Invite

[emmasi]

Title: Invite

Type of story: Oneshot

Main Characters: Kim/Kit

Genre: Romance?

BTTB Rating: G

Warnings: No

Spoilers: No

Summary: Kim and Kit get a wedding invitation in the mail.

This fic has no particular point. I just felt like writing and this scenario randomly came to mind. I haven't really edited it or checked to see if the timeline is accurate... I just felt like writing something quick without a lot of hassle. So, uh, enjoy!

Invite

Kim sorted through the mail on the counter. Kit was in the bedroom, fussing softly as Archie grizzled. Kim smiled briefly - she never learned that the kid only made that desperate little sound to get his mummy to pick him up and cuddle him. If only that worked for adults.

A blur of bills and junk mail rustled through his fingers. The envelopes were open, and he assumed that his wife - well, de facto, but ‘wife’ sounded less trailer-trash in his mind - had already arranged the pile so that the most painful notice would be at the bottom, allowing him to work up to it. She left the junk mail in, with promises of cheap food and merchandise, to soften the blow.

After grimacing at the gas, electricity, and phone bills - did Kit really need to call her siblings so much? - he shuddered to think what there could possibly be left to deal with. Then he saw the gold-leaf calligraphy staring back at him from a crisp ivory envelope. The apartment went eerily quiet as Archie settled; Kit’s “Sh, sh, sh,” did little to calm Kim’s nerves. He picked up the envelope and turned it over to the return address: Rachel Armstrong and Tony Holden… they were already living together in the Hunter house, by the look of it.

“Ugh,” Kit groaned quietly, emerging from the bedroom, “Archie’s finally asleep. I almost had him down when you came home. He heard you barge through the front door and he got all upset.”

“Sorry,” Kim replied absently.

Kit followed his blank stare to the envelope. “Is that the invite?”

Kim nodded.

“Have you read it yet?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Are you going to?”

Kim looked up at her, as if he hadn’t been listening until now. He shrugged and dropped the envelope back onto the counter. “Nuh. You can give me the gist of it if you want.”

“Hmm, joy! I get to tell you about your ex-wife’s wedding to my ex-step-father! Is Rachel incapable of getting someone her own age or something?”

“Are we going?” Kim asked, grabbing a hasty beer from the fridge.

“Do you want to go?”

“Do you?”

“I asked you first.”

“Yeah, well you’re the one who read it.” Kim took a lazy swig. “We might have to work anyway. When’s it happening?”

“August.”

“Ah, nice of them to give us some notice.” It was already July.

“How long have they been together anyway?” Kit demanded, swiping the invite off the counter. She opened it up and scanned the pretentious gold writing as if it would tell her the date of Tony and Rachel’s first kiss. “It feels like Mattie only told me they were going out a couple of weeks ago!”

“I think you’ll find it was a couple of months ago,” Kim corrected her. “Mattie’s been in Perth for a couple of weeks. I can tell by the phone bill.”

“Excuse me for wanting to keep in touch with my family,” Kit rolled her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Kim said, purposely ignorant of her sarcasm. “So I’m guessing you don’t want to go?”

“It doesn’t matter if I want to go, we have to go!”

“Why?”

“Because they invited us! Rachel invited us! If we don’t go, we’ll look like the bad guys.”

“We are the bad guys, remember? I’m the adulterer and you’re the home-wrecker. I’m surprised that letter wasn’t a court order to make sure we aren’t anywhere near Summer Bay on the day.”

“Yeah, that’d be right,” muttered Kit, tempted to screw up the invite.

“We’ll just tell them that Archie’s sick or something.”

“I don’t want to use Archie like that,” Kit said. “It’s bad enough that people think I used him to steal you away from her in the first place.”

Kim put his beer down on the counter and held Kit by the shoulders. “No one thinks that.”

“Right. That’s why we had to leave the bay, even though my mum had just died, even though I had a new born baby and I needed my family more than anything…"

“We chose to leave so we could have our own life, Kit, and we do. We’ve done okay, haven’t we? And you know I don’t really care if you call your family whenever you want. You should keep in touch with them.”

“It’s just not fair,” Kit said, curling into Kim’s arms in a rare moment of weakness. “It’s not fair that Archie has to grow up in this crappy little apartment, in this dirty city, away from the beach and the bush and his aunts and uncles and cousins… I just wish we were all together again, like it was when Mum was alive.”

“I know,” Kim told her, rubbing her back and resting his chin on he head. “I miss it sometimes too.”

“How can Tony move on so fast?” Kit asked. “I know he slept around a bit when Mum died, but he was hurting, he was acting out… he didn’t love those women. How can he love someone else so soon? And Rachel of all people! How can he marry her? How can he love her like he loved Mum?”

“I don’t know,” said Kim, quite sure that Kit didn’t want him to attempt an explanation.

“We have to go,” Kit resolved. “We have to show them that this won’t get to us.”

“Of course it won’t.” He hugged her tighter and kissed her hair.

“I love you,” she said.

“I know.”

She hit him. “You’re supposed to say you love me too, you Narcissist!”

Kim cringed, jokingly. “Yes! I love you too!” He kissed her by way of apology. “And I love our family, even if it’s just the three of us.”

“Yeah,” Kit said, turning in his arms to look at Archie’s door. “I just wish…”

“I know. Hey, maybe some of the others will come back for the wedding. I mean, if Tony and Rachel invited us, they probably invited people they actually want there, too. Mattie and Ric will come for sure. And Lucas - you like Luc.”

“He stole one of my psychology books,” Kit answered ambiguously.

“He borrowed it for uni.”

“Borrowed it forever!”

“Well we’ll call him and get him to bring it with him to the wedding, okay?”

Kit grumbled. “Okay.”

“See?” said Kim, “It won’t be all bad. You’ll see you’re sister, and I’ll beat up Lucas for you.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Are you kidding? Nobody steals from my girl and gets away with it. I’ll sort the little punk out.”

Kit laughed. “Thank you. But you know I could do that myself.”

“Mmm, yeah, I know, but you’re so pretty. Wouldn’t want to see these beautiful hands get all bruised and bloody.” He held her hands and kissed her knuckles, flirting with danger, since he was quite right in acknowledging her ability to give Lucas or anyone else a split lip if she so chose. Luckily, Kit was too smitten with romance to be much of a threat at the moment.

“You know, there is another reason that I shouldn’t get into a fight…” she said mysteriously.

“What’s that?”

Kit took Kim by the hands and led him over to the couch. Kim became suspicious as she sat down, urging him to do the same. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Kim,” Kit began, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Uh oh.”

“No, it’s nothing bad. I mean, I don’t think it’s bad. I don’t think you will either - in fact, I think - I hope - you’ll think it’s very good…”

“Kit…” he prompted her to stop babbling.

“Right. Sorry. It’s just… I don’t quite know how to say this…”

“Just say it.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Kim blinked. “Sorry?”

“Are you? Are you sorry? Is this a bad thing? I really don’t want this to be a bad thing, Kim. I mean, I know we didn’t plan this - how could we? We thought you were sterile, but - ”

“Are you sure it’s mine?”

Kit glared at him, resisting the urge to slap him. Then she slapped him.

“Ow!” Kim held his cheek.

“What kind of girl do you think I am!?”

“I know what kind of girl you are, and it’s never worried me before, as long as you’re honest… but this… this is impossible, Kit. The doctors said - ”

“Well the doctors were wrong, okay? And for your information, I haven’t been with anyone else for months. Unlike some people…” Kit had a sudden thought. “Oh god, you’ve been careful, haven’t you? I mean, you haven’t been going out thinking you’re safe when you’re not?”

“Yes, I’ve been careful! I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t risk our health anymore than you would, and I learned my lesson about babies with Noah, thanks. I don’t want to go through something like that again.”

“Except with me.” Kit smiled.

Kim put his hand on her abdomen. “Are you sure? I mean are you really, really sure?”

“Yes, Kim,” Kit laughed. “I took the test - we’re pregnant!”

Kim hesitated, thoughtful. “Kit… would you hate me if I asked for a paternity test?”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’ll raise the kid either way, you know I will, but I just… I can’t believe this. It seems so far-fetched. And I can’t go through it again, thinking that the kid is mine if it’s not.”

“Yeah, because getting a paternity test worked out so well for you the last time.” Kim didn’t find that funny. “Kim, I know how important this is to you. I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. Like you said, I know you would support me anyway, so why would I lie?”

“I don’t know…”

“Easy, I wouldn’t. You can trust me, Kim. You can always trust me when it comes to our kids.” She smiled. “‘Our kids,’” she repeated to herself as much as to him. “Archie’s gonna have a little brother or sister. What do you think about that, Dad?”

“It’s…” He shook his head in disbelief. “It’s incredible! It’s awesome!”

Kit grinned. “It is, isn’t it?”

“We’re gonna have another baby!” he said excitedly.

“We’re gonna have another baby!” Kit parroted his excitement.

“Oh my god!”

“I know!”

They threw their arms around each other, laughing ecstatically. Then Archie started crying in the other room.

“Oops,” said Kim.

“Oh bugger it.” Kit got up quickly and disappeared into the bedroom. Kim stayed on the couch, not knowing what to do with himself. Mercifully, Kit returned with the baby. Archie’s bleary eyes were opened as wide as possible. He winged and reached out when he saw his daddy. “All yours,” Kit said, handing him over.

“Hey little mate,” said Kim, cuddling Archie to his chest. “Did you hear? You’re gonna have a little brother or sister to play with.”

“To torture, more like.”

“Oh come on, he won’t be that bad.”

“You never had a brother, did you?”

Kim could have said yes, he did once, but instead he just smiled. He had been raised as an only child after all.

“Nah,” said Kim, looking down at his son and playing with his little hand, “I bet Archie will look out for the kid, won’t you Archie?”

“He better,” said Kit. “Hey, I just thought of something: do you reckon a pregnancy announcement would upstage a bride at her own wedding?”

“Don’t be awful,” Kim said, grinning.

END

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