Charnobylisk

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

Trololololol

🦄 The Best Exotic

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TasLin

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Location: Best Exotic Hotel: Tasha's Room
Interacting With: Each Other

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The doctor carefully maneuvered herself and Lincoln up the rickety stairs, avoiding the break on the steps between the first and second floor. She didn't want him to get anymore injured than he already was because of some broken down old hotel. Once they were in her room she kicked the door shut behind her and grumbled a bit under her breath, she wished right then she had cleaned up before bringing him up there but there was nothing she could do about it now. Her room was a disaster, which was completely unlike Natasha. She usually kept everything in a strict order, a place for everything and everything in its place. This wasn't like her at all. There were beer bottles everywhere, remains from the night before that she had shared with Dominic. The other remains were four dvd's that had been broken into pieces and left in the garbage can. Apparently she had done some venting on what Dominic had left in her room after she found out he left. Then there was something else, on the dressed next to her bed was a small felt box; one that had seen better days but it was all too familiar even though it looked like hands had run over it time and time again until it started balding.

Looking around the room she tried to figure out where to put him down. The chair was taken with books, the only other choices were the floor and the bed. Bed it was. Leading him over to her bed she gently helped him to rest down on the mattress. It sunk a bit under his weight, the thing was old and worn but there was nothing she could do about it. Straightening herself she reached out and touched his chin lightly, looking over the damage to his face. There was obvious concern in his eyes. As mad as she could get, as cold as she could be, when she saw someone she cared for injured, when she saw most any injured that all faded away and the doctor in her came out. She couldn't help it, it was just how she was. Healing was as second nature to her as breathing or even screaming her head off when she was angry. Thing was though, this seemed to be more than just Dr. Brinne coming out. The doctor in her didn't show concern or worry. She was a cool as ice under any situation, and yet right then unease in those icy eyes.

Lincoln stared at Tasha as she examined him over and he did all he could not to say anything dumb or give her anything but a simple look. He wanted to touch her face, stroke her skin, brush her hair back... He wanted to tell her not to worry and that he was fine and had deserved the beating he'd received. If he'd had the energy at that moment he'd have laughed but instead he just lay there, catching his breath as Tasha worked her Doctor magic.

Stepping over, a slight limp in her step she grabbed her medical bag, her lips thinning a bit as she knelt down and started to rummage through it to find everything she needed. When she had seen him in the fight, with Murphy on top of him and pummeling Lincoln with his fists, she had lost it. She had seen red. That wasn't unusual for her but she hadn't expect to get so worked up over him; not after all this time. She felt a rage build up towards her friend that she hadn't remembered feeling before. Why? She tried not to think about it but it was there, in her mind even as she gathered what she needed to take care of him. "Okay Tasha, get him fixed up and get him the fuck out of your room before you do or stay something stupid," she thought to herself

Not looking back over to him as she did she finally spoke up. "Can you remove your shirt? Or do I need to cut it up so you don't have to lift your arms?" she asked as she came across the scissors in her bag, cupping them in one hand as she continued to pull out what else she needed in the other.

Lincoln half turned his head as he heard her speaking. He groaned as he sat himself up and yanked his stained t-shirt over his head and threw it down at his feet where it caught on his left shoe. His muscles tensed as he moved and he could practically feel them starting to bruise. He glanced down at his torso he saw the odd tiny scar here and there where he'd be hit so hard in a bar fight it had caused a wound that he just wouldn't stop picking at. Disgusting habit of course, but that was just what habits were like. All of his bumps and lumps would be familiar to Tasha if not all that memorable. There was one slightly newer scar that would catch her attention. On the right side of his torso, right below his rib cage there was a scar line no longer than three inches but looking fresher than the rest. It was a scar he'd received the month following his and Tasha's break up.

Glancing over her shoulder when she didn't get a response, she watched as he removed his shirt before looking away quickly. It had been a long time since she had seen him like this, topless and all. It wasn't that she had forgotten how attractive he was, she just tried not to think about it. Grabbing a towel she walked over to the shower and dampened it before gathering the rest of the things she needed and heading over to him. Tossing everything but the towel on the bed next to Lincoln she got to work on cleaning off the blood and sweat from his exposed skin, careful with her touch. Lincoln bit down on his tongue, stopping himself from saying anything stupid to her as she helped him out. He never had forgotten her touch but he couldn't exactly tell her that...

It was odd, with as much damage as she could do with her hands, when she was taking care of someone she had a feathers touch. As she reached the newer scar her brow arched deeply, pulling her hand free of the towel as her fingers lightly traced it. Her eyes coming up to his slowly as the concern grew. His eyes caught hers and he frowned slightly, worry clear in his eyes as he watched the concern in hers.

"What happened?"

He knew the question was coming and he gave a light shrug and rolled his eyes as he looked towards the open windowless area of her room. "Just a dumb bar fight. Tried to break it up and got caught on the sharp end of the guy's concealed weapon." He said it so matter of factly that he had expected the injury. It genuinely was nothing to him, he was used to bumps and bruises. Hell he liked to ring fight just for shits and giggles. The only difference with this one was that the fight wasn't for shits and giggles and he knew it. He'd been drunk, really drunk, when shit started to go down in the bar where he was drowning his sorrows over Tasha dumping his ass. He was alone and should not have stepped in, but he did. He'd half wanted the guy to do some serious damage to him, just to give him something to focus on that wasn't the pain within his own chest.

Not that he'd ever tell Tasha that. He wasn't lying but he didn't need to give her all the brutal details either. Maybe one day, but not now. Sighing slightly she looked back down at the scar, her fingers still running along the length of it. Rolling her lips together she had to take a deep breath to keep from doing what she would have all those years ago; placing a soft kiss to his scar. When they were together, anytime a new injury would come about, she would dote over him about it and then kiss it; granted that was after bitching him out for getting hurt again and causing her to worry. Lincoln's eyes never left her face, his skin prickled under her touch and he felt himself begging her in his mind to just look at him, to stare into his eyes and know everything that he was feeling, that he had always felt, for her.

Shaking off the feeling she placed the towel to the side and got to work on the broken skin. Picking up a Q-Tip and dipping it into a bottle of hydrogen peroxide as she climbed up onto the bed next to him, resting on her knees as she faced him from his left side. He had several on his face from the fight and she wanted to get to those first. "This is going to sting a bit," she said as she got closer and dabbed the wet cotton to a cut above his eye. She didn't wait for the hiss or him trying not to, she just leaned closer and puckered her lips, blowing softly over the cut as it bubbled up with her warm breath.

"I know the drill, but thankssss..." The hiss left his lips before he could stop it but it didn't matter, she was already helping the sting. The heat from her breath actually didn't bother him, despite the weather outside and the temperature everywhere. He braced himself for the rest that were to come and tried to let out verbal pain less each time she dabbed at his open wounds. "Never get used to thissss..." There was one particularly painful cut on his lip that caused his left hand to shoot up and grab her wrist as he let the pain subside. He quickly let go of her arm and looked away from her. "Sorry, didn't mean to... it just hurt, that's all."

Freezing in her spot as he grabbed her she looked at him a bit shocked until he explained. Sighing she reached out and placed her fingers beneath his chin, turning his head back towards her. "It's okay Moya zhi...," she started to say before cutting herself off and looking away as she dabbed the Q-tip back into the bottle and finding herself swallowing hard. Clearing her throat she took a deep breath and went back to work. "I'll try to be more gentle."

Lincoln wasn't sure what to say, she'd nearly called him it again, her pet name she used to call him. Third time was a charm? His mouth had went dry and he felt himself willing for it to pass so he could speak. By the time the moisture refilled his mouth he'd already lost his nerve and just glanced away, his head resting on her pillow as he looked at the windows again. "Please tell me it gets colder here at night and that your windows don't have glass because of aesthetic choices by the owner..."

Setting the bottle down once she placed the cap back on it she smirked a bit. "I could but it would be a lie," she said as she picked up the large roll of cotton bandage and stood up, holding her hand out to him. "I doubt you are going to let me take you to the Er to get your ribs X-rayed, so I'm going to wrap them just in case. Come on, time to stand up," she said as she snapped her fingers a few time before extending them again towards him.

Chuckling slightly, Lincoln took Tasha's hand and used her strength to help hoist himself onto his feet. He was more battered than broken it seemed but she was right, better safe than sorry. "Some things you never forget. Like when not to argue with the doctor's orders." He smirked at her and held his arms up at his sides like chicken wings and let her do her thing.

Rolling her eyes a bit she undid the end of the bandage and started to wrap it around his chest, carefully working to keep it straight and work it around his back as her arms encircled him. "And yet you still would," she chuckled a bit remembering many a time he had come home hurt because of some ass at work and telling her he was fine; the usual fight would ensue and she wouldn't shut up until he just let her do her thing. Her fingers worked quickly as her head tucked beneath his chin, the subtle smell of her perfume in the air around her. When they started dating she had worn Blue Grass but he had bought her a little bottle of Liliana, Tocca, she fell in love with it and still wore the same scent to this day.

Lincoln's brow raised as the scent hit his nostrils. Before, all he could smell was blood and sweat but now, with Tasha this close and his face more cleaned up, he knew that scent. He glanced down at her and a soft, gentle smile played on his face. She did still care, even if she wouldn't admit it. He wasn't going to push his luck so, as much as he wanted to, he kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything. He stopped staring and glanced around the room some, enjoying the proximity of Tasha and her scent. That's when his eyes landed on the worn, velvet box. His mouth gaped open a little and he just stared at it, transfixed.

Reaching behind him, her body pressed to his lightly as she brought the last bit of bandage to his back side before slipping under his arm and securing it with a couple of pieces of medical tape. Tossing the rest of the tape on the bed, she made a few quick adjustments before resting her hands on his shoulders. Running her fingers lightly over a few of the scars as she checked to make sure that she had taken care of his wounds as best as she could. "It's not too tight is it?" she asked as her eyes stayed on his skin, still examining him carefully.

He didn't register her speaking to him, he was too mesmerised by the fact that she had kept it for all this time. She still wore the perfume he had bought her and she still cared! Honestly, if he wasn't so bruised and beaten, he'd have swept her off her feet, spun her around and then danced the god damn remigold. But instead he stood there, enjoying her touch and the closeness of her and let a sheepish grin spread across his face. He looked down to her and saw her lips just stopping moving and he realised she was done binding his ribs. Uh oh, she was waiting for a response and he didn't know what to say... likelihood was she was checking he was comfortable. Let's go with that. "It's perfectly comfortable. Thanks Tash."

Nodding slightly she let her fingers fall from his skin slowly as she stepped away and gathered up what remained of her supplied to put back in her bag. Stepping over to it she knelt down as she started to put things away and then glanced over to him out of the corner of her eye. "Ready to discuss payment for my services?"

Oh yeah, money. He forgot he didn't get free healthcare now that they weren't dating... "Uhhh, do you accept cheque?" He let out a light laugh and scratched the underside of his chin lightly. He didn't exactly bring his wallet with him when he decided to go to the dining room in the hotel.

"No, and I don't want your money for this either," she said as she zipped up her bag and stood up fully. Turning she looked at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Payment for this will be telling me what the fuck you and Murphy were fighting over."

He looked at the floor and scuffed it a little with his shoe, he figured the question was coming but he didn't expect it so damn soon. "Honestly, I barely remember. I just remember seeing red and then needing to hit something. He just so happened to be there and willing so I took advantage of the opportunity." He wasn't lying, he couldn't remember exactly why the fight had started but he could remember why it went on for so long, he'd been goading him about Tasha. She most likely heard him yelling and screaming, especially considering her bedroom didn't have actual windows in it.

"Riiighhhhtttt," she said, drawing out the word a bit longer than was comfortable as she stepped over to him, swinging her arms by her side a bit as her lips thinned. It was obvious she wasn't buying it, her motions were the same anytime she felt he was holding something back. This time she knew it. She had heard the yelling from her window and while she couldn't pick out all of it, she knew the fight was about her. "So, had nothing to do with me?"

He raised his left brow and looked her dead in the eye, his eyes flickering from one of hers to the other, unable to look away now that he placed his gaze back to them. He knew that she knew, she must know that he knew that she knew. He held her gaze and then held his hands behind his back to stop himself from reaching out to her as he spoke softly, no accusation present in his voice. "Is there really any reason for me to answer a question that you already know the answer to?" It was matter of fact and said gently.

Nodding slowly she stepped even closer to him, her own hands coming behind her back as she mimicked his own body posture. Stopping just shy of pressing her body against his she tilted her head back a little to better look up at him. "Yes there is. I want to hear it from you Lincoln. Not the words or actions but the why. What's going through that head of yours. And I want the whole truth, not your usual way of answering me without lying but without revealing all the details. Remember, I know you. If I was blind I would still know if you were holding something back." Her voice wasn't cold but it wasn't kind as she spoke. It was a firm but there was a hint of nervousness in it. She had her suspicions but she wanted to know for sure.

She always knew how to get the full story out of him if she really wanted it. "Fine." He moved away from her and decided to sit on the windowsill. He kept his eyes on the ground and held his hands together in front of himself, his elbows resting on his knees as they spread apart before him. "I knew you were in the city, working somewhere because of the programme. I didn't know where exactly, I had no idea you lived here, in this hotel. It was all just one massive coincidence. Although, it is not one I am really going to complain about." He let his words hang there for a moment, gathering the strength to continue with this honesty that had weighted on his heart for so long.

Watching him move over to the window she knew he was finally going to tell her what was going on. Taking a deep breath as she listened to him she pulled her arms out from behind her and wrapped them around herself. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. She was curious to know what was going on but perhaps it would have been better not to know. Rolling her bottom lip in she found herself biting it as he spoke, the break in the words made her nervous, nearly blurting out for him to stop and to just leave; that she didn't want to hear it. But she did so she stood there, waiting to hear the rest.

He realised this wasn't something that had even been asked, but it was coming and so there was no use in holding back. "I never intended to put this all on you, at least not now, perhaps even never. It was all going to depend on if I could even find you and if you even wanted to see me, nevermind talk to me." He looked up, his head still slightly downcast before he looked away again. "I've never stopped loving you, Tasha. That doesn't mean anything you don't want it to mean but, because of these feelings, I had to at least make an attempt to contact you."

Finding her breath catch she looked away from him as her grip around herself tightened. So there it was. He was here because of her, looking for her. She had suspected as much but was trying to chalk it up as just one of those weird things; not that he had actually traveled half way around the world just to speak to her and perhaps more. She didn't know what to say as she tried to remember how to breath. Her hand coming to her chest as she felt a tug on her heart. The words that came out of her mouth came without thinking, they just slipped passed her lips before she could say anything. "Could have called, my number still is 911," she finally was able to squeak out as she stood there, still unable to look back over to him. Remembering when she finally gave him her number all those years ago. She hadn't been lying when she said her number was 911, it was the last three digits of her number.

He looked up to her, his face brightened with joy as he heard the adorable little squeak he had missed so much. Calming himself down some, he smirked and stood up from his perch on the sill. "It was more of a gentleman's move to show up to your door and take you out to dinner and a show, seems I missed the dinner part..." He grinned as he referenced their first date.

The First Date

Lincoln was nervous, really damn nervous, as he walked up to the door of the building that held Natasha's apartment. He glanced at the intercom system and found Dr. N Brinne and pushed down on the buzzer. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his right hand holding a bunch of white and pink lillies and a box of coffee liquer dark chocolates under his arm. Now he just had to hope to god that she had given him the right address.

Running the tip of her finger over her bottom lip she smoothed out the color of her lipstick as she heard the buzzer ring, her eyes widening a bit. Rushing over to her bedroom window she peeked down and saw that the security officer she had met earlier that day was standing there. This was it. She was beyond nervous for this date for some reason, she half expected to be stood up that evening and to have gotten ready to go out for nothing. Swallowing slightly she adjusted a few strands of hair before grabbing her purse and heading over to the intercom. "Be right down," she said into the com before grabbing her keys and locking her apartment up tight.

Bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly, Lincoln swallowed down the bile that was bubbling up into his throat from the sheer excitement and nerves. He noticed the flowers and became really worried that he'd picked the wrong kind of flowers. Maybe he should have just stuck with the "dating fail safe" of red roses but he thought they were too cliche and wanted to get something that reminded him of her instead. He had no clue how the chocolates would go down.

Moving quickly down the stairs, her hand on the railing as she came into sight through the clear glass windowed front off of her apartment building. Her hair was down now instead of in the ponytail she wore for work, a pair of jeans and tennis shoes with a light soft off the shoulder sweater. Looking up as she hit the bottom step she smiled nervously as she saw him standing there with flowers, her favorites in fact. Opening the door she stepped out and bit her bottom lip lightly. "Hey," was all she could manage to say while the door shut behind her as she placed the strap of her purse on her shoulder, running her hand along it slowly.

His jaw went slack but he didn't let it drop, he thought that would be pretty rude so he just gave her his crooked smile and bowed his head lightly towards her in greeting. "Hey." He tugged at the bottom of his shirt with his empty hand and smoothed the fabric down before he moved forward with a start, a quick step towards her as he handed her the flowers. "I hope you like them, but if you ain't a flower kind of girl I won't judge if you toss them in the rubbish." He smiled and then handed her the box of chocolates as well. "I know they're not the best thing for your health but figured they'd be a nice treat once in a while. That is if you like them. They're dark chocolate covered coffee liquers. Wait, do you drink? I didn't think about that... damn. Thought I'd covered all bases..."

Tasha beamed with a genuine smile as she took the flowers and the chocolates as he handed them to her. Sure it was a standard thing for a guy to do but not many did anymore; much less hit the nail on the head and bring her not only her favorite flowers but her favorite chocolates. It was all perfect and the way he seemed to be worried about that he had just messed up was beyond adorable. Biting her bottom lip she wanted to try to tell him it was alright but then he went into a ramble.

He rambled when he was nervous. He knew he was doing it. He hated that he was doing it. There was no stopping the flow now. "Hell you might even have hayfever and my getting you lillies is the worst damn thing that I could have done. Shoot, I've fucked this up already right? I swear I won't blame you if you just turn around and go right back up those stair. Swear I won't ever darken your door step again if you tell me to bolt." He held his hands up as if swearing to the powers that be that he wouldn't bother her again if she didn't want him to. He really needed to learn to shut the hell up when he was like this.

Eyes widening a bit she looked down at the flowers and then the chocolates before looking back up at him. How in the world was she going to shut him up? Sighing she leaned up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, giggling lightly as she did. He blinked as he felt the warmth of her lips and breath on his cheek, his face turning slightly pink. "It's perfect," she said as she stepped back and looked back down at everything. "Well almost, I hate pink," she added as she started pulling out the pink flowers from the bouquet. Gathering the pinks ones together she pulled out a hair ribbon from her purse and tied them together quickly.

"Hold this," she said before handing him back the white flowers and the candies. He took his gifts from her and held onto them as asked, watching her with a curious look on his face. Turning she unlocked the door and rushed over to the closest apartment on the first floor. What was she doing? Tying the pinks ones to the apartments door knob and then running back out to him. "Mrs. Baritoli. She loves pink and her family is all gone, so hopefully that will brighten her night when she finds them," Tasha said quickly explaining her action before taking back the remaining white flowers and the chocolates as well.

Well, it was official. He'd lucked out and won the god damn life lottery. He couldn't stop the smile from taking over his face and he just stared at her for a few seconds as she explained what she had been doing. He was of half a mind to just drop everything, grab her, kiss her as hard as he could and then literally sweep her off her feet and kick the goddamn door in right then. But that wouldn't be polite. Might not have been polite but right then Tasha most likely would have welcomed it, smiling nervously as she stood there holding his gifts.

"That is amazingly kind of you." He realised he was staring again and cleared his throat before continuing. "Ahem, sorry. So! I have a choice for you on where we can have dinner. Your options are; Italian Bistro not too far from my place, Steakhouse which is not too far from work - I know but it does the most amazing kobe beef - and finally, an Indian restaurant that just so happens to be not too far from here." He'd made reservations in each place as he had been to them before and knew they served amazing food, had amazing service and the atmosphere was something that would make a first date extremely comfortable. It had just been luck that they were so spread out and let her decide how far from home she wanted to be, just in case she had to make a mad dash for the exit. He never liked forcing people to go where he wanted to go.

Perking a brow she bit her bottom lip, she hadn't exactly expected a slew of choices. Granted she hadn't been out on many dates, most of her love life consisted of a quick one night stand with someone she picked up at work or a bar. An actual date was a rare thing for her and she hadn't had a lot of luck with them; one of the reasons she avoided them like the plague. That was until now, there was just something about him that she wanted to get to know beyond just what lay beneath his clothing; granted she wanted to know that too and she blushed at the thought as she placed her hand to her cheek.

Taking a moment she thought about her choices. Sure one was close, she could make a quick dash if things went down hill. The one near work she knew and had been to. It was good and she could also run if she felt like it. Something though suddenly gave her a bit of a craving for drippy candles and violin music. So what if it was close to his place? Maybe that was a plus. "Italian sounds perfect," she finally said as she made her decision. Taking a deep breath she cleared her throat a bit.

Smiling brightly, Lincoln turned to walk towards to where he'd parked, he hadn't expected her to choose this one since it was so far out from her place but that was a pretty good vote of confidence. He was quite excited to take her to such a romantic, yet comfortable place. He even knew the owner. He whipped out his phone and made to cancel the other reservations and then stopped as he heard Tasha speaking.

"Um, but before we go.... Ever heard of Schrodinger's cat?"

Lincoln paused and turned towards her with a confused look. "Is it dead? Is it alive? Is it both? Is this your way of telling me you keep a possibly alive, possibly dead cat in a box in your house? I really can pick them." He grinned at her playfully.

Tasha couldn't help but smirk a bit at his response. She had to admit she was slightly impressed he knew what she was referring to even if he wasn't catching on to why she had brought it up. Figuring actions speak louder than words she shook her head slightly as she stepped closer to him. Cradling his gifts in one hand as her other reached out and and rested against his chest, her head tilting back as she gazed up into those eyes that caught her attention from the first moment she had seen them. Rising up slowly on her toes, her lips but a feathers touch away from his. "I just want to know if the cat is alive is all," she whispered as her warm breath washed over his lips. She could feel her breath catching after she spoke, waiting to see if he would catch on.

He couldn't move as she came in closer. She smelt so damn good and the warmth from her was more comforting than an ice cold beer at the peak of summer. He licked his lips, the tip of his tongue just slightly touching her lips, god they were so close, and he swallowed the nerves down into the pit of his stomach willing himself to just do something. His brain caught up with him and he realised what she was saying. He slipped his phone into his back pocket and then slid his other hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him but not letting their lips touch his as he craned his neck back a little as he looked down to her, a glint in his eyes as he spoke softly. "The cat is most definitely alive." His tongue lightly tickled her lips before he moved.

Tasha felt her heart skip a beat as her tongue ran slowly over her bottom lip, savoring the subtle taste he left there. That was not what she was expecting in the slightest. Feeling his hand still on her waist she let out a shaky breath. "And about to claw its way out of the box," she muttered to herself as she bit her bottom lip and looked away for a minute as she tried to compose herself. It was real damn tempting to say she had already eaten and just wanted desert at that point.

A quick half step back and his hand resting on her hip, Lincoln smirked at her and looked at her with a raised brow. "You don't want to spoil your appetite just yet, do you? C'mon, I'm parked just around the corner." He chuckled and walked off, pulling his phone out again and quickly making some calls to cancel the other reservations so that the tables could be opened up for someone else. He glanced back to see if Tasha was following him or standing in, what he hoped would be, happily stunned silence. God this woman was interesting, he had barely just been able to pull himself away. He wanted this to be more than physical, he was sick of those baseless relationships. He was ready for something more adult.

"Spoil it? Fuck, I'm starving," she said coming out of her daze and shooting him a smirk as she gathered her wits about her and stepped over to him finally. The man surely was different than others she had met. Most would have jumped at the chance of a quick kiss before dinner, but not him. He was managing to put her on edge and that normally scared her but something about him intrigued her and she wanted to learn more. "So, which one is yours?"

"The practical beauty over this way." He was done making the cancellations and put his cell back in his pocket. He glanced back before taking her hand in his and led her towards his car, her fingers lacing with his as he lead the way. "She's not much but I love her. Here, let me..." He let go of her hand as he unlocked his car. He walked forward and held the door open for her. "Don't worry, I'll hold doors open but I won't go crazy and pull your chair out for you when we get to the restaurant." He chuckled and nodded towards the open car door.

Stepping over to the passenger side of the car she rested her hand on the top of the door as she glanced towards him, perking a brow slightly. "Oh, so you're not actually perfect?" she teased before slipping into the car and sitting down. Resting back in her seat she waited for him to shut the door before placing her seat belt on and resting his gift in her lap on top of her purse. Taking a slowly breath she wondered what would happen on the date, maybe Italian wasn't a good idea; garlic breath and all. She hoped she had remembered to put some mints in her purse because if things kept going the way they were, she was going to be very much looking forward to the goodnight kiss.

Grinning, Lincoln chuckled and leaned in towards her before shutting the door. "I gotta let you down at some point, right? Figure I best start earlier in the evening that way it takes the pressure off." He grinned then swooped in with a peck to her cheek before he pulled away and closed the car door over. He ran around the front of the car, smiling away happily to himself as he got to the driver's side and slipped in. He buckled himself up and looked over to Tasha as he spoke. "You all buckled up?"

Looking over at him, her eyes drifted down to the seat belt secured over her and then back at him. "Not sure, might want to check to make sure I did it right," she teased before shaking her head and rolling her eyes a bit. Resting her head back she propped up her elbow against the door and rested her fingers against her temple, looking out the window. She smiled to herself as she reached out and rested her hand between the seats, letting him have the option if he wanted to take it or not as they drove to the restaurant.

Glancing over to her, he let the smile play on his lips and didn't try to hide it. He saw the movement of her hand and felt a sheepish grin split his face. Just before making the obviously wanted move, Lincoln hit the radio and let the music play quietly in the background. He slipped his hand down into hers and smiled over to her and that's when the most hilarious line in the song began to play. "Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe..." His eyebrows shot up as he looked at the radio with an amused look on his face.

"Well, that was awkward."

Tasha cocked a brow as she looked over at the radio, sitting there in utter silence for a time and then busted out laughing. It was all too funny for her and perfect. She figured, what the hell, go with it right? There wasn't much that made the doctor feel self-conscious. Turning her hand over she laced her fingers with his. Then she broke out in song, singing along with it. She didn't have a bad voice, rather nice and sultry to be honest. Reaching into her purse she pulled out a business card and held it up between two fingers before shoving it back in her purse and sticking her tongue out at him. "Maybe. If the date ends on a high note," she taunted.

His eyes glanced back over to her and he laughed with her, enjoying the sound of her voice and swaying his head from side to side. God, if the guys at work heard about this he would never hear the end of it. He gave her hand a quick squeeze as he drove them to their destination. He wiggled his eyebrows at her teasing and smiled wide. "You mean high like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis?" He sang it in a high note that wasn't overly kind on the ears but he didn't hold it for long before he burst out laughing.

Fifteen minutes later and they were pulling up to the front of Lincoln's apartment, not that Tasha knew that just yet. He figured he may as well use the parking space he paid for and then they could walk the five minutes together to the restaurant. The car journey had been a ridiculous mess of fun with them both singing along to the dumb radio songs together and for each other. They got a good five songs in after the first and it had been a nice way to break the nerves of the evening. Getting out of the car, Lincoln darted around to the passenger side and opened the door for Tasha, bowing his head slightly and dramatically flourishing his hand for her to exit the car. "We have arrived, my fair lady. Would you care to take an arm?" He held the crook of his arm out for her to take if she so wished and smiled warmly at her. He could not get enough of her and wanted more.

Tasha couldn't help but giggle over the entire ordeal. Sighing happily she sat in her seat as he parked the car and as he exited she checked her makeup in the vanity mirror before he opened the door for her. Leaving the flowers and the chocolates there, she reached out and curled her arm around his as she stood up. "For now, the rest I'll take later," she said coyly as she stepped next to him and waited for him to lead the way. Walking down the street she glanced around, it was a nice night out; a bit of chill in the air but nothing bad. Resting her head on his shoulder as they walked she smiled a bit to herself.

This was really nice. Lincoln kept a comfortable grip with his arm on her and pulled her a little closer to him. As she rested her head on his shoulder he lightly pressed his cheek against the top of her head as they made the fairly short walk to the restaurant. The place was small, quiet but entirely comfortable. If you were walking by on the street and didn't know it was there you would miss it entirely. It looked like the kind of restaurant that you'd find in Italy. It had the striped, rounded canopies over the windows and the lovely flowerboxes along the sills. Ornate iron gratings covered the lower halves of the windows but the bay windows themselves opened up into the inside and were letting the delicious aromas of Italian cooking seep out into the street.

"Hey Marco!" Lincoln gave a wave over to one of the guys standing behind the bar. Marco looked up from cleaning the bar and grinned as he saw Lincoln.

"Hey Linc, my man! Your table is ready and waiting as requested. Is this the lucky lady?"He smiled and gave a polite nod towards Tasha. "It's right this way, please follow me."

Lincoln smiled at Tasha and gave her a wink before grinning, Tasha looking up at him and smirking a bit. "C'mon, this way." He took her hand and led her towards the stairway that Marco was standing at the bottom of. They climbed two flights of stairs before they were stopped at a door. Marco opened it up and led them outside again. The balcony was garnished in string lights and ivy that had crept around the iron ballustrade that encircled the entire roof area. The roof was paved with mosaic tiles and there were little tea light candle holders tied onto the fencing at random points. There was a single table for two with a red checkered tablecloth draped over it. An empty wine bottle held a well used candle that basqued the entire scene in a warm glow. Two settings had been placed and there was a trolley with an ice bucket complete with two glasses an the options of champagne, white wine, red wine and rose wine on hand.

"I'll just let you two get settled and then I'll be up to take your orders. Enjoy!" Marco slipped back out and closed the door over quietly.

Tasha stopped and looked around, a little flabbergasted over everything. She was figuring by Italian he had actually meant a sport bar and some hot slices of pizza, if he had known her a deep dish since she was from Chicago and eating anything else was blasphemous. Swallowing lightly she looked over towards Lincoln, not sure what she should say. She half wanted to asked him, "what the shit? Proposing already?", but she didn't. As much as it shocked her to see so much effort put into a first date, it was a welcome change from what she was used to. He was definitely full of surprises.

Lincoln chanced a glance at Tasha and beamed at her. "Too much?"

"Did someone make you out of a romance novel?" she blurted out without thinking and then cupped her hand over her mouth. Way to go Tasha, speaking without thinking. Sighing she ran her hand up and pushed back her hair. Lincoln just laughed and shrugged. "Who knows? Science can do wonderful and crazy things nowadays." His eyes lingered over her face and he chuckled under his breath as he moved forward and took his seat. "I mean, it's perfect," she squeaked out. "Krasivyy dazhe." His brows rose and his smile faded a little, not in any bad way but more in fascination. "I've never been able to speak anything but English. That's impressive, which language is that? Better yet, what did you say?" He was smiling again, softer this time and grabbed a pitcher of iced water, pouring himself a glass and taking a sip.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Late Harvest Riesling, Columbia Valley if they carry it please," she said as she stepped over to the table and hooked her purse over the back of the chair. Looking over to him she smiled a bit. "Russian and I said beautiful even." Stepping over to him she draped an arm over his shoulder and with her free hand fiddled with his shirt slightly. "My mother vas from Russia, some time's vhen I get bored I go down to little Moscow and pretend I am home sick," she said in a rather convincing thick accent as her eyes traveled up from where they were looking to gaze up into his.

Gulping, Lincoln placed a hand on hers as she fiddled with her shirt. "Convincing act. I'd buy it." His eyes widened and then he doubled back on himself. "I mean I'd buy the story! Not you, I mean you're not a Russian bride or anything, you're a person! Wait I mean, they're people too of course it's just that..." His words trailed off as he looked into her eyes. Tasha's lips rolled in for a minute as she had to bit down on them to keep from laughing over the way he was stumbling over his words. He wasn't perfect but his little imperfections just made him that much more goddamn adorable and right then he was ranking above kittens on the internet. Taking a breath she smiled up at him, wanting to interject in some way to get him to calm down and stop rambling.

"Oh screw it." He lifted his hands until they cupped her face and pulled her face into his and kissed her. Hard. Tasha hadn't expected the sudden shift, feeling his hands against her cheeks the doctors eyes widened slightly as he pulled her close and kissed her. Curling her fingers against his shoulder as Tasha gripped his shirt with the other hand, eyes drifting closed as she returned the kiss and feeling her heart begin to race. His hands held her face, his thumbs lightly stroking her skin - god it was soft - and his fingers slipping into her hair slightly. A soft moan escaped from Tasha into the kiss before she pulled away slowly, her lips peeling from his as she let out a shaky breath. He licked his lips as she pulled away and his eyes remained closed for just a second longer as he savoured the moment that had just happened.

"Thought you didn't want us to ruin our appetites," she whispered against his lips before her eyes opened and gazed gently into his. "Or were you just saving that for my appetizer?" He leaned his forehead against hers and smiled. "Just figured I'd save us some calories. Make up for the chocolates I got you and the amount of food I plan to eat tonight..." The smile was just permanently etched onto his face and not a single thing could take it away from him tonight.

Lincoln slid his hands down to the sides of her neck, his fingers brushing the back of her neck slightly before they smoothed down onto her shoulders where he then turned her around and guided her towards her seat. "If I don't turn you away now we'll never eat." He laughed as he pulled her chair out and let her sit down. "And here I thought you said you wouldn't do that," she teased as she sat down. He gave her a knowing wink as he pushed it in behind her and he let out a chesty laugh while he found his own seat again. Tasha leaned back in her seat and placed the napkin across her lap as her eyes followed him, she had to let out a calming breath, if he hadn't turned her away right then, she probably wouldn't have let him eat either. At least not Italian.

"I know, I know, I said I wouldn't but I just couldn't help myself." He held his hands up as if in surrender and grabbed the cloth that covered the trolley before pulling out a bottle of Sweet Riesling. He held it out to her to check. "I don't think it's exact but it might do the trick?"

Looking over to the bottle she nodded slightly. "Seems you are on a winning streak tonight Mr. Roberts. That will do wonderfully," she said and waited for him to pour a glass for her. She wasn't even going to bother to try pouring her own. He came with flowers and chocolates, opened doors for her, pulled out her seat; the complete gentleman. Cocking a brow she just had to ask, she had already blurted out once tonight; it was just who she was. "No man is this perfect, so fess up. What's wrong with you?"

Grinning was all he seemed to be doing tonight, Lincoln poured her drink and then corked the bottle before placing it into the ice bucket. Tasha took the glass of wine and leaned back in her seat, shuffling her head a bit so her hair fell over the back of the chair. "Well for one, I was born in England so I'm never going to be President one day." He took a drink from his glass of water before licking the moisture from his lips and placing the glass down in front of him, his fingers playing with the condensation on the glass as he continued. "I'm not a particularly driven individual when it comes to work. I enjoy being a security guard and have no plans to further myself up the chain of command. A lot of women usually find that to be a negative."

He leaned back in his chair and watched her reaction to this part. It was usually where things would fall apart for him so he figured, at least with Tasha, that it was best to get it out of the way quickly so she could decide what she wanted to do from there. He wasn't playing games anymore, he was getting too old for them. Cocking a brow, she waited for him to continue, when he fell silent her brows came down a bit, a little look of confusion on her features that could have easily been mistaken for disappointment.

"No, seriously. What's wrong with you? I mean, not the little shit that doesn't matter. I mean the big stuff. Like what has kept you single to be able to even take me on a date?" she asked before her eyes widened a bit as a thought came to mind. "Oh fuck me, you're married aren't you?"

His brow came down into a frown and he wasn't sure if she was just being sarcastic or not. "I am not now, nor have I ever been married. Hell, I've never even been engaged." He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table and his arms folding over each other as he looked at her. "Honestly I'm not sure what's wrong with me. My last two relationships ended with them finding someone else while they were still with me so after those I had to take a break from dating. In fact, you're the first woman I've considered dating since moving here."

Tasha looked at him perplexed for a moment before she took a long drink from her wine glass and then set it down on the table. Pushing her seat back rather roughly she stood up, rolling her shoulders back in the process. Uncertainty washed over Lincoln's face for a second as he saw her stand up and walk towards him. Taking a breath she moved over to him and knelt down next to his chair, resting her hand over the arm over it. She looked like she was ready to knock the hell out of him. "Well one, if someone cheats on a person that is just low. You can always just break up with them first. There is no call for it. It's just... Trashy. And two. Those cunts did me a huge favor. Their loss, my gain. Remind me to send them a thank you basket."

As she spoke it was obvious that she was ebbing on pissed to hear he had been cheated on like that, that type of behavior never sat right with her; her voice though, passed the obvious anger, was serious. She meant what she had just said. He lifted his hands and placed them over hers, cupping them gently in his own and lifting them up to his lips where he kissed them lightly. He looked up from where he had placed his lips a moment before and looked into her beautiful, blue eyes. "Thank you." He leaned in and gave her a gentle, light lingering kiss before he pulled back and kissed her gently on the forehead. "Really."

Shrugging slightly she stood back up, reaching up and running her fingers through his hair lightly before she turned and walked back over to her seat. She didn't think what she said deserved a thank you, in her mind it was just a simple truth. That was how she was, what she had said was nothing special to her, just like she had thought nothing of giving the flowers to her neighbor earlier that night. Each thing was just the right thing to do. To do the right thing shouldn't be a praisable thing, it should be the norm. Sitting down she picked up her wine and smirked a bit as she raised it. "A toast, to two morons who made this night possible," she chuckled before taking a small sip, her eyes never leaving his as she looked over the top of her glass.

A satisfied smile curled the corners of his lips and Lincoln raised his oh so boring glass of water and toasted with her. He kept his eyes on her and then tilted his head. "So, you know some more about me. Do you care to share some more about you or shall we wait until after dinner has been ordered?" He placed his left hand on the table at the side, his palm facing into the centre of the table and his hand completely relaxed as he held his glass in the other. Smirking slightly she lowered her glassed and shrugged a bit, running her finger along the rim of it slowly as she looked towards him.

A knock on the door to the roof sounded and the door opened quietly. Marco had returned with some menus for them both. "Well that's pretty much decided the answer to that question." He chuckled as he looked over to his friend. Taking the menu Tasha thanked the man and flipped through it slowly.

"I hope you're enjoying your time here so far! Please take a look at the menu and let us know what you like." He turned to Tasha and smiled. "We do meals to order so if there is anything you would like just let me know. I will give you both ten minutes to decide and then I will return for your order." He bowed to Tasha and then glanced at Lincoln and winked before heading back downstairs. Closing the menu she placed it on the table and leaned forward as she rested her arms on the table.

"Well I already know what I'm having, call me a creature of habit. Please take your time, I can give you twenty-one questions after." He rubbed the ends of his fingertips as his hand continued to rest on the tabletop.

"You know, you are on a roll tonight, order for both of us. You seem to already know what I like," she said in a light hearted voice as her hand fell over his and she smiled softly. Lincoln raised a questioning eyebrow and laughed aloud. "Alright, I'll just text the order down to Marco and we'll only be interrupted next with dinner." He quickly pulled his phone out and fired away a text before putting it straight back in his pocket, his eyes returning their full attention to Tasha.

"So, what do you want to know? The real deep stuff? Like my favorite color?"

"Well the way this night seems to have been going I think we might as well play a game of Guess. So on your last question, my guess of your favourite colour is... a lighter shade of purple but not lilac?"

Tasha chuckled slightly and shook her head, tilting her head to the side. "Sorry Casanova, that answer is incorrect," she said with a lilt in her voice. "Now, I will give you this, that is one of my more favored colors but no. Blue actually," she said as her fingers lightly circled over his palm idly, "But not any blue, like ice. You know if you look at a picture of a glacier? How it goes from white to blue the closer it gets to the water? That blue that sets in just at the change from white, piercing and yet nearly pure." Her voice was a bit dreamy speaking about the color, it just had always been her favorite; a color so close to the color of her eyes.

Lincoln grinned and felt the tickle on his skin as she played with his hand. His fingers curled in and straightened out with each motion by her hand. He liked her description and he smiled warmly as he next spoke. "See? I told you I wasn't perfect." A cheeky looking grin lit up his face and he gave a little wink towards her before leaning back in his chair and taking another sip of water.

She was about to ask him what else he wanted to know when she heard a bit of a commotion coming from down stairs; yelling and then there was a crash. Her eyes widened as she turned in her chair and pushed it back slightly. "Well that didn't sound good."

Lincoln stood up quickly and made his way towards the door to the stairway. He turned to look at Tasha with an apologetic look on his face. "Excuse me a moment, have to check on my friends." He opened up the door and quickly, but quietly, made his way down to the ground floor. He spotted a particularly large man flailing his arms towards Marco as Marco held his hands up in submission.

Tasha sighed as she rose from her place and followed Lincoln downstairs, like hell she was just going to sit around and wait there like a little damsel in a tower. Rounding the bottom of the stairs and stopped in her tracks as she watched the scene start to unfold.

"What fucking kind of place doesn't have deep dish pizza?! You said you do shit to order and that's what I order!" The guy kicked a chair and Marco jumped back, his face growing whiter.

"We simply don't have the ability to make that kind of pizza, sir! Please calm down or we will need to call the police!"

"Come here, I'll give you a fucking reason to call the police!" He lunged at Marco and Lincoln moved fast.

Grabbing the guy's shirt from behind, Lincoln pulled him back from getting to Marco with his fists. The man absolutely stank of booze and he noticed an empty bottle of wine at a table, one that didn't have a candle within it. Lincoln threw the man backwards, making him stumble over a chair and land into a table where he managed to steady himself with his hands on the tabletop.

Perking a brow, Tasha stepped around over and out of the way for now. This wasn't exactly how she had expected to spend her evening but she had to admit it wasn't a horrible way to. The man seemed to be able to handle himself and well she couldn't deny there was some little part of her that found seeing Lincoln tossing a man around like a rag doll... Hot as fuck.

He turned and saw Lincoln, sheer rage in his eyes as he picked up one of the candle bottles and threw it at Lincoln's head. The glass bottle hit off the edge of the bar and shattered. The few patrons that were within the restaurant were now gathering towards the doorway and watching in horror as the fight continued. Marco was ducked behind the bar with the rest of his staff, the phone on the wall in hand as he spoke to the police.

Glancing over at Marco she crossed her arms over her chest and chuckled a bit. Reaching over she picked up a full shot glass of something and downed it real quick before placing it down spent and cracking her knuckles. People just loved to jump into fights whether it involved them or not and coming up behind Lincoln was another; fists balled up. She wasn't having none of that. She was on a date after all and while seeing her date lay into someone was one thing, an extended fight was another. She wanted him still able to you know, function, by the end of the night.

Stepping over to the man she tapped him on his shoulder, his head whipping around as he looked at her wide eyed. "I wouldn't if I were you," she said calmly. She was rather matter of fact about the entire thing, hoping that just the distraction would be enough to stop him. It wasn't.

"Fuck you," he said and turned back, drawing his fist back. Shaking her head, her eyes narrowed a bit. Tasha tapped him again and then man turned and swung at her. Well shit... Ducking down low she let the fist fly wildly over the top of her head before landing a jab to his mid section, bending him over slightly. His other fist coming in and catching her in the ribs. "Oh hell no," she spat as coming up her heel spun around and caught him in the jaw, sending him stumbling back a bit but enough to get her out of his fist range for now.

Lincoln let the man come at him before, allowing the guy's shoulder to ram into his stomach. Lincoln tensed his muscles and felt the pain of the hit but could handle it. He wrapped his arms around the man's neck and held him steady as he kneed up into his gut and then spun him over onto his back causing him to land on the ground unceremoniously. The guy was winded from the force of the throw and was gasping for air. Lincoln didn't stop there and grabbed his wrists before spinning him over onto his stomach and holding his hands together behind his back. He knelt on his wrists as one hand held them together and his other undid his belt and he used it to keep the man's wrists tied together.

Coming back to a fighting stance Tasha rolled her neck back and bobbed on the balls of her toes a bit. The mans eyes flashing as he grunted and then lunged at her. What was it when people just trying to pin another to the ground? Sure it was fun but not right then. Sliding to the side and against a table she brought her foot up behind her, kicking him in the side of his jaw before she spun around and back fisted him across the other side.

Lincoln leaned down and spoke to the man. "I'm sorry about this, I am, but you cannot attack people like that without repercussions." The guy had caught his breath back and headed up back wards at Lincoln which sent him flying backwards. Blood trickled down his face from the bust nose that he had just been given. One of the other patrons didn't take kindly to the attack on the man that had just stopped everyone from being damaged by a lunatic and walked over before kicking the assailant in the face and knocking him out.

Spinning around she wasn't going to let it last any longer. Balling up her fists she pummeled into his abs before throwing a hell of a right hook that sent him spilling out onto the ground unconscious. He just lay there on his stomach as a trickle of blood came from the side of his mouth. Taking a deep breath she wiped her face with the back of her hand. That was not how she intended on spending the evening. Looking over at Lincoln she dropped down and took a seat on the back of the man she had knocked out, placing her foot against his throat just in case he decided to cause anymore trouble. She really wanted to be able to get to their meal soon. Shaking out her fist some she checked the mans pulse and breathing. He would be fine but would be out for a bit. "Think you are about done here? I would really like to eat now," she asked chuckling a bit as she glanced back over to her date. A bit of blood splattered on her sweater but it wasn't hers thankfully.

Glancing over to Tasha, he gave a smirk and nodded. Lincoln then looked to the man that had just tried to defend him with surprise. "Thank you... You better get out of here before the police come. I can't lie to them and what you just did was assault, warranted or not." The man's face fell and he nodded quickly before darting out of the door of the restaurant, dragging his girlfriend with him. She could be heard complaining at him for getting involved as they left.

Lincoln knelt down and looked at the man he'd restricted, checking that his breathing was fine. Standing up Tasha walked over to Marco and glanced over the top of the bar. "Hint for next time, you know the pans you use for Lasagna? Well that's what we use in Chicago for Deep Dish, trust me, works wonders. Just use your standard crust, we don't like thick crust, we like it deep," she said as if nothing had happened, a small smile on her lips as she gave Marco a bit of a wink. Marco just stood there, nodding absently as he watched Tasha and heard her advice. His jaw was pretty slacka at that point from all that he had just witnessed.

Turning and stepping back over to Lincoln she knelt down next to him and pushed back his hair lightly with the tips of her fingers. "Guess it's a good thing I am a doctor," she said with a playful smirk on her lips as she pointed to his nose. Lincoln looked to her and smiled, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled wider. "This is nothing, it's just part of the job. I've dealt with much, much worse." He let out a light laugh as he stood up and yanked the big guy up with him. He glanced over at the guy that Tasha had taken out and raised a brow. "I do hope that was in self defence..." He grinned and grabbed the other guy by the shirt collar. He threw them both down in a chair each and then looked them both over before folding his arms across his chest. "Sort of. He tried to attack you while you were dealing with the other one. He didn't seem to like I tried to stop him. I didn't like he was trying to mess with you. I simply won the argument."

"Now if I have to come back down here to make you two idiots behave again, I will not be happy. And neither will my date." He glanced over his shoulder at Tasha and smiled whilst beaming with pride. He glowered back at the two men. "The police are on their way and you will probably be let of with a fine but do not think for one second that you can get away with acting like an animal just because you can't damn well get what you want. Now... behave." He dropped his arms to his sides and walked back over to Tasha. He stroked the side of her face a little, wiping a few spots of blood that had sprayed on her and his face showed concern. "For a second there I thought this blood was yours, glad it isn't."

Smiling Tasha shook her head a bit as she placed her hand over his. "No, I'm fine. He only landed a few punches to my ribs," she said idly as she looked down and shrugged a bit.

He grabbed a napkin that Marco handed to him from over the bar and Lincoln began to dab his nose. "C'mon, let's go back upstairs. Our food might be a little delayed and I think I may require some medical attention." He laughed and grabbed her right hand with his left, his fingers slipping between hers as he led her back up the stairs.

Once they were upstairs, Tasha closed the door and looked over to Lincoln, her hand coming up slowly as she pushed his hair back; smoothing out a displaced curl. He cocked his left brow and gave her a cheeky smile. Her face seemed to fall as her finger trailed over his ear and along the line of his jaw. "Well you're going to be no use to me tonight in this condition," she said quietly as her hand fell to her side. Lincoln was confused, he had thought things were going well! Looking down she sighed a bit before turning and grabbing her purse, pulling her phone out as she did. It looked like she was about to call a cab to leave.

A frown creased his brow as he watched her pulling her phone out. He raised his hand to check his ear and jawline and felt nothing there but the memory of her touch and now his own. His face was crestfallen as she looked as if she was about to call a cab. "Hold on..." His voice trailed off as he watched her.

Turning over her phone she pulled out a card and held it up, tapping her finger next to the number on it; 791-1911. Lincoln looked at the number and realisation dawned on his face. "...911. Smart girl." He let out a low chuckle as he reached out to take the card before realising she wasn't going to hand him it. He watched her with curiousity etched across his face. "So, you'll need my number so you can schedule a second date." Smiling softly she stepped closer and reached around him before slipping it into his back pocket as she placed the most gentle of kisses to his lips. He slipped his left hand over her right hip and curled his arm around her back, pulling her closer to him. He was not just settling for a small kiss.

He held her comfortably against him as he kissed her with as much emotion as she was causing him to feel. Tasha's fingers curled against his pocket as she fell into the kiss, a supple sigh flowing into it as it deepened. She hadn't expected such a kiss, trying to be gentle because of the fight; not wanting to cause him pain. Yet as her body pressed against his, she followed his lead; her tongue flicking out along his as the kiss broke. He pulled away, his lips moist from the kiss and from his tongue savouring her taste. His steely blue eyes bore into her iceberg-esque eyes and he knew he didn't want to let her go but also knew he didn't want to force her to stay. Gazing up at him she found herself lost in his eyes, as if she was trying to memorize every hill and streak of detail in his iris.

"You know... I can always ask for our meal to be boxed as take out..." He let the offer linger in the air as he released his arm from around her body. Blinking, she cocked a brow in surprise and then smiled in such a caring fashion, her hand coming up and following the same path around his ear as from before.

"I have no intention of leaving," she assured him as she stepped back and slipped her phone back into purse. "I'm just making sure I don't forget to give you my number later," she clarified before pulling out a small pouch from her purse and motioning for him to sit down in the chair. "Now, let's get you fixed up before our dinner comes."

Smooth move, Lincoln. He let out a nervous laugh and shook his head at his stupidity in that moment. He did as she bade and sat down in his chair before turning himself to face her, allowing her full motion around his body for his minor injuries. "There we go. I am ready and waiting, Doctor." He opened one eye and smirked before dropping his face back into the "serious" mode.

Grabbing the pitcher of water she dampened a napkin and went to work. Cleaning the blood away carefully, pulling from her bag some alcohol swabs she stopped for a second. She was used patients on tables, easy to get close to but with him sitting in a chair she was finding it difficult to get a good angle to make sure she could be as gentle as possible. Sighing she looked at him and shrugged. "Okay Casanova, this might sting a bit," she said as she straddled her legs on either side of his and pressed her body against his chest as she stood over him and tilted his head back before she started to dab the broken skin.

His hands instinctively moved up and held the back of her thighs, high enough that he wasn't tickling the back of her knees but low enough where he wasn't trying to cop a feel. Even if he really would have liked to just then. He was doing it to help steady her as she did her work and wasn't even thinking about what he was doing until he realised how close she was and then the stinging started and he winced slightly. "Never do get used to that... At least I know I'm still alive." He let out a low laugh and felt his thumbs stroking at the outer sides of her thighs as she continued cleaning him up.

Stopping as she saw him wince she nodded. "Well, I can at least take the edge off," she said in a soft voice. Feeling his hands against her thighs cause her bottom lip to curl in as she slowly slid down and sat in his lap. Dabbing another cut she pursed her lips slightly and let her warm breath flow over it as she cupped the back of his head in her free hand.

His eyes were shut and his cuts were stinging some, but overall he was definitely enjoying himself. He moved his hands to stroke her lower back as she sat in his lap and he could feel himself smiling idly. He opened his eyes when he felt her breath stop blowing on his wound and he glanced up to her face that was so close to his own. "You really sure you don't want to get our food as take out it's not too late you kn--"

Just as the word late left his lips the door to the roof was opened and up came Marco and one of the other waiters, Daniel, with their meal. Marco stopped as he took a step onto the roof and smirked at Lincoln. "Apologies, but your food is ready to be served. Or is this a bad time...?" Marco snickered as he watched his friend being straddled by the very attractive date he had brought to his establishment.

Tilting her head back and looking up at the ceiling, Tasha let out a rather frustrated huff as her hands fell limp at her side's. "I knew I should have locked the fucking door," she muttered under her breath.

Lincoln glanced over Tasha's shoulder and threw daggers at Marco for his poor timing. He cleared his throat and looked back at Tasha. "I guess it is too late now." He looked over her shoulder again and nodded to Marco, his face very unamused. "Now is okay, can you please bring it in? As you can imagine, we're pretty hungry from our workout downstairs. Have the police stated when they'll send a car out?"

Marco let Daniel in with the food and they began to set it on the table. Lincoln gently tapped Tasha's legs and let her slip off of him as he stood up to move his chair back to the table. Standing up she slipped her supplies back into her little pouch as she took a long breath, waiting for Marco to finish up and leave.

Marco cleared his throat and nodded his head. "They'll be here shortly, your food was actually ready before all hell broke loose but we thought we'd give you some time to get patched up." Marco wiggled his eyebrows at Lincoln and grinned. Lincoln punched him on the arm and pointed to the door out of sight of Tasha. "Thank you. I'll give you a call if we need anything. If the police arrive while we're still eating please just call my cell, okay?" He gave Marco a stern glare and Marco snorted with laughter before holding his hands up and giving a mocking bow.

"Yes sir, right away sir. Enjoy your meal, sir." It really was clear that these two were good friends. Marco ushered himself and Daniel back downstairs and closed the door behind them.

Lincoln motioned Tasha to the table and smiled as two calzones were laid on a plate for each of them as well as a large bowl of crispy leaved salad. "Care to guess the filling?"

"Not yet, deep breath," she said as she stepped over to him. Reaching up she quickly set his nose without giving him a chance to stop her. "There, now you don't look like you went five rounds with Joe Fraiser."

He grinned, even if there were some water brimming in his eyes from his nose, as he helped her into her seat and then took his own. "I wish I could have went five rounds with Smokin' Joe. That'd be something else." He grabbed his water and downed the glass. He closed his eyes and inhaled the smell of the food and smiled wide as he looked at it. "Honestly, you'll love this even if you have had it a million times. Which..." He patted his stomach and smirked. "...I have definitely proven." Tasha chuckled a bit as she leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her wine. He wasn't large by any means, in fact he was very toned but it was hard to tell under all of the clothing. Granted Tasha had been quite close all night so she most likely knew what lay beneath the top layer. Granted being a doctor didn't hurt and she had painted a rather nice picture in her mind from what she had felt.

Grabbing his knife and fork he waved his hand in a displaying gesture towards the food. "Shall we dig in?" Nodding she placed her wine glass down. Lincoln cut open his calzone and grinned as he saw the spaghetti and meatballs within along with the moarella cheese that was melted to perfection and all the onions and peppers that were oozing from between each broken meatball. Now, for Tasha food is glorious and it is everything. Though she was very slender one wouldn't think she would be by the amount she could put away. She ran daily, long hours at work, and multiple times a week at the gym kept her body in check. Then there was how quickly she was able to inhale food while still being neat about it. Being as busy as she was, she rarely had time to savor a meal. Within a couple of minutes half her food was gone.

"Well damn, have to remind myself I don't have to finish this meal before the next patient is rolled in," she said laughing at herself a bit. Lincoln was in the middle of pouring himself a glass of water while he watched her eating and he had been so distracted by the spectacle it had began to overflow onto the table top. "Oh shoot!" Tasha perked a brow as she wiped her mouth and then rested the napkin in her lap. He grabbed his napkin and began to soak up the water and took a handless sip from the glass as he cleaned up his mess. He glanced up to Tasha with an amused look on his face. "I have never seen a woman put food away like that before. It's refreshing. Please just eat it in whatever way you will enjoy it. No judgements here."

Smirking she leaned forward a little as she looked at him. "Honestly if you did judge me for eating that water would be over your head instead of on the table," she said with a wink before righting herself.

Satisfied with his clean up efforts, Lincoln got stuck into his own food and wolfed down a good third of it before stopping for a drink of water. He wanted to keep sober for when she needed a ride home tonight. He glanced up to his date and considered her for a moment before speaking. "So where are you from originally? You don't strike me as a home grown SanFran."

"Chicago actually, born and raised, moved out here for college. And what about you? What brings you here?" she asked, genuinely interested to why in the world a security guard born outside the U.S. would come here to work in a university run medical center.

"That explains the deep dish knowledge. Good to know." He smiled and played with his knife, spinning it in his fingers as he considered her question. It wasn't a hard one, not really, but it was hard to explain in a way that made sense to people. "I worked all over the UK and had nothing to tie me down to any of the countries anymore. I had always loved coming to the States on family holidays and I figured, why the hell not? Try something new and see where it takes me. Well here I am. I think it's worked out pretty well so far..." He took a sip from his glass and winked over it at Tasha before placing it down and grinning at her. Smiling as she tapped her fork against her plate a few times she couldn't disagree. It seemed his move was working out rather well for her as well.

"So have you always wanted to be a Doctor or was it something that you found yourself being pushed towards?" He wasn't sure if that was too personal, but he was interested and talking work was pretty safe usually for a first date. Usually.

As he asked why she became a doctor it seemed like all the happiness and light went out of her eyes as she looked away quickly, the fork dropping from her hand. This was never an easy subject for her, even after all this time. Every doctor had their own personal reason, a moment when everything changed and they began down the path of medicine. It was nearly a religous thing, like a Priest feels the call to God; Doctors felt the call to heal.

Sighing she avoided the question, closing up and withdrawing. They may have only met that day but the dramatic change in atmosphere was a good indicator that Lincoln had crossed some unseen line with his question and he felt entirely awful about it. Looking over to him she forced a smile before she answered trying to put a bit of humor into what was for her a very tense situation. "So I could land a hot security guard. What can I say, sucker for a man in uniform."

Knowing full well where she was going with this, he decided not to push on his previous question. He gave a small, gentle smile and reached out to stroke the back of her hand as he retorted back. "Sorry to disappoint you but those uniforms only look good from a distance. Get close enough and you can feel the starch spray we use to keep them looking as crisp as an iceberg lettuce." He chuckled and then sat back in his seat, leaving his hand on hers, his thumb idly rubbing here and there.

Turning her hand over the carressed his palm with the tips of her fingers, a bit of twinkle returning to her eyes as they changed subjects. "You forget I had my face buried in your uniform when we met, still enjoyed it," she teased in a coy voice. She actually couldn't remember what his uniform felt like, all she noticed where his eyes.

"Don't understand why you didn't run for the hills earlier when I walked into you." His eyes glinted slightly and he gave her hand a light squeeze.

"Other than the fact your heel stomped on my foot, which makes it difficult to run?" she asked rolling her eyes a bit before looking back at him and proceeded to give him a very straight forward answer. "Your eyes."

He was a little taken aback at the blunt and honest answer. He hadn't expected a proper one, never really wanted it either, was just trying to put her at ease and change the subject. It was... nice. His cheeks grew warmer and he gave her a crooked smile. "Thanks, I inherited them from my father." Smooth...

"So, what did they look like before the inheritance?" she fired back with a smirk on her lips; not missing a beat in her retort.

"Blood shot and yellow." He grinned at her. She was fast, he definitely would give her that much.

"Well then I lucked out to see you post upgrade."

He scratched the underside of his chin, feeling the beginnings of a shadow forming. He took another drink of water and a forkful of calzone while keeping hold of her hand. Her skin was delicate yet held the strength of hard work within it. He had most definitely lucked out. Smart, attractive, funny, quick witted, can handle herself in a fight... He most definitely wasn't going to be letting this one go.

Running her fingers slowly along his hand she went back to eating. Idly exchanging chit chat as they finished. Placing her fork down she stood up, the soft sound of the music coming in around them. Lacing her fingers with his she smiled to him. "Dance with me?"

"Only if you're prepared to lose your other foot." He laughed and stood up, leading his lady to a clear spot on the roof. The sun was long gone and the candlelight was romantic if a little dim, the music was soft and very atmospheric for the mood. He spun her lightly as he guided her to a spot where they could dance together. He drew her closer to him and wrapped his arm around her waist. "It's not too late to back out now."

Draping an arm over his shoulder she rested her other in his, stepping closer to him as she smiled gently; her fingers already dancing over the back of his neck. "If it means I get to be this close, I'll risk it," she said without thinking but she was sincere in her words. Blushing as she realized how sappy it sounded she looked away from him as she started dancing, her temple pressed against his cheek as her bare shoulder tucked against his chest beneath his chin.

Lincoln rested his head against hers and smiled to himself, although she would feel his cheek muscles moving, and let out a happy sigh as they danced. The song changed once, twice... and they were still dancing. A knock on the door sounded but no one entered. Lincoln raised a questioning brow and reluctantly let Tasha go. He quickly gave her a peck on the cheek and grinned. "I'll be right back."

Groaning inwardly, Tasha harnessed her inner Yzma as they were disturbed; again. "This had better be good," she grumbled to herself as she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a sudden chill now that she was no longer pressed against the warmth of his body.

He opened the door and there stood Marco with an ice cream sundae in hand. "Thought I would thank you both for helping earlier. The police came and went, I told them you had to go and that they could get you at work for questioning tomorrow. Figure you'd look better being in uniform with the credentials when being questioned." He gave a curt nod of the head and then disappeared downstairs.

Perking a brow she smirked to herself, well there went one ass reaming she had been planning to give tonight.

Turning around, Lincoln smiled and showed the sundae to Tasha. "Think we danced enough to deserve this beauty?" It was laiden with whipped cream, berries, syrup and ice cream and looked utterly delicious. Lincoln placed it on the table and held a spoon out for Tasha. "Ladies first."

"Who said I'd share?" she teased as she stepped over and took the spoon from Lincoln as it was offered to her. The dessert looked nice but she still found herself not wanting to be away from him. Waiting for him to sit down she pulled her chair over yet instead of sitting in it, she plopped down in Lincoln's lap and propped her feet up in said chair instead.

Not missing a beat, he wrapped his free arm around her, Lincoln held her close and filled his spoon with some ice cream. He took a mouthful and groaned happily. Shit was good. He scooped up another lot and then decided it was too much for what crossed his mind. He dropped the spoonful off and took only some cream on it. He moved it up as if it were coming towards his mouth but instead he dotted Tasha's nose with the stuff and he chuckled at the immaturity of it before shoving the rest of the cream in his mouth and smiling with his messy mouthful.

Tasha's eyes crossed a bit as she looked at the spot on her nose, her brows furrowing slightly as she wiped it away. Standing up as she held her spoonful of ice cream she moved over to her chair and sat down staring at him in silence. Suddenly the spoon flicked and splattered its contents over his face as she burst out laughing. "Game on," she laughed as she slid her chair back and taunted him with a bring it look.

His eyes widened and he burst out laughing as the ice cream hit his face. Oooooooh, it. was. on. Lincoln flicked spoonful after spoonful, hitting her exposed shoulder, getting some in her hair and other bits down her top. Lincoln missed a few shots but those were his most proud target locks. He was laughing so hard that his ribs were starting to hurt and he couldn't wipe the smile from his face. She was giving as good as she got and he could feel the ice cream congealing in his eyebrows and running down the side of his neck.

Tasha squealed and laughed as she flung spoonful after spoonful at him, darting around and trying to avoid what he shot back at her. What the hell where they doing? A food fight in the middle of a romantic dinner? Didn't matter to her. Even as a bit slid down her neck and her back, causing her to yelp from the cold she couldn't stop smiling. Gasping for air between the laughs she held her hands up in defeat as they ran out of ice cream to fling.

Stepping over to him, she kept giggling through the breaths as she reached over and pulled a bit of berry from his hair. Tossing it on the plate she found his eyes, her laughter slowly ebbing away as her chest rose and fell with each breath she drew. Suddenly her hands came up, cupping along the line of his jaw as she pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply; savoring the taste of him through the desserts flavor that still clung to his lips.

Lincoln was all too happy to reciprocate and he wrapped his sticky arms around her and gently lifted her from the ground as he spun her around and walked her backwards towards the door of the stairway down. He wasn't aiming for the door however, more the wall beside the door as he pressed her against it and held her hips with his hands. Hey, if it was right, it was right. He moved his lips from hers and began to kiss down the side of her cheek, then trailed kisses down her ice cream covered neck and down to her exposed shoulder before kissing back up to her neck and burying his face there. His warm breath flooded over her skin and his lips enjoyed the taste of her for a moment longer before he pulled back and then kissed her hard and full on the lips once more.

Moments passed as they just enjoyed one another when the music from downstairs began to wrap up. He pulled away from their kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "I think things are wrapping up downstairs. Music usually plays until 11pm. We may be interrupted soon and asked to vacate..." His eyes stared into hers and he found himself growing lost in them, all he wanted to do was keep this night going for as long as possible but he knew it had to end at some point.

Nodding, Tasha knew he was right as much as she didn't want him to be. The night had been more than she could have hoped for and her heart was racing in her chest still as she gazed into his eyes, fluttering within her. Letting out a slow breath to try to calm herself she leaned up and brushed her lips lightly against his before slipping away from him to grab her purse.

Pulling out her phone she darted back over to him and pressed her messy cheek to his. "Can't not get a shot of this," she laughed. "One, two, three, smile," she said before snapping a picture of them together. Turning her phone over she chortled seeing just how messy they were but it didn't matter, it was an adorable picture to remember a great evening with.

Lincoln grinned wide as she took the shot and he chuckled. "Gonna have to send me a copy of that. So... shall I give you a ride home?" He swallowed the lump in his throat and chewed on his lower lip a little as he watched her under his brow, his head slightly downcast as if waiting to be kicked like a whining puppy.

"After you call me to set up a second date I will," she said as she smiled to herself and slipped her phone back into her purse. Taking a deep breath she reached down and laced her fingers with his, nodding slightly as she bit her bottom lip. "I'd love if you would, I still need that goodnight kiss you know."

He answered with a firm and enthusiastic nod. "You can count on that second date, don't worry about that." HE curled his fingers around hers and led her out into the stairway and down into the restaurant. Marco just raised a brow at the mess of them and shook his head. He wondered what was left upstairs for him to clean up and waved them on and Lincoln gave him a wink before waving goodbye and leading Tasha out into the night.

He wasn't fussed about making conversation at this point, he just wanted to enjoy the short walk to his car in the twinkling of the stars that could kind of be seen through all the light pollution. As they made it to the car, Lincoln held the door open for Tasha with a smile and a light bow of the head.

Leaning into the car she picked up her flowers and chocolates before she sat down and rested them in her lap. The night had been amazing and now that it was coming to an end she felt a little sad, she didn't want it to; which for her was odd. She usually couldn't to be done with a first date. They were usually so awkward. Resting back in her seat she slipped her seatbelt on and waited for Lincoln to drive her home.

Reaching out she laced her fingers with his during the drive, just smiling to herself along the way and waiting for him to escort her to the front door; figuring with how he had acted all evening he wasn't just going to drop her off on the curb.

"Right go on, get out." He tried to hold in the laughter but snorted and shook his head. "I know, I know, bad joke. Hang on." He jumped out the car and ran around the front, opening the passenger side door for her and holding a hand to let her out with help if she required. Smirking she took his hand, she may not have required it but she wanted it.

Gathering her things she walked with him to the front door of her apartment, stopping at the step before glancing around and then looking over to him a bit nervously as she bit her bottom lip. "Frankly, normally this is the point where'd I'd invite you up, tear your clothes off and then kick you out when we're done and that would be the end of it," she stated rather directly. He blinked and then just slowly nodded his head, not out of wanting that to happen - well except for the tear his clothes off part - but because it was so suddenly explained.

"You want to know something? I'm tired of normal," she said as she shrugged and looked away shyly, she hadn't been shy all evening. Pushing her sticky ice cream coated hair back. Her loss of confidence in that moment was both adorable and unusual. Sure he hardly knew her yet but he felt like he'd known her forever and this change in demeanour had him yearning to reach out and hug her tight. "So, yeah, I'd like to see if this goes anywhere," she added as she gestured between the two of them before she finally looked back over to him slowly. He simply nodded, unable to get the words out. He'd heard a few things from the other guards in the hospital, they'd said she could be real cold but honestly he didn't see it. Especially not now.

"If I don't hear from you no worries, but I hope I do." Leaning up she gave him a soft kiss; just a simple one but ever so sweet. Gazing up into his eyes she whispered goodnight before making a quick retreat through the door; afraid if she lingered she'd end up throwing every thing away on a one night stand. Stopping on the stairs, she looked back through the glass and gave him an innocent wave before moving up and out of sight.

Staring back as he watched her go home for the night, his hand waved from his hip level as he didn't have the strength in him to lift it higher for fear of jumping into the sky, fist pumping the air and screaming YES at the top of his lungs. As she moved up the stairs and out of sight he took a few steps back before spinning around in the spot and giving himself a little mini-fist pump as he walked towards his car again. He touched a finger to his lips and grinned before sliding back into the driver's seat. He looked up and watched the lights turning on in one of the apartments, knowing that she was home safe and smiled as he drove back home.

Closing the door behind her she locked it up and smiled to herself before breaking out in a nervous giggle. She couldn't believe how well the night went or how at ease she felt around him. Stepping over to her window she peaked outside just in time to see him driving off. Taking a deep breath she went to get cleaned up and ready for bed but not before taking the flowers he had given her and pulling one flower off its stem. Walking over to her desk she went about pressing the flower between two sheets of wax paper. The night had been memorable and even if nothing came from it she wanted to have something to remember it by for years to come.

Back to the Present...

Rubbing his hands together, Lincoln glanced over to Tasha and bit his bottom lip as he waited for her to respond. God this was nerve wracking, there was a 50/50 chance of what could happen here. He would either get his ass kicked again and thrown out or she might just hear him out and things wouldn't be so awkward. He knew the chances of her taking him back were slim to none but he would be content just to know he could be there for her, even as a friend. Even if it would break his heart in a whole new way, she was worth it.

"Yeah..., well you forgot the flowers," she said as she placed her hands on her hips and looked around the room, refusing to look at him right then. She wanted to, those eyes always drew her in, but she knew if she did she would probably turn to putty in his hands. He was there because of her, he still loved her... Sighing deeply she kicked at the ground slightly as she looked towards her stack of books, peeking out from one of them was a worn homemade book mark, it looked to be made from a white lily.

"Lincoln, yes or no... Did you come here hoping we'd get back together?" she asked nervously. She figured she knew the answer but she wanted to know, she wanted to hear it from his lips.

🦄 The Best Exotic

Prepare your buttholes ladies and gentlemen... Mammoth post incoming...

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Agnes Brynja Johannsson

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Location: Courthouse >> Outside the Courthouse

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Bryn had done her duty here and she was ready to move on and get to work on the wall, however, she wasn't entirely sure if Bridgette was ready to do as much as well. She knew she didn't hold more than respect for the doctor here but she thought Bridgette might want to stick around for Astrid's sake since this was the first time she had been in charge of a patient with an unknown element to it... It was really bad luck that it was the Doc that was the patient. Bryn's lips thinned and she shook her head. She could go out and defuse the situation between Zoie and Richard but she didn't much like her chances against Zoie for interfering right when Richard had started showing some form of emotion again. Although... Bryn wondered if Zoie would pull back like Bryn had grown to know her for when she got closer to something that she really wanted.

Running her left hand over her braids, Bryn looked to Bridgette and gave her a silent but questioning look. Her right hand shifted her c-whacker to rest on her shoulder as she leaned beside the doorway that was the main exit and entrance for the Courthouse building. She gave a quick nod towards Bridgette as she exited. She'd give her some time and then follow her, a minute should be enough. At least it would have been were it not for the yelling she heard from outside next. She strapped up her whacker and withdrew her crossbow, notching a bolt and reeling it back into place, ready to shoot.

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Dr. Victor Bonheur

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Location: Home but not Home.

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The pain subsided and Victor found himself feeling as though he were floating. He could barely open his eyes but he wasn't sure if it was exhaustion or just plain not wanting to open them. He twitched his fingers and realised that soft fabric was resting over his hands. He moved his legs and found them no longer bound, a light weight resting over them and the rest of his body. His eyes fluttered open and he saw nothing but brightness, sunshine and familiar decor.

Sitting unsteadily upright in this bed, Victor looked around the room. It was his room, in his old house, the house where he had shared his life with Rochelle and raised his family. He glanced to his left side and saw the bed rumpled at his side. He also saw a wedding picture in an ornate silver frame on the bedside with a well worn book called Les Fleurs du Mal - his wife's favourite book of poetry.

Victor swung his legs over the edge of the bed and saw that he was dressed in his flannel pajamas. His slippers were sitting on the floor by his bed and he slipped them on slowly as he continued to glance around the room. He could hear children laughing outside and a dog yipping in the background. Movement came from downstairs and Victor, despite his better judgement, felt no need to find a weapon while making his way down to find the source of the noise.

The door to the backgarden was wide open and letting a refreshing breeze flood in from outside, Victor's face showed shock that he couldn't smell death or decay on the wind. He walked forward, his bare ankles being tickled by the breeze as he walked into the kitchen. There was an entire spread of food laid out, some of it half eaten and the rest sitting waiting to be eaten. Voices flooded in from out back and Victor walked out to see who was making all that noise.

"Pépé!" A young girl ran towards Victor and he felt her leaping up into his arms. He spun her around with a bright smile on his face. He kissed her cheeks and she giggled happily.

"Susette! Je ne savais pas que votre mère a été en vous apportant ici! Où est-elle?" Victor looked around and smiled as he saw his eldest daughter walking forward with a smile on her face.

"Marianne, ce qui vous amène ici?" Victor enquired.

"Mère nous a invités, le père." She smiled as she walked forward and planted a kiss on each cheek, Victor returned the greeting and then enveloped his daughter in a hug.

"Avez-vous apporté Talia?" He wondered if she had brought his eldes grandaughter as well.

"I am here, pépé." Talia always spoke in English. She was the rebel of the family who would prefer to blend in with American culture as much as possible, but she always called her pépé in French. Some habits never died.

Victor took her in a one handed hug as he was still holding Susette in the other and looked at the family that his daughter had produced. He raised a brow as he realised that Tomas was not there. "Et où est votre mari aimant?"

"Tomas is here. He is barbecuing over in the corner." Marianne waved towards the smoking barbecue where Tomas was suddenly standing.

"Hey old man! You forget to get dressed this morning?" He grinned and went back to cooking, the smoke spewing out like a chimney as he whistled and kept on cooking.

Victor blinked and realised that something wasn't quite right. He looked back to his daughter and realised that she seemed different now. Victor rose a hand to feel Marianne's cheek and she looked at him worriedly.

At his touch her shoulder began to bleed profusely at the shoulder and a sawing noise began to ring out. As the noise grew louder and louder, her arm sprayed more and more blood until it finally fell off and dropped to the floor with a splash and a thud. Despite the amount of backsplash there should have been, the blood just bounced off of everything and landed in puddles on the ground.

"Père, êtes-vous d'accord? Vous ne regardez pas trop bon..."

Victor stepped backwards and let Susette down and let her run off again. "I... I need a glass of water." He stepped away from his family and back into the kitchen where he was suddenly faced with his son, Francis.

"Everyt'ing okay, Père?" He held a hand up and felt Victor's forehead and pulled it away when he felt the chill on his father's skin. "I think we need to get you to bed... Mère!" He looked over his shoulder and called for his mother. When she didn't answer, Francis guided his father to the sofa and then ran out to find his mother.

Instead, his son's wife Bianca came walking in with worry etched on her face too. "Victor, are you feeling okay? Frankie told me you aren't feeling too well?" She crouched in front of him and sighed before standing upright again. She looked over and saw that Angela, one of Victor's neighbours who was a nurse, was walking into the room with Francis at her heels.

"Victor. How are you feeling? Your son told me that you're feeling woozy and unbalanced? Have you drank plenty of fluids today? How long did you sleep for last night? Did you remember to take your medication this morning?" She felt his temperature and then took his pulse and her face frowned. "Your heart rate is too low, we need to get that up or call an ambulance if we can't."

Victor rose his hands and shook his head. "Non, non, non! I am fine! 'onest!" He tried to stand up but Angela stopped him and kept him down on his rear end. "No Victor, you need to stay calm, you know this. Someone find Rochelle!"

A knock on the front door sent Bridgette towards it and opened the door. A large man, known as Hector walked in and stared down at the group in moody silence, an annoying yipping little king charles spaniel barking at his heels. Victor glanced down at the dog and was taken aback. It had a woman's face on it.

Victor stood up suddenly and pushed everyone out of his way as he scrambled away from the strange creature that was barking at him. Another woman came in behind the silent beast of a man and smiled apologetically before scooping up her dog and guiding her husband out of the house. They clearly had found the wrong home and made their way back out the way they had came.

A scream sounded out from out front and Victor had to run and see who it was. It could be Rochelle! She could be in danger! As he made it to the front door, the voices calling after him faded into nothingness. He spotted a vaguely familiar face standing by his car. She waved to him and smiled as blood began to pool on her shirt at her chest, a small hole erupting from her as blood sprayed forward and bounced onto the ground like mercury would. She slumped to the ground, her face still smiling and her hand still waving.

Staggering backwards into his house, he shut the front door and locked it up tight. What was going on?! He heard children's laughter again, from out in his back garden. He made his way forward and then saw his granddaughters playing by the large oak tree that settled in the centre of the backyard. He smiled as he leaned against the door frame and watched them hitting a pinata with an aluminium bat. Although the bat didn't look too safe... it had spikes over the bottom of it.

Frowning, Victor stepped forward as if to say something and his eldest granddaughter Colette lifted her blindfold with a smile and winked at her grandfather before lowering it and smacking the hell out of the pinata that dangled from the branches. Victor smiled as some candy fell out and then suddenly a horrendous image followed.

Gore, entrails, blood, fingers, pieces of human bodies all flooded out in a neverending waterfall as Victor tried to call out to his grandchildren to get away but they did anything but. The three young girls lunged forward and began to devour the human leftovers that were pouring forth, tearing at it like savage creatures. Victor couldn't bear the sight and ran back inside, slamming the door shut and locking it up tight. He slumped down to the floor and twisted himself into a ball, his back against the only thing keep his cannibal grandchildren away from him. He rested his head on his knees and began to sob.

Footsteps sounded from across the way and he quickly glanced up to see what new horror awaited him. It was his wife's body but it was not her face. It was the face of another. That's when he knew this was a nightmare.

"Chéri, ce qui est faux?"

Froggy's Dream

"Pépé!" - Grandfather!
"Susette! Je ne savais pas que votre mère a été en vous apportant ici! Où est-elle?" - Susette! I did not know your mother was bringing you here! Where is she?
"Marianne, ce qui vous amène ici?" - Marianne, what brings you here?
"Mère nous a invités, le père." = Mother invited us, father.
"Avez-vous apporté Talia?" = Did you bring Talia?
"Et où est votre mari aimant?" = And where is your loving husband?
"Père, êtes-vous d'accord? Vous ne regardez pas trop bon..." = Father, are you okay? You don't look too good..."
"Chéri, ce qui est faux?" = Honey, what is wrong?

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Richard Johnson

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Location: Outside the Courthouse >> Outside Zoie's House

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He hadn't expected her to take him back, but he expected her to maybe not run the fuck away straight away, you know? He knew he should have apologised sooner but it was just his pride. He always hated admitting he was wrong. He never expected her to just pull back like that as if she didn't deserve his sorry ass. He looked down at the ground and scuffed his boot along the dirt before sighing. It was only this moment of not watching her back that she ended up in trouble. He heard her voice and looked up sharply.

"ZOIE! FUUUUCK! BRIDGETTE, GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND FUCKING MOVE TO HELP HER!" Richard ran full pelt towards Zoie and wondered if he'd make it in time. He knew something was up, if that thing didn't have a sharp instrument deeply embedded within its cranium then there was a reason for it. He hated the sight of her struggling beneath the vaguely familiar looking Deadbrain but he didn't have his guns on him plus gunfire was strictly frowned upon within the walls unless needed. He didn't need another lecture from Cap.

He pulled his knife out as he drew closer before he heard a whizzing noise fly past his left side. The Deadbrain slumped on top of Zoie and Richard kept running, skidding to a halt so much that he had to use his hand to slow himself down fully. He was out of breath but yanked the Deadbrain off of her before realising there was a crossbow bolt deep within it's cranium. He breathed a sigh of relief and held his hand out to help her get up off the ground. He glanced down the street and spotted Bryn just standing there with one hand on her hip and the other holding her crossbow on her shoulder. She gave him a tiny wave of the hand before she moved over towards where Bridgette was still just sitting watching. Bitch was going to get an earful from him later.

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Svetlana Volkov

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Location: The crash site >> On the move

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After getting herself fixed up, Svetlana made sure she had everything she needed. Knowing she had a can of gas in the back of the now destroyed car, she thought it would be worth going back to see if it was intact. Much to her annoyance, the entire can was missing and she was sure that even if she tried to find it, it would be laying on the ground with a giant hole in the side of it or some other such bullshit. Sighing, she hiked up her pack and continued walking down the road.

She rose an eyebrow as Ed made a big deal out of his leg again and rolled her eyes as she continued walking, however, the moment she took her eyes off of him he fell into her! She spun around to try and catch him and felt his hand slipping from her shoulder, it's intended target, and slipping down to grab onto her zhenskiye kholmy. She yelped in surprise and felt her cheeks flushing as she slapped him on the back of the head. [color=darkslategray]"Nikogda bez moyego razresheniya!"]/color] She pushed him back off of her, yet still made sure he was steady before letting him go. She punched his non-injured arm and then turned on heel and stormed ahead from him and Amelia. "Nikogda bez moyego razresheniya..." Her voice trailed off as she moved forward.

She was scowling but her cheeks were still flushing. That was the first time she'd been touched by another person without choosing to be. She wasn't sure if she was more mad at herself for being embarrassed or at him for being a French idiot. Huffing, Svetlana considered the view before them and sighed. She glanced at Amelia as she began talking and then shrugged her shoulders before making her way over to the busted up sedan. She didn't know a lot about cars but she knew enough to drive and maintain it basically.

She noticed the old truck had a missing battery and the station wagon looked okay but was most likely empty of fuel. She wandered over to check it and found her assumptions were correct. She knew how to siphon gas but the last time she had done it she had puked so hard she was weak for days. That last endeavour was what had gained her the gas for her now destroyed vehicle and the can of gas that was now god only knows where. She made her way back to the sedan and then looked for the car battery within it. She waved her arms and motioned Amelia and Ed over. "Amelia! Ed!" She pointed to the car battery from the sedan. "Avtomobil'nyy akkumulyator." Then she pointed to Ed and made a jerking, pulling motion from the battery to the outside of the car.

Sure she could have spoken in English and had Amelia translate but she did not trust this girl who so conveniently happened upon them on the road after their completly unfound accident had occured. She still thought Amelia was in with a bad crowd that were following them and just waiting until sun down to attack. Well Svetlana was not going to be taken unawares. She thinned her lips and repeated the motion before pointing to the car battery again and then to the truck.

She loved playing charades.

Svetlana's Translations

zhenskiye kholmy = feminine hills
[color=darkslategrey]"Nikogda bez moyego razresheniya"[/color] = Never without my permission.
"Avtomobil'nyy akkumulyator." = Car Battery

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_{*GM approval was given for all content here within - rolls were made and special permission was given to use FCs and text colours for this one and only dream sequence. Enjoy!}

🦄 The Best Exotic

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Location: Best Exotic Hotel: Dining Hall
Interacting With: Amber @SouffleGirl123

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"Ah! A teuchter is it? No' bad, no' bad..." After they made their way to the table and Cass had ushered Murphy off, Cass turned her full attention back to Amber.

"Alright, lets get back to conversin' then, aye?" Cass chuckled before glancing over her shoulder to make sure that no one was walking up to them. She swung her leg up onto the seat and set her foot flat on the chair as she hugged her knee with one arm while talking to Amber.

"This is as new t'me as it is for you, doll. Me 'nd m'pal Claire just got 'ere yesterday! This is Claire." She pulled her phone out and showed Amber a picture of her and Claire together with a bottle of beer in each hand from one of the many nights out they've had together. "'Eh doctor Tasha, 'eh woman that was jus' holdin' 'er foot, is friends with Murphy, 'eh Irishman I just sent off after 'er. The yummy new fella is allegedly 'eh ex-fiance of 'eh doctor. Murphy is also 'eh big brother of m'pal Claire. There's another guy called Alcander, Alc for short, and there's probs others I've not met yet. 'Eh owner o' this place, Desh, is sittin' right with us. Say 'ello Desh!"

Desh just looked up and grumbled before burying his face back into his arms as he lay on the table. Holding up a single finger to Amber on her last question, Cass just laughed and got up to grab a pitcher of ice water which she took over to Desh and placed it in front of him. "'Ere, this'll help buddy." She lightly ruffled his hair then walked around the table to sit beside Amber again.

"Sorry. T'answer yer last question, nah. He's no m'boyfriend. We only jus' met yesterday. Been doin' a bit o' flirtin' but he probs jus' sees me as his wee sister's friend. S'all good though, ain't gonna complain for attention!" Cass just threw her head back and laughed, grinning at Amber as she got herself comfortable in her chair again. "I wonder 'ow 'eh food works in 'ere. Do we self serve or...?"

At that point Desh looked up at the two girls and snapped his fingers before resting his head down again. Staff from the kitchens came out and provided them with a small spread of cultural Indian breakfast foods to eat. Cass's eyebrows rose and she began to chow into some things and looked back up to Amber and continued their conversation.

"So what did ye study in uni?"

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Three-Way Clusterfuck

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Location: Best Exotic Hotel: Courtyard
Interacting With: Each Other, Those in the vicinity

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Tasha looked at the stairs and sighed, knowing she didn't feel well enough to climb them, especially after the hole that had formed when the two new arrivals came down. Looking around she turned and headed into the courtyard, only to gasped out a yelp as Murphy swooped up behind her and swept her off her feet into a bridal carry. "Put me the fuck down!!!"

Lincoln had no idea what way he was going but he somehow managed to find himself out near the courtyard when he heard Tasha screaming out angrily. Lincoln ran towards the source and then saw her in the arms of the Irish guy. He scowled and dug his hands into his pockets where he found his cell and a pair of earphones in one and his room key in the other. His fingers curled around his keys and he felt the warm metal digging into his palm and he squeezed them. He spotted a bench nearby that was slightly secluded but he could still see what was going on, he silently stalked over to it and sat down. He fanned himself some with the neck of his shirt and got himself comfortable.

Murphy just held on as Natasha flailed, refusing to put her down right then. "Yer gonna hurt yourself storming off like that, especially after that gash you done got yesterday in the mine shaft," he stated flatly as he carried her into the courtyard fully and set her down gently on a bench under the shade of a tree. Huffing as she was finally put down she punched him in the arm but it was obvious she wasn't trying to hurt him, she was just frustrated and that was usually how Tasha reacted to stress.

He didn't like spying on her but he wanted to know why she had reacted that way to the news of someone checking out. Murphy sat down next to upset doctor as she lowered her head and sighed deeply. "Just let me be Murph..."

"Not happening Lass, mind finally tellin' me what happened?" he asked as he looked over to her and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Tasha's lips pursed a bit as she stared blankly towards the ground in front of her. "Come on beautiful, you know me, I know loosing someone ya love is hard," he said in a sympathetic voice.

Lincoln's chest tightened and he let out a quiet sigh. So that was it then, she had moved on and found someone else to love that wasn't him. He didn't know what he was expecting but honestly, it stung bad hearing it. He shifted himself in the seat and grabbed the earphones from his pocket and plugged them into his phone. He half raised them to his ears to drown out the rest of their conversation but curiousity got the better of him. He just... he had to know what was going on. He chanced a glance at her and his stomach fell to the floor, she looked so... broken.

Natasha looked over at Murphy and scoffed rather loudly. "I didn't fucking love him," she stated flatly before shaking her head and looking away again. Murphy smirked a bit at her reaction and nudged her in the side lightly. "Only truly loved one man...." she said as she reached up and pushed her hair back out of her face.

His heart fluttered and his stomach was no longer resting on the floor, it had found its way up to his throat, as if trying to jump out of his mouth at the first given chance. Lincoln let his hands lower to his lap and he just sat there, smiling to himself as he closed his eyes so as to listen more carefully from there on out.

"Then what is it Tasha?" Murphy asked as Tasha leaned against him slightly. There were few people that Natasha had ever been close to, and while Murphy and her weren't very close they were friends in an odd sense. "What happened last night?"

Lincoln wanted to know what had went down as well but he wasn't sure how much he wanted to know. His fingers played with the earbuds and he was ready to pop them into his ears if he felt he was hearing more than he was comfortable with.

"We watched some movies, had a little to eat, drank... A lot..." she admitted as she groaned and let her head fall into her hands.

"And then...?" Murphy's brow arching over his eye as he glanced over to her.

"Well, we kissed. A lot... It seemed like things were going great. Woke up this morning, couldn't remember a lot until I got in the shower. Then it flooded back to me and I remember everything," she said as she leaned back against the bench some and sighed deeply.

"And everything was... everything?" Murphy asked perking a brow.

Shaking her head she looked over to him and shrugged. "No, I didn't climb Mountain Man Dom. We opened up a bit. It seemed like we started something last night and then... now this shit. He just up and leaves? No word, nothing? After last night, after telling me he has had a thing for me since I moved in? After staying all night, even though we only slept, and then watching me shower without me knowing he was there? It just seemed like it was going somewhere and now he's gone." Tears were starting to well up in the eyes of the cold doctor. Crying was not something she did.

"Come on lass, no tears. He ain't worth it," Murphy said wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to give her a comforting hug. It didn't help though, closing her eyes the tears spilled over.

Wow. Lincoln had no idea what to do or say. He wanted to rush over there and tell her that it was all going to be okay but he couldn't do that without them knowing he was eavesdropping. Grunting a little as he slid down on the bench, Lincoln lay down and propped his feet up on the arm rest as he just listened. If he kept watching her he had no idea what he'd do in the moment and that honestly frightened him. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Murphy rubbed his hand against her arm as he kept her close, letting her get it out. He wasn't exactly sure what to do, he had never seen Tasha like this; he doubted really anyone ever had. Tasha didn't turn into a sobbing mess but there were tears. She felt used for lack of a better term. She thought something was starting and Dominic had seemed like a very upstanding guy, not one that would just duck out like this. Murphy had thought the same about the man, he was Murphy's best friend over there after all, the Irish in him wanted to deck the man for making the doctor cry but he was gone and he wasn't about to chase him down and let him know it affected her this way.

"Now now, suck it up. If he left, his loss lass. You'll find someone worth your time, don't ya be worrying about that," he said, trying to cheer her up. Natasha knew he was trying but what he was saying didn't land right in her ears. Shoving him back some she shook her head.

"Fuck that. I've tried, I am not going through this shit again," she barked.

Well then, that pretty much was that. He had travelled near halfway around the world for something that was never going to be. He had no idea why he had deluded himself, he should have listened to his head instead of his heart. He felt hollow, his chest ached and his head began to pound...

"I know, just don't give up. Don't let a couple of assholes keep you shut off." Natasha shook her head and stood up, hobbling around trying to pace as she normally did when she was starting to shut down.

"No, fuck it. This is the universes way of punishing me," she hissed as she swung her arms out to her sides, motioning towards the sky.

"What the fuck are ya babbling about?" Murphy asked as he stood up and walked over to her, wanting to make sure if Mr. Clops came out of nowhere she didn't end up on her rear end yet again. He figured she had taken enough of a beating today.

"I broke up with a great guy, someone I love... loved. Ever since then, it has either been a slew of one night stands that didn't mean shit or this bull. And now he shows up out of no where? Right when Dominic is checking out? Yeah, the fucking universes way of telling me I deserve this shit." Murphy stopped in his tracks, shocked by what she had just said. She couldn't actually be serious but the look on her face told him that she was not joking in the slightest.

"That ain't how it works lass, but even if it was then why in the hell did you break up with him?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. Natasha froze in her place, she had been asked that question once before; she didn't answer then, should she finally admit it now?

His mouth had gone dry, was she really... had she just said... now, it couldn't be him she was talking about but she'd said... Lincoln was completely distracted and he was half debating getting up, walking over to Tasha, grabbing her and kissing her until he remembered she had a hell of a right hook.

Natasha bit her bottom lip as she stood there, her own arms wrapped around herself as she looked around. She knew why she had broken it off, it had gone through her mind time and time again over the years; especially the night she had told Lincoln it was over. That night had been one of the worst she could remember, balling like a baby over what she had done but convincing herself it was the right thing. The look in her eyes Murphy caught, whatever the reason had been it had been hard on her. Even now, to talk about it after all this time it obviously wasn't easy.

No, he'd just stay in silence and listen to this emotional roller coaster of uncertainty until he got a certain answer. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath until suddenly the sound of... was that hooves? No sooner did Lincoln open his eyes than he was being catapulted by the bench into the bushes where he then rolled out of them and down towards the feet of Murphy and Tasha.

Natasha jumped, startled by the sudden entrance of her ex-fiance into the scene. Murphy quickly turning around and ready to stomp a mud hole into someone's ass; people jumping out of nowhere where he was from usually meant one hell of a fight was about to start. Then he saw Lincoln on the ground there and Natasha's eyes narrowing. The Irishman decided to take a step back because he knew that look in her eyes, it was about to get ugly.

"What the hell!?" Lincoln was sprawled out, his cell phone lay at his side while his earphones wee wrapped around his neck. He looked over to where he had been laying moments ago only to see a smug little got standing within the bushes before it bayed and took off like a bat out of hell.

"Did I just get rammed by a goat?!" Bits of twigs were stuck in his hair and beard, he looked more than a little deranged.

"That was Mr. Clops," Murphy pipped in, chuckling a bit by how the man looked, his hand limply covering his mouth as he started to break out into a loud guffaw. Natasha on the other hand didn't find the situation near as humorous. Her eyes going ice cold behind the remaining tears that had been built up, her fists balling up at her side, lips thinning.

"You want to know why? Cause he is an eavesdropping ass-wipe that's why!" Natasha shouted as she looked at Murphy but pointed right at Lincoln as he lay sprawled out on the ground. Turning on her heels she stormed off in a rage. It didn't matter how much pain she was in physically right then, the emotional rage rushing through her was more than enough to compensate as the sound of her feet stomping up the stairs could be heard echoing through out the court yard.

"Tasha! I wasn't... TASHA WAIT!" Lincoln began to lightly bang his head off the ground as he listened to her storming away.

Murphy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he knew that wasn't the reason but he couldn't exactly blame her for being pissed right then. Kneeling down next to Lincoln he opened his eye and pulled out a bit of twig from the mans hair. "Well, you sure know how to make an entrance. Little piece of advice mate, she ain't one to piss off. Surprised she didn't kick you while you were down."

Glancing up at Murphy, Lincoln looked like a puppy that had just been kicked repeatedly. "Believe me, I know... I didn't mean to, I just... God damn it, I just always seem to upset her. No wonder she bloody left..." To which leaving he was referring it was unclear but it was pretty safe to say the response was ambiguous. Lincoln just buried his face into the ground even more and continued hitting his head off of it gently.

"Oh that ain't upset mate. That's flustered," Murphy said as he rolled back onto his rear-end and had a seat on the ground next to Lincoln, crossing his legs a bit as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Taking a long pull from it before letting the smoke seep out his nostrils. Looking back over towards the man he turned it over and offered it to him.

Lincoln glanced at the cigarette and figured to hell with it. He took it with a quick thanks to Murphy and following suit and doing the same. He rolled over and lay on his back as he held the stick to his lips and drew. He let it all out before looking towards Murphy and let out a deep sigh. "I liked to number her levels of upset instead of using different words, this is upset 3 out of 10. But no matter the level of upset she reaches because of me, I've always hated it." He took another draw and savoured it for a moment longer than the last before letting it all out into the sky above him.

He handed the cigarette back to Murphy and rested his hands on his chest, locking his fingers together as they met. "Sorry, didn't mean to hog it there, just had to get the stress out, y'know?" Murphy nodded as he took the cigarette back and placed it between his lips, leaving it there as he puffed on it slowly and draping his arms over his knees.

"So, yer the ex-fiance. Mind telling me what ye be doing out here? Other than getting your ass kicked by Mr. Clops."

Lincoln groaned and covered his face with his arm, only his mouth was visible. "I got into a work programme that let me travel the world and work at the same time. I figured it was a good idea to experience the other side of life some and here I am." He wasn't about to admit the full, unadulterated truth to a complete stranger but he didn't want to lie either. He never was good at it.

The Irishman cocked a brow as he leaned forward some and eyed Lincoln, pulling the smoke slowly from his lips, rubbing the bottom of his chin with his tattooed hand. "Mate, little hint. Don't try to bullshit an Irishman, or a Russian woman. Neither take kindly to lying by omission," he said as he flicked the ash off the end of his smoke and took another drag. A bit of a smirk played on his lips, he didn't know for sure that Lincoln was there because of Natasha but he didn't believe in coincidences either.

"Look pal, you might know Tasha but you sure don't know me. I had no idea she was living in this hotel, trust me, I'm as shocked to see her as she is to see me." He shifted his arm and moved his hands to rub his face as she thought about her storming off again. He'd give her space, time, then apologise. Lincoln grabbed his cell and unwrapped the earphones from around his neck before tying them up and putting them in his pocket.

"Say that enough times and you might actually start believing it for yourself. Might not known she was here but I'd bet my bottom rupee you knew she was in the city." Murphy chuckled as he stood up and dusted his rear end off, the cigarette resting between his lips as he took one final puff off of it before tossing it to the ground and putting it out beneath the heel of his boot.

"Besides, I don't have to explain myself to you. I know you care for her but my side is just that, my side. Ain't really none of your business even if I was here for Tasha."

Leaning over he rested his hands on his knees and cocked his head to the side. "That where ye be wrong mate. Ya see, she be me friend, that makes her me business. She been through enough. Last couple of men dicked her over hard, didn't help her dad dying in her arms earlier this year. So, gonna put this bluntly, ya here to do anything to hurt her and me fist and yer nose gonna become best friends."

His eyes flashed with anger and worry all at once. Lincoln pulled himself up quick and sharp, staring at Murphy and not blinking. "Trust me, the last thing I want to do is hurt her and if you think I'm a soft touch just try and see what happens if your fist comes anywhere near my face. We clear?" The shock of the news of Tasha's father dying had him not thinking clearly. He knew Tasha and her dad were never on the greatest of terms but the fact that he'd died and he wasn't there for Tasha... it made him really mad. Inexplicably so. He was looking for a fight and he had no idea why.

Murphy rolled his neck around a bit and started popping his fingers one by one. He knew that look, he had had the same look in his eyes for a year after his wife was murdered. Stepping closer he gave Lincoln a cheesy grin. Rolling his shoulders back, Lincoln shook his hands out at his sides and squared his jaw before separating his feet and staring at Murphy with a deadpan look. "You were engaged to Natasha right? Bitch don't take a tumble with men that can't stand toe to toe with her so I suspect a rumble with ya would be right good fun," he chuckled as he spoke. Murphy was always up for a fight and it looked like the bloke could use one.

As soon as the word bitch left Murphy's mouth, Lincoln was ready. He lunged forward and grabbed the front of Murphy's shirt, dragging the Irishman towards himself before throwing him over the bushes that Lincoln had just been unceremoniously thrown through thanks to Mr. Clops. As Murphy was launched, Lincoln threw himself over the bushes after him and landed on his back with a well placed elbow drop.

Murphy watched Lincoln and actually laughed when he was grabbed and tossed. A "Fuck yeah!" left his vocals as he flew over the bushes and landed on the other side, followed by a hell of a grunt as he felt Lincoln's elbow go into his back. Huffing he reached back, grabbing Lincoln around the neck as he bent his elbow. Pulling the man off him he gave him a solid jab right to his jaw before stumbling back to his feet and raising his fists. "Come on, you want the ice queen gonna have to hit harder than that," he taunted Lincoln.

Growling a little from the punch, Lincoln rubbed his jaw and scowled at Murphy. "You hit like powder. Get your shit together and HIT ME!" He screamed towards Murphy before he launched himself forward and shoulder tackled him. His shoulder battered into Murphy's stomach and Lincoln fell on top of him. He shifted his legs and straddled Murphy's body as he punched at him, not caring where or what he hit at that moment.

Murphy's breath was half knocked as Lincoln rammed him and he hit his back on the ground, the mans fist connecting with his his cheek, a few more landed before Murphy' s hands came up and he pulled Lincoln in, head butting him hard and tossing the lout off of him. Chuckling he jumped back up and rolled his neck around. The man obviously needed to work off some built up steam. "God, me sister could out hit you when she was five. No wonder Tasha dumped yer ass."

He rolled away some before he managed to stop the momentum. He could feel the hot trickle of blood sliding down over his upper lip. He wiped it off with the back of his left hand and glowered at Murphy from his spot on the ground. The words cut deep and he felt the anger growing more and more within him. He rolled flat onto his back before jumping up straight onto his feet. He walked calmly towards Murphy and made sure he was close enough before he began to jab at his face and torso, hitting anywhere that was open and getting into all of the nooks he could find. One, two, three, hook. Just like his father had taught him.

Murphy could tell by the look in the mans eyes that what he had said had gotten to him. He wanted it to, not to be mean but sometimes a man needed to step up and really just let everything out. He wouldn't admit to Murphy yet that the reason that he was in Jaipur was because of Tasha, if the man couldn't say that out loud how the hell was he ever going to open up to her? Granted Murphy wasn't trying to set the two up. Doc had been through enough and such but if this man was going to try to make a move on his friend, he wanted to make sure the man was worth something. Some of the punches landed, others did not. Murphy blocking, ducking and jabbing in return; ribs, face, stomach; until Murphy spun around suddenly and out of no where, his back fist connecting with the side of Lincolns face and sending him toppling back through the bushes and onto the ground. Spitting out a mouthful of blood he looked over towards Lincoln and cocked a brow. "So, if I were to measure how much you love Dr. Bitch by the way you hit... You love her as much as you do what? A cockroach crawling across your lunch?"

They seemed pretty evenly matched in the hit factor. Lincoln took some, blocked some, dodged some, same as Murphy had just done with his flurry of hits but he did not expect the backwards fist to the face. He felt himself falling backwards and tucked into himself to stop from hitting his limbs on anything stray at his sides. He landed on his rear and pushed himself up onto his feet, crouching down near the ground as he spat some blood out. Something had caught his left brow, he could feel the blood rolling down into his eye. It stung but he just used the pain as fuel. He heard the words, he knew why they were being said but he didn't care. Right now, all he wanted to do was knock the ever loving fuck out of this guy and wipe the smug, know-it-all look from his face.

"You don't have the faintest fucking idea about me, mate! You don't know what fucking AGONY I have been through because that wonderful, crazy, fucking beautiful woman left me! You can take your smug as fuck attitude and shove it right where the fucking sun don't shine!" He rolled forward and planted his hands on the ground before propelling his body, feet first, at Murphy. His right foot collided with his face right under the chin and his left foot clipped his shoulders. In his anger, he'd over shot his movements but fuck it, he'd kicked the bastard right in the face. Lincoln felt himself landing roughly on the ground and he rolled away from Murphy as best he could before scrambling up onto his feet, his fists raised and ready as the blood continued to slide down his face and mouth. His once white t-shirt was now tinted red and pink of varying degrees.

Cass stopped mid-sentence while speaking to Amber and cocked her right brow. "We're missin' somethin' juicy. C'mon!" She grinned at Amber and ran full pelt towards the source of the shouting. She stopped by the side of the courtyard and gaped as she saw the dishy newcomer and Murphy having it out. "Hubba fuckin' hubba. Don't mind if I do."

Murphy landed sprawled out on the ground and shook his head. Had the man just literally went WWF on his ass? Rolling over he coughed and slowly got up to his feet, pulling his shirt off, aww hell shit just got serious. Dropping down quickly Murphy yell hut and tackled the man, sending him flying onto one of the lounge chairs and the thing shattering beneath the weight of them both. Coming up he kicked Lincoln in the ribs before rolling out of the way and smirking brightly towards him as he stayed crouched down. "Like where John Cena? Deep inside Doc Hottie? Bet she would like that," he said smiling through the busted lip; wiggling his eye brows a bit as he took a few deep breaths and waited for Lincoln to really loose his shit.

That was it. That was the snapping point. Lincoln scrambled up to his feet and then kicked the loose boardings of the lounge chair towards Murphy before running at him and grabbing him, putting him in a headlock where he punched at his face repeatedly and without reservation. "DON'T. YOU. DARE. FUCKING. TALK. ABOUT. TASHA. THAT. WAY!" Each word was punctuated by a punch as he held him in the lock. They were his speciality being in security after all and he'd had to use them more than a few times but not while punching the ever loving shit out of the assailant as well...

Cass was practically drooling at this point, her lips pouting a little as she realised she couldn't join in. Poor Claire, she was missing a hell of a fight. Cass then realised something really simple and dumb. She pulled out her cell and began to record the fight for Claire to see. She felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. She glanced at Amber and wiggled her eyebrows. "Nothin' quite like some guy on guy, eh?"

Murphy grunted with each hit that landed, his hands coming up and grabbing a hold of Lincolns arm as his foot slid forward. He had been in this position more times that he could count. So many brothers, so many fights, so many fights with Claire - the woman did this for a living. He was glad he had actually picked up a few things from her over the years. (He wasn't going to tell her that. He was big brother after all) Through the blood and the swelling Murphy took a deep breath and pulled away Lincolns arm, sliding his foot quickly and sending them man to the ground straight to the ground on his face as he jerked Lincoln's arm up behind his back and pinned it there. "Now that is finally the voice of a man in love," he chuckled. He was about to let Lincoln go when suddenly he had a piercing pain shatter through the back of his skull; dirt and pottery flying around him.

He stumbled back off of Lincoln, looking around to see just where in the hell that had come from. Turning he froze as he saw the steely icy gaze of Dr. Natasha Brinne standing there by the tree. "Touch him again and I will turn you from a rooster to a hen with one fucking kick Irish," she growled with a fire in her voice.

Lincoln took the opportunity and swept Murphy's legs out from underneath him before jumping back up onto his own feet and kicking him in the ribs. He grinned down at him with a bloodied face and even bloodier teeth before he decided to land another elbow drop on him, this time right to his gut in hopes of winding him. "And for reference, I prefer the Undertaker." Lincoln then rolled off of Murphy and just lay there, utterly out of energy and breath. He had no idea why Tasha had stepped in and her words had confused him but the adrenaline had kept him moving. Now that he thought about it, the fact that she was defending him sent a numbness through him that sapped all energy out of him.

Murphy landed on his back, his eyes widening. It was one thing to go face to face with someone but to lay into someone when the other person had obviously stopped because of someone's Ex-Fiance suddenly hitting him in the back of the head with a flower pot was another. That was just down unsportsman like. Rolling over he started blindly pummeling into Lincoln. Lincoln did his best to curl into a ball to stop the hits from getting into him but there was only so much that he could do and pretty soon he had no power left to fight back. All he could do was take the hits.

Tasha's eyes widened some what over the fact that Lincoln had put in one last shit move into the fight, and then even wider as Murphy started laying into him. Before Murphy knew it, Tasha dropped to one knee, her foot connecting with the side of his head as she planted a solid board breaking technique side kick to his ribs.

"Don't fucking touch him!" she screamed as she lunged at Murphy, Murphy stunned a bit by the turn of events.

"He asked for that one!" Murphy yelled as he tried to get out of the way. It wasn't that he didn't want to fight Tasha, the two had tangoed many a time but not like this and he knew she was already injured pretty badly because of the Mine Shaft yesterday. Like hell he was going to cause her more damage but it didn't seem to matter to Tasha. Murphy without warning felt her heel connect with his jaw as she came around with a spinning hook kick, then her knee drove into his gut, her hand grabbing the back of his head as she flipped him head over heels. Murphy landed on his back once again and suddenly the doc was on top of him back fisting him left and right.

Lincoln saw Tasha laying into Murphy and his eyes nearly jumped out of his head. Finding the energy from somewhere, Lincoln went into full on security mode and wrapped his arms around Tasha from behind, hooking his hands together across her stomach, just under her chest. He used all his remaining strength to pull her up and off of Murphy before stumbling backwards and falling. His rear smacked against the courtyard flagstones and he felt Tasha's body weight landing on top of him. If he wasn't already sweating, he definitely was now. "Bloody heck Taser, you could have hurt yourself even more. I mean... I appreciate the help but damn..."

Tasha flailed in Lincolns arms as he pulled her off Murphy. Murphy looked up and then rested his head against the ground as his chest heaved for breath. The doctor grunting as she landed on top of Lincoln. Her head whipping around as she was about to knock the shit out of him for pulling her off Murphy. Then she saw Lincoln's face and all the anger drained away and worry flooded her eyes. "Oh god..." she whispered as he hand came down slowly as she looked closer. Taking a deep breath she crawled off of him and didn't even groan as she moved his arm over her shoulder. She was in Dr. Brinne mode now.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," she said as she helped him up and started limping towards the stairs to go up to her room. She had what she needed up there. Murphy cocked a brow as he looked at Tasha switch modes like a light switch had been flipped. Lincoln didn't have it in him to fight her and walk under his own steam, he let her guide him away and he glanced over at Murphy and shook his head. "You sure he's your friend?" Tasha looked over towards Lincoln as she helped him out of the court yard and rolled her eyes a bit.

"You're welcome!" he yelled out laughing before letting his head fall back and gasping for breath. He was covered in sweat and blood but that smug grin was still on his lips. Lincoln called out and smirked along with him as he did so. "Bite me, Paddy!"

As much as she had been enjoying watching the fight, even Cass could tell that it was going too far now. She half wanted to storm forward and beat the shit out of the doctor but knew Murphy would never forgive her and then that'd have a knock on effect to Claire and that was just not something she was going to risk. As soon as things were clear, Cass called back to Amber as she ran forward. "Sorry pal! I'll be back in a mo! Get yersel' some brekkie!"

Finding her way to Murphy's side she knelt down by him and tilted her head as she watched him just laying there. "You should fight topless more often." She gave him a broad smirk as she looked him over. Murphy looked up at Cass and smiled through the battering, bruising and blood.

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🦄 The Best Exotic

@SouffleGirl123 I do not pity those that can handle the strain! <3

🦄 Murder High Reunion - Concluded

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Location: The Tinder Family Home

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Ashley placed her phone on the bedside table and glanced up as she saw Marc walking over to the room door. She giggled at his words and shrugged her shoulders. "That's okay, only need enough to wash my hair. The rest of me could do with a cold shower." Her eyes lingered on his torso, the water droplets running down his skin and she felt her face flushing as she realised what she said. Her eyes darted back up to his face and then she glanced away as she rambled on. "I just mean that you have never learned to use a thermostat and it is absolutely boiling in this house... oh god." She ran her hands over her face and just shook her head as she called out after him.

It was probably a good thing that his phone was ringing. She gathered her essentials from her bag and made her way into the bathroom as Marc wandered into his room talking on his phone. Ashley savoured the water as it cleaned the grime from the warm sleep that she'd had through the night. Her face began to flush again as she realised what she had said minutes before to Marc. Sure he was attractive and she certainly could appreciate that but she was in a relationship! They had had their chance together once before but that time had passed. He may be regretting the decisions they had made as teenagers but Ashley had to respect her relationship with Al.

As the water chilled, Ashley turned the shower off and stepped out, drying herself off with one of the guest towels and then used one to wrap around her body, covering her modesty as she left to head back to the guest room. She got herself dressed and brushed out her hair after drying it off with a towel. It could dry itself from here on out, she just needed to style it so it would set nicely.

Happy with her choice of clothing for the day, Ash opened up the room door and wandered over to Marc's room. The door was shut so she figured he must still be on the phone. She knocked on his door and waited for him to answer. Her phone buzzed on the bedside table of the guest room and she jumped with a start and lightly jogged towards the room before picking her phone up and noticing a picture message. Unlocking her phone and pressing the message button, Ashley's eyes widened as she saw the photograph on her screen.

Her breathing became shallow and she dropped down to the floor, her legs splayed out at either side of her as she stared at the image and the message beneath it.

Stars should set examples.
But this star is misbehaving.
Remember, stars are falling all around you.
Shall I do something to help keep you up?

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Location: The Plaza Hotel: Her Room

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Jasmin bit her lower lip as Lawson walked out topless. Why did they agree not to drink and make mistakes last night? Oh right, he had just had his heart broken. Duh. "That sounds doable. I can drive and you can follow in your car?" Jasmin finished up with applying her mascara and raised her right brow as she considered Lawson's offer to go to the picnic with her. "Would you be comfortable there? I can always go by myself..." She knew that Lawson seeing Ada and Kai there, together, would hurt to no end right now. She watched as he walked over to the TV and turned it on.

Jasmin's face fell and her mouth gaped open as she listened to the short amount of the conference before Lawson turned the screen back off. Her face looked up to Lawson and she gave a silent nod. "I appreciate that. Thank you. Shall we discuss charges for security work?" She gave a small, weak smile and clutched her bag tightly to her body. She had no idea that things were this bad. She thought it had just been Jessica and now... She rubbed her temples and wracked her brain. She'd have to look into this when she had a moment. She looked to Lawson and considered her words but chose not to say anything else regarding the murders just yet.

At Lawson's bringing up of casual discussion, Jas couldn't help but laugh a little. "It's still running smoothly last I heard, haven't been there in a long time but was considering going at some point. Why not now? Do you mind driving, I've got some things I'd like to research in the car on the way if that's alright with you?" She moved forward and hooked her arm through his and smiled.

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Location: Great Wolf Lodge: His Room

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"Hey man, we're fine. Nothing bad happened last night, we just saw the news and wanted to check on you. We're gonna call Ash once we're done talking with you. Glad to know everything is fine. Okay, so you're going to talk with Tim so that means you know what's happened and it isn't all a joke. Alright, well I'm glad you're safe man. Keep me updated, don't want you wandering around by yourself during all this okay? Alright, talk soon. Keep us posted!"

Kai hung up the phone and kissed Ada lightly on the top of her head. "Alright, one down, so many more to go. We should call Ash then I think, for sanity sake, we get you a new phone before we head out to get the picnic sorted. Although it feels weird going on as normal while someone is running round killing our former classmates..." He sighed as he squeezed her lightly in his arms and then hit the call button for Ashley. It rang a few times before she picked up.

"H-hello..?" Her voice was shaky and she sounded like she was holding back tears.

"Ashley, are you crying? What's happened? Where are you? What's going on?!" His voice was laced with panic and he looked down to Ada with an uncertain look in his eyes.

"I'm f-fine, just stubbed my toe and it's..." She winced slightly before continuing. "It's just really sore. Made my eyes water so hard I couldn't see then hit my knee as well. I'm okay!"

She was starting to sound a bit more like herself but Kai wasn't certain. He frowned and thinned his lips as he spoke. "Alright, if you're sure. Where are you?"

"I'm in my room at the hotel. Everything is fine. I'll see you guys at the picnic, talk later."

She hung up the phone and Kai blinked and looked to Ada with worry etched all over his face. "We need to go get Ash. She's at her hotel and she doesn't sound too good despite saying she's fine. C'mon, we better get dressed and moving. We'll pick you up a new cell once we pick up Ash." He gave Ada a gentle kiss on the lips and then rested his forehead lightly against hers before standing upright and gently guiding Ada up onto her feet with his hand in hers. He squeezed it lightly and then raised it up to kiss the back of her hand. His eyes watched hers as he looked over her wrist at her beautiful face. "Come on, let's go."

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🦄 The Best Exotic

@SouffleGirl123 Heh, you poor baby girl. Hope everything is okay for you! That would be splendid if you manage to. :D

🦄 The Best Exotic

@SouffleGirl123

I need me some Amber action! :(

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Agnes Brynja Johannsson

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Location: Infirmary

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Having heard Astrid's request and Bridgette's following order. Bryn gave a solid nod towards Bridgette and gave her a firm pat on the shoulder. "I'll be there soon." The lookie lou's weren't listening to Bryn's normal voice so she decided she had to do something a little more authorative right now. Unclipped her bat from the back of her bag, Bryn swung it around being careful to avoid hitting anyone and began to bounce the body of it off of her free hand. She glared from one face to the next that had decided to drop their work and gander at the commotion within the infirmary.

Clearing her throat audibly, Bryn puffed out her chest and then growled at every single one of the people that were being so clearly rude. "Farðu út!" Some people dispersed when they heard the irritation in her voice but a few others were more persistent. To which Bryn returned the mood in kind. She pointed her bat at them all one by one as she spoke her next words in her mother tongue. "Ég mun snúa þér í rotmassa fyrir reitina. Nú fá helvíti út!" She stepped forward suddenly and snapped her jaws at them. That certainly got them to move. Feeling happy with herself Bryn decided to pretty much bark at the person that was slowest to get out of the Courthouse after her display of animal protectiveness. They may not have understood what she had said but her actions and motions were clear as fucking day.

Once everyone had been cleared out she looked to see if she was needed any further here, if not she planned to head to the walls and get to work as had been planned. There was not much else she could do here besides play bouncer which didn't seem very needed at this point as everyone had dispersed. She turned into the room and looked towards Ashton. "Fyrirliði, the space is cleared. I am going to the walls." Her plans shared with her superior, Bryn rested her bat on her shoulder and made to leave the Courthouse until she saw Richard and Zoie.

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Zoick

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Location: Outside the Infirmary >> Outside the Courthouse

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Eyes widened so far that Richard was sure they were going to pop out of his skull as he saw Zoie not only making eye contact with him, but she was coming towards him without a fist balled up at her side. The moment her arms wrapped around his body he felt his stomach drop. Something big must have happened that he didn't know about yet. His arms wrapped around her and he held her close to him, his right hand stroking her hair as he hushed her down. "There there, Daisy, it's alrigh'. C'mon now, what's got you so upset?"

There wasn't much that he knew that could knock her for six like this and that's when it hit him. Something was seriously wrong and he had to find out what it was. Gulping down the worry that he felt deep in his gut. "Why ya cryin'? Did someone get bit? Where's Cap? Where's Froggy?" He looked up and saw Bryn standing in the doorway of the infirmary and then watched as she went off on her tirade chasing the small mob that had formed around the infirmary in the moments it had taken him to react to Zoie's actions towards him. Shit had seriously went down and he needed answers. He looked to Zoie expectantly but didn't make her move away from him if she didn't want to.

Zoie quivered against him as she bit her bottom lip, finding it a bit hard to breath after seeing Froggy the way he had been when she saw him on the gurney. She buried her face hard against Richards chest, trying to figure out how to put it since she really didn't know what was going on herself. All she knew was that something was wrong and Astrid was in there doing whatever it was that she was doing. Slowly she tilted her head back and looked up at him, her eyes flickering and moist with worry. "Froggy, he ain't be up. Laid out on that gurney like he done called it quits. Astrid be in there working but he ain't be responding to her yet. He just laying there like a damn fish that refuses to flop on the dock anymore," she said as her voice trembled before lowering her head and pressed her face back against his chest.

Richard looked at Zoie as if she had suddenly sprouted a tail and he shook his head. "Nah, you gotta be wrong. No way that Froggy is givin' up on this world. Old man has got plenty left in him still. I don't believe it, not one bit." He held onto her by the shoulders and shook his head as he looked towards the infirmary and waited for Froggy to come walking out and asking him to play a round of cards with him. He didn't want to let Zoie go right then and he faltered as he look between her and the infirmary.

He eventually decided to hold onto Zoie's hand and dragged her with him so he could see for himself. He only let go of her when they got beside Bryn. He looked to his former friend and they had an unspoken agreement pass between them just by the single look and Bryn moved over to stand with Zoie, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as Richard stood in the doorway, his hands holding the frame as he saw Froggy just laying there on the gurney. Astrid was working on him and Cap was there too. Richard felt his chest constrict and he stumbled backwards. He stumbled so badly that he fell right onto the floor, onto his backend and he didn't move to right himself again.

Zoies head whipped around as Richard stumbled back, her eyes widening in the process. "Honky Tonk," she gasped as her hands came to her mouth. She hadn't expected him to fall right then and with everything going on became very worried instantly. Rushing over to his side without a moments thought. She knew there was nothing she could do for Froggy, it wasn't her area. It was Astrids now but Richard was another story, for several reasons.

There was no way that this was real, he must be dreaming and having a nightmare all at once. Zoie in his arms. Froggy in the infirmary as the patient and not the doctor. It was both amazing and terrifying and Richard could only sit on the floor, his legs sprawled out as his hands rose up and ran through his hair as he began to sob. His face went red, his chest heaved and he crumpled in on himself. Biting her bottom lip she glanced over towards Bryn and then back to Richard as she slipped closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close to her; resting his head against her chest. "Hey, hey, it be okay. Froggy be fine, right Bryn?" she said looking over to her friend and then back down to him. Bryn didn't know what to say right then. Honestly, she was utterly flabbergasted to see how Zoie was being with Richard which on top of everything else painted her very confused so, true to her nature, she kept quiet and simply stood at the ready, waiting to be needed. It pained Zoie to see him like this. As mad as she still was at him, she didn't enjoy seeing him as crushed as she felt. She wanted to break down but she couldn't. One was enough right then.

Running her hand over the back of his head she pressed a soft kiss to his temple. "Come on, deep breaths hun, deep breaths." The shuddering breaths came out and Richard tried to calm and slow himself as best he could. Once he got a bit more oxygen back to his brain he looked over to Zoie and his heart ached more.

He didn't want to do what he did next but he had to. He pulled away from Zoie and looked at her with nothing but pain etched on his face. "I don't deserve yer affection or concern. Jus' leave me be in my misery, it's what I get for bein' good for nothin'." He watched the infirmary through the crack of the door that none of them had shut properly and he scowled as he realised that Froggy still wasn't waking up. Richard rose his hands to his face and began to slap himself, hoping to wake up from whatever fucking joke that this was. "He can't be sick, he's Froggy! HE HEALS THE SICK! HE'S THE FUCKIN' DOCTOR!!! He ain't got no right! No right... he got none... fuckin' Froggy... Man what are ya doin' to me?!"

Zoie leaned back, her eyes widening as she looked at Richard, he couldn't be serious? Was he really acting this way with Froggy laid out like he was right then? Narrowing her eyes, Zoie did the only thing she could think of, granted she wasn't exactly thinking right then, she was acting on pure emotion. This raw and confused mix of concern and anger, worry and caring. Moving over to him she grabbed Richard by the front of his shirt by both hands and pulled him in close. Then she kissed him, pressing her lips hard to his. She held the kiss for a long moment before pulling away as one of her hands pulled back, balled up tight and then it came. She decked the every living fuck out of him, sending him sprawling back on the floor and sliding back a few feet. Storming over to him she straddled him and grabbed him again.

"Fuckin' baby ass two timin' child! Get yer shit togeth'r! Froggy be the one in trouble, you suck it up butter cup. Worry be one thin', this poor pittiful me shit ain't gonna fly," she barked as she pulled him up by his shirt until he was sitting up. Her eyes furious and oddly understanding at the same time. Her lips pressing to his again, this time the kiss was even deeper, full of a months worth of pent of emotions before she yanked back. "Deal with this news flash Honky Tonk, you be givin' a damn. Now, get yer ass up and outside b'for I kick it out there!" she added as she pushed off him and stood up, pointing towards the front door.

In all honesty, Richard had absolutely no idea what had actually happened just then and was still convinced that he wasn't even awake. Knowing that he could never take Zoie on toe-to-toe in the real world or in his mind, Richard stumbled from the push and moved towards the front door, opening it and stepping outside. He had no idea what he was doing, where he was going or why, he just knew he had to get out. He just walked and didn't know, nor care, where his feet were taking him.

Taking a deep breath, Zoie wiped her chin with the back of her hand before looking over towards Bryn, "radio me if anythan' changes," was all she got out before she rushed through the door after Richard. Like hell she was letting him just go off alone right now. It was a good a time as any to vent shit and she was tired of waiting around for it to just work itself out. Somewhere deep down she knew if Froggy was to go he would want them at least back on speaking terms. Froggy knew how much she cared for Richard. Sighing she ran over to Richard and stepped in front of him, walking backwards as she went now. "Now that we be out of there, let it out. Come on, ain't letting you run off alone this time."

Everything was hazy, a little grey, Richard heard Zoie speaking, saw her lips moving, but didn't register what she was saying. He looked at her and continued walking, his hands buried in his pockets as his shoulders slouched and his eyes roved from side to side. He looked dejected and lost, like a poor little puppy dog. The colour was fading from his face now and his skin was growing a pale shade of white despite the sun in the sky. He glanced at Zoie again and stopped his movements for a second as his brain tried to think. He looked around and he honest to god couldn't figure out where he was.

Stopping her backwards walk she looked at Richard and sighed, it was obvious that he wasn't right in the head in that moment. Taking a deep breath she stepped over to him and reached out for him; cupping his cheeks gently in her fingers. "Richard, baby, look at me," she said quietly. It was rare that she ever called him Richard, usually only when she was being extremely caring with him, which as of late; hadn't been at all.

His had swivelled to look at her, confusion still etched in his face. The pain from the hits earlier were starting to ache through him but it confused him even more. The hits were in his dream so why did they hurt? If this wasn't real then why was the physical pain real? He blinked as he looked at Zoie and then his eyes drifted elsewhere as he tried to clock back to where he was, when he was, why he was. His eyes practically swam in his head and he slowly lifted his hands to hold onto Zoie's wrists. He looked at her once more and tilted his head to the right as he pondered why she was talking to him.

"You hate me." He wasn't accusing in his words, his tone was completely stoic with a soft edge to it.

Sighing deeply Zoie shook her head and bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him, keeping her hands against his cheeks as she ran her thumb gently over his skin. "Naw, yous gots it all wrong. I don't be hatin' ya Honky Tonk, if I did I wouldn't be givn' two shits right now. Hurt by what ya did. Hate what ya did but I don't hate you," she said gently as she stepped closer and rested her head against his chin; still touching him softly with her fingers as she closed her eyes. "Sweet Baby Jesus help me but I done did fall in love with your country bumpkin ass."

"This is the part where I wake up, right? Trust me t'dream up this shit. I'm jus' torturin' myself but fuck me if I don't care right 'bout now." He planted a kiss on the top of her head and lifted his lead weighted arms and wrapped them around her. "I'd never have the guts if this were real, but I'm sorry Daisy. For everythin'. I didn't mean what I said, I was jus' mad at m'self. I don't even remember shit and it was jus' a riot mess. I thought ya wasn't gonna come back. Somethin' in my gut made me think that ya were dead and that made me need to drink. Froggy hooked me up, that stupid, crazy, beautiful man, and I shoulda done stopped but I didn't. I fucked up, Daisy. Bad. But I know, no matter how many times I apologise while I sleep, it don't mean shit until I say it to ya for real. I'm a fuckin' joke." He spoke with his face buried in her hair and he just held her, not wanting to let her go.

Leaning against him she let her hands slip from his cheeks and wrap around him beneath his arms; just listening to what he had to say. What she had just wished he had said that night. It wouldn't have made everything right but it would have been a start. Not a month wasted. Drawing a deep breath she nodded slightly as she rested her head under his chin. "Now, that be the man that I done feel was beneath all the rough edgin'." Tilting her head back she looked up at him and pressed her lips together, thinning them out as she did. "Yeah, you is but don't mean ya have to be," she added reaching up and pushing his hair back some. "You can be a man worth lovin' hun, but you gotsa wanna be that man." Swallowing slightly she stepped back a bit and shoved her hands in her pockets. She was glad he was owning up and doing what needed to be done but she wasn't deluding herself either. "When ya find the right gal, you will."

The haze was still there, heavy on his mind but as he stood there, listening to Zoie for the first time since his nightmare day had began, it began to lift slowly but surely. Her touch felt less like a dream and his body began to lighten as he stared into her eyes. As she stepped back, Richard held a hand up and out towards her as he tried to keep her close but failed. It dropped to his side and he blinked as he heard her last words before the silence fell between them.

"What d'ya mean when? I already did and I done fucked up to the extreme. Ain't no hope for me if ya never take me back. I'd be as well leavin' if there ain't no chance with ya anymore. Hell I nearly did a week back, had my shit packed and was ready to just go. Froggy was the one tha' talked me out o' it. Oh god, Daisy..." He moved over to her faster than she could react and wrapped his arms right around her, holding her tighter than he had ever held onto anything in his life. He pressed his lips to the side of her head, just above her ear, and spoke in a hushed, comforting voice.

"I'm sorry for bein' selfish. Your poor Froggy is out for the count and here I am feelin' sorry for m'self." He kept kissing the side of her head, while one of his hands stroked her hair down and his arms held her close. "I'm here. I'm finally here."

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Svetlana Volkov

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Location: The crash site >> On the move

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Svetlana blinked as Ed began to struggle against her help and she just worked her way through it getting him sorted as best she could. They may only have just met but she felt responsible for his predicament and couldn't rightly just leave him for dead. She wasn't sure what to make of the new arrival and she refused to speak in English until she made sure that SHE wasn't responsible for her car's tyre blowing out in the first place.

There was clearly little trust within the heart of Svetlana. She was fairly glad to see that Ed's leg was fine and that there was no lasting damage to it and the fact that the bleeding stopped on the gash in his arm was a damn miracle! She sighed and then blinked as she felt lips on her grubby, bloodied up cheek. She raised a hand lightly to where he had kissed her and looked at him with confusion. Was he seriously this oblivious to how the world was these days? She looked to the new arrival and looked between her and the supplies that she was presenting to her.

She'd spoken in the same language as Ed and she wondered if she meant for Svetlana to take the supplies or that she was going to use them on her. She rose her sleeve up and wiped the blood away from her brow and then took the supplies from the new person. She looked at her and then down to the supplies before beginning her work on cleaning up and covering her own wound. She moved over to the car and used the broken off side mirror to view her injury as she cleaned it and closed it as best she could. Glancing back at the new woman, Svetlana considered just taking her kit and taking off but it didn't feel right.

Opting to only pocket a few of the medicinal items that were within the pack outwith the view of the owner of the items, Svetlana pocketed them and then closed up the kit before walking over to hand it back to its owner. She grabbed her own pack and first aid kit before working at closing it all up, slipping her new acquirements into the kit and then into her pack when she was done. She slung her backpack on her back and then turned to Ed and the new woman.

"Svetlana." She pointed to herself. "Ed." She pointed to Ed. "Vy?" She asked the light haired woman as she pointed to her. She then looked around and realised it wasn't safe to stay there. She beckoned them both to follow her as she began to walk down the road in the direction she had originally been intending to travel. Towards Newnan.

_{(Not that she knew that was what was there, but c'mon, it's good dramatic tension for the story.)}

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Translations

"Farðu út!" = Get out!
"Ég mun snúa þér í rotmassa fyrir reitina. Nú fá helvíti út!" = I will turn you into compost for the fields. Now get the hell out!

"Vy?" = You?