[thenewpub]
Title: What A Lovely Way To Burn
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: Beginning is easy - Continuing is hard. -- Japanese Proverb
Characters: Eliot Spencer/Fiona Glenane
Rating: M
Words: 477
Disclaimer: No claim on Leverage or Burn Notice or any of their characters. Just for fun.
“I'm not gonna keep doin' this with you, Fi,” Eliot barked.
“Keep doing what?” She asked. “You're the one that came in here and threw me on the bed to-”
He set a glare on her as he pulled his hair back in a tie. “Not that. This. You...taking off whenever he calls you.”
Fiona rolled her eyes and leaned her up in her elbow. “It's work, Eliot. I don't hold it against you when Nate calls and whisks you off to God knows where.”
Eliot's brow popped up at that. “Actually, yeah. You do. You bitch and moan that I never take time for you.” He buckled the belt over his jeans.
“Oh for the love of...” Fiona hopped up and started getting her clothes on as well. “You're such a cry baby sometimes.”
“Just go. Go run off to Michael.”
She spun around on him, her dress already coming down over her head. “You go on and on with your little tirade that I give more of myself to Michael and what he needs than you, but you're the one I'm with. Not him.”
“Yeah?” He asked, butting up his shirt. “That your choice or his?”
Fi's eyes narrowed more, and she picked up her heels as she stormed past him, letting her shoulder slam into him as she did. Hard. “For such a tough guy, you really act like a woman sometimes,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “If this is so horrible for you, don't bother coming down anymore.”
“Damnit, Fi.” He grabbed her by the upper arm, but she was quick to throw a fist at his face. He caught her before the hit connected, and spun her around to lock her arms behind her back. Both were breathing hard, pissed off.
“Let go of me!”
“Why do you always make this so damn hard?” He leaned into her ear to hiss.
“Why do you?” She hissed back, yanking her ear away from his lips. She brought her heel up and slammed it down into his shin, then turned out of his hold. “Touch me again and my foot lands between your legs,” she snapped. She turned and started to stalk out the door.
“Fiona,” he called. He started to walk after her, but she didn't stop. “Fi.”
“You'll have to work harder than that,” she said, slamming the door shut behind herself.
Eliot turned and kicked the chair nearby, then fell into it. He leaned his arms to his knees and glared at the door Fiona had just taken her exit from. Nothing with that woman was easy, but he knew he didn't make it any easier. Not that he wanted to actually admit it to her.
Title: Forever May You Run
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. --Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Characters: Gretchen Sinclair
Rating: T
Words: 482
Disclaimer: Gretchen belongs to me.
She knew she shouldn't go to work in a bar, not when she didn't drink anymore, but the appeal of the job had been too great for her. A chance to make better money than what she was making, and a chance to perform one night a week. Even if it was just a couple of songs, it was something. Before the idea was put into her head she had never put a lot of thought into performing, she just liked to play. After the seed was planted it was hard to make it go away. Her fingers itched and burned for it. There was a peace that came over her like none other when she played, and if that could be something she could feed herself off of, all the better.
She could do it. She could turn the past off and work in a bar and not feel the temptation.
It was three weeks. Three weeks of working there and something had already started to come over her. It was good, it was better than good. She was starting to feel more clear than she had in...maybe forever. And it had nothing to do with a substance, or a person, it just her. It was life. She was starting to feel more than ever that she could handle life.
She was high on the feeling, and she wanted to feel even more free. So when the next full moon came around only days later, she decided she wasn't going to restrain herself. She wasn't going to hold herself back. She was on the cusp of something beautiful and open, and she couldn't see anything but having more. The addict in her was still alive clearly.
Gretchen ran free that night. Just her and the wind and the wild. She was the wild. She went into that other state where she was someone else, something else, and her human life was just a string connected to the world. Out there...on all four...there was no string to be found. It was the best freedom of all, and it was one she would never be able to turn from completely.
When she woke up the next morning, her brain filled with the fog of changing back, she tried to piece it all together. She tried to remember what she had done and where she had been. Her eyes closed. She was full. She was full in a way only one thing could make her. She hated that feeling.
She crawled onto her hands and knees and vomited in the nearby bushes, then wiped her chin in the grass. All of that cheer that had been running through her, the certainty that things were finally going her way, was gone.
She had been at the beginning of something, but that's all it was. A beginning. She still had such a long way to go.
Title: It's A Brand New Day
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: brand new day
Characters: Gretchen Sinclair
Rating: T
Words: 494
Disclaimer: Gretchen belongs to me. Jeff as mentioned belongs to gwape.
The first thing that Gretchen did was find the clothes she had stashed nearby. Her night out had been planned, so she had taken them off and left them neatly behind a bush. Her hands shook as she slipped into the jeans and t-shirt, then she put her feet in her sandals and started to walk back towards her apartment.
Her arms were tight around her chest as she walked, but she stopped for a moment to let the cool breeze wash over her. She breathed it in, the feeling crisp in her nose and throat. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She wiped her face and picked up the phone to glance at the caller ID. It was her brother. Of course.
“Hey Jeff,” she answered. She couldn't help the smile that curled her lips just from the sound of his voice. “Funny,” she smirked. “Yeah, I'm fine. You?” Her hand brushed through her hair and she started for home again. She knew Jeff was fine, he was always fine. He wasn't reckless. Jeff had spent the night before locked up, unlike her. He spent every full moon locked up. “No, me too,” she nodded. He wanted to know if she had stayed safe, if she had stayed in. It wasn't the first lie she had fed him. She was actually really good at it.
“Can we catch up later?” She asked. She loved Jeff. She loved Jeff more than she loved anyone, but she just wasn't in the mood to talk to him. “I promise, I'm fine...yeah, tomorrow.” By then maybe she'd have better excuses for herself. “Bye Jeffy,” she said softly before disconnecting.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and sat down on a nearby bench. She hadn't even made it home yet. Her head dropped into her hands and she just focused on breathing again. She knew that Jeff would be there and support her, but that part of themselves....that was something they didn't talk about much. Not beyond the surface.
She couldn't. She couldn't ask him how she was supposed to find that better place when that would always be inside of her. She couldn't ask, because he had already spent most of their lives blaming himself for it being a part of her. It was his fault when you got right down to it, yes, but she didn't blame him. You can't blame a little boy for horsing around and biting his sister before he even knew what was inside of him.
As much as she wanted his guidance, as much as she wanted to talk to him and open up, she knew it would end up opening up too many other things as well. That wasn't what she wanted. She just wanted....
Well, that's what she was figuring out. And in the end she had to do it on her own, without her big brother to catch her.
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: Beginning is easy - Continuing is hard. -- Japanese Proverb
Characters: Eliot Spencer/Fiona Glenane
Rating: M
Words: 477
Disclaimer: No claim on Leverage or Burn Notice or any of their characters. Just for fun.
“I'm not gonna keep doin' this with you, Fi,” Eliot barked.
“Keep doing what?” She asked. “You're the one that came in here and threw me on the bed to-”
He set a glare on her as he pulled his hair back in a tie. “Not that. This. You...taking off whenever he calls you.”
Fiona rolled her eyes and leaned her up in her elbow. “It's work, Eliot. I don't hold it against you when Nate calls and whisks you off to God knows where.”
Eliot's brow popped up at that. “Actually, yeah. You do. You bitch and moan that I never take time for you.” He buckled the belt over his jeans.
“Oh for the love of...” Fiona hopped up and started getting her clothes on as well. “You're such a cry baby sometimes.”
“Just go. Go run off to Michael.”
She spun around on him, her dress already coming down over her head. “You go on and on with your little tirade that I give more of myself to Michael and what he needs than you, but you're the one I'm with. Not him.”
“Yeah?” He asked, butting up his shirt. “That your choice or his?”
Fi's eyes narrowed more, and she picked up her heels as she stormed past him, letting her shoulder slam into him as she did. Hard. “For such a tough guy, you really act like a woman sometimes,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “If this is so horrible for you, don't bother coming down anymore.”
“Damnit, Fi.” He grabbed her by the upper arm, but she was quick to throw a fist at his face. He caught her before the hit connected, and spun her around to lock her arms behind her back. Both were breathing hard, pissed off.
“Let go of me!”
“Why do you always make this so damn hard?” He leaned into her ear to hiss.
“Why do you?” She hissed back, yanking her ear away from his lips. She brought her heel up and slammed it down into his shin, then turned out of his hold. “Touch me again and my foot lands between your legs,” she snapped. She turned and started to stalk out the door.
“Fiona,” he called. He started to walk after her, but she didn't stop. “Fi.”
“You'll have to work harder than that,” she said, slamming the door shut behind herself.
Eliot turned and kicked the chair nearby, then fell into it. He leaned his arms to his knees and glared at the door Fiona had just taken her exit from. Nothing with that woman was easy, but he knew he didn't make it any easier. Not that he wanted to actually admit it to her.
Title: Forever May You Run
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. --Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Characters: Gretchen Sinclair
Rating: T
Words: 482
Disclaimer: Gretchen belongs to me.
She knew she shouldn't go to work in a bar, not when she didn't drink anymore, but the appeal of the job had been too great for her. A chance to make better money than what she was making, and a chance to perform one night a week. Even if it was just a couple of songs, it was something. Before the idea was put into her head she had never put a lot of thought into performing, she just liked to play. After the seed was planted it was hard to make it go away. Her fingers itched and burned for it. There was a peace that came over her like none other when she played, and if that could be something she could feed herself off of, all the better.
She could do it. She could turn the past off and work in a bar and not feel the temptation.
It was three weeks. Three weeks of working there and something had already started to come over her. It was good, it was better than good. She was starting to feel more clear than she had in...maybe forever. And it had nothing to do with a substance, or a person, it just her. It was life. She was starting to feel more than ever that she could handle life.
She was high on the feeling, and she wanted to feel even more free. So when the next full moon came around only days later, she decided she wasn't going to restrain herself. She wasn't going to hold herself back. She was on the cusp of something beautiful and open, and she couldn't see anything but having more. The addict in her was still alive clearly.
Gretchen ran free that night. Just her and the wind and the wild. She was the wild. She went into that other state where she was someone else, something else, and her human life was just a string connected to the world. Out there...on all four...there was no string to be found. It was the best freedom of all, and it was one she would never be able to turn from completely.
When she woke up the next morning, her brain filled with the fog of changing back, she tried to piece it all together. She tried to remember what she had done and where she had been. Her eyes closed. She was full. She was full in a way only one thing could make her. She hated that feeling.
She crawled onto her hands and knees and vomited in the nearby bushes, then wiped her chin in the grass. All of that cheer that had been running through her, the certainty that things were finally going her way, was gone.
She had been at the beginning of something, but that's all it was. A beginning. She still had such a long way to go.
Title: It's A Brand New Day
Author: defy_n_gravity
Prompt: thenewpub: brand new day
Characters: Gretchen Sinclair
Rating: T
Words: 494
Disclaimer: Gretchen belongs to me. Jeff as mentioned belongs to gwape.
The first thing that Gretchen did was find the clothes she had stashed nearby. Her night out had been planned, so she had taken them off and left them neatly behind a bush. Her hands shook as she slipped into the jeans and t-shirt, then she put her feet in her sandals and started to walk back towards her apartment.
Her arms were tight around her chest as she walked, but she stopped for a moment to let the cool breeze wash over her. She breathed it in, the feeling crisp in her nose and throat. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She wiped her face and picked up the phone to glance at the caller ID. It was her brother. Of course.
“Hey Jeff,” she answered. She couldn't help the smile that curled her lips just from the sound of his voice. “Funny,” she smirked. “Yeah, I'm fine. You?” Her hand brushed through her hair and she started for home again. She knew Jeff was fine, he was always fine. He wasn't reckless. Jeff had spent the night before locked up, unlike her. He spent every full moon locked up. “No, me too,” she nodded. He wanted to know if she had stayed safe, if she had stayed in. It wasn't the first lie she had fed him. She was actually really good at it.
“Can we catch up later?” She asked. She loved Jeff. She loved Jeff more than she loved anyone, but she just wasn't in the mood to talk to him. “I promise, I'm fine...yeah, tomorrow.” By then maybe she'd have better excuses for herself. “Bye Jeffy,” she said softly before disconnecting.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and sat down on a nearby bench. She hadn't even made it home yet. Her head dropped into her hands and she just focused on breathing again. She knew that Jeff would be there and support her, but that part of themselves....that was something they didn't talk about much. Not beyond the surface.
She couldn't. She couldn't ask him how she was supposed to find that better place when that would always be inside of her. She couldn't ask, because he had already spent most of their lives blaming himself for it being a part of her. It was his fault when you got right down to it, yes, but she didn't blame him. You can't blame a little boy for horsing around and biting his sister before he even knew what was inside of him.
As much as she wanted his guidance, as much as she wanted to talk to him and open up, she knew it would end up opening up too many other things as well. That wasn't what she wanted. She just wanted....
Well, that's what she was figuring out. And in the end she had to do it on her own, without her big brother to catch her.