Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 15, 2010 18:38:58 GMT
"Come on, come on."
Gwen's elevated foot bounced impatiently as she stared down at her watch, counting off the seconds. It was almost a week since she was due and finally she'd had to bite the bullet and buy a pregnancy test. Butterflies were having a carnival in her tummy as she waited and waited, watching the seconds tick past sluggishly, teasing her. It was hard not to think of what ifs as she sat in the bathroom; what was Harrison going to say if she was pregnant? They'd been living together for six months, dating for three times that, they were a couple, they were invited places as a couple. Harrison and Gwen. They came as a set, a matching pair. Would he freak out? If she was pregnant she would be dropping a huge bombshell on him, they weren't even engaged, she didn't think they'd ever talked about kids, even in a casual sense of things, whether they ever wanted them or not. What if he freaked out and they had to split up? Gwen didn't know what she'd do.
Swiping her face with her right hand she tried to collect her thoughts, the egg timer on the counter next to her went off and startled her horribly. Gwen almost didn't dare to look.
Two pink lines.
Oh god. Two pink lines, what was that again? It was stupid, she'd been obsessively reading the instructions on her lap over and over but now she had to check. Two pink lines = a positive reading.
All the air went out of the room and Gwen's blue eyes flicked back and forth between the pink lines and the instructions. Positive. It was positive. For a moment she pressed her lips together and looked around the room. Harrison wasn't home yet, she needed to be sure. Tossing the test in the sink she stood and picked up the brown bag in the corner and pulled out the other two tests she'd bought. They both turned out positive. Sitting on the floor now, her back against the tub she felt giddy, clutching all three tests with their six pink lines all staring back at her. There were no two ways about it. The sudden urge to call her mother crested roughly through her and Gwen got to her feet before she managed to stop herself. No, she needed to tell Harry first. One step at a time.
It would be a while before he got home anyway, so she cleaned up and put the rinsed tests in the bag, moving out into the loft proper and milling around for an hour or so, making tea and letting it go cold, then washing the teapot and cups, drying them and starting again, the whole time thinking about what she was going to say, how she was going to tell her boyfriend that she was pregnant. It took her about two and a half hours to settle properly, finally sinking into the couch with a steaming mug -- having reminded herself that she couldn't drink coffee now -- and staring at the television without really watching what was going on.
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 15, 2010 19:03:18 GMT
Long days meant very little to an immortal, any supernatural with an endurance and staying power beyond that of any human, and Harrison Charles was no exception to that rule. After lunch the meetings had stretched on, the court dates being bounced back and forth and points being discussed at great length as things dragged out beyond what everyone had expected. Everyone but Harrison, at least. He had been a lawyer long enough to know just how the game worked, and he had spoken when needed, debated points he disagreed with and otherwise listened as the others talked, sitting there in that casual, natural way of his, reclined just so with his pen balanced in his head, occasionally spinning between his fingers with an effortless ease, his eyes moving to focus on the face of whoever was speaking, one leg crossed over the other at the knee under the large, polished table. Harrison wasn't the one to realise the time and call the meetings to a close, but he was the one who concluded that everything that could be discussed had been discussed, a point that everyone else found they had to concede. Talks would only get people so far. It was one of those cases where legal action and a judge and jury were inevitable. Some might have seen it all as a waste of time, but Harrison knew better. Some things were essential, and for lawyers, a whole lot of talk was essential most days.
By the time he got back to The Colony, there were two females in the parking lot in the middle of what seemed to a rather tense discussion, the sort that Harrison had absolutely no desire to get caught up in, especially given they were both wolves; he recognised the younger-looking female, she lived in the same building and he caught sight of her from time to time, but the other was new, unfamiliar. Whoever they were, he gave them a wide berth and though there was very little in the way of breeze in the warmth evening air, he made sure to stay downwind all the same, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. At the same time he managed to walk calmly and with a quiet kind of confidence that said he belonged, and he managed to get into the building without incident, immediately heading upstairs to the loft with only a single glance back the way he had come.
Closing the door behind him after letting himself in, he took in the sound of the television and the smells of the apartment, smiling quietly to himself as he put his things away, ducking into his office to set his briefcase down where it belonged before heading out as he shrugged his jacket off his shoulders. "It always amazes me how much lawyers love the sound of their own voices," he said to Gwen by way of hello, neatly folding his jacket into itself, sleeves tucked in, before he smiled and added, "myself included, sometimes." It was then that he realised something about the apartment was different. Somehow. He couldn't say what, it wasn't something obvious and glaring, but as a general rules wolves had to learn to trust their instincts, and right at that moment, Harrison's were telling him something had changed. "Everything all right?"
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 15, 2010 20:09:54 GMT
All this week the gallery was closed in the evening while it was refitted for an upcoming show, there were still classes during the day but no showings in the evenings meaning that Gwen had a lot of time on her hands in the late afternoons which had led her to be home. It wasn't unusual for Harrison to be out even later than she was even when there were showings, if he was working a case that demanded a lot of attention, paperwork and time he could be out until the small hours of the morning, creeping into the bedroom long after she'd come home, cleaned off her make-up and gotten into bed. They both worked extremely hard which made the time they spent together was all the more important. Of course they made time where they could but a defence attorney and a self-employed gallery owner were always going to be on the go for large portions of the week.
Hearing him opening the door she tilted her head to the side to listen as he came in and went into his study to put his briefcase down, the same way he did every day. For those few moments she wanted to not tell him, just to preserve things the way they were, the comforting routine that she had gotten so used to, a routine she'd come to love. When he spoke to her, announcing his presence she turned her head properly to look at him and managed to smile somewhat but she didn't get up to greet him as she normally would. After all that fretting -- and a lack of afternoon coffee -- she felt quite tired.
Smulching her lips together Gwen pulled herself out of her slouch against the armrest, placing her teacup on the coffee table and reaching for the remote to turn the TV off. "You might want to sit down for this, Harry." In fact she was fairly certain he should be sitting down for this. "It's pretty serious." In all honesty she didn't mean to sound so ominous about it, but she had been stewing about it alone for a few hours now and needed to get it off her chest.
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 15, 2010 22:23:57 GMT
He couldn't smell coffee. That was part of it, he realised. Such a strange thing to notice, but a heightened sense of smell meant picking up on things most people wouldn't notice, and it worked both ways; you noticed the scent when it was there, and you noticed it when it was gone, something that was normally ever-present. Gwen drank coffee all the time, but he couldn't smell any beyond the lingering scent that would take several days to fade yet. He glanced down at the table, at the cup she had set down. Tea? That was unusual. All thoughts about what she was drinking and what importance it might have -- maybe she had just had a long day and didn't want to be up all night -- were cast aside when she said what she did.
"Okay," he said, throwing up the walls to stop concern before it could form pre-emptively. There was no use worrying about something when it might turn out to be nothing. Not that anything Gwen was concerned about -- which she obviously was -- would be nothing, exactly, but it might not be as ominous as she was making it out to sound. So he set his jacket aside and moved to sit down close to her without being so close as to crowd her. Humans didn't always appreciate proximity like that, even though he and Gwen had been dating for eighteen months and they were perfectly comfortable with one another now. This sounded important, though, so he gave her a little bit of space. "What is it?" She probably didn't need the prompt but that wasn't what it was, it was more to let her know he was settled and she could tell him what was on her mind whenever she was ready.
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 15, 2010 22:59:49 GMT
Gwen had started to make coffee earlier and then realised that being pregnant she probably shouldn't but couldn't think whether or not she needed to avoid it or not so she had opted to play it safe and just have tea instead. Then she had spent twenty minutes fretting about what she had been eating recently and whether it would be alright for the baby and what she was going to have to alter in her diet before she realised how ahead of herself she was getting. Pushing that all away she watched Harrison sit down on the couch beside her, a careful distance. There was no point drawing it out, she just needed to take a breath and say it...
"I'm pregnant." Gwen said slowly, carrying on smoothly though, bringing out the words she had been preparing for the last couple of hours. "I already know I'm keeping it." That was where her sentence fell flat because she couldn't remember the next part (something about how she didn't expect him to know what he wanted to do right away and how she'd understand him needing time but also reaffirming that she was going to keep the child) but it seemed like a good place to stop anyway and gauge his reaction, to see where he stood. So instead she watched him tensely, anxiousness clear in her expression.
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 15, 2010 23:17:34 GMT
Everything inside of Harrison's brain stopped the moment Gwen said those two simple words. I'm pregnant. They weren't what he had expected to hear in the least, but who expected those words when they came home from work? Underneath the initial surprise, however, as well as he veiled it, was an undeniable spark of fear. Pregnant. Gwen was pregnant. Gwen, his human girlfriend was pregnant.
"Oh." It wasn't the best reaction, so he quickly went on. "All right." A deep breath filled his lungs and he straightened a little, palms on his knees, his gaze roaming the rest of the living room ahead of them, a fleeting thoughtfulness crossing his face before the breath fell out again and he knitted his fingers in front of him. How was he going to do this? Harrison's knowledge of pregnancies between werewolves and humans was practically non-existent, he knew it was possible of course, but that was the extent of his experience. He knew it had happened, that it could happen. It was just one of those things you never expected to happen to you until it was actually happening, and now that it was he didn't know what to say, not a single thing. He just knew that the child growing inside of her would most likely be--
He had to tell her. Oh, God, he had to tell her. This was something he had never considered before, it wasn't something he had ever had to face when it came to one of his relationships with a human woman, and that was part of the point. Gwen was supposed to be one of the parts of his life that was normal, and now it wasn't normal at all. How was he supposed to tell her about this? "Gwen, there's something I should tell you," he said to her, meeting her gaze, trying not to sound grave but given the subject matter it was rather difficult. Harrison had no idea how she would react to the bombshell he was about to drop on her.
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 15, 2010 23:31:41 GMT
After his initial reaction for a horrible moment she wasn't sure what was going to happen, the unreadable quality to him had always struck her strongly, that it was so hard to read what was going on inside his head, but now it unnerved her more than she could possibly express. Oh. All right. What did that mean? On the outside he seemed calm, but this was Harrison, he always seemed calm on the outside, he was unflappable-- but she had rather expected this to... flap him a little at the very least. Was he constructing what he was going to say carefully in the lawyer-like manner which she tended to find utterly infuriating when she was in one of her artistic temperaments? Gwen knew she didn't want that, she wanted him to just tell her what he was thinking, how he was feeling and was about to open her mouth again when he beat her to it.
Apprehension turned to outright worry. Something he needed to tell her? What could there possibly be at a time like this that was more important? Realising she hadn't replied and had instead been scrutinising him, Gwen started and pushed some dark hair back from her temple as she slid a little further forwards in her seat.
"Okay." She paused, knitting her hands together nervously. "You're scaring me, Harry." Even though he was trying not to and she could tell that much the way he looked at her, the heaviness in his voice was almost impossible to disguise and right after her telling him she was pregnant with his child she was immediately worrying about what it was that he would tell her.
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 15, 2010 23:43:27 GMT
It was such an inappropriate time to tell her something he had been keeping from her for eighteen months, something he had been keeping from everyone in his life, but before it had been a choice, and one he had made easily, knowing that it was safer and easier for her if she didn't know. Now there was no choice, for either of them. If he didn't tell her now, then he would not only be lying to her, basically, but he would be putting her in danger. There was no way of knowing -- not for him at least -- what carrying a werewolf baby would do to a human woman, and winding through the shock and fear now was concern for her safety. He cared about Gwen a great deal, more than he could say, she meant a lot to him in more ways than one and he was deeply attached to her, she was a part of his life and he liked coming home to find her waiting for him or going out with her in the evenings. This could put all that and more at risk if he didn't just tell her. But he couldn't just tell her. It wasn't so simple as all that. He had to work up to it.
"Okay." It came out quickly, that single word, and he untangled his fingers from their knot before he trusted his gut again and reached out to take her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "This is going to sound very... odd," he told her, and the word itself just seemed so far from applicable, it didn't really do the situation justice, "but I need you to keep an open mind. I need you to trust me and understand that there is a very, very good reason why I didn't tell you about this before, all right?" Somehow he managed to say that to her without sounding condescending, just one of those little things that people tended to like about him on any given day. Right now though it wasn't about winning someone over, it wasn't about staying in favour. Now it was about giving Gwen all the information she needed in order to understand the situation. It wasn't about him right now, not in the least, it was all about Gwen.
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 16, 2010 0:11:58 GMT
It was just as well that he took her hand then, unfolding her fingers from one another. As always his his had was much warmer then hers, Harry was always warm and that was one of many things she liked about him, the little things that came together to make the impression of him against her senses. Whatever comfort she would have gained from it usually seemed out of reach though, she was worried about his tone, what he was saying to her. Keeping an open mind and trusting him and understanding why he hadn't told her something, it all seemed to daunting and massive, like a huge storm had settled around the building, closing everything in, making the atmosphere low and heavy, oppressive.
By now her mind had given up on trying to concoct scenarios that he would be trying to tell her about, it had stalled out at the consideration that he might be cheating on her, unable to accept that as a possibility, that wasn't Harrison, he would never do that to her, he was far too much a gentleman to be that callous and cold and things had been good with them recently, in fact the last six months, living here with him at the Colony were some of the happiest of her life and she refused to believe she could have been so naive during that time to get herself caught up yet again with the wrong guy. Gwen had thought for the last few months that he was very much the right guy.
"I trust you," Gwen said softly, her voice oddly timid. "I'll try to understand."
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 16, 2010 0:25:25 GMT
It occurred to him as they sat there that he should have said something else about the pregnancy, that he should have said something more encouraging. He'd noticed her approach to it, determination and a positivity that was so very Gwen and that had passed now that he'd said what he said, told her there was something she should know. Perhaps he hadn't gone about this the best way, but then it could have been worse, he could have just out and said it, dropped that bombshell bluntly and without any kind of warning whatsoever. It could have been worse, definitely, but at the same time, it could have been better.
Briefly his mind jumped back to when she had told him about her past boyfriends, over a glass of wine after dinner during one of their dates a few months into the relationship, when she had told him about the disasters she had left behind her, men who had used her for one purpose or another, and Harrison had never had any intention of using her, but how would Gwen see it? Would she think he had used her in some way, just someone to pass the time? That wasn't true. It had been true of many -- most, in fact -- of the women he had dated before her, but it had never been that way with her. Hopefully she would understand. It was a lot to ask, but he hoped that more than anything.
"Okay," he acknowledged quietly, looking down at her hand in his, so much smaller, his much warmer than hers, how startlingly easy it would be to squeeze too hard and hurt her, perhaps even do permanent damage. These were the sorts of things he had taken into account a long time ago, just how careful he had to be with human. With Gwen. A deep breath filled his lungs and for a moment he held it in, eyes closing for just a second even though it felt like longer before he opened them again and found hers, wanting to hold her gaze as he said the words. Three simple but potentially devastating words. "I'm a werewolf."
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 16, 2010 0:39:41 GMT
Unexpected was too tame a word. Shock paled next to the sentence he offered as an explanation. In truth there was no single word to sum up her feelings in the moments afterward, sitting silently with her hand pressed between his. Gwen felt numb with confusion. It wasn't like Harrison to joke around with her, not a serious situation like this, but she just couldn't fathom why on Earth he would say something so outlandish and ridiculous. Had she even heard him right there? As if it were even possible to misunderstand him when he spoke so clearly.
Frowning, she shuffled slightly where she sat, uncomfortable, and then cleared her throat. "What?" Gwen said softly. "I don't-- is that some kind of joke?"
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 16, 2010 0:44:06 GMT
That sort of reaction was better than the worst case scenario, but there was time yet. She still had time to erupt, and he wasn't going to put it past her. Harrison had known for some time just what kind of temperament Gwen possessed and it made her rather unpredictable to say the least, especially at times like this. She was confused now, yes, asking if it was a joke, but she could get angry and upset at any moment, and he had to try and prepare for that. He wasn't quite sure how to prepare for it, but he would do what he could if and when the situation arose.
"No, Gwen, it's not a joke," he told her gently, still looking her in the eye, for some strange reason finding himself wishing he'd taken off his tie, perhaps because it would have made the whole thing a little less stiff and businesslike. It was a peculiar thing to have on his mind right then, and more difficult to shift than it had any right to be. "I know it's a lot to take in, but since... well, with what you told me, it's best that you know."
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 16, 2010 0:58:42 GMT
It was true that she had the archetypal temperament of an artist, prone to getting all riled up about something only to have the mood quickly subside and so it was wise for him to consider that at any moment the confusion could give way to any degree of anger or upset, or a combination of both. For a long moment she sat scrutinising him. Then the change came.
"This isn't funny," Gwen gasped, breathless as she pulled her hand out of his grasp. "What are you talking about? A werewolf?" Next came the shake of her head, a precursor to some kind of emotional outburst usually and she was pushing herself up off the couch now, her eyes down, head bowed over. This was just ridiculous, she had thought out this situation all afternoon, what he might say and how she could answer that but none of her dry runs, not one of them had included anything as insane and surreal as the world werewolf. Blue eyes fixed on him. "I'm pregnant, Harrison. This isn't the time for-- for whatever this is."
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Harrison
Rogue Werewolf
Defence Attorney
I need another story, something to get off my chest.
Posts: 30
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Post by Harrison on Aug 16, 2010 1:07:51 GMT
There it was. He didn't protest or otherwise fight when she pulled her hand out of his, instead let her do so and watched her rise to her feet with that shake of her head that he knew so well. She didn't believe him. Not even slightly. Harrison had expected that kind of disbelief, even the frustration, and calmly he rose to his feet. They stood at the same height when she didn't wear heels which made it all the better to look her in the eye and not look down on her in any way, and he met her gaze from where he stood, not approaching her and not retreating either. He stood his ground, but calmly, collectedly; this wasn't a debate, picking apart her disbelief would only exacerbate the situation, and that wouldn't help either of them.
"This isn't a joke, Gwen, I'm being very serious about this." The tie was annoying him, more than it ought to. Stifling a sigh so that it wouldn't be misinterpreted, he reached up and tugged the knot down before he pulled it loose and slipped the material from underneath his collar, setting it down on the coffee table on the opposite end from her discarded cup of tea. Part of him wanted to roll up his sleeves, but somehow that seemed confrontational. He resisted the urge. "It's because you're pregnant that I'm telling you this, and I understand your reaction. It wasn't what you were expecting, I know." She had probably concocted all kinds of reactions between finding out she was pregnant and his return to their apartment after a day at work. "It really is important that you try to believe what I'm telling you, though, as much of a shock as it is."
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Gwen
Human
Artist/Gallery Owner
I must confess you're my safety pin; hold me together, hide me well.
Posts: 30
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Post by Gwen on Aug 16, 2010 1:27:21 GMT
Her mouth hung open a moment. It was as though he was speaking a foreign language to her, she understood snippets, about how this wasn't what she was expecting (no shit) and that it was important she believe him but everything else was just a collection of words she recognised and couldn't understand when strung together in that way. Finally her defences jumped up; she had been in enough train-wreck relationships to spot the warning signs and his claiming to be a werewolf of all things certainly rang alarm bells in that department. Things were supposed to be different with Harrison though, she really had trusted him, she'd thought that finally she'd actually met someone who cared about her and not about what her art could do for them, but those shields jumped to the worst conclusion immediately, because this was strike three in the Spectacularly Screwed Relationship category and she was in serious danger of getting her heart smashed under his heel. Worse than ever.
"Are you insane?" Gwen backed away from him a pace while he removed his tie, as if he was literally crazy and unpredictable, like he was going to do something if she wasn't wary. "Can you even hear yourself? You're damn right this wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting my boyfriend to at least pretend to be supportive." Her voice was climbing in volume ever so slightly. "You could have just broken up with me like a normal jerk, you didn't have to--" she waved a hand "--I don't know, do this, whatever you think you're doing."
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