#daniel will get on a plane but will not go to queens

[astonmartinii]

hey hey:) don’t know if you do requests but i was wonder if you could do a lando smau where the reader is scotty james’ younger sibling and is a snowboarder too?

frost bitten | lando norris social media au

pairing: lando norris x james!reader

lando is dating scotty james' younger sister, all is well until some on track beef causes some problems at home.

yourusername

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tagged: landonorris, danielricciardo

yourusername: when you're in a third wheeling competition and your opponent is me with lando and daniel

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user1: the stroll x james x norris x ricciardo family is so confusing but i love it

landonorris: when i'm in a being a cutie patootie competition and my opponent is y/n y/ln

yourusername: you're forgiven for not playing uno with me on the plane

landonorris: you know we're not allowed to play uno or monopoly in an enclosed space after the inchident

yourusername: i thought you'd make an exception for me

landonorris: you know i would, it's danny we have to worry about

danielricciardo: i don't know why i'm catching strays when you're the one who tried to commit grievous bodily harm over a +4 card

landonorris: THAT WAS ONE TIME

user2: the james family are so blessed with genetics it's crazy

mclaren

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mclaren: lando and oscar are wrapped up warm with ice queen y/n james in the garage with us this weekend. the two time x-games winner and olympic gold medalist snowboarder is our special guest this weekend in barcelona.

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user3: so do all the teams just have joint custody of the james siblings?

astonmartin: some would say our catering is the best though

mclaren: y/n would have to disagree

redbullracing: i think we ALL know that we have the best catering

user4: the way they still introduce y/n as a snowboarder not lando's girlfriend

user5: i mean that is her profession

yourusername: i loved it as usual <3

landonorris: just cause i was there

yourusername: idk... oscar's coffee bangs

landonorris: i can think of something else of mine that bangs

oscarpiastri: THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE

user6: did they invite her so she could show lando how to actually win?

yourusername: first of all, BOOOOOO, second of all, thanks i'm going to steal that for whenever he's mean to me

landonorris: i've factually never been mean to you ever

yourusername: you literally tripped me this morning

yourusername

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yourusername: proud of you always

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user10: i'm so gutted for lando, all that work to get on the front row only be taken out by no fault of his own

landonorris: i love you baby

yourusername: i love you too, it'll come to you soon, karma always prevails

user11: y/n talking about karma as if it isn't her soon-to-be brother-in-law

user12: she's always been the messy james sibling and we love her for it

user13: is she wrong though

mclaren: we'll come back stronger

yourusername: look after my boy, please

user13: fair play my guy got shunted but why are we acting like he's been murdered?

yourusername: lando has worked so so hard this season despite all the set backs so apologies if the first chance he got to prove himself was taken from him

scottyjames: can we like not text each other? why are you airing out the family business

yourusername: i'm not airing anything out, if anything you're doing exactly that by putting your two pence in

scottyjames: sorry for thinking my sister might have finally grown up and might have an adult conversation

yourusername: stop acting holier than thou like you don't curse everyone else out

user14: anyone else feel like we shouldn't be reading this?

comments on this post have been limited

f1dramaandtea

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f1dramaandtea: it's all getting a bit heated, y/n and lando skipped the james-stroll family dinner after the racing incident between lando and lance. scotty and y/n went back and forth in the comments of her post of support for lando. with the x games coming up, will the siblings reconcile?

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user17: i feel like i'm watching the family argument at thanksgiving

user18: do i think y/n is being dramatic? maybe. but at the same time her lando are super serious and it's only natural for her to want to defend him

user19: idk i think scotty is being the dramatic one, lance was clearly in the wrong and to not even give lando any sympathy was crazy imo

user20: once again i am begging for public figures to sort their shit offline especially now considering they are SIBLINGS

user21: i think it'll be fine in a couple days, scotty and y/n always bicker but they always get over it.

landonorris

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landonorris: the only one i'll ever need

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user22: like the beef is super sad and everything, but the lovey dovey posts from y/n and lando are keeping us FED

yourusername: you're such a sap, but you're my sap

landonorris: god i love you so so much

yourusername: forever and always

user23: i simply cannot wait for the canadian grand prix i need the drama

danielricciardo: oh to be young and in love

landonorris: thank you old man

danielricciardo: i am literally trying to be nice???

scottyjames: very cute

user24: i feel like this is a bit sarcastic

yourusername: oh grow up scotty

lancestroll: okay like can we get over it yet, me and lando have spoken i think y'all are just being stubborn now

yourusername: i'm a taurus let me live

yourusername

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yourusername: what do you mean it's the biggest two weeks of my life? oh it's just the x games and the canada gp !! let's go lando and see whether we can go for gold again

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user25: as a lando and y/n stan i AM SO STRESSED I NEED THEM TO DO SO WELL

landonorris: you'll kill it baby i know you will

yourusername: couples that slay together stay together

landonorris: the rest of the world quakes in fear at our slay

yourusername: we'll come together to maximise our joint slay

oscarpiastri: okay i think we get it

user26: so like i need a double james gold even if it kills me

carlossainz55: good luck y/n you'll smash it

yourusername: thank you carlos, you and charles' snowboarding lessons will resume in the winter break

charles_leclerc: lord knows we need them

landonorris: not everyone has godgiven talent like myself

yourusername: baby, we all know it took over 10 lessons before you could even go more than 10ft before falling over

landonorris: baby you said you wouldn't tell anyone

scottyjames and yourusername

liked by landonorris, danielricciardo and 1,209,667 others

scottyjames and yourusername: siblings that board together, win together. we may fight like crazy, but we'll always be there for each other, whether it is grabbing toilet roll or winning gold !! big love to you all and thank you for all the support xx

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user28: JAMES SIBLING SLAY AS THEY SHOULD

landonorris: super super proud of you y/n

scottyjames: wow lando i thought we were over this

landonorris: what if i told you i was just taken aback by y/n's beauty and talent

scottyjames: hmmmmm, i'll give you a pass this once

landonorris: i joke - congrats scotty, i'm so happy for you

yourusername: thank you baby xxxx

astonmartin: war is over !! congrats scotty and y/n

danielricciardo: big moves from the james siblings as per

yourusername: you know it 💅

scottyjames: thank you baby

f1

liked by landonorris, yourusername and 1,304,781 others

tagged: scottyjames, landonorris, lancestroll, danielricciardo, yourusername

f1: my big fat f1 snowboarding wedding - scotty james and chloe stroll tied the knot this weekend and it was a star-studded affair

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user28: i would sell a kidney to have been there

yourusername: magical weekend

landonorris: us next?

yourusername: teehee, need a ring first

danielricciardo: @mclaren come get you driver he's going crazy

landonorris: crazy in love

carlossainz55: are you still drunk?

user29: they all look SO GOOD

user30: this y/n and scotty reconciliation is hitting like crack

user31: i fee like we're glossing over lando saying he wants to marry y/n

oscarpiastri: try spending five minutes with them and you'll know they'll get married asap

note: eeeeeee hope you enjoy and this actually meets your request!! i had loads of fun writing this tbf xx

#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 instagram au #f1 x you #f1 #lando norris insta au #lando norris x you #lando norris x reader #lando norris imagine #lando norris

[essentiallyleaf]

Ya know what , I'll give you an idea

As a commercial pilot how bout a kink "plane sex"

And pls write Rosé with this kink

day 15. body worship. with. rosé.

1268 words.

tags.

kinktober ‘23, idol x male reader, body worship, lots of kissing and licking, feet stuff, abs stuff, oral sex, fingering, squirting, minor plane stuff, the dialogue just goes places idk, hold onto your suspension of disbelief for dear life, blasphemy(?).

notes.

this is barely even related to the ask, isn’t it? sorry, icyphilosopher, i really am (thank you so much for the inspiration though). well, my excuse is i watched Queen & Slim (it was alright, the soundtrack might be the best part. that and Daniel Kaluuya) and felt like crime today.

The private jet has barely taken off when Rosé starts taking her clothes off, starting from the black heels, then proceeding with the black cropped blazer, the high-waisted black shorts, along with the belt and the chains attached to them, the polka dot black shirt, and finishing with the black stockings and her black underwear. She puts them all in a black trash bag and throws herself on the beige leather sofa face first, completely naked.

“Fuck this ‘No fires on the plane’ rule.” She complains into the beige pillow.

“I mean, if you want to burn them now and cause a fire, making the jet collapse on itself and getting us buried on the bottom of the northern Pacific, go ahead.” You reply nonchalantly as you take a sip of vodka while sitting cross-legged on one of the beige armchairs.

“Honestly, compared to the prospect of a ten-hour flight with you, that doesn’t even sound that bad”

It’s Rosé’s habit to burn clothes, phones, cars, (people,) anything that can be linked to her in a meaningful way, after every job. This time it was a fairly straightforward drug trade with this Yakuza syndicate in Osaka: give the talcum powder, take the money, go home. The road was somewhat bumpy and a couple heads had to pop, but what can you do. Oh, and the getting naked in front of you part, that was a thing way before you two started fucking.

You stand up from your seat and duck next to the couch as she turns her head towards you. Start caressing her smooth, long blonde hair as you admire her graceful features. How could such a cold, brutal criminal look so angelic?

“Are you in a hurry?”

“Leave no trace.” She recites her mantra matter-of-factly.

“You think someone’s on our trail?”

You lay on top of her and start kissing her shoulders, from the left, then move her hair to kiss her neck, to the right, and back a couple times.

“Someone’s always on your trail.” Your kisses start heading down her back, each a little wetter than the previous. “You know how it always ends with people like us, right?”

You think you hear Rosé’s voice break for a split second, but you could be wrong. Place your hands on her shoulders and start slowly making little circles with your thumbs as you keep traveling down.

“We get greedy and scared and die sad and alone?”

“We always trust one person too many”

As your trail of kisses gets to her lower back, right above the curve of her ass, you flip her body around. Bend her legs on her chest, then start massaging each foot with one of your hands, going from the middle of her soles, to her heels, to the balls of her feet, untangling her muscle fibers all the way through. You hear her humming in the meantime.

“So? Would you stop living your life for that?”

“I would try my best not to end my life because of that.” You bring her feet to your mouth and start pecking her toes, then travel down the inside of her feet and up again kissing her soles. “Plus, it gives me a sense of peace, of liberation”

“Ashes to ashes?”

“In that analogy, I would be… God?”

Take a long lick from her heel to the ball of her foot, ending by wrapping your lips around her big toe and licking all around it.

“Do you feel like one?”

“I don’t think God sees himself like we see him” She moves her other foot towards your mouth to signal you to switch, which you do, as your hands reach towards her small breasts and start softly playing with her rosy nipples. “Powerful men need people to adore them to feel immortal. Immortals don’t need our attention to be powerful”

“You think God is a woman?”

“I think God is a depressed fuck.”

You let out a chuckle. Then lower her knees again and place yourself between them to start kissing and licking her wonderful, sculpted abs. Your right hand almost instinctively starts lightly rubbing her already wet outer lips, your left grabbing her plump asscheek.

“What a short couple billion years alone in the button room could do to ya”

“But honestly, working on the wrong side of the law… I think it’s hard not to feel like one” She starts panting a little in between words.

“Ego?” Your mouth slowly travels down her lower stomach while your fingers play with her nub.

“Just, pure facts. I could kill a man that crosses my path at any time, and I have. Mmmmh. We just, own their lives. The decision to let them live on, or to end them, right then and there. It’s all ours. Yeahh- How do you not feel all-powerful when you have that?”

It becomes hard for her to complete a sentence without any moans in between.

“Does it matter?”

“W-What?”

Rosé’s focus is probably directed away from the conversation, and towards the feeling of your fingers opening her lips wide and your tongue taking one long lick from the bottom of her slit up to her sensitive clit.

“I don’t know them. Are decisions over the lives of people you don’t care about even worth making?”

You take several shorter licks around her slit, side to side, up and down, once in a while penetrating her hole slightly.

“What do y-youh care about?”

As her moans become longer and more frequent, her sentences become simpler and shorter.

“Right now, taking my money home”

Your tongue digs deep into her pussy, you try to reach every corner and crevice of her heat with it, and her whimpers tell you you’re doing a pretty good job at it.

“And th-en, what?”

Your mouth detaches from her right as she sounds like she’s going to give in. You get on your knees and pause for a second, looking at the empty floor of the plane. 

“...I don’t know, a legacy?”

“Villains have no legacy, they only leave bloody paper and hate behind them”

You get back down to face her, staring right down Rosé’s deep brown orbs. Your fingers return to her lower lips, and two of them make their way into her slippery walls, drawing a loud groan off of her. You start pumping in and out of her at an ever increasing pace.

“Love. I want someone to come back home to, to be there, waiting for me, to heal my wounds.” She’s now moaning right in your face, her pitch getting higher and higher, signaling her impending high, but her eyes are wide open and locked on yours. “To be able to spend time with, in silence, without it feeling awkward, not needing to worry about the future, just looking at her in the eyes, and, being in love.”

A few final pumps and Rosé starts repeatedly contracting around you, a stream of unholy water covering your entire hand and wrist in a profane coating, only a deep, tongue-filled kiss muting her screams as she finally can’t keep her eyes open anymore. You close yours with her as her arms wrap around your neck. The kiss lasts far longer than the already lengthy while she takes to recover from her strong orgasm. As both of you stare into each other’s pupils again, you’re the first to talk.

“How do you know when you’ve found what you’re looking for?”

“I don’t know. I think I’ll start from, looking at the junk I’ve collected on my way, before burning it”

-

footnotes.

god is a journey. progressively, leaf.

#kinktober #kinktober 2023 #girl group smut #idol smut #female idol smut #kpop fanfic #kpop smut #idol x reader #idol x male reader #blackpink #rosé #rose #blackpink smut #rose smut #rosé smut #blackpink rose smut #blackpink rosé smut

[queer-is-future]

apologies if this has already been discussed

but in all the fantastic metas I’ve seen discussing the halves of faces for Louis, Lestat, and Armand in the s1/s2 promo posters, many have pointed out that we have no promo poster for Daniel despite him being an important character (it’s not his time yet in the story)

but he DOES have a very interesting image on the cover of his so called “brutally honest” memoir of a man (is it him or someone else??idk) whose “brain half” is covered with that weird grainy image you used to get on vhs tapes when they malfunctioned in the player or had their content erased

[and sometimes if you paused in the right place or played the tape slowly you could see some of those lost images]

and there’s a face of someone hidden in the black part by the dude’s shoulder who is looking directly at us

and that vhs malfunction thing continues on the back to Daniel’s author image who we know has memory loss around the original interview (lost of theories as to why)

so Daniel’s memoir has the same half face as the promo posters but is it him in that picture or someone else? who is the face in the background? curiouser and curiouser said alice.

[also is the roman weiss thing a nod to Marius?? idk.]

“Everything would go all right for months as Daniel felt compelled to move from city to city, walking the pavements of New York or Chicago or New Orleans. Then the sudden disintegration. He’d realize he had not moved from his chair in five hours. Or he’d wake suddenly in a stale and unchanged bed, frightened, unable to remember the name of the city where he was, or where he’d been for days before. Then the car would come for him, then the plane would take him home.”

The Queen of the Damned, Devil’s Minion

#amc interview with the vampire #amc iwtv #iwtv #daniel molloy #the devil’s minion #iwtv theories #iwtv meta #iwtv amc #marius de romanus #armand x daniel #daniel x armand #the vampire chronicles #anne rice #vampires #louis de pointe du lac #ldpdl #lestat de lioncourt #lestat x louis #louis x lestat #loustat #damand

[lovelytsunoda]

the christmas collection 2022

okay so i wasn't going to announce these just yet, but @daydreamingleclerc unveiled some of her plans and i couldn't wait. please enjoy my plans while i work on bringing you the final installment of the cozy collection as well as the next chapter of the katy perry series

new year's eve ( based on the song by pale waves ) - zhou guyanu

zhou goes with tiffany and valtteri to new york because he doesn't want to spend new year's alone, and he ends up just feeling like a third wheel. until he realizes that val and tiff were trying to set him up with someone.

i don't want to be alone on new year's eve, do you even want to be with me

fairytale of new york - mick schumacher

it's her first christmas alone, and he's wandering around new york in the middle of an existential crisis about his future. it was simply meant to be

you were young, you were pretty, the queen of new york city

santa baby - charles leclerc ( christmas morning sex )

his mom has the kids, and it's been too long since y/n and charles spent a romantic morning together

yule shoot your eye out - forced proximity & brothers best friend - lance stroll (estie bestie! sister reader)

they're supposed to be spending christmas in the alps: estie and his girlfriend, lance and estie's sister. except esteban's plane is delayed and y/n is snowed in the cabin with lance, and the pent up feelings neither of them want to deal with.

under the mistletoe - alex albon

wholesome holiday decorating

dasher - nyck de vries ( ice skating !! )

small town christmas ice skating date <3 except nyck's girlfriend has never skated before in her life, and he's going to try and teach her himself

christmas on the road - george russell

george just wants to be home with his wife and his son in time for christmas, and y/n has a surprise for him.

hey baby, all i want for christmas is you, oh-oh

mr. winter ( snowstorm airport meet-cute ) - pierre gasly

they're trying to get home, but the snowstorm seems determined to keep them trapped. with six hours to kill before they receive word on the flight back home, pierre and y/n share some drinks and fall in love

baby, it's cold outside - daniel ricciardo

no plot, just wholesome holiday/winter activities

#the christmas collection 2022

[jurassic-cunt]

you rent apartments and forget where they are

The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice

[text:

Then had come the night when Armand said he was ready to enter this century in earnest, he understood enough about it now. He wanted "incalculable" wealth. He wanted a vast dwelling full of all those things he'd come to value. And yachts, planes, cars- millions of dollars. He wanted to buy Daniel everything that Daniel might ever desire.

"What do you mean, millions!" Daniel had scoffed. "You throw your clothes away after you wear them, you rent apartments and forget where they are. Do you know what a zip code is, or a tax bracket? I'm the one who buys all the goddamned airline tickets. Millions. How are we going to get millions! Steal another Maserati and be done with it, for God's sakes!"

end text]

#💀💀 #daniel is so funny #devil's minion #jurassic-cunt

[miggydiaz]

Okay, SO MUCH HAPPENS IN THIS SEASON, but here are Natalie’s top 10 takeaways of season 5:

10. Courtney Henggeler, please call me. You are so hot, I cannot even deal. Also, Amanda remains my favorite queen, no contest, not even close. AND LET HER AND JOHNNY BE FRIENDS, DAMMIT.

9. Okay, my crush out of the way, SO MANY FUCKS THIS SEASON. OprahGiveaway.gif. But that being said, you know who STILL didn’t get one? Miguel. This is uncalled for at this point. Let the boy say fuck, we know he has a cursing problem already!

8. I’m glad we weren’t in Mexico long. I hope that’s the last we see of Hector Salazar. I get why it was important for Miguel but if we were going to waste the time, we could’ve at least gotten more than 2 seconds of awkwardness between Miguel, Robby and Johnny while we were there

7. You know what would’ve been better than Johnny getting his shit together because of the Karate Prince(ss) who was promised? Johnny getting his shit together because of the two boys he has right there who have such complicated relationships with him and who he has failed repeatedly for the last four seasons. Alas…

6. What IS important though is that Johnny got his shit together. And so did Daniel! I am very proud of all the LaRusso’s this season and this literally has never happened in my history of watching this show which I will touch on with Sam. But seriously, once Johnny more or less got the news of Azor Hiyah, he really did kind of just push out all the bullshit and focus on repairing his relationships with Robby and Miguel which allowed him to be the best version of himself, I think — a decent dad, and a badass sensei. So seriously, good for Johnny. After all the regression last season, this made me so happy.

5. Same with Daniel, tbh! While it was… a little touch and go for me as someone who often feels like Daniel is the cause of much of the problems Daniel faces, I’m glad he actually came around and figured out what he needed to — that this isn’t just HIS fight and hasn’t been since he decided to drag a whole host of people into it. I’m also glad that Sam is figuring out that she needs to integrate her want to do right and her desire to be the best. The lesson about fighting for something rather than against something was so important for her, and I’m glad she’s getting better.

4. Badass karate lady is scary but I really love her. I hope she plays a big role with Kreese next season. Like I am really hyped for whatever Kreese is going to do now that he’s on the move again, and given the way she reacted to Kreese not meeting them at the plane, and the little flashback, she obviously has a lot of respect for Kreese and I think they’re going to be a terrifying team up.

3. Tory Nichols I would literally die for you. I love you, my little meow meow. You are so much better than life keeps trying to tell you that you are, and you were such a hero this season. I am a little disappointed with how they handled the patching up with Sam (Sam owes Tory an apology and I hope one day Tory gets that apology) but I was just really happy with how Tory’s storyline played out this season. I also called her being the one to stick the article of Stingray and Kreese in the LaRusso mail.

2. Chozen and Hawk are the same in their respective friends groups (adults vs kids). Love of a girl makes them go off the rails? Check. Fall to the dark side and have to journey to earn back their honor? Check. Fashionistas? Check. The method of problem solving for their friends involves kicking the shit out of the enemy? Check. Seriously, he needs to be Chozen’s champ. Johnny has Miggy. Daniel has Robby and Sam. It only makes sense that Chozen be Hawk’s. Tory’s too. #givehawkasensei

1. The real winners this season? Anyone who BroT3’s Hawk/Miguel/Robby. Seriously, I know the Kiaz shippers are probably going nuts (good for them tbh), but I am all about Robby/Miguel/Hawk being a terrifying karate trio and also besties (Demetri can come too, I guess).

There’s so much more that I want to talk about — Miguel and Robby really hashing their shit out and being SO MATURE! The peak comedy this season (which has been sorely missing from 3 and 4 both). The relationship drama not actually blossoming! Chozen stealing literally every scene he’s in (the egg scene was SO SIDJDKFKALA SO GOOD MORE OF THIS PLEASE). Overall, I am just REALLY happy with this season. Definitely the best one since season 2 for sure. It was so packed and non stop and didn’t feel like it lagged anywhere and while there are some things I wish we had gotten it gotten more of, I feel more like we didn’t get them because there was so much other shit going on and they didn’t have time, not because the writers dropped the ball.

Ugh, I’ve missed this show so much 🖤 good to see it’s back in top form again.

#cobra kai spoilers #ck spoilers #s5 spoilers

[ratherembarrassing]

this week

place: sydney! i don't love sydney but work was sending me there to go go-karting and have dinner with my team. i didn't get to go-karting because work happened, but i did get a free saturday out of the place. i went on a ferry!

art: art gallery of nsw. someone mentioned that the archibald prize finalists are currently on exhibition, so i took myself on a walk to see that, which was fine but possibly the least interesting thing i saw in that art gallery. the archies, which is the kids archibald competition was adorable as fuck and we all know how i feel about kids being adorable. also, the wynn prize is much more my lane. and then, the daniel boyd exhibition treasure island absolutely knocked my socks off. i'll upload some photos later because phwoar.

movie: death on the nile (2022). okay, technically, i only saw the first hour on the flight to sydney, and i had good intentions to watch the second half on the flight back but qantas are, to quote someone in the saturday paper yesterday, a budget airline these days, and i was on one of those idiotic planes with no seat back entertainment systems. so i watched a 1 hour movie in which french and saunders were, i'm quite sure, an elderly lesbian couple, and then gal gadot dies right at the end.

movie: persepolis (2007). still such a fucking good film. i remember watching a tiny .avi download of it on a laptop not too long after it was released, which feels like maybe a more appropriate format to receive such a movie than off a $19/month streaming platform onto my very large television.

tv: irma vep (episode 102). tumblr, i am obsessed with this tv show, please be obsessed with me.

tv: taskmaster (season 13). I'M SO SAD IT'S OVER. I'M SO HAPPY QUEEN SOPHIE WON.

events: the wilds (rising: melbourne). i was going to say, get yourself to it, but tonight was the last night. sorry! i'm not convinced rising is a better alternative to white night, which is a thing i loved because it was chaotic as fuck, but this specific event was hella fun, and i regret nothing about getting off my flight home from sydney and going directly to this. my feet do regret it, i hit like 420% of my rings target yesterday, but not me.

#this week in ashleigh

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Okay, look. I have mostly weaned myself off my Twitter habit, I really have. I’ve stopped checking it multiple times a day, as I was doing for the first few days after the queen died. It hasn’t even been that difficult – most people’s feeds are easy to look away from. But, and I’m sorry to say this because I want to be a person who has no trouble avoiding non-Tumblr-based social media (okay, this is technically social media, but it’s anonymous and no one’s declared war on it, like literal war, like I don’t mean the reality show shit I mean some actual world leaders have used Twitter to actually declare war and apparently that’s fine these days, anyway I try hard not to use the platform that’s done that), I did start looking at Twitter a lot after the queen died and there were many Takes, and once I’d started, I had trouble stopping. If I’m really honest, I’ll say I actually started checking Britcom Twitter regularly when the anti-Boris resignations started in early July, and I only sort of stopped between then and the queen death. It’s only in the last week or so that I’ve properly cut myself off from it.

But anyway, a little over a week ago, I did catch this on Mark Watson’s Twitter page:

(It's worth noting that the time stamp of 7:40 PM is my time zone, it was several hours later for him.)

I took the screenshot that of that because I had a feeling it might be gone soon, and I was right. By the next day, that Tweet had disappeared. But a week later (so after I had genuinely stopped looking at anywhere else on Twitter but still kept going to Mark Watson's page once a day or so because who could not check back up on that guy?), he did put up this:

So the lesson is that sometimes he will get drunk and Tweet depressing things that he’s genuinely feeling, things that are so genuine that he’ll delete them once he sobers up. I look at that and see... right, okay, so Mark Watson’s Twitter feed does that, like the sort of thing I do, as in things I, Tellthemeerkatsitsfine might do, one of the most intelligent comedians I've ever seen does the same stupid shit I do. Okay.

Look, Mark, you beautiful, vulnerable, pathos-inducing (in a way that has to be intentional, right? - at this point I’d prefer all the pathos-inducing-ness to be a cynical calculation that this will endear him to the sort of person who likes his sort of thing, because to borrow his phrase it lives in my head rent free and it’s worse if it’s real, okay Mark you got me, it's worked and you can stop now) person, it’s okay. It really is. What is it that you wish had gone better? Because, and I realize that knowing this would just make my opinion mean less to you, but Mark, I have checked. I’ve checked you against all your peers, against all the other comedians who were of the same generation or who were comparable in any other significant way, and you are almost always better. Seriously, I promise. I fucking checked. I’ve watched way too much British comedy, like almost all of it. If I round up, I’ve watched all the comedy in Britain. And you're just about the best one. If I average it out and round up and give or take a little, you’re pretty much the best one.

I’m sorry you can’t be Daniel Kitson. Unfortunately only one person gets to be Daniel Kitson, and he’s not even enjoying it. And I’m sorry you can’t be James Acaster. Honestly, that doesn’t seem like that much fun either. Neither of them have written even a single novel. And their longest show is like two hours, it's pathetic.

Of course, I'm only sorry you can't be these those things because you seem upset about it. I am very happy to have you go on being Mark Watson. Daniel Kitson is a hell of a performer but I don't think this plane of reality could handle two of him. It definitely couldn't handle two James Acasters.

Oh, and I'm sorry you're not in the new Alex Horne show with your friends. Actually, I’m sorry you’re not in everything.

Anyway, he also put out this Tweet, and God, it makes me wish I could built a version of Twitter that had nothing but Mark Watson Tweets:

[soyouthinkucanwrite]

The money thing (part 1/2) - Daniel Ricciardo

It's always the little things, isn't it? The smallest stupidest things make almost no difference and then make all the difference in the world. They make everything special, but they also have the power to tear everything appart.

You and Daniel fight about money for the thousand time and he's had enough of it.

Warnings: super angst, but with a happy ending :)

Guys, this turned out WAY BIGGER than I expected, so I'm just gonna do a part 2, okay? Okay, thanks for understanding!

Song that inspired me: A list by HVOB

You and Daniel had been dating for a couple months now, having met through a common friend and hitting off almost instantly. You lived in Amsterdam and he, well he lived all over the world really, but his "time off" (meaning not racing) was spent between Monaco and London (for work), and Amsterdam now too, of course.

The changes were small and subtle at the beginning, like your weekends being spent traveling to meet him wherever in the world he was and consequently spending almost all your savings on plane tickets. You never complained to him (you planned on spending the money traveling anyway, so you didn't see the point), but didn't accept when he offered to buy your tickets, either. There's been some awkwardness around the subject but it usually died on its own.

*beginning of flashback*

"You’d have gotten here in time if you'd gotten the early flight like I told you" you remembered him saying that time you got in the paddock after the qualifying session had begun and couldn’t kiss him good luck.

"Baby, I told you. It was crazy expensive! Absurd even!"

"(y/n) for god's sake! What are we saving money for? I told you, you have my credit card number, I've offered to get you one, this is ridiculous, I can't believe I literally earn millions and my girlfriend wasn't there with me because the ticket was too expensive! I'll fucking fly you private if I have to!" he was almost yelling in his driver's room. You could only stare from the corner.

He took a deep breath running his hands through his hair. "Sorry. It's just... it was crap out there. I needed you" you grimaced at his words.

"Sorry. I really am..." you tried to approach him. "I'm here now?" you touched his arm. "It can't have been that bad, you're still on the top 10 and we both know what you can do from the 8th car..." you smiled at him.

*end of flashback*

He started to spend much more of his time off with you at your place, so you decided to get a place by yourself (having a roommate was great for company and splitting the rent, but having a roommate there while you guys just wanted some much-needed privacy was not working). Then there were more traveling to meet him, furniture for the new place, clothing for all the events (GPs or not), uber rides here and there... all of that without mentioning that you weren't being able to get the freelance jobs you used to get to make some extra money, so yeah, to say things were tight was an understatement. You tried to do all your shopping alone, so he wouldn't offer and you wouldn't refuse or be awkward about it, but Daniel seem to be glued to you whenever you were in the same city (not that you’re complaining).

He started to spend much more of his time off with you at your place, so you decided to get a place by yourself (having a roommate was great for company and splitting the rent, but having a roommate there while you guys just wanted some much-needed privacy was not working). Then there were more traveling to meet him, furniture for the new place, clothing for all the events (GPs or not), uber rides here and there... all of that without mentioning that you weren't being able to get the freelance jobs you used to get to make some extra money, so yeah, to say things were tight was an understatement. You tried to do all your shopping alone, so he wouldn't offer and you wouldn't refuse or be awkward about it, but Daniel seem to be glued to you whenever you were in the same city (not that you’re complaining).

The thing is, you always had trouble dealing with money. Sure, you liked to pay for your own stuff so as to not owe anything to anyone (especially boys), but it was so much deeper than that. Ever since a kid, you hated asking for money from your parents, and sometimes even the thought of buying stuff that was a bit more expensive made you sick. You couldn't explain why, you just felt guilty having so much and knowing that most people have never even seen that amount. It's not that you didn't want to spend it and save for the sake of it, you just didn't handle the idea of money very well. Needless to say, dating a millionnaire was bound to cause trouble in the relationship for you.

You were currently at his place in Monaco. It was the summer break and you had decided to spend some days just chilling at home, just the two of you - which you were glad since going out means hair, makeup, clothes, accessories, shoes... and, let's be honest, the kind of places he usually took you is not the kind of places you just throw something together last minute (the Instagram models and other driver's girlfriends looking you up and down were enough to make you think about spending money you did not have to hire a stylist or something like that). The whole situation was really stressing you out and you knew you would have to be honest with him eventually, instead of only dodging the subject and refusing most of his offers to pay. You tried to. You kind of tried. You suggested staying at home, in bed, most of the time, and he gladly agreed, but that strategy wasn't gonna work forever. You had to be honest with him. But at the same time, you knew what he was going to say and do, and the thought of him spending money on you, even if just by handling the restaurant bill, wasn't something you were much more comfortable with. Besides, it was only a matter of time before the "gold-digger" term starts to fly around in the small world that was the F1's.

You were laying on his couch, the Olympics playing on the TV but you were too busy overthinking the money thing to pay attention. Daniel was laying with his head on your lap, absently caressing your thigh and watching the TV. His phone went off and he moved to pick it up.

"Hello?" you watched as he answered the phone. "Hey mate, how's it going? Uh nothing, we're just chilling at home. Getting some rest... Yeah, I'm getting rested, you dirty-minded son of a bitch" you rolled your eyes while he laughed out loud on the line with someone. "Yeah, I know... the 19th is it? No, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I'll be there. Alright, mate. Thanks for calling. Have a good one! Bye!" he hanged up and leaned in to peck you on the lips.

"Good news?" you asked him.

"Not really. Just wanted to kiss you" he shrugged, smiling. You smiled back and hugged him, pulling him in for another kiss. He was always so caring with you, always finding an excuse to kiss or touch you. You knew some people didn't like it, but you loved it. Physical touch was definitely one of your love languages.

"What's happening on the 19th then?" you asked him once you guys set apart from the kiss.

"Gotta be in London. Gonna run some testings and other boring race stuff..."

"Hum..." you hummed in understanding.

"You know what would make it less boring though?" he asked and you just looked at him, you already knew what he was going to ask you and it wasn't that you didn't want to spend every minute of the day with him, but you simply couldn't afford any more traveling, especially not in such short notice. "If you came with me. Huh? What do you say? A week in the Queen's land? Then we can fly together to Spa and after the race, I can go with you to Amsterdam. The next one it's the Dutch GP anyway, I'll just get there sooner" he laughed. It was crushing you, the man of your dreams was literally beaming at making plans with you, talking about spending the next few weeks glued together and you couldn't say yes.

"Dan, I have to work" you smiled sadly.

"Can't you work from distance? Or, I don't know, I mean... I know it's tiring, but you could come to London and fly home a bit early, then just meet me in Belgium?" great, his solution includes even more flying. And the thing is, you really didn't mind the flying. You always slept during the whole thing anyway, so you never got tired and the jetlag was minimal. You could work from distance, sure. Your boss wouldn't mind, as long as you got there eventually to check in on everything. But the whole logistics were just too expensive. There was no way you could afford it.

"I... sorry, I don't think I can" you said sadly and watched as his face dropped.

"That's fine, baby. I get it. I'm asking too much, all this traveling... don't worry about it" he tried to mask his emotions but you knew better. He knew you could in fact work from distance, so he was probably thinking the reason you couldn't do it was because you didn't want to.

He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Meanwhile, you couldn't help but bury your face in your palms. This was so frustrating!

"You wanna go for a run or something? Maybe get something to eat?" he called from the kitchen, already moving on from the subject. You knew this whole thing was only gonna keep build up till he got tired of your excuses or you blowing up, probably the former, but you just keep going.

"Yeah, sure" you answered, getting up from the couch.

You and Daniel were both very active so going for a run, hiking, riding bikes, or whatever in the middle of the day was really routine for you. The Monaco summer weather was as beautiful as always and the sun was shining bright. You enjoyed the rest of your afternoon racing each other, kissing in the harbor, and just taking in the views, spending quality time together. Money wasn't even a thing in your bubble for a while.

"I'm getting hungry" he said on the way back home.

"Me too, and I'm super hot. I could go for a juice or something right now" you were all sweaty from the running, but you didn't care, he was too.

"You're always hot baby, I don't think juice gonna help with that" he grinned at you and you just rolled your eyes at him.

You passed by one of his favorite spots for food, nearby his place and he suggested getting some take-out, to which you agreed.

"Green juice, and a chicken wrap?" you tried to decide while the both of you waited in line.

"I'll never understand how you drink that"

"I've seen you drink that too, it's actually very refreshing"

"Because I'm forced to, I'm a high-performance athlete baby. But I'm on a break, so I'll have a coke, thank you very much" you laughed at him. He was holding your hand and tried to kiss you, wrapping his arm around you, you didn't dodge his kiss, you would never, but still laughed at the fact he wanted to kiss the sweaty mess you were right now.

"I'm gross, only you" you laughed.

"That's my baby, with no makeup she a ten" he rapped shrugging and grinning.

"Alright Lil Wayne, I know that one, don't even finish the verse" you laughed at him, making him laugh out loud, getting everyone's in the restaurant's attention.

"It's true, though"

"Sure..." You just shook your head smiling. Then you heard someone call his name.

"Hey! Daniel!" you both turned around to see Charles and Charlotte sitting in a corner, him waving at you two. You had met Charles a couple of times before but never spoke too much to him. They seemed to be leaving anyway, so they walked towards you guys, instead of towards the door.

"Hey mate, how's it going?" Daniel greeted him with a handshake. "Hey, Charlotte! You know (y/n) yet?"

"Hi! I don't think so, hi! How are you?" she greeted you smiling.

"Hi! Nice to meet you. Hi, Charles!" you said.

"Hey, (y/n). You're keeping him in line during the break? Char won't let me cheat my diet either" he laughed.

"Oh, that ship has sailed long ago! Daniel will just roll into the paddock if it's up to him" you laughed back.

"Hey! I think I've earned the right to some extra calories, we've been working out extra hard lately" Daniel said waving his eyebrows suggestively, making Charlotte giggle, Charles rolls his eyes and you go even redder than you were from the actual workout, while he just laughed out loud.

"I don't even want to know" Charles said. "Always great running into you mate" he was getting ready to say goodbye.

"Are we seeing you guys tomorrow?" Charlotte asked you.

"Tomorrow?" you asked her.

"Stefano's birthday" she said like it was obvious. Stefano Domenicali was the President and CEO of Formula 1, but you didn't know that yet - still, her tone made it seems like it was someone Daniel knew, so you just looked at him. He just rubbed his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "Oh, wait. Please tell me I didn't just said something I shouldn't" she looked at Charles.

"No, no. He invited me. Us, actually" Daniel reassured her. "I don't think we're going though, forgot to mention to you" he said looking at you.

"Uh mate, I wouldn't skip that if I were you. He didn't even invite all the drivers I heard" Charles said. "Maybe just stop by to say hello?"

"Stop by... a yacht... at the sea?" Charlotte said grinning at him. Daniel looked at you.

"You feel like going? It should be fun" he asked you.

"Sounds fancy... I mean, I don't mind if you go" you said.

"Common... I’m not going alone" he nudged you.

"I don't even have anything to wear, Dan" you told him.

"Oh! We can go shopping together!" Charlotte said and you had almost forgotten they were still there.

"Perfect!" Daniel answered for you. You could only imagine the types of stores she shopped.

"Tomorrow morning, then? Daniel can text your address to Charles for me? I'll pick you up!" she was being really nice about it.

"I thought you wanted to go today?" Charles said.

"That's when I thought I would have to go shopping with you, so I could use the extra time since you're the worst shopping partner ever!" she laughed at him.

"Burn!" Daniel laughed.

"His fashion taste is not the most reliable, let's face it" she laughed and kissed his cheek. "It's a date then (y/n)?" she looked expectantly at you. You didn't want to let her down, it was so hard to make friends with the girlfriends of other drivers, they were usually so... not nice. You could always just help her and find something to wear in your own stuff later.

"Yeah, sure! See you tomorrow, at 10?" you said simply.

"Perfect!" she beamed.

>>> end of part 1 <<<

#daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo fanfic #Daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo fic #f1 fic #f1 fanfic

[xeulousluv]

My Girl

Part Five

{New GIF because I couldn’t find the original one:)}

Pairings: Harry Styles x Reader

Genre: Fluff and some angst

Warnings: Angst and minor talk of emotional abuse

Word Count: 6.3k

It was crowded. People coming towards you, people walking around you, hugs being gifted, and tears being shed. The airport was not your favorite place to be, the thought of sending someone off in such a death trap was sickening to you. But you weren’t sending anyone, anywhere. You were getting someone back.

In a matter of minutes, the plane will land and you will finally be back in the arms of your best friend after two excruciatingly long weeks, right where you’re meant to be.

Cadence was being held up with your left arm, your phone and wallet in your right hand. She was excited for two reasons. The first being that she would finally be ruined with her aunt oey, as she would say, it was the cutest thing because she cannot pronounce her Z’s properly. And two being that she picked her outfit all on her own, it was nothing more than a black and white striped dress, but it still brought tears to your eyes. Soon she won’t need your help with getting dressed or washing her hands. She could already feed herself and you didn’t want to think about her not needing you anymore.

Where did your little girl go?

“Cady!”

“Oey!”

Cadence wiggled out of your grasp as she ran -- more like toddled -- her way to where Zoey was waiting for her with open arms so she could pick her up and coddle her in kisses. Daniel was a mere five feet behind handling all of their bags, of course Zoey wouldn’t carry her own bag.

“I missed you Oey, please don’t leave me again.” Zoey let out an awe in the form of a laugh at your daughter’s precious words. “Never again, Cady. How was mommy, was she being good while we were gone?”

“Hey, I’m standing right here?!” You cut in, she just got back and she was already slandering you? How was that fair? Instead you walked your way to Daniel and gave him a side hug and an I’m glad you’re back. “So, how was it? Am I finally going to be an aunt? I’m sure Cadence would just love a new baby cousin!” With that Zoey and Daniel both laughed.

“I’m working on it.”

“He wishes.”

They both let out at the same time, it only made you laugh harder. As much as Zoey loved and cared for Cady, she wasn’t ready to be a mom. It could be that she still has PTSD from the car accident, she’s scared that it’ll happen again but she has bad luck, so she wouldn’t get as lucky as you. You understood, to be quite honest, you didn’t even know if you wanted another kid because of how bad Cadence’s birth went.

“No, but it was amazing. The scenery and the people, it was all a wonderful experience. We will have to take you and Cady there sometime.” You laughed at that, obviously Zoey knew why -- you had it burned into your brain that you could never afford something like that, which you couldn’t -- but she couldn’t understand why you won’t let anyone give you such beautiful experiences. It was a lot to ask of someone, she knew you would never go to such extreme measures.

“I’m glad you had fun, but I’m pretty sure someone promised my child ice cream if we came to pick you up.” Daniel gave you a look of fake guilt, he wouldn’t apologize for promising Cadence a treat, especially having been sick all week. But he had thanked you almost a million times, he really did hate taking a taxi. They always smelled weird and there were creepy guys as drivers.

Cadence let out a joyful cheer, and off you went to your local Dairy Queen.

--------

“So he didn’t call you back?”

You don’t know how the topic had gone from a random dream you had to the time that Harry hadn’t called back, but here you are. “It’s only been two days, Zoe, he’s probably busy.” You had given yourself the same exact excuse, over and over and over again, but each time you said it, it never seemed to help your nerves.

“I just don’t know how he could go from gushing about you over the phone to leaving you in the dust. I mean have you tried texting him?” Flashbacks of last night played through your mind on repeat like your life was a broken record and it just kept going around and around.

----

“Mommy, when is Harry going to come back?”

The question struck your nerves, making you freeze on the spot. The two of you were cuddling on your beat up, old couch watching reruns of Bubble Guppies. Guilt written all over your features, she couldn’t see nor understand it which you were thankful for.

“I don’t know, baby. Why don’t we try to call him, see if he wants to come over and watch a movie, yeah?”

Cady let out a squeal, you were only hoping that he would finally answer his phone. You had messaged him a few times this morning and only just now realized the small ‘read’ sign at the bottom of the messages.

From Y/N: Hey, Harry! I’m sorry about yesterday, I don’t know if you got my voicemail but we found out what was wrong with her. If you have time, please call me back.

From Y/N: Also Cady misses the crap out of you, I don’t know what you did but you sure have her wrapped around your finger. :)

From Y/N: Okay, I can read in between the lines. I won’t bother you again, I’m sorry.

Read at 3:13pm

It was like a punch to the gut, really. You had said that you weren’t going to bother him, and yet here you are promising Cady that you could call him? Who knows, maybe if it’s her that’s calling, he will pick up the phone.

“We can watch Punzel! And we can sing, mommy can we call him, please.” Her eyes wide and full of hope, and you were just edging her on to get her heart broken again. But there was no way you could say no to her drawn out please and the puppy dog face. So reluctantly, you hit the call button and waited for the inevitable five rings before it went to voicemail.

Except they never came, the voicemail box came, but the rings hadn’t. Harry had blocked you and now you had to explain to a two year old that she couldn’t see her friend because her mother had messed it all up.

“Why didn’t he answer?”

“He’s probably busy, baby. How about I go make some popcorn and grab the chocolate syrup, and you and I can watch punzel. How does that sound?”

“Does Harry not like me anymore, mommy?”

“No of course not, baby. Harry likes you! Why would you think that?”

Your heart was hurting more and more, but what came next broke you to pieces.

“He left me the day I got my tummy looked at and now he won’t answer the phone. Chelsea at daycare has a daddy, why don’t I? Am I not good enough for him? Did I do something wrong? If I did tell him I’ll fix it, I promise.”

“Harry isn’t your daddy, baby.” 

“Then who is, and why isn’t he with me? Harry’s the only boy who watches princesses with me that’s not Uncle Danny. Am I bad mommy? 

You couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth. You couldn’t understand the pain she must have felt when watching Harry walk out the door. 

“Cadence, you are the best. And Harry only met you twice, so he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”

----

Remembering the events of last night had you fuming, but also had you silently hurting. Had you not opened yourself up to some random guy at a wedding, your daughter wouldn’t be feeling this worthless. Had you not let them meet until you knew that he was what you wanted, she wouldn’t be feeling hopeless. Had you just given her to Delilah and Phinean, she wouldn’t be wondering why she doesn’t have a dad like the other kids in her class.

You felt this extreme urge to cry, you scream and to throw the fancy glass cup of water you held in your hand, to rip your hair out and fall apart on the sacred grounds of your bathroom floor. But you couldn’t do any of that because you sat on the back patio of the Green household while your daughter, the most worthy and selfless child you know, plays on the playset that was made for whenever you guys came over. So you settled on the tears coating behind your eyes, threatening to spill over and let all of what you are trying to hide out.

“Yeah, I messaged him. But I don’t need him, okay? I don’t need anyone, I have you guys, I have Liz, and I have Cady. You’re all I’m ever going to need so for the love of god, can we please stop talking about Harry.” You snapped, you hadn’t meant to, but you also knew that you couldn’t hold back every emotion.

Daniel gave you a sympathetic look and Zoey looked shocked at your outburst. Just a few days ago Harry had called her and basically confessed how much he liked you. What happened in those two days to make you suddenly change your mind? She hated seeing you so torn up, although you tried to hide it, Zoey could read you like the back of her hand.

She saw the sudden glossiness over your eyes.

She saw your change in demeanor.

She saw the slight wobble of your chin as it took you a mere two minutes to answer her question.

Zoey saw it all, and she wasn’t about to let it go without getting to the bottom of what is so desperately hurting you.

“Hey babe? Can you go make sure Cady is okay and having fun? I need to talk to Y/N.” One last glance from Daniel and he was off to play with the girl who could make all of this better. You knew you couldn't get out of this, but how could you possibly explain to her that one lousy sentence that hadn’t been meant of anything, made you feel so useless? “What’s going on, love? It’s just you and I now, talk to me.”

“Cads asked about her dad last night. She was wondering why Harry wasn’t around and she thought it was her fault! She thought -- she claimed that she wasn’t good enough for any male person in her life because everyone leaves her.” The more you spoke, the more you cried. You had really tried to keep in the tears, truly, but after saying the words Cads and dad in the same sentence, you broke down.

Zoey knew how hard the topic was, she knew how much Alex meant to you, and she knew how distraught you were once he left. Alexander O'Neill had been the love of your life, you were together for three years before you got pregnant. The both of you planned to have a future together, however when the future didn’t go to his acord he ran. Your head was in your hands and Zoey got down onto the concrete and in between your legs, staring up into your watery colored eyes after she moved your hands away.

“Hey, look at me. Y/N, look at me. Don’t do this, don’t blame yourself for any of this, and don’t say that you aren’t because I can see it in your eyes. Cadence has people, she has Danny and she has Arttie, sure she doesn’t have a dad and maybe Harry wasn’t the right guy for you, but you can’t put this on yourself. You and I both know she is more than enough, and it is our job to make sure that she knows that. Okay?” Her hands were wiping the tears off of your face, her knees were starting to hurt from all of the little rocks being pushed against her skin, but she could hardly care because the only thing that was on her mind was you.

“She is going to grow up and she is going to ask more questions about him, and all you can do is tell her the truth. This conversation; it’s inevitable, but how you choose to go about it is all up to you. You can victimize him and say that he wasn’t ready to be a dad, or you can let her in on the abusive asshole he really is. He doesn’t deserve her, Y/N, he’d do the same thing to her that he did to you. That’s not the lifestyle she should have to live.”

“What if I don’t deserve her?” You croaked out. You knew that whatever she was saying was the most honest she could get. Alex never hit you but he was so possessive and manipulative, you let him belittle you to the core. Cadence didn’t deserve that. She also didn’t deserve a trashy two bedroom apartment on the cheap and not so great part of town. Sure you tried your best, but what if your best wasn’t good enough for her to live her happiest life?

“Don’t even go there, that baby adores the ground you walk on! I don’t ever want to hear you say that shit again, you deserve her most! I mean, you gotta believe that.” Her tears were evident, not falling but could definitely be seen. You didn’t know why she felt the need to cry, but you couldn’t comprehend anything at the moment. So instead you watched as Cadence ran around her little play set -- a tiara in her hair and a magic princess wand in her hand -- chasing Daniel around claiming he’s her frog.

--

Later that night when Cadence went to sleep, you opted for a glass of wine, something you wouldn’t normally tend to as you hated the way any and all alcohol tastes. You were out on your balcony, your wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, just thinking about how today could’ve gone so much better.

After your little talk with Zoey, Daniel and Cady came over -- Cady noticing the tears on your face and proclaimed a massive group hug. She was so smart for a two year old, it blew your mind and made you wonder if she was yours at all. Then you would look into her eyes and see yours shining back at you. She definitely had features of her father, like her nose and her blonde hair, but she was like you in so many ways that you couldn’t quite comprehend.

If you had the option, you would go back and do today all over again. There would be no tears, there would be no what if’s, all there would be is laughter and joy of having your best friend back home. However, life doesn’t work like that and you have to live with the fact that you let your insecurities show.

You were a good mother, you know that, raising a child alone is a really hard thing to do, and yet here you are. There was no exceeding in raising a kid, but their accomplishments are your accomplishments because you got the privilege to raise them. When Cady first started to walk, you wouldn’t stop gushing about it to your coworkers. And when she started to talk, it was an even bigger accomplishment in your eyes so you threw a little party for her. She was your golden girl and yet you still felt like you were failing her.

The next morning -- Tuesday, one of your worst -- was pretty hectic. You and Cadence woke up later than you were supposed to, so instead of taking a shower you had to use dry shampoo and a lot of deodorant. Instead of cooking breakfast you guys drove through the Starbucks drive through and got Cady her breakfast sandwich -- and a cake pop because she asked super nicely -- and an iced coffee for yourself.

The daycare had no time limit on when she had to be there, but you were definitely late for work. Being a week off had really thrown off your game, or so your boss says, but she was happy to have you back. When you walked in, you saw your coworkers Avery and Brim awaiting your arrival.

Brim was short -- 4”11 to be exact -- she had colorful hair and tattoos for days. She was your closest friend at the office, having only been there a month longer than you were. Avery got there two years ago, she was short as well but not nearly as short as Brim was. They were only your office friends, not really caring about what goes on outside the office, no matter how hard they tried to get you to go out with them.

“Would you look at that, she makes an appearance.” Brim joked out. She had a smirk on her face and her hands were holding a cup of coffee. How could someone smaller than you, intimidate you more than one that is taller than you? “Ha ha, very funny. My daughter was sick, I couldn’t just leave her to the wolves for a whole week.” You sat down at your desk, which is coincidentally right across from Brim’s and down the row from Avery’s. There weren't many people working in the office, it was a relatively small company, but it was what brought in your paychecks so there were no complaints.

“How’s she doing? You’re not a very social person so I couldn’t stalk your social media.” Avery was one for twitter and instagram, you however didn’t really know anything about the platforms. Sure you would post some pictures of you and Cadence, or one with your friends but you’ve never been one to share personal information.

“She’s doing better now, her uncle just got back into town yesterday and he’s like her favorite person in the world so she’s over the moon. How are you guys, it’s been forever?” You asked while signing into your computer. On your desk was a small picture frame that held a picture of you and Cadence at the park. She was only a year old at the time, she was in your arms and you were just laughing at her while she waved her arms in the air. It was a little bit blurry but that just brings out the natural side of the photograph. There was another one from her first birthday party, she had cake all over her face, and she was not impressed.

“I heard Ayden was stepping down from his management position, so if I get lucky he might name me as a person of interest!” Brim spoke excitedly, you nearly spit your coffee out. Ayden stepping down from management? That was unheard of.

“Brim, you can’t use your fuck buddy to get ahead of everyone else. If anyone is going to get his job, it’ll be Y/N.”

“Woah, who said I even want the management job? I have a child, ya know? I would like to spend as much time with her as I possibly can before she starts hating me for random teenage shit.” Your computer was now on but you were facing the two girls. Brim pointed at you with a knowing look as if she was saying, see!

“Dude, she’s like two. You don’t have to worry about that for another thirteen years!” The thought was tempting, really it was. You would get paid two times as much as you are right now, but then you’d also have to work more. Go to meetings, create data analysis charts on how to make the company better, branding deals. You would do the work if you could, but nobody wants a single mother of a toddler as their manager. Your time isn’t as lenient as it once was. Plus, would it really be worth it to lose your friend over a position?

“I don’t know. I would love the job, really. But Brim, you seem to have your heart set on it.” Her face softened the tiniest bit, which confused you because Brim was not known to be a softie in the office.

“I guess we’ll just see. I’m going to get both of us an application and whoever they feel is more qualified will obviously get the job, deal?”

You were weary of this proposition but alas you agreed.

“Deal, but you have to promise me that it will not change or ruin our friendship.”

“I promise, grandma.”

Both you and brim used one set of arms to lock pinkies with each other while the others lock into a firm handshake. Your arms forming a cross, one on top of the other.

--

“Alright, so I have a question for you and you can feel free to turn it down but I really hope you hear me out.” You and Cadence were back at Zoey’s house, you go there a lot because you have nothing better to do and as you said, Daniel is Cady’s favorite person. “Oh dear god, Zoey, what is it?”

“Your birthday is tomorrow, I was just wondering if we could throw you a party here tomorrow? I know you say that your birthday is just another day of the year, but in reality it’s so much more than that. So let us do this for you. Please, please, please--” You couldn’t sit there and listen to her beg you over and over again so you said yes, no questions asked.

You really didn’t like your birthday, mainly because every year your mother would complain rather than celebrate the day she gave birth to her child.  It wasn’t something you found important, now for Cady it wasn’t just a normal day. Even though you didn’t go through it the proper way, that was still the day you became a mother. And the months following that -- the day that she got out of the hospital -- you would throw another party just because.

“Fine, but it can’t be big. You know how I am around people I don’t know.”

“Obviously. Now let’s talk colors. I was thinking blue but your favorite color is yellow so what if we do a mix of both?”

Zoey rambled on for the next ten minutes about the color scheme she was going to do, occasionally you would let out a simple mhm or yeah just so she would know you’re ‘paying attention’. Cadence and Daniel had built a huge blanket fort covering the entirety of the living room, he would make an amazing dad you thought.

“Hello? Y/N are you even listening to me?”

Snapping out of your haze, you saw Zoey snapping her manicured nails in front of your face. “Hm? Yeah -- yeah I was, I just kind of zoned out for a second. What was it that you were saying?” Her questioning gaze now faced back at you.

“Can we invite Harry?”

“No, no way. I’m not letting him back in when Cady just stopped talking about him.”

“Y/N, he’s Daniel's best friend. You’re my best friend--”

“It’s my birthday.” You tried to fight back, but Zoey was two steps ahead of you. It didn’t matter if Harry was Daniel’s best friend, if she wanted to throw this party for you then there will absolutely be no-

“Harry? Mommy is Harry coming over?”

Shit.

“No.”

“Yes, I’m calling him right now.”

As if your day couldn’t get any worse, Zoey goes and does this. Goes against your wishes and does whatever she wants, but it’s not like you can opt out now because now Cadence is jumping up and down -- her princess nightgown flowing with the wind -- her squeals being heard from miles away.

Ringing and cheers of joy were the only sounds heard as Zoey hit the call button. You couldn’t find yourself to hate her, but you certainly didn’t like her at the moment. When the ringing stopped, you thought that it had just gone to voicemail like all of your calls to him. But a few seconds later you heard the familiar voice speak through the phone.

“Hello?”

“Harry, hey! It’s Zoey.”

“I’m aware, I have caller ID. Why are you calling me, it’s almost eleven?”

You couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in your ears, this just goes to show that he wants nothing more to do with you. And that’s fine, you have Cadence.

“Hi Harry! Wait, Harry can’t hear us?” Cady ran over and grabbed the phone, her Harry coming out more as ‘Hawwy’, due to her lack of R’s. She also didn’t know how phone calls worked, that is something that she would also say on the phone with Zoey, except the only difference now is it’s Harry's name coming out of her mouth. “Harry can hear us.”

“Cadence? Zoey, is Y/N over there?” He sounded frantic, almost like he actually wanted to know. But you knew he didn’t, he was probably only asking so he could hurry off the phone.

“Yes but that’s not why I called, tomorrow we are having a little party and we would just love for you to attend.”

“A party for what? I’m in the studio all day tomorrow, what time is it?”

“It’s mommy’s birthday tomorrow, right mommy?” Her attentioned turned towards you, you heard shuffling on the other end of the phone, not a care in the world what he’s doing. “Yeah baby, it’s mommy’s birthday -- It starts at eight, feel free to be late, okay bye!” Zoey cut you off right as you were about to say that he didn’t have to show. But you’re not the only one who had to say something before the line dropped dead.

“No, wait Zoey!” Harry spoke out, but Zoey was faster than words.

“How exactly do you plan to throw a party in--” You took a second to check the time on your phone -- 11:34 -- the word ‘in’ being dragged out. “Nineteen hours?”

“Oh Y/N, poor, simple, naive Y/N. You underestimate me, my love.” She answered, another one of her signature smirks hidden poorly on her face.

And boy was she right about that. The next day at exactly eight-twenty-three, stood over a hundred people in the backyard of Zoey’s house. It was overwhelming to say the least. Blasts of neon yellow and light blue illuminated the gates of her huge yard. It was a neon ‘glow in the dark’ party, as Zoey called it. As soon as you walked in she splattered glow in the dark paint all over your only dress, to which you complained about.

“Lighten up a little, you’re twenty-five now! I’ll buy you a new one if it makes you happy, but let loose. My mom’s got Cady tonight so you’re allowed to have a little fun!” She had to scream over the music, it wasn’t the ideal way to spend your birthday -- you’d much rather be cuddled up with Cadence and watching Rapunzel -- but she was right. You did have to loosen up, and even though you hated the taste of alcohol, that is exactly what you needed to get through this night.

You made your way to the open bar on the right side of the yard, a bartender who doesn’t look that much older than you -- and quite stunning if you had to say -- smiled your way. “Can I get a vodka cranberry? Seems totally appropriate for the scene, don’t you think?”  

The bartender laughed and shook his head before he turned around and made the drink before replying. “I would go for something a little bit stronger, a girl like you seems like the straight tequila type.”

“A girl like me, huh? And how do you get off on knowing what kind of girl I am?” You weren’t sure where the confidence came from, you were ever good when it came to social interaction.

“A twenty something year old girl attends a party and is looking for a stronger drink than vodka so she can forget everything. The past, the present, the overthinking of the future, but she’s too scared because she might do something completely irrational and out of character and she doesn’t want to have to face the embarrassment. Am I close?”

Your eyes were wide and lips were parted. The drink you had ordered was slid across the bar but wasn’t there for long when you downed the whole thing. Truth is, he was right. So right that the next words out of your mouth were;

“Alright then hotshot, get me a shot of tequila. But you should know that I’ve already lived my early twenties and am now stuck in the middle.”

Before you know it, salt and a slice of lime is being passed your way with the shot coming right after it. A heavy smirk plastered on his face as he watched the process you took. Shot first, salt next, lime last. Totally out of order.

“You took the shot first, you know it’s supposed to be the salt first, right?” The unnamed guy laughed out. Seriously, you were there about ten minutes and you still have yet to learn his name? “I’ve learned a lot of things in my days, one of them being that I hate tequila. So, if I do the shot first, the worst part will go down before I get the aftertaste of salt and lime.”

“You are one strange girl, lemme tell ya. I’m Austin.” Ah, there’s the name. Without even asking another drink was placed in front of you, however it was something you weren’t aware of nor did you ask for it. However you didn’t question it too much because you were actually enjoying the presence of another person that wasn’t Zoey or Daniel.

“So how do you know the birthday girl then?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowed and elbows sitting on the counter.

“Oh, it’s a funny story actually. We grew up together, did absolutely everything we possibly could together, then when we went off to college we kind of lost touch with each other until a year ago. Now that I think about it, it’s not really funny but that’s the story of my life.” You weren’t completely lying, but that was a story for another time. Right now all you wanted to do was let loose and have a decent night.

That decent night didn’t last for long though because not even an hour later you saw his tall figure eyeing you from the corner of the back yard. But you couldn’t care less because right now you were dancing it out with a once in a lifetime, drunk Zoey, and you were having fun. You were also slightly on the more drunk side, and by slightly I mean completely trashed. The tequila and five -- six other drinks you had were really taking a number on you.

It wasn’t until you started dancing with this guy that’s had his eye on you all night that you finally felt his presence beside you. “Y/N, can we talk?” His voice was deep and raspy, he almost sounded angry? He couldn’t be angry with you, not when he blocked you and refused to talk to you all because you got defensive over your daughter.

“I’m kind of busy right now.” You replied bluntly, clearly not in the mood to deal with whatever shit he wants to put you through. When Harry grabbed onto the small of your wrist, that’s when you snapped. Not vocally but physically. First you started off with throwing the rest of your drink in his face and then forcefully grabbed his hand, throwing it off of you.

Now having nothing, you walked back to the bar where you were greeted with two smiling boys. Daniel and Austin.

“Hey, there’s the birthday girl! You having fun out there, you look like you’re having fun?” Daniel was sitting facing the other chairs, his right arm was leaning on the bar holding his drink to his smiling mouth, and his left one resting on his knee. Austin looked at you surprised.

“Birthday girl, huh? Now why would a girl like you lie to a guy like me?” Austin let out a fake pout while also bringing back the girl like you nonsense. Except this time, you weren’t in the mood. “What’s a guy like you asking a girl like me such personal questions. And no, I’m not having fun, not anymore. Tell your little boyfriend to leave me alone, I have no desire to talk to him. Can I get another Vodka Cranberry?”

Daniel looked around confused for a moment until he saw what you were talking about -- or more precisely, who you were talking about. He knew that you and Harry had your issues, but part of him thought that the two of you would resolve whatever feud was going on because if what Zoey had told him was true, you guys had what she called chemistry.

“Y/N, if you would just hear the man out.”

“For what, Daniel? For him to blow up on me because I said he had no relations to my kid or so he could give me this sappy speech on how he ‘accidentally deleted my number’ and try and victimize himself because neither sound too-”

“So he could apologize, for real.” You were cut off before you had the chance to finish your sentence. Spinning around on your heel -- and nearly tripping over your feet, that only led to Harry putting his hands on your hips to balance you -- you looked up at the man in front of you. Standing tall in all of his stupid glory, you quickly pushed his hands off of your hips and tried to walk around him. This time going out of the gate and into the driveway.

“Look, I know it looks bad, okay? But you have to believe me when I say it really isn’t what you think happened.”

“Oh so you didn’t leave me to read after I tried to apologize to you? You didn’t decline every single one of my phone calls? You didn’t leave me -- leave us -- after you said that you wouldn’t! Because to me Harry, it seems like you did just fucking that!” You shouted at him, his eyes were burning into yours and you couldn’t help but look away. Honestly, you didn’t know why you got this worked up over him, you’ve only met a few times and one of those times you happened to kiss.

“Okay yes, I did, but I was upset okay? And I had no reason to be upset.”

“No, you didn’t because it was my mess to deal with and you just showed up and ruined everything!” It seems like the more you talk to this man, the more your emotions get the better of you because tears were edging close to your eyes.

“I didn’t even do anything!”

“You hurt her, Harry! She thought you left her, she felt fucking worthless and less than what she is because you walked out on her! She adored you Harry and you shut her out.”

Harry was confused, who had he hurt?

“Who are you talking about, huh? I haven’t spoken to anyone other than you and Zoey, and surely it wasn’t Zoey because she’s the one that invited me here. So tell me Y/N, who the fuck did I hurt because to me it just sounds like you’re making up lame excuses to make yourself feel better.”

You were taken aback at this statement. His demeanor was nothing short of pissed, you had exceeded past his breaking point and you could feel it. He forgot about her. She was the reason that you had this fight -- not really because of her but because of your protection towards her -- and he forgot about her.

“Who do you think, asshole? Cadence. She asked me the other night what she did that was so wrong that you had to go and leave her. She thought that she was the one that did something wrong. I sat with her for hours, hours Hary trying to explain to her that she didn’t do anything wrong. That you didn’t hate her, but it’s hard to inform a two year old that the guy she wanted around forever was no longer going to be in her life because he did the one thing he promised not to do. The night on the balcony, after we kissed you vowed to not leave us. I said it was inevitable for the pain to come and that the only thing I didn’t want was Cady to get the low blow end of it all. And you promised that you could never even think of hurting Cady in the way I have hurt, but you did Harry. And I can't forgive that. So take your stupid apologies elsewhere because I’m done.”

The tears that were once brimming your eyes, now leaked down your face and your voice was soft. Almost too soft and you didn’t think he heard any of it. But he did, and he couldn’t feel anymore of a jackass than he does at this very moment. The party was long forgotten and all of his attention was struck on your hurt figure, hurting him in the process. The past few days Harry was working on finding out what his true feelings were for you, he hadn’t meant this for to happen.

It wasn’t supposed to happen. He was going to come here tonight, apologize and try and earn your forgiveness, then he was going to ask you out. He was going to take Zoey’s advice and woo you. But in the process of it all, he hurt one little girl who least deserves it. And for that, Harry couldn’t blame you, he wouldn’t forgive himself either.

So instead of ending the night with a victory kiss to the girl he’s fallen head over heels for, it ended with watching her walk her way into the dead of the night so she could get to Liz’s house that was just down the street. His heart going a million miles a minute, tracing for any possibility to make her forgive him. But all that was forgotten when he felt the hand of Daniel lead him back inside.

Was there a way to fix this? He thought.

But what he didn’t know was that two houses down, curled up on the king side bed in the guest room, Cadence sleeping next to her -- Y/N was thinking the same thing.

----

Welcome back :)

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[let-me-love-you-loki]

Everything Has Changed--Ch. 22

Chapter 22

Shaye

           My father was waiting outside La Guardia, leaning against the back of the Town car. He took one look at me and crossed over to me in just a few steps. The moment he was within reach, I practically collapsed against him. My father wrapped his arms around me and hugged me as tightly as he could.

           “What happened, Shaye?” he asked quietly. He cradled the back of my head with his hand and kissed my hair. “Why were you in California?”

           I opened my mouth to answer, but the only thing that came out was a sob that seemed to come from deep inside me. It felt like my whole body shuddered with it. The tears rolled down my face faster than I could attempt to stop them. The world fell out beneath me and the only thing keeping me from disappearing into the abyss was my father’s arms.

           “Daddy,” I whispered, clinging to him as tightly as I could. “She was right about everything. Momma was right about all of it. I should have listened to her. I never should have gone to Japan.”

           “Your mother isn’t always thinking about what makes other people happy, sweetheart,” my father said carefully as he picked up my bag. “Sometimes she’s more worried about what people think about the family name than the people who have it.”

           He was quiet for a minute before he reached out to take my hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you home. Have you had anything to eat?”

           I let him pull me along to the car. I could feel my body moving, but it didn’t feel like I was the one making it happen. The whole world felt slow and heavy, flowing around me like molasses. Everything was off kilter. I stumbled as he guided me along.

           My father sighed as he held the door open. “Seriously, Shaye. When was the last time you had anything to eat?”

           The moment I got into the backseat, I pulled my knees up into my chest and curled up against the door. “I don’t remember, Daddy. This morning maybe? Last night?”

           My father leaned up toward the front. “Daniel, stop by Morelo’s on the way home.”

           I wanted to vomit at the thought of trying to eat. And Morelo’s was a little diner that was off the way in Jackson Heights in Queens. When I was young, I used to beg my nanny to bring me to the airport when my father was coming home. No matter how late it was or how tired he was, he always brought me to Morelo’s for fried ice cream and carne skewers. It meant a lot that he remembered.

Nick

           As soon as I realized that Shaye was gone, I tried to call her. I called every five minutes for what felt like hours. By the time I figured out that she was probably on her plane back to New York, I thought I was going to pass out. Even on a private plane it was a six hour flight. How was I supposed to go that long without talking to her? I didn’t even know what happened to make her leave.

           That wasn’t exactly the truth. I had a pretty good idea that Kenny had something to do with it. Maybe he’d called Shaye again. Or maybe it was just a remnant of what he’d done—trying to convince her that I had planned that whole scene in Winnipeg to make her break up with him. I still couldn’t believe that he thought he could make her believe that I’d put her through that pain on purpose. That I was so desperate to make her mine that I would do something like that.

           I hated him more than I could ever have imagined. I’d known Kenny was selfish and devious before, but that was always something that I’d though was a character. That it was only for the cameras and the fans. But I’d learned more about who Kenny Omega was as a person in the last six months than I had in four years of working together. He was vindictive and ruthless.

           It was close to eight at night in New York. If her plane had taken off the moment I realized she was gone, she would be landing soon. If I’d missed her by more, then she was probably already there. Either way, she should be able to get a signal. She should be able to answer her phone. God knew I’d called her enough times.

           When it hit me, I practically bowed over with the absolute desire to vomit. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought about it before. Why it hadn’t occurred to me when my called kept going to voicemail. Wherever she was, she had her phone. It was on and working.

           She wasn’t answering on purpose.

           She didn’t want to talk to me.

           I sank down on the living room floor, my back against the sofa. My head throbbed in a way that I’d never felt before and I’d had more than one concussion in my career. No amount of Tylenol or anything else was going to make it any better. I hadn’t eaten since the moment I’d figured out she was gone, and I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be able to stomach anything until I heard from her.

           God only knew when that was going to be. Maybe Shaye would never want to speak to me again. What was I supposed to do then?

           Was I supposed to just go back to the way things were before? Was I supposed to get back on a plane and fly to Japan in a month to do another loop with Bullet Club, wrestle alongside Kenny, and act like nothing happened? How was I supposed to trust him in the ring when I no longer trusted him outside of it?

           I sat like that in my misery for a while before I dug my phone out of my pocket. It was no use trying to call Shaye anymore. I had to acknowledge the fact that I wasn’t going to talk to her until she was ready to call me. Until then, it was all just useless. A waste of time.

           Before I knew it, I’d called Matt. He might have been with Sam—the girl we met in the airport that day—but just then, I need my older brother. I couldn’t explain how completely and keenly I felt the loss of Shaye Walker. I didn’t think anyone would really understand, but Matt might be the only one who could have any idea.

           It rang for what felt like forever before Matt picked up. I could hear Sam’s voice in the background and felt another stab of aching pain run through me. There would always be a part of me that wondered what might have been. If I’d been brave enough to ask Sam out the moment we met in the airport, things would have been so different now.

           “Hey, Nick. What’s up?” Matt asked. He sounded happy. Like I’d caught the two of them in the middle of a laughing fit or something.

           “She’s gone,” I said in a voice that sounded small to my own ears. “Shaye’s gone.”

           My brother paused on the other end, almost as if he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “What?”

           I sucked in a breath and tried not to pass out. “I went out for maybe fifteen minutes. Not even that much. She was there when I left and when I came back, she was gone. Just gone. No note. No warning. Nothing.”

           I could hear rustling and a half murmured conversation. “Stay put, Nick. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

Shaye

           Even though it had made my stomach turn in the first few minutes, Daddy was right. Like he often was. Morelo’s made me feel more like myself than I had in a very long time. The late night carne skewers and salsa verde took me right back to my childhood. To evenings driving out of the city over the Triborough Bridge to pick up my father from the airport. To weekend afternoons when he insisted that we leave Manhattan and see the parts of the city that weren’t bound up in prep schools and society dinners.

           My parents were from two of the wealthiest families in New York’s history, but they were as different from one another as could be. All my mother cared about was the Hearst name and the legacy that went with it. It didn’t matter than neither Damon or I bore it, we were Hearsts as far as she was concerned. Everything we did reflected on the reputation of my great-grandfather, and my mother would have that reflection be nothing but the best.

           Daddy was the exact opposite. He was funny and kind in a way that made most people completely at ease with him. It didn’t matter to him that he was a Pitzer. That there were years and generations of money and prestige built into that name. He was a Walker, too. And that meant just as much to him as everything else.

           For so long, my mother had overrun most of my life. Every decision and every minute detail of my existence had been planned and scripted by my mother. My father had been little more than a background player in most of my life until I graduated from college. Once I’d been pulled into his company, I saw more of him. I spent more time with him. And I learned more about him than I had ever known before.

           “Why did you marry Mom?” I asked as we circled the block. Daniel always let us out in front of the building—never in the basement garage, even though we had a private elevator from there. There were already a line of cars parked against the curb, and I could hear Daniel grumbling to himself.

           My father went quiet for a moment before looking over at me with a frown. “It’s hard to explain, Shaye.”

           “Did you love her? Do you love her?” The words came out quietly. I hadn’t exactly intended to ask such a thing, but I couldn’t help myself.

           He sighed. “Your mother and I have a mutual respect. It’s to be expected of what is basically an arranged marriage.” He reached out to take my hand as Daniel turned the corner and cursed that he’d have to circle again. “Our parents made the decision for us in a lot of ways. I think… I think there have been times when I’ve loved Caroline. When you and Damon were born. You two are the greatest gift she’s ever given me.”

           My heart skipped a beat. “Are you happy?”

           “I’m content,” my father said quietly. “And sometimes that’s all you can be. But that’s not what I want for you, Shaye. I want you to live your life. Be who you want to be away from the Pitzers and Hearsts. I want you to be happy. To fall in love. To have a life that belongs to nobody but you. I know I haven’t always been the best at making that clear, especially when I let your mother dictate the terms of your options and choices for most of your life. But I promise that’s going to change.”

           I closed my eyes and leaned in against his shoulder as Daniel slipped into the basement deck. It was either that or keep circling the block until one of the cars pulled away. “I haven’t had much luck with my choices lately, Daddy.”

           My father smiled against my hair. “You’re just starting out, sweetheart. You’ll get better with practice. And I’ll make sure you get to run your own life from now on.”

____________

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#everything has changed #au of in a day or two #alternate universe in a day or two #nick jackson #nick jackson fanfiction #aew #aew fanfiction #shaye walker #ofc #oc #multi-chapter #kenny omega #kenny omega fanfiction #nick x shaye

[natromanxoff]

11 - Van Halen...

Hi there one and all.

Can I first start by saying farewell to Cozy. I've known him for about fifteen years and would not say he was a close friend or anything, but whenever we caught up with each other there was always time for a beer and chat. He was an A1 guy and will be greatly missed as a person and as a brilliant drummer. When John Bonham died he left the crown for the best rock drummer to Cozy, and I can't think of anyone worthy enough to take over. When Bonzo died we were doing a show at Madison Square Gardens, and as they were going into Champions Fred said, "This one's for John Bonham." The place erupted. If that's Bonzo's song, then I think Cozy should inherit We Will Rock You, because he was THE best rock drummer.

My social life has been quite hectic again. Caught up with Status Quo when they played here recently, they're always good fun to chat with, and they still put on a decent show. Next Sunday I'm gonna see Matchbox 20. Have a listen to their album, it's really good. Last night was the all new Van Halen, and thanks to my mate Nick I had one of those wonderful VIP passes hanging round my neck. I, along with the rest of the world was curious to know what Gary Cherone was going to be like. Brilliant. This has to be the best VH line up yet. The show was being filmed by MTV, so if you see it and the camera pans around to the sound desk, just look for the best looking guy in the building and that'll be me, standing next to him.

Anyway, back to VH. They are still a great rock band, a great live act and great musicians, and I still hate drum solo's. But back to Mr Cherone. We all know what he did at the Tribute, and we all know he's a huge Queen fan, and he's the closest singer to Freddie I've ever seen. His outfit, black satin shirt and flared black satin pants. I seem to remember FM wearing that around 75/76. His mic stand is the FM 'wand', except it's a lot longer. His movements are very theatrical, and dare I say camp at times, with lots of twists and turns, very Freddie. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not knocking him at all, he is an amazing showman and doesn't stop all night, even jumping into the crowd and running up the steps to the top of the arena, and then tumbling down like a stuntman. It's good rock 'n roll, so try and check them out, I don't think you'll regret it. (I've become concert reviewer all of a sudden) At times he even sounds like another singer, but I won't keep on, I'll leave it to somebody else. On the rock station, Triple M, one of the jocks this afternoon said, "He's been watching to many videos of our dear departed friend Freddie Mercury. His movements were exactly like his."

The first time I ever saw Van Halen was at a place called the Circus Krona(!) in good old Munich. I went along to see them with the curly one, and when we got there I had to instantly phone the studio and try and get Rog to come along because it was the biggest PA system I had ever seen in a place that size. When they started the intro tape it was so loud I thought my chest was gonna cave in, the bass just pinned you to your seat. Needless to say Brian was like a pig in shit. Before I tell you my little Queen story, I have to tell you about what I consider to be the best onstage patter I think I've ever heard. David Lee Roth was talking to the crowd between numbers and somebody in the crowd chucked a paper cup or something at him, he stopped talking, looked round in the general direction and said, "Hey man, you can throw what you like at me. Because tonight I'm going to f**k your chick." 20,000 people loved it, and so did I cause I still remember him saying it.

OK. We were touring the States, probably around 81/82, and we were flying to Portland. The band entourage were traveling on a wonderful private plane, and as the crew would have been in the bus for about 24 hrs we took as many as we could with us. The date was Sept.1, I remember because thats my birthday, and when we boarded the plane there was a huge cake with 'Happy Birthday Crystal' on it, and even more booze than we normally had. (Somebody must have expected something) One of the nice things about private planes is that you can make detours and the pilot flew around Mt St Helens a few times so we could see right into the crater, and it was still steaming, an amazing sight. Back to my birthday and a few of us needed some privacy, so Jim 'Mary' Devenney, Jimmy ' Idiot Boy' Barnett, Peter 'Feebie' Freestone, Roger '*******' Taylor and myself stocked up with a couple of drinks and retired to the Master Bedroom for a discussion on world politics. When the plane landed we were still a few thousand feet up in the air, legless is the best way to describe us. Hey, it was my birthday after all. We fell into the limo's and headed to the hotel, and the crew went on to theirs.

On arrival I found out that Van Halen were staying there, and they were playing that night, so I secured a few million passes and went looking for somebody to go partying with. After all it was 4pm and if I went to sleep I'd wake up feeling awful so I had to continue. RT said he was gonna crash, but Feebie and Terry were ready to go, so we said we would go to the first bar we came to. As it turned out it was a topless joint, and needless to say I was shocked and stunned, but a deals a deal. We were drinking shots of peppermint schnapps with vodka and orange chasers, very intelligent. At about 8pm we all shot off to watch VH, and they were great. After the show both bands arrange to meet in the bar at the hotel, but the bar is one of those stupid ones in the middle of the lobby. So there we are, the four Queenies, Feebie, Wally, Tunbrige, Terry and me, and the four Van Halens, all sitting around having a slurp, and VH's minders running around like headless chickens in the CIA. Outside the main doors were hundreds of fans, with a VH gorilla keeping them out, even to the point of stopping Ratty coming in. I had to argue with this moron to let one of our crew in, and he said, "If he goes anywhere near David or Eddie I'll throw him out." I could only answer with that wonderful two worded phrase starting and ending in F. Because it was like being in a fish bowl we decided to leave the bar, and everyone wandered off to various rooms to continue, the biggest bash being in Rogers suite.

At some unknown hour whilst I'm having a very pleasant conversation with a charming lady who called herself 'Naughty Nancy,' Jobby says to me, "I've been looking for you, Tunbridge wants you to call him now, it's urgent, Brians had an accident." Jobby was very drunk and I didn't know if he was serious or joking, so I phoned Tunbridges room and there was no reply. What do I do now? If Brians asleep and I wake him I'm in trouble, and if he has hurt himself and I don't call I'm still in trouble. What do I care? I'm drunk and fearless, so I phone and Tunbridge asks me to get there asap.

When I go in, Brians lying on the bed on his side, with the waste paper bin close at hand, and Tunbrige is grinning and mopping his brow with a damp cloth. Brian was mumbling stuff like "Don't let me die." (I'm sure most of us have been there at sometime or another) I probably shouldn't say this, but I had to grin, I thought it highly amusing. I got an explanation and told Tunbridge not to let him sleep on his back, and call me if there were anymore problems. I then returned to NN.

It turned out that when we all left the bar, Brian had gone to Eddie's room where they consumed huge quantities of Jack Daniels, and Brian not being a bourbon drinker, went to the toilet to worship the porcelain god, and threw up with such gusto he hit his head on the cistern, split his head open and nearly knocked himself out. The following night we played the same place VH did, and Mr May with band aid on head, played a blinder. A couple of years later, in the Rainbow in LA, I met Alex Van Halens estranged wife, and that, as they say, is another story all together.

Crystal

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #brian may #crystal taylor #crystal's tales

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Arrowverse OC Masterlist

DC || The Batman

Name: Aella Wayne

Story: Homecoming

Fandom: Supergirl

Faceclaim:  Camila Mendes

Love interest: Tim Drake

Summary: When Aella Wayne’s National City boarding school got destroyed during one of Supergirl’s epic battles, she knew that she would have to go back to Gotham for the first time since she was thirteen.  It would mean leaving behind her beloved internship at CatCo, unfortunately, but she’d barely seen her dad since she started school so she was still looking forward to that.  Of course, when she gets home, nothing is as she remembers. There’s a bat themed vigilante with a neon sidekick, her dad has all but adopted a boy her age, and she seems to be the only person to realize that Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake are Batman and Robin.

Name: Akin

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Face claim: Sam Claflin

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Name: Angelina Winters

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Anne Hathaway

Love Interest: Oliver Queen

Name: Annika Webster

Story: Running Home To You

Fandom: The Flash

Faceclaim:  Danielle Campbell

Love Interest: Barry Allen

Summary: Annika Webster loves Central City, she really did. But at eighteen and fresh out of high school, she needed something different. Something new.  So she grabbed her passport and her camera, and hopped on the next flight to London .  Annika spent the next several years travelling the world and making a name for herself as a photographer and travel journalist, and by 25, she was ready to think about settling down.  So when the next invite rolled in, from Harrison Wells himself, asking her to come to Central City to photograph the grand reveal of his particle accelerator, she’s all too happy to hop on the next plane home.  It was supposed to be just another gig, something she’d done a million times. It wasn’t supposed to end with her waking up from a coma nine months later, laying in a hospital bed next to her once best friend, Barry Allen.

Name: Astra Bishop-Kent

Story: Crushed And Created

Fandom: Titans

Face claim: Nicole Maines

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Name: Bea Kent

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Face claim: Alba Baptista

Love Interest: Jason Todd

Name: Bethany Lance

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Amanda Seyfried

Name: Celia Danvers

Story: I Need A Hero

Fandom: Supergirl

Faceclaim:  Erin Moriarty

Name: Chloe Todd

Story: We Can Burn Brighter (Than The Sun)

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Liana Liberato

Name: Dani Merlyn

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Hailee Steinfeld

Name: Diana Queen

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim: Mackenzie Foy

Name: Emmy Queen

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Meg Donnelly

Love Interest: Jason Todd

Name: Esmerelda Torres

Story: Hall Of Fame

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Emeraude Toubia

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Summary: Esmerelda Torres would like the record to show that it was not being a Titan that had made her special.  Before being Miss Universe, Esmerelda had just been a little girl who believed that she could change the world.  It was the members of the team that made the Titans special, not the other way around.  But she had lost it along the way, they all had.  Sometime after Garth, after Jericho, after the team split up, that spark of eternal hope had faded, leaving behind a young adult, lost and untethered, special only in name.  Until Dick Grayson walked back into her life with a teenage girl in tow, reminding her that at one point she had poured her heart and soul into saving everyone.  Reminding her that at one point, she had been special.  And that she could be again.

Name: Gracie Grant

Story: Daydream Believer

Fandom: Supergirl

Faceclaim:  Meg Donnelly

Name: Greer Collier

Story: Devil Side

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Dove Cameron

Summary: Of course Greer Collier knew who Dick Grayson was, every Gotham native knew the Wayne ward, and as two of the few children brought to galas throughout the city, they’d known each other well, once.  But that was years ago, more than a decade since she’d last seen him, when suddenly Detective Richard Grayson is asking her to grab coffee and answer a couple of questions.  

She’s confident that he hasn’t found anything connecting her to her actions as Hellcat, and she doesn’t think that he’d be all that interested in the supposed glitz and glam of her life, so she’s perfectly fine with simply ignoring the request.  But when Robin suddenly shows up, digging into her nightlife and following her across rooftops, she can’t help but wonder if the vigilante and the detective are following the same thread, and if it might not be worthwhile to hear what Dick Grayson has to say.

Name: Imogen Allen

Story: Untitled

Fandom: The Flash & Legends Of Tomorrow

Faceclaim:  Lyndsy Fonseca

Love Interest: Rip Hunter; potential Rip Hunter x Ray Palmer

Name: Ivy Knight

Story: Faith Forgotten Land

Read it on AO3 HERE | FFnet HERE | Wattpad HERE

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Leighton Meester

Love Interest: James Bishop; Oliver Queen

Summary: Yvette Knight was the epic love of Oliver Queen’s life.  As the daughter of a French heiress and an American media mogul, their families had always had close ties, and the two had been raised side by side. Best friends since infancy, childhood puppy love turned high school sweethearts, everyone expected them to be engaged as soon as they finished college.  It never happened.  Instead, when Ivy returned to America after four years at Oxford, she came back with James Bishop on her arm, and his ring on her finger, and to Oliver Queen in bed with Laurel Lance.  Heartbroken by his ex-girlfriend’s engagement, Oliver was quick to agree to join his father on the Gambit to go to China.  To his death.

Five years later, Oliver Queen is back from the dead, and he hardly recognizes the world he’s returned to.  The one thing he does recognize?  The family’s publicist, the woman who held his family together through his death and now his resurrection, none other than Ivy Knight herself.  Still engaged and still unmarried, a bit older and sadder than she used to be, she’s a dead man’s dream come true.   And Oliver can’t pretend that he’s any less in love with her than he’d ever been.

Name: Kelsey Doyle

Story: Free Falling

Fandom: The Flash

Faceclaim:  Nina Dobrev

Love Interest: Barry Allen

Summary: Kelsey Doyle wouldn’t necessarily call her life boring – her job at the CCPD made sure of it – but it was ordinary.  Wake up, drink too much coffee, go to work, drink too much coffee, work late, drink too much coffee, go home, and repeat.  The only thing that kept her from losing her mind was her best friend and co-worker, Barry Allen.  It was just another normal day when Barry got back from Starling City, ready to drag she and Iris to STAR Labs to see their new particle accelerator.   It was less normal when she and Barry watched the accelerator go haywire on TV, and even less normal when she got hit by lightning.  And it was anything but normal when Kelsey Doyle died.

Name: Keziah Zatara

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Danielle Rose Russell

Name: Kinsley Kord

Story: Livewire

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Shelley Hennig

Love interest: Dick Grayson

Summary: Kinsley Kord didn’t miss being a Titan.  She didn’t.  She missed her best friends more than anything, and she missed living with them in the tower, but she didn’t miss being the Justice League’s glorified cleanup crew, risking her life on missions deemed below their notice.  And almost ten years after leaving the tower, she was perfectly happy to leave Glitch in the past and focus on her future.  She was happy, really, she was.

And so of course, of every bakery in Gotham, it had to be hers that Dick Grayson wandered into with a teenage girl in his care and assassins on their tail.  And of course he couldn’t have just taken a donut and left, no.  Dick Grayson just had to ask for her help, and Kinsley Kord still couldn’t say no to him.

Name: Logan Becker

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Hailee Steinfeld

Love Interest: Jason Todd

Name: Lucas Merlyn

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim: Matthew Daddario

Name: Malia Constantine

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Sabrina Carpenter & Sarah Michelle Gellar 

Name: Mercy “Echo” Bowen

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Florence Pugh

Love Interest: Oliver Queen

Name: Mia Queen

Story: Green Light

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Crystal Reed

Love Interest: Barry Allen

Summary: When Mia Queen was twelve, her father and brother were lost at least.  Weeks before she turns eighteen, her brother is found alive, and returns home.  Only, nothing is as he remembered.  Moira is distant, married to their father’s CFO and having clandestine meetings with Malcolm Merlyn.  Thea has gone wild, relying on alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of losing Robert and Oliver, shoplifting just to feel something.  And Mia… Mia has gone wild in her own way, sneaking out to the Glades to see her secret boyfriend, getting into fights wherever she could find them, breaking rules just to see if anyone would care enough to stop her.

But with Oliver’s miraculous return, all eyes are on the Queen family.  Between prying reporters and a concerned older brother, a lot of secrets risk being brought to light — secrets that some in the city would kill to keep hidden.

Name: Nia West

Story: Untitled

Fandom: The Flash

Faceclaim:  Vanessa Morgan

Love Interest: Barry Allen

Name: Nico Wayne

Story: Treacherous

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Dylan O’Brien

Love interest: Teagan O’Neal

Summary: Coming from the richest families in Gotham had perks, and Teagan O’Neal knew it well; after all, that was why she and her best friend Nico had always been untouchable by the law.  Growing up it was all about petty theft, vandalism, and underage drinking, but as they got older, things changed.  Following in his family’s footsteps, Nico took on a life of vigilantism, while Teagan, following a legacy that no one else knew about, went darker.  Their difference in morals had never been a problem in their relationship, even after they started living together.  After all, they respected each other’s boundaries and never crossed paths in the shadowy Gotham underworld.  At least, not before Nico’s former brother, Dick Grayson, showed up, asking for Nico’s help to track down Dinoaea, the Venus Flytrap, Teagan herself.

Name: Noah Altman

Story: Accidental

Fandom: The Flash

Faceclaim:  Dylan Sprayberry

Love Interest: Parker Allen

Summary: Although they hadn’t lived together since Nora Allen died, the Allen siblings were still as thick as thieves.  From the moment he was old enough, Barry had been taking Parker out every Saturday for sibling bonding, and was as regular a fixture at Altman movie nights as Parker was at West movie nights.  Neither the Altmans nor the Wests had been able to take in both children, instead keeping the best friends — Parker and Noah, and Barry and Iris — together, but the four had formed their own little family back before Barry and Iris had even graduated high school.  So Barry taking Parker and Noah to see the grand reveal of the particle accelerator really shouldn’t have been a big deal.  It was, for all intents and purposes, just another normal night.  Until Parker opens her eyes several months later to find out that her brother and best friend are both still in the same unnatural coma that she just woke up from.

Name: Parker Allen

Story: Accidental

Fandom: The Flash

Faceclaim:  Danielle Rose Russell

Love Interest: Noah Altman

Summary: Although they hadn’t lived together since Nora Allen died, the Allen siblings were still as thick as thieves.  From the moment he was old enough, Barry had been taking Parker out every Saturday for sibling bonding, and was as regular a fixture at Altman movie nights as Parker was at West movie nights.  Neither the Altmans nor the Wests had been able to take in both children, instead keeping the best friends — Parker and Noah, and Barry and Iris — together, but the four had formed their own little family back before Barry and Iris had even graduated high school.  So Barry taking Parker and Noah to see the grand reveal of the particle accelerator really shouldn’t have been a big deal.  It was, for all intents and purposes, just another normal night.  Until Parker opens her eyes several months later to find out that her brother and best friend are both still in the same unnatural coma that she just woke up from.

Name: Rebecca Lance

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim: Kathryn Newton

Love Interest: Thea Queen (& Roy Harper?)

Name: Reggie Lott

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Giorgia Whigham

Name: Remi Alcott

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Natalie Alyn Lind

Love Interest: Gar Logan

Name: Rowena Abbott

Story: Abyss

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Emma Dumont

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Summary: According to the police report, Rowena Abbot did kill her father — even if she didn’t remember doing so.  She could remember the moments before, the raised voice and fists, and she could remember the moments after, the blood splattered across the walls, but she couldn’t remember anything in between.  Still, despite the lack of any weapon or recollection, not even an honest self defence plea was enough to keep her out of jail.

Ten years later, older and wiser, more angry and more powerful than she’d ever been before, Rowena Abbott is released, and she only has one thing on her mind: revenge.  And then she meets her parole officer, Detective Dick Grayson, and with him, a teenage girl far too familiar for the stranger she is.

Name: Sarina Strange

Story: Untitled

Faceclaim: Sophie Turner

Love interest: Jason Todd

Name: Teagan O’Neal

Story: Treacherous

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Madelaine Petsch

Love Interest: Nico Wayne

Summary: Coming from the richest families in Gotham had perks, and Teagan O’Neal knew it well; after all, that was why she and her best friend Nico had always been untouchable by the law.  Growing up it was all about petty theft, vandalism, and underage drinking, but as they got older, things changed.  Following in his family’s footsteps, Nico took on a life of vigilantism, while Teagan, following a legacy that no one else knew about, went darker.  Their difference in morals had never been a problem in their relationship, even after they started living together.  After all, they respected each other’s boundaries and never crossed paths in the shadowy Gotham underworld.  At least, not before Nico’s former brother, Dick Grayson, showed up, asking for Nico’s help to track down Dinoaea, the Venus Flytrap, Teagan herself.

Name: Thalassa Zatara

Story: Archaic

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Stella Maeve

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Name: Thalia Lance

Story: Paint It Black

Fandom: Arrow

Faceclaim:  Blake Lively

Love Interest: Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn

Name: Vanessa Kline

Story: Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim: Kat McNamara

Love Interest: Dick Grayson

Summary: Growing up in Crime Alley was anything but pleasant, everyone knew that.  For Vanessa Kline, the only silver lining her life had ever had was Jason Todd, her baby brother in all but blood.  From the first time they’d met, when he was nine and she was twelve, he’d been the centre of her life and she’d promised herself that she would do anything to protect him.  But when he was twelve, he got picked up by CPS and taken into foster care, and Vanessa could never find him again.  Only a few weeks later, she was found and taken in by the Gotham City Sirens, and her life finally took a turn for the better.

The years passed, and everything changed.  Vanessa went to art school, left Gotham, became a vigilante.  Songbird, a nickname that her mothers had given her and a tribute to her lost baby brother, she never focused on the big bad villains — that was what Batman and Robin and even the Sirens were for.  No, Songbird looked after the kids, the poor and downtrodden, protecting them like she wished someone had protected her. She occasionally teamed up with Robin, sure, but for the most part, she worked alone.  As long as she didn’t let herself get close to people, she wouldn’t have to lose anyone else.

But when Detective Dick Grayson seeks her out, trying to figure out why the Sirens had gone completely off the radar, Vanessa finds herself thrown into a mystery unlike any she’s faced before.  But this time, she has a partner at her back — a partner that turns out to have a surprising connection to a face from her past.

Name: Waverly Todd

Story: We Can Burn Brighter (Than The Sun)

Fandom: Titans

Faceclaim:  Madison McLaughlin

#arrowverse oc #dc oc #titans oc #masterlist

[tempestaurora]

Hi, don't know if you're still doing this but:

2 royal + 52 Marriage of Convenience 

Eddie and Buck 911

2: Royal Au + 52: Marriage of Convenience

alright i've read like four of these in the past two days so i've been trying to think up something original

personally, i'd tell the story of the buckleys, rulers of some made up country like genovia. the buckley king and queen, phillip and margaret, had three children: daniel, madeline and evan. tragically, their eldest grew sick at a young age, and prince evan was born in an attempt to save his life (although the family would never admit that to the world); evan's spare parts, however, must have been defective, for the young prince daniel died, leaving madeline as the heir to the throne

now, here's the thing about being royal: it sucks. no one tells you it sucks, but it does, and madeline (or maddie, as she prefers) and evan know this first hand, especially as maddie grows older and has to start looking for a husband

in walks doug kendall, a neurosurgeon, and by god does the country love him

so much so that evan, once old enough, decides to start travelling, start going around the world, because it's not like he'll be missed, right? he may be the country's beloved prince evan (the brightest smile and biggest heart of any royal they've ever known) - but he's not needed for day-to-day things

so he travels, and when he does, he does it in disguise. no guards, no royal escorts, no private planes. he even goes by buck, because its easier that way - and its not like genovia is a big country, so its not like he's going to get recognised

he's on a tour of the united states when he reaches el paso, texas, where a young eddie diaz, recently abandoned and divorced by his wife, and father to a four-year-old christopher, are struggling to make end's meet

one of eddie's three jobs is as a bartender at the bar that buck wanders into

and by god can they not stop staring at each other

i mean, a hot bartender with just the right amount of stubble who holds himself with innate confidence

and a hot patron with a birthmark above his left eye and an open smile like sunshine is just flooding out of him?

they get to talking real quick

and although buck doesn't mention being a prince, he stays at the bar long enough to hear all about eddie's life and current troubles (isn't the patron supposed to vent to the bartender? buck asks. hey i listen to people vent all the time, eddie replies, it's rightfully my turn)

and well, buck has an idea - a dumb idea, because he's a bit drunk, but an idea all the same

we should get married, buck says

what

buck shrugs. if i'm hearing you right, you just got divorced, your parents are threatening to take away your child - aka the light of your life - and you need insurance and money. if we get married, you're no longer a single dad working three jobs with no insurance - i dunno man sounds like a good idea to me

and eddie's not usually one to do stupid, reckless things, and he fully expects this to backfire in a ridiculous way, but goddammit - he's twenty six, he's allowed to do dumb shit occasionally, and buck is something he definitely wants to do

it takes a few weeks (they both think the other will back out, but neither does) and buck has to get a lot of things sorted privately and quietly, especially in regards to marriage licenses and visas, but idk he's a prince he can fast track that shit, but then the two of them are getting married at a court house, with just christopher and eddie's sisters to witness

(eddie hears buck's name as evan buckley for the first time on the day they get married; he does not recognise it in the slightest. he doesn't care about royals.)

(in those few weeks, eddie is blown away (and a little in love) with how good buck is with chris; there are several near-misses with either of them shirtless, fresh from the shower, or dressed up in a suit; and at least nine moments where they almost kissed but didn't and thought the other didn't want to)

helena and ramon, by the way, are pissed

eddie is thrilled

and everything's great - buck moves into eddie's house, ending his tour of america then and there in el paso; signs lots of documents and makes lots of phone calls; listens to eddie talk about the idea of moving to LA, of being a firefighter, of doing something he's proud of

and after one night when buck carries christopher to bed and tucks him in, eddie watching from the doorway, they return to the living room for eddie to immediately kiss him

buck kisses back, of course

its the next day that the news drops: prince evan buckley of genovia has secretly married a single father in texas

eddie finds out through the newspaper. he looks between it, then buck, then it, and says: what

and buck goes for a smile and says, surprise?

eddie's annoyed for like a minute and a half, but buck is too delightful and charming to be mad at for long.

buck's parents, on the other hand - boy can they hold a grudge

the story ends like this: buck and eddie travel to genovia with christopher; they introduce him around the family, around the country, and genovia is still surprised, but ultimately endeared by the family prince evan has made for himself, unaware that it was built on a dumb, drunk idea.

(what happens when they find out? eddie asks quietly, one night. why would they find out? buck replies. we're married, eddie, and not to be embarrassing - but i've got a massive crush on you, so i'm happy to see where this takes us)

in the epilogue, buck denounces his claim to the throne to move to the usa, LA specifically, and live with christopher and eddie there. maddie follows not long after, publicly divorcing her abusive husband and needing some time away. she eventually goes back, because being a royal may suck, but she's still instilled with a sense of duty towards her people - however, when she returns, many years later, upon her parents' abdication so that she may take the throne, she brings her husband, chimney, and their daughter, jee-yun with her

by that point, of course, eddie and buck are very happy, very in love, and are no longer married out of convenience, but joy

Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.

#buddie #evan buck buckley #eddie diaz #911 fox #maddie buckley #911 #talk

[typingtess]

NCIS: Los Angeles Season Twelve Rewatch:   “The Bear”

The basics:   A Russian plane is down, Nell is back around and Hetty is on the ground (somewhere international one assumes).

Written by:  R. Scott Gemmill wrote/cowrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one,  "Talion" (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/“Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200), “Các Tù Nhân”, “Goodbye Vietnam”, “Ninguna Salida” (the season nine finale), “Hit List”, “Asesinos”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Choke Point”, "The Guardian", "Hail Mary", "Kill Beale Vol. 1", "Alsiyadun" and “Fortune Favors the Brave”.

Directed by:  Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, "Smokescreen” part one, "Decoy", "Mother" (episode 250) and "Alsiyadun".

Guest stars of note:  Vyto Ruginis is back as Arkady Kolcheck, Don Wallace also returned as Navy SEAL Senior Chief Frank Wallace.  Brian Leigh Smith played one of the Russians – he’s been an extra on the program in the past.  New faces were Eugene Prokofiev as Oleg Barinov, Olesya Rulin as Zasha Gagrin, Daniel Kove as Maxim Yurtaev, Lissa Danshaw as Clubber and Brian Leigh Smith as Wingman.  

Our heroes:   Socially distance their way to finding a Russian plane.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Doesn’t want to go to Bakersfield with Sam in two-hours since it is a three-hour ride. Sam:  Can make it door to door to Bakersfield in two-hours. Kensi:  Very happy to have Nell back, even if it is for a little while. Deeks:  The King of Costco. Eric:  Become far more eccentric, working on a security robot chimp. Nell:  Trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. Fatima:  Trolls the UFO websites and found alien sightings in El Segundo. Roundtree:  Didn’t know there was an unofficial Russian Consulate in LA. Hetty:  Nowhere where she wants to be.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Wants Nell to double their expense accounts. Sam:  Likes Nell’s management style when it comes to getting helicopters. Kensi:  Pays off lost bets to Callen and Sam with counterfeit $20 she gets. Deeks:  Reminds Kensi that paying off lost bets with counterfeit $20 is a felony. Eric:  Stirring his coffee with Nell’s old Bluetooth earpiece. Nell:  Lost her Mom. Fatima:  Doesn’t want anyone picking on the new guy. Roundtree:  The new guy. Hetty:  Sorry Nell lost her Mom.

Who's down with OTP:  He’s giving her lawyerly advice while she thinks he’s enough chimp for the office.  Nell’s time away from the office has not been a good thing for Eric.

Who's down with BrOTP: Bickering about driving and the case, seems like old times.  There is also an “I love you” share post bickering.

Any pressing need for a cranky retired Admiral?  With this being Nell’s first day back to the office in months, no need to have anyone lurking around with their own plans.

Who is running the team this week?  Nell is drafted into the job.

Fashion review:  Callen is wearing a dark blue and yellow plaid button down shirt.  In the field, he changes to a medium blue long-sleeve tee and grey khakis.  Sam is in a brown long-sleeve tee to start the episode.  That becomes a black long-sleeve tee with tan khaki pants and a black baseball cap at the plane site.  Kensi is wearing a grey tee-shirt that really looks like something out of an active-leisure wear catalog before wearing a black baseball cap, long-sleeve off-white tee and medium tan khakis near the plane.  Deeks starts the episode in a dark red tee-shirt, changes into Artie before wearing a long-sleeve darker teal tee-shirt, a bright blue baseball cap and brownish khakis in the field.  Nell is wearing a bright pink dress with black polka dots, puffy sleeves and ruffles that we should never speak of again.  Fatima is wearing  an off-white tunic, long-sleeve blouse with little gold dots in Ops and tan khakis with a green long-sleeve tee in the field.  Roundtree:  Black short sleeve button up shirt with grey paisley diamonds – sharp look.  In the field, it is a light grey long-sleeve shirt with blue khakis and a white baseball cap.  Hetty is in a what looks like desert camouflage gear, including a bulletproof vest.  Lots of clothes to open the season.

Music:  “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Gregory Stovetop and “Wolf Den” by P.J. O’Connor play in the background in the bar while Kensi and Deeks and questioning Arkady.    “Nothing Lasts Forever” winds up being a big of foreshadowing for The Squid and the Dagger.

Any notable cut scene: Not today.

Quote:  Arkady:  “Oof, this place is dead.” Deeks:  “It's, uh, closed, so yeah.” Arkady:  “Why is closed?” Kensi:  “Why are we closed?” Arkady:  “Yeah.” Kensi:  “We're closed because most people don't drink at this hour.” Arkady:  “We have word for people like them in Russia.  Otstayushchiye.” Deeks:  “S-Sla-slav-slavaki?” Arkady:  “Underachievers. In which case, I am not, so I think I will have ice cold vodka. Uh, none of this well swill you feed to the peasants. Top shelf. Nyet.”

Anything else:   A Russian aircraft is involved in a training mission in international airspace but is skirting US airspace.  Two American fighter jets chase them off but the plane is suddenly in US airspace.  Inside the plane, the Russian pilot is losing consciousness.  As he is out cold, the plane starts falling from the sky.  The US aircraft lose the ability to track the Russian plane.

Nell walks into an empty office, calling out for Hetty.  Nell got a text from Hetty asking her to come in.  Once in Hetty’s office area, Nell ignores that Hetty’s phone is ringing.  The video monitor pops on – it’s Hetty in camo gear in what looks like a military situation.  While a little peevish that Nell did not answer the phone, Hetty offers Nell her sincere condolences about the death of Nell’s mother.  Nell looks crushed but is grateful for the support.

Hetty isn’t just offering condolences, she needs a favor.  With a Russian plane down off the coast of California, the team needs Nell to run point on the case.  Nell brings up the fact that she no longer works for NCIS but Hetty’s being bombed – literally – so the call is over.  The phone rings again – Nell answers “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

At the bar, Kensi and Deeks are cleaning up. Deeks is complaining about a bad $20 bill they were passed by a customer.  Kensi is fine with fake money – she uses it to pay off lost wagers to Callen and Sam.  Lawyer Deeks reminds Kensi that is a felony.  Nell calls – Kensi and Deeks are excited to hear from her.  They are called into headquarters because of the missing Russian plane is a strategic bomber.

Fatima does a rundown on the plane for Callen and Sam.  The plane is a Tupolev TU-95 with a 15,000 kilometer (9,320 miles) flight range.  It is nicknamed “The Bear”.  The Russians use it to buzz the coast lines from Alaska to California according to Sam.  The plane can hold up to 33,000 tons of missiles, including nuclear warheads.

No word from either Moscow or Washington DC about the missing plane.  Fatima bring up that Nell is waiting for word from the SecNav, surprising both Callen and Sam.  When Fatima explains how Nell was brought in, both Callen and Sam are once again surprised – this time by Hetty’s disappearance.  Fatima has no idea what’s going on.  The Navy is arranging for someone to talk to Callen and Sam about the plane, causing Fatima to be worried the US shot the plane down.  “I sure as hell hope not,” is about as much reassurance as Sam can offer since it would be an act of war.

Senior Chief/Navy SEAL Frank Wallace gives Callen and Sam the update.  The SEALs will be involved if the plane hit the ocean – the Russians will do whatever they can to get the plane back, the SEALs want to get there first.  The US can take any useful intelligence aboard the plane as well as secure whatever weapons are there – including possible nukes.  There is a hope the Russians would tell the US if there were nukes on the plane but there are no guarantees.  While the Russians getting their nukes back wouldn’t be so bad, other countries without nuclear weapons could go looking for the plane as well.

The Navy thinks the plane, in theory, could still be flying since they would still have enough fuel.  Sam disagrees – NORAD or the Air Force would have found them.  Wallace agrees but the Navy wants to make sure.  If the plane crashes into a residential neighborhood or a major downtown area, “the results would be catastrophic.”  

Callen asks what is the worst case scenario.  It is a nuclear attack with just one plane.  The US along with allies like the UK, Japan, Germany and even China would step in to threaten Russia.  Russia would blame the attack on a rogue faction inside their military and pay billions in restitution to the US and the victims of the attack.  But the US would be weakened and badly damaged economically.  Russia and China could form an alliance that would be financially greater than what the damaged US and its allies have.  Russia and China get to flourish while the US struggles.  Callen thinks the scenario is a bit far-fetched.  Sam does not.

What the team has going for it now is “The Bear” is a huge plane – loud.  It couldn’t just fly over a small neighborhood or a downtown area without attracting a ton of attention.

Struggling with her bluetooth device, Nell is trying to contact the SecNav.  Deeks remembers Eric stirring his coffee with the device.  Nell asks about Eric, who is on vacation in Tokyo at a trade show.  While his time with the San Francisco bogus company in the prior year was a set-up, the technology Eric was working on was quite real.  While Nell is worried Eric was working on his robotic security chimp, Deeks thinks dozens of them running around the office would be fun.  Kensi is happy with the one chimp they have on the team.  Nell is so sorry Kensi is.  

Roundtree joins Kensi, Deeks and Nell in the bullpen.  Nell greets him as “FBI Agent Roundtree” but he’s NCIS Agent Roundtree now.  He’s also going to the unofficial Russian Consulate to see who is around.  Roundtree is surprised Nell is giving orders as she walks away but Kensi and Deeks bring him up to speed.  Kensi follows Nell while Deeks sets up Roundtree do to some surveillance.

Kensi hangs out in Hetty’s office as Nell orders around an undersecretary.  Kensi and Nell share “I miss yous” and Kensi offers her condolences over Nell’s Mom.  Kensi really wants to know how Nell is doing and while Nell is OK, “mostly”, she is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life.  Kensi wants that kind of info too but Nell is sure Kensi is right where she’s supposed to be.  Kensi is so happy to have Nell back, even for a little while.  Hetty’s phone rings and Nell is back to work.

Callen is not 100% sure the plane even exists.  The Russians could have spoofed US radar technology and can make it look like there are planes where no planes exist.  Sam thinks that would explain the recent rash of UFO sightings but US pilots.  Or the Russian plane could have flown under US radar and is back home.  The Russians are sitting around watching the US conduct a wild goose chase.

With the plane being so big and so loud, if it was anywhere, people would have seen/heard it.  Sam disagrees – the plane could have landed at night with one functional engine, not the usual four without attracting a ton of attention.  If birds hit the engine, the pilot could glide and do a dead-stick landing.  The last place the plane was seen was a foggy, largely uninhabited area.

In the bullpen, Kensi share’s Callen and Sam’s idea with Deeks.  The Russians, if they had to land, would blow up the plane immediately and say it crashed.  By the time anyone got to the plane, nothing of value would be left.  The US and Russians wouldn’t have a big problem over this – nobody was hurt, nobody “stole” anyone secrets.  Deeks think local flight clubs, pilots or ham radio operators may know about the plane’s whereabouts.  

Looking for possible landing spots, Fatima finds a number of abandoned runways, long desert roads that could be used as runways, even salt flats that would work for landing a plane.  These areas would all allow the Russian plane to land without causing an uproar.  Fatima tells Callen and Sam she didn’t find any official notice about a plane landing but checking out some UFO websites and social media, a low flying aircraft was seen flying over the Los Padres National Forest, about 42-miles west of Bakersfield.  

Knowing the area and with the surrounding mountain ranges, Sam thinks it is possible radar would miss the plane.  He wants to check the area out.  Callen wants someone to check the area out – not them.  It is a three-hour ride.  Sam thinks it’s more two-hours and that concerns Callen.  It doesn’t concern an arriving Nell who has the two in a helicopter for a less than one-hour ride to Bakersfield.  Sam is impressed.  Callen takes a shot and tries to get their expense accounts doubled.  Nell passes on that.

From the helicopter, neither Callen or Sam see the plane.  Callen asks what are the chances the plane is flying over the country.  Sam thinks zero – every agency is looking for the plane, the US is on high alert.  While Callen thinks the Russians crashed the plane to keep it out of US hands, Sam wonders if the plane is full of malware so when US agencies start to work on it, the Russians will have a backdoor into those agencies – “a Trojan Horse.”  He thinks the same of the Russians on the plane – they could be brought to sell their untrue story of Russia.  Finally, the could have landed and unloaded the weapons to sell for terrorists.  Nothing here is good.

Back at the bar, Kensi and Deeks meet with a crew-cut wearing Arkady.  He is training for a triathlon.  Kensi wonders if his events are “drinking, gambling and smoking.”  She laughs at her own joke.  He explains he has no hair on his body – something Kensi did not need to know – to prevent wind and water resistance.  

Arkady wants to know why nobody is in the bar.  It is early in the morning – the bar wouldn’t be open yet.  Arkady thinks people who don’t drink in the morning are underachievers – he is not an underachiever, he wants “wodka.”  And the good stuff, not the stuff they serve the “peasants”.  Arkady goes to town on the “wodka” before making some calls.

Outside the unofficial Russian Consulate in the food truck, Roundtree sees a young woman entering with an SUV full of items.  He’s enjoying life in the food truck but thinks it sticks out in the rather toney neighborhood.  Fatima explains that the Russians know the US knows about the unofficial Consulate and they also know folks are watching.  Everyone is playing along to keep up diplomatic appearances.  

Arkady is working his own bluetooth device while he’s pounding “wodka” and playing pool.  Kensi has had enough.  When Arkady accuses her of being mean, Kensi promises to show him what mean really is.  He’s not interested.  Instead, he provides the name of an SVR (Russian Intelligence) Agent who they should talk to – a young woman with a shopping addiction.  She may help if offered a donation for “the children of Krasnogorodsky”.  Deeks wants to know why they’re bringing John Krasinski’s children into the mess.  “Krasnogorodsky” is a code – she’ll work with them if she hears it.  Arkady is off to work with his trainer – it is why he only drank three-quarters of the “wodka” – he’s in “beast-mode”.  “He’s going to out live us all,” Deeks says.

Fatima ID’s the woman at the unofficial Consulate as Zasha Gagrin.  Her official cover is as student and daughter of a Russian businessman.  Fatima wants Roundtree to follow Gagrin from the Consulate, which may not be easy in the food truck.  Fatima recommends an Uber.

Just as Callen and Sam are about to call it a day, Sam sees the plane in the middle of a field.  Callen is surprised.  Landing a distance from the plane, Callen and Sam come up from the rear.  Unless the weapons were already unloaded, plane looks like it just landed there without incident.  Callen and Sam are seen by the plane’s crew.  While Callen and Sam try to be friendly, the Russians get back in the plane.  One is in the tail gunners spot and starts shooting at Callen and Sam.  They take cover under the plane.

Fatima sends Callen and Sam schematics of the plane with the self-destruct levers and their location.  With no plan, Sam sees some footprints moving away from the plane.  He is going to chase the footprints.  Callen doesn’t think that’s really a plan.  With Sam gone, Callen introduces himself in Russian to the remaining members of the crew.  They are not interested in Callen’s friendly hello or his offer for medical assistance.

With Artie, Homeless Deeks is making his way down a street with an outdoor café.   Sitting outside is Zasha Gagrin, looking at her phone.  In her SUV, Kensi is looking at Zasha looking at her phone.  Deeks does his homeless act, showing Zasha the money, mentioning the children of Krasnogorodsky and asking about the plane.  If Zasha has any answers, Deeks will be waiting around the corner with the backpack.  Roundtree is two tables away, somewhat entertained.  Kensi is opening laughing as Deeks starts panhandling Roundtree.  He even drinks Roundtree’s coffee.  Hazelnut – and Deeks is not impressed.

Sam returns – four sets of footprints going northwest means some of the Russians could have gone to Highway 166.  Nell updates Callen and Sam on what’s going on in LA.  Sam wants to go after the Russians near the highway, Callen wants to keep negotiating with the guys in the plane.  Sam wants Nell to decide but she’s barely back after months away.  Callen takes the pressure off Nell who decides to keep Callen negotiating and Sam tracking.

Sam looks at the plane – there is no way they can take off again, the nose gear is damaged.  Nell is working on the names and backgrounds of the pilot and the crew to give Callen something to use in negotiations.  She’s also sending the others to meet Sam as he tracks the fleeing crew members.  After a few minutes of being the Bickersons, Callen and Sam share “I love yous” – OK – and continue their assignments.  

Zasha offers Deeks a muffin in a white paper bag.  Inside the bag is all the info the team needs.  Deeks takes the paper bag, Zasha takes the backpack of money.  

Callen drops his big gun and hides his handgun in his pants.  Trying to get into the plane, Callen is shot at for his trouble.  In the forest, Sam finds a shell from an AK47.  Nell has great news – Zasha’s info was the crew of the plane.  At least she hopes it is the crew of the plane – Nell dropped a lot of money getting the names.  Callen is sure Hetty won’t fire Nell on her first day back.  Nell is more worried about Hetty killing her.  

With Nell sending Callen a text with the crew’s names, he calls up to the plane’s captain by name as well as some of the crew members.  The Captain signals for his crew to be quiet.  While Callen just wants to talk, the Captain starts the self-destruct sequence.

Tracking the other crew members, Sam finds some broken branches and two more cartridge cases – these are from a handgun and not an AK-47.  Sam wonders if the crew members were shooting at each other.  Callen wonders if one member of the crew is willing to defect and the others were shooting at him.  

Nell’s latest text to Callen includes the name of the Captain’s son.  Callen is able to use that to get into the plane.  The inside of the plane is very warm.  Callen offers the two men on the plane a chance to get off the plane – he sees the self-destruct sequence has started.  While the Captain is talking to Callen in English, Callen starts speaking to the other crew member in Russian.  He is trying to get them all safely off the plane – a plane so old Callen believes is it a museum piece.

Kensi, Deeks, Fatima and Roundtree are helicoptered in near Sam’s location with other teams in the area.  Sam tells them there are four men shooting at each other.  Sam comes across one man with an AK-47 shooting at the other three crew members.  

Callen asks the Captain why are his men shooting at each other.  As best the Captain can remember, the were flying and he lost consciousness.  He woke up with the plane in the field.  Callen guesses a crew member tampered with the plane’s oxygen system.

Sam tries to get the Russians from shooting at each other.  Several of the Russians turn their attention to Sam, causing the Russian with the AK-47 to run.

Nell contacts the team with a new problem.  The SEALs and other military teams are about the swarm the plane.  Callen warns the Captain that the military is coming.  The Captain moves again to the self-destruct panel.

Kensi and Deeks neutralize the men shooting at Sam.  Roundtree runs after the guy with the AK-47.  The Russian puts down his big gun but pulls out his sidearm.  Before he can fire at Roundtree, Fatima hits him with the butt of her gun, warning the Russian not to mess with the new guy.  

As Deeks is joking with the Russians about it being their first time in California, there is a big explosion a few miles away.  Sam calls to Callen as he runs to the explosion.  Callen gets the pilot and remaining pilot off the plane at the cost of the plane.  Winds up, this really was a training mission and the only weapon on the plane was the tail gun.  Callen is taking his two Russian charges for fish tacos.

At the end of the episode, there is a dedication card for David Bellisario, one of the show’s producers who died of brain cancer in July of 2020 after a 15-month battle with the disease.  He was 63, the son of legendary producer Donald Bellisario who created both the mothership and the mothership’s mothership.

What head canon can be formed from here:   I guess we can have head canon about the new team members but at this has long been thoughts about the episode/season.  And this season will be “marked on a curve” because of the pandemic.  Much of the enjoyment of the program over the years was the work of the team together.  Whole team scenes in Ops or around the screen behind Deeks’s desk in the bullpen, the team in the field working a case didn’t happen as much this season.  Siloing the storylines in case of a COVID outbreak makes perfect production sense.  So this was a fine season premiere – Nell is back, Hetty’s absences is explained and the Russian theme to the season is introduced.

Episode number:    With the truncated season 11, the easy multiply season by 24 math disappears.  This is the 263rd episode overall, the premiere of season 12.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la