The tour had wrapped up in London on June 7th and everyone involved was looking forward to the break they'd be getting but first, there was one meeting that all four members had to attend before they could let themselves relax.
"Alright buddy," John whispers, hauling Arthur into his arms, "Let's go, yeah? Don't want Uncle Freddie snapping at us because we're late."
"Yah!" Arthur exclaims and John shushes him, glancing towards the back of the couch, where on the other side of it, Roxanne is nursing an absolute horror of a headache.
"Rox?" John says softly, tentatively stepping over to it, "That's us going."
He doesn't want to leave her like this, she's had the headache for a couple of days and knowing that she'd never get peace with Arthur's shouting (his favourite thing to do just now), John decided that the best thing to do was to take him with him.
Roxy pushes herself up, "Alright, have a good day."
"I hope you feel better," he whispers, kissing her softly, "Say goodbye to mummy."
"Bye-bye," Arthur murmurs, giving her his own sloppy kiss on the cheek and she smiles.
"Bye baby, I'll see you later."
"Paracetamol is on the counter," John tells her before they take their leave.
She waits until she hears the door close softly before falling back down onto the couch - regretting it immediately as her head throbs, "Fuck."
She thinks it's the jetlag but considering that they'd been home for a couple of weeks, she thought she'd been over it but clearly, she was wrong and the headache was probably from being up with Arthur. He was teething and while he'd had no trouble up until now, this newest tooth was giving him some discomfort and her poor little nugget seemed to be in pain all the time.
She would like nothing more than to lay here for the duration of the day but she had things to be doing and so she gets up, gripping the arm of the couch when she moves too quick. She had to nip into the small town for some things for Arthur, deciding she'd do that first so it got leaving the house out of the way and so she heads upstairs to get changed.
She pops to the loo before she goes, suddenly realising that in the short time she's been awake, she's been peeing more than normal.
"I swear to god if I have an infection," she mutters, washing her hands before leaving the bathroom. She'll talk to the pharmacist at the chemist if he's there.
The walk into town isn't long but the cool summer breeze feels almost welcome to her face. Maybe the fresh air would help too. She loves this area and she's oh so glad the John had found the house when he did. It's always quiet, they're never disturbed by people with cameras like those in the city and everyone who lives here, they were so welcoming and friendly.
Both she and John are now regulars in the town store. It has everything; fresh food, grocery items, toiletries and right up the back, is the chemist/pharmacy, where there's no one stood behind the counter and so while she waits, Roxy takes a look at their section for headache relief which is in the back corner.
There's a poster explaining what each drug does, right next to one about pregnancy symptoms but she ignores that. At least she tries to. She tries to focus on finding the right medicine for her headache but she finds that she can't help but let her eyes wander over it.
She couldn't be...could she?
Not knowing why, she takes a look around to see if anyone else is around before stepping to the left so she can read the poster properly.
Think you're pregnant? These could be signs;
Dizziness - check
Fatigue - check
Headaches - check
Out of the twelve that are up there, she can only see three that she's suffering from but that doesn't mean anything. Below the poster are the pregnancy tests and biting her lip, Roxy debates with herself.
Had she and John even had unprotect-oh, maybe.
She grabs four (two less than when she did this for Arthur), quickly gets everything else that she needs to get - including Calpol and some teething rings before she heads for the till.
Thankfully it's not the regular cashier and so she manages to buy them without any awkward chit-chat.
She practically runs home after that, stepping over Casper and Amos who are lounging on the front steps in the sun.
She tosses her bag onto the kitchen worktop, raking through it to find the tests before filling some glasses up with water and downing them and it isn't long before she's needing to go.
Upstairs, she does what she needs to do once more, lining the tests up on the sink counter and then she steps out into the hall. If she'd stayed in there and waited, she'd go crazy.
For the fifteen minutes she waits, Roxy potters around in Arthur's room; picking up discarded toys and putting away the clothes that John had washed he other day and before she knows it, twenty-five minutes had passed.
She gathers the tests as she walks by the sink, putting the toilet seat down. "Alright," she whispers, sitting down, "Alright."
Taking a deep breath, she turns the first one over and there, staring back at her, were two pink lines.
It was the same on the second one.
And the third.
And the fourth.
"Holy shit."
Roxanne knows exactly when this happened; it was a few weeks before the end of the tour. Freddie had offered to take Arthur for the night which she and John accepted with very little hesitation. When they'd come back from dinner, they hadn't been able to keep their hands off of one another but what Roxanne couldn't remember, was if John had managed to get a condom on and it had failed them (again) or if she had told him not to worry about it. It was probably the second one.
Resting a hand on her stomach, she has to try and stop herself from smiling.
They were going to have a baby.
++|++
Keeping the pregnancy from John was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. As soon as he and Arthur had walked through the door that night, she almost came out with it but she'd managed to stop herself. Father's Day was just a couple away and really, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
The day before, when John was out in the back garden talking to one of their neighbours (Mrs Henderson was the one who owned Casper's nemesis, Louie), Roxanne and Arthur hid up in the little boy's room where they worked on a handmade card which -along with Roxy's face and Arthur's shirt- was covered in tiny handprints. She was planning on signing it 'From Arthur and Deakling number 2'.
The morning of Father's Day, Roxanne wakes to see that John's already sitting up beside her, scribbling away in his notebook.
"Happy father's day," she says, rolling onto his side to give him a lazy smile.
"Thank you," he grins, hand pausing then she reaches over to pluck the small notebook from his hand.
"You're not supposed to be working," she tuts, carefully putting the book onto his bedside table, "Not while you're on break and especially not today."
"Oh? And why not?" he raises an eyebrow.
"Because I said so," she grins, kissing him loudly on the cheek before she's rolling out of the bed, "I'm going to go make some breakfast."
John rolls his eyes as she leaves them room, reaching over to pick up the notebook again. He'll just finish the first verse and then stop. He glances up as his wife darts back into the room, kneeling onto the bed so she can kiss him.
"I mean it," she whispers, "Happy father's day, John. Thank you for being an incredible dad to our little on-man."
"Rox,"
She silences him with another kiss, "Now I'm really going to make breakfast. Please stay put."
Roanne leans against the wall outside the bedroom. That was almost a slip of the tongue there.
Downstairs, she gets started on breakfast, deciding to make pancakes and since it's a special day, chocolate chips would be added though she stops when she hears movement from the upper floor. She moves to the bottom of the stairs, ready to scold her husband and tell him to go back to bed but stops when she sees that he's going into Arthur's room.
He must be awake.
After plating up some pancakes for her and John, Roxy decides that it's time that Arthur got in on the treat and so she makes some smaller ones for him and balancing the three plates on her arm, she heads back upstairs.
John is tickling the little boy when she enters the room and noticing her presence, he stops and sits Arthur on his lap.
"Breakfast in bed?" he asks, "Mummy's spoiling us, isn't she?"
She hands him his plate first and then rips off a bit of one of the smaller pancakes for Arthur, which he takes hesitantly from her, looking up at John as if to say what is this?
"Go on," he encourages.
Roxy smiles, setting her plate down on the bed before she gets up to go get John his handmade card.
She'd hid it under her Arthur's bed, knowing that John would never look under there and once she's felt about for it, she reads it over to make sure it's perfect and then returns through to their room.
"Alright," she grins, holding out the card, "Arthur made this for you."
"You did?" John asks, wiping his hands with a napkin before he takes the card from her. He takes a good look at the front and reaches out to tickle Arthur's tummy, which makes the little boy shriek with laughter, "Look at this, little man. You're so talented. I think he's going to be an artist when he grows up, Rox."
She grins, unable to sit down as she's nibbling on her pancake (she's far too nervous) as he continues to admire Arthur's artwork. Please, just read it you adorable doofus she thinks, taking a deep breath when he finally flips it open.
"Did he write it too?" he jokes but Roxanne can't laugh, watching as his eyes skim the text inside, all the way down to the bottom, "Love from, Arthur and...and Deakling number two."
She bites her lip as the words he's just said sink in.
"You," he clears his throat, "Are you? Are we?"
His hand covers his mouth as she nods, "We're having another baby."
He puts the card off to the side before scrambling up from the bed, "You're being serious?"
Reaching into her bedside drawer, she pulls out the tests and hands him one, "Deadly serious."
He scrambles up from the bed and she lets out a squeal when he picks her up and spins her around, "John! John, put me down!"
"Sorry," he whispers, "'m sorry. Are you alright? Do you feel sick?"
"No, no. It's just," she nods to Arthur who is now kneeling on the bed, arms up because he wants to join in the fun too.
"We're having another baby," John whispers, cupping her face so he can kiss her, "God, Rox, another baby!"
She nods, laughing when he hugs her tightly again, "Yeah, we are."
And she couldn't wait.
++|++
i watched Jurassic Park last night and so it was only natural that i had a dream that me and Joe were running around the park trying not to get eaten by the T-Rex and i don't know who was screaming more; me or him. stg it was one of the best dreams i've ever had and am so glad that i've been able to remember it