Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marie: George, what do you want for Christmas this year?

George: YOU don’t need to get me anything. You’re doin’ enough as it is.

Marie: there’s gotta be something you want.

George: I’ve already got it, Bean. Couldn’t ask for more than my baby.

Marie: well the baby’s not gonna be born for a while, so is there anything else I can get for you?

George: …. *a big grin on his face* aNOTHER baby.
Marie: George.

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Forrest: …and we’ve got another caller! Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?

Marie: hey, Forrest, Peggy, it’s Marie.

Forrest: Marie! Friend and family of the station. Good to hear from you. What’s on your mind?

Marie: oh, I just wanted to ask if you could play me a song.

Forrest: of course.

Marie: yeah, could you play me a nice country song? You know- I just… the music you guys are playing these days, the stuff the kids are listening to. It’s a lot.

Forrest: hahah, I hear you there.

Marie: yeah I mean kids these days in general are a handful. I would know, I have one. And it’s all parties and metal music and all this crazy fashion. Not like when I was growing up. We were more sensible.

Peggy; uhuh and how old were you when Henry was born? Was your generation NOT the flower power weed smoking make love not war generation?? You’ve got no right to be complaining about kids these days.

Marie: MARGARET.

Forrest: *laughing* you made her pull out the government name with that one, Peggy!

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Lmao imagine Marie just told George about the kid and they had their happy little moment and then she’s like “so I was thinking we could have the wedding reception-“ and he’s like “Now hold your horses!! Why are you planning our wedding when we’re not even engaged???”

And she’s like “…because I thought that part was kind of implied in the whole pregnancy thing”

And he takes her hands and starts leading her out of his house like “naw if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. Come on.” And he leads her out of the house and around back to the backyard in front of his mom’s flower garden and he swings her around like “Ok just stand there for a second.”

And she stands there with a big grin chuckling as he kneels down in front of her and grabs her hands and goes “Marie Campbell, will you marry me?”

And she’s just like “this is really not necessary, George” and he’s like “Would you just answer the damn question, woman?” With a playful grin

And she fake sighs and rolls her eyes before going “yes, George Barrow, I will marry you. Are you happy? Can we go back inside now?” And he stands up and dusts himself off like “yep, all good.”

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Marie: dad this is George, a friend from school.
George: hello, sir, you raised a wonderful young lady.
Martin, Marie’s Dad: cool so why is this hillbilly talking to me

George: ma, pa, this is Marie, she’s a friend from school.
Marie: it’s nice to meet you all.
Pamela, George’s Mom: and the same to you. Feel free to make yourself at home. You can stay as long as you like. In fact you can even stay forever. Would you like to stay forever? You should definitely stay forever.

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Marie and George thinking they’re being so sneaky and secretive but George’s mom starts leaving two glasses of water in George’s room at night and an extra toothbrush in his bathroom so she can at least brush her teeth before sneaking back out the window

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George: mama, I must admit I’m feelin a bit nervous about having our baby. What was it like when I was born for you and pa?

George’s mom: oh Georgie, the day you were born was the best day of my life. It was a day of grace and togetherness and love, and it was so beautiful and peaceful. Everyone was so supportive and gentle. I’d never felt more blessed.

Marie, some time in the future: FUCK! FUCKING GOD DAMN SON OF A BITCH!

George: it’s all right, Bean. You’re ok. Just keep breathing. *under his breath* well, so much for peaceful.

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Marie: y’know, all these years later, I think about us from back then. The mistakes we made. I wonder what we did wrong.

George; or maybe… a different perspective would say, what we did right.

Marie; you can’t be serious. Having Henry when we did was not a good thing. Nineteen year olds shouldn’t be parents.

George: well, no, strictly speaking, but we’re blessed to have Henry.

Marie: of course we are. I just maybe think we could’ve benefited from waiting a few more years before having children.

George: it could’ve been a lot worse.

Marie: i guess you have a point. But still, we needed a few more years to get our feet back on the ground and get settled.

George: well if we didn’t have him when we did, it might not have been him at all. Who knows who it would’ve been.

Marie: sure but I’m certain whoever it would’ve been would have been just as wonderful as our son.

George: if you didn’t get knocked up, I could’ve gotten drafted.

Marie:…. Point taken.

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I’m completely obsessed with my characterization of George and Marie that they’d go absolutely nuts for each other and just think the other person is the most important in the entire world. Very ‘they fell in love as children and knew nothing else into their early adulthood’

Like say George falls but Marie does manage to save him. If she did, he’d wake up absolutely delirious from that almost sure fire concussion he just got like “Bean, you’re shivering… and you’re all wet…. We need to get you inside and dried off.” No mention of ‘oh I totally almost died’ no she is his priority. And she’s just like “me?! Who gives a fuck about me?! You almost drowned! You’re probably concussed!” And he lifts his hand up and weakly pulls some wet hair out of her face like “aw, no, I’m fine. I feel great. We just need to get you warm.”

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I just love the idea of George being obsessed with his son from the jump

Like he just loves him so much it’s almost painful

Like he’s walking around the house with Henry in his arms and Marie is like “you know you can put him down right?”

And George is like “hey careful now that’s my best friend you’re talking about. Get your own best friend.”

And she laughs like “you’ve known him for three days and he’s your best friend already?”

And he just goes “he just gets me” and she’s like “ok well your ‘best friend’ needs to eat soon or he’s gonna throw a bitch fit so please give him to the person who can feed him thank you”

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Love the idea that Marie keeps a couple pairs of pants at George’s house so if she goes over there to hang out after school she can be more comfortable and in alignment with her own personal sense of style (it was very likely her school dress code did not allow girls to wear pants, only skirts)

George would be 100% on board with this idea, as he thought it would be easier to climb trees in pants, one of his favorite activities.

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I think it would be really funny if George originally called Marie Bean but then date a while it just devolved into a bunch of random sounds and words (if you have a pet you will know what I mean lol)

Like

Bean

Miss Bean

Missus Bean

Jelly Bean

Jumping Bean

Jumping Jelly Bean

Jelly Belly

Jeebs

Joobles

Beanie

Beanie Boo

Beebee

Beanie Weanie

Bing Bing

Beebles

Beanstalk

Beam

Tractor Beam

Etc etc

Like after a point he could just say any word that starts with B and she’d answer

Like “hey beluga” “yeah”

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Forrest; … hey, Peggy. Lemme run something by you really quick.

Peggy: sure! What’s up?

Forrest: so… Sandra.

Peggy; the runner we saved? What about her?

Forrest: she owned her dance studio for at least twenty years, right?

Peggy: uh, I think so, if she was able to be coerced into lying about George for the sake of her studio all the way back then, she had to have owned it.

Forrest: ok so like…. Centering her life around fitness for two decades…. How good do you think her figure is? Pretty good, yeah?

Peggy: FORREST! You can’t just say that about someone!

Forrest: oh come ON! I can’t say anything around you.

Peggy: now I’m starting to understand why you got blacklisted

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Love the idea George and Marie would go on honeymoon after they got married but their version of a honeymoon is waking up late, hanging out at the gas station or dollar store for a bit, getting ice cream and then going back home

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Marie: y’know George I’m so excited to have our own house and the baby and everything, but I’m really bummed I’m gonna miss the rest of senior year. I love learning, and I feel like I’ll be behind everyone else.

George: well hey, I’m gonna finish up school. Maybe we can work out some sort of deal?

Marie: *raising an eyebrow* what kind of deal?

George: oh, nothing fancy. I come home every day and teach you what I learned in class, and then in exchange I get to pet on and love on the baby and you don’t get to be annoyed about it.

Marie: how long for?

George: half an hour.

Marie: fifteen minutes.

George: twenty five.

Marie: twenty.

George: you’ve got yourself a deal, ma’am

*they shake hands*

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Friend/relative: oh your baby is so cute!

Marie and George: oh thank you so much, he’s our little joy

Friend/relative: what made you decide to have children

George: Henry was a surprise gift bestowed onto us by the Lord.

Friend/relative: oh how lovely. Well it was great catching up! Bye!

Marie:…. Well that was certainly a fancy way of calling him an accident.

George: but he was a gift. I’m not just talking out of my ass here Bean

Marie; uhuh sure. Totally not the other more realistic explanation that we just did something incredibly stupid and got hit with the consequences.

George: I question your faith.

Marie: you think God would take time out of his busy schedule to give two teenagers a baby for no reason?

George; there IS a reason and that reason is because he was a GIFT

Marie: whatever you say man

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lol imagine George taking Marie on one last hunting trip before Henry’s horn “because after the baby comes we won’t have any time”

So like she’s just waddling through the brush traipsing along behind him like “y’know when you said hunting trip I thought you meant like old times where we’d just go find a bush to make out in” and he laughs like “oh don’t worry, we can do some of that, too. But we need to teach the baby while they’re young! Get the fundamentals down.” And she’s like “I don’t think that’s how that works” I just love the idea of him being like “all right we can lay down behind this log here for a while ” and Marie just gives him an “are you joking” deadpan expression and he’s just like “or the lady can sit if that’s more comfortable” and she’s like “you think?”

And like on the drive back home he takes a hand off the steering wheel and pets her stomach and goes “you did great this week” and Marie is all like “awe shucks thank you I have really been trying to get better aim” and George is like “I was talking to junior” and she laughs like “oh fuck all the way off they didn’t do anything but float around, kick me, and make me almost piss myself.” And he chuckles like “that’s what I’m complimenting them for!”

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Marie: what do you think the baby’s gonna be like?

George: where’s this coming from?

Marie: would you humor me?

George: okay okay fine I’ll humor you.

Marie: so what do you think

George: well are you asking about how they’re gonna look or how they’re gonna act?

Marie; both I suppose

George: well if my recollection serves me, your mama has brown eyes. So does your pa.

Marie: but my dad told me his folks had blue eyes and brown. I’ve got some blue on my mom’s side too.

George: right. So you could theoretically give the baby blue eyes. But your eyes are just so dark… I don’t know if you have any blue in you. Then obviously me and my folks, well we’re all little blond hair blue eyes creatures, so that’s all they’re getting from me, I’m afraid. So I’d say, maybe they’ll have brown or black hair like you, and maybe hazel eyes.

Marie: oooh, hazel eyes.

George; and I think they’re gonna be tall, regardless if they’re a little boy or little girl. Your daddy is super tall, and so are you, and my family aren’t anything to look down at, neither.

Marie: true.

George: now, personality is a little tougher to nail down. I can barely get a few words out in class but you could talk for hours to a complete stranger. I don’t know who they’ll take after.

Marie: for your sake, I hope it’s you.

George: *chuckling* right.

Marie: they’re gonna be special, whatever they’re gonna be like.

George: and see now that was my second point.

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Lmao imagine George walking by Marie holding baby Henry and he just laughs

Marie: oh now what

George: oh nothing it’s just… he’s so fat

Marie: well that’s kinda their whole fuckin thing, isn’t it, George? He needs to be well fed if he’s gonna, y’know, live.

George: and you’re doing a great job in that department. I just think it’s so funny how fat he looks.

Marie: he’s gonna be telling you that one day and you’re not gonna find it so funny.

George; i look forward to it.

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George: *staring off into space , purely distracted*

Jason: George??

George: mm? Pardon?

Jason: where is your head right now? Because it’s certainly not in this room.

George: oh, sorry, I’m just… thinking about Marie.

Jason: seriously?

George: well I can’t help it, can I? She’s so pretty. Gotta be the prettiest girl in the world.

Jason: you know there’s more to life than pretty girls, right?

George: not anymore!

Jason: ok well have you at least told her you like her???

George: …seemed like she got the picture.

Jason; so that’s a no

George: in so many words.

Jason: well winter break is almost here, so you might wanna make your move now before she forgets about you.

George: I think I’d actually just die on the spot if that happened.

Jason: well at least you’re not being dramatic about it.

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George: now what do we say if we make a mistake?

Henry; I’m sorry

George; very good. And what do we say if someone does something we ask them to?

Henry; thank you

George: smart boy! And what do we say when Pa sneaks us an extra cookie after dinner time?

Henry: don’t tell Mama

George: haHA my man

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So I was toying with the idea that in an au where George lives to meet Henry and all that, if he and Marie would ever have any other children. The answer would obviously be yes under normal circumstances I mean they would probably LOVE more children if they got to be a family.

But I was having trouble thinking about how many or what they’d all look like etc etc and so I was like well what if they DIDNT have any more after Henry? Why would that be? And one of the possibilities I came up with is that the two would actually deal with fertility issues after Henry was born due to some complications.

This generates of course some good angst, y’know the two being so happy to have Henry but grieving the fact they won’t have more, especially Marie who was raised in a time when her identity as a woman was pretty tied to her ability to have kids BUT it also generates some comedy when the two realize that, in a sort of twisted way, the common problem of the time that was “how do we NOT have children” just got solved for them. Can definitely imagine George doing a little celebratory dance after working that one out.

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George: missus Barrow

Marie: yes Mr barrow

George: tell me something.

Marie: go on.

George: do you think your folks will ever like me the way mine like you?

Marie: well, I don’t really think so, no. But who cares anyway? You didn’t marry them. You don’t ever have to talk to them if you don’t want.

George: I don’t know what I did to make them hate me.

Marie: *chuckling* you gave me a child and married me.

George: yeah, and why would that piss them off? I don’t get it.

Marie: because they think I can do better. They think you’re taking me off the market before someone better can come along.

George: oh.

Marie: it’s all bullshit though. They could never understand what you and our son mean to me.

George: aw Bean

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Marie: *reading something in newspaper* mm. Georgie, come look at this.

George: what is it, Bean?

Marie: look at this. It says that now they have machines that are so advanced they can show you if you’re gonna have a boy or a girl.

George: wow. We are living in such an advanced time.

Marie: if this was around when we had Henry, would you wanna know what he was before he was born?

George: ….mmm not really no

Marie: oh? Why not?

George: well nothing would really be different, now would it?

Marie: I mean, sure, but wouldn’t you want to know? Just out of curiosity?

George: and ruin the surprise?

Marie: I think I’d like to know.

George: why’s that?

Marie: so I would have been able to set everything up with a baby boy in mind.

George: I think you did fine how it was. He didn’t need the whole nursery done up in blue and army planes and all that.

Marie: yeah but I think it would’ve been nice to start calling him by his name even earlier.

George: we did have lots of fun coming up with nicknames though.

Marie: true.

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*a year or so after Henry was born*

George: he’s just the cutest ain’t he

Marie: mhm. He’s a little sweetheart.

George: almost makes you want another one, doesnt he?

Marie: well, he’s a lot of work… but I suppose I wouldn’t mind another baby.

George: can we have a baby girl? I’d love a little baby girl. Complete the set.

Marie: *chuckling* Georgie if I could control that sort of thing I’d say absolutely

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Henry; Pa? Can I ask you something

George: anything, son.

Henry: how did you know Ma was the one for you?

George: well, son, there comes a time in every young man’s life when he starts to pay more attention to the fairer sex. For me, that time was when I moved to Gallows Creek. It was my first basketball game there, and my last shot won the game. I looked up in the stands to the adoring crowd, and, well, there was your mother sitting in the bleachers. As radiant as the setting sun. I knew right then she’d be my wife. Obviously I didn’t realize how soon that was, but I knew.

Henry…. So basically you thought she was hot.

George: to put it bluntly.

Henry: I thought it’d be a lot more complicated than that.

George: sometimes it can be. Wasn’t the case for us though.

Henry: damn.

George: hopefully it’ll be the same for you, and it’ll just be easy like that.

Henry: yeah.