du_vallon | (no subject)

It's the grip to his shoulder that pulls Aramis from his daze, his phone somehow already in his hand as he stares down at it. The numbers seem to dance and move before his eyes, and if his brain would slow down, he could surely make sense of them, but they might as well be scratches in the dirt when it comes to telling him who's calling.

Aramis punches the answer button and lifts it to his ear, voice shaking when he says, "Hello? Yes, this is he."

Grabbing Porthos, Aramis turns the phone to speaker and drags them towards an abandoned section of the washer and dryer units.

Porthos follows at a quick pace, eager to hear whatever it is they have to say to them, heart beginning to race in both eagerness and fear, paying close attention as he leans his temple against Aramis' as the woman on the other end of the line confirms that they were the ones who met at the office and who their lawyer is.

"The contract is sitting here on my desk," the woman says and Porthos can't parse it for a very long moment, because it's too much. It's too good.

"Yes?" says Aramis, as dumbfounded as Porthos' expression currently looks, "Signed and all?" He nearly crushes the phone when her voice rings clearly out, "Signed and all," with a hint of laughter.

"And everything we've asked for, she's agreed to?" asks Aramis, sharing an amazed look with Porthos. Could they really be so close?

"Every word of it," says their agent, and Aramis leaps into Porthos' arms, almost destroying the phone a second time.

Porthos hardly has the warning, but he manages to catch Aramis in his arms before they both go crashing down to the floor. He's still gripping Aramis as tightly as he can, refusing to let go as they listen to the woman on the phone tell them that the contracts (signed and all) will be sent to them in duplicate.

"Aramis," he breathes out slowly. "Aramis, does this mean that we're actually going to do it?"

Aramis nods against his shoulder, finally managing to bring the phone to his mouth to thank their agent profusely. He hangs up, pulling back to stare at Porthos. "She takes a month of medicines," he says, "And then we try. We're really going to do it."

One month of medicines, he can't even begin to imagine that length of a wait, and yet it also feels so close. Porthos grins as he makes sure the phone is away before pinning Aramis to a dryer and bending him over so he can kiss him with the kind of aggressive victory news like this deserves.

"It still has to take," he says, trying to calm himself down before he gets too excited. "There's still hurdles to meet."

"Yes," says Aramis, nodding fervently in Porthos' grip, body bent half over the display dryer as he clings to him. In truth, the part that Aramis is most afraid of is waiting those nine long months, knowing so well how many things could go wrong.

"But we're closer," he says. "Each step, we grow so much closer."

Porthos swallows hard as all their dreams start to creep closer to becoming a reality that he hadn't thought possible. "There's an infant store nearby, with all the things that a child might need. Should we...do you want to go and see?" Before, it had almost seemed like cursing a good chance, but now he feels like he absolutely wants to go see all the things one might buy for a child.

Aramis feels weak kneed at the thought of it, and he nods, twining his fingers through Porthos' lest he fly away. "I haven't dared to look in months," he admits. Not since young Louis, but with this hope between them, he knows he is ready to begin again. Aramis sucks in a breath. "I hope they still have those soft stuffed bears."

Porthos doesn't want to leave the abandoned part of the store with the trappings and the dryers and everything else, but his heart is already melting to imagine Aramis at such a store. He knows they'll probably not buy anything yet (can't fill the house or Athos might get a bit wary), but he wants to at least start looking.

"Come on," he gets out roughly. "I think we need a drink after to celebrate how far we've come."

"And to settle our nerves," says Aramis with a laugh. He sucks in a lungful after, but try as he might, Aramis cannot seem to catch his breath, his heart too huge and hopeful to leave room for air. "I still know the way," he says, leading Porthos into the mall. "Dare we look at bassinets?"

Porthos follows dutifully, though he isn't sure he's ready to see cribs just yet. He's happy for all the progress, but there are things he needs to calmly, quietly get into. "How about just the toys and the accessories for now?" he suggests, because seeing a crib will make him want things faster and they have a pace to go at, now, that they both enjoy.

Aramis nods, for just those few moments spent thinking of bassinets had been nearly enough to undo him. "Just the little things," he promises, slowing as they come to stand before the store. "We are not just browsing," he realizes. "We are soon to be parents."

Soon to be may be up for definition when it comes down to the actual term, but it's true. With that contract signed and sealed and soon to be delivered, they now move away from the maybe and into the completely possible, and suddenly, Porthos feels a burst of eagerness and fear unlike any other times.

"I need to sit down," is all he says. "Just for a second, just for a moment."

"Oh, Porthos." Aramis takes his hand and pulls him to the nearest bench, sinking down next to him and wishing they were not in public so he could kneel between his knees the way he wishes to. He settles for holding tightly to Porthos' hand, lifting it to kiss his knuckles. "I know," he murmurs, for he feels it, too.

"All this time, the idea of being a father was in the back of my head and I knew about it," he rambles, not even sure about half of what he's saying. "But it was never real, not really, and now this means that she's going to start trying to have a baby with your sperm, Aramis, with you, in a month. In a month's time, we could get a phone call saying we might be parents in a year's time."

"Less than a year," Aramis replies, smiling softly. Each time he considers it, a new responsibility comes to mind. "My God, we must move quicker on the house. I would love us to be living there by the time the babe is walking. The country is a better place for a child."

Porthos inhales sharply and the panic he's feeling only grows monumentally to think of all the things that must be done before this happens. He grips Aramis' hand a little tighter, suddenly in a fright at how fast this is going. He knows it must, but he feels a bit of fear for his skills all over again and knows he'll be spending a good deal of time at the hospital, soon.

"It's so soon," he murmurs, both fond and terrified.

"It is," Aramis agrees, and for all the calm he's found in order to soothe Porthos, he knows he'll spend the next few days on his knees at Church, praying hard for their future family.

"But when our Ana finally arrives, we will wonder how we lived so long without her, I know it."

He's still thinking about his own skills and how much he has yet to learn, but he supposes that's true of Aramis, too. For all his love of children, he still has great leaps to go when it comes to actually being a father. Somehow, that calms him, slightly. "What if it turns out to be a boy?" he teases, finally finding some grounding beneath his feet. "All our plans out the window?"

Aramis laughs. "We will survive," he promises, even if he is certain it will not come to pass. He does not know why, but he knows in his bones this child not yet conceived will be a girl.

"Either way, the child will learn to fence and ride and will be the most loved child in all the world. We will have to fashion a new name."

Porthos secretly would love either, or both. The idea of raising a boy and teaching him to fight and survive is a good one, but spoiling a girl and treating her as princess is something he's well-equipped to do. "I don't know, Ana for a boy..." He's teasing now, but he feels better.

Standing, he grabs hold of Aramis' hand firmly. "Shall we?"

Aramis takes a deep breath and nods, standing beside Porthos. "I believe the toys are on the right of the store," he says, voice tremulous until he clears it. "We'll find a fine one for Ana, girl or boy."

Porthos grins as he leans in for a brief kiss to Aramis' cheek, letting the smile press up against the skin. He's so damn excited and scared that it's creating a strange cocktail of emotions, but the toys are something he can happily focus on.

And right away, something catches his eye. Drifting from Aramis' side, he goes to where there are baby mobiles set up, a notion that grabs him and holds tight because it's so perfect.

Aramis' heart leaps, and for a moment he thinks Porthos is heading towards the bassinets after all, but it's the hanging toys on strings he stops at. "You like these," he says, reaching up to touch one that is fashioned like hot air balloons. "They must entertain the baby."