notsocommon | (no subject)

Entry tags:

tabula rasa,
will

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Helen was in the little hut she shared with Will organizing a bit. She and Will were normally both very neat but since Will had started working on building an addition onto their home, things had gotten a little jumbled.

She was trying to organize her novels when she found a little bag tucked behind her bookcase, something she'd not seen before. Curious, Helen tugged it out and a smile curved her lips when she pulled out a few onesies printed with Toronto Blue Jays insignia. Helen wasn't really a baseball fan, exactly, but the idea that Will had not only taken to the idea of their growing family but embraced it, that was something that pricked at her heart a bit. Her eyes were a bit shiny with unshed tears as she sat in the floor, laying out the onesies and socks and books Will had collected on the subject of fatherhood.

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Will has been out back of the house most of the morning, working on laying a foundation for an addition to their hut for the baby. He's pretty sure the baby's going to spend a lot of time in the room with him and Magnus for a while, but eventually he or she will need more space and Will figures it's best to get that taken care of now, rather than trying to do it later when they have a baby to look after. Plus, it's not like he's really good at building; he's learning as he goes, so he's pretty slow. He really needs all the time he can get for this.

Staking out and doing a rough dig for the foundation takes all morning, and Will decides that taking a break in the warmest part of the day is a good idea. He comes back in the house, glad for the shade. "Hey, Magnus," he says, peeling off his sweaty shirt, "What are you--oh." She's got his stash of baby stuff out, looking at it. "I was just, you know, hanging on to that until we had somewhere to put the baby's stuff," he says, sheepishly.

"I didn't mean to snoop," Helen promised, folding one of the onesies in her lap and looking up to see Will. She did take a leisurely path to that, though, because she was hormonal, not dead, and Will was shirtless and had a healthy flush from building something for their child. She was pretty sure that hit every biological imperative all at once.

"I didn't know you'd been thinking this far ahead, though. I mean, obviously you'd been thinking about building onto the house but not...the little things."

The little things like this, the small touches, that was what made this feel real to her.

"Well, you know." He's suddenly a little embarrassed about it--maybe it's something that's more a mom thing than a dad thing, looking for baby clothes, and he didn't want Magnus to feel like he was stealing her thunder or implying that things she'd found weren't good enough. "I was just looking for stuff one day and it had the Jays on it, I couldn't resist."

"They're quite adorable, even if I'll never be a baseball fan at your caliber," Helen murmured, lifting a precious pink onesie in addition to the boy-friendly and gender-neutral options.

"Furthermore, it shows a willingness and, dare I say, eagerness in your part of raising the baby. How could I not love that?"

Will grabs a clean shirt from a drawer and pulls it on. He needs a shower, but he'll get to that in a little bit. "I just didn't want you to think I was trying to take over the baby preparations or anything like that," he says. "Yeah, I'm excited." He reaches for the pink onesie and holds it up to his chest. "What do you think?" he asks. "Is it my color?"

Helen laughed and brought her hand up to her mouth to cover the worst of it. "Oh, darling, of course. I won't know which of you will be prettier, our daughter or her father."

Helen was still secretly hoping for a boy but she would, obviously, be happy with anything. Their child would be loved regardless of gender.

"It goes with your eyes."

"Maybe it will when they're all bloodshot from staying up all night with a baby who won't sleep," he teases, folding the little outfit and handing it back to Magnus. "Except our baby is going to be like me, and looove sleep." He sits down beside her and reaches over to give her stomach a little pat. "Right, baby? Sleep is good. Remember that."

"Ah, but you're lucky. You can roll over and go back to bed after I've gotten her up and started the process. Unfortunately, I never get to sleep in, I'm going to have to do all the feeding."

Helen, actually, was a bit nervous about that. Ashley had been a formula baby by necessity; much of her infant days were spent in the care of her dear friend and Helen hadn't been able to be around as much as she wanted. Since he couldn't breastfeed her, formula had been necessary.

"I've never breastfed before. I should get some books on it, I think."

"That's a good idea," Will says. "And maybe you could talk to some of the other moms that have had babies recently. They probably didn't know anything about it either, and if they had to figure it out on their own, they might have good advice. I'm sure you're going to be fine," he adds. "You're brilliant and you have good instincts." Not that Will knows anything about parenting, but he thinks that's about 80% of it right there."

"I think me, the child and my breasts will come out all right," Helen said, laughing a bit. "It will be nice, at any rate. Breastfeeding will afford us a bit of extra contraception for a while and that's a comfort. I won't be trying for another but if one happened on accident, I'd rather it be not so close."

Will laughs and shakes his head. "Okay, don't even joke about that," he says. "I just got my head around being a dad one time over. You start talking about two and it might just explode. I'm not... opposed, okay. I'm just saying. I'm a one-at-a-time kind of guy." He just needs to ease into this fatherhood thing. One step at a time.

"Oh, I don't want another," Helen assured him quickly. "I mean, if we have an accident and it happens, certainly, but I really think we'll be just fine with the one."

She fell a little quieter. "My body might not be able to take two, you know? Not to worry you but I am mortal. It comes with certain side effects."

"Too late," he says tenderly. "I worry already." Will slides his arm around her shoulders, squeezing a little. "It's the main thing I worry about this time. But look, you're going to be fine." Whatever doubts Will has, he's going to keep them to himself; Magnus needs all the positive vibes and encouragement she can get. "So what if you're mortal like the rest of us now? You could still kick my ass in high heels with one hand tied behind your back and blindfolded."

"You'd want me to do it," Helen teased back, leaning in against his chest and taking the comfort he offered. She needed it, occasionally, and even more now that her body was changing and hormones had her emotions a lot closer to the surface than they ever normally were.

"I mean, not for the ass-kicking portion, more that I think you'd find me sexy while I did so."

Will kisses her hair and laughs again. "I always find you sexy, dahling," he says, affecting an exaggerated Sean Connery accent just because he knows the voices both amuse and annoy her. "Kicking my ass or not." He rubs her arm and adds (in a normal voice), "Seriously. I don't want you to worry about anything, okay? I'm going to spoil you rotten and you're going to put your feet up and eat fruit and do whatever else pregnant women are supposed to do, and you and this kid are going to be perfectly fine."

Edited 2012-06-24 01:47 (UTC)

"Mmm, thank God I have you then," Helen said, grinning a bit at him. She loved it when he was cheeky even if she did act annoyed by it half the time and now was no exception. With baby clothes still strewn across her lap, she turned slightly and cupped his cheek before kissing him, long and sweet and deep.

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