Joanna Podmore is a Scrimgeour (paintthis) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-01-18 01:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | joanna podmore, rufus scrimgeour |
Who: Joanna Podmore and Rufus Scrimgeour
When: BACKDATED to 16 January 1980; Before Sturgis finds out.
Where: Joanna's flat.
What: Joanna tells Rufus he's going to be a daddy.
Rating: PG
The day had been a whirlwind. Joanna was grateful that Lydia had helped her get an appointment with a midwife and for coming to that very appointment with her. Now she knew. In September, she was going to have a baby.
As she had already told Lydia, she wasn't ready. Though Joanna's definition of ready was different from everyone else's definition of ready in this situation. Joanna didn't want to do this on her own. She didn't want to end up like Lydia and Sturgis.
Of course, that wasn't something to be decided right away. Which was why she had to talk to Rufus now. Not about their relationship, though they would have to talk about it eventually, but about the baby. He had to know that she was pregnant. So she wrote a note to him in her journal, saying that she needed to talk to him.
Rufus felt a mild sense of unease as he closed his journal and headed off to meet Joanna. He told himself it was stupid to react that way to words on a page but something about it was making his instincts jangle. 'Talk' could mean so many things, some good, some bad, some sort of in between. Then again, this was Joanna so he doubted it was going to be bad. It wasn't like she was going to announce she was a Death Eater or anything... mostly because that would be a phenomenally stupid things to do to an Auror and Joanna was anything but stupid.
And now he was going off on mental tangents. Probably this was nothing more than the fact she'd met someone and the 'benefits' part of their friendship was now off. He refused to think about how that made him feel. If Joanna was happy, what right did he have to be anything other than happy for her?
He arrived at her place and knocked on the door. Whatever she wanted to talk about, he'd find out soon enough. No point borrowing trouble before then.
Joanna didn't have long to wait before she heard the knock on her door. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before opening the door. "Hello," Joanna greeted, hoping that her smile was at least convincing. "Come in." She knew he had to be wondering what was going on. If he had done the same thing, she would have been wondering. A part of Joanna wished she could have told him already, but telling him that she was pregnant over the journals didn't seem right. "Would you like anything?"
Rufus walked into the apartment, his instincts jangling... or was that his nerves. It could have gone either way. Or possibly it was both. He put a halt to his mental rambling as he sat down on the couch and smiled up at Joanna. He knew there was probably a hint of wariness and concern lurking in his eyes even if he had managed to school his face into something fairly neutral. "Coffee would be great," he said, rubbing his hands together for a moment then offering a slight smile and a small joke. "I'm a couple of cups short of my usual daily allowance."
"I can get you some coffee. It'll be just a couple of minutes." Joanna chuckled at his small joke. "You can have as much as you like too, as long as I'm not putting you over your allowance." She went to the kitchen to make the coffee. "Just coffee? I think I have some biscuits or something, if you want." She didn't want anything, but she decided to offer anyway.
As soon as the coffee finished brewing, Joanna poured out a cup for Rufus and brought it over to him on the couch and sat down. "Thank you for coming over. I have something that I need to tell you." Joanna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Rufus, I'm-I'm...." Why was this so difficult? She had had no problem with saying that she thought she was pregnant to Lydia. She took another deep breath. "I'm pregnant, Rufus."
"No, just the coffee thanks," Rufus said in reply. He'd had a late lunch so he wasn't hungry at all. He chuckled. "I'd hate to think what I'd be like if I had too much coffee. Then again Sturgis and Edgar seem to live on the stuff even more than I do and it's done them no harm."
He accepted the cup when Joanna brought it out and took a sip despite the fact it was really too hot as she began to explain why she'd asked him to come over. When she got to the big reveal, the first thing that came to Rufus' suddenly blank mind was that he was glad he'd swallowed that sip of coffee because choking on it or spitting it out again would be a particularly bad reaction all things told.
He stared at Joanna with what he was sure was an exceptionally gormless expression then put the cup down on the coffee table with suddenly shaking hands. He didn't bother asking 'Are you sure?' or worse 'Is it mine?' because this was Joanna. Of course she was sure and of course it was his.
"I... you... wha... really?" he stammered before yanking himself to a halt so that he could regain his command of the English language. The reality of her statement was sinking in. She was pregnant with his kid. He was going to be a father. Which was great! And incredibly scary.
He broke out into a wide and probably somewhat idiotic smile. "I... that's great!" The smile slipped slightly and his eyes widened. "Isn't it? I mean it is, right?"
"Edgar and Sturgis are special. Especially my brother." Joanna remarked. She was going to have to tell Sturgis. Probably Edgar too if only to make sure that all was well in the DMLE.
All Joanna could do was nod her head. She had expected him to ask her questions and none of them came. But it didn't surprise her that he didn't. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't have told him anything if it hadn't been the case. The smile she saw on his face reassured her. "It is if you think so. I'm still unsure at the moment. I mean, it is great. I want to be a mum someday and this just came sooner than I expected."
Joanna did think it was great, now that she knew that he thought it was great too. "So where does that leave us? Do we try a relationship again and try to make it work?"
Rufus leaned forward, his smile returning. "Yeah, of course it's great. I mean... the idea of being a Dad is scary as all hell and I promise I'm going to do my best to be a good one." Which he realsied would mean trying to cut down his hours at work and not taking as many risks. That would be interesting to try and do but he was pretty determined.
"I..." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked rueful. "I... I'd like to. I mean I know I was an idiot last time and you were well within your rights to dump my arse and I'm just relieved we were able to stay friends but... I'd like to try again. If you would." Actually what he really wanted to do was ask her to marry him but even he realised that it was way too soon and even their previous relationship hadn't gotten to that stage. It was the traditionalist, slightly gauche male part of him saying that.
He looked wryly amused. "I promise I'll do better this time and feel free to kick my arse if I start being an idiot."
"I'm sure you'll be a great dad. I don't think I could have picked anyone better to be the father of my child. Before you even think it, I did not plan this." Joanna said. She didn't want him thinking that she'd gotten herself pregnant on purpose, not that he would.
"Yeah, you were." Even though she had dumped him, it didn't stop her from wondering what could have happened if she had stayed. "But I sometimes think I was an idiot too. So I would like to try again. Maybe we'll have better luck this time." She was relieved that he hadn't brought up marriage. Although she wanted to get married and to do it before having a kid, Joanna didn't want to solely because she was pregnant. Joanna smirked as she leaned closer to him. "I'll keep that in mind. Hopefully you won't be too much of an idiot."
Rufus actually blushed at the compliment and hoped he could as good a job as his brother... which then reminded him he was going to have to tell Diarmad and Lizzy and his parents. He shook his head and smiled. "I know you didn't. I guess this kid was just meant to be."
He beamed rather fatuously when she agreed to try again though he knew at some point he was likly going to have a meltdown about this. Not yet though. Not even close. "Great," he said for lack of any more coherent response then bounded out of his seat and around to where she was sitting. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up into an enthusiastic hug then kissed her.
"We are going to be great parents." He laughed as he looked down at her. "That's what we've got to keep telling ourselves. We are going to be great parents because if Sturgis can do it so can we." He froze for a brief moment then winced and smiled wryly. "He's going to kill me, isn't he?"
Joanna smiled back. "Seems that way." Still she wished the pregnancy had come at a better time. His enthusiasm was contagious, at least temporarily. With each minute Joanna felt better about the whole thing. Mostly, she was glad that he was accepting this so well. "Are you happy?" she asked after he kissed her. She had a feeling that he was, but she wanted to hear him say it to her.
"If he can do it, I'm sure we'll have no problem." Joanna wasn't sure how to answer that. "For my sake, he had better not. I plan to tell him today too. Not exactly looking forward to that conversation." He was going to overreact, she just knew it. However, the sooner she told her brother, the sooner she wouldn't have to worry about him not knowing. "Don't worry, Rufus. I'll make sure that he won't kill you. Sturgis might end up dead himself if he did that."
Rufus looked surprised then he barely stopped himself from smacking his own forehead. "Yes! I'm very happy. I'm happy, I'm surprised, I suspect I'm going to be really freaked out as soon as it all sinks in. I'm also probably going to ask a thousand stupid questions over the next few weeks." He grinned. "And don't be surprised if you get a really, really enthusiastic owl from my Mum. She's going to be thrilled. She always told me I was an idiot to let you go."
He looked amused. He suspected he was going to have to at least deal with a lot of yelling and arm waving and so on from Sturgis but he didn't say anything. It was a man sort of thing and Joanna was only likely to call them idiots. But that was what men did from time to time... act like idiots. He figured that as long as they didn't exchange actual punches, they were doing well.
He raised his eyebrows as he looked at Joanna. "So... want a girl? A boy? Dont care as long as it's healthy?"
"You're doing better than me! I've been freaking out since last week. Before I even knew I was pregnant." Granted, her freaking out today wasn't as bad as it had been last week when she was talking to Lydia. "No question is a stupid question. Unless you ask the same question over and over again." Joanna laughed. "Oh, I like your Mum. I bet she'll be very happy to see the two of us together. And I think future holidays will be a little less awkward." She still thought that the recent holidays had been a bit awkward. But speaking of family brought to mind telling other people. "When do you think we should tell our friends?"
Joanna hadn't thought much about what she wanted when it came to the baby. Of course, she hadn't expected Rufus to ask her that question. "Uh. I don't know." This was something she had to think about. "Right now I think all I care about is for the baby to be healthy. I'm sure I'm going to love it, whatever it is. What do you want?" If he had preference, she hoped that maybe she'd have that one.
"Well, I've only just found out." Rufus grinned. "Give me a bit of time and I'm sure I'll join you in the freaking out. And no stupid questions yet. I'm sure they'll come though." He laughed softly, remembering the pointed comments that had been made in the days after Hogmanay. Comments that had come from practically everyone in the family until he'd gone and sought refuge with the kids... though even then he'd been asked, quite innocently, whether 'Auntie Joanna' was going to be around more often. "Uh... I don't know." He looked a little baffled. "Is there some traditional time to wait or can we just shout out to everyone 'Hey! We're having a kid!'?"
Now that made him stop cold as he remembered the discussion he'd had with Sturgis about the dangers that Edgar and Frank might be facing because of their arrest and successful prosecution of the junior version of Crouch. He'd been involved in the deaths of both Blacks. Was he in the same danger? Surely not. Besides there was no evidence to suggest the Death Eaters would go after family. No, Joanna and their baby would be fine.
"I don't care. A boy would be great but so would a girl." He grinned wickedly. "I reckon I wouldn't stand a chance against you and a daughter working together." He pretended to look terrified. "Maybe I should hope for a boy!"
"Do let me know when you get there. It's awfully lonely freaking out without you freaking out along with me." Joanna laughed as well. "I hope the stupid questions are ones I can answer. We'd be a right mess if I can't answer them. Might have to drag our Mums into the conversation." Joanna shook her head. "I've no idea. We could ask someone who already has a kid to get the answer. Or we could do whatever we want to let people know. I don't know."
Joanna laughed at the thought having a daughter. "Maybe you should hope for a boy. I am certain you couldn't stand a chance between me and our daughter. I doubt you could say no to her. She'll be daddy's little girl and have you wrapped around her finger." She grinned. She could picture that happening. "But if we have a boy, I'm sure he'll want to be just like you. Then I'll have to worry even more than I do now."
Rufus snorted with amusement. "You'll probably be the first to know and whatever I say will possibly be somewhat incoherent, potentially offensive and probably very stupid. Feel free to tell me I'm being an idiot." He paused and sobered slightly. "I promise not to get drunk though until the worst of the freaking out is over." Actually he was going to try and cut down on the drinking over all. He didn't like the idea of drinking as much as he had been recently around his own child and this way he figured he had several months to get used to the idea.
He gave a very silly-looking grin at the idea of a little girl who looked a lot like Joanna wrapping him round his finger or a son following in his footsteps. "I kind of like that idea. Both of them." He sat down again and patted the seat beside him. "Hey, we've got something serious to talk about." He paused for dramatic effect that was slightly ruined by the laughter in his eyes. "Names!"
"Uh huh. I will tell you when you're being an idiot. You might hear it often." Joanna told him. "Though, I might take offense if I am not the first to know. Make sure that is the case." She appreciated his promise not to get drunk until later on. It was best to keep a clear head about all of this. "Good. We've got to be more responsible now. Especially me." She knew how to be responsible, but she had always made fun a priority. She'd have to stop that now.
Joanna liked her other idea as well, though at the moment a daughter was preferable. "I do too. We'll find out soon enough what we're going to have and then we can plan accordingly." Joanna sat down and rested her head on his shoulder. "Isn't it a bit early to be talking about names? Although, I do like Jennifer for a girl and Jason for a boy. Still like Rufus, but that would just be confusing."