i will get back up again !

"Did you—" Both Branch's and Poppy's sentences collided at the same time so he let her continue, disregarding the need to know if there was a reference to him in one of the songs. All he did was listen and move along with what she was saying. And in truth, it would've been easier to disregard any thought he had that he was somehow involved in the song making process without knowing. He sat in this now awkward sensation that required him to think of what to say about her songs. But how could he, especially when his mind was somewhere else dealing with a crisis he didn't know he'd be dealing with tonight, or ever? His shoulder raised in an uncertain shrug with his mouth slightly agape, trying to find the right words to say. "I think these songs are as special as you say they are, I can feel it and so will everyone else. These picks are some of the best I've heard from you, and I'm glad you found a place to really say what you wanted to."

Except, he still didn’t seem to get just why they were so special and important. For all she had thought she’d made it pretty obvious in at least one or two of the songs that she was singing about Branch, he either didn’t understand or didn’t want to acknowledge it - both options being equally possible to be the truth. The thought that he knew exactly what she had been trying to tell him but simply didn’t want to hear it, didn’t feel the same way, was enough for her stomach to drop. The butterflies that had been fluttering around as she’d pressed play on each song were shattered and shot, leaving her with nothing but a twisting heavy sensation in her gut. “Thank you,” she whispers out, suddenly feeling so overwhelmed that she’s unsure what to do with herself - a rare occurrence for the brunette. “That’s was all I wanted to show you, though. If you, you know, want to go back to your room now. I know I’ve dragged you through enough tonight.” It’s not at all what Poppy wants, for him to leave now, but she has no other excuses left for why he should stay - and maybe for once she actually feels like she might need a bit of space herself, to deal with and think over everything that had just happened.

In his choice to preserve his feelings, he let the question drop for now; Unsure of when, or if, he'd feel like it would ever be the right time pick it up again. "I mean, I kind of doubt my opinion matters, if the label likes it then they probably know what's best. I don't know how they figure out which ones the fans will like, I think everyone enjoys whatever you put out in general." Realizing how technical he sounded, even Branch knew there had to be a change in answer. "But they're good. I think my favorite is that Dog Days one, and there were a couple in the middle there that really sound like you put a lot of yourself into them." He nodded along, still a bit stuck in that silent gaze towards nowhere in particular ever since he'd heard some interesting lyrics. But he certainly wasn't in the terrible mood he pretended to be in after he'd heard other albums. "You're right to be proud of this album, I think it's gonna go over well with everyone."

It’s not a surprise to Poppy that the one he mentions first is Dog Days Are Over - it had been pretty clear when they were listening that he’d enjoyed that one the best, but it wasn’t one of the tracks that she had really hoped he would catch on to. “Your opinion matters way more than any of the label,” she argues, focusing on that fact first and foremost. It seemed silly that Branch couldn’t see how much she valued what he thought - even when he hated something, she wanted to know. “They only care about what’ll make money. But with these songs… It kind of was like throwing my heart onto song. Which I always try to do, yeah, but this time they were… special. And I really wanted to know what you think, specifically.” It’s about as obvious as she can get without outright just screaming that a good portion of the tracks had been about him.

~ time skip to after she’s played all the songs ~

Remaining quiet and trying not to stare too hard or watch him too much as the songs she had written about her budding feelings for him played had been a lot harder of a task than Poppy had been prepared for, but she got through it. She had purposefully sat on the opposite end of the couch from him to give as much space for Branch to process everything he was hearing. Though from the fact that he barely even glanced over at her or really reacted to any of the songs that were in her mind quite obviously about him, she wasn’t even sure if he had picked up on any of it the way she had assumed he would. And with the twelfth song finally wrapping up but no comment being made from his end, everything Poppy had been holding back just exploded out. “So yeah, that’s what I’ve got. The label likes them and they like the idea of a monthly drop. You’ll probably start getting some of the previews from work in the next month, but I wanted your opinions now. And I thought it’d be better if you listened actually with me, not just in your room or office all alone,” she starts, eyes glued to him in hopes of seeing some kind of reaction play out on his face. “Did you like them? I know you aren’t the biggest fan of my music, it’s just not your taste, I get that. But I’m really proud of these ones - they really mean a lot to me and I put a lot of my heart into them… So I hope there were at least a few that you liked…” She doesn’t say which ones in particular she hoped he enjoyed, hoping that he was able to pick up on what she meant on his own.

The hug wasn't unnatural coming from Poppy, but maybe the urgency of it was what kept him from pushing away at all. They both needed the hug, and though Branch's arm was still sore, that didn't matter because the embrace felt really good for once. He couldn't blame her for the sudden examination, he might've acted the same way, if not worse than she was. Normally, his paranoia would've caught him amping up the pressure to make sure everything was resolutely fine, maybe he was too tired to do it this time around but it certainly helped that his injury was kept to a minimum. "Poppy, Pop, let's calm down. I'm fine, I just want to go to my room if that's alright." He could tell by the accompanied trail to his room that they weren't done talking. He sighed as he sat on the corner on his bed, "I got grazed in the arm by a bullet, they stitched it up. They told me not to do any strenuous activity for a bit. You don't need to do anything for me, it'll heal up in no time. All I need from you and Ivy is some peace and quiet while I work from home for the next couple of days."

As he sits on his bed there’s only a moment of hesitation before she joins him, keeping only the smallest amount of distance between them so that she doesn’t potentially hurt him or his arm - even though she’s not even sure which one it is that got shot. It’s one of the first times she’s actually stopped to consider whether or not he actually might want her around, normally just forcing herself into every and any moment she could regardless of whether she was wanted. It’s not enough to make her actually go away, but it’s still something.

Nodding her head at his request, Poppy doesn’t hesitate to agree. “We can do that. But Branch… you don’t have to go through this alone. If you need anything else, you know that I’m here for you,” she promises, even though she also knows it’s futile. Asking for help wasn’t something he did, like ever, and she doesn’t expect this to be any exception. But that’s never stopped her from forcing her way into helping anyway. “Did you eat there? Are you allowed to eat? I don’t know what meds they might have given you, but you should probably eat, right? I can make you something.” It’s the easiest thing she can start by doing, just simply making sure Branch has the most basic level of needs satisfied - like food and water.

"It's not like that, Ivy was crying and you were sleeping. The natural response to that would be to get her to stop crying." Despite the fact that he had done the favor multiple times before, this was the first time getting caught and he didn't want it to seem like it was going to be a habit. Already Poppy was giddying over something that he didn't consider that big of a deal, it was something that anyone with basic empathy would and should do. "Is it bonding? I kind of see it more like I'm training her on how to be a good roommate in the future." He joked, trying to downplay the excitement to the scenario. "Can I ask what these supposed 'normal human emotions' I should be having are? 'Cuz I feel like I've been doing alright with the emotions I've had so far."

For all Poppy had felt maybe she was being a bit silly, skipping out on the island’s annual anniversary festival, given that Ivy was now four months old - she couldn’t be more grateful at her small lapse of paranoia keeping her away from the event. In no way had she any idea that the hunters would attack again, and on such a major scale this time, but she was thankful not to have been in the midst of it. Though, there was a growing guilt as she continued to sit at home with her daughter - knowing that both Branch and Anna were in the hospital right now. A part of her wanted nothing more than to run off and go help in any way that she could - but logically she knew she would only likely be in the way. And it wasn’t smart, taking even a four month old back into an emergency room or hospital setting, exposing her to all the germs and illnesses floating throughout the building. So she stayed put, tracking Branch’s phone location from the safety of her living room and watching each second that passed by, finally bringing him closer and closer to their home.

The moment his little pin indicated that he was outside their townhouse, Poppy was on her feet and waiting at the door. The moment it opened, without any hesitation or even a second to really think on what she was doing, the brunette launched herself at the figure standing in the doorframe. “Branch, Branch,” she breathed his name twice, arms wrapped tight around his chest despite having no clue where it was he’d even been harmed. All she had been told was that he had been injured - she couldn’t get any more information than that because she wasn’t officially family, which felt like a load of bullshit at the time but hardly mattered now that he was safe and home and in her arms. “You’re here. You’re okay.” It’s only once she makes that statement that Poppy remembers he must be hurting and holding onto him like this might not be helping him any, so she quickly lets go and backs up, her eyes scanning over his body in search of any obvious signs of damage. “Are you okay? What happened? Do you need anything? What can I do to help? Oh god, I can’t believe this actually happened. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Was Branch completely aware of what he signed up for when he agreed to live with a pregnant Poppy? No, he probably knew very little about what it meant to raise a child, let alone take care of one. Although Poppy made it clear he wasn't expected to help around for too much, he still felt the need to give an extra hand when it became clear how hectic looking after a newborn would be. The agreement the two roommates came up with was that Branch mainly looked after household chores and the baby stuff was kept to Poppy. This he could handle, it didn't interfere too much with his work schedule so taking on the extra load of domestic tasks seemed like a piece of cake. At least he didn't have to deal with stinky diapers and feeding the kid all the time.

The only real problem Branch had with having a baby in the house were the colliding sleep schedules. It seemed that every time he was dozing off to sleep, the baby could cry at an ungodly volume that not even ear plugs could do the trick. The worst was waking up to all the screaming, it was like he couldn't catch a break. But it also dawned on him that he wasn't the one bearing the brunt of the labor. This kind of realization had him calming the fussy baby in the middle of the night sometimes, letting Poppy rest easy for a bit longer. Branch tried his best to let his efforts go unnoticed, he didn't want to make a big deal of it. But on this particular evening, as he cradled Ivy back into her crib he caught the sight of Poppy hanging by the doorframe with a smile on her face to see him interacting with the baby he could complain endlessly about.

He felt caught, and although he could claim he was doing this in the name of getting the baby to shut up, Branch knew he wouldn't be able to evade Poppy's excitement for the bond he was building with her child. "I was already up, I had a cup of coffee a couple hours ago," he quietly mentioned on his way towards his roommate. He stood by as they both watched after the baby. "It's hard to get work done when she won't stop crying so I just figured I'd get her back to sleep without waiting for you to wake up."

Now there was probably a perfectly reasonable reason for why her daughter had calmed herself down, but this was the first time it had ever happened and Poppy couldn’t help the way that her brain immediately raced to worst case scenarios. Rushing out of her bed and to the nursery, it’s only when she sees the familiar figure of her housemate rocking her daughter back to sleep that she lets herself breathe again. Of all the explanations she could have possibly imagined for Ivy’s cut off cries, Branch being there to calm her down never would have crossed her mind. Yet now that she’s seen it, she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forget the sight. Though he’s interacted with Ivy before now, it had always been at Poppy’s prompting - never on his own accord. But this? This was Branch waking up and actively checking in on her daughter without anyone asking or expecting him to do so. It was such a touching gesture, and a sweet picture seeing him slowly lower the baby girl back into her crib, that a warmth filled her chest as she leaned against the doorframe and silently watched for as long as she could.

Of course he was bound to notice her eventually, and as he turned to look at her, Poppy couldn’t help the bright grin that grew on her lips. The comment about his inability to get work done might have made her feel guilty if he had said it any other time - but as it was, her joy was too strong for her to care at all that Ivy might be cutting into his personal life. “You checked up on her,” she points out, a statement they both knew to be true but meant so much more to her than it likely did for him. As Branch made his way over towards, she was quick to loop her arm through his, grip tight so that he couldn’t easily push her away, and rested her head against his shoulder. It was an easy display of affection that Poppy would have shown for anyone she cared about, but always felt extra special with him. Probably because he so rarely let anyone into his life that she liked to think her casual touches and closeness with him was a special privilege just for her. “You care for her. She’s just a little blob of a human being and you already care for her! You’re having normal human emotions, Branch! You’re making a bond with my daughter!”

"We were," he confirmed, "and we went, but I just wanted to get out of there. I kinda wanted to be here instead." Hans leaned against the island with a shrug. In truth, he'd really just wanted to spend time with her when he'd left, feeling it a much better option than listening to Anna drone on about the sanctity of love and marriage for the rest of the night. "Do you have anything to drink? Like, alcohol? Wait, shit, you were just pregnant," Hans reminded himself, though he hoped someone like a pop star would at least have a stash anyway.

Laughing softly, she shakes her head at the thought that just because she had been pregnant for the last better half of a year meant that she wouldn’t still have alcohol. “I do. What are you feeling? I still have my liquors and probably a bottle of wine or two as well, I don’t know exactly. I haven’t checked in there since well, you know,” she teases, shooting him a smile as she moves to the closed bar cart in the corner of her kitchen. “I won’t be joining you - Ivy doesn’t have a strong enough of a schedule yet for me to even begin predicting when she might need to feed - but feel free to whatever you want.”

"Well, I hope she's been letting you sleep," he said quietly as he set the food on her counter and handed her the flowers. Hans hadn't really offered to take his daughter yet to give her a break, but it seemed like Poppy wouldn't have given her up so soon, anyway, which was at least his justification for staying out of it. If his life could just be moments of popping in when he felt like it, he'd be satisfied. "Are you, uh, have you been alone all day?" It wouldn't be strange, really, for a woman who'd just given birth to be taking some time for herself, but it felt particularly unfair that someone like Poppy would have to suffer the same fate as so many other people who deserved to be single. "You could've said something, you know, I would've skipped the party, and everything, to keep you company."

With the flowers in the vase now, she set it right in the middle of the island to be on display for any and all guests to see. They really were beautiful and if it weren’t for the fact that she knew Hans was married, very recently in fact, she might have thought they actually meant something. But Poppy knew better than to get her hopes up, even if the romantic in her sometimes wished that maybe something had blossomed between them all those months back. “Branch was here before he had to head out to the party. I was supposed to go too, but it didn’t exactly seem like the best place for a newborn,” she teases, though the mention of the engagement party does bring another thought into her head. “Which speaking of, why aren’t you there? Surely Anna was invited.” It had seemed like everyone with any type of status or name for themselves on the island had been asked to attend, certainly the Arendelles would fall onto that list as well.

Something about something he'd eaten or drank had begun to fuck with Hans about halfway through the engagement party he was attending. It was strange to be there with Anna as his wife now, especially when there was another woman across town with his child in the world. He'd reluctantly been there to witness the birth of his daughter, only having caught the last hour or so of Poppy being in labor given that she'd started to have contractions while Hans and Anna were reciting their vows. He truly hadn't wanted to be there; being a father with a technically illegitimate kid was not on his agenda for himself. But, for reasons unbeknownst to him, Hans was currently feeling more strongly than ever about wanting to be with his child and her mother. Anna had completely understood when he'd told her where he was headed, framing it as wanting to give Poppy a break from handling things on her own.

Hans hadn't ever considered himself a romantic, but it was Valentine's Day, and he was feeling a particular sort of way about Poppy. So, he showed up to her house with a bouquet of flowers and dinner, hoping that it wouldn't seem too out of the ordinary for him to want to be nice to his child's mother. Hans had texted her to come to the door, hoping Ivy wasn't asleep. "Hey," he greeted as she opened, holding the bouquet in his hand and takeout bag in his hands up in offering. "The party was getting boring, and I kind of wanted to be here, with you, so, I brought you these. Am I ... can I come in? I can be quiet."

Or at least, that’s what she assumed her night was going to entail. So when a knock came on her front door, she was genuinely confused as to who would be coming to see her at a time like this, on Valentine’s Day night. Placing her daughter in the portable crib she’d set up in the living room a few days ago, Poppy made her way to the front door and couldn’t help the way her lips twisted into a small frown at the sight she saw in the peephole. While she had no clue what Hans might want from her right now, she still opened the door and though she was still confused, the bag obviously filled with food had her expression shifting quite quickly. “Yeah, come on in,” she agreed, taking a step back and opening the door a bit wider so he could enter. Closing the door after him, she offered a small smile and waved for him to follow her into the kitchen, the open floor plan allowing her to still keep an eye on the crib in the living area. “Ivy’s asleep but she should be waking up any minute - it’s been about three hours since she last ate, so it’s almost time again.” She figured that their daughter must be the reason he was here and while she wanted to question why his wife wasn’t with him on a night like tonight, she figured that was his own business.

"Yeah, no, this--it's fine," he agreed unenthusiastically, gesturing for her to take a seat on his couch ass he took one of his own. This was the last thing he wanted to do today, but he supposed it was better to rip the bandaid off now than ask for her to come back. "Sorry I haven't, y'know, been around, it's just that I really didn't know how Anna was going to react to all of this. I didn't even know if we were going to last, so I didn't want to tell her until I was sure she was the one." It was kind of true: Hans hadn't wanted to have that conversation if he didn't have to. His strategy was to avoid hard things as much as he could, and to now be as nice to Poppy as possible if he was going to have to deal with her for the next eighteen years. "Anyway, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

“Well, everything, really,” she starts, frowning ever so slightly at the way he very clearly didn’t understand just how much there still was to do before this baby arrived. It must be nice, to be the father and just get to show up whenever he wants without any real care about the serious aspects of this pregnancy. “I guess first and foremost should be how much you want to be in her life. I… I really hope we can figure that much out on our own, without needing to get anyone else involved, but I will want a legal custody contract in place, no matter what decision we come to in the end.” It seemed like the most important place to start - this was the biggest question she had anyway: just how much of a role as a father was he willing to take on? How much was he going to try to take away from her? “To be completely honest and upfront - I want primary custody. But I’m willing to work with whatever schedules you may want to create or figure out what’s going to work best for us.”

The knock he'd received on his door was one Hans had been expecting, though not waiting for. He'd been keeping track of just when his child was supposed to come into the world, to know when Poppy might finally demand an answer from him, and had made sure that he waited until after he and Anna had the papers signed to tell her about it. Poppy was to blame, of course, in Anna's eyes, but it was all just one big misunderstanding to her, too. "Good afternoon to you, too," Hans grumbled as he let her inside, rolling his eyes to himself while her back was turned. She was showing much more than she had been the last time he'd seen her, and he gestured for her to sit down. "I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you, okay? I was working on telling the girl I'm with, but she thinks I should be there in their life, so ... I guess I'll be there, and she will, too."

For a moment when Hans finally says he’ll be there, along with the redhead she assumes is the girl he’s talking about, Poppy doesn’t even have any words - just an overwhelming sense of relief and weight lifted off of her shoulder. Not even fully because she didn’t think she could handle being a solo parent, she knew she could, but at least now she finally had an answer. She could begin actually planning and figuring out just what she, and now Hans, were going to do. “Okay, okay,” she breathes out, a bright smile slowly growing on her face. “That’s perfect. That’s… that’s mostly what I wanted to know. And I’m sorry for just barging over here like this - it’s just been a bit difficult trying to navigate everything these past few months. But now that I’m here and you’ve made a decision - we should probably talk some things out, right? Or is it a bad time for any of that?”

The question of being her date caught him off guard, partially because it was so absurd of a request to ask of him. “There’s no way I’m going to that. Fun-ish for you usually means a nightmare for me.” He wasn’t a fan of attending things, his own home was where he found serenity and safety so why would he bother leaving that? “Important people around the island? I already have meetings with some of them at work, so I won’t be missing much.” Poppy wasn’t making a compelling argument here, food was the last thing that would get him to leave the house. “I have plenty to eat here, I’m stacked on canned foods that aren’t going to eat themselves.” He could think up a million reasons why he didn’t want to go, but what probably mattered most in this case, and probably why Poppy was asking him in the first place, was that she didn’t want to go alone. He could sympathize with that, not that many people could ever force him to go but on the small cases that he did have to attend things he knew having a friend or just someone you knew to talk to made things easier. “Can you really think of no one else to go with you?” He really tried hard not to let her know that he was caving in but one could hear the exhaustion in his voice from already mentally running through this conversation in his head that he’d probably end up going for her sake anyway. “I’m not saying I will go with you but if I did maybe possibly say yes, would I actually have to dress up for it?”

As he asked if there was anyone else she could take and then what he would have to wear if he did come along, Poppy knew she had won. Not that she was going to celebrate yet, no there was still a bit of convincing that needed to be done - but Branch was teetering heavily towards the side of agreeing with her. And the grin that grew on her face said that she knew it. “I don’t want to go with anyone else - I want to go with you,” she points out, shrugging as if that was obvious. It was a true statement, there wasn’t anyone else she wanted to go with, but also she knew that if she didn’t get him to come out for this dinner, he’d spend his entire holiday season alone in this room. “No! You could totally dress however you want. It’s not like black tie or anything, you’ll be fine.”