WISHLISTS: The Men in Her Life (Rose/Teddy)
Author: lauryne78
Recipient: hondagirll
Title: The Men in Her Life
Pairing: Rose/Teddy (with a whisper of another surprise pairing - I purposely did not list this pairing in the tags)
Request: you know me, you know my secrets
Rating: PG - 13
Word Count: 1,310
Summary: Rose has a problem, and the solution comes from an unexpected source.
Author's Notes: This was my first time attempting a pairing other than Ron/Hermione or George/Luna...and I really hope it came out okay. I just couldn't resist...as soon as I read the pairing and that prompt, this scenario popped into my head and wouldn't leave. Enjoy!!
Fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllllppp…
Fllt…fllt…fllt…fllllllt…fllt…fllt…fllllppp…
Fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllt…fllllllt…fllllppp…
Rose heaved a sigh and bent down to scrabble about in the dusty grass near her feet. She’d run out of stones to skip, yet she wasn’t quite ready to return to the party going on in the Burrow’s backyard and so she was looking for a reason to linger by the pond a bit longer. Finding that she’d seemingly exhausted the supply of skippable stones in her immediate vicinity, she sighed again and moved to sit on the small dock that extended into the pond, dangling her bare feet into the cool water and kicking them aimlessly back and forth.
She had a big problem, and she really needed time on her own to think, but even though she’d gotten a rare moment to herself without a family member poking their oh-so-lovingly prying nose into her business, she couldn’t seem to make herself focus. It was as if she were fighting her own brain and she hated that feeling. Giving one more world-weary sigh, she flopped down on her back and gazed upwards at the canopy of leaves as they danced merrily in the breeze.
Lost in her meandering thoughts, she was jerked back to the present moment by a long shadow falling across her sprawled form. She startled slightly and tilted her head further back only to see the upside down face of her cousin looking back at her, his green eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Having a bit of a sulk, Rosie?” Al asked as he kicked off his own shoes and socks and walked out on the dock.
“Hmph.” She sat up slowly as he lowered himself beside her and kicked his feet into the water. “Maybe.”
“C’mon,” Al said, nudging her shoulder with his own, “I know you…and I know when something’s bothering you.”
She looked down into the water and tried to think of where to begin, but couldn’t pick one thing out of the mess in her head and so she stayed silent.
“Hey, now you’re starting to worry me Rose,” Al reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You know me, you know all my secrets…and you know you can tell me any of yours. What’s wrong?”
“Oh, Al, I don’t know where to start,” she moaned as she slumped into his loose embrace and put her head on his shoulder.
“Well, how about starting with telling me why you disappeared from your favorite cousin’s birthday party, huh?” He gave her a gentle squeeze, and she cracked a half-hearted smile. “And telling me why your bloody fiancé hasn’t even bothered to show his oh-so-changeable face?”
The smile slipped right off her face at his mention of Teddy, and Al must have seen her frown. His arm dropped from her shoulders and he put a little space between them, grasping her chin and tilting her face up to his. “Rose? You and Teddy didn’t have a fight, did you?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was time to come clean; if she couldn’t tell Al, she couldn’t tell anyone. Opening her eyes, Rose shook her head, dislodging Al’s grip on her chin. “No, we didn’t fight. Al, we-”
“Then where is he?” Al interrupted, sounding confused.
“He had an overnight surveillance mission last night…I’m sorry, I was supposed to tell you when I got here that he knew he might be late today. I just got distracted…Grandma Molly started talking with me about the wedding, then everyone started arriving and…” she shrugged apologetically and trailed off.
“Oh. But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing out here looking mopier than when we were little and Louis accidentally set fire to your copy of Hogwarts, A History with his Wildfire Whizbangs.”
Rose pulled her feet out of the pond and jumped up, pacing nervously on the rickety dock and leaving a trail of wet footprints behind her on the weathered wood. “Al…Teddy and I eloped,” she blurted out, wringing her hands.
“Well that’s…wait, what?!”
She continued pacing, babbling at full speed now. “It was just all getting to be too much…every time we turned around, Mum or Grandma Molly or Andromeda would be wanting to talk about wedding planning and it was all getting so out of control that it started to feel like the day wasn’t going to be ours anymore…and he’s been away on so many Auror missions and I’m about to start my advanced Charms apprenticeship. We went away and did it last weekend because we just didn’t want to wait anymore. But I’m…I’m afraid that everyone’s going to be so disappointed. We were going to tell everyone sometime today after he gets here, but what if they never forgive us-”
“Rosie!” Al had jumped up on the dock with her and reached out, grabbing her arms and putting a halt to her frantic pacing. “Calm down. They are not going to be upset.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes at him, “Al, have you met our family?”
“Okay, okay…they may be a little put out at first, but they love you and they love Teddy. And they know how much you love each other. They won’t stay upset. Trust me. It’ll be fine.”
Rose stepped forward and threw her arms around Al’s waist, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Al. You always have known how to make me feel better.”
“No problem,” he hugged her back and ruffled her hair in a way that usually irritated her but today pleasantly reminded her of when they were kids. “And I think I may be able to help you out a bit when you actually tell them.”
“Oh? How?” she said curiously as they gathered their shoes and socks and began heading back up the path towards the Burrow.
“Just wait and see.”
~*~
Later that evening, Rose and Teddy Apparated back to the small flat they shared in Diagon Alley, collapsing as one on the comfortably worn sofa that faced their fireplace.
“Well,” Teddy said, sounding dazed, “that was, um…”
Rose giggled. “Yes, it was, wasn’t it? I rather thought our news went over better than we could have hoped.”
Teddy turned and looked down at her, his brown eyes wide and his spiky hair its signature turquoise. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk as he spoke. “Yes, well, when Al’s news was so, um, memorable, an elopement doesn’t seem like such a big deal I suppose.” He took her left hand in his, running his thumb over the pair of antique rings there before speaking thoughtfully. “Did you know?”
“About him and Scorpius?” she snuggled into Teddy’s side and curled her feet up underneath her. “Um, yes…but I didn’t know that he was going to tell everyone today. He’d hinted something about helping us out with our announcement…I suppose I should’ve guessed, but I didn’t.”
Teddy laughed, “I can guarantee that no one in the family is going to forget Al’s twenty-first birthday. Ever.”
“Mm….” she answered absently, glancing up at her husband with a grin.
Her husband.
All at once it hit her. They were really married. And they didn’t have to hide it from anyone anymore. A rush of emotions nearly overwhelmed her, and she jumped up from the sofa, tugging on Teddy’s hand.
“Rose?”
“C’mon,” she said, pulling him up to standing. “I’d like to celebrate my first official and openly declared night of being Mrs. Lupin, and we can’t do that down here.”
“Oh no?” he murmured, his hair darkening to a deep navy as his lips descended on her neck, “I think I might just have to prove you wrong about that.”
As they lay down on the hearthrug, and Rose felt Teddy’s warm weight settle over her, she thought to herself that today would be unforgettable for many, many reasons indeed.
~*Fin*~