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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 1, 2009 1:50:17 GMT -5
"You know me so well, it's ridiculous. I really want to paint the n..." she trailed off. She had been about to mention the nursary, but it dawned on her that they didn't have one. Her living room was going to have to serve as the nursary, and she sighed, kind of hating the idea. All the fantasies in her involved a house.
A very particular house, actually.
"Anyway, I would love a red and orange scheme for a girl... maybe bright blues and greens if it turns out to be a boy. We'd have to, because we're ruling out all other colors. You know she's going to be too smart for her own good. And beautiful... Merlin, she'll be beautiful."
Suddenly, it was okay to say 'she' now. Riley had a gut feeling... and while she thought she'd be able to better raise a boy, the thought of a girl was now welcome.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 1, 2009 2:06:19 GMT -5
Roland was thinking of a house, too. He had mentioned the idea of looking for a house to his parents, but not to Riley. Not yet. He really wanted to wait until she accepted his proposal... but that might not work. He would have to hope that he could convince her on this trip.
"I definitely think we should use bright colors. Whether it's a boy or a girl... I don't want our baby to be stuck in boring pastels. She's going to have a bold personality, so she should dress for it. I just hope she has your smile. You have the most beautiful smile. You know... back before we were together, I used to try and think of ways to make you smile. I was so terrible at it then...."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 1, 2009 2:11:35 GMT -5
"She's going to be bold and outspoken and stubborn as hell. But she's going to know the difference between right and wrong. She'll fight for what she believes in... and she's going to love with everything she's got. We'll raise her that way, if only because you and I don't know how to be any other way."
She paused, considering a time when they weren't together. "You were pretty bad at it. It was noble of you, at least. I remember trying to get on your nerves after a while. I mean, once I realized nothing I could do would win you over, then it was just a matter of finding what buttons to push. You're a much better person than I am," she laughed.
She pulled away from him, reaching for the champagne on the cart and two glasses. "Can you open it?" she asked.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 1, 2009 18:20:56 GMT -5
"You had already won me over, long before I even realized it," Roland replied with a grin. "Any time you were mad at me--and let's face it, that was a lot of the time--it bothered me. And yet, whenever you were around... I couldn't think straight sometimes and I ended up acting like a jerk. I think it was because I was already starting to fall for you and it scared me, so I tried to push you away. And yet, when I did, I felt awful." He let out a short laugh and shook his head. "I guess that doesn't make any sense. But it doesn't matter now. We're done with that. No more games, right?"
He kissed her quickly, then took the champagne bottle from her hands. "Let's do it together," he said, positioning the bottle so that it was in front of both of them, but pointed away. "You hold the bottle, and I'll work on the cork."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 5, 2009 0:09:13 GMT -5
"I like talking about how we used to be," Riley replied, her tone gentle as she thought about it. "It reminds me just how far we've come and reminds me not to ever take moments like this for granted. And what you said does make sense. I pushed you away a lot, too." She still did sometimes, but Roland didn't budge, and it was exactly what Riley needed.
She took the base of the bottle in her hands, leaning into Roland, even though the neck was pointed away from them. "I have a feeling we're about to be bathing in champage. I hate popping corks..."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 5, 2009 16:54:07 GMT -5
He chuckled lightly. "We probably will be, but at least we're already in the bath, right?"
He didn't actually had a lot of practice opening champagne bottles. Drinking champagne wasn't something he did often; it was for celebrations or special occasions. The last time he'd opened a bottle of champagne had been the night Mara was born. Half of the bottle had ended up on the floor.
Realizing that his hands were wet and it would be hard to grip the cork, he reached around and grabbed a towel to dry them off before he gripped the neck of the bottle and began to pry the bottle open with his thumbs.
It took a minute, but he felt the cork begin to give a little, and then the seal broke with a pop. A small amount of champagne spilled out, but not a lot.
"Not bad," he said with a smile. "As always, we make a great team. Want to get me the glasses and I'll pour?"
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 5, 2009 21:11:33 GMT -5
Riley didn't bother to point out to him that all she had done was hold the bottle, and there wasn't much of a team effort there. She just leaned forward, pulling her body away from his as she reached for the two champagne flutes.
Then, she twisted her body to make it easier for Roland to pour the champagne into them, a little sparkle in her eyes as she did so. In a few months, things were going to change drastically. She wanted to savor whatever time they had left to be young and irresponsible and in love.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 5, 2009 22:01:48 GMT -5
He poured her glass first, then poured some for himself. After he'd set the bottle back on the cart, he smiled and held up his glass.
"To us," he said, raising an eyebrow at her. He clinked his glass against hers, then took a sip. "OK," he said. "I've told you plenty of stories from when I was a kid. And I know you didn't have the greatest childhood, but surely you have some happy memories. Can you tell me just one story? The best day you can remember."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 5, 2009 22:17:12 GMT -5
"To us," she repeated, gently clinking their glasses before she took a sip. As he spoke, she turned herself fully in the tub so that she was facing him, drawing her knees up to her chest. The tub was large enough that most of her body was still submerged in water, and she looked at him as she contemplated what to tell him.
"I was really, really little. This was back before my dad left, and he and my mum had gone out to dinner or something, and left me with a babysitter. It was this boy who was home from university for the summer. I can't even remember his name, but he was teaching me to speak English... silly phrases that meant nothing. But I remember being so fascinated when he would speak it, that I begged him to teach me. And I was little, so I made him teach my how to say things like, 'I want to be a princess.' He took me out, and we spent the entire evening walking around town, naming things in Portuguese and English."
She paused, smiling a little, and then she shrugged. "I don't know. It's not much, but it's one of the few things I remember from before my dad left."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 5, 2009 22:41:02 GMT -5
Roland smiled, trying to imagine her as an innocent little girl who was interested in learning and wanted to be a princess. Oddly enough, he found himself thinking that if they had known each other at that age, they might have got along. Back when he was innocent as well, before he started to get cocky.
"I wish I could have known you then," he said softly. "I bet you were adorable and you like to wear pink." Then he laughed as he added, "You know, I went through a stage where I wanted to be Robin Hood. I'm serious. I even had this toy bow and arrow, that shot these soft foam arrows. I was probably about 5. Mum took it away from me, though, when I shot Cyrus with it. He wasn't even hurt... he laughed. But she was mad at me anyway."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 5, 2009 22:50:33 GMT -5
"My favorite color was yellow when I was a little girl, thank you very much," Riley said, a hint of laughter in her voice. That was the one thing that had never changed in all her life... she had always hated pink. "Besides, you probably would have thought I had cooties back then. I had a habit of tagging along with anyone I liked. I probably would have annoyed you to no end."
She understood where Cara came from, taking the bow and arrow away, though the image of Roland in her head running around the house as Robin Hood made her laugh out loud. "God, I miss being a kid. We really had no inhibitions back then, did we? I wish we could be that carefree now. Brian had toy guns, even in his teenage years. The rule was that he was never allowed to point them at anyone. Never stopped him, but I can't blame your mum, really. I probably would have taken it away from you, too."
Again, she paused, thinking about how they were going to raise their child. She was terrified, convinced that she was the worst person alive to be a parent. Roland was going to have to make up for so much where she lacked, and she didn't know how to deal with that. But the mood between them now was nice, and light, and she wouldn't bring it down just yet.
"You know, I couldn't even speak proper English when I started Hogwarts. It was broken, and I remember having a really hard time in lectures. I could read it just fine, but I used to think that everyone spoke so fast."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 5, 2009 23:03:44 GMT -5
"I don't blame her now, either, but at the time I was really mad," Roland said. "You know, it's funny, when you think about it. When we're kids, all we can think about is when we'll grow up. And then when we do, we just wish we were kids again."
He leaned in and kissed her, tasting the champagne on her lips. He had a feeling that he knew what she was thinking about, and he wanted to reassure her. She had good instincts, and a natural way with children. She was going to be a perfect mother, he had no doubt about it.
But instead of saying anything about it, he focused on the rest of what she said. "Do you think maybe we could raise our child to speak both languages?"
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 5, 2009 23:32:28 GMT -5
"I don't know when they'd ever use Portuguese. We should teach them French or Latin or something useful, shouldn't we?" Then again, Riley didn't know any other languages outside of Portuguese and English, and her eyes narrowed slightly at Roland. "Do you speak anything else? I don't think I've ever asked."
Suddenly, she knew exactly how Roland felt, especially when she was so evasive about her childhood. "Tell me everything there is to know about you, Roland."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 6, 2009 0:14:52 GMT -5
"I'd just like our child to know where she came from," Roland said, unconsciously referring to the unborn baby as a "she." It felt natural to think of the child as a girl, and he was almost convinced that it would be.
"I know a little Spanish, but not a whole lot. My grandfather taught me some Spanish... His father was originally from Spain, you know. He went to Hogwarts and married a blue-eyed blonde English girl.... since then, most of the Ferreras have had light hair. I'm sort of the exception. I take after my great-grandfather's side of the family."
He let out a laugh and shook his head. "You don't really want me to tell you everything in one night, now, do you? You'll have nothing left to discover about me."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 6, 2009 0:23:11 GMT -5
"Then our child should know Spanish, too, shouldn't they? Spanish isn't terrible different from Portuguese, actually." Her head tilted as she smiled at Roland. "Actually, you being Spanish explains a lot... how fiercely you love. The Spanish are a very passionate people. Or so I've been told."
She set her champagne on the edge of the tub, leaning forward slightly and wrapping her arms around her legs. "I do want to know everything tonight. We can learn everything about each other tonight, and spend the rest of our lives just growing together, laughing and loving as we grow old and our bodies fall apart."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 6, 2009 0:53:16 GMT -5
"That might have something to do with it, I guess," Roland agreed. "For the whole family, really. We're all very passionate, and we love deeply. That's the way we were brought up. But the Divination teacher, when we were covering astrology, said it also had to do with my birthday being in November. If you believe in that sort of thing. I forget most of what she said, but it was scarily accurate. Of course, I thought most of what we learned in that class was nonsense, and I dropped it after a year."
He smiled and leaned back against the side of the tub as she talked about their future together. Merlin, it sounded so sweet. It made him ache, but in a good way.
"Well, we have a lot to learn then, don't we?" he teased. "What do you want to know?"
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 6, 2009 1:08:32 GMT -5
"I thought divination was a lot of bullocks, too," Riley agreed with him. "And really, when she said what my birthday meant, it was pretty dead on, too. But then she explained someone else's birthday, and it still described me. It's all very generic so that it describes everyone."
She smiled at his teasing, and shrugged. "I want to know everything," Riley emphasized. "You catch me so off guard sometimes, and I think it's impossible to love you any more, but I do, every time. What do you dream about when you sleep?" she asked. "Did you ever want children, did you ever think it would happen so soon?" She could ask him a million questions to keep him going, and he had her full, undivided attention.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 6, 2009 1:47:19 GMT -5
Roland nodded. "I thought the same thing... if you wanted to believe, you'd see something that related to you in any sign. Maybe it works for some people, but I don't buy it. Divination in general.... I think you either have it, like Natalie, or you don't. You can't really teach it. I was far too skeptical."
He reached up then and grabbed the bowl of strawberries, taking one for himself and holding the bowl out to her. "I love you the same way, you know," he said. "I think it's just not possible to love you more than I do.... and then I do. It's a good thing I love you so much, because I normally don't like people trying to get into my head. But I want you there. I want you to know me."
He paused, taking a bite of his strawberry, while he thought about what to tell her. "Lately, I just dream of you," he said. "Dreams of the future.... starting our family.... Most of the time, I dream of things that I wish would happen. Before we killed Blake, I dreamed of fighting him and defeating him. Stuff like that. And... well, I'll be honest. I never really thought I'd have kids. I didn't even think I wanted them at all until the first time I held Mara. She changed me.... wrapped me around her little finger from the very beginning. That was the first time I thought I might want kids, but I thought it would be later than this. I don't regret it, but I know it's scary."
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Post by Riley Neves on Sept 6, 2009 10:59:31 GMT -5
It was ROland's fault really, that he brought it up. He opened the gates for her to tell him just how terrified she was about this whole thing.
"I always used to say that I never wanted children. I didn't want marriage, I didn't want kids. But it was because I never saw either of those things work out. My parents' marriage fell apart, and Merlin knows my mum wasn't so great at raising kids. I can't raise a kid, Roland. I don't know how to love a child properly, and that means you'll be doing so much of the work for both of us. Roland... I don't know how to do this."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Sept 6, 2009 11:37:12 GMT -5
Roland set the bowl back down and slid over to her, takingg her into his arms again. "You're going to be a wonderful mother, I'm sure of it. And you know I'm always right," he teased as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Then he grew serious again and turned slightly so that she could see his face. "You have good instincts. You know what's right and what's wrong, and you're good at worrying about other people and you always try to do what you can to help people. Whether you see it or not, I do... you're a natural. When I saw you holding Mara at Christmas, it nearly brought me to my knees. You have a real way with kids, and you're going to be just fine. Possibly better than I will be, even, because I'll probably be too indulgent. Or I'll want to wrap our kids up in protective plastic so they can never get hurt. And as for us, I firmly believe that we love each other enough to make it through any hardships. I know I will never give up on you."
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