James had the entire candle-lit picnic set up on the hill, it was the perfect night for stargazing. Crystal clear, only clouded by the delicious smell of the food he had spent all day cooking. Since it was rather difficult to find a hilltop in London, Jim defaulted to the best stargazing he knew of back in Oulton Broad. PJ was wrapped snugly in his baby blanket, lightly snoozing. James hoped Nikari wouldn't mind, Jim would feed him earlier in the evening, and he would sleep through the whole date, hopefully.

Jim got on his stomach on the picnic blanket in front of Paul's carrier. "PJ" The baby opened his eyes and smiled, gurgling. Jim smiled back. "Hey stud, daddy's gotta make a good impression tonight? Can you help me out here?" The baby was distracted by the various mirrors and toys hanging from the handle of the carrier. Jim put a pacifier in his son's mouth and got off his stomach. "Good talk"

He put a stuffed blue bunny in the infant's reach and looked at his array of foods. Chicken Caesar Salad for starters, then some nicely arranged bowls of cherries, peanuts, and other chocolate candies, he'd made caramel cupcakes for dessert, everyone liked caramel and chocolate, right? Jim had put way too much thought into the meal and was now over thinking himself, the bottle of wine was far away from PJ, as well as the candles neatly placed away from the baby and away from feet.

Jim smoothed his hair and looked at the ground, should he stand up, or sit down, should he be ready to hug her when she got here, or should he casually sit back and stand up when she came into view, he didn't want to seem crazy, or sloppy, he had never wanted to impress a woman more in his life.

Nikari thought carefully about the directions that James had given her and took a deep breath before apparating.  She appeared up on a grassy hillside and she could see some candlelight at the top of the hill.  She slowly brushed the dust off of her outfit and headed up the hill and noticed the setup right away. 

"Everything looks wonderful James." she said quietly as she took in what he'd brought to the hilltop.  She looked around at everything and paused when she saw the baby.  "James... is that baby yours?" she asked softly, she loved kids, but she didn't want to fawn over a baby that didn't belong to her date.  She'd gotten several disapproving looks over the years for picking up someone's kid.

James smiled as Nikari complimented his hard word, "You look wonderful as well",but as she looked around his smile faltered as she asked about Paul. Jim sat down, and motioned for her to sit as well. "Uh, yeah, yeah, he's-he's mine, sorry I didn't warn you about him, it's a long story..." James rubbed his forehead. "I actually didn't know about.... well, nevermind, he's okay for now."

Jim looked at his son, reaching for the lion shaped toy and sucking on his pacifier. "You can hold him if you want." James shuffled over the blanket and picked PJ out of his carrier. "I didn't want to leave him with someone for the night, he's not much trouble, but, yeah, are you okay with him here?" James asked finally after his babbling.

He felt like an idiot, he should have left PJ with Mrs. Hunter, but he had stopped himself because Mrs. Hunter had been such a big help already and he didn't feel like burdening her to baby-sit while he frollicked about.

Nikari's eyes lit up and left James' face to focus on his son.  The little guy was so cute.  She pulled out her wand and conjured a giraffe toy for him.  "Oh please let me hold him, he's so adorable." she said hurriedly before she could stop herself.  "I absolutely adore children." There was a grin on her face that would rival the sun.[1]

1.	Sorry it's short

James would have screamed with excitement as Nikari oogled over his baby. "Here you go" He stood and handed his son to her. "His head is still a little wobbily" PJ reached for the giraffe and expelled the pacifier from his mouth.[1] Jim caught it just before it hit the blanket, it was the only one he had with him and he was not about to let it get dirty. He wiped saliva off the the rubber bit and put it in his coat pocket.

"His name is Paul, but I call him PJ, I didn't name him." Jim chuckled truthfully. He honestly didn't know why his mother had named him Paul John, all Jim knew was his birthdate, birth weight, and length, all hastily scribbled down on the note left with his infant son 5 days ago.

1.	Make PJ do whatever you want, he's a baby he won't remember any of it.

Nikari took the little boy from James with the greatest care and made sure his head was supported well on her arm.  She watched as he held the giraffe and tickled his chin softly.  "I adore children."  She scooted closer to James as slowly as she could without jostling the baby. "I don't mind that you brought him along.  I know most women would, but I think it's better to be honest about everything up front."  She turned back to the baby and cooed at him, "Hello PJ, your daddy is special huh?"

"Good to know, other people I've told haven't been so enthusiastic about him." James[1] said, thinking of the encounter he had had with his father just a half a mile from here a few days ago. Octavian was probably planning to dis-own him or something, it wouldn't surprise Jim if his father took away his inheritance until he got a job at the Ministry. He hadn't even told his sister she was an Aunt, what would she think of him then?

James blushed as Nikari cooed at PJ. "His mother left him with me, actually, if you want me to be completely truthful, I didn't know he even existed until Monday night." Jim reached for the picnic basket, pulling out a bottle of white wine and two glasses. "Wine?" He said, turning to the only other thing than his son to talk about.

1.	Finally got a polyvore done.

Nikari was so focuse on baby Paul that she almost didn't hear James' question to her.  She looked up at him and answered, "Yes please, thank you." and went back to cooing over the baby. Little PJ seemed to enjoy all the new attention and stared into Nikari's face as if he was trying to figure her out.  She folded her legs into a crossed postion and lay the baby down comfortably so he would move and tickled under his chin.

"Wait, how come you didn't know about him until Monday... didn't his mother tell you she was pregnant."  This was where Nikari got confused.  She knew how it happened with her parents.  Her mother - even though she was a full Veela-  had told her father that she was pregnant as soon as she found out.  Her father had hated the fact that he'd knocked someone up on the first try, but he stayed with her until she had the baby and then left.

"What would you of done if she had told you?" Nikari asked softly as she looked at the baby on her lap. 

James ripped the seal off the wine bottle and pulled a corkscrew from one of his various jacket pockets. He un-plugged the bottle and poured the wine into the two glasses and held one out for her. "I don't know who is mother is, she left me a note, I've been trying to figure out who she was, but the handwriting wasn't anything special, she didn't sign her name, I just wished she had told me, come to me and tell to my face."

Jim took a sip from his own glass. "He was left at my doorstep, but, I don't know, I guess I would have handled it better than I did on Monday night when I found him. I would have understood,eventually." James was trying to be as truthful with himself as well. "I don't run from my mistakes, I'm not saying he's a mistake, I just would have liked to have known so I could have been there for him from the beginning."

Nikari looked up at James as he said what he did and smiled, "That's sweet." she said and slightly moved so she wouldn't disturb the baby on her lap.  "There aren't many wizards out there that would take the responsibility as their own." she said and looked down at PJ as he chewed on the ear of the giraffe. 

She gently plucked the ear from his mouth and said, "Hey little guy, you shouldn't chew on that... it might hurt you." she said softly.  Taking the glass from James she took a small sip and then sat the glass down away from her so that little hands couldnt' reach it. 

"It's nothing no other decent guy would have done..." Jim said, taking another sip from his glass and crawling over to the picnic basket. "I made chicken caesar salad, does that work for you?" James said, hoping she wasn't a vegetarian, he hadn't though of that bit, hopefully she wasn't a vegan either, his cupcakes were normal, and then there was the allergy bit, but he'd played it pretty safe on that front.

"So... what's been going on with you? I haven't seen you in two weeks."[1]

1.	Sorry it's short

"Chicken caesar salad sounds great."  She said and watched as little PJ waved his hands in the air.  She took another sip of her wine and looked at James.  "I've been kind of busy lately.  I thought about what you were talking about at the New Year's Eve party and I decided to buy a horse." She smiled.  "He's a beauty, you should come see him sometime."

Nikari looked down at the baby and blushed.  "I mean... if you would like to."  She looked back up and took a picture out of her coat pocket and unfolded it.  "I brought a picture of him." she held the photo out to him and thought about her horse back at home and briefly wondered if he was okay.  "Isn't he just adorable?"

James laughed loudly. "Wait. You really bought a horse?" Jim looked at the picture of the black spotted foal. "Oh, my gosh, imagine that, no one actually takes me that seriously when I recommend stuff like that, huh." Jim added. "And yes, I would love to see him in real life sometime."

He was relieved she wasn't a tofu burger eating crazy like some girl's he'd dated in the past. He thought about the fact that Nikari kept a picture of her horse in her coat pocket, and he kept the note from PJ's mum in his. "He's gorgeous. I rode when I was younger, but I got attack by a crow, and that ended my equestrian career, and also may have sparked my fear of birds."


He was a little embarrassed to admit he was afraid of birds, but it would explain why he would scream like a little girl every time he got a letter from an owl. He'd learned how to deal with owls, but he still didn't like them.

"Yes, I actually bought a horse, I realized that since my mum left me all the land I hadn't done anything with it.  A horse seemed like a good idea at the time, but then I fell in love with Galileo here and couldn't say no."  Nikari told him, and then tried not to smile when he told his tale of being attacked by a crow.

"You should try riding again, maybe if you ride with someone you won't be scared anymore." she said and looked down at PJ who had fallen asleep in her lap. "But you might want to wait until this little guy can ride a pony on his own."

"I might take you up on that." Jim gently took Paul out of Nikari's lap and back into his baby carrier. "There we go bud, sleep tight. Dream of ponies." James planted a kiss on the baby's soft forehead and put his baby blanket over him. Jim turned back to Nikari. "Galileo, I love it, he was my hero when I was a kid. Sounds weird, but I was an astronomy geek growing up, you know suspenders, pocket protectors, all that jazz."

James laughed, knowing that if he had dressed like that, Nikari would have definitely remembered him. "When I was a kid I'd sit up on this exact hill, or on the balcony outside of my room, and just look through my telescope, freezing to death most of the time. But it was worth it, one night I saw 5 falling stars in a row, I wished for a space-broom with rocket powered jets."

Jim pulled out the container of lettuce, the container of grilled chicken, a bottle of Caesar salad dressing, two forks and two bowls. "Here we go" He pulled the lids off the containers. "Bon appetit!"