He saw her first, at the bar with a group of locals like she belonged.  He wondered how she did that, fit in both places: the fancy Rayburn dinner party and the trashy local beach bar.  Danny wished he knew her secret; he couldn’t manage to fit in anywhere.

Noelle drank Jack and Coke as she listened to friends trying to out do one another in Worst Week Ever.  She smiled, laughed at the stories, but didn’t volunteer any of her own.  She was still piecing her week together, piecing together the events at The Rayburn House and the time she spent with their eldest, Danny.  She hadn’t followed him the night of the party out of respect, but his haunted face haunted her.

She drowned the image in drink only to turn from the bar and face it.  Blue eyes picking up light, burrowing into her, as Danny’s lips flicked up.  Her lips replied in kind before tucking in as she set hands on her hips.  His brows arched and he settled back with fingers circling his glass.

“Come here often?” Best to keep it light given how things ended last time they saw each other.

Danny scrunched up his face and shook his head.  “You’ve gotten better pickup lines from the frat boys that stumble down here from Miami.”

“Who says I’m trying to pick you up?”  Her laugh faded as he smirked into his sip.  She sat opposite him with a deep breath.  “How are you, Danny?”

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? You left the party pretty abruptly.”

“Ah...yeah, nah...” he rubbed his shoulder.  “I’m fine.”

“Where’d you go?”

He shifted.  “You, uh...”  His shoulder cracked and he winced.  “Goin’ to the pier dedication?”

“Yup, it’s part of my piece.”  Noelle smiled, then grew serious as she leaned in.  “Your shoulder okay?”  She caught his rubs at the party too, but disregarded it as stress or some minor ache, but now... “Did you hurt it?”

“Old injury, from when I was a kid.”

“What happened?”

“Hit and run...drunk driver.”

The response was rote, muttered with a disquieting tension that hit Noelle wrong.  “Did they ever catch the person?”

Danny’s fists clenched on the table as he shifted back and looked at the sand underfoot.  “No.”

Noelle’s gut tightened on instinct.  “If they were never caught, how do you know they were drunk?”

“Fuck this.”  He spat out, voice a low hiss of sudden rage.  “I didn’t come here to get fuckin’ interviewed.”  His eyes ground her into her seat as he got up and threw money on the table.

“Danny, I -”

He was already gone, storming his way across the beach towards a man in a backward cap and tee with cut-off sleeves.  They headed off towards a table together, excitedly signalling a waitress for drinks.

“Fuck.”

This is just a day or so after the main Rayburn family party when Noelle and Danny last hung out...the timeline will become clearer in the next piece, don’t worry.  I do think Danny wants Noelle to find things out, but after keeping family secrets/covering for his abuser(s) for so long he can’t quite bring himself to just reveal all either.

Blood in the Water Masterlist

(Gifs found on Tumblr, but I’m rubbish and forget where from...either way, not mine, all credits to their owners!)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​ @losethehours​ @beany-ben​ …No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!

“Having fun pickin’ on my baby siblings?” Danny chuckled, straw pinched between his teeth.  “Thought Kev might burst into tears back at the table there.”

Noelle ignored his drunken lisp, the cheeky smile that pronounced the apples of his cheeks.  “You fought to bring me here, didn’t you?  Why?”

The drink gurgled his frustration.  “What does it matter?  You’re here, aren’t ya?”  Danny swayed with the breeze; she could smell the sweet liquor from his pores mixing with salty air.  “It’s a fuckin’ party, take the rest of night off, reporter.”

“I’m not here to party, I’m here for the story.  What were you going to say, Danny?” She pressed, letting his lean grow and her lips soften.  “You stood up speech in hand, then backed out.  If you brought me here to hear it then the least you can do is share it with me.”

Smirked lips returned to his straw.  “Maybe I brought you for another reason entirely.”

“I swear to God, Danny, if you start hitting on me I’m throwing the nearest drink in your face.”

“Pretty sure I smell enough like booze...” his laugh devolved into a giggle that made Noelle smile.  “Nah, uh...You ever seen a shark hunt?  Not like on those shows where they cut right to the action, but the whole...ordeal.”  Her eyes narrowed as he dove into a long sip, nearly finished the glass, then resurfaced.  “They find the tiniest hint of blood and follow it...for miles...and then they wait.”

“...Okay...”

“Sharks...they wait for that perfect moment, that perfect opportunity, when their prey is at its most vulnerable and they’re at their most prepared.”  He grinned.  “Then they strike.”

Her lips parted slightly, then turned up.  “Are you comparing me to a shark?”

“It’s a compliment,” he assured before another giggle escaped liquor-slicked lips and he shook his head.  “Fuck, forget it, I’m drunk.”

“I already knew that,” Noelle set a hand on his arm when his lean threatened a collision, but kept her smile as she bellied up beside him.  “What I don’t know is why you didn’t make your speech...if you don’t get whatever’s wrong off your chest, you’ll regret it.”

“Who are you kiddin’?”  Danny’s free hand went to rub his shoulder, the alcohol doing little to soothe decades of pains.  “You’re just worried I won’t give you a good story.  It’s the only reason you came.”

Something in the air around him, around them, changed.  She watched his face darken, grow soft, then distant.  His eyes matched the ocean - dark, blue, unable to fathom - as he shut down, detached.  “Danny, are you all right?” Whatever he saw, felt, she couldn’t reach.  Her hand moved down his forearm to his wrist, picked up his pulse as she abandoned everything for concern.  “Danny?”

As quickly as he left, he came back.  Blinking, adjusting to reality, clearing his throat as he pulled away from her on whole.  “Yeah...I’m fine.”  He dismissed, setting his empty glass aside.  “I, uh...we’re good...I gotta go.”

“Go?  Go where?”

“Away.”  From here, from his family, from Noelle’s need to know...from that drowning sensation The Rayburn House gave him.  Danny didn’t give Noelle another shot at a question as he turned and left before the riptide in his mind took him under again.

Can’t have that anniversary party pass without writing a little drunk Danny, haha!  Also though I liked showing that Danny’s past has the ability to rush in and leave him sorta reeling no matter the circumstance...and that Noelle can set aside her professional drive to see a real person (not just a lead) in distress.

Blood in the Water Masterlist

(Gifs found on Tumblr this time...I forget where though, I’ve had them for awhile, haha!!)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​ @losethehours​ @beany-ben​ …No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!

Beg Your Patience

Morning in town turned into full day out......Got nothing done, sorry all, maybe tomorrow...or Monday...

I AM WORKING ON:

Orson Krennic Smut

Part 5 of Danny Rayburn Fic: Blood in the Water

Part 34 of TWD Fic: Beyond the Classroom

Part 81(??) of Marvel Universe Fic: Flawed Design

I’ll do what I can when I can, but weekends are not the best and I’ll be taking another 3-4 day vacation in the middle of next week (which rolls me into next weekend) so...yeah...just be patient with everything ya’ll!!

I listen to all the Lana Del Rey while writing my Bloodline fic, but this song in particular screams to me whenever I write Danny.

Blood in the Water Masterlist

Shades of Cool

Off to the Races

Put Me in a Movie

Gods and Monsters

Get Drunk

Hit and Run

Tagged: @wadeyourebarelyalive, @zoesmama2024, @beany-ben  @losethehours

…If you don’t see yourself on this tag list and want to be, just contact me, please!

(Aesthetic made by me via Pixlr Express using Googled images; titles pulled from Lana Del Rey songs.)

If she was going to do this, if she was going to stay, Noelle refused to show insecurity.  She would act the part; be the guest, Danny’s guest, at the Rayburn family table.  With a smile she settled in, watched as others chatted and joked and drank, before catching Kevin’s glare once more.  “Hello again,” her tone bordered on aggressive in its pleasantness.

“So how does this work, exactly?”  His smile wasn’t as polished; he looked like a kid about to throw a fit.  

“Well, usually, you’d say something like ‘hey there, it’s nice to see you again, I’m glad my brother invited you’, then I’d say ‘me too, I’m so looking forward to getting to know you all better’.  We’d both know it was mostly bullshit, that you don’t trust me any more than I do you, but that’s how it works with polite families.”  Her smile grew until he shifted.  “But maybe it’s not quite the same with the Rayburns?  Maybe there’s too much at stake to be so polite?”

“Aw, come on, of course I’m...ya know, fine…happy…you were invited…” he tried to laugh it off with a shrug.  “Just…I don’t know, surprised you’re here.”

“With your brother.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Maybe I see something in him that you don’t?”

“Hey, I love the guy, he’s great —“

“That sounds like a disclaimer,” Noelle cut in, smile still there.

“No.  No, no, that’s…you’re trying to twist my words.”

“Am I?”

It wasn’t just that her gut said Kevin looked down on Danny, it was that her experience told her he’d be easiest to crack.  He was immature, his handle on his emotions was shit…enough rattling and a man like Kevin would explode with a story.  She leaned forward as he opened his mouth, eager for his fuse to blow, when his wife tugged his attention.  People began to quiet and the patriarch of the Rayburn household stood.

Noelle dissected the speech, searched for a reason she might be here.  She noted the air still and Danny reflexively grab his shoulder when Robert mentioned past troubles — Sarah Rayburn, dead at age ten due to accidental drowning.  She took in each of the children’s smiles and nods as their father praised them and caught the thread.  Danny was all but dismissed save a cruel crack concerning his finances.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Dad.”  Danny dismissed his father’s apology in turn and that seemed the end of it until he stood.  “I’d like to say something…”

Tension flow in like the tide as he pulled folded paper from his pocket.  This must have been why he’d invited her.  Whatever he had to say would be significant, a game-changer, and he wanted Noelle to bare witness.  To spread the word about some injustice or family secret.  He’d thought this out, written it down, and, given the state of the paper, been holding onto it for a long while.  She straightened up, made an effort to catch his eye and reassure.  Yes, she would report this, whatever it was.

A moment’s hesitation and he tucked the paper back into his pocket, smirked.  “Can I borrow a couple bucks?”

Others laughed, but Noelle sighed.  It wasn’t strictly professional disappointment, but the sense whatever Danny hadn’t said, refused to get off his chest, would fester.  Great for her, her potential story; bad for everyone else, Danny included.

Finally able to finish the new Danny piece, yay!  I think, while younger than Danny (and possibly most, if not all, the other Rayburn children), Noelle has a good amount of experience in dealing with secrets (and uncovering them) and great instincts...at least when not emotionally attached.   And I’ve decided Noelle will be portrayed by Gal Gadot.

Part 1  Part 2 Part 3  ...I will make a masterlist when I can, give the pieces proper titles.

(Gifs were actually made by me this time via YouTube vids!)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​  …No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!

When she caught a glare from the youngest Rayburn son the sense she was intruding swelled.  This wasn’t going to lead to some big break or story, this wasn’t going to be productive....it wasn’t a lead, just a lead-on by the eldest.

“Fuck it,” she sighed; whoever Danny was playing it wasn’t going to be her, she was taking herself off the board.  She headed away from the crowd and back down the beach in the direction of her car.

“Hey!  Hey, reporter!”


Her lips lifted despite herself as Danny jogged over.  “You know I have a name, right?”

“Yeah, I know you have a name,” he smiled a fraction.  “Where ya goin’?”

“I just...”

“You’re not leaving, are you?  Party hasn’t even started.”

“...I’m not sure this was a good idea.”

“Why not?  How else you gonna write about the mysterious Rayburns and their darkest secrets?”  


“By not putting them on the defensive...or offensive.”  His brows furrowed and she sighed.  “I wasn’t here five minutes before I started getting looks.  I’m not welcome here, Danny.”

“Neither am I, we can be unwelcome together.”  It’s meant as a joke, but doesn’t make it.  “Who’s givin’ you looks?  Kevin?”  It was an offered answer more than question.

“It doesn’t matter.”  Any story worth printing wouldn’t be if it appeared manufactured, manipulated, by her.  “I’m a reporter, I’m generally not welcome anyway.  Just let me go and, if you wanna talk another time, we’ll talk.”

He crossed arms, shuffled feet, kept his head down as he shook it.  “Nah, I don’t wanna talk another time.”  His eyes glinted as they lifted into hers.  “I want you to come, with me, to this party.”

“With you?”  The phrase hit her wrong.  “What do you mean with you?”

“I got you a seat with me,” he grinned, almost proud.  “...At the family table.”

“You did what?”

“I thought you’d be happy.  You wanted to get closer, right?  I got you front row seats.”  He sighed.  “Look, I pulled strings for you, the least you can do is indulge me and come...not make me out to be an even bigger disappointment than I already am.”

“You’re trying to manipulate me into staying.”

Danny smirked.  “Aren’t you curious why?”

“Very,” she confessed.  Her eyes slipped across the sand to the party that carried on without her, then returned to the man before her.  “But if I’m sitting at the family table, maybe you should stop calling me ‘reporter’.”

“Alright.”  His grin went mischievous.  “Noelle.”

Picks up some hours after the last one I wrote and takes place at the Rayburn family party (from the first episode).  In the show Ray brought the waitress, I’ve obviously changed it for my fanfic because reasons, just roll with it, haha!  The inspiration comes in no small part to a vid by @wolfca-lochdubh​.   Still not sure what the female reporter looks like so keeping it vague, but at least she’s got a name now; maybe I’ll give her a face too one day, don’t know.

First piece is here

(Gifs found through Google, they belong to their lovely creators!)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​  …No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!

“Really?  That’s the answer you’re going with?” She smiled; annoyed, amused, impressed, all at once.

“You think it’s a lie?”

“No, I think it’s a cop-out.  A way to avoid lying without answering.  Everyone fucks up.  Even if you fuck up more than once, more than most, family tends to find a reason to talk you up.”

Danny’s lips curled.  “Talkin’ about yourself now?”

“No, still you,” hers curled back as she tipped back the beer bottle.  “Still waiting for a real answer.”

“Well, when I fuck up, I like to fuck up big.  Really make a mark.”

“Example?”

Danny’s lower lip tucked in as he sized her up; he nodded like he’d figured something out.  Something deep, something profound.  “You’re good, ya know that.”

“At?”

“Mmm...really good.”  He shifts slightly, in her direction.  “Hey, uh…you goin’ to the thing tonight?”

“The family party?”

“You should come, maybe you’ll find your big break there.”

“That an invitation, Danny?”


“Something like that.  Ya gonna come?”

The offer struck her as too good to be true, made her wary.  “I’m not going to get there only to get kicked out, am I?”

“No,” his tone accentuated his offended look.  “I promise, you’ll have a seat.  No problems.”

She smiled, gave a nod.  “Okay then, I’ll go...thanks.” 

“Great,” Danny finished off his beer, stood.  “See ya tonight.”

“Danny?” Maybe she shouldn’t question it, but she had to ask.  “Why?”

He paused just inside the backdoor, smiled with that fake politeness the rest of his family had whenever she went off-script with her questions.  “If you wanna write about my family you oughta really get to know ‘em, right?”  He didn’t look back as he headed out, called to his mother with cracks about the tug-of-war teams.

Picks up directly after the last one I wrote...still not sure what I’m doing, exactly, but I’ll keep writing it as long as it’s in my head, haha!  The inspiration comes in no small part to a vid by @wolfca-lochdubh​.   Still not sure what the female reporter looks like so keeping it vague; maybe I’ll give her a face one day, don’t know.

(I forget where the top gif came from due to holding onto it for so long, but it’s not mine and all credits go to whoever made it, bottom is from Google)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​  …No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!

She fucking hated puff pieces; they required no skill and would never get her ahead at the paper...or anywhere else.  They were the sugar in the coffee of life, an attempt to convince people things weren’t as bad as they seemed.  They were lies; she went into journalism to find the truth.  She hated her boss for giving them to her, but she couldn’t continue declining and keep her job...at least this one had catering and a nice view of the ocean.

Brief interviews with the family done, the traditional soundbites spoken, she slipped into the house.  Maybe there’d be something, anything, of interest that she could make a real story out of.

“You’re not supposed to be in here.”  The voice was smoothed out gravel as he stepped into her path.  Unlike everyone outside, herself included, he was casual: casual dress, casual speech, casual stance...but it felt like a lie.  Something in his azure eyes said he was tenser than everyone at the celebration.

“...I was looking for the bathroom.”

“Were you?”  His lips ticked up, spread.  “Oh, you’re the reporter...Mom mentioned there’d be one.”

“Mom?”  Her mind flew through her mental catalogue as she pointed at him.  “Daniel Rayburn.”

“Danny.”

“Danny,” she smiled.  “It’s a pleasure meet you.”

“It is, huh?  Why’s that?”

The question was unexpected; she didn’t have an answer.  “I, uh...” shoulders lifted, fell.  “Always good to meet another member of the family you’re writing about.”

“You wanna interview me?”

“No, it’s fine, I got the general idea, don’t worry.”  Her dismissal came off-hand, without consideration.  “I mean...what else is there to say, right?”

“Maybe a lot.”

She stopped, sighed, then gave her politest smile.  “Look, no offense, but I really don’t have the interest or the time for more ‘it’s amazing, my parents are an inspiration, I hope The Rayburn House continues for another 45 years’ bullshit.”

A breath of laugh left his lips.  “Bullshit?”

“These pieces...anniversaries, awards, big, happy, families...They’re all just surface and lies.”

“Well, I won’t lie to you.”

Her mouth opened to dismiss, counter, but then closed in a swallow as a flicker of honesty lit his eyes.  She grew serious, testing.  "Your family boasts about each other, but not about you...Why?”

Because it was stuck in my head...in no small part to a vid by @wolfca-lochdubh​.   Not sure what the female reporter looks like so kept it vague; if this continues maybe I’ll give her a face, don’t know.

(Top gif came from a gif hunt by @danedehans, bottom from Google)

@zoesmama2024​ @wadeyourebarelyalive​  ...No clue who else to tag, but if I continue and you want in, let me know, haha!