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The Varey Home
Topic Started: Feb 11 2009, 03:59 AM (248 Views)
Julie Varey
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Julie arrived at the address Jace had given her, having slightly calmed down from what had just happened with Llian. In truth, she wasn't all that upset about him rejecting her. What she was upset about was what it meant for Arram.

Julie would suck it up and get married. It wouldn't be so bad. She could get custody of Arram, but for now she just wanted to see Arram.

She rang the doorbell of the large house, slightly nervous about showing up so randomly.
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Jason Varey

Jace was lounging in one of the big armchairs in the living room, watching a football game with Arram. The baby was sitting up in his lap, and Jace continually talked to him. That was called a foul because, oh wow, did you see that? Etc.

He and Arram were pretty fixated on a play when the doorbell rang, and so he called out, "Mama! Door!"

Naturally, it was him, a few minutes later, jumping up and seeing who it was, Arram tucked into his arm securely. When he saw Julie though, his eyebrows went up and he pushed open the door, inviting her in. Naturally, he looked her over to see if she'd been healing, but the tension and look on her face indicated to him how he should go about speaking.

Not that he listened.

"You okay?"
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Julie Varey
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Julie smiled at seeing Arram with Jace. He looked good, comfortable. And she knew he was obviously being taken care of well. But at Jace's question she let out oa frustrated sigh, folding her arms over her chest. She was clearly just that obvious to read.

"No, I'm not okay," she admitted. Well, venting about the situation might help. She was angry enough, that was for sure. And who knew? Maybe Jace would have some good ideas.

"Llian won't marry me," she said bluntly, stepping into the house. "I mean... not that I actually want to marry him. In fact, I pretty much think it'll be way too much of a disaster. I'd hate it, he'd hate it... we're clearly not very good for each other. And I don't even want to be with him. But that's not the problem."

She glanced back down at Arram. "I'm trying to think about him here. You know, Andre's taking me to court. That's right, the slimy bastard --" She cut herself off, spotting Arram. "Excuse my language... That... that man thinks he can actually take me to court for getting Eve's son out of that awful place he's been living. But I talked to a lawyer, and he said that my only shot is getting protective custody, but they'd most likely give Arram to foster care because of my past, my job, the fact that I'm not married..>"

She gave a little gesture to signify that the list continued. "So anyways, I asked Llian if he wanted to marry me. You know, get married so we could say we had a more stable life, and I could at least have somewhat of a better shot at keeping Arram. You know, like a con. But... for a better reason than money. But no. He won't."

She stopped again to take a breath and looked up at Jace and Arram. "So, basically... I'm ..." She stopped.

There was a tiny, tiny part of her that warned her against her next words. She was very much beyond listening to it, though. As a normal person, the plan might seem a little ridiculous. As a con artist, she really liked it.

"Jace, what are your feelings about marriage?"
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Jason Varey

Jace closed the door behind Julie and tilted his head to indicate she could keep talking, but that they should get away from the door. He walked downstairs into the den, basically, his domain when he visited home, and set Arram down in a little playpen, said seriously, "I know man. Not as interesting as the tube, but we'll get back to the later."

He then gestured for her to sit down, but smiled internally. She...didn't seem like she'd be able to sit still, but he could at least offer. When she finished, Jace held up one finger so he could have a moment to process it.

So. Andre decided to go legal. Ha, that was a joke. Jace wondered if he could counter sue...see how Andre liked being investigated.

Anyways, back to her. Clearly they couldn't lose Arram, but the issue of how to prove Julie was a competent mother was difficult, yes, when she wasn't married.

He really wanted to laugh that she asked the...well. He wasn't going to go there.

The very first thing he said was blunt, "He isn't one."

And that, practically, explained everything in Jace's head. Her last question made him smile though. He couldn't help it. He knew it was an important conversation, serious, but marriage...

"In terms of me being married? My mum would be positively tickled pink. She's been waiting for years for me to settle down with some nice girl and give her grandbabies. I'm not for or against it, I suppose. I'm not about to change myself to 'settle'."

There. Sort of serious.

"Can you elaborate why you're asking that question?"
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Julie Varey
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Well, she'd already headed down that path. No sense in stopping now.

"Because," she said simply, "I want to know if you'll marry me. You don't have to change anything, if you don't want. We can have it annulled after I win the trial. We hardly even have to see each other. And, I'm willing to negotiate what you get out of the deal." She had no idea if he'd want payment or whatever.

"Basically? I want Arram to be away from Andre. And whatever will improve my chances? I'm willing to do whatever it takes," she replied.

"All I need is a yes or a no, so I can continue planning."
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Jason Varey

Jace waited just a beat. Her ex-boyfriend said no. He was clearly the next resort, and quite bluntly, he wasn't sure if he was insulted by that or not. Quite bluntly, there were a few things he could chose to be insulted by.

For example, the idea that he'd quickly get rid of her as soon as everything was taken care of. Didn't that imply he'd ditch Arram? Maybe he didn't have as much call on the baby as her, but it wasn't like he wouldn't like to be there for the little guy. And besides, that'd be two babies for her to take care of, and he didn't care of you were supermom. That was a lot.

Another thing could be the fact that apparently he'd hate her for it and wouldn't want to see her. He really didn't give off that air, did he? He hoped not. Thirdly, assuming that he'd need something out of it. Like he needed to be bought off to be a stand in dad. That's fantastic. He was so glad she thought so highly of him.

Lastly, the idea that it didn't matter what he said, it wouldn't make that much of a difference.

So by the end of his thought process, Jace was frowning. However, he stepped forward.

Ignoring the fact that it was probably a complete invasion of personal space, and such, he stepped forward, slid one arm around her waist gently, mindful of what'd happened just a bit ago, and the other hand, just as softly, lifting up her chin. He was slow, so unbelievably slow, to give her the chance to pull away.

And then Jace kissed her.

It wasn't the longest kiss ever, but he didn't rush it either. Just as slowly as he'd leaned in, he'd stepped back, sliding his hands into his jean pockets.

A few moments of silence, and he told her, his voice quiet and deep, "Our chances. Our plans. Our custody. The courts won't believe a business proposal, Julie. We'll have to make it look real."

Jace exhaled and then finished, "The only thing I want out of this deal is for Arram to be safe, and you to be happy. But if we're going to do this, we're going to do this right."

Okay. So maybe he was a bit more than a little insulted.
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Julie Varey
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The frown on his face didn't bode well for Julie. She couldn't quite tell what she was thinking, and he probably thought it was a bad idea. But... he wasn't saying no right away. And that gave her hope.

So why was he frowning? It was most likely something she said, of course. The marriage proposal stuck out like a sore thumb if she was going to go try to figure out what she had said.

Her own thought process was interrupted when he stepped closer to her, sliding a gentle arm around her waist and lifted her chin. It was pretty obvious what he was doing, and Julie had absolutely no intention of pulling away.

And when he kissed her, she responded, returning the kiss. For a moment she was distracted by what they were actually talking about. To say it felt nice was definitely true, and it was actually a bit of an understatement.

She was honestly a little disappointed when he pulled away, although she was pretty sure she had her answer.

Still, his next words were logical, but there was something in his tone that suggested he wasn't happy by something she had said. When he mentioned that the only thing he wanted was Arram's safety and her happiness, she could guess what exactly had offended him. Well, that was a good way to start things off.

"I... thank you," she started with. "Look, I... I didn't mean to offend you," she said. Julie was actually pretty awful at apologies. She kind of hated them. "But I don't know you that well, so how was I supposed to know what sort of arrangement you'd want?" All right. She sucked at apologies. She did feel badly though, since she had quite clearly offended him.

"I was -- I was a little desperate and trying to say anything that came to my mind in the hopes that I could get you to agree with this crazy plan of mine, and I'm sorry if it offended you. But, for what it's worth, I'm glad you want to be involved so much."

She glanced over at Arram, who was content in his playpen, and a smile softened her features for the first time since she'd arrived. "I can tell you really care about him," she commented softly, "which can really only be a good thing for when we get custody."

Julie looked back up at Jace. "All right, then. Let's do this -- the right way."
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Jason Varey

Jace kept his hands in his pockets for a full five minutes before he could control them, and crossed his arms comfortably instead, his expression relaxing from the seriousness that had occupied it just moments before.

He allowed her to apologize, nodding his head slightly to acknowledge it, and just simply responded, "You may not know much about me, but know this: I would never have asked payment for an arrangement I sought you out for. I do not want payment at all. It is enough."

Moving on though, he had to grin and say, "Can you breathe now? Slow down a little bit? When you walked in the house I honestly thought you were going to try to run me over..."

That said, he reached out and caught her hand, pulling her slightly to the chairs, and then dropping it to go over and pick up Arram again. He honestly didn't like leaving the baby alone that much, and if his hands were full of the baby...Right.

"How exactly do you want to go about the ceremony?"
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Julie Varey
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Julie took a seat in one of the chairs, making a point of drawing an exaggerated deep breath. "Ok, I'm breathing. I promise."

She really did feel much more at ease, now that a bit of a solution to one of her problems was very much in sight. "But really, me run you over?" she asked with a grin, glancing down at her petite frame. She was at least eight or nine inches shorter than he was, and it wasn't like Jace was lacking in the muscle department. Nope, definitely not lacking there. "I think you're giving me a little bit too much credit there."

She paused and thought about it for a moment. "Although, Merlin knows I might certainly have tried. I may have been panicking just a little." A little? Sure.

Of course, there was more to be done, as she realized when Jace asked about the ceremony. "Honestly? Whatever is easiest to pull together," she said. "I mean, we have to do this before I'm officially served with the court notice. As it is, Abi could testify that she never saw me getting the note, so I may not have known about Andre's intentions. And if we get married before it's established that it would be better off if I was married for the court's sake, that just looks better for us," she pointed out.

"I mean, all we really need to do is get a marriage license right? I... I'm basically up for anything simple and quick."

A part of her reflected on the fact that this was completely strange. She was, after all, getting married, something she never thought she would do after Kevin.

In fact, this entire wedding was the very antithesis of the one she had been planning with him. Her mind unwittingly flashed back to the bridal shower Abi had thrown for her, the wedding plans that were so extensive they would have taken months... and she couldn't help but shudder at the thought. No, simpler was much more her style.

How things had changed.
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Jason Varey

Once Julie had sat down and once he had Arram happily chewing on a toy in his arms, Jace sat down in a chair across from her, readjusting completely. He was smiling, which, maybe was weird, but he chose to be amused by the situation instead of stressed.

"I think that if you really wanted to, you could have managed." He told her, just widening his grin when she said she was panicking ' a little '.

She was definitely more than a little bit panicking, and that's why he'd gotten over the slight so fast. Because, it seemed, she wasn't thinking clear enough to be tactful.

But of course, he could always pretend he didn't think so highly, "Or you could have just run into me, and with my big, manly machoness, caught you as you bounced off."

He said so in complete seriousness, but such was ruined when he winked at the end of it.

As for the wedding?

"What, no white dress?"
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Julie Varey
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"Hm, that's true. Where there's a will there's a way," she replied. "But yeah... I'm pretty sure option two would have been more likely there."

She shrugged at his question. "I suppose the dress could be white. I hadn't really thought about it. I was thinking more along the lines of just picking out something I already own." Not that she owned many dresses, so maybe a tiny bit of shopping would have to be involved, because the few that she did own were probably not wedding-appropriate. Not even for a simple wedding.

"I don't know. I just know it has to be done fast. Why, what did you want to do?"
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Jason Varey

Jace smirked as he said, "And I would have enjoyed that very much."

Whatever. He was just having fun with it.

The rest of the commentary she made though, caused Jace to arch his eyebrow, "Making so much effort for me, dear? I appreciate it, but you look beautiful no matter what you put on! Please, don't stress yourself out..."

On a serious note, he said, "So basically, you want to go to the courthouse, bring two witnesses, and just have the marriage legal within fifteen, twenty minutes, and be done with it?"
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Julie Varey
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"I know... I'm quite the catch, so to speak," Julie returned, grinning. The light atmosphere was helping her stay calm and not think about exactly what lay ahead with the trial and Andre's custody hearing.

She nodded to his effort remark. "Only for you," she teased.

"But yeah. That's basically what I was thinking." She stopped to think for a moment. though. "Unless... hm. It would seem more real if we did it in a church," she mused, basically just voicing her thoughts. "I mean, we could probably get it done just as quickly, and like you said -- the court's not going to buy a business arrangement. It will just hold up better if we can bring someone with us or something to testify about the wedding, because you know it's going to be brought up that it was so recent."
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Jason Varey

Jace just laughed at her, "Ah yes, you are, aren't you?"

As for the clothes, Jace pretended to sigh in relief. "That means I don't have to wear a tux or anything fancy. Shame, because I'm positive that you'd want to see that..."

Really though, he would have done all of it. The tux, the flowers, the ceremony, the reception. If she'd wanted to, he would have. As it was, he was a little disappointed they had so little time, and therefore, were more pushed into the simple, real quick ceremony.

Because he really did think the ceremony would work better.

"If we did something small and modest in a church, and play it off as not fast, as we've known each other for years, and situations put us apart...my eldest sister, she can be a witness, and that'd work out for us because she's a gusher. She will gush about us and the wedding if given the chance, and you can have a friend or two of yours. We can make this work."

Jace shrugged, "We can make it look right. I already know you're a good enough actress, and I can do it, easily."

That said, he randomly asked, out of the blue, "So what are you doing on friday?"
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Julie Varey
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Julie just laughed. "Oh, you know I'd want to," she said.

In all honestly, she wasn't sure how real the wedding would look, so she would have to make sure they did a good job pulling it off. She knew Jace could do it, and she knew she could do it. And apparently Jace's sister would work well. It would follow that she would invite someone... but who? Well, she'd have to think about it. "But yeah. I agree. A church ceremony works much better, with the assumption that we've known each other for what... three years now? Got separated, finally found each other... all of that."

Suddenly thinking of someone, she said, "You know, my friend Abi loves weddings. I could invite her. She'd be good to gush about it as well. Only problem is that she was the one who told me about Andre's plan in the first place. Well... actually... she could say she had already been invited to my wedding before that." And technically, that was true. Even under Veritaserum, as long as Abi didn't specify exactly which wedding of Julie's she was invited to, it was true.

Taken by surprise at his question, she said, "Um... I don't think I'm really doing anything. Why?"
Edited by Julie Varey, Feb 11 2009, 11:00 PM.
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Jason Varey

Jace just settled down and smiled, bringing his attention to Arram instead.

If he really stopped and thought about it...well. Damn. In just a little bit, he'd be married. And would it feel like it? No. Because it wasn't truly real. There was a difference between acting and happening. And really, it would be weird. But he'd do it, because he wanted the little guy in his arms to be safe and healthy.

"Three years." He echoed, tilting his head. "The blonde woman in the common room, yes?"

Oh well. They'd make it work. It'd have to work.

Back to his strange thought process, Jace just grinned at her, "Dinner?"
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Julie Varey
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Julie nodded. "Yeah, that would be Abi," she said. Merlin, that would certainly be one awkward wedding invitation. She was trying not to think about the fact that... well... she was getting married. It was unusual, to be sure, but at the end of the day this was about Arram.

The little boy who was now contentedly sitting on Jace's lap deserved far more than Andre would ever give him. And she wanted to be there for him. And apparently Jace did too. So they were getting married, and that wasn't altogether a bad thing. It was interesting, though, because just a week ago she had still been convinced that marriage was just not in her future, whether it be marriage for some sort of scam or just marriage in general.

Again, things changed.

"Dinner?" she repeated, a little surprised by Jace's question. "Well, sounds good to me." After all, she might as well at least have a meal with the man who had just spontaneously become her future husband.
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Jason Varey

Well then. Jace hadn't really got the greatest impression, but at the time, there had been several emergencies happening.

And maybe Jace just did not work well in groups. Yeah. That's it.

"That's alright with me, as long as you are alright with it."
He finally just said, bouncing Arram a bit to make him giggle. Or whatever the sound babies make when happy.

As for dinner, Jace's mind was whirring furiously. "I bought a flat in Diagon, I'll give you the address to that, if I can either pick you up, or you can go there, and we can go out, if that's alright. A little publicity, a little fun. You know."

He shrugged casually.
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Julie Varey
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"Sounds good to me," Julie confirmed. After all, she really didn't know who else she would invite. She didn't really know anyone else besides Llian and Kevin, and she was not about to invite either one of them.

Of course, she was pretty surprised to hear that Jace had bought a flat in Diagon. Clearly he had been planning on sticking around in England to help take Phas out before the whole marriage thing. "All right. Sounds good to me," she said, smiling. It would actually be a nice change to go out and have a good time.

"So, just so I've got some sort of general idea, when exactly are we having this wedding?"
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Jason Varey

Jace nodded. "Well then it's settled. We just have to pick a date..." Oops. He and Julie had the same question. "Well. Do we know when the trial date is?"

They'd have to do it a few weeks before that, obviously. But he didn't want to be all... 'oh, just whenever'.

He'd dress up though. If they were going to do a wedding that wasn't just a quick legality, he was going to at least try to make it nice for her. Even if it wasn't real.

Her smiling helped immensely, as he was kinda...for no reason...nervous after he asked his question. Why? No idea. Maybe because he really just didn't want to be viewed as she guy being used to win a trial. Maybe.

"You don't have any food allergies, do you?"
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