(no subject)

[leplusbeau]

In some healer's office in wizarding London...



Fleur is sitting on the cold examination table in her thin hospital robe, her bare feet swinging back and forth.

"You know. I even wore pantiez today to make them think that I wore them often. Thiz destroyz my entire plan to make a good impression."

She keeps tapping the table. It is day number six without smoking entirely.

Comments

[thecoolone]

Feeling more inadequate than he's ever felt a single day in his life, Bill follows Fleur to the bedroom. The four words he utters are not ones that ever inspire confidence or the hint of a happy conversation to come:

"We have to talk."

I love you, my dear, and I have no intention of letting things tear us apart.

At least, I hope they won't. He reaches for her shoulders, rubbing cautiously, feeling like a stranger in his own home.

With his own wife.

[leplusbeau]

She twitches. Almost like she was surprised.

Then she slowly turns around. Her face fits neatly into the curve of his neck, and her hands come up to curve about his hips. The blanket is bunches over her arms like shawl and falls low to her waist.

"Oui. Juste. A moment. Juste us. Please? Juste."

She squeezes her eyes shut and hides her face in Bill's neck.

[thecoolone]

For this moment, he simply holds her, his hands pressed to her back beneath the long rivulets of hair cascading over them.

As far as Bill's concerned, she can take all the time she needs because he loves her. However, no one said that love was easy.

[leplusbeau]

She takes several deep breathes before leaning back, rubbing a little at her eyes.

Her grip moves to the front of his belt and she looks up. "Oui. We talk. I am...we can talk now."

[thecoolone]

He speaks so very softly. "Are you all right?"

First things first, after all. Fleur and her well-being are his main concern. "Because if you didn't like that Healer or his approach, we'll find another."

It isn't that he doesn't want the questions asked, but he does want them put properly. "You're not some sort of medical curiosity, Fleur. You're not a creature..."

Stopping, he swallows hard. "...but I might be."

[leplusbeau]

"He waz juste...humain. British and humain. Please, later. What are you...?" She lightly touches the many spirals of faded white scars along back of his hands. "But you have showed no symptomz."

[thecoolone]

He can't bring himself to meet her eyes.

"But who knows what I might carry in my blood?" Fleur's hands on his are endlessly fascinating; he doesn't shift his eyes from them. "I chose not to be examined by any Healers after the whole affair, Fleur, because I didn't want to have our chances at a normal life ruined. You see what happens to people who end up on the werewolf registry: they're outcasts, pariahs. Had I ended up there I'd have lost my job with the bank. They'd never let a suspected werewolf anywhere near their treasure, real or perceived: goblins are about the least trustworthy lot I've ever met. But all that aside..."

Bill pauses, still looking down, still speaking in little more than a hush. "I chose not to have anyone analyse my genetic makeup. Who knows what they might have found? But, you see, I came to the conclusion that it didn't matter because you'd said you didn't want to have children. And I'm certainly so very thrilled that we will, that we are, but it brings all my decisions into question, because I thought..."

Finally, his eyes lift and meet hers. "...I thought you were dead-set against it, and I thought you were using the charm. I thought we had time. I thought..." His voice trails to nothing.

"I don't know what I thought."

[leplusbeau]

"It waz. It waz not on purpose. Sometimez, I do not use charmz because iz. Um. Nicer. And I can control it. And. I. I do not know! It waz after our talk and we both thought it would be nice, and, you know. Valentine'z Day waz very." She smirks. Just the tiniest bit. "We were very busy. I must have. I must have slipped. I did not mean to. But I must have."

The corners of her mouth droop. All the tightly strung energy goes out of her body, and she slumps against Bill. "Oh, minet. Why did you not tell me?" She leans her forehead against his chin. "I am so sorry. So sorry. Thiz iz my fault."

[thecoolone]

"No!"

Moving back, he tilts her face up so they're looking at one another. "Don't you think for a minute that you need to apologise to me. Listen to me very carefully, Fleur. I'm going to tell you three things."

At least he hopes they will be three things; he's doing this off the top of his head.

"First, I love you. Don't ever forget that." He presses a finger to her lips. "Second, I'm ecstatic that we're having a family of our own: it's something I've always wanted. And third..."

There's a pause while he collects his thoughts; he said three things and he wants to make the third thing count. "Third, I wouldn't change a thing. There's no blame. No blame at all." Leaning down, he kisses her on the lips. "Remember those three things, Fleur. Remember them always."

[leplusbeau]

Snort. "You had to think about that."

Fleur squeezes her eyes shut and kisses him again. Clinging there. Then leaning their foreheads together, her nose bumping against his. "Are you sure? Are you very sure?"

[thecoolone]

"I am very sure." His hands fuss with her hair now, smoothing it back. "I wouldn't change a thing. I could no sooner do that than... oh, I don't know, cut off my own hand, do you understand? Whatever the truth of the matter is genetically, we'll find out. We just need to find a Healer we can really trust. I'm not so certain about that Watson fellow. But perhaps I was being rash."

There's a bit of tightness growing in his throat; he swallows. "It's our child. Our own child. I love her or him already. I wouldn't do anything differently."

The fears get pushed far away. He can deal with them some other time.

But not now.

"Remember those three things, my love. Remember them."

[leplusbeau]

She slides her hands up his wrists and offers a small but lovely smile. "I love you."

"I worry about you. Very much. But you are mine now. For the rest of your life. Iz all I want. We can. We will make thiz work. Will be like new adventure, oui? You will just be changing dirty nappiez instead of opening tombz some dayz."

She tugs one of his hands down touches her stomach. "Even with all thiz...we are having a baby. We really are. Iz real. A person!" Her smile has just gotten a tiny bit bigger. A little watery but bigger. Because it could be a tiny Bill in there!

[thecoolone]

"It feels like... like a miracle." Every time she places his hand on her stomach, his heart jumps. "Just thinking about it... it... I..."

Words fail him and the tears that threatened earlier get swallowed back once again. A series of images race through his head; he smiles so very quietly: they will have a beautiful family.

He kisses her right on the temple. "I've seen a few tombs that would be better served as repositories for the nappies, love."

It makes him laugh, that thought, and the laughter feels wonderful.

[leplusbeau]

"See? You will have fun with thiz."

Now she's cuddling against his chest.

"We will find our way. It may be hard. But," she pats his butt, "I have thiz...thing for you. So, you are stuck with me. Iz impossible to say no. There iz no escape for you, minet."

[thecoolone]

For most of his professional career, Bill's made a habit of escaping: from tombs, from Sphinxes, from traps, from age-old hexes and curses. It's been rather a specialty of his, in fact, and one he's very pleased about. Escape of sorts has been a motivating factor, a skill, a source of great pride.

But this thing is one he's got no desire to escape from. It's no trap: it's really pretty much a dream come true. She's got a thing for him; he's got a thing for her. It's why he married her.

Without a word he dims the lights, sending a locking spell to the front door of their flat. What happens next... well, it's between himself and Fleur, but none of it -- not even a bit -- has anything to do with either saying no or with escaping.