GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on Jan 7, 2022 19:58:06 GMT
Christmas had come to Mystic Falls in a shower of lights, tinsel and Christmas spirit. Events filling the square seemingly every day, cups of mulled wine and hot cider pressed into any hands that passed. Even through the car windows Grey could hear carols on the air, that ringing of bells that always left him expecting to see a shower of fairy dust trailing like sparks in the air. He’d stuck one on top of the tree, staring up at it like the glittery thing would take flight. The guy who’d sold the tree to him had insisted.
’You need a topper,’ he’d chuckled. ’Lights and decorations too, or you might as well just walk out into the woods and stare at the trees out there.’ A smile half forced with a flash of teeth but he’d hauled the damn thing through the lobby and had been finding pine needles everywhere since. It had to be why people went with fake ones, the tradition his distant ancestors probably had something to do with starting long ago set aside. Why bother with nature when plastic would do?
Why bother at all?
Because life wasn’t what it had been a decade ago. The kid who’d fled that farmhouse with little more than a handful of possessions clutched in a bin bag slowly shrugged off, fighting to rip free of the binding shreds that remained of it. Like Leah.
Grey’s teeth ground together, leaving twitching muscles bulging in his jaw spasmodically in the rear view as he glanced at himself and then around. She still hadn’t reappeared, despite her boy toy’s brother’s warning. Raik, the problem brother – no wonder he’d leapt onto Leah’s coat tails. The two of them deserving one another. Maybe it would leave one mourner when Leah went back into a shallow grave again. He squeezed the wheel lightly, checking behind him at the lights again with his thumbs tapping rapid against the arc of it. Preferably she’d be in there long before his child was born.
Christ. A breath shuddered out, his throat going tight as he sailed through the lights and pulled in at the curb on the other side. His spot, although for more than a week he hadn’t been there. Calls yes, he’d needed that tether, but he’d taken the space Destiny had offered. Work it through in his head, make the decision he was still sat firmly on the fence about. Want didn’t always equate to being able to, did it?
The news in the back of his mind every waking minute, every possible road block throwing its way up around it. Spells cast again, little hoards of things searching for some sign of that mark, desperate to protect Destiny from the dual threat and cast of any chance of what had gripped his parents and generations of Maddoxes before them. Dark shadows like smoke always too thick to tear away and he didn’t want to be viewing Destiny and his kid through the foul screen of madness like his old man.
If.
That reminder a sucker punch as he climbed out of the car. There was no guarantee. She’d warned him of that, making sure there were no inflated hopes, just that sharp sting of realism. Chances were slim but Destiny wanted to take them. Wanted him to take them.
Grey scanned the street, pulled the keys from his pocket with a jingle like those bells as he locked the car. For emergencies covered plenty of things – like that slow step that took him further over the line that just ‘I want to think about it. Numbers sliding by in the lift, teeth grinding on his lip as he unlocked the apartment. The lights had been on, a glow he could see like a beacon from the street, she was there somewhere.
Berlioz’s appearance had him bending for a moment as he shut the apartment door behind him. ”Didn’t even go and fetch her for me huh? Had to get the rubs first?” Crinkled lines at the corners of his blue eyes as he scrubbed fingers around the dog’s ears, peering into his eyes like Destiny was there looking through them.
He rose as the dog clattered away like he was doing what he’d asked. Grey brushed his hands together, stripped off his coat and went to hang it. One hand was holding it up awkwardly when he saw the glossy paper at least. Not a photo, not unless it was the worst photographer in the world. Grey static, the amorphous shape in the middle of it as the hand holding the coat dropped. He stared down at it, the name printed along one corner. Destiny Baccari.
The tightness that had gripped his throat downstairs slid deeper down, fixed clutching hopeful fingers around his heart that squeezed as he heard her pad out. ”Hey,” he managed hoarsely, dragging his gaze up from the ultrasound – that was what they called it right? They checked those things now, making sure babies were growing as though should’ve done, checking heartbeats. Still finding one in those blurry shapes Grey guessed. ”I uh … I didn’t mean to pry …you went to get a scan?” No accusation like she should’ve invited him to come along. He was the one who was undecided, withdrawing back as he tried to figure out how to go forward. How the three of them would do this.
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 181
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 22, 2024 19:37:32 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jan 11, 2022 16:57:23 GMT
 ━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━ December 15th
THE ONLY WORD THAT seemed apt was listless. Destiny felt listless, alone, and there was a really gross taste in her mouth from sitting in her apartment. It wasn’t her home’s fault, per se, but the fact that she had no use for opening it. There wasn’t anyone to talk to (except Berlioz, and sometimes he didn’t seem to want to chat either).
Sometimes she felt like the music she was listening to made her feel like this, but then she remembered she was pregnant with her best friend’s baby and inhabiting a body that would likely give up soon. Destiny tried to resist downloading an app to track her progress, it would just get her hopes up, but the ultrasound had already done that. She spent ten minutes in front of the mirror staring at her belly and comparing it to pictures on the internet.
But mainly, she just laid in bed. It was Wednesday, and the end of the day hadn’t come soon enough━even though she only rushed home to get under her blankets again. Grey still called, sure, but she hadn’t seen him in two weeks. It wasn’t just his absence making her feel this way; she wouldn’t let anybody have that sort of control over her emotions again. But she missed him. In the summer, at the blacklight party, Grey had told her (and her ‘date’) that she was with him. She was too overwhelmed in that moment to question or clarify it, and she blamed herself for that now. Obviously, he was with her until shit got tough.
He’d be worth it, though. The baby. Turning her head to the side, she could catch the reflection of her midsection in the full-length mirror hanging from the wall and lifted her shirt until her stomach was bare. Hands spread over it, fingers dipping into her skin to make the gentlest dents. She loved him━or her━but probably him. She’d love him even if Grey didn’t. She wouldn’t blame him for their mistake.
“Jesus Christ,” Destiny grumbled, hands coming up to touch the tears trailing down her cheeks as if buckets were being dumped from her eyes. A deep breath was enough to draw her back to Earth, into the here and now instead of whatever the fuck that emotional shit was. Fucking hormones. God.
Springing from her mattress, Destiny moved to the shower like the water would cure her and wash this all away, determined that it would. It couldn’t not, because what the hell. Her brain had taken a deep dive into a puddle of black goo, and, yeah, some soap would do her good.
It only half helped. The warm water wasn’t nearly as rejuvenating as Destiny had hoped, but she washed that sour taste from her tongue and breathed in the steam deeply as if it could cleanse her insides. Maybe it would. It felt like every time she wasn’t happy she was fucking whining, like she didn’t have the right to feel the emotions everyone else did. Why wasn’t she allowed?
The sound of the front door opening sent fear striking through her as if she’d been hit by lightning. She was allowed to feel that, right? Head popping out from the designated hole of one of Grey’s sweaters (or “jumper”), Destiny stuck her arms through and listened, calming herself when Berlioz ceased to bark. He wouldn’t do that for any stranger, and she was sure she’d locked the door when she got home, then double-checked before going to shower.
Berlioz came to her, jowls broken into an expression that truly looked as though he was smiling, tail wagging his entire body. She laid her hand to his head, settled by his reaction, and ran her thumb up between his eyes and along his skull’s exaggerated middle part. Destiny wiggled into a clean pair of sweatpants and, without rushing, walked out into the hall━she’d already concluded that it was Grey, no matter how unlikely his visit nowadays. Tying her damp hair into a messy bun atop her head brought on a fresh whiff of her coconut conditioner as she came to the front door at Berlioz’s behest, though she’d seen Grey the minute she’d walked into the hall.
“Hey.” She couldn’t help but smile, steps slowing as she came nearer, though she pressed her hip to the back of the couch to keep as much space as possible between them. God damn━the fucking sonograms━she would’ve put them away, but he hadn’t bothered to warn her before coming over. But why did she have to hide them? No, fuck that; she wouldn’t let the anxiety grow over her brain like mold. It wasn’t worth it.
Was she supposed to kiss him hello? All of their unspoken rules seemed to hold little importance━or perhaps now they were stricter than ever. She didn’t want to ruin this further. Space was Destiny’s offer to Grey, but it didn’t mean it hurt her any less.
Stepping forward, she raised her arms━wholly drowned in his sweater’s sleeves━and wrapped them around his middle. It was a quick hug, fast and awkward like they had been in the beginning. As if their child wasn’t literally pressed between them.
“Yeah,” Sticking close to the couch, she walked along the back and rounded it, moving to kneel on the cushions and rest with her arms on the back of the couch, facing where he was at the door. “It’s okay. You can look at them,” Destiny mumbled, slipping her hand into the sweater’s pocket to retrieve her phone, “They had me book another for the end of February.” She had mixed feelings about it, hopeful but almost like it was a waste of time. And the due date, July twenty-fourth, as if that meant anything. Even for healthy women carrying healthy babies, it was just a guess.
“I… also got a video or, like, a sound thing of his heartbeat, if you wanna hear it. Her heartbeat. Its. Theirs. I don’t actually know.” Laughing awkwardly, Destiny held out her phone as an offering, just praying he’d want to hear it. He’d seen the photos and hadn’t darted out the door, but there was still time for Grey to give up on this. On them.
GREY MADDOX |  |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on Jan 15, 2022 17:58:13 GMT
You could be King of pushing things aside, not letting the claws dig into your brain or your gut … or you heart … but it was a strategy that only worked for so long before you felt the first nick of claws. It had taken months to shove the fear and paranoia aside after he’d first stepped off a plane in New York. Looking over his shoulder even when he was alone in that shitty motel room. Gradually training himself not to feel the itch of eyes on him between his shoulder blades constantly. A piece of cake eventually until Leah had crawled out of whatever pit she’d been supposed to spend an eternity burning in. She hadn’t come for him, not directly at least. Through Destiny Grey had felt those claws all the same, raking the pit of his stomach and up.
Now they were in his chest as he looked down at the photos – sonogram, the technical word popping in his head as hope did like a soap bubble under his diaphragm. What he could lose in more ways than one, but all at the hands of someone who’d brought harm to them in some way. The claws squeezing harder, driving the breath out of his lungs.
Two weeks of only letting the thought in when he was alone. A poker face hid almost everything so well that she hadn’t seen it until Leah had forced her way between them and had plucked the curtains he shrouded himself in own. Did he want to do this? An answer easier than it had once been. He’d seen not having it after the man behind the curtain had stormed out with fire in his belly and hate in his chest for Leah, had chased the newspaper magnate off to have it, with promises of a sort left dripping from his lips. Could he do it? A bigger question that had kept him locked away for two weeks while he picked through it all, want weighing heavily on one side of the scales that were trying to balance out the fact that he was a father.
Grey stared at the evidence of it, feeling the answer trying to well up on that bubble. It stuck painfully in his throat as Destiny appeared. Hair wet, tumbled on top of her head, sweat pants – that was his shirt. Blue eyes narrowed faintly at it, a warmth building behind that obstruction. Two weeks when the only thing keeping that connection open had been the phone calls … and the little things watching her, his reassurances in the off kilter sight of her in her office, balled up here in the apartment. Not enough to have really seen.
Just, not enough.
Even now. She didn’t approach him, pressing into the back of the couch with that greeting as short as his own – but that smile, reassurance. His eyes dropped to the photos he held for a second, the thick swallow doing jack shit to propel them over the hump he’d left there between them when he’d tried to do what she’d asked of him. Destiny wanted this … the baby. Their baby.
He almost fumbled the photos not to crush them – her, him? – between them as she approached. Grey set them down, his arm coming up, but not quick enough to anchor her there. Destiny was gone too fast for him to do it, leaving behind the scent of coconut damp against his cheek. Lips pressed together, Grey raised his hands, pressed fingers to his mouth as he looked down at them. ”I…” he huffed a breath out, rough humour. ”I don’t even know what I’m looking for.” Dark brows drawing together as he looked down again. Fingers dropping lightly to spread them out. The worry was there, pinching as he looked up at her. Did they do it that fast if it was all OK? A constant monitoring that had to show things appearing, little hands, feet, the old man pot belly like bulge of baby’s tummies they always seemed to show on those things.
Throat constricting a little more. Should he ask? Was that what you were meant to do when the odds were overwhelmingly against this making it all that way? Grey nodded slowly, drifting away from the table as Destiny mentioned the video. Hearing and seeing the evidence that the baby was still fighting. The feel of those claws pressing deeper almost steeling his breath away as he approached, hand miraculously not shaking as he reached out to take the phone. ”They don’t tell you this soon or you didn’t want to…” His lack of knowledge was shocking but he hadn’t dared to put Dr. Google to the test, nightmares lay that way and he hadn’t wanted those colouring the choice with fear. Like he could prevent that anyway.
Cradling the phone like it was the baby itself, Grey thumbed the screen. The low wub, dub, dub was faster than he’d expected, his own rising to meet its pace. A rough breath out, a faint burn behind his eyes as he looked up at her. ”It’s really there,” he said hoarsely. Grey hit the screen again, had the sound playing another loop as he chuckled. ”They’re OK? The scan was alright? I know I’ve been … shit.” And wasn’t that fitting.
He sank down on the arm of the couch, setting the phone down on his thigh as he looked sideways at her. ”I was thinking,” Grey admitted. ”You gave me a choice, a chance to walk on this.” He was shaking his head now. No. No matter what was gonna come or what slippery slope he was going to fall down trying to break whatever darkness had been wrapped around them like a shroud for centuries, he wasn’t going to do that. ”Can I come to the next one?” As the baby’s dad. Reaching out, he took her hand, squeezed light, like he would then, hope in that hold that this wasn’t going to spin out like the worst case scenario Destiny had laid out for him.
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DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 181
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 22, 2024 19:37:32 GMT
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Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jan 26, 2022 20:09:42 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
Leaning over a little more, she circled the bigger blob on top of the smaller one, like an upside-down snowman. “That’s the head,” And sliding her finger down the tiny body, she pointed to the tiny bumps at the bottom. “And the feet. Sorta… looks like a kidney bean.” Destiny giggled, though the sound was somewhat muffled, stalling instead of trailing off naturally, like she wasn’t allowed to find joy in this moment with him. Maybe she shouldn’t anymore. She couldn’t imagine what brought him over, and cursed the tiny speck of hope that bubbled from within.
‘They don’t tell you this soon or you didn’t want to…’
She could feel it; the awkwardness, the space between them, the thick tension like a brick wall keeping them apart. Maybe some part of her wished to tear through and demand answers━sometimes she daydreamed about unloading on Grey and telling him how she really felt, but that wasn’t who she was, and she wouldn’t do that to someone she cared about. Her mind often fought between what was fair and what she wanted, the rawest feelings buried beneath, but Destiny knew she couldn’t go around saying every little thing that popped into her head. It wasn’t right nor who she was.
“They can’t tell; I’m pretty sure they’re looking outward signs. Y’know, like a p***s or a lack of one.” Her smile held the bottom of the barrel scraps of joy.
It came fast and full when he took her phone, though. It was the tiniest thing, the slightest sign that maybe he might want this, and she took it to heart without a second thought. She’d heard it about a hundred times that day alone, but it was like hearing it for the first time again when she saw Grey’s face. That warm swell in her chest, as if the butterflies had floated up there and into her throat. It would either make her cry or choke; it was really anybody’s game. “Yeah,” She croaked back, her voice a telltale sign of which side would be taken. Vision fuzzing around the edges, Destiny sniffled and nodded, not trusting her voice just yet. He had been shit, but she knew that wasn’t what he was saying, and she wouldn’t point it out. “Yeah,” She repeated, “Everything’s normal.” Was he thankful for it? Destiny was. She hated that it’d driven a wedge between them, but she was proud of her body for accomplishing all it had so far. That thirteen-week mark wasn’t surpassed just yet, but it was coming up on the horizon. Only a month left to go.
Was she supposed to want it this bad? It wasn’t because of him━okay, maybe a bit━but she had to know that it wasn’t entirely over for her. Perhaps it wouldn’t be Grey down the line, but she could still offer that to whoever came along next… even if she hoped there wouldn’t be a ‘next.’
Grey shifted closer, to the arm of the couch, and Destiny turned to face him, plopping down sideways on the cushion. She buried her hands beneath the sweater’s sleeves again, staring up with wide, optimistic eyes as he began. Before the fear had the chance to swarm in, Grey was shaking his head, and Destiny knew exactly what that meant. He wasn’t going to leave her━he wanted this, too.
‘Can I come to the next one?’
She knew it wasn’t a promise that they’d be together, that he wanted her like she wanted him, but God damn if she was gonna listen to her brain on this one. Destiny smiled brightly, happier than any of those last moments that seemed to stick to her teeth like the chewy candy from his birthday. They dissolved instantly, tears welling up again as she grinned. When━if━she had their baby, he wouldn’t be born into a broken home. He’d have a mom and a dad that loved him so much they could survive the surprise of him and everything else that came their way. “Of course you can.” Her laugh forced its way out with a small sob of excitement, so overwhelmed she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Maybe it was too much, but he had to be used to her by now, right?
It didn’t matter when she launched forward to hug him. She needed him close again; Destiny was desperate to remove that uncomfortable gap, turning the brick wall into a bubble. It popped as soon as her head hit his chest, and was gone for good by the time Destiny turned her face up and kissed him.
“Thank you.” She whispered. “For… choosing to be there for me or, uh, us.”
The brief thought about names crossed her mind, or all the baby stuff they’d need, but she quickly suppressed it. Even if it was a sure thing (which it wasn’t, and this was more proof she was getting her hopes up), it wouldn’t be wise to overwhelm Grey when he’d only just made his decision. But she wanted both of them, and she’d do anything to have them. Thinking positively wasn’t the same as being overly excited, right?
GREY MADDOX | end here or w yours?  |
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GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 171
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 18:25:40 GMT
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Post by GREY MADDOX on Feb 5, 2022 18:02:45 GMT
Should he have been able to see it like a dark cloud lurking over the kid already?
His gaze ticked from bump to curve to blob on the image, trying to map out what he supposed all parents looked for. Fingers and toes that weren’t there yet, the solid curve of a head, that pooch of a belly all kids seemed to have as though they circled from the physical form of a seventy year old to a kid before they rose back into the paunch and chubby ankles again. Grey’s throat constricted, leaving him swallowing hard again to try and get that fear back under the surface again. Had his old man done the same thing? Felt that hope that maybe somehow it would skip a generation. Maybe that was where the madness started – the hope that got dashed.
Fingers pressing harder against his mouth to stifle it all, he watched Destiny trace her finger over the image. The head – no, no dark cloud hovering or any sign of what had plagued generations of Maddoxes before him, or her, feet, the blob of body between. His lips twitched at her giggle. “They grow out of that, don’t they? Get all stretched out in there.” If they made it that far. He curled his fingers into his palm as he dropped his hand from his mouth, wanting to settle it on the stomach that still looked relatively flat, tracing the same features while he could, imprinting the feel of it on himself. In case.
That hope was gonna be impossible to squash when he was looking at her. He wasn’t sure if it was that or the brewing dread of what might happen with all the odds stacked against them on both sides. They … they might be doing this though and so whatever it was he’d put between them again had to be torn down. Fingers wedged in the cracks of that wall, no matter if it tore them to pieces in the process of sending it tumbling.
He was close enough to start it now. Grey could feel the edges of it softening with that choking, silvery hope that offered far more than it was likely to give creeping up like the sun. His lips curved, something approaching a smile there for a minute. “There’s not a … not yet?” No little projection or otherwise on that bulbous little body. Finger curling, he pressed his nail lightly to it. The docs could probably tell the exact day that would pop in or out like one of those meat thermometer things that told you when things were cooked.
Would it make a difference if it was a girl? Like just the men in his family carried this curse – darachs passing it all down the line until something eventually stopped it or a girl came along. There’d been no real reason for any of it in Malcolm’s rants, no sane explanation to stop him from his fumbling around in the dark. Maybe this was it. Another darach, a little girl that wasn’t supposed to be but was anyway. The heartbeat that whooshed from the phone almost had Grey believing it. A hammer to beat that fist away from his throat and drive the feeling further down in his chest.
His eyes lifted to hers, warmer, softer, carrying just a little of that hope as they fixed on her. He should’ve reached out, hand on her cheek like he could offer some of that comfort he didn’t think he was capable of – not with this thing still lurking over him. Grey nodded, the breath rougher this time but not the next, something had loosened in his chest. “Good. They’re good.” The croak, the relief. It was hard not to let you get yourself attached to that, no matter how much distance you kept around you or what you told yourself those chances were. It’s for the best was a lie he wasn’t gonna let pass his lips – not after the Alpha had muttered it to him that day Malcolm had been slaughtered.
Lifting his knee onto the arm of the couch Grey continued to stare down at a different future from the one he’d been heading for when Destiny had first dragged him up here. No soot smudged on her skin now, what he could see of her was as clean as she’d been when they’d stumbled out of the shower that day. Her fingers disappeared up the sleeves as he cracked the well that hope and desire lived in open again, big blue eyes fixed up at him. Tinkerbell hadn’t given in even if he’d given her no reason to think there was a reason for her to hope.
He didn’t have to add the please, although he should’ve begged for it, to have her welling up. Tears filling those eyes til they were practically luminous, a laugh tumbling out with her tinged with excitement, practically sparkling in the air. Grey closed his fingers around the phone, stopping it from sliding away as she rose up into him. Bricks tumbled, the wall went down like this was Berlin in ’89. “I’ll swot up for it.” He brought his hand up to his cheek like he would’ve done before, cradling as he shook his head in a tight arc. “No, thank you,” he shot back rough. "I shouldn’t have taken so long. You’re givin’ me this.” Giving him her, even after another had tried to shatter her like a porcelain doll for just this.
Lips found the corner of her mouth, his thumb almost sweeping down to meet them as he fumbled the phone aside finally. Grey slid from the arm of the couch, easing Destiny down carefully against the cushions. A knee down on them, bracing himself above her. Swallowing hard as he drew back enough to look into her eyes. Slowly, the lips that finally tasted of her again as he touched the lip of his tongue to the centre of the lower one curved. “No letting the training slip anymore. Tomorrow night…” Not now. This wasn’t him putting her through her paces anymore, it was a reconnection tonight. A first step into something that still scared the shit out of him. His other hand finding her stomach, he eased down between her and the back of the couch, drawing Destiny into him and that newly opened world.
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