Leon, Cynthia- 19
Holly- 20
Beginning Our Future
"Leon, I have to talk to you."
"Uh, Sunshine I'm in the middle of a practice," Leon said, his Bluetooth headset on as he dribbled and shot a three-pointer.
"Now, Leon."
"Is something wrong?" He asked, catching a pass from another member of his college basketball team and waiting for her answer before he shot another basket.
"Will you please just come to your dorm room? I really really need to talk to you!" Cynthia pleaded, her voice strained and borderline panicked.
"Cyn, I can't leave my team," Leon said slowly, lining up another shot as the captain of the team gave him a funny look.
"Leon please!" She was on the border of tears now.
"We have a game tomorrow Cyn," Leon reasoned, fine-tuning his shot, "I can't miss this practice."
"I'm pregnant Leon!" Cynthia blurted and started sobbing.
Leon's amber eyes widened, his grip on the ball loosened and his shot hit a banner in one corner of the gym. "W-What?!" He yelled in shock, making the entire basketball team look at him, "I'm on my way, where are you?"
"In your dorm room," Cynthia sobbed.
"Kay, I'm coming, don't worry Sunshine!" He told her and hung up, "Uh, Sorry Trystan," he apologized quickly to his team captain, running over to his duffle bag and slinging it over one shoulder.
"Where are you going?!" Trystan yelled back, looking at him in confusion.
"Leonardo! Get your butt back here!" The coach roared.
"My fiancé needs me!" He yelled back, sprinting out of the gym and down the halls of the college building before bursting outside and racing up the street to the dorms building. 'Oh my Starclan! Cyn's pregnant!'
Leon skidded around a corner and fumbled for his key card, dropping it repeatedly, his hands shaking slightly. Finally he got the key card into the slider and the door unlocked and popped open. He pushed it open, quickly walked in before kicking it shut with his foot as he was enveloped in a tight embrace by Cynthia, her face buried in his chest, shoulders shaking as she sobbed. "It's okay," He reassured her, wrapping his arms around her back and gently stroking her hair, attempting to calm her down before figuring out the whole situation. "Shh, you're alright, it's okay…" He soothed, kissing her crown and keeping her wrapped snuggly in his arms.
"Holly's going to kill us!" Cynthia sobbed into his chest, loosely gripping fistfuls of his shirt, completely terrified at the prospect of what they were now dealing with.
"I know," Leon soothed gently, "but it's okay if she gets upset, it's not your fault." He rocked them slightly from side to side, softly murmuring anything comforting that he could think of in her ear. "We'll be okay, it's alright, it's not a bad thing, we'll get through it," He murmured and it seemed to do the trick, Cynthia's crying died to shaky breaths and the occasional hiccup within the next few minutes. He kept murmuring things in her ear, not sure if she was okay now or would start crying again.
Another few minutes passed by before Leon drew back from her slightly and put his hands on either side of her face, making her look at him. His heart squeezed a little painfully at the glittering tear tracks on her face, along with the red rimming her blue eyes, and the water glistening in her eyes. "Hey," He said softly used one thumb to wipe away the tears below her blue eyes, "it's okay," he soothed sincerely, "It's not your fault Cyn," he said as she looked away from him, looking down at the ground at her feet, His amber eyes softened, "hey, look at me Cyn, it's alright." Cynthia reluctantly looked up at him blue eyes watery and vulnerable, still not speaking. "It's my fault," He assured her, "Not yours, I urged you into it, you can blame me if you want okay?" His amber eyes searched hers, looking for her answer and getting a reading on her emotions.
"I don't blame you," Cynthia said, her voice thick and a little hard to understand, "I could've done something, anything to stop it."
"Hey, do you regret it?" He asked, keeping his voice calm despite the fear swirling in his mind and how his heart was squeezing in fear.
Cynthia took a moment to respond, "no…" She admitted quietly, keeping the rest of the sentence to herself. 'But I wanted to wait…'
Leon seemed to know what she didn't say anyway as he leaned over, resting his forehead against hers, "I know you did, and I did too, but we're too impulsive and impatient to sit there and fidget for sixteen months," he said and was treated with a small smile at the truthful but humorous statement. He smiled a little as well before kissing the tip of her nose and speaking again, "It's okay, It'll be wonderful in the end." He smiled tenderly as her, "I'm thrilled personally." He admitted softly and Cynthia's blue eyes lit up, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"I am too," Cynthia admitted as a faint blush spread across her cheeks before closing her eyes, content in their current position.
"I love you," He murmured, looking at her with a loving expression on his face.
"Mmmhmm, I love you too," Cynthia replied with a murmur as well, keeping her eyes closed while moving her arms from around his back to be looped lazily around his neck.
"You what?!" Holly yelled startled, dropping her book as she got to her feet and approached her younger brother, green eyes wide with shock and surprise, locked on her brother her friend who was sprawled on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table, seemingly comfortable in the fluffy hoodie she had stolen from Leon, blue eyes watching the sibling's confrontation with slight amusement.
"I'm sorry," Leon winced, shrinking away from his shocked older sister.
"You're sorry?! Leon! That's probably one of the most irresponsible things you've done so far!"
"Hey!" Leon fired back, feeling a little brave at the moment and he gestured to Cynthia, "It's her fault too!"
"Yes, but she's not my sibling!"
"She will be!" Leon snapped back, looking over at Cynthia with a partial pleading expression, 'Help me!" Holly's green eyes flash and he wilts, shrinking away from her again, "Sorry."
"In a few months, sure! but she isn't yet!" Holly retorted, moving to smack him before pausing and looking at Cynthia, "Can I hit him?" She huffed, taking her friend into consideration.
Cynthia shrugged and rubbed her temples, "go ahead." She looked over at them and rolled her eyes at Leon's amber eyed plead, "grow up you baby," She joked.
"I'm not a baby-" Leon complained before being cut off as Holly promptly smacked him upside the head, "Ow! Holly cut it out! I'm sorry!"
"You guys are crazy!" Holly smacked him again and Leon winced repeatedly as his sister kept berating him, calling him stupid in twenty different ways.
Cynthia decided to take pity on her fiancé and got up, striding over to the two siblings and stepping between them, facing Holly. "Holly, calm down," She said, her voice unusually firm, "you've calmed him stupid way too many times and only I can smack him that many times."
Holly's green eyes flash, "Cynthia Casi lawson," her friend winced at the sound of her full name, " what were you thinking?!"
"I wasn't."
"And why not?!"
"Because I got distracted."
"You have a brain, don't you? Why didn't you use it?!" Holly weakly shook her friend by the shoulders.
"I do have a brain and I did use it." Cynthia rolled her eyes, arms crossed over her chest, looking unimpressed. It was strange seeing Holly getting all emotional while Cynthia was calm for once.
"This is going to change everything!"
"Only for Leon and I."
"You two are the most impulsive people I've ever met!"
"Thank you for the compliment." Cynthia deadpanned and Holly deflated, looking worriedly at her friend and her brother. Leon was hiding his smile in Cynthia's black hair, his arms wrapped snugly around her waist, broad shoulders shaking slightly.
"What am I going to do with you two?" Holly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, green eyes finally calm and accepting.
"Three," Cynthia replied evenly, her blue eyes twinkling softly, "And we don't know yet, but we'll figure it out." She looked up at Leon, "Right?"
Leon nodded, "Yeah, we'll figure it out." He looked at his sister, "Will you help us, Holly?" He asked a bit timidly, not sure how she was going to react.
"Of course I'll help," Holly sighed, hugging both of them, "I couldn't leave my siblings without any help."
"Leon," His basketball game was broken by Holly calling him during half time, "You need to get to the hospital now."
"What wrong? I'm in the middle on a game-"
"Cindy's in labor Leon, so get your butt over her before I drag you here!"
"I'm coming! Sorry coach! I have to go!" Leon told his coach, running off the court.
"You owe me one!" Trystan yelled to him as he took his place, "Go to her Lion!"
"Holly, Is everything going okay?!" Leon fretted as he escaped the rowdy stadium, sprinting towards his car. "She's okay right?! Nothing is going wrong?! Is there blood?!" He asked in rapid succession.
"She's fine Leon just get over here!"
"Let me talk to her!" Leon said as he quickly unlocked his car, throwing his bag into the back and slamming the door shut before getting into the car and shutting the door, starting it up and backing out his parking space.
"Ugh! Fine! Here Cindy, he's freaking out. You're on speaker Leon."
"Holly, if you were in labor Finli would be freaking out too!" Cynthia's voice was strained and full of pain but he didn't care as long as he heard her voice.
"How're you feeling Sunshine?!" He asked worriedly as he drove towards the directed hospital, "Do you need me to stop at your apartment to get anything?!"
"I feel great concerning the migraine I had this morning," Cynthia groaned, "no, we have everything we needed from my flat, Holly has it with her."
"How bad in the pain?!" He asked, worried sick about her.
"Judging by how she is crushing my hand to powder she's feeling it," Holly complained before yelping, "ow!"
"Oh shut up!" Cynthia snapped back, "What you're feeling is nothing Holly!"
Leon would've laughed at the snappy response if he wasn't extremely worried at the time. "Cyn, answer my question please!"
"On a scale of one to ten? Probably about a seven!" Cynthia grunted, gritting her teeth.
"Ow, ow, ow ow! Loosen your grip you tigress!" Holly complained, "I want to be able to use my hand tomorrow you maniac!"
"Shut up Holly!"
"Well sorry but you're killing my hand here!"
"Holly! Stop arguing with her!" Leon demanded, "She's in a lot more pain than you!" He fumed before noticing the entrance to the parking lot he needed to go to. "I'm pulling into the parking lot right now, where are you two?"
"Waiting for you in the lobby actually, ow! Starclan above!" Holly yelped in pain again.
"I'll be right there!" Leon pulled into the parking lot, parked, and jumped out of his car, rushing into the hospital and looking for his sister and wife. He spotted Cynthia first, the blue-eyed woman was looking at Holly with annoyance, her face flushed and displaying the pain she was in. "How come you're still down here?" he asked, rushing over to them and slipping his hand into Cynthia's allowing her to grip his hand instead from Holly's thinner one, he could barely feel the pain of her grip, too focused on the task at hand.
"We were waiting for you," Cynthia panted as Leon kissed her cheek, blue eyes glittering with pain, "If we didn't you wouldn't be allowed to come with me," She grunted squeezing his and a little harder.
"How are you not flinching?!" Holly stared at her brother, rubbing her injured hand.
"Come on, let's go," Leon ignored his sister, too focused.
Leon smiled at the small infant wrapped up in a white blanket and cradled in Cynthia's tired arms, his partner did in fact look exhausted and probably wanted everyone to go away so she could get some sleep, but their parents and sisters were gushing over the baby girl Leon and Cynthia had named Lixa Leanna bramble, the name more Cynthia's idea than his own. Leon himself was sitting in an visiting chair, leaning over so his arm was wrapped around Cynthia's shoulders, looking at the baby with loving eyes. "Thank you," He murmured to Cynthia, kissing her temple, "she's wonderful."
Cynthia just gave a soft grunt and didn't speak, her blue eyes drooping mostly closed, leaning her head on his shoulder with the hope of being able to go to sleep.
Leon moved one arm to cradle the baby as Cynthia's arms slackened, as she drifted off, her energy spent. 'You're daddy's princess little Lixa,' he smiled brushing his thumb over the baby's cheek. "Thank you very much Sunshine, you're amazing," he murmured in Cynthia's ear, getting a small reaction from her, a slight smile.
Holly pushed open the front door of her brother and Cynthia's apartment, the first time she had not been busy with college and her internship. She had missed Lixa's birth, bringing Cynthia to the hospital and waiting with her for Leon, but had to leave to her internship right after so she hadn't seen the baby at all yet.
"Holly? What're you doing here?" Holly jumped to look over at the kitchen where Cynthia was, squinting slightly and looking like she had a headache.
"Figured I should come say hello when I had a chance." Holly replied, walking over to her sister in law and watching as the blue eyes woman filled up a glass of water before unscrewing a small container of ibuprofen and tipping one into her palm. "What's wrong?"
"I've had a killer migraine all evening," Cynthia replied with a shrug, "I hit my head on something wood earlier and the headache ended up waking me up." She leaned against one of the counters, "You choose to say hello at…" She glanced over at the digital clock on the stovetop, "...Midnight?" Cynthia rolled her eyes before taking the pain medication and draining the glass of water.
"Yeah… I've been really busy." Holly said sheepishly and Cynthia rolled her eyes again before putting the glass down on the counter and pushing herself away from the counter, walking down the hall.
"Well you're lucky because Lixa about to wake up." Cynthia said and sure enough a moment later Lixa started crying. She pushed Leon back so he was lying down, "I'm up," She told him and he flopped back down, dropping off to sleep a moment later while she went over to the crib in one corner and picked up the fussy infant.
"How did you know?" Holly asked in surprise, walking over to her and looking at the baby girl.
"I just do," Cynthia replied mysteriously before grinning, "you wouldn't understand." She smirked, before smiling, "Anyway, meet Lixa Leanna Bramble." She said and Lixa giggled, reaching for her mother's face, hazel eyes wide open and alert, smiling a gummy smile at her.
Holly smiled as well, "She's beautiful Cindy."
"You'll have one too Holly," Cynthia's blue eyes twinkle, "I heard about Finli's proposal last week."
Holly blushed and followed her sister in law as she strode out of the room and back into the living room, taking a seat on the couch with Lixa held snugly in her arms. "Yeah," Holly said a bit nervously, "he did."
"Don't be nervous Holly," Cynthia smiled, blue eyes shining, "There's nothing to be nervous about the wedding."
"There are plenty of things to be nervous about!" Holly exclaimed, keeping her voice down slightly.
"Really? Do tell me what they are." Cynthia said sarcastically, rolling her eyes while letting Lixa play with her fingers and put them in her mouth.
"Well-"
"I was kidding Holly," Cynthia laughed, "there's nothing to be worried about, it's your day, it's whatever and however you want it."
"Yours wasn't though."
"Yeah, because I was four months pregnant and had a stubborn case of mood swings and morning sickness that just refused to leave me alone. I let Leon handle because a, I was being lazy and didn't want to worry about it, and b, because I knew he would make sure I'd like it."
"I still don't get that, how did you manage to turn my brother into a wedding planner?" Holly said, tickling Lixa's tummy softly.
Cynthia blue eyes twinkle, "Leon and I have been planning something like that since we were kids."
"What?!" Holly stared at her in shock.
"Like everyone girl, including yourself Holly," Cynthia said, "I had a silly dream wedding designed and who to design it with than my best friend Leon? So technically we've been modifying it and adding to it as we got older and more mature. Although it was always blue and gold themed."
"It was fun designing it," Leon spoke from where he was walking along behind the couch towards them. Cynthia tilted her head to look back at him and rolled her eyes at his extremely messy golden blonde hair, but accepted the upside down greeting kiss anyway. Leon took a seat between the two of them, side hugging his sister while Cynthia just leaned against him. "I never really thought much about it until we actually got engaged," He said, looking over at Cynthia before looking at his sister. "But seriously, don't sweat it, it's not that nerve-wracking I promise."
"Dido," Cynthia said, tickling Lixa's cheeks and making the three week old infant giggle and laugh. The three of them continued to talk, the two women talking while Leon played with Cynthia's hair and played with his baby girl until Lixa started crying again, the cry a little different to her parent's ears. "Well, sorry about cutting this short," Cynthia said with a small yawn, "but I need to go feed this little monster and Leon needs to get up at four in the morning."
Holly looked at her brother, "Four in the morning?"
"Basketball practice before classes," He explained, watching Cynthia get up and leave, disappearing down the hallway.
"You're crazy."
"Why thank you."
"You're daughter's beautiful Leon," Holly smiled, "definitely a princess."
"I know," Leon said simply with a bright smile. "Thanks for being there for us Holly," He thanked her, "I couldn't have done it without your help."
"No problem Leon, you're my little brother, it's my job to help you." She leaned over and hugged him before letting him go and getting up, "I better leave, see you later Leon. bye Cindy!" She called down the hall.
"goodbye Holly!" Cynthia's reply was muffled but she didn't reply.
Leon got up as well, hugging his sister, "thank you."
"You're welcome, Leon, goodnight." Holly said before slipping out of his grip and disappearing out of the door.
Leon walked back to his room, sitting on the bed and watching Cynthia and Lixa, the former talking quietly the the baby girl, telling her a story of some sorts. 'Thank you Holly, you helped her when I could not.'
Character Emails (all are gmail accounts)
Caylee and any other side character – youngcrazyteenageauthor
Cynthia – athleticsapphiresinger
Leon – athleticgoldenboy
Bree – cheerfulcuriosity
Jay – perfectgrumpytone
Holly – emeraldintelligencequeen
Fini – gingerandwhiteteenager
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