Flora

Chapter 50: RECAP

Alright besties, change of plans! Get ready for the recap of the century! Because I've got news in store at the very end, that I think fans of this fic will be so very excited to hear. Lord knows I sure am! Alright, let's jump straight into it!

So, for starters, I'd like to talk a bit about the inspiration for our leading lady. I had a couple people compare her to Ellie from The Last of Us, which is fair. I'm a big fan of the game, and the show was coming out at the time of writing this. However, she was not made that way intentionally. In fact, her dynamic with Soap and Ghost, as well as personality, was based more closely around Gosalyn Mallard from Darkwing Duck. I love a good father daughter relationship in media, and that love certainly started with that show as a kid!The first chapter, I wanted to really show off Soap's strength when it comes to dealing with civilians, and kids. You can also see that Ghost connects slightly with Flora, but he's a bit more reluctant to form attachments, particularly to a child. Early on in the story he is thinking about the way his own father messed him up, and he doesn't want to do that to another kid.In the second chapter, Ghost mentions his nephew. It reminds us that he does have experience with children, but it also is a reminder to him about what happened to the last child in his life.I made Ghost and Flora both claustrophobic because like, y'know, bonding, I guess.I love the idea of Rudy wanting to be a teacher in the past. And as much as they all hate that Flora missed out on a structured education, they all love that Rudy gets to teach her.Flora has an interesting selection of items in her pack. Toys that she's picked up, broken glass and rocks. Things most people would think of as junk. She also has a security blanket. A raggedy old blue thing with clouds printed on it. This is actually MY security blanket IRL. I've had it since I was a baby, and it still comes with me to bed every night.I loved the idea of Ghost's main source of bonding with Flora being training. Be it teaching her to shoot, or sparring and knife training later on, he can't help but warm to her more and more. And the other way around. She becomes less and less nervous around him as they spend more time together.Chapter 8 was the inspiration for this story. I just got this little idea into my head about Soap and Ghost having to help a young girl find period supplies. These two buff military men struggling to figure out how to help a teenage girl through a period really just made me laugh. Dads handling periods is always funny. After this idea, the story unraveled from there.Oh my, oh my. Soap giving Flora her haircut. I had just gotten my hair cut the day I wrote this chapter. My mom used to be a hairstylist, and she cuts my hair. I imagined that Soap would be quite skilled if he consistently worked on his own hair. And I thought it would be so cute if he did her hair for her. Also, so much more practical for her to keep it short.Her first knife throwing lesson was fun to write. I thought it was important for her to suck at first. Because she's not some prodigy or anything, she's just a girl that has been dealt an unfortunate hand of cards in life. But she's determined to learn. And with Ghost's guidance, one day she'll have the potential to be great.Flora meeting Milo at the community center was important for me. He's her first real friend, and like Ghost, she's instantly protective of him. Just another way she is similar to her future fathers.Her sparring session with Soap and Ghost. A very important moment for this little family. Soap and Ghost realize how serious the effects of Flora's trauma weigh on her. Flora hasn't ever felt safe enough to reflect on her traumas, and now that she is, it really starts to hit her. By the end of her little episode, Ghost feels like he has proven himself to be a failure, but he gets to have his little heart to heart with Price.Soap also repeats something her father told her the day he died during her episode. So, just a little connection I put in there. It ends up being what pulls her out of it.I NEED to address Cedro. Everyone was absolutely sure this kid was up to no good. He's actually 100% chill. He's just a nice kid, who may or may not think Flora's cute.At the end of the chapter where we meet Cedro, the guys tease her. Already all protective dads, protecting her from gross boy cooties. But she deflects saying that she might not even like boys. And, well, I'm here to say it. Our girl is BISEXUAL.Flora goes fishing with Grandpa Price. I included this because I used to go fishing with my grandfather. He used to take my brother and cousins, all boys. So, when I expressed interest in going, he didn't think I'd be interested, but I brought it up enough I convinced him to take me. It ended up being just he and I going the most often. It became out little bonding activity.Flora has a little hotheaded moment, sort of like Soap, when Milo is getting picked on. When Carmen starts giving her shit about the stuff she read in her journal, Flora runs. Partly because she's overwhelmed, but another part because she's worried she'll snap and beat Carmen up. She can't bear the thought of her team being disappointed in her, so she runs off.When Flora gets stuck in the shed, I sent Alejandro to go and fetch her. He needed his own moment with our girl. He's just as protective of her as the rest of the guys, and he hadn't had his moment to shine just yet.Our girl gets snatched, but she goes down fighting. Leaving a trail for the boys to follow. She meets Valeria, and Valeria is legitimately impressed by this kid. I just thought that was fun.The boys are seriously pissed at Valeria for letting them take their girl. But they don't actively try and hurt her, they know there isn't really anything she could have done in the end to help her. If Makarov wanted her, not even Valeria would have been able to help her.Yes, yes, yes, dramatic reveal, she's Makarov's niece. Many you guessed that correctly lol.Those losers took her all the way to Alaska! She's cold! Chilly even! And covered in large owies! But our girl is wielding a sharp cross, and she means business.The boys go in to save her, and surprise, surprise, she's already outside. She saved herself here, using the skills they taught her. They would be proud if they weren't so scared for her life.Makarov stabs Soap, purely to stress out the reader tbh. But Flora slits the bastard's throat! The very thing that triggers her from her father's death. But she does it to save one of her new fathers. Soap already goes into parent mode regardless of his own stab wound, before he even knows about hers.So, yeah. I punctured her lung. I thought to myself, "What's the most uncomfortable injury she could recover from." And that's what I landed on. She hates needles and being vulnerable, so something that she would need to have a tube inserted for and to take it extremely easy on seemed like something that would just about send her over the edge. But she gets through it.In the hospital, Ghost decides enough is enough. He sees how close Flora and Soap are, and since they were separated, Ghost will finally admit that he is also close with the girl. And he won't have them be separated again. So, he uses the spare time to ask Laswell and Price about the steps they need to take toward adoption.The pair of them asking Flora to let them adopt her was just so cute and heartwarming. I love this little family. And later when the team reveals that they had all been planning on adopting her if Soap and Ghost didn't. She had been secretly very afraid of leaving them, so learning that they were never going to send her off really feels good.I send them back to Las Almas briefly so that they can celebrate Flora's birthday that they missed. While there, Soap develops his Dad Sense, which he's very proud of.They take Flora camping, which is the perfect outing for her. She can spend the quality time she loves with her whole family. Also, strong headcanon that Soap gets grossed out by slime and germs, while also being fine with gun oil and other grime. Germaphobe selectively. And Gaz doesn't like bugs. Not much to it other than that.Flora's little swimming lesson with Soap was heavily inspired by my own distaste for swimming lessons as a child. Stressed me out to no end. But this was just a cute one to write.Soap, Ghost, and Flora get their happy home and property in the forests of Scotland. Where they will live a lovely domestic life together. At the grocery store, Soap mentions his own distaste for Americans after a past experience. Our Flora doesn't really know anything about the events of MW2. And, well, that might be something I thought about that will affect the future of this fic.Getting Flora to call Soap and Ghost, Papa and Da respectively, was very fun and it made the story really feel worth it. Over the course of these chapters, they really earned this.When I was deciding how to wrap the story up, I thought long and hard. And getting Soap and Ghost to get spontaneously married, seemed perfect.

Alright gang, I hope you enjoyed Flora and the wrap up here. But now it's time for something more! I had a few oneshots planned for after this, but plans changed slightly. I decided that I am not done bullying these characters. It's not happily ever after just yet. Soap and Ghost have unfinished business in the field, and Flora has things to learn about their past, and how they met. So... all that to say. There are going to be two oneshots that I will be posting in the Flora series, and then... I am pleased to announce... FLORA IS GETTING A SEQUEL! That's right babies! I just couldn't stay away from my girl! So, get pumped team! It's about to get real again.

Anyway, thanks so much for the support on Flora. And the future support. I'm very excited and have been hard at work on this! I can't wait to share it with you!