WHO: Emmeline Vance and Caradoc Dearborn
WHAT: A big surprise!
WHERE: Their house
WHEN: Last night!



She had battled death eaters. She had faced death. Emmeline had seen her life flash before her eyes, and nothing compared to the terror she felt right now, in this very instant. She took short, quick breaths as she tried to force her feet from the bathroom, unsure if she should even be this concerned. It could just be--natural! Things changed, her environment had drastically changed so that meant her body could have changed but----she hadn’t been late since she’d started her contraceptive potion nearly three years ago.

Her hand flew to her mouth, the sudden urge to get sick overwhelming her. Whether it was because she was riling herself up into a frenzy or because she was actually pregnant, she couldn’t be sure.

There was no way she was pregnant. She and Caradoc were not meant to have children, no matter how she thought of them, and picked names for them when she watched little ones on the playground. It would be a bold-faced lie if Emmeline said that she didn’t have some maternal instincts inside her, that she didn’t grow jealous of her friends and their growing families, but she’d chosen to be with Caradoc, and choosing to be with Caradoc meant living your life a certain way and----and that did not include her monthly visitor being late.

Two days. She was two full days late and she felt like she was going to be sick. Emmeline was ready to burst into tears when she heard noises outside the bathroom door, and looked at the mirror to see if she could hide her fear at all.

“Darling, you’re glowing,” the mirror cooed back at her. Emmeline looked absolutely appalled at the supposed compliment and shut the lights, quickly darted out of the bedroom and jumped out of her skin as she nearly collided with Caradoc.

“Don’t do that!” she snapped, slapping his arm.

Caradoc pulled his glasses off in time to watch Emmeline skid across the narrow hallway leading to their bedroom. That was... unusual. He watched her for a moment, thinking, then shook his head. There was no need for that; the days of analyzing were over. Especially with Emmeline. Instead, he hooked his glasses on the collar of his shirt and tucked the book he had been carrying under his arm.

“Do what?” he asked skeptically, pulling his closest arm to her into his chest as she hit him. “Walk normally?” She had just---- popped out of nowhere in a rush! He actually hadn’t done anything wrong this time. Slightly cross, Caradoc put on a face. “You could mind your--- ow!” Granted, that probably did earn another smack, but he really didn’t feel in the mood for one. Though, he should’ve known by now that he would never be able to escape being slapped, but a wizard could still dream.

“You’re moody,” Caradoc grumbled, rubbing his arm.

Moody. Moody. He had to say moody! Out of all the words of his rather extensive vocabulary, Caradoc had to call her moody. Emmeline couldn’t believe her luck, and she couldn’t believe him. She couldn’t believe this! She’d given up on any sort of semblance of a real, grown-up life years ago, and now that she’d actually managed to get something normal out of her and Caradoc’s relationship, a huge wrench was thrown into the mix!

A crying, screaming, helpless and probably the size of a damn peanut, wrench!

She tried to relax, to wipe the caught in the act look off her face, to make her heart stop beating as if she was being chased by a death eater with no wand to help her. Emmeline had the fleeting thought that she’d rather be in that dire situation than be in the one she was in now, because there was no way that this was going to end well. She wasn’t even sure if she was pregnant, but she was...she felt like she was. Not that---it was just the only solution! She’d never been late, she’d had a fever for the last week that wouldn’t go away, Caradoc had even noticed that her bra had seemed quite full these past few days and---oh, god, she was pregnant. She had to be, or else she was going to be really mad at herself for getting this stressed out over nothing.

“I---” Her mouth pressed shut, and she looked away from Caradoc before her thoughts became so strong and vivid that he simply read her mind. He could not find out about this that way, because if he did his brain would melt and pour out of his ears. It was probably going to do that anyway, but if she could at least control how and when it happened, it would help a lot. Maybe it was nothing! Maybe she was just being a neurotic nut as per usual.

Emmeline pushed a hand through her hair and let out a shaky breath, “I think---I might...be pregnant,” she said, her voice struck with a nervous staccato. Emmeline looked back up at Caradoc, feeling weak as the blood rushed from her face. She took a step back and pressed into the wall, unsure if she’d be able to stand for much longer.

He didn’t like that face she was making. Half confused and half intrigued, Caradoc focused more closely on her, dipping his head a little to attempt to pinpoint what exactly was going on here.

Oh fuck, that was her caught word-vomit face! What was that doing here? Only bad things ever followed that face. He could count all the times that she had made that face, then blurted something out he did not want to hear or know. It was the omen.

Caradoc had half a mind to walk away right now; he was positive he would not want to hear what she was about to say. But, he found himself almost paralyzed, wanting to know what could have brought this about. They literally did nothing all day. The most disaster and anxiety he had experienced in the past few months was being hungry while waiting for dinner to be done. What could possibly gotten her all worked up? She wasn’t even looking at----

There had been very, very, very few times in his life that Caradoc had found himself speechless, unable to find anything (appropriate or not) to say. So Emmeline must be given an award, because as soon as he heard what she finally said, Caradoc could barely remember his own name, let alone words from the English language. He felt his jaw drop as if unhinged from his mouth, and his body completely seize up. Pr-- the book that had previously been tucked under his arm unceremoniously drop to the floor with a loud smack. Pr--- he felt his body begin to perspire, sweat flowing out of his pores like a river (which made perfect sense as to why his throat suddenly felt like an African desert; all the water in his body was leaving him). Pr--- he couldn’t see. He was going blind. There were dots forming, they were all over the room and his head was starting to pound in his ears and-- and--

Completely rigid, Caradoc stayed frozen in his spot, physically and mentally unable to react. His brain--- it felt like it had completely left his body, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t see, his stomach had twisted so severely that it felt like it had eaten itself, and--- he couldn’t breathe! Air! Oxygen! The unpleasantly familiar feeling of smoke in his throat came on quickly, forcing Caradoc to finally move and drop his head to his knees as he sputtered into a loud coughing fit.

Emmeline blanched, even though she’d been mentally preparing herself for some sort of breakdown by Caradoc. She pushed herself off the wall and latched onto his arm, her other hand rubbing his back to try and get him to breath. Bloody hell, she knew it would be a bad reaction, but she wasn’t even sure if she was pregnant! Would he actually keel over and die with positive results? She was the one that was going to have to go through all the changes and carry around the baby for months, so---no, she couldn’t start a fight when she’d literally knocked him over with her words. Emmeline had never felt so guilty in her life, and she tried her best to keep her tears from falling.

“Relax, please, please,” she nearly pleaded, using her soothing hand motions on his back as a way to keep her own breaths from becoming too frantic, “I don’t know for sure, I’m just--I’m late, and I need to take a test before---Caradoc, it could be nothing, please don’t do this.”

She really, really needed him, right now. Emmeline knew this would be difficult to swallow (obviously, as he’d nearly choked on her words), but she was the one that might be pregnant, she was the one that was going to have to make the life-altering decision about what to do if she was pregnant. She would have to live with the results for the rest of her life, and yes, Caradoc too but not to the extreme that she---he needed to stand up and breathe, so that she make it through this.

“I need you right now,” she said, her voice cracking with the tears that had been threatening to fall since she’d left the bathroom.

“Don’t!” Caradoc choked as soon as he felt Emmeline touch him. Her hand felt like a hot iron rod to his back, not to mention his pride, and it was possibly the last thing he wanted her doing right now. He did not need to be comforted, there had obviously been enough of that going on between them. Shifting his shoulder blades in an attempt to get her off of him, Caradoc then closed his eyes to focus on getting rid of this pounding in his ears and the weakness in his knees. And returning oxygen to his lungs. It felt overwhelming, but eventually he recollected himself enough to a state where he could think and speak.

“What---” Caradoc rasped, still taking in deep breaths as he put his elbows to his knees. What Emmeline said before had finally caught up with him. “--- do you mean--” She wasn’t sure? How could she bloody not be sure! It was the simplest thing to--- how the fuck could you not be sure about something that had to do with your own body! Weren’t there----things that--- Caradoc’s mind went wildly to remember all the complaints Matilda had whined about when she was pregnant--- this was something you figured out before you go around telling people you were pregnant.

“---you’re not sure!” his voice rang out in a demanding manner. How many bloody times had she done this to him! You didn’t just-- she knew how he felt about these kind of things, hadn’t purely being here been enough? What they were doing, what else could she want? Caradoc couldn’t help but feel an anger rise within him as he continued to look down and away from Emmeline. He could hardly hear what she was saying to him, barely registering her words or how she must feel. It wasn’t even--- his head was pounding too hard for him to focus.

Caradoc continued to shake his head to try to clear, and in the process he finally caught sight her, tears and all. It only took a few moments, but his look on her hardened, now seemingly unable to look away. No--- no! She was not allowed to do that! She was not allowed to be upset.

“You can’t cry!” he spoke harshly, their gazes now locked. What was she upset about? It wasn’t a well kept secret that Emmeline had always wanted children.

She felt sick, her face showing all of her emotions vanishing into the next; she was red then nearly blue from holding her breath and now she was a nauseous green, ready to lose it. In all of five minutes she’d gone from just using the loo to realizing that her life was going to---or might not---no, it was going to change after this, no matter what the test said, or whatever decision they made. She just felt dizzy and so far beyond upset that she couldn’t think of anything to say to him. What could she say? That she was sorry? She was! He had to know that---she’d never asked him about children, it had been his idea to get a house, to move away, she had been---the way he was looking at her as if---

Emmeline swatted away her tears, ashamed and embarrassed as panic quickly took over her. If she had waited for the test, she would’ve gone mad, and she’d had the terrible luck of bumping into him before she could go---she couldn’t lie to him and act as if everything was fine! Caradoc was the one person who she could tell everything to, the one person she trusted beyond anyone else so of course she would have rushed to him, but she didn’t think---he now looked ready to kill her, and she couldn’t believe how quickly she’d ruined everything.

“I--” She couldn’t speak, she felt ready to get sick all over the place, ready to cry her eyes out because this was the last thing she could have wanted right now. She needed to go get a test before anything, she needed to confirm things and---Emmeline put her hand to her mouth to stop any sobs or whatever else was threatening to burst from her at the moment. Emmeline pushed by him, not able to look at him anymore, or be near him, she had to go get a test now, for her own sake----Emmeline halted as a thought slammed her in the chest, she had a test! She had one, she had one, what kind of neurotic, sexually-active Ravenclaw didn’t have a precautionary pregnancy test hidden in their house?

She changed her course quickly, not bothering to voice to Caradoc what she remembered, she didn’t want to look at him right now, she couldn’t look at him right now as she darted toward the bedroom where her old Hogwarts trunk was sitting in the bottom of their closet. She hadn’t gone in there since the move, but she knew---Emmeline threw it open and from the neat piles withdrew the vial, a new fancy one that only required a hair from the patient (patient, good God) to react. Emmeline didn’t care if Caradoc vanished from the house or barged into the room demanding more of an explanation; she plucked a hair from her head and eased it into the clear liquid.

Everyone knew how to read a pregnancy test. Fizzled into a calm liquid if nothing, sparks flew if positive, but Emmeline was too distraught with tears that she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to tell the difference.

Where was she going! How could she--- blinking quickly, Caradoc jerkily brought himself back to standing up straight. It felt uncomfortable, however, like his skin had become offset from its normal place on his bones. It didn’t feel right, his own body felt as awkward, confused and graceless as his mind did. Why--- why--- he watched Emmeline race by him going the opposite way she had initially left. What was she---

The unfriendly sound of a chest banging open filled his ears, filling him with dread. He knew what she was doing. She was looking for a test to put an end to this, to prove without a doubt that she either was, or was not. So she could--- for secretly demanding that Emmeline should have done this earlier, Caradoc could think of nothing else he wanted her to do less. No--- no-- but his feet, either unable or unwilling, did not move, leaving him strangely paralyzed with his own thoughts.

He couldn’t--- he didn’t want to know! He wasn’t ready, not like this, wasn’t it obvious? She might know already, whether he was certainly or certainly not already a father--- the word made his heart beat against his ribs like trapped in a cage and his throat attempt to close up for good. No-- no-- he wasn’t ready, she couldn’t do this he had to stop her.

As if suddenly unglued from the ground, Caradoc hurtled forward, practically face-planting as he slipped his first few jumps toward their bedroom door. Nothing seemed more imperative in his life, reaching her, and Caradoc could not explain to himself why. It just-- he--- had to--- be there, with her, before her and--- all the air within him disappeared as he shot through the doorway. The first, and only thing, he saw were the blue sparks shooting from Emmeline’s clasped hands.

Caradoc didn’t say anything--- he couldn’t say anything. There was nothing... that he could think to say. He couldn’t take his eyes off the display, despite how horrible it made him feel within, and he couldn’t even turn his head away to look at Emmeline.

Emmeline blinked, wiping her nose with the back of her hand and brushing away the loose tears as the vial began to spark. She was pregnant. It took her a moment, but through her blurry vision she saw that not only was the vial sparking, but the sparks were blue. A boy, a boy! Despite her tears, the idea caused a small smile to stretch across her face. She smothered it, though, in fear that Caradoc would think that she’d planned this. This little boy had not been planned, he was most definitely an accident, but how could she not smile as she learned of his existence? His existence, one that she didn’t know would last for very long.

The thought jarred her out of her short, but intense reverie. Emmeline knew, as painful as it was now to think, that if Caradoc did not want to be a father she would not be the one to force him into it. She’d chosen him, and would choose him always, but she would not let him make any decision while in his current shocked and terrified state. Emmeline turned to him, sniffling, watching his face as a great calm overtook her. He’d frightened her, he’d made her scared to look him in the eye, but now she was the one in control. He didn’t have to know that she’d give up this baby for him, even if she currently couldn’t bear the thought. There was no way his mind would get right, however, if she remained as a constant reminder of his fears. Caradoc always seemed to come to his senses after some time of separation, and Emmeline stood, ready to give that to him.

Her mouth was pressed into a tight line of a frown as she gently placed the vial on the dresser. The sparks had stopped but the liquid still swirled with a beautiful array of blues. She’d leave the potion as a reminder, but Emmeline? No, she was getting away from him, she was going to be the one to initiate this trial. Caradoc had always been the one that left her to sit and wonder when he would come back, but not this time. They didn’t have long, drawn out and exhausting fights anymore, they didn’t play games. That was for England. This was their life, and Emmeline, feeling a bit like a ghost, reached for her jacket and bag.

“I’m going out,” she said softly, looking into the mirror above the dresser to see how red her face was. Emmeline wiped a hand across her eyes before standing up, staring at Caradoc with an expression full of disappointment, “I’ll be back.”

That was another thing; he’d never let her know he was coming back. Maybe she should have left him with the same panic she’d felt far too many times before, but again, this was her new life, she didn’t play games anymore. Emmeline started toward him to leave, wondering if he’d try to stop her.

Even though he knew Emmeline was moving, standing up and shifting, Caradoc still could not take his eyes off the vial, however it moved through the room. It was like it had locked him in through a curse, or a particularly nasty hex. His gaze felt positively unbreakable with it, and his mind couldn’t even begin to think of doing anything else. His mind couldn’t move forward, not a centimeter, and his heart continued to feel like it was in the middle of an aggressive heart attack.

It--- he--- Emmeline’s words barely registered. They were--- a small part in the back of Caradoc’s mind sparked at the sound of her voice, the severity of her words, actually listening to what she was saying, but it by no means could recollect the rest of him to react. That part of him wanted to stop her, wanted to pull his body back to life like a grand puppeteer. It wanted to make her understand, it didn’t want her to leave. It knew how even worse things would become if she left now. But that voice was too small, and his insides were too chaotic for any of that to happen now.

She was the most important thing in the world to him, and the only thing he could do was seize up and shut down. So instead of moving forward, Caradoc’s body jerked back, dropping itself awkwardly against the door frame, then slowly slid itself to the floor. He did not stop Emmeline as she quietly walked by, he did not flinch when the sound of the front door slamming hit his ears. In fact, it took him quite a while to even register her words and what had happened.

Instead, his thoughts stayed purely on that blue bottle; what it meant, what it was, and how it was changing everything. The same few words repeated in his head like a record player, always achieving the same amount of mental stress as before. Baby. Child. Emmeline was pregnant. He couldn’t tell her to not keep it. That was all she wanted. Baby--- child---- but he didn’t want that. He wanted--- what they had now, he wanted it to stay like that forever. And now it couldn’t--- it couldn’t anymore and---- Caradoc continued to openly stare, his mind taking small steps toward pulling itself back together for some time.