First of all, I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you readers out there, no matter if you've stuck around since chapter 1 or have just discovered this now. I would have never gathered the muse to finish this story without you. Now, I have some specific acknowledgments to make so bear with me.
On AO3: thank you to commenters Tastefulcucumber, Cloud, somuchcherryeverywhere, thedemonexperiment, Eni, DragonRider979, LoyalSins, Senpai_Jolteon2002, fangirlatheart, Bobcatmama, and leonerdmccoy. Your comments always stood out to me and made me happy.
On fanfiction: thank you to reviewers justslightlyobsessed, NerdsxUnite, Never Ending Nightmare, Diana Luna Night, mayuhluh, AJohnlockAddict, Delusional Fujoshi, CrazyBlueOwl (I am a girl, but thank you for being inclusive), ChibiCreep, SupernaturalPhanGrrl, and numerous amazing Guests. Your reviews were detailed and always made me smile.
On wattpad: thank you to commenters aloneinacorner, ishiptheworld3, ArielCollins, Enchantedevening, PhanAF454, KelinEscobar, thatonegeekgirl, and sydneygoodness. Thank you for your time and nice words!
And a special thank you to enivern on Tumblr, who drew a beautiful piece of art of my Hawk and Dove. You are seriously the best, especially since I wrote this while imagining it as a comic book in my head.
Thank yous are over, now for some shameless self-promotion. I can be reached on any of my accounts where this is posted, and I will get back to messages whenever I can. You'll always be able to find me on my twitter Emmazing15 and my personal Tumblr blog, .com. You can also see my writing blog wordsaremything and my Phan blog daninator-and-rickyblitz (both with the standard url). Please do not hesitate to send me questions about my work or about anything really, I will always talk. And I will talk for ages about what I've written especially.
Now that that's done, here is what I'm sure you're really here for, a teaser scene from the sequel, Hawk and Dove: Consumption.
The music was so loud that the bass caused ripples in Dan's glass of water. He held it firmly in place with his right hand, while his left tapped the heavy drumbeat on his knee. His glass was sweating; it was hot in the room, from all the people and their dancing. Not that he minded much. Dan welcomed the heat, but still his suit jacket was tossed over the back of his chair, and his tie hung loosely around his unbuttoned collar.
When he looked up from his glass of water, Zoe had appeared, her boyfriend in tow. Her forehead was shiny with sweat, even in her short dress. "What a party, huh?" she asked with a bright smile, "The music is great."
"You'd think we were at a rave instead of a wedding!" Alfie agreed, also sweating from keeping up with Zoe's love of dancing.
"Honestly, I didn't expect this much of Louise when I met her," Mamrie Hart added from across the table, "But damn if I'm not psyched about it."
Zoe laughed. "Matt's really loosened her up a bit," she said.
Dan raised his glass of water. "The brain surgeon from paradise," he teased.
Just then, Hannah and Phil returned from the bar. They each had a round of shots. "Just in time!" Hannah noted, nodding to Dan's water glass. She promptly took it and replaced it with a shot.
"This better not be tequila," Grace said with a grimace as she took her own glass.
"It is," Phil supplied chirpily, taking his seat beside Dan.
Grace continued to frown, and Mamrie clapped her on the shoulder. "It'll put hair on your chest," she told her.
Everyone laughed and Hannah raised her shot glass. "To hair on our chests!"
"To Louise and Matt," Zoe corrected through her giggles.
Everyone toasted to Louise and her new husband and downed their shots. It did not taste good, but when in Rome, Dan supposed. There were only so many weddings a person went to in their lifetime. Might as well help celebrate by getting respectfully drunk. Zoe and Alfie disappeared back into the throng of people dancing, which was unsurprising. Dan was glad they were having fun.
Then Single Ladies came on and Hannah jumped to her feet. She tugged on Grace's arm. "Come on, we have to dance, it's Beyoncé!" the former cried, "Plus, we're both single ladies."
Grace groaned in complaint, but rose from her chair anyway. "Hang on," she said. She grabbed another shot glass and tossed it back like it was water. "Wait, I also have to see our secretary real fast-"
"She was already here, I talked to her, now stop making excuses!" Mamrie interjected, who was back to drinking her cocktail.
Dan frowned, giving Mamrie a questioning look. "Your secretary is here?"
"I thought you were on vacation," Phil agreed.
Mamrie shrugged. "We're supposed to be, but it's hard for us to stop working, you know?" she said and took a long gulp of her drink.
The boys exchanged a look. This was about their only day off, ever, and even now there were still people back at the base taking care of things. Dan and Phil were only a call away, but it had to be an absolute emergency. The Trifecta members had come all the way from America, after all, they must have a lot to take care of.
"Let's not think about work," Dan said, grabbing two shot glasses and handing one to Mamrie, "At least for right now. We have a wedding to enjoy."
Phil grabbed one for himself. "I think the world will make it through one day without us," he said.
"Hear hear!" Mamrie chirped, raising her glass. They all clinked together and downed them at the same time. Mamrie came up coughing, and snatched up her napkin to muffle it.
Phil leaned in close to Dan. "Shall we go dance too?" he whispered.
"You really want to subject yourself to that?" Dan teased in reply, quirking a brow.
"Very funny," he said, rolling his eyes, "You said we should enjoy it though, right? Louise would never forgive us if we sat around for the entire reception- are you okay?"
Mamrie was still coughing. Dan gave her a worried look, but she just waved her hand at Phil's question. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, dropping her napkin on the table and standing up, "Come on, slow-mos, you're dancing with me!"
Phil turned to Dan and pecked him quickly on the mouth. "Now we have no choice," he said and darted from his seat to catch up with Mamrie.
Dan deposited his tie on the chair and was right behind them, when he spotted something on the table that gave him pause. Mamrie's napkin was sitting on the table beside her almost empty glass but that wasn't what caught his attention. Black spots discolored the white fabric, as if a fountain pen had dripped ink onto it. Dan curiously picked it up and looked closer. None of the other napkins were like this… why would this one be stained, with black of all things?
"Daniel!" Mamrie called over the music.
Dan looked up, his attention drawn back to the wedding and the dancing. He dropped the napkin and decided that it was just a fluke; someone messed up and got something on it. He joined his friends to enjoy the rest of the evening.