Trick or Treat

[JoHanna K Roberts]

The morning had started off like any other – except for the fact that it was Halloween. In fact, things with Kelin were sort of going awesome. Since he had Finn for the past week, he was going to be handing him over to his mother this morning before coming into work. Seeing as how it was a holiday, she sort of felt really bad for him. Kids in costumes were ridiculously adorable. But she was pretty sure the plan was that he was going to take him trick or treating with mom, and then come to her and Rory’s for the party that they had tricked her into. So, out of the gesture of showing she was seeing them as a unit, because ‘couple’ sounded disgusting, she had gotten him a coffee for when he got to set. “Jo!” one of the interns called out, running up to her. “ Have you seen this?” they said before putting their iPad in their face. She narrowed her eyebrows as she looked at it, “it’s probably from last year,” she said, more to herself in a quiet tone. But the closer she looked at it, that was definitely the scarf she had talked him into buying last week. And that was definitely his ex -wife he was kissing.


It had taken Jo less than fifteen minutes to leave work after that. At this point most of everyone on set knew that they producers were waiting on Jo to sign a piece of paper saying her and Kelin were together. So if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, the last thing she wanted to deal with was people asking her about his ex-wife. Which is how she had ended up at home. Drinking all of the schnapps that were left at the apartment, because she didn’t want to drink the “good” stuff before the party started. Jo sat up, stumbling slightly as she made her way to the kitchen. That bastard was not invited to her party, so he definitely wasn’t getting the treats she had made for everyone. She pulled the trash can out, dumping all of the snacks she had made for the Halloween party into the trash, stopping as she held onto a tray that was specifically for Rory. Standing there, Jo picked it up and set it down a couple of times undecisively before she set it back down. Rory didn’t do anything wrong to her. She picked the bag up, not tying it and set it outside the front door.
“We’re ordering pizzas,” she said decisively as she opened a beer and walked to her door, kicking the door so it slammed shut.


About 9 hours of drinking later, Jo had managed to half-heartedly apply freckles to her cheeks for her costume. Pulling on her boots, she looked down at the flannel shirt, tying it into a knot at the middle of her stomach before she finally peaked out of her room. “ No, no. Nothing from the 70s” Jo said grumpily, usually her and Rory were the first to offer up some old school music. Tonight…tonight was party music. She waited for the first douche sounding song on Pandora she could find before she turned it all the way up. Windows Down by big time rush… that would work. It was really hard to tell who was hot or not with all of the Halloween costumes. How could she tell who she was supposed to make out with? Wait. She knew it. Jo narrowed her eyebrows, shouting at someone over the music. “Are you republican?! How do you feel about gun laws and harsher treatment for illegal immigrants? “ she asked before feeling tugged away quickly by Willie. " I hate all of em," he said, answering for her instead of the guy she was talking to before he started to direct her toward the kitchen.

[Ethan John Fox]

First holiday since his brother and mother had passed away. Granted, it wasn’t exactly a sentimental one, it was pretty strange for him. But he had the opportunity to see the Maddens get all dressed up and be all family wholesome strangely adorable, so that was enough for him. After helping Brayden count out all of his candy, which was being watched carefully by Kenzie, he had been able to head over to Rory’s. By the time he got there, he’d realized that he had forgotten a costume. Well, shit. “I’m sorry,” he said impishly, gesturing to his lack of costume before he leaned down to give Rory a quick kiss. He’d figure something out. But when he saw Willie walking around, he knew. He smiled as he looked at Rory, “ I’m coming as one of those people from that town in Footloose…” he said, cringing at Jo yelling a line from the Footloose musical, “ BEAUMONT, WHERE THE HELL IS BEAUMONT?!?!” she said before laughing into her drink. He made a slightly confused face before looking at Rory. “Should I know what that means?” he said before leaning down to give her another kiss.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

So today had been fifty shades of fucked up because Jo had been drinking for 9 straight hours and Rory was concerned she might actually think she was Annie Oakley.  And what the in the actual fuck was Kelin thinking?! He was doing so well, then he went and fucked everything up.  Stupid, stupid man.  Rory was a pretty understanding girl, and she had been rooting for Kelin all along, but now she was a 100 pounds of mad at him.  So. "He better show up." Rory said, shaking her head at Willie before she saw Ethan had arrived.  "Hey," she smiled, giving him a kiss and shrugged.  It wasn't a big deal.  Rory wasn't even wearing half her costume.  She'd never put the wings on.  "Beaumont," she nodded, shaking her head as Willie walked away with Jo.  "No.  She's been drinking for 9 hours."  Rory set her empty cup down, smiling and reached up to put her arms around his neck and kissed him.  "Glad you're here though, drink?" she gestured toward the alcohol.  

[Ethan John Fox]

"Nine hours?" he repeated back while making a slight face as he looked over his shoulder to see where Jo was heading. She may have been bat shit crazy, but she was his girlfriends 'person'. Or whatever. So it just seemed right that he kept an eye on her too if she meant that much to Rory. He took in a deep breath and smiled down at her. "I think I'll stick to soda for now until things die down incase you need a hand with her," he said before draping his arm around her shoulders. It felt good to be home..officially. What he had planned on being a quick weekend home was actually his trip back to the states. No more Australia for as long as he could manage to get away with not going back. He'd shaved his beard and face for the funerals that he had gone to, but then had gone back to growing it out for Rory's sake. He paused for a moment, questioning if he should ask why Jo was drinking so heavily when it occurred to him that it was sort of a really rare thing for her, plus she was home and not going anywhere and surrounded by friends. As long as they weren't wearing velcro shoes. He gave a quick nod to Willie when he saw him pass before he angled his head down to look at Rory. "So, Aurora... how is your schooling going to look now that your boyfriend is stateside?" he asked before smiling slowly at her.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory nodded when Ethan said he just wanted a pop, and laughed inside when she realized she was the only person at this party who called it pop.  Whatever.  She grabbed him a cup though and put ice in it while he picked out a 'soda'.  "Mmm..." she laughed slightly, "You mean is this the part when I start skipping class again?" She smiled and then frowned jokingly, shaking her head, "Terrible influence, just terrible."  Rory poured herself another beer and then realized that Kelin had just walked in across the room.  "Him."  Rory took her drink, marching over to Kelin, frowning with fresh anger, "You had better have a good story, leprechaun."  "Okay," he responded, hands up in defense, "I deserve that."  "What on earth is wrong with you?  You had everything going for you, and you just had to go and mess it up.  She's been drinking for nine hours.  Nine."  Kelin looked genuinely upset over it as well though, so props to him for at least looking like he cared.  Rory sighed, looking over at Jo who was dancing with Willie. At least she was momentarily occupied.  "At least answer this one question, did it mean anything?"

[Kelin Dean O'Reilly]

Kelin sighed, yeah he had a lot of explaining to do.  It had been a long day.  There was the part this morning when his ex-wife had basically told him she had made a mistake and wanted him back.  Maybe it was because it was Halloween, or because he'd just had Finn for a week and women were suckers toward guys with kids or something, he didn't know.  But the thing was, she would always be Finns mom, but she just no longer held that place in Kelin's life anymore.  She'd hurt him, pretty badly actually.  And to be honest he was better for it and he knew it.  It had been a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to find someone else who really wanted to be with him, not someone who would take him for granted.  He'd moved on.  And he'd told her that after he had stopped her mid kiss, which unfortunately Finn had saw and that was confusing for a toddler.  And also some paparazzi or some random person had unfortunately saw too.  It was no wonder Jo hadn't been at work.  Or spoken to him.  If he could just make her understand that he had no desire to be back with his ex-wife, that it was a picture taken at the wrong moment... but he just felt like it all sounded like excuses.  He had been so happy lately.  Excited about this party,  excited to finally be more public with Jo.  It seemed like they were actually in a really good place, as if she was slowly coming to terms with a relationship even if she didn't fully commit to the term.  And now this.  He had already done so much tip toeing, and now he felt like he was walking the plank.  Things had been awkward when they'd taken Finn trick or treating.  After she'd put him to bed his ex-wife had apologized, saying she had 'clearly crossed a line'.  She'd even asked him about Jo, which was strange to be talking to her about anything of the sort.  But at least they had acknowledged that Kelin had moved on.  One picture on the internet was enough for his ex to realize she had messed some things up for him.  She had no idea. 

Kelin sighed, shaking his head, "No, not for me.  When I signed those divorce papers, I meant it.  Unfortunately someone with a camera was there at the wrong time."  he frowned, "Rory really, whatever the internet is saying or whatever, I just need Jo to know there is nothing going on with my ex, and there never will be.  She crossed a line.  And I really need you on my side, we both know that."  Rory was like the fairy dust.  The good magic.  "Please stop looking at me like that," he added, surprised at how such a small person could possess such a fatal glare.  "Stop trying to fix things with me, you go fix this with her.  Now."  Geez, she was like a small pit bull when it came to Jo.  Kelin shook his head, walking over to wear Jo was, "Jo."  He said getting her attention.  Dammit she looked really cute too.  "I need to talk to you.  Five minutes at least, please."

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan leaned against the counter with his sprite, rolling the cup lazily between his hands as he watched his cute,dainty, little gem of a girlfriend go from a little woodland fairy, to a little pissed off woodland fairy as she made a b line for Kelin. Well, that answered the question as to why Jo was drinking. He scrunched his nose as Rory used what must be all of the anger that she saves up during the year to cast Kelin a horrendous glare. Hate to be that guy right now. When she had finished talking to Kelin, she still looked a bit grumpy about the entirety of the situation. Perhaps she was expecting the worst as Kelin seemingly went off to find Jo. Ethan couldn’t help but smile as she finally made her way back over to him, holding his arms open so that she could curl up into his chest. “ Remind me never to piss you off, babe…” he said with a smile. “ Wanna grab a box of pizza and disappear to the roof for a while?” he questioned, trying to get her mind off of whatever was going on with Jo and Kelin.

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Jo looked down at Willie’s boot, trying to tap it at the same time he was lifting it off the ground so they could do the right dance. But either he remembered the choreography wrong or she wasn’t a good dancer. Or both. She frowned trying to get it down before she heard him explain how this wasn’t going to happen tonight because she was long gone. Jo looked up hearing her name and stopped, staring at Kelin. Well, at least she had managed to escape him for the majority of the day. “No offense bro but hang on,” Willie said stepping between them before he looked down at her. “You know you don’t have to talk to him right?” “ Does Rory know you’re here?” she questioned trying to look around Willie. “ I mean, it’s a party and everyone is having a good time, and I’m sure he’ll be enough of a gentleman to leave,”. “Pirate.” she said looking at Willie. “ And he talks really funny” “He really does” “Like this is America, learn how to speak properly,” “It’s not even that, the vocabulary is strange, too” she said while shaking her head. “Plus I mean he constantly has that facial hair,” ”Well he has to have that for the show, I mean I can’t blame that one on him,” “Is he still behind me?” he questioned. Jo leaned to the side again to look at Kelin before looking at Willie. “ Yes.” she said, before Willie turned around. “ Five minutes… and then I release Rory.”

Jo punched Kelin on the shoulder lazily. “ Hey buddy. Pal. Amigo. How was trick or treat? I bet that was super awesome. Bet Finn was cute. Good for Finn. That is genuinely good. Awesome. Hey we have pizza. SOoooo grab a slice of that. And uh..” she said , shaking her head slightly as she snapped her fingers while trying to think of what else to say. “Oh, here. Have a drink.” she said before handing him her Listerine bottle.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory crossed her arms, still holding her drink as she watched Kelin go find Jo.  It was rough you know?  Because everyone was like poor Jo, poor Kelin, no.  Poor Rory.  Everyone wanted Rory to fix it for them, no you go fix it.  You messed up you go.  And who was gonna hold Jo's hair when she puked like three times later, Rory.  And who was gonna make her soup tomorrow, Rory.  Jo deserved the best, she didn't deserve her best friend holding her hair while she puked because she got so drunk because some guy went and did a stupid thing.  Stupid guy.  You hurt Jo, you hurt Rory.  It felt like mutual hurt.  Jo was the one person Rory couldn't stand to see hurt, other than Ethan now, but still.  The worst.  Rory needed to stop drinking for a while.  She also felt like she needed a shot.  She walked back over to Ethan, sighing with a small smile.  "That sounds like a good idea."  Rory opened the fridge and grabbed a six pack of beer, freshly chilled, for in case she decided she was done not drinking.  Ethan grabbed a pizza and Rory also grabbed a huge blanket off the couch and went upstairs.  It was getting chilly now all the time.  They'd found a couch someone was getting rid of and had put it up here while the weather was still not snowy, Rory plopping down on it and wrapped the blanket around herself.  She grabbed a beer and opened it, thinking.  What Jo was dealing with was exactly the part she was scared of, the getting hurt part.  She was glad Willie was down stairs to mediate.  Rory leaned into Ethan's side and pulled out a piece of pizza, taking a bite.  She looked up at the night sky and saw nothing but smog.  Always a big disappointment.  "Have you ever seen the northern lights?" she asked after she finished chewing.  

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan looked through the pizzas, making sure to grab a good one before he followed Rory up to the roof. It seemed like she was taking this whole Kelin thing to heart, but to be honest he’d never really had someone he was as close with as Rory was with Jo. He sat for a moment on the couch, trying to think of who his person must be. It had to be either Shane or Dan realistically. But the important thing was that he had gotten Rory up on the roof, away from all of the drama so that he could just enjoy her presence for the night. He adjusted the blanket so that it covered her better before wrapping his arm back where it belong around her again. He took a piece of pizza as well, chewing when Rory had asked him about the northern lights. “ I haven’t, actually.” he said before taking another bite of pizza. He looked around at the rooftop, smiling slightly to himself as he realized that life had this funny habit of throwing curveballs and bringing you to places you least expected. Like on a couch on a rooftop with a fashion major who got scary angry about her roommate, but overall was just a dainty little fairy woodland princess. “Have you? Or did your parents just love them?” he questioned as he took another big bite of pizza. It was hard to imagine how Rory could have been named after anything else. She was so naturally beautiful, that it only made sense to name her after something that was beautiful in nature.

[Kelin Dean O'Reilly]

Kelin waited patiently while Jo and Willie talked about him as if he wasn't standing directly beside him.   Yes, okay, he talked funny, everyone could just laugh it up, how hilarious it all was.  Oh but wonderful, Willie had given him permission to speak to her for five minutes.  Kelin watched her, obviously she'd been drinking a lot, he decided as she handed him a bottle of listerine.  "I just want to talk to you for a minute," he said, gesturing that maybe they could go to the hallway or somewhere less crowded.  At least she had followed him to a less occupied area.  Kelin took a breath, watching her, for some reason still holding the bottle of listerine, "Jo, I owe you an apology.  I'm so sorry about what happened this morning.  And I'm sorry about the aftermath.  I know what people are saying, and it isn't fair to you.  I just-" he paused, trying to be as sincere as possible, "I just think you should know that there isn't anything going on with my ex.  She crossed a line.  And it put you in a terrible position."  Kelin stopped talking, looking at the bottle in his hand and set it down, running a hand over his stubble.  "I know it hasn't been easy and I want us to be able to talk about things, you know?  And I'm truly, honestly sorry that you have had to deal with this, it's the last thing I want you to have to go through.  I'm... the happiest I've been in a long time.  With you.  I know you're upset, I don't blame you.  But hear me out when I say this morning meant nothing.  Because honestly, I only have eyes for you. I don't know how to make this better," he said, frowning.  

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Who gets offered a drink and then doesn’t take it? She watched the bottle in his hand as it had yet to be taken a drink out of, but looked up at him, realizing that he had been talking. And the strange thing was it was one of those things, where if you just caught along in the middle you could sort of catch up to what the rest of the conversation was. “ DO you know what people are saying?” she said with an amused grin as she watched him before scoffing and shaking her head. “ You can’t just be the intern on set whose boyfriend is a star on the show, and then all the sudden he’s making out with his ex wife.. and people just start saying stuff like, I don’t deserve to be here. No one is questioning your job, dude. Why would they? But it’s not fair that my place gets questioned. And what the fucking hell kind of message does that send to Finn?”. Plus she noted, as she watched him, that she hated his stubble. Simply because she loved it. “ You act carelessly.” she said, pointing her finger lazily as she gave a nod. “ Because now poor Finn is gonna be disappointed when things don’t work out the way he had hoped.” she said before crossing her arms. “ And Rory is sooooo mad at you. I would watch my back if I were you,” she said along with a nod. “ She’s tiny but effective. Like dynamite.” “ Three minutes!” Willie called out as he looked down the hallway. “ It’s nothing personal man, I saw that movie where you were the priest, it was great. Just.. three minutes,” Jo pointed at Willie lazily before looking back at Kelin. “ I don’t even understand how you think we can come back from this. Like…. Fine… whatever. You say it doesn’t mean anything, I question that. But she’s always going to be there, always. Rightfully so, and do you know what I look like right now? I look like someone who is trying to break up a family. Do you know what words people use for people like that? Not nice ones.”

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory nodded, "Oh sure, a handful of times.  Back home, not here of course.  You can't see anything at all here," she frowned.  "When I was a kid my parents would wake us up in the middle of the night and we'd all go outside and sit in the tall grass and just stare at it for hours.  Always constantly changing, all the different colors.  Like watching flames, you can't take your eyes off it."   They used to do a lot of fun things when she was a kid.  Watch meteor showers, and her brother would get out his telescope and he knew where every planet was and all the constellations.  She wondered where he even was right now.  Watching Ethan lose a brother and his mom made Rory sick to her stomach knowing she had no idea what her own brother was even doing.  Had it really been nearly two Christmas's ago since anyone had seen him? "Did you know there are southern lights too?  I bet you could see them if you were far enough away from city lights," she mused, taking another bite of pizza.  

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan chewed slowly as she talked about her childhood, trying hard not to think of his own. Instead, he took another big bite of pizza, simply just so he had an excuse as to not respond. “ Maybe we should all take a camping trip out of the city,” he mused quietly, twirling the remaining pizza crust in his fingers. “ They have those things you can put in bonfires… or just.. regular fires. They make the flames change colors.” he said aloud, though it was mainly just a commentary to himself that he needed to go on amazon and order some for Rory so that even when she couldn’t see the northern lights out in the sky, maybe she could make herself a fire on the roof. He brought his hand down, holding onto the side of her leg as he tapped his thumb against her knee. He took in a deep breath, tossing the pizza crust back into the box since he didn’t care for that part of the pizza. He moved on the couch so that he was in a better position to essentially just hold Rory. “So… what exactly is your costume….” he questioned while trying not to smile.

[Kelin Dean O'Reilly]

Kelin shook his head, what did she think he was naive to the business?  "Yes of course I know what people are saying, I don't live under a rock, Jo.  Or in a tree stump, or a hobbit hole, or at the end of a rainbow.  I do know what people are saying.  Yes, I know what it must look like to them.  But that's not what it is, is it?" He said letting out a breath of frustration.  She was mad?  Yeah sure she was, as she should be.  But no one bothered to think about how mad Kelin was.  He'd been in a miserable marriage, had gotten divorced, taken months before he even wanted to try dating again and just when he found someone really special his career and recognition blew it all to pieces with one article.  So yeah he was mad.  He couldn't live his life without people butting in.  But he wasn't allowed to be mad right now, was he? No.  Because he had done wrong.  Forget that his ex wife has totally fucked up and done something he wasn't okay with.  Forget that some asshole with a camera felt he had the right to sell moments of Kelin's life to a bunch of low life losers who had nothing better to do than ruin the lives of people just because they lived publicly.  Forget privacy, forget everything you thought you knew about being famous.  It wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  People were cruel.  Yes, some parts of it were very rewarding.  Not today.  Also it was making him a bit peeved that she was so concerned about Finn.  Please, he was two, he didn't remember breakfast this morning.  And that was something for Kelin to deal with, and not something that Jo needed to worry  over incessantly right now.  All that mattered at this time concerning Jo and Finn was that they get along and liked each other, and it could go from there.  Kelin spent more time trying not to scare Jo away and yet here she was all concerned about his child like he mattered to her.  And that only told him that she did care, and she was worth this conversation.  Jo was worth fighting for.  She just needed to give him a chance.  "Yeah you say you don't think we can come back from this.  And you don't believe me when i say it meant nothing?  Well I don't believe you either.  I think we can come back from this.  You're just scared right now because I like you a hell of a lot and people are saying mean things.  But you know what?  I don't care.  I do not care what people are saying.  Because I like you.  And you can question all you want, but the fact is that I am here, and I'm not giving up on you, so that's just too damn bad if that wasn't in your plans," he said angrily, sorry to say he was a little more like Killian Jones than he cared to admit.  He let out a breath, realizing that since the first time this morning he was letting himself have emotions about the entire ordeal.  He never wanted to be angry in front of Finn and honestly his ex was just such a sad case he didn't even think it was worth it to even scold her.  She wasn't worth his time anymore, she'd made sure of that the day she decided it was okay to rip his heart out.  Jo had every right to be mad, but didn't Kelin too?  And the fact that they were both upset only reinforced that they cared about each other enough to give a fuck.  And maybe she was drunk and maybe he just wanted things the way they were, or an even better version, but dammit he had tip toed around this girl plenty.  Maybe he was done tiptoeing, at least for tonight.  Somehow that justified it when he took her face in his hands and kissed her, because he wasn't done yet.  Not one of those sweet kisses, like a first date, or a tip toe kiss, it was more of a 'I want you' kiss, because he did.  In more ways than one, quite possibly in all the ways.  This wasn't going to be the end of them, and he sure as hell wasn't going to be drinking listerine.  As he released her from his grasp he straightened up, "Now I do believe my time is up, so if you really can't stand to be in each other's personal space, fine, I will take you up on your offer and have a slice of pizza.  Any other questions?"