"So tell us Artie, when's the little ankle bitter gonna be here?" Angus question curiously as he leaned back into the couch.
"It's a baby you drunken moron, not some kind of flea bitten animal." Arthur snapped back as he lifted his tea cup to his lips and took a sip. "But if you must know, it should be sometime in early October." October ninth if the Brit was to be exact.
"I can't believe this…" Mael sighed as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Here we three are girlfriendless let alone married and there's old Artie happily married with a little one on the way…"
"Unusual isn't it?" Carney added.
"Well maybe if you three had half the sense I do maybe you would also be settled down," Arthur replied. "And why do you keep calling me 'old'? I'm younger than all of you."
"Well you act like you're older than all three of us combined." Angus laughed which caused the rest of the room to burst out laughing including Alfred and Matthew.
When the laughter had died down a bit Matt chose to speak up. "Have you two thought of names yet?" The shy boy asked curiously. Arthur brought his tea cup back down from his lips; placing it with a light clink on the saucer. The happy couple exchanged brief glances.
Alfred let out a short laugh. "Wow, jeeze, we've done everything else already and yet we still don't have names picked out."
"Well I'll stay true to my choices of Charlie and Abigail." The Brit said as he poured himself another steaming cup of Earl Grey.
"But Artie," Alfred whined as he flopped down amongst the pillows of the couch. "You pick such boring traditional names…. Why not something like Trayton for a boy or, like, Lola for a girl?" he inquired curiously.
Arthur quirked one thick brow in disbelief; place his tea cup back on the coffee table with another light clink. "Trayton? I've never even heard of such a name in all my twenty seven years. Did you just blurt out the first few random syllables your brain thought of?" Sure Arthur was harsh, but Alfred was used to that by this point in time. Arthur's stubbornness was just one of those little things that made him irresistibly so cute.
"I did not! It's totally a real name; I googled it." Alfred replied in his defense.
"Oh yes, because Google is such a valid resource for information." Arthur scoffed.
"Hey, don't diss the Google; it has everything."
So for the next few minutes Alfred and Arthur squabbled back and forth about the reliability of the Google network while the rest of the crew just starred at each other, completely unsure as to whether or not they should try and break them apart or risk having their heads chopped off by and enraged Brit. But surely enough after hearing the lovely couple bicker for at least ten minutes Angus had had just about enough of it and decided to intervene.
"Oi, Artie, I know you really can't be arsed at the moment and you're kinda chopsy, but your little barney with Alfred is making the rest of us catch flies."
Arthur's mouth clamped shut and he set his blazing emerald green glare onto his older. "Oh belt up Angus or do I have to beat the seven bells out of you?"
"Cor blimey, here we go…" Mael sighed over dramatically as he flopped his head down into the palm of his hand.
"Oh don't get lairy, I could larrup you clear into next week with me hands tied behind me back." Angus challenged back.
"What a load of bullocks. I could pagger your lamb chopped arse twice as hard."
A cocky grin spread across Angus' square jaw and he quirked one deep copper brow. "Yeah, bet you could, but that's because you're a cock jockey bastard."
And then the gloves came off. Mael and Carney both just stared at Arthur and Angus with wide eyes and jaws to the floor. Alfred and Matthew exchanged brief glances with each other as the atmosphere darkened and the air seemed to lower to sub zero temperature. Alfred wasn't entirely sure what Angus and Arthur had said to each other (considering he never really brushed up on his British slang terms) but whatever it was the ginger had said to his younger brother it was something that was making the Brit boil with rage.
Arthur himself was left gaping incredulously at his older brother as the Scott's last statement rung burning in his ears. Arthur was well aware of the fact his brothers were slightly well… perturbed, by the fact that Arthur was indeed a homosexual, but never before had any of them just bluntly come out and insult him. Arthur knew his brother could be cruel with a sick sense of humor, but he had never before thought it was this bad. Just the fact that Arthur's own brother- good relationship or not- would say something so heartless.
It made Arthur's blood run hot in his veins.
"You, you-! You egotistical, self obsessed, alcoholic arse hole! How dare you bring my sexual orientation into this! For a moment back there I was starting to think that you maybe cared somewhat for your younger brother, but I guess I was obviously wrong!" Arthur practically screeched like some kind of wild caged bird. His face beat a bright shade of red and Alfred could barely make out the outline of a vein popping out from under the skin behind Arthur's bangs with his growing fury.
"Angus maybe you should take it back…" Carney spoke up quietly; suddenly completely lost of his cocky attitude.
"Yeah Angus… I think you've pushed it a little far this time…" Mael added in; also seeming to have shrunken down in ego.
"No, the little whiney brat should be knocked down a few pegs. He always acts so high and mighty; like he's better than us- than me- but I've had it!" This wasn't the same kind of joking anger the Scott had demonstrated earlier; this was actual rage.
Alfred was about to intervene when he could barely hear the sound of the door bell ringing under the sounds of Arthur and Angus screaming. Conflicted he stood up and did a little dance between going to answer the door and getting in between the brawling brothers. "Uh… uh… Mattie, Carney, Mael you go and break them up," the American instructed as he motioned one arm over to the siblings. "I gotta go get the door." Alfred then bounded off through the living room over to the front door.
"You've gotta be bloomin' joking! I'm not risking my neck getting in between that." Mael protested as Alfred left the room. Carney added in a similar protest, but Alfred just shut them all out (a skill he had acquired after several years with a nagging mother) as he went to get the door.
The American didn't bother looking through the peek hole as usual and just swung the door wide open to see who could be visiting his lovely abode at a perfectly peachy time like this. He felt a bit of déjà vu settle over him as he opened the door and found the bubbly bouncing blonde curly haired southern girl that was Mary Jo standing on the door step; a manila folder in her hands and a bright cheery smile on her face. Alfred hadn't seen the girl in a while, but her once small swell of a stomach had definitely grown a lot larger since the last time he had laid eyes on her. "Hi there Alfred." She said brightly in her oakie twanged voice. "Is Arthur home too? Sorry just drop right in, but I wanted to show ya'll-." But she was promptly cut off by the familiar crash of smashing porcelain which was followed by the screech of one particular Brit.
"You bloody mother fucker! Do you realize how long I had to scour through the antique districts of London to find that bloody tea cup! Stop breaking my things!" Arthur shouted.
"Oi! You pushed me into the coffee table first! Ge' off o' me you whiny little brat!" Angus shouted a reply.
"Knoc' it off the both of ya! Y'er giving me one hell of a headache!" Carney shouted over the other two, but he seemed to have been ignored. Mary Jo stopped talking and stared up at Alfred, quirking one gold blonde brow.
"Uh… did I come at a bad time?" She inquired a bit nervously.
Alfred merely flashed one of his signature 'a-okay' grins. "No of course not, Mary Jo!" He popped his head behind the door and practically shouted her name into the living room; using to signal to Arthur 'Cool your god damn jets.' The Brit stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Alfred like a deer caught in the head lights for a brief few seconds before he brain processed what he had said. The Brit promptly released his choke hold on Angus' neck and climbed down from where he had sprung up on the bigger man's back to make his attack more effective. Alfred turned back to their guest as Arthur fixed his ruffled hair and straightened out his wrinkled clothes, "Arthur's brothers are visiting from the U.K and they were just having a little brotherly brawl for old time's sake."Alfred flashed her another reassuring grin and hoped she would believe him.
She looked slightly confused for a few seconds, but then smiled in understanding. "Oh well then, I don't wanna get in the way of everythin'. I could come back another time…" Alfred cut her off.
"Nonsense! You came all the way here it'd be rude not to invite you in and offer you a drink." He put one hand on her shoulder and gently ushered her into the foyer. "Come in, come in, don't be shy." He smiled and laughed. In a way he was very glad she had showed up. Mary Jo was the perfect person to break up the fighting between the brothers. She would do a much better job than what Alfred, Matt, Carney, and Mael could all do combined.
When Alfred and Mary Jo had entered the living room it was if nothing had ever happened. Mattie was still sitting isolated in the corner chair while Angus, Carney, Mael, and Arthur all sat on the large sofa, leaving the love seat open for Alfred and Mary Jo. No sign of a broken tea cup in sight even though Alfred noticed it was missing from the coffee table. Arthur rose from his seat and walked over to Mary Jo and smiling warmly. "So lovely to you again Mary Jo, how have you been doing?" He asked politely.
"Great to you again too. I've been doin' really well. I actually just went to my check up this mornin' and the doctor said everythins' goin' great." She explained brightly.
"Oh that's marvelous to hear," Arthur's reply was cut short, by Angus.
"Oi Artie, are you jus' gunna stand there ignoring us or are you goin' to introduce us to the pretty little las?" He called in a very smart ass like manner. Arthur's smile twitched a little as if he was really hoping he could ignore them completely.
"Oh… ah, yes… Mary Jo these are my older brothers Carney, Mael, and…" He hesitated a moment and nearly turned his smile to a scowl. "Angus…" The bitterness in the undertones of his voice was very near painfully obvious. Each man exchanged a smile, a hand shake, and a brief word of greeting with Mary Jo before settling back down into their places on the couch.
"And then this is my younger brother Matthew." Alfred said as he motioned to where the timid little man sat isolated in his chair (He always had about the visibility standards of oxygen even when he and Alfred were little). Matthew got up from his seat and came over to shake her hand.
"It's very nice to finally meet you; Alfred has told me a lot about you." He smiled politely and gently took her hand and shook it lightly.
"It's nice to meet you too; I hope they're all good things." She laughed as she smiled warmly.
"No need to worry they're all wonderful things." Alfred assured her and the four of them laughed together while the other three sat on the couch with blank stares and disinterested gazes.
"Artie never calls us…" Mael pouted as he rested his chin deep in the palm of his hand.
"If Alfred hadn't o' called us we wouldn' have know any o' this." Carney agreed.
"Why couldn't ol' Artie love us as much as Al loves his brother?" Mael fake whimpered.
"What a disrespectful child, where did we go wrong?" Carney joined in on the act again as the duo clasped onto each other and cried fake crocodile tears.
Mary Jo still looked very confused and Arthur was slightly flushed with embarrassment, but he ignored the two as best he could. He couldn't have himself losing his temper in front of her; she didn't want to frighten the poor girl. "Just ignore them; they all have a little jet lag and are a bit loopy at the moment." He explained, dismissing the three on the couch with a wave of his hand. Mary nodded her head a bit in understanding. "You three must be simply exhausted from your long trek; why don't you all take your things upstairs to the guest rooms and rest up a bit."
"Aw but, Artie don't you want us to-." Angus began to remark back smartly, but Arthur cut the Scott off before he had a change to utter another syllable.
"No, no don't you worry about us. We understand you're all absolutely exhausted, just saunter on upstairs… and stay there." The last warning was muttered darkly matched by a pair of glaring green eyes with the intensity of two gleaming daggers.
Reluctantly the three of them headed upstairs; dragging their suitcases up the wooden steps which- at the moment- Arthur was thankful they were mostly carpet covered.
Alfred, Arthur and Mary Jo all took seats on the big couch while Mattie sat back down in his lonely little chair (he was allowed to stay considering the timid boy behaved himself, unlike three other people Arthur knew). "So what was it you wanted to show us?" Al asked curiously as he settled into his place on the couch.
"Well," Mary Jo said as she placed the manila folder down on what little lap she had left; the rest had long been taken over by the swell of her stomach. "Like I said I went to the doctor today and I had an ultrasound done. You're house was on my way back to the doctor so I thought I'd just drop by and show them to y'all real quick."
Alfred and Arthur instantly brightened. Pictures of their child, how much more excited could they be? The both scooted over a little closer to Mary Jo and even Mattie joined in moving to sit on the coffee table in front of the couch. She opened the folder a little, building the suspense for effect. "Fathers and Uncle to be, I give you the future addition to the Kirkland-Jones family." She said brightly as she opened the folded fully to reveal the scratchy black and white ultrasound photos.
Sure they were a little hard to make out- ultrasound photos always were- but definitely through the hazy surface Alfred and Arthur could make out the face of their future child. A rounded head with a small nose and puffy cheeks. Tiny hands balled up into tiny little fists held close to the small chest in the curve of the baby's body. It might've been unusual, but somehow when Arthur lifted the picture between his two fingers and examined it closely he almost felt like crying when he saw his child; tears of joy of course. "Oh Al…" He began to sigh happily, but Alfred soon burst up with joy.
"Would you look at that? The kid looks like me already I can just see it." He grinned proudly as he held one of the other photographs.
Arthur smiled lightly and chuckled. "Oh come now, love. You can't tell who the baby is going to look at just but looking at an ultrasound photo."
"Nah, you really can't," he admitted. "But I can feel it! I just have this gut feelin' that this kid is gonna look just like his awesome papa." He grinned again proudly.
"Al," Arthur began again.
"Bet you five bucks." Arthur merely looked at him with a slightly amused smile. "Two bucks?" Arthur quirked a brow. "One buck?" Arthur just smiled and shook his head.
"Alright, alright; you're on, love." Arthur took the small one dollar bet just hopping that it would calm the excited American if only a little bit.
"Look at that Mattie! That's your little nephew or niece; isn't it exciting?" Al asked excitedly as he hopped onto the coffee table next to his brother; slinging one arm around his shoulder and shoving the picture in his face.
Matthew smiled and laughed nervously as he tried to pull the photo away from being pressed against his nose so he could get a better non-blurry eyed look at it. "Yes Al, very exciting." The shy boy smiled; generally happy for his long time companion and brother.
Al continued to babble on about how excited he was looking at all the pictures closely and trying to point out aspects of the baby that might have made it look only remotely close to looking like him. Arthur and Mary Jo only smiled and laughed at Alfred's pure excitement over the matter. Mary Jo stopped laughing for a second; her smile faltering a bit as she slightly winced. She then moved one hand up to her baby bump and rubbing a soothing circle against the swell. "Are you alright?" the Brit asked in concern. Mary Jo put back on a smile and turned to face Arthur; blonde curls bouncing against the side of her face.
"Oh yeah I'm fine. The baby's just kickin' a lot and gets a bit uncomfortable sometimes." She explained as she gazed down at the swell of her stomach lovingly and continued to rub soothing circles in attempts to calm the life residing within her.
"Kicking?" Arthur echoed back. The baby was kicking… his baby was kicking. The Brit felt the urge to rest a hand on the swell next to Mary Jo's. To feel his child moving around. To feel that it actually existed and that this wasn't all some kind of crazy dream. To be pulled out of the somewhat hazy reality he had been living for the past few months.
"Yeah," She replied back brightly. "Do you wanna feel?" She asked curiously; cocking her head to one side. Arthur sputtered quite intelligently for a few seconds; not sure whether or not he should accept, but soon Mary Jo made his decision for him. "Don't be shy, I don't bite." She laughed as she snatched up the Brit's hand and placed it palm down against the spot where the baby's small feet were pounding against the side of its temporary home as if trying to let the whole world know 'I'm here!'
Arthur drew in a shaky breath that exhaled as a nervous laugh as he felt the baby kick under his hand in some sort of strange unceremonious greeting. Arthur smiled broadly at the feeling as he felt the haze of the alternate reality lifting and he began to realize that this was his child. That in the matter of a few short months he would be holding that child safely in his arms and would be a father.
The idea of it all was still a bit overwhelming yet enjoyable all the while.
"Whoa, hey, I want in on this." Alfred butted in as he hastily moved to place his hand on Mary Jo's stomach as well. When he felt the small fluttering kick off the baby under his hand he burst out into laughter; a broad grin reaching all the way from ear to ear. "That's so cool!" He exclaimed happily as he endless blue eyes shinned like stars.
Alfred was happy, so very happy. Arthur was happy, so very happy. Both of them were so very, very happy that the couple could hardly describe the endless amounts of joy they were feeling at that moment at time. To hell with that Angus had said earlier about Arthur; he was only jealous because deep down he wished he had someone who loved him as much as Alfred loved Arthur. Hell he was in his thirties and he couldn't even hold down a decent girlfriend yet here was his youngest brother happily married with a kid on the way. Yeah he was jealous so very, very jealous. So Arthur pushed Angus into the far out skirts of his mind and focused on only his husband and their future child. He focused only on his happiness.
What Arthur never did realize was the Scott who happened to be sitting higher up on the stairs contently watching the scene and smiling at the sight of his baby brother so happy. But that only made the Scott's guilt grow. He hauled himself up off the stairs and headed back into the guest room with his other brothers leaving Arthur to his own devices and warm family moments.
That night when the house was dark and quiet Arthur was finishing preparing himself for bed- happily placing a picture of the baby in a frame on his night stand- when a small white envelope slipped silently under the crack of the door. Arthur set his curious eyes on the small paper that had his name sloppily scrawled and black ink on its surface. The Brit tore the envelope open and took out the hastily folded piece of white lined paper that had been shoved into it. On its surface was a note written in one very familiar hand writing.
Artie,
I think I must be going soft… but I'm feeling… what's that emotion called… that one that most normal people feel… oh right, guilty, about what I said to you this afternoon. I didn't mean to poke fun at you because you're gay, but I guess… well I lost myself in the heat of the moment and I said some kinda mean things. So I just wanted to say I was sorry (not in public) and tell you that I'm really happy for you.
Ma would be proud.
-Angus
PS: Don't you dare tell Carney or Mael I wrote this or I'll blow your bloody brains out.
Arthur smiled to himself folded the letter back up- neatly this time- and put it into his night stand drawer. Maybe Angus wasn't so bad after all….
Oki doki artichokies! (yeah I'm so awesome *cough* lame *cough*)
So if you didn't figure it out choice number one was the winner! :D I couldn't believe that pretty much ten minutes I posted the voting note I got like 15 reviews in my inbox, man.
Well in any case choice number two will happen… just in the next chapter.
So thanks very much lovies for helping me out.
Reviews mean the world to me so please, please, PLEASE review. It really get the creative process going, kay? Thanks so much! I'm so grateful!
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