just_another | [Open - Gathering

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[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...]

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"Have you ever seen an ugly siren, though?" she asks with a laugh. There's no sense at all in pretending she doesn't know she's beautiful. She's seen herself in the mirror, she's seen the effect she has on men and women alike without even using her powers. April has a fairly healthy ego. "It comes with the territory."

She glances around the room, then slips her hand into Caden's. "I've never been to a baby shower before. It's so... cute." And she says it like it's not quite the good thing it should be, but she can't help it. For as much as she likes kids, she's never wanted her own and this entire scenario is a bit strange to her.

"Perhaps not," Caden replies, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation. "But I've seen a lot of beautiful people, and none of them make me react quite the way you do."

He doesn't compliment April to stroke her ego. He doesn't do it for any particular reason. Something will pop into his head and he'll just say it. He wants her to know how he feels. She slips her hand into his and Caden smiles softly, squeezing it as he looks around the room.

"I've been to a few, but they seem to generally be no boys allowed." Caden's friends all seem to be in prime baby-making mode, so he's always sending gifts. Sometimes Caden feels like he's missing out on something, but he's happy with his life the way it is for now. "I wonder if there are any games lined up."

He wrinkles his nose and then spots Joel and Spencer in the center of the room, arms looped around each other's waists as they greet their guests. "They look really happy."

"God, I better not be expected to do anything cutesy and disgusting like putting chocolate bars in diapers," April says, wrinkling her nose. She likes Spencer and she still needs to apologize to him, but her affection for him only goes so far and it does not extend to silly baby themed party games. And she doesn't actually understand the rules of the chocolate bars in diapers game, but she knows she's heard of it and she knows she doesn't want to understand any further than she has to.

She relaxes into a bit of a smile when Caden looks over at the ridiculously happy couple. "You know what's fun? Pretending to flirt with Spencer. Don't actually do it, because then he gets weird, but just make it sort of look like you are. It makes his husband turn colours."

And it's probably kind of mean, but there's no real intention behind it. She knows Spencer's husband doesn't like her and she doesn't particularly care. It amuses her more than anything.

"April," Caden says in an admonishing tone, but he's laughing all the same. It sounds like something she would do, her idea of fun, and he can only imagine Joel's reaction. He looks over at Joel thoughtfully, brow furrowing a bit. He knew Joel so well back in that other land, and he'd like to get to know him better here, see what matches up.

It was just really nice to have a brother.

He wraps his arm around April's waist and tugs her in against his side, leaning in to press his lips against her temple, smiling against her skin. "Why don't you stick with flirting with me today, huh?"

"But that's what everyone expects," she protests, tilting her head to look up at him. "It's so much more fun my way." She wonders if she can get kicked out of a baby shower for flirting with one of the dads. Joel's mother looks like she might happily play bouncer to anyone who upsets her son and April has to admit that she likes to push the boundaries just a little. Just to see what happens.

"But fine, I'll play nice," she says. "Only because I think Joel's mother might be able to kick my ass even if I used a taser on her."

She looks like the type. Tough and protective. The kind of parent April has never had.

"I'm sure it is," Caden says with an amused chuckle. He takes her hand and pulls her in so that she's facing him. He slides his hands around her waist, squeezing a bit. "That's very big of you, but if you absolutely have to flirt with someone, I'll fall on that sword. You know, because I care."

He blinks innocently, but then he winks and smirks a bit, eyes bright and happy.

"Oh and that's very big of you," she answers with a laugh. "Are you trying to impress someone in particular, Mr. Carter or are you just always like this?"

It's still a little strange to be at a baby shower. A little too perfect loving family for April's tastes and she doesn't know what to do here. There's never been a place she can't fit in simply because she can lie her way through it, but people here know her. She can't suddenly pretend to be sweet as pie, the type of woman who'd feel at home in this sort of situation.

"Are you saying that I don't always impress you, Ms. Ross?" He laughs and leans in to give her a quick kiss, taking her hand before leading her through the room. "Let's grab some food."

It's obvious, to Caden at least, that April isn't exactly comfortable here. So Caden is happy to stay on the fringes of the crowd with her and act like a buffer, if that's what she needs. He's right where he wants to be anyway.

"I finished that chapter I was working on," he says conversationally, just before eating a piece of fruit. His writing schedule as of late has been not so much a schedule as sporadic bursts of creativity, and he obviously went two weeks without touching the thing at all, but it feels good to have gotten something done, at least.

"Good," she says, her smile growing a little more relaxed, a little more genuine. She truly has no idea what it must be like, writing like that, being on a schedule, needing to produce something to have to his editor by a certain date. What she does is creative itself in a way, she's a performer on most levels, but she can't tell Caden that.

Not yet.

There are days when she thinks she should, that she'll have to, but she's never been sure how to approach it. Maybe she can just forget it, leave it alone. It isn't as if she's actively working now anyway, not since Miami.

"So what's this one about?" she asks with a teasing grin. "Was it heavily inspired by yours truly?"

"Maybe you'll just have to wait and read the book like everyone else," Caden says with a teasing grin, watching her as he snaps off the end of a celery stalk with his teeth. It's true that his latest protagonist is inspired by April, and was before they even got together, but Caden tries not to draw too much from her. Still, he can't help the way her face sometimes comes to mind when he's writing. She's inspiring, to say the least.

"She just had to rescue the reporter that she's been pretending that she doesn't like," Caden says after a moment, excited to share it with her. He likes having someone to talk to about his work, likes rambling about plot points he's excited about, or ideas he's come up with. Usually it's Callie who gets that dubious honor, but Caden is sure that his sister doesn't mind sharing that burden with April.

"They had their first kiss," Caden says casually, though there's a teasing edge to his smile. "About to head into their big love scene. Maybe I should do some research."

"Some research on a siren pretending she doesn't like you?" she asks with a grin, though she's teasing as she pokes him lightly in the chest. Personally she thinks they've done more than enough of that already and she isn't all that interested in recreating any of those arguments again any time soon. Maybe this isn't something she's done before and maybe she isn't good at it, but she knows enough to think arguments are generally meant to be avoided instead of initiated.

"You know, we'd probably get in trouble if we were to start researching here," she points out, glancing around, still grinning. "I think they probably look down on that sort of behaviour at a baby shower, but I've really never been to one before, so I could be wrong."

"No, the other thing," he replies with smile, reaching up to curl his hand around her finger, bringing it up to kiss the tip of it. "I mean, I know we're already pretty good at it, but I hear that practice makes perfect."

He definitely doesn't want to argue with her anymore. These last few days have been really good, all things considering. Caden feels so much lighter after their talk, knowing that he doesn't have constantly wonder what he means to her. He feels secure in his place, and more than that, he feels happy. He feels like he's falling, and he's no longer so worried about where he's going to land.

"But I feel like you may be right," Caden says, wrinkling his nose teasingly. "So we'll be good and watch the happy couple open a bunch of presents, and then we can go research, huh?"

"I guess we do have to stay for that, don't we?" she asks, wrinkling her nose right back at him, though hers manages to take on a faint tone of disgust. She's mostly teasing as well, she really does like Spencer, but things like this unnerve her a little. She's attended bridal parties and baby showers as part of cons before, working the room and the people in it, but she's never had to do something like this as herself.

She's never had to give much thought to anything like this.

"That's a big pile of gifts, it's going to take them forever," she points out. "Maybe we can duck out halfway through?"

He chuckles when she wrinkles her nose and then loops his arm over her shoulders, leading her over to a loveseat near the back of the room. They drop into it as people start crowding around Joel and Spencer, handing out gifts, and he leans over to press his lips to her temple. "Maybe we should go do something super fun and irresponsible after this, huh? Any ideas?"

"Ice cream for dinner?" she teases with an innocent expression. "Or maybe we should rob a bank. That sounds both fun and terribly irresponsible."

But neither of them need the money and they both know it. Sometimes she wonders if Caden is going to ask her where she got the money to pay him back, but he hasn't yet. And she thinks she'll tell him in time, but she just needs to get there on her own.

"I bet I could sweet talk someone into letting us into anywhere we wanted after hours," she continues. "Just don't let Lara find out."

"I think you just hit both ends of the fun and irresponsible spectrum," Caden replies with a fond laugh. Part of him is incredibly curious as to where she got all of her money, but it doesn't feel quite right to ask. His imagination has run wild, coming up with scenarios ranging from wild to utterly dull, and he thinks that maybe once things really settle after the spell, he'll ask her. And now, especially after their talk, he thinks she would even tell him the truth.

"That sounds like it could be interesting," Caden replies with a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear and resting his hand on her shoulder. Money can sweet talk its way into a lot of places, but when she mentions Lara he realizes that she's actually referring to her siren song. Sometimes Caden wonders what it would be like to fall under that spell, because he's entirely confident that she's never used it on him, not even once.

He remembers feeling a vague hint of it when she first showed him her siren form, and he had felt so euphoric, so peaceful. Sometimes he wants to feel that again.

"And where would we go?" Caden asks her, smiling fondly as he thumbs at the smooth, pale skin of her neck.

April considers it, then shrugs, her shoulders rising and falling smoothly. "I don't know," she says. "Where would you want to go?"

It's when Caden asks questions like this that she realizes how little she's ever cultivated her own interests. Most of her adult life has been spent pretending to be someone else and when someone asks April what she likes or what she's interested in, she's never entirely sure how to answer. She loves the ocean, she likes having money, but even her apartment is mostly generic. If she had to leave here, the only thing she would need is her purse. It has everything she would consider important.

That's never really bothered her until now.

It hasn't gone unnoticed by Caden that April has a tendency to spin questions like this back at him. She does it a lot in bed, but also in just everyday life. It does make him wonder, because April is such a strong, decisive person. But then things like this happen, where she seems so stumped by simple questions.

She obviously hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about the simple things that make her happy, and Caden wants to change that.

"I asked you first," he says with a teasing smile, sliding his thumb up the side of her arm before curling his fingers gently around it. He really wants her to pick, and then he wants to make that happen.

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[Open - Gathering - Baby Shower]

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