Rita’s Random Fic Recs – Sunday Special!

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He’s back! He’s back!

OH, MY GOD! Mercward is back!!!(banner by Beffers87)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12697311/1/

Gravity Investigations, busy as always, takes a protection detail that results in more than just a paycheck. Edward and Bella, separated by 70 floors of Twi Tech Tower, must fight to stop what could be an act of war. 5th in the Gravity Series. Canon Couples, AH.

Rated: Fiction M – English – Adventure/Romance – Words: 5,587 – Reviews: 56 – Favs: 109 – Follows: 134 – Published: 3h ago – id: 12697311

Today we were interviewing for a new Gravity employee. We’d tried our best to fill the hole that Kurt had left when he’d resigned after the whole thing in Russia. He and Irina were doing very well living in New York. And even though it had been two years since we’d told him good-bye, no one really wanted to replace him. However, we needed the extra person. 

Folding my arms across my chest, I listened to Alec give a watered-down version of what we do.

“Here at Gravity Investigations, we work on a few things – lost persons, cheating spouses, the occasional cold case where the client has nowhere else to go to find answers. We also take on security details, providing almost a bodyguard-type service to people in the entertainment industry, politics, or witness protection, though the latter isn’t the norm,” he explained to her, but I could see his face, hear his tone, and he wasn’t keen on her, so his next statement wasn’t a surprise. “We’ll be interviewing people the rest of the day, so we’ll be in touch. Thank you so much for coming all this way today. We’ll be making a decision in the next week. Okay?”

The next few interviews weren’t much different, and something about each one of them didn’t quite click for Alec, Bella, or me.

Alec picked up the last folder. “This is the last one, guys. Dean Carver. Actually, this one is the one I wanted you to talk to the most. I met this guy in Seattle while pulling a protection gig.” He handed the folder to me. “The guy is a former Marine. He’s been stationed every-fucking-where – Afghanistan, South Korea, Japan.”

“Dean,” Alec called him, and the gentlemen in question turned to face us. “C’mon in, man.”

Once the door was closed to Bella’s office, Alec gestured to each of us. “Dean Carver, meet Edward and Bella Cullen. They own and operate Gravity Investigations.”

“Nice to meet you,” he greeted, shaking our hands.

He waited until Bella sat down before taking a chair across the desk.

“I brought you in here today because I think you’d be a good addition to this crew, Dean. I’ve seen you work, and it’s similar to the way we do things. I know you’ve had some training. Tell us a bit about it,” Alec requested, sitting back in his chair.

Bella stayed quiet on this one, opting to listen as she flipped through his file.

“I was born here in Washington, played high school baseball until I discovered martial arts,” he started, and I could see this guy wasn’t loud or gruff. He was a bit like Jasper, soft-spoken and observant as fuck. “I joined the Marines right out of school. I did two tours, and I was stationed in Afghanistan, Japan, and South Korea. I was a part of an elite team. It didn’t have a name until about two years ago – Raiders. Navy has their SEALs, Army has their Green Berets, Marines classify themselves as elite to begin with, but they needed a recon team. That was us.”

“You’ve seen some ugly shit,” I pointed out, glancing over Bella’s shoulder at his file again.

“Ah, yeah, definitely, but so have you guys. Chopper pilot in Afghanistan. You’ve seen action, too.”

Alec smirked because Dean had been his pick from the beginning. I could tell Bella approved, because she sat forward and started to explain Gravity.

“Gravity started out as simply a PI service, but with the addition of these guys,” she started, gesturing to Alec and me, “we’ve been able to work other things into our abilities. We still do missing people, old cold cases that the local authorities couldn’t solve, and yeah, the occasional cheating spouse. But we also have the capability to provide some protection services here and there. We work mainly with Twi Tech – Edward’s father is the CEO – and he’ll request us to protect entertainers, political figures, or himself should he need it.”

I smirked at the last part, because Bella sugared up and glossed over some pretty ugly history, but it was true nonetheless.

“I think you’d be a good fit, Dean. I think you’ll bring a different and more global perspective to the table,” she concluded. “Alec will go over everything with you and get you set up with Alice.”

We both shook hands with Dean, welcoming him to the crew.

Oh, boy! You can’t go wrong with a hunky dude named Dean, now can you *wink!*

Deb’s promisin’ Sunday updates so hang on tight…we’re in for a wild ride!

~oOo~

And because one rec is never enough…(banner by IpsitaC77)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12674357/1/The-Masked-Prince

“Steal a beauty’s soul, present it to me in a glass jar, and I’ll think about letting you rule the Twilight kingdoms.”

Rated: Fiction M – English – Fantasy/Romance – Bella, Edward – Chapters: 13 – Words: 14,949 – Reviews: 457 – Favs: 171 – Follows: 387 – Updated: Oct 19 – Published: Oct 2 – id: 12674357

The first twin was silent. The second wailed with the lungs of a songster.

Both were given utmost care—bathed, checked and bundled—but when the crown prince was presented before a grieving king, he took one look at the bronze curls, his wife’s beauty wasted on a malformed monster, and gave an order.

The second twin was placed in the golden cradle. The first was given to the royal herbalist whose wife could not conceive.

The king held his queen’s pale hand, still warm, and none dared to disturb his quiet. Servants tiptoed outside the chambers, carrying away bloody sheets, clicking their tongues in pity and cooing at the golden-haired child in the royal cradle, a prince with all the markings of regality.

Amidst the fuss, the initial records were forgotten. A midwife carelessly tucked the paper together with a stack of other never-again-to-be-seen documents, its top edges protruding from the file.

Her scrawl was visible, the spelling from the lands beyond but clear as day:

crowne prinz, bronz o’ haer

Truly, I wasn’t plannin’ to start another WIP but Ara got me good with that last line…I was hooked!

~oOo~

And one more for the road…(banner by Moosals)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12648636/1/Lonely-in-Your-Nightmare

New neighbor Edward really gets Bella’s heart pumping, but what nightmarish secrets is he hiding? Will he ever let her in? Daddyward.

Rated: Fiction M – English – Drama/Romance – Bella, Edward – Chapters: 12 – Words: 33,995 – Reviews: 1,395 – Favs: 512 – Follows: 960 – Updated: Oct 19 – Published: Sep 11 – id: 12648636

As I pull into my driveway, I look over at the dark house next door, its lawn and shrubs overgrown and full of weeds. The widowed Mrs. Cope died shortly after I moved in last year. Her three children and seven grandchildren all live out of town, the nearest one in Seattle.

They’d been trying to sell her place for months. It needs a lot of work on the interior from what I remember; I’m not sure if Mrs. Cope had redecorated since the 1960s.

Needless to say, the old Cope house does sell, much to Bella’s joy…maybe!?!

I meet my girls at the diner.

“They’re here,” I announce.

“They?” Alice asks.

I nod. “A couple with an eight-month-old baby. Actually I haven’t met the wife yet. I don’t think she was home when I stopped by yesterday to bring them an apple pie.”

“You brought them a pie?” Alice giggles, snorting in her uncontrolled laughter. “That’s so Mom.”

“Who do you think I learned it from?” I retort. “Anyway, it made a good excuse to go check them out without appearing too nosy.”

“So tell us about the husband,” Angela prompts, taking a sip of her Diet Coke.

“Oh my God, he’s gorgeous!” I gush. “Like, seriously, the best looking man to ever set foot in Forks.”

“He’s taken, Bella,” Angela chides in her teacher’s voice.

“I’m aware of that! I can still look though, can’t I?” I defend myself.

I don’t see the harm in drooling over Edward, as long as I’m not as obvious about it as I probably was last night.

“So where are they from?” Alice asks.

“Get this: Chicago.”

“And they moved to Forks?” she asks the million dollar question.

“I know, right? Edward didn’t give me an explanation.”

“Edward? That’s his name? Sounds more like a grandpa than the hottest guy in Forks,” Alice comments.

“You wouldn’t scoff if you’d seen him.”

But the wife is strangely absent and the mystery of why that should be occupies Bella more than is healthy!

This is my first serious excursion into RobzBeanie territory but it ain’t gonna be the last LOL!

~oOo~

Oh, wait! You guys would probably like a COMPLETE rec, right?

Oooh, I got the best of the best for you with the sequel to Old School! (banner by Patrizia Adamo)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12508253/1/A-Big-Enough-Umbrella

Even a superhero has to pull on his tights one leg at a time. An “Old School” sequel as told by Umbrella Man himself. Rated M because they can’t keep their hands off each other.

Rated: Fiction M – English – Romance – Chapters: 22 – Words: 71,224 – Reviews: 2,744 – Favs: 557 – Follows: 739 – Updated: Oct 18 – Published: May 29 – Status: Complete – id: 12508253

I enter the space with the combination of years of training and experience, instinct, and heart that I alone possess. And yet . . .

And yet.

Every session is its own organic being, a product of two people in relation to each other, at a given moment in time and physical and emotional space. I cannot control everything that happens inside these walls, nor would that be desirable. The artist cannot know what he is about to discover.

It is precisely the spark that lives outside the knowable that makes each encounter unique. The scariest is almost always the most compelling.

Bella tracks me with wide eyes as I approach, camera in hand. It’s not easy to set aside my feelings for my beautiful model, but at least my lust is at bay.

Click. This could go one of two ways. Luckily, she chooses to trust me. Her gaze flutters toward the ceiling, exposing her elegant neck to the camera. Click-click.

I capture the proud set of her shoulders with my lens.

I don’t rush her past this pivotal moment. Even as I shoot the images of her thoughtful stillness, I can tell they will be stunning. Shivers roll down my back.

In every successful session, there is a hinge, a point where the subject encounters a difficult truth. This moment rarely occurs at the beginning of the shoot. Even Bella, whose trust in me is extraordinary, needed time to warm to the situation. These junctures strike me as visceral sensations—a tingle at the back of my neck, a thump in my chest, a chill down my spine—often before either of us is consciously aware that something important is about to happen.

I’m not sure where Bella is heading with this, but her body language is a dead giveaway. She’s opened a door that feels dangerous to her, and I hold my breath as she steps through it.

Time slows down for me. Instinct kicks in. Zoom. Focus.Click.

God, what a rush!

I am deeply convinced Old School and A Big Enough Umbrella should be published for the widest audience possible AND, with a sprinklin’ of Fate’s magic, be adapted for film to show the whole world what the simple act of sharin’ an umbrella can get you!

How’s everybody been doin’? What fics are keepin’ you up readin’ all night?

 

Happy Sunday!

Rita