It was just after midnight, everything was quiet in the apartment, and Alex couldn’t help breathing a small sigh of relief, quietly grateful. It had been a hell of a night - the dried flecks of blood on his face attested to that - and all he wanted was a beer and a shower. He could see the stream of light coming in from the light over the kitchen sink that Tessa always left on for him after he would leave her with a vague text. Going to be a late one. She knew what it meant, but he still could never bring himself to be so blunt about it.
With an exhausted sound, he set down his keys by the front door and padded down the hall toward the kitchen, rubbing one eye - and as he turned the corner, nearly jumping out of his skin. “Jesus - I thought you were in bed.” He looked at Tessa with a mix of surprise and guilt, shaking his head. “Told you not to wait up.”
It was their usual routine - the usual booth in the usual bar where he met Cam every few weeks. It was really the only communication he had with many of his fellow Diamond members outside of HQ, Cameron probably the closest he knew. Either way, hanging around HQ had left a bitter taste in his mouth lately, so he was eager to just escape everything.
By the time Cam arrived - late, but he didn’t question it - he was already on his second Old Fashioned, peering at the amber drink as she seated herself. “My wife is pissed off at me so I don’t feel like going home. What’s your excuse for getting wasted?”
On his way to the park, Alex had heard no less than three times about how Gabby was Olivia’s absolutely best friend. It was all the man could do to remind himself of the circumstances. He had agreed to take Gabby to her playdate at the park to give Tessa some space for an afternoon, so he was already in rough water, and he’d be a hypocrite to keep his daughter away from a friend over the girl’s parents. She loved Gabby and the twins to death, and Alex let her ramble all the way to the park, climbing into the back seat to let her out of her seat, watching as she dashed to the playground in search of her friends. He looked for the familiar blonde across the way - at least lately, Rosalie was tolerable and they could pass the time, if only by focusing on the kids.
Only this weekend, it didn’t seem to be in his favor. There was no Rosalie in sight, but her husband was there on a bench across the way and Alex groaned out loud as he locked up the car. “Perfect.” He crossed the grassy space and sat down on the opposite end of the bench, leaving as much space as physically possible between them. “Thought your wife was coming.”
NYF Task | Five Years Later AU (feat. @tessa-cross)
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle
Just stay alive, that would be enough
---
Alex Cole
38 years old
Alex never suspected his life would change so much so rapidly. He had been with Tessa for maybe a year before they found out she was pregnant. He knew he wasn’t prepared in the slightest for the responsibility of fatherhood, but he was willing enough to take the jump with Tessa, just to see her happy. A daughter was born, Olivia Avalon, and Alex was smitten at first sight. He loves her and Tessa more than anything else, the two of them the brightest things in his life.
Other things haven’t changed, though he knows they should. He couldn’t hide the truth of his work with the Diamonds from Tessa forever, and even though she miraculously has stayed by his side, he knows it’s put a strain on their relationship. Even so, he was lucky enough for her to agree to marry him, finally tying the knot a year ago.
Now, they’ve been together for almost six years, their daughter four, and another baby is on the way. With their family expanding, Alex knows he faces difficult choices - he still works for the Diamonds, and though things have become less dramatic than they were five years ago, he knows it puts the people he loves most at risk. Still, he isn’t sure he can walk away from the Diamonds, with nearly eight years of blood on his hands. The question is how long he can keep the double life up before it threatens to pull everything apart.
We're just fumbling through the grey
Trying find a heart that's not walking away
Turn the lights down low
Walk these halls alone
We can feel so far from so close
Like ships in the night
You keep passing me by
We're just wasting time
Trying to prove who's right
And if it all goes crashing into the sea
If it's just you and me trying to find the light...
Full name: Scarlett Mae Adkins Matthews
Age: 38 years old
Status: Married to Nate Matthews
Children: Natalie Lynn Matthews; 13 yrs & Aiden James Matthews; 11 yrs
Class Year: Columbia University Class of 2019 (Literature major, Photography minor)
Occupation: Fashion Photographer; often works for Vogue Magazine. Has also done some modeling, herself.
Residence: New York City / Dillon, TX
Once the summer after graduation hit, Scarlett moved on with her life and started at Columbia. While she was never one to study too hard, she still found herself attending classes before anyone else. Using the spare time you're supposed to find yourself with, to thrust herself into the vast City of New York and dive into finding herself a career she thought might be worth while. Her ambitions had her doing everything in her power to prove her mother wrong like she had always hoped she would, and so that's what she set out to do. Make a name for herself, and prove everyone around her that she could be the best she possibly could - even with her sassy attitude.
Not once did she allow herself to put her art on the back burner, but after many years of photography study - she found love behind a lens as well as upon a blank canvas. Capturing moments she thought she'd never lose, even soon getting herself a job as an intern in her junior year within the most prestigious magazines the world knew too well. At first, she thought she'd be a journalist; taking her love for writing with her, which was what landed her the internship in the first place. Soon after, styling people became a hobby on the side, helping capture models in their best attire for test shoots. Little did she know, her skills and photos would land her a job as one of their head photographers, traveling the world to capture covers for magazines and moments of Fashion Week years later.
Years after her career had taken off she'd gotten back in touch with her best friend, Nate Matthews, somehow their relationship blossomed like it always had in the past. And as their parents had always planned, the two ended up married -- unsure of how it was that they'd ever gone without each other in the first place.
News of her first pregnancy at 25 took her off guard since she never dreamed of having a child, she had always been too afraid she'd turn into her own mother and leave the girl with emotional scars she could never take back. But once the little girl was in her arms, she vowed to cherish her with everything she had - but that didn't mean it turned her heart any less cold. Scarlett knew the girl would grow to be just as much of a spitfire as she had and she only hoped she'd have the same ambitions to become something great in the future. Her second child, Nolan, was much harder to conceive. But once Penelope was old enough, she wanted her to have someone to play with like she, herself, never had. The fact that he was a boy never came as a shock to her because she hoped for the sake of her sanity, another female would not invade her life only to give her more than a handful when they grew up.
Scarlett has kept in touch with a few people from her high school years including her best friend Kaya, confiding in her when she feels life has gotten rough. Aria of course, never fell out of touch with her for one second. Often visiting her and her family when she has down time back in Texas, forever proud of the strong and wonderful people they had both become.
This look great, but have you considered moving the refreshments table to the other side? —— No particular reason, it's just standing in the middle of the room... You know what? — Not my job not anymore, still say it would look better at the back however.
