Aldous' first response had Ben feeling like a whipped dog, but he jumped at the chance to redeem himself (in whatever minuscule way he still could) after the second. He could handle going abroad, and avoiding confrontation certainly sounded like an excellent plan of action.

"I can go to France," he agreed. "I can fly the Channel, so we can leave tomorrow morning." His employer wouldn't be available before then, but Ben thought he could swing something — leave a note with the front office and say he was pursing a big international lead. Of course, once he was abroad, he'd have to find a big international lead to make good on that note — but he could handle that. How hard could schmoozing in France with a bunch of liquor be?

The unexpected upside of this plan, too, was that Ben knew how to find cheap accommodations in France, from his time traveling the continent as a young man. They would, doubtless, not be anything that Melody would consider comfortable, but given the circumstances she would just have to put up with it for a short period. If it meant they could save money and refrain from having to sell off her prized possessions, or afford a slightly higher quality of living when they returned. That would give him time, too, to try and find a place for them to live, so that they weren't forced to move into whatever happened to be available in the next twenty-four hours.

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Aldous was surprised. He had expected a response more akin to that Reuben had had the first time he had been sent abroad due to his inopportune relationship with Miss Finch. This Reuben seemed almost pleased with Aldous' suggestion. Either his brother was bewitched, Aldous thought, or he had matured a great deal in the intervening years, elopement aside.

"But does Mis—does she fly?" Aldous asked, eyebrows raised. It was not exactly the norm for a genteel woman, even one foolish enough to marry Reuben. "It might be easiest to arrange passage by boat instead, though not quite so speedy."

Though the suggestion was well-intentioned, it was not delivered with conviction. Ben seemed so on board with this plan that Aldous had little desire to derail the plan by accident.

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   Reuben Crouch

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

In picturing the transit, Ben had just assumed Melody could sit behind him on his broom, relieving the need for her to do anything other than hang on. Now that Aldous mentioned it, however, the entirety of the English Channel was a fairly long ride for her to be sitting side saddle. He had no idea whether she had any riding skills of her own to speak of, which meant, most probably, that she had none. At least, not ones sufficient enough to go a long distance over nothing but frigid water until they reached France. If they were taking stuff with them, too, it would prevent him from being able to help her much — even if the things they packed were shrunken down to pocket-sized or placed in an expandable bag.

Waiting for a boat, though, did not seem like the ideal option. They’d have to stick around long enough to see their faces in the paper after the news broke, and have to deal with some of the fallout. Was there another option?

“Art Pettigrew has a flying carpet,” Ben realized. “I’ve borrowed it before. I could get it from him again, and he probably wouldn’t ask why,” Ben offered. Or he would, and Ben could tell him some plausible excuse. He could even tell him the truth, he supposed — it was all going to come out sooner or later, at this point — but Art was probably going to be just as disappointed as Aldous was, and much more free about expressing how much of an idiot he thought Ben was, and how much trouble the Princess was, & et cetera. And Ben wasn’t particularly looking forward to that.

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   Aldous Crouch

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At the mention of Arthur Pettigrew, Aldous could feel his headache intensifying.

"Winter seems rather chilly for airborne flight," he pointed out. "If it's the cost that's a deterrent, I am quite capable of arranging for passage on the next boat out, once you've made any arrangements."

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   Reuben Crouch

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Ben wasn't particularly worried about the cold. He'd dealt with it before, along with a few worse things. Melody might not be prepared for it, but... well, she'd chosen this. Ben wasn't capable of coddling her or keeping her comfortable through this transition in many more important ways. So what if she got cold?

He wasn't going to argue with Aldous about it, though, particularly if he was offering to arrange the transit. "Alright," he agreed. "I'll let her know. And then I guess I'll go pack," he said uncertainly. Were they done with this conversation? He wasn't trying to run away, but the prospect of going to France did make him feel much better about the entire situation. Partly, he supposed, it was a thing to do to keep his mind from lingering too long on the unfortunate details of this new situation. Partly, although nothing had yet been firmly resolved, going abroad at least meant that solutions were needed in several weeks' time, not immediately. That was progress, if only a tiny bit of it.

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"Ben—" Aldous said before thinking better of it. I wish you had come to me before allowing your new wife to go to her parents seemed both needling and redundant at this point.

"It's just for a few weeks," he settled on awkwardly instead.

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Ben had been expecting either further instructions or a curt dismissal — that was all he could reasonably expect, given the situation he'd forced them both into. What Aldous said instead took him off-guard, though he couldn't have said why. He made to shrug in response — a sort of nonverbal yeah, I know — but there was an unexpected tightness in his chest. He hesitated, feeling that something needed to be said, but not sure what to say. He clearly couldn't just leave without another word, but he also wasn't necessarily sure that he had the words for anything that hadn't already been said.

"I'll manage," he said at last, not sure whether the words were intended to convince Aldous or himself. He rose and made a shuffling movement in the direction of the door.

"When we tell this story later, we can call it a honeymoon," he joked, though his voice as he spoke and the chuckle that he forced afterwards were both hollow.

  

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Rather than echoing his brother's laughter, Aldous merely sighed heavily. He doubted very much the family would have any control over this particular story for many years to come.

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   Reuben Crouch

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —