Surrounded by Midnight
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Summary
Beth rubs at her face, fighting off a yawn as she links her fingers loosely together, stretching her arms high above her head, wincing when she hears the crack that elicits from her lower back. She blinks rapidly in an effort to keep her eyes open, but she’s starting to feel like that may be a losing battle.
She tips her body forward, pushing past the mess of paperwork, random food and drink, and her open laptop on the coffee table to reach for her phone and check the time.
Quarter past two in the morning.
And wasn’t there some saying...
Something about nothing good ever happening after midnight...
Series
- Part 1 of Surrounded by Midnight
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Summary
The music’s loud, too fucking loud, the bass of whatever pop song Mike’s got blaring from the bar speakers reverberating off the walls and setting Rio’s teeth on edge.
It don’t help that he’s already tense from the fact that he’s currently laid out on top of the bar that he should be tending, the other bartender working tonight (and the reason he’s up here to begin with) leaning over him.
She’s biting back a grin, eyes practically glowing with amusement as they slowly travel over the length of him, clearly reveling in her handiwork.
An it’s his fault really, for taking that bet in the first place. It had been a stupid fucking bet and he aint surprised he lost, that's on him.
But Elizabeth made him stupid.
Series
- Part 2 of Surrounded by Midnight
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Summary
Beth struggles to keep her annoyance in check as she watches the red sauce and noodles that Dean just smeared into his shirt slowly drip down and roll onto the dining room carpet.
She’s about to send the kids to their rooms and ask him just what the hell is the matter with him when her phone vibrates on the table, pulling her attention away.
Her eyes widen a fraction of an inch as the contact name flashes across her screen and then she’s glancing up at Dean again.
He has a faint, almost manic, smile on his face as he lifts his beer bottle to his mouth and takes a long pull.
Her eyes dart over to the kids and then back to him before she announces, “I have to step out real quick. I’ll be right back.”
Dean shows no outward reaction and the kids just look confused, but she figures she can deal with all of that when she comes back.
What—or rather who—is currently waiting for her outside is more pressing at the moment.
He’s out front in his car—which is...new.
And really that should’ve been her first red flag.
-AKA-
a 2x12 episode rewrite
Series
- Part 3 of Surrounded by Midnight
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Summary
There’s always been this intense sort of...pleasure in pulling an event off seamlessly.
The step by step planning, the organizing, the coordinating down to the minute detail—all flowing together and converging in a flawless finish.
The almost euphoric feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction in the end—Beth could ride that high, giddy and the good kind of exhausted, for hours afterward.
The payoff was almost better than sex.
Well, better than the sex she was having before anyway.
Now...
Well, now it tends to be split fifty/fifty.
Her mind briefly flits to the memory of Rio bending her over the couch in one of the V.I.P rooms at Sweet P’s last night, before dropping to his knees behind her and...
Okay, so maybe it was more like seventy/thirty.
-AKA-
A season four canon divergence fic – set in an imaginary land where Brio quit fighting and kept fucking after that bookcase fingerbang and Beth is still campaigning for her council seat.
Series
- Part 4 of Surrounded by Midnight
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Summary
It’s the end of August and warm streaks of sun can be felt everywhere, the last days of summer marking the air crisp and warm. There is an abundance of white fluffy clouds scattered throughout the sky, offering just enough coverage to kick up a nice gentle breeze and make this the perfect day of weather—
And Beth wants to scream.
She wants to throw her head back and rage against the sky until it trembles from her wrath.
Until the clouds turn dark and the sun dims a crimson red and the heavens open up and pour down all the misery she’s currently harboring in her chest.
Barring such a natural disaster, she’d at least settle for a bat.
Or a sledgehammer.
And really, weren't older people always insisting that these were the best years of your life?
Because so far she has not been impressed.
Even if her boyfriend of two years had just proposed.
Actually, especially because her boyfriend of two years had just proposed.
Series
- Part 5 of Surrounded by Midnight