June 5th, 1894 - Kirke Residence

Maisie's first birthday had come and gone and Elsie was feeling the overriding nostalgic pregnancy hormones anew today. Her youngest a whole year, another on the way, and Ben was only two and a half. They would have three under three for a short span and Elsie was starting to wonder if she had lost her mind or what. It was not her fault she'd gotten her mother's fertile genes, nor that she loved her husband that much. She had sniffled about it on and off all morning until Lucinda had stopped by unexpectedly.

Lucinda had stopped by unexpectedly with some unsolicited advice... and a "gift" for tea today.

Said gift came with an explanation Elsie did not need, nor want.

The box sat innocuously on the shelf, out of reach of her toddlers who were playing with blocks on the floor. Elsie was trying to ignore it, but couldn't. She wasn't sure Lucinda was judging her on the matter, as much as her cousin loved to do that; maybe she genuinely thought she was doing them a favor? Maybe it came from a place of concern? She had spent the majority of her marriage expecting thus far. Elsie couldn't complain much this time around either, the pregnancy progressing much more like Maisie's than Ben's, thank goodness. She was already showing, her hands resting there comfortably as she sat on the floor with her children, trying to ignore the box on the shelf. She kept eyeing it at random intervals, wondering just how she was going to explain it to Tyb.

Thankfully the afternoon got busy with some time outside in the warm weather and a good long nap for everyone. Elsie had nodded off herself and then came the dinner, bath and bedtime rush for Maisie and Ben and by the time Elsie sat down in the sitting room again after feeding Maisie and tucking her in, she had nearly forgotten about the box itself until Tyb came in from putting Ben down. "Lucinda stopped by today," she started, chuckling already, wondering just how this was going to go.

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Tybalt Kirke

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   Elias Grimstone

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“Oh, aren’t we blessed,” Tybalt joked, though not with any real feeling (he had had endured a great many lunches with Lucinda in his time already, and he was mostly fond of her nowadays, probably, beneath the very reasonable streak of fear). They were family now, whether she liked it or not.

He was blessed to have missed her today, more like, although he was glad that Elsie wasn’t entirely devoid of company during her days, so that she wouldn’t be lonely or lacking in people to complain to or be distracted by, if she wasn’t actually coping as well with this pregnancy as she – seemed to be, so far.

He’d grinned back at her as he came to sit down too, but was a little disconcerted by Elsie’s chuckling. Lucinda and her meddling were very rarely a laughing matter. “Go on then,” he said, affecting to roll his eyes, as if he were afraid to hear. “How is she?”

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   Elsie Kirke

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Elsie knew Lucinda was not the easiest person to get along with, and Tyb had unfairly been the unfortunate recipient of her direct ire on more than one occasion, but at least this was sort of amusing. At least Elsie thought so. It was sort of hard to describe how she was feeling; a little that Luce had overstepped. What was it to her how many children they had? They were living quite comfortably, Lucinda's gift of Miss Halliwell's salary not included, so it wasn't as if they would be strapped without. Bentley was... rambunctious but not in complete chaos all of the time and Elsie was home more again now that it was obvious she was expecting again. On the other hand, it was sort of funny that this was her solution to the "problem". It was probably good at this point in her life that Elsie was not easily offended anymore.

"She left us a gift." Els motioned to the nondescript box on the bookshelf that was not normally there. "And I got a very detailed explanation on it." Perhaps that had been the worst part; Lucinda assuming Elsie did not know what contraception was, or how it worked. She was one of six after all; clearly she inherited her mother's traits in this area. If it was something they had been interested in using, Els was pretty sure they would have had this discussion already.

Regardless of Lucinda's intentions, Elsie was far too bemused now, awaiting Tyb's reaction, to give much else away.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“Let me guess – it comes with strings,” Tyb said, of Lucinda’s supposed gift. He was still not speaking seriously – it was a mark of how far they had come that he felt comfortable making fun of Elsie’s cousin at all. (Lucinda, particularly; Sebastian had always been easy to make fun of, because, although a stick-in-the-mud, he was generally less murderous.)

But Elsie didn’t seem inclined to say much more about it, so he ambled over to the innocuous box on the shelf and brought it with him as he sat down. Something belated for Maisie’s birthday had been the more serious vague thought in his head, so when he opened the box and fished out the condom, he swore aloud and dropped it back into the box as if he’d been burnt.

And Elsie had all but gotten a lecture on it? Hell. “Ah.” Tyb thought his face might be reddening. There was a message, here, and he fancied he could read it loud and clear.

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   Elsie Kirke

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This was far too amusing and she couldn't even respond to his first comment without giving herself away. Upon his reaction to opening the box, Elsie finally let out the whole-body laugh she'd been holding in. Everything from his expression to his simple ah had her laughing so hard that tears of mirth sprung to the corners of her eyes. Truthfully it hadn't been nearly as mortifying, the lecture, as she would have thought. Lucinda thought she was so right here that it only added to Elsie's amusement over the whole thing.

She held onto the tiny baby bump as she finally caught her breath, wiping the tears from her eyes with her fingertips after a few moments. "I told her I thought it was too little, too late." She pressed her lips together, covering them with her hand to prevent the further onslaught of giggles. Once upon a time she would have been thoroughly embarrassed, but after her very male cousin delivered her first child, and Maisie's arrival in the back garden, Elsie was almost certain she didn't have much dignity left.

It was funny now only because their life was so utterly lovely that the sting of the elopement and the following scandal seemed like a dream of the past. So, Elsie could only pass her husband a knowing smile as she regained most of her composure.

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   Tybalt Kirke

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MJ always makes her so pretty

At least someone was laughing. Elsie was laughing – quite a lot, actually. Tybalt just stared from her to the condom and back again, entirely befuddled, for some time. Until, despite his best efforts, her amusement infected him, and a he cracked a grin of his own.

It was more sheepish, though. Maybe because Lucinda was her cousin, and not his – apparently she was less embarrassed than he was. Or maybe Tyb was partially embarrassed because he had never actually asked her about this, not in so many words. Even when Els’ laughter faded, she was smiling, so he had to think Lucinda was acting of her own accord, and not on Elsie’s say so.

Tybalt had covered his face with his own hand for a moment, but when he removed it, he said, pulling a face, “She thinks we should slow down.” Even if he had considered their expanding family, he had never thought about doing anything about it, and frankly hadn’t been sure there was a problem at all. But maybe Lucinda had a point? His brow furrowed in newfound concern. “Do you think we should slow down?”

Too little, too late this time, but.

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   Elsie Kirke

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Elsie was nearly equally amused that Tyb seemed more sheepish than she did, but then again, she thought she didn't quite hold the same regard for Lucinda's opinion that her husband did. To her cousin's point though, Elsie had spent more of her marriage pregnant than not at this point and while she didn't mind, not really, she supposed it begged the question; should they slow down? It wasn't as if they were intentionally having children so close together, and she was already on the older side of being a mother, but she supposed she hadn't truly put much thought into it.

"I honestly haven't thought about it," she shrugged, mood sobering a little. So far, each birth was about eighteen months apart and Elsie, who's next closest sibling was less than twelve months from her own birthday, didn't really think that unusual. "We started late," she reasoned, considering her twenty-eighth birthday had just come and gone less than a month ago. "Or I did, I suppose." Any of her peers that had gotten married at a younger age had just as many, if not more children than she did by now. "And we didn't put a number on it." She came from a large family, he was one of three full siblings and a couple half, Elsie reasoned they would simply follow suit; though she had never truly envisioned what her complete family would look like, she was pretty certain the babe she carried now would not be the last.

She considered her husband carefully. "I'm not concerned, if you aren't?" She valued his input obviously, it wasn't just her decision to make. She also didn't think they needed to overthink it, just because Lucinda decided to make her opinion known.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

She might say she hadn’t thought about it, but Tyb was sure she had opinions – he watched her face anxiously for some appearance of what those opinions might be. He was afraid they might feel differently; he was more afraid that one of them would feign agreement to let the matter slide, even if they felt differently.

But they had both been Gryffindors; they could be brave enough to be honest; Tybalt was sure they could talk about anything in the world, no matter how difficult. And he – admittedly hadn’t ever considered that Elsie had come late to motherhood. That was true – they did not know many people who were married and their spouse the same age. He thought of Caroline, and her much older husband; he thought of the girls who were married within a year or two of their debut. So he and Elsie were just... making up for lost time.

“We didn’t,” Tyb acknowledged carefully, but blurted out, “but I’d have ten.” He was joking, he thought; he had laughed as he said it, to break the tension in his bones; but it was not far from the truth. He loved Bentley and Maisie beyond measure; they, along with Elsie, had been the best thing to ever happen to him, the best part of his life. He couldn’t imagine himself without them now, and almost didn’t know what he would be living for if he didn’t have the family they had made for themselves.

“I mean – if it was just you and Maisie and Ben and this one, I would still be happy,” he insisted, falling into seriousness now. “But I would always be happy with – more.” (His own family had never been anywhere near perfect, or particularly close over the magic-muggle divide; her family had been, but had also been struck by tragedy a few times over; he was, generally, scared of being alone.) “I don’t know if that’s practical,” he admitted, because they were coping now but – planning ahead was not his forte, “and I know nothing affects me as much as it – affects your life. So.” It was Elsie’s decision, ultimately: whether the pregnancies became too much for her, or she got too busy or too overwhelmed or began to miss her library work too much to have another child.

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   Elsie Kirke

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Ten was a little outrageous in reality, but she could see where he was coming from. They were a little too all-over one another, all of the time, for it be completely impossible, if not impractical. Els wasn't sure she could do seven more pregnancies after this one, but certainly two, if not three. Each one was different and none quite so bad as Bentley's, before she was used to it, so it didn't exactly bother her. She got a little stir crazy being on confinement after halfway, but the more children, the less bored she was, because at least she wasn't home alone.

"Our life," she correctly lightly. It wasn't just her life that it impacted, it was the one they had grown together. She leaned against him contentedly, thankful they could have these kinds of conversations without it being awkward or uncomfortable. It was one of many advantages to being married to your best friend. "I doubt this one will be the last." She ran a hand over her stomach fondly. It had always been hard to envision what her family would look like, if at all, before Tyb came into the picture. Now it was just easy for her to see them surrounded and outnumbered and loving every minute of it. They were set financially, the house was big enough, she wasn't having any complications, there seemed to be nothing dictating they needed to stop.

Still, she pondered him carefully, knowing he wanted more of a concrete answer, but she didn't have a number in mind, she truly didn't. "I think we'll just know when our family is complete." She came up with finally. Maybe she wouldn't be able to have more, maybe they would decide, once Ben was off to Hogwarts, that they were done with having young children and were looking forward to the next chapter of their lives. It would be too soon before it was just the two of them at home most of the time and though Elsie felt like it was far away, she was secretly looking forward to it. They hadn't gotten that time together, just the two of them, without her already expecting. She was curious to know what it would be like even if she wasn't wishing these days away either. "Probably not ten," she chuckled, nudging him. "But a couple more at least."

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Our life, she protested, and he smiled in defeat even if he disagreed. And she had more faith in their future than he did, in the idea of just knowing, but if she wasn’t anxious about making firm plans, then – of course he wasn’t. There was nothing to worry about, not yet.

(Whatever Lucinda thought.)

“Ten might have been ambitious,” Tyb allowed, grinning now more lightheartedly, if that was settled, that she was happy with how things were going, that he hadn’t done anything thoughtless or wrong by not asking her sooner. (That she was as happy as he was, in their life.) “But five would be nice.” At least five: but he thought maybe it was wiser to not tempt fate, in case it put a damper on any illusions of a plan. “You know, unless this baby is a utter hellion,” he teased, putting a hand to her stomach and half-talking to it. “Who knows. Number three might be a nightmare child,” he joked, “and then we’ll wish we’d stopped at two.”

He could joke about this without fear, because Ben and Maisie had both been perfect, and any other child Elsie carried would be too. It would be impossible for them not to be.

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"Maybe just a bit," Elsie agreed with a smile in his direction. "Five or so is much more reasonable." Els thought she could easily handle two more pregnancies, or maybe one or two beyond that, pending how they went. Covering his hand with both of hers, she laughed at the little foot that poked back, wincing slightly as she felt the stretch from within.

The idea that this third child might be their undoing had her chuckling again. She had a sneaking suspicion it was another girl; this pregnancy had progressed much like Maisie's more so than Ben's and Maisie had always been the better sleeper, which was all Elsie needed. "Somehow I doubt that. I think they only get easier as we go. Plus you know how fond of you I am." To say she was smitten, even now, would be an understatement. It was hard to keep her hands to herself sometimes. Not to mention they were pros by now. Two somewhat eventful arrivals, two perfectly healthy, boisterous babes that only enriched their days.

"Three under three is going to be quite the challenge though." Not for long, this baby would likely arrive only a few weeks before Bentley's third birthday, but the spacing felt fine to Elsie. And she had good help. Miss Halliwell was truly an angel and Elsie would be lost without her in the first six months of having a newborn. They were going to have increase her pay soon.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Tybalt was very close to protesting that when had they ever settled for reasonable? but he was much too pleased by Elsie’s following mention of fondness to bother arguing about that. Never mind the children – hearing that hadn’t gotten old yet either. “Do I know how fond you are?” Tyb teased, sending his eyebrows waggling playfully. “My memory’s terrible. You might need to remind me.”

His eyes lingered on Elsie, most of the previous seriousness of the conversation forgotten now (along with the embarrassment of the gifted condom). “And you think they’re a challenge now? Just wait until they’re old enough to have started sneaking around, kissing people in libraries. Then they’ll really be trouble.”

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"You should," she chuckled as she leaned over toward him, looking up and batting her eyelashes. All she could really manage was a smack of a kiss to his cheek, as she brought one hand to his other cheek to pull him closer. The limited mobility of pregnancy really was the worst.

At his next comment she had to laugh again. He wouldn't even let her talk about them going off to Hogwarts and now he was bringing up kissing people in libraries! "Where else are you supposed to kiss people?" She blinked at him as if she had never heard such a stranger thing in her life. Obviously that was where the best kissing was done. It was quiet, lots of places to hide away, cozy corners. Sometimes they came with surprise cousin visits, which wasn't great, but overall, it was one her favorite places to steal a smooch.

"Hopefully they're smarter than we were." She smiled at him fondly. "Hopefully they won't get caught." In the end, it hadn't been all that bad, though more difficult than she would have liked; now she wouldn't trade it for the world.

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MJ always makes her so pretty

His mouth twitched at the answering kiss, but her blinking response had him lost to a full-bodied laugh. It was a good question, really. Tyb had much more fondness for libraries in that regard than any other – and, to be honest, Elsie had been more-often-than-not in one library or another, so the chances of kissing were simply better there to begin with.

“Oh, well, if they have your smarts and my quick reflexes, they’ll be unstoppable,” Tyb decided, with a grand joking wave to express they would have the world at their feet. Or at least the possibility of successful stealth library-kissing. He couldn’t think about it too hard, because anything they had gone through had put he and Elsie in good enough stead, anyway; and also because then he had to imagine whether they would end up being pushovers of parents or manage to be firm without losing a sense of fairness. (It felt easy enough now, where all they really had to do was keep the pair of them alive, the nos coming naturally enough for things like no, Ben, you can’t put that in your mouth – but Tyb’s confidence for getting things right or wrong when their children were older and the situations more complex was a little less developed.)

She had pulled him closer for that kiss on the cheek, but he had stayed there, wanting to snuggle in closer beside her, but always a little more cautious and conscious when she was pregnant, of making sure she was comfortable. “We’ll be the ones still getting caught out, I expect,” Tyb mused, with a slow, idle grin. The more children there were in the house, the harder it would get to snatch moments of privacy from them. “There’ll be nowhere left to hide.”

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   Elsie Kirke

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Elsie still never quite she was as smart as Tyb made her out to be, but she was good at researching, if there was an answer to be found, she would likely get there. But to think that their children might have that capability, in addition to Tyb's physical prowess, they might really be in for a wild ride as they got older. She could see the Hogwarts letters now. Oh Merlin she hoped they would mind their manners. Surely if there were any professors left from their own Hogwarts days, the last name would give them away?

"We do have our own little library," It had yet to be turned into a child's bedroom, though she suspected if they continued in this way, it might happen eventually. There would already be two in one room by the end of the year and who knew after that. "But we should be set until they can figure out door handles and unlocking charms." She mused as she snuggled into him, contented by the warmth and the comfort. "And they are currently asleep..." She was not so big yet that she had lost any desire for that sort of intimacy either, if they wanted to get up to their old ways of getting into trouble.

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MJ always makes her so pretty