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Life has become the future; Briar/Elliott
Topic Started: Jun 20 2012, 12:07:04 AM (352 Views)
Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Tuesday, June 14, 2039. 7:38 pm.

Elliott had been doing so good at coming home on time before he'd married Briar. And in his defense, being married was not what was keeping him away. The Ministry for Magic had been demanding more of his time since the kidnapping and he was finding it hard to say no. As the first ever wizard who managed to land a seat in parliament, he was in a unique position. Both worlds were on the edge, and he was in both of them. Politically.

"Hey," Elliott called out as the door shut behind him. He listened for an answer back to find out where the rest of his family was as he loosened his tie.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
It was hot outside, but it was somehow even worse in the house, and as handy as she was, she couldn't figure out what was wrong with the air conditioner. Ruby had been cranky all day because all the things she liked to do (namely wrestling with the dog) required too much energy in the heat. After waiting until almost 6:45 for Elliott to come home (which he did not), Briar tried to get her to eat dinner. And, when Ruby made it very clear that she was not interested in food (which Briar thought was fair), she put the baby in her car seat, drove to the nearest Tesco, and bought an inflatable wading pool. Which they had been sitting in ever since. Or, Briar had been sitting (and nursing an actual adult beverage); Ruby was busy splashing the water out of the pool onto Kryptonite, who had finally worn himself out with barking and was laying to the side.

Briar had left the outside doors and all the windows open, hoping to coax a nonexistent breeze into the house, so she heard Elliott when he finally got home. "In the garden," she called back. She wasn't happy that he was late; she understood, but she wasn't happy. If it weren't almost every night, it would be different. Ruby immediately stopped splashing the dog when she heard his voice. She used Briar's arm to pull herself to her feet and stared at the house, wide-eyed. When she saw Elliott, she started babbling animatedly and leaned forward, keeping one hand on Briar for balance and stretching the other one out to him. Briar took a sip of her drink and just stared at him, which should have been enough for him to know how she felt.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott pulled off his tie and set it on the back of the couch. He toed off his shoes and walked sock-footed through the house and out the sliding door.

An unpleasant stare awaited him. Also, a very excited baby.

He chose the baby. "Hello there, Ruby-girl!" He leaned down and scooped her into his arms and kissed her cheek. He bounced on his toes as he walked along the edge of the pool and then- what the heck- he was already wet now and it was so hot, so he stepped over the inflated edge and got in with his button down, waistcoat, slacks, and socks still on. He stretched his legs out in front of him with a contented sigh and set Ruby to stand facing him on his thighs and let her hold herself up by his fingers.

He looked over Ruby's shoulder to his wife. "Sorry to be so late again," he apologized. He pressed the soaked socked toes of his right foot against her knee affectionately.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
"What are you-" He was already sitting in the pool before she could finish her question. She couldn't help but laugh, he looked ridiculous. It kind of killed any anger she had been harboring. Not that she had really been all that angry to begin with, mostly just annoyed. It was hard to be angry with someone who was only home late because he was trying to make things better.

She just shrugged; she couldn't say it was okay, because it wasn't, but she couldn't complain either, really, because it would make her sound extremely selfish. Instead, she nudged his foot with her knee in the same affectionate way and nodded towards Ruby. "She misses you when you're gone all day." It was true. Ruby had never been as excited to see Briar as she just had been to see Elliott, even when the situation had been reversed. "So how was being Very Important today?" she asked, genuinely curious. She liked to know what was going on, it made her feel like she had at least some control.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott didn't want to answer her question. He was still feeling badly about her previous statement: she misses you when you're gone all day. He made a face at Ruby and she laughed at him and stomped her feet excitedly. He leaned in a blew a raspberry on her stomach and she giggled and shrieked and let go with one hand to try and pull on his hair, but he sat back up before she could get a good grip. He grinned at her and shook his head and she shook her head back at him.

"Being important is a side-effect," he told Briar, but he was still looking at Ruby. To some people, being important was the end goal. For Elliott, it was the means to his end. He didn't really want to be important. He missed them when he was gone all day, too.

Ruby waved her free hand madly and babbled at him. "Da da da da da da!" she said purposefuly.

Elliott laughed and nodded at her. "Yes, Da Da, that's me!" He wrapped his hands around her tiny torso and superman flew her up out of the water and over his head and tried to make up for lost time.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
Ruby giggled and flailed her arms and legs when he lifted her over his head. Briar smiled fondly at Elliott, who wasn't even looking at her, not that she blamed him. Ruby was tough competition for his attention. His answer, or lack thereof, bothered her, though, so she pressed him. "I wasn't accusing you of anything. Believe me, I'd be angry if I thought you were late because you wanted to be," and this was not angry, he'd only even seen her angry maybe twice and only once at him, "I know you didn't ask to be in the position you're in right now. It's not that much to ask how your day went, is it?"
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
He brought Ruby down for a kiss, then back up into the air while Briar spoke. He closed his eyes and sighed at her question and brought Ruby down to stand on his legs again. It wasn't even the question that made him upset. It was how she asked. Of course it wasn't too much, but implying that it was implied that it was usually too much and that he usually kept things for her and that everything was just too much from him. So, yeah, actually, it was too much because that is how she wanted it.

He opened his eyes and helped Ruby bounce, but looked over her shoulder at Briar. "It is when the things you say make me feel awful about it first. It was awful and I would have rather been here. And it's awful thinking thinking that. And the world is an awful, despicable place full of people who want to hate each other and sometimes do hate each other and their hate is keeping me away from the people that I love, and making the people I love think less of me and there is no way to win except to keep moving forward and not think about the things that are awful, like how little I've seen of either of you recently and how terrible I felt when I did see you because all your eyes said was that it wasn't enough." He held Ruby to his chest and stood up. He wouldn't have felt so wounded by Briar if he hadn't been so stressed. Everything just cut so deep because there wasn't anything in the way to stop it. He stepped over the inflated edge and took two more to stand beside her. "I am so, so sorry for that," he said sincerely and surprisingly without bitterness. "I'll try harder," he promised, and passed Ruby down to her and kissed the top of Briar's head in the process.

"I'm just getting out of these clothes," he assured her as he slogged back into the house, unbuttoning his waistcoat on the way.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
Briar watched him walk back into the house, but didn't follow him. Because if she followed him, they'd be inside, where neighbors were less likely to hear her shout at him and where doors could be closed so Ruby wouldn't see them fight. And that was frankly all the motivation she would have needed to be Angry, Part III.

Instead, she translated the expletives she would have liked to use into a baby-safe growl, which Ruby laughed at. Briar smiled and stretched her legs out to let her stand between them. "Your daddy is a bit of a drama queen."

She passed the baby back to him when he came back outside; she was determined not to be overly emotional, which was much easier when her maternal instincts weren't in overdrive. She looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out how to not sound upset. "It hurts me when you use my words as weapons," she began, primary school-style. "And it hurts me that you could even think I would want to hurt you. I have always loved you, Elliott, but you somehow frequently convince yourself that you make unhappy.

I don't know how to make you understand that I'm not, I'm just ... I mean, I'm human, Fix. Even though I will always support you, fully and completely, there might be a small part of me that feels sad when that means you'll miss dinner. But that that small part is the part you immediately attack kills me, because the whole rest of me is so incredibly proud of you for what you're doing and you don't always seem to see that."
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott came back out in swim trunks and a t-shirt. He found his arms full of Ruby and smiled at her. She made his shirt wet, but he decided not to get back into the pool right then. He laid down on the daybed instead with his knees pulled up and set Ruby down to sit on his chest.

He listened to Briar while he entertained Ruby by making faces at her. He did feel like he made Briar unhappy a little more often than rarely. But what was he supposed to think when she looked at him like she had when he first arrived home? It was a look of unhappiness. He felt like he was just... putting her through things. She wasn't happy with how he proposed, she didn't want a big wedding but went through with it anyway, she hadn't come to any events with him before they were married and now that they were she was going to have to and he knew she'd rather not. What did he have to do for her that made him unhappy? Nothing. She was easy. He was not.

He'd already apologized and he felt like she was still... unhappy with him. He knew one apology wasn't going to miraculously fix things, but he felt liked she'd taken away his ability to say anything on the matter when she accused him of using her words as weapons.

He knew she hadn't been trying to make him feel badly on purpose. But just because she wasn't trying to didn't mean he wasn't hurt. He hand't been trying to make her feel attacked, either. He was just trying to let her know that he felt just as badly about the situation as she did. And he had apologized for that. What did she even want from him now?

He looked away from Ruby for a moment. "I don't think you want to hurt me, Briar. But it happens, anyway. We hurt each other with the best intentions."

He turned his attention back to Ruby, who had started smacking his chest. He tickled her belly and she stopped smacking and giggled.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
She sighed and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyelids. He was right, of course. He usually was in the end. She couldn't help but hurt him when she couldn't help but look unhappy sometimes. Because she was unhappy sometimes, and that was just another thing she couldn't help. But, right now at least, she wasn't unhappy with him, she was just unhappy with the situation they were in. Planning their wedding around social obligations was one thing, and she hadn't actually minded in the end. Having their honeymoon cut short was hard, though. And now, they'd barely been married a month and things just kept getting more complicated. All she wanted was to have him around, and, for once, he couldn't give her what she wanted.

So yes, she was a little unhappy. And whenever she thought about it, which she just had, she felt even worse. Because, God, she couldn't even handle having a husband who was occasionally late for dinner because he was busy trying to fix things for two men whose wives had missed a month of dinners. This was nothing in comparison. This was nothing in the grand scheme of things, even. It was just- nothing. She figured she was probably a terrible person for even looking sad.

She stood up and wrapped a towel around her hips; she wasn't that wet, anyway. She grabbed Ruby's towel, too, which had a hood with a lion's mane and a tail, and joined them on the bed. She sat down by Elliott's feet and kissed both of his knees, "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you even accidentally. I can be ... well, selfish, and I forget how terrible all of this must be for you. I really am sorry, I'm going to try harder, too."
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
"Just- come here," he patted the open space to his left, "and lets be happy for the time we do have together." He pushed with his legs to sit up against the pillows and let his legs straighten. Ruby let herself get distracted by a bird on the lawn. "And if you could not make fun of me for being a sap right now, that would also be really great."
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
She grinned and mimed zipping her mouth shut, then climbed up to sit next to him. She guided his face down to hers and kissed him softly, "I love you." She rested her head on his shoulder and added, "We could go with you to Altrincham. I can leave Noah in charge of the weekends, he'd love that. You have to be gone, I know that, but maybe it would be a little nicer if we were all gone together."
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
He kissed her back and returned her love. He kept his right arm securely around Ruby and wrapped his left around Briar and held her close. "God, I'd love that," he admitted. "I've been having my secretary look at housing listings up there but I've never really seriously looked them over. Parliament's summer recess is coming up in July and we won't sit again until September so that would really be the perfect time to buy and get settled in. Not that we'd have to spend the whole summer there," he added hastily. "But a good bit of it, really, I mean for me. I know you've got the restaurant, I'm not suggesting- just- whenever you can be." He was going to quit politics when this whole mess with the statute was finally sorted. Or not run for re-election, anyway. More time at home; that's what he wanted. Just as soon as he didn't have to hide who he was.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
"Maybe your parents can take Ruby this weekend, then, and we can try to find a place." It would definitely be easier to do without the baby.

It wouldn't be responsible to leave the restaurant for three months, but that didn't mean the idea wasn't sort of appealing. The more work took her away from her daughter, the less she enjoyed going in. And she supposed that was how Elliott felt, too; the difference was that he couldn't do much about it. She had the freedom to go if she wanted to go. The entire summer was impossible, just from a logistics standpoint; someone had to pay the bills and that person was, ultimately, her. But, "It's not too far, really. I can come back into the city a few times to make sure the place doesn't go up in flames," which was a semi-real possibility sometimes.

"Your constituents aren't in London, and they need you. And you need me more than my staff does. Especially if ..." she didn't have to say what the 'if' was. It wasn't even so much of an 'if' anymore as it was a 'when,' at least as far as Briar could tell. And she was going to need to be around to play the part of the supportive wife for the press, which would be difficult to do if she was sitting in Perpetual Wednesday planning menus. She smiled hesitantly; it made her nervous to think about Elliott being right in the middle of everything, so she usually tried to ignore it.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
He shook his head. "No, mum still sees a good bit of her patients on Saturdays; it's too late for her to reschedule. What about Kevin? Surely he'd like the extra time." Elliott always felt badly when he didn't get to spend as much time with Ruby as he would have liked. He assumed Kevin felt similarly. He grinned at Ruby and bounced his leg for her.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
She sighed; she really, really did not like that suggestion. Kevin was much more reliable now than he had been at first, but Briar still didn't feel that great about leaving Ruby with him for an entire weekend. "I don't know, Elliott ... he's seemed a little preoccupied." Which was understandable, given everything that was going on.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott sighed. He felt like any judgement on Kevin seeming preoccupied could equally (and maybe even more so) be applied to himself. It wasn't like Kevin was the only auror with a kid, either. "I think that's an unfair judgement." Kevin hadn't been the nicest person in the world while Briar was pregnant, but his tune had changed pretty quickly once Ruby was born. Elliott had seen Kevin's desk at work- it was basically plastered with pictures of Ruby. He clearly loved her and wanted to spend time with her. "Besides, there's plenty of family aruond if something comes up- but I know he's not on duty all the time. And even if he is, he could probably switch a shift around so he could be with Ruby." Elliott hadn't really liked Kevin before. Maybe some weird dad bond had formed between them when Ruby was born, becuase he was exceptionally more tollerant of him now. They could empathize with each other. Plus, putting up with Kevin for the rest of his life was something Elliott promised Briar he could do. Maybe that promise made it easier, too.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
"I know, but it's still how I feel." Elliott was right; it wasn't fair that she kept holding Kevin's initial reaction against him. Aside from a very few times, he'd taken Ruby when he'd said he would and dropped her back off on time. But Briar tended to focus on those very few times instead of the rest of the time, when he was a great dad. She wasn't usually one to hold a grudge, but she couldn't help it in Kevin's case. He'd never been anything but loving towards their daughter, but he'd been kind of horrible to Briar during the pregnancy and she still hadn't forgiven him for that. She knew she'd hurt him, but he'd hurt her back. It didn't mean they were even, it just meant that everyone got hurt. Any resentment she felt towards him now was personal, it didn't have anything to do with Ruby, and she knew she needed to just let it go. "I can talk to him tomorrow."

She wrapped Ruby in her towel and picked her up to kiss the top of her head before pulling the hood on. She tolerated the cuddling for about thirty seconds, then reached for Elliott again. Briar rolled her eyes and handed her back. "She likes me until you get home," she joked.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott kissed Briar on the cheek when she said she would call Kevin. "We can look at listings tonight after Ruby's asleep and I'll have my secretary set up viewings with any we'd like to see if Kevin's available for Ruby."

He accepted Ruby back, taking his arm back from Briar to hold her more securely. He did is best lion impression for Ruby and she shrieked happily. "I just make better faces," he assured Briar.

"I'm famished," he declared as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He shifted Ruby to his hip and stood up. "What was supper?"
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