RP: Surprise! Who: Coop/Gen, Gen's parents (NPC) When: Thursday, July 13 Where: Her parents home in Provence, France What: Gen and Cooper want to tell her parents about their engagement in person! Warnings: Very light references to the bad things that happened to Addi and Coop.
When Genevieve had messaged her this morning to let her know she and Coop would be coming for a visit around lunchtime and to please make sure that he papa came home from work for it, Mabel had been immediately suspicious. It was far too soon for a pregnancy announcement, as she knew they'd only been back together for a few weeks. Still, she'd prepped some things for lunch and made sure Aldrich knew he was to be home for the visit.
When the couple arrived, Mabel greeted them both with enthusiastic hugs and kisses to their cheeks, groaning laughingly when Coop's hug felt just this side of bone bruising. Aldrich hugged Gen and then shook Coop's hand before they made their way out back to the lunch she'd set out on the patio. It was then that Mabel noticed the ring. "Genevieve! Is that...?!" she shrieked in a way that seemed to defy her age.
Gen laughed and nodded, holding her hand out for her mum to get a better look at the ring on her finger. "It is!" she confirmed, squeezing Coop's hand with her other one.
♡
Being with her family again felt so good, it was so right. It was being with family again. The moment was made even better by the fact that he knew they really were going to be his family soon. He was back with Genevieve, for good this time. They were going to be married, she was his soulmate.
He had been a little too enthusiastic about hugging mum when he came in but they were used to him. This wasn’t the first time that he had been overly excited to see them, he knew it was likely easily brushed off as excitement over the fact that he was with them again and they were a family again. It was on the walk though that mum had seen the ring and Cooper was grinning from ear to ear. The only reason he had been able to keep his mouth shut for so long was the fact he hadn’t said a word, he had an urge then to reassure them that they were doing this right. He was constantly worried that everyone might think they needed to be reassured of that.
That squeeze to his hand was a distraction from that, his grin growing wider. “I thought a smaller more intimate proposal was in order this time." Otherwise he likely would have given a warning.
♡
Gen laughed lightly at Coop's words, shaking her head. "It was still so over-the-top and perfectly him," she assured her parents as they settled into seats around the table on the patio. "He took me out to dinner--just a normal date night, I'd thought--and afterward we took a walk and when we reached the building where we'd first met--where that fashion show was that I took Addi too, remember?--anyway, there were flowers and fairy lights, and he set this ridiculous song to play that he's always associated with me for some strange reason," she teased, glancing at Coop then with her nose wrinkled cutely.
"And of course he pulled me into a dance, right there on the steps to the building," she continued the story, "singing along as he went." And she loved how un-self-conscious he was, how ridiculous he allowed himself to be not only with her but in general. She just loved him completely. "And then he got down on one knee and had this whole speech about us being soulmates and the life he wanted to build with me and asked me to marry him."
"And then you said yes," Mabel interjected with a delighted laugh and clap of her hands before she poured the strawberry lemonade she'd made this morning for them all.
"Enfin," Aldrich murmured, winking cheekily at his eldest daughter when she wrinkled her nose at him. "You know I am right, ma colombe," he added in that tone that said he knew she couldn't argue with it.
♡
Cooper chuckled at Mabel’s interjection and the way Aldrich had teased her. He had slipped his arm around the back of Gen’s chair, having scooted in close. He tended to fall into this position anytime they had individual chairs that they could scoot in against each other. He grinned at them both, nodding his head. “She said yes.” He wasn’t going to touch what Aldrich had said however, he knew that she had her reasons. He knew that her family knew she had too, but really... He was sort of on their side and he couldn’t admit that.
He didn’t know if he needed to mention the wedding or leave it all up for Gen. He was a chicken and so he decided to let her tell them. They were her family first, weren’t they? It seemed only fair. He had gotten to tell Hyperion, Fitz, Em, and Aly.
The arm that was on the back of her chair moved, just enough to bring his hand up to rub at her shoulder in an encouraging way. He was excited to see what was going to happen. He wondered if they’d think they were crazy for how soon they were going to be having the wedding.
♡
"So, when did this happen?" Mabel asked, still clearly thrilled with the news.
"Just last night!" Gen answered, her smile stretching wide across her face. It really had been one of the best nights of her life. "There's more, though." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth briefly before plowing on, giving them the other bit of exciting news attached to this. "We're getting married next month, on the twelfth, in Aruba!"
There were three whole seconds of silence following that pronouncement, and then Mabel let out a shriek, her hands gripping the armrests of her chair as her eyes went wide. "Genevieve! One month? You're giving us one month to plan a wedding? In Aruba?!" She did not sound pleased with the time constraint there.
Gen laughed, shaking her head. "No, mum. I'm giving Coop and I one month to plan a wedding in Aruba, and I promise, it won't be as stressful as you're thinking! We'll keep the decorations simple, and I'll get Quin to help me make a list of all the things we definitely want, and we'll make it happen. Besides, we've got magic on our side," she said, finishing that in a rather cheesy tone, glancing over at Coop as if she were talking about a completely different sort of magic.
♡
Cooper chuckled as he watched Gen and Mabel discussing the wedding, he really didn’t need to have any part of it. Gen had already told him that she had things covered, and he had made it clear that anything she needed he would be there for. He had even offered Fitz and Hyperion’s help, since he had learned early on in life there wasn’t much in this world that couldn’t be done if the three of them put their heads together.
Since they were busy talking wedding, he went about pouring everyone a glass of wine. It seemed the proper thing to do, since he knew that they had some bad news to deliver still. That would be harder to take than all the good news about the wedding. He really wasn’t liking that they’d be telling them without Addi there, but this was something he thought had been decided between the girls and he wasn’t going to be given a say. It made him nervous because it was really bad news.
“It’ll be the wedding of her dreams, I wouldn’t settle for anything less.” He had made it clear numerous times that he was willing to wait a year if Gen wanted him to, but she had insisted. He wasn’t about to turn that down.
♡
The wine went ignored for the moment as her parents tried to process that their eldest would be getting married in just a month. No matter their thoughts on it, neither Mabel nor Aldrich was rude enough to ask her if she was pregnant. And besides, Mabel knew that even if Genevieve was pregnant, there would be a chance it wasn't Coop's, so she was just going to keep on assuming that she only currently had one pregnant daughter right now.
"Magic or no, one month is nowhere near long enough to plan a wedding," she groused, frowning.
Aldrich chuckled and reached over, patting Mabel's hand lightly. "Do not fret, mamour," he murmured to her. "Believe him when he says he won't settle for less." Because Aldrich did believe it. His soon-to-be son-in-law had wanted this for a very long time, he knew, and so he had no doubt that he would ensure it was everything his oldest daughter wanted. "It is a beautiful thing, oui, but why so soon? What changed, ma colombe?" There was no disapproval in his tone, merely curiosity.
Genevieve blew out a breath then, glancing at Coop before reaching over to grab his spare hand for support. "Some... things have happened. Some not-so-good things," she admitted, her expression sobering significantly. "Adelaide... well, she got hurt--she said I could tell you, but she doesn't want you to know too many details," she told her parents regretfully. "But Roberto hurt her, and please don't worry; she's fine now, healed up wonderfully, but it was terrifying," she admitted. She glanced at Coop again before finishing her story. "I had Quin's Lancelot ward the cottage afterward, a little too well, it seems, as Coop forgot about it and came over while I wasn't home and tripped the wards. He..." She almost said he almost died, but cut herself off, not wanting to be so dramatic even though it was true. "He was poisoned, but obviously he's better now. But after that I realized I didn't want to wait. I love him; I want this life with him, so why wait?" she finished with a warm smile, hoping her parents could focus on that instead of her sister and Coop both having gotten hurt.
♡
Cooper went a bit quiet when Aldrich asked just why so soon, he didn’t know how she was going to go about it all. He sunk into his chair a bit, looking a wee bit guilty. He still felt guilty that he’d not been able to save Addi, though he was able to help after everything was said and done. That was the best that he could hope for in all of this and he knew it.
Cooper looked up when Gen finished her words, his brows raised curiously to see their faces. He couldn’t really look at Aldrich though, he felt guilty still that he hadn’t been able to prevent Addi from being hurt. He had let one of Aldrich’s girls get hurt and Cooper couldn’t shake that pit of his stomach, I want to vomit, sort of feeling. He wasn’t going to even humor himself thinking that either would ignore what Gen had said about Adelaide and he wondered just how much screaming was going on about not being called when it had happened.
♡
As soon as Genevieve said bad things had happened, Mabel felt herself tensing. Logically, she knew that whatever it was couldn't have been too terrible, otherwise they wouldn't have waited so long to tell her and Aldrich, but there was still the anxiety of knowing she was about to hear something she wouldn't like. Her blood ran cold when she finally told them what bad things had happened. Mabel didn't interrupt her daughter, though.
She heard Aldrich curse under his breath and squeezed his hand comfortingly. Once Genevieve finished, neither of them were smiling. "How? How did that bloody bastard hurt her?" Mabel asked in a rather terrifying tone of voice that matched the look on Aldrich's face.
Gen blanched, looking down and then over at Coop as if needing his help answering this question. What could she tell them without violating Addi's trust? "Physically," she finally answered on a breath, hoping that would be enough.
"Excusez-moi," Aldrich murmured as he stood up and went into the house, pulling out his phone as he went.
"Mum?" Gen whispered, looking at her mother with wide eyes. What was her papa doing? Who was he calling? "Mum, she's fine. I promise! Phillip found her and took her to St. Mungo's, and they did a fantastic job healing her. We've got the cottage well-warded still, and she just got a puppy." She looked to Coop again, needing his support in this.
"Who's Phillip?" Mabel asked shrewdly, making Gen flush again. Merde, she hadn't meant to say anything about Addi's new boyfriend.
♡
Cooper sunk lower as Aldrich got up and left, he had so many things he wanted to say but for once in his life he couldn’t figure out how to open his mouth. He shifted nervously, listening as Gen told them about Phillip finding her. This was the good thing, it had been someone that Cooper trusted even if he didn’t know his best friend’s brother as well as he’d liked. He knew him well enough, well enough to know that out of all the wizards, he was very grateful that it was that man.
Then she asked who he was and Cooper found his words, “He’s good people. You’ve met Hyperion? It’s his younger brother.” Cooper had known Hyperion’s youngest brother, it was why he never called Apollo his youngest brother. Younger, that was it. “He works as a lawyer, a rather good one too. I don’t think there’s a case the man has lost.” Cooper didn’t stop for a breath, he just kept rambling. “He’s from a great family and really? They are a great couple. She’s been a completely different person, more… Grown up somehow.” Not to say that she hadn’t been grown up, there was something different about her though and he didn’t attribute it to what had happened with Roberto.
He sucked in a breath then, finally breathing. “I think she might actually like him, she wants to give things a go. It’ll be good for her.” He had a feeling he was about to have his head bit off but at least he had said his peace, he wondered if his own recommendations would be enough to sway Mabel that things were okay where Phillip was concerned.
♡
As soon as Coop chimed in, Gen blew out a relieved breath. She hadn't wanted to tell her mum more than she was allowed to, and though it might have been a tad cowardly, she knew Addi would be less angry with Coop for spilling the beans than if she'd done it. Still, when Coop identified Addi and Phillip as a couple, Gen groaned and slapped a hand over her face. Okay, so Addi might actually kill them.
Mabel, however, actually seemed to be relaxing the more Coop talked. When he implied that this young man seemed to be bringing out the best in her Adelaide, she even smiled, her eyes shining a bit. "She's dating a lawyer, really?" she asked, glancing between Genevieve and Cooper as if hardly daring to believe it could be true. Out of all of her children, she'd worried about Adelaide's love life the most, though she'd done her best not to meddle in any of her children's love lives. But to hear that Adelaide was dating such an upstanding person... well, it did her heart more than a little good after the news that Addi had been hurt in an apparently terrible way.
"She is," Gen confirmed with a smile and nod of her head. "And honestly, they were interested in each other even before the awful thing happened. He's the one she was texting on her birthday. Well, him and ZJ, but she's always texting ZJ, so that's hardly a surprise. She'd planned to break up with Roberto before moving to London, and she'd planned to let Phillip take her on a date after the move. And, well, what have you always said about plans?"
Mabel laughed lightly before answering the question, saying the thing she'd said countless times before to her children. "Sometimes things don't go as planned, but that doesn't mean they've gone wrong." The levity of the moment was lost, however, when she remembered just how Adelaide's plans had gone off track. "What happened to her; what did he do to her?"
Gen looked uncomfortable and shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Don't push, Mum. Please? You know it's not mine to tell, so you'll just have to talk to Addi about it, okay?" She blew out a breath then, an addendum occurring to her and making her try to hide a smile. "Just... not at the wedding," she added.
♡
Cooper never really knew when he had gone too far in his big brother role to Addi. The only time that he seemed to have any clue that he had crossed the line was when Addi would shoot him the look that he knew meant she was going to try to kill him, even if he had explained how since he’s a wizard that is increasingly harder for muggles because wizards are made of tougher stuff!
He hadn’t a clue that he’d gone over his bounds, any chances that he would find this clue on his own were tossed out the window when Mabel seemed happy about this. Cooper’s head nodded quickly at her question, he wanted to say a lot more but he had that calmed up feeling again and instead just sunk a little lower in his chair to the point he was damn near Gen’s height as he sat.
Then there was the question about what Roberto had done and Coop was nervous all over again. He had the urge to let Aldrich in on it all, let him know that there was zero chance Roberto would be coming to pay a visit to Addi ever again. The entire world didn’t have to worry about the man, Cooper just had to bide his time before he could tell the whole world.
♡
Mabel sighed at Gen's urging that she not push, shaking her head. But she knew that Genevieve was right. It wasn't fair of her to press her eldest for the details, as it was Adelaide's story to tell should she choose to. It still broke her heart that something so terrible had happened to one of her children and they'd not let her be there for her. She felt there was precious little worse than that sort of feeling.
"Of course I won't ask at the wedding!" Mabel retorted, looking and sounded offended at the implication that it was even a remote possibility the topic could come up then.
"Ask what?" Aldrich asked as he returned to the table, his phone already tucked away again.
Mabel glanced at her husband with a warm expression, though it didn't quite reach her eyes, not with the topic at hand. She reached for his hand before answering. "What Roberto did to Adelaide," she said simply.
"Ahh, mamour, do not fret. I just talked to her," he told her. "I will tell you what she told me later," he added, promising. She would not be happy to hear what he had learned, he knew, but Adelaide had given him permission to tell her mother nearly everything. The only thing she'd outright forbade him to tell was the very permanent reason Roberto would not be able to hurt her again. It was some comfort to the man, and he was grateful to her for telling him.
Aldrich looked to Coop then, giving the younger man a nod of acknowledgment for what he knew him to have done. Adelaide had not known the details, but she'd made it clear Cooper and his friend had dealt with the issue, and that was enough for him.
♡
Cooper had scooted himself up at some point, finally adjusting as Gen and Mabel continued their talk. He was trying to think if there was anything he could do to help the situation, when Aldrich had walked out again. He couldn’t help but sink once again into his seat and his eyes had found his hands that were now clasped in his lap. He felt like such a failure just then because he couldn’t help anyone in this situation.
That was until he heard Aldrich say that he had talked to Addi, that made him feel just a little better. While he tried to think of just what she might have said, he noticed Aldrich catch his eye and in that moment there was an unspoken thing. He gave a knowing smile to the other man, he still felt just the smallest bit guilty about not having been able to prevent the entire thing but there wasn’t anything he could do now. He was doing everything he could and he had to remind himself of that.
"Should we eat now?" He asked after clearing his throat, what better way to get off the sad subject than with food? He wanted to take a walk with Gen later, be able to get her alone for a little bit. They hadn't been back since they had gotten back together and he thought she needed a proper snog in every corner of the house.
♡
Gen looked suspiciously between her parents and fiance, wondering just what that look between her papa and Coop had been, as there'd definitely been more to it than just a glance. But she would wait to ask either of them about it when she had them alone. She frowned at Coop's obvious attempt at a diversion, but didn't argue it. She wanted to get past the heavy talk as much as he did and move back to wedding talk, a much happier topic.
"Yes, we should," Mabel agreed, also content to move past it, trusting that her husband would keep his word and fill her in later. And so, she started dishing out their food, passing plates around. She was thrilled to finally get to help another of her daughters plan a wedding, even if Genevieve had gone made and decided to only give her a month for it.