Who: Scorpius Malfoy & Carson Beckett What: Having a discussion about babies and pods When: Friday afternoon Where: Their house Warnings: None Status: Completed Gdoc
The kids showing up hadn’t been a shocker, it happened every so often, and they were strangely used to it by this point. At least they had gotten lucky enough that Hazel kept showing up when they were both in town. Of course, this time Hazel had surprised at least him by knowing where everything was and pointing out a few stores that he hadn’t known about yet. Which wasn’t hard with how big Madison Valley had gotten.
The real shocker had been the conversation he’d just had with his daughter before she took the other kids off to lunch. He was still sitting at the table on the back patio pondering what the hell they were going to do with the information, when Carson came home. And his response to his other half’s greeting was to pour the other man a generous amount of fire whiskey in response.
"I had an enlightening conversation with Hazel today."
Nothing good ever really started with that sentence.
***
Work had gotten a little more interesting since everything had changed, which meant that Carson was a mix of exasperated and exhausted as he walked in the door. It didn’t take him long to locate Scorpius… and even less time for his expression to turn wary.
Because being greeted by a glass of fire whiskey was never a good start to a conversation.
And neither was that sentence.
"Dare I ask?" He took a sip of his drink. "And what are the odds of her having been telling the truth?"
It felt like a valid question. Their daughter did have a tendency towards being a troll. A very calm, very even-tempered troll, but a troll nonetheless.
***
It was a very valid point because Hazel was a Slytherin through and through. (And so was Carson if anyone bothered to ask Scorpius.) Not to mention a hell of a secret keeper.
"According to her, this is the Madison Valley she grew up in. She wouldn't say much more, except that we really needed to do a full tour of the hospital, especially the Birth Center." Which wasn't at all terrifying for him to consider. Then again, it was so far into the future that he couldn't dismiss any of the wild ideas in his head.
***
"Well, that’s… helpful? Maybe? I think." He was reasonably sure now that she wasn’t just randomly trolling them, because he’d heard enough about the hospital to know that some aspects of the medical care now available were a little… unique.
"Does explain why she never actually said anything before, though. Little brat, playing the long game on us or something."
And he adored her anyway.
***
"Either the long game, or she didn’t want to get our hopes up." Because Hazel could be kind, caring, and considerate when the situation called for it.
"And I do believe it, because I messaged Margo about setting up the potion for her again, and apparently the hospital cured her of that little issue." And really made him wonder what else they could cure in this place.
"I guess my question is, do we just go when we feel like we’re ready for that, or do we ask her for a date?" Both options were equal parts exciting and terrifying. "Or do we not do it at all?"
It wasn’t even a thing they had seriously considered until now.
***
"I’m thinking… I’m thinking just go when we feel like we’re ready," Carson said after a moment’s genuine thought – because this was a situation that required honest consideration. "And see how things go."
Because he didn’t want to overthink it and push them into something they weren’t ready for, but he was more than okay with the idea of children. Especially if it meant they would be getting Hazel as a result. Oh, there was always the at least slight possibility it would be someone else, you could never completely trust things in this town, but odds were high it’d be Hazel.
***
"Come on, you know it would be hilarious to make her babysit herself if she shows up again." It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened in this town. And probably multiple times this visit.
He smiled then, shaking his head. "When we do this, you know a few people are going to be asking other questions as well. We’ll have to deal with fending them off of those issues." They were good at dodging questions when they wanted to, and that was more often than not.
"Seriously though, if you said you wanted to go down and do it tomorrow, I would. And the best part is that we wouldn’t even have to tell anyone until the day we brought her home."
***
"You know, I feel like there’s at least a few people who wouldn’t be surprised in the least if we did that," Carson said with a laugh. He wasn’t wrong, either. They tended to keep their private lives private, for the most part. Alright, so Jill had that weird knack for knowing exactly what was going on, but that was more a Jill thing than anything else.
"But… it’s definitely a thing to consider."
Which was Carson-speak for "It’s happening at some point."