Special Delivery

[Black Widow]

Hellfire — The Red King and White Queen’s suite

After they were done talking about the different ways their respective ‘meetings’ had gone, Alek seemed very relieved. It couldn’t have been that he doubted she would go through with the divorce, or that Cameron would back out. Haleigh had reassured him before that she was going to be divorced or become a widow. Was it that he worried about how she would receive the news about Lily?

The thing was, Haleigh had been raised by women that hated her, none more acutely than her own mother. Haleigh knew intimately that there was nothing worse than being made to feel unwanted. She’d had a few years with her dad, the man who’d created her, the man who’d wanted her to exist. Then Malice struck him down, and the rest of her childhood had been hell. She could not do that to Carolina or Lily or any children that might end up here, no matter what combination of parents they had.

So him being Lily’s father was a fact she fine with. Fucking Ava, though, was not all that acceptable, and she blurted out that she didn’t want him to. He told her he didn’t want Ava, which was a good start. She didn’t push the issue right away. He told her wanted her, right now, and his lips on her neck were just about all it took to sway her. It didn’t matter that she’d had him today already. A few hours ago or a few minutes ago, it didn’t matter. Her desire for him seemed insatiable, but he could apparently match her in that aspect.

She kissed him, and pulled off her sweater, smirking as she watched his face. His hands were on her, and his mouth, and she felt her way down to let him out of the front of his pants. The feel of him in her hand, the way his lips felt on her skin, was more than enough to get her aroused. She remarked with wicked delight that he was hard, and told him the effect it had on her, bringing his hand between her legs. He told her that all he ever wanted was her, and despite knowing full well that men would say anything and everything while having sex, her heart skipped a beat at hearing it. She stroked the length of him in her hand, biting her lip in anticipation, and then he said he wanted to taste her.

“Oh you can have whatever you want.”

She replied with a grin. She laid back against the arm of the sofa, throwing one leg over the back cushions. He got started and she was enjoying it, except for the fact that he disappeared behind the swell of her belly. She manifested a small camera and set it on the coffee table, pushing it down towards her hips and angling it just right. His mouth found her center and she drew in a sharp breath.

“Alek…”

She said, her head dropping back as her eyes closed. She watched him through the lens of the camera, her fingers gently raking his hair back and out of the way. Oh yes, this was going on the greatest hits playlist for sure.

“Oh God, please,”

She said when his fingers penetrated her.

“Alek, please,”

She added, prepared to beg him for more, but the things he was doing to her were too much already. She shuddered hard with pleasure, moaning loudly when she came. She opened her eyes, looking up at him as he stood and shed his clothes. She pushed herself up towards him, the movement made awkward by the shape of her pregnant body. She was reaching for him when he stooped to scoop her up. She smiled at the demonstration of his strength, how easily he carried her, as if she was weightless. She felt another contraction, not unusual after an orgasm lately. She was too turned on to care about it at the moment.

Her arms went around his neck as she kissed him again, a little more aggressively than before. She loved that she didn’t need to worry about being egregiously careful with him, that she wasn’t going to break him accidentally. It was freeing, for a woman who could easily crush a man’s skull between her thighs. She could hardly wait until he could stop trying to be careful with her. The contraction was over by the time he lowered her onto the bed, and she immediately turned away from him, smirking over her shoulder at him as she got to her hands and knees. The camera reappeared on the nightstand, rotating to capture the change of scenery. She pushed herself back onto him quickly, and stopped when she had him all. She moaned again at that, squeezing him within her. After a moment she began to move again, rocking back and forth.

“God, you feel so fucking good. I— I’m gonna come again!”

She exclaimed, just a split second before she felt the explosion.

 

[Prophet]

Hellfire Mansion - The White Wing

Elena: "Come sit down, and let's talk then."

The two of them moved from the hall to a sitting room adjacent to both Carolina and Elena's bedroom, as they sat down. Part of him was nervous, but also relieved. They had finally cut through all the bullshit. They needed to have an honest conversation. They couldn't afford to do this hot and cold dance they were doing for much longer.

Elena: "First, you will acknowledge Carolina legally as your daughter. I want there to be no question in anyone's m ind on that fact. I don't want Logan holding some...trump card over Carolina for the rest of their lives. He must not be deemed to have a precedence over her."

The White King crossed his left leg, his ankle resting above his right knee as he gave her a smirk of satisfaction. Nuts and bolts were kind of his thing.

"It was all taken care of in the divorce papers I just signed. We may not like each other very much right now, but Haleigh and I have been able to agree on one thing - that our kids deserved better than what we were given. Carolina. Logan. Rebekah. All will be treated as equals. I'd have filed the paperwork to give her my last name already if I didn't think you'd kill me for it..."

Elena: "IF Carolina agrees, we will stay here for the first half of the school year, and see how things go. I will not take her away from her school and her friends unless she is okay with it. My initial condition on coming here stands: If anyone here makes her feel less, hurt, says unkind words to her, gives her nasty looks, we will go home immediately."

It felt like a get out of jail free clause with no responsibility or accountability on her end whatsoever, and also something that seemed impossible for him to control, but if that's what it took, he'd simply agree with an accentuated period.

"If anyone gives her even a breath of trouble I will kill them, El. They know that. And it will not be a problem."

Elena: "And Carolina and I will have the freedom to go where we please. if we want to go home for a visit, we will go. And my father will have free access to come here whenever he might wish to see Carolina. I won't have us be prisoners here."

He could only imagine the looks Elena's father might give him while staying at Hellfire, but then again, his daughter had been in deep. If the bastard was going to judge him, he was going to have look at his daughter a little more honestly thank he'd like to. Still, it was more than easy of a stipulation to agree to.

"Done."

Elena: "Fourth, you and I will find an appropriate school for Carolin to attend while she is here. I won't have her bullied by spoiled elitist bitches. Or turn into some trust fund snob. And there will be no talk of sending her to boarding school. Those places are worse than juvenile detention."

Cameron laughed a bit and rolled his eyes.

"Fine...but I'm not going to send her to some place where they get graded by fucking stickers. She deserves the best education money can buy. And kids are assholes no matter where they go to school. Especially in New York. She's not a porcelain doll. She's an Estrada King."

Elena: "That's all I can think of right now, but I reserve the right to add more to the list at a later time."

He was silent for a few moments. Cameron didn't like how cerebral and operational this all had been. He had been looking for something from Elena that he just wasn't getting despite her wrapping her legs around him thirty minutes ago in his study. That was the heat of the moment kind of thing. It wasn't reality. Mostly, he just didn't like the situation as a whole. He didn't want this to be transactional. They were raising a living and breathing human being, and as such, their relationship had to be just as alive, whatever it ended up looking like.

"Look, you can add whatever you want to however many lists you want, Elena. I'll do them. But..I don't want to do this if it's treated like some kind of...obligation to you. You wanted me to say how I felt, and I did. But I didn't say everything..."

Leaning back in his chair, he wondered if what he was about to say would implode things. But again, they had a child together. Elena valued honesty. He had to get some things off his chest. He needed to FEEL her again. And not just in a sexual way. He knew she loved him, and he knew she was actively trying to make decisions with her brain instead of her heart. He was too. But there was emotion involved and to ignore that would just create problems down the line. So he continued.

"I can't do this if i'm going to be graded all the time. I just can't. King I may be, but I'm still human. I've never been a father. I'm going to fuck up in a lot of ways..and so are you. Because that is just the nature of having kids. If you stay here because you're doing it just for her...she's gonna see that...she's going to see that her mom sacrificed her own happiness for her, and while that may be noble, at some point...she's gonna resent that. She's gonna resent me for that too.."

Elena had raised his child to be an amazing little girl. But she had also actively kept this child hidden from him for seven years. It was like he was facing a steep learning curve and taking some kind of timed test he hadn't studied for that she was administering. She wasn't being mean, she wasn't being withholding, but he felt very closely her eyes on him. On every interaction with Carolina. He felt like he just couldn't make any kind of mistakes. That he just had to be presented with a seven year old girl he never knew existed and suddenly be the perfect dad. It wasn't realistic. And this situation she was agreeing to, he didn't want it to be yet another thing she had done in service to him. This couldn't be her being a martyr. They were agreeing to raise a child, which meant the responsibility was on both of them. And he had a unique perspective on family and parents specifically.

"I get it...I'm a selfish asshole. The point has been made abundantly clear to me over the last two months. But I was also a kid once. A kid who had parents. My dad dissappeared. I never got to say goodbye to him. And while I know now...the circumstances of that were sketchy at best, but back then I just missed him..and then hated him because he wasn't there, and then understood why because of who my mother was."

He had been thinking of his dad a lot lately, because he now was a dad and was about to have a son of his own. His memories of Jonathon King were very limited and mostly faded, and he had always hated that. He loved his day and then one day he was gone without a trace and never mentioned again. It fucked with him as he was the only boy in Hellfire for quite some time. He never had a father figure to look up to outside of sometimes Stavros. He never had an example of what a father looked like and he definitely didn't want that for his daughter. He leaned forward, talking with his hands.

"And my mom...you think I don't understand how awful she is? How down to her core absolutely evil she is? I do. I've always known it. And to this day...I still love her. She treated me like I was the next coming of Christ, and while that was largely a manipulation on her part, to keep me close..it was never as cut and dry as people make it. She confided in me. I knew what she was afraid of...I've seen her cry, seen her weak..she's deeply flawed, but she's still my mom. She needed me..call it unhealthy, call if whatever you want, but she did."

He let out a bit of an exasperated sigh. His relationship with his mother was one he had to defend his entire life because of who she was. And he saw both sides. She was sadistic. A classic narcissist. Literally evil. But she had been so good to him. She had treated him well, let him into her world. He was able to see her motivations, see her desperation. He felt like he had a good picture of the totality of the woman that she was. But he also knew that he couldn't trust any of that. At the end of the day it didn't matter, because she kept him safe, propped him up, primed him and focused him. She was his greatest champion. And worst enemy. Because he realized that while the other stuff was fun, even helpful, all he had ever really wanted was her love. That was something he would take with him in regards to his own children.

"Erika needed me too. Whatever the case was, nature versus nurture, she was born with more than a few screws loose. She was always like that. I spent...[heavily sighing] so much fucking time in my life cleaning up her messes. Cradling her in my arms, letting her rage, burying the bodies, wiping her tears, rescuing her from suicide attempt after suicide attempt...breaking her out of psych wards when she wanted to leave. It's hard for me to have a relationship with her because she always resets to factory settings. Every damn time. It's....really painful."

His beautifully broken sister. While things had become estranged for them, it had happened largely because of how painful it was for him to be around her. He knew her better than anybody. He had been there for her highest of highs, her lowest of lows. It was a rollercoaster that after a certain point, he had to get off of. But he never stopped protecting her. Never stopped paying for her extended stays, never stopped keeping an eye on her. He needed Elena to know this, to know that he too could sacrifice things for other people. But he also needed to Elena to know that sometimes sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice wasn't healthy, didn't help, and sometimes hurt things.

"All of their pain...all of their shortcomings, I tried to fix...by being a star. By being the man of the family. By leading them to success. And I did. Did it change me? Yeah. Did I eventually become just as big of a monster as the rest of them? Absolutely. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say. But i'm just as capable of change as anyone else is. I lost my shit, El. I said..horrible..absolutely horrible things to Haleigh. And in the moment I meant them. Every word. I tried to kill her. So angry. My ego so bruised. I said things that I am so ashamed of and can never pay penance for, to the point that it killed my marriage. And then I saw a future that was born because of the actions of the man I had been."

He still couldn't believe sometimes, the rage he had been capable of against Haleigh. Of how absolutely enraged he was by her. And it was in that moment he realized that all of these feelings he had experienced as love over the years, weren't necessarily honest. She had been something he had coveted. A trophy he had finally won. And the first time she ever did something he couldn't support, he couldn't handle it. Was willing to burn her to the ground to protect his reputation. He would never forgive himself for that. And he had spoken to nobody about it. Perhaps Elena was not the right person to share that with, but Cameron was just reaching the point where he felt like he couldn't be anything but honest with her at this point. If this was what she was signing up for, she had to know the depth of it.

His mind went to the future that he had experienced with Haleigh. Of his son in so much pain, of his daughter living like the porcelain doll Elena sometimes treated her as, raised by Heidi and Jack. Of Rebekah this close to likely dying at the hands of Archer Fairchild. Of his sister completely sacrificing her life to raise Logan. Of Ashley doing the same for Rebekah. It was horrid, and it was something he would never forget.

"And it was awful. It was a reality reckoning I wasn't prepared for. But it altered me on molecular level. Seeing you again...my situation with Haleigh. The fact that I have a daughter and am about to have a son. All of it hit me like a ton of bricks at once. And for the most part, all it's done is made me realize what an absolute piece of shit I've been. And how, there's always going to be a part of me that will be a prideful piece of shit. But I am not a monster. And I will be a good father. Because I know what it's like not to have a dad. I know what it's like to have a mother obsessed with power and the toll that takes on a child. I am never going to do that to my children. I know what it's like to run a family. To sit at the head of the table, to clean up messes, to accept my blood for who they are, and navigate success around that..."

He sat forward in his chair, with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands cupping the sides of his face as he continued with his lengthy monologue.

"Elena...I'm vomiting all this up to you because...I am sorry for what I did to you. What I did to our family. But I need you to know...I know you don't ever for a second regret having Carolina, but that maybe you regret having her with me. I need you to know that despite all the hurt I caused you...I have do have a lot of good qualities she might inherit. That you had a child with a man who can step up to the plate. Who has always wanted to be a father. With a man who values family."

He leaned back. This was what he wanted to say. He was ashamed of himself. Lately he had been faced with so many bad parts of himself that he was almost unable to see the good. But he did have good parts. He did have qualities that were worth loving, and worth raising a child with.

"But I can't do that if she's the only reason you'll stay. You said you won't have yourself be prisoner here, and there's more than just one way to be a prisoner. We can work something else out. I can't have this held over my head, and it's not fair to you if it's not what you want. So even if Carolina wants to stay, if you don't...you have to tell me. You don't have to be all in, but I have to know..that at least part of you wants this..."

His cobalt blue eyes met her gaze in the darkness of the sitting room, as he asked a question he was scared to know the answer to.

"So what do YOU want, Elena?"

 

[Cobra]

Hellfire Mansion - The Black Wing

The Black Princess was annoyed. She hadn't lied when she had told her own court that she had eyes everywhere and she was not about to let a huge chunk of the inner circle go out for drinks and whatever else kind of debauchery Erika King might think of without keeping tabs on the situation. Three of her men were stationed as patrons, and she was patched in to any kind of salacious or dangerous update.

But as John and Ava arrived at Hellfire, she suddenly realized the error of her ways. She had expected more fanfare, she expected any kind of intel at all really. She was especially confused at the sudden arrival of red praetorians suddenly flank Ava and John's limo. Why in the hell were Alek's men suddenly so concerned with Ava's arrival and why exactly, after all the work she had done to ensure that this little girl had a place to lay her head, did she still not know a goddamn thing? Were they still punishing her? They had made her Princess, but then they had all but ceased communication. Telling their court nothing, and now, when it seemed as if they needed an extra level of protection, they did not let her know a thing.

Watching from security feeds, her eyes shifted into their snake like form for a moment, as she tried to focus herself, alerting the guard to make sure that things were in order for this "Lilly". She watched Ava enter the room that Amanda had put together with almost no notice and leave it almost immediately as she had entered. Was it not up to her standards? What was she doing wrong? She felt like she couldn't ask. She'd already been too vulnerable. Her King and Queen were home though. Should she disturb them? Their lack of communication told her they were not ready, and while that boiled her blood, there had to be a reason for it.

"What am I not seeing here? Why do they not trust me?"

She was about to bolt down the Black Wing and bang on the door when she received a call on her phone from Calder of all people, and from her control room, she patched herself into the feeds of The Blond, rewinding a few minutes to see what she had missed.

Adriana: "Ah! Calder, I dare you to call the Black Princess and convince her that Ben's been arrested, and Daniel's in hiding, and the three of you killed one of the rest of us and you need her help covering it up before the regents find out."

Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Oh Jesus Christ."

She answered her phone.

Calder: "Oh god oh god...Cobra? This is Siphon. Oh god...we need your help so bad. I need your help so bad. Things are really fucked up..."

Amanda fought a laugh. He was suprisingly convincing over the phone, and she found herself amused at the way he was able to feign outright despair. She remained silent.

Calder: "Me, Ben, Daniel...fuck...Adriana Nefaria is dead...things got out of hand...we killed her...I can't find Daniel and Ben's been arrested...you need to come bail him out...fuck...please Amanda..."

"It's okay, Siphon. A lot of people wanted Adriana dead. It was only a matter of time before somebody took the shot. Just calm down. I need you to focus, okay? Ben's a big boy, and he will be fine. I'm sure Daniel is already on the case, but there's more important things to focus on, right now. Do you understand? Now...listen carefully, I need you to THINK before you answer me, alright?"

The Black Princess smirked.

"Did you piss your little panties...and do you need mama to bring you a fresh pair?"

She began to laugh into the phone, looking at her security feeds and realizing she was on speaker phone to the group.

"Alright, alright. I've been spying. And really...I'm a bit jealous. In fact, I'm headed over. My night turned into a bust. But save me a drink, Calder. I love a man who can perform at a moment's notice. Be there in fifteen..."

And like clockwork, she arrived exactly on time, looking great, entering the circle with a smirk.

"In an effort to make up for lost time...I say dare.."

 

[Steel]

The Black King & Queen’s Suite

Ava told him that she needed him, and that was all he needed in order to completely forget her bad mood from earlier.

She was on top of him, riding him, her perfect body meeting his in a choreographed rhythm. He slid his hands up to her breasts, his fingertips running over her hard nipples. He muffled his moans against her mouth, but when she leaned over him his mouth moved to her breast.

Ava: "Fuck...fuck..."

He could tell she was almost there, and reached between them to stroke her. When she came, he pulled her against him, and held her while he continued to move inside her. He made a low growl in his throat as she suddenly backed off of him. But then her mouth was moving down his body before taking him in. His hands gripped the sheets. She felt so good…and the idea of it was still unreal to him. The girl of his dreams in his bed, doing things he used to only dream about…

Ava: "That's my Steel..."

“I only get hard for you…”

He unsuccessfully tried to stifle another moan. He didn’t want it to end like this, though, she he reached down and pulled her up inline with him, his mouth taking hers as he flipped her over. He pushed her thighs apart and entered her again, slipping easily inside her. He held the sides of her face and his tongue explored hers as his hips moved smoothly and rhythmically. His head dipped to her neck as the pressure built and when he felt her come again he let himself release.

“I love you, Ava - I love you so much.”

 

[Berserker]

The Red King and White Queen’s Suite

The way Haleigh said his name, it made his cock even harder. His hands and mouth explored her body, even the most intimate places, touching and tasting all of her. When she came, he disrobed, liking that she was watching. And then he picked her up, carrying her to their bed.

He loved the feeling of her mouth on his, something so personal to her, a gift to him. A display that this was real, that this wasn't just the fucking they had been doing before. He laid her down gently, but she immediately got onto her hands and knees. He raised an eyebrow and let a low growl escape his throat. He broke a land speed record climbing onto the bed with the way she was looking back at him.

She was on him immediately, and he was finding it incredibly difficult to be gentle. He ground his hips against her backside, moving in and out with a smooth motion.

Haleigh: “God, you feel so fucking good. I— I’m gonna come again!”

”Oh fuck…”

The way her body squeezed his dick was almost too much for him. Alek pulled her upright and held her against his chest, one hand on her breasts, the other slipping down to stroke her. They moved in unison, their bodies undulating like a wave. He growled in her ear.

“Come again, Haleigh. Come for me.”

 

[Persephone]

Ava wanted to taste him, to watch him come undone. John's hands gripped the bed sheets, his head extending back as he let out an audible moan louder than he probably realized. Ava moaned in response, her mouth not letting up. That was until she felt him wrap his hands around her upper arms, pulling her up to him as if she were weightless. Ava couldn't help but let out a gasp like shriek at the suddenness of him grabbing her, grinning as he flipped her onto her back and climbed on top of her, taking her mouth with his own dominantly. It was moments like these that made Ava soaked with desire, seeing the rough edges of John and knowing what he was capable of doing to her when he stopped being so careful.

"Keep acting like that and i'll come right now..."

She warned breathlessly between their kiss. John moved between her legs, Ava hooking one over his hip as he entered her completely. Ava was loud against his mouth as he did so, luckily their kiss muffling the noise. She couldn't keep quiet as he fucked her, his hands holding her face still so he could kiss her deeply, roughly. She could tell he was attempting to silence her moans, but it was only making her more turned on. She tried her best to keep them quiet, but certain thrusts made her gasp loudly, rolling her eyes shut at the feeling. John's mouth finally left hers, his face burying into her neck. He was close, and so was she.

"Gods...fuck.."

Her hips met with his urgently, the heated pressure building deep within her. She clawed at his back, pulling herself against him tighter as she too buried her face into the crook of his shoulder feeling her body quake as she came again. She kept her mouth pressed against his skin in an effort to quiet her cries of pleasure, her body shuddering as she felt him release within her.

John: “I love you, Ava - I love you so much.”

She was breathless, high on ecstasy.

"I love you, too..."

Collapsing on her back, her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. Quickly lifting her head, she looked in the direction of her daughter and still nothing. Completely oblivious to the world and sound asleep. Exhaling a breath of relief, she let her head fall back against the pillow.

"Fuck, I needed that...I needed that so badly."

Shutting her eyes, her hand went to her forehead and brushed away her tousled hair before she let her arm rest above her head. Sex was sometimes way better than alcohol to dull whatever it was that needed dulling. She knew the situation was far from over, and that tomorrow would bring on more challenges and emotions, but for right now most of her anxieties had been tempered . Ava's dark eyes opened, looking up at the ceiling as she slowly exhaled.

"So.....does this officially make me a MILF?"

Ava cracked a smile, rolling her head to look at John before laughing.

"I swear to the Gods, i'm NOT becoming a disheveled housewife who wears yoga pants as clothes and plays Sudoku while watching The View."

She grimaced that the thought.

“I will die in my Yves Saint Laurent.”

 

[Sparrow]

The White Wing - Elena’s Suite

Elena led Cameron back into the sitting room of her suite, where she proceeded to lay down some conditions on she and Carolina extending their stay in New York. The first being that Cameron legally made Carolina his daughter. She wasn’t going to have Haleigh’s (probably) asshole son calling Carolina a bastard and lording his birthright over her while she got the table scraps.

Cameron: "It was all taken care of in the divorce papers I just signed. We may not like each other very much right now, but Haleigh and I have been able to agree on one thing - that our kids deserved better than what we were given. Carolina. Logan. Rebekah. All will be treated as equals. I'd have filed the paperwork to give her my last name already if I didn't think you'd kill me for it..."

“Maybe you should have asked.”

Elena would do what was best for her daughter, no matter how she felt about it. And it was right, that Carolina should have her father’s name.

Her second condition was that Carolina had to agree, her third that they would go home if Carolina was treated badly.

Cameron: "If anyone gives her even a breath of trouble I will kill them, El. They know that. And it will not be a problem."

She nodded, and went on to state that they would not be prisoners at Hellfire.

Cameron: "Done."

”Bueno.”

Next Elena turned to the question of a school for Carolina.

Cameron: "Fine...but I'm not going to send her to some place where they get graded by fucking stickers. She deserves the best education money can buy. And kids are assholes no matter where they go to school. Especially in New York. She's not a porcelain doll. She's an Estrada King."

Elena narrowed her eyes.

”If all kids here are assholes then maybe we should stay in Colima…”

This was actually Elena’s biggest reservation in allowing Carolina to stay in New York. She neither wanted Carolina becoming a mean girl or being bullied. Carolina loved her school and friends in Colima, and so did Elena. She didn’t want her daughter to lose that supportive atmosphere.

“Perhaps we could put some more effort into the selection than what some guidebook says is ‘the best’?”

Those were the main things, but she reserved her right to add more.

Cameron was quiet. Finally he spoke.

Cameron: "Look, you can add whatever you want to however many lists you want, Elena. I'll do them. But…I don't want to do this if it's treated like some kind of...obligation to you. You wanted me to say how I felt, and I did. But I didn't say everything..."

She came and sat down in the chair opposite him, the fire warm on her back. She gestured for him to continue.

Cameron: "I can't do this if i'm going to be graded all the time. I just can't. King I may be, but I'm still human. I've never been a father. I'm going to fuck up in a lot of ways…and so are you. Because that is just the nature of having kids. If you stay here because you're doing it just for her...she's gonna see that...she's going to see that her mom sacrificed her own happiness for her, and while that may be noble, at some point...she's gonna resent that. She's gonna resent me for that too.."

Elena pinched the bridge of her nose.

“What do you want from me, Cameron? I’m trying to make you both happy…”

Cameron: "I get it...I'm a selfish asshole. The point has been made abundantly clear to me over the last two months. But I was also a kid once. A kid who had parents. My dad dissappeared. I never got to say goodbye to him. And while I know now...the circumstances of that were sketchy at best, but back then I just missed him..and then hated him because he wasn't there, and then understood why because of who my mother was."

She looked up at him.

”You know I would never keep you from her. I couldn’t do that to her. If that happens to Carolina it won’t be of my making.”

Cameron: "And my mom...you think I don't understand how awful she is? How down to her core absolutely evil she is? I do. I've always known it. And to this day...I still love her. She treated me like I was the next coming of Christ, and while that was largely a manipulation on her part, to keep me close..it was never as cut and dry as people make it. She confided in me. I knew what she was afraid of...I've seen her cry, seen her weak..she's deeply flawed, but she's still my mom. She needed me..call it unhealthy, call if whatever you want, but she did."

Elena’s eyes spiked with fear. She leaned towards him, her voice pleading.

“Cameron, amado, you must promise me: Kelly can never be allowed to be alone with Carolina. What she did to…Erika. That cannot happen to Carolina. Promise me.”

Elena caught herself before she said Ava. Cameron would learn of that soon enough, and then he would understand.

He went on to talk about Erika then, about how he had to protect her. Fix her mistakes.

It stabbed her in the heart to hear him call himself a monster. Because despite all the ways he had hurt her, she didn’t believe that. And she hated that he did.

Cameron: "Elena...I'm vomiting all this up to you because...I am sorry for what I did to you. What I did to our family. But I need you to know...I know you don't ever for a second regret having Carolina, but that maybe you regret having her with me. I need you to know that despite all the hurt I caused you...I have do have a lot of good qualities she might inherit. That you had a child with a man who can step up to the plate. Who has always wanted to be a father. With a man who values family."

His remorse seemed genuine, and it touched her. It was what she had wanted from him all along, for his honest acknowledgment of what he’d done. She could feel shame radiating off of him.

“Cameron…”

She came out of her chair, onto her knees in front of him, taking one of his hands in both of hers.

“I have never regretted that you are Carolina’s father. Never.“

She reached up to touch his cheek.

”There is no one else I would want, if I could change it right now. All the qualities I would wish for her to inherit from her father, are the ones I found in you.“

Cameron: "But I can't do that if she's the only reason you'll stay. You said you won't have yourself be prisoner here, and there's more than just one way to be a prisoner. We can work something else out. I can't have this held over my head, and it's not fair to you if it's not what you want. So even if Carolina wants to stay, if you don't...you have to tell me. You don't have to be all in, but I have to know..that at least part of you wants this..."

She looked up into his eyes, searching them.

Cameron: "So what do YOU want, Elena?"

”Amado…”

She lowered her eyes, turning her head away for a moment.

”I’m not trying to make you feel like you are being graded as a father. Carolina loves you…you are terrific with her. But you have to understand... I’m so afraid.”

She looked up into his eyes again.

“I can’t bear the thought of her being hurt. I would do anything to keep that from her. I…”

Tears formed in her eyes.

“I have loved you almost my whole life. There was nothing I wanted more than to be your wife. There is no one else I want, amado. But”

She shook her head.

”Carolina needs you. I can’t get in between you and her. If it didn’t work out between us, and I caused a rift between you and her? Because of my own selfishness? I would never forgive myself.“

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it.

”I just need to be sure…to know that you aren’t just feeling nostalgia about me because you’ve divorced Haleigh. That I’m really what you want. That this is real. Because I can’t do it again, Cameron. I won’t watch you choose her again. I wouldn’t survive it. And I don‘t have the luxury of going to pieces now.”

Elena felt she had always been an open book to him, but now she verbalized everything she had been feeling, all of her internal conflict.

“And I need you to be sure. Because if we are together, amado, I won’t share you with anyone else.“

 

[Steel]

The Black King and Queen’s Suite

They clung tightly to each other as they came together, and John told Ava he loved her.

Ava: "I love you, too..."

He held her to him, until she rolled onto her back.

Ava: "Fuck, I needed that...I needed that so badly."

He turned his head to face her, still a bit out of breath. He reached for her hand and smiled.

”Happy to oblige, any time.”

Ava: "So.....does this officially make me a MILF?"

He laughed, a little too loudly, in spite of himself.

“I would never call you that. I definitely prefer, ‘The Hot Mom’.”

But she was laughing good naturedly about it.

Ava: "I swear to the Gods, I'm NOT becoming a disheveled housewife who wears yoga pants as clothes and plays Sudoku while watching The View."

He grinned broadly.

”Perish the thought.”

Ava: “I will die in my Yves Saint Laurent.”

He pulled her fingertips to his lips.

”God willing, I won’t be there to see it.”

He turned on his side and scooted closer to her, inviting her to snuggle closer. He reached over and pushed a lock of hair off her forehead.

”Get some rest. I’ll watch over you both.”

 

[Siphon]

The Blond

Calder had chosen “dare”, and Adriana did not let him off easy. So he called Cobra, who was admittedly a little scary, and told her he, Ben and Daniel had killed Adriana, and they needed her to help them.

Amanda: "It's okay, Siphon. A lot of people wanted Adriana dead. It was only a matter of time before somebody took the shot.”

He grinned over at Adriana, holding out his phone on speaker, and stuck out his tongue at her.

Amanda: “Just calm down. I need you to focus, okay? Ben's a big boy, and he will be fine. I'm sure Daniel is already on the case, but there's more important things to focus on, right now. Do you understand? Now...listen carefully, I need you to THINK before you answer me, alright?"

He injected the appropriate amount of fear into his voice.

”Okay.”

Amanda: "Did you piss your little panties...and do you need mama to bring you a fresh pair?"

That was confusing.

”Huh?”

And then she was laughing.

“Shit…”

Amanda: "Alright, alright. I've been spying. And really...I'm a bit jealous. In fact, I'm headed over. My night turned into a bust. But save me a drink, Calder. I love a man who can perform at a moment's notice. Be there in fifteen..."

Calder ended the call and threw his phone with a frustrated gesture onto the nearest table.

“Well, fuck…she could have at least played along…”

He had a drink ready for her when she got there, though, and it was good that he’d ordered it before she arrived. Because she looked so sexy that he lost the ability to speak for a minute.

He handed her a Platinum Passion cocktail: Ruinart Champagne, passion fruit, honey, brown sugar, and L’esprit de Courvoisier, which retailed at $6k a bottle.



Amanda: "In an effort to make up for lost time...I say dare.."

Calder grinned at her, because he had been thinking about it while they’d waited for her to get there.

”Convince the DJ to let you sing karaoke…and then do a hip hop rendition of ‘Mandy’…Mandy.”

 

[Prophet]

Hellfire Mansion - The White Wing

He was baring his soul to her, because he needed to. Because she needed to hear it. He didn't know what the future held, how things would turn out between them, what she wanted. All he knew was that he had been feeling so many intense things for so long, and they had been manifesting themselves in ways he wasn't proud of. And if she was going to stay, she deserved to know that he knew what the others thought of him, he knew what he was capable of, but he was trying to be something different.

Elena: "Cameron, amado, you must promise me: Kelly can never be allowed to be alone with Carolina. What she did to..Erika. That cannot happen to Carolina. Promise me."

Cameron gave a concerned glance. If he was being honest, so much had been going on for him personally, the last person he was actually thinking of was Kelly King. The last time he had seen her, she'd shown up unannounced to the mansion flaunting her marriage to Stavros Cassadine, making him Cameron's stepfather, and Ava his stepsister. Kelly had did a number on Erika, but if Cameron was being honest, the one his mother hated more than anyone was Ava. He hadn't realized it until later, when his mom was more honest about her feelings, but she had loved Stavros for a long time. Possibly even while she was with his father. She had wanted him to be her king, wanted to be his wife, but none of it had been allowed. Instead, she was forced to have Stavros' daughter on her court, and she wasted no opportunity to make the woman's life a living hell.

"El, even I don't want to be alone with my mother at this point. She will never have a hand in Carolina's life, or Logan's. I don't even know where we go from her last stunt."

He poured out his heart and he made it clear to Elena, that he didn't want her to sacrifice even more for him, for her daughter. She was a woman, a human being. She had her own needs and desires, and stifling them for the sake of either Cameron or Carolina just couldn't work. And at the end of the day, it wouldn't help. She had done this for seven years by herself, but he was there now, there was now room for her to consider herself. Consider her own happiness. She knelt down before him, cupping his hand with her delicate and soft hands, telling him she never regretted having his child. That she would be happy if he inherited qualities from her. That made the slightest bit of wetness appear in his eyes as he asked her point blank what she wanted.

Elena: "Amado...I'm not trying to make you feel like you are being graded as a father. Carolina loves you...you are terrific with her. But you have to understand...I'm so afraid."

"I'm terrified too, Elena. Completely."

Elena: "I can't bear the thought of her being hurt. I would do anything to keep that from her. I.."

He was going to speak, but the soft break in her voice stopped him and sent chills down his body.

Elena: "I have loved you almost my whole life. There was nothing I wanted more than to be your wife. There is no one else I want, amado. But.."

"Elena..."

He hated it. Hated what he had done to her. Hindsight was 20/20 but it hit harder for telepaths. How much time had they wasted. They could have been together, for every moment. For her first steps, first words. They could have walked her hand in hand together to the first day of school. He didn't want to miss anything else. He didn't want to hurt either of them ever again...and meeting Carolina, he could understand how she felt. He was so afraid that Carolina might end up pitying him, or hating him, or that he would be selfish, do something that would change the light she had in her eyes when she looked at him. It was so much fucking pressure.

Elena: "Carolina needs you. I can't get in between you and her. If it didn't work out between us, and I caused a rift between you and her? Because of my own selfishness? I would never forgive myself."

She kissed his hands and his body trembled, but this time he gestured for her hand, pulling her up and sitting her in his lap. Elena could not feel beneath him, metaphorically or physically, and he rested his hand around her waist. She really was scared.

Elena: "I just need to be sure...to know that you aren't just feeling nostalgia about me because you've divorced Haleigh. That i'm really what you want. Because I can't do it again, Cameron. I won't watch you choose her again. I wouldn't survive it. And I don't have the luxury of going to pieces now."

Cameron had been intentionally avoided 'looking in' on Elena's feelings because he felt that after so much time, she deserved the right to privacy. That she deserved to feel and think what she wanted without him having a front row seat, so for weeks he had been in the dark. Only picking up inklings here and there when they would speak to each other mentally. He put a finger over her lips for a moment, silencing her.

"Look...feel it."

The White King took her free hand and placed it directly over his heart, and remained silent for several moments, allowing her to feel how it beat when she was near him, pouring into her the entirety of how he felt about things. She was being so honest with him, and he was known for being a talker. He wanted her to feel it.

"The second I saw you again...it awakened something inside of me...this part of my heart that I thought was...dead. Not just my heart...my soul, El. It's not nostalgia..it was more like...finding a piece of myself that I didn't realize was missing. It was like...coming home to a house I didn't know I had. It..."

He buried his face in her neck, his nose tickling just underneath her chin and earlobe as his warm breath hit her like a wave of heat.

"It's real."

Elena: "And I need you to be sure. Because if we are together, amado, I won't share you with anyone else."

He interlocked their hands.

"I'm sure..but nothing is promised. We have the gift of sight, but even we can't know everything that's going to happen. What I do know...is that..."

[softly]

"I love you, Elena. If you said the words, there would be nobody else. I have sewed every wild oat there is possible to sew. I don't want all that...I never did. I just...thought I should..."

Cameron was flexible in terms of monogamy. Haleigh and Cameron had always been brought up to to cross the lines of business and pleasure. That they could fuck freely for personal satisfaction and political maneuvering. And that was all well and good. Cameron was not a man that thought sexual chastity was necessarily indicative of a healthy relationship. He thought humans liked to fuck and so they should. But then Haleigh met Alek. And then he realized that sex was a weapon who's wounds were varied as they were deep. It wasn't the sex, it was what the sex helped to foster. It was the intimacy it created between them that turned into love. And while Cameron had always given his own body freely, he had been able to keep his heart for just her. He couldn't blame her. He had towed the line himself with his own knight. Heidi was important to him. He cared deeply for her, and they had always had some sort of perverted mentor/mentee relationship. He wondered if he had been dabbling in with her would have turned into what Haleigh had for Alek eventually. He was lucky that she crossed that boundary first.

"It's so delicate...I don't want to hurt her [Carolina] either...but we owe it to ourselves to figure it out...Neither of us ever thought we'd even see each other again. Elena...I didn't seek you out...I followed a feeling. I was broken...lost...and it brought me to you...I didn't know where I was going, but when I saw your face..I knew it..it was fate. Kismet. I don't care how it looks to anybody else. And the idea of you leaving me confirmed it. I can't lose you again...I won't..."

He held her chin in between his thumb and index finger as he kissed her lips softly.

"I love you. I always have. Just give me a chance to make up for every single moment you thought otherwise..."

Cameron kissed her again, holding her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck for a moment. It was electric and kinetic as the blood rushed through his body, just begging for release. Cameron pulled away for just a moment, his lips not wanting to as he spoke.

"I have to stop. Because all I want to do right now is to make love to you until you beg me to stop, and our daughter is twelve feet away."

 

[Persephone]

Ava had asked if now she was considered a MILF, creating a small moment of levity between her and John that was much needed after the night they had. It felt almost normal as they laid in bed laughing, John kissing her finger tips and then pulling her close to him so her back was against his body. Ava let out a small sigh as she felt her body relax into his, holding his arm that was wrapped around her close to her chest. She stared toward her daughter, who was stirring a bit but still didn't wake.

John: ”Get some rest. I’ll watch over you both.”

Ava gently nodded, though her eyes didn't shut. The gravity of the situation slowly began to creep back - her mind no longer distracted. She was silent for a long while, shuffling through her thoughts. One in particularly plaguing her.

"Do you think I made the right decision telling Alek?"

She asked softly, the uncertainty clear in her tone.

"Should I have just...acting as if I didn't know?"

On the one hand, telling him opened up the possibility of him being a terrible father who would ignore Lily in favor of his daughter with Haleigh. On the other, not telling him would have made Ava exactly like the very people she hated.

"I don't want him to hurt her. I know he wouldn't intentionally...but...I can't deny the fact that he has a family with Haleigh, one that he'll likely choose every time over her. I don't want to be the reason she doesn't have a relationship with him....but at the same time....I wish I never told him..."

Ava finally said what she had been feeling since the moment she decided to tell Alek - that she regretted it. Their moment at Smoke was the closest they ever had to a real connection with one another, shining a light on Alek that Ava had never seen before. But it was just that, a moment. Both of them bonding over a traumatic event that happened. But once the dust settled, everything would be as it was before. Alek being an asshole to her, Ava being a bitch to him. Except now they had a daughter they had to somehow raise together.

"I know i'm a horrible person for saying that. It just kills me to think of Lily being the one hurt in all this later...she never asked for any of this."

 

[Sparrow]

The White Wing

Cameron had mentioned Kelly, and that sent a ripple of fear through Elena. She begged him to promise he wouldn’t let Carolina be alone with her.

Cameron: "El, even I don't want to be alone with my mother at this point. She will never have a hand in Carolina's life, or Logan's. I don't even know where we go from her last stunt."

He started to beat himself up, which hurt Elena to see. He even suggested that maybe she regretted having a child with him. Despite the things he’d done to her, Elena couldn’t allow him to believe that was true. She told him she wasn’t trying to punish him - in reality she was terrified of Carolina getting hurt. She was completely open to him, telling him there was no one else she wanted. But Carolina could not lose her father because it didn’t work out between them.

Cameron pulled her up into his lap.

Cameron: "Look...feel it."

He held her hand to his heart. She could feel its beat, strong, rapid. She looked into his eyes, not knowing what to say.

Cameron: "The second I saw you again...it awakened something inside of me...this part of my heart that I thought was...dead. Not just my heart...my soul, El. It's not nostalgia..it was more like...finding a piece of myself that I didn't realize was missing. It was like...coming home to a house I didn't know I had. It...It's real."

His head dipped to her neck, and she slid her arms around his shoulders. Elena told him he needed to be sure, because she would not share. She was not Haleigh, with their “open marriage”. See how well that worked out.

His fingers interlaced with hers.

Cameron: "I'm sure..but nothing is promised. We have the gift of sight, but even we can't know everything that's going to happen. What I do know...is that...I love you, Elena. If you said the words, there would be nobody else. I have sowed every wild oat there is possible to sow. I don't want all that...I never did. I just...thought I should..."

She wanted to believe him. She knew he believed it himself. But was it the truth? Or would he get bored of her in a few weeks or months?

Cameron: "It's so delicate...I don't want to hurt her [Carolina] either...but we owe it to ourselves to figure it out...Neither of us ever thought we'd even see each other again. Elena...I didn't seek you out...I followed a feeling. I was broken...lost...and it brought me to you...I didn't know where I was going, but when I saw your face..I knew it..it was fate. Kismet. I don't care how it looks to anybody else. And the idea of you leaving me confirmed it. I can't lose you again...I won't..."

He kissed her, and she let him. But when he pulled away she looked at him with sad eyes, whispering her response.

”No, you didn’t seek me out…”

Cameron: "I love you. I always have. Just give me a chance to make up for every single moment you thought otherwise..."

He kissed her, and she slipped her arms around his neck. It felt good, so good. Being in his arms, having him tell her he loved her, his lips against hers. It would be so easy to give in to it, to do what felt good, no matter what else.

Cameron: "I have to stop. Because all I want to do right now is to make love to you until you beg me to stop, and our daughter is twelve feet away."

Elena smiled.

“I want to let you.“

She removed her arms from around him.

”But I need to stay with her tonight, make sure she is okay.”

She slipped off his lap, taking a deep steadying breath and running her hand through her hair.

”I need you to be patient with me, amado. We need to do it right this time, not rush into something so we lose it.”

 

[Steel]

The Black King & Queen’s Suite

John cradled Ava against him, telling her to sleep. But he could feel that she was still restless.

Ava: "Do you think I made the right decision telling Alek? Should I have just...acted as if I didn't know?"

He knew she was worrying over this, but he had to chuckle.

”In a mansion with at least two telepaths? Yeah, good luck with that.”

Ava: "I don't want him to hurt her. I know he wouldn't intentionally...but...I can't deny the fact that he has a family with Haleigh, one that he'll likely choose every time over her. I don't want to be the reason she doesn't have a relationship with him....but at the same time....I wish I never told him..."

John nodded. He understood her feeling this way.

“Eventually, she would find out. These things always come out. And then she’d be angry with you. At least this way, his actions are on him.”

He squeezed her tighter.

”And as much as it pains me to say this - he is her father. Hiding her from him would be almost as bad as what they did to you.”

Ava: "I know I'm a horrible person for saying that. It just kills me to think of Lily being the one hurt in all this later...she never asked for any of this."

John kissed the top of her head.

“You are not a terrible person. What you are is a great mom, who wants the best for her child. Which is why you couldn’t keep a secret like this from her.“

He snuggled closer to her.

“And trust me, if he puts a foot out of line when it comes to Lily? Alek and I will have words.”

 

[Persephone]

John: ”In a mansion with at least two telepaths? Yeah, good luck with that.”

Ava let out a half sigh half laugh at that.

"I know, it was a ridiculous thought."

But one that she half wished was a possibility. She didn't want her daughter to get hurt by a man she already adored. It was a difficult situation to navigate because she and Alek weren't close. She didn't see the side of him that Haleigh apparently fell in love with, she only saw the side that broke Ashley's heart. The asshole that considered her a spoiled bitch since the moment he stepped foot into the club. It was hard to look past those things and think logically when all she wanted to do was protect Lily.

John: “Eventually, she would find out. These things always come out. And then she’d be angry with you. At least this way, his actions are on him. And as much as it pains me to say this - he is her father. Hiding her from him would be almost as bad as what they did to you.”

Ava shut her eyes at that.

"I know. I know. I would never do that to someone....I just feel so out of control in this situation, I hate it."

She admitted to being a terrible person for even considering the thought, especially experiencing first hand what it felt like. But John disagreed, defending her by saying she's only trying to be a good mom. And that really was the only reason she was having these thoughts. Lily was brought into a horrible situation without even realizing it, and the last thing Ava wanted to do was have her get her heart broken.

John: “And trust me, if he puts a foot out of line when it comes to Lily? Alek and I will have words.”

That made Ava finally smile as she looked up at him.

"Thank you."

She lifted her hand to his cheek.

"I know I must sound neurotic. I'm just [sighing] trying to navigate all this without Lily understanding what's really happening, you know? She's too young for all this bullshit. She deserves to just be a kid and not have to deal with her parents fucked up history."

Lily: "Mama?"

Ava immediately sat up, covering herself with the bed sheet as she looked over to see Lily's head moving from side to side. Reaching for her discarded robe that was miraculously still on the bed, she quickly slipped it on.

"I'm right here, baby."

Lily: "Mama...mama??"

Her voice becoming more panicked the more she began to wake. Ava got out of bed, tying the robe tightly around herself as she rushed over to the chase lounger. Sitting on the side of it, Lily's brilliant blue eyes were filled with fear as Ava ran her hand down her cheek now.

"Shh sh sh shhh...it's okay, i'm right here, Lily."

It seemed as if she was still in a waking dream, not entirely sure of her surroundings and still very groggy. But as soon as Lily's brilliant blue eyes saw Ava there, she sat up and grabbed her around her waist, holding onto her tightly.

Lily: "It was dark. I couldn't see. I lost you. I lost you."

Ava gently rubbed her daughters back, looking over at John with sadness in her eyes. For a six year old to have been told her parents were dead, then suddenly them being alive? It was going to be a very hard adjustment for her to get used to not being scared of losing them again. It broke Ava's heart.

"I'm right here, you didn't lose me sweetheart, I promise. I'm here, okay?"

Lily's shut eyes finally opened, and that was when she realized John was in the bed across the room. She looked confused, her big blue eyes looking up at Ava as she pulled away.

Lily: "Where's daddy?"

The tone in Lily's voice showed the anxiety of Alek not being there. And now was when Ava had to be very careful on how to approach the situation at hand.

"Your daddy's in his room sleeping. He's still at Hellfire, he's just down the hall."

Lily's brows furrowed, her eyes so expressive as she filtered through what Ava just said.

Lily: "But why...why isn't daddy here with you? And me?"

Ava parted her lips to answer, her eyes shifting over to John for a moment before looking back down at her.

"Daddy doesn't live in the same room as mommy does. He stays with his....partner Haleigh. And mommy stays with John [looking over at John] who is my partner."

Partner was about the best term Ava could come up with for a six year old to understand. Lily's eyes were focused on John, her brows still furrowed.

Lily: "You and daddy aren't married like Papa and Grandma Kelly??"

Ava gently stroked her hand down the back of Lily's head, shutting her eyes while taking in a calming breath to try and temper her anger at hearing Kelly referred to as 'grandma'.

"No baby, we're not. But that doesn't mean that we don't love you any less. It just means that you have two extra people [Haleigh and John] who love you too. And I know that they're both really excited to get to know you better...okay?"

Lily seemed detached despite Ava trying to make the situation less devastating for her six year old mind to wrap around. She nodded against Ava's chest before burying her face into it and squeezing her tightly. Ava kissed the top of Lily's head, letting her chin rest there as she whispered to her.

[in Greek] "...Are you okay?"

Lily shook her head, face still buried in Ava's chest refusing to speak. Ava's eyes lifted to John feeling completely lost on how to make this better. She felt gutted seeing her upset.

[in Greek] "Do you want to lay down with me?"

Lily nodded, still not speaking. Ava picked her up, carrying her over to the bed. Ava climbed in, laying Lily down next to her as she pulled the blankets over them both. Lily kept her face against Ava's chest, Ava laying on her side facing John with her arms tightly wrapped around her daughter. Her hand moved up and down Lily's back, trying to lull her back to sleep. Ava gave John a concerned look, her free hand reaching out for his as she softly kissed Lily's head.

[in Greek] "Sleep my love. You'll feel better in the morning."

 

[Prophet]

Hellfire Mansion - The White Wing

Elena: "No, you didn't seek me out..."

He felt a tug of pain in her words as he regretted it as soon as he said it. But it was honest. Had things not happened the way they did, he wondered if he would have ever sought out Elena. The only thing he could acknowledge believing in was that he found her for a reason. But he had his own pain about that. Had he not found her, would he have ever known he had a daughter? Would she have ever told him? This happened for a reason. He needed to believe that.

Cameron kissed her as she slid into him so comfortably and perfectly that it was as if her body was designed to fit into him like a puzzle piece. He could feel his passion building up with every touch, with every kiss and he said as much. And her smile said yes.

Elena: "I want to let you..."

Her words said no as she slipped off of him.

Elena: “But I need to stay with her tonight, make sure she is okay."

He wondered how somebody who has spent their adolescence in Hellfire could possibly have turned out so selfless. She ran her fingers through her beautiful hair as he too rose from his seat.

Elena: "I need you to be patient with me, amado. We need to do it right this time, not rush into something so we lose it."

Cameron smiled, taking her hand in his.

"Patience has never been a virtue I've been very good at..but for you, I will try.."

[smirking]

"But i'm not going to stop tempting you..."

The White King kissed her once again softly and sweetly, before staring into her eyes.

"Let me spend the night with her. Her nightmare was about me. I'd prefer for her to wake up with my arms around her...you deserve a night off. You deserve a million nights off..."

[pausing]

"And...tomorrow...we can decide if you want to stay here in the mansion, or if you'd prefer a place close but outside these walls. But don't misunderstand. Wherever you go, I go.."

 

[Cobra]

Hellfire - The Blond

She had made sure that John and Ava and their guest were okay before she had arrived and when she did, she was promptly handed a most frivolous and luxurious cocktail by Calder himself. She appreciated a man who knew how to welcome a woman. And when she took a sip, she was impressed, her olfactory senses letting her sniff out each component in the drink. She loved passion fruit. She decided to keep the good times moving by selecting dare, because she knew that really, at the end of the day, each member of The Inner Circle was far more apt to embarrass themselves than they ever would willingly speak the truth about themselves or their feelings.

Calder seemed ready for her dare.

Calder: "Convince the DJ to let you sing karaoke...and then do a hip hop rendition of 'Mandy'...Mandy."

The Black Princess laughed for a moment. It was absurd, but it was also fun. And something she was sure the inner circle had forgotten about her in recent days was that she could be very fun. She took a sip of her cocktail as she gave Calder a wink and held his chin with her thumb and index finger for a moment.

"Never call me Mandy again....Cal..."

She wasn't from a trailer park in Oklahoma, after all. Ben had proven his brazeness, and Daniel was always down for a party, but Amanda needed to prove a point. Her entire life she had been a student. A socialite of the highest order. She could play piano and violin at a world class level. She had been an opera singer, a ballet dancer, versed in musical theater. The arts had always given her an outlet. She was one of the most prolific romance writers of this generation. And despite her actions the last few weeks, she was not above embarrassing herself if it meant showing that her court could play ball with the best of them.

Amanda gave Calder a soft and easy kiss on the lips as she eyed him for a moment, her eyes shifting from their normal deep brown and into her snake like form for only a second before returning to normal. She was doing her best to ignore Ben tonight, and Calder was sweet. And just kind of straightforward and honest, something she always appreciated.

"Thankfully...my mother...was an avid fanilow..."

She sauntered over to the DJ booth. And when a woman that looked like Amanda walked up to a DJ booth, the DJ tended to pay attention. She locked eyes with him for a moment as she began to give her famous 'cobra stare' to the man, completely and instantly enthralling him to her. She gave a smile as she took another sip of her drink.

"The music sucks...mind if we switch it up for a moment, baby?"

He nodded in agreement as Amanda slithered around into the booth, approaching his setup with a mechanical like fascination. This was far easier to hack than Archer Fairchild's entire intelligence network, and with a few clicks on his laptop and a few key taps later, she was ready. She pulled the DJ close to her, his gaze never breaking from hers as she gave a smile.

"Hit play and go off when I tell you..."

She turned to the crowd as the music stopped and everybody groaned. She eyed both Calder and Erika as she took a microphone from behind the booth and gave a smile.

"I thought we'd take things down a few notches for a minute...everybody, grab that special guy or girl...and get ready...for the [mockingly] menthol cool vocal stylings of...Lady Cobra..."

Amanda laughed softly into the microphone as the karaoke track of the original song began to play. And The Black Princess sang...

"I remember all my life....."

God this was stupid.

"Raining down as cold as ice..."

She gestured for the light people to cast a spotlight on her. And she felt it's warmth like a snake relaxing on a rock. Amanda was always a performer. She had been both Kelly and Ava's assassin, and the fun in that for her had always been creating a character. Of becoming somebody else, falling into the role and delivering results. This was no different.

"I never realized...how happy you made me..."

The Black Princess locked eyes with the DJ and gave him a nod as the music shifted from classic piano to a traditional hip hop beat. God this was so, so stupid. But it was also the most fun she'd had in a long ass time. Perhaps getting closer to Erika King wasn't a bad idea. At least she was trying to get them to have fun. Amanda began to dance to the beat, showboating to the audience of people who began to dance at the shift of the beat.

"Ohhhhh....Mandy, you came and you gave without taking, because between us there ain't no faking. I sent you away, I was stupid, but I was hit in the heart like cupid..."

She was no wrapper, but every word was on beat and on key. First and foremost, Amanda was a writer. Well versed in creating characters and creating worlds, so that was what she leaned into. The hip hop beat took a crescendo as she danced to it in perfect synch and harmony. It was equal parts impressive and embarrassing.

"You kissed me and stopped me from shaking, and if you put it down right I'm yours for the taking..."

Her eyes locked with the DJ once more as he anticipated her words, a biproduct of her ability to 'charm' those around her and all at once the beat dropped. The crowd began to go wild.

"Edge of time, oh your love was mine, now I look in the miror and think i'm so damn fine ohhhhh Mandy..."

[smirking]

"Now SCREAMMMMM!!!!"

Amanda did a standard eight count of choreography as she downed the rest of her delicious cocktail, meeting herself with Calder at the center of the room. She stared into his eyes for a moment, half wanting to make Ben jealous and half wanting to possibly get to know this Calder a bit better than she did. Soon, the music returned to it's standard top 40 faire as she winked at him, and gestured to the cocktail waitress, who produced two shots of fireball, one of which she held in her own hand, and the other she presented to Calder.

"Now that was a good dare, handsome. Cheers..."

She downed the shot without so much as a second thought before turning to the group, setting her shot glass on a pub table next to her.

"But who's ready for a fucking truth?"

 

[Black Widow]

Hellfire — The Red King and White Queen’s suite

He carried her to bed like maybe they were going to make love. As much as she did enjoy that with him, she was far too turned on to take it slow right now. She kissed him feverishly on the way, and when he set her down she turned away quickly. The noise he made when she looked back at him made her smirk grow even more wicked. He crawled onto the bed and was behind her without hesitation.

She slid back onto him eagerly, taking him in with a moan of pleasure. He began to grind against her and it felt so good. She could feel the climax building again, even more intensely than before, and she told him she was going to come again. His hands were roaming her body, wrapping around to pull her upright and change the angle. She moaned with pleasure as he groped her breasts, growing even louder when he reached around between her legs.

She rolled her hips to match his rhythm, pressing her body back against his to ensure he was getting as deep as possible. He was in her ear, telling her to come again. She did immediately, her body clenching hard and shuddering with spasms of pleasure. She reached up to find his hand over her breasts and hold him tighter against her. Her other hand traveled up his neck, her fingers slipping into his hair and she turned her head back to lock eyes with him. She kissed him then, gyrating her hips slowly around him as she squeezed him tightly within her until she felt him release inside her.

They slowed to a stop, and Haleigh only broke their kiss when she felt a spasm of a different kind. She groaned at the contraction, closing her eyes and willing it to pass. She pulled Alek along with her as she laid down on her side, her head on his shoulder. She started her timer and made her mental notes, and then she tried to think about anything else. She clutched his hand with hers.

”I love you, Alek,”

She said warmly.

”And not just because your dick is phenomenal, for the record.”

She added with a smile. Then, something that had been computing in the back of her mind returned to the forefront. A question occurred to her, a solution. She rolled over slowly until she was facing him, her curiosity evident on her expression.

”Is there… anyone in particular you don’t want me to fuck?”

She asked him, the details of her chat with Ash resurfacing in her mind.

 

[Fathom]

NYC — The Blonde

Heidi and Adriana briefly discussed options for Daniel, who had mildly commented about his limited choices for kissing partners. Adrian suggested Owen Merrick, their bartender. Heidi wasn’t so sure the man’s pedigree would be up to Daniel’s standard. Calder surprisingly offered to pick up telepathy from a pawn and help make a list. Heidi raised an eyebrow at the Red Rook.

”From a pawn? Don’t want to just copy the skill from the King’s mistress, then?”

She asked, her tone playful and teasing. Adriana then dared Calder to call up the Black Princess and prank her a bit with an outlandish tale of Ben being arrested, Daniel being on the run, and them having killed one of the Inner Circle. Calder hyped himself up and made a pretty decent attempt at it, picking Adriana tone the one they’d killed. Heidi tossed a smirk over at Adriana, who was fishing around in her clutch a bit, and then pulled her hand out to flip Calder the bird. Heidi chuckled softly at that, and then they all listened to Amanda’s reaction over Calder’s speakerphone. At first Amanda seemed to believe the scenario, and she mentioned that lots of people wanted to kill Adriana.

Heidi glanced curiously to see how pissed the new White Bishop would be about that suggestion, but Adriana grinned like the Cheshire Cat before popping another mint into her mouth and taking a sip of her drink. It didn’t take long for Amanda to reveal that she knew what was going on. Evidently she’d been spying on them all tonight, but since there was always some kind of espionage going on in Hellfire, Heidi was not at all surprised or bothered by it.

Amanda showed up just a few minutes later, and prompted Calder to dare her. He did, assigning her the task of karaoke, which was both awkward and amusing, as such things usually were. When she was done she brought two shots over, giving one to Calder and taking the other herself. Then she turned to the group and asked who was ready for a truth. There were no immediate volunteers, which Heidi found most interesting.

”I’ll take you up on that, Princess.”

 

[Steel]

The Black King & Queen's Suite

Ava was wishing she had withheld the information that Alek was Lily's father from him, and John could understand that. He would have been happy to tell everyone it was him, in fact. But that wasn't practical, and he said so. Especially since Kelly was still alive (at the moment) and it would have gotten out eventually regardless. Plus, it would have been cruel to keep her from Alek.

Ava: "I know. I know. I would never do that to someone....I just feel so out of control in this situation, I hate it."

"You have control, Ava. You are in charge of what happens to Lily. No one else."

Ava: "I know I must sound neurotic. I'm just [sighing] trying to navigate all this without Lily understanding what's really happening, you know? She's too young for all this bullshit. She deserves to just be a kid and not have to deal with her parents fucked up history."

"Plenty of children have parents who aren't together. You both care for Lily. That's what's important."

Despite everything, he had to admit that Alek seemed to feel something for Lily already. As much as he was inclined to paint him as the bad guy in all this, he honestly didn't think Alek would harm Lily.

Just then their conversation was interrupted by a small voice.

Fuuuuuccckkkk.

Ava somehow got herself clothed before Lily fully woke up, and went to the sofa where Lily had been sleeping.

Steel found his shirt and shorts from under the covers, and slipped them on while Ava comforted her daughter. He sat up, watching the two of them together. Lily was clearly afraid that Ava was going to disappear, and clung tightly to her. John wondered if Ava would allow her to see a therapist, which she probably needed to process everything that had happened. He didn't think she would let an outsider in like that, but maybe if she saw it was best for Lily...

Lily: "It was dark. I couldn't see. I lost you. I lost you."

He looked sadly at Ava, who returned his gaze in kind.

Lily: "Where's daddy?"

John's mouth felt like sandpaper. He didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Ava did.

Ava: "Daddy doesn't live in the same room as mommy does. He stays with his....partner Haleigh. And mommy stays with John [looking over at John] who is my partner."

They should have thought of this. They should have prepared. They should have gotten married. Shit, what were they thinking?

Ava brought Lily over to sleep in the bed with her. She held the girl to her, reaching her hand out to John. He took her hand in his, giving her a reassuring smile.

He mouthed to her silently:

"Do you want me to go?"

Maybe it wasn't a good idea for them to be sharing a room, or a bed, right now.

 

[Persephone]

As Ava laid down in bed with Lily, she looked over at John with a worried expression. She reached out her hand to his, John immediately taking it and giving it a reassuring squeeze as well as him giving her a smile as well. She didn't know how to navigate this. Lily was taken from the two people who raised her, told her parents were in fact alive and NOT dead, and is now staying in a strange place where she can't understand why her parents aren't together with her. In her six year old mind her world was imploding and it was hard for Ava to try and fix it while knowing the reality of the situation.

John mouthed silently to Ava, asking if she wanted him to go. She didn't. She didn't want to kick him out of his own room - his own bed. She didn't want him to feel like she was pushing him away again. But she needed to think of her daughter and what would make her feel comfortable. Ava gave John a sympathetic look, squeezing his hand.

"I'm sorry."

She mouthed back, indication that it was probably a good idea that he go into his King Suite for the night. As he got out of bed, Ava could feel Lily stir in her arms. And when the adjoining door to the King Suite opened and John left, Lily's head finally lifted up. She looked behind her to see John was gone, looking back over Ava to where she heard the door close. Her eyes were still filled with a sadness that stabbed Ava in the heart.

Lily: "I want daddy here."

Ava softly sighed as Lily laid her head down on the pillow and looked over at her.

"I know you do, sweetie..."

Ava's words were soft as she gently ran her fingers through Lily's hair.

"How about I make you a promise? Tomorrow after mommy and daddy's work meeting, we'll both take you to Central Park for some ice cream? Just the three of us, okay?"

Lily's eyes became brighter and she finally smiled.

Lily: "Really?! Just us?"

Ava gently ran her hand down Lily's cheek.

"Just us."

Lily's smile got bigger as she reached over and gave Ava a big hug, keeping her body there as Ava wrapped her arm under her to hold her close. Kissing the top of Lily's head, she gently traced the tips of her fingers down her daughters side, trying to ease her back to sleep.

Lily: "I love you, mama."

Ava shut her eyes, feeling the tears well up within them. To hear those words, so innocent and true, coming from her daughter? It was something Ava never thought she would ever experience. Her whole world was within her arms in that moment, and it was the most amazing feeling that she never wanted to end.

"I love you too, Lily."