Permit (noun) having permission to do something

Date | 3rd May 2022
Time | Around 3 pm
Weather | It is lovely weather, around twenty degrees, and the sun is shining
Attire | A beautiful black skirt and white shirt where the sleeves are rolled up, her hair is pinned up, and it is clear that she has taken great care in her appearance
Place & Surroundings | Jones Cooperation, people are starting to pack their things to get home on the higher levels.


Even despite everything that had happened lately, Norah was still hard at work. Her eyes scanned the document that she was working on before sending it off to the client she was helping. When that was done, she turned, shifted through some papers, and grabbed her phone to make some calls. If anything, she used her work at this point to escape the reality that was her constant disappointing life. Anyone had yet to comment on the fact just how her powers were flaring up, how she had started to connect her magic with her powers granted from her mother. Maybe she had always been destined to welcome the magic that most tried to avoid? She understood why so many had a hard time doing so because when you first had a taste, it was addicting, and you kept craving more.
But she had already outlived the date that she was supposed to die. She had slowly recognised it was just as much herself that had lived for the day to die rather than to live her life. And even with the mind to do just that, she was still here. Putting in extra hours and did not really having any social life other than making sure that her father could go home on time and be with his little family that was waiting in Hope Gardens.
Norah licked her lips and narrowed her eyes before turning her attention back to her computer and started a new document that needed to be ready before she walked home.

It’s called low profile. Now, how did one do that when you were an ancient warlock who carried power from wonderland in your veins. There were two ways to do what he had planned for today’s afternoon. He could just aim for her office and appear out of the blue, or he could walk in like he was a normal person like everyone else. One of these methods might gain him more attention than the other… But Bentley was after all one who liked having eyes glued to him.
So for today, he took the front door greeting the doormen, the secretary like a nice gentleman. He even carried a box that looked like it contained a printer. Everyone who had to keep the safety in check was hesitating whether or not they wanted to tell Bentley to leave, and before anyone knew of it, he had gotten into the elevator. A second after the door had closed, music started playing. Bentley closed his eyes trying to contain how much he simply hated the music. It was driving him completely nuts. He let out a sigh before he chose to go with his first plan. He teleported into her office right in front of her desk, and the box he had carried transformed to its true form; a bouquet of multiple different flowers; most of them white. Lilies, apple blossoms, and daisies were most of them, though it was sparked with some red carnation and tulip. He leaned a little over her desk, handing her the flowers making them block the computer screen, and a free hand found the cord that connected the screen and the computer, which he pulled out. “You work too much. Let’s do something fun,” he said looking at her with a quite serious face before a wide, crooked smile grew on his lips.

Now she could have gotten scared. Most people would have, she was sure. But instead, a smile blossomed over her curvy lips as her baby blue eyes looked at her surprise visitor. Then the voice of Jasper rung in her head, how she needed to confront him with her feelings. That Bentley might be the one that Leigh had talked about. The person that would tear down the world if it meant that she would be happy. A laugh left her when she saw the flowers, and just before she could send the document, he had pulled out the cord. But instead of getting angry, her lips just folded into an amused grin as she shook her head. “You’re unbelievable”, she hummed and then looked at the beautiful flowers.
“These a beautiful”, she whispered, taking in the variety of different types of flowers that he had brought her. “And you just walked in, just like that?” she teased, getting up from her chair, walking around her table, placing her hands on his shoulder and pulling herself closer to him. “This is a wonderful surprise”, she whispered, looking at him. What an idiot she had been for waiting all of this time to tell him. Maybe it was the fear of him turning her down, and she would never be able to see him again. But now that he was here, that had to mean that he didn’t care about the family drama that it would lead to, right?

He hummed, almost sounding like someone who appreciated being called unbelievable. His eyes were locked on her as she looked at the flowers, admiring how she took them in, “Of course,” he whispered back to her as she said they were beautiful. After all, it was him who had told the bouquet maker what should be in it. Bentley was a person who only did things one hundred percent. “Yes, or well… I tried to take the elevator, but I think Killian has set up a trap in there,” he mumbled as she got close enough. Norah might be the one of the very few that knew just how much Bentley hated elevator music. He let his arms wrap caringly around her, pulling her a little closer to him. “I’m glad you take it as a surprise,” he said with a small, crooked smile.

Nothing happened in The Jones Corporation without Killian knowing of it, and as soon as he was notified about the intruder he was quick to put up an illusion, so he could leave the meeting he was in the middle of. It didn’t take him that long to get to the right room because the Wonderland-like aura was simply so strong. He didn’t even knock on the door before he opened the door seeing how Norah and Rebekah’s son stood in the arms of each other. He stopped completely in the door, almost as if he had been a mundane person seeing a ghost. While inhaling, he raised his chin a little, and with his exhale he lowered it again. A very good sigh that Norah may or may not remember from her childhood. “Would you please explain to me what’s going on here?” Killian wondered. Now, he hadn’t been present in most of his daughter’s life, and therefore he had simply no clue of this. If everything had to be true, he was probably not even up to date with everything that had happened with his daughter throughout the years. He often blamed himself for that – but on the other hand, no matter if he was captured or not, there would have been at least eighty years where he would not have been a part of her life – and that’s a long time for such a young being as Norah.

“When it comes to you, nothing is unwelcomed”, she hummed with a soft smile on her lips as she took him in. Almost sucked in by his aura and presence, she didn’t even notice that they had gotten company of her father. “And I’m sorry about the music in the elevators”, she chuckled, no one ever liked elevator music, but it was almost cute how much Bentley disdained the sound.
But the small illusion that they had made was shattered as her father’s voice rang out. Norah slowly turned her head and looked at him. But instead of jumping out of Bentley’s arms, she blinked a little and then turned her head back towards the man in front of her. Almost as if she was trying to understand what Killian wanted from her. It was pretty evident how they were standing and the giant bouquet on her desk.
“Well, father, if you want me to explain about the bees and flowers, I think it’s a little late given all the children you already have – which of course, does make a lot of sense if you think about it in that sense” she tried with a teasing remark instead of plain out explain what was going on.

Bentley had to fold his lips as Norah replied to her father. Was Killian really a man who took such a thing lightly? Bentley turned his head a little towards Killian, who seemingly wasn’t that satisfied with the speech Norah gave. “Sweetheart…” he sighed and closed his eyes, keeping anything bad away. He didn’t want to provoke anything.
“I’m taking her out for dinner. A stroll in the park. Whatever she wishes for,” Bentley tried to calm the younger ancient warlock.
“She’s working. You can come back later,” Killian told Bentley. Bentley looked back at Norah and leaned down to tell her it would only be a moment. He pulled himself out of their embrace and walked over to Killian where he fished a note up.
“I have a permit,” he told Killian and handed him the folded note. Killian took the note and folded it out, furrowing his brows a little, but before he could say anything, he was given another note, that he opened too. “And that is Norah’s permit,” he explained.
“It just says ‘I can do what I want’,” Killian said and turned the papers for Bentley to see himself.
“That’s correct,” he said and stretched his arm backward, inviting Norah to come and take his hand so they could leave – preferably not by the elevator.

Norah had to place a hand in front of her mouth to hide the wide grin that formed on her lips. She knew she would have to explain this later, but right now, she would much rather be with Bentley than having to go through with her father why he thought it was a bad idea. Walking towards Bentley, she turned to look at her father and gave him a gentle smile. “I’ve been seeing Bentley for the past four hundred years; I’ll explain later – I’m almost done and will come in this weekend to pick up the slack, give mom my best, okay?” she said with a sweet voice, before letting her hand find Bentley’s so he could teleport them out of her office.
A laugh of enjoyment left her as they were standing at another location than they had just been in. “Permission to do whatever you want; you don’t hold back any punches, hmm?” she mused, turning her hand and interlocking her fingers with his. “So, a stroll in the park sounded like a nice idea”, she voiced, looking towards him and feeling her heart pick up speed.

Killian clenched his jaw by the news of how his daughter had been with Bentley for so many years. She kept it a secret? He didn’t want to tell her that it was alright, and he truly wanted to talk with her about the trouble this could evoke but when she told him that she would come back in the weekend and give her mother the best, he sighed softly.

Bentley teleported them out of the building, knowing very well that the old mand wouldn’t just let them go easily, so it was about taking the wheel when you could. A smile grew on Bentley’s lips as she laughed. It was wrapping his heart in warm blankets, feeling so comfortable. He laughed with her a little, “He can take it,” he assured her. When their fingers were interlocked, he caressed the back of her hand a little. He hummed a little when she told him that it sounded good to go on a stroll. “If that’s what you please,” he spoke softly, his eyes almost completely beguiled by her eyes. He let a hand find the back of her neck, “But do you prefer to change or are you comfortable?” he said and looked down her nicely dressed body before he looked back up at her. He had after all just told her that she worked too much, almost hinting that she should relax a little. Shake it off, as some song said.

As long as it's with you, I could do anything with joy. Those words were so close to slipping past her lips that weighed down on the tip of her tongue, but somehow, she managed to stay silent, only smiling at him as he asked if she wanted to get more comfortable. Looking down, she looked rather professional, didn’t she? With the snap of her fingers, she changed her clothes from the business attire to a beautiful flowery dress and some white wedges that were bound around her ankles with white ribbons.
The pinned back hairdo fell down her shoulders, making her blond hair curled in long waves. “Better?” she said with a small smile as she looked up at him; for a moment, she forgot to breathe and felt how her heart started beating in her chest. Once again, Jasper’s words began to form in the back of her head again, which made her stop in her tracks. “Bentley”, she spoke his name so softly as she could, pulling him to face her with a small smile forming on her lips that slowly disappeared, afraid of how he would react if she confessed her feelings for him. Rip off the bandage. Right?
“You know I love you, right?” she felt how her chest rose and sank again, she felt like she needed to take something more, but she couldn’t find the right words, so she just stood there staring at him.

A smile spread on his lips as she changed her outfit, “You look amazing,” he replied. She had also looked fantastic before, but she hadn’t truly been dressed for a walk in the park, as she was now. It didn’t take long before she stopped him and made him look at her directly, which shortly made him furrow his brows, mostly wondering if there was something wrong.
You know I love you, right?
The necklace he wore almost started to itch. His heart rate stayed low, and he pulled a relaxed smile, “I love you too?” he said and shook his head, almost a little confused, almost as if he didn’t quite understand that she was pouring her feelings out to him. He could almost see on her, how his phrasing hurt. “Don’t… This-” he clenched his jaw and held onto her hands, so she didn’t just leave. “I… I can’t do this out here,” he told her, still feeling how the necklace he wore was blocking all the anxiety and emotions that were trying to flood his whole system.

She hadn’t really known what to expect.
Probably what happened right now; she should never have listened to Jasper; how foolish. She just reminded herself that she had always been and always would be a doormat that men used before they stepped into the house and started a family with someone else. The discarded one, the abused and misused one. Foolish girl, had you really thought I loved you? her first love's words rung so clear. But somehow, she managed to keep those tears at bay, even though it was clear that he had managed to see the pain that had crossed her face. Licking her lips, she shook her head and smiled at him. “No, I’m sorry”, she tried to calm the situation down. “I shouldn’t have said that that was what we agreed, right?” she said, feeling the pain spread in her chest, flowing through her bloodstream all the way out into her fingertips. But the smile and innocence that she carried so flawlessly stayed on her face; she squeezed his hand. “I think there is a place where we can get a coffee over there.” She tried to redirect the conversation to something else as she turned her eyes away from him and started walking. Maybe being someone’s now and then was better than not being anyone's at all.
The concept of insanity was doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Bentley had just made her realise that she should just accept her fate. Her hand found her mate mark's area, hoping to rub the pain away.

He shook his head a little as she apologized and told him that she shouldn’t have said that. He felt fried from the necklace that was doing its job to keep him in his place. She put up another topic and was about to walk away, but he pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her. “Stop that,” he spoke softly and in the next second, he had teleported them to the nature reserve in the forest at the endless paths. He sat down on a bent that he so delicately had teleported them to and pulled her, with a little force, to sit on his lap, facing him with her legs on each side of him. A small flick of his finger made his necklace unlock and he pulled her all the way close, almost burying his face in her chest. He could feel how he was almost shaking. Had he ever taken his necklace off with her?
A short sob left him, collecting himself for a moment before he leaned back toward the bench with red cheeks and eyes. He shook his head a little of them and pulled a very wide, sad, and teethy smile. “We agreed-” he mumbled, referring to how she told him that they had agreed not to say those three words. “Do you know why I- Why I insisted on that?”

She sank into his embrace as he pulled her towards him. Closing her eyes almost instinctively as if she knew it meant that he was teleporting them away. And right she was. For the second time this day, he ensured that they were a place where he felt comfortable enough. A small huff left her as he pulled her towards him, her legs placed on each side of his as she sat there on his lap, staring into his eyes. Eyes that disappeared as soon as she heard the tiny click from something metallic, as he buried his head in her chest. Her fingers found his hair, almost by pure instinct. Gently push it in a downward motion hoping it might soothe him. Her eyes closed as she heard a choked sob leave him; it ached her heart so that she had made him like this because of her carelessness. Something else started to burn, right by her heart, not that she took notice of it as there were more pressing matters.
Her hand found his cheek as he pulled back again so she could see how tears had glided down his face. She nodded with a pained smile when he mumbled that they had agreed but then shook her head when he asked if she knew why he had insisted on it. She hadn’t given it much thought, which she might should have. “Why?” she asked, hoping he would tell her. Her other hand found the other side of his face, gently cradling it.

He pulled a sad smile as she replied. “Because I have always loved you,” he said with a small but sad smile. He shook his head a little, closing his eyes, feeling the warmth of her hands. “As long as you never said it… It wouldn’t hurt if you left,” his head cradled with her hands, almost shaking his head slowly, “And you did. Multiple times,” he told her and looked into her sweet eyes. “What mattered to me… Was simply that you lived your life and were happy, and I really… I really tried to make space for everything,” he folded his lips, thinking about how he hadn’t even flinched whenever she had called. He was always ready to help her. “I expected that if it was going to be the two of us, that… That you would come all by yourself,” he pulled a small smile, realizing that she had done that today, “And that someday, you would tell me that you loved me,” he kept his eyes on her, his smile widening a little, almost afraid of what she would be saying to it.

He rendered her utterly speechless as he told her that he had always loved her. How could two people understand each other so perfectly but never see what was right in front of them? Her heart started picking up speed, and the pain in her left collarbone began to feel like a burning sensation, but once again, she managed not to think about it.
“Oh, Bentley”, she whispered and let out a soft chuckle, placing her forehead against his. Now that he had told her how he felt, there was no doubt in her mind. “I always fought you would end up leaving me, so it was easier to just stand on the sideline”, she whispered against his lips. “But since the first time I left, I knew that I loved you” the pain made it hard for her to breathe; staggeringly, she closed her eyes and tried to focus. Unaware that in this very moment, she sealed her fate much further than just telling Bentley that she loved him. Because his name was neatly written on her skin following the lines of her dark, newly acquired markings. “You are the only one that has ever made me feel like this, where I can be myself, and I love every part of you, even this one” she removed one of her hands to tap it against the now opened locket. “I’m done trying to make a bad excuse for why we shouldn’t because I don’t care. I only want you because I love you very much”, she murmured before kissing him softly. She did her best not to let the pain show, even though you could hear it on her breath and the sweat forming on her brow.

His eyes closed as she placed her forehead against his. He shook his head slowly as she said she believed that he would leave her. Foolish thought that they had both believed that when they both simply wanted to be there for each other. He pulled a sad smile as he explained that she knew that he loved him. When she closed her eyes and seemingly tried to focus, he opened his eyes, trying to notice whether or not she was okay. He smiled softly as she explained that she how she loved every part of him. His eyes fell with a small chuckle as she tapped on the open locket. That was when his eyes noticed that something had changed, and his eyes moved up to her collar bone shortly before he looked up at her eyes. His hand found her cheek and he caressed it gently. She leaned in to kiss him, and he reciprocated it without any restraints, but he pulled away, “Take it easy,” he told her and placed a hand on top of her collarbone and created a little space between them, “You’re certain it’s not another Bentley on your collarbone?” he wondered pulling a small smile before he removed his hand and with a flick of a hand had a mirror in his hand for her to see it for herself.

She couldn’t help, rather childishly so, to pull out her tongue and point it towards her as he told her to take it easy. But that behaviour stopped relatively quickly, and she leaned back to look down, but as he had already known, she wouldn’t be able to see what he meant, which was fixed promptly with the mirror that he conjured with a simple flicker of his hand.
Right, he was, there amid all the thin black threads. His name was neatly written. She lifted her head and stared at him. She could already feel it; the pull towards him was undeniable. “Oh yeah, I know tons of Bentley’s; hey, how about I just call them up and see if it's one of them?” she laughed, which, if you listened closely, was the laugh of someone that was relieved. Because it was indeed his name that was standing on her collarbone, because then there was nothing to deny that they should be together, would there?
And for a moment, she forgot that it wasn’t her name standing on his.

A smug smile spread on his lips as she started replying. “Mhm, that might be an idea,” he laughed, also relived. He let a hand run up on the outside of her dress until they reached her hips. He savored the moment taking everything in. Her dress, hair, mark, smile and her eyes. “I love you,” he said after a short while, not leaning in or hinting at anything, just very simple. He didn’t even need to hear her say it. He knew it already, even fate did. “Did you actually want coffee?”

Now, he had always had a way of pulling the strings of her heart. His touch had been able to draw something out of her no one else had been close to doing. Not even when she had been with Leigh, it could have measured to how she had truly felt when Bentley only clouded it. So now that his name was written on her collarbone? It made her breath slightly rigid, and he wasn’t even touching her skin.
“I love you too,” she whispered with a small smile, then a chuckle left her, and she licked her lips. “Nah, I’ve probably drunk enough coffee the last couple of days to make up for a year”. Then she looked down at her fingers; maybe she should just put all the cards on the table. “Since last time my old mate showed up at my address, he tried to convince me to take him back; he tried to throw my baby sister through a window in some twisted way to get me to open the door and talk with him. I snapped” she licked her lips and narrowed her eyes for a moment before she looked up. “I’m getting closer to the darkness each day, we are trying to contain it, but with my mother's powers, it’s getting harder to resist”, she whispered, afraid that one day there wouldn’t be anything left of the old Hannah, but only Norah.

The smile stayed on his lips as she laughed and said she didn’t want coffee. “Sounds like you should detox,” he joked.
He looked at how her eyes fell down to her hands, and he could almost see how she was thinking about something. He listened as she spoke about how she had snapped at her former mate and how her mother’s powers were making things difficult. “You fear the darkness?” he spoke softly and moved a strand of her hair. “I know it sounds bonkers, but have you thought about not containing it, but making it fear you instead?” he wondered keeping his eyes on her. He knew it could be risky to make the darkness fear her, but it might be the only way she could make sure that the darkness wouldn’t end up corrupting her, since containing the darkness probably only would be a short-term solution. If she could make the darkness fear her, she would gain much more power from it, and it wouldn’t dare to corrupt her.

Make darkness fear her.
Maybe it sounded bonkers just like he said, but her mother had mentioned something herself. How darkness had almost consumed her, but she had managed to turn it around and utilise it in such a way that she was far more potent than any other demon her age. As she jokingly had said, maybe it had something to do with the parents that she had never gotten to know. “Maybe you’re right; maybe I’m just afraid of the power that is whispering because I’m not sure I know what to do with it”, she said with a twisted smile. Now many strived for power. She knew how much Rebekah, Bentley’s mother, hungered for it. But Norah; she was scared of it, as she had never been a woman that needed power for herself; she just wanted to be settled, live her life and not make a whole lot of noise around her, which was a little laughable when she was sitting here on the Prince of Moonlight Falls's lap. The only reason why she wanted money was just to feed her addiction to gambling which had always been her way of filling the void in her chest. A gap that Bentley so snuggly fit inside and filled up.
“So, what do you want to do now?” she asked, letting her fingers glide over his jaw and dance over his skin down his ear.

He pulled a short-lived smile as she agreed but was afraid of the power. “I think… That maybe you should work with all of that fear,” he said once again pulling on a short-lived smile, knowing that he himself was a scaredy-cat if he wasn’t wearing that stupid necklace. “Think of the darkness as an army,” he told her. “Of course, you fear it if you’re the one who the army is turned toward… But if you’re the one behind the army, you got nothing to fear. You are the one in control. You control the course of the battle,” he explained knowing that it was a very colored way of explaining, but it might be the one that made the most sense. He had heard stories about how her mother had been almost consumed but ended up being the one in control. Being in control also meant that you were the one with the power, but there was such a big difference to how people handled power. “But being the leader of it all will also take a lot of training and you might get very close to be fully consumed… But if you prepare well enough, you can turn the tides,” he continued, somehow feeling somewhat mesmerized by how she had told him, mostly to put the cards on the table, and he had simply managed to pick the cards up, shuffle them and put them in order so she knew what to do.
One step of the time.
Her fingers traveled over his skin asking such a simple question. “Well, you seemed like you really wanted the stroll in the park, but we can also just stroll here?” he wondered, tilting his head just a little.

As he spoke, she was utterly taken away by how many ideas he had or how he felt like she might be able to turn them into something positive rather than run away from them. Her fingers kept occupied by trailing his skin, pushing back some of his hair that had gotten out of place with all the teleporting they had done already. She nodded when he answered to what he wanted to do, not that he actually told her what he wanted, but she didn’t mind it.
“Maybe –“ she let out a small sigh and let her eyes direct towards his; now she knew her father would happily help her. But he and her mother were more afraid of where she would end up, where Bentley was giving her solutions to not run from who she was but rather control the outcome for her best benefit. “You could help me?” she gave him a bigger smile as she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss against his cheek. “But not now, now –“ she got off him and looked around. “I want to see where you brought me.”

Bentley tilted his head a little, watching her while she thought, sighing. He let her take her time, think all she needed to. His brows raised a little bit as she asked if he would help her. “Of course,” he said, liking the idea, even though he almost knew already that it would lead to plenty of arguments and probably even fights. “It’s not going to be pretty,” he warned while receiving the kiss on the cheek. He closed his eyes enjoying it while it lasted. A coldness wrapped around him as she got up and off his lap, which made his eyes open up. A short, kind laugh left him, and he got up from the bench. “Alright,” he replied. He took her hand, interlocking their fingers. “You’ve never been to this Nature Reserve?” he wondered, keeping his eyes on her.

She shook her head; she knew it was almost an atrocity that she hadn’t been here before, but with everything that had happened, well, she just hadn’t found the time, or she hadn’t been around here much, always off somewhere trying to get on with her career or try to find the next best thing in her life to sedate her feelings with.
The smile on her lips grew as she looked down, seeing how their fingers were interlocked, then she looked up as she felt his eyes on her, her nose scrunched together before she, with a glee, started moving down the road, pulling him along so he wouldn’t have a choice in the matter.
It didn’t take long before she found a small pond carved in giant stones, almost like small hills; now, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to let loose and do what she wanted. Her hand let go of his, and as she ran toward the water, she pulled off the summer dress and jumped into the icing water. “Fuck!” she cursed as she got over the surface, laughing as she did “oh, this was far colder than I thought!” she laughed, but even so, she didn’t get out. Instead, she paddled onto her back and closed her eyes.