the worried look on Mercedes' face, he played it off. "Yea, of course, he did... sometimes it just seemed liked it was yesterday that he was playing with us." Sam hoped she believed the lie that slipped out of his mouth. "A maid? Can we afford that? Just exactly how much was this five-year contract worth?" Sam should ask to see their bank statement so he can see exactly how much money they had.

Mercy

Mercedes nodded. "Right." She pushed her thoughts out of her head, he was fine, this was fine. He asked if they could afford it and she laughed. "Sam, considering you signed an 80 million dollar contract, even if I wasn't a very successful Singer and Actress we could afford it." She sighed turning towards him. "This is everything Sam...thank you. Thank you!" She said kissing him again.

Sam

Sam's eyes widen at the 80 million dollar contract remark. He couldn't believe that was how much he made. "You're an actress also? Is there anything you can't do?" Sam wondered if he had seen any of her movies. His thoughts turned to mush when she kissed. He knew he shouldn't enjoy it since this isn't real, but kissing her makes him feel safe. Like everything will be alright. He needed to believe that. So he laid his hands on her hips, and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. "We're something special huh?"

Mercy

"It was you who told me I should take that role, you know I wanted to work with Tyler Perry." She said with a smiled. When Sam kissed her back and pulled her close she melted against him. "Yeah we are something very special," she said wrapping her arms around him. "Have I told you how much I love you? Cause I do." She stood on her tippy toes, kissing him again. She ran her tongue along the seam of his lips, deepening the kiss.

Sam

"I'm glad your dreams are coming true. I'm sure that no one is more deserving than you." Sam smiled when she told him that she loved him. He wanted to tell her back, but that wasn't his place. Besides, he barely knows her. And though he was enjoying kissing her, maybe a little too much, he didn't want to lead her on. Especially since he knew that this life was just temporary. He gently pulled away from her. "Let's check out the rest of the house and see how you're going to decorate it. Then we can pick Cameron and take him out for ice cream or something."

Mercy

Mercedes didn't get it, one minute he was Sam, her Sam and the next he was pulling away like they were in high school about to get caught. Just like earlier, she frowned. It had to be her. He was giving up a night with her alone to pick up Cam early? There was something definitely wrong here. "Yeah sure," she said walking away from him.

Sam

Sam deflated. For having only found out this morning he was married, he could tell when Mercedes wasn't happy with him. He hated that feeling. He hated disappointing her. "Baby, what's wrong? You were so happy a few minutes ago, and now you're upset and I hate seeing you like that. So why the change in mood?"

Mercy

Mercedes turned to him and sighed. "Sam I just, is it me? Are you just not attracted to me today? Because the last time we came and toured this house we broke in the bathroom. Hell, last night you couldn't stop talking about what would happen once Cam was with your parents but today you just don't seem to want me so I can take it is it me?"

Sam

"What? No, Merce, you're gorgeous." Sam didn't know anything about their sex life, but according to Mercedes, it seemed like he couldn't keep his hands off her. And he can see why. It's a struggle for him to remember that this isn't real. "I just thought we can spend some family time together. Spoil Cameron a bit because once the twins come, he may begin to feel left out. But if you want us to have some alone time tonight, then that's what we'll do." He didn't know how he would avoid sex with her, but he couldn't stand the disappointed look on her face, and he didn't want her to think it was her fault.

Mercy

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "I'm sorry Sam, its these hormones I am all over the place you know and feeling insecure and whatnot." She wiped her eyes. "I know it sounds stupid but like sometimes I just feel bad..." She glanced up to him. "I love that you want family time with Cam and we can, your parents will be disappointed though, they were taking him to the Zoo and somewhere else. They love having him." She turned towards the kitchen. "Holiday's are gonna be so amazing in here. And look at this counter space!"

Sam

"No, I'm sorry. We'll let Cam have fun with his grandparents and we'll pick him up tomorrow." Sam didn't want to cut his parent's time with their only grandson. He knows that this is everything his mother wanted. She always wanted him to settle down with a nice woman and give her grandbabies. Sam looked at the kitchen and thought it was too huge for just the three of them. "Yea holidays will be awesome, but when it's just us three, won't it feel a bit overwhelming?"

Mercy

Mercedes smiled running her hands over the granite counters. "Its okay Sam I get it, I know I have been more...insatiable lately too. It's like I know with Cam I was hungry for you a lot but this time its all the time, I look at you, and I just..." she shook off her head and turned towards the oven. "No it's not too big, with your family and mines, our house was never big enough for all of us but this, shoot my brothers and their family can actually stay with us." She moved over to Sam. "Tell me what you are thinking, do you regret the big house? I know your manager said big houses are in right now but I also know you would be fine with just expanding where we live now. So what do you want babe?"

Sam

Sam blushed at Mercedes words. He didn't know much about their sex life, but apparently, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Maybe that's how they ended up pregnant with twins only two years after Cameron was born. He wanted her to finish that thought, but he knew that would just cause more confusion and drama. "I don't regret anything that puts a smile on your face. You have a beautiful smile by the way. Have I mentioned that before?" Sam shrugged. "The house is paid for already. And it's gorgeous. We can do a lot with the extra space. Let's enjoy it."

Mercy

Mercedes blushed looking down at Sam. "I think you have mentioned it a time or two before. I love hearing the things you love about me." She said moving closer to him. She hopped up on the counter and motioned for him to come between her legs. "Look at you being all sneaky, you paid for it behind my back? God, I love you, Sam, so much." Placing her hands on the counter she nodded. "Oh there is so much we can do inside and outside of this house. And that pool oh I see a lot of fun being had."

Sam

Sam was nervous. He didn't want to take things further, but with the way Mercedes was looking at him, he didn't think he would be able to stop himself. "Well, how about we save the christening for later? I really want to go and grab a bite to eat. Being in this kitchen has made me really hungry."

Mercy

Mercedes smiled trying to hide her disappointment. She didn't know if it was the thought of her being pregnant with twins if he just woke up and decided that he didn't want to be with her, but he was definitely not into her like he normally would be and that fact alone hurt her feelings. "You know I could eat, hosting twins is a tough job food wise, it's like each child is craving something different." She hopped off the counter and made her way to the front door. She wasn't sure what was going on with Sam but she was starting to wonder if he was even truly her husband anymore.

#para: forward in time #samcedes rp #samcedes #mercedes jones #sam evans

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