madame_diggory

V

2009-11-04T13:41:34Z

How awesome was the premier of V last night? For the past couple of days, I've been watching the old reruns on the SciFi (excuse me, SyFy) channel and wondering why I ever thought this series was so cool way back when. That's probably because my dad was obsessed with the show and its now lame effects but last nights revamp was actually pretty good, plus it had Alpha you can't go wrong with Alan,lol. Not to mention Scott Wolf doing his weird mouth breather thing and the lead alien Anna completely freaks me out with the big unblinking eyes, hopefully the networks will keep this show around long enough for it to develop a good fanbase. Too many of my favs are nearing the chopping block/only doing half seasons/or just plain suck at the moment.

Dollhouse/Harry Potter Crossover Fic

2009-10-05T14:36:40Z

Title: Not Easily Broken
Fandom: Dollhouse/Harry Potter
Rating: T
Pairing: kinda Topher/Hermione
Summary: Despite what Adelle DeWitt would have the patrons of the Dollhouse believe, actions do have consequences
Spoilers: DH of Harry Potter, minus the epilogue and the beginning of Season 2 Dollhouse
Discliamer: Characters are the property of Mutant Enemy/Wheadon and JK Rowling/Scholastic Publishing

Not Easily Broken

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Fox and Mutant Enemy, JK Rowling and Scholastic

Chapter 1: Something Closer To Myself

For years Adelle DeWitt has kept the details of her job hidden from her family. A secretive person by nature, no one thought it strange when she would give vague answers to questions of her profession and with her intelligence most people assumed it was a covert government position. It also helped that both her parents were deceased and she lived on an entirely different continent than her only sister, Helena.

One day nearly 4 years ago, when Adelle succumbed to a bout of nostalgia and picked up the phone to call Helena, she was shocked to learn that her sister and her family were no where to be found. It was as though Helena, her husband and their daughter had magically been wiped off of the planet. Eleven months, Adelle had called in every favor she had from her old contacts in Great Britain, she even had a few actives selected from the London Dollhouse on the hunt but weeks of fruitless searching turned up nothing.

Just as Adelle was about to resign herself to never seeing her little sister ever again, she received a most peculiar phone call in the middle of the night. It was Helena for certain, even if she hadn’t spoken to her sister in years she always had the uncanny ability to pinpoint Helena’s crisp tones and perfect diction in a crowded room. But it wasn’t the Helena she had known, this woman was angry, franticly prattling about nonsensical things. As Adelle sat up in her bed, pressing the phone tight against her ear better to hear the tall tale her sister spun, the more concern she became for Helena’s sanity.

Witches…Wizards…Magical War…Mind Erase, that one caught her attention. It wasn’t until Geoffery eased the phone from his wife’s grip and calmly tried to explain to his sister-in-law what had Helena so rankled that Adelle’s brain was able to process the information. Her niece, quiet little bookworm Hermione was a Witch, who in order to fight in a magical war erased her unsuspecting parents minds and squirreled them away in another country under assumed identities. Adelle had to suppress the inappropriate laughter bubbling in her throat, that was completely underhanded and borderline cruel, the girl was definitely a DeWitt through and through.

After their memories were restored and the war was at an end, Helena and Geoffery refused to see Hermione’s reasons for committing such an act. Maybe it was because she was so far removed from the situation that Adelle could understand that the girl simply didn’t want to leave herself open to exploitation should her parents be captured in the midst of a genocidal war but she found herself impressed with the lengths Hermione had gone through to ensure her parents safety. So she kept her mouth shut and listened while Helena ranted about the evils of magic and how she wanted to erase all traces of it from all of their lives forever. She listened as her sister sobbed her heart out, her words no longer coherent and Geoffery sighing warily into the phone.

“Sorry to dump all of this on you at once Addy but we were told before she entered that world that it was best we not speak of it with anyone else. There were laws, you see and Hermione was just ever so excited to know that there were others out there who were special just like her. If I could go back to that day, I swear I never would have opened that damnable letter. From the moment Hermione stepped foot in that school the daughter I knew ceased to exist. She’s become distant to the point of being unfeeling in her actions, no doubt a byproduct of what she’s endured in that place, surrounded by so much hate. I just…I just wish she could understand that what she did was not alright even if it was to protect us. I simply wish Hermione could understand that every action has consequences.”

Adelle would later tell herself that it was the sheer hopelessness she heard in Geoffery’s voice that propelled her to even make the suggestion but the comforting words that were so much more appropriate in a situation such as this was forced to the back of her mind. Instead Adelle DeWitt said the one thing she never wanted anyone she loved to ever hear,

“What if they didn’t?”

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‘This is wrong,’ Topher thinks as he nervously cracks his knuckles before continuing to type commands onto his keyboard, ‘this is just so…wrong.’

When DeWitt approached him earlier today with a special assignment, Topher Brink thought he had died and gone to Neurological Modulator heaven. He pranced around his ‘big kid’ office, much to his assistant Ivy’s annoyance, like a peacock eager to show off his mad skills, but the second he caught a glimpse of the subject, the wind was knocked right out of his sails.

She was struggling, somehow he hadn’t expected that. Oh, he’s not stupid, Topher is well aware that the majority of the Dolls in the House were coerced into enlisting and in some extreme cases (Sierra for example) some were here mainly because they pissed off the wrong people and needed to be dealt with. But with the way DeWitt spoke of the newcomer with a twinge of an emotion he’s rarely seen her express, Topher was unprepared to see the tiny slip of a girl resisting the hold both Ballard and Ramirez had on her.

There was a crushing sensation in his chest that he wasn’t familiar with and therefore proceeded to ignore, as the two handlers finally managed to strap the little spitfire into the chair and Ivy began to attached the two dozen or so electrode needles to her heavily sedated yet restless body. Her frightened brown eyes caught his in an intense final plea for help, Topher hesitated momentarily, hand poised over the enter key and with deep regret pressed the button, setting off a chain reaction that will strip away life as she knows it.

Hermione claws at the armrests of the ergonomically designed chair, the luminescent blue lights surrounding her head are blinding and a zapping noise crackles in the air before an intense neon green bolt of electricity shoots through every nerve in her body. She struggles to pull her hand free, desperate to reach for her wand and make the pain go away. The sedative that was slipped in her morning tea has dulled her war sharpened reactions, giving the Men In Black enough of an advantage to drag her off to this torture chamber.

The pain continues to accumulate and a thousand images zigzags through her brain, memories, she realizes, brief glimpses of the past year…the Final Battle…corpses littering the school grounds…werewolves sinking their fangs into young tender flesh…being on the run with Harry and Ron…dodging death at every turn…long days spent in the enormous library at Hogwarts…kissing Krum by the Black Lake…summers spent at the Burrow watching the boys play Quidditch…receiving her Hogwarts letter and the apprehensive look her parents exchanged…being teased in the park near her home for some weird accident a bushy haired bucktooth young girl committed…her father hoisting her up into the air spinning her around while explaining how a airplane stays in the air and just as the final burst of blue light shoots through her sweaty and strained body, her mother’s eyes are teary as she lays her perfect little two day old bundle of joy into her crib. Then it’s all washed away. Her entire existence erased in the blink of an eye.

Nearly an hour later, the electrodes are detached and as the odd shaped chair rights itself a goofy looking blond man with a sharp beck like nose tentatively grins down at her.

“Hello Fox.” he greets, clapping his hands together softly

“Did I…did I fall asleep?” she asks in a bewildered tone

“Only for a little while.” the man assures her

“Shall I go now?”

“If you’d like.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

One Month Later…

Art class is nice. Picking up a brush, dipping it into the colorful paint and spreading it across a crisp white sheet of paper is very relaxing. There are many activities to partake in here that are soothing…yoga, swimming, even climbing the rock wall gives her a sense of tranquility. And then there are the things that are not so peaceful.

Fox can’t quite ascertain exactly what it is that causes such unease but she instinctively knows it has something to do with that Chair. Her eyes are drawn to the second floor landing, where she spots Bravo entering the room with the funny little man and his strange chair. Bravo is going for a treatment. Treatment, just thinking the word causes an odd wave of euphoria to wash over her and it should feel good but for some reason it frightens her. Fox isn’t the only one who feels this way, Echo feels it too.

Echo knows how to hide from the people who watches over them, Echo remembers, just like her, the things that they are not suppose to remember. Echo tells Fox when she is doing more than she should.

In the middle of painting a sprawling castle perched on a cliff, Fox gets an undeniable urge to hold the long wooden handle of the paint brush vertically. Her hand grasping the end tightly, she stares hard at the wooden stick ignoring the paint covered bristles and trying to recall why this seems so familiar. Unbidden, her wrist swishes and flicks, words of a long forgotten language slip from her lips and the white construction paper before her floats smoothly into the air, hovering for a moment until her concentration is broken by a soft gasp to her left. Sierra, the blond haired Asian woman who sleeps in the pod next to hers, is gaping at Fox in childlike amazement.

“They’re watching.” a voice to her right warns, she turns to see Echo pretending to focus on her painting, her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail swishes when she subtly jerks her head in the direction of the men and woman dressed in suits that are always walking the halls watching over them.. “Be careful, Fox.”

Nodding discreetly, Fox casts a serene smile at the tall man with the kind brown eyes that comes to stand before her table.

“Good day.” she greets

He throws her a dubious look, glancing between Fox, Sierra and Echo then back to Fox, measuring the sincerity of her blank stare. Fox’s smile doesn’t falter under his scrutiny. He opens his mouth to speak but a quick look at her painting halts the words in his throat.

‘Damn,’ Langton thinks, ’that’s the third time this month that she’s drawn the same castle.’ Topher assures them that the wipes are clean but it’s clear to anyone who looks close enough that slowly but surely Fox is compositing memories from her former life. And from what Boyd Langton has read in Fox’s highest level of security background file, he does not want to be around if/when she regains all of her memories.

But for now, Langton pastes on his most professional half smile and in his deep calming baritone asks Fox if she would like a treatment. He pretends not to notice the momentary flash of fear in the girl’s honey-brown eyes before she complacently tidies her workstation then follows him up to the Imprint Room.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Stoically positioned on the second floor landing with a full panoramic view of the Dollhouse proper, Adelle watches the little exchange with Head of Security Mr. Langton and the three actives Echo, Sierra and Fox. Fox, Adelle sighs deeply, it will be one month tomorrow since Fox was added to their roster and her addition to the L.A. Dollhouse has been both a blessing and a curse. Within three weeks, Fox has managed to do the impossible, she lead a team of five actives and a handful of their security, hunted down and killed the sociopath Designation: Alpha. To say that she was impressed would be an understatement, Alpha had eluded their capture for well over a year after breaking back into the Dollhouse with an ex-FBI agent’s help no less, and making off with Echo. Yet it had taken Fox less than a month to track Alpha and only several hours to eliminate the threat with Victor, Echo and Sierra at her side.

Adelle should have been ecstatic but the sight of Hermi- no Fox, she’s Fox now. The sight of Fox covered in bruises, her clothes stained with dried blood made Adelle’s heart clench painfully in her chest. She had swore to Helena and Geoffery that their child would be well taken care of while Topher searched for a cure to rid her of the magic that has wreaked havoc in their lives. And though she has specifically refused to send Fox on any romantic engagements, a bit hypercritical of her considering she doesn’t give a flying fig if the others are sold to the highest bidder, Adelle is learning that Fox, Sierra and Echo are the tri-fecta of choice when it comes to high risk engagements.

In spite of praise from the higher-ups at Rossum for running such an efficient and profitable House, Adelle can’t shake the cold ball of dread building in her stomach that’s telling her this is all going to blow up in her face and when it does…God help those caught in the path of divine retribution.

---------------------------------------------------------------

He had thought they were past this by now, last year when she hacked into his files and learned that she wasn’t the real Dr. Saunders, Topher had given her leeway and not reported all of the kooky and down right mean spirited tricks the good doctor played on him, out of some misguided sense of guilt. After Whiskey cornered him and got Topher to finally admit why he made her the way she was, he had assumed that they could at the very least call a cease fire to the endless barrage of witty insults.

Instead, Dr. Saunders took an exploratory jaunt out of the Dollhouse for the first time since Alpha assaulted her and returned with a less timid attitude but a new passive aggressive way of expressing her dislike for his brilliance. Her favorite topic as of late, Fox and the special treatments he has designed for the Doll.

“Have you read my latest report?”

“You mean the one hundred page manifesto denouncing some of my greatest work as…what was it again?” he mockingly flips through the medical and psychological report Dr. Saunders insists on pushing him to read, “Oh right, ’A desecration of the laws of nature’, that was kinda poetic. Did you and your gentleman caller stay up all night thinking up the perfect zinger to prove what an evil genius I really am? Cause I gotta say I’m flattered and oddly titillated that I‘m the subject of your pillow-talk.”

“Could you take your mind out of the gutter for five seconds and answer the question like someone with morals would respond?” Saunders fires back in that irritated yet bored tone she reserves just for Topher.

“Take a good look around Saunders, this place is Fantasy Island. We’re in the business of granting peoples wishes, so if Hermione’s parents want their daughter scrubbed clean of the Merlin aspect of her brain that nearly got them and herself killed, who are we to judge?”

“Fox.” comes her quiet reply several seconds later.

“What?”

“Her call sign is Fox, you should be careful not to let DeWitt hear you call an Active by her given name.”

Saunders is looking at him in the same sad pitying way that everyone else regards Ballard when he’s mooning over Echo. Topher Brink does not moon, especially over a Doll. He’s merely fascinated by Hermione, he’s intrigued…yeah that’s the word. He was intrigued when he first mapped her brain patterns and discovered that her I.Q. level rivaled his own, that in another life they could have been great friends, she may even have provided better competition than Takahashi. He’s intrigued that no matter how thoroughly he wipes her she always manages to default back to her British accent, not even Gamma or Roger have been able to retain their respective Irish and Mexican heritages and both of their contracts will be up next month.

At a loss on how to cover his slip of the tongue, Topher is relieved when Saunders turns to leave his sanctuary. She stops in the doorway, half glancing over her shoulder at the gangly young man.

“I’m not asking that you develop close bonds with every Active in this House, I know it would only serve to complicate your work. But what I am asking is that you consider the long term ramifications to stripping away what makes a person who they are. These abilities Fox has, they are something that genetics and nature decided she should have, not an imprinted skill you cooked up for someone else’s enjoyment.” her white lab coat flutters behind her as Claire exits his office, leaving Topher more conflicted than he’d care to admit.

Looking for Fic Rec's

2009-09-21T13:31:51Z

I've tried looking on FF.net but...you know how that goes, so I'm casting out my net.

Can anyone recommend a good L Word Helena/Alice fic?

Contemplating A New Fic

2009-09-15T12:40:50Z

So I'm in my third week of school and it's really kicking my ass! I've been so tired lately with work and creating stupid Powerpoint presentations for my computer class that I've got no energy to update the four fics I'm currently writing but last night as I was reading a couple of Dollhouse fics I came up with (in my opinion) a viable reason for a Harry Potter/Dollhouse fic. You can blame scifichick for planting the seed in my head, LOL.

I've wanted to do a Dollhouse fic for a while but I don't like writing a story if I feel like I can't get a good handle on the characters (mannerisms, lingo, reactions, etc...) but the words starting pouring out and I think at best it would be just a long one-shot. Anyone interested in reading? I'll likely post it to my fanfiction.net page.

Dollhouse

2009-08-28T12:46:58Z

Alright, I know I'm like eons behind everyone else on the Whedonverse site but I bought the first season of Dollhouse and can I just gush on how amazing Epitath One is and Felicia Day was awesome. I'm such a geek that I even watched the episode while listening to the writers commentary.

I can't wait for the new season, I'm stocking up on recordable dvd's even though I always end up buying the complete season when it's released, mainly for the extras and deleted scenes which this collection had in abundance. So, here's to next season rocking just as bad ass as the first, and Josh if you really want to make a statement how about a little make-out session for Echo and Sierra, and for the love of God tell us right away why Topher made Claire hate him, I've been dieing all summer!!!

Half Blood Prince

2009-07-23T22:59:08Z

Alright so I finally saw HBP last monday and I have to say, story wise/acting it was the best film since PoA.

I judge this not only by the unique blend of humor and drama but because my sister who constantly rips on me for loving Harry Potter came with me and she loved it even though she's never read the books and only watched the first movie.

One thing that struck me as amusing, the scene after the trio leaves the Three Broomsticks and Hermione is totally drunk off of her ass, she throws her arms around Harry and Ron's neck grinning like an idiot, was too funny.

Hopefully, the next two will be as entertaining and the IIC won't make us wait another two years.

madame_diggory @ 2009-07-16T08:05:00

2009-07-16T12:11:03Z

Title: The Stroke of Midnight
Fandom: Harry Potter/Midnight Breed Series
Rating: M
Pairing: Hermione/Sterling
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the Midnight Breed Series are the property of J.K.Rowling and Lara Adrian respectively
Summary: While on holiday with her parents, Hermione stumbles upon an ancient society that changes her life forever.

The Stroke of Midnight

A/N: sorry for the long delay, this chapter didn’t really turn out the way I wanted it to but I just decided to post it anyway, no sense in going over it again and again.

Disclaimer: all characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Lara Adrian

Chapter 3: The Breakdown

“This is insanity, you do realize that right?” Dante badgers his partner for what has to be the tenth time since their return from downtown Boston. Squeezing into the elevator that leads to the sublevels of Order headquarters, Dante casts a dubious glance at the unconscious animal taking up the majority of the enclosed space. “Fucking certifiable.” he mutters.

“We couldn’t just leave her there, now could we?” Chase growls, annoyed that Dante was pestering him on the decision to bring the wounded Saber-tooth Tiger back to the Order. The soft ding signaling the lift reaching the correct floor cuts off further conversation and Chase gives Dante an expected look.

Sighing deeply the dark haired Warrior grasps the massive creatures hind legs and helps his partner maneuver their way towards the infirmary. Walking backwards through the swinging doors, Dante pauses searching for a bed strong enough to withstand the animals bulk weight.

“Over here,” Chase grunts, nodding his chin at the metal gurney in the center of the room. With one last burst of energy the two hoist the Tiger onto the table, careful not to cause further injury.

“Tess’ healing powers are still on the fritz because of the pregnancy but she used to be a vet, maybe she can patch up the thing’s…”

“Her,” Chase snaps, “stop calling her a Thing or an It! She’s a female, a human.”“So you said in the car but I gotta tell ya Harvard all I see is a dinosaur that should have been extinct like a million years ago.”

Ignoring the other Warrior’s griping, Chase leans over the still unconscious form gently peeling back the makeshift bandages of his torn black thermal shirt over the bullet wounds. Her crimson blood oozes through the entry wounds and the scent of Hydrangeas and cinnamon permeates his flaring nostrils, making his pulse race, his fangs ache with the need to break free from the surface of his gums and his pants tighten in a surge of arousal.

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It’s been at least two hours since Tess removed the bullets from her front leg and slightly healed the wound but the tranqs Chase shot her with combined with the anesthesia required for the operation still has her unconscious. Chase runs a tired hand over his face, glancing at the large clock on the wall he notes that sunrise is still many hours away, it’s only been one day since he’s last fed but the distinctive aroma of her blood is driving him wild and he fights back the urge to sample her while she’s so heavily sedated.

The slight swish of the beast’s tail has him alert within seconds and standing at her side. His fingers gently brush over the soft brown fur covered head, staring in fascination as the whiskers and sharp canines begin to recede and the powerful limbs of the long extinct animal morphs back into a young human female. His breath catches in his throat when the transformation is complete, moving a long tendril of curly hair off of her face Chase is mesmerized by her simple beauty. Her high cheekbones, pert nose and succulent lips are so entrancing that he doesn’t notice her somewhat dazed hazel eyes staring at him in confusion.

Though her wounds have been stitched up, the scent of hydrangeas clings to her blood soaked clothing, causing his fangs to emerge unwillingly from his gums. She gasps, drawing his eyes to hers and before he can explain, she flicks her tiny uninjured hand in his direction.

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“Seriously Tess,” Dante protests, “you’ve been on your feet all day. You need to rest.”

“I’m fine my love, I just want to check in on my patient before I turn in…”

A blinding red light suddenly illuminating the dim hall, followed by Chase barreling through the infirmary doors and crashing into the adjacent wall causing, Tess, Dante and Elise to stop dead in their tracks.

“What the Frak?!” Dante exclaims, shielding his pregnant mate and Elise with his body, “Harvard, hey man you alright?”

Chase unsteadily climbs to his feet, he shakes his head and brushes the crumbling drywall from his shoulders.

“Fine.” he replies tersely, eyeing the swinging doors and wondering how to get back inside without spooking the female. “I’m coming in,” he announces loudly, “unarmed.”

Moving gingerly towards the doors Chase lifts a hand signaling Dante to hold his position until he can calm the irascible girl. Slowly pushing one door open, he holds his empty hands out in front of his chest in a sign of surrender. The room is darker than when he was unceremoniously tossed out moments ago but his Vampire heritage allows for perfect night vision. The female is crouched behind a turned over gurney, with a blade in one hand and a long stick in the other, poised for attack.

“This is a safe haven, we mean you no harm.” his earnest plea is met with a soft snort of disbelief.

“I would be more inclined to agree if your lot had not riddled me with bullets.”

“What is going on here?” the head of the Order, Lucan Thorn’s booming voice echoes off the sterile walls. He flips the light switch on, his eyes studying the unfamiliar female with the weapons closely. “And why does the hallway look as though a tracker trailer tried to ram through it?”

“You’ll have to pardon the mess but I tend to get a mite trigger happy when I’ve been attacked and taken hostage.” her words are slightly slurred but he can still make out the derision in her tone.

“Hostage?” Lucan questions Chase as Dante, Tess and Elise slip into the room.

“Are you in league with the muggle who was tracking me?” Hermione asks, standing tall to face her would be attackers.

“The Fraggle, wha?” Dante bewilderingly furrows his brow

“You are Vampires are you not?” shaking her head to try and clear the drug induced fog settled in her head, “I was accosted by five of your brethren earlier.”

“Yes we are Vampire, “ Chase speaks up, finally able to find his voice, “but we are not affiliated with the five who attacked you. We are Breed Vampires, are ancestors were alien life-forms that crash landed on this planet many, many years ago. The Breed forebears have bred with a select group of human females to produce a hybrid mix of Homo sapiens and other-worlders. Those vermin you had the misfortune to run into tonight are what we call Rogues, Breed Vampires that have succumb to their blood-lust and descend into madness.” Chase tried to keep the explanation short and simple, judging from the girl’s still wobbling stance, she was feeling the effects of the pain medication. “We have banded together to rid this world of the Rogues.”

Hermione looks incredulously between the serious faces of the men and women in the room, feeling as though Luna Lovegood was conducting another one of her social experiments for some outlandish article to be printed in The Quibbler. “Honestly, what exactly was in those tranquillizers you shot me with?”

“You shot a civilian?” Lucan fumes, wondering how much damage control they would have to do to make this situation go away.

“In my defense, she didn’t look like this when I shot her.” Dante admits, waving his hand in the female’s direction.

“It’s true, when Dante and Sterling first brought her in she was a very large Tiger.” Elise states

“Smilodon.” Hermione absently corrects the woman.

“I beg your pardon?”

“My animagus form is a Smilodon. Despite the colloquial name of 'saber-toothed tiger', Smilodon is not closely related to a tiger, which belongs to another subfamily, the Patherinae; Smilodon is a member of the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae. There are several species but today only three are recognized; Gracilis, Fatalis and Populator. I, myself am classified as a Fatalis.” the slip into lecture mode was natural and it gave Hermione a chance to gather her wits and form a plan of escape.

“So you’re a shape-shifter then as well as a telepath?” the pregnant woman, who Hermione vaguely recalls seeing earlier in a restaurant, steps forward. “Elise was under the impression that you read her mind this afternoon when we bumped into you at the café.”

“Those are a few of my talents, yes.” Hermione answers

“A few,” Lucan asks with a frown, he really dislikes the sound of that admission. “how many others do you possess?”

“With my extended education and specialized training I suppose my magical levels surpass those of an average Witch.” It’s not really considered bragging if it’s true, Hermione surmises, after all she did graduate top of her class at the most illustrious Magical Academy in the world.

“A witch?” Elise’s voice drips with condescension, “As in Hocus Pocus, Abracadabra?”

“Is that any less believable than Aliens from outer space mating with Earthlings to procreate a subspecies?” Hermione snaps at the snobby blond woman, who in turn has the decency to look abashed.

“You said that you were being tracked?” Chase interrupts the rather amusing squabble between the pretty tempestuous brunette and the blond woman he once thought himself in love with. “By a…muggle?”

“Yes, it’s what we, that is to say Wizards, refer to non-magical people. He was 6'2", reddish/brown hair, hawk-like nose, he works at the hotel I am staying at. I was just getting out of the pool when I noticed him lurking about in the shadows and once again in the library right before I was ambushed, he inadvertently activated my personal safety alarms.”

“Do you have any idea as to why he was following you?”

“Other than his possible perversions? No.” running a hand through her thick mass of curls, Hermione fights off the lingering effects of the sedatives.

“What were you doing in that alley Harvard found you in?” Dante questions, his face paling at the though of what may have happened to the girl if his partner hadn’t of arrived in time.

“As I said, they triggered my protective alerts and rather than risk breaking international safety and secrecy laws, I had to find a secluded spot to fight. So I lead them away from the hotel and…” Her eyes widen in horror and she frantically searches the room. “What time is it?”

“Around 2:30 a.m.” Tess says, staring at the girl as she closes her eyes and curses under her breath.

“Bollocks, they’re going to kill me.” Hermione groans in frustration, “I must be going now, I’d say thank you for patching up my injuries but considering you, sir shot me without provocation,” stiffly stretching her injured left shoulder, Hermione winces in pain and glares at the dark haired Vamp, who half shrugs in way of an apology, “I’ll simply take my leave and we can just forget this altercation ever occurred.”

Sheathing the double-edge blade back into it’s leg strap beneath her skirt, Hermione’s attempt to exit are blocked by the broad chest crew-cut blond Vampire.

“Wait,” Chase says, stepping into her path, “you can’t go.” He can almost feel Dante smirking behind his back at his obvious attraction to the female, “For one, it’s late and not safe to be wandering around by yourself. Two, you don’t know where we are so how will you find your way back to your hotel and as you stated, you’re injured and should be resting.” And if you leave, this gnawing feeling in my chest will likely drive me mad, Chase admits only to himself.

Hermione stares deeply into his mysterious crystal blue eyes, swallowing nervously at the intense desire radiating from this strange man. Oh but he’s not a man, her overactive brain ridicules her silly hormones, he’s a Vampire and this isn’t an Ann Rice novel so quit adulating the dangerously gorgeous creature and go check on your parents.

“Thank you for the concern Mr.?” Hermione curses the blush that quickly sweeps over her cheeks

“Chase, Sterling Chase.” He offers a small bow and raises an eyebrow in silent question

“Hermione Granger but it’s been nearly eight hours and my parents are surely going out of their minds with worry,” or pissed and assuming that their daughter blew them off to rush back to work, “ and I should really let them know that I am alright.”

Chase visibly deflates, slinking back a step to let the intriguing female walk out the door, he racks his mind to come up with a plausible excuse to keep her in his company for a bit longer.

“You could call them,” Lucan’s deep voice breaks the alluring spell cast around Chase and herself, “let them know you’re fine and will return soon enough. That will give us more time to figure out why you were attacked by a group of Rogues.”

Hermione wants to decline, find the nearest exit and leave all of these unfamiliar emotions swirling around in her chest behind but the captivating misty blue eyes of the Vampire named Chase is urging her to be bold and take a step out of her comfort zone, something she hasn’t seriously considered since her days at Hogwarts.

The Stroke of Midnight

2009-06-24T17:38:13Z

Title: The Stroke of Midnight
Fandom: Harry Potter/Midnight Breed Crossover
Rating: M
Pairing: Hermione/Sterling Chase
Warning: Vampires, Bloodplay (not too graphic)
summary: While on holiday with her parents, Hermione stumbles upon an ancient society that will change her life forever.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling and Lara Adrian

The Stroke of Midnight

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Lara Adrian and their respective publishing.

Chapter 2: Holiday From Real

“What did you hear?” Tess asks fifteen minutes later as Dylan navigates the large black Yukon Denali effortlessly through mid afternoon traffic back to their Order headquarters. She adjusts the seatbelt over her protruding belly so she can crane her neck to speak with Elise, in the backseat.

“Pardon?” Elise asks, her mind has been a little fuzzy since her run in with that strange girl at the restaurant. She’s encountered numerous Telepaths and Empaths during her many years of living but never has she experienced one so strong and focused, which leads her to the conclusion that the seemingly innocent human girl may not be so human after all.

“In the café, that girl sitting at the table next to us, brown curly hair?” Tess clarifies, garnering the attention of Dylan, Gabrielle and Savannah. “You were staring at her so intently that I assumed you were reading her thoughts.”

“In a fashion.” Elise vaguely replies, “When she was seated, almost immediately I felt this wave of…I’m not truly sure how to describe it but it seems as though she must have picked up on something from me as well because when I tried to read her mind to see if she meant us harm, there was…nothing.”

“So she wasn’t a threat, there was nothing wrong?” Dylan asks, glancing in the rearview mirror momentarily.

“No, I mean nothing as in I could hear nothing.” Elise repeats, still confused on why she couldn’t get a read on the girl.

“Nothing, is that even possible?” Gabrielle asks, equally perturbed.

“I’ve felt through other telepaths minds before but this was something completely different…it was as if she had somehow cloaked her thoughts. There was not even a whisper, the amount of control it takes to maintain that sort of barricade is unfathomable. But that’s not the worst part…before she forcefully pushed me out, she managed to latch on to one of my passing thoughts.”

“Were you able to tell what she saw?” Once the car clears the city limits, Dylan subtly increases speed to make it back to the mansion before sundown.

“My Breedmate mark…I believe she recognized it.”

***************************************************************

“Are you sure you won’t join us poppet? I hate leaving you by yourself while your father and I are at the convention.” Helena Granger asks, standing in the adjoining doorway of their hotel suite watching Hermione retie the strings of her bikini top behind her neck .

“I’ll be fine mum. Really I’m going to the pool for a quick dip and at four there’s a book reading at the library next door, no worries I have plenty of things to occupy my time until you and dad return.” Before her mother could protest further, Hermione jumps up from the bed, slips into her favorite pair of Coach wedge sandals and pecks her mums cheek on her way out the door.

“Alright,” Helena relents to her daughter’s retreating back, “we’ll meet you for supper at 7.”

Breaking the surface of the water Hermione takes a much needed deep breath. Running a hand over her face her eyes sting a little from the heavily chlorine dosed pool water. The indoor heated pool was especially quiet at this time of day, the only other people around were two kids playing in the shallow end under their watchful mothers eye and a twitchy looking pool attendant who kept sending her odd looks from the moment she removed her sarong. Maybe wearing that bikini Fleur Weasley talked her into purchasing last month wasn’t such a brilliant idea after all, ’It will drive ze men wild’ the Frenchwoman proclaimed.

At twenty years old Hermione has finally become comfortable in her own body, which has filled out quite nicely she has to admit. She’s learned to tame her unruly curls so they now fall down her back in a more civilized manner, her breast though not as large as she would like were perky and suits her small frame, but her eyes are her favorite feature, once thought of as simply brown when everyone else has such beautiful greens and blues, shine a vibrant hazel tinged with gold.

Hermione sighs, thinking about the end of her holiday and subsequent return back to Britain. The last three days in Boston has been wonderful, catching up with her parents in between the lectures her father was giving at the Dental Association Conference, and taking a much needed break from her very time consuming work as an analyst for the Wizarding Intelligence Agency. This trip with her parents she barely gets a chance to visit, could not have come at a better time. To say that things have been rather tense between the majority of the Weasley’s and herself would be a gross understatement, as it is Fleur and George are the only two out of the very large red headed clan with whom Hermione is still on good terms. After exactly three weeks of being Ron’s girlfriend Hermione came to the irrefutable conclusion that being with him in a long term relationship like the marriage he and Molly were so desperately pushing for, would likely end in catastrophe. So once she aced her N.E.W.T.’s, Hermione set off for a very concentrated program at the prestigious Rambaldi Academy for Advanced Wizarding Studies in Greece.

Climbing out of the pool, Hermione meanders over to her big fluffy towel, draped across the lounge chair. As she dries her face and rings the excess water from her thick hair she gets that eerie feeling that she’s being watched. A subtle glance to the side and she spots the jittery pool attendant standing in the shadows, his glazed over eyes roaming her half naked body with the most unpleasant expression on his gaunt face. Hermione quickly covers herself, gathers her shoes and keycard and makes her way back towards her room with the intention of reporting the creepy hotel worker to management.

***************************************************************

Parking the SUV in the large garage, the women pile in the elevator that will lead them to the underground fortress of the Order’s Headquarters. In the interest of full disclosure, they had decided during the car ride back to their heavily secured mansion to share with their mates the very peculiar encounter Elise had at lunch.

Stepping off of the elevator, Elise leads the way to the command room and stops short when she notices that every one of the Order’s males were gathered around the room. Tegan was the first to look up, his keen Breed Vampire senses detecting his mate, noting Elise’s distress he walks towards her, a question in his eyes as he helps her to a chair. The other Breedmates file into the room to be greeted with the same gentle and loving care by their own Vampire mates.

“We were just about to call you.” Lucan Thorne, head of the Order states to his mate Gabrielle, “Are you alright?”

“We’re fine,” the redhead answers slightly confused, she knew that Lucan had originally objected to the women going out alone this afternoon but his relieved look upon their return seems a bit uncalled for. “Why, what’s happened?”

“Around 4 a.m. a Darkhaven just outside of Agawam was infiltrated by a group of Rogues.” Lucan explains, causing the women to gasp at the thought of one of the civilian Breed’s well secured safe havens coming under attack.

“How bad was it?” Savannah asks, the tall caramel skinned beauty steps closer to her mate Gideon seeking comfort only their blood bond could give her.

“They were like lambs to a slaughter,” Chase’s deep voice echoes throughout the room, “when I was a member of the Law Enforcement Squad I warned them repeated about how lax certain sectors were in security.” running a hand over his close cropped blond head, the tall broad-chest Vampire takes a harsh breath to calm himself.

“Gideon was able to pull up the preliminary report from the Darkhavens main computer server,” Lucan once again takes the lead, “over 100 Breed dead, several of them barely made it out of their living quarters before they were taken down. And there are at least 40 females reported missing, along with computer files from the main database on all of Massachusetts Darkhaven locations and residents.”

“So what does that mean?” Dylan asks, turning to her mate Rio, “You know, besides Holy Shit.”

“It means that that Bastard, Dragos is getting bolder,” Rio growls, the scars on his face from the explosion last year more prominent as he scowls in remembrance of being so close to taking out that scum Dragos a few weeks ago. But at the time it was either risk Dylan’s life or follow after Dragos into the raging water and he chose to stay to protect his mate, something no other mated Breed Vampire would fault him for.

“Sunset is in 24 minutes, Tegan, Rio and I will head down to Agawam and see if we can gather anymore info on what Dragos’ next move might be.” Lucan orders, “Dante, you and Chase patrol Boston, do a sweep around the area Darkhavens,” the blond nods his head and waits patiently as the dark haired Dante quietly says goodbye to his pregnant mate, “Kade head north and do the same, everyone keep your lines open and the first sign of anything suspect, call Gideon here at the command center.” when everyone had their orders the group begins to disperse until Elise remembers their reason for cutting lunch short.

“Wait, there was something…strange that happened earlier while we were having lunch.” In light of the brutal attack on the civilians at the Darkhaven Elise isn’t sure how relevant her encounter at the café might be but in dark times such as this it’s best to leave no stone unturned so she tells the Order everything she can remember.

“And you’re sure she wasn’t a Minion?” Gideon asks, taking down the girl’s description thinking that she may be in the Darkhaven’s Identification Database.

“Yes,” Tess answers, “I saw her right before in the same boutique, she was shopping with her mother. She didn’t pay us any mind until we all met up at the café and that’s when she…” trailing off Tess looks to Elise for a more thorough explanation of what occurred.

“She forcefully removed me from her mind and at the same time, I believe she read my thoughts.” Elise admits, feeling somewhat ashamed that even with Tegan’s strong GenOne blood nourishing her body she was unable to defend her mind against the assault.

“If she’s not a Minion, then she must be another Breedmate, I mean how else would she know what your birthmark symbolizes?” Gideon reasons, “I’ll check the databases, at the very least we should warn her that it’s not such a good idea to be off by herself in this climate.”

“She has a British accent, if that’ll help narrow your search.” Tess recalls, the conversation she overheard in the dressing room between mother and daughter replaying in her mind and once again she finds herself wondering what the young girl could have done to place the very visible emotional wedge between them.

**************************************************************

Taking the steps at a quick pace Hermione is nearly out of breath when she approaches the correct aisle in the huge library, one last glance around she slips in between the tall bookshelves and enters through the invisible barrier that separates the Muggle world from the magical section of the library.

She finds a seat in the back just in time to see Miranda Goshawk take the podium to begin discussing her new book on spell work and her latest discoveries. Hermione has been looking forward to this book reading all day, Miranda being a huge influence on her work and something of an heroine to the young brunette. Hermione had even based her thesis project on Miranda’s first book and it was Hermione’s spell of combining certain Muggle technologies with wizarding methods that landed her the coveted position as Deputy Chief of her research department within the Wizarding Intelligence Agency.

So entranced by the elder woman’s intellect, that Hermione didn’t realize the time to meet her parents for dinner had come and gone. After having her book signed and a few burning question answered, she heads back for the secret entrance, slipping back through undetected. Or at least she thought she was, until she spotted the same creepy looking pool attendant lurking in the shadows of the tall bookcases. This section of the library was nearly deserted likely because of the obscure texts it held and with the building closing in a few minutes, Hermione had no other option but to assume she had been followed.

Pondering whether or not she should make a break for the hotel entrance less than 200 feet away and run the risk of exposing her parents to whatever this man’s evil plan may be, or to blend in with the crowd and pray that he won’t attempt anything in the middle of the plaza filled with Muggles, Hermione barely hears the soft humming noise emitting from her purse. Covertly checking the man’s position 70 feet off to her right, she ducks her head and rummages through her purse, pulling out her specially designed Foe-glass, she gasps in surprise when the picture of five large men closing in on her from different angles, appears in the foggy glass.

With little time to think, skills born from months of being on the run from dark wizards and the specialized training each officer of the W.I.A. are taught, Hermione decides to take this fight away from pedestrian traffic, to find a secluded spot where she can use magic. One good thing about being an agent is that the government does not track her magical emissions, so use in a Muggle populated area won’t be a problem just as long as no one sees her casting spells.

Ducking into an alleyway, Hermione tugs lightly on her necklace and the tiny silver pendant transforms into her newly acquired 11 inch camwood wand with a Heliopath’s heartstring. Wand in hand, she unsheathes a skean from the leg strap hidden beneath her skirt, gripping the double-edged blade in her steady hand, she lays in wait for the first man to make his move.

Taken slightly aback when the attack comes from overhead instead of at the mouth of the darken alley, Hermione shoots off a stunner, sending the large man flailing through the air and crashing into a brick wall with a sickening crunch. The next man moved so fast that he was simply a blur and it took casting several spells in quick succession before she was able to make a direct hit and the muscular body dropped. Using the blinding blue lights to her advantage, Hermione hides in the shadows as three more men appear, surrounding her from each side. As another steps forward she gets a good look at her assailants, not only were they all very well built but their eyes were glowing fiercely in the waning light of her spells and large sharp teeth were protruding from their open mouths. Vampires.

“Spectacular.” she says dryly

“Alright you little bitch,” the dirty dark haired one on her left growls, “enough games. Come along quietly and I promise we won’t hurt you.”

“You know, I have got to ask,” Hermione scoffs, trying to buy more time, “does that line actually work? I wouldn’t imagine anyone being stupid enough to believe that you’re not dead set against tearing me limb from limb for what I’ve done to your mates over there.”

“We don’t have time for this monologue bullshit,” the Vamp on her right hisses, bouncing on the ball of his feet ready to attack, “knock her on her ass and let’s move, the Master is waiting.”

Lunging forward he raises his gigantic fist, knocking Hermione across the alley like a ragdoll before she could even defend herself. Pain radiates through her body and she scrambles to regain her footing but the three have began to close in around their fallen prey. Securing her wand back into it’s resting place around her neck, Hermione wipes the blood dripping into her eyes from the cut above her brow and positions herself on her hands and knees.

“Oh look fella’s she’s gonna make it easy for us.” distracted by their raucous laughter the three Rogue Vampire don’t realize the imminent danger until it’s too late. Where small slender fingers once were now grew razor sharp claws, her curly brown hair curtaining her bowed head shortened into a thick mass of fur and the tiny body of a young woman transformed into a enormous Saber-tooth Tiger.

Sterling Chase sat atop the building in stunned silence. He has been tracking several Rogues through a heavily populated area of the city for about a mile and when he finally located the blood thirsty beast, found them poised to attack a young girl. Radioing in to his partner, Dante that he’s found some action, Chase prepares to step off the ledge of the five story building but holts when the girl’s body begins to shift and morphs into something terrifyingly astounding.

To their credit, the remaining Rogues are only taken aback momentarily before the hapless leader charges the animal only to be skewered on it’s long, curving canines. Howling in pain, the Rogues screech jolts Chase back into fight mode and he effortlessly descends the long drop, coming up behind one Rogue with his titanium sword to quickly sever it’s head. The last standing Rogue doesn’t know where to focus his attention, looking back and forth between the formidable beast and one of the Order’s Warrior’s he tries to make a run for it but is shot down by Dante, who arrives at the dark alleys entryway.

Dante smirks, stepping over the fallen Rogue who’s quickly dissolving into a gelatinous goop on the concrete but his cocky grin soon turns into gaping shock when he spots the beast semi hidden in the shadows. In a move so fast Chase doesn’t have time to react, Dante lifts his 9mm and fires off half a clip. One titanium bullet skims the beast’s shoulder and two more takes out her front left leg, the beast roars in agony, collapsing to the ground and valiantly tries to get back up.

“No!” Chase screams, planting himself firmly in between the wounded creature and his overzealous partner.

“Are you fucking nuts?” Dante yells, his bright amber iris wide as he reloads his automatic. “Move outta the way!”

“No, don't shoot we have to help her.”

“Her?”

“Yes,” glancing over his shoulder his icy blue eyes connect with the beasts alluring hazel gaze. “it’s a long story.”

Dante hesitates for a second then lowers his weapon. Noting his partner easing back, Chase unsheathes his tranquilizer gun and fires two shots into the beast’s fur covered chest.

Sprucing Up the Joint

2009-06-24T14:38:45Z

I was wondering if anyone would be so kind as to help me make a few banners for a couple of my fics. Be forewarned, three of the stories are femslash and the other is for my Harry Potter and Midnight series crossover, my Hermione/Chase fic, so if that bothers you or if you only want to do the het banner let me know. I'm basically looking to put faces to my stories, nothing too graphic and I have a bunch of pics saved. If anyone is interested in helping me out drop me a line, thanks in advance.

mdiggory <(~;~)>

Wish List

2009-06-05T12:16:16Z

My birthday is 11 days away and all I really wanted was a Nintendo Wii & the Wii Fit but last night as I was compiling my Amazon.com wish list, I clicked on over to the Bluefly website and fell in lust with a pair of Miu Miu black leather raspberry contrast platform boots that costs more than my half of the mortgage payment. (Sigh)

So now my focus for the next month and a half will be cutting costs so that I may purchase said boots that I probably will only wear about four times a year. Just thought I'd share what a frivolous idiot I am, feel free to admonish me, LOL.

Wanted: Beta Reader

2009-05-26T01:43:33Z

I am currently in search of a beta reader for a Harry Potter crossover fic with Hermione as the main character. The first chapter is posted on Granger Enchanted and at ff.net.

Now, it's a supernatural crossover fic with Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series about vampire's so there may be a little blood play, not excessive but it's just a warning.

Anyone interested drop me a line?

The title is: The Stroke of Midnight.

New Harry Potter Crossover fic

2009-05-22T02:03:32Z

Title: The Stroke of Midnight
Fandom: Harry Potter/Midnight Breed Series
Rating: R
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Sterling Chase
Summary: While on holiday with her parents, Hermione stumbles upon an ancient society that will change her life forever.
Disclaimer: HP characters are the property of JK Rowling and Schoolastic, Midnight Breed characters are the property of Lara Adrian and Bantam Dell Publishing

The Stroke of Midnight

a/n: So the idea for this new story popped into my head while I was rereading scifichick’s Harry Potter/Lara Adrian’s Midnight crossover fic. Adrian is coming out with another book next week but I’m kinda pissed that Chase, one of my favorite characters may not be in it. Since reading scifichick’s series I’ve been totally hooked on a Hermione/Chase pairing and decided to follow the plot bunny down the hole. I’m not sure how far I’ll go with this story, cause the idea just vaguely came to me but at the very least I’m thinking maybe five chapters. Let me know if it’s worth continuing.

Disclaimer: HP and characters are the property of JK Rowling and the WB and the Breed characters are the property of Lara Adrian and Bantam Dell publishing

Chapter 1: So it begins

It was a very rare occasion these days that the breedmates were permitted to venture out in the world by themselves. Since the Rouges have declared all out war on the civilized population of the Breed, everyone has been on high alert, cautious of the ever present danger. But today the women of the order banded together and convinced their mates that a daytrip to Boston would be safe as long as they were together and promised to stay vigilant.

Tessa searched through the slim pickings of maternity wear in the chic boutique, sighing in frustration that no matter what she wore, she still looked like a seven month pregnant woman. Giving up on the search she heads back towards the dressing room where Gabrielle and Dylan were trying on dresses. She smiles politely to a rather tall and regal looking, dark haired woman who was waiting just outside the dressing room doors. The woman smiles back but her expression soon contorts into exasperation as the door to their left swings open and a pretty young brunette with wild curls pokes her head through the door.

“Explain to me again the reasoning behind purchasing this?” the girls asks in a clip British accent, motioning with her hands to a revealing red halter dress that hugs her firm curves perfectly. The girl arches an incredulous eyebrow to the woman.

The older woman beams at the girl, gesturing for her to step further out of the dressing room so that she may get a better look. The girl sighs but does as she is told, twirling around once so that the woman can check out the fit from every angle.

“The reasoning my dear is that you look absolutely smashing.”

“It’s a bit snug.” the girl complains, fiddling with the hem

“Nonsense,” the woman slaps her hand away, “it’s the exact fit to accentuate your assets.”

“Yes, I’m sure father will be pleased with your assessment.” the girl answers sardonically

“Tosh, what your father doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” the woman dismisses with a wave of her hand. The girl takes a peek at the price tag and scoffs.

“I beg to differ, once he sees my charge account he’s libel to keel right over.”

“Your father would happily buy you the moon if it meant we would get to have you to ourselves for a few days.” the woman tries to keep her tone even and appear unaffected but Tessa can see the way her eyes avoids her daughter’s gaze as she stiffly goes about adjusting the fabric of the dress. The girl grips her mother’s hand, forces her to make eye contact.

“I truly am sorry for not being around lately,” she says, her voice full of remorse and though Tessa senses this is a private conversation she cannot turn away from the raw emotion in the girls hazel eyes. “It would be easy to blame my absence on work, but the truth is ever since…”

“I thought we agreed to put that all behind us and to start anew?”

“But that’s just it mum, we’re not dealing with it. While I still maintain that I did what I did because I love the both of you and the thought of your lives being in danger because of me was too much to bear on top of everything else that was going on at the time, I know what I did was wrong. I should have spoken to you and dad first, explained things more clearly before taking such drastic measures…”

“Hermione, now is not the proper time to discuss…”

“But there’s never a proper time,” the girl checks herself as her voice rises in anger, “you say that you want to start over, no more lies of omission or half truths but you refuse to hear my reasoning for what I’ve done. How can you truly forgive me if you don’t know the whole story?”

“I know that you are my daughter and that I love you dearly, I raised you to stand up for what you believe in and to protect the ones you love, for that I am ever so proud of you. But you need to remember that just because your father and I do not posses the same…talents as you, that we are not incapable of defending ourselves. While we have a basic understanding of the reason behind what you did, it’s the execution that leaves something to be desired. That is going to take some time to get over.”

The girl nods her head, seemingly accepting that whatever her transgression was, that it would be a while before she was fully forgiven. Just as the serious conversation started the older woman shakes off her melancholy expression and turns them back to the decision of buying the overpriced dress.

Tessa is startled out of her contemplation of what the girl could have done to upset her parents so, when Dylan exit’s the dressing room with an arm load of clothing shortly followed by Gabrielle.

“All set.” she announces, looking to the red head for confirmation

“Yeah, me too let’s pay so we can meet the others for lunch.” the two head for the register and Tessa takes one last glance back at the young girl and her mother before following her friends.

***********************************************************

It’s a perfect spring day, so the five women decide to have their lunch on the patio of the elegant bistro in downtown Boston. Skimming her menu for the perfect meal, Tessa spies movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning to her left she spots the two women from the boutique being seated at the table next to theirs. The older woman appears to be in a jovial mood but Tessa can read the underlining tension in her shoulders and it seems that Elise, being an telepath, has also picked up on her distress.

Gripping the edge of the table, Elise takes a deep breath as she attempts to get her empath abilities under control. Tessa leans forward to clasp one of her hands.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, it’s just been a while since I’ve been around so many people.” she says quietly in a way of explanation. Tessa nods her head in sympathy, she tries to catch Elise’s eyes to discern if being out in the middle of the day surrounded by so many people, is too much for the telepath to bear but Elise is staring off to her right completely focused on something. Curious to see what has her friend so entranced, Tessa glances over to find the young brunette from the boutique locked in an intense standoff with Elise.

Her penetrating hazel eyes almost appear as though they are challenging Elise to try to peak into her mind, but that’s crazy, Tessa dismisses, there’s no way she could know that Elise can read minds. Yet there is a knowledgeable gleam that tells Tessa that that is exactly what she is doing. Elise suddenly jerks back in her seat as though she were physically pushed, breaking the visual contact. The normally well composed blond, looks a bit discombobulated and quickly excuses herself to the restroom.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Tessa politely offers, causing the three other women at their table to take notice of Elise’s distress.

“No, thank you,” she declines, “I’ll simply freshen up and return shortly.” with one last fleeting glance to the young brunette, Elise walks off in search of the ladies room. Tessa stares after her long after she disappears behind the door, worrying her bottom lip. They had promised their mates that they would not let each other out of their sight, it was the most important condition placed upon their little outing and Tessa had just violated the agreement. Normally a trip to the ladies room wouldn’t be cause for alarm but in the midst of war anything was a possible threat, which brings her back to the reason for Elise’s sudden departure.

Tessa turns to find the girl staring at her with the same unreadable look she’d given her lunch companion. For a split second, Tessa considers that the girl may be a minion, but her eyes were too expressive, calculating instead of the empty void that appears when a Breed Vampire drains a human of their soul, forcing the human into servitude. Tessa nudges Dylan slightly, signaling that they should get the check and leave as soon as possible, this girl may not be a minion sent to spy on their group but there was definitely something off about her.

madame_diggory @ 2009-05-21T13:24:00

2009-05-21T17:28:30Z

Does anyone know what's up with the ABC show Better Off Ted? I watched a few episodes and it was kind of, eh! But I love Portia like nobodies business and she so deserves to bring her dry witt to a quality comedy, at least until the Arrested Development movie comes out.

Two Shows I'm Obsessing Over

2009-04-03T01:55:25Z

Thanks to the genius of Hulu and the makers of DVR's I've managed to catch up on my two new favorite obsessions: Dollhouse and Castle.

It's taken me a mini marathon to really get into Dollhouse because on the surface the storyline is a little out there much like all of Joss Wheadon's shows but once I sat down and watched one episode after the other I am totally hooked on the mystery. Eliza is awesome as usually and Joss even threw Fred from Angel in, oh and the episode when Adelle says 'I'm British we don't pronounce R's' I laughed for like five minutes!

Castle, I loved right off the bat, Nathan is hilarious in whatever he does and this show is no exception. I'm telling you if you haven't watched these shows yet get into it, you won't be disappointed.

madame_diggory @ 2009-02-26T21:42:00

2009-02-27T02:54:38Z

Title: Keep Breathing Series
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Rachel
Rating: T, femslash
Summary: AU, season six. Brooke tries in vain to deal with the attack on her own.
Disclaimer: I don't own it

Disclaimer: characters are the property of creator Mark Schwahn and co.

Voices Carry

I try so hard not to get upset

Because I know all the trouble I’ll get

Oh, He tells me tears are something to hide

And something to fear

And I try so hard to keep it inside

So no one can hear

Hush hush, keep it down now

Voices Carry

‘It’s remarkable what you can accomplish in one week’, Brooke thought as she entered the freshly painted offices of Davis Enterprises, Tree Hill location. Within seven days Brooke, Millicent and Rachel have managed to transform the rather drab top floor of the warehouse turned office building into a elegant yet comfortable working environment. Skirting past the painters who have just finished etching her name and title on her office door , she barely sets down her caramel macchiato before Millicent rushes in with the daily agenda.

“Hey Millie, please tell me that today isn’t going to be as crazed as yesterday?”

“Well, I suppose that would depend on your definition of crazed?” Millie answers with a bit of trepidation.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being slightly hurried and 10 being Jennifer Aniston not getting over Brad Pitt?”

“About a 7 meaning hide the pointy objects from Brittany, K Fed is coming over to pick up the kids.”

“ 7 I can do, okay so what’s up first?”

“Conference call with the Beauty Editor at Vogue 9:30, the photographer from Jane magazine will be in the studio downstairs for the photo shoot at 11, the art department faxed over the new label graphics you need to approve and we need to send back by 1 to begin distribution, final fitting for the Bridal Affair Expo at 2:30 then that just leaves the interview with Petra Guglielmetti from Glamour Magazine over drinks at Tric by 5. It’s really not as bad as last Thursday, we could probably even downgrade to a 6 meaning just wanting to mash a staple into your eye.”

“Last Thursday would have been a train wreck if you didn’t catch that glitch with the refrigerated shipment trucks, I hope my new assistant is even a fraction as amazing as you are Mills.”

“Lisa’s recommendations were stellar and I’m really grateful for the promotion but speaking of replacements, I stopped by the store this morning just to make sure they were all set for the day and..”

“And you’re worried that hiring Bevin to manage the store wasn’t the brightest idea Rachel’s come up with, am I right? I’ve known Bevin since we were five and although she may come off as a bit of a space cadet at times she’s actually really smart when she applies herself, I’m not saying I’d let the girl perform open heart surgery on me or anything but she has years of experience in retail and she’s also someone I trust.”

“Then that’s good enough for me but I was actually talking about Sam.”

“I thought Avril was working out fine, please tell me that she’s not up to old tricks?" Brooke groans

“No it’s nothing like that, in fact it’s sorta the opposite she’s been a huge help and she’s quite pleasant when she’s not giving off that Devil’s Reject vibe.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“Well I asked her to fill out the W-2 forms and when I ran her back ground check…”

“Let me guess, she’s wanted in three states?”

“She’s been in foster care since she was four years old, she’s been shuffled around a lot, never really staying in one home for too long. Last night I gave her a ride home and the way she spoke about her foster family all they really care about is the check they get each month for hosting Sam. And it got me to thinking, you were so good with Angie and I thought that maybe..”

“Whoa, Millicent let me stop you right there. Taking care of an infant is completely different than taking care of a teenager, especially a stubborn little pain in the ass like Avril. Besides, in case you haven’t noticed she kind of hates me.”

“Oh please Brooke, no one could ever hate you.”

“I’m sorry, have you met my mother? “ Brooke snorts

“Let me rephrase that, No human could ever hate you. And I get it, a teenager isn’t a cuddly little baby but everyone always go for the younger kids, don’t the older ones deserve a loving home as well.”

“I know Mills, but things are really hectic right now what with the launch of B. Davis Cosmetics and all of the promotional touring I’ll have to do, the adoption agency barely wanted to accept my petition before and I had tons more free time then.”

“I understand Brooke, it was just an idea. It’s 9:10 so I’ll get out of your hair so you can get ready for the phone interview.”

Sitting alone in her office Brooke can’t help but to imagine what her life would have been like if her parents had put her up for adoption. Would she had found a loving home like Peyton or would she have bounced around from one unwelcoming place to another like Avril? She thinks back on the home visit interview with the woman from the adoption agency and the words she’d spoken when she realized they were going to deny her petition. She remembers telling the woman that they were wrong about her, judging her solely on her wild high school antics and the bitter words from a spiteful and vindictive mother. Brooke swore that she would love any child despite their race, sex or age and help them to discover what makes them special. So why is it that given the second chance for a family she’s so quick to turn it down?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

“Hi, my name is Rachel and I am an addict.”

“Hi Rachel.” the room answers in greeting

“I’ve been sober for three months and I’ve been sitting here for the past half hour debating with myself which story I would share about what led me to drugs. While it may be true that my absentee parents, childhood obesity, ridicule from my peers and low self esteem have played a huge role in me trying to numb the pain with alcohol, drugs and sex, lots and lots of sex. The more I sat here and thought about it I realized that like many of the tales we heard tonight, for me it all started with a girl.”

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The day flew by in a blur and as she leans back into the soft cushions of the couch and sips delicately from her martini glass Brooke idly glances around the half empty club searching for a familiar face. This last interview was a reminder that she has been out of the spotlight for too long. Though Petra was her usual corky easy going self Brooke found herself carefully crafting her responses in her head before answering. Normally, she wouldn’t have to worry too much about what to say in an interview, Victoria always had a list of acceptable responses she had to memorize before hand. It was times like these that she misses Victoria’s totalitarian rule over her life. ‘Wow,” Brooke thinks ‘ if I’m sitting here waxing poetic about missing Victoria then I have definitely had too much to drink.’ sitting down her glass on the low end table in front of her she spies Peyton coming out of her back office.

“Hey besty”, the blonde leans over for a quick hug, “where have you been hiding, it feels like forever since I’ve seen you?”

“Yeah sorry about that, with the launch coming up in a few days and moving into our new offices things have just been crazed lately. I swear if it weren’t for Millicent and Rachel I’d be a complete basket case right now.”

“Oh so that’s what looks different about you?” when Brooke shakes her head in confusion Peyton continues, “Rachel, your other appendage isn’t hanging off of you, Hell I almost didn’t recognize you without her crocheted to your side.” Peyton may have thought it funny but Brooke was really beginning to get irritated with every ones constant jabs at her…friend? Girlfriend? Partner? Lover?

“Well it was my understanding that, that is what friends do, stick by your side, looking out for one another. Sorry, that someone caring about my well being annoys you so much, Peyton.” Harsh yeah, but did Peyton really deserve it? Maybe, let’s see how she responds.

“Whoa, that bitch sure can be a Brooke.” Peyton snickers. Yeah she so deserves to get chewed out. “Where did that come from? Are you still pissed because I took your word for how you got those bruises cause if anything I should be the one upset, you lied to me Brooke!”

“What, I was attacked Peyton! I was beaten to within an inch of my life, that Bastard nearly raped me and you have the unmitigated nerve to sit here and get angry because I didn’t feel comfortable telling what happened to me? Unbelievable!” Brooke huffs, trying hard to keep her voice down, she glances around again searching for any prying ears. This was not a conversation she wanted to have with Peyton right now especially in a public place but Peyton seems more than happy to air out all of their dirty laundry.

“I asked you Brooke, point blank how did you get those bruises and you lied, what did you want me to do?”

“I wanted you to care, Peyton! There were handprints and fist marks all over my body! You saw them, that first night when you came back, clear as day how could you just swallow that idiotic explanation? Rachel didn’t, from the second I opened the door she knew, she knew and she didn’t stop pestering me until I told her everything.”

“Well forgive me for not having the wizened observational skills of a crackwhore like Rachel Gattina. You’re the one Brooke who’s so emotionally stunted that she clams up the second someone tries to help. And I had a lot going on in my life at the time as well, Lucas had just..”

“Oh, yes how could I forget. The minute Lucas is back in your orbit everything and everyone else just fades back into the stratosphere.”

“Is that what this is about Brooke? Are you upset that Lucas called me to go to Vegas with him? I know you two were spending a lot of time together when baby Angie was here but I didn’t think that you…”

“You know what Peyt, I can’t even believe you would go there. In case you haven’t noticed not every problem I have has to do with the BroodMaster 2000 and unlike some people I don’t need a man to validate my life.” Peyton sits in stunned silence trying to think up a good come back but she has to concede that Brooke has a point. She didn’t try hard enough to dig for the truth and once again Peyton has let her best friend down when she really needed her, just so that she could play house with Lucas. She’s waited for years for her and Lucas to finally be together but why does it always have to be at the expense of Brooke getting hurt in one way or another?

“I.. I’m sorry Brooke, really I am. You’re my best friend I don’t ever want you to think that you can’t come to me for anything.” Brooke lets the apology soak in, slowly defusing her pent up anger at her best friends thick headiness.

“I’m sorry too Peyt, I should have just told you the truth from the beginning but I was… I don’t know ashamed? Then I was just so angry that everyone bought that lame ass excuse, thank God for Rachel’s nosy slutty ass or I might never have come clean about it all.”

“So Rachel’s been a big help, I’m glad you had someone.” Peyton says, a little sad that she wasn’t the one to help Brooke through this traumatic event.

“Yeah, she’s been my… calm port in a raging storm.” Brooke blushes, remembering just how Rachel has helped soothe her painful nightmares. Peyton notices the sudden serene gaze in the brunettes eyes and starts to wonder if Haley’s theory about the dynamic duo might actually have credence.

He said shut up

He said shut up

Oh God, why can’t you

Keep it down

Voices carry

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Pulling her SUV into park in front of her home, all Brooke can think about is a good meal, hot bath and snuggling with Rachel under the warm covers, and maybe a little more, she grins devilishly.

“Honey, I’m home.” she announces as she walks through the door, but stops short at the sight that greets her. Sitting at the island separating the kitchen from the living room area drinking a glass of soda and suddenly looking unsure of herself is Sam.

“Hey, Brookie how was your day?” Rachel calls from over her shoulder as she stirs the pot of her famous Gattina family recipe marinara sauce. She throws Brooke a look, challenging her to bring up the question of what Sam is doing in their home.

“Eventful, and yours?” Brooke volleys the question back at her opponent. Rachel quickly tires of the subtext and with a sigh, switching the burner on low and turns to face Brooke,

“She had no place to go, you of all people should understand what that’s like Brooke.” Taking a second look at the wounded young girl in front of her the words from her conversation with the adoption agency lady ring in her head, ’Love any child despite their race, sex or age’.

“Okay, Avril here are the house rules; no boys in your bedroom, curfew is 11 p.m. on the weekdays 12 a.m. on the weekends , the cleaning service only comes once a week so you keep your own room tidy, no drinking, no drugs and no unprotected sex. Think you can live with that?”

“Given the choice between sleeping in the cars in auto shop or my own bedroom in the House of Sapphic Stylistas, I think I’ll go with option number two.” Sam smiles.

“Well, if you thought the fumes from auto shop were bad just wait until you get a whiff of Brooke’s cooking.” Rachel smirks as she goes back to the stove but not before placing a kiss on Brooke’s indignant face. “Welcome home whore.”

a/n: I know that I said that I wrote this around one specific idea but I was taking too long to get to it and I got tired so it will be in the next one promise. And before I get yelled at I’m putting the Peyton/Brooke bitchfest to rest so don’t get mad, from here on out they’re going to be friends. Oh, the song and title are from the band Til Tuesday, that’s right I brought it way back, LOL.

The Crazy Jenny Show

2009-02-09T03:10:49Z

Please explain to me how do you go about changing someone's bedroom into your home office without their permission or knowledge? Crazy Jenny rocks!!!!!!!!!

I'm a little bummed that they have her stealing Alice's movie idea but like she said there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore. She could have at least switched it up a little.

Helena is just so awesome.

And I'm not going to even comment on how crappy it was for interpreter boy to bail on Max even though he was acting like a tool. But how funny was Tasha for agreeing with Jenny and saying 'we were all thinking it?'

Keep Breathing Series

2009-01-15T04:14:41Z

Title: Keep Breathing Series
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Rachel
Rating: T
Summary: AU, season six. Brooke tries in vain to deal with the attack on her own.
Disclaimer: I don't own jack!

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Schwann and co.

Little Wonders

Let it go

Let it roll right off your shoulder

Don’t you know

The hardest part is over

Let it in

Let your clarity define you

In the end

We will only just remember how it feels

The weather is surprisingly warm for this time of year so Haley suggests that she and Brooke have lunch out on the quad at Tree Hill High. Setting her cobb salad down on the table farthest away from the students mingling about, Haley rolls her eyes at the commotion Brooke’s presence is causing amongst the male population.

“I don’t know why I thought it’d be any different now that we’ve graduated high school.”

“What do you mean?” Brooke asks, following Haley’s gaze behind her she spots a group of teenage boys, football players by the looks of their letterman jackets, ogling her. Never one to pass up an opportunity to flirt she throws them a wink and a dimpled smile before turning back to her lunch companion.

“So explain to me again exactly why you don’t eat in the teachers lounge, I’d always assumed that place would be like Mecca to a teacher’s pet like you?”

“For the same reason you shouldn’t go backstage at the Ice Capades.”

“What, did you see Big Bird making out with Snuffy?”

“More like Miss Edwards shamelessly throwing herself at Principle Turner.”

“Well that’s a lost cause, according to Rachel, Principle Turner is gay.”

“Speaking of the she-devil, what’s up with you two lately?” if Haley hadn’t known Brooke as well as she did she wouldn’t have recognized the classic Brooke Davis avoidance techniques. Brooke adverts her eyes, flips her hair over her shoulder before haughtily responding “ I don’t know what your talking about.” and taking a bite of her Cesar salad.

“Last night at dinner, all of the little touches and secret smiles, plus this is the first time I’ve seen you two apart since she came back into town. I’m half expecting her to be squatting in the bushes nearby.”

“Rachel and I are…friends and how do you half expect something anyway?”

“Just friends as in Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway or Gail and Oprah?”

“And what, pray tell are you implying tutor wife?”

“She’s asking if there’s substance behind your lesbionic undertones with this Rachel chick.” a voice interrupts them. Turning to see the young brown haired girl she caught shoplifting in her store a few weeks ago. The girl nervously eyes Brooke for a moment then rudely asks Haley, “What’s so important that you wanted me to meet you during my lunch period?”

“Brooke I’d like you to meet Samantha Walker, Samantha this is my good friend Brooke Davis.”

“So what, you dragged me away from eating just to prove how cool you are by introducing me to a pseudo celebrity?”

“No, I asked you to meet us here so that you may have the opportunity to pay restitution to Brooke for boosting the top your wearing before she has you arrested.” turning to Brooke Haley continues, “you said yourself that you needed to hire more help at the store right?”

“Look, I don’t need your charity.” Samantha starts to back away but Haley stands up to stop her.

“Good because I’m not in a very charitable mood.” Brooke dismisses the girl and goes back to eating.

“Brooke!’ Haley admonishes

“Haley!” Brooke mocks in return, she tries to keep up her icy demeanor but soon caves under Haley’s stern teacher expression. “I suppose I could use an extra pair of hands at the store in the afternoons. Between working on the sketches for the spring line and launching this new company I’m already stretched pretty thin. Millie’s got to have someone there with her, preferably someone who won‘t try to pull a Wynona the second my back is turned.” taking another look at the roguishly dressed girl wearing far too much eyeliner Brooke sighs, “So what do you say Avril, 4 p.m. today?”

“A choice between working in an enclosed space with her highness for hours on end or locked away in prison with convicted criminals?” stretching her hands outward and balancing her palms like a scale, Samantha pretends to weigh her options. Brooke can’t help but find amusement in the little snots antics.

“Hey, working in retail may be hell at times but if you’ve ever seen any of those ‘Lifetime Women Behind Bars’ movies I wouldn’t take too long to make a decision, New Fish.”

Haley merely shakes her head, wondering if she could get fired for threatening to have one of her students arrested for something that happened before she even attended this school. “So what do you say Samantha?”

Sam looks back and forth between the two women, working close to Brooke Davis at Close Over Bros would be the dream job of every girl in this school but to Sam it would mean a solution to quite a few of her problems. Hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder she feigns indifference, “Yeah, whatever but make it 4:30 I’ve got stuff to do.” and then she is gone.

“Well that didn’t go half as bad as I expected.” Haley takes her seat and resumes eating.

“I’m no longer speaking to you.” Brooke childishly turns her head away from Haley

“You just did.” Haley points out.

“Well, from this moment on, then”

“Still talking.” Haley taunts, causing Brooke to throw a crouton at her .

Our lives are made

In these small hours

These little wonders

These twist and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These small hours still remain

Standing in front of a store she thought she’d never be able to enter again, Sam wipes her sweaty palms on her pants and takes deep breathes to settle her nerves. ‘Just relax,’ she tells herself ‘you only swiped a few shirts, you’ll go inside, work off your debt and keep your head down. Don’t engage in conversation and everything will be fine.’

Spying the young girl through the window Millicent anxiously calls over to her boss, “Um Brooke, that weirdly aggressive shoplifter is back, should I have Bruno handle it?”

Bruno, the new security guard steps closer to the door, hand resting on his nightstick, ready for action but Brooke waves him off.

“No need, I’m expecting her.”

“You are?” Millicent asks

“Yeah, she’s part of Haley’s no delinquent left behind outreach program.” Brooke puts the finishing touches on the mannequin she was dressing and goes to meet Samantha as she enters the store. “You’re late, Avril.”

“It’s 4:32, ” Sam says, checking her watch “and my name is Sam, princess.” Brooke smirks at the girls nerve.

“Alright, Millicent this cheery little ball of sunshine here is Avril,” Brooke says with a playful wink, “ she’s going to be helping us out with inventory tonight. Could you please give her a tour of the stockroom while I audit the register?” Millie hesitates as she watches the evil eye stare-off between Brooke and the new girl, finally deciding that the sooner she gets started the sooner she could leave, Sam turns an impatient look to Millie who then quickly leads her to the back room.

“What is wrong with these kids today? I was never that rude in high school Bruno.” Bruno wisely keeps his mouth shut but he can’t help leering at his employer as she returns to the register.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

‘Three hours,’ Sam grumbles ‘I’ve been trapped in stockroom Purgatory for three freaking hours! This has got to be violating some sort of child labor laws.’ Stepping off of the ladder Sam puts down her clipboard and rubs her tired eyes. ‘Still it beats the alternative.’

“Hey Avril!” the annoyingly raspy voice calls from the other room, “Foods here come eat.” Sam considers for a second denying that she’s hungry and skipping out but at that moment her stomach decides to rebel against her and growls so loud she’s sure they can hear it in the next room.

Shuffling out onto the main floor, she’s greeted by the sight of Her Royal Pain in the Ass and a unfamiliar red head sitting on a blanket spread out on the ground. They’re unpacking nearly a dozen white Chinese food take-out boxes and Brooke sets up a cutlery place setting right next to her, patting the ground for Sam to sit like she’s some kind of well trained pet. Sam continues to stand in place a minute longer just to spite the older girl but Brooke just rolls her eyes and focuses her attention on the red head who seems to be enjoying the show.

“You got something against P.F. Chang’s kid?” the red head smirks, looking back and forth between Brooke and Sam.

“Well this looks like such a romantic layout, I’d hate to crash your date.”

“Are you always this charming Avril?”

“Depends, are you always this obnoxious, Princess?”

“Okay kittens,” the red head interrupts “ retract the claws and Avril..”

“My name is Sam.”

“Then take a seat Sam I Am, the food is getting cold.” Sam sits down next to the red head, the lesser of the two evils, and picks up her chopsticks.

“So let me guess, your Rachel the Friend.” Sam uses her chopsticks to create air quotes around the word. Her statement appears to piss Brooke off and amuse Rachel.

“And you’re the New Fish Brooke hired to work afternoons.”

“Well I wasn’t so much as hired as I was blackmailed into working here.”

“Hey you do the crime, you do the time Avril,” Brooke says, flashing that annoyingly perfect dimpled smile, “Rach did you get any orange chicken?”

“Hot and spicy “ she says, passing the carton over to Brooke with a wink

“Just how I like it.” their fingers touch as Brooke takes the carton from Rachel and a blush creeps across her face.

“I know how to take care of my hoe, even got you white rice and extra fortune cookies.”

“I knew there was a reason I kept your slutty ass around.”

Sam nearly chokes on her mandarin chicken at the heated stares that pass between the two, “And you wonder why Mrs. James-Scott thinks your sleeping together.” The words slip out of her mouth before she even has time to think. Brooke has a deer caught in headlights look on her face but the unflappable Rachel simply shrugs, “We’ve been sleeping together every night for the past three weeks, pass the soy sauce please.”

All of my regret

Will wash away somehow

But I cannot forget

The way I feel right now

“Urg, my feet are killing me,” Rachel exclaims as she tumbles into bed beside Brooke, “the realtor must have shown me like a dozen spaces before I found the perfect set up for our new offices. It’s this old warehouse down by the riverwalk that was renovated by an architecture firm that went belly up last spring, so I got it for a song. Their loss is our gain.” stealing a glance at her silent bedmate she notices Brooke staring off into space, absentmindedly twisting the sheets in her hands. “Sorry if I’m boring you but I’m only talking about phase two being complete, we have our office space and now we can move on to hiring staff and getting ready for the launch..”

“Why’d you tell Avril that we’re sleeping together” Brooke suddenly cuts her off.

“Um because we are?” Rachel dumbly waves her hand over the bed indicating that they have been sharing the same bed every night since she returned to town.

“Technically yes, but the way you said it insinuates that there was something… sexual about us sharing a bed. We barely know that girl, what if she runs off spouting to the press about us?”

“Okay first, tutor bitch wouldn’t ask you to hire the kid if she thought there was any chance that Sam would sell all your juicy secrets to the tabloids. Second if you’d stop arguing with her you’d notice that underneath the snarky exterior she’s actually a really cool kid and third there’s nothing sexual about us sharing a bed, i.e. no gossip girl fodder to worry about.” turning over onto her side facing away from Brooke, Rachel pulls the covers over her shoulders and attempts to burrow her face into the pillow. As Brooke turns off the bedside lamp and settles into bed the only sounds that can be heard are their light breathing and the waves gently hitting the docks outside.

“Are you disappointed?” Brooke softly asks a half hour later.

“That you’re a paranoid nutcase? I came to terms with that back in high school.”

“No, “ Brooke replies, spooning Rachel from behind she slides her hand around Rachel’s waist and buries her face in the crook of Rachel’s neck, “are you disappointed that there’s nothing sexual about us sharing a bed?”

There is a sharp pain in Rachel’s chest as her heart suddenly stops then starts to beat double time, “Do you want there to be something sexual about us sharing a bed, Brooke?” her voice is scratchy and her throat is dry. Brooke tightens her grip around Rachel’s waist and Rachel can feel the other girls heart beating just as erratically as her own.

“These last few months have been… you have no idea how glad I am that you came back Rachel. And not just because you’ve helped me deal with the attack and all of my demented momma drama. You know, I wanted to adopt a baby and whenever someone would ask me why I told them it was because I had all of this love inside of me just bursting to be let out and I wanted someone to love me just as much in return. But you want to know the really ironic thing?” she pauses as a tear slides down her beautiful face and drifts down Rachel’s neck “I think I already had that but …but I left it in New York months ago. I listened to my mother instead of my heart and I let go of the one thing, the one person that makes me whole.” her tears are falling in a steady stream now and Rachel can no longer bear it. In an instant she turns and pulls Brooke into her arms as the girl’s sobs wrack her small frame. Running her fingers through the silky chocolate locks she tips her head back until she is staring into shiny hazel eyes.

“I’m so sorry that I left Brooke, I swear that if I ever do again then you have my permission to push me down the stairs.” Brooke closes her eyes and laughs, Rachel leans over and kisses her eyelids. When Brooke makes no move to pull away Rachel tilts her head further and softly their lips connect. She inhales sharply at first contact and it feels like every nerve ending in her body has been electrocuted.

Brooke moans deep in the back of her throat as Rachel’s tongue sweeps across her lips seeking entrance. Once entrance has been granted Rachel’s tongue teases Brooke, darting in and out of her mouth, reigning dominate one moment then submissive the next, leave it to Rachel to constantly keep her guessing. When her lungs began to burn for lack of oxygen they break the mind numbing kiss and pull back to stare wide eyed at one another, breathing heavily.

“I know I’m a damn good kisser Brooke but do you have to wear that goofy ass look on your face.?”

“My face is simply a reflection of yours.” they’re quiet for a moment and Rachel reads the unspoken question in her eyes.

“We’ll take it slow, I’m not going anywhere Brookie.” she says, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I should think not, I seem to recall having permission to push your skanky ass down the stairs if you do.”

“Whatever whore, now go to sleep we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” and with that they snuggle under the covers wrapped in each others arms.

A/N: I know I’m probably going to catch hell about the Oprah comment but I needed a comparison to really close friends who may or may not be dating and they were the first to pop up in my head. So don’t get mad, this is fan fiction here and plus I’m writing this at 4:10 in the morning. Besides, Kathy Griffith uses that joke in her act all the time so if you want to flame someone start with her, lol.

One Tree Hill One-shot

2009-01-15T03:32:51Z

Title: Chloroform The One You Love
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Peyton
Rating: T, femslash
Summary: AU, set during season 3
Disclaimer: all characters are the property of The CW and Schwahn.

Its an AU (obviously) set around season three, I was watching the scene where Ellie tells Peyton that she should open herself up to love and take chances or something to that effect. Anyway, all you need to know is that at this point Ellie is still alive. The song and title is by the amazing band Flickerstick. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: characters belong to Schwahn and co.

Chloroform the One That You Love

And if I couldn’t attain

All I need to explain

Would she even look me in the eye again

She sits back and ignores

My need to adore

Intimidations got me down again

She’s only 18 but such a beautiful dream

All she needs is some chloroform and she’ll be mine

It rained last night, hard and heavy against the window pane. As the sun rises and the early birds began to chirp you lay in bed snuggled up to your best friend. Her mocha colored hair is spread out on her back, smooth now because you have been running your fingers through the silky strands for the past hour and a half as you watch her sleep. You laugh to yourself thinking that if someone were to do this to you while you slept you would probably jerk awake before their fingers even made it to the ends of your golden locks but she sleeps like the dead ( wince, bad choice of words ) sprawled out on top of you, arm thrown over your stomach, one leg securely placed between yours and her head softly nestled against your breast. There’s a tiny puddle of drool soaking through your camisole and if it were anyone else you would be completely grossed out but since it is her you think it’s adorable and file it away in your inner storage cabinet to tease her about later.

So caught up in your morning ritual of admiring your best friend that you don’t hear the floor boards outside of your bedroom creak and you remember that there is another woman staying in your otherwise deserted home. She makes a small rustling sound as she fiddles with her robe and your hand stops in mid- stroke, eyes frantically darting to the open door. Ellie stands there slowly drinking in the scene with a curious smile. She tilts her head to the side and raises an eyebrow silently asking a question that you are not ready to give an honest answer to. A deep blush races across your face as your bedmate rouses from sleep mumbling about your perky nipple poking her in the ear, readjusting her body on top of yours so that her mouth is buried in your neck and her hot core straddles the boney part of your hip. She reaches her left hand underneath your right shoulder bringing you closer to her and you can’t suppress the shiver that runs through your entire body as she moans her pleasure of being wrapped up in your arms.

Every once and a while

I catch a strut and a smile

Maybe rejection is the high

That keeps me coming here

I need some compassion but she’s

Laughing at the nervousness

I feel whenever she is around

And I can’t see just how real is the charm

No, I don’t mean her no harm

Despite my heart

And the challenge while she’s lying here

A soft chuckle from the doorway brings your eyes back to Ellie and you tighten your hold on your best friends waist while your hand returns to it’s earlier ministration at the look of acceptance and understanding in your mothers crystal blue eyes. She gives you a slight nod before turning and heading back down the hallway. As her footsteps fade away your attention is drawn back to the dark haired beauty in your arms. You savor these last moments before she is fully awake and picks up the conversation from last night about placing Lucas in the friends with benefits category and how he doesn’t want to comply. You once again have to quell the urge to punch the brood-master in the face and scream to Brooke that you’re her best friend so if anyone should be getting those special benefits it should be you.

But you won’t say that because not only are you not ready to admit to having more than friendly feelings towards her but she is not ready to hear about said feelings. She still thinks that love means waiting until the second date before trying to screw her or buying expensive jewelry and getting reservation at an exclusive restaurant. She doesn’t understand the reasoning behind you placing extra napkins by her plate when you eat because she always manages to drop food onto her lap, or you buying that cherry blossom body wash she loves so much but that gives you a skin rash for when she spends the night. She doesn’t know that going into vivid details of her conquests are like a harpoon to your heart. She doesn’t know that every hug, every caress, every time she shines those brilliant hazel eyes on you your world becomes a little less dark.

So just walk on by

I can see today is like any other day

But it seems brighter than it was before

I just can’t believe that it’s

Not the same, no it’s not the same

It will never be the same for me again

Chloroform the one, the one that you love

And take her back

Model Misbegaving

2009-01-14T14:37:35Z

Title: Model Misbehaving
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Peyton
Rating: M
Summary: A game of truth or dare is never as simple as it seems.
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of The CW and Mark Schwahn

Okay, so I forgot to mention that chapter two was a flashback to before season one in my AU verse and for the next chapters, words highlighted in italics are the flashback scenes. Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Model Misbehaving

Disclaimer: OTH and characters are the property of The CW and Mark Shwahn

It’s been four days since she and Brooke impulsively had sex and she has barely seen hide nor hair of her supposed best friend. When Brooke came over the following evening for movie night she brought along half of the cheerleading squad and spent the majority of the night in the bathroom giving Theresa blonde highlights. On Tuesday Peyton caught a glimpse of the brunette having lunch at some fancy restaurant with her rarely if ever seen, mother. By Wednesday afternoon she was convinced that Brooke was avoiding her as the fifth call to Brooke’s cell went straight to voicemail.

Growling out her frustration Peyton threw her phone against the wall and flopped back onto her bed. Breathing deeply, she could still smell the faint traces of Brooke on her pillow and their sex sheets that she found herself too obsessively disgusted to launder. Jumping off the bed she frantically looks for something, anything to take her mind off of how pathetic she was behaving, pinning over a situation that she knew would never turn out the way she wanted it to. She knew, even before it happened, that Brooke would never allow their encounter to be anything other than sex. No matter how she tries to dress it up and make their roll in the hay seem different, in the end Brooke’s still treating her just like every other guy she’s slept with since she lost her virginity. What was that little quip she made, ‘Men are like Kleenex’s strong, handy but ultimately disposable’ with a self- deprecating laugh Peyton realized she has been transferred from BFF status to just another used waded up tissue at the bottom of the wastebasket.

Sitting down heavily in her desk chair she runs her hands through her unruly curls, fingers getting tangled halfway through. Yanking her hands back her eye catches the cover of her sketchbook she hasn’t gone near since that faithful day. Suddenly the overwhelming urge to relive those glorious thirty-seven minutes washes over her and she picks up the book with shaking hands fumbling for the half finished sketch. Tears blur her vision as she stares at the black and white interpretation of her gorgeous best friend. She’s sketched Brooke hundreds of times over their nine years of friendship but looking at this picture now of the nearly nude girl is like truly seeing her for the first time.

Choking on a sob Peyton clutches the sketch to her chest and crawls back onto her bed. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning she will go to Brooke’s and confess her feelings, tomorrow one way or another this heartache will end.

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Smoothing her hands down the intricate embroidery, Peyton turns left then right admiring her beautiful wedding gown in the three floor length mirrors of the C/B dressing room. Brooke has certainly outdone herself, the dress has the same whimsical charm as Haley’s gown but with just enough personal touches to fit Peyton’s unique personality. Staring in the mirror she couldn’t help the growing sense that this dress seems awfully familiar. As children she and Brooke often described their dream wedding, everything from what flowers there would be to the perfect location to which colors the bridesmaids would be wearing. Though Brooke’s groom has switched from Mark-Paul Gosselaar to Christian Slater then to that really hot mobster on her favorite soap opera, Peyton’s husband to be always managed to become some faceless entity waiting for her at the alter while the vision of Brooke in a silver strapless dress appeared in vivid detail. Really that should have been her first clue.

“You look gorgeous.” the raspy voice startles her.

“Brooke, it’s incredible.”

“Yeah, we figured it would be,” at Peyton’s confused look she continues “a few weeks ago I asked Larry for some pictures of his wedding. It took me forever to dig through that storage unit but I finally hit pay-dirt, the pattern was actually quite lovely, I only made the tiniest of alterations and voila!” she announces waving her hand over the finished gown. Glancing back at herself in the mirror Peyton takes a good hard look at her reflection as it suddenly dawns on her.

“Oh Brooke, it’s my moms dress.” her throat constricts and she blinks away the tears gathering in her eyes.

“Thought you might like something of hers there with you on your big day.” wrapping her arms around her friend from behind Brooke gently rocks Peyton from side to side. Their eyes connect in the mirrors reflection and she places a lingering kiss to the blondes cheek.

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If anyone should ask, her official story was that Brooke talked her into a wild bachelorette party. They met up with Haley, Mia and Millicent at a little known club just outside of Tree Hill. After hours of dancing and copious amounts of alcohol Brooke said their goodnights and told the others that Karen and Deb will meet them at the river-house by 9 a.m.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to balance Peyton’s drunken body while fishing through her purse for the house-keys and Brooke nearly drops the blond twice. Not that that appears to faze the bride to be whose entire tequila induced focus remains fixated on Brooke’s face. Reaching out a wobbly hand she attempts to push a lock of hair out of the other girls eyes but in her drunken daze pokes Brooke in the eye.

“Ow, the Hell Peyt?” Brooke stumbles into the house dragging Peyton along with her.

“Oh Brooke I’m soo sorry, I just wanted to see your eyes, you have such beautiful eyes. Their amazing, one minute their green then Bam!” she yells clapping her hands together “Their golden brown like fresh baked cookies.”

Brooke rolls her eyes at Peyton’s drunken rambling as they trudge up the steps and into Brooke’s bedroom. Depositing Peyton down on the bed she moves to get a pair of pajamas but Peyton grabs her hand stopping her before she could get far.

“Everything about you is beautiful Brooke,” tracing her finger against Brooke’s plump mouth her voice drops to a husky whisper “your lips, your little nose and your dimples, God those dimples kill me every single time.” Pulling on the soft material of Brooke’s dress Peyton attempts to reel the other girl in closer to her body. “I never forgot Brooke, not for a second. I never forgot how good it felt.”

Glancing into those glassy green eyes Brooke recognizes an all too familiar look; passion, lust, love and heartache. For years she has tried to ignore those emotions swirling around in her best friends eyes but even when she can’t see them she can feel it rolling off of Peyton in tidal waves. Some days she really regrets that rainy Sunday afternoon that she took Peyton’s virginity while on others that memory is locked away in the deepest recesses of her heart reserved only for her very best friend.

She knows what Peyton wants, she knows what she wants, the only question remaining is will she be strong enough in the morning when life goes on the way that it should?

As Peyton tugs her dress up her thighs, Brooke leans forward and their lips connect in a very long overdue kiss.

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“Wakey wakey,” Peyton groans as the cheery voice penetrates her deep sleep. “Come on P. Sawyer it’s already after 8, time to get your boney ass in gear.” Opening her eyes she immediately shuts them again once the bright morning sunlight hits her retinas.

“Ugh, tequila bad!” She can hear Brooke laugh somewhere off to her left as she attempts to burrow her head under the blankets.

“That’s what you get for challenging me to a drinking contest, one would think that after all these years you would know who is numero uno.” pulling the covers back she slowly gets Peyton to sit upright to swallow the packet of BC powder followed by a glass of alka-seltzer and making sure her hand is steady as she washes away the bitter taste with a big glass of orange juice. “Better?”

“My tongue feels like it’s wearing a wool sock.” Peyton grumbles, leaning against the headboard for support. Pleading with her stomach to settle itself, she takes a good look at Brooke who is dressed in a sports bra and yoga pants. “How long have you been awake?”

“’Bout an hour,” Brooke shrugs, hopping off the bed “ I like to run early in the morning before it gets too hot. Listen I’m gonna jump in the shower, please tell me that you won’t upchuck on my Egyptian cotton sheets?”

“I’ll try my best but I can’t make any promises.”

“Suppose that’s all I can hope for, oh well. I’ll be quick then you can get cleaned up and we can head out, it’s going to get very crazy very soon.”

“Yeah, I know.” Peyton sighs rubbing a hand over her face. “I think that I should talk to him as soon as possible. God, this is going to be so horrible for him especially after what happened with Lindsey not so long ago but really it’s for the best, I mean it’s better that he knows now rather than a few years down the line right?” glancing in Brooke’s direction she can feel a cold ball of dread forming in her stomach at her best friends perplexed expression.

“Peyt, what the Hell are you talking about?” Brooke asks totally confounded.

“What…what do you mean what am I talking about? Calling off the wedding of course, I can’t very well go through with it after..”

“Have you completely lost your mind!” Brooke screeches, causing Peyton to wince and cover her ears.

“Volume Brooke, jeez you could’ve blown my eardrum.

“Why would you say something so stupid, there is no way you can call off this wedding, you’ve been dying to marry Lucas since like forever!”

“Brooke, after last night..”

“Last night was last night and today you are going to marry the man of your dreams. You’re just nervous is all, Haley was the same way before her wedding remember? Get out of bed and get dressed I made an appointment at the spa, a nice massage and a steam will clear your head.”

“Don’t You Dare.” Peyton all but growls stopping Brooke in her tracks. “You’re not doing this to me again, you are not going to pretend that last night didn’t happen that it didn’t mean anything to you. My heart barely survived the last time, I will not let you get away with breaking it again!”

Keep Breathing Series

2009-01-14T14:15:09Z

Title: Keep Breathing
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Rachel
Rating: T, femslash
Summary: Season six AU, after the attack Brooke tries in vain to deal with it own her own.
Disclaimer: characters are the property of The CW and Mark Schwahn.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters, songs, what have you…..

The Story

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I’ve been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don’t mean anything

When you’ve got no one to tell them to

It’s true, I was made for you

“Mmm, Hales either that roast looks damn good or I’ve been living off of Hot Pockets for far too long.” Skillz states as Haley pulls the main course out of the oven.

“Probably a little of both.” Haley laughs, swatting his hands away from trying to steal a piece of the meat she‘s slicing. “Ah, we’ll be eating as soon as everyone arrives.”

“Is Aunt Brooke and Aunt Rachel coming tonight momma?” Jaime asks, his face lighting up at the prospect of seeing his beloved godmother and friend.

“Rachel?” Skillz questions, his thick eyebrows shooting up towards his bald head. Haley simply gives him a don’t ask look before pasting a smile on her face and answering Jaime.

“Yes, baby I invited Brooke to dinner and since Rachel seems to be attached to her hip nowadays I suppose she’ll be here as well.”

“Great,” he exclaims, “I’m gonna go put on the shirt Aunt Brooke designed just for me. She says it’s part of her exclusive Braime collection.” Jaime quickly jumps off of his stool and rushes upstairs to put on his new treasure. Both adults laugh at how excited the five year old gets over the idea that the famous Brooke Davis has made something just for him.

“You alright with Big Red being here?” Skillz questions once Jaime is out of earshot.

“Well I suppose I’ve got no choice but to be o.k. with it, you know? Brooke and Rachel appear to be a package deal lately, so if you want one you’ve got to put up with the other.” Haley sighs, it’s been a while since she’s had one on one time with her Tigger and with the mystery surrounding Brooke’s injuries somewhat still unresolved she was hoping that if she got Brooke alone her friend would open up. But no such luck, every time she drops by the store Rachel is there, she’s living in Brooke’s house again and they have been working on some huge top secret project lately and Haley barely gets a chance to ask Brooke about how she really got all banged up. The one good thing to come out of Rachel’s constant hovering, Haley loathes to admit, is that Brooke is back to her old self again and not walking around like a zombie, shutting herself off from her friends like she did nearly three weeks ago.

Things have slowly began to calm down again after Quentin’s tragic murder and even though her first responsibility was to make sure she helped her son and husband deal with this great loss, she feels guilty that she didn’t try harder to reach out to Brooke when it was obvious she needed a friend. That angry conversation she had with Rachel a few weeks ago only proved how clueless she had been when she swallowed that lie about Brooke falling down the steps. At first she had been royally pissed at Rachel for insinuating she's been a crappy friend to Brooke but when Millicent unexpectantly arrived home and told her that Victoria has been plotting to take away Brooke’s company, Haley had no choice but to admit that she has fallen out of touch with her closest friend.

“Yeah, well don’t sweat it, if she tries to make a move on Nate, I’ve got your back Haley J. Scott.” he pats her shoulder and Haley affectionately covers his hand with hers.

“Thanks Skills.”

“You know me.” He says, backing out of the kitchen and heading towards Deb as she comes downstairs. The egg timer goes off and Haley puts back on the oven mitts to take the potatoes out of the oven.

I climbed across the mountaintops

Swam all across the ocean blues

I crossed all the lines

and I broke all the rules

And baby I broke them all for you

Because even when I was flat broke

You made me feel like a million bucks

You do, I was made for you

“You ready for this?” Rachel asks an apprehensive looking Brooke as they walk up to the front door of Nathan and Haley’s home. Brooke takes a deep breath before ringing the door bell.

“Not really no, but it’s way past time that I’ve come clean with them. Remember what my therapist said about letting go of all of the anger and secrets being the only way that I can truly begin to heal. Now that I’ve dealt with the Victoria issue I can tell them about the attack and finally put all this shit to rest.”

Brooke nods her head confidently and Rachel bursts out laughing, Brooke looks at her sharply.

“What the hell is so funny?”

“Nothing, I was just remembering the look on Victoria’s face when the board gave her boney ass the boot this morning.”

Unable to hold back Brooke joins in and soon her melodious laughs mingle with Rachel’s and it feels so good to be able to enjoy happy moments like these, even if the laughter is at her mothers expense.

The door swings open and before she knows it her arms are filled with 54 pounds of bubbly blond five year old boy.

“Aunt Brooke Aunt Rachel you came!” Jamie squeals, hugging Brooke tight around her neck.

“Of course we did handsome,” pulling back from the embrace she plants a sloppy kiss to his forehead. “would I ever break a promise to my most favorite guy in the whole wide world?” Jamie giggles at the thought of being Brooke’s favorite guy.

“Look, I’m wearing the special shirt you made me.” He pulls on the collar of the baby blue oxford shirt to show her the C/B Braime Collection logo on the tag. Brooke’s smile widens at the proud look he has at having his own custom made shirt.

“And you wear it very well Little J. “ Rachel leans over to give him a hug. “I’d say we’ve got ourselves a future model for C/B here Brookie.”

“Yup, every father’s dream is to see their only son prancing around on the catwalk.’” Nathan jokes, opening the door further to let in the new arrivals.

“Finally, yall are here, now we can eat.” Skillz proclaims, standing up to put away the video game he and Lucas were playing.

“Nice to see you too Skillz.” Rachel smirks, “how’s Bevin?” Skillz glowers at the new comer before setting off to inform Haley that Brooke has arrived. “Something I said?” she innocently asks Nathan, he just shakes his head and leads them into the house. Brooke hip-bumps Rachel and gives her a playful warning.

“Behave yourself tonight.”

“Fine, whatever.” Rachel scoffs, she bumps Brooke’s hip back in retaliation and the two share a secret smile. “After this morning I’m feeling too good to let anything bring me down.” Reaching out she pushes a lock of Brooke’s hair behind her ear and smiles brightly when Brooke doesn’t pull back. The moment is broken as Haley and Peyton approaches the pair.

“Brooke, Rachel so glad you two could join us.” Haley says somewhat stiffly as she tries to ignore Rachel’s presence.

“Thanks for the invite Hales’, it’s been far too long since I’ve hanged with my main man Jimmy Jam!” tickling the little boy in her arms and laughing hysterically, Haley can’t help but notice the huge difference in her friends demeanor. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Rachel staring at the pair fondly. ’But I’ll be damned if I apologize to that bitch.’

Clearing her throat, Peyton steps closer to her old roommate. “It’s good to see you looking well Brooke, “ she says a bit awkwardly, “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me or something. I mean ever since Lucas and I got engaged…” she trails off as Rachel snorts

“Cause it’s all about Peyton.” she says under her breath and she doesn’t even have to look at Brooke to know that the brunette is shooting her another warning.

“There’s just been a lot going on with me and work lately Peyt, “ Brooke tries to assure her friend who technically should be the one soothing her right about now, “ but if you’ve got some time later I have a few sketches for your wedding dress….”

“Oh my God really, Brooke you’re the best.” and as Peyton began to prattle on about her tacky punk rock ideas for her wedding, Rachel gives Brooke’s arm a reassuring squeeze and excuses herself to go talk to Mouth and Millicent.

Rachel’s exit provides Haley with a golden opportunity, if she could just get Peyton to shut up for five seconds about walking down the aisle to an old Billy Idol song instead of the traditional wedding march.

‘Good Lord I hope she’s joking, then again it is Peyton.’

“Hey Jamie, honey why don’t you go round up the guys and tell them that dinner will be served in a minute. “

“Okay momma.” Jamie reluctantly slides out of Brooke’s arms and goes off in search of his dad and uncles to relay his moms message.

‘Damn, ’ Brooke thinks ' now that both my human shields Jamie and Rachel are gone Haley is going to press me for answers. Better cut her off now before she gets started.’

“My store was robbed three weeks ago.” Brooke blurts out taking both Haley and Peyton by surprise by how easily she caved. “It was some freak in a ski mask, he stole the evening bank deposit, some clothes and he…he beat me up pretty bad.” There, now it’s all out and she can start to put this whole ordeal behind her.

“Oh my God Brooke,” Haley pulls her into a hug tears forming in her eyes. “ Are you okay now, I mean did you call the police?”

“I thought you said you fell down the stairs?” Peyton asks totally confused. Haley pulls out of the hug long enough to throw Peyton a patented Dumb Blonde look before embracing Brooke again.

“To answer your question Hales,” Brooke replies, deciding to ignore Peyton’s brain fart, “no I didn’t call the cops. Look Victoria and I at the time were fighting for control over the company. I was sure that if I filed a police report she would find some way to use this against me and push me out of my own company.”

“Forget about the company Brooke you were robbed, beaten and ?”, Haley leaves the question hanging in the air.

“No, he didn’t get the chance to… do that.” Brooke’s voice is small as she fills in the blanks. Haley gives her another hug and it feels like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. “Enough of all this depressing talk, dinner smells amazing and I’m starved.” knowing that she’s not going to get off the hook for keeping this a secret for so long she adds. “We’ll have lunch tomorrow Hales.” and follows Peyton into the dining room.

Dinner, for the most part, is a pleasant event. Jamie plants himself down next to his Auntie Brooke and talks her ear off most of the night about his pet rabbit Chester. Deb gets up to take the little guy to bed and he surprises everyone by requesting to be tucked in by both Aunt Brooke and Aunt Rachel. After two bedtime stories Little J is off to dreamland and Brooke and Rachel join the others in the living room for a nightcap. When Rachel declines the proffered glass of wine Haley gives her a bewildered look.

“Rachel Gattina’s turning down a drink.” she says in disbelief.

“Well I am a recovering addict, my sponsor tends to frown upon the consumption of alcoholic beverages.” she snaps back and Haley at least has the good graces to look sheepish.

“Sorry, um congratulations on the sobriety. Can I get you something else?” the room is filled with tension no one knowing quite what to say. The biggest party girl in Tree Hill High is now sipping cranberry juice without an ounce of alcohol in the glass. Mouth, ever the nice guy decides to start back up the conversation.

“So Brooke, “ he clears his throat, catching the brunettes attention “Millie tells me that the Bravo Channel wants to build a reality show around you.”

“Cool B, you sat here all night with news like that and didn’t share.” Nathan asks. Grateful to take the spotlight off of Rachel, Brooke smiles and indulges her friends.

“Yeah, they’ve been making offers ever since I did the guest judge spot on Project Runway last year, they even offered me Nina Garcia’s chair after her contract was up but Victoria ever the control freak, didn’t want me to be outshined by Heidi, or some other nonsense. Right now Rachel’s in talks with maybe working something around B. Davis Cosmetics , like a behind the scenes, start-up of a new company type of thing .”

“Or maybe a contest for an intern who would be working in all three aspects of Davis Enterprises; C/B and B. Davis the magazine and cosmetics.” Rachel inserts, “I’m still hammering out the details but as long as it’s nothing like 'Hey Paula', I think we should be o.k.”

“Oh my God! I freaking loved that show, ‘People need to start treating me like the treasure that I am’ “, Brooke giggles at her spot on imitation of Paula Abdul.

“I swear if you start making me call you The Treasure, I’m gonna quit right now.”

“Oh please, as if you’d ever leave me, skank.”

“Awfully full of yourself aren’t you? Keep it up Fatass!” Brooke snuggles closer as Rachel wraps her arm around Brooke’s shoulder, reaching up her hand and entwining their fingers together. The room goes silent again, watching the duos playful banter and gentle caresses that linger far longer than to be considered friendly.

“Hey Brooke,” Peyton interjects in a somewhat dreamy voice, “If you need an idea for your show you can always do it about mine and Lucas’ wedding.”

Brooke pinches Rachel’s leg hard as the red head opens her mouth to say, what Brooke is certain will be a very accurate but scathing remark. Rachel pouts and looks down at Brooke, “Ruin all my fun why don’t you.”

And even Haley has to admit she can’t wait for this damned Pucus wedding to be over and done with.

You see the smile that’s on my mouth

It’s hiding the words that don’t come out

All of our friends think that I’m blessed

They don’t know my head is a mess

No, they don’t know who I really am

And they don’t know what I’ve been through

Like you do, I was made for you

Model Misbehaving

2009-01-14T02:31:25Z

Title: Model Misbehaving
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Peyton
Rating: M
Summary: A game of truth or date is never as simple as it seems. AU season six
Diclaimer: All characters are the property of The CW and Mark Schwahn.

Model Misbehaving

The day had begun as innocently as any other rainy Sunday, Brooke and Peyton decided to escape the drab weather and hole up in Peyton’s bedroom listening to music. Brooke was perched on the bed giving herself a pedicure while Peyton sat at her computer desk searching the net for something inspirational to draw. After putting the finishing touches on the piggy who had roast-beef, Brooke’s focus is switched to her brooding blonde friend as she finally decides on a subject and picks up her charcoal pencil to begin drawing.

“You know if you wanted to watch porn all you had to do was say so and I would have brought over those magazines my dad hides in his golf bag.” Brooke snickers sneaking a peek at the computer screen.

“It’s not porn you perv, I plan on taking a figure drawing class this fall and one of the assignments is drawing the nude human form.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me that there is actually a class where you get to gawk at some hot guys dangly parts for an hour? Sign me up!”

“It’s a serious art class for serious artists Brooke.”

“I can be serious.” Brooke pouts at Peyton’s look of disbelief. “I’ll have you know that when I went to Italy with the parental units earlier this summer I saw plenty of nude people on the beach and I was still able to maintain my cool. Hell I even stripped down myself after the initial shock wore off, there are just some people that need to learn that public nudity is a privilege, not a right ”

Peyton is quiet for several long moments hoping to God that Brooke will get bored and drop the subject so that she can banish the image of her best friend sunbathing nude on a exotic beach, beams of sunlight warming her golden skin causing beads of perspiration to glide down her perfectly sculpted sixteen year old body. So focused on her inner struggle for control she didn’t hear Brooke sidle up beside her nor the offer she made.

“Huh?” she asks

“I said, you are never going to capture the true beauty of the human form with a one dimensional guide.” pausing for a brief second as though to savor the moment Brooke lifts her arms skyward pulling off her tank top and shaking out her mane of luscious chestnut waves to reveal two very perky breast. Peyton knows she should look away, all the rules of proper etiquette demand that in a situation such as this one should respectfully divert their eyes but she cannot. Staring transfixed at her best friends bare chest Peyton becomes painfully aware of why Brooke Davis was so adept at transforming boys/men into drooling babbling imbeciles with just one look.

“So what do ya say P. Sawyer?” Brooke purrs as she leans back on the bed striking a seductive pose, “think you can do my body justice?”

Twenty minutes later Peyton has managed to pull herself out of her lust induced stupor and pick up her pencil to begin drawing. Brooke is kneeling in the middle of her bed completely naked with the exception of a chenille throw draped over her left hip and clutching a corner of the fabric with one hand in between the valley of her breast.

“You’re not suppose to do that.” Peyton mutters

“There are a lot of things I’m not suppose to do but do anyway, you’ll have to be a bit more specific, Peyt.”

“Make eye contact, in the class the model doesn’t look at you, you’re suppose to appear distant, aloof even.”

“Well that’s just stupid.”

“I guess it’s to make the whole situation less personal, intimate…”

“I’m sitting here stark naked,” Brooke says with a wry laugh, “doesn’t get more intimate than that.”

“Damn”

“What’s up?”

“Nothing, I…I can’t seem to get the shoulders right.” taking a deep breath she motions with her hand, “would you mind if I…sometimes it helps if I can feel the subject.” biting her lip she almost regrets the request at the smirk that forms on Brooke’s mouth.

“Most guys buy me a drink before they attempt to feel me up but since you’re my best friend I guess I can bend the rules a little.”

Moving hesitantly towards the bed Peyton kneels at Brooke’s side, her fingers lightly tracing the contour of the other girls soft skin. The scent of milk and honey invades her nose and she swallows hard as a swarm of butterflies take flight in her lower belly. Her nimble fingers glide across Brooke’s neck brushing locks of caramel hair to one side exposing the long sleek column of her neck. So lost in this new discovery she doesn’t realize what she is doing until her lips make contact with the heated flesh and Brooke let’s out a low whimper.

Peyton draws back quickly, unsure of how to decipher the sound. Letting the blanket fall, Brooke glances over her shoulder seeking out Peyton’s emerald gaze. “Don’t stop.” the command is a throaty whisper that sets Peyton’s body aflame. As much as her body is screaming at her to sate the fire burning within she finds herself at a loss of how to proceed.

“Brooke, I don’t really know…I’ve never done this before.” she manages to stammer out.

“Me either, least not with a girl.” Brooke blushes and it puts Peyton more at ease to know she’s not the only one flying in the dark here.

“So I’m the first girl you’ve ever been with?” she dreads asking but she really wants to know the answer.

“You’re the only girl I’ve ever wanted to be with.”

Turning her head slightly to the side she let the tip of her nose nuzzle a warm dimpled cheek, her lips placing butterfly kisses along Brooke’s chin trailing her way to the girls succulent lips. The kiss eclipses all doubts in her mind and the only thought that remains is how fast can she get out of these clothes. Snaking her arm around Brooke’s bare waist, Peyton lowers them both onto the bed to lay side by side without breaking the kiss. In this new position her hands are free to roam Brooke’s curvaceous body, the desperate need for skin to skin contact pulls her away for an instant as she sheds her t-shirt, shorts, and panties in record time.

Gentle pressure applied to her shoulder and Brooke is laying flat on her back as Peyton props herself up onto her elbow and drinks in the gorgeous sight on display.

“You’re a Goddess,” Peyton whispers in reverence, her hands tracing along the curves of her friends sinuous body. Capturing a breast in her hand she watches in fascination as the rosy nipple pebbles then takes the tantalizing orb into her mouth.

Brooke throws her head back, her body shivering as Peyton suckles at her chest. Threading her fingers through blonde curls she begins to rotate her hips searching for friction. Peyton answers her silent plea and as her hand slides past Brooke’s washboard abs she suddenly gets a wicked idea. Moving her hand to the smooth skin of Brooke’s thigh she spreads the girls legs wide then voices her suggestion.

“I want to watch you. Show me, I want to see how you touch yourself when you’re alone.”

Brooke stares unseeingly at the ceiling, so aroused that she feels as if she may explode at any given moment. Her mind buzzing at the thought of submitting to Peyton’s orders, her right hand begins to wind it’s way down her body and in between her legs until she reaches her clit, rubbing it in slow circles as her left hand kneads her full breast.

Peyton can feel the coil of need tighten in her body as she watches Brooke pleasuring herself. When Brooke slides a finger into her sex Peyton springs into action, straddling the girls hips and pushing her fingers into her own eager body. Their slick bodies writhing together, mouths locked in a insatiable kiss, franticly rocking against one another, their urgent movements slamming the headboard against the wall until Peyton tears her lips away climaxing with a resounding roar that Brooke quickly echoes.

Collapsing on top of her best friend Peyton rides out the glorious waves in the aftermath of their coupling, she buries her face in the crook of Brooke’s neck silently wishing that Brooke doesn’t notice the tears she’s shedding. She knows what’s coming next, she’s heard Brooke say it enough times since she lost her virginity earlier this year. Brooke will stay put for another minute before she starts to squirm, if the person is smart they’ll take the hint and crawl off of her. She’ll make some smart ass remark as she gathers her clothes and gives her bedmate one last mind-numbing kiss as she makes her exit.

Even though Peyton knows it’s coming that doesn’t stop her heart from breaking into a trillion pieces as Brooke slides on her shorts and gathers up her nail polish bottles. Just before reaching the door the brunette turns back to her friend still laying naked on the mussed sheets. “Movie night tomorrow P. Sawyer?”

Peyton doesn’t trust her voice not to crack and expose her true emotions so she simply nods, pasting a fake smile on her kiss swollen lips. She must be one hell of an actress because Brooke smiles widely in return as if they didn’t just have rowdy sex three minutes ago. Peyton waits until she hears the front door slam shut and the ignition of Brooke’s Beetle before she wraps herself up in their soiled sheets and cries her heart out.

a/n: This turned out a little darker than I had originally planned but after I read the first part again I figured that it could sorta explain Peyton’s resentment of Rachel’s weekly standing appointment with Brooke for nearly two years while she herself only had the one time and her satisfaction in Brooke’s hurt feelings when Peyton said their first time was nothing special.

Model Misbehaving

2009-01-14T01:54:46Z

This for some odd reason, is my highest rated fic. It was a crazy little drabble that morphed into a full fledge angst riddled Brooke/Peyton story. And for the life of me , I don't remember exactly where I came up with the name, LOL.

Title: Model Misbehaving
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Peyton
Rating: T, femslash
Summary: A game of truth or dare is never as simple as it seems.Set during the 'For Tonight You're Only Here To Know' episode, season 6 AU
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of The CW and Mark Schwahn

Model Misbehaving

The bottle of non-descript brandy was nearly gone, passing back and forth between the five women stuck in the high school library. Twenty minutes ago Peyton and Lindsey had called an uneasy truce between the war of words after Lindsey’s devastating recollection of her father’s last moments on earth. With the fight knocked out of their bodies, Mia has somehow convinced her fellow prisoners of circumstance, into playing a game of Truth or Dare.

Round one seemed pretty simple with Haley doing three shots then balancing on one foot for a whole minute. Round two became a bit more daring as Mia was challenged to climb the highest bookcase in the library, suffice to say she only made it to the third shelf before the bookcase began to tremble under her weight. The young gangly girl proved herself to have catlike reflexes and managed to tuck and roll without sustaining any injuries. But the game didn’t come to a screeching halt until round three when Brooke revealed her big Truth.

“Tell a dark hidden secret?” her raspy voice repeated as she turned the request over again and again in her mind. “Oh, I’ve got one” she announced to the group, bouncing excitedly in her chair “every Thursday for almost two years Rachel would come up to my office and we would have sex on my desk while Victoria was in budget meetings! Okay, Lindsey your turn truth or dare?”

“Whoa, whoa back it up a second Davis, did you just say what I think you did?” Haley asks nonplussed.

“Well yeah,” Brooke says feigning confusion “Mia asked me truth or dare, I answered so now it’s Lindsey’s turn.”

“Brooke, did you honestly think you were just gonna drop a bomb like that and not expect to give us any details?” Peyton interjects, “Not graphic details but just a general….what the Hell man?” it was meant to be a joke and might have fooled everyone else but Brooke knew better. She could see past the grin on the blondes face and read the seething rage burning in her jade colored eyes.

“Please, fess up I’m not the only one here who has ever experimented, well disqualifying Haley who’s been married since she was like five.”

“Hey!” Haley gives an indignant shout snatching the bottle from Peyton’s loose grasp.

“I let Connie Demicco get to second base once.” Mia admits

“I had a three-way with the president of my sorority and her boyfriend during rush week.” confessed a tipsy Lindsey as she commandeered the bottle. “What about you Peyton, any hot girl on girl action you want to share with the group?”

Peyton feels as if her world is imploding upon itself and looking at Brooke, her best friend for nearly fifteen years, the first person she shared the most poignant life experience with, she can’t help but wonder if that night all those years ago ever meant to Brooke what she holds sacred in her heart. “Um, yeah just once…but it was nothing special.”

Their eyes connect and she feels a tiny slither of satisfaction in the momentary flash of hurt in the brunettes hazel gaze.

One Tree Hill

2009-01-13T15:16:55Z

Title: Keep Breathing Series
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Rating: T
Pairing: Brooke/Rachel, Victoria Davis
Summary: Because for Victoria Davis life has never been about a loving family or caring friends. It's not about right. It's not about wrong. It's about power.
Disclaimer: OTH is the property of the cw and Mark Schwahn

a/n: I love Victoria, she is so deliciously wicked and Daphne Zuniga played the Hell out of that part. If it wasn’t for the fact that she hurt Brooke I would totally be rooting for her. (Hey I dig villains, what can I say?) This is a sequel to my one-shot Keep Breathing, I considered making it a multi-chaptered fic but I have the shortest attention span known to man and if I trapped myself into writing several chapters I doubt I would be able to finish a story. So, you can read Keep Breathing first because it sort of explains the Brooke/Rachel part and don’t worry about the rating, there’s no graphic sex or anything Rachel just has a potty mouth and I aired on the side of caution. The Title and lyrics are from Natalie Merchant’s song My Skin. Enjoy!

My Skin

Take a look at my body

Look at my hands

There’s so much here that I don’t understand

Your face saving promises

Whispered like prayers

I don’t need them, I don’t need them

It’s been nineteen days since the attack, sixteen days since Rachel returned, thirteen days since she began therapy and Brooke is finally beginning to feel comfortable in her own skin. The bruises on her face have faded completely and while the internal damage to her psyche will take a bit longer to heal she’s optimistic.

Rachel, as promised, has been by her side the entire time, literally. She’s been helping out at the store everyday, she takes Brooke to all of her therapy sessions, she put the kibosh on the gun range but has signed them both up for Tae Kwon Do lessons and every night when Brooke falls asleep Rachel is laying right next to her.

Today was a particularly grueling therapy session, she had voiced the one question that has plagued her her entire life: Why doesn’t her mother love her? At first her therapist gave a short disbelieving laugh,

“Surely that mustn’t be the case.” she stated,

But then Brooke dredged up every memory from her parentless upbringing, like the time when she was nine and her parents had gone away on a business trip for three weeks. Now normally this wouldn’t be cause for alarm except for the fact that Victoria fired the nanny and didn’t hire a replacement before they left. It took three days before Brooke swallowed her pride and went over to Peyton’s house before she died from starvation. But the real kicker is when her parents finally returned home Brooke received a lecture on how not to go spreading family business all over town. Suffice to say by the end of her therapy session the good doctor sat open mouthed completely baffled on how Victoria could live with herself.

“Have you spoken to Brooke lately?” Deb asks the occupants of the kitchen, “We were suppose to have lunch yesterday but she cancelled.”

“Since the red headed menace blew back into town it’s next to impossible to get Brooke alone for a minute.” Haley grumbles. Deb does a double take at the amount of venom in her daughter-in-laws tone.

“Well I for one am glad that Rachel is back.” When Haley shoots him a death glare Nathan is quick to add “At least now Brooke isn’t all alone in that house, I’m glad she’s back for Brooke’s sake and I love my beautiful and forgiving wife.” he finishes with a nervous glance to said wife. Haley scoffs before turning her attention back to Deb.

“I invited Brooke over for dinner tonight so we can help Peyton with her wedding plans, if you can separate her from her shadow long enough then maybe we can finally figure out what’s been going on with her lately.”

“I like Aunt Rachel.” Jamie pipes up out of the blue. “When she’s around Aunt Brooke smiles a lot more.”

“Don’t call her Aunt Rachel, that…woman is in no way related to any of us sweetie.”

“ But Aunt Peyton isn’t related to us either momma and you still tell me to call her Aunt Peyton.”

“Well…that’s different, Peyton is a very good friend of the family.”

“Well Rachel is a very good friend of Aunt Brooke and any friend of Aunt Brooke is a friend of mine.”

Nathan laughs into his juice cup, pouring cream into her coffee Deb simply shrugs at Haley who for the life of her can’t seem to find fault in her five year olds logic.

I’ve been treated so wrong

I’ve been treated so long

As if I’m becoming untouchable

I’m a slow dying flower

Frost killing hour

The sweet turning sour

And untouchable

Pushing her shoulders back and defiantly lifting her chin as she steps out of her town car Victoria Davis is the epitome of a chic, sophisticated New York businesswoman. She has yearned for this her entire life and until recently she thought the day would never come. Ever since she was a little girl she dreamed of having her own successful fashion line. Her dreams were sidelined when she married that good for nothing bastard Charles and got saddled with an unwanted child. Once she had gotten fat and his dreams of a son to carry on his legacy fell through Mr. Viagra proceeded to live the cliché and screw every secretary, nanny and maid that crossed his path. He stole her youth, made her the laughing stock of the Yacht Club when he lost his job and all of their money, just barely redeeming himself when they moved to California to a bigger better house. But soon she grew bored with playing the perfect stepford wife and took a lover of her own, oh the look on his face when he caught her with Ramón was priceless.

Victoria panicked when Charles informed her that he would seek a divorce and she would not see one dime of his money, luckily salvation came in the least expected of places. Who would have thought that a phone call from the bane of her existence would bring back all of her long lost dreams. Funny, how the universe works, here was Brooke her wayward child, the person responsible for her failing marriage offering a partnership in her clothing line Clothes Over Bros ( what a tacky name ) and to her astonishment the girl had talent for something other than laying on her back.

A few face saving promises and the girl was eating out of her hands, so desperate to receive her mother’s approval that she cut off almost all contact with her supposed friends. Victoria nearly had everything she could wish for but no mattered how much control she had over Brooke and Davis Enterprises she still didn’t command the spotlight. That was reserved for the gorgeous young woman who would flash a dimpled smile and have everyone falling all over themselves to get near her, totally forgetting that it was Victoria’s savvy that put the fledgling company on top.

No matter, she didn’t have to wait for very long, she gave Brooke just enough rope to hang herself with and when her darling daughters back was turned she swooped in for the kill and secured her future as CEO and President of Clothes Over Bros. The board meeting this morning was a mere formality, she had proven how incompetent Brooke was when it came to business matters and put the brakes on the Baby Brooke line ( children’s clothes, God help us all! ) and still managed to keep the Macy’s contract.

Yes, Victoria may have ended her marriage of twenty- one years, she may have alienated her only child by stealing the company right from under Brooke but she was finally getting what she has always wanted. Because for Victoria Davis life has never been about a loving family or caring friends. It’s not about right. It’s not about wrong.

“It’s about power.” she says as she steps off the elevator and makes her way to Conference Room A.

“Alright, if everyone is present then we can get…” Victoria stops short as she pushes open the door to the room the board meeting was being held in by the sight of her daughter Brooke swiveling around in Her chair at the head of the long table to face her.

“Good morning Mother, so nice of you to finally join us, “ her raspy voice saccharine sweet “please take a seat and I’ll catch you up on what you’ve missed.” She waves a hand towards a seat in the middle of the table, a spot that Victoria once dubbed the loser chair.

Every eye in the room is focused solely on Victoria, waiting for her to take that long journey down the left side of the room. As she settles into her crowded placement, unnecessarily elbowing the man on her left with as much grace as anyone in her predicament can muster, she takes notice that many of the boards Power Players are seated on Brooke’s right hand side, including a couple of faces she had hoped never to see again.

Rachel doesn’t even bother to hide her smirk at Victoria’s reaction to the new seating chart. Brooke throws her a wink and Rachel merely shakes her head at the other girls theatrics. Seriously Brooke, the old chair swivel move? You might as well have been stroking a fluffy white cat on your lap and announced ’Behold my evil walking death ray.’

“ Now, CeeCee if you would be so kind as to enlighten Victoria on what we have been discussing before she arrived.” Brooke addressed a woman in her early sixties impeccably dressed in a custom made B. Davis power suit.

“My pleasure dear,” she replies, before turning to address the room as a whole. Victoria had never liked CeeCee Van der Woodsen mainly for the simple fact that CeeCee adores Brooke and never fails to invite Brooke to her extremely exclusive brunches. “The board has recognized Victoria, all of the hard work that you have put into this company and we acknowledge that had it not been for your foresight then Clothes Over Bros and Davis Enterprises would not have reached the Forbs Top Ten list and remained in that spot for the past three quarters.”

At this open praise Victoria smiles and prepares to deliver her acceptance speech. Yet her face falls as CeeCee continues to speak.

“However, in light of your accomplishments we have decided that the future of this company will be better left in the hands of founder Brooke Davis.”

“What!” Victoria’s shout can be heard down the hall and several staff members heads shoot up and towards the closed conference door.

“In addition to the fabulous new children’s line,” CeeCee gushes, “Brooke and Miss. Gattina have come up with a rather brilliant new level for this company.” At this, Millicent steps forward, flipping over several poster boards to reveal pictures of B. Davis Cosmetics.

Victoria sits motionless in her crowded seat, seething with righteous indignation.

“I never approved of this new venture.” she says haughtily.

“Quite right Mother, you had nothing whatsoever to do with this new project and that is why my new silent partner has agreed to provide the start up capital.”

Tearing her eyes away from her ungrateful demon spawn, Victoria faces the man seated two chairs down from Brooke. “Charles.” she all but growls.

“Victoria, always a pleasure.” Charles Davis drawls and has the audacity to be enjoying her dethronement.

madame_diggory @ 2009-01-13T09:05:00

2009-01-13T14:44:19Z

Okay, so according to fanfiction.net I have reached my story upload maximum and I have decided to just combine the Brachel series and add it to my homepage. It's a femslash/friendship fic with a rating of T-M dealing with a bit of violence, strong lanuage and sexual sitations, mixed with that special Brachel humor.

Title:Keep Breathing Series
Rating:starting out as Teen
Fandom:One Tree Hill
Pairing: Brooke/Rachel
Summary:AU season six, Brooke trys in vain to deal with the attack on her own.
Disclaimer:OTH and the characters are the property of The CW and Mark Schwahn.

A/N: the title is from the Ingrid Michaelson song Keep Breathing

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the creators of OTH

The storm is coming

But I don’t mind

People are dying

I close my blinds

All that I know

Is I’m breathing now

She sat in her car for what seemed like hours staring blankly at the large white river-house. Drumming her fingers nervously against the steering-wheel Rachel mumbled her rehearsed speech over and over again in a desperate attempt to stall for more time. As the sun slowly sets over the port she notices every light in the house being turned on. “Weird” she thought, “but I guess she’s not concerned about the electric bill” Taking one last deep breath she ran a hand through her auburn hair, gives the rearview mirror a wink and steps out of her car.

Each step to the front door felt like one second closer to a death chamber, she paces in front of the door and before she loses what little bit of courage she has musture, she reaches out and abruptly knocks on the door. “Okay, just breathe Gattina. It’s Brooke, of course she’s gonna be pissed, what with the way you just bailed and stole over a hundred grand from her but it’s Brooke. She’ll forgive you, she’s your best friend. Right and friend is just fiend without the r, look how long she stayed mad at Peyton and they had been tight for years.” Rachel snorts as she remembers the total annihilation of that life long friendship over a freaking guy who was in no way good enough for Brooke, in Rachels’ opinion but then again she’s a bit bias. Nervously tugging on the cuff of her jacket she hears the sound of faint footsteps making their way to the door.

“Who’s … who is it?” a tentative voice asks. Rachel frowns at the unfamiliar tremor in the distinctive voice that she would recognize anywhere. She decides to set that tidbit aside for the moment and with as much bravado she can fake calls back,

“Hey Davis open up already I’m freezing my perfectly formed ta-ta’s off out here.” then she waits with baited breath as there’s a bit of shuffling on the other side of the door and in the next moment the sound of several dead bolt locks are being turned. “Curiouser and Curiouser” she thinks as she counts four in total. “Bet Vamptoria filled her head with thoughts of me coming back to steal her Manolo's , then again I’d need a forklift to get that collection out of….” her sardonic thoughts are interrupted as the door finally opens to reveal a very bruised and battered Brooke Davis. Gone was the dazzling smile and too cute for their own damn good dimples that haunts Rachels’ dreams. The once expressive greenish/hazel eyes are dull , somewhat glazed, puffy surrounded by multicolored bruises standing out against her once flawless skin.

Brooke waits in silence expecting Rachel to have the same reaction as everyone else has had at her appearance. Completely bored with this entire ordeal she mentally begins to list off the general census of emotion every other person she’s been close to seems to have done; first, is shock, because really she looks grotesque. Second, is concern, because ‘OMG you’re my friend and why didn’t you tell me’ and insert appropriate concerned statement here. Third is fear/impatience because ‘yeah yeah yeah hurry up and say you’re fine already so that I can get back to talking about myself and/or my life.’ She knows it’s a little unfair to think this way about her friends but really can’t they see that she is so far from being fine. A cool gust of wind blows off the river and Brooke unconsciously wraps her arms around her aching ribs the cold air making her bruises throb. It’s beginning to get dark out and her eyes sweep the shadows looking for an unseen phantom poised to attack. She’s just about to close the door and retreat into her brightly lit fortress of solitude when a low growl catches her off guard.

“WTF! Who did this to you.” Startled by this new and unknown reaction to her physical appearance as of late, she stumbles for the excuse that seems to satisfy the others. Pulling herself up to her full 5’5 height she tries to breeze by the question with a simple, “What? This, oh it’s nothing I fell down the stairs. The question is what are you doing here Rachel?”

“Don’t pull that bullshit with me Brooke, who did this to you? Was it that bartender? Did he hit you, I swear to God if he did this I’ll break every bone in his body!”

Brooke's jaw drops, she is completely unprepared for this confrontation. Leave it to Rachel Gattina to push her out of her comfort zone and demand the truth no matter how ugly it may be. Standing in the doorway with her fiery red hair blowing in the wind refusing to back down and totally ready to do battle with whomever hurt her friend Rachel looks like an avenging angel and in that moment it was the most beautiful sight Brooke has ever seen.

“It wasn’t… I told you I fell down the stairs and hit like every damn step on the way down. Besides Owen and I have been over for a while now so..”

“Don’t give me that crap Brooke Davis! I don’t know what kind of freaky funhouse you live in here but the last time I checked stairs don’t put handprints on one’s body!” Rachel huffed. Feeling cornered and coming to the realization that she wasn’t going to be able to skirt around the issue for much longer Brooke turns on her heel, retreating back into the house throwing a scathing look over her shoulder to her unexpected guest.

“What are you even doing here Rachel? I’d thought you’d be halfway to Heriontown by now, or did you take a detour to Cokewhore City.“ she hissed.

Rachel, undeterred by the insults, follows her into the house and slams the door. Taking a deep breath to calm the rage boiling inside of her at the sight of her Brooke, she looks around the house and notices the subtle differences made in the time that she has been gone. In addition to the four deadlocks on the front door there are also two more on the back door. All of the blinds are drawn and have been since early this afternoon. The couch seems to have been moved giving more room to move freely to an exit point. There’s a baseball bat leaning against the wall near the door and a lacrosse bat on the second landing. But with all of these little changes invisible to the naked eye the biggest change comes in the form of absolute terror rolling off of Brooke Davis in waves. She’s back to hugging herself, eyes not quite meeting Rachel's gaze and you could almost see the wheels in her head trying to spin this situation.

“Brooke” Rachel says softly, taking a step towards her friend. Brooke jumps slightly at the movement and Rachel's uncharacteristic tone.

“I’m fine. “ she mutters and Rachel can’t decide who she’s trying to convince. “I just f fell is all” she stutters and Brooke Davis never stutters. Closing her eyes she blinks back the tears threatening to fall.

“Brooke, please you are so far from fine that it’s not even funny. Tell me what happened.” Standing in front of her broken friend she brushes a lock of chocolate brown hair behind her ear and Brooke recoils from the contact. Suddenly angry Brooke pushes past Rachel and heads for the stairs.

“Look I told you what happened, don’t get mad at me if you’re too slow to follow the conversation.” She’s scared and she wants to lash out, she’s hurt and she wants to hurt someone in return. She’s been lying to her friends for days and she wants someone to call her on it but they don’t. They think that if given the time she’ll work it out on her own and will share when she’s ready. But they’re wrong, she doesn’t want to be left to figure this out on her own because no matter what she does she can’t wrap her mind around what has happened to her. She can’t fathom how another human being can hurt someone in this manner and she can’t stop blaming herself for not being able to properly defend herself.

“I’m tired I’m going to bed, “ she says as she stomps off up the stairs “ try not to pinch the silver while I’m asleep!”

“Careful on those stairs, wouldn’t want you to fall and get another handprint on your fat ass.”

Brooke stops and whirls around, she opens her mouth as if ready to lay into Rachel. Rachel holds her breath in anticipation but the words never come. Brooke heaves a deep sigh before turning back around.

“If your staying the night you can sleep in your old room,” she says as she ascends the stairs “ and don’t forget to lock the doors.”

Rachel stands alone in the living room fuming, “Just what the Hell did I miss.”

“This is my life, I’m taking a stand!” she nods her head in the affirmative as she looks over the dark store. Turning towards the door she barely has time to scream as a dark figure leaps out of the shadows and forces her to step back. His hand connects with her face, knocking her back and into the floor display. She hit’s the ground hard and before she can regain her senses he’s on top of her pounding fiercely into her face and upper body. Her head ricochets off of the hardwood floor and there is a distinct ringing in her ears, she chokes on her own blood and can hear the sound of his panting as he grows tired from hitting her. She’s relieved when he finally stops and the sounds of him smashing open the cash register echo throughout the room. He’s fumbling around in the dark, shoving clothes into a sack so she uses his distraction to roll over onto her side and slowly inch her way to the door.

In the blink of an eye he’s on her again, knees pressing into the back of her thighs, arms pinning her shoulders to the ground.

“Uh uh, sweetness just where do you think you’re going huh?” grinding his pelvis into her backside, Brooke cringes. “Party’s not over yet.” His breath is hot and putrid against her cheek and all she can do is let out a desperate sob.

“Please, don’t… just take the money, please don’t..” her pleas go unanswered as the sound of him fiddling with his belt rings out. Everything hurts and she can barely breathe, his hand travels between her legs and she uses her last reserve of energy to try and buck him off of her. Her anguished pleas and his cackling laughter mixes into the air.

Jut when she resigns herself to the inevitable the grasp on her arms slacken, the large hands with the bruising grip morphs into small soft hands that are gently soothing away the pain. She’s enveloped into a warm embrace and someone is whispering reassuring words into her ear. And for the first time since the attack Brooke feels safe.

Rachel lies in bed with her battered friend calming her from the horrific nightmare. As Brooke's whimpering slowly dies down Rachel vows to herself that she will get to the bottom of this and she won’t leave Brooke's side until she’s fully healed.

I want to change the world

Instead I sleep

I want to believe in more

Than you and me

But all that I know is I’m breathing

All I can do is keep breathing

All we can do is keep breathing, now

The distant sound of a foghorn pierces the early morning noises of the harbor. Rachel rubs her thumb in soothing circles over the bruises on Brookes hip. She knows Brooke is awake even with her back pressed to Rachel’s chest. About ten minutes ago her breathing pattern changed from deep and steady to shallow and quick but she makes no move to acknowledge this until Brooke speaks. Ten hours ago while she was unpacking her suitcase in her old room she wondered just when the hell did Brooke start going to bed at eight o’clock when she heard distressing noises coming from across the hall. Peeking into the brightly lit bedroom she spotted Brooke asleep on her big bed in the throes of a nightmare. The sight of the beautiful brunettes tear stained face and wounded cries for help spurs her into action and the next thing she knows, Rachel is on the bed with a trembling Brooke in her arms begging an unknown assailant to just ‘take the money and leave.’

Rachel’s heart broke as the desperate sobs wracked Brooke’s small frame and she spent the rest of the night piecing together in her mind what must have happened.

“I have to get up soon” the raspy voice jerks her out of those disturbing thoughts. For a moment Rachel doesn’t say anything, since Brooke hasn’t pushed her hand away from their gentle ministrations she continues the soft caress. “Millicent isn’t here so I’ve got to open up the store.” She still doesn’t move so Rachel takes this as an opportunity to delve deeper into this mystery.

“Do you want some help today since your short-handed?” she casually offers and she holds her breath when Brooke suddenly turns around to face her. She doesn’t answer right away, studying Rachel’s face searching for some sort of deception. Rachel puts on her best poker face and tries to hide her churning emotions under Brooke’s penetrating stare.

“You want to help out at the store?” she asks, incredously. Rachel rolls her eyes at Brooke’s raised eyebrow.

“Why is that such a shock, who was it that slaved away every day for nearly two months helping you prepare for the very first store opening, huh?”

“That’s right, you were the one standing next to me when all my dreams came true.” She stares in wonder at her red headed friend thinking back on that glorious day years ago when the very first Clothes Over Bros store officially opened for business. They had done well that day, selling out of almost all of the high end pieces Victoria boasted, but all that mattered to Brooke was at the end of the night when Rachel smiling face ( a real smile, not a smirk ) pulled her into a hug and whispered how proud she was of her. Brooke sank into the embrace, her heart near bursting with happiness. After a while she reluctantly pulled back to see an emotionally open Rachel smiling softly at her, their faces inches apart. The loud clearing of a throat brought them back to their senses and they stepped back to see Victoria glaring at Rachel. Brooke was taken aback by that because Rachel seemed to be the only one of her friends that Victoria has ever seem to approve of, mainly because of her families wealth and social standing. Come to think of it, ever since that night Rachel’s standing in Victoria’s good graces slowly began to deteriorate. She didn’t pick up on it right away, too dazzled by what her mother was dangling in front of her face, but that was the day when Victoria launched her diabolical campaign to get rid of the last of Brooke’s close friends.

She is suddenly very aware of how their bodies are entwined and how she is not in the least bit uncomfortable in their current position. It feels right to have Rachel’s arms wrapped tight around her waist and she feels that if there is one person who she could talk to without the fear of being judged, pitied, or made to feel like some sort of disgusting science project it’s probably the person lying next to her. She so desperately wants to open up but there is a traffic jam from her brain to her mouth and she can’t formulate the right words.

Rachel waits patiently as Brooke tries to gather her thoughts, she can see the frustration in her friends face when the words stall on her tongue. She has a vague idea about what may have happened but she needs to hear the words from Brooke in order to formulate a plan on how to help her friend. That comment about being there when her dreams came true caught Rachel off guard and has her wishing for things she knows will never be possible. At the very least she will earn back her friendship and all of the trust that Brooke has instilled in her over the years, starting with this one huge obstacle. Let is never be said that Rachel Gattina didn’t enjoy a challenge.

“How about I make us some breakfast?” baby steps Gattina. Brooke’s eyes light up like a child.

“Chocolate chip pancakes? And sunny-side up eggs extra running with bacon on the side and hash browns?” Rachel pretends to be put out by this laborious request.

“Sure, whatever fatass but don’t complain to me when your ass is too big to fit through the door.” she leans over and plants a quick kiss on Brooke’s nose before climbing out of bed and heading for the door. Just as she’s stepping out into the hallway she hears a faint, “Thanks skank.” and continues to the kitchen.

All we can do is keep breathing

All we can do is keep breathing

Even though it’s the same layout and design as every other C/B store in the franchise the Tree Hill location has a different feel then all the others. Maybe it was simply because this was the first time that she managed to pull one over on Victoria and create a successful endeavor despite Victoria’s protest that a Tree Hill location was a waste of time, money and resources. Brooke used to feel proud when she walked through the door , she used to wake up every morning excited about standing behind a counter for hours or watching soap operas on the TV. when Jaime stopped by but now as she unlocks the front door and punches in the code on the security panel (yeah where the hell was that three days ago) her insides turn ice cold, she swallows back the bile rising in her throat as images of that night flashes before her eyes.

Rachel watches as Brooke’s body stiffens as she walks into the store. Her hand shake as she reaches for the security panel and she takes several deep breathes in order to calm her nerves. ‘So this is where it happened’ she thinks looking around to see nothing out of the usual. This morning while Brooke was in the shower Haley called to remind Brooke that she was dropping off Jaime around lunch time and if the tutor mom was surprised by who answered Brooke’s phone then she was definitely taken aback when Rachel ripped into her for not getting to the bottom of this shit.

“How in the Hell can you people claim to be her best friends, her family and not lift a finger to help her!” Rachel silently fumed. She was pacing the kitchen desperately trying to keep her voice down in case Brooke overhears her.

“Look Rachel,” Haley spat over the phone “ all I know is that Peyton said she fell down the stairs and I didn’t see her until yesterday. Both she and Peyton has assured us over and over again that she is fine and I…”

“Fine? She’s not Fucking fine! She didn’t fall down the Fucking stairs! Any short bus seat warmer could tell you that she’s drowning yet you all swallow that lame ass excuse. Idiots!”

“Well last time I checked Rachel you weren’t about to win the BFF award of the year either more like about to get tossed in jail for grand larceny and impersonating a human being.” As much as she tries not to let it Haley’s words cut deep. She knows what she did was shitty but she’s not about to let Haley off the hook about Brooke.

“Whatever tutor bitch, I don’t have time to argue with your incompetent ass, Brooke’s getting out of the shower and we need to get to the store to open up for the day.”

“Yeah, well just remember that the money goes into the cash register and not your purse!” and with that Haley hangs up leaving Rachel to ponder a way to reach through the phone lines and strangle someone.

Rachel watches Brooke as she stares at a spot on the floor near the front of the store, she’s silent for what seems like an eternity and Rachel cannot understand how someone who feels the need to share just about every outrageous thought that enters her mind has trouble talking about anything dealing with real emotions. Brooke kneels down and waves her had over a section of the floor that looks as though it has been scrubbed clean with a harsh cleanser. Rachel squats down next to her.

“What happened here Brooke?” she asks softly, and for a fraction of a second Brooke considers lying but something in Rachel’s tone tells her it would be futile because she already knows but simply wants a confirmation.

Taking a deep breath Brooke launches into the twisted tale of how her mother threatened to take away the company that she has poured her heart and soul into and what happened three nights ago in this very room. Rachel listens intently, cursing Victoria in all the right places and squeezing Brooke’s hand when she needs the strength to continue. She is overcome in a fit of sobs when she gets to the part where the burglar has her pinned to the floor and stops for ten excruciating minutes before she is able to speak again. Rachel heaves a sigh of relief at hearing that a passing fire truck and sirens interrupted the bastard before he could take things further. Rachel is appalled to hear how Brooke dragged her broken body home to an empty house and how she has chosen to deal with this attack.

“I still say that you should have called the cops.”

“What difference would it have made? He was wearing gloves and a ski mask and he didn’t…. you know, so there wasn’t any physical evidence. Besides, Voldemortoria would have just used this as an excuse that the Tree Hill store was a bad idea from the beginning.” Knowing that she had a point Rachel still didn’t like the idea of this nutcase running loose out there or the fact that he may come back to finish the job, so to speak.

“Okay, one thing at a time, first we need to call George, CeeCee, Lauren and any other board member that may be on our side and toss a wrench in She Who Must Not Be Named’s plans. Next, we’ll hire a security guard and extra help around here. And lastly, I know you’re probably going to object but you need to see a doctor to make sure there’s no permanent damage done to your writs and it’ll be a idea to see a shrink as well..” Brooke opens her mouth to protest but Rachel quickly silences her.

“Seriously Brooke, if you say you’re fine one more time I’m gonna scream.”

“I may not be 100 percent,” Brooke concedes “but I’m dealing with this.”

“Please, going to the gun range with Big Bad Mama Deb is not healthy. Bottling up all of your anger is how people develop drug habits, trust me.” Brooke considers her options of wallowing in the dark or fighting her way back towards the light and with a firm nod Rachel is pulling her into a much needed hug.

“It’ll be rough Brookie but I’m here for you.”

All we can do is keep breathing

All we can do is keep breathing, now

a/n: I had another part of this story that explained where Rachel has been and why she chose now to return to Tree Hill but it would have made this story too long and would have overshadowed what Brooke was going through. But for those of you who are wondering, I’d written a sidebar about Rachel going to that party in South Beach (I think ) and while she was at the party some girl overdosed in the bathroom and everyone just kind of left her there. Rachel watches the girl die and starts to think was there to help her when she had almost died. So she leaves Florida, checks into rehab and in her therapy sessions makes amends with her family and then goes to make amends with Brooke. That was the speech she was practicing in the car but never got to say because she chose to put Brooke’s issues ahead of her own.

madame_diggory @ 2009-01-11T09:24:00

2009-01-11T14:39:00Z

Because I can't sleep after a very long shift at work, I have devised a list of my favorite 80's movies. If you're as big of a movie-freak as I am drop me a line and we'll discuss the awesomeness of wearing one silver beaded glove and legwarmers.

1. Weird Science
2. Burglar
3. Jumping Jack Flash
4. Better Off Dead
5. Creepshow 1 & 2
6. Sleepaway Camp
7. The Last Dragon
8. Big
9. Short Circuit
10. Spaceballs
11. Who's That Girl
12. Desperately Seeking Susan
13. Flashdance
14. For Keeps
15. Pretty In Pink
16. Predator
17. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
18. Teen Witch
19. Footloose
20. Labyrinth