Patrizzle my nizzle ;; all the overloridians, their SOs, and skylar

Things had finally started to settle down in Amelia. Most of Kole's elite had been captured and put on trial, or put to death. Deilig was nowhere close to being "normal" but it was definitely a lot safer to walk the streets without fear of being attacked or kidnapped. Holli$ had been working so hard the last couple months. Recovering from his injuries, learning how to be an overloridian without Tamar's constant help, trying to capture all of the clio who followed Kole, destroying Kole's old, creepy estate. Holli$ was tired, and he needed a break. He decided that he would throw a party, for all of the overloridians and their significant others to attend. He was hoping that maybe he could get to know each one of them, or at least formally meet them. He wanted to show them that he wasn't a monster like Kole.

Holli$ decided to hold the party in Lilycove. His new estate wasn't finished, and he figured that nobody would want to come to Deilig anyway. It was too soon. Currently, he was hiding in the kitchen of the fancy party center he had rented out. The kitchen staff, though slightly annoyed that the young overloridian was nervously pacing in their way, generally ignored him. He wasn't ready to go out in front of all these strangers. What if they didn't like him? What if they already hated him because he was Deilig?

Stop pacing, Jasmine sighed from her perch on the kitchen counter. Why would they hate the clio who defeated Kole?

I know, I know. Holli$ sighed back. But, what if?

Their bickering went on like this for a few more minutes before finally Holli$ got the nerve to go out and introduce himself, much to the kitchen staff's relief.

When he exited the kitchen, he felt as if all eyes were on him, even though in the back of his mind he knew that they weren't. It wasn't like he was dressed in a rainbow colored clown costume or something. He made his way up to the front of the room, where his table was standing, his suit coat already draped over the chair he had chosen that was next to Tamar's, cleared his throat and tapped his wine class with a butter knife.

"Hello everyone!" He said, a goofy, yet nervous smile on his face. "Er, uh, welcome! I thank you all for joining me today!" He clapped his hands together and continued, "I'm looking forward to chatting with all of you tonight and uh...I hope you all enjoy yourselves!"

Once the chatter started up again, Holli$ sighed and sat down heavily into his chair. He stared down at his hand that was still holding the butter knife, and without looking at Tamar he asked, "Think they'll like me?"

Holli$ wrote:"Think they'll like me?"

"Who cares?" Tamar asked. She thought this whole party thing had been a ridiculous idea from the start, but Telpin had convinced her to go to show goodwill towards the other overloridians in the post-war reconstruction effort. In her opinion, their time would be better spent actually working on the post-war reconstruction effort.

"It doesn't matter if they like you or not," she said. She certainly didn't like some of them. "You just have to be able to work with them."

She glanced out into the small crowd. All of the overloridians and their plus-ones had made an appearance, except for Amerie who was still recovering in Solas. Some of them were easier to work with than others, she thought. But the worst of them was dead, and tonight that was all that really mattered.

Skylar made her way back over to the table where Marisol and Liam were sitting, just returning from the restroom. Don't mind if I do, she thought as she grabbed a glass of champagne off a waiter's serving tray. They'd only been at the party for fifteen minutes but she was already feeling overwhelmed.

This whole shindig was very fancy-schmancy, something completely unlike Skye had ever been to before. When Mar had first asked her, Skye had turned her down. She knew it was just a plot to get her out of her room. But eventually she'd let herself be worn down, in no small part thanks to Pen, who had been a needle in her mind lately.

So here she was, in a fancy dress she didn't feel quite herself in, in a place she didn't quite belong in. She downed half the glass of champagne as she sat down next to her sister. "Anything good happen while I was gone?" she asked.

Holli$' announcement wasn't the only one that was going to be made today. Ari thought about the small life growing inside of her, excited to tell all of her friends that she was expecting her first child. She would ask for the new overloridian's permission of course, but she figured if he didn't say he wanted her to make a formal announcement, she'd at least tell her closest overloridian friends about it. As she sat at the table next to her beloved boyfriend, she reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it three times (I love you) and smiled at him.

"He seems nice," she commented, as Holli$ took his seat. "Little nervous, but refreshing."

----

Tamar wrote:"It doesn't matter if they like you or not," "You just have to be able to work with them."

Holli$ grinned. He loved that good ole Tamar charm. "It'll just be easier to work with them," he commented. "If I can get along with them."

"You need to learn how to work with clio you don't get along with," Tamar said. "You'll be doing a lot of that, trust me."

---

Joel turned his hand over and intertwined his fingers with Ari's, smiling over at her. At first he had been a little weary of announcing their pregnancy to everyone at the party, but she had talked him into it, and he'd been warming to the idea ever since. Now that he was here interacting with everyone, he understood the impulse to want to tell everyone, right away, right now. He was just so excited, he was going to be a father!

Joel looked back up when Ari gave her summation of the new overloridian. It was hard to believe that such a young, regular-looking kid had defeated Kole Roden, but hey, Joel wasn't complaining! "Well, he's been off to a great start," he said, turning back to Ari.

---

"So when do you wanna do the thing?" Hadley whispered to Remy as the new Deilig overloridian was making a speech or something. He wasn't really listening. While the official point of this gathering was to meet-and-greet with the new overloridian and celebrate the end of the war, the unofficial point was to announce their engagement and for Remy to show off the giant new ring that he had bought her.

"Hmm," Remy said, holding her ring in front of her and admiring the way it shined in the light. Gods, it was beautiful. She had good taste. "I was hoping someone would point it out." She'd pictured it in her mind--Arizona or Paisley or Liam's teenage girlfriend spotting the beautiful rock on her finger and gushing over it.

She, too, had ignored Holli$' speech. She'd check him out later, look him over and try to decide what sort of guy he was. Right now she was just looking forward to showing off. She grabbed Hadley's hand and pulled him to his feet, ready to go mingle. "Let's go find someone to show off to.

"Oh, Arizona!" she called, waving at the Adhbhar overloridian who was sitting next to her boring boyfriend a few tables away.

Spoiler:

"Nah," said Marisol, leaning back in her chair. She was glad Skye had agreed to come with her to this party. Although her sister was doing better than anyone had expected, she still wasn't quite herself, and Mar was hoping a social event might at least lift her spirits for a couple hours. "You wanna go get something to eat? The food here looks super fancy."

---

Nils was sitting with Paisley, pretending like it was just the two of them so that he didn't lose his nerve. She looked beautiful, dressed in a blue-green dress that matched her ring. She had brought up the idea of telling everyone about the engagement today, before the press reported on it in the near future (yet another thing that gave him anxiety).

They politely listened as the new overloridian gave a short introduction. He wondered if Paisley wanted to make the announcement like that, or tell everyone one by one. Both options sounded awful. He drank some champagne to distract himself.

Joel wrote:"Well, he's been off to a great start,"

Ari chuckled lightly at Joel's comment while nodding in agreement. He definitely was. It was amazing that such a young, unsettled clio was able to defeat Kole. She was looking forward to meeting him. In fact, she was about to stand up so that she could introduce herself, when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She looked in the direction it was coming from, and smiled warmly at Remy. She was actually surprised that she was approaching her. Ari had no beef with Remy, but she knew Remy didn't like her. Oh well.

"Hi Remy, hi Hadley!" She greeted as the two of them got closer. "It's so good to see you both!"

---

Tamar wrote:"You need to learn how to work with clio you don't get along with," "You'll be doing a lot of that, trust me."

"Well," Holli$ replied with a shrug. "Why not try to get along with them now?"

He watched as the overloridians and their plus ones were getting up to mingle. He was about to stand up himself, when he noticed that one of them was already approaching him. It was Aspen, and he stood to shake Aspen's hand then gestured for the older overloridian to take a seat. Aspen did, and he began to chat with both Holli$ and Tamar.

Remy smiled politely at Arizona and Joel, holding her glass of sparkling cider with her left hand as she and Hadley approached. "You too. I'm glad you were able to make it," she said to Arizona. Adhbhar had been one of the eilemaiden to fare the worst during the war and had come dangerously close to losing everything. While Remy didn't particularly care for Arizona or her leadership skills she still was glad everything had turned out okay for Adhbhar.

Remy took a sip from her flute, making sure that her ring was in full frontal view. It was large and shiny enough that Arizona or Joel had to notice it.

---

Meanwhile, Paisley was sitting across the room with Nils. She could tell he was nervous about her wanting to announce their engagement here, but she was glad that he had agreed it was better to get it over with than for their friends to hear about it in the paper.

She smiled brightly at him and reached over to squeeze his hand. "Are you ready?" she asked him. She knew the answer was no, but she stood up anyway, pulling him along with her. "I love you. I can't wait for everyone to know how much." She leaned over and kissed him before pulling him closer to the center of the room where most of the couples were seated.

She let go of Nils' hand temporarily to ding a piece of silverware against her glass of champagne. When the heads in the room turned to look at them Paisley set her glass down on a nearby table so she could take Nils' hand back in hers. She smiled once just for him and then smiled excitedly at everyone else.

"I know we are here to celebrate the end of the war," she said, "but I just want to add to the excitement." She held her hand up, and lifted her shoulders excitedly. "Nils asked me to marry him and I said yes!" she gushed. She couldn't contain her happiness, and everything just felt like it was glowing.

Spoiler:

---

Remy, who had narrowed her eyes at Paisley for calling Arizona's attention away before she noticed her ring felt her stomach drop as Paisley gave her announcement. Remy's hand dropped to her side, she almost let her glass topple out of her hand.

She blinked. Everyone around the room started immediately giving congratulations to the Nadar couple, but Remy stood just staring.

What the hell had just happened.

Nils' nerves were buzzing and his heart was pounding and his hands were trembling as all eyes turned to them. Paisley took his hand and as she made the big announcement, he actually found himself smiling naturally instead of having to force himself. He didn't like all the attention, but just thinking about being engaged to Paisley made him happy. He smiled down at her as some clio clapped and others came up to say congratulations.

---

Joel looked over politely when the Earalas overloridian Hadley and his very pregnant girlfriend Remy approached. Joel wasn't a huge fan of them himself, but he knew Ari was good friends with Hadley. He nodded at them, before mentally kicking himself because Hadley couldn't see it. "How are you two?" he asked instead.

But before they could answer, the Nadar overloridian and her boyfriend stood up and made a big announcement of their engagement. He and Ari clapped for them along with most everyone else, their conversation with Remy and Hadley momentarily forgotten.

---

Hadley was waiting for Remy to not-so-subtly mention her ring to Arizona (or hell, for all he knew she was probably just flaunting the rock around so everyone could see it,) when all of the sudden, Paisley clinked her glass and started announcing her engagement instead. Oh, fucking really?

"They stole our idea," he muttered under his breath to Remy. She didn't respond, so he reached over and felt for her hand. When he found it it was completely limp. "...Remy?"

When Paisley stood to make her announcement, Holli$, Aspen and presumably Tamar all turned their attention on her and her boyfriend. Both Holli$ and Aspen grinned and shouted out their congratulations. Aspen decided that he would give her and her new fiance a one-on-one congratulations later, and Holli$ was just thinking about how nice it was that these clio could finally get on with their lives and actually enjoy their selves without having to worry about Kole anymore.

---

When Paisley made her announcement, Arizona clapped and called out her congratulations, then turned to Joel, a big smile on her face. She figured that she might as well make her own announcement. She had no idea that Remy and Hadley had planned to do this exact same thing, and she still hadn't noticed Remy's ring yet, though she would later.

Ari tapped a fork against her own glass, though hers was full of water, and this time the whole room turned their attention on her and Joel.

"Such wonderful news!" She said out loud. "Congratulations, Paisley and Nils!" She smiled brightly at them. "But I have my own announcement." She turned to Joel, and grabbed his hand, her free hand now resting on her tummy. "Me and Joel are pregnant!"

Someone else may have thought that Arizona was purposely trying to steal the spotlight from Paisley's announcement, but the thought never even crossed Paisley's mind. "Oh, wow!" she squealed, so happy for both Ari and Joel. A baby! Everyone had had such a rough and trying time the last year or so, and now so much good was happening. Both Remy and Arizona were pregnant, she and Nils were getting married. What beautiful things.

She asked Nils if he'd like to go say congratulations, and then the two of them walked over to fawn over the newly expectant parents.

---

Meanwhile, from behind Arizona, Remy still stood next to Hadley. She teetered on the edge of sanity and the tremendous urge to break down into sobs. She knew it was the hormones, and mentally cursed the baby that was currently wrecking her figure and her mind. Didn't this baby know who she was?? She was Remy--calm, collected...and now falling apart.

She squeezed the hand that Hadley had held hers with. Too hard, much too hard. She gritted her teeth, unable to stop the burning, watery sensation in her eyes and hating it with all of her being. "We need to leave," she said, holding back the tears as best she could. "I can't be here for this." It felt as if she were being personally attacked by both Paisley and Arizona. It seemed so obvious that they were rubbing all their happy news in her face--she who had just gone through hell with the rest of them, but while pregnant and vulnerable. How nice it would have been to just be finding out!

Before she was able to say anything else, she felt a wetness between her legs. She laughed aloud, a watery sarcastic laugh, thinking And now I've peed myself--what a fucking topper to the evening.

But a sharp pain in the muscles in her stomach told her that probably wasn't the case. Instinctively she grabbed on to Hadley's shoulder. She breathed out heavily, as the contraction rode through her body for a few seconds. When it was over she laughed again, but this time it was an actual laugh. "Gods, Hadley," she said. "I think we're having a baby."

---

Skye watched all of the announcements happen with wide eyes. Jeeze, these guys were busy. "I know they say the end of wartime brings around baby booms, but it's crazy to see it happening right here in front of us," she said to Mar. "I mean, congrats and everything to everyone, but how weird that it's all happening at once."

She drained the last of her glass of wine and then motioned to the bar that was laid out with all the food. "While you and Liam go tell your friends nice job on the baby-makin', I'm gonna go get drunk." She winked at Mar and Liam let out a breath of a laugh.

When she reached the bar, Skye filled her glass (almost to the brim) with something dry and red. Then, noticing that there were strawberries, she reached her hand over to grab one. It seemed someone else had the same idea, because as she grabbed a berry, someone grabbed her hand.

She looked up, a polite and apologetic look on her face.

Remy suddenly squeezed Hadley's hand like she was trying to crush it. "Ow," he said pointedly. But then, when she spoke up and told him they needed to leave, he could hear the slight tremble in her voice that told him she was either crying or about to be. "Oh. Okay, okay," he said softly. He felt bad; he knew how excited Remy had been for their big announcement, and here it had been swept right out from under her. In a normal situation he knew she would have just brushed it off and then complained about Paisley and Ari the entire trip home, but pregnancy had made Remy way more weepy than usual. "We can go."

Then Remy started laughing, which Hadley was about to chalk up to a weird pregnancy mood swing when she grabbed his shoulder with urgency and, still laughing, said,

Rem wrote:"Gods, Hadley. I think we're having a baby."

"Oh! Oh shit. Okay," Hadley said quickly, taking Remy's arm so that together they could move as fast as a blind man and woman in labor could. Around them Hadley could hear little gasps and murmurs as they made their way towards the exit. Well, that was certainly one way to show everyone else up. Oh, you're engaged and pregnant? Well we're having a baby RIGHT NOW.

"Not even born yet and Baby Hamy is already a little attention hog," Hadley said, once he and Remy were settled into a balloon and on their way to the hospital. He took Rem's hand and gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb. "You doing okay?"

When Paisley approached, Ari wrapped her arms around her, wishing her congratulations over the engagement while ooh-ing and ahh-ing over her ring.

When Remy's water broke, Ari of course noticed because she had been right behind her. Ari had wished them both well, then turned back to Paisley, her eyes wide with excitement and surprise. "Oh my gods," she gasped. "That's going to be me in nine months!"

And so the two continued to chit chat.

---

Holli$ had continued to chat with Aspen and Tamar after the announcements were made, then was met with surprise when Hadley and his girlfriend had to leave suddenly because, she was in labor! Holli$ ordered some of the staff to inconspicuously clean up the mess, then he bid Aspen and Tamar farewell for now, so that he could check out the bar.

He didn't notice the girl as he ordered his drink, nor did he notice her when she started reaching for the same strawberries that he was reaching for as he waited for the bartender to make his drink, but when his hand touched hers he drew back as if she had shocked him. He looked up to apologize for his awkwardness, but when he saw her face, he sucked in a sharp breath of air.

"Hey," he said softly, smiling. "Hi..."