Growing families...
Category: Pink Sheep RPG
Romy hadn't seen Katie in months, not since Oliver had stepped down as captain at the end of the season. They'd been busy ever since, getting started on the nursery, visiting with the ever loud and loving extended Wood family, in addition to Romy's duties at the gallery.
Oliver was still beside himself with excitement. As much as he doted on her before, it was tenfold now that Romy was carrying his child. They'd not yet found out the sex of their baby, but soon. For his part, Oliver was certain they'd be having a boy. Thinking back to the day they'd found out they were expecting - finally - her face lit with a glowing smile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Romy was dazed as she stepped outside. She barely noticed the other people on the street as she walked, instinct and habit leading her toward the nearest apparation point.
She'd begun to suspect it a week earlier, but after so many disappointments she hadn't wanted to get her hopes up. She hadn't even mentioned it to Oliver. There was no point in distracting him with news she wasn't sure of. Today, though, she'd been to the Healer, and he'd said the words she'd been anticipating for months.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Wood. You're having a baby."
Replaying it in her mind, tears welled up in Romy's eyes. She was going to be a mum. She was finally going to give Oliver the family he wanted so badly. She literally couldn't wait to tell him, and as soon as she reached the apparation point she made for the Puddlemere pitch.
The team was in the air, Oliver shouting directions at his players as he hovered in front of the three rings. A smiled touch her lips as she watched her husband in his element.
The slight tingle in the pit of his stomach alerted Oliver that Romy was nearby, causing him to slow in the air and peer downward in search of his curvy goddess. Eyes spotting her form, Oliver shouted to one of the Chasers to take over and sailed down to the ground with the greatest of ease, a soft satisfaction lighting his eyes. His Romy-sense never failed him, and had indeed thwarted many an attempted surprise attack since its development.
Touching down with a light thud, Oliver immediately made to wrap his arms around his love, though he stopped in his tracks when he saw tears in Romy's eyes. Despite the fact that Oliver knew his wife inside and out -- inch by inch and smile by smile -- he was still wary of tears of any kind. Sometimes happy tears weren't so happy, and sometimes sad tears turned to smiles, and ninety percent of the time Oliver hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing in the process -- he just talked and kissed until she smiled again.
"Wha's wrong, dove?" he queried, voice soft and rough from hours of shouting on the pitch.
With a loud sniffle, Romy threw her arms around her husband and squeezed him tightly. As excited as she was to tell him the news, now that she was here the words weren't coming. For several minutes she just held onto Oliver, the tears that had been making her eyes glisten falling freely.
Finally, she took a step back and gave him a wobbly smile. "I've just been to see the healer." Seeing the concern that immediately came over Oliver's face, Romy held up a hand, as if she could halt his thought process physically. "I'm fine, but I have to tell you something."
Oliver's thick brow furrowed, and, as he leaned down to kiss Romy's forehead, he caressed her cheek with a rough hand, though his touch was gentle as ever. He took rough, even breaths, opting not to let his mind race until he heard the news. "Go on," he commanded softly, eyes dark and focused.
Pulling her lower lips between her teeth, she tried to come up with some witty or clever thing to say. Her mind was too scattered, though, overwhelmed with thoughts of motherhood and the tiny child growing inside her. Romy took a deep breath, covering Oliver's hand with her own. Eyes brimming again, she met his gaze. "You're going to be a Da."
The words rang through Oliver like a shot to the heart, at once halting all internal processes and filling him with the urge to do 10,000,000 things at once -- tell his parents, kiss his wife, greet his child, tell his team, fly across the globe and back, scream in happiness. He was lucky his skin was thick and rough, else he might have exploded at that very moment. Eyes still wide and shocked, a wide, lopsided smile overtook Oliver's features, and as he came to he found his beautiful wife standing before him. Unable to speak, he engaged her in a deep and passionate kiss, arms wrapping around her to the fullest of their ability.
After many -- many -- moments, his hand groped around to her abdomen, palm flattening against her familiar form. He slowly lowered to one knee, pressing a soft kiss to her clothed belly-to-be. Eyes turning upward, a certain soft happiness radiated from his very core. Were he the type to cry he would, but Oliver Wood, if anything, was not a man who spilt tears often. Hands sliding downward to clasp the backs of Romy's thighs, he murmured, "I love ye so much, Romy. An' now I'm officially th' happies' man alive."
Romy brushed the chestnut fringe back from Oliver's face, smiling down at him. Her own feelings were a jumble of happiness and worry. Would she be a good mother? Was she really ready to be responsible for a child? As she looked at the joy on her husband's face, though, she couldn't help but think everything would be fine. Oliver was going to be an amazing, doting father. He was a good man, steady and kind-hearted. With him by her side, she could take on the world. One baby at a time, apparently.
"I love you, too." Glancing skyward, she laughed. The team had given up any pretense of doing drills and every face was turned to where their captain was kneeling on the ground. "Maybe I should have waited until you came home to tell you. That's quite a curious lot you've got, Captain Wood."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The team had celebrated along with them, most especially Katie Bell. The shopping trip they were taking was long overdue.
Spying her friend, Romy pressed a kiss to her cheek, one hand resting lovingly atop the slight rounding of her belly. "How are you, Katie?"
"I'm doing just fine, Romy," Katie replied with a happy grin, embracing her friend before placing her hand on her the other woman's slight baby bump. "And how is my future niece or nephew today? Still growing strong?"
"Getting bigger every day, just like me," Romy joked, linking her arm with Katie's. "I'm not looking forward to the swollen ankles, but at least the morning sickness was light and didn't last too long."
"And you're feeling alright, yeah? Getting enough sleep, enough to eat, everything's okay?" It was ridiculous how much Katie was looking forward to spoiling this little one. Oliver was the first of any of her friends to have a baby, so she couldn't wait to play the honorary auntie. Besides, her nieces and nephews were most likely the closest she'd get to having children of her own.
Romy laughed. Now that Oliver had retired from active play, he had little to do other than fuss over her. She couldn't have taken ill care of herself if it had been a goal. "My darling husband makes sure I get everything I need, whether I want it or not. Do you know he even turned down sex one night because I 'looked tired'? That's a first, let me tell you."
Katie made a face. "That was a tidbit I could have lived without knowing, but thank you for sharing with the class."
"Like there's a single Puddlemere player who was unclear why the captain ran a much more relaxed practice after a lunchtime visit from his wife. That Oliver and I enjoy liberal amounts of marital relations is hardly a secret." Romy rubbed her belly, grinning as her friend squirmed. "Even if it was, the kneazle's out of the bag now."
"Yes, it is. Now, what do you say to spoiling that little kneazle rotten?" the slender girl asked her friend, trying to wipe out the mental image of her two friends engaged in sex.
"Do you think we can manage it without knowing if it's a boy kneazle or a girl kneazle?" Romy's lips twitched. There was no question. If there was one thing she and her female friends knew how to do, it was shop.
"Oh, we'll manage. Oh will we manage," Katie grinned as she took her friend's hand and tugged her into the shop. "Are you going with a gender-neutral color scheme?"
Chuckling, the expectant mother gave her a wry grin. "Oh yes, very neutral. After all, PU is a co-ed team. Quaffles and snitches in a field of team-appropriate colors. Subtle my husband is not."
"Alright, navy blue and gold it is," Katie said cheerfully. "Or are you going to go with a softer, baby blue instead of navy?"
"No, we're going bold and vibrant. Truthfully, Oliver's absolutely convinced we're having a boy, so there will be no pastels. This little one will be a manly man, even if she's a girl, I think."
"And they'll all play Quidditch and make their Mummy and Da proud," the other woman commented as her eye was caught by a golden snitch mobile. "Oh, this is just precious. Definitely what I would by if I needed one."
"That is sweet," Romy agreed, reaching out to finger the fluttering wings. "Any potential call for mobiles in your life? I refuse to believe the hottest female in the league today can't find a man. Indulge an old married woman."
Katie snorted. "No, no need for mobiles. That requires two things that aren't forthcoming: a man and marriage." She pushed the memory of snogging Stewart to the back of her mind. It was just a snog, really. Nothing more.
Romy watched some thought pass through Katie's mind, causing a slight tension in her expression before fading again. There was a story there, but she wouldn't push. Not just now, anyway.
"Well, I suppose that's for the best - not needing a mobile I mean - since you're just taking over the team. I imagine Chasing is easier without the unwieldy tummy and extra weight."
"Just a bit," Katie echoed faintly. "I'll leave the unwieldy tummy and extra weight to you old married women. I've got large shoes to fill, if you know what I mean."
She'd only gotten the news yesterday, and was still in the expected daze. Oliver, as well as the team manager and the owner, had requested she come to the main offices at Puddlemere's stadium last night. Their words were still ringing in her ears.
"Congratulations, Bell, you've been selected to be the newest captain of Puddlemere United."
Slipping an arm around Katie's waist, Romy gave her a squeeze. "You'll do great. Oliver recommended you specifically, you know. Friend or not, he wouldn't have done that if it wasn't what was best for the team."
"I know, but it's still nerve wracking, you know? Puddlemere hasn't had a female captain ever. What if I'm bollocks at it?"
"Well, that's what I said, but Oliver seemed to think you'd manage." Rolling her eyes with a snort, Romy gave her a look. "You'll be fine. You're a great Chaser and you'll be a great Captain. I'm obligated to think Oliver is better, but I'm sure you'll be a close second."
Katie laughed. "Of course you're obligated, you're bound in holy matrimony to the bloke."
Romy patted her belly. "Bound by more than that, now." She still couldn't think of being a mother without simultaneous surges of overwhelming happiness and fear.
"Yes, and my future niece or nephew is going to be the most talented little witch or wizard ever. Isn't that right?" Katie asked her friend's stomach with a silly little grin.
"Oliver will be distraught if he or she doesn't fly out of the womb on broomstick," Romy joked. "He has big plans for his progeny. If he has his way, this little one will be vying for your job by the age of five."
"That may be your child in there, but I will fight tooth and nail to keep my job," Katie teased, patting Romilda's stomach soothingly.
Chuckling, Romy grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her along, deeper into the store. "Alright, come on before we have to throw down and see who's queen of the pitch. There's shopping to be done!"
"Darling, I am the queen of the pitch, and don't you forget it." Katie let herself be drug through the displays of baby items: clothes, nursery decorations, cradles, everything a small being could need.
The entire time, though, there was a niggling voice at the back of her head. She hadn't told anyone about her snog with Stewart, not even her sister, and she was dying to tell someone.
"Romy?" she ventured as the two stopped to browse the display of onesies. "Um, I snogged someone."
"I knew you were keeping something from me!" Romy exclaimed. "Who? When? Where? Details, woman. I need details!"
Katie swallowed and muttered, "Stewartackerly," in a rush.
Romy gasped theatrically. "You snogged the Kenmare Keeper? Traitor!" A grin crept across her face as she regarded her rather sheepish-looking friend. "I guess you'd have to find someone from another team. I'd have to kill you if you snogged Puddlemere's Keeper. How did this happen? Are there plans for it to happen again?"
"No, snogging Oliver would be a bit like snogging my brother," Katie replied, her nose crinkling in disgust. "And I don't know how it happened, in all honesty. I helped out with his class at the Hogsmeade Town Club and we went to dinner afterwards, and then we went to a park in Appleby near where he grew up and he just kissed me. And I have no idea if it'll happen again or not." Merlin, she sounded like a babbling idiot.
Eying her friend, it was perfectly obvious that Katie wanted it to happen again. Romy had never been one to beat around the bush when she wanted something, or someone, and it had served her well. "You just need to make it happen. If he kissed you once, I'm sure he'd be happy to have a repeat performance. Are you helping out with his class regularly?"
She shook her head. "No, just that one time. One of the girls wouldn't fly higher than a few inches off the ground and insisted that he didn't understand because he was a boy. I dunno; I'm trying- and failing, obviously- not to read too much into it."
"She was probably right. Boys don't always get it," Romy replied with a wink. "As far as Stewart goes, you should owl him. Have dinner and invite him back to your flat for dessert. What's the worst that could happen? You spend the night with a gorgeous rival Keeper, and maybe end up discovering you've been reading it properly all along."
"Okay, Romy, do you know how long it's been since I've had sex?" she asked her friend. When the darker-haired woman shook her head, she said, "Well over a year. More like eighteen months or longer. Whatever moves I used to have are rusty as an old watercan."
Romy's mouth gaped and the rattle she'd been admiring fell to the ground with a crash. "Over a year?!" she repeated, her voice hushed as though they were speaking of particularly horrible crime. "OVER A YEAR?!"
She hadn't gone that long without sex ever. Not since she'd lost her virginity. That sort of abstinence was just wrong. Two days was a nearly unbearable length of time for her and Oliver. "Have you been ill? Doing some sort of spiritual cleansing ritual?"
"Shhh," Katie hissed, looking around. "And no, I'm not sick and I haven't sworn it off. I just haven't... yeah, I don't know why I haven't. I guess I just don't want any more one-night stands. I don't want things to be empty anymore, which is why I shouldn't get involved with Stewart."
"You don't care for Stewart?" Romy asked. She was sure that wasn't the case. Everything in Katie's bearing said she cared for the Kestrals player very much.
Katie shrugged. "I'm attracted to him," she admitted, albeit grudgingly. "I don't know about anything more than that."
"And how do you expect to determine whether there's more than that if you don't continue to see him? Really, Katie, for a beautiful, bright, and talented woman, you certainly are prone to self-doubt and sabotage."
"I don't even know if that one time counts as 'seeing him'," Katie countered. "It was more like dinner and a snog. Plus some Qudditch. That was it."
Romy gave a weary sigh. "Well, you know it won't count if you keep your distance now. Dating is meant to help you figure these things out, Katie. The catch is that you actually have to go on dates. Owl him."
"Are you trying to live vicariously through me?" Katie joked, hoping the subject would be dropped. She wasn't owling Stewart. Nope, not happening.
"Not at all. I'm quite content with my lot. I got very lucky with Oliver. He wouldn't take no as an answer." Romy gave Katie a stern look. "Can you imagine how unhappy I'd have ended up if he'd given up on me? If you think you might like him, don't risk it."
Katie's gaze dropped to the fluffy blue romper in her hand. "I don't want to go through that again, Romy," she whispered. "What's to say I'm not just an easy shag to him?"
"You've known Stewart how long?" Romy queried with a raised brow. "Has he ever treated you in a way that would indicate he's a pathetic user bastard?"
"No," Katie admitted softly. "But Romy, women throw themselves at him. It's enough to make me want to slit my own wrists." Or claw the other women's eyes out, either or worked.
Unable to resist poking at her friend just a little, Romy snickered. "If I remember correctly, women throw themselves at you, too, Miss Bell. Just because it happens doesn't mean he's taken any more advantage of it than you did. Doesn't he deserve the chance to prove he isn't a lecherous arse?"
"He went home with Angelina." Nearly sleeping with one of her best friends? That was awkward.
"Is Angelina still hung up on him?" Katie shook her head and Romy waved a hand, dismissing the concern. "You don't have to sleep with him, Katie. Just be open to seeing what's there. Getting hurt sucks, but you're never going to find the right guy if you don't bother with any of them."
"Yeah, I know." Desperate for a change in subject, Katie said, "So, I brought you a little something." Her hand slipped into her purse and fished around, a triumphant smile lighting her lips when she grasped onto the soft present and pulled it out, handing it to her friend.
A rich laugh spilled from Romy's lips as she held up the tiny Puddlemere onesie, grinning at the 'Wood' emblazoned across the back. She knew Katie was intentionally distracting her, but decided to let it go for the time being. Perhaps she could do a little checking on Mr. Ackerly herself. If he was an arse, she didn't want to be pushing Katie to go out with him.
"This is darling, Katie. Thank you!" she said, still chuckling at the tiny homage to her favorite Keeper. "Oliver will adore it."
"Just take a picture of the baby in it, so I can see him or her matching the nursery decor," Katie teased.
"I think you could hardly escape that. I imagine a very doting Daddy will insist on capturing every moment on film. Honestly, you've never seen a man so excited to be a father. It's absolutely adorable."
"Does he talk to your stomach?" Amy had mentioned that Jonathan talked to hers when she had been pregnant with Lizzie, though she didn't know if most expectant fathers did, or if that was just a quirk to be attributed to her brother.
Romy giggled. "More than he talks to me sometimes. In fact, he's threatened to make me sit with him and listen to game on the wireless next season, to get the baby used to quidditch terms."
"He or she can cheer on their Auntie Katie," she teased. "I highly doubt Oliver will be able to go a weekend without listening to a match. Unless you go into labor during a Puddlemere match, then I'm sure he'll make an exception."
Giving a snort, Romy looked doubtful. "Provided there was a wireless at St. Mungo's, maybe."
Summary: Katie and Romy talk boys and babies.
Romy hadn't seen Katie in months, not since Oliver had stepped down as captain at the end of the season. They'd been busy ever since, getting started on the nursery, visiting with the ever loud and loving extended Wood family, in addition to Romy's duties at the gallery.
Oliver was still beside himself with excitement. As much as he doted on her before, it was tenfold now that Romy was carrying his child. They'd not yet found out the sex of their baby, but soon. For his part, Oliver was certain they'd be having a boy. Thinking back to the day they'd found out they were expecting - finally - her face lit with a glowing smile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Romy was dazed as she stepped outside. She barely noticed the other people on the street as she walked, instinct and habit leading her toward the nearest apparation point.
She'd begun to suspect it a week earlier, but after so many disappointments she hadn't wanted to get her hopes up. She hadn't even mentioned it to Oliver. There was no point in distracting him with news she wasn't sure of. Today, though, she'd been to the Healer, and he'd said the words she'd been anticipating for months.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Wood. You're having a baby."
Replaying it in her mind, tears welled up in Romy's eyes. She was going to be a mum. She was finally going to give Oliver the family he wanted so badly. She literally couldn't wait to tell him, and as soon as she reached the apparation point she made for the Puddlemere pitch.
The team was in the air, Oliver shouting directions at his players as he hovered in front of the three rings. A smiled touch her lips as she watched her husband in his element.
The slight tingle in the pit of his stomach alerted Oliver that Romy was nearby, causing him to slow in the air and peer downward in search of his curvy goddess. Eyes spotting her form, Oliver shouted to one of the Chasers to take over and sailed down to the ground with the greatest of ease, a soft satisfaction lighting his eyes. His Romy-sense never failed him, and had indeed thwarted many an attempted surprise attack since its development.
Touching down with a light thud, Oliver immediately made to wrap his arms around his love, though he stopped in his tracks when he saw tears in Romy's eyes. Despite the fact that Oliver knew his wife inside and out -- inch by inch and smile by smile -- he was still wary of tears of any kind. Sometimes happy tears weren't so happy, and sometimes sad tears turned to smiles, and ninety percent of the time Oliver hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing in the process -- he just talked and kissed until she smiled again.
"Wha's wrong, dove?" he queried, voice soft and rough from hours of shouting on the pitch.
With a loud sniffle, Romy threw her arms around her husband and squeezed him tightly. As excited as she was to tell him the news, now that she was here the words weren't coming. For several minutes she just held onto Oliver, the tears that had been making her eyes glisten falling freely.
Finally, she took a step back and gave him a wobbly smile. "I've just been to see the healer." Seeing the concern that immediately came over Oliver's face, Romy held up a hand, as if she could halt his thought process physically. "I'm fine, but I have to tell you something."
Oliver's thick brow furrowed, and, as he leaned down to kiss Romy's forehead, he caressed her cheek with a rough hand, though his touch was gentle as ever. He took rough, even breaths, opting not to let his mind race until he heard the news. "Go on," he commanded softly, eyes dark and focused.
Pulling her lower lips between her teeth, she tried to come up with some witty or clever thing to say. Her mind was too scattered, though, overwhelmed with thoughts of motherhood and the tiny child growing inside her. Romy took a deep breath, covering Oliver's hand with her own. Eyes brimming again, she met his gaze. "You're going to be a Da."
The words rang through Oliver like a shot to the heart, at once halting all internal processes and filling him with the urge to do 10,000,000 things at once -- tell his parents, kiss his wife, greet his child, tell his team, fly across the globe and back, scream in happiness. He was lucky his skin was thick and rough, else he might have exploded at that very moment. Eyes still wide and shocked, a wide, lopsided smile overtook Oliver's features, and as he came to he found his beautiful wife standing before him. Unable to speak, he engaged her in a deep and passionate kiss, arms wrapping around her to the fullest of their ability.
After many -- many -- moments, his hand groped around to her abdomen, palm flattening against her familiar form. He slowly lowered to one knee, pressing a soft kiss to her clothed belly-to-be. Eyes turning upward, a certain soft happiness radiated from his very core. Were he the type to cry he would, but Oliver Wood, if anything, was not a man who spilt tears often. Hands sliding downward to clasp the backs of Romy's thighs, he murmured, "I love ye so much, Romy. An' now I'm officially th' happies' man alive."
Romy brushed the chestnut fringe back from Oliver's face, smiling down at him. Her own feelings were a jumble of happiness and worry. Would she be a good mother? Was she really ready to be responsible for a child? As she looked at the joy on her husband's face, though, she couldn't help but think everything would be fine. Oliver was going to be an amazing, doting father. He was a good man, steady and kind-hearted. With him by her side, she could take on the world. One baby at a time, apparently.
"I love you, too." Glancing skyward, she laughed. The team had given up any pretense of doing drills and every face was turned to where their captain was kneeling on the ground. "Maybe I should have waited until you came home to tell you. That's quite a curious lot you've got, Captain Wood."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The team had celebrated along with them, most especially Katie Bell. The shopping trip they were taking was long overdue.
Spying her friend, Romy pressed a kiss to her cheek, one hand resting lovingly atop the slight rounding of her belly. "How are you, Katie?"
"I'm doing just fine, Romy," Katie replied with a happy grin, embracing her friend before placing her hand on her the other woman's slight baby bump. "And how is my future niece or nephew today? Still growing strong?"
"Getting bigger every day, just like me," Romy joked, linking her arm with Katie's. "I'm not looking forward to the swollen ankles, but at least the morning sickness was light and didn't last too long."
"And you're feeling alright, yeah? Getting enough sleep, enough to eat, everything's okay?" It was ridiculous how much Katie was looking forward to spoiling this little one. Oliver was the first of any of her friends to have a baby, so she couldn't wait to play the honorary auntie. Besides, her nieces and nephews were most likely the closest she'd get to having children of her own.
Romy laughed. Now that Oliver had retired from active play, he had little to do other than fuss over her. She couldn't have taken ill care of herself if it had been a goal. "My darling husband makes sure I get everything I need, whether I want it or not. Do you know he even turned down sex one night because I 'looked tired'? That's a first, let me tell you."
Katie made a face. "That was a tidbit I could have lived without knowing, but thank you for sharing with the class."
"Like there's a single Puddlemere player who was unclear why the captain ran a much more relaxed practice after a lunchtime visit from his wife. That Oliver and I enjoy liberal amounts of marital relations is hardly a secret." Romy rubbed her belly, grinning as her friend squirmed. "Even if it was, the kneazle's out of the bag now."
"Yes, it is. Now, what do you say to spoiling that little kneazle rotten?" the slender girl asked her friend, trying to wipe out the mental image of her two friends engaged in sex.
"Do you think we can manage it without knowing if it's a boy kneazle or a girl kneazle?" Romy's lips twitched. There was no question. If there was one thing she and her female friends knew how to do, it was shop.
"Oh, we'll manage. Oh will we manage," Katie grinned as she took her friend's hand and tugged her into the shop. "Are you going with a gender-neutral color scheme?"
Chuckling, the expectant mother gave her a wry grin. "Oh yes, very neutral. After all, PU is a co-ed team. Quaffles and snitches in a field of team-appropriate colors. Subtle my husband is not."
"Alright, navy blue and gold it is," Katie said cheerfully. "Or are you going to go with a softer, baby blue instead of navy?"
"No, we're going bold and vibrant. Truthfully, Oliver's absolutely convinced we're having a boy, so there will be no pastels. This little one will be a manly man, even if she's a girl, I think."
"And they'll all play Quidditch and make their Mummy and Da proud," the other woman commented as her eye was caught by a golden snitch mobile. "Oh, this is just precious. Definitely what I would by if I needed one."
"That is sweet," Romy agreed, reaching out to finger the fluttering wings. "Any potential call for mobiles in your life? I refuse to believe the hottest female in the league today can't find a man. Indulge an old married woman."
Katie snorted. "No, no need for mobiles. That requires two things that aren't forthcoming: a man and marriage." She pushed the memory of snogging Stewart to the back of her mind. It was just a snog, really. Nothing more.
Romy watched some thought pass through Katie's mind, causing a slight tension in her expression before fading again. There was a story there, but she wouldn't push. Not just now, anyway.
"Well, I suppose that's for the best - not needing a mobile I mean - since you're just taking over the team. I imagine Chasing is easier without the unwieldy tummy and extra weight."
"Just a bit," Katie echoed faintly. "I'll leave the unwieldy tummy and extra weight to you old married women. I've got large shoes to fill, if you know what I mean."
She'd only gotten the news yesterday, and was still in the expected daze. Oliver, as well as the team manager and the owner, had requested she come to the main offices at Puddlemere's stadium last night. Their words were still ringing in her ears.
"Congratulations, Bell, you've been selected to be the newest captain of Puddlemere United."
Slipping an arm around Katie's waist, Romy gave her a squeeze. "You'll do great. Oliver recommended you specifically, you know. Friend or not, he wouldn't have done that if it wasn't what was best for the team."
"I know, but it's still nerve wracking, you know? Puddlemere hasn't had a female captain ever. What if I'm bollocks at it?"
"Well, that's what I said, but Oliver seemed to think you'd manage." Rolling her eyes with a snort, Romy gave her a look. "You'll be fine. You're a great Chaser and you'll be a great Captain. I'm obligated to think Oliver is better, but I'm sure you'll be a close second."
Katie laughed. "Of course you're obligated, you're bound in holy matrimony to the bloke."
Romy patted her belly. "Bound by more than that, now." She still couldn't think of being a mother without simultaneous surges of overwhelming happiness and fear.
"Yes, and my future niece or nephew is going to be the most talented little witch or wizard ever. Isn't that right?" Katie asked her friend's stomach with a silly little grin.
"Oliver will be distraught if he or she doesn't fly out of the womb on broomstick," Romy joked. "He has big plans for his progeny. If he has his way, this little one will be vying for your job by the age of five."
"That may be your child in there, but I will fight tooth and nail to keep my job," Katie teased, patting Romilda's stomach soothingly.
Chuckling, Romy grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her along, deeper into the store. "Alright, come on before we have to throw down and see who's queen of the pitch. There's shopping to be done!"
"Darling, I am the queen of the pitch, and don't you forget it." Katie let herself be drug through the displays of baby items: clothes, nursery decorations, cradles, everything a small being could need.
The entire time, though, there was a niggling voice at the back of her head. She hadn't told anyone about her snog with Stewart, not even her sister, and she was dying to tell someone.
"Romy?" she ventured as the two stopped to browse the display of onesies. "Um, I snogged someone."
"I knew you were keeping something from me!" Romy exclaimed. "Who? When? Where? Details, woman. I need details!"
Katie swallowed and muttered, "Stewartackerly," in a rush.
Romy gasped theatrically. "You snogged the Kenmare Keeper? Traitor!" A grin crept across her face as she regarded her rather sheepish-looking friend. "I guess you'd have to find someone from another team. I'd have to kill you if you snogged Puddlemere's Keeper. How did this happen? Are there plans for it to happen again?"
"No, snogging Oliver would be a bit like snogging my brother," Katie replied, her nose crinkling in disgust. "And I don't know how it happened, in all honesty. I helped out with his class at the Hogsmeade Town Club and we went to dinner afterwards, and then we went to a park in Appleby near where he grew up and he just kissed me. And I have no idea if it'll happen again or not." Merlin, she sounded like a babbling idiot.
Eying her friend, it was perfectly obvious that Katie wanted it to happen again. Romy had never been one to beat around the bush when she wanted something, or someone, and it had served her well. "You just need to make it happen. If he kissed you once, I'm sure he'd be happy to have a repeat performance. Are you helping out with his class regularly?"
She shook her head. "No, just that one time. One of the girls wouldn't fly higher than a few inches off the ground and insisted that he didn't understand because he was a boy. I dunno; I'm trying- and failing, obviously- not to read too much into it."
"She was probably right. Boys don't always get it," Romy replied with a wink. "As far as Stewart goes, you should owl him. Have dinner and invite him back to your flat for dessert. What's the worst that could happen? You spend the night with a gorgeous rival Keeper, and maybe end up discovering you've been reading it properly all along."
"Okay, Romy, do you know how long it's been since I've had sex?" she asked her friend. When the darker-haired woman shook her head, she said, "Well over a year. More like eighteen months or longer. Whatever moves I used to have are rusty as an old watercan."
Romy's mouth gaped and the rattle she'd been admiring fell to the ground with a crash. "Over a year?!" she repeated, her voice hushed as though they were speaking of particularly horrible crime. "OVER A YEAR?!"
She hadn't gone that long without sex ever. Not since she'd lost her virginity. That sort of abstinence was just wrong. Two days was a nearly unbearable length of time for her and Oliver. "Have you been ill? Doing some sort of spiritual cleansing ritual?"
"Shhh," Katie hissed, looking around. "And no, I'm not sick and I haven't sworn it off. I just haven't... yeah, I don't know why I haven't. I guess I just don't want any more one-night stands. I don't want things to be empty anymore, which is why I shouldn't get involved with Stewart."
"You don't care for Stewart?" Romy asked. She was sure that wasn't the case. Everything in Katie's bearing said she cared for the Kestrals player very much.
Katie shrugged. "I'm attracted to him," she admitted, albeit grudgingly. "I don't know about anything more than that."
"And how do you expect to determine whether there's more than that if you don't continue to see him? Really, Katie, for a beautiful, bright, and talented woman, you certainly are prone to self-doubt and sabotage."
"I don't even know if that one time counts as 'seeing him'," Katie countered. "It was more like dinner and a snog. Plus some Qudditch. That was it."
Romy gave a weary sigh. "Well, you know it won't count if you keep your distance now. Dating is meant to help you figure these things out, Katie. The catch is that you actually have to go on dates. Owl him."
"Are you trying to live vicariously through me?" Katie joked, hoping the subject would be dropped. She wasn't owling Stewart. Nope, not happening.
"Not at all. I'm quite content with my lot. I got very lucky with Oliver. He wouldn't take no as an answer." Romy gave Katie a stern look. "Can you imagine how unhappy I'd have ended up if he'd given up on me? If you think you might like him, don't risk it."
Katie's gaze dropped to the fluffy blue romper in her hand. "I don't want to go through that again, Romy," she whispered. "What's to say I'm not just an easy shag to him?"
"You've known Stewart how long?" Romy queried with a raised brow. "Has he ever treated you in a way that would indicate he's a pathetic user bastard?"
"No," Katie admitted softly. "But Romy, women throw themselves at him. It's enough to make me want to slit my own wrists." Or claw the other women's eyes out, either or worked.
Unable to resist poking at her friend just a little, Romy snickered. "If I remember correctly, women throw themselves at you, too, Miss Bell. Just because it happens doesn't mean he's taken any more advantage of it than you did. Doesn't he deserve the chance to prove he isn't a lecherous arse?"
"He went home with Angelina." Nearly sleeping with one of her best friends? That was awkward.
"Is Angelina still hung up on him?" Katie shook her head and Romy waved a hand, dismissing the concern. "You don't have to sleep with him, Katie. Just be open to seeing what's there. Getting hurt sucks, but you're never going to find the right guy if you don't bother with any of them."
"Yeah, I know." Desperate for a change in subject, Katie said, "So, I brought you a little something." Her hand slipped into her purse and fished around, a triumphant smile lighting her lips when she grasped onto the soft present and pulled it out, handing it to her friend.
A rich laugh spilled from Romy's lips as she held up the tiny Puddlemere onesie, grinning at the 'Wood' emblazoned across the back. She knew Katie was intentionally distracting her, but decided to let it go for the time being. Perhaps she could do a little checking on Mr. Ackerly herself. If he was an arse, she didn't want to be pushing Katie to go out with him.
"This is darling, Katie. Thank you!" she said, still chuckling at the tiny homage to her favorite Keeper. "Oliver will adore it."
"Just take a picture of the baby in it, so I can see him or her matching the nursery decor," Katie teased.
"I think you could hardly escape that. I imagine a very doting Daddy will insist on capturing every moment on film. Honestly, you've never seen a man so excited to be a father. It's absolutely adorable."
"Does he talk to your stomach?" Amy had mentioned that Jonathan talked to hers when she had been pregnant with Lizzie, though she didn't know if most expectant fathers did, or if that was just a quirk to be attributed to her brother.
Romy giggled. "More than he talks to me sometimes. In fact, he's threatened to make me sit with him and listen to game on the wireless next season, to get the baby used to quidditch terms."
"He or she can cheer on their Auntie Katie," she teased. "I highly doubt Oliver will be able to go a weekend without listening to a match. Unless you go into labor during a Puddlemere match, then I'm sure he'll make an exception."
Giving a snort, Romy looked doubtful. "Provided there was a wireless at St. Mungo's, maybe."
Summary: Katie and Romy talk boys and babies.