p . fitzwilliams (aftershocks) wrote in valesco, @ 2016-07-12 19:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | peter fitzwilliams, rose knightley |
WHO: Peter Fitzwilliams and Rose Knightley
WHAT: Their baby healer has some questions
WHERE: St. Mungo's
WHEN: Today!
His foot tapped, the first indicator of Peter’s impatience. They had been waiting for the healer to return with Rose’s test results for what had to be at least fifteen minutes (five), and with the concern they had been showing upon their arrival, one would think that they would be shown some urgency.
He was attempting, for Rose, for the baby, for himself, and for propriety’s sake, to keep as collected of a stance as he could. Which, for Peter, meant standing stiffly beside Rose as she was seated upon the examination table, his arms crossed save for every other minute or so when he reached out to run a hand across her back. He wished for her cool demeanor to somehow seep into him through the touch and he let out another breath of frustration.
“And you said you’re feeling fine?” Peter asked, repeated, to Rose, looking over his wife not for the first time since the appointment began. His brow furrowed; she seemed fine, demure almost, but...a healer wouldn’t want to run ‘a few more tests,’ for no reason, surely…
She was due next month, so why didn’t she look more pregnant? It was a funny thing to think about, she knew, but if she sat and positioned her hospital robes just right, she could actually make it look like…. Rose blinked, back aligning straight at Peter’s touch. She loosened her fingers from the front of her robes.
“Hm? Yes,” she responded, airy as she turned to face him over her shoulder. A light smile appeared on her lips and she reached to brush her hand along the side of Peter’s face. He worried far too much; Rose understood why, this was all a new kind of experience, but she wished he didn’t fret. She was sure, whatever it was that the healer wanted to check, everything would be fine. Her entire pregnancy thus far had been relatively anticlimactic (after a very dramatic reveal), by the book, even. In her heart, she knew she would know if something was wrong.
“You will have early wrinkles from how deeply you furrow your brow,” Rose teased, reaching up Peter’s head to poke her fingers against the side of his forehead. Lips pressing together, she leaned back to allow him to step closer. “The baby will arrive and be very confused by his wrought-looking father.”
His brows furrowed further and Peter held his gaze with Rose for a few more beats before turning to the door. Right, well, it seemed like he would have to carry the weight of whatever it was that was being tested, being revealed for the both of them.
Rose had been very serene since finding out she was pregnant, and he supposed that she would know her body better than anyone, but...! People who felt perfectly fine one day could not be the next, which was what he was hoping to avoid in this very moment of time.
“He’ll be fine,” Peter grumbled, though he didn’t push her hand away and did indeed move closer. Could he truly be blamed for concern and protectiveness over his wife and child? “Where is this heal---”
Peter’s lips pressed into a thin line as the door opened and he blinked slowly, attempting to push away his irritation with the incredibly slow healer. Her twenty (ten) minute departure was outrageous.
“Yes, he will be,” Rose agreed. She pressed her palm lightly to Peter’s cheek, dropping her hand only when Healer White entered the room again. She smiled as the healer sat down before them.
“I have to apologize,” she began, nodding quickly. In her lap, she pressed what Rose assumed was her own file to her palms. “When you said you were feeling no discomfort this late in your pregnancy, little swelling, no hot flashes, I was concerned that might be early signs of a potentially difficult birth.”
At this, Rose tilted her head and blinked. However, Healer White was quick to continue.
“But that is absolutely not a concern we need to be having! Everything is fine, perfectly normal considering your blood type. Your Veela blood, as you know, fortunately allows for something of a more comfortable pregnancy. But with no previous record of your heritage on file, I had not known about this. We have squared everything away now, though, and I suppose it’s never too bad to take extra precautionary tests, yes?”
Healer White finally looked up at the couple before her, smiling through her faint pink cheeks. She was surprised to be met with blank, vacant stares.
“Veela?” Rose echoed, clearly confused. Tilting her chin up, she glanced at Peter. He had not told her that… But if he… No, no, Healer White had said her blood, which meant… Rose felt her face twist in a funny manner, like she was working through a particularly hard Arithmancy problem with no parchment or quill. She shifting in her seat, her hand flitting over her stomach.
“Veela blood?”
That certainly wasn’t what he had been expecting.
Peter’s eyes narrowed at the healer, a request for a retest sitting on the tip of his tongue. He most certainly didn’t have Veela blood, or if he did, his family would have burned those off their tapestry as soon as it was realized and never spoken about again. The thought caused him to blink a few times to rid it and others away, and he gave a sharp nod.
“So the baby’s fine?” he asked, his hand resting on Rose’s lower back.
“Yes! Perfectly! And he’ll be beautiful! I mean, as if that wasn’t already...obvious…”
Healer White had quite quickly turned pink and she busied herself with her files. She put a hand out to Rose, “If you’d like, I could take some more samples to figure out if it’s from your mother or father’s side? It’s really quite easy and fascinating, there are a lot of healing elements that come along with Veela blood and…”
The healer’s rambles were lost to Peter. With a slight roll of his eyes he looked down at Rose.
“Are you alright?”
Rose looked up at Peter with a blank stare.
“My mother is dead,” she said, at the moment unsure how else to respond to this new information. In her ears, there was something of a dull pounding, but not in an overwhelming way. It was simply… did William know? No, of course not, he would have said something if he did. Her father too, so that meant…
It was in a stilling kind of way that she realized both her mother and her grandmother had passed away, relatively speaking, young. Her grandmother before William had been born, and her mother… Rose brushed her hand over her stomach again, her forehead furrowing for just a moment. Eventually, it relaxed and she cleared most of the worry from her face.
“Are you sure?” she asked the healer, turning her head to face her again. Healer White, upon realizing she bluntly delivered surprising news, had turned a light shade of red.
“Yes, I… I simply thought it just wasn’t on file, not that you didn’t… I should go get someone. Perhaps that can better address…”
Rose looked down as the healer stood up. Focusing on her hands, she found herself thinking over… many things. Her life thus far, why she and her brother knew so little about their grandmother, the strange unceremoniousness in such a reveal, what this meant moving forward…
Short and to the point, Peter told the healer that she could leave now, and to shut the door behind her. He moved to stand in front of Rose once they were alone and his hands went to her arms. Peter knew how heavily the death of her mother laid on Rose’s shoulders and with such a jarring reminder in a place most unexpected…
In a manner much less permanent (no matter the words that had been spewed), in a manner that he couldn’t truly justify wasting a breath speaking about, Peter had an understanding of this sort of loss. If it was painful to think of a future where your child would not be loved and adored by everyone they should be when his mother was a hateful elitist, then...thinking of how wonderful a grandmother Rose’s mother would have been…
Deciding that words would do no good in this moment, Peter pressed forward and wrapped Rose tightly to him. He kissed her forehead before he pressed his cheek to hers, thinking that out of everything, at least their son was healthy and fine.
Lost in her own thoughts, it took Rose a few moments to collect herself. Her arms limp in her lap, eyes wide and cloudy, she hadn’t realized Peter collected her in his arms until much later. After a while, a certain amount of time she had no means of measuring passed, she blinked back into focus.
Very carefully, Rose picked Peter’s arms up to slip out of them. Mindful to be delicate (she did not want him to take the act personally), she pulled away from him. Swallowing, she reached for her normal clothes. Her father would undoubtedly be home at this time, but William…?
“I have to talk to William,” she said as she inched around Peter. “And my father. I don’t know what they… know, or don’t know. Maybe there are some things in storage that can better explain…” Rose trailed off, not really knowing what she was saying, simply that she knew it very important she speak with her brother as soon as possible.