calliste-delacour

[calliste-delacour]

“I swear, the next person to ask me if I’m alright is getting a telescope shoved in a rather unseemly place. I’m just a little under the weather.”

[calliste-delacour]

“”Will we now, because if that was a proposal it was not up to par.” Calliste chuckled, rolling her eyes at him. This was not a fight either of them would back down on easily. “Cas, you’re delusional if you think any kid of yours will be normal, and we both know my moral compass doesn’t exactly point due North.” Just another reason she worried for her capability as a mother. She smiled when he called her Calliste Black, because it sounded strange to her ears but also sort of... nice. Like she could very easily get used to it. “Consider them marked, but believe me, unless you marry me before the baby comes, the baby is being born a Delacour because that’s what I’ll write on their birth certificate.”

“But we will get married. Don’t you worry about that, I’ll marry you one day. I just don’t want the confusion of our kid being a Delacour, and then a Black when they’re going to end up being a Black anyway.” At her next words, Cas then shrugged a little. “We have a chance to redeem the Black name a little, with a normal kid.” Whilst he wasn’t all that fond of his family name, he had to admit that he liked the idea of their child being known as a good member of the Black family. “You will be Calliste Black, and that baby inside of you will be a Black. Mark my words, woman.” He grinned.

[calliste-delacour]

“They’d better. The French Ministry is better than the one here.”

“Do you think the Ministry would pay for me to visit France this summer?”

[calliste-delacour]

“My own appartment may become available shortly after the end of term, Miss Fawley. Though I’m not entirely sure it would be in your price range.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone who’s renting out a room, would you? I’m running out of time to find a place.”

[calliste-delacour]

“One of his many,” Calliste corrected with a chuckle, shaking her head. One day, she hoped, Anastasia and Castor would get on again. But that did seem a little like a fool’s hope. “I plan to go to France, visit my family, and then I’m-” she paused, because now it seemed like affter term ended, the logical thing to do would be prepare for the baby, find a home to set up with Cas and whatever else was required. “Well I have a full summer, let’s say.”

“That’s a fair point, and one of his few redeeming qualities.” Anastasia grinned, almost hating to admit it. “Should hope not.” She chuckled. “What are you plans for when term ends?”

[calliste-delacour]

“Stop saying when we get married, it makes me think you have intentions of proposing at any point in the near future.” She pouted, rolling her eyes. Chuckling slightly as he kissed her and still not backing down. “Cas, you don’t even like being a Black that much, why are you trying to force that family name on our baby. Oh, I have an idea; perhaps if we get married you can take my name and that solves everything.” She joked, grinning all the while. He’d known she was pregnant for all of ten minutes and already they were arguing about how to raise the child.

“Oh no, our baby is not a Delacour.” Cas pointed out, although he couldn’t keep the smile off of his lips as he commented that the baby was theirs. “What’s the point in having the baby as a Delacour when it’ll just have to be changed when we get married? We may as well keep his, her, whatever it is, it’s name the same forever.” He grinned over at her. “My kid, my girlfriend, my name.” He leaned in to cup her cheeks, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “Get it?”

[calliste-delacour]

“If it was something that could be deemed hospital worthy then I’m sure Castor would have dragged me to see the healers by now,” Calliste chuckled. Knowing that before she’d told him he’d been quite close to doing so. “Of course not, dear Anastasia. I could never forget my dearest friend.”

“Have you been by the hospital wing? I’m sure that the Healer could give you something for it.” She stood smiling, happy to accompany her friend. “It has been far too long.  I was starting to think you’s forgotten I was here.”

[calliste-delacour]

“I’m fine, it’s just a stomach bug or something,” she waved off Anastasia’s concern, taking deep breaths to stave off a fresh bout of nausea. Calliste smiled at the offer of company though, nodding, “Please, do join, it’s been far too long since we had a proper chat.”

“Are you feeling alright? That’s the third time this week you couldn’t eat breakfast.” Stasia asked concerned.  She had noticed lately that Calliste had been slightly off, and had taken to keeping an extra eye on her.  “I was finished anyway.  If you want some company, I’m available.”

[calliste-delacour]

“You know what, I don’t think I can eat this,” Calliste murmured, shoving the third breakfast that week away from her slightly and turning to Anastasia sat beside her with a weak smile. She’d not told anyone other than Cas about the baby, not even her closest friend, and it was coming more difficult to hide the morning sickness, nausea and other symptoms from the other woman. She stood abruptly. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need some fresh air.”

@anastasiaburke

[calliste-delacour]

that’s my type of guy… [insp.]

[calliste-delacour]

[calliste-delacour]

Calliste raised an eyebrow, still thinking that it smacked of hypocrisy because he had put her through his being a terrible boyfriend and walking out on her. But she didn’t say it aloud because that was the past now. She smiled at how his eyes kept darting to her stomach and lay her hand across it again, “This baby is a Delacour, Castor. I’m not your wife, I’m your girlfriend, and I am a Delacour. If I’m having the baby out of wedlock, they get my name.” She refused to budge on that. The baby’s name could be changed if... when herself and Castor got married. But until then, her baby would be a Delacour and he didn’t get to argue that because he wasn’t facing 8 months of hell.

“Exactly! I know how to be a terrible boyfriend and there is no way that I’m letting our little girl go through something like that, or let our son be like that. That’s not being a hypocrite, that’s being smart.” The male pointed out and his eyes went back down to her stomach when Callie said that their daughter would be a Delacour, and he pulled away from their embrace a little with a frown on his face. “Oh, no. No, no, no. That baby is a Black. He or she can’t be a Delacour, because then when we get married, they’ll be left with an odd surname.” Ha. She couldn’t argue with that, could she? Cas grinned at her, sure he was actually going to win one argument with ease.

[calliste-delacour]

“Yes, hypocrite,” she laughed at his reaction, “You have a history of being a terrible boyfriend, so you don’t get to judge any future child of ours for their love life.” She blushed when he pointed out that she was a traditionalist, because he was right, she did think they should be married but they weren’t and she wouldn’t propose to him. “It’s laughable that you think any child of yours and mine will have that mindset at all.” While it was true she hoped any daughter wouldn’t be quite as bad as they were, she would not let Cas be as overprotective as he wanted to, because he was bordering ridiculous. “And I think you’ll find she’ll be Little Miss Delacour.” Calliste hugged him closely, nodding, “Glad to hear it, love.”

“Hypocrite?!” Cas replied quickly, his mouth falling open slightly as he kept his eyes on his girlfriend. “Hey, it’s not just my fault that this,” Cas gestured to her stomach with his hand, “happened, you know! I didn’t plan for it to happen this way. I know you’re a traditionalist, and I know marriage comes before kids but apparently life didn’t have things planned for us that way. But I’ll tell you want, Litte Miss Black in there will definitely have a damn ring on her finger before she even thinks about having sex.” He pointed at her stomach once again before then pulling her back into his arms as she pressed a kiss to his lips, keeping her close to him. “I love you too, darling.”

[calliste-delacour]

Calliste smiled at the way he just started to ramble. Like he always did when he got excited about something. Rolling her lips together as she blinked away an entirely different type of tears, only able to nod at what he was saying. Bloody hormones already kicking in. “You hypocrite, Castor!” Calliste scoffed. Shoving him lightly, though the corners of her lips were turned up into a bit of a grin. “How can you threaten that when you knocked me up before even trying to put a ring on my finger?” She started laughing at him all the same. If they had a daughter, while it pleased her to know Cas would be protective, Calliste hoped the girl would be something like herself - and a father like Cas wanted to be would doubtless not have approved of the things she got up to in her youth. “I hate you,” she murmured good-naturedly, pecking him on the lips again just to make sure he knew she didn’t mean it. 

“Okay, London it is then. I can apparate, and I’ll do what Marcus did, can stay at home with you for the first month or two to make sure everything is okay and to help out because us both being new parents and all, we’ll need each other.” Cas didn’t realise that he was rambling a little, his excitement over the situation obviously coming through a little stronger than he’d have liked it to, but he couldn’t hold it back. “You do realise that if we have a daughter that she’ll have no life whatsoever. I know what men are like. I don’t care if another kid at school even blinks at her, he’s dead unless he wants to put a damn ring on her finger and be with her forever. Then, maybe he can look at her. Perhaps it’d be better if we had a so. That… him I could work with a little more. I mean, you’ve seen me with my nieces, well, two of them, I’d kill for.” He kept the smile on his lips as she looked over at him. “No, see, that’s not what I heard.”

[calliste-delacour]

“I know, just be careful, love,” Calliste was grateful, of course she was. She just didn’t like that she had dragged him into problems that should have been hers. Just hers. She wanted to protect him as much as he did her. “No I- I want to live in London. Up here is too far away from everything and, well I suppose me teaching next year is rather out of the question, so there’s no reason not to...” The more they talked about this, the less impossible things started to seem. Things were still complicated, and part of her was still regretting that they’d been so reckless, but there was something more than just worry behind this now. The way he talked about the two of them moving in together and just made it seem easy. “Oh, it’s far too early. But for decades the Delacour family have had daughters first, and I- I think I want a daughter.” She shivered slightly when he moved his thumb, laughing at that stupid smile when he looked back up at her. “I never said responsible, I just said more responsible than you think you are.”

“I won’t do it on purpose Callie, I promise. But I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of this, all right?” Cas just wanted her to know that he would do whatever he had to do in over to keep her, and their child now safe. He’d do anything for them. “It is a short amount of time, but if anyone can do it, it’s us. That’s an easy enough issue to address, love. I said earlier, didn’t I? I was looking at a flat for us to move into and now all we have to do is look at two bedroom ones instead of one. I was looking in London, but with a baby, maybe that’s not the best idea and perhaps we should live up here somewhere? What do you think?” He didn’t read too much into her cut off sentence, because he was sure that she just meant that she assumed she’d be living with the person that she had a baby with before the baby actually came. “Her? You… you think she’s a girl? Isn’t that too early to tell? Superstition or not, I…” He gently brushed his thumb along her stomach before then moving to brush it across her fingers that were covering his hand. A small smile took over her lips however at her words and he brought his gaze up from her stomach, to look up at his girlfriend. “You think I’m responsible?”

[calliste-delacour]

“If you do something stupid and it gets you hurt, I’m still pregnant and then I’d have you to worry about and it won’t do me- won’t do us any good.” Calliste said, softly. She knew him well enough to know he’d always do stupid things for loving her, just like she would for him. “Don’t- when you say it like that it seems like such a short amount of time. And there’s- there are other issues to address, Cas. Like you and me, we don’t even live together and whenever I have thought about having children, I always assumed that I would- that I’d be-” She shook her head, cutting off because he’d already brought up his tendency to be flaky in the past. His tendency to disappear. She’d always assumed she’d be married to have kids, but she was not telling him that. “Her.” She patted his hand, over her stomach, “There’s a- a family superstition that Delacours have daughters first... And we, together, are going to make her life wonderful, because you- you’re this baby’s father and you’re more responsible than you think, and I don’t care if you think I picked the wrong person to have a life with... I have faith in you.”

“If I have to do something stupid, I will. I won’t hold back any more, Callie. I won’t go looking for trouble, but if I stumble upon it…” Cas trailed off, just wanting her to know where the situation was in his mind. Now that there was a baby involved, their baby, he was going to push this ten times harder. “Just over a month? Okay so… eight months. Eight months to completely change your life, keep you safe and get prepared for a kid. That… that’s not too hard.” Although the look on his face contradicted his words. “No, I didn’t mean that. Of course I’m not going anywhere, I’m just… I’m just saying that you definitely didn’t fall in love with the right man to have a family with. I’m still a kid myself, where as you – you’re going to be a fantastic mum, Callie. Anyone can see that. You just have to have faith in yourself, knowing that you’ll love him or her, and will do whatever you can to give them the best life.”

[calliste-delacour]

“I don’t-” she gave up arguing, disagreeing with him, because it would get her nowhere. She’d continue to worry internally of course, but she just closed her eyes for now. Smiling just a little as he lay his hand back on her stomach. “I know you will, and I appreciate it just please don’t do anything stupid trying to keep me safe.” Calliste opened her eyes, looking at him as she realised a sort of question to his words. She laughed slightly too, “Just- just under 8, I think. I’m- I need to check but I think the math puts me at just over a month.” Leaning forward, she kissed him lightly. “You aren’t disappearing though, Cas. I will hunt you down if you try it,” she warned, “You’re a good uncle and you’ll be a good father. I wouldn’t want to start a family with anyone else.”

“You’re crazy, Callie.” Cas shook his head as he kept his eyes on the beautiful blonde in his arms. “Our child will love you unconditionally, just like I do. You are very loving, no matter what you think.” He let out a sigh sigh and brought his face closer to her own, pressing his forehead against hers so that he could just be close to her, one of his hands moving from around her back to settle on her stomach once again, needing to have his hand on her. “We just have to keep you– you both safe, all right? I’ll do anything to keep you safe, and you’re just going to have to work your damn hardest to get out with… with how many months we have left, I don’t know.” He then let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. “Callie, you don’t have to lie to me. There’s a reason my nieces and nephews know me as the flaky uncle that disappears, the one that lets them get away with anything.”