Late January 2004

Something about his wife had been off for the last few weeks, though Oliver couldn't tell what. Katie was inscrutable at best.

That evening, when he'd gotten back from a night practice with the team, she didn't kiss him on the cheek, like she usually did, and she hadn't met his eyes, either.

Now, Oliver was not considered an academic, but these were the textbook symptoms of someone who was hiding something. To further add to his suspicion, she'd received a letter last night, and before he could even ask, she had read it, wrote a quick reply on the back, and sent it out again.

The morning after she had received the letter, Katie was quiet. The only sound was her lifting her mug of tea to her mouth and setting back down, an eerily mechanical motion as she stared out the window and sighed.

Katie had told him time and time again he wasn't known for his grasp of human emotions, and he knew it too. Some people, such as himself, could try to understand, but they simply could not.

And so he had shaken it off, and went to practice with his mind on only one thing; stopping the Quaffle from entering the hoops.

Early February 2004

Oliver was heavily dependant on his calendar. The 14th of February would have just been another day for him, if not for the calendar; it was only the 1st today, but he knew from years of messing up that Valentines Day was to be planned weeks in advance and not the day of.

While Katie was at work, he had owled one of the nicest restaurants in Muggle London - he knew she liked to honour where she came from, and so he did.

When he received the confirmation of the reservation, he hid it neatly in a cupboard, with the tea bags only he used in the morning.

That night was a late practice, and so they saw each other for ten minutes before Oliver left for practice. She seemed distant again, but Oliver disregarded it - he knew her work was stressful, and he was sure they would talk about it after.

February 10, 2004

"Do you… do you think anything's wrong? I mean, she's been getting all these owls, and I don't know who the hell they're from."

His sister crossed her ankles and grinned at him. There was a twinkle in her eye that meant she knew something he didn't.

"I'm serious, Georgia." He had his suspicions, and he hoped he was wrong.

The waitress came and brought them their food. He gave a nod of thanks, and Georgia spoke again.

"I'm serious, Oliver," she mimicked, pulling a face. "Look, you moron, Katie's one of my best friends. You have nothing to worry about. I'm sure it's just stress. There's been a big case."

"I'm going to ask her about it."

"Use your big boy words, Ollie."

"Piss off."

When Oliver got home, a fuzzy ball with a mop of blonde hair lay on the sofa, sleepily blinking at the fire. Katie had covered herself with a blanket, and she looked pale and feverish.

Oliver shrugged off his robes and sighed as he sank into the armchair. "You alright?"

"Fine, fine," said Katie. "I'm just tired."

"You look sick."

"I haven't been feeling well, lately," she said.

"You should go see a mediwitch," he replied.

Katie shifted. "Yeah," she said.

February 14, 2004

Wallet? Check. Dress robes? Check. Roses? He'd gotten two dozen.

Katie was getting ready in the bathroom. It was half past six, and if they were to make it on time, she needed to be out in five minutes.

"Almost ready?" he called.

"Two minutes!"

Eight minutes later, she emerged.

She looked just as beautiful as she had on their wedding day, if not better. She had curled her hair and applied very minimal makeup, and wore eye-popping red dress robes. Katie smiled at him.

"You look beautiful."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Right back at you."

"Shouldn't I be handsome?"

"Nope," she said, still grinning. They made eye contact and laughed a little, before Oliver offered her arm.

They arrived at the restaurant with exactly two minutes to spare, and they shared an amused glance at the relieved waiter.

As they sat down, however, Katie quieted and a very rare awkward silence came upon them.

Oliver coughed. "We haven't been doing much of anything lately, Kates. And after good practices, you know, it's always nice to…" He raised his eyebrows and winked.

Katie reddened a little and laughed, looking around at the other diners to see if they heard what he said.

She looked nervous when she spoke. "Well, it's Valentines Day today, so maybe…"

"I'm going to hold you to that."

She smiled, but it quickly faltered.

Now was the time. He wanted a serious answer out of her - she was his wife, and he'd been putting this off for weeks, hoping that what he thought was going on wasn't. Katie had looked sick and been avoiding him; it was uncharacteristic of the bubbly, happy, intelligent Katie that he was used to.

"What's wrong, Katie?"

She looked at the menu and then looked up at him. "Well, there's something I should be telling you…"

His mind raced with a thousand terrible, terrible possibilities, and he prayed that Katie would somehow surprise him - she was good at that, see.

"I got a letter from the doctor a few weeks ago. I went in," Katie sighed with her whole body.

"What happened?" Oliver interrupted.

"-and the doctor ran a few tests. There is a reason I have been so tired and nauseous lately. At first, the results were inconclusive, and I didn't want to tell you, just in case of false hope. Too good to be true, right?"
"Katie, really, what's going on?"

She pressed her lips together, and smiled anxiously. "I'm pregnant."

Silence.

Not what he was expecting, not at all.

"I… think I need to sit down."

"Oliver, you are sitting down."

"Yeah, yeah."

He took a couple of deep breaths. Why hadn't she told him earlier? He should have known, he should have gone to St. Mungo's with her. He felt annoyed, a little - but more than that, he felt an overwhelming excitement.

He met Katie's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She bit her lip. "My sister had so many problems trying to concieve… I was worried. It's stupid. I should have told you…"

He knew they would have been able to do this together if she would have told him. He didn't focus on that, though… he was going to be a father.

"Don't say sorry."

Katie looked up at him, and took his hand from across the table. The other was wrapped around her abdomen.

"This is the best Valentine's gift ever."

a/n - Puddlemere United QL entry, round 3. I clearly can't resist kbow.