Love means facing your biggest fears -- July 2001

I stared at her, not entirely surprised.  I guess I did not realize how scared Maisie would be -- in addition to being frightened of being pregnant, but also to telling me.  "I'm glad that you believed in me... knew that I wouldn't run anymore," I said to her, glad that I had someone who believed in me that was not just my mum.  Or Faith.

I smiled and kissed Evan.  "Of course I knew you wouldn't run," I said to him.  "You never truly gave up on your sister and mum... and you have started to put a lot of faith into your dad, too.  You don't run out on family."  I hoped that he realized what I was getting at.  I really was proud o fhim.

I wrapped my arms around Maisie and held her tightly.  I just hoped that they would not judge me or anything for not having been married first.  But then my memory went to Dean and Aunt Ems and Uncle Padfoot... they had him before they were married - same with Will and Uncle Moony and Aunt Chloe.  I pulled away and sighed.  "Exactly.  I definitely will never run out on my family," I said.

I looked at him and smiled the best that I could.  "You know we're going to have to tell people," I said to him quietly.  "No matter how things are between everybody." I, of course, was thinking of Harry and Evan.  I understood why they were all uptight and loathed each other, but this might be a way to bring the Potter family closer together.

I sighed, knowing what Maisie was saying.  I shrugged.  "We'll deal with that when we have to," I said to her.  "Right now... I'd rather not think about that aspect."

I nodded slowly.  "Oh Merlin... I have to tell Alfred," I said.  My younger brother was not necessarily okay with the relationship that I had with Evan.  I did not care exactly, but it would just be difficult.

I sighed heavily.  "I'm not sure I want to be there for that one," I said to her, knowing how Alfred was with me.  It was probably best if she did things on her own.

I shook my head.  "It's probably best if we don't have you there at first," I said to Evan slowly.  "Maybe we could have a celebratory dinner with the families or something?"  I hoped that things would end up going okay on both sides of the families.  I was mainly worried about Alfred and Harry.

I thought about it and she was probably right.  "Yeah, Al and I don't see eye to eye much, so it'd be best if you spoke to your family without me," I agreed.  I sighed and shrugged.  "Yeah, I'm sure Mum would love to put together a dinner or something... so that could work."

I smiled, glad that Evan was at least agreeing to some of it.  "Good," i said to him. "I can't wait to have a dinner with everyone to celebrate."

I took a deep breath, unsure of if it would be as exciting as what Maisie thought it would be.  I ended up smiling at her, though.  "It'll be an interesting celebration, that is for sure," I told her.