New Beginnings

Hospital

The last thing Alice remembered was blacking out and succumbing to the exhaustion and rise in blood pressure within her and falling to the dark tiled floor of the Wyrm.

And now, she was fluttering her droopy eyes, in a cold, pale hospital room, surrounded by the sound of beeping machines and busy doctors and nurses as she waited for test results, and as a highly anxious and clearly distressed FP sat by her bedside, tenderly stroking her knuckles as he clasped her hand in his own and placed gentle kisses along her skin, she couldn't help but feel a devastating amount of guilt over not telling him about the pregnancy sooner.

Anything could happen to this baby, the absolute unthinkable so to speak, and the fact that she kept it from him was killing her, and she couldn't reign in the tears any longer and helplessly broke down.

"I'm so sorry." Alice blubbered in breaths, bringing her free hand to her mouth to control the hyperventilating.

FP stood from his chair, his soft chestnut orbs gazing into her full of worry and care as he reached out his hand to stroke along her warm cheeks.

"Hey, what have you got to be sorry about?" He consoled in his husky yet delicate tone, trying as hard as he could to calm her down.

Alice remained tight lipped, her mouth clenching as she pulled her lips in and shook her head in embarrassment. "You're gonna hate me."

"There's nothing you could do that would ever make me feel hate for you, I swear." He firmly assured her, clasping his hands around hers tightly in a comforting manner. "What's wrong?"

As Alice parted her trembling lips to finally speak up, she was halted when the nurse who admitted them and had taken her blood entered the room, rolling in a ultrasound machine with her.

"Sorry to keep the two of you waiting, we're embarrassingly under staffed today." The blonde haired nurse apologised as she entered the room, rolling in an ultrasound machine.

"Why do you have that?" FP naively wondered, the look of sheer surprise gracing Alice's face as she sat up going completely ignored by him.

"FP, I really, need you to listen to me." Alice pleaded through small tears.

Gazing into her saddened eyes, and darting his own back and forth between the machine and the awkward looking nurse that stood opposite him as she set the machine up, he began to place the pieces together, and it became even more clear as Alice tenderly placed her free hand over her abdominal area, and the revelation almost knocked him back.

"A-are you-" FP stuttered out, fixating his eyes onto Alice the whole time he spoke. He was finding it difficult to process it all, especially under the circumstances.

"I'm sorry. I know I should've told you sooner, and now- now we could lose it and it's all my fault-" Alice blubbered, interrupting him sharply before allowing the tears fall down her vulnerable presenting ivory face.

"Shh, shh." He tenderly calmed as he stroked his fingers along her cheek. "Don't worry about any of that right now, alright? Let's just get this scan done, okay?" He croaked, trying to reign in the flood that began to well in his eyes. He was currently on a surging rollercoaster of emotions and had no idea which one was supposed to feel.

"Miss Smith?" The nurse quietly began. "Are you ready?"

A mutual look of assurance was shared between her and FP, before she gave a respectable nod and allowed the nurse to continue preparing the scan.

As she felt the cool gel liquid pool over her stomach and the probe glide over her abdomen, she fiddled with the crucifix charm on her gold necklace realising shallow relieving breaths, blindly holding onto faith and hoping that the very news she dreaded wasn't about to become reality.

Fortunately, the deafening and dreading silence that rang through the room was soon drowned out by the sound of a small pulsing heartbeat from the screen, and Alice and FP both felt a relieving weight lifted off their shoulders, shifting the tense atmosphere to a warming and serene one in which they both happily basked in. Their baby was safe and healthy.

"Sounds like a strong heartbeat you've got there." The nurse gleamed.

"The baby- Our baby's okay?" FP implored, wanting to confirm things were one hundred percent fine.

"Babies!" The nurse corrected with a beaming smile. "You're having twins!"

"Twins?!" Alice gaped in a gasp, averting her Ocean blue orbs towards FP, who was seemingly more than ecstatic, and displayed it through smothering her clasped hand with kisses.

"The results of your tests indicate anaemia, that would explain the fatigue, exhaustion and fainting." The nurse kindly detailed. "You should really be careful and ensure you're getting all the right nutrients inside of you. I'll prescribe you some prenatal vitamins and iron tablets, with an increased dose. After all, you're eating for not two, but three now."

The nurse left the two alone to print out the scan photos, giving them the time to process everything they had just found out. It was a lot to take in, even for adults in their situation.

A lingering silence filled the room shortly after she left, and the tension that arose as the novelty began to wear off was truly felt within by both Alice and FP once she recoiled herself as the reality of the situation sunk in once more.

"So twins, huh?" FP implored with grin as he softened his face. "Sure got more than we bargained for."

"Yeah." Alice croaked in a somber voice, slowly withdrawing herself as she lightly rubbed her abdomen.

FP focused on how timid and uncertain she had become in that moment, and his suspicions on her worries were all but confirmed.

"What are you thinking about Alice?"

"I don't know what to think." She quietly confessed, glaring deep into his Chestnut brown orbs.

"Look, I know this is a shock, and we've only been together a few months, but whatever you decide, I'll back you 100%." He reaffirmed strongly, keeping a hold of her hand and stroking his thumb along her knuckles, letting her know she had his unwavering support regardless of her next move, but the slight croak in his voice was hard to ignore.

"I did, consider a termination." Alice anxiously revealed to him. "I mean, I'm 35 years old, my oldest is nearly 18, my youngest has a baby of her own. I've already done the kid thing, and all on my own, but then I got around to what Hermione said to me."

FP began to listen more attentively, raising his formerly bowed head as he stared into her eyes ever so gently. "What did she say?"

"You. You're a brilliant Father, and this is a chance to have the perfect little family experience I dreamt about as a kid. There's nobody else I'd rather raise a baby with, I wanna argue over what colour to paint the nursery, I want you to tell me how beautiful I still look even when I'm the size of a damn house and have bags under my eyes and baby puke in my hair, I wanna fight over who's turn it is to do night feeds, I wanna see you make animal impressions at story time. I never got any of that with the girls Dad's, but with you, I know it will be magical."

Tears of pure joy slowly fell down FP's face as he listened to every word she had said, and he honestly couldn't have been more in love with her than he was already.

"So we're really doing this?" He ecstatically confirmed as he held his hands to her glowing cheeks.

"Yeah, we are. Let's have these babies."

Amidst the tears of happiness and warmth of laughter and joy that filled the room, he slowly pulled head into his, laying an unapologetic passionate kiss on her lips that she gladly accepted. After all, they had so many reasons to celebrate.