Look at Us Now - Ch. 1
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Oh, hi, guys! Welcome to my new hyper fixation!! *fireworks* *champagne glasses* *me smiling like a maniac*
I really hope you like this new au! My other ones are still in progress, I’m just really excited about this lol
Warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking, mentions of sketchy cigars, mentions of a fistfight, mentions of a sprained ankle, promises of smutty times
This party was falling apart. Literally.
Uncle Orlon thought it was a good idea to bring Aelin to this year's Aviator's Ball, so she could meet her future bosses with a little less pressure. At first, it was all fancy uniforms, expensive drinks and small talk. Now that it was past midnight, some of the older officers with the highest ranks had left—Like Orlon and Darrow—, a drunk major knocked down a massive flower arrangement, and the guy Aelin was flirting with had offered her a very sketchy-looking cigar, which she politely declined.
When two lieutenants started a fistfight, Aelin knew it was time to go.
She speed walked through the crowd of people, and even bumped her shoulder against the party planner's, who was going toward the brawl. The poor girl.
When she finally stepped outside, it felt like she could finally breathe.
"Staying out of trouble?" A deep voice asked her. Aelin looked around until she found an officer leaning on the side of the stairs that led to the garden. With his face lit up by the moonlight and eyes sparkling as they studied each other, he was breathtaking. Or at least that was Aelin's first thought when she saw him.
Aelin walked towards him. Staying out of trouble was Uncle Orlon's only request, but she also didn't want to look bad in front of her future bosses and future coworkers. That sounded like a suicide mission.
"Seems like that's what you're doing."
The hot officer chuckled. "Turns out being locked up becomes really easy when you're in the military. Specially when you make yourself some unruly friends."
"Have you ever been to the guardhouse?"
She leaned against the wall on his side and shook his hand. "I'm Aelin."
Turning fully towards him, she flipped her hair back a little to expose her shoulders and cleavage. "It's really hot in here, isn't it?"
Rowan got sidetracked by her exposed skin for a millisecond, then his eyes snapped back to hers. "You think so?"
"I know so, and I think it's because of—"
"Global warming, I know. God, this city gets hotter each year."
He tilted his head. "You don't agree? This city's weather is hell."
Aelin clamped her lips together and tried not to laugh, even though her shoulders were shaking already. "I was going to land a pickup line, Rowan."
"Oh." He blushed, and it was the most adorable thing. "I thought we were talking about carbon monoxide."
Aelin chuckled. "Well, you ruined my pickup line now."
"My roommate teaches me a lot of those, but I won't use them."
Rowan leaned sideways on the wall and smirked. "Because I'm not trying to pick you up, I'm feeling like pinning you down instead."
She looked up, gaping. Aelin could kill that blunt, sassy grin of his. Or kiss it. God, she really wanted to kiss him now. Since he noticed her minutes ago, actually.
It was beautiful, how that smirk melted as his eyes darkened. The fabric of his uniform under her fingertips and Aelin's hands going up until they reached the lapels and clenched.
With both hands on her waist, Rowan was already one breath away from her when he closed their lips together with small, tentative brushes. At least until Aelin closed her arms around his neck and almost crushed their faces together, deepening the kiss.
His hands were everywhere. Her hips, her waist, toying with the straps of her dress. All that clashing and flicking and grabbing was making her heartbeat go wild. When it became too much, Rowan grabbed her upper arms and mentioned to lean away, but Aelin gently bit his lower lip to stop him.
He gave her small, gentle kisses and rested his forehead against hers, both heavily breathing against each other.
"You're not someone's wife, right?"
"What?" she breathed. Aelin's mind was still foggy from the kiss, she must've heard the wrong thing.
He swallowed and slid his hand down her arms, squeezing her fingers at the end. "That's why Fenrys got into a fistfight at the party. He made out with another officer's wife."
Aelin leaned away to properly look at his face, trying to understand what was going on. First, who the hell is Fenrys? Second, did he just stop their kiss to ask if she was married? Because he was avoiding a fistfight?
She sighed. You know what, that was fair.
Shaking her head, Aelin wiggled all her ringless fingers.
His eyes assessed her lack of uniform. "Someone's daughter, then. I think that's even worse."
A troublesome smirk was her only answer. Well, she was someone's great-niece, but it became almost the same if she considered Orlon raised Aelin since she was eight.
Looking up, Rowan cursed under his breath. Probably calculating his chances of being punished for this if her date—Brigadier Galathynius, not that he knew it—discovered. Proving her theory right, he asked, "They outrank me, right?"
Aelin raised her eyebrows. "You want to fuck me or not?"
"What?" His eyes widened, then he flinched. "Fuck, sorry, babe." He trailed kisses from her jaw to her lips, tugging her closer by the waist.
She hummed. That was much better.
"Do you want to leave before this party burns itself to the ground?" He whispered in her ear.
They were silently walking wherever he was leading her. One-night stands were so awkward sometimes, but Aelin was feeling good about this one. There was something comforting about Rowan, but she was failing to point what exactly. At one point, their hands accidentally grazed, but he kept them there and slowly intertwined their fingers.
Aelin hid a grimace when she saw his car, though. "I live in the village." She pointed in the direction of one of the military villages they had close by. "We can go by foot."
"You think I'd drink in front of all my bosses?"
He had a good point. It seemed like he was the only officer who cared, though. She had no idea how he understood her concerns so quickly, but Aelin didn't want to think too hard on this.
"I thought you should know I just moved in and my house is... lacking." He scratched the back of his head. "If you don't mind."
"Oh." She tilted her head. "We can go to my place, if you think that's better."
His shoulders dropped in relief. "You're sure it won't cause trouble?"
"I know my way around those security cameras." Aelin waved him off and leaned her side on his car. "But I still need to know what's lacking in your house."
Rowan's cheeks went crimson in a heartbeat. "I have a bed, it just hasn't arrived yet."
Aelin started cackling, her body trembling with laughter as he stared at her with the corners of his lips tugging up.
"I physically have a matteress, though!" He yelled over her laughter and opened the car, "And a great wall."
Things got quieter inside the car, so it was Aelin's cue to update her boyfriend, who was a little back and forth between Doranelle and Rifthold these days. He never told her about his one-night stands, which she didn't mind, but it felt wrong to sleep with someone without telling him.
Aelin: found myself a hot officer for the night
Aelin: we're going to my place
Such a horrendous lie. Aelin never graded her boy toys above 9 because she felt better if only her actual boyfriend was a 10. Truth was, if Dorian is a 10, Rowan is at least a 12. Actually, he was so handsome it made a lot of sense grading him above maximum score.
Rowan cleared his throat when they arrived at the village. Quickly tucking her phone back inside her purse, Aelin gave the directions of her house and made him park two houses before.
They silently walked together, until she stopped him on the border between her house and the neighbor's.
"I'm assuming you don't want to get caught by the cameras, since you're so scared of my uncle."
His eyes sparkled now that she satisfied his curiosity. Or maybe made it worse. There was no way to know. "An uncle, then." Rowan raised his eyebrows. "I'm not scared of him, but it would be nice if you could assure me he won't put me in the guardhouse for this."
Aelin snorted. Orlon couldn't hurt a fly if he wanted to, and even Darrow was a huge softie inside. But just the thought of sneaking out a little with her hot officer sent a thrill down her spine, so she kept her mouth shut.
"This wall we're in, it's a blind spot." When Aelin looked at Rowan, he was the most focused she'd seen tonight. An airman ready for battle. "We'll follow that path until we reach the porch, then we climb on the first window. It's my cousin's room, but he doesn't live here anymore. Then I'll check if the coast is clear, and my room is the one right next to it. Got it?"
Rowan nodded, eyes still calculating their path.
"It's the only way to get inside without getting caught on camera," Aelin added.
"This sounds like my training."
Aelin made eye contact, her chest a little more thrusted out than before. "Is the reward as good?"
"Not really, no," he muttered, his eyes on her lips.
"Well, you'll have to work for it, Officer," she said before tugging his arm towards the low fence they needed to climb.
From the moment Aelin decided she wanted to become a doctor, she knew she'd work at the Air Force General Hospital.
This was the place she came to get her first casket when she was nine, after falling from her rollerskates. The place Aelin reached for when she got a little too drunk at seventeen, and made Aedion flirt with the doctor so she wouldn't snitch on them to Uncle Orlon. She was comfortable there. It felt familiar.
During those early daydreams about her own life, Aelin never thought about the moments she'd wish she worked somewhere else, though. They were nothing more than fleeting thoughts, she loved her job. But they still happened on days like this.
When Aelin opened the X-ray images on her computer, the boy's ankle didn't seem to be broken. One small blessing.
His eyes went wide when she told him so. "But it feels like it is."
Aelin gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's just a sprain, but I'll prescribe you some painkillers and—"
"Good, now we can go back to training," his instructor interrupted.
A death glare was Aelin's only response before she continued, "And I need you to rest that feet for two days—"
"Absolutely not!" The unwanted instructor cut in again, making the boy freeze on his seat. "What's the point of painkillers if he can't even exercise?"
"Captain Whitethorn," she hissed, "I believe I am the doctor here."
He slowly turned to that terrified boy. "Do you mind giving the doctor and I a moment to speak?"
"No." Aelin got up before he could. "Captain Whitethorn and I can talk in another room." She pointed at his swollen ankle. "You rest that feet."
Rowan followed her to an empty room two doors down, and they closed the door, it was like... It was like every other day, actually.
"You." He pointed a finger at her. "Do not question my authority in front of my students, Lieutenant."
"And you." She pointed a finger back. "Do not question my authorithy as a doctor in front of my patients, asshole."
"Yes, you were!" Aelin screamed this time. "Every day, you question what, when, how—"
"Well, maybe I wouldn't need to question if you just—"
"If I just what?" She opened her arms, tired of this. "If I just acted exactly like you?"
Rowan just stared at her with that intense look of his.
Aelin took a deep breath. She wouldn't put sense in Rowan's head by screaming. She never did.
He raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? You're trying to guilt trip me by using his first name?"
"It's his first week here, and he's already in the hospital, Rowan! He's a teenage boy! He's someone's kid!" Aelin yelled, her tone increasing with each argument.
"Don't you even think about mentioning my daughter! He's the one who enlisted. I'm just doing my job."
She sighed. "I know you are, but your teaching techniques..."
He scoffed. "Don't act like you didn't love my teaching techniques back then."
There were two loud bangs in the door before Aelin's tiniest, angriest co-worker barged in.
"You two." Elide's finger darted between them before she continued. "Seriously? Again?"
Rowan didn't dare point out that he was being talked down by someone with a lower rank than his. He knew better than to argue with Elide.
She continued, "I'm going to discharge your patient, and you two are leaving. Now."
Aelin looked at her watch. Fuck, they needed to rush if they didn't want to be late.
She turned to Rowan. "I'll be in the car in 5." And stopped. Aelin slowly turned to Elide and said, "Tell the patient that Captain Whitethorn told him to go home and come back in two days."
Rowan clenched his jaw, arms already crossed, but said nothing. He knew he had no chance with Aelin and Elide together.
The drive was pretty silent after that, but not exactly comfortable. She knew their fight hadn't ended yet, but it had to for now. They needed to look composed for this.
They heard the deafening sound of children screaming before the car could park at the Air Force school, made specially for the children of the Air Force personnel. It wasn't one of those fancy Montessori schools with hyper-specialized teachers, but it was a good school right next to the village they lived in. It was the best choice for them.
Rowan didn't think so. And he always let her know that, from big arguments to the classic arms-crossed-and-narrowed-eyes thing he was doing now.
She wouldn’t acknowledge his dissatisfaction now, though. They walked together until the pre-K area, which was separated from the big kids', and it took no time at all until a soft set of limbs wrapped themselves around her legs.
Aelin crouched down to talk to her daughter and adjust that messy hair, taking it out of the front of her gorgeous deep green eyes, when Maisie's jaw fell. And she shrieked.
"DADDY!" Was the only thing she screamed before jumping on Rowan's arms, always ready to catch her. "You said you couldn't pick me up today."
Maisie's hair was completely her own, Aelin noticed as her daughter had her back turned at her, on her dad's arms. Not as pale as Rowan's, not as golden as Aelin's. She had Aelin's nose but, apart from that, Maisie looked like a small Rowan Whithethorn with chubby cheeks.
She was just waiting for her face to be right next to his and... yep, there it is. Copy, paste, add childish features. Genetics sounded a lot simpler than what she studied in college while looking at those two.
Rowan was spinning her around, and Mai's squeals of delight were almost deafning. For the first time since seeing Rowan today, Aelin felt like smiling.
They had conflicts, yes, but Aelin couldn't deny that he was a great dad. She had never resented Rowan for being the parent with the stronger genes, or Maisie for being so much like her father. On the contrary. She even thought it was cute, especially when she saw her daughter's little frown or her shy demeanor with strangers. Maisie's a Whitethorn through and through, or so Rowan's family point out every time they meet.
"How was your day, hun?" Aelin asked on the walk back to the car while brushing her little girl's hair back with her hand.
"I got the littlest, babiest grapes today." She stopped in the middle of the parking lot and opened the lunchbox. "Look!"
Inspecting it, Aelin noticed Maisie's littlest, babiest grapes looked like a car ran them over. "What happened to them?"
She took the lunchbox back and frowned. "I don't know. I slept with them at nap time to protect them, but it didn't work out."
Aelin's lips were clamped together, trying hard not to laugh. That little girl probably squished the poor grapes to death. Rowan seemed to think the same, from the way the corners of his lips were tugging up. Noticing Aelin's stare, he gave her a small smile while ruffling their daughter's hair. She quickly looked away.
They never picked her up together when Maisie was in daycare, but they were doing it as an encouragement now that she was still adapting to preschool.
She always missed one parent while in another's house, even if she spent no more than three days in each house and had daily goodnight calls. Every morning was a different meltdown because she says she doesn't like school, so promising Maisie that both parents would pick her up was a good way to stop a tantrum. Some days, at least.
Their daughter was asleep in the car seat, exhausted from preschooler life, so they kept quiet while Aelin drove Rowan back to base for his night class.
"I'll call you," was the only thing he said. Not goodbye or thank you for the ride.
Aelin knew she meant he'd call Maisie for their goodnight call, but she took the bait anyway. "No, you'll call Maisie."
Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose, and Aelin could feel her body go tense again. He was the one annoyed, really?
"I don't understand why we keep having the same conversation over and over."
"Me neither, is that so hard to stop calling me and use the f—" she glanced at Maisie, still asleep. "Fucking parenting app?" Aelin whispered.
"You know what?" He leaned closer to her, hand resting on the car panel. "It is. I hate that app."
"I. Don't. Care. I can't have you calling me several times a day to ask stupid shit like if I packed Maisie's lunch."
Rowan frowned. "That kind of comment isn't helping, Aelin. In fact, it makes me even more concerned."
Was he implying that Aelin didn't care?
Heat flushed through her whole body as she saw red. "Get out of my car."
"Now!" Aelin whisper-yelled, still trying not to wake Maisie up. "Don't you have a student to screw or something?"
Rowan's eyes widened, and every feature of his face slowly started looking consumed by rage. From his glare to his reddened face.
"You know what?" Rowan unfastened his seatbelt. "I can't talk to you when you're like this."
"Great." Aelin knew she had gone too far. She'd think about it the day she actually cared.
"And I'll call you as many times a day I want whenever you're with my daughter."
He got out and slammed the car door.
Rowan's body went taut at the same time Aelin flinched. They both knew what was happening now.
"Mommy, where's Daddy going?" Their daughter asked a moment later, rubbing her eyes.
Maisie's lips started wobbling the second she noticed Rowan was leaving, and she was wailing even before he could get into the backseat to soothe her. He kept saying that he'd see her at their goodnight call later and tomorrow at the pickup again, but nothing seemed to work.
Resting her head on the steering wheel and taking a deep breath, Aelin tried to think of something. The best bribes were always ice cream or more screen time. She needed to pick her weapons wisely.