RP: Babysitting Duty Who: Hyperion/Zahara (with cameo appearances by Ainsley and McKay Summerby) When: Saturday, October 7, 2009 Where: Their flat What: Hyperion is sneaking in a bit of time watching his niece and nephew when Zahara surprises him by coming home early. Warnings: None
Zahara had decided to come home early today after she had started getting things together for the holidays. They were fast approaching and she knew that she was going to run out of opportunities to do spur of the moment things like this. She packed up her things, snagged a few of the new Christmas candies, and apparated home.
With an audible pop she arrived in the doorway to the flat. She abandoned her heels by the door, before reaching up to let her dark locks loose from the messy bun she had kept them in all day. She reached a hand up to shake out her dark locks, a happy noise leaving her. Professional Zahara was being shed at the door, she was looking forward to a night with Hyperion. She didn't exactly have anything in mind for just what she wanted to do but she was glad to have the time to figure something out.
"Hyperion?" she called out then as she padded barefoot into the rest of the flat. "I decided to come early... My to do list for the holidays is just far too long. I would much rather be home with you and the cats."
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It was a Saturday afternoon and of all the things Hyperion Montgomery could be doing with his day off, there was nothing else he wanted to be doing than what he was. McKay was curled up with Ainsley in the bassinet where he'd finally fallen asleep for his nap to Hype singing to him, and there was a look of pure love and adoration as he looked down at his niece and nephew.
The crack of apparation sounded, soon followed by Zahara's voice, and he nearly cringed when Ainsley woke up with a fuss. He lifted the baby girl up quickly, cuddling her against his shoulder as he left his and Zahara's bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. "Surprise," he said quietly to her, grinning widely. He hadn't thought to text her to warn her that he was watching the twins for a couple hours, but he also hadn't expected her home for a while still.
When she padded near enough, he dipped down to greet her with a kiss, his hand still holding Ainsley carefully against him. "I'd much rather you be home, too. McKay's finally gone down for his nap."
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From the moment he emerged from their room, her eyes were focused on his niece. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him as he leaned in and kissed her, though she did return the kiss. Her eyes did finally lift to meet his gaze, her smile growing. "I like surprises," was said in a soft voice, while one hand had come up to lightly run her knuckles against the soft baby fine hair at the top of the infant's head. They were still so tiny, though Zahara had a feeling that she would always see them as so little. They were the first little humans that were in her life that she knew would one day be her niece and nephew.
"Is she not wanting to take a nap?" she asked as she peeked at that tiny face in his arms again, she would swear she had cartoon heart eyes every time she looked at their littlest family members. "I bet she just wants to hang out with cool Uncle Hype," she teased, just before she slipped her arm around him and pressed against his side. She wanted to be close but she didn't want him to set the baby down.
"When is Dora making you give them back?" She knew that if he had his way, he'd always be watching the twins for Dora. She absolutely loved seeing him with the kids, even if it made her ovaries ache. She had gotten used to managing her baby fever, at least they weren't all she talked about. For the first week or so after the twins were born, they were all she could talk about to anyone who might listen.
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He chuckled softly at the way she obviously focused on Ainsley instead of him, not bothered by it at all. He understood the feeling, and watching the twins was serving to make him yearn for his own children even more. It still disgruntled him a bit that he hadn't been the first of his siblings, but he could still be the second. It had only been almost five months since he and Zahara had started dating, though, and he knew that there were many people who would have a negative reaction if they were to make a baby just yet.
"Oh no, she already did. But I bet it's because she wanted cool Uncle Hype all to herself while McKay was napping. She's a smart little one already," he said, tone and expression beaming with pride. At the question about Dora, he glanced at a clock. "Not too much longer," he answered. "About a half hour." He wrapped his free arm around her and guided her toward the couch so they could sit.
"I think she might be hungry," he commented as Ainsley started fussing again, stroking one large hand over the baby's soft hair.
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"I'm intruding then." Though she didn't sound at all upset by that, though she was a bit sad Dora would be there soon. She followed his lead though, settling on the couch with the pair. She pulled her legs up to tuck under herself, leaning against his side. Her one hand came up to lightly scratch his back, while she peeked at the little one in his arms. "Do you need me to grab anything?" If she was hungry, did they have a bottle? She wasn't about to get up, she did however slip her wand from her pocket.
"You're ridiculously cute with them." This wasn't the first time she was telling him this, she enjoyed that they could do this. "I'm sort of hoping that Dora is going to get them costumes for Halloween." One of her favorite holidays, of course. It wasn't just the candy aspect either, it was also a little bit about it being so close to her birthday. "I maybe found myself looking at some, they could be bacon and eggs." Zahara gave a soft laugh. "I had to resist."
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"Never!" Hype countered with a soft chuckle. He loved sharing these moments with her; it made him think more and more about the future he wanted with her, and he knew that she wanted it too. It made it difficult not to just rush right into it all. "Ahh, yeah, they've got bottles in the diaper bag," he said, nodding over to where it sat on their dining room table. He could easily summon it himself, but he didn't feel like her helping would be a bad thing.
His smile turned decidedly smug at her observation, even though it wasn't the first time she'd told him as much. "I'd be surprised if she didn't, though I doubt it'll be bacon and eggs," he retorted dryly. His sister had a sense of humor, a dry one at that, but he couldn't see her dressing up the babies as food. But, she could always surprise him. "I've been thinking about how fun it would be to have one of our own to dress up next Halloween," he said as casually as he could muster, though there was a hint of something more under it, and he peeked sideways at her.
❣️
Knowing she wasn't actually intruding made her feel all warm and fuzzy, she was enjoying discovering those feelings with Hyperion. She was no longer afraid of the way she felt for him, no longer afraid that somehow this entire thing would end. They both felt that intense desire to be together, to start a family together, and spend the rest of their lives together. The only thing that seemed to hold them back from jumping off the deep end, was what their families would say. Zahara could hear all the reasons anytime she gave serious thought to being impulsive, the number one reason being they had only been together for five months.
Yet, after that talk with Persephone, Zahara's way of thinking had started to change. Why were they wasting what time they had? Persephone was going to only live until she was into her seventies, which Zahara didn't even know if that was a hard medical fact, or if it was just a random year that had been chosen. She wanted to stop waiting when she knew things were right, and they were right with Hyperion. He was her better half, he was who she was supposed to marry.
Her hand gave a flick, and a moment later saw the bottle floating over to the pair on the couch. A snort of laughter left Zahara when he doubted her costume ideas for the twins, she had known they were ridiculous, but they had looked so cute. "They had more duos like that though!" She was about to list the different ones, until what he said next stopped her. Having one of their own to dress up next Halloween? That'd mean they'd be having one before her next birthday. That meant they'd have to start trying soon, it would take time for them to conceive, then there was how long it would pregnancy took in general. It would be another nine months from that moment, and Halloween next year was just over a year away. Her heart raced at the thought, a tiny little infant that had his bright blue eyes, her chubby cheeks. It was something she had been dreaming about since the twins were born, though she had been telling herself it was ridiculous. Now a little part of her brain whispered, why not? Why not us? Why not now? She couldn't think of a good answer to any of them.
"It would be a lot of fun," she admitted after a moment of silence, she had gotten a bit lost in her own thoughts. She shot him a playful grin. "We could do a ridiculous family costume sort of thing, they had a few of those. We could still go the bacon and eggs route, you could be the toast." She was teasing, she was sure they would find their own sort of costume when the time came. She had just wanted a reason to poke the subject more. She then shifted nervously where she sat, her eyes glancing towards the baby in his arms again. "You know, it takes nine months to bake one of those... We'd have to start soon to meet that deadline." She couldn't look at him, her heart was racing. While he had definitely laid the groundwork for the idea, she just hoped she wasn't reading into it wrong.
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That moment of silence felt like it was stretching far too long, and Hype wasn't sure if that meant she thought he was insane for bringing it up. But then she finally spoke, and her words were playful and light. That made him wonder if she didn't think he was serious, and he rather thought he would make sure it was perfectly clear that he was dead serious. He wanted a family, but more, he wanted a family with her. "I'll never be the toast. We'll find better themed costumes for our family," he promised her, chuckling softly under his breath.
"You know, I've heard that before." He glanced at the clock rather exaggeratedly. "And by my calculation, we should be able to start in about twenty-eight minutes." Unless Dora visited for a little bit when she came to get the twins, but that was hardly the point. He shifted Ainsley in his arms then so he could take the bottle and start to feed the hungry infant.
"I know it's out of traditional order, but I don't care. I love you, Zahara, and I want a family with you," he told her, joking aside. "I want to watch our child grow in your belly. I want to be sent out on bizarre food runs at two o'clock in the morning and to rub your feet and your back and whatever else aches and to hold your hand as you give birth. I want to get up through the night to comfort our child when he--or she--isn't hungry and just wants to be held so you can get some sleep too. I want to write a new lullaby for us to sing to him--or her--and I want to teach him--or her--how to walk, how to talk, how to tell you that they've got the very best mum in the world. Make a baby with me, Zahara?" he asked her earnestly.
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"Oh fine," Zahara teased when he said they would find better. She wanted to tease how they would be the best dressed family, but things were getting serious. They were having very a very serious conversation about their future, the future of their children. Children that he wanted to start making in about a half hour, those words had made her stomach tighten in excitement. This was the sign that she had been looking for, she was supposed to make an appointment next weekend to renew her birth control charm. She had been dragging her feet, it seemed there was a reason for it.
"I love you too." She wanted to kiss him just then, but this conversation was more important. Hearing him talk about writing their own lullaby gave her images of sitting on the couch with Hyperion like this, though with his head in her lap as he sang to her stomach and they wrote their child a lullaby. That was very much something that she wanted, and she definitely wanted it with him. "I want all of that. Holy Helga, you have no idea how long I've wanted that. Well... Maybe you do, I'm overly honest with you." She laughed then, an exuberant noise leaving her. "You're sure about this? My charms needed to be renewed soon, I don't have to." They could remove them tonight, she thought. It was a simple enough process.
"They're going to think we're mad, and I couldn't care one bit," she admitted then with a happy laugh. "I know we might be doing things backwards according to some but it's us, I doubt that anyone will be surprised we're doing it our own way." Neither were known for being the most traditional about things like this, no one should be surprised that they were starting with children instead of vows.
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Hype chuckled in relief when she admitted she wanted all of that too. He'd hoped he hadn't laid it on too thick, but he'd wanted to be honest with her. "Completely sure, my love," he assured her, shifting the bottle as Ainsley started fussing around it. "Don't. Don't renew them. We can cancel them tonight if you want. It's completely up to you. You're the one who's going to have to go through all the physical changes." And he would never force her into it. It had to be her decision, but she also had to know that he would be by her side for all of it.
"I don't give a shit what anyone thinks," he agreed, glad that they were both on the same page there. Dora especially he expected to have some negative feelings about it. He knew she thought he and Zahara had rushed every part of this, but Dora wasn't him. She hadn't lived his life and didn't know his mind. He did, and his mind and his heart and ever fiber of his being wanted this future with Zahara, and he wanted it to start now. He turned his head and leaned over enough to catch her lips in a too-brief kiss, mindful of the infant in his arms.
"And if there's anything else you want first, you tell me," he urged her. Yes, he was confident that they were doing this their way, but he also wanted to make sure she knew he was willing to wait if she would rather go in the "proper" order.
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"I'd really like it if you'd help me remove them tonight." After Dora left seemed like the perfect opportunity to her. They could remove them and then maybe get started on making their own family. She would also not call and make that appointment to have the charms renewed, she wasn't going to need them hopefully for a while. It felt incredibly good to know they were on the same page with everything. They weren't going to worry about what everyone else felt, it wasn't their life. Zahara and Hyperion both knew this what they wanted, they didn't think it was too fast. If anything Zahara thought they had waited long enough.
The kiss really was too-brief, she wanted more but he was feeding Ainsley. Her head shook when he asked if there was anything she wanted first, "Just you... After everything with Persephone? I've had this feeling of why wait? Why are we holding off doing the things that we want to do? Just because people will tell us we rushed things?" She shook her head, "They can be damned. They aren't in our relationship, they don't know what we feel." At least, that had been what was holding her back from doing a lot of things. While she generally didn't care what other's thought, she had been worried when it came to her love life seeing as it seemed that Hyperion was connected to a lot of the people she loved most. She had never dated someone that knew all of the important people in her life before, not until now. She known for a while now though that Hyperion was it for her, that there was no need to worry about what ifs down the road.
Zahara flushed a bit then, "That might have been one of my hangups, but I don't want to keep holding back. Time is short." A notion that she had always tried to live by but it seemed she had forgotten recently. She was ready for this next step in their adventure, though she had no idea what it would mean for the future. She just knew it was what she wanted, to start a family with Hyperion and to grow old with him.
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"I will, then," he promised, not bothering to hide his wide smile. He hadn't doubted that this conversation would go well, but it had gone even better than he'd expected, and he couldn't be happier for it. They would start trying for a baby tonight, and as much as he loved watching his niece and nephew, he was really wishing Dora would be there in the next few minutes instead of almost thirty.
He nodded in understanding as she explained her mental process to get there, feeling like it was very much on par with what he'd been thinking. "Exactly love, and even if they're skeptical, we'll just prove them wrong." Because he would be with her for the rest of his life and into the next. He was confident that he was meant to be with her, and he wasn't afraid of following his heart.
"It is short," he agreed softly. He'd known about Persephone's curse longer than Zahara had, but it had plagued his thoughts all this time too. Time was too short, and you never really knew how short, so why shouldn't they live every day to the fullest? "As long as the house is built before the baby gets here, I'll be happy. And speaking of, there are a few plans on the table I wanted to show you. I'd like to have our finalized plan ready by the end of the month."
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"I think that's a goal we can definitely meet. We wanted to move into the house in the spring, even if we did conceive right this second... The time frame would be perfect." They wouldn't have to rush things either, that was another plus. It really seemed that this was the perfect time for them to start their little family. She felt that pit of her stomach excitement again, she was going to be without her birth control as of a few minutes from now, then they'd be on their path. There was no defined time on when it would happen, it wasn't like an appointment they could make. It would eventually happen, they had time to build their dream home while building their family.
"You've already got some plans?" The smile could be heard in her voice, her head bobbed in a nod. "I'd really like to look at them." There were a few things that she wanted for their house that she knew could wait until the house itself was built. She wanted a small greenhouse for the few plants she would likely need to take for her mother. She knew that was something they could build later though, when she could be a bit more hands on. She was hopeful that maybe by the time they were starting to build, she might already be pregnant. She didn't want to get too ahead of herself though and jinx them, so she pushed the thought from her mind.
"Do we want to look now? Ainsley needs to give us her input on them as well, we need a tiny person perspective." Especially if they might be having one by the time they were moving into their home. Wouldn't that be lovely? They could build a baby room custom to their first born, that thought was exciting. "How many rooms were you thinking?"
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Of course the timing would be perfect; Hype had been thinking about all of this an awful lot lately, since Aruba really. "I do sometimes think ahead," he joked lightly, grinning at her.
He chuckled and shook his head. "Not exactly. Those are just a few of the ones I looked through that had aspects I thought we'd like. But none of them are just right. I figured if we came up with good examples of what we want, it would help the architect come up with our plans a bit easier." That and he wasn't sure either of them really knew what they wanted, so it would be good to look through a variety of plans and pick out the things they liked and didn't like.
He wasn't going to stop her from looking over them now. "If you'd like to, love." Ainsley had started fussing again, the bottle nearly empty, and he set the bottle aside and pulled his wand out to summon a burping cloth, which he slung over one shoulder before settling her against it as well, his hand patting her back, simultaneously firm and gentle. "I'm thinking four bedrooms, and we can design it where we can add onto it if we make too many of these," he said with a note of teasing as he nodded his head toward Ainsley.
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"I know." Zahara returned his grin with a coy smile, she knew he thought ahead. It was the one thing he was really good at, and the one thing she was really bad at. She tended to just do, hoping it would all work out. The closest she got to planning ahead was her bucket list, and that really only counted because she had to schedule their vacations.
Hearing his plan for the house just reaffirmed her thinking, he was really good at planning ahead. Her smile just grew, using her wand to call forth the plans from where they were at on the table. She wasn't about to move from her spot on the couch next to Hyperion, she enjoyed watching him with the twins. Knowing now that in less than an hour they would be officially starting to try for their own little ones just made her not want to leave that spot. She kept imaging sitting there with him while he held their child, the feeling made her heart feel like it might burst.
"I love you so much," she said with a laugh as he nodded towards Ainsley. "We'll see how we feel when they start outnumbering us," she teased as she reached a hand out to lightly rub Ainsley's arm. She hoped that within the next year she would get to come home to him burping their son or daughter, or watch him push them on the swing set. These plans were the start of all of it, and as they landed on the table in front of them, she bent forward to pick one up. "Four bedrooms, I think that's a good place to start." Three extra bedrooms, she thought three was a pretty number.
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"I love you, too," he replied with an affectionate smile. He didn't have a set idea of how many children he might want, though it sounded as if she was thinking at least three, which was all right by him. "We will see," he agreed easily. And they would. He was excited to see where their life together would go, to see their home come together and then see it filled with their soon-to-be growing family, with music and laughter. It would be brilliant, and he couldn't wait.