Chapter Text
Provence, June 1928
"Tina?" he called out inside the suitcase but got no answer in return.
It was around noon and both Newt and Tina had spend a bit of time inside the suitcase to look after his creatures. Honeymoon or not, they still needed to be tended to and his wife had as always been glad to help. Dougal's nest was empty as he passed it on his way back to the shed, so the Demiguise would most likely be with his favourite human. The two of them had formed a wonderful friendship that brought a smile to his lips whenever he saw the creature interacting with the Auror.
"Tina?" Still no answer. She must have gone back upstairs then... with Dougal? He frowned for a moment, then shrugged. "Let's see where they have gone off to then..."
Newt climbed swiftly up the ladder and emerged from the suitcase with Pickett sitting comfortably in the pocket of his waistcoat. He caught sight of two shapes outside in the garden... one of them was the brunette witch he had been looking for, as predicted with the furry Demiguise by her side. He stepped closer to the first floor window of the bedroom to watch them for a moment.
Newt couldn't help a smile at the lovely sight below of him. They were walking through the backgarden and it seemed quite like Tina was teaching him about the flora of southern France... they looked at the last poppies and early blooming roses, sniffed at the purple irises, the rosemary, thyme and lavender. It didn't take long though for an outraged chirp to reach his ears when the Bowtruckle had climbed up to his shoulder to have a look himself. He seemed none too happy about the fact that a creature other than him was out of the case and Newt didn't make any effert to try and put them back again.
"Calm down, Pick," he tried to sooth his little green friend who was dangling from his finger in front of his face now. "You know Dougal is too attached to her to run off... and Tina is quick with a Freezing Spell should he try anyway."
No, Dougal would not make a run for it. He was too absorbed in what Tina was showing him.
"Look at them," he spoke softly to the Bowtruckle who now had returned into his pocket to sulk. He only got an indifferent chirp in reply but Newt didn't rise to the challenge... not this time. His gaze turned back to the garden and for a split second he didn't see Tina with a Demiguse down there but rather... another tiny being, creamy skin and wild hair. Newt blinked and the picture was gone. But it left him rattled.
Children. That would be some time off still.
They had both agreed to not start a family just yet and for now Tina had taken the neccessary precautions too. Some day though... If we are lucky, he thought and grimaced to himself. Newt was quite aware of a strange fertility problem running in the family and there was a not so small a chance that they might just not be so lucky after all. The thought hadn't bothered him before, when a family hadn't been anywhere near the front of his thoughts... or actually in the realm of possibilities to be frank. But now that he was married and very much in love it was another thing entirely.
The wish was there on both sides, he knew. But if it should turn out that he couldn't give his wife what she wanted when the time came, what then? The thought had been in the back of his mind ever since Theseus reluctantly had admitted to having that very problem. In that case... would Tina be agreeable to the alternative?
Their children did not neccessarily have to be biologial ones. Unlike his older brother Newt's motivation was not to continue the family line and so he was not averse to taking in a parentless child to love and raise as his own. And part of him strongly believed Tina wouldn't be against it either... She knew first-hand what it was like to loose both parents, and unlike many others she and Queenie had been lucky enough to be taken in by a distant relative. Surely she wouldn't mind giving a loving home to an innocent child with no one else to care for.
If he should fail her. Because he couldn't deny that the thought of a daughter or son with green eyes and Tina's smile was still one he preferred.
Distant laughter pulled Newt from his thought and back into the real world. A chuckle escaped him when he saw Dougal sitting on the lawn, adorned with a simple flower crown made from poppies and greens. He left his place at the window and made his way downstairs to join them in the garden.
They would have to cross that bridge when they came to it, some time in the not so near future. Maybe they would be lucky after all. And if he was wrong in his beliefs... they still had a suitcase full of creatures.
Dorset, April 1933
Newt had just brewed himself a cup of tea when his wife stepped out of the fireplace in their kitchen, accompanied by the loud whoosh of green flames and some soot.
"You're home early, love," he greeted her after a quick look at his watch. No, he hadn't lost track of the time again, it really was only past noon.
"Not by choice... " she grumbled as she took off her grey coat and hat, running her hand through the wavy chin-length hair.
Newt frowned. There were only two reasons why Tina would have been sent home from work: being sick or suspended... and she was too calm for the latter to have happened. His usual bout of worry set in. "Are you alright, Tina?"
"Sure," she answered and went straight to start preparing a cup of coffee for herself. "Why do you ask that, darling?"
"Because you've been terribly exhausted for a while now. And I noticed that you haven't eaten all that much lately, not even the pastries Jacob made you last week... and now you've been sent home early from work."
She turned around to look at him and shook her head. "It's nothing, really. Work is wearing me down and I've just... felt a little queasy for the past week or so. That doesn't help much with the appetite, you know?"
Newt chided himself internally. He should have seen that she hadn't fltl well, Tina was his wife for Merlin's sake! But she really didn't look ill... perfectly healthy in fact if it weren't for the reduced appetite and being increasingly tired.
He hesitated. "Uhm... what exactly happened today that made Ogden sent you home?"
"I was sick during a briefing," she admitted with a sigh. "But it's not a bug or anything. I just couldn't stand the smell of Herford's new cologne from such close proximity. It smells really disgusting."
Newt pondered this for a moment. Fatigue, nausea without actual cause and an apparent strong reaction to smell. He calculated some numbers in his head and came to a startling conclusion... Could it be?
He took a deep breath before speaking again. "I think you should go and see a Healer, love."
Tina chuckled. "I told you I'm fine, Newt. I was sick twice in as many weeks, and both times it occurred after that grumpy old wizard and his cloud of what he dubs a cologne came near me. So I'll take the two sick-days they forced on me, go back to work on Saturday and try to keep my distance from him. There's nothing wrong with me."
She had turned around to leave the kitchen now, cup of coffee in hand, but Newt only smiled at her stubborness. He wrapped her in his arms as she passed him to keep her with him for just a bit longer... he wasn't done talking yet.
"I don't think anything is wrong with you, Tina," he spoke over her shoulder and placed a kiss to her covered shoulder. "But now with the nausea and sensitivity to certain smells... it makes me think. It's been what... eight weeks now since you bled last, hasn't it?"
Tina remained unmoving in his arms for a long moment before she nodded. Newt let both of his hands rest lightly over her stomach when he offered his suspicion to her. "I think it's quite possible that... we may be expecting an addition to our little family, my love."
She turned to look at him with eyes wide in surprise. "But how-?"
Newt shook his head with a shy smile. "There was that lovely night early last month, in the heat of the moment neither of us cared all that much about casting a spell... Remember?"
Because he certainly did. It had been a very long and satisfying night somewhere in the Brazilian rainforest... with both of them too occupied with one another to notice the lack of contraception until the next morning. They had readily agreed to let nature run it's course though... since it turned out that a family was something they had both been thinking about for a while.
She nodded and bit her lower lip trying to hide a grin at the memory.
"And neither of us has taken any precautions since then," he explained further. "At least I haven't... since this is what we both wanted back then."
"We should probably go and see a Healer then," she said with a small smile and laced their hands together over her stomach. "Just to make sure..."
Newt grinned and nodded. Should we really be so lucky?
That night they lay together in bed sharing the warmth of a blanket, Tina wrapped in his arms and snuggled closely into his chest to escape the cool of an early spring night in England. They had been in South America not too long ago and the difference in climate was rather pronounced at this time of year.
"Oh!" Tina exclaimed suddenly and grinned at him. "You think that's why Dougal has been more careful and protective around me lately when I'm down in the case? Creatures can sense these things, right?"
They had flooed to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries earlier that afternoon so his wife could get checked over... to make sure it really wasn't something else that caused her symptoms. So, after a number of preliminary questions and a not too short examination the Healer had smiled and tentatively suggested Tina might indeed by pregnant. She had insisted on trying a newly developed testing potion though to make sure... and the result had been a very clear and resounding yes.
The news had been received with teary smiles that neither of them could hold back anymore once the witch had given them a moment to themselves. And Newt hadn't been able to stop smiling since then... He would be a father before the end of the year.
Newt thought on her question for a moment. "Most creatures can smell it at some point, the change occurring in your body. Dougal might also have seen it though. It's been years since I got him but I still don't know just how far into the future a Demiguise's precognitive sight can go." He chuckled. "You should expect more special treatment from our creatures though, at least when you're further along."
Tina hummed and snuggled back into him. "You think the Niffler might finally stop trying to steal my necklace?"
"I really wouldn't hold out too much hope for that... You know he's become even more greedy since we found him a mate."
They lay in silence for a while, basking in their closeness and each others company. Newt carefully shifted onto his side to face her and gently stroked a strand of dark hair back behind her ear. She had let it grow out a little so that it reached past her chin now.
"You are happy about this, love, aren't you?" he asked tentatively. She had wanted this, back in Brazil when they had agreed to see what would happen, and seemed genuinely happy when the pregnancy had been confirmed today but... he needed to make sure he hadn't somehow misread her. It still happened, even after almost five years of marriage.
"Of course I'm happy, Newt." Her happy expression turned into a slight frown. "Any reasons not to be?"
He eased her frown with a brush of his thumb and gave a crooked halfsmile. "It's just that we didn't exactly plan this..."
"No, we really didn't," she agreed with a chuckle. "But right now is as good a time as any to start a family I think... And no amount of planning would have made much of a difference I'd say."
"It may have come as less of a surprise... wonderful as it is."
Tina shook her head. "It wouldn't have been a surprise if I hadn't been so bloody busy at work lately. The signs were all there but I dismissed them as related to the stress." She nuzzled his hand where it now cradled her cheek. "Turns out, you seem to know me better than I."
"Well, yours isn't the first pregnancy I diagnosed," Newt chuckled softly. "I'm glad you're happy about it though."
They shared a happy smile, bright and broad and lovely. And here in the small space between them with the wonderful news still fresh on his mind, he finally let himself share a worry that had been nagging at him for years. "It makes me really happy too, love. I've been wanting this for a while you know, only... I wasn't too sure if we... if I even could."
Her expression turned to one of mild sympathy and returning his own gesture Tina moved to cradle his stubbly cheek. "Darling... I didn't know that thought worried you so. You should have told me."
Newt shook his head. "How could it not worry me... that strange curse of infertility is the very reason there's only one branch of Scamanders left today."
But Tina just smiled at him, the broad glowing smile she usually only reserved for him. "Not anymore though, Newt. Your brother finally has a daughter... and now we're having a baby, too. That's two branches in the making. The family tree is budding and blooming again."
Newt chuckled. "A lot of tending will be needed though. Years of it..."
Tina hummed in acknoledgement. "This is gonna be quite the adventure isn't it?"
"Oh yes," he replied and placed a soft kiss to her wrist. "One I personally wouldn't want to miss for the world."
Tina giggled as he wriggled further down the bed, pushed her pyjama top up and began to kiss and caress her belly. It was still as flat as it had always been... but it wouldn't take that long now for that to change. He placed a reverent kiss just below her navel where their child was growing.
"Hello little stranger," he whispered. "We don't know each other yet, but your mummy and I are already very excited to meet you in a few months."
A hand stroked gently through his hair and Newt looked up to see his wife smile warmly at him. "Too early?" he wondered.
She shook her head. "It's never too early to show a child they're loved."
"And... what about the mother?" he asked with a crooked grin.
Tina giggled. "She already knows. Quite frankly, right now she has trouble deciding if she'd rather have your mouth move upwards again... or go lower."
With a chuckle he gently pushed his wife onto her back and shifted up the bed until they were face to face again, bracing himself on one arm as the other hand cradled the side of her head. "How about I start up here..." He touched his lips to her forehead. "... and slowly make my way downwards..." A kiss to the bridge of her nose, followed by one to the tip. "... until you tell me to stop?"
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and playfully brushed their noses together.
"I like the ideas you have, Mr. Scamander... and maybe I'm not so tired after all."