Simon: Just got back home. ......I think something might be wrong with the baby. We're on our way to the hospital.

A New Year Dawns with @Simon Kincaid

31 December 2024

AngelFyre had been running all over the sanctuary looking for boxes of varying sizes. It was sort of like old times with Ainsley and Kendric in tow, and Hillary, of course. They had managed to scrounge around and had found 2 mostly empty boxes in the attic, 4 in the garage, and 2 more in her mother's craft room. None of the boxes had been empty, so they had to do some consolidating of items with other mostly alike items in order to snag the few they found. They had abandoned the search for boxes when Ainsley uncovered a large box of costumes they all three used to use frequently when they were younger and played at cowboys and Indians or space invaders or whatever caught their fancies at the time. Kendric reached for the big papier-mâché cobra head sitting right on top of everything and immediately put it on, making everyone giggle.

"Hey, it fits even better now. It used to be so top heavy. Remember how I kept falling over and out of the basket as AF played at snake charming me?" and then they all three really laughed. "I do remember that. I was so jealous that you always got to wear it. I secretly tried it on once and I could not even see out of its mouth let alone hold my head up. After that I remember thinking how strong you must be... you know... for a runt," and she smirked.

Ainsley was busy fishing through the box, looking for the basket and the stick they had used as the snake charming flute. She found the basket but not the "flute". None of them knew it, but Hillary had long ago made off with it as her own little treasure... long ago buried and long ago forgotten. "AF, I will kindly thank ye, lass, to not refer to meh boyfriend as a runt," she admonished. Ainsley's brogue was always more pronounced when agitated, so her "r"s were rolling as much as the hills surrounding the sanctuary. Before AF could offer up an apology, Ainsley continued. "Seems to me I recall him being first runner up for that title," and she and AngelFyre stifled more giggles as a very boisterous, but muffled, protestation came from the cobra head himself. "Yeah, well, time has changed a few things hasn't it? I'm shorter than the both of of you now, true. I'm not ashamed of it. Now toss me that basket and let's see if either one of you has the power to charm this snake after all of that abuse."

Snickers abounded from all three and Ainsley tossed the very small basket over to him just as AngelFyre suddenly began to zone in on Simon's conversation. She knew he was home. They had been communicating all morning during his trip home from visiting his father's coven, but she put much of what followed in the background once he greeted Aunt Maggie. He was home now and safe. That was what she most cared about. She had gotten pretty good at knowing he was almost always there... in her head... talking with other people, but not truly listening to what was being said. It had become almost like having a television or radio on in the background; you knew it was there, but it never insisted on being the focus of your attention.

It was the tone in his voice that stopped her short in the midst of her attic, hundreds of miles from where he was. "We're going to take good care of you, Aunt Maggie. Alright? You've got two of London's finest." His voice was soothing and calm, but she could detect the worry in it. Aunt Maggie was not due for another month. If Simon and Mark were taking her to the hospital, something had to be wrong. A minute or so later, she received a text from him verifying what she had already surmised.

Looking up from her phone, she told Ainsley and Kendric that Simon needed her. "Simon's Aunt Maggie is having some complications with the baby. We might be heading back to London. Ainz, would you mind taking Hillary for a bit? I would not ask again so soon, but Hugo is still away for the holidays, and I know she would feel more comfortable with you than his replacement right now."

"Of course I will. Please tell Simon I hope all will be well and they are in my prayers." and she hugged AngelFyre tightly. "Thank you, Ainz. And thank you both for coming over. It was fun. I will call you when I get back. We will drop Hillary off on our way. See you in a bit."

She was looking at her phone as Kendric was slowly taking off the cobra head mask. Neither she nor Ainsley had been able to see the look of anger that had been writhing across his features since the mention of Simon's name.

As it came off and he set it aside, he straightened his hair and wished her a safe trip. "See you when you get back, AF. Send Simon and his Aunt my best," he offered with a wan smile. He took Ainsley's hand and they started down the attic steps. Before his head descended out of sight completely, he stopped and turned, taking one more step back up in her direction. "Oh! And Happy New Year, AF! Maybe you and Ainz can try to charm the snake when we see you next year."

AngelFyre looked up, only a little distracted. "Yeah, sure. That would be fun! Happy New Year, Kendric," and she waved to him and watched him descend out of sight, speaking in indistinct utterances with Ainsley as they approached the door to the second floor corridor. She did not have time to reflect much on two of her best friends' relationship as she turned her full attention to her phone.

AngelFyre: I heard. It will be well. Aunt Maggie is strong and so is that baby. Prayers going out to all of you.

She had not told him she would be on her way, because she was not sure her folks would be up for another trip to London, but they surprised her. She ran upstairs to get a bag packed, and as she did so, she let Simon know her plans, but there was no need for a phone this time.

"I am on my way, love."

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Three Arrivals And One Yet to Come @Simon Kincaid

31 December 2024

She had anticipated taking the train to London, but her father, who admired Maggie Kincaid Prescott a great deal, chartered a private flight to get all three of them to London as quickly as possible. AngelFyre was relieved to be able to be by Simon's side sooner, but an increased uneasiness came along with the news of the charter as AngelFyre was reminded that the last time her father had done so was to pick her up at summer camp's end, little over a year ago, and fly her home to be by Grandma Ruth's side at her deathbed.

Looking to her father as they made their way to the airport and not to the train station, AngelFyre felt relieved and unsettled. He and her mother had lost at least two children in utero, that AngelFyre was aware of, and she tried not to worry that they might know something was devastatingly amiss here that she and Simon did not. In any event, it all just pressed upon her the desire to reach Simon as quickly as she could. She knew well the helplessness he was feeling, when worrying and praying was all he could do in these long moments that must feel like stretches of eternity. He had gotten some news from Mark not that long ago, but she knew he was waiting alone in the hospital waiting room, both scared and stoic, and trying to keep it all together.

The flight and getting to the hospital after touchdown was a little less than two hours. AngelFyre did not talk his ear off incessantly, but she did try to keep him occupied so that even her optimistic Hufflepuff's mind would not slip into places darker than was necessary. Mostly she tried to be as encouraging as possible and prayed fervently over him, Aunt Maggie, Mark, and Baby Maeve. She left room for silence, as it was comforting enough at times for him to simply know she was there, but also because she did not want to be yammering away if he felt the need to say something.

When they finally entered the waiting room, a few minutes after 8 p.m., AngelFyre found him already moving expectantly to greet them at the entrance. She knew he could have heard them coming, but she suspected his dhampir's enhanced sense of smell had a little more to do with it. She ran over to him and silently hugged him... well, silently as far as everyone else in the room was concerned. "You are not alone any longer, love," and she kissed his cheek tenderly and squeezed his hand three times before stepping aside so that her folks could greet him in embraces as well.

He relayed what Mark had told him, but that news had come nearly an hour and a half earlier. Worry was written all over him. She looked around him and noted he had nothing to drink, nothing to read, and he was not even wearing a jacket. His satchel was nowhere to be seen. His girl, as always, was nothing if not prepared. "I know you and Mark left in a hurry, so I brought some things to make the waiting a little more comfortable." She smiled encouragingly at him before reaching for her enchanted satchel. Out of it she brought a bottle of water, and handed it over to him. He cracked a bit of a smile at that and accepted it eagerly, downing it in almost one fell swoop. "I have more in my bag when you are ready, along with lemon drops," which she took out and set on the cold, metallic, lounge table before them. She did not remove them, but let him know she also had a blanket, along with one of his hoodies in her satchel if he was cold. "And yes, they both smell like me, " she added as an extra incentive.

Sure, Simon was a dhampir with a body temperature colder than the normal human being, but her boy was still capable of feeling cold. And waiting rooms were known for being cold... too cold. That was just an additional misery he did not need to have to deal with if AngelFyre could help it. "Additionally, I have a pen and a notebook here for you, a deck of cards, and a couple of your favorite books. I grabbed those from our bookshelves before we left. Oh! I know you have your phone, but was not certain if you had your earbuds with you, so I have mine if listening to your Spotify playlist will help soothe you."

She reached over and brushed the back of her hand against his cheek. Looking into his beautiful brown eyes, she said, without saying, "And if you just need me here, sitting next to you in silence, I can do that, too."

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The Year 2025, Not 1984, Is The Year Of Big Brother @Simon Kincaid

31 December 2024

Simon was always good in a crisis. It was remarkable to his girlfriend that in all of their detective work to determine why he was struggling so with his temper two years ago, what they discovered was something called an "Unsettling Aura". It was not an obvious prejudice on her part, as said girlfriend, to note that people were still drawn to him rather than put off. When together they discovered what he was dealing with, he doubled, and then quadrupled down, to get it in check. It was not an ego driven endeavor on his part. It was done because Simon Ezra Kincaid, at his core, was a people person. His heart was always for people... all people... and that is why it had come to him that his purpose was to be a Healer.

But even the best amongst us need to be supported and buoyed themselves, no matter how good they might be in a crisis situation, especially if that crisis situation hits too close to home. AngelFyre knew her fellow. She knew he had done fine on his own in that waiting room before she and her parents had arrived, but what she also knew was that he had done so much better afterwards. That point was hammered home after Mark came out and told Simon that Aunt Maggie was undergoing an emergency caesarean section because the drugs given her to slow the premature labor had resulted in a pulmonary edema. AngelFyre knew well what a pulmonary edema was, from having worked with Hugo in the sanctuary's veterinary clinic, but Simon apparently did not. Mark needed to hurry to be with Maggie, but encouraged Simon, as he left, with the words that she was in “excellent hands”.

She watched as Simon smiled eagerly and nodded at his uncle. He was the picture of a young man who believed every word being told to him, and maybe he did believe them, but AngelFyre knew him well enough to know that that smile was the strong facade Mark needed to see and believe in that moment, no matter what fears tossed and turned within Simon's own heart. As soon as Mark disappeared, Simon immediately pulled out his phone to look up “pulmonary edema”. AngelFyre remained silent, knowing she could tell him what it was, but he would need to "see" it for himself to be able to absorb what he had just been told. It was Simon’s way of processing information, and she was not going to interfere in that, especially right now.

AngelFyre quickly looked to her parents for some hopeful sign that Mark's final encouragement to Simon before leaving was more than just an attempt to shine him on in a desperate time. Her parents were definitely wearing looks of concern, but her mother hurriedly stepped over and kissed the top of her head before squeezing Simon’s shoulder. She and Iain McCubbin then retreated silently back to their seats near the Christmas tree, leaving the two alone. AngelFyre turned her focus again to Simon, only to find him still staring at the small screen. He was not scrolling. He was not blinking. He was transfixed... stuck.

Reaching out to him, she leaned over and blanketed his hands with her own, disrupting both his view of the screen and his spiraling thoughts. When he looked up at her, AngelFyre, for the first time in their lives, saw fear in Simon’s eyes. “What Mark said is true, love. Aunt Maggie IS in excellent hands... the best hands... His hands.”

He nodded in silence, a sort of shell-shocked agreement deadening the spark where his smile normally resided. There were a few moments more of silence and doubt, but then a subtle change took place and began to build as Simon made the choice to believe. He withdrew his hands from her grasp only to turn the tables and envelop hers within his. He leaned his head in towards hers, and they prayed together. Sometimes silently and sometimes not, but it was the very best use of their time in those heart clutching minutes.

She knew for certain he had been strengthened when he took her into a corner to dance and celebrate the turn of the wheel into a new year. It was the absolute last thing she had expected to be doing in the hospital’s waiting room, but it was such a Simon-like thing to do. The voices on the television sounded off the countdown to 2025, and Simon and AngelFyre got to ring in the new year together, complete with a romantic kiss and gratitude for the gift of each other, and family support, in difficult times.

Fireworks always went off whenever Simon kissed her, but this time the fireworks also existed outside of her hormonally charged nervous system, lighting up the night sky. The waiting room’s windows were not immune to rattling in their panes when the grand finale of high pitched shrieks, gunfire-like rat-a-tatt-tatt pops, and sternum-throbbing booms exploded just beyond them and the celebration beyond. He gently pulled back, and she noted the sprays of pinks reflecting in his gorgeous, cinnamon brown eyes as the room was filled with the gentle refrain of Brahms’ Lullaby. A huge smile instantaneously wiped all of his doubt and worry away, and AngelFyre could do nothing but smile back at him... equally hopeful.

Minutes later, Mark rushed in with a smile even larger than Simon’s, if that was possible, but it had to be large because it spread around the waiting room with news that Aunt Maggie and baby daughter were safe. Pictures were shared, and there was no denying that Maeve was a cutie patootie.

Assurances were made that Simon would get to be with his aunt before too long, and that made the waiting still to be done seem like easy time in comparison to all that had preceded it. When given the green light to visit Aunt Maggie, Simon and AngelFyre looked at each other in awe as the nurse told them that Maeve was officially London’s New Year baby. Memories of a visit to the nursery at St. Mungos a year ago flashed through her mind, and they both squeezed each other’s hand three times as they eagerly made their way to room 312.

When they entered, the lights were on, but dimmed. Mark was holding Maeve, but quickly handed her over to Simon. AngelFyre noted Aunt Maggie looked exhausted, but her smile was bright and strong. Her eyes were on Simon and her daughter while Simon’s eyes were fixed on Maeve. He smiled and cooed his welcome to the world against her tiny cheek, trying to drink in every aspect of her adorableness. The sight of him holding her as tenderly as he did and loving her as he already did, nearly closed off AngelFyre’s throat with the lump it brought. This was Simon now, but one day it would be Simon as a father, holding his own little one. Their little one. AngelFyre had tried to imagine it... had pictured it countless times in her mind and dreams. How could she not? It was a subject matter they had spent a fair amount of time discussing. But for the first time in her life that she could ever remember, she was so entirely happy that even happy tears did not materialize, for a few minutes anyway.

The moment that Simon told her in the fall that Aunt Maggie was going to have a baby, AngelFyre had automatically thought that her boyfriend would be an older brother and not a cousin. Simon had never really responded to her pronouncement, and she did not press him on it, but this was one of those feelings she knew she knew, and she held on tight to it. She gave him no wiggle room around it when she gave him a hand painted Christmas ornament proclaiming his Big Brother status in the year 2025. His eyes sparkled upon seeing it, but even then he made no direct comment to the familial relationship she had indicated existed.

Then it hit AngelFyre that Simon really did not fully grasp... or allow himself to hope... that such a thing could be true, because it would mean he would be seen as more than a nephew to the Aunt who had raised him for almost 13 years. He had had a mother after all. One whom he admired and loved and mythologized as many children often did of their parents, herself included. He had had a mother who had loved him well, but one whom he held no memories of himself. He was not in doubt that he was cherished by his aunt, but there was an uncertainty about his place exactly. Was he nephew? Was he much younger brother? He clearly had allowed no room for any other possibility. AngelFyre was not even certain that Simon was aware of it. She was aware, as was her boy, that the thought of being alone truly undid him. He was good at so many things, but that was not something he managed well. Hence his desire for a large... Large... family of his own. But it was so clear to her whenever she saw the way Aunt Maggie looked at him that there was no more distance between her heart and Simon’s than there was between her parents’ hearts and herself.

As Simon handed little Maeve over to Aunt Maggie and commented, with sincere awe and joy, that she was a mother now, Aunt Maggie looked at him with a tender gaze as she caressed one of his cheeks. “I’ve been a mom for quite some time now,” she gently corrected while smiling up at her first, and eldest, pride and joy. That was the moment when AngelFyre’s throat finally began to constrict and her eyes began to water. She was blinking back her tears like crazy, but even so, she could see Simon’s momentary surprise, and watched as his own eyes watered as the realization of his aunt’s words washed over him.

Clearing her throat, she leaned over to kiss Aunt Maggie’s cheek and to ooh and ahhh over the little pink bundle. “Mom and I worked on craft patterns after learning that you and Mark were expecting, and well...” her sentence faded off as she turned to her enchanted satchel, pulling out her handiwork for the baby, “she arrived a little earlier than expected, as you know,” and AngelFyre chuckled, “so I did not get a chance to wrap her gift, but to repeat what her big brother has already expressed, ‘Welcome to the world, Maeve.’” AngelFyre then struck a perfect Vanna White pose as she turned the crocheted flop ear bunny towards Aunt Maggie and Simon for a better view. On the bottom of a back paw was a little label that read: Made with love by AngelFyre

“I figured as she got older, those floppy ears would make it easy to grab with chubby little fingers, if she is ever of a mind to do so,” and AngelFyre leaned over just a bit to brush it against her cheek, knowing Maeve was really not yet able to focus on it too well. “But that is not all. I also made her a little bunny blanket, too. May she always feel the love in every stitch as it hopefully keeps her toasty warm and happy.” She spread it over Aunt Maggie's bed sheets so she could see it and then leaned down to place a kiss on the crown of Maeve’s head.

“I know we have pictures of her already, but I brought my “special” camera along,” and she smiled knowingly at the two of them. "Are you up for my taking a few snaps of the three of you? Oh, wait. Excellent! Make that the four of you,” she amended as Mark entered the room once again with the pitcher of ice. Aunt Maggie waved him over to sit next to her on the bed and Simon sat next to her on the other side.

Of course there were no complaints... only happy smiles galore. Well smiles from everyone but Maeve that is, who mostly slept through her second photo shoot ever. The photos would be developed later with the special wizarding developing solution, but there was one favorite AngelFyre had of Simon holding her. It was framed perfectly with the window to his side. Remnants of celebratory fireworks were still occasionally being shot off, and AngelFyre just happened to capture once such moment. That was nice, but the true beauty of the moment was Simon’s expression as he looked down upon her in awe-inspired wonder while Maeve looked back up at him, seemingly in wonder as well as a tiny, little smile finally upturned the corner of her lips.

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