Nov. 4, '81: We've Still Got Time: Phoebe

[Kyra Thatcher]

"No," Kyra breathed as she looked at her kitchen to see eggs frying themselves and dishes drying and putting themselves away. While she had only had a few days of magic exposure, she'd quickly started getting accustomed to the lifestyle it entailed. But for magic to be happening here, when she and Fabian had been at his all night...Kyra groaned and started pulling notes from her purse. She slipped the agreed upon amount into Fabian's back pocket with a little on behalf of your victory pat on their way into her roommate's bedroom. "Pheebs, you owe me five quid," she declared on entry, secretly pleased to have lost the little bet between her and her newly reaffirmed - and newly explained and freed - beau. And while Kyra had expected to see Phoebe's ex one of these days, she had not expected to find him on one knee. 

"Oh holy hell," she said in an astonished laugh, exchanging a look of shock with Fabian. I do not expect this from you, she thought, eyes boring into his for one purposeful moment before she bounded to the bed. "Guess you're back in a big way, Bones," Kyra remarked, giving his ponytail a little tug as she bypassed him to land next to Phoebe. She took her best friend's bejewelled hand in hers, half on top of the world for Phoebe's sake - the woman had only wanted this from Edgar since they were kids - and half wondering if the pair of lunatic romantics had thought any of this out since reuniting. When had that even happened? Kyra let out another laugh, remembering that part of why she and Fabs had been out last night was because Phoebe was supposed to have a date of her own. That, plainly, hadn't happened. This is insane. You know that, right? she thought, giving Pheebs' hand a tight squeeze before pulling her in for a hug and a whispered congratulations. "I would've hunted you down pretty soon - " After I won the bet. " - if you hadn't come yourself," she said after, fixing Edgar with a look. So don't you ever leave again. "But I'm glad you did. More romantic this way."

[Edgar Bones]

Happy tears glittered in Phoebe’s eyes as he looked up at her, ring outstretched towards his future wife - and in the moment, Edgar knew that life was finally about to go their way. Still, knowing and knowing were quite different. Her smiling acceptance of his proposal was everything he needed, and he wasted no time in taking her hand, sliding on the ring, and pulling her in for a kiss. Ed was more than certain that things would have progressed if not for the sound of the flat’s door opening...and all too familiar voices following. He sighed and took one last quiet second to lean his head to hers before standing to call, "We're not, bugger off!"

His lie wasn't convincing, evidently, or his best mate and Phoebe's didn't care one way or the other. Ed rolled his eyes at the sh*t-eating grin Fabian was sporting, annoyed at the interruption but, upon thinking...really can't've expected anything less, eh? These two had been part of their story since its inception, in a way it was only right that they arrive now. In another way, Edgar would have appreciated a lot little more time with his fiancée, but...we've got a lifetime left. The blonde caught up to the occasion within moments, and Ed had to chuckle at the look that passed between the other newly reunited pair in the room. Huge strides had been made with them since the war's end, and he hoped that they'd soon stop the bullsh*t and exchange their own vows. "Get used to it, Thatcher," he knocked back, fixing his hair after Kyra messed with it. As the women had a moment, he punched Fabian's arm lightly. "Told you she'd say yes," he joked under his breath. He had to raise his brows appraisingly as Kyra directed her attention back to him, the stern look in her eye giving him pause. For years he had anticipated Phoebe's ire with him, but he hadn't thought in much detail about winning her best friend's favor back too. 

"You don’t say," Ed drawled. "Dunno which would’ve been more romantic - being interrupted, or being dragged here by you."

 

[Phoebe Bones]

Edgar was sliding the ring onto her finger, and it fit perfectly, and it was so overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. Oh, her coworkers were going to give her hell for all of this, that was for sure. Turning down the blind date they had set up for her, and then showing up engaged? There was no way she was going to be able to explain that to them - but it didn’t matter right now. Not when Edgar was kissing her, not when he was hers and she was his once more. He pulled away, voices floating from the flat into their bedroom and she couldn’t stop the grin as she heard Fabian yelling towards them. Had he known that Edgar was going to come by last night? Phoebe had to imagine that the two were just as close as they had been all those years ago, but Fabian eyes seemed to grow once he arrived at her bedroom door and stared at the two of them.

And Kyra, bless her, was saying something about five quid when she realized exactly what she had walked into. It was with a grin that she held her hand out to Kyra when her best friend sat on the bed. Getting engaged to Edgar Bones, right now, was insane. Phoebe knew that, she knew explaining it to anyone besides Kyra was going to be...difficult. Her parents certainly would not understand, and they would have to tell Edgar’s family - and she wasn’t sure where she stood with them after everything that had gone down. She squeezed Kyra as the other woman pulled her into a hug, letting herself laugh as congratulations were whispered into her ear. There would be time, hopefully soon, for her and Kyra to drink wine and discuss everything that had happened the night before. But not before her best friend was giving Edgar a hard time, the two falling back into old routines of bickering with each other.

“If I may, I’d say this way was far more romantic,” she teased them both, before giving Kyra a nudge with her shoulder. “Hey, does it smell like something’s starting to burn? Guess magic isn’t all that,” she laughed, giving the two wizards standing in her room a pointed look. “Give us a minute?”

[Fabian Prewett]

Kyra was going to have to learn one of these days to not make bets against him when it came to Edgar. Sure, Kyra and Phoebe had been best friends since they could talk, but he’d been thick as thieves with Edgar since they were eleven. He prided himself on knowing his brothers well enough to make bets on their actions. And quite frankly, Fabian was surprised that Edgar hadn’t come with him the night the war had ended. Fabian hadn’t been able to - and the chances that Kyra still cared for him had been less than Edgar’s chances with Phoebe. But here they were, standing in the girls flat with magic happening. He smirked down at Kyra as she slipped him the money, well on his way to Phoebe’s room as he ignored Edgar’s protest.

The scene that greeted them was one Fabian hadn’t really expected, even if Edgar had mentioned it. Way to up the pressure, mate. He exchanged a look with his girl, glad to see that she seemed to be on the same page as him. While he wanted to marry Kyra, he wasn’t exactly looking to jump into it without hesitation. It’d been years since they’d been together, it was only natural that they’d need time to get to know each other again. But he couldn’t read Kyra’s mind, and as she left his side to go sit with Phoebe he shot Edgar an annoyed look. “You two are mad, you know that?” he whispered back to his friend, before flashing Phoebe and Kyra a smile. He’d support his friends no matter what, but they at least had to know this whole thing was a bit fast.

It wasn’t very long before Phoebe was trying to get rid of him and Edgar, and Fabian gave a laugh as he headed out of her bedroom, Edgar not far behind him. “Guess a congratulations are in order,” Fabian teased, making his way into the kitchen. He pulled a chair from the table, turning it around before he sat down. Resting his arms on the back of the chair, he had to shake his head. “I could have made five more quid if I’d bet that you’d propose so soon.”

[Kyra Thatcher]

It could almost feel like old times, the four of them all shoved into a room together, giving Edgar hell like she'd seen him just the other day. In truth, though, however much she and Fabs had joked about this possibility lately - she hadn't seen her old friend since his hair was just below his ears, and now he had a full-on mane. And, in truth - as glad as she was to see Phoebe so aglow, happier than she'd seemed in eons, and as good as it was to know that Ed was in one piece - the blokes hadn't been there these last years. They hadn't been there after Phoebe made one of the most difficult decisions of her life and let Ed go. They hadn't been there as she rebuilt her life around the missing pieces. They hadn't been there on endless inconsolable nights, never able to do enough to help mend what had broken inside of her. Phoebe hadn't ever moved on, however much she'd tried, and now…as happy as she wanted to be for the reunited pair, Kyra wasn't yet sold. She'd been on board for them to start dating, to see if they could be compatible again - but marriage? When, unless Phoebe had been keeping secrets from each other, they'd only reunited the night before when she'd been out with Fabs? She gave up everything so you could follow your path. And now, you’ve given her a ring. I don’t know what I’ll do to you if you go back on this, Bones, but you'd best pray to all the gods to save you if you do.

One point of saving grace was that Fabian was as surprised as she was, at least - and no more eager than she was to take any next steps with their own relationship. They'd grown as individuals in this time apart, after all, and while Kyra was enjoying starting to join their paths with nothing but truth between them, she was in no way raring to run down an aisle. They needed time to see if they could truly work together in the present, and if the other was who each truly wanted. And that true person, who they were today, not an image idealized over years of wondering. I’m sorry, Pheebs - I want to just be pleased at all this, I do. But can you blame me for still having my defenses up when you’re jumping? Kyra liked her risks, it was true, but hearts were things she'd learned did not deserve to be played with. She'd need to give Edgar a piece of her mind, but for now, she chuckled and nudged Phoebe right back, feigning a hacking cough to embellish her friend's story.

"Okay, I know you've always been mad when it comes to him, and you've fantasized about this happening forever," Kyra whispered quickly, taking Phoebe's hand as the others let them have the space, "but you're not, like, under an enchantment or some sh*te, are you? Because this is next level, babe. Next. Level. I love you, and I'm here for the ride whatever happens, don't get me wrong - "  The woman faltered for words, not wanting to completely rain on their parade but...She swallowed and squeezed her hand, eyes catching hers. "I don't want to lecture, okay? But we've...we've been through this before. I don't want to see you get hurt again, not with him. Call me a hypocrite if you must, since I'm choosing to let Fabs back into my life - but he's changed, and I have, and we're taking our time to see if it works. And we are working, for now. But maybe we won't in a few months, when time and life brings forth priorities that have shifted, and it turns out we want things that are incompatible." She sighed, loosening her hold on Phoebe's hand to tuck her own hair behind her ears, shifting on the bed to eye her friend. The past splits had wrought pain upon the lot of them, and it would be wrenching for her if it turned out that this current honeymoon with Fabian was just a phase, and that the challenges life would bring were things they couldn't tackle together - but she would survive. She had before, and she would again. But for Pheebs to lose Edgar...she loved so deeply, with the whole of her, it was with strength and force that she loved, beyond what Kyra felt herself capable of. I've never been able to let go like you did with him. And you survived it then, you did. And you've evolved because of it. But what if you marry tomorrow, and he finds a new cause in a month... "You and Edgar have changed too. However much you love who he was, don't you deserve the chance to determine for yourself if you love who he is?"

[Edgar Bones]

As hyped up on love as he was, Edgar still knew that this was only the first taste of disbelief that he and his fiancée would come up against. And, seeing as it was their closest friends, it was all at once the people who were most supportive of them, and those who had seen the devastation firsthand before. Kyra hadn't even trusted him enough to let him and Phoebe dance without her eye on them on their first date, and he doubted that protectiveness had done anything but amplify in their time apart. He wasn't particularly worried, however. If the last hours had proven anything, it was that he and Phoebe were done letting anything stand in their way. And Fabian? He'd been there for it all. The sorrowful, to say the least, night that none of them remembered that had somehow included tattooing; through the self-loathing that had hounded him for years; the unnecessary risks he'd taken during in those low moments, when he'd thought there was no life out of the war for him; the frustration of his inability to move on from his first love. What’re you giving me that look for? His best mate quickly put on a smile to cover up a brief look of annoyance, and Ed shot a look of confusion his way. Perhaps it had something to do with his and Phoebe's mutual "madness," or maybe it was something else, but whatever it was, they could start unpacking it in the kitchen. To which they were being directed none-too-subtly by his love.

"Wounded, I am wounded," Edgar teased, one hand following the other to land on his chest, where his heart ached from the pain of her jest about magic. He grinned and stepped backwards out of the room as Kyra all but coughed up a lung, knowing the pair had as much to go over as he and Fabian did. He and Pheebs could bask in their engagement some more once the others were gone, but for now, he did have breakfast to salvage. His grin spread at the congratulations, and he nudged himself around the other bloke to get to the stove. The eggs were only slightly blackened, and he slid them from pan to plate to table.

"You knew I never gave the ring up - that misjudgement's all on you, mate," Ed returned with a laugh, nodding him towards the plate of eggs as he cleaned the pan and got a fresh batch going as he spoke. "Serves you right for putting bets on us, Merlin's sake. Say what you've got to say, but this is happening. Not that I knew it'd be so fast either, but I've always been hers - once it came out that she's always been mine, the foolish thing to do, really, would be to waste more of our time."

[Phoebe Bones]

This felt right, the four of them in her room teasing each other. It was how things had been before, and she’d missed those days more than she realized. They’d been such a close knit group, always together when they had free time. Every summer since she was fifteen had been spent hanging around Edgar and Fabian with Kyra. They’d taught the boys how to drive, she’d taught Edgar how to do laundry - they’d had such a wonderful life together. Life since their split had seemed empty in a way, and now it was full again. It was wonderful and perfect, and maybe just a little too good to be true. The boys were leaving the room, giving her and Kyra space, and Phoebe wasn’t surprised at where the conversation went. She shook her head - she wasn’t under any enchantments or spells - but stayed silent as Kyra said her piece.

“I know,” Phoebe said with a sigh, fiddling with the new ring on her finger, “I know who he is. Deep down, he is the same Edgar. Just like Fabian is the same Fabian, and we’re still the same Phoebe and Kyra.” Had they changed over the years? Of course they had - time did that to people. But deep down inside, they were still the fifteen year olds nervous about going to a dance. The same twenty year olds crying their eyes out after drinking because their lives had taken a sudden change. She remembered how much it had hurt to let Edgar go. She’d cried for hours, for days even, trying to make sense of it all. She’d lost so much more than just Edgar when they had broken up. She’d lost his family too, his brother and sister had been like her siblings as well. Phoebe hadn’t seen any of the Bones family since their split, and she remembered all too well how much it hurt. Just like she remembered who had been there for her through it all, the one who had encouraged her to follow her dreams even if they seemed mad. Kyra had always been there for her - through her last year of school, through her fight to become a partner at her firm. Surely her best friend could be there for her through this too.

“I know this is next level, I totally get that. But if you had heard the way he proposed you would have said yes too,” she said as she looked down to the ring on her hand, before making eye contact with Kyra once more. “Besides, we don’t have to get married right away. Or maybe we do, I don’t know what the future holds. All I know is that Edgar belongs in it. And whatever challenges are ahead of us, we’re going to face them together. I’ve had years to regret walking away from him Kiki, you know it’s always been him for me.” Phoebe reached out for Kyra’s hands, giving them a squeeze. “Now, promise me you’ll be my maid of honor?” 

[Fabian Prewett]

Of course he knew that Edgar had never gotten rid of the ring, but that didn’t mean proposing to Phoebe so soon was the right choice. Fabian could see why Edgar was reacting the way he was, it wasn’t as if marriage to Kyra wasn’t on his mind - but that was a plan for the future, after they saw how good they were together. Because that was one thing he was sure of, that they were still compatible after all this time. After all, his plan to come to Kyra after all this time had worked, so clearly they were still meant to be. But he wasn’t about to jump head first into anything as serious as a marriage until he could prove that to her. He just hadn’t thought that Edgar had been serious about proposing to Phoebe until the two of them had time to work through everything. They were different now, at least Fabian knew he was. He was still having nightmares about close calls, and he had a feeling they weren’t going away anytime soon. War had changed them, drastically.

“Mate, you are mental. And I mean that in the nicest way possible,” he said as he dug into the eggs in front of him, shaking his head. “It’s been seven years. Seven. People change in seven years. We certainly have. We’ve been through hell and back in these past years, and the fight is still going. Just because we got You-Know-Who doesn’t mean that our world is safe. We’re still rounding up Death Eaters, and neither of us will have jobs once the Order is dissolved.” Because they’d left their real jobs all those years ago, to fight the good fight. But the battle wasn’t over yet, and frankly Fabian hadn’t a clue what he would do when everything was done. He wanted a chance to live his life, that much he knew. And it was logical that Edgar felt the same, but to jump into a marriage? “Look, I know she’s your one and only, but people change. You two barely know each other any more. Don’t you just think this engagement thing is a little fast?” he asked, before downing more eggs. Looking back up to Edgar, Fabian added, “You know I’ve got your back, but you need to be sure about this. Because if you’re not sure and you go back on this - Kyra’s going to kill you for sure.”

[Kyra Thatcher]

Phoebe let out a sigh, and Kyra felt like she'd just punctured a hole in the bubble the newly reinstated couple had been so happily living in until she and Fabs showed up. And maybe she was wrong to still be so protective of the other woman, but old habits did die hard. Having been like sisters for this lifetime, even thinking about letting someone else in to take the spot next to Phoebe that had so long belonged to her, it gave Kyra pause. A selfish pause. She hasn't been this full of life since they were last together. You have to let go. So she had to hope that her best friend was right. That in their hearts, they were all still who they'd been, that time and experience hadn't changed them as much as Kyra feared. And if the opposite was true, that they could still love each other with all their hearts. Phoebe went on and Kyra had to smile, she couldn't not, not with the way Pheebs was simply aglow. 

She'd felt for her life that the world worked in mysterious ways, and after they'd learned of magic this had only strengthened that belief. So who was she to say that love itself didn't involve its own sort of destiny? That maybe Phoebe and Edgar were truly fated for each other - in a good way - and no matter the ails of their past, they'd always find a way back together. That maybe the love lines etched into the palms of their hands intertwined, spelling out a destiny Kyra had tried to get them all to forget.

You're here for the ride, whatever happens. You promised.

Kyra felt her guard crumbling as Phoebe asked her to stand at the wedding, and again reached for her friend. "I promise. But stop looking at me like that, you're going to make me cry," she went on with a laugh through the tightening of her throat, taking Phoebe's hand in both of her own. "Should we stop them from burning down our kitchen?"

[Edgar Bones]

He restarted breakfast preparation as Fabian helped himself to the eggs - better that they got eaten by someone than wasted, and when had either of them turned even horribly burnt food away? - and chuckled as he cleaned the pan in the sink, the sound disappearing as Fabian continued in seriousness. Seven years...They had spent what seemed like a lifetime fighting against Voldemort and his followers. On the run, at high alert, never knowing if the next mission would be the last one. Seeing far too much of war, of hate, of the wounded and the dying, the soldiers and the innocents alike caught in the crossfires of the endless battles. Would Phoebe still love him when he shared all of what he'd been through? When she learned the choices he'd made? When she learned what parts of himself he had sacrificed to this war? He had to trust that she would. And if that was madness, then he was mad. 

Ed reheated the pan, cracking a few eggs into it - he and Phoebe hadn't eaten yet, had Kyra? - and listened as Fabs continued, back to the stove. The words stung, he had to admit, but he couldn't expect his best mate to go easy on him here. Checking each other's impulses in the field had saved their lives more times than Ed could count, but this was different. The proposal had happened on impulse, yes - but it could've happened today, it could've happened years from now, to the same end. Was it so wrong for them to still see the same future for themselves as they had before? 

"You can call Kyra off, I'm dead serious about this," he said, turning to give the eggs a flip. "And don't worry about work. Phoebe's a partner at her law firm, and I always thought I'd be grand as a stay-at-home dad," Ed grinned over a shoulder, although he was concerned about them finding work after the Order dissolved. All they and their companions had done in their adult lives was fight, and while the wizarding world thanked them for it...job offers weren't exactly piling up at their place. We'll figure it out. "But I know what you mean, and I know the concern's coming from a good place," Edgar continued more seriously, turning back to him. "This is a risk, not foolish to think it isn't. But after everything we've been through - I'm not afraid, Fabian. I am done living in fear. I trust her, and I trust what we have."