nadiya

Courting the Countess by @avocado-moon

SUMMARY

It was super fun getting to do fanart again (as if anything is stopping me) and as y'all can see i had the best time playing around making different book covers, at first inspired by those illustrated Jane austen Novels of the 1800, and a penguin classic, a worn one, because avocadomoon writes stuff that is impossible to put down and if she had written classic penguin books, they'd be worn and torn. Well read, but abused copies. Her favourite (and mine) was the worn penguin classic, but after seeing her moodboard for this fic, I hastily made a cover that looked not too dissimilar from the Mary Balogh cover there.

ao3 reading tracker (kingdon specific) [ link ]

so i was inspired by @miracle-and-wonder's post yesterday, and decided to make a kingdon-specific (but can be modified for other/general fandoms too!) ao3 reading tracker.

free to use + mod how ever you like

remember to make a copy (file -> make a copy) to edit

png credit, inspo credit, and color codes are on the please read page

i tried to include a wide range of additional tags (general and kingdon specific), but you can add your own by editing the data validation rules

Frank smiled, he knew they needed a bigger family car, with Tanner being the tallest in his class, Penny still in a booster and two rear facing infant car seats about to join the carpool there was no way to fit 4 car seats in either of their vehicles.

“I saw an ad on Facebook marketplace for a third row explorer. It doesn’t have captains seats or much of a trunk but we don’t have tons of options.” Mel told him one day during their their shared lunch. “I still want something sporty.”

“Sporty?” Frank asked “we don’t exactly go off roading.”

“Well something with four wheel drive. The Pittsburg winter is nothing something I like driving through on two wheel drive. I did that with Samira’s Camry last year when I was DD’ing.” Mel told him taking a bite of her sandwich.

“What about all wheel drive? My outback is all wheel drive and you didn’t mind that.”

“No I didn’t.” Mel started “but do they even make third row vehicles with all wheel drive? I don’t know much about cars.”

“Yes they do. In fact. I just know the perfect thing, what time does the Toyota dealership close?” Frank asked all excited.

“Toyota dealership ? I thought we were buying used, we can’t afford two new cars.”

“No, we keep the jeep and get a minivan!” Frank beamed.

“Francis, I’m not driving a minivan.” Mel deadpanned.

“Woah who said you get the minivan?” Frank asked.

“You wanna drive a minivan?” Mel asked looking at him with a confused expression on her face.

“A Toyota sienna ? Yes I do.” Frank opened his phone to show her some photos. “It’s all wheel drive, has three rows with captains chairs so Penny and Tanner can fit in the back. Plus tons of trunk space so we can fit a double stroller and a Costco run!”

“You have to have been thinking about this for a while.” Mel shook her head.

Just then the door opened and Santos came in grabbing herself a Celsius from the fridge “whatca’ looking at Brady brunch?”

“Frank is trying to convince me to get a minivan. With the twins and Penny still in car seats we need something with three rows.” Mel replied.

“Ew no.” Trinity cracked open her drink “I say this with love but Mel, you’re a MILF, and the second you get some soccer van and fill it with goldfish crumbs and stickers and pudding cups you’ll be just a mom. You’re gonna kill any wet dream anyone ever has about you.”

“Thanks?” Mel said “I think.”

“The minivan will be my car, Mel can keep her jeep for solo outings and stuff.” Frank spat.

Santos started laughing, laughing so hard the energy drink was close to spilling out of her nose “sure Langdon is gonna drive a minivan. Gonna have one of those stick families stickers on the back?”

“No that’s a way to let traffickers know who to target” Frank spat “but yes. I will drive a minivan. In fact I want a minivan.”

“Mel there’s still time to get a divorce, the babies aren’t cooked yet.” Santos giggled. “What fucking doctor wants a minivan ? Langdon as much as I despise you-”

“Mutal.”

”you’re a decent looking guy and a doctor. What’s the other PTA mom’s gonna think ?”

“That I’m smart and I read the safety ratings and that they’re jealous. Look at this.” He opened his phone to show her the photos “it’s a sexy red minivan.”

“Said no one ever” Santos spat. “Mel if he gets a minivan divorce him and I’ll help raise your babies. I’m deadass.” She said as she walked out to get back to her never ending charting.

“You want a minivan that badly?” Mel asked.

“More than I’ve ever wanted any vehicle in my life. It’s got great Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, a fridge, a built in VACCUM !” Frank was beaming like a little kid building his Christmas list “top air vents, sliding doors. Like a million cup holders. Please Mel, baby I’ll do anything.”

“Okay I guess.” Mel smiled “if you really want a minivan that badly. Let’s go to the dealership and see what’s available.”

When Mel steps outside into the ambulance bay, she regrets it immediately.

A woman stands in the bay. Expectant. She's a sharply dressed in a cream colored blouse with a long skirt, her eyes covered by sunglasses. Even without her wedding ring beaming in the daylight, she could recognize this person anywhere, as Mel's pulse begins to ring in her ears.

Standing now in front of her, looking at Mel as if she were a cat that caught the canary was Abby Langdon.

"How can I help you, ma'am?" Mel says, going for neutral.

"Oh, she's polite." Abby smiles strangely, as if speaking to someone who wasn't there.

"Do you need medical assistance? Or are you here to see someone in the hospital?"

"Oh yes," Abby nods and Mel is foolish enough to feel herself relax. "I'm looking for a Mel King? Blonde, wears glasses, has this quirky habit of sleeping with other people's husbands."

So she did know.

"I don't what you're implying but—,"

"He's such a fucking cliché," Abby scoffs. "A blonde girl in her twenties? Let me guess you were a virgin when you guys met."

She can feel her body flush, her face heating up and most likely turning red. But she did not dare look away or give the woman the satisfaction of her fear.

"If you're not here for medical attention, and you're not here to visit a patient. I'd suggest you leave before I call security." Mel begins to head back inside when she feels Abby grab at her wrist tightly. She sees the delicate manicure adorning her fingers.

Mel tugs her wrist back and Abby lets her go

"I know you probably love him, and you think he loves you too. Of course you do, he's sweet, he listens to you, and he remembers everything you say." Abby says, her voice lower and softer. Her tone understanding. "But at the end of the day that man is married with two children. He already has a life put together and as much as says otherwise, he's not going to throw it away for you."

It strange how she manages to sound kind, as if they were friends.

"You're young, smart. You're a fucking doctor for Christ's sake!" Abby laughs, throwing her hands upward. "Why throw your life away for a married man?"

Because I love him are the only words that she can think of.

But she knows that Abby Langdon of all people doesn't care that she loves Frank and that he loves her too. It would be pointless, akin to turning on her stomach and praying that this woman wouldn't hurt her, the person that came to ambush her at their workplace, specifically on Frank's day off.

"If you do not need medical assistance, then I suggest going home before your husband returns from his NA meeting and wonders where you are, Ms. Tanner"

"Mrs. Langdon," Abby grits out.

°＊°＊°＊°＊°＊°＊° °＊°＊°＊°＊°＊°＊°＊°

Her neck was hot and smooth under his mouth; her breath was stalled in her throat. Open mouthed kisses falling on her soft skin. The closeness of his body to hers had instantly weakened her. He craved her more than he had ever craved anything in his life. More than he craved his next hit or rush of adrenaline. It was wrong; he knew that, but he didn’t care anymore.

His hands moved from her face to the small of her back, his fingertips dancing up her spine. His lips tracking down her neck.

“Frank, I’m married,” Mel said, her wedding ring tangled in his hair.

“I don’t care.” And it was true he didn’t. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. He had always been enamored by her beauty, but after she had announced her pregnancy, he wanted her more than ever. He needed to have her in his hands; her body pressed against him.

“Frank, I’m pregnant with someone else’s baby.”

He had wanted her, was desperate for her because he couldn’t stand the thought of another man having her, impregnating her. He couldn’t erase what had already happened, but he couldn’t go on like this; he needed to make her feel him. He needed her to want him more than her husband, than the family she was creating. So, he would take her for his own, right here in the parking garage, pressed up against his car after their shift.

They were both so tired, but the moment Frank’s lips met Mel’s, they were awakened. Mel should be going home to her husband. Frank would be going home to an empty apartment if it hadn’t been for the moment of insanity that led him to finally act on his desires.

He knew he could love her the right way, make her happy, and make her feel good, and that’s exactly what he intended to do.

“I don’t care.” He said, slipping his fingers under the waistband of her panties, already so wet for him. “Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll stop.”

When he made contact with her clit, his thumb brushing over her sensitive nub in rhythmic circles, her body went up in flames. A flush traveling from her earlobes to her toes, her skin burning red.

She was turned on by everything, it seemed, with the new addition of pregnancy hormones. Her husband was always too tired to have sex or, as she was beginning to wonder, repulsed by her changing body.

Frank, on the other hand, had only become more interested in her since the announcement that she was expecting. The lingering stares became even harder to pretend she didn’t see. The way his eyes would dart from her lips to her tits when they talked would often leave Mel wanting more, imagining those eyes on her naked body, looking up at her from between her thighs.

But she was a married woman after all. A married woman who was pregnant with a baby whose father was not the one who kept her up at night with racing thoughts of his hands on her skin, tangled in her hair.

“I can’t.” She whimpered, shaking her head from side to side.

She tried to snap herself out of this sex fueled haze and realize that this was a foolish mistake. But every one of Frank’s movements drew her deeper into his touch. With no way to release her pent-up sexual frustration, she was desperate for contact with another person. Frank wasn’t just another person, though, was he?

The hand that wasn’t down Mel’s pants moved to her breast, kneading it under his palm, feeling her nipple pebble under his touch.

“Why not?” He questioned, his fingers dipping lower into her arousal, drawing a low moan from her lips.  

She was so close already; a little more couldn’t hurt, could it? Was it really cheating if he just made her cum, something so transactional?

“Because I want this, I want you!” She moaned loudly, her head falling back against the car door.

Of course it was cheating, and of course it wasn’t just transactional.

“That’s my good girl, always wanting me,” Frank whispered into the hollow of her neck.

She came with her whole body, her knees giving way underneath her. She lay weak in Frank’s arms, his free hand petting the back of her head, his other slowly moving from her wetness to her swollen belly. She could feel her pulse beating hard under her skin, beating so loud she could hear it in her ears; she wished that it was from guilt, but she knew it was from pleasure.

//

For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities

I’ve made mistakes, and made some choices that’s hard to deny

After the storm…

Some drawing requests from Twitter:

- kingdon in 90s office attire

- fairy Mel

One of Mel’s favourite childhood memories is when she was ten and went stargazing with her Dad during a summer holiday. She remembers lying down in a field, the air humid and mosquitoes buzzing in her ears, as they gazed up at the night sky. Becca and her Mom had already returned to their cottage, neither of them appreciative of staying outside this late in the evening, so this moment was just for Mel and her father.

“I want to become an astronaut,” she remembers saying into the silence. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to chase the stars?”

Beside her, her father had laughed fondly. “You’ve always been a big dreamer, honeybee.”

Mel had just shrugged. Her father already knew her more realistic dreams – becoming a doctor, finding the love of her life and getting married, building a family of her own that is just as loving as the one she grew up in. What was the problem in adding an improbable one too?

“You’re going to go places, Melissa,” her father had continued after a moment, his hand slipping into hers and squeezing. “And I’m going to be the proudest father alive watching you do it.”

In that moment, Mel had never felt happier or more certain that all her dreams would come true.

But then came the heart attack. And then came the cancer diagnosis. And then she stopped dreaming.

Until she started at PTMC, until she met a senior resident with kind blue eyes, who told her to embrace her sensitive nature, who left and then came back to her, who learned to understand and love her unequivocally.

And now, she’s standing on a hotel balcony, staring at the stars with that same senior resident’s arms wrapped around her stomach, a tiny, new heart beating beneath his palms. Below them, the party is still in full swing, laughter, voices and music drifting up into the night sky.

All of their loved one are down there. Becca and Adam, Tanner and Penny, the doctors and nurses of the Pitt, his family from down south and their friends from the Ren Faire, even Abby and her new boyfriend. Maybe some of them don’t know where the bride and groom have gone, maybe others have noticed them slip away. Either way, everyone has left them alone to have their moment of private solitude.

Mel sighs blissfully and closes her eyes as her new husband buries his face in her shoulder. Behind her eyelids, she sees the stars she’s been gazing at, and she feels completely, perfectly, utterly happy.

Somehow, despite all the hardships she’s had to endure, all her dreams, the real ones, have come true.

finally finished my hardcover bind of rivers and roads by the amazing @cvldbones i did it in the style of penguin classics clothbound bc it's a classic and kingdon cathedral. thank you so much for permission to bind this beautiful fic I'm so happy to have it on my shelf forever <3 it's not perfect but I love it