WIP Master Post
Oct. 9th, 2018 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doranwenAll of the WIPs below are looking for alpha/beta readers to help with characterization, bounce ideas off, and/or other things. Comment if you're interested. (Just someone to chat to, to show the latest bits to, etc. will help, so if you want to see any of these written, maybe you want to offer to be that person?)
Each WIP is listed in alphabetical fandom order along with the current wordcount, and an excerpt of some of my favorite lines from it.
1-800-Missing: post-1x13 (7.3k)
"How are you doing?" asked Jess softly.
Sunny sighed. "Everyone keeps asking me that."
"You do understand why," Jess pointed out.
The sigh was more pointed this time. "I wasn't raped, he didn't even touch me beyond tying me up, I'm only a little hungry, thirsty, and tired. Nothing serious. He didn't hurt me."
Jess was quiet for a minute. "There are more ways of hurting someone than just physically," she said finally. "Did he talk to you?"
The answer was delayed. "Yes."
"What did you talk about?"
"I told him—" Sunny squeezed her eyes and took another breath, "I told him he didn't scare me."
Jess switched from broad strokes to light circles. "And?"
"He told me how the bomb worked." She skipped the other details. It was hard enough to remember them for herself. And she would have to dredge plenty of it up once they checked her out; she knew how statements worked.
"Hmm?"
"Random," Sunny whispered. "It was a random letter generator, every thirty seconds. When the letters BBB came up, it'd start the timer." She recalled Denton's walkthrough; her hand trembled and was answered with a gentle squeeze. Jess asked no more questions, much to Sunny's relief. I just want this all to be over.
Alphas: continuing series (1.2k)
Rachel made for the nearest stairway with roof access and returned in a few minutes. "There's some fire towards the south, but it doesn't seem to be coming this way. I'd build something to fight it just in case, though," she said to Skylar.
"One massive fire extinguisher, coming right up," Skylar quipped, grabbing a piece of paper and starting to sketch.
"All right, let's go," Bill said to Nina and Cameron. "Rachel, can you grab a first aid kit on the way and throw it into my pack? No idea what we're gonna find out there."
*****
What they found, Nina decided, was a whole lot of debris. Tree branches, bicycles, and an endless supply of random junk was strewn across the sidewalks and street, making it slow going. Bill shoved the heavier objects out of the way while the others cleared small ones. "Keep your eyes out for motorcycles or people", he'd told them. So far they were 0 for 0 on both, Nina thought, unless one counted the beat-up motorcycle part that Rachel had nearly tripped on.
They were two blocks down, passing yet another apartment building, when Rachel held up her hand suddenly. The other three stopped to watch her. "I can hear a heartbeat on the second floor. Fast, probably a young child." She listened for another second. "Fast even for that; they're probably scared."
"After me," said Bill, and they followed him to the door.
The building smelled stale, with the faint odor of decay. Bill was four steps up the dingy staircase when a stray cat shot down the stairs and past his legs. He let out a partial oath in surprise, and a faint giggle escaped from Rachel. "You could've warned me," he grumbled.
"It was a cat," Rachel said, half-rolling her eyes at him. "Did you think it would claw you to death?"
Cameron snickered.
"Shut up," Bill told him halfheartedly.
"Shh—we're almost to the door," said Rachel. She walked slowly for a moment. "There," she said finally, pointing to one door. "They're in there. I can hear them breathing hard."
Bill twisted the door knob, but it only rattled. "Locked. Gonna have to bust it."
"You'll scare them half to death if you do that," said Rachel with a shake of her head.
"You want to pick the lock?" he asked.
She flicked her eyes away.
"Thought so." He lifted one foot and slammed it against the door, next to the knob. The door flew open with a crunch and a bang, and they stepped through. The smell of the corpse on the couch made them all nearly gag, and Rachel backed out into the hall for a moment.
Flood (2007): AU ending (13.2k)
Patricia rubbed her temples to alleviate the headache that had begun to form. "Ma'am, you need to take a break too," Penny reminded her.
"Not yet," she said, shaking her head. "I'll wait till Johnson gets back. You go take yours first." They had taken to two-hour naps in turns, rotating out their assistants as they tried to retain the ability to think clearly in bodies that had never gotten their usual night's rest. Patricia turned to Ashcroft. "Has the water reached the boats yet?"
"Latest reports indicate yes; they've pulled out another 500 bodies already. We may need more trucks."
She closed her eyes briefly. "See if there are any refrigerated lorries that can be requisitioned. They won't be delivering to the shops in the flood zone."
"Ma'am," he acknowledged with a nod.
Penny came up beside her. "Ma'am?"
"I thought you were going to take your break," Patricia said.
"Right after this. I thought I should ask—" Penny paused. "Does the laptop you brought have a recent picture of the girls on it? Just in case."
Patricia inhaled slowly. "Yes. The background picture should work." She turned away from Penny abruptly, squeezing her eyes shut and taking another shaky breath.
"Ma'am? We're having to arrest more looters now that the water's gone down."
Patricia welcomed the distraction, trying to shove Penny's words as far from her mind as possible. The girls would be fine; they had to be. The alternative didn't bear thinking about.
Gold Diggers: canon divergence AU (1.6k)
Beth yawned, leaning back against the cabin wall and looking out across the lake. She glanced down at Jody, who had sprawled across the tiny deck, using Beth's lap for a pillow. "Sorry, it's not big enough to spread out," Jody had apologized. Beth didn't mind at all; feeling Jody's weight on her helped her relax, the knot of fear that seemed to always be present these days.
Now Beth peered at Jody to be sure. She was asleep! Beth grinned at the sight, but made no move to awaken Jody. Watching Jody sleep, her stomach clenched in a way entirely different from the fear she was getting used to. She wanted to stay in this moment forever, the warm head against her legs, face smooth with sleep, the slightest movements of the boat on a sunny summer day…
Beth closed her eyes and let herself doze off a little, until she awoke at a sound coming from Jody. It was half a gasp and half a quiet scream, and it cut off abruptly as Jody sat up, opening her eyes wide and breathing heavily for a few moments. "Are you OK?" Beth asked. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Jody actually look… scared. Not before now.
Jody turned to face her, seemingly unable to speak, but her expression made Beth want to hug her for a year. No sooner did Beth reach out her arms but Jody launched herself into them, burying her nose against Beth's neck for the longest time as her breathing slowly calmed. "I keep dreaming about him," she finally said, voice muffled by Beth's skin. "It's like I'm out there in the woods again, checking him, and he opens his eyes and grabs me."
Beth winced at the mental images, and squeezed Jody a little tighter. "He can't get you, trust me. They found his body last week, remember?"
Jody nodded, but made no move to leave Beth's arms for another minute. When she did, her face was calm. "We'd better get back so you can leave in time."
Push: continuing series (2.3k)
"They've got Bleeders!" Cassie gasped as the vision left her.
Nick swore in the same breath as he ordered Cassie, "Run!" He grabbed her hand and tugged as they picked up speed to round the corner and cut through the alleyway. They moved in synchrony, with only the slightest motion to indicate the last minute decisions of right and left. They were just starting around another corner when he heard Cassie call.
"Nick!"
The note of desperation in her voice sent a shot of adrenaline through Nick's system. He turned to see her standing on her left leg, right foot held up in the air. Behind her he could see their pursuers coming around the corner of the last street, lit by a wavery streetlamp.
"I think I stepped on it wrong." Her eyes glistened and went wide as she glanced back at the men behind.
The world snapped into slow motion for Nick. With one violent swipe of his arm he Moved the nearby dumpster down the alley towards the men. One of them crumpled to the ground; the other managed to scream in time to slow the dumpster to a stop inches from him, but had to navigate around it. Nick ran back to Cassie and scooped her up into his arms, mentally thanking her for insisting on all the conditioning practice they'd done. Her hands slid around his neck as she clung tight. One more street… and there he was! Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the waiting car and yanked open the passenger door. Hurriedly he dropped into the seat, turning Cassie's legs so they wouldn't become jammed against the glove compartment, and sliding her bag off her shoulder down to the floor. "Go, go, go," he urged John, who stepped on the gas. Nick watched the rear view mirror, only breathing a sigh of relief at the frustrated motions the men made seconds before the car turned the corner and lost them.
Nick turned his attention to Cassie, leaning back in the seat. She was still clinging to his neck, but a gentle hand applied to her shoulder had her pulling her arms back into her lap. Nick glanced at her face; her eyes were wet and a tearstreak ran down her chin, reinforced by another drop. He reached a finger up to brush it away; Cassie turned away from his hand just as it made contact. "Hey, what happened?" he asked. It had to be pretty bad; she didn't usually cry from pain.
"Bumped it," came the reply.
He sighed, cranking the seat backwards a few inches. He reached one hand around her far shoulder and pulled her against him, wrapping the other arm around her loosely. Cassie didn't resist. She had grown a few inches in the last year but was still pretty short; her head fit perfectly against his neck. He turned to look at John. "No plans, but we'll need to have someone take a look at her when we get wherever you're taking us." He unconsciously slid his right hand up to tangle in the hair at the base of her scalp.
Rizzoli & Isles: early seasons casefic (3.4k)
"Jane? Come and take a look at these."
Jane recognized the this-might-be-interesting note in Korsak's voice and rose up quickly. "What did you find?"
"You tell me." He proffered a couple pamphlets, eyebrows raised slightly.
Jane snagged them both and glanced down. Her eyebrows furrowed immediately: the pamphlets showed identical houses on the cover, but the addresses didn't match. "Since when is a house in both Florida and California at the same time?"
"Since houses are not electrons, the laws of quantum mechanics would render that impossible," Maura declared as she motioned to the techs loading the body into a body bag.
"Thank you for the science lesson, Einstein," came the sarcastic reply. Jane dropped the pamphlets on a spare part of the file cabinet. "So we're looking at what, a scam artist?"
"That'd be my guess," Korsak said. "The best part is he kept such great records." He gestured to the cabinet. "There's even a nice list of his victims, complete with phone numbers."
"Oh, that sounds like so much fun. How many are we talking?" Jane asked. His response was to hold up a sheet of paper covered in names. Jane swiftly raised a finger. "You know, I have a woman to go interview. You got this?" The last words were called over her shoulder as she started upstairs.
"You owe me, Jane," he called to her departing back.
She paused midway on the stairs and sighed. "Spucky from your favorite deli?"
"And a couple of my favorite doughnuts from the shop around the corner."
The answering sigh was even more pronounced, but her pace picked up as she passed the doorway and headed off to find Julie O'Brien.
Rookie Blue: AU beginnings (11.5k)
"I'll be fine, Sam, you can leave me be," she said, dropping her hands at last. Her face suddenly looked weary and resigned.
"Actually, I can't," he said. "What are you planning on doing with yourself now that your dad is gone?"
"School, work, live at the apartment…? It's not like he had a lot to do with my day-to-day life." She traced the grain of the table's wood with her index finger, not meeting Sam's eyes.
This was not going to be easy. Sam sighed. "How did you pay the rent on the apartment?" He was met with silence. "You don't have his pension anymore, and even if you did, that's not a part of town for a teen girl living alone."
"I've been handling it. I'll figure something out," she insisted, eyes trained on the table just in front of her.
"You can't, Andy. Even if it were safe enough, you're not doing as well as you like to pretend. Don't think I didn't notice how thin you've gotten."
Andy looked off to her right, trying to avoid Sam's gaze.
Sam counted it a victory that she hadn't taken off yet. "You also need more sleep, and the chance to get decent grades without worrying about whether you've paid the bills."
"So what, you're going to manufacture me a nice cozy family? Mom and dad and brother in the suburbs?" Her laugh was bitter, mocking.
"Andy…" he began.
"No, really, Sam, what bright idea do you have now?" She rolled her eyes at Sam, but glanced away before they could lock with his. She picked at her fingernails restlessly.
"You're going to stay with me," he said, watching her to see her reaction.
Andy didn't disappoint. Her eyes went wide and wary, and she met Sam's gaze for the first time in minutes. "What's the catch?" she asked after a little bit.
Rookie Blue: AU to 2x03 (3.6k)
Later, Andy would not remember much of the evening except the feeling as she raced towards the house. Heart pounding, feet flying as fast as they could go, her breath trapped in her throat. The back of her mind registered Sam right behind her, but she spared little thought for him other than being aware of his presence. Her fingers fumbled in her pocket for the key, drawing it out before she reached the door so that it impeded her progress only seconds.
She rounded the corner from the hallway, flicking the light switch as she did so, and… Blood. There was so much blood. "Luke, it's me, Andy!" she cried, sinking to her knees next to his hips. His lips were stained red, the only color in his face. Her fingers brushed the hair at his temples, and the coolness of his skin reached out and wrapped around her heart. "No, no, no, Luke…" She felt rather than saw Sam come around her to Luke's other side. "Sam," she whimpered. "Sam…"
*****
Sam poured every bit of energy he had into following Andy's form down the alley and around the corner. He wanted to hope for the best but if Baird had Callaghan's gun, the chances of the detective coming out of this unscathed were slim to none. Best case scenario, Baird had shot him in a non-life-threatening area only minutes ago. The young man was still very close to the house—he could have just done it. But as Sam rounded the hallway corner to see Callaghan's body on the floor, his heart sank. Besides the two bloody patches around his abdomen, showing where bullets had struck, there was a pool spreading from his side, and more blood had bubbled from his mouth. The pallor told him the verdict, but he had to check. Forcing himself to ignore Andy's sobs, he dashed around Callaghan's legs, dodging the blood so he could crouch and press fingers to the throat. The skin was cooler than it should be, and he held his fingers there long enough to confirm that there was no pulse.
He pressed his radio button. "Dispatch, this is 1505, we've got a body at 926A Armstrong." He paused for a second. "It's Detective Callaghan. Notify homicide and send backup to help secure the scene."
"Copy that," came the reply.
Andy was disintegrating in front of his eyes, but Sam had to shove that out of his mind for a few more seconds. "Peck, Epstein, make sure Baird is secure. If he won't calm down, wait for backup to arrive before you try to transport. He's now a suspect in a homicide."
Peck's voice was calm. "10-4."
Sam let his hand drift from the radio and slowly stood back up to walk around to Andy, flipping on the kitchen light as he did so. She was still crouched next to Callaghan's body, hand outstretched but not quite touching as her sobs built in intensity. "Andy," he said, reaching down to grasp her shoulders.
"Sam," she gasped, nearly hiccuping, but let him draw her upright.
"Come on," he said quietly, guiding her to the nearest stool. "There's nothing we can do for him now." He dropped one hand but left the other resting on her shoulder while they waited for everyone else to arrive.
Rookie Blue: AU after 4x01 (10.6k)
"You still mad at him?"
"No." Andy thought for a moment. "Well, maybe a little." She looked out the window as they pulled up to the curb outside a sandwich shop. "Would you trust him, if you were in my place? To have your back again?"
Gallagher put the car into park and turned the engine off before turning to face her. "McNally, I've never been in that situation, so I can't really answer honestly. But I think my head would say one thing and my gut would probably say another."
She sighed. "Story of my life."
Gallagher chuckled a little. "When they don't agree, which do you follow?"
Andy stared straight ahead for a few seconds before she turned back toward him, a wistful smile on her face. "My TO taught me to follow my gut."
Gallagher nodded. "From what I can tell, Collins is solid police. But you gotta be able to trust your partner to have your back. If you can't, doesn't matter how solid he or she is. It's not going to work for you."
"Yeah, you're right," Andy reluctantly agreed.
Smallville: AU to 3x01 (10.1k)
"Give me back the ring," came Clark's first words.
"No," Chloe told him. "I'm not helping you get high, or whatever exactly it does to you."
"Does to me?" Clark's voice was suddenly a lot more nervous.
"Oh, come on. It's obvious that the red rocks have an effect on you. Besides, I talked to your parents."
Clark's face was classic deer-in-the-headlights (which, now that Chloe thought about it, wasn't that far off from his typical expressions). "What, uh, did they say?" he asked after a few seconds.
"That the red meteor rocks made you high, the green ones hurt you (which there's a green rock in the same box, by the way, so don't even think about opening it unless you're masochistic), and that if I want to know about the scar, I'll have to ask you." Chloe took great satisfaction in watching Clark's face change colors a couple times. "Now, if you're going to be sensible about it, may I get dressed?" She suppressed a snicker at the speed at which he whirled around to face away from her. "Relax, Clark, it's not like you haven't already seen it all already."
Clark let out a slight groan, putting his face in his hands. "Do my parents know?"
"That I found you? Yes; they gave me the box with the green rock, in case you're wondering. That we did the horizontal lambada a half dozen times? No, I didn't really feel like explaining that one to your mom. Or Lana, for that matter." Chloe caught Clark's wince from behind just before she slipped her blouse back on. "What are you going to tell her, anyway?"
Smallville: time travel/shared bodies AU (300)
She closed her eyes…
*****
…And woke up to the sound of her old alarm. She sat up and turned it off instinctively, then looked around. She was in her old room, the one she had before her dad lost his job. How far back had Jor-El sent them? She thought for sure they'd have gone back to the day before, even the week before. But this, this was years before. What had she gotten herself into this time?
She sighed and got out of the bed, flinging open her closet to see what there was to wear. Good grief, had she really worn those clothes then? She eyed one particularly outrageous skirt and shook her head in disbelief. A new wardrobe was definitely happening. Soon. After she managed to talk to Clark.
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: AU ending to pilot (1.9k)
Hours later, if someone asked him, Jack couldn't have said exactly which agents apprehended the shooter; he stopped paying attention as soon as he heard Myles' voice. Sue! How badly was she hurt? He strained to lift his head, wincing at the sharp pain in his shoulder. Sue wasn't moving, and his heart nearly stopped until he heard a moan from her direction, intermingled with the whines and barks from Levi. Jack groaned as he tried a little hard to sit up without using his hands. Maybe if he took his hand off just a few seconds, till he was sitting up…?
"Jack, lie back down right now and keep your hand over the wound. I can't treat both of you at the same time." Tara, as the newest member of the unit, didn't usually give Jack orders, but he didn't need more than one look at her determined face as she ran up with the first aid kit to know he'd better obey. Jack meekly obeyed, but turned his head enough to observe as she proceeded to strip her field jacket off, revealing a cotton tank top, and laid it down next to Sue before trying to turn her on her back. Levi's whimpers and barks became more frantic, and he kept nosing Sue's face as Tara tried to check her breathing. "Someone get this dog and put him somewhere else!" Tara's voice had a note of desperation in it.
His hand firmly over the wound, Jack strained to sit up again. He didn't know how he could hold onto Levi's leash and his wound at the same time but maybe he could try. "I can take the dog with me," called the older man who had come with Sue. He stood at the corner near the surveillance room, seeming hesitant to move further. Jack relaxed back down.
"Now, please," demanded Tara, who sagged in relief when Myles came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder, prompting a deep breath from her and renewed pressure on Sue's wound. He then turned to the first aid kit.
"How are you doing, Jack?" The blond man glanced his way swiftly before ripping off more gauze.
"I'll be fine," Jack called back, noting the grim looks on their faces. His worry level went up another notch. "How's Sue?" Please let her be OK, he found himself begging in his mind.
"She'll be fine," Tara answered quickly. Too quickly. Jack knew from experience that Tara was usually very honest, but need-to-know could cause her to say just about anything. The fact that Myles wasn't saying anything told him a lot. Jack's heart sank, and his stomach, which had been doing just fine, started to knot up uncomfortably.
X-Men: post-X2 (15.4k)
Rogue followed Jubilee and Kitty upstairs, Bobby silent beside her. The evening breeze swirled through the hallways, and she thanked Storm mentally for dry weather. (She had a sneaking suspicion that it would be nice and clear until the repairs were finished. After that… she figured she'd better make sure they were well-stocked in umbrellas.) The girls in front of her stopped suddenly, and she focused her attention forwards.
"What happened here?" Kitty asked, her voice quavering slightly. The slim brunette stared at the ruin that had been the kitchen. Bullet holes littered the far wall, fragments of dishes and food remains were strewn across the island and floor, and the windows were shot to pieces.
Bobby's voice broke the silence. "Logan stopped a soldier from getting me with one of the darts. Terry started screaming at the same time, so…" He gestured vaguely towards the destruction, letting them fill in the blanks.
Jubilee was the first to move. "Well, at least the fridge is untouched." She yanked open the doors, scanning the snacks within before pulling out a package of string cheese. Rogue found a chocolate milk and some leftover cold chicken, Kitty grabbed a yogurt and rummaged in a cupboard for a bag of chips, and Bobby snagged a jar of jam and headed off for bread and peanut butter.
"We have a slight problem," Kitty remarked, glancing down at her yogurt. Rogue raised her eyebrows at her. "This kitchen is clearly not fit for eating in." Kitty swept her hand out in an arc towards the island. "However, if we bring food downstairs, we're liable to be mobbed by hungry kids."
The other three teens contemplated the predicament for a moment, eyeing each other. Then Bobby set his snacks on a counter and started poking around for some large trays. Rogue nodded as soon as she figured out what he was doing, and started raiding the cupboards.
Jubilee sighed. "We can hoard the ice cream for ourselves, right?"
Comment if you want to help! You can find most of them posted on AO3 here.
Each WIP is listed in alphabetical fandom order along with the current wordcount, and an excerpt of some of my favorite lines from it.
1-800-Missing: post-1x13 (7.3k)
"How are you doing?" asked Jess softly.
Sunny sighed. "Everyone keeps asking me that."
"You do understand why," Jess pointed out.
The sigh was more pointed this time. "I wasn't raped, he didn't even touch me beyond tying me up, I'm only a little hungry, thirsty, and tired. Nothing serious. He didn't hurt me."
Jess was quiet for a minute. "There are more ways of hurting someone than just physically," she said finally. "Did he talk to you?"
The answer was delayed. "Yes."
"What did you talk about?"
"I told him—" Sunny squeezed her eyes and took another breath, "I told him he didn't scare me."
Jess switched from broad strokes to light circles. "And?"
"He told me how the bomb worked." She skipped the other details. It was hard enough to remember them for herself. And she would have to dredge plenty of it up once they checked her out; she knew how statements worked.
"Hmm?"
"Random," Sunny whispered. "It was a random letter generator, every thirty seconds. When the letters BBB came up, it'd start the timer." She recalled Denton's walkthrough; her hand trembled and was answered with a gentle squeeze. Jess asked no more questions, much to Sunny's relief. I just want this all to be over.
Alphas: continuing series (1.2k)
Rachel made for the nearest stairway with roof access and returned in a few minutes. "There's some fire towards the south, but it doesn't seem to be coming this way. I'd build something to fight it just in case, though," she said to Skylar.
"One massive fire extinguisher, coming right up," Skylar quipped, grabbing a piece of paper and starting to sketch.
"All right, let's go," Bill said to Nina and Cameron. "Rachel, can you grab a first aid kit on the way and throw it into my pack? No idea what we're gonna find out there."
*****
What they found, Nina decided, was a whole lot of debris. Tree branches, bicycles, and an endless supply of random junk was strewn across the sidewalks and street, making it slow going. Bill shoved the heavier objects out of the way while the others cleared small ones. "Keep your eyes out for motorcycles or people", he'd told them. So far they were 0 for 0 on both, Nina thought, unless one counted the beat-up motorcycle part that Rachel had nearly tripped on.
They were two blocks down, passing yet another apartment building, when Rachel held up her hand suddenly. The other three stopped to watch her. "I can hear a heartbeat on the second floor. Fast, probably a young child." She listened for another second. "Fast even for that; they're probably scared."
"After me," said Bill, and they followed him to the door.
The building smelled stale, with the faint odor of decay. Bill was four steps up the dingy staircase when a stray cat shot down the stairs and past his legs. He let out a partial oath in surprise, and a faint giggle escaped from Rachel. "You could've warned me," he grumbled.
"It was a cat," Rachel said, half-rolling her eyes at him. "Did you think it would claw you to death?"
Cameron snickered.
"Shut up," Bill told him halfheartedly.
"Shh—we're almost to the door," said Rachel. She walked slowly for a moment. "There," she said finally, pointing to one door. "They're in there. I can hear them breathing hard."
Bill twisted the door knob, but it only rattled. "Locked. Gonna have to bust it."
"You'll scare them half to death if you do that," said Rachel with a shake of her head.
"You want to pick the lock?" he asked.
She flicked her eyes away.
"Thought so." He lifted one foot and slammed it against the door, next to the knob. The door flew open with a crunch and a bang, and they stepped through. The smell of the corpse on the couch made them all nearly gag, and Rachel backed out into the hall for a moment.
Flood (2007): AU ending (13.2k)
Patricia rubbed her temples to alleviate the headache that had begun to form. "Ma'am, you need to take a break too," Penny reminded her.
"Not yet," she said, shaking her head. "I'll wait till Johnson gets back. You go take yours first." They had taken to two-hour naps in turns, rotating out their assistants as they tried to retain the ability to think clearly in bodies that had never gotten their usual night's rest. Patricia turned to Ashcroft. "Has the water reached the boats yet?"
"Latest reports indicate yes; they've pulled out another 500 bodies already. We may need more trucks."
She closed her eyes briefly. "See if there are any refrigerated lorries that can be requisitioned. They won't be delivering to the shops in the flood zone."
"Ma'am," he acknowledged with a nod.
Penny came up beside her. "Ma'am?"
"I thought you were going to take your break," Patricia said.
"Right after this. I thought I should ask—" Penny paused. "Does the laptop you brought have a recent picture of the girls on it? Just in case."
Patricia inhaled slowly. "Yes. The background picture should work." She turned away from Penny abruptly, squeezing her eyes shut and taking another shaky breath.
"Ma'am? We're having to arrest more looters now that the water's gone down."
Patricia welcomed the distraction, trying to shove Penny's words as far from her mind as possible. The girls would be fine; they had to be. The alternative didn't bear thinking about.
Gold Diggers: canon divergence AU (1.6k)
Beth yawned, leaning back against the cabin wall and looking out across the lake. She glanced down at Jody, who had sprawled across the tiny deck, using Beth's lap for a pillow. "Sorry, it's not big enough to spread out," Jody had apologized. Beth didn't mind at all; feeling Jody's weight on her helped her relax, the knot of fear that seemed to always be present these days.
Now Beth peered at Jody to be sure. She was asleep! Beth grinned at the sight, but made no move to awaken Jody. Watching Jody sleep, her stomach clenched in a way entirely different from the fear she was getting used to. She wanted to stay in this moment forever, the warm head against her legs, face smooth with sleep, the slightest movements of the boat on a sunny summer day…
Beth closed her eyes and let herself doze off a little, until she awoke at a sound coming from Jody. It was half a gasp and half a quiet scream, and it cut off abruptly as Jody sat up, opening her eyes wide and breathing heavily for a few moments. "Are you OK?" Beth asked. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Jody actually look… scared. Not before now.
Jody turned to face her, seemingly unable to speak, but her expression made Beth want to hug her for a year. No sooner did Beth reach out her arms but Jody launched herself into them, burying her nose against Beth's neck for the longest time as her breathing slowly calmed. "I keep dreaming about him," she finally said, voice muffled by Beth's skin. "It's like I'm out there in the woods again, checking him, and he opens his eyes and grabs me."
Beth winced at the mental images, and squeezed Jody a little tighter. "He can't get you, trust me. They found his body last week, remember?"
Jody nodded, but made no move to leave Beth's arms for another minute. When she did, her face was calm. "We'd better get back so you can leave in time."
Push: continuing series (2.3k)
"They've got Bleeders!" Cassie gasped as the vision left her.
Nick swore in the same breath as he ordered Cassie, "Run!" He grabbed her hand and tugged as they picked up speed to round the corner and cut through the alleyway. They moved in synchrony, with only the slightest motion to indicate the last minute decisions of right and left. They were just starting around another corner when he heard Cassie call.
"Nick!"
The note of desperation in her voice sent a shot of adrenaline through Nick's system. He turned to see her standing on her left leg, right foot held up in the air. Behind her he could see their pursuers coming around the corner of the last street, lit by a wavery streetlamp.
"I think I stepped on it wrong." Her eyes glistened and went wide as she glanced back at the men behind.
The world snapped into slow motion for Nick. With one violent swipe of his arm he Moved the nearby dumpster down the alley towards the men. One of them crumpled to the ground; the other managed to scream in time to slow the dumpster to a stop inches from him, but had to navigate around it. Nick ran back to Cassie and scooped her up into his arms, mentally thanking her for insisting on all the conditioning practice they'd done. Her hands slid around his neck as she clung tight. One more street… and there he was! Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the waiting car and yanked open the passenger door. Hurriedly he dropped into the seat, turning Cassie's legs so they wouldn't become jammed against the glove compartment, and sliding her bag off her shoulder down to the floor. "Go, go, go," he urged John, who stepped on the gas. Nick watched the rear view mirror, only breathing a sigh of relief at the frustrated motions the men made seconds before the car turned the corner and lost them.
Nick turned his attention to Cassie, leaning back in the seat. She was still clinging to his neck, but a gentle hand applied to her shoulder had her pulling her arms back into her lap. Nick glanced at her face; her eyes were wet and a tearstreak ran down her chin, reinforced by another drop. He reached a finger up to brush it away; Cassie turned away from his hand just as it made contact. "Hey, what happened?" he asked. It had to be pretty bad; she didn't usually cry from pain.
"Bumped it," came the reply.
He sighed, cranking the seat backwards a few inches. He reached one hand around her far shoulder and pulled her against him, wrapping the other arm around her loosely. Cassie didn't resist. She had grown a few inches in the last year but was still pretty short; her head fit perfectly against his neck. He turned to look at John. "No plans, but we'll need to have someone take a look at her when we get wherever you're taking us." He unconsciously slid his right hand up to tangle in the hair at the base of her scalp.
Rizzoli & Isles: early seasons casefic (3.4k)
"Jane? Come and take a look at these."
Jane recognized the this-might-be-interesting note in Korsak's voice and rose up quickly. "What did you find?"
"You tell me." He proffered a couple pamphlets, eyebrows raised slightly.
Jane snagged them both and glanced down. Her eyebrows furrowed immediately: the pamphlets showed identical houses on the cover, but the addresses didn't match. "Since when is a house in both Florida and California at the same time?"
"Since houses are not electrons, the laws of quantum mechanics would render that impossible," Maura declared as she motioned to the techs loading the body into a body bag.
"Thank you for the science lesson, Einstein," came the sarcastic reply. Jane dropped the pamphlets on a spare part of the file cabinet. "So we're looking at what, a scam artist?"
"That'd be my guess," Korsak said. "The best part is he kept such great records." He gestured to the cabinet. "There's even a nice list of his victims, complete with phone numbers."
"Oh, that sounds like so much fun. How many are we talking?" Jane asked. His response was to hold up a sheet of paper covered in names. Jane swiftly raised a finger. "You know, I have a woman to go interview. You got this?" The last words were called over her shoulder as she started upstairs.
"You owe me, Jane," he called to her departing back.
She paused midway on the stairs and sighed. "Spucky from your favorite deli?"
"And a couple of my favorite doughnuts from the shop around the corner."
The answering sigh was even more pronounced, but her pace picked up as she passed the doorway and headed off to find Julie O'Brien.
Rookie Blue: AU beginnings (11.5k)
"I'll be fine, Sam, you can leave me be," she said, dropping her hands at last. Her face suddenly looked weary and resigned.
"Actually, I can't," he said. "What are you planning on doing with yourself now that your dad is gone?"
"School, work, live at the apartment…? It's not like he had a lot to do with my day-to-day life." She traced the grain of the table's wood with her index finger, not meeting Sam's eyes.
This was not going to be easy. Sam sighed. "How did you pay the rent on the apartment?" He was met with silence. "You don't have his pension anymore, and even if you did, that's not a part of town for a teen girl living alone."
"I've been handling it. I'll figure something out," she insisted, eyes trained on the table just in front of her.
"You can't, Andy. Even if it were safe enough, you're not doing as well as you like to pretend. Don't think I didn't notice how thin you've gotten."
Andy looked off to her right, trying to avoid Sam's gaze.
Sam counted it a victory that she hadn't taken off yet. "You also need more sleep, and the chance to get decent grades without worrying about whether you've paid the bills."
"So what, you're going to manufacture me a nice cozy family? Mom and dad and brother in the suburbs?" Her laugh was bitter, mocking.
"Andy…" he began.
"No, really, Sam, what bright idea do you have now?" She rolled her eyes at Sam, but glanced away before they could lock with his. She picked at her fingernails restlessly.
"You're going to stay with me," he said, watching her to see her reaction.
Andy didn't disappoint. Her eyes went wide and wary, and she met Sam's gaze for the first time in minutes. "What's the catch?" she asked after a little bit.
Rookie Blue: AU to 2x03 (3.6k)
Later, Andy would not remember much of the evening except the feeling as she raced towards the house. Heart pounding, feet flying as fast as they could go, her breath trapped in her throat. The back of her mind registered Sam right behind her, but she spared little thought for him other than being aware of his presence. Her fingers fumbled in her pocket for the key, drawing it out before she reached the door so that it impeded her progress only seconds.
She rounded the corner from the hallway, flicking the light switch as she did so, and… Blood. There was so much blood. "Luke, it's me, Andy!" she cried, sinking to her knees next to his hips. His lips were stained red, the only color in his face. Her fingers brushed the hair at his temples, and the coolness of his skin reached out and wrapped around her heart. "No, no, no, Luke…" She felt rather than saw Sam come around her to Luke's other side. "Sam," she whimpered. "Sam…"
*****
Sam poured every bit of energy he had into following Andy's form down the alley and around the corner. He wanted to hope for the best but if Baird had Callaghan's gun, the chances of the detective coming out of this unscathed were slim to none. Best case scenario, Baird had shot him in a non-life-threatening area only minutes ago. The young man was still very close to the house—he could have just done it. But as Sam rounded the hallway corner to see Callaghan's body on the floor, his heart sank. Besides the two bloody patches around his abdomen, showing where bullets had struck, there was a pool spreading from his side, and more blood had bubbled from his mouth. The pallor told him the verdict, but he had to check. Forcing himself to ignore Andy's sobs, he dashed around Callaghan's legs, dodging the blood so he could crouch and press fingers to the throat. The skin was cooler than it should be, and he held his fingers there long enough to confirm that there was no pulse.
He pressed his radio button. "Dispatch, this is 1505, we've got a body at 926A Armstrong." He paused for a second. "It's Detective Callaghan. Notify homicide and send backup to help secure the scene."
"Copy that," came the reply.
Andy was disintegrating in front of his eyes, but Sam had to shove that out of his mind for a few more seconds. "Peck, Epstein, make sure Baird is secure. If he won't calm down, wait for backup to arrive before you try to transport. He's now a suspect in a homicide."
Peck's voice was calm. "10-4."
Sam let his hand drift from the radio and slowly stood back up to walk around to Andy, flipping on the kitchen light as he did so. She was still crouched next to Callaghan's body, hand outstretched but not quite touching as her sobs built in intensity. "Andy," he said, reaching down to grasp her shoulders.
"Sam," she gasped, nearly hiccuping, but let him draw her upright.
"Come on," he said quietly, guiding her to the nearest stool. "There's nothing we can do for him now." He dropped one hand but left the other resting on her shoulder while they waited for everyone else to arrive.
Rookie Blue: AU after 4x01 (10.6k)
"You still mad at him?"
"No." Andy thought for a moment. "Well, maybe a little." She looked out the window as they pulled up to the curb outside a sandwich shop. "Would you trust him, if you were in my place? To have your back again?"
Gallagher put the car into park and turned the engine off before turning to face her. "McNally, I've never been in that situation, so I can't really answer honestly. But I think my head would say one thing and my gut would probably say another."
She sighed. "Story of my life."
Gallagher chuckled a little. "When they don't agree, which do you follow?"
Andy stared straight ahead for a few seconds before she turned back toward him, a wistful smile on her face. "My TO taught me to follow my gut."
Gallagher nodded. "From what I can tell, Collins is solid police. But you gotta be able to trust your partner to have your back. If you can't, doesn't matter how solid he or she is. It's not going to work for you."
"Yeah, you're right," Andy reluctantly agreed.
Smallville: AU to 3x01 (10.1k)
"Give me back the ring," came Clark's first words.
"No," Chloe told him. "I'm not helping you get high, or whatever exactly it does to you."
"Does to me?" Clark's voice was suddenly a lot more nervous.
"Oh, come on. It's obvious that the red rocks have an effect on you. Besides, I talked to your parents."
Clark's face was classic deer-in-the-headlights (which, now that Chloe thought about it, wasn't that far off from his typical expressions). "What, uh, did they say?" he asked after a few seconds.
"That the red meteor rocks made you high, the green ones hurt you (which there's a green rock in the same box, by the way, so don't even think about opening it unless you're masochistic), and that if I want to know about the scar, I'll have to ask you." Chloe took great satisfaction in watching Clark's face change colors a couple times. "Now, if you're going to be sensible about it, may I get dressed?" She suppressed a snicker at the speed at which he whirled around to face away from her. "Relax, Clark, it's not like you haven't already seen it all already."
Clark let out a slight groan, putting his face in his hands. "Do my parents know?"
"That I found you? Yes; they gave me the box with the green rock, in case you're wondering. That we did the horizontal lambada a half dozen times? No, I didn't really feel like explaining that one to your mom. Or Lana, for that matter." Chloe caught Clark's wince from behind just before she slipped her blouse back on. "What are you going to tell her, anyway?"
Smallville: time travel/shared bodies AU (300)
She closed her eyes…
*****
…And woke up to the sound of her old alarm. She sat up and turned it off instinctively, then looked around. She was in her old room, the one she had before her dad lost his job. How far back had Jor-El sent them? She thought for sure they'd have gone back to the day before, even the week before. But this, this was years before. What had she gotten herself into this time?
She sighed and got out of the bed, flinging open her closet to see what there was to wear. Good grief, had she really worn those clothes then? She eyed one particularly outrageous skirt and shook her head in disbelief. A new wardrobe was definitely happening. Soon. After she managed to talk to Clark.
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: AU ending to pilot (1.9k)
Hours later, if someone asked him, Jack couldn't have said exactly which agents apprehended the shooter; he stopped paying attention as soon as he heard Myles' voice. Sue! How badly was she hurt? He strained to lift his head, wincing at the sharp pain in his shoulder. Sue wasn't moving, and his heart nearly stopped until he heard a moan from her direction, intermingled with the whines and barks from Levi. Jack groaned as he tried a little hard to sit up without using his hands. Maybe if he took his hand off just a few seconds, till he was sitting up…?
"Jack, lie back down right now and keep your hand over the wound. I can't treat both of you at the same time." Tara, as the newest member of the unit, didn't usually give Jack orders, but he didn't need more than one look at her determined face as she ran up with the first aid kit to know he'd better obey. Jack meekly obeyed, but turned his head enough to observe as she proceeded to strip her field jacket off, revealing a cotton tank top, and laid it down next to Sue before trying to turn her on her back. Levi's whimpers and barks became more frantic, and he kept nosing Sue's face as Tara tried to check her breathing. "Someone get this dog and put him somewhere else!" Tara's voice had a note of desperation in it.
His hand firmly over the wound, Jack strained to sit up again. He didn't know how he could hold onto Levi's leash and his wound at the same time but maybe he could try. "I can take the dog with me," called the older man who had come with Sue. He stood at the corner near the surveillance room, seeming hesitant to move further. Jack relaxed back down.
"Now, please," demanded Tara, who sagged in relief when Myles came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder, prompting a deep breath from her and renewed pressure on Sue's wound. He then turned to the first aid kit.
"How are you doing, Jack?" The blond man glanced his way swiftly before ripping off more gauze.
"I'll be fine," Jack called back, noting the grim looks on their faces. His worry level went up another notch. "How's Sue?" Please let her be OK, he found himself begging in his mind.
"She'll be fine," Tara answered quickly. Too quickly. Jack knew from experience that Tara was usually very honest, but need-to-know could cause her to say just about anything. The fact that Myles wasn't saying anything told him a lot. Jack's heart sank, and his stomach, which had been doing just fine, started to knot up uncomfortably.
X-Men: post-X2 (15.4k)
Rogue followed Jubilee and Kitty upstairs, Bobby silent beside her. The evening breeze swirled through the hallways, and she thanked Storm mentally for dry weather. (She had a sneaking suspicion that it would be nice and clear until the repairs were finished. After that… she figured she'd better make sure they were well-stocked in umbrellas.) The girls in front of her stopped suddenly, and she focused her attention forwards.
"What happened here?" Kitty asked, her voice quavering slightly. The slim brunette stared at the ruin that had been the kitchen. Bullet holes littered the far wall, fragments of dishes and food remains were strewn across the island and floor, and the windows were shot to pieces.
Bobby's voice broke the silence. "Logan stopped a soldier from getting me with one of the darts. Terry started screaming at the same time, so…" He gestured vaguely towards the destruction, letting them fill in the blanks.
Jubilee was the first to move. "Well, at least the fridge is untouched." She yanked open the doors, scanning the snacks within before pulling out a package of string cheese. Rogue found a chocolate milk and some leftover cold chicken, Kitty grabbed a yogurt and rummaged in a cupboard for a bag of chips, and Bobby snagged a jar of jam and headed off for bread and peanut butter.
"We have a slight problem," Kitty remarked, glancing down at her yogurt. Rogue raised her eyebrows at her. "This kitchen is clearly not fit for eating in." Kitty swept her hand out in an arc towards the island. "However, if we bring food downstairs, we're liable to be mobbed by hungry kids."
The other three teens contemplated the predicament for a moment, eyeing each other. Then Bobby set his snacks on a counter and started poking around for some large trays. Rogue nodded as soon as she figured out what he was doing, and started raiding the cupboards.
Jubilee sighed. "We can hoard the ice cream for ourselves, right?"
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