Later that day, Isabelle had fallen asleep and was woken up by the sound of Bill's voice, but she was no longer wrapped in his arms like she had been when she fell asleep.
"Hey, love," Bill said, pushing a strand of her hair away from her face. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit," Isabelle mumbled, closing her eyes again.
Bill chuckled softly. "Mum sent a potion that she says should help with the pain, but you've got to eat something first so it doesn't make you sick."
Isabelle let out a small groan. "I really don't want to eat anything."
"I know, but it'll make you feel better," he said.
Isabelle huffed quietly. "Fine. Only if you carry me."
Bill chuckled again. "Really?"
Isabelle nodded with a cheeky smile, and Bill laughed as he reached one arm under her back and the other under her knees to lift her up bridal style, carrying her out of the bedroom and down the stairs as she giggled.
"Wait, you don't want me to help?" Isabelle asked as he set her down on the sofa in the living room.
"No, I already made lunch, you just sit right here," Bill said, leaving her towards the kitchen.
He came back a minute or so later with two bowls in hand, as well as a small potion bottle that he set down on the side table, and handed her one, the smell of the warm soup in the bowl making her realize she was more hungry than she thought.
"You said you were feeling nauseous so I thought soup would be a better option," he said.
"Thank you," Isabelle smiled gratefully, taking a bite. Obviously Bill's cooking skills were no match for his mother, but she still thought it was delicious nonetheless.
She soon finished her soup while he ate beside her, and was pretty happy that it didn't make her feel sick and actually made her feel a little better instead.
"Just a sip of this, then?" Isabelle asked him when they were both done, picking up the bottle to look at it.
"That's what Mum said in her letter. Hold on," he said, getting up and taking their bowls away into the kitchen. He came back a few seconds later with a glass of water and handed it to her.
"In case it tastes bad," Bill shrugged, returning to his seat.
Isabelle set the water down and opened the potion bottle, taking a sip of it before her face scrunched up and she let out a small cough. She set the bottle down and picked up the glass again, taking several big drinks of water.
"That's terrible," Isabelle said, putting the empty glass back on the table.
"I figured, pain potions usually are," he said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his side. "You should feel a difference in a few minutes."
"I hope so," she said, cuddling into him.
——————
Isabelle ended up sleeping through the rest of the day and late into the evening with him on the sofa, the pain potion going into effect after a few long minutes. He was happy to lay with her as she drifted off, rubbing her back gently to try to help her.
Bill didn't realize how exhausted she must have been after their short trip to Egypt until then and let her sleep, not minding her incoherent mumbling against his chest or the fact that his muscles were starting to ache from laying in the same position for so long. He was just relieved that she wasn't in as much pain and she was able to get some rest.
As the sun went down, Bill, too, drifted off to sleep for a long while until he felt her move on top of him hours later.
"Bill?" she said, watching his eyes slowly flutter open to look down at her.
"Yeah?"
"Do you still love me?" she asked.
"Of course I do, darling," Bill said, running his fingers through her hair. "So much."
"Even when I'm cranky or needy?"
"Yes, Iz, even then," he said.
Isabelle just nodded and rested her head back down against his chest, keeping silence between them for what seemed to be a very long minute.
"So, do you think we could bake some cookies?" she eventually asked, causing him to let out a laugh.
"That's what this is about? Asking me if we can make cookies?" Bill said.
Isabelle nodded again and flashed him a smile, making him roll his eyes playfully.
"What time is it?" he asked.
Isabelle shrugged. "Around two, I think."
Bill let out a small huff and sat up with her, standing from the sofa and pulling her up to her feet.
"You go get the ingredients out, I'll be right back," Isabelle said.
Bill nodded and kissed her cheek quickly before she made her way upstairs and he went into the kitchen, turning on the lights and getting out the ingredients to make the cookies she wanted.
Isabelle returned after a few minutes and soon they were working on their cookies, Isabelle mixing them together in the bowl as Bill handed her different ingredients.
"Bill, can you-"
Isabelle was cut off as flour was suddenly smeared across her cheek, and she looked at him with a gaping expression.
"Oops," Bill shrugged with a grin. "What was it you needed, love?"
"What I need is a husband who doesn't make a mess every time we cook together," Isabelle said, wiping the flour off of her face and instead putting it on the tip of his nose, making him scrunch up his face playfully.
"Good thing I'm not your husband yet. I guess you're stuck with me," Bill said.
He leaned down and kissed her softly, and after a second she melted into it, wrapping her arms around his neck loosely. His hands moved to her hips for a few moments before reaching back towards her thighs, picking her up and placing her on the counter.
Bill leaned on his hands on either side of her as he deepened the kiss, her hands moving to tangle her fingers in his hair as she giggled softly. He bit down on her bottom lip gently to get permission to slip his tongue into her mouth, and she let out a small moan as it grew more aggressive.
Isabelle was the one to break the kiss after a few seconds, pushing him back a little, gently, by his chest.
"You know we can't, love," Isabelle said.
"We could go take a shower," Bill said as he placed soft kisses on her shoulder.
"I'm really not feeling up to it. I'm sorry," Isabelle said.
"No no, it's okay, darling. You never have to apologize for telling me no," Bill said.
Isabelle smiled gratefully. "Plus, I'm still really excited about these cookies."
Bill chuckled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before moving away from her. "You sit there while I finish these up."
It didn't take much longer for them to finish making the cookie dough, though it took some extra time to get it onto the pan as he was trying to do that while fighting off her trying to eat the raw dough, and for the cookies to be put in the oven to bake.
Bill shut the oven door, but instead of returning in front of her, he moved to the other side of the kitchen to turn on the radio, which already held a cassette tape of his full of slow songs.
"You want me to dance with you?" Isabelle asked, smiling.
Bill shrugged playfully. "If you insist," he said, picking her up from the counter and setting her down to wrap his arms around her and pull her close.
Isabelle happily wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and swayed with him to the soft music, perfectly content with holding each other close in silence for a long while, several minutes passing before either of them spoke.
"You'll have to teach our daughter how to dance someday," Isabelle eventually said, looking up at him.
"You think we'll have a daughter?" Bill asked.
Isabelle nodded. "You said you always wanted a daughter. We could just keep trying until we have one."
Bill let out a quiet laugh. "I think that was Mum and Dad's idea and we see how that turned out."
"I'd be happy with a family like yours," Isabelle shrugged.
"Well, what if we have a baby and you decide you never want to go through that again?" he asked.
"There's nothing wrong with adopting," she said.
"I think that would be wonderful, actually," Bill smiled. "A whole house full of little Weasleys."
"We'll just have to see what happens," Isabelle said.
Bill looked as if he was going to say something else, but the timer she had set for the cookies sitting on the counter went off, letting them know that it was time to take them from the oven. Bill let go of her to do so, using his wand to levitate the pan out of the oven and set it on top of the stove.
"What would you ever do without magic?" Isabelle said.
"What do you mean?" he asked, setting his wand down on the table.
"I mean you're always doing small, simple things with magic and it wouldn't hurt for you to do some things without it sometimes," she said.
"I don't always use magic, you know that, and it's just more convenient," Bill shrugged.
"It might be, but it's good to do things on your own, too."
Bill just shook his head and turned away from her, leaning against the counter to look out of the window into the night.
"We are not about to have an argument over how often I use magic," Bill said quietly.
"I wasn't trying to start one," Isabelle said, moving behind him and wrapping her arms around his torso. She pressed a soft kiss to his back before resting her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"No, you're right, Iz. I have been a little too reliant on using magic lately and I know how you feel about it. I'll be sure to not use it so much," Bill said as he turned around in her arms and held her close.
"Thank you, darling," Isabelle smiled, standing on her toes to kiss him quickly, not giving him the chance to lean down to reach her first.
He went to pull her in for another but she moved out of his arms before he could, reaching for a cookie that she thought had cooled down enough to eat. She took it and split it in half, putting one half in her mouth while offering the other to him. Bill smiled as she fed him the cookie before helping her pile the rest onto a plate.
He set the plate down onto the kitchen table before taking a seat himself, pulling her into his lap before she could sit.
"I think I'm going to be a terrible mother," Isabelle said, taking another cookie from the plate.
"I know that you're going to be a wonderful mother," Bill said.
"No, I really am going to be terrible," she said.
"How? Why would you think that?" Bill asked, surprised.
"Because if our adorable kids ask if they can have cookies for dinner, how could I possibly say no?" Isabelle said, taking a large bite.
"Well, do you want to know what I think?" Bill asked, holding her closer as she nodded. "I think you are going to be the most incredible mother who will make the best decisions and our children will love more than anything."
"Really?" Isabelle said, her smile softening.
Bill nodded. "Of course."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked.
"Because I know that I do," Bill said. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Isabelle said and pulled him into a soft kiss.
Isabelle cupped his face in her hands, running her fingertips along his jaw as his one hand rubbed her back and the other reached into her hair. The kiss was long and slow as they enjoyed the relaxed moment, only pulling away when they needed to breathe.
Isabelle rested her forehead against his and kept her eyes closed, smiling contently and not noticing his gaze on her.
"I'm so in love with you. I hope you know that," Bill said.
"How could I forget? You're always reminding me," Isabelle said, making him chuckle quietly.
"And I'm in love with you," she added.
"Everything with you has been incredible. I still can hardly believe I'm marrying you and we're going to have our own little family," he said. "It's like a dream."
"If this is a dream, I never want to wake up," Isabelle said.
"Waking up would be the real nightmare," he said.
Isabelle kissed him again, but it was much shorter as she was interrupted by her own yawns.
"The rest of the cookies can wait. Let's get you to bed," Bill said, moving her off of his lap to stand himself.
"Same goes for kisses?" she asked.
Bill looked down at her and let out a short but dramatic sigh. "I guess we can squeeze in a few more kisses," he said, kissing her cheek gently before taking her hand.
He led her upstairs to their bedroom and crawled into bed with her, letting her get comfortable first before he wrapped his arms around her. He pressed a few soft kisses to her forehead, cheeks, and lips, and rubbed her back gently until she fell asleep in his arms.
——————
Two days went by until it was another morning where she, once again, woke up without Bill next to her.
Bill had spent the last few days taking care of her more than anything. Some days were worse than others for her. The potion Molly had sent them did wonders for her cramping pain, but it didn't fix anything. She was still incredibly uncomfortable, occasionally felt the waves of nausea that she typically had during particularly bad months, and still dealt with bits of pain in her back and headaches.
The pain-killer potion had worn off by the time she woke up and she felt around his side of the bed before she realized he was gone and slowly got out of bed.
She eventually found him downstairs, dressed as if he was going to work while making some toast.
"Where are you going this early?" Isabelle asked.
"I was just asked to come into work today," he said, setting a plate of toast along with eggs down on the table.
"But you're not supposed to go back to work until Monday," she said.
"I know, but with everyone in a panic and trying to take money to and from the bank, as well as the Ministry, they needed the help," Bill explained. "I'm sorry, I know I promised you the week."
"It's okay, I understand," Isabelle said, taking his hands in hers and squeezing them lightly.
Bill pulled his hands away from hers and instead brought her into a hug, feeling her grip the back of his shirt after a few moments.
"Bad morning?" he asked quietly, and she just nodded her head as she kept her face buried in his chest.
"I made you breakfast, you should try to eat," Bill said.
"I really don't want to," Isabelle mumbled against his shirt.
"I know, darling, but you have to so you can take your medicine and feel better."
Eventually, Isabelle agreed and they sat in mostly silence until they were finished with their quick breakfast and she'd taken the pain potion.
"I'm going to try to come home as early as I can," Bill told her once he noticed her start to relax.
"I'm counting on it," Isabelle said with a bit of a smile. "I need you to help me with laundry tonight."
"You could just use magic," he suggested, and immediately caught the look she gave him. "Right, no magic for simple things."
"What are you going to be doing today?" Bill then asked.
"Well, I wanted to spend the day cuddling and watching bad movies with you," Isabelle said. "But if I'm feeling okay enough, I would like to go help Fred and George at the shop today. With everyone going shopping for school and them selling those defensive items, they said they're just as busy."
"I'm sure they'll really appreciate the help, love, but you shouldn't be doing too much if you don't feel well," Bill said.
"It's something I'm just going to have to learn to deal with now if I'm going to stay off of birth control. I won't be able to take off work every month for a week just because of it when the school year starts," she said.
Bill nodded in understanding. "I wish there was more I could do to help. I hate seeing you hurting."
"You've been pretty wonderful so far, I think you're doing plenty," Isabelle smiled. "Some extra kisses and cuddles tonight would be lovely, though. And maybe some chocolate on your way home."
"Anything you want," Bill chuckled.
Soon it was time for him to be off and Isabelle was reluctant to see him go, wanting him to just stay with her all day in bed.
"I'll be home as soon as I can, with chocolate," Bill said as they stood just outside, the sun already beginning to warm the air.
"Promise?" Isabelle asked, and his expression softened.
"I promise," he said.
Isabelle held out her pinky to him with a smile, making him chuckle. "Really?"
Isabelle nodded. "We used to take pinky promises very seriously in my family."
Bill looked at her for a moment before lifting his hand and linking his pinky with hers, swiftly pulling her towards him into a short, but still wonderful, kiss.
He pulled away to see the much brighter smile on her face, one he would remember while he was gone for the entire day.
"I'll see you later," Bill said.
"I'll be waiting," Isabelle replied, and with one more smile and a flick of his wand, he was gone into the morning, leaving her alone at Shell Cottage for the first time in days.
Short one again but i had a bit of a time crunch to finish it (yes it is 3 am)
I'm going to be away from home for the next 11 days, but it's a lot of driving, so there could be several updates or none at all within that time and i just wanted to go ahead and give that explanation now :)