Molly’s smile became a little guilty. Maybe she’d been a little brash with her words, but she was excited that Akiva had something good happening in her life. “Catching up is usually the most exciting. It’s like having dinner with a mystery novel.” Which Molly had done once or twice… or a lot… when Casper had to work late. Especially now that she was pregnant, she often found herself multitasking all over the kitchen and then having a proper dinner with him when he got home. Of course, Molly preferred her husband to an actual novel! “One you can exchange stories with,” she corrected, laughing a little.

She was still smiling serenely as Akiva laid out her plans. “Well, next time, then!” She looked down at Gabriel as if his cheeks were made of sugar. “We could definitely use practice with someone who isn’t four-legged.” Or furry and mewing with sharp teeth. Casper didn’t speak cat, but Molly had faith that he could pick up on baby quite easily.

“Is he still the same as you remember him?” She asked, curious now, despite Akiva’s insistence that it was only catching up. It was a harmless question!

The stuffed owl was one of the cutest things Molly had seen. Gabriel’s reaction to it made her sure that she needed one, too, even if today was also about minding the budget and making a logical plan. She picked one up in a different color, deciding she could at least buy a few trinkets before she plunged for the bigger pieces. Maybe the shopkeeper would be more willing to hold a few things for her, too, that way. “Your amazing taste in nursery decorations is going to get me into trouble.” But then that was also part of why they were here, wasn’t it? Molly supposed she’d have to actually pick one of something and stick with it before they left. “I hope you won’t be annoyed if I walk out with an armful of impractical toys and absolutely no furniture. It’s all too cute to decide…”

But, then her intuition struck, and Molly laid eyes on a little baby rocker they could keep in the living room or tote around the house. It was perfect, the kind that converted as needed, and absolutely charming. Little creatures hung from overhead, the cushioning was snuggly and had a warming charm. “This might be perfect to carry it all home in,” she laughed.

The enthusiasm that Molly had could be infectious.  Right now, however, Akiva felt very embarrassed – her cheeks pinked up and she felt like there were blotches on her chest from a sudden and acute bashfulness.  Clearing her throat, she readjusted her hands on the handles of the pram and sucked her lips under her teeth before popping them, hoping the conversation would at least take another turn. 

Gabriel was a much more comfortable topic, and Akiva laughed as she indicated they needed practice.  “I thought the same thing,” she said honestly, “but it doesn’t mean anyone until you’ve been up for twenty-six hours without having taken a bath with a baby whose nose is faster than you are,” she leaned over the handle bars and fixed the blanket around Gabriel’s chest.  She didn’t want him to catch a cold, even if the shop wasn’t drafty, she didn’t want to take the chance. 

Some things were just too precious to risk.  Lingering over his stomach, lightly scratching to make the baby squirm.  Gabriel squirmed and smiled, which made Akiva smile in turn – only to turn her head at Molly when she asked if he was how she remembered him.  Akiva cleared her throat again and shrugged – trying to act as though she didn’t know. 

“I believe he was quite goofy at Hogwarts,” she explained, “not the sort I would have been hanging about,” she admitted with a little smile.  “But, he has the same smile.”  She paused, “You know, he used to shout Shalom as a greeting whenever we crossed paths in the halls,” she laughed at the memory.  Akiva had always been extremely shy at school, she usually mumbled something in return and wondered if she was being made fun of – that was fairly typical, after all, being a muggleborn amongst so many other unfortunate things… like frizzy hair and math. 

She pretend to look shocked when Molly said she was going to get them in trouble was easy enough to adjust to though and Akiva nodded.  “That’s the best part of nursery shopping,” she admitted, “all of the little things.”  The furniture could get quite boring – it was large and wooden and though it was beautiful, it wasn’t necessarily the the things that made it a nursery.  That was in the details – the care was in the details.  She put the little owl on top of the pram bars and cast a small spell to make it hover above Gabriel’s head: entertainment. 

So, they continued and Akiva followed Molly along – glad to embrace the tiny detail shopping and let her eyes wander as well – until they did come upon the rocker and Akiva lit up.  “That’s so precious!” she enthused and jutted over a little faster and examining the rocker.  “Gabriel loves his,” she informed her, “definitely worth the galleons.” 

“Frees up my hands if I need to do anything,” she lifted her hands from the bars to gesticulate, spreading and contracting her fingers for show – as though that meant she was going to be doing something now.  “Will you be working while this one is young?” she asked curiously before she went on to explain, “It was one of the longest discussions I’d ever had with Dree,” she admitted, “he wasn’t so much a fan of the idea, but I persuaded him with a part time position – to keep busy.”

Molly wanted all of it, the exhaustion included. It was the kind of tiredness she thought she might wear like a badge— with frazzled hair and worried murmurs, perhaps, but elation, too. There had been times, of course, when she’d pulled all-nighters, baking or painting or getting lost in a book, or simply jumping from task to task and forgetting the hour. But a baby would be different. And as much as Akiva attempted to prepare her for reality, Molly’s dream version was a bit… well… dreamy. Thus far. But then she was sure there was a kind of wonder Akiva knew that she wouldn’t until she met her own child.

“Yes, I suppose you can’t really practice…” Though there were plenty of things in life Molly got absorbed in. (And Casper occasionally had to pull her out of, her deal with the mini disasters.) “But I still like to wrap one of the cats in a blanket and rock it from time to time,” she admitted, a little guilt and mostly humor on her face. “They love it.” Probably because they knew Casper wouldn’t indulge them in the same sort of attention, and that they could give him looks of superiority from Molly’s lap.

As stuck as she was on babies at the moment, it was easy to jump from one thing to the next. Picking up cues and missing others. Getting excited about a new line of thought.

The mention of a smile made Molly smile harder. She knew what Akiva meant, even if she didn’t know the man. Remembering those sorts of details, those things that didn’t change over time, they could make her heart jump in a good way. Nostalgia. “How cute!” She laughed with her, envisioning just such a boy without even having to squint— and thus not knocking into a table. “You’ll have an amazing time, then. Let me know if you need any dessert recommendations… I really should have made a map before Casper and I left London.” Because even if Molly was not an expert on men, she knew that most of them, from the goofy to the Casper kind, liked sugar. It was more a human thing, really. “And you’ll have to tell me more about what he’s like in adult form!"

Smiling in agreement— even if she was a novice— Molly looked down at what she planned to purchase, and back up at the store at large. And then again at Gabriel, whose (insanely cute) reactions Molly gauged with the (Molly-esque) seriousness of someone listening to an instructor. If he liked something, it was sure to be a good sign.

“It looks like there’s a lot worth the galleons,” she laughed. And her little family sure could spend them. Molly could only get on Casper’s case so much, when it came to things like betting. Besides being a soft heart, she was racking up quite the wish list herself.

But then the baby was theirs. She made a decisive note to herself to tell him what they would be getting. Or… give him four options and go back forth on her own opinion because they all seemed brilliant. But eventually Molly would choose, and it would mesh with the certain whimsy of her other, more instinctive choices. (Or Casper would get his say.)

Since this particular purchase served multiple purposes, it really was worth it. Her eyes lit up as Akiva gestured. A definite necessity! Now what else to put in it until the baby arrived?

As Molly glanced around, her eyes caught her friend’s again, and she looked deer-ish for a moment. “Yes and no… maybe… well,” she said, with another laugh. “We’ve got a spot picked for the bakery, so I’ll be setting that up soon, but I don’t think I’ll be taking too many orders to start.” She looked down at her tummy thoughtfully. “It might be a slow process. But working for myself should make it easier to figure out. Or harder…” Molly grinned softly and looked up at Akiva again. “I’m glad you won that argument! Keeping busy once they actually start sleeping sometimes sounds like a healthy idea. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way, is there?”