[Open - Gathering - Baby Shower]

[just_another]

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...]

Comments

[lesparker]

Les smiles when Joel approaches him, and he gives the guy a couple friendly pats on the back. "I am trying to butter you up incase there's any chance you're still looking for a name for your kid," he says grinning, feeling awfully clever. "Leslie. Works all ways."

He glances around the party for a moment after. "It's good to see you too. After that fairytale stuff, it's nice for things to be normal again."

[just_another]

"You know, I think we're alright in that area," Joel says with a laugh, even though Les is right, his name really would work for a girl or a boy. Still, Joel is rather stuck on the idea of naming a little boy after Spencer's brother and a little girl after his own grandmother. They're good names, both of them, and they haven't wavered in the slightest since making the decision.

"I missed my house," he agrees. "And my whiskey. And not having to answer to a hundred princely duties every day. That was exhausting."

[lesparker]

"I bet there wasn't as much death metal over in fairytale land either. Am I right?" Les smirks as he takes a sip of his drink and then nods at Joel. "I totally get it though. There were really awesome things, but I missed my magic. That place made me such an awful witch. I think it was because over there, my mother was alive which was...." He sighs shaking his head a little. "Nice. I mean it was great. But the truth is I got most of my mojo from her when she died."

"And I wasn't even a prince either! I think I got short-changed. And here I thought Nerium liked me."

[just_another]

"Wait... Nerium?" Joel asks, his smile fading. He's heard what Les said about his mother and he thinks that's what he should focus on, but he's so distracted by the revelation that Nerium was responsible that he doesn't know what to do for a moment. He knows she's powerful and he knows her stance on magic use, but he had also thought they were getting to be friends.

And just like everyone else, she had messed with his memories. She'd given him Amy back, even if only for an evening, and that hurts most of all.

"Nerium did this? Why?"

[lesparker]

"Are you kidding?"

Maybe Nerium didn't tell him that she was the one behind the spell, but there was no one else in town that Les can think of that would've gone through the through of turning the town into a magical haven. She's told him her views on magic in the past, and it just....the entire thing had her fingerprints all over it.

"I think she wants magic to have free reign around here. I don't think she's kept that a secret," he says. "Now I don't want anyone telling me where and when to use my magic either, but I'm not cursing the entire town, am I?"

[just_another]

"Jesus Christ," Joel mutters and even that makes his chest ache a little when he thinks of how Nerium reacts every time he says that. He doesn't believe in god or traditional religion, but the curse comes as habit, and every time she tells him not to use it, he's amused.

But he isn't amused at the moment.

"How does messing with our memories accomplish that?" he asks. "I didn't even know I was a witch. The first time I had a premonition in that world I was worried someone was going to call me a devil and burn me at the stake."

[lesparker]

"Maybe it wasn't about messing with us. Like I said I wasn't even a good witch," Les answers shaking his head. His own powers diminished tremendously during that little stint. That's why he is so happy to be back to himself. "You know maybe she just wanted to show whoever that she's in charge?"

He shrugs a little. It's been awhile since Les has had a conversation with Nerium. He doesn't really know what the hell she's thinking these days.

[just_another]

"Christ, Nerium," he says again and scrubs a hand over his face. More and more often lately he's found himself trusting her and now she's gone and done something like this, something that seems to undo every single he has to trust her. If she's capable of meddling in such a way, if she really thinks she's in charge of everyone, Joel doesn't know what to think.

"That's... it's disappointing," he says finally. "Although maybe I should have expected it. I just thought... I thought she needed a friend, you know. Someone who didn't look at her like everyone does." And he'd tried to be that for her. He'd treated her like he treats everyone and she had turned his husband into a merman in return.

[lesparker]

Les just sighs. "I'm not saying she doesn't need a friend," he says because he actually thinks the opposite. He thinks Nerium could really use friends, could use normal, could have used not growing up surrounded by Grimhildes. "She just---one time I drove her home and she didn't know how to work a seatbelt. She lives in her own little Grimhilde world. That messes with your head. Your sense of what's good or bad."

"I don't think she would see anything wrong with what happened," he says.