Given how sporadically I actually post anything other than daily quotes and how many people have asked about taglists, I guess I’ll start them up again.
Just tell me what you’d like to be tagged for and I’ll get on that. Comment, ask, message. I might make a Google form after I see how many are actually interested.
Thanks for sticking around while my muse continues to be a twat. 🩵🩵🩵
Summary: With the world being in shambles, you and Bauer found solace in one another, enough so that the two of you grew closer and entered a relationship. Bauer would do anything for you. However, due to a mistake, he was at risk of losing you, something he never wanted to happen.
Genre: Angst with a happy ending.
Warnings: Swearing, talks of suffocation and death, allusions to sex (but nothing crazy).
Word count: 2.3k.
A/N: Requested by an anon. I had way too much fun writing this. I just wanna apologize in advance if there’s any inaccuracies regarding some details. I didn’t have the time to rewatch the entire movie while writing this, so I had to go based on my memory alone. Anyways, I hope y’all like this! (Italicized paragraphs showcase memories).
Navigation. Other Norm characters masterlist. AO3. Taglist.
“How the fuck could you let that happen?! You were in charge of makin’ sure everythin’ was in order!”
“I said I was sorry! It was an accident!”
“Well, ‘sorry’ isn’t gonna bring her back if she ends up fuckin’ suffocatin’, now is it?!”
In his panicked haste, Bauer accidentally hit his side against the edge of the table. He muttered a quick pained ‘shit’, before ultimately resuming his mission of trying to find something, anything that could help out in that dire situation. Blueprints that showcased how the sleeping pods were built were strewn across the table, along with seemingly all of Bauer’s tools. He needed to find a way to fix this.
He needed to find a way to help you.
“Go see if you can find anythin’ that can help us.” When Cartwright made no haste to comply with his request, he was met with the loud banging of tools being thrown to the floor. “Are you deaf? Fuckin’ go!” Bauer roared, effectively scaring his companion into doing what he asked.
Bauer grabbed a screwdriver from the tools that were littered across the floor—although he was not sure what use he had for it—as well as one of the blueprints from the table and rushed back to your sleeping pod. He placed the paper on top of the glass, his ocean-like eyes flickering down to look at your sleeping form. You were deep in slumber, the drug that kept you asleep not having worn off yet. And if Bauer did not find a way to get you out of that pod, you were going to suffocate.
“Fuck,” he mumbled to himself. He looked over the prints that showed how the sleeping chambers had been built, trying to figure out how to fix the problem—the pod would not open, and he had discovered that if he attempted to open it, the air would leave the pod and you would slowly suffocate. However, if he simply left you there, you would suffocate, too.
He did not know what to do. He was at his wit’s end. His throat was constricting as he tried to right back the tears that burned his eyes. Why did it have to be you? You were the genius when it came to thing like this. Why could it not have been him in your place? You would have been able to figure out how to fix the situation. Him… He was not sure he would be able to.
Bauer closed his eyes. Unwillingly, he thought back to the moment the two of you had made it official. Well, as official as two people could make it when you were stuck underground with only one other person who would know about your relationship.
You giggled as Bauer pressed kisses to your flushed skin, his arms encircling your waist. “Vince…” you trailed off, leaning your head back against his chest.
He repeated your name in a similar fashion, his chuckles vibrating against the exposed flesh of your shoulder. “What?”
“We can’t do a round two. We already wasted enough time with round one,” you reminded him. You turned around in his embrace and gently cupped his cheek in your hands, his stubble grazing against your palm.
Bauer turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to your wrist, his hands falling down to your hips to pull you closer. “We can make it quick…” he trailed off suggestively, leaning his forehead against yours and bumping your nose with his.
You laughed lightly and gently pushed him back. “Woah there, tiger. We have responsibilities.”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “To hell with responsibilities. I wanna spend time with the most gorgeous woman in this place.”
“I’m the only woman in this place,” you pointed out.
“Doesn’t make you any less gorgeous,” he retorted. He wrapped his arms around you again and pulled you flush against his chest. “And now I get to call you mine.”
“Is that so?” you asked with a small smile, although you did not mind the sound of that at all.
“Yup,” Bauer confirmed with a grin. “All mine. And I’m never lettin’ you go.”
“You promise? I don’t like lying.”
“Pinky promise. I’d never lie like that.” He pressed a kiss to your lips. “I promise I won’t let anythin’ happen to you, either.”
Bauer’s eyes snapped open again. He forced himself not to dwell on the past. You were in trouble now, in the present. Not the past. He had made a promise to keep you safe, and by god, he was going to keep it. Even if he has to figure out a way to break the glass to your chamber and let you use his pod instead. He would offer up his life for your’s in a heartbeat.
“What do I do, Darlin’?” he questioned, his eyes trailing over your unconscious form. “How do I fix this?”
Naturally, all he got in response was silence. It made him even more frustrated. He had to fight against the urge to break something. He wished that some force could knock the knowledge on how to help you into his brain. He needed to know how to help in this emergency.
“For fuck’s sake!” he yelled angrily, gripping his hair as he realized that the blueprint was of no help. At that moment, the thing was merely a stupid piece of paper. It gave him absolutely no insight to how he could potentially open the pod. “Stupid piece of shit!”
“Calm down, Vince.”
Bauer lifted his head, shutting his eyes tightly. Your voice echoed in his head, anchoring him from whatever dark place he was descending to. He had to have a clear head if he wanted to be of any use.
“Calm down,” he muttered to himself, his grip on the screwdriver in his hand tightening. “Calm down. Just think. What would she do in this situation?”
Bauer lowered his head to rest against the glass of your sleeping pod, both as a way to force himself to focus and as a way to bring him some closure. You were still there. You were not gone yet. And by doing that, more memories flooded his mind.
“What’re you doin’?” Bauer questioned, leaning back in his chair as he threw the ball against the wall, caught it, and repeat.
You looked up from the book in your hands and gazed into his beautiful cerulean eyes. “Reading,” you stated matter-of-factly.
Bauer rolled his eyes at your response. “No shit,” he retorted playfully, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, “but what are you readin’?”
You lifted your book for him to see. “A manual. It’s pretty interesting.”
“You’re such a nerd,” Bauer said with a chuckle, rolling his chair to be closer to you.
You scoffed and softly punched him on his arm, laughing when he overdramatized it. “You’re such a dork.” You sighed and leaned your head against his shoulder. “It’s good that I read this. It tells us what to do in case of emergencies. If the air runs out, if we need to get certain doors to open, if there’s a problem with the pods, things like that. Now I know what to do if we ever run into these problems.”
“I stand correct. You are a nerd,” Bauer began, pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “But you’re my nerd. And I’m not even gonna lie, you talkin’ to me, showin’ off how smart you are… It does things to me.”
A laugh emitted from your chest. “Is that so?”
“Damn straight.” Bauer turned your head and crashed his lips against yours for a deep kiss. The book fell from your hands in favour for you to cup his cheeks, your tongue slipping into his mouth.
“The book!”
Bauer practically shoved himself away from your pod, the screwdriver falling to the ground with a loud ‘clink’. He rushed over to the locker that held some of your things and flung it open, quickly beginning to search for the one thing that could potentially hold the answers to the problem at hand. However, despite the revelation that he could potentially find something that could help, it was not that easy to find it. It was not in the locker.
The timer on the wall was steadily counting down, precious seconds ticking by until it was time to go to sleep again. Bauer knew he had to act fast. The next place he looked was the drawer where your singular extra change of clothes were. Once again, no luck.
The man tried not to let his hope dwindle. It would not do anyone any good if he were to throw in the towel. He needed to think. Where else could you have put it?
He let his feet lead him to the trunk at the far end of the room. When he opened it, he was met with a meager select few objects. However, on closer inspection, his eyes caught the glint of a brown hardback cover.
“Yes!” Bauer exclaimed excitedly when he picked up the object and it was, indeed, the very same book he had been trying to locate.
“What? Did you find something?”
The sound of Cartwright’s voice made Bauer turn around. He quickly looked at the index at the front of the book and flipped to the page where all the information regarding the sleeping pods began. His eyes scanned through everything, and thankfully, he found exactly what he needed; a way to get you out, and without having to risk anything else.
“Read this to me,” Bauer instructed his companion, shoving the book into his hands and showing him where he needed to start reading.
He did not give Cartwright time to process what was happening. Bauer rushed over to the array of tools that were littered across the room, picking up a flathead screwdriver and rushing back over to your pod. He pressed a hand against the glass, his brows furrowed together.
“Just wait a little while longer,” he whispered so that Cartwright would not hear. “I’ll get you out. I promise.” He turned around to face the other man, a spark of determination swimming around in his ocean-like pools. “Start readin’.”
Cartwright, who cleverly sensed that it would do him no good to argue, nodded and shifted his attention to the pages of the book in his hands. “Okay. So if you look beneath the pod, there should be a little hatch-like thing. It says here that it’s not easy to open, so—”
Before Cartwright could even finish his sentence, Bauer had the hatch open. It revealed a keypad, and by pressing the bright red button, the screen flickered to life. “Now what?”
Cartwright hesitated for a moment, completely taken aback by the fact that Bauer was working at lighting speed, but he quickly shook himself from his thoughts. “Um, next you activate the keypad—”
“I already did that. C’mon, what’s after that?”
“Jesus, can you give me a chance?” Cartwright snapped, glaring at the man that was crouched in front of your chamber.
Bauer returned his glare with one just as fiery. “Can you hurry the fuck up? We wouldn’t even need to do this if you hadn’t fucked shit up in the first place!”
The man inhaled sharply. The urge to retort was strong, but he held his tongue and instead continued on. “You gotta enter a code. Ten digits.” He looked back up at Bauer and was met with an impatient look. “Okay. No need to look at me like that.”
“I’ll tell you what. We can talk all about looks after we get her outta this fuckin’ thing.”
Cartwright sighed and tried to keep his cool. “Okay. So it’s 7-6-0…”
Bauer typed those numbers out onto the keypad. “7-6-0,” he repeated to himself.
“2-1-9…”
“2-1-9.”
“8-5-7-3.”
“8-5-7-3.”
The screen flashed green, showing that the code had worked. Bauer breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was short-lived when he noticed that the pod was not opening, and you were still in a deep slumber.
“It didn’t work,” Bauer muttered to himself, before raising his voice in panic. “It didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?!”
Cartwright was flipping through the pages hastily. “I don’t know! That should have worked!”
“Well, clearly it didn’t!” Bauer exclaimed, raising from the ground and stalking over to Cartwright to grab the book. “You must have missed somethin’!”
“I didn’t miss anything!”
“You—”
Their argument got cut short. Behind them, the pod hissed as the air left it, an all too familiar sign that it was going to open. Bauer dropped the book on the ground and rushed forward. He peered over the pod like he had done many times before when he had waited for you to wake up, although this time, instead of waiting for you with his signature playful smirk, a worried frown was in its place instead.
The seconds that passed felt like an eternity. However, when your eyes opened and you gasped for air, Bauer could feel the relief wash over him like tidal waves. The door that held you from his reach opened way too slowly for his liking. When it finally did, though, he brought you into his arms, holding you tightly against him.
“Vince?” you asked hoarsely, utterly confused by the way he was acting. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Bauer shook his head and pressed his lips against your head, fighting against the lump that formed in his throat. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”
You frowned. “Of course I am.” You slowly turned yourself around in his arms, gazing into his eyes. “What’s going on?”
Bauer simply sent you a strained smile. “Let’s get you up and going first. Then I’ll fill you in, okay?” When you made no move to agree, Bauer cupped your cheeks in his hands. “I promise.”
This was a trend on instagram called #faceyourart but I thought it would be fun to bring it around simblr. Post 9 faces of sims you have 100% created (not born in game) to spot similarities and to see your style.
I wasn’t tagged, but I wanted to do this, so I did! 😄 Turns out I only create new sims when it’s for other people’s challenges. (Fun fact: Even Nicole was originally created for a Bachelorette challenge, but I liked her too much so I decided to use her for my Nightmare legacy instead!)
Adele, Vincent, Scott,
Summer, Nicole, Hana,
Jake, Sierra, Sam
