Making Plans

Who: Maddie and Billy
Where: Their place
When: Afternoon

Maddie was spending her day as she usually did, being a housewife. Which really? Was a pretty damn good deal for her. Sure there was the shop, but she didn't get that many customers at the best of times, and most people wanted little charms she had in the shop already, not anything she needed to be whipping up overnight for them. So, while technically the shop was open, she was in the sun room, occasionally swearing at her knitting as she sat in her rocking chair and attempted to make a blanket. It was a work in progress. The failed attempts were unravelled at her feet or off to the side of the chair, and there were in fact, a few of them.

But she kept trying. Sure, it meant there were little balls of yarn tossed at the walls and that knitting needle that was sticking out of the wall? That was her fault. But she had time, and she wanted to do it. It just looked far easier than it was in practice. Or, it was so far. She was starting to get it down, she just kept dropping stitches, and she wanted a perfect blanket for her baby. She insisted upon it, even. So no dropped damn stitches.

As normal days went, Billy had been having one as well. He'd left early that morning and spent the day working on various jobs that needed doing. He'd actually managed to get yesterday's roof job done, but it had meant that by the time he'd gotten home, it was late and he was dead on his feet. He'd left early this morning, but that had only been so that he could be home at a reasonable time.

He came in through the front door, taking his dirty boots off and leaving them on the porch for now. He was still proud of their house and he didn't want to ruin things with muddy footprints everywhere. He had a good idea of where Maddie would be at this time of day, so he padded through to the sun room, knowing he was home earlier than he'd expected to be and looking forward to surprising her.

When she heard the door open and such, she had to pause and listen, judging who it was. It was a little early for Billy to be back, and it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that someone was visiting. If it was a customer, they would have used the shop door, and a bell would have let her know she was back on the clock so to speak. But that didn't happen, and she leaned forward, looking over behind the chair. When she saw Billy, she smiled. It was bright and immediate, and she dropped her knitting down to get up and cross to him, sliding her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss. "You're home!" she noted, which was in fact, obvious, but still. It was a warm tone, a pleased one. Maddie was a little weirdly affectionate and sweeter so far during her pregnancy.

He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, feeling a warmth spread through him as he did so. It was times like this that he had to wonder why he left here in the first place. Sure, okay, they needed him to work to make money for them to live, but right now that felt like a minor consideration. It'd be nicer just to always stay here, at this house, with his family. "Well, I was late yesterday, so I thought I'd make up for it by being early today," he told her as he broke off the kiss and looked around the room. He raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the needle stuck in the wall. "So - who's winning? You or the knitting?"

She glanced over and made a face at the offending needle. "It wasn't cooperating with me." she said. "So, it needed to be taught a lesson. I figure a good day or so in time out there, it'll learn to straighten up and fly right." she said with a nod. "....but really so far I can't really say I'm doing much winning. I've had to re-do everything I've done today and yesterday and so far I'm not an accomplished knitter." she confessed. "But I'm determined. I'm stubborn. I'm sure eventually the yarn will give it up as a bad job and just work."

"You'll wrestle it into submission?" Billy asked, teasing gently. But, he knew when not to wind her up, and this was one of those times. For some reason, she'd decided that knitting things for the baby was important, so he'd been carefully avoiding the topic of her giving up and them just going to the store and buying things. Somehow, he really didn't think that would go down too well.

"That's my working theory, yes." Maddie said firmly. Then she started to tug him over towards the couch in there, since she knew he'd been working hard, so he needed to rest up. Or, that was her excuse, mostly she wanted to snuggle. "It'll work eventually, honest. Or, I'll just get better at knitting. I have time to get at least acceptably good."

"I know you'll get there eventually," Billy agreed, diplomatically. He wasn't convinced - his love didn't have the greatest amount of patience, after all. But, again, he'd keep that to himself. He'd learned long ago that the trick for dealing with Maddie was to pick your battles, so she got unswerving support in this one and he'd save his points for another day. He sat down on the sofa with a slight sigh, glad to get off his feet finally.

Maddie settled herself on one end, and tugged him over, so his head was in her lap. Then she got to work carefully tugging her fingers through his hair, getting little tangles out of the curls. "So, how was your day?" she asked, tone amused as she did so. She still got randomly amused at the little things. Like asking him how his day was after he got home from work. Like waking up with him, like doing little things around the house, like cooking for them both. Even if she needed work in that department too, she was getting better.

Billy settled himself down on his back, looking up at her. "My day was fine - long. I'm officially taking tomorrow off though. It's been too long since I actually had a weekend." That was the downside of running your own business - no nine to five. You did the work as and when it came in, which meant that some weeks, Billy worked right through the weekend. "I need a day off. A proper day off - Sunday I'm thinking of working on the house though. I want to finish painting the room-that-will-be-green upstairs," he told her, referencing the painting job he'd been working on on one of the bedrooms upstairs for the last few weeks when he actually had time to spare.

"Good!" she said. One thing that she thought Billy needed was to be home more. But then she always thought that. He worked very hard, and kept them afloat and all, but...she missed him during the day. And now, he couldn't randomly call her and talk with her when he was in the middle of doing something mindless and boring, so there wasn't any interactions during the day unless he called. She tried not to unless it was an emergency. And sure, sometimes emergencies were dictated by how lonely she was feeling at the time, but she was mostly good. "You need time off, and that room really needs to finish being green." she said firmly, smiling down at him. Green was her favorite color, so she was a fan. But mostly she was a fan of him being around.

He let his eyes drift half closed as he relaxed, enjoying her pampering him for the time being. Enjoying being touched - something he was getting used to, but which still was a hugely important thing to him. They'd gone for so many years with minimal contact, he'd gone for so many years with hardly being touched by anyone at all, and the little things, her hands in his hair, the feel of her under him, the slightest things meant the world to him. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out tomorrow," he said, lazily. "I got talking to this woman in town yesterday. She seemed nice enough, and I suggested we all get together. She doesn't know too many people and I thought maybe I'd give Oz and Sophie a call and we could do something, grouplike."

Maddie's first irrational thought was a little spark of jealousy. But then again, she was kind of a jealous person when it came to her boy. But he sweetened the sting a little bit for her when he went on and said it would be a group thing, and the wolf and Sophie were tossed in. So, when she answered him, it didn't come out sounding snippy. "That sounds nice." she said. "I could use a little out of the house time. I'm fairly sure the shop isn't going to have a sudden rush on charms, so yeah...we can do that." she said. "Tell me about this woman." Billy wasn't necessarily known for being social, so she must have caught his attention somehow.

"Her name's Jocelyn and..." He opened his eyes and winced slightly. "I kinda - she helped me yesterday. I was coming out of the hardware store and slipped on a patch of ice and, yeah - not my finest moment," he admitted.

That got a twitch out of Maddie, even if she tried not to let it show. But it was there, just a little and she looked away for a moment, then back at him. "You must not have hurt yourself, or you would have said...unless you hid it fairly well." she added. There was that 'you'd better not have hurt yourself' tone in her voice as well. It wasn't something she could help much. It was just there. She was a protector, it was in her nature, embedded in deep.

"Nothing hurt except my pride," Billy reassured her in a 'now now, don't get like that' tone of voice. Maddie, his protector - literally as well as figuratively. That's what she'd been before she died and that was what she continued to be, and he was her protected. "I just slipped, landed on my ass and she helped me pick everything up, then we got talking," he explained.

"I see." she said. Nope. Not twitching. ...or she was, she was just pretending she wasn't. See? She could be reasonable. Really. "And what's warranting the sudden need to be social with her?" she asked. "Or are you just trying to make me jealous?" she asked, teasing good naturedly at least with that bit. He wouldn't do anything like that. Especially not in her condition. At least, she didn't think so.
Billy eyed her, wondering if he'd set a foot wrong, even if the issue of jealousy was only brought up in a joking manner. "It's not a sudden need, we just got talking, is all," he told her, almost carefully, wary now. He stayed where he was, head in her lap, looking up at her face.

Maddie sighed, catching the whole wary tone and he seemed to have stilled more. "And that's wonderful, darling. Just you don't normally chat up strangers then decide they need to meet the whole clan. So if there's something special about this girl, I'd like to know about it before I'm in her presence." she said patiently. Or that tone that said clearly that she was being patient, and attempting not to snap at him.

"There was no chatting up involved," Billy said, frowning slightly. It was possible now that he was reading in, he knew, but it still sounded to him like she thought he was, what? Interested somehow. It made him want to dump this whole topic and remind her that he loved her, that he'd always loved her, that he'd loved her when she was dead and a spirit and they only had the barest of lives together and he loved her now, now that she was alive and carrying their child and that if she didn't realise that then... Then what, he didn't know. But, he didn't - he didn't really want to go there, he didn't know where it would lead. "We were just talking, that was all. And she doesn't have any family, and very few friends around here. And... You know that you - we - could probably do with knowing more people. So - I thought maybe take a chance."

"I didn't mean it like that." Maddie said first, because she hadn't. Jealous, she was, just by nature, but he wouldn't be hitting on anyone, or the like. "Just you don't usually do that sort of thing, so it's thrown me off. But if it's just random happenstance, then fine. We'll go, I promise to behave as much as I ever can, and we'll see about knowing more people." she finished. She also went back to playing with his hair, since she'd stopped for a few moments.
"Yeah, well, last time I did it, the random person I got talking to turned out to be a vampire, so... Yeah. And you keep telling me that I should stop assuming everything's gonna turn out okay. But I got talking to her in the daylight and everything," he joked, trying to get back to okay again by flashing her a grin, his brown eyes crinkling up at the corners.

"Well that's sound advice." Maddie said reasonably. "But daylight conversations are alright, I suppose. And so are meetings that happen to have more people involved." she added. She figured between herself and the wolf, if anything was off, one of them would sense it in some fashion. Even if it was 'rampant paranoia' fashion.

"You know, sometimes it feels like a guy can't win. I get questions when I meet new people, and I get looks when I try and keep myself to myself," Billy pointed out, though he knew that generally any grief he got for being a loner came from oz, not Maddie. She understood better where his habits came from, or so he thought. Or maybe it was simply that Maddie wasn't driven by a need for pack the way his friend was.

"Tell me you wouldn't be wondering what was happening if I came home with the same story." Maddie said, thinking he wouldn't be having much different a reaction. They had all learned to be wary in their time. It was just what happened when so much had happened. Or, that was Maddie's theory, anyhow.

Billy knew that it was a sad fact that if she came home from town with the same story that his first thought would be simply to wonder about her getting herself into town on her own in the first place. He wondered if it would be a good time to bring up the subject of her learning to drive again. But then again, he wasn't sure he really wanted her driving. Not in the snow and ice. Not with her pregnant. He'd prefer to run her around. But that warred with the worry he'd had ever since they met - that awareness of how alone she was, that drive to try and encourage as much of a social life as he could. That need to give her more than just him, as much as he'd always loved having her to himself. It was the same drive that had him have her rebound to the area and not to him personally. He wanted more for her than to tie her to him. he wanted her to have choice, to have freedom. "Okay, sure, yeah - you'd get the same questions," he admitted. They'd come sooner or later.

"So, you can stop behaving like I'm overreacting." she said reasonably. And this time it was real reasonably. It wasn't put on to make herself sound slightly less overly protective. "I just asked, it's cleared up. I'm sorry if you feel like you can't win, but I can't exactly switch up how I'm going to react to things. Especially odd things when I know you attract trouble, and I can't be there in a heartbeat like I used to be able to. It makes me twitchy." she attempted to explain. It wasn't that she'd go back to being a spirit or anything, but it had been nice to know that if he needed her? She could be there. Right there, within seconds.

"You make it sound like I'm cursed," Billy teased at the way she put that. he didn't think he necessarily attracted trouble - he just wasn't always very good at recognising it when it came calling. And he wasn't good at all at fighting back when it was needed. Not in the waking world, anyhow. Now give him a place to lie down and close his eyes for a few minutes and the world that brought forth, Billy was your guy. It always kind of rankled rather that sleeping he could make or break worlds, but when he was awake he couldn't even throw a half-decent punch.

"You're not cursed. You're just..." she paused, making a show of thinking about it, taking her time with it. "Special! You're attractive to troublesome individuals, and you tend not to recognize it. You can't say you haven't earned this reputation, love." she said, smirking lightly at him.

Billy returned the smirk. "Being that I'm attractive to troublesome individuals, does that make you trouble?" he asked, pushing himself up on his elbows and brushing a kiss over her lips before allowing himself to drop back down to watching her again. "I think you could be classed as trouble. The good kind of trouble, anyway," he added.

She kissed him back, giving him an impish expression. "Of course I am. I've been telling you that from the start, you just aren't a very good listener." she told him, going back to playing with his hair, something she happened to enjoy. Like he liked playing with hers. But then they both had at least a mild obsession with the little touches. "I'm most certainly trouble." she said firmly with a nod. "I'm ornery, technology and I have a well established hatred going on....innocent walls and knitting needles aren't safe near me..."

"Hey! I'm a good listener - I just don't always choose to accept what you say," Billy averred. And he had a tendency just not to see what was right in front of his eyes, even when it was pointed out to him at times. Sometimes he picked up the smallest of irrelevant details, but at other times, hitting him round the face with the issue wouldn't get him to see it. "And yes dear - walls aren't safe. Just... try not to ruin the house, okay? I happen to like this place."
"I won't, I promise. I already feel bad about putting a little hole in the wall." she admitted, which was true. It was their beautiful home, and she adored it. She just...had a bit of a temper and that hadn't eased up at all with the whole being alive thing, and there was the pregnancy hormones issue. Generally it put her in a better mood, but the swings could be pretty manic. She liked being pregnant, and for the most part she felt very good. But then, she remembered she had her first time as well. Pregnancy suited her.

"I can fix the hole - I'll do that this weekend," he promised her. He even thought he had paint that would match up without him having to redecorate the entire room, though if it needed it... He was always inspired to try and make this place the best it could be. He'd never felt so at home anywhere else as he did here. And this was going to be his home for the rest of his life, he knew. With his wife, and their children. Which brought another subject to mind. "We should talk about finalising the date," he told her. They still had to do that, to actually pin down when they were going to get married. They'd wanted it to be a fall wedding, but then disaster seemed to be constantly looming, or friends were absent and suddenly they were into winter.

"Soon." Maddie said. She had been disappointed that they hadn't gotten to have the wedding they'd wanted, but she didn't want to wait until next year to do it either. That would be far too long a wait. "In a week or so, perhaps?" she suggested. "It's just going to be us, the wolf, Sophie and the kids." she said. A big affair it was not going to be.

They had the licence and everything already sorted - it was literally just a matter of the date. "Next week would be good," Billy agreed, as eager as she was to actually get that ring on her ring. He wanted to be married. He'd never thought that he'd get the chance, for any of this, and now he had it, he didn't want to waste any time at all. "Do you have your dress and everything?" he asked.

"I had it picked out. I'm willing to bet it's paid for somewhere." Maddie said. She'd picked it out with Sophie, and well. The wolf had money, and he tended to want to give it out when he could. So, she was thinking that it was probably at the shop, paid for, just waiting to be picked up. The one she'd found hadn't needed altering, so there wasn't all that to deal with. "So...next week sounds lovely." she said, smiling. She wanted to be married now too. To be his missus. To be married to the person she was actually in love with. She hadn't gotten that the first time around.

Billy smiled and sat up, pushing himself round and into a proper sitting position, though he leaned in to kiss her again on his way round. "I'll go and make some phonecalls then. Make sure someone can come out here to conduct the ceremony. And then I'll call people about tomorrow as well," he added. "Is there anything in particular you want to do with people?"

Maddie shook her head after kissing him back, smiling. "No, nothing special. We could go get something to eat. Neither one of us cooking sounds fabulous." she said. "I don't even care where we eat, just so long as it's out." And she'd have on her everything she'd need just in case the girl turned out to be evil.

"Okay, food it is," Billy agreed, though he had to quirk a smile at her suggestion that he could cook. Him cooking was a fast track to food poisoning, after all. He could burn water. He stood. "I'll be right back and the maybe we could take a tour, figure out where we want the ceremony to be, what we need for it, that kind of thing?" he suggested. He just knew there'd be somewhere in this house that was just perfect for it.

"Sounds perfect." Maddie said, smiling at the thought. She was already thinking of rooms, but wanted to do the walk through just to see what felt right. The house would tell them. It had its own sort of vibe, and that was how things worked. She liked that about it. That it almost had its own personality, it's own life that it breathed into everything. It was always a good feeling--even if she still looked for the dark energy Thia insisted she felt. She believed the girl. She just didn't know the origin, and she thought if it was something truly harmful she would have found the source by now.

He kissed her again, then stood. "Then I'll be back in a few," he told her, then glanced across at the knitting needle. "Any chance of you, y'know, getting things out of the wall in the meantime?" he joked, still amused as hell about the fact that she'd got that worked up about things.

Maddie laughed, then stood and walked over to do that. "There's a better than average chance I could do that, yes." she said. "But just for you, because you're so cute." she told him, dropping a wink. Then she went over to retrieve her needle, and then she was looking forward to their re-tour of the house. Settling back down, she waited, always happy to take a long walk through their home.