#ava is left where she is and also always sort of disappearing .

[c-kiddo]

how old are una and ava?

something like early 20s when they know eachother. ava was like 16/17 when she was found , and 18/19ish when she knows johannes

#my character exist in weird limited snapshots at vague ages so im not great with putting exact ages. #like they know eachother for some time . like a vignette. stuck in that little moment of time. i guess ava una know eachother for more time #because they start making music and things #but then ava becomes owlva and then shes different again #ava and johannes knew eachother for like a summer or so when he was staying with relatives before going off to uni or something #ava is left where she is and also always sort of disappearing . #asks #ùnaava

[orbitingkepler]

i've finished s1 of midnight burger and man, i have some thoughts (so long i had to put a readmore on them).

what is caspar's whole deal with the diner? everyone has a story on how they found it (leif while spacehopping, gloria discovering on Craigslist [which is interesting but i'll get to that later] ava discovering it, presumably, while sciencing). going back, i don't think caspar ever really talks about how he found it, or even why he decided to stay (although i believe effie warns him that he might be running from something, which might be why he stayed). when ava goes through the time warp, she only hears a few moments of caspar's first day before it skips to leif's first day at the diner. at that point, caspar still doesn't know much about the diner but he seems far more comfortable in interacting in it (he slips into being a waiter immediately). and of course, from what we've heard, effie and zebulon don't seem to quite know how the diner works either. this makes me wonder if the diner is newer than originally thought, and perhaps caspar is actually the first employee. of course that couldn't exactly fit because iirc, effie and zebulon cannot see outside the diner so how would they know they were travelling through time and space? i guess that would mean that the diner is old enough to have had employees, who somehow disappeared before caspar arrived who might have been able to pass their knowledge onto effie and zebulon? but that would mean effie and zebulon would probably know more than they do, so maybe the radio is possibly a new installment to the diner (left by previous employees?)

are the radio and the diner even the same thing? the radio and the diner are somehow linked together, obviously, but effie and zebulon seem to have no control over where or when the diner goes, only that without them things would start falling apart (see: blackhole incident). it makes me wonder if despite being linked the diner has more sway in things. it's also always consistent that the diner shows up in a place where people need it (sometimes as a source of food, sometimes just to help problems). additionally, the diner seems to be able to seek out potential employees and draw them towards the diner (gloria). everyone was surprised when gloria showed up claiming that she saw their advert for a job interview, even though it was quite clear that none of them (including, iirc, zebulon & effie) ever put it up in the first place. i don't think it's a coincidence that leif showed up when he was looking for someplace new with Earth-people, or ava found the diner after she quit because she was trying to prove her scientific theories. i wonder if the diner is looking for a common quality in them and that's how it chooses its employees.

lastly: what's the deal with the radio? the vibes i'm getting are the effie & zebulon are just completely normal religious arkansas people, and that it's just the radio in the diner that's completely off-the-walls weird. originally i was thinking that effie & zebulon were like. preserved memories of people trapped inside a radio (maybe they were preserved before effie & zebulon ever had children, if the timewarp tunnel that ava had with the other arkansas people wasn't a completely different universe). but that's off the record now because i'm pretty sure memories can't get sick like effie did. which makes me wonder if effie & zebulon are in a pocket dimension of sorts? their time is like 1920s arkansas or whatever, which is moving at a much much slower pace than midnight burger. it'd explain how effie got sick (because their time is not static), plus how they don't have children, even though, in regular-world-time they definitely do have descendants (daniel & willow). and it'd explain why they think all science is witchcraft. if you were living in the 1920s, then the medical technology we have now would definitely seem to be witchcraft. the only thing i can't quite work out is the weird interference they had throughout season one, as well as how effie was able to locate leif. the first could be that whenever the diner radio lost connection with the pocket dimension effie & zebulon were in tried to fill their words with what the diner knew (which is why they would start quoting the book of the dead). i guess the diner being an entity of sorts could also explain how effie & zebulon managed to get into contact with leif when he was abducted, although what throws me off there is that if they're just normal people and the diner radio is actually controlling everything, then how would they have known about leif's radio? maybe the diner is capable of influencing them somewhat, or even maybe directing them a bit, but cannot outright control/tell anything to them. which makes me realize i am once again circling right back to religion: you know that one meme where it's like a guy who's being given divine information but because it's not in a language that they understand/can comprehend they circle right back around to being normal again? maybe that's the relationship that the diner, effie & zebulon have.

#; kepler talks #midnight burger #; mb #; mb theories #i am thinking so long & hard about this what is this silly diner's deal!!!

[nat-seal-well]

I’ve been on hold trying to call the bank (again) for the better part of an hour so while I wait, you get a snippet from chapter 2 of stay close to me.

(All the same TWs apply—warnings for descriptions of blood and injury)

When Elena was a teenager, she had a health class that spent most of the time drilling the idea of abstinence into her head, as if it was going to do any good telling a bunch of horny teenagers to not be horny. She let most of the teacher’s lecturing go in one ear and out the other, and doodled bad flowers and stick-figure cats in the margins of her notebook. It’s safe to say the class was a waste, for the most part.

But there was one day where the teacher stood up at the front of the room, and he drew a huge triangle on the white board in blue dry-erase marker. Above the top point, he labeled it Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and divided the triangle up into layers.

The bottom layer was also the biggest and that one, he said, were the basics people need to survive: water, food, shelter. That sort of thing. All the other layers shrank the further up you went, and they were different requirements—safety, belonging, love, and whatnot. But the basics were the essentials to keeping the body alive.

Water, food, shelter. All the big things always come in sets of three. It makes them easier to remember, like a sort of magic trinity.

Water, food, shelter.

Right now they don’t have any of those.

“Okay,” Elena says, a little frantic. “Okay. Um…”

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Panic is probably the answer most people would give, but Elena doesn’t have time to panic. Ava is injured, and she is still hurting, and if she panics she’ll lose time she really can’t afford to lose. It’s already slipping through her fingers like water. They spent hours sprawled out on the forest floor, unaware, and now they’re left with less daylight before night comes around again.

You gotta get your shit together, she thinks, because it sounds like something Mason would say and he always gives the best advice. To the point and straight-up, and usually around a cigarette between his lips.

She doesn’t have anything else going for her, so that’s what she does. Elena gets her shit together. Or tries to, anyway.

First things first.

“We’re lost,” Elena says aloud, mostly to herself. “In the woods. Um. I-I don’t know where we are.”

It could be the same woods, but it very easily—and more likely—could not be. The portal means they could be anywhere. There are lots of forests in the world, and to anyone who isn’t a master woodsman, they all kind of look the same. She loves her forest but is by no means an expert at anything that has to do with how one works.

And by lost, Elena means about as lost as you can be. It isn’t even the “wandered from the trail and oh no now I don’t know where I am” kind of lost. At least when you’re that kind, you still know vaguely where you are, and everyone else back home also knows, and they’re able to contact emergency services and get help. They’re the forest equivalent of a plane going AWOL and disappearing over the ocean, and the only people to have washed up on some little island.

Ava hasn’t moved since Elena made her keep still. It’s nice to know that she actually listens sometimes. Elena just hates the circumstances leading up to it. If they make it out of here—when they make it out of here—she’ll do anything Ava says for the rest of forever, and only complain a little bit sometimes. But they gotta get out first.

Elena still has her hands on Ava, so when she speaks she can feel the rumble of her voice. “Yes.”

Her eyes are closed though, and Elena doesn’t like the way she looks. Wait, no. That sounds rude. Does that sort of thing matter when you’re lost? Probably not, but still. Ava is as lovely as she ever is, but right now there’s no color in her face and there’s still blood on her and in her hair and—and it’s just… scary.

Scary makes Elena feel like a child. But it is scary. She only had minimal training on first aid situations like this, and has rarely ever had to deal with blood that isn’t her own. There’s a gash above Ava’s hairline that looks bad and is the source of all the bleeding. What a wonderful time for Elena to discover that she does not like the way blood and hair mix, all matted and gory. Also, head wounds are scary all on their own. Brains are scary. It’s too easy for something to happen to them, and they’re important.

(In the back of her mind, she makes note of the way her own feels. She’s still nauseous and the blood isn’t helping and the sunlight is too bright, but she isn’t the one bleeding on the forest floor. So suck it up, buttercup. Tina likes to say that.)

#sealy rambles

[kyzveryown]

K I N G D O M H E A R T S | R E : W O R K S E R I E S DIVERGE: CHI + BACK COVER — The Foretellers, Invi

Invi was the second of the Foretellers the Master met with. Out of the five, Invi liked, admired, and respected the Master the most. Invi was stubborn and strait-laced yet somewhat motherly to Ava and Gula. She considered Ira to be her equal since they were the same age and like-minded. Much less could be said of Aced whose pettiness and rowdy tendencies she could barely bring herself to tolerate. After receiving a request to meet the Master in his chamber, Invi visited the Clock Tower in which he stayed. Once she arrived, he began explaining the objectives he assigned her. It only took a few minutes.

“So, to sum it up, I’ll need you to observe the others. Easy breezy.” He said then patted her right shoulder. Invi’s snake mask only covered her eyes. It couldn’t hide the blood rushing to her face.

“Like I said,” He continued while circling her. “Ira will have to take over for me. But don’t be shy, just be fair. And do not be afraid to speak up. Even though I say ‘observe’, you’ll need to be the mediator – you know, make sure people get along.”

“I understand, but…” Invi lowered her head. “Without you or Luxu here, forming and maintaining that kind of society on our own is…it’s a little unnerving, to be honest.”

“Oh, come on. Lighten up a little! Maybe I’ll never disappear.” The Master placed his hand on his chest and playfully gasped. “Wait, don’t tell me, do you…do you want me to go?”

“What?! N-No! Of course not!” she quickly responded then looked off the side. “D-Don’t joke like that. It’s…it’s not very funny, you know?”

The Master laughed then patted her head again. “Come on, I was just kidding…sort of.”

“But you are going to leave. I just don’t…I don’t know if I can handle that.”

“Look, I get that change can be hard for everyone, but things need to keep moving forward.” His eyes shifted to the star-patterned window above his desk. “And you need to keep up. Otherwise, you’ll get left behind, and you’ll be all alone. And I’m sure you don’t want that, right?”

“Uh, n-no…I don’t.”

“Well,” He turned back around, quickly twirling on one foot. “You know what you have to do then. And speaking of that, now that you’re aware of the perilous path you all must follow, Invi, what’s your heart telling you right now?”

Invi thought for a moment. “May your heart be your guiding key, right? I want to tell you not to leave, but you’ve already made up your mind. I’ll trust in you, Master. I may not know where you’re going, but I’ll always value your teachings and your wisdom. And, also, you’ve –”

The Master pressed his palm into his cheeks then leaned closer to her. “Mmhmm, go on. Don’t stop there. Shower me with more praise!”

Invi sighed. “Master, you know, you really should try being humble.”

#kingdom hearts #writing #fanfic #au fanfic #khux #union cross #khbc #kh back cover #master of masters #master invi

[narwhalwrath]

Let's talk about the KHUX finale as a whole rather than just as the piece we only just got.

So we started off with with Lauriam and Ventus alone in Ventus' room, and Lauriam is conflicted about Ventus because they have no way of knowing whether or not Ventus destroyed Darkness or whether it retreated back within Ventus (I mean we know that this Darkness is Vanitas but they don't), in which case Lauriam seems to contemplate taking out Ventus, only Strelitzia reminds Lauriam that giving into his negative emotions is exactly what Darkness wants - which obviously spooks the hell out of Lauriam and he turns around to find that she's not there. Having had time to think about this, I'd say that what I believe happened to Strelitzia after she was struck down by Darkness was that her Heart took refuge within Lauriam's, much in the same way Kairi's and Ventus's Hearts did with Sora's Heart in KH and KHBBS respectively. You might recall that Sora even saw Kairi at one point while he Heart was still within her Heart.

What does this mean though, well I believe that Strelitzia will return thanks to the Data Luxu pulled of her in Data-Daybreak Town, which is what he sent to the future via the Ark. Think of it as similar to how Roxas and Namine were brought back in KHIII, once Lauriam releases Strelitzia's Heart, it can join with the Data-Strelitzia, which is likely vacant, as the Data versions of the Dandelions were all occupied by their own Hearts presumably when they became Unchained and crossed into Data-Daybreak Town.

Moving on, Elrena is brought into the story to reveal that her Chirithy had seen Luxu and Strelitzia, which leaves hope for the others about Strelitzia, but doesn't do much more than confuse them otherwise and get her to join the party as they make for the Ark. Seriously, Elrena was completely underused in KHUX. I still think it's odd how Lauriam and Elrena act entirely different from Marluxia and Larxene, and I think it is even more odd how Nomura specified tht Lauriam and Marluxia are different characters rather than telling the interviewer who had asked the question what we are meant to believe: that Lauriam is Marluxia's Somebody.

To be clear, I don't think that he's not, simply that 4 years go by between when he, Elrena, Ventus, and Skuld woke up in the future and KHBBS and then nearly another 10 years (presumably) before Marluxia is found by Xigbar and Xaldin and Larxene is found by Xaldin and Lexaeus. We have no idea what happens then, and both had completely lost their memories, making it even more hard to say. However, Lauriam was shown waking in Dwarf Woodlands, while Elrena woke in what I assume to be Enchanted Dominion, both of which were some of the first Worlds to be swallowed by the Darkness when Maleficent began her pursuit of Kingdom Hearts at the end of KHBBS, so maybe that's how they fell to Darkness?

After Luxu sends the True Dandelion forward via the Ark, I noticed that, while Darkness explains its intention, it mentions that it plans to 'accompany the chosen one into the future to lay claim to Worlds not yet created'. This is odd, because later it explains that there are five Darknesses still in Data-Daybreak Town, and since only four of them confront Ephemer, Skuld, and Player, then that all but confirms Lauriam's suspicions. What's more, is that it engages Luxu in battle and then is missing when Brain, Lauriam, Elrena, and Ventus arrive in Daybreak Town to utilize the real Ark.

Where did Darkness go? Not within Ventus, as it would have had no opportunity to do so, and there's already an iteration of Darkness in there. Luxu is the only other candidate. It was revealed in the second part of the finale that the Master raised his apprentices in order to give the seven strongest iterations of Darkness a tangible form so that it could inevitably be struck down. This was the entire reason for the Keyblade War, and why the Foretellers had to be sacrificed. The conversation with Luxu all but confirms that those seven of the original Thirteen Darknesses were already destroyed, as they discuss how, after the Keyblade War, only the six Darkness we've now seen remained and found themselves within Data-Daybreak Town. The Master reveals this to be another part of his scheme, as Daybreak Town and its Data counterpart were constructed to act as a cage for Darkness that would be sprung as soon as the first pod of the Ark it utilized.

This trap is something Darkness knew after watching the Master compose the Book of Prophecies, the Master intentionally excluded Enchanted Dominion from the Worlds realized in the real world, instead trapping Maleficent within the Datascape much in the same way that he had done to Darkness. Darkness then helped Maleficent reach Daybreak Town via the virtual Ark in order to then have her use the real one, thereby triggering the ends of both iterations of Daybreak Town, which would motivate the Dandelions to use the Ark themselves, unknowingly providing Ventus to Darkness after another iteration utilized him to take the place of Strelitzia. While it would travel into the future to lay siege to Worlds not yet in existence, the other Darknesses in the Datascape would spread across the Data-Worlds. However, Darkness didn't concern itself with the parts of the Book of Prophecies which it considered unimportant to itself, which ultimately proved to be its undoing, because it missed out on the true plans of the Master, as Luxu later confirmed.

On the topic of Luxu, let's discuss his meeting with Brain, as well as his appearance in the Keyblade Graveyard. The most important part about these two parts is to know that, even though it appears as though Luxu possessed Brain, he didn't. Brain has just always resembled Luxu for whatever reason. I wonder if this could have something to do with iterations of the same person from two separate Worldlines? Why do I say this, because they made a point of noting the similarities between Skuld and Ava as well, on two separate occasions, and I would guess that with what we've seen in the finale, that it was intentional for this exact reason. Does this mean that all the Foretellers look like the Union leaders? I'd say no, I mean Ventus and Gula appear to bear physical similarities from what we can see (height give-or-take, jaw structure), but for sure Ephemer and Lauriam do not resemble Ira and Aced.

The two seen in the finale are clearly different because Luxu was stated in his Secret Reports of KHIII to have passed on No Name to on of the Union Leaders amid the chaos of the destruction of Data-Daybreak Town. The only one he came into contact with was Brain, so clearly Brain got No Name, thus its a done-deal, both are Brain, right? Wrong - as Brain then awakens generations later in Scala ad Caelum, not by using the Ark but by using Ephemer's memories passed down through the generations all the way to Sigurd, as his Waypoint, while his hat acted as the Medium. I believe that when Luxu claimed that Brain's life had to end, he merely passed on No Name to Brain and taught him how to unlock his Heart - or become Unchained, thereby allowing him to partake in said time travel and see through the destruction of Daybreak Town. I think what we see of "Brain" in the Keyblade Graveyard is like the scene from KHX:BC where Luxu arrives in the Keyblade Graveyard with No Name and the Box, just with his hood down, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for Luxu to have No Name, as he said he didn't have it anymore in the Secret Report.

I wonder if, given Master's Defender belonged to Brain originally and eventually makes its way to Eraqus - Brain's suspected grandson - if that means that Brain recclaims Master's Defender when he gets to Scala ad Caelum? I really felt for Ephemer toward the end because it became evident that when Ephemer and Skuld attempted to escape, Ephemer was caught in the destruction of Daybreak Town and left alone in the past. Although he created Scala ad Caelum from the ruins of Daybreak Town and began a new lineage of Keyblade wielders, it's sad that he died without the friends he had come to know throughout KHUX. I wonder also what Ephemer did with that last copy of the Book of Prophecies that Brain gave him - could it still be hidden somewhere in Scala ad Caelum?

In the end, Player had to fight Ephemer and Skuld in order to convince the 4 iterations of Darkness left in Data-Daybreak Town that he was on their side, as they did not seem to realize that their comrade had left with Ventus. This led to Ephemer sending Player and the Darknesses to Game Central Station, wherein Player trapped them and Data-Daybreak Town came crumbling down, just as the Master intended. This resulted in all the Dandelions falling into a deep Sleep, with their Chirithy's becoming the Dream Eaters we know today in order to protect them - only Player chooses not to Sleep and his Heart becomes a part of Xehanort's when he is born.

What's interesting to me about this is that we see Xehanort's mother, who looks sort of like Skuld, but I theorize is actually Brain's mother, which would thus make Xehanort the brother of Eraqus, but what I want to know is who that cloaked figure could be? Maybe it's Brain, who somehow knew about Player's Heart and took Xehanort away from Scala ad Caelum because Player's attack on Ephemer and Skuld (which I assume Ephemer would leave some note about for Brain, considering that Sigurd makes it sound as though they knew Ephemer was coming). I'm really not sure, but considering that Eraqus' grandfather isn't around anymore, that means he'd have had to have disappeared when Eraqus was young, and if it was because he was off with Xehanort, that could certainly explain it, but who knows.

Anyway I think that's everything I have to say about the finale (I hope it is at least lol) Let me know your thoughts below :) KHUXDR still has to finish later this year, so maybe these questions I have won't go unanswered for long.

#kingdom hearts #khux #kingdom hearts dream drop distance #kh2 #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #kingdom hearts iii #destiny islands #khdr #kh spoilers #xehanort #ephemer khux #skuld kh #brain kh #lauriam #elrena #chirithy #dream eaters #sigurd kh #scala ad caelum #luxu kh #the master of masters #maleficent #daybreak town #darkness #keyblade war #foretellers #ava kh #gula kh #aced kh #invi kh

[awhmilkywey]

burgers and fries | t. carrick |

pairing & genre: tobias carrick x f!mc (ava dahl) — fluffy as hell

warnings: one curse word | english is not my first language

word count: 2.4k

request | prompt | neither | challenge

tags: @usuallyamazinglyaverage ; @perriewinklenerdie ; @cyb3r-kat ; @moonsoltice ; @romewritingshop ; @tsrookie ; @hedwigsbixch

a/n: a special thank you to @usuallyamazinglyaverage @perriewinklenerdie and @cyb3r-kat for allowing me the use of their characters (anna dawson, claire herondale and bianca hemgrove, respectivel) and a bonus to perrie for being generally awesome and helping me out with this fic. You can thank her for the Romeo line!

Ava has a history of flouting protocol to assist her patients.

The machine whirred to life, shooting a steady stream of murky liquid into the small paper cup. Ava skimmed her medical chart while she waited. Her patient was a young adult who came in with severe chest pain and discoloured skin around her calves. The primary doctor wrote down that earlier scans ruled out heartburn as well as pericarditis. She reached for her coffee and took a cautious sip. The blemishes could point towards a blood clot—deep vein thrombosis, perhaps? It could quickly develop into a pulmonary embolism if left untreated.

The nurses' station was relatively quiet when she approached.

“Could you order a lung scan and a chest X-ray for my patient, please?”

Marlene took the chart with a professional nod. Her exhaustion matched her own.

Ava murmured a quiet thank you and tossed her cup in the bin. The results wouldn't be back for a couple hours. If her hunch was correct then she would most likely need to page the surgical department. For now, however, her rounds were finished and she could take a breather.

Her face twisted into a frown as she remembered her bag was still in the conference room. Her confrontation with Harper ensured she had been too uncomfortable to remain there. Ava decided to take the stairs one at a time. Saying she was dreading their next meeting was an understatement. They would need to have a serious conversation with Bloom. Ethan breaching protocol was on him alone. A conversation with Harper was in order as well; earlier she had been caught by surprise but she wouldn't let that kind of treatment stand. Barging in, wrongfully accusing her without any evidence whatsoever, yelling and refusing to believe her even when the culprit was standing right there—Ava wondered when the cool renowned surgeon became an unruly child.

The revelation that Harper still saw her as a reckless intern made her incredibly angry. Her one mistake happened over two years ago and she came forward to shoulder the blame. Ava had grown since then, both as a doctor and as a person. Her near-death experience also served to put things into perspective, to say the least. She would always have the best interest of her patients at heart but she would never again jeopardize her career so foolishly.

That thought brought her back to Ethan. Frankly she didn't recognise him any more. He came back from the Amazon a different man—one she wasn't sure she liked all that much. Their tentative relationship hadn't stood a chance. Him being her attending was difficult enough, then she was facing the possibility of being suspended, and just as she thought they could make it work after all, Naveen promoted her and Ethan was her superior once more. He maintained a painfully professional demeanour around her from there on out. Ava wasn't doing too great during that time.

And when her intern year came to an end, he disappeared. He wasn't answering her calls nor her texts and her trips to his apartment were fruitless. She found out he was out of the country through WHO's Instagram account. She stopped bothering afterwards.

Ava shook her head, red curls bouncing over her shoulders. Dwelling on the past wasn't helpful. Especially when the Ethan from her memories didn't correlate with the Ethan she was currently working with. Her most recent conversations with him left a sour taste in her mouth.

The conference room wasn't as empty as she expected.

“Heading out?” Tobias sent her a warm smile.

“I've some free time to kill.”

He nodded in understanding. “Holding up okay?”

Ava hesitated. It occurred to her that he was the only person she was truly comfortable with on the team. The only one who'd never underestimated her or made her feel lesser.Tobias was the person who either supported her suggestions or countered them with his own logical arguments and used both as teaching opportunities.

“I've been through worse,” she replied, shrugging non-committally.

He scowled. “What Harper did was uncalled for.”

Ava offered him a wry smile. “I have a history, don't you see?”

“Oh you mean the history of being civil to Bloom even though you want to punch his face in?” he asked innocently.

A laugh bubbled up in her chest and he soon followed with his own deep chuckle.

“There's this place downtown.” He sobered up but was still grinning. “One of my favourites, if you want to check it out.”

“What's in it for me?” Ava raised a playful eyebrow.

His eyes darkened, tongue briefly flickering out. “Good music, good books. We could get dinner after.”

Ava swallowed. “Sounds fantastic.”

Tobias' intense look softened. “It's a date,” he said cheekily.

She laughed again and swatted at his arm. “Lead the way, Romeo, before I change my mind.”

Bantering with him was easier than it should've been. Knowing how laid-back he could be when comfortable made her notice more about how he carried himself around the rest of the team. It gave her a small thrill to be able to witness that side of him.

Tobias drove her to a time-worn shop tucked away between a colourful diner and a boarded-up building. An old sign hung over the entrance reading The Starlight Den. The outer walls were covered in messy chalky drawings and splashes of peeling paint, broken crayons and plastic buckets sitting to one side. He laid a hand on her lower back, gently guiding her through the battered wooden door.

“I used to come here all the time as a kid,” he commented, glancing fondly around the shop.

Neutral colours predominated with the occasional vibrant hue flashing here and there. Bookshelves lined the left side, brimming with works from classics to comic books. Customers could settle down on various armchairs and sofas, reading under the light of several dimmed lamps. Ava slid her eyes from the makeshift coffee bar to the vintage posters on the opposite wall. A soft tune drifted from the gramophone in the corner. Neat stacks of vinyl records were arranged in polished boxes in the centre. A counter held several players for general use nearby.

“This is a dream come true,” Ava marvelled, running her fingertips across the book spines.

Tobias hummed, reaching to pluck a comic from the shelf. He presented it to her with a flourish. Spider-Man was holding a man clad in green on the cover.

“First introduction to Spidey. Also the first comic I ever read,” he disclosed, absently thumbing through the pages.

“I didn't know you read comics.”

Tobias cocked his head. “Haven't read them in a long while but they were a big part of my childhood.”

Ava cast a look about. “I can see why you'd like to come here.”

Two teenagers were hanging around a record player, giggling quietly to each other, while a sharply dressed man made small talk with the handsome man behind the register. The overall atmosphere was quite cosy. It felt a bit like home. When she returned her wandering gaze to Tobias, he offered her a knowing smile.

“I have an idea,” he announced with a quick clap of his hands. “We each pick a book and a record for the other. I have a player back at my apartment.”

Ava crossed her arms. “Is this a ploy to get me into your bed, Carrick?”

He raised his palms up in mock surrender. “Absolutely not. Just a ploy to get a pretty woman eating take-out on my couch.”

“From that diner next door?”

“Rosa makes the best burgers and milkshakes in Boston.” He gave a solemn nod, cracking up in the following beat.

Ava contemplated him. “It's a date.”

He lit up with a boyish smile.

She didn't know much about his likes and dislikes given that all their interactions revolved around their work. Browsing the bookcases, she opted to get him a copy of The Little Prince. She remembered her papa reading it to her when she was sick or when grief was heavier than most days. She picked up A Day at the Raceson her way to the counter.

“Don't peek,” Tobias warned after their purchases were done. “I'm going to get our food and then we can head back.”

“I want nuggets.” Ava blushed when her stomach growled.

He patted her head. “As you wish, m'lady.”

Ava watched him walk away, unable to remember the last time she was this happy. Tobias was so carefree. He didn't allow their work to burden him, always trying to finding the silver lining in each case, and refused to let it interfere with his life outside the hospital. It was a breath of fresh air, compared to her previous relationship with Ethan. Tobias was light where Ethan was dark.

The ride back to his flat was mostly quiet. He tapped on the wheel along with the song playing on the radio—she vaguely recognised it as being a new Ariana Grande single. She, on the other hand, was more occupied with staring out the window and trying to control her nerves. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, making her almost want to throw up. Tobias was undeniably attractive, charming and witty. And they were going to be alone at his place.

Ava choked on air.

He was quick to lay a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, hey, I got you.” At her lack of response, he slid his hand further and began to rub her back, eyes briefly leaving the road to look her over.

“I'm good,” she gasped.

His touch continued to burn her skin until the car was parked in his garage.

Tobias' flat was messier than she expected but not in the dirty sense of the word. It was a sort of organised chaos that breathed life into the walls. The coffee table peeked from beneath a mountain of medical journals, two blankets were thrown haphazardly on the couch with a pillow half-fallen on the carpet, like he had dozed off while reading. The telly was still on as well and she paused to watch Jessica Aniston and Matt LeBlanc acting on the screen.

He steered her towards the kitchen.

“I forgot to clean, sorry.” He seemed unusually sheepish.

“Mine's not much better, believe me,” she reassured him, squeezing his arm. She took the food bags from him and set them on the table. “Kitchen or living room?”

“Living room!” he called out from the pantry, coming out with a package of napkins and a container of assorted candy.

He had stored away the blankets and the pillow by the time she brought the food to the coffee table, journals stashed away in the corner bookcase. Ava noticed that he also changed into a looser tee, his biceps highlighted underneath the artificial lighting. He grabbed their purchases from the shop and turned to her with a bright smile.

“I realised we don't actually know each other that well,” he said, grabbing the book from the bag, “and I would like to remedy that.”

Ava accepted the gift, lips quirking up at the sight of the blue cover. “I've never read The Great Gatsby,” she informed.

His smile widened. “Let me know what you think when you're done, yeah?”

“I got you this one.” God she was nervous. “I, uh—I didn't know what you liked so I figured I'd give you one of my favourites. After my mum died... my dad used to read it to me as a kid.”

Tobias met her gaze and she was surprised to see him so serious. “I—Thank you, Ava. It means a lot that you would share that with me.”

She needed to look away. Was he getting closer?

Her stomach growled again.

“Eat,” he murmured, slowly leaning back. “I'll put the records on.”

He returned to the couch as the beginnings of Dancing Queenfilled the room. Ava beamed.

“How did you know?”

He popped a fry in his mouth. “I may have cheated on this one. Claire told me you were a fan.”

The mention of her friend warmed her heart. “I didn't know you and C were buddies.”

Tobias rubbed the back of his neck. “We're not, not really. I, um, went to ask her how you were after what happened. Anna and Hemgrove were gone already, so...”

His concern sent the butterflies into a frenzy. Ava focused on her burger so he wouldn't see the deep red staining her cheeks.

It was only two episodes into Friends that she noticed the missing fries in her plate. An indignant yelp was muffled by the food in her mouth. Tobias blindly reached for another one but she slapped his hand away, earning her a surprised squawk from the man. Ava made a move for his plate and was stopped when he put his arm between them, lifting the other up so she wouldn't touch his food.

“Oi! That's not fair!” she protested, not realising she was half-sitting on his lap as she tried to get her fries back.

“All's fair when you're hungry, sweetheart,” he retorted, laughing at her worthless attempts.

The loud sound of porcelain breaking was unmistakable. In an effort to get closer, she had pressed against his chest, their bodies practically glued together, and the twist of his wrist weakened his grip on the plate. Ava sunk into him in defeat and promptly peeped as her groin made contact with his.

“Shit, sorry Av—nghh...” He cut off with a strangled moan.

Ava hurried to relieve the pressure of her thigh on his crotch, feeling mortified.

“I'm sorry—” “Wait—” they spoke at the same time, both floundering.

“Just—wait.” Tobias held onto her hips, heaving out a frustrated sigh.

She would never admit to anyone that no, she very much did not want to move.

Except maybe to the girls, who would most definitely grill her tomorrow.

They remained in that exact position for a couple silent moments. Neither sure what to say nor how to act upon the revelation that they were entirely too comfortable physically for two people who were supposed to be just work acquaintances.

Up close, his eyes looked more green than brown. Ava told herself that she had bigger things to worry about.

But it was a pretty colour.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” he quietly confessed. “I have to know, though. Is—is there anything between you and Ethan?”

She let out a shaky breath, touching her forehead to his. “Not since last year.”

He gave a short nod, raising a hand to cup her face. “Could there be anything between us?”

“Why don't you kiss me and find out?” she whispered against his lips.

She felt his smile before he did.

#tobias carrick #open heart #choices: stories you play #choices open heart #open heart tobias #choices #fanfiction #f: burgers and fries

[saiilorstars]

Falling in Temptation

Previous chapters • Sequel to Stars Dance •  Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

Ch. 19:  The Heist

Fandom: Doctor Who // Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

Chapter summary: When Avalon is well done with her lockdown in the TARDIS, she manages to rope in the traveling gang for an old fashion heist!

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel​ [If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

"NO! I SAID NO! STOP IT!"

The Doctor burst into Avalon's room just as she woke up from her nightmare. Avalon sat upright with a jolt and cried without actual tears. It was more fear than actual tears she felt.

The Doctor rushed forwards and climbed on the bed. "Ava! You're awake now! It's okay!" Her breathing was jagged but once she saw him she realized he was right. She was in her room. She was safe in her room and not with Kovarian.

"There we are..." the Doctor gently pushed some hair out of her face. Her hair was a bit damp from the sweat that'd collected during her nightmare. "Safe and sound, okay?"

Once Avalon was fully awake she let out a frustrated groan and angrily kicked the sheets off her. "Not again! Dammit!"

The Doctor would've liked to stop her but why bother? There wasn't a lot to do to release that frustration so if she wanted to throw off the covers, she could. He only helped take the covers off in the when she started to tear up because they got tangled around her left ankle.

"I can't do anything right!" She buried her face into her hands.

"Ava, c'mon," the Doctor gently pried her hands off her skin and kept them both in his own hands. "What was it this time?"

Avalon groaned. "Kovarian had me again. But like... I think this was a new room. I can't really remember it that well. It was like a...a library of some sort? She was there...and the Silence...and more people but I can't remember them. I just know that I was pretty scared and sad."

"It's okay," the Doctor scooted closer to hug her. "If the memories come back then okay but we don't have to force them either."

Avalon remembered only fragments of her time with Kovarian and they mostly showed up in nightmares, like tonight. The Doctor made himself readily available when it so happened that Avalon chose to sleep. Every once in a while she would wake up screaming because she thought she was back with Kovarian. The sight of her in that state broke the Doctor's hearts. How he wished he could take it all away but it was clear that even a memory wipe wasn't enough to make the horrible memories disappear. Kovarian no doubt made it a thorough memory wipe but even then Avalon's unique brain didn't take it.

"Can you stay with me please?" Avalon whispered the question so frailly that the Doctor almost missed it.

"Of course," the Doctor smiled against her hair. It wouldn't be the first time he stayed with her after a nightmare until she fell asleep again.

"But like...like stay with me?" She raised her head off his chest and showed him her best sad eyes. "Until I wake up?"

"Oh I know it must be boring but...you're the one who saves me in my dreams. I'd feel a lot better if you were right next to me in real life too."

"I can't argue with your logic," the Doctor said. Avalon rolled her eyes at his smugness. "For my Ava, I'll do anything to make her feel better."

"Never has there been a truer statement said," Avalon sighed contently. "You do everything you can for me."

"I don't know about that..." the Doctor mumbled. He did try but it didn't mean he was successful at it.

"I do," Avalon watched him kick his shoes off. She had a strict rule about her perfectly white sparkly duvet covers not being soiled with dirt. It took only one lecture for that lesson to stick. "You're my Fairy Tale Man. You always save me."

"I try-"

"You do," she insisted. She reached to undo his bowtie, thinking it'd be too uncomfortable to lie down with.

The Doctor watched her easily maneuver the strings. She'd taken custom of undoing his bowtie every once in a while and he learned fast that he loved the feeling of her soft fingers touching his skin. Sometimes it wasn't even the bowtie she was aiming for, she just liked touching him. It was something intimate but not sexual, more gentle and...loving?

"There we are," Avalon handed him the the bowtie. "Wanna keep that in your pockets, right? Bigger on the inside?" God forbid one of those ever got lost. He'd go crazy for sure.

"You should sleep, c'mon," the Doctor scooted slightly so they could both lay down.

Avalon immediately scooted her body the amount the Doctor had pulled away. "I'm not sure I can sleep now."

"You're making me stay still, you're going to sleep."

Avalon laughed. "Fair enough." She snuggled up to him and practically pulled his arm over her waist. "That's better. Now I know for sure that I won't have another nightmare, not when my Fairy Tale Man is holding me."

"The trust you have in me is beyond me," the Doctor admitted with genuine guilt lacing his words.

"Oh shush. You have got to stop blaming yourself for everything bad that happens to people around you. That's what gives Kovarian fuel to her cause."

"How do you mean?"

Avalon sighed and tilted her head up at him. She'd been wondering when it would be the right time to tell him the fact that she knew about his previous companions and all the battles he'd been a part of; that Kovarian had forced her to learn everything. Maybe now is as good a time as ever...

The Doctor could see the struggle in her eyes and assumed it was yet another thing Kovarian caused. "Ava? You can tell me."

"...I'm afraid of how you'll react."

A ripple of anger flourished through the Doctor's body as he thought of what Kovarian told Avalon to make her fear telling him something. Despite his moral code, he was sure that if he ever saw that woman again...he'd kill her. And yet, as he passed a hand over Avalon's hair he did it so gently that Avalon could never guess the dark thoughts that were running through his mind right now. "You can tell me anything, Ava. You can always tell me anything." Avalon closed her eyes when she felt his lips press against her temple.

"I...I know about things...from your past..." she had spoken so quietly she wondered if he managed to hear her words. When he didn't respond, she tilted her head up again. He was still but there was a clear fear etched across his face. Now he was afraid.

"What-what kind of things?" his voice had fallen to a similar volume as Avalon's whisper.

"Kovarian made me learn about some of your previous, most recent, battles from your past. She thought that it would help brainwash me if she taught me the 'truth' about you."

"Oh..." the Doctor couldn't find a place to glue to his gaze to. His hearts were beginning to hammer under his chest just thinking what Avalon knew. This wouldn't be happening if you'd had the courage to tell her yourself, he snapped at himself.

He'd been focused on the happy, kissing times and actively ignoring the darkness that followed him. He was foolish to think that he could keep the blissful bubble around them forever. Sooner or later, Avalon would learn his past.

Avalon's hand slid from his chest up to his cheek. She could only guess what was going on in that big head of his. That's what Kovarian wanted. She wanted him to be guilty and ashamed because when he did feel those things, he would either let himself be killed or do the job for them.

"I understand it wasn't your fault," she assured him.

"What do you know?" the Doctor found his courage but he wasn't sure if he could hold onto it as she answered.

"I know about the Reality Bomb the Daleks built and how the walls of the universe were breaking down. One of your old companions, Rose Tyler, inadvertently helped break the walls when she was trying to get back to you. I know that the Daleks made you see how changed your companions were because of you." Avalon watched his face sink as she told him everything about the Crucible. She hated the way he couldn't look at her out of shame.

"I had to do it..." he weakly argued when Avalon reached to the point of Donna Noble's memory wipe. He swallowed hard just remembering the way Donna had cried and begged him not to take her memories. "I ruined her life...like I ruined everyone else's."

"You didn't ruin them, you changed their lives," Avalon flinched at his hard scoff. He pulled his arms from her body and moved away from her. She immediately missed his warmth but even as she tried to reach for his arm, he made himself scoot to the edge of the bed.

"Tell me what else you know," he instructed her, his voice cool yet she didn't miss the sharpness in it. There was no choice of keeping everything back.

With a sigh, Avalon went back to talk about the year that never was. As soon as she mentioned the Master, the Doctor's entire body flinched. His horrified expression told her she should've never learned about him. It made it all the more difficult to keep going. "I know about the...the Toclafane? I think that's what they were called. A lot of people died but I also know that it never happened. No one died." She then switched gears to the Battle of Canary Wharf. "I-I remember that the Cybermen...the robots...they were everywhere. And the Daleks. Kovarian showed me the pictures of the aftermath. That's how I remembered it better. So many people died..."

"And I was at the middle of it," the Doctor muttered. "I was the reason. I couldn't save everyone. Kovarian was right. I got up and left afterwards."

Avalon pursed her lips together. "You didn't do it on purpose. It's what happened when you crashed into Amy's garden."

"Avalon I know who I am. I know that I do change people. I mean, I changed Rose so much that she accidentally helped Daleks because she wanted to cross worlds. I did that on accident. Imagine the times where I've legitimately manipulated people to change."

Avalon lowered her gaze. She couldn't take his eyes the way they were, all dark and full of hatred for himself. "This is what Kovarian wants, you know. She wants you to hate yourself-"

"Oh she's a bit late at that, love. I hated myself long before she came about. Is this what she showed you, then? She wanted you to hate me as much as I hate myself."

"But I don't hate you," Avalon once again tried touching him but he got up from the bed altogether.

"Avalon, I would appreciate if you were honest here."

"I am being honest-"

"Avalon!" he snapped, startling her. Her blue eyes widened and blinked fast. "Sorry," he apologized. The last thing she deserved was to be yelled at. She should be yelling at him. "It's important to me, okay? Did learning these things make you think differently about me?"

Avalon swallowed hard. "If you want the truth? Yes...I was a little scared." She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach when she saw the look of horror on the Doctor's face. "But you know that I'm not afraid of you. Would I be here if I was afraid? No. Right? It was a natural response given everything Kovarian showed me. I saw people dead but I never once blamed you. I am simply aware of the reality that you unfortunately have been in. I am so sorry you've endured all that. Nobody should ever have to."

"Kovarian showed you all that - a minuscule part of my horrors by the way - so you would join them, because she knows how dangerous I am. But that's not everything, why talk about my friends from the past? No," the Doctor almost stormed to Avalon's side. "Why? What could she want from that?"

"Oh Doctor, it's not relevant." Avalon turned her head away too fast for him to believe that was true.

"You look like it bothered you, or scared you. " He brought her gaze back with a finger under her chin. "What else happened, Avalon?"

The Doctor's eyes begged her to answer, for him. He needed to know how much they told her about him, how badly she would be scared of him. Avalon couldn't take it.

"She said you would leave me behind like you did with the others," she whispered. "You would change me, like you changed the others, and that you would leave me, Amy and Rory behind. We'd become more names to your list."

"Oh Ava..." the Doctor's eyes softened, his hands cupping her face, "I wouldn't...I couldn't! Not you!"

Avalon leaned into his touch. "She was so hellbent on making me change my mind about you, but I can't. I know what surrounds you, I know that sometimes people do change around you but they change because of everything they've seen. How could I not change when you've shown me different worlds? How could I not change after everything?"

"You shouldn't have to change, that was Kovarian's point," the Doctor moved to sit on the edge of the bed with Avalon. "Nobody should have to die because of me. If I wasn't around, how many people would be alive right now?"

Avalon held onto one of his hands before he could pull them both away from her face. "How many people would be dead if you hadn't helped them? Or...how many people wouldn't exist because of you?"

The Doctor couldn't help smile at that last bit. "Well...maybe it's not all that bad. I got you after everything. I got my Ava."

"And I want to be here for a very long time," she promised him. "I know the truth, Doctor, but it's not the distorted one you and Kovarian have. Believe me." She moved herself so she could hug him.

I wish I could, the Doctor silently thought. He held Avalon for as long as she wanted, but there was still a part of him that wondered if she wasn't just a little bit afraid of him after seeing the mass chaos he'd caused in the past.

~0~

"I'm bored! I am so bored!" Avalon dramatically walked around the console room, stopping between Amy and Rory. "Please, can we go out?" She threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please?"

The couple shared the same irritated faces and even answered at the same time, "No!"

Avalon groaned and walked away from them. "But I'm bored! It's been weeks without going out! I'ts not fair! I got dressed and everything!" And she was pretty sure that she looked damn good for a day out. She'd rummaged through her closet and found a white wrap top with three-quarter puffy sleeves that she adored. She paired with light blue jeans and a pair of brown ankle-length boots.

"Jeez, you're worse than the Sapling and he's a child," Amy made sure to remind loud and clear so that Avalon would drop her games.

"Oh c'mon!" Avalon stomped her foot, making it clear that she would not be desisting anytime soon. "It's been months since I got back and I'm pretty sure my health is back to normal!"

"It'll never be normal again," Rory frowned but Avalon shushed him.

"If you're not on my side, don't help! C'mon guys!"

"Why are you even bothering us about this?" Amy threw her hands in the air and turned away. She loved Avalon, she did, but sometimes she got on her nerves. Right now was one of those times. "We're not the ones in charge of the TARDIS!"

"Course not, I am," the Doctor came in with the Sapling. "Why are we discussing who's in charge?"

"Doctor, I'm bored!" Avalon exclaimed. "Can we please go out?"

"Oh, I'd love to go out," the Sapling closed the book he was holding and excitedly turned to the Doctor. "Can we?"

"Avalon, why do you do that?" the Doctor sighed with annoyance. "You know hearing you say that makes him want to go out too."

"Really? Didn't know that..." Avalon failed to hide her knowing smile. This wasn't the first time she was asking to go out so she'd began to think of some tricks. "C'mon, it's been weeks since we went to Leadworth. I'm okay now!"

"Because you've been under constant watch," the Doctor reminded her. He was truthfully afraid of taking her out somewhere not sterilized. She was correct about her health - she'd been okay lately and her health was almost that of a regular human's - but it still didn't make the Doctor any less nervous. "I don't think it's a good idea." Needless to say, Avalon wasn't happy with his words. A deep scowl marked her face while he played casual and took the Sapling's book. "Here, why don't you read it? Seems like your kind of thing anyways." He held the book at her for a second before she snatched it from his hands.

"History of Jewels?" she read the title with an unimpressed look. "Seriously? You want me to read this?"

"I learned a lot from it!" the Sapling exclaimed happily. "I like the Fire stone best! What was its proper name, Father?"

"The Ignis Jewel," the Doctor tapped the top of the Sapling's head, making the tree child giggle. "It's actually quite impressive! You should read about it!" He told Avalon who responded with a groan.

"You're bored too," she watched him carefully avoid looking at her when he crossed the room to come up to the console. Ever since she told him that she knew about some of his past, he'd been so weird with her. She should've seen it coming though. As if the Doctor could ever let it all just go. The only thing Avalon hadn't worked out yet was how to get him to move on from it. And he certainly wasn't helping when he kept pissing her off.

"Doesn't matter what I think," the Doctor said from his newest spot away from her.

"Aha!" Avalon whirled around with a finger pointed at the Doctor. "So you are bored!"

"He just said it doesn't matter, Avalon," Rory said before the Doctor could answer. He moved around the ginger and tapped the cover of the book she was holding. "Why don't you go read instead? You love doing it anyways."

Avalon rolled her eyes. "You guys are so mean!" She stomped her way out of the room, leaving the group to hear her stomps getting father and farther.

"Sapling, why don't you go make sure she reads the book?" the Doctor asked, thinking that if the Sapling was around Avalon she would hopefully simmer down.

"Okay!" the Sapling turned and ran after his Mother.

"She is so bored," Amy shook her head.

"I hadn't noticed," the Doctor sarcastically said.

"Would it be so bad if we just went out for a little bit?" As soon as Amy asked the question, she had her husband on her.

"It's too dangerous! She's not ready for that!" Rory was almost shouting so Amy planted a hand over his mouth.

"Do you want Avalon to come back!?"

Rory pushed her hand off his mouth and continued on but with a much quieter voice. "She's not ready to go out."

"Yeah, but she makes a point. How do we know when she's ready if we never let her go out?" Amy folded her arms and waited for somebody to give her the answer. She smirked at the silence that followed. "Exactly. Doctor, she did stay in Leadworth for a few days and nothing happened. How come we can't try something else just for a little bit?"

"Because what if it goes wrong?" the Doctor didn't hesitate to respond with. Unfortunately, he forgot he was dealing with Amy Pond.

"What if nothing happens?" she counted and walked up to him. "Look Doctor, I get that we're all worried about Avalon's new health situation but we can't actually keep her locked away forever. She likes Rapunzel but she will hurt us all if she stays here another day!" Amy looked between the Doctor and Rory while she waited for either of them to make a comeback. Of course, none of them did. "So, where should we go?"

~ 0 ~

Avalon was quietly reading through the History of Jewels with the Sapling next to her. Since he had already read the book with the Doctor, he was giving Avalon the most important pages he thought she would like. The Doctor had been right: the Sapling's presence did semi-simmer Avalon's anger.

Neither of them noticed the others walking into the media room until the Doctor cleared his throat. He was leading Amy and Rory in and came to a stop beside Avalon's side of the couch. "Ava...?"

"Hmm," she hummed and pretended to keep reading.

"Right, well, we've been talking about it and...maybe you're right. You should have the opportunity to start travelling again." The Doctor didn't want to say that he was expecting Avalon to jump from the couch with excitement but...he did expect it. So when Avalon merely turned the page of her book, he became worried that her anger had worsened.

"Avalon, didn't you hear?" Rory called. "We're going to take you out like you wanted."

Avalon exchanged a secret glance with the Sapling. Both of them smirked.

"Avalon?" Amy asked.

"I have to thank you, Doctor, for making me read this thing," Avalon began to turn the pages of her book. "And the Sapling showed me his favorite jewel, the Ignis Jewel?" She got up from the couch and held the open book for them all to see. "Interesting thing about it is how it was stolen from a civilization and then placed in some elegant museum for other aliens to see."

"Yeah, so?" the Doctor tried taking the book from her but she slammed it shut, nearly getting his fingers had he not flinched away in time. Soon as he saw her mischievous grin, he dreaded what was to come.

"I know what I want to do today! I want to heist!"

"You want to what!?" Both Amy and Rory simultaneously yelled.

Avalon laughed and turned away, swaying with her book to her chest. "Doesn't it sound like fun!? A heist!"

"Yes! Yes!" the Sapling clapped on the couch. "I want to heist too!"

"No, no, there will be no heisting of any kind!" the Doctor wagged a finger at her that she did not see. "Why would you get an idea like that!?"

"Because of your stupid lockdown!" Avalon turned around, her grin momentarily replaced with an angry scowl. "Do you know how many TV series I've binge-watched in these past months?"

"Well..."

"FIFTY!"

"Okay, fifty..." the Doctor made a face and mouthed the number at Amy and Rory. They both nodded their heads in confirmation, making him do another face. Alright, that could drive him crazy too. It would, the voice in his head declared.

"The TARDIS was kind enough to give me series that haven't come out yet on Earth and it showed me one called Brooklyn-99! And guess what they do every year?" Avalon didn't wait for any of them to guess, she blurted the answer out in pure excitement. "They heist! They literally heist and that's what we're going to do today!"

"Avalon Harmony Reynolds you cannot be serious," Amy sternly looked at her granddaughter, wanting both to laugh and shake the girl.

But Avalon was so excited that she didn't even bat an eye at the fact Amy used her middle name that she hated. "I am so serious! Here!" she chucked the book at the trio, making them all scramble to catch it before it hit them. "Check it out!" she told them once Rory held the book between Amy and the Doctor. "It says the Ignis Jewel was stolen from a primitive civilization that would use the jewel to start fires. The jewel ensures fire. If it stays on the ground longer than a minute, it'll start a fire."

"Isn't it cool!?" the Sapling got on his knees on the couch, scooting himself to the armrest next to Avalon.

"Yes, but what's not cool is how these museum chains took it just so other people can come and look at it! It's literally sitting on a pedestal under glass!"

"Okay, okay, I get that it's been stolen but us stealing it back doesn't make us any better," the Doctor said, though there was a glint in his eyes that Avalon saw. He was so interested, he wouldn't be able to deny it for much longer.

"Except when we take it back, we can return it to its proper place!" Avalon grinned. "We'd be like Robin Hood! And we can make a wager if that'll make things more interesting."

"We're not doing this," Rory closed the book but he was mighty surprised when he heard Amy go "Weeeelll..." His head snapped in her direction. "Amy!"

"I don't know, knowing that it's already been stolen and we'd just be taking it back..." Amy shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, very lowly, her next words, "...sounds kinda fun..."

"Amy!"

"Yay!" Avalon clapped her hands. "Amy's on my team!"

"What - no! There'll be no teams because there'll be no heist! Doctor!" Rory whacked the Time Lord's arm to get his support. "Tell her!" Silence. Rory blinked and turned to the Doctor. "Doctor? Tell her!"

The Doctor cocked his head to the side, one eye squeezing shut. "I'm thinking..."

"What!? There's no thinking!"

"I'm looking at the possible consequences-"

"DOCTOR!"

"He's in!" Avalon waved the two men off and high-fived with the Sapling. "I told you we could do it!"

Rory slapped a hand over his face. "I can't believe this is seriously happening."

"Better believe it Rory Williams!" Avalon laughed so joyfully that for a moment, the trio forgot about their concerns for this crazy idea. Avalon hopped on the couch with the Sapling and together they clapped. "We are heisting!"

"Stomp jumping on the couch," Amy scolded them before they fell. The pair immediately let themselves fall on the couch into a sitting position.

Avalon flipped her head in their direction, her smirk back on her face. "So then, let's get the teams together."

~ 0 ~

"Knock-knock!" Avalon tapped a knuckle against River's cell, startling the brunette for a second. "Hi River!"

"What are you doing here?" River got up from her bed and hurried up to the gate. "You're not sneaking out again are you?"

"Oh great so the last version I met isn't that far from this you?"

"Somewhat, that was a month ago for me. Where are you right now?"

"Um, well, sort of getting back on my feet. Oh! I did have my first reading in Leadworth - have you gone to that?"

"No..." River eyed her strangely which only confirmed her answer.

"Oh, well, you're invited to my first public reading in Leadworth, October 21st, 2011 at 11:00 AM."

"Duly noted," River hurried back to her bed to jot the date down in her journal. She wouldn't miss that for anything! Her daughter's first public reading? Her heart swelled with pride just thinking about it. "So, what are you doing right now then?"

"Welll..." Avalon swayed her head, missing the way River smirked at her.

"What are you up to, young lady?" These were rare moments where River could sneak in a little bit of motherhood on Avalon without her suspecting.

"We are heisting today!"

Bemused, River stopped writing in her journal. "You're what?"

"We're heisting! And I want you to be on my team!"

River had to laugh. She finished writing the date down in her journal then came back to the cell bars. "Avalon Harmony Reynolds, what are you doing?"

"There's this thing called the Ignis Jewel that's been stolen and placed in a museum so I thought we should pull a heist and steal it back! We'll give it back to its rightful owners!"

"Why on Earth would you want to do something like that?"

"...because I'm bored," Avalon answered with a straight face, only making River laugh again. "I've been locked away for months now with only Leadworth. I was promised stars and planets and I am ready to come back!"

"And the Doctor actually agreed to this?" River asked fully knowing that the man would agree to anything that Avalon asked to.

"Course he did," Avalon shrugged. "He's bored too. So what do you say? Want help me steal something and make sure the Doctor loses?"

The same smirk that'd been on Avalon's face earlier was now on River's. "Always."

~ 0 ~

"Alright," the Doctor announced as he unrolled the schematics of the museum they would shortly arrive at. He pressed the paper against a large table in the TARDIS library for them all to see. "So the Bijou Museum is three-story building with roughly about 10 rooms on each floor. What we're looking for is on the third floor right there!" His finger tapped the small square nearing the middle from their right side. "Each room has their own security feed but, as per rules, I will disable them upon our arrival. Can't have us getting caught before we even steal the damn thing."

"Right, because that would be wrong," Rory said with a sigh of irritation. No one had listened to him about how ridiculous this whole thing was. He should've known that his daughter would of course agree with the entire stunt. River was just as excited as Avalon! Shocker.

"Oh shush," Amy bumped his shoulder with more or less the same excitement as River and Avalon. "It might be fun. I've never stolen anything."

"To be clear," the Doctor cleared his throat and raised a finger in the air. "We are not stealing this, we are retrieving it for a civilization who deserves to get it back." As he finished his clarification, his eyes landed on the Sapling. He didn't want his tree child to get the wrong idea that stealing was okay if you were bored. "We are not stealing."

"Right, we're heisting," Avalon moved around the table so she was across from the Doctor. "Totally different."

"It's really not," Rory mumbled but yelped when Amy jabbed her elbow into his side.

"We're doing something good," the Sapling chimed in to help his parents. They were so excited and he was too!

"Oh father," River shook her head. "Lighten up. It'll be fun. So, the cameras will be off?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah. I'll just make it so the screens show the same thing on a loop."

"And nobody will notice that it's a loop?"

Avalon snorted. "Please. They're probably bored to death up in that security room. I bet they're so good at solitaire."

"These are alien security guards, Ava," Rory pointed out. "They don't even know solitaire."

"Actually," River swayed her head. "That's what most of the boys play at home."

"Please, don't help."

River smirked.

"Right then!" the Doctor said to keep things moving. "So we'll have about two hours to pull the heist before the cameras start showing the live feed again. In two hours, we all need to be back in the TARDIS no matter what." His eyes reluctantly found Avalon's. For the life of him he just couldn't face her. Each time he did, he remembered that she knew more about him than he ever wanted her to. The shame and guilt were just inevitable. "Whether or not we have the Ignis Jewel, we all need to come back."

Avalon gave a firm nod. "I understand. Thanks for doing this though." This time the Doctor nodded slightly and quickly looked at someone else. The action hurt Avalon more than she would've thought.

River didn't miss it. She made a mental note to look into that later.

"Anything is fair game except for the TARDIS," the Doctor went on as he pulled up a second copy of the schematics from his inside pocket.

"And your sonic," Amy gave him a pointed look. She held her hand out for the infamous sonic. The Doctor reached into his jacket's pocket and pulled out his beloved sonic. "Thank you!" Amy placed it on the table where the TARDIS would take care it until they got back.

"Alright," Avalon clapped her hands together. "Final thing: the wager." Her eyebrows quirked with a smirk on her face. "If my team wins-"

"Which we will," River muttered to Amy who agreed with a hum.

"-then you have to let me and Amy choose where we will go for the next month. And we pick River up each time. No buts about it."

"Fine, but if you lose - which you will - then you have to stay inside the TARDIS for another month." The Doctor planted his hands on the table and leaned forwards, smirking so smugly like he already knew what the outcome of the heist would be. "No buts about it," he mimicked her tone.

Avalon's tongue pressed against her teeth before she finally clicked it. "Fine." She did the same as him and leaned forwards on the table. "But you can't use any sonic of any type! Not even a little sonic pen!"

"Don't have one..." the Doctor faltered for a moment as he realized he'd never actually made one, "Why haven't I thought about that yet? Never mind! No sonic, no TARDIS. However, I'm also going to need River to promise not to use any of her little weapons she has stored."

River opened her mouth to argue but promptly shut it and shrugged. "Yeah, alright. They're all in my cell anyways."

"How do you even get that past the guards?" Avalon genuinely asked with curiosity.

"I'll tell you later," River smirked until she noticed Amy's disapproving look. Her smirk fell and she cleared her throat. "Or maybe not. Probably not."

"So," the Doctor called, "Two hours. No sonics, no weapons, no TARDIS, and no hurting anyone! Me, Rory and the Sapling against Avalon, Amy and River. Any other question?"

"Yes," Avalon leaned just a bit closer over the table, leaving a questionable distance between her face and the Doctor's. "Are you ready to cater to my every desire after you lose?"

The Doctor would've liked to have answered with "I always strive to" when he remembered there were other people in the room. He might have thought of kissing her too - her smirking lips were begging to be kissed - but other people and his own thoughts were forcing him back. Instead, he chose not to answer directly. He reeled away from the table - putting some distance would help him control himself - and turned to the others. "Let's head out, team!"

"Yes! Good luck Mother!" the Sapling scurried around the table to hug Avalon. The ginger, however, was a bit distracted with the Doctor's rash departure from the room but the Sapling tugged on her sleeve to claim her attention in the end. "Mother, good luck!"

Avalon smiled lightly at him. "Don't go getting yourself into trouble."

The Sapling giggled and rushed out of the room with Rory.

Avalon looked at her own team, choosing to focus on the task they had. "Well then ladies, let the heist begin."

~ 0 ~

Avalon, River and Amy decided to scope out the precise room where the Ignius Jewel was on display. The museum was functioning as it normally would, meaning the room was pretty crowded.

Amy noticed that the other displays of gemstones and the artworks against the walls each had their personal crowd of people. "I'm beginning to think that Rory has a point here."

"What do you mean?" Avalon distractedly asked while she and River studied the Ignius' display. It was a normal golden pedestal with a glass box over it. The jewel was tucked on a navy blue pillow. It was fairly easy...or so it appeared.

"There's loads of people!"

"Shhh, Mother," River put a finger over her lips, but Amy rolled her eyes. "Don't go all nervous on us."

"How are we supposed to get this out without getting caught?" Amy folded her arms and gave a nod towards the jewel.

"Well I have a few ideas," Avalon announced, earning two different reactions from the other two. Amy looked rather concerned that she'd already come up with a way to steal something in a crowded room but River seemed intrigued and perhaps a tad impressed that it only took her a few minutes to get ideas.

"Let's hear it," River gave Avalon the floor but made a gesture for the ginger to keep it down.

"Well," Avalon clasped her hands behind her back as she moved to the left side of the pedestal. "First option would be to lift it out of the glass assuming we could disable the alarm system."

"We'd need to get into the security room," River pointed out, not intending on shooting the idea down but only reminding Avalon they'd need to do that step first.

"What?" hissed Amy but neither her daughter nor her granddaughter paid her attention.

"Right. Shouldn't be that hard though, not if we use the right mode of entry," Avalon agreed with River and slowly moved to the other side of the pedestal. "If we're feeling adventurous-"

"Always," River nodded and shared a smirk with Avalon.

"-we could get some rope and climb down from up there," Avalon raised her head at the ceiling. The spot directly above the pedestal was an air vent. "We'd only need to clear out the room-"

"How would we do that!?" Amy once again hissed.

Avalon and River fixed the same stare on Amy. "Wait for lunch hour, duh."

If she could, Amy would have really liked to scold both of them for being so...alike. Without even trying, Avalon and River were too alike in situations like these and that honestly worried Amy for the future. What kind of trouble could these two get into when nobody was around?

"I checked the schedule," Avalon continued with River. "Lunch is in two hours which is just the time limit we have anyways. It'll be our last resort."

"I say we start the easiest way possible," River declared and before either woman could ask her what that way was, she reached inside her jacket's pocket to pull out a familiar tube of red lipstick.

"Oh I bloody love you!" Avalon laughed a bit too loud and got some looks from the other guests.

River's smirk widened. "Let's go ladies!"

~ 0 ~

"Excuse me?" the Doctor had come up to the reception desk on the first floor of the museum. A young brunette woman was working the desk when he arrived. "I was wondering what times are your scheduled tours for the, uh, third floor?"

"Well, you just missed one," the woman said as she stood up from her seat. "But you can catch the next one in twenty minutes. There's actually a pamphlet, hold on…"

"Take your time, take all the time you need…" the Doctor murmured as he watched Rory and the Sapling creep up to the opposite side of the desk.

"Here we are!" the woman exclaimed, raising her head up just as Rory was about to slip into her part of the desk.

"Oh! Why don't you show it to me!?" the Doctor quickly moved the woman to the very edge of the desk. He decided to pull her out of the desk so that they were standing on his side, hunched over the pamphlets. "I have a son, you see, and he's so adamant that we go through the best tours. Care to pinpoint those?"

Once the woman was thoroughly focused on the pamphlet, Rory tried slipping into the desk again. The Sapling remained just at the edge in case anybody happened to stop by, but he had to physically stop himself from giggling at the funny squatted-walking Rory was doing. He couldn't stand up to search the desk so he had to naturally walk with his legs squatting.

He was loving Heists!

Rory was quick to search for what they came for. His hands raked through the drawers until he reached the last one. It would be in that one that he found a ring of keys. He was careful to take them without jingling them and then bolted from the desk altogether. His hearts hammered until he reached the safety of a hallway.

A few minutes later, the Doctor and the Sapling joined him.

"I hate this!" Rory declared as he handed the ring of keys to the Doctor. "I just stole security keys! Don't-" he pointed a warning finger at the Sapling, "-you ever do that, Sapling! Got it!? Don't do what I'm doing! What any of us are doing!"

The Sapling brought his hands to his mouth as he laughed. "I know, grandfather."

"Oh..." Rory nearly lost his balance when he realized just how truly bad this whole thing was. In the Sapling's mind, his mother, his father, his grandmother and his great grandparents were all teaching him how to pull a heist. "Oh, my stomach hurts. My stomach really hurts." Rory pressed a hand against the wall to lean against while his arm wrapped around his stomach.

"Loosen up, Rory!" the Doctor exclaimed as he scanned the hallway for any suspicious actions. So far, no one had seen a thing. "Now then, these keys will let us walk into any room we want."

"But the damn jewel isn't even in a room with a door! Why did we get the keys at all?" Rory asked once he felt air begin to come back to him.

"Because if we have them, then the girls don't! Do keep up, Rory!"

"Yeah!" the Sapling mimicked his Father's tone. "The girls won't be able to lock or open any rooms!"

Rory's face went flat as his eyes flickered between the Sapling and the Doctor. "Oh, you two are so-"

"That is beyond petty," River's voice pulled the trio's attention to the end of the hallway. "I'm impressed, Doctor." The Doctor quickly stuffed the ring of keys into his inside pocket. Avalon and Amy had come up on either side of River. "But it won't be enough to win this."

"I'm going back to the petty part - that was really petty!" Avalon scrunched her face at the Doctor. "Fairy Tale Man, what the hell?"

The Doctor only slightly looked at her before turning away with Rory and the Sapling. "Off we go!" he ushered them off and ran behind them.

Avalon's face went grim for a moment, and even though it was just for one moment River still noticed it, then turned to the women. "So, lipstick, who are we using it on?"

"I was going to use it on whoever was in charge of those keys. I thought the same as the Doctor," River admitted with a sheepish smile. "I know, don't tell me." Avalon chuckled.

"But he got the keys so now what?" asked Amy.

"We move onto the next phase of our plan of course!" River took the lead down the hallway. It was fairly easy maneuvering their way through without being suspected. Nobody suspected three simple women wanting to find the best art piece on that floor.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a less crowded hallway. They would be going into the security room to de-activate the alarms.

"Amy, ready?" River asked.

Amy fervently nodded. "Keep an eye out. Easy-peasy."

River then looked at Avalon. "Ready?" Avalon was more than excited to finally start. River almost laughed and blew their cover. "Right. One, two, three!" She flung the door open and immediately went up to the first of two men.

"Hey! What are you-"

River grabbed the man's collars and yanked him forwards for a kiss. Avalon went straight for the second man and punched him across the face. She quickly swiped the small stun gun from the man's waist.

"Oh, you know you can't keep that," River warned when Avalon turned around. "Part of the rules, remember?"

"This is to stun," Avalon said, chucking it to River. "And you can keep it for now. Is he going to be okay?"

River looked back at the man she'd 'kissed' and nodded her head. "Yeah. He thinks he's dreaming that he's tied up. Hilarious really. And this one," she moved past Avalon to the man she'd knocked out. She smudged her lipstick across the unconscious man's lips. "Should be doing the same when he comes to. Blimey what a hand you've got."

Avalon proudly smiled behind her. "Now we can get the alarms!"

"Yes! They should be pretty visible!"

Avalon turned to the control panel. Her eyes flickered to the dozens of screens playing the loop that the Doctor had preset before arriving. Everything was completely normal to these people. She and River focused on the mess of buttons and and wires sticking out.

"So while we're here, you want to tell me what's going on with you and the Doctor?" River worked swiftly to find the head of the alarms on the screens. So far, she only had the alarms for the first floor.

Avalon had paused working for a moment to throw River a look. "What? How do you know-" She didn't get to finish asking on account of River scoffing loudly. "It is so weird how you do that!"

River laughed. She'd succeeded getting through the alarms for the second floor and now she just needed the third floor. "I always know about you, sweetie."

"Still," Avalon folded her arms over her chest. "So...so you know that he and I...?"

"Are in a relationship?" River only stopped to nod at her then went right back to work. "Of course I do. Can't hide that from me even if you tried."

"And...and you don't...you're okay with that?"

A flicker of confusion crossed River's face at the question. She stopped working again and turned her head in Avalon's way. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know cos...cos you're from the future. I mean, one time Amy even said if you were the Doctor's wife in the future."

"Hasn't said it to this me yet," River said, prompting Avalon to realize the Byzantium hadn't yet happened to this River yet. "And I really hope she never says it to me. That's...that's just..." She shuddered a breath and made Avalon smile out of relief. "Besides, we've talked about this, remember? The reason I know things about him is because I've seen future versions of him, and you! All your future is my past! We're going in the wrong order, sweetie, so of course to you it would look like I just know everything. But the truth is, I don't know everything. You tell me a lot of it, about you and the Doctor. Your future together." River loved watching her daughter's face light up with delight.

"You mean that?" Avalon clearly tried to dial down her happiness and relief but it was a hard thing to do.

"Of course I do! I honestly don't know how you stand that man for more than a few hours! I salute you Avalon, because it can't be easy!"

Avalon laughed for a short moment before a lamenting sigh came through. "Too bad right now we're in a funk. He's upset because I told him that I know about his past, you know the darker parts? He doesn't know how to be around me and...I don't like it. I wish I could sit him down and make him talk to me again but knowing him all I'm gonna get is his silent brooding face."

"You'll have to give him some time, Avalon. Just like you got your space after Berlin. Give him sometime to really think about it and then he'll come to you. Trust me."

For some reason, Avalon could trust River. It wasn't even because River was from the future, something about her always had Avalon more inclined in her favor. Even when the Doctor was completely against River, Avalon always tried defending her and seeing the helpful sides River often brought to their group. Things had always been like that.

~ 0 ~

With the alarms off, the jewel would be easier to take once they came up with the right plan. However, Amy raised the question of how they would make a clear getaway if somebody would immediately notice the jewel was missing.

"We get a decoy," River's tone was blatantly telling her mother this was yet another obvious thing.

"Really?" Amy jutted her hip. "And do you know where we could get a perfect decoy Ignis jewel?"

"Oh!" Avalon gasped when the answer hit her. "The little shop! There's always little gift shops in these places! I bet they sell all sorta of toy versions of the pieces here."

River pointed at Avalon with a proud smirk. "See that, Mother? Avalon's thinking!" Amy rolled her eyes. "Good job Avalon!"

"Thanks. The Doctor always tells me about the stupid gift shops he's spent hours at..." Avalon's smile lessened when she thought about him. She bet that right now, the Doctor wouldn't tell her anything about what he liked.

"Let's go to the gift shop then, see what happens," Amy sighed and rushed off first.

"We need to head to the third floor," River instructed as she and Avalon followed. "Each gift shop probably sells what's on that floor."

They got to elevator quickly and pressed the 3rd floor button. Once they arrived they made a quick down the hallway. Spotting someone familiar, Avalon skidded to a stop near the entrance of the Ignis jewel's room.

"Doctor!" she clung to his arm before he would run off on her.

"What!? Let go!" he frantically exclaimed, assuming this was one of her heist tricks.

"No, listen to me!" Avalon let go only so that he would calm down. "We, uh, we...we took down the alarms."

That sure made him freeze. "What?"

"Just for the 2 hours. They're down."

"Why would you tell me this?"

Because I really like you and I'll basically tell you anything you want. That would've been nice to say out loud. It would've pulled a smug smile from him. Avalon would pretend to hate it when in reality those smiles made her melt for him. "I just wanted to even the playing field. Wouldn't be very fair, right?"

"Right..." the Doctor gave a slow nod. He made to turn back for the room when he realized he hadn't even made sure Avalon's body wasn't reacting to the new environment. With all the heisting and his own issues, he'd forgotten. He could never let that happen. "How are you feeling?"

The corner of Avalon's lips twitched, warning to turn into a smile. He still wants to make sure I'm okay. Of course he would. He hasn't broken up with you and he hasn't stopped being kind. "I'm okay. I'm having a lot of fun so...thanks for doing this."

"Avalon!" River hissed from the other end of the hallway, making Avalon jump in her spot. "Stop cohorting with the enemy!"

"Gotta go!" Avalon quickly said and kissed the Doctor's cheek before running off.

The Doctor stayed put in his spot for a few seconds. Whether he wanted to or not, he smiled after her. He was aware of his rude behavior towards her and yet instead of yelling at him, Avalon did that instead. He just didn't know what to do now that she knew more about his dark past.

"Father, I'm in!" the Sapling's voice rang through an comm. piece in the Doctor's ear.

The Doctor shook himself out of his thoughts and focused on their task. "Right. Be careful Sapling!"

"I know!"

"Oh, and the alarms are off. I repeat: the alarms are off." The Doctor turned back for the room and strode in like any other visitor. He scanned the room and saw Rory pretending to study an art portrait hanging next to the Ignis Jewel.

Check.

He then spotted the current tour guide leading a group of guests around the room.

Check.

"And if you look very closely, you can see that each figure is actually made of dots..." the male tour guide was gesturing to the huge portrait hanging in the opposite side of the room. "It was inspired by the human painter-"

"Georges Seurat," the Doctor cut in, nearly sliding in beside the tour guide. "Marvelous French painter if you asked me. Least that's what I used to tell him."

"You've met a human?" One of the guests in the crowd asked, making it seem novelty despite being humanoid themself.

"Of course. Do some travelling, you see..." the Doctor prepared his longest rambling story that he would tell with extra pauses.

Rory glanced over his shoulder to make sure the crowd was deep into the Doctor's riveting story. They were. Rory turned away from the painting and quietly used his own comm. piece. "Sapling, now."

"Yay!" the Sapling exclaimed. He was up in the air vent waiting for his signal and now that it was, he peered over the vent. It was perfectly above the Ignis' display. He placed a hand over the vent and let his fingers extend into branches.

Rory nervously watched the branches stick against the wall and slowly creep its way down. From his spot, the Doctor made sure the Sapling was heading his branch in the right direction.

"Little bit to the right," he mumbled under his breath and continued with his story for the guests.

"Sorry!" the Sapling tried moving his body around so he could see the display and the wall but the slits of the vent were too narrow.

"You've got it now," Rory assured him. The branches were reaching the top of the display. Despite the Doctor telling them that the alarms were off, the Sapling still hesitated to actually touch the glass display. "C'mon Sapling!"

The branches slipped between the wall and the glass case but now the Sapling would have to sneak under the case for the jewel.

"A little to the right now," Rory instructed while not making it blatantly obvious he was staring at the branches on the wall. "No, no, my right not yours!"

"Sorry!" the Sapling shifted the branch to the right side and started to feel the tip of the cushion. "I feel it! Now I just gotta-"

"Aaaah! What is that!?" A screaming woman had froze the trio in their respective stops.

Rory scrunched his face when he realized a woman had stopped by to see the jewel.

"Thanks Rory," the Doctor groaned lightly before rushing towards them. The crowd was right behind him.

"What is that!?" the woman kept crying and pointing at the branch stuck on the wall.

"It's an infestation!" the Doctor quickly supplied the excuse as quickly as it came to him.

"Sapling, get out of there," Rory hurriedly left the crowd to speak to the child.

"I know! I know!" the Sapling wiggled his arm which in turn made the branch on the wall wiggle as well. He winced when he heard the same woman's scream again.

"Nothing to worry about folks, just a petty infestation," the Doctor said only a few seconds before the Sapling disconnected the piece of branch from his body. He beamed at his regular hand and quickly crawled back through the vents.

Down below, the branch crumbled into pieces...and the same woman still screamed.

~ 0 ~

"Right this way folks," Amy the newest museum tour guide led a group down the hallway, going past the Ignis' room.

"Wait, we're not going into this room?" an elderly humanoid man asked and pointed to the room on their way.

"Not right now. It's at the end of the tour, c'mon," Amy motioned the group to walk faster with her.

Inside the room, River and Avalon were making rounds looking at different artworks separately. There were hardly any people in the room since Amy had taken away the current tour group. Avalon waited near the entrance and as soon as a roaming guard walked in, she loudly coughed. River turned right away from an art piece and made a casual walk in the guard's direction. She purposely went around another jewel pedestal and dropped a red jewel that looked exactly the same as the real Ignis.

Avalon waited for River to be a safe distance away from the guard before gasping loudly. "Oh my goodness! Is that the Ignis jewel!?" At her question, the guard spun around to where she was pointing.

"I think it is!" River agreed and motioned the others in the room come see it.

"But that's impossible!" the guard rushed towards the sight, though because people were spread around the jewel, it was difficult getting through.

Avalon took her opportunity to dash up to the Ignis' display.

"Move! Let me see!" the guard shoved an old woman out of the way, earning himself a colorful response from her. "Sorry, ma'am!"

River poked her head around the crowd to see Avalon lifting the glass display, though it seemed pretty heavy judging by the struggle she was in. Avalon had her entire arms wrapped around the glass case and she lifted with all her might. She was halfway there when they got a lovely call...

"Mother! Hi!" the Sapling's sudden call made Avalon drop the case back in its place. At his call, the group turned away from the jewel and allowed the guard to finally pick it up.

"This is just a gift shop souvenir!" he groaned. "Seriously people?"

River scrunched her face but Avalon stalked her way out of the room, intending on shouting at the Doctor and Rory for sabotaging them. However, only the Sapling was in the hallway.

"Where's your father? Why are you alone!?"

The Sapling chuckled. "Father said he wanted to go to the gift shop and I snuck out. I don't think he's noticed yet-"

"Sapling!" they suddenly heard the Doctor's voice from the end of the hallway. He came zooming out of the store and sticking his head into each room for the Sapling. "Sapl-"

"I'm here, Father!" the Sapling waved his hand.

"Yeah, nice going! And sabotaging by the way!" Avalon shook her head and ushered the Sapling to the Doctor.

"Really?" the Doctor smiled proudly at the Sapling for a moment. "Good job, Sapling."

"I didn't mean to but okay!"

"GO!" Avalon yelled through her gritted teeth and was quite satisfied to see both of them rushing away from her.

~ 0 ~

The trip to the gift shop spawned a device for a purpose that Rory couldn't understand yet. The Doctor tinkered with the makeshift device on their way down the hallway. "Right then, with this we'll be able to grasp the frequency of the glass display. According to the Sapling, Avalon struggled to lift it which means that it has to be pretty strong."

"What - so you were sabotaging them?" Rory threw him and the Sapling a disapproving look.

"No, of course not, but the Sapling had perfect timing!"

The Sapling agreed in a hum. "Mother was trying her best to lift the case but she couldn't. I thought I might help her but then I remembered we were on different teams. Maybe next time I can be on her team!"

Rory's eyes widened. "The next...? No! There won't be anymore heists after this! Doctor, whatever you're thinking, please tell me it'll work so we can finally leave this place?"

"With luck, it will," the Doctor tapped a knuckle against the small beeping device in his hands. He'd found some petty tech souvenirs in the gift shop that he'd torn apart to reconstruct for his needs. It resembled his sonic but it was not his sonic. There were no sonics allowed after all. "And I added a touch of a laser in case it doesn't."

"Why would we need a laser?" Rory dreaded to ask and felt even worse when the Doctor smirked.

A short moment later they were back in the Ignis' room. The Doctor moved to the Ignis' display and discreetly took the scan of the glass. The results concluded that they would need to come up with another way to take the glass off because lifting it would require at least two of them and the Sapling couldn't risk using his branch-like abilities in public.

"Gentlemen, listen very closely..." the Doctor started to whisper their next moves and in the next few minutes, they enacted it.

The Sapling was hopping around the room, taking Rory from one art piece to a pedestal. He excitedly touched one pedestal, immediately instigating the scold of the guard.

"Sorry, he's just so excited," Rory apologized but by then the Sapling had gone to touch an art portrait.

"Hey!" the guard went after him and thus Rory too.

The Doctor pointed his makeshift device at the Ignis' display and shot a thin laser at it. He leaned closer to it, making it seem like he was just getting a better look at it while his hand slowly went in a circular shape. Just one small circle and he could pull it off. But midway through, something in the next room exploded and rocked everyone on their feet.

"What!?" the Doctor spun around, his first thought going to the Sapling and Rory, but they were just as confused as everyone else.

"Avalon?" River came running into the room with Amy at her side.

Avalon! The Doctor dropped his device to the floor and bolted for the women. "Where's my Ava?" He searched around them but, like everyone else, they didn't know what was going on. The Doctor could actually feel the way his hearts started picking up their beats. "Where is she!?"

"I-I don't know! She was supposed to be cutting through the wall-" River tried gesturing to the wall directly behind the Ignis' jewel but she was just as concerned as the Doctor.

"Everybody stay put!" the guard in the room started heading for the entrance. "Nobody move-" But the Doctor was already way ahead of him, literally. "Sir!" the guard called but the Time Lord was out of the room in two seconds. "Sir!"

"What do you think happened?" Amy quietly pulled River to the side while the rest of the guests were ushered together.

"My guess?" River gave Amy a look asking her if she truly wanted to know. Of course Amy did. "My daughter got carried away with her new toy. Now c'mon, we'll have to be in front of the pedestal in a bit and then we'll have to get Rory and the Sapling. We'll need to do a lot of running!"

~ 0 ~

Avalon was crouched in front of a wall, humming the tune of Once Upon a Dream tune to herself as she finished cutting a circle into the wall with a new gun. She had no idea that guards' guns were this powerful. She'd made an explosion a few minutes ago just because she'd accidentally fired it at one of the metal shelves. The shelf had fallen against the wall and pretty much destroyed everything that'd been on it, but everything else in the storage room was fine.

"River and Amy: I hope you're ready," Avalon said once she successfully cut the hole in the wall. It was a small hold that wouldn't be give her away but would still be visible on the other side. She put the gun down on the floor then pulled out another Ignis decoy jewel from her jean's pocket. Her hand squeezed through the hole and was relieved to feel the velvet of the cushion the Ignis jewel was on.

On the other side, River and Amy were standing directly in front of the pedestal. Amy looked over her shoulder and saw Avalon's fingers searching for the jewel.

"She's in," she whispered to River who was keeping her eyes on the guests. The guard had positioned himself at the entrance, not letting anyone come in or go out until the museum figured out what had caused the explosion.

"Good, because we'll be running in five minutes."

"Why five?"

"Because that's when they'll be figuring out we took down the alarms."

"Ah." Amy's eyes found Rory and the Sapling across from them and willed her husband to meet her gaze. She mouthed 'Five minutes and run' to him, hoping it'd be enough to get the point across.

Thankfully, he had.

River discreetly glanced behind them and saw Avalon was puling her hand back through the wall with the Ignis Jewel in hand. "That's my girl," she whispered proudly and continued to look ahead.

Back in the storage room, Avalon had cheered when she pulled her hand out and saw the bright red jewel in her palm. "Avalon Reynolds, you are a genius!" She had just stuck her hand back into the hole when the Doctor burst into the room.

"There you are! Are you okay!?" His sudden entrance and yell had startled Avalon into smacking her head against the wall.

"Doctor, you idiot!" She rubbed her forehead with her free hand.

"What are you doing!?" the Doctor made sure to close the door behind him. The guards were going back and forth trying to discover the origin point of the explosion. It was then that he noticed the fallen shelf in the corner of the room. "And what did you do to that!?"

"Had an accident with that," Avalon nodded her head to the gun sitting beside her. "It's all good, though." She struggled to yank her hand out of the hole again but once she did she cheered. "It's all very good!" She jumped on her feet and turned around with the Ignis Jewel in her hand. "Because I just won this heist!"

"I thought you were hurt," the Doctor sighed but she scoffed at his concern.

"Please!"

"What!?"

"Oh you know what it means! You've barely looked at me ever since I told you what I learned with Kovarian! So don't come running here, telling me that you were concerned! Just acknowledge that you've lost!" She waved the jewel in the air and strode for the door, only for the Doctor to grab her arm and turn her back.

"I always care, Ava! I've just been having trouble accepting that you have a better idea of what I am!"

Avalon shoved his hand off her arm and scowled. "For the last time, I know who you are! You're my Fairy Tale Man and I hate seeing you doubt yourself! I know who I'm dating, alright?" Her anger faded to be replaced with a soft sigh. Her lips curved into a near pout. "And I really miss his hugs and his kisses..."

The Doctor's shoulders slumped as his head seemed to lower. "I'm sorry Ava. I'm afraid that this whole blissful bubble is reaching its end and that you're going to be afraid of me. Lots of people are afraid of me...but I don't know what I'd do if you were afraid of me."

"That's never going to happen," Avalon felt like this would have to be something she would be repeating for a while. That was okay. She knew that a few months ago she was in constant need of reassurance. It was her turn to be there for the Doctor and she would be. "I need my Fairy Tale Man right next to me..." She took the needed steps to leave them face-to-face. "And if he needs me to tell him every morning, every afternoon, every night I'll do it." Her free hand came to stroke his cheek. "I'll be there."

The Doctor smiled down at her. "Even if he's an idiot?"

"Yeah, I think it's a cute look on him..." Avalon smirked at his reddened face. She laughed and kissed him, muffling her own laugh.

It was true what Avalon had said. The Doctor had only just now realized it'd been too long without a kiss between them and now that he had her with him, he would be making up for lost time. He passed a hand under her chin, lifting her head up slightly more. It gave a much better angle for a rougher, faster kiss. Avalon brought her arms over his shoulders, never realizing that she'd let go of the Ignis jewel. Neither heard it clink against the floor and roll a few feet away from them.

Avalon forgot the Heist altogether when the Doctor hoisted her up. He hadn't yet done that and she wasn't complaining one bit. She wrapped her legs around his waist and met his lips again for a continuation. The Doctor's hand gone up to the back of her neck and firmly pressed her against his body. He couldn't get enough of her right now. Her sweet lavender scent, on a normal day, was simply wonderful but right now it was intoxicating. He left her lips - something Avalon deeply groaned for - but she got over it when she felt his hot kisses on the side of her neck.

She moaned and tilted her head in the opposite direction, giving him an easier access to her sweet skin. He had only started a few seconds ago and he was already settling in the crook of her neck, a spot he'd come to learn was one of the spots for Avalon. He gently bit down and smirked when she automatically gasped. He felt her fingers grasp the back of his hair, an extra treat for him for being oh-so-kind to her.

"More, more," she patted the nape of his neck, letting her eyes fall shut.

"More?" he taunted with a soft kiss on the same spot.

She groaned at it, making him laugh. "Not funny! Don't start what you're not going to finish you tease!"

The Doctor bit the same spot again, harder than the previous time, and heard her moan for him. He continued his series of kisses afterwards, bouncing her bit to keep her steady between his arms.

Avalon laughed when his lips once again attached themselves to her neck. Seems like he found his favorite spot, she realized and once he started leaving new hot kisses on her clavicle then nearer to her throat and finally lower...she realized it was her favorite spot too. He was outlining the v-neck of her blouse but had distinctly heard her moans louder when he went straight down her throat. She was right, he was a tease and he was enjoying every minute of it. She eventually got frustrated that he'd forgotten about her lips for a while so she raised his head. "I'm up here my love." She dove down for a kiss, quickening it within seconds.

Neither of them noticed the steam that was beginning to rise from the Ignis jewel on the floor...but they flinched when the sprinklers went off. All the rooms had suddenly fired its sprinklers on.

Their lips reluctantly, and slowly, disconnected as they both turned their heads up to the sprinklers.

"I thought we disabled the alarms...?" Avalon made a face at them, though she had to look down from to avoid the pelting of cold water in her eyes.

"Fire system is a different system," the Doctor said distractedly.

"But why would they go off...?"

Their eyes simultaneously widened at each other when they remembered. "The Ignis Jewel!"

The Doctor let Avalon down and both turned their attention to the steaming jewel on the floor. "It wants to burst into fire but the sprinklers are disabling it. We gotta get it out of here." The Doctor ran towards it only for Avalon to scream "NO!" and jumped on his back. "AVA!" The Doctor shouted at her.

"It's mine! I had it first!" She exclaimed, keeping her arms tightly around his neck.

"Avalon, get the hell off of me! I'm trying to bring it back to the TARDIS!" the Doctor tried prying her hands off him but she was strongly holding them together.

"Yeah, and bring it into the TARDIS first! I know that you're trying to trick me! You bring it in and you win the heist!"

Maybe I am, he silently thought. She was just too smart. "Fine! But it's fair game!"

"IT'S MINE!"

The Doctor spun around twice before finally pushing Avalon off his back. He winced when he heard her hit the ground with a loud thud. "Ava!" He turned around just as she groaned.

"Ow..." She scrunched her face in pain.

"Avalon, I am so sorry!" the Doctor reached to help her stand up. She took his hand but the moment she had a tight grip on him, she yanked him down to the ground beside her. "Uff!" the Doctor felt his back connect with the floor in two seconds flat. He heard Avalon's teasing giggle beside him and turned his head to see her looking at him with the biggest smile on her face. She was looking incredibly beautiful right now despite the water soaking them wet. Her ginger curls were sticking to her face, but her blue eyes were shining with mirth. It was as if somebody had pressed the rewind button and they were back to a time before the Silence and Kovarian had struck. They were traveling together while Amy and Rory were honeymooning. It was just him and Avalon, exploring and pulling shenanigans like this. The Doctor admitted to himself that he could see a life like this with Avalon, only with Avalon because he lo...

Oh God. I love her. The Doctor felt his hearts stop while he caught up to his own thoughts. He loved her. He loved Avalon. He loved the wild, unpredictable, passionate writer that was Avalon Reynolds. He loved her sweet self, her kind eyes and warm heart...he loved her temper and her challenging personality.

"Gotcha!" Avalon giggled again as she bopped his nose.

The Doctor grabbed her hand before it could leave his face and kept their fingers intertwined. This is my girl, he realized with his swelling hearts. He couldn't imagine himself being with anyone else but her. Only Avalon would pull this kind of stuff on him, and truth be told it was the same stuff he'd do too. One moment they were passionately snogging and the next...she was jumping on his back and he was spinning around to get her off.

He brought their interlocked hands and kissed Avalon's hand softly. "You got me alright."

Avalon blushed and sat upright. "Yeah?" He nodded and smiled when she leaned down to kiss him again. "You got me too," she whispered and pressed another kiss to his lips. "And I'm...going to get myself first place for this Heist!" She jumped from her spot and swiped the Ignis' jewel off the ground.

"Avalon!" the Doctor cried but a part of him was already laughing by the time he got up.

The ginger ran right past him. "Can't catch me!" she taunted on her way out.

The Doctor smirked after her. "I do love me a good chase!"

Avalon's laugh echoed down the hallways they ran through. And because somebody knew her laughter so well, River was able to catch it from the next room.

"Now Amy!"

"RORY!" Amy yelled before she made a dash with River.

"Sapling!" Rory grabbed the Sapling's hand and ran after the women.

"You can't leave this room!" the guard at the entrance barked but River neatly punched him across the face.

Amy's mouth fell open but River yanked her out of the room. "You just punched that guy!"

"Yes, I did! You're welcome!"

"River!" Rory called once he and the Sapling were behind them in the hallway. "You just punched a guy!"

"You're welcome!" River groaned and picked up her pace. They needed to get out of here fast or else she'd have another charge against her.

The group ran past guards and lingering guests until they reached the first floor. Elevators were down so they had to take the stairs, but with their adrenaline they crossed them in no time. Finally, they saw the TARDIS standing in the basement just like they'd left her earlier.

"I see Mother and Father!" the Sapling exclaimed just as the pair had disappeared into the TARDIS.

"I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!" Avalon was cheering around the console when the group ran inside. "I win the heist!"

"Oh shut up!" the Doctor went after her in a sulk. Soon as he saw the others coming in, he took the TARDIS off. Safe and sound they were, but nobody was safe from Avalon's relentless yelling.

Avalon was dancing around the console, waving the jewel in her hand. "I win the heist! And my dear Doctor lost! I win!"

River laughed and high-fived her daughter. "Good job!"

"Yeah!" Avalon high-fived Amy next. "We won, ladies!" She turned around to the Doctor and smirked. "Did I mention I won?"

"You might have mentioned it once or twice," the Doctor muttered.

"Thank God this is over," Rory exhaled and finally felt his stomach rid itself of those knots. "What was that explosion anyways?"

"That was me! I accidentally fired a shelf," Avalon dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand.

"WHAT-"

"But I won! I won the first heist!"

"First and last," Rory cut in with a stern finger pointed at his granddaughter. "We are never doing this again!"

Avalon's smirk promised something else, though.

"Mother, I'm so happy you won," the Sapling rushed to Avalon's side and hugged her. "But maybe next time I can win!"

Rory groaned, throwing his hands in the air as he turned away. Amy moved over to console her husband.

"Alright, this is truly been a pleasure," River started making her way around the console, switching buttons here and there to set course for Stormcage. "I must get going though."

"No, not yet. You should dry up and get changed," Avalon gestured to River's wet appearance. They were all soaked from the sprinkles. "Can't have you going back all wet and stuff."

"Right," River agreed with a nod. "Give me a second then." She hurried off for the corridors and since the water had been truly cold, Amy and Rory followed seconds later.

"Sapling, you may be made out of bark but please go get dried up too," the Doctor nodded the child towards the hallway.

"Okay! But what are we going to do with the jewel now?"

"Well, we're giving it back to its rightful owners," the Doctor glanced at Avalon to see her agreeing with a nod.

"Yes! And listen Sapling," Avalon stepped up to the Sapling, crouching in front of him. "Uncle Rory was right when he said that we don't steal. What we did today was different, alright? It was fun, but we weren't trying to hurt anyone. I really hope you understand this..."

The Sapling laughed carelessly. "Of course I do! Mother and Father don't hurt people! Heisting was just different but I know that it's not okay to steal."

"That's my boy," Avalon chuckled and kissed the Sapling's cheek. "Now go get dried up!"

"Okay!" the Sapling ran off to find his bedroom.

"He knows, Ava," the Doctor said once they were alone.

"I just don't want him growing up with my irresponsible behavior in him," she sighed. "God knows I was a handful."

"Was?" the Doctor innocently asked and received quite a hard mock glare in return. "You should've seen me back in my day."

"I'd like to learn about it one day," Avalon's eyes gleamed with curiosity. "What was my Fairy Tale Man like when he was a child?"

"Oh, dangerous question..."

"Even then?"

"Yes."

"Oh my..." Avalon laughed shortly then came up to him, a soft smile gracing her soaking face. "Well, when you're ready, I'd love to get to know about those parts of your life. Nine hundred years has to have some nice parts right?"

"...yes," the Doctor nodded slowly. There were plenty of moments he would always cherish from his past. Funny how easily he could forget them when somebody dangled his darker moments in front of him.

Avalon reached around his neck to undo his bowtie, reminding him of the gentle moments he'd missed between them as well. "You should go change too." She picked his left palm up and let his bowtie fall into it. "I'll meet you here in 20 minutes. Maybe 30. This-" she gestured to her wet curls, "-might take a bit more time to tame."

"You still look beautiful as ever," the Doctor passed his hand through her curls. Avalon closed her eyes for a minute and let herself enjoy the touch of his fingers playing with her hair. The Doctor would've loved to play with her hair for hours, but he needed to he responsible. "Go on, love. I don't want you getting a cold. Lower immunity system means you're a lot more susceptible to common illnesses like a cold."

"Right," Avalon sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. She turned to leave but stopped at the stairs. "Oh," she turned back, "And don't worry. I'll be sure to wear this blouse more often."

The Doctor's face went red in an instant, especially when Avalon pushed her hair to one side so he could see the reddened spots on her neck and, shamefully, near her cleavage. He coughed in embarrassment while Avalon laughed.

"I'm a biter too so...expect that the next time," she blew him a kiss and ran off.

My girl alright, the Doctor smiled to himself once he was alone.

Author's Note:

Listen I just KNOW that if Avalon was real she would totally vibe with Brooklyn 99. I even know for a fact that she would love Rosa Diaz. I just do okay? And you just know that it would only be Avalon and the Doctor who would pull heists. It's just so them. But yayayay the Doctor knows that he loves her, when do you think Avalon will realize she loves him too? I loved writing that moment too.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #11th doctor #doctor who fics #11th doctor fics #11th doctor imagines #doctor who imagines #dw imagine #dw imagines #11th doctor imagine #doctor who imagine #oc: Avalon Reynolds #fic: falling in temptation

[punksarahreese]

“Shh, it’s ok. I know it hurts.” for chronic pain prompt ❤️

Hehe <3

CW: pain induced panic, surgery talk, vomiting mention, opioid mention

***

"What’s on the agenda for today, Doctor Bekker?" Connor’s voice was annoyingly chipper for it being six in the morning, and Ava told him so before answering his question.

"CABG on a 64 year old with coronary artery disease, check up on my ICU patients, and a routine pacemaker battery replacement."

"Busy," he nodded, "You’re here early and you don’t have a little psych resident shadow; where’s Reese?"

"She’s not my shadow," Ava rolled her eyes, "Off today, but knowing her she’s still doing case work from home."

"Kid’s dedicated, I’ll give her that."

Ava didn’t have a chance to reply before Connor’s pager went off, calling him down to the ED. He was disappearing down the hallway in seconds, gone without a farewell. Not that Ava really cared; she did have things to do that were a lot easier when Connor wasn’t hovering.

Forty minutes later she was in the ER, grafting a coronary artery with a vessel from the patient’s leg. CABG surgeries were easy, all muscle memory at that point. It was almost soothing to Ava, a repetitive process that let her focus on familiarity. The fellow she was supposed to be mentoring was barely helping, not that she really minded; but it was something to mention to Latham if he didn’t step up his work ethic.

"Doctor Bekker," a scrub nurse had picked up Ava’s phone when it went off, "Text from Doctor Reese."

Ava glanced back at her, "If it was urgent she would call, just leave it for now." Sarah knew she had surgeries that day and wouldn’t mind a late reply. She nodded and let Ava get back to her job, the surgeon falling back into the rhythm of familiarity she had between her and the instruments.

"3-0 prolene," she was just about to close the pericardium, getting ready to finish the surgery now that her graft was working well. That’s when her phone rang, the nurse once again saying it was Sarah.

"Alright, bring it here," Ava let her answer the call and put the phone up to her ear, "Hello?"

The strained voice that answered made Ava’s heart drop, "A-Ava..."

"Sarah?" She didn’t want to say anything to hint to the people in the room that there was anything wrong, though her brain was immediately running through every worst case scenario.

"I... I’m s-sorry... to bug you."

"Don’t be ridiculous," Ava’s tone was way softer than her words, "What’s up?"

"Hurts-" a rough breath cut her off, the squeak that proceeded it making Ava wince. She hated hearing Sarah in this much pain, knowing it must be really bad if she was openly admitting to it.

"What does?"

"C-chest. Can’t... stop it."

"Sarah," Ava could feel her own heart rate pick up as she still jumped to the worst conclusion, "Do you need to come here?"

A long pause was followed by a forced, "No."

"What do you need?"

"I-," Sarah was clearly crying, whether it be out of pain or frustration, "You- please, Ava."

"Can you wait thirty minutes? I’ll need to scrub out and drive there."

"Y-yeah. I’m okay."

Ava didn’t believe that, especially not with the stifled sob that had preceded Sarah’s claim, "Okay, I’m going to hang up now; I’ll be there as soon as I can."

"‘Kay..."

She gestured for the nurse to hang up the call, thanking her. Ava shook her head when she asked what was wrong, everyone in the room clearly curious.

"Doctor Reese is just having some car trouble, I need to go pick her up," she lied smoothly, "Doctor Maxwell, you’ll close."

The fellow looked at her in alarm, clearly not expecting anything of the sort. He began to protest but Ava stopped him, holding out the forceps with a pointed look.

"When I was in your year I would jump at any chance to do a surgery. You should be honoured that I trust you to finish this one. You know how to close a sternotomy, Maxwell; you’ve done it before."

He sighed and let her pass the suture needle, looking at Ava with worry. She promised him he would do just fine, insisting that there were enough people around to make sure he did well. This was surgical resident work, he could do it.

After that, Ava quickly stepped away from the operating table and half-rushed to the scrub room. She didn’t want to worry anyone by being too hasty but she herself was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She ripped off her gloves, tossing them into the biohazard waste with her gown before going to wash her hands. It took all her willpower to avoid breaking the bar of soap out of anxiety, frustrated that her girlfriend was in pain and she wasn’t there to help.

By the time she had scrubbed out and shoved her scrub cap into her pocket, a nurse had brought her phone out to her and asked if everything was alright.

"Just fine," she replied without hesitation, "Don’t want to leave Doctor Reese waiting, it’s cold out and her car’s heater stopped working."

It was obvious that the other woman didn’t believe Ava but she knew better than to press the matter. She let Ava leave, going back to scrub so she could help Doctor Maxwell finish the surgery.

Ava made it down to the ED in record time, stopping only to grab her bag and coat from her locker. She found Connor near the nurses station, going over a chart with Natalie.

“Connor, I need a favour.”

He looked up at Ava’s voice, immediately confused because she had reverted back to her no-nonsense attitude but was unable to keep the worry off her face. The surgeon passed his tablet to Nat, saying he would be back before leading Ava off to a quieter part of the ED. It was clear in her body language that she was stressed, her shoulders tense and hands shaking slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

Ava shook her head, “Personal issue, I’ve got it. Can you cover my post-ops? And the pacemaker surgery, I left Maxwell to close my CABG but I’m afraid he doesn’t have enough brain cells to do my rounds properly.”

“Ava,” Connor tried to grab her wrist to keep her attention, “Is it Reese?”

She sighed, hesitating, “Yes. Do you have this or do I need to ask Latham?”

“I’ve got it,” he replied immediately, “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. I need to go, Connor.”

With that she turned to leave, barely remembering to thank him for covering for her. Her brain was running on sheer anxiety at that point, hoping Sarah was okay. She didn’t want this to be a bad pain flare because her girlfriend didn’t deserve that. Still, a part of her was hoping that’s all it was; scared at what the alternative could be.

She made it to their apartment way quicker than she should have, very thankful she did not get pulled over. She knew better than to speed but her only thought at the time was that she needed to get to Sarah.

“Sarah?”

A barely audible sound came from their bedroom, making Ava drop her bag at the door and head in that direction. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find, but somehow she was completely unprepared for the sight. Sarah was slumped on the floor, head resting against the wall as she curled into herself. Her hands were pressed against her upper chest, as if that was somehow helping ease the severe pain she was experiencing. The strain on her body was evident, her curls were an unruly mess and eyes bloodshot from crying, reddened cheeks streaked with tears as she looked up at Ava with a pitiful look.

“I-I’m s...sorry.”

“Hey,” Ava was on the floor with her in an instant, “Do not apologize, Sarah. I’m always here for you.”

“I just-“ another shooting pain had her crying out, “C-can’t...”

“I know, I know,” Ava soothed as she wiped a stray tear off Sarah’s cheek, “Is it normal chest pain or do you need to go to the ED?”

Ava hated that, that she had become so accustomed to chest pain where people had to ask. The normal amount of pain should be zero but for her girlfriend it was always there, lurking and waiting to make things worse.

“N-normal... costo. B-bad.”

“Okay,” Ava was a bit reassured that it was rib pain and not heart related, “How bad, love?”

Sarah’s breathing was shallow as she tried to respond, shaking her head when she couldn’t get the words out. She reached out for Ava, looking at her with a mix of pain and frustration.

Ava was there in a heartbeat, drawing her into her arms as gently as possible. She leaned against the wall to support them, letting Sarah adjust herself and decide how much contact she wanted. She didn’t hesitate to press into her girlfriend’s body, arms wrapping around her neck as she hid her face in her shoulder. She was clearly seeking comfort in the only way she could at that point, needing Ava because nothing else was helping.

“Did you take your painkillers?” Sarah had a prescription for tramadol for this kind of episode but she had a habit of not taking them even if she needed them. She didn’t want to become dependent on opioids, so she found herself saying that she would save them for a worse day. Even if she was having the worst pain flare of her life, Sarah was hesitant to medicate. Ava understood that, but she also knew that it would help immensely in this case.

“T-tried...” Sarah wheezed, “T-threw up... couldn’t... too m-much pain.”

“Okay,” Ava nodded as she smoothed down Sarah’s hair, “We can try again later. Can you take a breath for me, darling?”

Sarah looked up at her with teary eyes, trying to do as she was told and breathe evenly. It only make things worse though, the deep breath causing her chest to clench painfully. It made her cry in frustration, just wanting to be able to calm down so she could sleep. She wanted this to end, she didn’t want to live like this anymore.

“Sarah,” Ava’s voice was far away as she got lost in her pain-fogged brain, “Sarah, focus on me, okay?”

She did try, shifting a little to face her girlfriend. Ava’s hands found her face, holding her cheeks gently to keep her attention. She tried to reply, an apology on her lips again for being such a handful, but all she could manage was rough cough. It was all too much, she just wanted to sleep.

“Ava...” she couldn’t stifle the whine that followed her coughing fit, the involuntary action only jostling her rib cage more. Ava saw the way she was becoming increasingly more frustrated, which only made her cry harder; the amount of pain she was in clearly causing a major mental toll as well.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Ava said softly, pulling her a bit closer. The brunette just slumped back into her arms, giving up on trying to be strong. She couldn’t do it anymore, it was only making the pain worse. Ava knew that and she assured her she didn’t have to be strong.

“I’ve got you,” she promised, “It will pass, baby.”

It was the pained sob that escaped her after that that broke Ava’s heart. Sarah had her face buried in her neck, hands clutching at her scrub top for any semblance of security. The way her body shook and subsequently flinched at the painful movement made Ava want to cry too. Sarah didn’t deserve this; she shouldn’t have to deal with this. Still, she had to be strong when Sarah couldn’t be, it was the least she could do.

“Shh,” she soothed, “It’s okay, darling. I know it hurts.”

They stayed like that for God knows how long; it could have been hours or mere minutes. Sarah just remained pressed against her girlfriend, silent except for the occasional stifled sob if the pain got too much. Ava held her a little tighter every time, speaking reassurances and pressing gentle kisses to her head and face. It made them both feel helpless, not being able to get through a flare like this any other way. Ava would take Sarah’s pain away in a heartbeat if she could, so the fact that all she could do was watch this happen made her feel sick. She just kept promising Sarah it would pass, because she knew it would. If she could calm down and sleep she might be able to get some rest, let her body heal from the self inflicted inflammation it was battling at that moment.

Sarah tried to focus on Ava’s words, the low tone of her accent always soothing her. It still hurt, she felt like she was suffocating, but it was more bearable like this. When she could be in Ava’s arms, surrender to the pain, and let someone else be strong for her. Ava couldn’t make the pain go away, but she could be there to make Sarah feel less alone. That was something she was every grateful for, even if she couldn’t express it in the moment.

#haha I’m sad <3 #this is 100% me projecting because I wish my girlfriend was here for bad flare days ���� #long distance is wack #but at least reesker have each other 😌💕 #chicago med #sarah reese #ava bekker #reesker #my aus #chronic #spoonie!sarah #my-writing #ask #anon #this is unedited :/

[collidingxworlds]

✩ Interview with a Mun ✩

➊ How many ships do you have on this blog?

(( For now I have three confirmed romantic ships on this blog: Crowley & Aziraphale ( @omniishambles​ ), Dean & Castiel ( @awaywardboy-andhisangel​ ​), Sara & Ava ( @xstabcastx​ ​). I’ve other partners who are open to ship with me, but it’s still a work in progress! ))

➋ Have you ever roleplayed with someone that just left an unforgettable impression on you?

(( On this blog (and counting also the two RP I put together to create the first version of this one), yeah, I had the luck of running into a few great RP partners. With three of them I’m still interacting, which is a blessing for how I see it (which would be @paradiseturnedhell {even if we mostly write on my sideblog for the moment}, @omniishambles​ and @awaywardboy-andhisangel​ ). There have been another couple of people, but I lost contact with them a long time ago. ))

➌ Which of your ships on this blog is the fluffiest?

(( Crowley and Aziraphale without doubt. It’s just in their nature to be, even if, of course, there are other shades to their relationship xD ))

➍ Would you say you’re a decent roleplayer or do you have any self doubts?

(( Technically speaking, both. I know that I’m a decent writer generally speaking, which however doesn’t automatically mean that I’m a good RPer. ))

(( I doubt my writing quite often, but never as much as I doubt my ability of being a decent RP partner. It’s harder at times to write RPs, because you need to get in sync with the person you’re writing against and, if said person has a specific style / way to RP that’s different from mine and wants to stick to that, it can become a real struggle for me to conform to it. At times I really have the feeling that I’m failing at it, so...that definite fuels my doubts a lot. )) 

➎ Have you made lots of friends on this blog?

(( Not a lot, also because I’m not much of a people person and I tend to have few friends in general, but I made a few. Not counting the ones I interact with on my sideblog, I’d say 4. ))

➏ What’s the one thing you especially love about roleplaying your muse(s)?

(( I guess I have to list one per each muse xD ))

Crowley: I love writing his inner contrasts. The need to put on a certain facade and pretend to fit into a certain crowd, while he is nothing like them. And the need to know and understand and care on one side versus the fear of the consequences.

Dean: He has this dual struggled inside himself too, but unlike Crowley, Dean wants to fit in the mental image he has been forced to build for himself. And that comes clashing with his more sensible sides, not to mention all the trauma he has to bottle up because that’s how it should be done.

Five: I live that he’s a very complex character, but what I enjoy the most is writing his sharp edges. Sarcasm, cynicism, violence. I never forget where they are sprouted from, because I don’t want to reduce him to that, but it doesn’t make them less fun to write.

Gabriel: He’s a bit like Five, tbh. I love to write his malicious trickster persona, but I must say that what really wins me over is his extremely complex relationship with his family and with whom he used to be. It’s hard to try and put the pieces together after such a long time. Some have been lost, some have changed their shape. Plenty of possible scenarios.

Michael: My fave thing about writing Michael is that I get to write three characters in one (even if, of course, they still have their fundamental traits in common, because they are the same character): pre-Fall Michael (who is more malleable, more prone to emotion, even if he’s still a strict teacher and commander); post-Fall Michael (who has reduced himself to what he thinks being his mission, isolating himself from everyone else for millennia till the End comes); post-Cage Michael (I follow my own HCs for that, who is someone who has lost everything, including a purpose, and has to struggle to find his place in a world that’s suddenly foreign to him);

Sara: What I love about her is that she isn’t just someone who has survived the hardships life has put her through, but she has always become a better and stronger person because of her trauma. And now she is there for others and still willing to go through hell and back for the sake of what she thinks it’s right. She is an inspiration to me in that sense too.

➐ Are there any people you’ve been to afraid of approaching?

(( No one specifically, ‘cause I’m just pathologically bad at approaching new people in general. I find it very hard to make the first move, so I usually wait for the other person to come to me, which most of the times doesn’t happen. I’m trying to work on strategies to overcome the issue, but...I’m still bad at it. ))

➑ Give us a rough estimate: How much time have you spent on your graphics? (icons, theme, banners, promos, etc)

(( Too much considering the poor results. I try not to waste too much time on graphics. I mess around a bit, but once I find something that works and looks half-decent, I tend to stick to it. I’m the kind of RPer that prefers practicability over fanciness. I’m here to write, not to make graphics. If I had to give a rough estimation...I’d say 3-4 hours? ))

➒ Got any memorable threads on here? Care to mention a few?

(( This blog is relatively new and considering that it’s also slow activity, I haven’t gone super far with my threads yet. I can mention a couple of threads I had when I still had my muses on separate sideblogs, tho! In no particular order: ))

A small and sweet thread for New Year’s Eve (2019) I had with @awaywardboy-andhisangel​

A still ongoing thread I started on my Crowley’s sideblog with @omniishambles​ and that’s basically an extension of the Bus Scene in the show (with the two dorks being dorks)

An AU I had built with @paradiseturnedhell​ back when she wrote Crowley too (yep, two Crowleys)

The concept of an AU I had come up with and started with @gaily-gavotte​

(( Aisde from these, I currently have quite a few threads I’m really excited about and that looks absolutely great. I have no doubt that they’ll end up in the list of the memorable ones! ))

➓ What were some of the most frustrating moments you had with your muse(s)’ interaction with another muse?

(( I have a couple of examples in mind, even if there’s surely been more. ))

(( One was when I was writing with this one person and they focused completely on their character in their replies, to the point that I had the impression that they didn’t even read my answers, or barely skimmed through them. I had to be the one to make the thread flow and I found myself having to write a particular point in three different replies in a role before it was acknowledged. I’m not writing with that person anymore, because I have little free time and I really don’t want to waste it on people who don’t care about my side of the thread, but it still irks me thinking back about it. ))

(( The other thing is starting a thread, even after having plotted a bit, and having the other person continuously dropping it without a warning. I put muse and effort in all my replies and seeing them disappearing into the void every single time eventually got on my nerves. Especially since the other person kept coming to ask me for more interactions and I think we both knew that they would have ended up dropping them after a few replies. Again, that’s not the sort of thing I like to use my little free time for. ))

[meme template]

#(( mun scotty's personal log ::ooc:: )) #(( about the mun )) #long post #long post cw #(( munday )) #(( beam me up scotty ::queue:: ))

[stars-in-my-universe]

Need You: Tyler Seguin

Please let me know what you think and if you would like more. I don’t know what this was, I just felt like I needed to write Tyler with a baby in some sort of way and this is what came out! Let me know what you all think.

Warnings: Cussing.

Prt 2.

Prt.3

To be fair, when you had your daughter Tyler and the guys were in the playoffs that week. You really didn’t expect any of them to come by, however you also knew that they had lost and were kicked out of the playoffs that same week meaning they no longer had any upcoming games which made you think maybe he would stop by. But you were completely wrong. Jamie and Katie did come visit you when you were out of the hospital and safe and settled in your apartment in Dallas. 

They had told you about the season and asked how the birth went, which you were honest. It was hard. You had your mom there as well as your sister and your best friend but it was still hard, pushing a baby out of you was not how you pictured yourself at 24. You were no saint and like Tyler, you had a wild past. You guys had partied together and had become best friends, always sharing your stories over some wine and pizza, which is why it killed you when you had told Tyler that you were pregnant from a one night stand; apparently rubbers and the day after pill wasn’t enough. He didn’t say much, he kind of congratulated you and asked you how you were going to do this alone? You remember being a mess and crying on his couch, telling him you didn’t know. You had a good job, that wasn’t the problem it was more so how you were going to raise a child alone. 

You were also a mess because you realized that you had started developing feelings for your best friend and now with the tiny human growing in you, you knew you had no chance now. Not like you had a chance before, you weren’t the kind of girl he went out with. It killed you even more when your pregnancy had progressed and Tyler had distanced himself from you, only ever coming around for big events and that was it, you also had stopped going over to his house parties realizing no one wants a pregnant girl around. Closer to your due date you had finally accepted the fact that there had been a shift in your friendship and now it was four months later, you had a baby girl and Tyler had gone MIA on you, posting on instagram only and actively ignoring your texts. So you finally gave up. Your nights of partying till 4 am had changed to doing research on what baby furniture you needed and baby proofing the apartment. Your life had completely changed whether you wanted it to or not. 

Jamie and Ben surprisingly still game around from time to time, but the captain and goalie never mentioned their assist captain to you, no matter how many times you wanted to ask them how he was. You had come to terms you’d probably only see him maybe during the season which was quickly approaching but you didn’t expect him to show up on your doorstep one day.

“Avaaaaaaa” You sang your daughters name as she sat on the floor surrounded by stuffed animals, some your mom gave you and some your best childhood best friend had given you. You continued to fold clothes and keep an eye on her, as she shook one of her toys in her hands and threw it on the floor.

“Are you being silly, Ava?” She let out a garbled noise which you took as a yes. You got up to put the towels away when there was a knock on the door making you stop. You hadn’t expected anyone today and your mom usually called if she was going to stop by. You put the towels down and bent down to pick Ava up who happily cooed as you held her in your arms. You placed a kiss on her hand that she kept shoving in your face making you laugh. Opening the door you turned to face the visitor and before you could catch yourself you went to slam the door shut. 

“Y/N!” Tyler’s foot shot out blocking the door from closing all the way. He was the last person you expected to see on your door step.

“What the fuck do you want Tyler?” You really tried to not cuss in front of Ava but today was an exception.

“I just want to talk, apologize, for-”

“Oh go fuck yourself Tyler.” You were pissed and Ava could tell because before you knew it she was in tears, screaming making you groan. If you went to calm her down He’d be able to get in, but you couldn’t stand here with your door open and a screaming baby, your neighbors did like you.

“Just go away, Tyler. I have to put her down.” He let out a huff but didn’t move.

“Let me see her, I want to see her.” You flinched as Ava let out another cry.

“You gave up your write to see her when you decided to ignore my texts and disappear.” Another cry. You let out a ‘fuck’ and stepped away from the door watching as the door flung open and Tyler nearly falling through the doorway onto the floor. You ignored him as you went into your room to put Ava in her crib, laying her down you had turned her twinkle lights that hung over her crib on and turned on her animal mobile that played soothing sounds when you needed her to calm down. She immediately stopped crying and looked above her, her eyes following the little lion and zebra as they went in a circle. You smiled down at her and tucked her in knowing she was probably going to take a nap. Turning on the baby monitor by the crib and grabbing the other one, you closed your bedroom door halfway and made your way back into the living room where you had left the pain the ass. 

You watched as Tyler stood by your book shelf in the living room that used to be littered with pictures of your party days. Now it was pictures from your baby shower, Ava being born, your sonograms, your mom with Ava. She really was your world now. You eyed Tyler as he took in the pictures; he looked good as he always did. He had bulked up a bit over the summer, his snapback on his head, his beard neatly trimmed. This wasn’t anything new, Tyler always looked good.

“I won’t repeat myself again, Tyler. What the fuck do you want?” He jumped at your voice which was significantly lower due to Ava. You watched as he rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had.

“I just want to apologize and talk. Let me explain myself.” You rolled your eyes.

“You left Tyler, out of my life. You were my best friend and you just disappeared.” He watched as you moved around the room, a habit you had when you were stressed. You couldn’t sit still.

“I got scared!” You wanted to slap him.

“Scared? I was scared Tyler, I was going to have a baby by myself and I needed my best friends there. But you just left. How dare you say you were scared!” He didn’t say anything, you could feel the anger and the hurt radiate through your body. 

“How could you be scared? All you had to do was be supportive, I didn’t ask you for anything else. I had-”

“I was scared because I was in love with you!” 

#Tyler Seguin #tyler seguin one shot #tyler seguin imagine #tyler seguin x reader #nhl imagines #nhl #nhl oneshot #dallas stars #dallas stars imagine #jamie benn #ben bishop #writing #angst #baby talk

[ladynestaarcheron]

Like Pristine Glass - Chapter Fourteen

ao3 - ff.net - masterpost

(tagging these cuties: @humanexile @skychild29 @rhysandsdarlingfeyre @candid-confetti ​ @rhysandsrightknee @missing-merlin @azriels-forgotten-shadow @books-and-cocos @sezkins79 @city-of-fae @someonemagical @dusty-lightbulb @messyhairday-me)

i think i’ve talked about this chapter more than any other. i’m VERY nervous scared excited to post it, and i cannot wait to hear what you think. please noe: any character’s views on God and/or the universe do not reflect those of the author

as per usual, thanks a million to my lovely beta, @thestarwhowishes, and to you all for reading!!

---

November 9 - 4 years after

 When Feyre sees Cassian the day after he arrives in Velaris after over a week away, he is unrecognizable from the day before. It had been depressing to see him like that. Somehow worse than when they had lost Nesta years ago. That unhealthy anger was better than this proper misery, this depressing lack, the only trace of anything in his being guilt.

But the day after, the usual twinkle is in his eye and he says to her directly, looking over Rhys, “Nesta and the triplets are coming for Solstice.”

She jumps up. “Are you serious?”

"She just sent word. I’ll tell Elain. Where is she?”

“Garden.”

He shoots her a grin before leaving to find her, whistling slightly as he goes.

Feyre laughs. “He’s happy now.”

Rhys hums in agreement. “Are you?”

She takes a minute to think about it. “I’m...happy with you,” she says slowly. “With our people. And our family, here. But it’s not just that Nesta isn’t here. It’s that things aren’t right with her.”

“Cassian wants her to move here.”

Feyre hesitates. “I don’t think she will.”

“What about what you want?”

She shrugs. “Sure, I want that. I want my sisters and my niece and nephews close to me. Why wouldn’t I want that? But Nesta worked hard for her home on the Continent.”

“There’s nothing there that doesn’t exist here,” he says gently.

“I don’t understand,” Feyre says, a wry smile on her face. “Do you miss Nesta?” She doesn’t feel any guilt thinking that—there is no love lost between her mate and her sister, not on either side.

An identical smile tugs at Rhys’ lips. “Can’t say I particularly do. But if you and Cassian want her here...and the children, obviously.”

“Nicky looks so much like Cassian,” Feyre says for the umpteenth time. She can’t keep the excitement out of her voice—it will never cease to amaze her, how she can see bits and pieces of Cass and Nesta and even herself and Elain and their father in three little creatures. It never fails to make her long for her own child, the little boy the Bone Carver had shown her. With Rhys’ hair, with her lips...lips that Nesta and Ava share as well. Will the resemblance be clear enough, if they all stand together one day? Will everyone know just by looking that they are a family?

“Cassian looked at a house.”

“What, here in Velaris?”

Rhys shows her the outside. Bigger than Nesta’s house in Sugar Valley, and not the same style at all. In fact, this one looks vaguely similar to the townhouse they had once spent most of their time in.

“Four bedrooms,” he says.

Feyre’s heart sinks. Four bedrooms. For a family. But what are the chances that Nesta will actually to agree to live there?

I really want her to. Even the voice inside her head sounds small. She misses her sister.

At once, Feyre decides she can’t wait till Solstice. “I’m going to visit her,” she says.

If Rhys doesn’t think she should, he keeps it to himself. “With Elain?”

“No,” she says. “I’d like to speak to her alone. Without a buffer.” Without a shield. “This is long overdue.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. She won’t...” Feyre struggles to find the right words. “She’s agreed to come for Solstice. I think we should keep her interactions with you...to a minimum.”

Rhys laughs as she grins apologetically. “Fine,” he says. “But...hurry back.” He tilts her face upward to kiss her.

She floods the love he sends to her back at him, tenfold. I will, she says silently.

But not before she gets what she’s going for.

---

November 22 - 1 year after

 With the mess of her finding out she was pregnant with triplets across the sea from everything she had ever known, Nesta thought she might be entitled to a bit of courteous privacy, but evidently, the citizens of Sugar Valley disagreed, and when she arrived at work, Miri was waiting for her in the area of the back room she normally worked in, with two steaming mugs of something.

It wasn’t that Nesta hated these people, it was that she could not understand why everyone in the world couldn’t simply mind their own business and why they had to be so interested in other people’s lives. Namely, hers. But the smell from the mugs was the same as that chocolate-berry drink Zeyn had given her yesterday, and since she had had it, it was all she could think about.

Well. That and the three fetuses currently growing inside her.

So she sat down and took the mug.

“Nesta, dear,” Miri said, voice dripping with sympathy.

Nesta stifled the urge to roll her eyes—she didn’t need coddling or anything of the sort. Sure, yesterday had been a bit of a shock, but she was fine now. Her thoughts were gathered. She would go through with the pregnancy and…well, that was the most important thing. That she knew that, at least.

But Miri only continued with, “You must be so hungry and tired,” and that, because it was the exact right thing to say, was apparently the exact wrong thing to say.

Nesta knew very well how to deal with people saying the wrong thing to her. Perhaps it could be argued that she did not deal with it particularly well, but she had her methods. But someone saying the right thing to her was so much more rare. And she wasn’t sure if it was being away from her sisters, or him, or the three little parasites in her uterus, or maybe the berries in the water, but—to her horror—Nesta could feel her throat and eyes begin to burn at Miri’s innocent statement.

“Oh, poor dear...”

“I’m fine,” she nearly sobbed, sounding shrill even to herself.

“It’s all right,” she whispered, running a hand up and down her back. “We’ll take care of you...we’ll write to whomever you want…”

This nearly made Nesta lose control completely, and she shoved a fist against her mouth to keep from crying out. She didn’t want to send a letter…she didn’t want this in writing, didn’t want it to be real.

Nesta’s pathetic attempts to stop herself from making any noise and the tears blurring her vision and the sudden uptick in her body’s temperature left her, unfortunately, in a coughing fit. Her whole form shook, racked with emotion, and for a very frightening few minutes indeed, she couldn’t even feel Miri sitting next to her.

But she came back to herself eventually, and Miri was still there. Still stroking her back, still murmuring to her, half in the common tongue, half in Gilameyvan.

“It’ll be all right,” she kept saying. “Everything will be all right.”

Nesta didn’t think she believed her.

---

November 11 - 4 years after

 Nesta’s had quite enough of her own cowardice and marches herself to the table Zeyn is sitting at, ignoring Xeyale’s greeting. “I need to talk to you,” she says to him.

His brown face tenses for a moment. But it disappears quickly, replaced by his usual friendly, patient smile. “All right,” he says, standing up.

She turns on her heel and leads him to the back room. “Out, Maz,” she commands.

“I’m working!”

“Well, work in the front,” she snaps.

“Sorry, Maz,” Zeyn says with a laugh, as he passes by with a scowl. He laughs again. “I guess this’ll be a good talk, then. Nothing makes you happier than yelling at Maz.”

Nesta ignores the guilt stirring her stomach at the twinkle in his eye. “I didn’t yell.”

“Oh, semantics.” He sits down. “What’s up?”

Nesta allows herself a few more moments to summon her nerve—swallows once, squares her shoulders, then says, “I’m taking the children to Velaris for Solstice.”

The teasing glint winks out of his eyes and his deerlike ears still. “And you...think this is a good idea.”

She’s not sure how much of a right he has to be upset, but it does irritate her a bit. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it was a good idea.” She tries to keep the bite out of her voice. “I’ve never cared much for Solstice, you know that. And their father does. So it does seem to make sense that they celebrate it on his terms.”

As if presenting the argument as entirely logical, as only sensible, will make him believe and accept it.

“But we celebrate Solstice here.”

They do—they have, since she came here. And it’s...fun. It was always nice to see her children enjoying themselves. Last year they were even old enough to not only appreciate getting gifts, but also anticipate Solstice before it happened. It was important enough that they remember it, and still bring it up occasionally.

“Maybe we can celebrate two Solstices,” she suggests.

He frowns. “Summer?”

“No, I mean...one here, one there.”

“I always thought of it as our holiday,” he says. “Just the five of us.”

This definitely irks Nesta. He should know better than anyone she doesn’t see any holidays as her own. It’ll always feel frivolous and treacherous to her. “We’ve never celebrated it just the five of us,” she says. “We’ve always done something with the whole shop.”

She really hates this—arguing with Zeyn. She always feels like she’s in the wrong. He’s never seen her as she is; he always sees her as something better. 

He hates arguing with her as well, and she can see by his eyes darting around and the slight shuffle of his hooved feet that he’s going to drop it. She’s relieved, because she’s a coward, but a small part of her is disappointed. They are long overdue for a lengthy discussion regarding his vision for a happy little mixed family of five, and her desires for her children and herself.

It’s her fault, of course, that they had not had this conversation years ago, and so she can’t be upset with him when he finally gives a little shrug and says, “I’m sure you’re doing what you think is best.”

If it’s the tiniest bit irritating, that is prickly Nesta’s own fault, too. He isn’t trying to upset her—he’s Zeyn.

“You know I wouldn’t if I didn’t.”

He smiles at her, sweet and sincere. “I do.” His warm brown eyes crinkle. “When will you be going?”

“Only next month,” Nesta says. Probably only a day or so before Solstice—just because she wants them to enjoy the holiday with Cassian doesn’t mean she’s been deluded into thinking she’s going to have a particularly fun time herself. No need to make it longer than necessary.

"Let me know. I can help you pack.”

There’s no malice, no bitterness she can detect in his voice. She stifles a relieved sigh. “Thanks.”

He doesn’t answer, only smiles.

“I need to find Adil,” she says. “I’m going to be scouting for authors.”

He raises an eyebrow. “In Prythian? They don’t traditionally publish here…”

“It’s a new age,” she says, shrugging. And it’s true. While Prythian has generally been secluded, she has learned, since the defeat of Hybern they have tentatively been more open with trade amongst nations that hadn’t sided with their enemies. She imagines it’ll take longer for any partnerships with Montesere to kick in.

Adil is torn when she tells him of her plans. On the one hand, she knows, he is skeptical of her going. He has never liked Zeyn’s affection towards her, but he has also no reason to like Cassian or her sisters.

His blue lips purse, and she suppresses a smile as she can see the other side of the equation spin around in his head—that he definitely wants to be the first Gilameyvan bookstore to publish an author from Prythian.

“You’re a good mother and a sensible employee,” he says finally.

She tries to stifle a blush, but she’s too taken by surprise. “Thank you,” she says.

“Let us know before you leave. We’ll give you gifts to take with you.”

“I will,” she promises. He and Miri dote on her children; Solstice is a fun time for her to watch the five of them.

That's the thing about Solstice, Nesta thinks as she gathers her children from nursery and heads back to her house. It’s not that she’s against the familial nature of it all, the loving closeness during the coldest time of the year. She’s not a monster. It’s a nice idea, and it’s fun to watch her children get excited over gifts and whatever art projects they’re doing in nursery.

Before she had them, her main issue with Solstice was that it felt like giving in to the Fae. Like surrendering the last of her humanity. For they did not have holidays South of the Wall. Why should they? What was sacred to a people abandoned by the gods? If one had to be powerful to be loved by the faes’ so-called Holy Mother, she didn’t want anything to do with Her anyway.

And now? Now she likes the joy it sparks in the people around her. But this time of family only ever serves to remind her that she is missing half of hers. Blame can be shoved this way and that, but when everyone around her is thanking their Creator for all their loved ones around them, whose fault it is is the last thing on Nesta’s mind.

“Mummy, when is Appa coming back?” Nicky asks her when they get home.

“I still don’t know, Nicky,” she says patiently. Then she pauses. Now seems as good a time as ever to tell them, she guesses. “We’re actually going to visit him soon, though.”

“Go and visit?” Avery asks.

Nesta helps Ollie take off his outer things. “Yes,” she says. “Do you know where he lives? With your aunts?”

“Do they all live together?”

Well. “Yes.” It’s true enough. She doesn’t think Elain has gotten her own house in the past three years—there’s no way she’ll live on her own, and as long as she isn’t married, she won’t live with a male, so she’s definitely still living with Feyre. And Cassian hasn’t bothered to get his own place in Velaris in the past five hundred years or so; she can’t imagine anything has changed as of late.

“In a very big house, Mummy.”

“Yes, it’s a very big house, Avery.”

"It’s very very very very big!” Nicky says.

"They live all the way across the sea,” she says, stopping them before they can get into her least favorite game. 

"Where’s the sea?” Nicky asks.

"It’s to the west.”

"Are we going on a boat?” Ollie asks.

"No,” she laughs. “We’ll probably winnow.”

"Maybe we can fly,” Nicky says hopefully.

“Absolutely not.”

“Maybe we will.”

“No. We will not. Does that sound like fun, though? Does going to spend Solstice across the sea with Appa and your aunts sound like fun?”

“It sounds like so much fun!” Avery says.

“Do they have orange juice across the sea?” Nicky says.

“We can’t fly because it’s too far and Mummy can’t fly,” Ollie says.

“Yeah, Nicky, Mummy can’t fly.”

“Do they have orange juice or not?”

“All right,” Nesta cuts in. Apparently they don’t care as much as everyone else seems to. She’s sure they’ll bring it up again closer to the date. “Let’s get something to eat.”

There’s lots she has to think about, she realizes. Duration of their stay, how they’re getting there...she doesn’t ever take them along on her—ahem—preferred method of travel. And oh, she’ll need to take a trip to the lake before they leave. She’s not going to want to have all that magic pent up inside her while she’s there, and it’ll be best for all parties involved if she’s at her calmest upon arrival.

Amren will be there. Her first...friend, in Prythian. So different from Amorette, and yet the comfort she feels in the latter’s presence is so reminiscent of what she used to feel doing a jigsaw puzzle at that demon’s apartment. She’s not spoken to her for longer than she hadn’t spoken to her sisters...neither of them had attempted to seek the other out after their last fight.

“Can we go to the park now, Mummy?” Nicky asks her after they’ve been fed.

Nesta glances outside. A light drizzle has already begun. “No, angel, it’s going to rain. Let’s play inside today.”

There’s a bit of grumbling about this, but they are—as always—mollified when she starts out the game herself. Sometimes it’s coloring, sometimes building blocks. Today she’s situated herself inside the little house Cassian had erected for them during his visit. The three of them scramble to join her; it’s only a few seconds before Avery has declared the rules of this little house and their roles in it. This game lasts an hour and then, mercifully, transforms into “art projects” at the kitchen table. More of a mess for Nesta to clean up later, but less exhaustive.

She’s allowed not to partake in order to prepare dinner for them. She smiles to herself as she cooks; she’s always loved listening to them talk amongst themselves. They’re good friends; she thinks they would be even if they weren’t siblings.

After dinner, bathtime, a bit more play, and a bedtime story (Ollie’s turn to choose), Nesta walks back downstairs to make something for herself to eat. She pours herself a glass of wine and sits in the living room, in her favorite corner of the couch, with a notebook. She’s got to make a list of everything she needs to prepare before leaving. She’s never taken them anywhere farther than Privet Falls a town over.

A knock on the door interrupts her. She sighs as she stands up to open it. Probably Zeyn, upset at her decision. She did think, earlier, that he had given in a tad too easily. Although such is Zeyn’s way: he never confronts her. He’s not a warrior type.

But it is not Zeyn’s warm brown eyes staring back at her when she opens the door. It’s her own grey-blue.

“Feyre,” she says, too surprised to say anything else.

“I know I probably should’ve given you some notice,” her sister says apologetically. “Sorry. I just...had to see you.” She swallows and tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“Come in,” she says, stepping aside.

She’s not sure what her feelings are on Feyre showing up on her front doorstep. She’s too taken aback to think straight, so she says, “Can I get you some wine? Or something else to drink,” she adds.

"Whatever you’re having is fine.”

Nesta pours her sister a glass of white on crushed ice and hands it to her. She takes wordlessly and downs half of it.

“Are you staying here?” Nesta asks suddenly, the thought only just occurring to her.

"I don’t know,” she replies. That depends on you, she doesn’t say.

Well, she’s not going to throw her sister out onto the street, but she hasn’t decided if she wants her sleeping here. Will she go to the inn to spend the night? Or will she winnow back? Or fly? Does she still fly very often?

“How are the triplets?” Feyre says, finally breaking the silence.

“Well,” Nesta says. “Very well. Happy. Healthy.” Well, Ollie might still be a little underweight...but as long as his lungs are strong, his healer says...

“I heard you’re coming for Solstice.”

“Oh. Yes.”

Feyre nods. She opens her mouth a few times but can’t seem to find anything to say.

Not for long, of course. Not her brash little sister. On her fourth try, she says, “Why didn’t you write to say you were pregnant?”

Nesta doesn’t hesitate. “Why didn’t you write to say you were alive?”

Feyre flinches. Then she laughs a little; more bitter than amused, but there isn’t any malice. “I guess that’s fair.”

Elain would never say so. And as a mother she can’t really say that two sisters hurting each other makes it fair, but as a sister...well, she’s not upset that Feyre agrees, at any rate.

“You know, that first letter,” Feyre starts, her eyes on Nesta but clearly seeing something else—Nesta’s own eyes see that dock in Montesere— “we ripped it open. We were so...after the note you left Cassian? And then we were so angry…”

“You were angry?”

Well, we were hurt. And the lines kind of blur when emotions run high.”

Nesta has nothing to say to that. A few moments ago she was more pleased that she and Feyre shared the same thoughts; now she is remembering how much she used to hate it as a girl.

“Your other letters weren’t much better.”

"At least I sent them,” she snaps.

"I know,” Feyre says. She sets her wine glass down. Her voice is thin, tight. "But...in your letter. After your note."

Nesta slowly moves to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. They have not yet spoken outright of her leaving, just of her having been gone.

"Because you said you were drowning."

"Feyre." Nesta stops herself.

"Why did you leave?" she blurts out. "I thought things were going well! I thought you and Cassian..."

"I know what you thought."

"So what happened?"

"I don't want to discuss this, Feyre."

"Well, I do!" Feyre says, and she straightens, snapping herself up. "I want to know why you had to leave, when we had finally got things going well for you!"

At this, Nesta freezes. "When you...had got things going well...for me?"

If Feyre is unsure of herself at Nesta's tone, she doesn't show it. She nods once, firmly.

Nesta sucks in her lip slightly, but tries to keep it from curling upwards. The children are excited for Solstice, she says to herself. And she doesn't want this to end in anger. Again.

But Feyre has quickened her pulse and risen her temper.

"Tell me, Feyre," she says, her voice cool. "Why was it so sinful, so unforgivable, for Tamlin to keep you in the Spring Court, and yet your right to send me to Illyria?"

Feyre’s mouth parts. “I...”

She’s begun to tremble, and Nesta is irritated at her for this reaction. She shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. She shouldn’t get upset.

“Nesta,” she says, voice catching. “I...I didn’t...I never meant...”

“I know what you meant,” Nesta says, gruffly. She doesn’t want to talk about this.

“I just need to know...if you left…” Feyre trails off. This is unlike her, this anxiousness. “Nesta, am I your villain?”

She blinks. Is she her villain?

"I don’t have a villain,” Nesta says, slightly bewildered. “I’m not a story.”

Who put this in her head? Her idiot husband, probably. He’s the villain, we’re the heroes, or some stupid shit like that, as if they were simple fable characters, one-note and flat, instead of people, capable of kindness and manipulation with conflicting desires.

“But...when you said…” Feyre’s lip trembles. Is she—is she going to cry?

Nesta’s mouth parts open a little. When was the last time she saw Feyre cry? That night she got Elain back, during the war?

“When you said you were drowning...in your letter...I need to know if—if I did that.” Her sister’s eyes are wide and searching, fighting back tears. “And now...if I’m like—if you felt how I felt... Please tell me. Because...if that’s true...then I—I’m sorry, Nesta,” and tears do spill out of her eyes and down her cheeks, still rosy from the cold. Or maybe the wine. “I’m sorry.”

Out of love for the first baby Nesta remembers holding, she stifles an eye roll. She moves closer and pats her shoulder tentatively. When Feyre was very young, she had shown her a lot of physical affection, but she doubts she remembers any of that, and it would probably be weird for both of them if she hugged her. “Feyre,” she says, trying to be gentle. How to explain to this...this little girl, made to believe by a male, oh, twenty-seven times her age or so, that she is the most powerful creature in the world, special and essential to the function of the universe...that not all of her elder sister’s choices revolve uniquely around her?

She doesn’t fault Feyre for this, of course. And she doesn’t think Rhysand put it in her head directly—You’re the reason your sister left does not strike her as the kind of thing he would say—but Feyre’s always been rather miserable at connecting dots.

“Feyre,” she says again. “I don’t have a villain. I chose to leave. Just like you did,” she reminds her, bumping her knee lightly against her. Referring to more than one time, of course. Leaving home and then leaving the Spring Court. “I went of my own volition.” Were there other factors? Of course there were. But nothing she needs to share with her baby sister; certainly not while she cries. Nesta has no desire to hurt her further. She remembers the day Feyre was born. She remembers teaching Feyre to speak. That Feyre does not remember these things is irrelevant; it does not have anything to do with the sacredness of the acts. “But if I did,” she continues, moving closer to her sister, “it wouldn’t be you. You’re not like Tamlin,” she adds. She doesn’t tell her that she thinks her old High Lord and her new one share far more than their race and title.

Tamlin ruined their lives. He sold them out. His treatment of Feyre was enough to make Nesta vomit, and that was only from what she saw at that stupid High Lord meeting. The only thing she doesn’t loathe about her idiot brother-in-law is his patience with Elain.

But she doesn’t blame Feyre for those things. When you meet someone as a baby, she thinks, you see them that way forever.

Feyre wipes at her eyes and takes a deep breath, and Nesta feels another surge of irritation towards her idiot husband. Placing this girl as monarch over a people, after just learning how to read, no political experience or knowledge whatsoever...this is what it’s done to her. Feyre makes mistakes with her sister; the three of them do. But now Feyre believes there’s some echoing magnitude to everything she thinks about. People are angry at Nesta for not hunting alongside Feyre when she was fourteen, but she was only seventeen herself. Seventeen is not old enough to hunt either, just as twenty-six is too young to rule a country forever.

“But...you’re still angry at me.”

There she goes again, with her black and white world. Nesta gives a little shrug. “I’m not thrilled. I don’t carry anger.”

Feyre frowns. “What do you mean, you don’t carry anger?”

“I just...ignore things. Forget about them.”

“That doesn’t strike me as particularly healthy.”

“Well, I haven’t died yet, so…”

They both pause, and after a moment, laugh a little.

It’s not that Nesta is at peace with everything that has happened in her life. She most certainly is not. It’s that she doesn’t want to let things affect her relationship with her children. And if there’s one thing her parents taught her, it’s that you can’t be a good mother when you’re carrying pain.

“I’m really happy you’re coming for Solstice,” Feyre says softly.

“I’ll make up a bed for you,” Nesta replies, which is not quite forgiveness, but Nesta is still not quite forgiving.

But there are better uses of her energy than turning her sister out.

---

Chapter Fifteen

#like pristine glass #acotar au #nessian au #acotar fic #nesta archeron #i'm kinda sorta actually worried about what the response will be for this one!! #ahhhh lol i feel anxious omg omg

[kpophours]

One Love || part I

➵ SF9: Youngbin x fem. reader / series, werewolf AU / fluff

➵ warnings: slight mentions of loss and death

➵ word count: 3k

next.

You knocked on the slightly ajar door in front of you. 

It was just a plain, white door - not a fancy oak one or something like that, which you had always imagined the door of a professor's office to look like. This one pretty much looked like any other normal office door. 

"Please enter.", a deep, male voice answered and you immediately pushed open the door, following the invitation. 

"Well, hello there, how can I help you?" A brown-haired, handsome man with dark eyes smiled at you, closing the book he had just looked at. "Professor Kim? I'm Y/N, your new scientific assistant.", you answered, smiling a bit shyly. Immediately, his face lit up und he circled his desk to shake your hand. "Ahh yes, of course! It's so nice to finally meet you in person - please, have a seat." His smile widened even more and he gestured towards one of the black chairs in front of his desk, taking a seat himself. 

"Thank you."  You smiled again and handed him your documents, which he quickly looked over.

"Great, everything seems to be in order! As today is your first day, we don't want to overwork you immediately, so I thought I'd start with giving you a tour around our beautiful campus and introduce you to some colleagues and then, I’m going to show you my most recent research papers, which you can have a look at for the rest of the day. Sounds good to you?" 

You smiled and nodded. "Sounds perfect, Professor Kim." 

"Ah, please - we'll have to work closely together, so just call me Inseong. I hope I can call you Y/N?", he said, simply waving his title aside and smiling at you.

"Of course, Prof- uh, I mean, Inseong." you answered, returning his smile and following the tall man out of the office.

The campus was really beautiful, full of old brick buildings as well as some more modern looking office buildings. The library was a towering, imposing structure which reminded you more of a church than an actual university building - and you immediately fell in love with it. The whole university reminded you a bit of Hogwarts, so you felt like walking through a dream. Only a handful of students seemed to be hanging out on campus today, but that wasn’t really surprising - the new semester hadn't started yet. 

"And this is the most important building out of all of them - the cafeteria.", Inseong explained, ending his tour with a grand gesture towards one of the more modern looking buildings. You laughed and he smiled, really liking the sound, bright and fresh so early in the morning - he already knew working with you would be a pleasure, you were open-minded, talkative, funny and seemed to be pretty laid-back. He couldn’t wait to hear your thoughts on his next big research project.

"Well, I think I'm going to like working here. The atmosphere is truly amazing - and the campus is beautiful, I always love when buildings have a certain... history to them.", you told Inseong just before you entered the History department again and smiled up at him, looking around and taking a last deep breath of autumn air, before pushing inside. 

"Well, you can definitely say this about these buildings! Ahh, I'm truly just so glad you're finally here. I really do need a helping hand and I'm sure we'll become a great team. Are you maybe interested in having dinner with me tonight? I could show you around our little town, if you like." Inseong immediately saw you withdrawing upon hearing his proposal. "I mean as friends of course! I am definitely not interested in dating at the moment, I simply don't have the time!", he quickly explained further, sheepishly ruffling his hair and smiling down at the you. 

You exhaled, relieved. "Oh, well... sure, I'd like that, then." Your attitude quickly changed back to your usual self and Inseong began gnawing on his lower lip. He meant it, he really wasn't interested in dating anyone at the moment - you were nice, intelligent and rather beautiful, but he knew a relationship with him would be a doomed one - because of his secret. He was a werewolf and therefore had a mate - somewhere out there in this world. It was possible that he would never meet her of course, but if he did... well, every other woman in the world would simply fade into the background, no matter how much she had meant to him before. He didn't want to risk breaking anyone's heart, so he always tried to keep his distance. And this would obviously also apply to his new research assistant.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly. You were able to work through a few of Inseong’s research papers without much difficulty, already pointing out some weaknesses - he had been right, you truly were the right person to help him. You were incredibly bright and quickly came to the right conclusions - Inseong knew you’d improve his little research team in just the right way.

The walk around town in the evening was very enjoyable as you had a lot to talk about. Inseong found you very easy to talk to, your witty sort of humor entertaining him greatly. He learned that you had grown up in a rather small village together with an older brother and your parents. Your childhood had been filled with good memories, up until your grandfather died - your family had been torn apart by the loss, one of your uncles and your mother hadn't talked to each other in years afterwards. You hadn’t been allowed to play with your cousins anymore - one of which had been like a brother to you, as you were the same age. Your mother had died when you were 15, as well as your maternal grandmother a few years later, to which you had been very close after losing your mother so early. You didn't really get along with your older brother, but loved your father beyond words. 

Inseong also found out that you loved to read, listen to music and to travel, that you liked baking but not cooking and that your favorite animals were wolves (oh, the irony) and penguins. Inseong in turn told you about himself as well - that he had been raised by a very large family, that no, he had no "real" siblings, but was living together with a bunch of people now - a somewhat adopted family, he called them. Some were working in town, some were still students at university - none of them being a student of his, of course - and they were close like brothers, living together in a big old farmhouse outside of town, deep into the woods. He told you he also liked reading, but was more into historical fiction, something you rarely decided to read. 

You noticed how much you already liked your new boss and began to really look forward to working with him and the rest of his team.

It was already completely dark and rather late, when you finally finished your dinner and left the cozy restaurant. "Well, thank you very much for this evening, Inseong - I had a lot of fun. Just one last question: do you happen to know about a car repair shop around here? I just bought a car and it seems to be in pretty good shape, but the previous owner said I should get it checked as soon as possible - just to be sure." 

The tall man grinned and nodded. "I know just the guy for you - he actually lives with me! His name is Youngbin and he owns the best and biggest repair shop in town. I think I have his business card with me, just a second..." He searched through his wallet, finally finding said card and handed it to you. "Kim Youngbin, CAR REPAIR SHOP.", you read out loud, "Oh perfect, thank you! I'll call him tomorrow and ask for an appointment." But Inseong waved that aside. "I'll just tell him you'll come over after work tomorrow and he'll have a look at your car. I'm sure that won't be a problem." 

"Are you sure?", you asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I'll tell him tonight - he’s a night owl and most definitely still awake.", Inseong answered and smiled at you.

You returned it immediately. "Well, thank you! That's really nice. I'll see you tomorrow at the office, then?" 

"Yes. I'll bring coffee - a latte for you?", he asked, car keys already in hand.

"I’d prefer a cappuccino, thanks. And can I interest you in a muffin or bagel?", you replied and he grinned.

"Oh, you absolutely can." 

"Then that's what I'll bring.", you said with a smile - and with that, you parted ways. 

When you got home, you immediately threw off your shoes and jacket, quickly tumbling into your big, comfy bed - the jet lag still hadn't fully disappeared and you were completely exhausted. Minutes later, you were already fast asleep. 

Inseong on the other hand wasn't nearly as tired as you when he came home - he also wouldn't have been able to get any sleep yet. The house was full of his brothers and some of their mates, it was apparently time for their monthly movie night again. 

"Inseong, there you are! We were almost beginning to miss you - don't tell me you were working until now?!", Jaeyoon immediately greeted him when he entered the living room. He was one half of the, how Inseong silently called them, ‘chaos line'. 

"Well, he probably wasn't one a date, so where else could he have been?", Dawon, the other half of said line, grinned and struck out his tongue at the older man. 

"Don't be mean.", his mate Ava immediately scolded, wacking him over the head and smiling apologetically at the older man, who just rolled his eyes. 

"I actually was out, just so you know." 

"ON A DATE?!", the tallest of the bunch, Rowoon, almost shouted, surprise written all over his handsome face. All fell silent, gaping at Inseong who had turned slightly red. "No, don't be ridiculous. I just had dinner with my new scientific assistant, that's all. She's new in town and doesn't know anyone yet, so I showed her around a bit." 

"Ohhh, is she pretty?", Kate, Jaeyoon’s mate, asked, smiling brightly just as Dana, Chani’s mate, asked: "Is she nice?" 

"I don't see what her looks have to do with anything, but yes - she is very pretty. But more wha’s even more important, she is nice, yes - thank you, Dana.", Inseong answered, making Kate pout. Jaeyoon grinned and slung his arms around her, pulling her to his chest. 

"Who's pretty and nice?", a male voice behind Inseong suddenly asked and Youngbin entered the living room, hands still full of grease from repairing cars all day. 

"Inseong’s new assistant.", Rowoon explained immediately. 

"Scientific assistant, there's a difference.", the older man automatically corrected, "She's writing her doctor's thesis as well as joining my research team." 

“So she's intelligent.", Zuho guessed. 

"Oh, highly so. I think she'll be able to improve my papers greatly.", Inseong confirmed and Youngbin whistled. "Coming out of your mouth... she must be half a genius." He cracked a slightly crooked smile, indicating his irony. 

"But she's not your mate, I guess.", Rowoon said and everyone fell silent again. 

"No, she is not. But something about her... I don’t know. Her scent indicates something, but I can't put my finger on it.", Inseong explained thoughtfully, staring into nothing, before shrugging, "Maybe I'm wrong, who knows. I'll go and try to get some sleep now - you guys don't stay up too late, okay?"

Everyone nodded, before looking at the big screen in front of them again. 

"Ah, by the way - Y/N needs someone to check her car, so I told her she could come by at your repair shop after work tomorrow and you'll have a look. I hope that's alright with you?", Inseong said to Youngbin and his alpha just shrugged, before nodding. "Sure. I'll be around the shop until 8pm at least, I think.", he answered.

"Perfect, Y/N will be glad to hear that. Good night then.“ With that, Inseong left their living room.

It was bitterly cold the next day. 

You already froze half to death when you hurried along the sidewalk to get to your car. Your breath formed tiny white clouds in front of you and you cursed yourself for not having thought about bringing your gloves. They were still in one of the few unpacked boxes inside your new apartment - but who could have guessed that the temperature would drop so low just over night? Not you, that much was obvious. You were glad that your car started pretty quickly, even though it was a such an old one - a black VW golf cabrio from the 90s. Back home you had driven a newer model, a shiny, silver VW polo, but now you were on a tighter budget. You just hoped that the repair shop wouldn't find any real damage tonight. 

When you finally arrived at work, your car was already cozily warm and you felt much better. You had quickly stopped at a little café not far from campus to obtain the promised muffins and bagels for Inseong and yourself and now you were rushing towards the office so you wouldn't be late for your second day. 

Inseong was already seated behind his desk when you arrived - a bit out of breath, you should really start your workout routine again - and immediately began to smile when he saw you, his dark eyes forming little crescents. "Good morning, Y/N. Slept well?" 

You grinned back, placing the food on top of the table. "I did, thank you. But I was a bit shocked when I stepped outside this morning, if I'm being honest. Such a radical temperature drop over night!" 

"Well, that does happen sometimes in this state.”, Inseong confirmed, reaching behind him and handing you a steaming cup, ”Here, take your coffee - it'll heat you up." You deeply inhaled the familiar scent, smiling slightly and thanking him, before taking a seat behind you own desk. 

You spent the next few hours in comfortable silence, with only a few interruptions whenever you had questions about the research. At around 2pm, Inseong and you had lunch at the cafeteria, where you also met up with a few other professors and their research assistants, before returning to your work. At 6.30pm, Inseong finally yawned, stretched and turned off his desk light. "Well, that's it for today. Let's go home - or in your case, let’s go to the repair shop. Youngbin knows you're stopping by, so he'll be waiting for you." 

"Ah, perfect, thank you so much, Inseong! I'll see you tomorrow, then.", you answered and smiled at him. 

"Yes, have a nice evening, Y/N." With that, he shot you a wink and left the office.

You didn't have much trouble finding the repair shop, even though you usually didn't have the best sense of direction. But earlier that day, Inseong had shown you the way on Google maps and as the shop was just a few blocks away from campus, you found it rather quickly. You parked your car in front of one of the many garages, got out and looked around a bit helplessly. The shop was much larger than you had expected and you weren’t exactly sure where to go now - the front entrance was dark, but you saw light coming from the inside of one of the garages. Still, you decided to try the front entrance first - which was already closed as you quickly found out. Finally, you knocked against the door of the illuminated garage. 

"Hello?", you asked as you carefully pushed open the door, "Is anyone here? Mr. Kim? I'm Y/N - Inseong said you could help me with my car?" 

From under the car, a person emerged, clad in heavy worker boots, a greyish tank top and an overall whose upper part was loosely tied around narrow hips. The man was tall when he stood up, his well-toned arms even more prominent thanks to his tight muscle shirt. He wore his black hair in a slight undercut and sported dark, smoldering eyes. 

He didn't return your smile when he saw you - no, he looked a bit shocked and taken-aback upon spotting you. 

"Mr. Kim?", you asked, getting a bit shy now and ducking your head when you saw his almost critical gaze. "Oh, uh - yes, I'm Youngbin." His voice was a bit rough, which caused a shiver to run down your spine. Your heart began to pound faster and your breath caught. 

Dear Lord, he was hot. 

You’d never felt such immediate attraction towards anyone ever before. 

"Hwi, can you take over, please? I have to... go." With that, Youngbin almost ran away from you, leaving you somewhat bewildered behind. Suddenly, another, younger man emerged from behind a car, sporting long, messy hair and a sweet gummy smile. "Hey there, you must be Y/N. I'm Hwiyoung, Youngbin’s helping hand. Sooo, you want us to have a look at your car?", he asked without batting an eye at his boss’ weird behavior.

You just nodded, still flabbergasted thanks to Youngbin’s strange exit. "Uh, yes, that would be great. There's nothing wrong with it - or at least not something I, someone who knows pretty much nothing about cars, can see. But the previous owner said it would be better to have it checked by a car shop.”, you finally explained and Hwiyoung nodded, taking the car keys from you and turning to leave the garage. "You can stay here, if you like. It will take about half an hour to check if anything's broken or faulty.", he said over his shoulder, smiling at you. 

"Oh... well, thank you? I just...", you trailed off, looking around the garage.

"The office is just around the corner. Ask Youngbin to make some coffee or tea. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, he grinned one last time before leaving you behind. 

You just stood there, undecided for a few seconds, before sighing deeply and finally making your way towards the office.

[next chapter] | [all chapters]

#Youngbin #SF9 #fantasylibrary #Youngbin fanfic #Youngbin fic #Youngbin fluff #Youngbin x reader #Youngbin series #Youngbin one shot #SF9 fluff #SF9 series #SF9 fanfic #SF9 fanfiction #SF9 fic #SF9 x reader #SF9 one shot #SF9 Youngbin fanfic #SF9 Youngbin fanfiction #SF9 Youngbin x reader #SF9 Youngbin series #SF9 Youngbin fluff #SF9 Youngbin fic #SF9 Inseong #SF9 Hwiyoung

[tannithvibes]

Fiona/Maya Headcanon Post

my first HC post for miona disappeared so i had to remake this >:/ but now its split into this (reasons Why i like them together) and a part 2 i'll post later which is just the fluffy stuff from before

• On Fiona's side, the attraction is purely physical at first. She takes one look at Maya and feels like a rugs been yanked out from under her feet, she's dangerous and beautiful (maybe not so immediately intimidating as Athena, but there's no doubting from a glance that Maya is deadly)

• Which is p much Fiona's biggest kryptonite really. She's a con artist who can fill any role needed for job with the snap of her fingers, but put her in front of a pretty woman who could kick her ass and suddenly she's just Fiona again

• Which is like...kinda refreshing for Maya. She's bored to death of everyone's first and only impression of her being "Oh a Siren", whereas Fiona's thought process (which was undoubtedly written all over her face) went more like 1. TALL 2. Ripped, like absolutely shredded oh shit 3. Those are neat tatt- 4. Hey Wait A Sec

• Maya, on the other hand, looked at Fiona and saw someone with an interesting story to tell. She just knew instinctively that this was someone she'd love to sit and talk to over drinks for hours

• and I mean yeah, there was physical attraction too, how can anyone look at Fiona and not go heart eyes?

• I think Maya was always going to need someone who could keep up with her, being a Siren and being a Vault Hunter are two very Big things in Borderlands

• and Fiona needed someone who was bigger than her, more thematically imposing than just a con artist. She didn't like the relationships she was in where she was the only Interesting one

• Plus Vault Hunting just really got into her veins after the traveller, so sort-of dating sort-of being taught by Maya just really made sense

• They also fit together perfectly in the sense that Maya tends to always be the level-headed one of whatever group she's working with, while Fiona is...well, the wildcard (she's smart, but fuck if she doesnt make bad decisions on a whim and need someone to drag her ass back to safety)

• Fiona tries so hard to be the cool one and impress Maya whenever they're out on a job, but no Maya is the badass and Fi is just the dork whose head-over-heels for her

• They also help each other in the sense that they're kind of opposite ends of the "orphan" spectrum too

• Maya was raised by the Brotherhood and absolutely has a lot of PTSD from that upbringing. She goes to Pandora to learn about who she is as a Siren, but has nothing and no one left that she can call family (before the events of bl2 that is)

• Whereas Fiona always had Sasha, and then had Felix for a good while. She was lucky enough to have something to hold onto even into her adulthood while still struggling w the whole raising herself and her sister thing

• It's something they can relate to within each other and help in their different stages of recovery, while also showing that neither upbringing is the sole Reason they became the people they are (Maya arguably had the worse childhood and ended up a hero, while Fiona had a luckier one and ended up a criminal). they just have a whole lot of baggage and it helps to have a partner who understands that

• Also if you ship them, then they get to go on double dates with Zer0/Rhys

• Also also Ava is like...a Very good mix of the two of them which means they can work together to parent their troublesome adopted daughter

• but that is like a Whole Other hc post I could go on and on about

tldr: Maya and Fiona make great parallels for one another and are in love that is all

#my writing #fiona/maya #miona #long post #headcanon post #fiona/maya hcs #if this one magically disappears for no reason too i will eat my phone #me banging pots and pans in your house: its rarepair time y'all!!!! #i know these two have literally never even laid eyes on one another in canon #but you see how well thats stopped me #im actually like incredibly tired today so if i dont talk much other than for this post that is why #ive had this drafted for a few days bc i knew i probs wouldnt have the spoons to do it at random #so...here it is! ive only half-looked it over today hope there's no typos

[thescribblingtamsin]

alice archive: the tale of the mermaid’s hourglass

We have a great many stories here. And I like them all, though Clancy only lets me truly study some. He says not every story is meant for children, because they can make you dull and dark. Clancy says I must know the stories and keep them close but only focus on the good ones.

Silly Clancy. I know all of the stories--even those I don't understand.

My favourite stories are the ones with clever girls and heroes with magic.

Like the tale of the mermaid and the hourglass...

Once upon a time, there was a mermaid with ginger hair and friendly eyes. She swam all the day long in her water kingdom in the sea. She had everything she ever wanted, except a soul. The only way she knew how to get one was to fall in love with a human. To do this, she needed legs, so she could walk on land and go to parties and dance with charming gentlemen. If she had asked me, she could have come to the Arkis--though we don't dance as often as I would like.

One day, she came upon a sea witch, who was quite horrid. I have read stories with pretty witches who trick you with their lovely smiles, but this was not a pretty witch with a lovely smile. She was mean and old and wrinkly and crusty. And she offered the mermaid a deal. She would give her the legs she wished for, but they would be quite painful, like knives stabbing her feet as she walked. The mermaid quickly agreed, for she so dearly wanted that immortal soul, no matter how silly the trade might sound. But just as she agreed, the sea witch cut out her tongue, so she could not speak or sing. Which is quite sad, because she had a charming singing voice--just ask anyone. The sea witch told her that if she couldn't make a human fall in love with her by the next dawn, she would turn into sea foam.

The mermaid was tricked, but she was determined. Souls are valuable things, especially to those who don't have them. The mermaid went to shore to find her prince. But finding the prince isn't the important part. The prince said no, anyway. He fell in love with another. Clancy says that happens sometimes. We don't always get what we want, no matter how much we want it. No matter how hard we work for it. Many of our stories have sad people who don't get what they want. But that's why some stories change.

The mermaid was sad, as one usually is when they don't get their happy ever after. She sat in a cave by the seashore, waiting to turn into sea foam and cease to exist. She wanted to cry--but mermaids can't cry, you see, so instead, she hid her face with her hands and imagined herself melting into nothing.

But then, another witch came into the story. She was a good witch; she was the kind who told nice stories and helped princesses win in the end. Her hair was like silver, but her face had no wrinkles. Her eyes were bright and friendly, and she dearly loved the mermaid. She protects them, you know. Mermaids.

Clancy: Alice, The Lady is not featured in this story. You need to tell the truth.

Fine. A different witch came to the cave. She was not a good witch, though she was very pretty. She had dark red hair and shadows around her eyes. She didn't look as horrid as the sea witch from before, but I promise she is actually is quite horrid. She's the sort that tricks you. She came to the mermaid and told her that she knew her story. She knew that the prince did not fall in love with the mermaid, and she knew the sea witch took the mermaid's tongue.

She told the mermaid, "The sea witch who cursed you is awfully pitiful. I can restore your tongue, take your pain, and grant you your wish of immortality--without all this heartbreak."

The mermaid could only reply with her questioning eyebrows. She didn't trust this new witch. What if she was lying and the mermaid still couldn't get an immortal soul? What if the witch made her feet hurt even more?

The witch could tell that the mermaid was unsure, so she sighed and reached from her pocket, taking out a small hourglass on a chain. The hourglass was empty, just waiting to be filled. Crouching down, the witch scooped just a bit of sand from her own footprint into the hourglass. She put the sand at the top of the hourglass and used her magic to freeze it there. Then she put the hourglass on a chain around the mermaid's neck.

"If you live to see the dawn," she told the mermaid, "without that pretty face of turning into foam, then this hourglass will be your proof of an everlasting soul. For as long as the sand does not move to the bottom of the glass, you will never cease to exist. But the further you stray from me, the more grains of sand will fall."

Clancy assures me that not everything people say means precisely that. Clancy made me read this story twice, and both times I had the funny feeling that the witch didn't mean to say that if the mermaid is away from her, she'll die. Clancy says that she meant that "figuratively", and that the witch would most likely get irritated with a mermaid following her around everywhere.

In any case, the mermaid took the hourglass. As a special gift and a friendly gesture, the witch restored the mermaid's tongue, before leaving her alone and telling her she'd return in the morning to prove she was right.

Clancy: You forgot the part where she magically removed the sea witch's tongue as well and gave it to the mermaid as another act of good faith.

The witch has terrifying powers that could scare a reader, Clancy. What's more important, is that the witch promised many things and then left. But as the witch walked down the beach, she was stopped by two people.

Two of my favourite people. Declan and James O'Leary. They're lovely men, and they both like me very much. Their father is a very powerful Arch Keeper, and they learned all the best things from him. They mostly learned how to fight villains like Ava, because that's what heroes do. Heroes also save happy ever afters, while the villains only make pretend happy ever afters.

James was always in charge, and Declan once told me that's because he's the eldest. Not that Ava cared who's the eldest. She only cared about which one tried to stop her from getting what she wanted. But no one could stop James from doing his job, so he and Declan told her she couldn't have the mermaid. For the mermaid was meant to do great things, and no one can do great things when they're chained to an hourglass.

Keeper magic is very powerful and always wins. Declan and James fought Ava and won because that's what Keepers do. And Ava feared she'd be destroyed, so took the mermaid's hourglass with her and disappeared without a trace. The mermaid left the cave to see what caused the commotion and found the two Keepers. For a moment she thought they had just destroyed her only chance at an immortal soul. Her hourglass was gone, and Ava was nowhere to be found.

"There is a better way," James told her. "A way that doesn't involve a chain around your neck."

And so she went with the Keepers and found her soul in the Arkis. The Keepers won, and the fair mermaid was saved so she could help them save others.

Clancy: Alice...Keepers don't always win. They're only human. I know you don't like this part, but you must always write the truth. They didn't expect what she did. They faced her on the beach, and they lost. James was killed almost instantly, and she took Declan as a trophy. O'Leary's aren't easily beaten, but neither is she. It wasn't their fault. They lost the mermaid.

This is why Clancy is careful with his stories. He knows when I don't like their ending, I change them. He doesn't think they can change. But words change all the time. I wish Declan and James had won. I wish I could still read about the mermaid. But I haven't found any more of her pages. I can't seem to remember where they are.

I don't like seeing James die. And when his sister Sorcha read it (she and her mum found out when her brothers didn't return from their assignment), she told me that sometimes heroes have the best deaths. I don't really understand that, and I don't understand why. In any case, Sorcha tells me I'm right about stories. Stories change. Myk and Yonas once showed me the endings of the stories, but they're all so jumbled in my head that I can never remember them properly.

So even though Clancy won't let me change what happened to the mermaid, he cannot tell me what will happen to her. He only knows the past. And these stories still need endings. I'm sure we'll find the mermaid again before the sand in her hourglass runs out.

*

read more at patreon.com/reneetamsin

#alicearchive #arkistales #arkisshorts #patreon

[snowbellewells]

Self-Promo Sunday: Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs

(This is a little one-shot originally written for Halloween a few years back, prior to season 7 airing. I know that Halloween has passed, but only by a couple of days, and so I thought I would bring this little bit of mischief and fluff back. I suppose we might call this a sort of alternate s7 headcanon fic, looking at a bit of domesticity that might have happened had everyone stayed in Storybrooke post s6. Enjoy!!). I have attempted to use a “Read more” break - I hope it worked on mobile. If you prefer this fic can also be found on AO3 and ff.net in my “Of Swans and Swords and Hopeful Hearts” collection.

Summary : Emma stumbles into a bit of a household mystery, leading right back to her pirate husband and a very sweet reward for everyone.

“Do-Si-Dos & Tagalongs” By: @snowbellewells

It all began with little Robyn, as it often did, and her wisps of untamed auburn hair framing her face, with that mischievous, gap-toothed six-year-old child’s grin and twinkle in her bright, beguiling eyes – both features that never failed to remind those who had known him of her late father and the bit of roguish bandit his smile never quite lost, even after settling in modern day Storybrooke. She had come to the two-story house Emma, Killian, and Henry had called home for some five years, with a platter full of cookies and tarts, nearly three months past, beaming and incredibly proud of herself as she presented the whole thing to the Savior, her pirate husband, and their Author son, whom she merely called “Auntie Emma”, “Uncle Killy”, and “Cousin Henry”, as a ‘thank you’ to the three of them for helping her to corral and coax her erstwhile little black cat Mac back home when he’d gotten out of the house and made a beeline for trouble, just as his young mistress often did. Regina and Zelena both trailed after her, doing their best to look bored and unconcerned with the proceedings, hands in pockets of tailored coats and matching sisterly arched brows challenging anyone to assume otherwise.

It was Regina who had shrugged sardonically when Killian exclaimed over the deliciousness of the crisp, chocolate Thin Mints, “No need to get so excited, Pirate. We just over-ordered from the Girl Scouts.”

There had been a whole, long explanation required of Emma from her inquisitive Captain once the Mills sisters and their pint size charge had gone. ‘What were Girl Scouts? Why did they sell cookies? How does one procure such delicacies? Which flavors were the best?’ and so on. For the moment, however, Emma had not been able to do more than giggle to herself at her dumbstruck husband smiling affectionately at the little girl and her gift, crow’s feet crinkling adorably beside his eyes – not to mention Robyn beaming back at him. She had sneakily managed to snap a couple pictures of the whole thing with her iPhone before Killian realized, and though Henry had seen what she was up to and smirked knowingly, he had refrained from giving her away.

Emma hadn’t thought much more about the little episode since. As was always true of Girl Scout cookies (and homemade Enchanted Forest-style apple and cherry tarts too, she was quickly learning) the plate of goodies hadn’t lasted long. Henry, fully a teenager and having recently taken up track at Violet, Grace, and Nicholas and Ava’s urging, (‘His own little crew!’, the perpetual loner Emma had been all through her own school years kept crowing happily inside) ate enough for the three of them combined, Killian had the most ridiculous sweet tooth she had ever seen, and she was rapidly discovering her own weakness for warmed up baked goods of all kinds on a chilly Fall evening. Never in her life had Emma been so settled and comfortable in one place for so long, and she couldn’t deny that she was savoring it. So when her favorites, the Do-Si-Dos, Henry’s preferred Samoas, and Killian’s Thin Mints all vanished by the end of that week, she was disappointed to find their surprise treats gone, but not at all shocked. Nothing seemed strange in fact, until she went to dig through her purse where she always kept five or ten bucks worth of dollar bills tucked away for impulsive buys, and instead found nothing but empty space.

The first time, she merely shook her head at herself; confused, but figuring that she must have snagged something at the gas station counter the last time she filled the Bug and then forgotten to replenish her stash. But it kept happening – a second, third, fourth, and even fifth, time. The radar which used to serve her well as a bail bondsperson tracking down skips in Boston had been set off and her suspicious nature engaged. A strange little mystery had presented itself in her house by the sea – and Emma Swan was determined to get to the bottom of it.

[[MORE]]

Henry was her first suspect, as she thought he might have just figured he was getting a quick advance on his allowance to take his friends for Cokes and cheese fries at Granny’s after practice or something like that. Yet, after watching her son for just a couple of days – and his allowance payout coming and going without him offering to pay her back – Emma ruled him out as the culprit. That only left her sneakily playful pirate husband, and honestly she should have known it was him without even having to test her findings.

Emma wasn’t sure how Killian was managing to swipe his loot right out from under her nose without her being able to catch him at it, and she was even more puzzled by what he could possibly be buying so often that she never saw a trace of, but then, she had never doubted how slick he was, and he’d had centuries to perfect his skills.

The whole little intrigue carried on for nearly another month before Emma finally got the lucky break that spoiled Killian’s secret. She came home early from the station one afternoon; her dad having arrived a couple hours ahead of his own shift to give her a break, and as she turned the corner onto their street – though theirs was really the only house on it as the land began to roll down toward the harbor – she saw Killian closing the door behind him as he disappeared back inside, while Robyn with one of her little Girl Scout buddies in tow hopped down the front steps and out through the white picket fence onto the sidewalk, the two of them giggling together conspiratorially as they did.

Pulling up beside them, Emma parked her car at the curb quickly and hopped out to catch them before they could get far. She met the girls at the sidewalk, and for a moment wasn’t sure whether to crouch down at their level playfully, or to cross her arms and give them her ‘Mom’ look to get the answers she suddenly sensed she had found at last. She went with arms crossed authoritatively over her chest, eyebrow cocked expectantly, not wanting to consider the fact that she must look like some sort of blonde cross between her own schoolteacher-princess mother and Robyn’s Aunt Regina when she meant business. All she said was, “What brings you two here?” with a hint of a jest in her words, even though her stance clearly expected an answer.

Robyn had the decency to flush and look a bit nervous, her eyes falling to study the squeaky-clean saddle shoes she always wore with her Girl Scout uniform, before snapping her eyes back up to the Savior’s with a smile that would have done both her snarky mother and her charming outlaw father proud. ‘Oh yeah,’ Emma thought, she was definitely seeing a bit of Zelena’s formerly conniving streak now. “Nothing really,” the girl tried brightly. “Laney had just never met Captain Hook before, and so I told her it was no big deal, we were tight, and brought her over.”

The other little girl said nothing to confirm or deny Robyn’s claim, though her awkward shifting from side-to-side easily spoke for itself. Not that Emma would have mistaken her for the ringleader of whatever shenanigan was playing out here anyway; that had her unofficial niece’s fingerprints all over it. “That’s all, huh?” Emma questioned, making her tone clearly convey her doubt.

Zelena’s little troublemaker she might be, but Robyn had a penchant for stepping into mischief that was all her own and everyone knew it. When Emma didn’t budge, it only took a few more awkward seconds of stare down on the sidewalk before the little schemer cracked. When she spoke again, it was with the sincere tone of Robin Hood, legend of Sherwood Forest, which she confessed. “Oh alright, fine! You caught us! But it was just too easy not to try!”

“Wait…what was too easy?” Emma questioned, momentarily more confused than she had been, tapping her foot on the concrete and giving the youngster an even more searching look. “What are you talking about?!?” she pressed in near exasperation.

It was at this juncture that Robyn’s little pal lost her nerve and deserted the cause, clearly not having signed on to face questioning by the Sheriff-Savior. She blurted out an excuse about her mom waiting for her, blushing and stammering as she did, and then turned tail and ran.

“Fraidy cat,” Robyn muttered in disgust, the curled lip and glower she adopted as she crossed her own little arms in annoyance reminding Emma so strongly of the now reformed Wicked Witch in her heyday that for a moment she almost burst out laughing at the expression on such a tiny face, completely ruining the serious stance she was trying to hold.

“Okay, Robyn,” Emma sighed, once it was just the two of them. With a guiding hand on the little girl’s shoulder, she walked them back toward the front porch, taking a seat on the steps with her. “Let’s have it – the truth this time. Whatever you’ve been up to, it can’t be that terrible. I’m not really mad, just ready to get to the bottom of this little mystery.”

Robyn heaved a large sigh, dramatically aggrieved as only a little girl could be, and then finally started talking. “I just wanted our troop to sell the most cookies – and your husband’s such an easy target. You know that, right? I mean, I figured it out weeks ago when we brought you guys those ‘Thank You’ treats – Mom, Aunt Regina, and I… remember?”

Emma nodded, thinking back over evening meals since then, when Killian hadn’t eaten much and she had questioned if he felt alright, only to have him say he wasn’t very hungry; occasions where she had offered to make cookies and he had evasively insisted she needn’t trouble herself on his account, and again to the odd disappearance of her random bits of spending money. She was putting the pieces together even before Robyn finished coming clean.

“Your pirate just can’t resist us,” the kid shrugged, looking only a little bit sheepish now that she was caught, but not really sorry. “I don’t know if it’s the outfits, or little girls with big pleading eyes needing help, or if he just really likes our cookies, but every time I bring a new member of the troop by with boxes to sell, no matter how often we show up, he buys some more. It’s like he can’t help himself. And hey, who am I to complain?”

Emma snorted indelicately, struck by Robyn’s cunning and ingenuity, along with the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation. Shaking her head in both disbelief and begrudging affection that wouldn’t have him any other way, Emma wondered mildly for a few seconds how she hadn’t known this was the case from the start. ‘Fearsome pirate of the seas,’ she mocked in her head, ‘bested by a bunch of cute six-year-olds with baked goods.’

Knowing that she shouldn’t simply let Robyn off with being so opportunistic and sneaky, yet not really sure what to do about it either, Emma merely gave the little girl a wry smile and light one-armed squeeze to her side with a gentle remonstrance. “Well, it’s not like you’ve really done much harm – except to my pocketbook.” She did frown just a bit there, and Robyn looked genuinely contrite. “But no more, okay? I don’t know where my pirate has been stashing his loot, but he has to be almost out of room. We’ve made our contribution to the Girl Scouts for the year. Got it?”

Robyn nodded dutifully, and though there was no judging the mischief that her hurricane “niece” could get into, Emma sensed that she understood the game was up.

Ruffling Robyn’s hair, Emma felt a momentary pang in her chest, picturing Henry at that age and wondering what he had been like and if he had been as playfully ornery as well. Having her son with her now, the relationship they had forged, and the family they’d become was incredible – so much more than she had ever thought she would have – but things happened occasionally, striking her at the oddest times and there would be a melancholy moment or two of wishing she could take a portal back in time to re-live what she had lost with her son, who would be grown up and ready to leave them all too soon.

As if sensing her change in mood, Robyn reached out her little hand to lay it on Emma’s arm. “Aunt Emma?” she asked softly, her voice as hesitant and concerned as it ever got. “Are you alright? Your eyes got kinda funny and far away.”

Shaking the bittersweet reflections from her mind, Emma gave Robyn another gentle smile. “Yep, Trouble, I’m fine. Just got sidetracked for a minute.” She stood and pulled Robyn up playfully beside her. “Now, you’d better go home before it starts getting dark. We’re good, okay? Don’t worry. I am gonna have to call your Mom and talk to her about this, but I imagine if you don’t pull any more get-rich-quick schemes, we’ll all just put this behind us.”

“Okay, Aunt Emma,” Robyn agreed, bouncing back to her usual chipper self and past the anxious moment with a child’s usual resilience. She gave her honorary auntie a hug around the waist, which Emma gladly returned, and then set off toward Zelena’s little house a block over.

“Go straight home and get there safe!” Emma called after her in parting, to which she saw Robyn nod smartly and wave back over her shoulder. Emma watched her until the little girl rounded the corner at the end of the street and out of sight.

Turning, Emma opened their heavy oak front door and slipped into their home soundlessly, hoping if her luck held, that she just might catch Killian unawares with his prize. What she got as she stood in the entryway, flabbergasted and mouth hanging open, was not quite what she had expected at all. Standing almost directly across from her, frozen before the door into the cellar that until now they had both skirted around and almost never opened – demons purged, but still not eager to loose painful memories – looking both startled at patently guilty, was her husband. Caught red handed, Emma’s inner voice supplied smugly.

“Why, hello there, Love,” Killian finally greeted, trying for suave and “turning on the smolder” as Emma had often teased him in calling it since showing her pirate Tangled and delighting in his resounding approval of Flynn Rider. He would have succeeded too, if she hadn’t known him as well as she did. “You’re home early.”

“Yep,” she stated simply, popping the ‘p’ sound as he often did in his own speech and immediately causing a change in his demeanor, alerted that she was onto his subterfuge. Emma pushed away from the door and stalked toward him slowly, the heels of her boots on hardwood the only sound in the quiet foyer as her gaze pinned him in place – turning all of his usual methods back on him and loving it.

“Would you like to tell me what you’ve been up to?” she queried, her voice practically a purr as she reached out a finger to run lightly through the chest hair peeking out of his overly undone shirt collar and batting her lashes seductively at him, as if she really were some blushing damsel in his original realm.

“Why – uh – whatever do you mean, Swan?” he tried, an equally over-the-top stab at guileless innocence on his face and in those stunning blue eyes, even as she also saw him swallow hard and scratch nervously behind his ear, the one tic he couldn’t seem to rid himself of, no matter how much a dead giveaway it was.

“I mean,” Emma murmured silkily, eyes narrowing as she leaned in even closer to him, nose almost brushing against his and her breath hot along his collarbone as she practically licked her lips while studying her quarry. Granted, her own pulse had skyrocketed at his close proximity, but she was more pleased to revel in the way her husband squirmed nervously under her hungry gaze. “You’ve been discovered, Pirate. Your supplier ratted you out.”

At that, Killian huffed out a low breath, eyes falling as he gave a slight chuckle and shook his head, having known his wife would eventually get to the bottom of what he had been doing, and almost relieved to have the secret out in the open. He truly had not meant to gather such and collection of the things anyway, but he simply could not bring himself to say no to the adorable miniature females in their sharp skirt and vest ensembles, and by this point, he was pretty sure they knew it and kept arriving at his doorstep on purpose. At any rate, Emma might have his head at the amount of money he had pilfered from her and spent needlessly, but surely they would enjoy the spoils, if nothing else. At length, with a short dip of his head in a resigned nod, Killian answered, “Aye, I figured she might at some point.”

Emma couldn’t help cracking the tiniest smile, the whole thing so silly, so domestic, so normal, and nothing like the trials they had faced ever since meeting one another and the secrets they once held back for fear of losing the other they had fought so hard to find. She shook her head, leaning in to rest her forehead against his, simply enjoying the warm comfort of his skin on hers and the soft texture of his hair where her fingers had delved in at his nape. “You’re hopeless, Babe… You know that, don’t you?”

“As you say, Wife,” he agreed good naturedly, his voice low and mumbled against the shell of her ear, making her tremble helplessly to the point of being weak-kneed, the stern composure she’d been trying to hold long gone.

“Well, let’s see this stash of booty you’ve stored up,” she prodded, curious now just how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies he had managed to amass, and anxious to tease him just a little bit more about how he had been so taken in.

Sighing with mostly pretended reluctance, Killian took her hand and led her back down the cellar steps behind him, into the once dark room she had not ventured to for some time. Once there, to her amused shock and surprise, right up against the bars where she had once, while possessed by the Darkness, bound Gold as a prisoner, were stacked boxes and boxes of every type cookie the Scouts sold, nearly reaching up to the ceiling. There was nothing else to do but burst into a fit of helpless giggles, and when she did, leaning into her husband’s side to stay upright, Emma felt his shoulders shaking as he joined in.

Never again would she look at this space and see nothing but lonely dark and a depth of despair and hate. Unintentional though it might have been, Killian had placed a whole new memory front and center.

They ended up bagging the cookies in half dozens and giving them out to very happy trick-or-treaters the next week on Halloween night.

And if they enjoyed feeding the remnants of the last couple boxes to each other in bed… well, that was their own delicious secret no one else need know.

Tagging: @whimsicallyenchantedrose @searchingwardrobes @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @let-it-raines @resident-of-storybrooke @winterbaby89 @laschatzi @linda8084 @thislassishooked @therooksshiningknight @thisonesatellite

#self promo sunday #cs ff #cs family fluff #alt s7 one shot #do-si-dos amd tagalongs

[randomfandomfamily]

Alright, here’s the other story I did a few weeks ago. It takes place during Season 2 Episode 4, so… yeah. Good times. Anyways, I just got done editing the crap out of it, so I’ma post it now and get to work on some of those requests ✌

“GARY!!” Little Cato panicked. Pushing himself off the ceiling, he tried to chase Gary into the translucent pink void. He slammed into it, unable to pass, watching Gary disappearing behind a wall of solidified time. “NO!!”

He beat his fists against the wall. “Gary?! Gary, can you hear me?! Gary!” The power flickered back on, gravity reactivating, and Little Cato fell unceremoniously to the floor. “Hang on, Gary, I’m coming!” He pulled his blaster off his side and fired it at the wall. “Come on, come on, come on!”

The gun wasn’t working, so he holstered it and took off running. “Guys! Gary’s trapped on the other side, we gotta get him back!” He couldn’t hear anyone, and he assumed the worst. Had all been injured in the crash. Or maybe they- “Nightfall! HUE! Ash, Fox, anybody! Hello?!”

Every hallway was empty. Giving a frustrated shout, Little Cato went back and checked every room. Twice. “Empty, empty… AVA where are they?!” He paused, realizing the ship’s AI hadn’t answered. “AVA, too? What is going on?!”

He looped back around to the control room. “Guys, this isn’t funny! We have to help Gary, he’s trapped on the-!”

Then he remembered. He and Gary were the only ones in the control room when it hit. Everyone else was…

“On the other side…” Little Cato whispered. “I’m on the other side.�� He felt his heart sink with the realization. “I’m trapped.”

Between the slowly increasing despair and suffocating fear of never getting back to his friends, Little Cato spent the next couple of days throwing anything and everything at the pink wall that kept them separated. Eventually he realized that he simply didn’t have the resources to break solid time.

So he decided to be a little more productive with his time. He spent the next couple of days doing some repairs. There wasn’t much he could do, but he knew how to use the welding tools, so that’s what he took care of first.

After about four days of making absolutely sure he welded together every piece of the ship he could (it took longer than expected without AVA to tell him where to go and what to fix), Little Cato ended up back in the control room, tapping his fingers anxiously against the arm of the chair.

The controls weren’t working. Nothing was working. And that stupid wall of pure pink frustration still wouldn’t budge no matter what he hit it with.

“Think…” Little Cato crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Gary and the others are gonna try and find a way through from their side, and they’ve probably still got AVA. Maybe the best thing I can do is wait. I mean, the ship’s still connected, right? I could seriously mess stuff up if I start messing with wires.”

Rocking back and forth, he reconsidered. “Then again, this is a time shard. Maybe normal laws of physics don’t apply here.” He paused. “Does this fall under physics? Whatever, it’s some kind of science.”

He stood and cracked his knuckles. “Well, it’s been a week and nothing’s happened. If nothing over there has affected anything over here, then I guess I can mess with some stuff if I need to.”

The only real problem was that Little Cato wasn’t sure what to do. He could do surface repairs. He understood the basics of spacecraft engineering. He knew how to hack into someone else’s mainframe. He could lightfold, jump a dead craft, hotwire someone’s ship (that last one was strictly emergencies only), but the Crimson Light was an advanced shipt. And when it came to redirecting power and trying to keep track of the important wires that needed to not be cut, it was completely beyond him.

He was a hacker and builder, but he was not equipped for this.

Fortunately, he found a manual that outlined the ships wiring and circuits and whatever else was in this complex monster of a ship. Unfortunately, it was huge and full of words he didn’t understand. But, on the plus side, he had plenty of time to read through it and even understand most of it.

Which also meant… that meant his friends still hadn’t come for him.

But they were coming, Little Cato was sure of it. Even as weeks and weeks passed, he knew that they were going to come, even if it was taking a while.

The more he studied, the more clear it became that he wouldn’t be able to move the ship. He would have to redirect power to the engine, and he didn’t have access to it. He tried to see if he could do it indirectly from the controls but, as he suspected, the time shard was preventing any correlation between the split sides of the ship.

He couldn’t get power to the engine, but he could redirect it to the parts of the ship he did have access to. In order to make sure he had as much power as possible, he shut off most of the lights and redirected it to oxygen, gravity, and other essential parts to his survival on the ship.

By the time he had studied all the materials and mastered the intricacies of the ship, there was an estimated sixty-seven years or so before he ran out of power. Not that he would ever need that much power because Gary would definitely find him long before then.

The three years he had already spent there were nothing, really. He had already spent that long in the Lord Commander’s care, and that was way more terrifying.

There was only one thing that he had from the other side, and that was the hologram he had built of his father. It was kind of the only thing that kept him motivated. When in doubt, Avocato was always there to say that he believed in Little Cato’s abilities.

Or at least that’s what Little Cato could program him to say. The real Avocato had never even said ‘I love you’, much less ‘I’m proud’ but, hey, a kid could dream. Besides, who else would know? Fox was his roommate, and he didn’t even know.

Three years doubled, then tripled, and suddenly twenty years had gone by. Little Cato had stopped carving lines into the wall. There were too many to count.

Except that he had counted all of them. Several times. Because he didn’t have much else to do.

All he could do was wait. Wait and survive. Fix the ship, maintain the ship, wait for Gary, survive until the next day.

Being thirty-four was weird. Little Cato around Gary’s age… though Gary would actually be in his early fifties by now.

Little Cato often wondered if the others were stuck just like he was. Could they have possibly found a way to detach the Crimson Light from the shard? Or maybe they had called for help and gotten on a different ship?

Gary did have universe-saving to do… dimensional keys to find… it would make sense if they had all left. Little Cato wouldn’t blame them, really. Two decades was a long time to wait.

“You bet it’s a long time,” a voice laughed, “I’ve been hopping timelines for a while now. Twenty years is no joke.”

Little Cato whirled around. “Nightfall?” But of course there was no one there. He shook his head. “Get it together, Little Cato. You haven’t been here that long.” The tally marks on the wall seemed to laugh at him. “Well… not long enough to go crazy, anyway.”

He hesitated. “But hypothetically speaking… what would Nightfall say if she were here? She knows more about time than I do…”

“The best thing you can do is remember is to stay calm.” Nightfall’s voice said gently. “It doesn’t matter how much you know or how much you learn, it’s useless if you are too scared to act.”

Little Cato smiled. “Right… stay calm.” He smiled to himself while he worked. “And you know who was always pretty good at keeping people calm? Mooncake.” He grinned. “Mooncake always gave the best face hugs.”

“Chookity-pok?”

“Well, probably Gary because he has, you know, arms. But you and your little poddles totally win in the face-hug department.”

“Chookity.”

Little Cato chuckled. “Yeah, well-” He dropped wrench he was holding. “What the heck am I doing? Am I seriously talking to myself?! Get a grip, man!”

And he had a grip… for another two years or so. Then he figured, what’s the harm in pretending he had Nightfall and Mooncake back? As long as he remembered that it wasn’t real, everything would be fine. It was really no different than the hologram he had of his father.

He just couldn’t imagine Gary. Only Nightfall and Mooncake.

Though after a while it seemed kind of wrong not to include HUE. And things were just too quiet in his room without Fox around to bicker with, and if Fox was there of course Ash had to be there.

Clarence got to be there to for some reason, but Little Cato didn’t remember when he showed up. Or Tribore. They both just sort of appeared.

Somehow he managed to fix AVA. Though he wasn’t sure if he had actually fixed AVA, or if that was just one more thing he had created in his slowly deteriorating mind, but she and HUE seemed to be getting along either way.

And KVN was there… but he hated KVN. There’s no way he would have imagined KVN there with them. Maybe he had been there the whole time… that had to be it. Of course that was it. KVN was just always there.

The only one who wasn’t there was Gary. Tribore asked about it once, where Gary was, and all Little Cato could do was tell him the truth: Gary was on the other side. They had to get back. No matter how long it took.

But then awful things started to happen. Fox and Ash died, Nightfall slowly started to go blind, things that Little Cato wouldn’t wish upon his friends in a million years were becoming reality all around him. Part of him started to wonder if ever really imagined them.

Forty-five years on the other side of the time shard, and Little Cato had completely forgotten he was ever alone.

Little Cato had forgotten that he was the trapped one. He had forgotten that the friends he had conjured were only meant for emotional support. Everything was real to him. Sixty years of trying to break through the time shard to find Gary was so so real…

He didn’t remember that he forgot until he was saved.

It wasn’t until he saw Gary staring down at him that he remembered where he had really been for the past sixty years. When he had his ghostly friends to keep him company, he forgot that he had been alone, his mind twisting his memories so that he never remembered.

But being back… being young and back in his time… he remembered. Every memory came flooding back: every torturous night, every haunting day, every moment of crippling loneliness came back with a crushing vengeance.

“I was alone for so long…” Little Cato stood, trying not to show how hard it was to reorient himself. “For sixty years…”

Gary blanched. “Wait, are you saying you remember? You remember what happened in there?”

“Ugh.” His own insanity flashed through his mind. “Yeah… all of it.” He couldn’t stop thinking about how twisted everything had gotten. All he had wanted was the reassuring memories of his friends. Something to call on when he didn’t know what to do.

How did things get so out of hand? Why did they get so out of hand? Maybe trying to create a person out of memories wasn’t all that… healthy.

An image of a gray box prodded at the back of his mind. There was something he had to do.

“Dang. Loneliness is the worst, man. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Gary looked at him, concerning tugging his features into a worried frown. “You are okay… right?”

The answer was no. But he couldn’t tell Gary that. He also couldn’t lie and say yes. So he just said, “Thank you, guys. For not giving up on me.”

And then he left. It was going to be a long, long time before he was ready to talk about what happened in the time shard. But there was one thing he definitely wouldn’t be telling this to.

It was time to put that hologram away. For good this time.

#final space #little cato #look #i didn't say this was gonna be a happy fic #random disaster writes