the fates & all the stars aligned

“Hey, don’t apologise,” Hugo mused as he leaned down to press a kiss to Cassie’s cheek. His face fell a little when he saw their daughter, still crying and he reached out to take her in his arms. She calmed down a bit at the sudden movement and he hoped that it would be it but just a split second later, the crying began again. “You’re okay, darling,” Hugo cooed as he rocked the baby in his arms. “I’ve got her, Cass. Go get some sleep, I’m sure you had quite a night,” he spoke softly and adjusted Ilsa in his arms. “And don’t worry, I’ve already let coach know I won’t make it to the practice today,” he added, knowing that waking up in three hours to get there was going to be a nightmare - if he was even going to go to sleep. But that didn’t matter to him at that moment - what mattered was that his girls were doing fine.

Cassie unconsciously leaned into the kiss. When he took Ilsa, she had her mouth open to say something else, but Hugo beat her to it. “I told you not to do that,” she replied with a look, but it was halfhearted at best. “I’m okay.” Cassie sat back down on the couch and put her head on Hugo’s shoulder when he sat down beside her. She pulled the blanket over them and settled against his side, gaze falling to their daughter who was still red-faced and sniffling but, unsurprisingly, a little calmer now that she was in her father’s arms. “I think I’m past the point where I could sleep if I even wanted to.” 

Marcie waited for him to do anything. Say anything. Agree with her or tell her to fuck off, but she needed him to do something. The silence that was between them right now was aggravating and she couldn’t stand it. But when Reese finally spoke up - then perhaps silence was the best option. Though she was relieved to hear he wanted to be involved, she had no idea what he was getting at. “What and why are we doing what? What’s this exactly, Reese?” she asked, her walls going all up in defence again. “We’re broken up, Reese. What the fuck do you think we’re doing? What else do you want to do? Parent Trap this? There’s two of them - do you want me to move back to Brussels or should I fuck off to the States?” she retorted as she rolled her eyes, feeling her emotions taking the best of her already. And her raging hormones were not helping either. Marcie took a deep breath to calm herself down and looked at her ex again. “I want us to have the best and healthiest possible co-parenting relationship and this,” she picked up the folder from the coffee table and handed it to Reese again, “is the best way to set all the rules and have all our bases covered. I’m doing it whether you sign it or not, Reese. Your choice if you want to do it with me.” 

“Marcie, you aren’t hearing what I’m saying. I don’t want to Parent Trap this.” Reese took the papers she was handing them, but sat them aside again. “I want to do it with you and I’m not signing the papers,” he said again, eyes scanning over her features for a moment. Reese shook his head and ran a hand through his dark curls. “I don’t even -- “ He trailed off and let out a breath, dropping his hand as he tried to find the words. The ones that wouldn’t dig him into a bigger hole than he already was. “You know how I feel about you. How I still do.” he glanced up to find her gaze again, holding it for a moment. “So if you’re doing this, if this is what you want -- why can’t we do it actually together? Because I’ve been in a coparent situation, Marcie. And it sucks. As much as they tried, when my dad actually did, it sucked.” He paused, moving back a fraction, the expression on his face softening. “But that depends on how you feel.”

Jasper nodded upon hearing that at least Abi was doing fine. At least for now. He knew that with them barely even talking now, the girls were going to figure it all out sooner than later. Ava already had and Jasper felt his heart break every time he saw her upset over this. “Actually,” he started as he looked up at his soon-to-be ex husband. “I need to travel for a few days next week,” he spoke, not voicing that he wanted the girls to stay with him because that one was fairly obvious - Gabe was still their dad, even if they weren’t going to be married anymore. “but if you’ve got plans then my parents can take them too, not a problem…” he added, biting on his bottom lip. 

“I’m still your deputy. I know your schedule,” was his reply, the corner of his lips curving upwards a bit. “They can stay with me. You don’t have to ask me.” Gabe looked over at Jasper, his gaze meeting his. Which was dangerous and he knew it. They both did, probably. He held it for a moment longer than he should have before nodding and looking away. Pushing himself off from the counter, he said, “Just tell me when you need me to come get them.”

Admittedly his job of putting their oldest and their youngest to bed was easier than Dylan’s with their twins. So when Poppy and Sage were finally down, Emmett quietly retreated to the living room and started quietly working on a proposal for next week’s meeting. He was just about to catch Daisy as she ran towards him but Dylan beat him to it. He flashed him a grin and went back to his work as he waited for his husband to come back. “I wasn’t going to say anything,” he said with an innocent smile on his face, pouting slightly when his husband plucked the papers out of his hands but that was quickly replaced when his lips met his husband’s kiss. “And suddenly your migraine is gone too, huh?” he smirked as his hands immediately went to unbutton Dylan’s shirt. He groaned as well when his phone went off but he knew that it was just going to keep ringing. So better to answer it now and have the rest of the night go uninterrupted. “Just one second, babe,” he pressed a quick kiss to Dylan’s lips before sitting up, his hand moving up and down his husband’s thigh just to keep him in the mood, as he answered the phone, not paying attention to the caller ID. “Hello?” he spoke with a smile but it soon disappeared once he figured out who was calling. He knew that this call was going to come sooner or later but it still came as a shock to him. He had no idea how long he stayed on the phone, he barely even listened to the woman as she was explaining what happened. His best friend was gone. The mother of their children. And he wasn’t with her when she was drawing her last breath - which admittedly, he knew she planned for. She didn’t want anyone to see her like that, she didn’t want anyone to pity her. But that didn’t make him feel any less guilty about not being there. “Yes of course, we will be there soon,” he nodded and finished the call. Not saying anything for quite some time - he wasn’t sure how long.  Emmett glanced at his watch, taking a second to count the time difference. 4 am. He knew that Nari would have wanted him to wait until at least 7am with calling her parents but he knew they already had a feeling. Nevertheless, he was going to wait anyway - there were many more other phone calls he needed to make anyway. “Can you um… call your parents, ask if they can watch the kids? I think your brother’s at work and Gabe has the girls,” he spoke eventually and squeezed Dylan’s hand before pulling him into his arms. 

“Yep,” Dylan said against Emmett’s lips, reaching up to help with his shirt buttons. And then his husband moved back to actually take the call. “I’m timing you,” he replied, his hand finding the one Emmett was trailing up his thigh. Dylan was about to pull him close again, fully intent on making it the most difficult phone call Emmett would ever have to try and pay attention to, but then he literally felt his husband’s mood shift. Dylan lifted his head, brow furrowed in question, but then he saw the look on Emmett’s face and he knew. His heart was both thudding painfully in his chest and yet somehow felt like it stopped all at once when he realized what was going on. Dylan’s fingers immediately locked around Emmett’s, trying to, despite the situation, make a mental note of what Emmett was saying to the doctor on the other end of the call because he knew his husband wasn’t hearing any of it. He didn’t say anything when Emmett put his phone down. Just sat there and waited. “Of course,” he replied, when he finally spoke, Dylan’s own voice catching in his throat a little. It was Emmett who pulled Dylan into his arms, but Dylan’s arms immediately wrapped around Emmett. He pressed his lips to the side of his head, holding him there for a moment. “Whatever you need me to do,” Dylan said, softly, against his temple, running his hand soothingly down his back. He was about to say something else, but a little voice calling for him brought his attention elsewhere. Their oldest’s dark eyes had initially been on the unicorn plushie she left and was obviously looking for, but they quickly shifted to Emmett who, thankfully, had his back to her. Dylan quickly wiped his eyes before she could see and picked up the stuffed unicorn. The other kids were still a little too young, but he knew telling Poppy was going to break her heart. And Emmett’s. “Me and Daddy have to go do work stuff at the hospital,” was what he said instead as he knelt down to her level. Because it wasn’t unusual for them to leave in the middle of the night for an emergency at the hospital and Poppy was old enough to understand they had to leave sometimes. The little lie would also buy them some time to let them process this and figure out how to tell her. He handed her the unicorn and kissed the side of her head. “Go get some of Cupcake’s friends to take with you to grandpa and pop pop’s, okay?” Dylan saw their daughter’s gaze flick back to Emmett but he teasingly tugged on a stray curl and smiled, schooling his own features. He waited until she was back up the stairs to turn to his husband. He sighed and walked back over to where Emmett was sitting. “Baby, come here.” Dylan brought him back into his arms. “I’m so sorry.”

Marcie knew he was going to be there as soon as she got off the phone with Cassie. He was her twin brother after all. And as much as she wanted to put on a brave face and act like she wasn’t bothered at all by their break-up, she couldn’t. Not when she still cried herself to sleep over him and had to give herself a pep talk for the entire ride to Cassie’s place. “Oh, okay,” she nodded at Dylan’s words and walked up to the bathroom door. “You can go now, I can handle it. It’s not like you know what she’s going through and can offer any insightful advice,” Marcie spoke curtly not even looking at him. “Cass? Open up, it’s me,” she knocked on the door, her voice immediately softening when she was talking to the blonde. 

And there was the snark he’d been expecting. Given their situation, he knew it was coming and he even understood and knew why she hated him. But still. Dylan set his jaw. “I’m not here to offer insightful advice or pretend I know what she’s going through, Marcie.” He rolled his eyes and stood up, just looking at his ex. “She’s my sister. I’m not going anywhere.” Dylan walked over and knocked on the door, turning his attention to his twin for a moment. “Cass, come on. Open the door.” His gaze found Marcie’s again, soon after, and he continued, in a hushed voice. “Look. I know you’re pissed at me -- I know,” he emphasized before she could say anything else. She could yell at him later. “But for her sake, can we put a pin in it?”

It took everything in him to not just break down when he heard their daughter start to cry and ask for Gabe to stay home. It really did and he hated that they were there. But perhaps love really was not enough in some cases - the reason why they were splitting up being one of those. And Jasper couldn’t even tell anyone exactly why because that would fuck not only his husband up. “Thanks,” he nodded when Gabe found him in the kitchen. He tossed a letter from his lawyer aside before turning back to the other. “How was Abi today?” he asked since the topic of the girls seemed to be the safest option to talk about right now.

Gabe’s eyes followed the action of him tossing the letter aside, recognizing what it was. He set his jaw, his dark-eyed gaze finding his husband’s. “She was fine. I think she knows something is wrong, but she’s too young to know what.” Unlike Ava. He looked at Jasper for a moment longer before he shook his head and pushed himself off the counter. He wanted to say a lot, but he couldn’t find the words. And every time he tried to, they ended up arguing. So, instead, he settled for just saying, “I’ll come get Ava next weekend.”

; @accioavocados​

; @accioavocados​

Marcie felt like her indised were about to make appearance outside and she didn’t know whether it was the morning sickness, the stress or both of those things plotting against her at the same time. “Yeah, well. Depends on how you look at that,” she mumbled at his words and took a seat on the couch, waiting for Reese to sit down as well. He definitely was going to need to sit down for that. “Right, let’s just get to it. But I need you to let me finish before you say anything, okay?” Marcie shook her head. “Well, I’m pregnant, Reese. Twelve weeks and I thought about it for the past couple of weeks and I decided I want to keep the baby… babies,” she let out a breath, still not quite believing the latter part. “It’s twins. Anyway, I know we talked about it and we didn’t want to have any so I’m not expecting you to want to be involved in any way, shape or form. I just wanted you to know and I wanted you to find out directly from me,” Marcie finished and leaned down to grab a file from her bag. “And in case you want to get involved, here’s a draft of the custody agreement. It’s reasonable but I’d be open for some negotiation,” she added as she handed him the documents. She never thought that was how she was going to break that kind of news to anyone but that’s where they were now and she didn’t want to dwell on it too much to avoid even more heartbreak. “So,” she bit on her bottom lip. “You obviously don’t need to give me any answer now.” 

Reese could hear her talking, but nothing she was saying was actually being processed. At one point, it was almost like she was talking in slow motion, in another language. Reese didn’t really snap out of the temporary daze he’d been forced into until she pulled out the documents. Of course. Because of course she’d already taken care of that. “Marcie...” Reese took the papers from her but didn’t do anything with them other than place them on the coffee table. “I --” he sighed, running a hand through his curls as he trailed off. “Okay.” Reese leaned back against the couch cushions, finally taking in everything. “I don’t want to sign that.” He’d seen those types of papers before. He knew what it did to families, specifically to kids, having lived through it himself. And them sitting here, broken-up? That didn’t make sense to him. “I want to be involved, of course I do. But I’m not signing it.” Reese looked at her, slowly shaking his head. “What are we doing? Why are we doing this?”

Draco barely had any clue what was happening around him at this point. He thought they were prepared enough for two new additions to their family but turns out he was just wrong. Nothing could prepare you for twins - not even their toddlers who were newborns at one point too. “Here, let me take him,” he spoke softly as he took Dylan into his arms, giving his husband a bit of a rest. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” he mused as he adjusted Dylan in his arms, rocking him gently. He pressed a kiss to the top of his head, quietly humming one of the nursery rhymes. eventually, after what felt like hours – and maybe it indeed was hours – the little boy finally calmed down and fell asleep in his arms. Too scared of putting him down, Draco just kept him in his arms, walking around the room and rocking him. “How come someone so little can be so loud?” Draco let out a small groan and looked at Harry. “He takes after you.” 

Harry gave him over without protest, his sniffles just getting louder until Draco started rocking him. Unsurprisingly, that seemed to work on their daughter,  somewhat,  as well. “I have no idea how you do that but I’m not questioning it.” Harry watched him walk around the room with their now sleeping son, his gaze meeting his at the remark. “I love how I knew you were going to say that.” He snorted softly and got up, “I know we said we didn’t want to know, but Cassie weirdly looks just like your mum. Those Black genes are strong.” He looked at Draco for a second, before he leaned up and kissed him. “Never thought we’d ever get here, did you?” He gave him a teasing look as he said it, but he meant it. And not because of their brief break-up, but because of the war. There was actually a time where he really didn’t they, specifically him, could get here. Harry smiled at him, gaze drifting to their son. “He’s so cute when he’s not making noises.”

Emmett couldn’t help but let out a snort at Harry’s words. “Well, nepo baby or not, he’s the most talented healer from his batch. The hospital board would be a bunch of idiots to not want him back whenever he chooses to,” he spoke with a soft smile on his face. ‘You know, I wouldn’t say being in a relationship with your supervisor isn’t self-destructing in a way,” Emmett replied and shrugged his shoulders. “He is stubborn, though. I tried to end it at least ten times; he politely declined at least fifteen times.

Harry nodded in agreement. “He is. And I’m glad he had someone over him other than his father who recognized that. His intelligence gets lost in his last name.” He looked over at Emmett, smirking at his response. “Yeah, well. You’re probably right. Under any normal circumstances, I’d probably be pissed as hell right now. But he’s been happier than I’ve seen him. After the last few years he’s had, I’m not questioning or challenging that.” Harry fell in step with him, snorting at Dylan’s declining of ending the relationship. “Sounds about right. Once he has his mind set, there’s no changing it. It’s been fun having two of him.” Harry paused and looked up at Emmett, remembering what he said earlier. “Poppy, right? Your daughter. It makes sense now.” He smiled softly at him. “I assumed she was one of his patients.”

“See, that’s the thing - you shouldn’t be familiar with those,” Emmett sighed and shook his head. “She already hurt you once and I’m not going to let her do it again,” he added, his gaze fixed on his husband. And he really meant that - he wasn’t going to let his sister destroy his family, no matter what it took. Even if it would eventually land him in trouble. He opened his mouth to say something else but as Dylan approached him and pulled so close their faces were barely an inch apart, Emmett immediately forgot what he wanted to say. He knew that look on his husband’s face and he knew what it was going to lead to. “Darling, what are you doing?” he asked but so far didn’t make any move to pull back. 

“I was born into it, babe. Death threats weren’t really uncommon in my family.” Dylan turned around to look at his husband. “Oh, I know you aren’t,” he replied, calmly. “I know you won’t let her. Or anyone else, for that matter.” He tilted his head and looked at him for a moment. “You’ve been with me long enough. You know what I’m doing.” Dylan stated, brow raised, and, without waiting for a response, he dropped his hands from Emmett’s shirt. “Here’s the thing,” he started, teasingly mimicking Emmett’s words. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be used to death threats.” With his hands free, he slid his arms around Emmett’s neck, pulling him down to his level. “I also probably shouldn’t be as attracted to you as I am right now.”

“All I’m going to say is who the fuck is thinking about putting chrysanthemums into wedding centerpieces? They’re cemetery flowers for Merlin’s sake!” Hugo whined and plopped down on the couch next to his fiancèè, a pout still on his face. “We need a new wedding planner.”

“Not me. Because I have no idea what the hell you just said.” Cassie lazily flipped through the wedding magazine on their table and looked up at him. “We could elope, you know. That idea is still on the table.” She closed the magazine. “My father and grandmother would murder me, but at least I’d die stress free.”