Done at the shop at the close of business, for once, Fred busied himself with making supper for himself and Katie. He was quite content with his new routine in life; heading to Rose Cottage after work to be with his soon-to-be wife made the hours he spent at the shop that much more pleasant. He still loved his job, and Lavender was a surprisingly good helpmeet at the counter, but the thought of going home to Katie was a big part of what kept him smiling during the day.

Unsure when Katie would be home, as it was somewhat unusual to find her gone at all, he'd set chicken and potatoes to baking and sliced vegetables for salad, keeping himself busy while the dogs ran laps around and through the house.

She felt a little bit better after visiting Tonks, but when she appeared with a soft 'pop' of Apparation on the front porch of Rose Cottage, Katie was filled with a nervous anxiety all over again. Katie could feel Fred moving around inside, but she stayed on the front porch, reluctant and aching to go inside at the same time.


Fred heard Katie arrive and turned the oven off, as the food was ready and would stay warm while they greeted each other, which tended to take a bit of time, even though they'd left the same bed only that morning. When more than a minute had passed and he'd still yet to see her sweet, cheerful face, Fred frowned slightly and headed for the porch. He peeked his head out the door, puzzled to see Katie standing as if she didn't know what to do.

"All right, Kit?" he asked, stepping outside and holding his hands out to her, worried she'd had a bad visit with someone.

Katie set her hands in Fred's without thinking and felt a little more centered for it, but his question had uneasy butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with Fred's baby.

Her gaze rolled up from their combined hands to Fred's bright blue eyes. "I thought I was sick, maybe," she replied softly, not really sure what to say from there and going silent again.

Brow furrowing, Fred pulled Katie into his arms, petting her hair away from her face. "You've not been feeling well, love?" he asked. He'd noticed that she seemed a bit sleepier than usual, but had left it to the fact that she wasn't having to stick to her Quidditch regimen in the off-season. Her faraway look and uncharacteristic nervousness told him otherwise, however, and he cleared his expression on purpose, tipping Katie's face up with a gentle touch to her chin.

"Only sometimes, but it's been happening a long time, so I went to see Ginny," Katie continued, calmer for being in Fred's arms, his hands on her skin. Her hands clenched reflexively in the back of Fred's tee as she looked up at him. "But I wasn't sick. Not really."

"No?" Fred prompted, hands smoothing slow circles over Katie's back. "I'm glad you aren't, but what was making you feel bad if it wasn't being sick?" His mind instantly raced through a lot of unsettling options, and he forced himself to wait for her to answer.

Katie watched Fred for a long moment, not sure how to answer his question, and her body started to tremor with the anxiousness of voicing what needed to be said. Tonks had told her it'd be alright, and so had Ginny, but none of that was a spark in her mind as she looked up into Fred's face.

"I'm ..." she started, voice barely above a whisper. Taking a small, shallow breath, she tried again. "... I'm ... Shiny, I ... there's another somebody."

"Another...?" Fred was confused. They'd both been completely monogamous since Greg, and he'd been sure Katie wanted to be just with him; she'd said as much when he asked her to marry him. Trying to keep a frown from pulling between his brows, he asked, softly, "You're seeing someone else?"

After finding out the news she had, the shock wore off completely in that moment, and Katie's eyes prickled with tears and she shook her head quickly, body tensing. "No, no, never another like that ..." her breath caught, the tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks. "I love you, Always and only. It's just that ..."

Katie pulled away from Fred then, and made to grab his hand and then dropped hers at the last moment, watery gaze going up to his. "It's just that... Shiny, I ..." She sniffled and reached up to brush away the tear about to drip off her chin. "I... there's another somebody here" she said finally, placing her hand on her belly.

Blinking as comprehension dawned, a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding escaped Fred and he reached for Katie immediately, pulling her back into his arms and wiping the tears from her face. Somebody. Baby. Pregnant "You're... pregnant? But we..." he shook his head, dismissing the question of how for the moment.

He had to smile... there was simply nothing else to do with Katie looking up at him like her world was caving in and she wasn't quite sure how to stop it. "It's all right, Kit," he murmured, bending to rest his forehead against hers. "We'll be all right. All of us." He brushed his lips across her brow, holding her close. Baby. I'm going to be a father.

For much more than the second time that day, Katie was at a loss on how she'd gotten from trying to convince Fred that she was faithful and being more upset than she could ever remember, to resting in his arms and him telling her that everything was going to be alright.

Fred leaned back just enough to see Katie's face, still touching her as much as possible. "Ginny told you, then, when you went to go see her?" he wanted to know. If his sister knew, they would have to tell his mother very soon; it was impossible to avoid those sort of things in conversation with his Mum.

Katie nodded silently, keeping his gaze.

His brain kept jumping from thought to thought, and he still didn't think he'd quite wrapped his consciousness around the fact that Katie was carrying a baby. Their baby. "You're going to be the most brilliant mum," he said softly, kissing her face again.

"A mum. I didn't even have one, Shiny ... I don't know how to be a mum," Katie replied, voice just as soft though edged with emotion even as her lids fluttered shut as Fred's lips brushed across her skin.

Torn between a frown that Katie felt inadequate and a smile at how silly she was being, Fred caught her face between his hands and drew her gaze with his own. "I know first-hand that you know how to love, princess... you've got everything you need. I'm pretty sure the rest is all feeding and changing nappies, and we'll figure that bit out."

A small smile began to tug at her lips at Fred's words, but was stolen away as the thought that had been niggling at her all day finally pushed to make itself verbal. "Shiny," she began, voice almost inaudible, "you still want me, right? Even though there's ... another somebody, too? Two of us?"

Scooping Katie into his arms, exasperated by her question, as if anything else were even an option, he relocated them to the porch swing, curling her into his lap and wrapping her up as tightly as he dared. "Yes. I want you always." He found her left hand and held it up, tracing the edging on her engagement ring. "I meant it when I asked you, Kit... always and forever. Mine... and our baby, too," he assured her, slipping his hand down to lay against her stomach, though it was still as flat and smooth as it always had been. "No matter what."

Katie had never been a particularly emotional person, but tears made her eyes bright again at Fred's words and she covered his hand on her stomach with both of her smaller ones. "No matter what," she echoed softly. "Yours. Both of us, for always."

"Mmm, yes," Fred agreed, nuzzling the side of Katie's neck. He splayed his fingers under hers, rubbing gently, imagining the tiny thing growing inside her that would become their son or daughter.

"You're all right, though," he asked as the worry occurred to him, "so long as I'll be here? You want to raise our baby with me? I know it's awfully soon and we weren't planning on it just now..." Katie would be the one to carry the child, and it wasn't fair to assume that she was okay with the idea, though she seemed significantly calmer now.

"Ours," Katie repeated, a small smile pulling at her lips, finally. "I'll always be alright as long as you're with me, Shiny. It's been that way for as long as I can remember." Her thoughts touched to when they were littles and her eyes shone with a happiness that was only theirs, had only ever been theirs, and George's.

"And I want to ..." it was a bit odd to say, but now that she was in Fred's arms with him looking at her the way he was, she couldn't be anything but nervously excited. She had always wanted to be a mum. She just hadn't thought it'd be ... now. "... I want to raise our baby together, you and me."

Cupping his hand around Katie's cheek, Fred dipped his head and kissed her, slowly and thoroughly. Relief, excitement, love... a thousand things were coursing through him at once and he shared the way they communicated everything best: with touch. He could feel her relax against him, some of the breathless tension draining as they both came to preliminary terms with this change in their life together.

He smiled as they drew apart, watching Katie's face in the darkness. "I'm glad to hear it. I love you, Kit." Hand straying over her belly again, he added, "both of you."

A little breathless still from Fred's kisses, Katie nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck, her hands pulling a little at his tee as she shifted enough to press a kiss to his skin. "I love you too, Shiny." She smiled against his skin, lids fluttering closed as she felt his hand as a warm weight against her stomach. "We all do."

And she knew with a certainty that it was true.


SUMMARY: Katie tells Fred the big news: there's going to be more shiny in the family.