Ficlet
Tumblr drabble request: Modern MM. Their reaction when they learn they are expecting triplets, naturally conceived.
Quite possibly the oddest drabble request I've ever got. (Does someone have a triplet fetish? What has this got to do with DA anyway?) But I thought I'd give it a shot!
Happy Monday!
*
There was no reason why Matthew should have accompanied her. A barrister’s work is never done and it was only going to be a routine check-up. She didn’t need her husband holding her hand for that, did she?
Emerging from the surgery some time later in a daze she was forced to re-evaluate. Was this punishment for not taking him with her? And yet the whole tearful hand-clutching as seen between couples in those awful romantic comedy movies made her shy away from exposing herself to clichéd public displays of emotion. Her joys, and indeed her sorrows and fears, would remain behind closed doors, not shared with a nurse in a sterile clinic, thank you very much.
But now… she wished Matthew had been there so much. He would have reacted much better than she had. He would have opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish and stuttered something about it being impossible and she would have laughed at him and felt so comforted by him.
She got carefully into the car but resisted turning on the engine, looking instead at her iphone. Should she- No. This was not a conversation to be had over the phone. She drove home carefully; after all, it was no longer just her safety she had to consider. There were - Good lord. Unreality washed over her again.
At home, she turned on Radio 4 automatically, made herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table staring into space and not listening to any of the afternoon play. They would need a bigger house. They would need a bigger car. At least money would not be an issue but she liked the house they lived in at the moment, the house her father had helped them buy after their marriage.
When she heard the welcome sound of Matthew’s key in the lock at six thirty she hadn’t moved. He dropped the keys in the bowl by the door and came into the kitchen, dropping his bag on the floor as he did so.
“Hello, darling!”
She stood up to kiss him and clung to him a little more than usual.
“How was it?” he continued, reaching up to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
She chewed her lip as she wondered how to answer. “I think you’d better sit down,” she said eventually.
Matthew paled and grasped her hands. “Mary - my darling, is everything alright? You should have rung me. Nothing is more important - dear God, the baby, is-“
She couldn’t help it, a slightly hysterical laugh slipped out of her, causing him only to clasp her more tightly in desperation.
Mary pulled him down onto the chair next to her, shaking her head. “It’s fine. There’s nothing - wrong. Not exactly.”
“Not exactly? What’s that meant to mean? Oh God, I knew I should have come with you! But…” Now he started to frown. “If nothing’s wrong, then what’s the matter?”
Mary took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “You remember how we planned our future together and I’ve made you compromise at every stage. You wanted children earlier and I wanted to wait. You wanted at least three and I just wanted one. Do you remember?”
“Mary, some of our most spectacular rows have been on that subject. How could I ever forget? And how could I forget how little any of that mattered when we found out you were finally pregnant?” His thumb rubbed comfortingly over her knuckles. “And if this is the only child we ever have, I just feel so privileged to-“
Mary cut him off with a kiss, quick and fierce, leaving him staring at her with wide-eyed adoration.
“You wanted three children,” she said calmly as she pulled away from him, “and it seems you’ve got your wish. I’m having triplets.”
His reaction was everything she had imagined in the car. But what she hadn’t counted on was his delight.
Quite possibly the oddest drabble request I've ever got. (Does someone have a triplet fetish? What has this got to do with DA anyway?) But I thought I'd give it a shot!
Happy Monday!
*
There was no reason why Matthew should have accompanied her. A barrister’s work is never done and it was only going to be a routine check-up. She didn’t need her husband holding her hand for that, did she?
Emerging from the surgery some time later in a daze she was forced to re-evaluate. Was this punishment for not taking him with her? And yet the whole tearful hand-clutching as seen between couples in those awful romantic comedy movies made her shy away from exposing herself to clichéd public displays of emotion. Her joys, and indeed her sorrows and fears, would remain behind closed doors, not shared with a nurse in a sterile clinic, thank you very much.
But now… she wished Matthew had been there so much. He would have reacted much better than she had. He would have opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish and stuttered something about it being impossible and she would have laughed at him and felt so comforted by him.
She got carefully into the car but resisted turning on the engine, looking instead at her iphone. Should she- No. This was not a conversation to be had over the phone. She drove home carefully; after all, it was no longer just her safety she had to consider. There were - Good lord. Unreality washed over her again.
At home, she turned on Radio 4 automatically, made herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table staring into space and not listening to any of the afternoon play. They would need a bigger house. They would need a bigger car. At least money would not be an issue but she liked the house they lived in at the moment, the house her father had helped them buy after their marriage.
When she heard the welcome sound of Matthew’s key in the lock at six thirty she hadn’t moved. He dropped the keys in the bowl by the door and came into the kitchen, dropping his bag on the floor as he did so.
“Hello, darling!”
She stood up to kiss him and clung to him a little more than usual.
“How was it?” he continued, reaching up to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
She chewed her lip as she wondered how to answer. “I think you’d better sit down,” she said eventually.
Matthew paled and grasped her hands. “Mary - my darling, is everything alright? You should have rung me. Nothing is more important - dear God, the baby, is-“
She couldn’t help it, a slightly hysterical laugh slipped out of her, causing him only to clasp her more tightly in desperation.
Mary pulled him down onto the chair next to her, shaking her head. “It’s fine. There’s nothing - wrong. Not exactly.”
“Not exactly? What’s that meant to mean? Oh God, I knew I should have come with you! But…” Now he started to frown. “If nothing’s wrong, then what’s the matter?”
Mary took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “You remember how we planned our future together and I’ve made you compromise at every stage. You wanted children earlier and I wanted to wait. You wanted at least three and I just wanted one. Do you remember?”
“Mary, some of our most spectacular rows have been on that subject. How could I ever forget? And how could I forget how little any of that mattered when we found out you were finally pregnant?” His thumb rubbed comfortingly over her knuckles. “And if this is the only child we ever have, I just feel so privileged to-“
Mary cut him off with a kiss, quick and fierce, leaving him staring at her with wide-eyed adoration.
“You wanted three children,” she said calmly as she pulled away from him, “and it seems you’ve got your wish. I’m having triplets.”
His reaction was everything she had imagined in the car. But what she hadn’t counted on was his delight.