BlueStar

Clint Flood

Call Me (September 1990) (October 1990) by @ak-vintage - Clint Flood x f!reader

Din Djarin / The Mandalorian

When a Feather-Light Touch is Agony by @bergamote-catsandbooks - Din Djarin x f!reader

Hush (Chapter 2 A03) by @djarins-cyare - Din Djarin x OFC!Reader

Frankie Morales

Frontier Hearts (Ch 4) (Ch 5) by @din-cognito - Frankie Morales x ofc

To Love Me Is To Suffer Me by @dreamedaboutitinthedark - Frankie Morales x Wife!Reader

Harry Castillo

A Baker's Dozen (Sixteen) by @avastrasposts - Harry Castillo x reader

Jack Daniels / Agent Whiskey

Jack & a Clown Costume by @ghoulettesinspace

Javi Gutierrez

Find A Man Who Can Do Both by @grogusmum - JAVI GUTIÉRREZ X F!READER

Javier Peña

Medium Well by @604to647 - Javier Peña x fem!reader

Here and Now (A03) by goodwithcheese - Javier Peña x ofc

Marcus Pike

run to you (ch 9) (ch 10)by @foli-vora - marcus pike x f!reader

The Way We Were Drawn (Ch 1) (Ch 2) by @ishabull - Marcus Pike x Reader

Reed Richards

Dirty move by @petalsinblood - Reed Richards x gn!reader

Crossovers

Seeing Double by @andrew-codys - Jack Abbot x F!Author!Reader x Grant Reilly

Dieter's First Yule by @quinnnfabrgay - dieter bravo x non-binary!reader x din djarin

Call of Duty

Heavy Weighs The Crown (A03) by @sentientcave - Fantasy AU. 2nd POV (OC Reader). 141 x Reader

captain john price x fem!141!reader by @warmfrequency

The Fifth Element (A03) by @the-californicationist -COD/Fallout Task Force 141/Reader Polyamory Fic

little milk on the tongue (ch 1)-(ch 5) by @anneofgreengabagool - john price x reader

fly, songbird, fly (A03) by pap3rtigers - Task Force 141 x Reader (omegaverse)

The Pitt

acute adoration (part iii) by @penvisions - Jack Abbot x F! Reader ;Michael "Robby" Robinavich x F! Reader ; Jack Abbot x F! Reader x Michael "Robby" Robinavich

These Walls Have Eyes by @asxgard - Dr. Jack Abbot x f!nurse!reader

Casual by @lovebugism - michael robinavitch / fem!reader, jack abbot / fem!reader

The Casting Couch - Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (P*rnstar AU) by @bullet-prooflove

I Think He Knows (AO3) by starallover Jack Abbot x reader

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

A Stag, A Doe, and a Hedge Knight (A03) by Huntress_Moon - Lyonel Baratheon x reader x Duncan the Tall

Franke Castle

no one knows by @foli-vora - frank castle x f!reader

Off Campus

Rich In Love by @666eyed - John Logan x Reader

Joel Miller

Big News @wheresarizona - Joel Miller x f!reader - one shot - Sweet sweet sweet, just a short little fic that brought me so much joy What if @bluestar22x - Joel Miller x f!reader - completed series - I'm sad this series is over, but it was such a great adventure to read it and choose the different path, I know one day i'll go back and try another route to see what will happen Portus Salutis @lillaydee - Joel Miller x f!reader - one shot - Joel with a twist. Lil writes the best asshole Joel, and I want to hate her for it, but she does it so well 😆 The Tomato Queen of the Apocalypse Meets the Most Handsome Scowl on Earth @the-blind-assassin-12 - Joel Miller x f!reader - one shot - Just the right amount of angsty but some hope in it. I hope Alyssa will bless us with more from these two. A kid's dream @petalsinblood - Joel Miller x f!reader - ongoing series - Oh do i love the premise for this story. I can't wait to read more from it. ✨Leave off your wandering @oonajaeadira - Joel Miller x f!reader - completed series - Oh how I loved this series. It takes it's time, and it feels so real. I fell in love with everyone and everything, especially Ellie and the sheep. ✨See you at three @almostfoxglove - Joel Miller x ofc - completed series - Finally finished this story and oh boy how I loved it. I'm in love with this Joel, Nell but mostly with Sarah and Ellie being the best menaces to exist.

Frankie Morales

✨The Small Things of a whole @sawymredfox - Frankie Morales x Benny Miller - ongoing series - The love I have for this story is heard to put in words, it's love and care and devotion and everything I ever wish for a FishBen story ✨Second Chance @the-blind-assassin-12 - Frankie Morales x f!reader - ongoing series - Not only do we have Frankie rescuing puppies, but we have fun dogs, and a non official therapy cat! Of course I love this story ✨The Devil's Pilot @vodkaandpizza - Frankie Morales x ofc - ongoing series - Oh how I love Esie, even more than Frankie (but don't worry I love him very much too). ✨Holding Pattern @auteurdelabre - Frankie Morales x f!reader - ongoing series - This story broke my heart and mended it back. Of course Emma is a master in writing angst and happy endings. i'll never tire of her writing.

Din Djarin

Eyes drabble @sawymredfox - Din Djarin x f!reader - one shot - I want to get lost in his eyes ✨Human @petalsinblood - Din Djarin - one shot - Soph writes angst like no one and this hurts good. ✨Short Debts Make Long Friends - Din Djarin x f!earthling reader - ongoing series - Hello? Obsessed much? I discovered this story thanks to @djarins-cyare and fell deep into it. Oh how I love it, how I'm dying to see what happens next. it's wonderful, funny, has a great world building, and damn do I love Din.

Other P boys

I'll be there for you @bluestar22x - Javi G x f!reader - completed series - Always a pleasure to return to this sweet sweet couple. Too sweet @oonajaeadira - Javi G x f!reader - ongoing series - It is sweet, so so sweet, and I live for that! ✨Clarusco @half-moon16 - Javi P x f!reader - one shot - HOOOOOT, but also, how dare you write feelings and angst like this? That ending was perfect! The buttoned dress @milla-frenchy - Javi P - one shot - This is canon, we all know this is exactly what happened after that scene. ✨Compulsion @iamskyereads - Ezra x OFC - completed series - How can I explain thi. It's like reading a great Sci-fi novel, with wonderful Ezra in the mix. The worldbuilding is wonderful, the characters fully fleshed. I wished I could read more and more of them ✨Coco's nut @oliveksmoked - Tim Rockford x f!reader but with many other P boys - completed series - So wonderful, so whimsical, a little sad, just the right amount. I'm happy I finally read this story ✨The Locksmith series @oonajaeadira - The thief x f!reader - I should hate Adira for breaking my heart like she did here, but really, this was such a wonderful story and she did give me a happy ending so I forgive her (I always will darling, you can break my heart as much as you want because I know you mend it in the end)

My own writing

Without a word, Dieter Bravo, one of her neediest patients, charged into the room, scruffy hair looking wilder than she’d ever seen it before - and that was saying something. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving. Patience held back a groan. She knew that look. This wasn’t going to be a short encounter. Not for the first time she regretted taking on a handful of actors as patients.

Especially Dieter Bravo. He was classic Hollywood as far as she was concerned. Handsome, confident, and put together on screen. Neurotic and indolent off screen. He had a crazy look in his eye half the time and the other half he was painfully sober, especially since he’d quit using illicit drugs two years ago, just after his talent agent forced him to see a therapist - aka Patience.

When he first started weekly sessions with her Patience hadn’t always been convinced he kept clean due to the way he acted during some visits, but he’d cleared every drug test she and his physician had thrown at him. Besides, she’d been around addicts long enough to tell by their pupils whether or not they were under the influence. While Dieter’s behavior was…non-conformative sometimes, she’d yet caught him under the influence of any illegal drugs. She had reason to believe her skill set was solid. She had noticed when he walked into her office for a session high on marijuana. He’d only taken just enough to feel something he’d sworn, but it was enough. She didn’t go too hard on him then, gently reminding him that the best way to avoid a relapse in using hard drugs was to avoid all recreational drugs. She understood it wasn’t easy to quit cold turkey, and it was better that than the cocaine he used to be so fond of and the opioids he used to dabble in.

The way Dieter had just stormed into her office Patience wondered if it was the day she’d have to remind him again about the importance of his recovery.

“You look like you haven’t slept a wink, Dieter,” she noted, studying the dark lines under his eyes that definitely weren’t from the black eyeliner he sometimes wore.

“Cause I haven’t,” he told her. “We need to talk.”

“Dieter, unless this is an emergency, you have to set up an appointment so we can talk properly,” Patience informed him.

“This is an emergency!” he claimed, pacing around. “A crisis! My mind’s running a mile a minute.”

“Are you having difficulty with your sobriety?” Patience asked.

“No. Not really. I could probably use a drink,” Dieter rambled. “But I haven’t actually considered reaching for a bottle yet.”

“Are you having dark thoughts?”

“No.”

“Are you having a medical emergency?”

“No.”

Patience placed her hands flat on top of her desk. “Then Mr. Bravo, I have to insist you set an appointment and go home and get some rest.”

“I’ll be quick, please, I’m begging you here,” he beseeched, eyes meeting hers.

And just like that she folded like an accordion with a long-suffering sigh. “Alright.”

Damn those big brown puppy eyes, she thought.

He immediately flopped on the couch across the room from her desk like a patient in a movie therapist’s office, on his back with one hand folded over his stomach, the other shoved into a side pocket of his gray sweatpants.

As he made himself at home she dug into the cabinet behind her for his written file, always having preferred using the solid copies of her patient’s histories for successions, though all the information was also added to the office computer program afterwards.

Snatching up a loose pen from the corner of her desk she rolled her office chair around to the front of it and sat down next to him.

“What’s troubling you, Dieter?”

“A girl showed up on my doorstep last night.”

“Oh?” Patience had no idea where this was going.

“She claimed to be my daughter.”

She definitely hadn’t expected that. Maybe she should have. This was LA.

“Oh, and is she?”

“I’m pretty damn sure,” he replied, fiddling with one of the rings on his hands, then the bracelets on his wrist. “The timeline adds up.”

“Tell me everything.”

“It’s a long story,” he warned her and she huffed.

“You can’t interrupt my lunch then not tell me the full story, Dieter.”

“Okay,” he said, lifting his head off the arm of the couch for a moment to meet her eyes again. “Sorry.”

“Nope, this is exactly the kind of thing we should be discussing as soon as possible,” Patience told him. “Life altering things.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Patience shook her head. Had he forgotten he had come to her?

“Tell me,” she repeated, pulling a blank piece of paper out of his file. “Start from the beginning.”

“That would be over a decade ago,” he said, “I’m a little fuzzy on it. For many reasons.”

“Then start with the girl showing up at your door.” Patience was starting to feel, well, impatient, but ever a true professional she masked it behind a gentle tone.

Dieter scratched nervously at his patchy beard and nodded. “Okay. Okay.”

x

10:30PM - the night before

“Mr. Bravo,” called a loud, booming voice.

Dieter startled awake, finding himself lying haphazardly in his dark brown leather recliner that he had purchased for his mansion’s living room a year ago, the movie he’d fallen asleep on rolling its credits.

He groaned as he carefully stretched and positioned himself back properly in the seat, rubbing at the kink in his neck he hadn’t had before he’d slumped down into it.

His personal bodyguard and property security manager rolled into one, James Robinson, was looming over him, annoyingly. It was too late on a Sunday night for him to be disturbing him. Especially after the long three months of filming he’d just wrapped the day before.

“What is it?” he nearly snapped.

James frowned. “Sorry to bother you, but a little girl is at the front door asking for you.”

“You let a kid in?” Dieter sighed, disappointed. “How many times have we gone over this, Jamie? I don’t want any fans on the property. Even if they’re kids.”

“She’s not a fan, Mr. Bravo,” James explained. “She’s claiming to be your daughter.”

He snorted loudly at that. “I don’t have any kids, Jamie.”

“None that you know of, sir.”

“Call me Dieter.”

James nodded.

It bugged Dieter that he couldn’t exactly brush off what his bodyguard had pointed out. While he’d always made an effort to use protection when with a partner, especially when having a one night stand, and especially with a woman, his previous lack of sobriety meant he couldn’t always remember if he had followed through every time.

Fuck.

“I’ll talk to her,” Dieter decided, scrubbing his face as he got to his feet. This can’t be happening.

As much as he definitely did NOT want to be a father, as much as a part of him wanted to have James bring her back to wherever she came from without laying eyes on her, he didn’t want to be a jerk. If she was really his, he should take some responsibility or something, right?

James led the way to his front door, then left him alone with the girl who was standing on the rug in his entryway.

She wasn’t really little like James had made her sound, but she was young, maybe eleven, twelve, thirteen at most? Long, dark hair the same shade as his was swooped up into a ponytail behind her head, the strands that had managed to escape the tie curled wildly around her face, damp, reminding him that it had been raining earlier.

Her chocolate brown eyes were wide, taking him in, studying him, and he noted how they were shaped like his own. So was her chin, and Dieter found himself catching his breath. Her other features, her delicate nose and soft cheeks, her unattached ear lobes and thin lips, were distinctly someone else’s, but their similarities were enough that he just…knew.

He wondered if father’s intuition was a thing. If that’s what this was.

“You’re Dieter?” she questioned, glancing around.

“I am,” he confirmed, stumbling, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening. “What’s your name?”

“Alyssa Collins,” she stated plainly, “Ally. Ally’s what everyone calls me all the time. I’m your daughter.”

“So I’ve been told,” Dieter said, eyebrows shooting up. “How did you find that out before me?”

“I convinced Mom to finally spill,” she explained, still looking around. “Wow, this place is HUGE. What do you even do with all this space?”

Dieter frowned. “Where’s your mother now?”

“At home, asleep probably,” Ally answered, approaching the framed artwork covering the walls, some copies and some original. She came to a stop in front of a copy of Old Man’s Death by László Mednyánszky. Dieter had several dark paintings like that hanging in his home. He was an edgy artist.

After examining the painting of the reaper hovering over the dying man it depicted, Ally’s eyes darted towards him for a moment. “Grim,” she stated flatly.

“You came here alone?”

“Took a taxi and everything,” she boasted. “I’m self efficient like that.”

“Your mother just let you take a taxi by yourself?” Dieter started to wonder if she had any responsible adults in her life at all.

“She doesn’t know,” Ally admitted. “I slipped out my window as soon as she went to bed.”

“You…ran away from home!” he exclaimed, bug-eyed. Things were getting worse and worse. He didn’t just have a kid, he had a delinquent.

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “She wasn’t going to let me see you otherwise.”

That stung a little, knowing someone he had slept with had felt the need to hide their kid from him. He had a few good guesses as to why, but it still hurt, even though the selfish part of him was also secretly glad. Who knows how his career would have turned out if he’d needed to balance his work life with helping raise a kid? He probably would’ve never gotten his Emmy.

“So can I stay here a while?” Ally inquired. “I’d like to talk.”

Dieter gaped at her. “Are you kidding me? You’re not staying here! You have to go home, right now. Whoever your mother is, she’s going to kill me.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, “I’m the one who’s going to get into trouble. Don’t make me leave right away.” She pouted at him and he huffed.

“We’re going, now,” he told her firmly. “I’ll drive you.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” she argued.

“Am I your father or not?” Never in Dieter’s imagination could he have foreseen himself ever using that card.

Ally folded her arms over her chest and huffed just like he had moments before. “Fine. You going to at least put on a shirt?”

Dieter glanced down, realizing the brown robe he was wearing was hanging open, and he was only in his boxer shorts underneath. He tied up the robe quickly and shook his index finger at her. “Stay here.”

He glanced at Ally once more to make sure she wasn’t going to make a run for it, and she rolled her eyes at him before he rushed away to slip on a pair of light blue jeans and an army green t-shirt.

When he returned he gestured for her to follow him to his personal vehicle, a black Cadillac Escalade he’s just bought off the truck the month before.

Her jaw dropped when she saw it. “You have an Escalade?”

Dieter did a double take of her. “You know cars?” This kid was full of surprises.

“Only ones owned by Carrie Heywood,” she said in an excited voice, a bounce in her step as she approached the SUV.

Carrie Heywood was an actress who was known for playing a lot of characters in family friendly movies, live action and animated. Dieter had once worked with her on the only animated movie he’d ever voice acted in. It had been about a town cursed by an evil witch to live the same day over and over. She’d been the voice actress of the heroine, and he’d been the sidekick she eventually fell in love with. He wondered if Ally had seen that movie and if she’d made the connection between him and Sam.

“Did you get it because you saw Carrie’s while you were voicing Sam for Cursed?”

That answered that question. “No,” he replied. “I just like this kind of vehicle. Many millionaires have one. Now get in.”

“Fine with me,” she said gleefully, pulling open the passenger door. She hopped in and Dieter shook his head. Who would imagine a kid liking an SUV?

“Seat belt,” he ordered as he settled into the driver’s seat and noticed she hadn’t put hers on.

“You don’t have yours on,” she pointed out.

“I’m an adult,” Dieter told her. “When you’re an adult you can make stupid decisions too.”

He didn’t tell her it was because he was worried about how her mother would react if she saw he hadn’t enforced the law on the kid.

Ally rolled her eyes but gave in, clicking the belt in securely. “Happy now?”

“What’s your address?” he asked, ignoring her annoyed gaze. He began driving up to his gate.

“I’m not allowed to tell strangers,” she declared.

Dieter narrowed his eyes at her. “Listen, kid, if you want me to talk to you at all the rest of the ride, and if you don’t want me to drop you off at the nearest police station instead, you will tell me your address.”

Another huff and she was rattling off the address. He stopped the SUV at his property’s gate and plugged it into the vehicle’s GPS system.

“So what’s your mother’s name anyway?” he inquired as he began driving towards their destination.

“Hazel.”

Hazel. Hazel Collins. The name sounded familiar.

“What does she look like?”

“Red hair, green eyes, everyone says I look a lot like her,” Ally told him. “Except for me having your hair and eye color, of course, and a few other features, apparently.”

That wasn’t a lot of details for Dieter to go off of, but it was enough. Despite him living in Hollywood, he could only remember one instance when he’d spent a night with a woman who had scarlet hair.

Combining her name and description together jogged his memory.

x

July 15, 2011

Another weekend, another club. Dieter usually had someone to meet up with, for business or for pleasure, but that night he was flying solo.

He didn’t mind. It gave him a chance to relax after a week crammed with filming and interviews. He’d been very busy lately and that was good. His acting career had been filled with guest star roles for far too long. He might be able to actually afford an apartment with more than one room after the movie he was currently working on.

Still, some time alone to decompress with some shots was needed. Maybe he’d smoke a couple joints later in the night as well.

He had his third shot in hand when a gorgeous twenty-something woman with cascading shoulder length red hair perched on a stool several feet away from his at the bar he was seated at, wearing a shimmering dark green blouse and dark blue jeans, stealing his attention away from his glass.

She wasn’t his usual type, blond or Latin, but a pretty person was a pretty person, and he had a difficult time keeping from staring at her.

Change of plans.

He quietly and subtitly observed her for a time before making his move. She looked frustrated, disappointed in whatever was on her mind. She ordered a shot of whiskey and threw it back like a pro. A girl after his own heart.

He glanced at her delicate fingers, but there were no rings that would suggest she was taken. She was far from free of jewelry though. Cheap rings wrapped nearly all her fingers, her ears were both pierced in three places and she had a small nose piercing.

Dieter wondered if she was pierced anywhere else.

Not every guy would be into it, but he was a fan of piercings. He always sported a stud in his left ear when not filming. He’d have had more if not for his career relying so much on him being able to fit a part physically.

That wasn’t all they shared in common, Dieter observed, having spotted a few lines of ink at the base of her neck, a tattoo mostly hidden by her shirt. He also had tattoos. Ones that held meaning, not ones drawn for the sake of looking cool.

The woman ordered another shot and it was then he decided to speak up.

“Hey.”

She craned her neck, her expression surprised, like she hadn’t expected anyone to pay attention to her.

“Did you hear about the man who stole a calendar?” he asked her. “He got twelve months.”

She rolled her eyes at him but the edges of her lips twitched upward, giving her away.

“That is a really dumb joke,” she stated, downing her second shot.

“You still smiled,” he pointed out, expression bright. “I’d call that success.”

“Do you always use dad jokes to pick up women?” she inquired, turning to face him.

“Not always,” he replied, “Only when they look like they could use some cheering up.”

“Well, thanks for the effort, but maybe I want to mope a little while,” she said.

He hummed. “I don’t mean to pry, but I want to.”

“My boyfriend cheated on me, so I broke up with him,” she explained.

“His loss. He should be the one in a bar drinking away his sorrows.”

“I hope he is,” she said, twisting one of her rings without looking down at it. “Why are you here alone?”

“Felt like it. I do a lot for that reason.”

She smiled at him. “What’s the point if you don’t enjoy it?”

He pointed his right thumb back at himself. “My mantra.”

“I wish I was like that,” she admitted, “These piercings may suggest carefree, but I struggle with not worrying over every little issue in my life. And it’s hard to be that way living on a waitress’ salary.”

“I get that,” Dieter told her. “Until last month I barely had enough money to cover my rent.”

“Let me guess,” she said, pausing to ponder as her eyes swept over him. “Struggling artist?”

He shook his head, but was impressed by how close her guess was. Especially since he was dressed in his club clothes, not his lazy weekend ones he tended to wear anytime he was at home. “No, close, struggling actor.”

“Same thing,” she argued. “Acting is a form of art.”

“Got me.”

“What do you do as a hobby?” she quizzed.

He smirked at her. “I paint sometimes.”

“I knew it!” she exclaimed, delighted by his answer.

“I look like the type?”

“Yes.”

“Do you do anything artsy?” he asked her.

It was her turn to shake her head. “I’m more of an art consumer. I watch a lot of movies.”

“Fair enough.” He tilted his head towards the bartender. “Next one’s on me?”

“Only if you tell me your name,” she told him.

“Dieter. Dieter Bravo. What’s yours?”

“Hazel Collins,” she answered, wrinkling her nose. “Yours is better. Less boring. Professional name?”

“No, real name,” he promised. “As hard as that is to believe. And your name is so not boring.”

She huffed. “Yeah, right.”

“Okay, maybe it is,” he said honestly. “But I have a feeling the person behind the name is far from it.”

They locked eyes, her sage green ones staring into his soul. Which isn’t hard to do when it’s right behind someone’s eyes. Dieter wasn’t a stoic person, he knew. He wasn’t famous in Hollywood, but he was already known in the community for being quirky, dramatic, and expressive.

She must have liked what she saw. She’d stood up and moved over to the stool next to his.

“Alright, Dieter,” she said decidedly, smiling broadly at him. “Buy me that drink. Let’s see where the night takes us.”

The rest of his memory of that night was blurred, due to the number of shots they’d taken together over the course of it, but Dieter could still recall enough.

He remembered crashing through the door to his cheap apartment with her, the same door that he’d crushed her against moments later, molding himself to her as best as he could with the fabric between them.

It wasn’t long before their clothes were discarded and he barely registered that she had a belly button ring before he was angling himself just right so he could thrust up into her. She cried out at the sudden invasion and desperately kissed him as he repeated the motion over and over again, not stopping until they’d both lost themselves to bliss.

That was only the beginning of their night together. After that they’d touched each other on the couch, before moving to the kitchen table where he buried his face between her legs, and after a short nap in his bed, they’d found themselves in his bathroom, her seated butt naked on the sink countertop as he rolled his hips against hers and she scrambled for purchase, digging her nails into his expansive shoulders.

Dieter had passed out in bed next to her afterwards, feeling as sweaty and exhausted as she looked, only waking up the next afternoon, alone in his messy apartment once more.

She had left a note though.

Thanks for the memories.

He’d kept it on his person for a while. It had always managed to put a smile on his face, no matter his mood.

x

April 7, 2024

“How much did your mom tell you?” Dieter inquired as he tried to shake the memory out of his head.

Now was not the time to picture the details of Hazel’s o-face. What he could remember of it anyway.

“Not a lot,” Ally answered. “Just that you met at a bar, but I do know how babies are made, so please, spare me.”

Dieter choked on his own spit momentarily before clearing his throat and trying to compose himself again. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to give specifics.”

“Good,” she said, wrinkling her nose, and the action was so akin to her mother’s Dieter couldn’t help but stare. Luckily they were at a stop light.

When the light turned green he focused back on the road. “So why now? Why see me today?”

“I turned twelve two days ago,” she told him. “So yesterday mom threw me a birthday party with my friends. And it was fun, but all I could think about was that I am almost a teenager and my mom still refuses to tell me anything about my birth father. To let me decide what I want to do with that information. All she would tell me is he, you weren’t dead. And more of that ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older crap’. So I bugged her until she caved in. I’m not proud of it, but if it works, it works.”

“How’d you get my address?”

“You wouldn’t believe what you can Google nowadays.”

“You should have had your mother drive you,” Dieter said.

“She wouldn’t have.”

“She’s probably worried sick about you.”

“That’s not outside her norm,” Ally informed him. “She’s stuffy, overprotective.”

“LA’s not safe at night for a kid alone,” Dieter lectured her. “You should know that.”

She huffed. “Yeah. Yeah. I know. I took a big risk. I won’t do it again. But I’m not going to apologize for it.”

“You should.” Dieter couldn’t believe how much he sounded like a dad already.

Ally ignored him again and he sighed heavily. Now he understood how his father had felt during his rebellious years. “We’ve got ten minutes before we get to your house. Do you have any questions for me before you get grounded for life and I fully endorse it?”

“Do you still like acting?” she asked.

He frowned. “Of course I do. Why?”

“We had a career day at school last week and my best friend said she’d like to be one.”

“Huh,” he paused, “And what do you want to be?”

“An artist,” Ally replied, pulling a small notebook out of the back pocket of her jeans. She flipped the cover over to reveal a handmade drawing of a park landscape, the details on the trees and benches astonishing for someone her age. “See?”

“I see,” Dieter said, impressed. “It’s beautiful.”

She beamed at him, puffing out her chest, and her pride over his comment made him smile too.

Hers faded after a few beats. “If you’d known about me, would you have been there? Will you be now?”

Her words were a vice grip on his heart. “I don’t know,” he said honestly, but treaded carefully. “I was different back then, all about my career and making a name for myself. Now though, I think I would like to be.”

She was definitely not completely satisfied with that answer but Dieter didn’t want to say it depended on how her mother felt about him getting involved. She was frustrated enough with her, it seemed.

Before she could press him for a longer explanation he was parking his SUV in the driveway of an old gray house with a very small strip of lawn in front.

A familiar woman, free of all piercings except for a pair of hanging silver earrings, almost immediately charged out the front door, relief washing over her face when she noted the girl in his passenger seat, an expression that was quickly replaced by anger.

She ripped the door on Ally's side open and gritted her teeth. "You are in so much trouble, young lady! What were you thinking? Wait, nevermind, we'll talk later. Go to your room, now."

"But mom...!" Ally protested.

Hazel glared at her and their daughter released a pained sigh, sliding out of her seat and glancing at Dieter one last time before dragging her feet towards and into the house.

Once she was sure Ally was safe indoors, Hazel turned back to him. "So you know now." She sounded defeated.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dieter quizzed.

"When I first found out I was pregnant," Hazel began, "I fully intended to. I returned to your apartment, but you had moved out to a bigger one by then. I did research, trying to find out where you were currently living and what social media platforms you were on, but it was difficult. You weren't on social media at all because you didn't trust their websites back then and nobody knew where you lived except a small circle of trusted people. I was going to try to contact them, but then I saw it. The articles on you. That you were big on work and parties, that you were taking some hardcore drugs, and I knew I didn't want that in my life or hers. I was never on drugs like that at any point in my life and I stopped using marijuana as soon as I had a positive -."

“I get why you didn’t then,” Dieter interrupted, sticking a hand out in a 'hold’ gesture. “But I’ve changed since. People change.”

“Didn’t you overdose just two years ago?” she said pointedly, folding her arms over her chest.

“That was while I was living in an awful work environment, and I’ve been clean ever since,” he declared. “Well, mostly. I sneak an edible now and then.”

She didn’t look impressed. “You’re an actor Dieter, famous now, that kind of lifestyle… It’s hard enough to stay clean as a normal person living in a normal society. The culture in Hollywood makes it near impossible for most.”

“Near,” Dieter said, “It’s not hopeless. And I have even more motive now.”

“Since when did you want to be a father?” Hazel inquired. “You’ve said in many interviews you had no interest in it. That your work was your purpose.”

“That was before I knew I had a kid,” he said. “It’s different, knowing. I can’t just ignore it. I feel…responsible for her.”

“You don’t need to,” she told him. “We’ve been doing well enough by ourselves. My mother did a lot to help me out before she passed when Ally was five.”

“Well, I want to,” he stated. “I don’t want Ally to feel like I don’t care. If you followed my interviews you know my mother left when I was seven and my Dad raised me. I loved my father, he did his best, and I’ll always be grateful for that, but knowing my mother chose not to be a part of my life hurt. Ally doesn’t deserve the same.”

Hazel chewed her bottom lip. It was clear she hadn’t thought that part through.

“I’m not asking for custody,” Dieter promised her. “Just a chance to prove I can be responsible. A chance to get to know her.”

“Okay,” she finally caved. “We can do a trial run. But you have to swear you will not be a bad influence on her. You can’t let her watch rated R shit and you have to make sure she’s following the rules; you can’t be her friend all the time. Most of all, you need to make sure you stay clean and she doesn’t stumble onto anything illegal or inappropriate in your home or SUV. Swear it.”

“I swear,” he said seriously, meeting her eyes.

She gave him a curt nod. “Good. Give me your phone number. I’m going to call my lawyer in the morning and get some official documents set up or something. Get everything in writing, if that’s okay?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Hazel smiled. “Good.”

x

April 8, 2024 - present

“Huh.”

Dieter sat up on the couch in Patience’s office. “Huh. That’s all you have to say?”

“No, I’ll have more,” Patience promised. “Once you ask me your question. That’s why you’re here, right?”

He chewed his lip. “Should I be doing this? I spent all of last night tossing and turning in bed wondering if I would be doing the right thing. Hazel’s right to be concerned. I’ve been a mess for a long time. I could easily fall back into it.”

“You don’t have to do anything, Dieter, if you’re not sure,” Patience told him honestly.

“Sooooo…are you saying I shouldn’t try to get to know her?”

Patience shook her head furiously. “That is not what I am saying. If you want to be there for her, if you feel you need to take some responsibility for her, I highly encourage it. Family’s an important part of our lives, whether we like it or not, and she clearly wants a father figure. What I was saying is if you make it a point to be a part of her life, make sure you’re all in. If you step away after, you will hurt her worse than removing yourself from the equation now.”

He nodded at her. “Of course. I wouldn’t do that. I’m not who I was twelve years ago, or even two.”

“Good. Prove it.”

xxx

Tagged: @harriedandharassed @trulybetty (if you wish not to be tagged let me know)

xxx

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