Guest Reviews

peacockgirl: Thank you so much!

Title: Someday, Maybe
Summary: So, it wasn't what she thought.
Note: Prompt from anon on Tumblr: "Emma on her period." Pre-married, post-living together. Just getting my muse back into the groove.

She looked down at the package and sighed. The blues and purples seemed mocking now, taunting her as the cardboard remained sealed and the item unused. Her face twisted and she opened the medicine cabinet, pulling the tampons down instead and counting them.

Silly. This was all so silly.

The shower stopped and Graham reached around the shower curtain to the towel on the rack. He paused, startled, when he saw her there. "Em, didn't know you were waiting. Get in now, while the water's warmed up," he said, and scooped her close to his wet body.

She squawked out in displeasure, then a laugh pulled from her just as easily. "You oaf! I wasn't going to get in there so soon."

He grinned and buried his face in her neck, curling his arms around her waist tight. "See, I'm just helping you not to procrastinate," he teased, then bit into her skin just enough to indent. "It's a service."

"Mm, sure," she said as her eyes fluttered. She tilted her head back and kissed him. "My detective keeping up with the community service."

"If it's to—what's that?"

Her eyes snapped open. "What?"

He let go of her and stepped to the sink. "Is that a pregnancy test?"

"Oh," she said and shook her head. She played with the hem of her shirt and then pulled the damp cloth over her head. "Yeah, but no. I thought maybe … I just started my period, though. I was only a day or so late."

He blinked and picked up the test. "You thought?" he repeated.

She felt her face warm and she grabbed the package from him and tossed it in the trash. "I don't know what I was thinking," she said, and wished it hadn't come out so bitter.

He sat down on the lid of the toilet, his eyes a little unfocused. "Oh."

She crossed her arms and shrugged one shoulder. She pulled down her pajama bottoms and kicked them towards the hamper, keeping her eyes off him conspicuously. She turned on the water again and bit down on her lip before chancing a glance back to him. "It would have been too soon for any of that, anyway," she said.

He raised his eyes to her. There was a big hit of seriousness in the depths of the blues before he visibly pulled himself back. "Right. No, exactly. Too soon," he agreed, and then rubbed the back of his neck.

"We haven't always been careful, though," she said cautiously, and reached to test the temperature. The scalding spray covered her palm, raining across her skin. She adjusted the knob, then fiddled with it a moment longer. "So I thought it could, you know, be possible."

He swallowed and rose, pulling her back against him. She took care to count the beats of his heart against her until he spoke. "Or she was right," he said softly.

"We don't know that," she countered.

"It's a possibility we need to consider, though," he said hesitantly. "That I can't give you that."

She splayed her hands across his on her stomach, just over the line of her panties. "It's considered," she murmured. "But it's also way too early to have this conversation, isn't it?"

"I don't know about that," he hedged.

Despite herself, she smiled, then hid it away as fast as she could manage. Her heart fluttered, quiet anticipation, the same flicker of hope when she noticed her calendar. "Someday. When we get there, then we can discuss it and find out for sure, okay?"

He helped ease the last of her clothing off, hands lingering in places they had no time for this morning. He buried his face in her neck, lips against her pulse. "You'd, maybe … someday, you might want that with me?" he asked haltingly.

She felt some of her timidness around the subject ease, the hope and worry in his voice soothing those areas of uncertainty. "Yeah … I think I would," she said softly. "Someday."

He bit down on her skin, gently scrapping with teeth and she sighed pleasantly. "I think I would, too," he admitted, then placed an open kiss to her jaw. "So, maybe we need to practice."

She grinned and swatted at him. "Not now. You know the rule. Not the first day." She stepped into the shower instead, pulling the curtain taut behind her.

"You know I don't mind," he called from the outside.

"I do!" she countered, and let the water run over her hair. "I feel gross enough."

"I think I read an article about it easing cramps," he argued, and she pulled back the curtain to find his mischievous grin. "Something to consider."

She shook her head, but couldn't help the grin that overtook her face. His eyes were so wide and innocent-looking sometimes, puppy-dog pleading. So despite herself, she leaned in and pecked at his lips. "No," she said curtly. "Besides, we've tried the shower before and you know it's no good. How about you make me a damn hot chocolate instead?"

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Fine. I guess I could get the kid up and ready, too."

She let out a soft laugh, the domesticity of it all bringing her back to what she thought might be in store for them. "Yeah, try that practice instead," she shot back.

He tossed a grin. "That's one I can do," he agreed, and left as the steam filled the room. "Breakfast in ten!"

She leaned against the tile, just knowing how dopey her smile must be. He wanted it, too, someday. Their family right now was pretty fantastic, but knowing that they both were amenable to letting it grow was pretty awe-inspiring.

She shook her head and started to scrub her hair, as if it could wash the idea out of her head. Someday would come when it was ready, when they were ready.

So why did that nagging little feeling inside her make her feel like it wasn't too soon at all?