Author's note: Okay, folks—here we have the obligatory "pregnant Tina!fic", but this one...well, let's just say that she doesn't have a good or easy time of it. Warning for graphic descriptions of childbirth, mentions of sex (spicy, but nothing smutty) and discussion of abortion. If these are a trigger for you, then I'd recommend you seek a different story.


Newt returns to New York in the sultriness of August.

In her eagerness, Tina arrives hours early to collect him. He comes to her armed with a nervous smile, a clear schedule, and a surprising financial windfall. Repeated absence is said to make the heart grow fonder, and her fondness for him has grown immeasurably, so she gathers him up and takes him to their new apartment, for her home is his now.

He settles in easily enough, and they circle each other like prey while they adjust to their new paradigm.

They continually challenge the boundaries of their interactions until she falters first, kissing him there on the couch, finally mustering the courage to take the initiative. Tina presses her lips to his without warning and discovers his mouth to be more humid than the air outside, his lips firm and surprisingly talented. She curiously tastes his teeth and samples his tongue and decides, after, that he tastes remarkably pleasant, if somewhat wild.

This first encounter is slow and tenuous and entirely decent—until Newt deepens it with a hungry sound, his arms pulling her close enough for his stubble to rasp against the delicate skin of her cheek. They eventually part with a gasp. Newt's eyes are dark, his lips swollen when he stares at her, and Tina discovers that she likes this look on him. She likes it very much.

They continue to circle around the issue at the center of them but make kissing part of their routine. Tina thinks that having her mouth pressed against Newt's, sharing his air and feeling his hands clutching her sides, is as natural as breathing. Their embraces occur with cherished regularity: every morning upon waking and every evening before sleep, and sometimes in between—random moments made all the sweeter for their unexpectedness.

Tina sometimes despairs that he generally keeps it polite, but her Newt contains multitudes. One night he throws his normal reticence over in favor of hunger and succeeds in stealing her breath.

Possibly her heart, as well.


September brings heat and thunderstorms and a new depth of feeling between them.

Though it is a welcome addition in her life, Tina finds it catching her off-guard in the most surprising moments. Newt pulls her close and ravishes her some nights, and within the heat of his passion, there's a half-formed gesture that speaks of something more. On these instances, she holds him close and breathes in his rustic scent while wondering what it all means.

Tina writes to her sister regularly, and though she doesn't say much about Newt, Queenie is astute and picks up on her insecurities anyway. She does her best to reassure and invariably ends her letters by admonishing Tina to breathe, to relax, and with a properly reassuring statement. He's gone on you, Teenie!, or Just you wait—it'll be the berries! Tina finds herself amused and mortified in turn by these blithe promises, but she can't smother the swell of hope each one brings.

There comes a night when his mouth finds hers and elevates them to a new level. He traces her lips with his tongue while his fingers map the skin on her arm, feather-light, down to her hand. Newt presses his palm into hers and threads their fingers, causing Tina to gasp at the unexpected intimacy of the gesture. He swallows the sound and returns it with one of his own. When they finally part, his eyes gleam at her in the dark.

Before long, it isn't unusual for them to walk-in-hand when he drops Tina at work, or while wandering through the No-Maj district to their preferred market. Sometimes, when Newt passes her an item, he lingers to allow their fingers to brush, and it never fails to make her heart race. Sometimes, Tina runs the tips of her fingers over the scars on his knuckles, and his eyes darken at the contact.

Tina gets into the habit of joining him in the case during his evening chores, and she slings an arm around his waist to press close. He always smiles down at her when she does this, a slow, languid thing, and Tina wonders vaguely if reaching out to touch him is the same as touching his heart. Then he wraps a possessive arm around her and greets the next creature, and she doesn't have to wonder anymore because she knows.

She soon comes to realize that Newt's heart is infinitely large, with the same fabled nine chambers as a dragon's, because it lives in his smile and in his eyes, and in every animal in his case. It's in her too, a permanent fixture, and the revelation calms her on nights when she lays in her narrow bed and burns for him.


October brings clear blue skies and fallen leaves.

The cooler air and crisp wind usher with them a stark escalation of their strange and tentative romance. The apex of their evenings sees gentle kisses turn into teasing nips, which melt into a passionate embrace that leaves them both gasping and wanting for more. Newt is no longer hesitant to touch her, and eventually, their hands wander to areas that cannot be considered decent. Neither of them cares.

Her Newt learns to touch and tease in ways that make her quiver; she learns the correct pressure to use when rubbing and stroking, ultimately leaving him boneless and gasping. In time, they discover how quickly one can work through a row of buttons on a fine linen shirt, how much force it takes to tear a satin blouse. How much time is required to loosen trousers enough to grant access to one hand, always welcome.

More and more after each of these intense sessions, Tina finds herself daydreaming of his hands and his mouth, and the other parts of him. It becomes a constant distraction, one she cannot shake. Focusing on the most basic of tasks become difficult because the tasks are not him. Even something as seemingly simple as walking home is affected when she is too bemused to take the proper route, and she finds herself in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Newt is in a similar predicament if the absent air he wears while he goes about his day is any indication. The only time his gaze is intent, the only time the haze leaves his eyes, is when they are on her. Then he is startlingly direct, and always efficient. He never fails to satisfy.

Tina allows this to go on for a full week before she makes her move.

She goes to his room one night to find him lying awake. He doesn't seem surprised to see her, and an anticipatory thrill works through Tina as they stare across space at each other. Newt acts as though he has been waiting for this moment, and she suspects that he has been because he welcomes her into his bed without hesitation.

There are no words between them when she drapes herself over his body. The city lights bathe him in shadows, but she can make out silver scars marring his skin amid a constellation of freckles. She traces them with her tongue and finds they taste like him: masculine, slightly musky, somehow wild.

Taking him into herself is a revelation: he fits perfectly, and though Tina dominates from up top, he is anything but passive. His fingers trace every inch of her skin, sometimes teasing, occasionally clutching when sensation overcomes him. Newt's voice is rich and low when he speaks to her, lifting her when she falters, when it all becomes too much and she quivers to a halt.

Her climax is shocking in its intensity. Newt steadies her with broad hands while she twitches and gasps. She allows him to take over from below after she collapses onto him, boneless and sated, twitching his hips against her. He soon finds his release, trembling hands clamping down manacle-hard while Tina moans and welcomes his seed into herself.

The light of morning reveals stark bruises against the creamy expanse of her thighs. Newt despairs of them, but then his teeth and hands are on her body and the marks quickly lose significance. Tina allows his body to cover hers and Newt moves against her powerfully enough to further mar her skin, effectively distracting them both.