» Baby, Baby., Tag: Sheree

[William Hogan]

William was drunk. Had been drunk for several days now, in fact. Sometimes he was better at hiding it than others. Mealtimes with the whole happy family, for instance, went well enough. He managed not to knock anything over and didn’t slur too badly. There were a few times when he tried to visit Sheree when the booze sabotaged any positive groundwork he had laid during the more sober morning hours. He mumbled, couldn’t look her in the eye and was ripped to shreds by any remark she made. Even if it was only a question about curtains in the would-be baby room, he was certain she was really saying: “Look what you did, you horrible, horrible excuse of a man.”

The nights were the worst, when he was left all on his own; stuck in his room with the door locked after him. He was practically a prisoner in his own palace… No one trusted him. Not his Princess. Not his parents, the King and Queen. Not even himself. Ever since he had brought Sheree home to meet the parents, things had been miserable. She had been avoiding him like the plague. Or an STD. Which he was pretty sure that he didn’t have, but probably should have gotten checked out before he decided to rape his one true love. There was no denying that he was drawn to her. Couldn’t stop thinking about her. Will smiled each time he saw her, even if he hadn’t smiled for days and wouldn’t smile for days after. It took him over. It was usually quickly diminished, however, by some sort of scathing remark - or mention of how she was feeling sick today, because of him. Always because of him. He knew that well enough.

Today he was trying to loose himself in distraction. Booze simply wasn’t getting the job done. It was drowning his thoughts into a dull drone, but they were still horribly depressing. So - he’d set about getting a few things ready for his child. Their child. It was weird to think of really, as they hadn’t gone about any of this in the proper way. He hadn’t gone about any of this in the proper way. I mean, what kind of story was this going to make? How was he going to tell his son about the first time he met his mother? “Well, lad, I came upon her asleep. She was so beautiful, I had to have her. So I did. Then she woke up.”

William pushed himself away from the cradle he was polishing with a groan, settling his back against the closest wall and falling into a crouch. No. It wouldn’t do. They’d have to come up with some bull-shit story and lie for the rest of their lives about how wonderful everything was. When it wasn’t. When he was a giant loser. Smacking his forehead, he took in a deep sigh, the smell of wood polish burning his nostrils. For a second, he began contemplating whether or not wood polish might be more effective than whiskey…

[Sheree Bridges]

It had been a very good day so far for Sherree. Her joints were moving easily and without pain or stiffness. The stretch she had gotten the day before had been very good for her. The fresh air was always nice and it always helped. She had asked many many times for someone to figure out how to get the windows in her room to stay open instead of slamming shut or risking a book to the weather. Of course, she didn't care too much about the books, they were mostly dead to her, but she knew that there would be a lot of hell for her to pay for doing that. Books were sacred here and her "mother-in-law" would be livid. So she was stuck with windows that slammed shut at night. That was part of the reason why she loved the outdoors so much, she was still trapped from the clean fresh air when she was inside.

She had taken a good part of the morning to enjoy the outdoors. She had stopped by the stables and saw that Bavarty was still in his stall. She had made a face but had gone and fed him a slice of apple. Sheree knew that it was strange for William to leave his horse at this time of day, it was one of the few things they had in common. They both loved the outdoors and horses. And maybe she had been hoping to see him there but she wasn't exactly ready to admit it to herself, let alone him. After running her hand down Bavarty's muzzle, she then went to walk the grounds. She had gotten into a lot of trouble yesterday for leaving but it had been worth it. However, if she did it again, she was afraid her in-laws to be would put the same baby-sitting crew on her as they had for William. She kind of felt bad for him but in the same way, she also thought he needed to stand up for himself.

After a little gardening, which she very much enjoyed, Sheree decided to go back into the palace. It wasn't as though she had been dying to go back inside but she thought she would make herself seen and hopefully, buy herself a little more time outside in the afternoon. She would lay down for a few minutes when the maid came in to fix things up. The maid would report to the queen and then she would be in the clear, at least for a little while. It really wouldn't be all that difficult to trick her. She wasn't exactly smart, just really, very organized to an annoying degree.

What made this day even better was that the queen actually saw her in the house. There was no denying what one saw with their own eyes after all. The queen seemed to be in a very chipper mood which meant that William hadn't done something to annoy her yet. That was good. They were too hard on William in Sheree's opinion. He needed to figure out who he was. Maybe if they hadn't been so tough on him, he wouldn't have done something so stupid when he first tasted freedom and found her. Of course, he was responsible for his actions but there was no way that his parents were actually helping him. What was he going to do when he became king?

The queen had told her that William had a surprise and she had hoped that she kept her excitement under control. She loved surprises. Even the anticipation of a surprise was enough to give her a little bounce in her step. Of course, she was told to stop bouncing baby. If she only knew! She thought as her steps lost their bounce but a mischievous smile came to her lips. No one knew that she was actually carrying twins. Too bad for them. She liked having that secret and she knew that if she said anything, they would be twice as restrictive to her daily activities. That would be bad for their well being, not her's.

She knocked lightly on the door to the room where William was before entering. He rarely gave her permission to enter because, well, she wasn't sure. He was just drunk a lot and she hated that. She couldn't listen to him. He was drunk when he found her and he was still drunk. She hoped their children wouldn't follow this suit. The king did drink a bit. She checked the hall to make sure that the queen was not around and, once she was clear, she bounced into the room and looked around. It wasn't like she was expecting a horse, although she wouldn't mind that one bit, but all she saw was a dark, ugly cradle.

Sheree's face fell at the thought that this was the surprise. It was just as dark as everything else in this drab place. "Your mom said you had a surprise from me. I hope that's not it." She poked it a little so that it could rock a little. "This was her idea wasn't it?" She asked, assessing the situation. "I'm pretty sure this is older than I am."

[William Hogan]

Just as he was about to tip back the bottle of wood polish into his mouth, William heard a knock at the door. Startled, he stood as quickly as he could, spilling quite a bit of the lemony scented liquid down his shirt. Just as good, really. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that drinking it probably wouldn’t have been the brightest of all ideas. Then again…he sighed…maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. He moved to set the bottle onto the edge of the crib, wiping at the mess he had made of his plain blue shirt as he called out to whoever was on the other side of that blasted door to come in.

He gaped as the Princess entered. She had been the last person he had been expecting. Dumbly wiping at the seeping stain on his front, he blinked at her before he managed to sputter something…

“You’ve been outside.” He could tell by the extra blush to her cheeks, the wind-blown look to her hair and the bounce in her step. Oh, Mother certainly wouldn’t like that. William couldn’t decide whether he liked that or not. Well, he liked the way that she looked, of course… He just didn’t know if he liked that she had been outside by herself. But he certainly wouldn’t tell her that.

Will followed her gaze towards the cradle, his eyebrows raising hopefully and pulling up the sides of his mouth just a smidge. “It’s a cradle. Apparently it’s the royal cradle that all of the royal Princes have slept in. The Queen had it brought in from storage; I’m going to clean it up for the nursery.” He shrugged. While he was going to be doing the refurbishing, it had been entirely his mother’s idea. It certainly wasn’t what he had in mind for his child, but then again, who was he to say what was right? She was the one who had already raised a kid, after all. Not that he’d turned out that fabulous.

When he looked back to Sheree’s face and saw that she was the opposite of happy, his eyebrows and lips fell back into their normal droopy positioning. “Yes. This was the only surprise.” Sad blue eyes swung back to watch the cradle rock. “Yes. This was her idea…” His Princess certainly was astute. Then, something registered…

“Older than you are?” William blinked.

[Sheree Bridges]

Sheree had wanted to snicker a tad when she walked in and saw William all disheveled and, for once, it didn't seem like it was because of drink. She kind of liked him like this. It worked for him. He was simply dress and, judging by the stain on his clothes, he had been doing "simple" work. he seemed to be in his nature, even if he was making a mess. That was exactly what Sheree thought this castle needed though, a big shaking up. Maybe that was her destiny, to shake up castle drearypuss and make it something more lively. Get it out of its dream state and teach it how to live.

Maybe.

For the moment though, there was a crib and a sulky prince and a heritage to deal with. No wonder Will was the way he was, he had to sleep in this monstrosity as a baby. It probably gave him nightmares and made him sick. It could be haunted for all they knew. It was dark, dingy and disgusting in its plainness. She wanted it gone and, instinctively, she put a hand on her belly as if to promise the two little ones that she would never put them anywhere near that thing. Not while she was alive at least and she was not about to voice that comment either. The king and queen may actually take her up on her offer.

She walked around it with a critical eye, catching the mopiness in William. No she didn't like it but she had to watch out for the babies first. Although, she was amused that he was just figuring out her age now. Well, if there was one perk to this whole situation, it was that she could now blow his mind with how old she had been when he had bedded her. "Yes Billiam. I'm old. About...ummm....two hundred and twenty years old to be precise." She could only smile in amusement at that statement. She had never actually said her age before. "Wow...I'm old."

Then she turned back to the cradle, hands on her hips and inspected it. "You don't like this cradle do you? I mean, its really nice that the princes have all slept in it and all but, come on! What if we don't have boys but girls? Or what if we have two boys? How do we choose which one gets to sleep in the all precious crib? I don't want one to think their special simply because they popped their little head out before their brother. I want them both to feel special."

Sheree sighed and looked up. No, this wouldn't do. She walked over to William and placed her hands on his arm, pulling lightly to make sure she had his attention. "Please? Dismantle this instead of repairing it. PLEEEEEASE?"

[William Hogan]

Billiam. His lips pursed for just a second as she called him by her favorite nickname, but he let it go. He owed her a million Billiams. She could be calling him worse things than that, after all. Besides, he was more interested in what she was saying afterwards. Old. Two hundred and twenty years old. Slowly, all expression on his face slowly went southward. “Two hundred and twenty? Shit.” He blinked. Well. She was a legend. A story. He’d first heard about the Sleeping Beauty as a bedtime story from his nanny when he was just barely out of the wooden boat rocking between them now. Of course she was older than he was. Will had just never connected the dots. He cleared his throat.

“Well. I guess you are old.” Swallowing, he grabbed the wood shine again and set about polishing the cradle again. He was in awe of Sheree, again, but rather than stare at his Princess - he set about doing something with his hands, staring at them instead. As she turned back to him with hands on her hips, he glanced upwards a little worriedly. “Like it? Am I supposed to like it? It’s a baby cradle… That’s your job, right? Liking baby things?” He ‘ahemed’ again, wondering if perhaps he shouldn’t have said that. After all, it was his fault that there were baby anythings around these days. “I think mother might faint if we didn’t use it. Not that it wouldn’t be the first time. She fakes it pretty well.”

Then, something else jarred loose in his brain. “Wait. Boy…s? Girl…s? Two boys? Wait. Who says we’re going to have two of anything? Don’t these things just happen one at a time?” Breathing a little heavier, leaning on the cradle and eyeing the polish bottle yet again, William tried to regain his composure. Oh, hell.

Then, Sheree was touching him.

Slowly, William’s head turned so that he could look down into her eyes. He was tall. But she was tall too. He didn’t have to look down all that far. Feeling a little steadier on his feet, he nodded at whatever she was saying while captured between her eyes and her hands. Besides, dismantling was something he was good at.

“First, before I do anything, let me get this straight. We need…two cradles? Is that what you said in all that going on about popping and feeling special?” It was evident the gears were turning, although a bit creakily...

[Sheree Bridges]

William’s brain may be a bit rusty and moving rather slowly but Sheree’s brain was whirling. Maybe it was working faster then she could censor her mouth. She hadn’t meant to tell William about the twins like this. She was going to wait and hold onto that until the perfect moment. Or until she was beyond huge and just had to fess up to it. No, she didn’t want to tell him like this but again, his shock was very amusing. She considered two moments of complete shock a very successful meeting. It wasn’t very often that he was paying enough attention to her to be shocked. His brain was far too numb usually. He was much better to talk to when he was like this.

She began eyeing the cradle with extreme interest as he waited for him to finish reacting. “Of course your opinion counts. There is a good chance I will lose all sense of fashion in a few months and someone is going to have to keep me from decorating the nursery in some horrid color scheme.” She told him. “Obviously, I can’t count on your mom for that.” Sheree sighed as she looked at this. Apparently, good taste in fashion was not a prerequisite for being a queen. What a shame.

While William’s brain wrapped around the twins, Sheree nodded her head. “Yes. Twins. I’ve known for a few weeks but it was kind of nice having secrets.” Secrets that weren’t pathetic of course. “So we have to get rid of this but,” Sheree’s hand went up to her face, her index finger tapping on her pursed lips as she thought. “if we physically dismantle it, your mom may kill us. Or you rather. I think I’m safe until the baby is born. However, we can’t have a dead Billiam either.” By now, Sheree was obviously thinking out loud. “If it were an accident, that may keep us safe for a little while. You could say it was fixable and then use parts to make two cradles but only if we can strip this color. Its far to dark for babies.”

When Sheree looked up, she saw the plan unfolding before her eyes. She saw the perfect way to destroy this ugly cradle while keeping out of trouble. Maybe it would also help save some of William’s reputation as well. She tapped him excitedly on his shoulder as a huge smile came to him. For the first time in her whole life, Sheree was going to cause mischief. “I have an idea. A brilliant idea. An incredible idea.” She began looking around the room for the one thing she needed. “I need something sharp and your help and then you just have to play along.” She wasn’t going to tell him anything. The shock that her actions would cause would be the perfect cover.

[William Hogan]

“Well, perhaps you should tell me the colors that you like now. That way I will know them for when you lose your…sense of fashion, did you say?” William looked at her quite seriously. Another reason she should tell him now was that he hadn’t had a drink in nearly an hour now - which meant he still had the mental function to write the colors down for future reference once she left the room. If he continued at this rate of non-drinking, he might be completely sober by the end of the day. “My mother does love puce. And ruffles. You should have seen my nursery…” He shrugged. It was an undeniable fact. Nearly every gown his mother wore was in that oddish shade of pinky red and bedecked with enough ruffles and frills to choke a pouf.

Yes. Twins. She had said it as if it were the easiest thing in the world. William swallowed hard. If only he hadn’t been so drunk and so damn horny that first night. Then, maybe…just maybe, they could have gone on a few dates before they were elbow-deep in shitty diapers. Times two, no less! The air. It was becoming very stuffy…he took in a few deep breaths, focusing on the finger tapping at her lovely lips. Nice having secrets. He huffed at her a little, but still listened to her lilting voice. It was making him feel better. Even if, after a few sentences in…and another Billiam…it was obvious where her plan was headed.

He grumbled under his breath, after taking another big sigh. “Oh, they can’t kill me either. Not until you bear a boy…” Scratching at his head and then running a hand through his mop of hair, he turned to lean against the cradle with his arms crossed over his chest. “An accident. They’ll never believe it. At least not coming from me… Then again, maybe more so coming from me.” His head wobbled back and forth as he ran through a few scenarios. At first he thought they wouldn’t believe that the fake accident had truly been an accident…and rightly so, of course. But with as many accidents as Will had been having lately, they really would have no reason to think he was lying.

And if it would make Sheree happy…

Then he was startled into pulling away from the cradle, looking at her with what was almost a spark behind his eyes. “Something sharp? No. You aren’t handling anything sharp. I’ll do it.” He pulled out his knife from behind his back, then waited expectantly for instructions.

[Sheree Bridges]

Sheree couldn't help but laugh a little as William continued to describe his nursery. Yeah, she was feeling bad for the man. All of that ugliness and darkness and frills could do nothing good for children. No wonder William was the way he was. But she also had to laugh because it was kind of cute the way he wanted to get the colors she liked. "Basically, if you can't find the color in the garden, it doesn't go in. If the material isn't exactly natural, its a no go. If your mother loves it, burn it." She said with a definitive nod. Nothing ugly allowed around her children. They were going to see the greatest things in all the earth.

Then came the announcement that he was safe from death. "Well, we can lie if we are having boys to make sure you at least get to see that. And if they're not going to kill you, don't worry about it. They're far too stuffy for their own good and it will be an accident. Don't worry so much. Trust me a little ok?" She asked before requesting the tools she was going to need. When he said she couldn't have the kinfe, she wondered if it was because he was afraid she might stab her or because he was fussing over her. She couldn't exactly be sure but since there was a little fire in his eyes for the first time, she gave in. "I'll let you do it this time but next time, I want to play with the knife." She pulled the edge of her skirt up so he could easily reach it. Pointing to part of the fabric a few inches away from the edge she gave him directions. "Put a little nick in here and then rip the material off."

Sheree sensed a small amount of hesitation. "Come on, we don't have time before someone comes to check on us." She tapped her foot a little until she did as he asked. The material looked perfect and she grinned. She grabbed his shoulders and led him to the window. "Ok. You stay here until, well, you'll know. Don't turn around." She went and grabbed the polish he had been using. "And here, hold this." She smiled as she looked over the room, telling William to turn back around. Somehow, she just knew he was going to peek.

Then, she went over to the cradle and moved it a little bit until it was under the path she needed. She then went over and stuck most of the material between a book and the edge of the bookcase. Next, she went behind the bookcase and began pushing. It was far heavier then she had originally thought. Maybe it was her lack of muscles or useful joints but it was heavy. She grunted and huffed as she pushed again. It tilted a little but then came right back. "Alright. You will lose. Just give in now." She said as she tried one more time.

Finally, the bookshelves came crashing down onto the cradle. The intensity of the sound made Sheree scream a little as she jumped back. The material of her dress was sticking out just as she wanted to happen. She was very satisfied but she couldn't look it and she had to move fast. She started settling a shocked and scared look on her face as she pulled William back over and wrapped his arms around her as though he had just pulled her from the path of danger. Now, if she could fake hysterical tears, this would go off perfectly.

In fact, there were the first tears.

[William Hogan]

“Not natural, don’t use it. Got it.” William repeated it as if he were repeating a lesson. He would remember her instructions if it killed him. Really, the remember part wouldn’t be what got him killed…it would be the carrying out part. His mother could be quite terrifying when riled, and if she realized she didn’t have full control over the nursery, Will didn’t want to be the closest head to smack.

Trust her. She asked him to trust her. Seriously? Will blinked. He trusted her. He just also trusted in his estimation of how his parents were going to react to the ‘accident.’ Oh, he was feeling nauseous. However, puking all over Sheree’s shoes probably wasn’t going to get him any brownie points. So, he took in a deep breath and gripped his knife a little harder. William was relieved when she relented to let him do whatever required something sharp. His feet knew well enough how things could go wrong when sharp objects were involved. His buzz was wearing down to a dullness in the back of his eyes, so he was fairly certain he would be able to perform without incident. Besides, his fingers were less valuable than hers.

Will’s eyes widened as the Princess pulled up her skirt, his mouth opening in confusion. As she pointed to an area of the fabric and directed him to rip off the material, he simply stood there. And looked. “Rip the material off?” Rip the material off. Oh, for the love of fairy godmothers. Sniffing and thinking of his mother very, very hard, William reached forward and grasped the edge of Sheree’s skirt. After a considering second, he did as she asked, ripping off a large part of her skirt.

Before he could ask why exactly he had just done what he had done, she had guided him over to the window and commanded him to stay. Will obeyed, facing the outdoors with the polish held stiffly in both hands at his chest. He wanted to peek. He wanted to peek very badly. He had the same sensation that he’d had that first night that he’d seen her. Which made him stare quite resolutely at a bug splatter on the glass. Will heard a shuffling about behind him and grumbled aloud. She was moving the cradle. She didn’t need to be pushing or shoving or lifting things. But, she had told him to stay and to not turn around. The agony of indecision. Finally deciding it was in his best interest to do as he was told, he sighed as motionlessly as possible.

A few moments later, a large crash and a scream caused William to throw the polish up in the air as he spun and raced towards Sheree. The Princess was moving to him at the same time, it seemed, and he suddenly had her in his arms… With a shocked expression on his face, the Prince stared down at her. She looked so afraid. His forehead furrowed as he searched her face, his eyes voicing their concern as all of a sudden she burst into tears.

“Oh, shit. Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? I thought you meant to…”

Then, the doors burst open to reveal a few of the castle guards, a very flustered butler, and the Queen herself. None of whom looked very happy, especially upon closer inspection of the room.

“What have you done now, William, you silly boy? I knew that I shouldn't have allowed you to do this yourself. Now, look! The royal cradle!” The Queen made quite a show of gasping and clutching her chest, eyes aglitter with unfallen tears. "Now where will the baby sleep?"

[Sheree Bridges]

Yes, it was a quick plan that Sheree had come up with and sure, it could probably still blow up in her face. The queen was one of those people who were crazy and could find fault with everything but for some reason, Sheree really wanted to get some of the heat off of William. Yes, he screwed up but if anyone was going to be mad at him, it was going to be her. After all, he had raped her, not his mother or father, not anyone else in the kingdom. Their little bubble gum view of how the world should be was popped. Too bad. It was a delusion anyways. William really didn't want to be in the palace. She didn't know where he wanted to be but she was sure it wasn't here.

No, Sheree didn't mind having William's arm around her. She wasn't afraid of him in the least bit. It wasn't like she was awake when he had been stupid and careless. Since she had found out, he had kept a lot of distance between them. Of course, she pretended like she was fine with that. It was logical to want distance from him but there was that inner longing to know that she wasn't just attractive to him when she had been basically dead and laying flat. She was a woman after all and needed to know that she was important to him, not simply guess that she was because they were still being forced into a relationship because of kids.

So she wasn't really looking for William to unwrap his arms from around her. It made her feel kind of safe. No, she wasn't in any danger but she did still like it. But that wasn't what was important. She had to focus on making tears. That was what was important. She just sort of stared at the book case with wide eyes as though everything was a surprise and when the door finally burst open, she looked at those who entered with just as much shock. While she listened to the queen yell at William, she saw her nails going through the elder woman's eyes but she kept that under control.

Sheree tried to pulled away from William took a step away from him. "The bookcase. It just...just...fell." She pointed, her hand shaking a bit as she thought she was good at this. She had to hope. "I was...standing there...and...it fell....on me." She shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. "No, William pulled me to safety just in time." She went back over to William and hugged him. "Can you fix it? Or reuse the wood or something?"

just play along!

[William Hogan]

There are some things that the male brain has a hard time comprehending. The largest majority of those things involves females. William had no clue what was going on, for instance, with the Princess. He knew that Sheree was pregnant. He knew, as of a few minutes ago, that she was pregnant with twins. He also knew that she hated the royal family cradle - and had an idea about how to fix that. What that idea had entailed, she hadn’t told him. But somehow it involved what had just happened. His slow-moving mind, trudging through months of alcohol abuse and little sleep, attempted to wrap itself around a conclusion. Her seeming so upset about it was just throwing him off, damn it…

Blue eyes muddled with bewilderment latched upon his weepy mother. Oh, Hell. Now he had two of them. His arms felt rather nice around Sheree, but William knew that he needed to go comfort his mother lest she melt into a puddle of tulle and taffeta on the floor. She really was a champion fainter. When Sheree pulled away, he allowed her, although a bit reluctantly. When he felt the last of her slip away from his fingers, he cleared his throat and headed to the Queen’s side. Grasping her elbow with one hand and placing a hand on her back, in the typical fashion that he and his father had long ago agreed worked best, he steered his mother to chair.

“Now, now, mother. I’m sorry. Have a nice sit down, alright?”

“Have a nice sit? Are you joking? That cradle has been in the family for centuries! And now it’s a pile of splinters! Do you want splinters in the baby’s bum? Do you William?”

Yes. He wanted splinters in the baby’s bum. After all, it was a rhetorical question. It was obvious from what had happened how he was to answer from the glaring look in her eye. Even though he would never wish any harm on his children; would take an axe to whomever did, at this moment, his mother was quite certain that her son wanted nothing more than a baby with an ass full of wood needles. Will took in a very long, very deep sigh. And didn’t answer.

As Sheree worked on smoothing over the situation, Will did as he was expected and gently patted at the Queen’s shoulder as she dabbed a dry tissue at the corners of her eyes. The Queen snorted when Sheree got to the part about William pulling her to safety, Will’s hand stopping mid-air before falling onto his mother’s shoulder with a tad heavier pat than before. Clearing his throat, he stepped towards Sheree again.

“I…uh…I…er…”

Oh, Lords and Ladies, she was hugging him. Eyes threatening to burst out of his head, he allowed himself to take in a sniff of her hair. Then realized that everyone was looking at him expectantly.

“Oh, what? Yes. I can fix it.”

He turned to his mother, taking on the heroic expression, squared shoulders and deep voice reserved for taking on quests and greeting foreigners.

“I can fix it mother!”