#technically proof of their affair. but she can’t bring herself to get rid of them

[lordofthemushrooms]

Need to write a fic about Solas drawing Lavellan like obsessively. We’ve all been talking about the paintings of her that are totally in the lighthouse but I mean even while they were together. Him waking up earlier than she does and sketching her while she sleeps. Drawing her hands on the margins of papers. Messing up his other paintings because he keeps drawing her nose instead of what he’s trying to do.

[dessarps-blog]

“Did you just say you’re pregnant?” // “The doctor said this might help with the morning sickness…” // “You mean I’m going to be a father?” // “I really like this color for the nursery, what do you think?” // “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” // “I can’t believe we’re finally going to have a baby.” //

“Did you just say you’re pregnant?” (Devmond)

“Did I stutter?” The tone in her voice was obvious irritation, but there was something there that he didn’t recognize. Something about it wasn’t her usual, brash, overly confident manner. Something wasn’t the same as the girl he had taken to bed before, the girl he spoke to so freely on set. Something in Cadence’s tone was off, and Thomas didn’t know if he was just searching for that, searching for some kind of tremor, or if he really heard it. He couldn’t believe he was imagining it, though.

Cadence still looked irritated, though, and she didn’t let him speak after his moment of shock, instead continuing. “I’m going to get rid of it, so don’t worry about it. I’m just informing you so that you know, in case someone gets pictures of me going into or out of the clinic or something. I already have an appointment in place, I just have to go to it over the weekend, and I should be able to avoid being seen. But if I can’t, you know your little wife is going to know what’s going on.”

Thomas wasn’t sure why he wasn’t expecting that. Cadence didn’t love him, and he knew it. As much as it stung to admit, even to himself, she had never loved him. She enjoyed the sex, certainly, but there would be no romance lost between them when the appointment was complete. The thought that she could so easily get rid of their child, though, and that she would do so with no hesitation… It certainly stung, and the knowledge that he couldn’t rightly stop her just made it that much worse.

Sylvie would lose it if she knew. Not in anger, of course. She would do nothing but cry for weeks, and he would never be able to forgive himself for hurting her that way. If she found out about the affair in the first place, that would be bad enough, but to have living proof of it that Thomas wouldn’t even be able to keep himself from seeing… Well. It would just hurt her even more, and he could feel the guilt welling up in his throat already. He could taste it in the back of his mouth with copper clarity.

Still, he couldn’t help himself from saying what he did. The quiet, “I wish you wouldn’t,” was past his lips before he could stop it, and he was surprised to see Cadence stop in her steps, to see her turn slightly toward him for a moment, as though considering his words. When she spoke in return, it was quiet. “I’ll be off the Island for a few months after the appointment. I leave for my movie in the States on Sunday. Don’t wait up to hear anything back. I’ll take care of it.”

“The doctor said this might help with the morning sickness…” (Pyrien)

Pyxis didn’t know if he believed that. The way his stomach was churning, he was positive he would never be able to eat again. It was like an awful flu, the kind of flu that put you into the hospital for an afternoon with dehydration by the time you passed the second day, and he didn’t think he was ever going to get past it. Something in him had thought at first that something was wrong with the baby. He had been convinced of that, as a matter of fact, and had almost made Laurien take him to the doctor.

It was Laurien’s luck, really, that had him agree to just calling the office to see if they had any suggestions. Holding his hand out, Pyxis took the dissolving tablet from his husband’s hand, popping it into his mouth before he moved back to lean against the tub again. It was easy enough from here to just lean forward and throw up again, and as long as he didn’t smell the coffee in the kitchen, the coffee that he so loved in the morning, he seemed to be alright. For the moment, at least.

“I swear to god, if it’s always this bad, I’m just going to die,” he muttered dramatically, looking up as Laurien moved to sit down next to him. “I’m just going to die, Laurien. This is awful.” Of course, the fault for that didn’t lay with Laurien. Neither of them could have known his morning sickness would be this awful. Pyxis’s first pregnancy had gone so smoothly, and that the second one was going so awfully – at least in the sense of his sickness – was a shock to them and their doctor alike.

Laurien gave a slight chuckle, though, and carded a hand through Pyxis’s hair when he settled. “You’re not going to die,” he returned, though his laugh earned him a half-hearted glare from the brunet. “You’ll be fine in an hour. Once the morning sickness passes, it’ll be fine.” Of course, that was assuming Pyxis didn’t get his mother’s penchant for evening sickness as well. But Laurien wasn’t going to bring that up now. Fatimah had come so easily, surely this child would be easier when he adjusted to his nausea.

Pyxis groaned and tilted his head back against the closed shower doors, letting his eyes shut. “Whatever this was, it’s kind of weird. It tastes fruity. What the hell is this even?” he questioned, tilting his head toward Laurien when he rested a cool hand on his forehead. “This is that flight stuff, isn’t it. Drama-something. If I have to take this every morning, I hope you know it’ll probably start to make me sick too. Just from having it so much. This is gonna pass in like a month, right?”

“You mean I’m going to be a father?” (Farrasmus)

Erasmus sounded so surprised that Farrah gave a laugh at his question, nodding her approval. Of course, she couldn’t blame him for being surprised. She was surprised herself, as the doctor had been when she told her the results of her blood testing for the year. It wasn’t something either of them were trying for, or something either of them were particularly ready for, she was fairly certain. But maybe, just maybe, it was going to be a good thing anyway. If luck was with them.

“She had me set up an appointment for an early ultrasound, but she said that’s probably what my weight gain is,” she explained with a slight shrug, reaching out to take one of her husband’s hands. Things lately seemed to be so on the fence for them, so uncertain whether they were going to continue to work together as they got older, but it seemed like maybe, this could be a fresh breath for them. A thing to bond over again, to remind them of why they loved one another in the first place.

That was what Farrah was hoping, at least, as she watched Erasmus’s face pass through the same emotions she’d had when she’d first been told. There was the plain shock, that had started right with his question. There was the nervousness, and the worry, and the outright fear. Farrah’s had been over whether she would really be a good mother, over whether she was ready to have a child, whether she and Erasmus were going to last even after they had a child together. Whether their child would grow up in a split home.

And then, slowly but definitively, came the smile she had been waiting for. Erasmus didn’t look quite as beaming as she was, yet, but he was definitely happy, and he moved his free hand over to her stomach with a low laugh. “I’m going to be a father. You’re not kidding, right?” He could never be sure with his wife. Sometimes her social experiments for the sake of journalism went too far. But the smile on his face did suggest honesty, and he couldn’t help but be a little bit excited as well.

“When is the ultrasound? Will they give you a copy of it to take home?” he started, only moments after that initial question. He hadn’t even given Farrah time to answer, and she found herself letting out another soft laugh and a nod to indicate approval of the latter question. “We’ll have to start looking at houses. We need something bigger if we’re going to have a kid. This is almost too tiny for just us, let alone another person. And you’ll have to figure out when you can take off work.”

“I really like this color for the nursery, what do you think?” (Corchette)

Tyler was looking over a ledger for the bar when Laurent spoke up, and at first, he gave nothing but a noncommittal hum. He wasn’t really listening, his husband knew. Sometimes, when he was deep in work, Laurent would start testing just how much he was listening by saying more and more outrageous things. When he started just getting hums, he knew, it was Tyler being too distracted to notice what he was talking about. Not that he minded that, of course. It was just amusing.

And so, with a slight chuckle, he moved over to his husband and slowly slid the paint chart in front of his paperwork. “I only need you for like a minute,” he promised. “I’m gonna start painting the nursery today, I think. But I want your opinion on the color. I’m thinking about this one. Gender neutral, light, something that can work for either gender, or for multiples, if we should have that kind of luck. What do you think of it?” It was a nice, pale green, barely away from white and easy to make designs over.

“I have an idea for something pretty to do for a border too, something with rainbow colored wings. And I was starting to think about a mural, but I haven’t actually thought much on that yet. I only really paint dark stuff, you know? So doing something light like this, something kid friendly… it’s a little different. Definitely not what I’m usually working with. So I’m still working it out. I’m gonna ask Papa Etienne his opinion when I see him later this week to drop off gallery pieces, but yeah. This is my start.”

Tyler was still only half listening, Laurent knew. Whenever he went off into his art talk, Tyler would let him ramble on as much as he wanted to, and he did enjoy looking at the pieces when they were finished. It was something that he had been attracted to in the first place, after all. But when he got going into the technical side of things, it went right over his head, and Laurent would lose him in moments. He didn’t mind it, of course. It was just something he knew, something he had known since the beginning.

After a minute or so of staring at the patch Laurent was pointing to, Tyler finally lifted a hand and pointed to the one above it, one that was a little more green and less white. “I think this one would be nicer,” he offered, looking up at his husband with a slight grin. “I can barely tell that one is green. This one, or the blue one right next to it. If you did the blue, you could do like, clouds and flying things, since you’re doing wings for the border. I think.” He shrugged a shoulder, dismissing his own thought. “But I like yours too.”

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” (Pleione & Atlas)

Pleione was still staring at herself in the mirror, trying to decide if she looked pregnant or not, when Atlas’s voice sounded from her door, making her jump and move away from the betraying surface. It was getting hard to hide now. She had to get rid of this soon, or she was going to disappoint her parents. She didn’t even want to tell them who the father was. It was a teacher, after all, and she couldn’t risk getting him fired. Not when it was her own fault she had gotten pregnant in the first place.

With a frown, she glanced toward the open hall, and then moved both hands, one moving Atlas further into the room and the other pushing the door shut and locked. She didn’t need any of her other siblings coming around now, or her cousins for that matter, and hearing whatever conversation they were about to have. She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Atlas the truth, after all, but she had helped the other girl with her makeup and gotten her outfit better the week before… Maybe she could trust her.

But a maybe wasn’t good enough. Turning back toward the mirror, she started adjusting her shirt with silent concealing charms, making sure it hid from all angles. “I’m not pregnant,” she insisted quietly. “I’m just gaining weight or something. I don’t know what’s happening. I just don’t want to look fat when I’m going out with my friends tonight.” It almost sounded like a good lie. Almost, if it weren’t all centered in her lower belly, and if Pleione weren’t one of the more active children in the house.

Which, she knew, was why Atlas scoffed, even as she sat on the edge of her sister’s bed. “You’re not lying well,” she returned, intentionally sounding as mocking as possible. She didn’t always like Pleione, and she was sure they would never be friends, but if Pleione knew her secret, she was certainly going to have one of her own to hold over her sister. Even if it was only going to last for a short time, as it seemed she was going to be rid of what she likely thought of as a problem soon. “You didn’t answer me.”

Another frown was sent in her sister’s direction, and Pleione took a long moment before she turned back toward her. The concealing charms had done their job, at least. It was impossible to tell, even when she was walking, that there was any baby bump there at all. “I don’t know, no. And I’m not going to. By next weekend, it won’t be a problem. And that means mom and dad are never going to know it was even a question either, right?” The look was a warning, but in her eyes, Atlas could see the plea. “They don’t need to.”

“I can’t believe we’re finally going to have a baby.” (Darlingrimm)

The surprise, almost awe, in Selwyn’s voice was enough to make the smile spread back across Alexis’s face as she shifted over, settling in with her head against his chest now. It was something they had given up on, something they had tried for but failed at so many times already. Alexis had started to think something was wrong with one of them, and had considered going in for testing, until she finally got that little pink plus sign. The positive proof that she was, in fact, bearing his child.

With a soft sigh, a happy one, she hummed her agreement. “It seems like it took forever. I can’t believe I’m finally pregnant. I was starting to think it would never happen.” She glanced down briefly, when one of his hands moved from her side to rest on top of her stomach, and smiled a little wider at the sight. It was such an easy affection, but they had been trying for so long already, and to finally get the result they so desperately wanted… Well, could anyone blame her being excited?

Selwyn tilted his head up and pressed a kiss against her forehead before settling back again, letting his eyes close. “We’ll get a nursery set up once you’re past month three,” he offered. “Did the doctor say when she could get you in? You told me earlier, but I was a little too distracted to actually absorb the information.” He gave a slight, embarrassed laugh at that, shaking his head at himself. So distracted by the positive news that he hadn’t listened to the important bits that came afterward.

“Mm, day after tomorrow. She pushed me in early to make sure the test was right, and to get an initial ultrasound. If you come with me, she said we can hear the baby’s heartbeat.” Alexis was most excited about that, in all honesty. Hearing the heartbeat of the tiny, living thing inside of her, the thing that was soon going to be a baby, if things went properly. She was beyond ready to hear that already, and to get the confirmation that their child was, in fact, going to be coming sometime soon.

Of course, that didn’t explain the small knot in the pit of her stomach. The small voice inside her that warned that something could still go wrong wouldn’t be so easily silenced, after all. She wouldn’t succumb to it now, though. Now was the time for excitement, and she let it drop away with a shift up to press a kiss against Selwyn’s lips. “Do you think we can get Hal to paint some nice scripture on one of the walls of the nursery or something? For good luck and all that jazz.”