Joining, once more, as one.

They had last parted together. They’d left each other’s presence, both as emotionally attached to one was to the other and vice versa. Chase was pregnant. Elijah hadn’t intended on landing her in such a position and he doubted she’d intended to let him but here they were, with this child that was growing within Chase. It was still growing now even as he sat in the Room of Requirement staring into the fire that the room had produced. It was growing, learning and surviving inside its mother.

It was a wondrous thing really and as Elijah sat there he realised how lucky he was to be experiencing this. Of course he probably hadn’t been thinking that so long ago but now he couldn’t wait. The idea of this little tiny life force being inside Chase...something he’d helped create...it was mind boggling for Elijah. It was truly a terrific, euphoric feeling and Elijah couldn’t get enough of it. He had gotten to the stage where he was immensely pleased with himself. It had been a big leap from the scatterbrained, panicking teen earlier in the week. But it made sense now. He’d accepted what he’d done – gotten over it – and was now looking forward to the months ahead.

Elijah had his guitar on his lap. He’d been writing again but for the most part he’d just been playing melodies as he waited. Currently he was playing the tune he usually played when he had no ideas. It was a soft, melodic sound that he loved to listen to. He tipped his head back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes as his fingers continued to pluck at the strings. He had no idea what to play but it was to kill time and that it was doing.

Chase walked down the corridor. They needed to talk, and now it was time to do that. She smiled slightly as she walked down the hall. Signs of her pregnancy hadn't started yet, and only those who were either animagi, or were werewolves could tell. Or just observant people. Because apparently some people could tell just by the way she walked, so now a days she tried to keep her back straight, her head up and her arms at her sides. But still, some people asked if she was feeling okay if she was sitting down, slightly hunched, her arms around her midsection. She came to the end of the corridor and froze. She had been standing here, in this exact place, right before they had done the deed that had gotten her into all of this trouble.

She slowly walked down the hall, dressed in a rather stretchy skirt, and a yellow tank top. She had thrown on her robes over it, so she wouldn't be cold, and had a yellow flower pinned into her red hair. Stopping in front of the door, she slowly opened it, and peeked in. A sofa was sitting in front of a fire, and that was about it, except that wasn't what got her attention first, it was the beautiful melody coming from the guitar, being played by the one person she wanted to see most. "Hey." she said softly, closing the door behind her and standing there, staring at Elijah. She blushed and then moved forward, sitting next to him on the couch. "How are you?" She asked softly, her eyes focusing on the fire, listening to it crackle in the hearth, almost afraid to look at Elijah.

Elijah was at peace. It was a brilliant feeling. Of course the stress was still peering over his shoulder but he was sorting his problems out. He had plans and plans to back up those plans and plans to back up those. He knew what he was doing for the most part but today he just wanted to sort things out with Chase and maybe spend some time with her. If he really thought carefully and acted a particular way, edging closer towards the boundary that separated his human form and his animal one, then he could tell she was pregnant. But he already knew, so it didn’t matter.

Elijah opened his eyes and lifted his head up when he heard the door open. He looked at Chase and smiled softly. He followed her as she made her way over to him and he ended the melody before setting his guitar on the floor. He looked at Chase and couldn’t help but smile again. She just made him smile. Perhaps it was the fact that she was carrying his child or maybe it was because she was just here with him. He didn’t care either way but she made him smile.

He raised his hands and cupped her face within them. He looked at her intently, taking every inch of her face in before leaning in and capturing her lips with his own. He moved closer to her and dropped his hands from her face. He rubbed them up and down her arms, giving her some added warmth, and then slowly he broke the kiss. Elijah smiled yet again and pushed a piece of hair out of Chase’s eyes. “Perfect now.” He breathed. “And how are you both?” He asked playfully, glancing down at her abdomen before meeting her gaze once more.

Chase was sort of surprised at the tenderness with which he looked at her. She smiled at him and then felt his hand on her face, pulling her into a kiss. She melted against him, moving a bit closer to him, and smiling into the kiss. She looked at him carefully as he let go of her face, and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "We're good.." she said with a smile. "I went and saw Khaat, and she put me on a special diet that will keep me with as much nutrients as the baby will need right now.. so that it's growing at the perfect rate." She smiled at him and moved closer, curling up against him and staring into the fire.

Any bad feeling she had had, was wiped away when he had looked at her and smiled. It was like.. it was like he couldn't help but smile and it made her smile in return. She curled up against him and found herself snuggling into the crook of his arm, finding his body heat and clinging to it. "It's been a stressful week.." She said softly. "When I went to St. Mungos.. she did a test, and I was almost certain it was going to come back and say I wasn't pregnant at all! I opened my eyes.. and saw a green so bright... there was no way I wasn't.." She said shaking her head.

"But Elijah.. we.. we need to talk some things out." She said slowly sitting up and her eyes found his, staring into them. "First off... I want to know your plans, what are you thinking right now Elijah? I want to know.. I want to know more about you! I want to know who the father of my baby is.." She said softly, and leaned towards him, an intense look in her eyes. She smiled slightly and reached out, brushing a strand of hair from his eyes, and slowly letting her hand trace down his cheek, to his jaw bone, feeling the curve of his face, and smiling. This was what she had gotten, this was Elijah, and he was perfect.

She’s seen Khaat...that was brilliant. Elijah did wonder why she didn’t ask him to go with her but he let it go. Perhaps it was something she needed to do for herself; confirmation almost. Elijah had accepted the fact that he was going to have a child with her. He realised that she had doubts and probably hoped that it wasn’t true, that was natural. He didn’t doubt that the green was a shock. An expected one but a shock none the less. He was just glad everything was okay and progressing smoothly.

He was going to play this blind. He didn’t want to know about anything. He didn’t need to know statistics or random bits of information. He wanted to learn on his own and he knew enough to start off alright. He knew what he was doing for the most part. But this would be a learning curve for the both of them. Elijah had never experienced a really young child and Chase hadn’t dealt with baby’s period as far as he knew. There would probably enough comedy moments to last a lifetime. Elijah was looking forward to it.

He paused his mental narration of everything that he’d been thinking about and looked at Chase. “Um...I’m just sort of sympathising and understanding I guess.” He said with a shrug. He couldn’t really describe what he was thinking about. His thoughts were usually jumbled anyway. His eyebrows shot to his hairline and he bit the inside of his lip, watching her hand as she ghosted it over his skin. “I...um...okay.” He didn’t really know what else to say. She’d caught him completely off guard. “Where should I start?” He asked.

Chase felt his uncertainty and moved back. She brought her hand to her chest, and then looked into the fire for a long moment. She wasn't quite sure what to do. She was so used to the, lets forget everything about ourselves and just go, and now.. now she had to actually accept that she would be with this guy, and she wanted to learn everything there was about him. But she didn't know where to start. She pulled her knees to her chest, and kept facing the fire, her hair falling into her face on his side so that he couldn't see her eyes at that moment.

"I'm sorry.." She said slowly. "I'm not used to all of this.." She slowly looked over at him, her hair shining in the firelight, her eyes twinkling oddly. She put her hands on the couch beside her and carefully pushed herself into a straight position, her knees still to her chest, she looked at him carefully, studying his face. She brought her hand to her mouth and watched him for a moment, completely caught off guard. He looked absolutely handsome, and she felt a smile slide across her face, unable to help it. She slowly looked down at her stomach and smiled slightly. "It really is a great thing isn't it?" She said softly, her eyes still turned downwards. "That women... can make people, who will one day be like us.. fully grown..." She looked up at him again and smiled.

"I've been so afraid this last week.. that you would leave me, and I would be by myself to take care of it, and find out what I need to know.." She bit her lower lip and looked away. "So much has happened since.. well since the beginning of my sixth year, and there is so much we don't know about each other.." She said and looked back up at him. "And I want to know more about you... I want to know.... what your favorite color is, where you like to eat when you go out... what's your favorite food?" She felt a small giggle escape her lips. "Paper or plastic.. you know?" She looked up at him. "Something most people learn from dating or being around each other... I want to know, so that when the baby comes into this world... we can look like the people who had it all planned out.." She smiled slightly and shook her head, looking back at the fire.

"So... Just... I guess I want you to tell me everything... what it was like at durmstrang... why you left, how you got into painting.." She bit her lip. "You can leave things out, I don't mind.. We don't have to say everything today, we have nine months to learn about each other more, but.. I'd like to know about YOU today." she said and her eyes sought out his to see what he felt like, so see what he was thinking. Suddenly she smiled and looked at him. "What are you thinking Elijah?" She asked slowly, seeing a slightly glazed look in his eyes.

They were irrevocably tied and now she wanted to learn about him. It was a strange thing for Elijah to experience. Most people automatically assumed he was everything he was on the surface: a sex-crazed artist. They weren’t wrong but there was a hell of a lot more to him than that. He loved his art yes and sex was something he could have easily lived on but did they wonder why? Did they realise that it was because of the misplacement of love in his childhood he was the way he was in regards to intimacy? No, they probably didn’t. They no doubt believed it to be the exposure he had to French culture. Those two were indeed hand in hand.

He moved closer to Chase. He didn’t want to put physical distance between them because physical distance meant that emotionally they could be distance themselves also. They needed to be on the same level. They needed to know each other as well as they knew themselves. Chase was right but he did wonder why he had to start. His history was long drawn out and filled with so much heartache that it was impossible for even him to sift through and understand it all. Most of it he never wanted to relive again, even if it was just him talking about it.

She’d know about Alice; about Mira. Elijah didn’t know whether that would be a breath of fresh air for him or not. Alice was his shadow and Mira was his possible future. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want any of it but he was terrified of the idea that he could one day forget Alice. His nightmares were the only way he could remember her. They were horrific, scarring and he hated reliving them every night but it was the only connection to her he had left. He couldn’t draw her anymore, he couldn’t remember. Repeating her death over and over in his subconscious mind was the last connection he had to her.

Elijah’s eyes took a solemn turn and a glassy film fell over the top of them. His fingers felt for the woven bracelet clinging to his wrist and they sought out the soft pink ribbon woven with the leather. He didn’t want to have to think about everything...everything that ever happened. He didn’t want to have to recall Durmstrang or his lonely childhood. He didn’t want to have to think about Alice or her death. He’d recounted it once already...to Robert Lupin. He’d been so anxious...torn and his insides had been liquefying that night. It was reminiscent of the night it happened.

He could still hear her screaming, even now, seven years later. If a room was bathed in silence he heard sobbing until long, loud wails filled his ears and the screaming began. Sometimes if he was out in the cold he could feel the hot hands gripping his upper arms. He could feel the fingers still bruising his skin as they had done when he pulled and thrashed around, desperate to free himself from the grip of their captors. He could feel the hand being clamped over his mouth, an arm snaking around his middle, muting his yells, his screams for someone to help them.

What he could no longer feel was her in his arms. The bloodied mess she’d been...it hadn’t deterred him. He’d wanted to feel her...to feel that she was alive. But she wasn’t. All he could feel was this shell in his arms that night. If he could remember the dead weight she’d been, pulling at the muscles in his arms, then it would drive him to the brink and he wouldn’t come back.

Chase’s voice broke through his thoughts and Elijah looked at her, his eyes filled with sadness and despair. “I’m sorry Chase.” He whispered before laughing somewhat bitterly. “You probably don’t want to know what I’m thinking about...”

Chase felt completely useless next to him, when he obviously started to think about his past. An odd glossy film went over his eyes, and she could tell that he had had a horrible past. Probably worse then hers... she fit her lip and watched him for a long moment as he tried to sort out his thoughts. She could feel her heart breaking with the sadness and despair in his eyes, she just wanted to hold him, and show him that it would be okay. She moved closer to him, and put her hand on his, looking into his eyes sadly. "It's okay.." She said softly, smiling sadly at him.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." She said softly, looking up at him and smiling slightly. "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do." She said her hand still on his, her hand brushing along an odd bracelet on his wrist. She looked down and stared at it for a moment, before looking up at him and smiling slightly. He had a lot of horrible things in his past, she could tell by the sadness in his eyes. She lifted his hand lightly and brought his fingers to her lips, before putting his hand gently back on his leg, and smiling at him.

"I'm sorry.. I brought up bad memories.." She said shaking her head and looking at the fire, feeling the flower slip out of her hair, she reached down and picked it up, holding it up to her nose and sniffing the delicate yellow flower. She looked at him and held it out. "How about this then? No past... we'll leave that out... unless you want to know mine.. it's not.. exciting, or... fun.. just... kind of sad, but I'll tell you a few things." She said with a smile.

"Hmm... Want to play a game then?" She asked suddenly, her eyes lighting up. "I'll ask you a question, and you answer it truthfully, and then you ask me a question, and I'll answer it truthfully." She said smiling at him. She hadn't ever lied before, so she knew she wouldn't here either. She wanted to know him, and she wanted him to know her. More then knowing her body, more like, delving deeper then that, she wanted him to know her mind.

If there was one thing that could bring Elijah crashing down to rock bottom then it was Alice. Chase’s hand on his was a connection to reality. Alice was the torment but she wasn’t real, not anymore. She had been but she was left in the past, only kept alive by the boy that refused to forget her. But Chase was real. She was alive; she had life within her. She was real and there with him. His mind was stuck in the past. A section of his heart had been broken off and left there. It would never return because it had been carved out by Alice herself. But he could find something to fill it; something that fit.

Elijah laced his fingers with Chase’s and squeezed her hand, letting her know that he was still there. She was a wonderful human being. She’d made mistakes but that was natural. It was hard to compare the Chase’s he’d seen to each other. He’d seen despair too many times already. For happiness to reign would truly be something special. She made him smile and she didn’t even have to try. If her smile infected him then it would mean that something was going right. He didn’t want to be plagued with sadness and he didn’t want her to be either. He wanted to let her in but he wasn’t sure if he could.

“It’s not your fault Chase.” He murmured. “It’s me...I should have gotten over it all by now.” He looked at the yellow flower and touched one of the petals. It almost seemed to quiver at his touch and Elijah retracted his hand. He took if from Chase and pushed some of her hair back, tucking the delicate blossom behind her ear. “I could just give you my memories...” He suggested, cupping her cheek and jaw with his hand. He ran his thumb underneath her eye and continued, “But perhaps it would be better to talk it out...to hear the words out loud...”

He took his hand away but captured hers once more. He laced their fingers together and watched her. She had a spark of excitement in her eye. She wanted to learn and with the game it would prove to be entertaining as well as informative. Elijah nodded, a smile pulling up the sides of his lips. He took his thumb away from where it had linked between her thumb and forefinger and lightly traced it over her palm until he could reach no further. He drew his thumb up, brushing it across her index finger. He straightened it out, taking it from its bent position over the back of his hand before gently pressing it back down again.

He was playing with her hand, he realised. Hands were so interesting though. They could do so many different things and each finger felt different from the last. Every indent on the pad of each finger was different. There was something new on each one. If he found that wondrous then his amazement at her steadily swelling stomach in the months to come would leave him awestruck. The thought of the child within her made Elijah pause and look at her abdomen. You couldn’t tell that there was this tiny life inside of her. He could, the wolves could and the vampires probably could although that he wasn’t sure of.

He had a strong desire to protect what was his and that wasn’t just his child. It would grow inside of Chase, hear their voices and listen to the music of the world. He could imagine London, loud and disgusting. He wanted the baby to hear the real world. He wanted his child to hear the birds sing, the trees sway and the music on the wind. He wanted Chase to hear that too. He wanted so much. All of these desires were filled with the bursting emotion within him. One that had always been there, been there for her, but had now burst, tripling in size. The child was the cause of this, their child.

“What do you think about France?” He asked, his eyes connecting with hers. “The countryside has always struck me as a place of beauty. I had found somewhere I thought perhaps we could live. Granted it is only a plot of land but it’s a place I feel that this child could really live and a place where we could breathe freely without having to look over our shoulders. I just...” Elijah felt his cheeks burn slightly and a scarlet tint appeared on them. “I thought maybe it would be better...I’d need to buy the plot of course and get it built. Granted it would take a while so that’s probably going to be my second question – how does Tuscany strike your fancy?” He smiled playfully, the blush fading. “You can ask three questions.” He chuckled.

Chase smiled at him lightly, as he held onto her hand. His large one completely covering her smaller one. She smiled and looked down at it, and then up at him when he brushed her hair back and put the flower in it again. Her eyes closed as his hand cupped her cheek, and she pressed her cheek against the soft skin of his palm, her eyes slowly opening when he said it was better to talk it out. "Yeah.. I think, I think it would be good, to hear it." she said softly, and then frowned slightly when his hand fell away from her cheek, only to go back to her hand again.

Her eyes traveled down to his hand as he stroked it, and moved it around, his fingers feeling every inch that they could, and she smiled slightly, her eyes stuck on how beautiful their hands looked intertwined like that. In an odd sort of dance with each other, learning and exploring, as the child in her stomach would when it was born. She smiled as he seemed to be thinking about something, completely lost in how their hands moved together, but suddenly her eyes caught his and he asked her about France.

Chase thought for a moment, thinking about buying a spot of land in France, and it made her smile. She had always wanted her children to grow up in a place where they could feel safe, and loved. Somewhere where the influence of the world they lived in wouldn't hurt them, or infect their brains. And now that she had a child on the way, he was offering to take her there. Or to Tuscany. She looked up at him and smiled as he chuckled.

"France is very beautiful, I've been there only a few times for some photo shoots, so of course, I never got to see the countryside very well.. but, I've always wanted my children to live in a place where they could be safe.. the world today, it's just.. it's so full of everything they don't need." She said softly, her eyes falling back to their intertwined fingers. "It all sounds wonderful, and I would love it." She said looking up at him with a smile.

"Hm.. three questions?" She looked a bit nervous, but then smiled. "Okay... First off, this is a very basic question, but I've been dying to know." She smiled slightly and seemed to stir with an excitement she hadn't felt in a long time. "What's your favourite color? What's your favourite food, and..." She bit her lip and then looked him straight in the eye. "Our child will have magic in them.. will they go to Hogwarts?" She asked softly, her eyes locked with his, taking in the color, the shape, the way his eyelashes caressed his eyelids, and then looked past that, INTO his eyes, connecting with them, as though she were trying to see through to his soul.