[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...]

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[just_another]

Joel can't think of anything he's done for the town, but he hopes, at the very least, that he's been a good friend to Aoife. "It's still very generous of you," he insists gently, then smiles.

"The whole summer?" he asks. "So I won't be seeing much of you then. No calling to ask you to babysit in that case."

[aoife_coombs]

"Oh you shouldn't do that anyway", she breathes the sentence out in one go. "I'm horrible with children, you don't want me around. And with looking at the turn out here, you have plenty of babysitters. I hope you can th-"

"Many things happened, Joel. I just want a chance of surroundings for a bit. I feel - New York City always makes me feel easier. And .. Yes."

[just_another]

"You should do whatever you need to," he says honestly. Most people don't do that, they try their best to pretend instead when he thinks they should find what makes them happier. Or easier, in Aoife's case. "But you should know you're always welcome here, too. Regardless of how you think you are with children. I would very much like mine to know you."

[aoife_coombs]

"I'm not wor-" She presses her lips together, closes her eyes to hold back the tears of frustration. Everyone continues to leave and no matter how often Aoife tells herself that it isn't her, she's running out of excuses.

"Life's easier in the big city", she states. "Anonymity. People that call picky eating a diet instead of a problem. I'm going to see how a few months there feel like, before possibly.. Leaving on a more permanent basis. I'm already looking into universities, even." She smiles. "And I'm twenty four. Never been fast when it comes to education."

It's terrifying to admit this out loud, but she knows Joel will ignore it if she hints at him wanting to. At least Ed isn't here, he'd fight her on it.

[just_another]

"That's great," Joel says. It's one more thing they haven't spoken much about, but Aoife's gotten down on herself in front of him often enough that he knows how she feels about school. And while he doesn't think it's always necessary, doesn't have an education beyond high school himself, if that's what she wants, he's glad she's going for it.

"Just make sure you come back to visit. Me specifically, even if you don't come back to visit anyone else," he says. "I'll make you promise."

[aoife_coombs]

"It is, isn't? And architecture as well. Maybe I'm too frivolous for it but.. It's something I've always been interested in. Curious about it, people and their houses. How they fit into a society, or how a society makes them. What it is to make a house a home. But I wanted to do it for society, not the elite. To create inviting schools, cozy family buildings. I-"

Maybe Aoife should have brought up this subject minutes ago. She laughs, just a bit embarrassed. "That ran away with me. I don't even remember how I ever came up with it. And it's possible that I won't even get into university, of course.."

"You're going to make me promise, how?"

[just_another]

"Just come back to visit," Joel says and he's still smiling, but he finds his throat is a little tight at the thought of Aoife leaving and just never coming back. He isn't sure when it happened, when he found himself feeling so attached to her, but now that it's done there really isn't any undoing it. And he doesn't think he would want to. "That's all. Even if it's just me. Even if you become a rich and famous architect, at least remember there's someone here who'd still like to see you every so often."

He'd prefer more often than that, but he can't ask her not to pursue her dreams just because he'll miss her. He just hopes she knows he will.

[aoife_coombs]

It is so very sweet of him, how much Joel does the most to make Aoife feel like she is someone special. From almost the start of connecting with him she has felt an almost family comfort, and it would be tempting to think of him as a brother, but he doesn't need another sister and she doesn't deserve anyone else before bringing her own family back together.
She can't permanently move until things had been set straight. Moira, Amelie, Thomas. They don't have to love each other, although Aoife still very much believes in family, but they have to be able to connect. Isaiah might follow her, but until she strengthened the other important relationships in her life..

"I'm already rich", she winks. " I'm just going to try to work for it now. "