Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 12)

(Omg yes the pear was horrifying to read too! tho low key reminded me of a speculum)(and honestly I really like the Grammarly plug in. I’m too cheap to get premium but it has revealed to me my illiterace and tendency to forget linking words lol)

Tadaaki held her for a long, long, long time, trembling. And then she could feel this his breaths were equally shaky as he let them out in silent sobs. She hugged him back tightly. “Oh… honey… are these tears of happiness or sorrow?”

He was silent for a moment before managing a weak, “yes.”

(It is legit the speculum's shitty cousin)
(Ahh, the old linking words. Those are important.
Grammarly would hate me because I tend to speak in sentence fragments and that translates into my written dialogue.)

"Why were you showing Ky the tunnels?" Gaius asked after a little longer.
"Thought she'd think they were cool," Tomhas mumbled. "I guess she did a little but she hot scared too. We got separated because I was too distracted to notice she wasn't following me."

“Oh, honey…” she cooed, rubbing his back. “It’s okay.”

He hugged her tighter and shook his head, feeling like a little boy.

“It will,” she repeated. “It’s okay to feel what you’re feeling. Let yourself grieve if you need to. But then remember how much we always wanted this before. How we were talking about getting a sibling for Tasia before she was even born.”

“That was different,” he whispered miserably.

“Why is it different?”

“That was back when I thought I could be a good father.”

“You are an excellent father.”

He scoffed scornfully. That was just objectively untrue.

“I would pick you all over again to be a father to my children. I have picked you to father my second child.”

Tadaaki hesitated.

“And literally everyone can see how much Tasia adores you as her papa. She insulted the king to sing your praises.”

Tadaaki cringed. That’d been painful. But was almost funny now that there was time and space between them and the humiliation. “She’s a child. She doesn’t know anything yet.”

“She knows she loves you,” she countered. “She’s a child, as you said. She doesn’t know enough to spare your feelings, if she wasn’t so utterly enamored by you. But she is.”

Gaius grimaced; that must have terrified the poor girl.
"Are you both relatively okay now?"
"She's more okay." He pulled away from Gaius after a moment, wrapping his arms around himself tightly. "I fucked up though. I'm a shitty father."
Gaius was silent for a moment. "Not always," he said finally. "And it wasn't entirely your fault this time."

(Omfg what a dick)

Tadaaki was silent for a long moment, breaths finally starting to calm. “… you’re certain?”

“I am one hundred percent certain. It’s not possible to be more certain than I am now.”

Tadaaki hesitated and then finally pulled away, looking down at her belly. He very, very gently rested a hand over it. “Hello little one.”

(Tomhas married his child off to a sociopath, Gaius ain't sugarcoating it)

Tomhas glanced at him. "Thanks for that."
"Let's not argue again." Gaius grabbed his crutches and pulled himself upright. "Sit here awhile longer, get your breath back."

(Okay yeah that’s fair)

He hesitated, looking back at Aashi, emotions still very confused. “You’re sure?”

“Completely and totally,” she assured him, resting her hand over his.

He hesitated a moment longer and then bent down to talk to her belly. “Papa loves you, baby. Already.”

Tomhas rocked himself slightly, closing his eyes. Gaius sat back down on the bed and picked up his book. He'd let Tomhas work himself down and then he'd get him to leave.

Aashi smiled and leaned down to plant a kiss on his forehead. “And we love you.”

Eventually Tomhas got to his feet and, without a word, shuffled out the door. Gaius watched him go, then went back to his book.

(That’s about all I’ve got)

(Righto wanna skip somewhere?)

(Good with me! Any ideas?)

(We could do the next day or further along, or we could do dinner and have Aashi announce the news--if she wants. The downside to dinner would be the brothers would be awkward.)

(That’s true… Hm… we could skip to the next day. Give them a chance to talk to other people privately before it becomes public knowledge you know? Get used to the idea)