Don't Think I Can Fight This Anymore

Dear Ian,

Thank you so much for keeping an eye on the house while we were gone. I hope the locals didn’t give you too many problems. You stayed away from the gypsies right?

I don’t go back to Germany for another two weeks, and I’m finding that I really don’t want to. Lately, when I go and help with the training, I constantly feel like I’m about to snap. I’ve been practicing by myself in the backyard while Charlie’s at work, but I’m not sure how long this can go on. I know you’ve been pushing meditation for about four years now, but I wonder if I’m even capable. I’ve been running for so long I’m not sure if I know how to sit still.

All my love,
Evelyn

Sherlock was getting old.

Charlie had been noticing it for a while, but it became really apparent while they were in Belize. He just didn’t have the energy to chase his mistress through the waves. A lot of their outings to explore he stayed in the boat.

Charlie didn’t mention this to Evelyn, he didn’t know if she had noticed as well. He was a little afraid of what would happen when Sherlock did eventually die. The labrador wasn’t just her war companion, he really was more of a therapy dog.

But he shouldn’t have worried too much about it.

It was a stormy night, so Evelyn had thrown open all the doors and windows so that they could smell the warm summer rain. She had placed a charm similar to the one on their wedding tent to keep the wind out. The young couple sat together at the kitchen table, Evelyn studying her bare tanned legs instead of the training reports she was supposed to be writing for the Americans. Charlie focused on his book. In the past hour he had only looked up when a tree branch crashed.

Suddenly, at their feet, Sherlock jumped up and growled. The couple’s attention snapped to him.

“What is it, boy?” Evelyn asked.

Sherlock barked and ran to the door, standing just inside.

“Do you hear that?” Charlie asked.

“Hear what?”

Evelyn couldn’t hear anything but the storm. Sherlock barked again, then ran outside. Evelyn and Charlie jumped from their seats and ran after him.

“Sherlock!” Evelyn shouted as the dog raced to the edge of the property. “Come back! Sherlock!”

Charlie raced after the dog, following the miniscule sounds he was just hearing. He cursed as his bare foot came down on a twig.

“Sherlock!” Evelyn screamed as thunder crashed above them.

Sherlock was prancing back towards them, something dangling from his mouth. The little white and grey bundle was emitting a high pitched howl. Charlie jogged alongside the dog, shaking his head.

“Pets really do take after their owners.”

“What?”

“Let’s go inside.”

Sherlock was making his way towards the house quickly, the bundle still howling. Evelyn and Charlie chased him, seeking the warm refuge of the house. Evelyn slammed the door behind them, then turned her attention to Sherlock as Charlie used his wand to dry them both off.

“What did you do that for?” Evelyn scolded the dog. “Idiot. You’re smarter than - oh.”

Sherlock dropped the bundle on the rug and looked at his mistress. A small husky puppy growled at the small family, trying to stand. It kept gingerly putting down its rear right paw and then picking it up again. Most of its fur was matted down with mud, but big mismatched eyes stared at them in fear.

“Bowie.” Evelyn said.

Charlie looked at his wife. “What?”

“He has heterochromia. Like David Bowie.”

Charlie crumpled. “We’re keeping him, aren’t we?”

“No. I’m just going to wash him up and heal him then we’ll find his mommy.”

“You basically just named him. You’re going to want to keep him. I know how this goes, Evelyn.”

She was already taking a bit of sandwich from her plate and offering it to the puppy, trying to get it to calm down so she could heal his leg.

“I won’t want to keep Bowie.” Evelyn said mindlessly, feeding the dog more sandwich. “He should be with his mom.”

Charlie shook his head and healed the dog’s leg himself, then watched Evelyn patiently coax the dog into her arms so she could wash the mud out of its fur in the sink. That night, Bowie curled up on the edge of the bed with Sherlock, and Evelyn never mentioned finding his mother again.

~*~

Bowie had some serious spunk. The shopkeepers in the village didn’t seem to know what to do about him. They were used to Evelyn and her faithful Sherlock. Sherlock was well behaved and did as he was told. Bowie, on the other hand, chased everyone’s chickens, knocked over toddlers, and terrorized the old gypsy woman who had once ready Evelyn’s palm. Everyone was happy about the last one.

“Lup!” she would screech, pointing at the husky puppy. Wolf. “Lup!”

“Come on.” Evelyn said sharply, leading her two dogs towards a pharmacy. She needed a toothbrush.

The gypsy woman was making motions like she was going to curse Bowie, but Evelyn stared her down. The gypsy knew a real witch when she saw one, and backed away.

“Stay.” she told the dogs, entering the pharmacy alone. Sherlock sat heavily, and batted Bowie away from the plate of cat food he was sniffing.

Evelyn wandered the pharmacy aisles, looking for the dental supplies. She offered the pharmacist a small wave, and he frowned. It always bothered him how Charlie and his Canadian wife never seemed to need medicine. They didn’t even get colds.

Evelyn found her toothbrush and wandered into the next aisle. Did she need anything else? Tampons? Seemed like she always needed tampons. Evelyn started to count back to her last period. It was definitely before the honeymoon…

“Oh.” Evelyn said, suddenly feeling sick. “Well that was very stupid of me.”

She paid for her toothbrush, shoved it in her wicker shopping basket that already contained apples and some spare ribs packaged in brown paper, then left the pharmacy. Sherlock trotted alongside her while Bowie bounced and rolled ahead but Evelyn barely noticed.

How had she let that happen? She took her monthly potion religiously. The last time would have been...her bachelorette party. When she had gotten drunk and forgotten and hadn’t taken it until the next morning.

On the outskirts of town, she grabbed hold of her dogs and apparated the rest of the way. She slowly entered her house.

“Hey.” Charlie said, looking up from the couch. “How was town?”

“I’m late.” she said faintly.

Charlie glanced at the clock and frowned. Nate was coming over for dinner, but not until six. “You’ve got plenty of time.”

She set her basket on the table and slowly walked to the bathroom. Confused by his wife’s actions and demeanor, Charlie stood and followed her. She rummaged through the cabinets for something.

“What’s wrong, love?” he asked nervously as she freed a small bottle.

She looked at him. “I’m late.” she repeated.

He looked at the bottle in her hand, then at her. “Oh.”

She ripped the label off the bottle and started to read.

“Where did you get that?” he asked weakly.

“When we were in London last Christmas.” she said. “I thought I was...but then I wasn’t and I never had to use it.” She took a deep breath and set the instructions down. “Okay, so I just put in a few drops of blood and if it turns pink it’s a girl and if it turns blue it’s a boy and if it stays grey then I’m not…”

“Pregnant.” Charlie finished.

“Right.” she said faintly, unable to say the word. “That.”

They both held their breaths as Evelyn unscrewed the bottle of potion and touched the tip of her wand to her finger. A few drops of blood fell into the potion like rubies.

“How long does it take?” Charlie asked.

“Just a minute or two.” She sat on the lid of the toilet and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.” she said miserably.

“What are you sorry for?” he asked incredulously. “This was always the plan.”

“Not this soon. We haven’t really talked about when to start trying for kids.”

“No time like the present.” He reached down and took her hand. “Will you stop worrying? We don’t even know the results yet.”

As if on cue, the potion began to swirl with purple streaks. White foam appeared on the top. Evelyn started to really panic.

“Purple?” she asked. “Oh, god, it’s purple. Our baby is a hermaphrodite.”

Charlie picked up the instructions and struggled to read the tiny letters.

“I’ll still love it.” Evelyn babbled, and Charlie shook his head at her. He’d never seen her nervous like this before. “But does that mean a harder life for it? I don’t know. How to you raise a child that’s a boy and a girl? Do we call the baby it? I know nothing about gender politics!”

“Evelyn.” Charlie said carefully. “It says the white foam means twins.”

Evelyn was white as a sheet. “Twin hermaphrodites?”

He had to laugh. “No, I think it means we’re having a boy and a girl.”

Evelyn finally started to breathe again. “Twins.” she repeated. “We’re having twins.”

Charlie bent down to kiss her. “I love you.” he told her. “We’re going to be okay.”

She had to smile.

“I’m going to write Mum.”

~*~

Their family was growing rapidly. And for once Evelyn wasn’t worrying about anything. Maybe that was her mistake - relaxing in the calm of the storm.

Evelyn was sitting in the second bedroom, biting her lip and studying paint chips. She had no idea there were so many damn shades of yellow. With a scowl, she put aside the yellow and picked up some blues.

“Evelyn!” Charlie shouted. “Where’s my blue striped shirt!”

Evelyn rolled her eyes. “It’s in the dryer.”

“No it’s not!”

“Look again!”

There was a pause. “Oh. Love you!”

Evelyn shook her head and held up five shades of navy blue, holding them up against the wall. She could paint constellations against the dark backdrop, and magically make them glow at night. That would be cool.

She picked up a strip of purples. She was very partial to purple. And then she could paint flowers or something. Maybe when the twins needed their own rooms, she could do that. Until then, she needed something for both of them.

The doorbell rang and Charlie shouted that he would get it, and Evelyn absentmindedly rubbed her stomach. She was already showing, and decided four months pregnant wasn’t so bad. The morning sickness was over but she wasn’t dealing with any of the horrors of late pregnancy that Sylvia had painstakingly detailed for her.

Charlie opened the front door and paused at the sight of the man in full military dress.

“Evelyn!” he called. “I think it’s for you!”

Evelyn sighed and exited the room, running a hand through her hair. She froze when she saw who Charlie was letting inside the house. Tall and straight backed, blonde hair and big green eyes. Captain fricken Canada. Captain Simmons, Daniel’s commanding officer.

Simmons took off his hat. “Miss Finch, I’m sorry to intrude.”

Evelyn found words. “Is Daniel - “

“Maybe you should sit.”

Evelyn grabbed the back of the nearest chair. “Is my brother dead?”

“No.”

Evelyn let out a breath of relief and let Charlie lead her to the couch.

“There was a training accident two days ago.” Simmons explained, accepting the drink Charlie poured for him. “A young private’s wand backfired and blew up half the yard. Sergeant Finch was caught in the blast.”

“Is he - “

“He’s been paralyzed from the waist down.”

Evelyn blinked. “But you’ll fix him, right?”

Simmons shook his head. “We’ve had the best healers working on him for the past two days. There’s nothing that can be done. He’s lost the use of his legs for life.”

Charlie tightly held his wife’s hand, whose lips were white.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. The fact that he’s a wizard...well, things are easier for us even under those circumstances. We’re worried about psychological trauma. Once he’s healed enough to go home, it would be better if he had a home to go to.”

“Let me guess.” Evelyn sighed. “You’ve already been to see my parents, and they slammed the door in your face.”

“Literally.”

Evelyn looked at Charlie, then at her baby bump. There was a low growl as in the kitchen Sherlock and Bowie fought over a soup bone.

“We’ll take him.” Evelyn said.

“What?”

“What?” Charlie echoed.

“As soon as you can release him, he can come and live here with us.” she said. She looked at her husband. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. But...he’s my brother. He needs to be with people who care about him. If it were any of your siblings, we’d do the same.”

“Great.” Simmons said, standing. He wanted to get away from the couple staring at eachother as soon as possible. “Thank you, Miss Finch. Your brother is due to be released next week. I’ll bring him here personally.”

Simmons walked to the door, then paused. “Oh, and congradulations. Daniel tells me you’re having twins.”

He left and Charlie was still staring at his wife with an odd expression. Evelyn started to get nervous that he was mad.

“I’m sorry.” she said. “Charlie, sweetheart, don’t be mad. He’s my baby brother.”

Charlie stood.

“He needs me.” Evelyn begged. “We have to take him in.”

Charlie was pulling on his coat.

“Where are you going?” Evelyn asked.

He sighed. “Evelyn, your maternal instincts are very clearly kicking in. You’ve just adopted a puppy. We’ve got two kids on the way. And now your brother is moving in. We need a bigger house. So, I’m going to go talk to a realtor. I’ve been meaning to do it - “

The rest of his sentence was cut off by Evelyn throwing herself into his arms and kissing him repeatedly. “Thank you thank you thank you.”