You can't stop it, just hop on the train and
_{You never know what's gonna happen}

Sunday Brunch was an old tradition that Donna had abandoned when her father got sick, choosing to spend time with her parents, and then later avoiding pretty much everyone when she was forced to tell Kali about her true parentage. She had truly tried to be everything that she was supposed to be, she had done everything that she had been told after her father had been disappointed in her. She had done, and gone and saw everything that someone her age was supposed to. She had even married the man that her father liked. Of course, based on who you talked to, she had stolen him from under Ophelia which was total shite, but he was dead now and the point was moot.

She had done everything right, she had done everything she was supposed to, and yet somehow she was still alone, she was still single and with very few prospects. She wasn't getting any younger, and she was tired of trying to find the perfect guy to give her what she wanted. Donna Kallis Parkinson had grown tired of being the backup plan, so she had cut off her lovers, she had stopped drinking, put her smokes in the bin and started working out. Her mother's death had hit her hard for a month and then she had gotten the plan. She would do what she needed to do to get what she wanted, she would be judged, people would call it a scandal, but she had done her duty to her family and now, it was time that she lived for herself.

Donna had made an appointment, she had taken the medicine and then, it had been done. Two weeks later she had gone for the appointment to confirm and today, she got the owl results from the Clinic, she was pregnant.

Over the moon did not describe what Donna was feeling. She was so happy that she had actually cried happy tears as she sat on her living room floor. That hadn't lasted long, it took her less than an hour and she was dressed and ready to face the day, and off to Sweet Peas. She had bought everything that she would need for a baby, and yes it was fast, but people could suck an elf
if they had an issue. She was doing this and if it didn't work this time, she would do it again and again as long as it took. She was going to be a mother. A guy could come and a guy could go, but a child would be hers no matter what.

Hers to love and to hold and to be with. Someone who would need her, someone she could need. She had her siblings. Okay, yes their relationships were all super complicated but she did have them, but it wasn't the same. It would never be the same. She had to tell her best friend the news though, she had to tell Kate and then Anya, they had to know what was going on with her and she was over the moon to share her good news. Kate would either judge or support, but she would be there for Donna as always no doubt. Anya would think she was insane, but this was what they were for. They loved her no matter what.

Brunch was set up in the dining room and drinks had been poured, though Donna's was plain juice and in her hand to keep confusion from happening, so she sat on her couch, sipping from her glass and waiting for the Yaxley to arrive.

@kate | OUTFIT | 602

life changes

You never know what's gonna happen

You make your plans and you hear god laughing

Life, the way that Kate saw it now, was so vastly different. The choices that she had made to get her to where she was now would have seemed like a dream. Only they weren’t, because she had made them. They were her choices, and this was her life. Every last part of it had something to offer. Something she needed, or wanted. She had grown into someone that she was proud to be. And for the moment, she wasn’t doing it all on her own. For the moment, she was sharing that with someone else.

And she knew that there was always a risk of heartbreak. She knew that there was always the chance that she was going to get hurt. But Kate didn’t like thinking like that. She didn’t like that she was going to have to face that reality, and so she didn’t. It was simple enough not to. If she just focused on the fact that she was happy, that was really all that she thought mattered in the end. Was it the way that she thought that it was going to turn out? Certainly not. But she thought that it was somehow better.

The boy that she had fallen in love with at University, had grown into a man that she respected. He was her friend. And there was a part of her that thought that she would always love him. You never really stopped loving that first one, after all. But love faded, and changed, and she was certain that she didn’t love him like that anymore. And he was happy. She had seen them, at that Christmas party. The way that he had put his hand on the blonde witch’s back. Protective, and a little possessive. She thought that that was how it was supposed to be.

And she was glad for him. She was glad, because they were all working it out. And the Flamel was a better choice than a muggleborn, by all standards. Even if Kate could admit that her own prejudices were waning these days. Hiram wasn’t pure, by any means. And he was outside of the conventions that one would have picked out for Kate. But here they were, and she thought that so long as she could get him to smile, she was going to stay. She liked the stoic nature. She liked the somber way that he looked at life.

There was something haunted about him. And haunted people were her favorite kind.

Donna was haunted. Kate knew that. She was haunted by the living, and by the dead. And while she didn’t know if there was anything that she could do about it. She was more than willing to try. So when her friend had asked her to come by for brunch, she had agreed. This had been a long standing tradition, the brunches. Only lately they had gone to the wayside, and it was Donna’s decision to bring them back. One that Kate was by no means going to force her into. She wasn’t going to force her happiness on her friend when the other witch had been through so much.

For all of Kate’s rows with her mother, she couldn’t have imagined losing her. And losing her so soon after losing her father? It would have been devastating. Widowed and orphaned, all in one year. That was enough to crush a person. But she was the one that had asked Kate to come and so she thought that she could do her best to follow Donna’s lead. Stepped through the Floo and into her friend’s parlor she smiled at the older witch. “Good morning.”

@ donna • 611 • catherine's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

You can't stop it, just hop on the train and
_{You never know what's gonna happen}

She had done things in her past that she was not proud of, and things that she should be ashamed of. Things that if she had been younger, she would have been able to brush away, but she was no longer the young and innocent thing that she had been when she had delivered a helpless baby girl. She had made the choice to do it, she had made the choice to bring a life into the world before, and she had done it. She had watched as Kali had grown up thinking that she was her sister and she had been okay with it. She had done her part and protected the child but the older that she got, the more impatient that Donna got. She put her life on hold, but now she was able to have the life that she wanted.

She would be able to do the things that she wanted and she had no one to answer to now. She needed no one to be her lord and master, and sure, this would be some kind of scandal, but Donna didn’t care. She had lived this long under the shadow of what Van did every day, doing one thing to make herself happy and being selfish about would hurt no one. She would have what she wanted, and without the fuss of scandal because there was a father, but she had no idea who they were. Perhaps this could be a bad thing, perhaps, later on, this could come back to bite her in the ass but for now, she didn’t care.

She took a drink from her juice and stood, when Kate came through the floo, kissing the cheeks of the younger woman before giving her a brilliant smile. She was happy for the first time in years and there was nothing that would take this from her. She was happier than she could ever remember being, and it made her wonder why she hadn’t done this sooner. ”You look lovely! She said before motioning for Kate to come in and get comfortable. They could get to the news, and get to the good stuff after they got good and settled.

Sitting down in her chair she crossed her legs and set her glass down. ”Mimosa?”

@kate | OUTFIT | 382

LIFE CHANGES

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN

YOU MAKE YOUR PLANS AND YOU HEAR GOD LAUGHING

Being happy was the most important thing to her right now. That was all that she wanted. She just wanted to be happy, and she wanted the people around her to be happy. She wanted everything to finally start to go right, and she knew that that was asking a lot. But she thought that they could do it. She thought that they could all figure out how to be happy. The whole lot of them, and it was a complicated existence. It was a complicated thing to say and do. It was harder to put it into action than it was to just talk about it.

It was harder to actually be happy, but she knew it would come. She knew that it would work itself out in time. They would get there. And it was going to be something more than a little complicated that led them there. It was going to be something that they couldn’t explain and didn’t really want to try and work through. But if they could find their way to the end, it would be worth it. It would be worth all of the damage that had been done to them over the years. There was a freedom, of sorts, that came with broken things. And in their own ways, they were all a little broken.

Kate didn’t think that there was a one of her friends that wasn’t broken on some level. She thought that they all tended to be the same. That they all had had to go through things that they couldn’t talk to anyone else about. Draco had baggage, and damage. Donna. Asteria. Even Dorian, though she thought that he was the newest on her list of friends. The Nott had all of the damage that made him interesting, and Kate couldn’t help but wonder if it were some kind of curse of their generation. They were all in the same grouping. They had all been born around the same time, and they were all cursed, in a way.

Thanking Merlin for everything that they had been through and living to tell about it. That, more than anything else, was what she thought that they had to be the most thankful for. They were going to be fine. They were still alive, and the future was changing every day. Kate thought that she could see that. That the future was changing all around them, and there was nothing that they could do to change any of that. They were just going to have to go with the flow, they were going to have to try and brace themselves for whatever it way that came next.

The offer a mimosa was a sweet one, but Kate shook her head, “Just orange juice? Or even water, if you’ve got it all mixed already.” She had sworn off of alcohol when the epidemic had struck. It had been a long time since she had gone down that road, and it hadn’t been alcohol that had been her poison of choice, but she wasn’t taking that risk. Not now, not when – other than the Epidemic – life was pretty good.

@ donna • 526 • catherine's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

YOU CAN'T STOP IT, JUST HOP ON THE TRAIN AND
_{you never know what's going to happen}

For so long Donna had been dependant on someone else to make her happy. She had looked to her mother for the thing that was supposed to make her happy, for the things that were supposed to be the things that she had to do to fulfill her duty. She nodded her head and did as she was told to. She would never admit to herself or anyone else that she was glad that she was free now that her secret was out. She was sad that it had taken so long, but Kallisto was an adult now, she could make the choices that she wanted to. She could handle the things that she needed to, and Donna could no longer be the singular ruin of her. She wanted her daughter to have a life that she could be happy with and not one like Donna's.

She was alone still, she was pregnant and she was in charge of her life. She tried to have a handle on herself and the things that could make her happy. That was why she was pregnant, that was why she was expanding her brand, and she was even considering opening another shop before the baby was born. Maybe even in London. It got her thinking a lot and it made her want to plan things. It was something that she would have put a lot of work into and a lot of thought into. Maybe something that her friend could even benefit from.

Donna snapped her fingers and the elf brought a glass of juice for Kate and set it before her before leaving. Donna grabbed a croissant and tore and end off before dipping it in cinnamon honey butter. It was horribly bad for her but she had been craving it for days. 'So, how are things? I have some news, but first, we catch up and then we can dish." She said before laughing. Not letting herself put a hand to her stomach she allowed her free hand to rest in her lap. She didn't want Kate to figure it out on her own.

tag: @kate // words: 354 // OUTFIT

template by eliza @ TB THQ

LIFE CHANGES

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN

YOU MAKE YOUR PLANS AND YOU HEAR GOD LAUGHING

Life had a funny way of getting to you. And Kate knew that there was no stopping it. Sometimes things just happened, and you had to figure out how to deal with that. Lately she had been trying to avoid those things at all costs. She didn’t want to do something that was going to upset the already delicate balance that was her life. There was too much at stake for that now. After everything that had happened in the last six months, she needed there to be some stability. She needed things to stop changing. But it didn’t work like that. Life didn’t work like that.

It was going to go right on changing, and all they could do was figure out how to keep going. Keeping their heads above water was the most important thing. Though there was a part of her that just wanted to be happy. She didn’t think that that was asking for too much. She didn’t even know what would specifically make her happy. All that she wanted was the happiness part of it. There were no conditions, she wasn’t trying to be picky or anything. She just didn’t know that there was a good reason that she couldn’t be happy right now.

And she could be. There were things that made her happy. Even if the rest of the world was going to hell, she could personally be happy, and that was all that was really going to matter. If there was anything else that she thought mattered, it was that the people that she loved were happy. She wanted her friends to be happy too. Her family. Griff, Sloane, her mum. Even Davina and Fitz. If they could keep going through all of this then they would be fine. Her friends too. Draco. Donna. Asteria. Dorian.

They had all been through hell, and she just wanted them to be okay. She was. She thought that she was okay. And she didn’t think that she was going to risk screwing that up. She was happy with Hiram. For how long? She didn’t know. Not forever. She was sure that it wouldn’t be forever. Kate didn’t know when she had realized that she had settled down that much, but she had. She had settled, and she wanted things to be stable, and secure. She needed them to be. But he could offer that for now. And that was enough.

Him having a daughter that was only ten years younger than she was was… Awkward, at best. But they weren’t really all that put off by it. Blake didn’t seem to mind really. And it wasn’t like they were close. If they were close it would have been different, but for now Kate thought that she was going to be fine. And eventually it would fade. She didn’t doubt that he would leave again when the borders opened, and she wasn’t going to follow. She had already decided that. This was going to be wonderful while it lasted, but it wasn’t forever.

They were too different for that. And she hadn’t realized that it mattered to her. That he was a halfblood, but it did. If she thought long term, she knew that it did. And she knew that she was going to want kids someday. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, or even in a year. But she was going to want them, and that was going to mean that she was going to need someone else. Someone that came from a family a little more like her own. She could do without the prejudices though. Those she didn’t need.

Shaking her head a little bit to clear her thoughts she smiled at her friend. “Things are fine. The magazine runs well enough without magic, not much has changed honesty. Kenna has to take me places now, which she finds irritating and has made no secret about. But really, things are fine. What about you? You can’t just say you have news and change the subject. That’s not how it works when your friend is a journalist. You should know this by now…” Reaching for the juice that the elf had left for her, she took a sip of it as she watched her friend.

@ donna • 711 • catherine's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

YOU CAN'T STOP IT, JUST HOP ON THE TRAIN AND

you never know what's going to happen

She knew her place and she knew what was expected of her, and the things that a woman like her was expected to do. She knew full well the way that things worked in their world, but that wasn't what she had done. She had broken that when she had gotten pregnant when she had lied to protect her baby, to protect Kali and everything else just fell away. Everything she was and everything that she had become had been to protect her sister. To keep that secret. Kate was right she had never loved Nick and she wanted to lie to herself that she had loved him. That she could have loved him, and maybe she could have loved him. Maybe they could have been happy and this baby could have been his. She had no idea though and there was no way to go back to change things so she embraced her life, making the choices that she thought were the right ones, for good or ill. She made them for herself and for those that she loved.

This was not the end of her life, she still had many years and she could find someone who could love her. Maybe it would be a pureblood, maybe some nice half-blood from a good background. She would be happy someday, but right now the thing that would make her happy was having a child of her own. She could have adopted, and she knew that but she didn't have the time to deal with a child who had been broken by the actions of others. She was more than broken enough for others, thanks. She knew that she didn't have to explain anything to anyone else. She didn't have to tell anyone her business, but there were people who were important to her, they were the kind of people that meant more to her than anything else in the world and they deserved to know. She knew that others would have opinions, but this was her life. They didn't have to see her reflection in the mirror every day, she did.

Donna didn't do coy, she never had really and she never wanted to. She didn't have it in her to pretend that she wasn't keeping things from her friend nor could she ignore that Kate would be less than happy with this news. Her friend was going to think that she was stupid, but Donna didn't care. She didn't care what anyone had to say. She had been living her life long enough to know that her family would always judge her, that her daughter would be bothered a little but get over it in time and her friends questioned her sanity. Kate was usually that friend, especially when Donna did something stupid like this, but that was fine, it was what she was expecting and if she was proved wrong then it was even better.

Tucking some of her softly curling dark hair behind her ear her soft eyes looked at her friend and she could tell she was beaming for a moment. She was keeping a secret that no one else knew. She was keeping something within her that no one else would ever have, and it made her happy. "I can't complain too much, though I've not been feeling the best lately, but those things happen... Should resolve itself around September though...." She said before giving her friend a small shrug. "I'm having a baby." There she had said it. She braced herself for what her friend would say or think.

tag: @kate words: 598 template by eliza @ tb & thq