DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything you recognize.

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW, PEOPLE! I love you guys for reading but it really brings me down when no one reviews.

Curiosity
Part Twenty-six: Lovestruck

'Minerva?' Jacob suggested as he leaned over the side of Anne's bedside staring at the new pink bundle in her arms. His request was shot down as Anne looked him like the name had crawled out of hell itself. He shrugged his shoulders; he thought it had been a good idea. To name the new baby after Professor McGonagall, sure the name was a little unorthodox but Jacob liked it. He wanted to remember her and to name the sweet little baby girl gurgling in his sisters arms was the best way he could. But gazing at Anne now he was sure she wouldn't take that name as she was looking at him like that they would always remind their little girl what her uncle wanted to call her.

'Old fashioned,' Paul commented pushing his lips into a pout to fit Anne's displeasure in it. Fatherhood suited Paul, his worried exterior and passiveness seemed to have flown away with the new arrival. He seemed to be glowing with pride as he let a hand down to stroke Anne's hair. When he had rushed out into the waiting room to tell them the news, he had thrown his arms up and nearly sunk to his knees while screaming "it's a girl!" That gave Jacob the distinct impression he would always keep his little girl laughing. When handed the baby Paul had also acquired a strange look of wonder, like he had never seen anything of the sort.

The baby was a sweet girl, she had a soft scattering of light hair on her head and large blue eyes – so similar to Anne's and Jacob's. His mother had been ecstatic when she had seen her granddaughter had the same eye colour as her two children. And when Jacob and his parent's had entered the room she wasn't crying. Anne had said she had only cried for a few seconds after being born and then also said with a great deal of unhidden pride that she had instantly stopped when given to Anne to hold. So far Anne had permitted no one but the nurse, herself and Paul to hold the baby. The little girl hadn't cried at all and she was just making soft babbling noises as Jacob's father leaned over and stroked her cheek. Jacob couldn't see but he was sure his dad would be pulling stupid faces in his soft manner.

'Oh, I know,' his mother said excitedly. 'Name her after me!'

Much to Jacob's surprise Anne and Paul had no names picked out for their child, they hadn't even asked what gender it was when they went for check-ups. And now it was like a tennis match, just hurling names at Anne and if she didn't like them she'd volley them right back at your face. It wasn't something Anne was good at, choosing names and then remembering them. When she was a young girl she had had plenty of dolls – most of which she badly disfigured and Jacob had steered clear of, just happy to play in the garden outside – but she could never remember their names or which had what name and most went through several name changes every time she played with them. Jacob had always earned a tug on his hair when he got a name wrong, so in the end he just didn't go near Anne when she played with her dolls. Too much pain was involved.

'I am not naming her Sue-Marie,' said Anne dully unable to tear her eyes away from her child. 'Maybe one of them for a middle name, but not her first name, who'd want to be named after their grandma? It's not like you're famous or anything. If you were, I'd consider it.' She smiled sweetly at her mother who smiled feebly back but the pride she had for Anne was evident in her face just as was the loathing look she kept shooting Jacob.

Jacob's dad let out a little chuckle but shut up when Anne looked at him seriously. 'I'm not naming her James either,' Anne snapped at him clutching the baby closer to her. 'It's a boy's name, in case you didn't realize.' Jacob sniggered but not because of Anne's slightly pathetic joke but because her stubborn, rude humour that usually played on other's misfortune was lacking. Anne was tired and Jacob figured she was allowed to be a little nicer for a few seconds anyway. Maybe he should make the most of it but he didn't know how to make the most of her niceness, so he just left it.

There was a soft knock on the door and everyone's heads turned to see who it was. It was one of Anne's two nurses – she acquired one more when she went into labour - it was the murse. Jacob felt a little sorry for his sister. The murse wasn't exactly good looking. He had a nose far too large for his face and Jacob felt like saying "look at the man on that nose" but felt he shouldn't adopt Anne's harsh humour right now. But his eyes were kind and he smiled down at Anne and the baby, asking how she was and if she needed anything. He clucked and cooed over Anne for a few minutes, making sure she was truly comfortable before the true purpose of his visit came clear.

They needed to take the baby away for the usual check-up and injections. 'We're just going to take the baby, hunny, for the usual shots,' the murse said kindly after he had eventually pried the baby from Anne's tight and protective grasp. 'She'll be fine and you need rest, hunny. After everything's been checked over we will bring her back, don't worry.' Suddenly he turned to Jacob, cuddling the baby in his arms. 'I think there is someone waiting outside, in the waiting room,' he added like Jacob was stupid or incoherent. 'He asked what room your sister was in and I saw you with him earlier, since only family is allowed in the room and he obviously isn't, would you please go outside and talk to him there.'

Jacob scowled at the man's retreating back for his stubbornness to go by the rules and even though he was being or trying to be polite he had sounded rude. The man also sounded like he thought he knew everything there was to know. He excused himself for a few seconds and scurried out of the door behind the murse, still frowning at his back and tempted to pull the finger at him but he was carrying his niece and what if she saw his rude gesture and picked up on it while she was still an infant. His sister would never forgive him. So he blandly glared at the murse as he walked behind him out of the private room and into the waiting room.

George was sitting down on an isolated chair in the waiting room, his arm draped over the back of his seat and his legs crossed while staring distantly out the window. Jacob took this moment of George's patience and relaxed posture to stop just at the entrance to the waiting room and just look. The man was gorgeous; it was as simple as that. His soft red hair that covered his missing ear which obviously made him feel uncomfortable was different from the rest of the Weasley's. While theirs was a more orangey kind of red, George's was a deeper red than theirs. Or maybe it just seemed that to Jacob. Jacob loved the way George's soft skin was sprinkled with a light dusting of freckles, mainly over the nose. He loved that though George was stocky yet quite tall and had a muscular build, especially around the shoulders, he was gentle with Jacob. Even though Jacob was just an inch shorter than him, he hardly had enough muscle to be considered strong or anything of the sort. He was fit though and had the legs (long) to run very fast but only if he put his mind to it. They were different kinds of fit: George was strong and muscular and Jacob was fast and leggy.

A soft cough of amusement brought him out of his thoughts and his eyes snapped to George. He hadn't realized George's blue eyes had been locked on him for however long as he thought. He flushed pink and sidled over to him a little sheepishly; standing beside the lone chair George was sitting in. He rested his hand on the edge of the back of the chair and George quickly placed his hand over it. The hand had a few freckles dotted across it as well but mainly George's hand was brushed with a light windswept tan that Jacob liked very much.

'You were staring,' George commented. 'I completely understand. I am dashingly handsome.'

'Oh, ha-ha,' said Jacob softly though his mind was completely agreeing with George's statement. Suddenly George lurched to his feet and caught Jacob around the middle, much to his surprise. Before Jacob could react with a yelp or a string of words, George's lips were against his, softly moving and not adding any pressure just leaving the kiss chaste. Jacob was only faintly aware of George's hands sneaking down to cheekily cup one of his arse checks. But before Jacob could react to that, the kiss had broken off and George had pulled away from him, just holding his waist now, and was speaking again.

'But of course,' he said batting his eyelashes fiercely, 'it is nothing in comparison to the shining light that is Jacob Smith.' George pulled him in close to him and whispered something else in his ear that made him moan out quietly while George rubbed his nose in the soft strands of blonde hair that settled just above his ear.

Jacob was all about to let George drag him off to an unoccupied room so that they could react the coupling that had happened last night, but then he saw, over George's shoulder, his mother sticking her head out of the door to Anne's room and looking out into the waiting room. A scowl appeared on her face as she saw him in George's arms. Jacob ignored her but still spinning the pair of them around so that he didn't have to face his mother and he knew that George wouldn't care about the displeasure on her expression. As soon as he wasn't facing his mother he felt George let out a soft breath in his ear, Jacob knew that George had seen her disapproving look.

Hearing a door slam loudly, he cringed. He still didn't care for what his mother had said to him earlier in the day yet was having difficulty trying to push her words out of his mind. He had always known she didn't like his "gayness", as she called it, very much but he had never known she had always felt that strongly about it. There had been a lot of things that had spurted out of her mouth that morning, and it did hurt Jacob to know that she had meant most of them but if he had most of his families support, her beliefs were outnumbered. Yet he would like it if she accepted him. Shouldn't she understand it more than his father, shouldn't she be the more accepting one? After all, she fancied men as well, it seemed only logical.

Feeling a sweet kiss on his cheek, he blinked and found that George wasn't hugging him tightly anymore, just staring at face and holding his hand softly, stroking the palm. He had been so lost in thought he hadn't even noticed when the hug had broken off. He let his eyes focus in on George who had been watching him a second ago and was now looking towards the door.

'I'm glad you came back,' Jacob muttered somewhat quietly but he still meant it.

'What did she say to you?' asked George latching into what had happened quickly. It wouldn't have taken a genius to see that there was a large amount of tension between mother and son.

'Just some stuff about being gay and things, I didn't know she hated it that much. I always knew she didn't like me for that but I didn't know she felt that strongly about it,' Jacob said tersely. He didn't care, he kept telling himself he didn't care but he knew he did care about what his mother had said to them. Yet he wasn't about to let George know that he really cared that much because he knew in a sort time he would get over what his mother had said. Before George could say another word he hurried on. 'But I don't care, it's alright, she's just really uptight.'

'Seems like both our mums are really uptight,' George said chancing a glance back to the door. 'It's the exact same thing, they expect more of you. Families and bollocks like that. Merlin's trousers, all I really want to do is make jokes, wake up next to you every bloody morning and probably beat up Ron for telling mum when I wanted to do it myself and have some fun out of it.'

Jacob flushed and looked across at George trying to see if he was being serious or just joking. Jacob couldn't tell. 'You really mean it?' he asked feeling a little shy as he asked this question. If George wanted what he had said, Jacob was all for that too. It was true that he had never felt this way about another person in his life before and was ready to do anything for George. It was love, bigger than anything he had ever felt before and the both of them.

'That I'm going to beat up, Ron?' George said. 'Yeah, well, probably not, Hermione would get annoyed at me and then I'd really be in for it. But it doesn't really matter because mum isn't really upset because I'm in love with a bloke, (never thought it would happen myself but there you have it) just because I didn't tell her.'

'I don't mean about that,' Jacob said. 'The bit about wanting to wake- '

George grinned and interrupted him with a nod. 'Yeah, I really do mean it. So don't run out on me, Jakey,' he said.

'I don't plan to,' Jacob said and beamed when he saw George had a light blush across his face, just covering his freckles.

'How is your sister?' George asked trying to shake himself of the blush as he changed the subject. 'Has she had the baby yet?'

'Yeah,' Jacob said with a hint of pride remembering that that made him an uncle. 'A little girl, she's adorable.'

'What's her name?'

'She hasn't got one yet,' Jacob said. 'They didn't have any names picked out at all.'

'That's weird.'

'Yeah,' he said turning around to look at the closed door that was just visible down the corridor that separated the waiting room from the private areas for patients. 'It is weird.' As soon as that comment left his lips the door of Anne's room opened and his dad came out. He scanned the room, rubbed his head and when he finally saw them, gave a quick wave and trotted over.

'Anne wants you to come in and rate the names she and Paul, though she mostly did it herself, have picked out. There are four they both like and they can't decide between them,' he said with a half-hearted grin and Jacob knew he was sick of being here and tired of this place. 'Hey,' he said to George. The greeting was accompanied with a warm smile and Jacob was glad that at least one of his parents respected him. His father patted Jacob softly on the shoulder and retreated back into the room, leaving the request to come back open whether he wanted to take it or not.

Jacob grabbed George's hand and led him into the brightened by lamp room. Anne was still sitting in the bed, her hands resting across her stomach, the white sheets of the bed pulled up around her chest. His mother was leaning against the wall near the window and looking out disdainfully at the cars zooming by outside, she was standing behind a pot plant so it also looked like she was trying to hide behind its leafy expanse. Paul was sitting in a chair closet to the bed and kept looking nervously across at Anne like something would happen to her at any second but Jacob noticed, he still had that glow about him like pregnant mothers were supposed to have. Jacob still maintained that fatherhood suited him incredibly well. Jacob's own father had entered just a few paces before them and moved to the corner to pull his sulking wife out from behind the pot plant, she was obviously still seething from her and Jacob's conversation earlier.

'Ok,' Anne said jumping straight to the point they had all been assembled in for. But before she could get any further his mother spoke dryly.

'Only family members are allowed in the room,' she said her eyes locked on George. She left it at that, evidently thinking that her words would be enough to make George leave the room. Jacob stared at her, trying to pull her gaze away from George who thankfully wasn't cracking under the weighty stare. It was a scary thing to face, his mother's glare. She wanted him to leave, but Jacob wouldn't let her make him leave. Suddenly her stare averted from George and locked on to him and he could see that the argument they had had earlier wouldn't blow over easily, it was going to take some time for them to speak to each other on good terms again. As a son, he had disappointed her and as a mother, she had contempt for him. It wasn't going to work anymore.

There was a silence in the room, an awkward, confused silence in which no one had any idea of what they should do or say. Jacob found that instinct made him take a tighter hold of his red headed lover's hand as he stared across the bed gauchely at his mother. No words were spoken and the silence continued to hang around like the bad smell of wet dog. It seemed that both Anne and Paul couldn't take the silence anymore at the same time. They both cleared their throats together, Anne louder than her husband. The silence seemed to snap as heads turned towards them. It sounded like Anne heaved a sigh of relief also.

'I could go,' George said softly to Jacob but added a little louder, 'if I'm not wanted.' He was giving Jacob the opportunity to stand up to his mother and Jacob understood that. No one else but here felt that George should go, it was only her.

'No,' Jacob said sternly. He stopped George by softly touching his wrist. 'No,' he repeated all the while looking at his mother. 'Stay, please,' he said pulling George back close to him yet never letting his eyes leave his mother until she broke the stare herself and looked away towards Anne, covering an annoyed squeak that she often did by blowing her nose.

'Ok.' Anne brushed hair from her brow and surveyed the family plus one standing around her with a arid and somewhat speculative glance. 'Ok,' she said again this time drawing the word out. 'These are the names we are thinking off, even though she isn't here – damned nurse still has her, and we can't try the names out on her, these are the ones we like. Natalie,' she said and hurried on before opinion could be given, 'Elizabeth, Ella-May, and Sophie.'

'What do you think?' asked Paul.

'Is Ella-May hyphenated?' Jacob said.

'Yeah, do you not like it?' Anne demanded the answer.

'It just sounds like she'll be one of those girls who go to flashy, ridiculously expensive boarding schools, with a name like that,' Jacob said with a shrug and a grin with hope that Anne wouldn't take that as an offense for the name they had picked out. The name just sounded a little over the top, with a hyphen in it. He wanted to spare his niece any ridicule.

'Well, she will be,' Anne said definitely.

Jacob turned to Paul astounded. 'I had no idea you made that much money.'

Paul shrugged modestly and said, 'we get by.'

Anne scoffed. 'We could live in a fucking mansion, he makes so much.'

'That's a bit of an exaggeration, Anne,' Paul said.

'When I start working too we will have more than enough to send her to a really good school, so maybe a posh hyphenated name is worth it.' Anne tugged a strand of her hair in thought. 'I don't know though,' she added. 'It does sound a little ... stupid. Same with Elizabeth,' she said and then Paul across the wrist sharply. 'All of your choices are too stupid,' she muttered. Paul didn't even look offended; he was too used to this.

'It's down to Sophie or Natalie than,' Paul said and chanced a look at his mother in law to see what she thought of the names. 'What do you think, Sue?' he asked. Jacob's mother looked quite astounded to be asked a question as important as that but then beamed broadly at Paul.

'Well,' she said briskly. 'I do like Natalie, Natalie Gracio sounds quite nice.'

Jacob was about to correct her on the last name when he remembered that Anne wasn't Anne Smith anymore, her name had changed when she married Paul. He always forgot that. Paul and Anne Gracio, it was a strange last name but less common than Smith which everyone seemed to have. Gracio sounded like a brand of exotic fruit or expensive import that only came from a certain part of the world. But his mother was right, much to his disappointment, Natalie Gracio did sound like a good name for a child and then someone who would grow into an adult. It wasn't one of those names that only a baby or an adult could suit, it wasn't a picky name.

Anne nodded briskly, her eyes bright with glee. 'It's perfect!' she sang happily while pulling Paul down to her level so she could plant a large kiss on his face to express her joy even more. 'Do you like it?' she asked him pleadingly. Jacob had the feeling that even if he didn't like it, his first-name choice would suddenly become a middle-name. Though it was their child, so maybe they could chose to go with a completely different name, one they both liked equally. But Anne was so happy with the name; Jacob couldn't see how Paul could deny her that name for their baby.

'Yeah,' said Paul with a grin to show he liked the name quite a lot. 'It's a nice name, I like it. Is that our babies name?' he asked Anne who nodded fervently. Paul scuttled out of the room shouting behind him his purpose for leaving. He was going to find Natalie and the hospital staff so he could give them their child's name. Anne watched him go, her face pink from excitement and joy. She let out a low sigh of complete satisfaction. She was entitled to it, she had a husband, though he was a little lacking in the looks department, he was kind and would take care of her forever, she had a good home and now she had a baby of her own.

'Don't look so buggered, Jacob,' she said softly.

'I don't look buggered,' he said crossing his arms. 'Define buggered anyway.'

'You look like you've been the one doing all the work,' she said with a smirk. 'How long have you been here anymore, all day?'

'Since early morning, just before nine,' Jacob said. He was eager to get out but he didn't know if Anne would let him go. 'What time is it now?' he asked almost nervously.

'Just past six,' she said looking across at the clock above the window. It was in an extremely random place for a clock and its purpose seemed a little void there because you had to twist around so much to look at it. 'You should go,' she egged. 'You've been here for hours, you've done your bit and now you can go, thanks,' she added quietly.

'You mean I can actually go?' he asked feeling relief and joy that could almost counter Anne's when the baby had been named. He had been here for hours and now just wanted to get out, go somewhere with George and then come see the baby when she was out of the hospital.

Anne nodded and strangely enough held her arms out for a hug, one that Jacob didn't deny her. When she had let go of him she briskly thanked him for being the only one who had bothered to show up on time, this received a light chuckle from his father, who never took much seriously. Jacob hugged his dad goodbye and then he and his mother mutually ignored each other as he headed for the door, promising he'd come to see Anne later on when she and the baby were back at their home. There was a range of 'nice to meet you'; 'goodbye' and 'see you later' for George from the family before the pair of them exited the room.

Once out, George languidly slipped his arm around Jacob's shoulders and pulled him in close as they just managed to dive into the lift before the doors snapped to a shut. Even though it was going up, they could take a quick trip before being able to depart on the bottom floor. Jacob was still a little dazed from the whole hospital experience and exhausted from it even though as Anne had said, he hadn't done any of the work, just sat around for hours on end. It was like travelling in cars, boats or even aeroplane's, even though all you had to do was sit still it was physically tiring for some unexplained reason. He was thankful that George was standing next to him and supporting most of weight or else he probably would have fallen over and gone to sleep then and there. If Jacob was tired, how must Anne be feeling?

Jacob had yet to hold his niece and wanted to see her outside of the clean shine of the hospital. A sinking feeling struck him as he remembered that his mother's words were a hundred percent correct, he could never had his own children with his partner. One of them could have a child that was there's or adoption was an option but a child would never be parts of them and you wouldn't be able to look at him or her and see yourself and partner there. It was a saddening prospect and he had wanted to have a family at some stage, but family didn't mean you had to have the whole deal. To him, he and his lover would count as family. Perhaps he should just forget about never being able to have a child and spoil his niece rotten, he would be the favourite relative, he wanted to make sure of that.

'What are you smiling about?' asked George. 'You look a little crazed.'

'I'm going to spoil her,' Jacob said with a deeper grin as he leaned against George's shoulder. 'Natalie, I'll be here favourite uncle. The best,' he said patting George's chest with a lazy hand.

George sniggered softly. 'Poor kid doesn't know what's coming, favourite uncle can be a little strange,' he said. And when the lifts finally came to a halt on the bottom floor, they shimmied past a fat woman as she waddled on and out into the area just before the lifts. George's arm was still tightly around Jacob as they pushed past the people entering the hospital.

Jacob looked around the people passing through the main doors and wondered how many of them could be coming in for reasons as brilliant as why he had been here today. By the looks on their faces he doubted that any of them were enjoying entering this place, most of them looked like it was such or routine or that it killed them coming in here to visit whoever it was that they came to see. He was lucky he had been here because of birth not for any other reason; he only ever wanted to come here for good reasons like Anne having more babies' never bad grounds.

'Do you still want to go out for dinner?' George asked distantly as they stepped out into the brisk wind that had been pounding at the doors, eager to burst inside.

'You didn't book anything did you?' Jacob asked. He certainly couldn't be bothered going to have some formal dinner occasion thing, or whatever they were called. He didn't want some kind of dinner date, the flat would be fine. Besides, at the flat it was only a number of steps to the bedroom.

'Didn't bother,' George said. 'Plus,' he added, 'home can be much more fun.' He said it in such a way that it sent shivers up Jacob's spine or maybe it was because George was tracing his fingers up his back in a tantalizing way. 'You're too tired. I'm pretty chuffed with the flat anyway, bedroom's close.' Jacob saw him lick his lips after he said it and he knew they both had similar ideas in mind.

'That's what I thought too,' said Jacob with a smile and just a hint of a blush. 'We can celebrate both being uncle's now,' he said happily.

'What?'

'Victoire,' Jacob said with a chuckle that George may not have realized what a momentous thing it was to be an uncle. He had such a large family it probably hadn't even crossed his mind that he'd ever be called on it do his uncle like duties as Jacob definitely would be.

'Oh, yeah,' George said. 'Nearly forgot about that wee angel child thing,' he said. 'Nah, I don't have much to do with her, just at family things. She's a cute kid, I wouldn't mind much if I had to look after because she's family. But I think that Bill and Fleur are afraid I'd give her some kind of exploding toy to play with or something along those lines. You'd be a much better uncle than I am,' he said hugging Jacob closer. 'You actually like children; I only like them when they buy things from me. Some of the little kiddies are alright, just depends on how much maintenance they require.'

'Oh, I dunno,' Jacob said quietly. 'I reckon you'd be alright, they'd like you because you're funny, and you'd always keep Victoire or any other nieces or nephews laughing.'

'I can say I've got plenty more coming, Hermione and Ginny are guaranteed to pop some mini Weasley's out, Charlie might as well – not personally, but you get what I mean.' He continued to babble on for a bit and Jacob wondered if the conversation they were having was making George a little uncomfortable, like he'd realized he should spend more time with his niece. He hadn't stopped talking yet, Jacob had to shut him up somehow, his blabbering, no matter how funny it was, was getting slightly tedious. Jacob just wanted to get back to the flat.

Shrugging away George's arm from around his shoulders, Jacob rose up on the balls of his feet and tenderly pressed his lips to George's. He grinned to the kiss at George's surprised moan and then found he had let out a quiet mewl when George pulled him extremely close and deepened the kiss. Neither man cared that they were standing under a bright lamplight on the corner of the street, with cars whizzing past while in a mad embrace. It didn't bother either of them; it seemed that all there was were each other and the sweltering kiss they were sharing. George broke the kiss by gently sucking on his bottom lip and pulling away.

'Home?' asked George breathing the words out into Jacob's ear and clutching his shoulders. Jacob agreed, with a short nod and then as a surge of people came forward to cross at the crossing, they were blocked from sight and Jacob felt that squeezing sensation as they Disapparated away.

As they left a woman had haphazardly looked up in time to avoid the two embracing men she was just about to catapult into. To her amazement, as she side stepped out of their way she found them gone, a soft pop accompanying their disappearance. She blinked thinking this to be a trick of the evening light but they were still gone like they had never been there. Biting her bottom lip, she continued on her way wondering if some sort of test had been going on there or if gays just had supernatural powers. Halfway across the busy street, she decided that if gays could vanish on the spot she wanted in on it, being a lesbian couldn't be that difficult, it obviously had its pro's. Maybe it would be fun. It could possibly be the biggest change in her life, offering everything from bonuses to a career changer perhaps. That was it, she was going to be a lesbian. She had never been that bright; rather stupid was a more appropriate way to describe her mental ability.

Review please! Takes about thiry seconds and I really appreicate it!