SURPRISE (McKinnons)

Mel sighed. “Maybe we should just move to Spain or something,” she told James, grabbing a hold of his arm as they came closer to the living room. “Right, I have to calm down.”

She had asked all of her siblings to come and meet her, in the living room, today and was going to tell them... the news. Oh, bloody hell, how the fuck am I going to tell them I’m pregnant? And then tell them it’s James’s child? Shit. Shit. Shit.

At least Laura already knew, that would make it a tiny bit easier, Mel had forced her to come too, for moral support and maybe a shield if someone tried to attack her.

Mel swallowed, entering the living room and pulling James with her. This was going to be colourful.

"Spain sounds incredibly attractive right now," James muttered, letting Mel cling to his arm. "They're going to kill me, I swear. Your brothers will kill me," he muttered. It wasn't that he was terrified of her brothers, he was older, taller and he was an auror. But he could hardly hex Mel's brothers, could he?

"Are you sure we need to tell them? Can we not just pretend you just gained a lot of weight and a baby fell from the sky?" he asked her hopefully. Not that he was thinking she would say yes, but it was worth a shot.

He didn't fight as he was pulled into the living room with her, giving her siblings who were there a small smile. But he sure as hell wasn't going to say anything. Not until someone asked him a direct question.

The bet had only been on for a couple of days and already Will was feeling like utter crap. Flu-like symptoms, shivers and one hell of a headache had plagued him for the past few hours and it had taken all of his effort to get out of bed this morning. Now, as he lay curled up on the sofa with his duvet, a few of the others in the room with him, he really could think of nothing better than going to sleep forever. He'd rather be hungover than feel like this. He needed alcohol. But he wasn't going to let Liz know that.

His elder sister and one of her best friends, James, entered the room then, and he looked up at them. "Oi, James, could you get me some aspirin, a glass of water and a bucket please? I think I'm actually incapable of moving." He looked at the man and frowned for a second. He didn't seem his usual, hose-piping Liz self. Glancing at Mel, she seemed to have a pretty similar expression on hers. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked, looking from one to the other with raised eyebrows.

Willow was sat on the sofa with William, sharing his duvet, a small smile on her face as she read one of her new books. It was the one with the pretty cover, as she decided she'd be better starting with it. Considering she'd not thought through buying it, she wasn't regretting it. She wasn't reading it to her brother though. She wouldn't be in the room with so many other people if it wasn't for the fact she was worried about Will, he seemed to be quite ill.

She looked up as Mel and James entered the room, a smile lighting up her face as she looked at James, her cheeks growing warm. "Uncle James!" Willow greeted, sobering slightly and looking down at William as he spoke. Melanie and James did look kind of...different. She held her book closer, glancing between the two, waiting for them to answer Will.

Laura was sat on the floor of the living room in front of Will. She had a butterbeer next to her, and her sketchbook was propped up on her knees. She was busy sketching a little girl and was trying to make her look like a cross between James and Mel.

Unfortunately, she knew nothing about the way genetics worked, and, thus, the child just looked like a random girl frolicking through a field of lollipop-shaped flowers; the similarities between the child and the two adults could only be seen by someone who knew the brunette's intentions.

When her elder sister and James walked into the room, Laura looked up and grinned. "Hey, Mellie, Jimmy. Do you guys want some butterbeer?" she asked, holding up her drink for them to take, her grin growing as she realized how strange they looked.

She had forgotten the reason behind her being there instead of up in her room until she saw them. They were announcing the 'big news'. Laura was so excited! Apparently, the future parents of the baby in Mel's stomach didn't share that excitement, and, so, she dropped her smile, attempting to look serious.

Matthew sat curled up on his favourite armchair in the living room. Normally he wouldn't be here while there were so many people here, but Melanie asked them to get together in the living room so he did. He had no idea what she wanted, but it sounded kind of important and who was he to dishonor his sister's wishes? He had the book he was currently reading open on his lap but he couldn't concentrate on the words.

Just as he was about to close the book, James and Melanie entered the room. He nearly rolled his eyes at William asking James for an aspirin. It wasn't very polite to ask a guest to get him an aspirin. Not that Matthew was going to comment on this, he preferred staying silent.

"Hullo," he said to them, eyeing them with interest. They looked a bit tense, as if something was wrong. Matthew didn't want to ask about it, so he was slightly glad when his older brother did. Now he just had to wait for an answer.

Liz didn't really want to go down and have a family meeting, she really didn't like those and honestly, she just wanted to stay in bed and sleep until William would stop resisting and have a drink so she could have one. And go have fun. And go shag someone.

It was probably the fact that she couldn't do it, that made her want to do it so much, but she had to be strong, there was no way she was losing.

When the girl entered the living room, she saw that Mel was already there - and uncle James for some reason too, she yawned and went to sit on one of the empty couches. "So when are you going to tell us why we're here, MellySmelly?"

Aspirin and a bucket. He could totally go get aspirin and a bucket. Because getting aspirin and a bucket meant leaving the room. And leaving the room sounded extremely and utterly perfect right now. Oh he really wanted to leave the room. He really didn't want to be here for this information to be shared with these people. He would come back when they knew.

Or he wouldn't come back. He would just apparate to Spain and infiltrate in the Spanish community as a bull-fighter. He'd make a brilliant bull-fighter.

"Of course I can get you those things!" he informed William quickly, and he started to pry Mel's fingers off his arm. "It'll only take a minute. Or ten."

Mel swallowed again. This was going to be worse than she imagined, and she had imagined some very bad things. Her grip on James' arm tightened as William questioned them. Oh Merlin...Oh Merlin...

And then James was offering to leave, the room, leave her sight, not stand next to her anymore and there was no way the woman was letting that happen. She squeezed her fingers into James' arm so tight that she was sure she'd leave marks. "No leaving." she muttered under her breath before she turned to look at her siblings. "I..." she started, louder this time. "... have something that I really need to tell you guys..."

No, don't tell them. Take it back. Take it all back and just turn around and leave the room Melanie. She looked up and met William's eyes. Oh, she was so fucked.

James grimaced as the woman's fingers dug into his biceps strong enough so that he was sure they'd leave bruises. "Okay okay, I won't leave, but god woman, easy on the grip," he hissed at her, trying to pry the fingers off his arm again. Mel started to talk to her siblings and James decided the ceiling in this room was really a wonderful thing. Very interesting.

Mel stopped talking and James knew he should probably say something now. Was he supposed to say something? He was almost certain.

"What Mel is trying to say, is that, uhm," he started. But he couldn't continue, he couldn't actually say this out loud. He hadn't told anyone yet, and he couldn't be the one telling Mel's family.

Will shifted under the duvet so that his head was resting on the armrest, trying not to kick Willow, and frowned as he locked eyes with his elder sister. "What?" he asked slowly, hoarsely. "What's wrong?"

It must be something serious. He was dying. He needed painkillers now. And yet the looks on their faces made him decide that they could wait. He glanced across at Willow and then back at Mel, studying her face closely. What was it? He hoped it wasn't what he was thinking. "Okay, so who's dying?" he joked, looking from one to the other.

Oliver stretched his arms and yawned as he entered the living room. He noticed that almost all of his siblings were already in there, along with James for some odd reason, and realized that he was probably late for whatever it was Mel wanted them there for.

"So, what's going on?" he signed, walking over to a chair and sitting in it. He deemed this uncomfortable, so he shifted to where his head was where his legs would normally be, and visa versa. Much more comfortable. He looked back up at his eldest sister, willing her to go on with whatever it was she was going to say.

Mel closed her eyes, this was so bad. Just spit it out, McKinnon! she told herself, her heart hammering in her chest. She released her grip on James' arm and took a step forward, her eyes finding William's again. The way he was looking at her made her feel worse, so much worse, but she couldn't force herself to look away.

"I..." Melanie trailed off again, swallowing hard. You have to tell them. You can do it. Her hands found her stomach before she could stop them and then she choked it out. "I'm pregnant."

Laura was practically bouncing with excitement as she waited for Mel to break the news to their siblings. She had given up on looking serious a while ago, thinking that her face must've looked odd.

While Laura knew that she was probably the one that was the most excited about this whole thing, she just couldn't keep herself from squealing excitedly when Mel finally told everyone gathered that she was pregnant.

"CONGRATULATIONS, GUYS!" Laura exclaimed, jumping up and hugging both James and Mel. "I'm so happy for you!"

The brunette sat back down, the grin appearing to be permanently etched onto her face.

Willow glanced around as her other siblings joined them, becoming more and more worried. Then James and Mel started talking again, her eyes flickering between the two of them. Something to tell them? What could it be that they had to say? Something that Mel had to say that required James to be with her? She couldn't think of anything. She took a quick intake of breath as Will asked 'who's dying', assuming it was meant as a joke, but still being worried about it.

And then she said it. Melanie was pregnant. Her big sister was going to have a baby. For a moment, she was happy. But then her eyes flickered to James and her face faltered. And then Laura congratulated them. Both.

"You-you're pregnant?" she repeated, feeling her eyes begin to sting, vision becoming blurry, unable to look at James. "With-with-!" she croaked off, looking down at her lap, her hand covering her mouth. This wasn't happening. She refused.

Will opened his mouth to say something - and then shut it again. He couldn't have heard correctly. He didn't even protest when Laura screamed, dooming his headache - he merely sat there, staring blankly at his older sister.

And then he forced a laugh. "Oh wow, I think this illness is doing stuff to my hearing. Seriously, I thought you said you were pregnant. Which I mean, I know for a fact you wouldn't be, right? Because like, you know accidents happen, I mean, look at this family for starters, lightning struck eight times." He forced another laugh, this one sounding a bit more pained, and he he heard Willow whimper a little. Turning to look at his little sister, she looked more upset than he did.

He looked back up, this time at James. "You'd better start talking, Jackson."

Odette was busy playing with the Lego's Melly had bought for her a long time ago when she went on a trip to earth, when Mel and James entered the room, so she didn't notice them at once. She had built a tower, that was almost as tall as her.

She looked up when Ollie entered the room and ran to where he sat and climbed up on the chair and plopped herself in is lap and stuck her thumb into her mouth. It was always comfortable to sit with Ollie and she could feel the tiredness slipping in.

But then Melly started talking and said she needed to tell them something, and Odette became wide awake again. 'Pregnant? that's the thingie with the baby.'

"BABY!" It had slipped out before Odette could stop it and she was climbing off of Ollie and running towards Melly and James before she knew it. She stopped in front of Melly and put her hand on her belly.

"But Melly, you don't have a big belly, babies come from big bellies, that's what Laura said." The seven year old said and looked at her sister with big eyes.

Mel choked out she was pregnant and James found himself begging that the ground would just swallow him whole. Laura was hugging them and almost automatically James hugged the younger girl back. He took a step forward again and curled his arm around Mel´s waist, because honestly, she looked ready to faint any minute now.

¨Well, yeah, she´s pregnant,¨ he repeated when William instructed him to get talking. What was he supposed to say? That he had sex with his older sister while they were both drunk and now they had to live with the consequences? There was no way James was saying that.

Then Odette came running at them and James gently patted her hair. ¨The belly has to grow, just like the baby,¨ he informed her with a smile. He looked up and stared around the room again. Well, that was what he was planning on doing but his eyes came to rest on Willow, who seemed to be crying. Why was she crying? Was it that bad they were going to have a baby? James felt himself grow awkward and tightened his grip on Mel´s waist, pulling her a little closer. ¨Why is your sister crying?¨ he whispered in her ear, needing to know. ¨I thought at least your sisters would be happy. Why is she crying?¨ he repeated.

Mel's eye contact with her brother was broken when her younger sister pulled her in a hug, but the older girl was too completely and utterly terrified to even think about hugging back, so instead she just stood like a rock, her face getting paler by the second.

When William spoke, Mel wanted to leave, and she would've had she been able to, but she was pretty sure if she tried to move that she'd collapse.

A smile tugged at her lips at her younger sister, Odette seemed to accept the fact that Mel was pregnant, quite happily. Mel let herself lean against James as he wrapped his arms around her and she felt her self get a tiny bit calmer as she listened to him explain the 'belly thing' to Odette.

James' question about Willow made Mel look up, only then noticing the look on Willow's face. "Uh..." she stuttered out in a whisper. "I'm not sure." and she honestly wasn't. What was wrong with Willow? Mel had been almost sure Willow would be happy that she was having a baby and James... Oh Merlin...Willow... James... Oh shit.

Mel's throat went dry. Oh shit oh shit oh shit, her mind cursed, say something Melanie. No, don't look at Willow, no don't look at William, just look at the wall, oh pretty wall. Say something! The girl stared at the wall, biting her lip nervously before she mumbled out. "I... please... guys... please, don't freak out..."

Oh Merlin. She was. She was pregnant. Will groaned and threw his head back against the arm rest. "Brilliant. Fabulous. Wonderful. Okay. So you're knocked up and he is the father. And I thought you had taste." He closed his eyes. "Fucking hell, Melanie," he murmured, not even caring about the children present in the room. And he was usually good at containing his language. Oh, Merlin, he really needed a drink. He needed one so bad he wanted to cry.

"And you," he said, glaring at James, "What the hell? You just take advantage of my sister and think that's okay?" He knew somewhere at the back of his mind that he was being unreasonable but Willow was crying and he needed to hold someone responsible.

"Of all of us, Mel, though," he said quietly. "Did you forget? You just breeze along and make the same mistake as them? After everything?" He locked eyes with her again, as if trying to channel what he was thinking through eye contact alone.

Willow barely noticed Will talking, or Odette running up to James and Mel. She was too busy trying to keep herself composed. She couldn't let herself cry. Not in front of everyone together. Not over this.

She sucked in a breath, wiping the corners of her eyes and looking up, eyes falling instantly on James. She bit her lip, standing up and walking over to him, looking at the ground for a moment, trying to think of what to say. She had never expected this. Sure, she knew in the back of her mind something like this would happen one day, but with her own sister?

Looking up and trying to blink back tears, Willow spoke in a very quiet voice, not wanting anyone but James to hear her, especially not Mel. Even though they were so close, and James had an arm round her waist, and-!

"Uncle James..." she murmured with a shaky voice, hoping that he would pull away from Mel and move closer to her if he couldn't hear her properly. Her eyes constantly flickered between his face and the floor. "Does-does this mean I'm not your princess anymore?"

Wow, Liz had really not been expecting this. The girl's eyebrows rose so high on her forehead that she was quite positive they'd soon leave her head. Of all people, Mel was having a kid with... James? Holy fuck that's really messed up.

But the girl couldn't stop a twisted grin from forming on her face, maybe it wast he lack of alcohol, the lack sex or just fun in general, but this really amused her. "Wow Melly, and I thought I was supposed to be the fucked up one." Liz tilted her head to the side, smirking. "How does it feel, being a screw up?"

James chewed on his lip at William's words. How was he supposed to react to this? What was he supposed to say? He decided not to speak. He really wanted to get out, out of the room. He wanted to hide in his room and never get out again. William left him alone in favour of talking to Mel again and James nearly got lost in his thoughts when he heard someone near him speak his name.

He looked down and saw Willow standing there, her voice soft and her eyes teary. His eyes widened at her words and suddenly something just seemed to click in his mind. So this was why she always blushed this much when he was there. And why she liked spending time with him so much. Oh Merlin, now he knocked up her older sister. He could imagine that, oh he felt horrible.

He unwound his arm from Mel's waist and got down on one knee in front of Willow, ignoring all the other people in the room for a moment because this was just a tad more important right now.

"Of course it doesn't mean that. You'll always stay my Princess," he told her, his voice just as quiet as hers. He should probably say something about the fact that he was twenty-four and she was eleven and it was totally inappropriate for her to have a crush on him but he couldn't do it. He doubted she would appreciate he knew anyway. So he just stayed silent, hoping that it would go away. "You are, after all, the prettiest girl I know! But don't tell your sister I said that, because she might kill me," he told her, deciding she needed a little pick-me-up. He wanted to get a smile back on her face.

Willow waited as James knelt in front of her, scared about what his answer would be. Now he was going to have a baby and she'd come second- no, third, to her sister and their child.

A smile cracked on her face however as he told her she would always be his princess, feeling her cheeks heat up as they usually did, her hand raising to wipe away the tears again. She giggled as he called her pretty, the smile widening and unable to stop herself throwing her arms round his neck, hugging him tightly. She didn't ever want to lose James. No one made her feel special like he did.

She pulled back and nodded as she spoke. "I won't tell Mel," Willow promised. "I think you'll have a very pretty baby," she looked from Mel to James again, still whispering as if they were trying to keep it hidden. "Does this mean you'll be married, like mummy and daddy?"

Oliver's jaw dropped, despite him being upside down. He held Oddie tight against him. Mel is pregnant? But.. No, I can't have heard that right. Mel's not that dumb! Wait.. James is the father?! Is she crazy? I'm gonna kill him, he thought, turning right side up and glaring fiercely at James after Oddie had gotten off of him and ran towards them. It was no secret that Oliver was very protective of his siblings, and he was not liking this one bit.

"Are you nuts, Mel?" he signed, breaking away from glaring at James. "How could you be having a baby? Don't you think you're a bit young?" he questioned. Yes, Mel was quite old enough to have children if she wished, but he didn't care. She should at least be married first! Oliver saw the look on Willow's face and it was heart breaking. Oh Merlin, she has a crush on him, doesn't she? Poor Willow. Now I'm really gonna kill him. Oliver turned back to James to continue glaring at him.