Sabrina was practically burrowed into the overstuffed chair on the balcony of the hotel room. She was wrapped up in the oversized, fluffy robe and wearing the fuzzy slippers that went with it while she carefully sipped her tea. The resort was even better than what she’d imagined after hearing about it from Allison and Dan when they’d come for their honeymoon. Couples massages and five star room service was something she hadn’t really experienced before, but was happy to do again during the rest of the weekend.
The crashing of the waves against the beach added to the serenity of the place and at one point she would have thoroughly welcomed it. Right now it made her miss the constant chatter of the five year old who’d headed back to the future. There hadn’t been any early morning snuggling, no whispered requests of pancakes or waffles, none of Ripley’s laughter. She knew the little girl was back where she should be, with the two of them who were ready to be her parents and living the life she was supposed to, but that didn’t quite squash that feeling of missing a piece of their life.
Even if Sabrina also knew she was nowhere near ready to actually have Ripley fulltime in her life. The last two weeks had been amazing, a nice glimpse into their future, but there was so much she wanted to accomplish before she had a kid. Especially if it wasn’t going to be three hundred years in the future.
“Did you put in our order for lunch?” Sabrina called out, not wanting to move from her spot just yet.
"Yeah," Nick said, joining Sabrina on the balcony while wearing an equally oversized, fluffy robe and fuzzy slippers. When he'd first planned this trip, there wasn't any thought in his head that their apartment would feel empty after their surprise future child showed up, but the timing had worked out perfectly. This gave them a couple days to relax and adjust before going home.
"Should be here in half an hour," he added, looking out toward the water. "Is this how normal people vacation?" he asked. "Because I could get used to this."
“I think so? It’s also my first ever vacation.” If she didn’t count the times camping in the woods in Vallo, which after experiencing this so far, Sabrina wasn’t counting them. “We’re on a roll with doing what normal people do--getting an apartment together, you opening a business, me going to college…”
Part of that was vastly different than what she’d imagined a life with Nick would be like, but at the same time it was everything she’d wanted. Less chaos, more room for breathing and growing. “Eventually getting married and having a daughter...” She leaned back in her chair. “Not three hundred years in the future.”
Her timeline had definitely been obliterated.
Nick laughed. "Now's definitely a bit early, yeah. But I think we need to plan on having kids while Dan and Allison are still around to be grandparents."
He'd loved his brief glimpse at being a dad. Especially being a girl dad and getting to just sit there patiently as Ripley had done his hair, nails, and makeup. "Which means I get to marry you sooner rather than later too, Spellman."
He wasn't in a huge rush, but yeah, Sabrina's timeline was a bit much.
She was still pouting about her timeline being torn to pieces even if she did like the idea of Dan and Allison being around to be grandparents. From what she’d seen of them with Ripley Sabrina thought they liked the idea of it and she did want them to get that experience as well and for whatever children her and Nick eventually had to get to know them as well.
“You’re right, it does mean I get to be a Scratch sooner, which I do like the sound of,” she agreed, finally smiling a bit at the idea of that. A real wedding, not the sham of one that she’d had to endure in Hell to save the world.
“Do you think we’ll have more than just her?” Ripley hadn’t mentioned any siblings, but she was still pretty young. Maybe they would have waited between having another kid. Though, also Sabrina wasn’t sure how she felt about being pregnant for thirteen months--witch pregnancies were crazy. Maybe her mortal half would help reduce that.
"You went from we're not having kids for centuries to 'think we'll have more than one and also maybe I won't wait a century to marry you,'" Nick pointed out. "Give me a second to wrap my head around that, Spellman."
He grinned at her, as he was clearly teasing. "I don't know. I think we'll deal with that when the time comes? I mean, we both have wanted to be parents so Ripley wasn't a surprise. I think it might just depend where we are and what we want at the time? I'm not opposed to the idea, at least?"
Sabrina stuck her tongue out at him even as she reached over for him, wanting him to sit down on the chair with her.
“When I was talking about centuries for kids and marriage I thought we…” Had a future back in their own world too. There hadn’t been any reason to rush into anything. It didn’t matter if things happened in Vallo or back in Greendale because she’d been certain they would happen in one place or the other.
But they didn’t have Greendale any longer. That world was effectively shut off from them. All they had was Vallo and while Sabrina didn’t think they would endure the same fate in this world, she also didn’t want to leave much to chance either. So her timeline had to be ripped to shreds and remade.
“I just want us to have everything we’ve ever wanted, you know?” For the two of them to get that happily ever after.
"Yeah, I know. This is our chance at it since…" He didn't say it aloud, but it was the exact same thing Sabrina was thinking. "It's where we have a future to build. And while I don't want to rush into marriage just yet and definitely want to wait on kids for a while, I do want both of those things with you. I am a terrific girl dad, in case you hadn't noticed."
“I did notice.” Watching Nick with Ripley over the last few weeks had been one of the highlights of having their daughter around. He’d been great with her, not that Sabrina had ever doubted that considering how he was with Claire. But it was another thing entirely to see it with their own kid.
“She was definitely a genuinely happy kid, so I figure whatever we’re doing in the future and now means we’re getting it right.” They’d worked on their own communication issues and while there were still bumps from time to time, Sabrina felt they had come lightyears ahead of how it had been. They were stronger together, though finding their own paths in Vallo as well.