Participants:
| Scene Title | Missed You |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Griffin comes back to his pregnant fiancée, and they make arrangements to get her to a safer place. |
| Date | March 15, 2011 |
Nadira's Apartment
It's the usual quiet evening at Nadira's apartment. Well, mostly because she's alone, leaving the Egyptian woman resting quietly on the couch, curled up with a blanket tucked around her as she quietly reads a book. Shutting her eyes, she rests them for the moment, dozing off for a few minutes before she opens her eyes again and continues to read. Well, until she does it again.
Griffin ran away for a little while. He felt like he had to get away from Nadira, just to spare her the worst of his reaction to the recent news. All things considered, he didn't react badly. He just got horribly drunk and poured his heart out to a man whose loyalties he's unsure of. Ziadie officially knows just about everything there is to know about Griffin, from the beginning of the man's somewhat awful life, up until this point in time.
It's quietly that Griffin turns his key in the lock, slipping into Nadira's apartment as silently as he can manage. Thankfully, it's in one of those moment where his fiancee is dozing, and he manages to sneak in silently. In fact, she'll likely be unaware of his presence until she feels his warm arms wrapping gently around her, lips pressing against her temple.
There was a time in Nadira's life that such an action would have startled her, that she would have panicked and struggled to get away, but that time seems to, at least for now, be a distant memory. The warm arms around her prompt the woman's eyes to flutter open, her arms coming to slide around him almost reflexively as she presses in against him, burying her face in against his neck. "You're back," she murmurs. "Missed you."
A few more kisses are planted gently on Nadira's forehead, then on the top of her head, Griffin squeezing her close. "I missed you too." He says this in a gentle tone, smiling as he holds her close. "I'm sorry I was away for so long. You…didn't need to see me like that." Walking around with a mask, a crown, a mardi gras cape, and a scepter, and acting a general fool. And the awful hangover afterward. "How are you holding up?"
"I am alright," Nadira admits, shutting her eyes again as she squeezes him gently in response. "Just been not thinking about things so much. I am trying to take things a day at a time. I figure it is better that way, since we won't really have to deal with things much until at least a few months from now, I am sure." There's a small pause before she pulls back just a little to look at him. "You are alright, aren't you? Things are… okay?"
Griffin allows her to pull away, smiling gently down at her. "I'm glad to hear it. We — we'll be fine." One hand moves down to her abdomen, gently touching there, as if to offer a small greeting to the little one hidden within. "I'm doing okay. I just…I needed a chance to freak out and act like a fool a little bit, you know?" He smiles faintly. "I'm happy, though…"
He pulls, from his jacket, a thick book. 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'. "This was a hell of a help eleven years ago. I figured you could benefit from this." The man smiles, leaning forward to plant another small kiss on Nadira's forehead. "Have…have you put any thought into names?"
Nadira slides her hand over on top of his on her abdomen, fingers brushing over his knuckles with a light touch. "I will need all the help I can get, I am sure I will do a lot of bumbling around trying to figure out what to do." She looks back to Griffin. "I hadn't thought of names, much, I wanted to figure that out with you. I wanted to wait for you. I… I also thought that if I focused too much on what was happening that I'd get scared all over again and I didn't want to be by myself dealing with something like that."
Griffin slips his free arm up around her shoulder, kissing her cheek, then her nose, then a small kiss to her lips. "Well, I'm here now. No more freaking out, I'm here." He smiles down at his hand on her abdomen, before shaking his head and squeezing her. "We…should consider getting you out of this apartment, though." He tips his head toward Nadira.
"Pollepel…I think there's a doula there." Griffin tilts his head to one side. "Would you take issue to going to Pollepel and staying there? Owain can go back there, now that he's been vaccinated…" His hand that isn't touching her belly quietly runs through her hair. "I want to be completely certain that you'll be safe."
There's a small kiss in return, but Nadira isn't distracted from the conversation. There's a touch of a frown on her lips, but she leans in against him. "I do not know what I would do with myself there, Griffin. Am I supposed to sit around and wait for nine months?" She heaves out a sigh. "And Owain… would it really be best for him there, either? There are children there, sick. Perhaps Owain himself might be safe from it… but he'd have to hear of people dying. Children dying. I am not sure if the price of safety is worth that cost."
His hand moves from her hair to gently cup her cheek, the man planting another kiss on her forehead. He can't help it, he adores her. And now that he's gotten the freak out session out of his system, the fact that his child is growing within her womb is something that makes him…pretty damn happy, all things considered. "Just…Just do it for a month or so. Just until the first trimester is over, okay? That's…I heard that's the most risky time in a pregnancy." He runs his fingers over her abdomen.
"We…we can let Owain stay where he's at. He seems to be doing well there. And if there's another place, a safe house, that they won't mind me taking you to…we can always go there."
Nadira regards him for a long moment, sighing again before she leans in to kiss him lightly. "Let's not uproot Owain, then, if he is alright where he is. You worry too much, though. I am certain that everything will be fine. Maybe at the end it would be wise, but… do you really think I need to hide away? I trust you, Griffin, but I do not like the idea of being helpless, of hiding."
Griffin nods slowly. "We can keep Owain there, for now. He's doing well." He then offers Nadira a squeeze. "I know you don't like it…believe me, I know. But…I want you to be safe, Nadira. If…if anyone finds out that you're pregnant with our child…you could easily become a target." He keeps his hand gently pressed over her abdomen.
"They've already proven to me that they'll stop at nothing to get me." Griffin leans in, kissing Nadira's forehead. "Please…I can't handle losing you, too. Come to Pollepel with me…we'll get you a check over, too, make sure you're having a healthy pregnancy, okay?"
"I don't want Owain to get unsettled, given everything. Have you… have you talked to him yet? About the baby?" Nadira's eyes scan him for a moment before she sighs. "I suppose I can go to Pollepel for a while, but… I need to tell Melissa what is going on. I can't just abandon my job. And I should probably talk with Quinn, too."
Griffin nods slowly, dipping his head down and nuzzling his face into the bend between her neck and shoulders with a faint smile on his face. Inhaling her scent. "That's fine. We can go see Melissa right now, if you like…yeah?" He lifts his head, planting a small kiss on her lips. "Thank you…I'll rest so much better knowing that you, and our baby, will be safe."
"I love you, Nadira."