The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Brynjolf and Carissa –"Stealing Hearts"

Location: Cistern, Thieves Guild, Riften
31st of Last Seed
9:42pm
(1 month later)

"So. You're pregnant…"

"Yep, about 3 weeks, the priest thinks,"

"Can't say I'm not shocked…"

"You didn't have to. You fainted, which by the way, was not very masculine of you…"

"I'm… not sure what to make of this, Carissa. I mean, I've never-"

"Been through this? I get it, Bryn. Especially at this age… but we'll have to make this work. It's our child we're talking about,"

"I'm not even father material…"

"Will you stop it? You think I'm fit to be a mother? Of course not! I'm a thief and an assassin, for Mara's sake! But I'm with child. Our child, Bryn. Whatever it takes, we have to make this work…"

"And I'm not saying I'm not up for this, Carissa. It's all new for me. I'll have to get used to this… but that kid's my flesh and blood. Rest assured that I'm going to take even better care of you from now on,"

And I've just destroyed everything, haven't I? Carissa thought as she sat at her desk, halting the work on her ledger book. She twirled the quill in her hands, completely forgetting what she was going to write. She put the quill down in frustration and shut the book, mad at herself.

When she gave Brynjolf the suggestion that they give up their son for his safety, she immediately knew it was a bad idea. How could she take away something from Brynjolf like that? They would have been first-time parents, but now that was not going to happen.

Because her handsome red-headed Nord had just given her the green light. He thought about for a very long time, and the last thing he would want was for his only son to get hurt just by being around the Guild. With a heavy heart, he told his wife of his decision, and they make to the conclusion of giving him up to the Temple of Kynareth in Whiterun, and make no effort to ever contact him. The connection could make their son a target to all enemies of the Thieves Guild, so they had to keep this a secret the best they could. Of course, their enemies knew she was pregnant, considering all of the assassination attempts but if there was no child for them to get a hold of…

Carissa wondered if Brynjolf hated her for this decision. He did not appear to be, but the thought was poking at her. She had requested something that could easily put a strain on their marriage. He didn't agree to this with a whole heart for sure. So she questioned whether if this was enough to bring hate to their relationship.

"Sapphire, sweetie?"

"Hey, Carissa! What do you need?" Sapphire skipped over to her boss's desk with a smile.

She returned the smile. "Could you get yourself, Karliah and Vex together? Please?"

"Um, alright. What's this about?"

"I just… I just need to speak to my girls,"

9:51pm

"So… I think Brynjolf hates me,"

Karliah, Vex and Sapphire exchanged a look of confusion with each other upon their Guildmaster's opening statement. "What? Why would you say that?" Vex questioned.

"Exactly. He was almost hugging you to death this morning," Sapphire added with a little humor in her tone.

Carissa faked a laugh at her girls' innocence. She leaned against the bedframe. "I think you all forgot what I'm about to do to his only son,"

"Carissa, you and Brynjolf talked about this," Karliah said.

"I talked about it, Karliah. I was the one who dumped this on him a month ago,"

"He understood why you wanted this. He said so himself," Sapphire said. "Sure he's not doing this with all his heart, but neither are you! The both of you don't want your son to get caught in the middle of all this. Raising a child in the Ratways or anywhere is dangerous as long as you're in this line of work,"

"And dropping all of this is no point either. Your enemies might still come after you," Karliah added, her arms cross her chest.

Everything her ladies had just said, Carissa said the exact same thing to Brynjolf. It made her all the more frustrated. "Yes but…" She tried to prevent tears from forming, but she couldn't. It was as if she was tired of hiding her feelings. "I feel like… I'm denying Brynjolf of something that was meant to be his. I'm denying him of his only child. He may understand why I wanted to go this direction but… but surely he hates me for considering this in the first place? Surely some part of him simply loathes all that's happening right now?"

"Alright," Vex pushed herself off the wall and dumped herself on the bed, next to Carissa. "Let me ask you this, short stack: did Brynjolf ever say he hated you?"

"No…"

"Did he do anything to show he was upset with you?"

"No-"

"Carissa, he doesn't hate you! He completely understands!" Vex sighed heavily and decided to go another direction. "Let me tell you something: before the two of you got together, every time you went out for a job, the only thing he could ever talk about was you!"

Carissa narrowed her eyes at that. "R-really?"

"Carissa, it annoyed so much that I was ready to push him into the water!" She said. "He wouldn't shut up! It was 'Carissa this' and 'Carissa that'. He loves you, Carissa. Nothing was ever going to change that. Not even making a decision that would save your only child. You know what? Enough talk. Let's get the big Nord in here to clear things up. BRYN!"

"Shh!" Carissa reached forward and covered her mouth. "Don't call for him! I don't want him to know about this!"

Vex pulled Carissa's hand away. "That you're talking behind his back?"

Carissa pouted and sighed once again.

"Listen, Carissa," Sapphire then spoke up. "The fact that you are making this assumption about Bryn is even worse than the decision about your son. I told you: he's the most loving person you can find! You're a lucky girl! Don't ever doubt his love for you!"

Karliah then stroked Carissa's hair in a comforting manner. "You're conflicted right now, Carissa. And you're making things up in your head. Just talk to Brynjolf, be around him. And I'm sure all your worries will fly right out the window,"

"We don't have a window here, Karliah," Vex couldn't help but point out in a sarcastic manner.

"Oh, you know what I mean!"

"The point is, Carissa," Karliah turned to her. "If Brynjolf hated you, he wouldn't agree to give up the child."

2nd of Hearthfire
11:47pm

"What are you still doing awake, sabre cat?"

Carissa looked up from her hands as Brynjolf sat opposite her on their bed. "I'm not sleepy. And neither is your son,"

"Ah," He held a small sweet smile for his wife. "What you got there?" He noticed a tiny object in her hands.

"Oh this…" She held it up for him to see. It was a necklace and its locket had a craving of 'The Guild' shadowmark on it. "Just something I had Glover make a while back,"

"It's lovely," He ran a finger over the locket. "Who is it for?"

"Our son,"

Brynjolf looked at her with puzzled eyes. "Our son? What do you mean?"

"Well I was thinking and… I know we're handing him over to Danica. We agreed that we would never have any connections with them for his sake. But…" She glanced at the necklace. "But I was thinking that maybe when our son is old enough, when he can protect himself, the temple can tell him who we are and if he wants to, he can come visit us,"

"The shadowmark on the locket…"

"And we can recognize him too," She gave her own small smile. "But of course, that's only if the temple want to. I mean, by then he would have been with them for a very long time and surely they wouldn't want to… give him away…" Carissa didn't know how to continue, so she didn't.

But Brynjolf took her hand. "You mean well, love. I think it's fair. I'll speak Danica about this,"

"Thanks, handsome," She then cupped his cheeks lovingly and touched foreheads with him. Then, she gasped slightly and giggled. "He's kicking! Bryn, he's kicking!"

"Really?" Carissa quickly guided his hands to her stomach to let him feel the baby kick. And he gave a hard one. "A little eager, isn't he?" He chuckled

"Looks like it," She giggled uncontrollably. "Anytime now."

3rd of Hearthfire
6:14pm

"By the Eight, he's perfect…" Brynjolf almost squealed as cradled his newborn boy in his massive arms. If happiness wasn't filling his heart right now, he would cry. He would cry because he knew that this was going to be one of the last few times he would hold him in his arms. "Carissa? Wake up, love. Please wake up. Take a look at your son,"

Carissa had been knocked out for quite a while and this was greatly worrying Brynjolf. But all those disappeared like smoke when he saw her eyes flutter to an open. "Bryn?"

He allowed a wide smile to form on his face. "Slowly, Carissa," He said softly as she rose to sit up. Sapphire quickly aided her. "Want to say hi to your handsome son?"

Carissa could not prevent those tears of happiness from forming in her tired eyes as she took her son into her arms. "Oh my Gods, he's perfect! Hi, sweetie! Oh, Bryn," She took a quick glance at him. "He's perfect! He looks just like you!"

"I don't know, Carissa," Sapphire glanced over her shoulder with a cheeky smile. "He looks like you from this side,"

"Nonetheless, he's perfect," She said, smiling away. "You hear me, sweetie? You're perfect. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise,"

"He won't," Brynjolf caressed his tiny head. "If he's got your personality, he'll probably kill the person who tells him otherwise,"

"Oh Gods, Bryn, I'm in pain. I really can't laugh!" She said with a chuckle. She then took a moment to look at her husband and say, "I'm sorry, Bryn,"

He glanced at her. "For what, love?"

Her smile was gone. Instead, she had an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry,"

Right then, Brynjolf understood what she meant. He gave her another smile and ran a hand past her cheek. "It's not your fault, Carissa. It's fate,"

"If only we were in another time…"

Location: Temple of Kynareth, Whiterun
11th of Hearthfire
9:51pm

"We could have done this, Brynjolf. You didn't have to come,"

"I am the boy's father, lad. I have every right to come,"

"And what about Carissa?"

"I'll tell her myself," Brynjolf turned his attention to the priestess of Kynareth when she made her way to Brynjolf, Rune and Karliah. "Greetings, Danica,"

"And you, Brynjolf," Danica Pure-Spring nodded to them and spotted the green bundle in his arms. "The little one, I presume?"

"In all his handsomeness!" Rune could not help but say. He had been saving that one for a while.

Danica cracked a huge smile. "Oh, Brynjolf, he looks just like you! Well, everything's all set for the baby. We'll take over from here on,"

"And you're sure the temple doesn't mind?" He decided to ask one more time.

Danica gave him a sweet smile. "Brynjolf, I told you when you came to me a month ago, we'll be happy to take care of him. You don't want your son getting caught in between your line of work, so you have no choice but to give him up. It's a tough decision, but you're doing what you feel will protect him the best,"

"We just have no other choice, Danica. We'll still have people coming after us even if we quit the business,"

"Sadly you didn't know that before Carissa was with child,"

Brynjolf hated to admit it, but she was right. He took another glance at his son. "After we leave this place, there will be no more communications. No letters, no visits. If our enemies knew of this connection…"

"Just like we agreed on, yes,"

Brynjolf felt like he was getting punched in the heart. He looked at his sleeping son again, leaned forward and kissed him on his head. "I love you," He whispered as delicately as he could, wishing desperately that his son could know that. "If there was another time… we wouldn't be doing this. I swear." With tears in his eyes, he handed him over to Danica.

"I am so sorry, Brynjolf," Danica apologized, having witnessed that sight.

"It's all for him. I'll have to live with it. We all will…" He took a deep breath. "Take good care of him, Danica,"

"And the necklace?"

"It's around his neck," Brynjolf wanted to leave. He wanted to leave this place so badly. But something was keeping him from walking out that door. He had to go. He had to go now because if he didn't, he would go crazy. "Goodbye, Danica. Raise him well." With that, he made a bee-line for the front doors, hoping to conceal the tears he had kept hidden for so long.

A/N: Well, I've always wanted to write a story like this: a couple who had no choice but to give up their only child. Somehow, I felt Bryn would be perfect in this situation. I don't know why, but he just does.

The next chapter, I introduce a new character! Make way for her! x)

Oh and there's a fun fact: their son's birthday is 3rd of Hearthfire, which is actually Nocturnal's holy day. I decided to pick that date due to the connection to Nocturnal, and of course, Nocturnal's own connection to the Guild. But then I realized... 3rd of HEARTHFIRE = 3rd of SEPTEMBER = MY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY.
MIND BLOWN.