Oh Look, [She's] Been Impaled! (Tagged)

[Deleted]

Present Time, Harris Apartment, After School

Zach was heading home from school, opting to walk instead of taking the school bus and then public transit for the rest of the way. He liked where they lived, far enough away from his new school that his chances of encountering any peers was minimal and the locale was ideal for inspirational art. Chicago was so different than where he had lived with his grandfather and though he had been terrified of the change, he was exhilarated to spend the time with his mother, having lost so much time due to her service in the army. He was even more relieved that she had agreed to his moving out here. That would have been a solid few months of therapy if he had been rejected by Stephanie, he realized sullenly. But it wasn't the case and he didn't have the worst of days but he was feeling a little...well, sullen. Zach sighed as he kicked at a rock in his path before adjusting the straps on his backpack and cutting through a back route to get home quicker.

The brisk pace was sharp and stabbing with the crisp fall wind snapping along his bare cheeks and through his messy hair, but Zach accepted the reprieve from thinking for the moment. Darting around a couple in the path he apologized hastily before weaving in between some trees and bushes, and quickened his stride as he neared an alley near the apartment building. Slowing his speed as he reached the other end, Zach took a moment to catch his breath, and when he exhaled it came out as a bubbled laugh. Releasing one last heavy breath, feeling soothed by his jog, he peeked out for foot traffic before moving toward the front door of their home and sliding in with practiced ease. Zach glanced around the lobby briefly, glad none of the usual suspects were there to wave or greet him, upsetting his almost balanced mood.

He moved to the elevator without another thought and slid his backpack off to one shoulder on the ride up, and stepped off moving toward their apartment. Zach pulled his key from his pocket, attached to a Kingdom Heart keyblade charm, and was finally home. He let out a breath of air he hadn't recalled holding on his trek through the building and slung his backpack neatly in a corner before removing his light brown coat and hanging it on a hook, leaving him in the red plaid button down and faded dark wash blue jeans. He contemplated taking off his bright blue converse, a gift from his grandfather before he left for Chicago, when he felt a strange presence in the apartment. Zach froze before slowly raising his head and straining to listen for what was off in the room. Slowly he crept toward the living room first, careful of the far left board that creaked so loud it could wake Grandpa Lou from Rugrats. When he peered around the corner he groaned lightly and shook his head. "Steph, what are you doing home? It's...3:30 in the afternoon," Zach questioned, immediately looking chagrined at calling his mother by her first name. "Sorry," he added quietly, fiddling nervously with the bottom of his shirt.


___________________________________________________________

Thread Title: Olaf quote from Frozen
Attire: Above photo and in post
Notes: After the thread where Steph lands on that dude and gets a tree limb stuck in her side
Tagged: Stephanie Harris

[Stephanie Taylor]

Stephanie Harris

when fire meets gasoline

Stephanie was at her place, but Ben had been staying with her since the incident. Something about being more comfortable in her own space or something. Hell and back had happened and here she was, at home. Ben was on shift today and of course she was off duty. One day on two days off but right now Stephanie was on medical leave. So it was all days off for her until she was cleared to go back to work. She just found things to work on when it came to the computer. The brick apartment she lived in was shared with her brother, who was still at the hospital. She’d just been released the day before.

She heard the front door key. There were only three people with keys besides her. Glancing at the clock she figured it had to be Zach or Grace using Ben’s key and so she didn’t worry too much at all as she shifted back where she had been sitting. Though normally she was more alert, her pain killers had her kind of zoned out. She figured it would almost make its own point.

“Doctor hasn’t cleared me to go back yet.” She pointed out simply. When he apologized she raised a brow and slowly moved to get up from where she was sitting. “I made it to the store today at least. There should be some snacks and drinks in the fridge if you get hungry. I figured we could order in or go out?” she couldn’t cook and she wasn’t about to try. Trying to cook now would be a disaster since she didn’t really do cooking on a good day.

Zach Harris

MEL @ ADOX

[Deleted]

Zach's brows stitched together as he contemplated his mother's words and then dawning realization hit him. He refrained from showing his forgetfulness in his common "oh" remarks, and instead tried to grin slightly. "That's right," he nodded a little too quickly. "I still can't believe you were impaled. A little too like Olaf, ma," he joked, moving to the fridge to collect a can of vanilla coke, deciding he would have his 'one soda a day' then rather than with his bedtime snack. He glanced over at her getting up from the sofa, not opening his drink just yet. "You...okay? Got it?" he asked warily, biting his bottom lip at perhaps overstepping. Slowly, Zach approached, setting his soda on the a coaster on the coffee table. "I'd rather eat in..." he said staring at the floor between them. "Not exactly a bad day, but...an off one," he admitted.

He moved to sit on the couch, carefully circumventing his mother if she was actually heading toward the bathroom or simply to stretch her legs. She wasn't an invalid with this particular injury but Zach did have the urge to help her when he could, when she would let him, that is. Stephanie was very prideful and had trouble asking for help sometimes, which trickled down to Zach despising asking for help in school when he was too anxious to take a test or needed extra tutoring. He knew and took to heart that Supergirl's culture believed that asking for help was a sign of strength not weakness, but he also disliked special treatment, being seen differently, or fearing others thought him crazy. So, Zach completely understood Stephanie's stoicism when it came to requiring help, but he was slowly getting better at reading her expressions now that they lived together. "Watching a movie or something with you sounds really nice today," he added, unable to meet her gaze. He knew the apartment would fill up really damn soon and bemoaned when it would. Zach was no stranger to a large household, or at least large events of the family, but three people in one apartment had been bad enough and now there was Steph's beau and his daughter, which made things really crowded.

[Stephanie Taylor]

Stephanie Harris

when fire meets gasoline

Stephanie really didn’t blame him for forgetting since she only worked every third day anyway. It wasn’t exactly a normal schedule in the first place. “Oh no help! I will melt” she teased lightly. Though she was making an attempt to try and make him feel better. Though she knew as soon as he started talking that something had gone wrong. Stephanie hated talking about things, so she wasn’t going to press Zach to talk about it. Getting up she ran a hand through his hair, combing the strays out of the way to lay with the others. It was a habit of hers.

Tonight was actually going to be a quiet night in the house, something that was enjoyed. Though to be fair even if Ben did peek in, he was one of the quiet types. The only heated discussions between her and Ben were the spats about one of them getting hurt. Too afraid to lose someone. They already had this round of fights out of their system she hoped. Stephanie noticed her son hovering… she thought about saying something but then thought better of it. He wasn’t having a great day and she didn’t need to make it any worse.

At the mention of a movie she smiled. “I like that idea” She was feeling a bit drugged from the painkillers but she was also glad to have time for just them. So she wasn’t going to argue the point against Zach. Stephanie had thought about getting out and getting a new place so that Zach had his own space but things just weren’t possible right now with her injury. She’d been thinking and looking for what was in the best interest of Zach.

Zach Harris

MEL @ ADOX

[Deleted]

Zach couldn't help the light smile that crossed his features when Stephanie had brushed through his hair, the gesture sweet and calming for him. Natural and typical, a common factor in his short life that easily grounded him and brought him back to the present. He tracked her movements for a moment before moving over to the little file he had made of digital movies they owned to try and pick out one they might both be interested in tonight. He wouldn't mind a good Disney movie, never really minded it as they were the movies he had grown up on, but he figured his mother might want something a little more substantial. "How about The Fast and The Furious?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"Your choice of take out later," he informed her, glad to split the decision making between them. Plugging in the hard drive he moved to sit on the couch to sip at his vanilla coke. "I uh...I tried to break up some bullying today," Zach muttered, fiddling with the soda can tab. "And they started picking on me, saying if I was no Superboy, that...I was broken," he added, glancing down to his abdomen before slowly raising his shirt to show the beginnings of a fist shaped bruise. "It's no big deal though. I can handle it. The other kid got away safe," he said quickly to assuage any concern his mother might have had.

[Stephanie Taylor]

[attr="class","tomhov"]

TAG
Zach Harris

NOTES

Stephanie was used to Zach and Disney movies playing. Everytime she had been home on leave, he had always been watching them. Honestly, there were always good memories attached to them. Everything was changing so fast for everyone. As a teenager, she knew that wasn’t easy. Only because she had been there somewhat. Her preteen years her older siblings started moving away from home. Stephanie had started to realize that soon she and Peter were the responsible ones for the clan that was left.

She wasn’t sure why she agreed to The Fast and Furious but she did. She was curled up her feet onto the couch in a manner that allowed Zach to sit. It was slow moving but at least she could move. Though when Zach started talking about bullies and picking on him she went wide eyed and sat herself back up to the seated position. She caught herself about to say that Peter would look at it when he got home, but Peter wouldn’t be home for a while.

“Let me see that” gave him that motherly look. It wasn’t really an option. “Did you put ice on it?” Okay so she was going into overprotective mom mode and whoever hit her kid, it was not going to go over well.

STEPHANIE HARRIS
HEY NUTCASE! STOP BITING THE COMMAND STAFF

✿

[newclass=.tomhov]font-family:calibri;font-size:11px;color:#666666;text-align:center;vertical-align: middle;width:400px;height:250px;overflow:auto;position: absolute;margin-left: -50px;background-color:#040404;opacity:0;-webkit-transition: all 0.5s linear;-moz-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;-ms-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;transition: all 0.5s linear;[/newclass]
[newclass=.tomhov:hover]margin-left:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition: all 0.5s linear;-moz-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;-ms-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;transition: all 0.5s linear;[/newclass]

[Deleted]

Setting up the entertainment system to play the movie, Zach sat down on to the couch, legs pulled up to his chest despite the pain it cue his abdomen, taking a sip from his soda as the movie proceeded. Cocking his head to the side, his brows pulled together and he chuckled. "Has anyone told you, you look like a bit like Michelle Rodriguez, ma?" Zach glanced over at her with a sparkle in his eye, unfolding his body to rest his feet on the floor, biting at the inside of his cheek before telling Stephanie about his day at school. He sighed when she asked to look at the wound, scooting closer while holding the shirt up for her sake, unintentionally sucking in his nonexistent gut. He shook his head, unable to keep eye contact with her as he felt a ball of guilt and shame sinking in his stomach. Maybe it had been a bad idea to stick up for that other kid...? Zach started to feel the urge to curl in on himself once more, trying his damnedest to hold out for as long as Steph wanted to investigate his injury and be motherly.

[Stephanie Taylor]

[attr="class","tomhov"]

TAG
Zach Harris

NOTES

Stephanie could only shake her head as Zach made the Michelle Rodriguez comment. It wasn't the first time she'd heard it but he was still a kid, she could humour him right? "I don't see Vin Diesel around here anywhere?" She was teasing of course. Not that Vin Diesel was even that attractive. Actually the thought made her make a face. No, that that had not just come out of her mouth. Not at all. Though as Zach went through the day she just shook her head. She ran her hand through his hair. She wasn't upset with him. She had been the kid in school who was in at least two or three fights a week. Usually ones that she started because someone looked at her funny. Stephanie had no room to judge.

She could also tell he didn't want to look at her. "You know, sometimes doing the right thing, feels like the worst decision; but that doesn't mean it was." Oh she knew that feeling all too well. Every time she pulled the trigger when she had been in the army, she knew it. The dog came over to investigate what was going on before laying down out of the way. "I was only a few years older than you when I got into a huge fight in school" Ironically it had been over Zach. That had been just before she dropped out of school. "It's okay to protect others. Just don't ever throw the first fist." She wandered over to the kitchen grabbing an ice pack from the fridge when the dog got up from his spot and ran to the door growling. Stephanie gave a general glance in that direction. If it was that stupid squirrel again? Stephanie returned with the ice pack handing it to Zach but the dog was now pacing back and forth. Stephanie had a not go great feeling in the pit of her stomach.

STEPHANIE HARRIS
HEY NUTCASE! STOP BITING THE COMMAND STAFF

✿

[newclass=.tomhov]font-family:calibri;font-size:11px;color:#666666;text-align:center;vertical-align: middle;width:400px;height:250px;overflow:auto;position: absolute;margin-left: -50px;background-color:#040404;opacity:0;-webkit-transition: all 0.5s linear;-moz-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;-ms-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;transition: all 0.5s linear;[/newclass]
[newclass=.tomhov:hover]margin-left:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition: all 0.5s linear;-moz-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;-ms-transition: all 0.5s linear;-o-transition: all 0.5s linear;transition: all 0.5s linear;[/newclass]