Who: Eliza Alderton and Dedalus Diggle
What: A not so smooth reveal
When: This afternoon?



She folded the top half of her scrubs over her arm, looking back down the corridor as she waited for Dedalus. Eliza was glad that the hospital was slowly merging the muggle style of medical attire into their uniforms; you got thrown up on so many times a day that it was easier to have a pair of scrubs and a shirt under your robes than to have to run back to the locker rooms to change. The neon green was of course, essential, but the nurses and their interns got to play around with their designs and Eliza had been very focused on her uniform, lately.

And her hair, and makeup. And everything that wasn't her boyfriend and the little dot of a baby inside of her.

She had even gotten her nails done.

The focus on every other aspect of her life was absolutely intentional, but Eliza was beginning to feel the guilt. She had promised herself (and Brianna, though she wasn't exactly sure how binding their words were) that by the time they'd taken their exams at the end of June, they would have told their boyfriends about the pregnancies. Now that it was June, she was getting antsy; Eliza had never been good at keeping secrets. Her stomach had been turning uncomfortably for the past week, and she was sure that it wasn't just morning sickness.

Ah, there he was. It was a good day when they both got off at the same time (especially good now that they both passed their exams). Eliza, feeling guilty and she'll admit it, pretty, immediately pushed forward for a kiss, linking her arm with his. "Let's go for a walk before dinner."

Stepping out of the one of the showers that were provided in the locker room, Dedalus wrapped a towel around his waist, and pushed his saturated locks away from his face before making his way over to where his belongings were situated. Taking a seat on the bench, he rolled his neck back and forth, hearing it give a satisfying crack in each direction. A hand was lifted up to knead at the tense muscles that he had been trying to ease up. Ever since the attack that had happened at his apartment, and ever since Eliza had gotten hurt, Dedalus had been stressing over everything 10 times more than he usually did…which, was a lot. He tried not to get too carried away, and knew that he had to just relax and focus, and let things run their course…but there was just so much he needed to think about. Exams were coming up, Eliza hadn’t been feeling well, and then there was everything with the Order, and…it was just a lot to think about.

Reaching for his clothes, he put on his jeans and his comfortable t-shirt, and then finished everything off by putting on his socks, shoes, and then finally his belt. Walking over to the mirror, he combed back his hair, and looked at his reflection. A sigh escaped from his lips, before he walked back over to his locker, closed it, and then locked it with a flick of his wand before slipping it into his pocket.

Walking out of the locker room, he turned the corner and walked down the hallway where he was supposed to meet Eliza. A small smile graced his features as he approached her. She looked…different. It was a good different, but it was still different. When she leaned in to kiss him, he returned it, raising a brow curiously at her suggestion. “Uh…alright?” He said with a small shrug of his shoulders, adjusting his arm around hers, looking down at her hand for a second. “Is that…nail polish?” He tilted his head and then looked up at her. “I’ve just…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you where it before, unless we were doing something important. Like, if we were going somewhere.” He stopped talking, and then cleared his throat quietly. “Sorry, uh…right. We’re walking. Where did you want to go?"

Eliza blushed, curling her fingers into her palms, "I was bored the other night, when I had Liam."

Not only bored, but completely flustered that in about nine months, she would have her own little Liam. Or--a girl, she didn't know. That was one thing she had promised herself. She was not going to find out the sex of the baby without Dedalus, he at least deserved to be there for that part of the surprise. Eliza hummed lightly as she pushed closer to him, and she took a deep breath, "Let's just walk."

They were in the middle of London, they were bound to run into something interesting. Maybe something that could segue into the future, their future, and that way Eliza could find the perfect spot to bring up the little bundle of joy that was going to great them come late December.

Or early January.

Or whenever he or she wanted to show up. Eliza had the fleeting thought of 'never would be good' but she dismissed it and took in another breath as they exited through the front doors. It was a pleasantly nice evening, and the sun was creating a beautiful pattern of colors in the sky. The scene that nature was giving her was out of story books, and Eliza was suddenly feeling quite confident that tonight, on this walk, she would tell Dedalus that he was, maybe, going to be a father.

Oh hell.

The fact that she got embarrassed about her painted nails caused him to smirk. “It looks nice. It’s just not something I’m used to seeing.” Despite the fact that Dedalus was a male, he really did pay attention to details. He noticed what she wore, or what perfume she put on, or what chap stick she was wearing that particular day (and he was pretty fond of Watermelon). It was the little things that caught his attention, and even though he sometimes felt a little awkward about saying something, since he thought he sounded corny, he usually told her when he liked whatever new thing she was trying. He also tried his best to tell her she looked beautiful quite often, since he didn’t want her to think that over time, he had become less attracted to her…since, that really wasn’t the case at all. As a matter of fact, it was exactly the opposite.

“Let’s just…walk. Alright, we can do that.” He leaned down to give her another small kiss, before he began to lead her towards the door, opening it for her so they could both exit the hospital, and appear on the streets of London. As per usual, whenever anyone walked out of what appeared to be a run down building, they got a few strange looks, but they were pretty used to it by now. As they walked, Dedalus kept his eyes focused on the floor, a million thoughts running through his head. He was paying attention to where he was going of course, but he was definitely distracted. It wasn’t until they came to a traffic light, where they had to wait for the ‘walk’ symbol to flash across the street, did he look back over to Eliza. He moved his arm from hers, and used it to wrap around her waist, observing her thoughtful expression.

“You alright?” It was kind of weird for him to be asking this, since he was just as guilty of being not all there as she was. He could have just taken a dive into her thoughts, to ease his own worried mind, which was thinking that maybe she was thinking about what had happened about a month ago, but…he wouldn’t. He didn’t ever invade her thoughts unless it was necessary, since that was an invasion of privacy, and he respected her too much to just take advantage of being able to read her thoughts. Besides, if she was thinking about the attack, he didn’t want to have to think of her like that any more than he already did, each and every day. He wished he could forget, but…he never would. It killed him, knowing she was subjected to that, because of him.

"I'm--"

Eliza smiled up at him, ready to tell him that she was just fine. She'd turned into him, wrapping both of her arms around his waist in a loving manner. She could stand like this all day, every day. Really! In the middle of traffic or a rainstorm, Eliza was quite sure that she'd be willing to stand with Dedalus, here, there, anywhere and be just fine. It was funny how sure she was of that, that she was ready and willing to spend the rest of her life with this man, but the thought of bringing a child into the world with him was absolutely terrifying and paralyzing.

It wasn't until she found out she was pregnant that she realized she had never thought about having children. Married life with Dedalus had always just been them in her mind. Their first house, a garden, a few more dogs or maybe even a cat, but never children. Eliza didn't know why, and it was probably strange (because everything about her seemed to be strange), but that's how she felt.

Her smile broadened at a nice breeze, and she opened her mouth to tell him in a long exaggerated fashion that she was quite fine, and that there was something they needed to discuss, when a horribly familiar feeling rose up her throat. Eliza's expression turned from calm and dreamy to sickly and green in a flash, and she twisted away to try to find a decent spot to get sick---but where was there ever a decent spot for that?

"I'm---" going to be sick, was her last thought before she turned into a bloody shrub and threw up what she believed to be her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Her single word reply caused him to raise his brows a bit, using his free hand to move some hair away from her face, getting a good look at her. “You’re…?” He smirked, wondering if she was ever going to continue that sentence, or if she was going to just let him guess at what was going on in her head. Whatever it was, it made her look pretty happy…and since she was looking directly at him when she looked like this, it made him pretty happy, and he reflected her own smile back at her, letting out a soft chuckle, but it stopped as soon as her expression began to turn sour. His eyebrows now stitched together, listening to her repeat that same, cut off answer she had given before, and then proceeded to let her out of his grasp so she could turn and…throw up.

He stood in place for about point five seconds, only because he was just so stunned, but…she had been complaining about not feeling well for quite some time, so maybe it shouldn’t have been so surprising. Then again, he was never around for any of this, since lately he had been working a lot to try and catch up since he had taken such a long period of time off to be with Eliza.

Once he was able to snap back to reality, he stepped forward to where his girlfriend was standing, and placed a hand on her back, looking at her profile as he placed his other hand on her arm. “…do you feel better, now?” He asked this as his hand moved up and down her back, guiding her back away from the bush by gently pushing back on her arm. He was hoping that now that she had thrown up, whatever it was that was making her feel that way was out of her system. “Come on, let’s…sit you down.” He supported her as he led her over to a bench that was just a few feet away from them. He let her sit on the bench, but he just lowered himself down in front of her, grabbing his wand, since they were pretty well hidden due to the benches location, and produced a warm, moist towel from the tip of the wooden object, before reaching up so he could just gently wipe away at the corner of her mouth, before letting her take over. Dropping his hands back down, he looked up at and sighed. “Was that…because of the potions?”

It took Eliza a few seconds after sitting down to focus, and she kept the towel pressed to her mouth. Maybe the fates were planning for this to be the day, they were just going about it in a manner she hadn't exactly expected, or wanted. Eliza hated lying, and for the past week her fear of the pregnancy had surpassed her dislike for lying, but right now it was nearly consuming her. It was like her body--the baby had pitched a fit of guilt that had resulted in that mess in the bush. Eliza dropped her hands to her lap and sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. She couldn't keep this up for any longer.

"No, it's not---I'm pregnant, Dedalus," she said softly, not daring to look him in the eyes. That was a lot easier than she had imagined, and for a millisecond Eliza was very proud of herself. A millisecond later, however, her eyes swelled with tears and she let out a choking sob. Oh hell! It was real now! The tests proving that there was a baby in there had only made it a statement, this new fact that she knew, but now! Now Dedalus was aware, and now they were going to have to do something about it! Even it it meant keeping or not keeping him or her (she couldn't say it, no matter how against she was to being a mother), and now she wanted to cry!

She just wanted to bloody cry!

Five minutes ago she was walking on air with happiness, and now she was slumped forward into Dedalus, crying her damn eyes out.

Her body language shot up a red flag, and he waited anxiously for her to say what was really wrong. Brows were furrowed together, his hands placed on either side of her, gripping at the bench so he could keep his balance. The response to his question wasn’t at all was he had expected, and he wasn’t really able to form an appropriate reply, since he was currently trying to remember how he was supposed to breathe. “Y-your…your p-…p-p-pre-…”

Oh, God. He could practically feel his heart pounding against his rib cage, and his mouth went dry, and his eyes just focused on Eliza, widening slightly when he saw the tears that were forming. He had only see her cry once before, and that was because she was in pain, but now? Now, it was because…she was upset, and she had a good reason to be, because she was pregnant, and he didn’t want to think of it as a bad thing, but…was this seriously something he could look at as a good thing? They weren’t married, they didn’t have careers, and their apartment wasn’t big enough for another person; for a baby!

When she leaned forward against him, he stared past her, still looking like a deer in headlights before he realized that right now wasn’t the time for him to freak out, even though…well, he was freaking out, and Eliza was crying, and-

Swallowing roughly, he moved his arms around her, trying to comfort her. “Let’s go and uh…let’s go somewhere else to, uh…talk about…this.” He pulled away from her and carefully wiped at her eyes, hoping that all of the color hadn’t just been drained from his face, and she couldn’t see how desperately he was trying to keep it together for her. “Can you uh…are you…can you still apparate…?” He pushed his hair back, knowing that when a woman was pregnant she wasn’t really supposed to apparate, but she wasn’t too far along…as far as he knew.

Eliza nodded, not pulling herself away from Dedalus' shoulder. No, she was pretty sure she was going to continue clinging to him for the rest of her life, or at least the rest of this pregnancy. If--she was going to have this pregnancy. Eliza did not like having undecided issues on her mind, she liked to figure them out immediately, or else she got flustered and uneasy. This undecided issue was going to make her lose her mind, and she barely felt the side-along disapparation after she nodded into Dedalus' shoulder.

Oh! Oh what was she going to do? What were they going to do? Dedalus certainly couldn't find this as a good thing, he obviously didn't because he sounded like he'd had something of a conniption at her announcement. Announcement! Were they going to have to tell people? She'd already told her roommates, and that meant Ralph already knew because Miranda has a stupid big mouth, but----but! Her brother. Oh, oh he was going to---he was going to kill her. And then Dedalus---maybe Dedalus first but still!

"I'm sorry," she moaned miserably, pushing harder into him. Now she wasn't sure if she was apologizing for the baby or for his impending death by the hands of her brother. Eliza silently pleaded for Dedalus not to let her go, because she was sure she would crumble on the spot. She didn't protest when they fell back into the bed and exhaustion began to take over. But she couldn't get the same repeating thoughts out of her head: what were they going to do?

What were they going to do?