#stardcwn

the second she saw her mr. and mrs. smith check hit her bank account, a poor excuse that she was doing a charity thing was made to her accounting team and her first stop? was the bank. cashing out the check, she stuffed all of the dollars into an envelope and knew where here first stop had to be. carter had given her until the end of venice to hand over the money, but venice came and went and surprisingly, he didn't come after her. but she knew people like him, and knew the people she got the drugs from, and they weren't just going to let it go, especially due to just how much money it was. making her way into the dimly lit night club, she pushed through the crowd until she was standing in front of carter's private v.i.p section, lifting the velvet rope as she made her way into it, glaring at the girls surrounding him with a look that read 'get lost.' she waited for the entorage to scurry away before she stepped closer to where he was seated, dropping the envelope down onto his lap. "there. that's all of it."

it was no secret that bianca's father was an extraordinarily wealthy man. so when she told him that she needed to become a cute, little horse girl for her next 'project', he already had a car picking her up to bring her to the shafai stables in california where they kept all their prize horses. and naturally, whenever she had a plan, carter was simply her partner in crime so it would be a sin not to drag him along. standing in front of one of the horses, she can't help but scrunch her nose in disgust at the fowl smell, holding her breath as she pulled out a carrot to feed it, putting a smile on her face. "okay take the fucking picture already before this thing's putrid mouth touches my finger."

sunlight coming in through the window is what forces her eyes open, low groan let out between plump lips as she feels the dull ache in her head and her eyes. she wants to close her eyes, go back to sleep and sleep off the hangover that she knew would have her acting like a raging bitch for the rest of the day, but as she rolls over to face away from the window, eyes go wide when she's faced with a sleeping, and very much shirtless, derek and it doesn't take long for her to figure out what happened. the two of them had been close friends since genny and teddy had started dating and even after they had broken up, they remained friends. but despite her and teddy being long over, this had crossed some kind of line that she was certain she couldn't come back from. perhaps there was a small part of her still wanting to prove to teddy that she wasn't just some joke, that she was a girl that was good enough for him and as her mind is going a thousand miles a minute, all she thinks is that she has to get out of there, slowly making her way out of the bed, she grabs whatever clothes she can find from the floor - derek's t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. sequin fabric of her dress is frantically picked up from the floor as she tries her best to keep quiet and not wake him up. grabbing her purse, she scurries towards where her heels were and in attempts to slide her feet back into them, stubs her toe against the dresser, letting out a loud 'fuck!' before sharply turning around to see she had woken derek up. "uh..merry christmas?"

bianca: happy new year, daddy.

after spending christmas with both his and erin's parents, making a pitstop by mallory's only briefly to drop hadley's gifts off, it was a day after christmas tradition to spend the day with julian - on his couch, watching the game and gossiping about both of their holidays. after giving erin a kiss...that turned more into a makeout, of a goodbye as she left to go shopping with her mom, jackson couldn't help the shit eating grin that spread across his features as he made his way back to the couch where julian was sitting, plopping down next to him. "getting back with an ex-wife? ten out of ten recommend." he said, holding up his ten fingers as he reached forward to grab his beer from the table. "so how did the sinclair-calvary circus go this year?"

it had been the perfect day. sure, bianca stuck her tongue down her son's throat far too much and the air between her and julian seemed to be thicker than usual after their conversation with one another on christmas eve, but they were all together, and that was all that mattered to her. julian's parents were there, her kids were there, selene and asher were there, and jordana and her kids even stopped by for a bit for some dessert. a day surrounded by the people she loved most was all she could ask for, even if things were vastly different this year. finishing up some of the dishes in the kitchen, silence enveloping the house, she turned her head when she heard footsteps coming in, offering a soft smile julian's way before she turned her attention back to the sink. "i still can't believe this is our last holiday here. do you really gotta get rid of this place? i've always loved it here."

for the past eleven years, she prided herself on being a fixer, on being an independent woman who could do and take care of things by herself. while she had plenty of money to throw at her problems, that's not the example she wanted to leave for her kids. she wanted them to look at her as someone who was self sufficient and inspire them to be the same. so when she heard a weird noise coming from the kitchen sink, she immediately went into inspector mode and realized that something was loose and needed a bit of fixing. she made her way into her bedroom, reaching for the string on the ceiling that would pull down the ladder that lead to her attic, but she pulled too hard and the string snapped. "shit." she mumbled to herself, looking around for a solution and the first thing that came to mind was climbing up on top of her dresser, trying her very best to reach for the door to pull it down. stretching herself as far as she could and reaching up on her tip toes, she almost fell forward, a gasp leaving her as she grabbed onto the wall to stabilize herself, looking towards the doorway when she saw julian coming in, certainly confused by the fact that she was standing on her dresser. "don't give me that look, i got this. i just have to get that ladder down."

"well i was supposed to be dining with my husband." genevieve said with a heavy sigh as her finger traced the rim of her glass of red wine, gigantic engagement ring sparkling in the dimly lit restaurant. "but he got called to go to a meeting...in dubai. even being into his seventies doesn't slow him down, i suppose one must commend him for his work ethic, even if it does leave me rather lonely." she said, lashes batting upwards toward them. "so i wouldn't mind the company. i have an extra chair, anyway."