We're supposed to keep moving forward. Our entire lives are centered around this forward motion, but why? Is it to escape that pain that our lovers cause, or to avoid the sting of an old bite? It seems so useless to move forward into uncertainty when we could shift backwards into something we're more familiar with. Some people think of it as trust falls rather than falling forward onto your face, and I am one of those people, surely.
"People come, people go -- they'll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in your favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past." -Nicholas Sparks
She had always been ready to move on, but she really wasn't sure how until she was given a little push. She was reluctant to move forward; in fact, some might even say that she wouldn't budge at all until she was thrown head-first into the deep of it. When Noelee left Hogwarts, her world was completely different than anything she'd ever known. She was stressed and couldn't sleep; her relationship was on edge (but managed to survive because they were a team); job hunting and house searching was all she ever thought about, and just living was the last thing on her mind. Joseph was the one who suggested slowing down and smelling the roses to her: "Why can't you just enjoy the things you have and stop looking for more things to worry about?"
The two of them settled down rather quickly after that in a small flat in Paris; it was her favorite place in the world, and that's why they moved there. After all, he'd do anything she wanted him to because they were a team. Maybe that's why when kids came up in conversation, he didn't really fight the idea. He wanted what she wanted, and what she wanted was a baby. He could see that it was all she really cared about right now and everything she'd ever dreamed of. Her childhood stories and lifelong hopes wouldn't mean a thing if he didn't give in.
By the time she was twenty-five, she was pregnant. She was scared, nervous, excited and anxious all rolled into one, and with good reason: being a first-time parent wasn't going to be easy for either one of them. She stopped searching for a job and stayed at home, even as a newly pregnant woman. Maybe that's where she made her mistake.
She lost the baby at fifteen weeks, just past the "safe" mark for miscarriages. Noelee was devastated and didn't want to go on, but Joseph picked her up and carried her along until she was strong enough to stand on her feet again. With the help of her husband, her best friends Nika and Evie, and her sister Fiona, she was able to put the pieces of her broken heart back together again and continue on with life. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. She found a job and moved forward, but was never really ready to forget.
It was Joseph's idea to try again. They were twenty-seven now, both of them, and they'd been living happily and quietly for a few years now without anything happening. At first she resisted - how could he expect her not to? - but she eventually gave in, thinking that if anything, it was worth another shot. That was probably the greatest decision she'd ever made, because before she knew it, it was happening again. She was pregnant. Twins. It'd come as quite the surprise to both of them; twins didn't run on either side of the family as far as they were concerned. She was scared yet happy, and he supported her every step of the way with everything. He was even willing to get her cheeseburgers and a cup of coffee at four in the morning when she was craving it (which was often). She was a superwoman in his eyes and he was even more super in her eyes. They were a team of superheroes who, maybe, had started to worship each other like cute couples did by now. Maybe that's what being married for eight years did to you.
They were extra-cautious and took everything seriously this time around: no wine with dinner, no sleeping on your side, all of that. Noelee cried nearly every night out of pure terror that she'd lose the twins (or maybe that was just her pregnancy hormones). Luckily enough, everything went perfectly fine this time around and she delivered two beautiful, healthy babies that they named Jasper Keith and Renee Fiona. Her dreams had come true and she was really, truly happy with everything she had. Two newborns was extremely overwhelming, sure, but it was completely worth it when she looked at her baby's smile.
The kids were seven before Joseph and Noelee had their first "real" fight. They argued and screamed and fought and yelled until neither of them could take it anymore, and she walked out the door with her bags in hand. It scared her to be without him, but she could survive without someone to push her through life anymore. She lived with her sister for a year, only seeing him when she had to, to see Jasper and Renee. Visits were short and to the point, taking care of her business and only speaking when necessary. It wasn't long before they figured out that they really couldn't live without each other and she came running back to him, bags in hand and tears streaming down her face: "I love you, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." They never fought again.
Their lives went on normally and happily, the children attending Hogwarts as they both ended up with that inevitable magical gene. After a while, Noelee and Joseph considered having more kids but decided against it: they were forty now and it'd be too risky for both her and the baby. They just decided to stay the way they were, a happy family. They visited friends and family every Christmas, making sure to visit the beloved Weasleys (in fact, there was never a Christmas where Noelee wasn't at the Burrow) and they spent every summer spending time between Art and their other professor friends.
There was one year where things were different: they were fighting again, so Noelee took a break from everything and went to stay with Evolet for quite some time. She reconnected with her past love, Jullian, and at the age of 58 she finally realized that as much as she loved him, she had moved on and couldn't go back again. (He agreed, as much as he didn't want to. If she'd actually ended up divorcing Joseph like she thought she was going to, they would have been together once more - but they were a team, and she couldn't leave him like that.)
Joseph and Noelee solved their differences after a year or two and were together and peaceful in the last few years of their lives.
Noelee died peacefully in her sleep at the age of seventy-eight, of natural causes. Joseph followed a week after; his heart couldn't take being without her and he literally refused to go on without her by his side.
“They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.”
