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Written for; Hogwarts, Battle of the Black Lake - FrankAlice.


Not So Hard


It wasn't supposed to happen this way. A drunken one night stand, no matter that it was with someone she considered one of her best friends, should not have been the way she conceived her first child.

Smoothing down her shirt, she sipped at the water she'd ordered, her free hand tapping on the table. He was due any moment.

She'd had the brief thought to simply not tell him, to deny him as the father, but it had been fleeting and she'd instantly known that she couldn't go through with it. It wouldn't be fair to him or the child she was carrying.

"Alice! Hey, sweetheart," he greeted as he approached the table. Leaning over to kiss her cheek, he seated himself facing her, a wide smile on his face. "I feel like I haven't see you for ages!"

"It's only been a month," she murmured, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.

"A lifetime," he replied, raising his hand to rest against his heart.

She couldn't stop her giggle, though she quickly sobered.

"So, it sounded serious in your letter; what's going on?" he asked, a look of concern on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Alice blurted out what she'd came to tell him.

"I'm pregnant."

Fear of what would happen set in immediately, and flashes in her mind showed him shouting accusations at her, calling her names, even walking out on her without a word. She was near trembling as she waited, her head bowed, for his reaction.

She didn't expect the gentle fingers under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet his kind gaze.

"This is a surprise," he murmured. "But not a bad one. Alice…"

Hope welled inside her as he dropped his hand from her chin and wrapped his fingers around her hand.

"We can do this, sweetheart. You won't be alone."

"Frank…"

He smiled. "We're going to be parents. That's…"

She returned his smile, his speechlessness an echo of her own reaction when she'd first found out the news.

Maybe this wasn't what she'd planned, but suddenly, it didn't seem so hard.