Who: Penny & George Where: Their flat When: December 21st, 2002 (backdated) What: Penny has a surprise for her husband. Rating: Low Status: Complete
She'd begun to suspect it even before her missed period, but that had more or less confirmed it. Still, she hadn't wanted to bring it up without at least confirming it, and setting an appointment at St. Mungo's had been more or less out of the question. She'd been impossibly busy of late, something she knew that she and George shared considering all the work he and his brother had put into getting the store off the ground again after its grand reopening.
So she'd decided to get creative. They'd already begun to decorate their flat above the store for the season, but one of her reasons for their putting up the tree as early as they did was, inarguably, her plan to surprise him. Not being able to schedule an appointment during her non-work hours had meant that she'd resorted, in this case, to getting a muggle pregnancy test-- or three-- to tide them over at least until her first prenatal exam and get her a confirmation of her suspicions.
And when all three tests turned out to be positive-- all of them fashioned with a small view window that read pregnant or not pregnant depending on the results-- she'd taken one, wrapped it up as a present, and placed it under the tree for George.
"You know," she started, carrying their tea over to the dining room table as she cast a glance over to the tree, "I think I saw something under there for you already."
&
To be honest, George was more than happy to get into the holiday spirit. Something about decorating the flat, after not having lived in it for several years, had been something of a renewal. Even though they’d cleaned it and cleared the dust out of it when they first got in, it was only just starting to feel like home again (something he was sure was just a side effect of being on the run for so long). It was also their first holiday since being pardoned, their first one they could truly spend as a family in a long time, and his first one with Penny--let alone their first one married.
George had been at the table with a notebook, pen in hand (it was more convenient than constantly re-inking a quill), redesigning the ear he’d been working on. He’d been determined to have two ears by Christmas, something he’d been working on and testing slowly. His trial in Diagon with the children running about had taught him quite a bit about feedback and volume control. He grinned as Penny brought in the tea and shot a look at the tree.
“You’ve honestly got a present over there for me? Well, that silly, you know I’m going to snoop the moment you leave me alone in the flat. You’ve got to get better than that if you want things to stay secret.” He winked at her playfully, and didn’t even hide the fact that he was looking to spot it near the tree, to start figuring out what it could be.
&
Well, now that she'd laid the implications bare for him, all she had to do was wait for him to take the bait and open it. Truth be told, she had expected him to rush the present straight away, but it seemed as far as rule-following was concerned, she had established a fairly solid foundation. Well. If they were going to have a baby-- final decision on that would still fall to George, of course; this was hardly a decision she intended to make unilaterally-- one of them would have to be the one to establish and enforce rules. And something already told her (with some small measure of certainty) that it would likely be her.
"You should snoop it right now," she grinned, moving to take a sip of her tea. "You have special permission to open this particular present... a tiny bit early." It was only fair. If she was going to bait and tease him with gifts, the least she could do is let him open them, too.
&
George put his pen down, taking a long sip of the tea she’d brought him, considering for a moment how this could backfire on him. A side effect of living with Fred for so long, most things just seemed like the beginnings of a prank. But he stood, with a grin, and kissed the top of her head as he passed her. He zero’d in on the small present as he made his way towards the tree, picking up the small box and shaking it by his head. He couldn’t think of anything that would be small enough.
He moved closer to Penny as he held the gift, beginning to pull away the paper as he reached the table, wanting to be near his wife when he opened it. Opening the present a bit sloppily, he pulled out the small stick, thoroughly confused for a few moments. Then his eyes moved over the lettering. ‘pregnant’.
He gripped the test in his hand, looking up at Penny, his mouth hung open in shock, his eyes raking over her carefully. She was pregnant?! His wife was pregnant!
“Penny?” His voice was hardly above a whisper, his eyebrows raised, “I-- are you sure?”
&
Thankfully for the whole world-- which likely wouldn't have been able to handle that amount of mischief-- Fred and George were a rare breed, and Penny had never been particularly skillful when it came to pranking anyone, let alone her husband. Now, if April 1st approached and it turned out that George wanted her help pranking his brother... that would be a different story, but as it was, she was unlikely to try and spring a trap of her own devising on him, let alone at Christmastime.
She was doing her best to hold in the sheer amount of excitement that was coursing through her as he picked up the gift and unwrapped it-- for once, all too slowly for her tastes-- her face splitting into a huge grin as realization seemed to strike him, Penny quick to nod.
"I'm sure," she laughed, just beaming at her husband. "I took three muggle tests-- I mean, I haven't gone to Mungo's yet, because I wanted us to get to do that together, but... I've been suspecting it for a bit and three tests certainly don't lie."
&
George beamed. His wife was pregnant. They were going to have a little baby. He and Penny and their little family. The idea was something so incredible that he hadn’t even dared dream that sort of thing yet, now with how things were in the world, but it was the most exciting news he’d ever received.
It didn’t take long for him to cross the room again, and pulling his wife from her chair as carefully as he could. He wrapped her in a hug and grinned wildly. He has so many questions, so many thoughts, racing through his head at the time, but all he could do was laugh.
“Penny,” He sighed happily, “beautiful, we’re going to have a baby.” He repeated, almost having a hard time comprehending such a thing. He pressed a kiss to her check, “How long have you known? When can we go to the healer?” He was practically bouncing.
“Merlin, I love you so much.”
&
She had to admit, she'd been a bit nervous that he wouldn't be all too keen about the idea of her being pregnant quite this soon into their marriage, but it seemed that she'd vastly underestimated his excitement at the prospect of fatherhood. Penny had been under the impression that this would be a Christmas present for him, after all, but it seemed that he'd turned the whole thing around on her and gifted her with his enthusiasm, instead. Feeling herself tear up, Penny let out a soft laugh as she pulled her arms around him. Merlin, she wasn't typically one to get particularly emotional, but, then again, this was hardly a typical situation.
"I suspected it for a couple of weeks but I didn't-- I mean, I didn't want to say anything and then turn out to have been wrong..." And tests only began to work after a certain point in time, after all. The last thing she'd wanted to do was jump the gun and prematurely draw a conclusion that would later on only lead to disappointment. "But I made an appointment with a healer on Monday, so if you want to come with me..." He would be more than welcome to accompany her.
"I love you, too," she whispered, leaning her forehead to his as she grinned. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're happy about this, too."
&
George kept his arms wound tightly around his wife. Sure, they were having a baby pretty quickly into their marriage, and sure, their marriage had come pretty quickly in their relationship, but everything with Penny just felt right. This may not seem ideal to some, but George couldn’t have been happier with how things were turning out. He pressed a kiss to Penny’s forehead.
“I would love to go with you. To any of them. All of them even. Doesn’t matter where or when.” He smiled at her. “We’re really going to have to work on getting the flat all prepared.” He laughed, a bubbling happy laugh, “Of course I’m happy, I’m with you.”
&
It couldn't have mattered less to her if others thought they were moving quickly; she just cared that it felt right and good to the two of them. That was all that mattered, wasn't it?
Well-- it would be the three of them, now. That thought was thrilling all in its own right.
Beaming at him, she nodded. Decorating the spare room for a little one would be fun if they did it together, she knew at least that much. Picking out themes and colors... her husband was already such a creative man, it only seemed natural that he'd be phenomenal at this, too. "Good. I'm glad. George, this... it makes me so happy."
&
George kept grinning, he couldn’t have stopped if he tried. The world around them, in that moment, didn’t matter at all. He tucked Penny’s hair behind her ear carefully, swooping down to press a soft kiss on her lips. “You make me so happy.” He told her.
“When should we tell everyone?” There was so much going on, it was hard to know when the right time to announce this sort of thing was. “Everyone will be ecstatic, I bet.”
&
Leaning her forehead to his, another soft laugh bubbled out of her throat, Penny unable to help her joy.
"We'll want to wait at least until I'm getting closer to the second trimester and it's more for sure." It wasn't a particularly pleasant thought, she could admit at least that, but... the last thing she wanted was to tell everyone only for them to lose the baby. "But then, definitely. Late January, do you think? I'm sure Ron will be especially happy to know that Ronnie will have a friend to play with."
&
George held her close to him, his arms squeezing her gently as his head rested against hers. "That sounds great, Penny, whatever you think is best. I'll be right here next to you the whole time, you know. Every appointment, every--- I don't know, every everything, yeah? Me, you and baby." He told her gently, smiling softly. "I can't wait to find out more."