Joel Waters-Baker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
just_another) wrote2015-05-05 07:33 pm
just_another) wrote2015-05-05 07:33 pm
[Open - Gathering - Baby Shower]
They're actually having a baby shower.
Joel is fairly certain his mother wouldn't have let them get away without something, even if he had insisted it be small and consist only of family, but for some reason he and Spencer have allowed themselves to be talked into a real shower. With invitations and food and little baby themed games to play. It's sort of strange, looking at it from his position, given that Erin is the one who's going to be giving birth and therefore is the one in the glowing pregnant woman position at this entire gathering.
She'd sweetly agreed to attend and had even whispered to Joel that she would take the brunt of the attention if she could manage it. He had whispered back that he knew they had picked her for a good reason.
But here they are. Several weeks have passed, the invitations have gone out and the decorations have been put up all over Joel and Spencer's living room. He had agreed to lift the enchantments on the house for the extent of the party, which means that anyone can open the door to their guests, they don't all have to be invited in by either Joel or Spencer, and it makes him a little nervous, but he understands the usefulness of others being able to answer the door. At least for today.
It's the decorations that keep getting to him. Sweet little ducks and zebras and monkeys, little jungle animals all over the walls. The bottle and rattle shaped cookies are pretty cute, but those aren't going to be left when the baby gets here. The animal theme, though, is fairly close to the nearly finished nursery Joel has been working on upstairs and he can't help but grin at the decorations.
Spencer, on the other hand, can't stop coming back round to the center of the living room to stare at the enormous sign that's been strung up above a table already stacked with gifts when a majority of their guests haven't even arrived yet. He'd been worried this morning that the day would overwhelm him, that knowing so many people would be coming into their home would be daunting when just a year ago, he'd never even once invited company over before meeting Joel; but so far, he feels calm, in spite of having had to watch Joel remove the enchantments that act as their security on the house. If someone wishes to crash a baby shower--which he doesn't imagine will happen anyway--then they'll have to face not only the wrath of a room that will be filled with witches and sirens, but the wrath of his mother- and sister-in-law, as well. That's not a sight Spencer thinks would be very pretty to witness.
Still, he feels light, perhaps a lingering effect of the having the chance to fall in love with Joel a second time during the spell that had taken over the town. Certainly, a great deal of his contentment has to do with the fact that he won't have to worry about losing his husband in a crowd but even beyond that, he's excited.
So much has changed in the course of the past year and weeks from now, they'll be holding their newborn in their arms for the very first time without another care in the world but for who they've been looking forward to meeting since they'd decided to take this journey together. There's something a bit strange about realizing that it's all coming to a head, that the waiting will soon be over and they'll be fathers at last, but when the first knock on the door comes, Spencer can't help but smile.
[Baby shower for Joel and Spencer's wee one. Erin, their surrogate, is present and is currently 31 weeks pregnant. If you're even a little friendly with either of them, Joel's mother sent an invitation, but the enchantments have been taken off the house for the event and so it's not an impossible party to crash. If anyone wants to crash a baby shower...]
Joel is fairly certain his mother wouldn't have let them get away without something, even if he had insisted it be small and consist only of family, but for some reason he and Spencer have allowed themselves to be talked into a real shower. With invitations and food and little baby themed games to play. It's sort of strange, looking at it from his position, given that Erin is the one who's going to be giving birth and therefore is the one in the glowing pregnant woman position at this entire gathering.
She'd sweetly agreed to attend and had even whispered to Joel that she would take the brunt of the attention if she could manage it. He had whispered back that he knew they had picked her for a good reason.
But here they are. Several weeks have passed, the invitations have gone out and the decorations have been put up all over Joel and Spencer's living room. He had agreed to lift the enchantments on the house for the extent of the party, which means that anyone can open the door to their guests, they don't all have to be invited in by either Joel or Spencer, and it makes him a little nervous, but he understands the usefulness of others being able to answer the door. At least for today.
It's the decorations that keep getting to him. Sweet little ducks and zebras and monkeys, little jungle animals all over the walls. The bottle and rattle shaped cookies are pretty cute, but those aren't going to be left when the baby gets here. The animal theme, though, is fairly close to the nearly finished nursery Joel has been working on upstairs and he can't help but grin at the decorations.
Spencer, on the other hand, can't stop coming back round to the center of the living room to stare at the enormous sign that's been strung up above a table already stacked with gifts when a majority of their guests haven't even arrived yet. He'd been worried this morning that the day would overwhelm him, that knowing so many people would be coming into their home would be daunting when just a year ago, he'd never even once invited company over before meeting Joel; but so far, he feels calm, in spite of having had to watch Joel remove the enchantments that act as their security on the house. If someone wishes to crash a baby shower--which he doesn't imagine will happen anyway--then they'll have to face not only the wrath of a room that will be filled with witches and sirens, but the wrath of his mother- and sister-in-law, as well. That's not a sight Spencer thinks would be very pretty to witness.
Still, he feels light, perhaps a lingering effect of the having the chance to fall in love with Joel a second time during the spell that had taken over the town. Certainly, a great deal of his contentment has to do with the fact that he won't have to worry about losing his husband in a crowd but even beyond that, he's excited.
So much has changed in the course of the past year and weeks from now, they'll be holding their newborn in their arms for the very first time without another care in the world but for who they've been looking forward to meeting since they'd decided to take this journey together. There's something a bit strange about realizing that it's all coming to a head, that the waiting will soon be over and they'll be fathers at last, but when the first knock on the door comes, Spencer can't help but smile.
[Baby shower for Joel and Spencer's wee one. Erin, their surrogate, is present and is currently 31 weeks pregnant. If you're even a little friendly with either of them, Joel's mother sent an invitation, but the enchantments have been taken off the house for the event and so it's not an impossible party to crash. If anyone wants to crash a baby shower...]
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She was going to hold it together so help her God. Of course, that probably meant no more sips, but that was probably a good thing. She just had to get through this and not ruin her friends' day. Happy face. "But everything looks great, just beautiful.
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He trails off, shaking his head in awe as he glances at the crowd of people in front of them. "I don't know, I just never would have foreseen this a year ago. It used to be difficult to remember why I ought to get out of bed in the morning and now, every just means we're that much closer to meeting our son or daughter." He looks back at Essie, his smile softening. "Anyway. I don't mean to wax poetic about it, you can feel free to interrupt if I ever get carried away. Enough about me now, how are you?"
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"Oh, I'm fine." And maybe if she kept saying that someday it would be right. Not tonight, but someday. "And I love hearing you talk about being a father, it's... almost inspirational."
Inspirational and a little familiar. After all, during that last little whatever, she'd wanted a baby. Very badly, she'd wanted a baby with her husband who wasn't really her husband. She felt so cheated and used and frustrated and a million other things she couldn't sort out. "This is your day. Do you have the room all set up yet? Can I see it?"
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Besides, there's very few things in this world that could possibly lift one's spirits than a tour of a soon-to-be-finished nursery.
"Joel's still putting the finishing touches on it," he says, though he's smiling already at the prospect of showing the room off to a friend. Raleigh had gotten glimpses of it by virtue of the fact that she'd been living here when Joel had gotten started, but nobody but their family has seen it in its state now. "I'm hopeless with anything related to fixing things up so I mostly just watch him work and then show him new things I think we should add, but I'd love to show it to you."
He glances over his shoulder, relieved to see that his mother-in-law is busy doting over Joel with the friends she'd invited, and he chuckles to himself before turning back to Essie and gesturing toward the hall. "Come on, it's upstairs."
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"Yay!" She clapped as she followed him towards the stairs, relieved that he hadn't called her on her lies. She just didn't know how to explain the mash-up of feelings she had. She didn't have the words for half of the emotions she felt and she couldn't fully explain it herself, let alone to anyone else.
Especially the part that missed it. The part that dreamed of arms around her as she slept, and a soft voice singing to her from under a window. The part that kept stopping and listening for the sounds of a little boy playing with a dog and feeling crushed when it wasn't there. That was the part that she couldn't understand. She'd never wanted any of that. So far as she was concernned, her part of the Wakewood line could end with her and she would lose no sleep over it.
"I just got you guys some onsies and some baby books, but if there's anything you need that you don't get out of this, let me know. You can also come by my shop, it's down the street from the bookstore. I'm not open yet, but I can set anything you like aside. Antiques and the like."
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It doesn't take long to round the corner from the stairs and step into the room beside his and Joel's. He opens the door and grins at the sight that greets him, a nursery practically finished from top to bottom when just months ago, it'd been Raleigh's room and looked completely different. "We decided on a forest theme," he explains, gesturing at the wooden bookshelf Joel had made himself to resemble a tree, as well as the walls that are painted with scenery. "My favorite book is The Hobbit, you see, and we didn't want to force any sort of pre-gendering on the baby before they're born so we thought this was a nice compromise. It's why we've waited to discover the sex until the birth, too."
The birth. It still stuns him to think that there's just over two months left to go, though he'd anticipated this overwhelming sense of nervousness back when they'd first come to an agreement with Erin about the surrogacy. He and Joel have been reminding each other over the months that even though the baby's arrival is still so far away, it'll sneak up on them before they know it; and now they're here, at their own baby shower, and they'd been right all along. In weeks, the baby will be here, and they'll be the happiest two people in Siren Cove.
"I never thought this life would be for me," he admits softly, stepping over to the crib and trailing his finger along the varnished rail. "Love, marriage, parenthood, none of it. Every single step of the way has been one surprise after another, and I've enjoyed it all. Well, almost all. I could have done without the exploding cruise ship and deserted island most of us got stuck with, but I think you managed to dodge that one, didn't you?"
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"Yes, I managed to dodge those bullets. Didn't dodge the last one, no-siree." Not in the least. Looking around the room, she could tell that Spencer and Joel had but a lot of effort into it. It was beautiful. It was... everything she would have wanted for a child of her own back in that other place. Where she was the happy homemaker, ready to show off all the humble touches that made a house a home. For a moment she was paralyzed with envy at what Joel and Spencer were doing here. They made it seem so easy to be in love, so effortless and all it was to Essie was a weakness she couldn't afford.
Just because her family's internal feud hadn't followed her here yet, didn't mean it wouldn't. And she wouldn't inflict her family on anyone else if she could help it at all.
"I should show you picture of the house I grew up in. Well, the mansion, really. One of the wings was damaged in a storm before I was even born and instead of rebuliding it, Grandy just sealed off the rest of the house and let the forest have the damaged part. There's plants and even small trees just growing out of the different rooms and around the furniture. Reminds me a bit of this." She made a mental note to find one of the better pictures and get it blown up and framed for them. It might be perfect for the room.