「ℴphelia → ωilkes」 (primrosepath) wrote in valesco,
@ 2009-01-23 23:35:00

Entry tags:

[ Grayson ]
So, this wasn't awkward at all.

In fact, it was so not awkward, that Ophelia was literally fidgeting in her chair every thirty seconds or so, and hadn't gotten through more than a paragraph of the book she had been attempting to read for the past fifteen minutes. Suppressing the urge to groan in frustration, she moved again, pulling her legs up next to her and repositioning herself in the library's large armchair, while at the same time attempting to keep from glancing up at her boyfriend--no, husband, husband now--just across the room.

In truth, this shouldn't be this awkward. Sitting around in the library after dinner with Grayson, reading a book, had never been weird. Or, at least it hadn't been weird until they'd come home from the honeymoon, she'd promptly found out that she was carrying a child she wasn't sure he wanted, and the best advice she'd gotten about the situation was Tell him. Soon. No, none of that was helping in the least, nor was his signature cool and serious attitude that had made fulfilling that advice deathly frightening every time she had even thought about it.

So she continued to sit. And fidget. And fake like she was actually paying any attention at all to the novel in her hands. And hope beyond all hope that he wasn't going to ask questions.

Oy.

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-25 10:35 pm UTC (link)

The problem was that while Grayson Wilkes was quite cool and serious most of the time, he also was not particularly patient when it came to figuring out what someone else was thinking -- especially when he thought that they were acting very strange.

He furrowed his brows and glanced over his own book to where Ophelia was shifting (for the fifth bloody time in about as many minutes) herself in the chair. After a moment of consideration, he closed the book completely and walked over to her, setting a hand on her shoulder and arching his brow.

Hopefully this wasn't about the honeymoon, because he'd thought it had gone quite incredibly well. "Do you think we ought to be getting more comfortable chairs? You aren't being terribly subtle about it if that's what you're trying to get at." Because Grayson honestly couldn't think of any other reason for her to be squirming like some sort of twelve-year old child in detention with a Hogwarts Professor.

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 01:16 am UTC (link)

The truth was that she hadn't really heard Grayson approaching until he was right over her (damn him), and she blinked up at him in confusion as he set his hand down on her. Then, he opened his mouth to speak and---oy, just what she'd wanted. To have this conversation now of all times.

Well, there wasn't really a time that she could think of that was preferable, since she'd really rather have this conversation never, but now? She'd hardly even thought of what to say--or do, given that his reaction was less than wonderful. Maybe she could divert him, get a little more time to think about it and then come back to things more prepared.

"No, no, the chairs are very comfortable. Actually, there's something else--I need to tell you something." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself... which maybe was better, but she hadn't been able to stop herself from sounding guilty and worried either, which was definitely not a plus.

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-26 01:21 am UTC (link)

Definitely not a plus. It wasn't as if people could blame him for being a tad bit paranoid with Ophelia since their first wedding hadn't actually gone through because she'd been keeping her doubts for him for several weeks beforehand, not that he wouldn't have blown a gasket in her general direction if she had told him in the first place. He pursed his lips as he shifted to lean against the arm of the chair, more to the side of her than behind her now.

At least he wasn't skipping straight to yelling -- that wouldn't fit his usual intensity anyway. After a moment or two of contemplation, he sighed and rubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw.

"And what is it that you need to tell me?" Hopefully she'd have enough sense to cut to the chase with him and not try to dance around a vague answer, because that would just be ... well, annoying.

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 01:32 am UTC (link)

She knew exactly what he was thinking right then, and he didn't have to give her any hints for her to understand. Their relationship had never been particularly traditional (or smooth for that matter), and the fact they had actually gotten married was like a miracle--so right now, that she was acting like this right now after everything... Ophelia knew what he was thinking.

But was it better to have him think that, or to be quick about it and chance--well, she didn't know what he'd do if he wasn't thrilled about her news, but knowing him it wouldn't be ideal, so... Did she want to quicken whatever it was?

Considering what she knew of his patience, she figured the best way was to take the bandaid approach--do it quickly and maybe the sting would be worse.

Ophelia took a deep breath (and nearly begged him to take one too) and forced her head up to tilt her gaze in his direction. "I think you should know that you're going to be a father."

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-26 01:45 am UTC (link)

...well.

That was about as far from what he had been expecting as she could possibly have gotten (except perhaps for her telling him that she was going to be eloping with his brother the day after tomorrow or something like that). The fact that she'd been so concerned about telling him made it absolutely certain in his mind that he'd done the right thing not telling her that he already technically had a child, so he was really becoming a father for the second time.

Grayson wasn't exactly sure how he felt about all of this. On the one hand, he understood that a child would cement his 'normal' life a good deal and make it easier for him to make excuses when it came to his work ... but on the other hand, well.

He did like Gwen, and if they had a child that was anything like the sweet girl perhaps it would be something that he could tolerate. His face remained expressionless while he thought (it probably felt like hours to Ophelia, but it was really perhaps a minute) until he half-smirked and slid his hand down to squeeze hers gently.

"Well. Excellent, then."

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 02:02 am UTC (link)

Although she hadn't meant them to, her eyes must have widened to the size of saucers as Ophelia let out the breath she'd been holding throughout his excruciatingly long silence. But as he squeezed her hand, all of her worries seemed to melt away and--really? He was really okay with this? Excellent, he had said, and even if it had sounded more like he was taking care of business than accepting the news of his firstborn, it was more than she could have hoped for.

Hell, they'd been married for 11 days, just under two weeks, and she was telling him that newlywed life was already over. 'Excellent' was more than she had dreamed of.

"Really?" she asked, allowing herself to smile now. It was hard not to, because now that she no longer had to be worried about his reaction, Ophelia could think for the first time about how this affected her. It was weird, to realize she hadn't yet considered whether she even wanted a child or not... actually, she wasn't sure what the answer to that was yet. But at least he was on board, that was half the battle right there. "I know it's sudden and a shock and---I just found out and I haven't been sure what to say to you and---and it's a girl, I didn't say, but it's a girl."

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-26 02:20 am UTC (link)

That was probably for the best. A little girl he could protect and take care of well enough -- with a boy he feared that he'd probably just want to whip him into shape in order to serve the Dark Lord and he was fairly certain that Ophelia would frown upon that much (another reason he was glad that he wasn't going to be acknowledging his son anytime soon).

She looked happy that he hadn't shouted or something like that. "...I suppose this means we should look into expanding some of the rooms of the house." Because he was not going to have the baby's crib in their bedroom or his study or something like that. Grayson smoothed his hand over the back of hers and tried not to think too hard on the fact that a child meant that Ophelia was probably going to turn into one of those moody pregnant women who yelled all of the time and -- actually, he could probably handle the yelling.

"And yes, really. You sound ... shocked."

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 02:51 am UTC (link)

Despite that this was completely true, she shook her head. "No, not shocked---well, I guess I was just expecting worse," she said. "I know this is hardly the most desirable timing, and we've never talked about this sort of thing before, so I was a bit in the dark on what to expect."

From him, or for herself. Merlin, now that she was thinking about it... what was she supposed to do with a kid of her own? She loved Luciana and Gwen, but they weren't hers, to be with and take care of all the time and to teach right and wrong (oh, wouldn't that be an interesting lesson with Grayson for a father) and--everything. It was such responsibility that hadn't hit her until just this moment, and which she imagined would probably hit her even harder when she had this little girl actually here and in her arms.

Merlin, wouldn't this take some getting used to? "I suppose we should--expand, I mean. And we'll have to buy a lot of things, new furniture and clothes and---everything." Heaven's sake, this was a big deal, wasn't it? Ophelia ran her free hand back through her hair and shook her head. "And a name, we'll have to name her too, and read on what to expect and... Oy, I hadn't realized there's so much to do."

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-26 02:56 am UTC (link)

Grayson paused.

"To be fair, we do have ... several months, if my understanding of the female anatomy and child-birthing is to be believed." It wouldn't take all that long to prepare for a child to come and live here, right? He'd just get the house elves on things and everything would be fine. He glanced to her absently, noticing that Ophelia seemed to be getting increasingly more distressed as she spoke out loud.

He slid an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her lips, intense but brief. "I would say foremost is telling the family." Or both sides of the family, as it were, but he really only enjoyed the company of the girls from Ophelia's side of the family.

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 04:48 am UTC (link)

Oh, and they had to tell the family. Of everything, that scared Ophelia the most--between Ioan, who still hadn't gotten over that she had married Grayson after everything, and his nutcase sisters who not only hadn't gotten over that Grayson had married her, but were out for her blood as well... "I think we'll need nine months just to do that alone," she groaned. Well, maybe not if he did the talking and she never got left alone in a room with Daniella and Juliana for the rest of her life, but that was best case scenario.

Lia leaned against him, and she thought she felt a headache coming on from somewhere. "I believe the best course of action would be to do this as delicately as possible." After all, if his sisters acted anything like he had after finding out about Daniella's pregnancy, then they were in for a bumpy ride. "And possibly from far away, or at least in a room where there are no objects that can be used as weapons--and don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

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glovesmandatory
2009-01-26 04:52 am UTC (link)

"I don't think that Amery and I would come to blows over a pregnancy," he mused with an arched brow. There really was no point in denying the fact that he and his brother had a very active relationship with each other, after all.

He smoothed his hand through Ophelia's hair slowly, allowing her to lean against him while he thought. Grayson didn't know if it was a particularly good idea to tell them over the journals -- and he did want to tell Ophelia's brother in person because he knew it was going to make the other man have a near-heart attack. He nodded, glancing down at Lia once more.

"Would you like to head upstairs for now?" She looked like she could use some time to lay down, and women were supposed to get very delicate during pregnancy despite being so loud, right?

Right.

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primrosepath
2009-01-26 05:07 am UTC (link)

"Well, it is good to know that one of your siblings is" not completely fucking insane "... able to keep a level head over such issues."

Yes, she really didn't know what she'd do if Amery weren't around to help level out the amount of craziness that came from Daniella and Juliana. Of course, that didn't make family dinners any more fun to sit through, did it?

Lia looked up and smiled, trying to push the idea of telling their family to the back of her head for the meantime. This was supposed to be happy, right? Despite all of the uncertainty and weird family they'd have to deal with, they were supposed to be happy, so. Happy, that wasn't so hard to do when she tried.

"Actually, yes, I'd love to go upstairs," she said. "I think I need to unwind a little and stop thinking so much."

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