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[leplusbeau]

It is a lovely and hot day in Luxor. The windows have been thrown open over their bed to let in the small breeze and scents of the market blow.

Empty bed, though.

Fleur is stretched out on her back on the hard wood floors. With several hand fans magicked above her to angle the breeze down. Her humming almost drowns out most of the noise from outside.

Comments

[thecoolone]

Bill hides the newspaper beneath his arm, even though it's the Arabic-language version and Fleur doesn't, to his knowledge, read Arabic at all. Another murder has made the front page and all he wants to do is keep this from her. He wants a perfect world for his wife and their child, and the world they live in is far from perfect.

A single glance tells him she's not in their room, though, so he sets the newspaper down on the bed and it's followed by his headscarf. Even though he was only working at the Luxor office today and not in any tombs, it's still hot outside and he's still a redhead who's got a love/hate relationship with the sun overhead.

It's then that he notices Fleur on the floor. After a moment's panic -- Fleur, love, they didn't get you, did they? -- his face softens into a smile; it's the humming that tips him off. Sitting cross-legged next to her, his fingers trace through her long silken hair.

"All right then, love? Can I bring you anything?"

The heat scorches right through the window, but it's not too unpleasant.

[leplusbeau]

Her eyes blink open, but she still looks half asleep. And smiles. "'ello." Reaching up, she takes hold of his hand.

"Iz more comfortable for my back. Bed iz too soft. But you could...pass a pillow for my head?" She grins. "Ca va?"

[thecoolone]

"Accio pillow." Catching it with one outstretched hand, he sets it on his lap, then maneuvers so she's resting on the pillow. This way, he can rub her forehead. "It's hot out there: welcome to the desert."

The sound of some sort of pipe playing outdoors captures his attention for a moment before he turns back to Fleur. "Remind me to change the mattress out for a firmer one." At all costs, he wants her comfortable. "Were you feeling sick today?" He doesn't miss seeing her be sick, but still, he wants her comfortable. He wants to be there for her.

He thinks, perhaps, they should go back to London.

[leplusbeau]

She is humming again. Almost like a purr. "You are too good to me. Good 'usband."

"Iz okay. About the bed. I might change my mind later and hate you for changing it." She snuggles into his lap. "...oui. Makez my head ache and my back from. Ew. And then toothpaste makez me sick too. And. Iz doez not end well. ...I feel like a house." She makes pitiful faces.

[thecoolone]

She may feel like a house, but Bill simply feels helpless. "It's just magic, love. I can change the bed as many times as you like; it's just a question of not getting the spell wrong. Imagine if I turned our nice feather mattress into mummy wrappings accidentally."

He's never done anything like that his whole life; he just wants to see her laugh, or at least smile. Even though it still perplexes him that she's pregnant because they had an agreement on preventive spells, he's not unhappy about it. However, it's something with which he's still coming to terms.

It will probably take months.

[leplusbeau]

She looks up at him.

"...ca va?" His hand gets tugged down to rest over her heart.

[thecoolone]

"I love you. That's all."

Her hand on his is a sudden lifeline.

[leplusbeau]

"Je t'aime, aussi."

She has her other hand on her belly now.

"I worry. ...about you."

[thecoolone]

"Por quoi?"

It's one of the few French phrases he can actually pronounce properly. And really, he's the one who should be worrying about her, and he does, but it's nothing he tells her on a regular basis. It's the kind of husbandly concern a man should have for his wife, expecting or not.

"What worries you, love?"

[leplusbeau]

Fleur bites her lip. "That you worry too much."

[thecoolone]

"Je t'aime."

Two more French words he can pronounce. Looking down at her, he smiles softly. "Our world is dangerous, my love. It's not getting better; it's getting worse. All I want is to be able to insulate you and the baby from that. That's what I worry about. It's nothing any husband would be able to overlook."

[leplusbeau]

"Oh, minet."

She struggles to sit up. Not that heavy yet but there is stuff there! That wasn't!

[thecoolone]

"Here, let me help." His hands slide under her shoulders, making that sitting up a bit easier.

"I love it when you call me minet, Fleur. When I'm away from you, missing you, I think of that and it never fails to make me smile. I'm not certain you knew that."

[leplusbeau]

She tweaks his nose. "Iz a little old fashioned but. You are. A pussycat, I mean. I mean." She rubs at her face. "You know what I mean. English. It goez away if I do not think now a dayz!"

Fleur finally manages to get herself turned about to face Bill, and she is sitting cross legged and will probably never move again. "Iz juste. You are okay with thiz, oui?"

[thecoolone]

Reaching over, he strokes her hair. "I think it would be safe to say that I'm more than just a little bit in love with the whole concept, Fleur."

Surprised but happily so, in fact. "Though we should probably see the Healer again. Maybe a different one this time, though; I wasn't so very keen on Dr Watson."

If it were up to Bill, he'd modify Watson's memory. However, it's Fleur's choice. It is her body, after all.

"And I think you're ravishingly beautiful."

[leplusbeau]

"Iz good idea. I will look someone up. That widely advertisez. Will probably be more. Open."

She leans her into Bill's hand with a giggle. "You are biased, you know. You are stuck with me. You have to think I am pretty, or you will have a very cross wife."

She thinks about it, then. "I have not told my mother yet."

[thecoolone]

His parents don't know either, and they should. In fact, he hasn't told so very many people himself... but he should. "First, my dear, I do think you're very, very pretty. I'd have to be made of stone not to react when you walk into the room." Caressing her cheekbone, he smiles softly. "Second order of business: I think we should tell your mother and sister together, and then tell my parents. Then we won't be holding secrets from family."

The one reaction he's most worried about though he's not sure why is Gabrielle's; he'd like to be there when she and Fleur's mother hear the news.

[leplusbeau]

"...do we have to?"

Of course they do! But she can pout.

[thecoolone]

"Yes, love." He says it with a laugh. "We have to. They'll find out eventually, and if we don't tell them, they'll be angry and make the baby cry, and then I'll flush as red as my hair trying to stop it, and you won't want that, and you'll leave me over it, and that will be a sorry end to our story."

Besides, she's very cute in a bad-girl sort of way when she pouts; he smooths the creases away from her forehead.

"We don't have to tell them just this minute, though."

[leplusbeau]

Pout! POUT!

"Fine. You have made a convincing argument."

Oh, that's a funny pout. Her eyes are a little crossed. "Oh. Fuck. Help? I need to." She makes a helpless face at Bill.

[thecoolone]

"You need to..."

His eyes widen.

"Oh! Right!" Quickly, he helps her stand, hoping that he's read her mind adequately. Either of the likely options lead to the bath; he moves her that way.

[leplusbeau]

"Sorry!" is heard through the bathroom door. The joys of pregnancy.

And the sound of. Ew. It eventually stops.

Then, very muffled rant from the bath. "We are not having another one. Nevah. No more. I am doing thiz once. Thiz one will be the most beautiful and perfect because will be only one!"

[thecoolone]

At the moment, he's inclined to agree.

[leplusbeau]

The door opens. Fleur looks a little pale.

"Iz good idea. I rather like thiz idea. Procezz? Not as much."

She hugs the doorframe and thinks, yes. This is the perfect place to just fall back asleep.

[thecoolone]

He rather thinks it's a grand idea with a terrible process himself. "Can't they just... speed it up by magic? One day oh, we're expecting! and the next day, look! our perfect bouncing baby!?"

Of course it doesn't work that way and he knows he's being silly. It only takes him a moment to get to her side, where he picks her up in his arms and carries her to their bed.

"Now. All good mothers-to-be need their rest. Is there anything I can get for you?" Gently, he sets her down; he's almost afraid to touch her stomach.

It makes things so very real.

[leplusbeau]

"Iz good idea. Someone should invent that potion." And she is tugging at his arm. "You. You should get you in bed and nap with me. I need a nap partner."

He gets a sleep pout.

[thecoolone]

Being a nap partner is definitely something he can do; he climbs into bed next to her.

Tomorrow, they can worry about finding a Healer, or they can worry about outworrying one another, or they can worry about all the tea in China. Whatever the next day and the next day and the next day bring, they can rise to meet it.

But now, as she says, is time for napping. With a flick of his wand the window shades flutter to a close; Bill sets his hand on her forehead.

"Sleep." As his own eyes close, he thinks he's going to have to start remembering lullabies.

[leplusbeau]

"Mush mush mush."

One of his arms gets tugged about her shoulders, and she throws a leg over his thigh. When she falls asleep, it is with a silly, happy smile on her face. Because her husband has no problem taking naps.