If anyone is a "Friends" freak like me, they'd know this fic was partly inspired by The One Where Old Yeller Dies. If you're not a "Friends" freak, read it anyway. Fluff does the body good. And like I said, they just keep coming to me.
"What are you doing?"
Ron glanced up to find Hermione standing in the doorway, watching him with a bemused expression on her face. "I'm holding my niece. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"That is not how you hold a baby."
"Well excuse me, seeing as I don't have that much experience holding babies, now do I?" Ron said a bit snappishly.
The baby in question was Bill and Fleur's five-week-old daughter, Ava. It was the first time she had visited the Burrow. In all the excitement, she'd fallen asleep and been put into the makeshift nursery in Bill and Charlie's old bedroom. Ron had been walking by on his way from the loo when he heard her restless cries. He'd gone inside and picked her up to quiet her down. At first she seemed a bit wary, since it was their first real moment alone, but she seemed to have taken a liking to him. Maybe that was why she presently let out a small gurgle in her uncle's defense, although to be fair, she did look a smidge uncomfortable.
Hermione entered the room and approached the baby. She adjusted Ron's left arm to support Ava's head. "You have to make sure her head is held up. She's just a little thing." She gently moved Ron's other arm so his hand was under the baby's bum. "There you go, much better." Ava gazed up at Hermione with thankful eyes.
"I'm just trying to get her back to sleep. But I don't really know what to do with babies. They're so small. I feel like I might break her," Ron admitted.
Hermione didn't respond for a minute, seeing as she felt a little misty seeing her ungainly boyfriend of two months holding tiny Ava. His hand was bigger than her head. Finally, she cleared her throat. "You're a natural."
"Blimey, my arms are getting tired."
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Honestly. "Give her here." Hermione took the baby from him with ease and sat down in the rocking chair near the bassinet.
Ron watched as she rocked gently back and forth, trying to lull the baby to sleep. "How do you know so much about babies, anyway?"
"I used to babysit a lot for some extra pocket money when I went home during the summer holidays."
The room was quiet for a few minutes save for the sound of the creaky rocking chair –where Ron remembered being rocked to sleep in his own mother's arms countless times. Finally, he broke the silence. "I have plenty of time to practice before we have our own kids." The enormity of his words hit him after they were spoken.
The rocking stopped abruptly and Ava issued a small sound of protest. "Our own what?"
If he had the physical ability to do so, Ron would've kicked himself in the arse. "Er…..nothing, forget I spoke."
Hermione paid no mind to the fact that Ava was currently tugging on a handful of her hair. "You uh…think about stuff like that?"
He could feel the tips of his ears burning. Actually, he wished he could burst into flame right now. "Um…sometimes."
"Now I'm curious, how many kids are we having?" She tried to keep her question casual although her heart was beating wildly.
"Four. Two girls and two boys. With an option on a fifth." Ron didn't meet her eyes as he stooped over to pick up Ava's fallen blanket.
"Oh really? Do go on."
"Well I was thinking we'd have a boy first, followed by a girl so our son wouldn't be too competitive."
"Do you have names picked out too?" Hermione asked as she laid Ava in the bassinet.
"No, of course not. Well…I had some in mind but I figure we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Are you aware that we've only been dating for two months?"
"I know but…" He fervently wished he had a Time-Turner. He'd go back to about five minutes ago and keep his big fat mouth shut. "Please don't freak out."
"I'm not freaking out. I mean, you have the next thirty years planned out for us, but that happens all the time." She laid the blanket over the baby, wondering why she was so agitated about this. Of course she'd thought about the future with Ron, but her vision usually went a year or two into the future. It had taken them so long to stop being idiots and admit that they wanted to be together that she'd continually told herself to think of the present instead of wasting more time.
Ron walked over to the bassinet and turned her so they were face to face. "Look, we were idiots for seven years, OK? Dating other people, pretending we weren't crazy about each other." He knew he was stuttering and probably redder than a tomato but he plundered on. "But you're it for me."
"And I don't get a say in the matter?" Bloody hell, what was wrong with her? She knew she felt the same way. Why was she being such a git about it?
"No, you don't," Ron said hotly. This was the complete opposite of how he thought this would go.
"You pompous, arrogant, son of a- "
"For Merlin's sake, Hermione! I love you! OK? Get used to it already!" He yelled, cutting off her tirade.
They both stared at each other in shocked silence.
"That's the first time you've said that," Hermione said quietly.
"Oh well-spotted," Ron responded darkly.
"Shut up." She crossed quickly over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him deeply, wetting his face with her tears. "I love you too, you prat."
He stared at her, looking absolutely bewildered. "Blimey, there's no need to cry about it."
With a strangled laugh, she kissed him again. Only an indignant cry from Ava, who apparently did not like being ignored, brought them back to reality.
-end