Well, holy hell. Here I am. It's been 84 years...I'm just kidding but at the same time, Jesus. I've been sat around in this weird and crazy world we find ourselves in and thought, "y'know what I've not done in a while...". These GS fics have my heart and always will. I've gone into writing as a profession but this will always be my starting block and I love it. So here we are, a treat for me and hopefully for you. Let's take a walk back down Green Street...
Present Day
The London lights seemed to dim around Pete Dunham as he strolled down South Bank, watching as the tiniest flecks of snow fell from the looming sky and landed on the onyx surface of the Thames. December had always brought a myriad of emotions to his door. Sure, it was Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year, apparently. He scoffed to himself, haphazardly stepping around a large frozen puddle on the pavement and shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets. December brought stress, school deadlines, hyperactive children, shopping and...
"Y'know, I've been dead seven years," Lara Knight's voice rang out through the frosty air. He knew it was in his head but she may as well have been falling into step next to him. "You guys are allowed to enjoy Christmas. And don't even get me started on that wimpy bitch of a wife of yours going all Lady Macbeth every December...and as for this ridiculous tradition!" He heard the grin in her voice. "I love it."
Pete laughed quietly to himself. Yeah, Christmas brought Lara. Or at least the lingering memory of her. As a group, they'd never truly recovered from losing her. She was too big a part of who they were. But they remembered her, it was all they could do these days.
"Ay, ay, there he is!"
Pete glanced up and smirked as Benjamin wolf whistled in his direction and gave the Santa hat on his head a shake so that the bauble end jingled. "You actually managed to get away from your desk, then?"
"Yeah, well not everyone booked off Christmas week the moment the calendar came out, you cheeky tart," Pete shot back, slinging an arm around his shoulders and grabbing the hat from his head.
"Don't hate me for having beauty and brains, Dunham," Benjamin grinned. "Envy doesn't become you."
"Fuck off," Pete laughed. "Where're the others?"
"Down on the dock already," the Scotsman replied, jerking his head in the direction of the river. "Just waiting on you."
"Good things come to those who wait," Pete grinned, gesturing to his body and laughing when Benjamin rolled his eyes and muttered 'fuck me,' under his breath. "Right," Pete clapped his hands together. "Let's do this, then,"
"Aaaaaaand where do you think you're going?" Benjamin raised an eyebrow as Pete made his way towards the steps, his hand pausing above the railing which was sporting a row of icicles glistening in the moonlight.
Pete glanced at him, then at the wall and shook his head slowly, his azure eyes wide as he took a step back.
"No, mate, no way," he pointed a frozen finger at his friend, cursing the smug look on his face. "Fuck right off, we have this argument every year and-"
"And it always ends up with you losing." Benjamin squinted at the blonde before him, knowing exactly how to push his buttons. "Now you can either go quietly, or I can call your wife up here and we both know how that went last time."
Pete threw his head back and groaned loudly, looking not entirely unlike some of the children he taught as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms.
"Alright," he shouted. "Fine, but I tell you this," Pete poked Benjamin in the chest with every word that followed. "If I fall and break my neck..."
"You'll survive and make it through the physio just to beat seven shades of shit out of me," Benjamin drawled. "I've heard it all before gorgeous, now come on, you twat. A tradition is a tradition."
Pete let out a long breath, then swung his leg over the wall, glancing down at the dock below and hearing laughter drifting up. Allie. He grinned and swung his other leg over, hanging from the wall and staring up at Benjamin with narrowed eyes. He knew it was coming. Benjamin locked his hands over Pete and cleared his throat.
"Don't you fuckin' dare," Pete half laughed, half shouted. "I swear to God, I'll break your face!"
"Long live the King!" Benjamin laughed, prying Pete's hands off the wall and causing him to freefall.
"You absolutely sack of..."
December 2010
"SHIT!"
Pete laughed as Allie reached out and grabbed his hand, her high heels skidding on the icy pavement as they ran full pelt along the bank. Just steps ahead of them Lara, Harry, Benjamin and the boys seemed to be struggling with the snow ridden path as well, laughing and shouting at each other as they meandered frozen puddles and slushy piles of snow.
"I didn't sign up for this shit," Bovver grumbled, nearly falling to the floor as Swill grabbed onto his shoulders for support.
"These tickets cost £100 each," Lara called from over her shoulder. "We are not missing that God damn boat!"
It had been Allie and Lara's bright idea to get tickets for everyone to attend a black tie gala on a boat the week before Christmas. What could be better than a night with the group of them just enjoying their rapidly fading youth? Pete's mother was looking after Poppy, everyone had time off work which would allow for a solid two day hangover and it was Christmas. What they hadn't factored in however was that going for drinks at the Abbey in ballgowns and tuxedos would prove to be such a laugh that they'd have lost track of time and now had seconds to get down onto the dock and onto the boat.
As if on queue, the boat sounded its horn, the sounds of laughter and happy shouts echoing through the frosty air.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Lara shrieked. "Hold the boat!"
"I don't think that's how it works, love," Dave laughed, grimacing as he stepped in a rather large pile of snow, the slushy remnants finding their way into his shoes.
"We're going to make it," the red head panted. "In fact,"
The group turned to look at her as she came to a sudden stop.
"Got it!" She slung her leg over the wall, causing all of them to look at her as though she were mad.
"Lara, what the fuck are you do-" Allie raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"It's another 500m to the steps, easily." Lara blew a strand of hair out of her face. "If we climb the wall and drop down, we can run straight along the dock and onto the back, easy peasy."
"You're havin' a fuckin' bubble!" Swill coughed, his hands glued to his knees as he bent over trying to catch his breath.
"Right, shit it, I'm in," Allie hiked her black and gold sequined dress above her knees and followed her friends' lead.
"Harding, you are out of your mind," Pete shook his head, glancing over the wall. "That's a 10ft drop! And balance ain't exactly your forte, is it?"
Flipping her husband the finger, Allie continued to climb over, straddling the wall and hissing as the icy stone hit the inside of her thighs.
"Right, look," Harry grabbed Allie's arm with one hand and Lara's with the other. "If we're going to do this, we should go first." He gestured to himself and the other boys.
"Fuck off!" They cried in unison.
"Mate," Dave shook his head. "I love those girls but there's no denying they're batshit mental and I ain't being nobody's landing mat."
"Aha, that gives me an idea!" Harry grinned. "Matt!"
The American froze from his spot behind Swill, his arctic eyes wide with fear.
"You go first."
"Why me?!" Matt laughed. "What did I do-"
"Look," Bovver shrugged. "Scotty has a point. Pete has a bad knee, Dave is a pilot and can't afford to get hurt, Swill is too fat, he'll probably leave a hole in the fuckin' dock-"
"Fuck you," Swill shot back.
"The girls are girls and Harry ain't much better, he's posh-"
"True," the older Harding man rubbed his jaw as though deep in thought.
"You, on the other hand," Bovver grinned. "You've got nothin' to lose,"
"Dick," Matt half laughed, shoving Bovver's hands off of his shoulders and taking a purposeful step backward. "What about you?"
"Me?" Bovver scoffed. "I'm too pretty, imagine if I hurt my face."
"Oh Jesus, we're going to miss it!" Lara shouted. "Look, why don't we all just go at once,"
"Every man for himself," Allie countered.
A short silence descended before Pete let out a length sigh and rubbed his hands over his face.
"Oh bollocks to it," he lifted his leg. "Come on, boys or we'll never hear the fucking end of it,"
The nine of them mounted the wall and sat there, their eyes shifting from the boat to the icy ground below.
"Ten foot isn't even that far," Allie nodded to herself.
"You're 5 foot nothin', love," Swill shot back at her.
"Fuck you," she laughed. "Right on one,"
"Mate, if I damage my junk and it prevents me from getting laid tonight..." Swill shook his head.
"Two..."
"I didn't leave America for this," Matt closed his eyes. "I could be at Harvard getting coked out of my mind right now,"
"Three!"
"Thank God unlike Matt, I won't die a virgin!" Benjamin shouted as they simultaneously swung their bodies around and dropped.
10 foot indeed, didn't sound like a lot. But it seemed to take years before the thud of Swill hitting the dock boomed through the air followed by various curse words as Matt landed next to him, Dave ontop, Bovver rolled off to the side, Benjamin landed on top of Pete and Lara and Allie went sprawling with Lara landing on the emergency water ring and Allie falling to rest directly on top of Benjamin.
"CHRIST ON A BIKE"
They all lay there panting and unmoving, their indecipherable groans floating up to linger on the frosty air.
"Oh fuck," Benjamin groaned. "Something definitely ruptured."
"Dave, will you get your fuckin' foot out of my arse!" Swill shouted, his voice muffled by the pile of bodies.
"We made it," Lara panted. "We made it,"
"At what fuckin' cost, Red?" Pete winced as he shoved Benjamin to the side. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to shit out an organ,"
"That hurt worse that childbirth," Allie breathed, rubbing her twisted ankle and staring up at her best friend who was now stood, triumphant, her deep purple down glittering in the moonlight. Her eyes drifted to the boat behind her and she closed her eyes, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Point is," Lara brushed her dress down. "We survived and we have an entire evening of cocktails, shots, food and dancing ahead of us! And we made it just..." she turned, her stomach bouncing down to her feet as she saw the lights of the yacht dimming as it pulled away from the dock. "in time."
"OI!" Pete shouted, waving his arms. "Come back, ya bastards!"
"Easy, Rose," Harry sniffed, clapping his brother in law on the shoulder. "I think our ship has sailed."
They all stood in silence for a long moment before all of a sudden, Allie's laughter rang through the air. Slowly, they all turned to look at her as though she was mad. The petite blonde was half bent over, an arm locked over her stomach as she giggled and snorted.
"You mean..." she tried to catch her breath. "We just hurled ourselves over the South Bank wall..." she paused, feeling tears stinging her eyes and briefly worried about her mascara." And we missed the pissing boat."
Watching her, Pete felt his lips tug into a smile and then heard laughter from behind him as Harry began chortling. Not before long, the nine of them were in fits of hysteria, their laughter only getting louder when the boat sounded its horn mockingly.
"Oh fuck me," Swill wiped a tear from his eye. " Well what do we do now?"
"Abbey's shutting in 20 minutes," Bovver squinted at his watch and shrugged.
"We can't call it a night," Lara frowned. "Not after all this,"
Allie stared at her friend, her heart breaking for her despite their laughter. She knew how important this night had been to Lara. With everyone's life changing so much the past few months, this felt like the one night they were going to get to just be stupid kids again. There was no way she could let Lara lose it. Searching her brain for alternatives, she was about to propose going back to the house when she glanced across the road and grinned.
"Don't hang up your dancing shoes, just yet, Lara Alicia Knight," she held her hands out. "Everyone, give me your wallets. I have an idea,"
"Mate, I tell you what," Swill grinned. "This fits better than the suit did,"
Allie laughed from her position on Pete's lap as Swill walked provocatively over to Benjamin in his Santa onesie, receiving wolf whistles and a round of applause in return. It had taken a good ten minutes of bartering with the man running the crappy Christmas stand across the road but here they were, on the river, bottles scattered around them, all snug in their Christmas onesies. They looked ridiculous but this is exactly what Lara had wanted this night to be. Them. Just them.
"Can we talk about the fact that Benjamin took off his fuckin' boxers and is going commando under his suit?" Pete grimaced as he took a long sip of beer. "Mate, no one wanted to see that."
"Hey!" The Scotsman placed a hand over his chest, feigning hurt. "Like I told you, I'm a grower, not a shower and its cold out. Ask your wife," he winked at Allie causing Pete to burst out laughing, spitting his beer out and spraying Dave.
"Jesus Christ," Dave laughed, brushing the droplets from his hair.
"So, Red," Pete called to Lara where she was tying Harry's tousled hair into bunches with some tinsel Allie had bought. "Sorry you didn't get the night you wanted."
"Are you kidding me?" Lara shrieked, ceasing her torture for a short moment. "This is exactly the kind of night I wanted. We have booze,"
"Aye," Swill nodded, lifting the bottle of Tequila they had been passing round.
"We have music," she gestured to a nearby barge which had been playing festive music and even the odd bit of dance music for the last hour.
"And we have each other," she smiled, her expression changing after a second as she jammed her fingers down her throat and made a loud gagging noise.
"Yeah, enough of that bollocks," Benjamin frowned. "We already have Matt for our emotional quota,"
Laughing as the American merely flipped him the finger, he leaned back and looked up at the crystal clear night above them.
"You planning on keeping this outfit?" Pete whispered into Allie's ear as he tugged at the hemline of her elf outfit.
"Elves?" the blonde raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"I can work with it," Pete smirked jingling the bell on the end of his hat and making her roar with laughter.
"You truly are damaged, you do know that, don't you?" Allie patted his cheek lovingly.
"Yeah but what other way would you have me?" he kissed her nose, leaning in to catch her lips and frowning when she pulled back just enough for him to miss.
"I was thinking I might give Will a call," Allie sighed dreamily. "You know I don't think I ever really gave him a chance and I'm pretty sure he didn't have a Christmas fetish,"
"Right," Pete laughed, reaching behind him and gathering snow in his hand as subtley as possible. "So you're going to up and leave me?"
"Oh yeah," Allie grinned. "You can keep the kid,"
Pete laughed heartily, winking at Lara when she clocked what he was doing and gave him an encouraging grin.
"Well, if you say so," He dumped the pile of snow onto his wife's head, feeling for a split second as she screamed that he may have made an error but her laughter quickly filled the air.
"You bitch!" she cried, leaning over his shoulder and reaching for the pile of snow. She was nearly there before another snow ball hit her in the back of the head and she turned seeing Bovver standing there, his poker face apparently not what it used to be as he pointed immediately at Lara.
"She did it,"
"Right," Benjamin stood up, holding his palms up to the group. "I think I can settle this,"
He immediately began getting pelted with snow and simply shook it off of his Santa Suit, shaking his head.
"You're all wankers and I will show no mercy," he told them with a smile before running full pelt at Swill and tackling him to the ground.
They all began shrieking, laughing, shouting at each other as snow was flung through the air landing hits, some of it ending up in the icy Thames. Calling truces only to take a shot of tequila or open a new beer, they carried on like this into the early hours of the morning. All of them cheering when the boat they had missed came back to dock and they were greeted with looks of amusement and disgust from the guests stepping off of it in their suits and gowns.
This was what it felt like to have a family. And that's what they were. And this moment was theirs as would be the thousands to come.
Present Day
Pete landed with a thud, the wind knocked from his chest as he hit the damp, icy boards of the docks and stared up at his friend with venom.
"That looked like it hurt," Benjamin grinned, landing on his feet next to him and reaching a hand down to help him up.
"You're an utter bellend," Pete coughed, clambering to his feet. "I don't feel like I tell you that enough,"
"Love you, too, brother," the Scotsman laughed, clapping him on the shoulder as they made their way down to the waters edge where their friends were sat waiting.
"Merry Christmas, dickhead!" Swill grinned, taking another shot from the bottle Bovver had just passed to him.
"Yeah, yeah," Pete smirked, his eyes landing on the petite blonde, her honey coloured hair framed around her face by the pointed green hat she was wearing.
"He got you good, huh?" Allie grinned at her husband, sneaking her arms around his waist.
"Every fuckin' year," Pete laughed, leaning down to kiss her softly. She tasted of honey from her tea, a hint of spice from the tequila and a slight salty after was probably from her tears. Today was as hard for them as Lara's anniversary. It brought back memories that made you smile and ache all at the same time.
Pulling back from her, Pete brushed his thumb along her lips and smiled softly as she kissed it.
"So we doin' this or what?" Bovver called over to them.
"Yeah," Pete answered him, kissing Allie once more and squeezing her hand. "I'm just checking that tartan wearing twat didn't break anything,"
"That's not like any medical I've ever seen," Benjamin shot back. "Although, you are getting old, now Dunham..."
"Still younger than you, Princess," Pete smirked, smacking him playfully over the head.
"Right," Harry cleared his throat as Swill handed Allie and Pete a shot before they raised them. "To Lara, the most disorganised, fuckwit any of us ever knew."
Allie heard his voice shake just slightly when he said her name and smiled at her brother as though to tell him he was doing ok, she had his back.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm counting this as the seventh Christmas where we've thrown ourselves over that wall to intentionally miss a boat. And its not getting easier, I don't think it ever will. But we're here, dressed in our onesies, looking like utter plebs all for the sake of your memory. And as a bonus, I think Swill actually washed his this year,"
"Nah, Febreeze, mate," Swill grinned. "Works a charm."
"Jesus," Bovver shook his head in disgust.
"So here we are, Red." Harry grinned. "Here's to you. We're still here, still missing the boat. Still missing you more,"
They all down their shots, taking a little longer to swallow the fiery drink than necessary as they all processed Harry's words. Seven years and it still felt like yesterday. Allie felt her heart sink when she glanced at Benjamin and saw him staring down at the scar on his forearm from the accident. They'd only spoken about that day a few times but she knew deep down, he still blamed himself for some reason. And she also knew that her words would never really be enough to make him think otherwise. Some scars really were too deep to heal.
"Right," Harry cleared his throat, feeling mortified when a tear fell from his eye regardless. "Enough soppy shit, let's do this thing."
They all settled into their chairs, ignoring the looks from the commuters above them as they stared down at the group donning their Christmas outfits and passing bottles of beers and spirits around, laughing into the night.
"You good, Harding?" Pete whispered into Allie's ear as the others roared with laughter at a story Harry was telling them from his days in Thailand.
"Me?" Allie smiled at him, capturing his chin between her fingers and meeting his eyes. The same eyes she had called home for over a decade now. "I'm good. I'm happy,"
Pete pressed a kiss to her shoulder and allowed her to settle back against him, breathing in the sweet smell of her hair and joining in with his friends laughter.
"Seven years..." Lara's voice filled his head again and he smirked. "You really do need to get a life, Dunham,"
"I've got one," he answered her back in his mind. "And its fuckin' perfect,"
In his minds eye, he saw her smile, it was a smile that told him she was at peace. That she missed them as much as they missed her. It was a smile he knew they all saw in their own minds but none of them ever spoke of.
"Atta boy," Lara's voice drifted off as though lifting in to the snow filled air. "Keep my girl happy. And I'll see you on the other side...but mainly I'm going to continue to haunt you because its fun..."
"Fuck off, Red," he laughed to himself.
He closed his eyes, opening them a moment later as Allie handed him a beer and they all began laughing with each other as though nothing had changed. And it hadn't, not really. They were still them. The same group of misfits who's paths had crossed and it had brought them together for life.
"Um...boys?"
Pete jerked his chin up as Dave leant forward in his chair looking nervous but with a definite smirk pulling at his mouth.
"We forgot Ike."
Laughter ripped through them again as Bovver called the aforementioned man, getting a tirade of abuse down the receiver. Their voices hung on the icy, winter air, Bovver arguing with Ike then bartering with him to come down but to make sure he brought another bottle of rum with him and the others talking about everything and anything until the early hours when the stars turned blue and the air warmed ever so slightly and the sun rose on another day without Lara Knight.
I don't know what you think, I don't know what I think, if I'm honest. I think I wanted to write something fluffy and non offensive to get back to into the swing of things as writing this is very different to what I write on the day to day! If you liked it, it would make my year if you left a review. If there's storylines you always wanted me to explore but I didn't or any ideas you have or hell, if you think this is a terrible idea and I should just let it be then let me know.
I hope you're all doing well in this crazy, crazy world.
All my love,
Ella xx