Warning: some smut! This was originally published on Ao3 on May 20th, 2017 and is being uploaded here for the sake of my own ego.
The sun sets over the beautiful Arizona landscape but goes unnoticed by the occupants of the small field-dwelling, too engrossed in the discovery of each other to pay the outdoors much mind.
Newt tilts her head back, his hot mouth inspiring shivers as he blazes a trail of kisses down her throat to her sternum, where he nips before sucking hard enough to leave a bruise. "Newt," Tina says sharply and loses her fingers in his unruly hair while leaning back. He makes to follow until she puts a quelling hand on his shoulder.
"Let me," she murmurs, and tugs off her sleeping gown. He watches her through wide eyes before following suit, shedding his light pajamas in a hasty tangle of cotton. He opens his arms in invitation once he's bare, and she slips between with a content sound before pressing him into the narrow bunk.
Lips and teeth follow in the wake of exploratory fingers, tracing fair skin and ragged scars as they learn each other. Tina hovers over him while he brushes through the coarse hair between her thighs before fingering her teasingly. They're both trembling when she straddles his thighs to take him in hand. Newt groans while squeezing her hips questioningly, lust-heavy eyes focusing blearily on her. "Are you sure?" he asks, and Tina nods with a small, coy smile.
He doesn't ask again, and his hands steady her when she sinks onto him with a low, relieved sigh.
Tina takes a moment to adjust to him, breathing deep and slow as her head falls back. He sits up to kiss her, folding his legs beneath them when she stretches hers behind his back. She moves experimentally a few times before finding a rhythm, and Newt voices a breathless groan as his hands trace her curves, his mouth a breath away from hers.
"Like this?" he pants after a time, his eyes devouring her face. She can only moan as everything inside her coils hot and tense and hard.
Tina splinters around him moments later, hiding her face in his shoulder to ride it out while he murmurs in her ear. "That's it. I've got you, Tina—" he says, and cups the back of her head when she slumps bonelessly against him. He kisses her face and temple as affection swells in her breast, and they share a shaky laugh until she wiggles her hips. He's still unsatisfied inside her, heavy with need. Newt flushes while ducking his head.
"Yes, all right," he murmurs when she purrs invitingly, and carefully flips them over. She wraps around him when Newt presses her into the mattress before thrusting, hips rolling sharply against hers. Heat blossoms where they are joined while she watches his face, attempting to capture this moment in her memory when he meets her eyes and bites his lip. Newt's calloused palm traces her arm until she catches it to thread their fingers together, squeezing encouragingly when his eyes closed and his focus turns inward.
Tina whispers his name, and that's all it takes—he comes with a ragged moan, grinding them together while he shudders to completion. He opens his eyes after a few moments to smile down at her, a vision of sweat-burnished skin and tangled hair. She smiles back until he leans down to kiss her, gathering her in his arms when he withdraws to drop kisses into her hair as she strokes his back.
"Not quite how I thought our first time would go," Newt says eventually, "but fantastic just the same. Are you all right, love?" He meets her eyes while brushing his fingertips over the apple of her cheek.
"I'm fine, and I think it was perfect," Tina murmurs. He hums agreement while tugging the blankets over them both, his hands broad and warm where they stroke her hip and thigh.
"Will you stay?" he asks softly, and she nods with a smile while settling deeper into his arms.
It's her sister who speaks of the Erumpent in the room weeks later, after Tina's done all she could to settle her queasy stomach and alleviate the achy knots in her breasts.
"Ain't it obvious?" Queenie asks while taking her hand. "You're peachy, it's plain as day." She uses her wand to transfigure the coffee that had so distressed Tina into ginger tea before pushing it closer to her. "And don't you worry 'bout Newt—he'll be over the moon about this. You'll see." She smiles, all radiance and purity, and Tina closes her eyes.
"I hope you're right," she manages through a too-tight throat. Queenie nods hard enough to set her curls to bouncing.
"I am, and you know it," she says airily and stands to kiss Tina's cheek before preparing her some dry toast.
Queenie's insight proves true.
That evening, Tina manages to squeak out the news of her condition to an eerily still and silent Newt. Nausea twists her stomach when he looks at her blankly for the space of two seconds, green eyes fixed and unmoving on some distant point until his entire being bursts into motion.
Tina gasps when she's lifted off her feet by strong, familiar arms, arms which spin them giddily around before putting her back on solid ground. She laughs helplessly when relieved tears stream down her cheeks, and he croons reassuringly to kiss them away before dropping to his knees. "Hello in there," he murmurs to her still perfectly flat stomach, and Tina chokes out a relieved sob while stroking his hair.
"I take it you're happy," she warbles, and his eyes are dry and bright and clear when they find hers.
"I am...stupendously overjoyed," he admits and voices a breath of disbelieving laughter. "This is...Tina, this is a gift like none other." He strokes the hard and achy plane beneath her navel as he watches her, the smile slowly slipping off his face while Tina holds her breath. "Tell me, love, please: do you feel the same?"
She tugs him to his feet while squeezing his hand reassuringly. "I do," she whispers. "I do, truly. I'm just a little...overwhelmed right now. This wasn't exactly expected or planned, and there's so much I have to think about now. I'm a little...frightened, to tell you the truth."
Newt leans forward to press his lips to her forehead while threading their fingers together. "What are you scared of? Talk to me, Tina," he murmurs into her brow, and renewed tears burn her eyes.
"It's ridiculous," she warns. He dips his jaw to nuzzle his face against hers.
"It's not," he argues gently. "Whatever it may be, we'll work it out together. But I need to know what it is if I'm going to help."
She hesitates, gnawing on her lip until Newt displaces her teeth to kiss her tenderly. She tries not to be hurt by the realization that this is the first intimate contact they've shared since that fateful night in Arizona and draws strength from him when he squeezes her hand reassuringly before leading her into the shed.
He gets them settled down with tea and biscuits before turning to face her fully. "Please tell me," he asks in an impossibly sweet voice, and Tina cuffs at her eyes while looking away.
"Ma died when I was just a kid," she begins haltingly, "and I can't help but think..." Newt squeezes her hand reassuringly. She manages to meet his eyes. "I'm not sure how good a mother I'll be, Newt, and your baby deserves the best."
He sets down his teacup before leaning forward, a frown wrinkling his brow. "You're right," he murmurs after a long, thoughtful pause. "That is ridiculous." Tina makes to turn her burning face away, but he catches her cheek while leaning in for a kiss that takes all the sting out of his words. "It's ridiculous," he goes on, "because you are the best, Tina. Our child could not ask for a better mother, and they are profoundly lucky to have you."
Newt deposits himself at her feet like a penitent to place his head in her lap. She swallows a sob while petting his hair. "Do you mean that?" Tina asks, already knowing the truth in his words, and he raises his eyes to meet hers.
"You know I do, love," he whispers. She parts her knees to let him slide between them when he stretches to kiss her. His fingers absently stroke her hips and waist as she takes him into her arms, and they realize the suggestive nature of their position with a shared jolt.
Newt breaks off the heated press of his mouth to look over her shoulder, where his narrow cot is messily made. Her breath catches in her throat when his eyes return to her.
"Do you want to…?" he asks while pressing warm, hungry kisses to her neck, and Tina bites back an approving whine.
"Yes," she breathes and allows him to lead her to the berth.
Their love-making is as tender and passionate as the occasion seems to call for, and Newt holds her close in the aftermath while they stroke each other.
"You truly shouldn't worry yourself, Tina," he says without preamble, and she opens her eyes to watch his face. His lashes fan his cheeks while he cards his fingers through her hair. "If anyone needs worry about their parenting skills, it's me. I'm positively daft at times, and I'm not entirely sure I am suited to fatherhood." His eyes are impossibly green when they find hers, deep and wide with emotion. "I really don't even know how you tolerate me, most days."
Tina nuzzles his nose while meditatively tracing the scars on his shoulders. "I put up with you because you're cute," she teases, and he huffs a small laugh before turning serious.
"This is my fault," Newt whispers, and Tina goes still. He kisses her jaw while stroking her belly with reverent fingers. "I knew this could happen, and I was...I had control at that moment. I could have prevented this." His eyes turn bright with tears when he swallows. "I am sorry, Tina. Please forgive me for burdening you this way."
"Hey," she whispers and squeezes him until he looks at her. "It's not your fault or mine. Or maybe it's both our fault because I knew it could happen too—I just didn't think, and I know you weren't exactly thinking either. Please don't blame yourself, because you're going to make me cry again and I don't want to do that."
Newt's eyes momentarily overflow despite his small gust of laughter. He scrubs them away while Tina shakily embraces him. "Alright," he concedes. "It's neither of our faults. And this is a happy occasion, isn't it? Our first child."
He squeezes her shoulder while Tina sighs tremulously. "A happy occasion, indeed," he repeats, and they remained tangled together, sharing their joy and making cautious plans until the demands of their beasts force them to rise.
Tina's emotions are pernicious, fickle and entirely beyond her control as the week's progress, marked by extreme swings that see her laughing one moment, sobbing brokenly the next.
Newt suspected something was wrong the moment she came home, hours too early and with her shoulders held in a straight, rigid line. He tries to ask after what's bothering her but she rebuffs him with a snarl, telling him to "let it be, Newt!" until he retreats into his case.
She eventually seeks him out there, and he can see that her anger hasn't ebbed away; if anything, it's become even more palpable, and she is a truly fearsome sight as she rages.
"This is your fault!" she cries raggedly, and his heart breaks a little when angry tears burst from her eyes. She points a sharp finger at her own stomach, and he suppresses a wince at the inherent malice in the gesture. "You put this here, and this almost cost me my job today!"
Dismayed understanding comes to him in a flash of insight. Newt rocks onto the ball of his feet while sloping his posture, instinctively turning his face away to appear as small and non-threatening as possible while she seethes in his direction. "I'm sorry," he says in his most soothing tone. "Tina, I am, but whatever has happened, we can get through it. This is only temporary, don't you see?"
"They'll never let me out into the field again!" she shouts, and the echoes bounce back from all corners of the suddenly silent case. He wilts in the wake of it and Tina, if anything, seems to grow even angrier. "They won't let me work. They won't let me investigate. Do you understand, Newt? You've taken away my career because you...you—"
Tina chokes on a furious sob while turning away. Newt's arms ache to pull her close, to stroke her hair and reassure her that all will be well, that they can move past this together. Instead, he watches her without moving from his oblique angle when she slumps into herself before abruptly straightening.
"Out," Tina orders in a deadly calm voice. He stops breathing. "You need to go, Newt. Just...go somewhere. I can't calm down with you here."
He thinks, absurdly, of pointing out that she is in his case, but she marches away before he has the chance to articulate the thought. The lid slams emphatically shut behind her and the echo seems to roll through his entire being. He closes his eyes to collect his wits and calm his racing heart, straightening his spine when he looks around before retreating into his shed.
Newt washes his face and hands carefully, scouring away the salt of his tears to allow her a few moments to return and take back her words. She doesn't come, and after he's stalled long enough, after her silence has spoken volumes, feeling suddenly exhausted and rocked to his foundation, he gathers his tattered resolve, his coat, and his case, and goes.
There is a boarding house three blocks over from Tina's brownstone, a washed-out structure intended for the unwanted and lonely.
He pays for a week's worth of lodging without realizing he's doing it and sinks tiredly onto his temporary bed as soon as the door is latched behind him. The mattress creaks and pokes angrily into his back, and the claustrophobic room smells of sweat and regret, but he's senseless to these things as he allows himself to really feel the repercussions of what's just transpired.
Newt's eyes burn threateningly but remain dry while he watches the day march across his rented ceiling until darkness hides him and his stomach complains loudly. Then, with a deep, broken sigh, he checks the time on his ancient alarm clock before stiffly hauling himself out the door in search of food.
It takes Tina four days to find him.
He's in the case, unenthusiastically attempting to make sense of his field notes, and almost misses her tentative knock. He freezes when the hesitant sound reaches his ears and waits until it comes again, a bit louder, before sprinting up the ladder.
His feet barely touch the floor between the shed and the boarding room door, and he's wrinkled and ink-spattered and panting when he finally throws it open onto her.
Tina is tense and drawn and colorless, somehow, dark eyes lost in shadows as they stare at him from across the berth. He drinks in the sight of her, noting the puffiness in her cheeks and fingers, the way her dry lips press together to control their trembling. He briefly considers acting nonchalant, almost flip—leaning against the jam and crossing his arms while asking coolly, "Tina, why are you here?" Instead, he catches her when she stumbles forward and allows her to press her cold face into his neck while she weeps.
"Newt," she gasps, and he swallows down his own tears while blindly maneuvering her toward the bed. She clings to him when he smooths over her dark, messy hair and tries to decipher the words pouring out of her. "Newt, I didn't want you to disappear like that, I didn't mean leave leave, I just wanted some space—I thought you knew—I thought you understood, but then I realized how it sounded, and...and..."
She dissolves into incoherent sobs until he puts his hands on either side of her head to meet her eyes. Her face is even puffier than before, cheeks blotchy with hectic color, and she cringes away as he takes her in. Newt can feel his own expression softening, and her fitful sobbing gives way to deep, cleaning tears when he folds her into his embrace.
"I'm here," he murmurs as she buries her head in his chest. "I'm here."
"I'm sorry," Tina husks after her tears have dried and his shirt is a damp, snotty mess. He chuckles wryly into her hair.
"I know," he whispers, "and you're forgiven because you're right: I should have known." She keens until Newt shushes her gently before going on. "Perhaps, next time, we should agree not to throw people out of the house in fits of anger. Does that sound fair?"
Tina chokes out a laugh and wipes her face on his rumpled shirt before meeting his eyes. "I think it does," she whispers.
He welcomes her kiss when she initiates it, tasting the salt of her tears and carefully placing no demands as she crawls into his lap to foster closer contact. Her eyes gleam speculatively when she experiences another sudden shift in mood, steady fingers toying with his buttons as she smiles at him, long and slow and coy.
"Can we?" She asks, and Newt hauls her into the creaky bed by way of answering.
Above him, Tina is a goddess.
Cool, eager hands trace every inch of his skin once they've undressed him, mapping his scars and tracing constellations between his freckles as his fingers work between her thighs. Newt is taken with the urge to taste her there so he does, sweetly encouraging her to rock against his tongue until she comes with one hand buried in his hair, the other fisting the scratchy sheets.
Tina kneels to shoulder him into the creaky mattress before taking his length in hand, and they share a gasp when she sinks onto him. She pants through the first few thrusts before leaning forward to anchor herself to his shoulders, sharp fingernails curling sensually into his skin as they move together. He grasps her full breast and strokes the small of her back while devotedly watching her face, before tonguing her darkening nipple until she chokes and spasms around him. She collapses artfully into his kiss afterward, and he buries his face in her hair when he rolls them onto their sides.
It takes some clever maneuvering to find what works but they do, hands and arms and legs tangled as they spur each other to the edge. Newt worshipfully touches every inch of her, wondering at the new fullness in her breasts, the slight curve now rounding her stomach. Tina maintains intense eye contact when she dissolves into moans for the second time, and he presses his face into her neck to breathe her name raggedly when he tumbles after—her hair heavy silk between his fingers, her flushed skin warm beneath his hand.
They remain tangled until Tina lifts her head to meet his eyes. "Will you come home now?" she asks in a shaky whisper. Newt blinks away liberating tears while placing a hand on her stomach.
"Yes, my love," he murmurs, knowing that she understands his home is with her, with them, and hides his relieved smile in her fragrant hair.