The Age of The Masrui

“I can’t have a baby. Have you seen me Reid? I’m a mess. I wouldn’t be a good parent, I’d mess my kid up worse than I’ve been messed up.” Astrid whispered before suddenly sobbing, having been holding it in. Moving her hand to her mouth to stifle the noise as tremors wracked her body.

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“I love you Ro... so much. Thank you for waiting.”

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“If it’s something you want we can look into it.”

Reid frowned, hesitantly slipping his arms around her and pulling her close then. "No, no, don't cry. We can work something out here, it is going to be okay. You're not a mess, you have some bad habits. We have some bad habits that we need to address, doesn't mean we are messes though. You'd be a great mother."

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"You are worth the wait,"

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"It's fine," Marlowe whispered, "Mm, maybe the Chinese menu is in our room somewhere."

“I don’t think I can do this...” Astrid cried. “I’m not parent material Reid, I’m not even girlfriend material. I’ll mess this up so badly, so so badly...”

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“Marley, stop.” Maddox frowned then. “I said I’m willing to talk about it.”

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“As were you. Mr I don’t do commitments.” Bella grinned.

"You said no, I said okay. You always want me to respect it, not fight with you and try and convince you so I'm not." Marlowe frowned.

[Hr[
"We will do find, Astrid. Here you are, saying your not girlfriend material when for months it has only been me you have slept with, when you have taken days off and spent time with me just because you thought I was stressed and you were concerned? That sounds like girlfriend behaviour too, you are the only one I have been with too, for the record. I- I think we can do this. I'll stop drinking too, so your not going through it alone."

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Ronan laughed, musing, "Well. Time changes everyone."

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(( I need to nap, feeling gross today. Will post at about 4 ))

“I do all that because I love you! But I’m too screwed in the head to be anything but your friend, to be anyone’s mother. I’m scared...”

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“If sixteen year old me could see us now.” Bella chuckled.

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“This is the one time you’re gonna listen to me huh?”

((I feel ya, hope it helps))

(( Ops another hour added onto that. There I was all proud of myself for pulling a sickie from lectures because I barely slept yesterday thinking I was a rebel, as soon as I finished teaching it turns out I feel genuinely ill. Hit me like a ton of bricks, my muscles are killing me and I am exhausted never mind, turns out I wasn't a rebel I was just listening to what my body was saying for once ))

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"Mhm," Marlowe hummed in confirmation, heading into their bedroom and smiling when she found the menu she was looking for in the bedside cabinet on her side. "There it is! I'm going to have crispy duck pancakes if we have this."

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"I would be ashamed of myself to commuting, but nodding in approval that at least it was with you." Ronan smirked.

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"I love you too, we already have beem boyfriend and girlfriend for months we just haven't labelled it. I mean it Astrid, I really think we could do this, together."

((I’m dying my hair so will be slow haha, hope u feel better soon tho))

“I don’t know if it’s what I want, Reid... I don’t know.” Astrid wiped at her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

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“Always the same” Maddox laughed then.

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“Well it wouldn’t be with anyone else mm?”

"It's the best option! Let me guess, you and going to get the salt and pepper King prawn with chow men noodles?"

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"Never." Ronan hummed. "The commitment issue always was that none of those other women were you, Bells."

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"Well, you can think about it." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Whatever you decide, I'm going to support you."

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(( Have fun! What colour is it going? ))

((Dark brown, probs not gonna see my hairdresser for ages so may as well haha))

“You want this though...” Astrid swallowed thickly. “If I don’t... what does that mean for us?”

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“You’ll make me cry.” Bella laughed then, kissing his cheek

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“Might change it up who knows?”

(( Oh nice! )

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"Nothing, it won't change a thing. This isn't about me, or what I want - it is all about you want, I- I'm here to support what you want."

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"Oh, wow," Marlowe laughed, placing the menu down on the side and reaching over to pull him closer to her. Slipping her arms around his neck and brushing her nose against his affectionately. "It has to be a Chinese now, I'm curious."

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Ronan smiled, kissing her on the lips in return.

“We need to be honest about this. You want this baby don’t you? You want to be a dad, you want all of it don’t you?”

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“Can I keep my name? Or hyphenate? Would you be upset by that?”

"You can keep your name, if that's what you want." Ronan assured.

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"I- yes.. but it is your body, your pregnancy.. what you want is more important."

((I’ll reply for Maddox and Marlowe once I’m all done for the drama haha))

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“What makes you think it’d work? We would work as parents? We would work in a relationship?”

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“Hyphenate seems like a good option... I just wanna retain me...”

(( Okays ))

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Ronan nodded, "you have complete freedom with me."

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"Because we are working now, we are basically in a relationship now. Like I've said three times."

“And that’s why I love you.” Bella smiled softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

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“I need time...” Astrid whispered. “Can I have time to think? I know I probably don’t have much time to decide what I want to do but I need to think...”

"Yeah, yeah no precious." Reid answered with a small nod.

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Ronan smiled warmly, getting out of the balloon when they landed and offering her a hamf out.

“If you need to tell Ronan or River to talk about it I understand, just don’t want it going too far around the circle…” Astrid whispered as she stood up, going to his wardrobe and pulling out the spare clothes she had in there and getting dressed. “I’m gonna go for a walk, I’ll have my phone on me…”

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“Did Rhys know you were proposing?” Bella asked as she took his hand and stepped out.

"Oh.." Reid frowned, shifting his weight uncomfortably and glancing down at the floor. Whispering, "Right... right okay. Whatever you want."

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"No, no I kept the cards close to my chest. No one knew."

“Did you want to talk about it some more together? Cut the it’s your body bull for a minute and just tell me honestly what’s on your mind?” Astrid asked then as she closed the wardrobe behind her. “Please just... talk straight with me for a moment.”

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“I hope he’s okay with it… you’ve been in his life for years now and you’re so good to him...”

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“Hi!” Rose announced as she walked through the door, picking up and hugging Theo as he came running to her feet, Thomas following in behind her

"I can want it abd still be perfectly accepting that it is your choice at the end of the day," Reid answered with a shrug. "I've said all I need to say."

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"I- I don't think he'll have a problem. I'm sure he'll tell us if he does though."

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"Hey!" Marlowe called from the bedroom, kissing Maddox's cheek before heading into the main room with the menu.

Sienna came sprinting out of her room, instantly going to Thomas and hugging him tightly. "The lady at my crafts yesterday had the audacity to change from clay to felt before any of us had a chance to finish, can you believe it?!"

“I’m not gonna make any decisions or do anything without you… so don’t worry I’m sneaking off to go do something or anything.” Astrid whispered, hesitating before reaching up to kiss his cheek and heading out.

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“You’re already a good stepdad, I don’t see why it’ll change now it’s official...”

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“That’s unfair of them, have you told them that?” Thomas frowned as he hugged her back. “You should complain.”

“Don’t encourage her, father.”

"You really think so?"

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Reid watched her go, sitting in silence for a few minutes before taking his phone from his pocket to call Ronan.

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"I did! I told them, they didn't like it so now I'm not going back."

"You are going back," Marlowe frowned. "You can't leave every time something doesn't go your way."

“Like the horse riding, the ice skating, the ballet classes, the swimming lessons...” Maddox listed.

“The violin, and Karsi’s mentioned piano lessons too.” Rose chuckled.

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“Answer it, could be important.” Bella hummed when she heard his phone ring. “We’ve all the times in the world.”

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"None of the teachers knew what they were doing, and I deserve to have top class teachers - experts who listen to what I want." Sienna answered with a small shrug. "Levi's deserve the best."

"A lot of your teachers have been the best," Marlowe answered with a shake of her head.

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Ronan sighed, giving a nod and pulling his phone out from his pocket - walking just out of ear shot to take it. A few minutes later hanging up, making his way back to Bella and grimacing, "Astrid just found out she was pregnant with Reid's kid."

“She’ll be giving Karsi a run for her money with the business when she’s older.” Thomas grinned proudly.

“Sienna will be getting a normal job, as we’ve discussed.”

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“Oh... why the face? Is that not good news? Everyone loves a baby.”