Closed Like clockwork

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

12th December 2049: the Cullen property, outside Wagga Wagga, Australia.

Two days. The full moon had been two days ago and now briar was sitting in the bathroom on her own. Something wasn’t right. Ever since she had been bitten at sixteen her period had been like clockwork the day after the full moon with three exceptions firstly just after her bite it had been missing for a couple of months. The healers has put that down to stress. The only other two times had resulted in willow and linden. And now it was two days late. She Took a breath and looked at her watch. One minute to go. What would she do if the little pink stripe appeared on the test. What would she do if it didn’t? How would she tell Dederick? At least it hadn’t been like the first time she had fallen pregnant they had been teenagers then and hardly able to look after themselves the thought of raising a child had been as The most daunting thing she could have thought of. They had tried to give the kid up for adoption but when willow has been born they had been lucky. She had known she would not be able to give her daughter up and as it turned out Dederick was a natural father. She looked at the clock again. The minute had passed when she had been thinking. There was no denying the result. But what to do now.
She made her way over to the door. And looked out over the patio where Dederick was helping linden with his homework in the late afternoon sunlight. This time next year he would be almost finished his first semester at Hogwarts. She waited until he had finished explaining the difference between a simile and a metaphor watching from the door. Would he be excited or not. She knew she would not be able to ask for anyone better to raise a family with. Stay calm. That was what she needed to do. hey Lin. Could I borrow your dad a second she said trying to sound casual but not sure how successful she was being. She gestured for him to come inside and shut the door.
Should she say it outright or ease her way into it. She took a deep breath. Shifted her position and ran her hands through her hair. umm. Dee. I think I’m pregnant she said. Fidgeting slightly as she spoke.

 

[Dederick Cullen]

It may come across as if Dederick was assisting Linden with his homework, and he was but in some respects, it was also Linden teaching him. Dederick’s brows scrunched as he leans over concentrating to make sense of the assignment. Why are we sending our child to muggle school again? Briar interrupted before he could think a reasonable answer for that. Simile and metaphor understanding can come later. Dederick pats his son on his shoulder to continue without him and joins Briar inside. What she had to say to him exploded in his face like a ticking time bomb, Dederick went completely rigid. The whumps in his chest escalated, the drumming sound reached up to his ears. What?! Did he hear that correctly, pregnant?! Dederick’s lips parted, his eyes ready to run from their sockets. It looked, almost quite comical, and then reality caught up to him. “Are you sure?” Was the first thing he uttered, a bit frail. There was not a negative or positive thought or feeling coming to him. He was just stunned and strongly felt he needed a couple of hours to process the news. The idea of another child, another them like his parents. Three of them. Dederick rubbed the side of his face, eyes blinking frantically. “It’s, it’s a lot to take in. Maybe we should have been..a little more careful,” Dederick swallows what felt like a thick lump caught in his throat. Dederick coughs into the back of his hand, just a tad frantic all over. “No, no it’s great. It’s kinda like me and my siblings, I always wonder who will be the one to have three. Never thought it would be me, really, out of us three.”

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

the sudden range of expressions to cross Dee's face would have been comical if not for the importance of the situation. it seemed like shock, surprise worry disbelief, confusion and maybe even a small hint of excitement were all vying for a place. She wasn't sure what she had expected his reaction to be. and it seemed he didn't either. in the end it seemed that disbelief won as he managed to splutter of words to request confirmation. "well, I am never late and I was due two days ago" she said. still fidgeting slightly. "I did a muggle test and it said yes. i will do a magic one once i can get to the apothecary" she said. she hated the sickly sweet taste of the magic tests but it was the most accurate rest. maybe she was expecting a bit more enthusiasm but she knew him well enough to know that sometimes it took him a little while for things to enthuse him. at his next comment, she snorted "no $h!t its a big shock" she said sarcasm dripping off the words like honey. this was not the direction she had seen the conversation moving in her head. her mood probably wasn't helping. she had had minutes for this to sink in, and the time before that before she took the test. she took a step towards him and putting her hand on top of his. physical contact was her way of showing love. her way of calming him. "It is still sinking in, but I like it" she said a shy smile making its way onto her lips. it widened and turned into a chuckle as he started talking about how he never thought that he would have three kids like his siblings. had he really thought about that? they had never really talked about how many kids they wanted, she hadn't thought about it before but maybe three was the perfect number. "which one did you think it would be? Ellie or Henrik Jr?" she asked the laugh in her voice.

 

[Dederick Cullen]

Dederick nods, he believes her. She the responsible one in this companionship, the levelheaded one. Dederick panics go through a train of emotions and is questioning things with very little thoughts. Or, some thoughts. Or, blinking like an idiot like he was doing in front of the mother of his children. “Right, hey,” Dederick chuckles, “It’s not a big shock if we weren’t being careful,” he jest, squeezing her hand. She knew ways to calm him, and this was one of them. Dederick shuts his eyes and inhales slowly. His features soften, at the moment taking the news all in. When he opened his eyes he was staring up at the ceiling and then at Briar again. “Probably Elie, she always wanted to have a big house and a big family. Bigger than ours, I don’t know why, she was a hopeless romantic,” and look at how that turned out for her. Dederick felt bad, though most of Elie’s bad luck was due to hiding stuff from the muggle. She lucky the man didn’t act on his worst instincts and did the unthinkable. Dederick is grateful his sister and niece were safe and sound living in New Zealand at their other property. “Briar, are we ever going to follow your sister’s footsteps and did what she did back in Solen? I’m not opposed to it.”

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Briar could feel dederick try and relax. he was doing well. she was actually quite pleased at how well he was taking the news. she followed his breath and felt herself relax a little bit too. as he said it wasnt a big shock if they weren't being careful she bit her lip "I'm sorry, i thought I still had a month left before i needed the next dose of the potion" she said. She felt like there were so many potions she needed to take it was hard to kee track of them even if it was only the two, wolfsbane and the contraceptive. she felt him squeeze her hand back and she squeezed it again.
She was a little surprised when Dederick named his sister as the sibling he had thought would have three children calling her the romantic one. she guesses she could see that despite their current situation she must have been living in some kind of ideal of a romance world to have been living with a muggle and not tell him she was a witch. somehow believing that love would fill even that many gaps. she was glad that she had trusted them enough to ask for help. she knew it must have been hard for her as she didn't trust them because of what they were she didn't know if she would trust them more or less if she knew the whole story.
She was just thinking about that that she almost missed what Dederick said next. it was so out of the blue. "Wait, what? are you proposing? I thought we decided when willow was born that that wasn't for us. I changed my name but we both said we were not wedding people she said. she thought for a moment. the thought had crossed her mind when she had been at her sister's wedding. how happy Madlyn looked. she had thought about raising the topic again but had decided that they had been together this long without any weddings. but she was certainly less against the idea now. "I mean... I would not be opposed to it either... it could be nice. but nothing as big as theirs was" she said not even realising the slight pun as both her sister and her husband were part giants. or even realising that their wedding had actually been a small one compared to a lot of them.

 

[Dederick Cullen]

What she said prompt Dederick to be comforting towards her, finding solace in rounding his thumb on the back of her hand. Dederick gave her another hand squeeze, smiling at the love of his life. “Don’t be sorry, it’s, it’s a blessing. Whether we planned on it or not, it was meant to be,” Dederick says being so unusually optimistic. It’s something his mother would say about all of them, despite this wretched curse Dederick shares those same feelings about his children. He cannot imagine his life without his children, they’ve become a great big part of his life. Their life together. “Yes, Yes I am. We’ve changed so much over the years, so why not?” A grin took over his features as he pulled her into a sweet kiss. “Unless there a reason we shouldn’t get married, unless it’s a bad idea...why not?” He asks again, his heart beating fast against his chest. He was feeling jubilant all over and the way to calm him was to hug and kiss her multiple times. Dederick chuckles, “Were you trying to be funny there, Mrs. Cullen?”

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Briar was glad that Dee managed to collect his thoughts to support her. they hadn’t planned on having another kid, but she was glad that he seemed genuinely very happy and excited. she felt the worry she had built up over the last few minutes start to disband relaxing quicker as she felt him squeeze and stroke the back of her hand.
His next question made her pause. She felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart skip a beat or two. He actually was proposing. Right here in their kitchen. On what up until half an hour ago had been a fairly average day. She could not believe it. It wasn’t that she expected anything elaborate. In contrast to a lot of her general personality when it came to personal matters she didn’t like show or spectacle. So this was perfect. She opened her mouth to say yes, of course, there was really no other option. But before she could even get the words formed in her head he was kissing her, kissing so sweetly and lovingly she didn’t want to ever move. She held him close for a moment that could have lasted any amount of time until he pulled away. she was just about able to make her words work again when he asked her again rewording the question. He said he didn’t see any reason not to she looked at him. The man she had been with for almost twenty years. The only man she had ever wanted to wake up next to every morning. The man she had shared some of the best and darkest times of her life besides. she had no reason to say no, and a thousand reasons to say, yes, "yes" the word finally made its way out of her mouth slightly breathless, her heart beatng double speed as if trying to make up for lost time. "yes, of course, I will marry you." the only reason she could think that they weren't married already is that they had decided when they were teenages that it wasn't for them. and they hadn't thought to raise the matter again even though they had grown and that now seemed an almost laughable reason. they basically lived like they were married anyway. she kissed him back. before just holding close to her, resting her head on her fiance's shoulder his scent filling her lungs. As he asked if she was trying to be funny she looked at him quizzically. what had given him that impression. "being funny? no, why would I joke about something this important?" she asked confused not realising what she had said. no, despite the kissing, and the hormones flooding her body this was a serious conversation. should we do it before the baby comes? over the holiday, when willow is back from school?" she said. there was no way they could do it without her there.