As ever you guys are thoroughly wonderful with your words of support. Reviews absolutely make my day, I'm so happy everyone seems to be enjoying the story so far. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume everyone likes Finn? Good, cause you're getting a little chunk of Finn backstory in this chapter. He's just such a cutie.
To the very sweet anon who asked if I'm doing more chapters of this; yes, I am. I was planning on writing forty chapters. And possibly an epilogue set a little after the fortieth week, maybe a couple of one shots. If there's anything anyone particularly wants to see then hit me up with a request, I think I've mentioned before that I love doing requests.
FYI, Shanley is an Irish name literally meaning 'Old Hero'. It's very rare that any character name I choose is accidental or random, no matter how minor.
Content Warning: more drinking. Man I feel like half my characters get drunk a lot. But nobody's really drinking in excess too much (well Jake again but as I said, party animal, and it's not like he's a violent drunk or an alcoholic). A bit of backstory and historical injury.
By fourteen weeks the nausea had finally completely stopped. Of course that meant that Marcy had other things to worry about.
"My stomach is absolutely huge." she scowled at her reflection, turning from side to side to examine it from every angle. Bonnie glanced up from where she was carefully reapplying her mascara.
"That's perfectly normal, didn't you expect your bump would grow?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess? I just, why does it have to show so much tonight? I'm pretty certain it wasn't this big this morning. It couldn't have hung on for another day or two? Or looked a bit bigger, so it's obviously a pregnancy and not a pizza? I'm gonna just look fat. I don't wanna look fat to meet Finn's new girlfriend. And I don't wanna be one of those pregnant women either, you know? Just because I'm not drinking doesn't mean I'm gonna bore everyone with the tiny details. I've never gotten over that time Lady told us about the position they conceived Junior in."
"And you accuse me of over thinking stuff. Relax, I'm sure Finn's already filled her in on the important details like you having tiny people growing in your abdomen." Bonnie replied, attention back on her make up. Marcy scowled at the back of her head.
"A tiny bit of sympathy might have been nice." she huffed, mostly to herself.
"Love, your body is being completely normal and your pregnancy is progressing in a healthy and natural way. That's a good thing. You just don't like that there's a new woman in Finn's life and that she might disapprove of you." Bonnie murmured without looking up from the mirror.
"Well, it's a worry! What if she doesn't let Finn spend time with us anymore? What if she's like that evil bitch he dated that time?"
Bonnie put down her mascara with a sigh and came across the bedroom to hug Marceline. Finn's last serious girlfriend had been pretty rude to them both and she'd treated him like crap. Bonnie could understand why Marcy was worried this new girl would be more of the same.
"Then we'll scare her off. Or just, tell him to grow a pair and not be a total doormat for every woman that so much as smiles at him. I know he's a slave for whatever pretty face will have him but how hot can this one really be? He said she's absolutely smoking but Finn isn't exactly fussy. You know he lacks quality control. Not like me, I have excellent taste." Bonnie replied distractedly, smiling as she ran a hand across the growing curves that had appeared along her girlfriend's stomach.
Of course once they got to the pub Marceline would have loved to have a second to remind Bonnie that she'd said that. It would have been amazingly fun to make her eat her words, because Finn's new girlfriend was genuinely absolutely smoking. She was jaw-droppingly curvy with a classic hourglass figure, wavy bright flame-orange hair, flawless makeup, perfect features and a beautiful smile that almost certainly had Finn doing literally anything she asked. Marceline could almost feel the dislike radiating from Bonnie before Finn even noticed them. She'd never have admitted it in a million years but she was competitive in more or less every way it was possible to be competitive and Finn's new girlfriend was another stunning redhead. Marcy took in the expression on her partner's face and sighed quietly; looked like Bonnie was about to have a rival.
"Hey! Guys, this is Phoebe." Finn beamed at them, looking like he might actually burst with pride. "Phoebe, this is Marceline. Marcy used to play in the college orchestra with me and Jake way back when we were all tiny kids; she's like a proper classical musician and everything now. Oh, and Bonnie, her partner. You're sorta all doctors. That's cool, right?"
The looks on both Bonnie and Phoebe's faces were almost identically horrified. Marcy smiled politely, very sure she already liked Finn's new girlfriend.
"So Phoebe, what kind of doctor are you?" Marcy asked just a little deviously.
"Um, experimental physics. Mostly thermodynamics at the moment but I'm published in a couple of different fields." she replied with a casual shrug. "How about you?" she added.
"Music." Marceline shrugged. "Classical, orchestral, that sorta stuff. It's lame but I love it anyway. Turns out it's pretty difficult to get a doctorate in punk so I ended up in the orchestra with all the other dorks."
"I'm an oncologist. Like, the kinda doctor who saves lives." Bonnie added with a slightly defensive tone to her voice. "I got made a consultant early last year, youngest consultant in the hospital. And I run our paediatrics department. It's just a small team but we're a specialist unit."
Finn had turned back to the bar to order another couple of drinks for them and completely missed the exchange. Marcy looked between the two redheads like she was watching a particularly entertaining TV show. Bonnie getting competitive about her career had never stopped being a little bit entertaining.
"Oh right. Finn didn't say. Oncology, that's like, giving people chemotherapy and stuff?"
Bonnie's expression was visibly cooling with every word the other redhead spoke. If she got any colder Marcy was sure she'd freeze solid.
"It's a bit more complicated than that. It takes five years just to get the basic medical qualification, they don't hand them out like media studies degrees." Bonnie replied with a scowl.
Oh, they were getting into dangerous territory. Finn turned back from the bar and shot Marcy a look; if she was starting to trash humanities degrees they both knew that a full strength Bonnie sulk was only minutes away. Marcy shrugged back at his pleading expression. She'd told Finn plenty of times what happened when they got home after a sulk. Bonnie absolutely had to be the best at everything and if she couldn't be best at something she generally got frustrated and wanted to do something she knew she was best at. Usually that involved getting naked and being best at making Marceline gasp her name. Finn made a face; he'd told her just as many times that he really didn't want to know.
"Hey look, Jake got a booth." the blonde man cut across them, nodding towards where his brother and Lady were waving from the corner. He trooped off with Phoebe at his elbow, leaving Marcy and Bonnie to trail after them with their drinks.
"Try to play nice, she's not even a medical doctor." Marcy muttered as they slid into one side of the booth. Bonnie just shot her a sour look in reply.
"Ladies! How are you both? How are the tiny Marcelings?" Jake asked with a grin when they took their seats opposite him. Marceline sighed and indicated to her swollen stomach for him to see for himself.
"Growing at an exponential rate. I look like I've been on an ice cream marathon." she replied with a shrug.
"She actually has, though." Bonnie confirmed. "She's making up for not eating for the last three months."
"Hey, one tub of ice cream is not a marathon. Not even a half marathon. Unrelatedly, we need to buy more ice cream." Marceline replied with a playful sulk. Bonnie patted her stomach and smiled sweetly in reply.
"Whatever, you know I'll buy literally anything you want anyway. All three of you."
Phoebe was looking politely confused over her cocktail. Bonnie kicked Finn's foot under the table.
"Ow, what? Oh right. Yeah, I forgot to tell you, Marcy's pregnant, she's having twins." Finn explained to Phoebe.
"Oh. Wow, cool, congratulations." Phoebe replied. "When are you due?"
"Not till, like, the middle of April next year. They were a bit hazy with my due date because twins are often early. I'm already sick of not being able to eat stuff, vomiting all the time and noticing new and worrying stretchy bits everywhere. I barely had a curve on my stomach yesterday and today it's suddenly just there. It's significantly less fun than those cute family films make it look, I'm supposed to be glowing or something? I just feel bloated and tired a lot." Marcy shrugged.
"So how did you meet Finn?" Bonnie asked with a fake polite smile. Marcy squeezed her hand under the table as a silent thank you for at least trying to be nice.
"Jake set us up. A group of us from the lab go for a meal at The Treehouse most Fridays, we're regulars. We got talking and after a couple of drinks I let slip that I like a man in uniform so Jake talked me into meeting his hunky policeman brother." Phoebe replied, smiling up shyly at Finn who grinned back adorably. They did make a cute couple, Bonnie grudgingly thought.
"How about the two of you?" Phoebe asked after a second. They exchanged a look and Marcy shrugged. That night hadn't been her finest hour but she couldn't bring herself to regret it, not when she'd met Bonnie because of it.
"I gate crashed one of her numerous doctor graduation balls." Marceline began after a second. "And rescued her from being hit on by drunk fuckboys."
"Marcy's orchestra had just finished performing in the building next door to the hotel that was hosting the ball. They'd run out of alcohol at the after show party, that was Jake's fault, and she figured that since she was wearing a magnificent glittery dress and totally passed as a graduate she might as well pretend to be one and steal drinks from our open bar." Bonnie added, dropping unthinkingly into their long practiced story pattern.
"It would totally have worked if I hadn't had the misfortune to be stuck next to a couple of loud and very persistent drunk dudes who apparently thought that Bonnie was way too cute to be gay. She was gonna break this one guy's arm but I managed to step in and stop anyone committing criminal acts because I'm just awesome like that. I was there with Jake. Not as like, a date, we used to share an apartment. I had a spare ticket for my performance and he had nothing better to do than come watch. Gatecrashing was his idea. Anyway Jake disappeared the moment he saw a free buffet table so I just figured I'd grab us a couple of glasses of champagne. I thought they were shouting at me, some crap about how ten minutes with them would cure any lesbian. I was definitely about to punch one or both of them but then when I turned around they were hassling literally the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen so I just draped myself across her, told them to stop bothering my date before dragging her onto the dance floor."
"She makes it sound so dramatic." Bonnie added with a fond smile for her girlfriend. "I was just going to break his wrist a little bit. In my defence he'd just tried to shove his hand up my skirt and I wasn't about to passively stand there and let them sexually assault me."
"She was all 'Oh, thank you so much, Doctor...?' and that's when I realised what kind of graduation I'd just walked into. No way was I going to be able to pass myself off as a medical graduate. But of course I tried it anyway, because I'm a moron and I was more than a little bit tipsy and she's freaking gorgeous. I told her I was an Armed Forces doctor and I'd done my junior electives with the Army in Iraq."
"I'd had a couple of drinks and I actually believed her, as stupid as that sounds. Not gonna lie, I was legit thinking of murdering her in a jealous rage for a couple of minutes." Bonnie added.
"Anyway we danced a bit because hey it was a ball and I was just working up the nerve to ask for her number when Jake turned up and she disappeared. He'd brought food and because I was still absolutely blindsided by alcohol and love at first sight I just sorta shovelled a handful into my mouth. And I have a life threatening allergy to garlic. And Jake handed me a plate of garlic mushrooms." Marcy continued, grinning across the table at the big man.
"In my defence, it was my plate! You were just supposed to be holding it! Lucky you had your EpiPen. So all these doctor dudes were like, 'hey man, give her the adrenaline shot!' like I was supposed to be a doctor or something? I was so wasted I could barely even walk. I mean, they're just gonna let any drunk guy in a suit into the party because he staggers up to the doors with a pretty girl on his arm? I don't even look like a doctor!" Jake added. Bonnie frowned at him.
"What does a doctor look like then?"
"Tall, skinny, ginger, glowering at me because she still hasn't forgiven me for gatecrashing her graduation and almost killing her future girlfriend, surprisingly good at arm wrestling, trying hard to keep from laughing- ah, there we go." Jake replied, grinning when Bonnie gave in a let out a reluctant giggle.
"Anyway, Bonnie shoved Jake out of the way, pulled my dress up and stabbed me in the thigh with my EpiPen. She's a superhero, she totally saved my life." Marcy finished with a smile.
"She's exaggerating, anyone could have given her the shot. Just everyone else was really drunk and standing around with their mouths hanging open like brainless idiots. I just did what I'd been trained to do in an emergency." Bonnie mumbled self-consciously.
"She came with me in the ambulance and I sorta admitted I wasn't a doctor and the whole thing was a farce. I was all swollen still, I looked like a big ugly sausage. I like to think that's when she fell madly in love with me." Marceline grinned.
"I was absolutely furious for like, two hours afterwards? But then I remembered she'd saved me from having to hurt someone and before her head inflated like a balloon she was pretty much film-star hot. So I called the theatre the next day and let her conductor know she wasn't gonna be in for performances that night and then I was feeling kinda sorry for her so I sent her some flowers with a date invitation. Seriously, she looked like a model or something in that ball gown. Figured even if she was a pathological liar I could risk having dinner with her? So we went on a couple of dates and she actually wasn't as crazy as I'd first thought and we've been together eight years now." Bonnie finished with a warm smile for her partner. Marcy smiled back and squeezed her hand again.
"For, like, weeks afterwards Marcy was walking around like she was love-drunk." Finn cut in enthusiastically. He hadn't been there at the gate crashing incident but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to join in with part of the story he'd witnessed. "She was all 'ohh Bonnie is so clever and pretty, she's like the most amazing person ever, she's a doctor and I'm sooo dumb I just play a billion different instruments like that's even anything special, I don't know what she sees in me, she's too perfect, I want to kiss her alllll the time, etc.'"
"Kinda like how you are about your new girlfriend." Lady observed quietly. She'd stayed silent through the story, having heard it a thousand times before. Besides she hadn't even met Jake until a few months after that night. It wasn't as entertaining a story as the gate crashing incident; she'd lived next door to Bonnie and met Jake at their Halloween house party.
"That's a really cute story, you guys are adorable together." Phoebe smiled. "And you, Finn, you talk about me like that? You're such a sweetheart." she added, leaning in and kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. He puffed up proudly and beamed around at them all, generously ignoring his big brother's eye roll.
Overall it wasn't as bad a night as they'd worried, Bonnie thought later. She still didn't much appreciate having another highly educated attractive redhead sprung on her without warning but she consoled herself that Phoebe wasn't the same kind of doctor as her, she probably got mistaken for one a lot and had to correct people. And it was clear to see that she absolutely adored Finn. It was hard to dislike anyone who looked at her friend with that much tenderness in their expression. Besides, she seemed to be getting on like a house on fire with Marcy which was always a plus. Perhaps Phoebe didn't know it but if she'd failed to make a good impression on his closest friends Bonnie would have bet anything that the relationship would fail after a few weeks. Even the usually reserved Lady seemed to like her so in the end Bonnie shrugged and conceded that there were probably other redheads with advanced degrees in the world. She could live with that, so long as none of them were oncologists.
On her way back from the bathroom Bonnie stopped at the bar to pick up another round of drinks, checking her watch to make sure they still had time before the pub closed. Jake had started before them and he'd always been a bit of a party animal, she could hear his drunken booming laugh from right across the crowded room. It momentarily drowned out almost everyone else which is why she almost missed a softer feminine voice speaking her name behind her. She turned and was face to face with Finn's new girlfriend who was fiddling with her sleeve nervously.
"Hey, um, Dr Sugar? I was hoping I could grab a quick word with you." Phoebe said a little uncertainly. Bonnie was suddenly very aware that the girl was a couple of years younger than Finn, who was a couple of years younger than her, so Phoebe was actually more than five years her junior. Maybe the other redhead's boasting about being published in several different fields had been overcompensation; she wouldn't be the first person to be a little intimidated by Bonnie.
"Sure, are you ok?" Bonnie asked as gently as possible around the dizzying effects of four or five drinks.
"Yeah, I um, just- well look, Finn talks about you a lot and I can't help but notice that we have a lot in common, like more than our hair colour? I just really like him, you know? And I'm sure there's a more subtle way of doing this but I suck at subtle so I just wanted to ask, is there any history, you know, between the two of you?"
She muttered it without quite managing to meet the older woman's eyes. Bonnie stared at her for a moment in confusion before she worked out what Phoebe was asking.
"Oh! Right, like more than friends? Oh honey, I'm one hundred percent a lesbian, I've never been interested in men. But it's sweet that you wanted to ask politely instead of flinging accusations around like some of his exes. No, there's nothing between us. I've been friends with Finn for years and he's never so much as kissed my cheek, you don't have anything to worry about there."
Phoebe's brow creased in surprise.
"His exes accused you of having a… a thing? Like, have they not seen your gorgeous and charming girlfriend? Jeez, I thought I'd ask just in case, I didn't think it was at all likely." she said bewilderedly.
"Oh yes, some of them were weirdly insistent. One in particular, I think she thought me and Marcy were going to lure him home with us, because that's totally what lesbians do. Talk about unresolved issues." Bonnie answered with a smile. It was funny now that Finn had stopped seeing that girl.
"He's had a lot of exes, then? I didn't want to ask, figured a guy like him would probably have a colourful history." Phoebe mumbled.
"He's popular with the ladies, yes. But Finn's probably the last true gentleman I've met, when he's your man he's yours through and through. You don't need to worry about him being unfaithful. I've known him eight years and Marcy's known him more like thirteen years and he's just not that kinda man. He's not told you this himself?" Bonnie asked in surprise.
"Finn hasn't told me much about his past. I tried to ask a bit but he said it wasn't an interesting story. Is there something I should know about?"
Bonnie bit her lip, torn. If it had been the other way around and she'd just met Marcy and wanted to know about her past then asking a close friend would have been her first tactic too. But it wasn't her story to share, Finn clearly hadn't disclosed the darker things that had happened to him. And that was his choice, it wasn't ethical for Bonnie to go around breaking his trust like that. Not when she knew how sensitive Finn could be.
"I don't know much about his previous girlfriends, he's a private guy." Bonnie relied carefully. She was quietly relieved that Phoebe didn't notice she'd answered a slightly different question than the one she'd been asked.
They made their way back to the booth with the last round of drinks and as she was sipping her own cocktail Bonnie caught a sulky glare from Marceline.
"Problem?" she asked slyly.
"You're drinking a strawberry daiquiri." Marcy accused. "You utter bitch, you know they're my favourite."
"Try some." Bonnie replied mischievously. Of course she knew what her girlfriend's favourite drink was, of course she'd anticipated what would happen when she came back to their table with one.
"You know I can't." Marcy pouted.
"One sip will be ok, just try it." Bonnie pressed.
"No, what the hell? Why are you trying to poison our unborn children? Bon, what-"
Too late, the redhead had leaned across and cut Marceline's words off with a kiss. She pulled back after a second grinning.
"You little sneak!" Marcy gasped, licking her lips. "There's no alcohol in that, you got a mocktail!"
"And I got an extra-large one with two straws in it. Perfect for sharing." Bonnie grinned back.
Marcy did try to reply around the straw that was already in her mouth but it came out as a sort of incomprehensible gurgle because she was also trying to swallow as much strawberry juice as humanly possible. Bonnie assumed it was a declaration of love, gratitude and hopefully a promise to do the laundry for the next month in return.
...
They finished their drinks and were making their way outside when it happened. As with the weekend before Marcy was driving and she'd offered Jake and Lady a lift home too, leaving Finn to walk home with Phoebe. He lived pretty close to the town centre and since he'd let slip that they hadn't been intimate yet Marceline was pretty sure she knew what was gonna happen that night. She was glad for him, Phoebe seemed lovely.
And then out of the blue a voice addressed them.
"Lieutenant Madigan! Well this is a surprise! Small world, eh?"
A tall older man with shaggy greying hair who'd been leaning against the wall smoking unfolded and limped forwards, grinning at Finn like a long lost son. And old habits apparently died hard; Finn's arm seemed to twitch for a moment like he was resisting but after a second he snapped off a crisp salute.
"Captain Shanley, Sir. I didn't know you'd received your discharge, Sir." Finn replied politely, seeming almost to pull into himself and at the same time stand straighter and taller. Phoebe was staring between them in confusion, Jake was wincing for his brother.
"At ease son, we're not on the parade ground. Nine months a civvie, now. The old leg was playing up and I'm not one of the young bloods anymore, I took retirement. How's your stomach?" the older man asked politely.
"Still bothers me sometimes, Sir, but I can't complain. I'm with the civilian police now, Sir. Just waiting to promote to detective." Finn replied, eyes straight ahead and chin up like he was still standing for inspection.
"Knew you'd go far, son, I always said. Helmand was wasted on a bright kid like you. Nasty business out there, Madigan, very nasty. Well I'm glad you're doing well. Will we be seeing you for the veterans Christmas Ball this year?"
"Perhaps, Sir. Work allowing. Be good to see the old squad, Sir."
"Well then perhaps I'll see you at Christmas. Goodnight, Finn."
"Goodnight, Billy."
The man limped off down the street and all eyes turned to Finn and the tight look on his girlfriend's face.
"Lieutenant Madigan?" Phoebe asked quietly. Finn sighed and shook his head gently, like he was telling himself not to be afraid.
"I joined the forces right after university, did two tours in Afghanistan and was shot four months into my second tour. Honourable medical discharge which is the Army's way of telling me to politely fuck off. Joined the police instead just as soon as I'd healed enough to pass their fitness tests and now I only have one kidney. Which is another reason I don't drink so much. And babe, I was gonna tell you. But not like this." he replied, finally sagging from his ramrod straight position.
"Let me get this straight." Phoebe breathed. "You're a war hero. An injured war hero who's been suffering in silence all this time, and you don't like to talk about your past because of it?"
"I'm sorry. I just, I didn't want to scare you away. Sometimes I can be kinda messed up because of it." Finn mumbled at his shoes.
"Uh, sorry to butt in." Jake interrupted drunkenly despite his friends both grabbing his arms to stop him. "But how did you not notice his scar? It's like a fist sized hole in the side of his stomach."
"Jake! Leave it! It's not-" Lady began, but Finn cut her off.
"Because unlike you, man, some of us can keep our pants on for more than ten seconds around a woman. We were waiting, I wanted it to be perfect cause she's special. Ok?" he replied defensively.
"Bro, I didn't mean to upset you. Just wanted to know, is all." Jake muttered, half reaching out to his little brother but not quite letting his hand connect with Finn's arm.
"It's cool, man. Just, y'know how I am about my stomach. Look, Phoebe, I should have told you all this earlier. I'm sorry. I understand if you don't want to see me again." Finn told her seriously. "But I never wanted to deceive you. I just suck at talking about it."
"Are you kidding? You're a hot police officer and a war hero? Come on Finn, we've gotta get back to your place, we've got some catching up to do." Phoebe replied with a devious smile that left no doubts about the sort of catching up she had in mind.
"But it's a mess and I wanted it to be perfect." he mumbled.
"It's got you in it, right? That's perfect enough for me." she replied, leaning in and kissing him softly. Finn kissed back and slid his arms around her, drawing her close in obvious relief.
"Come on, guys. I think our presence isn't really needed right now." Marcy murmured, tugging Jake's arm until he reluctantly followed them down the street and away from his brother.
"Jake, you're a butthole." Bonnie informed the big guy as they walked. "Why couldn't you just let Finn handle it? Obviously she's not seen him with his shirt off or she'd have noticed the scar. Oh man, that was a really bad time to butt in."
"I just wanted to know!" he replied. "Cause, you know, he's my little brother. It was hard enough seeing him lying there bleeding through his bandages when they airlifted him home, you should have seen our Dad. He wouldn't leave Finn's side, he thought he was gonna die. I just wanna know that he's happy and that the girl that he's with is looking after him. Is that not alright?"
"Hey, I have a little brother too. I know how it is. Just, you gotta let them do their thing sometimes, yeah? Come on big guy, time to get you home." Bonnie replied gently. Lady shot her a grateful smile when Jake wasn't looking and Bonnie nodded back carefully. Jake was really protective of his brother, it was an older sibling thing and Bonnie totally got that. At least Phoebe seemed awesome. They were all pretty relieved about that, she seemed like the kind of girl who'd be good for Finn.