Even the flounder and the cod think we're rather odd, but we care not.

There was a part in his brain, and a substantial part at that, that screamed for him to run for it. After all, he wasn't the pregnant one. He was, in fact, working that one up. There was no reason why he should stay, really. But before he could work out something from that vein of thought, Kendall felt the warmth of her hold on his hands. It was when she reached to kiss into his palm that he got really worried. Fortunately, it was more of a concern of her well-being. Why was she being so nice to him? Was she dying, after all? Or was she going to kill him after all of these? After all, he did land her in rather scalding soup. To think that she was carrying his baby. A chuckle escaped his lips, before he had to bit the lower lip to keep from responding to the humour of it at a juncture that was rather inappropriate for it. At Athena's words, though, Kendall felt his eyebrows raise, as something in him jolted with involuntary pride.

A son. He had, in all of his recklessness and despite his nonchalance, produced an heir. Granted, he was the youngest Rookwood grandson, which meant that his son was hardly going to find himself in Raghnall's position in his own generation, like how Augustus and Kendall was unlikely to, too. Still, no Rookwood male had ever gone without sons. Kendall remembered the nights of eavesdropping, when Augustus would speak irritably to Cordelia about the lack of more sons. After all, Kendall's uncles had more than one to boast of. An unmistakeably strong tradition of patriarchy in the Rookwood family has also made the production of the quantity and quality sons a collection of some sort of trophies. Until present day, the fact that Kendall remained the only son of Augustus was still a troubling fact to their unit of Rookwood. It, inadvertently, left an impression on the younger Rookwood, that sons were blessings, and that there is almost always some manipulation involved in procuring them.

He, however, Kendall Rookwood, had gone on to produce a son, just like that. A surge of pride invaded his veins. And as much as the new attitude disturbed his thoughts, it did wonders for his ego too. Kendall blinked at Athena, watching her as she spoke, then dismissed her worries at the end with a sudden and strange eagerness.

"I'm a father?" The corners of his lips began to twitch at that. Then, he grinned. The fact that Athena had, whether deliberately or not, convinced him that the baby in her had displayed traits that were unmistakeably his, helped her case. After all, Kendall was a narcissist. To have a baby, a boy at that, and his, grow up to be exactly like him ... Kendall couldn't presently think of anything better. Without noticing, he had slipped into the heart of his father. Augustus had, after all, did all he could, upon his return of Azkaban, to ensure that Kendall didn't fall too far from the old tree. The question of the young lad's marriage would soon, however, contradict his efforts. Then, with a sudden effort, Kendall stood up.

"And you're eating fruits!" He began to stomp out, only to return surprisingly swiftly with a plate that was full of baked beans, potato, scrambled eggs ... and bacon. Obviously, he was hardly wise about the matters of a pregnancy. "You've got to eat! Kendall the Second likes all of these," he pointed to the plate in his hand. "I just know." He nodded. "Bacon! He'd adore bacon! You must!" He shoved the plate towards Athena now, in a sudden turn of willingness to, in fact, not run away from the situation at hand. "Fruits! Pffft. How irresponsible to the heir of Rookwood." He was, however, barely tactful.

The worry that was beginning to gnaw at Athena’s insides was not entirely unfounded. She knew the tale well enough, just as Kendall did. It was not something that was rare in Pureblood houses. It was not as frequent as some tabloids liked to rumour but it was not as infrequent as the patriarchs of the families would have liked. No Pureblood family wanted one of their members to be saddled with an illegitimate child – they had a habit of coming back to haunt you; the greatest example, of course, being Athena, living, breathing proof of how you could never really shake off your discrepancies. Often it was rather easy to deal with if it was kept between the families. The son would be hastily married off to a highly fertile, attentive, eligible young witch that would serve him kindly while the daughter of the opposing family would be hurried into a marriage that was often rather questionable in terms of match and the child would either be terminated or they would wait until it was born to decide what it was they would do with it. Often it would be placed into a Muggle household and left there in the hope that the influence of Muggles would stamp out any magic within the child. Occasionally though, the witch’s husband would take the child in and call it his own. It would never really be accepted by the wizard’s family but it would live a life its magic demanded: a life in the presence of witches and wizards. The rarest case of all was an act of defiance from both parties and a marriage to unite the two families. That almost never happened.

Of course, Athena’s case was somewhat unique. Her immediate family had been dissolved in death and she had no trust in her uncle’s who were, at best, vultures to begin with. She trusted her grandmother well enough but Apolline had told her many a story about Penelope’s reaction to Athena’s existence – she’d not been best pleased with her son. She knew she was alone and her assumed death made it highly unlikely that she would inherit anything from her father’s estate. Being female to begin with was problematic to begin when it came to inheritance but when your family and its lawyers believed you to be dead, it somewhat exacerbated the problem. She was sure that her uncle’s would have something to say on the matter. They wanted the money, this she knew, but she also knew they were waiting on Odysseus’ death so as to inherit the money they’d made from Nimbus. They were interesting creatures, those two, and it continued to boggle Athena’s brain to how they’d ended up, two people that epitomised the slur ‘arsehole’, with such wonderful, wonderful wives. So financially, if she wanted to attempt raising her son on her own, she was in trouble. And being a ‘dead’ criminal hardly increased her job prospects, did it?

Athena raised an eyebrow at Kendall when his chuckle snapped her out of her thoughts. She opened her mouth to ask him what he was laughing about but immediately thought better of it, snapping it shut before the words had a chance to form. She smirked a little bit at him and watched as the expression on Kendall’s face morphed into a grin. Athena found herself eager to match it but instead, laughed, her heart suddenly feeling much lighter. She nodded at his question and bit her lip a little, glancing down at herself, suddenly feeling a mixture of embarrassment and weightless relief. Athena slid back a bit when Kendall threw himself to his feet and her eyebrows shot to her hairline at his exclamation. She too rose then but he’d already disappeared when she was upright and ready to call out to him to stop.

When he returned, he had a plate full of Athena’s absolute worst nightmare. She felt her stomach lurch upon just setting her eyes on it and she backed away from him, moving quickly around the room so he was one side of the kitchen island and she the other. Athena laughed despite herself though and reached up to run her fingers through her hair, watching him as he worried over her choice of food.

“Kendall you idiot,” She told him, her smile impossible to quell, her tone light and her eyes full of mirth. “I’m eating fruits because it’s the only thing I can keep down! Bacon makes me want to gag!” She brought her hand to her face in an attempt to stifle her giggles. “‘Second’ wants anything that’s not protein currently! Oh, Kendall! Get rid of it I can smell it from here! There’s this awful thing called morning sickness, silly, that lasts all friggin’ day. Kind of inconvenient if you want a decent meal! Believe me, I’d love to eat some of that but I can’t so if you would be so kind?” Athena gestured for him to get rid of it before becoming momentarily serious. “Is this okay?” She bit her lip. “I mean, oops, but still...” Athena shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t really look after him without you. I mean, he might end up somewhat normal if I raise him and we can’t have that can we?”

Puzzled, Kendall alternated looks between Athena and the plate, staring at the contents of it with more disdain than pride now. Quickly, he turned to a cabinet door, yanked it, placed the plate roughly in the empty cupboard, and shut it noisily. Turning back to the girl, he shrugged and then smirked. "Done." Yet, the boyish glee fell from Kendall's face at Athena's words. Look after? He wasn't so sure about that one. While it was a fancy thought, having a son and all, looking after a baby like one was typically expected to ... He winced at the thought. Was this what filled Augustus' mind too, when Cordelia was first pregnant? Then again, they had been married and expecting. Uncertain, though not appalled by the idea, Kendall continued to look intently at Athena, unable to bring himself to a favourable agreement with her.

"Wh-" It was the beginning of an exclamation. Kendall stared now at the menacing face of an owl that was nearing him, almost as if it was threatening to peck his eyes out once it got to him. The boy backed away, once again, puzzled and annoyed at the intrusion of what was obviously another one of his grandfather's owls. This was, however, far more outrageous than the countless ones that he had deliberately not respond to. How did grandfather learn his whereabouts? The blood red was incredibly hard to miss, too. Kendall swallowed, dumbstruck in the moment of realisation, awaiting the dreaded words of the Howler, in the presence of the girl he cared more to impress.

"KENDALL. KAEDEN. ROOKWOOD." It was almost as if hot air was spewed along with each word that was spat out by the unmistakeable booming bass of Raghnall Rookwood. Kendall was almost frozen in his apprehension.

"YOU IMBECILE, SORRY EXCUSE OF A ROOKWOOD." Kendall scowled.

"Fix that offensive face of yours. I expect your IMMEDIATE presence at Rookwood Manor. If you even so put a single brain cell to planning an escape from this, you don't ever have to fuss about returning, ever. I have put up with the unthinkable, you feeble-minded teenager. Failing to turn up for the pre-engagement to Marion Wenger, no replies to my owls ...AND THIS!" He swallowed again.

"Fix yourself, and get here, IMMEDIATELY. And bring the girl." As soon as the moment of combustion was finalised, Kendall bit his bottom lip, appearing increasingly troubled, before he turned to look at Athena, almost as if she was imploring her to fix it for him instead. Of course, she could not. He had, after all, deliberately and conveniently left out details of what had been brewing all this while. Taking a holiday, especially with the girl that he had supposedly vowed to stay away from, was the very last feather to add to his cap of misdeeds to Raghnall Rookwood. The fact that grandfather had mentioned his knowledge of Kendall's company, at the end of his message of wrath, made it all the more troubling. The Howler couldn't have come at a worse time, what with the knowledge of the baby ... then this. Kendall exhaled, looking genuinely troubled for the first time, before changing his expression as he continued to look to Athena.

"Well, erh ... yeah ... there're things I needed to talk to you about ..." The smirk that followed didn't display his characteristic confidence. "You need to come with me to Rookwood Manor, though." At least his voice sounded firm at that. "I don't have time to explain. But ... without doubt ... grandfather would be demanding a lot of that anyway." He paused, then began to walk. "Come with me?" He, after all, didn't want to be the first banished Rookwood. The threat resounded in his head, and the boy knew it could not be far from the truth. He knew the limits he had been pushing and playing with, especially as of late. The thrill of doing so was undeniable. Yet, the tone in Raghnall's voice successfully ignited the first streak of fear within the boy, both for himself; and surprisingly, for the girl, and now the baby within her, too.